Because Spice (ft. guests Phil Lord & Chris Miller)

27:52I'm definitely going to type them all up on my invisible typewriter.

27:57I don't know what Tramiel Tillman's deal is as Bill, but I'm excited to see him in this. I'm excited to see him in everything. If he gives another line delivery like he did in Mission Impossible, I'm very excited for what he's bringing to the mix. Yeah, it's a very promising teaser. Indeed, it's just a teaser. We haven't even mentioned Mark Ruffalo in it as Bruce Banner. So I think he'll be the big, because all these Spider-Man movies aren't made by Sony, but they get one big guest star from the MCU. I don't think that John Bernthal as a Punisher is going to count as that necessarily. So it seems like this is going to be a Banner movie.

28:35He's going to be in it a bit more than the trailer would suggest. And will he Hulk out? Also, he's Banner. You science bros. I know. I know. He's going to take Tony under... Tony? Tony! Tony! He's going to take Peter under his wing the way that Tony took him under his wing. But they took each other under the wings. Yeah, they took each other. And then they started parcel tonguing and it was quite beautiful. Oh, no. I've written extensive short fiction about it. It's not short anymore, to be honest. It's a book. It's three books. Oh, boy. It's a quadrilogy. I mean, I have heard that the guy who plays Tony is now wearing Slytherin colors, so this all does check out.

29:14Yes, Izzy. But other things about this trailer that I thought were really good or notable at least they're using the Spider-Man animated series TV theme Spider-Man Spider-Man in an orchestral guise which is interesting because Michael Chiquino wrote a perfectly serviceable Spider-Man theme so use that that was damning with faint breath I love that Spider-Man theme just don't ask me to hum it no it's great I love it I strive for all my work to be serviceable my only sort of negative is I feel like it's quite gloomy color-wise. I don't love... It's a bad place. Yeah. Queens. Well, if you think about the bad place, it was actually quite colorful.

29:57I just feel like it could be a little brighter for me. Yes. But apart from that, this is a nitpick. Otherwise, I had a nice time. Also, I think some of the CG is not great. But apart from that, it's a trailer. It's a trailer. I'm sure it'll be totally fine by the time it comes around. Exactly. But still, exciting news. And of course, it's going to be now the prelude to Avengers Doomsday. and is he going to be in that? And a good thing, I would say, because more than any other Marvel film, honestly, this year and before, it feels like this is, if not a slam dunk, but certainly, you know, it's an odds-on favourite to be a good film, and I think they need this going into Doomsday.

30:34A big film, a good film, makes everyone very, very Marvel positive going into Doomsday, which, yeah, I'm pleased about. Do you think, unlike the three movies that came out last year, this will tickle the bill? I hope so. Which bill? Tramiel Tillman. Tramiel Tillman. love it fantastic that's what's going to happen with that alright so that's the Spider-Man brand new day trailer discussed let's move on now to the one everyone's talking about Jack Ryan Ghost War delayed gratification Jimbo you'll appreciate it when it comes around yes Jack Ryan Ghost War and this one is going to be on Prime Video in May not sure if it's hitting cinemas yet it is a continuation of the Jack Ryan show on Prime starring Jim from The Office John Krasinski as he sometimes John Krasinski that's right as Jack Ryan Jack Ryan thank you and oh what's happened there?

31:29I think that was me someone's just in the interference sorry that's right as Jack Ryan Jack Ryan yes thank you thank you Health Bells and this one looks exciting very exciting indeed it does I mean just because some of the first images from the trailer are clearly filmed at the old Royal Neville College in Greenwich, Chris. So that alone makes it a 10 out of 10 experience, I think. Yes, it'll be added to the tour. Indeed, indeed. No, I'm always here for some Jack Ryan silliness. The original Mary Sue or Gary Stu of fiction and cinema and TV is back, back, back. Do any of you watch the series? I have watched, I think I've watched all of it.

32:09I think I watched the last season. It must have really imprinted on you. No, well, look, I'm always here to watch, you know, John Krasinski running around being handsome with Wendell Pierce. Like, I don't need much more of a life than that. Yeah. It's a really great show. It had its wobbles. The first season of it's really good. The second season goes all over the shop. But it rallies and actually went out on a real high. I really liked it. Four seasons of this. 10 episodes? I don't have seen it, I think. 13 maybe? Look, Amazon have kind of cornered the market on dadcore programming. But this is the jewel in their dadcore crown.

32:39Even more than Richard. Honestly, yes. Don't get me wrong, I love Reach as a property. I think the series is a little bit wobbly. I don't know what you mean. I agree exactly. Indeed. I mean, isn't Reacher bigger than Jack Ryan? Physically, yes. Yes, he is literally bigger. His biceps are bigger than Jack Ryan's head. But Jack Ryan, it was a really good show when it was good, less so when it wasn't. But I think it went out on a high, so I'm actually really glad that they're continuing it in a film form. I didn't even know this was coming, or I'd forgotten it was coming. Very exciting. Wendell Pierce.

33:12I feel like we talked about it at one point. It had been announced, but the trailer came out of nowhere, and it hadn't been dated, and now it's been dated at some point in May. I wasn't paying attention, but it's in May. 20th, I think. 20th, or yes. And John Krasinski's in it, and yeah, it looks good. Yeah, it does. I'm here for it. Yeah, I do appreciate Jack Ryan movies, no matter how mediocre they may be. And yeah, this could be a good one. This could be, I mean, the series high is clearly clear and present danger, isn't it? I mean, it's clear. Honestly, I have never met a Jack Ryan film I didn't like.

33:47Really? Even Shadow Recruit? Even Shadow Recruit. I like all of them. Sunful Fears is fucking brilliant. Sunful Fears is really good. Yeah, I genuinely love them all. I don't hate Shadow Recruit. It's fine. If we were ranking them, that's the worst one. Helen, don't make me put a light bulb in your mouth. It's great. I beg your pardon? Is that part of Parseltongue? I don't know. I am so happy this movie exists for many reasons. I just want John Krasinski to have work he's a good guy he does alright you know but also we are getting closer to a Jack Ryan ranking and and we need you know this is we got two Fords I want an excuse to re-watch them we got a Baldwin we got a Pine we got an Affleck and now we got a Krasinski we got a six that's enough oh so we're ranking the people oh we're just ranking the Ryans we rank the films We'll rank the films.

34:41Okay, okay. If you're ranking the Ryans. Okay. I mean, film-wise, Claire and Peasant Danger, but Ryan Rice, Baldwin. I disagree. Actually, oh, I don't know. See, I think film-wise, Hunt for Ed October, but Ryan-wise, Ford. I like Krasinski's boyish energy that he gives that. I really do. I need to see the show. I need to see the show. You really do. You do, you do. All right, well, that's exciting. That's available for people to watch now and not in two-second installments. And also, this week, in other John Krasinski news, they have started filming on A Quiet Place Part 3 which is exciting and they added people to the cast so I don't know I don't know if he's returning guess not he was in the last one despite impediments from the first movie I'm trying to tiptoe around spoilers but he was back he's written and directed this one Emily Blunt is in this Cillian Murphy is in this Noah Jupe fresh from the Western stage is in this actually yes because he's hamlet hang on a second it can't be what hang on a second but if he's in Romeo and Juliet yeah how is he in this if they're filming at the same time or maybe they're not filming maybe they're filming after he finishes Romeo and Juliet maybe they're filming in London maybe it's yeah maybe it's a daytime and then he goes to the theatre in the evenings Wednesday's off he's young he's got the energy he could commute He could Michael J.

36:10Fox it. Yeah. Finish Romeo and Juliet and get on a plane and fly to America. Shoot three minutes back on the plane. We have so much news to get through. This is news. I don't think that's I don't think that's what's happening. Okay. Anyway, other people were announced in this movie. All the people that you loved from the last one are back who are still alive, of course. In that, Millicent Simmons is back. The Abbott family are back for one last outing. But also, in A Quiet Place, part three this week it was announced Jack O 'Connell Shammy fresh from wearing fangs to the Oscars like a great big fucking weirdo I kind of loved it loved it I kind of loved it I saw a great tweet saying sorry guys I prayed for a third installment for a post-apocalyptic drama starring Cillian Murphy and Jack O 'Connell I should have been more specific it was really funny I thought very good very good we still live in hope that 28 years later we'll get the third part that it deserves the other two cast members added were Katie O 'Brien and Jason Clarke yes oh yeah yeah those all seem like people who would survive the apocalypse oh yeah so that makes total sense to me I'm excited about that I love those movies and yes indeed this could be this could be fantastic alright there was also a trailer this week for Jonah Hill's outcome.

37:38All right, June part three. Finally, June part three. We will talk about the Oscars. Don't worry, folks. We have recognized the Oscars also happened this week. But Jimbo. Oh, God. All right. Do you guys need your microphones on for this? I've got a pillow. I'm just going to lay on the floor for a bit. Don't worry. I'm not going to go on a complete 45-minute monologue. But you have taken off your trousers. I've noticed that. This is parcel time in action. I honestly this trailer is magnificent and also because we have a new sort of choral soundtrack moment to replace the one that goes along with my surname as well which is Chalamet Chalamet's doing the yelling is it according to Zimmer I think I didn't know that I love it Timmy to meet I love it we know we can sing yeah I love it I love the music I love the scenes I love everything about it I think the only thing about it that is a weird thing to put in the trailer to me was the kind of tender moments between Paul and Chani in the trailer, because I feel like...

38:37Chani! To a certain extent, that undermines the ending of Dune Part 2, where they, obviously, they've got beef. And I feel like, I'm not sure how to put that in the trailer. But that was my only note. That was my only note. Because it implies they've had a conversation about the future that maybe didn't, wasn't apparently... Well, like, it's not right. Obviously, they're going to make up, right? But I feel like, you know, you want to leave that tension of, oh my God, what the fuck is going to happen? Oh, hang on. Do you think that this conversation between them and the June Part 3 trailer is after the events of June Part 2?

39:07I mean, certainly that was... I mean, you're right, it could be. But I didn't see how pregnant she was in that particular scene. I didn't study that part of the trailer, so I'm not sure. So yeah, you're right, it could be. I thought it was, but I thought it was. Obviously, they're naming their children at that point. But so many moments in there. We've got R. Pat's a side tail, a Talaxian face dancer. Very exciting. That's a shapeshifter, people. That's right. Jason Momoa back as someone. Some people asked about this because Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho died in the first movie, pretty famously.

39:42A big old action sequence. And some people have said that his presence in the marketing is a spoiler in itself. Well, it is and it isn't. So can we give people an idea, if they haven't seen this trailer, what the idea, what the story is, roughly, of this movie? What lies in store for everybody? Yeah, so Paul has started a galactic war, essentially. It's Paul Atreides. Paul Atreides, the Timmy Two Meets character. Yes. And is waging it across the, you know, across the empire, across the galaxy against all who would rise up against him. And is pretty much winning consistently. Like Charlie Sheen.

40:16But it's not easy. And he's, you know, he's kind of feeling the weight of that and struggling with that a little bit. Like Charlie Sheen. obsessed with keeping his family safe. His family, in this case, not only Chani, Zendaya's character, but also, obviously, Jessica, but also his sister, who we see for the first time. Sister. Anya Taylor-Joy. So it's like a 17-year time jump, right, between the films? Something like that, yeah. It is. It's 12 years in the books, as I recall. But again, they futzed with the time. Lit less, because she's quite tiny in the books, but she has the memories of an adult.

40:53She does, because she's like eight or so at the end of what would have been Dune Part 2 in the books, whereas she's... Right, so they've already... But she was a fetus in the film. Right, exactly. So they needed, I think, a larger gap. Yeah. But Timmy Two Meats is just going to perennially look 25. Acura. So is that, you know, is this the one bit of that casting that they're like, oh man, we've got to make this guy look older and he just refuses. He looks... They've tried to make him look a little bit older in certainly some scenes and more weathered in some scenes. and there may be, I think, some flash-forwards, flashbacks.

41:24I think there's going to be some timey-wimey stuff going on in this. Not to say time travel, but just, you know, some hopping about narratively. Is time travel a thing in June? No. Let's say no. But I think that what we're going to see is just some narrative hopping about rather than there being time travel. That is what I mean by that. And I think we're going to see... I mean, they don't age normally anyway because Spice. That's because Spice. Because Spice. In fact, if you have any questions about June, the answer is just because Spice. Because Spice, yeah. So Spice actually does elongate the life as well.

41:56That's another reason that people are addicted to it. Like the entire galactic aristocracy is on the stuff. They're all on Spice. Don't do Spice. So don't worry too much about whether you have to age him up or worry about any of that. That's all fine. Anyway, I think basically it's fair to say that Pattinson's character is the new threat to Paul Atreides. But isn't Paul Atreides the threat to Paul Atreides? Yes. when you really think about it. Yes. Beth, are you a Dune head? I appreciate it from afar. I really like... Wow. Preferably the further away the better. Listen, it's gorgeous. It's gorgeous, it's gorgeous.

42:34I'm excited to see Florence Pugh do a little bit more. I didn't feel like her character did that much last time. Yeah, she doesn't get a lot. She didn't have a lot to do. Princess... Irulan. Irulan. Yes, of House Carina. Oh, God. I have one question. This may be a spoiler. if it is a spoiler do not answer it but there are a lot of people in this trailer Timmy Two Meats Sandia Jason Momoa Rebecca Ferguson Anya Taylor-Joy Anya Taylor-Joy Robert Pattinson Javier Bardem there doesn't seem to be any sign of Gurney Halleck in this trailer there doesn't seem to be any sign of Josh Brolin in the marketing he's not in the names listed in the trailer why where what is up with my boy Gurney Halleck I don't I don't know no I don't think I do either actually huh I couldn't say I've stumped him I've fucking stumped him 1-0 because Spice because Spice he might be in it but he's not those posters they released he's ripped to the tits on Spice and therefore unavailable there you go James has given us already 5 stars and I don't mean the trailer the film June part 3 it'll be out on uh June's day it'll be out the same day as Avengers Doomsday and I will be watching it they're not moving it now I just I just don't understand the mentality of having those both come out the same day it's the mentality that's very good uh yeah that's that's deranged me they're not gonna move this game of brinkmanship this game of box office chicken they're gonna crash into each other head on I disagree there's still time if they move it'll be seen as a sign of weakness I who cares stop with the freaking egos and do what's best for cinema, you twat.

44:18Stop measuring sandworms. Wow. I mean, it's a great weekend for Florence Pugh. We'll say that. It's fantastic. That's true. She'll have done a hail of bullets in two films. It's true. It is true. At the same time. It's never been done before. Oh, boy. All right. Well, that's exciting. That's exciting for everybody. Well done. June part three. All right. So, should we talk about Spider-Man brand new day again? Oscars. Oscars. Oscars. anyone surprised by anything that happened well yeah kind of yeah Michael B. Jordan you didn't think he would Michael B. Jordan I saw that coming I saw that coming after the actor awards I saw it coming a bit before that I don't like they rebranded those no it's just I think to be fair I wanted him to win I think I went backwards and forwards on whether he would win but certainly on the day I was like I was feeling it I was definitely feeling it it was interesting in the room there was a lot more enthusiasm for sinners than there was for One Battle, interestingly.

45:19Rightly so. Well, I mean, it was interesting to me, that's all. Look, they were not the most surprising Oscars, so for anyone under a rock, there were six for One Battle after another, four for Sinners. One Battle took Best Director and Film, and also Best Supporting Actor, which was probably the most surprised I got. I know Sean Penn had won a bunch of awards, but I still thought we might be looking at, like, Estellen or something for that one. Genuinely useful to me because I slept through the whole thing and I haven't watched the single clip. Sure, okay. So, Jessie Buckley won Best Actress.

45:49No surprise there. No surprises, but I kind of, I would have just loved a little curveball. I would have loved Rose Byrne. Just a little bit of Rose Byrne. Rose Byrne was very, very good, but I was Team Jessie for this. Yeah, I was Team Jessie. No, I was Team Rose. I was Team Rose. I was Team Rose. I was Team Jessie, then I saw Rose and I was like, now I'm Team Rose. But then I was like, really, should art be a competition? I will say, Rose won an... wore an incredible dress so she may well win best dressed if that's any comfort. And she had a really good skit with the Bridesmaids reunion. It was one of the skits that worked.

46:22The Avengers skit did not work. The Mandalorian and Grogu skits for the most part did not work. Oh, I kind of liked it. I liked the bit about get away from him, you bitch. I didn't like anything leading up to that which was cringe. What happened, isn't it? What happened? So Grogu was sat next to Kate Hudson. They did an adorable sort of camera cut to Kate's sort of like giggling and being flirty with Grogu. Sigourney Weaver was presenting with Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver said, get away from him, you bitch. Wow. It was very funny. That bit was the good bit. Everything on either side of it was like, oh, the timing is off.

47:05The comedy isn't there. This is painful to watch. Pedro didn't have his mustache. You know, he was on the wrong foot for a son. I think Leonardo DiCaprio had his mustache. I think he loaned his mustache where's his mustache gone what's he doing we think to Leonardo DiCaprio yeah he was sporting a real real proper I saw I saw I've seen pictures I just didn't see any clips but I've seen I've seen pictures of DiCaprio's mustache and it's a great big bushy mustache there's no question about it I think the the sweetest moment for me and which has been a big talking point since was Amy Madigan and Ed Harris oh gorgeous because Amy Madigan won best supporting actress which I think is fucking great horror performance great horror oscars yes yes it was it truly was and there's just a really wonderful clip of ed harris just looking at her with it i can barely describe the look but it's a it's a really powerful sweet we've been married for fucking decades look of like admiration and and respect and it was just the best and i'm glad she didn't undercut that by doing the weapons run-up to get the Oscar I kind of wish she had that I did enjoy the whole start of the show which was Conan finishing makeup for the show and going wait hang on I basically look like Gladys from weapons the joke being you've put too much white on my face and the makeup artist going I didn't use any white you know because he's very pasty I appreciated that joke he's a very pasty person yeah and anyway and then he was chased by a bunch of kids through all the best picture nominees and stuff and that was kind of funny It was a satisfactory Oscars overall.

48:38I was not mad with any of the results. I personally wouldn't have gone Sean Penn, but I can't be mad at somebody who's off in Ukraine talking to Zelensky and offering him any help he can give him. Okay. So the Sean Penn thing is interesting to me because Sean Penn has now entered rarefied air. And Sean Penn is a great actor. There's no question about that, but he's now a three Oscar actor. and I would put it to you that that's maybe one Oscar too many. That's my feeling about that one. Maybe two. I'm not saying that film wasn't Oscar-worthy performance. I think it's an incredible performance in One Battle After Another.

49:21I maybe wouldn't have given him one of his previous ones, but it's a really good performance. But if just on the sense of you know spreading the love a little bit I probably would have given it to one the other very very very good performances nominated in that category that's just how I personally feel it's not to say he wasn't good it's just to say I don't think he needs three other things I don't even think he wants three other things ironically of course the three he's won for his best performance is in Carlito's Way and he should have won for that so I don't know best actor alright so Michael B.

49:58Jordan won for Sinners did twice the acting of all other contenders that's fair that is fair finally someone's been rewarded for playing twins when Jean-Claude Van Damme was cruelly overlooked for double impact criminal absolutely ridiculous he bit the end of a rattlesnake in hard target but in real life while making the film yeah and then threw it the photos it was probably why his campaign backfired but anyway so Michael B. Jordan overtook on the bend at the end Timmy Two Meats who had long been the favorite to win for Marty Supreme. And I saw a lot of people rejoicing on Twitter and social media over the weekend.

50:36Many ballet dancers. Yeah, I think he dealt with the jabs about that during the show pretty well. He showed a little bit of humility. I suspect also everyone he knows has probably been shouting at him about that for the last couple of weeks. His mom, I think, was involved in the New York Ballet. He's probably had some grief about it. so fair play to him he took it in good part but also yeah those were dumb things to say but they shouldn't be things that completely I don't think that came out like the day before voting finished I don't think that was it I think people just love Michael B. Jordan rightly I think that Timmy is still seen as a bit young and I genuinely think that they that does play a role in best actor voting yeah and I think that the decision to essentially stay in character as a dickhead throughout voting was perhaps not his best strategic move that's a very good point James you can come out of character now the Oscars are over it's a shame because this is controversial I think Michael B.

51:44Jordan was very technically accomplished and as I said to James a few weeks ago I think we're going to get our first Oscar winner who was in Friday Night Lights not that I've ever seen it and the wild did you see his little like salute to Jesse Plemons as he went on stage. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose. It was exactly that, I swear to God. Yeah, that was really sweet. But I got to see it. Timothy was the, it was the most accomplished performance for me. I think they were all really strong, but I think him and Marty Supreme was kind of incendiary. I don't know, Wagner Mora though was pretty great.

52:14I don't know, Jack Reacher in War Machine, I think. That's the one for me. That's next year he's got it in the bag. He has it in the bag. Unless Taylor Kitsch makes a movie between now and next year and continues the Friday Night Lights streak. We can but dream. We can but dream. Hey, by the way, when we do the Jack Ryan ranking, Michael B. Jordan's Without Remorse will be eligible. Yes. Wait, okay, because it's not the character. Because he's John Clark. Okay, yeah. Yeah. All right. Boom. Whoa. Yeah, I know, right? That changes almost nothing. Nothing at all. But still, it's very exciting. John Clark is a character who has been played by many very different people isn't he he's been played by Willem Dafoe yeah Willem Dafoe and Michael B.

52:59Jordan Michael B. Jordan Liev Schreiber yeah is that it was it not oh I was thinking Jason Clarke but maybe I'm wrong who plays him in does anyone play him in the I honestly can't remember well okay great thanks James alright good stuff okay a lot of movie news to unpack is there any more please God tell me there's no more can I just do a little do a little found down callback because Michaela Cold is writing and directing a Bloodsport remake. What? This is an April Fool headline. I'm sorry. What? It's an early April Fool. Writing and directing, unconfirmed if she's starring in it, but she's remaking Bloodsport.

53:37And the quote, oh, let me find it. Is this for Donald Trump specifically? This is one of Trump's favourite movies, by the way, in case you don't know. So this was the quote. I forget what... Oh, Variety's reporting. I have long been an aura of fighters and astounded by the discipline, intensity and isolation in the sports that sport demands of them she said I'm excited to explore this world especially so with A24 as my collaborators let's fucking go she said that let's fucking go yes incredible do you think this she's going to go through Fandam's catalogue and we might get a hard target McKay and Nicole biting the rattle off a rattlesnake and then using it as a trap I am made up for this I think this is so what the absolute fuck is going on what is going on I'm holding out for time cop I was going to ask, which Jean-Claude Van Damme would you like to see, Michaela Cole?

54:27You're saying Time Cop? Damn it, that was mine. Don't ask me. Take Universal Soldier. Pick one like so many. Kickboxer. Love all of this stuff. But this is her directorial debut, I think, feature debut. This is incredible. That's fucking sick. What a place to start. Why did we waste time talking about Dune and Spider-Man and the Oscars when we could have been talking about this for four and a half hours? I'm really excited. How's bells? ooh Van Damme movie Van Damme movie I'll go Universal Soldier then oh I'm sorry did you want something else you will all tremble beneath the might of sudden death that's the ice hockey one isn't it yeah with the mascot yeah ice hockey is cool right now or hot if you prefer yeah man it's a good one it's a good one thanks alright should we have a guest let's how about two guests ooh how about two beloved guests I love a beloved guest I love a beloved guest should we have Phil Lord and Chris Miller?

55:21Amaze, amaze, amaze.

55:26This must stop. Words of encouragement. All right, so Phil Lord and Chris Miller, you know them as Lord and Miller, of course. They are the guys behind the Lego movie, behind 21 Jump Street, behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, behind the Spider-Verse movies in their role as producers, and in Lord's case, writer, of course. They are guys who make a habit of taking on projects that on paper seem either impossible or unfilmable or both, and then making them work. We'll leave it up to the review section to let you know whether they have succeeded once again with Project Hail Mary, which is an adaptation of Andy Weir's novel about a high school teacher played by Ryan Gosling, who winds up on his own many light years from Earth on a desperate mission to save mankind from a fate exactly like death.

56:18And along the way, he is helped out by another alien, an alien scientist called, he calls Rocky, who is a creature made of rocks, it seems, without a face. But he's got a big old brain and an even bigger heart. And the two of them together form the kind of buddy-buddy friendship not seen since James Dyer met Tom Filton in an elevator in Los Angeles many, many years ago. So this is, spoiler alert, a terrific film. And these guys are great to talk to. And I went along and spoke to them in the London hotel room just the other day, in fact. But before that, I had had the pleasure of meeting Rocky and his five friends who bring him to life in the movie, including the incredible puppeteer James Ortiz, who also provides Rocky's voice.

57:08And it was quite experienced. So that is where we start. Here you go. Lord and Miller. It's Lord and Miller. Enjoy. I have just had the pleasure of meeting Rocky. Oh, yeah. Pretty fun, huh? Which was one of the strangest experiences of my entire life. I love that. I mean, I loved it. Was he polite or kind of sassy? He was aggressive from the off. Yes. Yeah, yeah. He's very competitive. He can neg you sometimes. Yeah, I think he sounds a natural predator. Yeah. His hackles were up immediately. But, yeah, it was so, so fascinating. and James embodies the spirit of Rocky. I mean, my God, he was, and his entire team were just incredible.

57:52A lot of those were the puppeteers that were on set with us. And there's a kind of like, it reduces you to a child. It makes you feel, yeah, you feel the way you felt. There's some magic to it. A lot of people, when they have that experience, they stop the second that they see him. And then take a second to approach. I went straight in and I do not know what I said. Yeah. I have. It was an out-of-body experience. That's cool. It's strange because I've interviewed Kermit the Frog before and his human companion. Yes. And after a while you forget about the human companion. Exactly. And you focus entirely on Kermit.

58:32And this was much the same. Yeah. Rocky and his five friends. It's amazing how your brain can kind of like. It just goes like, there he is. accept it. Was it like that for you guys on set? Always. The first time Rocky, we'd spent all this time with Neil Scanlon in the Creature Shop designing what would be an appealing design for this character with a bunch of different his carapace had different facets that he would try and project a face onto even though there was no face and then giving his arms and body all this detail of carvings and gemstones and all this stuff and Talk about the range of movement, but the first time, you know, the puppeteers like moved him and they're like, OK, you're going to meet Rocky for the first time.

59:19You just had his little fingers moving around. You're like, oh, my God, he's alive. Yeah. And there's something something in like in your lizard brain that goes like, oh, what is this creature? I can't. What does it eat? Does it eat people? Is it a predator or is this prey for me? Do I need to eat him? Do I need him? I don't know. How does this work? But yeah, there's something about it that just arrests you. How would it handle a bolt of water, tiny or otherwise? Oh, it holds up. It's pretty good. He's got a pretty firm grip. You know, you can grab an entire tape measure and pull it out, which he really did on set, which is so fun.

1:00:01Right. No, he does pretty well. He's got like little animatronic fingers that the puppeteers can control with a little like trigger and it had some pretty good pretty good strength yeah amazing and uh and what about ryan i mean when you he's also a pretty firm grip i'd say yeah yeah his fingers can hold just about anything it's the same thing once you're talking to ryan he's very lifelike you know a team of eight puppeteers just disappear yeah puppeteers make that that's why he has so much rain forget You've got about the puppeteers, you know, the minute you see him. I thought he was CG, but he's part of Marianette.

1:00:38I don't think CG can capture the nuance that he has. No, he's, yeah. A lot of personality, that Ryan. No, thank you. Absolutely. Are you expecting Fist My Bump to sweep the nation? One can only dream. It swept our personal nation. Yes. I can only imagine the parents of the world. Right. A lot of explain it to me. They're willing to educate their children about what they're saying. But the fact that, you know, I saw Rocky and I fell into where I suppose his eyes were. Yes. And just kind of lost myself for a second. And that same experience echoed what I felt when I was watching the movie. Oh, how great.

1:01:21You've got this incredible emotional kick, this incredible emotional connection between Grace and Rocky in this film. And going with a puppet, I imagine, was a huge part of making that work. It was definitely a lot more work having a real creature on set with the puppeteers. But the whole movie rests on the chemistry between Ryan and Rocky. Yeah. And having a real thing there that was performed by a real actor with James there meant that they could play off of each other and react to each other in a real way. And we didn't leave Ryan with a tennis ball on the stick to have to imagine a relationship with.

1:02:05We had a scene partner always, and it helped just make him even stronger. Of course, there's all this computer imagery that goes into Rocky. About half the shots are all CGI. There's all these great animators, many of them right here in the UK and that helped bring him to life but it was so valuable to have something that had been photographed and that had a baseline of performance to draft off of. In the end it was about 50-50 it was like a seamless marriage of animation and puppetry that's in the movie. Yeah and practical VFX and computer VFX so it's like you know like the practical stuff is still VFX they're just you know Yeah, right.

1:02:49From a slightly different tradition. And I think the other big key to that is one little secret is having one of the great actors of our generation be the lead of the movie. Who can make you believe that it's real. Well, Neil Scanlon, who is the legendary creature designer, runs a creature shop at Pinewood. And he was like, Ryan is the sixth puppeteer. his belief in Rocky, his gaze is the thing that helps you believe. Was Rocky in a way, when you both read the book for the first time, the Underbeer book, Chris, I believe you stayed up at five in the morning? I did. I had to finish it. I had to find out.

1:03:30I was like, if anything happens to this rock, I'm going to kill myself. Yeah, you knew that. I was like, if you're invested in like, both in Ryan and Grace and in Rocky and you really care about them and their relationship. Yeah. And I was like, if I can't put this down in this manuscript form, I think that there's something special here that we could make a movie out of. Just imagine it with proper kerning. Exactly.

1:03:58Phil, had you finished already by 5 a.m.? Did Chris call you the next morning to go? I confess I'm a slightly slower reader than Chris. Oh, okay. So I did go to bed and wake up and finish it in the morning. Where were you roughly when you went to bed? Let's see. Had Rocky appeared? Rocky certainly appeared. Okay. I think I probably went to bed on a solid cliffhanger. Is Rocky, you know. I like to live. I like to sleep in complete suspense. Stimulate your brain. That's enough. I like to, yeah. I like to overstimulate myself and then try to sleep. It's a challenge. So then the next morning, you talk me through how exactly this began to move into place.

1:04:40So, you know, so Ryan had the rights and then had partnered with Amy Pascal, who we'd worked with many times before. And they were, you know, they want to know if we wanted to join them. We had already had this relationship with Andy because of our producing partner, Aditya Sood, who discovered The Martian as a self-published e-book before it was, you know, a printed book and produced The Martian. and we were already developing Artemis with Andy and had grown to love him as a human being. So when this manuscript came our way with Ryan attached to also produce on Star, even before I read it, we were like, I bet I'm going to like this.

1:05:23And it was even better than we thought because it's just in there, it's full of excitement and spectacle and you're on the edge of your seat. and then I was like laughing and crying and it felt like all the things that you want. When you go to the cinema, right? It is a real like it's a full cinematic experience. It's a good time and it's about something. It's an apocalyptic story but it's hopeful somehow. You very rarely see a movie that's about the end of the world that isn't just like bleak and a massive downer. This is a story that makes you think that things are possible right and that problems can be solved if we can like work together and there are like art films that are really really meaningful and then there are crowd pleasers that are a frothy good time and this movie is both you know it is a crowd pleaser with a lot of big ideas that you think about on the way home and i i thought that was a really unique opportunity so the next morning though after you read the book you really fall asleep at five in the morning yes yes we call each other.

1:06:30I think this is our next movie. But Phil, you haven't read the whole thing. I have. Then I woke up in the morning with a stiff cup of coffee. Are you skimming at this point or are you just going, are you fully taking it all in? No, no. The movie, the novel is so captivating. You just kind of swallow it up. And then you're like, boom, this is it. We're done. Yeah, and I think the things that made the novel maybe feel daunting for other filmmakers, like for us just felt like something that we were oddly confident that we could make a great character out of a faceless, mouthless, eyeless creature, five-sided creature.

1:07:13The thing that seemed hard was that there's all this internal thinking that we read in the book of every thought that Rylan Grace has is expressed in the book. We can't do that in a movie without some sort of corny voiceover so yeah we had to figure out how we're gonna tell the story cinematically without uh without hearing his thoughts and that was actually the real challenge of the movie so tell me through that how do you uh how you well again having one of the great actors of our generation it helps a lot he can express a lot and you can sort of see what's going the wheels turning yeah uh in him and he's so gifted at um you know making you laugh and making you cry but and all but also just like feeling what he's feeling and we wanted the movie to feel subjective like you're with him and it's basically from his point of view yeah for the for most of the movie and and so we had you know that's that's the that's the big crutch and we also had drew goddard right who's our old friend and an amazing screenwriter who knows how to boil a novel down to the most important parts and help you focus on what matters.

1:08:23He was our first call once we said we were going to do the movie. It was like, you know, we've known Drew for a long, long time and we're like, he did such a great job on The Martian. But he's so incisive and such a sprawling book where you like every single part of it. To have a partner who knows how to be selective, who's funny, who knows how to write a proper drama. He said he wasn't available for three months and we're like, we'll wait. And then because we knew that it's such a hard job to boil down a large book into its essence and capture the spirit and soul of it into something that... And then, you know, not to mention to get all these complicated scientific ideas into something that's digestible and entertaining.

1:09:08And he's really the best there is at that type of stuff. It's been a while since you guys directed a live action movie. You've always been off in the Spider-Verse for quite a while as well. So like riding a bike, just straight back on. What's interesting is it's not that different. Every day, whether we're on set or editing this movie or we're on Spider-Verse or any of the other things that we were doing, the after party or whatever it was, we're just trying to tell a story that's engaging and entertaining and have something interesting to say and do something new people haven't seen. And so our job hasn't really changed.

1:09:47Yeah, I mean, we also got to reunite with a bunch of folks like Neil Scanlon that we had worked with before. So it was a reunion with a lot of department heads from other stuff. And so that part of it was really nice and familiar. And, you know, so it was great to be on set with everybody. and it was like it was a really positive experience because everybody really believed in the movie and they could see the potential of it and so you know that's how weird it was yes too it was like the idiosyncrasies of the movie were what got everybody going yeah like we love shooting in england because the crews are great yeah and they're you know people who take the craft really seriously and they put a lot of heart and soul into every aspect of the movie we also didn't want any sunny picturesque skies in the movie right so we also came to the right country we have none of those exactly especially not today and that's for sure so for you guys the the title was the title also in a way did it sum up the process of making a movie it was a hell of a matter about every movie yeah for sure every movie is a prototype and you're just praying that you make something that somebody you know that means something to someone right yeah um we always say like a movie is a message in a bottle.

1:11:04You throw it into the ocean and you're not usually there when it lands with somebody. And you don't know if anyone's going to pick it up. You hope it's all finally hurled. Yeah, exactly. You have to be okay with the fact that it's just out there somewhere for someone to discover. But we've been really lucky that the response to the movie has been so strong. It seems to mean a lot to a lot of people. It's no surprise the book is so special. It did not surprise us that it became a giant bestseller. international best yeah like after we it was pretty obvious from reading it yeah a lot of people up to five in the morning yeah that's for sure that's for sure pleasure as always thanks so much indeed Bill, Chris likewise it's always fun to do this yeah okay that was Phil Lord and Chris Miller talking about Project Hail Mary and now it is time for the reviews section of the show Helen you have subtly intimated throughout this podcast that you may may have a positive viewpoint on this movie is that the case?

1:12:03It's time go. Yes, I love this movie so much. If this is not my favorite film of the year, it's going to be such a good year. Sorry, sorry. I mean, genuinely, this is what Dune and Avengers have to now surpass, right? That's fair, actually. This is so pleasing. It is so satisfying to me. It is a very Helen film, but it's just like, it's smart people being smart. it's competence porn like you like hardcore competence porn if you will I felt a bit uncomfortable watching this with other people this level of competence porn oh so much just so much competence I mean like Sandra Buller's character I had to use my jacket to cover my notebook oh no come on okay so let's just explain so as Chris has said the earth is facing an existential crisis because the sun is dying there are sort of microbes that are eating the sun no This is affecting all the stars in our region of space except for one.

1:13:05So basically, Earth decides to send a mission to this one star and figure out what it's got that we don't got so we can try and save the sun, right? They send off a mission for reasons. That includes Ryan Gosling's Ryland Grace. And yes, there is a pun here. Hail Mary, which is the name of the project, full of grace. Oh, I didn't get that. so he ends up on his own in space and he gets there to find that another alien civilization has also sent a ship to investigate and that that ship is manned by Rocky this is also yes the best Rocky film for me that's why he lies so reflecting the book the Andy Weir book on which this is based Andy Weir of course the guy who wrote The Martian again that's where the competence porn is coming from and all the sciencey bits so this this has sort of flashbacks to Grace's life because he's basically he wakes up with no memory and he's trying to reconstruct how the hell he ended up in space and what's going on and who he is and why he's there and what he needs to do and so we get flashbacks to see Ava Strat who's Sandra Huller's character basically she's in charge of the project Project Hail Mary she's in charge of trying to save the world and is one of the people she recruits to do that is Grace did she recruit him because he's called Grace is that why?

1:14:22yes for the pun 100 % She wasn't interested in his abilities. She just wanted the pun. Yeah. And anyway, and it goes on from there. But look, this could have been engineered in a lab for me because you've got Phil Lord and Chris Miller directing. You've got a script by Drew Goddard, who is so good. It's adapting an Andy Weir book, and I love Andy Weir. It's got a score by Daniel Pemberton. It's got a friendship between a man and an alien. It's a sci-fi movie. It's got big ideas in space. It's got lots of sciencing the shit out of stuff. I just love it so much. I was just basically squeeing the entire time.

1:14:59That's what that noise was. I'm like so much of a five star on this. I know Empire has given it four stars. Spoiler. Boo! Boo to Empire. Frankly, boo to you. It should have been a five. Alex is with me. Boo to me. I didn't give it four stars. Well, good. Because whoever did was wrong. The friendship between Grace and Rocky is one for the ages. It is one of the best things on screens. they are an absolute delight together obviously they get around the language barrier quite quickly with the help of a handy laptop and there's even humour which is to be fair in the trailer about how they get the voice right but they're so wonderful and it's like a little cross-species bromance and it's really, really funny like not obviously silly funny but the humour thread through it I think is great and I think Lord Miller and John mentions this in his review he thinks they fall back on humour sometimes but actually it's to this film's credit it because on the face of this film you know it's not a short film at all it's like what two two hours right and you know the subject matter is on paper quite dry and it's quite intellectual quite academic quite theoretical it's got a fractured timeline so you've got the mystery of his identity and then are they going to save the planet uh but it's not slow it's not dull it is never less than fascinating and it it bounces along because it's really funny and there is nothing that isn't charming about a little rock spider creature running around in a hamster the sphere.

1:16:22Which by the way we should say was almost entirely a puppet. Right, because it's not a green screen film. Which is wild. Like these practical sets and puppetry, which is to be incredibly commended and it gives this film a real tactile, lived-in quality. It feels so real and relatable. A, you feel like you could touch Rocky and you absolutely want to reach out and touch Rocky. Not in a sex way. And it's just, it's great. It's wonderful. I loved it. Every second of it. Beth, Helen said, you know, one of the the reasons why this is a slam dunk, is Lorda Miller as directors. Now, this is their first live-action film in over a decade.

1:17:00Now, the last movie they made as live-action directors, because Miller has directed things like The After Party for Apple TV. But the last thing they directed as live-action directors was 22 Jump Street. Obviously, they had their ill-fated encounter with Solo as well. So it's been a minute since they directed together. Any sign of ring rustiness? What did you make of their efforts behind the camera? Essentially, what it comes down to, and what James was touching on there, is it's a buddy movie, and if they can do one thing fucking well, it's a buddy movie. It's your 22 and your 21 Jump Streets.

1:17:31It's your Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It's your Lego movies. They're really, really great at creating these robust friendships, and essentially, that is what it boils down to. But at the same time, I kind of love that Sony have given them what feels like a blank check, and they've gone absolutely... They've got Cate Blanchett with the budget. They've got full Cate Blanchett, and it's kind of extraordinary what they're able to do with that kind of budget. I found myself, you know, when a dad walks around a really grand estate, and they're like, God, what's the insurance on this? I was literally doing that.

1:18:08What? There's like 20 seconds of silence here. That must have cost them millions. I won't do a spoiler. There's an excellent soundtrack to this film, and there is a band that's put to excellent use in this film. and all I say is the last time I knew this band was used is for Mad Men and I think Mad Men paid something like 250 grand to use under a minute of a song by this band a busted song is expensive if you've been to the year 3000

1:18:40with inflation today Rylan Grace's great great great grandmother pretty fine so it is kind of extraordinary that you can see how well this extraordinary amount of money has been used there is I appreciate the the tactile tactile kind of nature of it and the puppetry and things but my god there is just a moment that comes out of nowhere there's no real builder but Grace basically pops out of the spaceship at one point and you're confronted with the most extraordinary planetary spectacle that wouldn't look out of place in a dune in a in a spielberg movie you're confronted with this absolutely extraordinary vista and it's it's quite wonderful to the point where where rocky's sort of chatting to him and grace says can you hang on because i'm having a moment and i and i was right there with him i'm helen is just smiling boundlessly at the moment it's so lovely it's it's you're having this moment with him where you're kind of adrift in space you got your buddy on the spacecraft and you're just looking at something that you know a couple of months ago you were sat in a classroom and now you're confronted with this and i think grounding it through that real humanism that that gosling is so great at doing i mean i'm so excited for starfighter now off the back of his performance in this and how he's able to bring you know a sweet almost schlubby sort of character quality to this um and it was wonderful and i'm i I feel even awful saying this.

1:20:13I felt like there were a couple of points where it could have ended and perhaps it should have ended. Yeah, I know. People have said the return of the King syndrome here, but I love the way this film ends. Okay. I felt otherwise, but that is, I would say, my only criticism of this otherwise. We have a spoiler special for discussions just like this one, folks. Maybe we'll get into it there. But in the meantime, let's finish this off by saying four stars then. for Project Hell Mary. Five stars. Helen is going to dedicate her life to making sure that that changes for the better. All right, next up is a sequel, a long-awaited, eagerly-awaited sequel.

1:20:57It is, I hate this title so much, Ready or Not 2, Here I Come. It should be just Ready or Not, Here I Come. Ah, deary me, marketing. What are you doing? Anyway, Beth. Hello. Tell us about this movie, please. Of course. So I loved the first Ready or Not. It was a kind of, what the hell is this and who the hell is she? Sort of word of mouth, fun, brilliant thing. So this is Samara Weaving plays Grace. Another Grace. Another Grace. And she, in the first film, marries into a wealthy family very quickly, which, as we know, always goes really well in the movies. and is kind of caught up in a pact they have with the devil himself.

1:21:47And she has to outlive the night in this deadly game of hide and seek. And I guess it's not a spoiler to say that she does. Human exploding ensues. And she is back for a new chapter, which picks off basically directly after the first one. So she's rushed off to hospital. While she's being resuscitated, they really deftly kind of catch you up on what's been happening. With each sort of, what's it called, where they electrocharged to the chest and she's having these flashbacks as to what happened. She comes to you and who is there but her sister. Sister. Sister. Who for reasons was, probably because they didn't know they were going to do a sequel, but it's not mentioned in my first film.

1:22:34but it's played by the wonderful Catherine Newton who has worked with Radio Silence who are the directors by the way I'm getting the order for this all wrong but this is a rollercoaster ride I'm hanging on this is amazing it's the filmmakers behind the screen the latest screen movie is not the latest screen movie and Abigail which Catherine Newton was in there yes and she plays the sister and they're thrown back into a bigger game where the stakes are kind of all or nothing so they they now have to kind of outlast a series of families, high council families. And if they or if Grace manages to survive that, she gets power over the whole world, basically.

1:23:16And so it's a kind of battle to the death. It's blown all the stakes up. It's taking place in the daytime. Most of the first film is all in one location at night. This is all over the shop. there's a whole bunch of families notably the Danforths which is twin brother and sister Ursula played by our lord and saviour Sarah Michelle Gellar we didn't mention that this week didn't we? we didn't mention the Buffy thing because I know it's pilot and it's also too fucking upsetting it's too upsetting too soon can't talk about it anyway I'm going to need a minute Sarah Michelle Gellar and her brother Titus Danforth who's played by Sean Hotosi and then it's kind of this rose gallery of amazing horror actors.

1:24:00David Cronenberg plays their father who's in it fleetingly. We've got Elijah Wood, a faculty reunion. Yes, yes. And Elijah Wood. Yeah. Big up the faculty, love that film. He plays the lawyer who is basically Captain Exposition. He kind of shows up and explains all the new rules of the games and what people can and can't do but does it in a way that is like good. He's cool. My favourite new character by some distance. Yeah. He has this kind of blank canvas face and has a great knack for kind of ducking behind things before human exploding issues, which it does. What can I say? It is hella fun. I think they really knew they were on to a good thing with Samara Weaving as Grace.

1:24:44This was the first, I would say, major showcase of her power as a horror actor. she's in quite a lot of kind of indie horrors that studios have a bad habit of just dropping on streamers and things. What was the one you really liked? Eenie Meenie. It's not a horror though, it's a thriller, but she's brilliant. Yeah, kind of genre stuff, she's really great, but this was kind of her first sort of major showcase, and my god, she's great. She's just great. She's got this incredible battle cry, and I think really did redefine what a modern kind of final girl can look like. Catherine Newton as her sister is really zippy and funny uh Sarah Michelle Gellar is is one it's just great to see her fighting again I think this has been like 20 years since she's been in a movie um on like a big screen oh wow yeah so it's kind of great to see her and there's a couple of Buffy nods in there which I loved um I think it got a little bit lost in the law this time so they really tried to wickify this and I think they could have cut away with just a little bit of that and kept the focus nice and tight on Samara and Catherine and then Sarah Michelle Gellar I would have just gladly seen a battle to the better oh my god I would have gladly just seen a battle to the death with them but it got a little bit sort of bogged down in that but there is some fantastic set pieces in this there's a great wedding disco musical number which is just comedy and it's funny it is funny they've got a great knack for kind of dark gallows humour in this and that's great so a lot of fun to be had I think they could have just chopped away a little bit of the law I agree I think in the first film it's so kind of slasher movie for so much of the film with this family just hunting her down and then spoiler for the first film at the end essentially the devil shows up and people start exploding in this one that was a delightful surprise first time around in this one it just happens a lot and it doesn't have that same element of weird taking off guard.

1:26:46I think they overdo the exploding people. I think they overdo the exploding people here and I think I think there are also some elements of like character work that could have been sharper. I think Sean Hitosi's character takes a long time to sort of establish himself. I don't think that's his fault as an actor. He's great in Pit recently for example. Yes, yes. But I think that's just you know it's not clearly written in the first half what he turns into in the second half. so I would have liked a little bit more sort of coherence there but I had really good fun with it I went in with weirdly low expectations because I'd heard some not great reviews and I loved the first one and I was sort of calibrated my expectations downwards but I was pleasantly surprised I still had a really fun time with this It is a lot of fun It's an inferior sequel certainly and it lacks some of the surprises of the first one I also think while it has one of my favourite fight sequences I think I've ever seen just for the invention I think it's joyous It also tonally is a little uneven there.

1:27:42That scene in particular is intercut with a particularly, I thought, unpleasant and brutal male on female violence. Like, absolutely horrifically violent scene, which to me didn't gel with the tone of the overall film, which is quite lighthearted. It's quite funny. And I found that actually quite upsetting. So I was like, I maybe would have rethought that particular. That was my main note on the film. Other than that, I thought it was fine. Some of the gags landed. There maybe weren't enough of them. But there was a lot of invention to it. And I say, Elijah Wood is delightful in this. Yeah, yeah, I agree with something all of you said, which was unusual.

1:28:20Three stars then for Ready or Not, Here I Come. I'm refusing to say the two. Just refusing, point blank refusing. All right, we don't have a lot of time left for the rest of the movies that are out this week. Hells Bells, there's Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire. Yeah, his first film in a good long while. or wire. So this is based on a real story in 1977 Indianapolis. A guy called Tony, who's played here by Bill Skarsgård, takes a mortgage broker called Richard Hall, who's played by Dacrae Montgomery from Stranger Things, among other things, takes him hostage and basically wires a shotgun to the back of his neck and puts a wire around his own neck.

1:28:59So basically, if either of them falls over, they're both dead. He'll be dead. Or he gets shot. Or he gets shot or anything. He'll be dead. And he demands to be paid what he's owed. He demands, basically, he feels he's been wronged by this mortgage company. He wants an apology. He wants, you know, his land back that he lost. He wants what he feels that he is due and he begins a very tense, very long standoff with the police and the authorities with this per man basically wired to a shotgun. I really like this. I wasn't super hyped about it before I went in, but I really, really like this. It starts brilliantly.

1:29:34I think the first 20 minutes are as tense as anything you're going to see this year. They're absolutely astonishing. Inevitably, there's a bit of a lull after that because it does develop into a more long, drawn-out hostage situation. But for the first few minutes, your jaw is absolutely on the floor. It's an absolutely astonishing piece of sort of tension building. There's a great, great ensemble supporting cast as well. You've got Mahala as a sort of wannabe, you know, big-time TV reporter who, you know, sees her chance for a big break in covering this story. so you've got her kind of representing the media.

1:30:08You've got Coleman Domingo as the super cool local DJ who Tony feels a kinship with and wants to, on his side, and wants to play a sort of honest broker. You've got Al Pacino as the hostage's father who is also the head of the sort of mortgage brokerage and does not give a fuck about Tony. Doesn't give a fuck. And you have Carrie Elwes as a detective friend of Tony's who's trying to kind of calm the situation down and mediate this whole thing. And I didn't recognize him for most of the film. So well done me. You know when they say someone such and such is unrecognizable and you say, oh, that's just a load of shit.

1:30:45Didn't. It took me 10 minutes. I knew Cary Elwes was in this movie. Yeah. And I was like, when's he going to show up? Where is he? This is weird. And who's that guy? He's got a prominent role. He's just one of nature's blondes. If he isn't blonde, I don't recognize him. He's very good in this. Anyway, he is good. But look, I had a really good time with it. I think Bill Skarsgård is great as this guy who feels he has rights on his side and is just not willing to compromise with anybody. He is clearly high on his own supply a little bit, but you can tell he's been just, you know, fretting and stewing over all of this for years.

1:31:18And I think, and you can see, per Richard the hostage, just getting more and more traumatized by this whole thing. I really, really enjoyed it. And I have, you know, beef with Gus Van Sant because I sat through a sea of trees. I sat through a sea of trees. and so he really did have to win me back over but this one may have done it Was that him? That was him wasn't it? Sea of Trees? Yeah Wow I didn't know that Pretty sure Famously bad Yeah Okay good Thought it can Good stuff Well done him Alright well this is he's back he's back back back he's back on form We give this one three stars I liked it as well but I don't think that it works necessarily as a tense thriller I think it works more as a very very just fascinating character piece Yeah I think that's probably true in the end Yeah But good performances Really good performances Do you like the boy Skarsgård?

1:32:03Indeed. He's doing well. And good to see him not being a terrifying, child-eating clown, quite frankly. That was nice. Yeah. Three stars then for Dead Man's Wire. Hell's Bell's last but not least this week is Arco Fuck Yourself? No, just Arco. Oh, sorry. Oh, yeah. This is one of the nominees for Best Animated Film at this year's Oscars, actually. It's a French, slightly, I think, Ghibli-inspired, Miyazaki-inspired, kind of environmental-ish drama. a time-traveling 10-year-old called Arco crash lands on 2075 Earth and gets a young girl called Iris to help him return home to the future, essentially, of which he needs a sort of diamond he wears on his head and his rainbow cloak of many colors.

1:32:48It is red and green and orange and yellow and blue to get home. This is lovely. I think it's really going to work for its target audience. It's got great people involved with it. Natalie Portman is one of the producers and also does one of the voices in the English dub, which I haven't seen. I saw it in French. But you're understood in French as well. Absolutely. And also there were subtitles, so that was really helpful. Huh? Oui. Tradition. It's co-written and directed by Hugo Bienvenu. It's fun. I think kids are going to like it because there's like a robot nanny in 2075 that looks after these kids while their parents are out of town.

1:33:26There's some madcap weirdos who are looking for the time-travelling device. You know, you've got sort of a little bit of a threat there. You've got, you know, massive storms already affecting the Earth in 2075. And then in the far distant future, the Earth is fully kind of having to be left alone and rebuilt. So there's a whole environmental message. I just find it a little bit, the story a little bit... Tweak? Tweak, if I'm honest. Tweak. Tweak. Yeah, I think, look, I think kids might like it. I think the colours and the character design is cute. I think it's very Miyazaki in the way it looks, although it doesn't have some of those grace notes that I kind of expect from the very best of Ghibli.

1:34:05But yeah, to me, it was just a little just, eh, okay. I think it's an odd decision to have a story set in the future and then the far future. I don't think that gives you much to sort of hold on to. So that was my big takeaway and my big note. But I can see why it was up for the Oscar. It's got its heart in the right place. and it's clearly been slaved over and painstakingly made. So I get it. We gave it four. I'm a little bit lower than that, but I'm not mad about it. We did indeed give it four. John Nugent, who I think reviewed everything this week. He gave it four stars and he says, and we're looking at the Empire Review right now, in his summary, UK's most popular EV tariff.

1:34:45Connect your EV or charge... Oh, sorry, that's an ad. He says, a special sort of film, one which can be enjoyed as a dark climate change allegory and a bright, colorful, emotional yarn on friendship and family. Fantastique, he says. Troubier. There we go. On that note, we're going to have four stars. I think that's it, right? Hurrah! We're done in this epic bumper-sized, what the hell am I going to cut out of this podcast? Edition of the Empire Podcast. Join us next week for more film-related fun when Helen and James, but probably not me, We'll be joined by Ben Greger and Simon Farnaby. Yes, Simon Farnaby, who are the director and writer of The Magic Faraway Tree.

1:35:34It's exciting, isn't it? It's exciting. Good stuff indeed. We look forward to that. I look forward to listening to that, which I'm sure I will do. Anyway, until then, until we meet again, until that suspicious occasion, it is goodbye from my three colleagues of such lethal cunning. Goodbye, Beth Webb. Bye. Goodbye. Goodbye, Helen O 'Hara. Toodaloo. Toodaloo to you. And it is goodbye from James Dyer. Yeah, that's not working. It's working for me. Pretty happy with this one. Also, if I'm away next week, that means the nickname Odyssey may stop for a week. That's true. Unless I find one. Yeah, Helen might find one.

1:36:20Send Helen some nicknames. send Helen some nicknames I feel like I have one but Helen has to sing it it's more of an honorific isn't it rather than a nickname necessarily yeah there you go it's goodbye from me as well I am off to make friends with a rock he beats me at rock paper scissors every single time and I can't figure out his strategy god damn it anyway thanks for listening see you next time bye bye

1:36:51Thank you.