Wonka, Dinosaurs, and old men

A Scrumdiddlyumptious discussion of the films that made us who we are today

Austin Lugo: Are you recording? Yes,

we are back time for the after show. When's the last time we did one of these? It's probably been like, I

Andrew Harp: think like three weeks since we last recorded. We got a lot of things to talk about. I don't really have a lot of things to talk about. .

Austin Lugo: I have a, I have a shit ton of things to talk about. Oh, no. So I got so many things, so.

I'll keep it up for the both of us, but we haven't done one of these since before Christmas. Holy shit.

Andrew Harp: It's true. Yeah, actually I think, I think the last time we recorded it was on Ears Eve.

Austin Lugo: Yeah, but that one was just our, we didn't actually talk about movies. We'd watched, we'd only done the the year end review, so it's like, yeah,

Andrew Harp: it's been several weeks.

Austin Lugo: So there's one movie I've been wanting to talk about you for four weeks now. Oh no. And it's the only movie I've wanted to talk about. You only after show forever. Since the beginning of time. It's a movie you've made fun of me for not watching for so long. And my cousin. In-law, my wife's cousin, I'm not, no second cousin, Emily's cousin Andrew, his kids.

He has a four-year old William and a two-year-old Evelyn. Yep. The four-year-old is super, super into dinosaurs, like knows the name of, like all these like really specific dinosaurs. Really smart kid and knows everything there is to know about dinosaurs. Yeah. And so his, of course, his favorite movie. Are the Jurassic Park series, both the original and the new ones.

So for the first time on Christmas Day, I watched Jurassic. I did it, Andrew, you thought it would never be done. I just

Andrew Harp: think you just should have never seen it . Like I, I just think it would've been funny, like I've said it before, I just think it would've been funny that you just never watched it ever, like in your whole life.

You just completely, like, just never watched it. I think that would've been pretty funny, all things considered, but whatever. ,

Austin Lugo: I mean, 26 years, quite a long time to go without saying Jurassic

Park.

Andrew Harp: I think I watched it in school. I think, I think a biology class played it or

Austin Lugo: something. Yeah. No, I, I think you're right.

I think they play. And a lot of the biology classes are freshman year, but I never seen it, so I, I watched it for the first time. I, of course, am very split on Spielberg. There's some of his stuff that I really like, like catch me if you can. And there's some of his stuff that I don't really like, like ET and Jurassic Park.

I don't get it. I think there's some great vigil effects. , you know, the music's good. A lot of fun people in it, but for me it, it's fine. I'm personally just a little baffled and I think I am this way with a lot of Spielberg's work. Why people love Jurassic Park so much more than any other film that came out in the nineties.

I mean, I just wasn't blown away by, I just thought it was okay. It was just a very fine experience. Like I, I enjoyed it, but I don't really get all the hub up of Jurassic Park. I just thought it, An experience that I had and you know, it was cool and there were dinosaurs and stuff, which is cool. But nah, I just came away like not really carrying all that much more, like I, it did not change my opinion of Spielberg at all, or filmmaking or anything like that.

I don't know, Andrew, what am I missing here?

Andrew Harp: I'm not gonna sit here and lament you and say like, oh, Austin, oh, how could you, oh, you're totally, you're fucking up the da, da da. I do not feel like I don't want to psychoanalyze, uh, Jurassic Park, . Um, I think there's a lot to talk about with the Jurassic Park in that way.

I'm not gonna try to convince you that Jurassic Park is an amazing movie. It's one of the most famous movies of all time. Like, I know. It's, it's whatever. I don't care.

Austin Lugo: I just don't get it. I don't get, I don't get why people, Love it so

Andrew Harp: much. Hey, I don't care. You know, if you, if you don't like it, that's fine.

A lot of people don't. I mean, yeah. It's like one of the most famous, most successful movies. Yeah. You know, and if you don't like it, then okay. Like, , I didn't expect you to like it. Yeah, I love it, but it's a flawed movie, but I'm not gonna try to like persuade you into enjoying Jurassic Park. . . I like Jurassic Park, but I don't like it that much.

Well,

Austin Lugo: apologies to any of our listeners who are huge Jurassic Park fans. I know. It's extremely beloved film and watching it with a five-year-old is the best way to watch the film because even though he's seen this film like 20 times. . It's like he's never seen the film before. He gets so excited and scared and it's an incredible way to watch the film.

So if nothing else, I had a good time watching it with my little second cousin, so there is that. Even if, like, personally I wasn't in love with it. I did enjoy the experience. So Good for you, Spielberg. You're, you're gonna be okay. He's gonna die soon.

Andrew Harp: He's a hundred years old. I mean, how old is

Austin Lugo: Spielberg?

How old is he? Is he in his seventies?

Andrew Harp: He's probably in his seventies at this point. He's gotta

Austin Lugo: be fucking Clint Eastwood still making movies and he's in his.

Andrew Harp: It's funny you mentioned Clint Eastwood. I actually watched a movie recently by Clint Eastwood. Oh yeah. That he's in, and then he directed, actually, uh, I saw that it was on Netflix and I wanted to watch it on Netflix.

I had his first ever feature that he directed on there. Oh. Shit. Called Play Misty for me. Okay. I liked it. I had heard about this movie before, somewhere. I, I, I think I read about it on letterbox and it sounded interest. The writing is really bad. I'll just say . It's a very misogynistic movie. Oh God. It's a women be crazy movie where like Clintwood.

He's like a fucking swag out California dj. How

Austin Lugo: old is Clintwood in this movie?

Andrew Harp: It's 1971. So he's what? So he is still pretty young? No, he's like 41 when the movie comes out. That's,

Austin Lugo: that's too old , but go

Andrew Harp: on. He's swag out.

Austin Lugo: Yeah, in the movie. Okay. 41. You say He's a 41 year old dj. It's too old.

Andrew Harp: How is that too old for a radio dj?

Eh, anyways,

Austin Lugo: doesn't matter. What's the, I

Andrew Harp: don't know. I don't understand what you're trying. 35.

Austin Lugo: That's, that's the limit.

Andrew Harp: And then what do you do after,

Austin Lugo: I don't know, something else. Unless you're like one of those crazy people, like in the Fisher King, like, that's fine. Like, then you can be a, doesn't matter. I don't understand

Andrew Harp: what you're, it's the 1970s.

It's like people so different. Anyway, he's like a radio DJ and he plays like jazz or whatever. And he, uh, this woman played by Jessica Walter, by the way, Jessica Walter. She plays, uh, most famously Lucille Bluth in a arrested development. Very early performance, well, not very early, but you know, in early performance relatively.

She's like, has a reputation with Clint Eastwood's character Dave Ko. She'll call into the station, he'll be like, she'll be like, play the song Misty for me, as the title suggests. But they meet. , and then they have sex and they kind of like have like a fling. And it, it, it's, it's a movie in which kind of reminds me of like a Brian Dip Palm movie or something like that, where she becomes very obsessive and he has like an old girlfriend who comes into town and they start getting together and he, he's like, you know, I want to like actually have like a real relationship with her.

But you know, Evelyn, the Jessica Walter character, she becomes more obsessive, more violent. And like I said, the writing is not very good . It's uh, it's not written by him. It's written by other guys, but very good. But I will say, I'm pretty sure this movie is more or less completely filmed and put together by Clint Eastwood, very like diy.

And the movie, honestly is like, For first feature, I mean it's like very well done. It's kind of has like some crazy editing in it, which is very different than other clintwood movies like it. It has kind of almost like a jolo thing going al, almost a little bit interesting. Sometimes the lighting is a little crazy.

It is actually pretty good. Don Siegel is in the movie. Which is funny, he plays a bartender. He's like, I gotta have my buddy Don in there. Yeah. But besides the riding, it's honestly a very well directed, very sharp technicolor, 19 early 1970s movie. Very nice to look at. They're in, uh, Carmel, California, which I think is mm-hmm.

That's like a beachfront town, right? Yeah. It's like

Austin Lugo: right next to Napa Valley. Very pretty area.

Andrew Harp: That's where the movie takes place. So it's like nice, kind of like, you know, early seventies, California beachfront, you know, it's very nice. Northern California. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, there's like this crazy section in the mid, in the middle of the movie where like, for a reason I won't explain.

Evelyn, the Jessica Alta character, she goes to jail . She, she has to go to jail. and Clint Eastwood basically puts two music video type sections up next to each other where Awesome. There's like one section that plays an entire song. I think it's a Roberta Flack song, , and he has Sex in the Woods with his girlfriend.

Okay. It's weird. There's no dialogue or anything. There's no talking and it's just kind of like, oh, it's like directed like a music video, . And then there's the next scene right after that. He goes to, I think the, I think it's the Monterey Jazz Festival. Okay. It's like he, Clint Eastwood went there cuz I, he likes jazz music and then he is like, okay, let's film my character going there too.

And it's just like, it's just like a music video where he re where it's like footage of people performing and having fun at the Monterey Jazz Festival and it's, that's it. Like nothing happens at the jazz festival. He's just at the jazz festival like his character is cuz he is like a dj. So he is like the press or whatever and he is there.

It's just like this whole section of the movie in which like, I think it's supposed to like communicate that a lot of time has pass. Because then right after the Monte Jazz Festival, he's like back in Carmel and Jessica Walter calls him and is like, Hey, I just got outta jail, da da da da. There's a lot of weird stuff.

It's a very interesting movie and it's, it's very flawed, but some people might say like, oh, only watch it if you're a Clintwood Completionist. I think it's good enough that it holds up on its own. Okay.

Austin Lugo: That sounds like fun. That sounds like a blast. Honestly, Clint Sweat's a crazy person. I love. I really do

He's

Andrew Harp: chill. He's wagged out. Like I said, he's good.

Austin Lugo: All right. It's on the list. On Christmas Day, another movie I watched, which I haven't seen since I was maybe 12 or 13 years old. I used to watch it every time I got sick. I had it on DVD for years and years and years, and that was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

I remember very little of this film. Apparently I remember all the famous scenes of course, you know, walking in through the little tiny door and the SNAs berry scene, and of course the imagination song and the boat, and I remember like all of like the big beats, but rewatching it. I forget how incredible this film is.

So good. I mean, beautifully shot. The Technicolor is wonderful. Some incredible montages in this. I forgot how long it takes to actually get to the chocolate factory, like half of the

Andrew Harp: movie. I've watched it recently too and like yeah, like I watched it a lot as a kid as well. Mm-hmm. and like as a kid, you're kind of like waiting in anticipation for them to get to the candy Factory, right?

Yep, yep. Cause it's like so great. Honestly, as an adult, you appreciate the beginning parts before they go to the factory. Way more.

Austin Lugo: I ended up loving the first half of the F, like the whole, which I never, I guess just went over my head as a kid because I was a kid. Definitely me too, but like the politics of getting the golden tickets is absolutely fascinating.

Like the writing here and the exploration of how people like scam their way into getting tickets and like all these. Really, like incredible ways. Like people, it's, it's so funny and so well written and so beautiful in the way, you know, the really rich guy. Pays hundreds of people to just open chocolate bars.

Oh my God, that's wonderful. Or all of the different, you know, super competitive people and just these different ways people find them. Or another part that I remember happening, but at the time just kind of flew over my head. The guy who was scammed? Yeah. Like tried to make a fake golden ticket. Like that whole plot.

Is incredible. Just a, just an incredible, like, wonderful plot. I like

Andrew Harp: the women who, um, whose husband has been taken for ransom. Mm-hmm. , and they're like, it's, you have to give up all your ca chocolate, your Willy Waka bars. I'll

Austin Lugo: give them any , anything. It's just like, oh, not that. No, no, no. It's, it's so funny and so much darker than I remember, like this film.

Incredibly dark. I,

Andrew Harp: I was scared by some of the parts in the candy factory, like when they go in the boat, right? Mm-hmm. , I, I was pretty scared by those sections for

Austin Lugo: sure. Yeah, absolutely. As a kid, I don't know why I watch it so much cuz it scared me every time I watched it. Cuz there's some, like,

Andrew Harp: I think there was a movie that my mom liked a lot as a kid and she just had the VHS and so she probably like played it to me and for some reason it just resonated in my brain.

I think it's fun and colorful enough for like a kid to like really get into,

Austin Lugo: I had so much. Watching this film, again, I love the first half of the film. All of the performances are great in this. Like they really picked out some really wonderful kids because kids can be a pain in the ass to work with, but I think all the kids do incredible job in this.

Still not a ch Charlie fan. I'm just, I'm never gonna get past that . It was just a poor choice on everyone's part. But otherwise, all of the songs are incredible. They are a blast. Gene Wilder, of course, always gives an incredible perform. The candy factory. I am so impressed by the set design, like just how creative it is and how beautiful it is, and just how fucking realistic all of it looks like for a film that came out 52 years ago.

I mean, it's fucking incredible.

Andrew Harp: That's the movie too. That shouldn't exist. Just cuz like, I, I believe like, uh, the stories about it are funny where the movie was made, I think by a candy bar company to advertise a candy bar. Yeah. But then the candy bar like didn't make it to market. because there was something wrong with it, so they had to make the movie anyway.

I also believe that the songs, the guys who wrote the songs didn't have the script or something like that. Yeah, yeah. So I think they had to write the songs completely, like just kind of general information about the movie, which is also crazy cuz the songs are good and yeah, it's just like a movie that probably should not work at all.

It should just like not exist just cuz it's too, it's too weird, it's too specific and it's like made to like advertise a product. But just through the power of imagination, you know, you can just make a very, very, very good movie. Also, the director too, I believe he's like more of a documentary filmmaker too.

Yeah. Which makes sense. Considering the first half of the movie, it's basically like,

Austin Lugo: it's shot like a documentary, like a news docu, which is great. I think it adds to it perfect choice of direction. Yeah. It, it really works, uh, under anyone else's hands. I mean, obviously Right. They try to remake it. , you know,

Andrew Harp: temper and try to remake it.

Yeah. That, that's a movie I go back and forth on in terms of like thinking that it's just whatever, and it's fine to thinking it's terrible. I don't know. When's the last time you've seen that one? I saw it pretty recently. I probably saw it like a year or two ago, and I didn't enjoy it all that much, but I don't know.

Something's kind of from a kind of stick out in your mind where you're just kind of like, yeah, that wasn't that bad. You know, the, the Johnny Depp performance sucks. It's not good. That's a weird choice. You know, when you're making comparisons, obviously there's no competition. Mm-hmm. . But if you're not making comparisons, I, I see why people defend it.

I'd rather watch that movie than the Allison Wonderland, uh, timber movie too. . There are some other Timber Burton movies where it's like, . Yeah. I think I'd rather watch Charlie in a Chaker factory like three or four times than watch, you know, whatever he is got going now. So I'll give it that, but I don't know.

Austin Lugo: Yeah, I haven't seen it since it originally came out, so I haven't seen it since I saw in theaters. So there's some stuff that really sticks out to me from that film. But I mean, rewatching, the OG is just such an incredible film. I mean, just the magic of cinema right there, like as you said, there's no reason this film should exist.

It is so niche and specific. . I'm just so happy that the film exists in the world and I, I'm ready for another rewatch, honestly. Like this is probably gonna be my new Christmas. It's probably gonna be like on my list of movies I watch around Christmas. Cuz it's great. It's a perfect Christmas movie.

Everyone should watch it around Christmas. Yeah,

Andrew Harp: you gotta wa just watch whenever. Super good. It's kind of fall, it's been fall like in the first half when they're like chilling in like the weird, the tum script city. There's, there's something kinda a tonal about it. Yeah. What else you been. Well, you know, I saw some movies in theaters since the last we talked.

I'm trying to see here. I only saw like a couple movies in theaters actually. Did we

Austin Lugo: ever talk about Avatar? No, we never talked about

Andrew Harp: Avatar, which I did see. Let's talk about Avatar. I saw, um, imx 3D finally, and I would say that the movie almost cracks my top five in 2022. It almost replaces. Nope. Okay.

It's kind of. I would say that it, I liked it a little bit more than the first movie. A little bit more. I mean, yeah, I mean, the movie's been discussed to death, but you know, I will say like considering the movies over three hours, it didn't feel that long. I don't think it felt that long. I thought it was pretty good.

It's a sequel, but it might as well be a reboot. Why is that? It kind of restarts the whole series, kind of like you have like the first movie where a bunch of shit happens. The second movie is kind of like a repeat of the first movie. There are some things that I don't mind that some people might hate.

The fact that there is a lot of repetition. The humans basically come back, , the second movie takes place 13 years after the first movie. And the couple, I'm trying to think what their fucking names are. Jake Soly and Netty, uh, they have kids and it's 13 years after the first movie and the humans come back, which is kind of like, okay, I like the humans have come back.

I like it though, because, Now that the humans are back on Pandora, they're just violent right away, , because like in the first movie, they're like, right, all right. You know, we're trying to like form a relationship with the, so that we can, you know, take all the resources. But when the humans come back, they're just like, all right, fuck, destroy everything.

which I like. I like that a lot. And yeah, the first part of the movie is like big action scenes. You have a really big crazy set piece at the end. That's. and then you have like this big kind of long section in the middle. and I've read reviews that people don't like this middle section. I like it cuz what happens is, is that basically like Jake Soley and his family leave the tree people and they have to go to the water people, essentially the water navi.

And so they have to learn the way of the water. What They're water people so they swim in the water and stuff. Sure. So they have to connect with that and they have to like learn how to ride their water creatures. And honestly, like I, I like this section just because it's, it's really chill cuz you're just hanging out.

The kid characters are really great. Honestly, I don't find them annoying. I thought they were very nice and interesting and complex. I won't go in to all of their, Specifics, but I like them a lot. I thought they were actually very good And you know, visually it's amazing when they're underwater.

Underwater stuff is great cuz you're kind of like, oh sure shit. I'm like in another world, you know? That's cool. I like that a lot. The final action step piece is really funny cuz it's like it's a boat sinking. So it's the Titanic. It's very funny. It's the Titanic. Yeah, it's basically a, the Titanic. I'm like, I wonder what other like movies James Cameron has worked on that has a boat that sinks James Cameron.

He just has like these specific likes and dislikes. He likes boat sinking. He likes weird kind of technology. He likes cool animals. He's a bit of an environmentalist of course. He just kind of has these specific like fetishes and stuff that he likes to insert into his movies. And Avatar is great cuz it's all that stuff, which I like a lot.

There's a lot to talk about with Avatar. I don't want to keep going on and on about it, but I loved it. I thought it was really good. I love living in the world. From a visual standpoint, everything is better. Mm-hmm. . I like all the new characters. I thought all the new characters were really good. And yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to the sequels because once again, it's like kind of like a reboot.

It feels like you have the first, the first movie almost feels like an introduction or like a prologue. and now you have the real story cuz like the end of the second movie ends basically the same way as the end of the first movie and it ends on more of a cliffhanger as well because at the end of the second movie, it's not like the humans are gone.

At the end of the first movie, the humans are gone. But the end of the second movie, it, it ends on more of like kind of a cliffhanger where the humans like are still on Pandora, so they're still the threat. So it makes more sense to have those sequels. So it just kind of feels like a bit of like a reboot sort of.

That's pretty much all I have to say about. It's, it's really good.

Austin Lugo: Well, I figured you'd love it. Do you think I would like

Andrew Harp: it? I don't know. , I think everyone should watch it at least once. Why not? It's so long.

Austin Lugo: Just split it up. Yeah. But I feel like that's a kind of movie that I really should see in a movie theater if I'm gonna watch it.

Probably still in theaters. Yeah, I'm sure it is a hundred percent sure it is. I mean, I'm not gonna say 3d, but I should probably

Andrew Harp: least, yeah. You know, the 3D is cool. I like the 3d. I'm a big fan of it. Imax 3d. But you know, Whatever. It's not like essential I don't think. Yeah.

Austin Lugo: We'll see. Speaking of three hour movies that we saw at the movie theater, I saw Babylon, which uh, doesn't need to be three hours long.

I am of the belief that almost no movie on earth needs to be three hours long. I think once you pass two hours, you're pushing it. I love a good 90 minute movie. Three hours is, is so long

Andrew Harp: for a film. I disagree. But if you say Babylon was too long, then yeah, you're probably right. It probably was too long.

Austin Lugo: I mean, it's very clear that Damien Chael loves cinema and he loves the history of cinema and this film is a lot Rauner than I thought it would be. I've seen all Damien Chael's work and his films are pretty tame. I mean, I guess Whiplash is are rated. I'm. I think it is, but it's just for language. Like there's no, there's not really sex and violence.

There's no sex violence or nudity in, in any of his work really. Like he's a pretty tamed director, but this film, he is just like, fuck it. Like you see lots of people fucking and having sex, a lot of nice boobs and penises and vaginas and all of that. Let's go. And like, that's like the opening scene is just like, like he is like saying like, fuck all this.

And the opening scene is absolutely insane. It's like 45 minutes long and it's just this giant ass. and it is bonkers. I will say that it is bonkers. Doesn't need to be that long. No, but he definitely gets the point across that he is like, I'm a new kind of director and you know, I'm making like this like raunchy kind of shit.

and the party scene is really fun at times. Again, I don't think it needs to be 45 minutes long. I think you could cut that in half and still get the same idea just because there's just like a lot of fluff of like people dancing around and having sex and all that kind of stuff. And it's just like that for like 45 minutes.

Like you get it like after the first like five minutes, you're like, I, I get it. But it is visually very interesting and Margo, Robbie does a really good job as everyone does. I think Brad Pitt's performance. A little underwhelming. Honestly, it's not that interesting, but there's some really fun stuff.

There's some really funny stuff when they transition to sound. There, uh, is a incredible scene. It's probably my favorite scene in the movie. Where Margo Robbie, who is a fledgling actor, has to transition to sound and it's basically that scene in singing In the Rain. They basically replicate the scene in seeing the rain, where they're trying to figure out like where to put the microphone and all that kind of shit.

It's very funny. It goes on a lot longer than I thought it would. What's strange about Babylon, it's not that like there are scenes that need to be cut out. Like they're just like, yeah, you need to cut out the middle part, or you need to cut out the scene, or that scene. It's rather that every scene is too long, like every scene probably should have been cut in half because like they have the joke and you know the idea, but then like they just keep going and going and going, which I guess it's kind of like the Wolf of Wall Street thing, right?

Where it's indulging in sort of the. Flashiness of it all, so it's. Purposeful, like each of these scenes, like there's a reason they're stretched so long. So I understand why they do it and I get it. Like I get the ideas just like when you watch both of Wall Street, like it's a, you know, also like three hours long.

So I understand it and for the most part I enjoy the film. I think it's really funny. They do like this big movie montage near the end, which is really fun. But my biggest problem with the film is that all of the main characters are extremely un unlike. Marga Robbie's character, who's kind of the love interest of the film is arguably one of the least likable characters to ever be put on film.

She's just awful. . She's an awful human being. She's in too many movies like her. She's in too many movies. I'm tired of seeing her . She gives a good performance, and I don't think it's, it's not a problem with Margo, Robbie, yourself. It's a problem with the writing, which is like, for some reason you're supposed to empathize with Margo Robbie.

Like that's the whole idea. But there is never a point in the film where you have any reason to empathize with her because she's just this young woman who. Fumbles into success and then just keeps fumbling into it. Like there's no great rise in like hard work, any of that shit. She's just someone who's just, because like there is this idea that they propose at the beginning of the film, which seems.

To be the theme of the film, which I fundamentally disagree with. And maybe that's part of my problem with Babylon, which is the idea that some people are just meant to be famous and other people aren't. And that's just something you're born with. Like if you're gonna be great or you know, whatever, be a great actor or director or whatever.

It's just something you either are or you aren't. And there's no changing that. And that's kind of. Theme of this whole film, and that's how Margo Robby's character lives her entire life, as if she was just meant for greatness. So didn't love that. There's this weird point late in the film where Toby McGuire shows up.

Great casting choice. By the way, I haven't seen Toby McGuire much lately. I'd like to see him in more shit. I mean, let's, uh, switch out Margo Robbie for Toby McGuire, cuz uh, I wanna see him in more stuff. He's always a blast. C , he plays perhaps one of the creepiest characters. He just looks so ugly and hideous and.

What made this even stranger is the projector was going out, so the reds started to go out, so the reds started to turn green, which didn't happen till like the last third of the film. So I think they just needed to change the light bulb. I think the light bulb was going out, so it progressively got worse and worse for like the reds were starting to turn green and every time it would cut, there would be like a one or two second fade almost.

It became very surreal, but it worked perfectly for the scene because basically Toby McGuire takes them to this like underground fucking chaotic murder thing. And that scene's really fun. I really had a blast with that. That's one of the one scenes I was like, this could have been longer. Like, I wish that was more of the film because it's just absurd and crazy and insane.

And it's weird cuz there's this whole plot where she marga robbi borrows money from the mafia. and you know, she's freaking out. But that doesn't happen until like the final third of the film, which feels like it should have been way earlier in the film. Like this should have been like at the halfway point.

But I still really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time laughing. I thought it was visually. Still very interesting. I don't think it's Damien Chael's best work personally. I still think Whiplash is the best film. I know it's his first, but there's something about Whiplash that just works.

I think Damien Chael was just given an unlimited budget for this and. You can

Andrew Harp: tell he fucked it up. That movie is not doing well. I think it's like a big bomb, probably.

Austin Lugo: I'm sure it did not make nearly the amount of money, which I don't know why they th

Andrew Harp: but that, hon, I'm okay with that. I'm, I'm okay with blowing money.

I think that's fucking awesome to just blow money in a movie that no one saw. Northman did the

Austin Lugo: same thing. Right. He spent like 120 million on that and it, it make nearly enough . So I hope those directors are doing well. You know, obviously Robert Eggers is one of the greats. I'm sure he is gonna be. Okay.

Same with Damien Giselle, he's, you know, Hollywood's kind of like fucking. So they, they love 'em, but I'm hoping Damion Chael's next film is much smaller because Damian Chael's one of those directors where they thrive off of small budgets. And I think there's just certain directors that just do better in small budgets and certain directors that do better in bigger budgets.

And I don't think that's a criticism for either type of director. They're just. , they make different kinds of films. So overall it's fine of my choices of seeing a film in theaters, I think that was my best choice. Like I wasn't gonna go see Avatar and the other choices around here were pretty lame. So I'm glad I saw in theaters.

I had fun. Probably not gonna rewatch it ever. At least not anytime soon. Probably not anytime the next 10 years, but it's fine. I think you would think it's okay. Honestly, I think you'd watch it and you'd be like, I have nothing to say about this film.

Andrew Harp: So, you know, I saw Lala in like twice in theaters and I think that's a movie that I could see myself watching now.

If I were to watch that right now, I think I would not enjoy it nearly as much , at least in my brain, cuz it's been a while since I've seen it. I think that movie has like fallen out of favor for me as like a movie that's just. Whatever, like it's okay. It's like a weird, inconsistent kind of messy thing.

That kind of movie isn't really what I want to see in movies. I don't know, I guess my tastes have changed. I think my view of the world has changed, but I'll watch it eventually. I'm not gonna see it in theaters, it's just not gonna happen. But, um, I'm seeing EO this weekend though. Gonna see eo. Ooh, gonna see it on Sunday.

Yeah. I'm excited to see e o, but yeah, avatar's better . I'm trying to think what else I fucking watched. I mean, I actually didn't watch like a ton of movies the last time we talked. I think one of the best movies I watch, well, another movie I'll give a shout out to is I saw this great documentary in Thethe Speed Cinema, all the Beauty in The Bloodshed.

It's a documentary about Nan Golden, who's that famous photographer and artist. She has a great, uh, book called The Ballot of Sexual Dependency, which is a very, very, very good photo book. And all the beginning of the bloodshed is, it's a documentary about her life, like as a photographer and she's also, you know, in the L G B T Q community.

And, uh, a big part of her life was of course, like as a young woman, uh, seeing her friends, all of her friends die of aids. So that's a big part of the movie. But she also had this, uh, moment in her life where she was addicted to opioids. And so she founded this, uh, group where she and other volunteers basically protested and kind of, uh, rallied against, um, the Sackler family who worked with Purdue Pharma to, uh, shovel, uh, Oxycontin.

I believe it. It's weird. It's a documentary that talks about a lot of different things and a lot of different time periods and subjects. But Laura Ris, the director, she's able to bring everything together very well in a way that is, feels very complete, and she's able to do it amazingly in two hours. I would say that all the beauty in the blood show is probably one of the best documentaries of the past, like five years probably.

I mean, it's really, really fucking good and it's very touching, very emotional. I was very emotional a couple times. It's hard, man. It's really fucking good. So big shout out to that one. I think another movie outside of maybe the American Friend that I really, really liked was the newest. Matt Farley movie, uh, the Magic Spot.

Watch this. It's on Tuby. It's like, okay, I'm gonna check it out. It's just so good. This is a second film that I've seen that he's in, but I'm definitely gonna be watching all of his others. You like Matt

Austin Lugo: Farley? I don't know if I've, I mean, I know who Matt Farley is, but I don't know if I've seen anything with him in, or that he's done.

Andrew Harp: Ma Farley is. For a couple decades now, he is been making movies, um, along with all his other projects I've seen. Don't Let The River Beast Get You. And this is his most recent movie. It's very musical, my Farley's musician, but this is his most musical movie. And magic spot has a very like, uh, specific ti weird, kind of funny time travel plot that's very hilarious.

But magic spot, just like don't let the river be sketch. Are very low-fi movies that he makes in the small town that he lives in Massachusetts. He makes all these movies with his friends and his buddies. They're all in it. They're all made by him. They're very low budget, but they have a ton of heart. The comedy.

Is very funny, but it doesn't feel too comedy. Kind of professional comedy kind of stuff. You know, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's nothing too obvious about the comedy. It feels very like in joke, but not really, and it's just like a really cute, fun film. Don't let their beast sketch you in the magic spot.

They're kind of unbelievable how good they are, but they're very amateur, but they have so much heart and love that I can't help but love it. So magic spot, honestly, that also should go invest with 2020. I mean, I don't, I don't know where I would put it. It's hard to say. I mean, I would say top 6, 5, 6, 7. Wow.

Must be pretty good. , I recommend Mount Farley movies. They're very fun. I still have quite a few I haven't seen, but ah, he's so good. He's so much fun to watch. We'll have to check

Austin Lugo: about his films look fun. And sometimes you just need something. It's a little more lo-fi as you say. And you know, you love seeing filmmakers who are out there just doing low budget stuff, just making the films that they want to make.

Andrew Harp: I think that's, Rocks with his buddy. He was just with his buddies in Massachusetts. They're just in the town and they just. They film everything. , they just filmed the whole movie, like just Around town and it's uh, it's very enjoyable. That

Austin Lugo: that is great. Well, I don't really have any other movies that I really wanna talk about that much, but I did wanna mention that after finishing Better Call Saul, I started watching The Wire, which people consider.

One of the greatest shows of all time. It's on every list. It's like top five always. Have you seen The Wire?

Andrew Harp: I watched the first two seasons and I started the third and then I didn't finish it. That was a while ago. That was like several years ago.

Austin Lugo: I've been watching as I work, so it's a good show to have on while I'm working because visually I don't find it very interesting and there's a lot of dialogue.

I'm mid second season, I think I'm halfway through the second season. I haven't really gotten into it yet. I don't

Andrew Harp: know. It's not an easy show to get into, honestly. It really isn't like, it's a very didactic movie. Like the first season is like really like, okay. Like a lot of like talking, a lot of dialogue.

Yeah. Yeah. I like the setting though. I think the characters are pretty cool as an HBO show, you know, so they can do whatever they want. The way that the second season opens, I think is very great with all the dead bodies. I think that's very like, holy shit, that's crazy. But I don't know. It kind of, it's kind of up its own ass a little bit.

Yeah, I'd rather just watch Breaking Bad. I'd rather watch Sopranos.

Austin Lugo: You know, I'm trying to become more of a a TV buff, cuz I've always been really into movies, but I've never really gotten into tv. You've

Andrew Harp: watched so much tv. What do you mean? Yeah, but

Austin Lugo: not like famous tv. Like when you look at the li lists, the different lists of like top hundred, you know, best television shows of all time.

I've only seen like six

Andrew Harp: of. I imagine that 75% of those shows have not aged well. How bet you could skip at least every other show on that list. Just saying, I gotta like

Austin Lugo: turn on something when I'm working.

Andrew Harp: You should just watch Star Trek. Watch Star Trek, t n g. That's

Austin Lugo: actually next on my list is Star Trek.

After I finish the Wire, I

Andrew Harp: recommend just watching Star Trek, t n g. Yeah. What is it on? Well, it used to be on Netflix, but now it's just on Paramount. I think I have Paramount, so I think Oh, okay. Then you're good. I think Paramount has all the Star Trek shows.

Austin Lugo: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I think, I think that's gonna be next to my list.

I

Andrew Harp: mean, I'm already with the original series, I've tried to get into it and I find it kind of hard to do, but during, in 2020, I started watching T N G and I skipped around a lot cuz like the first couple seasons are apparently not very good. So I found a guide online where they're just like, okay, watch these episodes, skip these.

But then basically I would say from like the third to maybe like the sixth, fifth, or sixth season, it's like I watched every episode and they're all very good. . They're very good. Wow.

Austin Lugo: Okay. , great show. Star Trek again, one of those shows that everyone talks about. Everyone talks about how great it is. So it's a show I've, I've long wanted to get into, but I have to pick shows that I know Emily would never watch because Emily and I do watch TV at night, but we watch a night are typically like low-key, not sitcoms, but basically, you know, just like comedic.

Andrew Harp: Maybe she would like, uh, star Trek. No, I don't know. There's a 0% chance that she would like Star Trek. It's not that like it's chill,

Austin Lugo: like it's not like, I know it's chill, but I'm telling you right now here I can ask her. Emily, would you watch Star Trek? Yeah. She said, no, it's a nerd. Show .

Andrew Harp: I disagree. I think it's a very smart, well-written show.

Yeah. I mean,

Austin Lugo: I, I'm down to watch it. I also want to watch the rest of the Twilight Zone. I used to watch that a lot. The thing about the Twilight Zone though, is because it's a, what's, what's the word? Like every episode, there's like no connection between episodes, whatever.

Andrew Harp: Yeah. It's like a cereal. No, no, not a cereal.

The. It's opposite of a cereal , like a monster of the week

Austin Lugo: kind of thing. It's the thing about the Twilight Zone, cause I've seen the first two season, I think I've seen like 20 or 30 episodes of The Twilight Zone is there are some episodes that are very good, like very well written, very interesting. One episode they haven't seen yet that I really wanna see is there's a Buster Keaton episode.

Oh yeah. Which I'd be really excited to see I haven't seen yet. . The thing is like with the Twilight Zone, is it's very hit or miss. There's some episodes that are very good, very interesting, very intriguing, and then there are episodes that are just trash because the thing about the Twilight Zone is so weird.

Is they constantly have different writers and different directors, and the really only thing that holds it together is like the guy who does the introductions. But otherwise, it's just like, like there's no connection between these episodes at all. Like not only like plot wise, but even like you get different directors, you get different writers.

So it's such a weird idea for a show, which I think is cool that it exists at all and that, you know, they allow it to exist. But probably something I'll get back into after Star. , but I still gotta get through the wire and then Star Trek. So Star Trek is like the

Andrew Harp: same kind of thing. I mean, the characters are like the same through route, obviously, and they're obviously like plots and stuff that, you know, branch out things happening.

But every episode is basically just like the crew. Something happens somewhere and they have to rectify the problem and so you can just kinda like pop in almost any T n G episode, at least most of them. And it's just like them trying to figure out a problem and then pretty easily you can figure out all their personalities and stuff.

Yeah, pretty easily a show I've been watching here and there. That's what Super Chill is Colombo and Colombo is basically the same thing, where Colombo is also good too, where each episode is like directed and written by different people. And basically the only thing that's the same is that you have Colombo in each episode, it kind of has the same structure where you have the crime that happens at the beginning, Colombo shows up to try to solve it.

He gets outwitted and then at the very end he solves it. Yeah, that's pretty much how every single Colombo episode is with maybe some variations, but it's chill because of that. And the vibes are very nice. It's like nice seventies California vibes and Colombo's a great character. And Peter Falk is a great actor.

And it's the same thing where it's just kind of like, you know, just different places, situations, actors. There's enough variation, but also enough, you know, comfortable kind of stuff going on too, where you're, you can kind of just vibe to it. That's another show that's, I would say is similar to Twilight Zone or Star Trek, where it's not like a really long movie.

Yeah. Which is good, but not all the time. ,

Austin Lugo: right. That's the thing with The Wire is like

Andrew Harp: it's a big long movie. Sopranos as well. Sopranos is also a big long movie. Breaking Bad's. A big, long movie. Yeah. Which is

Austin Lugo: fine, but The Wire feels like the most intertwined show I ever watched. There's just so many characters and so much shit going on.

Honestly, if I didn't have it on while I was working, I probably would never be able to get into it because there's just, it's so much. It's just so much. There's like 20 characters. Every episode goes to like six different characters. You can never like just stay on one person and it's all these different fucking plot lines.

It's a lot. It's

Andrew Harp: just satisfying to watch this episode of Star Trek where you have the crew, you know, for the most part, how. And then they just solved the problem, , you know, it's like, yes, they solved the problem. I knew they would solve it. They did it, and they did it in a very intelligent and very nice way.

And Colombo's the same way. Get Colombo. You're just like, man, how is he gonna solve this? And he does. And you're just like, yep. He solved it. And the wire, it's just like, he got fucking killed and he got away and like, what are we gonna do? Oh shit. You know, it's like, which is good. But,

Austin Lugo: you know, I do love the theme song for the second season.

Yeah.

Andrew Harp: Rocks. It's, it's, it's a Tom Waits, uh, cover. I. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tom Waits is awesome. Yeah, I'm a, I'm a big Tom Waits fan. Yeah. They do like a, I think they get a different artist to cover that song

Austin Lugo: each season. I've only seen first two, and I guess you only started the third, but I'm guessing each season is like, takes place at a different part of Baltimore.

Is that the idea? Yeah.

Andrew Harp: Second season is the docs, and then I think like the next few seasons, I don't remember the order, but I think. One of them is a schools, one of them is like kind of like the, like a judicial sector, and I think another one is like the newspaper or press or something like that. But you still have the other characters as well.

I mean, it, it's a cool idea. Yeah. I think it's cool too.

Austin Lugo: It's just a lot. . I don't know, like when the Wire originally came out. I genuinely don't know how you could watch this week after week. Like I don't know how you would know what was going on. I'm impressed by anyone who watched it when originally came out because that seems impossible.

Andrew Harp: Yeah, no, I feel. I also started watching Tulsa King on Paramount. Have you seen this ? No. The guy who created Yellowstone, he has a new show called Tulsa King, which Daryl Lester Stallone. It's a Paramount Plus original. Okay. I've listened to a few podcasts that have talked about this show and it's just, it's terrible.

Like it's just a, it's a funny. Show. I watched the first episode last night and it, I don't know if you're just kind of wanna watch something that is just very baffling and weird. I recommend it. It's like Sylvester Stallone. He's in jail for 25 years. He's part of the Italian Mafia in New York City, and he gets out and for his reward for getting out, for staying in jail for 25 years and not staying anything, they say that he can go to Tulsa, Oklahoma to start his own criminal.

Business and empire there. And that's his reward for being in prison. . It doesn't make sense. It, it's really weird. There's a lot of things that don't make sense. And then he goes to Oklahoma, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and uh, in the first episode a lot of shit happens, but nothing really much happens either. , he beats up people and he doesn't get in trouble.

He robs what? Weed dispensary there and doesn't get in trouble. Okay. It's a really weird show. It's a very reactionary conservative show, so if you're interested in that, I recommend it just because it's super weird and interesting and it's kind of tapping into something very strange that I'm having a hard time like getting my mind around.

I recommend it. I'm, I'm probably gonna watch a little bit more of it. There's only one season out, so there's not a lot to watch. But Sylvester Stallone, he's hilarious. It's not a good show, but it's a very interesting show. That sounds

Austin Lugo: fascinating. That

Andrew Harp: sounds like a blast. My mom watched it. Um, my mom watched some of it and she, and I was talking to her.

No, I was talking to her about it, and she's like, I didn't like it. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. And I mean it's just like, it seems like

Austin Lugo: a show old people would like, like not our parents' age, but like

Andrew Harp: Yellowstone, our grandparents. Yeah. Yellowstone is probably the most popular show on television easily. Yeah. And Tulsa King is also probably very popular too, but it like sucks

It's just, it's very fascinating.

Austin Lugo: Old people love television, man. They got nothing else going on. That's amazing. I. Well, that's pretty much all I got. I got to talk about this week I was gonna do this thing where this year I was gonna be like, I'm gonna watch all of the Sight and Sounds Top a hundred films they haven't seen, which I've seen like 60%.

So it's only like 40 films. And Criterion Collection has like a huge majority of them, and I watched one of them. For Atlanta, which is very good. But then I just immediately stopped doing that, so I, I probably won't do that

Andrew Harp: this year. Like, don't do that. Forget it. Like, I think with movies, with everything, you should just like watch whatever you feel like watching.

I think I trying to like watch like a 100 film list, like in a given year, in a given amount of time. I think you're just gonna set yourself up for like burnout and don't do it. I

Austin Lugo: already gave up on it, so don't worry Andrew. I immediately gave up on an idea. Good. You should give up so we'll see what's next.

I don't know what I'm gonna watch. I've been watching a lot of 1930s screwball comedies cause Crate Collection just released a screwball comedies like you know, thing and I fucking love screwball comedies from that era. Yeah. Yeah, that's all I've been doing, but, okay. So that's pretty much it,

Andrew Harp: man. Cool.

That sounds good. All

Austin Lugo: right, well, thank you all for listening and until next time, thanks again.