Toy Story 5 and The Death of Robin Hood, plus Rose of Nevada | #1070

19:36Josh Larsen:And it's crushing. I'll just say that. And to watch this eight-year-old, even though it's an animated character, this speaks to the delicacy of the artistry of the animation. to see her process these friends she wants so desperately through, you know, we've seen texts in movies so many times, but to see this little kid holding a play thing that is crushing her. I thought that was pretty devastating, honestly. And, and I think it's tied again to this whole, the tech question, um, that is, that is hovering over the movie. You said when you were setting things up, Adam, high tech, right? The high tech buzz.

20:18Josh Larsen:It's right there at the beginning. These aren't, you know, these are maybe sixth generation buzzes at this point where they have wifi and they have all these other things in them. So this is very much a through line in the film and tracing that, I found that to be quite intense. Bonnie's experience through Lilypad and how it opens up worlds that maybe she's not ready for, or that parents have less control of. I mean, all these things that parents of kids are wrestling with today.

20:48Adam Kempenaar:Absolutely. And I think there are, unfortunately, several scenes like that where we watch and have to process along with Bonnie that type of sadness. And I think that's a strength of the movie.

21:02Josh Larsen:Adam, we're coming around the halfway point of the year. And so I'm scrambling to catch up with those releases that I think have a shot at making my top five films of the year so far list. at the top of that list for me to catch up with is I Love Boosters, which isn't going to be in theaters that much longer. So my younger daughter wants to see this too. We're talking about trying to fit a screening to our schedules. We see it's about to leave theaters. And I said, you know, maybe we just can't make it work. What if we wait? And she just looks at me very scathingly and says, it's just not the same.

21:40Josh Larsen:So immediately shamed, also feel pride. Of course, it's not the same. If we were to see it at home rather than in theaters, what's even better than that is if you could see it for free, which you can with Regal Unlimited. Regal Unlimited is the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. And right now, Regal is offering film spotting listeners endless movies for less. If you sign up for Regal Unlimited using code FILMSPOT26, you'll get 15 % off. Regal Unlimited is the only truly limitless movie subscription pass. You can see any standard 2D movie anytime.

22:19Josh Larsen:There are no blackout dates or restrictions. Also with Regal Unlimited, you're going to save money on snacks. Members get 10 % off all non-alcoholic concessions. So sign up now in the Regal app or at the link in our description and use code film spot 26 to receive that discount.

22:44Josh Larsen:Woody! Jesse, hello? Is it as bad out there for toys as they say it is? We're finding more abandoned toys each day. We're down!

22:54Adam Kempenaar:Tech's invaded our house too.

22:56Josh Larsen:I don't know, Jesse. Toys are for play, but tech is for everything.

23:03Adam Kempenaar:I'm losing Bonnie to this device. You got a phone. Jesse has a line at one point where she says she's seen this all before. She's talking to some of these other, the lower fi electronic toys, including Smarty Pants, voiced by Conan O 'Brien, who I do think is really great here. And I think at this point when she's recounting this, we even see a flashback to Emily on the phone as she's getting older. and she's a teenager and she's ignoring Jesse and Bullseye. What are the reasons to feel like this series may always have life, Josh, for me to believe if they make more, I'm okay with this? It's because they understand that the series has always been about trying to fight against obsolescence.

23:59Adam Kempenaar:and technology has always just been part of it. But technology is also part of adolescence. There will always be new technology. There will always be new times and there will be new variations on the same struggles. And so it isn't just about technology. It never has been. With those changing times and struggles and new characters to inhabit those struggles, maybe the most brilliant stroke here, and you mentioned it earlier is finding a new innovative way to visualize how these young girls both bonnie and blaze the friend that that they meet here use their imaginations to play with these toys it isn't the same action movie sequencing of andy's mind or the the video game world from the beginning of toy story 2 it's this really vivid colorful like pastel colors and it has still a diy ish aesthetic to it with with this chalk drawing like i said like a kid might have drawn exactly and yeah and yet it's it's still sophisticated too and it's just so lovely to watch when these toys enter get to enter that realm both both we understand the mind uh the imaginative mind that the girls are entering but the toys are entering this revelry that they're entering as well.

25:26Adam Kempenaar:And we as viewers get to go along with them. I think that was one of the journeys here that enraptured me with this film.

25:34Josh Larsen:Yeah, I think there's three sequences like that in the movie, and each one is just delightful and amazing in terms of its animated artistry. So those play sequences get to something that I was very interested in, that the movie was touching on, that is related to tech. You're right. There's always been tech. There's always been phones, kids grow up, they gravitate towards that and their childhood play things fall aside. So that's not anything new. And in a sense, you know, this movie is also making Lane Bear, something that toys have recognized early in earlier installments that we're not here for these lifelong relationships.

26:13Josh Larsen:We're here for, I think this is another nice line of Jesse about for the time when they needed us, something like that, right? That's kind of what she comes to realize. That's true as well. But the movie raises and those animated, those pastel watercolor-ish sequences are where we dig into this. It makes a distinction between make-believe for kids, and they don't really use a term for it, but I would call it passive consumption, which is primarily done through technology. So the distinction here, the movie lays out, is when Bonnie enters that world with her toys, tangible figures, and create something out of her own imagination compared to when she sits down with Lily pad and plays.

27:01Josh Larsen:It's like a hop game, right? And she just taps, hop, hop, hop. And I don't know. I think that's an interesting distinction. I think it might be a crucial distinction for how we think about not just kids, but our adult engagement with technology, when does it, it's an AI question, right? When does it assist as a tool, our creative imaginations, and when does it dull and dampen them? And I was hoping that Toy Story 5, once I saw that it was playing in this arena, would offer us something more there. And I feel like it's not entirely dodging the question, but I feel like it comes to a point where it places most of the blame for Bonnie's bad experience on the fact that I think this phrase is even used.

27:54Josh Larsen:They weren't the right friends who she connected with through her lily pad. Right. Which I think is very true. I think that's absolutely on. But the movie almost, to me, uses that as the villain. So it exonerates Lilypad. The problem was that Lilypad was the channel to these bad friends, not good friends. Okay, I get it. But also, it kind of then sets aside how it defines make-believe. And it wants to be pro-technology. As you said early on, Adam, this is a tech company. It's a movie company It's a tech company It's an investment It's a huge behemoth So I'm not surprised at all that it's not entirely anti-tech That it is, as a matter of fact, offering a certain defense of tech I think it's nuancing the conversation in a way I guess I just wish that knowing how smart the people are at Pixar How much they've got to think about this all the time I wish they had maybe pushed forward on this idea of distinguishing between make-believe and tapping a touchscreen.

29:07Adam Kempenaar:At the same time, I think provoking those questions is about all you can do. And I think that's what this movie does because there aren't answers to that question. And I like the questions and the way they provoke it. I want to get into that because you go back to this acceptance of this struggle against obsolescence in different forms. And I came into this film knowing roughly what it was about. You come into it expecting, or I did it anyway, and almost I'm ready to embrace the demonizing of screens. It's such an easy villain. Even as adults in the audience, we all know, I mean, I'll speak for myself, but I think most of us feel similarly that we're on our damn screens too much and we're ready to punish ourselves.

29:51Adam Kempenaar:It's like, bring on the self-flagellation. And what does Pixar do? They establish it so that Lily genuinely wants to help Bonnie connect with friends. So it's not just the technology itself that is evil. It's how the technology gets employed. And it's even, I think, to some extent, then how girls or anyone else behaves when they use technology that is the problem. It isn't necessarily the people themselves. But the technology, Lily wants to help because this is the way kids connect. and I think I can say without spoiling anything in the end what happens there is actual then collaboration they're so smart to not make it just this black and white binary thing and the reason why this is not only smart but essential is you said it and this is something I was thinking about about halfway through if not earlier Josh is how do you make a movie about the dehumanizing soul-sucking nature of screens if you are someone who made the movie by staring at screens furthermore i'm not even talking about just the corporate part of it i'm talking about the artist someone who's physically working on the film the digitally physically working on the film you were probably think about all the different hands who worked on this movie you were almost surely the kind of kid who got to where you are because you spent most of your life including childhood obsessed with electronic devices.

31:26Adam Kempenaar:Andrew Stanton might be 60 years old, but I'm guessing most of the animators working on this movie are at least half that age and mostly came of age in the iPhone era. So how do you how do you balance that without being completely hypocritical? And what I think the movie demonstrates, or at least what I'm going with, Josh, is I don't think they necessarily say that only traditional pure childlike imagination is what matters they they give they give smarty pants and they give these other electronic toys a chance to experience that type of play they integrate them into these visions and what happens the entire scenario that Blaze envisions when this happens, it actually gets taken to another level once the electronics are involved.

32:25Adam Kempenaar:It gets better. It gets more exciting. So I think perhaps the movie is saying that one isn't right or wrong, but what matters is how you use it, and more importantly, that there still does need to be that element of imagination. There still needs to be that element of creativity. As long as the devices are still being employed to a creative end, which of course is what's happening when you're bringing a film like Toy Story 5 to life, then it's okay. Right. Then then that's that's a path. That's a path where it's a healthier it's a healthier way for us all to to utilize this as as indeed a tool that that's where I came out watching it, Josh.

33:14Yeah.

33:15Josh Larsen:And I think that's the nuance that they're going for. I'd have to watch that play scene where the earlier generation electronic devices are involved. I guess the crucial question, and maybe I'm asking too much of an animated kid's story to really explore this deeply, but hey, this is Toy Story, right? is are there are there tech abilities of those toys being employed in the make-believe maybe it maybe it is maybe it is they are or are they or are they just objects that are being you know they're there and so they're imagined to be other objects so yeah they get they get utilized in the

33:53Adam Kempenaar:sequence by the characters in a way where it becomes more of almost like a mission impossible like thing because they now have this technology so yeah that that's that's where i was going with being utilized so so you know the the path the path for pixar question for me where i was going with that north star thing wasn't ironically i suppose not about charting a new path actually but but about charting a new old path here so i'm going to go in a little bit of a different direction i wondered if stanton part of the old guard who has worked on apparently all of these movies but never directed one i wonder if he got together with harris and said said you know what is the north star for these films what is it that makes these fundamentally work and it's probably true not only for this franchise but all of pixar's best work and it's not ultimately about action or these thrilling set pieces it really is at its core just about relationships as simple and maybe as sappy as that sounds.

34:56Adam Kempenaar:So the beginning, that sequence that sets you up with this sort of, like I said, sci-fi thriller with all these Buzz Lightyear's running around, it really becomes a bit of a red herring because there are a lot of characters in this movie, but when you really think about it, what is this movie focused on? It's focused on Bonnie and Blaze. It's focused on Jesse and Bonnie. It's focused on Buzz and Jesse. It's focused on these couples. It's focused on these relationships. And I said there were three or I said there were two big emotional payoff scenes. There are really three. There are really three because it is the buzz and Jesse, how that emotional arc culminates as well.

35:40Adam Kempenaar:And and I think that one is pretty effective to Josh. I have to admit that's that's how much this movie had its it's hooking me that I thought that was very effective, too. And even I'm going to give Stanton and Harris here a lot of credit that that all of those little narrative moments, those little plot elements, even the 50 buzzes at the beginning where you're like, why do we keep returning to this? The the buzz ex machina, the buzzes ex machina. It works. It all works. Everything fits together in the way the best of these movies do.

36:15Josh Larsen:I'm really glad that it fit together so well for you. Those were some of the hiccups for me, honestly, was the storytelling and the weaving in all those buzzes, bringing them around. And I didn't even really need the buzz in Jesse stuff. I think having the focus on Bonnie was the way to go. And that's the strength of this movie. But I do want to talk about some of the other things I like because I don't want to be the total downer on this. and I did overall enjoy it. And the funny creative touches that were there from the very first Toy Story are absolutely here from things like having a sticky hand thrown in as a sentient toy.

36:55Josh Larsen:I don't think we've seen a sticky hand before and how that's employed to aid some toys that can't move around. I just never got sick of seeing how they were going to envision doing that. Lilypad as a character. Again, the detail Pixar imagines. There's a point where Woody and Buzz figured out if they use the voice command feature, they can get Lilypad to do what they want her to do against her will. And you notice whenever that happens, so the Lilypad toy has two giant eyes. One of the eyes just is always twitching a bit as she's completing their command. Just great touches like that. And how about the pet reptile?

37:32Josh Larsen:I don't know if it's a gecko or whatever. I think it only gets two scenes, but one, and this is where you can imagine we're going to do something about a device an electronic device and the pixar geniuses their minds just fire on all cylinders so of course toys aren't going to be able to activate a touch screen right because their hands are plastic so this gecko comes into play where woody and buzz kidnap it and use its sticky sticky whatever not pause to like activate lily and the gecko gets a great cameo during one of those imaginative play sequences at the end too with a nice double takes. So there's so much of that stuff there where this is not exhausted, even the fifth installment in as envisioning a scenario and saying, what possibly could we do here?

38:22Josh Larsen:It's not like, what do we need to do here? What will the most fidgety kid in the audience need to see to sit still here? It's what could we possibly do here? And that's where you get things like the gecko the eye twitch or as you said smarty pants uh overall as a character and real quick one thing i want to um praise as well again i sound like i'm totally down on jesse joan cusack's voice work has always been among my favorite in the series and so to that extent it was nice to see her get a chance to take center stage um and focus more on that it's almost maybe because she's a cowgirl and this is on my brain, but it's like she has, like a cow is working some cud the whole time she's talking.

39:08Josh Larsen:There's just a, there's a little bit of something kind of like stuck in there, which is an absolutely delightful touch the character has had. And so, yeah, getting to see Joan Cusack do more voice work as Jesse is definitely one of the highlights of this one.

39:21Adam Kempenaar:You mentioned, you mentioned a lot of great touches and animation moments. I want to single out one, which is when Bonnie gets that, iPad, the Lily pad for the first time. And the parents say, we're going to, we're going to let you have it for the first day just to get used to it. And then we're going to set some time limits, some screen time limits. And you see the way they animate the glossing over of her, of her pupil. When within about three seconds, her brain says, I'm now locked in and I am going to be staring at this screen the rest of the day. It's one of the smarter, more acute touches in the film because we've all seen it and we've all fallen victim to it ourselves.

40:12Adam Kempenaar:The lossy eyed stare. Yeah.

40:15Josh Larsen:And I liked how it doesn't hit us over the head with that too much, but I do like introducing it both sadly where they pan over the neighborhood at night. And this used to be the shot where you would see all the TV screens and that would comment on, you know, group thinking suburbia. Now you see it's not one TV screen in each house. The camera goes by. It's multiple glows in each house from separate rooms, suggesting that everyone in that house is in their own room on their own screen. So, you know, that's a clever way of capturing it. And also just in terms of humor, the first digital devices that Jesse meets at a neighbor's in a neighbor's yard.

40:54Josh Larsen:They've been abandoned nearby his house. You know, it's pretty obvious there. I think there's a sailor toy who tells her the age of toys is over. I love the other character. I forget exactly what it is, but it's like a mechanical drumming toy. And that one's just obsessed with tapping. And so it just keeps, it's all the tap, tap, tap and hitting the drum each time. Again, just like a possibility. Like we could say, we need to say the age of toys is over in this scene, right? What else could we say? And that's where Pixar gives you the tap, tap, tap character

41:27Adam Kempenaar:as well. Toy Story 5 is currently out in wide release. If you see it and agree or disagree with our thoughts, we would love to hear from you. Feedback at filmspotting.net. Barney still needs us. Come on, Bullseye!

41:43Josh Larsen:Buzz, you stay here. I'm going with them. You don't think I can do it? Yes! No! Nice poncho. It's good to see them fighting again.

41:52Adam Kempenaar:It sure is.

42:20Adam Kempenaar:Or contact your trusted travel advisor. Applications, where your story starts.

42:52Adam Kempenaar:T-Mobile 5G home internet. Think 100 meter dash fast. Think drag racing fast.

42:58Josh Larsen:Think speed skating fast. Now let's bump up your speed a notch. Hey, whoa, whoa, that's too fast! You'll be alright, just walk it off. Get on the fast track. T-Mobile now has the fastest 5G home internet. And it still starts at just$35 a month with auto pay and a voice line. Plus, a five year price guarantee. Plus taxes and fees. Fastest according to Google have speed test intelligence data, second half, 2025. All rights reserved. Guaranteed for monthly price of 5G internet data on eligible plans. Find exclusions and details at T-Mobile.com. Now I'd like to introduce you to Meaningful Beauty, the famed skincare brand created by iconic supermodel Cindy Crawford.

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44:58Adam Kempenaar:We would like to take a minute now to thank a couple of family members, including Aaron Bishop. He's in Dallas and Jim Pride in Warrensburg, Missouri. Josh, how did Aaron and Jim find film spotting?

45:13Josh Larsen:Aaron says super early before podcasts were cool. Batman begins review possibly. Yeah, that would have been quite early on for Jim. He said a friend mentioned you in passing when I had a long work commute. Now I live near work, but I've rediscovered you as a companion while winding down, doing household chores or painting game miniatures. All right. All good. All good podcast companions there.

45:37Adam Kempenaar:Batman Begins, of course, part of film spotting or cinecast lore. Cinecast number 18, the first show that dropped on iTunes. That was the show that was there when Apple, we predated the launch of Apple iTunes, and that was the first show everybody heard, and it crashed our servers because all of a sudden we were featured on the main page of Apple, and we had to frantically scramble to try to get the website back up so people could hear what we were all about and what this podcasting thing was. Jim's favorite show, Top 5 of 1999. This is one we did Back Before You, Josh, episode 281 in 2009, commemorating 10 years.

46:22Adam Kempenaar:Pretty soon we'll be doing 2029, looking back on 1999. Crazy. Reviews we got wrong. Okay. According to Aaron, I didn't know there was any group standing Confess Fletch, but Josh, you're on his list. There is a strong group, Adam.

46:42Josh Larsen:Yeah, these people love that movie. I will concede, saw it once. Maybe it was a bad mood movie day. I have those every once in a while. Often it is related to comedies for whatever reason. Confess Fletch just didn't work for me.

46:58Adam Kempenaar:Okay, but did you just give it a harsher review than me? because I didn't like it either. I'm looking at my, there's no way I gave it more than two and a half stars. There's no way. Just let me take the heat on this one. I should, I should. I don't want to get on. I'll do it. I'm already on Aaron's list for Grand Budapest Hotel, which I did famously not appreciate enough, even though I came around like two years ago and gave it four and a half stars. I know, but we're, you know, we're not forgiven for such things. There's no mercy. Apparently not. Adam, once you make a mistake like that. Hey, Aaron is still holding a grudge against Sam.

47:36Adam Kempenaar:He actually says, Sam, how dare you? He's holding a grudge against Sam for his original review of Zodiac on the show. Not loving Zodiac enough.

47:44Josh Larsen:That's going way back. Way, way back. We also asked Aaron and Jim to recommend some favorite books about films or filmmaking. For Jim, it's Roger Ebert's The Great Movies series. And Aaron mentioned Leonard Maltin's Movie Guides. Were you like the rest of us, Josh?

48:01Adam Kempenaar:Yeah. I mean, we're just like you had to have the Leonard Maltin guide. It was your constant reference when you were looking up anything. We thank Aaron and Jim for being family members and all of those years of listening. Now, I'm sure you started following Jim earlier today, even though I refuse to because his handle is BluesFan1973.

48:22Josh Larsen:Well, OK.

48:24Adam Kempenaar:Care to explain the beef there? I mean, it speaks for itself. the it's got to be ast louis blues reference and i'm a blackhawks fan so that's true okay i did

48:36Josh Larsen:indeed follow jim today as i like to do when we hear from our family members and yeah people look for blues fan 1973 adam's ignoring jim that's right he could use some new followers so

48:49Adam Kempenaar:come on join me there you go you get all sorts of benefits being a film spotting family member like Sam's Weekly Newsletter. You get to listen early and ad-free. You get exclusive opportunities like certain benefits that apply to FilmSpottingFest. You get to be part of the FilmSpottingFamily Discord. And you get monthly bonus shows. One coming your way very soon is our We Were Wrong Once, or really we'll just call it Adam is Wrong Again. Our conversation about David Robert Mitchell's It Follows as we anticipate his The End of Oak Street coming out later this summer. And we've talked about this before for our family members exclusively.

49:30Adam Kempenaar:And this is anticipating super madness. 2027. We had to be completists. We had to get an elite eight of the 20s and 30s. So film spotting family members only get their own little tournament. 1920s and 1930s, the best of those decades. The bracket has been set. But Josh, It has not been announced as of this recording. It's going to start in about a week. And again, that's only for Film Spotting Family members. So if you want to be part of that tournament, you can. All you have to do is go to filmspottingfamily.com and become a member, participate in that tournament, get all those benefits, and join the fun.

50:13Josh Larsen:People can't get enough of madness. So very exciting that we get to offer family members a little extra like that. Again, that's filmspottingfamily.com. Now there are other ways to support the show If you would be so kind You could rate us Take a minute to give us a rating or review On Apple Podcasts or Spotify Doesn't matter if you're brand new Or go way back like Jim and Aaron We do love getting reviews From all our listeners Each one helps us find new listeners

50:55Adam Kempenaar:It's time for some poll results. A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to choose one and only one Spielberg alien movie, a tie-in, of course, with the new Disclosure Day and with our new podcast movie, Deathmatch. Pretty simple, Josh. It's either 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind or it's 1982's E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial. We said last week that it was close, closer than we expected. and it did finish close, but we do have a clear winner. Which movie took it?

51:27Josh Larsen:E.T.'s the winner here. E.T. goes home with 53 % of the vote to Close Encounters, 47%. Sean weighed in with a comment. Tough question because these are two all-timers, but your hypothesis about demographics holds true for me. I saw E.T. at four years old, among the earliest

51:46Adam Kempenaar:movie-going experiences I remember. TJR says, I was born in 77 and saw E.T. at the drive-in. Earliest clear memory of a movie. But my vote goes to Close Encounters because I saw it once as I was turning into an adult movie lover and had to set childish things aside. I love E.T., but I'll choose to watch Close Encounters over it. Okay.

52:07Josh Larsen:I know you're not calling E.T. childish, TJR. So we'll let that go. Here's Tori Lightcap. Truly, there's no wrong answer here. Both films communicate core truths of human experience and hit deep emotional beats. I just find the aesthetic, visual, and soundscape elements of Close Encounters slightly more diggable.

52:26Adam Kempenaar:Diggable. Great. Jordan from Studio City says, Shame on you guys for not including War of the Worlds in this poll. Well, then it wouldn't be a deathmatch. And also, hey, I've only seen War of the Worlds once, back in 2005. Maybe I'd have a different reaction to it now, Josh. Wasn't a fan then. No, it was never going to win. And I realize I'm very much in the minority by putting it in my top five Spielberg. But it should still be in the conversation. The way he frames the invasion from a civilian standpoint, putting what really matters in perspective. And it's probably the best example of post 9-11 filmmaking outside of 25th Hour.

53:01Adam Kempenaar:I forgive you for not adding Crystal Skull, though. Well, thank you.

53:05Josh Larsen:Now, see, I was hoping that I could cause more trouble here and say that actually Crystal Skull better than War of the Worlds, because I do like Crystal Skull, as you know or could guess. Yeah. But I look at my Spielberg ranking. Unfortunately, I can't play that card. I do. I like War of the Worlds pretty well. It's 10th on my Spielberg ranking. I think Crystal Skull, which again is good, is somewhere closer to, I don't know, the teens. So yeah, unfortunately, no Crystal Skull defense for me this time around.

53:42Adam Kempenaar:I am not going to bring up my Spielberg ranking on Letterboxd, but I know that I have Crystal Skull higher than War of the Worlds. So that absolutely applies. We just needed to turn to you. Sorry, Jordan. Thanks to everyone who voted and who left feedback. You can look for Movie Deathmatch in your film spotting feed the first Monday of every month. Coming to you Monday, July 6th. It's a really good one. We're looking ahead to Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Inception vs. Interstellar. A little bit like Close Encounters vs. E.T. If you really want to simplify it, The Head vs. The Heart. representing Inception from New York Magazine and Vulture.

54:26Adam Kempenaar:I think I referenced this or teased it a while back, Josh, someone who we've greatly respected for a long time. But until I spoke to him on the phone, approaching him about doing this show, I had never spoken to. Obviously, we have lots of friends in common, but I'd never spoken to. And this person has never been involved in film spotting in any way over 21 years. And I was so glad that he said, yeah, this sounds great. I'm happy to do it. Bilga Abiri is representing Inception. Such a great critic.

55:00Josh Larsen:Yeah, he really is. And it's so nice to bring him into the film spotting circle in this way. So that'll be exciting to hear him on that episode.

55:09Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, and representing Interstellar, we, like Close Encounters, we said there's a lot of science going on here, obviously. Let's get someone who can really speak that language. And Abigail James, she's a physicist, PhD candidate at Oxford. She goes by pop culture scientist on YouTube. Extensive following, Josh. And talk about being grateful when they said yes. She also said, I love Interstellar. I'm pretty sure she said it's the best movie made about science ever. so take that anybody who thinks the science doesn't make sense she is more than prepared to tell you that it does and in fact i know how long the recording went so they both they both had so much to say about these films they're so passionate about them it's going to be a great episode that we're excited to share with you on july 6th did she bring charts and graphs

56:08Josh Larsen:or i suppose that wouldn't have worked quite as well for a podcast so maybe no i don't think there we did we did video it of course but i don't think there are any props okay sounds like she

56:17Adam Kempenaar:doesn't need it sounds like she'll be quite convincing on without all that yeah the new deeply flawed poll or just it's just evil genius as josh said has us looking ahead to next week's blind cow review of independence day now i will explain this a little bit more when we get into the choices i did not explain blind cow first of all no i'm gonna explain why i didn't see it i Maybe, but I'm going to explain why I didn't see 1996's number one movie at the box office back in the day. Why it's a blind cow. That movie is Independence Day. Our poll question is returning us to those heady days of 90s blockbusters.

56:57Adam Kempenaar:Your mission, should you choose to accept it, choose one pair of 90s blockbusters. So we're going to give you the number one and number two films at the box office in their respective years. domestic not adjusted for inflation not international just domestic the catch is that these are the only two films you get from the movie year and deathmatch and incinerator rules are activated these are the only two films you get so i guess sam suggesting right that you have to pretend these are the only two movies that exist forever ever? Yes.

57:37Josh Larsen:Well, sure. I mean, I think the important thing here, the way I interpret it is that the others all go away. The others all go away. It's more about what you lose than what you gain.

57:53Adam Kempenaar:I guess even that's up for interpretation, but yes, at minimum, you're losing everything else. So your deeply flawed but completely fact-based options are these, Josh. Hit them.

58:05Josh Larsen:starting in 1990, Home Alone and Ghost. Yep. Number one and number two at the box office in 1990. All right. 1991, Terminator 2 and Prince of Thieves, little Robin Hood tie in there. 1992 is Aladdin and Home Alone 2. Sheesh, dire. 1993, Jurassic Park and Mrs. Doubtfire. This is why this is so great. Never in a million years would I have guessed that Mrs. Doubtfire was the number two box office film in 1993. 1994, how about Forrest Gump and The Lion King? 95 gives us Toy Story and Batman Forever. This is the one with Val Kilmer as The Dark Knight. 1996, you had Independence Day and Twister. A lot of disaster going on.

58:52Josh Larsen:1997, Titanic and Men in Black. 1998, Saving Private Ryan and Armageddon in 1999 gave us The Phantom Menace and The Sixth Sense. So I think this is brilliant because I would never have thought of concocting this for one thing. And also, I understood it the first time Sam laid it out. Sometimes our deeply followed polls, I need to get a consultant. I need to do some math. I need to just sit with myself for a moment. And then think about it. This, I get it. I never would have thought of it. And I just love seeing all these movies paired together. It's really got me doing mental gymnastics.

59:35Adam Kempenaar:Well, I want to hear you tell us the result of those mental gymnastics. I did just want to explain as I was looking at this, it all came back to me. You may recall from our review of what was that sequel? What was the sequel to Twister? Twisted? What do they call it? I hope they call it Twisted. Twisted would have been better. Yes. When when we also talked about Twister back in 96, I was working that summer at the movie theater in my hometown. And of course, those movies, both of them just they stayed there for weeks. You know, just people could not. And of course, I'm living in a town where we'd get tornado sirens and fairly regularly and people we'd have to go to our basements and stuff.

1:00:24Adam Kempenaar:So Twister, people ate it up. But Independence Day was hugely popular as well. And I remember constantly having to go into the theater to tell people to put their feet down and I'd have to thread the projectors. So I saw parts of both movies, lots of parts. But I was full on, of course, in my I was a junior in college going into my senior year. So I was full on in my movie snob phase. And I did not care about this populist nonsense and had no interest in seeing either film. And I still have never watched Independence Day. And as you know, I did not see Twister until last year, whenever it was.

1:01:10Josh Larsen:So really, it was a matter of moral principle for you. And you stood to it. I do like the idea that you have somewhere playing in your brain a single movie comprised of random scenes of Twister and Independence Day. And, you know, like a Twister takes out the White House in this version, or I don't know what's going on. But I'm glad you have that. I, at that time, Adam, of course, was, you know, not a snob. Maybe I had to grow into that yet. I was just out of college trying to make it as a freelance movie critic. So I had the assignment for the Daily Southtown here, southern suburbs of Chicago, Southside, reviewing Independence Day, where I gave it a three out of four stars.

1:01:55Josh Larsen:So I don't know that I've seen it since then. Man of the people. I mean, I could appreciate just the things that others can appreciate as well. But yeah, we'll see. Maybe I will be proven to be the snob this time around, Adam, with that blind cow. And I will be the one who says after another viewing, none of this tripe for me.

1:02:21Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, we'll get into that. Now, Sam really wants us to weigh in not just on what we're going to pick, but how we think our listeners are going to pick. So let's start there. And does your personal preference line up?

1:02:36Josh Larsen:uh no i i'm not going where i predict listeners will go i also would love to play you know the stereotype role and say i'm going with the phantom menace and the sixth sense i thought it'd be easy for you yeah i mean six cents top 10 horror of all time i am a prequel defender and the thought of losing the Padres alone to the incinerator makes me shed a tear. But what's interesting when you look at these as pairs, I'm finding that you have a couple of the animated titles throwing a wrench in things. So Toy Story, which I still think is the absolute best, can't imagine. I know we get the others, but as my review just showed you, they're good.

1:03:26Josh Larsen:still diminishing returns to live without toy story seems unimaginable but i think my vote is going to be swung by another animated film and it's the lion king because it's one of my favorite disneys and i am a defender of forrest gump as well it's been a while since i've seen it um i think did we do a forrest gump versus pulp fiction episode maybe maybe like but we didn't We didn't review it, though.

1:03:54Adam Kempenaar:No, maybe just a poll question. I don't think we've done it. I think we talked about it, but I don't remember us actually doing A Sacred Cow on Forrest Gump, and we should. I have seen it since its release, basically.

1:04:08Josh Larsen:So I've given Forrest Gump more consideration. I understand, you know, particularly the political, you know, the political elements that people do not like about Forrest Gump. But I still think it's a really good film, one of Zemeckis' best. And so that's where I think I'm going to land, Adam, is it's that one-two combo. It's the combo that Sam has concocted here that is ultimately going to sway my vote. I can't just go with Sixth Sense and want to play prequel Defender. I've got to go with Forrest Gump and The Lion King. okay before now what do you think what do you think then listeners are going to do did you weigh in on that i think titanic is just too much of a behemoth yeah i i think you know and i do think men in black is um yeah affectionately regarded still and so i think you have you know whatever it is about titanic which is fine i like it whatever that has you know lulled generations at this point you have that power and then you throw in something nostalgic and fun like men in I think that's probably where it'll go.

1:05:17But again, a poll like this, who knows?

1:05:21Adam Kempenaar:Okay. Before I tell you my answer, just for fun, I wanted to see if this would change anything for either of us. And I did look up how it would alter the poll if you went with international results over domestic. and it changes a couple of the pairings. And Josh, this might actually affect you, especially based on what you just said about anime. Wait a minute, wait a minute.

1:05:49Josh Larsen:You're bringing an international box office to this?

1:05:52Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, just for kicks, just to see how it changes.

1:05:55Josh Larsen:I just praise this poll for being simple. What are you doing?

1:05:58Adam Kempenaar:Play along. You'll find it interesting. Okay. If you go international instead of domestic, 1991 is one of the years that changes terminator 2 is still in the top two prince of thieves is out though and beauty and the beast is in oh yeah see it does yeah that's i told you i told you that would be tough for you okay how about this this also changes things i think for a lot of people 1992 aladdin stays in yeah but home alone 2 gone replaced replaced by the far superior batman returns yeah that's hard too yeah right okay now here's one that would seriously complicate things for me in terms of my answer and i still don't know how this proving that international

1:06:51Josh Larsen:audiences have far better taste apparently better taste americans in the 90s this would really

1:06:55Adam Kempenaar:change it for me and and maybe you too even though i don't think you like this movie as much as i do but it still gets rid of a seriously inferior film 95 toy story stays batman forever is gone do you know what the number one movie at the box office internationally was in 1995 95 it was david fincher's seven huh you could have given me 20 guesses i never would have come up with that okay and here's the here's the last one that's also crazy this will not change your answer it's just crazy 1997 titanic of course stays yeah but men in black is out and this will this will seriously challenge your theory about international audiences being more savvy and sophisticated men in black is out and the number two highest grosser bean i was gonna guess why didn't i guess i was i didn't give you a chance i didn't give you a chance because i didn't think

1:08:00Josh Larsen:there was any way i honestly was going to make a joke about mr bean i couldn't remember if that was that old yeah that explains well you know i don't know yeah mr bean well here's my do he's an

1:08:12Adam Kempenaar:unstoppable force unstoppable force the way i broke this down every single pairing has one good movie good to great movie yeah but only three for me have two good movies only three have two good movies and those are 1993 jurassic park and mrs doubtfire and you know i don't love jurassic park

1:08:38Josh Larsen:the way many of our listeners do right and you do love mrs doubtfire beyond anyone else beyond

1:08:44Adam Kempenaar:anyone else mrs doubtfire saw it in the theater i was i was very much in my robin williams is the best phase and it's it's an amusing very amusing movie so i see that as the turning point from

1:08:56Josh Larsen:from populist adam to yes it was right there it was mrs doubtfire yes there you go i didn't say

1:09:05Adam Kempenaar:how much i had to love the movies i just said good okay okay sorry 19 1994 i'm with you forrest gump and the lion king okay and then the third one is 1997 titanic and men in black those are the three for me the only three that have two good movies so which of the three has the two goodest please tell me this is doubtfire is swinging this no you know the answer is the answer here's you're you're gonna love this josh and our listeners are gonna they're gonna lose it

1:09:44Josh Larsen:when i say this why why i'm uh go ahead i'm just i'm curious about your math like why doesn't the best movie hold more sway than needing both to be good i i guess that's just not how my i'm

1:09:57Adam Kempenaar:okay okay i'm doing some math where i'm you know is it the scale the scale is balancing i see what you're doing yeah you know so titanic and men in black are the two best films and and honestly, Josh, you say, you say, why doesn't it matter which one has the, the best? Well, of those six movies, I think Titanic's the best film. I think Titanic's the best film of Lion King and Forrest Gump. Correct. I think Titanic's the best film. And I think it has the best, best partner in men in black. So the answer should be simply 1997, except I'm going to be totally honest with you as i've really thought about this poll a lot and i've really thought about it in terms of incinerator rules like i can only watch these two movies whichever two movies here yeah for the end of time and all the other ones are gone you're not watching titanic i'm not watching titanic and i'm not watching men in black do you know what i'm watching yeah mrs Doubtfire.

1:11:07Adam Kempenaar:I'm watching The Sixth Sense and The Phantom Menace. No way. I am. No way. I am. Because The Phantom Menace, while still a two-star movie, Great scenes. Is still a Star Wars movie. And has great individual scenes. With some great scenes and some things about it that I still really appreciate that we talked about back in 2019. And I would rather watch those two movies if I could only watch two. This makes me so happy. I would rather watch those two movies than any other two. I am so happy.

1:11:40Josh Larsen:Can I change my vote and we can start a movement? Yes. And maybe we'll get the Phantom Menace to win this poll. That would make my summer. That's my vote.

1:11:49Adam Kempenaar:Deal with it. I'm going 19. I'm going 1999. In terms of where I think listeners will go, I'm with you. I think it's either 97, Titanic, Men in Black, or we joke about Mrs. Doubtfire. I think the Jurassic Park love from 93. is going to carry it. I think it's between those two. After that, Independence Day Twister is going to be a force. That one, 96, is going to do well. And I do think Terminator 2 and Prince of Thieves is going to do well. That's what I was looking at.

1:12:18Josh Larsen:I have no sense of if anyone even remembers Prince of Thieves. It's almost like if Terminator 2 had been paired with just anything else. Yeah, probably actually. Probably.

1:12:31Adam Kempenaar:So yeah, we'll see what happens. Okay. vote in that poll. Make your disparaging comments about my pick. I don't care. You can leave that comment at filmspotting.net.

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1:15:22Josh Larsen:People speak of Robin Hood. Tell his stories. They're all lies. He was not a hero. You were a murderous brigand. The Death of Robin Hood is the latest from writer-director Michael Sarnoski, who made Pig, that one starred Nicolas Cage, and he also made The Quiet Place prequel, Day One. In his new film, Hugh Jackman plays the Prince of Thieves, but this is not the dashing, quick-witted Errol Flynn Robin, or even that broody, unevenly accented Kevin Costner Robin. The title gives you a sense of what we're getting here, a darker, sadder, morbid Robin Hood, perhaps, thinking of Hugh Jackman, more of a Logan Wolverine.

1:16:11Josh Larsen:Adam, it seems like somewhat familiar territory in its approach and its star. I don't recall if you liked Logan. Most people did. but where do you place the death of Robin hood in terms of that film and just what Jackman is trying to do here? Or maybe it's more interesting as a Sarnoski film. He is not the name I would have expected to see attached to this project. I'll be honest with you.

1:16:39Adam Kempenaar:I am, I believe in the minority in not being a big fan of Logan when it came out and I can understand why people might think this is familiar ground for him on the surface it very much is but they're missing a lot of nuance in terms of the characters yes they're they're aging aging outlaws i suppose in some ways and they're grappling with violence or their past but where these characters end up are are very different so that's a pretty superficial reading ultimately i think if you if If you compare the two films, I really wish that I had seen A Quiet Place Day One, the Sarnosky film that followed.

1:17:23Adam Kempenaar:Pig, because I could I could I could better speak to how these three films all fit together, I suppose, and think about him as more of an auteur. Having just seen Pig and now this, I don't know that I can really do that. And instead, I'm just going to focus on this film. Josh I do wish you had seen it now because there's a lot to talk about the description for this movie is grappling with his violent past Robin Hood finds himself gravely injured after a battle that he thought would be his last he soon gets a chance at salvation when he meets a mysterious woman and a young girl and that's that's technically accurate but I'd argue that it's a misrepresentation of the movie because a misrepresentation because even though the language is passive he soon gets a chance at salvation, right?

1:18:14Adam Kempenaar:Not he seeks salvation. When you read it, it's implied that he would be seeking it because that's what these movies about aging outlaws are always about. The question isn't whether they'll be redeemed. It's how and to some extent whether they deserve to be redeemed or that's the central tension. Even though in the end, we're always rooting for them to be redeemed. Sarnoski quickly dispenses with any notion that deserves got something to do with it when it comes to Robin's redemption. And yes, I'm intentionally referencing Unforgiven and William Money because that would be the other touchstone here for a film like this, though I think just like with Logan, this movie goes to a different place.

1:19:03Adam Kempenaar:he's not just anti the robin of our legends josh when we meet him he's not he's not a good man who's done bad things that he's ashamed of he's a terrible man who's done terrible things that he seemingly feels no shame about to make sure we're not clinging to any false notions of robin hood's heroism within the first 15 minutes sarnoski has him swiftly kill a young girl who can't be more than about 14 or 15 and an even younger boy the first one in fairness is in self-defense but there's it's not really necessary that he kills her and there's a brutishness about the act and an undeniable disregard for human life that he displays there and throughout.

1:19:54Adam Kempenaar:And the more we learn about his past, the worse he becomes. It doesn't get any better. It just gets grimmer and bleaker. So it's not a pleasant watch. It's certainly not a pleasant watch for the first 45 minutes of the film where it is quite intentionally intended to be very punishing. What I ultimately find interesting about the death of Robin Hood, interesting enough to recommend, interesting enough that I think it's worth talking about, is how it subverts our expectations as a redemption tale with a hero who's truly beyond it, who isn't seeking it, where redemption is actually put upon him when all he wants and should get is death.

1:20:43Adam Kempenaar:there's there's nothing particularly provocative about it as the title would suggest about it as a deconstruction of the Robin Hood tale or myths and our need for them and the consequences of buying into false ideologies. And I'll tell you this about how punishing it is in terms of the filmmaking. Sarnosky and his crew, the way they depict the brutality of 13th century England, it's shot in Northern Ireland. There is a point in the film, I said maybe, I didn't look at my watch, but maybe about 45, it's not quite halfway through, I don't think. 45, 50 minutes in, where Robin ends up at a priory on an island and Jodie Comer is the prioress and her whole thing is that she heals the sick and the wounded.

1:21:33Adam Kempenaar:it it starts with cinematography and some of the production design even before this but there's a moment where robin ventures outside for the first time outside of his room and you recognize that oh the aspect ratio has actually changed and there's sunlight and there's flowers there's color in the flowers and trees and there's color in the clothing that people are wearing oh and there are people about, even though this is an island full of sick people, and they're laughing and they're smiling. And it stands in such stark contrast to the dismal, muddy, gray, foggy awfulness that we've been immersed in for the previous 45 minutes that, I'm not kidding, it almost feels like we walked into Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or something.

1:22:26Adam Kempenaar:It feels like that kind of fantasy world. It's that striking. And part of that, I think, is that you can tell early on that they're trying to do everything as practically as possible. The way body parts are splitting and when Robin fights with a guy, he almost asphyxiates in a barn that's on fire. The fight is just two exhausted older guys who are rolling around in the mud. There's nothing thrilling about a lot of the fight scenes. It's just ugliness. And that transition functions, I think, primarily on that level where we're meant to mark this passing of this character into this new realm and this new possibility.

1:23:17Adam Kempenaar:but I'll just say this, seeing this, this bad man in this space that's so vibrant and so alive, I wondered, it just made me think about to what extent we are truly products of our environment. Yes, of course we all make choices and not everyone has made the choices that Robin has made. But when every single moment of your life has been spent just thinking about survival, just moment to moment survival as it was for 13th century peasants there's not a lot of nobility there's no comfort violence and bloodshed are just facts of life and and so there's there are elements like that that the movie does tease out a little bit and the last thing i want to say that i i do appreciate about the film bill skarsgård plays little john and he's not in the movie for a long time.

1:24:14Adam Kempenaar:This guy, what is it about Bill Skarsgård that just constantly, at least for me, impresses? I suppose I'll try to venture an answer. Even though there is nothing really about his makeup, nothing dramatic about his makeup or his costuming that makes him look significantly different than how he looks in real life. I spent every moment he was on screen looking at him going, who is this guy? I know I recognize him. I know who this guy is. It's killing me. And why is he so damn good? How is it that I don't know this guy when he is so damn good? Every single moment. And then, of course, you find out after who it is and you feel like an idiot because you do know who he is and you do think or you have thought he's good in basically everything you've seen him in but josh is just something about the way that he always alters himself physically but also vocally that he finds in these characters and every character he plays that makes him indistinguishable character to character and and he's always magnetic and you also see here even though he's little john you you understand why he gets cast to play monsters because he somehow just seems to have this innate ability to summon extra human forces and it's on display even playing even playing this character i i just loved watching him every time he was on screen opposite jackman will be a mighty battle one for the stories

1:26:04Josh Larsen:yes strongly I come from an old family

1:26:10Adam Kempenaar:they say from Viking blood there's a story that wants the elder father for the bear it will be a mighty battle

1:26:20Josh Larsen:Robin

1:26:22Adam Kempenaar:there is a lot more that we could dig into with this film I was mostly as I've been trying to do here anyways trying to process why despite the unpleasantness and why despite for most of its running time i was trying to make sense of what this movie was even trying to say or why why sardoski made it i'm i'm i'm wrestling with that and this is the best i could do in the end and i think that there's enough there's enough there to justify the experience you know that the irishman is

1:26:55Josh Larsen:knocking around in my head and a recent rewatch I did. And this sounds very similar about this notion of being dragged into redemption, you know, and this sort of a different, just a slightly different angle on what is a fairly, you know, familiar dramatic thrust or narrative arc that maybe this film is trying to bring to that idea as well.

1:27:18Adam Kempenaar:The Death of Robin Hood out now in wide release. Definitely would love to hear your thoughts if you have seen it, especially if you had a different experience than I did. You caught up with Rose of Nevada from UK director Mark Jenkins. This is a filmmaker you've stayed on top of. I am 0 for 3, but he made 2019's Bait. He made 2022's Ennis Mine. These are two micro-budgeted movies that you liked, and this film sees him going a bit more mainstream, I suppose a bit more higher-budgeted as well, Callum Turner stars, George Mackay stars. They play men who join the crew of a mysterious ship that has returned to a village after vanishing 30 years earlier.

1:28:05Adam Kempenaar:What did you think?

1:28:06Josh Larsen:Yeah, I think there's probably a bigger budget here, though it still feels very indie. Those two you mentioned are quite good and bigger names than he's worked with in the movies of his that I've seen. I'd also call out Rosalind Eleazar, who has a supporting part here. I know her from the series Slow Horses, where she's just fantastic, and she's really good here as well. So maybe a slightly higher level of cast. I'm going to call this a ghost story, Adam, because I want as many people to go see this as possible, even though I'm a little worried that that might set up expectations that Rose of Nevada doesn't entirely deliver.

1:28:44Josh Larsen:It's something of it's it's almost oblique horror in the way it's coming at certain conceits that could be explored more directly or obviously and just allowing them to yet haunt us, but in different ways. And Jenkin from the three movies I've seen, and this is my favorite of those three, it strikes me that he relies on insert shots as part of the film grammar more than any contemporary filmmaker I know of. And in a way that could be seen, it makes the movies initially feel perhaps rudimentary. Like, you know, why are you cutting to an insert shot of a hand doing something instead of saying further back and letting us observe that on our own, perhaps.

1:29:36Josh Larsen:It's very deliberate. It's very intentional. But if you can adjust to it, it does give it almost this avant-garde sensibility to it while staying within the constraint, particularly with Rose of Nevada, of a fairly straightforward story. So I think I like that combination here. And this town that is down on its luck, we learn all of that from just these really smartly composed, finely observed shots of rusting anchors on the shore that haven't been used in 20 years. fishing nets, things like that, that give us all the information we really need. And Jenkins smartly uses the sound design to put us kind of on edge as well.

1:30:25Josh Larsen:Very intense use of colors in his last two films. Bait is actually in black and white. But here, the yellow slickers of the fishermen, a red baseball hat, just things like that make for a composition that is always entrancing. And then you put that in the confines of characters wrestling with the past and how it is haunting them. Quite literally, that comes to be the case and what it means both for them as individuals and this community where time has passed them by. It's just a really interesting way to think about this. It's not nostalgic for life when the fishing village was thriving. It isn't just about mourning that In a way it embraces You know Moving on It really gets your mind thinking In different ways about some of these things And you know it also made me Think of Adam This is a movie in our Agnes Varda marathon That might have been the one we started with And I think we both liked it But as we got to see more of her work We became entranced with other films But La Pointe Court which was set in a French, you know, seaside village, also employed insert shots in a similar way to just make the setting sink in, but also give us psychological insights to the characters.

1:31:45Josh Larsen:So that's sort of the avant-garde element I'm thinking of. So yeah, if this sounds intriguing at all, seek out Rose of Nevada. It is a ghost story. It'll be a little different than you might be expecting, but I think it's definitely worth the experience. And I do think I think it's a good entry point for Jenkin, who has made films beyond those three. I think earlier he has a feature or two. These are the ones I've seen. Very idiosyncratic, singular filmmaker. Rose of Nevada, I would suggest as a good place to start.

1:32:17Adam Kempenaar:All right. Rose of Nevada out in limited release. We'd love to hear your thoughts about it or any other thoughts about our show. You can contact us anytime. Feedback at filmspotting.net. Josh, that is our show.

1:32:31Josh Larsen:If you'd like to contact us on social media, you can find Adam and the show on Instagram, Facebook, Letterboxd, YouTube, and Blue Sky at Film Spotting. I'm at those places as Larson on Film. We are independently produced and listener supported. you can support the show by joining the FilmSpotting family at FilmSpottingFamily.com. You can listen early and ad-free, plus get monthly bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, and access to the entire show archive. For show t-shirts and other merch, go to FilmSpotting.net slash shop.

1:33:03Adam Kempenaar:Out streaming, now you can see John Cena and Eric Andre. I always screw this up. Why do I never know if it's Cena or Saina? Why do I screw that up, Josh? I'm going to go with We have it in the pronunciation guide.

1:33:16Josh Larsen:Let me check that, but let's go with Cena for now.

1:33:20Adam Kempenaar:Cena and Eric Andre in the Netflix comedy Little Brother. Jackass Best and Last is out wide, a.k.a. Jackass 5, making it Toy Story 5 for naughty kids. Let's go with that. Lucky Strike during World War II's Battle of the Bulge. A wounded American soldier played by Scott Eastwood tries to stay alive behind enemy lines. Supergirl also out. Do we have a definitive ruling, Josh? Gosh.

1:33:44Josh Larsen:Well, checking the film spotting pronunciation guide, we do have John Cena and then nothing after his name. So we got to get on that. Someone began the task but didn't complete it.

1:33:56Adam Kempenaar:that's very helpful next week in the film spotting feed you can hear on tuesday film spotting streaming video unit talking about julian schnabels in the hand of dante with oscar isaac in dual roles as dante himself and a present-day writer who steals an original manuscript of the divine comedy that's on netflix and i know i am a broken record with this here again proving why we need svu a new julian schnabel movie a new movie starring oscar isaac and it's about dante

1:34:26Josh Larsen:no clue this was coming out who knew who knew thank you the next picture show is continuing

1:34:33Adam Kempenaar:their pairing of disclosure day and et you can look for that in their feed and on friday yes i am finally going to watch independence day we're going to celebrate america for independence day's 30th anniversary the only way we know how and america's 250th anniversary and i'm sure everyone will rejoice that I have finally watched one of our all-time great cinematic achievements.

1:35:01Josh Larsen:Oh, going with that. Okay. Yeah, let's say that for now. Film Spotting is produced by Golden Joe Dissot and Sam Van Halgren. Without Sam and Golden Joe, this show wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempinar. Special thanks to everyone at WBEZ Chicago. More information is available at wbez.org. For Film Spotting, I'm Josh Larson. And I'm Adam Kempinar.

1:35:23Adam Kempenaar:Thanks for listening. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

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