The Big Picture - The Physical Media High Council Reconvenes!

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

Hear ye, hear ye! Gather 'round for the (somewhat) annual reconvening of the illustrious Physical Media High Council! Grand Maester Fennessey is joined by his three lords, Chris Ryan, first knight Timothy “Hitmaker” Simons, and the king of physical media Tracy Letts, to discuss the state of collecting and share some of their personal favorites from their respective collections (00:06). Then, they open up the mailbag to answer all of your questions regarding how to organize a collection, detailed breakdowns of their personal at-home setups, and share their individual 4K “grails” (1:35:00). Host: Sean Fennessey Executive Producer: Amanda Dobbins Guests: Chris Ryan, Tracy Letts, and Tim Simons Producer: Jack Sanders Production Support: Lucas Cavanagh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is I, Sean Fennessey, grand maister, of the physical media high council. And this is the big picture, a conversation show about that physical media. I am honored to be joined by the three lords, the three leaders, the three guiding lights of this endeavor. Of course, Igor, Chris Ryan, here to help us with his chemistry. Just let out of my room in the basement. That's right. The first night, Timothy hitmaker Simons. Sire.

And the king of physical media, Tracy Letts. Please, please. Gens, thanks for reconvening today. This is a semi-annual tradition. Yeah. This is the second time this quartet has come together for this endeavor. As you can see, we're taking it very seriously. Chris, how are you feeling about how you look right now?

I'm worried that I either look like a chronic masturbator, public masturbator, or some kind of like guy who got the raw. big Lobowski robe on eBay, but it's still going with it. What do you think? I hope... Masturbator, I think is the answer. Yeah. I hope that when you take the robe off, you still don't also look like a public masturbator. Like, oh shit, it wasn't the robe. Do you have my body?

Under the robe? I do, yeah. Okay, good, good. Tim, how are you feeling? I'm feeling great. As I texted many times, I'm like, really, I've really been looking forward to this. Yeah. What I... Off mic just a moment ago, I was saying, and I do, Tracy, I don't know if this happens to you.

to you. I feel like we've both done like public work that people have seen. But I feel like I get recognized so much just for this episode. Like people coming up to me asking me like what are the what are your grails? Like in public I have been asked that question. Has that been happening to you? It does happen to me. I don't go out in public much, but you know, Carrie was just doing I play bug on Broadway and she would go out and sign programs after the show. And she said every night. there was one person there was like one guy yeah I love it wasn't always a guy oh no how exciting love the physical media podcast love the you know love listening to the big pick blah blah oh that's great how wonderful how are you feeling about this this project you feel like at home you feel

safe you feel like in your kingdom I I feel like I'm doing my job this is my job I used to be a playwright and actor. Now those are hobbies. Those are sidelines next to my my full-time job of podcaster and physical media collector. I think we can all safely say that nothing you've ever written stands close to what your physical media collection is. Safely. Yeah. I can safely say it. Are we going to hash out the third chair fight today or is this just going to be ongoing? It's not for me to answer. I think there are two gentlemen here. You just want to see open combat. I want to, yeah.

This is not, honestly, not my king. My king would do things differently. Well, this is the real king here, so you can speak with him, you know? This isn't the forum to address that question. This is about love and sharing. Do you think you could grow a beard the way that Tracy has? Because that's actually under consideration for third chairdom. No, I mean, obviously, like, yeah, I'm follicularly challenged when it comes to that.

No, I have, like, actually, it's just very faint, but I was growing a little bit of, of, I've been in watching Takashi Mika movies for three days stubble, but I guess it didn't really translate. We're going to get you a beard cam so we can get a close-up on all that transparent hair on your face. Like that Eagle's Nest live cam? Yeah. Watch this bear fun for salmon. Chris Dena and Nuching.

He grows a beard. He sure does. Yeah, I can grow a beard. I'm avoiding it because I've got these gray streaks in it. You know what? Like right here, I got these sort of wolvering gray streaks. Oh, yeah. I let it go, man.

70s pitcher. Yeah. Or like Ted Nugent. No, the gray street. Believe me. Trust me. That's the thing. I almost want it to be all gray.

Right. Or it's just these weird patches. I don't know. I'm having a bit of a crisis where the beard is effectively white and the hair on the top of my head is not yet white. You got to go just for men but for beard. Yeah. You know, I was watching a film yesterday last night. Well, stop dying your hair.

I don't dye my hair. And how fucking dare you say that? I was watching a film with it. with an actor, an esteemed actor and filmmaker. You were watching it with that person? No, he was in the film. Okay. I saw him on screen.

And he's a man, you know, I'd say he's in his 60s. George Hamilton. Was not George Hamilton. And there's no way that that's his hair color or beard color. Like, there's just no way. Yeah. And he's, you know, he's playing a man in his late 60s. And what are we supposed to think about that as viewers?

Like, are we supposed to accept that, that this man is lying to us in that way? You think there's unfair beauty standards for men? it's it's always been the case you know HD has helped reveal uh bogart's uh hairpiece jimmy stewart's hairpiece right you movies where you thought oh he's not oh no they were wearing hair pieces long way back yeah shoe polish in the hair too there is there is a thing though I also feel like the the the I don't know if it's the technology or just the implementation I have noticed from movies in like the 80s where it was like, oh, this actor is maybe like a little bit older,

but they've dyed their hair. Like, I think the implementation of it now is much more subtle and there's some nuance to the hair color that makes it look not like it's like a shoe polish hair dye. But I've noticed in some 80s movies recently that I'm like, oh, they went for it. Yeah. And they should have left a little in there.

This person had reddish Auburn hair at the 80s. of like 65. Just did not, just jumped out of me. I'm not going to name that person, but he'll be in a film soon. That's all that I'll say. Oh, okay.

Let's talk about physical media properly. I want to take off this. Yes. Okay, so we gathered last fall, and we talked about a whole range of issues, and we've asked for... A whole range of issues. It was like...

It was the street of our moves. Yeah, it was like that Republican presidential debate when there were 16 men on stage yelling at each other important political matters. This time around we've asked for questions from listeners of the show, men and women who enjoy physical media

and are interested in this endeavor. But before we do that, I thought we could once again just talk about the state of the art. I thought it was actually quite an interesting conversation last time around because this thing that, you know, you and I started talking about, is it four years ago when we first did an episode about it and that you and I have been talking about the last couple years

and that you in the last year or so have we really gotten interested in, there's probably some self-selecting bias going on here, but something's going on, right? Like it feels like the industry and the boutique side's getting very big, and it feels like the interest from the big studios is getting pretty small. There was a news story last week that Disney Home Entertainment's entire staff was let go. And so there's no longer people overseeing the production of that work. It's all being outsourced, I think, to Sony at this point. So there's this weird dissonance right now with this fun hobby that we love that feels like,

it's simultaneously thriving and noisy and fun and there's a young generation of people collecting, but then also the people who own the rights to the stuff and who technically manage all of the property seem completely disinterested in this. What do we make of that dissonance? I don't know. I don't have the slightest idea. I mean, it seems like exactly what you describe. The market seems to become more specialized. The prices go up. And the prices go up. as a result, but these boutique labels seem to be thriving, or, I mean, enough that they're keeping their doors open for the most part and continuing to do great work. And the big boys, they're still going to put out, they're still going to put out the big releases on 4K. They still

get enough attention. I mean, I hope that eventually the market drives, the interest drives the marketplace forward and we continue to have this. It doesn't seem like it's going the other direction. It doesn't seem like it's just continual constant diminishment. It doesn't. I mean, I feel like even from when we first kind of like almost offhandedly recorded an episode that was like how awesome is this? It's just gotten a lot bigger or like the culture of it has gotten a lot bigger. Do you feel that? Yeah. No, like I've definitely noticed that just in like the amount. It feels like a like a much less niche conversation and something that more and more people are getting into, whether it be like, you know, obviously like vinyl has been a thing for a while, but then

people start collecting cassette tapes. I know there's a question in there about VHS. Like, I know that it's much more in the ether, the idea of like what we initially talked about, the idea of like, oh, we actually own that thing. And it like looks great. And just as a side note, we were going to watch, like last Tuesday, we were going to watch, is it Warren Oates' film Cockfighter? Oh, sure. And we tried to stream it. Do you mean you,

the family? Yeah, me and the family, we're going to sit down. Just watch Cockfighter. Terrific movie, by the way. I can't, where actually, everybody's coming over tonight. I got the Blu-ray frame. Like your extended family? It's like the, no, like the Tuesday night

movie group that I have. The Parenteacher Association. She's coming over. Who is it, Monty Hillman? Cockfighter? Yeah, sure. I have, like, a group of neighborhood friends, and every Tuesday night we get together and we watch these kinds of movies. And so Cockfighter, I had to order from the UK, but, like, I was like, oh, it is available

to stream on Amazon or whatever. And it was honestly, like, watching, like, a 480-p snuff film. Like, you couldn't even make anything out. Always the one, yeah. And somebody even called it out. Like, we're not watching this. Like, we're not going to watch this in this condition. And so I ordered it that night.

It was a couple weeks ago. It arrived yesterday. But anyway, that just seems to be much more in the conversation to the point where I was surprised to hear that one of the largest companies had completely shut down that division only because it just seems like there is. Look, I'm not a fucking businessman, but it seems like there's money there. And it seems like you guys used to make a lot of money on this. And why not maybe try to foster it a little bit? Like, you can see that there's a little bit of a ground swell of interest in this in physical media broadly. Like, why not try to foster it rather than cut it off at the knees?

But I don't know. Yeah, I can see it from both sides. On one hand, if they're trying to keep a streaming. Fucking Charlottesville over here. Yeah. Many good points from Bob Iger and his new CEO. Yeah. I can see if you were, like, one of our main business interests.

is the streaming service. Yeah. So why would we give somebody an excuse to spend $150 on the five movies that they like or the seven movies that they like and then cut the streaming service? On the other hand, especially Disney,

has always had, like, one of their crown jewels was always, like, their home video department and the way in which they would, you know, put things on shelves and then take them off. And it would be like, hey, man, next week for an indefinite amount of time,

Cinderella no longer available and people would rush out and get it. So it's confusing. I was curious whether or not you felt like the major studios are like looking at this and they're thinking, like, we're going to start licensing our stuff to these boutiques to make these special editions of these films. Or do you think it's just something that, like a business model that those major studios haven't figured out yet but aren't willing to give up? I think it's because when you have a division, it requires employing a lot of people. And this is like a very low priority on the totem pole ultimately.

and so they feel comfortable saying, well, we'll just license to Arrow. And Arrow will be putting out the 80s and 90s action adventure movies that we have pretty much forgotten about for the next 10 years. And like Arrow has just been doing incredible work with that band of movie

over the last couple of years. And so they'd rather not think about it. But what you were describing specifically about Disney's home video strategy is, I don't know if it was revolutionary. It actually was sort of taunting to fans where it was like, don't tell me you can't make more video cassettes

of The Little Mermaid, like I know that you can if you just make an effort to, but they were kind of stoking a very similar level of limited edition feeling that I think a lot of the Blu-ray companies and 4K companies pursue now. Like, I was in the video store with my daughter over the weekend, and we were looking at the Disney live action films, not the remakes of animated movies, but just the films from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and I was looking for a copy of the remake of the parent trap because I wanted to show her that movie, the Lindsay Lohan movie. They had the Haley Mills version, they didn't have the Lindsay Low Hand version.

But then I was looking at like Return to Oz. The video store had returned to Oz on Blu-ray, which I think on eBay is like $300. It's hard to find. The fact that there's demand for something like that means that there's probably demand in the broader world and that they could probably just have at least a modest business remaking those things, but there just does not seem to be an interest beyond whatever outside company says, we want this title. You know, we want, I don't know what's a good example.

Like Red Sun, the Charles Bronson, Tresheromofune movie, is coming from Arrow in July. There had to be some guy at Arrow who was like, you know what I, you know what we need to do. We need to get Red Sun out there. Like that's one that really needs to exist in a beautiful $50 edition. And so they just don't want to employ people to do that work, which I do kind of understand because of the streaming concern that you're talking about. And there's a million other businesses that these capitalized mega-corporated. operations have to consider. But it does feel like leaving a $50 bill on the ground a little bit.

And maybe that's just our own personal interest speaking. But it feels, something feels not quite coherent. We're not going to know. They're not going to pull the curtain back and let us know what's driving those decisions. Meanwhile, I'm having a hard time keeping up. I mean, there's a lot of releases happening every week. And if I go a few weeks and then try to catch up, It's stuff. It's like suddenly the mailbox is really jammed. Yeah, that's totally part of the dissonance is I feel completely overwhelmed. And I have way too many unwashed movies going right now.

And I don't know how to make sense that. Maybe we'll get into that a little bit. Can I ask a little bit about like watching habits? Because obviously you're watching for all new releases, pretty much all like releases from a year. You're going to try and see 99% of those. You guys are both very busy men, but like have to watch stuff I'm sure adjacent to your work, whether it's like I want to watch something from a filmmaker that I might work with or a writer or whatever. Are you making special time to watch the things that you've bought? Do you have like a system

for three times a week, twice a week, I'm going to make sure I get something from the unwatched pile and then maybe like an old chestnut. What's like your habits right these days? I tend to because I'm the like the night owl of my family. We have a general. system worked out where because my wife wakes up early she kind of like we'll get the kids up up and get them breakfast and then I sort of wake up a little bit later handle some of the morning get the kids to school but that also means I watch cockfighter and then I watch cockfighter 9 a.m. Yeah, your morning constitution. You get you get it. And but that means I sort of take the night so that because she goes to bed on the earlier side. I take the nights I deal with bedtime. I get

them settled. And I have made a point this year of being like I have a lot of unwatched discs and I am like not going to do the thing where I'm just like, oh, I'm going to, and I say this and I have watched Sicario again where I'm not going to like watch the comfortable thing that makes me feel good. I'm going to be like, no, I'm going to crack this open. And like a recent example of this was like I've had a copy of the Ascent, the like the Russian war film. And I've probably had it for four years. And it was just like I'm just kind of going with like the A's just starting there being like oh the Ascent I haven't watched that yet and I'll throw that on that's a real mood brightener of that movie oh yeah that'll get your Monday going yeah yeah and so that's sort of what I do the kids go to bed and I'll watch something

and I am making an effort to watch the things that have just kind of been there yeah I'm programming for my wife and for our nanny who will from now on be known as the nanny. My wife and the nanny. And I'm either programming for my wife or the nanny or my wife and the nanny. And so a lot of what I'm programming is based on what they've seen or haven't seen. And I'll give them an occasional quick survey. Have you seen this? Have you seen this? So I know what I can choose from on the night. And then I make that choice and they don't know what I'm put. I try to, I try to not even tell them, show them the disc. right? They're sitting in front of the screen.

It just says a much company. So you don't offer any enticements. You know, I know you're a fan of this person. None at all. Okay. And do you think that they have any interest in what the disc looks like? They can look at it when the movie's over. Oh, that's nice. Like a lending library. That's nice.

And by the way, again, this isn't the way I want it. This is the way they want it. Oh, okay. That's very democratic. And it's exciting because Tracy, he's a little shy, but he has a new play coming out called my wife and the nanny. Yep. A searing political farce. Yes.

I'm really excited about that. It's just two people sitting down and watching a movie. And at the end of the play, they look at the despot. And your nanny is Fran Drescher or no? She's not Fran Drescher. She's an actress from Los Angeles. And when we get super busy, she comes and she stays with us for a time. And she actually lives in with us for a while.

So like the other night, the nanny and I watched in the realm of the senses together. Stop it. Yeah. It was quite a night for the two of Are you serious? Had you seen it before? I had not seen in the realm of the senses before. I just saw it for the first time this year, too.

Not a movie I would watch with my nanny. Yeah, watch it with my nanny. We both enjoyed it. A lot to talk about. Oshima will come up later in this episode, actually. Interestingly enough, how do you choose? I tend to be a little bit of a victim of recency bias, so it's like the most recent thing I buy is the one, this happens

with books too, is I'll be halfway through a novel and then I make the mistake of going to Skylight and then I'm like, well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to read 20 pages of this and then all of a sudden I can't remember who's who and what book. This is a particularly hard part of the year because of basketball playoffs

still are of a personal and professional interest to me. So it's like hard to then at the end of a two game night put on, you know, a Yakuza movie. Yeah. But, you know, we all make choices in this world. We all make compromises. I've been really excited, though, recently. I think most of my buying has not been blind, but it has been on stuff I haven't seen. So the stuff that I've

been buying recently is usually not like, and then of course I've watched that 50 times in my life, but now I have a good copy of it. It's more like, oh, I've never watched a movie by this director. So this is very exciting. I find it entices me to stay on top of my purchases a little bit better. This is slightly out topic, but I just want to shout it out because I think I may have texted you this and I wanted to do on a mic. When we were here last, CR talked about Fun City Additions. Welcome to Fun City. And number one, he mentions it and it sells out immediately. I have to email the Fun City Editions guy to be like, I will buy this, but just do you have any dead? I was sitting next to him when he said it. I was like, I actually really do need. And I, I am. not kidding. I have never found a better thing because like trailers will have, usually will have a Blu-ray player in a television. Sometimes there's a cable box hooked up to it. I have never found a better thing to put on in a trailer than just five hours of like, here are movie trailers in from 1976. You mean when you're preparing to do your work as an actor in a trailer? Yeah. Sometimes you lock

in and then you can fade away and you can look at your line. but just to have the background. It's a vibes machine, that whole disc. It is incredible. Is the downside that you walk out of your trailer and you're like, I think I'm going to bring a kind of Martin Balsam quality. I'm kind of feeling like this scene had a little bit of a streetwalking vibe.

Have you gotten any of your colleagues to like come by and hang out and watch a little fun city? Why are you watching nine consecutive taxi driver trailers? Because it rules. I think they were. hesitant. I mean, like, they, they understand the nerdy parts of my life and I think they're supportive of them. But it was nice to when, like, when I would have it on and they'd swing by to just see their eyes kind of go toward it and then become sort of engrossed in it. And like, that was nice to be like, see, it's not just me. This actually feels good. You know what I mean?

It would be nice to have friends. Yeah. You replace them with discs, except when you come here. I don't know how to deal with what I haven't, how to choose anything anymore. You know, like Tracy and I are preparing for a Robert Duval Hall of Fame episode that we're going to record this week. And, you know, the man made 95 feature films. Yeah. And so that endeavor that I created thoughtlessly when we were talking about people like Tom Hanks for whom I have seen every single movie, I'm like, yeah, I can do Duval. And then I'm seven weeks into trying to conquer his filmography.

and I've acquired, I don't know, 70% of his filmography on physical. And I just can't get through it. And so what I don't have now, because of this stupid job that I invented for myself, is the time to just be like, I'd like to watch this thing that I bought two years ago that I was really interested in when I bought it. And I know in my heart is actually how I would spend my time if I were free from my own prison.

So I'm kind of trying to cope with that a little bit. And that's like a very specific concern. But I think you really do have to make time when you spend money on these things to like respect, appreciate and enjoy them. And if you don't, then you're just stamp collecting. Then you're not really like doing the thing that this is the purpose of this experience, I think. When the nanny showed up a few weeks ago, I said to her, it's all Duval and 1976. She said, great. You know, so every night it's a Duval movie or a 1976 movie in the realm of the census.

It sure is. Yeah. Again, amazing choice by you. We're going to circle back to that. You know, I asked you guys to bring some new acquisitions, some things that you're excited about. You traveled across the country to do so. You drove from 18 minutes from here. I did take the raw. I wasn't paying attention and I made it a little bit longer because I went north on the five out of like sort of habit. I made a similar mistake. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And yet you guys both made it miraculously. C.R. You took your private helicopter and you landed on the pad on the roof. Did you bring your stuff? I did, of course. You brought your stuff. I brought some stuff on your behalf as well. Who's going to start? I think Chris should start because you were the, you were the fawn. You were the baby bear last we spoke. But which is he? Is he a fawn or is he a baby bear? He's an anthropomorphized, gorgeous little little guy.

I mentioned Takashi Mikae earlier So the first one I want to talk about Is Underworld Chronicles Where's the camera? See you're holding up right to your camera Are I three? There you go This is from Radiance

It's a trio I suppose loose trilogy I wouldn't necessarily say You need to understand one to get the other But they're all Takashi Mika movies Yakuza movies Japanese crime films

From his V cinema era and a lot of people, so there's three films, there's Fudo, the new generation, there's Agitator, which is his 200-minute epic. And then there's the one I want to talk about, which is Deadly Outlaw Recca. Deadly Outlaw Reca is an insane film, and it features the greatest opening five minutes

to a movie I've ever seen, which I will describe starting now, if that's okay. Please do. It starts with an old Yakuza chieftain talking about wolves, and then it cuts to the incredible flower band, which is an early psych rock band from Japan going,

and then a dude running down a street at full speed while an old man cross-cut is walking up some steps, and it turns out that this dude running full speed down the street is going to jump over a wall with two guns in his hand while this psych rock is playing and gun down the old man, thus setting. off a Yakuza war, but it is the most electrifying,

adrenalineized opening five minutes of a movie ever. I cannot recommend this more highly. It is a fucking weird, crazy movie that is cascades of blood and intense violence and then interspersed with like Jim Jarmish scenes of

guys just eating rice and talking. It is a bit confusing in terms of telepathic connections to other Yakuza leaders and like you can feel the pain of other people. There's some strange stuff going on in here, but I highly recommend it,

and I highly recommend this box. I am not a McKay completest. It's a new, it's kind of like, obviously you've seen the big ones like audition and Ichi, but like this is a whole new world and I'm excited to be there.

It's a big filmography, right? Huge. Like he was making three, four movies a year at some point. He is still extremely active as well. He released a film last year. I think he has a film a Cannes this year. Bad lieutenant?

Bad lieutenant Tokyo. Yeah. Yeah. These are from 94, like 01 and 02. So just extraordinary pieces of action filmmaking. So I highly recommend it. Great pick. And from Radiance. They're our boys.

So when you, did you buy that blind? You were just like, I want this? I have a subscription for Radiance. So when you got the box, what made you choose that out of the three in there since you hadn't seen those three? I did a little bit of research, but I also watched the trailer that they put out for this set. And the footage from RECA from Daly Outlaw was like, whoa, what is this? If you want to hear the aforementioned scream, you can just watch the trailer for this,

to this collection. You're still fucking, you're like, what happened? 75% of my YouTube subscriptions, the things that are actually in my feed are just physical media companies posting trailers to movies that I want to buy. And it's a nice way to pass the time. And it's flower traveling band, not incredible flower band. Mixed up with incredible string band. My bad.

Okay, Tim. So I went with... Ah! I went with... I talked about it before. There's like this Tuesday night thing that I've had been going for probably three and a half years now.

Talk Fighter Tuesdays, yeah. It's now expanded to like five people. Me and my friend, Johnny, who was very happy the night that you guys met at the screening of... House of Dynamite. When you were introduced, you went, oh, Tuesday nights. And he was like, that's so cool.

But we do call ourselves the programmers. Like, we talk about the programming, and I was really happy to hear you say that earlier. This idea of like, pro. Can I ask, do you call yourselves that to anybody else? Well, now to the world. We died now to the world. I mean, like, when we talk at the barista, like, are they like, and your name is and you're like the programmer. The programmer.

Well, no, I have to put a hitmaker on for that one. I when I'm taught when we're talking to our wives Well they'll be like hey what do you guys have coming up like this Tuesday? What are you doing? Because there are nights where I'm like Annie you shouldn't you actually shouldn't even walk through the living room on this one like you're not in you're gonna want no part of this one But I'm curious what that would be Sala was one yeah You just don't want any part of it's just for the guys yeah Yeah just for the boys Solos for the dudes I don't I I just I just I just

I think, I think it's less, it's for the boys and more. I know what would upset my wife in movies. And there are things that she can engage with and things that she is just like, I don't like, I don't like seeing that. Like, whatever experience that is, I don't like that experience. And it does seem like the Tuesday nights you're in pursuit of extremity sometimes. We are very much in pursuit of extremity. And so I kind of chose.

things based on like from this lens of I'm happy that this exists in like an elevated form because this feels like the kind of thing that could just go away that a streaming service is like we are not going to host that on our platform so those are the choices that I made and I'll start with I'm weirdly excited The suspicences. With a thriller, a cruel picture. Oh, yeah. Christia Lindberg.

We definitely go with themes sometimes. You know, we'll have like we... This feels bootleggy. It does, but it's not. Who makes that disc? Who made this one? Vinegar. In fact, there's a nice slip cover box in the limited edition, maybe.

I think I would. This is just the standard. Right. So this... It feels like the chick with the eyepatch would get invited to Tuesday nights, though. A hundred percent. And so we have these themes. Like one time we did like underseen Tangerine Dream soundtrack.

So you did that for a month. Great idea. And then like it, we did like a big Giallo run last October for how like around Halloween. And this was sort of like in a accidental. But in that world of extremities, there's a lot of rape revenge. So like this. was one. And it was one at the end, we all stood up and actually gave this movie a standing evasion. Like, this happens when there was a particularly good one at the end, we stand up and we

clap. And there are like, and I know that there might be families that are listening to this. Just five men standing, applauding a rape revenge film at like 11 p.m. on a Tuesday. That your wives are not allowed to walk out of the room for? It sounds, it sounds bad and it's going to sound worse when I tell you that no pun intended, there is a hard cut to close up anal sex in this movie. Hard cut to just all of a sudden. And it's like that kind of thing where I'm like, this shouldn't exist.

Yeah. We shouldn't be watching it. Sure. But now, like in perpetuity, no matter what corporations do, it exists. And I think that's why I brought that. You are on a watch list now. Oh, 100%.

I'm glad that me salivating at a dude jumping over a wall with two nines and killing a yakuza chieftain is not the weirdest thing that's happened in this first. Are all five discs that you brought in this vein? One is not, but the others are legendary shit. One is the parent trap. I don't know how you're going to follow it up. There is no way to follow it up, so I'm going to class it up.

Okay. Network, baby. Selected because out on 4K, which those of us who love this movie, just it just feels feels like, it just feels like manna that this would be out on 4K. Also, I selected it because it is the, it's at the intersection of what we're doing this week. That's right. Robert Duvall, 1976, physical media, all are encompassed here in this American classic. It's a big titted hit. It's a big titid hit. That's all I got to say about it. I just watched it probably for the, maybe the third time, but not, honestly, probably not since I was in college.

And it was pretty blown back by how relevant it stays. And I don't know. It really was like, oh, fuck, man, they did it. There's a reason everybody talks about this one in those glowing terms. It's fucking fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. I, at the risk of tipping picks, it is one of my absolute favorite films ever.

And maybe the first movie that made me feel like there was a world beyond the world that I was exposed. to and whether or not it's actually true and maybe at that point it wasn't as true as it is now but it made me it grew me up I would say in an interesting way okay that's a great big that that that that disc in general looks very nice and those features on it are very good as well um all right so what how do I create I mean this is this is an interesting buffet that you have to choose from vibe I think I have stuff that represents all those different should we wait wait should somewhere. Should we somehow? So this is

the movie orgy. Oh, yeah. Oh, a blind by for me that I have not checked out yet. So something that I've always wanted to see, and I had never seen before, despite some of this discussion here, it does not actually feature an orgy. It is in a somewhat

similar vein to Welcome to Fun City. It is a kind of like recombinant mash-up movie. It's like a collection of stray cultural film television ephemera that has all smashed together. In this, the runtime is 276 minutes. Jesus Christ. It is directed by Joe Dante, the legendary movie maker behind Gremlins and many other classics,

one of my favorite directors of all time. This is something he did in the late 1960s, 1968, as like kind of a real project that showed off his editing skills. He also worked as an editor under Roger Corman, worked with Alan Arkush. And this is like if he could get his brain on film, like all the things that he saw that he loved and was interested in that tried to represent this massive tapestry of like schlock, genre, weirdo, side door culture that informs like all the movies that he made

in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s. And it was just not available for the longest period of time. And it would pop up on YouTube and then come down. It was like a rights issue forever. AGFA, AGFA, released this edition. They release a lot of really cool stuff like this. American genre film archives.

That's right. Is that right? And it's just a really cool artifact of movie history that, as recently as three years ago, I was like, we'll never get this. And I'll never get a chance to see it. And now it does, like I said,

it operates in that similar way. We can just kind of like pop it on. And if you want to just like fast forward an hour, you're not like missing the narrative in any way. It's just like... Give me like, what's a... 20 minute section of that, like... It moves very fast.

So it'll be like a crazy monster movie about giant ants, and then it'll be like, you know, what seems like a comfortable drama that has like a hard left turn that reveals that it's actually like a movie about like a possessed kid, you know? And it just kind of constantly reveals the ways in which these stories are being told

over this period of time. It's a lot of fun. It's very strange. And it is like... It's an unusual way to show like what your skills and interests are. It kind of reminds me of like, um, it's like a Pinterest board for, from, from 1968. Yeah, it's a, it's just a really cool thing. I got to check that out. I own it. Haven't watched it, but I will. Same. C.R. I'm still in the A's and B. I got to get. I got to get to the M's as far. One of the cool things about this experience so far

of doing, starting to buy this stuff is that occasionally I buy something because I already love it. Sometimes I buy something because the production of the disc, the production of the film for home physical media is such that it gives the film itself a different context or a different kind of weight. And that's how I feel about this at close range from Vinegar Syndrome. This is 1986 movie. Actually, is this from Cinematica? It's cinematography, which is Vinegar Syndrome. Right. 1986 James Foley movie set outside of Philadelphia,

kind of like a rural noir with Christopher Walken and Sean Penn. This has maybe my favorite, Sean Penn and Christopher Walken performances individually. It's a really, really beautiful movie. And this is one that I feel like I'd seen on VHS or streaming over the years, but takes on a whole new weight with the 4K

and has a lovely hardcover book, kind of like the kind of thing that you'd find on your dad shelves you can pull on out. And great like contextual information about the making of the movie and just a lovely, lovely package

that gives a kind of I wouldn't say forgotten, but moderately admired genre movie from the mid-80s and now I'm like, God, this thing has heft. And it definitely has grown in my kind of estimation because of the production of the film.

Can I tell you something? The film celebrates its 40th anniversary this week. How about that? RIP, James Foley. Yes. That's right. Arguably his best film. I'm a fan.

Good pick. Yeah. I'm going with going places, which is another two. You're really pushing it. I'm really pushing it. I feel like the other ones. I go one more that pushes it and the other two don't really push it. But going places is Gerard Defard Diffardue.

I believe this is the movie that like made him. movie star. And I don't know how to describe it other than it's like two French sexual harassers drive around France and are bad people. But Bertrand Bliet, yeah. And any hard cuts to anal sex in this one? No, but they do approach a breastfeeding mom on a train. and one of them ends up breastfeeding from the woman.

Who among us? Who among us has not found ourselves in this situation? This is one of the reasons I feel like I'm not successful in this business, is that now when I go... Guy with a hitmaker name says a thing that is not true. Or maybe I could have moved the, push the stone up the hill a little more if I wasn't going into like general meetings and being like, hey, I had an idea for a show.

Has a few aspects of this, but also, have you ever seen going places? Because, now, like, the content is up for discussion, but there is no denying that I think this movie might have one of the funniest edit runner I've ever seen of these two men approaching a situation, like the director puts all the elements together of something that's happening and then it smash cuts to them running away while the event is like the aftermath of the event is in the background. And it is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. And you can't believe that you go through this movie.

I think the magic trick of this thing is that these are two of the worst people you've ever seen. And yet they are not really portrayed as heroes, but they are sympathetic or you are empathetic to them. Like you find yourself wanting, you find yourself wanting them to do better and they don't. And then the final, like the final shot of the movie then kind of tells you why it's called going places. And I don't know, it was like another, another one. And again, hard to find on streaming services. I can understand why nobody wants to host it. But there's like a lot of amazing stuff in there. Is it Cohen? Who put this out? It's Cohen. Yeah. I think this had to come from, I think this was.

another out-of-country one. I haven't seen that before. It is a very controversial film. It was a huge hit in a time, though. Huge hit, and, like, minted both of them as movie stars. I think Girardep are due to a much larger extended international, but then... Patrick DeWere was a big movie star, too, but he killed himself. But he so young.

Yeah. Kind of at the height of his career, too. Ebert writes, despite its occasional charms going places, is a film of truly cynical decadence. Yeah, I would probably agree. I think when we stood up and applauded at the time. the end. I think that's one of the things that we admired about it. Okay, Tracy, what's next? Cutters Way from Radiance. This is one of my favorite movies ever. It's on my list. It's on my top for whatever list. I love this movie. The fact that this is available on 4K is just one of those,

again, it's just like I didn't think I would live long enough to see something like this available on 4K. If you haven't seen this movie, don't read about it. Don't look at a trailer. Don't want to do. Don't just just get this and watch it. It's a great. It's a great film. Great Jeff Bridges performance just at his hottest. And John Hurd just doing some some amazing work in this thing. Ivan Passer. Great check new wave director. It's great film. Great noir. Check it out. Awesome movie. I have not seen that and I'm going to take that advice. of just getting it and watching it.

My favorite John Hurd performance. The thing that's funny about this one is I completely agree that it's fascinating that it's on 4K, but I think this is the third time a boutique distributor has put this movie. I think Twilight Time put it out many years ago, and then Fun City put a version out on Blu-ray five years ago. And then now Radiance is putting out this edition, which is the best one that's come out yet. I bought them all. It's in a same trick. It's one of those things where like, so there is definitely a moment.

market of people who are like, I need to keep buying Cutter's Way. I need to keep discovering this movie. Do you know how many times I bought Kind Hearts and Coronets? The greatest Tracy, let's quote, that has ever existed. It's so funny, though, that like there are these, there's a lot of movies that are not available and may never be available and we'll probably talk about them shortly. But like, there are also movies that just keep coming out and new additions. I'm like, well, I just got to upgrade. Howder's Way is funny in that it, for so long, kept appearing on these lists of the great greatest movies you've never seen. The greatest movie you've never heard of.

It's always on that list. So I have to assume by this point, a lot of people have heard of it. But if you haven't, check out Cutter's Way. Great novel, too. Yeah, it is. Newton Thornburg. Yeah. Pulled that out of my ass.

Where you go. Okay, I'm going to get a little fusty. So... What? No. Yeah. Fennacy? I know.

Oh, yeah. So Frederick Wiseman passed away. recently, the great documentarian, or perhaps the greatest American documentarian of all time. And I've seen some of his films, especially all of them made in the last 15 years or so, but the films that he became extremely well known for, they're not hard to find, but they were collected by BFI some years ago. And so when he passed away, I immediately raced out and bought this.

And now it's a little bit harder to find than it was. It's called Cinema Expanded the Films of Frederick Wiseman. I thought this was fairly new. I think it's in the last year or so. And it features, I think it's his first five features, which is Titicut Falls, high school, hospital, juvenile court, and welfare. And the reason those films have those titles is because that's what they're, their explorations in documentary form of institutions.

That's the thing that he did over his almost 60 year career, where he would go into spaces and train his camera on a, um, a mental health institution or a, um, recently, City Hall. He spent a year chronicling Boston City Hall and how their local government operated. He recently did one about a French restaurant. And some of these films are incredibly durational. They're like four hours long and they have no narrative, no into camera conversation. They are just observational and edited in a very discreet style to show you how these worlds work in a kind of with an unobtrusive camera. But the first films made a lot of noise because they

seem to reveal, you know, some of the decay that was happening in some places, like the institution or in high school or in hospital. And they're not like, you probably won't stand in applaud in quite the same sicko way that you would when you get through thriller with your boys. But they're just tremendously important pieces of American art. And I hope that they like, I hope B.I continues to collect his movies and puts them all out, even though I think there's more than, two dozen films that he made over his career. But he's just such a huge and important voice. And it's a great set. I think Titicut Follies was kind of instrumental in shedding light on mental hospitals and the condition of those. I think a lot of changes happened as a result of that film being distributed because people had simply never, most people had simply never seen

what went on inside those institutions before that film. That's definitely true. And I think that There's a, like, documentary is not journalism, but sometimes it can be. Sure. And some of these movies are cases where that's the case. So anyway, that's a little bit of seriousness. Do those have the same kind of vibe as, like, streetwise? Or is streetwise a little bit more narrative to camera? Yeah.

Like, in streetwise, they're asking people, like, how, when did you start working on the street? This is, it's really more like the camera sits back and people are, like, having a meeting in a room and the camera's just looking at their meeting. Okay. And so it feels like you are spying in a way. And it's usually in a very public kind of forum, but it also feels like you're not supposed to be in the room. And so like you're gathering information. And also sometimes it's like quite dull.

Sometimes it shows like how boring life can be and how like a lot of functionaries work throughout the world. And sometimes it can be beautiful and explosive and interesting. But anyway, that's Frederick Weism. I will go, I wonder if one of you guys also brought this. with Stuntman which just came from transmission

a couple months ago I think one of their first releases I believe that's the second release they did the transmission's a sublabel of radiance stuntman is maybe my favorite film about making movies

it starts Peter O'Toole directed by Richard Rush Barbara Hershey's in it and my gosh what's the stuntman's name Steve Rails back and maybe one of

my like favorite opening hours of a movie like really like before you know they have to end it like there there is a magic to this movie there's a kind of mixture of cynicism and wonder that I really adore and this is an incredible package

so not only is a fantastic just like reference I don't reference quality I don't even know if I am qualified to say so but Tracy is so he can write in on that I I approve.

Fantastic piece of movie preservation. And then it comes with a fantastic, you know, book, booklet with it. But then you get like these awesome postcards, which I can't bring myself to actually use, but are really dope. You should just send one to me. Just like write me a letter.

Hey, was watching the stuntman thinking of you. Hope you're well. See you at the office tomorrow. Sounds sweet. And a dope poster. So really awesome package. Really excited about transmission. and this is exactly the kind of movie that deserves this kind of production.

Have you watched it since you got the, yeah. I watched it too recently, showed it to the wife and the nanny. Yeah. Thumbs up. Thumbs up, definitely. Barbara Hershey, man, underrated. Yeah. Great, great actress, underrated.

Feelings were mixed about Steve Rails back, though. I think he's great in film. Yeah, it's one of those. I don't know who I would replace him with in that movie, but I like him in the line of fire, which is really the only a Railsback movie I can think of. Well,

Helter Skelter, I think. Yeah. I really like stuntman. I think it's a great movie and the great mystery of Richard Rush and why he didn't have a bigger career.

Yeah, there are some sequences in this movie where you're like, this guy's Spielberg? Like, this is nuts. Like, what he's like, a helicopter is flying across and then the crane shot

is going around this and he's shooting a crane shot. Like, it's a fascinating. I mean, he was in the same lineage of many of the movie brats where he made a bunch of biker movies for Corman and had a lot of success.

And then in the 70s he makes getting straight, Freebie and the Bean, and then Stuntman, and then nothing until color of night 15 years later. Is that the Bruce Willis? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's maybe for you and the boys one.

I mean, it might be for me and the boys. It's controversial. I don't think the anal is on screen. No, but the dick's on screen. Yeah, that's right. So that's good. Okay, exciting. Definitely it would be a contender for programming.

Oh, I also want to share. Shout out, Tracy, I think you brought this one in last year, that Fun City Lifeguard, the St. Eliot Lifeguard movie, which we ended up watching on a Tuesday night and is a fantastic film. Just a great movie, yeah. It's kind of presented as like a sort of like bikini beach party, but then it's a tone poem on aging. Like it's wild, how good that movie is. It kind of reminded me of the books that McMurtry wrote about the last picture show, characters like after last picture show.

It's just like aging out of youth and trying to figure out who you are. It's really good. At the actor awards formerly called the SAG Awards this year, I was at a table close to... I was close to... Sam Elliott.

Sam Elliott. And I just said, fuck it. And I went over and I did. I was like... Excuse me, sir. I'm so sorry to interrupt. I just need to let you know. I recently saw Lifeguard.

And I think it's a fantastic film. and you were incredible in it. And he said, oh, thank you very much. I don't think he was expecting. Hey, man, I saw you in Lifeguard. Yeah. And so I think that was a good, like, it caught him off guard in a good way. And then I didn't, I didn't belabor, but I felt it was, I felt it needed saying.

Was he like, did he have anything to say about Lifeguard? Or is we just like, keep it moving. I kept it moving. Yeah. I think he was like, oh, thank you very much. You know, that guy. Oh, thank you very much. That was pretty good.

Is that something? So I was with an accomplished person yesterday. And... Not like us. Yeah, not like today. No. Fucking bums watching Swedish... I say that to pivot to your perspectives imminently.

And he was telling a story about how nervous he was to talk to somebody who he really admired. And like, will you guys do that? Will you go up to people frequently that you really, if you really like what they've done in their careers, the way that you just described, is that common for you to go up to someone like Sam Elliott and say like, hey, I love that you did this. Also, I'm on this show. I, it is, I would say it's common, but I try not to belabor it, you know, or I mean, honestly, more often than not, I try to engage in conversations that have nothing to do with the business, you know what I mean? Like I like that hat? Yeah. Okay. Or, you know, like, you know, I got to meet, like I met, you know, in passing Oscar Isaac at like, like, an after party or whatever. Like, dude's been dressing really well recently. He's been going with like the, you know,

the sort of bar. Do you have like a drip off with Oscar Isaac? I didn't. I mean, if there was a drip off, he would have won. But it was like nice to talk to him about like, hey man, the pant, you're fucking killing it with the pants. You know what I mean? Now, here's Oscar Isaac, who probably would like to be complimented about his work as an actor. Yeah.

As opposed to the clothes somebody else gave him to wear. Nice pants, Doug. What's your favorite death part in the movie? I mean, I guess there is that. You want to do a going place is me and you. I think we just take our big pants off. You ever go up to a gal on the train breastfeeding your child and try to nudge in there? Guys, I should only be complimenting the fans because that is the shit I would say.

And then I'm going to be asking the party. No, I think I try to do it if I'm going to have that conversation. I try not to do it in circumstances like that where it's that's probably the majority of what you're hearing. And especially at like any event like that, you're so in a different brain that it's hard to even just have a regular. conversation. So if I'm going to have that one, I try to do it in a more subdued circumstance. I don't know about you. Yeah, I'll go up to somebody and say something. I, you know, I like it when people say something nice to me. I, you know, I will tell them I admire their work or what their work is meant to me. But again, yeah, I'm selective about it. And I, whatever it is, I make it, I keep it

brief, unless they want to extend the conversation. I keep it brief. Like, I'm not going to bother you, you know. What about pants? I've never discussed their pants. You got to get in there. I guess so. Yeah, try it out. I know. I think that's right.

Like, if somebody wants to continue talking, like, if I was talking to Oscar Isaac and he was like, hey, I'd actually really like to talk about inside Lewin Davis, I'd be like, yes, let's take a seat because I have questions. Now, that would be weird if he said, thanks for the compliment about my pants, but can we please discuss my performance inside Lou and Davis? Back around to the rise of Skywalker? Yeah. I would be all for it, but I definitely, like, yeah, I try to keep it brief. What bundle of depravity do you have for us next? Okay.

So this one is actually... You're hiding it, which makes me really nervous. Like, maybe we can't see it. So this was actually after our aborted cockfighter. I did say, well, somebody did recommend and I just bought a death game. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Which I don't think is as depraved as the other two.

But I feel like it has had a few different remakes. including a Eli Roth Remaugh Yeah Eli Roth Knock knock knock The conceit of it

is incredible This was released By Grindhouse releasing Now she's wearing Brazier And no panties

Yes that's right That's Colleen Camp I believe In that photograph Oh Colleen Camp Yeah Yeah And

And You should go to Colleen Cam No one I said brisier Like she has At 1944 Oh I spy

That gentleman Is Neither neither interested in pants nor she used to care that she isn't a brazier she doth protest to thine undies So an incredible conceit of a movie of like

a happy family man Who Good luck with this Ends up fucking Toot Toog Jesus Christ Okay so they They say that they're teenagers

We don't know if that's the truth But there is like an extended scene in a bathtub. You know if it's the key. We can't be sure. Well, the actors were not teenagers. Yes, those were famous last. I have to do my own research. This is a tough one because I love this movie.

So I kind of want to be on Tim's side here. I'm also just like hyperventilating, imagining Tim going up to Colin Kemp. It was like, I watched you in death. Did you know on the cover you're wearing a brazier but no panties? But no panties? I'm going to keep it moving. Great pants on you now, though. Great pants on you now, though.

Who takes the brazier off before the panties? You, like the weirdest fucking Seinfeld bit. You're making it seem like people who are interested in this hobby are like afraid to buy porn. but we'll get to the absolute edge of porn and say click, but they can't put me on any lists. The weirdest thing is before we started, we were walking in and I was like, sometimes I worry that people get the wrong idea about me

because of the movies I pick. I had no idea what he was going to do. This was worse in the description than it is in the execution. In the execution. But ultimately, what I love about this movie, and again, this got a standing ovation, especially because of the end. And I think the reason that this was recommended to me

is because I was talking about the movie pieces and how that has the best ending to a horror movie that I've ever seen. And they were like, well, have you seen Death Game? And I said no. And we watched this and when I saw the ending, we abs were fucking floored by it. But I think this also exists in this world

that I don't know that we have anymore where people that are overqualified for the material are taking it on. So I am now, of course, for getting the actual, actress's name. Sandra Locke. Sandra Locke.

Yeah. And Colin Camp definitely and Sandra Locke certainly, it is clear how good of performers they are. And Sandra Locke elevates this to some like where it has like a feeling of like Marat Sade or like this is somebody who like studied theater and is bringing something to this that shouldn't be there but is because. of their own talent. And I don't know that we have that as much anymore. And so there is something again, this feels like a piece from a different time that I am glad exists. I am showing my

ass to the entire world today. No, I think this is a great pick. I don't know if you remember this, but I gifted you this film as part of like, because I was, I think I told you about Grindhouse releasing. And I sent you a couple of discs. This was one of them. It's been called a couple different things over the years. I think the seducers is another title for the movie. Seymour Cassell is the male lead in the movie. I mean, he's an amazing actor. Apparently, hated the director, refused to do ADR, which is why there is all this very awkward ADR.

It's not his voice. It's barely his voice. Somebody he's been dubbed over, which is very strange. But, you know, this is the same year that Sondra Locke made the gauntlet with Clint Eastwood. Like, it's 1977, she's about to become a very well-known person in Hollywood. And it's like a pretty, it's like a sexy, weird, almost psychedelic at times. like torture sex movie. It's fascinating.

And that is the thing is that, like, at its basest level, that's what it is. But at the end, when she's playing a judge, it has like this sense of theatricality to it that just, that goes so far beyond the material, you can't help but be impressed by it and by her. This episode is brought to you by Apple and AT&T. Scroll long enough and you'll hear it all.

Miracle diets, fitness trends, you name it. But with iPhone and Apple Watch, you get meaningful insights from a very trusted source, your body. You can track sleep quality, cardio fitness, and more, then unpack all the information in the health app on iPhone to get a picture of your overall health. These health insights are developed with clinical experts from start to finish. Find out more at Apple.com slash health. Apple Watch is not a medical device and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. The gambler?

Yeah. cinematograph, Radiance, all getting a lot of love here. Oh, I'm going to say that. There we go. Double up on Gambler. My dad took me to see this in 1974.

I was nine. So dad took me to see this in the movie theaters when I was nine. And I remember it. I remember seeing the movie. And I remember like asking the questions when the movie was over. like daddy why did he why did he sacrifice so much for so little

I do what I really remember from it is the sense of dread you know the just that that sense of dread when you're when you're in over your head and you're making it worse that compulsion to to make it worse great movie

Carol Reese movie great again I've had a bad DVD of this on my shelf for 25 years. This is a big one. This was a long desired one that people wanted forever. I wonder if this is a bit of a keystone to some of your writing. Oh, the gambler?

Which is about a character who's a very sophisticated, well-read person who is also kind of trapped by base desires, addictions, obsessions. This movie about sports gambling, you know, famously re-remed, made with Mark Wahlberg film that Chris and I think is fascinating. I admire quite a bit. Really?

Yeah. I thought it was just considered a total misfire. It is considered that by most. But there's a lot going on in there. I don't think it has a lick on this one. Kind of like through or a cruel picture. There's a lot going on in there. James Conn, man.

He's the greatest. James Conn's such a force. You know, we recently did a Godfather and Godfather 2 rewatch, which we'll probably get into later in the week. Two really misses Khan. He's such a force of nature, you know. He's such a whirlwind, just a charisma machine. He's just a tractor beam.

He's really something to watch. That's something I've sort of realized recently is that I don't know that he, obviously, like it's not like people don't know who James Con is. But the more I've gone back and watched earlier movies like this one, I am like, oh, he should be spoken in the same breath as De Niro and Pacino. Like, he has that level of charisma and ability and his choices are incredible. And it's also an incredible movie about...

It feels dangerous too. Yeah. Which is maybe why he's not thought of like those guys. Like he has like an edge to him. That maybe they were like, is that just what he's like? It feels authentic rather than studied where maybe like De Niro is like studied it. But like James Conn playing Jake Lamata is like a different animal than De Niro maybe. But it's you're completely right.

And there is also something I love a movie. Having a part of my brain that understands that thankfully I've never seen but that understands that level of like going on tilt or the attraction to making it worse. I'm always very, I always really respond to movies that have. that thing that that really gets you to feel like what it is like to go on tilt like uh uncut gems i think is a really good example of that this uh california split those movies that are just like why didn't they just stop or the last moment of california split with him being at the apex of everything he's been looking for and then being like this is it like this is the thing i it didn't do anything

like oh fuck this is bad news you know what i mean i love that i love that i love films that examine that idea. I think one of the reasons why he's maybe not held in the exact same esteem is because he, you know, De Niro and Pacino also has quieter 1980s and then they have these big comebacks in the 90s and Khan never quite got that. But there's some really good con performances in the 80s. Like obviously thief first and foremost, but like Gardens of Stone I think is like the opposite of what we're describing.

Like a very internal, quiet Coppola movie that like not a lot of people have seen that I always point to to be like, there's different shades to these directors. of these actors and these guys from this period of time looking at that sense of mortality that I think they're all starting to feel at that period. One of my faves. You know, all those guys at some point started to kind of trade on their persona for comedic purposes, right?

And Kahn did that earlier than the rest of them, where he did become a kind of, you know, this kind of guy. Sometimes to good effect, I'm not saying it wasn't, but I wonder if it didn't rob him of some opportunity. Or maybe he just wasn't getting the kind of opportunities those guys were getting. Yeah. Because he certainly seemed to make the most of them when he did get those opportunities.

Well, he worked a ton in the 90s. I mean, the program rules. But like he did it in Mickey Blue Eyes, for example. That was a movie that, like, he was kind of trading on that. But it didn't quite have the same, like, meet the parents level, explosive hit quality. Anyway, we're talking a lot about James Conn. My pick is John Singleton's Hood Trilogy. Nice.

From the Criterion Collection, which is really fascinating. Of course you would expect the Criterion Collection to pick Boys in the Hood for the collection because it's one of the landmark 90s films, one of the most important Black American movies ever made, you know, a beloved movie that launched John Singleton into like a huge career in Hollywood. But what I love about the choice is that it also features poetic justice and Baby Boy, which are two of his best movies that I think to like a certain segment of the audience that was tuned into what he was doing at the time, they really care about, but are like really underserved historically by places like the Criterion Collection. Baby Boy especially, which I think for the longest time

was only available on DVD. I've never seen it. I haven't seen it. Such a good movie, Tyrese, a phenomenal Bing Rames performance in the movie. It's like a real, like classical melodrama in a lot of ways, but also a really funny movie. And I wish that higher learning was in this set as well

because that's the other film of his that like I watched over and over again as a kid. And I really love the like outsized, almost like Douglas Serkian quality to a lot of his movies. Like he really does like old school. dramatic 50s Hollywood-style productions but in the world of these characters and like they're just not there are hardly any movies

in this like L.A. milieu in the 90s and 2000s. So it's like you might think that they're attempting to like class up something but it's the opposite. Like to me this gives such like definition and shape

to what the criterion collection should be and can be and they're also like their studio movies. They're not, they're meant to be like crowd pleasing and entertaining and interesting like poetic justice is Janet Jackson and Tupac On a road trip.

On a road trip. And like giving, I think their two best performances. I just think that this is like, signals a path for where we can go once we get past, like, the Janus Films' 100-year history of international cinema. Like, there's a lot that's happened in the last 30 years that needs to be like mined and supported and lifted up. Yeah. So it's a really good job of contextualizing three movies that maybe everyday people don't associate with each other. Like, they know that he directed them, but they don't think of it as a piece of work like that. that they're connected in a way

in the same way that like we think of like Tarantino's movies as being connected to each other. Anyway, next bit, Chris. John Borman's Excalibur. Nice. Which just came out in this deluxe Arrow edition.

It's a movie from 1981. It's about, it's John Borman's big swing. I'm going to make a King Arthur movie. And it is something that like my dad showed me when I was a kid that was like an object of like complete obsession for me but because I was more into King Arthurian legend and the idea of the sword from the stone

and all that stuff. It's like that really interesting thing that happens with some movies from your childhood where you remember like you watched it a lot because you cared about what it was about and then all of a sudden somewhere along the line it becomes because you care about the movie and because you care about the director

or because you care about the actors in it. That's happened with this. Some notable people in this, Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Nicole Williamson plays Merlin it's a really cool performance, pretty hammy. This is something that didn't look this fucking good when I was kid. You know, obviously we had boxier TVs and VHS that was of dubious quality.

This is almost a reimagining of the movie to my eyes, and it kind of took me back to, like, seeing it for the first time. So you have watched this. Yeah, it's fucking intense. It's beautiful. You have been talking about it for like 10 years, though, as a movie that you love, but maybe don't get to see. notably the first time I ever saw people have sex on screen was in this movie

Gabriel. Look at you buddy, do I have some films for you? But Gabriel Byrne has sex with a woman while wearing a full suit of armor which I still haven't quite figured out the mechanics of that. It happened. But you've been attempting to recreate it in years.

It happened. But yeah, this is a wonderful pickup. My last one might be controversial because I'm on the big picture, but I think it Dude, I brought it to. You did? Yeah. Okay.

It is, but I think it speaks to something that we talk about, and that is, I believe this is the, is this Italian? No, this is from the UK. It's zero zero. It's like the Blu-ray of zero-zero-zero, which I don't believe. This is an important thing to talk about. I don't think you can stream this. It was a prime video original. Yes.

That is no longer on prime video. It does not, it is not available for streaming. I'm delighted to say, I've never heard of this. I don't even know what this is. This is eight episodes. Limited series. Limited series that kind of came out, I think it came out during the pandemic. During COVID.

And so it got a little bit COVID memory hold. It's about the cartel and their cocaine business, and the shipping company that is attempting to get it to the Italian mafia. And it is those three stories told over the course of eight episodes, Andrew Reinsborough, Dane DeHan, Gabriel Burns, speaking of fucking in a suit of armor, and a gentleman whose name I can't remember, but who plays like the guy who tries to take over the cart.

Is it Michael Pena? No, it's a guy, a Mexican actor who I've seen, do a lot. Honestly, one of the best performances I've ever seen, and also one of the most terrifying. It is, it's incredible. It is something that, even as I, was watching it during COVID, especially during COVID. I had this feeling of, I don't know that this will ever get made again, the amount of actual location shooting they were doing, landing helicopters

on shipping vessels in the middle of the ocean, the level of violence that's in it, it is an unbelievable series that you just can't see anymore. And from what I understand, there is an Italian and cut. There is, yeah. That doesn't do as much handholding for the audience. Yeah, I haven't seen that. I read about it when I bought this disc. This is this crazy period of Amazon where

they were just kind of throwing money around. This is also the time period that produced Too Old to Die Young, the Nicholas Winding Refin, Miles Teller thing, which is just a complete fever dream. Stefano Salima directed a bunch of these episodes who did Gomorrah and did Dave the Soldado.

just an awesome, awesome TV series. I watched the first two episodes, as I have with most shows that Chris has recommended, enjoyed it, and thought, I'll get back to that at some point. But that was exactly what I was going to say, which is it's just an artifact of like a very recent history. Yeah. In artists racing towards opportunity and taking advantage of like corporate circumstances in very interesting ways. And I do think that like as we talk about film preservation, especially in a streaming era where stuff can just be pulled off and like memory hold and no longer found. I kind of think this is going to end up being something that we'll be looking into in the future of.

I had this one gave me kind of chills when this came off of Amazon and prompted me to think differently about picking up stuff like it. Series is like that that seemed like international co-pros that got bought by a streamer for a final. amount of time that if it's available, I'll grab it if I loved it because you just really never know if the rights come up again, if anybody's going to bother. Yeah. Like I do have a copy of Station 11 on 4K for that reason. Yeah. You know, who knows?

Am I up? You're up. All right. I'm going to dive into the... This is from my friends at Second Run, which is a UK label. This is a trilogy of films by Issyllery. von Jabbo, I'm sure I'm not saying that correctly. Sounds pretty close.

They all star Klaus Maria Brandauer. They're all on Blu-ray, but one of them, perhaps, on Blu-ray for the first time. If I were making Mount Rushmore for film performance, Klaus Maria Brandauer in Mephisto is on it. I think it's one of the great film performances ever filmed. Can you tell people what the setup for that film is? Because it's a really interesting movie. It's basically a Faust story about an actor in Nazi Germany who's selling his soul in order to be a successful actor in Nazi Germany.

And it's based on a true story. And it's horrible and heartbreaking and fascinating. And brand now it's just amazing in it. Do you think there are any current day comps to what that might feel like selling your soul? I have no idea what you're talking about. No idea what you're talking about. Can't think of any. I've not seen those other two films.

Mephisto is amazing. You should see him. Connison is pretty great. Okay. Do you want company in the perverted category? Please, God, Sean. I'm out here on an island. So this comes from the fine people at Umbrella Entertainment,

which is an Australian company. This is what has been defined here. and I don't know I had ever seen it described this way as the day of the woman's set. This is, I spit on your grave and I spit on your grave, deja vu. Now, I'm not yet seen I spit on your grave, deja vu, which is a follow-up

to the original film. Please tell me it doesn't document the same characters. Oh, God. Deja-vous. I'll find out when I see the film. I spit on your grave. This is a 78 movie directed by Mirzarki. It is one of the,

er rape revenge texts. It has like been studied far and wide. It is a very violent, scary, sad movie, but it is a movie that like really centers a woman taking revenge on the people who assaulted her and features incredible performances, especially Camille Keaton as the star of the movie. You know, the movie's been remade a couple of times. It was remade in the 2010s.

But when you're trying to understand the history of violence on screen, I feel like this is an essential movie. there are lurid thrills in the movie and that like you can see the movie was made with that intention but that the filmmakers are also subterraneously doing something socially with what it's trying to portray and do and this is another movie that was hard to find for a while

you can find it on VHS you can find in video stores for sure and was passed around amongst sickos discovering horror movies over time but um this set is pretty crazy and there's just a tremendous amount of work that's been put it to it similarly has like a huge booklet with several essays. If you've ever wanted postcards, featuring Day of the Woman, you want those.

So maybe I'll send you a stuntman one and you send me a... That's a good idea. That's nice. We should hear more postcards. There is a... The postcards that come in these books, I remember talking to a friend of mine about, they had like given me like a nice bottle of wine for a birthday or something,

and they asked if we'd had it. I said, no, I'm like saving it for a special occasion. They told, and this is going to be way too heavy a story when it comes to postcards that come in Blu-ray box. sense. But they were like, I actually recently had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and he was a wine collector. And they had all this wine. And because he had limited time left, they were just like cracking bottles at breakfast because he had never and was not going to have the opportunity to taste these. And really, like, what it came down to was drink the wine. Don't wait for a special

occasion, just drink it. And so I think I'm just saying that I apply that same sort of thing to those postcards. It's like, oh, I got to keep those in there. Those are special. Fucking put a stamp on them. You know what I mean? This is how we make friends as adult men. You got to get in there, Tracy, with those postcards. You program the night. Oh, I didn't know this was coming, coming my way. Well, we're sharing postcards so you guys can share postcards. I'll say like you a and then you pay as a job. Like, you know what? I met somebody at a party. And I wanted to talk to them more and we didn't have the opportunity and I'm going to send them a postcard. You know what I mean? This is how we make connections in the modern world. Nice. How are you feeling about making friends at this

age of your life. You've made a couple of references here. I don't know. Dear friends around this table, it's really lovely. Chris, you're up. It's the day of the woman, man. Don't worry about it. It will be momentarily, actually. My last one is Was that one too perverse? No, it's just like kind of repetitive with some of the other stuff. I grab

Red Rooms, which is one of the best movies of this decade, I think, and one of the most relevant movies of this decade. It's from Utopia. I know that this is another example on the flip of the 0-000-0 conversation, a film that a French-Canadian horror thriller that Sean and I both love that you really cannot speak enough about

because I think this is, Pascal Plont is a very, very powerful filmmaker. And I cannot wait to see what he does next. Who put that out? Utopia. Utopia. Okay. And not a lot of special features,

nor do you need them. It's a great-looking movie. and I just wanted to make sure it didn't fall through the cracks. I was going to ask you guys how you approach buying recent releases. Do you think, okay, I got to get Oppenheimer

or whatever, like as soon as it hits 4K, do you wait for something special to come along in terms of it's an addition? Because I'm sort of like in my head about like, do I need to buy a movie that I saw 18 months ago or 24 months ago? And this feels so much more historical and archival, and then when I buy something from

2023, I'm like, I'm glad to have it. But this was just when I was worried about it falling through the cracks of streaming. I have an answer to that question. I'm obviously like trying to collect complete filmographies of many filmmakers at this point. And so I was thinking about, do I need to be spending money on begonia?

Which is a movie I liked but didn't love. Wasn't like in my top 10 or anything like that. But I'm just interested in Yorgos Lanthamos and interested in having a stack that just is all of his movies. And I'm like, am I going to spend $45 on a steel book of Bagonia,

a movie that I like, maybe we'll watch one more time before I die? And the answer is no. But I am going to get it at some point. And the movies like that, to the point about Big Studios putting movies out, I'm like, I'll just wait until this movie is on sale at some point in the next two years.

And it will happen. It'll be 1199. And I'll get it at that point. And for my sense, sake of completism. but that's and that's been my strategy with newer stuff unless it is in the one battle after another sphere where I'm just like I'm just auto pre-ordering it no matter what I'm gonna pay top dollar

like I just want it it matters to me in a way that like a movie like Bagonia does not yeah I was kind of thinking this would fall almost more like do you buy the Christophers as soon as it comes out or something because it's like a Stephen Soderberg movie and in a case if you guys don't know about Red Rooms if you missed me and Sean and Naiman talking about it before Sean and Damon talking about it before.

I found out about it because of Sean and Adam. If you like Fincher, if you like Olivia Seyes, if you like Lynch, I would highly recommend it. Cronberg, for sure. It's just, yeah, incredible. Carrie and I watched it. We didn't know anything about it. It was one of our favorite movies of the year. We watched the Utopia Disc, too.

And I, you know, I don't buy everything new. I don't have a consistent, I mean, I did buy Begonia because it's like, well, I'd rather see it in 4K than watch it on the Academy streaming app. I'd rather give it more of a shot than that. You know, one battle after another, we really wanted to see on the big screen, but timing in our lives, we weren't able to do that. And so we have a big screen in the house, but again, I wanted to wait for the 4K to watch it as opposed to the Academy Streaming app.

So some of them I buy, some of them I don't. I've made some bad decisions over the years doing that, but I live with it. That's how I wind up with his copy of Wrath of Man. One weird thing I just want to say, very quickly before we get away from Red Rooms. I watched this movie Myelin Kicks recently, Chandler LeVax movie, and Juliet Gareppi is in that movie, the woman from Red Rooms, and it was like seeing like Freddie Kruger in like a comedy.

Like it just didn't, because that actress is so singular in that movie that the idea of like seeing her in another environment was super confusing. Lena Gore from Eastern Gate is in a Charlie XX movie coming up soon, and I was just like, this doesn't feel right. Yeah. You're supposed to be shooting your boyfriend in the face, you know. Sorry, I interrupted you, Tim. No, no, I was just going to say, I was very rudely looking at my phone a moment ago because I don't know if I, this is like a tweet that I saw a couple years ago that I love that I may have actually read the last time. And if so, I apologize and you can cut this out. But it is a joke where it's like essentially a conversation between a filmmaker and vinegar syndrome. Filmmaker, this is my worst movie beyond reclamation. Serious but only for true sicko completists who will never see the light of God. Not even I will watch.

this again. Vinegar Syndrome. Now available in limited edition $40 media book slipcase with 40 page booklet. And there is so much of this that of what we do that is summed up in this. Like this is irredeemable garbage and also I have the nicest presentation of that irredeemable garbage possible. That is from somebody named Ashley Nuff Noctoole on Twitter, I believe. Okay, so you've all done all five now? Yeah. So you're up now. And I cheated.

I got a couple more extras. This is also from Umbrella. This is Suicide Club. Haven't seen the 4K. You haven't seen this. Is this the... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Japanese talk.

Yeah, but not in a long time. It's upsetting. It's hilarious. And ultimately, surprisingly, it's very moving. for my money it treads some of the same ground as audition but I think I think I prefer suicide club to audition. I'll check it out. I'll just describe the opening to the film. There's a busy train station in Tokyo and you just see people milling around almost documentary style, busy train station there, all different types.

And these school girls arrive at the train station to take the train. and 54, and they're sort of sailor suits, 54 schoolgirls step forward in the train, and as the train is approaching, they hold hands and jump onto the train tracks and are immediately massacred suicide club. What's wrong with us, man? As long as we're pervin out,

I think I should mention Russ Meyer, some of his work has become available on 4K, Yeah. Thanks to the good people at Severin. And I really like Russ Meyer. And Carrie likes Russ Meyer. I've shown her a couple of these movies now, and she's really enjoyed them. They're very funny, and we really enjoy the film.

The presentation of these movies is absolutely gorgeous on 4K. You never thought you would get it. I've even got both Carrie and the nanny, Russ Meyer, Busamania T-shirts. That's Severin, and they wear them, and they're great. Great conversation pieces. I love wearing their Russ Meyer shirts. They're like school pickup wearing. Russ Meyer is like a perfect saint for this conversation.

Because as a filmmaker, one of the most impressive and accomplished independent directors in American history. And also a guy who just loves a big rack. Like all of these movies are just like, these gals are stacked. And I am into it and I'm not afraid to talk about it and show it to you. explicitly. Also, watch me move the camera and cut like Steven Spielberg. It is an amazing, weird collision of like, I'll say heterosexual impulse. And, you know, there's been an argument ever since these movies first came out about the feminist impulse. And Carrie and the nanny can speak on that because they're not simply, it's not a simple matter. It's not complex. Something else

going on there. I didn't know that this was going to happen, but I'm not mad that it happened. We seem to be going through something collectively. Yeah. Yeah. Hold on. I got one more. Oh, you got one more. Go ahead. Oh, yeah. So this is the good fellow who bought Hammer Films.

I bought it a couple of years ago. And they've started releasing these Hammer films. I mean, you've got dictionaries at home that are not as big as this edition of the Curse of Frankenstein. Now, you'll notice that this isn't over. Because I thought we'd have a little unboxing Unboxing boy senior right this is

I'm titillate I'm a Jebediah unboxing You've just set off the smoke alarm Department of Homeland Security found us Bill Simmons fucking heard part of this recording and pulled

I think the FBI is coming through the doors for Tim a fire emergency reported in the building please evacuate the building by the nearest Jack, how does this keep happening? Well, actually, there has been an unboxing boy, an emergency in the building.

Jim Simon's tried to revive Gerard de Bergerna. All right. So I'm, my name is Jebediah Unboxing. And I am the unboxing boys. A little older brother. I don't think I've given the unboxing boy a first name. If you're Jebediah, maybe I'm Brotherford. Look at this.

Wow. Oh, that is nice. Gorgeous. The other side. Vintage poster. Yes. What do we have inside here? We just bought...

I can't believe you did this for us and not your son. The Books of Frankenstein, Volume 1, a very replete booklet. Here's the curse of Frankenstein, the horror classic, as a graphic novel. Oh, that's cool. Postcards. cards. Maybe I'll send some of these to my friend. Sweet poster. Oh, is that French poster? Italian? Yeah, there you go. I don't need to unwrap this goddamn poster. And then look at the discs.

How many we got there? My goodness. What? Twelve? Six. Six. The widescreen, UK theatrical version, full screen as film version, wide screen U.S. The theatrical AR, widescreen, UK theatrical version, full screen as film version, widescreen US theatrical AR special and two discs of special features. You gotta get a padded room if you watch all of those. How much could a person love this film? My son loves it a great deal.

Will he watch all of these versions? Right now he wouldn't know the difference between the versions, right? But maybe he'll get to that point. Anyway, Hammer is putting out just these delicious. boxes thanks to a guy who has a lot of money who bought a company

and decided that this is the way he wanted to spend his money as opposed to some asshole who buys social media company and decides that's how he wants

to spend his money that's right Sam Altman just fucking really zero zero zero that's right step it up yeah do something good for the world

can I throw out a take and we don't have to belabor it because I know there's a time constraint that I don't think is going to rival Tracy's Tren Truntron tape. Here we go.

I don't know if I give a fuck about Frankenstein. Wow. I think there's just a part of me that my entire life, I've watched all these Frankenstein movies, including last year,

and it has nothing to do with the film or the filmmakers. Or Oscar Isaac's pants. Yeah. Yeah. There's an essential problem with Frankenstein. And I love Frankenstein.

But there is an essential problem. This guy has discovered how to bring dead people back to life and they're just going to like kill him and throw him out of the villain he's got to like find equipment and build it. Why would you not like give this guy a big grant? Why would you not let Frankenstein cook? It's it's a fair point. Obviously the original intention is a fear of science, right? In a god-fearing community, the man who has control over life and death is dangerous and not to be celebrated. It feels like also like the that that take,

might be like sort of like when Megan McCain is posting pictures of Bob the Butcher being like, all this is all of America this weekend. And it's like, shit, did you watch the same movie? I think that was the bad guy. Where you're like, there's a little bit of this like. Here's the thing about Frankenstein is that he played God and nobody rewarded him. We're both sides in Frankenstein. Okay.

Two more for me as well. You mentioned you watched in the realm of the census. This is a set I've not had a chance to dig into yet, but I'm very excited to, which is called Radical Japan. It is cinema and state. It is seven films directed by Nagisa Oshima, the Japanese director of In the Realm of the Census,

who made some of the most confrontational, politically and socially aggressive movies in Japan in the 60s, 70s, and 80s into the 90s, I believe. And this collects seven of his movies. A couple of them are fairly well-known death by hanging specifically as in the Criterion Collection. But a lot of these films are not often seen the man who left his will on film, boy, diary of a Shinjuku thief that are like all effectively looking at different aspects of Japanese society and training a very intense lens on them. I'm very excited to dig into this. I wanted to give it a shout.

It is now sold out, as I understand it, at Radiance, but hopefully they will. print up some more and let people discover these movies. Because in the realm of the senses split my head open when I saw it earlier this year. Fantastic film. It really is. He's also the director of one of my favorite movies of all time. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Yes. This is a great movie available in the Criterion Collection. The last one I want to shout out comes to us from our friends at Fun City. It's called Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Staines, which is one of the best movies about music and bands. And this is a fake band that, you know, led by Diane Lane.

Another movie that I think was like very much a cult classic for many years and now has been restored majestically to 4K. Why not get the box? I don't, I'm pissed off. I apparently got a standard edition when I definitely would have liked a limited edition. It also features a poster, but it does not feature any postcards, but this is a no postcard. How are you supposed to have any friends? How are you supposed to make friends? Diane Lane Postcard sending me?

I don't know, but long live Tony Thrills. And yeah, those are our top five, six, sevens. And some of these stories respect women and understand women. Yeah. Some don't. Some a little less. Some less so. Russ Meyer is in the respect category.

I agree. Speaking of women, there, there's a woman is present. A woman is. But she has not been present the entire time. Does that woman want to be named? Well, I thought it was going to be funnier if I just said the first question. is from John. But, you know, it's okay.

The first question is from John. I'm here. I've sort of been listening. I've also been doing my expenses and preparing for other podcasts. I've learned a lot about you all and I think you're very respectful towards the female form.

Thank you. In physical media and in all other forms. Okay. I'm here to ask questions. The first question is from John. Your soul is being transferred onto Blu-ray and you will be put on your shelf

with the rest of your collection. You get to choose where on the shelf you will live for an eternity. Will you wedge yourself between two beloved films or hide away in a far corner? What will be your eternal resting place? Well, that's a totally normal question. That's actually Kronenbergian,

the idea of your final forum existing in one of these boxes. I have such little love and respect for myself that there's no way I would like wedge myself between two filmmakers. There's no chance. Even if I was on disc form,

I'd still want to be buried somewhere is how I feel about this. I am, I think ultimately, and this is maybe more for my family, but is also a little bit of like, we all want to be remembered. I would get one of those little stand-up things and like on the shelf

or above the fireplace, it would just be placed on the little stand-up thing. Oh, yeah. Like a Mickey Mantle rookie car. Oh, yeah. Like a little Mickey Mantle rookie card or whatever, like a war boy, like witness me. You know what I mean?

That's what I do. I think I would just be happy to be slid in to a bunch of Freakins, you know? Oh. Just the book of CR, just like the book of Frankstein, you know, and just... Between bug and killer joke, perhaps. Yeah, sure, man. Nice. I'll go by the Russ Meyer collection.

And then my, when my kids come to check that out later in life, I'll be right there. It was like, oh, there's dad. There's dad. But there's also Yeah, but also you're Fixin.

Vosoms? Don't be mad when they pick that one. Do you, I'll, I'll unboxed that in a minute.

Do you have a favorite Meyer vixen? You mean her means troupe? Actress. Yeah. No.

I don't have a favorite. Yeah. I do. It's Erica Gavin. Next question, understandable. This is totally normal so far.

The next question, is from Ian. How do you organize your Blu-rays? Personally, mine are in chronological order by release date because I'm a psychopath. On a side note, a woman I'm dating picked a movie from my collection for us to watch after a date last week. She went with total recall. She's a keeper. Ian, congrats on dating a woman. I would love to know what her other choices were, though. We haven't discussed this. I just go alphabetical. by title. I don't have, I'm not putting up the numbers yet to be like filmmaker or genre or anything like that, but I would love to get there one day. I'm alphabetical at one point on the shelves.

The criterions were by spy number, but when it started spilling into the next shelf, I was like, I just got to go alphabetical. I would love to, I just don't know that I have the executive function to be able to find anything if it were somehow by filmmaker. And then what if you only have a movie that's, you only have one movie by that filmmaker? Yeah, where does that go? You know, where does that go? Yeah. Then you're doing alphabetical and other things.

Just go alphabetical. I like putting all the radiance discs together. Like, I think there's an argument to be made for by label, but how do you do it? Wrong. I do it wrong. And I'm about to undergo a massive reorganization, I think. Because it's wrong. It's mainly by label.

Stuff that isn't on interesting labels is alphabetical. But the nanny recently watched Spy Who Came In From the Cold, and she didn't watch the 4K, and I was enraged by this because it was so poorly organized. She didn't know there was a 4K available. How dare she? Is she allowed to make a selection for herself? This was not programmed by you? I was gone. I mean, like, you know, right?

She's picking movies for herself right now. So, yeah, the fact that she watched Spy Who Came in from the Cold and didn't see the 4K would hurt me. I like what she's cooking, though, by just choosing that film. That's a great choice. I also, I mean, it's a good news. Yeah. Wild to me that this person is still in your employee. Yeah.

I've spoke of this before. I organized by director, sort of by preference of director, but that was something that was started more than a decade ago. And I've changed living environments multiple times through that strategy, and I have to rethink it completely. And then there is the looming Amanda Reorg. Which oft threatened but unfollowed through on, I think because that's like a nine-day project,

and Amanda just doesn't have the time. so she knows deep down, she bet off more than she can chew. But I got to figure something else out too, because I also do know, I'm fully in double-stacking era. Like I am now, it's beyond the beyond.

I am investigating with my AV man putting movies on a server. He's going to start putting movies on a set. I've given him a couple of stacks of stuff that is not watched much to put on a server, and he's going to show me sort of a prototype for how this would work.

Like a Plex. situation. I like. I don't know that it's that, but like that. Is this a private technology that's been developed for you? Not necessarily, though. I have a very good AV man. You know, he was Milo Schoforman's AV man.

A lot of people don't know this, but Milo Schormon was a collector, was a physical media collector and had quite an extensive collection. How will you decide whether or not there's any degradation by moving it to digital? He insists there. is not. I'm, I can tell, I can tell obvious changes. I can't tell. I'm not, I don't have that thing. Right. I, I, I can tell when it looks. Like a reference quality. Yeah. Does your A.V. Man Travel? He probably would. Ooh. You want to, you want to bring my A.V. Man out? But I don't know if this works, though. I don't know if you guys building your own streaming libraries is really honoring the

physical media philosophy. I would never give up the discs. That's my thing. I would never I wouldn't give it. It's not like I'm throwing the discs. But then you would pack them away maybe. Yeah, some things that I, that don't necessarily warrant display, yeah, would get packed into a storage area. Okay. Man. Okay.

I'll let you know how it's go. It would be great to. You should have the AV man on the next episode. The good idea. I don't know if I can do what you're describing, but I do need a new system entirely. I need a new space. I asked him, by the way, if he wanted a shot on in the show and he said, you know, we only work by a. Appointment only?

Yeah, by. Recommendation? Recommendation. No kidding. Wow. Wow. He's like a drug dealer. Okay.

What's the next question? I promised that I wouldn't insert my own opinions into this. So we're just going to keep going. I never believed the promise. I did. Sean said that this had to be a safe space. So I love you all and I support you. Johan from Sweden.

What is your most anticipated release that's been announced for 2026? I thought we could quickly talk about the near dark situation. Oh, yeah. And that was one of the Tangerine Dream, lesser-known soundtracks run that we had. And how did you watch it? You just rent it? I honestly, I don't even know if it's available for rental. Oh, okay.

I have a Blu-ray. It's not great. And is it a U.S. produced? It is U.S. produced, but it's old. Okay. There was an announcement maybe a year ago that this was in process. And then on April Fool's Day, I want to say it was, was it Severin who announced that they had been working on? it and then people could not figure out if it was a joke if it was a joke or not what a weird thing

to joke about and i know but to to our community near dark is one of the precious few kind of lost to physical masterpieces right yeah katherine bigelow's earliest films one of the we've talked about multiple times in the show um and i still don't really have answers on like that news that came on april first if it's real or not or if we're being fucked with but there's like a fairly elaborate from the owner of a physical media company about the process that they're exploring. It seems fake to me, but then there were some who suggested, well, it seems like a bit, but it's actually not a bit. So I'm a little bit confused about it.

But that's one that if it were happening, I've had that circled in red pen for 10 years. Any others? The general, Buster Keaton, coming out on 4K from Eureka just next month. I'm very excited about that. the outfit 4K coming from Arrow. We'll talk about that on the Duval draft. HUD from Criterion, long, right? That's been a white whale for a long time.

And Alice doesn't live here anymore also from Criterion. Those are some biggies. There you go. In the same year, we're getting Boxcar Bertha and Alice doesn't live here anymore, which I think are, are they the final two Scorsese films? that were not available on Bluray or 4K? I think they are. Makes sense.

And he's for you, Tim? I don't have the executive function, really, to keep track of things that are coming up, but I am excited about the outfit, which you told me and then I forgot, and now I'm remembering, and that's great. I don't mind sharing that my owning a DVD copy of the outfit was my earliest in with Quentin Tarantino.

When I met Quentin, he was like, have you seen the outfit? And I sent him a photograph of my DVD copy. and I think that that was like, oh, okay, you're cool. Nice. Because that movie, which is directed by John Flynn, who also made Rolling Thunder, which is one of his favorites.

Yeah. We've talked about many times is just an absolute stunner of a crime thriller from the 70s. What do you anticipate? You know, I'm like Tim, I'm not like trawling for like release dates. I let the game come to me. Interesting. I think I like that attitude.

I don't understand it, really? I mean, it's just I can't also be, on top of that. That's like, I feel like I'm kind of like almost early 27 knowing what's coming out on TV. So it's like, we can't keep on top of that because he's first chair on the watch because he's trying to be first chair on the rewatchables because he's maybe spread a little thin. That's true. That is an absolute dirty pool. And I don't respect it. I'm not going to dignify it. Can I tell you the movies that I have on pre-order right now? Yeah. Yeah. Moneyball 4K, my beloved, was supposed to be arriving in my house April 28th. That's today. It got

pushed back by Amazon to May 12th, and I'm not happy about it. But arriving on May 12th as well, Fight Club, 4K Steelbook. Oh, yes, that one. Extremely excited. You've got to try to get off the Amazon pipe. It's hard, but we got to try. But with those releases, there's not a lot of... Politics or because of like, just they screw over the release dates and they're... Because of politics. Because of the... It's terrible. I generally agree with you. Speed racer 4K, May 19th. The cars that ate Paris and the plumber 4K The Peter Weir films.

And then along with that bundle, I ordered from the Atomic movie store, Benedetta 4K from Paul Verhoeven. There you go, brother. Benedetta fucking rules. Yeah, great movie. And the one battle steel book, which I still don't have. I'm still waiting. Is that delayed or something?

It was delayed to June 2nd. So I sit here quietly with my... Wait a minute. Do I have the... steal book or do I just have a regular? Presumably you have a regular edition. Looks good, by the way. Question reader.

Would you want to be identified by name? Whatever you think works. Are you the executive producer of this episode? Sure. Yeah. You want that credit on your CV forever? I do because once again, I think that you guys have been really respectful to women and to cinema. You know, you lift us up every day. There's women in red rooms.

So, this is the bosom mania episode, executive produced by Amanda Dobbins. So, you know, as like any good girl boss, I'd like credit for that. The next question is from Gabriel. Who are some directors or actors whose history feels like they are being forgotten by current generations and could use an arrow or criterion, etc. box set to help regain a new generation of viewers? Well, I'll jump in here. I had this listed on my white whales as well.

Paul Mazurski is one of my favorite directors, and he's wildly underserved on physical media. Harry and Tonto, my God, just release it. So all these fucking people bitching about Al Pacino, not winning the Academy Award, can see that Art Carney was cooking. Bloom in Love, Alex and Wonderland, The Tempest Next Stop Greenwich Village,

this. His whole 70s run, almost the entirety of his 70s run, is not available even on blue, much less 4K. Really? What the hell, man? We've talked about this before. Next Top Grimes Village does have a twilight time, I think, but all of those other titles are not even available on Blu-ray at all.

It's kind of a mess, and it's, you know, some of his films, like Moscow on the Hudson, there's a nice indicator, right? There's a couple of titles that have, but, you know, in that realm of, like, kind of second-tier, you know, a tour comic voices from that period of time,

like working in the mold of like a Woody Allen type. And like these movies are kind of forgotten. Or Hal Ashby, who's very well represented. And yet I think of Ashby and Mazursky in the same sentence. It's like it speaks, I think, to the way that like some people just get canonized and others don't. And there's the other example that I think of all the time. And we mentioned this, Amanda,

when we talked about Merrill Streep is Mike Nichols. Yeah. Who is considered a much more sort of like hallowed and legendary filmmaker. But when you go back and look at all of the movies that he made, especially his movies in the 70s and 80s, like a lot of them are not available on anything beyond DVD. Or if they're available on Blu-ray, like they were very limited runs of Blurrays.

So like Silkwood and Heartburn and, you know, Bluxie Blues, I think, just came from Shout Select in the last couple of years, but that was not available for a long time. Catch 22 just came out on a Shout Select as well, which is a underrated movie as far as I'm concerned. And I think last time we were all together, we talked about carnal knowledge and that coming from two different places. And like, it's, you know, in 2025,

they're kind of finally getting around to a bunch of these movies. So he's one I think of all the time. And it's kind of inexplicable. Like, these were big studio movies and then they just never got that attention. I think is postcards from the edge? Is that also not available on Blu-ray? I don't think so. I mean, that's crazy.

Are you serious? Yeah. So there's a, I don't know if there's anybody else that you guys are thinking of that you think. No, not really. I mean, like, you know, when I first got into this, I was like, oh, there's no way, like, these 10 VHS classics from my childhood. will ever have like deluxe really and they all have you know like there's like a deluxe edition of rad you know yeah so i i'd feel like it would be hard for me to think of there are directors that i would

like to see centered as the sort of principle of the release rather than maybe the title like i would love to like get like a bunch of mctyernan movies that are like about him and about like what he did but i don't know i mean like there's there's plenty of good releases of his movies it's just really more about the context than which they're presented oh my god Like, there's still plenty of things like that that are just kind of no-brainers that are obvious. Like, you know, for example, Disney is waiting to put Star Wars on 4K in a set next year to match the 50th anniversary, right? Like, they're going to do that. I'll be shocked if they don't do it.

And they'll probably put all the versions on it. Is there any danger of that not happening, though, is with them getting rid of the whole entertainment? It's definitely possible. But, like, I was thinking about for the 76 draft this movie, not a pretty picture. This Martha Coolidge kind of documentary slash. scripted exploration of sexual assault, which is a really fascinating, interesting movie that was effectively

retrieved and saved and reconstituted by the Criterion Collection. Then I was looking at her career, and it's like, a lot of her movies have been issued over in recent years, like cinematographed Joy of Sex, Valley Girls available, Real Genius has a 4K? Like, this is a filmmaker, do you think, like, well, Martha Coolidge, we need to do more work to protect her, but

you know, Rambling Rose, like all these movies have nice editions of them, and then Mike Nichols doesn't have Blu-rays for a bunch of his movies. So it's just a very capricious kind of business, and you don't totally always understand why this happens. Anyway, what's next? This one comes from Andrew. This is a big one.

I hope you guys are ready. I hope you got your Tom Cruise emails ready. My TV just broke. It's time to upgrade. I want to hear from each of you, what is your full AV setup? TV projector, audio, and 4K player. Lighting,

Popcorn Maker? Give me the full details. Popcorn maker? I don't have a popcorn maker. Do you have a microwave? I do. Yeah. I barely use it,

but I do have a microwave. I have a pretty standard setup. I can't remember how big my Samsung TV is, but it's fairly large. And I bought the Sony that Sean had recommended before that was sort of like the starter kit for multi-region. DVD viewing. There's really nothing remarkable about my setup, though. I think I have a Sony

O-L-E-D. I think I went into the 80s for that. Like 80. Like it's big. It feels nice. Have a soundbar. Sonos soundbar, I think. And then, yeah, like a region free 4K player. The only thing I think in this question that I think PlayStation and Xboxes can play 4K.K. But I feel like Xbox specifically, which we do have, has like kind of can't play the larger storage versions of 4Ks, which is sort of, which is why I went to the region free 4K Sony player, the one that you recommended. Just because like I think it's like if it's a hundred gigabyte disk, Xbox can't play it. And I was having trouble with that because then I wouldn't be like, well, fuck, I got to watch this Blu-ray. That's lame. the whole thing is lame

but if you want to if you want to just parse it out playing the blue ray when you have the 4K is lame so yeah that's sort of the setup that I have I asked my AV man what I have

I'll just say before you pull it up very quickly if you want to upgrade from that Sony that I recommend which is the one that I usually recommend to listeners of the show because it's like 200 bucks and it does most of what you need occasionally you'll meet a 4K

where you can't handle the bit rate and it's too strong strong. But if you want to upgrade, I think the Panasonic DPUB 820, which is a region-free Blu-ray player, is very powerful and can do most of what you need. Okay, what do you got? We have a flagship 7.1.4 immersive environment, meticulously architected with a full monitor audio array. This high fidelity 11-channel layout is driven by the reference grade silicon of the Morantz. Delivering a seamless Dolby Atmos soundstage

that marries British acoustic precision with legendary musical warmth. The auditory experience is matched by a monumental 150-inch canvas illuminated by a Sony premium 4K laser projector. under the unified orchestration of a Crestron control system. These elements serve as the exhibition stage for broadcast TV, high bitrate streaming, and a bespoke master tier digital library, the cinema atheneum.

I'm sorry, did he write you this text message? He did. Holy shit. He also ghost wrote bug. Is that the setup that you watch? You're going to watch Kyler Marie on? British acoustics. Quit checking on that. How are you feeling?

Yeah. Real good, baby. Skoll. Skull, baby. Wow, you're feeling good. Skoll. The draft is, we're going to see. We took a couple of big swings. We're going to see. Okay. I would have worn my Cubs hat. I am aware it's baseball season. But my wife looks too good in it. She stole my Cubs hat.

That's adorable. Well, that was information. Can you fucking stand on that? Can you beat that? No. But I'm but a pauper relative to Mr. Letts. It almost,

it's weird how like our setups are commensurate with our station in the High Council. I'm like, I'm a top of TV! The next box! I haven't seen sunlight in years! This fucking guy's got like... I will tell you this rule of stuff.

British War. About your... setup. Well, first of all, let me say this. Get an A.V. Man. Get an A.V. Man. What is it? You know, get a chauffeur. No, it's not a chauffeur. It's worth, you know, maybe if you're a bit of a tech head and you know how to hook everything up and do all that stuff. Okay. I can't hook up. I can't do shit. Critical question. Democracy falls. You got to get out of this country immediately. Maybe something for us all to consider. You can only bring one person with you, your AV man or your nanny, coming with you. The nanny. Okay.

I have a critical question about this. What's the remote control setup? Like, is this something that you need to have, like, high level understanding of different channels and all this other stuff, like, or can you just hit play and it goes?

My kids can operate the remote control. Well, yeah, my kids, both my kids can operate the remote control. Is it like an iPad that you have, like, kind of like, it's a... No, it's just a big-ass remote control, but they can get around. on it. That's often the, we have some disagreements in my home about how complicated the road controls have gotten. So the first thing is get an AV man. And the second thing is, whatever

you spend on your visual, you should match in the audio. If your TV and your player cost $600, you should be spending $600 on your sound system. I love a philosophy. That's nice. Okay, what's our next question? This comes from, And I'm, let's be clear that I'm, I'm channeling the voice of J.D. here. Greetings, gentlemen. I am humbled to be addressing Tim Hitmaker Simons, Tracy Playmaker Letts, and Chris Heymaker Ryan in the esteemed Council of Physical Media. Thank you, Grand Knight Fentis, with Noble Squire Sanders at your side for assembling this roundtable to tout the tangible rebuff buffering and elevate classics new and old to their 4K glory.

And of course, Lady Dobbins, who probably wants no part of this allegory, correct, but we all owe you a nagroney. My question deviates from substance and instead focuses purely on the aesthetic. Do you remember a film you purchased purely for the box art, heft, or style? No. You know, I don't really have a lot of examples of this. It does raise a question about buying things in person versus ordering online. Over the weekend, I went to the video store in parts so that my daughter could pick some movies out. And also to see if there was anything I wanted to buy to bring here today.

And it just so turned out that at this video store, which I love, video tech in Highland Park, I just didn't, there wasn't anything that really appealed to me. But I will occasionally, if I see something, I'll just grab it and say like, what the I'm going to try it out. But nothing sprung to mind because I don't do a ton of in-person shopping at this point in my life. Far more likely to do this for books than a movie. Oh. Yeah.

Just come from cover art? Yeah. Like I love going through use bookstores. And it's like, if there is a tableau that I am interested in on the cover art, I'll be like, this is really good. Sometimes even just the title of the book. I'm like, that sounds really compelling. I'll just grab it if it's like a $5 paperback or whatever. I kind of agree that, like,

Most of these are based on emotion or recommendations. So there isn't, you know, like I have a connection to the movie or I love it or it was seminal from when I was growing up or you guys have recommended it that kind of thing. But I don't know that I've ever gotten something just because it sort of like looked nice. You know what I mean? I've definitely gone with like blind buys. But again, that's just sort of by recommendation. Or it's the label.

And or you know what I mean? Like it'll be like I'm happy to do that. The Radiant subscription is one of the best purchases I've made in years. But I don't know that I would necessarily just like walk into a video store and like just grab something like that because I liked it. I'll double up. I will occasionally double dip and buy a movie that I've already got because there are some bells and whistles that I'm interested in. I'm buying the John Wu movies on Arrow in addition to the Shout. So I almost brought the stack of Shout John Woo's.

just to kind of put a circle around all of these films are available now. Or like, you know, Choi Hark's, the Blade just came from Criterion. Like, that wave of Hong Kong cinema, like all of it is now coming to physical, which is so crazy because it was among the most desired stuff forever. But why you just want to have, you want to see the different transfers or you want to see the different features? I think they're essentially going to be the same transfers, but the special features are going to be wildly different.

Some of the bells and whistles are a little different. But I don't buy it because of the box, right? I don't buy it because the heft of the box or anything. I bought both carnal knowages, right? I thought that was worth. And those transfers are very different. They both look great, but they're both, the color correction on them is very different from each other. Interesting.

I've been, like, intrigued by the idea of, like, the Halloween that was going to come, the Halloween box that was going to come in a pumpkin or the unboxing boyed chainsaw massacre. But it really then, I get it, like, do I love those movies enough to have it take up that amount of space? So I end up sort of pulling back from that. Yeah, I don't really want toys, really. I don't really want the toys. I'm much more, if there's an elaborate box, I'm open-minded about that. That might be something you're interested in.

Yeah, I could dabble. Quite an elaborately phrased question as well. Thank you for that. What's next? From Will. Oh, hallowed council members. Can you explain the differences between. between standard Blu-rays and 4K Blu-rays. Also, more importantly, how confident are you that there won't be a new updated medium in 20 years that will render 4K's obsolete like DVDs and VHS have become?

I think I'm only qualified to handle the second one and even then a little bit hesitant. My understanding is that if you go up to 8K, the human eye can't actually tell the difference. That's my understanding as well. you know, talk to us in five years when we're around the, hey guys, new 8K release of I spit on your grave and I picked it up and you know what I mean? Kind Hearts and Coronet's 8K. Tracy got it on free order.

It's possible that happens. I don't get the impression that there's going to be a pivot anytime soon technologically, just based on how a lot of these companies are operating. The difference between Blu-ray and 4K is fairly legible by just saying there's more information.

in the technology so that you're just getting more pixels effectively. So you're getting brighter color, deeper blacks. You're getting sometimes a different aspect ratio depending on how the transfer operates. It's just a, it's like a bigger piece of machinery that you're consuming with the film. You know, sound is improved often. It's just better, clearer. Not always. I think there are some films.

There's like a human eye component to relative to how the films are. remastered. We talked about the James Cameron movies and how they don't really look the way that the James Cameron movies looked on screens. I've been having this issue recently with toying with the settings on my television in terms of matching them to what I think that, you know, there's the standard

kind of like what is recommended for watching a 4K on my kind of television. But you can get in there and start to adjust it from like warm one to warm two and some things come out like a bit brown I find so it's like I'll mess with it because I'm like I don't think Excalibur's

supposed to look like this and you can, but that sort of gets into like then like you're playing Dr. Frankenstein with your movie and it's hard sometimes to like exactly identify that perfect thing. My thing with the, if they do come up with an 8K and they're like,

no, you could buy these movies again. I would probably say to Tracy's point earlier that the more money you spend on your setup, you'll probably get more out of your movies that you already have them worrying about some new technology coming along. Yeah. And I would imagine, at a point

Tracy's AV guy is probably right that there is going to be more and more work done on like having a

private server and having all this stuff backed up so that you have like a digital copy of it as well

I think that's right you know what'll help with your remote control investigation sure AV man

okay um what's next I do think that yeah sure something will come along that'll replace it

just like something came along that replaced DVDs, but not everything gets replaced, right? I've got the outfit on DVD. And I'm glad I've got California split on DVD. I'm glad I've had those to go to until something better comes along. So maybe my 4Ks will be the thing I have until something better comes along. I'm glad that the technology has advanced as far as it has. But sure, something better always You know, we don't know what the world is going to look like in 20 years. It's probably just going to look like all of us, you know, grubbing for food. It's going to look like the beginning of Fury Road with Elon Musk with a bunch of fake metals turning on the water and telling us not to become addicted.

Because we will mourn its absence. At least I'll have these, you know. Yeah. They hopefully won't degrade by then. What's our next question? They won't because they're made of plastic. The next question is from Georgia. It is I, Georgia, one of the dozen of women who collects physical media.

Yes. I, Georgia, am new in my journey and looking to grow my collection this year. What is one director you recommend buying their whole body of work or as close to the whole body as possible? Russ Meyer. That's a tricky question, right? What kind of movies does Georgia like? That's just it. It's like you don't want to, I don't want to sit here and say, well, Georgia's going to like movies directed by women.

It doesn't necessarily follow. The Nanny, for instance, her favorite movies are action movies, and she's the one who's made us watch all those goddamn Mission Impossible movies. We've watched them because of the nanny. Let's try this again. Say the same thing. Remove the word, God. Dan, from the sentence, and then we're okay. And maybe add thankfully.

So different people have different tastes. My wife tends to not like the action movie. If you ask her one thing about the Mission Impossible movie, she couldn't tell you one thing that's happened in those films. She likes a more personal story, so it's hard to know where to start. I will just say that the filmmakers who I have had the most fun, collect, their titles. I think I have all of them up to a point is the Cohen brothers. And I'm just going to take a wild guess and say if George is listening to this show, she probably likes them. But these are,

I think, relatively economical purchases, you know, you can get the full breadth of two of the great filmmakers of this era. And I find that like having those as, having those as physical objects is really satisfying and you can follow their and there's a bunch of different kinds of of additions of them and you can you can mess around with that but I love I think that's a good place to start yeah no I don't really have like what director do you like and then go get all their movies and like watch them in chronological order and like see them develop and see yeah like man why did they make this weird choice and it was like oh because they were a cokehead and they ran out of money and they needed to take a job you know what I mean like see it in or

would probably be interesting. I think there's a, there are some simple signpost to direct people to. For example, I'm fairly certain that the Criterion Collection has issued every single Charlie Chaplin feature film. So if you wanted to have the totality of Charlie Chaplin's feature filmmaking career, you could just get all 10 of those discs and just say, well, here is a pretty dramatically important phase of filmmaking. If you watch these movies and this is like the totality of their filmography,

which spans like 40 years, you can get a lot out of that. Like if you were just like starting a project and you wanted to say, well, let's say there are 100 important filmmakers, that's one of the first 10 that would probably get named in your standard 101 film class. But most directors, I would venture to guess no other directors shy of like Bergman have a complete collection from one distributor. Most of them are kind of dotted across, and so it's harder to find something. Even the Cohen's like, there is

no Blu-ray of the Lady Killers. I don't think there's a 4K of Raising Arizona, like that kind of thing. So, you know, you have to think hard about which are the ones that you can get in totality. But you know what, Georgia, right back. Let us know who you like. What are your five favorite movies? And then maybe we can help direct you in the future.

Enjoy all this Charlie Chaplin movies. And thank you for your womanhood and your insightfulness. Oh my God. You just thanked her for her woman. We're not beating any of Amanda's allegations. The next one is long, but it's incredibly worthy. So buckle up. It comes from Luke.

Hello, High Council. My name is Luke, and I'm a librarian down in Florida who runs our movie section. I want to sing the praises of the High Council. Most of our patrons don't have Internet or can't afford to go to the movies, so physical media is their only way to watch these films and shows. It's the only way most people get to experience film. So I'm thankful for y'all's passion and obsession. Y'all points for y'all.

Thank you. Well, you know, I come by that one personally. To honor the High Council, I would love to put together a High Council Picks collection. These are usually five to six movies picked by the staff that we think go together or carry similar themes genres. I would love to have a reason to explain to my boss who Tracy Letts, CR, The Hitmaker, and Sean R. So we'll start with thriller, obviously. Yeah, obviously, throw a thriller or a crew. Put that in the kids section.

For the family. This is a big, big ask. Yeah. I maybe don't understand the ask. What is the ask? They want to have like a basically like what are, what are recommended by the high council. But like a little shelf recommended by the high council. Yeah.

What's a thematic quintet of films that we would select to represent our tastes and interests and speak highly of physical media. Australian New Wave Horror films. That's the thing is, like, I think that the craft of physical media is really peering down, like, exploitation, horror, you know, these extreme subgenres. So you're not thinking as much of, like, Forrest Gump is now available on 4K, you know, but a lot of that stuff is also available. So what represents this project?

Should we keep a generic and pick? one criterion movie each Well I was going to say like One samurai movie One Italian crime movie One you know we can say like What are the kind of pet interests Of each council member

Okay I'll pick an Italian crime film I'll just do one that I have in my bag That I want to grab it actually Look at you Holding out on us Illustrious corpses Nice

Radiance at Luna Ventura And it's about A bunch of Supreme Court Justices in Italy getting murdered and this guy's got to get to the bottom of it, but it's really like a meditation on corruption in institutions and it's from Radiance and it's fantastic. And I think actually would still play.

You know, like, if you're just like, hey, I'm coming in, I'm just picking up a little slow, maybe, but... Fabulously bleak ending on that movie. I wouldn't know, I don't know that I would, like, put this in my, like, top five movies of all time, but I think it might be a good thing. Like, if you're at the library, you're interested in movies, I'm just going to go off the Cohen Brothers thing

and be like, throw Miller's Crossing in there. because it might not be the Cohen Brothers movie that you've seen, but I've like weirdly like watched it four times in the last couple of years. And I find it so comforting. And I think it's like, I don't know, I think it's great. And I think if you're just like in the library and you're looking for a good time from a filmmaker that maybe you haven't seen their entire filmography, like you're probably not, you probably haven't seen that one. I think that'd be fun.

It'd be fun to sit down and watch that for the first time. Throne Miller's Crossman. Yeah, I don't think it's their best movie, but that's my favorite movie, by that. Who go, Sean? My go-to is always the third man, which now has like multiple editions that you can find of the movie. I think it's one of the richest

and most interesting men. It's a huge influence on Miller's Crossing. I'm fascinated by post-war collisions of noir and crime movies. And it's the kind of movie that I think is best appreciated with like a really high-quality addition of the movie

because it's a black and white film that has like this amazing cinematography, this black and white photography. And it kind of has like an interest in like perverting perspective. You know, like every time you see a character, the way that they're shot indicates how the film feels about that character. And it's like one of the great powers of cinema is that like it's not like watching a stage play or even a television show, which is usually standard like on a tripod, you know, the camera's not moving a lot.

And it's also just from a kind of writing, performance, and character perspective, feels like the pinnacle of 20th century movies to me. So maybe the studio canal most recent 4K of the third man. The third man, illustrious corpses. Miller's Crossing. I'm going to go with Don't Look Now. Yeah.

I'm going to put Nicholas Ruggs, Don't Look Now in there. A couple of beautiful 4K editions of that, both from Criterion and So, Studio Canal is the other gorgeous edition of that. So, yeah, 4K, don't look now. Hopefully the fine folks of that Florida Library, enjoy those movies. All right.

This one is from self-styled Gen Z. Dominic. Hi. I'm sitting up straight to read this one. I don't understand what that means. It means I didn't identify him as Gen Z, Dominic. He identified himself as Gen Z Dominic. I thought you were saying his name was so stylish. Illustrious counsel.

My name is Dominic. There's no way that all of these started like this. You can't interrupt me on this one right now. I'm so sorry. It's okay. I need everybody to hang on for the ride, okay? Illustrious counsel. My name is Dominic and I'm a 20-year-old student at the Ohio State University.

After hearing the last convening of the council, you all awoke a nostalgia within me for the discs and blu-rays I had growing up editor's note five years ago because I am 20. Eight months later, I have now basically given up going to the bars to fund my 4Ks and vinyl collection that I have started because you all made me realize the joy and human connectivity we feel towards physical media. I did want to tell you all that any person my age who has seen my collection has taken an actual interest and have expressed interest in starting a collection of their own. But I will say, sadly, whenever I bring back birds from the bar, not once has one asked me about the 4Ks. However, it is quite

automatic after I throw on a tame Impala or the new Bruno Mars vinyl. P.S. Yesterday, I was able to show a girl I've been seeing Fight Club and theaters for the anniversary screening, and she loved it. She had no idea about Tyler Durdon, and I was able to see her reaction. My friend then told me tonight that it was crazy to have taken a date to see Fight Club. Is he right? What a roller coaster. I didn't know where that was going. I don't. So if the question is, was it crazy? I don't think it's crazy just in that way of like, I think you should be radically yourself on a first date. Sure. And if they don't, if they're not into you, then they're not into you. If you can't watch me at my, at my fight club? Yeah. Yeah. I, well, what do you think about that?

I showed a woman I was going out with a clockwork orange. And right before Alex's rehabilitation starts, she burst into tears and asked me to take the movie off. And I was like, but, but you don't understand. He's about to, there's about to be a, he's going to get, it's like, if you stop now, all you have is horror. Yeah. You know, there's, there's plenty of those to show you. There's another Yeah

It was not a Not a great selection As it turns out Her dad was in the hospital Maybe just wasn't a great selection Can I be kidding Dominic? Yeah

Yeah I would just say Don't necessarily At your young ripe age Where you're still experiencing life Like don't Don't shut yourself off

From real life experiences Because that's what's going to inform Your movie taste In the first place Is Well it's a

Contradiction in this email which strikes me as a bit stream of consciousness where he says that he's basically given up going to the bars to fund his 4Ks in vinyl collection but then one or two sentences later is talking about bringing back birds from the bars. Do you think he's like not drinking at the bar but is still going to nab women to take to fight club?

That's an interesting use of the word nab. Maybe have we been in this room for too long? I am... This is like going places. I want to say this. Getting physical media does not mean that you're shutting out the rest of the world. I don't. I didn't say that.

I know, I know. I'm speaking to Dominic as well. I think go to repertory theaters and experience films with people as well. That's important. Don't spend all of your money on 4Ks and Blu-rays. Despite evidence to the contrary, that's not what I do. I think that it's good to share these things.

It's good to experience them with people. Like that's kind of one of the magic of movies. right, that you can have this communal event. It doesn't just, but the collection is more of like, um, organizing your feelings around some of these things. That's one of the things it helps with. So I hope Dominic understands that. I would,

I want to echo that Dominic and say, like one of the reasons I got into this was because I had gone to see like a rep screening of out of the blue in Atlanta. Um, and the community around that kind of movie I was, I felt great about. Amanda, What is the name of that theater? The Claremont?

No, the other one. Like one screen revival. In Atlanta? In Atlanta. Not the, I don't know besides the Claremont. Okay. Whichever one it is, and it very well might be Claremont. Is it the Plaza?

The Plaza. Thanks a lot. I live there in 25 years. It is Atlanta's oldest, continuously operating cinema and a hub for indie films, cult classics, and film festivals. Yeah, like, I would say, like, take the money you would have spent on the bar or maybe spent on a Blu-ray that you think would look good on the shelf, but isn't one of your favorite ones, and go to a rep theater and find a community there.

You know what I mean? Like, still get out there in the world. We are old as fuck. You still have a life ahead of you. We are on the down swing. Yeah, we close the bars. Yeah. And now we buy DVDs.

Yeah. Tracy's just going to tell him to get an AV guy. It's my best advice. A good a movie guy. And I don't know about all this going out into the world. I can't get behind that. Stay in. Stay in and program.

Let's read our next question. Before we may, I have two clarifications. Number one, Tim, I'm sorry, that the Claremont is a strip club that is right next to the plaza. That's right. I was confused as the two. Yeah, I apologize for that. And, you know, hello to everyone in Atlanta, still in Fulton County. Especially at the Claremont.

Yeah. I want to say two things about the Claremont. Yeah. A wonderful honky tonk bar that also happens to be a strip club. The two times that I have been there, one was with, who played the king, the king and the king's speech? Colin Firth. I went to the Claremont at one point with Colin Firth. And I know that's a little bit of a name drop, but I just want to say with a large group of other people.

But I just want to say that Colin Firth went to the Claremont and I was there for that. And the other time that I went there I can see the expression on his face. All right. So, already imprinted right here. The other time that I went there, I parked and a gentleman came up and said,

hey, for $5, I'll make sure that nobody steals your windshield wipers. And it was very clear he was telling me, if you don't give me $5, I'm going to steal your windshield wipers. And I was like, yeah, that actually sounds like a pretty good deal. And I gave him $5 and $1.

When I came back, the windshield wipers were there. That's wonderful. Yeah. I do love the idea of Colin Firth in an English manner. He's popped downstairs having his breakfast and tea. And he's checking out what's going on with his friends on the big picture. What are they discussing today? Yeah.

And he's listening and he's like, oh, Timothy Simons, I know this fellow. I'll listen to this episode all the way through this three-hour digression. I once had a meal. Yeah. And lo and behold, he reveals, when we guys watched women dance together. There was a very large group of people. It's kind of like Jumbo's Clown Room in L.A.

It's not a sort of salacious place. It's more of like a celebration of dance. A celebration of dance. It's a review. A co-ed hang and like a good indie bar honky tonk. The kind of place Russ Meyer might have enjoyed it. Yes. Okay, I think we have time for two more.

So this comes from Nathan and Emily. Dear esteemed members of the High Council. Again. We are getting married at the end of June and have been struggling to think of interesting items to put on our wedding registry. One thing that is a big part of our lives is a massive physical media collection that takes up a full wall of our house. So we ask you, is it appropriate to put Blu-Rays or 4Ks on a wedding registry? And if so, what movies or box sets would you recommend we ask for? Criterion, Fellini box,

Kurosawa box, Bergman box, right? I mean, that's a lot of the history of film right there. Those chaplains that he talked about, again, it depends on the kind of collection you're trying to. So you're saying this is appropriate for them to put bluerze and forecast on the registry. More than, you know, some chief ass to put scenes through a marriage

in people's gift bags. I just love that Nathan and Emily are doing this together, right? They've sent this email in together, which means that they're committed not just to a life together, but to collecting and supporting film history together. Yeah. I mean, a hundred percent it's a good thing to throw on there. You know, I mean, do the napkins and all that. Yeah, yeah.

Like, you know, if you need some dishware, that's important. Sure. You're starting a new life together. You need new dishware. I think that's like, that's your life. That's your life together. It'd be cool if you could put an AV guy in your registry. Yeah.

Is that a service he's willing to provide? I would throw in like that Wes Anderson box too And I think maybe I think you're maybe right to keep it to boxes rather than individual titles just because you're probably less likely to spend the money on a on a box and And it would be and it would be fun and you always remember that it was for your wedding Maybe that Capra Columbia box set that would be a good one right? That's a pricey one Wong Kar-Y set from Criterion. Great one.

That Godzilla won for their future kids. Oh, Godzilla one. Territsch. Herzog collections from Shout. One of my first big boxes was that set. That's how I got up to speed on all of Herzog's first 20 movies. The Zhang Yimu set from... We don't have this.

From Umbrella. I don't have that. Is it umbrella? No, it's imprint. Okay. The imprint. Well, that's, you could get into the Australian and English companies where they're going to be more expensive to import to. You could think about that.

And I just want to throw this out. And I don't know your plans on having children. When you get to a baby registry, you'll absolutely need burp claws, get more of those than you need. You're going to need onesies. But you know what? Throw kids movies on that registry as well. Great idea. Or Larry Clark's kids.

Larry Clark's kids. There you go. Which is available from imprint, actually, but not in the United States of America. My boy right now is really into time bandits. Oh, man, that scared the shit out of me when I was kid. He and his little sister dressing up as time bandits. Really? Yeah.

He's got great taste. Yeah. He does. Okay. Will this be the last? Yes, this is the last one. Okay. It comes from Trevor.

A hot topic in the physical media world is the Grail 4K, the one movie above all, you'd like to see get a 4K remaster. I'd love to know yours. I don't have one that's like a collector's grill. It's one that I just missed the window on, which is a Canterbury tale, the Powell and Pressburger movie. I watched that for the first time randomly on TCM

a couple of months ago. Fell deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply in love with it. Great movie. I know it came out on Criterion. I've seen it used on eBay. I think I've seen a couple of times, for 80 bucks like unopened on eBay but I would love like a beautiful beautiful like addition of that and that's like one I'm really waiting for the ones that come up for me are

I think at one point like the devils might have been in that question like the devil seems to be like and I but that's gonna be a lot of people's answer um I think the Danny Boyle movie sunshine which really has like a very what are we do I have the blue ray of it that I found in a thrift store but I think it's like finicky and skips a lot. I think that was there was like a problem in the production. I think one up, I mentioned it earlier, sort of offhand, but you can only find Blu-rays of streetwalking that are used and that are like in the hundreds of dollars. And so it would be cool to see that upgraded. And then just one of my favorites that I kind of can't believe doesn't have a Blu-ray or 4K is the candidate, which I think is a phenomenal. movie and one of my and has become one of my favorites and and it just bums me out that like that performance in that movie isn't more accessible in that format uh a few the conformist i don't understand why there's not a 4k of the conformist which is not only one of my favorite movies ever made but

you know there's a there's a book or a documentary i think it's called uh visions of light It's who, right? Intermarism with cinematographers. And the one movie that is consistently referenced by all of them is the conformist. It, it's like when they were getting together to make the great movies that they made, they sat down with the director and watched the conformist. That's the first thing they watched. So it absolutely needs reference level disc. California split. We've talked about really needs an upgrade. It's my maybe my second favorite Altman after Nashville. The Heartbreak kid, I think, is a great white whale for a lot of people. I've got a bad old DVD of it, but such a great movie. Lonely Are the Brave, a great movie that's not talked about very much anymore. David Miller movie with Kirk Douglas and Walter Mathau. There's a Twilight Time. Oh, and Jenna Rollins also, there's a Twilight Time disc of that, but that could certainly use an upgrade. I just did Year of Living Dangerously on Blank Check. There's a terrible, terrible DVD, but there is no Blu-ray representation or 4K.

And then a sentimental pick, because it's the first movie I ever watched with my wife, Sherman's March, which is a great, hilarious, wonderful documentary. I'll tell you something. Last Saturday, Ross McElw, the director of that movie, was at the American Cinemattec presenting that film. And they asked me to moderate the Q&A, and I couldn't do it. And I was devastated because I love that film so much, so in college. and speaking of documentaries that cooked my noodle. Really, for those writing about your nascent relationships with your partners,

I have to say, Sherman's March got Carrie and I off on the right foot. That was a great movie to start our relationship. If she clicked with it, that's a good sign. Yeah, she definitely did. I made a list about a year ago of 21st century movies that are not available in these formats. Part of it is there are a great many Netflix and Amazon movies that have never been issued and hopefully we're changing that over time. But I'll just go through like a handful of them.

Some of them, for example, David Burns' American Utopia, which was only available on HBO Max for a while. The Criterion Collection put it out. Directed by Spike Lee. It's a fascinating capture of the stage show that Byrne put up. But like, let's look at a couple of them here. The Handmaiden is still not on 4K. Sexy Beast is still not available on 4K.

Waking Life, I don't believe, is available on Blu-ray. Maybe an international Blu-ray, Richard Linklater's film. Tick-Tick-Bomb, the Netflix film that Lin-Manuel Miranda Miranda directed, is not available in the bedroom, is not available on anything beyond DVD, as far as I know? I don't think so. Is that true? Is there an Australian? Yeah, there's an Australian in the bedroom.

By the same token, Little Children, Todd Field's other film, I think is also only available on DVD. American Splendor, as far as I know, is not available on Blu-ray. We could go on, and, I mean, the tragedy of Macbeth is a Joel Cohen movie that is just not available on physical period. Because it's just on Apple, right? Yeah. I think Jim Jarmish's coffee and cigarettes is not available on physical or maybe just on DVD. Had to blow up a pipeline, a recent film that was never issued in physical.

One of the big ones on this, my list for years and years was birth. And finally, Criterion put that out, which is wonderful. Still haven't seen it. Never seen. I mean, I just got the disc, but I've never seen it. Is there something up with the Glazer movies that takes a lot of come? I don't know. I know Under the Skin is on Blu-ray.

Zone of Interest has a 4K from A-24. Under the Skin doesn't have a 4K? As far as I know, it does not. Just watch Birth last week. Fantastic. Yeah. It's amazing movie. Speed Racer was on this list.

That's been since corrected. To your point about 0-00, there's a movie that Chris and I really loved from a few years back called the Vast of Night that Amazon distributed that just may as well be gone. I think it's still available on the service. I believe so, yeah. I like checked recently. enough.

So, you know. Throw the killer on there. Like, I mean, that's the thing is the Finchers and the Soderbergs of the last 10 years are, are all, I don't know. I mean, like, no sudden move might have gotten a release when it was on from Max. I don't think it did. I don't think, I think many of those Max and Netflix, Soderberg movies are not available. I'm thinking of any things is not available. The one that, you know, Zach Krieger's barbarian, not available in any physical format, period.

That's wild. Yeah. You know what's a really weird one is I heart Huckabee's. which is only on DVD, as far as I know, which was a pretty big film in its time. A lot of big stars, big director. We can get the Lily Tom one. Put it on the Borders.

But wouldn't you want to see an interview with her today about her experience on that film? That would be fascinating. Another weird one is M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. Only on DVD, as far as I know, his first few films have now since been issued on 4K. I could do this for, like, hours. But there's shattered glass is one that I think is still,

only on DVD as far as I know. A lot of favorites of mine over the last 25 years. In fact, one of Amanda's favorites, Something's Got to Give, was only available on DVD for the longest time, and they announced this a month ago that it's coming to 4K. Amanda, is that exciting for you?

I look forward to one of you giving it to me for my birthday. And I'll, listen, I'll treasure it. This morning, I'm not joking, my son went upstairs and found the only 4K I own, which is the 4K of Bring It On. which Sean got me last year. A treasured artifact explaining what a 4K is to a 4-year-old

was interesting. But we're going to try to make the player work. Or is it 4K or is it blue-ray, Sean? It's a 4-K. Okay. Tracy, have you watched that film yet? I haven't. I haven't watched it.

I remember. I've been watched it. I've been steeped in Duval in 76. I told the nanny, I said, as soon as I come home, We're going to start watching stuff that's not Duval in 76. She's very excited. How do you feel about all these questions?

You feel that everyone is normal who really enjoys this experience? Who are we to judge what's normal after the selections we just made? You know, we talk about, we joke about the people who come up to us and the people who came up to Carrie and say, well, they're a fan of this. It really is great. It really is great to know that people are enjoying this stuff, especially when I feel that they're diving into some of the older or more obscure. stuff and they're starting to expand their their vision of what a movie is or how a movie works. I just think it's really cool. And I would say something else about the guy who talked about not going to the bars.

Dominic. I have 12,000 discs. I've also been sober for over 30 years. If I do the math of how much money I haven't spent on booze and drugs and other vice. And I put that money toward the discs. That's why I have 12,000 discs. With money left over, I might add, from what I saved. From, you know, getting off the dope.

Get off the dope. Get off the dope. That's, I think you need to rationalize that with your own personal success. You're in four versus Ferrari. I mean, you know, like, I don't know if fucking Dominic's going to. I'm just saying, you're like, well, scratch left over. I'm just saying, sir, you have a pull. Get off the dope. That's my advice because not only is it a financial question, but the truth is

that I like myself more as a dork with a huge physical media collection. That I agree with an asshole at the end of the bar who's cynical and, you know, puffing on his sigs and, you know, talking shit. It's the scales of justice, man. I mean, I couldn't have said it better myself. What would have happened if Nancy Reagan had that messaging instead of just saying now? Would you have done that as an undergrad in college been like it's time for my dork, my dork era? Like you want to go out and like you have like a couple years of... I don't know. I feel like I've always kind of been myself.

I've kind of always been like really into the stuff that I'm into to the potential alienation of others. But I think when you have a lot of enthusiasm for stuff, it can be infectious. Like I think this, this literally did start out as a weird, like, can you just come in and let's hang out? Like, it was not some strategy. And the fact that people responded to it. as wide as like become this beautiful space where these men and women send us letters about how how we're like royalty. And to that point, Carrie also is like, I'd rather be, you know, it's not like, it's not like

she's a scold about my collection. She's like, I'd rather be with a guy who's doing this than a guy who's got some other vice, right, that is ugly or unmanageable. Gambling on college basketball or something, yeah. But are you still like a little hung up on being cool? this point in your life? Me? Yeah. No.

Dude's effortless about it. He's not hung up on it at all. I think I used to be hung up? Well, you're kind of circling back to what I want to be doing is ripping heaters and picking up chicks at the bar. I didn't say, I did not circle back to that. I was saying to Dominic that these years at the Ohio State University are formative. And you want to build your own lore. You know, you want to have your...

I think Dominic was in the UK and the Ohio State was a different person. Oh, well, then fuck it. Yeah, he's fine. I'm just saying if I was... Regardless, let's be careful out there. Yeah. Everybody be careful. Everybody make good decisions. Be careful with these with Thriller.

You know, if you get Thriller, watch it. That's not a first date movie unless you think she's really special. She's really, really the one. Unless she's really the one. I also, one thing that I love about this is what this all comes back to. Is she hard cut material? She hard cut. Wait a minute.

What? Wait. That cut was a little hard. It's not the only thing that's hard. I think what this comes back to is that ultimately my favorite thing that this opens up is that is that you end up in a conversation with someone and then you're talking about movies, which is what a fucking great thing to do. Yeah, I agree.

To just be out in the world and somebody that you don't know comes up to you. And then you're just talking about movies for a while. There's nothing better than that. Couldn't decide it better myself. This was healthy. This was normal. This was the behavior of mature men. Yeah.

Our selections reflect incredibly peaceful interior lives. Yeah. We're not trying to understand anything more deranged or depraved within ourselves. We're all in functioning relationships. Yeah. Right? We trust institutions. Absolutely.

We're upholding democracy. I'm in a functioning relationship with my wife and my name. Andrew, V. God. It's the great, the romantic Square, Tracy, his nanny, his AV guy. Is your nanny aware of your AV guy? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Do you think they would have chemistry? No, I don't think so.

Would you be jealous of your AV guy? You can't have her running off of him, yeah. Because then you'd lose. Childcare? An AV guy. No, that's a total nightmare. Okay. I'd like to thank Amanda Dobbins for her. Any words of wisdom, Amanda Dobbins?

I would just say, to go back to Dominic one more time, that the tradition of watching Fight Club with a woman who you're not willingly, willing to publicly call your girlfriend is time honored. It's generational. And everyone needs to go through it at least once. So he's going to be okay, I think. Right. Is she going to be okay?

You know what? She has to see it sometime, you know? And that's probably the right context in which to see Fight Club. Fight Club was released the month I started dating my now wife. And we saw the film. And we're together to this day. So what more can you say? What more can you say about the film?

Amanda, thanks for sitting in on this. Really quite a strange choice on your part. I admire it. I have to be honest, I was doing other work here. That's the second time you've said that. Yeah, yeah. But listen, it's called multitasking. It's called having it all, which I as a woman can do.

despite everything that was just said on this podcast. Thanks to Lucas Kavanaugh for production support. Thanks to Jack Sanders for the Robs for producing this episode, for guiding the council comfortably. How will you be cutting social clips of this episode safely? I mean, we probably have at least like 24 ready to go. We're okay. That's cool.

We'll reconvene again. Yeah. This year? Christmas. Conceivably. Christmas. Yeah. I think we need to bring the four.

four Santas together. Like on Christmas Day, you want to record an episode? Yeah. Just let your kid know. This is what it's going to be like. Sorry, Alice. I got to go sit with some men. Talk about plastic.

No, we should do a Christmas, like a holiday gift guide. Oh, I like that. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. I do not know when this is airing or what episode is next, but I'm sure it will be very good, and we'll see you then. Oh, wait, shout out Alex Ross Perry, who's Anglin. Oh, yeah. What do you want to do about that?

I don't know. That's up. Okay, actually, before we truly wrap, there's been some questions about admission into the council right like Griffin Newman wants in Alex Ross Perry wants in these are men who are long-time collectors yeah of various items um I mean what are the thoughts I don't feel like I can be possessive here I'm a new addition to the council also I think if you wanted to create like a high and low chamber of Congress you know like maybe an east coast okay like you Tracy Alex and Griffin could do that

I'm not going to stand the way of that I mean the round table was round for a reason, right? So as to not have a hierarchy? I mean, I feel like if you swap in and out, it's like, you know, we're all one head of a hydra or something. I don't think Tracy feels that way, but yeah. No, Tracy obviously doesn't feel that way and he is irreplaceable. No. Well, that'll do it. We'll see you next time on the big picture.