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161 - Visioneers (2008) w/ Evan Tuohy
83 Plays11 months ago
"’Happiness is: being happy’? What the f--k am I supposed to do with THAT?”
Jeffers morning, all! We’re changing up our US Thanksgiving tradition this year! Instead of talking about a big ol’ turkey, we’re doing more of a friendsgiving! Our buddy Evan Tuohy from the Grand Voodoo Band has brought along one of his favorite indie films for discussion! What is it about dystopian fiction we find so compelling? How did a movie like this find such an incredible cast? Does this even fit our format? And how on earth do we end up doing ten minutes on Jim Varney???
Follow our buddy Evan Tuohy on the following platforms for his thoughts on the many uses of butter:
- Check out the Grand Voodoo Band, Evan’s musical project, at @grandvoodooband on Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube. Also, check out his additional links on Linktree.
- You can also check out The Dismantelopes, Tucker and Evan’s band in Tuscon, on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Wish us a Jeffers morning (or afternoon… or evening… whatever) on the following platforms:
- @Disenfranchpod on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd, and YouTube
- Email us your thoughts or requests to [email protected]
- Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
- Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Bluesky, Instagram, and Letterboxd
- Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Instagram and Letterboxd or @suswarlock on Bluesky
- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram
- Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, like our weekly What Are We Watching? show: https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
- Watch our big screen debut in Circle City Supernatural from our buddy J.P. Leck! You can either buy it on BluRay through his website or buy/rent it through Amazon Prime
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Background
00:00:21
Speaker
Today is Thursday. There are 1,200 minutes of productivity remaining before the weekend.
00:00:28
Speaker
And we're glad you're spending some of them with a disenfranchised podcast. That's right. We're that podcast all about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film. I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy, and joining me as always, a man who knows firsthand that butter doesn't discriminate. It's my co-host Brett Wright. Brett, Jeffers evening to you, sir. Hello, Stephen. Jeffers evening to you as well. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing all right, man. How are you?
00:00:56
Speaker
I'm doing okay. I've been feeling a little explodey lately, so we'll see what happens there. I feel like you're on the brink of explosion at any minute. It's happened before. It might happen again. Hey, look, I've been there. I was this far away from explosion. That's true. I'm glad you pulled yourself back from that edge, man. That's a dark and scary place. You got to process stuff sometimes.
00:01:19
Speaker
Sometimes, yeah. Also joining us this week, a man who will do number 800 with the butter, it's our co-host Tucker. Tucker, Jeffers evening to you, sir.
00:01:29
Speaker
Anna Jeffers, evening to you, dear Stephen. I'm not going to ask you how you are because even though I've been doing this for roughly a year, I never realized that there's an exchange right before hours to where someone else asks you how you are and you say how you are. And this is- I can repeat myself. I do it all the time. I used to be a teacher. I'm all about repeating myself.
00:01:52
Speaker
The thing is, is I don't really pay attention as much unless I'm involved. I feel like I'm always like I'm always saying, like, why would I look at a picture that I'm not in? Correct. You know, it's that same kind of deal. Like, you know, I don't listen as much if I'm not involved in the conversation. So usually when you're doing Brett's intro, I'm just waiting for my turn to talk. Yeah. Ironically, it's exactly like it's like having a conversation with you. So that's yeah. Fucking wild. Isn't that wild?
00:02:20
Speaker
It's pretty wild in point of fact.
Guest Introduction: Evan Tooey
00:02:24
Speaker
But we are also joined tonight by the vice president of the Tucson Local 33 Musicians Union and the man behind the Grand Voodoo Band. Please welcome. He's also having a good authority, a pole vault enthusiast. Please welcome Evan Tooey to the podcast. Evan, welcome, bud. Hi, thanks for having me. We are very excited. I am very excited as well.
00:02:50
Speaker
Right on. How you doing all right tonight, man? You doing OK? Absolutely. Right on. I am. I am excited for a Jeffers evening filled of fun and hopefully like minor explosions. Well, minor, if if at all, if at all. Minor. Yeah, maybe just a few like a sneeze or two. Yeah. But I hope you all aren't dreaming.
00:03:17
Speaker
And not if I can help. Yeah. Right on. Well, and Evan, you have picked the movie that we aren't discussing today. And what movie have you selected for us, sir?
First Impressions of 'Visioneers'
00:03:31
Speaker
The film is called Visioneers. It is from 2008. And it is a film that I stumbled upon many, many years ago, just kind of by chance. I was on a.
00:03:46
Speaker
like a dystopian dark comedy sort of, um, you know, spiel. And I just kind of stumbled upon it and I kind of fell in love with it immediately and ended up coming back to it until I taught, I lost base with it for awhile and.
00:04:03
Speaker
last year when I was back in town in my hometown in Indy, I was at a Dollar Tree and in the bargain one dollar bin in the DVD section were two copies of Visioneers. And I was like, is a dollar a bargain at the Dollar Tree? I think I thought everything was a dollar. OK, so some movies are like.
00:04:27
Speaker
not worth the dollar, I'll be honest, but finding a film like Visioneers that is like, frankly, to most people is a film that they can mostly leave it, but I'm here to take it because I'm all about this film. And I feel like I'm like,
00:04:46
Speaker
What? I was going to say what's funny is a lot of the reviews that I read on letterbox about this movie mentioned that you can get it for a dollar at Dollar Tree. Are you serious? I am so totally at least three things mentioned that they were like, I found this at Dollar Tree. You could also watch it free with commercials on Tubi or Freevie or
00:05:08
Speaker
Pretty much any site that you can watch things free with ads. Yeah, I watch it. But it's different. It's it's hard to filter. It's it's not the same as a bargain bin at Dollar Tree where you can actually see the covers with your own hand and flip it over and see the cast and everything right there. Oh, no, we are physical media apologists on exactly exactly like it's hard. It's easy to get lost in the sea of content.
Analysis of Galifianakis' Role and Film Themes
00:05:33
Speaker
And it's, you know,
00:05:35
Speaker
It's also not the flashiest of Zach Galifianakis' roles and, you know. Like the opposite of flashy, really. Which honestly, that's what I'm all about with this film because it's averts expectations in terms of like his role. Yeah, especially like right off the heels of Hangover. Oh, this comes out right before Hangover, actually. Yeah, but
00:06:00
Speaker
I feel like a lot of people, since it came out at the same time, I think that a lot of what happened, especially the fact that this was released in such a way that I think most people saw it either streaming or secondhand on physical media somehow. I'm not sure about its theatrical release, if any, but this movie got a lot of slack because it was the opposite of what he was doing with The Hangover. So people have this, like,
00:06:29
Speaker
expectation of Zach Galifianakis being wacky and silly and, you know, witty and, you know, and it's like not that at all. And yet it's like the perfect role for this guy. So God forbid anybody have range. Right. Exactly. Exactly. But, you know, any of Galifianakis's stand up, it's very dry and very like it verges on. I mean, if you see between two ferns, man, like even that. Yeah.
00:06:58
Speaker
Well, that's that that makes sense for you, Jimmy. That's right up your alley. Like that just kind of oddball surreal.
00:07:08
Speaker
just like weirdness. You know, this dude likes like Eric Andre and Tim and Eric and stuff like that. So I think Zach Galifianakis, especially if he's doing something like he's doing in this movie, that's right up your alley, dude. Right. I appreciate taking the risk. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate taking the risk and being like.
00:07:28
Speaker
You know, this might turn off some fans of mine, but like, this isn't that movie for them. So well, and this is a funny. This is a funny movie, but Zach Alfonakis is not funny in it. No one is funny in this movie. It's the situation that I was doing some Missy Piles doing some great shit in this movie. Well, yes, she's a bit silly, but I showed it to my girl, Missy Pile. It's a really strong cast. It is. And the script is really well written.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. She's fantastic. Zadie Elphinakis, Judy Greer, the great Mia Maestro, Missy Pyle, James Legros, D.W. Moffat, Aubrey Morris, Matthew Glaive, Chris Coppola, Fanny Masterson, Pat Cashman, just some great performances in this movie. Yeah, and not to mention, for an art film, you can really
00:08:23
Speaker
You can do a lot and I feel like this movie does, but it's also subtle about what it's doing the entire
Inside Jokes and Humor Dynamics
00:08:29
Speaker
time as well. So like, you know, I've seen this movie multiple, multiple, multiple times and there's just little things that pop up. Like this time it was a lot of the, you know, um,
00:08:41
Speaker
cinematography and the score like really stuck out to me on this watch. And more of like a meta analysis of where this was in 2008 with the financial crisis that was happening. In addition to like the start of
00:09:03
Speaker
the opioid crisis as well. Those aren't lost on me. And I don't know. Yeah, I'm just so curious to hear what your guy's opinion is because I've shown people this film before and it's gone either of two ways and they either really love it or they're like, what the hell is this?
00:09:26
Speaker
Based on what I saw in Letterbox, that seems to be the distinction. It seems to be for a lot of people a love-it-or-hate-it kind of movie just based on what I've seen.
00:09:40
Speaker
Jimmy, you kind of shared or sorry, Evan, you shared some. We should address that. So the audience knows what's going on. Tucker, explain this shit. Yeah, take it away. What has now wrought here, you bitch. So this this this man that sits before us, the one and only Evan Tooey, he is my bestest of friends. We are the bestest of pals. We are straight up brothers.
00:10:04
Speaker
Um, but for some reason I call him Jimmy. This is, this is Jimmy to me.
00:10:11
Speaker
Why do you call him Jimmy Tucker? Who is this Evan person? I don't know. Honestly, honestly, at one point, many, many moons ago, I believe Tucker, like, and I started hanging out and he and classic Tucker form was like, I was like, yeah, my name's Evan. And he's like, yeah, I don't like that. I'm not going to call you that. Like, I'm going to give you something else.
00:10:35
Speaker
Like, you gave me the option of an alternative. And I was like, well, there's this like dumb persona that is named Jimmy Jam Johnson. And he's like, that's perfect. You're Jimmy.
00:10:49
Speaker
And I was like Jimmy Jam and you were like, no, drop the jam. You're just Jimmy. Drop the jam. It's cleaner. Do you remember when I took it like far and I started calling you Jim, but like I would end every sentence addressed to you with Jim. And you were like, no, we after about six hours, you were like, no, this is we're not doing this. You really leaned into it. And it was it was a hot probably August day. And how would you think of playing music? What do you think, Jim?
00:11:20
Speaker
Well, Jim, that was some fun playing on the guitar, Jim. Like you just like really hammed it up and I had to be like, Hey, um, my name's not Jim.
00:11:33
Speaker
You can call me Jimmy. You can't kill it. I have a really hard time believing that Tucker would take a joke and just drive it straight into the ground like that. That is just so like a character for him. I don't know. You find yourself going, where's the floor? Because I thought we would have hit it by now, but we just keep...
00:11:54
Speaker
We keep going, you start checking your watch. You're like, wow, this is astounding. This is still happening. Wow. Honestly, I'm impressed at this point. I'm not even mad. I'm not even mad. It's been beating so much. Yeah, that's right. Stop, stop. It's already dead.
00:12:13
Speaker
But as I've mentioned previously on the podcast, there's something wrong with my brain where I don't like saying people's real names. It seems too formal. And honestly, the only reason that Steven and Brett don't have nicknames is because I've met them sort of in a professional capacity.
00:12:39
Speaker
And, you know, I was a guest on the show, and so I know them as Steven and Brett. We didn't meet in the normal way that I meet people. I met you before you were on the podcast. We met. I know what your name was. I don't know who you are. I said like two words to you, man. I don't even know if I would have said hi to you in the hallway. I wouldn't remember your ass.
00:12:58
Speaker
My favorite part was when you're talking to just like, who's the guy who does the German guy in these things? Who's who's who's that guy? And I'm like, hi, that's that's me. And you're like, wait, you do that? And I was like, oh, this idiot. Great. Moving on. What does it have to do with me? Oh, I don't care. Anyway, exactly. As established. Yeah. No, but I give people nicknames because, like I say, I don't I even my family members, my daughter.
00:13:27
Speaker
I probably, I can only think of about a handful of times I've called her by her actual name. Fair.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah. And the names keep evolving. It's really amazing to kind of go on the journey from where we started to where we are. It's just nonsensical. We're not even allowed to use your first name. That's how committed to this. You are. So you're not. I mean, it's in the contract. It is. There is there is one person who is and he he used it a lot the last time he was he's grandfathered in. I don't know what to tell you. Right. Look, I'm not I'm not mad about it.
00:14:01
Speaker
I don't even remember what it is. It's used so infrequently. Nice. I like that. I like that, Brad. I love that.
00:14:10
Speaker
I guess the moral of the story is that I ain't Joe Jimmy. I'm just Tucker's Jimmy. Yeah, dude. So if I if I fuck up and if I fuck up and call you Jimmy Evan and I probably will because I am a very fallible, very tired man. My apologies in advance. I will withhold my rage, but I will call it out by doing a sharp inhale to show surprise and shock.
00:14:37
Speaker
You're gonna suck all the oxygen out of that room pretty damn quick. You'll be like Jimmy. I'll be like
00:14:43
Speaker
Start clutching. I'll be I never. I'll probably do exactly what I just did. I'll call you Jimmy and go, fuck. No, sorry, Evan. It's probably exactly how it'll happen every time. But sorry to continue the point that I made, like was trying to make 10 minutes ago. Two tangents ago. Evan, you already kind of shared your history with this movie with us. So let's let's kind of pass around the horn. Tucker, when did you I'm guessing Evan showed you this movie.
00:15:12
Speaker
during your time rooming together? Actually, no. Yeah. What happened? The first the first that I heard about this film was when I said, hey, hey, Jimmy, you want to be on my podcast? And he was like, yeah. And I was like, well, like, but but what movie are we going to watch? And he's like, I don't know. Straight up. Visioneers. And that's that's that's my complete experience with this film up until when I watched it.
00:15:39
Speaker
Because because I mean, you told me about this movie and I was like, I've never heard of that. I don't know what that is. Does it fit the format? Well, I'll tell you, I saw the cover of it when I was when I first looked it up, what Jimmy told me about told me about it. I saw the cover and I was like, oh, I want to go into this blind. So I didn't I did not engage with it at all until I knew we were doing this. Sure. And then I watched. That's what I do with a lot of failed franchise starters. I haven't seen yet is I'm like, well, I know I'm going to have to cover that at some point, so I'm just going to hold off until I have to.
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah, I watched it last night. That was my first experience with it outside of knowing the name of it and some of the cast. I don't. Brett, I'm guessing same story. Pretty much. Yeah. Well, I mean, I have seen this movie sequel called Equilibrium, but, you know, oh, no, not everybody. Did you see the spinoff called Brazil? Did you see that?
00:16:33
Speaker
That's the prequel, the prequel, Brazil. I fucking love Brazil. Brazil is one of my favorite movies. Me too. That's one of the films. Equilibrium. It's fantastic. Girl, me too. I got a job by knowing what that movie was about. We've discussed this. It's wonderful.
Exploring Film's Dystopian Tone and Influences
00:16:50
Speaker
I Watched it as soon as Christian Bale got cast as Batman and was like, you know equilibrium is kind of his audition for Batman Which is such a stupid take Absolutely it is but people people were passing that shit around back in the early 2000s So that was how I watched equilibrium for the first time that movie also rips But yeah, I had no context for this movie
00:17:13
Speaker
at all before it was brought to my attention. And I'm I was I was by the end at the end, I was like, does this fit the format? I'm like, maybe we can talk about this. Like, is this a failed franchise? Too late now, motherfucker. It kind of is. Yeah, probably should have figured that out before the recording.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean, there's there's some so one of the reasons I love personally for me, I love dystopian fiction is the world building. Like I love and I think I've said this on this on this on the podcast before, like I love good world building. And so. Particularly when you're constructing a dystopian landscape, whether it's like close to the society we live in and just a few degrees off or if it's just like a far flung like bureaucratic nightmare like
00:18:02
Speaker
Brazil, you have to construct an entire world. You have to be able to explain, if not through the context of the film, at least the internal logic of the thing has to be consistent enough that you know how the world got to this point. Because dystopia is nightmare. That's what the genre is. And so the world building has to be very complete. And I was very impressed
00:18:29
Speaker
by the world and this is one of those just it's a few degrees off kind of movies like it's not it has more common between this and that is so thin you know it is like it's this is um what i would call like chillingly plausible in terms of dystopia um it has more in common i would say with something like brave new world than it does with something like 1984 fahrenheit 451
00:18:52
Speaker
Well, the setup in this movie really, really got me thinking about how I haven't watched the trial yet because the setup for this movie, the first act is very Kafka ask like, wow, like, did somebody like bring that boy back and have him write the first act of this movie?
00:19:10
Speaker
Like it's presented in that kind of way, you know, where like, you know, something's fucked up and you see a little bit of this and a little bit of that and it keeps peppering in and peppering in and.
00:19:23
Speaker
fantastic first act. Well in some of that I wonder if like because there is by this point the dystopian genre is well trodden but like there's a shorthand like a visual shorthand to a dystopia like to a dystopian reality or there are certain visual short hands you can employ and you can use and this uses like the very sterile open empty
00:19:46
Speaker
um, bleak, I will say, um, the, like the, the office is just that kind of very open, very sterile, very bleak kind of setting, um, that fits very well with what we kind of think of in our minds when we hear the word, when we hear about a certain kind of dystopia, like a bureaucratic dystopia.
00:20:07
Speaker
We picture something very much like this. Something like this or severance. This I think severance. It was a lot of its visual style to films like this. That's maybe even this film. Which I can't wait for that second season. Hope we get that. If we get that. God, yeah, I hope so. Apple TV plus just went out with the radar.
00:20:29
Speaker
This film just flew so under the radar that it's like anyone's guess at this point, like who has seen this film? I'm kind of glad that it did though because one thing that it reminded me of above all of the influences that I could see in it and the things that it made me think of
00:20:48
Speaker
This reminds me of a movie that I would have seen on HBO probably about 10 or 11 o'clock at night on a Thursday in the late 90s. Like, this is a 90s art movie. Like, I don't know how it got made in 2008 because there wasn't shit being made like that in 2008. This this is a film out of time. It feels so many movies very similar to this, especially in the genre of like art flicks.
00:21:17
Speaker
that are so similar to this in tone and execution from the 90s, like stuff from Josh Turnbull, Haiku Tunnel, stuff like that, that it's like this film is, it's out of time, it's not ahead of its time, it's not before its time, it's just, it's out of time.
00:21:31
Speaker
It feels like the kind of classic indie that was being made in like the early Miramax years, like something like like Clerks or El Mariachi, like it has that kind of ways. Yes, that kind of wing and a prayer kind of.
00:21:51
Speaker
filmmaking to it, but because you've got Zach Galifianakis like right on the cusp of hitting, you've got the producer of this movie is one of the producers from Napoleon Dynamite. So he's able to pull from a well of talent that a movie like this might not have had access to otherwise. Like this is the kind of movie you expect to see like a bunch of actors you've never heard of before. Like some of those other movies that we that we just mentioned, like it's got that kind of
00:22:19
Speaker
The script feels like that, but then you've got Galifianakis, you've got Judy Greer, you've got Missy Pyle, Matthew Glaive from The Wedding Singer. You've got these kind of names and these faces that you kind of recognize, Mia Maestro from Alias and Frida. So you've got these- She's everything. She is ubiquitous and not in the way that you're like, God, I'm tired of seeing her. But when she shows up, you're like, oh my God,
00:22:47
Speaker
I love her. Why? What's she doing in this? That's fantastic. I know as soon as I heard her voice, I looked it up right then. I was like, fucking knew it. Yeah.
00:22:56
Speaker
I I saw the first thing I saw her in was alias and I loved I because I was one of those alias boys. And then I caught Frida and on like IFC one night and I was like, holy shit, that's from that's what's her face from alias. And so after that, I was I was a fan. So she's very good in the strain as well. Hmm.
00:23:22
Speaker
Yeah, she's done. I have got her IMDB pulled up right here because she's in literally everything. I mean, like she's in the Twilight Saga, Oliver Stone, Savages, the motorcycle diaries. She was on a few episodes of Scandal with Benicio Dottoro in it, because I feel like there are more shade.
00:23:44
Speaker
By no and just motorcycle diaries was no that was just called Che. Yeah, the Steven Soderbergh one. Yeah, okay Yeah, I never remember which one he's in. No, you're good, dude But yeah, I mean she's just she's just constantly working and I'm I for one I'm glad of it because she's in future episode of this podcast Poseidon and
00:24:06
Speaker
OK, we'll cover that one one day. But yeah, she's just been working pretty steadily since the late 90s and good for her, man. I I do enjoy when I when I see her and stuff for sure. And I got to say she's not for nothing, but she's pretty easy on the ice. She not hard to look at. Not at all difficult to watch for long periods of time. Correct. Accurate. I will I will second that. I will cosign that.
00:24:33
Speaker
But yeah, so you get access to like a cast and I think that kind of elevates this movie in a way, but it doesn't really play outside of like the festival circuit. It goes almost directly to DVD. There's not much of a, like there's no box office information. There's not much of a presence for this. So this feels kind of like one of those, if you know, you know, kind of movies. And if you don't, sorry about you, is kind of how this thing feels.
00:24:59
Speaker
This kind of feels like direct to DVD, which is not always a bad thing because I don't... there's no place for this kind of film in a movie theater. Who's gonna go watch this at the movie theater?
00:25:13
Speaker
Right. Like this is this is something that you just randomly find on a shelf somewhere. Mm hmm. You know, like, hey, if this had been made about 20 years earlier, I probably would have bought it off a mom and pop video store shelf randomly and watched it. It's that kind of movies.
00:25:30
Speaker
seeing that's what i mean when it's like um sure it was released before the hangover but the majority of folks didn't see it until they were like trying to hype it up right post hangover and be like hey by the way you did you like that guy well you might like this movie it's like when they finally released though
00:25:54
Speaker
It's like when they finally released Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Next Generation. They're like, what do we do with this? And then Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger hit. They're like, oh, that's what we do with it. Right. OK. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Like reverse engineer the damn thing and try to remarket it in a certain different fashion. And it.
00:26:16
Speaker
might have brought some people in and that might have stuck but it was also kind of a risk because it's like people have this really ingrained idea of Zach Galifianakis and his performance and what his like typecast quote-unquote role is and this is not that film. Because at that point his persona was so singular because Hangover was the thing we knew him from.
00:26:41
Speaker
like he was that guy from the hangover and for many he was the best part of the hangover so if that's what you're expecting going into this movie you're gonna be really disappointed because that is not what this movie is and then the dude has out of all of the main cast probably the lowest word count out of everybody and you know what I mean and he's
00:27:01
Speaker
basically dissociating throughout the entire movie. So 90 percent of this movie is just him staring. And I was legit like as an actor, I was kind of amazed at because that shit is tough to play and he does it so well. Like these these were people are just like talking to him and he's just expressing the subtlest of emotions, like barely perceptible glints of emotion on his face. And he's doing it
00:27:29
Speaker
So well, like it's there was there was one instance that I noticed where they must not have gotten the take they thought they got, because there's one where you can see that he's about to break right before they cut away from him. And it's like I I see you and I understand and I would not have been able to keep it together as long as you have. So you may have this one, you know. And I mean, God knows God knows how how many takes they went through to get to that one.
00:27:58
Speaker
Right. Cause there, there are moments where if a thing is funny, it will continue to be funny. And no matter how many takes you do, you've got to like do something to pull yourself out of that, or you're going to have a bad time. It's going to get worse before it gets better. Yeah. It comes to breaking in the biz. They call that corpse thing. And if you get on a corpse run, you, you could very well be done. Like you're just not going to get the work done that you hope to get done because someone gets a case in the giggles. Yeah.
00:28:28
Speaker
Which is, I mean, that's, that's tough. And again, on something like that, it's really hard because you never know what's going to strike someone as funny. And when you're doing a comedy, sometimes it just feels really weird not to laugh. And for someone like Galifianakis who plays.
00:28:44
Speaker
He plays this, I think one of the reasons why he's so funny is because he knows how to play the sincerity behind the comedy. And that tends to be what makes something funny is the sincerity of the moment. It's also something, I mean, it's kind of an act, you have to find the truth behind the thing in order to make it funny. But if you're playing for laughs, if you're winking at the camera, it tends to not work as well as when you're playing the sincerity of the moment. I think that's something that Galifianakis as a performer does extraordinarily well.
00:29:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think he really trusted the vision that the director and the writer both had and were like, I see what you're doing and I trust you on this because he doesn't overly ham it up. He really does just.
00:29:33
Speaker
It's a fantastic role for him, especially with like what he was doing at the time to then flip it on its head and be able to play the subtlety and play a more serious role. When I try to like, my elevator pitch is always, it's a dark comedy, heavy emphasis on the dark, like more dark, less comedy. You know what I mean?
00:29:54
Speaker
Sure, it's more it's less aha funny and more like, kind of funny in a lot of ways. And sure, there's so subtle in this. Yeah. Or it's unhinged and like but not not flashy unhinged, but it's doing it in a way that is just kind of again, the subtlety of it all. I think it's in a minimalistic way.
00:30:17
Speaker
What makes this film funny are the situations and the context of all these scenes and the world that these people live in is just absurd. Like they don't have to be acting funny or acting silly. It's just the whole time you're watching this, as soon as you figure out what's going on, it's just funny. Like they're not doing anything funny, but it's just funny that this exists and you're watching it.
00:30:43
Speaker
Like the opening scene, the thing that struck me as so very funny is that he was getting like multiple phone calls a minute, and then he would say,
00:30:54
Speaker
he would have a conversation with someone from one of the upper levels in the organization, and then he would hang up the phone, and then his coworker would basically ask him every question that he had just asked the person on the phone, and he would just regurgitate their answers back to her. And that's the scene. That happens, that plays out like three or four times. And that's just... Mr. Jeffress himself? Yeah, of course. Of course. Of course. That's just the scene. That's just how it plays out. And it's...
00:31:23
Speaker
it, the absurdity of it, after about the fourth time, I'm like, what, what is this? What are we doing with this? Because, and, and yeah, there's, there's humor and repetition. And this is definitely one of those, but it's all played so straight and so serious that you're not sure if you can laugh like you're not sure
00:31:44
Speaker
Where the where the comedy begins and the tragedy ends like because it's all the lines. Yes, you know, exactly. No, it also is one of those films that I it happens when you have a good script and good world building and a good vision,
Indie Film Spirit and Budget Creativity
00:32:02
Speaker
but.
00:32:02
Speaker
When you just drop the viewer into the environment and you do, you give them just subtle hints and that's, that's it. And it's, it, you know, like they're not going to spoon feed you and go, you know, like, you know, have to just go out of their way to make sure that you understand what's happening because it's.
00:32:24
Speaker
It's going to happen at a certain point, but the absurdity and the like, like almost cognitive dissonance of being like, this seems really similar to the world we're living in, but all of this is off. It's like a dream world in a way. It's just so surreal.
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah. And you know what really makes or breaks a scenario like that is consistency. And this movie has it in spades that I mean, there's not as far as the world building building goes, there aren't any plot holes. It tells you what it needs to tell you without outright telling you. Yeah. And through consistency, it drives all of that stuff home. Agreed. And I think that's what makes the world building. Ultimately, I think that's what makes the world building so successful is it's got
00:33:10
Speaker
It has that consistency and it gives you enough information without needing to spell out A through Z. You see the logo for the Jeffers Corporation, the first thing you see, and then there's Mr. Jeffers. There's the picture of Mr. Jeffers. You understand, oh, this is the guy. There's a president of the United States, but he's clearly in the pocket for Jeffers because he's basically
00:33:35
Speaker
another Jeffers pitch man. Like it all feeds in and they just feed you these. You've got these. I forget what they call them the.
00:33:45
Speaker
unorganized territories, it's not right. It's the unrecognized zone, undeveloped, undeveloped zones. And that's all you need to see. And you know exactly what that kind of thing is. And then you visit it and you're like, oh, this is what life is like outside of the corporation. And these things just start to click for you as you engage with this. And all the pieces form the whole picture
00:34:10
Speaker
But we're not dumping at all. There's not a lore dump. There's not an info dump at any point. It just kind of organically happens through the storytelling. And that's, that's, that's the kind of world building I really appreciate. That's something I've talked about before, like, as the lore guy, as resident lore guy, copyright. Right.
00:34:28
Speaker
Yeah, like I care about I want to know more about this world because it sort of drops a little crumbs here and there and doesn't just dump everything on you or like answer a lot of questions right away or doesn't even care about answering questions that you might have about the world because it's not important. But just because the movie thinks it's not important doesn't mean I don't think it's important. And that bugs the shit out of people.
00:34:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I I was I went into it knowing that they weren't going to explain everything about the world. So it didn't bother me that much. But I wanted to know more. And I think that's that's always the sign of a good good world building and a good movie like this.
00:35:10
Speaker
And again, you can tell that the screen we should we should point out the director. This film was directed by Jared Drake and written by his brother, Brandon Drake. It's their first film. And out of like 20 to 30 ideas that they were kind of all spitting out, this is the one that they decided to make.
00:35:30
Speaker
And through Kismet, it landed in the hands of one of the producers of Napoleon Dynamite. It landed in the hands of Zach Galifian. It landed in the hands of the right people that basically, once those names signed on, and there is kind of a bit of a Napoleon Dynamite-esque quality to this film, I will say.
00:35:50
Speaker
And of that, I would say is probably the part of the film that kind of like I liked the least because I'm on record as not being a big Napoleon Dynamite guy. I just don't get Napoleon Dynamite. And so that tone always kind of sits weird with me and it always kind of.
00:36:07
Speaker
puts me off in a way that I don't enjoy. So but but it finds the right people all that to say it finds the right people and that allows this these two essentially film students to basically be able to make their first feature and kind of start to make a name for themselves. They've not really done anything major they're still kind of very small independent guys I think
00:36:30
Speaker
Jared Drake has made three films. He makes a family movie about a soldier returning from Afghanistan and a documentary about people trapped on a mountain. And then a few short films. So not a lot under his belt, but he's working. He's still doing stuff. Good. I'm glad to hear it.
00:36:51
Speaker
I'm glad that this fell into the wrong hands, but I'm glad that it or into the right hands. I'm just glad that it didn't fall into too many right hands because I really think the limited budget on this film sells this movie. It grounds this film.
00:37:08
Speaker
Like that's that's their house. Like the dude what wrote and directed that movie, that's their parents house. Yeah, they filmed it in their small town in Washington. They the budget. There's no budget information. I read an interview with the director and he's like less than a million. That's all I can say. Like this this film was made on a wing. And again, it feels like it's made on a wing and a prayer. Like it's got that pure indie spirit to it. And I think it complements the film. I don't think it would be as good.
00:37:37
Speaker
if there were more money to spend on it i think it's right at that sweet spot like i've always said some films really benefit from a really low budget and this is one of those i like i say i think it grounds the whole film and some directors work really well in those environments and some really don't like you
00:37:55
Speaker
You've looked you look at an M night Shyamalan We're gonna cover a couple of his movies on this podcast one of these days But you look at someone like an M night Shyamalan like he starts his career making like praying with anger wide awake six cents Unbreakable starts getting bigger budgets and the bigger those budgets get the more unruly and out of control those movies are and then he when he comes back with the visit he
00:38:20
Speaker
He goes small budget, focus story, small setting, small cast. And that hits. That's a return to form in every movie he's made since then, with the possible exception of Glass, which brings back Samuel Jackson and Bruce Willis. Should I watch that, though? I still haven't seen it. Should I watch it? Yeah, I really like Unbreakable, and I thought Split was pretty good. Yeah, then you'll you'll have a good time.
00:38:45
Speaker
I think honestly, I think Unbreakable, even though it's not in my top five of favorite movies, I think it's probably one of the best constructed films from a technical aspect that I've ever seen.
00:39:00
Speaker
Unbreakable is my favorite Shyamalan movie with a bullet. Like, yo, those same. Those like, I think the average shot in that movie is somewhere around 20 seconds. Mm hmm. So many oneys, dude. Mm hmm. Like it. Ah, it's like it's a cinematographer's wet dream. Right. That movie. It's so good.
00:39:22
Speaker
But all that to say, he goes back to the smaller budgets, which I'm sure Glass probably had a little bit of a bigger budget just because of what that movie was, but it's still a very contained story in terms of the narrative of the thing. But he consistently, and even when he's able to pull larger actors or more
00:39:42
Speaker
well-known actors, he still keeps the budget tight, the location small, the setting, like everything is contained, everything is, and because that's where he worked, he's discovered through trial and error that that's where he works best. He works best in that zone. And he's got a second leg of his career because of that. We'll cover a couple of his mega budget movies at some point. I think one of them we're planning on covering next year. Is it after Earth? It is after Earth.
00:40:11
Speaker
I've owned that since it came out and I've never watched it. You'll get your chance. I got it for free. Right on. I was going to say, I hope you didn't pay money for that. But no, so like that. Don't tell me you paid money for this. Jose can say go back. You didn't pay money for this. I love that. But yeah, that I mean. Break it.
00:40:35
Speaker
But to be able to see, and again, I don't know that Jared Drake has enough to his credit to really be able to say that he wouldn't do well with a larger budget, but some directors work best within those limited confines because limitations
00:40:56
Speaker
impel creativity. That's white stripes right there, man. That's what Jack White was always saying about the white stripes, dude. He's like, Look, Meg's not great. But the fact that like, I'm limited to what she does makes me a million times more creative than I would be if I were playing with like the best musicians, right?
00:41:18
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Uh, to build on the music aspect is the, let me check IMDB real quick. The score is done by Tim DeLauter. And, um, he, he, he's like indie pop sort of stuff. He's got a, he's got a band or two that have made some music for other films and such, but, um,
00:41:48
Speaker
His piano work in this is really stripped down and very bare bones. And I think it lends itself really well to what the entire movie is going for as well. And it opens up at the very end, it's crescendo at the climax with this absolutely lush arrangement. With again, it's probably maybe like four or five instruments tops, but
00:42:16
Speaker
It's gorgeous. And it just reflects this movie to where, you know, it's got this sort of like punk scrappy sort of attitude that flows throughout and everybody kind of like got the picture. I don't know if it was like, you know, something that came along with like signing onto the project or if it was just some like cosmic psychic connection that people had to being like, I get this vision. I get what you're doing. And like,
00:42:44
Speaker
we're all on board and we all get and it just synergized into this really weird, quirky, magnificent piece of late aughts cinema. And that could also be a testament to the filmmakers as well, like Jared Drake's ability to cast a vision to his cast and crew. I mean, it could be any number of things, but yeah, it synergistically, it does click.
00:43:10
Speaker
It's worth mentioning that the previously mentioned Tom DeLauter is most famous for being the frontman of the Polyphonic Spree. Yeah, they roll. Which was a band from the 90s that was rad. Most people back then just knew the name because it's a very unique name. Speaking of indie movies that feel like they should have been made in the 90s but weren't, his only other composer credit is for a little 2005 indie called Thumbsucker.
00:43:40
Speaker
I didn't see that. Is that good? Should I watch that? I haven't seen it, but the score is great. Well, there you go. I mean, I know of that movie not because I've seen it, but because the cast is like insane. You've got Lou Taylor Pucci, you've got Tilda Swinton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Keanu Reeves, Benjamin. I like a lot of those people. Like it's got it. This the cast for what the movie is is weirdly stacked. So. Yeah.
00:44:11
Speaker
I mean, that's kind of what we're dealing with here, though, with this film. Exactly. It's just shockingly stacked. And I think it's interesting to kind of look at what Hollywood is doing around that time. Like, the actors of this statue in Caliburn, they're not A-list by any means. Like, this is... Keanu has done the Matrix, but, like, he's on that kind of post-Matrix downswing that kind of hit him after Matrix Revolutions came out.
00:44:40
Speaker
but you get like actors of this certain caliber that are willing to step into indie roles because those are the roles that are more challenging than what Hollywood is doing. Like the franchise machine is already pumping shit out in 2005. So you've got that, all of that to contend with as well. And that makes for some real, and it's the same thing with TV is now. Like the indies in the early 2000s are what TV is now, where you've got big name actors who are just going to TV because that's where the compelling roles are.
00:45:10
Speaker
That's where interesting stuff is getting made rather than getting caught up in the franchise machinery of it all. Word. Yeah. Yeah, dude. Yeah. 45 minutes in, let's do the plot in 60, how about- Hey! Let's hit that plot, yo. Let's do that. Right on the dot. So for those of you who are not familiar with this show, who are tuning in to hear us talk about visioneers, who are you? You are a fascinating person.
00:45:38
Speaker
God, why this one? Why is this the one you click on first? Like, no, we adore you, but God, you must be fascinating. For those of you who have only who this is the only episode of this podcast you've ever listened to, the plot in 60 is the part of the show where we normally talk about the plot of the film that we're discussing, and we do that in 60 seconds or less. Now, normally, if it's Brett Tucker and I altogether, we would roll the D6 of Destiny. If it's just Tucker and I, it's the Canadian quarter of indifference.
00:46:07
Speaker
But because Mr. Evan Toohey is joining us today, then he has graciously volunteered his time and talents to reciting the plot of.
00:46:19
Speaker
2008 visioneers in 60 seconds or less. Evan, I will give you the 30 and 10 second warnings. And I'm going to put a minute on the clock first, because for some reason, my timer is not set, right? And I'll give you 30 and 10 second warnings. And I will start the time when you start your synopsis.
00:46:45
Speaker
Whale, three, two, one. The story opens with the Jeffers logo.
00:46:53
Speaker
We are then thrust into an office space with Zach Galifianakis and an assorted crew of folks that he works with. We end up going back to his home and we learned that he is a descendant of George Washington and he feels inadequate and then
00:47:18
Speaker
we end up meeting his life coach and his wife and it's really sad. And they keep telling him to buck up and he goes to a doctor at one point and they tell him that dreams are straight up bad. And he's like, but I have them and they say, you might explode. And that's the thing too. And then he ends up meeting a girl and it was really sweet because they didn't think that they were going to meet each other. But then
00:47:42
Speaker
things ended up happening to where he thought he'd have to kill her, but he ended up meeting her and everything was great and they end up, he finds himself. And that is time. Well done. Pretty good. Pretty good. Well done. How you feeling? And not particularly that order. You got 60 seconds and you start out with we open on
00:48:10
Speaker
Gotta wrap that shit up, dude. Cliff Notes, dude. That's how it goes, the first few. You get bogged down in the first like 10 minutes of the movie and you're looking like- No details, broad strokes, my friend. Even the fastest car doesn't go straight to 60, sir.
00:48:25
Speaker
Exactly. The first time he was on the show, our buddy JP Lek is like painting the picture. And at the 30 second mark, he's still on the first scene of the movie. Damn it. And so I'm like 30 seconds. He's like, oh, oh, I. And then he just gets so flustered. And I mean, Brett and I have had those moments, too, where we're just like, fuck, I don't know. I don't know what we're doing.
00:48:48
Speaker
Sometimes it creates the funniest moments in this podcast history. I was gonna say my favorite to this day my absolute favorite plot in 60 and it's one of the worst ones Brett will you will admit it's one of the worst ones we've ever done. I've any of us anyone speed racer speed racer. Yeah, it's
00:49:04
Speaker
You know, that's the one I'm always going to invoke when we talk about terrible plot in 60s. It's the speed race, which is that's a fucking great movie. It's a fucking great episode. Fucking terrible plot in 60. I'm also very partial to the one you did for the the 90s Three Musketeers movie. Oh, yeah. You know what we should do for next time we take a break is I'll do a super cut of all the best plot in 60s.
00:49:29
Speaker
Oh, that'd be good. We'll do a little thing where we'll introduce it like 30 seconds of an intro and then just play a super cut of like all the best plot in 60s. Right on. I like I dig that. That's a fun idea. I dig that. Yeah, for sure. Band meeting over. All right. And break. But yeah, that's.
00:49:50
Speaker
That's the plot of the Visioneers. That's what happens in this movie. You don't even need to watch it at this point, but you can if you want. Part of films are visuals. Here's the thing, this movie is so dense and the world building is so taut that there are so many elements that just had to get skipped in that retelling, like the pole vaulting brother that just shows up.
00:50:16
Speaker
the the introduction to him when he's just looking out the window and you hear him like screaming as he sprints across the backyard is just comedic perfection like that's that i cracked up at that like he just it's so good it's wonderful i love his character i love what his character is there for
00:50:36
Speaker
But, yeah, it's like, how do I how do I get to that when there is like people are exploding and there's like like an Oprah Winfrey sort of self help daytime talk host who's also like, you know, factored in there and his wife is, you know, buying a book and doing all of the steps and I've eaten so much butter.
00:50:59
Speaker
I could melt myself. Happiness is being happy? What the fuck am I supposed to do with that? Dude, that whole scene is incredibly dark. I would argue that might be one of the thesis statements of this movie, is that Missy Pyle just losing her shit
Dark Humor and Dramatic Performances
00:51:25
Speaker
on TV.
00:51:26
Speaker
And then, of course, the tragic, the most maybe the most tragically comedic moment in the whole fucking movie is you hear that she put a gun in her mouth, apologized and pulled the trigger. And his wife does the exact same thing, except she doesn't die because bullets weren't in the instructions.
00:51:45
Speaker
Right. Like that is the most hilariously tragic thing. That's like a that's like when 20 clowns die. Like that's not just one clown, but like 50 clowns in like a like one of those tiny car pileups. Like it just is it. It's so dark and yet so funny in the same moment. And you're just like, I don't know what I'm supposed to be feeling right now.
00:52:11
Speaker
And her like sense of timing and pacing and delivery is just...
00:52:16
Speaker
just kind of, it just kind of, and I also didn't have bullets to pull up. You know, I mean, it just is like a multi-car pile up at that point. And then that breaks open her whole thing about, you know, the only reason I'm stuck in this situation. And then we have like an open door to exposition about, you know, Hey, fuck it. I thought like, I just take a risk. And like, I haven't felt this a lot, you know, they have the entire like,
00:52:42
Speaker
chaotic like, you know, minty bee sesh, where they are throwing things around the kitchen and like drinking beer and like screaming and hollering and like
00:52:56
Speaker
And it breaks open to this like, like, uh, super brittle, but also tender, but also completely like dead inside, like monologue from her going about like, you know, the only reason I'm stuck here is because of yada, yada, yada. And you came in with the breaking point logo and just swag around and you were hot shit. And I thought, what the fuck? And I said, what the fuck? Yep.
00:53:23
Speaker
Yeah. And I've said this on the podcast before, and I'll say it again, there are people who can do dramatic acting and there are people who can do comedic acting, but nine times out of 10, if you need to sell something dramatic and all you've got as a comedian, they can do it because comedians understand timing. And I'm looking at this cast and it is
00:53:48
Speaker
It's with the possible exception of Mia Maestro, who is not known, I think, as a comedic actress. It's comedians almost all the way down. Like these are people that are generally speaking known for comedic roles. Galifianakis, Judy Greer, Missy Pyle. Fuck Missy Pyle. So fucking funny. Matthew Glaive, even like you've got these these actors kind of known for comedy, but they're selling these very darkly comedic
00:54:15
Speaker
and very dramatic and very intense performances. And yeah, it all comes down to the timing, but that's something that comedians inherently need to understand if they if they want to be funny, like you've got to get that timing down. And speaking of Missy Pyle, if I may, you may perfect Missy Pyle role. Let's talk Missy Pyle. God, I love her. She is the perfect plot adjacent secondary role.
00:54:43
Speaker
Like you've got Galaxy Quest. Amazing. Future episode of this podcast. And that eventually at some point you've scheduled it like 800 times. Steven, is it ever going to happen? No, never. I love that movie, though. But also Dodgeball, another classic. Mm hmm.
00:55:03
Speaker
undisputed classic past episode of this podcast, Josie and the Pussycats. She's kind of the she's the scene stealer that you cast in a small role to give. Give something a little pizzazz. You know what I mean? So this podcast Stormbreaker, like she's got like such a distinct.
00:55:26
Speaker
persona. She kind of reminds me of Chris Tucker in that way, where you just you kind of bring him in person. Add some salt, you know, it up a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Steal every scene you're in, but only be in a few scenes.
00:55:43
Speaker
And she does that Consistently well, she's literally jumps off the screen not only from the screen within the movie But obviously the one that I'm watching as well. I mean she's perfect for that role. She's so good And and she's I mean she was at the end is just phenomenal. Yeah exactly to where it's like, of course, that's like
00:56:06
Speaker
a few years down the line, but it just makes sense because she's able to like do this completely brain dead, you know, person who is just hawking a hawk in a book, you know, and very real for a dream, kind of. Right. It is. Oh, God, I didn't put that together. I've tried to block as much of that movie out of my mind as I can, because it's so disturbing. Yeah, that's that's fair.
00:56:31
Speaker
I curled into fetal position and just started sobbing when I finished that movie. I will never watch that movie again. I can't. You don't need to. I don't. One time's all you need. One time's fine.
00:56:43
Speaker
No need to watch it again. Yeah. I just. Is it wonderful? Yes, but. Is it a good movie? Yeah, it's absolutely a great movie, but I don't. It's incredible. Yeah, you don't need to watch it more than once. I can't do that to myself. I have to have some respect for myself. Maybe if you have the mental capacity to do such a thing. And I don't. I think I've made it. I think it's very well established that I do not. Yeah, no. I agree.
00:57:07
Speaker
But no, I mean, again, Missy Pyle, when is she bad? Are some of the movies bad? Yeah. But when is she bad in them? Almost never. Never.
00:57:18
Speaker
Like she's it's always fun just seeing her pop on screen. Hell, yeah. And I'm always excited to see her. I'm always like, oh, fuck. Yeah, it's it's now Brett. It's the Alfred Molina thing, which we talked about all the way back on our Prince of Persia episode, where as soon as you see we said in that episode, Alfred Molina, but I feel the same way about Missy Pyle. I can just sit back and relax because I know I'm in good hands for for at least as long as as that person is on screen. But I feel about Missy Pyle the same way I feel about Alfred Molina in that way.
00:57:50
Speaker
Like, I can just relax because Missy Pyle is going to take care of this for now. Like, I don't have to worry. She's in The Artist. Like, the Academy Award winning film, The Artist, which is a terrible Academy Award win, but she's in it. Like so. She said a lot of stuff, dude. She's she's she again, like me and Maestro, she working.
00:58:10
Speaker
Is that the film that was about the transition from silent films to talkies? Yep. With Jean Dujardin and Bernice Beho. Yeah. John Goodman's in there somewhere. I like John Goodman. He only has one line at the very end because, again, it's a silent film.
00:58:32
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, it wasn't it wasn't bad. Did it deserve to win Best Picture that year? God, no. But, you know, shit. Now I got to watch Barton Fink, you guys. Damn it. Oh, no. Now talk about your perfect movies. I will. Look, I will show you the life of the mind, but you got to be patient. OK. I look, I will show you.
00:58:53
Speaker
the life of the mind. We'll show you the life of the mind. I will show you the life of God. John Goodman, man, I am. Every time I see John Goodman and something, and that's another man who has just done so much work, I cannot help but think how dirty we have done John Goodman that he has never gotten so much as an Oscar nomination, let alone an actual Academy Award. No, he's too good for it. He's above that stuff because John Goodman
00:59:23
Speaker
He he can do literally anything, literally. Your boy can be in like the highest rated drama of the year and still carry a fucking show like Roseanne. Yeah, and he he absolutely and everything in between, dude, like arachnophobia. What the fuck is that? Nobody knows. But John Goodman was amazing. Future episode of this podcast, arachnophobia.
00:59:50
Speaker
We'll get there one day. A horror movie that makes me extremely uncomfortable to watch. Would you rather that or eight-legged freaks, Brett? Eight-legged freaks is a little bit more over the top. Why not both? Eight-legged freaks makes me a little uncomfortable, but not as much. I love both of those. Because it's so over the top and like side like an homage to old over the top sci-fi movies. We're going to have to cover something when Madam Webb comes out, so I'm just wondering what you guys want to cover. We'll do them both.
01:00:19
Speaker
I prefer eight legged freaks. Double feature. That's actually what I have penciled in right now. I just want to declare it. It's one of the phobia feels like it could actually happen. So, yeah, I don't know. Chillingly plausible. Chillingly plausible. So, no, thank you. Get that away from me. Band meeting over. Band meeting over. And you were all privy to just doing an on air on air. Tangential. We were talking about John Goodman. Tucker brought it up. Tucker's fault. What? No.
01:00:49
Speaker
I would never. I know you would never you would never kickstart a tangent. That is absurd. I don't believe it.
Sequel Ideas and Character Arcs
01:00:59
Speaker
OK, so let's let's talk elephant in the room. Where do we go from here? Like in terms of like the.
01:01:10
Speaker
If this movie hits and obviously it was a it was a small indie, it hitting this kind of always an off chance anyway. If it did 1978 Halloween numbers, is that what you're telling me? Or, you know, if it did Clerks numbers even. OK. Because, you know, Clerks gets a couple of sequels. If we if we see a sequel to this movie and again, I'm I'm I'm doubting that this is intended as a franchise starter, but the ending is certainly open enough that we could
01:01:39
Speaker
we could probably get there if we reach, which I mean, anything that makes money like somebody's going to want to get more of that shit. Exactly. That's I mean, that's that's Hollywood. So if this had somehow like really just slayed at the box office or even on home video, right? Equilibrium takes place far in the future from this. So between movie to complete the trilogy.
01:02:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think I think you'll find that movie is called Brazil. Hey, I have not seen Brazil, so maybe you fucking need to watch Brazil, dude. Yeah, that movie is amazing. Is it streaming anywhere? Because I also have not seen it. Oh, Michael Palin's best work. It is. And I might need something to watch. And also Terry Gilliam's best work. I will tell you where it is streaming. Give me just a moment.
01:02:31
Speaker
at the time of this recording, which is to say 11.02 PM central time on November 19th in the year of our Lord 2023. Brazil is streaming. It is available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Voodoo, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, and Apple TV. Jimmy, I'll send it to you.
01:02:54
Speaker
Oh, in the mail, dude, straight up. Oh, do you have a DVD player? Do you still have one of those? I even have a mailbox. Look at that. You could put that in your DVD player and you could see this. You could see this film. I have the criteria in addition in my living room, and it's so good. Is it OK yet? Did they put that in 4K yet? Not yet.
01:03:20
Speaker
Cause that's what I, that's the only thing I'm waiting on. That's the only reason I still have this DVD is because the 4k isn't around yet. Well, I bought speaking of that, I bought Brazil. Sorry, Stephen. No, I was just going to say, I bought Brazil way back when I was working at Barnes and Noble. So I've had that thing, I think before Blu-rays were a thing. So, um, this most recent watch of visioneers was the first time I recall seeing it in HD. Hmm.
01:03:43
Speaker
because I don't believe we had it in HD. I think it was just standard probably 480 when I watched it years ago on like some Comcast sort of like, you know, on demand sort of deal. Yeah, yeah. And then you had just had the DVD. So
01:04:03
Speaker
And then I had the DVD, which is fine, but that, you know, it's the way it was mixed to, or it's my DVD player as well. It's like, you know, the audio gets clipped out. Like there's like a noise floor and it's like so quiet in the mix that it keeps cutting out like little subtleties or you get those like.
01:04:24
Speaker
you know, low fly low fly, like, you know, boxes or black dots in the back that like is not digital artifacts is what they call that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Then there's plenty of that. Um, but this was the first time I saw it and heard it and crisp HD. And it was, this is a nice ride, baby. I mean, not to knock a DVD. Like if you, if that's the only way you can see this movie, I'd rather you see it than not see it, but absolutely.
01:04:52
Speaker
Um, but yeah, send that, send Brazil to me ASAP. I'll just, I'll give it to you at Christmas. Oh, okay. Or in a month. Cause like, cause like, look, it's like, it's the end of November now. I'm going to, we're going to be there in like three, four weeks ish. It's going to take like a week to get to you anyway.
01:05:11
Speaker
or Tucker, you could mail it to him now and then he could give it back to you at Christmas. Fuck, Steven, you're a genius. I have my moments. All right, okay. Okay, I got you. Just as long as the shipping isn't like an arm and a leg. I got you, Jimmy. No, I will be paying for shipping as always. This will be my gift to you.
01:05:36
Speaker
to not have to spend four dollars to rent this movie. I'm going to use the postal service so that you at Christmas time so that you don't have to pay four dollars. If you would like Tucker to mail you a DVD as well, then go ahead and shoot us an email. This in French pot at Gmail dot com and just write in the subject line. Tucker, send me a movie and then write, you know, just what movie you want him to mail you. And keep in mind, I have the email.
01:06:02
Speaker
i have the entire series of hay vernett's ernest on dvd so good lord i didn't even know that makes you lick that on dvd what a score yeah oh ernest was one of the calls are coming in ernest was one of the three fictional characters i was absolutely terrified of as a child i love ernest he's the best
01:06:26
Speaker
That show is amazing. Goes to camp and saves Christmas and Scared Stupid are amazing films. I speak for nothing outside of that. I have never seen Scared Stupid. I will also stand goes to the kit, bitch.
01:06:41
Speaker
When you grow up in a reactionary religious home, anything horror adjacent is the devil, correct? Jesus would not like that for you to watch that. There's lots of boogers in it too. I've just never come around to it since then.
01:07:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's just that was for the longest time. And currently, I think that may be one of maybe one of two, if not the only earnest movie I've never seen. I think I think I've even seen Ernest Goes to Africa, which. Hey, but outside of that, have you seen Ernest Goes to jail? Yeah, the movie rules.
01:07:26
Speaker
Classic stone cold classic just a tour de force of Jim Varney's Acting prowess and you think I'm being sarcastic. I'm fucking not he's fucking he plays three different characters in that movie and they're all awesome That's what's great about his show The show that he had he played like four or five different characters the man was amazing the man was the Lon Chaney of his day and
01:07:50
Speaker
He had so much range and he never got to employ it because Hollywood just had he had he had Dr. Otto remember the mad scientist with the hand on his head and he had the old woman. The old woman's the best one. The old woman's the best character with them. I'm telling you, go back and go back and revisit that show. Like you guys think I'm kidding. That's one of the best things that was on TV for kids in the 80s. It's fan fucking tastic. Highly recommended to anyone who has a sense of humor.
01:08:21
Speaker
I mean, I used to follow a TikTok account that like posted all of his old local commercials. All those are fun, too. Those are those are all pretty fun. Yeah, that was the gym. That was the earnest that scared me was the one on the commercials. But once I like got into the character, I was fine. Like once like they put a narrative around him, I was OK. But yeah, that's.
01:08:43
Speaker
Oh, you guys, speaking of spoilers at some point, I don't know when, but at some point, probably later on in my my my fifth Thursday shows where I choose at my very whim, we will be watching Existo, which is a film that's not for children, but it is solely about a character from the show. Hey, Vern, it's Ernest. Interesting.
01:09:13
Speaker
Another art house film from the 90s. I cannot wait for you guys to watch that. It's boy, it's something else. And Jim Varney's in it. He has a role in it, of course, because that's his bud. Sure. Yeah. So Tucker, yes. If you could if you could write a sequel to this film, how would it go to visionaries?
01:09:35
Speaker
I would like to explore the undeveloped areas that kind of seems like where George Washington is going. You know, I mean, he's on his boat, you know, and everything, but I feel like if we're going to do a sequel, he needs to kind of
01:10:02
Speaker
adventure into those lands. I can't think of simple words, you guys were journey into those lands because I mean, the first film we've seen what happens in the Jeffers corporate land and we've had little peaks of the undeveloped areas. But I think it would be cool to kind of do the opposite thing if there were a sequel kind of explore.
01:10:26
Speaker
of what's going in the going on in the undeveloped areas. See how many people are, you know, taking off their little neck boxes? Because there's there's there's revolution in the air. I can fucking smell it, dude. Yeah, it's what I want to see on the second one. I want to see the start of the revolution. What? So did you guys know that there was a proposed spinoff with this? I don't know if you guys found this in your format.
01:10:54
Speaker
I don't know if you guys knew this in your digging up dirt on this movie. I did not come across this. Please enlighten us. OK. OK, so I think it was like 2016 around that time between 2016, 2018. I believe it was Jared Drake and maybe a few other people from this movie had the idea that they would make a spin off
01:11:20
Speaker
that centered around Mac Luster. If you remember that bit where it cut to that dude who was doing an 80s Rambo style TV show where he's punching people and running around and he's interrogating that old lady and stuff.
01:11:39
Speaker
The idea was they were going to have a spin-off show that is that show and they formed like a GoFundMe or something and were trying to, you know, raise money to, you know, be able to produce at least a pilot. And I don't, I don't think they ever, I mean, it's been years, so I don't think they ever like,
01:12:02
Speaker
got what they needed out of it and it just stalled out. But interesting. OK, so there were attempts. It's not a direct sequel by any means. But, yeah, Mac Luster was the proposed like spinoff and it just never came to fruition. So I could see that being something you'd see on Adult Swim, a little 15 minute snippets. 100 percent. I'd watch the shit out of that for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Right on. That would have been that would have been interesting.
01:12:32
Speaker
I guess it would have been really rad, but I don't know where it stalled out if it was the money or if it was like couldn't find a home somewhere, you know what I mean? Right. But at least we have that 30 second snippet and we can imagine in our minds the show that is Mac Luster.
01:12:58
Speaker
And also now we have, you know, it fits the format of the show now that you've brought in. Yeah. Cause that was the most important part. That was my, that was my, I was just like, does I, and again, I'm watching this thing and I'm just like, where does this, where does this go? Like, and so I was asking that legitimately. I was legitimately curious. I'm not trying to like, gotcha or anything. I'm just like.
01:13:17
Speaker
How does this fit into what we do? But that that ties it in. That's how that brings us. You inadvertently did the bit, the segment that we should have been doing from the beginning, but we haven't. So shut the fuck up. It's then we forgot and then we remembered and then we forgot and now here we're back and now shut the fuck up. Honestly, we just consistently forget because like where there's no consistency here whatsoever. We're just like guys that forget shit and are excited to talk to each other. But anyway, shut the fuck up.
01:13:45
Speaker
Yes. So that's a good name, I think. Yeah. C.E. Super hyper turbo. Correct. So good job. Esquire. Esquire, you fuck. Anyway, I'm sorry, Brett, continue that. Yeah.
01:14:06
Speaker
Yes, I want to see a prequel. I want to see a prequel that either follows George, his brother and his journey, because he seemed like he had a quite an interesting backstory. You're rich, like a prequel that then runs through, you know, the movie that we just watched into the aftermath because you want an ex pro Maxine sort of deal. Well, it's just at Max Thunderdome.
01:14:36
Speaker
his character is so interesting to me because he and that's what gives this movie this like weird off-balance feel too because you think his brothers got it right you're watching it and you're seeing george be like stuck in his life and he's stuck in this marriage that is like loveless and he's stuck
01:14:55
Speaker
you know, doing all of this like stuff that he can't stand and he's like, has this backstory with a family lineage that he cannot measure up to because we live in a society that is completely, you know, alienated folks to the point that this is where they are now. And his brother kind of like goes off and he has this like hippie sort of like self discovery time where he
01:15:25
Speaker
goes to, you know, find out who he really is. And he's back here and he says, you know, I had a dream that I did this once and he starts pole vaulting. And it's this sort of like inner discovery that seems really beautiful. And you're like, Oh, his brother's completely got it. He's woken up to like the bullshit and he found a way to like, get through it. But
01:15:50
Speaker
What ends up happening is it's bastardized by this like ultra hedonism sort of aspect of like people coming in and going you can just party your way out of this broken system and his brother fights it. He even sees what's going on at a certain point and it's like.
01:16:08
Speaker
the FBI is about to raid the house. He even knows that the FBI is out there ready to completely raid his house and destroy this little bit of hedonistic paradise that he built. But he realizes the folly in that and then it
01:16:27
Speaker
he like breaks at a certain point and also realizes that it's like pointless for him to fight it because he ends up, you know, um, hanging out and partying with the same crew. And, you know, next thing we don't go back to that house because next thing you know, is the FBI has rated it when we then meet the, um, purported Mr. Jeffers. And then we meet the actual Mr. Jeffers.
01:16:53
Speaker
And that is as his brother's entire party getaway is being raided by the FBI. I just want to see a prequel and sequel based off his brother, to be totally honest.
Philosophy and Societal Reflections
01:17:14
Speaker
What I really appreciated about the brother character and
01:17:19
Speaker
Like his whole group and his philosophy is, like you were saying, when you're first introduced to him, you think maybe he does have it all figured out. But then by the end of it, you realize that he's in the same box as everybody else. He's ticking the same check marks on the form as everybody else. He's just doing it in a different way so that he feels unique. You know, it doesn't change anything. Like he's still doing the same things just in a different way. I thought that was really compelling. I quite enjoyed that.
01:17:50
Speaker
That was fun. The Jeffers reveal to me felt very reminiscent of the Big Brother reveal at the end of 1984, where you find out that Big Brother has been dead for years. And it's just kind of like his underlings kind of running the show in his absence, because you've got this guy who is the face of
01:18:09
Speaker
Mr. Jeffers, he is to the to the world for all intents and purposes. He is Mr. Jeffers. And then he comes to see George Washington at the end and goes, oh, no, Mr. Jeffers is outside. And you're just like, what the fuck is going on? And you get it. Yeah, I was a little confused at first. I was like, wait a minute. Isn't that oh.
01:18:26
Speaker
It's this frail old British man who just coughs a lot and like has very like a very like very moist lips. Like he just he just looks like very he just looks very dewy as a just very damp, a dewy gentleman. Yeah, he's he's just a fellow. Mop the brow, maybe, you know, wipe the face off a little. But yeah, it's just it's and it's it's a very interesting
01:18:55
Speaker
I don't know, a very interesting dynamic that again, I think plays really well into the dystopia, because the people that you think are running the show are not really running the show, which is again, a very, a very dystopian idea. You're being lied to by by the government, the the people that are supposed to protect you are the ones that are lying to you. Very dystopian.
01:19:18
Speaker
Oh, there's an epidemic that is causing people to have anxiety attacks that lead to an explosion. I'm sure we'll just cover up the problem and just fix the symptom, you know what I mean? Instead of fixing the actual systematic issue.
01:19:41
Speaker
So, you've seen this movie, Evan, more than the rest of us, which is to say more than once. So, what do you think it is that's causing the explosions that happen? I mean, we only see one, but we know that others happen.
01:19:57
Speaker
Um, the, the closeup on Chris Coppola's face when he forgets to pull the trigger on his unloaded gun and realizes what's about to happen. And just his head just goes full scanners in closeup. It's really rad, but like, what is it that you think causes that? And.
01:20:15
Speaker
to that question at the end of the movie, is George still in Jane is George still in danger of exploding or has he finally figured it out? How do you how do you read that? That's two very different questions I realized but I kind of feels like no, I feel you it sounds to me like it's like half like anxiety attack and half of like
01:20:39
Speaker
like a cognitive dissonance of being like stuck in this dystopian hell hole. And because like, it's not like people are just depressed and they're exploding. They are actually idealistic and they actually have a spark to them. I mean, there's that rant at the end where George's wife is straight up screaming about like how
01:21:08
Speaker
they, they like the media and the powers that be have framed it to where people who explode are a defect. Like they're a bug in the, in the otherwise like properly running system that is a society. Whereas like it's actually, they're better than us. Like they still feel something like they still, and so that's, that's what I think it comes down to is like,
01:21:34
Speaker
If you feel something and are still alive inside and you are stuck in that system, it's a metaphor obviously for suicide or drug abuse or anything like that because at a certain point it's like,
01:21:53
Speaker
people start killing themselves because they can't explode almost in a way, is like the dark under, like the subtext of it all. And cause their attempts to explode in other ways, like Missy Piles character does. His wife says that, like I sat here trying to explode and I couldn't because I'm empty inside.
01:22:12
Speaker
Right. Exactly. So it's that, you know, that idealism that is snuffed out by an overly like repressive and sterile and sad society that
01:22:30
Speaker
just exploits you and takes and you're left buying butter and listening to daytime talk show hosts who just hawk products at you and you're only like a
01:22:47
Speaker
the only way that you think that there's recourse in a way out is by buying shit or joining some wacky organization or tuning in, turning off, and dropping out. Yeah, that's cool, but not to take it back to the 60s, but that's why a lot of the issues that we're dealing with today that were brought up
01:23:17
Speaker
all those years ago, like we're never solved is because there was never any collective like unifying action that like
01:23:26
Speaker
it kind of got snuffed out by this like cultural narcissism. And the attitude of the 80s and 90s, I can tell you firsthand was just ignore it. It'll fucking fix itself. Right. Yeah. Mind your own business. Take what's yours. Mind your own business. And like, you know, this is the society we're stuck with. And this is like the child of that
01:23:50
Speaker
sort of Reagan era idea. And it's like, it's got that like not Tucker's right, though. It's got that 90s cynicism and wit and like, you know, very Gen Xe movie in that regard. Yeah. Yeah, it's literally it's not go. It doesn't have to go all the way. You don't have to go far to hit a dystopia. You know what I mean? Well, again, like you said, it's a thin line between what is and what could be.
01:24:19
Speaker
extremely thin membrane yeah um so yeah that's that's my take on it at the very least and um and yeah and it's funny because like it's like again i come back to his brother but his brother had that spark but it was like wasted on
01:24:41
Speaker
giving up and tuning out and just partying and being like, fuck it, the whole world around me is burning. And there could be something happening. He could have organized these people to do something or like raise clash consciousness. Even Mr. Jeffers at the end has this whole monologue about, the real Mr. Jeffers has this monologue about that there's a war going on right now, Tont.
01:25:09
Speaker
And that war, in real terms, is a class warfare. And that's happening to where people are either giving up and killing themselves, i.e. exploding, or they become dissidents, but they don't do anything about it. You're in the counterculture. Sure, you're pushing back, but where's your time and energy and efforts going?
01:25:32
Speaker
And instead of at least using that time and effort for self-discovery, like how George ends up doing because he hit the absolute breaking point. And I like to think when that note at the end says, kill the thing you love,
01:25:48
Speaker
Um, he has completely at that point bought into this like, you know, distorted Jeffers logic. He has completely given up at this point. He has lost all the will to live. So like, what's the point? I'll kill the one thing I love. And it's implied he's probably going to kill himself too. And that is broken. And he has this moment of like self-reflection and like,
01:26:11
Speaker
breaking through to like, uh, some form of enlightenment, whereas his brother let it get bastardized by partying. And it looks like he's drinking and shit too. And like just dicking around. And so that pole vaulting, instead of it being like a rallying point for people to come together and hear each other and build community in this like shitty time.
01:26:39
Speaker
just ended up getting bastardized overall by people just wanting to escape and having no other recourse but to escape even from the self, which is like doing the wrong kinds of drugs, drinking, partying, ignoring your problems, ignoring the outside problems, you know. And like shit, even Mr. Jeffers knew that
01:27:03
Speaker
His time is like short like physically but also like the dude was worried like people are exploding people are defecting people are going to the undeveloped areas like Like thing Tucker was right. There's like revolution in the air. So Yeah Right on yeah, that's the sequel I want to see I want to see that sequel I
01:27:30
Speaker
Wanna see that revolution, man. Are you all at all concerned about an uprising? Only in the sequel. Only in the sequel. Which I'd watch. I'd watch a sequel to this. I mean, yeah, I probably would too. And again, this...
01:27:53
Speaker
There's so much, and I feel like even though we've been going for like an hour and a half, I feel like we're still barely scratching the surface of what this thing is because there's so much to glom onto. There's so much to latch onto. But I think ultimately the thing that stood out to me most is that
01:28:11
Speaker
It everyone is distracted. Placation through distraction. You've got the television, the books, even the like the fried chicken jingle that comes on. And so what does he do? He hears that and he immediately stops and buys fried chicken. And what are they putting on every piece of food? They're eating giant packs of butter on fucking everything. Why is everyone in this movie not 500 pounds? I mean, this is the sequel to Josie and the Pussycats.
01:28:40
Speaker
They put it in. They put it in the music, man. It's in the it's in the it's in the music, it's in the food. There's got to be something going on with that butter. But but you can't say George wasn't trying. You know what I mean? Right. Like dudes trying his damnedest to like find a little shred of happiness and somehow buying things
01:29:04
Speaker
And spreading butter on all your food doesn't fill those little holes inside. So I mean, it may make you feel good in a moment. You know, the serotonin level that comes with, you know, eating a comfort meal or, you know, receiving a package or, you know, buying a new book or a new movie or, you know, we've all hit those serotonin rushes. We've all got those things that kind of make us happy, give us a little in the moment. And, you know, but I think in the large picture, we all know that kind of shit is fleeting.
01:29:31
Speaker
Right. Like that's that there's no satisfaction in those small things. And so I also want to note there is not a therapist in sight in this movie. No, no, it seems like a lot of people could be using a therapist. This is it's as far from exploding by for crying in the mud. Can we get can we get a doctor in the house? The close and what do they do? Yep. Say it. The closest we come is Roger the Cauger.
01:30:00
Speaker
That's the closest we get to a therapist in this movie. Is that the life coach guy? That's the life coach. Yes. I liked that guy. He was fun. Glenn Gulia from The Wedding Singer, Julia, or Drew Barrymore. Julia Gulia at the beginning of the film, yeah.
01:30:17
Speaker
Um, but yeah, like he is, he's, he, and I'm sitting there the whole time going, where do I know this guy from? What do I, and I, so I looked him up and I'm like, Oh, he's fucking Glenn. Oh, God, that's hilarious. Um, like that's, that's my, that might be my favorite Adam. Well, my favorite non PTA directed Adam Sandler movie. Um, the wedding singer might be my favorite Adam Sandler comedy there. That, that is what I will say. It's pretty all right.
01:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, it is. It is not bad. You know, when when stacked against other Adam Sandler fair for sure. It holds up. It does in a weird way that you wouldn't expect. But and so he's there like trying earnestly, but all of his solutions are very again, it's very much in line with the company line with the kind of the the standard wisdom of, you know, the day like.
01:31:11
Speaker
It's all about trying to kind of calm him down in a moment, trying to find, you know, again, the little moments of pleasure, you know, contrary to, you know, encouraging to have sex with his wife.
01:31:27
Speaker
when he clearly doesn't love her. I mean, it's a loveless marriage that seems very clear. And when they do finally start to get intimate, as soon as she fucking brings up the butter, he's out of it. Like he's immediately done.
01:31:43
Speaker
Like he thinks there there could be the chance for connection. He tries to actually forge a physical connection and an emotional one along with it. And then as soon as she asks, will you do number 800 with the butter? He's out. He's done. And I would like to know what 800 is. I would I would be willing to do 800 with the butter. I just tell me what it is. I don't know. Yeah, I'll bet you would, Stephen. With Judy Lear, fuck yes, I would. Hey.
01:32:12
Speaker
She fine as hell, what? Um, but, um, Judy Greer type of way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you don't, you don't think Judy Greer is attractive? No, I think that she has a very unique look and yeah, I do find it attractive, but I will also recognize that it is a very unique look. So that's why I say she Judy Greer pretty.
01:32:34
Speaker
Okay. It's not an insult. I just, I just don't know why we have to qualify it is all I'm saying, but yeah. Let the record show. We're already objectifying her. We might as well go further. Steven. For the record, Brett, Brett's typing all his thoughts in the chat and God, they're filthy. Um, a lot of these people tell a lot of Steven. Look, if we're going down, we're all going down together. Um,
01:33:03
Speaker
I'm just the guest. No, dude, you're in this shit. The same my ship, dude. We're we're we're 92 minutes into this some bitch like you're we're you're we're all in this together. And we will all go down together. And in total, this is about three and a half hours into a recording. Yeah. Yeah, we've been going out. We've been going a lot closer to four for sure. Yeah.
01:33:31
Speaker
Yeah, just chugging along. We are. We are. What what what else do we want to say about the visionaries? I love this movie. I also liked it quite a bit. Like I say, it did remind me of some kind of specifically corporate capitalism based indie films, art house films from the 90s.
01:33:58
Speaker
I would encourage anyone to look up Josh Turnbull. He did a series of films in the 90s, one of which was called Haiku Tunnel, that even though it's not dystopian, this movie reminded me of a lot. It's a weird one. This movie's weird. That movie's weird. A lot of the shit I was watching late at night on HBO in the late 90s was weird.
01:34:29
Speaker
That's where I discovered Pooty Tang, you guys. Oh, we go at like 1130. And it was never the same. We all know about Pooty Tang, man. We all know. I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen. Pooty, Pooty don't need words, Pooty don't even need music. We don't, we don't always know what he's saying, but we always know what he means. Sarate. Wanna ta.
01:34:57
Speaker
I'm just happy this movie exists at all. I'm sad we didn't get a Mac luster out of it yet, but I'm happy this even exists because it's quirky as hell and it's... I haven't really seen another movie that quite scratches the edge that this tends to, even if it on a certain level is like, I don't know, flawed or it's just very like lo-fi indie vibes, but...
01:35:27
Speaker
I don't know. I like that because it kind of makes people have to step out of their comfort zone in a way.
01:35:33
Speaker
And movies just don't make themselves at that point, you know? It is. It does kind of where a lot of its influence is on its sleeve, but it's it's also kind of a unicorn in a genre full of unicorns.
Indie Film Status and Viewer Reception
01:35:45
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah. You know, that whole 90s mid 2000s in the art house scene, especially the stuff that was dealing with, like I say, corporate stuff, capitalism, office jobs, all that shit. That was there was a it was a big deal. And it does have that vibe, but it's also
01:36:04
Speaker
It's it's its own thing. There's nothing like it. And I can always appreciate a movie that does that for itself. You guys, I think we lost Brett. We did. I just texted him. He doing it. I can edit this part out. Right. Yeah. You gave yourself enough of a clean break that we can we can edit that. That's that's what I was doing, Steven. How'd you know that that's what I was doing?
01:36:29
Speaker
Uh, you know, I've been doing this for a little while. Um, a few days, at least once or twice. Oh, I think he coming back. Here he come. Oh, here he come. He yellow. He do come back though. And I mean like that at not as a racial slur, but that he's a coward. Right. No, uh, user is experiencing some connections, but recording is being saved locally. No, I'm going to leave that. That's coming right after your leave it. Leave it. Leave it.
01:36:56
Speaker
Keep it in, double it. This podcast brought to you by casual racism. Oh, you should have seen what was the people named Josh from a couple weeks ago.
01:37:08
Speaker
Oh, shit. What what was this all about? We were talking about how some some names like you just associate with terrible people. And one of the names you came up with was was Josh. And I said, you know, no offense to anyone named Josh that listens to this podcast. And he said, Yeah, you're one of the good ones. I said, Yeah, not you. You're one of the good ones. I was like, Oh.
01:37:34
Speaker
Tucker just went. Oh, there he is. Well, hey. Casually says I wouldn't load anything and then they just decided to work again. But hey, now you're back and that's all that matters. That is Jeffers evening. It's a Jeffers blessing. Jeffers, Jeffers, Jeffers lesson. Jeffers life to you all.
01:37:59
Speaker
I had just finished talking about how I thought even though this fit into a lot of genres that I'm familiar with and how I could see some of the influences, it's very much its own thing and something that I've never seen before or will ever see again is basically what I had just said, action.
01:38:20
Speaker
But yeah, cool. I mean, just talking about this movie over the past hour and a half has made me bump it up in my rating. Sam. That happens sometimes. Yeah. Even like sometimes you don't even have to watch it with someone who's enthusiastic about it. Sometimes you just have to talk to him about it afterwards. I feel like this is a movie.
01:38:40
Speaker
That if if I do rewatch it, this this is a movie that will probably grow in estimation for me the more the more times I was a grower, not a shower, I feel because my initial reaction, I was very mid on this movie. So mid, I think my letterbox score was a two and a half. But just in talking, talking through the the disparate elements as they exist. I don't know. I still I'm still not going willing to go out and say this is a perfect film because just the.
01:39:09
Speaker
I don't know, there feels like there's so much going on that it's almost uneven in certain ways. Well, I think I said before, like the amateur nature of it and the lower budget helped this film out, but it's still that still kind of goes against it as well. Mm hmm. In the same breath, you know, exactly. It's there's a trade off, you know.
01:39:34
Speaker
There's a tension for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Like there's pros and cons with anything. And then if it had too much money, they could have, you know, fluffed it up another way and it just wouldn't click the same way that it does now. And yeah, I don't want this movie any other way than the way that I have received it. I don't think I think it's perfect amount of flaw. Hmm. It's a charming amount of law. I don't think it's a perfect movie, but I think it's the perfect kind of movie for what it is.
01:40:03
Speaker
Yeah, it makes sense. It does what it does very well. The cast, they got the right people in the right roles to do the right thing. It works like it's not this is not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it again, it's.
01:40:21
Speaker
There's some murkiness in here that I think works against it in certain ways. But again, I think some of that could be, and again, this is why I say it'll probably grow in future estimation or in my estimation of future viewings.
01:40:36
Speaker
It feels like there's so much going on that it's difficult to get it all in your first sitting. Like you need to engage with this multiple times because there are so many different things going on. There are so many pieces that don't fit. The more you watch it, the more those the more that meshes the more that fits together. That's why I asked you, Evan, what causes the explosions and what you think happens to Galifianakis's character at the end is because you've seen this so many times. I trust your read on it more than I trust my own.
01:41:06
Speaker
I don't, I don't think at the end of the film, he is at risk of exploding, but I also would not hang my hat on that knot. I don't think he's like clear to go and he's just, and that's just, that's how like, that's how personal growth and like that kind of thing always go is like, you know, you never hit a point in your life where you're like, okay, now I can coast. Things are cool. Yeah, I've arrived. Yeah.
01:41:34
Speaker
Yeah, and now now I can just like put it in cruise control and like go for it. Like, so no, he's like not immune. He's completely susceptible as is everybody like to that but to hit that plateau where he is there. I think he's in the clear. But you know, it's also like he's gonna have to get off the boat at a certain point.
01:41:59
Speaker
and get back to his life. His son is like, M.I.A., bro. You know, literally the whole movie. We never wrapped that up. Like his son's just gone. Yeah, his brother's probably in federal custody. His wife and him are not divorced. I mean, she seems like she's down as good as. But yeah, who knows what she did with that shotgun after he left? Who knows? Right. And where do you find the chapter on bullets? I don't know.
01:42:26
Speaker
you know, how do you participate in society when on one side you have like corporatocracy and on the other side you have this like small town, like cutesy vibe, but everybody there has got a, you know, emotional, like, you know, blocker sort of device plugged on them and is completely ignorant and blissful about it.
01:42:51
Speaker
Do you go to one of the undeveloped areas that hasn't had those imposed on them yet and just take your chances? Like, yeah, I mean, you can't outrun it, though. Take them off, though. You saw how easy he took it off homegirl. Mm hmm. Right. It's the same thing with they live. It's the same thing with they live, though, is like, congrats, you took it off. But like,
01:43:15
Speaker
What you have to then see when you're not basically being pumped full of serotonin and dopamine through an artificial device is a really crushing reality. And I feel like most people would rather just coast and just like plug into the easy version mode instead of
01:43:34
Speaker
having to problem solve or work through these issues like personally or societally so right it really does beg a question of like it's a anyone's guess as to where the movie or the character or anything goes at this point.
01:43:49
Speaker
he certainly hasn't escaped. It certainly feels like a happy ending, but as somebody who's seen it multiple times, I'm sitting here talking with you guys about it and getting to, you know, it's been years since anybody who I even know has been able to talk to me about this, you know. So it's been a pleasure being able to do that. So you got a lot of pent-up feelings about this movie to kind of get into it. I was like in the wilderness for like 10 years. Nobody, not even
01:44:12
Speaker
Tubi McDouby himself was plugged in on this movie, and he's one of those guys where I throw out the most random title, and he's like, oh yeah, I've seen it. I got the poster for it. I've seen the movies people haven't seen, which is why when he brought this film to me for the podcast, I was honestly kind of surprised.
01:44:37
Speaker
Because even if I hadn't seen something like this, I should at least know about it. I should have heard about it. This should be, this should have been on my radar. So, so huge blind spot for me, unfortunately. Well, I think that speaks to how indie this movie really is. Like this is very indie, very niche, like.
01:44:57
Speaker
I went looking. Yeah, I went looking for information on this movie, and there's not a lot out there. There's like one of one of the main sources of information was an interview that Jared and Brandon did for like their local Washington newspaper from the town they grew up in. Like that's that's where I'm looking for information because it's just not out there. This is a direct to video.
01:45:23
Speaker
like through and through with people who you've seen in other stuff. And I feel like that's kind of the vibe that you get from it, you know. And it's weird that it's not more well known. Right. Because of that, honestly.
01:45:47
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree. Absolutely would agree. It's definitely not the kind of film that if somebody who has never seen a movie and is like, ah, describe film for me, give me one film. What's a movie? What does movie?
01:46:02
Speaker
And you're like, you know what? The perfect thing to like, you know, ease somebody into this, like, artistic experience. How about Visioneers? Like, no, not my go to. Like, I don't think you could ask a million people. Visioneers would be no one's first pick. Even for Cinephiles, it's kind of like a touchy thing because like people can get a lot out of it like personally and subjectively that I don't see in a lot of films.
01:46:29
Speaker
Well, I think that this this movie is as clever as it thinks it is. But I also think sometimes it's kind of snooty about it and not in a bad way. But in a way to where it feels like the movie is telling you, hey, catch up if you can't catch up like.
01:46:54
Speaker
Maybe it's not for you. Right. You know, and that's not to say that it's like you have to be incredibly clever to enjoy this movie. Not at all. But there there are some nuances in this film to where I think the movie kind of takes great, great pleasure in like trying to pull one over on you. And as kind of snobby as that can come off, I had a good time with it.
01:47:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think the Jeffers reveal is probably the most obvious instance of that kind of that kind of thing. It never feels too condescending. It's never felt that like that to me, though, especially in it. It doesn't have that like.
01:47:35
Speaker
dark, biting, cynical attitude that a lot of 90s films of the same sort of cloth would be doing to where it could be overly brittle, or it could also be overly beating you over the head, the moral of the story, and just really screaming it from the rooftops.
01:48:05
Speaker
Look, I get you're angry or whatever, but like this thankfully never has that sort of point to where it's like overly cynical or overly like snooty or condescending of a film to think that the audience isn't smart enough either to like, at least if it feels like you don't know what's happening, like it's not gonna rub your face in a way though.
01:48:32
Speaker
at least two well that's that's that's what i was trying to say is that it feels like it kind of encourages you to keep up like it it motivates you to you know maybe not look at your phone and pay attention you know to what's going on so that you can sort of be fully engaged in it because it is it's the kind of movie where you can't
01:48:54
Speaker
You can't not like watch everything, even though a majority of the shots are just still shots of people literally staring into space. Right. It's still you have to. That's like 90 percent of this movie is just people like blankly, vacantly staring. Dissociation, a movie. Yeah. Well, you have to very much. Yeah. Fucking wild.
01:49:26
Speaker
Did this movie what did this movie was this movie even in theaters? So it ran the festival circuit. Very extensive festival run on this movie. And I think it's extensive. I did. OK, sorry.
01:49:47
Speaker
There is a film premiere on June 12th of 2008, according to the Wikipedia page. But the official release that's on the numbers and then further down the Wikipedia page is the DVD release, which is July 21st, 2009. Now I have both of those weekends pulled up. Which of those would you like me to cover? Would you like to do the original theatrical release from June 2008 or the DVD release from July 2009?
01:50:17
Speaker
Well, I feel like in accordance with tradition, we have to do theatrical no matter what it is. If you want to put like the the home video numbers as a cherry on top at the end, like I can pull those. I do want to say that in the 2009, the the film box office, you've got two Galifianakis films in the top 10. You've got The Hangover at number seven and then opening at number one. Future episode of this podcast, GeForce.
01:50:45
Speaker
Uh, the movie that hamster movie, the guinea pig spies. Yeah. I'd watch that. So yeah, it's going to suck, but I'm going to watch it. Mm hmm. Uh, so yeah, absolutely no box office details for this movie. Zach Galifianakis as a hamster though, or a guinea pig. I could see that. That's, that's inspired casting for sure. Is he playing the guinea pigs wrong?
01:51:08
Speaker
I don't know, man, but if he is, then it works for me. I'll watch it. Like I said, it's probably going to suck, but I'm just saying it's good casting like it's like anything fucking. Yeah. Tracy Morgan is in that movie, I think like it's it's kind of really wild cast. Oh, now I have to see it.
01:51:26
Speaker
Yeah, I know you do you do love you some some Tracy Morgan. So the box office for June 13th, 2008, opening at number one, it's a new release, we've actually covered this box office before, when we covered the number one movie past episode of this podcast, the only MCU movie we have ever covered it on with it, Steven, on this podcast, it is
01:51:52
Speaker
The Incredible Hulk, opening at number one to 55 million dollars. Eddie Norton's Incredible Hulk, yeah. Correct. I should note that, of course, out of the over 120, 125 entries on this list, Visioneers is nowhere on the list. So in second place, dropping from number one the week before, animated film called Kung Fu Panda.
01:52:19
Speaker
What if a panda comes through speaking leaders came out? Oh, my dad is one of my dad's perennial favorites. Like my dad hated cartoons when I was growing up. But now that he's like an adult and doesn't have to reckon with children, he'll watch cartoons all the time time. Man loves cartoons and Kung Fu Panda one of his parents. That's just I feel like cheated, though, because like during my childhood years, when I loved watching cartoons, he didn't want anything to do with it.
01:52:48
Speaker
So I feel I feel a little gypped, but whatever. In third place, we were speaking, as we were, of Mr. M. Night Shyamalan, the Happening, the Happening, which is, I think, the beginning of the end. Well, no, technically Lady in the Water. But what if something happened? What if what if? But that's the the great irony, of course, of that movie is that nothing happens. Yes. My watch is that. What is that? Oh, damn it. Was that a chicken?
01:53:16
Speaker
Dude, that was like literally one of the worst like cast movies I've ever seen. It's so awful. Like whose idea was it to put those two together? Like the best. I watched that last year. It was awful. The best thing to come out of that movie is that it's twist ever.
01:53:34
Speaker
was M. Night Shyamalan directs John Leguizamo in that and then many years later they would re-team to work on old about a beach that makes you older. Should I watch old? Some people be telling me I wouldn't like old and some people telling me that I wouldn't. I saw it in theaters. I like knock on the cabin. I like that. It's standard. I like the cast. It's standard for his work to me.
01:53:57
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm not bad. I saw it at a very, very bad time. And I didn't realize I didn't realize how bad that movie was going to be for your mental state in that moment when I suggested it. So like my, my threshold, my threshold for bad M night is the village. So it's better than the village. OK, well, then I'm in. Yeah. I honestly, I think I like it better than knock at the cabin, honestly. Old, old slaps. I like old quite a bit.
01:54:27
Speaker
And it's it's got a pretty good cast. Again, a lot of people that you like haven't seen it like Rufus Sewell's in that bitch, Vicki Creeps, Diego Luna, like it's it's not Diego Luna. Fuck. I just fucked that up. I believe you've done this. I you know, I I fucked shit up.
01:54:46
Speaker
Gayle Garcia Bernal. It's his it's his Ito Mama También co-star. I get those two confused more than I should. He loves that guy, though. I do. I love both of them. They're so good. Ito Mama También is such a fucking great movie. Yeah, Gal from Jojo Rabbit and Last Night in Soho is in it, too.
01:55:07
Speaker
Yeah, I like her a lot. So like if she's in that movie, I'm pretty down. I guess it's it's got the kid from the kid from. Hereditary is in there, too, Terry. Oh, word the gal gets her head whipped off. No, no, no, the the her brother. Oh.
01:55:28
Speaker
All right, that's cool. I liked him though. He was good. You got Ken Lung. Ken Lung's in there too. Like, it's got a good cast, man. It's a surprising amount of body horror in that movie. Yeah, weird. It's pretty wild. It's good. Old is good. Honestly, that's kind of what I expected from it. You know, it's not good. I think the most- The Happening.
01:55:47
Speaker
No, dude, nobody likes happening. Not even Mark Wahlberg likes to happening. What if wind was scary? It's not. See, they made that movie and it was called Twister and it fucking ripped in fourth place down from number two the week before another Adam Sandler movie I actually quite enjoy. You don't mess with the Zohan.
01:56:09
Speaker
Um, I didn't see that one. I did not. I didn't see it for the longest time. Cause I didn't think I would like it. I watched it recently, like a few years ago. It's actually really good. It's really fun. It was an Adam Sandler's, like, I'm going to make a problematic movie, but then spin it at the end to be something wholesome. Like, yeah. Like remember, uh, uh, uh, I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry to where they're like, yeah, no, they built the framework to where they're like,
01:56:39
Speaker
Oh, but like we're actually on we're on team gay. And like this is actually really progressive. And it's like, no, you just needed like free license to like make crack homophobic jokes the entire movie and like. Right. But you don't mess with the Zohan. I think does a much better job of I agree of threading that needle. So that's a recommendation from all three of you. I'm the only one who hasn't seen this film. Should I watch the Zohan? The Zohan. Yeah, you're probably going to hate it.
01:57:09
Speaker
But watch it anyway. I want to have an opinion, you guys. You're you're three of like my eight friends made it to the top eight. By default, I respect your opinion. So like if there's three, that's that's a that's a lot of people that I trust recommending it to me. So you think I wouldn't like it? I feel like I got somewhat topical.
01:57:38
Speaker
It's somewhat topical given what is happening in Israel slash Gaza right now. I don't want to think about that at all, actually. But if I can have a spicy take, it's a pretty centrist hands-off, hey, everybody play nice sort of take instead of realizing that. Is it going to make me think about that, though? Because I don't want to think about all that stuff. It's just kind of like a... It's just somebody...
01:58:04
Speaker
It's a very contrarian politically to where it tries to please everybody while also missing the point. And like, of course, like it's an Adam Sandler's movie. I'm gonna say it's an Adam Sandler movie. So you really shouldn't expect you're not gonna get a history of land, right? Exactly. Yeah, it's you're not gonna get an entire like 30 minute like rundown of the history of Israel and Palestine and all that. But like,
01:58:29
Speaker
I mean it's a fun artifact from that time as well as you know as well as like what dude was doing and trying to figure out what the hell do I do with my career at this point and right yeah one thing we know that you don't do is you don't mess with let me just let me just another hot take real quick before we move on I just want to say it publicly finally and that
01:58:52
Speaker
Adam Sandler, if you're listening, I really need you to do a Bob Dylan biopic. And like Adam Sandler playing Bob Dylan in his like middle age, like we could have had it 20, 30 years ago and it would have been even better, but I still want to see Adam Sandler play Bob Dylan. I'd watch it. I think it would be fantastic.
01:59:16
Speaker
I'm still pissed you didn't take the role of the bear Jew in glorious bastards, quite frankly. Right. I think he was too old.
01:59:25
Speaker
No, he just no, because Tarantino offered it to him. Like he wrote it for him. Oh, is that for real? Oh, shit. OK. And Santa was like, nah. And I think he was he was like committed to something else that couldn't make it work. I got to do Big Daddy. It was a big daddy, but it was something like that. And he wasn't able to make it work. So they cast Eli Roth, who I don't which leads me to think there was a fundamental misunderstanding of what bear means, but whatever.
01:59:51
Speaker
He's kind of he's kind of jacked in that is jacked as Eli Roth could probably possibly get. That's it. But like you can see like you can see like three muscles kind of, you know, popping off the top. You saw like a chest and like maybe a bit of a bicep. Yeah, thanks to the wonder of AI. Yeah, you could have Adam Sandler as the bear Jew thanks to the wonders of AI right now. De-aging and we could buff him up.
02:00:19
Speaker
God, what a what a horrifying. Just put his head on macho man's body. Round finalizing the top five, we have the sequel. Very few people were actually asking for at this point, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which in four weeks has earned over two hundred and seventy six million dollars. Oh, dude.
02:00:44
Speaker
Also, rounding out the top ten, you've got Sex in the City in sixth place, Iron Man in seventh. Remember Iron Man? Do you remember in Ed Wood when the review in the paper and Sarah Jesper Jessica Parker reads it out loud, she says, do I really have a face like a horse? And I just love that moment of that film because that's
02:01:10
Speaker
Unfortunately, that's something that people say about her. I don't get it. She does have sort of a horseshace face, which I don't have an opinion either way. She's a lady and she's fine, like whatever. But I just I don't know why I thought of that sex in the city is why I thought of that. But last time I watched Ed Wood, that really stood out to me and I was like, wow.
02:01:32
Speaker
We're just so ahead of our time here. Insane. I'm sorry, Steven, continue. Apart from my tangents. Sorry, Jessica Parker, you're a lovely lady. I'm not trying to say anything bad about you. What choice do I have other than to pardon your tangents, really? Because they're going to happen whether I pardon them or not, so I might as well. If somebody's going to edit them out, it's going to be me, and you know I ain't going to do that shit. I know. Might as well just let me ramble.
02:01:56
Speaker
That's what I always do. And in eighth place, we have The Strangers, horror film, The Strangers in ninth place, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian. And in 10th place, what happens in Vegas? Dot dot. I don't even know what the fuck that is. That is the Ashton Kutcher, Brittany Murphy romcom.
02:02:25
Speaker
I thought it was one of those movies where you got like Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine together like had him do something wacky because they're old, you know, not bringing their Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. Also, that movie features playing a character called Dave the Bear, a little actor called Zach Galifianakis.
02:02:45
Speaker
That's the guy from the movie we just talked about He was gonna be the bear is that what you said No, no, no, no now you're now we're just complaining shit now being willfully up to I think I'm confused
02:03:02
Speaker
You know. I think Tucker's been disassociated. Well, it didn't involve him, so of course. Entire life. Right. That's true. Anyway, the Tomatometer score on Visioneers is a 67%.
02:03:19
Speaker
No real critics consensus to speak of on this one. Also, no meta score to speak of on this one. Metacritic can't find Visioneers when I type it in. However, it does have a 3.0 on letterboxed. Evan, as our guest, out of five stars, how are you rating 2008's Visioneers?
02:03:45
Speaker
You know, guys, I'd give it a solid 3.7. Okay. That's allowed. Right on. Brett, what about yourself? I guess on a letter scale, it would be a B minus. B minus. Interesting perspective. Indeed. Brett, yourself? I bumped it up a whole start, a 3.5. All right, 3.5. Tucker, what about you?
02:04:12
Speaker
Um, excuse me. God, I edit that out. Shit. Um, your boy's going to go also with a 3.5. Uh, my initial was a 3.25 and our conversation today has brought it up a whole 0.25 of a star. And, uh, for me, it's going to be a three. So that's fair.
02:04:35
Speaker
So, yeah, we're I'm going with the letterbox average, but that does give us a podcast average of three point four to five. So we'll round that up to a three point five. But repeating. And that's fair. It's a bad cop. Yeah.
02:04:51
Speaker
But there you go. That is our episode on 2008's Visioneers. Mr. Evan Toohey, thank you so much for joining us on this episode. Thank you for suggesting this movie. You've given us a lot to think and talk about. Where can the people, the people that are listening to this episode right now, where can they find you and your music? Should they be so inclined to do so? If you like my wiggly vibes, you can find me on the internet.
02:05:21
Speaker
I make music under the moniker Grand Voodoo Band. I also work with Tucker in a band called The Dismantalopes, which will be resurrected very soon. Grand Voodoo Band is currently in the process of making a new album.
02:05:44
Speaker
And there is no end date on that. So take that as you will, but hopefully soon. I think it's going to be a summer record. It feels like a summer record. It really does though. It really does. Tucker's like my guy, my idea guy to bounce off stuff too. So he's good. He pretty much he honestly has the closest picture to anybody besides myself about how this album is turning out. So I value him. I value his work with this podcast. I value you too.
02:06:13
Speaker
forgiven this crazy kook of a human being. Finally, a constructive outlet to rant about film to people who actually want to hear it and can put up with that over extremely long periods of time because I lived with this man. It is not easy. It's not easy to live with a man this cheesy.
02:06:38
Speaker
I think it's more constructive than having him rant about it to me on a seven hour phone call, which has definitely happened. But I mean, look, Evan, that's the whole reason I got into podcasting is because my ex-wife got tired of me talking about movies. So I had ex-wives. Am I right, guys? Am I right? Yeah, right.
02:06:59
Speaker
Got about five of those. Between us, yeah. But anyway, yeah, check out Grand Voodoo Band on whatever your listening platform is, where I'm also on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, et cetera, et cetera, MySpace, LinkedIn. Threads, Blue Sky. Oh, yeah. All of them.
02:07:27
Speaker
If you need a Blue Sky Invite code, I have several, so just let me know. I as a musician love tech space, social media platforms. They're the best. And they're the best, especially when there's 500 of them, all different, but all the same. Thank you Silicon Valley overlords for putting on this podcast. Amen.
02:07:53
Speaker
And, um, it's, it's been an absolute chaotic episode. It feels like, but I, it was a pleasure and you are fine. Organized chaos, but yeah, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Fine group of tons right here.
02:08:09
Speaker
Well, hey, that's the best compliment one could receive. And I will I will just a little little spoiler next week. Listeners, when you tune into this podcast, you will get to hear some of Mr. Evan Tooey's music. Well, we'll be we'll be playing one of those songs on next week's episode. I will give you no more context, silly. It's not this episode. Yeah. It's the one we're recording right now. Next week's episode. What's next week's episode?
02:08:39
Speaker
The one you teased on the What Are We Watching episode that we recorded before this one? Oh, no, I'm fuck. I thought of the wrong thing. I'm sorry. I'm the worst person ever. So he was teasing the theme song, I believe. This is getting edited. Correct. Yeah, well, because yeah, because before Jimmy's like, oh, Tucker's the best and we all love him. And I'm like, let me stick my foot in my mouth. All right. So yeah, let's get it out.
02:09:07
Speaker
Sorry, please. If you want, I can just like I can just briefly talk about the track if you want. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Anyway. Yeah.
02:09:18
Speaker
I got you. So the, the, yeah, the track, uh, that I'm putting out, uh, through you guys, which is really fun to be able to debut some new music. Um, finally, um, it's called citrus nights. It is the title track to the album. Um, that is upcoming. And, um, it was actually a tune that was going to get thrown away. And I ended up coming back to it and taking a risk on it. And it kind of paid off when I added some synthesizers and a tight drum beat. So.
02:09:48
Speaker
Uh, it's unmastered. It's a demo. There's more, uh, there's a couple more pieces to it that I still need to throw down, I believe, but that's what demos are for. So I'm just excited to let some people hear it. This is a sneak peek. Like this isn't out any, this is the only place that you'll hear this until the record drops and we don't even know when that's going to be.
02:10:11
Speaker
It's the title track, but it is it's going to be a B side on a single that is TVA on its release date. But the song will be on the record, though, right? But this is the only place where you're going to be able to hear it until it is released as a single, which is pretty exciting. You're welcome, America and the rest of the world.
02:10:31
Speaker
You heard it here first. So there you go. And look, our patrons already get to hear Mr. Tooey's phenomenal music every week because he also composed the theme to our Patreon exclusive weekly show What Are We Watching, which he guested on today. So that episode will be dropping on Sunday into the Patreon feed.
02:10:53
Speaker
It might be our longest episode of what are we watching? I think that and check it out. It's phenomenal. If you are not a member of our Patreon, head on over to patreon.com slash disenfranch pod, or for just five dollars a month, you get access to literal hours, hours and hours and hours.
02:11:12
Speaker
Don't front, Stephen, days of content pod, lie to these people galore. Brett and I both have our own like individual niche podcast where we talk about the things that interest us. We've got backlogs of.
02:11:28
Speaker
film commentaries and dis and five tries where we count down our top five favorite things in a given category. We've got unenfranchised where we talk about movies that killed off your favorite long running franchise kind of the opposite of what this podcast is. We've got so much for you to listen to back there for just $5 over at patreon.com slash dis and French pot head on over there.
02:11:50
Speaker
While you're on the internet, head over to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a nice juicy five star rating and review. And just again, doesn't have to be anything deep. Just write a little something about what you like about the podcast. That goes a long way to helping other people find us as well. You can also shoot us an email, disenfranchpod at gmail.com. Let us know how we're doing. Suggest a upcoming episode. We actually had a suggestion come in
02:12:18
Speaker
from a listener just within the last couple of weeks. So that is something that I will be working on and getting into the schedule as soon as possible. I want to know what it is. Tell me what it is sometime when we're not recording a podcast. Absolutely. I will do that at some point.
02:12:36
Speaker
You can also visit us on the social medias. We are on Instagram, Blue Sky, Facebook, Letterboxed, at Disinfranch Pod. I, your host, Stephen Foxworthy, hey, that's me. I'm on Blue Sky, Letterboxed, and Instagram, at Chewy Walrus. Brett, where can we find you on the socials these days?
02:12:56
Speaker
That's me. I am on instagram letterbox and blue ski at sus underscore warlock except for Blue sky where it doesn't have the underscore because it wouldn't like right? So it's just all one word then on blue ski all one word. Yes, I know There it is and Tucker where can we find you on the socials bud
02:13:20
Speaker
Well, as always, you can find me on the YouTubes. I'm going to mention this now so that I have some accountability and maybe it'll give me some motivation to do it. But what I'd really like to do in the next month and a half is I'd like to realize something that I've called Christmas spaghetti. And Christmas spaghetti is a song that I don't have about eating spaghetti.
02:14:01
Speaker
Is that how songs go these days? Man, they're doing some weird stuff with songs these days. Sometimes I haven't written the bridge yet, but I feel like there's going to be one. But I feel like I really need to go all out with it. Like I need the shaky bells and I need a bing, bing, bing, bing. You know, I need kind of variations on every Christmas song trope.
02:14:16
Speaker
on Spaghetti on Christmas.
02:14:27
Speaker
I don't know. It's it just seems like it's going to be a big undertaking. Just know that me announcing it now means that I might not get it done, but I'll probably start on it. OK, well, hey, as long as we can help keep you accountable, then, hey, that's and look, I'd like to get it done this year before Christmas. But look at it like this. Sometimes when you start something and then you walk away from it for, let's say, eight to 10 months,
02:14:55
Speaker
And then you come back to it, you come back to it fresh and you turn it into something that you never thought it could be. Right. Because I'm not I'm not going to work on a Christmas song outside of Christmas. There'll be no inspiration, no motivation. You can't. What am I supposed to do? A Christmas song in January? Yes, you could. Yeah. And then you sit on up for 10 months and the only thing stopping you is you there, man. But look, I I will.
02:15:21
Speaker
acknowledge that I'm not a fan of arbitrary rules that people set for themselves, but this is- Except for the arbitrary rules you set for yourself. The fact that I'm the exception to the rule. This is the arbitrary hill that I am willing to die on. You can't do Christmas stuff outside of Christmas. You want to. Like, I don't get Christmas in July like I want to, because I want to feel Christmas, you know, but I just don't feel it unless it's November or December.
02:15:47
Speaker
Like once Christmas is over, you got a little bit of afterglow until New Year's. But then, you know, it's just fucking January after that. Your summer Christmas spirit or lack thereof is showing. No, dude, I have no summer Christmas spirit. What about all those images of Santa playing golf and shorts? Are you going to deny that? I am going to sit there and lie to me and deny that.
02:16:16
Speaker
I suppose so the man exists outside of your winter wonderland no I agree but he's not come why would he come in the summer man it's not Christmas it doesn't matter I'm on YouTube and I might drop a song at some point if you motherfuckers are lucky
02:16:37
Speaker
Um, also I'm on Instagram at the same ice 909, I C E N I N E the number zero and the number nine. Uh, I also have a, uh, a, a sort of a, a cult page. You could say something that's garnered, uh, quite the niche following, uh, something we like to call tuck mugs. That's why they say that. Anyway, uh, we have tuck mugs, uh, let's tuck underscore mugs.
02:17:08
Speaker
and look the restructuring it's happened we're all for the third week in a row now there's restructuring no the the synergy is there it's taking us so long because we're really we're really kind of we're working on making it the best it can possibly be and you know what they say
02:17:33
Speaker
is that Rome wasn't built in the day. Do they? I heard you ran out of cops. I can't. I still have my. I still have my I still have my tweets. Double our cup, you know, spoilers. I still have my Lake Tahoe cups, the one that feels like I'm drinking out of a toilet because it's porcelain.
02:17:56
Speaker
That cup hmm. I've got I've got some in my back pocket like I've saved some up plus I've been buying more mugs Tuck mugging Yeah, dude, so it's coming together. It's just
02:18:10
Speaker
I'm really, we're really trying to dedicate ourselves to the quality. And sometimes that takes time and gosh, wouldn't it be cool if anybody, somebody, please somebody be a guest mug so that we can kind of pad out this time while we're letting our creative juices flow and mix together and make a jambalaya, if you will, of mug based Instagram content.
02:18:36
Speaker
So if you want to be a guest mug on TuckMugs, you can shoot us a message on TuckMugs on Instagram at tuck underscore mugs, or you can email us at disenfranchpod at gmail.com. Just send us a photograph of your mug. Let us know where you got the mug.
02:18:53
Speaker
you know, the origin story of the mug and what it means to you and what's inside. Of the mug, that's all you need and deep, deep in the annals of Tuck mug history, there is a guest mug from our guest on this podcast today, Mr. Each one of us. Well, each of you has like to do it again.
02:19:12
Speaker
You should. I'm going to do it again. Do it. Do it or not. Do it right now. He's literally begging someone to send him a picture of a mug. Please. Really quick, really quick preview. Does does this count? Oh, yeah, we do. We do glasses, too. Yeah, I've done. Yeah, I've done. My hand is a beautiful hams glass. Yeah. Well, that's that's second generation BT dubs, you guys, because there was one time I was drinking hams out of it. Let them know.
02:19:39
Speaker
And we lived on the second floor. OK, and we were outside on the balcony and I was just having a really good time. And I know he's about. I was going to say, you know, something stupid is about to happen because he's talking like this. And look, I had dropped that glass and then I walked down there and it was in like seven pieces. And so before I got back up to the apartment, I had already ordered a replacement off eBay.
02:20:06
Speaker
So, like, just smoothed that right over. Like, we didn't even talk about it. I was just like, I ordered you a new one. The night just went on after that. Like, sometimes your boy knows how to, like, just really smooth that shit over. And boy was I embarrassed. I fucked up, didn't I? Yes. I know the degree to which I fucked up and I know what I need to do to rectify it. So I'm just going to go ahead and skip the next five minutes of discussion. Now, now, Jimmy. Now, Jimmy. It'll be here in three days, man. Moving on.
02:20:37
Speaker
Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Oh, hey, that's a preview, because that's got to be part of the story now. We should do like a back and forth, like someone's interviewing us and for the post, like we'll go back and forth about it. I'll get with you later. Just get it to the intern pool as soon as you can. Yeah, we'll get we'll get it on the Internet.
02:20:59
Speaker
Live on Infinets. Well, that, my friends, is our episode on 2008's Visioneers. I think this episode is actually longer than the movie. Oh, by like 40 minutes. What are we watching? Yeah. Yeah. And also longer than what are we watching? Actually about 50 minutes, yeah.
02:21:18
Speaker
So yeah, longer than the movie itself. But hey, that is a thing that we do. So hey, this has been the disenfranchised podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy. For my co hosts Brett Wright Tucker and our very special guest, Mr. Evan Tooey. Until next time, a very Jeffers evening to you all. Jeffers evening.
02:22:04
Speaker
My eyes are pink. I have to have something. And the sky is blue. And I'm in love with you.
02:22:53
Speaker
You don't see me there, you do not
02:23:28
Speaker
do nothing
02:23:59
Speaker
you