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138. There is Dinosaurs Now
20 Plays13 days ago
Simon & Adrian review director Steven Spielberg’s alien conspiracy film, Disclosure Day; and director Kane Parson’s horror film Backrooms. Plus, the two pals discuss Pig director Michael Sarnoski’s upcoming Death Stranding film adaptation; while also discussing the recent opening of a Paramount video game studio. Additionally, they speculate on the upcoming 2026 films that are likely to cross the $1 billion mark at the box office, they banter about the onslaught of video games recently announced, and Adrian pays tribute to his wonderful cat, Pesci.
This episode was recorded in Canada on June 12th 2026. Episodes air every two weeks on Tuesdays! Catch us on June 30th for Episode 139.
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Transcript
Film Reviews: Disclosure Day and Backrooms
00:00:00
Speaker
this episode, we review director Steven Spielberg's alien conspiracy film Disclosure Day and director Kane Parsons' horror film Backrooms. We predict the film's likely to join the Super Mario Galaxy movie in crossing the $1 billion dollars mark at the box office for the remainder of 2026. And we get excited for Death of Robin Hood director Michael Cernoski's Death Stranding movie With new episodes airing every two weeks on Tuesdays, this is Split Focus, a film and TV podcast. I'm Simon Eadie. And I'm Adrian Pinter. Welcome to episode 138. Welcome episode 138.
00:00:40
Speaker
no
00:01:03
Speaker
Adrian
Gaming Announcements and Trailer Analysis
00:01:04
Speaker
Pinter. It's been a week. It's been a week of of some serious game announcements. And I'm just curious, from all the announcements from Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and various other things, Summer are Games Fest, what do you think is your most anticipated game in the next little bit? I know we're a film and TV podcast, but let's just i'll start a little thought thought exercise. Oh, dude.
00:01:24
Speaker
I feel like you already know what it is. I think you already know. It's Final Fantasy VII Revelation, my friend. Very good. Very good. Of course. Very close second. Persona 6, baby. You know me. You know my JRPG love. trailer sucked.
00:01:38
Speaker
How dare you? It's a teaser. Okay. We got Persona 5. I hate teasers. I don't think games should have teasers. I really don't think that. They yeah they didn't didn't even start that game. That's ridiculous. I hate when... Oh, they did. Like the the teenage newton newton did did Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trailer? What a bad... the right Whatever, the the last Ronin or whatever? Oh, yeah.
00:01:58
Speaker
That was bad teaser. That was bad. i was like, what is this? A frigging screenshot? Why did you do this? It's interesting. Yeah, it's interesting because that game was announced a while ago by a different studio in a different team. And then that was like canceled after I think the studio got shut down and now it's being read like that.
00:02:14
Speaker
That specific story is being remade by Platinum Games. It was fairly hit or miss, but they have made my beloved near Automata. So yeah. I'm quite intrigued about that. But yeah, that's not much for me. I'm okay with persona six being a teaser because I know it's coming up relatively soon. It's been quite a while since persona five. We're getting persona four revival early next year. don't know that.
00:02:37
Speaker
But I do know it. I do know it. um You don't. Don't you dare. I do literally know it. I know it, dude. They talk to me on behind the scenes. Oh, OK. And um yeah, it's it's coming up soon. It's coming up fast.
00:02:51
Speaker
But again, they they even said that they're not going to talk about Persona 6 much until after Persona 4 revival comes out, which again is early February. So I'm very excited about that as well. My friend. Well, exciting stuff. So um a lot to look forward to. What about you, man? What were your most hyped announcements? What were the things that where you were like, wow,
00:03:11
Speaker
That were announced at this gaming, whatever, Summer of Gaming Festival, whatever they're calling it. Yeah, one of the five conferences that happened. Yeah. I think my most anticipated, believe it or not. Actually, can you guess it? Can you guess it?
00:03:24
Speaker
See if you can guess it. o Is it Control Resonant? No. Okay. You get one more guess. I get one more guess? Yeah. it is You know, with just for the hell of it. Why not? Um...
00:03:39
Speaker
are you frozen? Kingdom Hearts 4. Oh, okay.
00:03:43
Speaker
I thought lost you. You haven't played a third one. Kingdom Hearts 4, imagine. What a ridiculous, another ridiculous trailer. Some of these trailers, I'm just like, what are you doing here? why What are you doing?
00:03:54
Speaker
You know, I just don't understand what what's your what's your great trailer. But it was a great trailer. They showed a bunch of new characters that you would only know about if you've played the mobile game that was only released in Japan. Yeah. um So that was pretty. the Kingdom Hearts mobile game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What a ridiculous series in that regard. But no, no but no, no, no. The problem with that trailer is there's no date.
00:04:17
Speaker
Like it's going to come to this Nintendo. It's like we know you didn't need to do this. You didn't need this. Thank you so much. Come on, Square Enix. Get it together. Nintendo Switch at launch.
00:04:28
Speaker
It was funny because there was some news outlets reporting. They're like, oh, this store is is showing that Kingdom Hearts 4 is coming out in 2027. I'm like, no, it's not. That store doesn't know shit. Yeah, they don't know anything. like that's They're just putting a date. They're just like, yeah, probably.
00:04:42
Speaker
You've got grasp at straws when you're in these organizations. You know, you need the clicks. You need the clicks. You need to click your article. But no, um my most anticipated game, believe it or not, Adrian... I feel like I should have tried to guess for you. Damn. That ah that was a missed opportunity. i might have I mean, you would have guessed it.
00:04:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Would you not have guessed Final Fantasy? I might have guessed the Persona, actually, even though that trailer I think was bad. Because it showed nothing. um But my most anticipated game is Fable, Adrian. That friggin' thing looks fantastic. Kaylee Atwell's in it for some reason now.
00:05:14
Speaker
It's just ah it's ahs that trailer was just actually excellent, like the trailer itself. But then 30 minutes of gameplay came out right after it. They showed more gameplay and it looks really, really cool. The life sim aspect of fable.
00:05:27
Speaker
ah Fables like a big RPG and like a kind of storybook and a fantasy RPG. role-playing game it's it's pretty cool but the the old fable games had that idea of the life sim you can like you know own property and then rent it
Exclusive Releases and Platform Competition
00:05:40
Speaker
out to random npcs but they're like have they have a thousand voiced npcs like non-player but playable characters in this game and it's just it looks crazy like you can romance any of them you can get on their bad side there's a reputation system with all of them i feel like role-playing games now in at least the western ones uh in 2026 and you know took the 2020s there's just not enough of them that uh
00:06:00
Speaker
Go for the reputation system. I just feel like this is a a lost, a little bit a lost art. I don't love morality system like Red Dead Redemption 2. I'm not a big fan of like the linear morality. I'm not a huge fan of that. But Kingdom Home Deliverance 2 does an okay job of of having like this, like you have reputation in each of these cities and how they how they react to you is based on the reputation you have. I feel like that's a good, that is a good thing to have.
00:06:23
Speaker
It's missing, though, in a lot of RPGs nowadays. I'm I'm happy they're doing this in such a deep way because like you can be rich and that somebody will hate you because you're rich and then you can be rich and someone will love you because you're rich in each of the individual towns, like each of the of the a thousand NPCs. Anyway, that's my most anticipated. Other than that is Dawn of Bloodwalker. But I feel like nice.
00:06:44
Speaker
Sorry, blood of Dawnwalker. God damn it. That name is interchangeable for me. Yeah. ah But yeah, that's it. That's it for me. That looks good. Yeah. i'm Yeah. Fable looks really good. it It is a little annoying that it's coming out right next to Persona 4 just because I'm going to prioritize Persona. I'll probably still buy Fable just to send the message because all of a sudden in Xbox is like we're we're not releasing our some of our games on PlayStation. And right it's such inconsistent messaging. They're like, we're we're we plan to release multiplayer games on both consoles.
00:07:19
Speaker
And then anything that's been announced will be on PlayStation. But then they proceeded to announce like three additional games that are also single player for PlayStation. Right. um State of the K3 is the most prominent one for me.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah. Which I'm excited about. But then they also announced Senua. um which was not weird but at least they have a history of having senua's sacrifice yeah and senua's the senua saga they released gears ultimate edition as well on like last year on playstation and now they're like here's a war reload we're not doing the yeah not all yes uh oh yeah whatever because they have the same fucking thing Same thing. And then, yeah, and apparently that that switch up for Gears not coming to PlayStation was done like very last minute, like Walmart released their PlayStation SKU on their website.
00:08:06
Speaker
um Things were like discussed very, very quickly. Like there is a near completed version of the PlayStation five like Gears of War. Reportedly. um Reportedly, but I'm i'm quite confident in that it is the case. The weirdest thing with that for E-Day is that they had at the on the official X. Did you see this official Xbox podcast? They showed the trailer and at the end of the trailer, it said it's coming to PS5. Come on, guys. You couldn't check that?
00:08:33
Speaker
Like how last minute was this decision? And then somebody, what's his name? I can't remember. was one of the big Xbox executives. No, no, no. The big Xbox executives.
00:08:44
Speaker
He came out and said, oh, this is Matt Booty. No, no, not those guys. There's the other guy. um Aaron Greenberg. Aaron Greenberg. Yeah, Aaron. Yeah, he he had mentioned that he's like, oh, ah this wasn't last minute at all.
00:08:57
Speaker
And like Tom Warren at The Verge was like, no, this was clearly last minute. Like, look at the trail. It's right there. You just posted it on your freaking own podcast. It's not like it's a non-official podcast. It's an official. exp Anyway.
00:09:09
Speaker
Because they had never announced E-Day was coming to PlayStation initially. They had the leeway to not do it, which is fair. But State of Decay has never been on PlayStation. That's why I'm shocked by State of Decay more than anything else. It's a co-op game, not really a live service game. So, like, it's not a multiplayer. Like, you require the players to, like, massive numbers of players to get in the server and play. It's not, that's not how that works. Anyway.
00:09:31
Speaker
So anyway, it's ah it's a bit of a shocking one. Oh, I may know. I'm sorry. My second pick. I'm really excited for blood of Don Walker, but my second baby was actually not that it's got whirl out a low fake. I think that looks awesome. I think it looks I love the wonder style of Santa Monica Studios and how they do this.
00:09:46
Speaker
They never cut away. They just kind of do this like full one shot type of situation with like the entire game from action sequence to cut scene, et cetera, which is very rare. There's not very many games that do that. Like Dead Space does that, I think, and God of War and God of War. God of War Ragnarok. Anyway, I'm very excited for that. And it looks really imaginative and interesting.
00:10:07
Speaker
takes place in the afterlife with God of War. God of War. and K. Kratos' wife, Faye. But anyway.
In-depth Review: Disclosure Day
00:10:14
Speaker
Yes, let's move on now, Adrian. Speaking of oners, the thing we just watched recently in getting into what we've been watching, we just saw Disclosure Day in theaters yesterday. We saw at the Ultra AVX theater, like the kind of the premium format ah in Guelph.
00:10:32
Speaker
And yeah, Disclosure Day Steven Spielberg, director of Steven Spielberg's newest film. it It stars Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor. And it is basically about a disclosure of, of, of aliens on earth type situation as shown in the trailer. And they, there's a lot of cool stuff in the trailer and there's not, I feel like the neat thing about the trailer is that it doesn't give away the third act, which is what Steven Spielberg said. And I really appreciate that. Really cool.
00:11:00
Speaker
ah But the reason why I segued with a one or is that there's a really, really cool one or in the, like the beginning of this movie. And I feel like the way this movie is shot in particular is like, it's just the Steven Spielberg, like classic magic. Like he's just got this magic of the way he frames shots. It's all seems almost too simple, but it's not simple. Like there's so many complex, complex things in the background. It's, it's like, he just does it with such ease that it it seems like he's, he's such a pro. It's crazy. He's so unique in the way he shoots every movie he makes. It's, it's amazing. It's really good.
00:11:35
Speaker
But, Yeah, and and like partnered with like John Williams' score, there's something nostalgic about this movie. Yeah, sure. I can't put my finger on it. like You're watching it, and you're like, this seems like a classic, weirdly enough, even though it's a modern-day movie. like and I don't know. It it like tingled something in my brain that, I don't know, it just made me feel really – really good.
00:11:57
Speaker
And again, it just like reminded me of my youth watching like some of his older movies and stuff like that. there' There's a weirdness to it. And yeah, yeah again, I I'm a big fan of this movie. I think, I think you are as well.
00:12:10
Speaker
Um, based on that initial sentence there. Yeah, I'm a huge fan. I feel like it's it' was funny. We left the theater and you're like, this is the best movie I saw this week. like Yeah, I mean, I don't know what that necessarily says, but there was a movie we saw in theaters this week as well. that We can talk about it. I wasn't sure that necessarily you wouldn't like that movie better.
00:12:31
Speaker
um And we'll talk about that in a second. But I definitely think this is one, this may, might be my favorite movie of the year. There are problems with it from like some, so i but their problems are in such a minimal way that it just doesn't matter. Like, I don't want to spoil anything, so i'm not going to talk about them, but there's like something I find a little bit hokey, but I, I i get why they went this direction and I i appreciate it.
00:12:56
Speaker
um But I just think that, The acting from Emily Blunt is freaking incredible. Oh my goodness. There's one scene like it's on like this train car. And I was like, this is like a really like, I'm like, is she going to win the Oscar for this movie? Maybe.
00:13:09
Speaker
Because she's like doing so much in this movie constantly. It's so many different things. And she just seems so natural doing it. Like she's got a British accent. then She's speaking an American one for the for the movie. But then she's speaking in multiple languages at times. It's like, what is going on here?
00:13:25
Speaker
Um, I, it's, it's crazy. And some of the moments like on an emotional level, I cried quite a few times in this film, like at various points and like, it got me, ah caught me off card. I was also a little bit overtired to be fair. I woke up at like four zero in the morning to like help host the golf tournament. Like I wasn't at the golf tournament. I was like doing like volunteer work at this charity golf tournament.
00:13:45
Speaker
And so I was like up really early in the morning. And then we saw this at seven at nine and the movie's not exactly short. It's like two and a half hours long. So I was a little bit exhausted by the end of it, but I, there was a lot of moments that got me on an emotional level. Like,
00:13:57
Speaker
It's just, it's a very human movie. It's also very hopeful. Like, I feel like that's the word I would use to describe is like, there's a lot of like hope in it. Like it's a kind of a theme that runs through it. Um, there's like, a yeah, I don't, I I'll throw it to you cause I've talked enough, but I, I like the overall, how it pulls like there's action. There's, there's, there's a lot of everything in this movie.
00:14:18
Speaker
And I would agree that it's very nostalgic, but would like your overall thoughts, I guess you've, you've given, but like, if you want to go into any detail about the things you like. Yeah, no, again, I truly, really, really like this movie. um Maybe even loved this movie. And yeah, there is like this level of hopefulness sprinkled throughout it. it's It's, you know, talking about faith, not only in religion, but in the human race in a lot of ways. Yeah, it's like.
00:14:44
Speaker
and and really just kind of, you know, making you as the viewer, as well as again, the the cast of the movie, like question, like how far are we willing to go and like, what is going to be the, the impact of, or the implications of, of getting this job done? i guess ah it's, it's tough to kind of talk about this in in detail without, you know, sharing, them ah you know, key plot points. But yeah, again, there, there is like this level of,
00:15:11
Speaker
Like, can you trust the human race with information? And it's like, at least right now, you know, we've been kind of proven. It's like in a lot of ways you can't, you know, there's so many bad actors out there. Not like literal bad actors in this film. I i mean, like bad actors in general, just just clarify. And a lot of good actors in this movie. Coleman Domingo also stand out for me.
00:15:34
Speaker
Very good. Yeah, i'm I'm a big. Yeah, I really like Coleman Domingo, man. He's awesome. And again, I'm a I'm becoming a very big Josh O'Connor fan as well. I've only seen him in three things, but all three things I've seen him in. I've been I've i've loved um Challengers. I think he's amazing in Wake Up, Dead Man. He's the star of the show. And then again, in this movie, he's amazing. But as you mentioned before, Emily Blunt is remarkable in this movie. And I was like sitting there and i left and I was talking to my wife because she she came with the with us along with your wife who didn't like the movie, which interested me. um my My wife was – she was like – she liked it. She was like, you know, she was warm on it, I would say. um
00:16:18
Speaker
But I was like, man, Emily Blunt is kind of one of those chameleon actors as well. Like – she just kind of falls into this role. I mean, I just recently saw her in, um, devil wears product, both one and two. And then i was like thinking about other roles and I'm like happy or sorry, um, lived, I repeat edge of tomorrow, whatever that movie's called now.
00:16:38
Speaker
Um, and you know, a bunch of other films that I've seen her. in And I feel like she just does such a good job, uh, quiet place being these like different characters and just embodiment of them. So, well Pardon me?
00:16:50
Speaker
Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer as well. And like, she's one of those, again, chameleon actors. And then my wife kind of brought up, yeah like, ah because there was the Odyssey trailer and like, um Robert Pattinson in that. And she's like, yeah, i feel like, you know, Robert Pattinson's kind of, you chameleon actor. I'm like, definitely. Like, definitely so it's just like,
00:17:09
Speaker
I just think she was so good in this. And you mentioned, you know, there there's this scene on, on the train where I'm like, yeah, man, if she's going to win an Oscar, I feel like now's, I don't know if she's ever won an Oscar before. um now that I know say that out loud, um,
00:17:24
Speaker
Actor award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. Let's see. She hasn't won. no no, she's just been nominated. Um, but I feel like this is kind of the opportunity for her. I think she was, yeah, genuinely remarkable in the way this story kind of plays out. It had me at the edge of my seat. I think the opening of this movie as well, just throws you right in, just like knocks you in the face. No, it's crazy. It's crazy it's a crazy beginning to a movie. I loved it a lot. Like I thought it was like, I was like, whoa,
00:17:53
Speaker
Getting us right in there. And I feel like this movie doesn't skip a beat. Like I was not bored. And I think I mentioned after we left the movie, I was like, I could have sat in that theater for like another hour and he could have kept on telling me things in this universe. And I would have just been like, I'm down, man. I'll eat anything that you you know give me right now.
00:18:11
Speaker
um Eve Hewson, she plays ah one of the the the characters as well. um Josh O'Connor's like, I guess like. partner, love interest. I've never seen her in anything before. I'm not sure if you have, but I think she did really good. Colin Firth is also a delight. um I just think yeah nobody really missed in this movie. Wyatt Russell, pretty entertaining.
00:18:34
Speaker
Was he in the trailers? Because I don't remember him in the trailers. don't think he's in the trailers. I saw him in an interview. They were doing like like when he was he's like on the circuit for the tour for the film. but I knew he was in it from that. i like i don't think I've seen him in the trailers. When I saw him in the interviews, I'm like, oh, Wyatt Russell's in this. That's cool.
00:18:50
Speaker
Good for him. Understood, yeah. So, yeah, really loved it. I just think as a whole, again, it's tough to talk about because I think the trailers did ah like a lot of good stuff, not revealing too much. I didn't watch the third trailer, which they released just before this movie. So I don't know what's in there. Maybe they revealed more.
00:19:07
Speaker
But. um So he does a lot of interesting stuff. And again, I just I did not. I did not know where it was going. there was ah There's an element of the set pieces are interesting too. like They use like a lot of little tricks. they just like There's like is this one trick in like this like with this fire truck is at one point in this like house that I thought was really cool. and like they're like The way that they do some of the some of the action sequences were really neat as well. like the There's some car chases you can see in the trailer as well. but there's like it it They do
00:19:39
Speaker
They do a lot of neat things and they don't hold on the... um I don't want to say gimmick, but they they don't hold on the these ideas too long like to to try to like just keep repeating them. They like change up like the m MO of how some of this almost magical stuff happens. Because you can see in the trailer like there's some weird stuff going on with this... like um whatever whatever Whatever these aliens, I guess, are. and so like the question like There's there are some neat things where they he does some...
00:20:08
Speaker
i don't i again I can't explain that too much too, but there's like there's there's an element. stuff there's that You can see in like the trailer where where Colin Firth is, so they can give a hint to you and give a hint to the audience, I guess. that Colin Firth, he's got the thing in his mouth and he's got the thing that the thing strapped he strapped to a chair.
00:20:25
Speaker
He's doing that. yeah That trick is neat because they I don't feel like they overuse that, but they use it just enough. like he It seems like a so fine-tuned. Everything in about this movie, it seems effortless. but Spielberg to have spber seem to put all of it together in a very, very competent way and like a very deep way. and it's And there's a lot, again, there's I just want to point out again, the emotionality of it, the the overall, like, i I just feel like that aspect is saying very human and very hopeful movie is kind of the the last, I guess, my my lasting impression of it.
00:20:58
Speaker
um But the more I think about it, the more I seem to ten like, I don't know. I don't know. it's just It's cool in this day and age too. It's kind of a bleak time right now. And so it's interesting. Even in this film, some of the politics in the movie seem kind of bleak.
00:21:12
Speaker
And it's cool to see... like You mentioned it earlier, but bringing up this idea of like what would have happened if everyone knew that there was potential aliens? like the Again, in the theme of the movie being called Disclosure Day, like what if we knew for sure, like we had evidence, would this... What kind of...
00:21:30
Speaker
how would humans react um to it is is a big theme in the movie too. And yeah, i don't know. i approaches it in a very interesting way. I, I, I like it a lot. It's such a fun, like fun movie to watch too. It's not too, too heavy, but it's also, yeah,
00:21:46
Speaker
it's it's ah It's an action movie. And i don't know. It's funny at times as well. There's not that many funny moments. But it's it's cool because it's almost it's told very earnestly as well. like it's not It takes itself seriously, but it's not hokey. or my It's funny because when you look at Hideo Kojima production, he like he does everything seemingly earnestly. But it' it's almost at times you're like, this is really hokey.
00:22:09
Speaker
um But if you take it if you completely take it seriously and do it with a straight face, it it seems to work. Even in this movie, like there's some things that are kind of hokey, but it doesn't really matter because you're you're taking it seriously. You're doing it earnestly. With the music for John Williams in the background, it all seems to to just mesh together and work well. Anyway, I really like it.
00:22:29
Speaker
it's It's my favorite movie of the year, I believe. Yeah. And interesting. Yeah, it's not my favorite movie, but it's up there. I don't think it's like without its faults. I think there are um like a few moments throughout the movie. Again, we can't really talk about it specifically, spoileries, but there are almost like plot conveniency moments in a couple moments, like a couple parts of the movie where it's like, oh, you could have just done this or that. You know, they set up specific tools that they could have used in a specific situation that they don't bring back. But again, like since it is just a absolute like.
00:23:03
Speaker
You know it's just like an absolute romp to watch with like amazing
Horror Review: Backrooms and Its Universe
00:23:08
Speaker
actors and you just believe it all. So i don't know. yeah I can kind of look past a couple of the flaws there. um I mean, it's it's.
00:23:20
Speaker
exponentially better than ready player one is all i'm going to say yeah okay yeah all right cool all right let's get into the other thing we watched then shall we cool let's go into back rooms which we also saw in theaters but earlier this week I'll let you go take it away first because I talked a lot in the beginning of the disclosure day discussion Yeah, no worries. um Yeah, we watched backrooms in theaters. This is the Kane Parsons directed a twenty four movie based on his um YouTube series of the same name. um
00:23:54
Speaker
His YouTube channel is called Kane Pixels. It's I think there's 24 or so like videos mainline and. a couple of hidden videos and everything. And I went into this movie fairly excited. I watched the back rooms like YouTube stuff. And it is cool that, I mean, everyone keeps on talking about Like Kane Parsons, the youngest director um of a feature horror movie. It's doing incredibly well and all that. And it is purely, and it is truly impressive.
00:24:19
Speaker
um But I think this movie's ah pretty darn good. I, It's interesting. So I went in with expectations in both the backrooms and, or sorry, backrooms. It's not the backrooms in both ah backrooms and disclosure day, but very different types of expectations. Disclosure day. I went in with high expectations because it's Steven Spielberg and the trail looked fantastic. And my expectation, my expectations were met backrooms. I went into with expectations of how the story might play out based on the YouTube stuff.
00:24:51
Speaker
And, I guess it's a fault of me that it left me slightly disappointed specifically with how kind of the third act plays out a little bit. It gets a little bit wacky and over explaining in some ways. And I never picked up on that stuff in the, in the YouTube, um you know, series that he has released and again i think that's more of a fault of me as opposed to a fault of the movie itself because you should be able to go into this movie and get a full understanding of what's happening kind of um and in and full enjoyment without going back into the youtube series the nice part about it though is that there are a lot of like cool little references to the youtube series and um you know there's like uh uh
00:25:32
Speaker
a lot of lore from the YouTube series that they bring forward. And ultimately I find that this movie is technically a sequel to all of those other videos, um, which is, which is pretty cool. But at the same time,
00:25:45
Speaker
um as I mentioned, like it made me have specific expectations that I just don't think were met fully. And I'm curious if if you agree where I found that the the third act of this movie, although interesting, kind of fell apart a bit for for me. um This movie is a test of patience in a lot of ways. I think, you know, and and it's really good at building tensions for the first two thirds of this movie. And it's slow, it's plotting, it feels deliberate.
00:26:16
Speaker
um And I really liked that. I like that feeling. But the issue I had is that the payoff for all that patience was not necessarily met. It was frightening, but not like terrifying as i as i wanted it to be. And the YouTube series, again, isn't necessarily like terrifying. It's again, like it's unsettling in a lot of ways.
00:26:39
Speaker
And I guess the movie nails that vibe. But I just feel like there was a little bit left to be desired ultimately. um I still really enjoyed it. I still think, I think all the performances in this movie were really, really great. I think Chiwetel Ejiofor is remarkable.
00:26:57
Speaker
ah Renee, I don't know. Renata. That's her last name. Renata. Renata. Yeah. Okay. Renata. She's a French woman if i if I recall correctly. I haven't seen her in anything.
00:27:09
Speaker
Riena Zvi. Oh, sorry. No, she's Norwegian. My apologies. um I think she's remarkable in this movie. um And it does like a lot of really cool things. And it it I almost want to say it sets up a universe that could continue, but it doesn't necessarily set up a universe. It just continues a universe. And I think you could add on to this as well and create sequels of the back rooms and, um you know, get more out of this. I just. Well, I think for most people it would be the continuation, but but sorry, it'd be a starting point. I should say not continue. it yeah Yeah, definitely.
00:27:43
Speaker
and But yeah. But again, I'm curious about your perspective because you didn't watch the YouTube stuff. You didn't watch the found footage information or like found footage videos. um I assume you don't really know much about the back rooms.
00:27:58
Speaker
No. ah I think this is a pretty good movie. I agree, though, the third act. There's something ah wrong with it. I don't know. it's like there's a there's a i don't know it feel like It felt like as well like there's like a there's like almost like a tiny... There's a time issue. I'm not sure where the time went in some spots, which is okay, because it's a very crazy...
00:28:21
Speaker
events are happening. I just don't love the ending, like the very ending especially. But I also think Chiwetel Ejioforu is like, his acting is amazing throughout the film, no matter what he's asked to do, which is good. i just also wonder, his character development is odd to me. I'm like, how did we get from here to here?
00:28:38
Speaker
It was kind of my question because it doesn't, I didn't quite get the answer of how he got there. I didn't really understand that. It seems like a dramatic turn, but I don't know. It's just something he was a little Yeah, it's,
00:28:52
Speaker
I think i get where you're coming from, but I do feel like they did a decent job planting the seeds with the initial light. They did, but yeah, I liked him though. I thought he was endearing.
00:29:04
Speaker
Like to start the movie, like right at the beginning, i'm like, oh yeah, I like this guy. This guy, he's got problems. Clearly he's got issues. Okay, cool. But that's, but you're like, okay, but he's also a relatable person in in many ways. And then ah at a certain point he becomes less relatable.
00:29:20
Speaker
I'm like, okay. I'm not sure if I... i don't hate that. i just It's a bit confusing because there's so much other wacky stuff going on that I'm questioning like how much of this is influenced by the actual nature of this place versus who he is. like I don't really get that. And i I kind of need to see more now, especially based on how it ended.
00:29:39
Speaker
The ending was super unsatisfying from many angles because I was like, well, okay. yeah yeah This is just... like I understand what's going on. Even in the last shot, I'm like, that's a puzzling choice because what you just told us like seconds ago. i'm like, what why would you... I understand why you did that because you want to create even more mystery, perhaps, in the way that you end it.
00:29:58
Speaker
But I wasn't a big fan of that. What I will say, though, on a on a perspective of like positives, I think that the way the movie is shot, and the way the the set designs in particular... are really, really cool. like There's a lot of work work and put into that specifically, and I think that that's excellent. like All of the weird shit that's in this giant liminal space, like it's crazy huge, and there's a labyrinth, and there's a lot of cool stuff. like The door work, even, like the the multiple doorknobs are like a tiny door type situation. There's like many different weird things. like What's going on here? Nothing is quite right. I thought that that was really cool overall. that There's a
00:30:35
Speaker
there's a lot of work in the set design and even the visual effects to get that to work. And that you can see where the budget went. I feel like that's just the majority of where it went. Is it just getting it to look as as cool as it does? Cause it's really interesting.
00:30:48
Speaker
It's very creepy and neat, but yeah, I just, I just, the the it just felt a little incomplete. Actually there's like the way it's shot in general, forgetting the set design is really interesting too. There's almost like, i feel like,
00:31:02
Speaker
it feels like sometimes the way it's shot is almost like breaking bad. There's like, there's, did the, I don't know what it is. It's like inspired by that. And so I know that's a very strange thing. Like a better call. solve but breaking bad like those guys working on those shows, like this, the, like the DP, like the um principal photography photography on that. There's said some elements of it. I'm like, this is cool. The way it's, it's done.
00:31:24
Speaker
um The other thing that was neat uh but like i i i can completely see it now i saw an interview with kane parsons where he was talking about how he took inspiration from portal and i completely understand where that came from now the trailer didn't tell me that really but in this i'm really intrigued by this idea i love portal as a video game i think that game from valve is amazing it's like it's like a I don't know. I don't think about it very often because they don't remaster that game. They don't bring it to any other new platforms. I don't know why. Portal 2 is the game that I played specifically, but there's ah there's this mysterious aspect of it, the mysterious organization aspect of it, and these weird empty spaces. It's a very strange, like, how does this place go on forever type of idea in Portal? Like, what is going on here? Like, it just seems to, these testing rooms just seem to go on forever. Portal, of course, is this puzzle game where you basically make one Portal
00:32:19
Speaker
And then you make another and you it's a physics based like puzzle game where you you would enter through the portal and they up appear on the other side. But they're basically locking you into various rooms or you have to use objects to get from one place to another to be able to traverse to get to the end of the level. And these levels just keep getting bigger and more complex as they go. But there's this weird shadowy organization like in the background and there's like this AI elements that that are talking to you and they're there they seem nefarious in some way, but they're like, you're a Jake Simmons is actually in this. He's what he voices a character in it as well, which is kind of cool.
00:32:51
Speaker
Um, but it's awesome. port Portal two is amazing. And I completely see where he drew inspiration for that. The quietness of portal two. There's like, there's an element of like, she would all ask you for like traveling through this weird space. And he's does this strange cutout of a person speaking a foreign language.
00:33:11
Speaker
Um, Anyway, it's good. I like the movie a lot. i just think the ending is weird, and I think that they... And they kind of forget about character a little bit too much from my taste in, in, in the, in the case of, uh, of a G. W. Dole, a G. F. But also, also Renata runs way in some way, cause she's not really followed necessarily as the the core. She's a main character, but she's like, I don't know. it's It's a strange way it's done. It almost feels like it's like barbarian in the way that the, the, the plot is kind of structured. was going to make you're a reference to a barbarian.
00:33:43
Speaker
I felt like that was more competent though. like The way it's done is like on a character development, a plot, like the character aspect of it, I felt more competent in that way. But maybe that's a testament to this kid being 20.
00:33:55
Speaker
So maybe the next movie he makes is going to be, because this is very impressive in general, but it's even more impressive when you look at the fact that he's 20. But I think a barbarian is kind of, it the structure is kind of similar in some way. the The time jumping aspect of it in the weird, like weirdness of it. um But I love the concept of it. I love the concept. I'm never going to go back and watch the YouTube series. And the more you say 24 episodes, I'm like, no. But I do think like there I love this. Some are like some episodes are like two minutes long and then there are some that are a little bit longer. Like I think the longest one's like 40 some odd minutes. And like if you go back and watch any of them at the very least, like it's worth watching the found footage ones. There's three of them and it's very akin to some of the scenes in the movie where they're walking around with the with found footage. Yeah, there's quarter.
00:34:45
Speaker
yeah Just the beginning of the movie. The movie starts like that. I'm like, did I not remember the trailer? Is the whole movie going to be like this? Is it the first thought I had? And I'm like, no, no, it's not. I remember that there was other other types of types of shooting. But yeah, I love that too. The found footage works like works within the film really well. And they they they use it in a clever way.
00:35:05
Speaker
I think that was the other thing that was cool. That they use that like in a very clever way of when they actually do the found footage aspects and when they stop doing that. uh it's cool too yeah do you think this is going to get a sequel i mean it's doing incredibly well at the box office like do you think it it
Emotional Impact and Media as Therapy
00:35:22
Speaker
requires a sequel requires one well nothing requires one well i guess something does if you just leave it completely over and ended with the intention of making a sequel you need it for the lord of the rings and right i guess but i mean
00:35:35
Speaker
ah I think it kind of, he's going to do it, right? So he's doing it. They they think they greenlit that already. i don't know if that was in the montage. It might be in the montage and then you can comment on it again. Oh, it is. yeah ah Sorry.
00:35:51
Speaker
so Anyway, i yeah I kind of feel like it does. What do you think it does? I think so. i think that it, it's interesting. They answer a lot of mystery. Like, it how how can I word this? Like, it reminds me a lot of like lost in a weird way where it answers some mysteries, but it, it makes way more like it gives way more questions than answers. And the, the things that they do answer, I almost wish they didn't. And I wish they answered other things about it. It's, it's weird. And I think that's kind of what left me a little bit dissatisfied with the conclusion where I was like,
00:36:25
Speaker
I kind of didn't want to know this stuff. I wanted to know the other stuff and you're kind of keeping that vague. um Yeah. So I'm curious on that line. I wanted to know about the characters and not about the mystery.
00:36:40
Speaker
If that makes sense. Like I wanted to get, because I didn't think we would get the answer to the mystery anyway. So just based on the the way that these horror movies go and the mystery films. So like, That's what I wanted. I wanted to know, like, I wanted to get to know more of Chewethle Edgiford's character. And I wanted to get like that perspective.
00:36:57
Speaker
that That's personally what I wanted. And the rest of it, you kind of left vague as opposed to explaining, over explaining. But now that you've explained some of it, now I would like a sequel. and And that might have been what you were trying to get at.
00:37:09
Speaker
But also Mark Duplass, I think, is like completely underutilized. So like no you introduced this person and like, he's clearly in the movie. He's been on the tour for the film. Like, yeah, I don't think he's in the trailer much. I'm not sure. But regardless of that, like, I feel like you now have to do something with this. Cause like there's, you definitely asked more questions at the end. You're right. That's a throw a problem with the third act is that they start asking questions, repeated questions. Like, no, don't ask me to ask these questions now. It's the movie's over. You know what I mean? That's that's kind of what the vibe I got. So that's kind of why they need a sequel for that. Yeah, they do reference again like that. You do get some of the questions that they ask from the YouTube stuff. But again, I just feel like it's like even me knowing that that that information, it still left me wholly unsatisfied in a lot of ways. And it's just I'm curious because you can a couple of different directions. You could do a prequel.
00:38:05
Speaker
to this movie. And, you know, maybe you you focus on, you know, Mark Duplass's character a little bit more because it just seems like he should have been a more prominent role. You see him in a few scenes and it's like, okay, what, what does he mean? Like what, what's his purpose sort of the thing. i feel like you could go back and kind of reveal that information or you could just do, you know, kind of a direct continuation, but I don't really know.
00:38:31
Speaker
I don't know really know where you go with it. Like, is it going to be an anthology? Is it going to be like, again, a direct continuation with some, like some of the characters? Like it's yeah. It's good though. Like yeah it sounds like we're being very negative about it. Like I did really like this movie still. Like I enjoyed it. I just felt again, like a little bit dissatisfied with the conclusion.
00:38:51
Speaker
I try to be even, I think. like I mean, i I really like the way it's shot. I love the overall set design. I love the acting in it. And I love the first two acts a lot. And even the third one is good. I like it too. I just, I'm confused a little bit because it felt like there's there's stuff missing that I feel like we should have. And there's there's things they address that they shouldn't have. That's a good way that you described it there. I feel like that's the problem. It's like you you answered things that I did not expect you to answer and then you didn't answer things that I did. I was like, oh. Yeah. Why did you do that? Because it's like, I don't know. it's top You know what's interesting too?
00:39:24
Speaker
And it made me reflect because there's obviously this movie is huge. And and we talked about this last episode. Obviously, Obsession is huge, both by young directors who hadn't really directed a major feature before.
00:39:36
Speaker
And so they're they're like these big movies and they're huge. Sorry, tiny budgets, but huge box office successes. which is great. It's like they with the their profit margin is massive, massive which the studios who who back them must be thrilled about.
00:39:51
Speaker
But I find it's interesting when you look at them both, they're both horror films and one of them has an absolutely like rock solid ending. One of the best endings in a horror movie that I've seen and it's very satisfying. it's Satisfying is also torturous, but it's still really satisfying. Versus this, which I feel like back rooms is kind of I don't like you kind of didn't quite realize your vision by the end. And that's kind of disappointing is that it feels like it could have gone. It's funny because it's rated very highly.
00:40:22
Speaker
like The rating keep going up kept going up. Disclosure days dropped like a rock. It's at 84 now. It was 91 or something when I looked at it first. And Obsession still 90s. But I think Backrooms is still high 80s or like low 90s. So it's like on Rotten Tomatoes I'm talking about like in terms of reviews. 88 which is very high like I'm like, i don't know about that.
00:40:42
Speaker
It's strange because I always think about how Rotten Tomatoes is, again, it's a one or zero, like or dislike. And you you think that more people would be dissatisfied with this ending versus like disclosure day? and like What are you not like about disclosure day? Is it too happy for you? Not happy, but like hopeful? Are you like ah you a cynic? Are you very cynical person? like Why yeah why is this movie, the way it ends, like that's okay for you? But- maybe Maybe they're also cutting this person to break because it's not Steven Spielberg. It's a person who's directing the first feature. Is that maybe what's happening too? I always wonder what goes into these like scores to like these these likes or dislikes. You rated Disclosure Day less than a 60%. Like you you think it's less than a, it's like a five out of 10. Really?
00:41:27
Speaker
seems bizarre to me. i don't Even like I think of about Interstellar, dude. I'm like thinking about this recently because I was thinking about the fives out of fives that I have on Letterboxd. I'm like, i if I remember correctly, Interstellar is like low. It was like a a low 80.
00:41:39
Speaker
And I looked at it and it's like a 74. I'm like, Interstellar is a 74 on Rotten Tomatoes? Like, what are you talking it's crazy, yeah. like You didn't like That movie I think, one one of the few perfect movies out there.
00:41:54
Speaker
But I think what it is is- love that There might be like a revisionist history situation with that film too, because maybe people watched it and didn't like because they didn't get it. And then over time, they- started to get it maybe. And that's why it's like the reviews were from then in 2014. And now everyone loves it because people watch it like massive. And i think it was Nolan, Christopher Nolan that was saying that it's one of the movies that he talks to people about the most. Like it comes out up like a lot, like in his conversations, he's made like, obviously he's got a huge filmography at this point, but they still like, they bring up interstellar. Like it's one of the movies that gets mentioned the most.
00:42:31
Speaker
But anyway, yeah, I think this back room's good. I hope for sequel to be potentially great and I hope to get answers and more character development in the third act. That's, that's what I'm going to go with. Yeah. more Yeah.
00:42:48
Speaker
Me too. Me too. It is interesting because again, you did compare to obsession as well, but like obsession feels complete and this does not. Yes. And I think that's kind of the key thing.
00:42:59
Speaker
Um, Yeah. But anyway, but they're very different yeah movies too. They can be incredibly different as well. Very fair to them. They're both horror, but like night and day difference in, in the genre. Um, which is interesting.
00:43:13
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Cool, man. All right. Let's move on to what we've both been watching individually. I'll throw it to you first. If you've been watching anything that you want to, you want to talk about?
00:43:25
Speaker
I have not, man. I'm not what watched much in the past couple of weeks. Just, um, Yeah, I'm not. Just been dealing with some stuff, unfortunately.
00:43:36
Speaker
And not been in a good headspace, man, and unfortunately. So I'm sorry. um Yeah, I guess I may as well. I mean, I talked to you a little bit about, you know, unfortunately, ah my my wife and I are a little kitty cat. Pesci passed away. Yeah.
00:43:54
Speaker
You know, he he was at the vet when we were recording last week. I feel like I wasn't fully on last week as well. And um unfortunately, he passed away shortly thereafter. And don't know. It's been tough, man. It's like um and losing a pet is one thing. You know, it's it's awful. Like it sucks. You know, like it just breaks you. But it's like.
00:44:15
Speaker
he was, uh, like I worded it in a way like to my wife, like I feel like he was such an like integral part of our relationship. Like he came into our lives shortly after her and I started dating and he, he was like ours together. And you know, we bought our house here and like, he came with us, you know, my wife, my, my wife, my name is Pesci's place. You know, it still is.
00:44:37
Speaker
So like, it's, uh, we've been really heartbroken about it. Um, And like, we we really miss them and everything like that. And it's, yeah, it's been tough to like really consume like other media. So it wasn't like, we went, we had like a trip planned for our friend's birthday shortly thereafter. So we got out of the house for a few days and it was nice to kind of disconnect, but it like coming back home from that trip, it just like hit us like a ton of bricks again.
00:45:03
Speaker
And yeah yeah, it's been, it's been tough to come, you know, deal with it all in, in a way. And ah I know, know, it's, it is a pet, but like it, we, my wife and i we don't want to have kids. Like it's not, not in the cards. And there was like this weirdly paternal, like maternal instinct to this little cat. Who's are just like, he was a little guy. Like he was everywhere in this house and we were spending time with them all the time. Like he was our little baby. um So,
00:45:28
Speaker
It's been rough and um really the the the media that I've been consuming the most is like ah Star Wars Outlaws, like the the video game I've talked about for the past couple weeks. and right I was talking about like how I really like this game, but like it's kind of shifted it a lot in my brain to like now i I love this game.
00:45:49
Speaker
There's you know, the main character. they're going to see the other way. I don't know. no, no man. Like i I truly love this game. and it's It's been almost therapeutic for me in a weird way because your main character is KVS and her. She has like a little buddy um with her name, Nick's like throughout the entire journey. And like, just like their relationship.
00:46:07
Speaker
And, know, there's a, there's a part in the game where she's talking about the little guy and she's like, like, he's not like a pet. He's like family. And it like really like kind of hit me emotionally. And yeah, it's just been, um, it's been kind of therapeutic, like playing through this game and like, just, yeah, I don't know, man. It's, it's been tough. All I want to say is like, yeah, so I've been in a really big, big slump, but, um,
00:46:31
Speaker
you know, like hoping to come out the other side, obviously. um But yeah, yeah, I haven't really consumed as much, but I do want to say like, again, I've talked about it a few times. Like i I truly like Star Wars Outlaws, weirdly enough, I know it's a time and a place thing. I think the game's great, but like adding this like emotional connection to it now, like I feel like I'm going to think about this game for forever, arguably, and associated with this tragedy in my life, but also like view it as a positive that's been kind of helping me get through it, weirdly enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:47:01
Speaker
yeah They did a really good job with that relationship as well. Like I find, and this is something that the game is criticized for, but I actually like, love these scenes because they put a lot of things like into like, you can pet Nix and there's like various things that you use Nix for like a lot of like different activities. Like they didn't just have them as an afterthought, but they also,
00:47:20
Speaker
have these scenes, which again, what people criticize the thing i was just mentioning is these cooking, the, the eating, eating at these like little bar scenes in each of the individual planets. So you go to Kijimi or you go to Tatooine and you eat something, but people don't like these mini games. They thought it was like crappy. I'm like, what is there to be crappy? They're so cute. And like, there's this like a yeah character bonding experience between these two characters. Yeah.
00:47:42
Speaker
in these moments, which I thought was really like fantastic. Cause it, it makes you feel like, again, there's more of a connection between Nick's and K because of those moments. I'm like, every time I had to do those, I was like, I'm in, like, I, I like these lot. can skip them. Like, don't do them. Don't go do them. Like I get, that was a big complaint when the game launched. It's like, this is stupid.
00:48:01
Speaker
Like, okay, cool. Yeah. But it's cool. Cause like next next doesn't talk like, Oh, he's like, he's like a cat essentially. yeah So he is like that. So I completely see the connection there too. Yeah.
00:48:14
Speaker
It's crazy. Like pets are like, especially a dog and a cat, like those two things, those two types of animals, maybe a horse, you're like a farmer or something, or like, yeah, you know, you got to a ranch, but like, I feel like there's such a, like,
00:48:28
Speaker
i they don't live long. It's, it's so tragic. Like they're, they're, you're basically getting one is like, again, just setting up the the worst day of your life essentially. Yeah. Which is a sentiment that many people have said over the years. Like yeah it's just, i don't know.
00:48:45
Speaker
I think about about it all the time with my dog and cat. Like they're, yeah I feel for you man like it it sucks like I can't I can't I can't imagine I can't imagine because I i i don't i have a lot of anxiety and I think about these things all the time like I think about what what it will be like i'm like it's gonna be really bad I'm just I'm scared very scared yeah um As my dog and cat are older, like they're like getting up there in age, like 12 plus years. Right. So it's like, man, like, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry for you. It really is unfortunate.
00:49:19
Speaker
and But yeah. Yeah. I appreciate that, man. it It's been tough. And yeah, like it was, it was very sudden and everything. So like, there was no, no mental preparation and just kind of like it, it, it happened. Um, so I think that's kind of like, yeah it does something has especially are because of that. And yeah, yeah like, ah again, I don't wish that on ah on anyone's worst enemy, uh, or on my worst enemy. Like, know they're so special. There's like this unconditional love that, you know, they have for you and that you have for them.
00:49:48
Speaker
and yeah, that it's, um, yeah, man, I, I hope your, your pets live forever. thank I hope they live forever. I i wish I could do that. like There's also the element of like your cat was also like there. there's There are some cats that are very not present. and like Families will have a cat and they don't actually hang out really with the cat. because the cat will Especially if it's an outdoor cat, they'll go outside.
00:50:15
Speaker
And they'll just like not come back for a time. There was like there was a cat across the street from my child at home. It was like a, was like a family that lived across street and we would go to their house and we never see the cat. Like I was so weird. I'm like, how? Like your house isn't that big. Like how, where's the cat? That wasn't an outdoor cat. It was an indoor cat. We never saw it.
00:50:31
Speaker
I'm like, that's so weird. Like how does that happen? A dog is different. Like you have to pamper a dog like a lot, but a cat typically like they can be a kind of a lone creature in some way. And they're kind of can be assholes in some ways. Yeah. They also can be very, very loving and affectionate. So it's like, yeah, it's super unfortunate.
00:50:49
Speaker
But anyway. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I guess I'll talk about what I've been watching now. Yeah. Yeah. What have you watched, man? but Let's see. What have I watched? What did I write down here? I've been watching Still for All Mankind, of course, because that's what I've been watching constantly. And I'm going to be watching that forever because ah i'm i'm on season two of six, I guess, we' or five.
00:51:13
Speaker
um And then we'll have to watch star city, like the Russia, the Russian perspective, like the Soviet's perspective on the same storyline, which is cool too. So that's exciting. But I also been watching spider noir. I have a couple corrections. I said that the spider noir,
00:51:30
Speaker
I said that they filmed it in black and white and they filmed it in color and they filmed it with different lighting. I think I specified that. That's not true. They filmed it with both in mind and then they did color grading right after they shot it to make it work with with the actual thing to make sure that the color would work.
00:51:44
Speaker
Because when you film in black and white, usually like you change the color tone. If things don't look like they would in normal life, typically you're filming, because you want to have like these high different contrast situations, especially when where light hits things.
00:51:57
Speaker
So they i thought I thought that that's what they were saying, but they were saying they shot both ways. They shot this once, but with both ways in mind so that they can make sure they can nail it both ways.
00:52:08
Speaker
Which is pretty cool. Spider-Noir is really good. I'm halfway through. i really, really like it. it's I've kind of the same thoughts as I had last episode. Nicolas Cage is killing it. I just think that it's really, really fun and really a different kind of take on a superhero show.
00:52:23
Speaker
And I really do enjoy it. I think it's it's really crazy that they made this happen, that they were like, yeah, we're going to make a... a black and white Spider-Man show with Nicholas Cage. That's like a film noir detective mystery.
00:52:39
Speaker
That's not really doing that much. It's not like an action heavy show. It's not like, it's not like wonder man where that's not action at all. That, that, that show is still remarkable that that it was ever like in some way greenlit. Cause that, that is a remarkable TV show. That's, it's not even a superhero show. Really. It's really good.
00:52:57
Speaker
Um, Actually the closest thing to wonder man, I think I might've made this connection is probably watchmen. I feel like maybe not the same in a lot of ways. Like there's a lot of different elements of watchmen that are just not in wonder man at all, but there's like a, it's like a superhero show, but it's really not what it's about at all kind of situation. Like the watchman. Oh, sorry. Watchmen on HBO.
00:53:17
Speaker
I should be specific. Not watchmen the comic. Um, or the Or the movie by Zack Snyder. But the Watchmen, which is the sequel to the Watchmen comic on HBO by Damon Lindelof and team.
00:53:32
Speaker
but But yeah, no I really Spider-Man War. It's great. I i recommend it to many. Not to you, though. Because recommended something to already. I also watched ah the end of Daredevil Born Again. And what a season finale.
00:53:46
Speaker
Oh, my goodness. it is. That's a really good show. It's crazy how they improved. And this is one of those things I've been thinking about a lot lately as things get canceled. For instance, I think I just watched something with Jason Schreier. He's got a YouTube channel now. i don't know if you saw that he's really putting time into.
00:54:04
Speaker
Jason Schreier, the reporter at Bloomberg, but many like a ah very prolific game reporter. He was talking about how there was like – I can't remember how he was talking about it. I think he was talking about it being things are expensive and therefore people aren't willing to take as many swings in some context.
00:54:22
Speaker
But he was saying that Star Wars Outlaws didn't do well, so therefore they don't get to do see and and another another version of the game. But he liked the game, but he thinks that because they what they did was really good, they could iterate on that and a sequel is often a really good...
00:54:39
Speaker
spot to improve on all of these different elements to make the game better. Think about Assassin's Creed even for Ubisoft or what, well, Watch Dogs is a bad example because I think the first game is better, but Typically, you have a lot you add in the sequel that you didn't necessarily have. Uncharted is a great example. Uncharted 1 is great. Uncharted 2, excellent. Even The Last of Us in some way, although The Last of Us is a masterpiece on its own for the first game, the second game is an improvement, especially in the gameplay elements. Maybe not the plot for many people, but the gameplay elements, certainly.
00:55:06
Speaker
ah That's 100% true. ah But yeah, like that's a thing that they didn't get to do. But I also think about the Acolyte. The Acolyte is a great example of this, whereas that first season is really good.
00:55:16
Speaker
But it would have been really great to see the second season. like When you get to the end of it you're like, oh, I can see where they're going with this. I think they're going to hit their stride. And there's a lot of shows like Parks and Recreation or The Office that have this similar problem where the first season, not necessarily as good.
00:55:31
Speaker
Daredevil Born Again, season one, is good. I really like it. But it's not the same creative team exactly as the Daredevil show on Netflix. So when you get the Daredevil Born Again, they're kind of getting their sea legs again. There's also been many years before that, like after that Netflix show had aired.
00:55:48
Speaker
So they're trying to get everything to work and they're trying to make it work more so in cohesion with the MCU, the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe. And then season two, they're like, oh yeah, we know what we're doing. And you can tell that they know what they're doing. It's so good. It's crazy. That that last last episode...
00:56:04
Speaker
It's just so good. The whole season is incredible. It's just really, really cool. ah And I'm really excited to see what they do with the next season. Like it's interesting based on where it ended. Like you would have think you would think that maybe they could just take a break and not maybe do a season three for a while or something like that. Like a lot of shows do, but they're working on it now. They're filming it right now.
00:56:24
Speaker
So it's like, okay, it's I don't know. It's really cool. I really like it. So that's kind of about what I've watched. this little bit don't know if you have anything to say about the article again but we talked about that at length before so yeah yeah yeah cool man all right should we dude should we where's my article here where's my my worksheet my my worksheet my what am i trying to say my sheet of work Alright, let's move on now, Adrian.
Film and Game Adaptations: Challenges and Predictions
00:56:55
Speaker
On to the montage. A sequence of our show in which I briefly present at least seven of the bi-week smaller news stories as Adrian delivers a brisk verdict. Number one, a Minecraft movie sequel called a Minecraft movie squared has begun production with Minecraft stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa returning alongside Minecraft director Jared Hess.
00:57:18
Speaker
What We Do in the Shadows actor Matt Berry has also joined the cast. Cool. Wow. I don't care. But cool Yeah, that's fair. Number two, as Deadline reports, Woman of the Hour director Anna Kendrick's next film will be an adaptation of the Taylor Jenkins Reid novel The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo for Netflix, which follows an aging Hollywood starlet telling shocking stories of her life to our reporter. Interesting. I still got to watch Woman of the Hour. That movie looked very interesting. So that's pretty good.
00:57:49
Speaker
Number three, according to publication deadline, director Kane Parsons horror film Backrooms has been greenlit for a sequel after its $118 million dollars opening weekend. What? i had no idea that this was coming. Yeah, now you know.
00:58:05
Speaker
Number four. As Deadline reports, Charlie's Angels director Mick G is directing a spy comedy film with Highlander actor Henry Cavill and Jumanji actor Kevin Hart set to star. Nice. They should do Man From Uncle 2 and then just have Kevin Hart replace Armie Hammer's role and not even acknowledge it.
00:58:25
Speaker
Okay. Okay. They should do that. All right. Number five. According to Deadline, a TV series adaptation of director James Mangold's 1997 film Copland has been picked up by Paramount with the old man showrunner Robert Levine set to showrun the new series. Cool, I know nothing about either of those projects, so... Number six, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, production has begun on how to rob a bank director David Leitch's next film, which is called Jason Statham stole my bike.
00:58:58
Speaker
The film is set to hit theaters on August 6th, 2027, and will feature none other than actor from the working man, Jason Statham. That's cool.
00:59:09
Speaker
Is this going to be like um that Nicolas Cage style movie where where he plays himself? The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. That one. I wonder if it's going to be kind of akin to that. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. yes Yeah, I don't know. We'll see. Number seven, as announced by Lionsgate Television, The Boys producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are rebooting the 1980s CBC TV series The Littlest Hobo for Canadian streamer Crave.
00:59:37
Speaker
The series follows a stray dog that helps people on the road. That's nice. It's wholesome, I think. Interesting. Yeah. Number eight. According to publication deadline, Aquaman actor Jason Momoa has dropped out of director Justin Lin's film adaptation of the campy video game franchise Helldivers.
00:59:57
Speaker
Actors Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, and Jemaine Clement remain attached to the project. I got a scoop here, Simon. It's because Jason Momoa and Jack Black are fighting on the set of Minecraft and they didn't want to do another movie together. Yeah, sure.
01:00:12
Speaker
but Yeah. Jack Black, notoriously not a loved individual. Yeah. You know, they hate him. Everyone hates him. Everyone hates him. He's not full of energy and people don't, they don't connect with Jack Black. Yeah. That's what they say.
01:00:26
Speaker
Number nine, a sequel to film 21 and 22 Jump Street entitled 24 Jump Street. entitled twenty four jo street has been officially announced with 22 Jump Street actors Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Ice Cube set to reprise their roles. Wonderful. I love those first two movies. And I think them doing a 24 Jump Street's funny because they tried to get 23 Jump Street off the ground and it didn't happen. So I think this is kind of like a meta joke.
01:00:52
Speaker
where 23 jump street just didn't happen so they're like okay cool let's do 24 jump street think this is funny yes yes and that concludes the montage wow wow wow yeah yeah incredible incredible yeah yeah okay well Now, Adrian, let's dive into a trilogy of topical tidings, a component of our show where we discussed at least three film and TV industry news stories that have been somewhat zeitgeisty over the past two weeks.
01:01:23
Speaker
This first one is about, ah is kind of related to an interview that IGN had with ah the Death of Robin Hood director Michael Cernoski and Pig Pig director Michael Cernoski. They were talking about- And Quiet Place Day One director Michael Cernoski.
01:01:40
Speaker
There you go. Yeah, that's a good choice because that's that's one that everyone's kind of seen. Death of Robin Hood hasn't even come out yet. so And I don't think people saw a Pig as much as they probably should have based on how well it was reviewed. I always intended to and I just didn't.
01:01:54
Speaker
Yet. One day I will. But anyway, they were talking about the Death Stranding movie adaptation because he's is he's directing that movie. Death Stranding, of course, being... i as I'll just explain it in a quick a quick but blurb I wrote here.
01:02:09
Speaker
Death Stranding is a video game on PlayStation 5, PS4, PS5, and is basically about a post-apocalyptic Earth where the lines between the planes of life and death become muddled. That's the basic setting.
01:02:23
Speaker
ah Dangerous ghostly creatures called beach things haunt every surface of the planet, which results in human beings living somewhat isolated from each other underground, while porters travel the surface transporting goods from isolated city to isolated city.
01:02:35
Speaker
the The game star Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead And what they discussed was that during this interview about the Death Stranding game is that they he's basically done like a kind of a core draft of the the script. And Hideo Kojima approves of it, which is awesome. So that was the main idea behind it.
01:02:53
Speaker
The thing that I found interesting, and I don't think we knew this before, but they didn't really make this the headline. is that the film will not follow the plot or core characters of the games, but instead it will take place in the world of Death Stranding while featuring some of the game's characters from time to time. Well, I don't think we knew that. We knew that the animated show was not going to be based on the plot of the games.
01:03:14
Speaker
But the fact that he's doing his own plot in the side the universe, he was excited to tell a story inside the universe, kind of like the Resident Evil movie, actually, by Zack Kregor. So that's like, actually, i' am like kind of like few when I think about this because Death Stranding's plot line- There's just too much to pack into one film. It's more, i feel like it would have been better to make it a TV show. And even that would might may have been a struggle.
01:03:37
Speaker
To so hear a different voice do a story inside the universe is a much better option because you don't even have to worry about making it like the campy nature or like the, there's like an element of it being again, kind of hokey in this.
01:03:50
Speaker
The earnest hokeyness of Kojima's style doesn't even have to be captured. You could just use the really cool science fiction setting and tell a different story and then maybe carry over a character like,
01:04:00
Speaker
maybe leah say is i do shows up as as fragile and and she's just in it for some reason or like you're still gonna have some of the hokey nature of it because you you have characters named like die hardman but i feel like you can be more flexible which i think is is helpful uh because you're not hideo kojima and it's it's tough to be hideo kojima imagine um like to pretend to be hideo kojima to try to build something on your own But yeah, what do you think about this overall thing? this is any Anything?
01:04:28
Speaker
I hear you nodding. and see you nodding. Yeah, no, i'm I'm very happy about this because yeah, we 100% did not know about this. If they mentioned it in the past, we missed it entirely. So bre i'm I'm very happy that this is going to be set in the world and you know do its own thing because as you mentioned, the games are quite dense in a lot of ways. So consolidating even just the first game into a two hour long film would be damn near impossible to make it cohesive and
01:05:03
Speaker
good ah yeah for lack of a better term And I think one thing that you could do, i mean, maybe it will still be in America, but um I think this gives us the opportunity to look at other places throughout the world as well, which would be really neat. And, you know, I mean, maybe it's going to be set in the UK or we're going to touch on Canada or random things like that. And I feel like that adds an interesting element to, again, build on this world.
01:05:33
Speaker
I do disagree with you, though, in in the fact of like that he doesn't have to make it as hokey and everything like maybe not as hokey, but i I feel you need to keep that sort of campy nature to it because the tone, not only the world, but the tone of that world and the characters and how zany they are in a lot of ways. um I think it it kind of defines what Death Stranding is.
01:05:57
Speaker
um Like if we had like a just a typical, you know like post apocalyptic movie set in the Death Stranding universe, I feel like it would be far less interesting than like kind of going to that next level of, you know, the ah weirdness and wackiness. And again, like I would hope you have some weird ass characters named, you Die Hardman or whatever else, whatever else they can freaking think of.
01:06:23
Speaker
but That's kind of what I'm saying. Like, but he can, you're going to have those characters, right? It's just that you're not going to go to the extremes because you're not Hiyokojima. So you can't nail that tone necessarily. feel like that's kind of what I meant. Like, I'm not saying i just, if you're trying to nail that tone and also do the full like game, how would you do? i don't even know how you would even, i don't know how you would attempt it.
01:06:45
Speaker
It's just so much story to try to nail. And then you got to nail that tone as well. It's like, you can kind of go with your own tone. The reason why I also think this too, is there's that mosquito. They showed that mosquito trailer, right?
01:06:56
Speaker
The, the death stranding mosquito. The animated one, right? which is Right. But that tone, it seems very serious. Like in comparison in a weird way, like there's not well, there's nothing. We didn't get enough information. Maybe we don't know. It was just a an action fight scene kind of. Yeah. So maybe i it's just like that. There's nothing like that in Death Stranding too. Like that fight scenes like he, they don't fight like that quite like that in Death Stranding, the game. So it's like, there was an element of like, cause I'm pretty so sure you were kind of disagreeing with me, but I'm pretty sure that is Sam Porter bridges.
01:07:25
Speaker
Like I, I'm pretty sure that's him. Like still believe this like sincerely. i don't know why you don't think that there's only one guy that looks like that in the universe. And that is what he looks like. Yeah.
01:07:37
Speaker
I don't know. That was the weird thing. You didn't think it was him. I'm like, all right, sure. I i don't know. I could be wrong. we'll We'll only know when it comes out or there's a new trailer. We'll find out in year.
01:07:47
Speaker
Yeah. Whatever it happens. But I just find that was interesting because there's not like, I think you could do your own thing in the animated thing too. Like you can kind of, because it's not going to be Kojima again. He's not going to do it. I'm curious. Maybe I, but Michael Sarnowski has kind of made fairly serious things. Like look at death of Robin hood.
01:08:04
Speaker
That looks very serious. Yeah. Like there's the, there's the, the camping, I guess that's the magic of Death Stranding. It is very serious. It's taken all in earnestly and it's not really a joke, but they, they act the names of their, our joke. And like the certain things that they say are joke.
01:08:19
Speaker
Like I am fragile, but I'm not that fragile is, is awesome. but it's kind of silly you know yeah there's a lot of that uh going around but it's excellent man now that was my favorite game of last year i i keep going back to thinking like what was my favorite game of last year i was i was thinking with that recently was like is it kingdom home deliverance it's not it's still a death stranding two on the beach i i think that that's the case but yeah yeah it's either that or clear obscure for me it's like kind of a toss-up between those two know what would be funny if if American director Michael Cernoski took the series that took place in Mexico, United States, and and Australia and decided to set the Death Stranding movie in Japan.
01:09:07
Speaker
That'd be cool. He's like, you know what? I'm going there. That'd be awesome. Kojima, the Japanese game director, is is taking everything. to He usually set a lot in the United States. It's like a common thing. I feel like he does.
01:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, US and then like I think Metal Gear Solid. Russia 2 or something. The reason Russia. Yeah. That's the only Metal Gear Solid I played and it was the remake. so Yeah. Well, I played the fifth one. I think we both played the fifth one. Didn't we play like the multiplayer randomly? Because it was like we bought it at Best Buy. because it was like I definitely played it. We didn't play the min multiplayer together.
01:09:41
Speaker
i didn't play the multiplayer. um But I played it. I wish I played more of it. I just I don't know what it was. I think it's because I started playing it when. No, no. I played that at. played that closer to launch yeah i don't know why i didn't continue i don't know i just didn't get it i also felt like i felt like a poser i was jumping into this series i hadn't played any of the other games there's some really cool ideas in there though he always has really cool ideas he just reinvents things or not even reinvents he he invents things that no one's ever done like in video games yeah It's but funny. People will talk about him like he's overrated, but I'm like, i is he though?
01:10:14
Speaker
He is a little bit full of himself perhaps, but he is, he is incredible voice in the video game industry, making AAA games that are taking huge swings constantly. And like as much as Death Stranding 2, is a sequel, but Death Stranding 1 is a huge swing.
01:10:29
Speaker
It's huge. Yeah. Anyway. So he's impressive, dude. But yeah,
Industry Insights: Gaming Studios and Challenges
01:10:35
Speaker
I'm excited for this. anyway Next story here. Adrian, next, ah next of the trilogy of topical tidings.
01:10:41
Speaker
As Deadline reports, Paramount has reestablished a new game studio headed up by Epic Games executive Tony Driscoll. This is happening at a time when Paramount is in the process of merging with Warner Brothers.
01:10:52
Speaker
who has a video game division that has been struggling recently. Ramping up their efforts in games is said to be a priority over at power Paramount going forward. This isn't exactly related to film and TV, but it is in some way, ah certainly, because it's their IP that I imagine they're going to try to leverage for this.
01:11:10
Speaker
And it's very puzzling that they're doing this because they're buying studios right now. So why would they do this? What's the point of this? And like, what IP do you think you're going to make in it into a video game? Like what film and TV IP is like Yellowstone. I was just going to say Yellowstone. Because they have to. Because it doesn't have enough adaptations and s spinoffs. they has to They have to do it again. Yeah, I don't know. Again, I still don't really know what Yellowstone's about. But it's like, like are they shooting people? Is there murder?
01:11:41
Speaker
I think so. It's a crime drama, I think. It depends on the Yellowstone, though. There's so many Yellowstone spinoffs that I think it's like, from my perspective, it's a modern-day Western.
01:11:53
Speaker
which in Justified, i love. I love Justified. like Legitimately, I think it's great. Timothy Oliphant, it's really good. Not recommending it to you, but other people... Yeah. Walton Goggins killed, kills it. timth The Timothy, it's a Timothy Shalma, Timothy, Timothy Shalma. What the hell?
01:12:09
Speaker
Timothy Oliphant versus Walton, Walton Goggins. It's a head to head. It's really, really entertaining. It's great. yeah But you know what they can do? Yeah.
01:12:19
Speaker
Mission impossible. That's what thinking. But it's like, what can you do though? Is it really, i don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Is it mission possible if it's not Ethan Hunt? Is that kind of what you're saying?
01:12:31
Speaker
Do you just do Ethan Hunt? You just do it. Troy Baker has to be. Yeah. Troy Baker. Yeah. Playing everyone. Yeah. yeah He just plays Tom Cruise. yeah I don't know.
01:12:43
Speaker
I don't know. That was the first one that came to my mind. It's funny that you said that. I thought about that when I wrote this like little blur. I'm like, Mission Impossible is the first thing, but i feel like I'm missing something, like other stuff like this crucial Top Gun. Well, they already announced, so like, because Paramount owns Skydance, right? And Skydance has been making that Marvel Rise of Hydra game with like Black Panther, Captain America set in like the 1940s. That's like headed by Amy Hennig, who yeah did Uncharted 1 through 3, most notably.
01:13:12
Speaker
Right, yeah, yeah. And then some of Uncharted 4 before it was canceled, or sorry, reworked. And she is now the studio head of like they, I guess, rebranded Skybound Games into Paramount Games or something like that. And she's now the like the creative head of that studio. Oh, OK.
01:13:31
Speaker
And apparently, again, they they so they're staying confident about that rise of Hydro game. But again, it's like. With her, she hasn't launched a game since 2013. Well, I saw 2011. 2011 was ah Uncharted 3, which is crazy. It's crazy. i know I don't think all of that was her fault because wasn't she doing Star Wars 1313?
01:13:50
Speaker
No. Was that her? She was doing a Star Wars game at EA with a Motive, if I recall, or one of those studios that got shut down, Pandemic. She was doing a Star Wars game, but we didn't get a title for that, right?
01:14:02
Speaker
Yeah. um And then she has writing credits on um Forspoken, which I could not get into, unfortunately. um And it's not necessarily a game that you really want to have writing credits on, because I think that was kind of the weakest part about the game by all accounts.
01:14:19
Speaker
um But again, this this Marvel Rise of Hydro game, we haven't really seen much of it. I hope it launches next year, but I think it was initially slated for like last year and it got delayed to this year, delayed to this year. And then now they said like no earlier than 2027. So I mean, it looks really high budget to their credit, like the like the way that the cut scenes look like the the the animation work is really good. And like the motion capture that's really good released. And they just released like a like a cut scene like they haven't shown any gameplay, have they? do it Am I misremembering? Didn't they show a brief moment of gameplay? Maybe I'm thinking of something else. Maybe.
01:14:56
Speaker
um But I mean, I'm excited for that. I'll play it. i just, she has, it does seem like she's been having a tough time. Like that, that's for sure. yeah Her project for the Star Wars was called Project Ragtag. It didn't have a ti title.
01:15:07
Speaker
1313 was way before that. 1313 was when like Sony, went sony when, ah when Disney bought Star Wars from Lucas. Yeah. That was when that happened. And like, that was disappointing because apparently that was pretty good. And it's a good idea. I feel like as well, potentially. Yeah.
01:15:23
Speaker
That was always kind of the feeling I got with like, that we didn't, I feel like it's more toned down. It's like not really like rated M, but Star Wars Outlaws is kind of this idea that I feel like it's kind of pulling from that idea of 1313. Because 1313 was supposed to be a bounty hunter underneath the bowels of Coruscant.
01:15:40
Speaker
But you couldn't go anywhere. It was like open world, I think, underneath Coruscant and there was like the grimy like underbelly that was the whole idea behind it is like a crime drama inside Star Wars that would have been really cool the reason why I connect Star Wars Outlaws is because most Star Wars games are typically Jedi like if you're if you're a person on the ground and not flying a ship so it's interesting like that it's a kind of a bold thing that's why I feel like don't know people didn't give it a chance for that reason and sexism but So those
Star Wars Franchise: Mixed Reception and Streaming Success
01:16:08
Speaker
two things kind of went hand in hand and then it didn't do well. But it's funny, like I wonder how many people will play it now that it's been free on like the PlayStation Plus subscription service. I wonder if it's going to be.
01:16:19
Speaker
I know. Honestly, i don't I don't even fully blame the game. I blame just Star Wars as an IP in general. I feel like post Rise of Skywalker, I mean, myself included, I think a lot of people were just kind of down on Star Wars in general. And then, you know, Andor came out and I was like, oh Andor's good. And you know, people were watching the Mandalorian, but even Mandalorian season three people didn't love. I just think Star Wars as a whole IP, there's still a lot of love for it, but I think the fandom is just so critical of everything Star Wars.
01:16:48
Speaker
um So I think that it's not just, I think there's a couple of factors that went against it and it also didn't launch like perfectly, um which is a little bit of a shame.
01:16:58
Speaker
So yeah, man, I, I, again, like I'm, I'm happy I'm playing it now. I'm very happy I'm playing it now. so I'm glad you pointed this out again because I completely forgot. Last last episode, I sent you these dot these these two screenshots of these like the data of like how Star Wars is one of the most literally the most streamed franchise based on the data we have who like last year. like It was the most streamed franchise of 2025. Of all the big franchises, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stranger Things, whatever it may be.
01:17:31
Speaker
Which is a crazy statistic. like how That's incredible. so That's 2025. People aren't down on it, but are they that down on it is kind of my my point I was trying to make.
01:17:42
Speaker
yeah The thing I didn't point out when I sent to you- And or was it last year, though, by the way. What? Andor was last year, right? So the thing I sent you in the graphic, if you looked at the graphic is Andor was at the top of that list. So Andor's the top. And then it's the, the, then the next most streamed thing was star Wars and you hope, I don't know how I sent you these graphics mentioned it on the podcast and then talk about it. I was, I completely forgot it to split my mind.
01:18:08
Speaker
I thought about it like a day later. I'm like, Oh, I never even mentioned the graphics. The third thing there is star Wars, the Phantom menace. i'm like, what? Hmm. It was just interesting because everyone was down on that prequel so trilog like trilogy pretty badly, especially the way it began. And then the fourth one is Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back.
01:18:27
Speaker
Then Revenge of the Sith fifth. Star Wars Attack of the Clones is somehow sixth. Then seven is a Star Wars Return of the Jedi. Then eight is Rogue One, A Star Wars Story. And then nine, Star Wars Tales of the Underworld. don't even know what that is. And then ten is Star think a kid's one.
01:18:44
Speaker
Okay. And then Star Wars, the Clone Wars. There was the other graphic. Where is that? Oh, they don't have that in this. I don't know. I sent it to you. But it was showing what the demographics were that were watching what they were watching.
01:18:56
Speaker
And it's it was like Gen Z watched Mandalorian predominantly, which is really interesting. Like the Mandalorian Grogu. No, no. Yeah. So the Mandalorian was Gen Alpha, ages 2 to 13. And baby boomers.
01:19:11
Speaker
And baby boomers. And then Clone Wars was Gen Z. Andor was Millennials and Gen X. Okay. Interesting. Yeah.
01:19:21
Speaker
But anyway, it is- And it one the greatest shows ever, by the way. People are down on it. I get it. But they're also not. It's not really that true. And The Mandalorian and Grogu not doing well, I feel like, is a many different factors. And I still believe that the reason why is because they trained their audience of The Mandalorian that it's a streaming show. And it is going to be on Disney+. plus It is 100% going to be there.
01:19:42
Speaker
So even if they could just make the budget back, all the marketing budget will be made back On Disney Plus because they were making, again, seasons of The Mandalorian for $110 million and this movie cost, what, $250?
01:19:55
Speaker
So like you can yeah you can make the money back by double dipping in this case. it's like I don't know. There's a lot of like negative narrative around Star Wars and it makes me kind of sad. But yeah, like the sentiment behind Star Wars Outlaws is bad, but also Star Wars Jedi Survivor sold really well.
01:20:12
Speaker
So and then Star Wars Battlefront, by the way, was like freaking taking off. And it's still if you look at the like the steam charts numbers right now for Star Wars Battlefront, it's a stupid number, I think.
01:20:24
Speaker
Yeah, I'll call correctly. So like people still familiar with that actually. So I was a survivor. But to be fair, i guess to add on to everything, there's also just been a negative outlook on Ubisoft as a video game company and publisher as well. Like this is kind of the height of their or I guess the the lowest they've been, you know, there's a lot of issues with it, with their, you know, canceled project, live service games. I think there was just, this game had almost everything going against it in a lot of ways. So it, and yeah, it's a shame because I don't think, I don't think this game failed because of its quality. I think it failed because of so many out outside issues with, again, the game publisher, Star Wars has an IP.
01:21:11
Speaker
And then again, people, not wanting to play a ah main, you know, like ah a main character who's a woman that does not look attractive to be totally blunt. They, kind of they should have just designed that character to look exactly like the actress. I think that was just a big misstep. I think it on like genuine, Oh Jesus. I genuinely believe the game would have done better if they just made a more attractive main character, which is absurd to say, but I think it is true because some gamers are so fickle.
01:21:40
Speaker
And like, that's all they care about. Like this character is not hot. She's got to have boobs. She's to have big boobs. That's the, that's the rule. not going to like it. That's your, that's your answer. don't even think that's the issue. I just think they designed her face to look a little odd. She's got no makeup. She's a person in star Wars in the, in like a 1970s way. And she's got a broken nose.
01:22:01
Speaker
It's like, it makes sense. She makes sense in the actual, the actual moment. Like if you even look yeah back, like they they have cut scenes of her as a child. Like she does look like, like yeah I kind of merge between the actress and the she doesn't a broken nose then. And the, and like the actress and the, the character later on in life.
01:22:22
Speaker
I don't know. yeah I just don't think you need to like, just like, there's no cleavage. That's not a thing in star Wars in the 1970s. She looks like a character in that literal time when they made star Wars. There's no like, they even like princess Leia. She's covered up completely. There's no, except for the slave portion, slave Leia. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. That's not a percent true. In return of the Jedi. Yeah. They, they went for it. They're like sex sells guys. Yeah.
01:22:48
Speaker
yeah that was weird that was a bit of a departure I guess there are aliens that are also wearing scantily clad they're a little bit scantily clad but I feel like the twilight specifically the human people don't really do that they're mostly covered I think throughout especially the rebels like well I guess in the vampire too but they in general there's no one no one wearing like That's not very common.
01:23:11
Speaker
But anyway, yeah thats weird that is the strange thing about Return the Jedi. Leo is just like really not wearing much in that. um But anyway, we'll agree to disagree on the attractive character thing because we've discussed this before outside this podcast.
01:23:29
Speaker
But yeah. um Anyway, yeah, too bad they didn't well do well because it is good. But but I did want to bring up that chart thing. Because again, people are watching it. They're watching it in droves. It's a crazy thing that that series, they know that. So they're trying to capture this on a film level. I hope they don't take the wrong lessons. like You said this when we talked about Mandalorian and Grogu.
01:23:48
Speaker
I want them to still make movies. Make a movie though that's a unique experience that people want to go see. I think Solo, the Solo movie called Solo, a Star Wars story, as you call it. The Han Solo, a Solo movie called Solo, Star Wars story. There you That movie is okay. It feels like there was too many chefs in the kitchen. It does feel like that. like there's The tones don't quite match. I do like it though.
01:24:12
Speaker
I like it, but it didn't do well for many reasons. And I think it's a marketing reason too, because you launched the the movie too far and they've been scared ever since Solo. I swear to God, that's the only reason they're scared. And then they launched Mandalorian and Grogu's are like, this is a sure thing because it was popular on streaming service Disney plus where it's going to be eventually anyway.
01:24:30
Speaker
And then I don't, I don't get it It just seems like a bizarre choice because it's going to be there. You mentioned another point. What was your point? you you You thought that it wasn't going to, didn't do well for like another reason, like outside of the fact that already a streaming show.
01:24:44
Speaker
Would you say it was? I thought that was kind of my main point is that but like, well, also it's, there is like this expectation that going into this movie, you have to watch the three seasons of the TV show understand it. And that was simply not the case. Required reading for the course. Yeah. That, that is a problem. But I wonder if they like thought about that because they thought, well, Mandalorian is so popular that they we're just going to get this like built in audience.
01:25:08
Speaker
But that's not really, that's a funny thing though, because if you think about it, then you have to watch the whole Skywalker saga to get the, The gist of, you know what I mean You don't have to watch all the Skywalker movies to get, get the rise of Skywalker, which still sold fairly well. Anyway, I think that I do think, but I think a lot of people did watch those movies. I think that's the key difference, right? A lot of people did watch the original star Wars movies and then the prequel movies. Like, you know, you grew up on them.
01:25:35
Speaker
Um, even though we were born after the original trilogy and it's also just movies, right? It's yes six movies before getting into force awakens. Technically that all you got to watch. Whereas when you think about the Mandalorian, it's three seasons of television, what? 10 episodes each, something like that. 12 episodes each. I don't remember.
01:25:53
Speaker
Technically you got to watch an episode of book of Boba. Eight episodes. Yeah. For that, for that show. Yeah. The anyways, Yeah. Right. I don't know.
01:26:03
Speaker
I think if they market it properly and Sean Levy did a good job with the, the Ryan Gosling, if they market as well as the, as the project Hail Mary marketing team did, I think they're going to have a hit on their hands. Like if they do it well, they just got to do it well. And hopefully Sean Levy made a good movie that like, doesn't require like him to be kicked to the curb. And then I heard someone else did your research shoots, which seems to happen quite a bit in star Wars for some reason lately, but they did hire, you know, and on the flip side, they hired Simon Kinberg though. so it would be okay.
01:26:39
Speaker
I'm Kimberg to run the entire new trilogy of Skywalker movies. That's great. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. We'll see what that comes to that. What comes to that? Cause we have nothing about that. We'd heard nothing for a while.
01:26:53
Speaker
All right, maybe next Star Wars, Star Wars Celebration next year. um You're done talking about this Supermode thing. Do you think it's pretty odd? I think it's pretty odd that they would have built a studio. I do think it's kind of odd, yeah. We'll see what happens. But anyway, yeah, the IP that they would do, I think the most common, I think, is Top Gun.
01:27:11
Speaker
I think the the movie the movie that turned into a game. I didn't think was Hop Gun, actually. well That's a good one. Oh, yeah. That's actually a good one. that That's the one. Another Tom Cruise franchise. And you can get Troy Baker. Yeah.
01:27:22
Speaker
You get Troy Baker to voice Tom Cruise in that. Tom Cruise. That's what you should do. Okay. Cool. All right. Moving on. Then, ah last little news story quickly. The Super Mario Galaxy movie is now the first film in 2026 to cross the $1 billion dollars mark for box office earnings worldwide, which is interesting. The reason why I'm bringing this up, because and not just throwing this in the montage, is for one particular reason.
01:27:44
Speaker
Super Mario Galaxy movie is cool. It's good. That's right. Crossed the $1 billion mc dollar mark. That's great. But we're early in the year. We got a lot of movies coming. And my question for you as a thought exercise is what do you think is going to cross, not necessarily surpass this, but surpass the $1 billion dollar mark, specifically this year. Spider-Man.
01:28:02
Speaker
All right. Yeah. Brand new day. That's a hundred percent. Brand new day is interesting. You asked the question last episode. You're like, which one do you think is going to do better? Avengers or Spider-Man? And I had forgotten that the Spider-Man brand new day trailer had like completely smashed records.
01:28:18
Speaker
For the, for viewership. So I think it's going to be Spider-Man. I think probably Spider-Man over Avengers Doomsday for, for the, for the, like the actually making the most money. But Doomsday is obviously another one that's going to cross that mark.
01:28:31
Speaker
Um, for sure. Anything else come to mind across the billion dollar mark?
01:28:38
Speaker
any unexpected ones to throw out i got one throw throw in there that could or may not but i feel like it will in the end because nolan always just like dabbles in it he doesn't quite hit it all the time but his movies are killing it uh the odyssey tickets sold out at amc like the fat it was a fast selling movie ticket for a premium for like large format in like since 2022 think they're they're Their statistics showed that's what AMC theater said said for the Odyssey to pre-ticket sales pre-ticket. No advanced. Um, yeah. Pre-sales. Pre-sales. Oh, I think another one actually toy Story.
01:29:15
Speaker
Yeah. Toy Story. Okay. Maybe. That's a good one. I feel like what did Toy Story 4 do? That's a great question. Toy Story 4 box office. That's a great question. And then the other one that's ah from Disney, Disney just seems to kill it with these. like They were winning in this regard. like Last year, we thought Warner Brothers would win in terms of the highest box office revenues, but it was Disney in the end. like They just came out from behind and just won in the end.
01:29:42
Speaker
um But Moana. but Do you think Moana would do it? That was a question I had. Like, do you think it's going to be big enough? Moana, like, oh, Toy Story 4 did grow gross a billion. It's 1.074 billion worldwide on a budget of 200 million.
01:29:59
Speaker
Wow, Toy Story 4, $200 million. That's a lot, eh? You think about like how much that is. like Because they're complaining about video game budgets. Like, The Last of Us was 200. Wasn't The Last was Part II like 200 million or something like that?
01:30:10
Speaker
Something like that, yeah. But it's like, that was ah that game is huge. Like Toy Story 4 two hours. It's $200 million. dollars Did you spend it all on Tom Hanks? Like how, that seems high to me.
01:30:23
Speaker
The animation is incredible, but it's a lot. It is. you You might make a good point about Moana. Like, again, like I always view these live action remixes like I just
Surprise Box Office Hits: Moana 2
01:30:33
Speaker
don't care about it. But Lilo and Stitch, you crossed a billion dollars last year. they So it's like, potentially. Yeah. Potentially. Did Moana, the animated film, make it feel like it did. that Moana box office success.
01:30:48
Speaker
I feel like we're missing a big one that I'm just forgetting to think about here. Supergirl, I don't think there's a chance, unfortunately. No. God, no. I hope the movie does well.
01:30:59
Speaker
Whoa. Critically. Moana 2 did a billion dollars. Oh. Jesus. So that's what's the power of streaming services too. even know Moana 2 came out to theaters. Why did I think Moana was just on Disney Plus?
01:31:12
Speaker
It was in 2024. So i' hope so. That would have weird miss by them, especially because they made a billion dollars in hindsight. I mean, interest thank God they did that. Yeah, no, they haven't been doing that too much in general, right? They had that weird stint where they brought Pixar movies to Disney Plus only, but they, you know what i mean? that They, for the most part, have been launching everything.
01:31:33
Speaker
Like Lilo and Stitch was an example. le anditch Yeah. You know what? It's cause I think originally they were going to do a Moana TV show. And then they, then instead of doing the TV show, they made it into a movie. I think that was, that's what happened with that show. Gotcha.
01:31:47
Speaker
Which I guess was the right. Minions and monsters. That's going to cross a billion. And I'm not serious. I think those movies, I think the minions movie has, has crossed like a billion dollars before. What do you think about the, the minions interstitials between all of the trailers when we watched a disclosure day yesterday?
01:32:05
Speaker
Weird. There's a part where he opens a video and I think the minion was watching porn and they like close it down. I did not notice that. Yeah. He's like watching and there's like a minion, like taking a shower and then another minion shows up and he like shuts the video. like oh la la Oh my God.
01:32:21
Speaker
Yeah, straight up. I didn't notice that. I was starting to tune it out. It's just like, what is this interstitial? Because between every trailer, essentially, he's on a computer desktop, just basically clicking the file to put the next trailer on.
01:32:32
Speaker
That's the gim the gimmick. But yeah, it's crazy. Okay. h So that's cool, though. I like when they do like a thing that kids wouldn't get, but adults going to see it with their kids would.
01:32:46
Speaker
You know what mean? There's something about that. like I don't think a kid would understand that. But I was thinking does Dune is do have a chance in hell of getting to... like They also... like broke records for the... I don't think broke records is the right word, but they they sold out of tickets for IMAX really rapidly yeah when they launched the... Which is strange. know what's the craziest thing?
01:33:05
Speaker
Doom Part 3 coming out in December of this year, the same day as Doomsday, has done the the pre-sale tickets for IMAX already. Brand new day. The Spider-Man brand new day hasn't done it, but the Odyssey has. No, wait, no, no. Aren't they doing Spider-Man right now?
01:33:22
Speaker
Maybe while we're talking, they're actually on sale. I think it was the oyssey i going live this week or yeah. Odyssey did it like a year in advance. Doomsday hasn't in the du Dune is like way in advance.
01:33:34
Speaker
It's like, what, ah what is going on? Well, how do we, how do you determine when you're doing these pre-sale tickets? Dune part two the $714 million at the box. i That's a lot. That's way more than I thought because wasn't it question of whether that movie wasn't going to do or was the first one didn't do as well as yeah. That's what it was. Cause it was like COVID and they released it on, um,
01:33:57
Speaker
HBO Max or Max or whatever the fuck at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. Which was a bit of a, I guess they had to, but they didn't. It was a kind of a, yeah, that was a controversial thing, but also didn't evil move the director of Dune, obviously, but also ah Blade Runner 2049, 2049 notoriously didn't do well.
01:34:16
Speaker
And it's like, it's a masterpiece. So it's like, I think maybe they were wondering like, should we do this? Because we, we've had now two movies from this guy that he spent a lot of money to make. um yeah Yeah. Anyway.
01:34:29
Speaker
Okay. what is it Yeah. Guess how much Doom Part 2 costs. He shot on location for like a lot of it versus Toy Story 4. I just gave you Toy Story 4 budget. The Toy Story 4 budget of $200 million. i Guess how much Doom Part 2 was.
01:34:45
Speaker
I just didn't find it interesting. If you find it interesting, it might be less. So I'm going say 165 million. ah It's 190 million. I found it interesting because it's so close, but it's the less.
01:34:58
Speaker
And then he shot that on location with crazy cast. That cast is stacked. So it's like, it's not like Toy Story. Is it, are they paying for the cast? Is that what it is? Or how much does Tim Allen like make on that? I feel like, I don't know. I guess it's the animation studio, right? For Toy Story. That's got to be where the budget goes.
01:35:17
Speaker
yeah But anyway, anything else you want to point out? Any any other big blockbuster you think is going to just make the billion dollar mark? This year stacked. That's why I'm not i'm asking this question now. Coyote versus Acme.
01:35:30
Speaker
Oh, I hope so. Wouldn't that be incredible? yeah was I wonder what Warner Brothers cut is on that movie. like I wonder what they're making. don't think they get a cut. isn't Wasn't it just purchased outright?
01:35:43
Speaker
Aren't they distributing in some way though? They ended up like jumping back in. I have no idea. If you're, if you have a second to look that up, I'm just going to look at a 2026 biggest movies. Cause I'm, I'm missing one. I, I feel like I've forgotten biggest movies. i don't want to hear about Michael Jackson movie. Thank you very much. It was anticipated movies.
01:36:06
Speaker
Let's see what else. Cause I feel like I'm missing a big title that
01:36:12
Speaker
I did not say.
01:36:16
Speaker
Where else? I don't see anything about Warner Brothers stepping back into this, but I could be wrong. Okay. I thought there was some kind of agreement they had for like maybe in different markets or something, but yeah, i must be incorrect.
01:36:29
Speaker
I must be wrong. I'm seeing catch up.
01:36:33
Speaker
Only so the Hunger Games. No, the Hunger Games is never crossed, right? No, i don't think so. Hunger Games, Sunrise on the Reaping. I love that the cast is all like the same characters, but younger. I love that kind of concept. That's actually the most interesting thing about it. And it's got a pretty stacked cast. And I really like Jesse Plemons as a it's a strange column here.
01:36:52
Speaker
And like Ralph Fiennes is really great, too. So that's really exciting. um Yeah, no, that's it. we we we did We actually nailed it. We listed them all. But Dune would be cool. It would be neat if Dune would cross the number. But okay.
01:37:07
Speaker
That's it, Adrian. It's now a time to move on to a segment of our show that I like to call a Look to the Future. portion of our podcast where each of us present at least three of our picks for the TV series or movies that look most interesting to us.
01:37:20
Speaker
They're releasing between the dates of June 16th and June 29th, 2026. As is customary, you go first. Cool, man. What? I will start with, I mean, we just talked about it. Toy Story. It's coming out June 19th.
01:37:36
Speaker
Toy Story 5, June 19th. I'm excited about this, but I do want to watch it. I love the Toy Story movies. I thought Toy Story 4 was really good. Yeah. It was hard to go curious after Toy Story 3, though.
01:37:50
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. Like I think Toy Story 3 was such a remarkable ending and then they brought it back for Toy Story 4 and it was really good. I really did enjoy it. It's just, I might be my least favorite Toy Story. I don't know for sure. Again. Yeah.
01:38:04
Speaker
yeah So I'm curious about Toy Story 5. We'll see what happens. I'll watch it. Let's do it up. Okay. Sweet. Also on June 19th, Adrian is a movie from pig director,
01:38:16
Speaker
Michael Cernoski, that seems weird. like I could just call him a pig. I should maybe rephrase that. A Quiet Place Day One director, Michael Cernoski, and soon-to-be Death Stranding director.
01:38:29
Speaker
He's making the movie death The Death of Robin Hood starring Hugh Jackman as Robin Hood. It's like a like i like you like Robin Hood like you've never seen before. Adrian, as they keep showing in the trailer, it looks like a dark Robin Hood. And you like, I think you leaned over and said, oh, this kind of looks like, um, the Northman, the Northman. It reminds me kind of like a Robert Eggers movie. And there's a bleakness of it. It looks like it might've been shot in Iceland.
01:38:53
Speaker
Like that, that's kind of where I get, I get the same vibe the where it where it's shot. Like there's a, It's almost like these giant empty landscapes that do it. um But yeah, Hugh Jackman looks really miserable on it.
01:39:05
Speaker
Looks really upset. Got mud on his face at multiple moments of the trailer, I think. And so it should be cool. jo Jody Comer is in it too. Jody Comer is really good. I like Jody Comer.
01:39:16
Speaker
She's really good. Yeah. Anyway. Okay. Your pick. Yeah. What's next for you? Yeah. Jodi Gomer is one of those people. When I found out that she's like just a year older than me, I'm like, how is like, she's so accomplished. I feel like she's been around so long, but she's literally like my age. It blew my mind. ah Genuinely blew my mind.
01:39:35
Speaker
Anyways. Isn't they just telling me to go off? Isn't it just speaking to you about you though? Like you're old. Is that you're not exactly a young whippersnapper. You know, as many years, like how old, how young is fricking, um, Timothy Chalamet?
01:39:50
Speaker
Ouch. You know what I'm saying? I don't know. Yeah. But like, to me anyways. like you're not old I'm saying like there's many years like 15 years that yeah anyways it's fine whatever don't want to whoa whoa don't get don't get offended um the next thing I'll talk about it's gonna be a tv show it's coming out on June 25th it's the second season of Avatar the Last Airbender on Netflix oh sweet I'll bring that up there I love the animated series I didn't watch the live action i don't plan to but hey season two's coming out
01:40:26
Speaker
Right. Interesting. You mentioned it, but you're not interested. Was it good? Was well regarded? is that what the people say? i know don't think it was particularly. Okay. Maybe. i you were upset about it because the creators were kicked off the project.
01:40:42
Speaker
Exactly. So you're like, nah, nah. So when I heard that, I was like, ah. But I thought it was good. i thought it was reviewed pretty well actually for what it was. It wasn't it was no M. Night Shyamalan movie adaptation, you know?
01:40:55
Speaker
Like from my understanding, I thought i could be wrong. Are you looking it up right now or no? Yeah, but it's only showing me this. It's a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oh, that's not good. But it's still fresh. Poppermeter's 70. Okay. Interesting.
01:41:09
Speaker
Oh, Bob, that actually is almost more impressive. Popcorn movie set popwcorn meter, sorry, is 70. seventy Yeah. Yeah, that's not bad.
01:41:21
Speaker
The audience is like, there would be a very passionate crowd of people who would just be like bashing that shit online constantly if it was bad. Well, the animated show is 100%. The animated show 100%. Every season 100%, okay? so Right.
01:41:35
Speaker
For the popcorn meter? For the popcorn meter, 98. Yeah, okay. yeah okay There's always one guy for the popcorn meter. Like these aren't professional critics. there's Yeah.
01:41:47
Speaker
Okay. Uh, my next pick is going to be super girl. Adrian, June 26th. Nice. Pretty exciting. Uh, director Craig Gillespie got Millie Alcock starring in the starring role.
01:41:58
Speaker
Uh, it looks really fun. I, I am excited for this one. It looks kind of like, you know, it's like a punk rock version of super girl. It's, it's it's, Yeah. It's also in ah in a sad relatable way about a pet that gets sick, which is not ideal. I realized that when I was sitting next to you, all the trailer was playing before disclosure day. I'm like, Oh yeah, this is what this movie is about. this I thought like I'm going to love it, especially because of that. It's going like hit me in the feels. And so, yeah,
01:42:28
Speaker
I love that dog though. Like crypto is really well done in Superman. I was really skeptical about crypto and like having him in the first Superman movie in your, in your new DC universe.
01:42:39
Speaker
And I'm kind of impressed kind of how that went yeah for that franchise. Like so far, I feel like he's, he's really endearing and I don't know. I thought it was going to be campy and hokey to have him in it at all. And I thought it was good.
01:42:52
Speaker
Yeah. And my last pick here is going to be Jackass best and last. This is the last Jackass movie. I like Jackass enough when I was a kid. I remember watching it. i don't know if you ever did it with your friends where you like tried to do like a Jackass home video, even though they tell you don't try this stuff at home.
01:43:13
Speaker
I did not do that. Did you do that? We did. Yeah, of course. Of course. Of course. Saved on a VHS tape somewhere. But i don't know. where That's awesome. What did you try to do?
01:43:24
Speaker
We just I don't know, doing dumb shit, hurting ourselves as kids sliding down a sled. Okay. On a hill, running it into each other. Just dumb stuff like that. Okay. As kids do.
01:43:35
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Cool. All right. Monkey bars. I'm shocked that that's what you landed on because I figured you would have had so many different picks that you're we're not we don't have. One of them, and I thought this was coming out soon, and you kind of pointed this out as something you were interested in, i think, is Leviticus, which comes out June 19th. Which is that horror movie that looks like it takes place in a conversion therapy camp.
01:43:59
Speaker
I think that's the vibe I got. ah it Yeah, it looks like ah a scary time. Yeah, I forgot about that. We literally saw the trailer for it yesterday, and I was like, I can't wait for this. I'm excited for this, and then I just forgot about it. That's not the one that I thought that you forgot. Which one did forget? I must have forgotten all of them. I'll over this. I will find you. I didn't think you forgot that one. I will find you is interesting thing. It's Netflix show with Sam Worthington and Britt Lauer. I don't know if you saw the trailer for this, where Sam Worthington is in jail for killing his son, but he didn't actually kill his son. That looks really good. I think Britt Lauer is really great in Severance. We don't get enough of Sam Worthington. Every time I see Sam Worthington, though, in something,
01:44:41
Speaker
I'm like, he did a great job here. So I'm like, why is he not in more things that maybe he just chose to step back from acting a little bit. like, dude, I'm making so much fucking money off Avatar. I don't have to do shit. That was the thing about, there was that story about Matt Damon was supposed to be in that role. You know about that, right?
01:44:55
Speaker
you like Yeah. you did Like, I'm not going to do it because i'm doing that another Jason Bourne movie. um Yeah. But okay, cool. ah There's also, just ah on an honorable mention aspect, Sugar comes back with Colin Farrell. It's like a detective mystery story on Apple TV. Apple's killing it. That's a great show, I think. I didn't watch that one, um but it seems like it's reviewed well. In the Hand of Dante is a netflix another Netflix ah movie coming out from a director I don't think I've seen anything from. Is Julian... No...
01:45:26
Speaker
no It's Schnabel. i don't I don't know him, but yeah yeah that cast is crazy. It stars are Oscar Isaac and it looks like a ah mix of black and white and color. But the ones I'm surprised you didn't say, House of the Dragons season three premiere is airing on June 21st, which is really cool. That's really soon.
01:45:46
Speaker
um yeah that what I thought you said um instead of Jackass, but the Jackass story was cool because I didn't know you were sliding on on on sleds trying to kill yourselves for ah for a home video. So it made a good story.
01:45:57
Speaker
ah And the last one, which is really exciting, but really sad because it is the end of this this series, Adrian. The Bear Season 5 is ending on June 25th, or it starts its ending.
01:46:09
Speaker
it's Did you end up watching? No, you didn't watch it, right? the I'm going to watch it just beforehand, yeah. yeah We're talking about the interstitial. Exactly. John Bernthal and Evan Moss Bacharach starring, remember it's called, some state, Ohio? No. Yeah, I'm not too sure.
01:46:27
Speaker
But yeah, okay that's the segment. You got to go? Wonderful. Yeah, I got to go. I got i got to cut here quick. And then I'll message you when I'm ready. Yeah, sounds good.
01:46:41
Speaker
Adrian has returned from his business meeting. Yes. Meetings, business. That's what I do. So much business for a businessman. All right. Well, trying to now on to the trailer, Adrian. You're trying me.
01:46:53
Speaker
What's that? You're trying to stop me from from releasing the files, Simon.
01:47:00
Speaker
At this business meeting. Releasing the files, right. Releasing the files. Okay. Yeah. Is that so? What files? They're classified. Can't tell you. You work for the CSIS?
01:47:11
Speaker
No. Okay. Well, now onto the trailer, the final segment of our show, where we each present our favorite trailer of the week. Adrian, this is the final segment of our show.
01:47:23
Speaker
As I said just moments ago, as I just said, what is your favorite trailer that has launched in the recent bi-week? Did I just say of the week? I should say trailer of the bi-week. Come on, amateur. Of the bi-week.
01:47:36
Speaker
Yeah, trailer the bi-week. What's your favorite trailer that you saw this last few weeks, sir? Good question, Simon. Good question. I've seen a few trailers of the week of this bye week.
01:47:47
Speaker
And there's been a couple. But one I'm going to point out, we actually brought it up earlier in this episode. It's how to rob a bank. It's David Leitch's new flick. Oh, this movie seems like a romp, dude. this seems this This movie seems fun, dude. It's like they're like streamers and they're robbing the bank and then giving money back to the poor.
01:48:04
Speaker
Kind of like a Robin Hood, a modern day Robin Hood is what they're doing. And then people are like, wow, are you how to rob a bank? You can take my car, man. You guys are so cool. I'm streaming. and And then they're like, we got to find the government. People are like, we got to find these people that are robbing banks. They must've made a mistake at some point, but somehow they haven't.
01:48:22
Speaker
I love David Leach's movies. Honestly. He makes fun movies. They're fun. Fun to watch. Yeah. Yeah. True. Kind of just made this connection now.
01:48:35
Speaker
its It's kind of like the the game that never came out, Fair Games. They're streamers who are robbing a bank. I'm oh, that's kind of the premise.
01:48:46
Speaker
You know? sure It's true. Never launched from PlayStation. But yeah, no. it's David Leitch and Nicholas Holt. Nicholas Holt is the main character. He's the main main dude in this this film. Because Holt, of course, known for his role Alex Luthor.
01:49:05
Speaker
In Superman. Yeah. Yeah. Or Beast as in he's just mostly himself most of the time because he didn't want to put on the makeup presumably because it's a lot of makeup. So he has a serum all the time.
01:49:17
Speaker
You think that's his choice? Like you think he didn't? You think he cared? i feel like he would have done it. You think it was? I'm sure he would have. No, I won't do it. Because I feel like that's when he was just just like he was like blowing up at that point.
01:49:29
Speaker
Like that yeah was this first big role right after skins. Isn't that like true? Like he he didn't have a blockbuster film before that. That was it. First. Yeah, maybe I'm trying to think you might be right.
01:49:43
Speaker
Look at his look. ah I'm going to look up his filmography in 2014. When did that come out? First class.
01:49:50
Speaker
i don't know. I think so. Was he was he in first class? Yeah. When did he show up? I thought yeah was it was in Days of Future Past. Maybe I don't remember. He may have been in first class. I don't remember.
01:50:03
Speaker
He was in Mad Max Fury Road. and That was one of them. That was before. That was after him. Yeah, that is after Days of Future Past, which is 2014. No, but he't I think he showed up in.
01:50:14
Speaker
I don't think he's in first class. What? I think he was just in days of future past. I could be wrong.
01:50:25
Speaker
But I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong. I don't know. Maybe is. Yes, Nicholas Holt plays Hank McCoy, or a.k.a. Beast, in X-Men First Class. that's Goulium and I. So maybe they're just telling me what I want to hear because they heard me saying I... That was in 2011. Who cares? He's in some of the... No, he's on the poster. He's in it, 100%.
01:50:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's his first thing. I think i think that was it. He was in, like, smaller things, I think, but this is a big block. was his big break. That was his big break post-skins. Yeah.
01:51:00
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Skins. What a show. then what a My trailer of the week was going to be that one. So now i got to pick something else. Thanks a lot. I got another one. If you want to switch my choice.
01:51:11
Speaker
No, because then then that just gives you two and me zero. Okay. you me to it? trailer of the week, I think, I think, I think. I thought you to pick something different, but you didn't.
01:51:23
Speaker
i I think it might be the Coyote versus Acme Bugs Bunny teaser. The reason why that is is because it's like it's like ah it's like a like a shot across. They're like doing shots across the bow for like the the big production companies.
01:51:37
Speaker
And this one is a joke about how Avengers Doomsday just basically... like spoiled all the characters that are in it by saying like Captain America will return in Avengers Doomsday. It's like, ah guys, just maybe show us the movie. First of all, and you haven't even shown the first trailer. There's not been a first trailer for Doomsday. Do you realize this?
01:51:56
Speaker
Well, how is this possible? No, seems a little bizarre. been teasers. Have we seen the Dune part three? t No. If we have. Wait, no, I don't remember it.
01:52:08
Speaker
Yes, there has been. Yeah, I think so.
01:52:14
Speaker
Dune 3? Oh, we have. Two months ago, yeah. Yeah, yeah, we did. 100% was good. And I'm like, hey, it's Jason Momoa again. He's back. And i was like, oh, yeah. He was in yeah one of those movies.
01:52:25
Speaker
That's part of the plot. That's part of the plot. Anyway, so I like this teaser. I thought it was good. The Bugs Bunny teaser. They tease Bugs Bunny and then they say Bugs Bunny will return in Coyote Coyote. Yeah.
01:52:39
Speaker
And I appreciate it because ah it seems like a fun, a fun film. It's coming out in August. I'm, I'm hype. But what was your second trailer that you wanted to throw out there?
01:52:49
Speaker
but we My second trailer was a whale fall. Well, yeah, not what expected. You ever hear about Whale Fall? I don't know. I should look it up.
01:53:00
Speaker
Whale Fall. So Whale Fall, there's a trailer. It's it's like a two and a half minute teaser trailer. and So it's a movie. It stars Josh Brolin and Austin Abrams. Austin Abrams is probably best known for weapons and he's going to be leading the Resident Evil movie.
01:53:15
Speaker
Yes. And it's like, jo Austin Abrams, Josh Brown's son, he's like, I'm going to go scuba diving or whatever. We do scuba diving together. And I don't know, they get enough fights. Austin Abrams is like, i'm going to go scuba diving. And he's scuba diving. And then he gets eaten by a whale.
01:53:31
Speaker
What? He's eaten by whale. watching the trailer here. Sorry. It's just like it's like, I guess, like a big part of that movie where it gets eaten by a whale. OK, interesting. yeah Josh Brolin, that Josh Brolin movie.
01:53:44
Speaker
He's in another movie. Oh, that's October 16th. This comes out. Interesting. When's that movie? The dog stars come out. Josh Brolin as well. That was actually another, that was my third trailer because they released a new trailer for the Dog Stars.
01:53:58
Speaker
Oh. I don't know. That's your third trailer again and you didn't see the trailer I thought. This is a second, this is like the second segment of our show in which I feel like i i got something that you would it would have said if you remembered it. But maybe i'm wrong. What about trailers? I thought you were going to pick the trailer for The End of Oak Street.
01:54:16
Speaker
Oh, I thought we talked about that last episode. You keep saying that. I don't know time. You said that last time too for something. I can't remember what it was for. It's because it's like right after our podcast ends, we like, there's like a, some kind of trailer releases and then you send it to me or I send it to you.
01:54:32
Speaker
And then we have a discussion about it in a text message. And you think that's been on the show. Like the last time it was a lanterns trailer with, um, Laura, not Laura. The Laura, Laura Linney. Yeah. Yeah. Laura Linney.
01:54:44
Speaker
Yes. It was the first time she was revealed. and you're like, oh, we talked about him. I'm like, no, we didn't. I'm fairly certain we didn't talk about Laura Lenny. But the end of Oak Street is a new trailer for this. It looks pretty cool.
01:54:55
Speaker
Very dinosaur heavy. Dude, this movie looks so up my alley. It's stupid. I know. Dinosaurs. It's good actors. Anne Hathaway. love Ewan McGregor. Ewan McGregor. Ewan McGregor is pretty great too. Yeah, they're both like. She's phenomenal. It's a good combo. Yeah. Yeah.
01:55:11
Speaker
They're like, hey, yeah what if what if our what if our thing changed? And there's dinosaurs now. though You know? Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly what I was thinking.
01:55:22
Speaker
What if there was dinosaurs now? dancing Maybe that's the name of our episode here. What if there are dinosaurs? Or aorar I don't know how you can spell that. So yeah, it's true.
01:55:36
Speaker
Yeah. But if there are dinosaurs now, all right, well, anyway, there's ah one of the trailer I wanted to point out, actually. What are the trailer? I'm not sure of and I'm curious to see what you think of because we just saw it again yesterday if you hadn't seen it before. But I did see it before I wrote it down here, but I'm like, I'm not sure I like this. script I'm not saying it's bad, but the social reckoning.
01:55:57
Speaker
Did you did you do you remember this trailer? Social Reckoning. I saw half of it and then I was like, I gotta pee. Oh, you got up during the yeah movie?
01:56:07
Speaker
Oh, I didn't even notice. Yeah, it's okay. Never pay attention to I didn't watch the first one. But the one thing I did notice is that Jeremy Strong does sound like Mark Zuckerberg when he was like talking. I was like, oh my God.
01:56:22
Speaker
He's like nailing the voice. It's crazy. I thought he did a good job. It's funny because Because my wife said that he, I'm like, she's like, I'm not sure about the guy playing Mark zucker Zuckerberg. He's like, he's like Timu Mark Zuckerberg.
01:56:39
Speaker
like Oh, like she she said like, it's like she, it's like he's playing an actor playing Mark Zuckerberg. He's playing, it's like he's two spots removed from truth and playing Mark Zuckerberg. I'm like, I don't really agree with that. That's a little little harsh.
01:56:53
Speaker
I'm not sure. She's, she had a lot of critiques yesterday for when we watched the movies in like disclosure day. it issues with various things. It issues with the CG. We didn't talk about the CG. I didn't mind the CG. know why I didn't mind it?
01:57:05
Speaker
I feel like you said it. Yeah. Yeah, they're like a Coca-Cola, right? The Coca-Cola animals, but in like the Christmas commercial. But I also think that they're kind pre-AI.
01:57:18
Speaker
What? Pre-AI Coca-Cola commercials. I got to preface that. Right, right. the The thing about the CG is they're almost two perfect versions of animals, but that works in the context of the film.
01:57:30
Speaker
I didn't. Yeah, meant to say that earlier. um Yeah, but. Yeah, I don't know. I was okay with the CG. I wasn't i wasn't terribly disappointed in it. But um anyway, the social reckoning. So you, I guess you didn't see the trailer. So you don't you don't even have a perspective. My perspective on this. I have trail.
01:57:47
Speaker
is that I really like the first movie. It's a David Fincher movie written written by Aaron Sorkin. The soundtrack by Brett Reznor and activistist ros Atticus Ross is excellent. It's like the first one of the first movies that like they did.
01:58:00
Speaker
like Those are the Nine Inch Nails guys. And I really like the soundtrack like a lot. And key they're not doing... the soundtrack for the social reckoning, but they showed that the last tones of the of the the trailer are the soundtrack.
01:58:17
Speaker
But it's not even that's not even it's not it's not them. It's Alexandra. They plot like the the composer for Grand Budapest Hotel is doing this soundtrack. So I'm like, I don't even know the score for this. And I'm not even sure what it's going to be like because they just the only thing I really took from it was the last tones.
01:58:36
Speaker
um i like the actors in it i think it's a great combination i'm just curious to see how the plot will come together as a whole as well that's the other question and it's not it's not david fincher uh directing this it's aaron sorkin so aaron sorkin's directing and writing this one and i like aaron sorkin's movies that we've seen that he directed at the very least we saw the movie with jessica chastain what was that called the one where's like a Oh, Molly's Game.
01:59:02
Speaker
Molly's Game, which I thought was really good. like can really I really like that movie a lot. So I think he's capable of doing a good job here. But i I don't know. Those two pieces of David Fincher being not doing like not doing this one and then the this score not being done by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor makes me kind of sad.
01:59:21
Speaker
A little bit. Because I feel like it would have been cool if he could could have got them. i've heard david I'm sure David Fincher's working on that Quentin Tarantino, Cliff Booth movie, or was working on it when this was... being made or maybe Aaron Sorkin just really had the passion to do it himself and David Fincher wasn't interested or who knows but I do like the actors involved Jeremy Allen White Jeremy Strong pretty cool um Academy Award winner I'm forgetting her name Mikey Madison thank you Mikey Madison so yeah I think it could be good but I I don't know I'm a huge fan of Trent Reznor and guess that's me too I guess
02:00:03
Speaker
biggest loss disappointment it brings like the intergalactic a heretic profit from like a nine interest for me to like a 12 out of 10 nice the fact that they're involved um so that brings it yeah from a 10 for me to a 13 whoa okay then oh yeah one over yeah one all right one over in both aspects Any other trailers you want to point out before we close the show out, sir?
02:00:34
Speaker
I don't. Okay. I guess that's it then. I don't. I don't have any other trailer. Great. guess that's I don't. you have anything to say the audience before we go um
02:00:49
Speaker
go? What's this long pause here? i don't know. I'm trying to think of anything. really thinking Something to say. Maybe something heartwarming. Maybe something powerful. Okay.
02:01:00
Speaker
Maybe something just simple as, you know, love your, love your little, little ones. Love your pets. Spend yeah extra time with them. Right. Yeah. Give them a nice little hug. Yeah. And, um, yeah, yeah, i agree. Do it up.
02:01:14
Speaker
Yeah. Do it up. Do that. All right. Then do it up. Do that. Okay. Thank you for listening, audience, to episode 138 of Split Focus, a film and TV podcast. My name is Simon Eadie, and it has been a pleasure to host you alongside my heartwarming and powerful co-host, Adrian Finter.
02:01:32
Speaker
Please join us on June 30th, 2026, for episode 139. Yeah. yeah Good evening to you, and good luck. Take care, everyone.
02:01:44
Speaker
Goodbye. Goodbye. Take care. See you later. m Goodbye forever. Not forever.