Sad Boyz - Is Minecraft A Cinematic Masterpiece?

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Sad Boyz Nightz #108 Check out 100+ bonus episodes at: https://patreon.com/sadboyz Join our Discord ▸ https://discord.gg/Hw82Dhun4m P.O. Box ▸ 3108 Glendale Blvd Suite 540, Los Angeles CA 90039 Play Sad Boyz BINGO ▸ https://sadboyzpod.com/bingo Write To Us ▸ [e-mail] Use the subject line "Pen Palz" and we could read it on the next episode! 🎙listen to us!🎙 Spotify ▸ https://sadboyzpod.com/spotify Apple Podcasts ▸ https://sadboyzpod.com/itunes ✨follow us✨ https://instagram.com/sadboyz https://twitter.com/sadboyz 📺main channels📺 Jarvis - https://www.youtube.com/c/jarvis Jordan - https://www.youtube.com/c/JordanAdika ✨follow jordan✨ https://twitter.com/jordanadika https://instagram.com/jordanadika ✨follow jarvis✨ https://twitter.com/jarvis https://instagram.com/jarvis 00:00:00 Sonder 00:04:50 Contact Photo 00:09:09 Anxiety, Fatigue, Social Commitments 00:22:16 Social Anxiety 00:23:35 Social Energy 00:28:38 Minecraft Movie 00:32:17 Jordan's Statement 00:35:14 Minecraft's Got Some Sauce 00:38:12 Two Warring Movies 00:40:40 The Burden of The Characters 00:45:26 Minecraft References 00:47:50 The Jack Black of it All 00:49:30 The Backstory 00:52:54 Would Animation Have Been Better? 00:54:43 The Ending Was Weird 00:56:58 The Best Jokes In The Movie 01:01:15 What The Actors Brought To The Table 01:03:02 The Characters 01:09:14 Simulating The Experience of Minecraft 01:10:36 A Win For Weird Movies Everywhere 01:15:14 The Evolving Process of Filmmaking 01:17:29 Things that don't make sense 01:20:02 Jason Mamoa's Financial Situation 01:23:24 Minecraft-Flavored Oreo 01:28:46 Sad Boyz Nightz #108 🎬 CREW 🎬 Hosted by Jarvis Johnson and Jordan Adika Produced & Edited by Jacob Skoda Produced by Anastasia Vigo Thumbnail design by @yungmcskrt Outro music by @prod.typhoon & @ysoblank

Welcome to sad boys podcast about feelings and other things also. I'm Jarvis. Hey, that wasn't a joke. I really just said it. This is how I control your mind. Whoa, that was really weird. Jarvis. That was. Oh, now I'm imagining what it would be like to be called Jarvis. Oh, it sucks. My whole life. Oh, it's it's OK. It sucks for most of your life. And then Iron Man comes out and then it starts sucking in a different way.

You get elevated and then you shift to the side. It's like a what about phase? No. Ah, it actually made it even worse. I think I mentioned how it made my life a little worse. We get tagged for phase clan related. Well, now I get tagged for some random guy on Twitter who does like politics discourse. Not rats. But, um. Dude, that's where you want to be in the middle of a thread that you don't understand. random guy on Twitter who does like politics discourse. Not rats. Dude, that's where you want to be in the middle of a thread that you don't understand.

And then I've also been getting tagged on Twitter for people thinking I'm like Grok. Cause people will be like, at Grok explain this. But then people started doing the meme of like at Grok jerk it a little bit. And then they started saying at Jarvis actually adding me. And then now people are replying like this going to Jarvis Johnson has me rolling. It is like, uh, it's probably what, when like in like, uh, ancient times how people would have to apply like, Oh, that thing in the sky is really bright. It's probably like a guy of some kind.

Kind of feels like that where it's like, yeah, as soon as we start doing a joke, we have to do all the same versions of it. We have to think in the same rhythm culturally. Okay. Things start to be a joke. Reaction to the joke being done too much. Bro really said it's a, it's crazy cause we are NPCs like, like NPCs become such a derogatory term, but I do think that at our very core we are, our behaviors are like a series of canned phrases and heuristics. I mean, I notice it more than ever when I do a podcast.

Oh yeah. That's where I'm like, you know, we edit it. It's not like if there's significant data actually more than ever is on a stream. Oh, I was gonna say, what did we say at the same time yesterday in the meeting? Who not? Probably the whole meeting. Yeah, we were grip compatible. Yeah.

I mean, it's a meme, but it is like a thing that happens with us a good amount because it's more like, you know, you start to adapt to the rhythms and the jokes of somebody else. It's tennis, right? Like you're just like, yeah. I know you're serve.

Right, right, right. But it doesn't mean I'm like greater tennis with everyone. but it's also like, if you get served like a ball, by the way, neither of us know that much about tennis. So if somebody throws the basketball, there's a basketball during the tennis game. Yeah. Then, and you know, okay, I need to, I'm left handed. So, okay, I need to like back up and like, and then return the serve like this. That is kind of how it feels when someone says like, that's what she said joke. Yeah.

It's like, does a setup and then you just want to go. All right. That's what she said. And you're hitting the ball. And like, I don't know what I was expecting you to do, but that, yeah, that more or less makes sense. Like I hardly know her, like those types of things. Just make me feel NPC like, and I think that's okay to be fair. There's only

aside from ourselves We are npcs to literally everyone else in the world. They're only playing as themselves. Yeah, that's it the um, there's a term sonder which uh, I like to define as the realization that everyone is not an NPC and is actually a player character in their own game. But I think the actual definition is like realizing

that everyone you pass on the street has an equally complex life as you. And then I like to kind of come back at it and be like, no, no, wait, but I can game. Can you define Saunders? Don't look it up. it up just from your own mind access the database I remember seeing the dictionary of obscure sorrows video about it oh what's oh yeah I think they made it up but is there a etymology or

is it really from that dictionary oh obscure, obscure sorrows. That's cool. Oh, partly based on French. Oh, I'm out. I was really, I was really good at it. But yeah, the, have you seen their videos? No. Exactly. Basically, their whole thing was they would make up words that didn't or like words for things that like didn't have words for it in English. Yeah. Wow. I want to ask something because I realized this is actually a very strange behavior that I have that I don't intend to change and I'm right and everyone else is wrong.

But I want to know if this is how how weird one particular part of this behavior is to the point where I shouldn't do it anymore. Okay. But if I get any bodies like contact info, they give me their phone number. Like we go to a party and it's like other creators we know, but never met before. No, no, I've don't know. I've just just bowed to somebody, but they have any kind of online presence. I put the name of my phone. I always put like the context of the phone number if it needs it.

I'm fussy with my content. I like to have everything in there, but that's more from like partnerships days kind of mindset. But I kind of really need there to be a contact photo. Oh, I will go online. When I got Damien's phone number and known Damien for a while, but I don't have photos with him. Right. So I went online, found a photo of Damien, put it in the contact photo. He Photoshopped him hugging, it's like a photo of him hugging Shane Top, and you just put your head on Shane.

The rest of my body's, he's all white except for him. The weird thing about this is that every one of your contact photos is someone giving you a hug. Yeah, it's me hanging out with Master Chief and he's saying, wow, you're better at fighting than I am. Yeah, you're so good at Halo, which I know about. This is Anastasia's contact photo? Yeah, why?

Is that? Can't sell Anastasia without Is that weird? Astro Chief. Is that weird? No, I don't think so. Yeah? Well, the hugging and the Master Chief parts weird

But what about the the contact photo thing we we exist in a space where? It's easy to meet someone and know them for a while and not know their last name Yeah, they're real name to me a little bit. Yeah, and so sometimes I like for example our friend John Choi Who Goes by or went by for a long time, spooky. Cause I think he's started going by John. I think he is pretty much just, I don't know if his twitch is still spooky.

Yeah, like Beyonce. Yeah, he's got, it's not going by John Green. When did Beyonce drop the NOLS? Cause you'd think she'd pick it up. You think she'd be Beyonce in Destiny's Child? Right. And then go like, actually I'm Beyonce Knowles. She was like, I transcended surnames.

Was she Beyonce Knowles in Destiny's Child? I mean, I think it was just like not, I think she was probably Beyonce, well, no, it was. Cause Kelly Rowland and Michelle question mark. I never remembered Michelle's last name. Gold member. But Kelly Rowland, I remembered her name. But anyway, Beyonce was just like, I,

there's not going to be another Beyonce so we can just drop. I mean, especially if I become Beyonce this hard. Well, that's what I thought when I like started trying to go as Jarvis online and it's created more problems than solutions. That's a part of the reason I pivoted away from the potential Jordan Thomas movement I was making as you remember. The Jordan Thomas movement. That was a political ideology I was a part of in my earlier days.

I was involved in the stealing the election in 2000 was the Jordan Thomas movement. As an immigrant, I voted. I created the Twitter account for Jordan Thomas. You did create it. And I still, on some burner email somewhere, I get those Twitter emails where they give you digests about, you're not following anybody. So it would be like, here's what Elon Musk tweeted.

Are you interested at all in something called like, fuck yeah science, or like, rage comics about lives or there has to have been at least one of those emails sent where they post a full video of a man being murdered or killed oh yeah or a fight if not following people going by default twitter and not seeing a beheading when you search like runescape tutorial it's crazy i mean look don't i know it and we're not talking about L Varg. Okay. Sorry. That's a little landscape humor a little dragon slayer joke a

DSJ I wanted to bring up something mental health related on our mental health adjacent podcast I kind of lose a mentality. Okay. Um, I earlier in our conversation I try to be present I try to you to be in the moment and talk to my friend and cameras are witnessing that. But then I remembered that after the podcast today, I have plans with someone and I think I will enjoy those plans, but all I really wanna do is play RuneScape.

And I got psychic damage thinking about the fact that I have to do something other than exactly what I want to do. I sometimes wish I could enter a time void where I get all of my hyper focuses out so that I don't have to like shelve my real human relationships while I hyper focus on something. Yeah. They shouldn't exist in the same realm. It's like object permanence. You know when you're on the East Coast and everyone else is asleep back home for a few hours, and you're like, well, this is when I do it. Right now is when I do all the stuff

that is only me in the world. That is the best. I mean, I usually wake up pretty early on podcast days and just zone out in the mornings. And I need that me time. When I am in a little hyper-focused moment where it's really hard to do anything else, I always go back to my mom telling me

to clean my room when I was a kid, and the changing of activity was so difficult. And this is, I've learned a thing with ADHD where just like shifting activities can be very difficult. I noise in between the activities is like, like loud static. Yeah. It's like really hard to, it's like entering a portal where it like hurts me to do it. And, um,

and so I usually have to stick to my schedule or I have to emotionally prepare. Like I've had something akin to panic attacks when, and okay, I don't want to, I don't know if it's a panic attack. You don't want to stole and valid, but I don't want to show that, but I had elevated panic and freak out moments when like Anastasia has told me that we have to do something and it like didn't make it to the calendar. And I'd be like, well, that's not, I don't freak out at Anastasia,

but like I have a little personal thing where I'm like, I don't know if I can do that. Speaking to God. Yeah, I'm like, I don't know if I can go to that meeting cause I wasn't prepared. Like one time it was a dinner. It was a dinner and it wasn't on my calendar and it was that night and I canceled the dinner because I emotionally wasn't prepared. And I want and I have in instances described this to other people because I don't want to go too deep into the annals of my mental illness.

But I have described this to people. We leave that for publishing. Yeah, exactly. I leave it for the online. I've described it to people as I'm not feeling well. And I'm like, am I lying? But it almost feels like I'm not feeling well. And I am, I'm like, am I lying? But it almost feels like I'm doing the thing where I'm not treating because mental illness is invisible.

I'm not validating my own idiosyncrasies in my own brain. But to be fair, like we can spend as much time as we want learning and relearning and reconditioning ourselves to be comfortable with forgiving ourselves for our mental hiccups and saying out loud, mental health is real health, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But not only do you have to kind of re-up that for yourself, and if you're feeling low, it's harder than ever.

You also do have to account for the third party. Like, because they could agree, but also could be having a day where they're a little biased against it and saying, ah, yeah, but is it even real doubting myself? Like it is not, especially when it's not someone you know especially well, it's not impossible that the first time I'm meeting up with an acquaintance for a one-on-one coffee, like becoming a friend, and I cancel for that reason, it's not impossible that they don't believe me or that they see skepticism in that,

because I don't know them well enough. Yeah, but I think that when you don't know someone well enough, in my experience, they give more of the benefit of the doubt, and I think when you know my experience, they give more of the benefit of the doubt. And I think when you know someone well, they give more of the benefit of the doubt. And I actually think no one cares. Yes, the reality is.

Nor does it matter if they do. That's like a kind of, that's true. That's more on them. I had become like a cereal flaker, and I started, I tried to put the kibosh on that this year, where if I commit to something, I will go and I'll like hype myself up to do it, or I'll do whatever I need to do to get myself there.

And just because I do respect someone, I try to respect someone else's time as I would want them to respect mine. But in, there are instances of like increased panic and anxiety that I have to cancel. Like I remember one example, and we've now done the thing, but it did take some months.

So a while back I was supposed to go on, I've been on our good friend, Zach, from the Try Guys with Kelsey and Garrick. They have a podcast, Kelsey Darragh, Garrick Bernard have a podcast called Guilty Pleasures, formerly produced by Miles Monsignor. Whoa, forget about it. That podcast they like review like Guilty Pleasure movies and stuff and they've had me on for their high school musical episodes. And it was coming time to do High School Musical

3. This is a couple months ago, and I remember being at my computer, I have no clue what I was doing. It's possible that I was like playing a boulders gate three or something. I had this like crazy anxiety that and I don't this is like a more extreme version of what I'm describing and I had to basically cancel. Well, no, I was like, this is relates to the panic attack question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Panic attack question mark. I texted Zach and I'm like, yo, I'm feeling not great, but I can rally is basically what I said. And then Zach, who's a gem of a person, like kind of bailed me out and

said, Hey, I actually have some shit going on too. So let's just bail and reschedule. And so it's kind of, we both kind of mutually agreed to reschedule. And so like that felt like the best case scenario. That's a gift. And that is a hundred percent of a gift. And so, and it's a gift I offer to other people

when they are feeling that overwhelmed. Like that's, that's God's like finger coming down and me catching it like that, you know? Yeah. Oh, thank you. It's like the mental health stuff. And also the like, sometimes, you know, Yeah. Oh, thank you. It's like the mental health stuff and also the like sometimes, you know, when someone's like, I've got to work or I've got to catch up on work or something like that. A lot of times that's not like,

usually it's not like your boss breathing down your neck or something. A lot of times it's like you feel an anxiety about your own progress and where you feel like you should be. And you want to like write that ship. And that's also valid. You know, remind me of the term we just looked up as I'm going to go. Sonder. Sonder. It kind of feels like appreciation of that, where,

it's like you have an equally complex life as mine. You have an equally complex life. And frankly, like, it's a little bit of a dilemma because sure, they could happen to be a person where that, you know, some people feel like it reflects on the quality of the friendship. Some people don't. It's not a person where that, you know, some people feel like it reflects on the quality of the friendship. Some people don't. It's not a thing where I feel hurt.

If somebody has to move something, I'm assuming the best, but some people do. And that's completely understandable as long as they're not like acting on it in a inconsiderate way. But there's no screening for that. And you don't know how someone else feels about something. And ultimately I think it is kind of a nice litmus test of a good friendship. I mean, we've talked about this infinite number of times,

but like we both have a history, a regular couple of cornflakes, and spent this year in a chunk of last trying specifically to address that. And I think the shifting gears, the momentum change that you mentioned is that's the thing. That's like, there's, you know, chronic fatigue plays a part. Yeah. Lifestyle plays a part. There's, there's a lot of contributors. Yeah. But that shift from zero to hero, that's the work. Like that,

honestly, me and people were going to something, we were meeting up and then going to something on the same day as the podcast. So podcast wraps up, people give me a ride, we go get some food, each of us go home and then we're like texting, like, are we doing this thing? I don't know, do we have the juice?

And then we, funny enough, on the drive back, because they've been, I won't give too much information about what they've been looking into, but they've been exploring some of these things, right? Like some similar, like, now that they live here and they have this kind of work routine, when they're crashing, why are they crashing? And how does that work? What part is physical? What part is psychological? What's contributing? Learning thyself.

Which is an important step and should be an ongoing step. But I think as life goes on, you can get a little more complacent. So they're kind of, they're in their bag right now. And we were talking about it. And I just, I said, similar to this, it is just the gear shift and it's not that the car's out of fuel. It's not that the car doesn't work, but revving up again, like actually getting the momentum again is by far the hardest part.

That first push on the pedal and then, hey man, you might get a go and go to the thing and totally burn out. A lot of, and sometimes I do, I have a new reputation for not flaking, but also not hanging around at the party for too long. And fighting. And fighting anyone I can find. You have a reputation for punching, kicking, spinning. A lot of the time you're walking spinning both your arms

to move called the windmill. I would actually say that peeps is one of the people I flaked on the most, and I don't feel great about it, but at the same time, they like we share an understanding. And I think that they, it hasn't hurt our friendship or our working relationship or anything. And I really appreciate them for that. They're, they're innately very, I wouldn't, not in a naive way, in a like informed and genuinely kind way. They're very like, first order assumption

is never malice for them. It is always very generous, I guess? Yeah, generous. Cause I mean, it goes both ways because we were both trying to schedule something recently. And it's like a thing that's fun for friends to do. We're gonna organize some of my Pokemon cards, we're gonna look up some stuff.

And it's a thing that Peeps has literally volunteered at card shops to do. You know, we're going to like organize some of my Pokemon cards. We're going to look up some stuff. And it's a thing that Peeps like has literally volunteered at card shops to organize. And I was like, Oh, we could do this thing together and it would be really fun. And it would. And it also helped me do something too. And we were both cohabitating. Yeah, we were both doing this like, Oh, hey, can we do this time? Oh, hey, I actually, I have to go do this thing at this time. And so we like, and then now they're out of town, so they're not here today, but we can't miss each other, but at no point, like when they had to move it, they were apologetic, and I was like, no, no, no.

That's not how this works. Like this is- I suck. I apologize. No, it's like we're both in friendship. There is like a give and take. I know that like I've done things for peeps where you know something wasn't asked or something was appreciated and

it's not a tit-for-tat thing, but it is a like, you know where your friend's heart is at and sure that can be frustrating from time to time, but if you like go forth with the frustrating from time to time, but if you like go forth with the, it's not an expectation of malice or that someone is acting maliciously. Cause we've, I mean, I've definitely known people who like, do kind of take that perspective of like, everything is a slight against me. You can challenge yourself and work on that and find methods to go around it because it is just like, you have to choose to be a little bit more generous. And I know people who have an instinct for that feeling, very good friends of mine, who I've, earlier on in the friendship, I would pull away from something or say like, oh,

I can't do so and so and blah, blah, blah. And then we would have like a candid conversation after it happened once or twice where they're just like, I just want to check, like, is this weird? They would say like, is this, do you just want to hang out less or something? I'm like, no, it actually, I genuinely promise on my life, it is conditional and outside of you. And it shouldn't reflect on our friendship or like the connection we're cultivating. And from then on it became like a very,

that kind of gave them the tools there to say, okay, great, I won't, that instinct, I won't trust this time right now. Jacob, do you have any thoughts on our discussion of friendship, flaking, and mental health thus far? I especially like high school and college, I was scared to ask people to hang out. And so like, I wasn't the one really initiating everything. Like all of my friends were people who had like, to hang out. And so like I wasn't the one really initiating everything. Right. Like

all of my friends were people who had like initiated hanging out with me or like had invited me to something. Yeah. So I've come to like learn it's like okay this is something I have to like push myself to get better at. Because there are people who I like want to be friends with. Right. But like they're never going to know that if I don't like, invite them to something. I feel the same way. I want to do more initiation. I think social outreach, I think is the I think the warmest quick thing you can do. Asking someone directly if they want to go and do something, one-on-one or as a group. Getting like a party invite even is like a,

oh, community, I'm reminded. It's like, hey, do you want to come over to the campfire and tell stories about what we think the stars are? I think that one's a guy. You know? Yeah, yeah. I think that one's a spoo. That's like hitting like really base, what's it called, hierarchy of needs. That's just

like network community shelter brand or whatever. Vegetables, I forget what it is. There's a level of social energy that I feel like is leaving my body and mind in recent years and I do want to blame COVID. I don't know if it's fair or right to. I want to initiate, but I'm always so tired. I'm always so tired. And part of me is happy that I can force myself to do things. But the instinct, I feel like I always am trying

to rest for whatever reason. I'm always catching up on rest, whatever. Like I don't know what's going on. But there was a instance recently where one of our good friends hit me up after I filmed, like on days like this, I usually am like pooped after. And I got a text like, oh, I usually am pooped after. And I got a text like, oh, and I did a long phone call with someone

and wasn't looking at my phone. And then I looked at my phone and an hour prior I had gotten a text from one of our friends. It was relatively last minute about meeting up at a bar. And I wanted to go so bad, but I had physical therapy in the morning and I knew that it was gonna be 35, 40 minutes there, 35, 40 minutes back.

I hang for at least an hour. I'm getting to bed somewhat late and I'm going to physical therapy because my lower back, uh, stuff has been re like, I've been dealing with that again. And I felt so much guilt saying that I couldn't make it, which is crazy. I don't understand why. And I even like called this friend of ours and left like a

really like explanatory voicemail, but it was like all from a place of guilt. It's funny cause I was at that. Yeah. And I remember one of the friends saying, is Jarvis coming? And we were like, maybe I'll check. This was because I turned up early to it.

So it was still in flux maybe and The only sentiment when we found out you weren't was like, oh boy. We'll have to catch him soon because the reality is like I Asked for a treat and then somebody went like I'm all out of treats. Yeah, I'm gonna go like what the hell Yeah, you don't have what I wanted that's like above a normal expectation. It's, I'm not, I don't deserve your time. Anything could happen, right? I want to be able, I want to be maneuverable to last minute plans.

And at times I am, but at times even for people I love and care about, I'm not. And obviously there were circumstances here that are totally like understandable, but there's always this like perfect version of myself that I judge myself against where if I was beginning of the day, had my fresh meds,

had a coffee, like did my morning stretches, like good to go, if I was in like that mode, I would have been able to rally. And if the thing that's impromptu is kinda close in vibe to the thing I'm doing right now, if the gear shift is just one or two, it's like, okay, it's a little lift. close in vibe to the thing I'm doing right now. Yeah. If the gear shift is just one to two. Yeah.

It's like, okay, it's a little lift. We're like, I'm hanging out playing magic one-on-one with someone. And then somebody's like, do you want to come play Commander with two people? Oh, dude, one of the, I was just talking with one of my friends. Unlikely.

Yeah. We were like, oh, we need to find another show to watch soon. And we were like, oh, we need to find another show to watch soon. And I was like, yes. Because we watched all of Severance season one and two that had aired, like maybe this is halfway through season two. And all we were doing was sitting watching

and I had like my laptop and I was doing my little fiddlies and we were discussing the show. And I was like, this is the perfect activity that I wanna do with other people all the time. But it feels like not a real thing that you can do. Like it's a thing that you can do, but it doesn't feel like real.

I feel like if I'm inviting someone to something, it can't be like, hey, do you wanna like sit on my couch and watch TV? Yeah. Even though that's a total, that's the thing people do all the time. That was like the main thing I would do if I invited, I'd be like, do you want to come around

and we play split screen modern warfare? And that was like the best hangout ever. Like, I guess I have to go hiking. Do you want to sit next to me on the couch? But like, I'm like doing something super AFK in RuneScape. I promise I'm not even looking at the, barely even looking at the screen. I'm gonna be so present, except for every seven minutes

I need to click on the shooting star or whatever. That type of thing is ideal. Okay, Jacob, Jesus. All right, so with all that being said, sometimes we talk about mental health on this podcast and I'm frankly not too rude I'm done and I'm done. That's enough Because my mental health has been healed I've been Reborn angelic light

yeah taking me to the great sky block in the, in the sky because we saw the Minecraft movie. We did not see it together. I don't think any of, I think we all saw it independently, right? Yes. The, uh, me and peep saw it and then they got ice cream after it was a 10 year old's birthday party for them. It was very funny. Yeah. They're 23, 23,

23. But, uh, but but but 10 spiritually but love I got in that car one time and I just saw a receipt and the only thing On it was ice cream It was just a pot of better Jerry's Something so pure about them They like stuff that you should they like something you should and also they like Pokemon as much as I do. And arguably, like we like different parts, like the big, Pokemon is a big, big tent. It's a big tent. And so we, we occupy like overlapping, but like slightly different parts

of the tent. And I think you're one of the professors and they're one of the trainers Yeah, yeah, because it's fun that I can like make a little Pokemon humor for them And and I could just like it's like playing to a little special audience They're like, huh? I don't know which started a pair. Yeah But anyway, Minecraft movie, I saw it with a friend. Jacob, how did you see the Minecraft movie? I saw it with my friends. Okay, great. I saw it, yeah, with all my roommates

and a couple other friends. By the way, I miss having roommates for specifically those types of experiences. Actually, for me, this was one of the reaching out to somebody for like a bespoke hangout because it's somebody I've been hanging out with, uh, is not peeps. One of my friends, but this was, uh, they're more like a familiar, you know, you can never get too far.

If you like get too far away from each other, they despawn. Yeah, unfortunately. And then when I bring back two days later, they're like, how long has it been? My family, are they still alive? Oh, they're still alive. What have I missed? But we went along with another friend of ours, Jim, and we've been hanging out with Jim like a little more here and there. And I felt like, well, it'd be fun to just see Jim. We'll just text him.

We don't even do anything afterwards. It's a go see a movie. Have that fun bit where you chat about it 15, 20 minutes outside the theater. And that's like, I do miss that. That was like a high school experience. Yeah. I got to get peeps to ice cream. Ice cream and drive and clearly start having a sugar crash before they get home. Like smelling salts in front of them. But we yeah, we went to it. I Mean I have a Piece I'd like to read I mean By all means because I'm a poet and I didn't know it but okay, I may Always I hate to add to the post-production stack, but if we could play classical music. I clearly thought you were gonna bring out a harmonica. And just like blow one note. Somehow a full pair of bongos from the inside of my jacket. Minecraft. Craft who? Me? Mine? Yours?

Yours. Yeah. Quote, I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and have always done so since I grew old and wary to detect its presence. So spoke the immortal words of J.R.R. Tolkien, beloved author of Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings 2, and all three Hobbit movies and Game of Thrones, I guess, when you think about it. Okay, he wrote some books. Maybe made the guys. Tolkien's work has undeniably contributed to and perhaps even forged the very landscape of modern fiction, not only in the foundations of fantasy adventure, but the foundations of modern storytelling itself. In the past, I'd found myself bracing against the quote mentioned. Cultural reference, theming, metaphor, all these things have the capacity to elevate a work when applied correctly. However, it can also serve as a crutch a deflection away from critiques of the work itself as though the text is elevated

Simply because it's allegorical because it has theming. No, no, no, Ross the braying man. Ted lasso isn't annoying It's about opening up and friendship and nice feelings and colors and getting the fast pass and it's funny and it's good Well, it isn't funny or good're good. But those things make it good. Sometimes text can be critiqued because of its themes. Gryph's Wrath, mid. Not a Steinbeck head. Fahrenheit 451, Trash, Catra in the Rye and its sequel, Oopsie Daisy, Sorry About John Lennon, Trash.

You know what the so-called master of the craft J.R.R. never managed to do? Craft Steve Chicken Jockey. He never crafted Steve. Never did it once. Not even one time. Aragorn's considered to be kind of the modern heroic archetype, but his fit was trash and bro couldn't game. Garrett Garrison, the garbage man. Who is the? Aragorn. Oh Aragorn? Eric Garrison the garbage man nay garbage legend will hold a place in historical canon that puts Achilles to shame Achilles fit was also trash and he was bullshit Future scholars will likely mock and discord discard the Iliad and the Odyssey

Along with all staples in fiction without the bravery to include a creeper or a little guy on that chicken chicken jockey I am Steve remember that shit Homer doesn't Homer didn't do shit basically Yeah, and not Homer from the Simpsons Homer from the Odyssey the real real bro at least formerly I don't even remember him anymore. We've burned all of that shit Alexandria burned to the ground again again because now all I care about is the Minecraft movie Homer couldn't spot the Minecraft movie with the Hubble telescope oh shit is the Minecraft movie, Homer Couldn't Spot the Minecraft Movie, with the Hubble Telescope. Oh shit. The film is perfect in its execution.

If you hate it, it's because you're scared of having fun and caring about things. How about you stop taking L's and being whack, and start eating snacks with me and Jack Black? Whoa. Keep your complaints. Give your complaints to Discord, Kitten. 6.5 to 7 out of 10. Literally tell me why this is different than inside out to

Is that like your letterbox? I should start a letterbox post that only and then never open it again thoughts Vibes on the I mean, okay We have not we're not discussing the group chat and said just saw the minecraft movie screaming like running around I experienced fleeting moments of utter disbelief. It is an experience. I was like, I went in not knowing what to expect because I hadn't seen anything other than the trailer.

I think we talked a little bit about it. I think during the trailer we were like, why did they even go with a real people angle? What are you thinking? There's no way the compositing will be amazing. I do remember hearing some stuff from the grapevine from sources I cannot name that it's got some sauce that maybe has a little, has some something it's working with. When you kind of look at it, you're like, oh, the director of Napoleon Dynamite.

Interesting. That seems like an odd. I didn't know that. That's not just like a job job. You know what I mean? That's not like, so I had a few experiences like when I saw the screenplay credit had four authors on it or for screenwriters. I was like, is this a movie that has had a screenplay in just in hell? Hand to hand. And yeah. And then I looked at the Wikipedia production and

that is exactly what happened. I mean, of course the mind, if there was going to be a Minecraft movie made expediently, it would have come out 10 years ago. The first attached director was Rob McKinney. Oh, how do you say his name? McElheny. Mckelhaney, yeah. From Always Sunny. Yeah, he was the first attached director. That is such a strange- another

strange choice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so there's parts of your monologue, your review that- My poem. Your poem I did relate to. A lot of it is in describing if the movie is good or bad. I think the answer is yes. Oh yeah. And also no. Keyword being movie. This is movie mindset. Baby. If you even try, I'm not here to have a conversation about what does or does not qualify as cinema. But the reason we started calling stuff movies was because stuff like this

started coming out. This is, it's on. It is the type of film and I will use that. I won't use that term lightly. Cinema. It is the type of cinematic experience that, and I'm not saying this is a joke, really challenges what is perceived as good or bad art. Yeah, I think it's very easy to say the movie's bad. I think it's very easy to say,

I saw Chicken Jockey movie is perfect cinema. I think it's very, every critique, like main criticism I see of the Minecraft movie feels like people holding onto the read they had before they saw the movie. Well, I will say that like in the back of my mind, most of the time I was thinking, this is so stupid. And also this is bad. And then I would like cry laughing at something. This script is very funny. The hit rate is I was going to say like two warring movies.

Well, that's how I felt. I would literally go from this is hysterical to I am physically cringing at how earnestly this is being played. It literally feels like a one of the like more cynical illumination productions bumping up against the kind of kitschy Midwest comedy of Napoleon Dynamite. And when, and I would say 65% of it wins out. A lot of Napoleon Dynamite does get through. I was thinking a lot about whether or not the parts of the movie that didn't work for me

were necessary tapestry or like infrastructure for the parts of the movie that I did enjoy. I guess we'll spoil the movie. Obviously we've been talking in very general terms so far, so nothing's been spoiled yet. But there are, broadly speaking, So far, so nothing's been spoiled yet, but but there are I broadly speaking All the things I was expecting To like really hate the things that would really annoy me Perfectly juked it is shocking how many things I thought I dislike that did not happen because of this Travesty of a marketing campaign. Very cruel output there. However, every now and then,

and again, these two warring movies on one side is a legitimate fun, decently paced, entertaining ensemble cast with, I'll get back to that entertaining ensemble cast going through a series of like pretty cool spectacles. Nothing feels it's surprisingly kind of vertical for a for a story where nobody can ever be seen climbing something because there's these huge blocks. It's really well put together. The compositing is amazing. Very surprised by that.

And then the movie has to do something. And it really, it's like the movie's making money and then it has to pay its taxes. Yeah. And it does feel like someone telling a genuinely funny joke and someone going, this guy is such a tool bag. Like, I think that the sister character wasn't given a lot. The two female leads were removed from the movie. It literally feels like there's a plot.

We could think about the whole movie. Well, that was the crazy thing is that like, the sister gets a lot of the like emotional grounding, but it means that in this like wacky ass movie, she has to do all of these scenes that are like about heart and love and care that she has to have for her brother. And well, not sharing the screen with him for basically half the movie.

And then just like, none of it lands for me. And it feels like a burden. It feels like it's a, she has to carry that weight so that the rest of the script doesn't yeah, I actually think that I know by the way that like every actor in this movie is Individually talented and so it's not a statement on their abilities, but I do think that like a Lot of the characters felt like taxes. Yeah, like it did. Okay. So there's maybe work they had to do and work they enjoy. Maybe this is reductive. But but it did feel a lot like how do we let Jack Black do Jack Black thing at all times. And then I don't know how you felt about Jason Mamoa's character.

Wet Jason. I know that it was going for like this can't be like tongue and cheek thing, but most of his character stuff didn't work for me. I've ever thought on why the issue is there because there's portions of the movie. I love him. Yeah, like he is lying to live around a lot of the strongest scripted moments is literally a tent. It's extremely funny

Yeah, well, I think a lot of times it is like just like what? He's given to do. Yeah, everyone acquits himself really well, even the characters that are like kind of sidelined their scenes are Working exactly as intended. They're not playing it dry. She's doing as good a job as you can do with a like, oh man, slow down the fun for a second. I've got to talk about some tragedy. Or just like, I think that the,

the only stuff that the cringey stuff for me was when this like clearly goofy ass movie was doing like earnest emotional stuff. Which feels like the taxes. When everyone was, when everyone had to act scared about certain things, it felt like I was watching bad improv, but I know that that's not, it's none of the actors. Like, uh, what's the name of the actress who was in Orange is the New Black? Like, I think she's so funny and I do not think she was given a lot of. Yeah, she has beats in the movie where she's really funny and her character setup is really funny.

Danielle Brooks. Yes. Yeah, I just feel like, oh my God, the Jennifer Coolidge stuff too. The Jennifer... That is going hot. Legitimately. It's like a Family Guy gag. Yeah, we should explain.

When I say there's like warring movies, really, I literally mean warring, probably warring script. Like it feels like there was a, let's say the Rob McElhaney version of this, which is mostly about characters cohabitating a space, riffing their characters out in that space and then moving on to a set piece. Then there is the Jared Hess version of this, where it is a Midwestern town set entirely outside of the Minecraft universe,

where things, where when a villager from Minecraft, looking the same way they do, walks out into the real world, no one ever acknowledges that he looks weird. That's the hyper. Hyper. Yeah. Brilliant. That's exactly how it should be treated because how boring is, um, this guy's head's a little big. And he's square. Then, uh, Emma Myers has given the burden of walking through this script, trying to tell me that she lives in a world where people

would notice that village. You know what I mean? She's talking about a real world. It's too real. The funny, I mean, before I got what the movie was going for, we were crying laughing at their very first scene where they reference their dead mother four times in a row. It felt like a family guy bit. And their mom wanted them to live in this town? That was her dying wish? Oh, so many things felt like set up.

Like it almost felt like, okay, let's get this out of the way. Or like was that Alex? Was their mom Alex from Minecraft? Well, did you ever see me after the credit scene? Little Alex. Peeps popped the fuck off for that. I popped off for a few things. I thought also there were a lot of kids in the theater and their reactions made the experience so much better. The end game, because we were in a really quiet theater, but it was, well, shout outs to the sad boys that came up after it said hello.

Um, and also immediately went, are you peeps? They're like, crack the code right away. Um, then peeps hopped in my pocket. Jumped in the Pocoball. I put them in an ice cream cone. They were so happy. Their group popped for chicken Jockey, right? They, I had no fucking idea what that was. I had heard it broadly referenced. I played a ton of Minecraft in like 2020, 2021, when we were doing Baddie SMP. And I was the member of the group that would like nerd out about, like I was the one building

the dynamite farm with creepers for the elytra and like the mechanical Minecraft stuff, I was like, uh huh, that's how that works, that's how that works. You know, it's like, like literally, like they're flying with the elytra and I was like, not quite how it works. And then, and then I was like, well, they just showed off this dynamite, or excuse me, these fireworks. Why aren't they using the fireworks?

And there's one scene of them using the fireworks to provide lift. Because normally the Elytra, you go down and then you use the fireworks to raise yourself into the air. Those moments stick out because it's not really a fan service movie for huge amounts of it. Well, there's a few, okay, so one of the fan service moments

that I, it happens very early on, and I was like, yo, this rules, was the Technoblade shout out. Yeah, that was very nice. Like a reference. And I was like, you know what, that fucking rules. That got a pop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even in this quiet theater,

I'm talking maybe 20 people, other than us in an IMAX theater. I was like, you know what, like it almost like brought a tear to my eye. That was very sweet. Look, School of Rock is probably my favorite movie. That's keynote, that's cinema. And it is cinema and I'll defend it.

It's a perfect movie. If you don't like it, step off, step off. And you're also not hardcore is the thing. Unless you live hardcore. Unless you live hardcore, of course. But the legend of the rent was way hardcore. Seven thousand people not knowing what we're referencing. Well, that's the thing. It's like we just doing that was the vibe of the Minecraft movie where it would be like Jack

Black is in his Dewey Finn character. The Minecraft movie is in Jack Black. No, it's, you know, really. It feels like if the end of credits scene was like zooming out on like Jack Black's brain and he's like in a hospital. He's playing marbles with the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like a vehicle for Jack Black to do skibbity boop bop. I'm Jack Black

Hmm, and let me move my eyebrow and like that's like who the fuck is this for? Yeah No, like I don't might see it, but I was like, you know that was like like someone had to be like, okay We're gonna have Jack Black do because Jack Black has acting range. He hasn't acted in like I Haven't seen him in a ton of stuff in modern times, but. He does a diversity of performances. He's had a diversity of performances, but he was like asked to do the most Jack Blackiest Jack Black. It's cool to see in a sense, but it is also like, there's just songs out of nowhere.

It's kind of like when Jim Carrey did the Sonic movie after 20 years of like not doing mask type stuff. And all of a sudden he's like moving his face again and doing this I'm like that's Jim Carrey yeah that's not robotnik you can't trick me but then also for a new generation right cuz like none of these kids were born when School of Rock came out that came out in 2003 honestly that is the third warring movie if it is it's just a virus Just the computer got infected with Jack Black. He's a Mont. He's like a texture pack for Steve That's too well high fidelity is the funny thing about the funny thing about my Mechanical understanding of Minecraft. It's divorced from Minecraft culturally

Yes, that's it. That was it. So that was a jockey. I literally I was just like, ah, yes a chicken jockey It was very rare occurrence in Minecraft. It was a meme. I didn't know it was a meme I was just thinking ah, yes the rare chicken jockey. Is it more of a meme because I don't know Maybe it was in the trailer. I think that might have and I guess I'll say just to make sure I got this through I Maybe it was in the trailer. I think that might have. And I guess I'll say just to make sure I got this through, I really enjoyed the movie. I had a lot of fun. I had a really good time.

Even it's never boring. When it's boring, it's confusing. It escapes boring. I was going to say I was bored at points. It was the points where we had to do a formulaic plot progression. The movie's creeping on an hour 50. It's long. And it could lose 20 minutes minimum.

There's just so much backstory that I'm like, what's the name of the antagonist woman? Good question. The Piglin Queen, what's her name? She's great, I just have no idea where. She's great, but like. The backstory. The backstory, I was like, okay.

Yeah, that was weird. I was like, okay. Yeah, that was weird. It was like, okay. A lot of it. Oh yeah. So you guys watch any of like, you know, parkour civilization or like I've watched the entire thing twice, both for drinking games and it's um, yeah, it's, so people don't know. It's one of many like, uh, servers that a YouTube creator will make with around a gimmick, and often it's like a Hunger Games type thing,

and sometimes it's a, in this world, everything's gray, but we found a block that turns it into color. The balls for this movie to open with the longest. This has the exact same tone as it. Okay, okay, I was like, it was like the longest narrated opening. It's crazy. I was like, it was like the, the longest narrated opening. I was like, when does the fucking movie start? It is.

It's like in one of those a Star Wars family guy parodies where the opening script keeps going for a really long time. The thing about that is it like, okay, well it's going on for so long that it becomes funny again. Yeah. That's the thing is it is it's tonally mismatched. Like when, you know, jokes aside, I said, like, I was implying like, there's no allegory in this movie. It's just, it is what it is,

but there's allegory in any story. Cause that's kind of at this point, it's conventional. You don't even the way that like the typical three act structure of a movie forces themes into it. It like, how do you ever have that feeling where you fail at something, but then you get good. Like you can't escape it. This movie is at its weakest when it's abiding by the rules of what it's supposed to be. And it is at its best when you're like, am I watching 15 minutes of Jack Black explain

his life experience, which begins with, begins with him as a little kid wanting to work in the mines. In the mines. You might. And there's an old man there who says, no kids in the mine. Who growls at him with a lion sound effect. And then he comes back as Jack Black. And the guy's the same age. Yeah.

And he, they never explain why he wanted to work in a mine. No. Because it doesn't matter. The movie is here to go. It's happening. It's now. There's parts where I go because it doesn't matter. Did it even need to be explained to begin with? Because I feel like so much of this movie, I'm like, would it have been a more adventurous or less adventurous

movie if it went the Mario or the Lego movie approach? Yes. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because I'm like, they took this big swing with the live action elements of it, and I'm not sure if that, like for example, I don't think Jack Black's performance translates to a digital character, but like would we have been able to skip a lot of exposition?

And I was like, Jason Momoa's performance would really struggle in animated form. But that's but that's because these are not voice actors, predominantly. It is its own craft. And it's and it is kind of disrespected as far as especially with like, like you have to convince executives to make a movie or whatever and you go like, well, Tom Cruise is playing a troll and it's like, that's the self but they're not good at it.

The thing about Jason Momoa's thing was that like, it kind of felt meta that like Jason Momoa. He's playing a parody of his Aquaman performance for a guy with no powers. Yeah, it's like, but also like this ridiculous wig, like so many things about it were like over the top on purpose Like I have to like acknowledge that so many of these things are on purpose But like and don't ask me to come down to normal now and then right that's kind of where I like

I wanted to be a mom for my brother And I just can't do it it kind of feels like in like a Herald in like an improv show having to It kind of feels like in like a Harold in like an improv show, having to kind of have this spine of story beats that you just need to keep going. Okay. We're at act two now. Now we can get as wacky as we want as long as we come back, we come back home at the end and everything becomes real again. And then we go into act three.

My least favorite part of the movie is, and this is, this is, it's funny because this actually tonally is about Napoleon Dynamite as the movie gets is it's wrapping five minutes where it's like, and, and this guy and the little kid got this thing and we made the best video. It's wrapping them up. They go back to the real world and they, wrapping things up and they go like, and the girl learned karate, so it's actually not sexist. They do all of that and I was watching that and I'm like,

this- The movie's over, the movie's been over. It just feels obligatory and every time the movie, when the movie is not following the rules that it has to, I literally was sat there and being like, it's crazy that this came out. It's crazy that I'm seeing this. My thing I posted on my Instagram story and people were like, I can't tell if you're saying it's good or bad. And I'm like, exactly. I my caption was, why was this the way that

it was for this many script rotation to the script? It should be bland. That should be something that was it was trying to burst out of a traditional structure and at times it succeeded and it was incredible and and and then at times it was confined in a prison the the fucking Joseph Campbell They're just trying to you know what I mean like do you remember the like, hero's journey. They're just trying to break.

You know what I mean? Do you remember the very specific era? Granted, it's still prevalent now and then, but the very specific era where 3D was the selling point. 3D is where you start, and then the movie's built around it. And it would just be like, look out, that kind of stuff. That's a little bit what the movie feels like, except it's the interesting part of the movie,

going like, oh, let me out. I'm going let me out. It's almost like frozen in carbonite. Well, hon, the, uh, there was like, I think the first time, well, I think I fucking burst out laughing multiple times in this movie, but mostly a lot of the movie, but like, like the movie was making a joke and I went, ha ha, good joke. And then sometimes I'd be like, ugh, this is such a, like almost cringing. Tapping my watch now and then. Can we move past this?

And then. Because I know the movie can be better. Yeah. I've seen it be good. Like the, like this is such a dumb joke, but I, hello, Jarvis here, excited for that. He's like inexplicably a savant at like Building that also inexplicably translates to Minecraft

Which is I'm like if you're gonna explain you explained so many things that didn't need to be explained But like I'm but for some reason this kid is a mad scientist But anyway, he when he builds a rocket and then the bullies like Saw that and I like Jarvis would have loved that moment I died Forgot it. So he's a genius creative kid. He goes to school. It's his new school This is that mother's dying wish was to move to bullshit. I know for some reason There's a giant potato chip mascot because the core industry of this mining town is potato chips This is where the movie is good

They did 9-eleven It is the most high fidelity realistic looking explosion I have seen since like tenet I couldn't believe they did that I truly was beside myself I have seen since like 10 it Fly the jetpack into a like with so the bullies cut the red cord They go oh, it's not gonna start like cuz you they cut it and I'm like, oh this just won't work I guess it was the guidance just won't work. And I guess it was the guidance. Yeah, he cut the remote control.

Whatever it was. Yeah, yeah. And it flies clumsily into the distance. This is like minute 15 of the movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's right after the voiceover section ends. And then it's smashed into the legs of this giant potato god, this false idol, that falls.

And it hard cuts to Jennifer Coolidge's principal character saying well, thankfully nobody died it is The movie honestly kind of hurts itself by opening with a lot of its funniest shit like it is really like the in the very end gag of the movie before like the And probably wondering what happened of the movie before like the end probably wondering what happened everybody I can't say I am endlessly and then she's like that is like lonely island call that was star so fucking funny they do it again with no music in the background and without a comedy cut. The edit was very good.

It's so funny and I'm like, man. The wide shot of getting it out to spec. It's, the thing is it's, I experienced such high highs and then such like random boring valleys. All of the funniest things in the movie are mostly completely unrelated to Minecraft. And it's not to say the components of Minecraft don't make it funny.

Like the way the villagers are is funny. They're able to get some comedy out of their we had Mr. Bean energy, but they don't have to be the villagers from Minecraft. It's just a fancy world, right? This could be Zathura or whatever. But the jokes when the villager subplot feels so and and this is a compliment, so 2000s comedy. That whole section, like for people who don't remember this beautiful, terrible era of comedy movies, there would more often than not, in a straightforward 90% sitcom, 10% obligatory

drama, there would always be a C plot that never ties back. Complete non sequitur. That's like a short film attached to the movie. It's literally like kicking a can down the road. It's like, you're just like, and now here we've kicked the can further down the road. It's a scrap in Ice Age. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It is like, well, he doesn't like use the Acon to save Sid or something. It's just happening. It's a mini, mini ABC, like use the icon to save said it's a mini mini ABC like it's just like you follow another arc But what's crazy is that being in the movie when the movie is already pushing its length? It's like they must have felt like that was so important And it's just it's like that's what's interesting about it because I'm like I like that it's here How did this stay?

Cause you can cut that entire part out of the movie. They paid millions of dollars. Also, Jennifer Coolidge is unique in that I cannot think of a single actor that could have done that because every line delivery, Jennifer Coolidge has this like ability to make you feel like you're in a dream. Yeah. Like just like blood. Yeah. Her line delivery is just like during this like she can play this like cartoon like it's almost like Jack Black is a real life cartoon and and Jennifer Coolidge, and I'm saying this,

not that they are this, but they have this range, right? To be, cause like obviously Jennifer Coolidge's character in White Lotus isn't a cartoon, but like. Jennifer Coolidge's character in American Pie is a cartoon. Right, right, and so, and Jack Black can do cartoon, Jennifer Coolidge can do cartoon, and like Jason Momoa wasn't always selling it to me. Like for me personally.

But he's a Midwestern comedy surrealist loser character. Jack Black literally is animated. Like he's so physically active. And then Jennifer Coolidge is like adult swim cartoon. Doesn't have to move around a lot to do it, but you're right. it is dreamlike, surreal. And like, you, again, that, that every, that sequence in particular, I was just like, wait, that's the movie. Bring the movie back. Could be that, don't be it all

the time, but this movie can't exist in the same place. Be like if, it was like Napoleon Dynamite's up doing his dance or whatever near the end of the movie. And then someone, instead of just carrying the tone all the way through, someone stood up and went like, and then like piano playing the background, you know? We've all learned a lot today. I used to think this guy was a little, and I'm like, you don't have to do this. Right. I mean, there's so many things that feel like you're describing a dream, recounting a dream. If anyone feels like they don't follow it, it works.

Malgosha's backstory being that she was a contestant on Nether's Got Talent. Which, she doesn't get like a redemption or something, it never comes up. Jared Blacko's like, hey, you should have made me something with that soon. She dies. The whole thing's like, hey, you should have made me something with that soon. She dies. The whole thing is like she hates creativity. Yeah! Which isn't really the theme of the movie. No one's creative aside from the little boy.

And also, he's creative. He's the least creative, creative character ever because he has, he's a intuitive genius at crafting. His jetpack the first time was right. Yeah. He didn't learn anything. He's an intuitive genius at crafting who is not allowed to emote to the whole movie. Yeah. He's a Mary Sue. The entire time he's just like, I built it. I built this. I made it. It feels insane for someone to claim that he's just like, I built it. I built this, I made it. It feels insane for someone to claim

that he's the lead of the movie. That feels crazy. It's not like he, I'm sure he's a great actor. Yeah, he does a good job. He was given Mary Sue. He's given, he's linked, dude. He doesn't have any lines. That's basically what it feels like.

This movie needs two fewer leads. It needs two people to be removed. And it honestly could be anyone, not judging on the performances, just let's take all the actors out of it. And just on a script level, here's how many people you need to be following. There is a moment part way through the movie that separates the cast really kind of a little too early. They don't have any relationship to one another aside from the two siblings, but they get separated and it's Jack, Jason, the mower and the kid,

the little boy. And then it is, uh, the sister and, uh, the zookeeper lady who's partially half the guardian and it dawned, right? This is, I remember this split happening and saying like, okay, wow, that, all right. I mean, they're going to split this cast up. They were already acknowledging that the cast is too large. They don't hang out together. Even when they were in the village, they separated them in the exact same way.

And then they separate them. And I was like, wow, I guess they're going to have to find a creative way to give both of them a path. The issue is, is that we're seeing both of these parties progress, right? We know what's happening, but all of the tension, pension air quotes for the, uh, for each party is generated by not knowing what's happening to the other one. They're going like, Henry could already be at the place. I'm like, I know he isn't at the place.

Never felt like it had any gravity. It felt like they were split up for logistical reasons. Like Danielle Brooks is like a great actress and she can do comedy and she could do drama. And I feel like she was relegated. She's so good in this when she gets the chance. I feel like she, like she was mostly relegated to just doing overactive emotive reactions, you know what I mean? And I think she could probably carry a movie on her own of being this wacky animal husbandry character.

Yep. I know, to give anyone the role of this is a shame, but particularly to give her this role and considering like they set her up as like one of the wackier backgrounds, but with the least attention to it, to give her the burden of the erm actually jokes is very weird. Well, she's-

Like sexist, I mean, there's no joke around. She's like just been given like the janitor work of like the movie, where these characters, it almost feels like these core, seemingly the two most important characters are Henry and Natalie and Steve. The three people you see in the first 10 minutes of the movie basically.

And Steve is the one who is allowed to be expressive and weird. He's the snowman from Frozen. He's not like a person, he's like an entity. Yeah, it's just so, sorry, I was gonna try to drive to a place where it was like, it almost felt like some of these characters were given infrastructure jobs. It almost felt like Dawn was playing straight man.

Yeah. Despite being a goofy character. Yes. And so it just felt like a hat on a hat at times for me because everyone's so goofy. In the real world, everyone too. Yeah, everything is... Steve is so goofy. So he needs many straight people around him to... Like in comedy terms terms obviously straight man like

the and so he needs that to contrast to like react to is like if you're doing a bit doing a goofy bit I have to say what's real yes like it is otherwise it's not goofy it's not it's not grounded in anything if we're both goofy then it's just like a fever dream. It's a clashing outfit. It's like red and maroon. And so, not to like comedy theory on this, but it did feel like that's kind of why

some people felt like relegated to infrastructural or janitorial clean-up jobs so that at the expense, it's like the taxes, like you described, to pay so that Jack Black can all the time be goofy Jack Black sing songs. Yes, which is jarring by the way. When it like fully hits. The two things that jumped out to be like, okay, we're getting a lot of screen time. I don't even mind this personally with like with Jack Black and Jason Momoa. two least relatable two kids care. I couldn't believe it doesn't know what an arcade cabinet I can't believe it was set in the 80s

So not said in the 80s, but like that his heyday was in the 80s. It's basically set in the 90s You do see like a Nokia bar phone at some point it but it's got the severance thing where it's like Exactly because there's so many anachronistic like moments, but it's like kind of distracting Well, I'll tell you what I did like though, I did like that Minecraft did not exist in this world Because then the referential humor is A, like going to be way too prevalent, but B, I do as little sense as it made, I did enjoy the fact that they do a pretty good job of simulating a kid's first experience with Minecraft in that first two days. Like

the kid is panicking, he suddenly realizes he can punch a tree kid brain And again, it's not like a one-to-one because you're not panicked There's no adrenaline but a kid brain does does go like I can punch a tree and they make a house out of just the tree They don't punch anything else yet They punch the tree because that's what they're getting used to then he builds a janky kind of wobbly house. Yeah, I like I like that It's just like weird that to me that this character that's so important is like doing all of this like non-verbally Then every character around him is like he's amazing and that honestly would be a funny character Yeah, really quiet little kid who's just like a savant like he's amazing at all of it the the kind of ensemble of everything felt like out of like the the tempers

It's bloodletting yeah, there's like there's too much malice and not enough Yeah, this needs alchemy to be fixed, but it is Genuinely, I'm glad the movie's doing well because I The pieces I would like to stay in the zeitgeist, the tone of it, the weird choices, it's always nice to have a case study of something that succeeds in the mainstream that's a little weird. To me, it kind of felt like, a little like Madame Webb,

because like Dakota Johnson knows what her performance is in Madame Webb, like it's not an her performance is in Madame Web. It's not an accident that it's so awkward. But it's just like because of how it's played, it like almost feels like, oh wait, what are they doing? Like as if these aren't professional actors who have dedicated their lives to this craft. And as though the takes aren't being chosen

by that editing. Right, right, right. And so's though the takes aren't being chosen by bad editing and right. And so, and so I think that I ended up landing, like I feel like it would be fun to watch in a group. I had a fantastic time watching Madam Web and the movie is a two out of 10. I had a fantastic time watching Minecraft 6.5, 7.10. Just because of like, there's actual merit that I objectively enjoy and respect creatively.

I like that there's no like video game UI. I was expecting that to be a part of it. I like how kind of liberal it is with the rules a little bit. They like make new stuff. They make new stuff. I did, I was like, how does he know how to do whatever? You know what I mean?

He makes his own, he's like, ah. He's like, hmm. I think, what does he shoot out of it? Popcorn or something? Tater tots. Tater tots. Which, tater tots and llamas are both things in Napoleon Dynamite. That felt maybe a little masturbatory.

Like when, when Jennifer Coolidge's character was going through divorce, I was like, this isn't a white lotus. I was like, this kind of feels like one. It's, yeah, it's warring movies. You're not obviously obliged to go out and see it, but if you really want to, and you don't mind chucking a probably absurd amount of money in a movie ticket, uh, I can endorse it. I think you'll have a good time. It is like, like if the goal of going to the theater

is to have a good time and get on a ride basically. And be glad you went. And be glad you went. I feel richer for the experience. Because going back to what we initially started with, which is what is the role of cinema? What is the role of a movie? What is this art form, right? I think that it's so easy to cast this movie off as bad.

I think that it's so easy to cast this movie off as bad. And I think that like, that's only half of it. I think it's a little, yeah, it's like intellectually kind of lazy. It's also like very cathartic to dislike stuff. Like it's very easy and fun. And it's very difficult to post a funny meme about something you enjoy. That's just the fact of it.

And it's, you can't farm likes by having a nuanced take about something you enjoy. That's just the fact of it. And it's, you can't farm likes by having a nuanced take on something. Yeah, I mean, I posted a story of me pretending to cry and saying, first we mine, then we craft. Yeah, that's like, but the easier joke is like, chicken jockey, seriously? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that's like easy to access.

But there is legitimate trade here. Like there's legitimate work. There is, in my opinion, a bell curve of media literacy, air quotes, slash cynicism about movies, whatever. Right at the beginning, you don't engage at all with that kind of stuff, you don't care about it. And then right as you start to really care about media literacy and the

abject assessment of art without necessarily even having the capacity to do it to the level you're talking about, that's when you're, I guess the Y axis is having fun. It peaks right here and you're not having a good time. And then right on the other side, where you understand how movies are made, you appreciate them for what they are, you assess things based on components, not only vibes, but you also appreciate vibes because there's a reason that this isn't a Wikipedia article. It is a sequence because that tickles something

in your lizard brain that you can't really articulate. Putting those two things together is when you'll not only have the best time, but I think have the best insight about it. It feels like a musical album where there's like five hits and five misses. There's some skips, you know? And there's some skips, but you go,

oh, but this is a bop, like this is a top 10 hit. And I think if I had the album on in the background and one of the kind of misses comes on, I don't rush to my phone to skip it. Yeah. I just go like, Oh, no, not crazy. Oh, the single just started. Well, cause the other thing you talked about, the like sort of wider context for this movie, I can't help but think about, like as I'm looking back on the movie, I can't think that this is some sort of

singular work of genius where everything is intentional, and I also can't think of it as this complete slop fest where it's paint by numbers, because I think that the reality is somewhere in the middle, but I can't ignore the fact that the script was rewritten multiple times by more than four people, but like at least four people credited.

Notes from a hundred. Those four people are a part of two separate writing groups. Like it's like two people wrote the screenplay as like a writing duo, and then two people took on the screenplay and rewrote it. And then it got digested through a production. Yeah, and at every part of that, there were things that production was giving notes on, 100%,

because this movie has a $200 million budget. Any movie with a $200 million budget, I mean, I think so. It's like 150 million or something like that. Yeah, it's up there. Not accounting for marketing, of course. Yeah, and so when a movie has a budget like that, you know the production is like heavily giving notes back and forth, right?

And so then it starts to feel, yeah, 150 million estimated. So then it starts to feel like there are pastiches, segments, things where the studio is like, this has to stay in. So then that becomes a key frame or like a pin. And then you have this, you have all these immovable pins that you have to keep in place.

And then the rest of the movie can happen around that. And everything that escapes that, everything that manages to bleed through should be celebrated. Because that's the victory. It's kind of how I felt watching Lost, where I'm like, yes, I get people are upset about how it ended and blah blah blah but like the fact that this even got made and even ended like it's like you have to put yourself in a place in time and

Understand like how many moving parts there are how many people had to be killed because they drug drove in real life Yeah, they had to be they didn't die in real life They just got fired and had to be killed. Or people who didn't want to live in Hawaii. You know what I mean? And so. It seems to be a movie that is constantly teasing redemption, but not for anything.

Well, cause you don't do anything. Even Steve's big decision at the end, what are the stakes of that? And he didn't do anything wrong by living there. No, he didn't do anything wrong by living there It's no he didn't do anything wrong by living there He was imprisoned by malgosha and then and then he's finally broken out of his prison reunited with his dog or whatever or At a certain point he was reunited with his dog and now his dogs like he'd let you know

I didn't understand that either. I'm like, why is the dog going with her? Yeah, I don't know. Well, yeah the dog animals cuz she animals and then she gave bone to, and if you give bone to dog in Minecraft, it loves you. I did laugh out loud. Because they done it on obviously like a preview of, oh look, bone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then dog just walks over to a wolf

and there is a bone right in front. It's like her version of punching the tree and building something instantly. I was like surprised, this is a random nitpick. I was surprised. This is a random nitpick I was surprised at more mobs didn't fucking die like they there's so many zombies and skeletons Just fucking getting beaten to shit and never done. I did really like how gruesome the movie There's another point where Steve shows his like it's like his John wick like weapon chest or whatever where you see all kinds of like

Better weaponry than they end up grabbing that was a little bit like why'd you show me a diamond sword if you're gonna fucking use An iron sword right now. Yeah, it's sorry. That's a nip. It's a nitpick. It's Chekhov's movie Yeah, it's but the gun never fires. It's a lot of like that Oh actually, maybe my least favorite thing about maybe like the thing that bothered me the most maybe is At least from like a structure standpoint is the whole subplot about Going to get some diamonds. Oh, that gives me. I was essentially blackmailing Jack Black's character, but at the same time their best friends

Yeah, they're best friends but also I have the the cube or the t test, or whatever the fuck it's called. And then, that's wrong about it is that it's delaying them, but that's only bad because maybe my sister's already at the place, but we know she isn't. There's a point where they have to get diamonds and I'm like, didn't we just go, weren't you just swimming in a vat of diamonds and like put me to your park and

doesn't the having the diamonds in his pocket thing feel like a, uh, okay, you've got to either reach and save the boy or reach and get your diamonds. There's no moral dilemma. He just needs some cash because he's like going to be homeless. Also like pretty sympathetic, but I'm also like, I, I, I'm not saying that a movie needs to give me the rules for the world, but there are moments where I don't know what I'm supposed to think because I go, Jason, I'm all, it cares about these diamonds. So even though these are not real

diamonds and these are Minecraft diamonds, they are going to somehow have value when he goes out to the real world, I guess, you know, more than like anything else in that fantasy. It's like, I guess that's a thing, but like, so that's his master plan. You know what I mean? Like, I'm like, it's like not evil. Right. And then it's like, oh, you disappointed the kid, but then he doesn't adjust his behavior to then redeem that. He just continues being redeemed. He's never really mean.

It that's the thing is it that's the two scripts at war is like, there was absolutely at one point, a version where Jason Momoa has to choose between helping his friends or money. But then another version of the script gave him a pretty understandable reason that his finances are in trouble. And then another version of the script made it so like, Oh, we think he died, but then he comes back and redeems himself. He's like, well, he already kind of redeemed himself by sacrificing himself. Also like there's no arc, the like storage wars scene,

which are made clement for some reason where, where he's like, Oh, this has this like Sega console that's worth a lot of money in this universe. Sure. Whatever you want. But like rare consoles aren't worth that much really ever. Especially. Unless you sell it for today's money, but you are in the 90s and inflation would be down. And I'm like, so this Atari thing is from maybe 15 years ago.

It reminds me of the, there's a plot in, there's a plot point in Steins Gate, the anime, which I love, also has flaws, yeah, where they need to get this old IBM computer because it's the one that can do time travel. Basically, it's the one that this time traveler named John Titor spoke about needing to go back in time to get, because it's important.

But the movie is weirdly averse to character conflict. It seems very against anyone not liking each other. Him and Jared Black are best friends instantly, but he's also blackmailing him, and the kid loves him and he admires him, but he finds him annoying. But for all of that lack of conflict, the video game violence is more gruesome

than I would have expected. Jermaine Clement wants to be his friend and Jermaine Clement is very funny. So he likes words. Oh yeah, he wants, that's like his carrot and stick was, I'll sell this to you. Wait, no, then he- Doesn't. Yeah, they just do a regular auction. He goes like, well I was about to do Jermaine Clement's real accept, but he's like, well

I'll make sure that you get it. And then they do a normal auction and he has to pay $900. Yeah, that's what I didn't understand. Like did, like someone's like, I'll do 1100. He shoots them with a gun. Like that part didn't make sense to me because I was like, what sort of solid did you just do him? I'm sure if people have not seen the movie,

I'm sure this is one to listen to regardless because we're just messing about, but like I can't express, if you're feeling like, wow, there's a lot of movie in there. There's been several times where I've remembered a bit or a joke or a set piece. I've gone like, in the movie or am I thinking of it? No, it is a bunch of like tips of icebergs where like, where like, I feel like we just move past it, but I could ask a wealth of questions. Just later. Oh, one Chris. And one thing I genuinely didn't like, uh, it's just like a trope. I'm really fucking sick of is, um, two best friends, but this is kind of gay.

Like when they're like, they have to hold each other to get through the hole. The 69 scene. That was just like, okay, I'm going to clench my butt to get closer. And I'm like, okay. Yeah. It felt very two thousand. Yeah. Is the joke that is gay? Is that what we're doing? I don't because, because for that audience, right? Like that can't be, well, maybe in a, like a PG version. I like don't know what the- Truly cannot imagine a kid enjoying this movie. Aside from the Minecraft references, this is, and I And I really, I feel like even emphasizing,

I really like this movie. And I like seven out of tens more than I like nines. Typically, I think they're more interesting. I agree with that. I don't know if I would like it more with the flaws we're talking about, I and out, because I think if you took out the flaws, or if, you know, someone on an executive level

pushed those things out, they would probably also push out the villager dating Jennifer College. Well, it's like, it's one of those things where it's like, you get some of these high highs, but at the cost of some of these, like, kind of boring moments, and those have to come together.

And I'm very, very glad this is the version that you got. I got I'm glad I got to have those moments. I don't think the like the you know, there's a reason we didn't make a video about the Mario movie. Yeah, it's not because the Mario movie is bad. It's just an illumination movie and it is competently put together and is pretty much what you'd guess it was going to be. And I think this is legitimately better than the Mario. And I think that what's interesting about it. So you bring that up. I think that the easiest thing to do is just that if you put $150 million into a movie and you're a bunch

of suits, the easiest thing to do is to mitigate risk and not take any creative risks. Get a Pharrell song, put that in the movie. Because I'm Stevie. Crazy that there isn't like a song. Well there's a lot of songs. They're all about Steve's hot chicken jack or whatever. Hair metal for the kids, I guess. That's it, this is the point.

There's like a School of Rock-esque, like everyone's singing. It doesn't make any sense. None of it makes sense. Why is it happening? Is that a Pharrell in the Despicable Me movies? They had like a Twisted Sister song and they were like, kids will love this. I don't even think I can rate it on a 10 point scale, but I'm glad I saw it and I want to discuss it with more people.

And I think that that is like, that's why I think a Madam Web is more interesting to me than I can even think of like a kind of milk toast. I literally till right now, didn't, I forgot that there was a new Captain America movie that came out a month ago. Because I didn't wanna see it and I wouldn't have talked about it even if I had.

I thought the Superman trailer, did you see that? I thought that was in, I thought it was interesting the way they did that. It was just like a scene. Yeah, it was like, I was like, whoa, subverting the trailer experience. I like James Gunn a lot. I was into it. I've been sold on it really since forever. But the, I just, he's just like an amazing like job. Like he just knows how to make stuff. Yeah. And he's good at stuff. And this was just like really well put together.

But I remember sitting at watching that and being like, God damn, like the people, the Snyder verse type guys who would complain about how this looks are to me exactly the same as the TikTok people are like, yeah, this movie is just references about Minecraft. I'm like, Oh, I watched a video recently about the criticism that family guy got from like South parks and Simpsons of the world early on about it just being references and just being gags. Can we put some respect on gags? Not everything in Like not everything in Family Guy is funny, but like the, like, hey, I love a bundle of gags.

And in a lot of ways, this did feel like a bundle of gags. Yeah, dude. It's an EDM album. Yeah. It is exactly what you're expecting. And it's that for exactly as long as it says it is. It is a Minecraft flavored Oreo. Yeah. You know what I mean? Where it's like, okay, Oreos are back with a new flavor. exactly as long as it says it is. It is a Minecraft flavored Oreo. Yeah!

You know what I mean? Where it's like, okay, Oreos are back with a new flavor. I mean, next time I get Oreos, I'm probably just gonna buy that Oreo. I'm probably just gonna get regular Oreos, but like, this is cool, I guess. This is fun. All right, they're shaped like creepers, which I would eat.

So, we had a whole other topic planned for this episode, but we could not stop talking about the Minecraft movie, so you should go see it, not sponsored, if you're interested and want to engage. But also on Sad Boys Nights today, Peeps couldn't be here today. And so we asked Peeps, rest in peeps. So we asked Peeps to record a video about their thoughts,

and then they recorded a 15 minute film. So we're gonna also listen to that and get their Gen Z take. I mean, cause we're also young in our minds. Cause we're also young. You're Gen Z, yes? All right. Yeah, you count.

Understood. But. Okay. We shouldn't. We shouldn't call that. I've changed my mind. Oh, I just thought about how to do something after this and then I was like I don't want to I'm not cusp it. Um, but anyway, we end every well Jacob do you have any parting words about my crap movie? No

Thanks Jacob we had every episode of sad boys with a particular phrase we love you and we're sorry boom like creepers Nice from my crap. What is that? That could have gone either way. No! He's destroying. Oh my god. He's imposing legitimate damage. Dude we still have like 24 interviews to go. I've been talking to everyone today about the incredible improv moments that went on. Yeah we know. It's funny because we didn't hear this part of the video but like we could have guessed because all they talk about it's all anyone can ever talk about with these movies because

It like the thing people don't like admitting about acting is it's mostly waiting around Yeah, it's literally doing like two shots and then sitting in your trailer and they can't talk about that Gucci girl, Gucci girl, how you doing? How you moving girl? Moving girl, how you doing? Can that moving girl? Moving girl, how she day looking? That future girl, future girl, yeah we on now Take my money, go away, are you wanting? Girl too rich for me