The Ringer-Verse - 'Mission: Impossible–Dead Reckoning Part One' Reactions, and 'Secret Invasion' Episode 4 | The Midnight Boys

Episode Date: July 12, 2023

This pod, should you choose to accept it, will be about Ethan Hunt's biggest mission yet, and dive into reactions to 'Mission: Impossible–Dead Reckoning Part One' (05:19). Later, the boys will discuss their reactions to the latest episode of 'Secret Invasion' (61:58), as well as take on a bunch of new news items in the world of fandom (75:26). Hosts: Van Lathan, Charles Holmes, Steve Ahlman, and Jomi Adeniran Social: Jomi Adeniran Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Erica Ramirez, founder of Ili, and hosts of What About Your Friends, a podcast dedicated to the many lives of friendship and how it's portrayed in pop culture. Every Wednesday on the ringer dish feed, I talk to my best friend Stephen Othello and your favorites from within the ringer and beyond about friendships on TV and movies, pop culture and our real lives. So join me every Wednesday on the ringer dish feed where we try to answer the question TLCS asked back in the day, what about your friends? For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matter. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required.

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which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Welcome into the Ringiverse. This is, of course, the Ringers Nexus podcast, me, for all things. Vandum, we are Jomi, the explainer at dinner on. You've got questions. He's got answers. We are. Steve, the architect, Almond, builder, tinker of themes. We are.

Old Man, Van, he of the receding resurgent hairline. We absolutely are Coke, baby Chuck, the 24 carac closer, aka the brunch hotty. Together, we are known as of a midnight, boys. You have to follow

us on socials. It's very important. Twitter, Facebook, TikTok. Threads. Threats? Don't? Not yet. Not yet.

We're working on it. Guys, I've seen the tweets. I've seen the messages. Where are you threads? Where are you in threads? A lot of game left. You're working on. So look, here's a deal.

Save Jomi's job. Jomey needs to slain S7. I've noticed something about you, Jomey. What's up, man? You are, you're like a cuck for Twitter. Oh, right. Jomi bows to Twitter. I'm literally.

Every single time. Elon Musk's biggest hater. You're not. I am, though. I am, though. You're not. Damn, Jomey in the pocket of the beat. John,

that's not true. That's not, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. See, y'all, get him in a Tesla? You're riding in a Tesla? You're not trying to start. Y'all not trying to start.

I'm not fucking with this today. I'm not fucking with this today. You're doing it. I, no, I'm not. I'm not. I let a lot of things slide. Elon is my op. I know this.

Oh, man. We just found a new segment. Talk about it, Jomi. me up and just letting them go. Okay. Okay, Friday. The House of R is giving you their best of the year so far with the little secret invasion thrown in.

Okay, so let's just address this. Shut up, Charles. That's all I'm going to say about it. We move on. Okay? Charles, stop spiking the football for a second. Be humble. Humble is what you need. Charles, you got a little Elon Musk and you. You're musky. Whoa, whoa. You're musky.

Fuck you out of here. Little Musk and you. Little Musk. This weekend, Jessica Clemens, the great Jessica Clemens, will have a new Easter Egg breakdown video pod on Secret Invasion episode four. I'm really enjoying those. Jessica has been a bang-up addition to the team.

So shout out to Jessica. Shout out, Jessica. Next Wednesday, the Midnight Boys are back to celebrate Barbenheimer. Let's fucking go! With our first double-featuredraft where we'll be comparing competing, excuse me, to pick the best toys in movie history and the best explosions in movie history. You got Barbenheimer, you got toys, iconic toys, you got explosions, big ones, big ones. We're going to do a double feature draft, toys and explosions.

You're heard it here first on The Midnight Boys. On today's show, we're going to give you a double feature of sorts as well. Our instant reactions to Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning, hold on to your asses for this, guys. And Secret Invasion Episode 4, which itself got a little bit more spy-e and a little bit more Mission Impossible eat. All right?

We'd like to say thank you to the Midnight Boys, Jomi and Steve, for coming to the basically midnight showing of missing impossible that our friend Otto put on for us. Shout out at the Century City AMC. We were all there. We were having a great time.

It was cool. Shout out to Trayvon, Kalika, Alicia, Carrie. KOC showed up in the house. KOC pulled up. KOC pulled up. Because I just seen them. I was in Vegas for Summer League, and I'd just seen him. And so I was like, man, I was already tired myself.

I just got off the flight. And Van was like, hey, yeah, you know, so-and-so's coming. K-O-C-C-'s coming. I was like, K-O-C-C? Shoo, man, it's tight. Let's do it. Spoiler warnings for both Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning, and Secret Invasion.

So we're spoiling all of the past Mission of Possible movies, maybe the Mission Impossible television show from 1817. Anything that Tom Cruise has been doing in his life, we're spoiling all of Marvel, Captain Marvel, the comics that you read, the crossovers, what if, all of that stuff. It's all about to be spoiled. Steve, give me the spoiler warning.

We're getting ready to talk about Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning. You're listening to a reaction podcast. The spoilers are coming. We got two things to get you in to know about. So we don't want to give you two big bloated manifests. Charles, the Cooker Holmes, has come up with an idea. How about a mini manifest, if you will?

Charles tells us what a mini manifest is. All right, mini manifest. We're just going to give you the quick Wikipedia synopsis written by me of both of these movies or movie and TV show will start with Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise, which sees the IMF agent trying to destroy a rogue AI that can hack into almost any technology on the planet. Ethan Hunt brings back together his normal crew along with a burglar played by Haley Atwell to try and avert the sentient AI nicknamed the entity from falling into one of, uh, to any

country's hands, honestly, and becoming a weapon of mass algorithmic destruction. Did I miss anything? You didn't miss anything. I don't know that she's a burglar. She's a thief. She's a thief. A thief is more... Yeah, a burglar, to burgle, you have to like...

You have to break it to a house or a... You're like a cat. Cat, like an animal. You know what I mean? Isn't that like with a cat burglar? Yeah, she's not a cat woman. She's like an adept pickpocket.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let's go. Oh, I was about to get to get you. Instant reactions to Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, Charles Go. Oh, man. I fucking loved it, yo.

Fucking the SAR of the theatrical experience, Tom Cruise brought it. I really don't know what y'all want. I could see a lot of people have been getting spicy in the Midnight Boys group. text, group chat about this movie. I personally loved it. When I walk into a Mission Impossible movie,

I just want to see Tom Cruise almost kill himself for our enjoyment in a theater. And he did that. I saw this movie at 1 p.m. on a Saturday at a screening and I was not in the mood to see this. And I walked out of the movie being like,

you know what? This is exactly how I want to spend a Saturday. This type of action, this type of intrigue. Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1. pretty enjoyable film. Now, Van, thoughts? It was whack. That's not true.

That's not true. Let's go, Van. Let's go, Van. That's not true. Go get your man, bro. Yes. It's just not true. Before I get into it,

just know I wanted to love it. I think that it's not a movie that you don't go see. Because understand what I mean when I say It was a whack. I mean, it was a wonky-ass, weirdly acted mess of a story. But does that mean that you don't go to this movie and see amazing things happening on screen and come away feeling like, ah, that wasn't the worst time?

Sure. Sure. You can go there and have a great time and have fun with it. There are a couple of things that are going on in Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning that aren't working that I kind of don't understand. Number one, I don't understand why the movie is so weird. weirdly and poorly acted at times. Some of the,

some of the, the close-ups right in people's faces where they're being super duper earnest and it's almost as if they're parodying past movies. Like they're making fun of it. Some of the shit that happens is like, she's still what happened in hot shots. It doesn't feel like a very,

the past movies have been great because they felt kind of real and grounded, not real to the point that, I mean, they were grandiose, but the stakes felt real. How about that? In this movie, we're tracking down an unknown AI that can do everything

that's at the bottom of the ocean. It's just like, there's just certain scenes. Okay, then I'll turn it over to the Mint Boys. Perfect example of why the movie didn't work for me. I'll give you a perfect example of why it didn't really work for me. There's a scene where, Kittrich and Carrie Elways, who plays, I think, the director of the CIA or National Intelligence. They're all in a room, and they're explaining to him basically kind of what the entity is.

And people are talking, then they stop talking and then somebody else talks. And then they stop talking to somebody else. And they're going back and forth all around the room picking up where everybody left off. Now, I suspect that maybe they did that because these characters weren't really in the same room together when they shot this because of COVID. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. You know what I mean?

I suspect that's why they did this with these close-ups. But nobody fucking talks like that. Like nobody, they would have had to have, like, choreographed, all of that. And, like, a lot of stuff in the movie just doesn't really work for me because it's too weird. I'm like, what's going on here?

Like, why is this happening like this? It was just, it just, some of the plots, it just didn't really work for me. Me and Steve had a couple of laughs in the movie. Jomi, go ahead. Give me the bad news. I can't believe I'm saying this. But then Lathen, Jr., you don't know ball.

Wow. I'm sorry. No. I'm so sorry. Don't listen to him. Go get him. Go get him, Joan. This movie was incredible from the moment that it

picks up, you're like, oh, snap, I'm locked in. Listen, I mentioned, I was just in Vegas the night before, man. I was going to bed at 4 a.m. each night going out, having a good time. I show up to this thing. We're starting at like midnight. I'm like, I'm going to fall asleep, right? I haven't got a good night of sleep in three days. I'm cooked.

I was locked in from the jump. This movie had action, had, you know, emotion. I was in that thing like wow they just keep they just keep getting better this piece of possible movies keep getting better

Tom Cruise that's my guy okay when I go into a Tom Cruise movie I'll know I'm gonna be entertained and he did it again this movie I don't know what

movie y'all was watching that must have been a separate theater to me that's the only way I can explain it this movie was a banger from beginning to end I can't wait for the sequel baby, locked me in, put me in a frozen box

and let me unrest until June 28th, 2024. So I can see this movie see the sequel immediately. I'm ready. Let's go. Let's go. I don't like to like qualify the fact that I can be a fan of something or like to justify me liking or loving something.

But I really need to say that I love the Mission Impossible movies. So when I say that I was deterrent- to like this. Get to it. I was determined to fucking like this. And this is nothing but problems for me. There you go. This gave me nothing but like eye rolls and confusion

spectacle for only spectacle's sake. And I can only judge it on the curve the Mission Impossible gives us where I can think of every single thing in this movie and nothing in it is as good as anything that was from anything pride that I can think of. It's poorly shot. Come on.

It's poorly shot. Dialogs all over the place. The plot is absolute gobbledygook. There's tech jargon everywhere. There's no real villain to actually talk to. We got multiple fridgings. We have an insane amount of like continuity shots where like clearly the problems of this movie,

I don't want to lay entirely at COVID's feet, but I feel like I want to lay it at Tom Cruise's feet where he brute forces this movie through like three different shutdowns. all the way to make sure that it happens on time or the way that it is, this feels like, if you told me that the Hollywood writer's strike

was going on when this movie was shot, I'd believe it because none of this makes sense. I will say this. Is this the best Mission Impossible movie? No. Does it crack the top three? No. But I want to be real.

The cap on this motherfucking app today. Because I have had to be with y'all for three fucking weeks being like, nah, secret invasion. Now that's pretty good. It's getting there. this is some real good spy shit. And the minute we get,

we get Mission Impossible Dead reckoning, y'all are like, the plot don't make sense. Like, all right, cool. Who fucking cares? Tom Cruise jumps off a fucking mountain. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. And he shoots into a train, bro.

Like, what are we doing here? Hold on for a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. The plot of Secret Invasion makes sense. It's just not great. Yeah.

It's boring. It's boring. So the plot of it makes sense. This is a film that sets an unbelievably high-stakes adventure around a lot of things that narratively don't really fit together.

I'm just being for real. But could I, I could make the argument? Because having watched all of the Mission Impossible movies chronologically very, very recently, I think we let nostalgia cloud our judgment about the films in terms of

these movies have always been kooky. These movies have always had a very... We're not above that. We're not above silly spy shit here. I know. But by the way, let me say something. The very first Mission Impossible movie is about the fate of all the agents across the world, right? In a knock list that Phelps has sold out the IMF to get out into the open to sell it. Ethan tries to understand what the list is about.

There's a fake list. He knows it's fake. so he goes to get the real list for Max and then once he gets the real list there's a battle over the list that we know what the stakes are we know that all the ages across the world are across the world are going to have their covers blown

we know that Phelps is playing I mean it's kooky but it tracks what are the next six movies the fucking second Mission Impossible is about baleraphone or whatever the stupid virus is disease listen we're all we're not

We're not trying to act like the second one isn't the worst one here. I'm not here arguing that the entity, the AI of this all, like works, plot logically what, like logical wise. But I am here to say that like this is a spectacle movie where Tom Cruise promised us like, hey, you're going to come to this movie and you're going to see one of the greatest living actors or action heroes at least do some dope shit. And that has been the Mission Impossible movies. honestly, for what, the past

at least five, if we're going to be honest. Well, my thing is, I don't, I don't understand what y'all are talking about. I understood the movie. It made sense to me. Break it down, explain it all of it. It makes sense to me. Yeah, explain all of it, all of the movie right now. All right, so you have the, the stepping stool, right?

Is the ship under the water. We open with that, right? It's supposed to be like some undetectable, like by radar, ship that Super sub Resters using they get past all the things

right the entity gets in there right early entity goes in there tricks the sub and the firing on itself

right blows up boom they've got the key to the early search code of the entity right they go somewhere somewhere

somebody goes in there they get to half the key Elsa gets one half and the other half is had by we want to say

what's his name? Gabriel? No. Not Gabriel. The lady, the white widow. Yeah, white widow. Right. They need to rejoin the haves.

Right. The governments are like, hold on. If one of us could get this, this could be something that we could use to just like take over the world, basically. They'd be the most powerful country in the world. You'd be the most powerful country in the world, right? I get all of that. Who is Gabriel?

Who is Gabriel working with? If the entity is at the bottom of the ocean in the submarine, is the entity functional? It seems to be functional. Also, if the entity is this smart, can't it just betray any country that it wants? No, here's the thing. The entity or the AI is functional,

and the problem is that the entity is getting its hands in every single technology. So, like, the entity is spreading. So, yes, if they want to shut down the entity, they need a physical key to go down and like fucking like unlock it. But even if they like before that, the reason that they can't use a bunch of technology is because the AI is art and its algorithm are already getting into all of the IMF shit, all of the other like state secrets and shit like that. Here's the thing.

I'm not saying like I just convoluted. It's very convoluted. It's very convoluted. But this is not the first convoluted Mission Impossible movie. I would say though I would say it's the most. Whoa, whoa. Mission Impossible 2. still exists. Let's be like, come on. Okay, great. So the second worst one,

this one. No, no, no, no. My point is not necessarily even that the plot is convoluted. And my point is not even necessarily that the plot is hard to understand. My point is that the threads to the plot, like they don't hold up to scrutiny and to kinetic dramatic energy to me. It seems that sometimes the entity is the antagonist and then sometimes it seems like the entity was what needed to be rescued.

You know, so when Okay, look, look there, so listen, the entity is against them, right? The entity is stopping them. So when Ethan is when Ethan is chasing

Gabriel. The entity is giving Ethan the wrong directions. Correct? The entity takes over the... You know what I'm talking about? Yes. And he can take over the voice in everybody.

So Ethan is hearing who he thinks is Benji when it is really the entity. And that's what I meant by the entity is already infecting all of this technology. So the entity is already sentient then. It's already sentient, right? Yes. And the entity

is working with Gabriel. It's talking through Gabriel because it needs a physical body to do a bunch of shit that it cannot do because it does not have a physical body. So then Gabriel needs the key to the entity for what purpose?

So that it doesn't get destroyed. So that essentially the entity can keep existing because the key is the only thing that can destroy the entity. No, the key is not the only thing that can destroy it. Ethan Hunt is the only thing that can destroy. And that's why He brings Gabriel because he and Gabriel, you see through kind of flashbacks.

You don't get a full explanation. But he and Gabriel have beef from way back pre-IMF. Yeah, because for some dumb fucking reason, he killed a lady that doesn't have any lines and doesn't have anything that Steve, shut the fuck up. Steve, I wish you had this energy for secret invasion. I really, really do. I really, really do, bro.

Secret invasion doesn't have energy for secret invasion. In some past life, Gabriel shot somebody. that was met something to Tom Cruise. And Gabriel was like, bet, cool, that's my op. So when the entity needed somebody who was like, listen, I mean, Ving Rames literally pointed out, I was like, dude, the only reason Gabriel's here is because he, the entity knows that you're the only one that can stop.

You're the only one who's going to destroy it, right? It's done all the computations. It's done all the math. Y'all weren't listening. Here's the thing. Y'all acting like I'm arguing. We're not. Here's the thing.

Dead reckoning is dumb. as shit. This movie's plot is dumb as shit. It's also dope as hell to watch. No, no, no, no shots to the idea of all the things. If there's a big bad computer and we got to shut off the big bad computer before it destroys the world, that's fine. All of the things that are setting up with this, all the scaffolding underneath this plot sucks. It's really bad. I'm not locked. It's all right. It's okay. Some people don't know about some people are like, is LeBron James going to be the greatest player of all time? People are like, now you're not going to do it, bro. You got no, you're not outside.

He's not. He's not, but that's okay. That's our, look, okay, look, we all got our shit out. I will say that points were made by everybody here. I didn't enjoy the movie as much as you guys did. I thought the movie was kind of all over the place, but it does have somebody that we agree is doing this thing right now, and that is Tom Cruise, okay? He is the M-T-E-E-E-E.

The Movie Theater Messiah. I personally think that this movie would be received even a little bit different if Top Gun Maverick hadn't existed. I think a lot of this film is riding on the vapors of Top Gun Maverick. People love it so much. But having said that, the question is, how does Tom do as Ethan Hunt in this movie? And my answer to that question is, he was great.

Ethan Hunt's character is not my problem in this movie. He looks as dynamic as ever. He looks as invested as ever. Even at the age, he's been playing the character for around 30 years. It still seems to me that Ethan Hunt is the baddest-ass spy that I've seen on film. And that includes you guys' friend from across the water. Wait, you're saying Ethan Hunt is a badder spy than James Bond? Yep. Disagreges.

I've always believed it. Let him cook. Let him cook. I've always believed it. Yep. Ethan Hunt as surpassed James Bond to me. All right. All right. He's the number one spy. I'll be honest with you. I'll talk to him. I'll be honest with you.

Ethan, like, Ethan Hunt, Ethan Hunt to me is, has, he just does, he's, he goes up against tougher shit. I mean, James Bond really charms his way out of a lot of his problems. Ethan Hunt is Eva Knievel with the CIA day pass, which is cool, which is cool, but he's not James Bond. Like, let's be... Ethan Hunt's the best spy to stand on an Apple box. You and his box. Do you guys still believe in Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt?

I do. Like, here's the thing. Tom, there is not, besides probably Keanu, I don't think that there is an, an, action hero alive still, who can will this type of movie across the finish line through sheer force of charisma than someone like Tom Cruise. Like, there were multiple points during this movie where I'm just like, this man is electric. And that's what, like, this is actually what we need more of from our action heroes, where I'm like, to your guy's point, I will concede to Van C's point, a lot of this movie, a lot of the scaffolding of it is a little bit Ricky.

But that's why you have a Tom Cruise to come in and be like, dog, it's. does not matter. I'm fucking Tom Cruise. Watch me cook. And that is the thing where I'm like, when I walk out of the theater, I'm like, this is why we go to the movies to see people like this on fucking screen. So even if the movie has some skinny legs, you're saying that the core of it is so strong because of Tom Cruise. And he's shown that movie stars can still walk product across the finish line if you just give them the chance. That's actually a fantastic and insightful point. I mean, I will, like, I'm jumping a little bit,

but I actually felt away when I saw Tom Cruise and Haley Atwell on screen together. The chemistry they had, the laughs, the way they made me feel. I was just like, no, this is like, they're cooking. And like, why are you shaking your head, Steve? I, because I don't believe it. I don't believe it for a second. Wait, no, no, Steve, you didn't like Haley Atwell in this film?

No, Haley Atwell is fine. Ailey Aitwell was great. She didn't have much to do other than look at Tom Cruise and be like, and that's it. But I'm not above these being, okay, ever since Mission Impossible 4, these movies have more or less been an extension of Tom Cruise's ego and his influence

over the movie industry, period. And that's been fun. It's starting to really wear thin when all you have to do is just like, look at a woman and be like, oh, come on the thing. Like, there's no believable actual juice that this guy has been carrying through this movie that I actually think that like, I'm like,

oh no, no, this is just up here. This isn't Ethan Hunt. This is a, no, no, no, stop. When him and Haley are are handcuffed together in that car, you're telling me, you felt nothing that entire chase, Steve. That's the best scene in the movie. It's a fine, it's a fine. It's a fine. That's the thing. That's the best scene in the movie. No, it is. It is. But it doesn't, but it's not good because they're in it. It's because it's a well-conceived action scene. The chemistry. The chemistry is palpable, that entire scene between. Those are two movie stars with chemistry that you do not see on screens anymore. I disagree.

He's just talking. So can I be real? I am, this is breathtaking action here from the Midnight Boys to watch Steve in the Charles seat and Charles in the Steve's seat. Yeah. This is breathtaking action from the Midnight. I never thought I would see this type of white on white crime on the Midnight Boys, you know. Jomey, obviously you're fucking with Tom Cruise.

He's still a guy at the MTM, right? Not only am I still messing with him. I only is the MTM. My personal goat, action films. When I'm locked in, when I'm like, man, I want to see some real shit. I'm like, turn on the Tom. What's Tom Cruise doing?

Y'all acting like we didn't just see John Wick this year. Over Keanu? It's a thing. It's a thing, right? Action movie for action movie? It's a thing. Right. this thing, right?

I said my personal go. Personally. My personal goal. Okay. I'm not going to sit here and act like. He realizes the error in a way. No, no, hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. Hold on. Okay. Between the Matrix, okay, between all four John Wick movies, all right. If I'm, if I'm like, hey, I want to go see an action movie, like my personal, like, I love spy movies. I love heist movies. Like, those are my shit, right?

And so, Mission Impossible, spy, like, kind of in the heisting. The action in John Wick is incredible, obviously. But when I'm like, hey, man, I want to see some action. Oh, we got spy and heist's elements. Lock me in with Mission Impossible. Lock me in with Ethan Hunt. That's my personal preference. Okay.

One, like, 1A, 1B, 1, 2. Those are the guys. Me, I'm Mark with Ethan Hunt. Marker with Tom Cruise every day and a week, twice on Sundays. You forgot. I mean, you might be too young, but Keanu Reeves also has speed and point break as well.

Yeah. I see point break. I don't sell shit out. You watch speed. No, I think here's the thing. Would you say really quick before we derail, would you take, I would take Keanu's

action movies over Tom's. I would take Tom's filmography potentially over Keanu's. Well, I mean, yeah, Keanu Reeves, like. That's too wide of a, of a, gap to compare. Well, I mean, they're different. Because look,

I would say, I could look at Tom Cruise in collateral and be like, that's not an action. That's not an actual movie, but that's a badass action character. You know what I mean? So, like, yeah, Tom Cruise has done different things in his career. And both

of these guys have had some lulls. I guess the difference is Keanu Reeves didn't have the single-minded dedication to one franchise as Tom Cruise has for Ethan Hunt for the last 30 years. Also, to be fair, I think the Matrix kind of fucked Keanu a little bit in terms of just like, what do you make that type of monumental movie?

It's very, very hard. Like, people are always going to be comparing you to that post, whatever you do. But he came back with John Wick, yeah. Yeah, and he came back, but it took him a while. That's not a Keanu problem. That's more of a like, when you have a singular movie like that. Also, I liked Night and Day and the first drag feature. So, like, yeah, I'm deep in it.

You like Nighting Day and what? And Jack, the first Jack Reacher. I mean, look, Tom has other movies too. Jack Reacher, he has Edge of Tomorrow. He has Top Gun Maverick. I mean, these guys are, look, if you were going to compare best action stars, I wouldn't even, to me, it wouldn't even be between Tom Cruise and- A little older?

And Keanu Reeves. Some older guys that are in there. You guys, all right, really quick. Pantheon, top three, then go. So you just cannot not mention Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of course. Yes. It's like nuts.

If you look at the greatest action stars of all time, I still don't think that Tom Cruise or Keanu Reeves has reached Arnold Schwarzenegger's level. But, you know, there are other guys that you could throw in there. Can you throw Harrison Ford in there? Hell yeah. You can you? So there's guys, I'd say it's. I'd throw Will.

I'd throw Will Smith. People like. Will in there? A lot of these guys are putting in Jackie Chan. See, this is what we should do. This is what we should do. We should do a whole show. We should do a host.

Because look, Jackie Chan and then- Is he martial arts or action? Yeah. It's the same, right? It's just the same, but I can go even further, right? Do you throw in, I mean, he's not going to be on these levels. We should do this. Do you throw in Donny Young?

You know what I mean? Oh, hell yeah. So, yeah, all these guys. So to me, I look- We should have an action movie. We should have an action-star draft. We should have an action star draft. That's what I was about to say.

We should have action. With the end of the back pocket. Let's move it on. Okay, let's get off of Tom Cruise for a second. I thought that Tom Cruise still brought it in this movie. I do not. I cannot say that the other characters in the same way did. I'll be honest with you.

Ving Rames saying those lines. It's tough for Ving. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't hate on a black man collecting the check. Every single time I see Ving Rames in these movies, I'm like, he does less and less, but I love seeing him more. bro literally like pieces out right at the end he's out in the middle he's just like all right he's just like not two days on the set are done i'll see y'all on the next so this is what i'm

gonna do because steve brought up ving rames first i'm gonna agree with steve and still give him a transatlantic slave point that's fine yeah you still gotta have one plus plus the chocolate thing that you did on twitter the chocolate cartel so cario guy pointing the gun and you're talking about like he was pointed at chocolate people. I don't know. It's a Transatlant Slee point. It was going to have. Watch the Wonka trailer. It's stupid. Okay. Every outfit starts with a choice.

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with our consumer protection tools. We'll get to Ving Raines in a second. Haley Atwell. You know? First team all white girl. Yeah, bro. First of all, you're acting like you haven't seen Captain America. So look, so look, let's be honest.

So this is the thing about when we're talking about Captain America and all of that stuff. I don't like characters like that. I don't like, I don't like those types of characters. You don't want strong women characters? That's not what I said.

That's what he was saying. What can you say about Peggy Carter other than that? That's not what I said. That's not what I said. Okay, see, here we go, Steve. With the woke bullshit. I'm running high right now. No, Steve is on one this episode.

I love it, bro. I didn't say that. I felt like in the first Captain America movie, they kind of used her as an all, a plot device that was more for Steve than her own movie. It was like she saw something in Steve, so she must be cool. Then she got all hot and bothered after Steve.

It wasn't enough about her. I never watched Agent Carter. I never watched Agent Carter. And that's fine. It's his movie. It's fine. In this movie, she had a little wink and a nod,

sexiness. She had a little, you know what I'm saying? A little, and it was, I was feeling her in a different way. And I'll tell you something else. Besides my slightly,

misogynist lusting after her while she was in the film, I felt like she delivered a charismatic, vulnerable, yet strong performance, even though her character didn't really fit in the film

in any way. It seemed like she was shoehorned into the movie for no reason, literally, just to have somebody a younger woman make Google eyes of Tom Cruise. Cuddle up to

after they killed Elsa off in the movie. And even in this- fucking stupid. And despite all of that, I still thought Haley Atwell was a great bright spot and a good addition to the film. Here's the thing.

We need to talk about it killing Elsa. I'm not, here's the thing. That is a forging moment. That was the part of the movie where I was just like, you guys need to fucking chill. There are three, by the way. But I think that Haley

has way more chemistry with Tom Cruise than Rebecca Ferguson. If we're going to be real. I think her chemistry with Tom is off the charts in a way. It's a different character. It's a different vibe. Rebecca Ferguson gave us something way different from Rogue Nation and Fallout.

If we're being real, though, they never knew what they wanted to do with the Elsa character at all. I don't blame that on Rebecca Ferguson's performance, though. I'm not saying it's her fault. But I think Charles got a point. I haven't really thought about it too hard. But if you go back, you watch Rogue Nation, you go, you watch Fallout. It's cool. They get along, but there's a magnetism between Haley, Atwell, and Tom Cruise that Rebecca

Ferguson have, like, just frankly, you know. I think that Haley Atwell is carrying the charisma in that connection rather than, like, Tom Cruise's old sunglasses face just being like, you need to come with me. I'm sorry, Steve, the fact that you felt nothing when they kept switching seats as she's driving and then he's driving and all that shit. Like, dog, come on. this is breaking my heart. It was a good scene.

Not locked in. You're not locked in. It's all right. It's cool. Missing out on special cinema right here, man. Missing out, we all saw the movie together. We all saw. Nah, nah, but you're not on the same level.

We're not on the same level. It's okay. Steve wasn't really watching like that, though. No, Steve was in. Steve was incredulous. You and me were both incredulous, man. We were struggling with this movie at some point. The key was the dumbest part of the whole movie.

When Ving Rames holds up the key, and he's like, this key can look. anything. I was just like, all right, man. Like, the key stuff when they were doing like the hand magic. No, that's so, you know, you see me? That was dope as hell, man. That was dope as hell, man.

Oh, God, y'all. Oh, God. Come on, bro. Come on, bro. Come on, bro. You don't like magic? Come on, bro. The slide of hand. This is something, now you see me shit. Come on. I'm just saying, the movie kind of started to, I know that's a callback.

But think about the difference between the two scenes. Do you guys remember the scene between Tom Cruise and John Reno and the first one where he was doing the sleight of hand? Do you remember the scene? Wait, which one? The first one. Wait, the movie is that?

So this is a Mission Impossible one. Okay. Where he's got the knock list and he's got the disc and Jean Renaud's character. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I remember. He's like fucking with him. Krieger thinks that he has the real one. But then Ethan is like

nah, this is the real one. And then he starts doing a slight of hand with it. And then he walks over to him and boom, boom. And it turns out that Krieger had the real one the entire time. Like, that's a scene where the magic, the little whole thing,

it's part of Ethan's skill as a spy because he's playing a mental game with the guy to make him give up the actual asset that he has in his hand. And there is zero of that in this movie, by the way. Zero of it. And guess what?

That's the, like, if we think, we're thinking about this movie as like a bridge between what's the next action scene, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, next action scene. If we want to boil it down to just that, all of this series has done that better, except to. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I got to be real, y'all. The past two Mission Impossible movies have been cool, but they've been on this track for a while now. Like these movies have become stunt pieces. Honestly, since I would say like Mission Impossible 3, the only difference is like Ghost Protocol just does it

at such a different level in terms of the stunts that you don't really see it. But like this is what happens to the 7th, the 6th, 7th, 8th movie in an action franchise. You forget the Ghost Protocol also had a great scene where they're just trying to get down a hallway in silence. And they're also trying to like deceive a buyer with like printers in.

their eyes to like authenticate nuclear codes in a different briefcase. So I'm going to say something. I don't want to everybody get pissed off. This movie to me, and we have to get back on track with talking about the non-crues stuff. But what I'm trying to say is this movie to me was the first time that these films veered more towards the Fast and the Furious franchise than they did to the Mississippi. Because it is. Yes.

Because it's like the Fast and the Furious, you're not going there to hear Ving Rames, Ving Rames, to see here Vin Diesel say, we imagine. Ving Rames is Vinson would be nuts. Can you imagine, bro? As Dominic Torreto, bro. That's what they should do. They should do the Fast and the Fury is multiverse. That would be so hard, bro.

When they do variants and Ving Rames is actually Dominic Toreto. It's an all black. Social Club had. Oh, my God, bro. Think about it. Think about all black fast and the furious cast. Can you imagine Tyrese and Bing Rames in the same room, bro? Oh, my goodness.

Except in this one, by the way, guys, I know that Van Diesel is black. Okay? I'm just saying somebody who looks like a nigga. So, like, it is so, so. You know what I'm saying? I'm saying, like, think about this. Think about if they did all black people. And then you cast Tyrese's part.

and you make those people white. That would be so hilarious. Wait, who's the white version of Tyrese? We have to, we have to put more thought into it. I think who is the white Tyrese is a great question. Like, who is the white Tyrese? Think about it. Who is the white Tyrese?

A singer who became, who's also an actor in this? Because you're saying it's Justin Timberlake. Is Josh Dumel the white Tyrese? Oh, yes. Josh Dumel is the white Tyrese. Is Josh Dumel? Yeah. Wow.

Yeah. That is a perfect. We have to think about it. Think about who the white Tyrese is. Okay. Does the entity work as a villain? No. Steve.

Hard no. Not enough. I want to hear from Jome. I want to hear from Jomey real quick. It absolutely works as a villain. Okay. You guys have to pay attention to it again. You can explain it.

I don't have to go back and explain it again. Okay. Entity. Right? It's like, listen. Ethan Hunter is going to destroy me. Gabriel, I need you help, pal. Kill him.

You know, and he gets Paris and I think it works. I think as a, as, I'm going to say to MacGuffin, because they're not going to get the entity. The key, I think the key is the MacGuffin. Yeah. But as is, you know, hey, I'm going to kill you if you don't kill me. I think it works. I think it's fine.

I'm not, I'm not here for all that. Wait, but can I be real? The Mission of Possible movies for a while now, even going back to like Mission of Possible three, these movies ain't know what they've wanted to do with like the McGuffin or the secret fucking object for a while now. Because like JJ Abrams in three is just like, yeah, it's not important. We're never going to figure it out.

And then like the next three movies are like, we have to defuse a bomb again. But this time, we can't diffuse the bomb while it's going off. Like if we're going to be real, these movies have like yada yadaed a lot of the things that they either have to steal or they're going. up against. Like, what was the last good villain in a Mission of Possible movie? Phillips and Morphan. Yeah, they had Phillips Seymor Hoffman than that bitch.

Now, that was the best. No, what's his name from? That was how many, those four movies ago? Yeah, no, but that was the best one. But I think most of the villains have been pretty good, to be honest. Yeah, most of them have been fine. But if you want a yada yada, this is the yada-ist of the yada with what we can just jargon away what a villain's motivation can be because we

need the like human surrogate zealot who believes in AI to have some sort of personal vendetta against Ethan again you're not locked only to just serve the entity anyway you're not like that he doesn't give like the AI is yes like he's there for the AI but he's really there because we and Ethan got beef but when they talk about it it's I okay so it's either Ultron or it's just Twitter what is the entity is it just the perception of started on social media which of course they didn't give a shit about, right? But then they started getting into banks and the governments, and that becomes a problem, right?

And then they're like, yo, so how do we get to it? And then, you know, we have that conversation in the office. The keys, we've already explained that. Again, the Gabriel thing, you understand this, understand this. It's not much about being a zealot for the entity, as much as it is. You put me on a path with Ethan Hunt. I'm going to get my leg back.

That's really what it. That's really what it's about. Also, I love that our human villain will just tell every woman in Ethan Hunt's life, you know, he's going to fridge you, right? And they're like, all right, here. He's actually kind of right. We get on this podcast every fucking week and we see, like, oh, man, this shit is so meta. Oh, my God.

Look, like, they're talking to us. Here's the thing. Tom Cruise, make an entire movie where he has to fight an algorithm. And Tom Cruise ending up being right after all these years being like, hey, movie theaters are still important, streaming's bullshit. Like, this is a victory lap. This is, like, that's type of propaganda.

Like, Tom Cruise trying to punch an algorithm is super fucking dope. Like, come on. You know? I thought it was interesting in the midst of all the AI stuff that's going on to see him actually fighting against an AI that is all-powerful and has limitless reach. I just thought that not having a form. kind of didn't let the villain have much of a function. If it was literally a robot,

if it was Ultron, I'd believe it more. Oh, wow. That's interesting. You want robots? That's not true. That's not true. That's not true. Steve, you would be the first one. You would be that movie bad. You'd be bad as hell.

I don't want like some of circular eye. By the way, I talked to Joanna Robinson for like an hour or two about this. According to her, don't throw Joe in this down on your own two feet. Well, only because of the fact that, like, I haven't seen Westworld season. three and this is exactly the villain role in Westworld season three. Man.

What's the best stunt in the movie? It got to be the train. The train shit was dope as hell. Like, it's a rip off of Uncharted 2. No. Nah, I love the train scene when like, Steve, I've had it up to here with you this entire episode, okay? Because every single, like, dog, you're positive about every mid shit that ever comes out.

And we finally get some dope ass bringing the theaters back shit and you, Hayton. Man. So let me say this about the train. The train to me was kind of indicative of some of my problems with the movie. The train was cool, but it went on for a comically long time. Like a comically long time. They jumped through like four cars.

And it started to be a situation to where if you were doing a spoof or a satire of a film that had an extra long, drawn out action piece, that's what you. you would do. You would do this weird thing to where the train falls and then all of the things are going. And then the fucking grease is getting all over the floor. So now it's slippery and they can't get through there. Then after the grease is slept on the floor, then the fucking gas thing gets hit. Then the fire from the motherfucking punk ass range ignites the gas. And now it's going to blow up.

And then after that, they're stuck having the jump. It's just like it was so much. to where at a point I kind of just started to kind of laugh a little bit I'm like, for real did. But that's why it was great. When he jumps off the mountain

and like the villain is talking and he parachutes through the fucking window, that was one of the funniest things I've seen all year. That was funny. That was funny. Sure. But it's the fact that like

it felt like an airplane spoof. It felt like final destination by way of like airplane. It was so unnecessary. When the piano, coming. He's telling her to jump and you know the piano's coming. Yeah. Nothing to you. Come on, man. Come on. That was so. You're not serious.

Uncharted to. You're not serious. Uncharted too. I will say though, like, if we talked about the stuff of the movie, we got to stop putting people on train, on top of trains, man. That's not how that works. We know that's not how that works. Physics, we took physics classes, guys. And it's like they're talking like we're talking right now on a speeding train. I mean, movie, I mean, movies has done this for thousands of you. We saw it in the skyfall. We saw it in Wolverine. Like, you know, like people just get on things to start talking. Can't be real?

And the thing about that is they did it right in the first movie with the train blowing Ethan all around. Yeah. And in this one, they were just like, it doesn't. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Ethan. Ethan specs have doubled since Mission Impossible one. He don't, he likes wind? He got, he got Maglev boots. He's got wind resistance.

He's wearing some, like, wind resistance. Yeah, he got maglev boots. This motherfucker like at a dirt bike It jumps off a fucking cliff Like that's not how parachutes work bro Like come on He went into the window of a train He'd be pasted

What are we ought about? Can I say something though? Like the car chase was great The car chase was fantastic I loved the car chase. So good. So good. So good.

But also the action set pieces at the beginning of this movie where they were fighting in the desert was beautiful. Yeah. That's, like, that was really, so there are things about the movie that worked. I just feel like the movie was drugged down

by some of the absurdness of the entire thing. And we haven't even talked about Palm's character in the movie. She was so cool. She was really super cool and then just gets betrayed for no reason.

Nope, there's a reason. That's not a fucking reason. Said it in the movie. He said it in the movie. It's not a good. He's in. Okay. All right, bro.

He spared your life so in the future, you could betray me, and he starts to kill her. What the fuck? That makes no sense, Jummi. Jami, that doesn't make any sense. The algorithm told him, right, did all the permutations, and was like, he spared your life. You're going to betray me. I got to kill you. Right.

Right. Ultimately, then succeed. Shout out, we're going to see her in eight. Woo, we won. Well, yeah. What's the problem? He's been doing that the whole movie. Now, she's going to join the team now.

So wait, is this movie, is this movie stealth? Oh, I remember stealth. You remember stealth? You saw that because of Jessica Bill, you freak. I know. I see. You think I don't know. Wait, wait, wait, wait.

You think I don't know. See, y'all, I'm too old. Play the drop. Play the drop. Play the drop. Man is old. See, y'all think I don't remember. I know why people went to see this movie.

Fucking terrible, by the way. I know why people you went to see because Jessica Bill, you freaky bastard. You was watching Seven Heaven. Just thinking, I can't wait until she finds her maturity. A little freak. All right. I'll say one thing, though. I'll say one thing I didn't like about the movie.

Okay, go ahead, John. Oh, this is fun. They did the close-up camera, Dutch angle thing too much. That's the COVID of it all. That's got to be COVID. They was in their faces a lot. And the eyelines don't match up. All right.

Here's the thing, too. Big Rames is over here. Tom Cruise is over here. That's the one thing. There's a thing. It's a COVID movie. Like, there has to be a little bit of like... The Batman was shot during COVID. Wait a minute. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

Fuck out of here. You haven't given any COVID exceptions to any of the marvels. Yeah. Like, you haven't... The Batman was shot during COVID. Wait, you haven't been any over-shot during COVID. That's why. They've had to switch up whole fucking plots. The MCU was cooked long before COVID.

So, you know what I'm saying? That's not true. That's not true. Statistically and fundamentally not true at all. Just mathematically not true. If we're being real, after endgame, we should have all been like, yeah. Bro. No, it's not true.

The second Spidey movie wasn't great. Like I can finally say that was not great. Remember in the theater, I was just like, ugh. Don't Chi, not great. Black Widow, not great. Like, come on. We're getting it all off today. Come on.

Yeah, but you're jumping over shit. Wanda Vision was the first Disney Plus show. That was great. Wondavision wasn't great? I don't fuck with Wanda Vision like that. We've been through this. I've done this take on the pod before. Like, see what Kitridge and Ethan works, like, all right, they're close quarters.

But then it happens again and again. Brug. Again, I'm like, yeah. The guy playing Kittrich forgot how to play Kittrich. He was not good in this. There's some wonky performances in this movie. He was being so weird. I did like Vanessa Kirby, the White Widow,

pretending to be Haley Atwell, pretending to be her. That was a very fun scene of like trying to like pretend to be somebody else, even though that like clearly like her big blue eyes are now big blue brown eyes that like are the biggest tell ever. I thought that was very fun. You got Nikki L. For us, so I mean, you just... That's how I know Steve is a real-ass hater.

He's talking about the white widow. I forgot she was in this fucking movie. Like, come on, Steve. Can we talk about the top three Mission Impossible movies real quick? Give it to me, Chuck. All right. Hmm.

I got to go Ghost Protocol number one. Yeah. I'm going to go Mission Impossible three, number two, and the OG Mission Impossible Number three. I have the exact same list. That's weird.

Wow. I have the exact same list. I could almost switch two and three. I was going to, but I have the exact same list. That's exactly what that's exactly what happened. I mean, I think mission,

the first mission impossible is like the classic. But when like rewatching them, I'm like, I just, I don't know, like mission impossible three is. That's a special fucking film. I think Ghost Protocol is my number one too.

Okay. So go, so go do yours, Steve? Goes Protocol, the first Mission Impossible, and then three. What was what was going to be in three? What were you between?

It was between that and Fallout. Okay. Jomey. Top three. Rogue Nation won. Fallout 2. Mission Possible Dead Reckoning 3. No.

Joe me. It's there with four. Be serious. That's so wrong. Be serious. But no, no, five, five, I love five. You're not going to talk me all five. Ghost Protocol is almost like a perfect.

film. Like watching that, I was just like this, like, they should have stopped. I like five and six better. I definitely like five and six better. And I think that Reckoning... I love Ghost Protocol. I like, I think Reckoning Ghost Protocol on like the same level of it. I think the only thing wrong with Ghost Protocol is that it, after the Burge

Caliphah, it runs out of steam. Yeah, they spent all their money on that. So they were like, we don't keep it, we don't keep it real tight. It's like an hour 45 of perfection. And then we're like, all right, we got us just finish this movie. Yeah, I still think the climbing up the fucking the outside of the shit is like my favorite stunt in this whole.

It's amazing. No Role, no, uh, Rogue Nation fans? That's me. That's my number one. Oh,

you just said that. It's okay. I love it. Mission Impossible too. Y'all hate on that a little too much. That movie, like, there's some good points in that movie.

That movie was an abject failure. That movie put me to sleep every time. No, thanks the question, though. Where does Dead Reckoning fall? All the McCory films to me are like, interchangeable. so it's whatever.

I don't care. I'll say something right now. This movie is doing gangbusters right now. The $7 million in previews, it's probably going to open. Falkin. Huge. Give us the numbers.

What are the first week? First week numbers. Do you have domestic and international? I would say 120 domestic? Oh, I was going to say close to like 90, 995. I was going to say like 115.

120 domestic, I'd say. Okay, international? 270, 300? Tracking is 90 to 100 domestic right now. Midnight meter. Midnight meter time. Okay. You guys, this is the midnight meter so that people know.

The midnight meter is a ranking of this movie. 1, 2, 10. 11 and 12 are bonus rankings. 11 being a movie that is just better than a 10, a singular achievement, 12 being a game-changing film. Okay. My Midnight ranking meter for this movie is a 7. Okay. Charles?

I'm going to give this movie, I'm going to give it an 8. I'm going to give it a very, very solid 8. Jome Skittle. I'm going to give it. I'm going to give it a nine. You'll give it a nine. All the stuff that y'all didn't like work for me. And yeah, I went out of this movie going like,

let's lock me in, bro. There's the next one. I love this thing, man. Moment of truth. This is a six. See, no, no, no, you just, you're not. You don't believe it. I'm going to have a lot of fun at the end of the year.

You don't have a lot of fun. I'm going to be moving my flash ranking for sure. What did you give the flash? I gave it a six. Come on now. I can't take y'all seriously, bro. This is why I can't take y'all seriously on this fucking pod. Really?

Really? The flash was unwatchable. While moving that, I'm going to be mulliganing the flash for sure. How many times have you seen the flash since you first watched it? Zero. So how the fuck you know you're going to be mulligan in the movie? When it comes out on Max,

when everybody else is going to see it, I'm going to probably be revisited from the end of the year. And you're pre, and you're saying right now, based upon what you're thinking, you're going to pre, you're calling a pre-Mulligan. Yes. Yes. Nah.

Because of course I can't rank this Mission Impossible and the Flash the same number. Why? You did. Why? You did. Stand on, Steve. Why? Hold on.

Wait. What the fuck? What's so sacred about Mission Impossible that it can't be a six? If it's a six, it's a six. No, of course it can be a six. I'm keeping it a six. I know Sean that if he just sent the text to Steve. I'm saying the flash is going low.

That's like watching. See, Steve is, this is, this is, we have to have way too much dip on the chip. We have to have, first of all, we are going to do two things. Number one, we're going to do a quick video primer for you guys about what all of the jargon in the midnight universe, the midnight verse means. Okay. I don't want to say the ringer verse, guys, I'm not trying to separate us from either of the pause. I'm saying we have our own specific speak. Our own language, yes.

Yeah, and so we're going to do a primer for some of you guys that might have been, haven't been around since the beginning, just so you'll know what we might be saying when it's a deep shadow protocol or a transatlantic slave point or transgression. Stop the cap. All of those things. Like what all of that stuff mean? We're going to be doing a primer for you guys. And during that, we'll probably explain a little bit more in depth what the midnight meter is

and all of that stuff like that. Shout out to the midnight meter Twitter account. But we also probably have to have a specific midnight meter episode to where or a segment to where we just discuss the midnight meter. I do feel like we have to clear the cachet of the midnight meter and just talk about it up a little bit. We got to. We do. And that's not because Steve thinks this movie is a six because he does. But it's because Steve feels like because he ranks this movie a six that,

that means that he has to rank the flash. He has to re-rank the flash lower. And I don't think all the movies are necessarily competing with one another. I don't think it has to work like that necessarily. This is what somebody who ranked Matrix Resurrection is the way they did with talk, if we being real. Well, that's the way we just need to have our old picks not haunt us like this. No, no, no, no. That y'all ain't real haters like that.

Sometimes you're wrong. I've been wrong about more things than I've been right, but I'm a real-ass hater, okay? I don't know that that's true. I don't know that that's true. I don't know that that's actually true. But what I would say is, I rank a movie for the way I rank a movie, right? And so I rank the Matrix Resurrections as an eight

because I like the movie and I watch it a lot. That doesn't mean that it's a, this movie right here that me and Steve did not enjoy has a 97% rating on Rod Tomatoes. People are going fucking nuts. So the reality is there are way more Jomies and Charles' than there are advancing Steve. It's just the way that they go.

else. So that consensus doesn't mean that it affects the way I enjoy the movie. That consensus just means that a lot of you fucking really liked it. There you go. I'm just going to say, when we do the midnight meter for secret invasion, Steve, I'm going to be watching, okay? Speaking of secret invasion, Charles, give us your mini manifest. Episode four, title Beloved, sees an extremist-powered Gaia wake up from her bullet wound and reconcile with her father, Palos, but apologizes for bringing her into this espionage life.

Meanwhile, his marriage with Priscilla dissolves after he hears of her secret meeting with Colonel Rody, who was a scroll, but we always knew he was. Gravick and a Skrull army attacked the president in Russia to continue their plan to start World War III. While Fury is successful in saving the president, it comes at the cost of losing Talos, was murdered by Gravick. That's your mini manifest. Okay. How are we feeling about this episode, Charles?

No, no, no, no, no. no I see I want to I want to give Steve orino the chance let him go first Steve how are you feeling about our other spy uh our spy content for for this week stuff stuff happened this week for sure yeah okay it's tough because the plot of this film on paper dictates something that should be a lot more exciting rowdy being a scroll should be the thing that's like the big emotional pay drop for you know, all these years. And we're like, all right, great, what else you got? We just kind of roll through with that. And like, we get a decent chase. We get a fine interaction with this Rody reveal. But again, we're, I'm desperate and clawing for something that could be a bit more compelling.

I agree with Steve. And all I always say is like, yo, I don't like being in this position, okay? I don't like being in the canary in the. content coal. Bullshit. I don't like it. That's a lie. But y'all, here's the thing.

Y'all know what happened. First episode, I'm like, I don't really know if they got it like that. You know, the shot is broken. I don't think it can make it to the league. Y'all are like, you're so negative. Dara. Everybody's like in my fucking mentions. You're a hater.

Blah. Second episode, third episode, wasn't shown it. Get to the fourth episode. What happens is the same as every single Disney plus show at this point? Like, yo, if it doesn't have it in the show, the first episode or the second. Like, there's nothing for us. And I think episode four is more of the same.

Like, the biggest reveal so far, that War Machine, a character that we've known for over a decade is a scroll, gets a shrug emoji from me. I'm like, oh, word, cool. Taylor's dies. And I'm like, who fucking cares? He was in Captain America the last time I gave shit about him. I don't care. That's a problem.

This show has a problem with death where it's like when a character dies. I'm like, what am I supposed to feel? This character has been on screen for a collective of 30. minutes. Like, that's a problem. So that's all I'll say until episode five. Okay, well, I don't disagree with the Taylor's death. I was shocked at just how much I didn't care

about Taylor's expiring on screen. I just got to be real with you about that. I think the roadie thing is an interesting development. And this kind of harkens back to both Wanda Vision and

and the Falcon and the Winter Soldier. we the roadie thing was spoiled by us we spoiled it for ourselves no we didn't spoil it they just telegraphed they telegraphed it maybe they telegraphed it or maybe we're so ravenous about every aspects of these shows that it's impossible for them to do something that we in some way won't see uh we we we knew that Jonathan Majors was coming at some point as King and Loki.

We had all but told ourselves other things that didn't pop up but we theorized them for so much like if Ree Richards would have popped up as the aerospace engineer in Wanda Vision, it would have been anticlimatic because we were sure that it was going to happen. It was almost a bigger story

that it didn't happen. And in this case, it would have been a bigger deal that Rodey wasn't a scroll, right? Especially after they gave us his voice at the end of their last episode. You know what I mean? So by the time the reveal came through that he was a scroll in this episode, it wasn't as interesting. Doesn't mean that it didn't work.

It just probably wasn't the, oh, my God, there are scrolls amongst us in the highest positions moment that we thought that it was going to be because we already kind of saw it coming. Did you care, though, emotionally? Like when it's revealed, were you just like, oh, man, like, Rody is a scroll? Or was it kind of like, oh, okay, sure. I didn't because I've already watched, like, hours of theory videos about if Rody was a scroll, when he would have turned into a scroll, when it would have been possible that he was a scroll.

I'm going back and I'm watching Captain America's Civil War. like, is it possible that Rodi's a scroll here, right? And I'm just looking at it, so I'm already prepared for it, you know? And that's kind of what this show is missing. If you're, if you're comparing it to why Secret Invasion worked in the comic books, the show is missing the

high leverage, high stakes pontificating about who might just be a scroll. And the Marvel, the MCU just doesn't have the storytelling history over the course of its

last 12 or 13 years to really make us believe that any of these characters could have been scrolls. So that's why they gave us Rody. And now we have to think about like when Rody was or was not a scroll. I will say this. I liked this episode. I thought it was cool. I thought to be honest with you, there's a scene between Fury and his wife when they're at the dinner table or the breakfast table. I like the scene. You didn't like that scene? Now, we can't attack the acting and dead reckoning because here's the thing. I agree. Some of it was a little off. The acting during that scene, I'm just like, yo, Samuel L. Jackson is just collecting a check. Like, shout out to my black uncle, like, get yours.

But I felt nothing. Like, there was parts where that scene was so bad. I was just like, wait, is he a scroll that was sent there to kill her? Because he's not acting like Nick Fury. That's how bad I thought the acting was. Well, I was just like, when he's like making tea, I was just like, wait, is he supposed to be a scroll in this moment? And I have to be honest, that's the first time. in the show that I felt some sense of tension

where I felt like they struck the right chord in that scene. In that scene, knowing that she, yeah, knowing that she had just gone and talked to, to Rody or Scroly, Scroly. And so knowing that she had just gone to work on it. Knowing that she had just gone to talk to him, that she had been given a kill order,

and she had to come back and that Nick knew, I thought that scene might have been even better if they didn't show us Nick listening to their conversation. And that's the little mistakes that the show is making. If we don't know that Nick knows in that situation,

if we don't know that he knows, right? And he comes back and he's talking to her, we're not sure what he's going to do. And then when he draws his gun, then we're kind of shocked and it kind of buoys his character even more. But we know he's going to do

something because we know that he knows. So, but in that case, I did enjoy it. I did enjoy it. A little bit too much, a little bit too long right there. I liked it this episode. I thought it was cool. I thought it was cool. You know, Guy I didn't care about. But I thought it was cool. I mean, this is facts.

Deliris still doing it for you? Cali. Not Guy sucks. I thought it was cool when I saw the super squirrelness of Gravit come out. And I saw, I thought that was cool. Yeah, but that scene looked like it was filmed on the volume. I was just like, this definitely I could tell was a TV budget.

You could only have so many soldiers. Like, I understand. Like, I think that's the problem where it's like, to your point, man, I'm not a fan of the Secret Invasion comic, but I remember reading it as a child. And it felt massive. Like, it felt like this was affecting every single Marvel character. This does not at all.

Like, I was just like, I was just watching the fight scene. And I was just like, y'all got like 20 extras here like what am i supposed to feel what is this the show does this thing where it's it has like one or two good scenes and it's usually between two characters having a conversation and you're like man this is enjoyable wow why is it the show more like this and then it's just a bunch of other stuff happening ancillary you know me van you said it but like amelia clark is here and we don't can't We're like, yeah, go on, do you think.

I mean, like, we don't keep a push in this way. It's tough, man. The writing is a little, little, it's a slow off. I think, you know, like, Rode's, he's cooking a lot. If you, like, think about it, now that you know it's a scroll, like, he's doing a lot of stuff that I don't remember the original of what I'm doing. He's a little, like, uptight and stuff, of course,

like he's an Air Force colonel. You know, and this one, he's like, yeah, brother. And he's like walking over to the laptop and pressing the button. He's like, hey, man, I got you. 4K. I'm like, all right, bro, relax. Okay. I don't know how long you've been playing Rody, but that's not, like, anybody with eyes and be like, that's not, who is that guy?

I thought a little, the portrayal was a little, if he's a scroll, I'm like, this is being mad racist. I don't remember Rody acting like this at all. There's literally a part where he goes, this. drank as fire. I'm like, call, you know.

Like, I can see, bro, I can like, bro, I can see the fucking scrolls fucking back in the 90s watching UPN

trying to figure out how black people act. You know what I'm saying? It's like, it's, Roady, this, Rody is,

just be regular, dog. Like, and you go be like, be regular, man. And then the Talos bit. That's,

like, that's supposed to be like, our emotional rock. We're supposed to like feel some type of way that Fury's number one right-hand dude got got by his enemy. And I'm like, dang, that's tough.

Hopefully Fury can make that up work. It's unfortunate. Yeah, I just wish these things hit harder, but they just don't. And that's really the truth of it. So nobody thought this episode was a slight improvement. I think it maintained what it had last episode. He had about an improvement, but I thought it kept going.

See, this is why y'all are brainwashed by MCU, bro, because y'all get all riled up about all this other shit. Then you're like, yeah, it maintained. It maintained. I'm like, it maintained being mid. Like, come on, bro. Like, dog, y'all say, nah, it's maintaining. It's maintaining.

I feel like we, and this is where Charles is right. This is where Charles is right. Honestly, I want to move on from Secret of Asia like that. But I feel like I have to. stay on the show for a couple of more beats. I feel like we have to. We got two more episodes, so you don't have two more weeks. No, I mean, in this podcast, I want to move to nerd news

because there's a lot of nerd news stuff that I want to talk about. That I want to talk about, but I feel like we have to stay on secret invasion, so I have to get one more talking point out. Okay. So one more talking point out. Is there a logical scroll reveal at this point with two episodes left, that secret invasion could do. Logically?

Yeah, that would be surprising. No. Like in the, in the, like the show that we're having right now, is there a character that we would be like, all right, damn,

like, Dea Scroll? Because I've been scratching my head and I'm like, I don't know if there is, which might be a big problem. And that's the, that's the tough part because I'm just thinking in my head now

that I'm like, okay, we're going to end this show with a big MCU cameo and that person's been a scroll, a scroll the whole time. And that's going to be nothing to us because they haven't been with us for the whole show,

but we know who it is. What if, guys, you gotta open your third minds here. What if that Talos scroll wasn't actually Talos, it was just another scroll. And Talos was actually Nick Fury as a scroll.

And then Nick Fury is still in space. Hold on. I'm cooking with gas right now. Right. That's no, I don't really. that's the only thing that would be like, oh, interesting. I don't really see how, like,

if Talis is actually dead and then Nick Fury is just Nick Fury, I don't know who else was supposed to come in and be a scroll that I'm going to be like, gasp. Wow, so cool. I don't really see it. I don't know. This episode is brought to by Paramount Plus. Beth and Rip are back in a new series, Dunton Ranch.

Kelly Riley and Cole has a return, and this time they're taking on Texas. As Beth and Rip build a future together, peace will have to wait as they face corruption. in danger and a ruthless rival ranch willing to protect its secrets at all costs. Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dutton Ranch starring Colehouser, Kelly

Riley, Annette Benning and Ed Harris now streaming on Paramount Plus. Man, Nerd News Minute, please. All right, lots of stuff going on. Rapid Fire. Nerd News Minute. We're going to hand out some quick and instant hype grades to a recent spat of fandom news. Actually, Chuck, take us away. All right, so I was thinking for this.

since we have a lot of things to hit, basically what we're doing is we are not grading what we think the quality of said movie or TV show is going to be. We're grading our hype. It's from A plus to F, A, being overhyped. You absolutely want to see this.

F, meaning negative hype, you're actually very not excited. Let's start, Wolverine's classic blue and yellow costume from Deadpool 3, hype meter, A plus to F. Where are you left, Van? Hey, it's just, I'm there, just because I want to see it.

It doesn't mean much. It doesn't change much. But I think my hype for it is based in the fact that I just have so many questions if they can pull it off and what it looks like to see Wolverine in that uniform. And if that means that you'll get maybe more comic accurate portrayal of Wolverine. So I'm going to A for that. I got to give it a C plus. I do not care. I just don't care.

Here's the thing. If it was the MCU Wolverine with like the classic costume, we're cooking, you know, we're cooking with Greece. I'm like, all right, yeah, I'm tapped in. This, I'm like, I've said goodbye to this version of Wolverine three times in my life over the past decade. And they finally are like, all right, we're putting him in the blue and yellow costume when he's fucking 60. And I'm just like, all right, sure. And I'm going to be real. Van, I'll ask you this.

How hard is it going to be for Deadpool 3 to be a good? movie filming during a writing strike because it is a comedic movie, comedies take a lot of writing on set, jokes don't land, jokes don't hit. And I'm just very,

very worried that they can pull off this movie when you, like, the script is locked. There's only so much you can do. So this is what I'll say. I've heard this about the film. That right now they are filming the movie

and it's, obviously the script is written, but Ryan Reynolds can't ad lib any of of the movie. Okay, so he can't ad libby very much because any ad libbing and improvving is considered writing. But it's not that big of a deal because you don't see Deadpool's mouth move when he talks. And so some stuff might be able to be ADR or dropped in after. After the strike. So, after the strike. So I think that for Deadpool, at least, it's not going to be as big of a deal. Now, if the actor strike, then you're fucked.

And that's just the way that that goes. If the actor strike, then you're fucked. And it's looking, it's looking like a strike might be. It could happen. It could happen. Honestly, you know, it's a knee-jerk reaction for me to say, this movie has to be good because it has so many things that it has to do in terms of setting up the mutant saga.

and just, you know, rounding off Deadpool's trilogy and solidifying the future of the character in the MCU. But we've said that about all of these movies. We said that about multiverse of madness. We said it about Wakanda Forever. We said it about, and that's not shot at Wakanda Forever. I'm just saying we've said that about all of these movies. You know what?

The movie will come out. It'll be what it'll be. It'll make a lot of money. We're going to get another Deadpool appearance. Even if it has every single cameo, that everybody is saying that it'll have all the way down to the fucking voices of the animated characters.

If it has every fucking cameo that people are saying it, it's going to have, or if it has no cameos. The only expectation I have of this movie, the only thing I want from it is to be good, just to be worth telling the story that it's telling. So Patrick Stewart and Halliberry are in it fine.

If they're not in it, fine. but I think personally that the actual production of it how much it'll be affected by the machinations of what's going on in Hollywood we won't know until another couple of weeks.

All right, fair enough, Mint boys, you know, quick hype grades, blue and yellow costume. Steve? I'm going to be. I think this is cool. I think it's very exciting and refreshing to see him in the blue and yellow.

If I were to, you know, rate a hype for a scene, a giant destroyed 20th century Fox logo on a beach, I'd say that's an A plus, because if that's giving away anything of the plot of this movie, the idea that Deadpool just kills the Fox MCU is hilarious to me, and that's God-tier stuff. But for what I'm seeing right here, this is a B.

Jomey. I'm team A. I'm really excited to see what this looks like on screen. Like we've talked about, it's just been so long since we've been playing this character, and we've never, ever seen him in the, the comic accurate suit. So, you know, just take it a minute. But to finally see him in there, lock me in, I'm ready for it.

Let's go. All right. Next one. Yo, yesterday, we got news. Hawk Girl, Mr. Terrific and Guy Gardner Green Lantern added to Superman Legacy's cast. Then, Hike Meter, did this news make you more or less hyped for it? More? Because I think these, these castings, particularly these, these characters who are sort of

ancillary to a Superman story kind of give you a roadmap to where the movie is going. And the movie isn't going to be quite as quaint and small as I thought it was going to be, which I think is at cross-purposes to... Not cross-purposes. I think it's a little bit different than what I thought he was trying to say.

Well, I thought James Gunn was trying to say, is I'm going to make a smaller, more intimate Superman, a guy that you want to hug, and it's going to be a little bit more about the character itself and not about any world builder or anything like that. And I think that I'm interested in what he's doing, which is making a specific Superman character that still exists in a huge, gigantic world.

And that's what I think you have to do. I think Superman has to feel like a specific portrayal of a character inside a gigantic, huge, big, overwhelming world for us to believe that that type of power is necessary. And to see that these other characters are in it, Hawke Girl, Mrs. Dyrific, and Guy Gardner, it seems at least that, I will know how much they're going to be in it. By the way, congratulations to my man, Edie for that. Justice for Darwin! I think it's interesting.

I think these characters, Hawk Girl, Mrs. Griffith, Guy Gardner, I think it's, it makes me more interested for some reason. I'm doing a poor job articulating it. but I think the movie feels bigger now. And I think that's a good thing. I don't know. What are you guys think? I think I'm going to give it a B minus because I think if I know James goes.

I didn't give it a grade. My grade is a B. My grade is a B. Okay, I'm going to go B minus. I'm not more or less excited, but I kind of think what he's going to do is what he does with all of his movies is that I think what Superman movies,

at least modern ones miss, is that Superman needs a character to bounce off of to show you what makes him this hopeful, positive beacon. And I think that doing with Batman kind of falls flat because you need to build the character up. But if you're using a jerk,

a character that's like notoriously a jerk in the comics, like God Gardner, or a violent character, like a hawk girl, or even a very cold and calculating character like Mr. Terrific. Just a brainiac, yeah. Yeah, they could be in this movie for a collection of 10 or 15 minutes,

but very, very quickly, you were not stealing the spotlight from Superman, but you're demonstrating what makes him the best superhero. If that makes any sense. So I think I'm going to give it a B minus on the high scale. Jomey? I'm going to give it, B. I think, you know, shout out

to Nathan Phelian. You always got a bag as long as James Gunners direct to something. You know, shout out to him. You know, E.D., you know, just, like you said, Justin for Darwin. Yeah, we're going to see some cool stuff. I'm excited to see where the Superman story can go with these characters specifically.

how they tie into Superman's story. I would love to see how they go. So yeah, it's a beat for me. Steve? Be for me as well. Countdown to when Sean Gunn is immediately cast in this new DCU. But these are all great additions.

I'm super excited. Who's Sean Gunn's going to play? He's probably like, so he does like the work for Rocket onset. He does MoCap for Rocket Outside. So what's a character that like definitely He's going to be corrupt? Oh, that would be dope.

All right. Locker. it in, boom. Lock it in. Easy. Wait, how much you want to bet there's going to be a puppy version of crypto in this shit? Like, I can guarantee that shit. I don't think they're going to put, I don't think they're going to put crypto in that bitch.

I like if they do. I love crypto. I love crypto. All right. So this one, y'all are going to kill me for this, but the Asoka trailer, I'm a little worried. Really? I'm getting a little worried. Why?

Why are you getting worried? This is coming from someone who, like, I like rebels. Like, I like rebels. I have nothing to say again. it. But the more of the rebels that I see in each trailer, the more I'm like, damn, remember when Asoka was just in like Mandalorian? And it was just like this samurai tale of like just this like lost soul, like fucking fighting and shit. Like I wanted more of that Asoka show. And this one when like Dave Faloni is like, yo, this is another season of rebels. I'm like, okay, cool, cool. It's a little bit more

difficult to land that plane because some of the rebels characters I'm like, yo, this transitions well in live action and some of them I'm like, oh yeah, man, this was a kid's show. So I'm going to- Yeah, but you've got to admit, so there's something about a live-action character touching that cartoon mural

in a show. No, I hated that. I loved it for some reason. That takes me out. I'm like, yo, this was on Disney X-D. Like, I don't like the human character touching the cartoon version of themselves. That just is a little weird. But it's like an artist's interpretation.

It's a, you know, it's a great little nod. I like that. I'm not saying Asoka's going to suck, but I was like, I was like very high on Asoka. And now I'm just a tad. Can we try to do one thing for Asoka? Can we try to, and I'm, and try to do this and maybe Jomi can jump in and like even speak to this one I'm saying.

So based upon what we know of rebels, and what we know of the universe and stuff, I can understand what everyone's saying. But what if we just based the Asoka trailer on the action, the tone, the visuals, the feeling of what we actually saw? And not what, I'm just, and look, and I'm not saying that we never do this.

Like, we never do this, okay? No, this is a good exercise. I like this exercise. But we never, we never do this. We always put it, we, we know this universe. We've seen, we've been on this real estate. We've got houses and condos and whatever. If Jomey can get his credit right, he might be able to qualify for something.

You know, but we know all of this, right? We know this stuff. But just based upon what we actually saw in the trailer, the tone, some of the action, some of the shots, does that get you excited for Asoka? Then my grade would go down, honestly. Wow. Really? C plus, yeah. It does, I don't, like, nothing I saw from the trailer looked better than Assoca and, in,

Mandalorian, if I'm going to be honest. Like, that's just me. Like, none of the action, none of the intrigue, none of the atmosphere of it. And that's not me saying that this is going to be bad. Just in terms of hype, I was a little bit more, I'm like, oh, this looks a lot closer in the trailers to Mando season three than it does to, like, Mando season two. Wow. Interesante.

This is just my height meter. That's all. That's all it is. I'm with it. It's fun. Van, what's your grade? There's no letter that can go high enough. I'm sorry.

I see. They did it to say. They did it to me again. Why was I sending you up? Because my little grain went down. Well, I mean, no, but your grade went down. It's like, I looked at this and I put it in the, I put in the context of rebels and I've just reread the Zon, Thrawn Trilogy, and all of this stuff.

And now it's like, what about just what I'm seeing? And what I'm seeing looks like snapcrackling pop action. It looks like some stakes. They look like all the stuff that I've been criticizing some of these things about, particularly things in the MCU. Long-running relationships that we already have a feeling for that set up real stakes and real feelings. mysterious villains who

I don't know what Thron is going to fail at because I don't yet know what Thron is trying to do. I know he's trying to rebuild the empire, but this is a part of the story that hasn't been, like I don't, this is one of the only things from this time that I don't know how this went, because we haven't gotten here yet. You know what I mean?

And it's not just one person's story. It's consequential to the entire universe, galaxy, shall I say. Even in Andor, it's cool seeing how everything went, but I know why it worked or didn't work. In this, I know that it didn't work, but I don't even know, I don't know why. I don't know what's going on. So there's like a lot of real estate there for me that's really interesting to me.

And based upon the interpersonal relationships of these characters, I know how desperate and motivated they're going to be. And now I'm wondering, okay, well, where are all of these characters in the sequel trilogy? Like, do they all die? Like, I mean, you know what to me? Like, what happens?

And that, plus the fact that it looks pretty cool, they really don't have much, they could deliver. They really could deliver. Don't jinx it, man. I want them to deliver, but let's not say it. Like, let's not say it out loud, bro.

Okay. No, you're right. You're right. Mint boys, Jomi, I already know you've given it at A plus plus. I want to give it a B.

And I think the reason is that I'm giving it a B is because like Van said, you know, it's a lot of stuff that we've seen. Like, we know these characters and those people.

They were pretty much already locked in. The thing that's interesting for me in this trailer was we know that Sabine has trained with a lightsaber before she tried to train with the Dark Sabber with Ezra

and rest of peace. Our guy. but apparently like her and Asoka were like master and apprentice or something like she called her master called her master. I don't know about that. I don't know about how I feel about that. They were training.

I assume that she's using Ezra's old lightsaber. But yeah, that's just, I'm interested to see how that goes. I'm going to see how that looks. There's a scene in the trailer where she's trying to like use force powers. And the other, the lady with the, the orange lightsaber's like, you have no power. What are you doing?

What's going on? So I'm interested to see what that looks like as a whole. But yeah, like, I'm already locked in. It's rebels. It's Asoka. Like, tap me in. There's no. You think she's a force user?

I don't think she's a force user. Which is why I'm intrigued about like, why she's turning with a lightsaber in the first place. Why is she calling Asoka master? And why she's doing her hand like that? Well, she's already trained with a lightsaber. That's what I'm saying. Like she's got lightsaber training But apparently

Assoca took her up as master They split up and now they're coming back together There's a whole part of life That Assoca and Sabine live together As master and apprentice We have no idea about And that's where I'm interested to see What that means to this story

I'm locked in on that But like I just don't know That's why I'm giving it a beat Justice for Grogu Soka didn't want none to do a crow goo, but she took her non-more sensitive padwans. Wow. You're not wrong.

You're not wrong. Where am I lying? Well, maybe she was like, you know what, man? This training thing ain't for me. Nepotism. That's nice thing. Steve? B-plus.

The main thing that I want to see from the show is being able to onboard people that didn't see rebels to all of these characters and all of this information that people need to absorb. Thron, Ezra, all of these people. For anybody that hasn't seen rebels, which are some few, that are just like sticking with the main action,

live action, Star Wars stories, this is uncharted territory. And it's a lot to make up for, and it's a lot to balance with new people. I'm excited to see them pull it off. Okay. Guys, last one. I'm going to zag. I went from

promising myself, you're never going to see this movie to being like, okay, like, I'm going to give this a spin. Blue Beetle, I'm going to give it a B plus. Like, new trailer, I was like, okay, like this does look like an unmitigated disaster anymore. I'm like, there could be some fun elements. I'm not saying it'll be a great movie, but the new trailer, I was just like, okay, like, I'm going to give it a spin.

I'm going to give it a light spin. So I'm going to give it a B plus. I think Blue Beetle is going to suffer from bumblebee disease. Explain. So Bumblebee was good. Bumblebee was a good movie. It's Bumblebee disease. It's the first Shazam disease of movies that were good,

but just not enough people cared and they weren't connected in any way to the larger thing that made people go out and see them. I think Blue Beetle will be a good movie that not very many people will care about. Oh, I think it's going to flop. Like, I think it's going to be a big flop. I think it'll be cool.

I think that in order to pull off a Blue Beetle situation, you either have to have, and this is no disrespect to the leads or anybody in the movie, either have to have a bigger, a bigger actor in your lead, which they have,

maybe they have it perfectly cast it, so it's not their fault. or the movie has to have more of a place in a larger mythology. And it just doesn't have. Like, it needs the MCU goodwill of like, not many people were going to watch a Shang Chi movie a decade ago. You give it a chance because you believe in the brand. With DC, they are already telling people like,

Flash doesn't matter. Blue Beetle, we're not so sure. Aquaman definitely doesn't matter. So I think that's just, it makes it really difficult because Blue Beetle is a seeless character, going to be killed. Yeah. So for me, it's like, all right,

did the, did the trailer make me more excited to go see the movie? No, and that's because nothing can. You know what I mean? And that's not, that's not, that's just the way that it goes. So like the trailer, the movie, I'm sure, will be fine, but I don't know if there's anything that they could do to like make me care about going to see the movie right now. So that's the way I feel. So it's a, it's a D.

As far as my hype for Blue Beetle is. Yeah. Jomey? I'm at a C-plus. You know, the Blue Blue Blue, like, it showed a lot of the movie, which is like, you know, you don't want to see that. Like, I like to see the movie in the movie. But, yeah, it's a cool trailer. You know, I'm, I'm, my knowledge of Blue Beetle comes, you know, shout out, Young Justice,

got to get the agenda off, make season five happen. James Gunn, I know you're listening. But there's a fun character. there's a fun place to go about it. Yeah, like, I'll be tapped in when it's time to watch it. This trailer didn't, like, change anything for me in terms of expectations or excitement.

But it was a fun trailer. We're going to see what it happens when it comes out. And it might be, it might get bumblebeed and it might not be good. It's not. This movie would be lucky if it got bumble bead. If we're being, like, it'd be lucky. And to be fair, bumblebee was lucky

that it got bumblebee. That is also true. So Steve, what's your grade then? I go C plus as well. I would hope the best for this, but I, nothing in this is like making me go over the moon, but I can be down for some fun power rangers like shenanigans. You know what gets an F from your boy?

That Wonka trailer. Timmy. I'm worried about Tim. Like, like, whoa. Woo! Like dog. Yeah, Walker. Come on.

Walka look weird, but. Dune 2 look like the motherfucking bees knees, bro. Oh my God. That trailer in IMAX

bruh that we saw the trailer in IMAX Oh, that looks great. That looks like the motherfucking bees

knees. Dug, Spider Man. Comparatively, real quick, Dune trailer hype Wanka hype. Get the fuck out of here.

It's not a no, you gotta go. Dune A plus. I'm locked in. Yeah. For me, I don't think we need another Wanka movie. I definitely don't know.

I don't know why. I don't know if we need another Wanka movie. I just, you know, I see people. I wonder what's going on in these rooms. It's like, okay,

so it's not time to Timothy Shalameh's time to play Wank or whatever. It's like, I don't think we need another, I think we're good for a while. Is this a prequel? This is a prequel? And I'm going to be honest. I've never watched Willie Wanker.

like, Dan I really want to know his backstory. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't need Willie Walker begins. Like, if his mom dies in this movie and that's the impetus for him becoming like a great like candy manufacturer, I'm going to be so fucking bad, bro.

He does fight the chocolate cartel though. Does he? Yeah, they mentioned the chocolate cartel. So, that's, if I was, if I was like in charge of one of these studios, I would take these characters in a completely different way.

You know what I mean? It would be like a dark side of Wonka. Wonka on that shit. You know what I mean? He got too much chocolate. He's eating chocolate. He's putting oopalupa nuggets into the chocolate. He's starting that white stuff, you know?

He saw that white stuff. He's like, he's like, he's the chocolate kingpin of a whole thing. And maybe a child has to come in and renew. That's kind of what happened in the original Walker movie. You know, I'm struggling right now. Fuck it. I don't give a fuck about Wonka. This is important.

This is the last question of this podcast. This is very important. There's a chocolate cartel in this movie. Then I want to ask you this. In real life, who would the chocolate cartel pee? The black people that when you dis all black people, like you wake up in a room, you're like a white dude and you're like, damn, the chocolate cartel got me. Who would be like the four people in it? The four people in the chocolate cartel?

Yeah. If I'm white. If you're white and you just diss something egregious and you wake up one day and they're like, We got to have a conversation. Who are the four kingpins in the chocolate cartel? Barack Obama? Gotta be. Definitely.

Definitely. He's definitely in the chocolate cartel. I think Stephen A. Smith probably got in there. I was thinking of the same thing. I was Stephen A. Smith. You got to be there. You got to be there. Barack Obama, Stephen A. Smith.

Rihanna. I was going to say J.Z. I was going to say J.Z. Nah, bro. Jay Z. You're not in there. Rihanna ain't showing up to these meetings. She's not, but she's the only,

she's the only one Rihanna to me is one of the only ones out there that has like a positive approval rating from everyone, from everybody. This is true. I feel like that's probably because she's using her her chocolate

her chocolate cartel influence. Her monster chocolate influence right there. And then who's the last person? This person has to be someone that Steve would be afraid of. Like if Steve's in this room, he's like, God damn, you're in the chocolate cartel? I can't believe this motherfucker showed up.

That's why it's Dr. Umar Johnson. Oh, yeah. It's the last member of the chocolate cartel. Dr. Humar just comes out of his shadows. Steve's like, God damn. He doesn't say anything. He just stares.

Those are the four members of the chocolate cartel. Somebody shopped in people together. It's Obama. It's Stephen A. Smith. Rihanna. It's Rihanna. It's Dr. Umar.

That's the chocolate cartel. I think you can make it into the chocolate cartel. give it another 10, 15 years. I think you can make it. I'm the Nick Fury of the chocolate cartel. The chocolate cartel is up there and then I'm the one recruiting new people to come. You know what I mean? I'm the Nicky.

I'll never be in the chocolate cartel, though. You've got to have too much of a bag for that. All right. Okay. That show was fantastic in all of the parts where we didn't cover secret invasion. So that's a wrap. Good God. Follow us on socials.

People just not that into it, bro. It's not even our fault. The show wasn't even that bad. Insta, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, whatever Jumby wants to put threads in there, stop trying to, you know, freeze them out. I'm not the only person who does my job at the ringer. There you go.

Save his job. Programming reminders Friday, The House of Arts is giving you their best of the year so far list. Little Secret Invasion thrown in this weekend. Just Clemens will have a new Easter Egg breakdown video pod on Secret Invasion episode four. Don't miss what Jessica's got going on for us. Wednesday we will be back.

Celebrate Barberdheimer. Got a double feature draft. Double feature draft. We will be competing to pick best toys. It's the compasses, all toys. And best movie explosions. Now, when we say toys, we mean children's toys.

Oh. I'm just saying because there are some different types of toys. No, we're not drafting deldos. I'm sorry, Dan. We're not. We're not. It's like people of the world over, like certain different types of toys. We're talking about children's toys, right?

So it's very important that we say that. Children's toys like toys that are for wholesome fun or not even wholesome fun, but, you know, just, you guys. Because a lot of people are going to be like, yeah, I got to, whatever. And best movie explosions. Toys and movie explosions. Back to Back. Credits. Our producer is Steve, the architect.

Armour, Tigger, or thing. Jomi and Dinner on is on socials. Hashtag credit where Jomi is due. Oh my God. We're trying to get Jomi's credit rating up, guys. He needs to at least be the 575 by the end of the year. Additional production from Arjuna Ram Gapal. Shep, take us out.

Jomi is in the pocket of Big Elon and Secret Invasion smells. And after this episode, I'm standing Steve's ass to the big chocolate cartel. Your thoughts? Wait, who's thoughts? Who starts? I was actually talking to myself. Oh, man.

You gotta play Van is old. That is definitely, my software was rebooting. Oh, like, I'm not even gonna lie. I'm looking at the document and they're coming out thinking. Your band, your thoughts? Thank you.

And I literally just said your thoughts to myself. I'm sorry, guys. That's fine. It's what, that's what Secret Reza does to him up with.