The Kristian Harloff Show - BEST MOVIES AND TV OF 2023

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

THE BIG THING (MAIN SHOW) Become a Patron!: https://www.patreon.com/TheBigThingShow What were the best movies and TV shows of 2023? There were so many amazing shows on TV that aired on Netlfix, Apple, Disney, Amazon. Movies, movies movies. Whether it was Barbie, Oppenheimer or some of the other hidden gems, we dive into it. Kristian Harloff, John Rocha and Dan Murrell are back again to discuss all the greats from 2023. #movies #tv #best #bestof #2023 SUPPORT THE SHOW HERE: AG1: http://www.DrinkAg1.com/BIGTHING ROCKETMONEY: http://www.RocketMoney.com/THING JOYMODE: http://www.UseJoymode.com CODE BIG THING JOHN ROCHA CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@UCspNgxDOWnr... DAN MURRELL CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@UCbiOAho0h23... OUR MERCH STORE IS LIVE: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/the-... FOLLOW KRISTIAN + FIND HIM ON: CAMEO https://cameo.com/kristianharloff TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kristianharloff FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/harloff INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/kristianharloff AMAZON WISHLIST: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls...

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big thing. This is an exciting episode. I really loved last year's episode with myself, my buddy John Roca, my buddy Dan Murrell, and we talked about the best movies and TV shows of 2022. Well, I wrote an email to my friends and I said, hey, would you guys be up for doing that again? And they're both like very generously. We're like, yeah, let's do it for sure. And so that's what we're doing. We're going to do the best of 2023. We're going to go over movies and TVs. Now, we all have our separate list and you'll be able to find my list on my channel and Dan's on his and John's on Hitchable to find all of our lists. So we're not going to be listing out like the top 10.

What we're going to do is just movies that we put together this like massive list. And we basically just say, okay, someone's going to pick out one of the movies that we chose. We're not going to necessarily all agree with each other. There's some, I saw a couple of movies that I have on my list that I don't think like John maybe likes or vice versa. There was a movie that maybe Dan thought really highly of that. They happened last year too. I was watching back. And there were a few movies that I love the conversation.

I just did. It was like even if we didn't necessarily agree, it was just a really intelligent conversation, but I'm not including myself in that between John and Dan. I was just there. But I'm excited to have the conversation with the two of these guys today. And I hope that you, if you're brand new to this channel and you're coming to check it out, you hit that button, that thing floating around in the sky right there. We're trying to get to 200,000 subscribers. That's right. We hit 100,000 and we're trying to get to 200. So if you can help us out and do just that, I'd appreciate. Apple podcast, Spotify, anywhere podcasts are found.

That's right. It's the big thing. Let's do it. Welcome back, and it is time. Let's get to the best TV and movies of 2023, and to do so bring in buddies Dan and John. The answers.

It's the ruse. I finally got it. Me and John have a lot in the whole time. I got to blow dust off the board. Oh, no. The board's gone. The board's gone. I wish to go down here.

No, just this three old dogs talking about the movies that we saw. And let me ask you, Dan, what was your overall opinion of the year in cinema that was 2023? Yeah, I was thinking about that, actually, right before we started. And it's interesting, it's a year where outside of like, maybe two movies, I don't have any that I'm like, that's my favorite of the year. Like that is my absolute like I love that movie so much. It's going to be like number one or number two. Usually I've got like four or five that are like all kind of jockeying that for that position. But at the same time, there's like 20 that were all like that was really good. I like that

movie a lot. So it's it's it's really weird year in that like there was only a couple things that were like really huge standouts for me, you know, personally. But there was also, it seemed like more than usual that were like just really solid, like really enjoyable movies. So it's going to be interesting when I try to like rank it all for my list at the end of the year. I'm still catching up on stuff to like figure out what falls where. Yeah. John, I think, you know, it was funny.

I was having this conversation with Koi. It was a lost episode of the big thing that didn't, never air because my stupid computer. But I had said to him and I saw him on Twitter and he said something like, he said this, he thought this was one of the best years in cinema that he has seen in a long time. and I don't agree with that statement, but I also push back on myself a little bit because I agree with what Dan was saying. There are a lot of really solid movies.

I think that's the word, right? There's a lot of solid films this year in general. And I'm curious, what were your overall thoughts on this year? This year felt like an absolute roller coaster in terms of movies and the quality and like, if you think one movie you're going to go see and it's going to be fantastic, and you walk out and you're like, yeah, it was good, but something was missing or something wasn't 100% quite there,

but I know I saw a good movie. It just didn't wow me the way I was hoping it would wow me. And then there were other movies that came along, these small little independent films or small or medium-sized films, shall I say, and they just kind of knocked you on your ass. And you're like,

wow, this is actually really interesting. And I like that there were multiple genres represented, and there was quality within all the genres here throughout the year in film. So I would agree that this is a really good year for film, but I also thought last year was a really good, year for film. And I think this year is going to be an incredible battle to see what comes out on top, even though we're hearing pretty much the same movies of being voted on as Best Picture in the critics groups. I think there's a lot of people across a wide swath of moviegoers who really have

their own personal favorites. And if we were to look at them, we wouldn't necessarily say, you know what, you're wrong for that. You would be like, wow, this is actually a really good list you've put together. We may disagree, but I can't fault you for feeling that way about those movie. So I kind of like the variety we got this year, even though it was kind of up and down and crazy, man. Well, that's why I'm so curious of what this conversation is going to be like today, right? Because I think we're going to have a lot of exactly what you're saying. And as far as TV, I think it's the same thing. Because even when I was sending this list, and Dan said he's really has a lot of movies that he's seen. And the TV shows that he sent back, I'm like, you know,

I might be in the same boat. And I think I think a lot of the same stuff that you saw on TV. I didn't watch a ton of TV, but I think I watched this stuff that I know, I enjoy. and that I want to talk about. So I think that a lot of people were talking about it. So last year, how we started was John started and he brought up Top Gun. I remember the first one. So this year we're going to start with Dan. Dan, you can go anywhere you want.

You can go, you start us off in TV or movies, wherever you want to go to start off. Where do you want to go? Let's start off with movies. We'll ease into it. Why don't we ease into it? I'm not going to pull out the big guns right away. Talk about a really solid movie. It came out in the spring, got buried because there's that crush of movies that were all,

doing well actually believe it or not at the beginning of the year. Dungeons and Dragons. Yes. Honor Among Thieves. Nice choice. It kind of going into what John said, like just a solid movie. Like I didn't expect much out of it, to be honest. I really didn't, even though I liked the guys who directed it. It just, you know, you've seen that go wrong so many times.

Such a fun movie, so funny, great cast, great performances. I had such a good time watching it. And like the end of the year is always trying to catch up on movies. Like once this has passed me, like one of the first movies I look forward to rewatching from this year is that one. Because it's just, it's just fun. It's just like it's like it kind of felt like what movies used to be in a weird way.

I don't know. I like that movie a lot. It's such a shame. I couldn't agree with you more. And it's such a shame that the movie didn't do well, even though they're still talking about that potentially it's going to be a sequel because the people who have seen it really talk about it the same way that you did, Dan. And I think the same way that I'm about to talk about it.

is that I think when you look back at kind of the, to reuse a word I used last year, these fart boxes that came before us with the, with the Dungeons and Dragons movies that have come out. And it really hasn't been anything that when that movie was coming out, you're okay. And I didn't know what the tone was going to be like. And I didn't even see it for the screening.

I missed the screening and my daughter really wanted to see it. So I took her to see it. And it was like, and it was probably maybe two or three weeks before it left theaters. And I was like, man, I know, people were talking about this movie, but this was a fun movie. I've seen it. I've seen it three times now because of my, well, because again, my daughter wanted to watch it again, and then my wife wanted to watch it. And I was like, this is one of those movies that you can just watch again because it's exactly what you said, Dan.

It's just one of those fun films, but John, I actually talk to you about this movie. Do you feel the same way, or do you, or is it just kind of like forgettable for you? I'll tell you, look, first of all, let me say, I'm not a Dungeons and Dragons player. I've tried it many times. It's just not a thing for me, and I totally respect people who enjoy playing it and Wendy Lee and other people who I know who play it. Shout out to you. So I turned down the screening for this one because I was like, I don't want to go see something that's probably going to be a C. And I love Chris Pine.

I don't want to see him in a bad movie. And so I just, but then I'd seen people who I respected, admire, talking positively about the film. So I treated myself to a ticket in IMAX. There was like seven people in the theater, opening weekend, by the way. And I sat there and had the greatest time.

Absolutely the greatest time. Yeah, I didn't get all the in jokes because I'm not a hardcore, Dungeons and Dragons player, but I got enough of what was going on here that I understood and appreciated and enjoyed the world building here that I thought was a lot of fun. And also the little moments of comedy, like that you didn't see coming, right? Like when you see, was it Bradley Cooper who was small or whoever was the point? Yeah. Like you're like, wait, I didn't anticipate that.

And then you have a really strong emotional story with what Chris Pines going through with his wife and what happened there. That's really connected. And then the fantastic, yes. Yes, exactly. And then as Dan said, the fantastic cast, they really cast it well. And the chemistry and joy that they all seem to be having, making the movie, really came across, including Michelle Rodriguez with a light color that you almost never see on Michelle Rodriguez,

that I thought was a nice way to kind of add this extra tool to her toolbox. So at the end of the day, very well directed. Like you, Christian, I wish it had done better. But I hope they do Greenlight a sequel at some point. I did too. and I think that you made a good point is that you didn't feel lost. Like there were some, like, look, I've seen Dan's reviews on like a Soker, right? And some people felt lost that they didn't watch rebels.

And it's true. And it's, I understand. This movie did not make you feel that way at all, at all. All right. So, John, let's shift to TV, man. What do you got as far as you got a TV show for us? Well, you know, you talk about Duns and Dragons, right? And you go like, well, this year was a really interesting year.

and when we look back and analyze it, how certain projects came along and kind of broke this well-held idea about a genre or about a type of movie being successful. Now, Deso's Dragas didn't make a lot of money, but it was successful, quality-wise, and there's a lot of people who love it. Here comes Last of Us,

a video game series, transferred from a video game, onto live action. You get Pedro Pascal, you get Bel-Rams, you get a host of fantastic actors to be a part of this. You have maybe the greatest,

love story of the year in one episode there with Nick Offerman and I forget the Australian actor from White Lotus who plays his partner. All of that throughout and you do an incredible job in a genre that you feel like I've seen enough zombie stuff, but it worked because it was zombie adjacent and the drama and the connections and the emotional stories and the performances. And the way it twists and turns, for those of us who had never played the game, we were enjoying the journey we were going on that inspired us to pick up the game. So to me, that was one of the biggest revelations that Last of Us really worked and held the tension for all 10 episodes till the end. I loved the show. I absolutely loved the show. And it made me, I've said this a million

times, I had the game sitting on my shelf for, I don't know how long. I don't know how long. I was been years. And it was sitting on it forever. And I actually played the game along with watching it. So I would play the, because I was very curious to see what kind of adaptation was. A lot of times they take these games and they make these radical moves to them. And they completely just gut what it's really all about. And Last of Us didn't do that at all. It stayed, it added stuff. I think it elevated it a lot of times for what they did.

And they changed a couple things here and there. But for the most part, it stayed true to the story. And I played the game. And I, I only spoiled myself once. So I would get to a place where I'd watch in the show and then I'd stop. And there was one time I was like, I'm going to play a little bit longer here. Because I did that on purpose because I was curious to see how much they actually changed like first. You know, like, I'm going to play it now.

I'm going to see and like, oh, I wonder if they're going to put that in there now as opposed to knowing firsthand from what they took out and all that stuff. So it was very, it was. And going back to what we just said with Dungeons and Dragons, I never felt lost. I never felt lost and I never felt like I was out of the loop. I never I mean they always included it and there were some great performances all the way around and some good emotional core and I think that they changed some stuff that for for the better like you mentioned John with that particular love story I thought really played well um so yeah this is probably if not it's one of my favorite shows of the year for sure if not in top top two Dan yeah no it was great it was it was the first show since Game of Thrones that we was appointment watching that we would watch that we would make sure we watched it when it came out um because we wanted to see what was going to happen and i played i started playing the game a while a long time ago i got stuck behind some boxes or something and i'm just like no i have time for this um so i knew like the

setup and that was it yeah so good bella ramsie uh just like what a you know it's seen her in Game of Thrones, but like such a great performance and like, you know, I mean, it's, I don't get into this stuff on my channel at all. But, you know, it's kind of all over the space all this, you know, culture war stuff. Like everything that, that, you know, some people say that, you know, makes something bad or whatever, like check the box on all of that in this show. And it's an amazing show, which just goes to tell you that that whole premise to me is sort of BS. But like, I, it's just, it was so, because I was a zombie, like, yeah. Yeah, right.

Yeah. But they made it about the characters, and that's what's important. If you make it about the characters, it's why Walking Dead was so good in the beginning. It was about the characters. It went about the zombies. It's about these people. Yeah, such, I can't wait for the next season. All right.

So I agree with that, and I want to bounce off a point that you just made there about the characters when something's been done a million times over, and it is so tired. And you've seen it a million times. Like, okay, what can they do different? And that's why for my movie, Godzilla minus one. Oh. Got to bring that one up right away because that's everything that Dan was just talking about. That's everything that he was just talking about with the fact that you've seen this.

And I'm like, okay, it's a Godzilla movie. I like, I like, I like Godzilla. I'll watch Godzilla. Sure. It's like, fine. And Godzilla and Kong's coming out. And I'm like, okay, it's the same thing we've seen a million times, right? No.

Every one of these movies, whether it is Kong and Godzilla was it's a Transformers movie, whenever it's, I never care about the human characters. I'm like, get the stupid humans off the screen. I don't want to see them. I don't care about them. This was the opposite. When Godzilla showed up, it was earned. And I thought of you, Dan, when I was watching this, because there's so many Jaws moments inside of this movie.

That scene where he's swimming behind him in the boat. That's when it hooked to me. I was liking it. And that scene goes like, oh, man. It's so good. The music. It's so good. It's like emotional.

There's a moment where you're like, they trick me. they're like i love getting tricked because i've seen so many of the same story beats again and again and again that i'm like oh wow okay and the fact and i know that the the big conversation was like you know this movie was made for 15 million dollars and oh wait a minute wait a minute japan makes movies differently because they don't have this follow the same rule fine let's say that it costs 80 million dollars let's say it cost a hundred million dollars it's not 200 million dollars it's not 300 million dollars it's not fast x is 370 million million dollars and making a profit because people care.

I took my then 11 year old, now 12, to see the movie. And she loved it. And she had never seen a Godzilla movie before because she had tears in her eyes. She was scared at moments. I was like, and it just was a great movie. But, yeah, Dan, I'm assuming you felt the same one. Oh, yeah. We got back from our honeymoon.

And that was the next day. The first thing we saw was Godzilla minus one. I was like, because it looked, but because it looked cool. I was like, oh, that looks cool. That's going to be a cool Godzilla movie. And then it's like, it gets into all this stuff about, you know, like PTSD and shame and the Japanese government and World War II and like, you know, just the uniting together. And like, I didn't mind the human characters and particularly Godzilla 2014. So I really liked this movie because I already didn't really mind the focus on the humans.

And, and also the Godzilla stuff was cool. Yeah. It was all of that scary as hell. Godzilla. Yeah. It's not just a mean bastard. Just a mean bastard. That's what I love about it.

Not this anti-hero Godzilla. It's like no, man. He's so good. Yeah, I really, really, really like that movie. And yeah, that scene when they're in the water and it's basically jaws and they're shooting at him and he's swimming behind him with this. Oh, because I've never seen that in a gods. I mean, I haven't seen a whole bunch of Godzilla movies, but I haven't seen anything like

that in the Godzilla movie that I've seen. Yeah. John, I see so many Godzilla fans, like hardcore Godzilla fans that I've like, look, I have talked to somebody not two weeks ago. It was like, look, I've seen every Godzilla movie. This is the best one I've ever seen.

I hear a lot of people. This movie's fantastic. It's fantastic, and I hope it shapes Hollywood's tackling of blockbusters, but maybe you have too much faith. But what did you think of the film? Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm a massive fan of Japanese cinema, and I love finding stuff.

like whether it's samurai stuff or the more emotional stories being told, the time period pieces, right? I mean, these are things that really, for me, have always kind of excited me and inspired me to explore more. But one of the things I remember being growing up as a child, of being a child and growing up is watching these Godzilla films. They are such a staple of my youth, watching all the different versions.

We still haven't gotten a son of Godzilla at some point on Monster Island. That is coming. You know, we've gotten all of that with Mothra and Gidra and all of that in the other franchise. So here comes something, Godzilla minus one. Now, I had skipped Shin Godzilla back in 2016. I wasn't sure was this going to be played a certain way that didn't quite have the quality to it. Well, after having seen this movie, I've got to go back and watch that Shin Godzilla,

same director doing that and seeing what he did with that. But, Dan, I think you nailed it. This is the thing that worked for me. It's the characters. It's the story. And having the guts to tell a PTSD story in a Japanese film. That is still a subject that is somewhat taboo. in many cultures, to have that be a part of one of your more...

Especially in the year of Oppenheimer. Yes, exactly. Actually, these two films, don't call me crazy. These two films couldn't bookend each other. To be honest with you, if we wanted to look at them and seeing this journey here. And I love that we're at a place now where we can just go, okay, let me explore what's going on with these soldiers that were enemies of ours back in that time, right? We had that way back with All Quiet on the Western Front last year.

to see what it was like for German soldiers caught up in the paranoia of, or in the, sorry, in the mania of loving their country and all of that, and what that leads to. Here we go of PTSD. We have a story of redemption. That's what hooks us. This guy is a guy who's torturing himself because he got scared in a critical moment, but he's a good guy.

He's a nice guy. He's a caring guy, but he's got his demons. A lot of us are confronting our demons. We're talking about demons more and more mental health. It's fantastic to have that be such a huge element. And then, oh, there's this massive. massive thing destroying cities destroying massive carrier ships

and it feels unstoppable. That finale is like 30 minutes long and you were on the edge of your seat the whole time. Because they earn it. Because they earn it. They earn it from the second setup, they earn it through the emotions. It's like it's a lot of these times

what they make with the blockbusters. It's like, oh, well, you know, you're just going to get a big, you know Godzilla's going to come out at the end is going to be this big thing. But you're like, yeah, but am I invested? And do I just because the 2014 one, I don't respond.

respond to. It pours the hell out of me. And by the time I get to the end, I'm like, okay, here we go. I get to the big fight and I get to see, and see the with Kong and Godzilla, I get to watch them fight. I'm only there for the monsters. I'm only there for the monsters. This, I was there for the humans. So I would go back to Dan. Dan, you got a, you want, you want to go to some TV? Yeah, I can go to some time. Like I said, I didn't, I didn't watch a whole lot of TV, but, uh, well, listen, this is one of the only Marvel things that I'll speak super highly of this year. It's like, Loki.

Yeah. To be honest, the first half, like the first four episodes or so, I was like, oh, it's pretty good. Man, they closed out strong. I've got to say, it's sort of what I'd been missing from Marvel in that it felt consequential, important. It had stakes. And it actually took the character somewhere different.

It wasn't just set up for what's going to happen. happen next in a weird way. I think they might use it as a backdoor to move away from some of their plans. We'll see. But I was really like, you know, they really pulled it together at the end for me. I loved Ki-Hi-Kwan as OB. I was worried when I saw that he was in this season. I was like, ah, they just chasing the hot thing. Like they want to get some publicity so they're going to stick them in the show, but it's not going to make sense. He was a great character. I loved his performance in the show. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't perfect,

but for me, a lot of times it's about the ending, and I just, I really like what they did with the character and with the show, and I, and no more. I don't want any more. You did, it's over. You did it. It's great. move on. Next. I agree with you. It's, it's, it probably has jumped to my favorite Marvel show, to be honest.

I think that it's, I didn't have a problem with the first half in the same way that you did. I did not love the second episode, but the rest of I thought it was completely solid and I thought it was a great build. And I know that right now, you know, he's not, obviously we're not talking about him in the positive light and Jonathan Majors. I thought Jonathan Majors was pretty damn good in the show. Thought that, you know, you didn't think he was great.

I thought he was. I did work for me. I thought he was pretty good. And I thought it, I thought that more so as the returning of, of He Who Remains. I thought once that, that's more so than Victor Timely. But I thought that. He Who Remains worked better for me in this season that he didn't season one. that's kind of what I mean.

All that Victor Timely stuff, hard no. That was like theater camp kid. I, no, couldn't do it. The reason I didn't mind, I think that if he who remains didn't come back, then I probably would have had the same problem that you did with it.

But I think that even the fact that he remains takes a shot at Victor timely and kind of makes fun of him in a certain way. But either way, I thought all the performance is really good. I thought the dynamic between Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston was great. I really wish, because of the Marvel show and because of the problems Marvel's having, I don't think it's going to happen.

I think Tom Hiddleston should be looked at for the Emmy for this. I thought his performance was so damn good in it. I thought that he was, I thought Marvel has had a problem of not having any all-stars. I think Loki became the major all-star, although I agree with you, Dan. I think that you had such a nice bow that you leave it alone. John, I don't think we, again, I don't think we talked too much about Loki,

you and I did you dig this series? Thoroughly loved it. Absolutely love. Yeah, Loki season one was already my favorite Marvel show. It was already my favorite Marvel show because I like the concepts. I like the philosophical concepts that they tackled in season one. I like the conversation of like alternate versions of yourself and what they would do in different universes, tackling this massive thing that you've got to overcome. Let's go to season two. Okay, we're picking right up after season one. The timeline is fractured.

What are we going to do with the TVA? What are we going to do with He Who Remains? Oh wait, there's this Victor Timely guy who, Who I also, I didn't mind. As an actor, I'm looking at Jonathan Majors, having fun with a character because he's going to supposedly was going to do multiple variants, so why not have fun with something a little more theater kid like as Dan said, which is fine. I didn't mind it.

But it's an unusual approach, but I liked it. But then Sophie DiMartino, like having that, remembering that connection, remembering that relationship. And then also you throw in, of course, the Owen Wilson relationship, which really bears incredible amount of emotional fruit for you to, to enjoy with both of these actors. I don't think Owen Wilson has ever been better, and I don't think Tom Hiddleston has ever been better.

There's just fantastic chemistry between the both of them. It's like anything else. Once you're riding with the right person, like I used to ride with the founding fathers, you know what you got going on. You got the right chemistry. You got the right answers. You handle your business.

Those two are fantastic together, but also the larger story they're telling. Look, what's one of the big films from this year? Past Lives. What could have happened in another life? What could have happened? And all of that is being explored here. here and that you have to play a card you have to ante up.

Sophia wants to stay at McDonald's or Sylvie rather, wants to stay at McDonald's, doesn't want to take a part. Logie's like, you don't understand. You're going to lose everything if you don't take part. And I think that's a very strong message about like, you can't just stay on the sidelines all the time. At some point, you do have to actually play a hand. It's important so that the overall thing can keep going.

And so I loved all of that from top to bottom and Kihei Kuan. And Cordero, him coming in, giving him more, Eugene Cordero, giving him more in that connection with Keith and Juan. I love that. So, yeah. John, we'll stay with you, man. So now we're going to jump from TVs to movies and you got a movie for us. Do you want to talk about? Now that you nerds are done, let's move on to some real fucking movies. And that is Oppenheimer, for God's sake.

All right. Look, Oppenheimer is my favorite film of the year, top the bottom. I've seen the film six times and I just got a four-eight. and I'll probably watch it a bunch more times. It is one of those films that if you're built for it to work for you, it will work for you. And once upon a time, there was a guy called The Outlaw who loved biopics, and this is one of those epic biopics that 100% worked for me. I had no problem with the nudity, no problem with any of those scenes.

For me, it was the focus of Killian Murphy. We talked about Godzilla minus one with that PTSD, the mental health stuff. Here we go again with Oppenheimer, who actually legitimately suffered from this stuff because he was a genius. So the way they played it out, I thought was incredible to witness. Brana didn't overdo his role, which he loves to do. It was a perfect amount of Brana and the connections he has with Emily Blunt and the way his relationship changes and the desire and the pursuit of this thing, right? And I think it's a great lesson for all of us. Just because you can do it doesn't necessarily mean you should.

and once you do, you got to take responsibility for it. So I was just so captivated by the performance from Killeen Murphy throughout. Loved Tom Conti as Albert Einstein, loved Robert Downey Jr., loved Alden Aaron Reich, just everything about the film as a history nut, as a biopic fan, and as a lover of great filmmaking and actors, I just was 100% hooked in this movie.

And I still haven't watched it enough for my own taste. Look, I've only seen it once so far. But I don't I don't it's not one of those I will go back to it because Nolan and I think we've all three of us had this conversation before there are not a lot of movie stars meaning there are not a lot of people who can get butts in the seats from just their name anymore. It's the age of like Tom Cruise and Will Smith. It's just even Tom Cruise. Mission Impossible didn't do right. But it's it's just doesn't happen anymore. directors get people in seats now directors certain directors and i said this and i was talking about

and people were like when i mentioned these names i said scrocese will be someone in depending you know again the budget on killers of the flower moon is is maybe the debatable side of it but scraisee usually tarentino nolan i said jordan peal and how do you mention jordan peel in the same name is those guys. Jordan Peel's events, his movies are event films now. When you see, they don't know. Yeah. And so same way, Shamalan was back in the day. It's like, it's like you would go because you don't know what it's about. You're not sure. So in that same way, there are certain directors that sell tickets. And so Nolan does that right off the bat and the fact that like what he brings to this, the story of, of, and the idea of what that would do to you

if you created something like that. And the excitement that goes into a before you realize what it's really capable of. And then understanding what it's being used for and all these different things that happened throughout. And combine that with the performances of Emily Blunt. And I mean, Robert Downey Jr. is, I mean, the second I watched that, yeah, he's so good. And I hear other, there are, there is another performance that I will talk about

in this episode of the only person that I'm going to go, okay, I'm glad he got it over Downey. And there's only one, there's only one person. I still think Downey should get it. But that's the one I'm going to go, all right. All right. But I love it. I want to watch it again. It's a fantastic, fantastic film.

Really one of Nolan's best. Dan, where do you stand on this film? I mean, yeah, I talk about on the channel a lot about movies, they have a frequency. And if you find a movie that's on the same frequency that you're on, like, that's like magic. And that's, you know, without giving too much away. And, you know, I'm still watching movies. But I said there's only like maybe one or two or three movies they saw this year that jumped out at me and were like, that's, that's up there for me.

It's so good. I mean, it really did feel like, and I said this in my review, it felt like Christopher Nolan had been practicing to make this movie, his entire career. Yeah. His entire career. I mean, pieces of like the time shifting in Dunkirk and the cinematography, the music, the sound mixing and interstellar, everything. It's like everything.

he'd done was to get ready to make this movie and then he was finally ready to make it and he just crushed it and i get that it's not on some people's frequency i totally understand that it's three hours long it's about an administrative hearing i get it but uh it's the kind of movie that i dig and i i really loved it i you know some people went to go see the bomb go off and they were disappointed because the it was not the biggest part of the movie but uh for me it was it was was so much. And yeah, I don't know the last time I saw a performance for Robert Downey Jr. And he's a great actor and I love him as Tony Stark, but that I saw a performance of him in a movie. It's just like, he, I, he's a great actor. I mean, he's so good. Killing Murphy's great.

Emily Blunt, like that last scene that she's in, that reception scene where she didn't have to say a word and you know exactly what she's thinking and why she's doing what she's doing. And just all around, you know, Matt Damon, Josh Hartonet. like Hartman you put Josh Hartnett in the movie and he's so good you know Hartness are great I'm glad you brought Hartening up because you're because I think he rushed past his stigma in this movie I think that there's a stigma with Josh Hartman whether it's fair unfair um where he's good looking guy he's been in the for the Pearl Harbor follows him around you know and then he so when you see him show up

like you say you're like oh that's Josh Hardin it and then you're like whoa that was Josh Hartnett guy and I didn't watch the TV show that everybody talks about that Penny Dredel. Apparently he's really good in that too, but he's another one that was just so good. But even it makes me, it's in my, what I will say is, I don't know if my list at this point has come out or not, but it's in my conversation for within the, it's going to, it's going to land in the top five, I'll tell you that. So, spoiler, number one. I don't care. I'm not holding anything back.

No, I understand. One last thing, Christian and Dan is that this film, like when people go, oh, they just want, explosions. They just want, you know, stuff that jingling the keys. They just want this. This is the film that you can go in 2023. This film made a billion dollars. And yes, I know you want, yes, Barbie helped. I'm not going to deny that. But this on its own merits earned that billion dollars. And it also tells you that there is a hunger of for people to see movies like this when they're done well. And Nolan deserves a lot of credit. Nolan has a very good, uh, to get actors to pull them back and find exactly where to put them.

Hardy wasn't too much in Dunkirk. He knows how to get these actors who love to play around and kind of corral them and put them in the right lane and still that you see their greatness. And that came through with Danny Junior's performance for sure. All right. So what did you guys think of Oppenheimer and everything else we've talked about so far? Just a little bit into this. I already got into some really good movies and TV shows.

So I really want to hear your thoughts. So make sure anything we're talking about, it's anything that we've left out or maybe not even talked about yet. You're like, I wonder if they're going to talk about this. Put it in the comment section. It helps tremendously. It gets that algorithm moving.

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Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app. Wayfair, every style, every home. So, do that. And I'm going to stay here. And I'm going to say that it's my turn and I pick a TV show. And when my two colleagues send me their list, I was shocked. This show wasn't on the list. Shocked, I tell you.

And that's shrinking. I loved shrinking. It is one of my favorite shows that I have seen in such a long time. I was appalled that Harrison Ford was not nominated for the Golden Globe. They nominated, Jennifer Lawrence got nominated for no hard feelings. And they didn't nominate Harrison Ford. to where I think it's his best performance in years, in years. It is hilarious.

It's got heart. I watched this whole thing. It was I had avoided COVID forever. I got nailed with COVID. I watched this whole season. And it was the only thing that brought me joy during that period of misery. I was so, I mean, it just has, the music is so good. The performances are, I mean, it's got heart.

I just, I cannot wait for season two. And I thought that there's one particular. Harrison Ford for people who've seen they're making pancakes in the morning. He's, he's, this big party. He had gotten stoned the night before. And he don't even know that he's there.

And he says, and the chef goes, I'm making pancakes. Anyone want pancakes? Nobody says anything in the ninjas here. Fuck yeah, I want some pancakes. It's the best.

It is the best. I love that show. Did you guys even see it? No. Listen, it says a lot about the media. No, listen, it says so much about the media landscape. of today that Harrison Freaking Ford, Hans Solo

was the lead on two TV shows or streaming shows and I've seen neither of them. No. I heard it was good. I did not watch it. I, it's there's only so many hours in the day. There's always so many hours in the day. So spend some other hours and

watch that, man. I'm telling you, it is. It is great. I got my wife finally to watch it. She binged it. Some belly laughs. John, you didn't see either? I did not see it either, but just like Dan said because so many things came out at the same time. When that show came out, it was, you know, it just got a bit overwhelming. But I know I've set aside the week after Christmas and the first week of January to catch up on so many TV shows.

Make that one of the one. Yeah, absolutely. It's on the list. One day, one season a day is basically what I'm doing. A season of whatever and what I missed. Shrinking is already on the list. So because my fellow geek buddies, Michael Vogel and Shannon McClung, loved it. So I got to see it.

And they echo your thoughts on Harrison, for sure. It's so good. And I was real, it was the one thing I was, the one thing I was looking for when the Golden Globe nominations come out. I can give a shit about these stupid things. And I'm going through. I'm like, come on. This shows why I hate you guts. All right.

Now I'm going to jump back. And I think now we're at, oh yeah, John brought up Oppenheimer. So Dan, you can go movies. What do you got? It's been too much agreement here. So I'm going to put out something that I can safely say I liked way more than. almost anybody that I've talked to. And that is the creator.

Okay. I loved this movie. And I understand people say it's a watered down version of whatever. I understand it is a, it is a, it is definitely not a groundbreaking narrative. But I thought the design, the world building in it was incredible. I love the way that it looked. I thought the performances were great. There's a young actor named Madeline Univoyles, who's in this movie.

movie who I thought was one of the best performances of the year. I thought that it was sci-fi, the way that sci-fi should be done. And that movie blew me away. I saw it and I was like, I love this movie. I was so excited to talk about it. I, like, did my review. It's glowing review. Talk about how much I loved it.

And it's just like a wall of people just like, what's wrong with you? How do you talk? Because I was like, go see it. It's amazing. People are, what's wrong with you? How dare you tell me to go see that movie? That's the most derivative. piece of junk I've ever seen. It's like, well, I'm sorry, but I don't care. I loved it. I loved it.

And if I'm the only one that loves it, that's fine. But I thought it was great. Look, Dan, I'm going to have to disagree with you. You're not the only person because I love the movie too. So sorry. It didn't work out for you. I went and I saw the movie and I had it out of theater. The same thing. I was like, I really enjoyed it. It slows down significantly in the middle. It starts off really, really well, sets you up in the world. And then, and I had seen the lone wolf and cub thing so many times. okay, are we doing this again? But by the time you get to like the, very similar we're talking about with Godzilla, by the time you get to like the, in both ways, by the way, in both the story and in the way that

they made $80 million look like $400 million. So that ending though, I'm so hooked in and I care so much that I was, I was shocked the same way that you were, that not more people, I thought it was not derivative. I thought it was a really nice play into original sci-fi. and it was an interesting turn that Gareth Edwards went because in the trailers, it looks like it's pretty much, you know, anti-AI because everyone's scared of it.

It's not that at all. It's not that at all without kind of diving into it any little bit more. But I enjoyed it. I don't know if I loved it as much, but I definitely, I mean, I really enjoyed this movie. I mean, I really enjoyed it. And I thought that the, I was nice to see original sci-fi.

But, John, are you on the opposite side here? Yeah, sadly, I am on the opposite side. And I was looking forward to this one. You know, I was one of those people that's like, give me the Gareth Edwards cut of Rogue One. Don't get, don't get me wrong. Tony Gilroy is great. I love first season of Andor, but give me that Gareth Edwards darker cut. Because like, Dan, I also like the 2014 Godzilla.

So I'm like, let's go. And then this movie came out. And I was so looking forward to it. I'm a fan of John David Washington since Ballers. You got Allison Janney in this thing. You got the dude who played the Green Knight with that gravely British voice of her. Isn't it? There's all these things that are good.

And the look of it is incredible. incredible and jemma chan right it starts out really great yeah but then the character motivations the character decisions become more and more confounding some plot conveniences really frustrate me as i'm watching it and they waste someone like ken watenabi in a role that should have been much more fleshed out and even janny you don't get too you get enough but not more and i wanted more so for me the complaint is I wanted more of the human story around all these characters. I wanted to connect and I wanted them fleshed out more,

really get into it because the ending for me, like this young girl running, we got all these security guards, but okay, I guess we don't want to ruin anything, but like the way it ends for me defied a bit of logic and didn't seem to make sense in certain moments.

But again, it's my opinion, you all loving it. I would never tell you not to love who you love. So for me, I wish it was more. I think you had fair criticism. The ending did also take place

and a space station in the sky. Right. You know, that's, that's that's that I always tell. You know, it's like there's, it's a fine line.

It is a fine line. And a lot of people will, you know, sometimes if I do a Q&A or people will be like, well, this thing wouldn't happen in reality or that thing wouldn't happen in reality. And it's like, none of it would happen in,

like that's, it's a movie. Like, most movies would never happen in reality. Now that's not to mean that a movie can have logic gaps and lazy writing, et cetera. But I, I feel like,

and it's something that we tried to stay away from on honest trailers and not always successfully, and a lot of our peers kind of went the other way with it, this idea of like looking at a movie and applying like this airtight logic to it. And it's like every single thing in the movie doesn't make perfect logical sense by the rules of our real world, then it's garbage. It's like, then no movie passes that test. You can nitpick the, the motive, you can nitpick the actions of every character and every movie. I could sit there and watch Jaws

and it'd be like, well, this is ridiculous. At some point they would have just driven the boat back to the island. They're that close. Why didn't they come back with, if it was so overwhelming, why didn't they go back with more people to kill the shark? Those two guys out there, they obviously,

it's like, yeah, but then the movie wouldn't happen. So it's always tough to like balance that and I get it. And everybody has a different tolerance for it. I certainly roll my eyes at stuff too. But the derivative story thing for me too is like Star Wars is the most derivative

story of all time like that. Yeah. That's not one of my complaints on the movie. Derivitiveness. The execution didn't work for you, John. Yeah, exactly. And I judge, I like to judge a film by the logic it is given me. I don't like the judge of film by the logic of actual real world. Judge it by the logic of its own world.

Exactly. And as much as I liked it, we're spending too much time on it. All right. So let's get it. I get it. You're watching the little, you're watching the little viewership thing and you're like, oh, they're talking about the swap for way too long. We need to talk about something more popular. I get it. Well, we are going to get to some movies. Listen, I don't necessarily know that that's true. Dan, I think there's going to be some movies and TV shows that we might pop up, especially some movies. I've seen some movies over the course of the last two weeks that I know a lot of people haven't seen, but I want to rave about because there's some good

stuff coming out. But, John, it's on you, man. You've got to, I think we're on TV for you. TV now? We're moving to TV again. Okay. How do you do? a reality show where everyone is in on the joke, but your main guy, how do you pull it off and put it in a jury room and in a courtroom and somehow make one of the greatest shows of the year and one of the most unique shows of the year, even though it has bones of shows we've seen before, that's what you do with the first season of jury doing.

What a genius, genius show. I got this as a screener. and was thrown in there with the rest of the prime video screeners, and I was just randomly flipping around, and the only reason I watched it is because the lady outlaw considers herself a professional juror. So we started it, and next thing, you know, we are engrossed. We finished it in two days. It is one of the most heartwarming, moving, touching, inspiring, beautiful shows,

while also being one of the funniest, dirtiest, brilliantly laid out comedic stuff here throughout this show featuring a bunch of actors you've never heard of, you've never seen other than James Morrison. I thought it was such an accomplishment. One of the joys of my year was getting to interview with the executive producers

of the show on my channel and ask him about how they pulled this off. And I essentially said to him, you guys were like free solo. You guys were climbing the mountain with no nets. And it was incredible what they pulled off. And that guy, the main guy, what a, I don't know, just,

It gave you hope for humanity, right, that this could exist, that people would come together. And his reaction, he didn't set everything on fire. He absolutely understood what happened. And I thought that was great. So he was so real. The media highwire act is incredible. He was, he was so real like this moment. Guy goes, I'm going to go rubbing out in the bathroom.

He goes, what you got to do? That show was the poop joke alone. Oh, yeah. Well, James Marston, by the way, you know, yes, he is the one known actor in it. But it shows you where he's a very underrated actor. Yes. The fact that he could take such a jab at himself and he wasn't even worried about himself as much as he was in, you saw a lot of his interviews.

He said he would not be part of the show if they were going to put the joke on this guy and make this guy look bad. Right. He said, he said, I have no problem, you know, making myself look like a douche. And, you know, and he thinks I'm a douche until we reveal it. That's fine. But he cannot, I will not be involved in this if it's going to be. the jokes on this guy and it and it wasn't they made this i mean this the pureness of this dude and now

you see him he's taking pictures of margot robbie he's doing good for him you know you earned it you with the human performance like that where he wasn't realizing he was performing um i loved this show i agree with you i laughed more than i laughed at the most scripted shows it was it was brilliant but dan did you you it's on your list as well yeah no i mara was at was in l. doing some wedding stuff and she watched it. And she came home and she was like, we have to watch this show. I was like,

all right. So we watched it over the course of about a week. And it was, it's, I mean, part of me is like, part of me is like at a certain point, it's like,

God, you've got to know something's up, right? I mean, it's sometimes it goes a little too much into like, I just be like, especially because you know the cameras are there. You're like,

guys, come on. What something, you're pranking me, right? But I, but also you're seeing little moments and you don't see the

bigger picture of like what we don't see. But it was so funny and it's so you know, you like that guy. And it was right, like John said, I mean, it's right to not humiliate him. It's to everybody else be

humiliated around him and see his reaction to it. And I actually, it wasn't until after the, when they were doing the recap, kind of showing how they made it that last episode. A buddy of mine actually, from way back in my channel 101 days, was the director of photography for that show. Oh, nice.

And I texted him and I was just like, dude, because that would be such for a DP, that's such a hard job to have to be able to shoot like that and it's like half reality, half you have to have the camera in the right place and like hidden cameras and stuff. Well, they show a couple times some of the actors

mistakenly called people by their wrong names and real names and stuff too is fascinating and he didn't kind of play onto it. So I'm glad you brought that one up. That one was great. So if I'm going to jump in a film now, as I want to maybe go past the mystery of what I was talking about before when it came to the Robert Danny Jr.

conversation, I've got to bring up poor things. So this is, for those of you who didn't know, I started watching this movie a little while ago because everybody was talking about it. And everyone was talking about Emma Stone and how great this movie is, and this is the performance that's going to win the Oscar. and then and is it,

give me the director's name, guys? Yorgos Lantamos. Yorgos Lantamos who did the lobster and the favorite and killing of a secret deer. And I've only liked the favorite. So I started watching this movie and like 10 minutes into it. I'm like, oh, come on, this is Edward's Scissor Hands and black and white. What are they doing? And again, it's really warped.

I'm like, there's nothing to this movie. I'm going to, I'm out. And I was like, I got to finish it. I have to watch these performances because I thought Emma Stone was, was really, really good as promised. So I'm like, I'm locking in. So I start locking in. Mark Ruffalo shows up.

And this movie is one of my favorites of the year. This movie is out of control. It is bizarre. It is the, and I will say that Emma Stone deserves every bit of praise that she's getting. But I think Mark Ruffalo is not getting nearly enough praise. This is his best performance ever. He is absolutely hilarious. hilarious in the movie. Willem Defoe also really good in the film and it's this pure

innocence and saying the things that everybody would you know it's a part of your brain that says not only you can't say that Emma Stone says all of it. And it's just it's this open eye thing to what humanity really is. And I was blown away by this movie. Surprisingly it's like a complete 180 for me where I was guys. Like this if you would have heard me talking about this like well if he still did worst list, it'd be on his worst. Ruffalo, killed me. Yeah, Dan, you love this movie?

I really like this movie a lot. I agree. I had, when I saw Oppenheimer, I'm like, it's Downy. It's downy. It's got to be. And then I saw, I don't think the movie's on any of our list, but I saw this movie called May December. Charles Melton, who's on Riverside, I mean, Riverdale, you know,

it puts in this amazing performance. performance. And so I was like, oh, I don't know, he's pretty good. And then I saw this movie and I'm like, damn it, like, is it Ruffalo? Like, I think it's Ruffalo. Because like he, Emma Stone is amazing in the movie, but he is so freaking good. I mean, if he gets overlooked, he's got to at least get nominated. He's so funny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, the Oscars, they get weird. They don't like comedic, more comedic stuff. But like, he's such a shithead. I mean, he's so good. And it's like, you. You hate him, but you're laughing at, you know, you're laughing at him. Yeah. Yeah. But he's also just detestable, just a detestable human being. I was reading like Variety has one of those, they do those actors on actors conversations every year.

And they had, they had Downey Jr. talking to Ruffalo. And he, I think even Robert Downey Jr. was like, we've been friends for years. Like, I didn't know you had that performance. Yeah. In you. I didn't know that that was anything that you could do. Like, and I was the same way. He's next level in that movie, but Emma Stone is too.

Oh, he is. And John, so like when, because the thing is when Ruffalo shows up, it's what Dan just said, and I guess what Downey said too, he shows up and you're expecting the kind of performances you get from Ruffalo, right? You're like, okay, is he going to, like, what is he how he's going to be like this kind of caring doctor and he's going to probably show it around these types of, and he's the farthest thing from that. And the things that he had, like, there's like a Jordan Belfort thing to him in this

performance. And it was, and mixed with. way that you're just does this change of of, about spoiling, a change of film, like there's a consistent tone that's going on, and it's done purposely. Something's happening for about 20 minutes into it,

and then it changes. And there's a reason for it. And it's what's going on with her, it's going on with the world. I don't know. Did you feel the same way about this movie overall? Oh, yeah. I mean, like I said,

this is one of the earlier, right, the roller coaster of movies. This is one that from the outside, I was like, oh, man, I don't want it. This is going to be pretentious. and this is, yeah. Oh, I created a woman.

Oh, and I was just like, oh, boy. But it starts and you're like, okay, I love Emma. So, all right. And then you're like, oh, my God, this is not what I expected at all. But when Ruffalo shows up, that nails you to the seat. And you're just like, all right, we're in for the ride, in for a penny, in for a pound, man, let's go. And, you know, Ruffalo delivers a performance that makes you,

and I used to be an actor, when you would be in those classes and you saw people who were just naturally gifted talents at being actors that made you go home and slam your head through a wall. Those guys is what Ruffalo is. He has been so quietly effortless because Ruffalo doesn't draw attention to himself as a normal human being. He fights for these causes. He's out there. That's what he puts out in front. He doesn't try to champion you going to see his movies and give him love as an actor. He's not about him. He's not a brand. He's just Mark Ruffalo, who's this incredible actor, and we love him and like him and want to see him. And when he takes us to show us what he's really got inside of himself as a performer,

you're just like, holy, thank you for showing me this. But good God Almighty, why don't you do more of this? And you realize because he's not what you people, what typically we cast in a lot of the showy roles, but he's great. He's so good. And I don't want to take away, obviously, from Emma Stone. No, I think the reason that he's so elevated is because how, great her performances. I mean, she transports herself into, I mean, she's Bella. She's not,

and Emma Stone is such a recognizable actress and has done so much that what she does and this tough role, what it's asking her to do physically, mentally, it is, to me, she's the frontrunner for best actress, for me, and I'm curious to hear your guys at the thoughts as well. but like I from what she's able to do and you have to have no fear in a role like this for everything that she does and and it is a it's it's a comedy I mean it is a comedy like it's one of those movies that like when it shows up at golden globes and I go oh okay that was nominated for musical or comedy I get it May December for comedy what the hell is that that something must have gotten clipped out for TikTok because I said the same thing and people kept saying Well, people kept saying, like, no, it's a comedy because of this hot dog line, which I saw the movie. I don't even remember the hot dog line, but I guess at some point she's like, I think we're out of hot dogs. And I think it got clipped out for TikTok.

And so people think that's the movie. They're like, no, it's a comedy. I saw the clip on TikTok. It was a joke. Hot dogs. I'm like, did you see the movie? Because like, it's devastating. Like, there's not a chance in hell that's a comedy.

It's not a dark comedy. Like, it's not, though. Like, it's not. It's not. I thought that was, I mean, and I think that's a good movie. I think it's the most overrated movie. of the year. I think it's a good. Oh, May December. Yeah. May December. It's good. I think the performances are really good. I think the performances are really good. I think the

performances are really good. People were losing their minds over that movie and I was like I said, I watched it. That's a good movie. But it's not one of the best of the year. And that's why it's not, it's on any one of our list. Doesn't mean that that's fact. Just saying. All right. So we got to, Dan, you can, and then, Dan, if you want to stick with, if you want to do TV, you can stick with TV. But if you want to, if you feel more comfortable doing the movie, Can you see more movies? Up to you? Well, there's only one TV show, I think, left on the list that I saw. So we'll just get it out of the way. And it actually was also kind of appointment TV, Succession. Okay.

I came to it late. Mara, again, Mara is often my tastemaker because I'm spinning in a million different directions. And she actually will sit and she'll like point me in front of a television to be like, watch this. And so she started Succession way back when. and we actually I stopped watching it like mid catch up when the pandemic hit because I realized that they weren't going to make any more for a while and I'm like well I don't want to watch all of it now and then not have any for like two years so I finished the previous season and then watch this season I mean it's you know I TV's weird because I don't know about spoilers but what they did I've seen two episodes in my life of the whole series okay well I will say that there was something that that was your life. well, the show is probably going to do this at some point. And then they do it and they do it in such an unexpected way at such an unexpected time that like, I'm sitting there going like, well, this is like a, this is like a scam. It's like a con.

And it's, but it's not. And you, but the show does it in a way that you are in the, you're in the shoes of the characters. You're feeling what they feel because that's how stuff happens sometimes. It's not all set up and you see things coming. Like sometimes just like, nope, this is what's happening. happening now. And it just put the whole season kind of off balance in a good way early. And then the whole rest of it is like trying to find the equilibrium. And it just rides all the way to the finale. And then the finale is just like this slow motion car crash that you've been watching

for however many seasons just finally it just like all comes together. And it's just this, this implosion that like, because you forget that you don't want these characters to be happy. Like, because the show kind of fools you into thinking like, well, you know, who are you rooting for? And then you're like, no, you're not rooting for anybody because they're all terrible. They're all terrible people. And it's like, who's the least or most relatable sort of terrible?

And I mean, and that's a show that's like, it's definitely a drama, but I've laughed more at that show than I did some comedies on the air. Right. Just because of just the ridiculousness. Yeah, I watched these characters. Well, so I watched the first, I think two or three episodes of season one and really enjoyed it. But like I, similar to where your wife will be like, hey, watch this, let's do that. I have, when I'm working and I go back, I have that time with my wife, we have to agree on what we're going to watch.

Yes. And a lot of times, she's like, I'm out. And I was like, let's try to watch, I'm out. And to watch a full season or series like that, you've got to find the time. I can sneak in a movie. I can find a movie that you want to watch but a full series, it's tough. So I never really watched it.

I will get to it because it's just one of the, everyone talks about it. John, I know you did full kind of reviews on this on your channel, talking about it all the time. So it's one of your favorite shows, all time? Yeah, oh, no, 100%. And very similar to Dan's situation to a degree because Shannon McClung on The Geek Buddies,

he said to me, and Michael too, you've got to watch this show. This is a John Roker show. You've got to watch the show. And similar to Chris's, situation. Me and Lydia Outlaw watched the first episode. She was out immediately, didn't want to watch it. So it's out on the evenings for us to watch together. So I had to find time. And then I made a commitment to Shannon that I would watch all the seasons. I would binge them in a row to get ready for the fourth season debut. I watched all three seasons in a two and a half week period,

which is too much to ask of your emotions and your brain and your mind. But I'm glad I did it because walking into the season four and experiencing the genius of this season was well worth any kind of emotional turmoil I put myself through watching those episodes back to back. Because as Dan said, these are not good people. These are not good people. But I think why the show works and why people love the show is because secretly a lot of people would love to be able to do some of things these people do on this show and get away with it. A lot of people don't want to admit to themselves some of these darker parts.

of themselves coming through in these characters. So we do get to cheer that most of these characters get a comeuppance to a degree, but we also have to take a look at ourselves after we watch the show. And any great television show that is a drama and a little bit of a little bit of comedy makes you self-analyze after it's over and actually shows you a bit more about humanity. And the performances, Jeremy Strong, you know, Sarah Snook, everybody in it is just stellar. and Christian, I cannot encourage you enough. I'll do search, but you have got to

power through somehow. Just go an hour a day, bro, because trying to slam them together is like trying to slam Handmaid's Tale together. It's not one of these shows that I'm going to be like, oh, yeah, I'll get to it eventually. It's on my, like, that's one of the ones I definitely, I know that I'll, I mean, I've watched episodes that I did watch

I liked very much. So it's not one of these things like, I don't know. It wasn't like the first 15 minutes of watching poor things, which is, I shouldn't be clarified, by the way, when I watched those first 15 minutes, it wasn't like I hate this movie. It was just like, where's this going? And then where it goes is somewhere that I really love.

So, um, all right, John, we're going to stick with you, man. So you are now, we did, yeah, you're on, you're on film right now, right? Are you're a movie. Oh, no, you did, no, you did jury. You did, yeah, you're a movie. So let me throw out one. And I don't know if you guys have seen it yet, but I've seen it twice now at a screener, screenings.

And that is American fiction. I am such a fan of this movie. really enjoy the biting satire ingenious behind this movie with Jeffrey Wright's character and what he goes through and how he's exposing this idea of, you know, certain things being written to appease the white liberal and calling out the white liberal, which I think is way overdue and great to see that, but also calling himself out as a person of color who sits in judgment of other people. What about your life?

What about your personal life? What about your family life? So the film has a really nice balance of, yes, you can look at these other people, but you also got to take a look at yourself with the same lens. And it's a genius approach to telling this kind of story, because you could easily default one way and satisfy some people that way, and they get a joy out of that. But to tell a more well-rounded fleshed-out story that actually works on multiple levels,

you've got to be able to turn the same judgment back on yourself. And the film does an excellent job of doing that. And it features, to me, the greatest performance of Jeffrey Wright's career. I mean, this side of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, it's the greatest performance of Jeffrey Wright's career. So I highly recommend this movie for anybody who hasn't seen it yet. It's not what you think it is. It's much more than what you think it is. I love this movie.

Yeah, absolutely love this film. It's, um, it is, and I agree with you 100% is Jeffrey Wright's best performance ever. And it's one of the, one of the movies I just think of, so glad he was able to get this opportunity. to star in a movie like this. It is a smaller film, obviously, but it's actually, and, and Sterling K. Brown, oh, man. There's a very different version of characters that you don't really, he had way more of an edge to him in this, and the, they play brothers, and then it, the story is also very much

about family and how to deal with family and the, the, the things that are good about family, the things that are really bad about family, the, you know, the struggles of family and, and, and the responsibilities of family, like all of that and more. And then as you send, all the themes that John had mentioned about what this guy's going through and the story itself of where it goes. You talk about laugh out loud moments. I had quite a few in this movie, quite a few. I thought this was a fantastic film. I hope more people see this movie because it is a smaller film.

And when it's a popular, I think it's an Amazon film, I believe, maybe. Well, it's in limited release now. So I think it's going to get theatrical, but. We'll see how wide it goes. What did you think, Dan? I liked it. It was one of those that I'd heard the name, but I was sort of unplugged for the first few weeks of like,

quote, unquote, award season. I was off doing other stuff. So I came in and just, it was one of those things that I had 25 screeners to catch up on. And I just heard American fiction, Jeffrey Wright, American fiction. I didn't know anything about the movie when I started watching. Nothing. I didn't know what it was about. I didn't know nothing.

And so it was a wild ride to go in not knowing anything. And, yeah, I mean, I agree with John in the sense that it's one of those movies that like, I like it when a movie asks questions, but it can sort of undermine itself if it asks questions and then says like, but I have the answer to this question. And then, you know, the script develops in such a way that the characters, you know, learn the big lesson. And it's like, you know, a very pat kind of resolution. to what it's asking. And like this movie doesn't do that.

It asks a lot of questions about society and how we view each other and how people view themselves and how, but it doesn't feel like it has to answer them because it's a very character-driven movie. And we don't have the answers ourselves. And, you know, it would have been easy to sort of be like, well, at the end, I'm going to take a side and I'm going to say, well, this is the answer. And it's like, no, it's like he's right in some ways. He's wrong in some ways.

And it's just a really interesting kind of just, I don't know. It's like it's kind of on a ride. It's kind of taking you on a ride with this guy. And you're not necessarily going to arrive at like the big aha moment where he figures his life out. But it's it's about trying to figure those questions out. I really enjoyed it. And he's, and he's really, the whole cast is good. It also does feel like it could be like the pilot of a really,

great television show. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, it's like an HBO show. It feels like it could be like the first episode of, oh my God, I want to watch these characters like forever. So I ask you guys, what do you think in general about a lot of the movies and TV shows that we've been talking about so far? Do you agree?

Do you disagree? Are you curious if we're going to talk about the one you want us to talk about, make sure you come and let us know. And before we move on, I'm going to come back with a television show. I want to tell you, I'm excited that Joy Mode is back. Hell yeah. Joy mode. You need it. Hey, you go to the gym and you take some of that stuff to go to the gym, the electrolytes, or whatever the hell you're taking. Well, Joy Mode, you need it for sex. That's right. It's Joy Mode. Let's talk about it. All right. You know as well as I do. You've been standing at that

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I'll send you a packet. It's the bat. So this is a TV show that I, I was taken a little bit to watch, but I finally did. And well, I guess, I guess that's not true where it comes to the first season more so. The second season, I made sure that I waited a week and then watched it. And that is the best show of the year, and that's the Bear season two. It is, I love this show so much.

I've been a Jeremy Allen White fan. I think he is next level from this and probably another movie that we'll talk about in a little bit. This show is indeed a comedy, but it is also a drama. And the episode where it's a Christmas episode and Jamie Lee Curtis who plays his wife, it is one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen in my life. It is, I walked out of that, because it's also, the show is normally about 20, 25 minutes, maybe half an hour. This episode was close to an hour.

It's very much shot like a film. It almost feels like one shot the entire time. It's film. But I walked out, I was watching it in my room, and my wife watched season one with me. She watched two. And I walked out and I said, I just watched maybe one of the best episodes of television. That and like Pine Barrens from Sopranos. Like, I couldn't believe it.

the acting clinic, the emotion, like, I care so much about all these characters. I love this show so much. John, I know you feel similar. Yeah, yeah, this was one that was also recommended to me. I skipped the first season because I was like, well, because Lady Outlaw, who is a chef, she was like, I don't want to go back and watch this again. Kind of like when I get PTSD watching the Barry scenes where they're, with they're an acting class, I can't handle any of those scenes.

She felt the same way about the bear, but I, we, I, I forced her to watch it and we fell in love with the show, got ready for season two, and season two knocked us on our ass. I mean, like on our asses and elevated, going to the next level with the show is so difficult, especially when it's season one has been as excellent as a season one was for this show.

And they did it. Fish is the episode you're talking about. And then the episode afterwards, Forks with the ending with him and Olivia Coleman having that conversation. Good God Almighty. Those two episodes, you could argue, or the best one, two episodes ever of any show made, like back-to-back episodes of any show ever made

because of the acting and the performances here, but also the high wire act of tension. Any of us, and I'm sure there are a lot of you who are watching and listening to us, have been in those situations with your family where you feel like you're a cat walking on an electric line the whole time trying to navigate how not to cause drama but being unable to stop causing drama

and how do you deal with the drama and everything that comes around it, and I just thought that was a great episode. But the story overall about this kid who wants to start this restaurant, driven by the death of his brother, what can he do with it? Can he be successful?

And then the great diverse cast that you have in this thing, with each of them having their own journeys, their own emotional things they're going through that you connect to and care about and can feel a universality of it all, I think it's just genius, just absolute genius. The cast that's in that Fish's episode,

is out of control. Oh, 100%. Dan, did you get a chance to watch this show? No, and I'll tell you, it's partly because of what John was saying. The fans of the show, I think they love it a little bit too much because, you know, when I have time to watch TV,

a lot of times I'm just like, I'm looking to sort of chill or whatever else. And like, the only thing I ever hear anyone say about the bear is like, oh my God, it's amazing. It's the most anxiety I've ever had watching the show. I've never felt more. I have sweaty palms in my heart.

heart was racing for an hour. I've never felt more anxious ever. And I'm just like, that sounds great. But I don't want to do that. Like, I'm looking to relax. I'm not looking to get put through something. So it's always a show that like, yeah, we've got to watch it sometime. But then we have time. We're like, do you want to watch the bear?

I'm like, I'm already stressed out. I don't need to be stressed out more. So I need to watch it, but I haven't watched it. I think that if you can handle succession, you can handle the bear. Yeah, there's more to it. Yeah. That's like the big thing that everyone says. Oh, totally.

Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, look, I, there's, I've talked about it pretty openly. I lost, I lost my brother back in, in 2018. And, and I, and Ellis saw the show. And he was like, look, it's a really good show, but just be prepared, right? And like, and that part of it, it's like, yeah. But, you know, and I think people in general, and loss will, will, will hit you especially with family and complicated relationships that you have with family in general, you know, as we were talking about that with the fishes.

That's kind of an overall theme with the bear, but I just think that you care about the character so much, and there are a lot of funny moments. Oliver Platt is so good in it also. But yeah, so it's one of those ones. But Dan, we'll go to you now, man. You got some movies you want to talk about. What do you got?

It's just coming out, well, as we're doing this, it's coming out this week, Maestro, which has been in limited release, I think. but it hits Netflix this week. Really like this movie. I was a little on edge about it. It's sort of like it's what I called Bohemian Rhapsody

when I first saw the trailers. I called it. It looked like it could be a wig and teeth movie, which is basically where it's like the prosthetic is the performance and it's like, you know, they're kind of going off like, and I thought Romney Malik was great.

I was just worried that that's what Bohemian Rhapsody was going to be. And this one with, you know, the makeup and everything. everything, the prosthetics for Bradley Cooper. I'm like, well, he's sort of kind of going for the, you know, kind of empty biopic and then coasting off of the look at the makeup.

It's not that at all. You know, Leonard Bernstein, musical genius. And people know that his work was genius. And so, like, there wasn't that scene where, like, you know, he's, like, sitting at the piano, like, trying to think of a musical and somebody walks by snapping their fingers in the hallway. And he's like, I have a great eye. idea and then he writes west side story um which you could probably make that version and get away

with it sure it's so much more about like the price again there's so many movies this year that have a connection to each other it's similar to Oppenheimer in that it is very much about the price of genius and the burden of it and the toll it takes on the other people in your life and that's really a big part of the focus carry Mulligan plays his wife she's great and you know sort of like what happens when you become an icon and you are the person who's with this person and you live with this larger than life and everybody wants a piece of them and everybody, you know, and you feel, you know, like you have to live your own life at the same time. And so they're both great.

Bradley Cooper's great. Carrie Mulligan's great. For me, she's my pick for, I'm not saying she's going to win. I think Lily Gladstone's probably the front runner. as far as like who I would think would win for best actress oh okay but for me like I think my personal pick carry Mulligan's right up there for me with Lily Gladstone with Emma Stone is third Emma Stone also Sandra Huller from Anatomy for Falls up there oh yeah she was so good I just watched that last night but yeah Meister I thought was so much like you know it's got Leonard Bernstein music

in it that's the score of the film you see him conducting from time to time you get that he's a genius but it's so much more about the human part and not necessarily like let's do a greatest hits compilation of Leonard bernstein's career that's not what he's doing and yeah i mean Bradley cooper i'm telling him the dude's talented yeah i wish i could sit here and be like you know uh yeah he's not that great but he's he's really he's really talented he can direct he can write he can act and the guy can do it all uh i i liked a lot i thought it's so i was so i I haven't had a chance to see it yet. By the time this comes out, I probably will have seen it

because I'm probably going to watch it tonight, to be honest. But John, you saw this, I think, before either Dan or myself. So what would you think? Yeah, I like the movie. I don't like it as much as I was anticipating. I would like it. Again, the roller coaster thing. But you can't deny the artistry behind the film.

And I saw, you know, Snyder and I on the Hot Mike, we battled over this movie because he hated the first hour. I love the first hour. As a guy who is a theater kid, as a guy who loved the old 1950s MGM movie musicals, that first hour works for me on so many levels.

It really cements the relationship and the affection and the care and the connection they have with each other. My issue with the film is that there's jumps in the relationship that we don't get the intervening reasons for why certain things have changed. And it's a bit of a slap in the face

in certain moments near the end of the movie. certain changes. You get what's going on, of course, because of the wonderful performances from both of these actors, but that to me is what kept it from being a full-on, like, absolutely, this is one of the greatest films of the year. But I did enjoy so many scenes in the movie, especially that conducting scene near the end with Bradley Cooper. And if you watch the real video, it is incredible how no perfect he was. But I agree with Dan. Carrie Mulligan, I know everyone's talking Lily Gladstone. I know everyone's talking about Emma Stone,

but Carrie Mulligan delivers a performance for the ages in this movie. And the prosthetic stuff, I forgot about that within seconds because Bradley does a great job of really embodying Leonard Bernstein and everything that he went through. And it's a film that asks questions about you too in a relation, just because you've accepted something, it doesn't mean that later on it can't eventually be something you can't accept. So how do you come to terms?

with that. And long-term relationships, what are the hills and valleys? How do you stay together and why? And so there's so much here that I think is to be explored with despite my criticisms. There's so much here to enjoy visually and performance-wise as a movie. I look forward to seeing it. Like I said, my wife, that's the one my wife really wants to see. And that's probably going to, I've been doing a rewatch because my daughter now is 12 and is very much into stranger things. And she won. Now we're watching. So we just finished, we're watching season two now. I'm watching the whole entire series with her again. So,

I have to balance out when I watch a movie with my wife, and then I want to watch Stranger Things with my kid. So, okay, so John, when we stay with you, ma'am, we can actually, if you want to jump to TV, you can, but if you want to stick with movies, then stick with movies. Why don't you pick whatever you want? I will say a TV thing real quick, because I don't know if either

you can time in there. I know where you're going. Yeah, yeah, and I don't know my, I don't hope my Star Wars loving friend doesn't kick me off the show, but I got to talk about Star Trek Strange New World Season 2. That was one of the best seasons of Star Trek television I've ever seen, and that's coming right after one of the greatest seasons of Star Trek television I've ever seen in Picard's season three.

So to be able to knock the ball out of the park as well as they did for this old school Star Trek fan who loves the original series and thinks this series is the greatest thing we've gotten since the original series in Star Trek, I was such a fan of this show, seeing more of the adventures with these characters, seeing more of these actors getting more and more space to show you what they can do with these characters as they go on their journeys throughout the multiple episodes and the emotional changes that they're going through. We know where they're going to end up, those of us know the Star Trek history, but seeing how they get there is truly fascinating. Great Spock stuff going on here so much about what happened

with Noon and Singh and Kirk, the Paul Wesley and Christian Chuby. That episode is the greatest episode of the season, in my opinion, when they go back in time and have everything that they go through. But just a stellar, stellar cast, delivering wonderful performances, some great writing. There wasn't a boring episode in the whole series. And they actually made a musical episode work in Star Trek, which I had no expectations that was going to work.

And it got me. So top to bottom, this is quietly one of the best seasons of Star Trek television ever. And I would put it up there against. anything you got. Yeah, I can say, I can't speak on this at all. Yeah. Was Picard season three this year? I think it was like, wasn't it right the beginning of this year?

Yeah, that might have been. Oh, if it was this year, then I definitely should have put that on my list because I haven't, I sadly haven't seen Strange New World. So Picard season three, holy crap. Yeah, it was this year earlier this year. Yes, I'm looking at. Oh, wow. Then that should have been on my list.

Well, I can wait to talk about it. I'll pick that next because I have, I need to see Strange New Worlds. I really do. but I'll save my Picard season three stuck for later because I didn't know I forgot that was this year. It's been a long year. It's been a long year.

I understand, but it goes back to what John was saying earlier. There's just some stuff that you resonate with and there's other stuff that you don't. I don't, and it's not one of these things for me that I'm going, well, God, Star Trek. It's like, no, I respected.

And I, and I, it's funny because I think, and you guys both as Star Trek guys, the JJ Abrams ones, I know the JJ Abrams one and two are more Star Wars. than they are Star Trek. But I feel like beyond was the most Star Trek and I was Justin Lin, right? So that was the one to me that I actually thought was really, really good. That and Khan, I think, with the two Star Trek movies more so that I responded to.

But everybody tells me about Picard, the last season, everybody tells me about this strange new worlds. That's what is called? So I've heard about it, but I just, because people keep asking me, I got to watch that. I'm like, it's just not, I just, it just can't do it. You know, some people don't like courtroom dramas. You know, some people don't like, you know, horror films. I just can't do it. I don't know why it is, but I can't do it.

Sure. Yeah, I know. What I can do is I can jump to another movie here. And I'm going to go and I'm going to bring up, as you said before, I think this probably be the last time we talked positive about Marvel. And that's Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. Yeah. I love this movie.

I love this movie. I liked the first Guardians a lot. Saw the second movie. At the time I saw it, I didn't love it. I stand by the fact that I think too many people are getting jokes handed out here and there. Everybody gets a joke. Everybody gets a joke. You get a joke.

But I think I revisited it recently. And I actually think that there's an emotional core that actually works very well in that film, more than I gave it credit to originally. But I still think it's fine. The third one in what they do, with Rocket and how you really care about him and just the way that it's it's it's it's it gets dark at times too in the in this film and it's a great it's a great bow to this trilogy and they didn't have to make it because right now one of the criticisms with the MCU is how sloppy it's

getting with the whole multiverse thing and they didn't have to deal with that they didn't have to worry about it wasn't about that it was like the last of like the old regime kind of closing out their storyline and james gun kind of given his goodbye to marvel and doing it and he didn't have asset he delivered on characters that really gave him a stamp in the first place there's some i mean they said there was going to be an f bomb in in the movie and i was like oh they're just doing it because there's james gun but it worked so well um i just think james gun right now with the suicide squad guardians three and peacemaker is just is in his group And I think it's a good thing for DC fans

because if this isn't any indication, like it, I liked what they did with, with, with, with, with, I mean, all the characters. They all had, they, that was my criticism in two. They all just seemed to kind of be there telling jokes. They all had something to do and they all had an arc in this one. So I really dug this movie. I don't know what you guys felt about it.

John, what did you think? Oh, yeah, I loved it. I thought it was a beautiful send-off from James Gunn to these characters. And look, what a journey we had to go on with him to get to this point, you know, when he was taken off the movie. Then there was that letter. And so you clearly saw and felt as you watched the movie, how much love these actors have for these characters. And how much love they have working with James Gunn in this universe. And I mean the Guardians of the Galaxy, not the overall MCU, the Guardians of the Galaxy universe.

It's very singularly James Gunn's approach to its Marvel project. And I thought this film carried so much emotion. I mean, I don't know how many times I teared up or got crazy emotional with Rocket Raccoon when he's younger version and the high evolutionary what is going through. How many of us have experienced mentors or parents or people who are older than us like trying to make us, you know, go through these things, trying to make us understand and learn these things and pressuring us and judging us and how much of that feeds our feelings of insecurity and low self-esteem when we're tackling big projects. All that is bleeding through with Rocket.

yet he maintains this real love and care for his friends. And you get as if this character wasn't already beloved enough in the MCU to see even more of what his actual foundation as a creature in the world is, his emotional makeup, to see that come through in the film and confront the high evolutionary and have all that go down and get a final speech and see the lies that are told by people in power to try to keep certain people they're threatened by. down. There's just so much that

so many levels of... It's layered. It's layered. It's layered. It's not just a fun time with these awesome characters. James Gunn is saying something with this movie, and it was great to see. Dan? I thought it was okay. Fair enough. Some people, the real world logic doesn't work with something.

It was kind of all over the place for me tonally. I just feel like, I don't know. There were some scenes where it's like laugh now don't now laugh it just kind of felt like they were herky jerking around

Adam Orlock didn't really work for me that's true I agree with you that's a character and then you know I get the emotionality with Rocket's story I think it's a fine line and you know people say like

well do you don't apply this to everything I get it but with animals it's It's easy to provoke an emotional reaction with cute animals and torture. And Mara particularly is very sensitive to that and cruelty to animals. And, you know, it was, it felt excessive to me. I felt like it went kind of beyond where it.

And that's James Gunn. He doesn't do anything halfway. Right. And I think that that's work. worked for him in a lot of ways. It just was a little too much for me in this particular instance. So I felt like some parts of it worked really well, really well. And he obviously loves these characters.

And I like where they ended up. And I liked their destination. But the journey was a little rocky for me. It was, yeah, it was kind of highs and lows. But that's fine. I'm in the minority. Dan. Hey, I'm in the minority.

I get it. Trust me. It ran me off Twitter. I shared what I thought about it on Twitter And people were so Pardon my friend shitty about it That I was like you know what screw it So I'm I don't even do social media anymore

I'm like you know it's like I'm I know because it's like I'm not I'm not attacking anybody with my own And people just now are so like You're ready to jump on you and it's like My life's too short What am I even doing with my time? So like screw it I don't even care anymore I do a thing now Dan I just call post and run

I post and run. I don't even check the comments. Post and run. And I leave. I just put up the episode. You want to see? You want to check it out? Do it?

You get too involved to destroy your head. Teach me your ways. I will learn the lesson from both of them. I must put your feet and learn how to do this. I said what you just said. I said someday I will learn the lesson from, oh, trust me. There are days, I think if I was it where you guys are at, 100,000 subscribers to YouTube, I would never go on social media again.

because that would be, I could focus on that more, more, making my money and not needing to try to get people to come see. Well, wait a minute. I don't know it's there. So, you know. I'm just saying with Dan, because Dan doesn't even post at all. I know you post and run, brother,

but Dan doesn't even post at all. So I want to get there. Trust me. I want to get it. I nuked my whole Twitter. I just got rid of it. But that wasn't because of the Guardians of Galaxy 3. That was just because of what Twitter became.

I'm like, I'm not trying to participate in this in any way, shape, or form. I'll end up, if they ever fix threads so that it's usable. Oh, yeah. Then I probably would be on there. more, but it's like I go on there and I'm reading 85 things for people I have no idea who they are. And it's like, no, I, you know, so eventually I'll probably get back on there. It's nice, actually. It's a nice little.

Well, you get to, you get to choose one that you didn't like that one, but you get to choose one that you do like. So what are you, what do you want to talk about next? Well, you know what? Let's stay with Marvel, not the MCU proper, but Spider-Man across the Spider-Verse. Great call. Which I feel like came out so long ago that people sort of forgot about it in a weird way. I liked, I really liked the movie. I know the cliffhanger rubs some people the wrong way and it was a little abrupt,

but at the same time, you know, at the time actually didn't bother me because I'm like, well, the next one's coming out next year. Who cares? And now, not so much. But I liked the movie because it wasn't just like, all right, let's do more of what worked in the first movie. I mean, most of the characters that you love from the first movie aren't even in this one. Like Spider-Ham's not in it.

Spider-Man, Noir. like the whole team basically except for Spider for Gwen isn't in the movie and it's very much its own thing and it's about you know the same themes from the first movie but an escalation of that and you continue on Miles's journey and it hits all the Spider-Man stuff about responsibility and sacrifice and everything that the great Spider-Man movies hit but it's also so well done they upped their game as far as the animation and I know that there's a discussion that should be had about the price as far as the animators themselves and how much is too much.

And if delaying the movie means that you can give those animators the time to do their work under working conditions that are, you know, that they should be working under, then I'm fine with waiting. But I felt like they escalated the form and the different types of animation. So technically, I thought it was incredible from a story level. I loved it. I liked where they went with the characters. And I'm excited to see, you know, if they can get this third movie, the way they

got the first two, this could be a great trilogy. This could be a really good trilogy of movies. Yeah, I think so too. I mean, I don't mind the, I don't mind the cliff, excuse me, the cliffhanger because I think that it was already set up that this was the end of two. And we already got some. They took the part one off of it. And so I think people, I don't know why they did that actually.

I think if people had gone in knowing that this was a part one, but like, unless you track of the stuff like we do, I don't think you necessarily knew that because they took it off. And so now you go and expecting the movie to have an ending. and then it doesn't. It doesn't. I think, I mean, I did see that right, but I didn't see it as much to where it obviously

didn't hurt the movie's box office and people are pretty excited about it. And I think that the third one is going to do very, very well. And I think the lack of, I think the time jump or how much delay that we're going to have, I actually think it's going to be beneficial to the film. Because I think that it's one of those things where we, we forget that when Star Wars had those three-year gaps and these other movies had those gaps, There was like this level of anticipation that just isn't there as much anymore because Marvel turns out movies and DC. Same thing in Star Wars.

So it's like where, although the last Star Wars movie was 2019, but still with the TV shows and everything. But I think that it's going to lend itself because of what you're saying, Dan. I think that it just has such a good emotional core to it. People have been waiting for Miles Morales for a while to finally do it the way that they delivered him in that first one. I would argue that I think that the first one could be in the conversation for best Spider-Man movie ever. I think it's in the conversation. And depending on how two and three kind of wind up, it could be one of the best trilogies. But, John, you're also a fan of this one?

Dude, I love this one. Absolutely. And I see too many critics lists not including it in their best of the year. And I just go insane when I see that because it's clearly a bias towards. animated films towards an animated superhero film. And it drives me insane because there's nothing in this film that you're not going to find in that German independent film about that small town in the seaside and everything. There's nothing in this film that isn't there.

All right. This is about a kid of mixed race origins, not having a lot of money, but having this struggle here to figure out his voice in a society in a world that is tough. He's also got to figure out how to, does he tell his parents, not tell his parents, about this secret that he has about himself. Does he reveal himself? Does he come out, for lack of a turn, does he come out of the closet with this secret?

There's a lot here that people don't give credit for to this franchise and to this movie and to this character of Miles Morales that I think is great. But, oh, wait, there's also Spider-Gwen, who is incredible in this movie. The battle she has with her father, the emotional battle, which I think carries much more resonance at times in this film,

then Miles' issues with his parents, because that's just about telling them I'm a great hero. This is something where, like, they pulled a gun. Her father pulled a gun on her. That is something huge and massive. What does that mean? And about acceptance and about, like, giving people grace, right? What are we talking about nowadays?

Like, okay, I'm going to call you out on this. But you've got to also create grace for this person to come to an understanding, to an acceptance, and give them space. The film really shows you that. And that's fantastic. But, oh, by the way, incredible visuals. great satisfying stuff if you're a Combook fan. If you're a Spider-Man fan,

there's so much to enjoy here visually, all the different Spider-P people that are part of this, you know, Spider-Woman, all of them that are a part of this. It's just fantastic. And then you get Oscar Isaac, who is incredible. And that scene at the end on the train, Clifhanger begone, I don't care, I loved it. And the back and forth between them and Miles finding his strength

is so inspirational, man. So, yeah, it's sitting right here. I constantly have it in front of me to watch anytime I want to watch it because it is one of my favorite film to the year, Bar Noddy. Well, let's hear about another one, because you're up next. Oh, I love it.

Yeah, you got a movie. Let's talk about the, let's make a complete, wait, am I right? And go into the holdovers, man. The holdovers. Dude, listen, I'm no blue blood. I didn't grow up in no rich-ass area,

going to no college in Massachusetts or whatever it was in New England. But I connected to this film so strongly. Dominic Sennas performance, talk about new actors who come out of nowhere and really delivering a career-defining performance that's going to lead him to so many more years of work is so good in this movie.

And, oh, Paul Giamatti delivering maybe, as we said with Jeffrey Wright, this may also be Paul Giamatti's greatest performance ever. He is so touching, he's so interesting, he's so nuanced, and you initially don't like him because you know teachers like this, you had teachers like this, but you see the humanity of him as the film goes along.

and then Divine Joy Randolph, who's incredible and clearly the frontrunner to win best sporting actress. It'll be her and Daniel Brooks, I imagine, battling it out. She's so good in the movie as someone who has her own pain, her own journey that she's going on, while also calling out Paul Giamatti, while also trying to make sure this little threesome of them finds a way out of their pain during Christmas. It's so well done. Alexander Payne, what a wonderful director and what he does in this movie, taking you on this tender, funny, touching story coming of age

and everything that goes on with that, I just was so blown away by the movie. This is also one I've seen three times, and I can't stop watching it. It's so good. Dan, what do you think? Yeah, I really liked it. I caught up with it late.

It was one of the first ones I watched when we got back when I was catching up on stuff because I really, really wanted to see it. It's one of those movies that just feels like, it reminded me not just because of the boarding school, but because of the period setting and everything of a movie like Dead Poets Society, in that Dead Post Society

who's made 19, what, 89, but you could release it today and it'd be the same movie, exact same movie. You can watch it 30 years from now and it'll feel the same, it'll connect the same. And this movie felt the same way because it doesn't date itself, really. It's just a very human story and it is a period piece, but you can make this movie 30 years from now

exactly the same way. You could have made it 20 years ago exactly the same way. And so I think it's got that timeless quality to it because these characters are so relatable like John saying. And you, you understand parts of them and you don't like other parts of them, particularly that,

that dynamic between Paul Giamati and, you know, I'm sure younger viewers probably side more with Dominic Sinha. Yeah. As I get older, like, I'm like, oh,

he's got a point. Paul Giamati, you know, he's got a point there, even though he's intolerable at times. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that it's just so much about,

you have a young character who wants his life to be a certain way. you have older characters who live whose lives haven't turned out the way for different reasons that they wanted them to and they're dealing with it and they're all stuck together in this weird dysfunctional family environment and uh yeah i mean alexander pain just has a way of of just getting down to the core of a character about schmidt was the same way of just like just just like cutting into the middle of this guy and sideways and i just love his vibe and the way he's able to be able to be he's able to be able to be he's able to do it. What was the one he did with Clooney? Alexander Paine? Oh, the descendants. I loved that movie.

Yeah. Well, yeah. So I also, like you guys really enjoyed this movie. And it actually reminded me a lot of a scent of a woman in a way, too. And in the way that you know, they needed each other. They kind of found each other. And as you were saying, Dan, like there's different versions of where you are in your life and having that kind of purpose.

and that's ultimately what the character of giamati does and finds in this kid but divine joe randolph to me stole every scene that she was in she stole every scene that she was in now john and i had this conversation via text like a week ago and we were talking about he was asking me you know who we we thought um we thought between color purple and and um in this movie who would have the chance and i think i it's hard but i i would say randolph to me uh because my answer to that was that Giamati is firing off at all levels here and one of the best performances of his career and she's pushing back you know and she's and she's almost taking the scenes from him in the scene that she's in so she's my vote but again yeah it's a it's a special movie for sure if you had seen where she he walks in and she's watching the newlywed came and he's like what's this and that like contempt that she she has because he's just so out of touch. Yeah. And he's like, what's this? And she's like, it's the newlyway.

And just like having to explain the newlyway game to this uptight dude that she doesn't really, at that point in the story, doesn't really even care about that much. But she does it so kind of subtly. And it's just very real. That's why I think it's going to be tough between Divine Joy Randolph and Daniel Brooks because Daniel Brooks is coming in at the end of the race, you know, at, right. at Christmas and also like Sophia, that performance is so, she's great. Yeah. But it is, it's a big, what's that?

Which one? Sophia? And the color purple. Yeah. She's the, she's the daughter-in-law. She's the one who's, like, Celie's confidant, you know, who's, who marries Mr. son. Oh, right.

Okay. Okay. Okay. She, her, that character is so, it's a musical. It's a big character. She gets the big memorable scene. Yeah, yeah. Right at the end of the movie.

Whereas Divine Joy Randolph, it's such a restrained performance. And, you know, I worry that, like, people are going to remember the bigger performance that came later, rather than the sort of more nuanced performance that came earlier. That's every award season. It's, it's, you know, it's, in many ways, it's kind of, uh, Jamie Lee Curtis, uh, winning last year, um, you know, it was sort of the same thing. It was, you know, well, I'm like, it's the bigger performance. and Angela Bassett was kind of doing,

you know, she had her big scene, but so much of that was about the quietness of her character. And it's like, it's tough to clash those two types of performances. It's going to be interesting. Competitive awards are tough, you know. Yeah, it'll be interesting in general,

but I'll tell you the next, as we move, because I'm going to throw towards TV, and I know we'll be here for probably two seconds because there's no chance either one of you guys watch your show. And to me, that's one piece. I watched it. Did you?

Yeah. All right, we'll shove it in my face. So here we go. So one piece. This was a show that in no world would you have thought that this was going to be, A, a show that I would watch or be a show that I would just fell in love with. It was one of those things where I saw the trailer and I said, okay, this looks like my daughter's into anime.

So maybe I'll watch it with her. I didn't watch one episode with my daughter. She watched it on her own. I watched every episode and I did them on my channel. and I enjoyed it. I said, I'm going to watch one. If people give a shit, if I care, then I'll keep watching it. And I did. And the reason, one of the main reasons I did, as Dan was talking about before with how social media can be a real bummer and people can be a real bummer with your opinions on things, I, this was the complete opposite. And I haven't had experience like this

before. And I don't know if I'll ever have it since. And that the audience of One Piece was so inviting. And they were inviting in a way that it was like, like, okay, if I didn't know certain characters or if you mess up a name in Game of Thrones, you might as well go to prison. But in one piece, they were like, no, it's actually this and this. Oh, you're going to love when this happens.

And it was, I felt I felt welcomed. And the show also makes you feel welcome. The characters, the lure, there's so much, I can't wait for it to come back. It's just, I had a smile on my face the whole damn time. I love this show and I can't wait for it

to come back. There's a couple corny episodes it's here and there, but I didn't care. It was just so much fun to watch. Dan, I'll throw to you because you saw it. What were your thoughts? Yeah, no, I mean, I agree with the, with the fans being very welcoming. There was no sort of tribalism like,

oh, you like the live action one? Well, I like the anime. No, it was very much like, I'm happy that you like this thing that I like, which is great. I called the dude monkey a few times. Me too. I got a pretty light.

I didn't get off entirely, but I got a pretty light on that. Listen, we're going to peel the curtain back here a little bit. And we all do it. Sometimes you watch a movie or you watch a show because you want to. And sometimes you watch a movie or you watch a show because you're like, this will perform well on my channel. And I feel like, you know, it's got some heat.

It's got some buzz. And so I'm going to watch it because I think that, you know, the video might do well. It doesn't mean necessarily I'm going to review it because I don't know if I would have gone out of my way to review the show if I hated it and just sort of like made a rage bait video about how much I hated it. I probably would have just let it go. But I definitely watched it because I was like, there's some heat around it.

It was fun. It's just really fun. Like, I like the world. I like the characters. The enthusiasm of the, of Luffy. I know now to call him Luffy. Call him monk.

Or monk or whatever you want to call him. And I feel so bad. I'm blanking on the actor's name now who played him. But he had such an enthusiasm about it. Yes, he did. It was such a specific performance. but it worked for that character and the tone of the show.

McKinney, I think, played one of the characters was great, and I'd seen him in Knights of the Zodiac. That was a trash pile. But he was great in this show, which just goes to prove you that it's about the project. Yeah, I like to have fun with it. It was just a lot of fun. I had a good time watching it.

John, you haven't had a chance to check this one out, right? No, no, no. But certainly, as I said, on the list of things that I'm going to catch up on during the two weeks. You know, I'll still be doing content, but I'm going to create more time to watch these TV shows for sure.

It's dumb. Just be prepared. It's dumb, but it's dumb in like a good way. Oh, you're dumb fun. Okay, great. Some of it. Some of it. I think there's that,

but it's definitely there's, in the way that the last of us is true to video game playing, this is true to anime. And I think it's one of the few like actual adaptations to anime that is that the fan base is like, okay you did us right so that's right all right guys so what did you think uh did you see one piece did you like one piece what did you think overall what are you thinking of our choices we only

have a little bit left here before i let the guys go and then uh we'll talk about a couple more pieces but we're back to dan dan let's get a let's get a movie what do you got oh there's so many it's like it's like it's like we're up against the clock now it's like oh what do i leave out what do i like um let's talk about uh talk to me literally the movie's called Talk to Me. Nice choice. We talked about horror, really. Oh, yeah.

Talk to me was nasty in all the best ways. Evil Dead Rise also the same way. Just nasty little horror movie. But talk to me, you know, A24 horror. I'm honestly, I love A24. I love their vibe. Sometimes their movies are like, you know, like I admire them, but they leave me kind of cold.

And that happens a lot with their horror films. But Talk to Me was a movie that I really do. It is creepy. you know, it's what horror should be, which is that, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's one of my favorite kinds of horror, you know, it's made for very low budget. It stars nobody that you really know, but the concept is good. The execution is good. It is genuinely disturbing and creepy, but not too disturbing or creepy. And it's just a, just a really just tight, effective, horror movie. It's the way that I think

indie horror should be. I really, really liked it. John, do you see this one? I had the same experience Dan had with American fiction. I knew nothing about this movie. I got the screening invite from the people down here in San Diego and Jeff Snyder was the only person I asked about and he said, I'm not going to say a thing, go see it. And so I was like,

all right, I'll go see this thing and see what it's all about. Holy God. I mean, I am a full-on self-admitted Frady Cat when it comes to horror films, but I like to watch them because I like to get scared. So I was climbing the walls of the theater throughout this whole thing

because growing up Latino and Catholic, messing with devil, messing with the demons, messing with spirits from the other. That is like ingrained in us growing up and it scares the head. No horror. It scares me more than kind of messing

with spirits and demons and things from another plane or another world. And I was blown away. It was such a simple premise, yet a brilliant premise. And the performances from all these actors who I'd never heard of, these directors who I guess were guys who did stuff on YouTube, having them do a full-on feature, except for the ending, which I had a little issues with.

Other than that, everything else here was fantastic. Oh, Miranda Otto, I guess is the one name I would know. But everyone else, I thought, just stellar. And you buy into the world, you buy into the horror. The way they play the horror out was, so brutal. They were not trying to make you feel okay about it. You are in for an experience. I like it a little bit and some of the horror people might get mad at me to Texas chainsaw massacre. Like if you want you, the first time you see that movie, it will rattle your soul. And so I felt

that way watching talk to me. It's not the same kind of quality necessarily as Texas chainsaw in terms of classic, but it absolutely affected me in the same ways. And I was so happy I saw that film and champion that film for anyone who wanted to see it because it was so good people rave about it clearly from both you guys i haven't seen it um i have it i have it i have a screener of it and i know i don't know if i'll get to it that i've never been i've never the only reason i've never been a big horror guy right like there are certain movies that i enjoy watching and it's not because of the scared cat element i'm just i feel a lot of them are generic i've seen him a bunch of times but I hear the opposite about this.

And I hear, I mean, there's everybody, I haven't heard a negative thing about this film. Anyone who talks about this movie, talks about how good it is. So I probably will get to it. I just know, it's just not on my, you know, priorities yet, but maybe it will be. I don't know.

Because I don't see it being on my, on my list. That's why I'm watching everything like every day, because I'm like, I got to get it together. Yeah. Yeah. So, and I just can't see it being on my list. But who knows? All right, John, let's go back to you, man.

let's do we'll do one more movie apiece then we'll call it a day the iron claw man got to talk about the iron claw uh i've seen this twice already it is um it is one of the most incredible films uh that i've seen about a subject matter that usually doesn't get um great films made about aside from like the wrestler um and so this film i think is being criminally overlooked by a lot of critics yet again a lot of these end of the year award um uh uh uh award situations, they are not giving enough love to the Iron Claw, a story about the Von Erick family, the true story about the Von Erick's family, and what they went through and the tragedies that they went through

and the things that they endured for many reasons. And they're doing pro wrestling in the South in Texas in the 1970s. The way they bring, this director brings that whole time period to life was so well done. As someone who's watched wrestling since he was. a boy, a little boy, I knew about this and I knew about it and my knowledge of it as grown as I've gotten older and I still learn new things in this movie about what was going on with the Von Erickson, what was going on within their families and what happened to them. And the way they do certain

reveals about what happens to certain people in their family, I thought it was devastating and genius for its effect on you as an audience member. It's a quietly powerful, destructive film anchored by a fantastic performance by Zach Afron that again is being overlooked for awards or consideration. I thought he was incredible. Hope McElaney, you've seen him be great. There was nothing new in terms of him being great here that you hadn't seen in numerous other projects.

He was damn good. Moria Tierney was excellent. Jeremy Allen White, for the amount of time he was in the film, was great. The other two brothers, the actors played the two brothers were devastating as I'm sure Kristen's going to speak on with Michael. There was so much about this film that could have fallen apart, but it worked. And it really captured that time.

And it took you on this journey. And you don't even have to be a wrestling fan to connect to this film because it's about a family and the pressures of a family, the financial pressures of the family and the decisions that are made and how it affects the people within the family trying to uplift the family name. So just a really fantastic movie. I'm going to cry talking about it. want to stop now because i just moved me in so many ways and i loved it uh same and sports films

resonate with people who aren't even necessary sports games yeah true you look at boxing movies you look at you know uh baseball movies and it's just look at i mean the wrestlers another way that worked really well and it usually is a lot of the tragedy that is connected to it especially this family this is like they're like the kennedy's that's what i said it really are and and my i i want to, you know, echo the raving, but the only, the only criticisms, I only had like two minor criticism. And the, the one is that they cut out one of the brothers. Yeah. Um, which I didn't like the answer for why. The answer was, well, because it would have added more time to the movie. It's part of the family. Cut the guy out of the movie. That's part one. Part two is, and this is a thing

that, and I'm curious, because Dan, you've seen the film? I have, yes. Okay, okay. So, I bet you this didn't bother Dan at all in the way that it might have bothered you and me, Roca. The guy that played Rick Flair was awful. The Freebirds were great, but Flare was done good. But a lot of the wrestlers played, and I talked to a friend of mine who said that it reminded him the way they portray wrestlers in the Young Rock, which I thought nailed it.

It didn't seem like Rick Flair. It seemed like someone playing Rick Flair. But I think to the casual viewer, right over their head, because it didn't matter. I think that it just goes to the performance itself and the story. It's all with a Lily James complimented what Zach Efron was doing. Lovewood, again, Jeremy Ellen White did. It was very hard for me to watch, as I mentioned earlier, the things kind of that I related to. But I will say that it just, it's a powerful movie. It does do the sport justice. It does Kevin Von Erick justice in telling his story. I agree with you. I'm glad you brought up.

I love that film. Dan, yeah, as a non, as a non- wrestling guy, what did you think? I don't know anything about wrestling. It's funny that you guys said that because before you said that, I was going to say, I knew one person's name that was in that movie and it was Rick Flair. He was the only recognizable person for me in that entire movie because I knew the basics of what Rick Flair looked like. Yeah, no, I mean, it's a whole decalony for me was, I mean, the entire cast was great. But it was, you know, I didn't relate to it on the sport level or from a knowledge level of knowing anybody involved. It was very much more about, you know, for me, it was the, I think the youngest brother, the one who was not cut out for it and wants to be an artist. And

that pressure, that just that pressure and that idea of expectation. And it's so transcends wrestling. And, you know, I feel like people would write it off as like, oh, well, I'm not going to like that movie if I don't like wrestling. No, because it's just, it's, it's, it's so much more than that. And it's about that dynamic and, and love and how you can try to, how you harm your, you think you're helping these people you love, but you're just doing nothing but harm for them and, and projection. And there's so much going on. And it's such a complex story. Generational trauma. Generation trauma. Exactly. How you, poor things is about generational trauma. Again, these. things are all connected. Four things is very much about generational trauma. Yeah. And there's just times where you look at this, that their dad and you're like, this guy's a monster and he doesn't even know it. And he thinks he's doing the best thing for his family.

And he's doing nothing but the worst thing for it. Old school mentality that just wasn't helping his family. Like you said, it was hurting it. All right. So sticking with my last movie for the day and I'm going to go with air. I love this movie. I love this movie. This is a movie that I have seen two times already. I'll probably see it again. It is, it was so nice to see Ben Affleck back in form directing. The dynamic between him and Damon obviously hasn't gone anywhere. Great performances by Chris Tucker. There's just there's a lot going on in this movie. And in Viola Davis, obviously, who I think you speak about overlooked. I think she was overlooked. I think she was so good in this movie as well. The problem is this movie came out so early. And it did, I don't think it did very well, but it should have. It's fantastic. And it just, it's another one of those.

And Chris, what's is Chris? Chris, uh, no, Chris Messina. Chris Messina. Oh, he's great. He's so good. He picks up where, uh, where, what's his Ari from entourage left off. Oh, he's great. But, um, yeah, Dan, what did you think of, uh, air?

Oh, I like, I really liked it. Yeah. I thought it was, you know, again, it's, you kind of roll your eyes at the idea. And you can see the cheap version of that movie, but that, you know, and I know that it was briefly co-opted, but that doesn't take any of the power out of that scene. And I don't care if it's real or not. The scene where they're pitching to Jordan and Matt Damon just stops it. And he's like, let me break it down for you. And he just breaks down literally Michael Jordan's future.

You know, not specifically, but it ended up being, you know, and. And the idea of becoming an icon and becoming a legend and what that means and what that entails. And it's about a shoe. But again, it's more than that. And it's, I really like that scene a lot. That was one of the better acted and written scenes that I've seen this year. And it's also, it's funny. You know, I think Jason Bateman's great.

I think there was almost too much of an ensemble because even with a home run hitter like Viola Davis, you know, everybody got so much of their own time in the spotlight that I feel like when it comes time for recognition and stuff, people are saying like, well, you know, they're only in the movie for X amount of minutes, but everyone's great, you know, that goes. I challenge Anne Hathaway. I challenge Ann Hathaway and Les Mizz. I know, right? I get it. Five minutes and she won. Pitching to the choir here. I know, I know. But she's saying a song, Christian. She did. She sang her own song. I'll let you

John, you know, we'll talk about it there. Yeah, just, yeah, echo everything you both have said. You know, there was a film, there's films that you look forward to, and as soon as they're announced, you're like, oh, I can't wait to see this. You talk about Jordan,

who is my favorite basketball player of all time. You talk about him coming out of Carolina. I watched him when he played in Carolina. So talking about the shoe, which was a big deal for me growing up as a teenager, like, all right, my 20s, like, you got to get the Jordan. So all of it coming together.

And then, but telling it in such a unique and interesting way, through the lens of Sonny Vaccaro, who I, of course, knew from Nike and all that stuff, like following his story. And this is Damon showing you that he is a good act. For all the stuff and everything around, and he can bring it when the material is there for him to bring it. And he so does.

Viola is incredible, of course, as always, but so is Matt. And I love seeing that. And the humanity and the pathos of Jason Bateman, as he's going through the things he's going through with Matt Damon, I think is overlooked sometimes when they talk about this film. It doesn't work without Bateman being this kind of other side of Damon and countering some of the things and questioning Damon and pushing him and also being worried about him.

And that scene, as you said, the monologue where he explains things to Jordan, that monologue where Jason Bateman says, what do you mean? We've all been doing things for you and let me lay it all out for you. And let me lay you out what the stakes are while you're taking a chance on our entire company is so well done. Of course, Ben Affleck doing Greatest Film Night was just like you did in The Last Duel, having a fun showy or pop-up role. It's great, but the direction, there's such a confidence here in this direction, and it completely works. And by the end, you're just so moved by it and inspired by it. If you want to create something or take a chance on something in the world,

this film inspires you to do that. It's the truth. All right, Dan Merle, close us out. What's the movie we're going to end today with? I mean, there's so many blockbusters and successful popular films that we haven't talked about. I'm going to do the most me thing ever and end on an international film from France. Anatomy of a fall. I want to talk about the zone of interest, but we're not going to end on that one. But anatomy of a fall is, if you haven't seen it, is such a great film. It won the Palm Door at Cannes this year. And then France decided not to submit it as their choice for best international film. Great to see. decision. It's, I mean, really all you need to know about it is it's right there in the title.

A woman's husband falls out of a window and the movie's about what happens. And I love that. It reminds me a little bit of what we're talking about with American fiction. It's not a movie about unraveling the mystery of what happened. It's not a movie about like, you know, like finding the clues to, you know, there's not this big revelatory end sequence. that reveals, you know, the actual events. It's very much about here's this event that happened. And springing out of that event, we are going to reveal the lives of these people. And it's like, and it's subjective because, you know,

it's very much, it's a legal drama and you're hearing from people's, like there's no like eye of God where you see. The objective view. It's all through someone else's lens. Well, here's what she thought this conversation meant. Well, here's what. he thought this conversation meant. Well, here's through their son's eyes with that conversation meant or what he saw. And it is, you know, I think if you're going into it as like a who done it,

then you're probably going to be disappointed. But if you're going into it as like a story of this family and a character study, it's so, I mean, to me, it's almost like a thriller because there's like revelation after revelation. There's like a 10 minute long argument scene. It's one of the most riveting scenes I've seen this entire year because you're invested in these characters. And again, I can't remember his name. The kid that plays her son. We want to talk about bias. There's a bias on the part of the awards and the critics groups, everybody, against young actors.

Because he puts in one of the best supporting performances from any actor. I don't care how old you are this year. And he's not going to get nominated for any major awards for it. He is so good. and Sandra Hewler is great and it's just a really for me some people watch it to bore them to tears for me it was a riveting

movie I loved it so much I don't know how it could bore you to tears I just watched this movie last night and just watched it last night and Sandra Heller is I knew nothing about it similar to what you guys were talking about before where you're like I just kind of went in knowing nothing I knew obviously

from the title and I think I saw a quick trailer at one point I thought Carrie Mulligan was in it so I really didn't know what So I turned it on. I started watching. I'm like, oh, okay. I started checking it out. And I was from the second it starts, from the second it starts in the conversation and the things that are going on with the lead up to the event itself, I'm locked in because I cared. And I don't think you're wrong at all, Dan, when you say there's the thriller element, there's thriller element, there is drama, there is courtroom drama. There is, there's a lot. And I do think that they do ask you a little bit to kind of, it is a, it is a, who done it in a certain aspect. It's not the focus of it. And no, you might not get the answers that you might be looking for.

But by the time you get to that point, then they make you realize, no, no, it's more about this because it's kind of, again, I don't want to spoil it because there's things that happen at the end that normally I'd be like,

wait a minute, why'd they do that? But they set it up in a way that I'm like, okay, well, they gave you that, they gave you that, but there's still a little bit of this.

You know what I mean? I think that she was so good that I was automatically going like again, because I, I haven't seen my, my story yet. So I might change my tune again speaking to Carrie Mulligan. But I was, Emma Stone. It's Emma Stone. It's Emma Stone. It could be.

And then I'm like, well, shit, man, she, she was so natural. I felt like I, that there was a camera, like a camera that I wasn't supposed to be for a real person. that was in the room just capturing this person talking and I didn't think she was acting at all, not once, never. And I agree with you, Dan, this kid, that kid was next level on this performance. So good. Johnny, you on the same page? God, I love this movie, man.

I walked in, I was like, oh, this is going to be a French law and order episode. We'll see what happens. Yeah. And then it opens up and you're like, oh, no, here we go. This is going to be, I didn't expect this. This is going to be super intense. And it was. And Dan, what you said, Thriller?

100% correct. It's an emotional thriller as much as it's a event thriller. And I love that. And you as the audience, you know, it's like reading a good book. Once you're in and you want those, you're page, you're essentially minute turning when you're watching the movie like you'd page turn a book. That's what's so incredible about this film. And I saw a zone of interest first, which is where I saw Sondra Holler. And then I saw it in this and I'm like, what a incredible year to have these two films that could possibly both be nominated for Best Pictures that you're a central part of both of those movies. What an incredible job. But yeah, the way this is directed and state, the way they take, and the way they trust the audience to go along with you to these revelations and build upon

the things that are happening here within this family leading to those things that happened at the end. I just was like, just absolutely blown away at the artistry of this as well. And it was a reminder yet again that like, you know, go outside of America. There are so many amazing films coming from so many different countries that will move you just as much and you'll connect to them you'll have a universality of experience with them if you can deal with the subtitles Well but to be fair John, to be fair also

It's like it's people that maybe that They're not as promoted right as some of the other movies too you would know so people So people who are tuning into a show like this Hopefully like no I didn't heard about that movie that they Check it out because I wouldn't have heard about this movie if I'm not doing what I'm doing And I got it sent to me

And I was like okay well I'll check it out because everybody's on everybody's lists I think I saw Dan talking about at one point. I should check it out. And I'm glad that I did because it's like, it's really a great film. Okay. There's a lot that we left off, guys.

There's a lot that we left off that I'm sure we'll see in the comments section. We couldn't get to everything. Barbie. Yeah, but go ahead. Let's keep it. Barbie, Gen V for TV. I mean, there's tons. John Wick 4.

No, it'll save you. You hurt my feelings. Grand Theresa. I would have to talk about that one. I enjoyed that movie. So that and more. But I'm so glad that we got a chance to do this again. I had a blast last time.

I had just as much fun this time. And I like to thank both of my panels here today. Start with John Roker. John, where can the people find you if they want to come check out more of your stuff? Yeah, guys, you can always find me on the Outlaw Nation channel. It's YouTube.com slash John Roker says. I do trailer reactions reviews. Also I have my shows there.

The Hot Mike with Jeff Snyder and I, the geek buddies with, as I just mentioned, Shannon and Michael. And also The Jedi Way with Kevin Smets and Laura Kelly. A lot of fun there on the channel. And of course, 24, more stuff coming down. the road as we build and build and grow step by step and i think these two gentlemen who are such an inspiration uh with their channels to motivate me to do more and more stuff with my channel so uh thank you for having me on christian it's been a blast and dan it's always great to see you by the man yeah stephen merrill always where can they find you but

dan morel movies on youtube that's about it right now i'm just i'm sort of i'm laser focused yeah make sure you go check out dan murray check out John Roker and now the special presentation, five rounds for the movie trivia show. Revenge! Revenge! It was a pleasure to having you guys on. It was a pleasure to having you guys with us.

And if you are brand new to my channel, right there, I think is swirling around. That's the subscribe button. We hope that you'll join us for more conversations like this, more great guests like this. John Roker has been on my channel a little bit more. We're doing some live streams together on Mondays. I'd love to have Dan on some more as well. we've got a lot of good things coming in 2024.

I have my best of list that is either up now or coming around the corner. I had the best, the best TV shows. I got the most anticipated coming. So we got a lot of lists coming, that we know. And then I'm making a heavy push for interviews starting in 2024 as well, too. Fingers crossed on that one. So if you want to join Patreon, you can do that. Patreon.com slash the big thing show.

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