The Flop House - Ep.#449 - The Electric State

Episode Date: April 12, 2025

What's the deal with Netflix's The Electric State? Well, for one thing we know that IT'S ELECTRIC... boogie woogie woogie. But also, it's a movie arguing for the primacy of real-life connection that f...eels utterly algorithmically designed, what with its Chris Pratts and Millies Bobby Brown and cute robot pals, and it cost... $320 million?? That can't be right. There must be a smudge on these accounting sheets. Anyway, we talk about it!Wikipedia page for The Electric StateRecommended in this episode:Dan: The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024)Stu: Morvern Callar (2002)Elliott: The Clock (2010)Head to squarespace.com/FLOP for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, use OFFER CODE: FLOP to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 On this episode, we discuss the electric state. A movie that cost how much money? Hey everyone, welcome to the Flophouse, I'm Dan McCoy. Hey, I'm Stuart Wellington. Hey, I'm Elliott Kalin. Wait a minute, you guys aren't usually in my bedroom where I record. What's going on here? Your bedroom looks a lot like Dan's office. Yeah, you must've, you got conked on the head
Starting point is 00:00:48 with a coconut and whisked here to Bloph House HQ. I call it that because two of us are here, so we get to decide that this is HQ. Oh man, I got outvoted, yeah. It's kind of like in the video game Bloodborne, where you fight those weird tall guys that have a giant bag, and if they defeat you, instead of killing you, you wake up in their weird oobliette
Starting point is 00:01:08 and then you have a bunch of them. So that's what happened to you. You got bonked on the head by a guy carrying a big sack. And now I'm in Dan's weird oobliette. Okay, great, yeah. Get out of my oobliette. And if it was my oobliette, I'd call it a stupliette. You would indeed.
Starting point is 00:01:22 So what are we doing on this podcast? Specific, like, you're like a comic who was really big in like 1979. Hell yeah. I was still swimming in my dad's ball sack back then. This is a podcast where we watch a bad movie and then we talk about it. And as mentioned, Elliot, who normally is on the other coast, has been kind enough to grace us with his presence. It was very kind of me. Thank you. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:01:51 It is spring break. Woo! Spring break. So my family is on the East Coast this week, and that means I get to see my best buds, and then you guys. Oh! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Starting point is 00:02:03 So this is a rousing podcast where we give each other the dozens. Um. I can do 11 more of those, oh boy. I don't have that many. And the price of eggs, that's the only other dozen I know. Uh, oh, how you like, electric state. Electric state. Yeah, we're talking about a movie.
Starting point is 00:02:20 This is one of those Netflix movies, and it's what, their most expensive one? It was, well, according to- They have disputed how much it cost. But according to Dan? Well, Wikipedia, which is not obviously the most reliable source. But not the least reliable source.
Starting point is 00:02:40 Not the least reliable either. The projected costs of this were, made it the 13th highest, most expensive movies ever made. A number I heard was $325 million. I don't know if that's what it was. Which they spent on like a bunch of songs and like so many fucking celebrity voices. I thought I was watching a fucking DreamWorks animated.
Starting point is 00:03:02 I was like, what is this, If? Holly Hunter shows up to just be like a newswoman and say Which? I am not complaining. Five lines. I mean, I assume that this is of course a character from broadcast news. That was my assumption too,
Starting point is 00:03:14 that this is in the broadcast news verse. Yeah. But yeah. You have to imagine that Albert Brooks' character went out to report in the field during the robot war and just got slaughtered instantly. He's in this movie too, right? Albert Brooks, he got his Albert Brooks voice.
Starting point is 00:03:27 Is he? No, I'm fucking with you. It seems like he should be there. I do like there's a baseball robot done by Brian Cox and the whole time I'm like, man, for some reason, hearing this robot talk, it makes me think about fucking a hamburger. That's because Brian Cox has these
Starting point is 00:03:42 sexy McDonald's commercials. That's right, he does have those sexy McDonald's commercials. The way he says, da da da da da, I'm like, man, he's taking that Big Mac to bed. Or like the Filet-O-Fish commercial, have you seen that thing? It's crazy. I don't remember it offhand. I wanna say, the price tag of this movie
Starting point is 00:03:57 was widely reported on. Yeah. People really talked about it a lot. It was the biggest news story of the year, right, Dan? Uh-huh, yeah. There's nothing else going on but the electric state being expensive. But normally I'm not one who like. Talk about waste fraud and misuse.
Starting point is 00:04:12 Normally I'm not one that gets mad about the size of budgets per se. I think that that argument is weird because it takes on this sort of moral tinge a lot of the time. You could have done this with this money. Like that money was never going to go to whatever other thing. It implies that Netflix either could have made this movie or fed the homeless.
Starting point is 00:04:30 Yeah, but it also forgets that a lot of people work on these movies and they have to be paid for that work. And Netflix would like to do nothing more. And I say this as a person working on a show for Netflix right now. All studios would like to do nothing more than to not pay those people for that work. So you could be like, Netflix, how could you spend this much money on there? And they might be like,
Starting point is 00:04:49 we would have loved to have spent less money on this movie, believe me. But I do think that- But those pesky humans had other plans. The moral question of it is always kind of a, is a false choice. Yes. I think so. But that being said, I did watch this movie,
Starting point is 00:05:01 I'm like, what the fuck? How did this cost that much money? The real issue I think is, you watch this movie, like what the fuck, how did this cost that much money? The real issue I think is you watch this movie, you know how much it costs and you're like, and they couldn't afford like ideas, like they couldn't afford like new stuff. And even the fact that we'll get into it, but like a lot of the Neil Drop songs,
Starting point is 00:05:16 they're the same old songs you hear in movies all the time. Like the story is the same old basic story you've seen in things, the dialogue is super on the nose. This is a movie that does not trust the audience to ever put one plus one together and get two. It has to tell you two every time. Treats you like a fucking idiot. I also hate to, I mean the original.
Starting point is 00:05:35 If you're gonna spend that much money, spend it on such a cerebral artistic folly that people are gonna be like, yeah I see why you spent, make Megalopolis, where you're like, yeah I see why you spent all that money because otherwise there's no way this would ever exist because this is be like, yeah, I see why you spent, make Megalopolis, where you're like, yeah, I see why you spent all that money, because otherwise there's no way this would ever exist, because this is bonkers, yeah. Well, I was gonna say,
Starting point is 00:05:50 I hate to sort of get mad at a movie that, while it is based on a book, and it's a book that sort of references the look of, you know, other sort of IP of the world, but it's not, you know, it's not based on a big IP thing, but it seems like also they took a book, yeah. But it's not based on a big IP thing, but it seems like also they took a book that was more idiosyncratic and had interesting a look and ideas and then plugged that into the most,
Starting point is 00:06:18 certainly how can we sand down the edges of this the most and make it like every other movie? Just to make the most basic movie plot structure, yeah. So have either of you guys read the book that this is based on? No, well it's based on The Great Gatsby, right? So I have read that, yeah. The Great Botsby?
Starting point is 00:06:32 Yeah, the, so I- That green light he was looking towards, it was another bot. So I haven't read The Electric State, but I am pretty familiar with some of the artists, Simon Stalinhagen's work. I'm a big fan of his, the role playing game based on it, Tales from the Loop, and one of the artists, Simon Stalinhagen's work. I'm a big fan of the role-playing game based on it, Tales from the Loop.
Starting point is 00:06:47 And one of the things that I think, the movie really latches onto two elements there, which is science fiction stuff and nostalgia, which a lot of Stalinhagen's art takes place in the past. But one of the things that he does is he manages to incorporate these like sci-fi elements, but he puts them in otherwise very mundane situations. And I feel like the movie,
Starting point is 00:07:12 and that adds like a little bit of wonder to it. Like almost like the kids on bikes joy of like being a kid and all of a sudden there's a giant robot walking past your school bus or something. But the movie does not do any of that. Like the movie is like locked in on how can we do 90s shit and how can we throw massive amounts of robots in your eyeballs.
Starting point is 00:07:34 90s shit for a little, like there's some, it's set in the 90s, but it never really feels like they're taking advantage of it in a way, like in a 90s way, like I don't know, it was like, oh yeah. Not enough hyper color shirts for you? But the way that like in a 90s way. Like, I don't know, it was like, oh yeah. Not enough hyper color shirts for you. But the way that like, as much as, you know, like Stranger Things really makes the most of it being set in the time it's set, I feel like.
Starting point is 00:07:52 Like it's always reminding you that you're in that time. Whereas there was whole parts of this movie where I was like, oh yeah, this is set in the 90s. Like I kind of forgot, you know. That also the, also that like the, well, we'll get into it. Also like, that they're like the, I think they thought there was gonna be a lot more mileage in Mr. Peanut being the leader of a robot rebellion
Starting point is 00:08:10 than there really seemed to be, you know? And the thing about the Mr. Peanut thing is the first time I saw him, I got my one like bit of enjoyment out of the movie and then it became an important plot point. Like I liked just seeing Mr. Peanut signing piece of chords with Bill Clinton in like a Zellig, Forrest Gump style insertion.
Starting point is 00:08:33 That was fun, but then I didn't need that to be more than just a one off joke. You didn't need that character to come back. You didn't need him to show up with a fucking sword cane and get in a fucking sword fight with another robot. Yeah Let's uh, let's get into it. Let's get into what the electric state. Yeah, tell us all about it Dan Dan's doing the summary today. So buckle up. Mm-hmm Well, it's a song that has a dance to it. You sort of slide. Oh wait, no
Starting point is 00:08:59 That's a different thing the 1990 Dan. Are you sure you're not the dad? different thing, the 1990s. Dan, are you sure you're not the dad? Of the three of us? No, I just loved sort of growing into dad jokes, even though I don't have a kid actually, like I like to get into the age where it's like, oh, my habit of making jokes just to irritate people is sort of like understood by the culture now.
Starting point is 00:09:23 I think what you're finally understanding is that you don't become a dad and tell dad jokes. You become an older man who tells dad jokes and you have a kid so you have someone to tell those jokes. Because you know it's going to happen. When you're a younger dad or younger dad, younger man. When I was a younger dad. When I wore a younger dad's clothes. People were more apt to put up with those jokes because... I don't know about that.
Starting point is 00:09:49 Sing us a song, you're the piano dad. Sing us a song tonight. A ballad dad. Captain Dad will get you by tonight. Hell yeah. We're on the Daddy-ster, Alexa. I forgot what one of these in-person things was like. Yep.
Starting point is 00:10:10 You also forgot that I grew up in the land of Billy Joel, the Tri-State area. I'm gonna take you to a magical land of Billy Joel. We daddin' start the fire. Where's the, he's got one of those rest stops named after him, right? And I don't think he does. Really?
Starting point is 00:10:26 But like they named all the other rest stops after celebrity, big New Jersey people. Which, well he's more of a Long Island guy. Yeah, you're right, I'll show up. Yeah, but it is, there are New Jersey rest stops, Walt Whitman has one named after him, and also Vince Lombardi, you know? Yeah, and like John Bon Jovi.
Starting point is 00:10:41 Yeah, there must be. Molly Pitchers. I mean, there isn't a Springsteen one, only because they felt it was not, it was not a big enough tribute. But he's a Long Island guy. He's big in New Jersey, but he's not from New Jersey. Okay, well, this is good to hash out. So the Electric State, which is Billy Joel.
Starting point is 00:10:57 I mean, there is some New Jersey talk in it. I'm sure there's at least one Billy Joel song that gets played at some point during this thing I'm not sure about that It just seems like there was a stranger. That's right. Let's go frame by frame Let's get out jewelers loop AI the audio waveforms throughout the entire movie. AI. See if you can identify any William Joel songs in this. So this movie's directed by-
Starting point is 00:11:31 Here's a picture of Jesus with some crabs. That's not what I asked for, AI. This movie's directed by the Russo brothers, right? Yes. And they've been outspoken in saying they think AI is great, right? Well, when they say it, they say it so confusingly that it's kind of hard to make.
Starting point is 00:11:43 And this movie, you would think, would be a making a statement about about that, but it's not it's the it's the most basic kind of Robots or people to when they get smart enough that we've been seeing in science fiction for a hundred Yeah, but it's also it's also an unplug message it plays both sides Yes, it also says the end it's like robots or people to also get off your screens It's it but it's and it, I mean just the fact that like so much of this movie is built on the Ready Player One, a model of the future where everyone just has a headset on all the time.
Starting point is 00:12:13 But the headset means that it's also that movie Surrogates that we did with Bruce Willis many years ago. And we did Ready Player One, right? No, I've never seen it. Oh wow. I read the book and I said I've never seen this movie. Yeah, that is one of the books and I said I've never seen this movie. Yeah, it's that there's one of the books I disliked the most while finishing it is yeah
Starting point is 00:12:28 No, the same way it was one of these books every 30 pages. I was like, I hate this book Why am I still reading it? Yeah, and I was like, I gotta see if it gets dumber it did So the electric state. Yeah, so we start out in 1990 Millie Bobby Brown, who has been, Netflix's house starlet. What else is she in? Well, aside from Stranger Things, she was in the two Enola Holmes movies
Starting point is 00:12:54 and then she was in some movie where she fought a dragon that was also in it. Enola Holmes versus the dragon. How old is she supposed to be in 1990? Because in 1994, I'm sorry to jump forward, in 1994, she still is like, Like a high school student. Yeah, she's treated like she's a minor.
Starting point is 00:13:12 The first we see her, it's 1990, and her younger brother, I thought, is taking a college test, and she's talking about, it made it sound as if she was a college student, and he was gonna join her at college. Then in 1994, suddenly she's in a high school class. I was like, what happened? I don't understand.
Starting point is 00:13:26 And also there's something. Well, he was also, he's like super genius. But I thought she was older than him. Yeah. Yeah, but he's like, yeah, he's skipping ahead. But he looks like he's like 15. So if she's older than him, she should be college age. Four years later, she should be in college.
Starting point is 00:13:39 Now I was like, did she get so, did she go to jail and then she had to go back to high school? Let's just be happy that they didn't de-age digitally both these actors. That would have been pretty awesome. That would have been funny, because they're already young. But speaking of her appearance, like- Stewart?
Starting point is 00:13:54 No, I'm just saying, it's like she has too much makeup on. Like she looks too like, she's like pore-less almost. It looks very, it's kind of jarring in compared to all the like beat up robots. I certainly never, I don't know her real age. I never bought her as a high school age character. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm not like being critical. I just feel like the choice of making her look very clean.
Starting point is 00:14:16 But the other thing is that, the other thing is that, the other thing is that, That's what I'm saying. The other thing is there's nothing about that character that needs to be that age either, you know. Except that then she has to have, I guess, Jason Alexander as her mean guardian.
Starting point is 00:14:28 Anyway, she sees her brother, aforementioned brother, Christopher, she's watching him take a super complex math test because he's a super genius, and outside they run into an army dude who's like, why are you wearing a cartoon shirt with a robot on it? We're gonna fight those robots. Well, the shirt has a cartoon robot on it.
Starting point is 00:14:44 It's not a cartoon shirt. I mean, I feel like- gonna fight those robots. Well, the shirt has a cartoon robot on it. It's not a cartoon shirt. I mean, I feel like. Like, it's not like he didn't get it from Toon Town and put it on. The average person probably would have parsed that out. I don't know. They're imagining he's wearing like animated shoes that scream and you put them in jail.
Starting point is 00:14:56 Yeah. Other than that, they're pretty quiet. Yeah, otherwise. A war with the robots, what's that? Well, luckily we get a montage of various TV reports. They really explain the idea of a war with the robots, what's that? Well, luckily we get a montage of various TV reports. They really explain the idea of a war with robots that don't wanna be servants anymore as if this is a new idea we've never seen before
Starting point is 00:15:13 and we would never understand it. When this was handled better by one of the Animatrix cartoons, you know, 30 or 20 years ago, it's- And I could be wrong with this, but it's my impression from reading about the book that the war in the book is never explicitly Exploited, you know, like this is not like necessarily between robots and humans or whatever. There's it's more like the Clone Wars
Starting point is 00:15:31 There's just a war. Yeah, well, they but just mention it and it's you don't know about it Yeah, they just like hey that there was a war they they present in this montage the idea that the American military just cannot Handle the onslaught of robots because they never sleep, they never stop, and when we see these robots fight, finally they end the movie, they suck so bad. They're so easily taken down. And they don't really even have weapons,
Starting point is 00:15:55 they just throw shit, they throw like mail at you. Yeah, and hit you with their fists, yeah. We should be clear that most of these robots are like animatronic style robots. It's like the Country Bears. They're descended from Walt Disney's, yeah, like Miss Makin. Yeah, these are not like Killbots from shopping malls. They're not ED209s, yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:14 Yeah, they're not. They're not even Edie McClurgs. No, not even. They're not Little Edie from. From Grey Gardens. That would be so, now I wanna see, it's the electric state, but it's just, it's just, it's just, little Edie and big Edie.
Starting point is 00:16:31 Little Edie riding on Edie 2.09. To Italy. Elliot, the length of this info dump that you suggest though, like, it really is true. It moves pretty fast. Well, it moves fast, but it's true that, like, this is not a complex idea to get across, but actually doing it in such detail over a montage
Starting point is 00:16:52 made it more confusing to me than just like. Yeah, because you don't know what information is important. You don't know what you need to know. But this is a movie that is constantly explaining everything to you. They feel like you need to know everything, and they like, but they show you Chris Pratt for a moment, because you can kind of see what he was like when he was a soldier
Starting point is 00:17:06 Starship troopers has like a similar kind of opening montage, but you know what starship troopers rules But starship troopers also doing it for a very specific reason There's a stylistic reason and there's a thematic reason that they like they want it to look like old-school Propaganda to get across the idea whereas this is just information dump. Yeah, and so much of those Those things those little cuts in Starship Troopers are about tone really more than it is about the information which you get in the movie itself. I really liked when Starship Troopers hit like Netflix or something
Starting point is 00:17:36 after not being readily available digitally for a long time. And a whole new generation was exposed to it and they're like, this is pretty fascist, dude. It's like, uh, yeah. That was very funny. Cool media literacy. Well, I mean, it's just history of beating. People did not understand it the first time around.
Starting point is 00:17:54 At the time of the first game out, they were like, we're hoping it's made it. People were like hooting and hollering and loving it? I didn't, and I don't wanna fucking pump myself up too much, but I was in the theater, I'm like, oh yeah, this is fun. This is a satire, and I'm like, I yeah, this is fun, this is a satire. And like I'm like, I found it so baffling that it was confusing to a whole.
Starting point is 00:18:10 That kind of stuff happens a lot and it's very surprising. Where you'll, a movie that is very clearly going for a specific idea, that seems obvious to us, the sophisticated, you know, literate, and media literate types. Oh, thanks, yeah. Normally you don't lump me in on that shit, but it feels good.
Starting point is 00:18:24 But even the critics at the time will not get it, will like not understand it, you know. Except for Dan's fave, Armand White. But it reminds me of though, it also reminds me of like the Coen brothers for years kept getting attacked for, they hate their characters. They're so mean to their characters. And it was like, have you watched their movies?
Starting point is 00:18:41 Like, their characters are funny and they're in bad situations that they have to get out of but You like the idea that the Coen brothers are making fun of their characters in a way that is not okay or something like that It's very it always felt very strange to me There is some important stuff to get out of this exposition dump though, but We meet a Stanley Tucci playing Ethan skate who is the head of the company. Very real name. The head of a company called Sentry, but it's spelled with an E at the end instead of a Y, which was annoying to me. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:12 And also it's also because it's like in the future there will be no vowels in the names of companies. Yeah. And I guess it's the 1990s. So his big innovation was like, hey, we can fight robots with robots if we put the brains of humans into these robot Drones and so he invents a helmet that allows you to remotely control a robot body that has a little screen with your face on Yeah, like like a Why am I forgetting like a Tom Noonan in RoboCop 2, you know?
Starting point is 00:19:41 The thing is is that I thought the problem was that, like, the robot brain doesn't need sleep. So, like, wouldn't the human brain still need sleep when they're piloting these things? Yeah, and also, like, can you imagine how incredibly expensive it is to make a robot double for every soldier or for at least enough that are going to fight a battle with these? Like, there's nothing about the solution that makes any sense. I mean, have you seen the American military budget? It's bonkers. That's true. But it's also one of those things where it's like, fight a battle with these like there's nothing about the solution that makes any sense. I mean have you seen the American military budget? It's bonkers.
Starting point is 00:20:05 That's true, but it's also one of those things where it's like, hey, you know what the American military also has? Planes that drop bombs on things. Well that was always my- You don't need to fight hand to hand with robots. I know that, look, I know that for this sort of thing you just gotta shut that part of that brain up and like go with it, but that was my problem
Starting point is 00:20:20 with Pacific Rim. I'm like, is the way to fight these monsters really to build a big robot? To grab them? That has to be controlled by two people because of some drift brain fusing technology? If this movie postulated the way to defeat the robots is by giant mechs, I'd be like, hell yeah. Little human sized mechs?
Starting point is 00:20:38 Hell no. Doesn't make sense. But also it's the same way at the end of that, the Jurassic world, was it, Fallen Kingdom, where at the end Jeff Goldblum's like, I don't know if we're gonna be able to survive the dinosaurs, and it's like, yeah, I think we can take them. I think we can blow up dinosaurs that we need to. Humans make a lot of things extinct pretty easy.
Starting point is 00:20:54 We're pretty much the best species at wrecking other species. We're pretty much gonna end our own species. Body size of building, brain size of penis. But yeah, so his solution is, have remote control robot bodies, and that wins the war. And I wonder if there's a, if this was a smarter movie,
Starting point is 00:21:14 I would wonder if there was some implication that this whole robot war was a way of his just getting his product out there, and taking over the system. That would be smarter. And so, because then his helmets go into consumer mode and now everyone in the world is using them to sit in a lazy boy chair all day with a helmet on
Starting point is 00:21:33 and sending a robot out to do what you want to do. They don't really make it clear how this helps. They're saying you can split your time. I guess it's just that you're considered home. Is that all it is? Yeah, it's just fucking severance. Live remotely, yeah. Well, no, but it's not severance.
Starting point is 00:21:50 I put down severance light, but I thought it was even more severance where you're like splitting your consciousness somehow, but I don't think you are. But no, because they, so the one person we really see using it a lot, there are two people we see using it a lot. Jason Alexander, who just sits in the Lazy Boy
Starting point is 00:22:05 and has a robot go to the kitchen to get him things. And Giancarlo Esposito, right, who is using it to go out and fight other robots. But they seem to be totally concentrated on what they're doing. It's not like they can't multitask. Partly because they're wearing a big fucking helmet on their heads.
Starting point is 00:22:19 They can't do or see anything else. The only other interesting, important to the plot. Yeah, interesting. In clarification. I'll change interesting interesting important to the plot I'll change that important to the plot thing is like some trite word interesting from the record the robots you know in this peace record are sort of settled on a reservation the exclusion zone out in the desert and now now having learned the basics of the world we could play this role-playing game. Yay! Elliot, you'll be playing Millie Bobby Brown.
Starting point is 00:22:48 Okay, great. Stuart, you'll be Chris Pratt. Yay! Okay, roll for initiative. So Dan, are you Cosmo the Robot? Yeah, beep boop. Voiced by Alan Tudyk. Oh, was that Alan Tudyk?
Starting point is 00:23:01 Yeah. I mean, I can't get mad by Alan Tudyk getting work, yeah. You guys are Tudyk's to support. We're Tudyk's.. I mean, I can't get mad by Alan Tudyk getting work. Yeah. Anyway. He's got two dicks to support. He's got two dicks. He's gonna buy twice as many condoms. Twice as many eggs for those things. Twice as many eggs to feed to the dicks.
Starting point is 00:23:15 They just swallow them like a snake. Yeah. Yeah. It's like in Lepetite prompts when you see the snake with the elephant inside. I see. But it's an elephant. Yeah, it's a hat. No when you see the snake with the elephant inside. I see. With the elephant, yeah, it's a hat. No, it's a snake with an elephant in it.
Starting point is 00:23:29 Anyway, but that's his penis, you're saying? Yeah. So when he said L'petite Prance, I thought he meant the little prawns for a moment. I was like, you mean like in Muppets? I thought it would be funnier to say it all French-like, but I don't have a good accent. I think your accent's great. Keep going. So back to Millie Bobby Brown.
Starting point is 00:23:44 We can tell it's later and that something bad has happened because now her hair's kinda ratty and she has a hoodie on. Does she wear fingerless gloves or no? She just has kinda like long sleeves. But she does have like some sort of like house arrest. Ankle bracelet. Never explained, which is fine. Or maybe it is, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:24:01 Anyway, her human robot foster dad, Jason Alexander, is mean. Best known as the voice of Duckman. Mm-hmm. And she goes to school where she gets in trouble because she's the only one who doesn't want to wear one of these neuro helmets because she does not believe in doing that.
Starting point is 00:24:18 Yeah, because that's the thing, kids don't like looking at screens all day. No. Nope. But she's a rebel, come on. Yeah. It reminds me of, there was a time, when I was in high school,
Starting point is 00:24:27 when I was like either a freshman or a sophomore, and there was an older girl who I was sitting near, one in a study hall or something, and she took out a cigarette and put it next to me, and I was like, why'd you do that? She goes, I wanna see how brainwashed you are, as if I was brainwashed if I didn't wanna smoke a cigarette, and I was like, I don't know, it's pretty bad for you.
Starting point is 00:24:47 It feels like smoking a cigarette is what I think of as adults doing that's dumb. Man, she sounds like a fucking scientist. Yeah, she does run research. Wake up sheeple, lungs crave smoke. They need it. So yeah, she gets in trouble for not wearing this Norcaster, so we go to a disciplinary hearing where we learn what happened, that her family died in a car accident.
Starting point is 00:25:11 The guidance counselor or whatever that she's talking to doesn't know this information. She's reading the file, and she's like, she goes, go to the next page of the file, and she goes and reads, parents killed in car accidents. She's like, oh, so she didn't do any research at the time? I should have looked at this before the meeting. I just read, parents were, and then it went to the next page, and I didn't do any research at a time. I should have looked at this before the meeting. I just read, parents were, and then it went to the next page and I didn't have time to turn the page.
Starting point is 00:25:30 So I thought it was parents were Jamaican. Parents were doing great and they still are. She wakes up in the middle of the night to find a Cosmo robot outside, like the cartoon on the t-shirt. And she's initially scared. This was a cartoon that her brother loved. Yeah, they watched this together.
Starting point is 00:25:49 She's scared, but there's something about this robot, and he seems to indicate to her that maybe he's her brother somehow? I have some issues. I wanted to talk through this a little bit, because I had some issues with this that I think typify a major problem I have with the movie, which is that in this movie, characters don't do things
Starting point is 00:26:05 because that's what their character feels like they should do. They do things because that's what characters do in movies. So she hears rattling in her trash cans. I live in a suburb, basically. I live in Los Angeles, but it's a suburban part of Los Angeles. And you're like, coyotes. Yeah, if I hear my trash cans, I go,
Starting point is 00:26:19 that's an animal outside. I'm not going to bother with that. Whereas she immediately assumes something that she has to investigate is going on. She goes out with, well, like a taser or a knife. I can't remember. I don't remember. Screwdriver.
Starting point is 00:26:30 She sees this robot. That's not going to help her. The robot chases her inside and she's hiding from it. She's scared of this robot. And then when Jason Alexander comes in and starts fighting the robot, she's like, robot, we got to get out of here. And they're on the run together. And it's like, there's no reason for you to investigate. There's no reason the run together. And it was like, there's no reason for you to investigate.
Starting point is 00:26:46 There's no reason for you to be dealing with this robot. There's no reason for you to now be friends with this robot, because the robot makes a hand signal that she recognizes as her brother's. But it's also the same thing that Cosmo the robot did in the cartoon show. That's why her brother did it. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:57 So the idea that a Cosmo robot would make the Cosmo signal. And the robot can't communicate with language because it only speaks in catchphrases. Yes, it only says what the Cosmo robot is programmed to say. But the idea that now she's like, I guess I'm on the run, I'm a fugitive now, why? I don't understand.
Starting point is 00:27:13 This is not a thing, there's no reason for you to do this except that's what these movies do. But yes, there's this fracas, Millie Tazer, Jason Alexander gets Cosmo to undo the thing on her ankle and they they drive to the outskirts of the exclusion zone and she asked Cosmo. Hey Cosmo How'd you get robofied my brother? Dan that was the latest way you could have said my brother It's not you sounded like a narc trying to talk your way into a Black Panther meeting.
Starting point is 00:27:49 But Cosmo can only speak in pre-programmed phrases like a Woody when people are around or Bumblebee or whatever. And, but he can, he's able to make her remember. Or a real life robot. Yeah, that's true. A normal non-brother robot would also be like that. Maybe it's an idea I didn't have to explain.
Starting point is 00:28:09 But he makes her remember a doctor from after the car accident, and that's played by Ki-Hui Kwan. Academy Award winner. Who is the one who told her that her brother was dead. So they try to find him, Cosmo points to a map, saying he's in the exclusion zone. So Millie's like, how do I get into this exclusion zone?
Starting point is 00:28:35 It seems like I'm being excluded. Seems to say that people aren't supposed to be there. But her foster dad used to get a bunch of black market stuff that's plundered from there. Yeah, we need like a Han Solo Chewbacca team to get him in. That's what we need, all right. Probably at this PO box, right?
Starting point is 00:28:51 Yep. That's where we'll find him. And he comes out, they get there to the PO box, and Pratt is introduced coming out of a semi truck to the strains of Dan. Chris Pratt. Chris Pratt to Danzig singing mother. And you know, I still like him based
Starting point is 00:29:08 in those guardian movies. Like, you know, he's gotten annoying otherwise, but I have affection there, but he's not like the cool Danzig semi truck guy. Well, that's the thing. When you play mother, literally the message of the song is this guy is such bad news. Tell your children never go near him
Starting point is 00:29:25 because he's gonna bring them to do the worst things they can do. And then he introduced a guy who's like, Star-Lord is already cut rate Han Solo and now this character is cut rate Star-Lord. He's just kind of like a loser who roams around in a truck and they do the joke where he has a signal phrase that his partner is supposed to use
Starting point is 00:29:41 to get him out of trouble and it doesn't work the first time and it does. They do the same joke later with the bots, and I was like, you can't do this joke twice in the same movie. Well, and the trouble he's in is that he's trying to sell some goods to Academy Award nominee Coleman Domingo, yeah. Yeah. Who is wearing, you know, he's a fashionable guy.
Starting point is 00:30:01 This time he's wearing a robot. Yeah. Wow. And he drives up on a motorcycle too. That's pretty cool. Which I think is very funny. Like, I better be watching something like a heavy metal type movie,
Starting point is 00:30:10 if we can have a robot driving a motorcycle. I know he probably wasn't as big when this was shot, but like, I think this was in development for a little while, but like, it is wild to me that he just shows up basically to be a drone and get zapped Yeah, well it also means that he only shot his the footage of his face. He didn't do anything else probably Yes playing of any of this also playing mother implies a tougher character than we're gonna get yeah But like I said a great song show me it's great showdown with hard to do in karaoke warning
Starting point is 00:30:44 Yeah, yeah showdown with Colman. Hard to do in karaoke, warning. Yeah, yeah. Showdown with Colman Domingo Bot and Pratt's buddy Herman Zapsum with a little electro-zap. And Herman's a robot. Herman's a little robot. So they're a, like Stuart's saying, a Han Solo Chewbacca team, this is a guy and a robot,
Starting point is 00:30:58 but people and robots are supposed to hate each other. Yeah, they hate each other, but not this time. I mean, they razz each other a little bit, but there's real love there, you know? Sure. We get a little scene of a... Who does Herman's voice? Anthony Mackie.
Starting point is 00:31:09 Oh, it is Anthony Mackie, okay. But it's like pitched up. Heavily modulated. That is the one AI they admitted to using is with some of the voice effects. It's funny that they would have to use AI for that, because I feel like you just use Pro Tools or something. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I feel like, yeah, yeah. It's funny that they would use AI for that because I feel like you just use Pro Tools or something. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I feel like, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:27 It's funny that they would use AI for a lot of things that could easily be done in other ways. Meanwhile, a Giancarlo Esposito robot. You can get a real kid who looks like Haley Joel Osment, maybe even Haley Joel Osment. You don't need an AI robot that looks like Haley Joel Osment. Yeah. Boy, got that movie. I mean, you see there's that part where he's chewing
Starting point is 00:31:46 and it totally screws up his face. Haley Joel Osment could chew things, just hire him to do it. Yeah, man. Real John Henry tale. Sure, it was between a man and a human chewing robot, or not a human chewing robot, a food chewing robot. Who can chew this food better?
Starting point is 00:32:01 They say that machine, it's Matt Sanger who does it. Matt Sanger, they say this machine can eat a whole Denny's Wonka menu. Matt Sanger was like, I'll compete against that machine. No, you'll die. Don't do it. You don't have to. There's literally no reason. This is not, I mean, we all like that.
Starting point is 00:32:20 This is a service you provide, but mostly because it destroys your body. Like we don't need a robot to do it anyway, so. Okay. A giant color aspecito robot is on Millie Bobby Brown's trail. And he is, so he was a famous general during the robot wars. They call him the butcher of, where is it? The butcher of like, Skinectity. Skinectity, yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:43 Uh-huh, yeah. And now he's like, essentially a drooling officer. He killed a Philip Seymour Hoffman bot. That was Synecdoche. Oh yeah, okay, that makes sense. And he's, yeah, he's like a little, like he's dressed up like an old time sheriff. And in his, in the study, like his office that he wears his cool drone rig, we see like trophies mounted on the wall. Yeah, Robo heads.
Starting point is 00:33:06 Robots he killed. He hates bots. He just hates them. So, Millie and Robo Bro are stowed away in the truck. They go back to Chris Pratt's Black Market warehouse lair. Which is huge. There's so much stuff in there. And it's just him and the little robot who's dealing.
Starting point is 00:33:24 So I don't know how they moved all That stuff but you know yeah time you know yeah a lot of unfunny zag nuts arguing So yeah, why particularly were they talking about zag nuts just because I'm name Okay, name. There's a bit where they have a wall of Billy big mouth basses. Yeah, they're motion activated That's that that is at least used as a plot element. That's true, yeah. The motion detectors on the Billy Bass alert. Just like in Dan's favorite show, The Sopranos. Yeah, I mean, you said that as if that was a weird thing
Starting point is 00:33:53 to be having someone's favorite show. Because it is a great show. Dan's never watched The Sopranos. Have you never watched The Sopranos, Dan? I've watched the pilot. Obviously not from New Jersey. I watched the pilot twice, and both times. Oh, you forgot there's more episodes.
Starting point is 00:34:07 You don't have to keep watching the pilot. This was great, but there's no more. It didn't really hook me either time. You need to give it a couple episodes, I think. It's a really good pilot, but watching it again, it feels like an old TV pilot. It does not feel like the kind of show it would become. It's a great show.
Starting point is 00:34:24 You gotta watch that first couple seasons. I'm sure I would like it if of show it would become, you know, or that others, but it's a great show. You gotta watch that first couple seasons. No, that's what, I mean, I'm sure I would like it if I gave it a chance, because the exact same thing happened to me with Mad Men, where I like watched the pilot, I'm like, I don't like this, like it seems like really easy with all these, like it used to be this way,
Starting point is 00:34:38 and then I gave it a fuller chance later, I'm like, oh, it gets out of that really quickly, and church just becomes a good show. And I feel like that first season of Mad Men's probably the weakest. I think so because so much of it is about, are people gonna find out who Don Draper really is? And once they dispense with that,
Starting point is 00:34:55 it just becomes a show about these characters by the end by the, yes. And the secret pregnancy thing is kind of weird. Yeah, that's true. And once it gets a little less soapy, and then it becomes so much better. The same way that like- Once the characters are established
Starting point is 00:35:07 and the whole point of every episode is not the plot, but what are the, what's two odd pairings of characters? Yeah, exactly. Anyway, by this point in the movie we're talking about- You gotta watch at least the point where Pete goes, not great, Bob. It's just one of the best lines in the whole show. At that point it was Vincent Carthyzer
Starting point is 00:35:23 shaving the front of his hairline so that he'd have the bald spot, which is incredible. Like, that is such dedication. Yeah. So, our heroes are together now. Yeah, I know, we want to talk about better things. Yeah. But we can talk about better things featuring Mikey Madison,
Starting point is 00:35:42 the Academy Award winner. There's some, you know some argument between Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown about whether he's gonna help her or not, it's all like standard issue. It's so pro forma, there's no reason for him to help her but except that in these movies that character ends up helping the other character. They do have a moat, they have one conversation later
Starting point is 00:36:01 in the movie that I really liked a lot. But until that moment it's a lot of like, but I'm the loner rogue rebel who doesn't care about it, doesn't stick his neck out for anybody. Well, time for me to help you right away. Yeah. Yeah. So, but this is interrupted by the rival of-
Starting point is 00:36:16 Much like the girl. Girl interrupted, yeah. John Carlo Bob. So has that girl ever stopped being interrupted? Or is it Dan being interrupted? Dan interrupted, starring Winona Ryder as Dan. Oh wow. Dan's like, I do think I want to sleep with myself.
Starting point is 00:36:30 Or maybe he stars Dan Jolena Jolie. Oh yeah. He's inhabiting me. So that's your fantasy? Yeah. It's like the sex of the mind. That's a working David Cronenberg movie title. It certainly is. Yeah, it's like the sex of the mind That's a working David Cronenberg
Starting point is 00:36:54 No, you throw crime in there somewhere There is there is no reason for Pratt to help her So, of course, John Carlo drone has to show up to provide some sort of motivation Yes with the robot deactivactivation Task Force. I like his little gun, it's like super powerful. I think that's kind of cool. I think there's something, I mean, he's supposed to be a baddish guy right now, so it's okay the fact that he is literally risking nothing
Starting point is 00:37:18 in these scenes, he's just a robot, you know? Pratt tries to do the same. How come those soldier robots never rise up and try to take over? Well, they're just drones, right? Because they don't have AI in them? Yeah, they need our human consciousness. That's fair.
Starting point is 00:37:36 Pratt tries to do the zap, electro zap trick again with Herman, but- It does not work. It's not, yeah. Yeah, shields himself. And yarnels himself. There's some destruction but they get they finally escape caving in the high the hideout on top of his drone Which both destroys Pratt's home. So I don't understand why he's not really mad Well, then he's like well you wrecked all my stuff. So I guess I gotta help you now cuz we're on the run
Starting point is 00:38:03 I guess well, they're trapped in the exclusion zone now. They're trapped on the bad side of the wall, I guess. That's a death sentence. Yeah, because there's scavs running around, scavenger robots. Which are explained in detail. They spend so much time. So Herman, who is this construction robot, fits himself inside a much larger robot
Starting point is 00:38:21 that looks exactly like him. Kind of like it. Yeah, that is kind of fun. I mean, to be honest, I thought I was gonna hate this robot character. Kind of like it. Yeah, that part's kind of fun. I mean, to be honest, I thought I was gonna hate this robot character. He's pretty fun. Yeah. Yeah. He gets some good lines, he does some neat stuff, yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:31 Anthony Mackie's performance is fun, you know. So they go across the exclusion zone in a van that Herman's carrying on his shoulder and we get- This is one of the dumbest, another one of these dumb moments where it's like, hey, what about that van? The engine doesn't work. Well, what if that robot can carry us?
Starting point is 00:38:47 If you're implying that he's gonna, if you're suggesting he's gonna carry us in that van, it is not gonna happen. Cut to him carrying the van, it's like, why was he arguing against it? Why did he change his mind? Don't understand, doesn't matter. It's just there for the cut joke,
Starting point is 00:38:59 which doesn't make sense, you know? We get a little Pratt backstory. He was rescued by Herman during the war. A flash Pratt. He became an outlaw because of their forbidden robo-human connection. Guys, it would be, I would like this way more if we found out they were lovers.
Starting point is 00:39:17 Which you could kind of imply at the end. Yeah, like Pratt does have that line where he's like, I think I might like you as more than a friend. He goes, I love you as more than a friend. But that never's followed up, but I would like it if they were lovers. Yeah. That'd be great. The best part of the Rebel Moon series
Starting point is 00:39:31 is that the bad guy is in love with a tentacle monster. Yeah, hands down. Meanwhile, Stanley Tucci is hanging out in VR reality. He's just going all around Italy trying. I have to add, it's like AC and Michigan. Yeah, virtual reality. The hell's wrong with me? In virtual reality with his dead Italian mama, but it glitches and he calls his underlings and says, what's wrong?
Starting point is 00:39:54 It's one of two times in the movie that you hear him say stuffed peppers. Why is my fantasy of my mama still being alive feeding me can always glitching out? And that's because Christopher has somehow neurologically escaped his robot body and he is powering this via question mark, question mark, question mark. So all of, we find out that the entire neuro helmet center system, which encompasses
Starting point is 00:40:21 the entire world, is entirely flowing through Christopher's comatose brain. Super brain, yeah. Yeah. We don't get all the details now, but that's what happens. It's because he's got such a super brain. His super brain allows them to do all this computing power. But it's also like, well, if the human brain has that potential, maybe we don't need computers.
Starting point is 00:40:39 Maybe we don't need robots to do stuff. I don't know. I mean, it reminds me a lot of how in the 41st millennia, humanity is only able to travel through the stars due to the light of the Astronomicon, a psychic beacon projected by the God-Emperor of mankind, and it flows from his magic brain, similar to Christopher, but the only reason he's able to stay alive
Starting point is 00:41:04 is by drinking the souls of a thousand psykers every day. He is telling the truth. He is telling the truth. That is what happens to the four-year-old syndrome. Much like how in the far future as well, mankind can travel through the stars by folding space, but the only way to do it is with a human brain
Starting point is 00:41:18 that has been suffused with the spice melange, which gives them the ability to do it. The human brain's an amazing thing. And it mutates the person too, right? Quite, a third stage mutation is quite something to see. Okay. Do you have any science fiction you wanna talk about? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:41:33 Must involve brains. I'm reading The Star Is My Destination right now. That fucking shit rocks. Yeah, it does rock. And it's about brains. Well, yeah, I guess so. Kinda, like, he like. They teleport with their brain.
Starting point is 00:41:44 Yeah, but like. It's jaunt around. It gets smarter, yeah. He gets smarter, that's the thing. Yeah. I haven, they jaunt around. But it gets smarter. Yeah, it gets smarter. That's the thing. Yeah. I haven't gotten to this. It's not like Donovan's brain, though, which really is about a brain. Yeah, that's true. So meanwhile, Giant Herman gets toppled by a bunch of animatronics from a mall, an old mall, and they're taking prisoner by Perplexo, a magician robot done by Hank Azaria. Yeah. who takes them to that's a professional voice
Starting point is 00:42:09 You like you can tell the difference between a celebrity cameo robot voice and Hank Azaria doing it like he's a master Yeah, you get so many more notes out of that out of that equipment than anybody else does that instrument they take him to mr peanut their leader who's Pretty nice to them. Is that what elserelson or Madden McConaughey? Woody Harrelson? Yeah. Okay. Oh really?
Starting point is 00:42:29 I don't know how I missed that. Considering that- Oh, because the voice was coming out of a big robot peanut wearing a monocle and a top hat. Well, because what happened is- Yeah, I thought it was probably a real peanut. That was what happened. It is a little offensive,
Starting point is 00:42:40 they didn't get a peanut to do the voice. So, Char and I were watching this movie together. I feel bad for her, but she was like, I'm interested in that, I'm like, whoa, bad luck for you, you chose wrong. But anytime- As she turned into a corpse and then dust. Yeah, anytime there's a movie that features voice acting,
Starting point is 00:43:00 she's always like, who's that, who's that? I'm like, okay, I'll pull up. voice acting, she's always like, who's that? Who's that? I'm like, okay, I'll pull it by being me. Yeah, that comes in the form of Audrey saying, I've seen them before as we watch one of her numerous mystery shows, I'm like, well, I'm only half engaged by what's happening, so I'll play IMDB man.
Starting point is 00:43:19 You're like, that's Benedict Cumberbatch, he's the star of the show, he's in every episode, he's Sherlock Holmes. I wish you didn't have that 51st dates disease. I'm sorry, this is the hardest part of my job. Your wife has 51st dates disease. Here's a DVD copy of 51st dates. We recommend this to everyone to watch.
Starting point is 00:43:39 Only informationally, not for entertainment purposes. It's just the best way of getting across the idea. When my parents got a Blu-ray player, that was the first Blu-ray they got. I have terrible news about your parents. Oh, that would actually explain a lot. Based on the fact that I hear the same fucking stories all the time. Oh, fuck you, Dad. Shots fired at Stuart's parents. Wow. He doesn't listen to Get a good one. Wow.
Starting point is 00:44:05 Shots fired at Stuart's parents. Wow. He doesn't listen to this shit. No. Wow. Neither do my parents. It's okay. Weirdly, mine do.
Starting point is 00:44:13 Dan's parents love it. They're very supportive. I flew home one Christmas and got in the car and, you know, as you turn the car on, the radio comes back on and my voice came up as they had it plugged in. And I'm like, oh, oh. You're like, Mom, Dad, get off my my ass stop being so obsessed with me yeah they're like Dan could you explain to us what a wormy boner is it's very sweet of them but also I say terrible things here yeah well they see the dark side of you so
Starting point is 00:44:38 anyway they find the mall there's all these animatronic robots there Mr. Peanuts the leader it's like a post-apocalyptic mall where a bunch of robots hang out. Yeah, and I was gonna say, Mr. Peanut is surprisingly nice to them considering, you know, they just had a war, and like all the robots are shut off. He's one of those freedom fighters
Starting point is 00:44:56 who just wants the best for everybody, and wants to live in coexistence and peace, you know? We get a pretty non-essential flashback to Millie and her non-robot brother, where she convinces him to stay in college, and it just sort of shows that they had a strong bond. They need it so that later, when the movie tries to hit a high peak of emotion, to an instrumental version of, what is it, Wonderwall, that you as the audience are going to dissolve in tears because you know how much a sister and a brother love each other,
Starting point is 00:45:24 but it gets into the Folgers crystals sister brother territory where it feels like they are in love. Yeah, there's a little bit. In the present robot brother projects Cosmo cartoons like the ones they used to watch together to, you know, create a link between the two. And that somehow it really, all the other robots are in awe of the magic of this cartoon being projected
Starting point is 00:45:44 as if they're cavemen. Venomah. So there's a postal lady robot who's a penny pal. Jenny Slate does that voice. She delivers a letter that Dr. Amherst left for Christopher. That was the doctor from the flashback, right? Yes, in case he showed up, he had left this letter and Mr. Peanut takes pity on them and offers to help them get to the doctor without being killed by these scavengers
Starting point is 00:46:09 This is also where we meet pop fly the aforementioned pop fly with the voice of Brian Cox He is a robot baseball player who has an infinite supply of baseballs. Yeah, he can spit out of his mouth He's a funny character and yeah, he brags about killing scavs with his bat, scavengers. So now we have our team. This is our core team. We got two humans, we got Cosmo, we got Herman, Penny Pal, Popfly, and Mr. Peanut. It seems like a real abdication of Mr. Peanut's
Starting point is 00:46:38 responsibility for him to go out on this field mission. Well, if they leave, nothing bad'll happen to his little mall friends. That's right, that's right, yeah. Also reading that like sentence made me feel like I bunched So much less fun than that sentence makes it seems like it should be There so they're beset by scabs in this abandoned carnival And there those are frightened away by the sounds of marky mark in the funky bunches good vibrations And our hero team fall into a trap door and where they meet Dr. Amherst.
Starting point is 00:47:07 Yeah, yep, that's all true. Who's just lurking around like a regular Phantom of the Paradise. Yeah, it would've been cool if he had like a little helmet or like a half mask. I mean, every other fucking character in this movie has a helmet, why doesn't he get one? Now this character was originally supposed to be Michelle Yeoh,
Starting point is 00:47:23 and she had to drop out for something else. Probably the Star Trek movie that we did. So they said, who else is in Everything Everywhere All At Once? That's kind of what it feels like, right? So between Dr. Amherst and essentially Robot Dr. Amherst, a computer that he has converted into him, sort of, between the two of them, they explained that Christopher has a special brain that allows blah blah blah blah blah
Starting point is 00:47:48 neural helmets, blah blah blah. I wish that's the way they've done it in the movie. Since he was in a coma, they just told everyone, hey, he's dead, so we can use this juicy brain to win the war. I will say, I did feel really, it made me feel very happy that he is the actor who is now at the point in his career where they're like, who's hot right now? Throw him into this movie.
Starting point is 00:48:10 You know, like every actor, I feel like there's a lot of actors where it's like, suddenly they're in everything. And I'm like, okay, good. If he's that actor for a little bit, that makes me very happy. I'm glad about that. I wish that more of them seem to be like things
Starting point is 00:48:21 that we're getting good reviews. Yeah, I mean, he's mostly in, I think that he's gonna be in a lot of junk for a while, but he brings a real soulfulness to this part. That's like the curse of a supporting actor or actress thing, right? Is that they make nothing but stinkers after it? Yeah, pretty much. I mean, that was Cuba Gooding Jr.'s curse for sure, you know?
Starting point is 00:48:37 And Heath Ledger, oh no. Wow. But also, what's her name? Who won for West Side Story and was just in- Ariana DeBose. Yeah, yeah. Was just in, what was the movie, the dumb movie that we watched? Oh, Craven.
Starting point is 00:48:49 Craven, yeah. Yeah, he's just inherently likable on screen. Yeah. He's a good presence. But so anyway, Christopher woke up- I thought you were gonna say Christopher Walken. Christopher Walken. I don't remember him in this movie.
Starting point is 00:49:04 Christopher Walken. Bots.. I remember him in this movie. But... BOTS! Walken. BOTS! Everywhere! When I fought the robot war, actually he should be the robot to be fair. Yeah, he would be awesome. I was scared of these bots. I put googly eyes on them.
Starting point is 00:49:18 I love Woody. Where's your helmet? But if Mr. Peanut had been Christopher Walken, I don't know, four stars. That would have been great. Yeah, I think they went with a southern voice because he's Mr. Peanut, but I wish they had gone for more of either a robot voice or more urbane voice. He wears a top hat and a monocle.
Starting point is 00:49:33 The whole point of Mr. Peanut is he's a sophisticated man about town, which is not the, I know Woody Harrelson is not a dumb guy, but that's not the feel I get from Woody Harrelson's voice. And there's something about the design of this Mr. Peanut robot. That's grotesque. Yes, well part of it is that when his mouth moves,
Starting point is 00:49:50 it's like it's a rubber mask. Yes. There's no like, it's not like it's a metal thing. There's not a hinge. Yeah, so it's just kind of weird. It does look like they, he's the one robot where, yeah, it's supposed to look like a human face that was turned into a peanut.
Starting point is 00:50:03 Yeah. I wonder if the Planters people were like, no, we need supposed to look like a human face that was turned into a peanut. Yeah. I wonder if the planters people were like, no, we need him to look sexy. No. That's his whole brand. His whole brand is that he's a sexy peanut who died and came back as a baby. Can we put go-go boots on?
Starting point is 00:50:21 Where's his bikini bottom? He doesn't need a top. Yeah, yeah. We want his legs to look super fucking skinny. What is this bikini bottom? He doesn't need a top. We want his legs to look super fucking skinny. So we were right in the middle of this boring exposition. Put a garter belt on him, sure. The point is Christopher woke up and when... Thought you were going to say Christopher walk
Starting point is 00:50:51 When skate wouldn't let the doctor to free The the awakened Christopher he made it so his brain Could connect to the outside world although later on like it seems like Christopher You know couldn't survive without the machine that he's on anyway. His body can't survive, but his brain has been able to escape the main frame into a robot. Okay, because I was confused all of a sudden.
Starting point is 00:51:13 I'm like, well, wouldn't he be able to, I guess freeing him would just be the equivalent of like, hey, we'll set you up with your own drone and you'll live in this pod or something. Yes, exactly, yeah. I mean, I don't know why they didn't do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep them happy. Anyway.
Starting point is 00:51:28 Then you've got, if they had done it that way, you had two sides of Christopher. There's the good side that is trying to stop things and you've got the bad side that has like- Two sides of Christopher. That they keep- The Jess Franco movie. Well, that they're keeping happy
Starting point is 00:51:40 with like some kind of sex bot drone that he can control. And it's like Tetsuo when he becomes a cult leader. And it's just like, that version of Christopher is a bot that just pop and peels and just being brought women. Like, I don't know, let's edge this movie up, you know? Yeah, yeah. So, what the hell am I talking about?
Starting point is 00:51:58 So, they found the doctor. He tells them, hey, your brother's brain's being used to run all this stuff, you know? Uh-oh, there's a robot sheriff at the door. And John Carlo, John Carlobot shows up and Mr. Peanut fights him, allowing the others to escape, but they're attacked by a drone army immediately. And Peanut gets his hat blasted off,
Starting point is 00:52:18 but then later he has his hat again. Yeah, I mean, they must have repaired it, but like, he is kind of disturbing. He gets his hat ripped off and he's got like frying brain circuits up top. And then Tucci shows up as a drone. Tucci sounds like I mean, it's his real name, but it sounds like another cartoon robot character. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:37 Tucci drone flies down and kills Dr. Amherst over the objections of Giancarlo Esposito, who only kills metal, he says. He then takes the longest possible time to decide that Stanley Tucci is a bad guy. Yeah. Also, I was unclear the entire time. So Giancarlo Esposito's character works for the government in shutting down robots, right? That are out of the exclusion zone.
Starting point is 00:53:01 After a certain point, Stanley Tucci is like, hey, let me get in touch with you. There's some robots you should take on. And I want him to be like, yeah, that's my job, dude. I don't need you to motivate me. Then instead it feels like now he's working for Stanley Tucci. And I don't, what is he doing for him that's any different?
Starting point is 00:53:15 That he's letting him get into the exclusion zone to kill another robot? Like, I don't know. They do address this. I don't think it's like super, I don't think it makes sense if you really think about it that hard, but like because of the accords,
Starting point is 00:53:27 it would be he can't go in and just like get these guys. So he's employing someone so that he has like a bit more distance from. I know why Stanley Tucci is doing it. I don't know why Giancarlo Sposito is now acting like he works for Stanley Tucci. I think there was some motivation. He likes Blastbots, dude.
Starting point is 00:53:43 But he doesn't need his permission to Blast Bots, right? That's true, but maybe, but like, this allows him to get into the exclusion zone. I guess that's true, yeah. Where he gets Max Bot Blastin'. Max Bot Blastin' is a great name for a character. Yes, like a robot porn actor. They have his painting.
Starting point is 00:54:01 It's like Magnus Robot Fighter, but instead of fighting him in the music, it's with Max Bot Blaston. We need something with more power. We need to get Max Bot Blaston. Yeah. Only he can give us a robot orgasm. My name was, I grew up Max Blot Mastasorian,
Starting point is 00:54:17 but you know, I didn't change it to Max Bot Blaston. Robo LSI one, yeah. Robot Statue of Liberty, holding up a circuit board or something. The bots go back to the mall, which has been raised in their absence. It's all burnt up. Oh, they made it higher? Yeah. Oh, if only.
Starting point is 00:54:36 Raised up to robot heaven. Meanwhile, Cosmo... Heavy side layer for bots. Meanwhile Cosmo, a handcuffed Cosmo is led through Sentry in cuffs to see himself in flesh form in a medical pod. Giancarlo Bott is mad that Tucci had him hunting a human boy and they have a boring moral argument. It's very boring. Pratt gives Millie a little pep talk, says he'll help her try to break into Sentry. This scene I liked a little bit.
Starting point is 00:55:05 I felt like there was some writing here that I liked more than I thought I was going to. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't really. Doesn't make sense. Yes, that's the thing. She asked this question, like, when did you stop being a jerk? And he says, I'm still a jerk, I got a haircut.
Starting point is 00:55:17 He goes, when did you stop being a jerk? He goes, I still have a haircut. I like those two lines. No, it was great. But the scene does not, I mean, the movie doesn't deserve them. Yes. No, I don't. But the scene does not, I mean the movie doesn't deserve them, you know. Yes. No, like I don't actually know, like her questions still stand. I don't know why he changed his mind. I don't know why she's listening to him. Yeah. But sweet.
Starting point is 00:55:35 It's a, we'll take what we can get. Fortunately, they have essentially a robot version of Dr. Amherst still, even though. The computer that you mentioned, yeah. Same voice. So he's still getting paid. He's got glasses on the screen, yeah. Yeah, he's got the codes. Do you think the actor stops getting paid if the character gets killed? Yeah, that's why Richard Jenkins made no money off of Six Feet Under.
Starting point is 00:55:55 We wish we could pay you if we could understand the whole series. Yeah, same thing with, what's that? Bruce Willis and the Sixth Sense? And Paradise. Yeah. Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense? And Paradise. Yeah. Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense. We can't nominate you for best actor because you're dead.
Starting point is 00:56:12 He didn't know they shot the movie in sequence, so he didn't know he wasn't getting paid to the last scene. Yeah, hey, that's how you do it. So there's an orchestral version of Don't Stop Believing plays as submarines approach sentry. The fucking music in this movie sucks so hard. It sucks horrible, yeah. It's terrible.
Starting point is 00:56:30 And it gets worse as it goes on. It does get worse as it goes on, yeah. I am not the sort of person who's like usually mad about needle drops, unless they're like the most obvious ones. Unless one of your friends has a heroin habit, in which case you want them to drop that needle. Just not into their arm. Into a needle recycling bin.
Starting point is 00:56:48 Yes, yes, yeah. I don't need to hear, you know, I feel good again, I don't need to hear bad to the bone, I don't need to hear hallelujah. Hallelujah, I never want to hear that. Hold on, I'm coming. Like things that have been turned into cliches, but here, like at the beginning, it's like,
Starting point is 00:57:07 oh, you know, normal dumb needle drops, it doesn't make me too mad, but then by the end, it really ramps up into. I think doing the orchestral versions really brings it to a new level of stupid. Yeah, yeah. It's what's like how, what is it? The Sons of Anarchy show would just constantly do
Starting point is 00:57:22 slowed down versions of like alt rock songs. Yeah. But there's a certain kind of director that loves to use pop music in their movies. Martin Scorsese is one where for the most part in his movies, I think he's also looking for songs that you might not associate with what you're seeing or songs that like maybe you haven't heard that much
Starting point is 00:57:40 or that means something to him. And I feel like in this movie, the rule was we can only use songs that have appeared in other movies within the past three to four years. No, I would- I do not want the audience to be shocked out of their seats by hearing a song that they don't immediately recognize. If it was an AI, if the music supervisor was AI,
Starting point is 00:57:58 I would not be surprised. That would be, but- Yeah, the music supervisor is like the shittiest touch tunes in a fucking college bar. But anyway, we got this orchestral Don't Stop Believing, submarines approach sentries, Stanley Tucher frowns at some monitors, then Breaking the Law kicks in. Just for it, we don't get enough of it. A giant hermit throws cars from the parking lot,
Starting point is 00:58:20 there's a bunch of fighting. Having said that the Nilo Drops suck, Breaking the Law is a great song. I'm not saying, yeah, I mean a bunch of fighting that won't describe. Having said that the Neela Drops suck, breaking the law is a great song. I'm not saying, yeah, I mean the thing is that the problem is that like even a song like Mother or Breaking the Law, like it's, when it's applied to this specific context it sucks. Yeah, they're not doing anything good with it, yeah. Although they are breaking the law, it is against the law to pick up someone's car and throw it at a building.
Starting point is 00:58:42 I don't know, is it illegal for a robot to do that? Let me look at the rule book. Hold on. Oh, and the... Oh. And the... This is weird. It says law NA on account of why would we write it. I was excited to see that there's... That the, what, scientist who gets the car thrown at her is Patty Harrison. Oh, really?
Starting point is 00:59:04 Oh, yeah. that's right. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, it was, you know, there's a few, yeah, a few people got paid that I'm happy about. I'm never unhappy with someone who is good, gets paid to be in a movie, you know? Yeah. Amherstbot has stuck in disguised as a regular computer with Millie Bobby Brown hidden inside him, and they find Christopher outside the tightest turn against the robots
Starting point is 00:59:28 because Tucci has used the clever strategy of having a bigger mech than had previously been used. This is so dumb. The idea that these drones were the only thing that could stop the bots. But now the bots are totally kicking the drones ass. You know, it would stop one giant one. the drones ass. You know what would stop them? One giant one. And it's like, why is nobody using bombs?
Starting point is 00:59:49 Like why is, I don't understand. Why is nobody- Yeah. Also that- They even like develop like small EMP technology or something? Yeah. I know, just, but also the, that again, there's no, it's one of those things where like all the robots that are, it's all just robots fighting,
Starting point is 01:00:05 but half the robots, if they get destroyed, they're dead. And the other half, if they get destroyed, it doesn't matter. The person controlling it is fine. And it's a, that should raise the stakes for our heroes, but instead it just makes everything feel a little bit more meaningless, you know? Yeah, there wasn't even a moment where it looks like the robots are winning
Starting point is 01:00:22 because they killed a bunch of the drones. And then like, we see the same pilots piloting new drones coming and running out. Oh, that'd be a great moment, yeah, they didn't do that. I mean, because the pilots piloting the drones are treated as drones, they're treated as nobodies, and if it was supposed to be a smarter movie, it'd be like, oh, you use a drone, you become a drone,
Starting point is 01:00:40 that's how you lose your individuality, which is kind of the message they're trying to do later when they're saying turn off your helmets. And the big drone blows up Herman's big body and then his second big body because it's like a nesting doll robot. Yeah, yeah. So in the midst of all this robot carnage,
Starting point is 01:01:04 Esposito has a change of hearts. Starring Woody Harrelson as robot carnage. Because of all his scene, he tells Mr. Peanut where to find Stanley Tucci in non-drone form, in flesh form. Just human meat form. Millie and her brother talk inside her brother's brain. He tells her there's no way to disconnect him without him dying.
Starting point is 01:01:21 Real quick, robot carnage would be like computer virus or something, because carnage would be like computer virus or something, because they're all named like Toxin. Yeah, it's all Toxin or Virus or Phage, yeah. Christopher says there's no way to disconnect him without him dying, and he says, go ahead and do it. That's gonna be the big triumph. They're gonna pull the plug,
Starting point is 01:01:39 because he doesn't want to be there. Robo battery for the next 100 years. And luckily, there's just like three buttons you hit that are like, turns it off. Very easy to disconnect him, yeah. Robo bro. So this really counts as a dumb adaptation of that Ursula K. Le Guin story
Starting point is 01:01:54 about the city that operates on the mistreatment of one child. And that's what it's good fortune is based on and some people walk away from that, you know? Yeah, those who walk away from something. I couldn't remember the name of the place so she should get she should yeah I mean I mean she's not alive no she's amazing yeah yeah the best so what's that K stand for Herman cool cool as hell Herman dies while the
Starting point is 01:02:20 others are arguing so I was praying. She was sponsored by them. She was sponsored by Cool Sigrass. This argument over whether she's gonna kill Christopher takes way too long considering we're already 105 minutes into this movie. And you know it's gonna happen, they're not gonna, yeah. But they really, they draw it out for a long time. Yeah, Pratt is sad because despite them winning, Herman has been blasted and confesses possible romantic feelings.
Starting point is 01:02:47 Guys. What, what, what, what? But so when Herman gets blasted, we've already seen him nesting doll down. Like immediately I'm like, there's just a little one inside his head, right? There's no way this movie is going to let that character die, even though that would instantly make the movie better, more interesting, more meaningful.
Starting point is 01:03:05 I don't know, I think having a tiny little guy trumps that. That's what happens, another smaller Herman pops out. A little bitty one, yeah. A little guy that could perch on his shoulders. I wish his voice was also pitched even higher. Yeah, that'd be really funny. When he's in the big suit, he should have a super low voice. Yes, that would have been really funny. He pops out of the big suit, he should have a super low voice.
Starting point is 01:03:25 Yes, that would have been really funny. He pops out of Herman's head. Yes. Oh, it all comes together. There's a little man inside there. And you know what, now there's only one of him, so he's like Herman's hermit. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 01:03:35 Wow. There's probably another one inside. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think so. There's nothing else belongs to Hermans except hermits and heads. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:44 What happens? We get another dump of news clips showing that Skate was held to account. A dump of news clips is the correct plural, like a murder of crows or pack of lions. I feel like this wrap up was like somehow dumber than the rest of the movie. Maybe.
Starting point is 01:04:00 Well the way they're just like, yeah and the bad guy. And everything. And everybody now hates this technology that everybody uses. Well, they're like, the technology that ran the world is over, there's chaos. People are going outside and enjoying themselves.
Starting point is 01:04:14 Like, no. And everyone got ice cream. And Millie Bobby Brown, at this point, during an orchestral version of Wonderwall, Millie Bobby Brown delivers a sermon, during an orchestral version of Wonderwall, Millie Bobby Brown delivers a sermon to you, the viewers of The Electric State, telling you to turn The Electric State off, for fuck's sake, go hug your loved ones.
Starting point is 01:04:33 Tell me that two hours ago. Well also, she's like, stop using your helmets. I thought the helmet system got fucked up. Like, why are you telling people this? I didn't like this movie before, this part, but this was the part that made me angry. Now I love it. Maybe I wanna throw something at the television.
Starting point is 01:04:47 This feels like Sucker Punch, where Sucker Punch is two hours of like, girls in miniskirts fighting each other and fighting monsters, and at the end it's like, don't you love this, you sick fuck? What's your problem that you love this movie? It's like, I didn't make this movie? You put it on screen, dude.
Starting point is 01:04:59 Michael Hanukkah made this movie? Michael Hanukkah? They only had enough torture porn and uncomfortable stuff for one night, but it lasted eight nights. We've been through this before. You made fun of me for this. It's how Halle's name is pronounced. We looked it up. Yeah, that's true. Anyway, finally, the last sandwich of the movie. Last sandwich of the movie? Last sandwich.
Starting point is 01:05:20 Oh! On the left. That's my ears. That's not Dan. That's my ears. Cosmo is in a dump, the Christopher Cosmo. It's called the electric state. But we see in a puddle that a dog is drinking from, that he's gotten up, suggesting that maybe Christopher lives on in some form after all,
Starting point is 01:05:40 and Yoshimi battles the pink robots plays as I think about battling some pink Russo. And there we go. That's it, we did it. We did the whole movie. So they just did a search for songs with robots in them. And you know what song they didn't do? Mr. Roboto.
Starting point is 01:05:56 I'm kind of surprised. Yeah. That is weird. Now if it was all needle drops with songs with robots in them or robot stuff, it was Mr. Roboto, our friends electric, that kind of stuff. Then I'd be like, oh, you know what?
Starting point is 01:06:07 This is kind of dumb, but it's okay. At least they're all themed robots. Hey guys, let's do our final judgements. Sure, well we loved it, obviously. Good, bad movie, a bad, bad movie, or a movie that we kind of liked. Yeah, how do we feel? This is the unofficial Bot Month or whatever.
Starting point is 01:06:24 Yeah, we went straight from movies without Spider-Man to Bot Month. We transitioned into them, yeah. Bot Month! The voice cracking while he did it was icing on the cake. Yeah, I didn't like this movie. Really, Dan? You talked about it for a while. Yeah, you took a really exhaustive note. The movie you didn't like this movie. Really, you talked about it for a while. Yeah, you took a really exhaustive note for a movie you didn't like.
Starting point is 01:06:48 Likely story. It's just, it did make me curious. Like I went in search of stuff about the book because I was curious and the book sounds interesting. The book sounds like sort of haunting and it's vague about what happens and sort of horrific, all the things that this is not. Maybe for the first time in cinema history,
Starting point is 01:07:09 a movie was made out of a book and they failed to capture what was special about the book. Yeah. Well, this is like so antithetical to what it seems like the book's vibe is. Like there's nothing disquieting about the movie. No, you would think the book was Ready Player One or something like that, yeah.
Starting point is 01:07:23 But yeah, I thought this was just your standard boilerplate nonsense. Elliot. Yeah, I also felt the same way. I thought it was a bad, bad movie, and it felt very, for that reason, it felt very generic and very kind of like default setting. I will say this.
Starting point is 01:07:39 It looks pretty good. The effects look good. They clearly spent a lot of money. There's some performances in it I like, but overall, from the writing writing to the way the action scenes are done to the music choices, it just feels very like, it feels like they're working off a recipe, you know?
Starting point is 01:07:55 Yeah, and after, like, I don't wanna, I don't wanna like start drawing correlations to the Russo Brothers' other work, but it feels like that they, I guess I just have to assume that a lot of what made their successes comes more from like pre-established, like characters that we already like, we already were invested in these characters,
Starting point is 01:08:18 so they don't have to worry about doing that work. And when they do have to, when they have to try and make us care about these characters, like I don't, I can barely remember one thing about any of these characters. What's next? They definitely have strengths and I feel like this movie does not play to those strengths.
Starting point is 01:08:35 Yeah, bad bad, bad bad movie. I know what's next. This podcast. Oh, this podcast is next? I thought that's what you're doing. The one you're listening to right now, this podcast is brought to you in part by Squarespace. If you want to offer services and get paid, you need a website and Squarespace gives you
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Starting point is 01:09:43 Actually, Dan, can I plug a couple things? Sure, plug away. I just I plug a couple things sure pleasure? I just want to plug a couple things on my own One of those is as I've said before I write the Harley Quinn comic book for DC Comics comes out once a month I'm gonna be writing it for a little while longer which I because I'm excited about because I like writing it and It's fun funny book Very few multi-issue storylines. You can pick up an issue, you can read the story, you put it down, of course plot threads continue from issue to issue,
Starting point is 01:10:08 but I'm trying to stay away from too many multi-issue stories so you can have a satisfying experience every single time. At the same time, this episode's coming out in April. At the end of April, April 22nd, my new picture book comes out. It's called Sadie Mouse Wrecks the House from HarperKids. The artist on it is Tim Miller, who did Horse Meets Dog with me.
Starting point is 01:10:28 And I think it's super fun. It's about a girl, Sadie Mouse. She is the good mouse in the family. She always has to do all the chores and she's tired of it. So she's gonna be the bad mouse and do those chores as destructive as possible. And it's a super fun book. So it's called Sadie Mouse Wrecks the House
Starting point is 01:10:41 on Bookstore Shelves, April 22nd. Pre-order it now if you want to through your local independent bookstore. Dr. Game Show is a podcast where we play games submitted by listeners with callers from all around the world. And this is a game to get you to listen. Name three reasons to listen to Dr. Game Show. Kyla and Lunar from Freedom Mame. Dishes, folding the laundry, doing cat grooming.
Starting point is 01:11:10 Okay, thank you. Great. Things you could do while listening. Yeah. I love that the read, I'm like, why do you listen to this show and Lunar's like dishes. Fantastic. Manolo. Number one is that it'll inspire you. You're gonna be
Starting point is 01:11:28 like, oh I could do that. That's all we have time for but you'll just have to find Dr. Game Show a maximum fun to find out for yourself. Say you like video games and who doesn't? I mean some people probably don't. Okay but a lot of people do. So say you're one of those people and you feel like you don't really have anyone to talk to about the games that you like. Well, you should get some better friends. Yes, you could get some better friends, but you could also listen to Triple Click,
Starting point is 01:11:55 a weekly podcast about video games hosted by me, Kirk Hamilton. Me, Maddie Myers. And me, Jason Schreier. We talk about new releases, old classics, industry news, and whatever, really. We'll show you new things to love about games, and maybe even help you find new friends
Starting point is 01:12:11 to talk to you about them. Triple click. It's kinda like we're your friends. Find us at MaximumFun.org, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's answer a few letters from listeners. Listeners. Like who?
Starting point is 01:12:26 Like you. Me? Yeah, well, I mean, you're currently hosting. Oh, so we're not answering letters from listeners, we're currently hosting the show. No, no, no. Dear Dan, how's it going? Pretty good, thanks. It's good to see you.
Starting point is 01:12:39 I didn't finish. Love, Elliot. Thank you, Elliot. This is from... PS. Stuart, how's it going? Pretty good. All right, so we finished this segment, right?
Starting point is 01:12:50 Yeah, that's it. Let us, we can pack it up. Lettuce from listeners. This is from Mac. Mac. Mac tonight, famous for his giant crescent moon shaped head. You know what? The person made a guess that said Mac, last name, the knife.
Starting point is 01:13:04 So they guessed the thing. That is a clay pot. Yeah. I know him by his German name of Mackymaster. Mac says, hey peaches, I consider myself a Quentin Tarantino fan, but unlike most Tarantino fans, I don't like reservoir dogs
Starting point is 01:13:20 because I didn't like the infamous ear scene. It was too gruesome for me and took me out of the movie. Do you have an- The camera pans away. Yeah, I mean, the anticipation, your brain supplies the camera does pan away. Do you have an example of a movie that you would have otherwise loved, save for one scene, that you wish was cut or different?
Starting point is 01:13:43 and scene that you wish was cut or different. Yeah, I mean, there's like sort of easy like 80s, you know, like stuff that was like insulting shit that I wish wasn't in movies that I otherwise liked, like either the Monster Squad or Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, they both have like gay slurs in them that I would love to just not be there, but that's not a whole scene. There's stuff in a movie that I know Elliot
Starting point is 01:14:15 doesn't like at all, but like in Licorice Pizza, I don't know what the racist character played by John Michael Higgins is doing in the movie at all. It's the one element where I'm like, I don't even understand. And so I would love for that to be excised. I get that. I mean, there's a lot of movies that I love
Starting point is 01:14:37 where there's a scene that, my favorite movie of all time, The Taken Palmo 23, as similarly as that scene with Walter Mather being insulting to the Japanese subway guys. I wish that scene was not in there and something else like it was in there. And I think your second favorite movie of all time, The Kingsman, has that weird anal sex bit at the end.
Starting point is 01:14:55 That is my second favorite. For the record, my second favorite movie all time is Shadow of a Doubt. I mean, they both seem into it. I don't understand what the- It's just kind of weird that that's like, it like, it modifies it. It's transactional. It's kind of weird. But there's a, there definitely, I was't understand what the... It's just kind of weird that that's like, it like, commodifies it, it's transactional, it's kind of weird.
Starting point is 01:15:07 But there's a, there definitely, I was having trouble with this question because there are movies I think that have a scene, there's a lot of movies that have a similarly to the letter writer, Matt Tonight, a scene of violence that I find goes too far for me, or that makes it like the, makes me uncomfortable in a way
Starting point is 01:15:23 that the rest of the movie doesn't necessarily, but I'm having trouble thinking of specific ones right now. There's definitely like, there's lots of movies. I mean, there's so many old movies I love that have a scene in it where it's like, oh, that's a racist, I don't like that, or oh, that line I don't like. But I feel like for the most part, when there's a scene in a movie that is just out of tone brutal, then that often gets to me. Although that being said,
Starting point is 01:15:46 then sometimes you have a movie like The Silent Partner, where there's a murder scene in that, that is so much more brutal and intense than I expected, and it is great. It's an amazing scene. Well, because it suddenly shifts the movie into a different gear, I think. The movie becomes so much harsher.
Starting point is 01:15:59 Yeah. I mean, I think it's like last year, I would say probably the horror movie that stuck with me the most from last year was Smile 2 of all things, which is not a movie that like I like that much, but there was some like genuinely interesting stuff in it, but there was just so many rug pulls
Starting point is 01:16:16 and it's such like a, like it's such just like a mean-spirited movie. I had trouble like really enjoying it. There's too many rug pulls at the end. I would argue that like the mean-spirited movie. I had trouble really enjoying it. There's too many rug pulls at the end. I would argue that the mean-spirited in this movie feels so sort of Sam Raimi-esque almost, where it's like... Well, like a drag me to hell type thing.
Starting point is 01:16:36 Yeah, like the fun of it is I'm gonna be just more mean than you expect with this tone. It is some of the fun of drag me to hell where she really doesn't deserve to be dragged to hell. When you think she's figured out, it's like, no you didn't. I get it. I get it. Speaking of Sam Raimi, I think a lot of people
Starting point is 01:16:52 feel this way about the tree scene in Evil Dead. Yeah. That just goes a little too far. Sophie Last Name With Hell writes, hey guys, there's a fairly well-known term in film criticism, the idiot plot, where the plot only works if every character is an idiot. I was considering the idea of a genius plot,
Starting point is 01:17:12 where the plot only works if all, or at least the pivotal characters, are geniuses in a way that's equally as infuriating to watch. Can you think of any examples? Love your work, et cetera, et cetera. Goodbye from Outiora, New Zealand. Oh, I. Sophie, last name with hell.
Starting point is 01:17:30 This is more a scene that I feel like, maybe it's not the exact same thing. There's that stupid dumbass scene in the Now You See Me, Now You Can't movie. No, no, no, you're wrong. Where they're flipping that car with a mic and it's like, this scene only works if they're the most amazing, magician, like, cool people in world. And it's so stupid.
Starting point is 01:17:47 I was going to totally remove from reality. I was going to mention the now you see movies, which absolutely do not work unless everyone in it is like a robot program to understand every possible move that anyone could make. Yeah. But I do think that somehow it also shoots the moon in terms of stupidity, where I start liking that about those movies. I guess that was a movie where you reveal
Starting point is 01:18:15 that the characters have kind of like seen through every angle and were never in any danger or they always were gonna pull it off. Like that's as opposed to something like a movie like the hot rock or something where it's a heist, but they keep screwing it up. Yeah, I feel this way often about mastermind serial killer movies,
Starting point is 01:18:33 where it's like, I was 12 steps ahead the whole time. How would you know that any of this was gonna happen this way? It's the plot version of when a character has to be in exactly the right spot for a cool move to take flight. Like in First Blood, when he makes himself look like a tree and it's like, oh, it's a good thing that the deputy
Starting point is 01:18:50 walks right by that tree. Or which was the James Bond movie where like the train crashes through the wall in exactly the right place. They're like, how? The one with Javier Bardem. Yeah, Skyfall. Yeah, yeah, he timed it. He timed his escape from the courtroom exactly
Starting point is 01:19:03 so that that train would get, yeah. I mean, that was also during the long period where every bad guy wanted to get caught as part of his plan. It's like, you know what? It's easier to pull off a plan if you're not in jail. Why don't you come up with a plan that doesn't involve being taken into custody?
Starting point is 01:19:16 Guys, at this rate, I don't think we should capture any bad guys. They just wanna get caught. They all wanna get caught. It's just playing into their hands. They just wanna get caught. They all wanna get caught. It's just playing into their hands. So let's get on to recommendations of movies
Starting point is 01:19:30 that we've seen recently. Okay, I'll do it. Okay, well, why don't you do it first? Sure. Oh, hell yeah. I'm gonna recommend, you know, like a big action adventure movie, a lot like Electric State.
Starting point is 01:19:41 I'm gonna recommend Lin Ramsey's Morvern Caller. There are a lot of robots in Morvern Caller. I just got around to watching it and it's really beautiful and sad. It's about a young woman in Scotland who wakes up on Christmas morning to find that her live-in boyfriend has committed suicide and she then spends the rest of the movie doing everything possible to avoid dealing with that grief and it's like I feel like it's a really interesting character
Starting point is 01:20:15 portrait it's a interesting portrait of two friends and it also uses music music so beautifully whether and it feels almost music so beautifully, and it feels almost all diegetic. That's diegetic or diegenic? Diegetic. Diegetic? Yeah. When it's coming from within the scene.
Starting point is 01:20:32 And I feel like Lynne Ramsay seems to have a talent with using audio in her movies, and I think this is a perfect example. It's great. Yeah. She is one of my faves despite never making a movie that you would call like a feel good picture. You never throw them on just as comfort, you know,
Starting point is 01:20:54 when you're sick. I mean, that was the thing I was sitting on. I had borrowed this Blu-ray, the Fun City Editions Blu-ray from one of my bartenders, Margaret Barton-Fuomo, who is a film critic, and she actually has an essay in this DVD copy. And I borrowed it from her like a year and a half ago, and I was like, okay, I think I'm in the right place
Starting point is 01:21:15 emotionally to watch this. I think I, more of her in color though, I do think is weirdly like the closest she's come, just like a comforting movie, just because the vibe is sort of cool. You should get Ratcatcher too, right? Yeah, Ratcatcher is bleak. I turned that, I was like, oh, you know,
Starting point is 01:21:33 Audrey's going out this afternoon, let me pick a movie that I've never seen before off criterion, let me see a good movie for a change, and I'm like, Ratcatcher, oh my God, why did I? Yeah, yeah, it's a place on Sunday. It's a movie where you're like, why couldn't there just be a killer movie for a change. And we're like Rat Catcher, oh my God, why did I? Yeah, yeah, it's a place where you're like, why couldn't there just be a killer kid with a bow and arrow? Right? So I wish they were fighting a robot Mr. Peanut.
Starting point is 01:21:54 I'm gonna recommend a movie I watched today, just before we all gathered together. I watched. But Dan, when I walked in, you were watching Daredevil Born Again, that's not a movie. No, well, and I also was more dozing to it, but I watched The Rule. I do gotta say, one thing I like about Daredevil Born Again
Starting point is 01:22:13 is it does feature a courtroom scene where he's like, the defendant, and the defendant wasn't wearing his magical amulet that gives him increased strength and power. I'm like, hell yes, this is what I want out of this show, a courtroom where they talk about this shit. Yeah, I watched The Rule of J.D. Penn. Oh, how's that?
Starting point is 01:22:33 It's good, it just showed up on Shudder after a small theatrical run. Yeah, it's a New Zealand horror movie that stars Jeffrey Rush and John Lithgow. Oh, Casanova Frankenstein. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And that's known for his role as Casanova Frankenstein.
Starting point is 01:22:51 Finally, Casanova Frankenstein and Dr. Lazardo are in a movie together. Uh, it's about Rush plays a, you know, he's a judge who has a stroke and has to go live in assisted living, but he still has all his mental acuity. He's just, his body's not working well, he needs help. And he's a very dignified man and kind of a dick. So having to live there is hard on him.
Starting point is 01:23:24 And he discovers that sort of everyone there is being terrorized by John Lithgow, who has this doll, this baby doll puppet that he goes around with. And he's just a bully to all these people, and it's, you know, but it goes beyond bullying. He's sort of a sadistic, evil man. And it's, you know, but it goes beyond bullying. He's a sort of a sadistic evil man. And it's about their...
Starting point is 01:23:49 Falling in love? It's about a battle of wills. And it's kind of, you know, the modern, not female led version of a baby Jane, whatever happened to baby Jane style, like hag exploitation, as they called them, picture. And Russian Lithgow are great. It's just a lot.
Starting point is 01:24:14 If there's both elder abuse in it and- Keep talking. Joe Bobriggs over here. Senior foo, geezer foo. I'm warning people that like, I'm warning people that there are things in it that like might disturb beyond like the regular horror thrills.
Starting point is 01:24:34 There's that, there's like an attempted sexual assault that you know, gets thwarted. But there are things in there that might bother you if you know that they're gonna bother you, don't watch it, but otherwise it's good. I'm gonna recommend a movie that's not very easy to find. I wonder if it's ever recommended before. I don't remember, but I saw a little bit of it today, and that is The Clock by Christian Markley.
Starting point is 01:24:59 This is a movie I have not seen all of, because if you're not familiar with it, I'll tell you, it is a 24-hour long movie that is a movie I've not seen all of, because if you're not familiar with it, I'll tell you it is a 24 hour long movie that is a super cut of scenes from movies where you can see a clock in them or the time is mentioned. And it is synchronized with the time you're watching it, if you see it in a museum.
Starting point is 01:25:16 So the movie functions like a clock and the way that the clips are put together is really masterful at times. And it creates this sort of idea of kind of a movie universe where all these movies are kind of happening at the same time. And it's this massive variety of different movies with different feels about them and different tones. But it's 24 hours.
Starting point is 01:25:35 It's 24 hours. So I've only ever seen at most like an hour and a half of it. I was gonna say, cause like, you never have time to watch shit, dude. How do you watch this thing? It's also an art piece. So you have to go to a museum to see it. Like, you can't get it at home.
Starting point is 01:25:46 And so I was at the Museum of Modern Art today, and it's playing right now. Because your kids were like, I want to see this daddy. I want to see the clock. What's weird is, so my younger son really wanted to see Starry Night, which they have at Museum of Modern Art. He was surprised it was so small. And the clock was playing, I'm like, I really want to see some of this.
Starting point is 01:26:00 Like, I've only seen a little bit of it. If we're there and there's no line, we've got to see some of it. My kids were like, ugh. My older son got really into it. If we're there and there's no line, we gotta see some of it. My kids were like, ugh, my older son got really into it. And so it was, there's something kind of, it puts you almost in a trance in a way. I could easily have seen the two of us sitting there for 10 hours if we had had the time.
Starting point is 01:26:14 And were you guys pointing at the screen to point at the clock each time, like the Leonardo Caprio meme? Yeah, exactly, that's where the clock is! But it's a, but if you ever get the chance to see it at a museum, try to see it any time of day. I hope it someday is available in some way for home viewing so I can see the middle of the night parts.
Starting point is 01:26:31 Because part of the fun of it is that because you're seeing scenes from throughout the day from different movies, time of day affects what the kind of content is. So like we saw a lot of stuff today where it's people getting up and going to work, you know? But in night I've heard there's a lot of like dream stuff and strange things,
Starting point is 01:26:47 but around like five, six o'clock is a lot of characters having dinner. So it's a, you're seeing scenes that are set at the time of the time where you are. The funniest thing was walking out of it, my son goes, what time is it? I'm like, oh, it's 1117, we just walked out of the club. That's a good show.
Starting point is 01:27:01 But if you get the chance to see The Clock by Christian Markley, I highly recommend it. It's a really fantastic experience and not one that's easy to get because the museum's got to own this piece and then show it, you know. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a good thing that HBO Max doesn't have that
Starting point is 01:27:15 because they just shelve it forever. Well, HBO Max had it, they would cut it up into like, 15 pieces, then they'd take, by random, 10 of them away. The way that, I mean, now HBO Max has no Looney Tunes on it at all, basically. But at one point they had like all, they had so many Looney Tunes and then they were like, eh, we're just gonna take away the later seasons.
Starting point is 01:27:33 And it's like, well, you know that these are the classic ones from the 50s, right? Like now what we have is the early ones from the 30s with Egbert and Porky Pig before he was a character. You know, it's the, anyway, HBO Max, put out the clock. So I can see it, so I can see the whole thing. Hey, this was the first full episode post-Max Fun Drive. We did have a mini, but I just wanted to say thanks
Starting point is 01:27:55 to everyone who supported us. Glad you just appeased the straw man who was there. Actually, Daniel. Yeah. I had no l listener in my mind. I just said it for accuracy. This is the first full episode afterwards. Thank you to everyone who supports the show.
Starting point is 01:28:16 I was worried about this year because the world is scary in so many other ways, so it's easy to be anxious. But she all really showed up. Thank you. Thank you to our producer, Alex Smith. He knows, he goes by the name. He also knows him.
Starting point is 01:28:31 He knows the name he goes by. He goes by the name Howell Donny. They say the shadow knows Willericks, evil looks in the hearts of men, but does he know his own name? Who, do any of us truly know our own names? Oh yeah. Makes you think.
Starting point is 01:28:46 Rumble Silkskin knows your name. Well mine, and he hopes nobody else does. His bitches are always saying that shit to him and he's like, damn it. Mine's Dan McCoy. Mine is Stuart Wellington. Now imagine Rumble Silkskin tweeting, he's like, the moment when she realizes your name.
Starting point is 01:29:02 And I'm Elliott Kalin, thank you Max Fun listeners and members, we really appreciate it. Thank you, Max Fun listeners and members. We really appreciate it. Thanks for listening to us talk about nonsense. Bye. Bye. Yeah. This is a not, we'll get into it.
Starting point is 01:29:20 It's not very good movie. It's a bad movie. Mansing, I detect Mansinger and let him know that we watched it. And he was proud that we followed up on his insistence. And his demands? Now we've given in to him. He knows what we'll capitulate. Yeah, he's got a one-way ticket to Flapp House control.
Starting point is 01:29:40 Yeah, but he's not long for this world because they're going to have some kind of Smurf's Denny's meal, where it's like a thousand different blue pancakes. It's going to eat them all. It's funny that my two friends with the tenderest tummies are the ones who do those things. Yeah. Maximum Fun.
Starting point is 01:29:58 A worker-owned network. Of artist-owned shows. Supported. Directly. By you.

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