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Stopmotion (2024)
65 Plays8 months ago
Andy and Hunter will be diving into the medium and bringing dead things to life as they discuss Stopmotion (2024)!
As always, please reach out and let us know your thoughts at: @hazardousopinionspod or hazardousopinionspod@gmail.com and chat with us on Discord! If you love movies, add us on Letterboxd! Andy - Eric - Hunter - Ashlee.
Please send us your movie recommendations or suggestions for discussion topics. For our next episode, we will be introducing our mini-episodes with movie recommendations! Watch ahead and then tune in to hear our thoughts. Stay safe, we love y'all!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
you Hey everyone, welcome back to Hazardous Opinions. Today we will be covering the New Shutter original stop motion that was released wide in 2024. And I have my co-host here with me, Andy. It'll just be us two today. Yes, sir.
00:00:36
Speaker
Yeah. No, I'm really excited. It'll kind of just be like a one-on-one conversation. Like I'm mostly used to sucking groups. It's been a couple months to wait since we had a two person pod. Yeah. Yeah. ah Children and men. Yup. And you and I were on that one too. Yeah. So yeah, I think we'll have another good discussion. I hope you guys are ready for it.
Discussion of the New Stop Motion Film
00:00:54
Speaker
So yeah, a Stop Motion came out 2024, directed by Robert Morgan, ah his first feature-length film. ah And then, kind of starring a cast that I didn't really know too much about, Aisling Franciosi. Got a small role in Game of Thrones and Last Voyage Demeter.
00:01:14
Speaker
She's our protagonist, Ella Blake, and we got Tom York as Tom. Always love it when they just name their characters after their person. Still a good name is Suzanne Blake, the mom, and Therika Wilson-Reed from the new Witcher show is Polly. You can find this one on AMC Plus or on Shudder. Yes. Yeah. And Andy just covered the cast, which he's always good at. Names are sometimes tough. Don't worry. So for our plot today, we have Ella Blake, our main character, and she's a stop motion animator. She struggles to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother.
00:01:52
Speaker
So that's kind of just a snapshot of what the movie is like. I didn't want to go too in depth because it covers it pretty well. Yeah. It's a, it's one frame as you would say. Yeah. Exactly. And on letterboxed, I like to do the letterbox reviews. It has an average of 3.1 stars out of five. So that's, it's pretty good above the halfway 50%. So I'll take that one. Yeah. Yeah. And some are on IMDB as we'll say on Spotify. Oh, yeah we're on Spotify. We are. It's a little bit lower than a five point six. So or I guess around the same if you do the math. So right right in the middle there, not a highly rated movie, but it's also got not a lot of ratings right now. It's still pretty early into getting out there to people's hands. So.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yeah. And I do know that it released in a festival last year in October, I believe. So you will see some places that do say it came out in 2023, Andy and I were just going off of the wide release to the public. And, um, it actually just came to shutter like a month ago, I want to say now. Yeah, I was pretty sure that this was shutter only. And then I actually found out on AMC plus, which was nice. which I just found out I actually have that platform. so Awesome. All right. i Got some more things to watch on there. Yeah. Yeah. For your viewing pleasure. There you go. Yeah. So what would you give this movie handy?
00:03:19
Speaker
Yeah, ah obviously I think we already know that you like this one a little bit more than me. We watched this together the first time and I had a lot of interesting thoughts about it and I think I did enjoy this a little bit more on the second time through. Awesome. but not enough to put it in my standard horror movie, Robitoir. I think it's probably about 6.8 for me. wow So I think it's... I don't remember what I gave Spring, but I think it might be around that level of Spring where there's just some elements of the first half that just do not hit. But once it starts to get into what the movie is, I love what the movie is. It just, it takes a while to get there.
00:04:04
Speaker
I understand that in all seriousness. I do understand why you say that in a non-serious way though. I know you love to hit me on a personal level now because first spring and now this, I mean, I'm glad I kind of convinced you on spring. So maybe, maybe on this one I can have a repeat. Yeah. I can be, I can feel good about myself again.
Film's Artistic Style and Influences
00:04:23
Speaker
Give me up to the seven. Yeah. Hell yeah. Yeah. And just like we did for Ashley on whiplash. That was nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? ah So, I mean, you do know, I really, I really love this movie. I was blown away by it. It's already up there in my top movies of the year. And I'd say it's quickly become a favorite horror movie of mine, honestly. So yeah, not in your echelon, but at least in mine. I'd have to number it at an 8.5, I wanna say. And I was really considering a nine.
00:04:59
Speaker
like one point off from just like I completely like am in love with this movie but yeah I only took a couple like a point and a half off because of some sections I don't totally latch on to kind of like you were saying sometimes it takes a while to get going it is kind of a slow burn at times not the whole movie I would say but yeah I only did that um because of that but like before getting into this diving into the story I'll say like my excitement ever since hearing this movie was gonna be a thing and was gonna release like I think I saw it on social media like oh there's gonna be a new horror stop-motion movie like
00:05:42
Speaker
That's right up my alley. You know this, like talking to you about Coraline and Nightmare Before Christmas and stop motion animation is one of my favorite mediums to watch. So I was like, oh, my God, OK, let's go. And then I hear that it's going to be live action mixed with stop motion. And I was like, even better because James and the Giant Peach I love. Yeah, and I know that's a way different tone from this, but it's a mix of live action stop motion. That's very impressive. And a week before it released on Shudder, I caved and I rented it on Prime. I was going to wait this whole time, you know, like people were watching in festivals like last year. And I was like, OK, I got to hold on. But I caved one week before I rented it. And then I watched it again on Shudder as soon as it came out. And, you know, I that's kind of how nuts I am with movies. Yeah. Yeah. So you've seen this one a few times then.
00:06:39
Speaker
This would be my fifth time watching. Wow. Yep. Yeah. any times so This is one viewing with you. Yeah. know Only my second. I watched it the one with you and then I watched it the once again before the pod here. Okay, perfect. It's a really good movie to view a second time, honestly, like, and I'm not just saying that because I love it. It's you do understand a lot more. Definitely. And kind of it all comes together in your head a little better, I'd say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's definitely a lot of things I missed on the first watch through.
00:07:11
Speaker
Right. Yeah. And also like, I totally love themes of obsession in creative expression or art. And this is exactly what that is. I kind of knew that from even just reading the plot before I watched it. And I was like, this is going to be right up my alley too. Yeah. So it was kind of just a coming together of all of those things that just really popped for me. You know, so yeah, yeah it's become one of my favorites already. Wow. Yeah. So should we get into the story?
00:07:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i I want to start right away at the old timey intro title card. Yes. I really like that a lot is one of my things. Doesn't have to be anything special. Doesn't have to be a really cool transition or anything. I just like the, you know, the big blue text that said stop motion and then it was like shaky or something kind of remind me of like a, yeah, like an 80 slasher, I guess slasher. I was going to say more of even though this movie isn't a slasher. Yeah. It definitely felt like that. Give me almost like I don't know. I think maybe the old Jason Voorhees movies did that. Oh, yeah. Friday the 13th. That kind of sounds somewhat like, you know, the kind of his machete kind of chingy. yeah And, you know, like, yeah, it was kind of that. Yeah. And this this movie is very heavy with the with the string music as well. It is. you Yeah. And it really fits.
00:08:38
Speaker
Yeah. You know, cause violin a lot of times is a big feature thing in like composition of music. And like, this is definitely a story about an art piece. So it just like really feels coinciding. and she's a puppet, as her mother calls her, is the nickname. She's full on the strings. yup Yeah, yeah, yeah. Strings with the puppeteering that's going on. And we'll get more into that, of course, and like why really latch onto that aspect of the movie. But yeah, I agree. I'm glad you kind of picked up on that. Yeah. Yeah. The the score and the ah sound effects in this are
Themes and Character Analysis
00:09:15
Speaker
very well done. Oh, definitely. I agree, man. i after Right after that intro, that awesome 80s intro,
00:09:22
Speaker
Then we go to this black egg in, and the background is kind of this blue light. And and it's actually a really peaceful looking like kind of, uh, kind of sucks you in as a visual. Like it's just slowly turning and it's a nice looking egg. I got to say, yeah but I mean, like, what do you think of that shot? Is it nice to put it there? It it's. it's weird okay i still don't know about the egg on the second watch through if it's too heavy-handed of the symbolism uh if it kind of like takes you out a little bit like oh here's a little interlude to tell you oh there's a theme running through this right right yeah kind of starting us off on the right foot yeah um or if it does add to the creep factor enough i'm still torn somewhere in the middle there if it's if it's needed or not i get you i definitely get you
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, after that egg part, we'll kind of get more into that, like what we think it is. And I'm sure a lot of people are probably wondering after one time watching, honestly, because I know I was. I didn't know what the hell this was egg was, but. But anyways, we also, after that egg shot, then one of the most impressive shots of of this year already for me with, we get this eerie and stunning shot of our main character Ella's face with different colored lights flickering in and out as Ella's face is having different expressions in every frame. And I feel like that perfectly encapsulates the collision of stop motion and live action for this film.
00:11:02
Speaker
because it's you know it's kind of like Ella is one of the puppets in a stop motion film with her expression changing in her face like they have like stop motion animators have to switch out the puppets heads and stuff like to make their face and into a smile or frown or yeah whatever um but like progressing through those expressions on her face It starts off like she's delirious and kind of like looking around and then it becomes sinister and already you're hooked and impressed. It's like, it's very effective. Yeah. I, again, I think it's another thing I'm torn on where I don't know if it's artsy or if it's clever. Somewhere in the middle. Okay. Okay. I just.
00:11:49
Speaker
I don't know like when you look throughout the movie, they really do make those two art styles collide or live action collides with stop motion animation it like they're in the same frame, it looks like to us as viewers. Yeah. So like I like how they did that with just how cameras capture stop motion and not actual puppets moving around and stuff. Yeah. I will say like, like when we do get those stop motion, stop motion segments is by far my favorite parts of the movie. Oh, yeah. When they're on their own doing the stop motion segments and when the stop motion is colliding with the real world, which is, yeah, the continuation of the real world on its own throughout this is definitely where my, my points have dragged off.
00:12:36
Speaker
Oh, OK. I get you. Yeah. Yeah. you could You kind of your interest falters a little bit with yeah the like what's going on in Ella's actual like life and not her mind. Yeah, especially like the first maybe 45, 50 minutes or so when you're like it's she's not fully going into that psychosis realm yet. And so we're still getting a little hints of intruding into the real world, but it's not fully mixing yet. is like once it starts mixing is when it gets good. Okay, I get you. Yeah, yeah when it's more featured. Yeah, definitely and I after this shot we do
00:13:19
Speaker
Well, even though this is a weak part for you, I do feel like it's very essential for the whole plot in movie because right away we're introduced to our main character Ella in her kind of natural environment what she does day by day with her mom and Taking care of her while also being her hands and finishing her project because she's this legendary stop-motion animator. Yeah and we don't really get her mom being like her true self like when we actually see what her mom's actually like but it's kind of slowly amplifying to that point and it's it's slow but I do really appreciate how we are just launched into this story and we don't see the total progression of
00:14:14
Speaker
or decline, I should say, of Ella's mental health. Yeah. We kind of start where it's already fractured her mental health. Yeah. It has been like this for how however long, like since her childhood, it seems like, especially when we get more into the story. Yeah. You know, so I think it's essential. It's maybe not my favorite part, but that's that's a big piece that needs to be in there, I feel. You know, even though her mom's not super featured throughout the movie. Yeah. I do wonder, especially going through on the second time through how much her mom is actually contributing to this, um, her eventual psychotic break or if she's seeing that is how she wants to see her mom.
00:15:04
Speaker
Like because you get to we get this first like stop motion scene where she's helping her um and her mom can't use her hands. So she's just directing her how to move the the pieces. Yeah. And um when the lights go out and flicker and there's that weird like little horror scene there. Yeah. I'm like, is she actually like seeing this or is her mom actually just like actually yelling at her and being, you know, controlling and crazy? you know judging from Ella's mental state when we start with her and the hints we get from her past and how her mother's been I feel like a lot of that had to contribute to Ella's psychology and everything like it just it totally makes sense when you take this super overbearing mother you add her into the equation
00:15:58
Speaker
Ella in the beginning is trying to have a normal seeming social life in life. But like, you can already tell she's barely holding on to that. And she's really in her head all the time. And day after day, she's like, commanded by her mom. And you can, I mean, it's kind of obvious, like, like it doesn't need to be symbolism or anything you kind of feel she's her mother's puppet and she doesn't have like an identity of her own yeah really and you kind of wonder she seems very good at this stop-motion stuff and her mom she could have learned a lot from a legend right yeah you almost wonder if
00:16:42
Speaker
Ella did not have an overbearing mother if she was just more normal and kind as an artist, like what would it be? Like Ella could have had an awesome career as a stop-motion animator. So I just feel like all those things were going against her and it is actually like this whole thing is a sad story about our main character actually. Like you kind of wonder what could have been. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that crossed my mind that that story of like what could have been with Ella. yeah But also I just I know again we're we're seeing her kind of after she's kind of already breaking and yeah like had a break and she's and just delving further off the deep end. um Yeah.
Ella's Creative Journey and Challenges
00:17:25
Speaker
I don't know. I wondered how much her mom just actually contributed to that or how much was her saying I've prescribed you to be the demon in my life.
00:17:34
Speaker
Type of thing cuz yeah, I started to think on the second watch through to did Ella have anything to do with the coma. I Don't know if you considered that the like with her mom going into the coma Oh, gotcha. Not the stroke itself, but like her then going into a coma. Yeah. Cause she makes her food and stuff. And I was like, I don't know if she just really doesn't like her mother and stuff and wants her out of her life. She's been imagining her dead, those kinds of things.
00:18:07
Speaker
that's a really good that's a really good thought and take. Honestly, like I can see where those pieces might have been set up for it to seem that way. Honestly, how the movie goes and progresses, and just everything that you are told in what you see as a viewer. It seems like it's more of just the natural causes. Yeah, like she had the stroke. She just went into the coma never recovered Yeah, you know like she already seemed like she was in a bad state Yeah, you know couldn't take care of herself and imagine for Ella to this overbearing horrible mother already. Mm-hmm And then her arthritis gets so bad in her hands that she can't complete her own work. So she makes her daughter finish Something that isn't
00:18:59
Speaker
el It's not Ella's, it's not Ella's project and her mom even makes a comment before the stroke. She says that like, I just want to finish this film before I die. Is that so hard to ask or is that too much to ask or something to Ellen? and like it kind of in a snapshot shows you her mom like doesn't see her as a daughter yeah sees her as a assistant yeah her puppet yeah yeah so it it's just after watching it five times that really settles for me and it makes me feel good about like
00:19:37
Speaker
my thoughts and interpretation about it but like it's my interpretation maybe it isn't that way at all i could be totally wrong reading this stuff and i'll get into more later but yeah it's just what i took from it okay you know yeah i wasn't sure either way i was just one of those things i was thinking of as she prepares her dinner um for her the second time when she just leaves her mom to Try and use the fork on her own. Um, Oh man. as And then you connect it with the coma happening shortly after it was like, huh? I don't know. Just one of those things. Definitely. And also the muffled sounds of breathing.
00:20:14
Speaker
that Ella kind of hears when she is helping her mom or I should say like being commanded by her mom and moving the puppets ever so slightly to take the snapshots like this time viewing I was really wondering what that muffled breathing is like I know this is a horror movie is it just a creepy sound to add into But I think it's actually us as a viewer, like being in Ella's like POV and like really concentrating, really focusing on what she's doing. It's kind of just that no talking, like slowly kind of breathing, you know, we're kind of in her head in a way. So I thought that was very interesting and it's all creepy element to add, right? You know?
00:20:58
Speaker
Yeah, I do like that losing power scene there ah shortly before the stroke. I thought that was pretty um well done. I would have liked more of that too. ah Yeah, I get you. At least maybe a couple more scenes like that before we get to the the full break. yep, it gets us into the horror yeah aspect of the movie really with that electricity going out. And then we realized that this is not gonna be such a happy go lucky story yeah probably. yeah Honestly, I can't imagine how frustrating
00:21:33
Speaker
it was to be Ella's like mother's puppet trying to do exactly what she intends with taking frames of the film and like doing everything all fucking over, even though it looks pretty damn good to me. Artists can be perfectionists. I'm sure her mother is no stranger to being a perfectionist. and like It really makes me think I would go mad too, honestly. Like I'd fucking go ah just nuts with her, you know, making me start over.
00:22:05
Speaker
Yeah, I can't imagine the amount of patience that that craft takes. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah. And I mean, we'll get to a character later. But when the little girl comes into the story in the apartment, she even asks Ella, like, ah kind of what's the point? And Ella just says, because I like it. You know, or that must take ages. What's the point? you You know, for stop motion and that kind of sums up stop motion, honestly, like in a couple, couple, you know, dialogue sentences. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause we like it. It's fun. Yeah, definitely. Uh, all right. So now in the story, we'll go to getting a glimpse into Ella's social life.
00:22:50
Speaker
by meeting her boyfriend, Tom and friends, as well as Tom's sister being included in the friends. Could you sense a bit of jealousy or curiosity from Ella when her boyfriend's sister, Polly, is showing her the stop motion works they've been working on at her company, like on her phone? i I don't think it was jealousy that I sensed per se. I think it was just admiration of the craft. Curiosity a bit too. Yeah. And then especially with some of the darker ones, ah like when it got to the, there was like a stop motion thing about suicide. I almost wonder if she was like, yeah, I can go darker, do that kind of dark stuff too.
00:23:33
Speaker
Oh, sure. Kind of like a little inkling to drop in her mind for the story to come. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's a good read. Yeah. I, I was just kind of wondering like what you thought was going on in her head in that. I think, yeah, I think I'd go with you too. No, not jealousy, but yeah. Oh, like kind of peak of interest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was, I wonder if that's how Tom and Ella met probably is through a stop motion industry, I guess. I was like, Oh, it's interesting that her boyfriend's sister is also stop motion girl. Very true. Yeah. And unfortunately it does kind of set that thing up for Ella where she, like one element that's kind of feeding into her psyche and her fractured mental state is that sister being there though, because if you compare the two, her sister is very,
00:24:24
Speaker
free and can do her own stuff and own art and do what stop motion she wants to do. And then Elle is kind of a prisoner to it a little bit like underneath her mom and can't do her own stuff. Right. You know. yeah Oh yeah. Elle was a grown ass woman and came and stayed in bed with her boyfriend Tom. I'm like that frustrated the hell out of me. Yeah. And like her her plugging his nose in a painful or in like a playful way. Yeah. The little, little foreshadowing there for a shadowing. Yeah. That just gets me. I love it. And we'll, we'll get to that. We'll hold off. But yeah, I gotta say it's like one of the best foreshadowings that I can remember in a long time. So I just really liked that little bit there.
00:25:08
Speaker
I know I mentioned this when, um, when we watch it too, but we really need like a. Award show for the best, um, partners in these horror movies too. Cause Tom sticks with so much shit to deal with. He's so supportive. Who is this guy? Honestly, like if if you were to see your significant other going through this stuff, I mean, a lot happens behind closed doors that he's not there for, but still there's a lot of red flags, like Yeah, and he he's stuck by her side, man. Like, yeah, I agree. We should have an award show like like an Oscars for all the horror movie significant others. or so Yeah. Yeah. And it's not even just like, oh, I'm not leaving you because you're mental illness. It's like actively supporting and um dealing with her overbearing mother. And like he's doing all these things like
00:26:00
Speaker
giving up his sleep to bring her back yeah like he's a grown-ass man he's got his own life that yeah he probably wants that sleep and trying to feed her take care of her give her the apartment like so much stuff throughout this movie Oh yeah. Like, like they said, when she showed up to the bar, the first time we meet all of them. Oh, there she is. She came out of her cave, you know, it like they know her situation with her mom. And that's also really sad. It just, it feels like Elle is very isolated and very set up for what's to come. Unfortunately, like in a bad way. Yeah. And like her, that whole friend group there is obviously not her friend group. It's her boyfriends and her boyfriend sisters.
00:26:43
Speaker
Exactly. So like more three isolated, more things that aren't her own. Yeah. Once you pick more of this apart and Ella's life a apart, like see why it kind of makes me think like her mom contributed to this and like just in an unfortunate way. And she's just going through unfortunate events. She didn't do anything to her mom to put her in a coma or anything. This is just all happening to her. Unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah, fair and unfortunate circumstances. Oh, I know. Definitely. And also like back on the topic when Tom's bringing her home, that car ride with those two, these that conversation.
00:27:27
Speaker
was really needed it as well and kind of opened up our understanding of Ella's life more because if you think about it, we kind of see Ella's wheels turning in her head as well as ours. And she tells Tom, she's the brains on the hands. It's her film. And Tom asks, why don't you try making your own films? Find your own voice, you know? yeah And Ella responds, I don't have my own voice. Like that, it's laying it out there for us to kind of telling us like where she's at in life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Little more insight. Doesn't feel like she has that artistic skill, I guess, to do it on her own.
00:28:08
Speaker
Right. Yeah. So we'll now jump to when her mom has her stroke while they're working on the film and she starts kind of slurring her words and you're kind of wondering what's going on. It's, it's a horror movie moment, but then it's like, oh shit, she's having a stroke. Like, you know, it's not like a demon just possessed her or something like that. Yeah. So like they somehow made it creepy and effective though, still with just a person having a stroke, like a natural thing that happens, unfortunately. Yep, I like that segment. The little girl gets introduced a little bit later here. Yes. ah At the the apartment when she just rudely barges her way in. Yes. um but's gro sp This girl reminds me a lot of the little girl from Haunting a Blind Manner, I think it was.
00:29:00
Speaker
Oh, especially when she first comes in, and she's like, it's a bit boring. Flora. Flora is the girl from Haunting a Blind Manner. I love her. Yup. Yup. It's a bit boring. Do something better. And then she starts giving her her own ah fucked up ideas and stuff. Yes. Yeah. And I mean, it's not obvious to us yet at this point, but like very interesting. Starting us on this journey of Ella's own stop motion film. Yeah. This little girl kind of helping that go along. Yeah. Yeah. Ella as we'll get into, but yeah, like Ella's deeper psyche kind of driving this, this other movie after giving up on the, the Cyclops one.
00:29:46
Speaker
right right yeah her mother's and yeah that that cyclops movie it it did seem pretty boring and more of an adult stop-motion movie which i understand like her mom would probably make stuff like that did you think it was kind of like a greek mythology odyssey feeling yeah type yeah yeah that's what i liked about it though too yeah you know at this point too um since we're getting to the little girl from the apartment being introduced. I'll call her the curious little girl in the apartment basically threw throughout my notes. Yeah, I don't think we ever get a name. No, we don't. But at this point, we have a dangerous blend. For Ella's mind, we have her not having much for a sense of self-like creativity, career, and decisions.
00:30:35
Speaker
her boyfriend's sister, Polly, being near her, like I said earlier, as a constant reminder of the lack of creative expression and career. Every day seeming like the same. Lack of sleep, taking care of an extremely overbearing mother, as well as being her hands to do her mother's work, Basically she has like a stolen life, you know her like most of her life has been stolen from her I feel yeah um Now her mother the puppet masters health is deteriorating What does she have now and what will she do now that she's free? Mm-hmm, you know like all this bears bears weight on her mental state only good thing that she has that she Should have known she had at least or like that we can at least see is Tom like we said so supportive
00:31:25
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, even he can't fix this. No. Yeah. He tries and tries. Other than like, I mean, getting your institutionalized, I guess. But yeah. Oh, definitely. Yeah. I I was really curious to see how long Tom would be around. Yeah. Like through this journey. I think he was he was giving up near the end, but he was still like he still obviously cared a lot about her. Oh, yeah. He didn't have to come back at the end at all. Really? Yeah. Which we'll get to. Yeah. like or they could have you know just dipped out but like that's weird we're gonna call 9-1-1 and leave yeah like yeah you should talk to someone or you like your mother just died even though she was horrible she probably still there's probably some grief going on and you know you're probably not in the best mental state yeah at all but
00:32:15
Speaker
with her mother having that stroke, it finally gives her that final shove into the pool of madness. And she's like slowly sinking. I feel that's like rewatching it. You kind of pick up where are the things start at, basically. Yeah, I like the the progression, too, of the stop motion characters being built throughout this as well. Same. st Starting from ah the armatures and stuff, ah armature, armature. The skeleton in the puppets. Yeah. Yeah. Which it's kind of cool that we get insight like that in a stop motion and that they're like talking about intricate things like that. Yeah. And then they're using the, uh, the, the wax, the, the putty stuff. Yeah. The morticians morticians wax picks up dead bodies and stuff for viewing. Yeah. And then they go into, you know, just the various other things. They're getting dirtier throughout the movie and I'm going to, to meet, to, to real meat.
00:33:12
Speaker
They get more and more sinister. It really we're kind of climbing the ladder down into the depths of your kind of demented mind. Like you kind of do see that it's kind of fucked up. Yeah. Yeah. I was reading a little bit on this too that they actually do use I think it was animal meat for some of their things. Obviously, you know, they're probably not going out to get roadkill. I don't know. Yeah. But yeah, use some of that raw meat to mold their figures, make them look a little more realistic in some parts.
00:33:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Like the little girl kept saying they don't look real enough. Yeah. ah So yeah, like adding these actual biological things instead of crafting like some little clothes with, you know, thread and shit like that. Like it's yeah. to yeah The mortician's wax, what do you call them? Are they just puppets, I guess? the Yeah. What do you call the figures? I've called them puppets throughout my notes, honestly. Yeah. Stringless puppets. um The mortician's wax, one like one of the first things she does is probably one of the creepier ones, too. The the girl that's lost in the woods. Yeah. Yeah. like Because it's so like it gets more, a little more lifelike as it goes through the changes that she makes it. Oh, it just starts with like little eye holes.
00:34:37
Speaker
pretty basic to start with, but it's creepy as hell. Yeah, I agree. I agree with you, man. And good, good foley, good sound effects there too, as she ah enters the space of creating these little videos that we get. Yeah agreed yeah the the little noises that the girl makes and stuff it really it's unnerving yeah honestly because you're like she's recording these and she's she has to be ready to put them in there unless we're just hearing it over is like an imagination yeah yeah kind of like um Ella kind of zooming into it you know like imagining it yeah i could see that what she would do in post or something right yeah definitely
00:35:17
Speaker
So yeah, to like make this project and make this new stop motion film, Tom finds her a vacant apartment, we should say, in an older building. And that's where she meets the little curious girl that's asking about the film and like giving her ideas. you And we do obviously see that like this is still not Ella's doing either. Like she's getting told what to make and how the story is going. And she's just making it.
Stop Motion Sequences and Psychological Depth
00:35:45
Speaker
So that's kind of, it's sad that the little girl is also kind of like her mom. Yeah. You know, where we're at in the story right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it definitely pisses off Ella as you go through it. Like at first she's like, Oh, that's cute. Thanks for the idea. And then she starts to realize she can't think of her own ideas and she needs the girl. The suggestions from the little girl are getting more sinister.
00:36:09
Speaker
so and she's starting to realize that because she has morals like a regular person and she's kind of questioning what's going on finally you know and yeah yeah yeah getting a little more weary of it instead of being fully in you know i think um it's a couple scenes ahead but as we go through some of the changes i like that As I went through and watched it the second time, I've seen more of the hints that I didn't see the first time about the little girl's identity. I don't think it was not obvious. Like, I think I guessed it pretty quickly the first time I watched it through. Yeah. That about the little girl. um But going through, I picked up a couple more times, a couple more things in this second watch where ah Tom tries to dingle the meat in front of her and stuff. He's trying to carry to eat. He's like, doesn't this look good? yeah
00:37:01
Speaker
I think he ends up throwing it out um because she didn't eat it and the little girl the next day goes straight to that trash can and pulls it out like how would she know that's there very true good point good little good little pickup see like this is a nice viewing experience a couple times through that's what I really enjoy about the movie and for me it got deeper and deeper Yeah. Yeah. And I think sometimes I was thinking too much about it. Maybe my notes will kind of reflect that. But I don't know. We kind of just try to interpret it, you know, and help talk through it. But I also don't blame all for not eating that night with Tom because I'm like, I don't know if anyone would be just hanging a raw steak in front of me like, oh, doesn't this like that? Yeah. Cook it first, then it'll look. Yeah. It never looks good before. Yeah. Bring it back with the sides and then ask me. Yeah. Yeah. When it's hot and I'm smelling the seasonings and stuff. Yeah. Like I am ready. God, I'm kind of salivating right now. Thanks man. Do you think Ella chose to stay in solitude in that apartment constant, like constantly work instead of staying at Tom's after working because that's the routine she's been used to so long with her mom, even though she's in the hospital, like she's still kind of doing that.
00:38:14
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. I think she was still on the like, I don't have a choice. I have to do this movie. This is my, my schedule. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Definitely. So just still sticking with what she's used to. I kind of felt the same way too. I just wanted to ask you about that. Yeah. And that's one thing too, that maybe if Tom was able to separate her a little bit more.
00:38:36
Speaker
I mean, I suppose she still would have had her final break eventually, but maybe you could help her more if you actually got her away from the table for a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Instead of like almost 24 seven being in that space. Yeah. Yeah. It's already like a creepy. Set in a creepy ah apartment room. Yeah. Not, not apartment room, but apartment. Yeah. You know, abandoned and it's getting worked on. It's old. Like it seems like there's peace and quiet all the time besides the little fricking girl that keeps humming that tune. Yeah. Hear the echo. So the through the woods.
00:39:21
Speaker
She finds a house and And who's coming for her? Maybe a wolf? Like a red riding hood type thing? It's a man. What man? A man no one wants to meet.
00:39:42
Speaker
She comes on three nights.
00:39:50
Speaker
Did you think that the stop motion set for the, we'll kind of get more on the Ash man, but I kind of started to call it the Ash man movie. Yeah. But would you think like with the woods and it being dark and the cabin, when we do go into those stop motion scenes, it kind of reminds you of Evil Dead, doesn't it? With them kind of going out to that lone cabin. I don't know, for some reason. I could see the vibes. And her kind of crawling and like trying to escape. It kind of just gave me the Evil Dead vibes without being funny at all, like darkly humorous. Yeah, they't they don't have the dark comedy mixed in there. Oh, no not at all, no.
00:40:29
Speaker
no um yeah i i liked all those all those scenes they were really good they were creepy um yeah just again you get back to that real life and then there's so much time in between getting your next dose of those scenes or the mix-in um as it emerges into real life it's just like that's just where it lost me every time very fair and i think we did discuss while watching the movie together for your first viewing but like I kind of, I took that into account and I was kind of wondering, okay, why wouldn't they mix more stop motion in here? Cause I, I was kind of longing for it too, honestly. And that's maybe why it sits at an 8.5 for me. I also don't blame the creators or anything because I feel like it was already up to its budget. It seemed like a smaller movie. This was the director's first feature film.
00:41:25
Speaker
Yeah. And you get some decent cast for what it is too. Exactly. And stop motion takes so long to do. So I'm sure like just to do these like little scenes what was a lot already. Yeah. And took money and time, obviously. So I, know I think with what they were given, I think it was very well done. Yeah. And it served its justice for sure. Yeah. And I could see for storyboarding purposes too, there's a certain threshold where you'd certain you'd have to cross it and make the decision where like, is this a stop motion movie with real life added in, or is this a real life psychological movie with stop motion added in? Right. At some point you're going to cross that threshold and you're like, you're just making a stop motion movie now. Exactly. Exactly. Good point. Yeah. There's kind of a line to walk with that. and Yeah.
00:42:16
Speaker
They, it seems like their intention was to have it more of a psychological. Yep. It's really kind of exploring the psyche with that stop motion element. Yep. Yeah. At least yeah. Like with this, I do see why they did it. Like you can reach the horror audiences then. And people who are also fans of stop motion. Exactly. Or as you go the other way around, you're just appealing to stop motion fans. very fair yeah because not everybody likes animation and i'm sure people find stop motion creepy or something you know wouldn't doubt it but i i personally love it to death so yeah no i get you good points there you know and it's crazy with ella kind of coming out of it and realizing that she
00:43:02
Speaker
would make the scenes while blacked out, basically, and just like waking up and like finding it already done. God, her creepy element to it, honestly, and I i really like that, how it's kinda like she's got two sides to her, like a night person and night Ella and you know daytime Ella or something. like It's just crazy. Yeah, her different side that's making it. There's the the one scene where It's a little cheesy on the line delivery, but Tom comes in and finds her sleeping on the ground. And she's like, oh, he's seen me and stuff. The ash man, the guy in my movie. And he's like, no, you animated that. And like, would would you watch the video before you woke her up? Very true. Yeah. Like maybe he came upon the scene and was wondering what the hell was going on. Like, what's this mess? She broke all the original.
00:43:56
Speaker
Like set and characters. Yeah, and then the the video that they play right after that like isn't Nearly the same as the kind of what she was just describing either true because of I mean obviously because It's not a real house. It's just a little cardboard house Right, right. Yeah. So yeah, it was very well done for Ella slapping that together when she didn't know she was doing it. Yeah. So a little bit of the transitions there are a little cheese. But when you actually get into the like the stop motion itself, though, I love like that scene. It's it's so effective. I know. Yeah. Like honestly, give me more of that. It was.
00:44:36
Speaker
You didn't even have to have much. It was seriously dirt, twigs that she got out. Obviously you see she's dirty when she wakes up. So she probably just went out to the woods and her, dang, her lack of sleep is probably building and building because of this. Like she's staying up all night making the shit. yeah So like that doesn't help her mental health either. But anyways, yeah, just like. twigs dirt and you got like you said this cardboard little house and I mean everything's not extremely detailed like the wallpaper in the house or anything or the outside of it but like it's it's impressive what they did with this little set yeah stop motion yeah it's nice it's it's obviously made to look
00:45:20
Speaker
like like hastily but also like but skilled yeah yes exactly that's what i do appreciate about it and just the way of the little figures puppets like you said just creepy as hell and you only have two puppets in there basically yeah they're both just creepy the ash man the girl yeah yeah Yeah. So moving forward in the story, cause we kind of like talked through it quite a bit, but now I suppose we should get to when Ella's at that party. She sees Polly, the sister of her boyfriend and her boyfriend, Tom is also there. And yeah I love, I love this slow motion.
00:46:01
Speaker
and how it's kind of how they're filming Ella going through the party and that kind of guitar and like intense drum beat in the background. like I like that.
00:46:43
Speaker
Yes, after watching it this fifth time, I could probably skip over this party scene. I do like the part where she yeah I like it for the wound. Yes, for the wound at the end. I think that's probably the only little segment I like of it. Yeah. Oh, as the whole drug thing was just kind of like, ah oh, maybe you think she's tripping, but she's and it turns out and it's pretty scary, but she didn't even take the fucking. Yeah. LSD or acid, whatever it was. Yeah. Yeah. She was just seeing this shit. Yeah, I thought that part was a little cheesy, the drug thing. I get you. It's like, oh, I didn't actually take it. I'm just psychotic. But I do like the, I assume she wasn't actually doing it. Like she's just imagining herself doing it, but like fingering the guy's wound and stuff because no one reacted to it.
00:47:27
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not sure if she actually did or not because, you know, she's just losing it a little bit and thinking about it. But I like that because she's like, like, I would have loved a lot more of that of a slow going into the harvesting of bodies for her scenes. fair Yeah. Yeah. I think that was like a little hint to the ending there, but also like how the progression of the puppets in the stop motion in the Ashman film are getting more and more grotesque and morbid, you know, like, and now she's kind of thinking about human bodies, right? Yeah. And this kind of gives us a glimpse into the impressive body horror that stop motion also has in it. It has a good mix of horror stuff in it. This one does do some really good body horror. Oh, yeah. And I'm always a sucker for that, honestly. And they do it more for Ella herself yeah than anyone else. But I do like there's a shower scene, I think maybe a scene or two after the party where her and her boyfriend are hooking up again. And oh, yeah. Yep. In that brick shower, right? Yeah, it's almost like, hey, maybe things are looking up. ah I mean, from his perspective, yeah like she's reaching out again and and being reactive. She wants to stop but doing it. She's like feeling down his back and stuff and almost like trying to dig into his skin. I know. And yeah, I was like, oh, she's just, you know, imagining him as the as the wax.
00:48:51
Speaker
It's creepy. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, you see the wheels turning even more and you're like, Oh God, like he thinks it's okay, but we know it's not okay. Yeah. Yeah. He thinks she's just being intimate and yeah. Nope. Definitely. Yeah. Like, Oh, the scratches feel really nice, honey. Oh no, I'm just kidding. Yeah, I like that. I think that maybe this movie could you use some of that free time in the first half to sure. Take us a little bit longer down this road, explore that bit of it a little bit more. Yeah, I get you. Then we get to the twist that honestly, when I watch this twist over and over, I don't feel like the movie's intention or like any of the creative minds
00:49:36
Speaker
intentions were to have this be a huge reveal twist like shock. yeah It just serves the story nice and I like that it's not overplayed it's just a little ah oh okay everything makes sense now I'm putting the pieces together like oh that's kind of cool how they did that And I like the representation of like what the twist is saying. Yeah. You know. Yeah. I agree with you. I don't think it was meant to be a big gacha from the creators. No. It still felt like a little bit like when the she strangles the girl. She's finally tired of that little shit. Yeah. That's that's where it's actually revealed to us. We just get a huge hint where we're you and I are at in the story right now.
00:50:24
Speaker
Yeah, we're there in a the woods. Yes. She's like when she runs out because she sees the little girl at the party, then you're wondering why the fuck is the little girl at this party? And yeah why is she in a costume shit like that? You know, so you do get this huge hint. She's like, ah you shouldn't talk to yourself. It's the first sign of madness or psychosis or something. There we go. That's what I was going to get to. Yeah. Like talking to yourself is the first sign of madness is what Ella says to the little girl. And the little girl says, look who's talking. Yeah. There it is that. And I love how you can sum up things in just a little line of dialogue like that or something. So then you're like, things are clicking in your head, right? Light bulb comes on.
00:51:07
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like that was almost enough to tell you right there that we didn't need the strangulation scene. Fair, fair. Like we didn't need to say like, hey, yeah, you are right. I'm not real. Yeah, no, very true. I get that. I think that was kind of a cool little violent scene to add in at least like strangling a little girl. That's like that's tough. Yeah. um Because when they're in the woods there, too, she even like even before she starts really talking to the little girl, the little girl's recording on that thing. The next steps of the story and it comes out as Ella's voice. Yes, that's a very good hint too. Yeah, I totally forgot to add that part in my notes, but I think I pointed that out to you a little option. I tried not to like spoil spoil, but like it was kind of telling you right there. Yeah, that's it's not her. Yep, or it is her.
00:51:58
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And when I was saying the meaning of this whole kind of reveal really got to me and why I've been thinking about this maybe too deeply is because like, very effective, we'll we'll talk about like kind of what the little girl represents since we're there now. So basically what I took away from it was this little girl is Ella's inner child, cream creativeness, imagination, whatever you wanna say about you know her being a kid and like her thinking and being an artist. But she this little girl inside was locked away for so long and I'm sure like now it's just,
00:52:40
Speaker
manifesting as her younger self after her mother's stroke and she's slipping deeper and deeper into you know what's the right word kind of not derangement or you know kind of Yeah. I like just losing that last little bit of grip on reality. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Thank you for helping me out there and finishing it. Yeah. And each time the process of making a dead things come to life gets darker, like with Ella changing what the puppets are made out of, because it's this obsession in the art. And unfortunately Ella's little creative girl inside is corrupted, probably most mostly due to Ella's abused mental state. Unfortunately, this little girl inside is corrupted now because.
00:53:26
Speaker
She probably didn't have much of a childhood with her mother, unfortunately, you know, and that like when she brought up to her mother in the beginning, like, Hey, maybe I can help you out with a couple ideas or something. Like maybe we can use some of my ideas. And her mother asks her the next day, she gives her a chance to say what she needs to say. And she falters. Like she doesn't have her own voice. Like Ella was saying, yeah you know, and it's like, yeah, she probably lost that creativity and imagination and just. Yeah. And now, now it's manifesting. And unfortunately with her bad mental state, the results of the creativeness and art artistry are also pretty morbid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree there. So I, I start to lose a little bit of the the sense of scenes here, but Oh, you're good.
00:54:14
Speaker
Um, we do get back to another stop motion mixture with real life when she tries to go to sleep. I think it's a couple of scenes after the forest and the little wax girl comes in and jumps on her bed at the stuff. I think this might be my favorite scene in the whole movie. Very good, dude. Like agree if the whole movie could have been around this pace and creep factor, yeahp like this would easily be like a height low nines movie for me. I was thinking there would be more like that. Yeah. Um, like that's, it's really good when it, it mixed so flawlessly with, um, the real life and the stop motion, uh, the little morticians model jumping on the bed and like actually ripping open her leg and stuff. And yeah, it's very well done. Oh, I agree. Definitely. Yeah. That, oh man, that image sticks in my head where like Ella kind of looks towards the doorway and.
00:55:14
Speaker
The little girl figure is just standing there and her shadows being shut like just an awesome shot right there. And it just, it really encapsulates the movie with the mix of stop motion, live action. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Good representation of that. I appreciate that the Ash man tail is easy to follow with the three nights. Yeah. It's, you know, it's numbered and we can kind of see where Ella's at in her, you know, uh, creation process and everything. It's nice to kind of follow. And as the girl is kind of going through it slowly. Yeah.
00:55:49
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, kind of your behind the scenes, but in the movie storyboard, it's, I don't know how to put that in the words. It's the storyboard of the stop motion characters, but it also parallels to what's going on with, with Ella with her nights as things are, you know, going on. Very awesome point. I put that in my notes and highlighted it because that's another really good symbolism of the movie that I really enjoy. is it's like It's not a complete one-to-one, right? Yeah. But it is kind of mirroring what's happening outside of the film. it ah I'm sure you have this, but was the little girl says every artist puts themselves into the work. Yes. Yeah. Yep. I have that written down too. So since you touched on that point,
00:56:41
Speaker
i was I'll just say my point about like the stop motion, the Ashman tale mirroring what's going on with Ella in her mind. I'll touch on that now instead of later, but each section of the stop motion film matches up with what she's going through, not a complete one-to-one like I said. isn And you have to figure out a couple things for yourself. And really think, which I appreciate in stories when it makes sense. And it's not too hard to follow, I don't think. And that's why it's beneficial to view this movie multiple times. Yeah. But like, for example, the story starts off with a girl lost in the woods. She's scared and there's someone coming. Ella's puppeteer from her life is away in the hospital and Ella has left her own devices now.
00:57:27
Speaker
You know, a little girl's coming. The someone who's coming madness in short is what I would say. The Ash man. Do you think he would represent madness for Ella? Basically? Yeah. Yeah. That would, that would make sense. Yeah. That's kind of what I took from it. And I just kept trying to think and think about it. Cause I know I asked you the first time and it was probably a lot to take in. So I apologize for that. Represented in the the little girl and then in the sort of in the egg. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like that egg that keeps being shown in that Ashman, well, we'll get to this part, but when the Ashman puts it the egg into her mouth, like, do you, do you still think your thought is correct the first time you thought about it? Like that it is her psyche.
00:58:15
Speaker
I think so. Cause what, what really brought me there is the final scene of the egg when it cracks. Yes. And it kind of, it's fleshy underneath and stuff. It's yeah. I, I just, I just don't know. I still thought about more. I don't know what the swallowing thing is about. Right. Yeah. So why the Ash man like put it, yeah. Okay. I get you. Yeah. But yeah, I still think it's, um, I guess symbolizing the, the psyche eventually breaking there. Definitely. Um, I also knew it wouldn't do Ella any good to work at.
00:58:50
Speaker
Polly's place of work. Yeah. Like Ella, if under normal circumstances would be way better than that, like working underneath Polly and stuff like that, like she should be doing big things, right? You know, yeah the stop motion. I felt so bad. Polly made it like seem like she'd actually get to help. And then she's just making eyes. She's not even like animating. She's just, you know, doing the very repetitive stuff that her mom was kind of making her do. I think Polly's honestly jealous of the potential. that Ella might have and she's just a, she's a little snot about it all, you know, like he thought the sister was going to be so helpful. And like when the, when Polly first visits her at the apartment to check on her.
00:59:33
Speaker
she's just wanting to go inside and take pictures of the project she's working on. yeah And then that comes back now into this part where we're at. And Ella sees something close to her work on the table at Polly's company. And then sees pictures of Ella's ash man tail. yeah How horrible. Dude, I would smash that stuff up too. I don't ah hate slimy people like that. you know Yeah. I am sure probably because Polly knows who Ella's mother is. He was like, Oh, uh, daughter of a prodigy. She's probably got some good ideas too. I'm going to go make friends and get some ideas. And the stuff, even though it's demented, it was, uh, very impressive what Ella was doing, honestly. So yeah. Yeah. I can see that. Yeah. I like, I thought it was funny that, um, in that the similar model that Polly had to nursing her character had blonde hair, like Polly's.
01:00:32
Speaker
Oh, hey. Yeah. Yeah. she like She changed up some little things. Yeah. Made it more like a is almost like a slasher. You know, you get your.
01:00:44
Speaker
I don't know if that's a PC term, but your blonde bimbo, I guess it's running away from the the killer and stuff. Kind of back to basics, like a slasher movie, but Ella, obviously this was a little more deep and compelling. Yeah. Yeah. Ella's is more about the psyche. Whereas yeah there's is just like, oh, this is just a slasher. Do you have very yeah ordinary horror? Yeah. No, good, good point there. I like that. Also. Then we visit the mom in the hospital before she's completely gone and it's Most likely in Ella's head that she's talking to her mother like her mother wouldn't wake up from the coma and then die, right? Like I don't think so. Yeah, I think I think just all in Ella's head and kind of her speaking out loud to herself, but I Like I love when her mom says the line, it's a wonderful medium, isn't it? Bringing dead things to life. I love this quote and I think it's an and important highlight of the film because like Ella's younger self and her mother help us understand what she's thinking as her mind spirals. Like when the, when her younger self is talking to her and her mom, now that her mom's in a coma. Um, yeah, but she's basically speaking to herself. Yeah. Yeah. I agree there.
01:01:57
Speaker
Yeah, so that that was a nice little thing. And also like, yeah, Elo did bring dead things to life in more of a, I don't know, a different way, I guess, like very morbid way. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that's an interesting aspect of the story. Did you notice that Ella's woods, like her set in the apartment was changed just a little bit with how the twigs and the dirt looked so that the life-size Ashman could come out of it? I kind of noticed that it was arranged a little differently so they couldn't fit whoever played him in the table or something. Yeah, I guess so, yeah. different It's a different yeah model set there. Yeah, and which I totally get, you know, but like you can,
01:02:45
Speaker
It's a blink and you'll miss it kind of so it's yeah, it's not a I'm not picking it apart or anything I just thought it was interesting, you know, like obviously you got to fit a whole human body in whatever they were using Yeah, yeah the cutoff table or whatever it was. That was a very cool scene ineffective and like really added to Yeah the mind kind of just slowly declining. Yeah. I like that a lot because she's like, she's like trying to run as herself from the ash man and then like turns into the wax figure yeah as she's going through the hole. Um, and then she's kind of like back to herself when the ash man like gets her. Right. Yeah.
01:03:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And we get a little glimpse of that box that's in the house that shows up at the end, but we'll get there. Yeah. Like where she just comes out into the box, you know, already. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's the same lining. Trying to put herself away, but not yet time. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, I actually didn't get that. I didn't read it like that. Okay. I like that. Okay. It makes more sense to me now, actually. Yeah. Cause I thought it was a cool part in the movie, but I didn't, I still don't fully understand it is what I'm getting at. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure there's, there's some deeper meaning with it. Yeah.
01:04:03
Speaker
Okay. We're not at the hospital because Ella was found wandering around after the Ash man encounter in the apartment when he puts the black egg in her mouth and help she must pass out or something and then kind of wanders and blacks out. Did you think after Ella and Tom's conversation in the hospital, that Ella would actually stop the film and the film would end on the light note, like stop motion would end on the light note. No, I don't think she ever had any intention of actually going to destroy it. I think that was just her efforts of saying like, hey, uh, just don't, just don't destroy my thing. Give me a chance to save it or something or finish it. I don't know. Maybe she thought she could go back and finish it quick. And yeah. Okay. john Yeah. And then, then destroy the physical set. Yeah. Yeah. i Okay. I get you. Yeah. I never thought it was leaning that way. I thought it was going to.
01:04:59
Speaker
Come to a still bad, unfortunate ending. yeah it It didn't feel hopeful to me at all. Unfortunately. Well, I didn't expect is, is having Polly and Tom here at the conclusion. Um, at least like in the way it happened, you'd think that like, maybe they'd just come back and find her in her conclusion in whatever it would be. yeah yeah definitely yeah i was kind of unfortunate at like what time tom and polly showed up yeah so yeah now we're we'll get we'll get to that part now so we we end on the third night in the tail you know and
01:05:41
Speaker
Okay so when Ella is strangling the little girl, I feel like Ella has been fighting off the madness and trying to take control of the reins and like be sane and like save herself but it just like the madness cannot be stopped and it's inevitable unfortunately. So like I felt like that strangling was trying to get a hold of it. And also like Ella was trying to change the story how many times with the little girl and the little girl is like, that's not how it goes. Yeah. She can't change it. Yeah. So I thought that was a very good, you know, it kind of telegraph to us that that's what it was getting to. Yeah. I liked all that. Um, fighting back and forth with her.
01:06:25
Speaker
mental demons personified, you know, an old girl and all the other stuff. But yeah, just ah just to lose in the end. Couldn't really actually fight it off. No, definitely. Yeah. ah And then we get to one of the most impressive sequences. Ella is now putting a bit of herself into her work by literally opening up her incision in her leg and taking out a piece of her leg. I still don't know what piece. I thought she ripped off a piece of skin or something. but It might have been skin. Yeah. That seemed like, yeah. Oh, man. But what an effective piece of body work. And it like really wasn't that much. It was kind of simple. Yeah. But like a little one inch strip. Yeah. It makes me cringe every time I watch it, even watching it five times through now. Yeah. Well, like Polly's face, I think as she walks in as like the the perfect reaction. Oh, it's a very good way. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. She's just like holding up the piece.
01:07:22
Speaker
We're just like, what are you doing? Ella, you know, and like, it's so obvious, but I i like that little symbolism with taking a piece of herself and putting it into her work. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I like that you can kind of almost see Polly and Tom taking account of what's going on for a second and being like, is this salvageable? Do we just leave? Yeah. And then they're just like, okay, no, we got to stop her. Like. Yes, they they tried. They didn't like run right away. So yeah, that's off to them, honestly. Took a second to acknowledge and think about how to deal with it. Oh, for sure. And we kind of we kind of skipped over it, but it was really impressive with all the figure like the little puppets coming out. And that was another good mix of stop motion and live action where they're all like sitting on the couch and watching Ella as she's opening up her leg.
01:08:15
Speaker
Yeah, like I really liked that and it that definitely felt more like James in the giant peach for me where there's like multiple characters mixed in With this live-action stuff. So yeah, instead of like, you know One little figure like the little girl coming into her bedroom and that's the only stop-motion thing in that scene you know, it it was really cool how they're all coming out and it was really well done how they like moved around and Yeah. Yeah. I like that you keep bringing up James and the Giant imp Peach. That's definitely one of the movies I thought of is us watching through this. Oh, for sure. Yeah, it's hard not to, right? And also, Ella taking out the stitches with her fingers instead of snipping them. Yeah, way worse. It's so slow and.
01:08:59
Speaker
Yeah. And you're just slowly letting the wound open. Like, yeah, it was, it was so effective how she was just pulling out those yeah stitches like and one by one. Probably another intentional metaphor of like taking the strings out of the puppet, you know? Yeah. Hey, there you go. All right. I didn't even I didn't think of that one either. it was We're getting some things. man Yeah. Dig into this. I'm sure everyone's first movie is full of art school ah symbolism. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
01:09:31
Speaker
If you look at this movie as a whole, it does feel like an art house horror film, which is nice. I love that because it could have easily been one of those Blumhouse pump out horror movies. Yeah. Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I love Blumhouse when they're at their best. But you know what I'm saying? There's been a couple. Yeah, they've been pumping some stuff out. They they have been putting their name on too many projects. Oh, definitely. Yeah, spreading themselves too thin, I feel like. but Step back, take the A24 approach. Yeah. but Be a little choosier. The A24 has got some misses too, but. Yes. Yeah, definitely. Like, talk to me. For me. But anyways, so back to stop motion.
01:10:15
Speaker
One of my favorite sequences ensues where they are trying to stop Ella and they're carrying her out, probably trying to bring her to a psychiatric hospital. Cause that's where she should go. yeah And now Ella kicked Polly to the ground very hard. What a kick and then pushes Tom down concrete steps. So did you think Polly and Tom were going to make it out of this alive?
01:10:46
Speaker
No, I think it was, uh, I mean, we we were wrapping up the movie. Yeah. I think it was, uh, pretty, pretty set for their fates there. Yeah, definitely. Even more effective body horror comes with Ella hitting the sister with the camera tripod. Yep. couple times in the head, knocking her down, then proceeding to puncture her throat with the legs of the tripod. Yes, like slowly. Oh man, that was also excruciating. Yeah, that was a very brutal death.
01:11:19
Speaker
Yes. And then Ella turns to Tom down the steps, slowly walks down the steps. And here's our foreshadowing where it comes full circle. Ella plugs his nose and holds his mouth, suffocating him. yeah Holy shit. It's horrible. That's so, uh, Very intimate, unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah. trying In a bad way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very opposite of the the previous moment where she did it. Oh, it was so playful. And now, oh, it's just the other side of the coin. Yeah. Yeah. Just whatever thought of that. I want to thank them. Like whoever put that in the story. Honestly, I love it. I love it. Yeah. It's very dark, but I love it. Yep. Yeah. I like all that. And then I think does she bring the the bodies into the room?
01:12:16
Speaker
Yep, yep, that's where we're getting to now. So now we're ending on the third night of The Tale with the Ashman. Ella is incorporating bigger puppets with the help of body parts from Tom and Polly. This is where the Ashman film and Ella's mind have been all like all leading to the whole movie. Even Ella couldn't control the ending. Complete madness comes to Ella and she bleeds out on camera. yep while still taking shots of the movie just still not stopping but it's very interesting when you go into the ash man tale and now she's like she's in it as herself and also her younger self are in there there's no stop-motion characters but
01:13:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's really effective how it leads to that. And like it, we're kind of going inside Ella's mind as she's faltering and dying on the floor. Yeah. Yeah. And puts herself in a box, puts herself in the box. Yeah, good way to good way to end it, put the puppet back in the box. This entire ending is is creepy and pretty near perfect for me. Yeah, same. Usually it's you know the endings that horror movies falter on, but for this movie it's the complete opposite for me. No, I'm really glad it ended where it did.
01:13:38
Speaker
and this ah little girl I had her name here it's like kale kale in it's really weirdly spelled kale and spring all is really good as a little girl in this very creepy i got credit it to her yeah yeah it wasn't A cheesy little kid, no offense to like the resident, the actors sometimes sometimes, but yeah, like it's kind of iffy, you know, but like, yeah, it was very good actress. Like I, she was believable to me. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of little creepy girls in movies and she definitely stands out. Oh, definitely. Yeah. And Ella putting herself in the box all.
01:14:20
Speaker
goes back to when her mother said, but when the puppets are done with their play, they're put back in the box. So I like that that other hospital scene where her mom's not dead yet, but she's in her mind talking to her. I also like that quote. It's very insightful into the symbolism. And the saddest part about Ella is that you feel she could have been this amazing creative person with a good life. And she was fighting to save her sanity quite a bit in this movie. Yeah. And you see that when Ella tries to change the story as her younger self keeps making it darker and darker. Almost like Ella is fighting the madness creeping in, but like I said, it's it is inevitable. And Ella tried to be in the driver's seat for her own life, but never could take the wheel.
01:15:06
Speaker
It is kind of a way I would sum it up. Yeah. And yeah, it's just, this is just a sad story of a person that we've been following for the whole entire movie and it just, it sucks. It ends in tragedy, you know, but that's also why I like the movie. I have a, I have a small question right away. Okay. Yeah, shoot. So the little girl is British. Uh, but the rest weren't
Accents and Actor Connections
01:15:30
Speaker
right. They were all American. No, they're all British. Were they all British? Yeah. Okay. For some reason, I think her, her accent just slipped my mind. I know the the actress is Irish. Um, yeah but I like, it it just caught me off guard that the little girl was British. I think she was just more British than the rest of them. I get you. Yeah. It's a bit boring. She just had some heavy accents. Yeah. Guys, everyone listening, that was a terrible British accent. Do not like you can grill me for it if you want. That's fine.
01:16:01
Speaker
Though I think a new TheraCo was because I think she has some accent in Witcher. I can't remember. Yeah. Yeah. I think she does. that's the That's where I recognized her from. That's right. Yeah. She was one of the witches. Yeah. She's one of the friend witches. Yeah. Of Triss. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. I recognized her right away. Right. But yeah, I didn't know anyone else in this though. As we're getting back into Game of Thrones again, easeling our main character here that plays Ella. eyes is not not spoilers for Game of Thrones, but she's a past character that's related to Jon Snow. And it's in like two episodes that may or may not know Mr. Stark, Mr. Ned Stark. No way. That's all that is her. yeah Oh my God. I just had an awesome realization. ah so She's in like like two episodes. But yeah, I was like, wait, it says she's in Game of Thrones. I looked at it like, Oh yeah. Yeah. She's that girl.
01:16:57
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, that's that's the dark depths of hell that stop motion, I guess.
Film Critiques and Comparisons
01:17:05
Speaker
Yeah. ah in rounding thoughts, so I think it could be could be darker, could use more stop motion. Though I realized the limitations on both of those things, both budgetary and storyboarding issues. But yeah, I mean, it's a decent movie. I think i think it's worth a watch still. yeah um I wouldn't say that this is an avoid for me. It just might not be one that I ever pick out again.
01:17:32
Speaker
Sure. Sure. Makes sense. But you at least enjoyed yourself for what it was you're two times watching. Yeah. Yeah. It was a good time. Yeah. Okay. And you, you did like kind of the depth to it as well. Uh, for, for the most part, I think it's a little surface level at times. Um, but I also think that, I mean, for Robert Morgan's first movie, like it's, it's not a bad start. I'd say, yeah, he kind of knocked it out of the park for his first one. So that, yeah I mean, at least for me, like, yeah, like I said, 8.5 for me, I.
01:18:06
Speaker
I really want to give it a nine, but kind of like what you said, the limitations it does. It takes away from it for me a little bit. And yeah, like, like you said, I kind of want to live in that. Ash man tail, like for a whole movie, honestly, I'd be good with that. Like, yeah obviously if you added a little more to it, cause it was simple, but it was simple enough for. What they made out of it and put into the movie, like the sections that were in the movie and how the tail, the little tail progressed through the three nights. It was kind of just a simple basic. you Yeah. Yeah. So it, I felt like it did serve the story. It served us as an audience, kind of getting an insight into.
01:18:52
Speaker
what's actually going on in Ella's head. ye yeah Morgan definitely has some some talent here that I can see and it he's someone I'll be watching in the future. I'll keep my eye on him because like we were talking about, all he did before this was those stop motion shorts sure yeah that kind of looked like the stop motion that was in this movie. He yeah kind of has that creepy feel. you yeah Yeah, I think yeah some definitely matched the vibe of this from what I got. And yeah, we already we covered my questions that I wanted to ask you at the end. Honestly, we could have just covered them throughout. So that's, Hey, good. Good for me. Yeah. Do you want to, you want to talk about, uh, your double features reminds you of what, what you should pair with this movie? Yes. How many do you have what reminds me of? I got one honestly, and it's probably the one that's on your list. Okay. Are you okay with me having three of them?
01:19:46
Speaker
Yeah. Let's go through yours because okay you're going to include mine. Okay. Let's see if we match up. Yeah. I tried to kind of think of how Ashley wanted to do it where we wouldn't overlap and we could have quite, I like her idea on that. So yeah i I tried my best to come up with three because honestly, I haven't seen a lot exactly like this before. That's also why I love it. It feels like a gem to me yeah in horror. Yeah, like we we discussed before, like I, I struggled to find something related to this. It's both psychological and stop motion ask. And, um, I mean, the most obvious one, like Coraline, uh,
01:20:26
Speaker
Okay, is that the one on your? That's the only one I got. Okay, I did not foot Coraline. Oh, you didn't. I got three more. So I did consider James and the Giant Peach, but I'm like, yes. It's not really a horror aspect to it. So I didn't put that on my list. Coraline's a little more creepier. I get you. yeah Yeah. And so that one was closer, but didn't have the live action aspect. Right. And any other ones I could think of like Babadook that deals with mental illness would be like fully live action. So I'm like, It just doesn't have the same relation. Yeah. it It only, you can relate those two with the psychological yeah elements to it and kind of a deeper art house stuff. Yeah. actually Yeah. There's no, no perfect double feature with this, but if you do want more sad and stuff and I'll watch, watch Coraline and Babadook back to back. There you go. Okay. Hey, at least you ended up with two pretty much now. Yeah. Oh, I like those two. Yeah. Okay. I'll add on to that. So.
01:21:23
Speaker
Reminds me of, we're on right now. Sorry, I did not say that right away. We're on reminds me of, guys. Need a jingle. Yeah, I know, we need a little like, yeah, catchy thing to do. ah So the first one I picked out was Mad God. And it's this stop motion journey down into hell. And I, I gotta ask Ashley, but I, it might be a shutter original. I can't remember, but yeah, it's a very messed up. Horrific stop motion, all stop motion movie. And I would say I put this down because of the, so the similarities in stop motion and style for the both of them.
01:22:07
Speaker
with the morbid deranged looking puppets and sets, but I've only seen the first 15 minutes, which I watched just last night with my buddy, and I realized I need to be in a bonkers headspace to go into the those depths of hell, like watch the whole entire thing. Yeah, I see. It looks interesting. Dude, Riley and I kept looking at each other like our jaws were just on the floor. We're like, what is going on? It's impressive. It really is. And I can see why Ashley loves it. I just, yeah, I need to need to be in a different mood. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I yeah i think this one will go on my list. It looks intriguing. I know. Yeah. I'm i'm surprised you haven't heard of it yet.
01:22:51
Speaker
Yeah, they this has not come up with me yet. It's also an AMC plus they must mix with shutter a lot. Yeah. AMC and shutter really team up and I think IFC became shutter. Okay. Yeah. Pretty sure. And then the next one is definitely a way different tone from stop motion and mad God. It's Marcel the shell with shoes on. I've seen not the whole like movie thing, but I've seen like sha on the shorts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nell and I watched and cried our eyes out. Honestly, it's a very touching story. So way on the opposite end of the spectrum from stop motion and mad God. But I'd say Marcel the shell with shoes on. That's a mouthful. The impressive blend of stop motion animation and live action really pairs these two with me. Stop motion and that.
01:23:42
Speaker
And they're different in tone, but they're very similar for what they're going for with, you know, having both live action and stop motion in one shot, you know, making it look seamless. And also both of these movies feel like art house films that are well thought out and crafted. Because Marcel is an A24 movie. And it it was very well done. And the last one I have is You'll Never Find Me. This is also a Shutter Original and it came out this year.
01:24:16
Speaker
I believe it came out this year. I have to check on that. I have to check on my facts, but this is just another psychological thriller horror that explores a character's psychology in a deep, visually compelling way. That's all I can give honestly to the plot. Like I don't want to go more into depth because it's a good one actually. And it might not be up everybody's alley in a traditional psychological examination. and very fun and you know keeps your attention with these big happenings. But its it's a good slow burn that is effective once you kind of get the whole scope of the movie. So yeah, check that one out.
01:25:03
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, same as this one. Um, film festivals, 23 wide release 24. Okay. Okay. So yeah, just the same as stop motion. Awesome. Interesting. Yeah. I will definitely check out, uh, Marcel. I still haven't, it's been on my list for awhile. I think you have to. Yeah. Uh, the, the full one at least at Matt God looks intriguing. Oh yeah. There you go. Now you got some and hopefully others out there haven't seen all three of those and check them out. Yeah, or, uh, yeah, or any of those are, if you guys haven't seen Coraline yet, go, go watch that one and check out our pod. Yeah. Then listen to the pod. That's my very first episode. I was on with Andy and Eric and it's, it's pretty special ah to me. And we we have grown since then for sure. Like, you know, getting better at this podcasting stuff, but yeah, it was, yeah it was super fun and I'm forever grateful that I was invited on.
01:25:55
Speaker
Yeah. Weirdly enough, this is our second stop motion film. Yeah. But there's so many other like huge firsts we haven't yet. This is our first 2024 film. So awesome. less Yeah. Yeah. So we're about six, seven months into the year and finally get to one from this year. Heck yeah. Yeah. Just wanted to like get awareness out there for it and have more people view it. I i want to support Shutter whenever I can. So yep definitely get Shutter if you guys don't have it. It's only like five, six dollars a month. It's not bad.
Recognition of Contributors and Film Reviews
01:26:27
Speaker
Yeah.
01:26:27
Speaker
And then, ah so segment Hunter and I were talking about a little bit yes before this. Kind of want to do some shout outs for some smaller roles going forward. Obviously for this one, neither of us had heard of Robert Morgan before this. He's a directorial debut, first time on the pod. um and going forward we're gonna maybe try and shout out more people that we've seen before first times on the pod stuff like that and gonna look into more smaller roles in two movies as well rather than just the directors and actors and
01:27:04
Speaker
One of the things learned in this research is ah for this one, not a single person that worked on this movie has been featured in one of the movies we've covered so far. Somehow you'd think with, you know, hundreds of hands that yeah crew someone would overlap. yeah You know, like people worked on an Infinity Pool that worked on this movie. I think some in the cinematography or something on this one, but Makes sense with the color grading for stop motion as well as the body horror aspect. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And I think the the color correcting had some, uh, people that gone with our recommendations we've done before, but none that we've actually like covered whole movie for. So yeah. So that's something we're going to be paying attention to in future movies as well.
01:27:53
Speaker
Yeah, definitely give, uh, give credit to all aspects of film. You know, sometimes the little guys just don't get recognized and we, yeah, we definitely want to talk about all things film. So yes, exactly. It's a good little segment. And he came up with. Yeah. So what what are you been watching lately? Oh boy. Lately. Just last night I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, mutant mayhem. Is that the newest one? That's the newest one that Seth Rogen worked on and it has a stacked voice cast and the animation is so impressive. It really reminds you of Into the Spider-Verse and across the Spider-Verse with how the animation style is and it's you know, very different but as opposed to the Spider-Man movies
01:28:43
Speaker
It doesn't really change into a bunch of different styles and doesn't show off a bunch of different styles. It's kind of just that one style. And it's almost like, it's almost a lopsided style. Like you can look at a character's face and one side will be kind of slumped down and one will be kind of just like in the right spot. You know, if if that kind of makes sense. But yeah, uh, that was my second time watching it. And also my buddy that I watched it with his second time and at least his girlfriend hadn't seen it before. And she really enjoyed herself. So yeah. Yeah. I know that one debuted while I was in Texas. I didn't get the chance to go see it there. I, uh, never really watched the turtle stuff that much.
01:29:26
Speaker
I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's definitely big nostalgia from my childhood. I watched those 80s ones where it's live action and the turtles are costumes that actually look pretty decent for you all the time. Green Gamora paint skin. yeah Yeah, kind of. But yeah, this this one just blew me away the first time. I can't believe I didn't go to see it in theaters, but finally my wife and I watched it when it came out to Paramount Plus and it's streaming on there for free. so if it If you have a subscription to Paramount Plus, of course, you should add that because I've said said it in the wrong manner sometimes and I feel bad. Of course, it's not free, guys. I checked out that one and loved it. and Also, if you want the turtles not to be adults and be more teenager-like,
01:30:17
Speaker
this is the movie to see with featuring those characters. so another one Another movie I checked out, I've been checking out more of the Saw movies that I've only seen once through because I really like I've said on the pod maybe before like I only really enjoyed the original and a couple others in that series. I do like the story as a whole but some like number three and four those are tough to sit through so I kind of wanted to it's it's been a couple years so I'm like yeah give them another shot still feel the same way about I mean it's it's fun seeing the traps and yeah you know how creative they can get and how different they can get but yeah yeah this is the story of the acting sometimes is whoo
01:31:09
Speaker
Yeah, I thought about going back through and doing a marathon of it because I recently was cleaning up some of my Ratings and stuff and I seen all my saws were like in the sixth range for a lot of the later ones I was like, oh I didn't think I disliked them that much. Did I? Like that usually my six ranges for like ones. I don't want to want to watch again. Sure It's like us at least got me sevens, right? Yeah, so I'm like, maybe I should watch through those again. But yeah, they are I would say some of the traps are fun. But yeah, like like you said that the acting is bad. The writing is bad. It's yeah stories all over the place.
01:31:43
Speaker
Honestly, if you don't mind wasting your time rewatching again, even though you don't love it like me, I think I saw a marathon really fun still. yeah Really enjoyable. I still had like like a decent time watching them. I kind of just you know sat there and enjoyed myself instead of thinking too much, so I can thank them for that. yeah yeah I think that's really about it because Nell and I, now that House of Dragon came out, we're gonna watch that weekly. Can't wait tonight for another one. Yeah, is that 8 p.m.? You know when that drops? Yeah, 8 p.m. Central. Yep, yep. Cool, check that out tonight. So, we'll be watching that.
01:32:25
Speaker
and been Watching a lot of trash TV with nil as well. a Perfect natural Netflix. Thank God that's almost over. What a mess. Are these all like the, uh, put a whole bunch of people together and see if they date. It's, it's like all the people from all the reality TV Netflix series, maybe not like all, all of them, but quite a bit. And they just, they, you know, they're kind of like all stars from Netflix and they just put them together yeah in a dating show yeah and try and see it's.
01:33:00
Speaker
It's a little less believable. You kind of can see that some people are just there to win the thing and like just get more followers and yeah, but get their name out yeah it's entertainment. So, and yeah we like a couple of people on there, you know, it's nice to see familiar faces, but yeah. And Love Island still going on daily. Love Island UK for us. So yeah. I can't say i ever getting to those. just It's okay. It's okay. most yeah I don't blame anybody for not wanting to sit through a single episode of things like that. But yeah, you know, honestly, it's just enjoyable for my wife and I to like be able to talk through them and like kind of just enjoy, you know, yeah without thinking.
01:33:42
Speaker
Yeah, and those ah shows that you don't mind if you're missing a couple minutes while you're playing on the phone or something. Yeah. I can even skip an episode of Love Island if I wanted to, you know, like, and just yeah carry on to the next one. Yeah. Yeah. yeah That's about it. What about you? Yeah. Uh, all the seasonal shows are kind of coming to an end here that I usually watch with my, my family. So I'm catching back up on movies again. Uh, of course, you know, waiting for house of the dragon to drop again. Um, a lot of climbing movies, as you know, I've been doing some, um, uh, some hiking, some mountaineering lately. That reminds me, I did watch fall. Did you? Yeah. Did you like it?
01:34:25
Speaker
Yes. Um, cause it's one of my sister's favorites. She loves survival movies like that. I'm so sorry to cut you off. It just reminded me cause I was drawing a blank, but yeah, fall for what it was going for. It was thrilling and effective, like in the stunts and kind of when they were up on the tower. But other than that, the script, I gotta say it was a little, uh, weaker. Yeah. I did like the the twist. I didn't really see coming. so okay i still haven't checked out fall yet it's yeah it's been on my list for a while no heaven okay never mind okay you got to check that out if you like those sort of movies because i had a good time it wasn't perfect that's all i'll say
01:35:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I had on my list because it's climbing adjacent. It is. It's not mountains, but it's a tower. Right. It's it starts off. They are climbing a mountain. OK. So that that counts. And then, yeah, they do. They climb the tower. OK. Yeah. It's it's a decommissioned radio tower and it's one of the tallest structures in the U.S., I think. OK. Yeah. I don't know if it's a real tower, honestly, but yeah. Interesting. Um, but yeah, as you as you know, I've been traveling, did some, some mountains and stuff. So I've been watching a lot of climbing docs lately. Oh, documentaries. Yeah. No, those are going to interest people, but I will tell people about, um, this Netflix one I checked out from 2021. It's called the summit of the gods. It's a French animated movie. ah Um, it was really good. I really enjoyed it. Uh, it's.
01:36:03
Speaker
How do I even describe the plot? it's You follow this photojournalist, he's the main character that wants to get this good story. And so he's following this legendary figure and trying to get his story about this other event that's happened from the first climbers of Everest. So all this is kind of centered around Everest and stuff and this big expedition that's going to happen. And just kind of this journalist going through and the main themes of this are like, why do we do these things as humans? Like, why do we go on Everest? Why do we, uh, you know, climb mountains? Like what's the purpose of doing these outrageous things? Why do we climb a giant radio tower in the middle of nowhere? Uh, what drives us to do these things that no one else does? our Daredevil intentions. yeah Yeah. Yeah. Um, like, why do we just, yeah, do all that crazy stuff. Why don't we just be humans and work all day? I don't know. Just be in the system. Yeah.
01:37:06
Speaker
But yeah, this is a really good, um, emotional inner self adventure movie. Um, very beautifully animated. Um, like I really enjoy the art style for this and probably one of my, I guess it's 2021. So I can't put it in my favorite of the year for 24, but it's probably one of my favorite animations I've seen lately. Awesome. Okay. Yeah, you can put it in your Hall of Fame for animation Yeah, so is there an animated movie you would compare it to like the animation style pretty close to it. Ooh There is
01:37:41
Speaker
If I could think of it, yeah, if it pops in my head, I'll mention it. But yeah, there is, it is similar to something I've seen before. It's love death robots has an episode that's very close for the style. I'm thinking of one of the military ones. I'll have to find the exact episode here. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. Not, not one of those that looks very video game, like yeah almost live action ask. Yeah. it's It's some of the mountains are close to live action, like realistically portrayed. Okay. Um, but yeah, it's, it's a really good animation style and, um, yeah, I'll find the episode here, but yeah, the love death robots had one that's pretty close to this animation style. Awesome. Okay.
01:38:28
Speaker
um Checked out some some crappy movies, of course, as always. Oh, it was is a little bit ago, but I finished The Road again with Viggo
Revisiting The Road and Final Recommendations
01:38:41
Speaker
Mortensen. Okay, it's on my list. Yeah, I've seen this a couple times, but I finally just finished the audiobook. So I'm like, okay, I gotta go back and watch that. And there's like maybe two scenes they cut that are in the book. Other than that, it's like one for one. It's really good. So if you like the book, go check out the movie. Cormac McCarthy's book. It's very good. If you check out the movie, go read the book. There you go. Vice versa.
01:39:07
Speaker
Uh, and then the, the last one, I just, I did a rewatch of the colony, uh, from 2013 is has, um, Fishburn in it, Lawrence Fishburn and Bill Paxton's in it. I like Bill Paxton. Um, this is kind of like snow piercer. Uh, I wanted to mix it with like the mist, but it doesn't take enough from the mist. It's mostly like snow piercer. It's, have you seen this one? no no i seen snow piercer in the mist though okay it's it's a frozen world it's like day after tomorrow everything froze outside yeah so the people are living in bunkers and they don't really go out on the surface okay and then they either radio distress thing that
01:39:55
Speaker
one of their other colonies is having some troubles so you know they gotta send a team to go out across the the frozen tundra to go deal with them and uh i don't really want to spoil what the issues are in this movie that they have to deal with but ah it's it's very dark like Snowpiercer like in theme and um all that it's not that good it's like like maybe it's probably run off seven movie um but I liked it a lot enough to that I'd probably rewatch it again
01:40:31
Speaker
it's see It's crazy to me that you can say a movie that's not very good is a seven, Andy. I think you do need to fix your points. I'm just saying. I think it was a six for a long time for me. And then on this rewatch, I think I was just in a better frame of mind. And I do now like that I'm using more of these features on letterboxed where ye I can see my past ratings ah and like redo them as I log them. Sure. Because now this time I was like, yeah, maybe that is a seven. It's not six. um And yeah, it was just a fun time. I was just in a better frame of mind, I think, watching it this time. I get you. OK. Good. um Yeah, it's another one where you could probably play on your phone for maybe 15, 20 minutes of the movie. But like. And then check back in a little bit bit. Yeah. When the action's starting, though, the action's really fun. OK. All right. I might might give it a shot one night, like, you know, if I'm half tired or something like that. Yeah.
01:41:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. But yeah, my my big one, of course, is the Summit of the Gods on Netflix. I recommend awesome. Perfect. All right. Yeah. That's all we have for now playing, huh? Yeah. And we don't have Ashley with us this week to tell us what ah what her pick is. But her pick is is the next one. Yeah. We will let you guys know as soon as possible so you can watch and join us for that one, too. Yeah. Uh, check in the description. We always put the, the next now playing, um, for us in the very bottom. So always check back there and then, uh, check our socials in the description there. We added Ashley's letterbox so you can follow her. You can, you know, annoy her to add her movies, get it more updated. Yeah. She needs to get on that shit guys. Just kidding. Ashley messing with you.
01:42:23
Speaker
But, uh, but yeah, uh, also you can go through Hunter and I and Eric's diaries and, uh, ratings and stuff and yell at us for why we write things certain ways. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Just, uh, let us know questions or whatever you got. Connect with us. Yeah. Yeah. And you guys still get time. So, uh, message us on Instagram or the email and hazards opinions pod and, uh, tell Ashley what she should pick for this next one. And we love talking movies, anything movies obviously. So comment on our posts. well Yeah, we'd love interaction from you guys if you can. And and also thank you for sticking and out with me for this episode. We have been in and out of episodes, you know, kind of trying to transition into what we should do for the pod with Andy and Eric obviously stepping away for a bit.
01:43:18
Speaker
Um, but yeah, it's really hard for me to talk about movies I'm super passionate about. So, uh, yeah, hopefully you just bear with me for this episode of stop motion. Thank you guys for listening. Yes, ah yeah and then if you're on Spotify or Apple, ah it really helps us if you guys rate or leave a review there. give Give the stars if you haven't already. Hopefully five stars. Hopefully you enjoy us that much. Hopefully, but if but if it is less than five, choose a message. What can we improve? Yeah, leave reviews, guys. It really helps. Until then, we will see you guys in the next frame. See you, everybody. Hope you enjoyed.