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Episode 060 Part 05 - Train Dreams
0 Playsin 29 minutes
I'm joined by Ed from the Scruffies where we discuss some of this years Oscar Best Picture films. Instead of a single episode, the discussions have been broken up into individual episodes to make them easier to consume without spoiling movies you want to watch.
We look forward to hearing what you think about these movies so make sure to send your feedback to feedback@justshillin.com
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Transcript
00:00:01
Speaker
Alrighty.
Introduction and Topic Selection
00:00:02
Speaker
I think it is, is it think it's your your pick. Okay, I'm torn. Because I'm between wanting to talk about what we, I know we want to talk about, which Begonia. Train Dreams, because I really want to talk about that too. But I didn't write a lot on Train Dreams, but I just want to talk about it.
00:00:24
Speaker
So, mean I am torn.
00:00:29
Speaker
We'll do one then the other. You pick. like We can do them back to back. but Let's do let's do ah chain Train Dreams first. And then if you're good with it, we do Bugonia after. or no? bogua Yeah. Train Dreams first.
00:00:43
Speaker
Okay.
Initial Impressions of Train Dreams
00:00:45
Speaker
So this literally, and this probably was for you, question mark, but um literally went into this not knowing a single thing.
00:00:58
Speaker
about yes About what it was about.
00:01:03
Speaker
um I saw that. What's his name? Joel Egerton. Star Wars. Star Wars alum. Felicity Jones and Joel Egerton. Yeah. All Star Wars guys.
00:01:16
Speaker
And gals. And William H. Macy. Come on. Also, it took me, because she's got different hair, it took me longer than I would like to admit to realize it was Felicity Jones.
00:01:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:32
Speaker
But she did an amazing job.
Acting and Marketing Discussion
00:01:35
Speaker
But I will say, Joe Egerton, holy... I've always loved his acting. Always.
00:01:43
Speaker
And I was like, why doesn't this guy have an Oscar? Because I could feel it Coming off, I mean, everything I've seen in... need IMDb because I forgot the name of the show I was watching him in. but um it's it's It's on Netflix. It's the ah the weird one that he goes back in time and shit. yes like Dark Matter. in it.
00:02:08
Speaker
dark man dark matter and so so good in it he He has a great way of conveying emotion.
00:02:19
Speaker
i don't and I don't know. it's is his eyes, the way his face is and stuff. like He has emotive eyes, for sure. like he has like the Yeah, I understand. yeah he's He's really good. and it I'm going to be honest. It doesn't show in Star Wars movies, just so you know. Yeah.
00:02:41
Speaker
Because he's just standing there is Lars. Owen Lars. And he's just like, whatever. But anyway. in In actual things where he's a main character, he is so good.
00:02:57
Speaker
Do you get that feeling? is... he is He has to get an officer in his lifetime. I feel He is criminally underrated. I think he ah i predict that in the next 10 years, he's going to have a breakout role that's going to make him like a household name. like I think he just needs then the right movie or a better agent. like his his act he He is phenomenal.
00:03:25
Speaker
ah Agreed. And this this movie was the... I know this was a good shot at it, but it the backdrop of it, the... I want to say lack of advertising. I didn't really see anything on it.
00:03:42
Speaker
Lack of... yeah Lack of attraction to what it's about. You know? like that it But when you watch it, this is one of those movies. like I would not have watched this if I wasn't going to do this podcast with you.
00:04:00
Speaker
But I watched it and I loved it. I had a great time watching it and seeing how it would end up. And it was emotional.
Emotional Depth and Quality of Train Dreams
00:04:12
Speaker
Because because you can't because you can't predict it. like i think Not to jump in on you, but it's like I feel like we watched so many pop culture films that it's like coming into these kinds of movies. And that's what I love about this. It's like, oh I have no idea.
00:04:26
Speaker
Like to this day, I'm still like, do I know what that was about? Am I taking away what is intended for me to take away? Yeah. yeah It makes me feel like an idiot if I missed it, which I probably did.
00:04:40
Speaker
on some of these. I'm sure I missed something. It's like, but you could still take something. It's not so heady. It's not like, it's not so like art film that you're like, yo, what, what was that? Like, no, it's like, no, I, I feel that I enjoyed myself and I felt things and I, and I'm taking some things away from it. I don't know if I got all of it, but I at least got enough to make me enjoy it.
00:05:01
Speaker
um This the funny thing about this movie was I actually watched this movie a week before we started this whole thing because Madison like was like, oh, hey, we download this train dreams movie. Somebody was talking about it, yada, yada, yada. And I was like, what the fuck is this? i don't want to watch this fucking stupid shit. Like, God, that's fair like an fair. I got I got a watch list of a billion things that I never take advantage of and watch. Why would I put this at the top of list? But we watched and I enjoyed it. The next thing you know I looked at the best picture things. It's like, oh, shit, I was one of them. Nice. nailed it. That was really good. Yes.
00:05:38
Speaker
Moving right along. Um, I, it's weird for me. So like my quick, my quick kind of thought on it was like, it's star Wars alum in a story about loss and finding meeting, um, which is super vague. Yes. But hope, but hopefully the star Wars alum part gets people like, oh I like star Wars. I like those actors. It's like, well, buckle up buddy. Cause this is not star Wars. Um, yeah.
00:06:04
Speaker
but it it's It is a move an emotional movie. it's That's what going to say. Exactly.
Character Focus and Themes
00:06:11
Speaker
it's it it's a it's a big It's a big character arc over of one character, which is Joel Edgerton's character. and Him starting out young, getting old, meeting lady, encountering conflict.
00:06:32
Speaker
And loss and sadness and then coming out of that and then ending the way it ended.
00:06:40
Speaker
Which I thought was a great ending. And it's not fantastical. It's it's about a normal a normal kind of situation, a normal kind of person. It's not... i don't know. A typical movie character you'd follow and be like, the world the the world is your oyster. It's like...
00:07:00
Speaker
The world is not at that time. um it kind it It feels like it it it feeds to the everyday man and how they deal with tragedy and how they come out of it.
00:07:13
Speaker
Moving on after tragedy. And just and just put in one like putting one foot in front of the other and like finding meaning in ah in a life... especially at those, at those days before wasn't modern time. And it's like, you know, you still had to like survive and, and work was different and skills were different. And like, I know for me personally, like I, Madison, I have like a, like a sentimental value kind of feeling towards it because that's what made us watch. It was all the, like the logging and the, uh, the, the, the,
00:07:51
Speaker
like the, the wood cutting aspects of it with the, with the trail work and stuff that we do. And then just like, and, but then it's like, Oh my God, this is actually like a really, really good and really deep movie. And like, and then William H Macy comes flying out of nowhere. And he's probably, he's my favorite character in the whole movie. It's an amazing movie, but like he brings a levity to it that I just wasn't prepared for.
00:08:14
Speaker
like that's another That's another speech monologue that I'd love to have memorized. One where he's like, I worked outside of Bisbee, Arizona, where where we was only 11, 12 miles from the sun, 116 degrees on the thermometer, and every degree was a foot long, and that was in the shade, and there weren't no shade. like I want to memorize that whole monologue, because it's so ridiculous and so hilarious, as he's like...
00:08:40
Speaker
Complaining about all these young bloggers not working because it's raining. And he's just like, back in my day! and it's just it's so funny. And and it so and it was it was it was like a half glimpse of what um Joel's color character would end up being.
00:08:59
Speaker
you know Yeah, he was looking his future. ne It's like, oh gosh. It was very sad. I mean, we can... Spoiler alert. Can we go spoilers? being dollars It was very sad when he got Widowmakered.
Film Technique and Style
00:09:14
Speaker
that was That was him, right? Yeah. yeah yeah yeah the bridge is a fair which is Which is a very real and surprisingly common thing. like That's sad.
00:09:26
Speaker
yeah i mean, it that but this movie is very emotional and sad. like Spoilers, heavy spoilers, uh... Like, that wildfire was nuts. Like, I did not, when it happened... thought of you. I thought of you, because you guys deal with this, like, pretty much personally over there.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, like, this was yeah this was back in the day of, like, they didn't have anything to stop it, so you just got the hell out, and it's like, I just kept expecting it's to turn out differently, of like, oh, no, it didn't it didn't turn out differently. It was...
00:10:02
Speaker
Yeah, like, oh, he's going to come across her in town somewhere or some other town or something. Yeah, she's like, oh, I got it. I got out. I got out. And, you know, our kid got out. And it's like, no, that is there isn't. And I'm glad they didn't show it or confirm it or do anything like that. I think that's the best.
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's. um It's just heart wrenching and not like. Like that lack of closure there is good because it makes you feel that tension.
00:10:31
Speaker
But it's also not... I don't need to see it. I don't need that my life. It's good writing, I think. Yeah, you're right. It keeps the tension going for the latter part of the movie.
00:10:43
Speaker
Where you're like, well, maybe, but no. And then you're like, then you when you say maybe, then no, then you really feel sad for him. and the way yeah and then Then he's dealing with life after, finding a way to make money. He's like being an Uber driver on a wagon with horses instead.
00:11:02
Speaker
But um that's how I equated it. Try to find a living inside a logging because it's not really needed and he's getting old and he can't do it. um Then he finds a lady.
00:11:14
Speaker
Then it becomes more capitalist too with the chainsaws and stuff and like and it's just not how he used to do it and just like really kind of getting left behind. That was crazy too. And it kept pulling back.
00:11:25
Speaker
ah Yeah, he meets the lady, and that just ends up being more of him developing his character and realizing how he is in life. you know like Because cause she she's the one that lets him express his emotion. I've never told anyone this before, but yeah, i lost my wife and kid in a forest fire.
00:11:52
Speaker
and And then you really feel like you got to watch this movie. Like, I don't, I don't know. I fucking fully recommend this movie just to see Joel Eccleton's acting. Cause he's so good.
00:12:04
Speaker
He's so good. It's heavy. It's heavy. It's good. And it's good. It's there's like, there's some of these movies that are just like, Oh, I get it. i get it. i get when people like talk about, like, I just, I just, I i watched wonder man, the Marvel show.
00:12:22
Speaker
recently and it's kind of like heavy on the the acting and ah some some conversations in there talking about like um you know the art of acting and then watching some of these movies it's like oh I get it like when I watch some of these are like Star Wars it's like yeah they're Star Wars characters yada yada yada but like they are not yeah no they're they're putting their all into it but it's not this is like a different level it's like no this is like this Because it's happened.
00:12:50
Speaker
yeah it's It's something that's real. like's Like star Wars, you're like, oh, I'm a Jedi. How do I connect with this character? You know what mean? And then this one's like, I'm a guy that fucking lived in some in a time period that happened.
00:13:06
Speaker
In a place that happened. in a job that happened, in disasters that happened, and it you can tell. like it it's He takes the character to that level, and it's so good. This is one of those movies about what they're not saying more than what it is what they're saying.
00:13:27
Speaker
um But the micro-expressions and just the the nuances of all that. it's It's a really, really good movie. It's so good. Surprisingly.
00:13:39
Speaker
yeah Yeah. It's not a get the family around the the TV for Friday night movie night. no like oh No. No, no, no. this is like It could be a date movie. It could be a with your significant other on a couch.
00:13:55
Speaker
It's not an escape. it's not It's not an escapism movie. It's a like, I'm ready. like i'm I'm buckled in for this and I'm going to pay attention. I'm not going to be on my phone. Like...
00:14:07
Speaker
like i'm I'm here to take it in.
Conclusion and Recommendations
00:14:09
Speaker
um my my My doors are open. like yeah Let's consume. and and it's And then it ends. Can we go to the ending now? because that yeah yeah yeah I think it was pretty significant because it's how do you end a movie happy with what has happened to this character that you followed on this long arc with?
00:14:32
Speaker
And it ends with him finding, like, him moving forward in time, experiencing the technologies of the era. I think it was, like, the 50s, or I don't even know now.
00:14:45
Speaker
Oh, no, 60s, 60s. Because he died in, like, the late 60s, I think they said, be like, um around when the moon landing was and shit. But um he gets on an airplane, dude. He gets on an airplane,
00:15:00
Speaker
And he flies up and just looking out at the world underneath him in an airplane. He's like in this biplane. I don't know. What do you call that? Like a and like a like a Wright Brothers airplane. it's like a little ah little air A small airplane.
00:15:21
Speaker
One that would make you nervous about getting on it. Yeah, it just ah it it just felt like it all culminated into this one... Big like recollection for him up in the air there.
00:15:33
Speaker
A reflection of his whole life. And he just smiles. And he's that like, okay. We're good. Because he sees where he's been, where he's gone. Everything all underneath. It's about the journey. It's about the journey that he went on. like Not everything was great. And there was some pretty bad shit in there.
00:15:54
Speaker
But you know, overall...
00:15:58
Speaker
Look at that's more acting too. Like he, he did that. sam A life well lived, you know?
00:16:07
Speaker
Yep. A very realistic take, I think on grief and loss and meaning and just.
00:16:18
Speaker
Oh, realistic. Look at like putting one foot in front of the other and like, it's not just like, well, today I'm just going to be a happy person. Yeah. Like, it's fucking brutal. It's brutal. it's it's It's not a movie for someone looking for, like, a plot that's like, I'm going to save this person or get that thing or, you know, like an in-your-face plot.
00:16:41
Speaker
This is a yeah his biography of, ah I think it's a fictional character in a real time. it's it's a It's more of a story than plot. like there's There's not a lot of hard facts. It's a lot of feelings. yeah i saw I saw somebody's subtitle. cause I don't really like to look at the reviews and stuff before I do the use before i do this. or like I don't want to be like tainted by people. But I did see somebody on Blue Sky called it ah Manchester by the Tree. don't know if you've ever saw Manchester by the Sea. But like they're calling it Manchester by the Tree. And it's like, yep, that's about right. It's that same kind of like...
00:17:19
Speaker
life meaning kind of kind of sad kind of happy like and and these kind of movies can go happy like yeah like we've had these movies before and they've been happy and fun i feel like amelie kind of feels like this but in a happier sense this is more of a i could be so wrong with that don't think about it i think i it's all about your perspective anyway all about your perspective point of view. But this is more on the ah not like a darker side, but ends it ends pretty well.
00:17:54
Speaker
But it's still like you feel sad for this man. like it's yeah ah Life is hard. Life is fucking brutal, dude.
00:18:05
Speaker
Brutal.
00:18:09
Speaker
Scores and recommendations. Let's do it. you want fucking an emotional movie, watch this movie. Like, if you want...
00:18:20
Speaker
you want to feel something. if you want If you want to feel something and it's a good movie, this is it. Like, if you want to know what it's like, Login Wood in the early nineteen hundreds in western, in the panhandle of Oklahoma, that's Oklahoma, right?
00:18:37
Speaker
Yeah. He was up on the west coast, up in like Oregon, Washington area, I think, for some of it, too. Like doing logging up in that area. But I think he. Yeah. i don't know i It's not sad for the sake of being sad. It serves a purpose. yeah It does. Yeah.
00:18:58
Speaker
I give it. again I give it.
00:19:04
Speaker
I want to give it a nine. I really liked it. And ah part of it might have been because I didn't know anything about it. And I went in being blown like blown away with the emotions.
00:19:18
Speaker
That surprises me because I thought that like... Not that not it's nothing against you or like what I thought you would think of it. But it's like it just surprised me. It's it that's genuinely surprising like how different people take different movies. Because like I thought my like like sentiment around like like logging and stuff like that would have been like, oh, I'm going to have a way a higher score than that because of like, oh, it's like logging. And that's like that's going at least four points. um But it's just interesting. You found a nice like that's really cool. Like that speaks a lot to the movie. Like I did not think you would give it a nine.
00:19:49
Speaker
That's cool. I think he deserves... like This was his... It was his shot at an Oscar, I think. like It's a good shot, but... Not sure it'll make it, but it's definitely a so a good stepping stone for the future for him.
00:20:12
Speaker
Because he is fucking amazing. he needs He needs... This should hopefully get him... a serious role and something that people will watch like blockbuster. Like he, I think it's, it's time. He, he has the chops. He needs put his, he's put the work in. yeah Agreed.
00:20:34
Speaker
I gave it, I gave it an eight. And my recommendation, my recommendation was, Maybe if yeah it's not for everybody, but if you've listened to this and you're like, that's for me, I i want that.
00:20:48
Speaker
Then absolutely. But that's not your vibe. I think there's, there's other ones I'd rather have you jumping on, but it's definitely, it's in the maybe category for me.
00:21:01
Speaker
Yeah. It's, it's, it's a mood. if you're in the right mood for something emotional, definitely watch it. Cause it'll check all the boxes. Yep.
00:21:12
Speaker
You will feel something.