Ladies First: Sacha Baron Cohen Takes on the Matriarchy | SVU

28:04And here we are, three guys talking about women's rights. But we're all very sensitive gentlemen who try to keep our ears open. The one thing that I will say about this movie that I really loved is that there are jokes in the film that have nothing to do with the premise. I'll give you a, for example, that's early, so it's not too much of a spoiler. Before he goes off to Oz, you know, when he bonks his head, Sacha Baron Cohen goes to his mother's house because it's her birthday and the whole extended family is there and the two nephews are there. And the two little nephews just come out and they go, Uncle, what's his name in the character?

28:41Sacha Baron Cohen. Uncle Sacha Baron Cohen. And they go like, Uncle Sacha Baron Cohen, watch me do my dance. And these two little kids do a silly dance. And one of them falls down because he's a dopey little kid. like you that shouldn't be like that's that's funny because it's real life it has nothing to do with the premise the kids are hilarious the dance is funny a little realistic texture it adds a lot yes a little sprinkle you're making a sprinkle motion people can't say yes you just sprinkle in a little bit of those human moments and i agree it does add a little bit to the introduction of this world that yeah it doesn't the premise is silly and the world is of the you You know, the women dominated world is very broad at times, the comedy there.

29:27But yes, there is a kind of the base level reality here feels close enough to real reality that when you make the switch, it feels more impactful. You know, and I also I agree about, you know, you mentioned that scene at the ad agency. And I just thought generally the film actually did seem to have a pretty good handle on that world. You know, it seemed, I would say, chillingly plausible. Some of the terrible ideas that are being pitched around, you know, a lot of this movie, you know, and this is maybe a little bit of a knock on it. It does feel like Spawn Con for Guinness. There's a ton of Guinness product placement.

30:03Yeah, that's the thing is like they're much like Mad Men. They were they were doing an ups campaign and whatever other campaigns in this. The campaign is for Guinness. But they're trying to pitch a Guinness, you know, a Guinness product for women and they're trying to name it. And of course, all the men are not listening to the woman in the room and they think they know better. And that's funny as well. But just the idea that Guinness might need because it's a product for men, that they need a product that will appeal to women and what that would look like and what it would be. All of that, I thought, was like it was almost terrifyingly plausible that that could happen.

30:40And that was another thing that I enjoyed about it as well. But you know what's funny about that is that my wife doesn't drink that much beer, but when she does, it's a Guinness. I don't drink beer often, my friends, but when I do. You know who else drank Guinness beer every night before bed? I know this. The queen mum who lived to the age of 102, before bed she would have a half pint of Guinness. And she always said, that's why, that's the key to my longevity is a half pint of Guinness before bed. So look that up because I heard that somewhere. I heard that in a bar in Ireland when I was knocking back to Guinness.

31:14That should have been their campaign right there if it was good enough for the queen mom. Yeah, yeah. I will now, my favorite little gag, we've done a good job of not giving away too many gags, but there's one part when he's in the other world and Sacha Baron Cohen says to Rosamund Pike, he's like, well, I've got the balls to do it. And in our world, we know what that means. It's like, what do you mean when you have the balls? The balls, like the sand, the strength. And she's like, balls, those little things that dangle outside your body where if you just flick at it, it sends you into howling pain.

31:47That's your definition of strength. Yes. And she's got a good point there. She's got a good point. I never thought of that. Very solid, very solid line there. Yes. Very original moment. That is pretty damn clever. I hadn't thought of that. Another thing that I did like that sort of speaks to that moment, but there's a lot of them, is that I felt like if this movie had, you know, been a theatrical release, if it had come from one of the big studios, especially in this day and age, maybe back in the days of the Hollywood movie comedy that I'm writing about in Funny Business coming to bookstores on October 6th, preorder it now, they might have been a little more, let's say, randy and risque about this sort of thing.

32:25But these days, it's very hard to find a R-rated comedy, you know, in theaters. And here, this movie, while it maybe is, it could have even gone further. I did appreciate how much of the comedy was around, you know, sexuality. For sure. And, you know, like you mentioned, Victoria's Secret is now Victor's Secret and they wear, and men are expected to wear lingerie that accentuates the testes, let's say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. First of all, at first, that's one of those background gags. You see the name maybe on a billboard, maybe on a street sign. And immediately I'm going, well, I want to see what Victor's Secret looks like.

33:05And then to the movie's credit, they go into Victor's Secret. And there's a whole sequence in there which is bizarre and surreal and funny. I want to see a workplace comedy set inside Victor's Secret. I'm all about it. And there's jokes about, you know, there's the scene, I think you alluded to it, with Fiona Shaw, this sex scene, which I thought was great. Yeah, I mean, it could have gone, I mean, it's a sexual harassment scene. And it's played for laughs, so that's kind of shaky ground. But I think this movie played it really, really well. She is the CEO of the company, and she is... And there are other sex scenes in the movie where they're playing with the power dynamics, the ideas of the, you know, the man is the, you know, the sort of caveman mentality and how that would be flipped on its head potentially in a world dominated by women.

33:59And that scene I thought was maybe a little too choreographed. It felt very kind of carefully scripted. But I like, again, the fact that they are thinking about these things. they're addressing them they're putting them to the movie i give the movie credit for that yeah yeah it's tough to thread that needle because you want to you want to discuss sexual harassment which is an extremely serious topic and keep it funny so it's hard to do and it involves basically uh sasha baron cone and assless chaps which is you know what else are you going to do there's also scenes with like women ripping a big fart on the couch i mean that's that's or yeah like or like scratching their you know it's like al bundy kind of like hands down the pants scratching crotches kind of stuff which again like uh you know i got me to chuckle i we should mention we i don't think we have mentioned this and we should at least mention it that this movie is a remake of a french film that i guess was made by netflix in in france we i don't know i'm not going to attempt to pronounce the french title but the american or the english title is i am not an easy man i just wanted to know i have not seen it no i was just curious if you had seen it i didn't even know it existed until the closing credits of ladies first certainly isn't like a movie that at least in america got any sort of attention but i i would be curious to revisit it or to visit it i should say and i would be interested to compare their their sort of gender roles and the french jokes about this topic and see how they compare to the americanized version i think that would be that would be an interesting point of comparison well i mean i don't want to i mean look again Again, SVU, we are two men with a male engineer watching right now in SAM.

35:42But I think as a general rule, the sexism of France puts American sexism to shame as a general rule. I mean, maybe I'm speaking out of turn here. So I think a French version of this would be even more extreme. So I might have to check it out at some point and find out. So I think we both enjoyed this. I mean, like you said, it's a bass hit and we're pretty positive on it. Let's wrap it up with this question because this was how you started your intro was all about Sacha Baron Cohen. You know, my name of Borat. How did you find him to be? I thought it was interesting. You know, like I like Sacha Baron Cohen as well.

36:20And I thought everything you said about him was accurate that, you know, he's a talented guy. And yes, he will forever be Borat no matter whatever else he does. I could not think of another movie where like when you hear Sasha Baron Cohen in interviews, which is pretty rare. It's less rare now, but for a long time, he did not do interviews as as Sasha Baron Cohen. I once interviewed Borat as Borat, you know, like at the junket for his movie. But I could not think of another movie where he sounded like Sasha Baron Cohen on screen. He is using his normal speaking voice in this movie, which is almost unheard of for him.

36:57Yeah, it's very rare. I mean, when he's in other films, he's doing a character. No matter what, yeah, even if it's a Cockney accent. Which was earlier this, earlier on SVU. That's right. And Balls Up, which is very relevant to the Victor's Secret sequences. And as Sam put in the chat here, that could have also been the name of this movie, and he's not wrong. He's doing a character there, and then, of course, as we'll read, I'm sure, in Funny Business when he's in Talladega Nights. Talladega Nights, absolutely. He's doing shtick. He's got a French accent. I'm sure there are Sacha Baron Cohen movies that are produced in Britain that got micro-released here in the U.S.

37:30where he's just acting. But this is, I mean, it's still a broad comedy, but you're right. They could have cast Hugh Grant in this. Yeah, he's as close to being the straight man here as he's probably ever been in anything he's ever done. Yeah, and he's good. I mean, he's very funny and he's handsome. He's so tall. That's something that really stood out in this movie that to me, when he's playing characters for some reason, it's not as noticeable. He's just he's so enormous to be like, you know, like just like a leading man. And it makes you think about how in Hollywood leading men are often so short.

38:05You know, they're five. They're my height. But the movies make them seem so big. In this movie, he towers over everyone. I don't know what his actual height is. According to the Internet, he's six three. And that's that's that's not all. That's tall. That's officially tall. Anything over six feet is tall. And he looks tall in this movie. And he's just, I don't know if that's maybe in a way that that kind of accentuates and makes it, you know, that was something they accentuated because when he's in that female world, it almost plays better because he's so big. But instead of being this macho, swaggering, powerful guy, suddenly the big, tall, looming giant is a nobody.

38:43He's a loser. He's a man in a woman's world. And I guess that does kind of it's a nice little grace note on the comedy that makes it work even better. I thought he was good, too. I thought, you know, like it was sort of surreal and strange to hear him speaking like Sacha Baron Cohen in a movie. You know, one of the first times I heard him use his own voice is God knows. But of course, the dictator. Everybody remembers the Sacha Baron Cohen film, The Dictator, which is not his biggest hit, but pretty damn funny. I had the DVD or the Blu-ray and there are bonus features and there's a scene of him it's not an interview but it's an outtake it's a blooper and he's doing the voice of the dictator and then he reverts to his own voice to like talk to the camera guy and I'm like whoa look at that I remember being knocked out of my chair um other internet sources say he's 6 '4 so look okay um Charles Dance also wearing cute cardigan sweaters in the other universe is pretty damn funny that's another That's another funny – it's a pleasant movie.

39:43And compared to some of the stuff we have already reviewed, especially comedies we have reviewed on this podcast, I have very few complaints. I was relieved it wasn't another balls up. It wasn't another outcome. It was a more positive outcome this time. All right. So there you go. That's Ladies First. It's available on Netflix. You still mind Joe. You need to relax. I'm just getting started. You see the plumb on that? He wants to sit at the big girls' table. The board had any balls. I'd be the CEO of mine. Had any balls? The delicate sacks that dangle from your body with the slightest tap sends you weeping to the ground.

40:26Yes.

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43:56We're going to go into the Rex-egg. And wondering, Matt Singer of Brooklyn, New York, What film do you recommend that's loosely related to Ladies First? That's right. Well, we should explain if we have new listeners. New listeners. Yes. After we do our main review, we like to recommend some other titles you can stream. And we always have something that's related to the main review. And for mine this week, I decided to pick a movie with a similar conceit. Not the exact same premise, obviously. But a movie where a character kind of discovers alternate realities or they fall into an alternate reality that's similar to ours but twisted in some way.

44:42It's a movie premise that always works for me. I love what if scenarios. I have since I was a kid. I used to love reading the Marvel comic book What If. What if Thor's hammer was really a crowbar? What if Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four? What if Elektra had lived? All those kind of things. I love those kind of stories. Do you know what they call those in the Star Trek universe? They don't call it Marvel What If? I don't actually. Tell me what they call it. It's called Myriad Universe. The Myriad Universes. So like if something happens in the Mirror Universe, that's one of the Myriad Universes?

45:19One of the Myriad Universes. Okay. Yes, I love those types of stories. And I can tell you why because I have thought about this, especially like those old comic books. Mm hmm. When a story does not exist in our world or in the main world of whatever fiction you are reading, like the Marvel comics, then anything can happen. They're not beholden to the rules of that world or even the rules of a typical story. They can have unhappy endings. Characters can die. They're unpredictable in a way that's I find very pleasant. So my related recommendation, though, and I could you know, I thought about there's a lot of them out there.

45:53You know, I think you mentioned A Christmas Carol. You know, It's a Wonderful Life kind of fits into that. There's the Adam Sandler movie Click. There's Yesterday. There's a lot of them. I went with us in a slightly skewed direction, though. I'm very curious. I really want to know. Well, I'm building it up. Would you let me? I'm on the edge of my seat. No, I'm teasing. There's another tease here. All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so in my rec this week, there's not just one alternate reality like Ladies First. there's something like 120 different ones. And what we learn, Sam is also looking very quizzical trying to figure this out.

46:29What could it be? We learn, let's see when you figure it out here. We learn in this film that one man has discovered this multiverse and has learned that if he kills the versions of himself in these alternate universes, he absorbs their essence and grows stronger. And if he kills all the other versions of himself, He basically becomes God. In fact, he would become... The Highlander? No. The One from 2001, directed by James Wong, currently streaming on Canopy, which I thought was very funny that this movie that's very silly is on Canopy. You can also rent this movie. You mentioned Highlander, Jordan, and that's because this movie basically is Highlander meets those Marvel what-if stories or the Marvel multiverse.

47:20You know, there can be only one, but instead of different immortal warriors fighting, they are all Jet Li. Jet Li fighting himself across the multiverse. Have you seen this movie? I have not, but I do know that it exists. I can confirm its existence, but I never saw it. So it's a very entertaining movie. And by the time Jet Li has killed all but one of the other Jet Lees. Jets Li. Yes, Jets Li. There's only two of them left. The two. Because there's the two. They are essentially each half a god. They share the power. The man you've been seeing, the you, he was an NBA agent. Once on assignment, he was forced to defend himself against the form of himself in another universe.

48:09Killed him. Doing so, part of the other life's energy transferred to him. made him stronger made all of you stronger so it makes a very even match between them in the big battle that this is leading up to which is a very fun premise and it leads to all these over the top action scenes you know Jet Li smushing people by squishing them between two motorcycles he wheels like giant clubs good stuff the multiverse concept here like a little bit ahead of its time we live in this age of the multiverse with marvel movies and and things like that um but the soundtrack of this movie which comes straight out of 2001 there are needle drops of bodies like as in let the bodies hit the floor there's a needle drop of down with the sickness it is it is both the most ahead of its time movie and the most dated movie in this or any universe.

49:09And after 25 years, it gives this film a very kind of fun vibe because it is both. It does feel like, wow, they were really onto something here. And also, they have time stamped this thing sonically so strongly. Did you want to add something? In my head, I didn't see it, but in my head, I remember it felt to me like it was riding the Wachowski's wave a little bit. The fight scenes are very Matrix coded. Absolutely. There's probably people wearing, you know, shiny black leather, I'm sure. It is it is very much of that period of action. The action 100 percent is kind of indebted to the Matrix. And I suppose that the fact that it has this big sci-fi premise probably maybe does a little as well.

49:58I did want to give a quick shout out because I had never seen this movie either. Somehow I missed it in a period where I was seeing everything in theaters and especially silly action movies. I don't know how I missed it. The one that got away. Thank you very much. But it was reviewed last fall on The Flophouse, a really funny podcast hosted by Dan McCoy, Stuart Wellington, and Elliot Kielin, where they discuss critical or commercial flops. And they talked about this movie, and they made it sound so good that I was like, I got to watch it. And I was a big fan. James Wong and the co-writer Glenn Morgan, they were X-Files guys.

50:35They had a couple of years where they were really popping in Hollywood with these high-concept thrillers. They also worked on the first and third Final Destination movies. You know, they had this kind of a very appealing kind of shtick, which was that they would make these somewhat silly movies that really embraced the absurdity of their premises. And the one really does that. I mean, it has a lot of fun, much like Ladies First, with signs, with very subtle gags about this different reality, realities that are slightly off from ours. You know, it comes out in 2001 and one of the realities, without making a big thing out of it, it's President Gore, not President Bush, as if the election had gone slightly differently.

51:18And then there's some bigger, more obvious ones, like in one of the alternate realities, Jet Li is just a guy with dreadlocks, which is very funny. So I think if people enjoy Ladies First, which has a kind of a broad, over-the-top, it really embraces the promise of the premise. You know, it goes for it. I think if you like that movie, you will probably have fun with the way The One plays with these alternate realities. So that's my pick. It is streaming right now on Canopy, or you can rent it. It's also on Hoopla. Hoopla. We haven't talked about Hoopla yet, which I think is a sister site of Bazooka, if I'm not mistaken.

51:57Oh, my God. Did you get my email yesterday? Fan? What is it called? Fair? You sent me something about a real streaming thing that is no less absurd than Bazooka. There's something called Fossum. And by the time next week's episode, we're going to talk more about Fossum. Somebody will actually steal Bazooka at some point. I'm pretty convinced. Fossum is a real one. It actually doesn't look that bad. It looks totally free. No ads. I don't understand it. All right. What is your recommendation for our listeners? Well, I went a little bit more. I did less the multiverse and more about the women and men upside down universe thing.

52:37And I picked a movie that I had never seen before, but I'd heard about. It was shot in 1979, released in 79 in Europe. I don't think it came out in the States till 80 or 81. This is Federico Fellini's City of Women. Ah. Have you seen this one? No, I haven't seen this either. Yeah. Well, I have seen most of Fellini's movies. I mean, certainly the classics like La Strada, which is a masterpiece. Sure, sure. Eight and a half. Eight and a half, which is very women. Dolce Vita. All the good stuff. E Viziglione, Knights of Cabiria, all the good stuff. A master. And then in the 70s and 80s, he did these very big, very expensive, very garish, you could say, movies like Satyricon and Casanova.

53:22Casanova's nuts with, what's his name? Sutherland, Donald Sutherland. Anyhow, so City of Women is this. Marcello Mastriani, who is in a lot of his movies, is asleep on a train. The train is going into a tunnel. Thank you very much. That literally is right at the very beginning. So you figure out what that means. And he's lulled to sleep and he wakes up and he sees - He took some Sudafed. He put on The Mandalorian and Grogu. Takes a little siesta. And what happens? And he wakes up and there's some some sexy dame across the across the cabin from him. And they go and they start smooching and it's all very sexy.

54:00And then she's like, it is my stop. I must leave. And she goes and he chases her and they walk through the woods and he's lost and he encounters the city of women. And there is almost no plot in this movie, but it is an opportunity for and it's a long movie. It's two hours, 20 or so of just many scenes to discuss European feminism circa 1979. And the first sequence, which is actually the best sequence, is about a half hour. He stumbles upon a hotel. It's a beautiful, you know, Art Nouveau style hotel, but it's really a humongous set at Cinecetta in Rome, which I know you've been to actually. I have.

54:40Yes. Yeah, I have. You know, they sunk a lot of money into this movie. And it is he stumbles upon a feminist convention and there's a lot of speechifying and little plays and films and funny little moments. And he's just in the corner watching and observing and muttering little things as the women say. And of course, it's translated from Italian. So it's like it's a lot of it's like, you know, we the workers must condemn fellatio. Yes. It's like a lot of things like that. and um the outfits are just amazing it's 1979 Fellini film of just like hundreds of women of all ages uh just on screen strutting this stuff for a minute they all get like a minute to be on screen and do something now this is either the most progressive movie of its time or the most sexist movie of its time I can't tell which it is up to the eye the holder yeah I think Fellini thought he was being progressive.

55:41I really do. But there's a lot of, if I may speak bluntly, a lot of eye candy. There's a lot of sexy dames, but they're owning their sexuality, as they say. But there's a lot of sexy dames in this. And then so what happens is after the convention, he ends up in a car and there's a chase scene between women. Then he ends up at a mansion where there's like the last of the male chauvinist pigs. He's got a gun and he's like defending his turf. and he's got like a, like the Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse of all of his former conquests. And then there's like a carnival scene and then, you know, it's Fellini to the nth degree, but the production design is incredible.

56:23And, you know, and then, I mean, the end is he wakes up and then it's all a dream. Spoiler alert. Yes. But it is meant to be to a certain extent, at least the first sequence, you know, what if there was the city of women where women are in charge? And you do see the men in subservient roles. They're all like the waiters and they're all like, oh, yes, yes, whatever. Do they go to Victor's Secret and try on testicle bras? They don't. There is a scene where there's like a roller rink derby and all the women are like kicking a male mannequin. So there's a little bit of dress up there. but I will say that it is not Fellini's greatest film.

57:08But in terms of its look, it's quite remarkable. Did you say where this was streaming on? Yeah, it's streaming in a couple of places. You can get it for an inexpensive rental at$1.99 on Amazon. You can also watch it for free on YouTube. Somebody uploaded a pretty good print. It's not, you know, it looks high def. So I don't know if that's legal or not. I'm sure it's not. It's on YouTube, but it's also$1.99 on Amazon. It's a pretty low bar. I would say that, you know, somebody listening to this show probably wants to get through all the Fellini films. Some of his later movies, he did one called Orchestra Rehearsal, which is exactly what it sounds like.

57:50It's two hours of an orchestra rehearsing. I love that movie. That movie's terrific. This is not his best. It's not in his top tier, but it looks incredible. And there are some very, very funny sequences. and is very dated, but I gotta say - It sounds like a great double feature with Ladies First. In fact, it seems like one of the best you could possibly have. Sam wants us to note it is also available on Canopy, Fandor, Cineverse, and something called Cohen Media Channel, which I have never heard of before. That's their library, the Cohen Media Library. But Canopy is probably the way to go. Anybody with a library card, you know, you get, I think, 12 tokens a month to rent things.

58:29We have discussed Canopy. It's a big week for Canopy on SVU. Both of our recommendations are available there. Fellini's City of Women and James Wan's The One. That also seems like a tailor-made double feature. All right. Great. Let's get to the personal recommendation for one of our listeners this week. This week, our email that we've responded to comes from listener Danny. Danny writes, hi, Matt and Jordan and Sam. I'm looking for a great under-the-radar movie that combines romance, thrills, and comedy. I don't know if there's a name for this genre, but to me, the ur text is charade. Something Wild also comes to mind.

59:08I have Criterion Channel, Mubi, HBO Max, and Netflix, plus all the free streamers, too. Thank you. Well, thank you, Danny, for the email. And do you want me to go first and give my recommendation, Jordan, or do you want to give yours? Go for it. But yeah, go for it. Absolutely. And you mentioned that you love Charade. Charade is, yes. And I love that one too. It's one of the best. Charade with Cary Grant is one of my all-time favorite movies. I haven't seen it in a while. I'm probably due for a revisit. But I'm a big fan of that sort of movie too, this sort of romantic thriller. I don't know if there is a name for this very narrow version of it.

59:43Maybe we can invent it and then own it forever, what it's called. But whatever we want to call this subgenre, I do like it as well. And I find that it has a very high ceiling, but with the caveat that it can have a very low floor. Like when it's Charade, when they're good, they're sublime. When they are bad, like this means war or the what was the remake of Charade? The truth. Was it the truth about trouble with Charlie, the trouble with Charlie, the truth about Charlie, whatever. Something about that was all. So you got to be careful. That's why it's important to have one that, you know, a recommendation here that you can really stand by.

1:00:23And the one that I thought of that came to mind that I could find streaming somewhere that would qualify for Danny is a movie that is a remake of a movie that came out five years before Charade, but then was remade in 1999. it is the remake of the Thomas Crown Affair starring Fierce Brosnan and Rene Russo directed by John McTiernan it is currently available on Tubi which is one of the free streamers that he mentioned and the original Thomas Crown Affair starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway it's not a bad movie I like that movie too but it is a little darker a little grittier Thomas Crown in that movie is a bank robber he's an armed bank robber in the remake, Thomas Crown, he's a little more of a gentleman thief.

1:01:15He only steals valuable paintings from museums as a lark. He doesn't use guns. No one is getting hurt here except maybe insurance companies. So it is very easy to root for who could be potentially, you know, the villain, the criminal here, especially after he starts flirting with Rene Russo as the insurance investigator who is trying to hunt him down after he steals this priceless Monet painting. And, you know, there's a lot of images of paintings in the film. The painting that's most important in the film is not actually the one he steals. It is this famous work by Magritte. It's the one, the Son of Man, I think it's called, with the guy with the dark suit.

1:02:01He's got the apple in front of his face, the bowler hat. And according to Wikipedia, which never gets anything wrong, supposedly the painting was meant to convey, quote, how everything we see hides another thing. We always want to see what is hidden by what we see. And it's a perfect symbol for the Thomas Crown affair because in this movie, the two leads, they are very attracted to one another. But neither one is sure whether they can trust their eyes. They can never trust whether the insurance investigator is out to get them or whether the thief is going to kind of, you know, if he really means what he says or if he's just trying to get away with his crimes.

1:02:47And that image of the of the painting comes up several times in the film. It has it has a recurring motif and it reflects on all of the things that happen. And I don't want to spoil some of the ways that it comes up. But it is it's a lovely little note in the film and kind of a reminder that just because a movie is light and frothy and sexy and fun doesn't have to be stupid. It can be smartly constructed. It can use symbolism. It can it can do all of these things. It's a it's a great cat and mouse game from start to finish, very much like Charade and that romantic thriller mold. One of the more pleasurable movies that came out in the 90s.

1:03:24Yeah, it has that pop. I mean, the charade is like candy coated, candy color, and it has that pop. You know, the funny thing about the two Thomas Crowns affair. The Thomas's Crown. Yeah. It really is an interesting dichotomy because you're right. The second one, the John McTiernan one from 1999, is more upbeat and pleasant and user friendly. It's a ride. And isn't Dennis Leary in that too? Yes, he plays the cop. Yeah, he's the cop who is also chasing Thomas Graham. But also is like, I don't really care. He doesn't care. He knows this is for fun. It's just a lot of fun. And the original, which was Norman Jewison in the year 1968, is more dark and it has like an edge.

1:04:07And like the sex scenes are a little bit - It's about the psychology of a bank robber. But what it has is it has that amazing late 60s use of split screen, which is just like a thing. It's like this and John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix, which I think also had Steve McQueen in it. It probably did, which is a boring movie. Grand Prix is a boring movie, but it looks so great. And the use of split screen is just something that I mean, the only guy who does it now and he's mostly retired, basically, is Brian De Palma. but um the the way the way it uses the frame and i remember the first time i saw the thomas crown affair was on vhs when i'm like what am i you know it's terribly that was a movie that could not work on vhs yeah pan and scan does not work for split screen movies so then when i saw it on dvd i've never seen it projected i was like wow this is a wild movie so i really do like the original and it has that michelle legrand song the windmills of your mind which is a big hit and Sam busting in James Gardner plays Steve McQueen in Grand Prix.

1:05:09Good call. Yes, Steve McQueen was in Le Mans, another film that came out around the same time. I mean, he loved his race cars so you're forgiven for that. Yeah, so it's funny. I do think that for the, like, what is the more charade-like of the two? I do think the remake is more charade-like but that original one is so cool in its own way. So I it's a, that's a good remake because they took the plot but changed the tone yes you know it's not trying to supplant it it's trying to do no something different all right what's your recommendation for danny here well my rex i just want to very this is not my recommendation because the movie is actually not that good but i do want to point out charade is a masterpiece and of course it was made in 63 and it really was how do we take to catch a thief the alfred hitchcock movie and make it even more fun so it's a yes and to to catch a thief with carrie grant and audrey heppard written by a fellow by name of Peter Stone and directed by the great Stanley Donnan, who only died fairly recently at the age of 905 or something.

1:06:09It's amazing. So Stanley Donnan had a big hit with Charade. Of course, Walter Maffow is in it too. Everybody loves Charade. If you haven't seen it, stop listening to us and go watch Charade. So what did he make directly after Charade? He went to the well again and he said, let me try to make another Charade. And he kind of failed. um same writer peter stone but with two additional screenwriters fell by the name of julian mitchell and a fellow by the name is stanley price and instead of um audrey hepburn and um uh carrie grant he got sophia loren and gregory peck and they made a film called arabesque and arabesque is charade minus it's the same movie not as good but that being said it's a lot of fun and it's it's you know crime caper beautiful outfits sexual tension that pop that 60s dynamism is on screen it's it's it's a good bad movie it's like it fails but it's still by today's standards something that you should see so to the guy who wrote the email i forget his name danny if you haven't seen yeah danny check out arabesque um that is one that will you'll see why so few people make a true charade it's it's a one and done there really is nothing else like it um and uh arabesque is on a lot of sites uh a lot of free services including fawcum our new favorite no no you're getting you're getting confused here charade is because charade is one of those weird movies that i think may have fallen out of copyright.

1:07:46So it is available on a lot. If people have not seen Charade, which we're talking about a lot here. You can do it immediately. Yeah, yeah. That is streaming on Prime and on a lot of free services. So you wanted to talk about a movie but not recommend it. Do you have an actual recommendation? Yeah, I do. For Rec Seg, the seg where we wreck things. I'm going to recommend Manhattan Murder Mystery. Okay. Manhattan Murder Mystery is a very, very, very funny movie that is not as slick as Charade because it's got Woody Allen and Diane Keaton and Alan Alda. But it kind of is because it's New York City in, I think the movie came out in the late 1990s.

1:08:27And it actually, I mean, you know, Woody Allen's a schlep and I know some listeners and rightfully so dismiss him and that's totally kosher. If you don't want to watch his movies, I get it. But, you know, there is that sort of aspirational Manhattan, big apartments, you know, great locations. And his movies do have a certain sheen that actually are rather stylish. And it has a pop like Charade does. And Manhattan Murder History is a comedy and they're solving a crime. It's their married couple and they get ensnared in a weird only murders in the building type concept. And if you've never seen Manhattan Murder Mysteries, it is hilarious.

1:09:08It's very good. Diane Keaton is in peak form in this. It was sort of their big return. They had made a lot of movies together, and then they went their separate ways, and this was their big comeback together. According to lore, Manhattan Murder Mysteries is a feature film that was born from a section of Annie Hall that got cut out. That's right. The original cut of Annie Hall is three hours long, and part of it includes a murder mystery. That's right. And they just kind of rewrote and expanded on it. Marshall Brickman co-wrote the script. And, you know, if you've never seen it, it's really one of the funniest movies of the Woody Allen Ovra.

1:09:46And Diane Keaton's terrific in it. And that one's an inexpensive rental on Apple or Amazon. It's not streaming anywhere free, but it is a really fun one. Okay. So there you go. Those are our recs for Danny. Thank you, Danny. And if anyone wants to write in and ask for a personalized recommendation, the email address again, feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. Let us know what kind of movie you're looking for and what streaming services you use. We will try to hit you up with some recommendations of movies you should watch. She wasn't murdered. It was a coronary. It was a coronary, folks. I want to take another look around his apartment.

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1:12:23And it has 50 % more protein and 50 % less sugar than regular milk. That's a big plus. And the fact that it didn't make a pun about moving? Also a plus. Organic Valley Protein Plus Ultra Filtered Milk. Protein plus pasture raised. Learn more at organicvalley.com. That was a great Rex egg, but you know what's great about Rex egg is that when it's over, we play a game. And once again, the Dungeon Master is going to be Sam, Producer Sam. Hello, Sam. How's it going? I'm told this is a new game we're going to play. We've got so many games. We're going to have to open a game shop where we sell these games.

1:13:06We should start licensing them. We would make some money. My favorite thing about this game, I think, is the name I've come up with. I was really proud of this game. I think it's a lot of fun. And then I tried it on my 18-year-old, nearly 18 year old and he was having some trouble with it like maybe the best best idea is is the name anyway so we've had just to just to recap all the great games we've had we've had letter box thing we've had keychain full service the streaming limited last week we had the netflix capacitor this week's game which i lost by the way that's right okay so matt is the reigning champion This week's game is called Strip Poster.

1:13:46Oh. It is a good name. It's a good name. So it's - If nothing else. I am going to slowly and teasingly describe a movie, Poster. Oh, boy. When you know it, Buzzin. The game's subtitle is What Happened? I Can't Do My Work. Which, like Ladies First, all these movies find characters who are in worlds turned upside down, alternate realities, and by the time the world is right side up again, they've learned a valuable lesson. So hopefully this will help guide you. So they're not necessarily streaming movies necessarily. These are actually all streaming movies. These are all streaming. They're on streaming or they were originally for streaming?

1:14:27Oh, sorry. These are not exclusive streamers. Got it. No, no, no. But they are available. They're available, but they weren't necessarily made by Netflix or something. So theoretically, if the poster has 7 ,000 versions of Jet Li, we know that it's the one. Right. Although, ironically, I think in that case it was only one Jet Li. Well, it's the one. It's the one. So the thing is that these are movies conceptually like Ladies First. Got it. And you're going to describe them to us. So we have to close our eyes and envision. It would help if you closed your eyes. You're going to paint a picture with words.

1:15:03Believe me. My eyes are closed already. I think you will. I think you will. We'll try it with the first one. This is the one my son got. So I think it really, I think you're going to want to get the buzzer ready. Okay. You may not get it with the first description, but that's why. It's slow. It's teasing. I'm going to start at the margins of the poster and work my way in. Go to the credits. We're going to take the gloves off first and the hat and the tie. I like this. Here we go. Number one. Just buzz in when you're ready. A sunlit rural landscape with rolling green fields and bare trees under a bright blue sky, framed on the far left by a sheer white lace curtain.

1:15:40In the center. Okay. What is it, Jordan? Is it the Truman Show? It is not. You're out. Okay. You buzzed in too early because Matt is going to get it now. In the center, a massive vintage twin bell mechanical alarm clock sits on a window set. Yes? Groundhog Day. It's Groundhog Day. You got it. Rise and shine, campers. What's the tagline? Anybody know? He's having the day of his life over and over again. Groundhog Day. Solid tagline. Really good. Currently streaming on MGM Plus and YouTube TV. Okay. Groundhog Day. All right. Masterpiece. Jordan won. Matt won. Jordan zero. Yeah, don't give him my points.

1:16:22Sorry. Okay. I think you'll know this from, I think one of you, I think one or both of you will know this right from the first sentence. Okay. Okay. Okay. Number two, a man and a woman. I literally am sitting here with my eyes closed. They can't see me, but I'm like literally like I'm envisioning. You know, you look like me at the Mandalorian and Grogu. That's what you look like. A man and a woman are lounging in bright pool inner tubes, sunglasses on. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's a tie. I'm going to give it to Jordan. It was close. Yeah, but I'm going to, it's Palm Springs. You got it, Palm Springs with Andy Samberg and Christine Milioti.

1:17:04Oh, I have all this description of a poster. I knew you guys were going to get that one right away. Yeah. You know, you really did put your back in this because you had to write out these descriptions. I had to write out these descriptions. I didn't know how long it was going to take. The tagline reads, live like there's no tomorrow. That's not quite as good, but it's not bad. It's pretty good. It's cute. It works. It works. Palm Springs currently, this is a Hulu exclusive. That's a Hulu. That is a streaming first movie. This was like a 2020 kind of, yeah. That was a COVID movie. COVID movie. Totally COVID movie.

1:17:31All right. Number three. We're tied up. At the top of the poster, a sprawling gothic. Okay. This isn't quite the same model as the other ones. This isn't so much about learning a lesson, but this is alternate reality. Alternate reality. At the top of the poster, a sprawling gothic nocturnal cityscape rises into a smoky sky. Dominating the set. Yes. Dark City. Oh, wow. Wow. Yes. Well, I didn't think there was a chance you guys would get that right away. You got that one. Palm Springs, I was on there. I knew it. I was ready. Describe the rest of the poster. You know that one so well, Joe. And then as it goes down to the bottom, there's like a bridge, and on it is Rufus Sewell.

1:18:12Isn't he like laying down or something? Yes, the man, he's laying back. Yeah. He's splayed out. He's like this. His head is thrown back. Yes, exactly. People can't see me, but I'm doing the exact pose from the poster. and I think this is again yeah that was me at Mandalorian and Grogu just totally knocked out that was the true dark city we get at least one more before the show we get one more reference to Jordan at Mandalorian so they get another clock here he's also he's that's right there's a clock behind him another good movie wow the tagline they built the city to see what makes us tick last night one of us went off that's a hell of a That's Kroyos from the director of The Crow.

1:18:53Go off. Did either of you see Dark City in the theaters? I did. Oh, cool. I never did. I think I did. I think I watched it on VHS. I made it a blockbuster night. It was probably a blockbuster rental. Same for me. Same for me. Oh, it was a memorable theatrical experience. It was great. I would have loved to have seen that. Currently streaming on our beloved Canopy. Also the Roku channel and Tubi for free. Roku channel. Underrated streaming service is the Roku channel. Did you just have that in the back of your mind? you thought maybe I'd go Dark City? You know, I guess so. I don't know. Who can understand the human mind?

1:19:27But I somehow knew it was Dark City. All right, 2-1, Jordan. Get your head in the game, Matt. I'm trying. I'm trying. He got that one quick. That was really quick. Number four, the upper two-thirds features a deep blue sky that fades down into a beautifully manicured, pastel-colored 1950s suburban main street. Oh, geez. Pleasantville. Wow! I was just about, I was going, I think it's Pleasantville. I got to buzz in. I didn't even get to the, what's in the center? A house of some kind. Is it a TV? It's the, remember this, the snapshots, the different, look, almost Polaroid snapshots. Yeah, right, right, right, right.

1:20:02And then you've got like Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon. He's in black and white. He's in black and white and she's in color. She's in a black and white picture. She's got a red cherry. She's holding, anyway. I don't think I remember this poster. I mean, I know the movie pretty well. I think that's the thing. There are several posters. This is the one I remember. I feel like the one that I'm thinking of had a TV on it. Maybe I'm, I don't know. You might be right. Yeah. I don't know. The tagline, nothing is as simple as black and white. Very good. Think about it. Pleasantville, 98. Think about it.

1:20:30Boy, Jordan's running away with this thing. Sorry. Leader of the mind. This guy's got a, he can really visualize these things. Streaming on Canopy and Plex. Plex. Canopy and Plex. All right. How many more do we have here? I've got seven. Seven more or seven total? Seven total. So I have three more? Three one. You could do it. Three more. I could theoretically come back, but it's going to be - You will do it. It's tough. You will do it. It's tough. No, no, no. You guys are going to know this right away. Okay. So just, okay. Number five. Emerging from the left side of the shadows is the face of a middle-aged man looking anxiously off camera to the right.

1:21:06The top and right side of his head are literally disintegrating into floating, interlocking jigsaw puzzle pieces that are tumbling away into the empty black void. Oh, I know this. Yeah, I know it too. Suggesting his mind along the very bottom of the edge of the two-word tagline, players wanted.

1:21:28Michael Douglas. Oh. Sean. Yes, Matt. The game. The game. Does this count? Is this fair? Is this? Yeah, yeah. He goes into another world. It's kind of like, yes. You're sort of waking up in a new reality. Everything's upside down. Everything is upside down. It's kind of an offshoot, but I definitely see the similarity. Currently streaming on Prime, Prime Video. Okay, so 3-2, right? 3-2, right? You got that, Matt? Did you get that? Yes, I did. It is 3-2, and we have two questions left. People love the game. That movie. Another one I remember really loving in the theater. It did well when it came out, but it gained, I think, over time.

1:22:09it became now the younger people that are discovering it love it more than people did at the time. The youngs love it. It's like the Weezer Blue album. It's a movie that rewards repeat viewing because there's so much of the little details of the game or what is real and what is not. The more you watch it, the more you see the little details they put in there. And also you get to question, again, the question of what is real. It's like the more that you watch it, it rewards that. That's right. Any movie that you can ask that is going to hold up well on repeat viewings, I think. Yeah, good point.

1:22:42Okay, 3-2. So you've got to take these last two, Matt, for the win. No, no, no, no, no. It's not going to happen. So this is the one my son had trouble with, and I was just like, ooh, because I think the title will be familiar, of course, but I don't know how well you can just conjure up the poster. Okay, I will just start by saying it is a mid-century painted illustration style poster. A man in a dark blue suit is lifting a woman entirely off her feet. The movie's title is written in giant, bold, bright red capital letters that curve diagonally across the center framed by quotation marks. The billing block at the very bottom lists a massive ensemble cast of golden age Hollywood character actors like Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, and Henry Travers.

1:23:35this is a movie that you actually already mentioned by name earlier in the show it's the template for these kinds of movies where a character isn't in an alternate world and has to learn a valuable lesson yes it's a wonderful life it's correct did i do that wrong did i do that one wrong no i know you're i just don't know the poster that well i guess no yeah i think that's it that that's why i think my son was having a hard time when you said red i for a minute i was thinking that do Do you remember the Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson movie? Oh, I know the poster. Now I can visualize it. Yes, Jimmy Stewart is picking her up.

1:24:09And he's holding her up. Yes. But yeah, yeah. So yeah, not a poster like we didn't see it at the multiplex. And this is why you can remember Dark City and maybe not that. Or yes. And probably that poster was not on the copy on the VHS. On the VHS. When I made it a blockbuster night, that was not the one I was looking at. No, you're right. It's just, I think, a close-up. It's just a picture of them embracing. It's Jimmy Stewart holding like Zuzu in front of the - Yeah, you're right. It's like a frame from the movie. All right. It's a tie game. It's tied 3-3. It's almost like I engineered this. Now, even if I lose, at least I made it a contest.

1:24:43That's good. And you will lose. Okay. Number seven, end of the final question. Yes. Of this edition of Street Poster. We should have a drum roll. Add in a drum roll and post. No. Make it really. Or the music from like Deal or No Deal or something. We got another man in a blue suit jacket. He's wearing a polka dot tie. He stands in profile on the left side of the frame. Polka dot. He's holding a tan trench coat over his arm. His mouth is thrown wide open in a yell directed at the title above and to the right of him. In the background, a dense city skyline. Skyscrapers rise up from a body of water.

1:25:21A tagline right below the title reads, he's not crazy. He's just written that way. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. This is good. Across the top of the white sky are the names of the movie's stars. I'm going to start in sort of reverse starring order. Mm-hmm. Emma Thompson. Yeah. Queen Latifah, yes. It's the one I was just talking about. Yeah, but what is that called? It's called like Stranger Than Fiction or something like that? It's exactly called Stranger Than Fiction. Oh, Stranger Than Fiction. Wow. Well, I knew this was going to be the hardest one. I never saw it. But it's funny. You were just like, it's like that movie with Will Ferrell.

1:25:58and then I just literally described the poster. No, I missed that one. That one slipped through the cracks. It's really good. Yeah, no, I know. It's very good. I'm waiting the whole time for total recall. I'm going, any minute now, I'm going to get to do my Arnold, but there was no total recall in this. Yeah, I do think that there are some other sort of obvious titles. All right, so Strange in the Fiction. Who directed that movie? That was - Mark Forrester. Mark Forrester, that's right. Interesting career. Well, Jordan, you have reclaimed the crowd. Wow. Well, that was a great game. I enjoyed that one.

1:26:26Hats off, yeah. This one, just to note, Stranger Than Fiction, currently streaming on Prime Video. Also, Hoopla, Canopy, Peacock, somehow, and Prime Video, Plex, the Roku channel, and Tubi. It's everywhere. Wow. Go see it. It's very good. There's going to be a lot of Hoopla from listeners about this game because it was so fun. They gave that one away. If you license that movie, you get a free hat or something. They were really giving that to everybody. My God. Well, you know, Sam, that was a fun game. I loved a lot about the game, especially the fact that I won. That's my favorite part. Well, you're back.

1:27:00You're back. You're back on top. Yeah, I'm back on top. But, you know, who knows what will happen next week. But I will tell you and the listeners of FilmSpottingSVU what will be coming next week to streaming. And new to streaming this week, Matt, I'm going to take your part of the pitch here because I'm on a roll, is notable VOD rentals and purchases. Now, these are things that are not free, but if you want to shell out a few bucks, you can take a look at something that's fairly new. For example, David McKenzie's Fuse, which I got to be honest, was not on my radar. It is a movie about an unexploded World War II era bomb in London.

1:27:41That sounds good, because that stuff does happen once in a blue moon. That story is real. and also Yorma Tekkon's Over Your Dead Body in which Samara Weaving and Jason Segel are a couple with plans to murder each other and that's going to be available to rent or buy for a few bucks on one of your VOD platforms like Amazon and Apple. Some theatrical releases or new arrivals coming include this is a biggie from earlier this year Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride will be on HBO Max. This was not a box office hit. This was not a critical hit. No. And I think a lot of people said to themselves, I'm going to wait until streaming.

1:28:23Now's their chance. That includes me. I haven't seen it yet. I am curious to check it out. This movie, there are very few people who like this, but it's a good opportunity to see if they're wrong. And sometimes movies, hey, listen, we just talked about It's a Wonderful Life. That was a bomb when it came out. It was a critical and commercial bomb when it came out. And now it's on Rexhead. Who knows? Maybe in 50 years, people will be watching The Bride every Christmas. It will be a beloved holiday institution. You don't know. We can only hope. Now, coming on Wednesday, May 28th, a biggie on Paramount Plus Scream 7.

1:29:01This was a big, this is a quick turnaround. I feel like it's still in theaters, right? No. No, it's not. No, it's out already? No, it's definitely not. But it was recent. It was recent. Yeah, it was earlier this spring. And it was not, unlike The Bride, it was a big hit. I think it was the highest grossing Scream to date. More than Scream 1. Well, I don't think if you adjust for inflation, probably not. But in terms of pure raw numbers, I believe Scream 7 grossed more than any other Scream. Wow. OK. And then on Friday, May 29th, Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire, based on a true story of a wacky heist gone wrong.

1:29:41And that's on The Big Red One. That's on Netflix. so that's um a good one and then also there is the charlie xcx meta rock documentary the moment which i know had a lot of celebs are in there and i i didn't see it but that's going to be on hbo max i'm not the target demo you are none of us are no i think you have to be one of the people in charge in ladies first to be more of a target demo i did watch it i thought it was okay i i like that charlie xcx was kind of interested in in you know like interrogating her her stardom her her persona and i know she's a big cinephile so i really you know like i respect the heck out of being like i'm gonna make my own hard days night i'm gonna you know and and use my love of movies i did not think it was all that spectacular maybe because you know again we are not the target demo Maybe her target demo might enjoy it more.

1:30:37But I sort of more appreciated the effort and the inspiration behind it than I did love the movie. But, you know, if you have HBO Max, now you have the chance to just check it out. Yeah. And what's his name? Alexander Skarsgård is like the producer of the show. He is the Sacha Baron Cohen obnoxious macho man who needs to be sent to a world ruled by women because he's so kind of disgusting. But he's like producing her show, right? Yeah, he's the director. But they bring him in to like produce her concert or direct her concert. And he has all these ideas that are horrible. Right, right. But the reason why I'm bringing this up is that right now in theater, there's a Billie Eilish movie directed by James Cameron.

1:31:22That's right. Co-directed. Which is in 3D. Co-directed. And so, co-directed. Excuse me. And I'm wondering if there's a, did the Charlie XCX filmmakers know that Eilish and Cameron were doing something when they were cooking this up? Because, you know, James Cameron can be a little bit of a, you know, he's in charge. That would explain why the Alexander Skarsgård character is constantly saying, and we're going to have you painted blue and you're going to be eight feet tall. Suddenly, in hindsight, I see why now. Now, Matt Singer, why don't you tell us what those are. Those are all other films that were in theaters that are coming to streaming, some of which you still have to pay a few bucks, some of which are free if you subscribe to, say, HBO Max or Netflix or Paramount Plus.

1:32:02But what's coming that's new, that's direct to stream? Sure. So on HBO Max, we've got Miss You, Love You, which is about a grieving widow played by Allison Janney who bonds with her estranged son's assistant, played by Andrew Runnels, as they make arrangements for her husband's funeral. on Apple TV, we have Propeller One Way Night Coach, directed by John Travolta, straight off its appearance at the Cannes Film Festival and John Travolta's appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. Jordan, I know you saw him. You must have thoughts on John Travolta's appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, wearing a beret.

1:32:41A white beret. A white beret. He gave interviews where he was like, this is what directors wear, so this is what I chose to wear, which I thought was such a beautifully pure statement of such wonderful innocence. I had to admire it. Here's a funny thing about John Travolta is that, you know, obviously he was huge, huge, huge, huge, huge in the 70s. Saturday Night Fever is a masterpiece. Untouchable. Mount Olympus level brilliant. Yes. And then he did kind of become a bit of a joke. And then he famously came back in the 90s, thanks to Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction. And that was like the big deal.

1:33:15It's like Tarantino is so cool. He's bringing Travolta back. and then Travolta started making crappy movies again. He needs his second return. He needs another comeback. He does. Another director needs to get a hold of Travolta and say, you got one more in you. I know he's so charismatic. I'm going to throw something out here. Tarantino says he's only going to make one more movie. This is what he's insisted for years and years and he keeps hemming and hawing about what it's going to be. I think, I don't want a sequel. I don't want that. I want to just make another movie with Tarantino. That's the way to go out.

1:33:47That's a great idea. It's a way to go out. That's the way for them both to go out. Do it again. Do it again. Because he really has, John Travolta's made a billion movies. Very few of them are good. He's in a lot of junk. Well, look, he did have that comeback period. There were a couple of winners in there. You know, Get Shorty is in there. Well, Get Shorty, okay. And that's pretty good. Phenomenon? No. Maybe not Phenomenon. Maybe not Michael. Give me a break. Maybe not Michael. Battlefield Earth, the legend of the year 3000. Pathetic man animal like you would insult Battlefield Earth. You know which one is kind of fun?

1:34:22I don't know if I can defend it, but it is fun because it is a movie I watched for my book. Domestic Disturbance is a hoot and a half with Vince Vaughn, who is, that's why I watched it, is the villain. And it is very entertaining. I couldn't defend it as a good movie, but Face Off is the one that Sam was mentioning to us in the chat. And he's right. Right. He's absolutely right. That is another masterpiece. Quite good. But they're not all that. But yes, he needs a comeback. And I think Tarantino should give it to him. If I didn't mention, his film, which is going to be on Apple TV, it's adapted from his own children's book about a boy taking a magical cross-country flight.

1:35:03John Travolta loves airplanes. So there you go. He loves airplanes. Good for him. On Prime Video, this is of particular interest to me, We have the new eight episode limited series Spider Noir with Nicolas Cage. Speaking of face off, he plays Spider-Man Noir. This is, you know, this is based on a Marvel comic. It's like and it kind of ties into alternate realities, which we have discussed in this episode. This is like in a noirish alternate Marvel universe where he plays a noirish Spider-Man. And one of the cool kind of twists here that they did is they have made it in a way where you can choose to watch it in black and white or you can choose to watch it in color, which is kind of interesting.

1:35:45Yeah, I'm curious about the mechanics of that. How is that going to work? I assume they just have two different prints and you can just choose which one you want to watch. Choose black and white. But in the old days, it was pretty easy to watch any movie in black and white. You got off your ass, you turned the knob to the left and you made your color movie in black and white. But not that many people would do this. That's right. And then next week, we're still kind of torn about what exactly we're going to do. But one thing we have discussed and I guess is also upcoming on Prime Video is Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan colon Ghost War, which is it's a it's a movie.

1:36:24But it is sort of a continuation of the Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan TV show that was on. prime starring John Krasinski as Jack Ryan. He did a couple of series of that. I think he had four seasons of that. It's now this is the movie version. Sienna Miller is also in it. Wendell Pierce is also in it. It's on prime. Krasinski's in four seasons of a Jack Ryan show. Oh, my God. Don't act like you haven't watched all four seasons of Jack Ryan. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. I love Wendell Pierce, though. So, I mean, here's the thing. I actually. What is the thing, Jordan? It would be a good lesson to try and jump in because Jack Ryan's a huge franchise that has basically eluded me.

1:37:08I saw The Hunt for Red October when it came out. I'm that old. And I loved it. And I've seen that movie a few times since. I think it's very, very, very good. And then I saw the second movie, which was Harrison Ford. I love Harrison Ford. I saw Patriot Games and I felt that was a dud. It's not great. And I got off the train. I've never seen another Jack Ryan movie since. Didn't see Clear and Present Danger? Which I hear is better. It is better. It's actually very good. Never saw it. I don't know why. You didn't see The Sum of All Fears? Never. No. You didn't see Jack Ryan colon Shadow Recruit?

1:37:40I don't even know what that is. Is that the one? Chris Pine. I like Chris Pine. It was like a reboot with a young. They've done basically every time they bring in a new guy, they do a new, like, he's the young Jack Ryan. Yeah. Jack Ryan is always young. I love Chris Pine, but Chris Pine is good in the Dungeons and Dragons movie. That's where he belongs. So you know what? But maybe now is the time for me to jump in and fight the ghost war, as it were. I have no idea what's going on in the – but I know the premise is that he's a good guy. He was like the CIA and he kicks ass. That's all you need to know, right?

1:38:11Well, that's potentially what we're going to do. And if not, we'll find something else. There's never a lack of options in the world of streaming. There's always too much to watch, not the other way around. Too much and too much to talk about. This is another long episode. But I want to thank the listeners and I want to thank Sam, who is our producer. As always, Sam Van Halgren is in the booth mixing it up. And if you are listening to the show and you would like us to recommend something for you, like we did for the fellow who wanted to know another charade. It's not hard to remember that name.

1:38:44Danny, I love the guy. He's a great guy. You can send us an email to feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. That's all one word. Feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. If you're on Blue Sky or Letterboxd or Instagrammed, you can find Matt Singer at Super Pulse. You can find me on various social networks as either Jay Hoffman or Jay Hoffman, the numeral six, because there's five other Jay Hoffmans that got there first. And listen, we're going to be back next week with something good. Then you just have to say, I'm Jordan Hoffman. Oh, and I'm Jordan Hoffman. Thanks for listening. And I'm Matt Singer. And thank you for listening also.

1:39:28In football, you've got guys from everywhere. Different backgrounds, different beliefs, all of it. You don't agree on everything, but you got each other's backs. That's how it works. And right now, off the field, hate's going up everywhere. Different communities, different ways. And Jewish communities are getting hit hard. That's not how a team operates. The blue square is just one way of showing you've got people's backs. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, grab one, share it, be a good teammate.

1:40:23to workflow. That's paycord.com slash leaders. This is Sophia Donner from OK Storytime. This summer, find your next obsession on Prime Video. And listen, we're not saying you need another obsession, but there could be a lot worse ones. Steamy romance, addictive love stories, and the book-to-screen favorites you've already read twice, so why not watch them a third time? Off Campus, Elle, The Love Hypothesis, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen, and it makes you wish you were actually in that movie. We've got binge-worthy series, can't-miss movies, perfect for when you're ignoring your own problems or procrastinating, as one does.

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