Well, we're rounding into the home stretch of 2024, and El'Ahrai and John are here to share their lists of the Top 5 Most Anticipated Movies For The Rest of The Year! (One day, their will be dueling epic poems about the battle to select "Moana 2".) Plus! Reviews of "Between the Temples" and "Harold and the Purple Crayon"! Throw in some festival news and other stuff, and you've got a show going! I ate my grandma! And it took a week cause she was absolutely humongous.
The Neon Movie Bunker
The Neon Movie Bunker -- Episode 359
(upbeat music) - Welcome to another episode of the end movie bunker. - I'm John Robinson. - And I'm Orais Danik. - And we're here to talk about movies. - And it ends with us. - Yeah, it ends with us has been a low grade surprise smash hit. - Well, wasn't it based off of a best selling novel? - It was very popular book, but that's not necessarily a guarantee that it's gonna. - Translate, yeah, I guess that's true. - Particularly, it's not gonna necessarily translate into box office success. - Yeah. - Yeah, to date it's done some $300 million worldwide. - Not bad? - Yeah, yeah. - But there's a minor issue. - Yeah. - Well, as you said, based on a popular novel by Colleen Hoover, there's a sequel novel that exists. - Okay. - It starts with us. - All right. - So you'd think. - Easy, easy decision, I mean, 300 million. - Yeah. - Let's get that sequel fast-tracked. - Well, there's an issue. After three weeks, this is from Variety. After three weeks in theaters, it ends with us, a big screen adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling book has become a box office smash to the tune of $242 million worldwide. Ticket sales are projected to reach at least 285 to 300 million. In a summer that's been dominated by films catering to kids and teenage boys, it ends with us as the rare cinematic event that's appealing to female audiences. It's hugely profitable, too. It ends with us cost $25 million to produce and is expected to net at least 25 million to 30 million. It profits both for Sony, which distributed the film, and director star Justin Bell-Doney's Wayfarer Studios, which co-financed it with TSG Entertainment. - Okay. - Another source familiar with the deal making puts that figure double. - Wow. - Those margins don't include proceeds for cinemas or box office bonuses for Star Blake Lively and Bell-Doney. A sequel to the novel, it starts with us, already exists, so there would be no need to stretch the source material to exploit a hit, all our big little lies. And the existence of that follow-up story should be a clear sign that moviegoers haven't seen the last of Lily, Ryle, and Atlas. The characters portrayed by Lively, Bell-Doney and Brandon's cleaner, respectively in the film. Hollywood players typically capitalize on positive box office headlines by fast tracking the announcement of another installment. But an apparent feud between Lively and Bell-Doney has spilled out into the public eye, has left any sequel plans looking precarious. - Oh, boy. - Quote, this is uncharted territory and nobody has any idea of what a sequel could look like. This is a source familiar with the situation. There's probably no world where these two will work together again. (laughing) Ooh. As the chronically online or aware, the lead up to it ends with us was riddled with tabloid fodder about off-screen drama. It started with rumors about hostility between Bell-Doney and the rest of the cast, after he was not photographed with them at the August 6th New York premiere. Nor did Bell-Doney introduce the film alongside Lively and Hoover? Internet sleuths also discovered that none of his fellow actors follow Bell-Doney on Instagram other than Hassan Minaj, who plays the brother-in-law of Bell-Doney's character. There's been speculation that Lively and Bell-Doney clashed over the final cut of the movie with Lively's preferred version as the one that reportedly made it the big screen. Some screenwriters have said it was odd that Lively admitted during the red carpet interview that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, wrote a key scene in the final cut of the film. Sources say that came as news to Bell-Doney, who thought the scene had been ad-libbed by Lively. The WGA did not respond through a quote request for comment about whether Reynolds' work is a guilt violation that could spark a credit issue. Though movies can have uncredited writers, rarely would the director be unaware of it. Reynolds's involvement raises a second WGA issue. The film began production on May 5th, 2023, three days after the start of last summer's WGA strike. Oh boy. Reynolds, who received a screen reader credit on Deadpool 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine, is a WGA member and would have been barred from contributing to the screenplay between May 2nd and September 27th, 2023. Writers picketed the New Jersey set, and production was paused in late June 2023 before the SAG after strike commenced on July 14th. A source close to Reynolds says he took a pass on the film's rooftop scene in April 20th. Neither Bell-Doney or Lively have addressed the chatter publicly, but multiple sources confirmed to variety that the bad blood between the two is very real and the relationship may not be salvageable. Yet none of those sources could articulate any legitimate transgressions from either party. The rift is complicated by the fact that Bell-Doney's way for her studios holds the cinematic rights to both it ends with us and it starts with us after requiring them in 2019 from Hoover. The author told Variety that she rejected several offers before agreeing to team with Bell-Doney on the big screen adaptation. Quote, "I felt like he understood the book "and understand the importance of people needing "to see it on screen," Hoover said. So Lively and Bell-Doney may need to follow the example of six in the city, two co-stars, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Catrell, and set aside their personal differences for business if they want to realize their completed vision for it starts with us. Bell-Doney has suggested that he won't direct the sequel, telling Entertainment Tonight at the movie's premiere, but I think there are better people for that. I think Blake Lively's ready to direct," end quote. The character, Ryle, plays a much smaller role in the second book's narrative, making it easier for Bell-Doney to step aside, at least as an actor. Still, he and Lively would need to come to some kind of an accord given his role as producer. Yeah. Wayfarer and Bell-Doney don't hold the rights to both novels and don't merely have an option, as is often the case with hot literary properties. Therefore, he doesn't need to renew an agreement, which typically expire 18 months after ranking a deal, and is the sole party who can determine its fate, according to sources familiar with the terms of the contract. The deal was ironed out after the novel had sold a number of copies, but before who became ubiquitous on Book Talk, the subset of TikTok that's devoted to reading and helped propel the author to literary stardom. It ends with us was published in 2016, but didn't become a phenomenon until years later. It was the talk of TikTok in 2021 before becoming the top selling print novel of 2022 and 2023. Damn. Prior to the film's release, Bell-Doney told Variety regarding the sequel novel that he and Wayfarer haven't even begun to think of that far ahead. I'm trying to stay in the present as much as I can. However, industry sources say it's hard to imagine the creative minds at Wayfarer, which is back titles like the Garfield movie and the upcoming Will Feral Documentary Will on Harper, haven't considered adapting the second installment in the wildly popular two-part book series. Sony has the automatic option to distribute a theoretical sequel, but can't force a follow-up film without involvement from Wayfarer. The second novel takes place a few months after the events of the first, so producers likely wouldn't want to waste, wouldn't want too much time to pass at risk of the editors aging out of the roles. Entertainment industry sources also note that ideally no more than two to three years would pass between installments to sustain audience interest. It ends with us as already the highest-grossing film in the careers of Bell-Doney, surpassing his directorial debut five feet apart with 92.5 million, and Lively, care to guess what the previous high-water mark in Blake Lively's film career was? - Was it the one she did with Anna Kendrick? - It was not a simple favor. It was, in fact, 2011's Green Lantern. - Oh boy. - With 237 million. But instead of basking in the glow of box office glory, they're doing damage control. Lively has been criticized for the bubbly nature in which she's promoted a film that tackles dark themes like domestic violence, while Bell-Doney has hired the crisis firm Tag PR. Of course, none of this presented audiences from going to theaters. It ends with us as on pace to be one of the top 10 highest-grossing films of the year to date. It's among the highlights of the summer, says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm, franchise entertainment research. Audiences are waiting for the next chapter. - Sounds like they'll be waiting a while. - They might be, yeah. - That said, Oasis got back together. - Yeah, yeah, the stranger things have happened. - Principles are all nice and good, and whatever bad blood exists might be, real. But you know what else is real? - Money. - Giant stacks of cash. - Yeah. - Yeah. - It'd be interesting for Lively to direct. - It might, yeah. Yeah. If Bell-Doney says she's ready, that's certainly a good sign. - Yeah. - Of course, that may be passive aggressive on his part, but maybe-- - Maybe. - No, not at all. - I'm acidic, what can I say? (laughing) - Yeah, so that we will keep an eye on that. If anything happens in the upcoming days, weeks, months, we'll let you know, dear listener. Speaking of things that are happening in upcoming days, weeks, and months, why don't you take a trip to Italy? - Sure. - It would be virtual. We're not getting in a plane. - Damn. - But the Venice Film Festival's going on. - Nice. - This very day, Wolf's starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, directed by John Watts, Premier and Adventist, received a four-minute standing ovation. - Not bad. - So you're Puddler, Lorraine's, Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Cavus, Premier, and got her like six or seven minutes. Just mentioning this, the stop watching of the standing ovation after movies at the big festivals is at best, wildly dumb. (laughing) If not, genuinely negative. - It's a bad metric. - Exactly, exactly. Jude Law is officially back. After seven minutes standing ovation at Venice, we're fighting white supremacy in the order. - Ooh. - Also happening right now in Colorado is the Telluride Film Festival. - True. - This Saturday night. - Yeah. - Permured there, and it's getting quite excellent notices. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice premiered, opened Venice, and again, four minutes. So headline, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice receives four minute plus ovation at Venice Festival World Premier." Mark Harris, longtime entertainment writer, editor at Entertainment Weekly, written a bunch of books. Said, "Put this on blue sky." Trades to reality translation. This movie showed, and then concluded. - Yeah. - And then there's a response here. As someone who was literally in the room, I have no idea what this is referring to. - They started clapping at the beginning of the credits and then finished up with a bit of a clap when they ended. So, yeah. - Like I said, just a bad metric. - Yeah. But we will continue to, probably next week we'll have the announcement of the awards from Venice. - Mm-hmm. - And also next weekend, oh yeah, Toronto. - Yeah. - That's gonna be starting. - Mm-hmm. - Tell your right doesn't really do awards per se, but there are a couple more premieres happening that are of note. So, Nickel Boys is there. So, it's, it's, it begins. - Yep, the awards race begins. - Indeed. Not that I didn't necessarily begin with, you know, doing part two, but-- - Yeah. - But there are-- - That's an outlier. - Yeah, well, that would have been a very large part of the 2023 race had it not been for the strikes. - Mm-hmm. - But yeah, it's gonna get fun. - Mm-hmm. - But, dear listener, yes. If you'd like to let us know your thoughts on the awards season and the various festivals, send us an email, mail in the unmoveybunker.com. That's the email address. You should send email to it. - Of course, that's not the only way to get in touch with us. - Well, there's Facebook.com/neonmoviebunker. - Mm-hmm. - There is Twitter.com/neonmoviebunker or @neonmoviebunker. I'm @JohnNMB. We are on blue sky @neonmoviebunker.besky.social. I am on Letterbox, just use your JohnNMB. So, you know, see what I'm seeing there, when? - Yeah. - And then please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or YouTube or Spotify wherever you get your podcasts. And then we have a website, www.neonmoviebunker.com. - Full of stuff and things, including our interview with Mo Ryan. - Indeed. It is still there, and you should be listening to it right now. Don't be listening to it right now, 'cause we're doing a show. But when this show is done, if you haven't listened to it yet. - Give it a spin. - Yeah. And then, you know, twitch.tv/neonmoviebunker is our event space for when we want to have spacey events. And, you know, the place where things sometimes happen. - Yes. - I want to talk about a movie. - Yeah. - May I also talk about a movie? - Yes. In fact, I think you should go first. - You do. - I do. - Well, then. Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, have a seat and listen as I discourse on between the temples, directed by Nathan Silver, written by Nathan Silver and C. Mason Wells, stars, Jason Schwartzman, Carol Kane, Dolly Dale Young, Caroline Aaron, Robert Smigel, Madeleine Weinstein, and others. Ben Gottlieb is the canter at a synagogue in, I think, Westchester County. - Okay. - No, he's not the rabbi. He's not the, you know, spiritual leader of the congregation, but he's the guy who gets up and sings all the prayers during the services. - Unfortunately, he's kind of lost his voice and not in a lyrendratus kind of way. - I was gonna ask. - More in a tragedy has befallen him and he's not coping with it well, kind of way. - Gotcha. - He's currently living with his mom's, he's, no, like 43, 44 years old. - Okay. - But he's living with his mom's 'cause he can't go back to the house where he was living. - Okay. - It starts with services and he's trying to do the opening song and all that comes out of his mouth is kind of a weak honk. So he just runs off or leaves the synagogue and starts walking along the highway. Eventually decides to lay down in the middle of the road and wait for a truck to run over him. A truck comes over and refuses to run him over. - Yeah. Otherwise, you know, a very short movie but eventually drops him off at a bar. He starts drinking mudslides, gets into a, well, what starts as a verbal altercation within another patron of the bar which turns briefly physical and as Ben is now on the floor looking at the ceiling - Yeah. - Okay. He gives us an idea of how that altercation went for him. - An older woman who we discover is Carla O'Connor, played by Carol Kane, comes to his assistance and starts talking to him and he realizes that they used to know each other. - Oh. - Because Mrs. O'Connor was Ben's music teacher in school. - No. - Her husband is long since past. She's got a son and a granddaughter and a daughter-in-law that she doesn't see terribly often but he starts talking about his life and what's going on with him. It's a nice little moment of reconnection. What Ben still has his, you know, can't thing issue. He also works as kind of the religious education coordinator. - Okay. - Teaching the bar and Bat Mitzvah students, their Hebrew for their ceremonies. His mom is kind of a, she's an artist slash homemaker. - Okay. - His step mom, his mom's played by Caroline Aron, his step mom's played by Dali Dayleone. She converted and they're both, well, his step mom is a high-powered realtor. - Okay. - They are, his mom's are very prominent donors to the synagogue, which is the reason he's still employed. And one day he's finishing up on one of the Benet Mitzvah classes and who should walk in, but Carla O'Connor. She says, yeah, I did some research online and it has covered the first Bat Mitzvah goes back to, only goes back to like 1905 and I was done in the home when a rabbi wanted to celebrate his daughter the same way he would have celebrated. Son, she says, "I never had a bar mitzvah. "My parents were hardcore communists "and would have never heard such a thing." But before I was Carla O'Connor, I was Carla Kessler. - Okay. - So Ben agrees to start taking her own. In the meantime, we find out exactly what the disaster was that had be fallen. Ben, I'm not gonna go too far into it. But it is important for understanding his character. There are more than one person attempting to set him up on dates. - Okay. - Including his boss, the rabbi who wants to set him up with his daughter, Gabby. Gabby seems like a perfectly nice girl and try to be an actress and says something like, I went back three times for a Jewish part and they ended up giving it to a shiksa. They get along pretty well. Eventually, Ben starts sleeping, just sleeping at Carla's place just to be someplace other than under his mom's roof. - Yeah. - Well, and then there's a sader with Ben and his mom's and the rabbi and the rabbi's wife and Gabby. And Ben invited Carla too. - Okay. - And there's no end of weird to it. - Yeah. - Like uncomfortable weird? - Just awkward all around. - Yeah. 'Cause there's a way without getting into spoilery details, there's a way that things, you expect things might be progressing and then there's what actually happens. - Oh, really? - Yeah. - Okay then. - Eventually, there's an end. - All right. - This movie is pretty funny. I mean, intentionally. It is primarily a comment. Jason Schwartzman, as sad sack Ben is a well cast and well acquainted with this character, I think. It's delightful to see Carol Kane get this big of a part. - Yeah. - Again. - Definitely. - And Carla is exactly who she is, which sounds like a tautology I know. I can see kind of how she was written and then what Kane brought to that. - Gotcha. - To elevate things. She's terrific. I mean, she's always been terrific. - It really has. - I'm thinking a Scrooge, for example. But it's nice to see her get something this big and prominent. Again, plated Sundance. - How Sundancey is it? - It's pretty Sundancey. - Yeah. - Yeah, it's pretty Sundance. - Okay. - Much more so than kneecap. - Gotcha. - I brought the same level as DD. - Okay. - But I think DD ultimately is better. - Oh, all right. - Just 'cause I'm, again, the farther I'm getting from DD, the more impressed I am with it. - Yeah. - There's a lot of Jewish specificity to this. - Okay. - Which is good. - Yeah. - And Nathan Silver clearly knows his way around a synagogue. He knows the dynamics in his co-writer, know the dynamics of all these characters and how they're gonna bounce off each other. Even when one does something that nobody could have seen coming. - Gotcha. - So yeah, this is a pleasant time in the movies. It's perhaps a bit more languagey than a movie you'd send your parents to. - Really? - Yeah. - Or at least when I would send my parents to. - Okay. But if that's not gonna bother them, they would certainly have a good time with it. - Yeah. - Between the temples as in theaters now, it's pretty good. - Okay, glad to hear it. - And what do you have for us, Ellery? - Well, available now on premium video on demand is Harold and the Purple Cran. - Ah. - Directed by Carlos Saldana, written by David Guillen and Michael Handelman, or at least the screenplay, and the, based off of the book by Crockett Johnson. - Hey, classic. - Yup. - There's Zachary Levi as Harold, along with Lil Rel Howie, Zoe Deschanel, Benjamin Batani, Tanya Reynolds, Jermaine Clement, and Alfred Molina as the narrator. Film opens an animation. - Okay. - Pretty true to the book animation of Harold and he's sketching and he creates his friend, Moose, played by Lil Rel Howie. - Okay. - And Porcupine, played by Tanya Reynolds. Having a good time just, you know, having adventures in Harold's imagination. - Okay. - And we see Harold age and get a little bit older and the narrator, you know, follows along and describes the things that are going on. - Mm-hmm. - And then the narrator just kind of goes silent. - Mm. - Okay. - And Harold's like, well, wait, where's the narrator? Where, where. - What's going on? - What's going on? It's worth noting that shortly before the narrator's disappearance, Harold and the narrator had a brief conversation about, well, so you created me. So am I like your son? - Okay. - And the narrator's like, well, you are my creation, but, well, okay. So Harold gets the idea that he wants to go to the real world and find the narrator. - Okay, sure. - Armed with his purple crayon, he draws a door, writes real world on it, opens it up, and he jumps through. - Okay. - Lewis is a little less excited about this opportunity. - Oh. - Porcupine is all for it, though. And the three of them go through this door and get separated and the transition to the real world. Moose and Harold end up in the same spot, but porcupine, she ends up delayed and ends up on some of her own misadventures. - Okay. - So Harold and Moose are, and Moose does not appear as a Moose in the real world, he appears as-- - Little real, how are you? - Yeah. - Okay. - And they're, you know, lots of fish out of water type of stuff. - Sure. - No idea what's going on with the real world. And at one point, they come to you in Central Park and Harold sees somebody jogging. He starts jogging along with him and says, "Well, what are you running from?" And the jaggers like, "The grown man in a onesie." - Ha! - Harold doesn't quite, doesn't quite get it, but eventually he and Moose draw a bicycle built for two. They're going for a bike ride. - Okay. - And they're hit by Terry, who's driving her son, Melt School. Terry played by Zoe Deschanel, Melt played by Benjamin Batani. - Okay. - And Mel is in junior high and he's having a rough time of it. His father passed not too long ago and well, he's holding on very tight to his father's memory. - Okay. We'll have. - And the introduction of Harold and Moose and eventually porcupine into their lives makes things a little crazy. - No. - Yeah. - Eventually there, things progress to the point where there's a showdown with Gary, who is also known as library Gary, because he is the librarian. And-- - Is that your main Clement? - That is Clement. And he is instrumental in helping Harold figure out where the narrator went. - Okay. - Yeah, he finally recognizes Harold and goes to the children's section, gets the book, and he's like, "Look, this is your life, this is you." And he's like, "Oh." So, you know, Crockett Johnson would be the person you're looking for. I'm glad it's you with that. - How long has Crockett Johnson been dead? - A while now. And, well, then the magic of the purple crayon falls into the wrong hands, and there is a-- - Crockett Johnson? - No, I wish. - And there's a-- - The wasterraptusk! - You know? - But we're getting ahead of ourselves. - Yeah, we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. Eventually, there's a conflict between, Gary becomes the wrong hands that the purple crayon falls into. - Okay. - And there's a crayon off between Harold and Gary, and finally, an ending. - Sure. "From a story structure standpoint, this movie's a mess." I think adapting Harold and the purple crayon to a feature length is kind of a tall order, and I get why they went the direction that they did. But you would expect the villain of the piece to be introduced earlier than, say, the 36-minute mark. Yeah, you'd expect there to be a little bit more tension built. I think, granted, it's a kids' movie. It's designed for, I'd say, cap it at 10. - Okay. - You know, "Ten and Under" is the audience for this movie. - This is another one that illustrates the difference between a kids' movie and a family movie. - Yes. - And in all ages' movie? - Yes, this is a kids' movie. - Okay. - There are funny things that happen during it, most of which involve porcupine. Tanya Reynolds really shines in this. She is charming and funny in all the best possible ways. Lil' Ralph Howrey is given a little less to do his moose. He's not quite, he's decidedly shy sidekick. - Okay. - You know, so we don't get quite as much funny from him as we all know he's very capable of producing. We do get a lot of antics from Zachary Levi. - Okay. - And... - I had that, sure, that'll happen. - I don't know that I would hang a movie on that, but they kind of did. And that's what you get when you watch "Perils in the Purple Crown." - It's okay for kids. Parents are gonna be rolling their eyes. There are some fun... - What would you say it's good to be watching it at home means you can put the kids in front of it while you play on your phone? - Mm-hmm. - Oh yeah, there's definitely an element of that to it. There, not to say that movies without positive traits, like the costume work for both moose and porcupine. Is really, really good. Moose appears throughout with various sweaters, all of which have a moose on. - Okay. - And they're all in the brownish color palette of a moose. - Sure. - So there's some thought put together there. The costumes that Tanya Reynolds sports, or the costume that she sports in this is just right for a porcupine. - Okay. - It, weird thing to say, but if you were to try to visualize what a porcupine transferred to a human woman's body would be, this is pretty good. There's some fun details like there's purple streaks in her hair to denote the fact that she is in fact, you know, a drawing of, of heralds. The effects work is not bad. - Okay. - Pretty darn good. It's just. - Written not well. - Yeah. Yeah, it's not terribly well written. - Like that sentence. - Right. - Written not well. Are there worse ways to spend your time? Absolutely. But there are also significantly better children's movies out there. And this one's ultimately forgettable. - Okay. - Which is not. - It's not. - Well, that's the worst thing you can say about a movie. - No. No, it's not. - It's interesting. I've been looking through IMDB while I've been talking. Carla Soudaña, best known previously for either co-directing or directing the Ice Age movies in Rio, in Rio II, and Ferdinand. This is first, and robots for that matter, but this is first full-length live action-ish thing. - And he acquits himself well. You know, he blends the effects nicely. He has a good grasp of how to position the camera and how to stage things. I mean, it's well made. - But all the, the, the craft is good. The tech, all the tech is good, all that kind of thing. - Yeah, all the craft and tech is good to almost great. It's just that script and really lets them down. - Okay. - You know, it could have been, could have been a classic kids movie. As it stands, this is, this'll keep them entertained for at least 70 of the 90 minutes. And then, you know, it'll be on to something else. - All right. - So listeners, did you see between the temples or did you see Harold and the purple crayon? Please, let us know your thought. - mail it new on moviebunker.com. Is it that time? - It is. - Bruh. - Yeah. - I know you like this show. - I do. - I, I like the, the looks forward. - Yes. As we have done for so many years in the past, this, the show we record on Labor Day weekend, we are looking at our most anticipated things from now until the end of the year. To refresh memories. My five things I was most looking good with, because we do this show twice a year. We do our first thing in January, right over, you know, after the year on Spectacular Gansa, and we do it right around this time. My five, at the beginning of the year, were driveway dolls, Civil War wolves, Hitman and Lisa Frankenstein. So obviously, I won't be repeating any of those. Yours were Megalopolis, The Shrouds, the then untitled radio silence movie, which ended up being- - Abigail. - Yep. Maxine and Nosferatu. - Yep. - So again, all off the table for, for both of us. Shall I flip a coin? - Please do. - Call it in the air. - Already. - Hey Siri, flip a coin. - Heads. - It's heads. - All right, so I'm going first. - Indeed. - And I'm going to start with a movie that is about a subject of that I am passionate about. - Okay. - Passionately interested in. - All right. - I've read multiple, multiple books about it, and getting to see this fictionalized version of the first Saturday Night Live. - Yeah. - I am jazzed for that. - This is Jason Wright from Saturday Night. - Yes. - I'm just just premier to tell your ride within the last 36 hours. - Mm-hmm. The cast looks fantastic for it. The concept is great. Getting to see the chaos on the big screen and how everything comes together and whether or not it comes together is just, I'm there. - Yeah, yeah. This probably would have led off my list when the coin toss, so. - Well, coin tosses are important. - Indeed. I will attempt to alphabetize this list just to impose order on chaos. - Okay. - The first thing on my list then becomes, we talked about Venice, we talked about Telluride, talked about Toronto. - Mm-hmm. - We talked about Sundance even in this show. - Yeah. - We didn't talk about the granddaddy of Mall. Can. And can happen back in May? - Yes, did. - And ordered a palm door to a picture called Anora. - Ah, yes. - From Sean Baker, previously known for things like Tangerine and the Florida Project and Red Rocket. First American palm door winner since Tree of Life. - Oh, wow. So, Neon will be releasing it in October. I think there's a trailer floating around. - I think so. - This is like the fifth consecutive palm winner that Neon is distributing. Going back to, I think, Parasite. - Oh, pretty good track record there. - Yeah. Because that gets you things like Parasite and Anatomy of a Fall and Teton. - Oh my God, yeah. - So yeah, I know it involves a, something about, if I remember you to logline correctly, it's like an exotic dancer/sex worker, question mark, something along those lines gets involved with the psion of a Russian organized crime family. - That could be in, I want to say Brooklyn. - All right, yeah. - Plenty of drama to be had there. - Well, it's side of the things I don't think is just drama. I think there's comedy too, too, so. But again, that's me remembering things that I intentionally only sort of skimmed back in May. - Gotcha. - But it's Baker won me over with Red Rocket and it's the palm winner, so it's gonna be worth seeing. - Yeah. - So yeah, that's number one on my list. My theoretically alphabetical list. - Okay. - My list is not alphabetical. - Yours is prioritized? - No, it is random as hell. - Okay. - And the next title up for me is piece by piece. - Oh. - A, not quite documentary, not quite biopic, about Pharrell and his career and the music that he's made, and it's being told through the magic of Lego animation. - Okay. - And this seems like such an odd mixture of things. - Who's the director on it? It's somebody that's like, really? He's involved? That's even more interesting. I don't think it's Michelle Gondry, but it's someone who's not totally dissimilar. - Morgan Neville. - Okay, yeah, documentarian, so. - But yeah, it's such a wonderfully odd mix of concept and approach that, yeah, that gets my attention. I'm interested, it helps that I like, you know, Beryl's music too. - Yeah, yeah. - Next on my theoretically alphabetical list, is a movie that just played in Venice, and is starting to draw Oscar buzz for its main female star already. - Ooh. - Do you remember, was it last year, or 2022, when bodies, bodies, bodies came out? - Yeah, yeah. - Directed by Halina Ray, she's back. - Good. - With a picture she wrote and directed, called Baby Girl. - Tell me more. - There are a few prominent names in it, but the two biggest ones are Harris Dickinson, from the Iron Claw and Triangle of Sadness, and Nicole Kidman. - No. - And again, these kind of log lines all come with the grain of salt, because I skim them once and try to forget them. - Okay. - To some degree, so I can be as surprised as possible. - Right. - When I see the picture. But what I remember from this one is older, corporate executive, falls into BDSM relationship with younger underlay. - Huh, okay then. That could be interesting. - Yeah, and like I said, Kidman's already getting, will this be articles, or will this be her second Oscar? - All righty then. - Kidman's always, almost always very, very good at least. - Yeah. - So, to see her taking on something like this is nice and impressive, and we'll probably lead someplace very intriguing. - Very cool. - Back to you. - Back to me. - Hmm, eedy, meanie, miney, the apprentice. Part of this is just interest in the controversy. - Sure. - Part of it's, one to see Sebastian Stan do something different. - Sure, yeah. - Makes sense. - He's been bucky for so long. - Right, and he is a capable good actor. He was great and fresh. - Yeah, I'm one of the 12 people who saw the bronze. He was really good in that. - Yeah. - So, yeah, I'm curious. I want to see for myself exactly what this film has to show. - Well, there's a big name that you should mention. - Yes, the main character is Donald Trump. - Yes. - Sebastian Stan is playing '90s era. - '80s, I think. - '80s era. Donald Trump, and yeah, it's... Gonna get some responses, I think. - Oh, one or two, probably. - There's a producer on the film who's trying to keep it from getting released. - Yeah, if you recognize the name Daniel Snyder, you're chuckling to yourself right now. If you don't recognize the name Daniel Snyder, consider yourself lucky. - Yeah. - Okay, next, one of my favorite movies, one of the best movies I've seen in the 18 years we've been doing this show in the old show. It topped my list of the best movies of the last decade. It was 12 years of slave. - Yeah. - Directed by Steve McQueen. I also really, really enjoyed his shame from 2011. - Yeah, that's a good film. - That was my number one for 2011. I liked "Widdos" a whole lot. - "Widdos" is a great... - Yeah, great time. - Yeah. So, when I see that Blitz is coming from Steve McQueen, as I often do in these shows, I'm going to play the "Throw the Names" game. - Okay. - Paul Weller, Steven Graham, Elliot Heffernan, John McKay, Liam Smith, Benjamin Clementine, Harris Dickinson, and Susho Ronan. - Ooh. - That's a good cast. Follow the stories of a group of Londoners during the events of the British Capitol be bombing in World War II. That's right for an intense film. - You know who likes to make intense films? Steve McQueen. - Yeah. - Yeah, that sounded like a good time at the theater. - It sounds like a very powerful time at the theater. I do not necessarily know that I would use the word good time at the theater. - Well, I mean, for certain definitions of good, yes, but no one's ever going to confuse it for Deadpool and Wolverine. - Well, no. - Although Steve McQueen's Deadpool and Wolverine would be something to see. - Yes. - Yes, it would. - Unlikely to be a laugh riot, certainly. - Yeah. - But, you know, Steve McQueen, I'm there anyway. To tackle this material though. - Yeah. - Yeah, I think we're in for a good one. - Back to you. - Back to me. I only kind of liked the first one. The second one I really enjoyed thought it was a leap above the first. - Well, it sounds like you're speaking of some kind of trilogy. - I am. For Terrifier 3 comes out. - Oh! - This fall. - Well then. - And it's a Christmas movie. - Well, sure. Why wouldn't it be? - Right. - And as demented as the first two were, I want to see how they top it. - That's fair. I heard something recently, a friend of mine watched, was kind of pressed into watching the first one, and had quite a reaction to it. But he then went on to research and look into two and three. He mentioned a rumor that he heard that there's something that happens in three that caused the gentleman playing art the clown to vomit on set. - Oh my God. Well, strap in, 'cause that's gonna, that's gonna be a whole other thing to see. - It very well might be. So yeah, very cool. - My turn again? - Your turn again. - Okay. I've got something of an American dramatic comedy or comedic drama. I've got a movie that I somehow expect James Spader to show up in. I've got the World War II investigation. What is, you've got a biopic, I'm gonna throw a biopic. - Yeah. - It is, 'tis the season for biopics, after all. - It is. I, musically came of age during the early to mid 90s, which meant I was a late-comer to the stone-cold classic work of Bob Dylan. - Mm-hmm. - But the first time I heard blood on the tracks, it instantly became a desert island disk for me. - Fair. - And in 2007, Todd Haines made a sort of, a kind of a mosaic impressionistic, yeah, Dylan biopic, I'm not there. - Right. - Where you had people like Heath Ledger and Christian Bale and Ben Weishaw and Kate Blanchett playing Bob Dylan at one point or another. - Well, this Christmas, we are going to get what looks to be a somewhat more traditional biopic of Dylan starring Timothy Chalamet. - Okay. - As Bob, James Mangold is writing and directing. - Oh, okay. - Which, I'm slightly wary about. - Really? - I really liked Copland. I liked Ford versus Ferrari well enough. - Yeah. - Logan was good. That said, the last thing he made was dial-up destiny. - Yeah. Well, that had so many things working against it. - Wolverine. Night and day was fun, but I, you know, and 310 to Yuma for that matter. - Yeah, that was pretty good. - Walk the line was pretty darn good. - His career is, it's interesting. He would be a great guy to do a full retrospective on. Just 'cause he's so all over the place, you don't really necessarily know when you're looking at a James Mangold picture. And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, there's chameleonic and then there's anonymous and I'm not entirely sure where he falls on that. - Okay. - So, you know, I'm intrigued, you know, heavy Copland growing erupted. Caitlyn Leopold, identity, walk the line, 310 to Yuma, night and day, the Wolverine, Logan, Ford V Ferrari and Indiana Jones of the dial-up destiny, his previous features. But he, you know, has a couple of things going. Complete unknown, obviously is the biggest thing on his horizon, but he's got a Star Wars movie that he's booked for, he wants, he's attached to Swamp Thing. There's something listed here as Untitled Buster Keaton Biopic. - Wow, a lot of irons in the fire. - Yeah, yeah. There is a teaser out for a complete unknown, just looking at some of the cast here. Timothy Chalamet is Dylan. Boyd Holbrook is Johnny Cash. Elfanning is Sylvie Russo. Monica Barbero is Joan Baez. Scoot McNary is Woody Guthrie. Oh, that's good. They're bringing in Dave Van Rock. That's an important name to have in here. Maria Moldauer. I'm just kind of going by the names of the characters, not necessarily the actors, except for one, oh, good. Mavis Staples is gonna be represented 'cause supposedly Dylan almost ended up married to Mavis Staples. And then there's one last one. One of my favorite actors working today, even if he is occasionally prickly, shall we say. - Yeah. Edward Norton is Pete Seger. - Ooh. - Yeah. So Jay Cox is writing the screenplay with Mangold, has done things like Silence, Gangs New York, Strange Days, Age of Innocence. Worked with Scorsese a lot, obviously. - Mm-hm. - Worked. Oh, that's a new, that's, how's that for three credits? Holy smoke. He was never, he was not credited a writer, has a writer on any of these three pictures, but he was script and continuity department on a movie from 1977, a movie from 1988, and a movie from 1997. - Okay. - The one that made the least money - Mm-hm. - Is the last temptation of Christ from 1988. - Ooh. - Which, long time listeners know, movie I have a lot of taste for. - Yeah, you kinda like that one. - Usually what I name is my favorite Scorsese movie. - Good choice. - The second biggest box office draw in that list is the one from 1977. - Yeah. - A small picture called Star Wars. - Well then. - And also he wrote on Titanic. - Mm-hm. - So, I think the script is probably in good hands, which speaks well to what he's, what Mangold is gonna do with, so. - Yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'll be, I'll be in line for a complete unknown. Interestingly, interesting. Cox apparently wrote part or all of the opening crawl to Star Wars. - Mm. - One more for you. - Yep. - A film that's gotten quite a bit of recognition in the awards, not awards, but the festival circuit. Body horror, which of course, you know. - Yeah. - Big plus for me. - Yep. - And Demi Moore, return. - Big comeback, big comeback vehicle. - Mm-hm. The substance. - Yes. - Great cast. Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley. - Dennis Quaid. - Yeah. - Just, and a wonderful concept, where you have an actress who is perhaps not getting the parts that she used to, who turns to a black market drug to rejuvenate herself. - Indeed. - And things happen. - Okay. - And things along the body horror lines happen. So yeah, I'm interested. Demi Moore and a body horror pick? - Sure. - Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. - Yeah. Yeah. I'm there. - And you, John? - Last on my list. Two of my very favorite international directors have pictures coming out. The one that I'm most looking forward to, because we don't get a lot of pictures from this director. - Yeah. - And B, he's getting up there in years and I don't know how many more pictures we're gonna get from this director. Hard truth is coming from Mike Lee. As with so many Lee projects, almost nobody knows anything about it, beyond the fact that he did his usual, okay, I'm gonna get this group of actors together and we're gonna rehearse for years on end. That's an exaggerate. We're gonna rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and we're gonna figure out the script doing that. He's working, the only actor whose name I recognized on the list, he's working with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, with whom he has worked previously on arguably the most well-regarded, widely-regarded picture he's made, secrets and lies. So, okay. - Yeah. - I'm, I don't need to know much more because trusting Mike Lee is what I do. And I, you know, I will drive for this conceivably, I might fly for this. - Oh, wow. - Okay. Let's put it this way. The last Mike Lee movie that came out, Peter Lue, I left Star Wars celebration. - I remember this, yes. - So I could drive across the city and catch Peter Lue. - Yeah. - Yeah, you'll be seeing this one. - Indeed, I will. So that's five for me. Yeah. You wanna go over your list again? - Sure, thanks. My list started with Saturday night. Pull that up with piece by piece. Then the apprentice, Terrifier III and the substance. - My list, which I did manage to success when we do alphabetically, started with Annora, then Baby Girl, Blitz, a complete unknown and hard truths. I had three other things on my shortlist and you took two of them. - Yeah. - Those would be Saturday night in the apprentice. The other, the last one I've got here is the room next door. - Oh, yeah. - From Pedro Almodovar. - Mm-hmm. English language full length debut from Almodovar and it's got told to swim, so. - That. - And I believe Antonio Banderas. - Ooh. - And Antonio Banderas is always good. - Yeah, he is. - But Antonio Banderas with Pedro Almodovar is special. - It is, it's good, yeah. - So listeners, what are you looking forward to most from now until the end of the year? Are you a Tolkien sickle who's looking forward to the Lord of the Rings, War of the Ruharrim? Are you looking forward to, I don't know, Night Bitch? - Yummy Adams? - That was on my long list. - You know, let us know. Mail at meonmoviebunker.com. - In the meantime. - Are there DVDs? Are there blue rays? - There are. - Are there DVDs? - Is there, are there perhaps four Ks? - There, you guessed it, there are. - Well then, you got something for? - Yeah, I'm gonna go with the, I'm gonna go with something from our friends at the Criterion Collection. - Yeah, they're upgrading repo man to 4K. - Sweet. - Yeah, which is a great, true cult film. Not to be confused with Repo the genetic opera, which is also good in its own way. - Or was it repo men with, we have Schreiber and I wanna say Jude Law? - Yep, Jude Law. - I also have a pick because pick what we do. Honestly, this is not exactly the heaviest or best week. - No, it's not. - Okay, there's something. Jim Gaffigan and Rhea Sehorn started a picture earlier this year called linoleum. - Mm-hmm. - It's coming out on Blu-ray. Cameron Edwin, played by Gaffigan, the host of a failing children science TV show called Above and Beyond has always had aspirations for being an astronaut. After mysterious space race era satellite coincidentally falls from space and lens in his backyard, his midlife crisis manifests in a plan to rebuild the machine into his dream rocket. Okay. - Yeah, Gaffigan's fun. - He's been doing, I mean, he's made his bonuses as a stand up. - Right. - He's still really great at that, but he's been doing bigger, weirder, more interesting acting roles. - Yeah. - And I think this is part of that. I've heard interesting two good things about linoleum. So the fact that it's gonna be available on Blu-ray, I might take a flyer on it. - Yeah. - Kind of did the catalog title with the repo man. - Or anything to avoid? - Um, no, nothing to avoid this week. Nothing that makes me go, yeah. You know, there's some, like Lady in White looks, there are some fun mid-level titles. Lady in White is a good time and Lord of allusions is a good time. Hound of the Basker Pills is a good time. Mostly pretty decent stuff, nothing. Nothing that jumps out of you and says buy me, but also nothing that jumps out of you and says launch me into the heart of the sun. - Right. - Or not? - Yeah, I don't see anything particularly objectionable. - Got a question for me. - I do. The talk of biopics made me wonder, what are your favorite biopics? - Okay. I don't know if it's, there's a fine line between favorite and best made here. - Okay, yeah. - I'm gonna go for 2015's Steve Jobs. - Oh. - From Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin and Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet. Did not necessarily draw a lot of love from a lot of people, but for whatever reason it worked really well for me. - Okay. - It, if it wasn't actually in my top, I think it was like towards the bottom of my top 10 for 25. - Yeah. - So that's one. It's odd. A question that comes up to my mind is how do you qualify a biopic? For example, I talked about my love for 12 years of slavery. Does that, is that a biopic? - I guess it could qualify as one. - Yeah, but it, you know, the question becomes, if you have to ask, probably, that's the, if you have to ask, I'm gonna go with probably not. - That makes sense. - Go to 2018. - Okay. - Movie that features Corey Stoll and Claire Foy. Oh, and Ryan Gosling is Neil Armstrong. - Oh yeah. - First man. - That was a good film. I love Neil Armstrong anyway. - Yeah. - I love Neil Armstrong going into this movie. Didn't love him any less coming out. - Fair? - Demi Chazelle did really terrific things with it. Last on my list is movie that probably couldn't get made in the same way today. - Okay. - For a lot of reasons. Well, for a couple. But the most prominent among them is that unlike in 1999, when "Boys Don't Cry" came out. - Ah, yes. - And Hillary Swank did such an amazing job playing Brandon Tina. - Mm-hmm. - There, it seems unlikely that she would, make that movie again. - Yeah. - But what we got in '99 was not an easy watch. - No. - No. - But I think opened some people's eyes. Frankly, I'm one of them. Two, the trans experience. - Yeah. - And also introduced Kimberly Pierce, who, you know, carry a remake aside, is still a huge talent that I'm continually impressed by. - Yeah. Even the carry remake wasn't that awful. It was, it was, it was weirdly toothless. - Yeah. - Yeah. - So yeah, I think, I think those would be my three. Steve Jobs, "First Man", "Boys Don't Cry". - Good, good trio of films. - Let's do the easy thing. - Okay. - I'm gonna flip over this one back at you. - All right. - Give me your three tops. You know, not necessarily your top three, but the three you're most interested in revisiting. Or is that gonna, is that gonna do your head in? - No, no, no, no. I'm, I'm, I'm been thinking. - Yeah, yeah. - Anticipating for this question would be asked. - Sure, sure. - And you actually, in an off-air comment, mentioned one of the titles that, to me, when I think biopic, this stands head and shoulders above so much of what is made, even made about the man in question. But Spike Lee's Malcolm X is a powerful film and does such a great job of getting you into his mind and into his life. And that performance from Denzel Washington is just outstanding. It's available from the Criterion Collection. - Yes, it is. - Well worth the investment. 'Cause not only do you get the great film, but there's some just eye-opening documentaries on there too. - Sweet. - But yeah, the phenomenal film. Going a little bit lighter in tone for the next one on my list. - Okay. Tim Burton's Ed Wood. - Sure. - Yeah, I-- - Makes sense. - As something of an Ed Wood in aficionado, it's fun to see that man's life brought to life. And Johnny Depp does such a great job in it. Sarah Jessica Parker was so good in it. It's a good film and opened my eyes to, not only open my eyes to what Tim Burton really can do as a director, you know, crafting story and choosing to end that film the way he did. Because there's an alternate version out there somewhere. - Not in timeline. - Some timeline where it tells more of Ed Wood's story and it's nowhere near as uplifting as the film that we ended up getting. - Fair enough. - And me being me, I've got to go with Weird, the Alliankovic story. This is not a surprising thing to hear. - No, it's not. The other two are probably more surprising. - Malcolm X more than-- - Ed Wood. - Ed Wood. - Yeah, fair, fair. But that would be my three, Malcolm X, Ed Wood and Weird. - All right. - Hey, Larry. - Hey, John. - Let's go to the movies. - Okey-dokey, what are we gonna go see? - First, I'm gonna list the things to see right now. If you haven't gotten to Deadpool and Wolverine by now, what's wrong with you? I know you have, so-- - Yeah, twice. - Yeah, so they're different things wrong with you. - Yeah, well, long list there. - We don't wanna talk on that thread. Next, I'm gonna list the things to see right now. I would like to see some more people give a little more love to Blink twice. - Mm. - And then D.D. is still floating around theaters and the more I think about that, the more likely it is I'm talking about it in December. - Okay, then, I may need to see that. If you're gonna stay home and pop something in your home video player of choice, be it DVD, Blu-ray, streaming, or 4K, the first thing that I'd recommend to you is kinds of kindness, available on Hulu now, and well worth your time. Just a real mind blender of a film. - As I said, weird for your ghost length the most movie. - Yeah, but oh, so good. Follow that up with the bike riders, which is available on Peacock and video on demand and Blu-ray. And it didn't get anywhere near the love it should've gotten in theaters, the Fall Guy. - Really? - That movie. - That's a good movie. - There's one actor who does not show up until the very end and I'm pretty convinced it is my favorite movie he's ever done. - Yeah, I can believe that. - I wanna take the opportunity to mention our email address one more time, may let me on moviebunker.com. We are on Facebook at Facebook.com/neonmoviebunker. We are on Twitter @neonmoviebunker. I am @JohnNMB. We are available on blue sky @neonmoviebunker.bsky.social. I am on Letterbox just user JohnNMB, so maybe follow me there and learn terrifying things about my tastes. Ooh, I suppose I should have to put more into it. A little bit more. We are available through Apple Podcasts and YouTube and Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. We have a website. It is www.neonmoviebunker.com. It has stuff and things like our extended more Ryan interview. And then twitch.tv/neonmoviebunker is our event space, which is a place where things sometimes happen. And so we come to the end of another episode of "neonmoviebunker" this week's episode is produced and edited by LRA Standing. The second producer is Maggie Stanick. He thinks on his bio. Dr. Awkward Lemoney Man Trio. So until next time, I'm John Robinson. And I'm LRA Stanick. And we'll probably see you at the movies. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)