Our 800th Episode Ask-Us-Anything Mailbag. Plus: ‘Elio’ and ‘How to Train Your Dragon.’

24:37Okay. And we would always watch the Saturday HBO new movie. If you were an HBO subscriber, they would release the sort of like the long SVOD version of our youth where on Saturdays at 8 p.m. they would show a relatively new release, probably like 9 to 12 months after it came out in movie theaters. So we all sat down to watch Sliver together as a family. Okay. I was probably 12 by the time it hit HBO. My sister was 10 and my brother was 8. and I don't know how long it took before a sex scene hit but you know that's a movie about surveillance that takes place inside of an apartment building it starred Sharon Stone I believe it was her first film after Basic Instinct William Baldwin is in that movie Tom Berenger is in it Martin Landau and it's written by Joe Esterhaus the sleaze master himself and I will say my dad kept watching it for a longer stretch than I would have were I in his shoes we did eventually have to turn it off sure yeah because of its illicit nature yeah but um that's looking back that feels formative yeah you know yeah just being in the room for all that with my siblings um that is intense yeah I had a I had a slight parent version of this this weekend not like in any like no but um I did fire up center stage for Knox because Knox is really into ballet right now.

26:09And I was solo parenting side, had to nap. So center stage. And, you know, I did forget how much cursing there was in it, but it is also like a lot of beautifully filmed ballet scenes. So I was like, okay, we're going to be fine. Uh, anyway, we get to the sex scene, which is a PG 13 sex scene. And I can't really tell whether Knox is clocking anything. And then he just says to me, Are they doing ballet at home? And I honestly thought that that was a great summary of what was happening. An expression of the self through dance and physical movement. Please, you know, don't call the cops on me. Still haven't seen Center Stage.

26:47You should show it to Alice. I mean, obviously what I just described maybe won't incentivize it, but it's really, really great. Whenever we get to a scary part of a movie and we've had that this weekend, I'm getting to it. Don't worry. She'll say, I don't like this part. and she wants me to fast forward. Yeah. And so I could tell her. Oh, yeah. This is a scary part. It's like, it's not, it's, first of all, they're not very good actors. They're professional ballet dancers. Shots to Zoe Saldana? No, no, no. It's between, it's the Jodie character and Cooper Nielsen. Okay. So, but it's not like, again, it's PG-13.

27:23Got it. It's just sort of the lighting and the music changes for a little. And you're like, oh, I see. This comes for us all. So it's a good question. All right. What's next, Jack? Joshua says, in the spirit of 25 for 25, I wonder if there was a movie or theatrical experience that floored you from this century. I really like this question. Yeah. It took me back to a time when I wasn't doing this professionally. And I didn't have to be as locked in on what's coming next. I have a few that are from this time. I see that. I just went like off the top of my head. I admire that you had that. Yeah. I wanted to use debuts as my the lens through which I see this because I didn't know anything about the filmmakers so I didn't have any expectation heading in so these are the ones that I came up with same off the top of my head first one was Memento ironic I guess given my relationship with Nolan over the years the sort of the up and down arc that we have had together me as watcher he as creative person Memento though knocked me out I was like what is this amazing love the structure love the trickery of it love the screenplay was it drafted in the 2000 draft?

28:34I thought it was a 2001 release oh is it? I think so I'm fairly certain it was 2000 I thought it was eligible no you're right March 2001 okay that's why because I was very confused why it didn't go but that's because it was not eligible it premiered at Venice in 2000 yes as all the great films do well sure others Ex Machina yeah knocked out by that two things it was early in the run of obviously Alex Garland's directorial debut too was like one of the first A24 movies so there wasn't this like oh no A24 movie is it going to be good is it not we weren't thinking of things that way Whiplash I've talked about it many times over the years huge movie for me yeah um Raw the French cannibal film yeah which I really really loved um in Bruges Martin McDonagh's directorial debut exit through the gift shop popped into my head I think we're a little bit like too cool for Banksy these days.

29:27Yeah. He was in his heyday, so to speak. And I really liked how that movie was structured and how it was made. And then I wrote Borat. Great. Borat in theaters? Yeah. We were hooting and hollering. That's great. We're like, is this really happening? I have one of those too. Okay. What did you do? I wrote down Tar, which is of the span of this podcast. but I just remember like shifting in my seat with excitement through all of it. And then the ending being like, oh my God, I can't believe they did this. Then bursting out laughing. One of the great movies. Napoleon Dynamite. Surprised to see this.

30:02We went in college. And I remember like at the, I think the nugget was the name of the theater in college. I wonder if it's still there. And we all thought it was hilarious. And then it was that kind of like instant making, you know, vote for Pedro jokes, like that sort of thing. it kind of took everyone. But it was pretty. A Hes head. And you haven't seen Minecraft. Not yet. The Irishman, which we saw together. We went to the premiere at the Chinese theater. We didn't mention the Chinese in our list of theaters. Yeah. I like the Chinese. I don't love it. Can you go there as like a, and they'll just show whatever.

30:39Yeah, they screen movies there every weekend. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, you do have to go like through a giant mall to go there. The mall is also where they have the Oscars, literally. Yes, the Dolby Theater is there as well. very funny so you know if you're interested in movies but yeah the irishman we were there for the premiere and i i think that movie is like deeply underappreciated but also again that thing where the ending you just you could feel everyone breathing together in the room it was very very special um i also kind of had a similar thing for wolf of wall street when i saw it which was like in a blizzard um in new york and was like wow what is this but only one scorsese on my list past lives another one where I remember I was talking with a friend of ours last week who we were talking about the great materialists debate and she was like well honestly like I didn't I wasn't that into past lives so I turned it off and what I said was oh then like you missed the ending which for me is what kind of I remember just being like they did it they did it they did it but that was one like I just saw opening day in an AMC a lot of people have popped their heads up out of the sand And recently I've been like, I didn't care about past lives in the first place.

31:48I'm like, all right, everybody. That's cool. That's great. You have an opinion. It's okay. Congrats. You know, start your own podcast. And then the last one, I'm just going to be honest, La La Land, which I saw in the Arclight Dome. Yeah. And again, like one of the - Why? Are you ashamed? You know, we've gone back and forth with La La Land as a society. Okay. And like, I understand where everyone is. But again, that ending, I guess if you really nail the ending of a movie and I'm in a theater and I'm just like, wow, I can't believe this happened. But on like the largest screen possible. I don't see Babylon on your list.

32:23As I said, I had some thoughts about the ending of that, but the middle two hour is really good. Okay. Let's do the next question. Newton asks, I'm an English teacher at a tiny school and recently got the okay to teach an elective intro to film class next semester. I'm building the curriculum now and would love some advice. I'm designing the course as a genre study, focusing on a different genre each week and the thematic questions each genre is specifically capable of addressing, with an emphasis on classic or all-timer films in the genres. Do you have any recommendations for high school students that are approachable, rich, and perhaps can canonically...

33:03I can't read, Sean, because you're highlighting the talk. perhaps canonically important for the following genres horror coming of age and romance i'm known to highlight the document often when i'm reading yeah just a tick that i have and i did it to jack and i apologize so i the way that i would do this where i where i a professor would be i would choose one film from each decade that i think meaningfully represents the transition so you could say or you know roughly the decade right so for horror it's fairly simple you know it's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, it's Halloween, it's Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th.

33:44These are just American films. You could also do the international version of it. It's Scream, it's, you know, maybe the Rob Zombie Halloween, for example, to show like a kind of shift in transgression. You know, it's not, I think it would be fairly simple to locate them. You just kind of need to figure out. You don't need to be condescending. This is a cool question. and I'm really excited for all these people are very lucky that they get this class yeah and a thoughtful teacher so you just relax sounds like this teacher maybe should be working a little harder asking podcasters to design their curriculum for them I mean I don't you know what's this what's this fellow's name you know Newton maybe time this is why this is why we can't take you anywhere maybe time to hit the books this is why we can't take you anywhere okay so what are your coming of age picks it depends on how far back you want to go I mean you could start with American Graffiti I think you could start with The Graduate start with The Graduate yeah but American Graffiti was also my 70s pick as well well you could start with like Old Yeller you know I'm trying to think there were not as many movies in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s made about children that adults would want to watch most of the children's entertainment made at that time your little rascal stuff was just for kids.

35:06So the coming of age movie the movie about people between the ages of like 12 and 20 I think is really more a convention of 60s into new Hollywood. So Graduate is a good call. I think American Graffiti. My first thought as well. A John Hughes for 80s. Breakfast Club for sure. That seems right. 90s coming of age what would be your choices? What were the big ones? They get a little stratified into genre. Like now and then. Sure. It's the girl version. The Sandlot is the sports version. I don't know. Is there a classical? Clueless. Stand By Me is a good one. Clueless is a great one. Yeah. That's a great shout.

35:44Yeah, yeah, yeah. 2000s. I mean. Fast Times, I forgot to mention that. Sure. That's also one that could go in the 80s. 2000s, super bad, clearly. I guess Virgin Suicides we put in 2000s. But really, Annie Sophia, Lost in Translation. Ghost World. Marie Antoinette. Yeah. 2010's Lady Bird probably the best one yeah there's a lot of them okay romance this is my kryptonite yeah well so we're gonna do both romance and romantic comedy okay so it happened one night I mean it's like not you're right that it's then I would definitely go into Casablanca I would put in Brief Encounter sure what's our 50s pick um Maybe one of the Billy Wilder movies, like Sabrina, something like that.

36:33Yeah. Though, I mean, like, for that one, you want to do The Apartment, which is 60. Yeah, that's 60. But that's okay. So, 60s romance. Dr. Zhivago, something like that. Yeah, or My Fair Lady, even though you're anti-Audrey Hepburn, which is your own thing. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's not what I would want to be teaching my daughter either, had I had it. daughter 70s love story yeah it's a pretty big one uh way we were 80s um ghost ghost good good yeah it's like a huge one well is ghost or ghost might be 1990 uh what else 80s wise romance romantic comedy i mean when harry met sally is 89 so that obviously ghost is 90 um pretty woman is also 90.

37:26Let's see. English Patient, 96. Oh, Moonstruck. Oh, sure. Yes. Thank you. One of the greats. 2000s. A tough time for romances. Why was that? Because... Because of the presidents? Because they gave up on women, as they always do. What about... And probably also the presidents. they definitely gave up on women. 2000s romances. The Notebook. Yeah. Thank you. That's the signature. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And of the last... 2010s, 50 Shades of Grey. Phantom Thread. Mm-hmm. Good one. Did we mention Sliver? No. I don't know. I think we did good. Those are good movies. Yeah. I think we did really well. Okay.

38:17I want to do, for the horror question, And my intention around the 90s is to do the 90s horror movie canon with CR for I Know What You Did Last Summer. Oh, that's fun. Because they're, I guess it's a reboot and not a remake, even though it seems very similar in structure and style. Do you have any feelings about Madeline Klein? You know who that is? I'm Googling now because I do, but I, oh, no, I don't. Who is this? She's one of the, oh, Outer Banks. Yeah, so Outer Banks is, I thought that it was a reality show until fairly recently. And then I learned that it's not. And I know Drew Starkey is also of Outer Banks fame.

38:57He is. So she was also one of the stars of Glass Onion. Okay. I kind of memory hold that one. Okay. Glass Onion, not on the line. She was the young girlfriend. Yeah. And she's the star now of this new, I Know What You Did Last Summer film. Okay. I guess she's sort of in the Sarah Michelle Gellar part, even though she's being pitched as the lead. And Jennifer Love Hewitt was really more the lead of the original film. 90s horror, though, I bring that up because it's a really funky decade. Obviously, everybody remembers Scream and they remember this movie and Urban Legend and a bunch of others that came in the aftermath, Final Destination.

39:33Yeah. But 1990 through 1996 is like a little bit of a wasteland. So I think it might be a fun exercise to do to kind of dig up what our faves are. All right. Anyway, moving on. Was that good, Newton? Did we write your whole syllabus for you? You're welcome. What's next? Newton, I think that it's great that you're shaping the minds of tomorrow. And this sounds like a cool class. And Sean's a dick. Trying to get an adjunct position right here. No, I'm just trying to encourage people. Jesus Christ. If you need more money, just tell me. All right? I do. You don't have to go back. I need more money.

40:05That's why you're on Instagram. Okay. Next question. Kevin's coming in with a little bit of heat here. He says, I think it's become a cliche for you guys to say on the big picture and rewatchables that you've seen certain movies 50 to 100 times. I'm curious to hear what are the five to 10 movies that each of you genuinely think you've seen the most in your life and how many times you actually think you've seen them. Well, Kevin, that's how cable works. Yeah, Kevin, watch your mouth, you know, just relax. All right. We saw these movies a lot. Nobody's lying here. Yeah. And if we are exaggerating.

40:37All right. What are you going to do? Put me in prison? No, it's just a podcast. everybody just settle down. There are a lot of movies that I have seen at least 18 minutes of well over 100 times. In college, especially, you just put a movie on and just let it play. Right. I assume people are still doing this. Yeah, it's called Netflix and chill. Sam says no. Oh my, okay. That's a whole other conversation down the road. So in college, people are no longer just putting a movie on and letting it roll in the background while you drink, you know, Natty Lights and smoke a bowl. That's just not a thing that happens anymore.

41:14I guess that's why we don't make comedies anymore. That's, wow. Yeah. You nailed it. That's the problem. It's tough. God damn it. God damn it. Gen Z did it again. Okay. I'm not going to let Sam solely speak on my behalf because that is not the case for me. I had a great time recently watching, what was the movie that we hate? Salt Burn. Salt Burn. Throwing on Salt Burn, getting really drunk playing cards and just being like, look it's the time when barry kilgan does this thing so so great a great dorm room movie in so many ways um i so between that and also being a latchkey kid yeah i watched so many movies dozens of times and i'm not afraid to say that i'm not exaggerating and i'm probably in this role in my life for that reason i i honestly at some point just wrote down all of the movies that i had vhs's of oh that's that's the other thing yeah is that if you owned the movie or you taped the movie off television, which I'm sure we both did.

42:10So I just did it off the dome list. Our lists are perfect snapshots of our formative times. Ones I watched over and over again, Clerks, Big Lebowski, Seven, Die Hard, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, Goodfellas, Godfather. That's the bro canon, right? But then also turning 16 and getting into cinema, watching Citizen Kane over and over again, watching Wizard of Oz over and over again, watching it when I was five and then watching it a lot as I got older. Those are the ones that jumped to my mind immediately. I'm sure there's more on the list. Like Fargo is probably on the list for me there too.

42:43Yeah. What's on your list? You've got Mail and When Harry Met Sally, the two Nora Ephrons, Devil Wears Prada, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Singing in the Rain, which I think was true even before I introduced it to my son. But these are all a manned movies and not just movies I've watched 45 million times. That's the other thing. I didn't even add that part. Bridget Jones's Diary, Sound of Music, Father of the Bride, the Charles Starr and Nancy Myers version, My Best Friend's Wedding, and Apollo 13. Apollo 13, I had the VHS. It's one of the great personality tests of all time, that question. What are the movies you've seen more than 50 times?

43:14Okay, Taylor. Got another question? Taylor asks, my question to you is about huge blind spots in your movie watching lifetime. Sean has mentioned not seeing Mamma Mia, and I imagine Amanda hasn't seen The Exorcist or something. Any glaring omissions that people might be surprised you haven't seen? So what I did just now is I just pulled up my watch list on Letterboxd to answer this question. I currently have 2 ,584 films on my watch list. Okay. Do you like living this way? I'm very content. Okay. No, you're not. I am. I think you think I'm not happy or something. Okay. Go ahead. You used the word thriving on the show last week.

43:57And I felt a chill of resonance. Oh, that's great. That's nice. It's because we're happy at home with our small children. Yes, we have that part of our life. Very lucky. Yeah. So the first, this is very strange. Okay. In fact, there must be a glitch in the Matrix. Yeah. But the first two films right now in the watch list are both directed by the man who also directed Die Hard with a Vengeance, which I just shouted out. And I haven't seen either of these movies. Medicine Man and Basic. Okay. I've never seen either of these movies, even though I'm a huge John McTiernan fan. These are considered two of his lesser efforts.

44:34I've heard Basic is absolutely crazy. Right. There's a great Blank Check series about McTiernan's films. McTiernan also was involved in some of the sordid surveillance activities. He went to prison for a stretch. You know, Die Hard, Predator. He wrote a Thomas Crown sequel in prison. Yes. Make it. Unproduced. Yeah. McTiernan is truly great, but I haven't seen these movies. Lorraine Bracco and Sean Connery, do they have chemistry? That's not like The Exorcist, though, which I don't think I've seen. I don't have a lot of those blind spots. I have recently watched Poltergeist, but I haven't seen The Exorcist.

45:06Okay. Let me see if I can, even just on this page, if there's one that is particular. What are some others for you? I mean, what are the canonical horror movies? I don't think I've seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Okay. What about something outside of a genre that you haven't pursued? Like, is there an all-time romantic classic or a musical or just a pure comedy that you're like, oh, it's on my list, but I haven't gotten to it? I'm trying to think. Let's see. I mean, clearly there are a lot of musicals. I was listening to, speaking of another podcast, I was listening to You Must Remember This, which had that great season about the old man is still alive.

45:45And it was like the great golden era Hollywood filmmakers making films in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. And I believe Vincent Minnelli was a subject of one episode. And he just made so many goddamn movies. Yeah. And Kareem Longworth is going through the films that he made from his glory period all the way through his 60s. And I was like, I just haven't seen like 10 of these movies. So when you hear that. Right. I mean, I have those for pretty much every single director. A musical that just popped to the top of my head because I think they recently showed it at Vidiot's and I was like, oh, I wish I could have gotten Victor Victoria.

46:18Oh, yeah, sure. And I am a Julie Andrews head in a big way, but haven't seen that for some reason. Directed by her husband, Blake Edwards. Yeah, let's see. Oscar nominated. What other genres did you just throw out for me? That's a really good one. That's a good example. I know. and I really wanted to go see it. And that's another thing, like rep theaters are amazing of, you know, we were talking about the 70 millimeter festival. I have seen 2001, but I've never seen it on a big screen. So I bought tickets to that and I'm going to get to go see it projected, which is I think like the whole point.

46:42Will you have a gummy? Um, I don't know. The way your parents did. You know what? like I, my, my parents didn't. So. Never smoked, no smoking grass before 2000. I don't think my mother ever has. And. Has your, either of your parents ever used the phrase we smoked grass definitely not but i mean my parents are slightly more uptight you you know i love them very much okay um i don't really like gummies you know i see so i don't more like ketamine maybe yeah that's it i just i like good old-fashioned alcohol will i try to go to r &d kitchen before yes i feel like there's a huge difference between gummy and one and a half margaritas at r &d kitchen just well that i wouldn't have margarita Yeah.

47:28What would you have? Three glasses of rosé? No, that's too many because then you're just like a little drunk and loopy. Not more than a little. I would have a Negroni. Classic Negroni, though. The Hillstones thing, the one thing they're Negroni, they're trying to put vodka in the Negroni. Like, no thank you. That's what they do at Hillstone? That's their recipe. I feel like you have to make a couple phone calls to that corporation. Well, I just, I asked for a classic Negroni. You know, now that the Negroni is popular, everyone's trying to do their spin. No, we do classic. Okay. Thanks for sharing.

47:58I accidentally forgot to order a martini with a twist the other day, and they put olives in it, and I almost wanted to throw it in the garbage. So olives are a no for you? In a cocktail? No way. But will you eat them? Stuff I like. Just stand alone. I don't hate it. It's not like a mustard thing? I like a tapenade. Oh, you do? I do. Just smear some tapenade on a piece of bread. You never know with creams, dips, spreads, what's going to be a yes and what's going to be no for you. There's nothing white in a tapenade, you know? That's true. I don't want a cream-based tapenade. I just want pure olives.

48:33You like mayo. Actually, you will eat it in the right circumstances, but it's mustard that you won't actually have, which I still think makes you a sociopath. Where are you on pimento cheese? I like. Yeah. But lactose intolerant. So complicated. Okay. All right. A hot cheese? No problem. Melted cheese, A+. Okay. Cold cheese, a little dicey. Okay. Got to use sparingly. Do you think that's about the lactose or is that about the temperature? That's what they say. Oh, because it's breaking it down. Okay. This is what I've learned in my exploration into lactose knowledge. Got it. Okay. Anyway, this has been helpful.

49:13What's the next question? Grayson asks, over the years, I've had so many negative cinema experiences because of people talking, people on their phones, etc. I've never heard you talk about these kinds of things. I'm wondering if this is much of an issue for you. And if so, how do you deal with it? I've had some incredible movies ruined by rude people. I'm having a bit of a turning point with this experience in my life. Now, there's two things at play. One is everyone, myself included, is more addled by their phone than ever. They feel the need to look at their phone all the time. It really hit hard for me after we had Alice because I was like, is everything okay at home?

49:52Yeah, yeah, yeah. For the first two years of her life. So I was always kind of trying to make sure that everything was fine. Then over time, you're just like constantly looking at social media and it, you know, invades your brain and attaches it to yourself and you can't not look all the time. So that's one. Two, I had this experience on Friday. I saw 28 years later off the plane, long, crazy morning, and it was a little harder than usual to retain the information from the movie. Now, I never take notes during movies ever. I need to start doing that. How will I do that? I don't really like to write in the movie theater, and I don't want to have one of those pens that has a light on it.

50:30But then I would want to use a notes app if I can and I'm not disturbing anyone near me. But one, it's incredibly difficult to not disturb someone when your phone is out. And I don't like when other people do it to me. And two, if you look down, you're not looking at the movie and you're missing things. and I felt myself even watching 28 years later like trying to look down at something and then because I was in the theater all by myself and then look back up and I was like oh I just missed like 12 seconds and that was important what I missed there and I'm bringing all of that up to say that I feel that I'm a very respectful movie watcher I don't disturb other people I try to be very quiet I try not to look at my phone historically and I know that this is something that is bugging people more and more and it's an impediment to movie going but I also know personally that like it's hard It's increasingly hard to do the job that we're doing and get it right.

51:19And people all the time when we make mistakes are like, why are you guys such fucking idiots? And two, that people are just addicted to their phones. Like, it's just a fact. And so in the movie theater experience, for example, I'm sorry, I'm rambling. Just go with me. This has been on my mind recently. We saw Elio yesterday and we saw it in an iPick. And I sat next to Alice and we were in a pod. And in those pods, you can just look at your phone. Nobody else can see you. Everything is blocked around you. You're not disturbing anyone by doing it, especially if you turn the brightness all the way down.

51:47And so there are, like, increasingly environments being created where you can look at your phone while you're in the movie theater. Right. So, like, they gave me the Wi-Fi password when I walked into the movie theater. Right. Well, that's because it's in a basement. Yeah. It is in a basement. Yeah. So all this to say. Yeah. May I speak on this? Yes, you may. I mean. Sorry. Yeah. No, it's complicated. I mean, the larger issue is that like the social contract is broken, like writ large. And it's just not it's not just at movie theaters like people are like using their phones and just like taking phone calls like blasting music, like just just being rude in in phone and non phone related ways everywhere all the time.

52:31Like we forgot how to be around people or be respectful of people. And that sucks. So I wish everyone would just like be a little more thoughtful to everyone else. I'm with you on the, I mean, last week, Zach was out of town. And so I needed to see a few movies for work. But like I was, and I, you know, our nanny was with the kids. But like if someone, if they need me, like it was me. You might have to leave it at any moment. Like I was the parent on call. So, you know, I turn the brightness down. I try to see movies at times when I'm not going to be like in a packed theater. And I do also try to pick seating in a way where like there aren't people behind me.

53:09That doesn't mean that I'm like suddenly on Twitter all the time. I'm never on Twitter. But I turn the brightness down and I just kind of like have it so that if like a call pops up. You can look. I can take it. But otherwise, I'm like not looking at my phone. But that's just kind of how life is right now. So in the same way that people need to be respectful of other people, like you also got to give people a little grace, you know? I agree. Don't be a loud asshole wherever you are in life, whether it's at the movies or not. Did you clock the person sitting next to me at F1? No. So we went to see F1 last week and we went to an influencer screening.

53:46Yeah. And I was sitting next to a really young guy. He honestly seemed like he was 19. Yeah. And he looked at his phone, I would say, 75 times during the screening. Now, he looked at it really up close to his face and his brightness was extraordinarily low. Right. So there was no light really emanating from the phone. But even the act of pulling the phone out and getting it close is a distraction. Of course. And I could tell that he was just a kid who was just addicted to his phone. And I'm like, there's nothing there that could have possibly happened for you. Right. With the repeated usage that you're doing.

54:18But it is indicative of a direction that we are heading that is actually a challenge to movies. And a challenge to life in general. Yeah. And, you know, it makes me nervous about, like, our kids. Like, Cy is eight months old and knows exactly that the phone is the most valuable commodity and crawls towards it. I watched him chew on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, part of that is that he wants to chew on anything right now. But no, he spots it and it like crawls towards it. So that doesn't really help Grayson, who's just trying to like watch a movie without someone watching TikToks. But here's one thing that we can do.

54:55Headphones or silent. No projecting music. Nobody wants to hear it. Nobody wants to hear it at a restaurant. Nobody wants to hear it on public transportation. No one wants to hear it at the beach. keep your Bluetooth speakers at home. Listen to the ocean. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Were you saying that Jesus Christ is making the sounds of the ocean? I mean, he might be, you know? And where else are we going to experience him but at the ocean? That's great. But I, so the, turn the sound off. Turn the sound off on your phone. All of you, all of you children, TikToking, turn the sound off. This is also like, I don't understand why people are so good at like - Gen Z mommy arrived.

55:33Well, all of the voice messages, you know, like when are we listening to that? Because I'm constantly using my phone in places where I'm not supposed to be using it, where I need silence. So think about that, you know? No sounds. Boom. Okay. You're welcome. Next question. Can I add one thing before we move on? Sure. You absolutely can. Are we being too old? No, not at all. I was just going to say we talked a lot about phones, but not about people talking, which I find to be the much more distracting issue in a movie theater. Because I understand, like, if you're a mom, if you're a dad, you need to check your phone, you just pull it out, five seconds, check a text, put it away.

56:12That's not really a big deal to me. The issue is people narrating their inner thoughts aloud whilst watching a movie as if they're on their living room couch. I had an experience at the Academy Museum. It was Moneyball. Bennett Miller was there, did an intro. and him and his family sat next to my girlfriend and I and they watched the film. Bennett Miller said it was the first time he'd actually watched the film since it had been made. It was really cool. And the people sitting directly behind me talked aloud almost the entire movie. Not at like a loud volume, but loud enough to where I could hear them say, Brad Pitt is so sexy.

56:46And I had to turn around and tell them like, can you please stop talking? And even in the most polite way, you could just tell that they were frustrated by me telling them that. But I don't know any other solves other than telling people politely that it's not okay to talk during a movie. I think that's crazy that people do that. I do. But that is also, I do think that's like not a movie specific problem. I mean, don't do that. But it's just like, don't be the person who can't read the room and is not aware that you're disrupting other people. Unless, unless, unless it's a horror movie. And when someone yells, don't go in there!

57:22Like, then that's great. I actually love that. And I think like cheering and some level of audience participation is okay. Also, listen, Sean and I will tell each other one or two jokes. So quietly. But we're like very quiet. And it's not running commentary. Agreed. But I'd say we're fairly, it's basically a one liner. Yeah, that we've been working on. But it is funny. It's usually like, oh, I wrote that piece of music for the movie. I chose it. I re-recorded this just for you. Don't you just ruin the joke. You know, you just broke the spell. by saying it out loud. But every time, it's funny. It's like, that's my trumpet solo.

57:58Anyway, you know, be aware. Just like, have some respect for other people. I wish you could have seen Chicken Jockey with me. Well, I mean, that's the other thing. I'm sort of like, if you're going to a Minecraft movie with teens, Yeah. But that's me at one battle after another. I liked it. Throwing popcorn on everybody. Jack Black had to like, record a message being like, don't throw popcorn. And, And like the all the I felt bad for the theater workers. But otherwise, I think it's pretty funny that 10 year olds were just fully like chicken jacking out. I thought it was fun. So, you know, I don't want people dumping food on people's heads or anything like that.

58:36Right. But it was, you know, it was it's it's a movie made for 10 year olds. It wasn't fucking La Strada. You know what I mean? You were in Minecraft. It is what it is. I agree. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Life is all about choices. For example, what happens when you show up at the movies and you're not totally sure what you want to see? Maybe Final Destination Bloodlines, maybe Lilo and Stitch. You've got to make a choice. At State Farm, their goal is to help you make decisions that you feel good about. That's why with the State Farm Personal Price Plan, you can choose the right amount of coverage to help create a competitive price.

59:09Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Okay, what's the next question? We have a pair of questions One specifically for Sean One specifically for Amanda Tucker asks Sean, what is your system for giving a star rating on Letterboxd? It seems random, but that seems unlike you And Andrew asks for Amanda What do you think of Sofia Coppola's daughter Romy Mars' music career?

59:48Have you heard A-lister, bop, or gnaw? I'll go first Yeah I try to rate every single at least every single new movie that I see over the year unless a person I know worked on the movie if a person that I if you see a new movie that's come out that I haven't rated that I've logged it's usually because I feel like I can't objectively have an opinion about it right right I don't rate right away after I log for two reasons one I'm often embargoed when I see movies to I do log it in my private document, but not on Letterboxd. So like I make my rating and then I'll add it to Letterboxd well after our episode has come out because I want people to listen to what we have to say on the show, which we talked about.

1:00:38My system is like, it's not complicated. One of the things I like about Letterboxd is it gives you this rule of 10 quality where five stars with halves is a one through 10. So every movie is a one through 10. I remember vividly we had our deep brutalist conversation and I made a joke that was not a joke to you which is I was like this is a four and a half star movie. It's not my favorite movie of the year. It's not my favorite movie for the decade. It's not a perfect movie. It has its flaws. It's a nine out of ten. That's like a very comfortable place for me to think organizationally categorically and emotionally about how I feel about a movie.

1:01:13Did it get me to that like top register or what would I take away from it. Not a lot of movies for me. get one star. If a movie gets one star or less. What is one star on your letterbox right now? Like I think Free Guy is probably one star. I mean I could dig into my stats but like that usually means that I think it's a deeply cynical thing that has happened. Okay. And kind of corrosive to society ultimately. So I've logged since 2020 3 ,752 films. Congratulations. Thank you. Sort by your rating lowest first. I gave Doolittle half of a star. You were so mad when we saw that. That was one of the last pre-pandemic movies.

1:02:01And you were really pissed. I remember that. We saw that together. Garbagio. Yeah, we saw that at the Arclight. Black Adam, half of a star. Never saw that. Trolls, I gave one star. Oh, the original Trolls. The original Trolls. Not Trolls World Tour. No, though we did do an episode about that. I'm sure that's why I watched Trolls. I gave Ryan Murphy's The Prom one star. That was quite unfortunate. I have a very angry Man of Steel review. Oh, you guys were really big mad about that. Yeah, I guess we'll talk about that. That's an offering of things. Okay, is Kevin Costner the dad in Man of Steel?

1:02:34He is. Actually, that star is for his performance, which I believe I cited in my review. Okay. So thanks for remembering that. There's a whole, Madam Web, that was one star. Argyle, that was a one star. I think that you have lost your ability to experience fun if Madam Web is a one star. It's at least one and a half. The Pepsi can. Come on. Why is she holding it like that? To me, that's not purposeful and interesting. And I don't like relish bad. I don't really either. But sometimes it can... Can left your experience with it. I get it. Yeah. I get it. And I don't begrudge people who are like, bad movies make me happy.

1:03:10I typically am not... Like, I don't find joy in incompetence. This understatement of the century. But I thought that, oh, Fast X, yeah. Again, big man, Sean Fennessey. Yeah, one star. Put it in the newspaper. Don't put it in the newspaper. Put it on the podcast. Okay. Okay, my question. Absolute bop. Yeah, come on. Let's be real. Let's go. Haven't heard it. It's good. It's called A-Lister? It's A-Lister. And it's about, well, what is it about? I think it's sort of about dating or meeting a movie star or something. It is self-aware. The first time I heard it, I was like, what's going on here? This is like a little strange.

1:03:55And I, but it, it has the bones of a good song. I like the production choices. I like the way that she's, you know, like I like that. I don't know what we would call the R's that she's doing, whether it's like vocal fry or, but there is some sort of like speech thing in the way that she's singing. Yeah. Her mom directed the music video. Like, I don't really know. She's 18. I think so or maybe 17 good god well she's a third generation Coppola you know I get it and also her father is Thomas Mars that's young to be thrust into that I mean I guess Sophia was as well I think she thrust herself obviously she was in Megalopolis and she is innocent of any charges there and also sure she was in English might be time to rewatch that did you watch English Teacher?

1:04:40the FX show? a couple of episodes yeah she's in one of them and it's funny so I'm pro and again And that TikTok of being grounded because she tried to charter a helicopter. And then everything about that TikTok is spectacular. She has real gifts. So I'm pro. Great. I'll have to listen to A-Lister. What's next, Jack? Mike asks, I am one of the sickos who listens and loves every episode of The Big Picture, but who goes to the movies just once or twice a year due to work, family, etc. which yet to be released 2025 movie would you most recommend for someone who loves seeing a popcorn blockbuster in the theaters i mean i haven't seen right jurassic world superman or fantastic four right and i have not seen avatar 3 my my gut tells me avatar 3 would be the answer to this question because the avatar movies in the in a movie theater whether you like the stories or not are usually an incredible visual feast.

1:05:41It's a great popcorn bucket movie. Yeah. I mean, the other answer is F1. That's what I was going to say. Yeah. I think the actual answer for what is your kind of core text, and we're giving away some of our feelings for Friday's episode, but that movie delivers on a very specific Jerry Bruckheimer formula of fun time at the movies. Yes. And I think you're right. I think that's probably the answer. Now, it's possible those July movies will be very satisfying. in that same way. But F1 has that like, we know where this is going the whole time. Right. Everything is very exciting. The set pieces are like electric.

1:06:18Thrilling. And you want to, and it's just, I don't think it would play as well on, like at home. Not exactly an intellectual feast, but a fascinating production for a variety of reasons. Yeah. So I agree with you. I think F1. Okay, let's do a couple more and then we'll talk about Elio and the dragon movie. Cordero is coming in with some Bill Simmons commentary potentially. Are we sure Tubi is a good thing? As much as I appreciate a free streaming service having the original 1922 Nosferatu, is it a good thing for it to continually be interrupted by Febreze and Tide commercials? I say yes. To me, access is everything.

1:07:03if something is available it's better than it being difficult to find for anyone and 2B anybody being able to have 2B on their laptop their iPad, their phone, their set top box, whatever however they choose to watch that service even if it has commercials I mean we grew up watching movies supported by commercials on TNT and ABC, NBC all the you know local channels were all airing movies on the weekends so I don't think it's a bad thing at all. Nosferatu is an interesting one right it's like it's in the public domain now because it's over 100 years old so you should be able to get it anywhere you should be able to get it in your library you should be able to get it anywhere online it should be free there's something dystopian about a Tide commercial appearing in the middle of an airing of Nosferatu but I think it's good I simply will not do it I absolutely I will not watch any commercials in my streaming stuff like absolutely not I have quit series because they're unavailable like or I wasn't subscribed okay like I have a zero tolerance just because you find it annoying yeah I just like I don't have the time or patience for this.

1:08:03I know there's another way. Would you advise people do the same for podcasts? I mean, no. But listen, I just, I can't do it. And I think your point about access is good, but libraries is, I think Nosferatu should be available on library. I've been trained to expect no commercials. I thought this was all about feeding your children. It is about feeding my children, but he's asking as a consumer, you know? Good to know. So there we go. Marxist Amanda yeah next question I think this is a fun one this is from Aiden if you were an emerging A-list talent who are the three directors you would work for right now to ascend to greatness

1:08:48well there's a there's there's a few obvious ones yeah right you could say if you could get the opportunity to work with Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, and Jordan Peele. Right. I mean, those are the answers. Right? That's what you would do. Yeah. Because they make big, accessible movies with big ideas that lots of people want to see. They are kind of the meeting point of art and commerce. Right? Sure. I mean, I would add... Is that the right answer, though? I mean, Christopher Nolan is like the number one answer. If your goal is to catapult yourself to fame, at this point, you want to be in the Odyssey, you know?

1:09:32Like, you want to see if you can do, like, a pickup as a person in a toga. Like, it's just like, I think you, like, show up with your own sheet, you know, and, like, see how far it gets you. But he doesn't really launch stars. He really uses a star system. Right. But I think there is something about if you are in the Nolan movie, like it's like cements something for you. And even when we were doing our movie star list, we were kind of like, oh, well, like this person whose name we know. And like, you know, Oscar winners, like, but we included them because they're going to be in the Odyssey. Right, right.

1:10:11So it's sort of like, and if this is your strategy, like, I think you got to angle for him. I was just reminded of when my husband Zach interviewed Ben Affleck and Ben Affleck was talking about they were doing the Matt Damon comparison and he's like I'm not not he was like I'm not saying no to people and he's like saying no Scorsese no Spielberg he's like it's not like I was saying no Scorsese no Spielberg I'm not going to be in your movie so Scorsese and Spielberg seemed to be two people that you know would also belong on the list Yeah, I think those are the two still active lions whose movies are still weighted as sort of events.

1:10:53Spielberg's box office strength has obviously been diminished a little bit in the last five years, even though I think he's making some of his best movies of his career. But he's now got a huge blockbuster alien movie coming next. So maybe he's looking to take the crown back in that respect. I don't know. You know, who is the most exciting? you know I think like Daniels and Sean Baker and Chloe Zhao and like the winners of Best Picture over the last five or six years I think is kind of an interesting thing to look at because those some of those filmmakers kind of seize the moment you know Sean Baker is probably just going to go make another Sean Baker movie right but he was able to catapult Mikey Madison right right right right into the A-list so there's definitely like a a rung of star you know I think I think Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was very good for Margot Robbie.

1:11:39Of course. For example, even though she was the third lead of that movie, that took her from like A - to A +, and then she capitalized on it hard with Barbie and then is now kind of in that, leading that inner circle. So, you know, there's always going to be filmmakers like that. And then there's always filmmakers who like, you know, like David Fincher doesn't make stars. No. He uses them. He also primarily makes movies for Netflix now, which I think is everybody else we just listed. I do think you want to be in theaters if you want to be catapulted. I think you're right. Listen, and I'm looking forward to the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel and all three Mindhunter movies that are allegedly happening.

1:12:25We'll see about that. According to one Holdmark McCallany interview. Yeah, we'll see about that. Okay, let's do one last question. Georgia asks because the biggest box office successes of the year have all been for the PG audience and primarily are sequels or remakes who is a filmmaker you think would make an excellent original movie for children interesting question so this was actually a point of discussion on the town this morning the rise of the PG movie it's something that I was hoping to talk about with Elio and How to Train Your Dragon so we can use this as a as a bridge to that convo. The PG question is fascinating.

1:13:05I think, you know, that group of people, Chazelle, Peel, Greta is making a Narnia movie. That's not original, but yes. Right, not an original. But they're all entering a phase where they either have children or going to have children. And they're going to start to think about what movies to make for their kids. You know, like, look at the arc of Steven Spielberg's career. Look at how he viewed childhood and parenting in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And then look at how he progresses through to E.T. And look at how he progresses through to Jurassic Park and Hook and all the other movies he made.

1:13:43So, I am always more interested in those kinds of people. You know, like, is Denis Villeneuve going to make, like, a warm PG original family comedy? Like, that's not, he's not going to make Mrs. Doubtfire. You know what I mean? I would watch Deni Villeneuve's Mrs. Doubtfire, but that's not really, it doesn't really seem like the kind of thing he wants to, I don't know, who am I forgetting? Who am I not thinking about? I mean, it's just really like our directors, you know? And I would like to see, I mean, Sofia Coppola makes movies for teenage girls, but, you know, Greta's already doing it. I don't know who, the other thing is like, I don't really want any of my favorite directors to make a movie for children.

1:14:21I want them to make a movie that I could also watch with my child. And maybe it would be a little inappropriate at times, but that's how we learned about the world, right? Which was just, you know, being like, are they doing ballet at home? And then you learn something new. They grow up so fast. Yeah. Speaking of growing up, let's get into it. Thanks for all those questions. You guys are the best. We really appreciate you listening so closely to the show and asking such thoughtful ones. Let's talk about Elio first. Elio is the new Pixar movie. It has three directors, sort of. We will explain what the sort of means, but Domei Shi, who directed Turning Red, Madeline Sharifian, and Adrian Molina, who was one of the writers of Coco.

1:15:05Now, the movie was written by Julia Cho, Mike Jones, and Mark Hammer, and features the voice work of Jonas Kibreyev, Zoe Saldana, Remy Edgerly, Brad Garrett, Jamila Jamil, and we hear the wonderful voice of Carl Sagan throughout this film. It's a space alien abduction adventure movie. Yeah. It is a slightly different flavor, I think, from any previous Pixar movie. But it is still very much an animated movie for kids. I took my four-year-old to see it yesterday. We're rounding up already. Well, we're less than a month away. I know. Two and a half weeks. I'm clinging on. Four. Yeah. I'm pumped. Where's my party invite?

1:15:45You know, it's supposed to go out today. Oh, that's so exciting. Yeah. So anybody out there who thinks they're friends with me and doesn't get that invite, I'm sorry. I want to let you know that you can just send it to me. You don't have to waste coins on the whole family. I see. Your husband doesn't read an email? Is that what you're saying? Well, I just, like, I went through this. But the paperless post coins, they're valuable. So it's okay. I'll alert the inviter, which is my wife, at least in this case. This movie was supposed to come out last year in March, and it got kicked to this year.

1:16:15Speculation in the industry is that it's sort of been dumped. Okay. especially because it was going neck and neck in the release calendar with How to Train Your Dragon which we'll get to shortly and it bombed at the box office it is the single and people have been quite snide about it yep it is the single biggest worst opening weekend in Pixar history people don't seem to care about this movie yeah I thought it was perfectly nice I thought it was fine I so it was funny we were talking about when to go see it and you kept pitching me on like you know I'm going to take Alice we're going to go on Sunday like you could come with us.

1:16:49And I, it just never occurred to me to take knocks to see this movie. And having seen it, I don't really think he's just too little still, you know, he's only three. Um, so I think that he would have been scared by it. And I did, I did have a moment of like, um, exist existential parental concern while watching it because it, you know, it's a classic Pixar story of like a child who has experienced experienced um a devastating loss and then has to you know work through circumstances and like and find a new community and i like that's a beautiful story and i and i thought the elio character was very cute and i like i was rooting for him and he's like a little weirder than your normal pixar guy and you know they're these like small little computer beings you want them to find love but i was like oh this is really upsetting and i don't know if i like want nox to experience this yet.

1:17:48But then I was like, oh, am I shielding Knox from all like the hard things in the world? And does he have to learn about emotions somehow? But then I was like, does Knox have to learn about a situation in which both his parents die? And so and he doesn't have any friends. And so he has to get abducted by aliens in order to understand love. Like, is that what I need to be teaching my three year old? And ultimately, I ended on no. So well, it's entertainment. You know, This isn't exactly like opening a geometry textbook. I think... But is it entertaining? If you want to use the parlance of Roger Ebert, I think a movie like this can create empathy.

1:18:28Sure. That you don't have to see everything of the world about yourself and Elio's experience and what he is struggling with. Right. But it can teach you to feel something. And, you know, a movie like this is actually quite powerful to see through a child's eyes. Saw it with my daughter. She was locked in. She really, really liked it a lot. and much more than I did, that's for sure. And my wife was bored to tears during this movie. Okay. At the end of the film, there's a critical choice that Elio has to make between one community and another. Right. And Alice turned to me in the movie, much as you would turn to me to, you know, deliver a snide one-liner, and she said, I really hope Elio goes back with his family.

1:19:07That's nice. And to me, the movies can teach you to understand the world and your feelings in that way. Like I take that very sincerely. And I was like so moved to hear my daughter communicate that so clearly that she not only understood the story, but understood that the character was thrust into this position and had to make a meaningful choice. So, you know, do I want to have to explain to her how Ilio's parents died and what the circumstances were and how this is actually a product of a troubled production? and originally there was supposed to be a mother character played by America Ferrara who was then written out of the movie and then they replaced her with an ant character who was voiced by Zoe Saldana.

1:19:46Right. I didn't explain any of that to her. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If she's listening to this episode, hello Alice, you may enjoy that information. Huge America Ferrara fan. She thought her speech in Barbie was fantastic. She's seen Barbie? No, no. She really, really, really wants to see Barbie. Okay. Really, really, really. I'd like to be there when she does. Okay, maybe we can arrange that in nine years. Okay. so in that respect I thought it was okay to take a kid to I think it was fine to take a kid to I was more interrogating my own choices and my responses to these things and it's a little bit that question of so this is a PG movie instead of a G movie my child is three years old and so like how old is to you know is the right age and how serious you know of a movie do or like how serious the themes do we want to present to small kids and, and that's where, and I, and I agree with you that ultimately it's, um, it's positive.

1:20:43It's totally fine. I just was like, I don't know why I, my instinct was just like, no, absolutely not. So I think one of the reasons why that was the instinct of many people who opted not to see it is because we can get into whether the marketing was effective or not, what, what the state of the original animated film is per that last question in the mailbag. But to me, this movie, was very self-selecting in terms of the kind of story that it's trying to tell in a way that I think is a little bit de classe right now. It's a post-80s boys sci-fi movie. You know, it's right after E.T. there was this wave of movies.

1:21:20Flight of the Navigator, Mac and Me, Explorers, a whole list of movies that I saw in theaters when I was a little kid. And they were all, I loved them all. They were all great. I was a burgeoning sci-fi fan. But, you know, those films had very few female characters. Right. The perspective was very locked in on adolescent boys. The wonders of space and the idea of a friend beyond the world that you know, which E.T. obviously introduces in a big way to us. And this movie's right out of that playbook. And all the winks and nods, there's the analyst character named Melmac, which is the name of Alf's home planet from the TV show Alf.

1:21:57Kate Mulgrew being the narrator of the Voyager 1 museum, she of Star Trek Voyager. Right. Carl Sagan's voice being used at the beginning and the ending of the film. These are like Easter eggs for 45-year-old men? I guess you're right, but it did not read to me as particularly gendered as opposed to just very sci-fi coded. I mean, my response to this was like, E.T. and Star Wars exist, so why we can just show our children that? Yeah. but I did I didn't really feel like but like this movie doesn't really have any strong female characters in it aside from his aunt well his aunt who's like an Air Force pilot and she's ranking and she wants to be an astronaut she's very secondary to the story though maybe maybe that matters you know more to Alice but I didn't feel like I didn't feel like it was like this is like boy stuff only and I actually did think like the creature and the universe design was like very honestly like pink and purple coated yes very psychedelic but it was like it had like a lot of Lisa Frank in it to me which I like know is a color that is very popular with all small children including my son but definitely traditionally is like girl coated so I didn't really think that it was like exclusionary in that way it was more just that it was you're right like very sci-fi and if you're not into that you won't go see it and or you can watch E.T.

1:23:30and you can watch Star Wars. Which I thought of the cantina, all the creature design was very reminiscent of, but not quite as good. It's not. With the exception of my beloved Glorden. Yeah, Glorden, who becomes Elio's best pal and is the son of a brutal ruler in a far-off galaxy named Grygon, who wears a carapace to protect himself and battle. I don't know if I'd ever heard the word carapace said out loud. I haven't either. Yeah. So that was interesting to hear. I don't know. To me, I saw it in a tradition of like failed boy movies that Disney Pixar has been trying to do since the 70s. And that list of movies includes, and maybe I'm off base, but the Black Hole and Tron in the 70s and 80s.

1:24:21Titan AE and Treasure Planet in the early aughts. Tron Legacy, John Carter and Tomorrowland in the 2010s. Okay. There's like every 10 or 15 years, Disney and Pixar tries to capture this audience, this kind of Star Wars audience, with an animated film or a fanciful live action movie. And it basically never works. It never really pulls people in. And they keep trying it. And I think some of the issue here is that this movie's just not that great. It's really bottom tier Pixar. So that being the case, plus the fact that it isn't four quadrant, for lack of a better phrase, the way that Minecraft is right now.

1:25:00You know, like Minecraft has a boy lead and a girl lead and it has crazy Jack Black. You know, to me, it's trying to speak to as many people as it possibly can. And this movie felt a little bit more tightly focused. It doesn't make it a bad thing. It's just kind of something that is unusual. And there's been so much debate over what Pixar is now. I just thought it was kind of boring, honestly. Yeah. I mean, I wrote down here that you can kind of feel the mid-production shift in the story while watching it. Like it feels almost like the animated version of why aren't these actors in the same scene?

1:25:32Where you're like, oh, there was a reshoot where like one guy was in Tanzania and the other guy was in Cleveland. And they were having to like have a phone call together, but they can only film them separately because they were making another movie at the same time. It kind of felt like that. We're like pace is kind of off and a little rickety. It's very predictable. And yet my four-year-old loved it. Yeah, I was going to say. So, you know, whatever. Well, that's nice. That's good.

1:25:54I don't know if there is like a Pixar crisis so much. Okay, do you subscribe to the theory that putting Pixar movies directly on Disney Plus kneecapped their operation inside out to massive success notwithstanding? Probably, but at the same time, I think just the existence of Disney Plus. You know, it's like once you have the ability to watch all the stuff at home, then whether it's new stuff or whether it's watching Moana for the 85 millionth time, like that the behavior of watching movies just becomes recorded at home. So I don't know whether it's Disney Plus or, you know, brand new movie on Disney Plus because.

1:26:43But it's weird because like the outliers represent something unusual. Lilo and Stitch and Moana 2 and Inside Out 2 are massive. Right. Huge. And Lion King 2, the Mufasa film, also turned out to be a pretty solid hit. The pattern is no different from grown-up movies, which is that the really big movies are things that people decide like, oh, this is an event or like, oh, we recognize this or, oh, this is franchise. this is you know the the next installment of a thing I have 45 action figurine figurines of is something I go see and then everything else I wait till it's at home on streaming so how do we get sinners for kids movies well that's the thing yeah that's the real challenge I mean you have you find a generational talent with a great idea and give him like hundreds of millions of dollars and then it works.

1:27:37Like this is the, you know, I'm, I'm got to support the vision. Sure. Like I'm sinners is like incredible and an incredible success story. But I do think like we do it and ourselves a disservice by being like, well, how do we do another one? You know, it's like, you're not going to get another one. I'm just talking on a podcast. Well, I know, but I'm just saying, you know, you keep trying and then every once in a while, you know, then you get some, some Elio's. I almost said Luca's there, but I don't even remember what, I never saw Luca. Luca was released in theaters. It was an original. It is another in a long line of originals that have struggled somewhat.

1:28:10Obviously Raya and the Last Dragon, Turning Red, and there was one more that I'm forgetting right now that all more or less went either straight to or had short shelf lives onward, had a very short shelf life in the movie theater before COVID hit. So people have kind of gotten out of the habit of going to see the originals. That was another my parents died and then I had to be, I had to go to medieval times. uh sure yes that's what happened they went to medieval times i cried a lot the next movie that they're putting out is also an original hoppers there's a little apparently this is a stinger at the end of elio i assume you did not stick around you did not learn your lesson from sinners you did not wait for the post-credit sequence i did stay at the i stayed for a long time in materialism you're waiting for the huge record scratch this is actually a captain america movie they're all and they're at City Hall.

1:28:58He pulled off that button-down shirt he was wearing and revealed Cap's back. Materialist is a Cap 5 prequel. Hoppers is coming out March 6, 2026. Okay. The stinger, and I don't mind spoiling it right now, I think it was for Hoppers because they pitched Hoppers at the end of it with a title card, was a lizard pressing an emoji button on a phone that was the lizard emoji button. And every time he pressed it, it said, lizard, lizard, lizard, lizard. Did you guys see this? No? Okay, nobody saw this. I think that was for Hoppers, which I believe is about rabbits, but I don't know. Okay. That's in next March.

1:29:36Okay. Is that going to work? Lizard, lizard. Lizard, it's in my brain. Then Toy Story 5. Then another original called Gato in 2027. Okay. Then Incredibles 3, then Coco 2. Okay. And Adrian Molina, who was one of the co-directors of this movie, left this movie in the middle of it to go work on Coco 2, which you have to imagine is extremely important. Coco 2, I think, is probably the last mega sensation that Pixar had, the original mega sensation that Pixar has had. Yeah. It's Coco. Now, they did have Encanto, which became hugely popular, but was during COVID. Right. And was the Bruno. Yes. So some of that was the virality of...

1:30:12Yes. And you wrote that song. I did. And performed it. But my performance is only on, like, the soundtrack, not in the actual movie, you know? Oh, I see. So I wasn't eligible for an Oscar. Okay, that's tough. Okay, you and Diane Warren did this together. That was very special. I actually don't know if that's true. I don't know if you, if you, if like the performance soundtrack version for the movie is eligible for an Oscar or not. You know, if it's different than what's in the film. I don't know the answer to that. I think it will be tested probably for Sinners because Jamie Lawson sings a version of a song that Brittany Howard wrote in Sinners and then they, both of them are on the soundtrack.

1:30:51Which one do you want to hear Brittany Howard sing at the Oscars? Do you want to hear Jamie Lawson sing? Should they sing together? They should sing too. Well, no one should sing, but anyway, that's a different conversation. Non-sequel since Moana in 2016 from Disney, Wish, Strange World, and Kanto, Raya and the Last Dragon. Those four movies have made$255 million domestic box office combined. That's not a lot. That's a low number. If anyone wants to write me a check for$255 million, I say yes. That's very brave of you. Unexploited IP is really the new benchmark. Minecraft, Super Mario Brothers, Barbie.

1:31:26This is what people want. So what does Universal do? They go out and make a live action How to Train Your Dragon. And you know what? People wanted that too. Yeah. I didn't really want it. I thought it was not exactly what I want from the movies. I'll tell you why. Okay. I've already seen How to Train Your Dragon. It's pretty good. Okay. It's a nice movie. I also recently watched the original 2010 animated version with my daughter. She liked it? She liked it. She wanted more of the female heroine per this conversation we were just having. Astrid. Sure. I would say Astrid gets us, I felt, a slightly stronger role.

1:31:58She's played by Nico Parker in the new film. Yeah. And she gets to be more of a leader, more of a hero than I thought she was in the animated version. Yeah. Nevertheless, a lot of time spent with Hiccup, the star of the movie who's played by Mason Thames in this movie. Mm-hmm. We saw this all the way back at CinemaCon. Yeah, and I have never seen the original animated version. So I was just kind of like, what's going on here? It was also at 9 a.m. It was. In Las Vegas. It was. After a long, you were up till 6 a.m. doing ketamine, two hours of sleep, woke up, went right to how to train your dragon.

1:32:30Right. And then they trained some dragons. But, you know, also Gerard Butler did some pillaging. He did. Gerard Butler was the voice of the father character in the original animated film. And he reprises the role here in this movie. I think he's probably the best part of this movie, to be honest with you. Yeah, he was good. He's very engaging. I was like, hey, that's a star. I thought the dragons looked okay. Pretty good. But pretty good. The visual effects, I think, are strong. The movie is directed by Dean DeBlois, who was one of the co-directors of the original film with Chris Sanders. And I think they have converted the film fairly well.

1:33:04They've created a whole kind of Viking world. The problem is, it's almost exactly the same movie. Right. It's the same, more or less the same script, a couple of modulations here and there. And it's 35 minutes longer than the original. Right. Which is the same thing that happens in the Disney live action movies. Make it make sense. Why is that the case? Well, I mean, I haven't seen the original. There was a lot, as I said, of pillaging and a lot of like Viking. And it felt like they were going for some sort of, hey, you liked Game of Thrones. You brought your kids to see the Northmen? Right. And you and I turned to each other and we said this is probably like a little too scary for our children.

1:33:46I did not bring my child. In a way that I think if it's animated, there is something, you know, fantastical about it versus watching people like galloping through at night. And it's like a little scary. So I didn't take. But maybe that adds some time. I don't know. You got to let all the horses run through or whatever. There were horses, right? Or were there? I don't remember. It wasn't how to train your horse. That's for sure. Well, no, but they were right. Were they riding horses in the battle scenes? I don't recall. Okay. It was 9 a.m. Yeah, that's true. The thing that is odd about this is that, you know, this playbook we thought was like totally dead.

1:34:26And then Mufasa very quietly made like$700 million. And then Lillow and Stitch came along and was totally blah and made another$700 million. Now this movie's come along and I think it's already at$365 million. And I understand why studios do this for money. Yeah. but it is bottom of the barrel creativity in my opinion it is creatively empty but can I can I give you a personal anecdote that speaks to the financial power of this certainly so the marketing for this one has been all over the place like in a in a good way they have they've been out there yep including in a in a crossover commercial with Bryce Harper for I don't I don't even know what else they're selling but it was played during Phillies games he's a like a health influencer now.

1:35:15He's eating all kinds of powders and things. I've noticed that. Everyone's eating powders now. That's something he does. Yeah, that's bad. We don't, because that's RFK coded and we're against that. Okay. You got to speak to Bryce about that and your beloved Philadelphia Phillies. I mean, I don't want to know how Bryce Harper is voted in the last something. Anyway, he was in this commercial and so was the dragon, Toothless. And my three-year-old son looked up and he noticed it. Like the first time it just played And then the second time he was like, who's that dragon? And then the third time we saw it, it went and he like whispered, I want to see the dragon again.

1:35:51And so now, courtesy of Universal, we have like the full set of the dragon toys in our home. Wow. And he loves the toys. Now, he like doesn't understand that they're connected to the movie. And he hasn't even asked to see the movie. But we've got all the toys. And at some point he's going to be like, can I see that dragon? again and i we will probably just go straight to the animated you know but it is reviving you know it's it's more money so they did their job i like he and he really likes the dragon does he have an awareness of dinosaurs yeah he's like pretty he knows about them today we found today we found in his school bag a dinosaur t-shirt that is not his you know that like got it got sent home got mixed up.

1:36:38That's fine. Interesting. But he stole a dinosaur t-shirt. But he clocked him and he said, that's a Tyrannosaurus. And I was like, I didn't even know that you knew that. So he does know about dinosaurs. This is a turning point. But we're going to New York in the summer and I told him that we could go to the Natural History Museum and see all the dinosaurs and I think he's like, that's scary. I don't want to see them. I don't want to be scared. You can just take him to the Natural History Museum in LA. We have done that and I think that that was scary for him. And then I was like, there's a big whale and he's like, I don't know about that.

1:37:08This is the reason that we did not go to see How to Train Your Dragon. I wouldn't say that Nox is like confronting his fears. Again, maybe I should have seen it, taken him to see Elio. Maybe I'm just creating, you know. It was a warmer story. A bubble. But he knows about dinosaurs. Yeah. No participation trophies for not seeing the dragon movie. He really, really likes these dragons. So, and I guess he likes dinosaurs. I think Toothless in particular looks really good in the live action one. Yeah. Because the design of that character in the animated movie is very... It doesn't look scientifically like you might imagine a dragon looks.

1:37:46It looks like a kid's character. Right, yeah. And he's very friendly. And that's why Nox... What's the other one called? Monstrous something? I don't recall. That's for Psy. I see. Yeah, I understand that. Because we had to separate them. So Psy got the more colorful one. And then Nox got all of the toothless. Wow, we're into like dragon toys era. Yeah. For me, this is very fun. Here I am. This is going to be exciting. I think I'd be, I really want to know what he thinks of the animated movie, whether he clings to it or not. Yeah. We, he, he still doesn't know what to do with animated movies. So that's another thing.

1:38:17Like I think Zach tried Moana with it. Moana, Moana. I'm sorry. Moana. When we don't watch it. Wow. It's disrespectful to their culture. Zach tried it when people of Mota Nui. I know when they were doing, when he was doing the Dwayne Johnson piece that he did. And so they watched it. and Knox was just like what is this and like wandered off no he loves Robin Hood though you need to show him characters like that yeah that's true male hero characters in animated films but he really likes Sir Hiss so that's great he's like my friend Sir Hiss yeah that's like he gives the Dion Waiters performance in that movie Sir Hiss the Snake so that's all good that's just a sign of taste anything else you need to share about how to train your dragon or otherwise is there a kids movie this summer that I do want to take Knox to what do we got coming Eddington yeah we'll check in check in on that see how that looks I don't I mean Happy Gilmore 2 that's on the oh well Smurfs they just added Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm oh my god well I didn't get to go last time hold on I gotta buy tickets right now okay we're recording a podcast so why don't you worry about checking event status okay it's still going last time I missed it oh this is a this is a Saturday at 2pm though that's pretty tough for me.

1:39:38Should I take Knox to Gabby's Dollhouse the movie?

1:39:44I will. If I need to I will. You also Kristen Wiig that's not your flavor you know? Yeah yeah yeah so you take him that's fine. Alice is like what is that? Yeah I bet she is and then you're going to have a lot of dollhouses in your house. You know what she got into did we talk about I told you this yesterday She-Ra so we rented an old She-Ra movie from Videotech over the weekend. And then I just learned that there are five seasons of a She-Ra Princess of Power TV show on Netflix. And I'm like, I have to do whatever I can to avoid Alice discovering this. Oh, no. Because this will be the only thing I watch for the next 10 years.

1:40:18Okay. I don't think there's any other kids movies until there's a big one coming in the winter. Well, Wicked 2, obviously. And then Zootopia 2. Oh, right. Those are the two really big ones. Did you see the Celine Song Zootopia thing? I did. Yeah. What is the one movie you would recommend? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then she clarified And she was like, honestly, I just wasn't very prepared for that. I like that that's where her mind went. Well, she said she was like, it was a great answer. She was like, it's no one's fault. Everyone told me what it would be, but I wasn't prepared. And then I heard Desert Island is like, what movie would you want to watch over and over again?

1:40:52So she's like, Children of Men is my favorite movie. But I don't know if I were stuck on a desert island if that's the one I want to be watching over and over again. So I went with Zootopia, which I love. Great job. Just great. Have you seen Zootopia? You haven't. We went over this. No, but I did get a really great, remember the, and you told me what happened in it, but then I got an Instagram message that was like, Zootopia is actually about how the Reagan administration introduced crack into black communities in the 80s. Yep. Thanks to CR for sending me that DM. I thought that was incredible.

1:41:24So now I'm going to see Zootopia and I guess Zootopia too. It's incredibly exciting. Well, that's 800. Last episode. We're done here. We did it. You feel good? you feel good about what we accomplished yeah i feel great what's next what's 801 801 is number 17 on our 25 for 25 list oh yeah the only clue i will give is it's a funny one yeah so i hope people enjoy that conversation that'll be coming on wednesday thanks to everyone who's been listening along thank you for sending in your questions thank you for jack and sam for compiling those questions thanks to jack for being the producer of this episode and using his voice on this episode we'll see you on Wednesday