The Last House and Netflix’s Apocalypse Obsession | SVU

23:29And we felt a little more like their relationships and some tension coming out of their relationships than that. There isn't a lot, you know, like we understand a little about Wagner Mora's character. He's an engineer. He's lost his job. He has this compulsion. He feels the need to, as we all would, like to protect his family and to use the skills he has and all of these sorts of things. But the other three characters in that house, I mean, the dog is almost more well-defined than them in some cases.

24:00Matt Singer:The kids are not, I mean, they're good. They're like Moppity kids at first, and they're cute. And especially the little daughter. She's very cute. But yeah, the son is just like extra kid. He's just there. What defines these people? Nothing really. And in a movie like this, you could potentially. You have got nothing but time, and I guess Lovecraft monsters, to dig into this family and make them feel like a real family. I do like at the beginning, they have the Chekhov's fish gutting scene. Like, I'm going to teach you how to gut a fish. I'm like, oh, gee. I wonder if this is going to come back.

24:31Matt Singer:Yeah, although this will never come up again on the show. It was pretty funny. Yeah, Greta Lee. How did Greta Lee get in my life? One day I woke up and Greta Lee was everywhere. What is her big movie? Is she on a show that I didn't watch? Well, she was in Past Lives. She was tremendous. Yeah, but I feel like before that she was, like, I feel like by the time Past Lives happened. That's the thing that I saw her in first that really. Well, you know, don't let it remain a mystery. Like the magic rain. All I know is that one day I woke up and Greta Lee was in my life. I don't remember inviting her, but here she is.

25:01She's very good as a voice in Toy Story 5 this summer, which is an animated movie, so I'm sure Jordan didn't see it and probably pretends it doesn't exist. I will never see it. I think she was on the morning show. I think that might have been her. Hey, that's the answer. I think that might have been a show I have not watched. But I believe that was her kind of the first thing that she did that got people's attention, and then that led to all of these movies.

25:24Matt Singer:Who does she play in Toy Story 5? Is she Forkette, Forky's girlfriend? Please, a little respect for Karen Beverly, Forky's wife. But that's not who she voices. She voices Lilypad. She's the tablet. She's the villain of the piece. And she's excellent. She is perfectly cast for that part. I have not. I've seen the first three Twisteries. I bet you have seen her in at least one other thing. And that thing is called Tron Aries. I'm guessing you saw her in Tron Aries. Oh, that's a good movie. That's a movie. I love Tron Aries. You love Tron Aries. I really do. I think it's really quite good. I had a great time during that movie.

26:01Matt Singer:So to recap here as we're winding down, Toy Story 5 does not exist and Jordan won't watch it. But he loves, quote, loves. I loved it. I thought it was great. It was really good. I saw that in the theaters. I sat in the center with 3D glasses on. It was so much fun. I had a great time. Into the Spider-Verse. What's that? Never seen it. Not going to watch it. Tron Aries, put it on again. If I could be trapped in the last house with one movie, it should be Tron Aries. But I would need really good speakers and I would need a 3D screen. As we wrap up, I have one more question for you. Please. As the movie was winding down and I was not happy with the end of this movie.

26:47It kind of made me... I was getting annoyed because I really like... Again, I love the idea of this sort of movie and I just, I was not satisfied by where it took that idea. And I was thinking to myself, okay, the COVID thing, it had to have been part of the stew. But is, I want to know your thoughts about this, Jordan. Is the real origin of this movie someone saying, you know, at Netflix now, you know, if we set a movie in a house and it's just in the house, we only have to hire like four people. we don't need to hire a lot of extras we don't ever i mean almost literally this movie is set

27:29Matt Singer:like is set entirely inside this one set it is a relatively lower budget film i do know that they shot on film for some reason okay and i know that they built like the the street they pretty much built a house and built the street. So it's not that cheap. It's less cheap than I think. I think it's less cheap than you think, but I also think that by the standards of Netflix doing, what was it called? The Electric State and Red Hour and all their other kind of big action movies, this is significantly less. It wasn't Red Hour. Red Notice was one of them. Red Notice, yeah. Red Hour is Ben Stiller's production company.

28:11Matt Singer:Right, right, right, right, right. From Star Trek, actually. It's a Star Trek reference. Also, um, Star Trek. Did someone say Star Trek? Extraction, Extraction 2. I happen to like Extraction 2. I think that one's a good one. We should revisit that someday. Is it the Tron Aries of the Extraction franchise? So this is lower budget, but it's not a$10 million movie. It is lower. The reason I thought of it is because there are so many movies on Netflix and I don't get it necessarily. That are, there's like, if there's one genre, I would love to know this. Someone should do this. If you stacked all the movies on Netflix, especially the originals, into buckets of genre, it would seem to me just anecdotally, just as a user of Netflix, the number one genre that they make is apocalyptic sci-fi.

29:00There is so much apocalyptic science fiction on Netflix. It never ends. If that is your favorite genre, Netflix has to be your favorite streaming service. And this is a way to, and that can be an extremely expensive genre with the effects and the sprawling cast and to show the scale of the apocalypse. And here is a way of doing it on the cheap, relatively. You got a house, you got rain machines, you got two respected but not A-list actors. Bada bing, bada boom, there you go.

29:30Matt Singer:I think, what was it? Bird Box, right? That was kind of the first biggie on Netflix, which was around the same time as Quiet Place, which was a theatrical. And Quiet Place, there's now been three of those. And those are big moneymakers for whichever studio that is. I think it's Universal. And as Sam points out, Netflix would sure like to have their own Quiet Place trilogy. But they have so many of them. There are so many of these. It's a rabbit hole that never, ever ends. I guess. Yeah, I guess it's kind of like true crime. why, but I just wondered if they just seem to be cranking them out. And how do you crank them out at volume when you're trying to, you know, cut corners and save money?

30:12Stick them in a house. The last, this is the, it ain't going to be the last house. That's for sure. Cause they're going to make a hundred more of these this year.

30:18Matt Singer:But anyway, I mean, I guess you're right. When you go into pitch Netflix, there's whoever is ultimately green lighting has, has a love for this sort of thing. So if you're, if you're, if we have any aspiring screenwriters listening, your high concept when you're going into Netflix is it's a quiet place meets and then fill in the blank and in this case it's like it's a quiet place meets phone booth or something there you go here's 10 million bucks can it star Wagner Mora can it star Greta Lee if only you can pronounce his name I think we're doing okay alright well The Last House is currently streaming on Netflix the number one movie on Netflix What did you think of it?

31:02Did you enjoy it? Can you explain the magic rain and the Lovecraftian monsters? I would love an explanation. I'd love to hear your best explanation. Send it to us. Feedback at filmspottingsvu.com Help me! We can't help you! I'm sorry! Hide! All right. It is time, once again, for everyone's favorite segment on the show. Oh, yeah. The recommendation segment, also known as... Also known as... As... As... RECSEG. RECSEG! RECSEG. RECSEG. It's the RECSEG, the recommendation segment, where we recommend movies in a segment. Now, the first recommendation every week is something inspired by our main review.

31:52Yeah. Jordan, I have been... I'm waiting with bated breath to find out, what did you decide to recommend based on

31:59Matt Singer:the last house what you got i gotta tell you i went big um mainstream when they go small you go big i was just thinking there were these creatures from the deep at the end of this movie and i thought to myself it's like the creature from black lagoon but just seattle what if seattle had a black lagoon and i put just be the same guy but he'd be wearing flannel i think that's I've seen that movie. That's right. Listening to grunge rock. Very timely reference. Temple of the dog. So I type in Creature from the Black Lagoon into Google. Okay. And this happened just yesterday. Not because I was going to do Creature.

32:42Matt Singer:I was like just to help me think of ideas for the Rexig. And one of the first results was like one of these shady Russian websites that just uploads movies that are like Creature from the Black Lagoon is not. is not public domain, but it may as well be at this point. So I click on it and I say, I'm just going to watch the opening to Creature of the Black Lagoon. Well, 82 minutes later I was done or however long that film is. It's pretty short. I think it's 82 minutes. And I was once again kind of swept away or washed away by this pretty famous movie. And you know what? It's pretty famous for a reason.

33:18Matt Singer:The Creature from the Black Lagoon rules. It is awesome. It's so much fun. and I would imagine that this is not a deep cut for anyone listening to this show I mean it's not a deep cut in general there are t-shirts of this movie if you go to any comic book store or place of that nature but it's possible that there are people out there that have always been like oh one of these days I'm going to get around to the Creature from the Black Lagoon well that day is now you can watch it on shady russian website.org uh it's a good print too I'm sure you could actually you can also rent it if you choose but the print i saw was fine and there were no interruptions and it looked great um i just you know my data is now you know vladimir putin is drinking blood in the kremlin looking at my data but you know nevertheless um there's a reason this movie is so famous again you know low but but like it's just like this movie has been ripped off so many times we don't even realize it.

34:18Matt Singer:Like, you know, the scientific adventure, there's the altruistic, handsome scientist. There's the money grubbing jerk scientist who's going to get his comeuppance. There's the sexy dame in the, who's like all spunky and wearing a white bathing suit. And then there's the creature. And then there's, you know, the thing that makes the, that separates the movie from all the others, every other creature feature, the underwater photography, which in 1954 was really quite revolutionary. And it has a nightmarish dreamlike quality that every horror movie since has been trying to achieve, but can't, like it almost happens by magic.

34:59Matt Singer:Like, you know, another very famous, and this one is public domain, is Carnival of Souls, you know, very famous horror movie of the same era that for some reason casts a spell on you. And no one has been able to recapture it since because the movie doesn't really make any sense and whatnot. But it has this hazy dreamlike quality. And Creature from the Black Lagoon really does have that. But then it also ticks. It swings back into like campy as hell, like Gilligan's Island level campy with all the sound effects. And the music is straight out of Star Trek original series. Like every time you see the first claw of the creature, there's that the horns.

35:38Matt Singer:and it sounds just like you know when Spock and Kirk are fighting each other it's I don't know like it's it's very dated it's the quintessential atomic age horror film which maybe younger people don't have a nostalgia for but when I was a young lad that was the previous generation's thing so these are the types of things you would watch on TV and it just I don't know I it has that it's weird it has this like this surreal quality but also it reminds me of a gilligan's island and you put the two together and that's two great tastes that really taste great together plus uh did i mention a lot of scenes of the gal in the bathing suit swimming around i mean you know i was waiting for you to say this and just the creature looks great no the scenes of her swimming which go on and on and on with the creature mirroring her moves just beneath her, almost touching her.

36:33Matt Singer:There is a weird, like every time I go in the ocean, I think about what's at my feet, you know? I mean, it's more like joy, you know? Now I'm just picturing the creature of the black balloon mirroring you with a big goop, like the zinc on your nose and a bathing cap and doing the backstroke and the creature is watching you going, I think I'm going to stay down here for now. I'm going to pass. I'm going to pass. Yeah. The one thing I don't like about the creature from the Black Lagoon is this, and this has nothing to do with the film itself. I don't like the fact that the marketing people at Universal have retconned him into the Universal monsters.

37:14Matt Singer:Now, this is an old, this is a conversation going back decades. He's getting on his soapbox. Here we go. This is straight out of Kevin Smith's clerks type conversation, but the universal monsters are meant to be on land, but they're meant to be in oldie times in middle Europe somewhere. Right. Transylvania. Frankenstein's monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, which I believe was Britain, the Invisible Man, which I believe was Britain or maybe France or something, and olden times. The Creature of the Lack Lagoon is set now in the atomic age in 1954. and they're all about, you know, in the future, we'll be sending men to space.

37:51Matt Singer:It's a different type of thing. I recognize two elements to this. One, that the creature is meant to be something of a tragic figure, much like Frankenstein's monster. He doesn't mean harm. He's just been poked too many times and he fights back. And also, I get it, it's universal. They own the rights, the IP, and they said, let's sell another T-shirt. But I got to ask you guys, doesn't it kind of annoy you that the creature has been part of the Universal Monsters thing for all these years? I got to be honest and say I've never for one single second lost sleep about this, but you are right. Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

38:29The other thing you didn't mention is the creature from the Black Lagoon is 1954. It's like 20 years after the heyday, the true heyday of the true Universal Monsters. So you are correct in that they do because he, I think mostly because the design of the creature is so magnificent and he looks great on a t-shirt. They throw him on there and he is kind of, and because the movie was famous and the creature is so memorable that he's kind of become kind of grandfathered in. But you're. Exactly.

38:59Matt Singer:And I think it's an Abbott and Costello connection also. I think that he also, I think the Gill man also met Abbott and Costello. Did he hang out with Abbott and Costello in some of those movies? I think they had to contractually. I think there was, I was reading that he actually, before the movie even came out, he did an appearance on like an Abbott and Costello TV hour. Oh, I thought you were going to say that before Abbott and Costello hooked up, it was Abbott and the Creature and they had him falling out. Okay, so good. I'm glad we agree with that, that we're angry at Universal for like you say, grandfathering him in.

39:30Matt Singer:Boiling with rage. Do you agree with my central premise? Some movies are really, really famous, and then you look at it again, and you're like, yeah. This really has the juice, as they say. I haven't watched it in the last couple of years, but I always liked that movie. I always thought, and I think the things that you're mentioning are the things that are special about it. It has that incredible monster. and the underwater scenes that have this kind of strange, you know, they're somewhat scary, but also they're beautiful too. There is some kind of nightmarish, dreamlike beauty to them that I think even some of the true universal monster movies don't even have.

40:12That kind of, that mixing of, there's something terrifying, but there's something alluring as well. Some of the great ones have that, but, you know, like, And maybe that's why it does fit with something like Dracula, perhaps, is that it has that blending of, you know, eroticism or or sensuality with there's a terrifying.

40:32Matt Singer:there's no shortage of essays out there from all these eggheads writing about the sexual nature of this film and you know the deep desires that lurk in the beneath and then the beauty on top and of course i just look at it and you see the beautiful woman up there and then you see the slimy scaly beast down below and you go oh which one is me i think i know so you know there's there's there's that to it but yeah it's i don't know when they i think i have a hunch that when they went in to make this movie, they were just like, oh yeah, you know, just like, let's, let's crank this one out and then we'll move on to the next project.

41:07Matt Singer:I don't think they realized they were making a classic. I just think they were pumping out another project. And then there's a, there was a, um, uh, some lightning in a bottle mystery in the, in the mystery element to the sauce. And, and we are better for it. Okay. Well, it's a great pick, assuming you're willing to watch it on shady bootleg sites or you're willing to rent it for$3.99 on Amazon or Apple TV or one of those places. Amazon Pharmacy presents Painful Thoughts. Of course I see my coworker in light at the pharmacy. Can you tell I'm picking up prescription hemorrhoid cream? I'm probably standing weird.

41:51Why is he smiling? He knows. He's going to call me Hedroid Lloyd tomorrow. I know it. I got to quit my job. Next time, avoid awkward conversations and get fast free delivery with Amazon Pharmacy. Healthcare just got less painful. How's the new place? Get your Wi-Fi figured out? I got T-Mobile 5G home internet and I'm loving it. It's the fastest 5G home internet. My old provider was so slow. Mine is slow. And only$35 a month. Do I need to try this? Try it for 15 days. Love it or get your money back. I love it already. There are over 250 reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours and check availability at t-mobile.com slash home internet.

42:32That's according to Upload Speed Test Intelligence. Date a second half of 2025. All rates reserved. Redeemed money back guarantee within 30 days of cancellation. Wait, I came in for two things. How is this$47? All right, we're going to need a plan here. Just start simple with Bank of America Advantage Safe Balance Banking. No overdraft item fees. No monthly maintenance fee if you're under 25. Plus, as a new checking customer, you can earn$100 when you open an account and make qualifying Zelle or debit transactions. Oh, that's actually really simple. Safe balance banking. One less thing to figure out.

43:03Learn more at bfa.com slash earn100. Terms and conditions apply. Bank of America and a member FDIC. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. The summer savings event is here at Apple Vacations. It's the perfect time to bring everyone together for the getaway you've been dreaming about. Book between July 24th and August 27th and enjoy up to 55 % instant savings. From relaxing beach days to unforgettable moments with the people who matter most, your next vacation starts here. Travel through July 31st, 2027. Start your vacation today at AppleVacations.com or through your travel advisor. Apple Vacations, where your story starts.

43:39So for my recommendation, as we mentioned earlier, there's a lot of ways to go. But for me, when I was, you know, like kind of logging Last House on Letterboxd, I realized that one of the first adjectives that came to mind to me, and I think we did mention it a few times during the review, was Lovecraftian. But I also realized that I know almost nothing about H.P. Lovecraft.

44:09Matt Singer:Oh, is there a biographical film, the H.P. Lovecraft story? Would you let me finish? So excited by this recommendation that I had to interrupt. Yeah. So I've read less than a handful of his short stories. That's about it. But just from osmosis and from, you know, from so many of the people who've stolen from him and taken his vibe and adopted it as their own. I just I have internalized Lovecraftian, but I wanted to learn more about Lovecraft. So I wondered, is there a streaming documentary about H.P. Lovecraft that I could watch? And do I need to find some shady, dark web corner of the internet like Jordan to watch it?

44:55And you do not. That's good. But it does exist. What is the name of the film? It is called Lovecraft, colon, Fear of the Unknown. It's from 2008. It is available on a variety of legal streaming services, including Prime Video, Roku, Tubi, YouTube TV, Plex, and Hoopla. Now, the film is a fairly standard, straightforward, talking head documentary with a lot of experts and other authors and filmmakers talking about Lovecraft. Jordan, take a guess. If I said, who is the most likely famous current filmmaker to be interviewed in a documentary about H.P. Lovecraft?

45:44Matt Singer:Guillermo del Toro. You got it. And he's in there. Good, good. Then this is done correctly. John Carpenter is in there. Stuart Gordon is in there. Peter Straub is in there. Many others. Oh, this is a real movie. All right, great. It also has Neil Gaiman in there. That might be less of a selling point these days. But isn't Lovecraft himself? I mean, he's a pretty, he's, he's, my understanding is that he was a full-fledged racist anti-Semite and not a good guy. He sure was. Yeah. And what I appreciated about this film from director Frank H. Woodward is that it does not shy away from that fact. Yeah.

46:20That, you know, that the monster at the center of the story in some ways is H.P. Lovecraft. He was a xenophobe. He was a racist. He was anti-Semitic. Although, what I also learned in the film is that he was married to a Jewish woman at one point in his life, which is fascinating.

46:36Matt Singer:Okay, yeah. So, yes, it does not pretend that those things are not there. It celebrates his work, but it also explores how those things are also connected and how, in some ways, his stories reflected that fear of the other and some of his kind of more monstrous beliefs. And so I thought, you know, for this sort of documentary, it was illuminating and I enjoyed watching it. Very interesting. It did sort of both make me want to read more Lovecraft, but also maybe stay far, far away. I don't know. Yeah. But it gave me exactly what I wanted out of this sort of documentary. Yeah, I mean, I'm intrigued.

47:19Matt Singer:He's certainly a fascinating character. I know he lived in Providence, Rhode Island. He did. He did. That was his hometown. I remember one time being with somebody in Providence and they pointed to like a spooky looking house and they're like, H.P. Lovecraft lived there. I'm like, of course he did. I mean, why wouldn't he? It's a perfect spot for him. Yeah, I've read some of his stories. I mean, some of the classics and they're impressive, like Edgar Allan Poe stories are impressive. And I did read his novella called Out the Mountains of Madness, which has been Guillermo's been trying to make that movie for 25 years.

47:52Matt Singer:Of course. And I have a funny story about that. Very brief. It was early days. Very brief. Start the stopwatch, Sam.

48:06Matt Singer:It was early. Like it was internet, like early internet. Like at the time, you know, nobody had broadband at home. You had to go. And I was working in an office. and I remember I was leaving from the office to then go on a plane and I didn't have like I forgot like the book I was reading at home and I said I've always wanted to read H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness and I know that it's short it's like famously one of those books that you can read on one plane trip so I went to Project Gutenberg which is a thing that still exists which takes you know I would imagine HP Lovecraft is in the public domain now if not so I went there and I threw in the title and I hit print because I was at an office and all I was going to do was at home because it would eat up too much of my toner and it would probably clog my printer and too many waste a whole ream so I printed out the book and you know I'm at an office when like nobody ever uses the printer the printer is used like you know once every three months but i did it at just the time that everybody else needed to use the printer and i heard from like the other part of the office like who's printing out a novel in the middle of what's going on who's and i'm like oh geez i don't want to get caught i don't want to get so like hiding in my cubicle waiting for it to end its cycle and then i slunked in and took it but i and then i took it your boss came out of the office and it was cthulhu Exactly.

49:41Matt Singer:And then I read it on the plane, and then I had it. I finished. I left it in the pocket of the seat in front of me. I'm like, yeah, maybe the next guy wants to read at the Mountains of Man. So somewhere out there in Delta, there is a printed out copy from X amount of years ago. That's my one. I'm sure the elder gods appreciate you paying it forward. Did they mention that in the documentary, the time that I printed out the thing and left it? You know, it didn't come up. But they should have. Guillermo was like, ah, to save on toner, you should print it out at the office. Especially if you don't anticipate working there for too long.

50:12Matt Singer:That's my Guillermo impression. Okay. Well, Peter Lorre, thank you so much for joining us today. I can't do a good Guillermo. I'm sorry. No, you certainly cannot. So the film one more time that I watched, Lovecraft, Fear of the Unknown, available on so many streaming services, any kind of, you know, like a fast channel kind of place where they have ad supported. Odds are that it's probably on there. But Prime Video, Roku, Tubi, et cetera, et cetera. Let's get to our recommendations for listeners this week on the show, Jordan Oh, yeah Do you want to read the email that you selected, that you did a recommendation for?

50:50Matt Singer:I would if I could find it, but if I can't, I remember the essence Did we do the same one this week? Is it the one from Mary? Okay, I have it here, I can read it then So we have listener Mary wrote in for a personal recommendation And remember, if you would like a recommendation from Jordan and I You can email us at feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. Send us a request. We might just answer it on the show like we're about to answer this one from Mary. Here's what she wrote to us. I love period films. I was wondering if you could find me a good, somewhat obscure film. I have Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Hulu, and Peacock.

51:31Thanks. So Jordan, what do you have for Mary?

51:34Matt Singer:An obscure period film. Well, let me check. I forgot to see if this is streaming anywhere. I just, oh God. Where is this streaming? You have one job. All right. No, it's actually, it's streaming a lot of places. So that's good. Okay. Well, here's the thing. So Mary's like period films. And I'm like, yeah, let's do it. That's some of my best favorite movies are period films. But it's got to be semi-obscure. How did you put it? Semi-esoteric? Somewhat obscure. Somewhat obscure. So I'm like, one person's somewhat obscure is another person's common. You know, is Barry Lyndon somewhat obscure? I don't think so, but maybe.

52:12Matt Singer:So here's where my brain went. Like, what is my favorite period film? Well, it's actually a movie that's been mentioned before on this podcast. It's Amadeus, which is like my favorite, one of my favorite movies of all time. That's not going to be my recommendation because A, it's not obscure. And B, I've already recommended it. but I was reminded of another movie about people in the classical music world. And then I went back to look and see who was in the cast. And the queen of all period pieces is in this movie front and center kicking ass. It's Emma Thompson before she was famous. So I'm like, Emma Thompson is, I mean, period pieces, boom.

52:55Matt Singer:You think this is Nanny McPhee. When you think of period movies, you think of all the great movies by Merchant in Ivory, and you think of the Kenneth Branagh, and you think of her own Sense and Sensibility, which she won the Oscar for, the screenplay adaptation. But this is not that film. What is it? This is a movie. I'm going to see if you guys can guess. I bet you Sam's going to know. It was released in 1991, and it has a powerhouse cast. In addition to Emma Thompson, you will find in this film the very handsome Julian Sands, the very beautiful Bernadette Peters, the very handsome Mandy Patinkin, the very handsome before he was famous and doing a Polish accent, Hugh Grant.

53:48I have no idea what this is.

53:49Matt Singer:And then in the starring role, the very beautiful Judy Davis. This is a powerhouse cast, right? Is it Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang? It's not. I'm just going to say what it is. Well, I'm glad I'm recommending it because this is a forgotten. I think you hit the brief, somewhat obscure. It's a fair, it's a forgotten great independent movie from 1991 called Impromptu. Ooh, I don't know this film. Sam, have you seen Impromptu? I have not, but I read Emma Thompson's sort of like diary when she was making Sense and Sensibility. And this is where she met Hugh Grant and why she had Hugh Grant be a part of Sense and Sensibility, of course, directed by Ang Lee.

54:32But as soon as you said it, I remembered how fondly she talked about her time making that film.

54:37Matt Singer:I can understand why anyone involved in this movie loved it because it is a big, beautiful, gay romp. I will now describe the premise and I will entice you all to watch it. It was directed by, and I'm going to pronounce his last name incorrectly, James Lapine, who's better known for the world of musical theater. He's a Broadway director. He's a Broadway writer, director. He did Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park with George. I think that's the Mandy Patink and Bernadette Peters connection there. And it was written by his wife, Sarah Kurnachan. um the the basic premise is the love story between uh frederick chopin played by hugh grant hence doing a polish accent and the writer george sand who was uh the french uh feminist novelist played by judy davis and she george sand uh whose real name was not george sand i you know she would go to these salons and smoke cigars and wear pants and was a scandal madame george sand is quite brazenly inviting herself to the fortnight you know the one she wears men's clothes and leads the most depraved life imaginable i'm dying to meet her has anyone ever met this duchess the romance between those two was real everything else about the movie is fake the premise is that there is a rich woman who's got an estate in the countryside played by emma thompson and she wants to be respected by artists so she decides to turn her home into a salon and of course she's a bit of a ditz, but she means well.

56:05Matt Singer:And her husband just like wants to go out and shoot foxes and drink brandy and not pay attention. But she's like, I want artists to come to my house. So she invites them all and is going to, you know, spend, treat them lavishly. And they all accept the invitation. And accepting the invitation are Judy Davis as George Sond, Hugh Grant as Frederick Chopin, Mandy Patinkin as Alfred de Mousset, who was a poet of the time. Beautiful pronunciation. Julian Sands plays Franz Liszt. Somebody by the name of Ralph Brown plays Delacroix, the painter, on and on and on. There's some other famous people in there from the era that'd be like, oh, that's great.

56:44Matt Singer:And they're all like romping around. And it's just love triangle stuff. It's a lot of slam doors, love triangle, drinking witty Beaumonts. And it's a little bit like, you know, the Avengers of this time period. You know, Franz Liszt and Chopin doing piano duels and stuff. Delacroix is out there painting on plein air and whatnot. It's a little bit silly of just, you know, imagining what these heroes from European culture would be doing at a weekend retreat that never really happened. But the performances are incredible. It's very, very witty. James Lapine certainly knows what this, you know, the vibe of hanging out with geniuses for the weekend in the country.

57:24Matt Singer:I mean, that's a song from Sunday in the Park with George, right weekend in the country so it's kind of like that vibe and and Bernadette Peters she does not play a famous artist she's Franz Liszt's girlfriend I think and she's just I'm gorgeous in it and being very Bernadette Peters. It is a very, very charming film. And I do remember seeing it in 1991. I was a young lad. I was still in high school and I was kind of getting into indie films. There was a theater not too far from me. And it's actually still there in Red Bank, New Jersey, that would sometimes show more. you know this this was not a Miramax film but it may as well have been you know that that kind of film in the 1990s and feeling very proud of myself very intelligent none of the other jokers at school were watching they were watching Terminator 2 I was watching impromptu learning about how Frederick Chopin was the basic shtick is that Judy Davis pursues him so she's the man the quote-unquote man in the relationship and he is the wilting flower because Chopin was he was a very sickly man and she has to woo him and it's kind of a sex reversal thing.

58:30Matt Singer:That's kind of the basic premise, the upside down gender reversal and how they fall in love. But it's just a really, really clever movie that has been forgotten and I think it ranks for me anyhow as good as any of the other Merchant in Ivory type films of that era, the late 80s and early 90s. So James Lapine's Impromptu is the one I recommend this week. That's a really good recommendation. I don't think I've ever heard of this movie, to be honest. I'm totally unfamiliar with it. So this is a recommendation for me as well. It's one. I'm looking at it like it was not released by, it was released by not Miramax, but by Hemdale Film Corporation.

59:12Matt Singer:I have never. Helmdale. Yeah, they lasted for one year. They released one movie, this, I guess. They didn't do a lot. So it's one that's been swallowed up and has fallen through the cracks. It got great reviews at the time, and it won some awards at the Independent Spirit Awards. In fact, Judy Davis won Best Female Lead, and Emma Thompson was nominated for Best Supporting Lead. But yeah, it's definitely fallen through the cracks. But today, it can be rented on most—it's actually free on Prime. So if you got the Prime, it's free. It's on Fubo, MGM +, Philo, Hoopla. Hoopla. It's on Prime is where it's on.

59:49Matt Singer:You should watch it there. Hemdale, I think one of their other claims to fame is I think they produced the Terminator, the original Terminator. Really? I'm pretty sure that's that name sounds familiar. But I'm curious, like how it got. It must have been like October Films or something. It's not on the Wikipedia page, but maybe if I dig down, they must have had a deal with October Films or because Helmdale looks like a production company, not a distribution company. Anyhow, so maybe somebody in the audience, maybe a fine line features. Remember them? That was another one of the era. Like the sub Miramax.

1:00:23Matt Singer:There was Miramax with the Kings and then Fineline, October. There were a few others. Yes. Okay. Great pick for me for some reason. And I think it might have had to do with just the other stuff we were watching and I was watching this week. When I heard semi-obscure period films, what came to mind for me was something very different. It was Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films. And between 1960 and 1964, exploitation master Roger Corman made eight popular Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, although in classic Corman fashion, only seven of them are actually based on Poe stories or books or poems or things like that.

1:01:09You think of Roger Corman, you think of quickie, low-budget B-movies, but the Poe films are, I would say, maybe a B+. They're a slightly bigger scale, and I think, at least, they have held up very well. They look great. They sound great. They've got oodles of gothic atmosphere, spooky production design, moody cinematography, and most of them have wonderful Vincent Price performances in them. And if you want period films, you know, they're period films. You're going to get all the frilly shirts and tri-corner hats and cravats you could ever want. So many cravats. The cravat budget on these films was off the charts.

1:01:51Now, I have not seen all of Corman's Poe films.

1:01:55Matt Singer:Yeah, there were eight. I didn't see them all either, but I've seen most of them. I'm hoping that you pick the one that's my favorite. Okay, well, I have enjoyed all of the ones that I've seen. Most of them are very easy to find and watch for free on places like Tubi and YouTube TV and Mary's preferred Prime Video. And that includes the specific one that I am going to recommend, which is 1963's The Haunted Palace. Oh, not the one I was going to pick. It is the sixth of the eight of these films. And it is the one that is a Edgar Allan Poe film, not based on Edgar Allan Poe. The title comes from Poe, but the story, and now you will understand why I'm recommending it.

1:02:40The story is taken from an H.P. Lovecraft book called The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. And I thought given The Last House and given my other Rexag pick, this kind of, it just, it's all of a piece this week for me.

1:02:56Matt Singer:For sure. So it is Poe with an asterisk, but it does have all of the things you want from one of these, you know, Roger Corman Poe movies. It's a gothic melodrama. It's loaded with ambiance, with dread, with these horrifying intimations of the supernatural. And it does have Vincent Price. It also has Loncini Jr. As they wander these surprisingly large, expansive, opulent sets, shrouded in fog and shadows. And nothing in any of these movies looks real, but I love the look of them anyway. There's something kind of dream, kind of like Creature from the Black Lagoon. It has this kind of beautiful, dreamy nightmare aesthetic that just really appeals to me for some reason.

1:03:42And I'm sure to a lot of people looking at this through modern eyes, they would say this is cheesy. This is campy. But I don't know. I just love the look and the fevered intensity of these movies. You, who find a kind of macabre joyousness in the horrifying, will enjoy yourselves as in ecstasy in The Haunted Palace. Starring Vincent Price, a being who lived and died and lives again. I'll not have my fill of revenge until this village is a graveyard. Nobody could sell a piece of schlock like Vincent Price. Except maybe Roger Corman and you get two for the price of one. So The Haunted Palace, the screenplay was written by Charles Beaumont, who's a famous Twilight Zone contributor, did a lot of his own kind of spooky and horrifying horror short stories of his own.

1:04:40Price plays a warlock from the 1700s. He's burned at the stake by the paranoid residents of his hometown of Arkham, Massachusetts. Oh, I know that. Before he is burned at the stake, he curses the town and all of its descendants. So now, like a hundred years later, his great-great-grandson, also played by Vincent Price, shows up in Arkham. He's inherited the family, you know, hellhole, basically, this old crumbling, you know, mansion. and he can't help but notice that the painting of his ancestor hanging in his family's home looks a lot like him. And the more he stares at the painting, the more he starts acting like his ancestor and maybe even gets possessed by him.

1:05:33And the vibes are Poe meets Lovecraft. The Necronomicon plays a key role. Some of the elder gods get shout outs in the film. But really, it kind of all works together. The Corman Poe stick, it really suits the kind of, again, like the fevered possession elder god story that's going on here. Vincent Price gives two good performances. He's pure malevolence as this one character. He's this genteel, refined, kindly gentleman on the other. Of the Poe Corman movies, I've seen my favorite. Maybe this is the one you like, Jordan, is still The Pit and The Pendulum. That's my favorite. My favorite is The Mask of the Red Death.

1:06:21Okay.

1:06:22Matt Singer:It's so gorgeous. That one I actually haven't. That's still on my list to watch. I haven't watched that one yet. Let's check in next week once you've seen it. You watch that in impromptu and you really be rexagging yourself into a hole there. It's going to be good. I don't think The Mask of the Red Death was on Amazon. It's like the one that wasn't with all of these or maybe to be. there was one that was like not on there. You could literally watch all of these movies as a marathon. I think on Tubi, except that one. So I picked one that was kind of more widely available. That's fair. But it's a good time.

1:06:57And it is a somewhat obscure period film, albeit a obscure period horror film. It is The Haunted Palace from 1963. You can, Mary can watch it on Prime Video. If you don't have Prime Video, it's on Tubi. It's also on YouTube TV. That is my recommendation. And so let's quickly run down the Rex egg here. Rex egg wrap up. Thank you. Want to do it?

1:07:21Matt Singer:You can do it. You got it. I'm going to Rex egg the wrap up. Well, I go Rex egg wrap up. Rex egg wrap up. I recommended The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which you can see on a site called Filmhouse for free. Also pay VOD three or four bucks to Amazon, Apple, or you could also watch it on a shady Russian website. the dark web um uh um matt singer recommended uh lovecraft colon fear of the unknown which is on film uh prime video roku tubi plex hoopla youtube tv and bazooka and then i recommended impromptu this sort of esoteric james lapine film with all the greats julian sands and bernadette peters it's on Prime Video and also YouTube TV MGM Plus Hoopla and VOD and then Roger Corman's The Haunted Palace on Prime MGM Plus Tubi or VOD for a running list of all the films we've talked about on this show ever you go to Letterboxd and look for the link now streaming on Bazooka and it's got show notes from every episode and links and it's terrific I think it's also in the notes for this show if you are looking for a direct link.

1:08:36Matt Singer:Yes, it's in the notes for this show if you're looking for a direct link. And if you want a personalized streaming recommendation, send a note to feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. Filmspottingsvu.com. And you, like Mary, can be our next guest. You're kind of a guest when you put in a feedback request. You're not a guest at all. She's not a guest. No, you're part of the show. Oh, Rari's part of the show. Bazooka. When you gotta stream. Bazooka. It's cream. Of the crop. It's right on top of your favorite streaming apps. Amazon Health AI presents Painful Thoughts. Why did I search the internet for answers to my cold sore problem?

1:09:34Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze. I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that. Don't go down the rabbit hole. Amazon Health AI gets you the right care, fast. Healthcare just got less painful. How's the new place? Get your Wi-Fi figured out? I got T-Mobile 5G home internet and I'm loving it. It's the fastest 5G home internet. My old provider was so slow. Mine is slow. And only 35 bucks a month. Do I need to try this? Try it for 15 days. Love it or get your money back. I love it already. There are over 250 reasons to join T-Mobile.

1:10:16Find yours and check availability at t-mobile.com slash home internet. That's this according to Oglow Speed Test Intelligence. Date a second half of 2025. All rates reserved. Redeemed money back guarantee within 30 days of cancellation. Wait, I came in for two things. How is this$47? All right, we're going to need a plan here. Just start simple with Bank of America Advantage Safe Balance Banking. No overdraft item fees, no monthly maintenance fee if you're under 25. Plus, as a new checking customer, you can earn$100 when you open an account and make qualifying Zeller debit transactions. Oh, that's actually really simple.

1:10:48Safe, balanced banking. One less thing to figure out. Learn more at bofa.com slash earn100. Terms and conditions apply. Bank of America and a member FDIC. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. The Summer Savings Event is here at Apple Vacations. It's the perfect time to bring everyone together for the getaway you've been dreaming about. Book between July 24th and August 27th and enjoy up to 55 % instant savings. From relaxing beach days to unforgettable moments with the people who matter most, your next vacation starts here. Travel through July 31st, 2027. Start your vacation today at AppleVacations.com or through your travel advisor.

1:11:21Apple Vacations, where your story starts. So before we start the game, Producer Sam is here. And I am dying to get to the game, but, and this is germane to this podcast because it was on Netflix. That's right. You are now a streaming television star, Producer Sam. I am. Because last night. Like Chris Hemsworth in Extraction. I and many people were, you know, if they turned on Netflix, as we were recording this last night was the Field of Dreams game on Netflix. Now, the Field of Dreams game is a thing they only started like a year or two ago where like they have a Major League Baseball game, an official game.

1:12:04It's part of the regular season. It counts, but they play it in the field from the motion picture Field of Dreams, which not right away, but eventually they have turned into like an actual playable ballpark. Wow.

1:12:17Matt Singer:Is it the actual set? Like where they shot the movie? It's all right there. It's Dyersville, Iowa. You live in Wisconsin. What are you? I am a mere hour, 45 minutes away because I live in southwest Wisconsin. Wow. So Dyersville, it turns out, is only an hour and 45 minutes away. I'm trying to think of the other notable metropolitan areas that are kind of close like Dubuque, Iowa is like 45 minutes away from Dyersville. It's all very close. And so the teams that were playing were the Twins and the Phillies. We're burying the lead here, Sam. Which is that if viewers were looking they can go back and look right now.

1:13:00It is available still. if they were watching the game, the whole game, there are two familiar-looking gentlemen literally in the second row, directly behind home plate. The best seats in the house. I mean, unbelievable. And it's Film Spotting's own Adam Kempinar and Sam Van Halgren. And I'm just staring at them the whole game. How did this happen? My God, I want to credit. It was a longtime Film Spotting listener who works at Netflix and was responsible, I think, for helping to organize, as this is a Netflix production, this live broadcast, was involved in this. David Quuzo is his name, has been a listener since the very early days of film spotting and reached out, I mean, largely because, you know, we have a relationship with Netflix, obviously, like you guys do in terms of getting access to to films of theirs, but, but also knowing that we lived in the Midwest.

1:14:01I, uh, Adam is in Iowa city. I'm in Southwest Wisconsin. And so, you know, he, he, he asked us if we'd be interested in going to the game. It wasn't until the night before the game that we got our tickets and realized where we would be sitting. Wow. I mean, it was truly, and I will tell you, I mean, I, I know you, Matt, are a big baseball guy. Huge. And I was, I have to speak in the past tense almost about baseball because I was a baseball obsessive from my earliest days, you know, certainly through high school where I played all through high school. Baseball was hugely important to me. After my kids were born, I sort of stopped watching as much baseball.

1:14:46So the most moving part of this experience, I mean, in addition to being where I was, everyone should have a chance that loves baseball, should have a chance to watch a baseball game from this perspective. I've never seen baseball played at this level from that perspective. And watching a curveball come in from behind the catcher from a major league baseball player was truly mind blowing. But the most incredible thing, which you can see if you watch this game is that 26 hall of famers were also present at the game and they all entered the field of dreams through the cornfield. Oh, yeah. And so Cal Ripken Jr.

1:15:24Was there. Raleigh fingers was there. Paul Molitor, Andre Dawson, all of these players that were incredibly meaningful me at my most baseball loving days. I really was tearing up being in proximity to these incredible baseball players. And the game was incredible. And, It was the forecast was for rain all day, pouring thunderstorms and rain all day from when you woke up in Dyersville till 2 a.m. It didn't rain a single drop. It was a perfect baseball evening. It was a miracle. It truly was heaven on earth in Iowa. Yes. Yes, it's heaven. Yes, it's Iowa. It was incredible.

1:16:01Matt Singer:Wow. You built it and they came. That's great. That's right. Now, you said this was a longtime film spotting listener. David Cuso. Hooked it up. Yes. Now, is he a longtime film spotting SVU? I was going to say, Matt, I mean, if this ever happens again. You know, because Netflix has other events. I don't even need to go to the Field of Dreams. But you should. They do the All-Star Game. They do opening games. I'm just saying. I don't even need seats that good. I would sit in the third row. Kuzo, I think, is almost as good as Bazooka. We could actually rename Bazooka to Kuzo.com. I just want to say, I thought, And I know I might have sounded a little, it could have come out differently when I was reviewed, but I loved The Last House.

1:16:46I thought it was incredible. The film of the year.

1:16:50Matt Singer:Yeah. Does he only do special events that involve baseball? Like anything? Like, are there, like, you know, Rolling Stones in the New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia area? Fish live from the Madison Square Garden, the 18-hour live stream on Netflix, maybe? No, it was great. That was so cool. It was very cool. I could not be more jealous. and it was very surreal and very difficult to like concentrate on the game. It was. Yeah, I don't want to spoil it. I don't want to spoil the game for the people that might watch it. For a game that happened yesterday. But I will tell you, I mean, Schwarber was the designated hitter for the Phillies.

1:17:24Kyle Schwarber. Kyle Schwarber. Of the Phillies. He, top of the first, drills a home run to right field. Right into the corn. Corn. I mean. Amazing. Unreal. Unreal. So. Great stuff. Well, let's play an almost as spectacular game as the Field of Dreams game hosted by, I believe, Jordan is hosting. That's right.

1:17:46Matt Singer:Yeah. So we've got a game this week and we're going to jump right in. Let's do it. This week's film was The Last House, directed by Louis Leterrier, a Frenchman working in Hollywood. So I thought this week's game would be called The Gaul of These People. G-A-U-L. All right. Exactly. The goal of these people, these are all films directed by people from France. Now, some of these are French movies in French. Some of these are Hollywood movies in English directed by someone from France who came to Hollywood like Louis Leterrier. And some of these are in between. But these are all movies that are directed by a French person.

1:18:30Matt Singer:And I am going to give, we have seven, I think. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. I am going to give clues and the first person who gets it will go and then you will name the film for one point. The film. Okay. And name the director for a second point. All right. And if you can only name one but not the other, the other person can steal it away from you. Okay. I think that we're going to do pretty well with this. I disagree. I think you're going to know it. I hope so. If not, I'll never do a game again. Normally, it starts easy and then gets hard. this is kind of moves in waves. It's like a serpentine thing.

1:19:10Matt Singer:So if the first one, I don't know, we're going to see, here we go. You're ready. These again, the goal of these people. Clue number one. The title is good. I hate to admit it. The clue number one is this. This film includes original music by Michelle Legrand. I'm just going to go with Umbrellas of Cherbourg right out of the gate. And you are correct. What? That's it? I could have said that. I knew it could be Young Girls of Rochefort, one of my favorite movies of all time, as is Umbrellas, but I just thought I'd try to take the point. All right. I kind of assumed these were going to be like American movies made by French filmmakers.

1:19:51Matt Singer:I said both. These are American films, and these are French movies from French people. I'm playing this game under protest. I'm lodging a formal protest. I've got a dog named Jacques Demy, and he directed The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Okay. Now, last week, I don't know if it made the actual cut of the dog barked last week. Your dog barked last week. I think it did make the cut, yes. It did make the cut. If you listen to last week's show, you'll hear Sam saying, ugh, Jacques Demy's going crazy because the Amazon guy is here. And I said, oh, okay. So when I was putting this together, I said, I got to make Jacques Demy.

1:20:25Matt Singer:The gall of my dog, Jacques Demy. The gall. The gall of your dog. So Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is the first one. You named that tune in one note. Love that. Some of the other clues include it features very bright wallpaper and it won the Palme d 'Or. Okay, next. Clue number one. This film co-stars Elijah Wood. Clue number two. The lead female character in this film has the same name as a fruit.

1:20:58Oh, oh, oh, oh. Matt Singer? It is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

1:21:04Matt Singer:That is correct. Very good. Her name is Clementine. Clementine. That's right. And Elijah Wood is in the movie, but he's not. He's not supporting. He's like one of the computer tech guys. Can you name the director of this film? Michelle Gondry. You have two points. You've tied it up. Very good. Other clues included. Nothing too sexy. It was released in 2004. Okay. Next up. Film number three, the goal of these people. This movie is 73 minutes. This movie was distributed by RKO Pictures. Oh, okay. Okay. I have a suspicion I might know the filmmaker. This movie was produced by Val Luton. Okay, but which one?

1:21:56Matt Singer:Which one? There's so many it could be. Well, you're going to know now This movie was remade in 1982 Matt did it first The movie is Cat People That's right It's Cat People, very good 73 minutes, that's a hell of a thing Who directed Cat People? Jacques Tourneur Very good, a Frenchman who worked in Hollywood So Matt is in the lead Sam, I just waited too long Very good waited too long he had a dog named Jacques Turner exactly it would have been confusing they would both have the same first name other clues would have been uh the remake featured music by David Bowie okay next one the goal of these people this film every time you say it I like it a little less I'm gonna be honest this film what has music original music by Bernard Hermann let's go to the next one.

1:22:53Matt Singer:Yeah, let's. This film has cinematography by Nicholas Rogue. Ooh. This film co-stars Julie Christie. Alright, we're getting there. This film is based on a novel by Ray Bradbury. Oh, okay. Who directed it? I'm gonna say, yeah, this is Fahrenheit 457, right? Well, bring it down, Six. 451 451 Fahrenheit yeah it's Fahrenheit 451 not 457 that would be a little too crispy now I know who directed it I see I knew the movie but I didn't want to answer until I could thought of the director I know who it is who is the director Sam this is going to be embarrassing because I know of course who it is and I'm just having one of these moments where my brain isn't working because this is the director of 400 blows and Francois Truffaut he didn't give it to me I knew by the time it was stealable but I could not think of it I kept going which French New Wave filmmaker made it this was his English language debut it was his only English language debut it didn't work out well it wasn't really a very good movie it was okay interesting his first film in color British production hence that's why I said sometimes they're working in Hollywood sometimes they're working in France this was a British production 1966 it was a success at the box office but I think it's an interesting movie but it doesn't quite come together but yeah I didn't remember that Bernard Herrmann did the music and I was actually listening to the score pretty cool alright let's move ahead now to the next one Matt you are in the lead but only 5-3 so it's still anyone's game the next film features an original song not by Bernard Herman, but by the rock band The Hives.

1:24:52Matt Singer:Ooh, I like The Hives. What are The Hives up to these days? Yeah, really? Well, this film made over $225 million at the International Box Office. International Box Office. Oh, wait a minute. Okay. And this film had a budget of merely$25 million. Hence, it was a major, an unexpected hit. Okay. I think I think I might know the filmmaker, but what is the... This film was released in February of 2008. February, when movies come out to not make$225 million, and 2008 especially. I still don't know the... A big success. The highs. Okay. This film co-stars Famke Johnson, whose name I'm probably mispronouncing.

1:25:42Matt Singer:You definitely mispronounced it. I'm dancing around the star. Okay. pronounced Wagner Mora. Right. Once I have one more clue. And if this doesn't get it, then you both get zero points. This film was the inspiration of a particularly memorable sketch on the comedy series Key and Peele. Boy, I don't remember too much about Key and Peele either. This is their most famous sketch. Huh. Not according to me, because I can think of a few sketches that don't involve of a French filmmaker's movie. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yes, it did. Yes, it did. Yes, it did. It was, the movie is Taken. That's right.

1:26:28Oh, shoot. But who directed it? What's his name? I know. No. I know. I can think of the guy who directed the sequels, but it was a different name. Sam, steal it. Sam can steal it. It's Luc Besson, right?

1:26:40Matt Singer:It's not Luc Besson. He was the producer. He was from the Besson school. It's some schmo who came in. That I'm thinking of who did the sequel, but I'm not going to say it just in case he has a movie coming up. All right. Well, if you don't know, nobody knows. Nobody gets the point. And quite frankly, I would not have gotten this guy's name either. His name is Pierre Morel. Pierre Morel. That's right. Pierre Morel. They pumped out. It was one of these things. I mean, if you remember Liam Neeson before, and as Key and Peele call him, Liam Neesons. Yes. Yes. It took me a minute to get there in my brain that that was that sketch, the Liam Neeson of it all.

1:27:14Matt Singer:It was at a dark point. His wife had just died rather tragically in a freak skiing accident, if I'm not mistaken. And then he was just like, yeah, put me in a movie. And he's like, sure, I'll do an action movie. I'm not an action star, but I'll do it. And the movie was a phenomenon with good cause. It's a lot of fun. I mean, I've got a particular set of skills. And then Liam Neeson had a whole second career as, you know, making these kind of schlocky action films. And it was a huge unexpected hit. So that's Taken, which was directed, a French production, but in English, with Hollywood stars, directed by Pierre Morel.

1:27:55Matt Singer:We got two more. Matt's in the lead substantially. I was thinking The Grey was before that, but it wasn't. It was after. No. All of them. They all came after that. Token was truly the one. Okay, next up, this movie inspired, not inspired by, but this movie inspired a song by the rock band Iron Maiden. Oh. This movie inspired the song? Correct. Not that way around. Iron Maiden saw this movie and said, we're going to make a song. Got it. This movie is not in French, nor is it in English. Mm-hmm. Goo. In fact, this movie is in a special language created for the film and invented by the celebrated author Anthony Burgess.

1:28:54Matt Singer:This movie employed the well-known author and zoologist Desmond Morris as a consultant. Sam's close. I'm looking in his eyes and he's close. I'm thinking of that the island of Dr. Moreau has a French surname in it, but I know it's not correct. This movie co-stars Radon Chong. Love her. Oh, maybe she is in this. I've never seen the movie I'm thinking of. Is that the last clue? Can I ask a question? There's one more. There's one more. Okay. This movie was released in 1981. Okay. It could be what I'm thinking of. If Sam doesn't have a guess. No. Can I ask one question? Is that a film set in the ancient past?

1:29:34Just buzz in. All right, my guess is the clan of the cave bear.

1:29:37Matt Singer:Oh, wait, no. Oh. The wrong one. Sam Constino. What is it, Sam? The wrong one? I don't know. I'm in the right ballpark, clearly. Oh, is this - What's the other one of those movies? Oh, shoot. He's got it. He's got it. Think about Iron Maiden. In a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Shoot. This is a great film, but from a great filmmaker. I'm disappointed you've seen this movie. I'm disappointed in myself. I will sing the chorus from the Iron Maiden song that goes - Thank you. I was going to ask you to do this. Drawn by Quest for Fire. Quest for Fire. Quest for Fire. Shoot. Nobody gets it. Can anybody tell me?

1:30:14Matt Singer:I've never seen Quest for Fire. Oh, it's so good. I've seen this five times. I've heard it's great. It's so good. Who can tell me who directed it? Quest for Fire. No way. I haven't seen it. How am I going to? I thought it was Clayton the Cave. What else did he direct? He's done a lot of celebrated movies, some satires. He filmed a film on location in Africa. It was a satire of French colonialism. But he also, as a follow-up for Quest for Fire, made another film with no English in it called The Bear. Oh, yes. I love The Bear. That's another good one. And this guy's still alive. He's got to be 85.

1:30:44Matt Singer:He's still kicking. I know who. If you don't know, I'm going to count to three and nobody gets the points. His name is Jean-Jacques Anode. Oh, Jean-Jacques Anode. Oh, sure. And Jean-Jacques Anode made Quest for Fire, which is so good. It's so goddamn good. That's my rec seg of all. You got to see it. Okay. Moving on. How many more do we have? You have one more, Sam. It is mathematically important. Yeah, I'm out. No, you can tie. You can tie it. I'm out. I'm sorry. I'm out. It's got to be like seven to three or something. Seven to seven. It's six to three. But here we go. This movie, which is long, was originally split in two and presented as two movies.

1:31:24Okay.

1:31:24Matt Singer:Okay. This movie, one of the producers of this film was disallowed by authorities to continue working on it because he was Jewish. and other Jewish members of the crew had to work surreptitiously. That is giving you a time period and potentially when and where this was made. One of the main roles had to be recast during production because the actor fled the country during production. I'm just going to say, is this Children of the Paradise? It is Children of Paradise. Very good. Can you tell me who directed Children of Paradise? Is it Carnet? It is Carnet. Coming in at 6 to 5, a close squeaker.

1:32:06Matt Singer:A squeaker. Matches the winds. But Sam, and my other big clue for this one is that the leading actress was mononymous like Cher and Madonna. Do you remember the name of the actress who played? It was Arleti. Arleti. Children of Paradise very famously shot in France during the Second World War. During the occupation, right? Hence, it took three years to make because production kept getting shut down. The set designer was Jewish, so he had to change his name. the actor was what was called a collaborator so when the allies came in and liberated France he was like oh shit I better leave and he disappeared and went to Argentina or something and they had to recast him because he was only in half the movie very strange production but the movie itself is a phenomenon and if you've never seen Children of Parenthood it's also three hours and ten minutes long it's in the Criterion collection and it deserves to be there.

1:33:00Matt Singer:That is the goal of these people. Well done, Jordan. That was a fun game. That was fun. Are we doing the are we instigating this new rule suggested by a listener whose name we didn't get that? Yeah, you're next. You're hosting the next one. Okay, so I will host next week. You win, you host. Let's try it. That's right. That's the rules. There always can always be exceptions. I appreciate you guys getting through all of this time with me without mentioning the fact that I forgot to press record for the first seven minutes, which means... You shamed yourself, not us. We took the high road. Which means that we lost this great conversation about the actual pronunciation of Marty Scorsese's name.

1:33:44That's right.

1:33:45Matt Singer:We'll have to get back to that. I forgot all about that. Anyways. Scorsese, not Scorsese. There was a little bit of a Groundhog Day effect because Sam still reeling from having seen this Field of Dreams game thanks to our friend Marty Bazuga at Netflix. We're recording from a bed and breakfast in Galena, Illinois, where there are six cats. One of them is scratching him by door right now. His name is Kevin. Wait, so you went from Wisconsin to Iowa to Illinois? It's all right there. We're in a corner. We're all right there. It's all right there. This is exciting. I know the geography is very weird, but.

1:34:17I've never been to that part of the world. You cross the Mississippi or in another state, basically. That's the rule.

1:34:21Matt Singer:I gotta go. I gotta go. All right. Well, listen. So thanks again. Let's do it very quickly, Matt, because the listeners want to know. I've got them here. Should I run down the titles that are coming to streaming this week? Let's do it real quick. Real quick. Yeah. All right. Real quick. As we wrap it up here, let's run down the titles that are coming to streaming or home viewing this week. First up, theatrical releases that you can rent or buy. Toy Story 5. We mentioned it earlier. Unless that was on the version that Sam didn't record. I think it was on there. It's the new Toy Story. It's a lot of fun.

1:34:53Jordan will never watch it because it's animated. Oh, well, I got to watch the fourth one first, but I watched the first three. You never saw the fourth one either? Oh, boy. No, I never did. I never did. Okay. There's also something here called Rose of Nevada. And Sam is writing additional notes as I read, and I'm not sure what they mean. These are names of people and movies, but is this...

1:35:12Matt Singer:Yes. He's a British director named Mark Jenkin, and his previous two films are Bait and Ennismen. Right. And I've seen both of them. And his men was pretty cool because it involves like bacteria and fungus and stuff. It's about a woman living in a house on a hill in Britain. And so Rose of Nevada is his new one. His gimmick is that he shoots all of his movies in 16 millimeter. That's his thing. So all of those titles are available for rent on the day this show goes live, which is Tuesday the 18th. we've also got theatrical releases that are coming to streaming that you don't need to rent if you have a subscription, David Lowery's Mother Mary with Anne Hathaway and Michaela Cole, that's going to be on HBO Max it's the summer of Hathaway, we got the Odyssey and we got the end of Oak Street you know, we didn't talk about the end of Oak Street, did you see it?

1:36:04I am going to see it tonight, I have a ticket to see it tonight, let's talk about it next week

1:36:08Matt Singer:because we'll fit it in, we'll fit it in somehow I loved it, but we'll talk about it next week Okay. And we also have Steven Soderbergh's The Christophers with Ian McKellen and also with Michaela Colt. It's her. It's Summer Colt. Summer also. Yeah. That one's going to be on Hulu. That movie I really, really loved. I've seen it twice already. I would highly recommend that one. And then I swear the biopic about the UK Tourette's advocate, John Davidson. That's going to be on Netflix. If you heard about the kerfuffle, we don't even need to go into it. But if you heard about the kerfuffle at the, was it the BAFTAs?

1:36:45Yeah, but put that aside and just watch the film. But if you were curious about the movie that caused the kerfuffle and wanted to watch it, it is that movie. It is streaming on Netflix. Okay. Finally. Yes. Direct to streaming on Friday the 24th. We have nothing. There's no new movies on streaming. Is that true? There's really nothing. I think there surely is something, but nothing of note that Sam put down in our little script here.

1:37:11Matt Singer:So instead, we're going to cover something that's out. I think it comes out today on Netflix, not next week. The day that we're recording, which happens to be Friday the 14th, the day after the Field of Dreams game. You got it. The new Happy Madison film, it's Sonny Sandler, not Sadie Sandler. It's the other daughter. She plays a high school theater kid with a lot of drama in her life. The film is called Don't Say Good Luck. And it co-stars Melanie Linsky, Steve Buscemi, and Bebe Neuwirth. Bebe. Bebe Neuwirth. Bebe. Sorry. Come on. Bebe Bebe. Haven't seen her in something in a while. Someone never saw Chicago on Broadway, clearly.

1:37:47Matt Singer:I apologize. Directed by Julia Hart. Is Julia Hart, is she the one that made that horror film in Australia? Is that her? No, Julia Hart is somebody else. But Julia Hart's films include. She did Stargirl. Stargirl. And Fast Color. Fast Color. And Miss Stevens. I'm thinking of someone else who made a different Australian horror film. But her new movie is called Don't Say Good Luck. And it is on Netflix now. And we're going to talk about it next week. Great. I can't wait to watch it and discuss it with you next week. In the meantime. In the meantime, if you want to send us feedback at feedback at filmspottingsvu.com.

1:38:31Matt Singer:Feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. You can find Matt Singer on Instagram and Letterboxd at Super Pulse. You can find me on Blue Sky at Jay Hoffman. And Matt Singer is on Blue Sky too. Film Spotting SVU is produced by Sam Van Halgren, the star of the new Netflix release, The Baseball Game. The Field of Dreams game. Right, excuse me. And we are a part of the Film Spotting family of podcasts, a great family to be part of. For more about us and those other shows, go to filmspotting.net. We're just one of many great shows. I'm Jordan Hoffman. That's right. And I'm Matt Singer. Thanks for listening.

1:39:16Apple Vacations, where your story starts. The Summer Savings Event is here at Apple Vacations. It's the perfect time to bring everyone together for the getaway you've been dreaming about. Book between July 24th and August 27th and enjoy up to 55 % instant savings. From relaxing beach days to unforgettable moments with the people who matter most, Your next vacation starts here. Travel through July 31st, 2027. Start your vacation today at AppleVacations.com or through your travel advisor. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. T-Mobile is reinventing business internet with Super Broadband. Whether you run a small office or a factory of 500, connection is everything.

1:39:54Powered by America's fastest 5G internet, plus Starlink. Super Broadband from T-Mobile reaches every zip code in the U.S. Super Broadband, a new era of business internet. Visit SuperBroadband.com to learn more. This is 5G network based on analysis by Eucalypt Speed Test Intelligence. Data 2H 2025. Speeds vary due to local network characteristics and management. Satellite requires hardware installation. Clear view of the sky for 36 month commitment. Ugh, Honda. Ice cream has turned to soup. I think the fridge is finally dead. Hopping on GrandAppliance.com. Great idea. They were awesome with the Samsung Ranger microwave we bought last year.

1:40:27Oh, they have matching Samsung in stock. And next day delivery. Let me see. Oh, yeah, that looks perfect. I hope we get the same delivery crew. Those guys were awesome. Agree. Total pros. Another crisis averted by the team at Grand Appliance. Appliance experts since 1930. Some people use ChatGPT to answer questions. Others use it to get real work done. With ChatGPT work, you bring the goal, plus real inputs like briefs, notes, files, feedback, data, and project plans. It can help turn them into an analysis, tracker, deck outline, prototype, or workflow you can review and keep shaping. You stay in control, giving direction and choosing the final output.

1:41:08Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode. Available on Plus and Pro plans.