Sardonicast - Sardonicast 227: You Can See Everything (spoiler-free), Whalefall, The Social Reckoning, The Blob

Episode Date: October 26, 2026

Listen early and ad-free at https://sardonicast.com or https://www.patreon.com/Sardonicast. Merch: https://ymsmerch.com/products/normie-masterpiece-sticker-sheet Website: https://sardonicast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Sardonicast Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/sardonicast Twitter: https://twitter.com/sardonicast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sardonicast.bsky.social Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sardonicast Sardonicast Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8AhJ0bzQgs5fb9m_ZCRqkw/featured Adam's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@YMS Alex's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/IHEOfficial Jake's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ManCarryingThing Jake's movie channel: https://www.youtube.com/@womancarryingman Alex's Twitter: https://twitter.com/IHE_OFFICIAL Adam's Twitter: https://twitter.com/2gay2lift Adam's bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/yms.bsky.social Jake's twitter: https://x.com/ManCarrying Jake's bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mancarryingthing.bsky.social Adam's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/YMS Jake's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mancarryingthing Intro music by: https://www.youtube.com/user/anUnkindnessvideo Fan art by JamieJustJams Timestamps: 00:00 You Can See Everything (Spoiler-free discussion) 22:29 Whalefall 52:37 The Social Reckoning 1:17:16 The Blob (1958) 1:38:00 The Blob (1988) 2:04:43 Questions 2:31:06 Recommendation + outro

three two one get me out of here i'm in a whale uh this is adam from your movie sex this is sardonicass that was a quote from uh you can see everything oh my god sorry i think it was from the social reckoning uh yeah uh well this is Alex from i H.E i'm gonna go with be careful of the blob nice that was sweet i like that one um I'm going to go with on October 16th, 2026, Austin Abrams, the actor,

scuba diver, my friend died. I mean, he got eaten by a whale. He got fucking eaten by a whale. That's, I'm confusing of this with the quote from Dave Chappelle the fake quote. But anyways, how are you guys doing?

I'm doing good. Pretty good. Pretty decent. I've got my triple beverages right now. I'm doing this new thing. I'm trialling this new thing. Oh, you triple bees? Yeah, triple bees where we have one hot, one cold, and one neutral, you know?

Oh. So I've got like any variation at any moment. That's incredible. Like the Goldilocks and the three bears. Yeah, has drinks there, you know. Yeah. Yeah. What's the neutral one?

Gunster? Of the three of us, which one of us is the Elizabeth Holmes of the podcast, who would you say? Me. I didn't have to think about her. I need to figure out more about her because like I'm still I like know nothing about her I'm kind of waiting to see the doc.

I don't have an option to watch at the moment I went till the 20th of November the earliest it seems because of 824's weird UK release schedule stuff so yeah she's like a liar sociopath scary person Those are like a movie you can gather, like a scammer.

What was that mean? She's actually a mom. She's a mom, actually. Oh, do you know anything about the Theranos thing? Oh, she's a mom. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Ma's needing mom.

And, you know, to gain our sympathy, she did the very normal thing of inviting Nathan Fielder and a documentary crew into her house in the last 30 days before she was sent off to prison for 11 years. That's normal. And we should sympathize with that. Well, it proves that she's normal because she did it. Yes, 100%. No, but I am curious because, like, Alex, do you know a lot about Elizabeth Holmes?

No, that's very little with anything. Yeah. Yeah. So before this movie came out, I didn't know much about Elizabeth Holmes, and I was tasked with, like, what should I discover? Like, what should I consume to try and get myself up to speed and how up to speed do I want to get? Yeah. There's that Hulu miniseries, and I kind of like skipped that. And without spoiling anything, it's like, okay, watched the film, and I felt vindicated

for not having watched that sort of thing. I did watch the Alex Gibney documentary. And I feel like that provided some good, useful context that wasn't like in conflict with anything about it. Oh, when was that from? The newest Nathan Fielder. That's somebody recent. Five, six years.

Yeah. What was it called? It wasn't that like... I think it's called the inventor. Yeah, the inventor. Yeah. The inventor out for blood in Silicon Valley. It's good.

It's informative and it got me up to speed in like a nice little bite-sized way. It didn't really feel way too long. Yeah, you know, but I do feel like you don't really need to know anything or have seen the documentary and know much about Elizabeth Holmes before going into. you can see everything. Yeah. Make it a better experience because... Who knows? Yeah.

It's about to ask them. It's... Yeah, it's... Yeah, it's... What can I say about it? Like, we want to... So, Jake and I want to have, like, a little mini-spoiler-free discussion here. And then when Alex watches it, we'll have, like, a longer discussion.

And Jake, on the Women Carrying Man channel, has a long discussion with Nadia. I'm going to be... posting something to my main channel soon. So you'll have all of our opinions or whatever. So we're going to wait until Alex has seen it to have like a full. And it's not like Alex. Alex isn't just lazy. It's just that he's in the UK.

Yeah, I just didn't fancy it. I just couldn't be honest. Yeah, not like me when I don't see the new thunderbolts or whatever. That's just late. That's the absolute laziness. Yeah. I'm still at prime time. So I'll get there eventually.

When I'm too busy watching the new cleaner Palmerston movie that nobody else watch. That's just me being lazy. Yeah. No, we saw this together. I mean, Adam, Adam came down and we watched this. It was really, really fun. You take insane notes during movies, and I was very impressed. I am insane. Yeah.

Thank you. You're like filling up a huge journal. Not a huge journal. It's a normal-sized journal. But no, it was a lot of fun because you were kind of laughing at unexpected moments. when the audience was silent and I appreciate that. I just feel like you were locked in

to the Nathan Fielder experience because we've talked about Nathan Fielder, we've talked about the rehearsal season two on the podcast and everything. I'm sure you guys have talked about them at other times before I came around, but no, like we all love Nathan Fielder, so this project seemed like a no-brainer,

like, oh shit, Nathan Fielder also Lance Oppenheim coming off the hills of Prime Town. What an insane year for him. That's my Avengers. I mean, I know this was kind of a surprise to everyone when it came out. Did it premiere a Telluride or New York film? As a surprise. It was like a surprise screening for Telly Ride. That's crazy. And like the hype has built up just so quickly. And the movie is, isn't it like breaking records for documentary like non-music concert documentary stuff? It's like. Hopefully, yeah. Making Bank, it's not even opened wide yet.

So at the time of our recording. So it's stunning, but it makes sense because Elizabeth Holmes is fascinating. She's been mostly silent ever since everything went down with Theranos. It seems surreal. And when you look at like Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppett, I'm talking about the experience of making the documentary, it sounds like they're still kind of like, what happened? Like, we don't know what we made. Like this is a surreal experience that this even happened.

So I don't know. I mean, Adam, what are your overall thoughts? I mean, I know you loved it. No, I did love it. It's fascinating to be able to see a film like this where there's a marriage between two already fantastic, prolific artists. One, you know, more famous than the other, for sure. You're talking about Billy Evans and Elizabeth Holmes, the marriage? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Magicians. Yeah, no, and I love that it's like a really layered and meaningful, you know, meta experience that has everything that like, well, maybe not everything. What you would associate with Nathan Fielder is, like, present in the film in a way where it's, Lance's style co-exists and they're not intruding on each other. They're both blending into something new and special.

Especially with that soundtrack. Just, you know, the score was used in the trailer. Like, that's from the original score, which is awesome. Yeah,

having something that you can take so seriously and have, like genuine contemplative and even introspective thoughts and real

dark emotions even but still have them be broken up by like Nathan being Nathan and just being himself and having this perpetual inherent like clashing with the world around him when he's not even trying

he's not even doing it. It's not even doing it. It's not. not even like, it's like the rehearsal dialed way down. It feels like it really is just him, like, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. And still, like, his presence is so funny and important. So I just listened to an interview with them and they said that initially, Nathan wasn't even supposed to be on camera. Yeah, that's crazy. But they, but they, like Elizabeth and Billy just kept, like talking to him anyway. And so then, like the camera crew in order to like even capture them would have to like you know show

Nathan until they realize like okay I guess Nathan's just going to be in it which I just I think it works perfectly this way because it is you know like the core experience from the get go there is this overwhelming feeling of like why is this even happening like what the fuck is he he feels so out of place there and and you're just wondering why they agreed to this or what, you know, and these questions are mostly answered within the film. But that's what's so great about like the first half and the second half. The first half, there's no like narration or anything. Usually Nathan is kind of like offering his voice to explain, like here's my thinking, what's going on. But this movie really throws you in and all these

questions in your head do find release in the second half. And the way it works is fascinating and brilliant. But I would just recommend Alex. Like when you see this, try to see it with as big a crowd as you can because like the weird type of laughter this movie elicits. Everyone is laughing at different points because there's so many bizarre, hilarious moments as you would expect with a Nathan Fielder project.

But even more so because again, like Adam's saying like the Lance Oppenheim element, it feels like the cinema verite, like we are really just observing these moments and it's amazing how it feels like nothing like a documentary. It looks and I mean, I haven't seen any other Lance Oppenheim documentary, I'm sure there.

I definitely want to now. It's his signature style. It's the way he shoots things. It's so beautiful. It's incredible, yeah. It literally feels like you're watching a movie unlike anything else. And the lines definitely blur. And I would caution people, though, especially people who listen to this podcast or who are

fans of Nathan Fielder because, you know, you have an expectation. We all have an expectation that Nathan Fielder is going to do some crazy shit. And things aren't going to be what they seem. they are. And I feel like people who are going in with that expectation and knowledge of Nathan Fielder might be disappointed of like, oh, well, he didn't learn how to fly a plane in this, you know? Like he didn't get his pilot license. But that was the subtext in the background. The right. Yeah. That he was shown. Technically that was happening. That's true. But, you know, I think people who are expecting a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, part of the shock and amazement

And the rapturous praise this movie's getting is that people, I think, are largely being exposed to Nathan Fielder in a context. They haven't been before. So people who love Nathan Fielder, they're going to love this. I mean, no matter what, it's brilliant. But I think especially people who aren't really aware of Nathan Fielder's work are going to have their minds blown. I mean, it's, it just, it works so well. And it's such a complete film. Like, I just, it's crazy because I'm still thinking about it.

Like, we saw it last week. I saw it twice, actually. Oh, that's amazing. So how did it change for you in a second? Before I left. Did it change for you much on second viewing? The ways in which I would say it changed for me, I don't think I could say in a spoiler-free way. Okay.

I see. So there's some things that I noticed that maybe I probably should have picked up on the first watch. There's some things that I noticed that for sure I wouldn't have picked up on the first watch. And then there's just, yeah, like there's a combination of those kinds of details. Some things are like kind of recontextualized and some things are Made more clear from having seen it once already sort of thing Hmm, okay and like I feel like the goals of the film and like what it's saying thematically Is more clear as well okay, but yeah, I'm not I'm not gonna go into that I guess I'm still I'm still kind of confused what this even is like

Like like we've been dancing around this conversation like I see that three-hour runtime. I see only like nine credited people on I'm D-D including I would say that you've looked up too much. Yeah, it's a bit of a spoiler. Oh, sorry. Okay. Weird. But I guess it just sounds like it's about so much more than just. It is.

Yeah. It is. It's a thinker. It's a thinker. It's a thinker. It is. It's a real thinker, this one. Uh-oh, thinky.

It's complex. It's really difficult. I mean, there are people trying to flatten the experience of it overall, I'm especially seeing the sentiment cropping up online. You know, everything online has to be two sides. On Twitter? Is it on Twitter? Various places.

People who are like, okay, you know, she's a lying manipulator. This movie shouldn't be giving her the time of day. And this movie is giving her some opportunity to look sympathetic. And then on the other hand. Depending on how you view it, yeah. Yeah, it depends completely how you view it. And then there's people who are like, wow, Elizabeth Holmes. is like I'm seeing her in a new light,

like I'm totally recontextualizing her. And I think the point of the documentary, or one of the many points of the documentary, is to question our ability and our susceptibility to manipulation. And the documentary itself, and the documentary form is a manipulation, and this movie is very aware of that

and calling attention to that. And you may think, and people always have this issue, especially with documentaries and with Nathan Fielder, of like, what is this ethical? You know? And that's something that Nathan Fielder is happy to... You try your best.

Exactly. And that's part of his art is that he is drawing attention to the ethics of everything he's doing at every moment. Exactly. Those ethical questions are asked in the film. Totally. He asks them in the film. And it's the forefront, not the background, you know? Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So I think, yeah, it's so nuanced and so complex. And it's just an amazing, just an amazing work of art. It's probably It's going to be tough to dethrone this. This might be my favorite movie I've seen in 2020. Nice. Yeah.

Wow, we. Nice. We'll see. I would say, unless I'm forgetting something, probably like best documentary since, like, the act of killing. Yeah, that's...

Wow. That's why Bruce. I was thinking about that, too. Yeah. I mean, I don't see that many new documentaries, but the act of killing is definitely one that I would... Very different movies, but both very memories.

and quite an experience. Both directed by an Oppenheim. Who directed an act of killing? Fucking Joshua. Joshua. Who made the atomic bomb? Oppenheimer. Mrrhmer.

Okay. Oh, wait, so it is Joshua Oppenheimer actually. Oh, okay. It is an opent. Well, there's an Oppenheim within his name. What the fuck? The Act of Killing didn't win an Oscar? Isn't the Documentary Academy Award

like super fucked and weird? That's what I keep hearing and there's like a bunch of controversy over like hoop dreams and like fucking Roger Ebert chewed out the whole like there's this weird like old guard and the nomination process is like different. I don't know how much of this has been fixed.

I'm hoping by the sheer fact that this is like you know, a powerhouse of a movie in terms of like cultural relevancy and critical and audience acclaim. I'm hoping that that alone makes the academy and the people responsible for that category understand that they should feel ashamed if they don't nominate it. Yeah. Right? And they're like they would feel eternal embarrassment. Hopefully.

The best picture are you saying? That's the drama. I'm saying for documentary feature at the very least. Best picture would be awesome. It'd be amazing. Best picture would be awesome, but documentary feature would be like that would be a crime to not nominate. Which they're all fucking criminals anyway. That's what I learned from Chris Hansen interviews.

It feels like Lance Oppenheim is like on the cutting edge of, I mean, he's like 30 years old and he's making these movies that feel fresh and relevant. It's starting to, I hopefully like the higher ups in the studio people are starting to recognize that. audiences are drawn to what is new and fresh and exciting and different. And, you know, movies like primetime movies like you can see everything. That's what that represents, you know. People will go out to a theater for a unique experience that they haven't seen before. So, yeah. Well, this one was kind of like a nice little, all of the wind was blowing in the right direction

and everything was set up just right for this to be a hit. So Nathan Fielder, people love, right? Elizabeth Holmes. A small amount of people love. He's not like a household name. But depend on the internet. He's a household name. Yes.

But how does that convert to? I mean, that's the thing is like what does internet love? How does that convert to? Depends how many people on the internet? I hear there's lots of people on the internet these days. I hear it's quite popular. How many of them are real, yeah. Yeah, no.

I mean, like, Nathan Fielder is, on the way to becoming a household name, you have to have, like, a cult following, right? And every successive release is going to have that much more of a bang on impact. And when it has that much of a bang, then more people are going to notice, and then the bang's going to be bigger the next time, right? So, like, it's all a part of the growing process. And I feel like the conditions were just right where his pre-existing fan base, plus the nature of Elizabeth Holmes and all of the intrigue, right? Plus the trailer and it getting like, it's one of the most perfect disturbing trailers.

It sets the tone. It uses music from the film. It basically shows a scene, you know, like it's like a back and forth and you're understanding what it is, but you're curious about what it is at the same time. And then just like the fact that like it's, so unique and fresh and different and shocking, right? There's not a single person that can watch that and not be like kind of surprised in a way where

like, it combines the sensationalism of like reality television or documentary with like the intellectual conversation of like art house filmmaking and like, and like, deeper meanings in terms of the ways that things are presented, right? It combines so much that like the conversation that exists after people watch the film, I think is going to continue carrying the film all the way to the fucking Oscars, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's likely.

People won't stop talking about it since I know. You can see it. I can observe too just online the way people. And people like conversation pieces. Like this is a movie you can really chew and bite and people want to, you know, especially for people like us who talk about movies online. It's kind of like the perfect thing because people want to. It's like a catharsis to talk about it.

I remember when we finished watching it, you and I, we just kept talking and walking while we were walking to the car and just like, damn, I wish we could talk for a few more hours about it. It's one of those things. So, I mean, I'm really excited for you to watch it, Alex. It's a, I mean, if it's not a 10 out of 10, it's a 9 out of 10, probably 10 out of 10 once I see it again. Yeah. I give it a 10.

Yeah, this kind of just like came out of nowhere, it feels like, this unanimous, like, we praised. Like a trailer dropped three weeks ago, the official trailer, it's got like 18 million views. It's like, whoa, people are really interested in this. It sounds amazing. There's a stickiness. Oh, it's a sticky, nice and sticky feeling. Yeah. Although, I will say, the title, not so stupid.

I mean, it works for the movie, but... It's meaningful. It's no bad boy bobby. It's no blob. Yeah, I don't know for litigation. There's no bees in it. Yeah, I don't know bees. You can see everything everywhere all at once.

Yeah. Yeah. It's the 824 thing. Yeah. I don't know. Any more superficial thoughts about it? I mean, we got a lot to talk about, and I'll be talking about this on my channel and whatnot.

Exactly. We'll talk about it again. For a spoiler-free thing, that's totally fine. Yeah. Yeah, we shame the United Kingdom for not having this movie. Sorry. Andy Burnham, is that the new guy? Yeah, good memory.

Yeah. I don't know. I'm on top of things, yeah. So Alex got to see some better movies. Well, yeah. He has some selection for some other things. Something with some real cultural capital, you know, like a whale full one. in 40X

I saw this shit in 40X Did you see it in 40X? Yeah I did it Oh no Please oh my God It was pretty fucking funny I saw a clip online of like Everyone recording their faces

In the fucking Like in everybody's phones Were full bright Like the The light on their phone Was like facing them What They were recording themselves

But apparently it was like Encouraged or something For like a certain screen I have no idea Some weird marketing thing. Yeah. Well, I went to 40X once before. I can't remember even what it was at this point.

I remember mentioning it on this show. But I hadn't done it for a while. And I wanted to see it at a certain time in the day. It was the only way to see it midday. So I was like, you know, whatever. It's not like going to be a complicated story or whatever. Like, I wish I could have seen the social reckoning in 40s. Oh, yeah, please.

But it's like. It's slapped with that lawsuit. Yeah, man, it is like being slapped. But, you know, it's like spraying water everywhere. and the wind is all very involved and everything. It was doing the water and wind. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

That's great. It's like prodding you in the back. It's definitely a thing. I still don't really know who it's for. Did it spew stomach acid? Yeah. It was burning me. It was hilarious.

It was just me and like two old ladies like way in the back. You were just being like beaten up like adding to the soundscape. It was quite insane. I just don't really get like what it's for because you can't really appreciate like the sound design of a movie because it's just like pistons and like, do the whole fucking thing and you're like, oh my God, this is so exciting. You're like clinging onto the seats as you're being thrown around.

Are you buckled in? No, it was actually kind of like, I was scared where if I needed the toilet like an hour in like, can I like safely stand up? Am I just going to get like launch at any moment? I think there's a button you can press to like calm it down or something. There's only one button there and it was like the water button. I was like, do you want water? Yes or no.

And I turned it off and I still got like sprayed with water. Oh, my God. Oh, no. Funny film there, I think. It's like what? Based on a book? Yeah, that was hilarious. Yeah, what the fuck?

Based on a book is that's another shocking part. So clearly like, if I'm willing to bet money, if I read this book, it would be a lot of like, writers barely disguised fetish and we'd hear like, oh, it was so much gurgling. It was so slimy. A Vore type film. Yeah, literally Vore book adapted into a movie. And probably, they probably asked Chat GPT, like, what books have been selling? And then they're like, this one's a hit.

And they didn't realize it was just because it was weird fetish people that want to be swallowed. And they were like, people find this compelling. Okay, maybe that's an element to it. But the crazy thing is, Daniel Krauss, who wrote Whalefall, he literally, in 2026, this year, won the Pulitzer Press for fiction for his novel. Angel Down, which is a completely different setup. It's about World War I. Different fetish.

And it's written with this, yeah, it's a different World War I fetish. And it's written with a single unbroken sentence, which is kind of crazy. So he's like a, he's a legit, he won the Pulitzer Prize. But this novel, Whalefall, it is, I mean, I guess you'd call it like upmarket thriller survival fiction. It's like a legit, meaningful, quote, unquote, novel. So, and it's very well received. And the problem is.

I just kept thinking and picturing the studio execs talking about this movie. Like, hey, we got this book. People really love it. Okay, what's it about? It's about a guy who gets swallowed by a whale. Okay, then why? He's in the whale. All right?

So he's just in, yeah, he's in the whale the whole time. No. How about no? Flashbags. Nobody needs to see that. We don't need to see all that. I don't need to be in the whale for an entire movie. And the only thing else that's going on is flashbacks to Josh Brolin being an abusive dad.

And he's just like, you're going to die. You're going to die. You got a scuba dive. You got a scoop a dive. He's such an answer. You don't do this right. You're going to die. You're dead.

Just skip the paddy certification. We're doing it old school. All the drama sucks. I like that scene when he was like trying to have fun with his friends and his dad was like, well, you don't want to learn about whales right now? Okay. Go fucking fail then and be a waste of shit. You want to go to Ocean World with your friends?

Yeah. Think. Just think. I'll show you Ocean World. Yeah. Yeah, that was awesome. Just think, go ahead. Yeah, I need that clip.

It's crazy because you could imagine, okay, maybe the book, it could be really close in adaptation to the, actually, I'm so curious to read the book now because I want to see how it got fucked up. It's probably filled with introspective thoughts. Like, it's probably there to think a lot, but then the movie doesn't do any thoughts. It does flashbacks and then saying out loud the obvious things that you're doing that we would have inferred by you doing them. and you could have just showed and you didn't have to say.

This movie could have been fucking cool if it was like a straight up, if it was like Resident Evil, you know, like you could have picture. And Austin Abrams is just toned all the way down, like all the life and energy he has in Resident Evil. Like you could see this movie being like a crazy like thriller horror comedy of this guy being stuck in a fucking whale and trying to survive. Like it is part of it is kind of funny and goofy and thrilling. But when it's coupled with like,

It wants to be 127 hours, you know? It wants to be... Yeah. Yeah. The tone of that soundtrack is just not agreeing with what it's showing. It's got none of the juice. It's all the drama of him growing up with his dad. It's just so fucking paint by the night.

It's so boring. It wants to be so earnest, but like doesn't understand the ridiculousness of not only the concept, but how it's presenting it as well. Like, it doesn't understand what it is. That does kind of make it funnier, at least. Yeah, it does take itself way too seriously. No, it made it hilarious for me. Yeah, it made it have some really funny scenes.

But it was kind of annoying me with the amount of scenes that are just inside like a stomach chamber. How much of the dialogue of Austin Abrams talking to himself? He's like, I'm just going to like shove a finger in my mouth. It's like, oh, I go away on. It's like you can't tell what I'm saying. I didn't have subs. Everything with the respirator on. Yeah.

It's all, nothing is internal dialogue. It's all spoken. It's all useless. and you can't understand anything he's saying. Shout out to the lighting guy inside the whale, you know, who went in there with him. What the fuck? Yeah. Like, so that, yeah, literally when he like wakes up, he just has that moment where he just like,

he like, he like pause at the water or whatever. It's like bioluminescent or something. Yeah, bioluminescence. And then they try to explain it like, because there's so glowy jellyfish that it's eating or something and it's chewing them. And then they're like, you make the water splash. then it goes shiny. But then the entire, after that moment for the rest of the film,

none of the water behaves that way. And it's all just like, oh, a blue light is behind the actor. Yeah. So they like gave up really quickly because that would cost money. No, it looks like shit. Yeah. There's a blue room and a red room in the will. Yeah.

Like, what's the fight? It's very well lit internal. Because, yeah, from a filmmaking perspective, like, the light source thing is obviously a big, like, how could you? see anything that's going on inside. Normalize fucking, ugh. I can't believe people don't,

don't just do this fucking, uh, infrared. Yeah, I mean, that'll be cool. Like, it worked great in,

uh, Sicario, in, uh, zone of interest, like, fucking, why not? Why not?

Why, why is that not normalized? Why doesn't he just have a light on him, you know, he could have, yeah, you could have had a torch with him or like, flashlight or torch,

yeah. If, if the tone was slightly more silly, that bioluminescence, thing could have been a bit more like hand waved because you know apparently there's some truth to it but it wouldn't have been nearly enough to illuminate the entire chamber the way it does in the film but you wouldn't care if it was kind of if it leaned into it a bit more he was at a Halloween party and had glow in the dark paint yeah yeah it was all over his face uh-huh he was like the

joker of the entire movie and then when he's got like the jellyfish and he's like talking to it Come on, little guy It's like, why do you need the light? Buddy, I'm going to get you home, but first you're going to help me. Oh my God. Like every choice he does too is so fucking stupid. Like it'd be one thing if he was like, it's just everything's so insane and ridiculous because it's trying to be like this gritty, realistic, like, what would it be like

if he was actually in a whale? And it's just like, no, none of this makes sense. Like he's being crushed and he's fighting like a giant squid inside the whale. and it's so, like, it's, first off, compositionally, it's like hard to tell what's even going on. It's just like, okay. Because it's still dark as well. It's dark, and it's just like there's a squid,

and he's also being crushed by the stomach and the whale, but it's like visually, this would make more sense in a book because it's like you're with him, you're understanding his sensations, he doesn't have to say things out loud. And then, like, that scene when he's trying to crawl up the whale's throat and he has the little jellyfish, and he's like, come on, little guy, light the way.

I'm like, why do you need light? Like, you literally have like... There's one direction. One direction, two feet of space. You're in like a cave, basically. Just like, it's so stupid. Like, how is that helping you at all, holding onto a jellyfish? So you don't get lost?

So the audience can see. I don't know what the hell he was gripping onto in that throat. Seems like probably you're not going to get a good grip on anything. No, and there's like weird flashbacks to like, I guess his dad was just constantly sharing like random whale facts to him. Yeah, a whale's larynx will make a noise because of how they were born. They could make a really loud noise. And he's like, in the whale's thrown.

He's like, there's a boat nearby. And he's like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm just going to yell really loud. Help me. Yeah. The most convenient flashback memory is like he's repressed his entire relationship with his dad.

But at the right moment, like, he just learns all the information that he needs to like progress the story. Uh-huh. That was one of the funniest scenes. Like in such ridiculous ways. Yeah, yeah. And it's also, during that scene, when he's, like, in the throat of the whale, he's like, help me!

Which I talked to some people and they said that, like, oh, they were interested in seeing that movie until that shot was in the trailer. Same. I was like, oh, this is kind of interesting. That shot made me want to see it more. I'm like, this is so ridiculous. Like, at that moment, I'm like, okay, this looks fucking funny, right? But the fact that the way that they shoot that scene,

And it's doing this tropey, like, horror movie thing where someone's like, someone's so close. Yeah. Right. And if only you could yell a little louder, or if only they could see you, they're like right there and like help help. Like the tension is so strong because it's so close. But realistically, like, okay, if they did see him or they did hear them, what are they going to do? Is Coast Guard going to blow up the whale? Are they going to go hunt?

Yeah. They're like going to track it down. Like it doesn't matter if somebody knows that you're in a whale right now You're in a whale You're in a whale. You're going to help you Yeah what the fuck You got swallowed game over

It was from that scene onwards though Where I felt like it reached a comedic heights That was looking for me It was incredible Unintentionally Yeah yeah definitely It's all unintentional to add But I guess can I say

It's like a kind of a spoiler Kind of not Spoilers, let's go. So when the whale becomes like Thanos and starts talking to him, because he's like hallucinating with his dad's voice. Pretty much. I don't know what the hell they were going for. It's like they were trying to communicate that like his dad was,

like his spirit was also the whale or like maybe the concept of like the ocean itself maybe or something. I don't know what the hell was going on. Again, it would work in a book. It would make sense in a book to be like he's hallucin. Yeah. Was he supposed to be hallucinating, though, like through like the chemicals? That's how I interpreted it. He was like having a conversation with his dad, but it was trying to like present things in a way where it was all, like, no way that's an unintentional, right? Like there's no way that the film was trying to just only communicate that he was only talking to his dad and it wasn't also kind of the whale, right?

No, no, it was definitely the whale, yeah. Like he embodied the whale. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Because the whale was sick and being attacked. And then he calls his, Thanos whale dad calls in the orcas, I think, to like attack. Yeah, and it's like an Avengers scene.

Gang fight. It was a race war. And it's kind of visually cool how it's lit, like in like the black and white. But then it's so silly when like the, the orcas are fighting the whale. And it's like. Sonar vision.

It's so silly. It is so fucking goofy. And Thanos. Yeah. Speaking of Thanos. It becomes like a hero moment. Yeah. Like when the orcas are attacking the titular whale fall.

And yeah, like, cools out for the other sperm whales to come save him. And it is kind of like blocked like a hero moment. Yeah. It's pretty funny. It's ridiculous. It's so fucking ridiculous. During that scene, sure, the stylistic choice to like replace all the backgrounds with black void. Sure, interesting, could work.

That was cool. But I also feel like there's a. there's a non-zero chance that that was done because the scene was unfinished and they ran out of money. And they were like, well, okay, let's just do like a stylistic thing here. Honestly, because like they didn't do any backgrounds. And not only that, but within that scene, the actual movement in the animation suddenly got a lot worse.

Like it looked like an unfinished scene. Like the exterior shots of the, the whale in the squid fight was like much more finished in terms of like fluid movement. Whereas the orca and the whale, and the whale fight scene, it was like, you could, you could definitely see the keyframes a bit more. Like, there's things they could have done if they had more time and money for sure. So I'm not crossing that.

Do you think it was because it was entirely digital for that stuff? Because, I mean, Spurn whales are unknown for their, like, deep sea diving, right? But I guess you're not going to shoot anything real and combine it with, like, the lead actor, like the squid fight over on or anything like this. I mean, there's a good chunk of the squid and whale fight where, like, the lead actor wasn't in the frame, I think. But even if, let's say, he is in the frame the entire time, the movement of the animation of those models, like, was significantly better. Like, I don't know if it's relevant that, like, he was in the frame. I don't know, maybe just that perspective helps or. Maybe.

Yeah, the actual, like, visual effects and the look the movie didn't really bug me. It's more just like a base, like, kind of concept level. It's just like, I kept looking at my watch, not because I was bored, but more just like, how, like, what can even like happen? You're off with you the movie and he's like. I was impressed. Yeah, I was kind of impressed. How they managed to weave that bullshit together, like string it along. It didn't really feel like filler, like, right as it was going to become repetitive of like, oh, he's crawled all the way out.

But then he's like thrown back into the chamber. Then it just goes into the, the orchestra. stuff and say, okay, you find new angles, new directions to take this that are kind of funny to watch. Yeah, I guess it was just more like, more lemmy winks than I was expecting. Like a claustrophobic, just like inside a creature movie. It's like really fucking weird. Dude, when he was getting swallowed even, like that's, that's what it was just said. It was already so ridiculous. Why is a sperm whale and a fucking squid beefing so hard anyway? Like, dude had vengeance. It was so bizarre. He was hungry. From what I

understand, like, the sperm whales are like one of the coolest animals in the world. Like, they are fascinated. From what you understand. They can make, like, noises. Like, legit, they're amazing. I can make noises. Yeah, O whales are incredible

creatures. Yeah. Yeah, you're amazing too, but I'm just saying, like, sperm whales. And cool. And incredible. And from what I understand, I don't think scientists have ever visually seen sperm whales like fighting a giant, squid. Maybe that's changed in recent years, but I know for many years it was like, how are they

fighting these giant squid and winning? And apparently one of the things that it does is, or at least they're speculating, that they have these giant teeth so that they can latch onto the giant squid and then plunge to insane depths and basically crush the squid with the pressure change. So like the whales are using that to their advantage. And there's a scene in this movie where the whale, like he starts stabbing the inside of the whale, just like, oh, fuck it it. Like maybe I'll just get him to throw me up or something. And he's stabbing the whale And then the whale

Plunges to insane depths And it's like, okay, so you're dead You're dead Yeah Like his ears are bleeding His nose is bleeding Like you And the thing is even if there is some

scientific basis on like Well this is maybe what would happen Inside a sperm whale's stomach From what I've heard Like you couldn't pass through The throat of a sperm whale Because it's like super small It's a human wouldn't be able to pass through it

From what I understand But even if some of the science in here Is accurate The movie does not make it convincing, and it does not lead me to believe any of this is scientifically accurate whatsoever. So it just removes the stakes of any of this. It's just like science fiction movie in a side of a boring location after a certain point. Yeah, it just, and then with the flashbacks and repetitive conversations, and it tries to build this type of rapport with his family and the flashbacks where like they're just constantly fake laughing, like all his sisters and his mom, Elizabeth shoe.

and just like, oh, all the great times we had. But then every single scene with his dad is his dad being like, I'm going to fucking kill you. And like, I'm going to cut your head so that you can, and I'm going to drink. And it's just like the fuck, man. Like it's supposed to be this heavy shit about like his dad committed suicide because he didn't want to get cancer treatment and all of that. But you don't even build up the relationship between them. Literally zero sense of empathy for his dad who seemed like a narcissistic asshole until the, like, the final scene of the movie when he's like having flashbacks and he's talking to his whale dad

and he's like, let's talk about things like, do you ever want to have a dog? You're like, what do you want to be when you grow up, a son? And then, and maybe this would work on some viewers, but it's so fucking treakly and sentimental that I just couldn't buy it. And then it ends with like this moment of Josh Brolin holding a little baby being like, I love you so much. You know, like, fuck off. I'm going to ruin you.

I'm going to ruin your life. Yeah, but now you've just reminded me that I think the only scene with all of the family members together is them all laughing at someone who's as exploded. I remember that the same that's his ass exploded? And that's like, how he remembers how to like explode his canister to escape the whale. That's funny. Fucking God. He becomes like, like, McGiver, Bruce Willis, like, all right, I'm going to.

The thing is, at that point, the whale has died. Like, the whale is dead floating in water. Just climb out. Like it's it's not gonna be crushing you anymore from what I understand so like but no he's like I gotta use the gas tank to blow up my entire fucking face like it's just yeah he should have tried the esophagus at least like tried like why didn't he try that actually well we gotta blow things up because it's cool it's like he was a bad he like tried to go out the shitter first he was punching that ass that was that was his first that was his first idea he's like let's see this through I'm curious it's So according to the Wikipedia page for sperm whales Oh great Their diet does include giant squid Yeah

It is mainly medium-sized squid They also Eat bioluminescent Things And yeah so it's 100% scientifically accurate Isn't that why they dive so deep? is to get access to the squid. So usually not that.

I think so. I think so. Sounds like they read the Wikipedia. Yeah, same. Well, yeah, they claim, don't they? That it's like, when he was writing the book, that it was a bunch of interviews with scientists and like, would this, would this work?

Would the ass explosion really work? Yeah. But they always say that, don't they? Exactly. Also, you know, part of the reason why this feels so unrealistic is not just because like, oh, yeah, they didn't get the diet, right? Like, it's, it's less about that and more about the fact that, like, in real life, if a whale swallows a human, it doesn't actually swallow them, it spits them out. Like, it's been,

there's been few documented cases where people have wound up in the mouth of a whale and then it spat them out because it's like, what the hell is this? Right. This is not food. Yeah. I mean, like, like they they if you made it non-literal and didn't take it so seriously you could probably do something with it as a concept get like creative and kind of surreal with it perhaps but this is like yeah it's just way too serious how stupid it is yeah i could imagine a zach crager like like intense like disgusting horror movie out of this like that could be kind of fun with a bit more self-awareness or something yeah yeah yeah like a bit of a horror comedy would make it a bit more bearable and

I was honestly throughout the entire experience, like, wondering how much of it is supposed to be funny, if any. The problem is, like, the tone of the music and what it's trying to do in its, like, earnest approach. Yeah, no, it's just, it's not communicating that it knows. The film doesn't seem like it knows that it's so fucking stupid and silly. And then I wonder if Austin Abrams knew when he was filming, because half the time, He's doing like really weird like simultaneously gutteral and childlike screaming. Yeah. Throughout.

And it's like this is funny. Yeah, he's like squealing. It's very funny. Like, he's good at that. I'm like, did he, because the other movies he's been in have been comedy. Right? Like very strong comedic sensibilities. Did he just, was he miscast?

Did he understand what movie he was in? Like, I don't know. I don't know. You know, another thing is that his character is fucking nothing. He was so boring as a character. Like, why do I care about this guy? He's just like a college kid. That's it.

Blank slate. His dad hated him. Oh, yeah. His dad was mean. Yeah. His dad was mean, but also he has many, many memories and experiences of his family convincing him that, like, oh, he's hanging.

onto life for you. He's doing this all for you. All he's talking about is you and he just wants to see you. And he just forgot about all of those things until like the last 10 minutes of the movie when he needed some inspiration. Then he's like, oh, just in that compilation, he's always got like 50 bags and he's running out the door like, I gotta go. I'm mad. They're like, don't you understand? Your dad loves you. Like, okay, I remember now. Thanks. Oh, okay. Well, maybe he could have shown him me that while he's alive instead of being a fucking asshole. You're gonna die. I love when he tries to carve a fucking gang sign into his forehead. A knife, dad!

Are you kidding me? He turned into like fucking Morty. Also, the movie wants him to be so cool. It wants Josh Brolin to be badass, like into the wild. Like, I'm a part of nature. I'm a badass. And it's just like he comes off as such like a corny fucking douche. Yeah.

Yeah, he's really lame. Really lame. And that's hard to make Josh Brolin lame because Josh Brolin is cool. like they had to put extra effort. Okay, I will say there are so many funny scenes in this movie, but I think the funniest might be the scene in the kitchen early in the movie when his sisters, like the acting is so bad in that scene. Oh, very awkward.

It's like the way it's staged, all of the drama stuff where they're just like, oh, come on, come on. Like, why don't you want to like, you know he loved you? But don't you want to go see his grave or whatever? Why weren't you there with mom? And he's just like, because he didn't want to or something. He like blows up and he's like, I'm sorry. Yeah. It's so awkward.

And what's so weird about that scene is it's like one of the only places in the film where they kind of did a one for a second. It wasn't like a super egregious like really long one or anything. But they let the performances quote unquote build. Bad idea. Without any actual natural buildup in the performances. So you really just saw like the space between each line in like an awkward way. and then Austin Abrams like blowing up like seemingly out of nowhere with like it didn't even really feel like a sensible buildup it was just comedic and awkward like what the fuck yeah yeah I completely agree about that it reads like novel dialogue it really does like yes there's a sense you can get it it can work in a novel but when it's like dramatized it a lot of it just so so it is just like setting up the beats of the movie every single moment is is kind of like artificially constructed to hit the emotional thing that is trying to say.

Very calculated screenwriter-e, just hacky shit. Yeah. Yeah, it's eye one. You got soft lungs, you hear me? You got soft lungs, boy. Soft lungs! Yeah, when he like conveniently finds the, like the gauze that the whale had like swallowed so he could explode the battery later and it's just like, wow.

I don't know. It sounds as fine. I would watch that again. No, and I remember when he grabbed the batteries at that point in the movie, I'm like, oh, cool, he's going to be using that to like, I don't know, blow up something or light something on fire. It's just, it could have been so much. I mean, the thing is, it is fun in a certain way, but I just was like, I don't need to be seeing all this. I don't need to be fun to laugh at it.

Like, if I had a couple of drinks, yeah, but it's like going out at 10 p.m. to go watch this. coming back at one and being like... There's your mistake. Yeah, I had the central. That was way too sober for the movie. Yeah. 100%. Yeah.

I was enjoying it. I enjoyed it the entire time. From the 10 minute mark, I was like, this is a masterpiece. It's like one of the best case scenarios you can have for checking out a movie because you think it's going to be funny bad. And I was shocked because the one reservation that I had, the one thing that was kind of making me feel like maybe maybe I made a bad choice was learning that the runtime was an hour 46 and I was like for the concept that seems a little long doesn't it but then it it you know

it wasn't that it wasn't really boring at all like it was so stupid the entire time that I was very very entertained I will give it that it does kind of move quick it doesn't yeah I was never bored yeah yeah it's a very entertaining piece of shit 10 out 10 highly recommended No, I give this a three out of ten probably. I also give it a three out of ten. I'm ever so slightly high with like a two star, I guess four out of ten. You loved it. Okay.

I absolutely adored it, yeah. But I'm still, I feel like there's a gap in the market for like a deep sea horror movie type thing. Not that this was even trying to be that, but I was thinking about that with the like, the deep sea imagery and the kind of liminal nature of that and how freaky I find that. I feel like I've never had that tickled by a film before. Iron Lung. Yeah, I was thinking about Iron Lung, actually. There are some similarities, for sure. James Cameron, like, apparently he's taking a break from Avatar.

Like, give us a deep sea horror. He's going back on, is he going to test the whale fall theory? He's going to try it out and see a realistic. My next project, I'm bringing a camera. I'm going inside of a sperm whale. And we're going to see what happens. Also, I'm bringing Nathan Fielder with me to document it as well. Here's like one of the things that I found to be super fascinating as I was watching it.

Just how much fucking money they clearly spent on it. Oh, yeah. I was like, why? Why are you spending this much money on it? 60 million. Yeah, that is a lot. Why did you do that? I mean, the whales are good.

Like, the goo look pretty convincing. But why did they make it? Some executive thought this was like a high profile like Oscar movie. I really do think they thought it was 127 hours. Clearly that was the cop. It's like the perfect combo right of a film like that where yeah, maybe if it's good enough, we can get awards.

But also we can fall back on a giant creature like eating someone. People love that. Also, like the Meg and dumb shit like that. They should have made it not a whale. Also 127 hours is based on a real story. So like you're watching it and you're like, fuck, this guy actually had to cut his hand off. This is insane.

You watch whale fall and you're like, oh yeah, this is, none of this could ever happen. Okay. No. Just a different experience. Yeah. All right. Well, would you guys rather watch whale fall again in 40X or see the social network, social reckoning in 40s? I would rather watch whale fall again because I, you know, I was going to watch social

reckoning and I was really excited. I had my ticket and then I just got too overwhelmed with fucking the music shit I've been working on. I don't think you're missing out, to be real. Not jorking my sorkin? Yeah, I wish there was, I wish I could have seen it in 40X for the, she's disrupting line. And then it like shakes the seat and shoots airy.

Whoa. Yeah. I was quite disappointed by this. Not that my expectations were high. I just think the social network is so fucking stellar. And unlike this movie, it was kind of ahead of its time. I have so many memorable scenes I regularly think about. That score was like fucking everything to me.

Like it just opened so much. It was like this. There were like three major kind of voices and names that made that project come together being like Fincher with that direction, Salkin with his script and Trent Reznor. And I guess Askus Ross too with that music. Yeah, I didn't forget Edik. Yeah, sorry, Atkus.

But that's so much like they're like all pulling at each other to give it this like balance with what it's bringing. Whereas this is like Aaron Salkin directed and written. And it's just kind of, it just feels like, okay, grandpa, like this just feels like a story that's still ongoing and a story that is using this kind of old format, this old structure that ends on this kind of like triumphant beat. And it's like, no, this should end with you feeling like digger, like awful, you know? Yeah.

Like, why are you framing it? Like, this is some kind of win. When honestly, like, the ads before the movie that were playing, I thought were very interesting. There were, like, a bunch of different, like, charities that must have bought ad space before this film. One being the Molly Rose Foundation. I hadn't seen before, like, other movies that I've been watching recently. So it must be, like, a intentional thing for this. Yeah, like, warning about, like, social media.

And I just feel like the film didn't capture, I don't feel like it was, like, to catch a, grandpa up on something that was going on, you know, like five years ago. Like 10 years ago. Well, it's about like, um, the timeline's jumping around, what, 2019 to 2021, the Facebook files, um, to do with like algorithms changes that they knew and kind of tying it into various American political kind of events, Jan 6th or whatever. Um, but it's like, it, it, it just doesn't work. Like, I, I feel like a huge part for me was the, that it completely loses the character study angle that the social network had,

where it's mostly, it's still like jumping around the timeline with that investigation. But it kind of does stay quite focused on the Zuck and, like, gives you an idea of what he's about and kind of the builds him up as a character, where this is way more of just like a journalistic kind of investigation. You don't really get to know any of the characters particularly well. It's very formulaic in a way that it's a way that, the film it's continuing on from wasn't. What about you, Jake?

Are you kind of on the same page? Oh, yeah, this sucked. This was a way worse experience than whale fall for me. Although I guess it is technically like competent enough. But Adam, how much do you want us to spoil or not spoil about this movie? The whole thing. You can spoil everything. Awesome.

What could you even spoil to be? You know? Exactly, because it all happened. It's just like the way it's laid out. The thing is, the comp for this movie is not the social network. This has nothing to do with the social network. Style, tone, everything. There's the same cinematographer, same writer.

Everything else about it is different. I have never seen an Aaron Sorkin directed project before, although I've loved, you know, many of his movies. Social Network is definitely one of my favorite movies of the 2000s. But I'd never seen his directing. I know everyone kept like bashing on it and being like oh he can't direct his own shit and I'm like it can't be I'm sure he's

It's nothing amazing but it can't be that bad No it is it's it's pretty horrible Like even in terms of just getting standard coverage Of a scene it is the most bare bones Like peacock original Direct like it is it's just so by the books It feels like TV There's nothing special about it

And the performances clash considerably in every single scene. Like what Mikey Madison's doing is just at a different level than and like tone than what Jeremy Allen White is doing. And then Zuckerberg played by Jeremy Strong, who I usually adore Jeremy Strong, he's playing this like a cartoon villain,

which would work if this were a movie like prime time. Like a primetime version of Mark Zuckerberg with Jeremy Strong. Oh, fuck yeah. That'd be so cool. But this movie has no interest in doing that. He's barely in the movie. movie. And the movie does jump back and forth between these, I think, Wall Street Journal,

this Wall Street Journal investigation. And then you have the timeline jumping forward to Zuck preparing for his testimony to Congress about, you know, Facebook's algorithm or whatever, making people angry. And the big reveal of the movie and what the journalist is investigating, I'm not trying to discount what happened. And like the whistleblowing, like, it's all super important that all of these documents were secured and the information was put out there. But the big reveal is just like, yeah, confirming what people pretty much assumed. Like they changed their algorithm at a certain point to prioritize what is like meaningful interaction. I forget what the term is in the movie exactly.

MSI, they kept bringing up. MSI, yeah, meaningful social interactions. And the reason they did that and it boosted engagement was because it was prioritizing reshares, which basically is a result of people being angry. It's just rage bait. They pushed rage bait and we're encouraging people to be mad.

And in the movie, that reveal towards the end of the movie is like, holy shit. That's so funny. They're meaning, they're actually trying to make people angrier. And then that's coupled with like Bill Burr is basically the voice of Aaron Sorkin.

He's playing, I don't, he's playing some random character, but he is there. like yelling at Mark Zuckerberg as he's practicing for his testimony to Congress. And he's just like, come on, Zuck, what are you doing? What are you doing? Come on, man.

And like, it's just, he's like, just fact check things. And it literally does feel like. And Aaron Sorkin again is the guy who has recently as 2024 proposed that Mitt Romney should be the Democratic nominee for president. Brilliant. Just like clearly tapped in to the culture and the political sense. Definitely not an old man. Definitely not. He doesn't use social media, which is why it's great that he starts his movie with a scene of a racist white woman recording cops.

And from the opening scene, I'm immediately like, uh-oh, like this is a big red flag because this isn't directed by Ari Aster. Like this could be in Eddington and this could maybe work. Oh. But even then, it's just so on the nose. And, like, one of the funniest things I love, and of course, this is very relevant to Aaron Sorkin's political leanings and perspectives is that we find out that this example of this, like, radicalized racist white woman who's yelling at the police at the start of the movie and uploads the video to Facebook, which Mikey Madison then's watch. We learned that that actually used to be a friend of Mikey Madison's character. And she used to support, and this is how they phrase it in the movie, a progressive candidate for. president who she believed was

screwed out of the nomination by the DNC. And it's just like, just say Bernie Sanders. The movie opens with a former Bernie bro who is now a racist, basically cop-hating crazy person. And it's just so funny that, like, of course, Aaron Sorkin, like, of course, this is your example that you're giving us. And like, the whole movie is essentially like, like Alex is saying.

It's just like grandpa being like, oh, the social media is making everyone angry. Like Mikey Madison over here's some kid in a restaurant who's just like talking about being bullied online. And the dad is like, and she's like, well, you know, you can just report the bullying. She's like, no, because they set up on Instagram like separate pages. And she's just like, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do. And the dad's like. That scene was awful.

Like she's just like chilling in a restaurant and just over here. Like in the booth behind her happening. By the way, I work at Facebook. We're trying to do something about this actually. It's like, what the fuck? It's so bad because their characters are like non-existent. Her whole character is just like, I like to work. Jeremy Allen-Wy's whole character is I like to work, and I don't know how GPS works.

And she's a woman. And like, that's the whole movie is just like, well, she's a woman. That's crazy. Let's get her in some tight dresses as she goes and visits Jeremy Allen in this hotel room. And everyone's kind of quick-talking and snarky. Like you said, Bill Burr is like Sorkin's stand in. I feel like there's a little bit of him and everyone. I just feel like it's him going to talk to himself in like a circle.

Because the Jeremy Allen White character is like specifically a journalist who knows nothing about social media. And he's kind of framed as like this positive force, I guess, which is another kind of like tone deaf angle, I feel like making the old media kind of being this like, yeah, this is the. the rock solid foundation that's going to expose all of this and it's like well this is not congruent with like my reality and what like i am looking at and it's just like hand-waving so much potential like thought-provoking subject matter that they could be delving into with this shit because like twitter or like x gets a lot of hate but like facebook and instagram and instagram there's such an enormous conversation to be had there and why is the molly rose foundation ad before the movie doing a better job

than the film that's supposed to be breaking that open. Kind of like the social network did where that became like a cultural moment that film and was getting people talking about the concept of like social media and what that's doing to people changing people. It wasn't beating over the head. It was just a story about a

people. And it's kind of style also helped kind of carry it and people were listening to that score and talking about scenes that like really cemented as like some of the best scenes ever. And It just made me think, like, I hope this artificial film that's coming out is maybe going to be the true spiritual successor. You know, I have a lot more faith in Luca.

Yeah. And I do the Salking at this point. Yeah. I mean, people are going to make comparisons to it, but I think Luca's smart enough and mindful enough of those comparisons that he wants to, you know, he wants to create a bit different of an experience. Yeah. Well, he can give it that style. That's the impression I'm getting, because, like, he normally would work. with like,

fucking Trent Naticus and he decided to like not. Yeah, you know, I think that's smart. Yeah. Yeah. And that's also a story

that like needs to be told. All this like tech. There is a lot to be a lot of good of like teaching people about like algorithms and. About the truth of what this film was trying to get at with the Facebook files and stuff like that. And the whole rebrand into meta, which they kind of mention in text towards the end of like they did that shortly after. And there's so much to like.

unpack there and kind of make relevant, but this film just can't do it. It's like so stuck in these old kind of irrelevant ways. It feels like it's just for an age range of people that are kind of like frankly irrelevant to this. Yeah. It ends on a freeze frame with triumphant music. Yeah. But the text on the screen is just like, Facebook not only stopped fact checking political ads, they stopped fact checking everything. The end. Yay. Yeah, it just feels like, I think there's a level of Sorkin's politics that just has permeated the story and how he's telling it, where it's just like, we just need a technocrat to change the way. I do think he believes, like, if Zuckerberg were just a different guy in charge, then things would be fine, you know? Yeah, that was kind of the vibe I was getting too, because that was such a two-dimensional way of presenting him, which is such a shame because, yeah, I really like Jeremy Strong and he's nailing the voice.

But, like, yeah, he is like Darth Vader whenever he's on screen. Like, the film's, like, in awe of him, kind of, you know, being up, like, his security and his bulletproof glass. And it's like, yeah, but what about him as a person at this point? What is interesting about, like, they kind of put their pinky toe in when they're bringing up, like, they kind of allude to the Biden laptop stuff, which was like a huge drama on Facebook. And then, yeah, Jan 6th and him having to come down on some decision. of like whether to be impartial or not and calling it like we're a cork board where we're a town square

all these things that like they say when they're when like mark succorberg goes on like joe rogan and shit like it seems like sorkid like just watched a few joe rogan episodes and these people wouldn't like build the script of that bullshit like it was just lacking like in every conceivable angle i can't believe they wouldn't let me see pictures of hunter biden's cock yeah because there is something to be said about like radical and like how many people it is touched because totally i know be like um family friends who were like in new zealand who were radicalized by facebook during 2020 and they're just like completely insane now like it's not so many people's yeah but that's what the film is kind of about like that is the

time frame it's is trying to discuss and break down but it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what is going on there and the movie that does that best is eddington i mean to me like i don't think any movie has even tried to do it in any or anywhere approach that type of like the psychosis everyone has been experiencing because of phone phone bad like it's a phone bad movie and I'm totally down with that and exploring the the meaning of that and like what we've all been and experiencing where this movie is yeah completely out of touch with reality I respect and appreciate the journalism that was done and the whistleblowing but ultimately like you look at the This movie wants to be all the president's men,

but when all the president's men came out, it was like two years after Watergate. Like, Richard Nixon resigned. The government changed forever. Like, it was a, there were consequences. This is a different thing.

Like, people don't know about this story. People aren't aware. Like, it is just kind of like, yeah, these social media algorithms are fucked and they make us angry. And there's literally nothing anyone is doing about it.

and it's fucked like yeah Mitt Romney would stop it it's just depressing no I think you nailed it with the word consequences like consequences is like what the film lacks because that kind of should have been the

like the script end point is like we need to emphasize that there was no consequence for how ridiculous this is and make you feel awful for that but it does the opposite it's like a very just paint by the numbers as you said the freeze frame with the happy music like

well you're just sat there like, what? Then you open Facebook and there's like someone being like murdered or something. It's like, what the fuck? It's only gotten worse in my opinion since when this film was, um, yeah, trying to like cover. And when you look at a scene by scene basis of this movie, like on some level, I could just enjoy like, okay, Sorkin's dialogue, an investigation, like journalists doing their shit, like that is kind of fun and engaging. This movie can't even muster that. Like, it's barely engaging. Visually, extremely bland and the dialogue is just full of cliche. Like cliche after cliche, there's a moment where

Mikey Madison walks into Jeremy Allen White's hotel room and she sees like the muted TV and they're playing basketball. And she sees some guy like race his fist triumphantly after, you know, whatever moment. She just looks at the screen and goes, why is he happy? It's just like this example of like, I'm just a nerd. I don't know how sports work. You know, it's like, well, maybe because he's

playing a basketball game and they won? Maybe that's why. But it's used as just an example to set up this ending where she does the same thing with her fist and raises her fist in the air. It's so fucking corny and hacky screenwriting shit. It's just like what happened to the magic of his, even his dialogue, like it's just gone.

It's all gone. No, even that classic trope of like Mikey Madison is in another room and someone just just like, have that nerd in there. It's like, come on, bro. Like, this is ridiculous. The mansplaining line Jeremy Allen White has. Just like,

like people resort to mansplaining when you're losing an argument or something, something like that. It's just like, what fuck? What did you think of the she's disrupting line? Beautiful. Oh my God. It was, it was beautiful.

I mean, I thought like I could feel the 4DX in my mind. I was, I was, yeah. Yeah, that was quite, I don't know, just out of touch, inconsequential. It's so bad. Yeah.

And just like a missed opportunity, you know, like, why did they fart this out like this? Because it's made no effect at all, you know? It just kind of died. Came out and died. And none of the names can seem to bolster it because there's just nothing really interesting about it either, you know? There's not a conversation start. And I think they'll feel their gut to just interview Mark Zuckerberg for 30 days. Yeah.

Yeah. Like that that punchy title, The Reckoning. What reckonings in the film? Yeah. You can't call it that if there's not like the social network kind of continued a little bit. We'll get to the rest of it later. Maybe if there's a reckoning one day. That should be the real title.

No. And then it's like the January 6th stuff is so, it is just flat out. funny. Like, I'm sorry. Yeah, that was so corny. It's just out of nowhere and it's like January 6th. And Mark Zuckerberg acts like he's the president. Like they go to a situation room with all these TVs. And they keep saying like the president hasn't tweeted or message that they need to stand back or stand down. It's like all this slow motion footage of guys riding. Stand back and stand by. Yeah. And it's just like so like yeah, just hacky, corny shit. Yeah. I don't think that was awful. so like kind of preachy it was so fucking bad I can't I can't get over how truly bad it was just thinking about it and it's not like

whale fall in that like whale fall I could have a drink and enjoy this this I would need like five drinks probably to yeah replace the entire experience I wasn't bored I was more just kind of interested from like what is sort of in like what's his anger with this then you know what's he got to say about this and the answer is not much by the end of it and i and i was like acutely aware of like okay i'm like more

familiar than the average bear about like the way these algorithms are built the negativity bias all of it so like things that were treated as reveals i was trying to think about like what like a normal person who's watching this like who had never had that thought would that be like a revelation to them and i don't think that it is um not with the way it's like presented in the movie but I don't know, just an enormous missed opportunity. I think you can see everything is a thousand times more perceptive and honest about the tech world and Silicon Valley people. And that shift specifically that has been happening in the past few years from like Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas and the type of muskification of everything. This movie offers nothing in that direction.

Yeah, it's so behind. It's a conversation that was being heard so many years ago. It just feels like, okay. What else have you got to say? Maybe if this released in 2019 or something and like predicted, that would have been something, but it's not. It's just predicted January. Yeah.

Hey, Sorkin, what's this part about the reading the capital? Yeah. Whereas, yeah, it just feels like a bunch of conversations that have already been had in a kind of boring, flat, forgettable format. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Bummer. And we loved it.

Adam, you've got to see it. Yeah, you guys have really sold me on it. I'll check it out. Wasn't it Alexander Desplert doing the score as well? Which is crazy. Yeah. Normally reliable, but I felt like it just couldn't find that angle to give it its own identity because it is just living in that shadow of the social network school.

Very 90s. It was like. It was trying to be the other one. Oh, yeah, it was very 90s. but like they were leaning into the love of that of the social network with that marketing hard, with like the posters and like all of that, making it seem like an official kind of, everyone's back. And I think they probably should have shelved it the second they couldn't get,

Jesse hasn't wanted to come back, which apparently he begged and begged him to come back, but he's not interested in money. So he was like, good on him. No, I'm good. Like, yeah. He probably read the script and it was just like, oh, I just sit around in a chair like Darth Vader, like, there is no character here. Yeah.

And also David Fincher is not directing. Yes. Yeah. So like that's probably a big, yeah, like a big factor. But it's not going to be like a real, a real project, you know? Yeah, it feels like it needs to go through like a filter, so can I mean. And someone like a fincher is like not letting a she's disrupting getting into the final cut, you know, where. Have you seen some of the

Have you seen like the behind the scenes of the social network With like Sorkin and Fincher Sitting around like working on the script It is fascinating and like really Telling and insightful about like the process of like a really good director Engaging with the screenplay and being like hey we're working on Like it's funny because like You see clips of it like in this probably behind the scenes documentary

And like in the early clips you see Sorkin sitting there with his tie and everything. And then it's like, you can tell it's been like 12 hours and Sorkin's just like sweating his ties off. And they're just like, David Fincher's like, okay, now what about this son? What about that? What about that? It's, um, you wonder what, and I do wonder what that script for the social network was like before Fincher. Yeah, I wonder too.

I wonder too. Anyways. Um, three out of ten. Nice. Yeah. I'd given this a two star, but after this combo, I might lower it half a star. one and a half three out of ten minutes

see it in 40x rough yeah yeah but kind of like in a way I wasn't bored I was kind of more just like fascinated by how out of touch it was I wouldn't recommend it though no

well thanks for reaffirming that it would have been a mistake to ignore the important things that I was doing and go to the movie you should have seen it you should have seen it maybe I will

Why you're being so lazy man Yeah I'm being lazy by working extra Yeah why you've been a bad boy bubby man Yeah I'm a good boy bubby All right There was a film recommendation

Well it was two movies It was the blob Double blob We're continuing the B streak Don't put it in passive words. You said there was a recommendation. You recommended the blogs. Well, both are true.

I recommended the blobs. I'd been meaning to see them for forever. And I was like, it's October. I often forget to do festive recommendations. And, yeah, I mean, like, both combined were about like three hours. I figured I would watch both. Yeah, I did the same. Yeah.

Alex you saw both, I'm assuming. Yeah, I'd actually seen both before. I was reminded of watching them. Yeah, because it was something about that title. It's just... Yeah. I was drawn to it many a year ago. Yeah.

So we both saw the blobs, but I just learned right now that there is a sequel to the original blob that's called Beware the blob. from 1972. Have you guys seen that? No, but apparently nobody liked it. And I heard,

okay, should, I'm going to spoil the ending for the blob 1958, okay? All right, spoilers, everybody. I heard that it starts, beware the blob, starts with someone like going to the Arctic and they're like, I want a sample.

And like, It's literally that dumb of just like, oh, the problems dealt with, but like they want to like experiment. Yeah. We're going to like get a sample of it. And we're bringing it to Los Angeles. That sounds fun. What could possibly go wrong? I mean, how else do you set up a horror movie sequel?

Yeah. I've seen worse. Yeah. Apparently nobody liked that one. Okay. Well, people liked the original, the blob? I mean, people liked it enough that, you know, it's in our culture. Yeah, it's got a criteria

That means it is good Yeah Well, I mean like, no It's it's There's things that it inspired It is culturally Significant yeah Yeah

And I mean I could imagine at the time You know Like they're It it It pierced the culture In a particular way From what I understand

Even though it's not You know Like some Brilliant you know, brilliant narrative of any kind. Like it's, it takes an idea

and creatively expresses it in terms of a base concept in a way that I thought was kind of cool. So you're a pro blob. What's the base concept of the blob? That there's a blob. And it's like it'll,

it's a, there's a stickiness. Wait, Did you love the blob at? Are you, are you pro blob? I'm pro blob. I don't know if I would say I loved it. I don't think I loved it.

No, I'm glad. This is great. I enjoyed it in a way where it's like, okay, this is a time capsule. It's unpretentious from what I gather. It's silly. And even though part of its biggest problem to me is just like how much time they spend killing time and not it's like a blobless blob yeah yeah no like the pacing is probably its biggest issue for sure um but still i was like yeah you know from from like a creative concept and then bringing

that to life like the the scenes in which they do try to show those things are fun you know like they're interesting to watch um yeah not in a way where I'm taking it completely seriously unironically, but, you know, just like a, yeah, silly, silly blob type film. Yeah, we'll give it that. That's a blob type film. You could say it as the er blob. Yeah.

For sure. Alex, are you pro blob? Um, I like both these blobs for different reasons, I think. Yeah. I appreciate the 58 one for its time capsule nature more. the just ultimate B movie angle where I'm not taking it seriously for a second it's just like this cartoon world where every single person is like playing a teenager but they all look like 30 and everyone is just like friends with each other and like there's like no tension between any of the

human characters which is kind of funny um kind of this weird little dream world this like really slow kind of like really not intimidating creature that it's like you're saying the concept is creative, but like, it's almost like the lack of creativity that I find funny about it, where it's just like, what the fuck is the hook? It's just this like goo that just like really slowly like rolls around this town.

Like, killing people, I guess. Yeah, I'm never bored. Sorry. No, no, you go, tell me about the concept. I was just going to say, like, the hook of the concept is that like, it's indestructible, right? So like in those Reddit threads where people are like, what would you do if there was a

a fucking snail that you could destroy, but will kill you eventually. It follows. You know, there's something thought-provoking about the concept, and they don't explore it to the degree that they should, right? Like, it follows almost does it better, you know? But, but, yeah, like, I mean, like, there's something there that sparks enough imagination and interest, and, yeah, no, I mean, I mean, there's something there that sparks enough imagination and interest, and, um, yeah, no, I mean, I mean, like, I like the theater scene.

I like the very autistic child for writing everything. Yeah, no, it's a very, it's, it is silly, and I agree with you, it is a B movie. It is a blob type movie. That's what it stands full. Yeah. It coined it. All right, Jake, tell us your hate, your hatred. Yeah, I'm anti.

blob. I think we think we should kill the blob. No blobs in my town. I mean, I was just trying to be friends. The thing is like the original the blob is fun in a certain way to watch because it does feel like this cultural artifact. But I can't enjoy it like as a movie because it is just it's just bad. Like I just like from a scene to scene level. Like it is just like the acting is bad. Steve McQueen is in this which is hilarious. They like, he's funny. He's, his mega fame. But he is,

I think he was like 28 in the movie or something. Or when he filmed the movie, he looks like he's 45. All of the teenagers look like they're 45. And the movie has like two minutes of blob. Like, it's just them going back over their tracks. Like,

okay, we've got to bring this guy over to the doctor. And then none of it makes sense. It's all incredibly silly. Like we, it has all the features of a movie that has, a low budget that's trying to pad the time.

And like while I can enjoy, like, yeah, this is kind of funny. Like, it's all 1950s and like the bullies who are hazing him look like they're like they want to fuck him, you know, like. Yeah. And it is like his girlfriend says like two words in the first half of the movie. She just like follows him along wherever he goes and he doesn't ask her about anything. It's like it's so egregiously 1950s in a way that it's. it's like there are good, like much better B movies, I think, or probably are from the 1950s.

Like, I'm not an aficionado of B movies from the 1950s, but they're great horror movies from, you know, the 40s and 50s. And this movie just feels like it became a cultural touchstone because of the kind of camp factor of like, really? Yeah. I think that that's like something that is like culturally important and relevant, you know? It is. Yeah. It's interesting to see what the camp was from any generation.

And I feel like as soon as it's kind of interesting, the further you are away from a generation, I feel like the better the camp is. Because it's like you're so detached from it that you're not like, why is everybody fucking watching this piece of shit when there's so many other things? Now you can kind of like watch it in an ironic way where you're like a tourist,

you know, you're just kind of like stopping by, you're not like in the culture. Mm-hmm. Does that make sense? No, that does make sense. And I'm not saying there aren't like

definitely enjoyable parts of this. And I think I would get a kick out of this watching this with a group of people and just like talking and having fun. But as like an experience of just like watching it alone and trying to enjoy the film, like you're just every time something interesting or enjoyable or suspenseful,

happens. And it's not that it's bad in a way that is like, oh, the effects look bad. Like, the effects are, like, funny and entertaining for sure. All of that's great. But it's all the other stuff of the guy just playing chess. The cops play in chess. Everyone on the phone. Everyone, we got to go warn the whole town about this blob that moves two miles an hour. It's all of this dialogue and shit of these characters going back and forth, back and forth. And I'm just like, is it really just this? And then you get to the movie scene part of the movie, the movie theater.

The iconic moment, again, it is just like you see the blob for like 60 seconds. It's really just so, just drain my soul a little bit because I'm like, yeah, I want to enjoy this and enjoy the camp factor, but the thing that's bad about it is what is making me sleepy. Did you watch it at night?

I always watch things at night, yeah. That's why you're sleepy. No, I'm sleepy for all other reasons. I'd be sleeping no matter what. So, yeah, I don't know. I just didn't. I didn't love it, but there are definitely enjoyable qualities about it. And I'm glad that, Adam, you enjoyed yourself.

The remake, on the other hand, is fucking incredible. I loved it. Well, we'll get into that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll get into that. I do want to say a couple more things about the original. Alex, did you have anything you wanted to add? Yeah, I mean, like, I kind of agree with both of you.

Like, it's bad, but I wasn't bored, though. You know, like, I was actually kind of entertained the entire time. It's stupid. The concept, I think, it's just like, what the fuck? And apparently, the blob wasn't the original name. It was apparently going to be called the Glob. but then like a producer like was like wanted to change it or something because they thought it would be an organic like way of advertising it they were banking on like comedians making fun of it and using the name as like a punchline I guess and it and it was used that really and it's yeah there's just something about those two words together that just draws people in it's drawn me in multiple times um and honestly my favorite thing about the movie is that theme song why did they go so hard for that theme song it's fucking awesome Like, the tone of it is just like, what?

It's like an X-rated, like, supposed to be a horror movie. But it's like this whimsical, cartoonish theme song. Beware the pub. It's like so ridiculous. Why, yeah, boy, yeah, boy, yeah, no, I mean, like, I liked the look of the blob. Like, it was very, very, um, very sticky. It's a sticky type episode. So, okay, so here's some notable things.

that are in my notes. Burt the Schmert is a good thing to call someone. I enjoy that quite a bit. I don't know if you guys noticed this or not, but there was one actor, the guy who played the cop

that pulled him over at the beginning where he kept looking at the camera and it wasn't just that scene. It was like more than one scene and it was only one actor and it's like, oh, you don't even know you're not supposed to to do that. Or you're just like really bad at not doing that.

And then you just have to imagine like it's, you know, it's not like they're fucking like watching playback right then. It was an actual cop who just got lost and stumbled into the scene. And then yeah, like if they notice it in the editing process, it's like, what do you do? You're not going to go back and reshoot that. Like shit's expensive, you know? So, yeah, literally just looking at the camera for, A significant amount of time in that scene and another scene.

The dog was literally just a guy barking, just like a dude. All of the sounds for the dog was just like some guy. Like, it was so funny throughout the entire time. Fucking the female lead, I love how often her, and even other people in this movie, but particularly her would say something just that doesn't say anything and she'd be like, oh, okay. Yeah. And just not, like, and that's the extent of like her reaction to to a line or like a moment.

Like people, people say, oh, okay, like a few times in the film, but it's especially funny for the female lead. Yeah, she was complete background scenery. There's nothing to her character. Yeah. No, she's here to them. Just falling and fainting and being useless. Yeah.

And then, yeah, I mean, like, it's, I, there's enough about the concept where perhaps maybe I'm a little biased towards a blob type concept. Because R. L. Stein ripped off the blob for monster blood. And it was green. And it was just green the blob for kids. And I liked that a lot. That was in my childhood trauma video. That was the goosebumps thing. So maybe that's why I'm like a little blob biased.

I'm really concerned about your blob bias in this podcast recording, Adam. I think like I think you need to start every podcast with the statement that you will have a strong blob bias. I got blob in my pockets. Yeah. I got a big blob. There you go. Well, you know, like, yeah, I enjoyed it. And I'm happy to talk about.

the 88 one as well there isn't that much to say about the the fucking 50s unless there was some fun factoid shit that I just didn't I'm sorry I've been busy I didn't you know

I have the time to look up yeah there's some there's some like fun trivia like how much Steve McQueen like hated the film and like refused to talk about it that kind of thing is funny that weird scene in the movie is for like one shot Maybe I miss something.

It was like that old man. He's like changing the hats to be like different jobs. It's just like a complete like non-secret. Like what's the end? I got to also mention the fucking when the cops. Steve McQueen spends a long time trying to convince the cops to show up. They're like, you're crazy. Right?

Gets to the location is at the door with them. They're about to go inside. He's like, What are you gonna do you're gonna go in there seriously? They're like yeah you brought us here He's like you could be waiting for you what do you do it's like you brought them there And then when they get inside it's like okay there's clearly been a commotion Right like a I think it was they knew like a gun was fired and there should be a broken window theoretically like we saw a window get broken But then who was the woman that

Convinced the cops that like things were okay and it was so confusing like why the hell would she do that? I was like, is she pro-blob? Oh, the old lady that comes in, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Mrs. Porter. That was weird, because I was like, is that the blob like taking a form to trick or something? But no, that's, no, that's never explained. Yeah, that's what it almost seemed like, but it wasn't. I think she was, she just liked the blob. Let's see. A liar, I guess. Yeah, that was really weird. What was her relationship? Was she her mom or like a fucking landlord? Like, who was she? She was that was it was it was it was it in the doctor's office? I'm I'm finding the time. Yeah

confusing because I watched like three hours of blob and the second one or the remake like uses story beats and they're so they're like just a big blobby mess so I'm sure yeah what the fuck was that about Jake do you have any idea of what the hell she was about no no I have no idea but like the best B movies are like that sometimes we're just like completely random shit will happen and there will be some like story from you behind the scenes about like why that's in there, how that's in there. And it's just never contextualized. And that's part of like the bliss of it, really.

Yeah. So people, there's some people in forum saying that she's like a neighbor. Why was she so like, opinion? She was like in the building. She like woke up in the building, it seemed, unless she crossed the street wearing her pajamas. So I don't know what kind of neighbor it's in playing. Why was she so confidently?

You're making so much noise. And then she's like, trust me, I talked to him, and he said he's fine and gone right now. Yeah, maybe they cover that in the 70s sequel, delve into it. Yeah, no, she has to be transparent about her big blob bias. Blob bias this episode. I'm not sure how to feel about it. Yeah. Bad boy blob.

Bad boy blobby. Anyway, yeah, no, like, I think it's, I had fun with it. It was camp silly, dumb shit. I gave it a six. I could give it a five, but like, I don't know. Speak your truth, you know? Speak your truth, be honest. But this is exactly why I love the like feature on Letterbox.

Because this is like a two-star for me with a like, you know. Like I'd never say it's a good movie, but I'd happily watch this again. Just flies by really stupid. I am a sucker for this. kind of stuff though. I'm amazed that you feel like it flies by because I just, oh my God, it felt like trudging through the blob myself. Blob by.

It blobed by, yeah. I mean, I think one of the scenes that stood out to me was Steve McQueen racing with their cars and he's like going in reverse. And like the way he like tricks the bully is by like getting him through the intersection, I think. Like the way was communicated was not very clear. And then he's on the other side and there's a red light. And he's like, oh, huh, gotcha.

You can race me in reverse, but you can't go through a red light during a dead intersection. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, well, that fucked up shit is kind of what gives it charm to me. I guess so, yeah. I mean, you guys, you guys have definitely seen way more,

like, awful, awful shit. And I think that what I love about, like, you guys doing that. Because I like watching videos about, like, you guys watching bad stuff. You know, and I'm like, I like, I need the filter to be like, oh, yeah, this is fun. Like watching Alex or Adam watch some awful shit and complain about it. But, and like get enjoyment from it. But I've just, I have trouble myself.

Like, I don't know. That's fair enough. Three out of ten for me. Sure. Well, there's an 80s movie. And what's funny is on the Wikipedia page for the blob film series, for some fucking reason, someone created like a chart with a list of characters and then the three films. So like the original, the sequel, Beware the Blub, and then the Blob remake. And, you know, like a chart would have the characters and then do they appear in like the.

which film and who plays them. But the chart, like, there's no crossover except just the blob itself. The blob covers all three, and then every single other character is listed, and they're in a single column. What the fuck? Like, why do you organize it that way? Is the blob a character? Sure, maybe people want to know.

I mean, it says appears. Okay. The blob is. Is it like a slash a villain? State of mind. It's way more of like a character in the ATA version. Virus. Whoa.

I'm just saying it's not like a person. Goals are a bit more clear. It's a bit more capable in the 88 version. It's like, you know, it's like an acidic blob that's trying to eat people in a John Carpenter's the thing a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No, the 80s, we were realizing this when we watched it. The 80s were kind of filled with. remakes of 50s horror movies that turned out to be pretty fucking next level. The thing being one of them, the fly, the blob, you know, just like the special effects improvement, just maybe even being the excuse to do the remake in the first place. Yeah.

Yeah, this 88 film has its own problems for sure, but they're different problems. And it figured out ways to improve on the original. Does it have problems? What do you mean? Yeah, it has problems. What problems? What problems? This movie's incredible.

You don't think it has any problems? This is like, what if Twin Peaks had a blob? It literally, it's, like the setup is so very, and I do feel like it is sort of self-aware of it being like, we're kind of drawing on the 50s a little bit with like the guy on the motorcycle and all these various characters in the small town. It does feel like a Twin Peaks setup. And then it becomes like, sort of like, eight. aliens a little bit. It's like an action, adventure, but with the most gnarly special effects that's just like brutally gruesome. And I was just so thoroughly entertained. Like it is silly, but I feel like it is knowingly silly in a way that is just so fun. I mean, Frank, Frank Derriman co-wrote the screenplay. It's awesome. I just, I had such a blast. I really was really impressed by this movie.

And I don't think it's just because, in comparison to the 50s version, it's impressive. I feel like it is a great example of this type of 80s, like, small town monster movie. Yeah, I don't know. You guys, did you like it as much as you loved the original blog? I just like it in a completely different way than the 50s. Yeah, I was going to say the exact same thing. It's like making the concept work. It's like, this is what an actual, like, movie would look like if you, like, pulled it off.

Yeah, no, I like both movies in different ways. The ways in which this film is strong, and the ways in which this film is flawed are not the same ways that the original is, which I like quite a bit about these films. You want, theoretically, a remake to justify its own existence and not just be the exact same thing or try to do the same thing and do it worse, right?

I love that from the get-go, you know, the concept of this blob existing in this universe is like, oh, okay, well, first of all, it's really fast, right? The acid works, like, really quickly. And it's, like, fucking menacingly powerful and unstoppable pretty fucking soon, you know, like, it's doing crazy shit really early on. So exact opposite problems with like the pace, sorry, not probably like exact opposite pacing in the sense that like things are kicking into high gear right away with this film. Although I do feel like this film kind of like gets slower towards the end in terms of like my interest in the things that are happening. So spoilers for the 88 blob. Like I feel like it's weaker when we get the guys in. hazmat suits or whatever

um really and the entire explanation that like oh and it's not an alien it's the government thing and like all of that drama i felt to be like more phony whereas the the yeah yeah it felt like a bunch of other things and it felt like kind of treading familiar waters in uninteresting ways narratively i mean i see what you mean but it did It does feel like, well, this is the 80s. It does feel kind of newish for that time, at least. I mean, now, yeah, it's derivative. Maybe it feels very stranger things like all the hazmat stuff.

It kind of felt to me like it was more plucking from a bunch of stuff from the 80s. It'd already kind of been like a little bit of aliens in there, a little bit of the thing or the fly. Yeah. But not really quite reaching the same heights because you mentioned that at the beginning of introducing this one, the thing and the fly being obvious like comparisons. But I don't think it's even in the same conversation, as far as like standout 80s horror, unless you're caveatting the practical effect side of it in a vacuum. Because I think every one of those scenes is awesome.

Every one of the kills, so much fun. It's so good. Love the way they look. The concepts. That phone booth shot. Yeah, so good. So nuts. It's fucking disturbing.

It is legit, like, chilling some of those kills. It's, you could never get that type of visceral, response with CGI. It's really beautiful. And it's weird to think that 30 years passed from the 50s version to the 80s version. And now it's like, I mean, you look back 30 years in the past, I do feel like special effects of just, they haven't evolved in that type of way. Like you don't go from the thing 58 to the thing 88 in the span of like going from the 90s to now. no the thing 2011 we saw it that's true so forgettable yeah oh did I say the thing I know

yeah oh I don't remember I'm looking I'm looking at this phone booth scene again it's just that one shot is fucking nuts because you don't like fully comprehend what you're seeing until you're like already seeing it like there's nothing to like warn you're like you about like the fucking lively style shot that you're about to see like that's a perfect cut between like the actor and the

dummy like how do they do that that's so insane the effects and also like the way the movie sets up and I really felt like the pace was just like super on point super fast we get all these little vignettes with all these characters in the town and they aren't super special or unique but they are types and you're just like,

you're getting a feel for the town. Like, okay, yeah, it's an 80s, you know, dumb horror movie. And then when the kill start happening, it is relentless. It is really like, yeah, the diner lady getting killed that way. But at the start of the movie, like they're having the cute little date. And I thought it was really funny with the condom's bit. I'm like, oh, this is like a funny little bit. The dad is there and he's like ribbed as a great little moment.

But you're building up to this date. And then you think. okay, this is the Steve McQueen guy and this is his girlfriend and they're going to solve things or whatever. But no, he's just brutally like face melting. It's just really relentless how the characters will get killed off like that. I really enjoyed that. It felt very much, much darker, I guess, in that regard. Yeah, that's probably the coolest like kind of plot thing. The film does. It's like three for a loop with that jock character getting eaten. like partway through the movie, kind of switching gears to all that, the edgy bad boy biker

and the woman from them, well, they're saw movies. Okay. Yeah. Sorry, I'm looking at this. I'm still looking at this shot. I'm going frame by frame. Oh, is she in the Saw movies? Yeah, Shawnee Smith, the lead.

She played Amanda in the Saw movies. I haven't seen any Saw movies. Oh, my God. Damn. Yeah. How do I make you watch? all of them. What should I start with spiral? Yes, that was spiral. Maybe that should be Adam's next recommendation, just every single saw a movie. I mean, I'd do it. I would absolutely do it. I've marathoned

them before. I'll do it again. I mean, you made me watch all the human centivate movies, but there's only three of those. Yeah, there's only three of those. Yeah, so it looks like they had the dummy in that there was no cut in that shot it was just dummy but they had like its head turn at the beginning of the shot so like theoretically

I don't know like on a swivel or um yeah moved by something just so they could literally have that fucking you know wave of blob crushing right that was like the ocean gate

disaster no yeah That's a great, yeah. Yeah, great parallel there. Yeah, fascinating. Like, it's, I don't think I'm going to be experiencing something like that from like any adaptation of this. But I feel like there's a lot to improve upon overall regardless. So both of these films, blob 58 and 88, having their own flaws, I still don't feel like we have what I would consider to be like a great blob movie for like at least my own sensibilities.

Like I am pretty detached from. Well, you never know. There is a blob. There is a blob film that is theoretically in the works. Okay. Untitled film That is a blob remake Yeah, I think that's tough

I think that's a big else Who makes the blob Who's the ideal person Making the blob for you in 2026? Someone like Crager David Bruckner is attached to it And I'm actually excited because of it Oh really?

Yeah Yeah, no, that's pretty much the reason Why I was wanting to watch the blob things It's because knowing that he's attached to it you know I loved his Hellraiser remake um cool every single thing that he's directed I've been impressed by

you know some part of it for sure so I have no idea like we're just gonna have to see what it's gonna be yeah I guess it would just be the commitment to the practical effects or lack they're off with I don't know depending on who's making it the budgets they have available like that would be my fear is that it's just like CG blob you know in the worst kind of way where this came out of the perfect time in 88,

before they could really abuse it, so they had to be creative. And yeah, there were some aspects outside of the gnarly kills, I actually thought were quite good, especially early on as it was kind of developing the town, as Jake was saying, like that. I love that line that, don't worry,

there's no sex or anything bad when it was talking about the movie that were going to go see later. That's clever, that's cool. I like that. I like that. When they go to the hospital and the nurse is like,

can you have insurance? It's like, I like this angle they're taking with this, how kind of cynical this is. But yeah, it does kind of get less interesting from that kind of level as it goes along to me

and it is more about the awe of the kills, which you can just list off, like you already said, the phone booth one, the, I think my favorite one is the yo-yo one. I thought that was such a cool,

like, striking visual image, the way that kind of unfolded, awesome kind of the redux of the whole cinema scene from the original thought it was tasteful with that it wasn't like egregious made its own thing um but it was like still recognizable enough with little little links here in there little references were kind of tasteful outside of the the the flashing lights in the cinema scene was like too much for me that was like i don't even have epilepsy but that was oh yeah goodbye epileptic people sorry um Here's one.

There's a few ways in which I feel like it could be improved. But there was an idea of like consistency for the blob's behavior. And I like that it quickly introduced itself as like, okay, it's very powerful, very quick and like can just lunge at you and go wherever it wants sort of thing. But then I felt like there was a bit of conflict in that because the, when Shawnee Smith is climbing down the ladder into the sewers, right? They obviously had a concept for a shot of like,

ooh, it can have like tendrils and it'll like try to grab it or hair or whatever. And during that shot, it's like, okay, this is like the only instance of the movie where now you're seeing like, would appear to be like thick finger type things that are like grabbing at her. And at that moment I'm like, okay, well,

my imagination of how it behaved before that point would lead me to believe that in that moment it could lunge more of its body at her sort of thing or like you know goo transport more quickly but but for the you know for the dramatic attempts in that scene it needed to like change how it behaved and it just it felt like a weird inconsistency for me, at least from my perception. So in the remake, when they make it a metaphor for generational trauma, then it will click into place. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's how it would be today. Would you guys rather be whalefalled or blobbed? Well, the whalefog guy lived. Yeah, you got more of a chance I feel like being whaleful. Okay. Yeah.

I know me. I wouldn't survive the whale. If I was in a whale stomach, I'd just be like, all right, great. It's been fun. But you definitely wouldn't survive blob, though. No, I'd just be like, all right, let's blob it up. I'm just going to, like, do a somersault into the blob and see you.

I'm going to eat sea. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'd go out pretty quick if I go ahead first. I don't know. Well, you're slowly being, like, you're, you're, I don't think that's how it showed. I think I'll just, I'll take the blob. Any day. I don't want to be inside a whale. Yeah, what if when the blob eats you, it becomes like a blob hive mind?

So then you have like some control over the blob, you know? Like the end of residential. I don't want to be a blob. Yeah. Yeah. Like a bloat. I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it. I mean, at this rate with my diet, I'm already blobbing it up. So I may as well. Let's go full blob. No, I mean, I really loved how this movie turns into like a crazy action, like, a crazy action.

They're blowing shit up. Like, Rocket luncheon. Maybe I'm just enamored with the fact that there's all of these practical special effects on screen. It feels so real and expensive. Like, this movie wasn't super expensive. And I guess it was a box office flop at the time. But I think it was like $10 million was the budget, I believe.

It's every dollar is on screen. It looks insane. the special effects, the lighting, it's just a beautifully like handcrafted piece of film. And it is to its detriment. It is just full of cliches and stock characters. But I didn't find that annoying to me. It felt very charming in a sense. So I just was like, damn, why have I not known about this movie?

I'm like, this should be like talked about as among the great like, Monster movies of the 80s. I think there's a certain amount of people that do. Okay, great. Because one of the things that I heard going into it, you know, like a lot of people were like, yeah, this film's a masterpiece. I can see why, like depending on what you're looking for at in the film. Like in terms of fucking effects work, like it is.

Absolutely. And sure, I might be wanting different things in other aspects of the film experience, but like, holy crap. Like, I haven't had that kind of awe for like special effects for like death. Like, in a really visceral way. I haven't felt that in a long time.

Like, that was incredible. So, yeah, I'm really happy with what it was despite me not being like super strong on the entire experience, you know? Like, the kids were more annoying. you know, fucking I don't know I guess they'll find

it just felt all very 80s to me but it's how it feels like a passion project I think it was able to be made with the success of a nightmare on Elm Street three Dream Warriors which is great have you guys seen that? Yes no

whoa oh okay no the I haven't seen a single nightmare on Elm Street movie it's like a great horror blind spot for me yeah I don't know how I just like you'd enjoy them yeah I'm sure

I would. I just haven't got to it for whatever reason. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Three is probably my favorite. One of my favorites. I mean, three's got a bunch of great stuff. Yeah. Those are fun movies. Yeah, and it was like that was his first feature followed up with the blob. But then like some of the other stuff he's released is like quite eclectic. It was like Jim Carries the mask after that. Oh. And then a few years after that, the Scorpium King in 2002. too. So, yeah, we'll over the, we'll over the join there. That's cool.

Interesting. He has a he has a film in production and it's just a lowercase B for the title. The baby blob? Oh my God, it's a Plur prequel. I don't think it's blob related.

Before blob, he was, B. Oh, it has a blurb. Oh, no, D.B. the moment. Yeah. In a world of advanced AI, Dr. Maxwell and Lucian fiercely vie for control over B, igniting a global race against time with humanity's future hanging precariously in the balance. AI blob. Stars Zoe the Robot and Erica the robot in the cast? What the hell? Is this an AI movie? A robot? Is it a robot film? It actually might be. Pine cone too. That's good. Oh, fuck.

What the hell is this? Yo, he's Erica the Root. Why is it crediting robots? Zoe the robot on IMDB. Zoe is a cutting-edge humanoid robot developed by AI life, designed to revolutionize human-robot interactions. Motherfine. That's the description for the actor, Zoe the robot, who gets their own IMDB credit. Oh, fuck. I don't want to know about this. I mean, it's going to happen soon enough.

Robots have IMD credits. Did you see that Pierce Morgan clip that was going around the other day of like that... AI actress that was being interviewed. Oh. And then suddenly just starts like opining in fucking Chinese. It's a really funny clip. It's a big, it's a big why. Yeah, I'm just like casually bumping into robots like when I go to the supermarket now.

They're just like, it's really crazy. I can't deal with it. I'm glad that I don't live in your dystopian country. You don't want robots, cleaning the floors? It's really scary. I'm wondering why we don't have those. Like, I haven't seen those in the States or here. why you have them in the UK?

I don't know. When I go to my local Tesco, there's like a robot. Cleaning the floor. I'm like guarding it. You don't get the new A24 films, but you get fucking robots. Every time you talk about the UK, it just sounds like, you're just like, yeah, a robot pulled a cigarette out of my mouth and fucking pushed an old lady over. Like, it just sounds like, it just sounds like things aren't right.

Yeah, like what the hell's going on over there? Something strange. I've actually been a robot for the past 800 episodes. Oh, my God. They replaced you. Yeah, no, this, did either of you catch that the two main characters' names were Meg and Brian? Oh, shit. How did I miss that?

Because that was fucking me. Well, the way you missed it is because the first 70% of the film, they weren't calling him Brian. They were calling him flag. What? Yelling that at him because that's his last name. His name's Brian Flagg. Oh, okay. But then at the end, they were like saying each other's first names and it was like, Meg, Brian.

I was like, oh, oh. James Dead. That's what inspired him. It's, yeah, it's inspirational. Here's another thing that I need to mention. And this probably influenced my perspective of the film quite a lot. the soundtrack was like very silly in ways that I felt were conflicting with the experience of the film like many scenes that that wouldn't have felt as silly without the soundtrack were feeling

silly because of the soundtrack the fucking uh midi trumpet played by a keyboard and sure like those were irritating in the the action scenes for sure but then they they're even use those in like some of the more like attemptedly emotional scenes and I'm like really it's just one of those things where like at the time it was new technology and people didn't understand how grading it was yet I guess but yeah I'd agree with that that did sound out the 80s had so much of that shawnee smith it wasn't great but it didn't ruin the experience for me I'll put it that way okay yeah so I also rated the This is six out of ten.

If I were to move one of them, I think I would move the 50s blob lower. I don't think they're both even sixes. I think that this is the better film. So this could be like a high six maybe. That's where I'm at. But like. Yeah. Yeah.

I think this one's easily the better film kind of is the concept just about perfected, especially with when it came out. I feel like it's almost a fool's errand to even attempt. Unless you're really going to go nuts with the. by practical effects, you really flex something even more impressive, which I kind of doubt you'd even be able to do. It is so impressive in this movie.

Yeah, I think like a six, a three-star is where I'm sat with a like, obviously. I just don't think it holds a candle to some of the best 80s examples of this type of horror that can get like character stuff going, can get that consistent soundtrack of just a better script or what have you. All right. This is 8 out of 10 for me. Nice. 40X experience, probably incredible.

They just kill you with the blob. Yeah. I'm blobbing out. I don't know. I'm feeling the blob energy within me. I'm just, I'm thrilled to have a new movie I love, a new 80s movie I love. So this is, thank you for recommending these. Of course.

Adam. So that was like the first time you saw it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I've never seen these. Perfect. Oh. Yep. Awesome.

Good. Good blobbing times. It's blobbing time. It's bad boy blobbing. Would you guys rather be social reckoned or blocked? Ooh. Would I rather be sued or digested? Is that the question?

Yeah. I'd rather be, I could survive a lawsuit. Okay. All right. Would you rather be bad boy bubby? or would you, oh, fuck, that's actually really dark. Never mind. Would I rather?

Like including the first 15 minutes of the moon? Yeah, never mind. I would rather be blah. Yeah, let's not talk about bad boy, Bubby in that way. I'm out of respect for him and his name. Blob's great. Thanks, blob. Blob's your uncle.

Blob is what? Don't worry about it. Okay. No, I got that one. I like that one. Thank you. Question time. Okay, let's do some questions then from the Saldonika's community.

Head over to the suggestion thread over on the subreddit. If you want to leave questions for future episodes, just like Drew B-18 did, who says, what are your thoughts on Sasha Baron Cohen's Alley G, especially with his new movie releasing that has now been limited from having a wide release due to extensive backlash and boycots from critics slash media groups calling it outdated and a racist caricature. The film is now only playing for a weekend with the Amazon MGM studios dumping it on streaming immediately after.

A major UK cinema chain also refuses to screen it. I wanted to ask y'all since you've talked a lot about Borat and Bruno, but never about L.E.G. Speaking of blind spots, like I never checked out of LG. Same. Oh, I've never even seen Borat. It seems like nice and relevant. that they're releasing an allergy movie now, like, straight by the iron is hot, you know?

Um. What do you think? Okay. Well, I didn't even know, first of all, I didn't even know that this was happening. Oh, really? The second, I didn't know that it was, like, being met with all of that that you described. So apparently, it's out in, like, three days. And then I'm, I guess I'm going to have to figure out, like, where it's releasing.

Is it, like, in theaters or, like, Amazon? Like, what's happening? It says, in theaters soon. Well, according to the comment, it's just going to be, like, dumped out, maybe straight to streaming. Okay. No, I see a theater that I could see it at in a few days if I wanted to. Okay. Interesting.

So, I don't see why I wouldn't watch it. I'll have to check out a trailer. But, you know, I love Borat. I love Bruno. Allie G is the third character from the L.E.G. show. And this isn't even the first LAG film, I don't think. I think there's literally there's one called Da Ali G

movie. Oh, really? But I think it might be no, okay, so there's da LAG show and then there's LAG into house. But okay, yeah, the movie LAG in the house I think was one where it wasn't the mockumentary style and he was just taking the character

and doing like a fictional like narrative thing with it. So that's probably why. Right. There's a lot of great stuff in the show. Like there's a lot of funny show. So if you enjoy Borat and Bruno, like I would recommend you checking out the show. Wasn't part of the humor though kind of banking on the people he's interviewing not knowing who he is, right? Wasn't that like a big part of the?

Because he was in the UK. So it would be like on media tours like someone from America, like someone famous would come and not know who he is. think it's like a straight interview, but it winds up being, they're being played kind of. Yeah, he's trolling people. Yeah. So I have no idea how that would play out for like a new film. I'll have to watch the trailer, like it assuming that it's done in the same way. But then again, you know, like I thought it was impossible to do for a Borat sequel and yet

he found people that didn't know who Borat was, which is hilarious. Like, he managed to do it. Yeah, who knows? knows. He might just not have the same spark that he used to, but I'll definitely check it out. Have either of you seen Who Is America? No. No. Oh, you have to watch that. You have to watch Who is America. It's fucking insane. This is one of his series. Strong recommendation on that. Yeah, no, he, so Who is America is 2018? And he created some new characters for that one. And it's, it, it

taps into like modern America culture it's insane like it's only six episodes please watch it like I strongly strongly recommend it

okay yeah because after after like Borat we went into the 2010s the like film output the characters he was current for that was pretty weak like the dictator and Grimsby and shit like that

it was just like I don't think this really works in the same way like part it's you know Like the Nathan Fielder thing of like using real people and bringing out commentary through that is like way more interesting. So this, who's America sounds? Yeah. More my cup of tea.

Oh, please. You have to watch it immediately. Like you would love it. It's fucking nuts. Yeah, it looks like something I like. Yeah. I have no opinion on this. I literally have not, I don't think I've watched a single thing of his.

You haven't even seen Borat or Bruno. Nope. Wow. I'd be really curious what you think actually. especially not seeing them when they came out. Yeah, that's interesting. He was good in Hugo. Oh, yeah, he wasn't Hugo.

Sure? Yeah. Yeah, no, he was good in fucking Sweeney Tide. And he's going to be in Quentin Tarantino's new brought or London show, right? London show. Wait, are you guys aware of this? He's doing a, was he showtunes? Did he abandon the critic maybe?

No, Quentin. Tarantino's new project is he wrote a play it's going to be in London Sasha Baron Cones in it and it's called fuck it's some insane name

it's like a swashbuckling romance The poppinjay cavalier Yes Yes It sounds Yeah Making people go to

London Yeah To see the new Tarantino joint I don't know if I care Keeping the theater alive. Let's go. Go to New York.

Guys, we'll do anything before making their 10th movie, you know. Yeah. Like, this doesn't count yet. Well, because now he's like built it up and now he's like, well, whatever my last one is, it better not suck. So now he's stuck in a perpetual, like, not being able to make it because it's never going to be as good as like what you would want your movie to go out on to be.

Yeah, very arbitrary. And I would love for it to come out in like 10 years and then it's just kind of mid and everyone's like, yeah, I don't know. And he's like, fuck. Okay, I'm doing another one. I'm going to do five more. Yeah. Megalopolis 2.

Yeah. Tantinoch do the blob remake. Okay, yeah. Thanks for letting me know about this LEG film that I get, yeah, I want to watch a trailer for this soon. So I'll check that out. Cool. There's some great stuff.

There's some great stuff. Let's do this one from Martian Twink Hunter. Oh my God. Which of the Alvin and the Chipmunks is each start? I've got a theory. I think Adam is Alvin. I think Jake has to be Simon, which means I'm Theodore. You guys agree?

I don't know what any of that means. Okay, now describe your rationale. I feel like... Do they have different... different personalities. They have like separate personalities. Are you serious? Yeah,

I've never seen. You're asking if the chipmunks have different personalities. One's a nerd. One's a short little dweeb loser and one's annoying. I mean, they're all annoying. One's particularly annoying. And then all of them have girl inverse characters that are the exact same except

they're girls. The chip ads, yeah. It's a little bit like bad boy, Bobby incestuous in a way. Like the way they're fed up like with the clone. I'm smelling a future wreck. Because there's movies, right?

There's like a... Oh, yeah. Oh, please don't do that. Yeah, road chip. You won't understand my power for revenge if you ever do a Chipmonds film. I'm literally writing down now. I've got things in my pocket if I ever need to use them. I have...

This is like a nuclear Cold War race to the bottom. And I have... I have nukes. You haven't done a trilogy episode in a bit Just saying Oh there's three of them No way See this would be filling in a cultural blind spot for me

I don't know So wait which one did they say I was Am I the nerd or am I the You're Dave Well I from my theory I said the Simon one Because just because he's like wears glasses And it's like tall Theodore's like the short dumpy

Like dumb ass one And Alvin's like you know Which of us is this short Don't ask for it. Well, that's got to be me if I'm Theodore. Put my hand up. Got a green hoodie. No.

Yeah. So, well. No, that doesn't fit. I don't think it tracks. Wait, which one's Adam then? Alvin. Alvin? And he's, what is he,

annoying? I mean, they're all annoying. Alvin's like, it's like a band setup. So he's like the kind of lead of the band type thing, you know? Yeah. Is he interested in audio settings and movies? Oh, he's looking into audio settings, you know?

and like mixing and stuff like that. Cool. I think we solved it. Cool. Well, I have a plan now. Yeah, I'm sure you do. It's just good to have something in your back pocket just in case. Yeah, I agree.

It's like having a new. I don't want to use it, but if I have to. Exactly. Yeah. Hmm. Okay, oh no, there's another one about allergy. Let's not do that. Oh, this one is relevant to,

you can see everything physical ask asks since everybody loves you can see everything including Normy barometers Moist critical and Jeremy Johns can be considered a normie masterpiece Yes

Wow Yes do you agree Jake I think it remains to be seen It's like one of the most universally acclaimed movies ever right now Everybody loves it Is it are normies seeking it out I mean again it's

It's universally claimed and accepted for a documentary, three-hour documentary. You know, it's not like racking up sinners numbers or anything. It's not, you know. People are seeing Other Mommy. Like that, when I went to the theater to watch Whalefall, I was like, hey, what's the popular movie?

Everyone's seen it. And they're like, yeah, probably Other Mommy. And I'm like, yeah, people aren't. Like, the Normies aren't seeing and you can see everything, at least not yet. Well, the Other Mommy debuted at number one at the North American Box Hunt. Yeah, it's doing crazy well.

We live in our bubble. We live in our bubble. A bad boy bubby bubble. Yeah. We live in our blob. Yeah. Well, here's the thing. Everything everywhere all at once started with just word of mouth and then became the thing that everybody had to see.

What's nice about this film is it's also like it's very much like a cultural conversation movie. where everybody's kind of being like, you have to see this if you want to be a part of this conversation and we're all going to be talking about it and you're going to feel silly not being a part of this conversation, right? Right, that's how they get you. Which is how things get popular

is you guilt people. I mean, people do it in ways that are not explicit, but that happens with every fucking Marvel movie. That happens with every fucking Star Wars movie. That happens with every fucking Avatar movie. It's like that's the implicit underlying thought is that everybody else is seeing this and I'm going to feel so

not normie if I don't see it. I'm going to be such an outcast. No, I think it's different. It's like people just want to like see something good and have a good experience in this. I mean, that's what it seems like in the comments section after posting the review of you can see everything. Everyone's just like, shit, like I have to drive like two hours to go watch this movie now, I guess. I really want to see it in theaters. This sounds like an experience. And it is like a cinematic experience that you want to sit your ass in a theater for.

And that's kind of like a Marvel movie too where people are like, maybe it's better to see it on the big screen and like with a crowd where people are like yelling and screaming because that's more fun. And the movies are designed to be talked through. You know, like they have moments of just silence where you're supposed to clap. So. Yeah, there's a bit so awkward in the UK. I know.

I saw Spider-Ber in the UK when we visited there, and it was so hilarious. I'm sure I've talked about it before. And I was the noisy one in the crowd, and I was just like, yay. I'm like, oh, everyone's quiet. Yeah. Yeah, okay.

Did you clap? I clapped. Mm-hmm. I clapped when Andrew Garfield showed up. Yeah, because I'm a fucking movie. loud and proud loud and proud all right right next question let's do this one from brainwashed with soap

m night shaman has made a YouTube channel recently lots of YouTubers are interested in becoming directors but it's kind of funny that a famous director would take a shot at doing YouTube are that any directors you think would make for interesting YouTubers and if so what type of videos would you like to see from them i shipposts all of them scenes interviews film reviews Yeah, I'm kind of with you All of them. Hey, look, nobody's buying

physical media anymore And the physical media that exists It's like a rare occurrence Where we're even getting these like behind the scenes Featurettes. So unfortunately, the reality of the situation is You know, we might have to just leave it up to the filmmakers themselves.

Nuri Bilgad Jalan posts like Big behind the scenes documentaries To his YouTube channel. Very interesting. Fucking David F. Sandberg talks about his movie process Yeah, all the time. Like, it should, I would encourage directors to talk about their experiences, creating films on YouTube, you know, have a platform and have it in a format that

people would want to consume it and seek it out. Because as much as sure, you might have a lot of the same information at like a film festival Q&A, and even though some of those might be posted to YouTube, it's not a format that like everybody is going to be inclined to check out. But yeah, like mini documentaries. or like even vlogs or something, I think would be a great resource for young filmmakers. Yeah.

Well, I mean, like most creatives, especially like directors, are such characters as well. So seeing behind the curtain a little bit, I feel like could be really funny or informative. I'm thinking, like, what does Harmony Carine's YouTube channel look like? Baby invasion. Yeah, just like, fucking bullshit, probably at this point. But like, even directors that are long gone now,

Like if, because that used to be what was cool about like burgeoning social media was like having access to these people seeing like, I just ate toast for lunch, like a tweet. It's like, wow, they're like humans. Like what can they say? What kind of knowledge can they pass over? Because I keep seeing clips of Zach Kregor in interviews, like talking about the process, giving like writing tips and life advice. And they're often really informative and like, oh, that's a really interesting way of thinking

about that or solving this problem here or yeah so if i could have like like an awesome wells youtube channel would bring him back from the grave what the crazy shit would he be like so how meta would he get on there or you know like a but bergman like what would that kind of insanity look like i don't know would that be too too much behind the curtain for you jake do you think there needs to be like a what's the balance there i personally would love for filmmakers to not be online. But, you know, I do think there is an appeal. Like, I think it's cool that certain filmmakers like M. Knight doing that with his YouTube channel. I mean, the thing is with like YouTube, it can be anything. Like, yeah, exactly. Like, what kind of you, like, I want Guillermo del Toro

to have a YouTube channel where he just talks about the cool shit in his house. Like, that, great. That would be cool. That sort of thing. But I do think a lot of filmmakers and artists in general are just not super articulate about their process. It is kind of rare to have a filmmaker. be able to dissect and analyze within themselves and say, yeah, this is how it works, is how we did this, yada, yada, yada. Also, the press junket cycle for most movies is, it's all online. Like, I feel like we're oversaturated to a point with directors spouting off and sharing how movies are made.

And it is almost more of a rare situation when a director's like, yeah, I don't know. Like, just watch the movie. I don't think it even needs to be that, like, formal, though, you know? Like, remember Lynch's in Chichana where he was, like, read a movie. and the weather forecast. That was cool and interesting and like that monkey video and shit like that. Well, that's what I mean.

Like, I wish filmmakers would treat, and Lynch was clearly somewhat interested in the medium and with the internet and how it worked. And that's the approach I think should be taken. I don't think it should be like, oh, well, this is our promotional side of things. We're doing promotion for the movie. Like, it's got to be like, I'm curious.

Like, Orson Wells would have been, like, he made F for Fake. He would have been doing like seven-hour video essays about video movies and would have made it meta and crazy. Like that's the thing. Like I do wish that filmmakers and everything treated the internet as its own thing. Like it is not filmmaking exactly. It's it's another type of thing. So yeah, I would be interested to see like and I think we're just, we're already seeing it. We're starting to see more and more of filmmakers coming up through online pipelines and also maybe doubling back and what that looks like. And, uh, what that looks like.

in the future where the lines are super blurred between a feature film and people making shit online. So, yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, everybody. Everybody do it. I don't know.

All right, do we have time for one more quick one? Jake's got a hard out in 15 minutes. Yeah. Okay, let's round this one down with one more here. Let me choose a nice, juicy one. Let's do this one from MJCC. 1992 now that you can see everything is getting a ton of praise what are some of your favorite documentaries um gosh many to pick from um i saw a sperm world fairly recently speaking

i thought that was really good like a cool slice of like slice of life like just focusing it on these characters but giving it this kind of depth and narrative to it um there's some good like mini-series documentaries like when I saw recently an HBO one called the Dark Wizard It's like a niche I really find interesting These like climbing people That like get obsessed of like

Climbing the most insane shit Like in California Yeah shout out of that It's a weird title for that Yeah it is a weird title But it's contextualized like through the kind of story As it were And these like rambling notes this climber

Interesting Would make it's really cool Um But some of always order ones too, like an exit through the gift shop. It's like a seminar one. Yeah, that's a classic. The Banksie one.

And the planet Earths and all those BBC animal documentaries are pretty standout. Hell yeah, hell yeah. Act of killing, I mentioned that before. Yeah. If anybody's watching it, I would recommend the director's cut. It's longer. And also, the look of silence is a great companion piece to the same documentary. speaking of miniseries

OJ made in America is fantastic loved it yeah like eight hours yeah and there's some there's some like really interesting sounding like meta documentaries that I like haven't checked out that I would like to symbiosis taxaplasmism

or whatever the fuck that one's called I you know what I'm talking about No, I didn't know this one. Yeah, the Up series. No, I know what you're talking about. Simbo Psycho-Taxoplasm. Something like that. It's like the 70s movie.

Yeah. I've seen that. That's a great movie. That's a cool movie. Yeah. Okay, cool. That's something I want to check out. Yeah, the Up series that just concluded, I still haven't seen the last one.

Seven Up, 70 Up, everything in between. Awesome. some stuff. Yeah, this is a great question because I do feel like we sort of tend to neglect documentaries in general, just in the filmmaking conversation, because, like, documentaries are so tricky. They can really be anything, like, is a video essay on YouTube, a documentary is, is some slop on Netflix about a true crime? It's just, you know, it is technically a documentary, but they're, like, I feel like I'm drawn more towards a documentary that is made well and made interestingly over a documentary that's about a really interesting subject.

Like, you know, I've seen documentaries that are about like, like Elizabeth Holmes or some crazy shit that you're just like, wow, that's an engaging documentary because the story is unbelievable. Yeah. But is it made in a particularly special way? Like, not really. I do feel like I'm drawn more towards documentaries that are made about sort of nothing that are somehow fascinating. I'm always drawn to Aero Morris.

History of Concrete, then. Yeah, I want to see that really bad. Have you seen it yet? You should? Yeah, no, I saw it. It's great. Oh, awesome, yeah. His show is better.

That's all I'll say. But, like, yeah, it's still good. Okay. I'll check it out when I can. But, no, Arrow Morris. Have you guys seen any? Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Gates of Heaven is great, but also Vernon, Florida. If you get the criterion, they both are on there. Actually, kind of prefer Vernon, Florida, these quiet little just investigations into these characters in the way almost like Lance Oppenheim does seems like just focusing on the human face and letting people speak for themselves you can really really create like a dream world inside of a documentary and then like the stylistic changes he goes through in his career with the thin blue line which is I love the thin blue line I love the fog of war the unknown known is so good it's about um

What's his face? That fucking Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense. Yeah, great documentaries. And, like, obviously also, like, Werner Herzog, who has some of the best documentary. Grizzly man is one of my favorite documentaries ever. But also, he's made so many fascinating documentaries. His perspective is just invaluable in the way he lets. Kind of like Nathan Fielder, he becomes a character in his own documentary interacting with people.

Like, he can get strange reactions out of people. there's a documentary that just is to this day probably the most devastating thing I've seen documentary I've seen it's into the abyss and it's all about death row it's about death row inmates and what that is like and it's basically an argument against capital punishment really good I think we should live stream it I think yeah thank you for your take there and then but beyond that like I I obviously, like there's, yeah, so many great documentaries, but I think my favorite of all time is hoop dreams. And just a really special. So I need to see it, actually. Yeah. That'll be a wreck one day, I think.

Yeah. Well, there was like a blob version. It was Goop Dreams. I'll shout out Alex Gibney as well. I really like, frankly, a Scientology one. Looking forward to his Musk doc as well. Have you seen that, Adam? I did.

Was it like you watched it in one four-hour chunk? Yeah, well, there was an intermission. Oh, right. Okay. It's good. It's good. I feel like just me being maybe more online, like it didn't feel as revelatory or whatever. But, and I also have some other issues that I think you'll probably have the same, but I won't specify.

But yeah, I mean, like, it was good. It was a, it wasn't a boring four hours or anything. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think I could sit through four hours of Musk, like a critical documentary. Like, I've just, it's too saturated. Like, I feel like I know what I know. And I don't. And from what I've heard, like, Edith and Adam, you're kind of confirming it that it doesn't seem like I'm going to be learning that much more than I already know.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, it is valuable to still have, like, all of that stuff in, like, one place for context and just be like, oh, yeah. all of this and this at the same time. It's helpful for that. But I don't know. I feel like it's best vehicle might have been like a miniseries. But yeah, I guess it probably would have been difficult to find a streaming service.

Seems like they're trying to suppress it from being seen. Like advertising. Social media. Yeah. Also, I thought I saw tons of Aero Morris, but I only saw one according to my MDB. The Fogne War. Oh, you saw the Final War? Yeah. He's made some great movies. In recent years, maybe not so much, but like, God, yeah, Gates of Heaven is a wild one. Really good. The thin blue line, man.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Good stuff in that. Thanks for the questions. We are at the film recommendation, and we are, we're continuing the B streak. We're going to have a special guest. David Bruckner. Mm. Oh. Nice. Director of the best VHS segment, in my opinion. Amateur Knight. Co-director of the Signal 2007,

director of the Hellraiser remake. The Ritual. The Ritual on Netflix. You know, a bunch of stuff. Also, producer of quite a few things. I think most of the VHS movies. He's going to join. and he recommended

a Kiyoshi Kurosawa film Pulse. So we talked about cure before and I actually haven't seen Pulse. Cool. I'm excited. I've never seen Kurosawa film so this Kurosawa. Yeah, I was going to say you've seen

the other Kurosawa. No, I'm excited. The criterion Kurosawa. Although I guess Heardic Craterion. Never mind. I don't think I've seen any of David Bruckner's films either. Is there one Adam that you...

Okay. So the first VHS movie... You're aware of the VHS movies, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The first VHS movie, there's a segment in it called Amateur Night, and I think it's like one of the best found footage, like, horror films ever. Like, it's a short thing, but it's like, it's awesome.

and yeah I guess if if you're watching the film and wondering because it's not like the titles of the film come up before every single one so in order to find it if let's say you're skimming through the movie and can't watch the whole movie and just want to watch that segment it's the one where the guys it's like filmed with dated like purve glasses like the meta but but like in 2012 so like not quite that. But like you'll see like shots of a character like looking in the mirror with his glasses and it kind of looks like old school, you know. Gotcha.

Yeah, how do I let's see. Well, I'll check that out. I also want to watch Hellraiser. I haven't seen that. Okay, cool. Yeah, Hellraiser. Have you, I guess, have you seen the original? I have not seen the original, no.

The ritual was slept on as well. I think the ritual is awesome. The ritual has some great stuff in it. I think I'm curious which, of his films you would enjoy the most. Maybe I'll give you some good advice. Yeah, think about it. Let us know.

I mean, I'll take a look too. This is exciting. I mean, I'm excited. Oh, yeah, and I didn't mention the Nighthouse. The Nighthouse he directed as well. The Nighthouse? Yeah, yeah, I saw that at Sundance. And I'm, I think, yeah, out of,

wait have I seen out of his features I think you're most likely to enjoy Hellraiser and the ritual the most I think I don't know I wonder which ones you'd enjoy depends on the type of horror you like you know all right well I'll take a gander well amateur night amateur night is like difficult to not enjoy

I think amateur night is fucking incredible so um all right anybody listening if uh You haven't seen Pulse directed by Kyoshi Kurosawa. Also, don't confuse it with the American remake in 2006. Watch it before the next episode comes out.

These episodes come out every two weeks. You can listen to them early by going to sardonicast.com, sign up for premium. It's only a few bucks a month. Also, patreon.com slash sardonicast. Also, join members' YouTube option. You also get to listen to it early. Um, we're going to try to have this episode available for patrons and members and all that for Halloween. Yeah.

Because it's a very scary director and a scary movie. So we're recording that one early. All right. Have a happy B movie. Happy blob, man. Good blob out. Happy blob. Blobb.

Blobb. Blobbob. Blob. Bye, blah. Bye, everybody. Thanks for the thing. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye, bye.