Tales from the Stinky Dragon - [BONUS] Stinky Pop: Christmas Special

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

Happy Holidays! To celebrate the season we are gifting everyone a free episode of Stinky Pop where Blaine, Chris, Jon & Ben share their holiday movie favorites. If you like these kinds of shenanigans, PART 2 of this holiday special is available right now for all of our Patreon supporters. Listen/watch now at patreon.com/stinkydragon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tis the season to treat your family to the great taste of Popeyes. The festive family box is here to make your holidays brighter with all your Popeyes favorites. For just $25, you'll get four pieces of delicious Popeyes signature chicken, four tasty chicken tenders, four regular size, and everybody's favorite, four buttermilk biscuits. Hurry up though, like the holiday season, Popeyes $25 festive Fesca Family Box Deal will be over before you know it. Love that chicken from Popeye's! How did you know? 20% off floral scents like Burberry Her. Thank you. And 20% off trending scents like K. Alley Yum Bougie Marshmallow in Glossier U.

This is perfect. 20% off full-size fragrances now through December 24th. Shop now at Sephora and Sephora at Kohl's. Hello, it is I, fashion icon Barbara Dunkleman, here to tell you all about our latest Stinky Dragon clothing. Maybe you saw it at Paris Fashion Week perhaps? Yeah, it's that stylish.

We've got runway-ready t-shirts featuring your favorite Stinky Dragon characters, snazzy hats to represent your favorite D&D show, and cozy sweaters for both comfort and style. That's right folks, just go to store.stinkydragonpod.com today and you'll be dressed like a supermodel in no time. Once again, that is store.stinkydragonpod.com. ["Stinky Pop"] Welcome to Stinky Pop. We make so many pop culture references and tales from the Stinky Dragon, I figured we

need a pop culture show to accompany it, but it's only here because of our direct supporters on Patreon. So from the bottom of my heart, this is all their fault, and I hope they're happy with themselves. Today, it is a Christmas miracle. A stinky gift from the Stinky family to you, our stinky audience. Normally, shows like Stinky Pop and our other Patreon exclusive shows are only available to our supporters,

but we forgot to get you all something this year, so this is our gift to you. A Christmas special where I've gathered our entire cast and crew to talk about our favorite holiday film or a favorite holiday film of theirs. But you might notice something is missing. Where are Gus, Barb, and Micah? Well, their episode is

part two of this special. And you guessed it, it's only available for our supporters on patreon.com slash stinky dragon. And to top it all off, I told everyone to turn their cams on so I can see their beautiful mugs. And the video is also available on our Patreon in case you're listening to this on the RSS feeds. So I've got Blaine, Chris and Ben to talk holiday films and to start it all off everyone roll initiative. Oh Wasn't prepared for this. I don't have dice. I Like I like how that triggers things and everybody when you just say that that sentence We have this issue on behind the screen one of our other patreon shows where Micah Gus and I will always roll initiative at

The top to see who has to answer the question first Yeah, and we're always so excited when we roll low and with that I want to tell you John I rolled a nat one I've never been more excited in my life. Oh my god 20 Wow Extremes good job, man. I was I thought I was excited to go first Good job, man. I was I thought I was excited to go first We're talking about Dexterity Blaine's choice which I'll be I'll be clear it was his second choice cuz he picked Chris's movie But he was late to the draw

Blaine picked lethal weapon Lethal Weapon. Oh, what a weird pull. I'm going to show a replay of Chris's reaction that he just did right now. Because that was like 20 emotions in about half a second. It's so good. 1987.

Am I actually going Lethal Weapon? You said Lethal Weapon. No, I said one was a different movie, but Lethal Weapon was the second. And then I said, picked it pick that movie So you have to lethal weapon. Oh my god. I haven't watched lethal weapon in my okay Good news. I just watched it for the first time ever so we could talk about it. Yeah, it's great I can't wait to talk about this movie. I've never seen okay I

I have mixed feelings on lethal weapon, okay? I can't wait to talk about this movie I've never seen. Okay. I have mixed feelings on Lethal Weapon. Okay. First off, it's very much which I'm calling NSFSD. It's not safe for stinky dragon. Because it is a, it's rated R. There is nudity within the first minute. Yeah, there are drugs within the first minute and a half and Trigger warning there is self-harm within the first five minutes of the movie. Yeah, so pretty 80s It's very 80s

Written by Shane Black directed by Richard Donner Shane Black known for a lot of movies known for a Christmas movie I love kiss kiss bang bang Great one, which is very good loves Christmas movies. He does Robert. Yeah, even his Iron Man movie was a Christmas movie So Chris you pissed picked kiss kiss bang bang. No Okay, you said Chris's movie No Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas movie Christmas movie Yeah, Shane Black does a thing with he writes movies that are like not Christmas movies, but they take place during Christmas. Yeah, well I Would disagree on that with some of them like I think kiss kiss bang bang is a very Christmas movie

But maybe maybe you're right. Maybe you're right. I'm actually I'm gonna watch that over Christmas. It's Robert Downey Jr. Val Kilmer. It's fantastic Huh Richard Donner didn't realize Richard Donner directed lethal weapon director of Superman the Christopher Eve Superman and of Superman, Christopher Reeve Superman. And one of my favorite obscure movies, which I used to reference my relationship with my girlfriend, Lady Hawk, because I'm an early morning, like, morning person, and she is like a night, a nocturnal person.

And Lady Hawk's all about this story between, about these, this fantasy relationship between these two characters where one is Stuck as a hawk during the day and then the other one is stuck as a wolf during the night Because apparently I need to immediately in this podcast and go watch lethal weapon with what you've described in the first five minutes Now it stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover and I Guess don't say the last word don't say it. I'm sorry. It's a quote. I didn't mean to it's a good

He's also in it too, and he plays a really he plays a real cool assassin bodyguard guy You know what's funny about Busey in this film is that he? and bodyguard guy. You know what's funny about Busey in this film is that he was- Got big teeth. He got, he got, he got, that man has teeth. He got like super in shape between this movie and his last movie. This was his first movie of like coming back to like films

and like he wasn't like super big. And this was like the first time he had played a villain. And so this was a restart for his career. I will say, as problematic as he is now, I was such a big Mel Gibson fan during the 80s and 90s. And I will admit, the man is jacked and ready to be an action hero in this movie he's so ripped I'll say this about him in this movie is he you know Mel Gibson's Australian and you can

definitely tell in this movie. It's like yeah From the yeah, I don't think oh, yeah, I'm just from the Midwest day. I Don't know about that. I thought I read that he was born in America, but lived in Australia for a while Maybe but he has a in this movie Yeah, I went to Vietnam I Will argue though that This movie is definitely an 80s action movie. It is like Shane Black wanted to write a

Dirty hairy story a man who is so Like far gone and his only skills are like killing people but he finally finds a use for it that is helpful And to be clear Mel Mel Gibson kills a man every 10 minutes in this movie. It's a high body count. It's a high body count. It's a really cool dynamic between a very energetic action, hungry young cop, and then a grizzled older cop

who's a little bit more by the books and any lovers care or yeah He's just like I just want to play it cool until retirement That's like the classic line like I'm getting too old for this and he's like oh It's like he's that started the trope of like ah one week away from retirement I have one and I have a question about a scene with Danny Glover and Blaine I want to hear you read on this scene. It's exactly toilet No, he's not in the toilet. He's in the bath. Oh Oh, yeah, his opening scene is he's in the bath, and then his family comes in to sing happy birthday

Yeah, weird. He's like he's fully just in the bath. There are some suds covering the parts, but like I'm a dad if my kids ever did that I would scream at them to get out of the bathroom I'm a dad if my kids ever did that I would scream at them to get out of the bathroom Like and these aren't toddlers like his daughter's like like 18 basically And they all come in seeing her birthday give him hug he even jokes to pull his like young son into the bath that kind Of thing it's a weird like kind of moment these were different time I really do think is a difference in like a time thing and then like that's just a family dynamic that we probably don't know about how else are you supposed to show the family camaraderie if not set in the bathroom while you're showering not with a new

scene yeah yeah I do actually think that there is something to that been though where it's like they're like we need to like show that this family is so close knit that this father is so close knit At this father if something happens to his daughter would sure anything Where are you the the most vulnerable the shower? All right cool? We have a setting for the scene. Let's go writers room Let's get it going well you joke But lethal weapon 2 has a pretty good scene in a bathroom. Is that the bomb diffusal scene that I'm thinking of Maybe okay, you can say just say okay there's a very old movies there's a bomb yeah is it the word diffusion so you do you diffuse or diffusal yeah if

you in on a toilet in the bathroom okay it's like that is the other thing I wanted to comment about lethal weapons so, I think my logic behind this movie and then I'm assuming what Chris's movie is, is... I don't necessarily have to have a Christmas movie be about Christmas. I think, in my life, Christmas has kind of just become a setting. It's not...I've separated from the true meaning of it in some ways, and I just like the vibe of Christmas. So I like movies that also just have the vibe of Christmas. Every now and then you see a tree, and you hear some Christmas music,

and you're like, oh, this is a good setting. This feels warm, this feels comfortable, and I like that. And I would say, on that note, this movie, because Christmas for a lot of people can be sad times because they feel you know it's winter there's less sun and if you can sometimes feel you know if you don't have family or you're missing people from family or friends or something like Mel Gibson's entire film yeah yeah movie I think is a good I know echo that, where a lot of people feel that way. But it also has some heart to it that makes you,

you know, can help you feel better. You know, Blaine and Chris are really selling it on me. I think December 25th, I'm going to get my family together. I'm going to draw a nice bath. I'm going to gather them all into the bathroom. And we're going to watch Lethal Weapon 1 and 2. It's so not a pivotal moment of the movie. It just stood out, because it was the introduction of Danny Glover's character and I was immediately

like, this is weird. Are they looking at his junk? Are they trying to avoid it the entire time? What are you doing? Don't think about it. I do like, Chris, that's a good point. I think this shows the range of Christmas and how people can celebrate it. Some people are surrounded by their loving family.

Some people are alone and going through serious serious stuff and it's just like it just covers the breadth of the emotions of the holiday season. But it's set in LA so it's still warm and sunny. And it shows people finding other... Finding family in other ways. Yeah yeah Yeah, okay I also enjoy that just also on from a like a franchise perspective lethal weapon has Probably like the best I Don't know they did they did sequels really well in my opinion I don't think that this is the sequels are all that weak

I think that the second one is like just as fun and epic and is just as quotable There's four of them in Joe Pesci Joe Pesci getting introduced is great and Renee Russo who's another one is like I'll say this Sorry, you're good The fourth one I haven't seen them in a while, but the fourth one I feel kind of is the weakest sequel because They took you know Rigs who's this like, you know, loose cannon. Yeah.

He's a loose cannon, mate, from Los Angeles. And then by the fourth movie, he's completely like, you know, reversed. And so he's kind of the dynamic of the characters completely changed And it's kind of taken the like the the I can understand that like there's got to be a point where he's got to progress Past that no I understand that it's just takes away from the foil like the dynamic of Martin being like this crazy guy Let's get nuts and then Murtaugh being like let's you know calm it down and so I got a family. Yeah, yeah like Mel get rigs gets Murtaugh being like, let's calm it down and stuff. I got a family, yeah. Like, Riggs gets, he's not crazy until he's super crazy in this movie. Like, he plays it cool and chill and like a very charming guy. And then he's insane.

And then he's fighting Gary Busey in, was it raining or was it a hydrant was broken? I can't Fire hydrant fighting him shirtless in the street as the entire LAPD force Watches and goes let him have this one Yeah, it seems to be like kind of the opposite trajectory of actual Mel Gibson I'm looking at his Wikipedia page right now and I'm don't do that He's 80s Gibson and 90s Gibson. Who's like Like 90s Gibson. He looks kind of like Henry Cavill like he's like wearing like, you know

I said nice button down some suits but his actual like Wikipedia page article image. He looks completely unhinged He's those like crazy. Yeah, I think he is unhinged. I think deep that is core Yeah, I Do think though that's very true for people oftentimes who are going through issues Mental issues or you know sure sure they can seem super happy and friendly and funny and then But also have issues. Yeah, they're very good at hiding. He is well severely suffering from what is clearly PTSD and He is well severely suffering from what is clearly PTSD and depression depression He is mourning the loss of a of a significant other and he was in what is it Vietnam?

norm yeah, and My one of my favorite little things that I was reading because I like to for any of these movies We talked about sticky pop I like to do a huge deep dive as much as possible it's like articles about and interviews and stuff like that. And I love reading about the pre or the production of the film where they were like, yeah, we worked really closely with LAPD. Mel and Danny did like extensive training for like two months prior to filming. And then they had supervisors on set the entire time. And they were like trying to make it as you know, real for the LAPDD experience and I thought that was hilarious because throughout the entire film they do stuff That is very illegal

And and I was like but I get like why it's the action movie thing You know, but like it all even that that fight scene with Busey and him at the very end I'm like this is when they told the suit like the tech supervisor Don't don't tell us this is this can't happen. Uh, we need mel to be shirtless and uh Using uh, what they described as like new fighting styles that hadn't been really seen in in in movies Um, he like capoeira and jiu-jitsu and stuff like that Um, i love those. They're so. Yep. Cute. They're very cute I do like blame. Tell me this. What is your favorite?

What is your favorite thing about this movie is is it that whole thing that it is? Not really a Chris's movie is that why it's a it's a favorite of yours Or what what is that that you because I think this one that you said you've you watched this You've watched this a lot. So what yeah, what's the draw? I think I don't know. I don't know if it's like a Christmas draw at all but I do like the unlikely friendship that develops between Danny Galevra Mel Gibson's characters and like how good their chemistry is because I remember at one point Riggs does something super unhinged and he puts himself in another person's life in danger.

I think it was like the jumper. He does something that's insane that he should not have done and it's very unsafe. And it's at that point that like, Murtaugh is such a good detective and he just like, he knows this guy's not right and he is like a, like a comet just like hurling through and he's gonna just, whenever he hits,

he's gonna explode and everything around him is gonna get destroyed and he's like, I want no part of that and he like, he's like, you gotta button your stuff up and I, and like this like talk where he's like, get it together and stuff. And it's just such a cool dynamic where it's like,'m trying I'm clean I'm almost at retirement you're not gonna mess this up for me and this other guy is just like I don't care ah you know

what's funny is I just realized is that the arc and dynamics of Riggs and Murtaugh's relationship and the lethal weapon plot line all the way to the very end how the movie ends is Almost identical to planes trains and automobiles with Steve Martin and John Candy. I just watched that Yeah, where it's a shooting though. Yeah, there's there's way less guns way less death Way more holiday elements, although planes trains automobiles a Thanksgiving movie I think the best Thanksgiving movie but it still ends with like you know this like crazy person that you never thought was gonna be integrated into this family and at

the very end they all have you know their meal together the lethal weapon I think the only real Christmas elements were that there is a gunfight in a Christmas tree farm at the very beginning. And then they end the movie having Christmas dinner together. I don't think Christmas is a part of it the rest of the movie. And that's totally fine with me. It's the backdrop of a cool movie.

Also they, okay, real quick side tangent, the trailer, if you haven't watched the movie or even if you have, just go watch the trailer for the first one. I love watching old trailers from like the 80s. They use this song, and I think that they use it in the movie, but it's like a clock ticking to kind of just show like, you know, oh, things are going off. You don't know if it's like a clock ticking because it's a bomb or because time is running out, but it's like this cool song. And I remember being obsessed with that song and I could never find it.

And they use it again in Shaun of the Dead. Oh. Or maybe Hot Fuzz. I think it might've been Hot Fuzz. That makes sense for Hot Fuzz. But anyways, I was obsessed with the song and then I ended up cutting a version of it for a student film in college

because it was just such a good, like, high energy, I get it. like tense musical thing. Yeah, this movie's great. It's like classic eighties. It's from a time where you didn't need a CGI helicopter out running a avalanche of like monster trucks, like the Fast and the Furious franchise.

Sure, sure, sure, sure. It's just like you watch this and you just, you're not at all invested because it doesn't feel real, but you watch this and you're like, no, this feels like real action. It's funny you mentioned helicopters. The original ending did involve more action as opposed to kind of ending on that fight scene.

And it was going to involve like a car chase with helicopters. So Lethal Weapon came out 87. Yeah. Die Hard came out 88. Both are set during Christmas. Yeah. Do you think Lethal Weapon inspired Die Hard to be set

there? Or you think it was too late? They were in production overlapping. That kind of thing. Die Hard was based off of a novel. Yeah. It was one of those things of like, man, if I had a nickel every time this happened,

I'd have two nickels. But it's still weird that it happened twice that close together. It's frustrating because I think Shane Black often gets miscredited for doing Die Hard. Oh, does he? There's so many similarities. There was like a funny panel where he was on it and someone was like, when you were writing Die Hard, he's like, nope, nope. Nope.

I think I actually, there was like, with all these movies, there's always a million actors that are looked for this stuff. And I think it was like Bruce Willis was looked at for Mel Gibson's part. The last thing I want to talk about, Lethal Weapon, cause we do have two more movies to talk about, and I want to be able to give time for those,

is I want to tell you my only experience ever with Lethal Weapon, because we do have two more movies to talk about, and I want to be able to give time for those, is I want to tell you my only experience ever with Lethal Weapon prior to watching it, yesterday, two days ago, something like that. For some reason, you know, back in the day when we were kids, you would turn on the TV and just flip through the channels and find movies. I flipped through the channels, found Lethal Weapon, and the only scene I'd ever seen, and I was like, I was waiting for it the entire time I was watching the movie is Mel Gibson hanging from the chain and getting electrocuted with that sponge thing Yeah, and that was the only scene I'd ever seen of lethal weapons So I had no idea what this movie was so even watching I was like, oh, he's the lethal weapon

Okay. Now that answers the question. That's nice to know. Yeah There's a line. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I finally experienced it. I know who's the lethal weapon. It's Mel Gibson. I talked to Josh Flanagan, a friend of ours, and we were writing in like he I think has some sort of connection with Shane Black, but he was always talking about how Shane always writes characters who are the best at what they do. Yeah. And Martin Riggs is like, he's like the best soldier. He's the best at what he does. And I think that that always makes for a fun character

where it's like, he's the best there is. I would highly advise people to check out Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Nice Guys, which are, I think, two of Shane Black's best films. And they're also Christmas settings. Nice Guys is not um but kiss kiss bang bang is oh nice guys ends on Christmas there does it there is there is a Christmas moment I think in the very end I thought okay I don't remember

back to Shane always doing Christmas settings I'm in three Shane black also Christmas Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling so good he loves to pair people together um but that's lethal weapon I think it's a choice that I'm no one's surprised that that would be in Blaine's cadre of favorite movies Speaking of Blaine's cadre of favorite movies Chris. What movie did you pick? Do you know my name? You know my name Movies as a child another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he's John Wayne Rambo

Marshall Dylan Blaine I'm fine Something about yippee-ki-Aa. No, no, he doesn't say that. He says it, doesn't he? Well, I was always partial to Rory Rogers. Yeah. And then they have some more stuff and he's like blah blah blah and he's like Yippee-Ki-Aa mother effer.

Mother trucker. I'm so glad we got that on video. For anybody who's watching the video version of this, Chris got so excited. It's probably not the first time we got that on video. Chris has tried to bring in his Gruber impression as often as possible, which is very fun For those who don't know die hard is the movie we're talking about haven't said the name 1988 talked about it already. We've talked about already I Have two things I want to say about this film mm-hmm

This is second time. I've watched it I've rewatched every film that everyone picked, even the ones that I've seen before. The only one I had never seen before was Lethal Weapon. And actually, I want to say thank you, Blaine, for giving me an excuse to finally watch the movie. I love ticking off movies off my I never watched it list. And this was just a great excuse.

I'm like, oh yeah, I've never seen it. Go through the whole franchise, because when Renee Russo shows up, ooh. Yeah, I was reading up on interviews they were she showed up in a lot of the interviews I was I was looking at and they were talking about her being a really good like pivotal addition to the to the group yeah I finally get this movie diehard and before no because I will say that on its surface it's very easy to judge the movie as a

soulless action movie Let me let me finish let me finish Let me finish a soulless action movie that it's only real claim to fame is some you know obviously iconic and cheesy visuals that people like to repeat you know John McClane crawling through vent his bloody feet you know stuff like that or its argument is it a Chris movie or not I get it it's actually a comedy that takes place in an action story and if you

watch it, for some reason the second time I watch it, it's actually made with a lot of effort and maybe this helped that I read about how the movie was made and all that and that probably can really help you appreciate movies more especially if there's a lot of really interesting stuff out there from like I read stuff from the cinematographer and the writer and the director and all these people and interviews with like, what's his name? Dad from Family Matters. Reginald Valjonsson. Yeah, Valjonsson and all that kind of stuff. And I really enjoyed it this time. I did not

enjoy it the last time I watched it. I thought it was a dumb action movie I'm glad I rewatched it. This movie is actually pretty fantastic and john Let me be the first to say welcome to the party pal. Okay. Okay That was great you've seen the movie, right? I die hard is the movie. I like start like the holiday season. Okay. I love watching die hard Every christmas, okay. It's like something my brothers and I all watch together I love that movie I got to show it to Kristen I think last Christmas for the Christmas previous to that because she had never seen it and I was like oh it's December I gave you die hard I hard okay the other thing I

wanted to say really quick before I give you Chris a moment to talk about why you love this movie is I have a really fun fact about this movie This movie wouldn't have happened if civil shepherd hadn't gotten pregnant Go on Before while the movie was in pre-production they were trying to cast John McClane, which they actually went through tons of people cast John McClane, which they actually went through tons of people. They wanted to get Bruce Willis, but he had a scheduling conflict because he was a TV actor. This was his foray into film, and he was doing moonlighting with Civil Shepherd.

But thanks to the fact that she got pregnant, it shifted his schedule enough that for the beginning of production, he was Michael J. Foxing it and he was filming Moonlighting during the day and then you go to the Fox Plaza and film Die Hard at Night, which is crazy. But it actually, I'll talk about how that actually helped the movie. But because his schedule opened, he was able to take this movie and that is the only reason that he was able to die hard and why we have Die Hard the way it is. So thank you thank you civil shepherd and your child Way to go. Yeah, okay Chris. Why do you pick this movie?

Well, I want I want to quickly address the claims that it's not a Christmas movie just to get that out of the way I'd love to I'd love to hear this It's 100% a Christmas movie. I would agree the entire It's 100% a Christmas movie. I would agree. The entire plot takes place at a Christmas party the night before Christmas. There's Christmas decorations throughout the movie. The soundtrack is almost entirely Christmas movies.

I mean, Christmas songs. There's Christmas music everywhere. He just played Christmas movies for the soundtrack. It was just like clips from Christmas. And and and and it ends again in L.A. but with surrogate snow falling down. Oh, you know, it's like the paper, the other burning papers. Yeah. And so by the way, like Shane Black wanted. I forgot there's nothing.

Lethal Weapon was going to end with all that stuff and a Snow of cocaine is what it was supposed to Chris I'm glad you brought that up because I actually thought long and hard about this and I've come up with I'm sure I'm Not the first person to come up with this, but this is my my take on it You guys know what the Bechtel test is right? Mm-hmm. Yes You guys know what the Bechdel test is, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, for those... Yeah, Bechdel test is, does a movie pass the Bechdel test? It can if there are two female actors that have a conversation that is not about another man or a man. I've come up with the Ebenezer test. Can this movie have happened how it worked if Christmas was removed? Now I would actually argue not to remove your choice. I'd say Lethal Weapon actually could work perfectly with the entire Christmas element removed. However, Chris, you're correct. A

pivotal reason why John McClane is at the, what's the name of the? Nakatomi Plaza. Yeah, Nakatomi Plaza. Is because he is coming in town for a Christmas party. Now he wouldn't have come into town for, and stayed, you know, for anything else other than if he had done that, it would have just been him awkwardly staying

with his like on-off, you know, ex-current wife kind of thing. Current wife. And it would have been very been very married but not together. Yeah strange And it was the Christmas party is what wraps the whole thing together and you're right There's all kinds of other Christmas elements including like, you know The sweater that he he writes on with blood on the guy that he kills with a little you know, ho ho ho with the little, you know, ho, ho, ho, and that kind of thing. Potential.

Uh, uh, uh. Uh, uh, uh. Now, why? It's just, I'm so glad we're recording videos so we can see what your mouth has to do to do your Alan Rickman. It's weird, it's the same thing you have to do whenever you do.

Oh my god, now I'm trying to think of a quote. Oh, I just, I just gave, I blew it. Now I have a machine gun. There it is. Power, power, power. You gotta lock the jaw out. You do, you now. I have a machine there it is You got to lock the jaw out you do you do a little lot of under I feel like It's the same thing you kind of tend to do like when you're trying to do a mateed voice you have to you like shift your mouth in a way of like Mateed would like Allen Rickman, by the way

My name is my dude converse Another fun thing I learned about this movie it has four Academy Award nominations. Oh Kudos to it. Yeah deserved It's it's for the categories you would expect from this movie. Film editing, visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing. But I would actually argue, I think it actually earned all those nominations. And for some reason, maybe it was the way I watched it this time. It's actually got a fantastic sound mix to it.

It's I don't know what it was, but like the even just the gunshot sounds were just they really hit me in the chest. And it was it's's, it's, Bruce Willis' performance is actually very subtle and different than previous action heroes. They wrote the whole thing to be like, what if like just the every man- A regular guy.

Yeah. Yeah. Was an action hero. Not an action hero, action hero. Yeah, not like a Schwarzenegger or a Rambo or something like that well that's that's the whole thing it's like oh you think you're a Rambo you think you're John Wayne or whatever and say no he's just like a guy who's you know it's like he's just a dude and that's why they can't I mean he was not an action action hero no when he was a cop he did

comedies yes a TV comedian. Yeah. I mean, this is this is this is why we have Bruce doing all those kinds of movies. I was actually talking with my partner while I was watching this movie, and she asked, like, who would you cast if you were to reboot Die Hard these days? You know, like because Bruce Willis is such a I don't want to come like an every man, but he's so different from someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger in any of these like action movies right like who would fit?

Today Bruce Bruce is a very subdued actor Paul Rudd Oh That would be I mean he'd be a very different dynamic. Yeah, but it would be really funny It'd have to be a comedic style actor You said Schwarzenegger earlier and I mentioned Frank Sinatra So this was supposed to be lies an adaptation of the book the detective and they made that into a movie starring Frank Sinatra And I think that there was somewhere in there that they had to offer the role of John McClane to Frank Sinatra

But by this time he was super old. He was 70. He was 70 when this movie was made. He wasn't gonna take it. But then also... Oh yeah like that was the funny thing, they had to offer it to him and I'm like man Frank you should have taken it. Just yeah right should have taken it. But John McTiernan directed this and he also did Predator and Commando, and in Predator and Commando, they have, I think, a fictional country called Val Verde or something like that. And these are, I think they referenced that in this movie,

so these are all in the connected universe of Predator and Commando. The McTiernan cinematic universe. And I think John Matrix was also supposed to be the same character McTiernan actually wrote one of our directed one of my favorite action movies of all time Which does star Schwarzenegger last action hero, which is a parody on the action movie franchise and it's fantastic I highly recommend people check that out Johnny turn rocks and just got out of prison. so I hope he directs him to the banger.

Wait, why was he in prison? Why was he in prison? It was like tax fraud, wasn't it? Tax fraud, yeah. Oh, that's always where they go. Hey, hey, justice for John McTiernan. I'm still. You what?

How long was he in prison? Oh, I don't know. I think he got out a decent amount of time ago, and I know that he currently has, there's a, he has something in production, but it's been like in production hell for a minute. I'm still stuck on Frank Sinatra and Die Hard. I like just imagine getting through that whole movie

and you get to the end, you're like, you're a loose cannon cop. How did you stop the bad guy? And he turns to the camera and he goes, I did it my way. My way. Like, oh, I went and fade to black. Oh what a great movie and you got some zingers in this book. Yeah Waiting for these moments Another fun thing I read about this movie is I was reading interview by the the cinematographer Jan DeBond

who Shot die-hard, but then also directed Speed and Twister. So, an accomplished filmmaker. They were talking about how, it was either him or maybe I was reading D'Souza who was one of the writers on it, they were talking about how in action movies you need to have a hatecute, which is like a meetcute in rom-coms, but it's between the hero and the villain and the hatecute for diehard actually came out of an a moment on set where a Crew member was talking with Alan Rickman and he was unknown at this point. This is actually his first movie

Yeah, this is his launch. He was he was a stage actor Point this is actually his first movie. Yeah, this is his launch. He was he was a stage actor And known, you know a little bit in in London, but not known or England not known at all here Anyways, they were like, you know, hey, we you know We hear a lot of like English actors have like an American accent and Alan Rickman's like I don't have an American I have a Californian accent is what I can do. And so he did it the writer heard him and said and went and grabbed Someone else like the producer was like Alan do that again and he did it the writer heard him and said and went and grabbed Someone else like the producer was like Alan do that again, and he did it again And then they went and grabbed the director and he's like do it again, and so Alan's like did it again He's like why are you making me do this and they were and like the Susan and the director look at each other

He's like do you get it? He's like oh, yeah, and so that's why Gruber and McClain meet each other and Alan Rickman pulls out that fantastic American accent. Oh you're one of them! You're one of them aren't you? Oh god. So good. Yeah. I want to know what the line was that the guy heard that was like do it again do it again like keep delivering that line. I can't remember actually I think they wrote it down. But I love that I love moments like that like they were writing rewriting a lot of them the. The script while shooting. Yeah. Which is crazy because they actually were highly prepared for the movie because they wrote the movie.

Their first writer, I can't remember his name. But DeSousa got his hands on it, and he had access to Fox Plaza before they actually started principal photography, which is where they shot. Because it was actually under construction. So they used that in the movie. They were incorporating elements of the building. It's like one of those dream location finds where it's like this playground.

Yeah, this playground. This very obelisk-like tower that looks like it should be this super advanced, you know, business building. But then it was also like partially under construction, so they had plenty of place to do filming in there. It had a rooftop for them to do. You know, good action devices.

Well, yeah, and that's what I was gonna say was that they got to go through and like blueprint the script around the building and so that's why all the action is very meticulously Scripted and shot in very specific ways because they like they basically went in and planned the whole thing in the building I've had dreams about that but in a terror nightmare dreams before Explain you know how you well you know how you always have those dreams where you're like you show up and you realize you You'd skip the class and you have a test or something sure it was when we were at Rooster Teeth and It was like laser team three or something

I was talking with Matt Holm who's Directing and he was like yeah, we we don't really have the script for this next scene But it takes place in this room Like do you think you could like five minutes? We're shooting it. We'll be here in an hour. I Probably shouldn't tell you guys this but that's sometimes how it feels when we're filming stinky dragon First I'm like From how you wrote our first Quarantine campaign for RTD and D. Oh man D from that there are sometimes days we'd wake up my go All right, Gus. I got three sentences for you. Well, one of them is descriptive

Have fun. Good luck Also, I did some quick research John McKeernan actually went to prison because he was doing a lot of wiretapping illegally Oh really he did go in through some financial problems wire for bankruptcy Yeah, I think it was like on the production of rollerball and then there was also an invasion of privacy civil suit Probably reading all about this. Yeah, it was like a whole thing about the dispute on money or something There's and about about it's like rollerball and you someone was trying to like mess yeah he was trying to get someone on tape talking badly about the production company yeah Wow

illegal wiretapping sounds like research for a wiretapping movie Chris probably thought out about that because he had a hidden camera show at one point at roosterteeth No, no, I think it was just that late night, you know watch Wikipedia Then you like it sounds like I do the same thing that John does Which is just like read up on the movies and like the the production aspects of not all of them But a lot of times I do and I like watching a lot of them, you know breakdowns Yeah video like DVD extras and stuff. Yes All of them, but a lot of times I do. And I like watching a lot of breakdowns, video diaries.

Yeah, like DVD extras and stuff like that. Speaking of which, I have three other fun things I learned about this movie that I think helps people enjoy the movie more. One was, we were talking about how, I was telling you guys about how Bruce Willis was not able to be on production during the day for a while until he got off moonlighting that actually

Forced or inspired them to write more supporting characters stuff. So Reginald Val Johnson his character was actually fleshed out more. I shot a key It's such a good line it's such a good line and the whole scene of McClain's wife meeting Gruber and like taking charge of like the situation and telling them like, you know You need to feed these people that kind of thing. That's great. Yeah, that was written in. She's a great character Baudia yeah

So basically every time you watch the movie and it's not a Bruce Willis moment That's actually them going we need to film some other stuff. So we're gonna even the the scheme II We need to film some other stuff. So we're gonna even the the scheme II Reporter that was a whole thing that they like fleshed out and like went and shot with like, you know The nanny and the kids at the house. It's it's such a good well-written movie though Despite yeah, despite the fact that it was like made on the fly a little bit Really is a tight script. Yeah, and there's very few like flaws But like one of the big ones is the ambulance at the very end being in the semi truck. Well, don't spoil. Oh, then it's not. It's not there. And then it is there.

There's a huge continuity issue. But like the movie so good. It's kind of like Jurassic Park, where there's also a huge continuity issue in that. There's actually a reason why no one cares because the movie's so good and you're just along for the ride. You in that there's actually a reason why no one cares because the movie's so good and you're just along for the ride What we're saying? There's actually a reason behind that continuity error. They didn't plan that Until they were doing this like supporting character stuff And so that whole the guy in the limo they fleshed him out more and came up the reason for him to stay around And to that thing and so they Yeah, he's got some fun shots of like him like living it up in that limo and then like just insanity happening behind him the other thing knowing knowing that they like

Used like you know the everything like note like they use this building that was like in construction like the fit scenes I like to imagine just like someone got injured on set and they called an ambulance in they're like we got to film this We gotta get this one. We should use this while we have it the other thing I was reading about was the the action visual effects stunts that they were doing and How I I was I'd say the one there's one really silly shot in this movie There's probably more than one but there's one that really stood out in this viewing which is when You know, the FBI is throwing is like sending in the the squad

And ruining the whole thing. And they send in that truck, and the truck storms the building. And the whole time, you know... Oh, and he's literally saying all through the... He's saying the Christmas poem during that scene. It's incorporated into this. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I love that they build it all up. The German terrorists are putting together together that like the rocket launcher and it's like this whole thing. And then they cut to the shot of the rocket hitting, like it seems like they're gonna shoot this thing as it comes up. This car drives forever by the way.

It like the whole time that they're putting together the whole rocket launcher, I'm like, how far away was this car, this special car? Anyways, they finally cut to the shot that they're shooting the car. And they like the rocket launcher is like in the second story window Just right above the car just like shooting down at it as though

it's like just pot shooting and they talked about how like that was one of those moments where they like yeah, there's like a string between the rocket launcher in the car and the rocket travels with it and then the the car like explodes like Like all the windows blow out at the same time and everything like that Again like practical effects. Yes, it's believable. It's fun. Yeah Well, yes, I would yeah And you mentioned like the the side characters and it's not just like the good side characters You fall in love with like the the FBI cops Johnson is so silly. They're so silly Why do they have the same name?

Who cares? And then they're just like. It's Johnson. The other one. They're talking about like, one of them's a Vietnam vet and he's like, I was in third grade, you know? Yeah, it's just little like real moments. They're all like just good dialogue.

It's very funny. Good characters. It feels like on set, you can tell that the director was like, okay, we need this shot. You go take cover behind that, you know, bar. You're preparing your gun because someone's about to come in. And then they like, he grabs the candy bar. Like it's just such a weird little detail,

but like it just makes it so much more human. Yeah. Character to all, even the bad, the little goonies, you know? Yeah. Like the little bad guys the very tall blonde like Hans they all should just be named Hans. I know there's one named Hans, and then the rest are but they're all just Hans to me I do want to talk about the infamous falling shot

Which everyone I'm this is a spoiler But I think everyone's seen this, the shot of Gruber falling at the end. It's one of the things that's shown in every film montage that's ever made. Every parody, it's been parodied in Family Guy, every animated series out there that wants to make a joke. They used a technology that previously

had only been developed and used for military purposes to focus on Rickman as he fell because it was a rack focus that would have been impossible to nail manually because he's falling 70 feet and it's in slow-mo so if the focus was out of focus it would have been out of focus for forever and so they actually had to use this like they used like it's like basically a computer technology that was like calculating the speed of his descent and racking the focus with him so that it would go down with him which I

also love that Alan Rickman did the stunt and had to fall you know several takes and it's true they they don't tell they didn't tell him when they were gonna drop him it was like we're gonna drop't tell they didn't tell him when they were gonna drop him It was like we're gonna drop you on three and they drop him on two, but they did it multiple times and so but Cuz they they wanted to get it they wanted they they wanted to get it They did it multiple times because they wanted to get the surprise, but you can't just have a surprise they wanted to give they needed him to also be able to show emotion of like his his

Realization he's dying like that's what I also wanted to give that thing But I love that that shot like took so much work and endeavor and it's it is it's just an iconic film shot. I Like Ellis is my favorite side character Ellis is he's the guy that is clearly trying to get Ellis is he's the guy that is clearly trying to get Oh John's oh the one who's like caught doing like blow at the beginning of It like negotiates deals for breakfast you know You know like it's so the entire scene you're like I can't wait till they shoot this guy I they're gonna shoot But even even like John McLean is like a good character is like Ellis don't mess with these guys Like you don't know what you're doing, and then he's like trying to stop him even though. This guy's a terrible dude I

Negotiate multi-million dollar deals for breakfast. Yeah, I think I can handle some euro trash. Yeah, yeah the stunt that kills me every time that I watch it I guess now is a John McLean falling through the elevator shaft, missing the first ledge he was going for was an accident. Um, and going for the next one. That was an extension though, right? That wasn't like, he was actually in an elevator shaft. Yeah.

But like he did that stunt, the stuntman was supposed to catch the ledge and missed and they just used it It's perfect. It's perfect. So great. I didn't know that that's awesome. I have to rewatch that Hits it like hard like yeah, it is not a like oh He just kind of bounced off no that dude bangs off a metal wall, and then somehow grabs the ledge underneath it The the stuff where an action heroes mess up yes, so good to me like you do that really well It's never good on set. You never want it to happen. No, no, but like but use it if you got it What's the one wherever it's like ghosts is it goes protocol where other in Dubai on the the super high building and he's like

Supposed to swing and grab hold the ledge and said just bangs his head and yeah, so it's just like whenever it's like Oh, yeah, it's not always it's so much more interesting when they're not perfect Yeah, well, it feels like in character too for for John McLean, right? Yeah, he's not he's not used to that. He's just a New York cop. Well, that's why Die Hard, I know that two gets a lot of hate, but Die Hard one, two, and three are like, I think a really solid trilogy. It's not till four and five,

McLeffrey Die Hard and then a Good Day to Die Hard, that he becomes Superman. And he's literally fighting one, V1, like a fighter jet, airplane. He gets the Fast and Furious treatment. Yes, but the first first three it's like I'm gonna watch so I do now It's it's a Christmas movie. It's another one that takes place during the holidays. I had no interest I have a direct hit go for it. I have a direct connection with the actors from both of the movies we talked about yeah

actors from both of the movies we talked about yeah did you say oh yeah you do drive five I worked Gary Busey son that's right and then all you see yeah and in you're looking it up now who's the other person you have connection to you clean Bruce Willis's head once'm sorry sorry sorry William Sadler in Dave I also I worked with him. He is in day five season two so I directed him on a And that so it's like and Sadler is who and why I was saddlers in diehard 2 He's the bill. Oh and I heard yeah, see I was the main bad guy He has this amazing scene where he's doing Tai Chi in the nude and he's shredded I mean he's like an absolute in the nude and he's shredded I mean, he's like an absolute unit and then you're supposed to be like, oh this guy's not right in the brain

Like he's like he he's like unhinged a little bit He didn't tell him about that scene. They told him about that scene After he was like on the first like after he's already set up for the movies like we shoot it last cuz I need to get in shape Shredded yeah Like what did he what are you doing? He just worked out the entire movie so that whenever they actually got to filming it. He was ready for it I mean it shows I don't want to spoil it too much But it is like it's this just hulking guy

And then he does this thing with this final move where he turns the TV off the remote But it looks like a gun and you're like oh that guy's insane. That's our villain for the movie Okay, die hard. I'm one over. I like it. I'm gonna it's gonna add it into the rotation of my Christmas movies Thank you for making me watch it again And thank you Ben for picking your movie I was gonna say I'm so happy It is one of my favorite Christmas movies ever, and I'm so happy when anybody else brings it up.

What movie did you pick, Ben? I picked Jingle All the Way. I'm so happy that we have like- Action stars all around. Action stars all around. Oh, man. Very thematic episode. We've got some crazy action heroes in our-

Yeah. This is such a bro Christmas special. Oh, yeah. Gather your family around. Three between Jingle All the Way and Die Hard. You want to know the connection is? Yeah. Schwarzenegger turned down the role of John McClane to do comedies, which he went on to do twinsins with Danny DeVito. He wanted to branch out into other films. And so we almost had Schwarzenegger do this role, which is why we have Schwarzenegger

doing all the way, because he became infamous for doing comedies and family movies and that kind of stuff in his later years. Can you, for people who aren't as familiar, what's the premise of this movie? Oh man, I'm so glad you asked, Chris. It is about Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is playing this hardworking, kind of workaholic dad, who is trying to get,

he misses and he's chronically late for all of his son's big events, karate classes and whatnot. His, you know, the mom, the wife's starting to get onto on to him about it and for Christmas the kid just wants one single thing it's a toy it's it's turbo man and he basically last minute Christmas Day has to go out to get this toy that he's told his wife that he definitely already has just left it at the office and the

Adventure that happens from that and man him trying to acquire a hot For it's basically a Furby or like buzzle, you know, like Tickle they keep calling it a they keep calling it a doll and at one point he gets corrected to like action figure But throughout the movie everyone calls it a doll It's just such a 90s movie It has like the 90s like push-ins like you have like a long hallway scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger Where he realized it's gonna be like hard to get this toy or something and he does that like shocked face eyes wide I like punches in

Lloyd in it before I forget this movie has jay cloyed until I watched the movie and I jake Lloyd was a huge child actor And then Star Wars completely ruined his career well people started to hate it It ruined his career and he's he has suffered Severely from mental illness since then he is he is yeah highly schizophrenic The way I like to describe this movie poorly to friends is what movie can you watch the Terminator? Disappoint and redeem himself to baby Anakin while fighting the brother of a blues brother in his army of mall Santas Oh, whoa, that's a great way of phrasing it. So it's funny thing about this movie is that it was originally written by Randy cornfield who this is derived from him watching his in-laws

Desperately on Black Friday tried to get this Power Ranger doll, which you can tell Turbomans very Power Ranger II gotta be Green Ranger. No gotta be Red Ranger Yeah, I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. Which, by the way, I was gonna say, I didn't say this about Ben, your choice of this. I would say this is one of the most anime Christmas movies ever.

Absolutely. And this feels very much in your foray of your interests. And so, I actually, every single person, this was like a weird personality test. Everyone picked stuff that spoke volumes about their personality. And no one missed the mark. No one missed the mark. It's just one of those like I didn't really get into like pop culture and movies until I was like 17, 18. Yeah this is one of the latest movies that's picked of the Christmas movies. 1996. And so most of my movies or Christmas holiday movies

are spent with my family watching more family-oriented movies. So this was a movie my dad was like- This is a movie that's safe for Stinky Dragon. Yes, this is a movie that's safe for Stinky Dragon, but adults will still love. They should love it. There's stuff in this movie,

as I was rewatching through last week, that I was like, oh, there's several things in here you, one, probably can't do in today's movies, but also two, you can't, you watch through it as a kid, you're like, I remember this scene being so much longer, feeling so bad for Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, but then as an adult, you're like, this idiot, oh my God, I believe this scenario he's ended up in, but also it's so funny that it just flew over kids' heads, right?

It was a... Like what? Can you elaborate? Well, I think the whole premise of it, doesn't really, it's something that had to happen in the 90s because this fervent rush for the in-person brick and mortar store items is a thing of the past. Even the shots of the store employees getting stepped on and parents pushing people into

shelves and that kind of thing. It's funny, Blaine, you were about to say Buzz Lightyear. It was actually rewritten by Chris Columbus, who had the same situation trying to get a Buzz Lightyear one year. Interesting. And so it's it's it's all based around that kind of thing of a bygone past, you know, like fervent Black Friday fever. When like parents, people would get together and line up at like five, four in the morning to get into stores first. I was going gonna say I I would argue that that's still that holiday rush still exists cuz like PlayStation 5s

We're like very sure to acquire but not as much as it used to be You know, like would you think about Black Friday? like This movie original the original toy of this was Cab patch kids that was the original toy that was it. Yeah That's I think I don't remember that this movie has like the stampede in the mall We're like a group of people are like literally stepping over employees like yeah There's the ball scenario where for whatever reason the owner of the shop is like for a megaphone is using some toy with a Microphone like so great talk to the audience that's there and then they just throw all the balls up

That's like in a lotto system. It's like a raffle situation and Arnold Schwarzenegger has to like crawl through a mall playground full of kids Yeah, and like he gets accused of being some like creep toward these kids and beaten by a bunch of moms My I think people could argue kids and beaten by a bunch of moms. I think people could argue for themselves what their favorite thing that Arnold Schwarzenegger says in his accent is. There's always lines that everyone loves, you know, get to the choppa, that kind of thing. Start the rumor.

Do it now. I would actually argue my favorite line is in this movie. It's after he- Put the cookie down. No, and that's a great movie as well. Put it down. That's a great line from this movie. It's after he down. No, it's and that's a great movie as well. Put it down. That's a good. That's a great line from this movie. Put the cookie down. That's what it is. No, it's after he is caught trying to wrestle the ball from a little girl and all

the moms are banging on him and yelling at things. It's and he's like he retorts back and goes, I'm not the pervert. It's so good. It's such a good Arnold line. He's like in the ball pit and he's like, hello little boy. And he like picks up this red ball, he's like, do you want to trade this red ball for me? It's very much a thing that if a parent saw that, you'd be like, that's a pervert.

There's a pervert in the ball pit. I'm not a pervert. And I feel like if you're watching a movie today, you'd be like, ooh, this feels, this is a little like too real or like creepy. But there's also like the two other things that stood out to me you'd be like, ooh, this feels a little too real or creepy. But there's also the two other things that stood out to me that I was like, ooh, I don't know. There's a literal bomb package scene.

And that's with Sinbad and it was Martin Mull, who's the principal from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He plays a DJ in the scene and Sinbad pulls a package out and he starts shaking it and being like, this is a bomb, don't mess with me. Oh, baby, that's pre-911. Let's talk about Sinbad pulls a package out and he starts shaking it and being like this is a bomb don't mess with me Oh, baby, this that's pre 9-eleven. Let's talk about Sinbad for a second because I Went down a little bit of a rabbit hole because like where is Sinbad been because he was huge in movies these kinds of movies for a while

Shazam No, I'm just kidding But he kind of went away for a while and it turns out he did a lot of TV work, a lot of voice acting work. In fact, he's Mr. Smiley in Steven Universe, the owner of the arcade. Yeah.

Whoa. Yeah, that was a fun little thing. He did have a comedy special in 2010 that did pretty well apparently, but he also had a stroke in 2020 and it's still recovering from it. I love him being cast in this because one he is enormous next to Arnold which they actually did that on purpose they wanted to get somebody who would not look small next to Arnold so that they could like

kind of be a you know a foil to each other. But there's a moment where they're standing next to each other. It's when they meet in the line for the first store. And Sinbad's standing over Arnold. I didn't realize Sinbad was that big of a guy. But I love- They really do, so good to hear.

No, you go. They do their best to minimize Arnold's bodybuilder physique. They put him up against Big Show, who's the giant Santa, a professional wrestler. Anything they can do to make Arnold look like an everyman, which is impossible. I know, I know. It's still silly.

And like, this is not surprising, and this happens a lot with comedians, but if you rewatch the movie, I think it makes it even better Most of Sinbad's lines with him and other like co-stars and like Arnold were improvised It's just Sinbad, you know yelling like, you know like when he gets tackled during the whole balls like being thrown around the raffle thing and like He's like riding the king riding the king like it's just so good

The one line from him that's always stuck out through this movie is like after the bomb package scene and he like stops and he goes, oh man, that was a bomb? This world's messed up, man, this world's messed up. Sick world. Sick world. No, no, no, no, no. He is so good at this.

I love Phil Hartman's character. Phil Hartman plays a really good and noxious neighbor. He did a similar character in Small Soldiers. Yes. Where he's just got this charm I got a smile. He just want a head face He is Everyone I actually I texted The one person I know that loves this movie more than anybody else former Roots Tooth employee Tony Simonetta head of our merchandising

Tony adores this movie has a ton of apparel that has this movie all over it and that kind of thing. And I'm watching this movie and it is like, it's poorly reviewed on the internet. It's kind of a, it's still like, I know a lot of people love it, but it's also like a lot of people think it's stupid. And I asked him, I was like,

why do you think this movie works? Where in my opinion, a lot of movies that try the same kind of like quote quote unquote, dumb humor, it just feels cringey and unfunny. And I loved his take on it, and I agree with it. A lot of it boils down to Arnold's likability performance. And throughout this whole movie, yes, he is a bad dad.

You know, he's that trope. But he's still likable throughout the whole thing. And it's, actually everyone's performance is what I actually came, I kind of took that a step further because like Sinbad is firing on all cylinders with comedy this entire movie. Phil Hartman is being one of the best, you want to punch him in the face villains.

The mom even feels like genuine and like she's not- Rita Wilson. Yeah, Rita Wilson's not... Rita Wilson? Yeah, Rita Wilson's not like a one dimensional like just ragging on him the whole time. Like she really wants Arnold to win. Like even when he accidentally yells at his son, you know, over the phone, like her response is like, dang it. Like she's like, this was your opportunity to like succeed.

I want you to win. Like they're all doing great. In fact, I don't want to speak ill of him. The one person I actually think that does poorly is that I think Jake Lloyd actually gives a pretty bad performance in this movie it's very forced and robotic where I think if like a more natural sounding kid could have like felt a little bit better it felt a little like over-the-top like Christmas movie to me yeah you know like a little cheesy for like the kid to be

that ups like a kid would be upset with all the things he was going through but it was a little like pushing it to be like I need this turbo man dad I gotta get this turbo man he's pushing lines the whole time yeah I was looking at the movie a set in basically the twin cities mini Minneapolis and what's the city next to I can't remember and the parade at the end, which I love is it's like all practical except I mean they they expand it with some matte painting stuff, but it was like 1500 extras that kind of a thing Wow, and it's it's actually based off of a parade that they had in Minneapolis. The parade is no longer there it's like a marketplace now like changed in like 2002 or something like that, but it's called like the Holodazzle parade and it was like one of those things that. But it's called like the the Holodazzle Parade. And it was like one of those things that happened like every night in Minneapolis. Like there's a whole thing that like drew commerce and people there. But they did during the day for the movie. And one of my favorite things about this movie is the level of advanced technology

that is in the Turbo Man suit at the very end. Yeah, I was watching. I was wondering, like drones weren't really a thing when they filmed this. How would they have filmed those scenes where he's flying around? The filming is clearly green screens. I meant, I agree with you Ben, it's the technology in his suit,

the literal flying hand control. It's an Iron Man suit. Correct. Right. For a holiday parade. It is. It is high production value parade costume. It's the combination of all of those things

that I was just like, how did this come together? I started analyzing the film brain, right, of like, okay, wait, hold on. How did they do this scene? Yeah. What would be the practical way to do this in like 95, I think, 96 when this movie came out, to execute on this. Yeah, and I agree with you Blaine they do their best to

Downplay the Arnold of him, but it gets the most Comedically silly at the end when he is in the turbo man suit And it's just his eyes are obscured by an orange visor Yep, and he's got a voice modulator that barely modulates his voice. And his child and wife don't know him while they are afoot from his face. The parade is also the other like things you can't do today moment for me

was the last one of like, they pull up to the parade and the mom's like, all right kids, get out. We'll find you later. And they just throw their two kids into this like parade of 1600 people. Yeah. The nineties. Yeah, man.

I have one gripe about this movie. Go for it. And I've had this gripe about a lot of movies actually now that I've gone back and rewatched movies like this. This is one of those movies that sets expectations of parents in practically high. It's very from the kid's perspective of how parents are supposed to be,

but now as someone who has raised children for the last 14 years of my life, I watched and I'm like, Arnold's trying his best guys, okay? He is like trying to be a bread earner in a one income family. He is trying to make it to all of his, like he even has the conversation with the kid at the one point

He's like I was at your green belt He's like but you missed my yellow belt and it's like the dad came to what he could come to okay Yeah, I come to everything the black belt Yeah, John I swear to God if I don't see you in some kind of Power Ranger outfit Christmas Day flying through the downtown streets of Austin I'm questioning your parental abilities bad parent. a bad parent. In my opinion on this re-watching Sinbad's the hero in this movie to me because he is the low-income public servant who is desperately trying to be a hero to his kid. The system is not in his favor.

He's actually the nice guy who's trying to befriend somebody in line and that kind of thing. And I was rooting for Sinbad the whole time. Have you guys ever experienced this situation where you're on the hunt for something that's like really sought after and there's not many left and you have to like track it down? Yeah. Yeah.

What was the last time you had to do that? What was the, sorry, this is related to the movie, but like it's something that I think at the time people were able to relate to. And I had like a turbo man hunt pre pandemic. I was trying to get a Nintendo Switch and I would like went all over the Austin area. Oh I remember that shortage. Yeah. And it was it was like everyone knew we were about to go

into lockdown. And I and it was like everyone knew we were about to go into lockdown and it was like online ordering and like the online system for like you know how many they had in stock and stuff like that was totally garbage but I ended up finding one like three cities over and I remember the rush to get it and stuff. Similarly for me it was the like Wii, like the original Nintendo Wii. I was working in high school at a GameStop and I couldn't get one. Like my manager was like, we just, they're already booked. People have already like reserved them all. And then I remember coming to work one day

and she came up to me and she was like, I just got word Walmart's gonna have a release tonight at midnight for the Wii. If you get in line early enough, you can get one. And I like got off of my shift, walked next door to the Walmart and like got in line. And I was the last person who was able to get a ticket to go get movie.

I never felt more validated. I felt like I had insider information to get where I needed to go just in time. I got like a year. It's really good stakes for a movie. Oh yeah, totally. That's a good one. Oh, she ruled.

She would like, GameStop corporate would be very strict with a lot of rules and everything, but she would put, you know, like GameStop corporate, you know, is would be very strict with a lot of like rules and everything But she would like put the rock band set behind the camera. So like when it was slow, we could go play rock band That's pretty good. That's pretty good. It's good stakes for a movie It's like I'm on the hunt for this Christmas gift and there's a built-in ticking clock and it's a good setup for comedy And it's yeah good setup for comedy and it's, yeah. I was worried. I should give this another one to watch.

You should, I was worried rewatching it because it had been a while and John asked me, like what movie do you want? I was like, oh, Jingle Always is one of my favorites, let's go with that one if Blaine hasn't already picked it because it has Arnold Schwarzenegger and it might be one of his favorites. And I was rewatching the start of it and I was like,

oh man, we have the mall scene, maybe this is a little slow, maybe I'm misremembering this movie and then and is and gets out and then like we get to the mall Santa scene and like where he's like fighting all the mall Santas in the warehouse nevermind this movie slaps this is great yeah awesome it's pretty great all culminating in like the whole like him accidentally being in the parade. It's just so silly Which I realize like it's our only time we've gotten to see Arnold dressed up as like a comic book superhero. I think I don't think he's been like very

Action like like a super suit has our yeah been in like a super suit kind of situation. Mr. Freeze Oh, yeah, I guess he was a he's a villain this is him being a hero we got to see him as a hero There's so much like make up in is technically a comic book It's true, but like I meant like like him being in like a full-body super suit, you know, the Iron Man spandex Yeah, something like that. Yeah Yeah, no, I don't think so like mr. Freeze even was like so much make up and costuming like it doesn't feel like a superhero Mr. Freeze even was like so much makeup and costuming, like it doesn't feel like a superhero type thing, you know?

Running Man was kind of a superhero costume. A little bit, it was a one piece like a spandex suit. Another connection to Tony Simonetta, he made a Running Man costume. In fact, I think Blaine, don't you have it? It's currently in my closet. Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah.

Yeah. Tony is like one of the best little fanboys I've ever met. He makes costumes and has so much paraphernalia. He's so fun to talk to about that kind of stuff. This movie's fantastic. I think this was a really good choice as well. I love it. It's just such a good, like feel good movie.

Also, I have like a lot of nostalgia with it. Right? Just think like my dad and like my watching this with my brothers. Yeah. Oh man, I could talk about this movie for so long, but I'm gonna end this here and remind everybody that this is in the end of the Christmas special.

There's actually a part two available right now on the Patreon. If you go to patreon.com slash stinky dragon, you can sign up and watch it there as along with just a avalanche of other content, including previous episodes of stinky pop, second wind, our supplemental episode for stinky dragon, our main show, behind the screen, our DM led kind of a behind the screen behind the behind the screen show our DM led kind of a behind the screen behind the behind the screen show, stuff like that, including and also like we have a bunch of video game content

where we play things like Baldur's Gate and stuff like that. Yeah. And we would really appreciate your support. It would bring a Christmas smile to our face. But thank you guys. I think I loved all you guys's choices. This is so fun to watch these movies I watched like six Christmas movies in the course of like two days It was a great like jump start to the Christmas season for me And I think you guys all picked actually really good choices that were just like really fun to talk about and learn about My dad's gonna be psyched when Christmas morning comes around. I say we got to watch lethal weapon one through four

My dad's gonna be psyched when Chris's morning comes around. I say we got to watch lethal weapon one through four I'm sure I really want to know what Gus Micah and Barb picked I won't say it on mic because I want people to go watch the thing But I'll tell you once we cut the mics Chris. Oh Yeah But thank you so much and thank you to you our our audience, and especially thank you to our supporters. Have a happy holidays and a wonderful new year. Woo, bye. Thanks for watching!