Transcript
Speaker: me what's up listeners of the lost in the frame podcast i'm your host i'm your host malik and i'm your host alex how guys doing i'm doing good um i'm well and i'm ready what a crazy day had something happen at work and i mean it's one of those weird it's a weird stories let me just let me just you know tell it to you guys because I don't really know what to make of it.
Speaker: Okay. So there, I heard, I heard this from a guy at work. It happened to a buddy of his. Um, so there's like this group of three who works together at this other place. Right.
Speaker: And I guess they've been working together for like a decent amount of time, like a long time. They're all pretty close. Um, and, Like, things were going really good. The chemistry was good. The chemistry was great.
Speaker: But then then something happened. Like, the two of them did something to the one. And now there's all sorts of tension and drama.
Speaker: And, yeah, it's crazy. You want to know what he did? or you to know what they did? Yeah, i do. They forgot his birthday.
Speaker: Isn't that crazy? Oh. Don't tell me it's us.
Speaker: It might be. i don't know it
Speaker: Alex, happy birthday. Happy birthday, Alex. As soon as it happened, I'm like, I'm getting them back on air. That's not. I'm so sorry. I didn't even.
Speaker: You didn't know, huh? Yeah, I can tell. No, I knew. Now we're just called out live on the pod. How long did you plan this? Well, it was Tuesday, so two days. No, one day. One day.
Speaker: Because was Wednesday. This week, meals, this is like the most Friday-feeling Thursday, and yesterday was the most Thursday-feeling Wednesday. Not an excuse. Happy happy birthday, Alex.
Speaker: Yeah, i wanted I was really excited to make a 28 years later joke that day. yeah Because, you know, I'm 28. Damn, you're getting up there.
Speaker: How's that? How's that? How's that? But I'm good. I'm doing good. What did you do? Did you do anything for your birthday? No, absolutely. I didn't do anything. We had a no. And we we had a ah ah VP come in. And so I had to stay from 830 till five.
Speaker: I got home at like 630. Wait, what time do you usually leave? Like four. I usually even from like nine to four. oh I'm like 6.30. I made dinner. I ate it went to bed at like 8 o'clock.
Speaker: so It was horrible. It's wash. It's like leading up to your birthday, and it's also the first time I'm like not there for your birthday, but there's always something going on or like some event leading up to it.
Speaker: And then i don't it was just like like crickets. Are you going to celebrate this weekend or do something later? I mean, there's football, a college football this weekend. I'm going to a Texas game. so Do you think it's because of the age of 28? 28 just like, ahh Yeah, ah this is also, I think, the year that the like the most people have forgotten. Hmm.
Speaker: Which, i and i I was really surprised at how little I cared. i was just like, ah, whatever. Damn, well, shouldn't it be us? I genuinely feel like people, for the most part, remember birthdays from Snapchat or Facebook, and no one uses either of them anymore.
Speaker: Hmm. Yeah. Well, I just added your birthday to your your contact information. Let's go. That's something that I've had to do too because yeah, without Snapchat or Facebook, I'm like, fuck. Or or Instagram if so someone doesn't post anything.
Speaker: yeah oh yeah, and I never post anything on my birthday. don't know. I can't wait till you turn 30 and then we're all on the 30 club. That'd be nice. You'll be in the 40 club when I'm 30 club.
Speaker: All right. Well, I'll make it up to you. Somehow. I'm not going to say it. Okay. ah What have you guys been watching? Let's do a rapid review. wants to go first?
Speaker: I'll go. Go. I went and saw Finding Emily last week. Oh, how was it?
Speaker: There were a lot of Emily's in this movie. They found her. Source, it's been on it's unconfirmed, but they're saying they found her.
Speaker: Sources tell me they found Emily. Please, God. Please, God. um ah Let's be serious. I actually really, really liked it. Okay. I went in knowing that the trailer was the entire plot, and it was every...
Speaker: Rom-com we've ever watched ever, right? It was going to be very cliche. the the beat The plot beats were going to be extremely familiar. I thought the two leads were really good. I thought the male lead was exceptional at playing like this British guy.
Speaker: british you know twenty s guy Great soundtrack. Great soundtrack. ah Kind of funny, kind of tongue-in-cheek. And there's a couple scenes that'll actually make you like emotional. And you'll just be like, why did this get me emotional? Like, this movie. um yeah I really liked it. I gave it a a four out of five.
Speaker: Wow. Nice. And knowing how rare fours are this year for you, I'm excited. I know, I know. who was also, I think, just in a like a romance mood, romantic mood, you know?
Speaker: I think it helped watching it. Would you ask team money? What, who are the leads? Um, I know. oh God. So I know who one of them is. i don't know the other guy's name. Let pull it up.
Speaker: I'm completely drawing a blank on what the guy looks like. I know it's the blonde girl, and I only know her from Spider-Man. Yeah. It's one of the news anchors. So Spike Fern and Angry, Angry?
Speaker: Angry. Angry Rice. and Oh, yeah. She's seething with rage.
Speaker: ah Those two. yeah Okay. Okay.
Speaker: And Spike was in Aftersun, Batman, and Alien Romulus. Three bangers. Yeah. I feel like I should know who this guy is. Yeah.
Speaker: um Cool. Yeah. I can't wait to check it out. um My Rapid Review is also a 2026 release. I can't believe it's September already. ah It's time to do some catch up for sure. But I've started. So I watched Masters of the Universe before we recorded.
Speaker: full transparency I've got like 30 minutes left so I didn't finish it but it's a really long movie it's surprisingly long it's nearly two and a half hours so so I got the gist of it but um Masters of the Universe is the He-Man movie the live-action He-Man movie that came out earlier this year um I wasn't much of a He-Man kid growing up.
Speaker: I don't know if you guys were. Nope. I feel like that might have been more kids maybe growing up in the as opposed to us growing up in the 90s. But I was aware of who he was. I got the gist. I know Skeletor.
Speaker: i don't know if I was can say I was excited for this movie, but I am surprised because I'm quite enjoying it and having a pretty good time. And I wish I had watched it in theaters.
Speaker: It's pretty funny. It's really stupid and is aware of what it is. The whole concept just is already very silly. And so movies like that can go either way. You can go Mortal Kombat where it does not embrace the silliness.
Speaker: and it's just bad, or you can embrace this illness. And Masters of the Universe is doing that. Jared Leto, I'm so sad to say, is kind of killing it as Skeletor. Worst news in history.
Speaker: Worst guy you know makes a great point. um It's a fun time. um I won't rate it since I'm not done with it, but I'll let you guys know. He'll rate it on week's pod.
Speaker: It's like a three and a half. It won't be a four, but it's definitely like like a decent three and a half good popcorn movie. What would have to happen in the last 30 minutes for it to be a five?
Speaker: For it to be a five? Yeah. There's nothing that could happen. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No. Like a zero percent chance. Truly. Zero percent. Yeah. Like, I don't know. Like, Jared Leto would have to, like, look at the screen, like, look at the camera as Skeletor as the camera, like, slowly zooms in and he takes off, like, the skull and reveals just another skull.
Speaker: But it's actually Jared Leto's real skull. And he, like, talks to the audience. It's Morban time. Yeah. yeah and it turns into a morbid and credit scene sure that's that's what would make it a five obviously so we'll call it a three and a half for now but um surprised in a good way that's great yeah so for my rapid review am not uh covering a 2026 release this is uh 2007. this is hot rod this is hot rod
Speaker: Oh, fuck yeah. Directed by Akiva Schaefer. It's the Lonely Island guys. and um We love those guys. Yeah, we do real Really fun and silly movie.
Speaker: Takes me back to like high school. It's just a good time. and It still holds up for me. I don't know if it holds up for everyone else, but had a great time watching it.
Speaker: yeah the The humor just it always works for me. and Super fun. I gave that one 4 out of 5. what your favorite scene from Hot Rod?
Speaker: Mine's gotta be the punching air fighting in the forest. And then the as the great fall. As he tumbles down. The great fall, yeah. That's a good one.
Speaker: I like the yeah just like the Danny McBride trash can. Yeah. And he's hiked on the trash. I've been drinking drinks all day. I go to church every goddamn Sunday.
Speaker: I like the the unexpected riot. I like... That scene is so funny. and That really got out of hand. ah I don't know what else is good.
Speaker: I... I know. See for yourself, audience, listeners. Go watch Hot Rod. It's great. Not as good as Popstar, but great.
Speaker: hmm go into my head if i had to choose i don't know don't ask me choose i said don't ask me i didn't ask uh okay i think i would choose and might choose hot rod really just get blasted anyway i love hot rod i could see like me maybe getting over the songs in Popstar. I love the songs in Popstar, but I feel like there's not any part of Hot Rod that I would be like, i don't really want to hate like see this part. or you know Just because like music always changes. The taste of music always changes. I don't know, but...
Speaker: Let's get into some movie news before we talk about Coyote vs. Acme. um Spider-Man Brand New Day is now tracking to become the highest grossing film of all time in the US. That is insane. Yeah. It is set to become the second film to pass $900 million tomorrow. So probably already did by the time you're listening to it.
Speaker: um The highest grossing movie domestically is Star Wars The Force Awakens at $936 million. And there's a very good chance Spider-Man Brand New Day beats that. Does it hit a billy domestically?
Speaker: Dude. no movie obviously no movie has and wonder if this would be the first sprite spider-man brand new era of the box office yeah are we counting uh a re-release for the force awakens or is that the first release i think it counts like all subsequent re-releases um then yeah for the box office i think it's possible but do you think it happens first around oh first round I don't know. It's been a while, like a month. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. For it to make another hundred million in its box office run. Odyssey got 1.5 and they extended some IMAX 70 millimeter dates. um I could see it. i had um I had a moment with the Odyssey with you two where i just like, guys, I might knock this down.
Speaker: half a star and then I stepped on it and i was like all right I was being dramatic you' just get to you're weak I kept it out of four stand on business I was telling Cam when I got home from it it was so I went to go watch it in IMAX 70 millimeter biggest screen i've ever seen in my goddamn life but I think I'm over it like it doesn't I'm not gonna be breaking my legs to go to the Universal City walk and do like IMAX 70 millimeter um The things I liked about the Odyssey, I really liked this time, but the things I didn't, I really didn't like.
Speaker: So everything kind of was just dialed up a bit or dialed down a bit, depending on how you look at it. But i just I just kept it at four because it's the spectacle of a movie. But that's all i'll say about that.
Speaker: Next up on our docket, Indy Navarrete. will star in a new sci-fi thriller, the Waffle House Index, for Apple.
Speaker: You're probably thinking, what? And that's what I thought when I got the text, Indy Navarrete Waffle House movie. The film follows a Waffle House waitress who has a terrible night shift featuring a gunman, a mass flood, killer crocodiles, a nuclear explosion, a magical bunker under the Waffle House, and aliens.
Speaker: She couldn't do Heat 2 because of X-Men, but she could find the time for this one. Apparently she wasn't offered the role in Heat 2.
Speaker: She had the conversation with Michael Mann. That like propaganda. I don't think so. like I think it was just the conversations. Maybe she was just never actually considered. m um If you're wondering what the Waffle House Index is, by the way, I did look this up.
Speaker: Okay. The Waffle House, and and this is from Wikipedia, the Waffle House Index is a metric named after the southern U.S. restaurant chain Waffle House, known for its 24-hour, 365-day service. This yeah podcast is not sponsored by Waffle House. Because the restaurant chain is always open, again, not sponsored by Waffle House, so except in extreme circumstances, it has given rise to an informal but useful metric to determine the severity of a storm and the likely scale of assistance required for the disaster recovery.
Speaker: The metric was coined by Craig Fugate in August 2004 after Hurricane Charlie. He was leading the Florida Division of Emergency Management. And this is what he said. If you get there and the Waffle House is closed, that's really bad.
Speaker: Wow. Accurance. Yeah. The index is three levels based on the extent of operations and service at the restaurant following a storm. Green, full menu. Yellow, limited menu. Power is either unavailable or supplied by a generator or food supplies are running low.
Speaker: And red, restaurant is closed.
Speaker: Hmm. Only thing that worries me with this is... So I like Apple TV's shows. They have been on record saying they throw so much money at their shows and movies kind of for fun, even if they don't turn a profit, which I'm stoked on because they keep giving these shows that no one's watching more seasons. Netflix can can learn a lot, like let it breathe, let the show breathe, let it find an audience over time. And Apple TV seems to do that.
Speaker: I can't say the same for their movies. Um, I'm looking at Cherry with Tom Holland. I know we didn't like that one, T-Money. Nope. I didn't like Coda. There's a couple good ones. You got The Tragedy of Macbeth. That was great.
Speaker: But then you also have Ghosted, ah the Tetris movie, Fly Me to the Moon. Does F1 count? Because it's on Apple TV. I believe it that was an Apple movie. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. They're also doing the matchbox movie. So we've got a best picture nominee. That's something. I mean, they also got killers of the flower moon, so it could go. and codo it Yeah. And Kota. Yeah.
Speaker: But we don't talk about that. We don't talk about that. Mickey Mouse Academy win. So I don't know. Could go either way, but I'm in. I'll watch. Yeah.
Speaker: Seems fun. Next item, Rebecca Ferguson and Greta Lee will officially star in a lesbian rom-com honeymoon slash funeral. The film follows two women who meet on a flight from LA to London, one en route to her honeymoon by herself, the other going to her mother's funeral.
Speaker: I like both actresses. Same. Could be good. Could be really good. Yeah. Maybe before sunrise in the sky. Or it could be mercy.
Speaker: Poor Rebecca Ferguson. Any movie she has, we're just like, but mercy. Greta's going to be like, i love you. And going to cut to Rebecca. She should like.
Speaker: It's a hologram of her too. yeah ah Robert Pattinson says he learned how to do Chris Hansen's voice for primetime by reciting Hansen's podcast out loud. I'm wandering around the street saying what he's talking about and people are incredibly confused with what's going on.
Speaker: Sounds like him. What do you think about the ah Hanson NDA A24 drama?
Speaker: Good sign?
Speaker: i think it's going to be a really good movie. i don't know if that's like standard language that they just make you sign an NDA for an unreleased movie, but yeah, I'm intrigued. It is interesting. It will be our last episode of this month.
Speaker: Oh, and for those who have no idea what we're talking about, apparently Chris Hansen tried to go watch an early screening of the primetime movie. A24 invited him to do this. He didn't just like show up and be like, show me the movie.
Speaker: um But they forced him to sign an NDA to do it, and he said no and didn't didn't watch it. So... I'm sure they make everybody sign that NDA though. Yeah.
Speaker: And then he just didn't want to, but we'll see. Uh, this is a very, Oh, what? Go ahead, Tachi. Real quick. I did. I saw a quote from, uh, one of the actors in the movie, Skyward Gisando said that, ah when he watched Robert act, uh, like the first scene, he said it was like the best acting he's seen in his, in his entire life.
Speaker: So, Can't come soon enough. Yeah. It'd be great. We're almost there. Sorry. Go ahead. This is a very important piece of movie news. There is a Twitter account that is posting every heat of frame and order in order. Or every... That was so correct. Let me restart that. There is a Twitter account that is posting every frame of heat in order.
Speaker: Hmm. When I last looked, we had met Wayne Grow. It started this morning.
Speaker: Let me tell you. Okay, so he's not doing... I thought it was one a day. Is he just hosting them whenever? It's going. Okay. um Let me tell you what. Seeing the screenshots of those opening credits and like the silhouette of the train, I was like, I could watch Heat right now.
Speaker: I gotta watch it again. I could go watch Heat right now. The first one I saw was the screen grab, and it literally just says Robert De Niro, Al Pacino. People are like, so much aura just in the title card, and it's just two names.
Speaker: I told someone at work, I'm like, you've seen Heat, right? And he's like, no, i haven't seen Heat. And I'm like, you've got to watch Heat. And he's like, who's in Heat? And i'm like, go look up Heat. He looks up Heat, and he's like, I've got to watch Heat.
Speaker: He's like, De Niro, Pacino, Al Kilmer. That TikTok you sent earlier. That was literally exactly that. Literally exactly that. oh, you haven't seen Heat? He's like, no. Have you seen The Town? He's like, oh, I like The Town. You're going to love Heat. ah i so I said this to Malik in our Twitter DMs, but I truly think that this movie deserves to be on the Mount Rushmore movie.
Speaker: Like, yeah, the movie Mount Rushmore. I mean, like, oh, Godfather, Shawshank. ah Agree. Great movies. Both 10 out of Heat. heat
Speaker: Insane should be there. It feels like maybe what used to be a bit more niche, because I feel like Michael Mann, like Michael Mann obviously is a very well-known and beloved film director, but there's been a heat renaissance.
Speaker: Yeah. I feel like there's been a Michael Mann renaissance. Yes. Like, I wasn't aware of him in like the 2010s, but I feel like maybe exclusively the older generation was, but now it's finding a new audience with those like in our age range.
Speaker: And I feel like it is on the come up. So maybe soon you'll see it on that Mount Rushmore. I feel like it's inevitable. We can hope. We can.
Speaker: Next item. The trailer for Inc. was released. Did you guys watch it? I did. Heat? I think I watched the teaser. I don't know. I watched a trailer.
Speaker: um Jack O'Connell. and Bro.
Speaker: How's that? How's that? How's that? Apparently, i don't know how true this is, but I think Inc. played at Venice today, but apparently there are... There is AI use know in ink around people. I don't know exactly what it is, and I will not go deeper than that. That's what I saw. I don't know if that's been confirmed. I don't know.
Speaker: m But we'll see do we trust Danny Boyle? I think yes. I trust Danny Boyle. I do. Are we sure it's AI and not just some of his weird like a camera effects making it look goofy?
Speaker: It could be that and that's kind of where I'm leaning. Because there are a couple crazy shots in 28 years later where you're like, did I just get flash banged by the movie I'm watching? Okay, I don't want to.
Speaker: Can I spoil? i wait Are you trying to avoid the trailer? No. Okay. In 28 years later, how would they use that weird camera rig? with the Yes. although yeah He uses that in ink. Yeah, no, okay, yeah. So I did see that in the... Okay, bro.
Speaker: So good. It looks insane. Yeah, I'm i'm stoked. It's going to be sick. Part of me wonders if the AI will be an intentional usage to... Maybe this is just Cope.
Speaker: There's a movie about like an exploitative tabloid, like using it in like an ironic sense.
Speaker: Could be. co Could that. it's Yeah, it's absolutely cope. Just to ignore me guys. We'll see. We'll see what it actually is. I don't know. um And then the ah the other trailer that came out was La Bola Negra.
Speaker: Did you guys watch that one? Yes. Beautiful, bro. Beautiful. Outstanding. I had I had goosebumps like on my arm. that The trailer ended and I looked at my arm just entirely raised.
Speaker: I went, oh, shit. hmm. It looks so good. I'm excited. Yeah. I'm a little, I don't know. I don't fully know the plot, but I'm like, from like a cinematography standpoint, that that's a potential winner right there. It it doesn't seem like it's, it's style over substance.
Speaker: but It does not. There's a lot of style. Alex, on our last episode, you had brought up um Penelope Cruz for supporting actress. She's got two shots in it for like two seconds. From what I saw, i was like, yeah.
Speaker: yeah I immediately see it. i was like, that was a good pick, Alex. Dude, I genuinely think she is top three actress working today.
Speaker: I am Penelope Cruz's number one soldier. If I'm not mistaken, she doesn't have an Oscar, and this could be like her time to do it. We'll see.
Speaker: We'll see. guys ready to talk about today's movie? Let's do it. I am. All right. Coyote versus Acme. don dawn du Dun, dun, dun, dun. Directed by Dave Green, the synopsis reads, after Acme products fail him one too many times in his dogged pursuit of the roadrunner, Wiley Coyote decides to hire billboard lawyer to sue the Acme Corporation.
Speaker: This is starring Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena, and Wile E. Coyote. Tachi has our five star today. i have the three and Alex with the one.
Speaker: Let's get into it. All right. Today's five star comes in from Athena Plur. I'm just going to say it. This is Will's Forte. An instant classic. Absolutely worth the fight.
Speaker: Kevin and I are going to eat
Speaker: That's it? That's it. ye Okay. My three star comes from you underscore Watanabe.
Speaker: Lock in. Get it twisted. If you can lock in, you can do anything. Get it twisted. All caps. Get it twisted. You are a pawn in a universe chess match. You mean nothing to God.
Speaker: You're a rounding error. You are two pennies on a Fortune 500 company's balance sheet. Get it twisted. Your own level of education, your attitude, your level of effort, your friends, your network, your business, your credentials. Motherfucker.
Speaker: Yeah. I don't know, but it has 200 likes. I've read it multiple times. I don't know what it means. And I skipped a lot of it. It's like... You don't know what this means. Get it twisted.
Speaker: Just persist. Get it twisted. Keep moving forward. Get it twisted. What is that? I don't know. It's provocative. It is. It's intimidating.
Speaker: But thanks, you underscore Watanabe. I'm sure it's not Watanabe. It's Watanabe. How did you know? What?
Speaker: Our one and a half or one half star half our one star review. I'm having a bad day. Oh my goodness. Our half star review comes from Talon.
Speaker: Talon. Here's what Talon has to say. Short review. They should have kept this movie shelved. Oh,
Speaker: longer review Long review. Uniquely awful. About three jokes in the entire film got a very light exhale out of my nose. Nothing else lands. Why did they go with this awful PS2 CGI for the cartoons? It looks repulsive and it's so much worse than Roger Rabbit or even Looney Tunes back in action.
Speaker: The plot isn't interesting. The revelations aren't fun. Characters aren't likable. What are we doing? How does this movie currently have a 95 plus on Rotten Tomatoes? Did I watch the same movie as everyone else? Am I being pranked? Genuinely, I cannot fathom people walking away from this satisfied.
Speaker: Before we continue, I had to look. Their profile. That was our favorite segment. Thank you for your service. And I...
Speaker: do agree with a lot of their ah top movies. like i'm like okay I respect that. so Here's their top four. Letterboxd top four. Klaus. Solid. okay yeah yeah group Probably top two Christmas movie in the last 10 years.
Speaker: Underrated. yeah Your Name. Goated. Love it. Unbelievably goated. ah Kung Fu Panda 2, which I have not seen, so I can't judge.
Speaker: And Inception, which is you know Inception. However, there is one rating that stuck out to me in there recently reviewed, and that is Avatar Aang, The Last Airbender, Legend of Aang, whatever that movie's called.
Speaker: Four and a half stars. High praise. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean.
Speaker: that was one of the worst written plots I've ever. it A movie that never should have existed. Just a pure cash grab. Have you guys seen it yet? No. no there' was like like Since you talked about it, I'm like very hesitant to to watch it. there's like The first five minutes is explaining the the what happened in the series.
Speaker: They take like a five minute block of time to be like, water. And then like they show like stuff that happened in the show. Earth, you know? And then yeah all the characters are like complete characters of themselves.
Speaker: It just, it's so does, I mean, how anyone could walk away with like a critical lens and be like, that was a good movie. It's, it's really well animated, I think, but oh my God, the writing is, it's, it had to have been an AI script.
Speaker: It's getting a physical release next year. I will be throwing in the garbage.
Speaker: um I want to do something a little bit different. Maybe just for this movie, but I wanted to see what we each rated it before we get into discussing it.
Speaker: I gave you this a four.
Speaker: I have yet to give it a rating, but my gut instinct when I walked out was a three. Okay.
Speaker: My gut was 3.5. Wow. Okay. Cool. Let's get into it. um I want to open up the discussion talking about the history of Coyote vs. Acme. So if you, the listener, are not aware, strap in.
Speaker: Because this movie has a history. um We're reading a lot of this off of the Wikipedia page. But essentially, it all boils down to this. This movie has been completed for nearly three years, I believe, at this point.
Speaker: um They shot it in 2021, 2022. It was in post put post-production. And on November 9th, 2023, Warner Brothers Entertainment officials announced that the film was complete, but that they would not release it because Warner Brothers Discovery preferred to claim a tax loss of about $30 million. dollars So essentially they were going to shelve this finished movie and use it as a tax write-off.
Speaker: um We have a couple of other movies that we will discuss following our discussion of Coyote vs. Acme that have had Similar fates, but unfortunately stayed shelved.
Speaker: um Most notably Batgirl and Scoob Holiday Haunt. That's notable because that was also Warner Brothers finished movies that they just completely shelved. It was like back to back to back those three where they were tax write-offs. All of them.
Speaker: Yeah. um And Batgirl is supposed to be done. Like they're all supposed to be just finished, completely finished. Right. I don't know about Scoob, but Batgirl and Coyote versus Acme were completely done.
Speaker: Like all they needed to do was put it on a screen and and tell people to come watch it. And they shelved it for for a tax write off. um I know there was a very large majority with Batgirl talking about like how crazy that is and how ridiculous it is. I think that was the first time that I had either like maybe known or at least paid attention to the fact that ah a corporation could just do that.
Speaker: They could just be like, yeah, we're just not goingnna release it. And a lot of people were very outspoken about Batgirl. When this happened with Coyote versus Acme, I think there were more voices um talking about how ridiculous it was. ah People protesting, saying this is just like not right. Like, how could you do this? You had um some of the cast and crew also trying to make their voices heard.
Speaker: um A few days later, after Warner Brothers announced that, on November 13th, Warner Brothers leaders decided to reverse their decision and let the filmmakers shop the film to other distributors.
Speaker: Amazon, Apple Studios, Netflix were amongst some of the studios that were in talks to buy the movie. And these conversations kind of went on for about a year. um Warner Brothers wanted $75 to $80 million to sell the film. Netflix, Amazon, and Paramount didn't want to pay that much.
Speaker: And so this is all going on um until late 2024, all the way until 2025. On March 19th, 2025, Ketchup Entertainment, which I've never heard of, they were in talks to acquire all the rights of the films all the rights to the film from Warner Brothers for $50 million. dollars um And they were successful.
Speaker: Ketchup Entertainment got all the rights to the movie. And now they gave us the release date and the movie came out. People came out to watch it. I think the craziest bit about the story is I think at some point along the way, if I remember right, Warner Brothers said they were going to delete it.
Speaker: Yeah. Like, it was just going be gone. Like, we'll we' we'll delete the movie, and then no one will get it. ah They were doing this, by the way, to make themselves more attractive to get acquired.
Speaker: Yes. That's why they were doing it, which we obviously now know in hindsight, but, I mean...
Speaker: It's insane. I still don't like understand how. like It's just... How it works? Yeah. Well, if i I'm assuming by taking the tax write-off, they're making the debt more palatable, making the debt of the company more palatable to an investor looking to purchase it and take it on in an acquisition.
Speaker: Is like what my understanding of that situation would be.
Speaker: That's so... It's insane that they could just do that. And... So I guess it would just be some executives who maybe watched the movie, made their own decision. They're like, hey, we really just like, it's going to lose money.
Speaker: For being honest. Probably just like, all right, let's get rid of this, this, this. Like, no, like I'm serious. like This is how much we spent to make it This is how much we would have to spend to market it. And it's like, oh, like, well...
Speaker: We do this, we get X right off, and that puts us in Y position, so we should just do that. Yeah. um I don't know if the the budget for the movie... So it says the budget is $70 million.
Speaker: Catch-Up acquired it for $50,000, so I don't know if some of that is just like money that Warner Brothers needed to pocket um for the movie to be successful. But it had a pretty good weekend a pretty good opening weekend, and the box office as of today $24 million.
Speaker: um But at the end of the day, like it also doesn't really matter how much money this movie makes. like you just shouldn't like a corporation just should not be able to to do that the work of hundreds of artists and filmmakers just like completely scrapped.
Speaker: So I'm glad that we're on the right side of this story. Unfortunately, what's not like that for every single film that this has happened to, but today and with this movie, I think is a success and I'm happy that it seems that it's resonating with, with people and that people are going out to watch it.
Speaker: Sure. All that being said,
Speaker: what did you guys think of the movie touching my ask you first since you're the lowest rating right now as of um as of now we'll see as of now yeah so there was a lot of hype going into this movie there there was a lot of dark horse kind of rave reviews like this movie's incredible it's the best thing a lot of people have seen and so i got excited i got really really excited And i was ready to have my socks knocked off, whatever the phrase is.
Speaker: um Is that it? my My socks knocked off. is that what you said? Yeah. Knock your socks off. But I like your socks off. OK. Anyways, not I was ready for that.
Speaker: And. um It just didn't quite get there for me. i kind of related a lot to Alex's One Star where a lot of the humor just wasn't landing. And like, yeah, I had a couple chuckles and a few nose exhalations, but nothing like really substantial. There there wasn't like a singular joke that just was...
Speaker: like just wowed me. And so i was kind of disappointed. i especially because this is Will Forte and I have a a nice history with Will Forte. I've seen a lot of his stuff, like even back and on SNL and I've always been a fan, but i was just a little disappointed. And I think Lana Condor's acting felt in the first half felt a little awkward.
Speaker: I don't know if you guys felt the same way, but it just, it seemed like she didn't really get the movie until um later on. But. Maybe, it yeah.
Speaker: Do what? ah but I just, like I'm agreeing with you. Oh, okay. I can see that point. Yeah, and I don't really a problem with the CGI. thought it was fine. I thought it looked pretty good, actually. I thought it blended really well with the the realism, but. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah I was just. was a little jarred by how 3D it was, admittedly. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: They're very round. it was Me too. I like the look of... ah I kind of wish there was more 2D with it. like Sometimes the just looks like a little bit off, but overall, I feel they did a very good job blending it into the real world. like To the point where I'm like forgetting. like As like Will Forte's character is having conversations with Wile E. Coyote, like he's playing it straight, and I'm like, yeah, he's just having a conversation with the Coyote, and I'm like wait, no.
Speaker: He's not there. But he's doing a real good job at talking at nothing, essentially.
Speaker: Yeah, i guess I guess the last thing is just, I don't think that he can't be a leading man. i think he is ah a good actor, but i just I just don't know that it worked for me this time.
Speaker: On the topic of Will Forte and his performance, I will say this. The whole time, and don't know if this was his decision, how he decided to take the character, or if this is what the director wanted,
Speaker: Someone involved in this production wanted Will Forte's character to be Saul Goodman so badly. yeah Yeah. So, so badly did they want it to be Bob Odenkirk playing Saul.
Speaker: Which admittedly would have been just the best. Like an actual, like if it was actually Saul Goodman. if it was actually Bob Odenkirk, like, you know, season two of Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman, you know, do you know...
Speaker: I'm Saul Goodman. Did you know you have rights? The Constitution says you do, and it's the coyote. I mean, the movie's jo based in Albuquerque. Isn't Breaking Bad yeah in Albuquerque as well?
Speaker: Yeah. So there are a lot of they actually They even show the the famous hot dog restaurant from Breaking Bad in this movie, which I've eaten at. I've eaten at that place. How is it?
Speaker: Pretty good. Pretty good. Um... I don't remember the motel across the street, if that really is that motel. um But yeah, no i I had like a chili dog there, and it was was really good.
Speaker: A chili dog sounds so good right now. I did the whole like Breaking Bad sites. You broke bad? Did you go to the house? Did the lady yell at you? i Dude, she was outside. She was outside. did not yell at us. She's always outside. but she ah She looked at us as we were driving away, and I was like...
Speaker: I think she's selling the house. I think she is, but she's asking for something like really absurd in regards to neighborhood. And she's ruined the house, by the way.
Speaker: It looks horrible now. oh There's this like fence, and there's all this like crap on it. It doesn't look like the house anymore. And the funniest bit is, the inside is like a different location.
Speaker: Like inside the house is a different. It doesn't look like that inside. Yeah. But. No, I. lot It did really make me laugh that it was Albuquerque and that like clearly this was Saul Goodman.
Speaker: This was written for Saul Goodman. I mean, the fans of the show, like, and can you really blame them? No, I can't at all because I was like, God, imagine if he was the one in this movie. Yeah. If Bob Odenkirk took this role instead of whatever like weird action movies he's been making recently.
Speaker: it It would have elevated it to a strange level, but a level I think I would have welcomed gladly. Same. That being said, i did enjoy Will Forte in this. I like him. Like, I think we all like him.
Speaker: Um... I think he good he does a good job like as a leading person. I say that um with the show he has, The Last Man on Earth. Right. I mean, he's the titular last man on Earth, so he's doing a lot of the scene work by himself in those first few few episodes.
Speaker: And so he kind of gives me that vibe throughout the movie. Right. I don't know. They just, this whole movie felt like one long skit. I think if I had to say anything like negative, maybe there's a bit you can cut out.
Speaker: Like, I think this movie could be like 80 minutes at max. It's a little over an hour and a half, which is still short, but I think after a while you're just like, okay, like, yeah, kind of like see where we are. yeah.
Speaker: A lot of the humor did work for me. I really liked the Looney Tunes. like I grew up watching Looney Tunes and like baby Looney Tunes and all that. Tachi, do you have any like relationship to to those characters or anything like that? Have they always just been... i grew up with it.
Speaker: I wasn't like... It's not really what I looked forward to on TV, but if it was on, I'd watch it. But if there was something better, then I would watch that.
Speaker: What's better than the Looney Tunes? A lot.
Speaker: What about you, Alex? Did you like the Looney Tunes? i like the Looney Tunes a lot. This movie reminded me how much more Looney Tunes we need. They're funny. Some of those old clips are really funny. Yeah. There was one that like, okay, my theater was was very lively.
Speaker: um Everyone was on board. Obviously, it's like this is a movie you can take your kids to see, but I think there's a big demographic of film goers that, one, know the history of Coyote vs. Acme, so understand that it's important to show support, and two, just also like love the Looney Tunes, and it's been a while, I think, since we've had...
Speaker: looney tunes like in pop culture this movie did make me want more looney tunes like around so i hope this is like a renaissance but my theater was very was very into it like lots of laughter um they applauded at the nicole kid kidman amc ad at the beginning so i knew oh i knew i was in i was in for it with this movie um but i a really good audience what about you guys had to go far that was nice like a flower yeah he laughed at everything yeah ah
Speaker: the Giga Chad sit down next to me which was the Giga Chad? yeah he just clearly had just come from the gym tank top unbelievably swole sits down next to me we're like it was like ah one of the Alamo kid friendly showings a lot of kids in the theater it was just me and the Giga Chad in the back corner with the lights kind of on too Yeah. Did he think it was funny? Did he laugh?
Speaker: Yeah, he did. That's good. Yeah, that's good. um A lot of the humor in this movie does work for me. There's a ton of humor in this movie that works for me. Yeah. A lot of adult humor.
Speaker: Yeah, the one I wanted to shout out when you're talking about the old clips, there was one of Wile E. Coyote on a bridge like between like two mountains trying to cut a hole, but instead of like just the hole falling, it's the entirety. everything else everything else except but that i thought was like absolutely hilarious like it's so stupid but it's so dumb this movie is is stupid as hell i will i will say that but like it obviously doesn't take itself seriously and i think it's pretty heartfelt like when it wants to be it is right it works like it just it works for me
Speaker: Yeah, i mean, this this is a movie that has Acme as a um as a defense contractor. They slip like a missile in there, like launching from a warship, and it's like, you know, Acme.
Speaker: Like, oh, yeah. Yeah. This is peak. They make everything. They're the corporation. i mean, this movie literally has run the jewels on the soundtrack with every curse word beep bleeped out from the Roadrunners' meep.
Speaker: me Oh, we're walking with the meep. I was like, this is peak. like I don't know how better this could get. The soundtrack in general, by the way, features a lot of meeps over like Tchaikovsky and stuff.
Speaker: Yeah. It was pretty cool. Meep, meep. Meep, meep. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. Do you agree?
Speaker: He do be liking The Rock. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: What else doesn't work? Is anything not working this movie for you, Alex? Um, I kind of wish it was 2d cartoons and not 3d. I think the I wanted more lawyering in this one instead of like heartfelt between Wiley and Kevin and I wanted like a little bit more like a like a courtroom, like true courtroom drama. Yeah.
Speaker: I was I was kind of really hoping that that's what this would be. um And there is room for the like the heartfelt stuff. But a lot of it was it's a kids. It's a family movie. So like a lot of it's going to be like fairly cliche.
Speaker: i was I was hoping for a little bit more like shrewd lawyering and like crazy courtroom stuff. i just thought it would have been really funny. I can see a future of maybe a bit more mature Looney Tunes movie route just because I know they're going to look at the demographic of people that are going to go watch this and it's going to be 25 plus. Like those millennials that grew up with the Looney Tunes are like, okay, we can make one of these a little edgier.
Speaker: This is essentially like baby's first courtroom drama. Like if you're a kid watching this, which is fine all.
Speaker: xxx I don't know if I'll go in that far um One of my favorite lines of dialogue is the first telephone conversation with Kevin, and who is obviously Bugs Bunny on the other line. was telling guys before we recorded.
Speaker: He says, what's up, Doc? And Will Forte just goes, who is this? one of the like i i laughed I was laughing so hard. like I legit had tears in my eyes. I'm like...
Speaker: i I was just having a blast in this theater and there were so many times where I was like legit just cracking up and I haven't cracked up in a while. It's, ah yeah, that was super funny. And though the music swells like just enough to where it's like, like, yeah, what's up, Dak? And it's like, feels like an endgame moment.
Speaker: Straight up Bugs Bunny is coming out of the circle. Yeah. My audience cheered like to the point where where I couldn't hear the next line of dialogue because it was like an endgame level cheer. I'm not joking.
Speaker: I wish I was in this theater. it was it was a really good time. It is so unfair that I was not in this theater. And then ah a couple minutes later, Wolf Forte is telling ah his niece, she's like, oh, who was that on the phone? He said, I don't know. He was he was talking and then he was doing like a chomp chomp like he was chewing on a cracker or something.
Speaker: And that was a that was that also made me really laugh.
Speaker: Was there anything that didn't work for you other than maybe wanting it to be TV? Because you liked it the most. I did. um i mean, like I said, like it's this movie, I think first and foremost is a kid's movie.
Speaker: And so there are aspects of it where I'm not going to look at it in any type of critical lens because I'm like, it just kind of is what it is, you know? um I can see it for what it is and I had a good enough time with it.
Speaker: Like I said, it's a little long and it kind of drags a bit like I would say in the second act, like as we're building towards the Washington DC case, think it's getting a little too serious and gets away from the jokes for a little bit, but it doesn't stay like that for long.
Speaker: um And then when we do get to the DC courtroom, um there's some really good there's some really good scenes there, ah followed by like the Roadrunner's deposition, which had me emotional, yeah which i which I really enjoyed.
Speaker: We do need to talk about that. Yeah. um
Speaker: What do you want to talk about that scene? Well, i want i do i think my favorite joke in the one that got the biggest laugh out of me was ah when they're going when the acne people were going to capture the Roadrunner and PJ Byrne's character was huffing a can of acne glue. And he's like, I love being a lawyer.
Speaker: was like, this is that incredible. That is a really good line. I love PJ Byrne. Whenever he pops up, I'm having a good time. I know. we needed We needed more of him in End of Oak Street.
Speaker: Yeah. um What did you guys think of John Cena? I was just about to ask.
Speaker: He was fine, which is sad because I thought he was really going to go all out, and it just didn't feel like he went all out. I don't think he was given enough to go all out with, though.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree. Yeah.
Speaker: I think he did good with what he had, but like you got John Cena, like this guy will fully commit. You could dial him up to 11 and he will do it.
Speaker: So I'd agree. I think maybe a little underutilized, but he's got a funny scene with Tweety Bird. I don't pay you to, what you think you talk, pay you to talk. You taught you talk.
Speaker: I don't pay you to take you talk. they eat it tall This has to win screenplay. spend Just off of that.
Speaker: He was so mean to Tweety Bird. Also, why did Tweety Bird become an op of all the Looney Tunes characters? I feel like the one who would have become an op should have been like Sylvester.
Speaker: Yeah. He strikes me as an op. We saw him like briefly just sad about Tweety not being there, but it should have been Sylvester being the op.
Speaker: Tweety's innocent. um Another one of my favorite jokes was showing all of the different like Acme products. um There was like a like a a predator spray, like an anti-predator spray, yeah and then they spray it on Pepe Le Pew, I thought that was really good. ah Yeah, um yeah there's not like this movie's not deep or nothing all it's it's it it's a courtroom drama. It is what it is. It's a courtroom kids movie.
Speaker: Yeah, i was I was trying to look at it through like a really deep thematic lens and and trying to like glean some sort of message outside of just like not testing things on on animals or if that's even.
Speaker: Also, monopolies are bad. Yeah, monopolies are bad and persevere because you never know who you may inspire next. Right. Let's talk about the quote. All right, go ahead.
Speaker: Alright, I'll go. i actually got I actually got really emotional. I did too. A-R-E-Y Mike Graven, I won't say the rest because you should go watch the movie.
Speaker: It was beautiful. Beautiful moment. jet like Genuinely like... And there's like a moment where the Roadrunner locks in. Yeah. Like during his deposition. He kind of pulled a... ah What is there? Why am I drawing a blank on her name?
Speaker: And Oppenheimer. Kitty. That scene where she locks in in her own deposition. That was the roadrunner in this movie.
Speaker: Yeah, Roadrunner didn't disappoint. I really love that scene. It was it was my favorite scene in the whole movie, ah which is great because it was the climax. Yeah.
Speaker: I liked the the long ah Looney Tune prank just to kind of set everything up. That was fun. And it actually got me a little bit.
Speaker: I didn't shed a tear, but I was moved. So i was really happy about that. I loved Foghorn Leghorn as a CEO. Good choice. say, I say, I say, who cares about the coyote?
Speaker: Who amongst us? I do declare.
Speaker: Yeah, great choice to have him as the CEO. Big fan of that.
Speaker: Cool. Luis Guzman. Oh my God. Luis Guzman in a real movie, in a non-AI i movie. I think he got... Maybe he's confused. He might be.
Speaker: I mean, he he was working with non-real props, so yeah I don't know. Maybe he thought it was the same thing. It's probably just stock footage from the from this movie that they used in King of Cannabis. He's actually not in it it' still. Yeah.
Speaker: Poor guy keeps showing up at set with no one there. He's like, yeah, they keep telling me to just act and I'm doing it.
Speaker: Sometimes you get Coyote versus Acme. Sometimes you get the King of Cannabis.
Speaker: Cool. Anything else before we talk about some other movies that were not released and the brief history on those? Did you guys think, oh my God, what's his name?
Speaker: The main actor. Kevin? Yeah. forte yeah well Will and Lana, did you think they had chemistry as on-screen people?
Speaker: As uncle and niece? Yeah.
Speaker: Or just two people on-screen all the time. i think that I think the supporting cast is actually pretty weak, which is disappointing. like Will Forte gets the most, and then everyone else is kind of just shoved to the side, John Cena included.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I don't know. i don't I don't know if it's a it's a big issue for me. Okay. I just want to see the coyote happy.
Speaker: Me too. Cool. Any closing thoughts for you, Alex? Go see this movie. Stick it to Warner Brothers. Yeah. Agreed. Fuck you, Warner Brothers. You heard it here first. There's also a Clash needle drop in this. That was pretty good.
Speaker: Dude, great soundtrack. It was pretty good. Do you guys, are your ratings changing at all? No. Me neither. No.
Speaker: I want to say yes, because I've taken stances before where it doesn't really have anything to do with the movie, but more so like the background stuff, like the the politics behind it.
Speaker: So I feel obligated to give it like an extra half star. Just for that. Like such strong stance before.
Speaker: I guess I will. I'll give it three and a half. Yay! Two, three and a half, so a four. um Let's talk about a couple other movies that weren't released and the history of those just because I think it's actually pretty interesting. Thought you were going to tell us a little bit about Batgirl?
Speaker: Sure. Yeah, I have a little bit. So the completely finished Batgirl movie was slated to be released for streaming only. um But it was canceled in 2022 to,
Speaker: like ah Cody versus Acme. um They wanted to get a tax write off. ah The movie had a budget of $90 million dollars and they saved, you know, whatever potential losses that they were going to have. So, but it it had a great cast. It had Michael Keaton.
Speaker: He was set to return as Batman. I just saw that. I didn't know that before. Yeah. Brendan Fraser was going to play the villain Firefly and JK Simmons was going to be commissioner Gordon. um I haven't even said the the lead actress, actual bad girl.
Speaker: Let me find her name. Leslie Grace. Leslie Grace. Yes, sorry. I'm so sorry, Leslie. um But yeah, that's that's what I've got. So a bit of a higher budget that they saved, but a tragedy. It was completely finished.
Speaker: That's crazy. Is Simmons...
Speaker: I think it tested bad from what I can see. i mean, that's probably why that these got shoved is they tested like mediocre to bad. And there was also the context of like the DC reboot happening around the same time.
Speaker: Like there was a lot going on.
Speaker: i mean, not that it's like that's an excuse to shove like a completed movie. I mean, how much money is Supergirl losing Warner Brothers like in the hundreds of millions? ah like they gave us that they gave us the flash remember when the flash was coming out and there was like so many celebrities that were like go watch this movie this is it's good it's actually snow is actually so good i think tom cruise came out like and said the flash is good i'm tom cru cruise i thought it was someone crazy like um oh what's his name the there was a few
Speaker: the old school gang movies Scorsese yeah I thought he said something about it I don't think so you sure I gotta to look this up now could have sworn it was him if he's saying that Marvel's like a roller coaster but he came out in support of the Flash I'd be very surprised right The Flash film them on Wikipedia because I'm just being really lazy. I'm assuming it's there.
Speaker: Guys, that movie's so bad. Yeah, it's really not good. Oh my god. The production section of this movie is the longest I've ever seen of any movie ever. I'm not joking. Go look this up right now.
Speaker: For The Flash? Yes.
Speaker: Um... more Okay, marketing. Maybe this is it.
Speaker: Oh, wow. It was Stephen King, not Martin Scorsese. Stephen King, yes. Yeah, he came out in support of it, too. They had a few like heavy hitters be like, yeah, go see this movie. And what did they pay you? And did you watch it?
Speaker: Because I'm sorry. And Ed, you're right. Edgar Wright 2? When your goat is washed. What might be kind of Epstein tape do they have on you? And why are they using it for to defend this movie? To defend the Flash. um It is really sad about Batgirl. And I wish we could see it.
Speaker: like I don't know if there will ever be a world where it can come out. like Is it just gone? do they Did they actually delete delete it? It's gone because of the the tax stuff. like They cannot release it Wow.
Speaker: Under any circumstance. Yeah. Well, I think they could. They just have to pay tax. Oh, right.
Speaker: Which we all know they won't do it. They're not going to do it. Well, Batgirl, we're sorry. Indeed. Malik, why don't you tell us about your movie?
Speaker: That is not actually unreleased. Yes, so this one is not unreleased. This one was released, but upon further inspection and the other day, realized that it is now virtually impossible to watch this movie.
Speaker: And that's a choice of the director. This movie is Megalopolis, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. um Before we get into where the movie stands today, this movie was in production since 1983, I guess. but ah i'm reading the yeah I'm reading the Wikipedia and i'm like,
Speaker: I knew that this movie was in production hell for a while, but like Jesus Christ, it was like, he's been like trying to make this movie since 83. So he should have get couplela devoted.
Speaker: Yeah. He devoted the beginning of 1983 developing the film In two months, he assembled 400 pages of notes and script fragments. And over the next four decades, he collected notes and newspaper clippings for scrapbooks detailing intriguing subjects he envisioned incorporating into a future screenplay, like political cartoons and different historical subjects, before deciding to make a Roman epic film set in an imagined modern America.
Speaker: In January 1989, so six years later, he announced his plans to move back to Italy to work on two productions in the next five years, Megalopolis being one of them. However, it was postponed to release, in quotes, no earlier than 1996, after Coppola found himself prioritizing other projects, including Bram Stoker's Dracula, Jack, The Rainmaker, and also to get out of debt from the box office failures of One from the Heart and Tucker, the Man and His Dream.
Speaker: So shit just kept happening. He finished the script in 2012. And no one wanted to finance the movie at that point.
Speaker: He had some success from, I guess, a line of wines or a winery that he had. And so put, I believe, 150 million of his own dollars. I think he sold the winery to the vineyard.
Speaker: to get product To get money for this movie. That's insane. that is So his own money to produce the movie and got names attached over 2019. There were some delays with COVID, but post COVID, once 2021 came, production really picked up. He dropped the money.
Speaker: The movie was made. That brings us to to today. For some reason, he decided that he does not want this movie on streaming, and he also does not want a physical release. There was a limited physical release in Europe, like on DVD, and it was in production for a few months. It is now no longer. It was also on Netflix in Europe for a couple months before he pulled it wanting those who wanted to see it on the road. So he took Megalopolis on the road after its theatrical run for people to go see it.
Speaker: I don't know if he's doing it now. I don't think he is, but that was the only way to see it was to catch an on-the-road screening of it with Francis Ford Coppola. um So you can't stream it, and you can't buy it physically unless Coppola says, come watch it with me.
Speaker: That's actually kind of sick. But I'm really confused as to why. like do you think it has anything to do with the reception of it? No.
Speaker: I've never heard of anyone doing this. like He wants people to see it, but he wants people to see it in a theater. In his mind, this is a very profound, like thoughtful movie.
Speaker: And I'm not this movie's biggest hater. It is one of the most bizarre movies I've ever seen for a lot of reasons. But the chief reason why is that it is somehow so close to being an absolute masterpiece, but being so far away from being good, remotely good.
Speaker: Like, there's so much to love about it and so much to hate about it. I don't even like know how to quantify it. It's so weird because I actually get what he's going for, but then you lose it in this sea of like was the virginity song pledge thing. Remember that? It was like 10 minutes long.
Speaker: It's like, what is happening? um so Any sort of like political commentary you're picking up is completely lost on... Jon Voight's boner. oh It's a movie that like begs to be rewatched like two, three, four times.
Speaker: And I unfortunately only caught it in theaters once. I don't know if I was able to bring myself within a few weeks to watch it in the theater. Again, completely empty theater, by the way, except for one guy who was at the very front.
Speaker: I think like one of the earliest, ah one of the earliest guffars. He was i like, he was by himself. I was like on a weekday, like on a random day off. I just hear ah like, like from afar, it was just me and this guy.
Speaker: i would love to watch this movie again. um What did I give it on Letterboxd? You didn't give it a rating. Alex, you gave it a two and a half and you had a hell of a review. I mean, that's like a dissertation.
Speaker: I never rated it. but Yeah, Maliki didn't rate it. But ah overall, it has a 2.3 out of 5 across all reviews. Yeah. Oh, someone gave it a 5 on one of my mutuals.
Speaker: Shout out to Anthony Sampson. guess he loved it. Entitles me. Yes. Entitles me? Yes. Yes. Entitles me? Yes. Yes.
Speaker: ah It is so funny. It's the funniest movie. How is Adam Driver? Is he good? He's all over the place. Yeah, he's doing something. He's doing something for sure.
Speaker: You didn't watch this one, Tachi? I did not. yeah This is the most all over the place movie I've ever seen in my life. It is... strange you actually like it genuinely like everyone like i i recommend watching this to everybody it's like and now it's impossible to but like when it was on streaming for a little bit early like and i was like guys you have to go see this this is ah this is an unbelievable movie i think i would have preached it more if i knew this was the route it was gonna go right like Aubrey Plaza is insane in this movie. It's so bizarre.
Speaker: yeah What is her name? Shia LaBeouf, Wow Platinum. Wow Platinum. like Wow Platinum. What a name. but
Speaker: Shia LaBeouf is also crazy. It's this almost like a retelling of... like the rise of the Roman Empire, like Caesar's rise. And it's just... And like an alternate modern but futuristic America. like I don't even know. like I need to watch this movie again. it could be like It's kind of really cool.
Speaker: Yeah, because on a first watch, there's there's a lot of spectacle to it. But there's a lot of like underlying thematic elements that I think are just completely lost the first go around because you're like, what does Adam Driver do? What does Aubrey Plaza do? What is happening over there? Who is this? like For two and a half hours. So here's the problem.
Speaker: if you I was like, I was saying, oh, I'm going to Europe in three weeks. I could buy us copies. Dude. But you need a Zone 2 DVD player to do it.
Speaker: Yeah. shit That's right. There are zones. They're restricted. like Which is weird. So stupid. What does that mean? Like, i can they're coded differently. Oh, okay. So like if your DVD player can't read other zones, like other countries, it just won't play. So I need universal. We're zone one along with like Japan. Yeah. yeah I think the one I have is universal. I don't know. I've never come across that issue.
Speaker: I bought a but a movie at half price books. It was like 30 bucks. And I was like, this looks neat. and So I bought it. I don't know why. um It was zone two.
Speaker: Hmm. I ended up watching it because on the you can change the PS5 zone like five times before it locks at whatever zone you have it set at the last time. It's a weird limitation.
Speaker: Yeah. ah i have a physical media question for you, Alex. Yes. Have you seen everything you own? No. What do you think is the percentage of what you've seen in your collection? I actually, I can tell you exactly. I have a letterbox list.
Speaker: Okay. I do too. Cause I just updated mine and I was like, okay, I, I think my rule will be, I have to be above a certain percent of watched before I buy something else. 75%. Dude, fucking way.
Speaker: dude no fucking way I'm 73%. I'm 34, 45 things in the collection scene. I've seen 73% of my collection, so we're very close.
Speaker: I want to be above 85% before I buy something else. I have to watch what I have. I think that's really respectable. I'm going to lop off a lot of this because I bought this Arrow Media J-Horror box set, which has one, two, three, four, five, six.
Speaker: six movies in it and I've only seen two so oh my god like that'll really bring it up yeah yeah for sure and was just curious because I just updated my list and I was like oh I wonder what what Alex's would be um that's Megalopolis I can't wait for the day we can watch it again I'm sure it will happen soon um please give it to me Now.
Speaker: Here's a movie that you like this. We'll round the episode off with this. Here is a movie that you can only watch by taking a field trip to our nation's capital. Oh, OK. This one I have no idea about. Never even heard of it.
Speaker: It is the 1970s. A man named Nat Washburger approaches comedian and actor Jerry Lewis to star in a drama.
Speaker: Initially, Lewis doesn't want to do it. This is not normally a role he takes, but he decides ultimately that this will be a different step in his career, and he will lead this movie.
Speaker: That movie is called The Day the Clown Cried.
Speaker: Made in 1972 in Sweden, ah this movie was plagued by a number of issues, namely financial ones.
Speaker: The Nat Washburger character ran out of money and never technically accepted, at least as far as I can tell, his producer credit. But...
Speaker: So this movie was kind of rudderless. Jerry Lewis claims to have put up like a couple million of his own money, of his own dollars to finish this film.
Speaker: um They tried to show a new producer a rough cut. That producer did not go forward with this because he said it was not fit for release.
Speaker: That caused a lot of issues because to to screen it for another producer, Lewis had to announce that Washburger had failed to honor his duties and responsibilities producer and had abandoned the film. Washburger did not want to be cut out of this beautiful piece of cinema.
Speaker: And so he sued. And so what ended up happening was the studio retained the negative for the print, but Cherry Lewis had a rough cut, a very rough cut, about five hours worth of footage um for this thing that he retained in his possession so he could maybe release it one day. But ultimately, with the rights where they are, this movie is wholly unreleasable.
Speaker: So why do people care about this? Like, why is this movie have such a notoriety that it ended up in the Library of Congress?
Speaker: Because this is one of the cornerstones of, like, unreleased films, like Lost Media, things like that. I mean, if you look up, like, famous Lost films, The Day the Clown Cried will be one of the first ones on that list.
Speaker: And here is why.
Speaker: Do you want to know what this movie is about? I do. Yes. Here is the quote from IMDb. This is the tagline on IMDb. A circus clown is imprisoned by the Nazis and goes with Jewish children to their deaths.
Speaker: Oh, wow. Wow. i ah I didn't know. What a hook. What a hook. I've read the plot.
Speaker: Very like briefly, but. ah Basically, here's the gist of it. A clown goes to a Nazi prison camp for mocking Hitler.
Speaker: Some things happen along the way and he ends up in Auschwitz. damn This is the quote from Wikipedia for how this movie ends according to the plot. And I'm just, I want to see this movie so bad.
Speaker: I need to see this. Because apparently, it's like like Jerry Lewis rewrote a ton of this movie to make like the clown like this tragic but funny character. you know like a I think like a Pagliacci type thing. or Yeah. you know like ah But Doctor, I am Pagliacci the Clown. you know Yeah.
Speaker: By a twist of fate, the clown ends up accidentally accompanying the children on a boxcar train to Auschwitz. And he is eventually used in Pied Piper fashion to help lead the Jewish children to their deaths in the gas chamber.
Speaker: Knowing the fear the children will feel, he begs to be allowed to spend their last few moments with him. Leading them to the gas showers, he becomes increasingly dependent on a miracle, but there is none. He is so filled with remorse that he remains with them, taking a young girl's hand and walking with them into the chamber.
Speaker: Jerry Lewis donated five hours of this film to the Library of Congress in 2015 with the stipulation that no one is allowed to see it until 2024. And someone did, a journalist named Benjamin Charles Jermaine Lee, was screened all five hours, and he said it's very incomplete.
Speaker: There is another copy of the movie out there somewhere, because an actor named Hans Crispin revealed in 2025 that he had stolen eight acts of the movie and copied them and received the final ninth act as a gift for something.
Speaker: And so he completed the movie and then sold it to someone who he refused to name for a, quote, modest sum. But he did show the movie to a reporter to show, like, hey, like this is an act like this is the movie. like I actually had it.
Speaker: wow Is it any good? Absolutely not. By all accounts, it is horrible. By all accounts, it is just like a complete mess. It's like tone deaf. It's all over the place. I mean, the original screenwriter apparently is also one of the roadblocks impeding the release because he hates what Jerry Lewis did to the script so much.
Speaker: Damn. Do you think it'll ever get released? No, no. I don't, I i mean, i spent about 30 minutes reading about this before we hopped on today.
Speaker: I don't think there's a way to clear that, the rights hurdle. Yeah. Especially with, I'm assuming most people involved in the story are dead. So I don't know how that would work.
Speaker: It is in the Library of Congress, so if you're ever there,
Speaker: go watch it. So you can watch it at the Library of Congress? like I don't know how that works. I think we can like you can go check stuff out in the Library of Congress, I believe. You can go look at things. Interesting. I don't know how it works. It's there, and he put a stipulation, and after 2024, people can go look at it. i mean, someone saw it.
Speaker: i't I don't actually know how that works. I've never looked into it. 33 people have it logged on Letterboxd currently. You're all liars. Probably. Library of Congress employees. Yeah.
Speaker: They all logged it together on the same night. That's crazy. um So that's that movie. Wow. Never see the light of day. No tax credits.
Speaker: No shelving something completed for for money purposes, just delusion and the love of the game. Well, I hope if we ever hear of a corporation trying to write off a movie again, people will continue to speak out because apparently or not apparently, obviously it works because we have Coyote versus Acme. Yeah.
Speaker: Anything else that you guys want to discuss before we hop for today's episode? Nope. Next week, we're back with Nah Hong Jin's Hope. Let's go. That should be released. I am stoked. I'm watching it on Monday.
Speaker: so I'm really, really excited. um This movie was nominated for the Palme d'Or in Cannes. Obviously, didn't win. watch And I have heard major mixed things about this. I have no idea what to expect, but I am...
Speaker: I am excited to just see whatever it is. It's got the the biggest budget in Korean movie history. Yeah. Seeing it on Thursday. Nice.
Speaker: Wow, we're going to figure out when we're going to record this because I definitely cannot do Saturday. we will We will discuss it off mic. Well, the episode will be out next Tuesday, so we will be there, and we will see you there. um Don't forget to just subscribe to us on YouTube.
Speaker: Follow us on Letterboxd. Thank you for those that have followed us on Letterboxd. We just reached 101 followers there. So that's a lot of fun. So follow us there if you're not already. um We'll see you guys in next one. Follow us on Spotify. Rate us on Spotify. Five stars. Helps us a lot.
Speaker: Yes, please. No three and a half over here for us, please. Fives only. All right. See you next week with Hope. That's all, folks. See That's all. Oh, that was a good one.
Speaker: Bye.
