In the Blink of an Eye with Joey Sims

9:09Griffin Newman:Or who is Sylvia? What are you talking... Oh, goat. It was an animated... That shows you how your brain works. It's an animated adaptation of Edward Albee's The Goater, who is Sylvia, my daughter's favorite movie of the year. Yeah, you didn't see... What else we got? Did you see Nirvana, the man in the show, the movie? Interesting. Oh, yeah, I saw that. I saw that way to pronounce that. That's the whole joke of Nirvana, isn't it? It had an amazing time of that. Well, it's spelled like that because that's how Canadians say Nirvana. Sure. And that's why it has the double N, Nirvana. I feel like you're pronouncing it really hard.

9:41David Sims:Nirvana. Simply.

9:43Griffin Newman:I'm simply going with their bit it was just it was interesting yeah so I saw that was that my last one did you see the bone temple yeah no yeah come on I mean

9:53David Sims:so January and February you were getting shit done yeah yeah yeah and then you fell off and then well

9:57Griffin Newman:Undertone scary podcast

10:00David Sims:late at night I was actually intrigued by Undertone by the first wave of reactions to Undertone where people were like scariest movie ever and then there came a second wave

10:09Griffin Newman:yeah so interesting how that happens with independent horror films that the first reviews from like user I've been paid money on Twitter is like, The Exorcist is a fucking baby compared to this. I'm dead. I'm dead. Here's my death certificate. It killed me. I'm dead in the theater.

10:27David Sims:At scream until you shock underscore XXXX.

10:31Griffin Newman:And then Undertone, which is a movie I did not like hate, but I found a lot of like, what was that? A lady in a, did I hear something? David is looking behind him in a nice direction. It also made like

10:43David Sims:$3 million domestic on like a$1 million budget.

10:46Griffin Newman:I don't think it got that far, but it did. I'm sure it made people money. Like, let's see,

10:51David Sims:where did it get to?

10:52Griffin Newman:It's one of those...

10:53David Sims:19 domestic. Okay, it's one of those movies where I was like, that didn't pan out. And then you see the return on investment and you're like, A24 made a ton of money.

10:59Griffin Newman:The budget was probably like 80 cents on that thing. It said at a fucking table.

11:06Griffin Newman:But they had to work overnights. Yeah, Right. They had to film it at 3 a.m. when she is, of course, logically recording a podcast. There is some shoe leather about like, oh, he's in a different time zone. That's how they explain that away. Did you see... It cost half a million dollars, so it made 40 times budget. Nice work if you can get it. It's budget, yeah. Super Mario Galaxy? Did you... My daughter's other favorite movies? Naming children's movies. Yeah. What about the Christophers? That's good. Go see that. I don't want to see the Christophers. Are you like that?

11:36David Sims:You'd like the Christopher. I love the drama. The hot button.

11:39Griffin Newman:everyone must have a take. Okay, the drama, I nearly made it. Buttons being pushed. I nearly made it to the drama. And then what happened? I just went back and watched all four seasons of 13 Reasons Why instead because, you know, it dealt with a lot of the same material. Mother Mary, you gotta meet Mother. You gotta meet the Mother. No, and I wanted to see that too. But, you know, look, Christopher's Mother Mary, look, these are movies that I am representative of, sadly, the average audience member. Exactly, they meet Joey Sims. I know, but we were like, yeah, I want to try to find time for that.

12:14But you're going to see Mortal Kombat 2. Well, actually, yes, because I saw the first Mortal Kombat in the AMC Empire 25, which I believe is where you're going to see Mortal Kombat 2.

12:26Griffin Newman:This is priorities, guys. This is the right thing to do. And I had a great time at Mortal Kombat. Of course, Scorpion was there, Sub-Zero. Most of the Trump cabinet, in fact. I'm having fun. you didn't see Project Hail Mary all of America saw that one that's the kind of crazy one

12:42David Sims:he's got a little rock buddy I don't know if you're familiar with this this gentleman named Rocky Rocky no and then he was puppeteered by an artist the cow guy who I know well

12:53Griffin Newman:yeah the cow guy right he was the cow James Ortiz who did exactly who did he was the cow guy he did the Into the Woods he was the cow he comes from the theater world he did yeah Milky White for the Into the Woods Broadway refining the best guy I ever saw Rocky was like a Broadway guy before he made his transition to movies. To space. Yeah, so Rocky operated. Yeah, Rocky is real. Yes, I know this. He's one of my good friends. Friend of the pod. Wuthering Heights, did you wuther? I did wuther. You scaled the heights. Yeah. I did wuther. The bride? Did you marry her? This is a fun game. I know, I'm just having fun.

13:30Griffin Newman:Can you tell I'm not like that eager to talk about this movie? The bride, when I thought the bride was a musical, I was like, I gotta go see that it has a dash of that there's a dash they put on the Ritz for 20 minutes or whatever you didn't see it no oh interesting Return to Silent Hill did you get in the Iron Lung I'm getting deeper now this is a game I like

13:54David Sims:this time of year we're recording this episode in May it will come out in July is that correct so the summer just kicked off and it means it's the final moment where the top 10 box office movies of the year is still kind of wacky. Right? Where it's not like there are movies that can be in the top 10 that were not blockbusters. Sure. So Reminders of Him is currently the 10th highest grossing film of the year. We love it. Just get another Colleen Hoover. Is that a Hoover joint? Yeah, but the drama might overtake it. The drama might briefly be the 10th highest grossing film. Because the drama's really

14:30Griffin Newman:been headstained. Yeah.

14:33David Sims:But right now, yeah. Super Mario Galaxy, Project Hail Mary, Michael Hopper's Devil Wears Prada 2. Haven't seen? Oh, no. Yeah, I do need to see that. Scream 7, Goat, Wuthering Heights, Send Help. I still send help. Okay, so you saw two out of the ten. This year's needed Joey in the cinema.

14:53Griffin Newman:You're seeing too many dang plays.

14:55David Sims:You're seeing too many dang plays. March and April is the height of the theater. It's a theater. It's Tony's season. But I'm usually not totally absent from the movie theater. or something went wrong.

15:06Griffin Newman:Because you work in the theater district, again, not to talk to you. You host a theater podcast, House Closed. And we will talk about, it's called House Closed? It's called House Closed Theater We Saw. Theater We Saw, yes. Which I host with my friend Connor Scully. But, and we'll talk about that and we'll introduce what this show is in one second. But because you work in the theater district, you are near the two busiest theaters. This is true. And movie theaters in New York are like, you know, the MC Empire, you know, what's on screen 25, baby? In many years. This is what I used to do. this is how my life used to be structured when I had different part-time jobs in Midtown is that it would be like I'd go in in the morning, do like a shift at one job, go to the Empire, AMC Empire 25.

15:44Griffin Newman:You would take off your Aladdin outfit. Joe used to wear an Aladdin outfit. I didn't wear an Aladdin. You'd ride the carpet just down the line. I was an usher at Aladdin. Didn't he have like a hat or something? I think you're conflating it with when I worked concessions at Elf the Musical and I wore like a... A little elf hat? A little elf hat, yes. And yeah, I wore like a uniform as an usher at Aladdin. Sure, I'm sure. But just like, you know, a nice Disney uniform.

16:10David Sims:But you'd ride the carpet down to the end of the block. Right, so I'd ride the carpet down. And then I'd have a few hours before my evening work. So then, yeah, I'd slot in whatever was playing in screen 24 at the 25, you know. So that was how I saw a lot of crap.

16:26Griffin Newman:Wow, George Wint originated Santa Claus in Elf the Musical? Yeah, that was... My first job in the city was doing concessions at the Broadway... The second engagement... Wayne Knight was sent. Of Elf the Musical. It was not a revival. It was just them technically... It was a season last revival on Wikipedia. I guess it is... It was basically just them doing the same thing again. Just like a second engagement of the same production. Because it was...

16:54David Sims:This will only run eight weeks a year. It will come back only in the holiday window. They brought it back two years in a row and then they brought it back again a few years. And then if they don't bring it to Broadway, then it tours over the Christmas season. The Grinch musical.

17:06Griffin Newman:It's been done on the West End four separate times. Wow. It's not even set in England. Who was Santa? My Santa for my one for the second one was... Wayne Knight. Wayne Knight. Yeah, the great. The only Santa I recognize among the British revivals is the third time... Oh, no, I'm sorry. No, I don't know any of the British ones. The third time they did it on Broadway, though, it was Sean Astin. Now, do you like getting that call as Sean Astin where they're like, we think you're Santa-sized now. You know, Sean? Also, like Santa age. We saw you recently.

17:39David Sims:Yeah, and sort of Santa age. Are you ready to put on the beard? And George Wendt both have years on him. They do. Due credit to Sean Astin, Wendt and Knight did the original Santa. The national president. The original, yes, exactly. The original Santa track of that show, which is he pops up basically at the beginning and at the end, and that's it. So for them, they're like, great, easy gig, Broadway money, whatever. For Aston, they reworked it so that he had a second role in the show that he played for significant bits of the middle part. What was the second part? Mr. Greenway. He was like the evil boss.

18:14Okay. The one who's like, you're a publishing company.

18:17Griffin Newman:That's thematically precedent. It is. He's good and bad. It's a Captain Hook, Mr. Darling kind of thing. Interesting.

18:23David Sims:No, no, no, no, not the father. you're saying he played the James Caan character's boss. Yes. Michael Lerner's role in the movie.

18:32Griffin Newman:I suppose that. I'm just saying like sort of father figures but I guess you're right that James Caan is more of a father figure too. Caan and Asner are the two big father figures to Buddy the Elf. They are.

18:42David Sims:The film Elf. But everyone forgets that Academy Award nominee Michael Lerner is an Elf. For the first time in his life

18:47Griffin Newman:played an ordinary boss? Get me a tongue-in-the-suck! I want that Buddy the Elf feeling! Do you think Michael Lerner maybe contributed to a sort of negative stereotype over the years. The amount of bosses he played behind desks yelling.

19:05David Sims:I don't know. I don't know. Listen, this is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. I'm David. It's a podcast about filmography directors who have massive success early on in their careers and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear. Sometimes they bounce baby. And sometimes they vanish into the ether.

19:23Griffin Newman:They do. In the blink of an eye. In the blink of an eye. Truly, this was a one-blink movie. Blinky-blinky. This one blinked. I almost was like, has it left Hulu? I was like, no, it's there. Okay, phew.

19:34David Sims:It is wild that twice he has had this ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card. Yeah. Like, guys, don't worry. Toy Story 5 is coming out in months. Yeah. Mere weeks from now, I will have one of the highest grossing films of the year.

19:48Griffin Newman:Well, I also feel like John Carter was an actual, like, much-discussed bomb, Whereas this is more just something like no one ever really knew it happened. So it's less, it'll stick to him a little bit.

19:58David Sims:It's an interesting, right. Is it worse to have the most existent bomb in history or a true tree falls in the middle of the woods and no one's there to hear it movie?

20:08Griffin Newman:Right. I think it's better to have the, I made a movie that didn't exist. Like Chris Weitz, who's been on our show and discussed this. He made the Golden Compass, a movie that bankrupted a studio. God bless. Love you, Chris. Love you, New Line. Rest in power. Yeah, rest in power. Now you're a shingle. Went to the great shingle area in this guy. And then he made Afraid. That's how I refer to it. Yes. Afraid. Afraid. You see, you don't even know what happened. Afraid. Yeah, he made a movie called... I don't even know. And I know about these movies that don't exist. Exactly. He made an AI horror movie called Afraid, but the AI in Afraid is capitalized.

20:46Griffin Newman:Yes. Afraid! Not his title. It had a different title. No, it was called They Listen. Yes. And then Sony was like a chimichurri. called afraid. Afraid. And he has copped to its non-existence on this very show. He made a movie that didn't exist.

20:59David Sims:He went through a Barton Fink-esque atonement. Yes. Also, this movie premiered at Sundance and then dropped on Hulu like a month later. So I don't know all the behind the scenes, but that doesn't give a feeling of them being like, oh, we want to try to get someone to put this in theaters. That was always the exact plan. and he has been transparent about. When they greenlit this movie, they were like, it's going to Hulu, by the way.

21:26Griffin Newman:It's a Hulu original. I think the Sundance premiere, if anything, was sort of a gesture of goodwill or a kind of like, but you can be at a festival. That's cool.

21:35David Sims:Yes, it was right. That is the way to give this movie a launch. I don't know how much of an effort they would put into a traditional marketing campaign if not for, you can go to Sundance and you can do a bunch of interviews and a screen with a bunch of press there.

21:50Griffin Newman:It can happen that the film debuts at Sundance and people are like, we don't like it. Sure. And then that'll, that's bad.

21:56David Sims:But I know, I know the date was set for when it was dropping on Hulu before it went to Sundance. In my memory, there was sort of an all-in-one announcement of this will premiere at Sundance and go to Hulu on February 27th. It's called In the Blink of an Eye. It's a film made by Andrew Stanton, whose films were covering and the main series were calling Podseat. Oh. you don't like her Joey I don't want to I don't want to derail the series it's going to look really good

22:27Griffin Newman:pretty far along it's going to look

22:29David Sims:really good in a graphic we've only got one story five left right yeah yeah so you better like it Joey so we've done you guys have done John Carter we leaped across that one yeah of course who's the John Carter guest Matt Singer the great Matt Singer great episode are you are you a John Carter fan interrogator are you Joey Sims of Mars yeah You know, I rewatched a chunk of it ahead of this episode. I didn't have time to get through the whole thing. It didn't play as well to me as the first time I watched it. I remember watching it a few years ago and being like, this is kind of like a glorious mess.

23:09Like, wow, this is like a crazy, like, obviously this doesn't work, but what ambition. And I thought I would be revisiting that feeling. And then I watched it again and was like, oh, Jesus. It's just like, just the way it starts is like so rough.

23:24Griffin Newman:I think the bookends are tough with that one. I think there were some notes on that from me in the episode.

23:30David Sims:The non-Mars stuff. Yes. Yeah. This is a similarly ambitious movie. I mean, this is not like a... That's true. Yes.

23:38Griffin Newman:It's less, right, like the scale of it is more suggested than shown. But right.

23:43David Sims:But it does, it is, I would say, narratively and emotionally ambitious. and it does feel like on paper a high-risk movie. A, if you don't get this right, it's going to be embarrassing kind of movie. Right. Who's our guest? Our guest, as I said, Joey Sims, a host of House Closed, which I googled to make sure I was getting the name of the podcast correct. And are you aware, Joey, that there is another podcast hosted by a man named Joey Sims? I assume not you. I assume you're not doing double duty called Healing Word. Join Joey Sims as we are challenged by studying the Bible to grow in our relationship with God and encouraged to apply God's word in our life.

24:23David Sims:It sounds like ripe material for a Jay Ferguson sitcom.

24:32Yes, House Closed. Yes. The theater we saw with Sims and Scully. Big two. My co-host, the big two. My co-host being the lovely Connor Scully, a theater producer. and we see... Yeah, I'm doing my plug. Do your plug. We see two shows together. Sometimes a guest will also have seen the same two shows that are either currently running like Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, whatever. And then we talk about those two shows. Or in our latest episode, the fourth episode that we just did, it was three shows. So we're four episodes in and we already broke our format. You people are sorry. Sorry.

25:14David Sims:How many of your episodes have been MJ the musical so far? Well, we're saving MJ the musical. So over the summer when things slowed down in the theater world, we'll do a 10-episode series analyzing MJ the musical. Right. All the decisions that happened there.

25:34Griffin Newman:Will you, during the slowest months, check in with more long-running shows? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're trying to figure out over the summer what fun things can we do. We want to do Perfect Crime. You know, the show that's been running off-Broadway for a million. You know about Perfect Crime.

25:47David Sims:I have been really tempted to go see Perfect Crime. And in fact, Zach Cherry, very recent guest on this podcast, most recent guest on this podcast, he and I have been strategizing to go see Perfect Crime together because he didn't know about it. And I told him, and he's fairly obsessed. New York's longest running play. I haven't seen it. It bills itself as New York's longest running play. It is this god-awful murder mystery. How dare you? What if it's good? The theater center. It says here it's perfect. Right, right. What used to be the Snapple Theater. What used to be the Snapple Theater Center.

26:19But that used to have the Fantastics. Yes. Many, many years ago. Right, yeah.

26:23David Sims:And the venue is owned now by the lead actress, right? Yes, I believe she owns the venue. Yes. Yes, that is correct. Content warning, suicide? This sounds dark. Well, that's a spoiler alert. And she has appeared. Well, I put it on the fucking website. She stars in the show, produces the show, like hands out the playbills, you know, like one of those. She's been doing it since it started. I think she claims she's never missed a performance. I'm not sure if that's true. They're dark on Wednesdays though. Lazy. And they were like uninterrupted, you know, up until COVID. Until the pandemic. I know she's like griped about that a lot.

27:00David Sims:But there's also... She didn't want to close. She was like... But she's like missed family members' wedding. Oh, yeah. And there was a point... Her children don't know her. There was a point that she was appearing in another play at the same time, and she was still doing perfect murder.

27:16Griffin Newman:Perfect crime. For crying out loud, how dare you talk about the best show on earth?

27:21David Sims:But she would do her walk-on in the other play and then run over to the Snapple Theater and do... Let me know when you actually make plans to go see it, because I... It has done 15 ,000 performances. I've been really eager to go, and I need the kick in the butt.

27:36Griffin Newman:It's been running as long as I've been alive, essentially. it started a year after I was born. Probably in my honor. I should clarify, their performances were interrupted one other time by a very iconic event. I remember this press release so well, so I was just pulling it back up to remember. Off-Broadway's Perfect Crime and The Office, the musical, because The Office parody musical runs in the same building. Halt performances due to theft of pipes at the theater. Someone just stole some copper pipes? I just want to find this. Burglars broke. I'll fix your pipes, boys. The perfect crime. Burglars broke into the vacant restaurant below, made their way to the basement of the building, disconnected and then stole every piece of copper pipe they could find.

28:21Every piece? This is quoting from the press release that the show put out. Leaving the building without any access to water. The criminals returned in the early hours today, smashing the front doors. They've not yet been... Anyway, so they were also interrupted when all their copper pipes were stolen.

28:36David Sims:What year was that? We're pipeless. That was in 2022. And I don't know if these hoodlums were ever identified.

28:43Griffin Newman:Did you know that after the end of the show, you are given a two-page answer sheet to explain the show because it's complex?

28:50David Sims:Yes.

28:51Griffin Newman:Is that because people were complaining? Like, I don't understand the ending.

28:56David Sims:Here's some other facts. It's run in eight different theaters since 1987. It's at eight venues. It premiered off-broad in the West Village at the Courtyard Playhouse. In November. 2016 Gary Busey spent two weeks in the role of Lionel. Two fantastic weeks. November 2016 kicking a miracle while it was down. Why did he do that? They've starcast other people. John Schneider was briefly in Perfect Crime.

29:25Griffin Newman:Love him. One of the Dukes of Hazzard. Perfect politics. Isn't he the one? Isn't the other one worse? Or are both Dukes kids? Schneider's the bad one. Is Schneider the one who was in Smallville?

29:39David Sims:Yes. She's never taken a sick day. She's missed only four performances, Catherine Russell, the last in 1995 to attend her brother's wedding. That was the last time she was willing to go to a wedding over doing the show.

29:53Griffin Newman:So the Snapple has two theaters, two stages. No longer the Snapple, so it used to be sponsored by Snapple. It's eternally the Snapple to me. We're going to call it the Snapple. No, because there used to be this big... There was the Snapple side. The Snapple signs, the caps that would go round and round.

30:07David Sims:I'd scale the building to try to see the fact underneath because it wasn't facing the street.

30:12Griffin Newman:And it was like, perfect crime,$60. Come on. Don't steal our pipes. Pipes not for sale. And they took them off. They took them off. Now it is just the theater center. Well, do you think they were like, hey, Snapple, do you want to sponsor the theater? And they were like, we sponsor a theater?

30:30David Sims:I will say, if you go to the Wikipedia page for the theater center, The image it shows you immediately is Snapple. Yeah.

30:37Griffin Newman:You can't shake that. You can't shake that. But I know that one of the theaters is the Jerry Robach Theater. After the great Jerry Robach. That's where Fantastics ran for many, many years. He was in the original cast.

30:47David Sims:And that's where I guess the Office musical is. The Ann L. Brunstein Theater. I know that. I go every night. Yeah, right now they have Perfect Crime, the Office parody musical, and they have one other parody musical going right now.

30:58Griffin Newman:It looks like they also have Friends, the Unauthorized musical parody. There we go. And Singfeld, which is an unauthorized Seinfeld parody musical. Wow, wow, wow. I saw also a sadly now closed Love Actually parody musical at the same venue. It was actually not long after theaters reopened after COVID that I went to see that show. And you were happy. And my main memory of it was that the Alan Rickman character was performed by a guy who was in full, like, Snape garb. And, like, anytime anyone would talk to him, he'd pull out his wand. You get it.

31:40David Sims:It was kind of funny. Expecto adultery. There you go. Perfect Crime opened, it reopened April 2021. It was the first show in New York City to get approval from actors' equity to resume performances. You just imagine that Catherine Russell was, like, scratching her thighs for 14 months, like digging her nails and being like, when can I get back on the fucking stage? De Blasio appeared at their first performance. I think he like gave a little speech.

32:08Griffin Newman:There's Fiorello the musical, of course, which is about LaGuardia, right? It's a famous Broadway musical. When will we get our De Blasio musical?

32:16David Sims:Bill. Is there... Tall Bill. I was going to say, who's the tallest musical theater actor we have right now? Tommy Toon.

32:27David Sims:like do we have to put Norman Leo Butts on stilts to do the fuck

32:31Griffin Newman:who is the tallest Broadway actor I'll just google it who is the tall Broadway actor yeah you bring me on for this type of Tommy Toon did come up for exactly this type of insight Harold McGillan I can tell you sure who is a long time phantom is 6 '4 pretty good not as tall as Bill who's 6 '7 Tommy Toon's 6 '6 Timothy Hughes, that's the big man from Hadestown. I was thinking of the big guy from Hadestown. Now, he's more of an ensemble player. He's, you know, very hot. But I remember that with Hadestown where there was the one big guy. Yeah, the tall guy. Because they've got all the guys with the big hammers who are like, you know, in industrial hell.

33:14Griffin Newman:I mean, you're also saying

33:15David Sims:he's more of an ensemble guy. This is maybe his breakout. This is the thing that makes him a leading man.

33:20Griffin Newman:I mean...

33:21David Sims:De Blasio.

33:21Griffin Newman:Yeah, you know what? Get him out there. Yeah, you know, first act, DeBasio is Mayor. Second act, DeBasio is Horndog.

33:30David Sims:I was going to say, entire second act is just sitting down with the New York Times for that piece.

33:37Griffin Newman:Just like DeBasio like on the apps. It's just like DeBasio being like, field, eh?

33:42David Sims:I'm going to match one of these days. Even if they hire someone like this Hughes guy, they should still put the actor on stilts and make him so tall that his head is not visible in the proscenium arch. That'd be good. It should be like police squad style. He's out of frame.

34:00Griffin Newman:You know, this film came out in the blink of an eye. So, look, look, look, look, look. There was nobody out here who was like, when are you guys covering in the blink of an eye and can I be on the show? Literally, nobody. Nobody. Joey has a new show. He has a new podcast. It's a show. A show about shows. He's my brother.

34:21David Sims:Not to mention the credits. Longtime brother. Longtime brother. Hey,

34:24Griffin Newman:and uncle. And uncle. My uncle. Funk what? No, he's a wonderful uncle to my children. How are my kids doing? One of your younger sons has some anger issues. Sure, that's true. But overall, they're doing great. He's got a lot of rage. It's rocksteady? No, Bebop. Oh, they have names too. Well, yeah. It's so funny to watch him do the math.

34:47David Sims:To do the math, yes. It's why I tee him up every time. Because I like that he has to seriously remember the canon he's containing.

34:56Griffin Newman:Yeah, so you were like, I'd love to, you know, plug my show on the podcast. You know, like, what's coming up? Like, Scorsese, could I do Hugo? And I'm like, you know, Hugo is a 2027 episode for us.

35:08David Sims:It's going to be a while. It's a while away.

35:10Griffin Newman:You know? And I was like, look.

35:12David Sims:You know what's coming up in the blink of an eye?

35:14Griffin Newman:I got an empty spreadsheet cell right here in front of me for a much more recent episode. If you'd care to fire up Hulu, H-U-L-U dot com. It felt sort of in keeping with my, you know, some of my appearances so far on the show. Lost in Space. I mean, my first was Lost in Space. A great movie. As a sibling's choice. Yes. Ratatouille. And an actually great movie. Yes. Ratatouille, an actually great movie. A double sibling episode. Yes. But then Polar Express.

35:40David Sims:A cancer you infected us with. That one I requested. Yes. And now David has seen that movie like 80 times and has like fucking Stockholm Syndrome. Yeah, I kind of like it. Never let it go on.

35:54Griffin Newman:It was fun in theaters.

35:55David Sims:I was thinking about, you know, the era of the siblings' choice, a thing where we needed to fill slots on the schedule and we were like, what are fun ideas for episodes? Both of my siblings' choices got 20 years later legacy quels. Right.

36:12Griffin Newman:That's a good point, right? We just had Romilly on the show because Devil Wears Private 2. Yeah, Devil Wears Private 2. Space Jam, of course, got the perfect and well-remembered... Perfect. They started a new legacy. Yes. Is Al G Rhythm up too lately? Running for 2028 public nomination?

36:28David Sims:I was going to say. He's the entire cabinet. He greenlit Michael? Or he's selecting the captain. Al G! Did you see Space Term and you're like, is this the Don Cheadle AI thing? Yes. His name is Al G Rhythm. He's an Al G Rhythm. Connor Ratliff has a running bit where he insists on calling that character the king of content, even though he's never seen the movie and he won't be corrected on it. Yeah. And I was like, oh, what are the chances we get a Lost in Space legacy sequel? And you're like, they're actually zero. We got the Netflix series. But I think with Hurt dead. Oh, yeah, that's the top reason.

37:04David Sims:That's the top reason. Who's going to bring the Hurt, if not Big Bill? Look, Goldsman is, after amassing power at Paramount, Goldsman is like calling up the execs. He's like, listen, I wrote a draft of Lost in Space 2. Wait a second, David. I think I know what you're going to say.

37:20Griffin Newman:Well, I mean, I was trying to point to one. I was trying to point to our President Red Hulk who's over there. We bought new shelves. We're remodeling the office. I'm not sure where President Hulk is right now. Do we know, Ben? Okay. I'm not certain. He was respectively stuffed away. He's our president. So, yeah.

37:37David Sims:And I did salute him. Let's say he's visiting Camp David.

37:41Griffin Newman:Yes. Gotta see the blossoms. Yeah. Liv Tyler, where are my pills?

37:47David Sims:So are you suggesting... Like fucking recast this.

37:49Griffin Newman:Harrison Ford Swap him in Slot him in there Be like We got Ford We got Ford Everyone else is back Mimi Rogers Yes Matt LeBlanc Lacey Chabert Blarp The fucking kid who played the kid Blarp Blarp

38:03David Sims:They're all back Jared Harris We don't let him talk Jared Harris dubbed Yes Gary Oldman only in spider form

38:12Griffin Newman:Yes Heather Graham Heather Graham She's probably the most like still looks like herself of all the people I just mentioned. Like she's aged into. Yeah, you're like, oh yeah, she's still Heather Graham.

38:25David Sims:She's doing the new White Lotus season. Is she on that?

38:28Griffin Newman:I think so. Did you see our friend Max Minghella's on it? I did see that. Well, well, well. Well, well. Checking in. Ding, ding, ding. But Lost in Space 2, I'd love to see it. It does seem unlikely. I also feel like Stephen Hopkins has not worked of late. Yeah. What was his last film? I don't think he did anymore. Stevie films. Didn't he just retreat back to television? No, you are wrong. And I remember his last film, of course, because it was Race. The Jesse Owens biopic that came out 10 years ago that has a lot of Lenny Riefenstahl. Like, you watch it and you're like, this is going to be a Jesse Owens biopic.

39:04Griffin Newman:They're like, yeah, sure. He ran the race. Lenny Riefenstahl, though, played by Carice Van Houten, is like a big part of the movie because, of course, it's about the 36 Olympics. But like, it's maybe a little too concerned with her. probably because she's a fascinating figure in history, but you're kind of like, isn't this the Jesse Owens movie? Well, they have a little bit of a will they won't they thing going.

39:27David Sims:Talk about an insane filmography though. Dangerous Game, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Dream Child. He was a solid genre director. Predator 2, Judgment Night, Blown Away, The Ghost in the Darkness. Blown Away and Ghost

39:36Griffin Newman:in Darkness or him leveling up to like a bigger

39:38David Sims:scale genre. Then Lost in Space is like you get to do a big fucking special effects.

39:43Griffin Newman:This is a giant special effects studio movie. Right. You know, it was New Line, but still, you know. And then Under Suspicion.

39:49David Sims:Never seen. Of course, the big three. Hackman Freeman, Bellucci. Oh. Then the Life and Death and Peter Sellers, HBO movie. Which is like not bad.

39:59Griffin Newman:Yeah.

39:59David Sims:But it's TV movie. The Reaping. The Hilary Swank.

40:02Griffin Newman:That's the Hilary Swank Ten Plagues of the Bible movie. Correct. Where she's like, I have two Oscars and I'm like, then why are you fighting locusts? Hilary. That is,

40:13David Sims:That is a brutal retort. You know what I mean? Why are you fighting Lucas?

40:17Griffin Newman:It's not like all about Steve where Sandra Bullock's like, look, I filmed this right before I won the Oscars. It's like, it's three years after Million Dollar Bay Area. I'm like, you have two Oscars.

40:26David Sims:Yeah.

40:26Griffin Newman:You had to do The Reaping?

40:28David Sims:Yeah.

40:29Griffin Newman:And then Race.

40:30David Sims:And then Race. Yeah, then there's nine years between The Reaping and Race and he hasn't made a film since. He's made some TV since.

40:44David Sims:David. Yes. I love wearing glasses, but they can be a hassle sometimes. Oh, they're on your head. It's very annoying. I mean, it's so easy to put off buying new glasses for so long because it's so expensive and it can be such a difficult process.

40:59Griffin Newman:Yes. Well, Zenny, it's an online eyewear shop that's got prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light lenses, and they start at under$30. Okay. That's a low amount of money. Yeah. So you just go to zenni.com, you pick a frame, you upload your prescription, and they ship it to your door. No appointment, no store, no upsell at the counter. So if you want to replace some glasses, you do it just like that, and it's cheap as heck.

41:25David Sims:It takes the pressure off the process and the choice.

41:29Griffin Newman:Yes. They got over 150 ,000 five-star reviews. And if you've never bought glasses online before, Zenni has a virtual try-on, so you can see exactly how a frame looks on your face before you commit. Go to zenni.com slash podcast and use code podcast15 for 15 % off your first order. The styles do sell out, so don't sit on it. That's zenni.com slash podcast, promo code podcast15.

42:04Griffin Newman:But you're here to discuss Andrew Stanton's In the Blink of an Eye. I want this came out February 27th. then I thought, oh, Leap Day. And then I'm like, oh, no, no, Leap Day is February 29th. Then I had the thought, what movies came out on February 29th? Because that's rare. Oh, sure. I found three. Okay. Want to hear them? Yep, please. Semi-pro. Yeah. February 29th, 2008. Not a good movie in my memory. No. The Other Berlin Girl. Also February 29th. Okay. 2008. Same year. Yes. Here's the most important. Well, because it's every four years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here's the best one. Yeah. An extremely goofy movie.

42:37Griffin Newman:Okay. February 29th, 2000. that was pretty funny. Was it? No, you have to do that. That's a DTV though.

42:43David Sims:It was, it was direct. But that's a wonderful film. That's it. That's it. And it's, it's a pretty excellent picture. Can you ask me? What if, it's, it's Goofy movie back to school. It's Max is like, finally, I get to move out and be my own man. Right. And Goofy's like, for y 'all, for y 'all, I'm signing off. I'm the dean. He decides he wants to take classes and bring disco back.

43:07Griffin Newman:Oh, of course.

43:08David Sims:Yeah, so there's a lot of shake your groove thing in that movie. B.B. Neuwirth plays a hot beatnik love interest for Goof.

43:16Griffin Newman:Uh-huh.

43:16David Sims:Yeah. Max have a love interest?

43:18Griffin Newman:He does.

43:19David Sims:I'm trying to remember. He's gay.

43:21Griffin Newman:It'd be pretty awesome if they'd done that.

43:22David Sims:It'd be pretty awesome if in the year 2000. Fucking get over it. I'm trying to remember who voiced. I'm sure it was like someone who was on a fucking Fox or WB drama at the time. In the Blink of an Eye came out this year.

43:38Griffin Newman:I'm seeing here that Vicky Lewis is the charismatic. You're right. And B.B. Neuwirth is a librarian. Just to let you know.

43:46David Sims:Okay, so Vicky Lewis is the beatnik who is Max's love interest and B.B. Neuwirth is the librarian who is the dad's love interest. I thought that sounded off age-wise, but I wasn't going to say anything.

43:55Griffin Newman:No, I'm here to tell you that Vicky Lewis plays PJ's love interest. Weird.

43:58David Sims:Who the fuck is PJ? PJ is the best friend. Forgive me for not remembering who PJ Goofy is.

44:06Griffin Newman:Yeah, of course. He's Pete's son. Oh, he's the chunkier one. He's a big guy.

44:11David Sims:But then wait a second. Does Max not have a love interest? He's an incel. Okay. Okay. He starts looking at 4chan.

44:17Griffin Newman:I can't believe that I'm doing this. Okay. Can we? We're about 45 minutes. You know what? This is going to be a 90-minute episode anyway. So let's talk about it in the blink of an eye. I do have a dossier if you want me to open it. Oh, yes, please. Incredibly, JJ did research on this movie. That is astonishing. Look, it's a feature film. It looks science-y. That's true. I'm sure they built sets and stuff. They didn't just make it in his backyard. 2016, Andrew Stanton made Finding Dory. 2026, he made In the Blink of an Eye. So that's 10 years. Yeah. What did he do in between? Many things. Live action television.

44:51Griffin Newman:Yes. I think basically post-Dory, he basically was like, I want to make live action stuff and there's lots of TV and it's a way to do it.

44:59David Sims:He did a recent interview leading up to Toy Story 5 where he said that he intends for Toy Story 5 to be his final animated film. And he said, it's just that these movies take so long. And I love animation, but I was never primarily an animation person. I grew up like working at an arthouse theater in high school. And that's when I really fell in love with film. And I'm into all different types of movies. And it's been a great blessing to work at a place like Pixar and have that sort of freedom and leeway. But you can get a lot more done in live action. And I think there was a hope that, well, Finding Dory resets the board a little bit from The Stink of John Carter, and now I will try to make a smaller budgeted live-action film.

45:41David Sims:And there are many scripts that he has options and signed up for, but to sort of get his reps in. Meanwhile, he did a tremendous amount of live-action TV.

45:50Griffin Newman:So, he directed episodes five and six of the second season of Stranger Things. I haven't seen them because Barb's not involved. Obviously, my stance on Stranger Things is no Barb, no David. My Barb purist.

45:59David Sims:A Barb absolutist, in fact. Yes.

46:02Griffin Newman:Yes. You watch Stranger Things. Yeah. Do you remember Andrew Stanton's work on Stranger Things? I mean, Stranger Things has a pretty solid, like, established visual style that I feel like even, even when you're bringing in, like, Stanton, or even, like, Frank Darabont. Like, Vecna has a floor inside of him. Is it Vecna or fucking, what is it, the wildebeest?

46:21David Sims:Yeah, it's Vecna. Demogorgon? Vecna lives on top of that tummy floor. He lives in the tummy. The tummy is Vecna's home. That was the twist. Joey, I have never watched Stranger Things, I believe, just because I try to keep tabs on Stanton's stuff. He directed the 11, like, punk episode. Oh, did he do that one? Yes. That one that they kind of... Oh. It was like a... Did he? A second season, yeah, like, almost a, like, failed backdoor pilot thing. A little bit of a kind of one-off self-contained episode. A one-off self-contained story. No, he didn't direct that one.

46:56Griffin Newman:He didn't? Okay. No, that was Rebecca Thomas. Interesting. He directed episodes five and six, and I can tell you, like, Hopper, Hooper, Hopper? Hopper? this is season two yeah and that's all yeah yeah he got lost in a tunnel and uh you know um yeah some 11 appears to be involved i'm sure he did a good job you know i gotta say the only ones that i ever remember noticing like oh there's a bit of extra flavor here was when darabont directed a couple episodes in the last in the last season of stranger things and you noticed a few things where you're like oh okay that has a little swish to it but now this is a show i never stuck with but I only watched the first season, but I know you watched Pinata, the sixth episode of the fourth season of Better Call Saul.

47:38David Sims:It's an excellent episode. And Better Call Saul is a show I adore. Yeah, you're a big fan, I know. Yes, I think it's like a masterpiece. But that's a very good episode. He directed an episode of Legion. Legion.

47:51Griffin Newman:He did the fourth episode of Tales from the Loop. He did four total episodes of a show I love called For All Mankind on Apple TV, including, in my opinion, its best ever episode. Wow. He did the third episode. it's the one where fucking I mean I don't remember like the names of the episode but like where Joel Edgert I mean not Joel Joel Kinnaman God bless there's a lot of Joel's out there Robert Cop where his adoptive daughter decides like she wants to be an astronaut they have this huge fight or she wants to be in the military or whatever you know like following his footsteps and they have this huge fight in a living room him and his wife and the daughter and the camera like sticks with it moves all around and it's so good and it's so beautifully acted it's the show at its peak I mean that show.

48:32Griffin Newman:I gotta start watching the show. It's fallen off a little. Season 5's a little it's kind of like, guys, I think you're done you know, full of ideas.

48:38David Sims:Our friend Alan Sepinwall in a text recently revealed to me that they are about to launch a spinoff show that is retelling everything that's happened on For All Mankind so far from the perspective of the Russians. They're just resetting. It seems like a

48:57Griffin Newman:I don't think it's gonna run five seasons. Let's put it that way.

49:00David Sims:Yeah. That's just a wild idea to be like, triumphant run. We're wrapping up. By the way, the spinoff is starting in three months and it's just going back to the first point of the story.

49:11Griffin Newman:I'm like, we know what happens. So what do you... Anyway, whatever. Who knows? It's also in English, despite all the Russian scenes in the show being in Russian in the main show. But clearly they were like, well, the whole show can't be in Russian. Then I'm like, well, then what are you doing? Maybe don't make it. He also directed an episode of Three Body Problem. and he wrote two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

49:31David Sims:A show I recently watched for the first time and I will admit, I think is quite terrible. Quite bad, but he's like, the credits on that are like, he's like one of like a million names that went in and out the door. Who knows who were one? Those Star Wars shows have a lot of wacky credits attached to them because at one point this person was supposed to do this or this was supposed to be a movie. Hey, if you would like put him as an example, put Stanton in charge of like, hey, you're our guiding vision for this show, maybe it would have been better. But I don't think it was that. No, it's odd because, right, he gets credited as a writer on two episodes, but I don't even think he's a producer and he didn't direct any.

50:08Yeah.

50:08David Sims:And it made sense. It just feels like you stumbled into a writer's room for two weeks and then you were like, ugh, fuck this. But it's also wild because it's not like he worked in a writer's room on any other shows from the time he starts at Pixar. No, but I feel like that's kind of like what being in the Pixar Brain Trust is, though. A little bit, yes. They just don't get credited that way. Totally. and I also think it makes sense that that moment Obi-Wan is where they're really starting to widen the aperture of like maybe we're going to make a ton of stuff for Disney Plus if I understand I'm like I just want to get in the door at Lucasfilm I want to fucking talk to them about Star Wars shit

50:40Griffin Newman:and I think a lot of people who worked on the Star Wars TV shows were basically like I'd like to do something I'd love to be on a set with a lightsaber like it would just be awesome like I grew up with Star Wars like this rock I mean obviously he makes sense he does to have done something and a show that made sense was Obi-Wan Kenobi a perfect miniseries that made sense. Sense. I assume I will have griped about this on Mandalorian. Everyone looks down the camera and was like, this makes sense. And Grogu episode.

51:05David Sims:But it is astonishing to me that almost all of the Disney plus Star Wars shows are about a person with a child being chased by someone.

51:15Griffin Newman:Yes. Being chased by the fourth most important evil Jedi adjacent dark side guy like in this sector. They present someone Like Ray Stevenson, RIP, God bless him, shows up and he's like, and I'm also not a Sith. Yes. But I kind of like him. And I'm not a Jedi either, but I have a lightsaber. And I'm like, well, what are you? He's like, I don't know.

51:37David Sims:I was just like, how are these all the exact same premise where you're like semi-stoic lead, younger, more vulnerable, sort of like under the wing, you know, they have to protect. They're looking for something and someone else is chasing them. and the person who's chasing them is established as really evil and the longer things go on, you're like, they're only kind of half evil. They're all that. Save for Andor. Which is probably the best one.

52:10Griffin Newman:I mean, Ahsoka's pretty good. Has anyone thrown that take out? That Andor's good? People are like, Andor. Then we might want to cut that out just because... Well, my microphone's on fire! You've watched Ashoka, right? Ahsoka? Ahsoka? I watched Ahsoka. I'm going to watch season two. Why not? I love Punishment. Yeah, I want to see what happens with, what the hell is the blue guy who like... Yeah, Thrawn. I think Ahsoka is so fascinating to me because... I swear to God, they're like, get ready to meet the scariest villain in the world. He's fucking Joe Biden in that show. He's so quiet. He's like...

52:42I just... The end of that season one is so wild to me because it's Filoni basically being like, I am setting up this Thrawn guy. Right. As like, this is it. Like, this is the new guy.

52:53Griffin Newman:because the show mostly has other smaller villains that she's dealing with. Not just in the show. To me, it felt like it was suggesting this is your new bad. He's the engine of the Star Wars TV universe. Extend into other shows. I want to make movies and I'm sure he probably does want to do all this. But I'm watching it and I'm like, there's no fucking way that's happening. So what the hell is this? I don't know. Do we have to watch season two for the Grogu? You don't have to do shit. Well, I know that.

53:21David Sims:Season two hasn't happened and won't come out. Yeah, it won't come out by next week. Thank God.

53:26Griffin Newman:Because that's your... Season two, it doesn't even have... Yeah, it doesn't even have...

53:30David Sims:But it has been filmed. And Rory McCann replaced Ray Stevenson? Yeah, I mean, the man died. Look, Ray Stevenson was not the problem. Exactly. He actually was the best part of the show. He was the best part.

53:42Griffin Newman:And you were kind of like, there's something to this idea. There's something. Right, you know, to like the idea of what he's playing. Obviously, the big problem with Ahsoka... Ahsoka? Ahsoka? Ahsoka? is just like, she's a non-character. She's a non-character. And like, I know in the cartoon, she's like a spunky teen who's like, I'm a rebel or whatever. But by the time the show, like now that she's a grownup, she's just like, her vibe is she's serene.

54:07David Sims:Every character is like that. Well, that's,

54:09Griffin Newman:yes, yeah. I mean, they're all kind of just like, we are your friend, Ahsoka. Okay, so we haven't,

54:14David Sims:we haven't seen Mando and we haven't recorded yet. So I'm going to burn some of these takes here and just remind me to not make these complaints in the Mando episode, okay? My takeaway watching Ahsoka was like, this feels like watching children perform Shakespeare, where they don't know what they're saying. And the only direction they're being given is play it seriously. And say it slow. So everything is like your character motivation is serious. And I think that is partially that Filoni ran these cartoon shows. I have not watched much of Clone Wars, but I watched the majority of Rebels, which I really liked, and was a show that was fun and had defined characters.

54:56David Sims:And so much of Ahsoka is him being like, I'm bringing all my Rebels characters into live action and then zapping them of any personality because I'm trying to fight the perception that these are children's characters. So everyone is just like saying things really slowly and quietly. Even fucking like Ezra shows up, who's been built up as, by the way, you can't have a character called Ezra. No. Star Wars is ridiculous. But he shows up and he's been built up as like, oh, crazy wild Ezra. He's so fun. And then he's just as, pretty much just as dead eyed as the rest of them. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who I always love.

55:35David Sims:I think basically never misses. And we've talked about David, like she's someone who can single-handedly elevate dog shit. Totally. And in this, she is so boring and lifeless. Everyone is bad. The villains... The whales. The whales are fun. There are whales. The whales are good. The whales are good, but everyone had told me the whales were good. I skipped the show when it aired years ago. And I remember at the time people being like, the whales kind of feel like classic Star Wars magic. I got to the whale sequence in the season, and I was like, that was good. But if you're telling me that's the high watermark, and I have four episodes left to go, I'm terrified.

56:13David Sims:I agree with you. The whales are like the one chunk that I felt a little something. Anyway, that's my Star Wars rant. Also, Ahsoka's basically not the lead character of that show. She's not. She's dead for half the season. Not dead. She's in a fucking... She's in the Anakinverse. She's in the limbo, the Anakinverse. It's just everyone being like, we got to find Ezra. Ezra will not. Have you watched Skeleton Crew yet? I'm watching it right now. That one at least has energy. What? Did they renew Skeleton? No. No. That's a one-on-done. I think Skeleton Crew is done.

56:46Griffin Newman:That's basically like -

56:47David Sims:Ahsoka's the only thing that's coming back. And they've announced - And that'll be the end of it. Like, it's over. And then Filoni will be shot in the middle of time. Probably. Fucking Death of Stones. They announced that Filoni was going to direct a movie that was the culmination of all the - That's what I mean. I think he thought that was happening. That was happening. And I think there was a little bit of, we've changed our priorities let's just put Grogu on a screen right and see what happens John directs that we're sorry we'll let you make Ahsoka season 2 to wrap up those threads I honestly think they should just let him just not for theaters but like in Disney let him make whatever crazy fucking movie he wants to make where he brings back all of them through AI like you know Luke, Leia Han, no he wants to do this let's be real and he wants to correct everything that he thinks they did wrong in the sequel series of like these guys should have been fighting together and they should be fighting Thrawn I guess like let him make this piece of shit

57:46Griffin Newman:yes right like a Disney YouTube fan movie it's in on the Disney Plus app it's in a garbage can and you have to like lift up the lid and they're like really? and you're like yeah what's in there? they're like alright we'll get it out for you it's like covered in banana peels

58:01David Sims:if you press play the fucking FBI your eye breaks down your door.

58:06Griffin Newman:It's just a spinning wheel. It just turns into a question mark. And it's like, come on. That wasn't going to exist. Chris Hansen shows up. Yeah, right. Oh, so you decided to watch the Filoni movie. You watched the Filoni movie and in the blink of an eye. What's going on with you? We will talk about this like two months prior to this. But yeah, I do wonder if they have like a Hail Mary guy like the James Gunn DC thing. Kathy has retired. Filoni, he's going to go to some cartoon world. Filoni is in charge of the whole thing. I know, but after Mando does poorly, do they go like, you know, we want a new steward, and it's...

58:40Griffin Newman:But then I don't know who the answer to that question is. I mean, I think

58:42David Sims:I know the answer, which is they already announced Simon Kimberg is sort of like overseeing... That ain't it, my friends! Let's do it again! But they're like, Filoni is in charge of operations, which I also think is partially being like, maybe... Filoni's in charge of HR. Maybe you don't write and direct the stuff as much anymore. And that Simon Kenberg is the guy who's sort of like, you got to figure out the movie problem. Everything's really good over there. In the blink of an eye. So Interstan does all this TV. I know the two movies that he came close to making, the one was Revolver. Is that correct, Sims?

59:19Griffin Newman:All right, well, let me just continue this. Yeah, he was going to remake it. Okay, so Stanton, just to note, he is on the Pixar senior creative team. He was the narrative guru for, literally credited as the narrative guru for Ralph Breaks the Internet. Hey, Ben. Okay, okay.

59:35David Sims:Good work. Because this is where once Disney has bought Pixar, they start to send the Pixar brain trust out to other projects at the other tendrils to give advice.

59:45Griffin Newman:Toy Story 4, he is a writer alongside Stephanie Folsom. So he created Forky. So obviously he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for that work.

59:55David Sims:It was in that same recent piece. Toy Story 4 was originally announced as a John Lasseter movie. Weirdly enough, Rashida Jones was writing it with her partner, Will McCormick, her writing partner. It was the Woody Boat Peep reunion movie, but a very different version of it that didn't work for years and years and years. And they kept pushing it back. And then Lasseter steps down, hands off directing Lasseter. Lots of hugging Lasseter is pushed out of Pixar entirely. and they basically go to Stanton and they're like, can you take a crack at this? Toy Story 4 is a disaster and we cannot cancel it because there is so much money tied up in the idea of marketing and merchandising and the promise to our shareholders that we will have another Toy Story movie.

1:00:40David Sims:And as he put it, he locked himself in a room and within six hours was like, I think I know what the movie is. That he is the Toy Story genius and he is the one who can constantly Yeah, that's what he and Joss Whedon did all those years ago, right? Yes. When the first one was a disaster, and then they locked themselves in a room. Right, and Joss Whedon was gone after like a week, and then he continued to just fix everything. And that, yes, he came up with Forky, right? He wins the Nobel Prize.

1:01:07Griffin Newman:I mean, his first big take was like, Bo coming back, and okay, if three was the end of Andy's story, should four be kind of like, well, then what does Woody do now?

1:01:16David Sims:The other thing he said, which I think is real genius with the Toy Story stuff, is the problem they kept butting against with Toy Story 4, and I've read at least one or two of the scripts that have floated around for the canceled Toy Story 4. They were like, well, we want to tell a love story. We want to make a rom-com. We want to make a movie about, like, Bo and Woody getting back together. And people kept writing movies where they were like, this has nothing to do with them being toys. You're just writing a romance between two characters who happen to be toys. And Stanton's always been like, you have to start from the perspective of what are the experiences that are unique to them.

1:01:50David Sims:And he was just like, well, like, how do Woody and Bo Peep get split up? What is uniquely traumatizing about that that would be connected to them being a toy? Oh, Bo gets donated because the sister has a different relationship to her toys than Andy does. Yada, yada, yada. And then the story comes from there.

1:02:16David Sims:David. Yes. I've been traveling all summer. That's true. And thank the Lord I brought AG1 with me.

1:02:22Griffin Newman:Oh, yeah. I'm sure you had those packs with you wherever you went.

1:02:26David Sims:I got the travel packs. I got a box of berry travel packs, one scoop plus eight ounces of water every morning. AG1. That's my truth.

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1:05:17Griffin Newman:May 2020, he was attached to something called Chairman Spaceman, which is an adaptation of a Thomas Pierce short story that was published in The New Yorker that he was going to do for Simon Kinberg's genre films for Searchlight, which is about a corporate raider who renounces his wealth and signs up for an interplanetary mission to colonize the solar system. I don't know, sounds somewhat interesting. It sounds like In the Blink of an Eye is sort of like the other heady sci-fi script that then got going. Correct. So he jumped to that one.

1:05:50David Sims:Yes. And obviously, Hulu, Searchlight, all owned by Disney, who owe Stanton for the billions and billions of dollars he has made them. Right. But he put it as like, those were the two things I was really serious about. And In the Blink of an Eye came together a little faster. Revolver is revolver.

1:06:07Griffin Newman:a romantic coming-of-age comedy starring Ethan and Maya Hawke written by a Stranger Things writer, Kate Treffrey. Treffrey. She's the one who ended up writing the Stranger Things Broadway play. Ah, of course, in which we saw The First Shadow. The First Shadow. That's right. And to explain the floor thing in that one. Well, stages traditionally have a floor. Exactly.

1:06:30David Sims:Does Vecna live in a theater? Is it Vecna has a floor? Inside your stomach, there is a flat floor and people are just walking around. hardwood yeah exactly wall to wall carpet um uh it was be careful of the spikes on the end because there are spikes and that's how they'll get you they'll get you right this is how they killed Vecna right they got Vecna that fucker throw him into his what did Vecna do into a big spike

1:06:53Griffin Newman:recession he made a recession happen he was one of the craziest fucking things in the world he wasn't a big fan of gay of gay people you know so that was why he was after that was why he was after Will all those years and I am that's barely a joke that is basically what they imply in the last season among many other things.

1:07:07David Sims:It is so insane that people dislike that ending so much that within a week they were like, no, no, no. There's another episode. The ending's bad on purpose because it's an augmented reality experience. It's metatextual and there's a secret episode that's coming out. They would never just whiff this this hard earnestly.

1:07:26Griffin Newman:Revolver, it's a 60s set thing in which Maya Hawk is a teenager in Anchorage, Alaska and a flight from to Japan carrying the Beatles is forced to stop in Anchorage and she decides to fuck George Harrison. That is her goal. That is the plot of the movie. That is her goal. Santa wanted to make that for like five years. Eventually, it just never happened. Now, Colby Day, the writer of this movie, who also wrote Spaceman on Netflix, right? Yes, a movie I like a lot. Yeah. He starts writing In the Link of an Eye when living in New York in the mid-2010s. he goes to the planetarium heard of it in the Hayden planetarium in the museum of natural history and you know they've got a big map of the timeline of the universe it's a you know it's a cool place to go big bang and blah blah blah and he said it gave me an existential crisis which that can happen when you start thinking about the vastness of the universe so he's like I think when you start to zoom out and you think about what does it mean to be here for not that long you start to find the meaning of life he wanted to talk about the idea that even if we don't get much time, the things we do ripple through it.

1:08:36Griffin Newman:So he's trying to reassure his own anxiety. That's certainly what this movie is about. Yeah.

1:08:44Griffin Newman:So he's like, you know, initial concept is just that he wanted to write about time. So the initial story began with the big bang, the first thing in time. Right. Kind of the ultimate prequel. He also was much more rigid about moving from past to present to future in that order. But I think Stanton pushes it more to be fluidly jumping between them all. Not like his three segments.

1:09:12David Sims:This movie was in development for years. It also, from the time that Stanton came attached to the script. Was it a blacklist script? It was on the blacklist list in 2016, I want to say.

1:09:23Griffin Newman:Yes. It was on the blacklist in 2016, number six. But, you know, you get put on the blacklist, everyone comes a calling, but they're also like, by the way, we have to change everything. Right. Or whatever. Stanton read the script years later, though. Mm-hmm. And was like, I'm jealous of whoever wants to try and make this. Realizes no one's making it. And decides to jump on board. He calls Colby and says, you love Cloud Atlas as much as I do. And Colby Day says, yeah, I do. I love story circles. That was my goal. It was doing a kind of a Cloud Atlas-y thing. Stanton also loves The Fountain another movie I would say that is trying this kind of thing and he likes a triptych he says he's like you know you go to the roots of all that and there's something deep that all of us connect to about trifectas of course he might be thinking about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I don't know

1:10:22David Sims:famous trifecta Father, Son, Holy Ghost so he starts revising

1:10:27Griffin Newman:I don't know I'm gonna be honest with you guys Obviously, it's super Cloud Atlas-y. It is kind of like a very small scale, if you could call it that, or not small scale isn't right, but a more intimate version of Cloud Atlas. It's like, what if we did what Cloud Atlas is trying to do, but we really hone it down to just these three or so core relationships.

1:11:02David Sims:And a kind of really clean line of cause and effect. This is sort of one narrative thread that's touched in three different eras. And just very small lives. Like in each of these... I mean, yes, he is placing them in a canvas where it's like, look how huge the impact of these small lives actually is. Right, that's in the contrast. But they are, you know, pretty modest little stories. Modest is a good way to put it. This was announced in October 2022. It was shot in 2023. And then just sort of was in stasis for three years. I've obviously wanted to do Stanton forever. So from the moment this movie was announced, I was like, well, when this comes out, we'll cover him.

1:11:45David Sims:And then it kept on getting like knocked down the schedule. And it is ideal that this and Toy Story 5 are coming out so close together. And we can do a series that doesn't end on this movie. And that has the contrast of both of them in the same year. I did not like this movie went to Sundance and was, I would say, critically ravaged and then has gone to Hulu with basically like no impact whatsoever. I had, you know, after the snowstorm canceled the premiere, I was like, words, not great. I'm going to have to watch this for the podcast. If I watch it now, will I even remember it by the time we record?

1:12:23David Sims:Let me just hold off until it's actually time to do this episode. And so I've been dreading it. I did not dislike this movie. I cannot say I liked it, but I felt a little more neutral on it than I was expecting with how negative the word was. I think, Joey, you and I are maybe in a slightly similar space of like nothing really works for me, but there wasn't anything I bumped on too hard. And I like what it's trying to do, even if I don't think it gets there.

1:12:51Griffin Newman:It's a fart sandwich, but it's a sandwich.

1:12:54David Sims:This is Ben's review is that it's a fart sandwich. Ben is a fart sandwich. Yes. but he's just upset that he didn't get to voice the AI friend I think the movie would have been a lot more fun if Kate McKinnon's AI friend had been voiced by you Ben would have been very good but who did voice the AI friend

1:13:08Griffin Newman:it was not a name I recognized I spent the whole movie for some reason thinking that some narrative connective tissue they were doing was that the AI was voiced by Rashida Jones it sounded like her I thought that's true not Rashida Jones it's like some random actress it's a little confusing but although I don't yeah I don't know what that would have meant anyway my experience was like And the first 20 minutes or so, especially the very start of the movie, I was like, oh boy, because it starts with like the Sylvia Plath quote, you know, remember, remember, this is now and now and now. And you're like, oh boy.

1:13:41And then we open in, you know, like 45 ,000 BC with cavemen making sparks. And again, you're like, all right.

1:13:51Griffin Newman:Obviously, if you're going to be invoking 2001, a space odyssey, you gotta be careful that's the best science fiction film so you're inviting quite a comparison there if you're gonna be doing that so obviously so you know intensely so you're starting with that and I'm and then you're going into these two other introducing us to these two other stories the Rashida Jones and Daveed Diggs and in the present day and she's a research scientist and they're flirting at college and then She's a doctoral candidate in anthropology. She do bones. And then Greg question mark from statistics. Oh, right. It's cute.

1:14:34Griffin Newman:Right.

1:14:35David Sims:Two actors I like a lot. They are. What is that face you're making?

1:14:40Griffin Newman:I'm trying to think what I like Rashida Jones in like of late. I like her in this movie. But we'll get there. Yeah. She's all right in this movie. Sure. I mean, I found this movie just kind of inert. That was my like, I was not like raging about this. like oh my god this is but it just felt like low energy i mean it's gonna play my thought like complete my thought then you're introduced to the middle and then you're introduced to kate mckinnon in the future right and she's on a spaceship and she's on a mission to like save humanity by taking all of these um like new babies in a bag babies babies in a spaceship to a new home and i think for the first like 20 30 minutes you're just like wow this is like like Like you said, David, this is very low energy.

1:15:24This is very inert. It's cross-cutting between all of them really quickly.

1:15:27David Sims:Right, and you're like, you are taking me right into cross-cutting between three stories, and they all seem pretty boring. It's got a little bit of the Ahsoka thing of like it feels like the tone of this is quote-unquote serious, right? And I also think it's not even, you know, Cloud Atlas opens like this where you're weaving between all of them really quickly as they're setting it up. But Cloud Atlas has twice as many threads, and they're further apart. They're not as thematically linked in an apparent way from the get-go. And then after the first three or four minutes, which is also more symphonic and stylized, it settles down into like, we will focus on one for...

1:16:06David Sims:We're going to spend some time. Right, and then go to the others to situate. The first 25 minutes of this just continue to just keep ribboning in a way where you're like, the energy and the pacing are pretty low and slow. Well, it's like, you're going to... okay, you've gone right into we're jumping between these, but you never, but you didn't first establish, like, here's why you should care about any of them. And, like, right, the prehistoric one is, like, you know, it's nonverbal. They speak in. It's very much him doing, like, a Huttanese, I believe. It's like a quest for fire, you know? It is actors in prosthetics.

1:16:46Griffin Newman:Yeah, because they're Neanderthals, so they, you know, or they're paleolithic people of some sort.

1:16:51David Sims:Well, it's about the meeting of, yes, Cro-Magnon and, yeah. And, right, then there's the present set graduate school section. But I was going to say, I like both of these actors a lot. It is an interesting casting choice to hire two people who are decades older than the characters they're playing.

1:17:09Griffin Newman:Yeah, you know, I was just watching The Wizard of the Kremlin, the hottest movie of 2026, which is a movie that begins with Paul Dano playing his character when he's 18 years old. And he's like, I'm at college. And I was just like, just don't show me this. I can't buy this. And it's taking me out of the movie right away.

1:17:29David Sims:It's the Ellen McKay thing for me where I'm like...

1:17:31Griffin Newman:Ellen McKay is a good recent example. Where I'm like... As we know, we're all teenagers right now. And you're like, okay, Ellen.

1:17:38David Sims:But also, it's like, cast for the age, the character is going to spend the majority of the movie. The most time, yes. This movie jumps ahead. eventually we get to a point where Daveed Diggs and Rashida Jones are playing their own age. But I'd say it's a pretty short chunk of the movie. Yeah, because by that point, the movie is moving along time-wise quite fast. And then it even goes beyond that to them with old age makeup. So you're like, you know, 60 % of their screen time is them in their 20s.

1:18:06Griffin Newman:Yes.

1:18:07David Sims:And they are 44 and 50. They are. I mean, look, they're good-looking people. They're good-looking people. They've aged really well. And I thought the graduate school stuff. But I didn't totally buy Rashida Jones. He's like, I'm just getting started in grad school. There is like... With my bones. I think what is actually pretty fucking effective CGI de-aging on the two of them that I noticed was very subtle. And a lot of that is they're two people with very good genes who have aged very well. But there is like an energy thing of you just feel the two of them playing 20-something in a way that feels a little school play at times.

1:18:40Griffin Newman:It makes it confusing how much time is going. Correct. It does. Because I couldn't really, I'm like hearing you say she's in her 20s makes a lot more sense to me now.

1:18:50David Sims:Well, because also it's like you can obviously be in your mid 40s and go to graduate school. So you watch it and you're like, I'm not immediately rejecting that Regita Jones could be in this program. But the longer it goes on, you're sort of like, I think she's supposed to be like 27. You know, there's sort of context clues that develop. And then there's the Kate McKinnon section, which is right. She is on a spaceship by herself with an AI friend. It is the year 2417. Right. So it's like 400 years in the future. And yeah, she's got an AI that is pretty... Roscoe. Pretty, I would say, like personable.

1:19:27David Sims:It's not a Hal. It's actually like conversational and feels friendly and human in its tone, its demeanor. But she's basically in isolation. It's a very kind of Wally setup of you're alone on a spaceship looking for the planet that is inhabitable where life could restart. There's no like, and this is deliberate, but there's no like great tension to her mission because I believe they've identified the planet. They know where she's going.

1:19:57Griffin Newman:They're terraforming. They're terraforming it. They have a whole plan. She's just got to get there.

1:20:02David Sims:It should be done by the time I get there, but that's happening. That's not my job. dealing with a yes she is dealing with a problem which is that there's something's gone wrong in the ship's systems but it's all played pretty all played pretty low-key and they are also very they really drip out the information in a way that i actually kind of liked about like what

1:20:23Griffin Newman:her deal is i was gonna say right the big mystery is like how is she alive and like because she's is she's not gonna go in hyper sleep like how's she gonna just the thing is though is like they keeps stressing like she's doing this for a hundred and blah years. I've rewatched it and it flies over your head. You rewatched this? Well, I'm saying I just skipped to see the intro of each character. It says longevity enhanced pilot. Oh, does it say that? I did not notice that. I don't know. I just, I mean, one of her first pieces of dialogue is something about like, oh, how many years do I have until we get there?

1:21:01Griffin Newman:Right. And with the suggestion of the way she's saying it of like me, you know, not like my kids, like me. So you're like, okay, there's something going on with you.

1:21:09David Sims:I'm just gonna, let's just say the thing, right? This movie is about humanity identifying basically the cure for death. Cure to death. Right? Like scientifically identifying.

1:21:21Griffin Newman:The way to stop aging. Yes. But not like you're immortal. You will eventually, she will, yeah, we see her getting old at the end. You will eventually die. You will age very slowly.

1:21:30David Sims:Beyond, right, curing illnesses, we have like identified a way to combat the gene that causes the degradation of aging, you know, and to slow it down. And everything works out. Well, I mean, so the movie is very sketchy about a lot of details. And again, in a way that I didn't entirely hate, one of the things that is kind of left to our imagination unless I missed something is that she is doing this mission to find us a new home because our current home, presumably Earth, is no longer habitable. But what is left vague is, did that just happen naturally? No.

1:22:10Griffin Newman:I got the impression it was because people stopped dying and that created a huge overpopulation issue. And that created havoc. Yeah. But they don't really get into it. But she says we decided that people should not actually stop aging. When she's talking to the kids about it. It's definitely the most interesting scene in the movie.

1:22:29David Sims:I think everything about that scene, I think McKinnon's good in this movie she is

1:22:37Griffin Newman:she's up to the assignment there were moments with her when I was moved by the first moment in the movie after it was kind of going by very glacially and I was like oh boy the first moment where I locked in a little bit is when she has to turn off the AI her AI friend and she turns it off and then she's like you were my only friend and then is sad about it And I don't know, just because she played it so well, I was like, oh, okay.

1:23:03David Sims:I'm feeling something there. I agree. This is my biggest take with the film, and I understand this whole movie generates from thinking about the Big Bang and the ripple of time and the story circles and all of that. I'm like, the whole movie should have been McKinnon. I'm like, this is the interesting story, and actually, the reveals that are interesting within her story are deflated somewhat by the other two narratives.

1:23:28Griffin Newman:That's it. You're right. You're right. Because like the other two narratives just are pretty juiceless.

1:23:33David Sims:They are.

1:23:33Griffin Newman:They just are.

1:23:34David Sims:They really are. And they're, you know, they're little moments, they're little flourishes and touches. But when you actually step away from the movie, and especially when it doesn't really connect all of its threads until the end and go like, this is what's fucking been going on the whole time.

1:23:47Griffin Newman:Fucking nut. Get out of here. The nut, the acorn. Get out of here. Some scrap-esque shit. I would possibly get the nut out of here. Yes.

1:23:56David Sims:But you're just sort of like, the whole interesting story is the Kate McKinnon thing. And actually, if you remove the other two narratives and you're slowly realizing what's going on with her, the same doling out of information gradually, but it not being supplanted by the other two, that's the movie that feels like it has a little more intrigue to it. I like this implication that it's basically like we're watching sort of the turning point of humanity, the sort of notion of the two species and one outlived the other. And this was the merging of them. And this is sort of the missing link sort of moment.

1:24:31David Sims:And then Rashida Jones is trying to she has discovered the the remnants of this missing link. What's the character's name? It's not Thork or Thog. It's Thorn and Hera. Yes. If you look on IMDb, it's something I really like. Thorn is played by someone who is primarily like a stunt performer and a physical performer.

1:24:53Griffin Newman:Yes, Jorge Vargas.

1:24:54David Sims:His photo on IMDb is just him as a Power Ranger.

1:24:58Griffin Newman:Nice.

1:24:59David Sims:His face is not even visible. It's fucking awesome. And Tania Beatty, who's an actor. Oh my God. It's an awesome picture. He's like... It's just a full-body Power Ranger. Power Ranger means Power Ranger. Yes. Tania Beatty is an actor I really like. Yes. Who plays his wife. But yeah, you're seeing this sort of like this is where humanity kind of starts, right? Then Rashida Jones has recovered the remnants of this guy and believes like this missing link might help us understand where we came from, understand our own DNA more in a way that could lead to the breakthroughs of curing diseases, this and that.

1:25:41David Sims:While this is happening, her mother is dying rapidly from a very aggressive form of a terminal cancer. She is starting this sort of relationship with Daveed Diggs, who clearly is all in on her, and she's kind of keeping him at arm's length, A, because she's so focused on her work, and B, because she's got the burden of caring for her mother. And she's sort of like, I don't know if I can take this on. And you're watching this developing relationship where she's keeping him at a distance, then she drops out of school to go be with her mother, so the relationship is mostly happening over Zoom. You know, she's in isolation there, and he's committed to her and eventually, you know, they, he comes, he moves in with her, they get married, they have kids and you realize that their son who they homeschool and they raise in the grand tradition of science is able to build on his parents' work and what she studied to actually crack the code to cure death.

1:26:31David Sims:To cure death. To stop aging. So the whole time of this, of their story, Yes. you're, a part of you is wondering like, what the hell is this? The fuck? Because like, nothing is happening. Well, like, our introduction. You finally get to, when you get to the end, you're like, okay, the overarching idea here is that she and she especially, but and David are like, they were just another little step along the chain. And she has the moment, can you believe we made him? Yes. The guy who cures death. There is something, as their relationship, Rashida and Daveed, as I gradually settled into, I was like, okay, this is just what this is going to be, the whole movie.

1:27:12This very quiet, you know...

1:27:16David Sims:He's the most patient, understanding, gentle... Mostly over video calls, which is kind of a crazy choice for a movie. But as I settled into it, I was like, okay, there are some nice moments. There's a very lovely moment. where they're just sitting together on, standing together on the phone silently while she's sitting by her mom in bed. And it's a wordless scene. And like, there are little moments like that where you're like, okay, that was good. He is a very good visual storyteller. And even in a movie like this that can't quite find itself, there will be moments like that where something kind of interesting and specific is conveyed.

1:27:54Right, and where you feel a sense of what he's going, what they're going for with their dynamic of like, they're so in love and like despite all these problems they have in the fight she has and like at one point she tries to break up with him it just kind of like doesn't come to anything because he's just like no like you love me I love you like we're gonna be together forever

1:28:11David Sims:I think that's kind of fun where she's really trying to break up with him because she's just like this isn't fair to you it doesn't matter that I'm in love with you and then he starts laughing and he's like I got you to admit that you're in love with me speaks to the weird writing style of the movie that in that particular scene is kind of charming where it's like you think this is about to be a dramatic moment and then it's not. He's just like, no, enough of that.

1:28:30Griffin Newman:The key thing here is kinda. Kinda. Kinda. Now, let's say... I just want to say something right now. Jorge Vargas played Blake Bradley, aka the Navy Thunder Ranger in Power Rangers Ninja Storm.

1:28:47David Sims:I'm glad you've been doing a deep dive on this

1:28:49Griffin Newman:while Joey and I talk about the movie. Who is the Blue Ranger. But it's just funny how at the start, they were like, yeah, we got a Blue Ranger, we got a Green Ranger. and now they're like, he's the blue, the Navy Thunder Ranger. Like, so we have to have like kind of Lands End style colors, descriptions. Yes. But he's in 36 episodes. Hey. Like, and it's him. Yes. Like his human face is seen too. That's all. I don't have any more. Do you want me to get more news for you on Ninja Storm Rangers? No.

1:29:17David Sims:What I was going to say is, maybe I will anyway though. If you remove the other two plot lines and just sort of unpack, like this is what happens in the Kate McKinnon plot line, right? She is a woman who is on a spaceship by herself. Her only connection seems to be this AI robot. And she's like holding on to hundreds, thousands of embryos. Yes, in bags. Right. You grow them in bags. That she is trying to protect while also having a sort of sunshine-esque green room to be able to provide oxygen for the ship. There is a fungus breakout. there is not going to be enough oxygen for her to get to the planet that's being terraformed.

1:29:59David Sims:There's sort of the mystery of like, why is this one woman in isolation carrying so many embryos to repopulate humanity by herself? And, you know, you have this sort of, I don't know, a bit of a trolley car problem, but not really of, there's not enough oxygen to get her there. She's like, I should kill myself. You're AI. you can handle the mission on your own. All that's important is that the embryos get to this planet and you can sort of activate everything. And the AI sacrifices itself to be like, you need a human being with like reasoning and feelings and the X factor of human experience. You know, it shouldn't be done by a machine.

1:30:39David Sims:And so the AI basically convinces Kate McKinnon to deactivate it so that they can use the extra room to plant more, to create a second supply of oxygen.

1:30:51Griffin Newman:Because they have to isolate.

1:30:53David Sims:To avoid the plague.

1:30:54Griffin Newman:Have a separate room with the plant life isolated so that it doesn't also get diseased.

1:30:59David Sims:All of this is kind of like a runaround where I was sort of like, the fuck, where are we going with this? Until the moment, as you said, where I think McKinnon plays really well, the loss of like, oh, this was the only connection she had to something that even felt like humanity was speaking to this computer. And now she's got to do the rest of this mission alone. And she activates the one child that she can raise and have a relationship with, and she starts talking to her. And then you realize, like, this is the last human being alive. We, like, killed ourselves with overpopulation. She is functionally, if not literally immortal, close to it.

1:31:34David Sims:And as she's raising this child, she explains this thing, what I think is the best scene in the movie, both in terms of being well-performed and well-written, but also the ideas of it being so interesting of, we solved the thing that felt like the great tragedy of humanity, our own mortality. And in fact, we realized this is not good. It's not good. Not only did it just like fuck us up infrastructurally as a species, but also like people shouldn't live this long. It actually sucks. It's a curse and it's a burden. And we're restarting humanity. You will age normally. We're going to go to a new planet.

1:32:06David Sims:We're going to try to get it right. And I'm the last freak alive trying to like reset everything.

1:32:11Griffin Newman:It is important, though, that the company that did this to us is also the company that is now in charge of the ship. Right. This is where the movie trips up and also is very like not built for this moment is that it lands in this very optimistic place. You could argue about whether it's optimistic because of course the happy ending that we see is preceded by like the collapse of civilization. Well you're like

1:32:38David Sims:watching the sun's breakthrough as he gives the press conference to reveal that he's cured death at the same time as Kate McKinnon is basically explaining, this was a mistake, it fucked everything up, and now we're trying to reset everything back to how it was. You will age normally. And so you have, like, Daveed Diggs and Rashida Jones being like, can you believe it? Our son changed the world. And Kate McKinnon being like, the world's a nightmare, and now I have to try to do a hard reboot. Right, but then they're trying to... The mood of the thing, this is what you're saying, is that that is all at a disconnect from the mood.

1:33:14the mood of the thing is very much like but we figure it out you know like we figure we realize we made a mistake and now we're pulling back and you know we figured out a new way and that's what you're seeing with this uh Kate McKinnon storyline and then alongside that also she has this lovely AI friend who is like really nice and like helps her with everything but and who and who the AI gives voice to like no humanity is the most important thing and like having you having your x factor of being a human that is most important thing more important than me and not to like place other things that are like going on in the world right now onto the but you do you can't avoid it and I'm just watching that scene I'm like well that's a little bullshit like that's not what that's not like reflective of that is not what we're learning and seeing about how these technologies operate that's just you

1:34:06David Sims:fantasizing about like Maybe one day it will be like that. We have the opposite issue, which is like AI convincing people to kill themselves, not AI being like, I should deactivate so humanity can persist. Right. So I was just like... It also, I mean, it's the whole... And Stan was out. I read an interview with him where they were asked about this and they were like, it takes a very optimistic view. And his answer was just like, well, what else can you do but just have hope and have optimism? And I was like, well, that's a lame answer. I find his worldview really interesting in general because it feels like he is a guy, and I relate to this really hard, where there is a constant fight between an overriding cynicism and an attempted optimism.

1:34:49David Sims:That he doesn't want to drown in the cynicism, even though it's his innate state. And there is a sort of sappy emotionality to him that he's a little bit embarrassed by. And I think that's a lot of the Toy Story magic comes from that sensibility. it feels like this movie puts the thumb down too hard on the optimism even when it's doing something that is a little bit ominous and it's trying to like create the friction between like well here's this amazing accomplishment in human existence that we have this breakthrough but also we're watching the business end of what was a mistake by it but then the optimism is but they're gonna fix it eventually I guess so

1:35:29Griffin Newman:but that's why the end of the movie is really odd where they're like wow I can't believe we made him and I'm like history's greatest killer.

1:35:35David Sims:It seems like he maybe was. This was a mistake and this was a curse. And I'm like, I sort of don't even to know about that guy. It's more interesting to just spend time with Kate McKinnon, the one person who's the representative of why this was a mistake. You know? And especially her doing that nice. But it's also like fixing it. Interesting to me. I also think, I think like, there was a review I read at Sundance that was critiquing her casting and saying like, her sort of, what they described as her finger guns comic energy is an ill match for this movie. And then I was like, oh, is she going to be doing like Ghostbusters?

1:36:09David Sims:No, not at all. In this film. No, I think she's giving like a good dramatic performance. But I think her being... She's a little sedate. Her being a comedian gives her more energy than any of the other performers in the movie, even though she's playing it straight. She has a little bit of that off-wire energy, which I think helps. I think it could have helped to have more of the casting be on those lines.

1:36:30Griffin Newman:I think if you're going to have a character in the future, make him talk weird. She loves shit like that, too. You mean like do a Cloud Atlas thing? Like the true true. Yeah, come on.

1:36:40David Sims:She's kind of doing her like cowboy kind of, you know, Kate McKinnon sort of thing.

1:36:45Griffin Newman:Here's what I can tell you. Ninja Storm was the 10th Power Rangers series. The one before was Wild Force, which I guess they turned into like animals like lions and eagles and stuff. And the one after, a one we all know well is Dino Thunder where they were just like fuck it they're dinosaurs again I guess I don't know because the originals are kind of dinosaurs I just Ninja Storm though they were ninjas ninjas I tell you there's a red wind ranger are they ninja dinosaurs no just regular old ninja that's kind of interesting there's a more interesting and I was like do they have Zordon and it's like no they have a sensei who gets turned into a guinea pig so it's going

1:37:28David Sims:into G-Force territory? Sounds possible. I think there is a more interesting version of like passengers in this with her activating the one embryo so as not to be alone and go crazy. I don't think I even really clocked, if your reading is right, that that was a thing where she like was going against the mission or anything. I thought that was just part of the mission. The other part of it is like now she needs help because she doesn't have the AI. I think that was part of the plan. Yes. But then it's like she's forming this emotional relationship that wasn't part of the plan because she needs that.

1:37:58David Sims:And in raising a child now and actually like kind of being a mother in a way she wasn't supposed to be. And this movie ends with, a scene I think Kate McKinnon also performs well, of like her holding the funeral for this child on the reborn Earth. And she has barely aged. You know, she looks like five years older. Right, little crinkles in the ears. She succeeded in the mission, but like her curse is that she also now has to like... She has to watch her kids die. Right, and she's like, she wasn't really my child. I'm not technically her mother more so than any of you, but she's the one I felt the most connected to.

1:38:35David Sims:These are interesting heady ideas.

1:38:36Griffin Newman:I feel like the movie shies away from ever getting too emotional, getting too kind of like worked up about any of it. And so at the end I was kind of like, yeah, okay.

1:38:47David Sims:It's just the one idea I like is

1:38:50Griffin Newman:yeah, if we could live forever, it would suck. Sure.

1:38:54David Sims:It would cause a thousand problems.

1:38:55Griffin Newman:my favorite show New Amsterdam when they collect Costa Waldo remember yeah of course he was old yes but young wasn't there also a different Johan Gruffet one where he was that one was where every time he dies he wakes up in the East River or something and he's still and it was called like Eternal or Forever right uh oh

1:39:17David Sims:it was that he would like Groundhog Day but the next day it was called Forever it was called Forever yes right I can tell you The day wouldn't reset. He would just be reborn. He would just like, he's in the East River again. So I guess it's a little being John Malkovich where they would just spit him out.

1:39:32Griffin Newman:What I liked about New Amsterdam was like in the pilot, he like meets with like an old man who's his son. And he's the old man's like, wow, you really don't fucking age. He's like, yeah, that's my thing. I'll have to solve a mystery. Because that's the best thing about all network shows. They're like, he's immortal. Fascinating. And he solves mysteries. Everybody's like, don't worry. He solves mysteries. Don't worry about it. There's an engine. Yes. Yeah, you know, the ideas are interesting. I just, I also find the design a little bland of the spaceship and all that. Like where I'm just like, it's just got this kind of vague apple-y, you know, sort of look to it that is not very distinctive.

1:40:08Griffin Newman:Her clothes, it's just like boring. It was another thing I caught watching. That movie Spaceman, which Colby Day wrote. Yes, has a very different look. Has a look. Like I found that movie also a little sleepy, but like that movie at least was very heady looking.

1:40:23David Sims:I like that movie a lot. I think rewatching WALL-E for the first time in a while, it was interesting because that did feel new. The whole visual design language of WALL-E, both the sort of busted, rusted, old, by and large stuff, and then when you get to the axiom and making everything that Apple influenced, you know, it's a year before Star Trek, which does the similar redesign of like the enterprise is now kind of Apple store coded and all of that. now this has just sort of become the default language for what spaceships look like and it's not interesting to do and it feels like someone needs to like shake up the formula again.

1:41:03I mean everything about the visuals in the movie. Nothing is bad. The movie looks fine but it's all just very like default and all very I mean that is all really all kind of summed up by the fact that for a score they were like I know Stanton has worked with him before but they were like call up Thomas Newman and have him deliver the same fucking thing that you've heard a million times.

1:41:26David Sims:I've never seen Quest for Fire or Clan of the Cave Bear.

1:41:30Griffin Newman:I recently watched Clan of the Cave Bear. Tell me about it. Because I'm trying to watch... It's not very good. Okay. I'm trying to watch every 1986 film for the big picture 1986 draft. Oh, sure. Our inevitable... Yeah. And I got to this point where I was sort of like... At this point, I've probably seen most of the major films of 1986. But then I was like, all right, well, what was nominated for an Oscar that I haven't seen yet? The answer was one was Clan of the Cave Bear which got a makeup nomination. It was a gigantic bomb, that film. A huge, huge bomb. It's Daryl Hannah who plays a cavewoman.

1:42:05Griffin Newman:Yes. It's great stuff.

1:42:06David Sims:But coming off of Quest for Fire being a surprise hit. Right, exactly. They're like,

1:42:11Griffin Newman:we'll keep it with the cavemen. I also watched Franco Zeffirelli's adaptation of the opera Othello which features Placido Domingo in makeup. I was playing that one at work on my iPad and I was like I might have to turn this one off and I also watched Crimes of the Heart which got three Oscar nominations Bruce Beresford film fucking sucks what were they doing in the 80s Bruce was it's a weird career based on a play yeah how does go ahead is any of what we're talking about right now how did we transition into I thought I was talking about a caveman movie this movie has a bit of a clan of a caveman vibe the weird And in Crimes of the Heart, it's just a lot of Southern Bells going like, Oh, my mama never loved me.

1:42:56David Sims:I lost the fact. There was an 80s micro trend of we're going to try to make cavemen movie that are ostensibly a little more quote unquote accurate. And no one's going to talk. And it's sort of like a dramatized nature documentary sort of vibe. I mean, sometimes this movie in a negative way feels like a 30 minute film you would watch at a planetarium or something. Yeah, I mean, a little bit. it's very very hard to do any version of that caveman thing that isn't that especially if you're going to decide to be accurate about it like it's just there's hard to uh see them discover a whistle yeah and be like whoa yeah that bone whistle i don't care they should be do a caveman movie that's like chris nolan doing the odyssey where they're just like hey what's up

1:43:43Griffin Newman:i'm homer like you know daddy can i sorry one more tangent i just watched the movie whistle it's a horror movie it came out in February you blew the whistle that's what I don't blow it great tagline that was the tagline that's actually really fucking good we're in a high school I'm Daphne Keene from Logan I'm you know I'm a little got some drama I'm bisexual maybe blah blah blah what's this Aztec death whistle don't blow the fucking whistle like what if I blew it no don't do it I just love any movie where it's like there's a scary whistle and I'm like don't tell me someone blows it and they're like oh no they blow it alright

1:44:20David Sims:Yeah, there is. It was not very good. Quest for Fire then leads to Conquest, Iron Master, Iceman, and Clan of the Cave Bear. There were like five of them. Iceman wasn't about Bobby Drake? Not yet. We were too afraid. That's a Timothy, Hutt, and Fred Skepsy movie. Of course, the big two. Yes. But that's more of an unfrozen.

1:44:43Griffin Newman:Everyone figured out that I have a nervous tick where if anyone says two names on this podcast or three names, I just say the big two immediately because I think it's always funny. It's always funny.

1:44:54David Sims:That was a... He's... Timothy Hutton following up the Oscar win is the caveman who discovers fire and then he is frozen and then he is revived. It's like Sirius Encino man. But it was... This was like a big trend for the era and these movies were popular. Quest for Fire certainly was very well regarded.

1:45:16Griffin Newman:Quest for Fire was popular. Planet of the Cavemare was such a huge bomb and probably ended the whole thing. I would say no one has really dared to touch this in 30 years. It's a good point. So this has caveman stuff.

1:45:26David Sims:Yeah.

1:45:26Griffin Newman:Have there been any other recent caveman

1:45:28David Sims:dramas? I'm looking on Wikipedia. The two recent ones they've mentioned are there's a French movie called A.O. The Last Hunter. Literally A.O. colon The Last Hunter. And then there was the I forget which Hughes brother directed it. Albert Hughes. Alpha. Oh, that's right. McPhee and a wolf.

1:45:52Griffin Newman:Right. For the listeners at home, Joey and I just shared a look. Yeah. Knowing look. Yeah.

1:45:57David Sims:As you were going through this tangent.

1:46:00Griffin Newman:Oh, sure.

1:46:01David Sims:And then they had a new awakening. What was the crude sequel subtitle? January 6th. The crude stormed the capital. No, I don't know. Crudes was one of those movies where it like. A new age. A new age. It came out on drive-ins only. in like August 2020. They were like,

1:46:18Griffin Newman:there's a Croods movie and Cuomo was like,

1:46:20David Sims:theater's staying close. It's secretly... I ain't opening for that. The Croods, a new age, might have come close to Titanic's number of consecutive weeks at the top of the box office because it had like four months where nothing else was coming out.

1:46:33Griffin Newman:And like Florida's open. Right. And you'd be like,

1:46:35David Sims:the Croods racked up another robust$5 ,000 to be number one at the box office this weekend.

1:46:41Griffin Newman:Yeah. Look, in the blink of an eye, I found the caveman stuff like unsuccessful. I found it. Yes, it's flatly unsuccessful. That was the least successful. Again, as with a lot of the other elements, as with the other three elements of the movie, it like it gets to a thing right at the end. Yeah. Where like where he's like, where there's a baby that's been born. Right. It's like, oh, it's about this. Dad is like, oh, he's like, has this happy moment and then he dies. And again, it's hitting at that same idea of like he was just a link on the chain. And it's like, okay, all right. I get that. I get it.

1:47:15David Sims:And that's sort of like the first man being born, the first modern. Right. But I'm like, but it was all for that. I mean, again, I admire in a way the smallness of it. I'm like, you know, this is not the type of screenplay that exists anymore in that sort of, in that smallness. But our buddy Bilga had a good review of this movie and he was sort of calling out like how much he admires the ambition of it. But when you make a film like this, you're like drawing those comparisons directly to 2001, which is a challenge, right? Like I said. And he said like, the other one this movie like really draws a line to is the tree of life in this sort of like, you know, the small interpersonal drama of today is linked to our origins as a species and whatever.

1:48:03David Sims:And there is something a little mathematical in the structure of this screenplay. I'm down to just what I'm saying of like, maybe this movie should just be all Kate McKinnon of the need to have the prehistoric section be an equal third of the story. It feels like a mistake to me where I'm like, this could be three scenes and it's an interesting addition to the movie. It doesn't need to have 30 minutes of screen time divided across the film because what's interesting about it can be conveyed very quickly. And it's the same way that Tree of Life is like, you get one dinosaur scene and it kind of shakes your system where you're like, whoa there's a dinosaur scene in a Terrence Malick movie but he's not like well the dinosaur is an equal lead with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn these are the three narrative strains of this movie there was actually even a moment early in the movie where our main I think he was our main like guy from from the Pilear Times or whatever the Navy Ranger the fucking Navy Thunder Ranger

1:49:04Griffin Newman:he like he falls as he's climbing and he like lands on a rock and it's like dunk and then it cuts away from him and I was like, did he just die? Like, was that the end? Well, because I thought for a second, I was like, was that like the point of that being in this movie was just like, sometimes it's just like that. You're a guy. Blink of an eye. Living in bed. Blink of an eye. Blink of an eye, bitch. You're living in bed. You fall, you dead. That's it. Yeah. But no, then he gets up again.

1:49:29David Sims:Right.

1:49:29Griffin Newman:He actually gets hit by a bus

1:49:31David Sims:later in the script before they cut that. I have to go to therapy. We should play the box office game. Great. And Lord knows I need it. You do? Yeah. Tuesday therapy? Things have been changing. This is crazy, Griffin. Ch-ch-ch-changes. You gotta keep it on Thursday. No, it's a one-off thing. No, it's usually Thursday. It's not like I'm playing fast and loose. Yeah.

1:50:06David Sims:home and auto. Bundling, just another way to save with the personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.

1:50:25Griffin Newman:Well, the box office game, of course this film did not actually premiere in theaters, but we can still cover the box office of February 27th, 2026.

1:50:33David Sims:A bad weekend, a lot of theater closures because of the snowstorm, I imagine, or was this the week after that?

1:50:38Griffin Newman:This might be the week after that. I can't remember. Who knows? What's important is that number one at the box office is a giant hit. It is Wuthering Heights? No. Oh, fuck. That came out with Valentine's Day.

1:50:51David Sims:Of course it did.

1:50:51Griffin Newman:No, it stars your friend and mine, Timothy Hitmaker Simons. I think he's the lead role. I haven't seen it yet. It's a sequel horror film. It's Scream 7.

1:51:00David Sims:I'm surprised you didn't see Scream 7.

1:51:02Griffin Newman:I didn't make the screening for reasons I can't remember, but probably my boss was like, you're not reviewing it. So I was kind of like not that motivated. And then the reviews were really bad. And I just was kind of like, I think I might be waiting for Paramount Plus on this one. Like, because like I quite enjoy five and six. I like the Scream franchise, but because this is actively rejecting five and six. Sure. I wasn't too pulled in by like, we've got Nev Campbell. I'm like, yeah, I've seen her in a Scream movie before. Like this isn't like, oh, she's been missing. she wasn't in one of them.

1:51:36Griffin Newman:Well, congrats on not being a scab. Yeah, sure. Also, fuck Timothy Simons. No, I'm kidding. I assume, isn't he like a professor and they throw him out a window? I haven't seen it yet. Sounds good. That sounds fun. Big hit. Big hit. Did you see it, Joey Sims? No, I felt the same as you and I was also like, yeah, fuck them. Who directed that? Oh, Williamson directed it. Yeah. Also not an incredible size. No. Number two at the box office. Number two at the box office is my daughter's favorite film of 2016. Roar. No. Oh, Goat. Goat.

1:52:08David Sims:They play Roar Ball. I was thinking about the ball. Roar? Roar Ball. Roar, isn't that the name of the Tatum O 'Neill movie where they live with Tiger?

1:52:16Griffin Newman:Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffin. Where they were like, there were 10 to 12 lion maulings. Most movies have a couple. Well, Jendabon had like half his scalper. Yeah, I was gonna say,

1:52:27David Sims:production was a wild success. It only took five years and a minimum of three scalpings. It's the most insane film I've ever made. No, I was thinking so much about Roar Ball.

1:52:37Griffin Newman:It's the most insane production ever made.

1:52:38David Sims:Like, the movie's weird. It's weird.

1:52:40Griffin Newman:Yeah.

1:52:41David Sims:It's weird. Yeah.

1:52:42Griffin Newman:No, the film is Goat. Yeah. Joey, you didn't see? Goat, no. Made$103 million domestic. Very solid hit for Sony. Mm-hmm. A movie I really enjoyed. I've seen it a few times. Yeah, I liked it.

1:52:54David Sims:Okay.

1:52:54Griffin Newman:Yeah, okay. He plays basketball?

1:52:56David Sims:No, he plays Roar Ball, Joey. It's very different. It means that sometimes Roar Ball? The court is ice and sometimes it's lava. That is true.

1:53:06Griffin Newman:Number three, The Box Office, a romantic drama adaptation of a novel. Is it the Colleen Hoover? It's... No, no, no. Come on.

1:53:12David Sims:You just brought it... You said it was number one. It's called Reminders of You? No, no. Come on. You said it was... Oh, Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

1:53:19Griffin Newman:A film that I quite liked.

1:53:21David Sims:I do too. And our buddy, Allison Wilmore, has the exact take I have on the movie, which is, it's an adaptation of a 15-year-old reading the book in high school. I agree. Did you see? Yeah, I quite liked it. Yeah, I dug one of the heads. I have not stopped thinking about the shot where she goes back after her awful dad dies. And it cuts to his dead body in the chair. And there's just like an insanely high pile of bottles of MD alcohol. I wonder what did him in. You know, it's hard to tell what the movie is saying there. No, I was just like, the excess of it. I was just like, hell yeah. It's just funny to me when people are like, this movie's over the top.

1:54:04Griffin Newman:I'm like, yeah, it's going for that. That's sort of the idea.

1:54:07David Sims:No, like you're in high school and you read a great book. You know, one of the most important works of literature. And it says like she walks in to find her father surrounded by bottles. And you're like, if you're 15, you imagine, oh, it's 8 ,000 bottles. There's a wall, there's a bone temple. So what if?

1:54:26Griffin Newman:Number three, sorry, four at the box office. New this week is a concert film. centered around a band. I confess, I didn't know this existed.

1:54:36David Sims:Was this a BTS movie? No. No. You didn't know this existed. Is it a band I would know by name? This is a real band.

1:54:43Griffin Newman:A real band? Possibly. I think so. They're famous. Is it a K-pop band? No, they're like a rock. I don't know. Are they rock? Yeah, alternative rock, electro pop.

1:54:53David Sims:It's not Imagine Dragons. No, it's sort of like that.

1:54:56Griffin Newman:Imagine Dragons. I mean, imagine them.

1:54:58David Sims:Just imagine.

1:54:59Griffin Newman:I'm trying to just think what this is. Oh, fuck. I wish I knew. I don't think Imagine Dragons, anyone said that. Ben, Ben, Ben, what is this band? What is it? Tell me what they are. I don't, I know their name, but I don't actually know what the kind of music is. Wait, I can't see. Oh, for crying out loud. Come on, Dan. And it's going over and... Like, what? I don't know what their actual deal is. Oh, Jesus. I have no idea. You just tell me. I don't think I know what the band is. All right. So the band is 21 Pilots. That's very close to Imagine Dragons. I think it is. I agree with you.

1:55:30David Sims:I just don't really... What is their vibe? Ben laughed at me so much for saying Imagine Dragons. I was scared to guess 21 Pilots. You should have guessed it. They're a little bit more of a fun period.

1:55:40Griffin Newman:As far as I'm concerned. The movie is called 21 Pilots, More Than We Ever Imagine. Okay. It made$3.7 million in its opening weekend. I would describe their vibe as Imagine Dragons. I mean, what's their song? I don't know. I just know that there's a band called 21 Pilots. That's where my knowledge ends. Same. And number five is another concert film, sort of. Not of a recent figure, but a deceased figure. Is this epic? Epic Elvis Presley in concert. An incredible title. Which I did not get to see, but I was told was kind of rad. Yeah, I've heard it's great. on Patreon whenever we do Baz Luhrmann.

1:56:16Griffin Newman:You've also got number six, a movie that I wanted to love and thought was okay. Crime 101.

1:56:24David Sims:Oh, sure. I need to watch that.

1:56:25Griffin Newman:Fine 101.

1:56:26David Sims:Yeah.

1:56:27Griffin Newman:That was your Letterboxd review. Yeah, it's pretty good. Probably did numbers.

1:56:31David Sims:Here's a twist. I'm going to let you finish the episode.

1:56:35Griffin Newman:Okay, you know what? I'll see you later. Get out of here. Go away. Come on, you got to go. I'll tell you the next. I can only imagine two. Yeah. What's that?

1:56:44David Sims:That's based on a song the guy wrote about his dad not being nice. And this is the sequel where the song's a hit and the dad's like, I still don't know if I want to be a nice guy. Sounds pretty good.

1:56:55Griffin Newman:I'll check it out. Number eight, Sam Raimi's Great Send Help, which you saw that. You saw that, right? Of course. Great movie. Number nine, How to Make a Killing, the fairly bad A24 Glenn Powell remake of Kind Hearts and Cornets. And number 10, Zootopia 2 hanging out for its like fourth month

1:57:16David Sims:highest grossing film in 2025

1:57:18Griffin Newman:highest grossing film in 2025 you've also got Solo Mio their number 12 that's the Kevin James wants a wife movie Griff's going to therapy he is going to therapy he's out of here wow maybe Joey should take over what should we do a coup sure I mean we could try it out I've done it before I have left because we went for, you know, four hours about fucking Cabbage Patch kids or whatever. Sure. But I don't think Griffin's ever left before. There was a time he threw up. Yes. But he came back. Left, threw up, came back. No, he's normally the one who... Who makes it too long. Makes it too long, shows up late.

1:57:56Griffin Newman:Yes. You know what? Let's air some grievances. Let's talk about it. What else we got? So this is kind of, yeah, a unique position. We've never been here before. Yeah. I have to see Mortal Kombat 2 in an hour. I'm going later this evening, but I'm very excited. Do you have work? Talking to my brother. No, I'm I have a few hours. I'm going to maybe try to hang out with Lane. Lane Montgomery. Lane Montgomery! Friend of the show. Composer of the theme song and past and future guest. Your former roommate. My former roommate. We've been looking for a time to grab a late lunch, so I'm going to see. But he may have been held up at work.

1:58:33It's unclear. So, no. And then tonight I'm seeing Giant on Broadway. the play that's the Roald Dahl

1:58:40Griffin Newman:not so nice Roald Dahl anti-semi John Lithgow play you excited getting that one in do you sound excited getting that one in did he get the nom it got Tony I'm excited to see him we love to see John Lithgow take on a big mammoth role on Broadway who doesn't the play from what I've heard is I don't know I'm not that excited by this now but Trumpy Dumpty is that what it's called so it is after the giant concludes then we all remain in the theater the doors are locked and John Lithgow reads the entirety of Trumpy Dumpty. Do you know about Trumpy Dumpty? Are you aware that Don Lithgow wrote a New York Times bestseller called Dumpty, which was a series of comical nursery rhymes about Donald Trump.

1:59:25Griffin Newman:Then he wrote a sequel called Trumpy Dumpty Wanted a Crown. And my guess in that one he turns around and he says, Trump not so bad. Wait, you're telling me he doubles down on how Trump is bad? And then would it shock you to learn that there's a third book called A Confederacy of Dumpties. Who's that for? What do you mean? Children. They love John Lithgow's Hectoring poetry.

1:59:51And I think it's still, he only needs to write one more, which hopefully he's working on in between shows, and then that's gonna do it.

1:59:57Griffin Newman:Then Trump will be like, he got me. I'm out! These rhymes. I didn't think he'd do these rhymes. He's spitting hot fire. All right, Joey, just one more plug, of course, for your podcast. Yeah, so my podcast, Thank You Theater We Saw, which I don't know what episode we'll be on by the time this comes out. As I'm talking about it, it's very new. It releases biweekly. We talk about two shows each episode, two new shows, but maybe we'll do some fun episodes, as I mentioned, such as about the pipe robbery at Perfect Crime. and um you have guests on occasionally we have cool guests on we just had grace walker who's great like theater tiktoker on we're gonna have more cool people on including non-theater people a big hope of ours going forward is to start having some people who are not like theater specific people but like comedians who are like who are into theater because many of them are whether they proudly admit it or or not um so we're hopeful to have lots of different types guests on.

2:01:05And yeah, it's fun. Give it a listen.

2:01:09Griffin Newman:There's a link in the episode description. And wait, this is also a first. You have to take us out. Oh, okay. Yeah, so in the bank of an eye, listen to Joey's podcast. Next week on the show is Toy Story 5! Of course, which at this point has already come out because the Stanton series premiered a little later. But we have yet to see. but I'm told there's an iPad. So that's next week. And then we will be starting our series on some fuck called Martin Scorsese. So listen forward to that. And as always, well, no, you got to rate reviews and subscribe. We have a Patreon. Yeah, sure. We got, okay. What's on our Patreon?

2:01:56Griffin Newman:Yeah. Blank Chick special features. We got, we're starting a Resident Evil commentary series. Fun. We're going to watch the Resident Evil movies. Paul W.S. Anderson, his universe of six movies, and then the risible Resident Evil Welcome to Raccoon City. And then I guess we will touch on the Zach Quaker movie as well at some point. I don't know. Like, yeah, we'll talk about it. That's patreon.com slash blank check. We also have a newsletter on Substack Checkbook. It's a weekly behind-the-scenes look into the world of blank check. I think we've done all we need to do as far as housekeeping. So, and as always, David, as always, do something about the nut.

2:02:42Griffin Newman:Yeah, there's an acorn. Golden nut. The golden acorn comes for us all.

2:02:53Griffin Newman:Blank Check with Griffin and David is hosted by Griffin Newman and David Sims. Our executive producer is me, Ben Hosley. Our creative producer is Marie Barty Salinas. And our associate producer is AJ McKeon. This show is mixed and edited by AJ McKeon and Alan Smithy. Research by JJ Birch. Our theme song is by Lane Montgomery and the Great American Novel, with additional music by Alex Mitchell. Artwork by Joe Bowen, Ollie Moss, and Pat Reynolds. Our production assistant is Minnick. Special thanks to David Cho, Jordan Fish, and Nate Patterson for their production help. Head over to BlankCheckPod.com for links to all of the real nerdy shit.

2:03:32Griffin Newman:Join our Patreon, Blank Check Special Features, for exclusive franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us on social at BlankCheckPod. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Checkbook, on Substack. This podcast is created and produced by Blank Check Productions. That refresh you've been putting off until the right deal came along? It's here! Wayfair's Black Friday in July sale is happening now, so you can finally get the style you've been waiting for for less. Get up to 80 % off area rugs and up to 60 % off outdoor and bedroom furniture. Shop Wayfair's huge selection of styles and find the piece to fit your style, budget, and space.

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