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EP. 23 Gladiator 2 & Wicked
69 Plays1 year ago
The guys get Glicked and give you reviews on both Gladiator 2 and Wicked (part 1)
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Transcript
Episode Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 23 of the Two Guys, One Screen podcast. My name is Nick. And I'm Gerald. And today we're, uh, what is
Gladiator 2 Early Viewing & Spoilers Warning
00:00:12
Speaker
it? Glickid? Glick. The Gladiator. Glickid. I don't know. It kind of sounds like it. I figured it'd be fitting for this episode. Right. ah The Gladiator 2, I keep wanting to say Wicked 2, but it's just Wicked.
00:00:31
Speaker
Wicked part one. Wicked part one. It's a wicked combo. um Yeah, like I mentioned last week, I saw a Gladiator wildly early, and then shout out letterboxed. And I saw Wicked yesterday. So you'll get ah a recap, review not not a recap, just a review. ah We will spoil it. So Jake, don't get mad that we we're talking about a movie before you've seen it. Just don't listen to this episode. Then go watch the movie. Then come back.
00:01:02
Speaker
He got mad. He's like, he's like, you guys have the balls, the, the, the unmitigated gall to review a movie and spoil it before I've seen it. I go, no one is holding a gun to your head and making you listen to the episode. You can go watch the movie and then come back later. That's okay. Plus we give spoiler warnings. Yeah. So Jake, if you're listening, we know that you are just go watch
Social Media Plugs & Listener Interaction
00:01:28
Speaker
it. Then come back. Yeah. It's going to be okay.
00:01:31
Speaker
um For those of you who ya um For those of you who I should have hit that earlier for those of you who have only seen gladiator or not wicked feel free to stick around for the first half of the episode as we're gonna do a gladiator to review first um Before that we'll do plug ah So follow us on Instagram, two guys, one screen pod, send any comments, concerns, requests to two guys, one screen pod at gmail dot.com.
Physical Media Pickups Discussion
00:02:06
Speaker
Follow us on letter boxed and tick tock links will be in the description.
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah. And the part I, I would like to emphasize of the plug is when Gerald says request, if you want to hear a movie reviewed, that's what we're asking you to request for request the movie.
00:02:26
Speaker
You know, ask for, uh, let's say you want some movie reviewed. Let's say you want cat in the hat to get reviewed. We're going to review it. Be prepared. It will be reviewed. It's when is it coming out? We don't know, but it will be reviewed. Um, I think you and I have the one same physical media pickup today. That is correct. Uh,
00:02:54
Speaker
It is the, we mentioned that, I think I mentioned on a couple of episodes back that I did pre-order it. Uh, or that we pre-ordered it, but it is the Godzilla minus one 4k steel book that initially did not have a release date. And I was like, well, that's a scam, but then a target's like, it's showing up today. And it showed up sick.
Gladiator 2: Initial Thoughts
00:03:17
Speaker
Can we just say this cause we set it off off the pod. It is.
00:03:22
Speaker
I'm looking at a city, city, city, steelbook, keep the slip case on it. Yeah. um I. That red Godzilla steelbook is better. You think? Yeah. Hmm. Where did you put it? There it is. I didn't even put my wall.
00:03:50
Speaker
it It might be. I put mine on the wall just just to spice it up a bit. I took down. a I took down Beetlejuice. Oh, the OG. Yeah. Yeah. Because that one's been on the wall for a long time. But I saw I saw Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice Steelbook at Walmart. I didn't buy it. No, I don't think I'll be getting that one either. I also saw I also saw the Krampus Naughty Cut Steelbook. I passed on that, too. Because you already have a 4K.
00:04:21
Speaker
Correct. Look at the big brains on me today. I'm still debating on going back to Walmart and picking up that Midsummer director's cut because that's crazy. You're still thinking about that. Yeah. Wow. What? I mean, if you do, if you do, God bless you. That's a long, that's a long ass movie to sit through. The director's cut's even longer, right?
Practical Effects vs CGI
00:04:44
Speaker
176 minutes. 176 minutes sounds like a ski up for me.
00:04:52
Speaker
Uh, the actual movie though, Godzilla minus one, I did get to see in theaters. Uh, it is a, it is a solid movie. It's better than, it's better than than fucking newest iteration of God's the movies that had come out. It's definitely better than Godzilla verse Kong or Godzilla X Kong. Uh, Godzilla king of the monsters, definitely better than that. And it's probably better than Godzilla. I think it's 2013 or 2014 when that one came out. It's like just better than that one too.
00:05:20
Speaker
The Japanese movies are always, you know. You know why? Practical effects. There you go. Love me some good old fashioned practical effects. Oh, I guess I can bring this up. Did I mention it? Did I mention it in the last, was my pickup last week, Godzilla Criterion? I think it was. It was. Now you're loaded up on Godzilla, Godzilla Johns. Yeah. I mean,
00:05:49
Speaker
I don't know. I'm always kind of mid the OG 54. Call you John Zilla. How doing? I'm doing pretty good. How are you? Yeah. yeah yeah
00:06:05
Speaker
ah Yeah. It's um I think because you haven't seen Godzilla minus one, right? No, but I should. You should. You should definitely watch it.
00:06:18
Speaker
The soundtrack is also a banger. I actually really enjoyed the the soundtrack. Also when he like... What do you call that? When he powers up? When his tail like lights up and it goes up his back? yeah yeah I don't know, you probably... Like when he's about to nut? I don't know. It um it looks the coolest in God's All Might 1 by far.
Gladiator 2: Detailed Analysis
00:06:39
Speaker
No,
00:06:41
Speaker
no it's practical effects. yeah it It's like telling me that in 2023, it's still a dude in a suit. Bro, motherfucker looks like a puppet. OK, cool. That's good. I'm telling you, it's a it's a puppet. I don't know. It could be CGI, but if it is, it's too fucking good. I don't I can't notice. yeah I don't see it. It looks like a puppet. OK, I'm with it. it's ah It's a good film. I gave it a three and a half, but I'm pretty sure on re rewatch, I will enjoy it a lot more.
00:07:14
Speaker
Just because I know what I'm going into now. And it has more to say, uh, thematically. I mean, every Godzilla, I mean Godzilla as a character is like a symbol, but, uh, I think it's, I think it's Holocaust.
00:07:30
Speaker
Uh, that's what they call it, right? Nuclear Holocaust. I mean, yeah. I mean, we bombed the shit out of them. We, we essentially created Godzilla. We, yeah, I mean,
00:07:44
Speaker
They, I mean, they bombed like this little, little port in Hawaii. And we said, part of your land, you can't go on for thousands of years now until all the radiation goes away. Seems like a fair trade off to me. Hmm.
00:07:57
Speaker
not
00:08:01
Speaker
That's a Yagska Bob Jerry if I ever heard one. Obviously sarcasm. they They're jokes. It's going to be okay. Yeah, okay it'll be okay.
00:08:14
Speaker
Uh, should we start with gladiator two? Sure. I'll review of gladiator two, uh, directed by Ridley Scott. Uh, the movie stars Paul Mezcal, who plays Lucius Denzel Washington, who plays Macrinus. We'll talk about my, uh, hot take that I shared last week. I'm very curious to see what you think. You did text me a very vague text. W Denzel W Denzel.
00:08:43
Speaker
ah Pedro Pascal plays General Acacius, Connie Nielsen reprises her role as Lucila, not Luci, Lucila, right? Yeah. Yeah. Joseph Quinn is Emperor Gaetha, or get out, I forgot.
00:08:58
Speaker
gay yeah yeah i dar so ah Fred hatching her is Emperor Caracalla. Leo Razz is Viggo. Let's see. Who else we got a shout out here? Oh, the the the amazing did not see coming cameo of Mel Gibson. Who is the fuck was he? What do you mean? Who the he was the fucking random dude ah that
00:09:32
Speaker
He was the random guy that ah Lucius fights in the in the house, like when they're having that house party. And Denzel brings him. Oh, shit. That was... Mel Gibson? It was Mel Gibson, yeah. I didn't even notice. Yeah, that's Mel Gibson. I was like, are you fucking kidding me? It's Mel Gibson. That's kind of wild. I didn't even pick up on that. Like when J.R. Smith was like, it's got to be Kane. I was like, it's got to be Mel Gibson. You just say J.R. Smith.
00:10:00
Speaker
ah Yeah, it's not J.R. Smith. What's his name? It's J.R. something. Jim Ross. It's just J.R.
00:10:11
Speaker
i are so
00:10:15
Speaker
hey yo no Well, J.R. Smith or Jim Ross coming to the podcast. Whatever, dude. rao Either way, Mel Gibson is in the movie.
00:10:30
Speaker
I just thought it was a guy. I mean, it was, but it was, but it was Mel Gibson. OK, I mean, talk about if I'm wrong, correct me, but I'm pretty sure it's Mel Gibson. I'm like close to 100 percent sure that was. I mean, Mel Gibson's like you can't miss him, right? Apparently I did.
00:10:49
Speaker
um
00:10:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's everybody that I wanted to shout out as far as the cast is concerned. Uh, this movie is a, a direct sequel to gladiator one, which I don't know if you watched gladiator one before you went in and saw gladiator two. Uh, but I ended up doing it backwards. I watched gladiator two and then went home and watched gladiator one again. And God damn, is it hard to be gladiator one.
00:11:19
Speaker
It's pretty good that is quite the film. Yeah, I mean, their cast was just it's just more stacked than this cast simply like what's his name? russellrow Russell Russell Crowe Fucking Joaquin Phoenix. Stop it. Joaquin Phoenix cooked in that movie. um Little shit. He's little shit. I think he's a better villain.
00:11:49
Speaker
Like Commodus is like he also he was trying to fuck his sister. That's true Which I don't think he got to do it, but he was definitely got close um So Gladiator I saw I guess close to a month ago now I'm a little fuzzy on the deets, but I do remember most of what I liked and what I don't like So I'll start with what I liked because Uh, it's easier that way. Ridley Scott, I think is the best director when it comes to scale. And by that, I mean like making things feel big. Like I really feel like when you're in the, when they're the shots of the Coliseum or they're those shots of like Rome, you really feel how like big and.
00:12:45
Speaker
grandiose it is I guess is the right word because like you also see it in the alien movies he's really good with it Napoleon even Napoleon's a shit-ass movie but ah yeah his the way he's able to like shoot and or I guess CGI generate things like in the bell yeah in the in the background really makes it you really feel like wow this is like a massive piece of architecture or or whatever it is ah that I really liked I am torn on Paul Mezcal. It is, make no mistake, it is his movie. I mean, he's the main star of the of the film. um But I think he's, I think he's out acted by Denzel Washington. Obviously, I mean, to make Denzel Washington's a fucking legendary actor at this point, but I think he steals the show and he's like, for me, Denzel Washington is is holding this film on his back as far as like,
00:13:46
Speaker
any kind of acting performances that are concerned. So.
Character Dynamics in Gladiator 2
00:13:52
Speaker
Spoiler alert, the. um
00:13:58
Speaker
Did you see him being the villain, the main villain from the beginning? Because I, I did not, I did not expect him to have a bigger, like I thought it was going to be like a smaller role. I didn't expect him to have like such a big role that he did. Yeah. Because the credits say with Denzel, like they give like all the names of the character of the cast. And then it says like with that means they were like, you're in it, but like small. Like, Hey yo, I'm popping in.
00:14:24
Speaker
Right, but no, this man is the villain. But also we said in our Beeljuice episode ah that Jenna Ortega, it's Beeljuice has with Jenna Ortega and she's like the main character in that movie. Right.
00:14:41
Speaker
um Yeah, I thought so. I really thought the way the the beginning and I would say what is it to halfway through? It's framed that it's like ah Pedro Pascal's character is going to be the main villain, the main target. um Right. You start to realize that he's not. He's not really the villain here, and he's working for the two emperors, Gaeta and Caracalla, who are just kind of corrupts pussies fucking cringe that's what they were definition of cringe I think they were written like that intentionally I'm pretty sure so you hate them yeah also if they're I mean they I think they were written so weekly as far as like fortitude so Denzel's character could just manipulate them into like
00:15:36
Speaker
doing what he wants, like his influence on them through the whole movie was like he very easily got his way. Right. Because they were just so like flimsy and like dumb. Yeah. Because that to be i was at first, I was like, man, they're really like these are the motherfucking dudes, like these are the emperors, like going from Joaquin Phoenix to these fucking guys. Yeah, they're not very. Smart.
00:16:07
Speaker
The one dude has a fucking pet monkey who really started pissing me off. Yeah, the monkey was kind of annoying. But I think, again, like the opening of the film is kind of set as like this is like the beginning of the end of Rome. Sure, like he's these like corrupt um politicians are probably had part of the reason why Rome fell. Jake, your historian hit us up.
00:16:31
Speaker
too much quick Jake this episode the thing about Denzel in this movie though it felt like he wasn't even acting you know what I mean what's yeah I mean like he really embodied the character I agree obviously that's what that's what good actors do but he was just so smooth with everything like everything he said like his mannerisms like the way he was it was just perfection So what do you, so where are you with my take that it's his best performance ever?
00:17:06
Speaker
Ever's kind of crazy. I'll put it top three. I still, that's it. I still love you for me. I still like flight. He's very good in flight. I no doubt flights flights up there for me for sure. I probably put it. I don't know. No, you're right.
00:17:26
Speaker
It's probably because it's probably because like I don't remember. I'm looking herere at it right now, flight. Yeah, flight, he had Don Cheadle, John Goodman.
00:17:39
Speaker
ah And some and some like better actors around him compared not saying that Paul Mezcal and Pedro Pascal aren't good actors, but like.
00:17:50
Speaker
I think their performances in this movie were kind of weak sauce and it just makes Denzel shine a little bit brighter. That's just me. Yeah. I could be way off on that. I didn't, I really expected to see a lot more of Pedro Pascal in this movie and it's, it's not me too. I was very upset with that because I'm a big fan of his band. He just kind of, he get bitched a little. He he's.
00:18:17
Speaker
Because in the beginning, his he's like the general of their army, of the Roman army. They ransack Lucius' city and enslave him. And want him it's not him. one of his One of the members of the infantry kill Lucius' wife. So that's like his you know revenge arc right there.
00:18:43
Speaker
Right. um But you soon realize that he does not want to serve these ah corrupt emperors because they're pressuring him to do things that he doesn't want to do. They want to have though the you know, the gladiator battles in his honor. And he's like, yeah, I'm not really about that. Like, not like, no, you're going to fucking do it. Yeah. He's like, I want to see my wife. And he's like, no, no.
00:19:09
Speaker
How about no. And then Denzel's character, you kind of see him you know rise to fame with. He's the guy who like picks out. Yeah, he picks out the gladiators. he's just Yeah, he's essentially a scout for gladiators. And, you know, Lucius is obviously one of the best ones. And the big the big secret of this movie. Don't tell anybody big spoiler right here is that ah Lucius is the son of Russell Crowe's character in the first one, which I already forgot his name, Maximus. Yeah, Maximus. That's the big secret. And by the way, when they revealed that I was taking a tinky break. So I missed that. But was it a big secret, though?
00:19:58
Speaker
um Well, I mean, the secret, yeah I mean, like to everyone involved, like in the movie, are you saying like audiences? Sure. Yeah. I don't know. I guess you'd have to be like a massive Gladiator fan to be like, oh that's so and so I didn't remember I haven't seen gladiator before this release in like years I wasn't like refreshed on all the The the lore or the characters to be honest with you. Did you figure that out like immediately? Yeah, not immediately but I
00:20:40
Speaker
Like i I was thinking that it was definitely possible. I was like he because. There was no way that they were going to have just some random. Character be like the main. Protagonist. Yeah, they also don't reveal. They also don't reveal, though, in the well, I was hoping they would. I was hoping they wouldn't do a Star Wars thing, not to get into the negatives already, but like kind of leave that timeline and like tell their their own. I was hoping Ridley would tell his own new story. But my biggest my biggest gripe with this movie is they can't help themselves would be like, Oh, remember what we did 20 years ago? Remember this? Remember Russell Crowe touching the grass? Remember that? Yeah, yeah. ah I will say the opening title screen, like with the credits and everything, that was pretty nice. It was all like done. It was like scenes from Gladiator One, but it was kind of in like ah oil
00:21:38
Speaker
Like almost like a watercolor. Water painting type thing. Spiderman, Spiderman two vibes. Spiderman two vibes for sure. I really liked how.
00:21:51
Speaker
ah Like when Lucius had to fight. The fuck was this I don't remember his name in the movie when he had to fight Pedro Pascal's character. Yeah, because at first he's like. Once he finds out that ah He was working against the Emperor like he was creating like his old whole army and everything to like overthrow the power and like after he Had the big conversation with his mom I Really liked how he didn't kill him because he's like, oh you're not you're not my enemy Yeah, but didn't um The whole the whole conversation between
00:22:36
Speaker
ah Lucius and his mom was not done well at all. She like goes to visit him and he's like, get out. I don't want to talk to you. Your son is dead or whatever the fuck he said. And then like the next scene, they're like hugging and he's like, I love you so much, whatever, whatever. That was the one thing I didn't like about the movie is it where it's like. How things play out aren't very coherent, like it's like out of all you go here and then we're here, but how do we get there?
00:23:07
Speaker
It's like everybody's a everybody's like bipolar in this movie.
Critique of Gladiator 2's Finale
00:23:11
Speaker
Like everybody's emotions are like just turning on a whim. Yeah, it's melodramatic. That's that's something that I'm kind of I've i've noticed I'm like sensitive to in movies like if it's very melodramatic. I'm like, this is kind of fucking stupid. Yeah. But um go ahead. ah Are we talking negatives now, I'm assuming. Yeah, we're there. We're there. All right.
00:23:37
Speaker
um
00:23:40
Speaker
The end fight scene. Yeah. Between Lucius yeah and Denzel was fucking horrendous.
00:23:51
Speaker
i I agree with you. That was it was pretty I thought it was very anticlimactic because they spent so much time developing Denzel's character.
00:24:02
Speaker
his death felt kind of, uh, thrown away. He got bitched over to like, he didn't even stay. I know he's old. So like they probably couldn't do a lot of actual stunts with him on doubles. Sure. Stunt doubles, but like Ridley has a budget for this dude. Richie Ridley Scott has the budget for this. I made Diddy.
00:24:24
Speaker
No, you definitely did. Did he? Yeah, too. did Did he did it? Yeah. I mean, he had two movies come out in the same year. That man was working hard, bro. Uh, yeah. Also good decapitation scene in this movie.
00:24:42
Speaker
There's two of them, right? Yeah.
00:24:46
Speaker
I have another eye but you you can go now. There's a no I was just going to piggyback on what you were saying with the ending. I. The movie like the strength of this movie is is building Denzel's character because I don't I really don't think Lucius is a well built character. And honestly, it's it's like a shittier arc of Russell Crowe's character in the first one where he like rallies the troops to like follow him. But ah The development with his character is just not there for me. So they the you look at the investment into into Denzel's character, and then at the end, he's like basically ready to like take over and like be the leader of of Rome. And you'd think there'd be some epic battle, but it feels like, oh, you know what? We're actually we're all out of time here, folks. So we're going to wrap this up pretty quickly.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah. And then Schmurdering Kim. And I hear you on the he's physically older and probably easier to. To smite down, I guess. But. That's that's that's that the thing that really bothered me and people are saying it looked great and I could not agree less is the visuals. I think it looked fucking terrible.
00:26:08
Speaker
Here goes with the budget thing, right? Yeah.
00:26:14
Speaker
The CGI in this movie is so blatant. Like, like the people are like, oh, they had the water in the Coliseum. Like that whole thing can look terrible. OK, here's my negative, right? Are you telling maybe Ridley Scott did like his. Research or whatever, OK? Or hopefully this is just for the movie. Are you telling me that the Romans, right?
00:26:42
Speaker
captured great white sharks and put them in the coliseum for naval battles i think part of that is true i don't know they were great white sharks now but they did like capture animals and bring them back to coliseum and i know they did fill it up with water back in the day that sure sure but there is no fucking feasible way that they were capturing sharks animals yeah lions, tigers, and rhinos. Uh, the longest time, the longest a great white shark has ever lived in captivity is six days. Thank you very much. Also that rhino got fucked up.
00:27:28
Speaker
That was cool. Never seen someone ride a rhino before.
00:27:32
Speaker
Yeah, there are no sharks in gladiator. So we should we should also say, if you don't know, I don't maybe you're not aware this Gerald Ridley Scott has come out and said he doesn't really give a fuck about historical historical accuracy with his films. um Like when he took some flack for Napoleon, where he had Napoleon and Egypt shooting down the pyramids.
00:27:54
Speaker
That never fucking happened and he was like he basically like I don't give a fuck. It looks cool. I'm paraphrasing I'm not saying this is what he said, but essentially what he said was I really don't give a fuck It looks sick and I want it in my movie um um'm So the show I'm with the shark the shark thing there is like that's part of it where it like it looked it looks cool and But also, it doesn't look cool because it looks bad. It looks like blatant CGI. Like really bad CGI. they Like there were a lot of. king I haven't seen Scorpion King. Thank God. Thank God. like that's what It kind of looked like 2003 CGI in some effects like. Do I think I think gladiator one looks better than this movie. That's probably a hot take. I feel like that was a lot.
00:28:45
Speaker
They probably built a lot of the sets for that though. We've lost that art of building sets. Right. Cause it's cheaper to, is it cheaper to do CGI? I don't even know. Fucking must be, if you're all doing it right. Right. Like I'm not saying that every big bad should look like the mother alien from aliens. I'm just saying we should maybe build some more of our set pieces. Right. And I'm not saying.
00:29:12
Speaker
Get a real fucking rhino, you know, like certain things are okay to be CGI. cruelty Absolutely. So CGI animals. Cool. Yeah. Well, that's that little CGI tiger in wicked. Get the fuck out of here. That was terrible. That was fucking awful. Like the lion cub.
00:29:34
Speaker
Yeah. Whatever the fuck it was. It was awful. Its legs were not proportionate with it with its body. It was fucking dumb looking. When he was holding him, you could see that he wasn't like- Oh, yeah. and Oh, so bad. Holy shit. What the fuck was that? We'll get there. That was that was wildly bad. It was a cold. Yeah.
00:29:57
Speaker
And I think the story, the the narrative of Gladiator 2 is somewhat compelling, but the idea just feels half-baked, and it feels like a rehash of the first movie. And like I said before, it feels like Lucius is just is taking a shittier arc of Maximus's arc. And it's not it's not as well developed, it's not like... Gladiator 1 is like almost three hours, and so is this movie. and I like like after watching Glad A1 you're just like blown away by the detail and like that the overall storyline and I mean how villainous of a character of Commodus is and like Joaquin Phoenix's performance of him.
00:30:40
Speaker
This movie is just like, we kind of are going to do that a little bit, but also look at Russell Crowe touching grass over here. And then, oh look, here's Russell Crowe's chest plate that you can wear. And so here's the flashback of literally ah like of what we filmed in the first movie here. We're just going to put that here to take up minutes of the screen time. I'm not coming to gladiator or two to watch parts of gladiator one.
00:31:05
Speaker
I hate that about fucking 80s movies too. All the goddamn 80s movies, the beginning is like, previously on Friday the 13th. Not the shit on Friday to the 13th, but go listen to that episode. But it's like, here's everything that happened. It feels like what they did with this movie, and I don't know if it's because Ridley was trying to like, you know, bring in the younger fanbase who maybe haven't seen Gladiator 1, which if you haven't seen Gladiator 1, that's like sacrilege.
00:31:29
Speaker
But what is what like, I don't understand what the point of but the point was besides fan service to be like, look at all this. Remember this? Did you guys forget Russell Crowe? Remember him? He was just in a movie where about are about about about fucking road rage. Remember this guy.
00:31:46
Speaker
um So Gladiator One had a lot more emotional backing to it. This movie felt very generic action movie.
00:31:58
Speaker
I 100% agree with that. And the action I don't think was great, to be honest. I thought the opening the opening scene where Pedro Pascal's army demolishes that city was good.
00:32:12
Speaker
That felt like it was straight out Lord of the Rings. There was a good like, uh, someone took an arrow to the face in that, right? I don't know what they shot it out of, like a giant crossbow or something. That dude got impaled. That was sick. Yeah. Cause the guy next to me was like, Oh, like he was, yeah he was, he was loving it. Um, yeah, it just, it feels, it feels weak. That's why I was saying to you, like,
00:32:37
Speaker
Last week, some of the five star reviews, I'm like, yes. And then some of the other reviews are like closer to like the half star range. I'm also like, yes. I don't want to say it's a cash grab, right? Because I actually enjoyed the movie. Like I enjoyed my time with the movie. No, no, no, you can't say that. You know why you can't say that?
00:32:56
Speaker
Why? Because cash grabs work because they make cash, because people go there and enjoy it. So it can be a cash grab, and you can still like it. That's the point. They're like, remember all this? It's going to be really entertaining, but it's not going to have anything behind it. It's all smoke and mirrors, man. that's it It can be a cash grab. and That's why it's a cash grab, because people are going to go out and enjoy and say make gladiator three, four, five, and six. I hope not. That's why it's a cash grab. That's that's exactly why it's a cash grab.
00:33:25
Speaker
There will be no Academy Awards for this movie. I fucking hope not. Only supporting actor Denzel Washington. That's the only one I want to hear about is supporting actor Denzel Washington. I don't think what's her name. I really apologize. Connie Nielsen. She was great as Lucila in the first Gladiator. I don't think she did much in this one. For me, came back for that check.
00:33:53
Speaker
It is what it is. I was I was waiting for them to show Russell Crowe's face I was like we just kept seeing his hands. I'm like one thing I show his face. It's coming like oh shit. He's alive i He's not dead somehow Palpatine returned yeah, just fat from um from unhinged ah Damn, that's missed. I haven't been having been the ring in a minute ah He priced away again you probably would I What am I getting? What am I getting this movie? Yeah.
00:34:31
Speaker
It's probably a three. It might be a three and a half, but it's probably a I haven't rated it yet, but it's probably a three. I'm out of three and a half. Like I know you said like.
00:34:47
Speaker
I still had fun. I don't know if I will rewatch it as much as the original one. um
00:34:59
Speaker
It's a fine movie.
Sequels vs Originals Discussion
00:35:02
Speaker
You know. Yeah, I mean, it gets the half star extra push from a two and a half to a three because I enjoyed my time with it, but. I'm not going to say it wasn't ah it wasn't fun to watch it is, it's fun to watch, but like.
00:35:18
Speaker
As we just said, narratively ah and the and the character development is pretty bad. And the CGI looks terrible. For a movie like Gladiator, you think it would look good. If it looked good and it was like bad acting or whatever, I'd be like, all right, at least there was like that. But it doesn't have either of those things. It has Denzel Washington carrying the film on his fucking back. And then it's like, remember what we did 20 years ago? Remember that? I just want to I just want to say one more time. Gladiator came out in 2000.
00:35:47
Speaker
Okay in 2000 it were in 2024 and they're still trying to be like remember we did 24 years ago if you want to just re-release gladiator in theaters for the 25 year anniversary just do that just do that right that would have been great I would see it on that's fine and it would have made money it wasn't gonna make gladiator to money but it would have made some money I just feel like there was no point making this movie it just feels like there is absolutely no point Now it boils down to are we in the year of bad sequels in The year we're in like the era. It's like the ever of bad sequels Since 20 since 2020 I would say You can start there and go forward There's very few sequels that are better than the original and ever I feel like everybody knows that And everyone knows the ones that are better Shrek 2 We actually had a new a new girl start at work and my boss at
00:36:42
Speaker
Like before service starts, always ask the the new person to what their favorite movie is. And she said Shrek 2. And afterwards, they're like, Shrek 2, huh? I go, that's the right answer. He goes, what? i go and trek one Shrek is so much better. Shrek 1's great. But Shrek 2 is way better. I mean, there's sure there Shrek, and then there's Shrek 2. It's way better. Rest don't matter. Rest don't matter. I've watched them all. They don't matter.
00:37:11
Speaker
No. Spider-Man 2. Toby Maguire. Better than the But yeah,
00:37:28
Speaker
long story short, most times sequels aren't necessary. They're just made for money. Especially 24 years later. Sorry. i i can't yeah I can't get by that. Same thing with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Like, what what are we doing?
00:37:42
Speaker
Yeah, if the movie came out like 80 years ago, you don't need a sequel now, right? Like, Moana 2 has a chance to be good. Alright, I'm just saying. Hey, save that for that review. Oh,
Wicked: Ticket Troubles & Movie Review
00:38:01
Speaker
that's another one. Frozen 2, better than Frozen 1. Frozen is mid as fuck. Frozen 2 is actually good.
00:38:12
Speaker
That might be a hot take, I don't know. We need to poo blood and honey too. Oh, better than the first one for sure. but keeps it down yeah It is. I don't make the rules.
00:38:26
Speaker
Uh, do you see the Pinocchio animatronic they're using for the Pinocchio movie in that universe? The horror one. Yeah. Yeah, I did. It looks good. That means Steamboat Willie's coming out in January, apparently. Oh, fuck. Steamboat Willie's what I call my cock. Hey. All right, moving on. Not no. um Actually, we won't because somebody doesn't have the cast pulled up yet. Oh, Jesus. God fucking damn it. The fuck.
00:39:00
Speaker
um All right, so that three and a half for Gerald, three star for me. ah I'm gonna, we're gonna transition over to Wicked. This has been, this was by far, and it's, the last time I had this much difficulty with Spider-Man No Way Home, the hardest I've had a time to try to get a showing to see this movie. I mean, I have a season pass to Alamo, shout out to him, but they were sold out the whole opening weekend. I could not even get a seat. Nothing was open.
00:39:35
Speaker
Yesterday, we're recording this on Monday. Yesterday was the Sunday after it came out. AMC, there is there are three AMC's by me. There is like the big one, like in downtown, there's one like closer to like where the Celtics play, like near there, there's another one that's more in the burbs. Most of them were sold out. Like I barely got a ticket to go see this movie yesterday. I have never had such a hard time trying to see a movie.
00:40:04
Speaker
Literally, like the last time I had this much difficulty, like I said, was Spider-Man No Way Home, and I drove, like I think, 45 minutes to go see it, because I couldn't get a ticket. I had a ticket for Spider-Man No Way Home, and then the fucking fire alarms went off. ah So they gave us, they were like, oh, you can go to the regal like you know down the road. So we went there, and they were sold out. So we both had bad experiences with No Way Home.
00:40:34
Speaker
My career wasn't bad, I just had to drive far. But Dr. Strange, it also went off. Remember that? I do, but at least they let us back into the movie. We got to finish that movie. I didn't even fucking start. I was waiting at the fucking concession stand for No Way Home, and I was fucking heated because I was so excited for that movie. And then my fiance is like, oh, we can just go next week. I'm like, no, we're going fucking tomorrow night. What the fuck you mean?
00:41:03
Speaker
the fucking ah Yeah But speaking of fanservice that movie is fanservice How you there and all over the place it is but I will defend that movie Why could you had fun? yeah but Yeah? As long as I have fun, I'm cool with it, man
00:41:29
Speaker
that is it That is a horrible take, dude. to be like I had fun, so it's a good movie. That's that's a terrible take, dude. that is That is just... That's disgusting. I had fun, so it's a good movie. That's not okay. I guess, because there's really bad movies that are fun. Well, they're bad, right? They're bad because they're bad movies. Like Leprechaun. Leprechaun's a terrible movie, but it's fun. Jennifer Aniston is a fucking piece in that movie.
00:42:00
Speaker
That was her first movie. She's so hot and that movie is terrible. Oh, yeah. Just like Leonardo DiCaprio, he made his ah film debut in Critters 3. How about that trivia? Well, I think. How about it? Yeah, Critters 3. Anyway, this is Wicked now. Also, do you have this background for Wicked on your letterbox?
00:42:29
Speaker
Yes. OK, does it not look like she's a lazy eye? Ariana Grande is a lazy eye in it. It does, yeah. All right. I just want to make sure I'm not crazy. So Wicked, ah obviously based off of the iconic Broadway play, which you went and saw or you haven't seen on Broadway? Oh, I've seen it. I've seen on Broadway. I don't grant it. I realized watching this movie, I remember nothing about it. ah But I have also seen it on Broadway at some point in time. Directed by John M.
00:42:59
Speaker
chew who made crazy rich Asians. Now you see me too.
00:43:08
Speaker
Me and GI Joe movie. Uh, that's basically all he has to his name. This guy's all over the place with this movie made it. I mean, we called in the Heights in 2021 has actually some pretty good reviews. Um, and I guess he's already on board to do wicked too. Part hope so. It comes out next year.
00:43:27
Speaker
Does it? Pretty sure. I will read you your cast. Cynthia Arevo plays Elphaba, which she's also in a movie called um Bad Times at the El Royale. Fun fact, that was the first movie ever logged in letterboxed. Hey, she's great in this movie. She's the best part. Yeah, yeah. You know, who's the worst part?
00:43:56
Speaker
Ariana Grande. There you go. She's the worst bar for you. I didn't think she was horrible. I can't i don't. um She's she's Galinda or Glinda. Jonathan Bailey plays, huh? You said Galinda or Glinda and I was like, you choose. Yeah, you choose. Jonathan Bailey plays Furio. Michelle Yeoh, who is Legendary. If you don't know who Michelle Yeoh is, come back later. Um, she plays Madame Morrible. Jeff Goldblum is Oz. Uh, Marissa Bode is Nessa Rose. Ethan Slater is Bach. I fucking know Ethan Slater from something. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a TV show. I have no idea. You're like your long lost twin. Funny. Um,
00:44:57
Speaker
Peter Dinklage voiced the goat, ah Dr. Dillman. Yes, he did. Dima, don't fuck with me.
00:45:08
Speaker
um I think that's everybody. Oh, there was a cameo towards the end of the movie when they're in Oz by Adina Menzel. She was like one of the two singers at the end when they were like singing in Oz. Oh, yeah, those two ladies.
00:45:26
Speaker
Yeah, one of them was Adina Menzel. I honestly thought it was ah Demi Moore. Yeah, it looked like doing we haven't seen enough of her movies. We don't know what the fuck she looks like. They are one of them, both of them. I don't remember. ah But they were part of the original ah musical on Broadway. So yeah, I did not that I did not know. Yeah.
00:45:51
Speaker
So there you go. Also, I'm going to qualify this as our first review on a musical because Joker 2 was not a musical. Right. Right. That movie was passed.
Narrative & Musical Elements in Wicked
00:46:02
Speaker
That's what that movie was. This is how you do a musical. And that does not mean I love this movie because I definitely have issues with it. i ah Let's get the blatant one out of the way first, OK? OK, I don't know if I agree with the blatant one, but go ahead. What's the blatant one? The length?
00:46:22
Speaker
My length? Hey, so the ah the entire musical on Broadway is two hours and 45 minutes. Part one of this movie is two hours and 40 minutes. The Broadway plays two hours and how long? 245. There's an intermission or no? 15 minute intermission.
00:46:46
Speaker
I really thought it was longer. I don't know why I thought that. Okay. Well, I, so. I'm torn with with the length because... I'll tear your length. What the fuck does that even mean? I don't know. that well i don't know um But I'll let you do it for a dollar.
00:47:07
Speaker
ah
00:47:11
Speaker
Okay! So, I do think, on the one hand, that this movie is too long. However, I do think they set up part two really well and they use that time partially in a good way to set up. Like I think part two could be like a four and a half five star movie for me because I think it's set up great, to be honest. Now, what this is, this goes with the length. Why did they start the movie from the end?
00:47:51
Speaker
and then act like Glinda was telling the story to like these people. Because then she's like, we were friends a very long time ago. And then she doesn't look any younger. And then they never go back to, oh, I was telling you guys what happened. They just tell you the story. There's just no reason to start it like that. So the movie, this movie. Right. then we were to be so When we speaking of Wicked starts at the end of Wizard of Oz.
00:48:21
Speaker
because they show the puddle right with her hat and put the whole puddle puddles okay but talk that movie don't pretend movie up shows okay so wizard of oz is one of my favorite movies of all time all right so here we go we're not saying how they were treated is okay still a good movie the start of wicked right they're showing the puddle with the hat okay but alphabus And when you see ah Dorothy, Tin Man, all them bitches walking down the yellow brick road, they have the witch's broomstick. Because in the Wizard of Oz, Oz says that he won't grant their wish unless they bring back proof that the witch is dead. Yummy. Yummy, right?
00:49:16
Speaker
So when you see them, they're going back to Oz to prove that they killed the witch. And that's when Glinda comes and they're all celebrating that she's dead.
00:49:28
Speaker
OK. Either way, I don't get the point of starting the movie from the end. And then I don't either. Like we could have just started the movie with with ah with Alpha being born.
00:49:42
Speaker
It's like they're trying to be like, Hey, you know, that really, I don't know if you ever heard of it, but that really famous movie. This is the prequel. like It's the prequel. That's the prequel. Um, that is, I didn't really get that. I think they could have just started to be like, I just, just said, maybe there's the play start like that is the play like Glinda's telling the story to people.
00:50:06
Speaker
Can't remember man. I don't remember anything of the of the that but let's let's do the good first I don't want to just go into shitting on this movie. I feel like that's wrong You're right. um You're right. Um, but the positive I do think is ah Cynthia Aravo who is I mean, she blows everybody out of the water in this movie, for me. As far as acting, even the singing, the the the musical set pieces, is I think she's better than all of them. Right, which is crazy because Ariana Grande is like, you know. An iconic, very successful singer. Right. I wasn't a fan of her singing, honestly. I thought the popular piece was good. I think she did that good. And a lot of people were like laughing and like enjoying that part.
00:50:53
Speaker
um But I think the big songs that everybody knows or were done well. Yeah. Like the like the main main drawings. Not like B-Slide, you know. B-Slide record. The big, like popular was, hey, popular. Yeah, and yeah it was. And obviously you had to go, it was go big or go home with Defying Gravity. Like that is,
00:51:21
Speaker
Oh, they didn't do it. I mean, can you imagine the lack they would get? Because that's like. Even if you don't know musicals, I feel like you probably have heard that song somewhere, right? Yeah, absolutely. And then they're like the. The Wizard and I was her one was Alpha was one like solo besides with the end to kind of like her one solo set, because I thought was good.
00:51:47
Speaker
um
00:51:50
Speaker
I actually forgot, the opening of the movie, when they're like the you the Wicked Witch is dead and they show the wind monkey johns flying out of the asshole. flying monkey we didn't set We said the beginning of the episode, but we're going to spoil a fuck out of Wicked, so Jake, get out of here if you're still here. um We appreciate you for listening.
00:52:14
Speaker
ah They play some it's not like it's not a musical. It's just an or orchestra piece. I actually did this for orchestra in high school I was like oh I know this cuz I played this right because that's when um that's when we went and saw it because That's when I went and saw it in high school I
00:52:36
Speaker
Yeah, I went. um The only reason why I got to see Wicked was because my sister's class was going to see it. And my dad was like, you want to come with us? I'm chaperoning. And I was like, sure. I didn't go with people. I didn't go with people. my a I went with my sister's class. Oh, OK. Yeah. um Because chorus, they took chorus ah because we were performing songs from it. What songs did you perform? We did Popular and Defined Gravity.
00:53:02
Speaker
There you go. There you go. So the musical part, they they they nailed the musical part, I think people in my theater were like having a good time. No singing. As you asked me about earlier, there was no singing in my theater, which I kind of would have fucking hated that, I'll be honest with you. Yeah, me too. um As you would expect that they, you know, the musical had good music, weird.
00:53:28
Speaker
I just think like, cause you, we were texting last night and you were like, they sang them the songs on set. I don't think they did. I believe like they can tell me they did the studio can say they did the fucking actresses can tell me they did. I just don't believe it. I don't, it doesn't something. I have no basis. I have no anything besides a gut feeling that it just sometimes it did not link.
00:53:56
Speaker
Sound to mouth was not good. Maybe it's my theater. I don't know. no so Yeah, but because I expected everybody to be lip syncing because that's usually how it goes with musical movies. Not like play like on in the movie or, you know, if you see the musical live, like I'm pretty sure they're singing live. Yeah.
00:54:19
Speaker
ah But with movies, you know, it's a whole thing. So you would expect them a lip sync. Even Jeff Goldblum's little part was was good. He is not. I mean, he's really not in this movie that much. He's in like a lot like nine minutes. I'm assuming he's going to have a way bigger role in part two, obviously. But yeah, he's just a goofy dude. That's what he does best. He's good. Just they let him cook. I got it. I have to give props. They did. They did let him just be good old Jeff Goldblum.
00:54:48
Speaker
Um, like I said, I forgot most of the
Themes & Character Relationships in Wicked
00:54:52
Speaker
play. I thought the main beef with in wicked was the love triangle and it's not. And it's over animal rights, which we are a pro animal rights podcast, but I'm sorry. I just think it's a little weak sauce.
00:55:13
Speaker
It's definitely a very strange plot. I just like this. This wicked was originally a book right before I got made to musical. Correct. So maybe when it was written, there was a larger emphasis on animals having rights, like not getting murdered in movies. Looking at you, Hannibal Holocaust. Yeah, I just said Hannibal. I meant to say cannibal.
00:55:41
Speaker
um That movie I still think about and I thought I wouldn't but I still do in a bad way in a bad way. So thanks for that I Tell you I got rid of it got rid of that shit. What'd you sell? Yep You know what the one that really fucks me up we can cut this but it's when the monkey's face gets chopped off Yeah, that's the one that I remember the most more than that little hamster thing getting stabbed.
00:56:08
Speaker
That was really. I hear it. Yeah. Anyways, let's go back to Wicked because I i don't like this conversation. yeah ah
00:56:20
Speaker
I think so. This is the like in a lot of people have the same problem with like. Lord of the Rings, not to the I mean Lord of the Rings, I'm not comparing this to Lord of the Rings, but like.
00:56:33
Speaker
A lot of the trilogies that are like are like sprawling epics, people will are quick to go like it's filler. It's whatever because it's just it's just set up to the next thing, right? They're just wicked is just setting up to the next thing. And I think for me, unfortunately, this does fall victim to that. But like I said earlier, I think it I think it is wicked part two is set up so fucking well, not like we like the way they left everything the way they left it. It's going to be they can't fumble the bag here.
00:57:06
Speaker
No. So would you class this is going to be crazy for a musical. Would you call this a slow burn? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like yeah once they get once you feel. um Yeah. I want to say once the.
00:57:25
Speaker
The party scene hits when they go to the ball or whatever, that's when shit starts getting heated.
00:57:35
Speaker
Or do you think it's when, like, that's when I, that's when it starts picking up. Oh, that's pretty early. I, that's nice. He said that. I don't, I don't think, it's I don't think it's, yeah.
00:57:49
Speaker
When they get the odds, yeah, yeah, but but I mean we're cooked like my attention span sucks I don't know it could be me but also it could not be because Oppenheimer Oppenheimer is almost three hours and I fucking could watch the movie my sleep like they're certain movies that have good like ah The Irishman is over three hours it's about fucking Jimmy Hoffa. i I watched that movie four times. It's three hours long.
00:58:12
Speaker
You know, so I guess it's just your engagement with the film. yeah There's a couple of a couple of the Harry Potter's are close to three. Yeah. And I mean, we're going to do Harry Potter eventually once we get our shit together. um But I'm engaged in those the entire time. Only one um I have problems remaining engaged is Deathly Hall's part one.
00:58:37
Speaker
I've watched it twice now. It's the only one I have problems being engaged with. Uh, so this is, this is my, my thing. And I, I don't know if this takes away from wicked or, or it's just a neutral thing or it's a nitpick or what, but the movie spends so much time setting things up, which is in turn going to make wicked part two so fucking amazing to watch that I feel like it's just touching on things and then and we don't come back to it because because of it's a it's a part one so it is it's only setting up part two which a lot of part ones I didn't mean to say trilogy that meant like part ones fall victim to like for example they kind of all like
00:59:28
Speaker
Elphaba's relationship with Prince whatever the fuck his name is um She's She kind of sees through his bullshit like she's like I know you're full of shit and like just walks away from them then they have like one like special is it even special they save a CGI tire together lion yeah, and then like they start hinting that like they're like in love with each other and
00:59:58
Speaker
And it's just like, where did this where did this come from? Like, I'm hoping that the love triangle picks up in part two. I mean, you would think I remember. I remember that being like the the crux of the play, but obviously I don't have a good memory because I saw the play. I mean, over 10 years ago, I have no idea. I don't remember anything. So I'm not going to act like that's like the main issue, but they but I do. Yeah, I do remember they focused on that a little more in the musical. I agree with that.
01:00:28
Speaker
Um, but I do like the one thing this film does focus on, and I think does develop well as, it as it progresses is the relationship between Glinda and Elphaba. That part, that's like the core of your movie right there. Is there, is there friendship? And then like, I don't know if I love, I mean, you know, it's coming, but I don't know if I love at the end, the way they separate. Cause Glinda is kind of iffy on like going with her or not.
01:00:57
Speaker
and then it's just yeah like the guards show up and then it's like there's not really any kind of effort to like go together and then Elphaba just kind of takes on this I'll just be the wicked witch over animals like don't you think all right I'm sorry I don't want to be a cinema sins kind of guy right but don't you think if if Elphaba was like bruh They're mistreating animals. Who would be like, no, we should be mistreating those animals. Everyone would be like, no, no, no, animals should be out like should be taken care of. You know what I mean? Like no one's going to be like, let's let's mistreat animals intentionally. Right. ah So the whole general thing is like ah for people that don't. Well, I guess if you're you might have not seen it and you're still listening, but if you don't know what it is. Yeah.
01:01:46
Speaker
The whole general plot is animals are like, they can talk. They can, you know, they do everything. They're teachers at the, the school shiz, by the way, shiz university. What a name. That's some good shiz right there. Uh, and they're slowly taking away animals rights. Like they're taking away the, like the baby animals. So they don't, they can't develop to learn how to talk and they're taking them out of,
01:02:15
Speaker
uh, the schools, they're not teaching anymore. Uh, they're basically taking away animal rights essentially. And, uh, just turning them into animals like we have today, domesticated creatures. Yeah. And, um, the wizard and the teacher, the main, what's she, more more more head of sorry like the dean type John or whatever. Yeah. Uh,
01:02:46
Speaker
Those two are working together and they basically ah use alphabet to create the flying monkeys to they're going to be using them as like scouts to find animals that are ah breaking the law, essentially.
01:03:01
Speaker
Yeah, but but the way the way you just frame that, everything you just said is the last 10 minutes of the movie. That that ah that was not in the 2 hour and 40 minute runtime. That is just like the fucking last 5 minutes. They do touch on the animal rights. They go away from it, they come back to it. um But the whole flying monkey thing, Oz, all that is all in like the last 20 minutes.
01:03:26
Speaker
Right, because we we can't read their minds. Like, that's the whole general reason they're doing what they're doing. Read whose minds? Animals? No, the wizard. wait we knew We can't read their minds. Like, we don't know that's what they're planning to do until then.
01:03:47
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Uh, the whole part that I think they should have emphasized on is basically, I don't want to say the race aspect, but that aspect differently. Yeah. Because of how you look, they're like doing a double duty here on their moral, you know,
01:04:12
Speaker
what they're trying to get the point across ah but they should have focused on one of them and it's not the animal one i'll tell you that right now this is so i one thousand percent agree with it they should have focused on that the other issue they're goingnna I mean, a writer or director of movies going to run into is like staying loyal to the play because you can't please everyone, right? I mean, right. If they if they went more that route, someone's going to come out and say, well, it's not like the book or well, it's not like the play. And you know what? Shut the fuck up. It's like i I get it. They're adapting like some will say like one of the greatest musicals like plays of all time. Right. or Most successful.
01:04:56
Speaker
Yeah, so they they have to stay loyal. ah do Do I personally agree with that? ah No, I feel like they should have, you know. Liberties to change up a little thing to make it adapt better for film. I mean, if we get to the same place by the end. Shouldn't matter, right? I don't know. I do think so to your point about the discrimination,
01:05:26
Speaker
I do think that ah they show it. I don't know how much more I'd want them to delve into it because at certain points it's almost funny where it's like who walks into a room and everyone's laughing at you. Like today. Right. a no one like like They're like, I'm not, I'm not saying people don't get bullied. I'm not saying people are not harassed based on their skin color, ethnicity, blah, blah, blah, all those things. 1000% definitely happen in America, in the world, in the world. And atrocities have been committed in the name of your different than I am. No one's saying it doesn't happen. I'm just saying in the, in the, uh, suction cup fucking vacuum that is wicked.
01:06:18
Speaker
in this movie it is some of it does get kind of like people are laughing at uh alphabas outfit at the ball some of those people look goofy bro they looked straight up silly and they're laughing at her like who are you gonna say you're you know i mean like it's because of her hat right and it's just like who gives a fuck like i mean you look goofy you look just as goofy as she does in your dumb ass wizardry costume okay i i Sure. You're right. They go. it it It gets to like the level of cringe. Yeah. But I at this at the same time, the messaging behind like everyone should be true with respect and equality is a thousand percent. We support that. And it definitely comes through. I think sometimes it's almost like a little bit too much. Yeah. Like, let me pitch you this. If Elphaba turned to the Wicked Witch or whatever she
01:07:17
Speaker
Not whatever if you turn into a wicked witch Because everybody are like almost like Joker like everyone true or like shit and bullied her and then just embraced this this character through that Would the movie make a little bit more sense? thousand percent That's kind of where Matt and I'm not asking I'm not asking us to rewrite the wicked play I'm just saying if you're gonna adapt it it might make a little more sense And like, i don't dont know I don't know how canon it is to, like, The Wizard of Oz, right? Yeah. But in the Wizard of Oz movie, like, that bitch is just straight evil. That's what I was gonna say. She's, dude, she's... Yeah, I mean, pulls no punches. She's trying to kill these motherfuckers. Like... and And that's the problem. The Wizard of Oz came out in what year? 39.
01:08:15
Speaker
Uh-huh, and we're gonna make a prequel now? Even the play! 95? It's, it's... That's tough, dude. That's tough. But, yeah, it's tough, but... ah Wicked succeeded. Like, it's good, right? Like, the play is good. Yeah. Unlike... I don't... I mean, I like that as a kid. i like as a kid i don't I don't know. Like, I just don't... I wanna go see the play now again.
01:08:45
Speaker
I agree. Because I don't remember there being so much emphasis on the animal rights. Because the big thing, right, is that Dr. Billabong, wherever the fuck his name is, the goat, he's a goat and he gets his rights. He gets taken out of class and Elphaba wants to stand up for him and everyone's like, no, we're not going to stand up for him. He's a goat. I don't know. And then they find like the reveal at the end that she's, you know, they're they're going to use her, like you said, as a scout to to find these animals that are basically like still speaking and silence them. The overall message is good. It's just that it's the it's like really like this is what it is. This is what it's all about is this is animal rights.
Visual Style & Box Office Success of Wicked
01:09:30
Speaker
Right. That's why I'm hoping that Wicked 2 like they got to come in like that movie can't be a slow drug like I feel that this one is. Yeah.
01:09:39
Speaker
It's got to it's got to hit you hard the entire runtime because now. Alpha is. Essentially the Wicked Witch, right? Yeah, yeah, so.
01:09:53
Speaker
She's got to be hitting hard, I mean, she's still. The good guy. Yeah, I mean, she's standing up for what she believes in, and she's been framed now by the most powerful people in Oz that she's evil, right?
01:10:10
Speaker
She yeah, they turned the world against her. I also want to ask you what you thought about the. um
01:10:20
Speaker
The design, because I was watching, I was like, this looks great, but a lot of people online do not like the way this movie looks at all. thought I thought it looked fine. I didn't when I was watching, I was like, this looks good and people are like, there's like serious lighting issues. I've read reviews that everything looked too pale.
01:10:39
Speaker
Did they watch the same movie? Ariana Grande looked pale as fuck. I mean, for sure. She looked whitewashed. and Sure, but. The actual movie itself, I mean, I thought it was fine. I didn't have any I had didn't see any major CGI oophilex terrible. Besides the that one lion tiger, whatever the fuck it was. That alarm boil was really rough, rough looking, dude. But other than that, I mean, I didn't see anything that was like. Bad, bad.
01:11:09
Speaker
Unlike Gladiator 2, where they can make things practical, right? Yeah. With Wicked, you're like, okay, there's going to be vast amounts of CGI, and the CGI in this movie look way better than they did in Gladiator 2. I agree with that. I think Shiz was prize someprac like probably a built set. Yeah. At least parts of it. Parts of it, when they're standing in the court courtyard and stuff like that, that was probably all built.
01:11:39
Speaker
Which by the way Hogwarts over shiz all day, right? Thousand percent. I couldn't help but make like, you know It's like us for like when they were in like the classroom I was like us like straight out of Harry Potter dog like yeah, come on son. You'd be ripped off my shit Ripped off my shoes Like don't be doing that Uh, yeah, and I so Like I said, I think Wicked 2 is in a really great spot because of the setup that Wicked 1 does. Oh, the ending of Wicked 1 is amazing.
01:12:16
Speaker
I don't know. I'll be honest with you, it's like, oh, she's still here. Like she flew around, she would sing, she'd fly, and then she'd fly back and then keep singing again and the guards would be like, oh look, she's back again. Like they'd like, there was a part where they like put their weapons down or whatever and she showed back up and they're like, oh shit, she's still here? I literally felt that one. I'm like, oh, she's still there and her cape just kept getting longer and longer. That was a little strange. um No, it ends in a bang and it probably ends in the best musical piece. Way possible. Oh yeah. Right? um Yeah.
01:12:50
Speaker
movie goes out with a bang, but the set up. This it does set up wicked to part two in a good spot, but the. At what cost, right? cause it's kind of boring But they do a great job focusing on the relationship between Glinda and Alpha, but I think that is. Like crucial and like well done here. ah Yeah, that's a thing. It kind of bored me. And i I hate saying that, right?
01:13:21
Speaker
Yeah, because I I don't even know how to rate this honestly. um I'll be honest with you. I'm in a range between three and three and a half. I don't know if it's it's not. I mean, it' it's not a bad movie per se. No, there's some like it every movie has its issues. I think this movie has its issues, but it's.
01:13:46
Speaker
Also, it's a musical, right? So like musicals are it's it's even harder to read a musical. Right, because you're not a choker to.
01:14:00
Speaker
Right, because the point of the musical is the music, right? Right. The story should make sense. Yeah, I have no real and besides, I forgot that I played an orchestra. I have no real connection to the music because this movie is pulling in Hardcore Wicked fans, it's pulling in moviegoers, people like us who go frequently, and you're getting Ariana Grande fans. So you're just getting it from all angles, pause. And probably people that are like, they knew nothing about like any of that, but they're like, oh, it's part of the Wizard of Oz. like I gotta go see that. Yeah, so this is, I mean. You're literally this everybody. This movies this movie can make a Billy.
01:14:44
Speaker
I could see it, 100%. I could totally see it making a billy. I would not be shocked if it did. It's been so, I mean, I'll look right now. What's the, it's Monday. It's Monday in the afternoon, okay? And I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna give you a live report on how fucking sold out these theaters are. Dude, anything, anything after four o'clock. So the work, the normal workday, right? Sold out. yep There's two seats in that one. There's the front row.
01:15:13
Speaker
And this that's 945, no one's gonna go to that. But I mean, yeah this this is gonna move tickets for sure. Wow, okay. So for the weekend, Wicked brought in 114 million to gladiators 55.
01:15:39
Speaker
Yeah, ah this is saying, Deadline reporting that ah it's broken all box office records for an opening fucking weekend Which I'm not hard hundred and sixty four million worldwide god This can make a billy very easily make a billy it just depends on how long a run it's gonna have in theaters, too.
01:16:05
Speaker
Right. um I mean, I don't know what else is going to kick it out in Moana 2. No. No. Well, I'm not going to kick it out. The only thing that that could really detract from this at this point, let's be honest, is Nosferatu. I can't see that either. What do you mean? That's going to be big. I'm just saying it might. I mean, and a month from i mean we're a month from Christmas today when Nosferatu comes out. It'll probably still be in theaters.
01:16:35
Speaker
Wicked. Yeah, ah but I can't see Nosferatu coming anywhere close. I'll be honest with you. No, no, I'm not talking about like sales generated. I'm just talking about like taking away like taking away theaters to have people watching that instead of watching Wicked. Oh, yeah. No, you're right. Like I'm i'm saying nothing else is going to come out between now and Christmas that ah they're going to have to like clear the fucking theater to make room for. So what I'm saying is what I'm saying is Wicked can just keep making fucking money.
01:17:05
Speaker
for the next month. Yeah. I mean, Moana too. Um, it'll be big. Moana too is going to be big. Yeah. Kids. What do you mean? Kids, dude. Kids are going to go see a movie. I'm seeing it. The fuck you mean?
01:17:21
Speaker
Yeah. Disney adult. Okay. Kids and Disney adults. Sorry. I forgot your one demographic. No, I'm serious. Oh yeah. But, uh, yeah. Looking through nothing. Craven the hunter. Yeah. Right.
01:17:34
Speaker
It's funny that that one still doesn't have a date. It's just like coming soon. And it's like December 13th. This the app says. What app? The Blu-ray angle theatrical releases.
01:17:48
Speaker
You're like the app like I'm going to know you're fucking talking about the app. I use the I use the Blu-ray app for release calendar for physical releases and theatrical releases because it has both. This says December 13th. OK.
01:18:05
Speaker
Sonic 3, yeah, okay. Mufasa, no. Jim Carrey's in that movie. I don't give a fuck. I'm just saying that I thought he retired. The Lord of the Rings, fucking... If I see that goddamn trailer one more time, I'm gonna blow my fucking brains out. That was the first time I saw it last night. That trailer is so... It's like six minutes. Like, please stop putting that trailer... It's so fucking long, stop.
01:18:33
Speaker
Stop it. We need an anime prequel to the Lord of the Rings. Some people do. Do we need a lot of people? Do we need more wanted to? They're bad. I've watched them. The Hobbit, the Hobbit trilogy, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, Billy. So in January is going to be my first time ever watching Lord of the Rings. Yeah, you're missing out, man. The first one's amazing. Well, that's what I'm going to watch and for autumn, Thursday. Shout out autumn.
01:19:04
Speaker
shoutout to if you're listening fuck you mark
01:19:08
Speaker
go watch the extended yeah mark i took your wife on a date to see wickedck what's up
01:19:21
Speaker
And I paid for her Gatorade a tree. Hey, I wish you had I wish you had a I wish you had an air horn. Oh, wow, that is kind of crazy. You did that. It is what it is. in a And I couldn't make it. So I didn't want to waste the ticket. I agree with you. How much you pay for your ticket?
01:19:46
Speaker
Me, personally, nothing. ah Her ticket, I think it was like 23.
Movie-going Experience Frustrations
01:19:51
Speaker
Why'd you pay nothing? I have the regal, unlimited subscription. Oh, the John, yeah. I got the John. Hers was 23, really? Yeah.
01:20:03
Speaker
I was gonna ask you because my my aunt told me she paid $25 for her wicked ticket. I was like, what the fuck $25 Did she see it in 3d because I know there's 3d shows I saw it in AMC in Boston and it was only 18 bucks not only but it was 18 bucks
01:20:23
Speaker
$25 for a movie tickets unheard of for a 2d not a 3d for a 2d is pretty fucking crazy Like I paid 25 for an IMAX ticket. I paid 25 to suck you off silly Bet all right right now. um Yeah, sure ah So so star reading I'm Like you said, it's difficult to rate this movie. I'm somewhere between a three and a three and a half I think it's crazy to give this movie a four and a half five star. Sorry. I the average on letterbox right now is 4.1 yeah i don't agree with that uh there was like the people next to us like when the credits rolled everybody was clapping and like this people were crying she's like are you fucking kidding me can you believe that movie are you fucking kidding me i swear oh this is my i forgot if you made it this far guess why you're in for one more rant
01:21:18
Speaker
Movies that come out that are big releases like Wicked or Gladiator 2 or Nosferatu, hint hint, when they're big blockbuster movies, hey, get to the fucking theater on time, okay? This movie starts and half the fucking theater decides to arrive. It's on! The movie's on! The movie is playing!
01:21:42
Speaker
That's ridiculous. Alphabet! Alphabet's fucking hat is on the screen, and there's people sliding by me to go to their seats. Get to fucking earlier! I hate people like that. Un-fucking-real, dude! I was i was in my seat 10 minutes before the Showtime started. I always am. Be responsible. Look, if it's some movie like Sasquatch Sunset, I get it, okay? No one's going to see that. But, I went and saw it. But,
01:22:07
Speaker
For a movie like Wicked, you can't show up on time? You can't show up on time? You live in Boston. There's a Celtics game. It's gonna take you a little bit extra time to get there. I'm sorry. It really fucking pissed me off that they were doing that shit. If you're filing in during the trailers, that's cool. that's fuck Hey, no beef with that. When the lights go down and Nicole Kidman gives her little spiel, shut the fuck up and sit down. Here you go.
01:22:38
Speaker
you know' have delicate mouth dude Dude People walking in every time they walk I got a suit, but I gotta get up like I'm out of like I'm sitting in the bleachers at a football game Then I got back up with them fucking slower, right? Yeah, duy might they can't my my theaters got the Rick my theaters got the reclining seats and Even after you recline they give you enough room. So motherfuckers all you got to do is like bend your bend your foot up a little bit and That's and that's fine. I'm okay with that. It's nice. Yeah, I hate kids. All right. I fucking hate the fucking worst. Like I said last week, there was kids playing football in the hallway of the movie theater. Why? Why where are your parents? like Right. Why are you bringing like four year olds to a movie? Right. You think they're going to have the attention span to sit down for a three hour movie and watch it? Well, people are bringing people are bringing little kids to see wicked.
01:23:31
Speaker
Yeah, the two hour 40 minute movie. Right. Not that like you they could watch Wicked. That's not the problem. I'm saying if you if you want to see it, go see it. Leave the kids at home. Wait until it's on streaming. Don't bring your fucking kid. They're not going to have the they're not going to sit. They're going to have ADHD no matter what. They're going to be up fucking. They were kicking the back of our seats. Now, I said there's a lot of room, right? They were fucking walking up, getting up, walking. Mom, mom, mom, shut the fuck up.
01:24:00
Speaker
All right, I'm trying to watch this movie. All right, but that's why I always in the back row Ain't nobody comes behind like of my shit. I'm in the back back row. I'm against the wall. I'm under the projector I'm like, are we on a fucking airplane right now? Why the fuck you kick in the back of my seat? Also not acceptable to kick my chair on an airplane either Definitely not on airplane. Oh, not okay There's not a lot of room on those fuckers anyway. you got You got a whole fucking seven feet behind you. Get the fuck away from my chair. John. Jesus Christ. Anyways, moral story here is ah you should show up on time for big releases and not ruin other people's experiences and maybe we don't kick the back your the person in front of your chair or don't bring your fucking dumb kids.
01:24:50
Speaker
Right. Like, there was some- Is this why we only do horror movies? Cause no kids are gonna be there? I don't know though, cause I had like a fucking eight year old in Terrifier 3. But... Hey, yo. It was crazy, yeah. Parents are clueless, huh? Well, I remember this House of Cinema podcast, shout out to him, was reading off, um,
01:25:14
Speaker
Reviews from rotten tomatoes and there was one they read I'm pretty sure the mom was like my son asked me to go watch this movie on like I couldn't believe how violent and like do you not if your kids like ma I want to go see this you're not like let me go see what it is first like maybe there's a reason why ah It's a 17 plus movie Yeah, like unless it's like a Disney movie. You should be doing your research
01:25:40
Speaker
Yes, I agree with that 100%. Like if it's PG or G, you'd be all right. PG or G? Your G. you're It's all G, my G. But PG13 and up, maybe do your research. So where are you out at with the rating? Because I don't think you said you're rating it. No, I'm at a three.
01:26:03
Speaker
three because three like gladiator more than than wicked i do let me ask you this i already know the answer to my own question let me ask you this uh wicked the movie okay we're not and we're not including the play we're just talking about this movie or Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd as soon as i stood up last night i was like Sweeney Todd is a way better fucking movie than this okay this or Wonka or if you've not watched it yet Like Wonka, like the movie that just came out. Timothy Chalamet? Yeah, Timothy. I don't like that movie that much either. um Why? I don't get why you don't like that movie. It's great. I don't know. It's a fun time. In your words. Wonka's better than this. W.
01:26:59
Speaker
I feel like we should do that for the pods. We can argue about that movie. Wonka. Yeah, the little oompa loompa is Hugh Grant who was in heretic No, I know the oompa loompa was fire. He was great. That's my boy Hugh Grant. He's not my boy. He just recently became my boy He's great. All right, so Gerald's out of three. I might also give I gave the substance of three I might give us a three and a half just because the substance fucking sucks I
01:27:32
Speaker
You give that movie so much fucking hate for no reason. No, no. I have you on record agreeing with what I was saying, so it's OK. Oh, actually, all the fans can hear you agree with me, too. You gave it a four, but a lot of the points I made you agree with. That might have to go in the revisited category. Maybe I'll. Is there going to be a still book for that movie? It's just a four K, huh? It's just a four K and the better guys. Have you seen I don't I know we're ranting, but have you like I've wanted to rewatch it, right?
01:28:03
Speaker
And the only it's on like some it's called like movie MUBI or something. like Yeah, really pushing this hard Yeah, they're like, oh we have we have the substance. We have the substance. It's a new movie Yeah, but they're and it's got so much hype as like the gross movie ever So why wouldn't you why wouldn't you push it? It's the grossest movie ever. Of course, you but we haven't looked at the gross movie ever I'm still like seeing it pop up on my like Sponsored ads on Instagram and shit because they know you want to rewatch it. I Know but even I just looked it up the physical release Mm-hmm that like movie or whatever the fuck it's on. They're putting it out They are putting out the physical copy of it. Yes, I ain't good ah pick Why didn't parents pick it up or fucking Lionsgate Who put it out? Like is it a Lionsgate movie?
01:29:02
Speaker
I think it's a, I think it's an independent film though. I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a massive film. Okay. Oh, distributed by movie. Okay. All right. It's them. They're putting out their own movie, but that, that scares me. All right. Well, maybe we should wrap this episode up.
Engagement & Upcoming Reviews
01:29:21
Speaker
Yeah. ahead and move little
01:29:25
Speaker
So follow us on Instagram, two guys, one screen pod, send any comments, concerns, movie requests to two guys, one screen pod at gmail dot.com. Please follow us on letter boxed and follow us on tick tock. The links will all be in the description. Also, shout out to our boy Tyler, who ah got a letter box. ah Follow him on letter box now that he has one. His name is Spear of the Fox.
01:29:54
Speaker
Yeah, follow him. All our boy. He actually reviews and vlogs movies. He gave challengers a two star spicy. He goes in depth with his reviews. I'm really proud of him. This is not and I don't think this is in depth. Well, he a lot of people that I follow. Yeah, just what do you follow, by the way, on letterbox Mark. Fuck you, Mark. Yeah, I follow Mark.
01:30:25
Speaker
It's like, who else do you follow? Mid-level media. Yeah, mid-level media. Steelball, you, Jeff. jeff Jeff. Yeah, this dude from work.
01:30:42
Speaker
I just don't want to, I don't, look, I don't want to promote Tyler as the, I love you Tyler, but as going in depth with his reviews. There are like actual reviewers that you can read like an in-depth review if you wanted to, like one where you got to scroll on your phone a couple of times to like get to the end of it. I'm just, okay. I'm just happy that he actually.
01:31:01
Speaker
Right. to Letterbox, I'm waiting for my check because I've um my influences unmatched.
01:31:09
Speaker
um Next week, we are reviewing Moana, too. I believe. If I am correct, that this is our first. Yeah, yep.
01:31:26
Speaker
This is our first movie for kids, and you can't argue me that Moana 2 is not for kids, sorry, ah since Bridge to Terabithia. And I'd say it's our first non-horror since Bridge to Terabithia, but we released what's it called? Fucking Whiplash last two weeks ago. And Gladiator. This. i Wicked and Gladiator. This, yeah.
01:31:50
Speaker
So stay in the loop for that. I've never seen Moana one. I'm probably gonna go watch it right now. See what I think about it. Yeah, and then the month of ah December will be surprise. Christmas month. Horror Christmas month, basically. Horror Christmas month, because no one wants to see us review, like no one wants to see us review fucking Home Alone or some shit like that.
01:32:18
Speaker
I'll be honest, I don't want to review Home Alone or some shit like that. No one wants to see the basics. I mean, we are going to review a movie that's like Home Alone, but it's a horror movie. Are we not telling them? Better watch out. Underrated gem. Never seen that one either, but Gremlin's horror or not horror?
01:32:44
Speaker
Entry horror. That's fair. Uh, and then at the end of December, it's already basically put together, but, uh, we'll be releasing a best of two guys, one screen app that recaps the best moments. That's the episode you share with your friends. Cause that one will, will give them a good idea of who we are and what this podcast is like. Yeah. Um, and until next time, go ahead. Should we cancel two guys, one screen? We can't get canceled. I'm a following. Um, sure.
01:33:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean whatever I want. And then once we've been following, it's all going to Patreon. OK. Until next week, we'll see you guys next week. Toodles. Fuck you, Mark.