We Can’t Look Away From Netflix’s Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly | SVU

25:08Matt Singer:I know I have well the film is Untold Ray Gun Breaking Badly the film is not as good as the title Breaking Badly is a fabulous title for a documentary about a breakdancer who is bad at it and it is streaming on Netflix I kind of recommend it you don't have to pay attention to the whole thing but there are some good scenes if you can watch it at two times speed while you're washing dishes, I recommend it. Okay. Yeah. Boom, boom, boom, boom, cow. And I just kept getting more crazy. What's going on? I can't just be a meme. Am I Rachel or Reagan?

25:50Matt Singer:Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers like actor Stephen Root. I think for me to be any good or for any character to be any good, you've got to put enough of yourself and your empathy for people in it. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the street and go, yeah, I can use that. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is going on in city politics, what is on renters' minds, and taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run.

26:28Matt Singer:And actress and singer Melissa Errico. Partnership took on a whole other meaning when I started making my own work. It's like you with a great actress or actor. It was best to come out of your trailer full of life and just face another person who's full of life and don't talk. Listen to Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Bobby Bones. Join me and former NFL quarterback Matt Castle every Wednesday on our podcast, Lots to Say, with me, Bobby Bones, and Matt Castle. We also bring in friends, they're mostly Matt's friends, who are current or former NFL players, some of the biggest names in music and entertainment, and then we have some really great conversations that can pretty much go anywhere.

27:14The great Pac-Man Jones. After the game, the whole National Task Force for Police Officers was at the stadium. Like, hey, buddy, yeah, you at them?

27:23Matt Singer:Come on. And one of my favorite segments we do is called Situational Awareness, where Bobby and I give each other real-life situations and figure out what we'd actually do. You're in training camp, and the rookie quarterback has one good throwing session in front of the media. Suddenly, everybody online says he should start over you week one. How do you handle this? You just go back out to practice the next day and wait for him to mess up. Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Jay Valentine. I've spent my career on the executive side of this industry, multi-platinum songs, building artists and building business.

28:01Matt Singer:And alongside my brother Tank, the superstar R &B singer, songwriter and producer, we've created something special, the R &B Money Podcast. This is not just a podcast. It's a safe space where artists, executives and fans of R &B music come to reminisce, pull back the curtain and tell the stories that shaped this culture, the real history behind the hits. That was hood famous. Yeah. And then Real Love came out and it blew up. We lived in a project. Yeah, and they're seeing all the success. They're hearing the music and we had nothing. We're covering the entire spectrum from Smokey Robinson, Alicia Keys, B2K, Mary J.

28:37Blige, legends, current stars, and everyone who's contributed to the sound of R &B. You come out the gate with a hit. And then knock Michael Jackson out of number one. Come on, man. I was like, hold on. I'm not going to MJ out of the number one spot.

28:49Matt Singer:If you're a super dedicated R &B fan who wants the real discovery, the real stories, this is your podcast. This is the R &B Money Podcast. Listen to R &B Money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard account after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over.

29:34We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good trance. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examined, The Backfire Effect on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

30:00All right. In between segments, producer Sam doing his job. Yes. Yes, we did talk about Wild Wild Country on FilmSpotting SVU number 161. And the theme was movies made by brothers. I guess the filmmakers, the ways. The ways. Not the way-ins. No, not the way-ins. The ways. McLean and Chapman Way. So movies made by brothers. That was the theme of the rest of that episode. April 10th, 2018. Those are the days. I wonder what I said. I don't remember. I've got to be honest. Someone will tell us. All right. With that, let us get into the greatest segment in the history of film spotting SVU, also known.

30:48Sam is doing the kangaroo dance. It's too bad this isn't a video podcast. But it is not. But it is. Wrexed. The Wrexed. Yeah. The recommendation segment where we recommend things first inspired or suggested or related in some way to the film we discussed on this week's episode. And this week we did discuss Untold Ray Gunn Breaking Badly. So, Jordan, what you got? What's your recommendation?

31:20Matt Singer:I joke, you know, Ray Gunn. Have you seen many Ronald Reagan movies? I've seen The Killers. Yeah, yeah. The Killers. He's in it for five minutes, but he's pretty good. He punches Angie Dickinson in the face. Yeah. Which I don't support. You don't endorse. The president of the United States punched a woman in the face on film. This was before he was the president, but yes. Right, right. And I don't, odds are there are others, but I'm blanking on any others that I definitely have seen. Wait, you haven't seen Bedtime for Bonzo? I know Bedtime for Bonzo. I have never seen Bedtime. I don't think I have ever seen Bedtime for Bonzo.

31:53Matt Singer:Feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. Yell at Matt Singer for not having seen Bedtime for Bonzo. It's a blind spot that I feel really bad about. Sam, have you seen Bedtime for Bonzo? Isn't Gipper the one? I mean, Gipper's the one everybody needs to see, right? That's his real movie. I'm looking here at his letterbox page. Knut Rockley, All-American. Yeah, I haven't seen that either. Sam evaded the question. Maybe he's never seen Bedtime for Bonzo either, but I'll tell you, Bedtime for Bonzo, it's a story. He's doing the dance again. Ronald Reagan is tasked with making a very jumpy and silly monkey try to go to sleep or chimpanzee.

32:33Matt Singer:And the chimpanzee is named Bonzo. And he doesn't want to go to sleep, even though it's bedtime for Bonzo. And that's the movie. It's wonderful. It's very difficult to search this man's filmography on Letterboxd because so much of it is like documentaries that have footage of him. documentaries called like, you know, the labor crisis, uh, coal mining, uh, right. So it's difficult. Well, you know, luckily my rec is not, yeah. Sorry. I'm just looking at his filmography still, but go ahead. I'm going to see if there's any other Ronald Reagan movies I have seen. Go ahead. I have not, I did not recommend a Ronald Reagan movie.

33:11Matt Singer:The thing I recommended is, um, Um, untold Raygun, a breaking bad story made me think about breakdancing movies. And in fact, in the documentary, they talk about how, when the Danny McBride character, her husband was a kid, he saw the movie break in on TV, which was part in 1983 and 1984, when breakdancing broke, so to speak, there was a slew of cheapy low budget exploitation movies. And Wild Style was a very famous one. That came first. Break-In, very famously, Break-In 2 Electric Boogaloo. By the way, the Electric Boogaloo predates the Break-In films. That was a dance that had already existed.

33:56Matt Singer:By the way, Break-In and Break-In 2 Electric Boogaloo both came out the same year, 1984. That's how you know they were good. Electric Boogaloo's action. Dance the best you'll get. If you like breakdance when you ain't seen nothing yet. I'll finish you, your friends, and your whole damn neighborhood. This time there is an enemy So they must unite Because they say what you believe in Sometimes you must fight You lost your edge There's another movie that came out in 1984 Oh A movie called Beat Street And Beat Street was And I am old enough And so is Sam Old enough to remember when these movies came out Breaking was in fact The more popular film It got a sequel That was the Coca-Cola the biggest market share.

34:41Matt Singer:But then there was also a movie called Beat Street. That was the Pepsi, I guess you could say. And the truth of the matter is that when I was a Beat Street household and for whatever reason, I saw the movie Beat Street several times. I have not seen it in a very, very long time. I watched it again this week. Beat Street is a good film. But now it's hip hop, break dancing, pop, electric, boom, it just won't stop. Everything in the town is built around that cutting, scratching the hip hop sound on Beat Street. Beat Street! Beat Street was an exploitation movie done inexpensively and quickly to capitalize on the breakdancing and the, you know, nascent rap culture that was happening at the time.

35:27Matt Singer:But it ended up being a little bit of a gem. It's like an underground, independent New York movie. And, you know, I saw this when I was very, very, very young. and watching it again, it was like, this is a New York indie. It feels like of that time, it's a little silly. It's a little campy, but it looks really nice. It's shot a location. It's basically, it's about a young kid who wants to be a DJ and his buddy who is a graffiti artist and then his little brother, and they just kind of hang out. They go to parties, they go to clubs, They're trying to make a name for themselves. They're not trying to get rich and famous.

36:09Matt Singer:They're just trying to do their thing. They're living in the South Bronx, which at the time was, you know, an absolute political hot potato, a hellhole type of place. And it shows that there was a really its own nascent culture there. And it was the birth of hip hop culture. It was directed by Stan Lathan, who, you know, is a real director. He's made some good movies. it was actually produced by um of all people uh harry belafonte he uh you know was okay there these kids in the south bronx are doing something really neat somebody make a movie about it and i'm not saying it's like you know it's not italian neorealism but it has the the just has some grit to it it's just actually really really fun movie and maybe not a lot of people remember it came out the same year as Purple Rain, the Prince movie.

37:00Matt Singer:And it kind of has a similar vibe in that it's like, you know, about these young wannabe artists that are just like in their little community. Doesn't have a lot of plot. It just has like a lot of great music and great stuff. Us girls can boogie too. We can dance. We can shake it. Go watch it. There's a breakdancing battle scenes that are really, really great. I mean, that's what they put in the trailer all the breakdancing battle scenes, the scenes of him DJing and putting music together. Radon Chong is in it. She kind of plays the rich girl who's like kind of, you know, the outsider. So we're kind of seeing it through her eyes.

37:38Matt Singer:Some great graffiti art stuff. There's some good stuff in the New York City subways, great locations. I got to say, I not only do I think Beat Street is the best early 80s breakdancing exploitation movie, I think it's a really good New York indie film that, you know, maybe the script isn't brilliant, but the characters are pretty nice. And you just like hanging out with these people and watching it again for the first time in decades. I was like, oh, I remember this scene. I remember this song. It's funny and really, really watchable. So I got to say Beat Street is my recommendation. It's on Prime Video Tubi and YouTube TV.

38:20All right. I haven't seen it in a very long time. I don't remember. I've seen it. Oh, okay. Well, as a kid, but I have not revisited it. I would be curious. I'm glad you mentioned Purple Rain because I was looking at Letterboxd and none other than film critic extraordinaire Jordan Hoffman logged this film four days ago and wrote, quote, as good as Purple Rain. The hot takes.

38:44Matt Singer:It's probably not as good as Purple Rain, but I think that they are very similar. Okay. I see the similarity. I see what you're saying. They probably would be a very good double feature, actually. Yeah. I think that would be a nice combo. Well, I went for my recommendation in a very different direction. Ray Gunn, Breaking Badly, is part of Netflix's documentary series Untold, which is a concept that is very clearly Netflix's answer to 30 for 30. 30 for 30 started in 2009, and that was the 30th anniversary of ESPN. and it was a part of their celebration of their anniversary. They made 30 documentaries about 30 big sports stories over those 30 years.

39:27So that was the name, 30 for 30. But then the documentaries were so well received that ESPN just turned it into a brand and they just started churning out 30 for 30s. And now more than 15 years later, they've made like 100 for 45, basically. But they just still call it 30 for 30. Did you like me trying to figure out the math in my head? I like that. I was trying to do the math.

39:50Matt Singer:So by the way, the Waze brothers are the exec producers of the Untold series. Oh, and they've directed a few of them, I think. And some of those Untolds are pretty good. I have seen a lot of them. Not all, but a bunch. I liked the Malice at the Palace Untold, which was about an infamous NBA game where a fight broke out between the players and the fans. Oh, was that Metta World Peace? Is that his story? I think that's correct. Yeah. And then I've also seen The Deal with the Devil, which is about Christy Martin, the boxer that became the inspiration for the Sidney Sweeney movie, Christy. But I don't know that I've seen any that are as good as the best 30 for 30s, which many of them are really, really great.

40:36And the thing that differentiated that series, especially in the beginning, was they invited all these great directors to make the first batch of them. Yeah. The first 30 for 30 included films by Albert Maisels, Steve James, John Singleton, Barbara Koppel, Ron Shelton, Barry Levinson and Ice Cube. So you had all the all the greats were working on it. Now, I don't know that that's necessarily true at this point or in the last few years, but there are some really, really good 30 for 30s, most of which are only available to stream on like the ESPN. ESPN streaming service that they launched not that long ago, or if you have the big Disney, like the highest level of Disney bundle.

41:22But there are a couple that are on Netflix, including one of my favorite 30 for 30s. Oh. Which is called Winning Time, Reggie Miller versus the New York Knicks. And this is a documentary about the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals in 1995 between the Pacers and the Knicks, who at the time I was a huge fan of the Knicks. Not so much anymore. I kind of, basketball just, who has time really? I mean, it's very exciting that the Knicks won this year. I'm very happy for them. I'm very happy for the city. And I was paying attention to that, but I'm not going to sit here and pretend I've been a diehard Knicks fan for the last 30 years.

42:04I have not been. But I was watching in 1995, night by night, as this series transpired. And this documentary takes you back.

42:14Matt Singer:What kind of name for a team is the Pacers? Like pace cars. They're from Indianapolis. Yeah, no, but what I'm saying is they're like when you're pacing, it's like you're doing like playing par. Like he's the pace car. He's not winning. He's just the pace car. That's like the Indiana coming in third place. They shouldn't. The Pacers is a terrible name for a team. They need to work on that. They would win more. But they won this year. Then they beat the Knicks, right? That's the whole gimmick. No, the Knicks won the whole thing. I don't know. I thought the Knicks never. No, the Knicks never win.

42:45Matt Singer:Isn't that the whole thing? They won this year because they never won before. They very rarely win. Yes. Yes. They won. Oh, you're talking about in 1995? Yeah. Did they lose? Well, that's what I'm saying. Yes. The Pacers won this series. Yes. Yeah. And the guy who absolutely murdered the Knicks in this series and crushed my teenage basketball dreams was one Reggie Miller. Now, I'm sure Reggie Miller is a good person. Are you? But I hate this man so much. Wow. Oh, my God. I despise him. And when I was 14, 15 years old, I'm not sure there was a person alive that I hated more than Reggie Miller. But I love watching him in this documentary.

43:28I love watching him talk about how good he is and how he destroyed the Knicks. He relishes every destruction that he caused upon them.

43:43Matt Singer:The more he hit, the more he looked at Spike. You know, he just kept looking at Spike. And it just kept getting him going. First thing I told him was like, don't let this game become close. Because if it comes close, they're going to choke. Trash talk is, you know, it's a central facet of sports culture. And certainly in basketball. And this doc is like one of the great all-time tributes to Talkin' Trash. It is just - Was this against Patrick Ewing? Was he the other guy? It was that period of the Knicks, yes. So much trash has talked. Spike Lee is in this movie as a talking head. He, of course, was courtside.

44:20And he became part of the story between him and Reggie Miller, them going back and forth. And it's an excellent and wonderfully smartly edited documentary. It's directed by Dan Cloris, I think. Oh, yeah. Who, you know, maybe he's not in those vaunted names that I mentioned before, but he's made some very good documentaries, other sports docs, including Black Magic. He also did the 2007 doc Crazy Love, and he did a fantastic job with this. What's Crazy Love?

44:50Matt Singer:That sounds familiar. Well, look it up. Maybe you'll remember it. Reggie Miller, by the way, he's on NBC Sports commentator. Yeah, he's like a commentator now. So he's still in your life if you watch sports. You can't get rid of this guy. Like I said, I don't really follow it that closely. Yes, I've gotten over it. Well, here's my question for you. I don't particularly... I've gone to some basketball games. When I go with my friends, if I'm having beer, I actually have a friend who has Knicks season tickets with his company. And he's like every... Regularly is inviting me to go. And I have gone.

45:22Matt Singer:I've had good times. Would I like this movie if I don't care about Reggie Miller and the Knicks? I mean, if you enjoy someone like gleefully eviscerating another team and that team's like hopes and dreams and the fans to their faces on their own court. Maybe I would. Maybe I would. You might just enjoy it because it is really like taking you inside his perspective. And just like it really it's got great interviews with all the players, most of the key players. So he leaned into it. He was what you would call a wrestling heel. He really embraced being the heel. Yes. At least to Knicks fans. I mean, obviously to Pacer fans, he's a face.

46:02He's a god. But yes, to Knicks fans, he is one of the ultimate heels, really. And I think this is an excellent, excellent sports doc, a cut above untold Ray Gunn. So it's called Winning Time, Reggie Miller versus the New York Knicks. And it is currently streaming on Netflix. And if you want to watch Beat Street, which I'm just seeing now in the notes from Sam, was co-written by Andrew Davis, the director of The Fugitive. I did not know that. It is streaming on Prime Video, 2B, and YouTube TV. Beat Street! Beat Street! Fuck, fuck, TV.

46:49Matt Singer:Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers like actor Stephen Root. I think for me to be any good or for any character to be any good, you've got to put enough of yourself and your empathy for people in it. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the street and go, yeah, I can use that. Open Igloo co-founder Alia Mohammed. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is going on in city politics, what is on renters' minds, and taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run.

47:27Matt Singer:And actress and singer Melissa Errico. Partnership took on a whole other meaning when I started making my own work. It's like you with a great actress or actor. It was best to come out of your trailer full of life and just face another person who's full of life and don't talk. Listen to Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Bobby Bones. Join me and former NFL quarterback Matt Castle every Wednesday on our podcast, Lots to Say, with me, Bobby Bones, and Matt Castle. We also bring in friends, they're mostly Matt's friends, who are current or former NFL players, some of the biggest names in music and entertainment, and then we have some really great conversations that can pretty much go anywhere.

48:13The great Pac-Man Jones. After the game, the whole National Task Force for Police Officers was at the stadium.

48:19Matt Singer:Like, hey, buddy, yeah, you at them? Come on. And one of my favorite segments we do is called Situational Awareness, where Bobby and I give each other real-life situations and figure out what we'd actually do. You're in training camp, and the rookie quarterback has one good throwing session in front of the media. Suddenly, everybody online says he should start over you week one. How do you handle this? You just go back out to practice the next day and wait for him to mess up. Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

48:52This is Jay Valentine. I've spent my career on the executive side of this industry,

48:57Matt Singer:multi-platinum songs, building artists and building business. And alongside my brother Tank, the superstar R &B singer, songwriter and producer, we've created something special, the R &B Money Podcast. This is not just a podcast. It's a safe space where artists, executives and fans of R &B music come to reminisce, pull back the curtain and tell the stories that shaped this culture, the real history behind the hits. That was hood famous. Yeah. And then Real Love came out and it blew up. We lived in a project. Yeah, and they're seeing all the success. They're hearing the music and we had nothing.

49:29We're covering the entire spectrum from Smokey Robinson, Alicia Keys, B2K, Mary J. Blige, legends, current stars, and everyone who's contributed to the sound of R &B. You come out the gate with a hit. And then knock Michael Jackson out of number one. Come on, man. I was like, hold on. I'm not going to get MJ out of the number one spot.

49:48Matt Singer:If you're a super dedicated R &B fan who wants the real discovery, the real stories, this is your podcast. This is the R &B Money Podcast. Listen to R &B Money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard account after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over.

50:32We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good trance. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examined, The Backfire Effect on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

50:59Matt Singer:Listener request segment is upon us from a listener named Christy. and I believe Christy is from Australia, right? Which ties into Ray Gunn. So it's all about our friends down under. Do you know that right now it's tonight in America, but it's tomorrow in Australia? How about that? All right. Christy says, hey, friends. And she also says she's a big fan of SVU going back all the way to the old days. And she says, I can't wait until you manage to find Allison to bring her back. So that's fun. Anyway, her request. Make sure you vote in the poll, Christy. Vote in the Allison poll. And Christy, do it too.

51:40Matt Singer:I love a movie when a twist or reveal pays off in a way that gives you a little adrenaline rush. Any language, any era. But a deeper cut is appreciated as I'm often the one recommending things to other friends. And she says she's from Australia and she has all the services. Thanks for the laughs and the eye rolls. Thank you in advance. All right, Matt Singer, what do you got for Christy? If she's paying attention, she's not going to see the ending, or maybe she will. And then, whoa, I didn't see that. I got to recommend this to my friends. So this is a tough request because you're asking for a movie with a twist.

52:23And as soon as you say it has a twist, you're putting the audience on guard for a twist. and the best twists are the ones that you don't see coming so we are we're at a big disadvantage here in my opinion i don't know if you thought about this jordan but i had a lot of trouble

52:41Matt Singer:with this because i'm going well you know what what we're doing here is we're doing a solid for christy to bring a movie to movie night with her friends so we're sport i understand i want to make christy happy but it's i'm just saying it's a difficult request i'm trying to build this up You're building some suspense. Well, that's what, you know, that's what we, that's why we come in. We do the hard work. We're not, this is not all fun and games. So we have to do the difficult work to help people. This is not fun. And these are not games. These are listener recommendations. I know. I know. It's crazy.

53:13So I wanted to pick something where even if you know there is a twist, you cannot predict what will happen, what the twist will be. so my recommendation is called malignant it is a film from 2021 directed by james wan the guy behind a lot of horror movies that i'm sure people have a scene like saw which has a very famous twist at the end of the original saw and i didn't even think about this but i believe James Wan is Australian, so there you go. Maybe that might make this less likely that Christy hasn't seen it. I don't know. I did not even think about that until I was talking right now. But this movie has a fabulous twist.

54:08It is about a young woman named Madison who, after a fight with her abusive husband, begins to experience like weird visions connected to a mysterious killer named Gabriel. And as she begins to investigate, she learns things about her past. She has very little memory of her childhood before she was adopted, but she like gradually comes back to her. Oh, wait a minute. I had an imaginary friend named Gabriel. Mmm, the plot thickens.

54:52obviously I'm not going to spoil what happens but if you can guess without having seen this movie what the connection is between Madison and Gabriel congratulations you're the smartest person on earth no one alive could predict where this movie goes. And the script by Akilah Cooper from a story by Cooper and James Wan and Ingrid Bisou, it takes you to places you will never see coming. And you have the advantage of James Wan being a great, nimble director. He's good at horror. He's good at lots of stuff. So Malignant is an incredibly fun ride. The thing that I would compare it to is kind of like a modern and glossy and higher budget version of like a Roger Corman movie or a William Castle psychological thriller, you know, like a Joan Crawford movie or something from the 1960s.

55:51It has some blood and some violence, but it is also this kind of wild, ridiculous mystery with a great twist. Now, it's not available for streaming at the moment. You will have to rent it to watch it. But this was like the thing I thought of. I was like, what's a movie I can tell people? You should watch it for the twist, but you ain't going to figure out the twist, even if you know a twist is coming. So I hope Christie hasn't seen Malignant yet and that if checks it out, it fits the bill. That's my pick. Malignant. Have you seen Malignant, Jordan? No, no.

56:35Matt Singer:No, I got to admit, I kind of don't pay too much attention to James Wan. He's put out a lot of junk. So this one just was way not on my radar at all. I did like the original Saw. I mean, it's kind of gross, but I mean, I. It's a good movie for the kind of movie it is, you know. All right. I'm excited. That's pretty cool. Well, similarly, I was in a pickle about like twist, twist, twist or like pay attention. I mean, you know, the ultimate of that is Usual Suspects, which you can't predict. You can watch Usual Suspects. You can watch it with a magnifying glass and hit pause every five minutes. There's no way to predict the ending of that one.

57:13Matt Singer:So then I kind of went the other way. There's a very interesting movie by a guy who had already made a terrific movie with lots of twists and turns. That first movie was called House of Games. Talking about David Mamet, of course. and David Mamet had done a lot of other screen, of course, from the theater. And he had done a lot of screenplays he hadn't directed that had twist elements. The Verdict, which is basically a great legal thriller, legal thriller is also a twisty movie, you know, and so the guy likes his twists. So he kind of put things on his on its head with the movie that I'm going to recommend from 1997 called The Spanish Prisoner.

57:56Matt Singer:and The Spanish Prisoner is a movie where the guy is well aware that he is in a, if he knew that this was a movie, if he knew that his life was a movie, he would be like, I'm waiting for my twist ending. I'm trying to figure it out. And we in the audience go like, there's a twist coming, but what is it? It's about a guy who knows he's being conned, but can't figure out how and is kind of stumbling toward his fate. of hoping he could stay one step ahead of it. And then when the con comes, when the reveal comes, you know, he's on the other side of a sting, basically, like the movie The Sting. We know what that twist is because our main characters are pulling the wool over somebody else's eyes.

58:41Matt Singer:Our main character, in this case, is Campbell Scott, knows it's coming, and then it comes, and it's like, oh my God, how did I not see that coming? And it's really, really clever. and it does not have a lot of twists and turns. It has a slow vice that grips you and grips you and grips you and grips you and then finally it explodes and then you see it when it all is revealed, you go, oh crap, look at that. Isn't that clever? Isn't that clever? Isn't that clever? And it's really fun. It is the oldest confidence game on the books. The Spanish prisoner. The man who supplies the money gets the fortune and the girl.

59:16Matt Singer:I believe we have a problem. People aren't that complicated, Joe. Good people, bad people, it generally looked like what they are. Why are so many people having such difficulty? That's the question baffles me. In addition to Campbell Scott, you have in this film Steve Martin in an un-Steve Martin-like role. You have Ricky Jay, the patron saint of twists and turns and sleight of hand and magic. R.I.P. Ben Gazzara also is in it. Ed O 'Neill is in it. Felicity Huffman and Rebecca Pidgeon, who is only in David Mamet movies because she was David Mamet's wife at the time. And I happen to like her performance in this and in other films.

59:59Matt Singer:The Spanish Prisoner, I'm not going to give you too many specifics of what the actual con is. And in fact, in a very clever way, neither does – it's like the MacGuffin. They might as well call it the MacGuffin. They call it the process. You know, he's got the process. It's about a guy who figures out – you don't even know what he figures out. He's got some kind of economic theory that's going to make everybody rich. And he figured out the process. It's very writerly in that way. But, oh, man, what a great movie. And I've seen it a few times, and it's got a lot of treasures in there. I'm sure that you guys have seen it, too.

1:00:36Matt Singer:It's very, very enjoyable. David Mamet is kind of making nothing but junk. He's kind of a weirdo now. Go watch a recent interview with him if you want. That guy's gone nuts. but back in 97 back in 97 he was still on his game making good stuff like the Spanish Prisoner that was always one of my favorites as a teenager I've seen that movie so many times but maybe it's I don't think of it as an old movie but it's an old movie now it's almost 30 years old I think I like it more than House of Games they're both good but I might agree with you they're both very good but maybe you're right I don't know I haven't rewatched either one in a while.

1:01:17Matt Singer:Yeah, it's a yes and. It's like, I've already done House of Games. People really liked it. I'm clever in that way. How can I do House of Games again, but invert it? And that's why I think it's so neat. There are other movies out there like House of Games. There's really nothing out there like The Spanish Prisoner. All right. Well, those are our recommendations for Christy. And anyone looking for some twists, James Wan's Malignant on VOD and The Spanish Prisoner, which is currently streaming on Prime Video and Tubi. And don't forget, as we say every week, if you want more recommendations, go to Letterboxd.

1:01:56Look for the list called Now Streaming on Bazooka. It has all of the titles we have recommended and discussed on FilmSpotting SVU to date. It's up over 100 movies so far. and it has notes Sam Van Halgren our great producer keeps updating it and keeps adding stuff to it and puts in little details if you can't recall what the movie is or want to know a little more about it if you missed an episode and want to know why it's on there you can find that there and if you would like your own personalized streaming recommendation from us send a note to feedback at filmspottingsvu tell us what kind of a movie you're looking for like a movie with a twist and what services you use and we will each pick out a movie for you.

1:02:54Bazooka when you gotta stream Bazooka it's cream of the crop It's right at the top Of your favorite streaming app

1:03:19Matt Singer:Listeners, it's Strap In. It's time for us to rather quickly tell you about new streaming opportunities between you and your television set, you and your computer. Here's some new theatrical releases that are available to rent or buy. First up, Nimrods. Nimrods. I never heard of this movie. Three friends journey from Kansas City to Los Angeles, mistakenly believing that their band is opening for Green Day on New Year's Eve. These guys sound like a bunch of Nimrods. So I don't know. Matt, have you seen Nimrods? I have not. I have not. All right. Well, you have an opportunity to spend a few dollars to watch it on VOD.

1:04:04Matt Singer:also Matthew McConaughey in The Rivals of M. Zia King directed by Andrew Patterson who made The Vast of Night which was a good movie I like The Vast of Night a lot of people like The Rivals of M. Zia King it's gotten good reviews but one of the reviews I think is the most important oh whose is that producer Sam he thinks it's one of the best movies of the year whoa it's so good it is We got to check it out. Because it came and went so quickly in theaters. But great music. Goes in directions. Talk about a movie going places you don't anticipate. This would be a great one for our listener who wants twists and turns.

1:04:46Because just where the movie goes is very surprising. And I hope people catch up with it. All right.

1:04:50Matt Singer:There's a third recommendation for Christie right there. There you go. And that one you have to pay a little bit more. It's probably more like$14.99 or something. But, you know, it's still less than multiple tickets. And you don't have to leave the house. And popcorn's cheaper at home. That's right. Also, Tony. Hey. The Anthony Bourdain biopic with the baritone Dominic Sessa. Tony. Who we love in The Holdovers. The Holdovers, yeah. But The Holdovers is one of my favorite movies in the last 10 years. I love that movie so much. He's so good in it. I'm so glad that because that he was a total newcomer.

1:05:30Matt Singer:He had never been in a movie before. Will he sustain himself or was it just the holdovers? And the answer is yes. He's killing it as Anthony Bourdain, the young Anthony Bourdain in Tony, a movie directed by Matt Johnson, who made one of the other great movies of this year, Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie. I love Matt Johnson. I love him as a filmmaker and as a person. and I don't know Tony's like the real deal I mean he already did this sort of thing before a little bit with Blackberry you know doing a doing a real story yeah not just goofing around um but uh Tony's got some juice I don't know that you know award buzz for Tony why not it's a tough year for male lead this year you got a lot going on we're not an Oscars podcast I don't want to go down that road There isn't a single person named Oscar on this podcast.

1:06:24Matt Singer:But Tony is now available. Sorry, as of Tuesday, the 15th of September, you can pay a few bucks to see it at home. Same with Rivals of M. Zaya King. Same with Nimrod. And then, yeah, go ahead. You want Dominic Sessa in the Oscar conversation? You thought he was that good as Anthony Bourdain? Wow. Yeah, I like him. I thought he was good. I just like him as a person. It's a good year, though. You got a lot of movies that I haven't actually seen yet, but I know their male leads are... You got John Turturro in the... The only living pickpocket. The only living pickpocket in New York. In New York. And then you have John Malkovich in Wild Horse 9.

1:07:06Matt Singer:And then you have... What's the other one that everybody's saying? It's a lot. Oh, Robert Pattinson. John Cena in Matchbox, the movie. Robert Pattinson in Primetime, you're saying? Primetime. Yeah. I would give a nomination to someone in that movie. Tony. Donate. But it would not be Dominic Sessa. Antonio Banderas. Oh. I thought he was. What? Hasn't he? Yeah, he's all right. I thought he was. Wow. I had all eyes on Dominic. His voice is so low. All right. Let's move on. Let's move on. Now, direct to streaming. Goody, goody. during a long home birth process, expecting parents and their midwife begin to realize that something may be going horribly wrong.

1:07:58Matt Singer:That's a Shudder release. It sounds terrifying. It sounds absolutely terrifying. I want to watch it. I don't know anything about it. I don't know who made it. I don't know who's in it. All I know is what I just read. I want to see it. Shudder puts out good movies. Next up, best of the best. You're the best around. two childhood best friends joined their college's competitive bollywood dance team only to discover that the road to winning the national championship is far more raucous and cutthroat than they ever imagined this sounds like ray gun both of these directed by alina khan directed by flora and ulysses now is this is this set in india or is this set this is set in an american college this oh that's i i think this might have some juice I really do.

1:08:43This might want the juice. A little pitch perfect. It feels pitch perfect-y. It feels like we should keep our eye on this one.

1:08:51Matt Singer:The best of the best. And it's direct to Netflix on 9-18. What a night. You can do a double feature of Goody Goody on Shudder and Best of the Best on Netflix. Wow. What do you think, Matt Singer? Should we do Goody Goody or Best of the Best next week? I don't know. They both sound good-y to me. Well, we have talked maybe about spending October doing a spooktacular run of recommendations. So maybe we can hit pause. Save Goody Goody for October. Save Goody Goody for Scare-tober. Yeah. October. But October is when Matchbox comes out. Oh, wow. We'll work it out. Yeah, that's going to be tough. Well, you know what?

1:09:27Matt Singer:You, the audience, let us know. First of all, you got to let us know what do you want Allison to watch with us, and you got to let us know if you want to see Best of the Best or Goody Goody or anything else, or you let us know in general. You could send us information at the following email address. Feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. You can also find Matt Singer on Letterboxd and Instagram at Super Pulse and also on Blue Sky. And I, Jordan Hoffman, can be found on Blue Sky at Jay Hoffman, Blue Sky, Film Spotting SVU. The podcast you've been listening to is produced by Sam Van Halgren. We are part of the Film Spotting family of podcasts.

1:10:03Matt Singer:We'll be back next week and we're going to have a new game. Sam is right. He won last week's game. Yes, that's right. Kenneth Branagh Flakes. So he won that. So he's... He had to mention it one more time. He was so proud of that stupid name. He had to bring it up one more time. He is going to come up with a new game for next week and Matt and I will go head to head and we'll see how badly I beat Matt last next week. Until that time, thank you for listening and go to filmspotting.net for all your film spotting needs. I am Jordan Hoffman. And I'm Matt Singer. Thanks for listening.

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1:11:49Matt Singer:Today, we tip our wrench to Rock Auto customer Dylan. I actually used to manage a parts department for a car dealership, and we would get stuff from Rock Auto if I couldn't get it from my dealership suppliers. You pick the year, you go through all the drop-down menus, and it just makes it really easy to navigate and see what you want. Like a wheel bearing, for instance, for a Corvair that I have. Rock Auto's catalog made it really easy to find that specific one that I was looking for. All the parts you're coming, never need Rock Auto. This episode is supported by FX's The Drop, a snowfall saga.

1:12:24Wanda and Leon are back, but this time they're chasing a different kind of legacy.

1:12:29Matt Singer:As West Coast rap begins to take over 90s Los Angeles, Wanda is betting on a new generation of artists. But in a city where every opportunity comes with a price, they'll have to decide what they're willing to risk to leave their mark. FX's The Drop, now streaming on Hulu.