Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 018 - The Good The Bad and The Ugly 2022
7 Plays1 year ago
In this episode we cover the honourable mentions and disappointments of 2022, sealing the vault on the year that's gone.
CREDITS:
Intro clip from Sergio Leone's "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" (1966) from Produzioni Europee Associate and United Artists, distributed by Produzioni Europee Associate
Opening music: https://pixabay.com/music/id-116199/
Closing music: https://pixabay.com/music/id-11176/
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Two oceans. Two oceans will begin. You pig! You wanted to get me killed! When did you unload it? Last night. You see, in this world, there's two kinds of people, my friend.
00:00:35
Speaker
Those with loaded guns, those who dig. You dig.
Exploring '18' in Movie Titles
00:00:44
Speaker
Welcome to the Two Oceans podcast, where myself, Sufi, along with my friend and delightful colleague, Scrumpy, discuss film and other media through a decades-long lens of mass media consumption. In this episode, we cover our honorable mentions and disappointments of 2022 as we seal the vault of the year gone.
00:01:04
Speaker
This is The Tuition's podcast. So build a bounty on your colleague and take aim at the news as we begin episode 18.
New Movies: Hits and Misses of 2022
00:01:17
Speaker
You do it, man. That's your thing.
00:01:20
Speaker
episode 18. Now I tried to look up movies with 18 in the title. And the results that one of the first results that came up was under 18 from 1931, which is good.
00:01:38
Speaker
around the world in 18 days. It's a 1923 movie and yeah, other stuff that I think doesn't even merit mentioning.
Catching Up on TV Series
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's a tough one. So right, we're doing the new movies we watched in the movie news and trailers as we usually do before getting into the honorable mentions and biggest disappointments in overrated films from our list of 2022.
00:02:08
Speaker
Yes, we are not done with 2022 yet. We still have a bone to pick with that. What did you watch this week? Nothing, movie-wise. Yeah, really? It was all TV stuff catching up. Oh, what did you watch? Starting new. Well, we watched the latest season of Jack Ryan.
00:02:26
Speaker
Which is still fun still that you know that wonderfully. Oddly optimistic Tom Clancy version of the world where you know ultimately the you know the right people in the right spots will do the right thing.
00:02:39
Speaker
It's like, yeah, that's, yeah, that's the, we're truly in fantasy world here, aren't we? Well, that's what this guy publicist is like, so it would be nice if that were all true, right? Beyond that, we started Star Trek Lower Decks, which is absolutely hilarious. It is, and it is packed with, obviously with Star Trek references, but they throw in everything as if
00:03:05
Speaker
as if everything is canon. So everything is up for a reference and it's very well done. And a lot of the characters, I mean, it is short attention span theater. I mean, it is a lot of it. The pace of it is very fast. I mean, they're, you know, half hour, 20 something minute episodes, but the pace is great. Uh, uh,
00:03:24
Speaker
Jack Quaid is one of the lead characters after his turn on the boys as well. And this one, he's just even goofier, but if it works, he works really well. I can imagine that. All the voices work, all the voice actors work really well. So it's a highly easily consumable and fun show, especially if you, even if you're marginally aware of Star Trek, you'll get a kick out of it.
Analyzing 'The Last of Us' Episode 2
00:03:49
Speaker
Nice, nice.
00:03:51
Speaker
Have you managed to watch any of the Last of Us yet? Oh yes, yeah, keeping up on that.
00:03:57
Speaker
Are you on episode two? Oh, yes. Yeah. I think they did something quite clever because the problem with those post-apocalyptic stories is always the most interesting bit is that bit just before everything goes to shit, you know, or as it's happening. And I thought it was interesting and I hope they continue this with the episodes upcoming is that they started episode two with
00:04:23
Speaker
how it hit in another part of the world while also start expanding upon and explaining a little bit more. But yeah, I thought it was really good. Really, really, really, really enjoyed that one. And I'm really liking how they just, the one change they made, that's not the military chasing them as it was in the game so much as it's just the infected. And that's such a better, easier turn to manage. And it's like, yeah,
00:04:48
Speaker
because the military thing always felt like
The New Season of Bad Batch
00:04:50
Speaker
meh. I'm not sure. I still think that they'll probably have the because as they did, I mean, they will be there. Yeah, they're going to be there. But yeah, that sort of fascist regime that's in place aren't going to come after them at some point. I imagine. Oh, yes. Did you see any of the bad batch new season yet? Yes, I've been keeping up to date with that, too.
00:05:17
Speaker
It's curious what they're doing. I like what they're doing with it, how they're just exploring what they are more. And I'm liking that they're not afraid just to, you know, it doesn't all have to feed to this one, you know, saving the one clone, you know, Omega or something like that. You know, it can be whatever they want. You know, this week's a treasure hunt. This week's a monster hunt. This week's, you know, I'm like, sure, why not?
00:05:44
Speaker
because they're still building the character, I mean, they're still fleshing out all the characters together. And I thought this week's episode was good. I thought last week's was incredibly good, the one on the, about the lone clone.
00:05:56
Speaker
about the one that had stayed loyal to the empire rather than rebellious. Well, he has the most interesting story, isn't he? Oh, by far, yeah. And he was also a peak point in the finale as well. Don't want to give that away, but yeah, that was good.
00:06:16
Speaker
So looking forward to that. And the sort of sleazy woman that they work for as well, they seem to be hinting that she's not all that she's cracked up to be as well. So that's interesting. And yeah, setting up future items that are going to push everything forward.
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Cool.
Film Reviews: A Mixed Bag
00:06:39
Speaker
I mean, this week I've watched a few things. So I and some of them are going to come up in my honorable mention list because they're from 2022. I saw Michael Pierce's Beast. It's actually a 2017 movie. And it's Jesse Buckley's first feature film.
00:06:57
Speaker
And I sort of thought only twenty seventeen. Yeah, it seems awful soon. It's a it's a it's a it's a really good thriller. And she is absolutely amazing in it as well as the lead in that with her. Also seen Hirokazu Karida's Broker. And that's great. Just watch that today. I think anyone who's enjoyed
00:07:23
Speaker
Parasite will enjoy it. And The Broker of the Name is about the sort of black market sort of baby selling that's kind of going on, which sounds really depressing, but it is extremely entertaining, really, really good. And I've seen Scott Mann's Fall this week about the two women who go climbing up a radio tower that's disused and it is like a 1970s survival thriller and really effective, really good, really enjoyed that.
00:07:52
Speaker
one to call out that I didn't enjoy so much was Roxanne Benjamin's and the title is so good. There's something wrong with the children. And yeah, that that turned into kind of a disappointing horror. I mean, it has some moments, but it takes about an hour to get started.
00:08:11
Speaker
And it's not very focused in that first hour, so it was a little bit of a mess. And I saw Hane Holmes, a man called Ove, which is the original film that the new Tom Hanks, a man called Otto, is based off of. That was okay. I mean, in a way, it felt a little bit
00:08:36
Speaker
sentimental, even in a foreign language. So I cannot imagine what it's going to be like in an American version. It's probably going to be too much for me. Too sweet. And then I saw Gerard Johnstone's Megan, the M3 GAN, that had all that buzz.
00:08:56
Speaker
I was kind of disappointed, but that's because the trailer kind of showed all the plot turns, all the high points. And there wasn't really that much more in the movie itself. I mean, it was OK, but, you know, there are better better versions of that story out there.
00:09:15
Speaker
like hatching, which isn't about robots, but has the same story otherwise. Oh, no, absolutely. Absolutely. That's what I'm just watching. I'm like, assuming that's what it's like. Oh, yeah. Now it's going to go crazy. Okay.
00:09:28
Speaker
but with all the subtlety, with all the subtlety of an American versus what was hatching finish. Yeah. Yeah. It was finished. Yeah. Yeah. Or then you've got like ex machina as well, if you look at the more sort of heavy end of it, but the robot in it, the Megan robot is fantastic. And that's the thing is that's what attracted people. How does she hold up? How does she compare against small wonder? Um,
00:09:55
Speaker
They're like, you want killer robots? Yeah. All right. I'll give you one killer girl. We see this is the other thing. It's not really a horror either. Like zero. There's almost no gore. There's implied gore. And the director, I don't think, was very good at building up suspense either. Like because it all just kind of go normal. And then you'd know what's going to happen next. And he just didn't take his time. It just all seemed really, really rushed. Formaliac.
00:10:24
Speaker
It does a bit, a bit. I mean, it's enjoyable enough, you know, cause it's not very long, but didn't quite live up to the hype, you know? Gotcha. Cool.
BFI's Top 250 & Oscar Nomination Buzz
00:10:38
Speaker
Oh, movie news. A couple of bits that surprised me this week. BFI has their top 250 coming out on Tuesday as if the top 100 wasn't enough. So that'll be quite interesting. That'll probably actually start filling in all this stuff where people are going like, you didn't mention this movie.
00:10:58
Speaker
Um, so yeah, that'll be quite interesting to see. Uh, and always toward the bottom of the list is where you start getting interesting stuff happening, you know, and then barbarian directors at Craig's next film has, uh, there's some details that come out about that. It's called weapons. And according to the Hollywood reporter, it's described as quotes and interrelated multi-story horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia.
00:11:28
Speaker
I'm sold. I'm there. I'm so there. Okay. A Quiet Place Day One is in production now. And I don't think that is, I don't think that's a continuation. I think this is going to be with a separate group of people under the same scenario. Yeah. Why not? And I suppose we've got a touch on the Oscars this week.
Oscar Nomination Controversies
00:11:53
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we could touch a little bit on it. I don't think we have to go too much in it.
00:11:57
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have too many details. I just want to highlight a couple things that sort of stood out for me. In the category, best animated short, I don't know if you noticed, My Year of Dicks has been nominated. Oh, yes. Riz Ahmed, our guy Riz Ahmed got to read that one.
00:12:13
Speaker
And I don't know if you've seen the footage of it. It's hilarious. I haven't seen him reading it out. But yeah, yeah. Old Ahmed. Yeah, he's great. And then the Oscar reviewing campaign rules are being reviewed because of this Andrea Reisbro nomination. Now, I've seen the movie that she's in, which I'm going to talk about later because it's actually in my list.
00:12:37
Speaker
And she is extraordinary. And in fact, if I had a choice, given the nominations that are there, she would be my choice very close in terms of, you know, against tar. But I think, you know,
00:12:54
Speaker
balancing between the two, I think they're both equally powerful performances, but she kind of gets it because she's playing a more sort of working class character. And that's a bit more, it's got a few more visible layers in the performance. A little more teeth, yeah. A little more gravitas, a little more teeth. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, do you have any preferences in terms of how things panned out?
00:13:21
Speaker
Not really, you know, uh, you know, people say, you know, uh, between horror and action, not getting their due, which they never do. Um, you know, so, uh, like, uh, uh, the woman King not getting any, like Viola Davis didn't get one. I mean, just even the token nomination. Come on.
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And no, was it no women directors, no black women of any sort, nominated for anything, I don't think. Just another, yet another, you know, whitewashed, tone deaf thing again. And, you know, yeah, the thing kicking up on that.
00:13:55
Speaker
You know review in the rules or whatever. I'm like like, okay, you have rules good great. Yeah, let's pretend. Okay Well, the fact is like oh she got this grassroot campaign she got no, but yeah, that's how that works that is how it works David Lynch sat down in a median with a billboard our Adurn Right. Yeah, and the cow
00:14:15
Speaker
And to get Laura Dern nominated. Yeah, an empire, you know, stuff like that. You know, that goes on all the time. It's just, you know, what's seen when it's like this
Oscar's Horror Film Snub
00:14:25
Speaker
is somehow, you know, maybe because it's a woman, it's not supposed to be. I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure. It just seems I think I don't understand what their that the kerfuffle is. I was like, well, that I think the main thing I saw pop up was that, you know, they're like, oh, well, nobody, you know, very few people have seen the movie.
00:14:46
Speaker
Or they'll, I think the big thing. They've got screeners. Yeah, yeah. And they're like, well, we've not, she's not a big name. Yeah. And that should not be a part of how they assess it. For pearl clutching. Yeah. It's the same, it's the same pearl clutching, the other way why NOPE wasn't nominated for anything because it's a condemnation of Hollywood. Yeah.
00:15:14
Speaker
And they actually they actually understood that. And I probably want someone explain it to them. But or Mia Goth not getting a nomination as well for Pearl. Yeah. But again, part of me, though, is like horror films never do. I mean, like, I don't know what you're getting upset about. You know, yes, it'd be cool if it did. But, you know, what about, you know, Tony Collette for her and Terry or, you know, you can just keep going, right? There's there's so many good performances that were never nominated. I don't think Nicholson was for The Shining, was he?
00:15:46
Speaker
I don't know. I'd need to look that one up. But I mean, in terms of tour de force performances, you know, there's some really good ones in some in some good to even middling good horror movies out there over time. You know, Ellen Burstyn and The Exorcist, you know, or Max on Sido, you know, there's plenty of room in there and it's just never gotten that because they're just like, oh, no, it's not art. It's not, you know,
00:16:10
Speaker
And again, there's not, it always feels for me for the Oscars, you know, there's not rules, there's just the, you know, mean girls rules, sort of thing. I just looked it up, by the way. The Shining got no Oscar nominations. Of course it didn't. Not a one, which, yeah, outrageous. So again, people get in bed out of shape, they're like, oh, they're not recognizing horror. I'm like, they never have, they never will.
00:16:39
Speaker
Except for, except for get out. I guess they kind of did with get out. I think we might be a generation away from that because as the fact that superhero movies made it in there, I think we're another, you know, 10 years away before horror is going to get in there, but the horror is getting so good now.
00:16:55
Speaker
that it's going to be harder and harder to ignore. I suppose the only other thing that I've been thinking about off the back of the Oscars is I started to question whether or not the Razzies actually have any relevance anymore.
Razzies: A Critique on Relevance
00:17:10
Speaker
I didn't know they were still doing them. I know, right? But they keep screwing things up on that.
00:17:18
Speaker
I'm not really happy with the nominations that they have in it because back when it started, it used to be a fight back against this corporate machine churning out crap films all the time. And now, you know, especially sort of seeing them target a film like Blonde, right? Right.
00:17:37
Speaker
Um, which is, you know, a semi independent movie. I know it's distributed by big studios, but it's something that the director worked on for 10 years. I think it's a great movie. It's not meant to be a biopic. It's a horror. And, um, yeah, it just felt a little bit off, you know, but yeah, they're still doing it.
00:17:58
Speaker
And the last bit of news that I've got for a remove on is Kurt Rimmer's Children of the Corn remake is getting a release. It's been finished since 2020. I have a feeling it's going to be shit because he also was behind the point break and total recall remakes in the last 10 years. Really knows what he's doing. Thank God he still gets work. Yeah, let's give him money. God, for God's sake, yeah.
00:18:27
Speaker
Cool. All right. I think we have to miss the trailers again this week. I don't have anything super compelling in this list. The only one that I would point out is a film called Linoleum with Jim Gaffigan. And that's getting good word of mouth. Looks absolutely nuts. Has a feel of a Philip Kaufman movie mixed with Spike Jones and Michelle Gondry type collaboration kind of thing.
00:18:52
Speaker
Maybe with a bit of the Daniels in there. So that looks looks fun. But yeah, the rest of the rest of the stuff can wait because they're not being released soon anyhow. Yeah, it looks like March. March looks very busy for new releases of stuff I want to see. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I know. They just they don't they don't spread them out very nicely. No, they do. Right. So let's get to the honorable mentions for 2022. How many do you have?
00:19:22
Speaker
uh let's see one two three my magic six oh cool okay good good i yeah i i can probably knock it up to six i'm we're about the same i've got four down here so if you want to get started yes so one came in it was uh kind of timing wise i think it's almost a
00:19:44
Speaker
in order of how I watch them. Going back, starting with the most recent new Christmas horror called Christmas Bloody Christmas, which was a nice sort of opposite to violent night, which got all the attention.
00:20:03
Speaker
but wasn't nearly as good. I mean, I enjoyed violent night, but not like Christmas ability Christmas, which is some exceptionally well rounded characters. It's a military has these Christmas display Santas in stores and then they realize something's wrong with the programming and they're trying to recall them, but one of course gets loose and proceeds to brutally
00:20:28
Speaker
weighed through this small town, uh, Christmas Eve. And I mean, brutally it's, it's well done. It's a, but it's, it's, it's not quite like terrifier level, but it's close in terms of gore and violence that I had after watching, uh, Megan and thinking, uh, I was hoping for more. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, you want a good violent robot movie. That's a recent Christmas bloody Christmas. It also featured, uh, the, the, the final girl,
00:20:57
Speaker
is also the main character. But she also, I think, holds the record now for the most amount of swearing by any character in a single movie. Amazing. Because she runs a, she has a record store, so she's just this young gal that just, you know, shoots the shit and, you know, the mouth don't stop, so. Nice. But it's well done, and there's some good turns in it. Some nice nods to, like, Terminator and movies like that, too, without being too
00:21:27
Speaker
Heavy-handed with it and it's a fairly tight like I want to say 98 minutes or so Some good people involved with it. They do a lot of other stuff like comedians that are in there that I know that are recognized That are involved with it. So, you know somehow born out of that community or attached to it But in a good way, so yeah, we're checking out
00:21:49
Speaker
Fantastic. First one I've got on my list is in contrast to that. So I mentioned last week all this buzz around Puss in Boots, The Last Wish, and I watched it this week. And yeah, it is pretty surprising how mature the story is. I'd say the biggest thing about it is nothing in there felt lazy.
00:22:13
Speaker
or patronizing, it was all done so well. And the themes around it around mortality and family and ego. And I mean, put it this way, if I describe this to you as, hey, there's a movie coming out, it's being executive produced by Guillermo de Toro.
00:22:35
Speaker
It's about mortality, family, and ego. It's got Antonia Banderas, Salma Hayek, Florence Pugh, Olivia Coleman, Samson Kao, and Ray Winstone. I then told you it was Puss in Boots, but they all, all have great performances in this.
00:22:55
Speaker
all these characters, you know, there's a ton of characters in here. They're broken into like three different groups, but they're all developed so well. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's still a kids movie, but, you know, there are some adult bits in there, like the wolf who's played by Wagner Mora is like a combination of like Lee Van Cleef
00:23:20
Speaker
in the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Charles Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West, and Death from the Seventh Seal.
00:23:29
Speaker
And that's in a kid's movie. And it's so good. And it's textbook. We're still doing our horror specials. I'd point out that the way that he's introduced notches the menace up to 11 in such a great way that you don't even want to see him on screen again because of the threat that's there. It's really good. And they do sort of cross the line in that introduction that I've not seen.
00:23:59
Speaker
in any the any any animated movie, certainly not in the CG movies recently. So, yeah, it's it's worth checking out that one. OK.
00:24:09
Speaker
And what do you got next? Next training gear is going to Korea for a sequel. We watch both of them. I think we watch them back to back or night to night. The Witch 2, the other one, which is a sequel to The Witch. Now I can't remember the name of the first one, but it also has a colon, dot, dot, dot, you know, kind of thing after it. The sort of kids gain superpowers through government program.
00:24:36
Speaker
But the first one was setting up just one character and now this is the one where it's continued and there's other kids that have it and they're part of the team and they're all trying to and the one finds a family that she bonds with and that sort of, you know, so not necessarily treading anything new.
00:24:52
Speaker
But it was just a nice surprise. It's just because it is insane action, but a neater take on the story, the way they weave in other characters and things, the way you think it's going to go. It kind of does, but then doesn't. And they're clearly just having a bowl. I mean, there's a confidence, right? I always like that.
00:25:09
Speaker
that they just stride through with this, where it never feels, there's a lot of times where films like this, especially Asian action movies can feel either cheesy or style over substance or something like that. And this courts that line, but never crosses it.
00:25:25
Speaker
Uh, same with the first, same with the first one. Uh, but this one, I think just did it better. So I'm looking forward to how they do the next because there's going to supposed to be at least a third one, uh, coming out some point here. So, uh, looking forward to see how they try to handle that too. The first one's on my list from our discussions at Halloween. So, uh, yeah, I'm going to need to catch up with those. So that makes me, the way you're describing it reminds me a little bit of the feeling I had with one cut of the dead.
00:25:52
Speaker
You know, the Japanese zombie movie, sort of meta zombie movie. Yeah. Right. Right. OK, now we're going to go donkeys now. So the other this is another movie I've seen recently is Jersey Sklobowski's EO, which is up for, I believe, an Oscar nomination as well. Actual donkeys, not films that are donkeys. I got actual donkeys.
00:26:22
Speaker
Yeah, we'll get to the film donkeys. You're right. I know the donkey from Banshees. Yeah. I've been sharing their CEO. It could be the same donkey. We don't know. But I mean, it's inspired by Robert Bresson's Oazzard Balthazar, which is a film that I enjoyed technically, but didn't really quite enjoy watching. Whereas this I enjoyed all the way through.
00:26:52
Speaker
It's just great cinematic storytelling. And I always go back to, you know, like the Samurai Jack and, you know, that sort of thing and primal kind of storytelling. A lot of it is like that because you've got an animal and you obviously can't speak.
00:27:09
Speaker
And it just offers such an interesting look at the world through this donkey's eyes as the donkey kind of passes through these different groups of people. So it's almost like an anthology.
00:27:25
Speaker
as, as he's passing through, uh, all these different stories that he ends up getting tangled up in, but it's done so well. And, and, and the cinematography is great. I mean, the whole film just looks gorgeous. If I had seen this before we started doing our list, it, I think I would have put it in the silver tier, but, um, yeah, yeah, no terrific, terrific little movie. So.
00:27:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's weird. It kind of has an optimism to it and then it kind of doesn't. And, you know, I mean, I found it really easy to read as well, like the symbolism and the stuff that's going on and all this stuff going on with like colors. And and it is a road movie, by the way, as well. So. So and I love road movies. Indeed. Cool. So Jersey Slavinsky's EO.
00:28:22
Speaker
EO, not Captain EO, just EO. Oh my God. Hey, speaking of humor, Dan, next one, and I'd kind of forgot about it, but I saw it pop up on another list. I was like, you know, I really did enjoy it far more than I thought I would. Again, so an honorable mention for 2022, Beavis and Butthead do the universe. You know what?
00:28:44
Speaker
Yeah. That, that was one I was going to add to this list as well. Nice. I, I was, when they discover what right privilege you just, the movie, the setup was perfect of having them frozen or basically time traveled from, you know, 25 years ago to now and see what happens, you know? So you don't have to hold them accountable. They're still useless pieces of garbage, but they're better useless pieces of garbage than others.
00:29:12
Speaker
And the fact when they go into the class and it's Tig Notaro's the one, the professor voicing the professor explaining this to him was just, I mean, that's a master stroke. That was, there was so much in there where they're like, woohoo, we've got white privilege out of my way. As soon as they know, they're happy about it, which makes sense, right? All of it made sense. Nothing was, and it was just as, you know, it wasn't tired. It wasn't like, oh, remember when they made this joke or that joke or something like that? Yeah. It was a, there was a freshness to it that way.
00:29:42
Speaker
by just grabbing that lens, but it didn't feel like, oh, remember how this was funny and now we can't laugh about it? It's like, no, these people are still idiots, but this is how they're idiots now. You know, it didn't let anybody off the hook either. Just had a lot of fun with it. Yeah, it was, again, far better than like they're doing a beavis and butt him. Oh, no, it's actually pretty good. Okay. It's well worth watching. It's entertaining as hell.
00:30:08
Speaker
I've seen it. Yeah. I wish Mike judge would make more movies though, because as, as they're always, you know, they might not always sort of knock it out of the park, but they're always worth, worth seeing. Um, and I also like the, uh, uh, the alternate universe Beavis and butt head that they meet when they first land. Um,
00:30:28
Speaker
Yes. The energy beings or whatever they are that can't get anything right. Yeah. Oh, look at the number. Not that number. Yeah. Cool. All right. The next one I've got is a little bit of an oddball and it completely surprised me. And it's a movie called All the Old Knives.
00:30:54
Speaker
Oh yeah. And it's based on a novel of the same name and it is by a Norwegian director and from what I can tell it's mostly a Norwegian crew and it pretty much takes entirely takes place entirely in flashback with Chris Pine
00:31:15
Speaker
as this XCIA person meeting with Fandy Newton, who's another XCIA person, several years after this botched CIA operation to rescue these passengers and the terrorist hijacking of an airplane. And it is
00:31:36
Speaker
really good at twisting its way through and keeping you guessing. And the tone has that Scandinavian feel to it as well, because they meet in this restaurant and there's virtually no one in this restaurant by the seaside. It's filmed very beautifully, but then they keep having these flashbacks to various places.
00:32:00
Speaker
and you start getting pieces of the story but you don't know what you can trust in terms of who's telling the story and why I've heard this or you'll just get pieces of it and then it's not until later in the movie that you kind of see the gaps between that kind of reframe all those bits. But yeah I was really surprised because I mean on the whole Chris Pine aside from like
00:32:27
Speaker
the work that he's done in Star Trek, like he's a perfect Captain Kirk in my mind, you know, kind of annoying. But he does really well. Yeah. Excellent.
00:32:37
Speaker
All right, next one, one we talked about a little bit recently already was the unbearable weight of massive talent. It didn't quite hit my bronze levels, just probably where it would have set, but to call that one out again as being just like, don't miss that one. Don't overlook that one, especially
00:32:58
Speaker
You know, everything around Pedro Pascal lately. Oh, he. Yeah, he makes the movie. Well, I think the relationship with with Nicolas Cage, those two have a chemistry. That's really surprising. Yeah. Well, and it's like seemingly Pedro Pascal can have chemistry with anybody, like everything I've seen him in. He just true. He just he just hits it. Right. I don't know. It's weird. Anyway, have you already talked about that?
00:33:26
Speaker
Oscar Isaacs, Peter Pascal and Oscar Isaac being interviewed together. It's hilarious. I mean, I could watch hours of that. Just idiots. I think there's one clip where Oscar Isaacs is asking him, you know, you said I look like I'm up at which one and he's like the grumpy eagle. Do you have one more left in your list?
00:33:55
Speaker
I have two. You have two more. Okay. The next one I've got is Cleo Barnard's Alianava. It's a British movie. It's kind of a social realist romance. And it is about, it's kind of an odd couple romance story about two people who are in transition, completely live in different worlds, socially, musically, racially, financially.
00:34:21
Speaker
But they each kind of have something that other needs and it's just really nice sort of low key story that, that, uh, you know, I think, I think one of the problems that you get with a lot of movies is they tend to overlook the, the sort of working class or the poor elements.
00:34:38
Speaker
and just think that these people must, you know, they're poor, they've got to be miserable, and their lives aren't easy, but this has a kind of optimism to it. It's that cynicism that you get in social realist dramas where you find out that the director comes from a rich family and don't like that they needed to do something about the poor.
00:35:02
Speaker
Um, you know, probably out of guilt. Um, but this, this felt really, really authentic. And, and the guy that plays Ali is, um, I don't know if you remember, uh, four lions. He was, uh, one of the terrorists. Uh, I think he gets, gets blown up by a crow or something.
00:35:21
Speaker
Um, but yeah, he's fantastic at it. And, uh, I recognize the actress in it who plays Ava Claire Reshbrook. Um, but she's always like a secondary parts in movies. So it's kind of cool to see these two like get a central role and they, they help, they hold their own really well. Nice. Excellent. Cool. Uh, let's see next honorable mention, uh, again, it just fell off the bronze and we talked about this during our Halloween.
00:35:49
Speaker
discussion, but it was a she will. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. Really just enjoy the just top to bottom. It's just very well done sets mood sets expectations, but then invert some has some great effects doesn't overdo a thing, but delivers builds the atmosphere doesn't it? Oh, man.
00:36:11
Speaker
Scotland's never seemed quite as creepy. You know, I had a weird reaction. I wanted to move there straight away. I just thought that was great. Home. Yeah. But yeah, I just wanted to keep that one up. Visibility on that one. Deservedly so. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:31
Speaker
Um, okay. I've run out of items on my list, but I do have things that I've noted down. I'll just mention them really quickly. Um, so Brian and Charles, which I mentioned before, it's about the guy that lives on his own in the middle of nowhere in Wales.
00:36:47
Speaker
Oh, here's all village and he builds builds a robots of us part Charles Petrescu. And that is just nice sort of feel good without being too sugary kind of movie. And another movie I saw was called Funny Pages. And it's about comic writers. It's kind of a funny one. It's one of those ones. It's kind of hard to recommend to people because it is really uncomfortable. You know, like the Charles like
00:37:16
Speaker
recommending a Charles Crumb comic, right? People are going to look at you weird. This kind of has that kind of feeling to it as well. And finally, just another shout out to a bunch of amateurs, which I mentioned earlier in the year, the documentary about the independent filmmakers here in Yorkshire.
00:37:39
Speaker
and the Woman King as well. My last one was one I enjoyed far more than I thought I would was the Batman.
00:37:57
Speaker
Uh, I didn't have it on the best service because I don't think it hit there. Yeah. Uh, but overall, like from the get go, well, a couple of things that just hooked me. One, I thought the onscreen Batman was probably my favorite on screen Batman I've ever had. I agree. I thought I completely agree. Nailed it. Totally. Because he also, he changes and it's not a change of like, Oh, I'm going to show you the Batcave. I'm going to fall in love. He recognizes his role.
00:38:25
Speaker
much clearer than even Christian Bale did in Dark Knight or something like that. And you know, I like, of course, Christian Bale's great and those movies are good, but this one just, for me, it seemed a lot more, you know, like you were just saying about a lot more urban.
00:38:43
Speaker
a lot less Bruce Wayne than Batman, which is the way you do it. His introduction alone, when he is like, I am vengeance and you believe it, when he's beating the shit out of somebody with almost glee, I'm like, that's my Batman. That's the one I've been wanting to see.
00:38:58
Speaker
He's out of his mind. He's out of his mind. He's not a tortured soul. But he doesn't kill. It's clear to him what needs to happen. But he still doesn't kill. But they're just like, but come on, dude, you're like putting this guy in the hospital. He's never going to walk right again for the rest of his life. But it's like, but I didn't kill him. You know, it's like, dude, you're nuts. And Paul Dano.
00:39:18
Speaker
Oh, totally. I point out the villains in that I think are the best non caricature versions of those villains that we've seen for the penguin and the Ritalin. Yeah. And I love DeVito's. Oh, yeah. Oh, totally.
00:39:35
Speaker
I still have Burgess Meredith and Cesar Ramirez, but that's what I grew up on. But even in just the slightest scene and then in the deleted scene, Barry Keough, Joker, is just, I mean, again, he does the same thing in Banshees, right? He has like this tiny, what does he have, 12 lines or something? And you remember that's the character that stays with you?
00:40:00
Speaker
You know, it's just, he just delivers and I will give a shout out for the character introducing it as the character deserves of the Batmobile where it is, it is like, it's basically Christine.
00:40:11
Speaker
When it comes down to the screen and I'm just like, oh my God, I want more. I want a movie basically like Mad Max meets Batman, where it's just him in the Batmobile the whole time, blowing shit up and chasing things and doing that. I would watch that. I would watch the hell out of that. You could hear him rev the engine of the Batmobile.
00:40:31
Speaker
How good is that? It wasn't just a tank. It wasn't just a tank. It was clear between that and the Batcave. Again, always things like, who built the Batcave and is keeping their mouth shut? Or did he do the old crazy king thing and execute all the designers and workers after it was made so no one would know the secrets? Basically do what the Joker did, the robbery at the beginning of a dark night. Yeah, right.
00:41:01
Speaker
Come on Robin to the Batcave. We haven't one moment to lose. Yay. So that's, yeah, that's my honorable mentions. That one rounds it out. Cause I just, uh, I, I really, uh, I did not see that coming nor, uh, I mean I've liked Pattinson and stuff. I seen him in everything I've seen him in, but I've never watched the Twilight movies and I never will. Um, well take that back. I watched the abbreviated riff tracks version, which was probably the best way to do it.
00:41:28
Speaker
You telling me about that was about, you know, say did my. Right. There you go. But I thought he was great at. But yeah, again, more more Batman than Bruce Wayne, more social awareness, responsibility. Again, I thought it was just very clever, smart, well done. And the Batmobile gave me a hard on. So there you go. I think the only criticism that I have of the movie is the last act felt a little bit rushed to me. It did. Yeah. For being a movie as long as it was that felt. Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:57
Speaker
But it didn't feel like a really long movie to me. I know I've been happy to see more. I just would like to, you know, again, Catwoman was fantastic as well, but they could have their stuff there. They could have, I think, pared down. Yeah. Yeah. But that'll be a continuing character. So exactly. I think that that can be rectified. All right. Time for anger. Speaking of vengeance. Yes, here we come. Bring her forward. Destruction.
00:42:23
Speaker
I drink more.
00:42:41
Speaker
Good lord. I mean, this this this that piece of shit has has been on like top lists for 2022. Yeah, I've seen that. I haven't seen it, but I've seen it show up. It's like made for like a like a good made for TV movie, but it's so incredibly
00:43:03
Speaker
dumb, like really dumb. And in fact, I, it's, it's got Zoe Kravitz in the lead. She's very good, right? But it's so exploitative of her, right? She, she, she, she, it's, it starts as this rear window type situation. She's agoraphobic, so she can't go outside. She discovers something that, that the, you know, the company she's working for is doing some, some nasty shit.
00:43:29
Speaker
And it's filmed flat. It is predictable. It's got some good, a couple of good action scenes in it.
00:43:43
Speaker
But on the whole, it's really disposable. Yeah, you'll probably be entertained for the duration it's on if you can ignore some of the really bad performances in it. But for no reason, she has to just take off her clothes at one point. And I know it's not her fault, and I know she's in her 20s, but she's a tiny wee thing, and she looks like a child, and it feels
00:44:09
Speaker
weird, especially because it served no purpose in the story, really. But the whole thing is so contrived. And if you hate those scenes where they have technology and they go tap, tap, tap. I'm in kind of thing. And you get this fake search engine on the screen. Well, there's loads of that. You can tell that Steven Soderbergh knows nothing about technology. It feels like it's from the 90s.
00:44:39
Speaker
and really out of date. And I mean, I didn't know he did it. And when it came to the end and said a Steven Soderbergh film, I was just like, what? He unretired for this? Yeah. Oh, apparently he hasn't. And I looked at the other films he's made in the recent years and they don't look good. And by the way, the script is by David Coep.
00:45:04
Speaker
who has never done anything right and why they keep putting him on things is beyond me. I mean, in Kingdom, the crystal skull is his responsibility, really.
00:45:19
Speaker
But oh, my God, it's it's yeah, it's it's painful. I mean, it's painful enough. And the reason I bring it up, it's not the worst movie I've seen all year, but it's it's one of those movies that actually got kudos from some people. Uh huh. And it's like, what are you thinking? Why? Which is kind of the theme of this list I've got. Right. Let's say I continue that trend and to keep your anger level at peak peak height. Yeah. I'm going to call out Robert Eggers, the Northman.
00:45:48
Speaker
Yes. Yep. That was the next one I've got on my list. My God. I was again, and I put it as disappointment. I don't think it was really overrated. I saw it pop up on a couple things, but it was like the ruddy tease where the, you know, the reviews can kind of throw it off. Yeah. Rather than actually being positively reviewed because it was just such a wasted opportunity. It looked pretty. You know, there was some good stuff in it, but overall it was like, why? At the end, I was like, why?
00:46:18
Speaker
Why did, why did you do that? It didn't. Why did you do it like that at all? Um, and I mean, we, I mean, we've torn into it earlier, but yeah, we did still there. I mean the, the witch had a budget of 4 million lighthouse had a budget of 11 million. So the two, two of his previous movies are 15 million altogether. This cost between like 90 million and somehow
00:46:46
Speaker
Yes, somehow. And you know, it's wasted because as he had all these like location shoots and actors like a whole cascade of actors were brought in. And that was the other problem I had with it is is it just his earlier movies felt really authentic. This immediately didn't feel authentic because it was all in English and various Australian, American, British, Scottish accents, Icelandic. And yeah, it just felt
00:47:17
Speaker
I felt like Gendy Turdikovsky could have made that story into something cool in about 20 minutes. Well, he did in a lone episode of Primal last season. Yeah. One episode and he did. And his next movie is Nosferatu. Yeah.
00:47:38
Speaker
I just wish you would go back to the American setting and specifically like American folklore because yeah, I think that's a real strength. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let the people in those countries do their thing. You know, you do what you do. I'm alone. Yeah. All right. What do you got next?
00:48:00
Speaker
Okay, this one really, really, really, really bothers me because even more so, this has been getting a lot of attention. It's got some nominations for the Oscars as well. And that's Reuben Ostlin's Triangle of Sadness. That's next one on my list.
00:48:20
Speaker
Oh, completely half baked with no surprises, no continuity, hammer, hammer fists and raining blows down on you. This is what this about. This is satire after what I thought was actually a really promising open that first bit.
00:48:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah, you know, the opening scene and then the scene is amazing. And the whole thing with the two characters about the about the pick who picks up the check and the where that goes. I'm like, that's you know, that was really well done. And they're like, OK. And then it just starts to slowly unravel. It starts to get basically they start to lose control.
00:48:57
Speaker
which I guess is kind of the point in a way, but it's also, what I really think about, what I really think about this movie is that it's the emperor's new clothes. No one wants to admit that they don't get it or that it's not good.
00:49:10
Speaker
So, so everyone says, Oh no, it's great. It's just, you know, they already announced the criterion edition coming out in April. Uh, you know, it's like, Oh yeah. Like nobody's, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. It must be good, right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love this. Oh yeah. It's such a searing indictment. No, it's, I mean, it is an indictment. Absolutely. That's at its core. You know, it does manage to accomplish that. But, uh, again, sticking the landing, they do not, in this movie is a prime example of how, uh, uh,
00:49:40
Speaker
a theme movie can blow getting the point across at the end because this one does. This was a perfect example of why horror needs to be involved in the Oscars because the menu did the same thing. Exactly. Exactly. And do we need a movie to tell us
00:50:03
Speaker
Oh, do you know what? Rich people are kind of shit. It's like, you don't really need to tell me that. Rich people are garbage. Yeah. Oh my God, really? And people's base instincts when they try to survive will suck.
00:50:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We know. Thanks. It's not even done in a compelling way. I just found it really poor storytelling and I completely agree that for those first 10 minutes are done to perfection. The camera angles, the editing, the acting all really good. It looked like it was going to go somewhere unexpected. And then
00:50:39
Speaker
You have this entire middle bit where, again, in the trailer, you've seen all the highlights like every line, all the best lines for Woody Harrelson are in the fucking trailer. Right. Yeah. And you kind of excited in the trailer thinking, oh, I want to see more of that character. Well,
00:50:58
Speaker
Tough shit. You've seen it all. Nope. Yeah, yeah. Really, I've not seen a movie fall apart quite so badly, so early. Yeah, it was half baked. It just felt like that just needed more time to develop. Yeah, it just didn't feel real or anything. Exactly. What do you have next?
00:51:22
Speaker
Next I have it was made a big splash on shutter when it landed I watched it and thought it was fucking terrible was speak no evil okay right I'm glad you gave me a warning on that cuz I've actually got it my like to view list because I saw it on like 2022 recommended lists as well oh yeah it got also like oh is this great I'm like no
00:51:43
Speaker
No, it's not. And let me tell you why again, also does not stick the landing to some massive plot holes just to fit into what they think is the the clever that Michael stupid, hanky, funny games, bullshit ending that just still makes my I'm making fists right now. I'm still at the mention of that stupid fucking movie. Because so much of it is so well done. And then just like, no, you can't know. And then wink at the camera. I'm going to if I ever meet that actor, I'm going to punch him in that eye.
00:52:13
Speaker
I swear to God. Just for that alone. Both the remake and the original. Right, right. You both get it. You both got it coming out there, you hear me? Coming for you, Murtaugh. But this one was very similar, a preposterous story idea that makes zero sense when they finally do the big reveal. You think like, I mean, there's kind of some hints dropping early on. You're like, okay, maybe they're going here. And then like, okay, they go here and this how they're going to do it.
00:52:39
Speaker
But then it's like, no, that doesn't, that wouldn't, no, that doesn't work. And they're like, oh, yes, it does. No, no, it doesn't. Think, just think for one minute. Let's just sit down here and let me walk you through this and why this doesn't work. No, no, it does. You know, they just bought into their own shitty premise and doubled down on it. And it's just, it's dumb. It's a dumb horror movie.
00:53:05
Speaker
It's not well done. It's not exciting or entertaining or elevating or in a year where there were so many good horror movies. This one is an example of people getting carried away with a premise, I think, that they think is clever when it's really, really not.
00:53:23
Speaker
Right, or they get an idea in their head, and like I said, they don't spend the time to polish it. Yeah, half baked. I mean, in going back to Puss in Boots again, again, you can tell like the editing in that movie is amazing, that they really put a lot of thought into it.
00:53:41
Speaker
in terms of what's in there, the dialogue, how the story develops, and it shows. A lot of people will notice it, but the overall effect is pretty awesome. The next one I've got, again, this one probably even has even more kudos than the others, and I don't think it's a terrible movie. I just think it's incredibly average for the attention that it's getting.
00:54:08
Speaker
And that is Steven Spielberg's The Fablemans. So that's up for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay. By the way, Triangle Sadness, Best Picture, Director and Screenplay as well. Bullshit. I'm less upset about The Fablemans getting the nomination. I don't think it should have a chance of winning given the other nominations on there.
00:54:30
Speaker
But Jonathan Romney at Sight and Sound described it as disappointingly schematic. And I think that is exactly it. It feels very on the rails and contrived. And it's not even a true story because Steven Spielberg said he based it on his life. And I forget the guy that wrote it with him.
00:54:53
Speaker
But then he started fictionalizing the whole thing. And I don't know the cleanliness of stuff in Spielberg's movies where, and I talked about this before so I won't go over it too much, but just seeing it get all the nominations it has for the Oscars just pains me. But the interesting thing though is that it tends to be American critics that have been more positive than elsewhere.
00:55:20
Speaker
But yeah, there you go. Even though it does and won't spoil it, have an amazing final scene. Nice. Yeah. What else you got?
00:55:31
Speaker
In terms of not really disappointment, just overrated, I thought, was Terrifier 2. Right. You know what? I never got around to seeing that, so I watched Terrifier for the first time this Halloween. Which is great. Yeah. Terrifier, the first one is great. We talked about that one before, but Terrifier 2, I mean, it's good. I don't want to say it's bad because it's not. It's worth watching.
00:55:54
Speaker
But it's two and a half hours long, which for a slasher thing is just, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. There's huge segments you can pull out. Now, what they do with the final girl character in this one and how it's developed and all that is great.
00:56:11
Speaker
But there's stuff in there where it's just like, oh, well, now we have time and money or now we have the money. Let's keep all this in. Let's keep all these effect shots in. Let's do all the stuff we did, you know, in the in the original that this the character was the art the clown was based on that they did, which is a garbage, low budget. The first one in it's whatever now.
00:56:34
Speaker
See, no evil. No. Yeah. Something like that. Anyway, but this one. Yeah. There we go. But no, this one again, it was mostly, you know, everything now. So how awesome it was. I'm like, you know, the thrills and everything else about it and what made it. I mean, there's a cool introduction of another another character on the on the on the slasher side.
00:56:59
Speaker
That's really good, but not fully developed. And then it just kind of starts dragging in, pops up when it needs to. And it's a bit deus esse machina of, of coming in and out. And it's really kind of annoying. I mean, you reminded me of why I didn't watch it. It's basically because of the run time and the fact that you could almost watch X and Pearl in the time that you watch that one movie, you know,
00:57:23
Speaker
It's, I mean, and it's a, yeah, it becomes a slog. It's like, dude, you could tighten this down. It's still good. I mean, you could still use those other bits to save them for some other movie or something. You're going to get another chance. So that one's, yeah, that one hit the list there. Do you have anything else on your list? The only other one, and I kind of hesitated to put it on because I put it on with a question mark.
00:57:47
Speaker
in terms of disappointment, but I wasn't really disappointed, but I don't know if I'm talking myself into it or not, was Halloween Ends, the third Halloween movie of the new trilogy. They take it in a direction didn't see coming. I thought it worked. Obviously, a lot of other horror fans would very much disagree.
00:58:08
Speaker
But I thought it worked more, not that it was the best idea, the best way to handle it or anything like that, but the fact that they dared to try it, to try something and say, hey, let's, you know, like good on them for at least giving that a shot. Does it work all the time? No. But does it work overall? Yeah. And again, you should reward that kind of adventurism, creativity, especially with an established property.
00:58:32
Speaker
Same thing they're doing over with Scream now, I would argue. That's one of the trailers that we didn't discuss. But yeah, that looks pretty promising. Also looks promising as well. But it's the same sort of thing, right? You're taking like, well, it's like, well, they're changing stuff. It's like, well, it's not... So? So? It's not a cookie cutter, you know? No. And again, you know, as you go back to the comic book argument where,
00:59:00
Speaker
You know, you could have, you know, you have four different Spider-Man. Right. All at the same time. And it's not different universes. It's not whatever. It's just, no, this one does this. This one does this way because they're in this title and there's someone in this title. You know, you can have that. There were different Batman's that were different, you know, what they could all exist. Exactly. But they could all exist simultaneously in, you know, in your head as a consumer.
00:59:25
Speaker
of the lore because it's just, oh, this is one more author's take on this character, on this idea, on the, you know, and, you know, ultimately that's what Halloween was supposed to have been originally anyway, not Michael Myers, but this broader sort of thing. And so they, they do that a bit. And I think, again, sticking the line, I think they do.
00:59:46
Speaker
I think it is very well thought out. I mean, it's not perfect. There's a lot of stuff I would have done differently or would have liked to have seen differently, but at the end I felt satisfied. But the same way, it was just kind of like a
00:59:59
Speaker
And maybe the overrated is more of an over criticized call out for it, just kind of stick up for it a little bit. It's like, hey, at least they're trying something new. Well, I'd rather that we've said this before, it's better when they risk something and they don't quite hit it rather than just repeating the same old stuff. Reach exceeding the grasp that which is sometimes pretty okay.
01:00:23
Speaker
And we're reaching the end of the hour. That would time that really nicely. So next week is going to be Black History Month.
01:00:34
Speaker
I will got a few ideas around the outline which I'll send over to you if we can just agree on those. I think next week we'll be kind of hitting the sort of what makes black cinema and maybe go through some of our own experiences. So we've got, we can revisit films that we've already seen and grew up with. Yeah, yeah, I think that'd be good.
01:00:57
Speaker
I like the music player. Goodbye 2022. Goodbye 2022. We're done kicking you and stroking you. You dick. Two oceans.