Out Now With Aaron and Abe
Out Now 585: Longlegs & MaXXXine
this week, I don't know if they're near we are talking Maxine and long legs have I got a star for you. We are now reporting this is out now with Aaron and Abe. I am Aaron and Abe is he's on his way. You will be here soon enough, but out now is a film podcast or even I discuss new movies weekly. We take it to fill be a most appropriate review the casual commentary track, some other film movie topic. This is episode 585 585 and this week we're talk we have a double header. We are talking long legs and Maxine to horror films. The price of one podcast, which is free. It all comes together and joining us to discuss long legs and Maxine. We have writer for various sites, including Collider and host of the humanoids from the deep dive podcast. His birthday is only one day off from a 14th of the month. It's Jeff Ewing. Hey, oh, yeah. It's nice to to yack at you folks and homes. Nice to be here. Aaron and Abe and I'm I'm so glad for that day off because I don't think that that creepy gent would have missed me. Well, glad to have you back here Jeff. How are you doing today? Oh, it's a good weekend. I had really whole bunch of reviews last week. So I had a very restful weekend, where I did very little of consequence. It's kind of great. It's a pretty weirdly packed July, right? I also like wrote a lot of reviews last week. Like now and now I'm like, even so like cool. Yeah, I'd like to come out just today alone. Like I wrote them earlier, but that's just the way it fell on. I'm like, wow, I it's been a busy first half of the month. Yeah, I just had like a lot of like screeners that I had seen. So like things were finally coming out. Movies are coming out. It just like, yeah, don't spell kind of power. Whatever. Now we're now we're in the clear for the time being until the storm that is, I guess, August, I don't know. We'll see. But glad to have you here. Glad to have you back on the show. Abe and I have not forgotten that someday you and I Abe and Luke Thompson will talk about being shark on humanoids from the deep where that's still in the back of my mind. Like I love it. That is gonna have some stick to. Yeah. But yeah, I'm excited to talk about these two horror films with you. And Abe, of course, once Abe gets on here, but let's go over some show notes first real quick. A few things going on. First up, new commentary track. Oh boy, we do a commentary every month on this podcast. And for the summer, our theme has been global, global features. We've been going international for our commentary. So last month, we did run a little run for its 25th anniversary. And just this past week, we recorded our 30th anniversary commentary for Wong Kar Wai's Chung King Express, which was great. I was very happy with how that came out. I was happy Abe was able to join us. It's one of his absolute favorite movies. So like, good. Like, I like it. You only get on so many of the commentaries with us, but it was nice to be able to make that work. And that's up now. You can find that commentary on iTunes or Spotify, or you know, you can find podcasts. But if you do go to iTunes or Spotify, you can also leave us a rating and review, which would be great. You can pop us up at the old iTunes charts by how long I got onto iTunes, searching for out now there today, and writing some words, giving some stars. That'd be wonderful. Thank you to advance. What else? What else is going on? Oh, before I completely forget. So we're talking long legs is one of the films we're reviewing this week. I was able to speak with director Oz Perkins about long legs. I wrote up that, that interview, but I do have the audio. And guess what, guys, the audio is going to come at the end of this episode. So stay tuned for that. You know, stick around. There's another another handful. When you see on the end of your, the end of your podcast, now, wait a minute, why is there extra time here? That's the reason why there's some time left to hear that interview. So stay tuned. Let's see what else. Okay, of course, the summer movie get the 12th annual summer movie gamble. Jeff, I believe we talked about this a little bit last time when you're on for Miriosa. Abe and I, a lot of many other frequent guests of the show, we predicted what we think are going to be the top 10 highest grossing films at the domestic box office. This, of course, the summer movie gamble. And I mean, this week we had two new releases that may have potentially been players in this competition. One certainly isn't fly me to the moon open this week, which many of us picked as possibly a dark horse. I've not, I can't recall offhand because there's 17 people. If any of them chose fly me to the moon to get anywhere on the top 10, but it'll land it, it'll, it'll, it'll, it'll lunar landing with only 10 million this weekend. Not a, not a good start for finding the moon. In any way, really, because it's a hundred billion dollar movie for whatever reason. It's mapples. I mean, so, you know, chump change for them, but still not the greatest launch. That said, long legs did hit 22 million. It's a huge horror opening. We'll talk more about that soon enough. I don't know if that's going to equal out to being in the contention for the top 10, but plenty of other films still are just people me for made another $44 million this weekend. It's at 211 so far inside out to made out of the 20. It's at 572 just far and away. The biggest thing right now, the quiet placement of the 11. It's at 116 mill bad boys, 4 million at 184. I don't even know why I'll mention horizon, but horizon made a whopping 2.4 million. It's at a whopping 27 million total and it goes down from there. But yeah, plenty of things happening in the world of box office, but there's certainly some standouts and certainly others that aren't getting very far in the competition here. All right. So, let's show notes. Let's move on now. Let's, let's get to some bad. Oh, quickies. DM each with now and now we move. We don't eat that properly. Yeah. All right. Jeff. I want to know what are you watching recently? Last week, I did watch fly me to the moon. Reviewed that down a quieter. I actually was so I came in with probably negative expectations like I was trying to be neutral, but the, you know, it's kind of a bit of a batshit premise, you know what I mean? So I do know what you mean. That's why, because I feel like I felt similar where I don't think my hand in the sand say I staunchly defend the moon, but I respect the moon landing. And so the idea of a movie that's like leaning into this idea of, but what if they did film it? I was like, so that that's actually my favorite conspiracy theory only because there's so many wild conspiracy theories. Sure. But faked the moon landing is relatively harmless on the scale. So it's just like, it would be like a really extremely goofy thing to have happened. And so it's right up there like birds aren't real where I'm just like, you know what? Folks at home. It's a very California conspiracy theory. He was on like 60 minutes or whatever. No, I'm not like, but what so anyway, I just didn't expect them to make it work, you know, but I ended up actually having a very good time with that. I think it's um, sufficiently charming and the way that they like, have you seen it? Yes. And I agree with you. I think it's, I think it's entirely pleasant. Yeah, they stuck the landing. The main issue I have is I think the most part of the movie works as far as it's fine. It's just, why is it 132 minutes? But also, Johansson and Tatum, they have no romantic chemistry. Like that, that's my, that's where I was. I feel like them just bantering. I think that worked. But in terms of them, like in the realm of the ROM of this com, there was not a lot, not a lot of ROM for me. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, I think Scarjo is great in it. She gets the rhythm of this pretty well. I would say she does. I think it's the chemistry issue is a side effect of just the way Channing Tatum's character was written because he spent the most of it being like real stiff. And that's the, it's not his, he's a very charming, charismatic performer. I don't, I, I, I, I, it's just a side effect, I think of them writing the character in the way that they did. Here's my curious, my, my question. I know Chris Evans was originally going to be in this role. Chris Evans, who has been in Scarlet Johnson, a lot of movies outside, even outside the MCU. Do you think that would have made a better movie? I feel like that wouldn't have made an inherent difference, although he's a charming as hell gentleman. Because I do feel like they would have just had to have tweaked the character itself for me to difference. I don't know if I can see Evans playing like as gruff as Tatum has to play it. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with you on that. I do think they should have character though, right? Because he'd still be like a guy that's kind of like mourning the loss of his astronaut friends. Yeah. Yeah. And you could do that and have it be written a little different. I think they should have replaced Chain Tatum with Jim Rache, played the director, and was the highlight of the whole thing. I agree. Jim Rache is a lot of fun. Would he, would he hell since fun? You know, he's doing everything. Yes. Yeah. Yep. It's got, it has, it's, like I said, it's a very, it's a pleasant movie. I didn't, I didn't not enjoy my time. Totally watching it. It's no moon fall, but it's a few things are. If, if I me to the moon had a, a zero G chase, I'd be all about it. Yeah. Look, I'm just, I just have to stand hard any film that's like, what if, what if the moon punched the earth in the face? I'm just like, you know what? I love you so much. And on one deck about like a February, something like that. Yeah. By God, February 12th, the earth thought back. That was just like, oh man, finally paying off a trip to the moon. Now he's, now he's gonna be so proud. So many missing plot threads from that. He would be what it would. This, this insane scenario, we bring back somebody from the dead for a day and we're like, let's bring back George Millies and roll the networks. Like, wait, hold on. I have a, I have a, I have a tape brings it. Yeah. All right. He's, he's only for 12 hours. I know exactly what one thing he has to fit in. Check this out. And then of course, when it says time to go, you would disappear in a puff of smoke. Yeah. What, what else have you been watching? I watched oddity last night. Oh, how's that? Uh, it was really, there's some scenes that are really effectively scary performances are good. I have some, I'll be reviewing it over at humanoids this week, but um, there's a lot I liked about it. There's one major plot element that I'm like, that does not really make a lot of sense. Um, but overall, there's some really cool stuff. It's definitely worth your time. I'm looking forward to it. Anything else? Um, that's really, this is, uh, I rewatch long legs. So we'll, we'll talk about that one. Um, it's funny because my opinion has been like kind of evolving a little bit as I've experienced it more than once as, as things tend to. Um, uh, you've been watching anything really particularly interesting. I got a few things here. I saw Sing Sing last week, which I was very much looking forward to. This is the, if I'm sorry, Coleman Domingo as a, um, as an incarcerated person who's part of an acting program or really rehabilitation through the arts, RTA, it's a real thing. It takes place at Sing Sing Prison in New York, maximum security prison. Um, what I was not aware of is that the, not just one or two, but outside of Domingo and Paul Racy from, um, Sound of Metal and I think just like one other actor, like the, the, the bulk of the cast is made up of people that were previously incarcerated. Um, that went through this program. Um, it, and it's, I mean, there's a lot of great acting on this place specifically. Um, she's, okay. There you go, the name right now. Um, but the, the one who's, the, uh, Clarence, Clarence Macklin, he, uh, he's been getting a lot of notice. He's like, he's, he's named check in the trailer for this movie as far as just giving a standout performance. And he does. He and Domingo, I think are excellent in this movie. I don't think there's any, like, weak link in here as far as the cast goes, but in terms of just really great performances, these two are just so good in a film that is, what, what I really like about it. Like, it's a prison drama that focuses on, you know, these, these incarcerated persons who are, you know, using acting to kind of help themselves be better and what have you, but it is, it avoids all prison cliches. There's no shibs. There's no fights. There's no, there's, it's, it's purely a drama about these people and what's going on within their time. Um, you know, being incarcerated and like going through this program specifically. And it's really compelling stuff. I, I really, I really liked it. I really recommend it. It comes out like in a, like, it's in New York and LA right now, but it comes out in August, like wider. And I think anyone that just likes good drama can enjoy this movie. Like, it just really does the job. Um, what else did I watch? I watched The Vordelach. Did you see The Vordelach? Oh, I did. Yes. This is the 18th century French vampire movie. Um, Vordelach being like, basically like Russian vampire essentially. It's like the definition of, um, this is a neat movie. Uh, it's like, there's a dark comedy vibe in it. It's essentially the thing is this, this guy gets lost in the woods finds a wacky family. That's, you know, as you do. And the, the, the head of this family, uh, is like went off to battle and he's coming back. Uh, essentially like the, the fan, the family's now a vampire. Uh, but what's neat about this is it's not just like an actor playing a vampire. It's this very elaborate rod puppet. And it's the kind of choice that could like make or break a movie like this. And it works, like it's so effective. It's like this Nosferatu looking type vampire, but it's like, at, because at first I was like, it's so awkward looking. I was like, it's just like a really thin guy and they like enhanced is like, no, it's just a puppet. Like it's just, they just actually got a thing and they have a person voicing it. And it's, it's a trip. I think the movie itself is like mostly pretty solid. I like where it goes. I know it's based off like a toaster way novel that predates brown Stoker's Dracula. So it's like, it's like one of the first kind of vampire stories. It's not, no, I don't know. And I, I did stuff like that because it's like that obviously Dracula was monumentally influential. Uh, and so it's really hard to find vampire lore fiction that escapes its sort of obvious influence. Sure. But there's all these weird tales like vampire and, and that, that, that are cutting their own path because of very different influences. And sometimes as you're saying, you know, before that, I think that really came across here and I dug it. You're a fan of the film also. Yeah, absolutely. I think it pairs well with a Barry Linden. Yeah, no, you're not wrong. Wildly different if you want to have like a chaotic genre, but like kind of similar broad fields in terms of how there's shots, time period, they're compatible in that way, I think. For sure. And Barry Linden's also has a kind of dark comedy streak that runs through which it does in the midst of the, the austere period drama nature of it. And you know, this film, it's very, like it shot, it shot on 16 right at the end and it's like really, it's really, I was a gritty, but it certainly has a kind of aesthetic that it enables it to have a certain quality that helps better reflect the, you know, having this vampire character and the most of all the things going on. So it's a, it's a unique film for sure. There's not a lot like it. Yeah, like calling to mind something like their Linden or whatnot. But in terms of like, you know, modern day vampire films, I was happy to see if this is like a unique approach to that. Yeah, absolutely. I also think it pairs well with an earlier later than Barry Linden, but earlier than the recent era. Brotherhood of the Wolf. Oh, yeah. Like French genre hybrid creature feature wildly different because that was more like an action or masterpiece. But if you want to stack your beasties, it's a good way to do it. This, this would be a great job for a Newt Scamander to take on. Just fantastic beast and where to find it. The Borrelach. He's like, all right, we're, we're going to France. The idea. Yeah. I guess I want to reveal that the creature that's in Brotherhood of the Wolf. Yes. The, um, the thing. Well, the thing about that movie that's so fun is, you know, based off of a supposedly real beast that terrorized the French countryside for like, on and off for 200 odd years. 200. Yeah. Which is kind of amazing. Like King's sent real hunting squads after it. And people kept having over a long period of time. So like, you know, it's, it's a cool little weird piece of history that I think that sort of stuff is fascinating. And Marc de Casco is placed like a Native American that does kung fu and stuff. It's great. You know, there's one. Absolutely. I mean, if I had to kick the ass of a weird French undying werewolf, I would absolutely send martial arts expert Native American gent after the beast. Yeah. That's like, like, I think Last of the Bohemians is one of man's best films. But if it had that also that would make almost anything better. Yeah. Absolutely. Like, oh, I love adaptation. But what if what? What? What if instead of like, I don't know, Tilda Swinton, you had a bark to Casco's look on boobs. Just to break things up. Honestly, you just, you got to riff. You got to find your new path, you know what I mean? That's, that's, I'm sure what Christopher Gons was saying the whole time, making the movie. Also, my scene watched the convert. This is a newsroom for director Lee Tamahori, a name I have not heard in a while, the director of, well, the edge, of course, the first thing you'd come to mind, but also die another day, a famous Bond film. Sorry, I haven't heard of it. And so the convert, this is going back to his roots, because he is a New Zealand filmmaker. And this is a film set in the old time, New Zealand, the old time set in, I think, yeah, once again, like the 18th century. So yeah, he, I guess that'd be the 19th, 18th century, New Zealand. It stars Guy Pierce as a preacher with the past, because he always have to have past. And he's dealing with the kind of strife between the British that have settled on New Zealand, and the, what are the local Maori tribes? Things happen, it's going to lead to some kind of battle, perhaps, and Guy Pierce is there as the kind of middleman. I like seeing Guy Pierce acting good, and I generally see that in a lot of movies. He's in, I was happy to watch this movie because I think Guy Pierce is quite good at it. It was nice. It was nice seeing him not play surprise on the villain, even though you know he's the villain very early on in a movie, which he's been doing a lot lately. So just seeing like lead a film is the kind of trying to be peaceful, but you know, has to deal with some things. Good. I wish the movie was a little better. I think it's a little, hey, use this as a criticism, but it's a little slow, honestly. Like it has a pretty solid setup as far as what time period we're in and what we're dealing with. And I think it takes it's time to kind of get to the point of it all. But that said, I mean, it's good. It's solid for a New Zealand feature set during this time dealing with this specific thing, calling attention to that kind of history. Yeah, I'm for that. And the Maori representation on display, I think, is solid enough. That's great, because that's super important. That's something that I definitely appreciate. Honestly, it is like it is a, it works well for the film, even if I don't think the film is amazing. I still think it's worthwhile. Yeah, nice to see Lee Tomahori, a director who has talent, you know, do something interesting. Yeah, that's kind of how I felt. I would imagine it's probably better than her. I don't know your opinion on this, but Horizon, part one of who knows. But I have big qualms about that film. I reviewed that for over at that hashtag show. But, you know, I have a lot of notes about the first part one, but I did like that they had authentic, you know, native casting, and they paid a lot of attention to detail over the communities and language. And that's how that part was great. Yeah, even I got to have a longer conversation about Horizon's part one and two in August. Oh, wait, so we're not going to have that conversation in August, but at some point we're going to have that conversation. What's part two arrives? Because the movie has been pulled out the calendar. So we will, we will see my predictions November 1st, but we'll see what happens. Let's see. Last thing, should have rearranged these. This is the most depressing one. I want sorry, not sorry. This is the documentary that covers Louis C K she Danigans. That's too playful. The unfortunate events surrounding Louis C K that brought him seemingly down from the fame that he had despite going on to, you know, win a Grammy and continue to sell at stadiums or what have you. As a documentary, I think it's fine. It the what it does is just basically recap what took place involving the comedians that were placed into an under fortunate situation regarding the power that Louis C K had. That's the nicest way of saying it. To have further context and to like have the actual people involved and not just focus merely on C K, I think there's something admirable there because it's giving voices to the, you know, the victims in question. The problem is it doesn't really have anything to connect to. Like it, it puts out questions regarding like the Me Too era and how far can you go supporting someone for their arts despite the other, like it has ideas there that it just doesn't really settle into as far as what to say about them. It just kind of presents what took place and then there. Still, there are good interviews. There is it's weird to say like it has a sense of humor, but like it had, I mean, it is deal with comedians that know how to, you know, present certain situations in a way where it's not fully depressing to hear like there's some value entertainment wise to get out of a doc like this. It's just to say it doesn't really have anything to really add to the situation beyond again, clarity from, you know, one end of the spectrum. And of course, C K declined to be involved in this. So like there's, it's not like it's necessarily one side because like, he's admitted to the things that have happened. And there's not really like another take per se, but it just it doesn't really like did hear, did he? No, no, no, he did. We know that ahead of time, but yeah, it doesn't really have much else to like go for go with from there. So yeah, that's out. Oh, I just want to add real quick, I forgot to mention, I also saw touch. That's the, what's that? Balthazar? What's his name? Yes. Yeah. Director of Beast and many other things. Balthazar Cormacar. Yes. Yeah. It's a really moving phone. Yeah, rather romantic. The basic premise is this Nordic gentleman. He's a widower. He is starting to have memory problems. And with the diagnosis, he gets his first thing in the film. The doctor tells him like, Hey, just, you know, make sure you square any sort of loose ends or things that you haven't done or whatever and start prioritizing that. And 50 years prior, he was a young man in London. And he fell in love with Japanese immigrant in the area, a young woman who was, he ended up working at this restaurant. So they kind of fell for each other. And then she kind of disappeared off the face of the earth. They moved away and he never was able to find her again over 50 years. He had like a whole life since then, but now that he's a widower and has to square things, he goes on a journey to figure out what happened. And there's a lot of intercut with his past experiences and stuff. It's, it's, you know, it's actually a really moving and interesting film. Yeah. Is Icelandic, right? Yes. Very good. I was curious about that one. I guess I was coming out and I know he, you know, that there, he's been so focused in kind of action and what have you as of late. So seeing, you know, a different side, that's cool. That's cool. That's good to know. Yeah. I intend to watch it at some point. Definitely be worth your time. All right. Well, I don't know. Quickies. Yeah. Let's move on now. Let's get to our trailer talk. We talked about when the news move share was a week, when it's coming out, well, we thought it would have you. This week, we're talking the trailer for gladiator two. This is the long and the making sequel to glott to 2000s best picture winner gladiator. And yeah, we, uh, Ridley Scott's back. He has quite the cast. He has Palmas gal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, and of course, Denzel Washington. What is the plot of this thing? What have we seen at this? It's there. I know because there's the, there's the son of Connie Nielsen's character. That's Palmas gal, but he's not the emperor this movie. So there's other emperors in this. And somehow Paul Pascal gets involved as like, as a gladiator, Pedro Pascal is like another gladiator. He's like a general. He becomes a gladiator or something, for some reason. And Denzel's there is just like, you know, like a cool owner of all the gladiators and like a power guy and whatnot, just in the background doing his Denzel thing. I have thoughts on what all this could be. But Jeff, I want to know from you, what, what are you, are you excited for a new gladiator? Like this trailer make you any more or less excited for a new gladiator? You know, I'd say a little bit more for one. I mean, the original was an all-timer for me. I loved it. It's such a, I still do with a really good film. But I was a little, I had no doubts about Pedro Pascal as a kind of ambiguous currently, like a tough guy, fighter character, you know, as a game of thrones, even as a younger performer, still, but he killed it. So I was on board with that. I love Palmascal. But I did, you know, he plays a lot of introspective characters and I wasn't sure. I know in Carmen, he plays like a more of a, like a character that fights and whatnot. Sure. But I wasn't sure how well I thought he could be like a tough gladiator as a central character, you know. But, you know, admittedly, it's just a trailer, but it looked good. I bought it. He's a good performer. And if I feel like the world would be a better place if in watching it, any of us get even like one tenth of Denzel Washington's charisma just spiosmosis, you know what I mean? Like, I don't have any idea what that character's up to exactly, but like, damn, nice, you know, I am with you there for sure. I, I've long been waiting to see if this thing is ever going to get off the ground and sure enough, it did with everybody, you know, Ridley doing his thing. So just by default, being a new Ridley Scott project, I'm in, I mean, he doesn't half ass things. And he's put apparently a lot of money into this. So it's going to look spectacular. Gladiator is a film that I very much like as a summer sword and sandals action epic as if X picture winner, not so much. But I like the movie a lot. Every time I watch it, I'm fully engaged. I think Russell Crowe gives a great movie star performance in that film. Yeah, I have less kind things to say about walking Phoenix in that movie. But it's not, I mean, there's plenty of things that are going on that I really like. Gladiator. So the idea of more of it, if anything, I'd argue there's room for improvement. I would necessarily say that there's going to be iconic lines in the way that you see Russell Crowe delivering some of the things he's doing there, but in terms of the story, which I think has issues. Okay, let's see what a Gladiator two could do with the more season, even more seasoned Ridley Scott and just ridiculously overqualified cast. Not that the first Gladiator was like slouching in that category. No, this is literally just like catchable. Like, okay, so like, who's really great right now? Okay, all of them, all of them. So like all of that on display, like, yeah, all right, like more and like, yeah, the, I would say the trailer, you know, being a Ridley Scott, but we was like, I'm already in, but the trailer did get me like excited in a way where it's like, okay, so we're having fun. Like that's still the priority of this movie. Yeah, when you show up, it looks like he's going to be having a good time. You show me dueling emperors. Yeah, you have Joseph Quinn, and you have Fred Hetchinger, who's like, he was just in Thelma. He sees the grandson in Thelma. And like seeing these two like wimpy guys, like, you know, yelling at the top of their lungs, and gladiators, seeing rhinos, a rhino on there, seeing them fill the arena with water and seeing boat stuff happen, something I've always heard about. And I was like, what does that look like? How do you fill up a coliseum? Like, oh, I'm going to see that now. Like, that stuff is like, cool. Like, I'm going to see some fun gladiator things. Let's get that going. And I will, I will say like outside the action set pieces. So the first one, awesome, great fights, good sworn sandals. But the one thing that I always, I know there's like some political machinations in terms of like what Communist does and being just a shady brat, basically. But Rome's political situation, like there's always, I mean, literal and figurative backstabbing, there's always conspiring, there's always like vying for power. There's a lot more political games that are, for the most part, kind of absent in gladiator one. And it looks like it's really front grounded here, where it's like, no, you're, you're going to be my, like, literally you're my instrument. And I want you to piss them off. You're like, you're my inside man, Denzel might say. Yeah. No, I entirely agree with you. That is where my gripes mainly come. I think the with the first gladiator, I think the the semblance of being important seems to overwhelm some of the film for me where I'm like, I mean, I get what you're doing with this. There's more that could be cool. There's layers, man. Yeah, exactly. Like I, as a history major, who's studied Rome for a spell. Like, I know there's stuff you could be doing here. So ideally, yes, I agree with you. And I think Ridley Scott himself has been dealing with that in a lot of his more recent films, like the last duel. Regrated Kingdom of Heaven, which is one of my favorites of his films. I think that's a film that, again, I like gladiator play. I'm not trying to, like, dismiss gladiator. I think there's so much that's great about it. But I do think it's a fairly uncomplicated film by comparison. It is. It's a straightforward revenge movie with action sequences. So this movie, I like that it appears, like you're saying, Ridley Scott does seem to be trying to jump more on that until that side of things, which is cool. Also, fucking Deadzel washes. Oh, yeah, he's going to carry it. You know what I mean? Even if there's, like, even if there's issues in the plotting or the writing, I, I know there's going to be no issues with him. Yeah. So, yeah, great. Denzel innocent, but, uh, I want to hear. Yes. What are your thoughts of the gladiator to trailer? Uh, I, in general, I, uh, I like it, but also at the same time, I think you were talking about some of the language stuff there. And I was like, did people not watch Ridley Scott's like, his last member of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are not using French accents. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The last duel versus like, you know, he's been doing this for a while, guys. Like, it actually doesn't matter. It doesn't take away from the movie at all. It actually helps you because you're like, this is not a bad friend, or this is a terrible French accent for Matt Damon right now. It's like, it doesn't matter. He's speaking in like his way. That's irrelevant. Yeah. It's the same logic I have for all of this stuff. If they're not, like, if it's Rome, so if they're not going to speak Latin, I don't care what they're sounding like. It doesn't make any sense. And why would everyone have like a British accent? Exactly. Well, okay. None of that matters. I will say this though. This, this is something that historically, and Aaron, tell me if I'm wrong here, but I know that I'm correct. Um, so, uh, Rome obviously eventually evolved thousands of years later, 2000 years later. So, uh, into Italy, uh, a large wave of, of, you know, hundreds of years of immigration from Italy happened to New York. So in a way, I have an easy time imagining that the New York accent is ancient Rome. You know what I mean? This is a good point. I like that's even better. You know, Jeff, I think you are right. Thank you. No, that, that, that makes it even, but that, that puts more call, women in the column of us as far as why this is completely fine. It's completely fine, guys. Yeah. You're not going to be like, okay, in the first night, he ate her. He's a Spaniard, but he sounds like Russell Crowe from England. Like, are we going to, are we going to point fingers at this? Right. I mean, my, my only objection. It's going to be loud when they try to start canceling Russell Crowe. I mean, find some stuff in later days. Yeah. Russell Crowe gladiator era innocent. Um, no, but I, I will say the one issue that I had with the gladiator too, from the, the trailer is I don't mind the accent at all, but when he said, uh, Caligula ain't got shit on me. I'm like, you're like, go on the nose, Denzel. A little, a little calm down, really. Just another draft buddy. Yeah. But the, the weird thing that this isn't a problem because only stupid nerds like me are the ones that are, but like they're playing, um, Jay Z Kanye, was it, uh, Yeah. No church of the wild. No church of the wild. That's in the safe house trailer. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's like they've surely have it exhausted the trailer possibilities, but I think, yeah. The people were kind of up in arms around like, how can you use like a, a popular modern day song for like an epic like this? Like, have you seen how people were marketing trailers, like in the nineties and the eighties? Like, come on. Congrats to this guy for, you know, watching their first trailer. Yeah. I don't know. It's totally fine. It, it, it surfaces purpose. It gets me juiced to see like what Denzel's up to. I mean, everybody here that is involved. I'm, I'm curious about how their careers are progressing anyway. Like Paul Mescal and, uh, and who's our guy from Lesivis, uh, Pedro, Pedro. Yeah. So it's like, I'm, I'm excited for it. Ridley has been, I think maybe like up and down for me. So some of his films are really up. Some of them are like, you know, so it's, it's fine, but I don't know which one this one's going to be. And Hey man, this guy is like 80 something years old. He is very explicit and upfront in his interviews. And what, like, what else do you want the, the press days or the thing I'm most looking forward to about gladiators? I mean, like, we talked about this, like maybe like last week for a brief period of time, but you know, you've got all these like aging filmmakers, like the, the, um, we're crazy, crazy, Spielberg and then yeah, Coppola specifically where it's like, I don't think these guys give a shit about how you guys think that their movies are perceived right now. Like they are just like, I am, I'm making this movie. I'm going to like fucking die making movies because I love movies. And you know what, I can give two shits about your stupid thoughts on my, my, my character accent or whatever the plot's going to be. It's like, you try making a movie, you know what I mean? Like, this is the stuff that I think we've been, we've been arguing about since. I'm very amused. Yeah, I'm very amused by Ridley Scott's like, fuck you era. You know? Yeah, it's great. It's great. Yeah. So anyway, um, I had a thought. No, it's escaped me. Um, I have one more. Yeah. So sorry. I just, I just like was looking something up on my second monitor. Um, I was looking up succession of Roman emperors, right? And, uh, so the emperor, Getta probably butchered that. Um, does proceed. Uh, what is it? Uh, Constantine the first? So before the Christianization of Rome, so in a way, there really was no church in the wild. See, Jeff knows what he's talking about. I remember what I was going to say. I do wonder, I do wonder if, um, Ridley Scott, like, if he asked for Pedro Pascal, uh, to play his lead and someone misheard them. He's like, did you say Paul Mescal? And, and they got him. And then he told his other assistant, you know, like Pedro pass. And they said, so like both of them showed up and they're like, wait a minute. Then they'd like rewrite the script and like, but I had both characters, but it actually works out for him in the end. He's like, yeah, this works out. You just need leads that have rhyming names. Um, gladiator two. And we, but we missed the chance on getting like a cool subtitle. I don't know what we're doing over here. Like still gladiator, you know, rise of an empire, whatever the fuck. Like, I'm surprised that it's just Roman numeral, too, glad he had harder. He has Ridley alien alien covered it. Has he done any other see, am I basically like not thinking of a sequel for Ridley Scott? White's wall too. Um, I don't know alien, like, haven't it technically? Yeah. Yeah. So like per me, if he is an alien covered, it would be like, yeah, but I don't think he's done like a lot of like, sequel work, let alone to like specifically his movie, right? Yeah. He said, like Hannibal, but that's, you know, he didn't do silence. And then yeah, but exactly. But like 2049 was still new. So anyway, all right. Anyway, gladiator two arrives in theaters. That's right. November 15th. This fall. The same day is what is it now a wicked wicked, wicked part one and gladiator part two. Oh, that's right. Yeah. They're trying to make that a cool, uh, you know, wicki and toe. Yeah, gladiator, wicki wicki wicki wicki wicki wicki hater, wicki hater. I like wicki hater. Yep. Plus the wiki page sells itself right there. All right. Let's move on. Let's get, let's, uh, that was true. Let's, uh, let's get to our first of our two main reviews here. Start with Maxine, the night stalker. Night stalker. Night stalker is terrorizing Los Angeles. I can handle myself. It's supposed to be that girl in Hollywood. Maxine, I'm the private detective. I had to find you. My employer is a very powerful man. The past ain't finished with you. It's gonna keep knocking at your door. Tragically, another victim of the night stalker. Find the three people who murdered in three days. I'd be pretty scared. What are you hiding, Maxine? If I tell you something, we've got confidentiality. What'd you do? This is the defining role of your career. Why was it going on in your life that's interfering with this picture? Squash it. And 10, too. Okay, that should have been some of the trailer for Maxine. This must be one of the wilder cinematic trillities to come along in recent years because Ty West went for making a cheap Texas chainsaw homage to filming a secret prequel that gained immense internet popularity and leaving that with a teaser for an 80 set sequel. And here we have it with Maxine, which picks up with Mia God's character Maxine, the survivor of the events of X now living in 1985 LA as an adult film star with aspirations of becoming a major actress. She gets her chance once like to be in the new horror film The Puritan 2. However, with news of the night stalker being in town, a shady PI following her around includes from her pastly creeping into frame, Maxine and her friends may be a more danger than she realizes. Abe? Yes. I was not able to find out ahead of time if you had in fact caught up on X and Pearl before seeing Maxine, but were you able to watch this entire trilogy? What do you think? So this is where it gets really fascinating because I have seen zero of the previous two. So I'm coming into this movie. I'm just like, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna go for it because I Aaron and I were texting back and forth like, Hey, do you think I needed to like watch all this? Like probably not. You probably don't need to know anything about the previous ones, except that they exist and you probably are fringely aware. What I did do Aaron is what I do with a lot of horror movies, which is I read the spoiler for them. So this is where my knowledge of like, Oh, well, there's a alligator or Oh, this is who the old woman is or whatever. I'll say I'll say this. Before I had seen Maxine, I said you can probably not go and forth and hat like it's probably disconnected enough. After seeing Maxine, I did also I did say you really should see X before you watch this movie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The good news is watching this movie, I was like, I follow what's going on here. Are there specific things that pop up that I was like, who's that person or what are they referencing? Sure. All in all, though, I think that's actually, it's, it's an okay movie. Like as, as where it lands and where it's trying to go. Like, I get the references that that Ty Weiss is throwing out there. I get a lot of, it's kind of some Hollywood inness to it. I actually kind of dig that the 80s vibe that he's going for. And I also dig the, the lighting is from the photography that that is happening here. The gore factor is the gore factor. Like if you've seen Ty West movies, you can kind of guess that there's gonna be like some, some pretty gnarly stuff that you're gonna be watching. But this movie actually doesn't really do a ton of that. It actually refrains from it. I think only like in specific parts, like I'm thinking of like a video shop thing. And then I'm also thinking of later, like in the third act, where it kind of gets a little bit more amped up in its action. It's kind of slightly humorous. And as I'm sure the others are as well. I think Bobby, Bobby, kind of volley kind of to be like, I want to be an actor. It's like, shut the fuck up. Like this is, this is like two ham on fist, like, you know, tight, tongue in chief, like Bobby, kind of volley, one of like the better actors of our generation going to be kind of volley playing full kind of volley. But the story in itself, like, I don't know if this, where you guys are, where you guys were gonna tie this all together. But as far as, you know, what is happening, Maxine kind of with like a past and trying to make it out of adult films into like regular mainstream films, like that story in itself is it's actually kind of like, pretty regular, like it's not that it's boring, but it actually isn't the thing that I think was most intriguing about the trailer that that made me think to myself, oh, this is gonna be a gripping, like, who done it slash? Are they working with like the Night Stalker or are they not working the Night Stalker kind of thing? It actually just devolves into its own, its own little storyline. So as a whole, like, I think it's okay. Like, I don't know if I was necessarily like super enthralled with the concepts of who Maxine is now versus where she has been. The third act is like, it's pretty wild. But at the same time, I was just thinking to myself, I clearly am missing a huge beat here because of who who is unmasked in the third act, which I thought there was going to be somebody else, which would have been more more just would have more nuclear to the third film itself. But it wasn't. I think people are having fun in this movie, like Kevin Bacon seems like he's having a good time. Kind of just like Louisiana PI and, you know, with an accent and wearing costumes and makeup. And it's cool to see them on lots kind of just doing their own Hollywood stuff. But yeah, like, I think at a certain point, I was, I don't really check my watch, not because I was bored, but I was just curious, like, how far along? Because I knew this movie was like an hour and 30 some odd or an hour and 40 some odd. And I was like, oh, we're halfway through the movie. And nothing's really transpired just yet. Like, nothing deep has transpired yet. So yeah, I'd love to hear your, as we go through here, like the thoughts of the connection to the other two and whether this is actually a fitting and send off to the trilogy. Sure. Well, Jeff, it'll be here for me. What if you, where have you been with the the X trilogy as of now? Would you think of the this this supposedly final chapter? Well, I fortunately made the choice to to rewatch X before I saw Maxine. Big fan of it. So it wasn't a hard choice to make. X benefits a lot from Pearl, but you definitely don't need to see Pearl before you see Maxine. I don't think there's any reason to net other than if you just want to watch a fun movie. I I definitely think that like there's certain things like, if you immediately watch X before you watch Maxine, certain things like are set up really interestingly. It kind of helped me pick what I picked the villain in advance because I watched X beforehand, like I guess tool was because of how things are set up. Oh, it's well anything, but yeah, I think I think there's a lot of like subtleties too that like tie in. I'd say that X is still my favorite in the trilogy, but I did like the noir vibes in Maxine and I wasn't really expecting them per se. So I thought that was a lot of fun for me. But if you can watch X beforehand, I think it'll really like enhance your experience of certain elements. I'm in a similar area as far as how I'm judging this trilogy goes. I admire that tie was like gone away with this, essentially, that he was able to make, you know, one film, then just like expand from there with like A to four being like, I guess we're doing this. He's like, I already have a prequel, guys. You want it? It was COVID. We just kind of filmed another thing. We were there. I think as a kind of 80s pastiche, as is so much to like De Palma and Giallo, there's a lot working in Maxine's favor as far as stylistically speaking. And yeah, I agree with you guys and that the cast is having a lot of fun here, particularly the men. It seems like having like, you know, between Caravale, who I think is kind of awful, but I still, I don't progress in having fun. More specifically, Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, they're, they're like, and Moses, somebody who I'm not very familiar with, but I really like. Is he the video store clerk? He's the video store clerk. I look forward to seeing him in more things. I thought he really popped up. It was great. Yeah. But as far as the veterans go, like Kevin Bacon is, he's easily my favorite thing in this movie. He's so wildly over the top, but like it's Kevin Bacon. He knows what he's doing. There's a part where he's been beat up a bit by Maxine. And so he emerges at one point where in white suit hat and a bandage on his nose. Yeah. He's just like shitty jade is from childhood, trying to tell us. Yeah, I'm like, this is spent like, and that's like, that's, that's a 70s reference to a thing set in the 20. Like there's no, there's no reason it needs to be this way. But like, we're just having fun. Like that. So like that kind of stuff is like awesome to me. And like the fact there's like a chase that leaves through Bates, the Bates house. Yeah. Cool. I will also add that my favorite thing about Ken of Volley's performance in that vein is not the performance, but Michelle Monahan, like ragging him. Yes. regularly. Like when he goes over the top as a cop, like, no, I'm big and tough. And she's really like making fun of him makes that work for me. I can agree. I think my issue is I don't like how it, where it goes. I wish there was a better payoff to those characters. If it like had something more than I probably would have like overall been fine with them. But as it stands, it's like a funny card. Well, I just like, he's purposed. He's being instructed to do a certain thing a certain way. And it just like doesn't lead too much beyond he's that's just the way he was. Right. Regardless, this movie as a whole. As I said, I stylistically like, I think it's funny they're working in favor. I think the story is its biggest issue. Yeah. And I say that because it I don't know the timeline of these things like clearly West had something in mind because he literally made a teaser after Pearl for this movie. It does feel I don't want to say rush, but it feels like it's not focused as far as what it wants to do. Yeah. This movie is an hour for edition change. Yeah. And it has like so many ideas. And it if it's settled on one, I would have been happy with that. Or if it just went all out and became this two and a half hour epic, maybe I would have been happy with that. And it stands. I just wanted more from any number of the things that throws at you. Like, me a god, I think is very good as Maxie. Like she's been good throughout this trilogy. Nothing wrong with her. But the character she's playing, I I wanted something more solid. Like, is she like a kind of an anti hero at night who like, you know, yeah, then that are after her. So she like a vigilante of some kind. Yeah. Is she killing people to get ahead in the business? Like any number of those things if you chose one, that'd be a cool thing to stick with. As it stands, Abe, like you just you just said, you get a halfway through this thing. It's like, not a lot really is happened so far. Like, there's not like, so I feel like if there was more focus on what her aim was beyond on, I want what to be the, I want to live a life I don't deserve. Yeah, exactly. If it was more than just that mantra, if there was actually something stable, that I think would have been in the film where like, say, well, like, she gets hired onto the period in two, right? So it's like, and she's removed to Vicki, they described to Vicki as if she's like, this taskmaster who's the worst parallel by God, you can't believe how much of a ballbreaker she is, but she gets, but she's an artist and she gets stuff done. And it's like outside of like one stern conversation, she's very nice. She was very flexible too. She was like, hey, you know what, why don't you take off the weekend and come back on Monday and we'll be like, I get it, but like, you know, take a little more and like, wow, just tone it down. Yeah. Yeah. Like nothing like I can't, but the last time I was that confused by how someone was described versus how they acted was, was Maz Katana in "Star Wars Force Awakens" where it's like, Harrison Ford said they'd be like, don't look her in the eye and, you know, be careful around Maz. And then she says like, it's just like adorable little orange thing. Like what's the problem with it? Like, she's just what's up walking. Yeah. Like she has a crush on Chewbacca. Like, there's nothing wrong with this person. Never way everyone likes her. She's probably giving it a high five. So everybody's looking. I think they were just intimidated by Elizabeth Dobecky, inherently, because like, you know, it's like the Godzilla rise in 2014, you know, it's like, she's just like, you keep trying to, there's more of her, you know what I mean? Yeah, six foot three. Yeah. If they introduce her that way, that'd be dog life. I love it. This is why Tenant is great, because Tenant lets her be a full six foot three in every movie has let her be tall. I do like that about that. I know. The joke is that like everything everyone like looks like they're almost as tall as Elizabeth Dobecky, like they're probably not. So I have a question. So does, did it satisfy your trilogy needs for this? Like, did it land where it needed to land? It landed as far as I like that. Taiwan has made three distinct movies that are all referencing specific things, specific eras, specific filmmakers, and making those feel like distinct visions. I can't say that like, my world has changed because the narratives of these three are so intertwined or anything like that. I don't feel that way. I think this movie, you know, mystery wise, it's not much there. Like, you not seeing X makes it inherently more exciting for you than me having seen X, you know, interesting, because I was never like sitting there being like, where's this gonna go? I'm like, there's only one thing really that's kind of left out there that could be the path of the solve to all of this. I think Jeff nailed it, right? Your guess was correct, Jeff? Yeah, yeah, I was like, wait, because like, I talk about that's brilliant. Yeah, like, it's just the way certain things are set up, because I'll talk about X because that's an older movie, right? Like you, um, right away, like you're seeing like, there's clues from even the get go on X of like, like a repeating character that goes through it and you're just like, Oh, like, that's going to be important, right? And then you realize, well, that's how like, Ty was a details are not random. So if you're paying attention to like, um, Maxine from moment one, there's like a character that like, there's little bits and clues and connections and stuff like that are kind of subtle. But if you realize like, none of this is random, like, none of it's throwaway. And it has greater importance. And then you can kind of figure it out. Got it. Okay. Here's my question. When we down the line, when we revisit the X trilogy, do we call it the X trilogy or the Maxine show? What's like the best name over this trilogy? I don't know. Is it? Did he give it one? Did he give it an age? Yeah, the Pearl trilogy. It's the X film series. It's probably the X trilogy. That's like the connecting thread, I think. So by question to you, Jess, that you've seen the ball, like when we go down in the future, and be like, let's, you know, let's watch the X trilogy. Because X is going to give it to you. Do you watch it chronologically or do you watch it filmmaking, it filmmaking order? Um, I like to watch it in filmmaking order, but there's a really good argument for watching chronologically. And I think it will, it can enhance the viewing experience. Um, I think it would play better. Like I don't, yeah, I don't think there's a benefit to watching Pearl second at this point. Yeah, not necessarily. You know, when I see these more in the future, maybe I'll have it. No, I think you're right. Because I watching Pearl first. Um, I just watch him normally because I've, I've seen him all so many times. Sure. But, um, but yeah, like Pearl gives a lot more weight and understanding and merit to certain things in X. And then X ties really well. Obviously it's like a continuous character. Yeah. You know, um, and like once you've seen X, it's not like you're trying to preserve a mystery at that point. So there's no real point to not watching Pearl to be like, Oh no, it's going to ruin X for me. It's like, see, I know what you guys are talking about because I read the spoilers. I have a question for you guys on like the Thai Westness of this all. So again, Thai West seems like he's referencing a lot of movies that he has grown up with or he enjoys, you know, whether it be Texas chainsaw and then all these other slasher slash like, horror movies that, that are 70s and 80s. Um, is this, is this his work here? Is it, does it feel as though it is a, this is why you guys should watch these? Cause this is why I do so much to watch this. Cause I really enjoy them. And here's my take on them. Or is it just more like here's awesome cool shit that I have seen throughout the decades of horror that I, that I think are really neat and put them together. So one of them is more of a, I enjoy all these things. And here's my take on them. Or is it just more like, again, splashy, splashy, like, really fun stuff that I think that people are missing out on that they hadn't really seen a lot of in the last like decade of horror. Does that make sense? Like this is overt homage or is it, no, I like this stuff too. And this is how I should people, this is what here's some nuance in detail that people are missing out on when they're trying to recreate some of the horrors, horror movies that they, that from the past that they miss out on. Am I even making sense? No, I mean, it's a combination of both, right? Anything filmmaker that's putting their time into not one, but three movies is ideally wanting to deliver on something that they themselves would like to watch, right? Well, like, like, I would, I would add that like, I think that high west and, you know, I've, I've talked to him, but I haven't like interviewed him about this. I think, like, if you, if you watched like the in keepers, you watch House of the Devil, like, he's really, really good at capturing tones and vibes, you know, without like, like calling back the feeling of a prior film, you know, like House of the Devil called back to the feeling of Rosemary's baby, but it's not like, it's not directly borrowing from any particular plot point, right? Per se, right? So I think like what he likes is to evoke the tone of the stuff that he likes, rather than having callbacks of the X or Sankster, callbacks to, to, to, today, Breyer, or this and that, the other thing. And so like, my take is, and I haven't confirmed this, is that like, I, it seems to me that his, his whole thing is to more give you the feeling of all these cool things. And then like, it's, it's knowing that genre or sub-genre enhances your experience, but also you can enjoy it on its own and it reminds you like, Oh, well, if you like this, go watch them Jello and go watch them. So you're hitting it there, because that's the movie that I was referencing, or that I would think about too, is House of the Devil. Because it does feel like an homage, like those 70s and 80s horror films with haunted houses and cults. But it does have like a Ty West stamp to it, which is like, great, well, it's quite graphic in the way that Greta Gerwig's face gets blown off, or it's quite like suspenseful and moving in the way that it sets up, like, it certainly has like Ty West sensibilities while still calling things back. And I guess the reason why I'm asking this is because when I'm watching Maxine, like, I, I get the references and I get what he likes, I guess. I just wasn't sure if he was putting a Ty West spin on it. And I'm, because I haven't seen the other words. I'd argue this is the, these, these three films are like, the flashiest of his movies as far as kind of pacing-wise and audience-friendly-wise, even if Pearl is still kind of, you know, odd, but it's still like, I think, as a friendlier watch than other movies. Yeah, it's very like simple, straightforward narrative, you know. So, so like, I think he's been doing that for, you know, like in the Valley of Islands, it's a Western, but like it's still doing certain different, like even the sacraments, which I quite like, it's a found footage horror film, but it's more modern, I would say, where the innkeepers and, and how's the devil, they're very deliberate in their pacing, right? They're very, they're much, you know, they, they're rewarding you sitting there and dealing with the various still, the stillness of it, all of everything. These, this trilogy, it's, it's fun. Let's think of that. Okay. It's, it's fun in a very overtly fun way. Yeah. If anything, as far as how West has approached Max, it's not specifically about Maxine, another honestly detriment is for being a, you know, a yellow inspired, diploma inspired entry in a truly that's already delved into some gore. It's a pretty tame movie, I feel like, in terms of the stuff that these characters are involved in versus what we're seeing on screen, I'm not saying I'm begging for bodies to be dispatched in horror in ways or whatnot. There's a couple of things here and there that are, you know, the red stuff gets out. But I mean, this is a movie set in LA where Maxine has a very specific lifestyle. Maximum, please, you know, it's dealing with like the Night Stalker and things of that time that were popular as far as where horror goes. Sure. And I can't say I like, you know, there's not like it didn't cash in on that in the, in what I, from what I expected, it didn't cash in on that as highly as I, you know, I would have thought. I mean, like, were you thinking that people were going to be like, oh, did you get that episode of different strokes or like another world? I mean, like, this is an era where like, well, like video nasty in Europe in England is like a thing like it's, and it's just not really like evil dead. It's fucking crazy gory. Okay. And that's what 81 this movie doesn't really play with that. I don't know if that's like, I mean, obviously it's deliberate because you made the movie knows what he's doing, but like, I don't know if part of that, especially on Maxine's part, as far as somewhat, would be a gospeling to do. And she's been willing to do a lot in other movies. Yeah. I don't know if that's because like she's an executive producer, she has a hand in a lot of things and how things are being good. If like, that's made a difference at all, or there's just an approach to merely handle things in forms of cinematography and sound but not so much as far as, I don't know, makeup or what? I don't know. I don't know the edge of it. Yeah. I mean, it, I mean, it harkens back to the comment that you made around. Seems like the guys are having more like eating the scenery, chewing the scenery type of fun, and then me a goth is just kind of playing it straight in this movie, like where she's just, I might be the center of a negotiation, but also like, I'm just trying to do my own thing. And you got to get to set. You got to. Yeah. I don't want to be late. Like, like, you don't see it, but like Pearl is such a, like, I think that's a, it's a very good performance to you. Yeah, that's the, that's not the prequel. But like, and that's very much, goth is going for it. There's a, she is the center attention of like every scene in that movie. Yeah, I've seen the gifts. There's a lot of big news to that performance. Yeah. I don't think Maxi's necessarily like wildly toned down, but there's certainly, yes, more of a level headedness to that character compared to watching Pearl. I would say that to like another difference between Maxi and the prior two is, okay, so all three films are very concerned with these like female characters that are like in a almost monomaniacal pursuit of fame, right? Okay. Like that's like Maxi makes this whole thing, and they're very consistent with that in this, right? But I'd also say the other thing the prior two films are is horny. Interesting. Like both of them have like the, these characters are like really a typically like sexually driven for their time and not necessarily in like an exploitative way and like how like so many things, especially in the 80s were like, I'm 100% not a I love horror, but I'm not one of those guys where it's like, I need to see nudity. Like I'm not that guy at all. Right. But the characters like both Pearl is like eight, like really like just trying to live her life and and stuff, you know what I mean? Like, and Pearl is repressed. We're like, he's very impressed. It adds to the narrative is really her character. It's important for the character, right? And Maxi minx is like ownership of herself is also important to her character and acts because she comes out of that we find out this like, like right wing almost cult-like religious like repressive background. Both of them are like trying to push through and are very little bigger driven because of the repression, right? And that is entirely absent in a movie set in the most hedonistic era of America. Which is weird. Like, and also she's trying to get out of porn too, which is fine. But like, it's like a weird sanitizing that doesn't fit thematically, like with the prior two films that were they were unified with it. And it's because I agree with what all you're saying because it's like, it's not a matter of there's a desire that we need something to make something work, but it does feel like the trilogy feels inconsistent in that manner, but also why. Like the movie's already titled Maxi with three X's. Right. That's already like, you can't play trailers for that on certain channels. Right. For that reason alone. Yeah. So if you take the triple X out of Maxine, it's just Maine. So, yeah, it's a good point. So it's like, so my question is like, I'm not is like, Ty was trying to like appease a studio, but it's like, it's a two four. Like, they've already given you blank checks, friend. Yeah. So it's, so I don't know that that is like a weird sticking point for me as far as why is it not embracing more? Now again, it does have its moment. So like, it's still an all rated movie for a good reason as far as people getting. Dismembered. Yeah. It's hurt. Yeah, killed. Yeah. But probably about like the Night Stalker and in a series already proven to have violent content in it. It's weird that doesn't have like more stuff to like. Sure. Yeah. And it kind of doesn't. And they always like evoke the films of their era in a way. Yeah. And it really doesn't evoke certain tendencies of the films in the mid 80s. You know, Brian de Palma is a very overt filmmaker. Sure. He doesn't shy away from things. And there's movies very much indebted to films like Dressed to Cale and Body Double and what have you, but it's like, okay, if that this movie doesn't seem as concerned on a visceral level as much as it is a stylistic one. Got it. Okay. So this is probably third for both of you. I'd say, yeah, it's by the least of the three. Okay. Yeah. I would probably say like, it's really close for me for Pearl, because I feel like Pearl might be my third favorite of the storyline, but one of my favorite performances of Mia Goss. So it's like, because I feel like the narrative in Pearl is kind of thin, but the performance is great. I would agree with that. Yeah. They're tied for my last, but like, I like different things about him is why. Good soundtrack selection in this film, by the way, there's a lot of non-specific like, it's not a lot of like the 80s songs you always hear in this movie. I always appreciate that given how much films seem to be indebted to the 80s these days. It's nice to hear like, you know, not the standards in that regard. Anything else? I'm actually going to hold another movie to review. Any fun cameos that you guys liked or no, Halsey's in there for like, what, a minute and a half? Sure. Toby Huss, the great Toby Huss, he's the coroner. He comes in. Oh, yes. And that was fun, because I didn't know he would be in this. Well, there's also, not the coroner, yeah, but there's also, he's like the guy on the, he's the medical, he's one of the cops at just like, oh, yeah, we found one of these women here, I forget, but he's like, he's the dad in Halloween kills, like he's the, or the father in the new Halloween trilogy. That's Toby Huss. Oh, is that Toby? Yeah, he's the coroner. Yeah. Is he the coroner? Oh, well, no, I'm, oh, I'm thinking of the next movie we were talking about. Oh, yeah. So I was like, oh, that's not the same guy we're talking about. Okay. Toby Huss is played by Halsey in Maxan. Yes, that's right. Yeah, yeah. That's our takeaway for this company. Toby Huss. Yeah, a great street walker. No, I'll say like my, my, my, my final additional thought that I haven't said so far is there's a, there's a, there's, you know, a lot that I do like about Maxan, but I also don't buy the villain to any, like, I think there's good like plot continuity, but the way that I set up, I don't buy their plan or that they could execute it at all. I just, yeah, I felt very video gamey to me. Yeah. Yeah. It's a weird third act. Yeah. And I was like, I've seen this like in either Tarantino movies where it's like done differently. Or I've seen it like in other movies where it does go off the rails and, and like it actually becomes much more enthralling, but it's actually fairly short to like the third act. And pretty comes and goes because there's no setup for what's happening. It's just like, okay, there's a whole thing here. Yeah. And well, yeah, the closest thing to, to set up is stuff from X. Yeah. And, um, and still like there's like a, a, a ton of missing linkages and steps where you're just like, oh, this is, um, and I think there's, there's a way to do that as far as being minimalist on purpose and like letting you fill in the blanks. This one seems to like clearly want you to know these elements matter. And this is why, but I'm also like, okay. Seems like we could have done more of that, but we got to end the movie, I guess. So, I don't know. Um, but yeah, I would agree. There is plenty I like that it's a very fun movie. Like I enjoyed my time with Maxine. I wish it was better. But as like a victory lap as far as hey, we made these two things, now we get this fun third one with a bunch of new stars and everything. It's fine. Yeah. You know, it does the job. It's got it. Okay. Well, Maxine's currently playing in theaters. When should people go and see this movie, Jeff? What should people see Maxine? Uh, I feel like you should see it in theaters. Um, I mean, it's, uh, especially if you like, you know, movies that call back to Hollywood. If you like films, I reference genres that you like, um, as somebody that really likes LA and that likes Hollywood and likes to see like iconic locations. It's, um, it's got a lot of little, um, you know, it takes you places that like you might not have actually like really seen before. And it's kind of fun, you know, in that way. So I'd see it on a big screen. I'd see it now, you know, before it's out. All right, I'd probably say this is like streaming for me. I mean, I haven't seen the other two, but also at the same time. I think from what we discussed here, just where it goes and what it's trying to do. And perhaps what you thought it was trying to do. Um, it's streaming. Um, I would say the drive-in, if that's an option, but probably not for most places. Oh, with a hook on the hand. It's countless that keeps emerging. But, uh, if there's, you know, a mat day, I think you're fine. Okay. I think, you know, it's worthwhile as far as it's, it's a big glossy movie for a two, four, which is nice. But yeah, I wouldn't say it's, uh, whole-spoundingly, you got to get there right away. So you can find it every now and then. It's a magazine. It's fine. It does a job. So it's worth checking out. It's just not, I mean, it's come out, it's come out a few weeks ago now at this point at the time of this recording. All right. Well, that's Maxine. Let's move on. Let's get to on to the next review for Vloglegs. Is it scary being a lady FBI agent? Yeah. Take a nice long look. I let it was left with the bodies. Sign of one word. I saw a beast rise up out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns. And on his horns, he wore ten crowns. Not each head was written in blast from his name. Why aren't you telling me? He'll kill and kill again. I know you're not afraid of a little bit of dark because you are the dark. That should have been some of the trail for long legs. Director Oz Good Perkins has shown, has so far shown audiences that he's very much interested in telling stories through haunting visuals. For this film, we follow FBI agent Lee Harker in the 1990s whose possible clairvoyant abilities have made her fit to investigate a decade spanning case involving a series of brutal murder suicides, somehow presided over by someone going by the moniker of long legs. As Harker becomes more involved with the case, the story of Ravelie in front of her soon begins presenting closer ties than she would have ever realized. Jeff, I want to know, have you been a fan of Oz Good Perkins and how do you feel about this film? Yeah, I actually genuinely really like his work quite a bit. I'm a little bummed because his team wouldn't let him do an interview on my show, but that's neither here or there. Mostly sad for him, but I'm a big fan of Black Coat's daughter. I think that's an amazing film. So moody, really great performances, extremely unsettling ending. It's kind of a complex narrative and he does a really good job. Folks at home, pair it with a holdover. It's perfect. But yeah, so that's a fantastic film I liked. Was it Gretel and Hansel? Yeah, I didn't like as quiet as much as Black Coat's daughter, but that's because I think that movie's an absolute banger. But I did love the interesting, I like the folktale vibes-ness of it. And I think it really captured a real sense of feeling in tone. And in long legs, you can kind of see that carryover because his command of tone is immaculate. It's so good. And you might criticize one element or another if it works for you or not. I've seen the same thing, like with critics, I really respect the same thing. Some people dislike it. It is instead as well. Some people really love it. But the feeling it evokes is really masterful. And you can definitely see that in some of his prior works. I don't like upon watching it a second time, I liked it a little bit better the first time than I saw long legs because some things, my first experience was just like, "Well, this is new. I'm coming in fresh. I'm trying to expose it as possible." And the second time I watch it, there's little moments where I'm just like, "I would have wished this was a little bit different." Or, "I don't know if I agree with the setup, for example." It's still great, though. I would definitely recommend people see it and try and go in as spoiler-free as they can. I know you were hotly anticipating a film that would possibly upset you in terms of its horror content. I'm curious, how upset were you and what do you think of long legs? First of all, I was very upset because I thought this was going to be a musical comedy where Nicholas Cage is going to be dancing in a straw hat and a striped jacket. None of that happens in this movie. It was very upsetting. This is not a musical at all. This is a horror movie. I don't know if you guys know this. And it is a horror movie that is taking open liberties with paying homage to things like "Science of the Lambs" and "Seven Science of the Lambs" is one of my favorite films of all time. I was really looking forward to this. I was texting Aaron back and forth. People have been watching this and saying that they are leaving the theaters and feeling nauseous. Some of them report back that they're having nightmares. I'm happy to report that none of that stuff happened to me, nor anybody in my theatrical screening. The Lambs stop screaming then. Yeah, the Lambs, well, you know, for Clarice, maybe. But I thought that this is a very good movie. And I think that way, you mentioned there, Jeff, around tone and around suspense and around atmosphere and mood, 100% correct. The cold open to this movie is one of the most on the edge of my seats that I've been in quite a while, especially with the editing that they employ throughout this movie too. It's really well done. I was like, I don't know what the fuck I'm watching here. But there are these people that were close to me in the same row that were kind of like jingling like their snack bags and whatever else. And the first scene plays, and it's like you just hear them stop, you know what I mean? They're just like with it at that point. So I'm glad that it kind of captured that. It changed that way. As far as this movie goes, yeah, Asperkins has kind of been noted in interviews and both written and in podcasts or video recordings that he's directly picking up from these movies from the 90s. And what I think that I dig about it is that he's he kind of has said, I wanted to have that same similar atmosphere, but I also wanted to go a different direction from what you thought that it might do. And it's like, yes, he achieves that in quite a ways because in the first act, these the movies using title cards. And so in the first in the first act, I was like, I, I'm not really sure whether I'm digging this right now or not, because it's kind of just Mike and Monroe kind of being like a super, maybe, intuitive FBI agent kind of just like solving clues and doing stuff like related to Zodiac. But as the movie continues, I just really dig what he's doing again with atmosphere. So while the movie itself is, I think like I wrote to my buddies in the third act that you might go one way or another, the third act, depending on on what you choose to believe or view it as, especially like with a specific plot element. But I think that on the whole, when I read about why he was doing what he's doing, when I think about the themes that are sort of being deployed in this movie, specifically around mothers and what they choose to protect and how they choose to protect. And also the the things that you grew up believing that may not be true as an adult, whether it be like religious beliefs or whatever the case might be. It is very fascinating to see Oz Perkins be like this personal like on screen. And I kind of applaud that like I really dig that this is a personal movie for him, kind of related to to his relationship with his mom. And so seeing all this, I also really dig what he does with like the Nicholas Cage character, which we can get into later, not spoilers necessarily, but just more of like how Oz Perkins views like true crime, I think is very fascinating. So I think this is a really, really good movie. Like, I think that people should go see it. It's really cool that like the small little movie kind of made it into like the mainstream consciousness of of people talking about it and people writing about it. And people have been using like, I don't know which one it is. It's probably in Mac, or it's probably in Pearl, or I'm sorry, in X, where it's like me a goth, like pointing a gun and just like shooting wildly. It's like, that's an infinity pool. Is it a baby? Where the tweet is like, if I see Nick Cage coming at me, this is what this is how I'm reacting. It's just like her running away shooting. Like, this is really funny. But again, like the small indie movie from this indie director who's trying to get much more, you know, mainstream availability has just made it into like, again, the cultural zeitgeist. And it's really cool that that Nick Cage kind of just like was like, I like the discussion around a cage being like, Oh man, Nick Cage is totally back. It's like, I don't know, this guy has been around for like decades now. And I don't think he's ever turned in like a bad performance per se. So he, I mean, he always gives his all. Yes, which he's always said on his own too. He always puts his, you know, there's certainly a it's the 2010s period, but deep the direct video era that really epitomizes where he's like, yeah, he's literally treating like a blue collar job. And he used to make money. He's making movies. Like, but now that he's out of debt, which you talked about a while back, he's made choices with this and pig and bandy and color out of space and film said, you know, you're seeing him making certainly specific genre choices still, but very much, they're very concentrated performances. And they get the kind of praise that you want to see for an actor that really experiments and does things in ways that just feel specifically unique to himself, which is no different here. He's very much unhinged Cage once he kind of gets into play in this movie. And I, I'm not against that much like I'm not against this movie. I think it's great. Honestly, I, I've been a fan of Perkins. I've been looking forward to seeing more of what he does, because I do think the way he treats atmosphere, the way he treats mood and tone, which like we're talking about, Ty West, I think he has a very good read and handle on like, what he wants to do and who he wants to work with to achieve certain things. And this movie continues that pattern. Like, if I like the black coat starter more, it's only for like various reasons, but there's still a lot of similarities, the two films share both thematically and, you know, visually. So with that in mind, I mean, I so I've seen this twice. And I think I had the reverse reaction to you, Jeff, where I saw it the first time in a small screening room with like three other people. And, you know, I watched tons of movies by myself at my own TV. So it's like, it's not like that's a horrible way to watch something. But I saw it on Friday night again with the four, a packed audience, actually. And like the cool audience of like Abe's audiences, I usually suck for them. This is, this is a known and documented fact. Yeah, because mine was locked in, like in the same way that they're locked in when I watched like a quiet place, when I watched the paranormal activity movies where, okay, yes, there could be a desire for some audiences to like snicker and laugh and do kind of things that distract the rest of the crowd that are trying to enjoy something. Mine is just like into this thing. And I was very happy about that. Because obviously, I knew where was going at this. Just, you know, being able to settle in with something like this on the, you know, the biggest screen available to me. Yeah, it really played well for me. The second much like it. I mean, I liked it the first time, but it still continued to play with over me here. Yeah. And it's because of yes, the way it's made. I think Michael Monroe is the lead here is very good. There's a very specific thing that she's going for that's kind of like awkward yet determined. Yeah, there's like an oddness. There's like an oddness to her performance, right? Sure. But it's very much for a very good reason, you know what I mean? And I would also say that for Nicholas Cage, because people I recently just saw a semi viral tweet about how he's a bad performer. I'm like, Oh, man, you need to watch movies. Yeah, stop watching. That's objectively incorrect. Right. Like Nick, he's not always in good movies. Right. But he always gives 100%. And he's been in a ton of good movies, of which this is definitely one. Yeah. But, you know, I've seen like, um, definitely more of his films than not. I've seen a lot. And he is almost unrecognizable in this other than specific moments. There's a couple specific moments where you're like, that's a Nicholas Cage thing to do. Yeah, in general, like, he really does transform. And there's a scene in the, in the, a little after the middle. That's really important for his character. And it is he doesn't always scare me consistently throughout long legs. But there's one particular scene where he's terrifying as hell. And it's so good. Um, maybe I'll tell you guys afterwards. Yeah, like I'm gonna have to get more details later. Because I got it. There's like a couple options for me. Now, let's say he like scared me in this movie. But in terms of what's the latest take on a serial killer, I'm very happy with this take on that serial. Like it's something that feels different yet fits within the realm of this very specific kind of genre. Yeah. And that, that leads me to like the horness of this all. Like I know, you know, sounds of the lambs, a big springboard for this movie, much like Clarie Starling is a springboard for Michael Monroe's character. Right. And I like that they're, you know, they're not one to ones. And they're not just like purposely subverting what you expect. It's not doing like a certain it's it's just using it. Yeah, there's a launching pad here that's very clear. It comes from admiration or whatnot. But there's other things it's trying to do without trying to be like, well, this one this way. So let's go this way. It's just now it's its own movie. It's not with that with that in mind. I, you know, certain people like to debate the idea of what genre silence falls in, whether it's for whatever. And I think it's like guys, we can have multiple things be multiple genres. That's how it works. Yeah, this movie, what I like is it's decidedly horror. Like, I don't feel like there's debates in this regard. Like, it feels like it's, it's not just like police procedural that has graphic things. And it's like, no, this is there's stuff here that's like, yeah, we're making this a there's the and not just like the content like in terms of whether or not there's something supernatural or whether there's a slasher or whether or not this or that the other. It's just the again, it's that mood. It's that tension. There's a lot of cool shots of Mike and Rose character. Cool. There's a lot of tension filled suspenseful shots of Mike and Rose character where she has her back to the frame. Yeah, her back to like sure, her, she's facing camera back to the wall or whatnot. And there's a lot of open space. Yes. And it's, it's handled in a way where I appreciated Perkins restraint because there's so many sequences where, you know, given the shot, something could easily just jump out and frighten the audience and go, boo, scare it. Are we all jumping our seats? Sure. Yeah. But he does. He chooses not to do that frequently. Yeah. And I like that I'm sitting there constantly having that tension. Yeah. Thinking is that going to happen right now? And it keeps not happening. Yeah. And I think what really helps set all that stuff up to is everything that has happened since, right? So I think first things first is that it's decidedly a horror movie. Like the opening sequence of this stuff is like an FBI briefing room. And then shit happens pretty much immediately. But exactly to your point there, she goes home to her home in Oregon. This all takes place in Oregon. And she's having a bowl of cereal calling her mom. And there's just like an open hallway. And I was like, I don't know what's happening here, but I know that she's kind of, she saw something in the distance before she went home. And so I don't know if there's going to be like, you know, something walking back on. Again, all this is very masterfully done to manipulate either an audience member or just to be like, you guys were expecting something. I'm not going to give it to you, but it still adds to the continuation of my plot anyway. And it's really, really well handled. And so again, it helps just lock you in like what your audience members were saying. Like it just helps lock you in to be like, I don't know what's going to happen here. I'm expecting certain things because I've seen horror movies or I've seen movies like this, but also at the same time when something does happen, you're like, wow, this person actually maybe didn't react the way that I thought because she sees something out there. And she just like goes chasing it in the dark. And I was like, Oh, this is this is not what I was thinking. But she left the door open. And then the things that happened happened. It's like, this is that it's really cool. And a lot of things. I also want to say before you jump in, Jeff, I know I'm coming you off. Osperkins, really cool camera work, really, really cool, like costed slow zooms in this movie. Slow zooms pans like showing a lot of like sky and a lot of like, yeah, like just on on a pivot. And I was like, this is it's really unnerving because it's like, it's, am I the focal point of this? Or am I supposed to be seeing this from like, the long legs characters that point of view like it's really, really cool the way that he's doing things. A lot of center framing, a lot of yeah, keeping zone directly. And then another thing that I like about the the camera work is there's and the editing is there there's a lot of tense moments where like the camera is always really just subtly moving. Even when characters are static, and then it comes in the next scene. And it creates like a kind of consistent tension and progress. That's something that that's something that like killing of a sacred deer also does, where it's like perpetually subtly moving. And it's very unnerving. And I just love that. It's like a certain it's like a real technical mastery that I think that that is consistent throughout like the technical mastery is consistent throughout the entire film. There's a lot of active camera choices being made constantly that I don't even want to get into because some of it just spoils things. But there's like a there's a shape motif that's constant throughout this movie. There are imposed images with the backgrounds that constantly occur. It's just yeah, it's just creepy shit. Yeah, I think like the crew factor is definitely there too, especially like when you start learning about like what Nicholas Cage's character does as like like either a hobby or as an occupation. And then there's like this glowing eye effect that's like really fucking dope. And I was like, this is really scary. Like, I don't know what I'm seeing here is real or if it's like not real, but it's pretty creepy. Getting some Nicholas Cage thing of it all. So Perkins is kind of just been like what I kind of didn't dig about like a lot of true crime stuff is like people are kind of making these movies out to be like these these real life terrible people are like kind of like coolish. And it's like, no, these guys are a bunch of fucking losers that like went on some bad acid trip and decided that they were like talking to the devil or whatever. It's like this exactly what he wanted to prove to like this long legs character, which is like this guy's a fucking loser listening to like death metal and like doing Caribbean voices. But he's he's he lives in a fucking basement. I think the epitome of that's the hardware store scene. I think that's actually really funny. Yeah, his placements in this world versus like what he's actually doing. Yeah, I don't know if you want to delve into more spoiler territory or not. I don't know what to get too far to spoil. Okay, so I will say, I will say one death metal is great. Yeah, I'm not all is the issue. Which one glam metal glam metal got it. Yeah, this guy's listening to it glam metal fucking. Yeah, I want to ask you guys about the doctor to look back. But the third act has has some additional plot details. And I'm curious if you guys bought into it or if you guys didn't buy it do it as much. And I'm being super vague. Yeah, I would say that like for me, there's parts of long legs plan. Like I like what the plan is except for there's certain elements of it and I'll be vague as well. But I don't quite that I'm a big like lore guy, you know, like I love a good, well developed consistent nuance for some choices feel a little bit random to me. And I'm usually good at picking up on theme or whatever. And so like, I don't know certain elements of long legs plan. I feel like, Oh, it's just like a weird choice that I don't 100% think in the story world as developed. Uh, really stick with me. It really makes sense. Maybe I can tell you guys afterwards, but I'm just like, uh, and it kind of dampens it a little bit for me. I think his general mo of what you find out that he's doing and how these killings that are associated with him are happening is very eerie. Um, but how he accomplishes that I have notes on, I guess you could say. Okay. I am very happy that I've recently watched all of Twin Peaks. Um, I'm not saying that that justifies things that were basically not being told or seen in long legs. But it does make it does have me like feel like I'm able to tap into a certain sort of like understanding that even if I'm not getting clarity in certain areas or having a distinct idea of like everything that's going on and how that can make sense, my, I'm happy to like make certain leaps to justify things personally for me. So it doesn't bother me so much. I agree with Jeff. And that's why this is not like a perfect 10 out of 10 movie format that there are. I would say the third act by default is probably the weakest area in terms of story logic because it's, it's, it's purposely being vague or ambiguous. Yeah. But I do get the impression that if you asked Perkins and he was like willing to tell you every single thing about long legs, he could lay out what's going on exactly. Yeah. And in the same way that I feel like lesser films have filmmakers that probably don't have all of that in their head. Yeah. I just think like this is the way to go and it may make sense or whatever, whatever. I feel like if he, I feel like there's probably like the book of long legs that he could tell you every single thing about this. Yeah. The fact that that's not all present in this film, you know, that'll be made very by viewers as far as how willing they are to accept that. I do think it's a, I'm a little disappointed that you mentioned Twin Peaks because you kind of accidentally spoiled that the real villain is log lady and that's so offensive to me. That was a big surprise for the listeners at home. I, you know, I say Twin Peaks, I get what you're doing. I say, I say to it peaks because I feel like Perkins is not Lynch. Nobody's Lynch. But Lynch has such a, the way you, like the way he's tapping into certain things and how he's, if you want to talk about, you know, vague or ambiguous or random or whatever, that he's, you know, by far doing that, even if there's a logic that you can apply to those things, but he's also been doing it for a long time. So like when I watch, so when I got to the third season Twin Peaks, which I only watched just recently for the first time, not too long ago, I'm so like within like his mind frame of like how he's been choosing to do things throughout his career at that point where I'm like, okay, I can, this, this adds up, even if it's like, I can't like lay out specifically every single detail, I get what this is. Perfect does not Lynch. This is his what fourth movie, like it's not, he's not, he hasn't gotten very far in the realm of like crafting a certain sort of a tourist ship that has me immediately to, you know, link linking to like every single thing he's doing here. Sure. But I'm still willing to go a few extra steps to like justify certain things. I do wish the third act was maybe a little bit better, but it's not a maker. It didn't break. Yeah, I don't think that necessarily the third act is is like, I agree with you that it didn't really break it for me. I think there's like one part of it where I was like, I'm probably getting done with that like that visual effect. It has a lot of visceral stuff that I really like in it. Yeah, but it also really ties into, it makes the movie tie together a lot more, which helps out, but it also again ties into like Perkins's is thematic elements like with his own mother. And that really helps out quite a bit too. So it is what it is. And again, if you're with it, you're with it. This is like where I wrote to my friend group. And I was like, yeah, like you might not think that it sticks to landing and maybe it doesn't, but it's kind of up to your own. Yeah, it does tie into some, I won't say what lore because that would kind of give away aspects. But there's like a long like lore that it does tie into well. And it does a good job of it, kind of in a way that you know, relevantly different movie, but still has to do with like, say, Taniki's sort of vibes, the witch also ties in a different aspect of lore, not the same stuff, but like, I see what you're calling with that. Yeah. So like, if you know certain, you know, like historical literature around evil and creatures and beasties and demonology and all this other stuff, right? It does have like a deeper cut. And that's cool. I appreciate when filmmakers do that. Yeah. I want to backtrack a bit and talk about some of the other performances here because I'm not trying to weigh these performances, that's in which one's the best or better whatnot. But I really like Blair Underwood and Alicia Whit in this movie. Both really good here. Blair Underwood, I like Blair Underwood. I don't think he ever became like, you know, a major A star, but I think he's always been a very talented actor. And like, seeing him get a chance to like, you know, play something like this, where I don't think he really gets his chance to do this kind of thing very often. I liked him a lot here. I think he has, he mixes this kind of, you know, gruff authority figure with warmth. He's a very warm character. He's invite, he's very inviting. He has a family. He wants to help Lee, but like at the same time, he's still, you know, he's the you've got vices, you know, like, obviously, but he's like a bull. He's he's a good nature. He's a he's ostensibly a good person. Yeah. But he also gets range in this movie, too. Like, again, we're not describing it, but he gets like some range to do. And it's like, this is actually Blair Underwood. Again, like, very good in this. The personal place is wife is also really good. Like, yeah, like, you know, not that long because she's like an ultra side character. But I was like, you know, what she's doing toward like a scene in like the third act, where I was like, this is really, really like good physical acting. It's layered. Like, it's really good. Really good. Carmel Amit. Yeah, her name. Yeah. So again, everybody's doing a really good job, including the FBI, special agent that's also working with Blair Underwood and, and Lee Harker, the Asian FBI agent. Yeah, and Michelle. Yeah, where she's got some good lines. And that's something I want to point out, which is the writing here is actually really like, it's it's disturbing to like it's we're seeing visuals and we're actually the lack of visuals actually helps out with us making connections in our own mind about like how gruesome a murder might have been. But she says one line at a part where they're watching this video and she's like, you know, it's not we live in America. It's not illegal to worship the doll in America. And I was like, this is a chilling as line, where it's like, it's kind of like a throw away if you kind of think about it. But it's also like, yeah, there's a lot of weird shit that happens in the country that we don't like we can't like arrest somebody just because you're just like, hey, by the way, like, you know, this is I got to post like Nickelback too much. Yeah, if you like Nickelback too much, that might be a problem. You bought the Imagine Dragons album on vinyl. Like, but yeah, there there's like a lot of cool things that Perkins is is adding in here that is both funny, but also kind of like pretty chilling. Like the funny stuff is like, you there. I need you to get on the fucking ground. Or like the funny parts were like what everyone's things like dad, the weird guys back again. Yeah, there's like a couple little like funny ones. That was a good one. That's like a good one shop performance by the young actors. He was like in that it got it thankfully has celebrity. That's like it's not a film that it's certainly stark. There's a lot of hopelessness. So it's it's very I'm very happy that there is like a morbid sense of humor that's kind of like people. Yeah. And for the most part to even characters who are going through the rare, even if they're not, you know, cracking jokes like Lee doesn't really have much of a sense of humor. She very comes across as like she has a really bad time at times in the movie. But yes, but the performance is really layered and you still root for and it's still watchable even when like she's going through it. And she's trying to like, you know, she's a very strong character. So it's likable. It's admirable, you know, and so like at even when it's really tough, a lot of the characters, because they're so layered. Um, uh, it's easy to watch them even when it's not otherwise easy to watch. Yeah, you are rooting for them. That brings me back to Alicia Whit, who's also very good in this movie. Very good. Yeah. Without that of getting further into things. I mean, there's just there's there's a lot you're saying layered and I agree. There's a lot there. Yep. And I can't think of a I guess urban legend as far as four goes with, but I can't there's a lot of good stuff coming out of that. There is. Yeah. And I didn't necessarily see coming. Yeah. And reading some of the interviews where it's like, well, Alicia Whit, her mother had passed away like not too long before they started filming. And so there was like some trauma there. And then also Nick Cage, whereas like his mother also said from the mental health. So he kind of like drew some inspiration from that. It's like, this movie is just like a lot of like really personal details in these characters. And it does come through on the screen when you when you find out like these particular things. But yeah, Alicia Whit doing great work in in costume and also like, you know, because she's got to be in the 70s and then also like present day 90s 90 something, whatever. But I was like, oh, wow, that is really good costume work and hair design that you did on her back then to make her really completely different from from her. So different in the different areas. But like, obviously, it's the same character, but like you can see what that she's gone through things. Right. Yeah. And so she even says that herself, right? Where it's like, I'm like, she basically is choosing to forget a lot of things that that has transpired in the years. But you know, she just keeps everything because she is a parent of like the 60s and 70s and she's a hoarder. So I don't know if your parents hoard. There's a lot of aspect ratio working here that I liked as well. Sure. Um, there's some just cool choices as far as we see basically we see flashbacks essentially. And but I like that it's not like triggering it. Like it doesn't like, hey, by the way, here's a flashback. It's just like, it is what it is. It just presents something. But there's also like just fun and how it goes about shifting the aspect ratios. It means that just don't generally see in movies. Same on TV sometimes, but movies like, oh, this is neat. I can speak to other stuff. It's just like spoiling things or just saying. No, but I definitely like the camera work because it's like one point where the camera was actually just turns upside down and it follows somebody. I was like, oh, that was a great thing. Really cool. Like again, the way that you're, especially you're talking about the aspect ratio there too, the aspect ratio changes like as you're watching it, it's almost indicate like we've caught up and then it just like follows somebody upside down. I was like, this is like, again, take some chances directors, you know what I mean? Like do some weird shit. Yeah, it kind of reminded me there's a scene in Black Panther where Killmonger is taking the throne and the camera falls him and then does a complete posy-turvy like change because it's a literal like upheaval and there's symbolism in it. It's like probably my favorite shot of that year. So it's not quite that like it's not a direct like use of the same thing. But when I flipped upside down, I was like, oh, this is this is really nice. It's very thoughtful given how how style things are in the MCU that shot and that like them just by default, one of the most interesting camera things they've ever done in the whole franchise. So I do love that shot quite a bit. I have a question for you guys because you just need more Oz Perkins films. Have you guys seen his evolution as a director in the four films or three rooms that he's done? Like into this one? I mean, what does it feel like he's got his like his style down? He just needs like a wider audience. I don't know if you could just show me shots in a film and I'd be like, that's definitely Perkins. But I do think there's an expansion of his scope, obviously, just given more resources to do certain things. I Gretel and Hansel such a, you know, you're in a fantasy, you know, he's making Malek in the woods by way of horror fantasy at that point. So it's a little different than Black Oat's daughter, but in terms of a very pronounced sense of pacing and again, the mood and the atmosphere, like he's he's been happy to play with those abilities in his features. Yeah, I think like a lot of his earlier stuff, like what he does is really contingent on like the specific material he's tackling because he's done, he's returned a horror a few times, but he's done other stuff and he's riffed with different sub genres. And so, but this feels like it kind of is a bit of a culmination of some of the stuff that he's done because like, there's kind of ethereal, permanently, like unsettling vibes in a way that that's in Gretel and Hansel, that's not necessarily in some of the other stuff, but it's here. And then like, there's certain lot devices that he uses in Black Oat's daughter that that carry over. And so like, it seems kind of like a culmination in a way of like a lot of different things he's riffed on. Okay. Now next year, he has a film, The Monkey. And that's later this year. No, it's next year. And that's produced by James Wan. It's an adaptation of a Stephen King thing. It has Tatiya Maslani and Elijah Wood, among others. So it's like, I'd imagine that has to be like, it's still neon. So I'm not, you know, they're not breaking the bank on this thing, but I imagine it's like even more of a kind of expansive, you know, approach to something, or give any more resources. Elijah Wood has to go drop that monkey off into like the Mountain Doom. Let's assume that's the plot. Yeah. Okay. I don't know why I said the Mountain Doom. Because Mountain Doom is not a dumb enough name for that. You leave Lord the Rings alone. It's by one complaint. It's just like instead of blood, it's all code red. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Because they do the good music in this movie. Good score. Appropriately. Yeah. Yeah. Very. Some T. Rex tunes, not against that. I think when I saw that the music was all done by one guy's like, this guy's cool. I think it's like one, a one name music producer. And I was like, this guy is pretty cool. Also really cool user credits at the end, whereas it's like, oh, yeah, it's backwards. It's always fun to see that. Yeah. You only get that once in the blue mode. So it's like, yeah, I agree. Yeah. Pretty cool. Applied to general with the same kinds of movies. No, it wouldn't do that for Pussin Boots. Wolf in a sequel. Yeah. Any of the thoughts and log legs, or a rapo? It's unfortunately we, well, I mean, it's not unfortunate, but we didn't go into spoilers, but I think that, again, this, this movie, I think, introduces some pretty cool discussion if you want, like, don't keep it with your buddies. Like about a lot of things, right? So, yeah, maybe we'll have like a night's episode or something like that. Maybe we'll chat a bit about this episode. Yeah. We'll see what happens. Right. When should people go and see long legs? Jeff, why don't you people see this movie? Yesterday. No, definitely see it, Wolf in theaters. Absolutely worth it. You don't want to be spoiled. I will say just my closing thought is that I was a little disappointed that the Nicholas Cage's character's legs were actually normal sized. I mean, he's six feet tall. Yeah, but not particularly a leg. He's a torso guy. I don't want to say it, but it's true. So the movie should have been called like average legs or just legs. He has them. Long, long legs is what it's going to have in theaters. Hey, what do you people see this movie? This is a movie that you should check out on theaters. And again, I think that it's, it's really, really well done. It's actually fairly short to like an hour and forty some odd minutes as well. But all those hour and forty some odd minutes really just tension filled. And again, Perkins clearly obviously stating that he is enjoying signs of the lambs seven, you know, all these other and everything else. Like, it's just, it's cool what he does with it. That is the change up. Yeah, this is a theater worthy movie. I was, this is one of my most anticipated movies of the summer. And I'm very happy to deliver it. Just saw a solid, poor experience, great atmosphere, great to see with the crowd that, you know, locks in and gets it certainly recommend happy that it's a hit already. That's just, that's just great news. All right. Well, that's been our reviews for vaccine and long legs. Now it's a good day. What time is it over here? I'm gonna have a couple games here. Let her know in fact, Jeff, did you know that that's actually the tune that plays when long legs is like outside your backyard? But there's like Aaron, we don't want to give away that he's there. So they didn't buy Aaron's music piece. That was so unkind of that. I wonder. I was trying to. Yeah. What if she had a whim chime? That's what I came inside to like argue or any of the families at a wind chime. The first game here is how long is it? This is a relation to Maxine. This is where I will name you guys a trilogy of movies, but I will ask you which one of them is a specific movie length. So there's only one right answer here. So you can feel free to buzz in if you want to, but you know, both of you guys will probably have a chance. So again, type of question. Yeah, just a runtime question. So of the clerks, or it's like the New Jersey, I forget what the name of it, the Jersey trilogy. Well, there's the view of skew universe. Sure. But I never say that lurks, small rats and chasing Amy chasing Amy, which one of these is one hour and 53 minutes. Aaron, Aaron chasing Amy. That's right. Yeah. That was too easy, I guess. Uh, the other two, yeah. This one here of these three movies, signs of the lamps, Hannibal and red dragon. Which one is two hours and four minutes? I would say red dragon. Jeff, you are correct. Hannibal, two hours, 11 minutes, silence, one hour for the eight. And what is long and feels long of this trilogy here, the, the, uh, El Mariachi trilogy. Um, actually, I don't think that's the name of it, but, um, El Mariachi, Desperado, and once upon a time of Mexico, which one of these is an hour and 42 minutes long. Aaron. Aaron. Desperado. That is incorrect. Jeff. Um, once upon a time of Mexico, that is correct. Is Desperado like what, like 97? It's an hour and 42 minutes. So two minutes longer than once upon a time of Mexico, but the shortest one of Mariachi now we're in 21 minutes. Uh, next one here, Aaron's favorite, blade blade to blade trinity, which one of these is two hours long on the dot. On the dot. Mm hmm. Two hours or minutes. Aaron, Aaron, blade, that is correct. Oh, it's trying to trick you up there. I was like, Oh, people are going to think blade trinity is going to belong. It's actually the shortest, uh, as much of that as possible. It's only, it's only seven minutes shorter. It's an hour, 53 minutes, pick it short. Uh, just a couple more here. Uh, back to the future, back to future two, back to future three, which one of these is an hour and 48 minutes? Aaron, Aaron, two. Is that a, is that a guess? No, that's correct. This is shortest one. I always think that you're, uh, I would think the people who think the first one is actually the shortest. That's actually an hour of 56 minutes. And two is like, or three is like, an hour and two hours. Yeah, it's like two minutes longer. Last one here, Madagascar, two escaped from escape to Africa. Madagascar three years was wanted. Which one of these is an hour and 26 minutes. Um, Aaron, I will venture to say the third one. Jeff says the third one that's incorrect. Aaron escape to Africa. No, it's the first one. Madagascar now in 26 minutes. Uh, I get that point there. Uh, but Aaron, you are the winner of that first game here. And the second game is called, you don't know me at all. This is where I look up your letterbox reviews. Oh, I will, I will ask the opposite person what they think that you rated this movie based on your review tab in letterbox. And, uh, Jeff, I'm going to assume that you are Jeff Ewing on letterbox. That's me. Real, a real Jeff Ewing, R E E L. Yeah. Uh, Aaron, what do you think Jeff gave the boogeyman? The boogeyman or movies, by the way? The boogeyman. There's a ball. There's a boogeyman. Oh, that's what the plot is. Do you like the boogeyman? I don't know. Let's see. How about, let's say two and a half. Jeff, do you remember what you get the boogeyman? I don't. Three and a half stars out of five. Okay. So Jeff, uh, you don't get that point, but Aaron doesn't get it either. Um, Jeff, what do you think Aaron gave Pearl? Uh, I would say four or five. Aaron, do you remember what you get Pearl? Three and a half. Three and a half. Both up to a great start. Aaron, what do you think Jeff gave malignant malignant? I cut out that cancer. Um, how big is Jeff into malignant? I will say four out of five. Jeff, do you remember what you gave malignant? Uh, probably give it a one. Two stars. Not a fan. Cut a lot of that cancer out. All two of those stars are for one specific scene. I'm sure the chair scene. No, the, um, the, the police scene. That's the chair scene. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Throws the chair at the end there across the room. That's great. Uh, Jeff, what do you think Aaron gave? Happy death day. This is the first one. Not having to say to you, but the first one. Happy death day as indicated by the title of the video that I know. I'll say four and a half. Aaron, do you remember what you gave? Happy death day? I was being generous, which I think it was. I was saying, I think, I think I said two and a half. You gave it two. That was a big generous. Not a big fan. Yeah. I love that you guys are on the opposite spectrum right now, but maybe it evens out. Uh, Jeff, what do you, uh, Aaron, what do you think Jeff gave hereditary hereditary? That's a family one. Let's see. Certainly is. Ari Aster guy. Incorporating what he's been jumping. Jeff and I are newer friends. So like I'm trying to get a read still. This is one of the games called, you don't know me at all. Yeah. So let's see between where you're going for Aster. I'll say four out of five. Jeff, do you remember what you gave it? Probably gave it a five out of five. Four and a half. Yeah. Four and a half out of five. So Aaron, unfortunately, you still don't get that point. I've clocked you on the Aster being on the Aster. Jeff, what do you think Aaron gave another Mike and Monroe vehicle watcher? Uh, say four. Aaron, do you remember you gave watcher? I think one and a half is correct. I, I'm the one person that's not like watcher. So far this going, this game is going great. Nobody with any points. Uh, Aaron, what do you think Jeff gave Halloween three season of the witch season of the witch? Oh, no. It must be. See the witch. Uh, but let's see. Uh, is it the, this movie's better than its reputation or is it this movie's much better than its reputation? Or is it that? No, it's actually not that good. I will say three and a half. Jeff, do you remember where you gave it? Probably gave it a four. Three and a half. Boom. And on the board. Jeff, what do you think Aaron gave saw X? Hmm. And I wonder if you know what Aaron's thoughts are on the whole saw series, but saw X. I'll say four and a half. Pretty close. Aaron, do you remember what you gave it? I don't think I went the full floor. I think I want to say three and a half. You gave it a solid three. I gave saw X a three saw X a three. According to your, your activities. Again, I didn't, I didn't dig into it. It's just more of the front page one. So blame the, the letterbox read out. Um, the next one here. Aaron, what do you think Jeff gave? No one will save you the hulu movie. Alien invasions to be clear. I'm not the friendliest to the soft franchise. What it was alluding to. Um, I, I've seen that either. I'm like, I've seen, I've seen them all and I admire the, the, uh, the attempts to maintain a continuity. But overall, I'm just like, most of these are not great. Yeah, my review is a seven out of 10. So it'll be three and a half. I don't know why I have it three, but it's fine. I'll chunk it or change that immediately. Um, what movie? No one will save you. No one will save you. Um, everybody's not talking. Even though they could be talking. Um, but it's fun. Anyway, I, I will, I will say for. Jeff, do you remember where you gave it? I could go to four or in a letterbox to give it a four. Hey, it's narrowly this down. Yeah. Now you're kind of getting to know Jeff. Jeff, what do you think Aaron gave paranormal activity? The marked ones? I think this is the fourth one and event. It's the fifth, it's the fifth one. That's the side pool. Yeah, paranormal activity. The marked ones. Well, I know he's a big fan of side pools. I'm going to go to Aaron. Do you remember what you gave paranormal activity in the marked ones? I want to say three. Three and a half. Three and a half. Yeah. Better than happy death day. Same director. That's what I say. A couple more for each of you. Aaron, what do you think? Jeff gave skin a Marine? Skin a Marine. He did. He did. He did. If you like it or do you love it? How many how many clown phones out of five? This is tough because this could go either way. So I'm going to, I think I've got positive for most of these six. I'm going to say two. Jeff, remember we gave it? Uh, like two and a half maybe? Two and a half. Yes. So I was right on that. Now you're starting to know Jeff though. Yeah. It was my favorite tour. It was like my favorite showcase of ceilings that year. Jeff, what do you think Aaron gave the ring 2002? So the Gore Verbinsky movie? I'll go flat for Aaron. How generous am I here? Let me say two and a half. It's two and a half. You give it two and a half. Yeah. Also not a big ring guy. Last one for each of you here coming up. Aaron, what do you think Jeff gave seed of Chuckie? Seed of Chuckie. By default, the least of the Chuckies for me. Yeah, but still interesting because I love that franchise. I will say, I will say two and a half. Jeff, you remember you gave seed of Chuckie? I like I gave it a three. I gave it a two. Okay. Pretty close, but no nice for you there. And last one here. Jeff, what do you think Aaron gave 1997, 1998 the craft? Two stars. So close. Two and a half. Two and a half. It's like, I don't like the craft. Aaron, how much do you not? You don't like it. I knew that. I was like, but how much do you not like it? It's pretty close. Yeah. I was like, Oh, I wonder if he's going to be the heir. Love the craft. But Aaron, you got two rights. So you are the winner of this game of you don't know me at all. Letterbox edition. All right. Now, you know, Jeff, though, a little bit better. Then I sure diddly do. All right. Well, thank you for those games, Abe. You're welcome. All right. Let's quickly, let's quickly move on to some out of feedback. You might be back. This is where it goes. Various questions, answers on the paper page. Facebook.com, so setting up podcast. We have some number of questions. The listeners, they gave us some answers. Jeff, if you throw in any answers you might have as we go through our questions here. First question is, what's your favorite film based around a serial killer? Chris Cluven has that's so hard, but seven monster zodiac, natural born killers. Philip Heard has memories of murder. Paper films based around a serial killer. I will say em. Okay. Great choice. I go. I saw the devil. Okay. I'm going to add an American psycho because, you know, he shoots at a cop car and he thinks that his gun is able to shoot grenades. That, that, that lucky gives. Yeah, it's like feed me a cat at the ATM machine. All right. What's the creepiest performance you've got? What's the creepiest performance for someone you'd consider an A-list star? Mark Hoff, my friend at the show, writes hobby of our dumb and no country for old men. The late night Nick Cage fight a Nicholas Cage appreciation podcast writes when Robin Williams made the jump from playing disturbed anti heroes and even villains. It was a huge surprise to everybody. One hour photo is probably the creepiest. Chris Cluven has Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler and Lupita Nyong'o as Red in Us in Philippa. It has Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo. A-list star playing a weird, scarier role. Nicholas Cage and the family man. There you go. You know what I'm talking about. You know, I'm talking about Aaron. Don't give me that look. Who's carrying City of Angels? Makes Meg Ryan get killed on that bike. Let's see. Mark Wahlberg in fear. Marky Mark who's bunches funky. Can we bring you Jeff? A-list actor? Well, it's funny because I have a Jimmy Stewart one that comes to mind this a little different, but he's not exactly the antagonist of it, but in rope. Because he's the source of the idea of the villainous characters, even if he's not ultimately a villain in the same way. Yeah, it's still unnerving, you know? Yeah, and there's like there's coding, there's things it's going for that reflect on the characters. Well, that actually feeds into our next question, which is what are some great films where evil constantly feels like it's lurking. Kevin Taft writes The Dark and the Wicked. Chris Cluvenhaal has Baskin. Ken Offsinger Taulkin writes, the Veevitch, hereditary, the exorcist. A few moments of respite in these next ones, but the Babadook in Insidious. Philip heard writes Bowen Tomahawk and The Wailing, and Lee White Thompson writes Fahrenheit and 11. Billings where evil feels like it's constantly lurking. It's, I don't know about concept, but like Zodiac does such a good job in its first half. Focused on like the idea of the presence of this thing that's out, but but still rooting it in fact that it's really effective. So that, like I'm thinking about movies where there's like, you know, ghosts and shapes and stuff like that, and that's finding good, but I'm also trying to think of like thematically, you're just like, where is the killer kind of thing? Because other examples beyond the ones that are lit, those are good examples. I would say like dark in the wick of the great answer. I would go with the thing, because that's great answer. You don't know who like at any time, anyone, anywhere could be it. In that regard, I'd say that whole apocalypse trilogy, right? Prince of darkness is in mouth of madness. I think those are all like, there's such a looming sense of dread and though even Halloween, as far as carpenter goes, I mean, yeah, the way his and that's, it's the music, it's the camera work, there's a sense of promoting and all of this. Yeah, that's a great one. It's a really tight. It's a lot of things. Yeah, absolutely. Great. Next question. What is the member cinematic interrogations Kevin Taft has the Exorcist three with a vengeance? John Rivera has the Dark Knight. Chris Coon has John beat me to it, but Joker interrogation of the Dark Knight and Philbert has Kaiser Shorje in the usual suspects. Cinematic interrogations. I'm going to throw an Ellie confidential. Good choice. That's a fun one where he's going in and out of the two rooms. Where are we in the night, Elle? I mean, I think like a lot of legal dramas are basically like interrogations on the stand, right? Okay. Yeah. Obviously, my mind is going, that's right. My cousin, Benny. That's right. Yeah. Between specifically between him and Bursa Tobey, go and talk about the Buick Stylark. Yeah. Yeah. Let's cut him off. On the topic of legal, a few good men. There you go. Good one. You need me on that wall. I'll watch the movie all the time. Great. That I should hear. What are some great films focused on new talent trying to become big stars? Christopher Hill has all about Eve, the actor, the actress, just in whether he writes to die for, and does Knight fall or crawl in there? Crawl in there. Does Knight crawl or fall in there? Yes, he does. Yeah, sure. Let's try to become a big, big, big, big wig in the world of elite news. Exactly. Morning news. Chris Cleveland has starry eyes. And lastly, Philip Heard writes Bradley Cooper's, "A star is born." Great films, new talent, big stars. Both anger. That's such a good answer. She head with Greg gets right off the bus. He wants to become a big star. And they find her and it works. Gotcha suckas. I have to go sunset boulevard. Perfect. Because I'm big, but the pictures got small. That's a good one. That's a great line. All right. I can't top that. All right. Next question. Name some of your favorite references from movies from within movies playing homage to other films or filmmakers. Chris Cleveland has the alien skull in the predator spaceship in predator too. Justin Wetherby has just scream in general and Philip Heard has millennium actresses, one homage to another after another to classic Japanese cinema. And I love Del Toro so much to Kaiju cinema in Pacific Rim, particularly the battles. It's a great call out there. Now I get that reference. This is to movies. I like that who frame Roger Rabbit's like, "What if there was a Chinatown sequel involving two down?" I like that a lot. Especially once I grew up and realized, "Oh, this is just like doing Chinatown, but with cartoons." I would say I like in Home Alone, a little film within a film, Angels with Filthy Souls. It's basically like a riff on like Angels with Dirty Faces and like some of those like Kagnie like, "Hashing." It just works for me. Snakes, I don't know no snakes. I believe you. Put my Tommy gun down. And you scream so loud that his mother hears it on the plane. Well, you guys named all the appropriate ones. The last question before we get to that question for us is, "Who are some great fictional dictators?" Who are some great fictional directors from movies? Tyler Minow has Marty DeBergie. This is Spinal Tap. And then Philip Heard has the cat from Drive My Car. "Fictional directors from movies." Bobby Lovefinger. Bobby Lovefinger. "Fictional directors." Aaron, what's the name of the Spanish, Steven Spielberg, in the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns wants to direct to this something and then they get him... Is that his step on Spielberg? It's about Spielberg. Yeah, that's who I'm going to name. Carl Dennem. From King Kong. Carl Dennem. Either Jack Black or... Dennem like a jean. That's an ocean doesn't love it. Ah, yes. Either Jack Black or Robert Armstrong. Carl Dennem. I'll say Cressida from The Hunger Games. Yeah, there you go. Complete with the... Absolutely. Yeah, perfect. Great. Okay, we got a question here from Philip Heard. He writes, "I often hear about half a dozen or so of TV shows online repeatedly. Do you all have any hidden gems to recommend?" So basically any recommendation for TV shows that aren't the same things you hear all the time. Yeah, Game of Thrones. Lost. Yeah, the bear, stuff like that. I mean, I do watch a lot of television, but I sometimes just watch like older classic TV that I didn't really pick up on before and something I talked to Aaron about from time to time is Frasier. Like the 90s run of Frasier is really well written. It is really funny and the way that Kelstagrammer, his comedic timing, everybody on the show, including Niles and John Mahoney and everybody else like, "Yeah, really good sharp line delivery in that show," and actually makes it really, really funny. So like, yeah, I mean, you might watch these new shows, but some of these old shows are really, really well done as well. This brings me to a show that I just start not Frasier, but just this question brings me to a show that I've just started that I didn't realize existed until just recently. It's on Netflix. It's the Vince Staples show. Okay. Rapper Vince Staples has a show on Netflix. It's like six episodes or whatever that I'm really enjoying. It feels like him being like, "Well, Donald Glover finished Atlanta. What if I did like a Long Beach version of Atlanta?" Okay. And I'm not saying it's necessarily as good as Atlanta because I really love Atlanta. But it's pretty good. Like, at Vince Staples, not a person. I'm like, "Oh, man, I can't wait for the next Vince Staples thing to come up." I was like, "He's solid. I'm enjoying this quite a bit as much as I've seen so far. I've mentioned this before on the show, but we are lady parts on Peacock about the Muslim punk rock band in England. I think that's a really, really good show. It's from the creator of the movie "Polite Society." It's from that same direction. Okay. Yeah. There's a show also on Peacock's stand apparently called "Wolf Like Me" with Josh Gad and Isla Fisher. I'm surprised how much I enjoyed the first season that I was eagerly anticipating more of this. Chuckie's not unpopular, but Chuckie, I think Chuckie's just a really good show. Yeah. And you said that it's still being done by the same showrunner director. Don Mancini. It's continuing the continuity. It's like from child's play to Chuckie. It's all the same continuity, and I love it for that. Right. I'm looking at some stuff here, but keep going. I'm sure one new scene's come out in England. It's like a national holiday, but slow horses on Apple is excellent. Yes. Yeah. You're an old man spy show. That's just a great show. Apple in general is my go-to for things I want that I think are very good. I mentioned before "Little America." I think it's a great show that's the one produced by Kumbia Nanjani and Natalie Gordon. It's like a good anthology show. What else? Yeah. I'm trying to think of shows that nobody's really talking about in the culture. I was like gaced. I'm a spookies was canceled, but I love those spookies. Good one. I would recommend that people go on Tubi and watch Swamp Thing. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Because it was a great first season. I mean, there's a little drop-in quality in the last couple of episodes because the pacing's really tight, but that's a side effect of them during the season's filming, cutting the episode count. It's still really good. It's atmospheric. Derek Mears is great in it. Weirdly good horror series that came out of DC that they didn't know what to do with, because at one point in DC was actually run for like a good five years by hamsters. And they got that far. They got that far. That's impressive. It's just a plot of them in a trench coat. In the horror realm, interview with the vampire is a really good show. The AMC adaptation of interview with the vampire. I mean, my main problem with the movie is I think Brad Pitt's boring is fucking it. So the fact that someone that's not boring to play Louie makes a big difference for me. That's very important. Who would have thought that if you get engaging actors who might be really into it? On the AMC train, I would recommend the Terror. Yeah. Yeah. That's the anthology horror. Yeah. Both seasons, very different. Very good. There's a third one coming out. So, you know, I look forward to it. It's very different feels. Cool creature effects. Good. Yeah. Yeah. One of the shows that Aaron and I talked about all the time, it's not renewed anymore. It's kind of done, but with miracle workers, I was like, oh, yeah, that was great. Yeah. Nobody really watched it. And I was like, this is, it's cool that went for four seasons. Yeah, I got it. All anthology. So they all are doing different things every season. Great cast. Yeah. Great shows. Really great cast. Like, you know, you do it and like, got to work with them a lot because, you know, it's different. Like, it's a medieval thing. It's a, it's a dystopian thing. Yeah. It's the same cast with different, very different characters every season. Yeah. Yeah. Like Steve Buscemi playing, like God, and then you have him playing like an outlaw. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So it's like, it has, it had a lot of good juice for it. Right. Yeah. And for four seasons and, you know, and hopefully people will check it out. But, um, yeah. I'm a Virgo. That's the, the Boots Riley show. That's a pride. Okay. Yeah. Last year with a drill drill. Um, I really like that. I'm happy that Boots Riley got to do more stuff because I, like, sorry to bother you felt like such a kitchen sink. Like, let me throw everything in case I never get to make a movie again, kind of movie. So my baby is like, Oh, he still has more juice. Good grip. Yeah. It's good. Um, what? Okay. What last thing? Let's show up watching, right? And it's time to like, I mean, it had three seasons. I guess somebody watched it. It was on prime and now it's on Netflix. A louder milk. That's the show. It's the show produced by Peter, Peter Fairley. Um, and it stars Ron Livingston, who I like a lot. And he, and he got to lead a show for a while, which is nice. He plays a, he's like a former out. He's, it's a, it's like an alcoholic anonymous type of show where he's, he's a, like a music critic and he's leading a group. And the group is all like a bunch of, like, like Brian Reagan is in the group, like there's a lot of comedians in it. Um, but it's about, you know, sobriety. It's a sobriety kind of show, but it's a, it's still also like a Peter Fairley comedy. So there's a lot of like goofy stuff that happens. But because it's still with, you know, serious things about Bobby sobriety, like it has a, a dramatic side to it. Will Sasso's and it also, he's also very, I never seen Will Sasso act before. So like this is a nice chance as like drama acting. Yeah, he plays like his sponsor and like obviously there's still like comedic hijinks or whatever. But there, but again, there's like a serious side of the show and I'm like, I'm on the second season. So there's three scenes total. I'm like, this is a good show. Like I, I, I, I hate when Nate Netflix makes me discover things because of like, I know this existed elsewhere. It's like at the same time, it's a good show. Can't argue that. Okay. So there you go. There you go. There's a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff there for you. And that's not enough feedback feedback. And that's going to bring us to the end of this week's episode about now there. You can find everything I do on my personal subs that pays the code is ec.substech.com and everything I do ends up over there. I write I'm the editor in chief over at legal entertainment. All my movie reviews can be found there. I'm on why so blue for blue and criteria interviews and I'm on all the socials at errandsps and I am the co host on the summer of 2004 at 20 featuring friends, the show Brandon Peterson, Scott Mendelssohn. We're talking about the 2004 summer movie season. This week, I think is I robot is the main movie of the week. So check that show out as well. Abe, you find more friends of our main screen. Abe dot mua and twitter.com session. World of Smith hashtag. Happy early birthday. Jeff, you were going to be able to find more of you online. Oh, it's almost birthday girl. Um, uh, you can find me at real Jeff you doing on Twitter, R E L or on letterbox. Um, where I vlog about one tenth of what I probably should. Uh, you can find my own podcast, uh, human rights, the deep dive on Twitter at hftd dive or wherever your podcasts are served. And you can find my, um, features sometimes at inverse and I have a lot of features and reviews these days at quieter. Um, and otherwise around and about. Great. Right. You can follow the other episodes about now, if there are any about iTunes, I'd even Spotify and Stitcher sound cloud, automatic initiative, ability. Feel free to email us dot not pockets of your mobile.com. Check it out. I guess I were Twitter. I'm going to go outside. I'm really upset about the S. Instagram.com says out now underscore podcast. We're racing. Yeah, you won. Pieces. Jeff, thank you very much for joining. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you for having me with blast. For sure. Happy to have you here. Uh, next week's show, we're talking twisters. Hey, it's common. Hold on to your hats and hold on to your cows. That's what I say. Put your face on a t-shirt. So that's coming next week. Stay tuned after the end of this episode to hear that up interview with Oz Perkins. And until next time, so long and goodbye. [Music] Hi. Hi. How are you doing today? Pretty well. How are you? I'm doing well. Can I refer to you as Oz or? Please, please. The last time I covered one of your films, I believe I wrote Oz and then I was emailed being told I do please rename it to Osgood. I saw the film yesterday. It messed me up. I was very happy about that. I was looking forward to it quite a bit and it accomplished what I was looking for. I want to know where is this coming from? I know there's inspirations, some very clear ones that I could tell and I read the press notes. I saw some things, but for being such a kind of a rich film in terms of all the different sources of darkness that are at play, here's what led to developing this particular story. I mean, the idea was to write and create something that would garner more eyeballs. That would sort of cut through in a different way. And so then if your intention, if my intention was to cut through in a different way, then it becomes, well, what's the implement? What's the tip of the spear that's going to get you through, it's going to pierce that membrane and get you into a place where you're just more accessible to more people. And it always just seems naturally and sort of like elemental to me that movies are about movies, especially nowadays. And so to just sail in on sounds of the lambs, having the best lanyard at a concert, you're just like, you're just going to walk right the fuck in. And so we walked right in on sounds of the lambs with the intention to then not do that movie at all, and to deviate into a different realm and explore a different kind of scene. But the idea was to just to invite the audience into a place of sort of tenuous comfort. Oh, I know this movie, and then reverse it. I really keyed into the atmosphere here, much like I have with your previous films, and that's something I very much admire about your work in general, you know, thus far. I'm curious when you're like crafting your story, is that something that you're, is that written in? Are you thinking that like visually in mind as you're writing these stories, are you finding that within the filmmaking process? I write as much onto the pages I can. And I think one of the gratifying things of working with the people that I've worked with so far is their response to the script as written. I think a lot of screenwriting can be very prescriptive and sort of, we're inside today, it's an interior, and I don't write interior, like for instance, I don't write interior, exterior, it's not an instruction manual, this thing that I'm writing, it's a look into what I think I mean, and it's trying to get as many of the department heads, the camera, make-up effects, the actors, the production designer, on the same page of getting the vibe as early as we can so that we can then make it better and better and better and better, so we're all on the same page. So it's all on the page and then you hire people who have good taste and you trust them to do their best work and you kind of stand back and you take your hands off a little bit. I don't believe in doing things with grip, I believe in doing things with an open hand and letting people do their thing and then it kind of just threw enough conversations and good references, you find the thing and for as far as references go, I don't reference horror movies, right? Like when we're making this movie, I'm not like, oh, you should really watch, you know, night swim, that doesn't occur to me, you should really watch my own private Idaho, we should really watch a woman under the influence, you know what I mean? Like you find other ways to relate the work that you're doing, it helps everybody expand their minds and you're working with artists, not with fucking cops, do you know what I mean? And these people want their minds to be opened. With that in mind, as far as like the collaborative process, I know Nicholas Cage obviously has a history making unique choices to like enhance the various roles that he brings, that he's, you know, benefit the projects that he's on. I'm curious, I'm sure he had plenty of ideas for this film as far as what he's doing here, obviously. You have like an example of the, maybe the most interesting idea he brought? You know, all of the voice, you know, the voice is his. Nick is a very finely, you know, you hear people, oh, actors, their body is their instrument, right? And in the case of Nick Cage, it's really true. And he's sort of been, you know, compared to or sort of put into like the rocker category. So if like, if he's going to be an instrument, he's a fucking electric guitar. And he knows how to play his fucking parts. He knows how to play the thing. And so I put words in front of him, which describe a certain rhythm, describe a certain melody or harmony even, there's a certain poetry or a certain absurdity or opacity to the way a character talks. And an actor like Nick, who wants to play his instrument, runs with it. And, and I make a suggestion here, I see something, I say something. But when you have Nicholas Cage, it's like having, you know, literal lightning in a bottle or a fucking tiger in a cage. And you, you let them be the lightning or the tiger. Similarly, Mike Monroe, she emerged as kind of this indie scream queen of sorts. And given how much I think clearly starling, like people's like an inspiration, nearly still launching point to some degree for the character. I'm curious, was she a first choice and all of her like talents? And what did what did what did she bring to the character? Yeah, when when I met Mike, and it's something that I find is true for most of the people who I end up hiring, there's especially the the female actress leads, especially is the quality of like, how different are they in person to what they bring on screen? And if in some of the cases, someone like Mike, her her real life person has nothing to do with her on screen person, they're they're unrelated entities. And for me, that the thing that the kind of the strand that connects those two things, the string that makes those those two poles live, that's so interesting, like what's going on in that realm, that kind of liminal space between the real Micah and the camera Micah. And so when someone's with a disparate nature of those two things is strong enough in a person to me, they're they're the person to cast. And I got to I got that through meeting her a couple times. This film on legs has more than a little bit in common with the black coach daughter from my perspective. And I was curious if you had that or your other films and in mind on any other level beyond just thematically? Yeah, I mean, I think that one of the things that that that I'm trying to do and people who are in who are my sort of colleagues is we're trying to find a signature, right? We're trying to find we're trying to we're trying to become sort of indisposable, right? Because the more generic you are these days, or maybe ever, but certainly these days, the more generic you are, the more liable you are to be replaced by a computer, I guess, is the way you could say it. So you you want to dig in and and get down there with yourself. And the black coach daughter was very much about, you know, it was very true for me. It was very much about myself. And so it becomes it becomes, you know, a refrain that that you want to revisit in the same way that artists revisit subjects, you know, they they, you know, like someone like David Hockney does a portrait of the same person over decades in different styles. You never go down to the same river twice. One fine, I got a wrap up. One final thing is honestly just kind of for me, the dolls, they have these orbs in them. I'm curious. Is that is there a twin peaks reference in there at all? Or is that was that a minor or is that just your own? It could could. I didn't think of it. But there's so much that's in my unconscious level of the surface. And sometimes I'll see things like, Oh, I didn't even realize there was a wave, a painting of a wave in the conversation. And there's a painting of the way a wave in, in, I'm pretty thing lives in the house. And I had to have that painting of a wave, but I would do it you why.