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Lost In The Holidays - It's A Wonderful Life and The Holdovers
36 Plays3 months ago
Christmas is right around the corner, so we discuss an old classic and a newer instant classic, It's A Wonderful Life and The Holdovers! What's your favorite Christmas movie? Leave a comment and let us know!
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Transcript
Introduction and Impersonations
00:00:15
Speaker
Now, Mr. Potter, I need to redo it. Okay. Restart it. I'm trying to do my best Jimmy Stewart. Okay. Now, Mr. Potter, don't you know that every time a bell rings, a podcast gets its
Hosts' Banter and Recent Activities
00:00:30
Speaker
wings? Welcome back to Lost in the Frame. My name is Alex.
00:00:34
Speaker
when i sleep My name is Tachi. And we are back. And better than ever. as How are you guys doing today? I'm good.
00:00:45
Speaker
yeah doing great. I'm in a good mood. Why? why um i just ate some Buddy's burgers. They got some dope ass fries. Shout out Buddy. Shout out Buddy. I watched the holdovers today.
00:00:58
Speaker
That put me in a great mood. I watched It's a Wonderful Life yesterday.
Movie Talk and Poker Night
00:01:03
Speaker
Made an extra $9.50 in poker. all great Wait, no, I was 950. You were 975. You beat me by a quarter. I beat you by, yeah, 975. I'm balling. Never mind.
00:01:14
Speaker
Broke ass. I deserve that. Failure. Yeah. how How are you, Alex? oh I'm doing good. I'm doing good. Although today, ah Army lost the Army-Navy game, and I was a little bummed.
00:01:29
Speaker
and There was an Army Navy game. Yeah. They like to play. Yeah. They they fight a war. Literally on the football field. Oh, I keep forgetting you. How do you not know what the Army Navy game is? Come on, Malik. That's I know that that was there. That's
Army-Navy Game Discussion
00:01:44
Speaker
like it's a thing.
00:01:46
Speaker
Surface level ball knowledge. Did you know that Tachi? course I knew. Are there bets on the Army-Navy game? Most likely. It's gotta I knew that that was a thing.
00:01:58
Speaker
Just so we're all aware. I don't believe you. I'm just joshing you guys.
00:02:04
Speaker
Josh O'Connor-ing us? Yeah, if these two movies didn't put you guys in good jolly mood, i don't know what will. wouldn't describe either of these movies as particularly jolly. I wouldn't either, but they still leave me with the feeling of warmth
Theme Introduction: Holiday Movies
00:02:20
Speaker
and comfort.
00:02:20
Speaker
Comfort and joy, if you will. I will. Thank you.
00:02:27
Speaker
I guess I will, too. Thank you. if you haven't figured it out yet, we are talking Christmas movies this week. And two in particular that we feel are thematically similar similar enough to make an episode out of it.
Podcast Milestones and Humor
00:02:44
Speaker
And they are the holdovers and It's a Wonderful Life. And we're really excited talk about them. This is actually, this is what, the second time we've talked about the holdovers on the pod? Because I think we did like a mini segment when we did our 2023 Rewind episode in the summer. We did, yeah.
00:03:03
Speaker
So this is officially the first movie that has...
Current Movie News and Trailers
00:03:08
Speaker
been rehashed if you can believe it we're already running out of content that's crazy we have history now we're this i think this is episode 34 look that's kind of crazy you know what episode is going to be crazy 167 what if the meme the meme is going to be dead by then oh it will and we're still going to be running it to the ground
00:03:38
Speaker
That's a dream. All right. Let's run through our movie news and then we can get into our movies. Cool. Let's do it. Cool. All right. Alex, I'm pointing this. I'm going to say this one, but then I'm going to chastise you after.
00:03:52
Speaker
um Four different trailers for Avengers Doomsday will be attached with Avatar, Fire, and Ash. Each trailer will play for one week before switching to the next. Before I get to Alex Tachi, how are you excited are you going to attend to see the first teaser for Avengers Doomsday?
00:04:07
Speaker
Like from a scale of one to 10? Yeah.
00:04:12
Speaker
I'll seven. Seven? Yeah. Shockingly low. Shockingly low. I don't know what has happened or transpired over the last several months, but I just find myself not caring. Wow.
00:04:27
Speaker
I never thought I'd get to this point, but I just don't really care. Me with Star Wars? It's kind of sad. was about to say, it's always kind of sad, right? I think I've already talked on the podcast how much I am such a fanboy of Marvel, but then just suddenly...
00:04:42
Speaker
I think I think last time we talked about it, you did say that, but there were still like the the hopeful, like the hopefulness to it. You're like, yeah, even though this I am still like this. This sounds like the first time that's just like,
Social Plans and Movie Accessibility
00:04:55
Speaker
whatever. Yeah.
00:04:57
Speaker
i'm I'm actually kind of surprised by it, too. But wow, it is what is. Why are you chastising me? Step into my Thunderdome. Let's see if you can handle the heat. Have you watched Avatar The Way of Water yet? No.
00:05:10
Speaker
It's like three and a half hours. So is the next one. Well, giant you know, I i don't know what to tell you. this Okay, here's ah here's what I was going to say. We have tickets to Avatar Fire and Ash this Thursday at Hookie in Hutto, where we saw one battle after another.
00:05:28
Speaker
i don't know if this is just because this place is in Hutto, but this showing is not sold out yet. There's no seats next to us, but there are seats in our row.
00:05:38
Speaker
Well, I guess maybe I'll watch it this week or
Box Office Surprises and Live-Action Adaptations
00:05:40
Speaker
something. You know, I have a life. i I'm just throwing a loose invite to you, buddy. All right. i'm I'm sure I could even go without seeing The Way of Water, and I'm sure I could figure it out. God.
00:05:53
Speaker
I will say.
00:05:56
Speaker
i don't think you'll regret watching Way of Water. You won't. It's. I'm a little biased. I think objectively, it's still a good movie. It's produced very well.
00:06:09
Speaker
It's three and a half hours. That's like, that could be like three and a half YouTube video essays I could consume. Or three and a half hours of AI generated Charlie Kirk.
00:06:22
Speaker
We are Charlie Kirk.
00:06:26
Speaker
I think you're kind of cooked. Probably. might be. Yeah. we did We did determine that I am an unk at the beginning of this podcast. we can You can break down the three and a half hour movie into however many TikTok parts you need. That would be a good idea. To 3,000 TikTok parts. Subway surfers on the side.
00:06:47
Speaker
Every five minutes of Avatar 2, you get two hours of TikTok. How about that? That'd be crazy. How long would it take you to finish? I watched one movie this year and it was Avatar the Way of Water. And I don't remember it.
00:07:03
Speaker
um Zootopia 2 has passed $1 billion dollars worldwide. It is the fastest PG rated film to ever cross the milestone. I can't believe those Judy Hopps walk-ups. People discounted them so much. and Now look where we're at.
00:07:18
Speaker
That's crazy. It's a lot of billions. There's actually just 1 billion, the just a single one. Um, did you guys see the teaser for the live action street fighter movie?
00:07:31
Speaker
I saw that it came out. I saw some castings and their outfits. Well, how do you feel about the outfits? What do you think the vibe of this? Okay. Actually. Okay.
00:07:42
Speaker
Since I have history with mortal combat, the, the two movies from the nineties, um, I actually think it's pretty important that they embrace the campiness of like these old fighting games.
00:07:58
Speaker
So i'm actually kind of on board. It does look a little ridiculous, but you can't have a a Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat movie without some goofiness.
00:08:10
Speaker
That's true.
Casting News and Industry Humor
00:08:11
Speaker
And I totally agree with you. i thought i I just don't... I don't know if there's a way to like... make them not look so goofy like don't want it to be serious like I want it to be like I want it to be like accurate like I like that they're that it's pretty much like one-to-one yeah but I'm like is that an issue or is there a way to do one-to-one and make it look a little better right I don't know you know I'm not saying the castings are great I'm just saying I appreciate the direction that they're headed
00:08:41
Speaker
You know what I have? I think I have more of an issue with this with ah because we got the first looks for the season two of Avatar, the live action Avatar and Toph is in it. And i saw the picture of Toph and what she's wearing looks exactly like the show, but it just looks like cosplay.
00:08:57
Speaker
For the TV show. And that was the same issue I had with season one of Avatar. I'm like, this just looks like cosplay. Why did they even make it? Yeah. Why did they make it? Yeah. The live action Avatar. Why? What is the obsession with live action? I don't know. i really
Celebrity News and AI Tangent
00:09:11
Speaker
don't understand. i don't know.
00:09:14
Speaker
stupid very who the next one i'll tell you daniel c craig was the one who suggested to ryan johnson that josh o'connor should be cast in wake up dead man a night out mystery johnson hadn't even heard of josh o'connor before then does ryan johnson not know ball i mean that's fair josh o'connor he's like up and coming i feel but did you not watch the zendaya tennis movie like
00:09:40
Speaker
challengers and he was great in it yeah so i i mean like the thing is like so i i follow sean baker on letterboxd and he watches everything the guy who directed on nora yeah florida project okay he watches a lot he watches everything he watches like maybe one or two a day so it's like if you're like a big time director you should know you should have a pulse yeah And he was the best part of the movie. I can't i can't stop thinking about it.
00:10:09
Speaker
I'm going to be honest. He was the best part of the movie. We have an episode on Wake Up Dead Man, by the way. you're listening to this, you can also go listen to that. If you haven't watched the movie yet, what are you doing?
00:10:23
Speaker
ah He was genuinely... i feel like that performance is so special. It might be performance of the year for me. Wow. I'm excited to rewatch it. Our next bit of news comes from ah Stan world.
00:10:39
Speaker
Haley Steinfeld is pregnant. She announced in a video with her husband, NFL quarterback, Josh Allen. My goat. And that asks, that makes us ask the question, who is handling this worse?
00:10:55
Speaker
Haley Steinfeld fans or Shamik more. As soon as I saw the video, I heard screaming.
00:11:06
Speaker
And I knew Shamik Moore was somewhere out there on his knees. But her fans, if you go on Twitter,
Adaptation Critiques: Animal Farm
00:11:13
Speaker
are having a meltdown about this. I don't understand why. They're furious. They hate Josh Allen. What's wrong with Josh Allen? I don't know.
00:11:23
Speaker
i think they just think he's ugly. But he's like objectively not. He's he's like six foot five, ah charming, athletic. He's an NFL MVP. Seemingly fun to be around. Great around kids from what I've seen. i don't know. Maybe they just love Lamar Jackson and think he should have been MVP last year.
00:11:42
Speaker
That might be it, actually. Hmm.
00:11:46
Speaker
Shamik Moore has got to be just punching the ground. I don't think we're ever getting that third across the spider. don't think we are. He's calling in sick for the rest of his life. he i don't even want to be around anymore.
00:12:00
Speaker
What are the odds of that actually? That we just never get a third movie? It's greater than 0%. No, no. I would say it's higher than you think. I would say like maybe 3%.
00:12:12
Speaker
I would say 10%. There's no way. 10% is not that high. That's pretty high. But could happen. There's a 20% chance that humanity gets wiped out because of AI. You think that's low? you want I think that's a 100% chance. I actually think we're in the middle of that already. That's another conversation for another podcast. Yeah, I've been watching a lot of videos about it, specifically around like the race to AGI and the potential ramifications
Megalopolis Re-Release Discussion
00:12:37
Speaker
of that. And I am spooked.
00:12:41
Speaker
Spooked, for sure. Yeah. I... Yep. Our next episode is going to be ah lost in the ah industrial society and its consequences. Join us next week as we break down the deep philosopher Ted Kaczynski and his works. And we will have Sam Altman on the podcast.
00:13:02
Speaker
And we're off the air. um Angel Studios Animal Farm trailer drops.
00:13:12
Speaker
you guys watch it i did have you read the book no that's the marxism book right yeah okay by orwell yeah okay i think that we could be looking at a legendarily bad adaptation
00:13:32
Speaker
what makes you say that i haven't read the book So the book is a like cautionary tale of authoritarianism corrupting a revolution, a Marxist revolution.
00:13:48
Speaker
It's all allegorical. It's about animals on a farm rising up, taking over and seizing the means of the farm production. And all goes well until the pigs kind of just decide that they're in charge and you know they're going to rule.
00:14:04
Speaker
And then that just happens. And the story plays out probably about how you would expect.
Review of 'It's a Wonderful Life'
00:14:10
Speaker
And, you know, we get a cautionary tale of authoritarianism that has lasted the test of time. And, you know, we still read today, unless you're Malik.
00:14:21
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:24
Speaker
However, it seems that this movie, for some reason, has introduced an outside, like, very capitalist character to be the bad guy. Which is really, really funny, considering that Angel Studios was the one that ended up picking this up to produce it.
00:14:43
Speaker
Because, you know, they made, like, Sound of Freedom and all those movies. think it's like, you know... It's like ah you know our um Ben Shapiro of distributors. Production studios. Yeah. But... So... The animation doesn't look good. It's a pretty star-studded cast. And I guess this was like a passion project of Andy Serkis' but it's like...
00:15:11
Speaker
much as I love Andy Serkis, you're pretty much 0 for 2, it seems, on your last two passion projects. So it's like, maybe you need to stop. What was his first? ah The Jungle Book. Oh, yeah. One of the two live-action Jungle Books that came out like the same year.
00:15:26
Speaker
There was that one, and then it was Mowgli, right? Yeah. No, I think he was Mowgli, and the other one was the Jungle Book, like the Disney one. I remember one of them not being that bad. I don't remember either of these movies.
00:15:37
Speaker
Which one had ah Christopher Walken as a big monkey? remember I didn't see either of them. i just know Sounds like a fever dream. You're just describing a nightmare. um It could be a legendarily bad adaptation, so stay tuned for next year. I will be seated. I'll be that ja ah Don Draper in the movie theater gif where he's like... That'll be me.
00:16:09
Speaker
And last but not least, speaking of being seated in theaters, on New Year's Day, we will be getting a re-release of Megalopolis. And in the words of Francis Ford Coppola, it is my hope that every New Year's Day, Megalopolis will become a fulcrum of discussion about the betterment of society and humanity.
00:16:31
Speaker
And you know what? I'm glad that you hope that, Francis. Good for him. I still have hopes and dreams. Yeah, I hope to be that delusional one day.
00:16:42
Speaker
The worst part is i actually like think Megalopolis was almost there that it would have been like a truly like pretty powerful movie and conversation about whatever it was trying to talk about.
00:16:55
Speaker
But then there was like the weird like virginity concert thing. Yeah. And like the whole rest of the movie.
00:17:03
Speaker
It was something. I still haven't seen it. I don't know if I ever will. You should probably. It's going to be re-released in theaters. I know if you heard. It's just one of those I have to see. It's good. like yeah I actually genuinely think that it is like required viewing for the canon.
00:17:20
Speaker
Like War of the Worlds? Yeah. yes It's one of those. Okay. We will have a syllabus of like movies about us. And those two will be on it.
00:17:32
Speaker
Great. You guys ready for it? It's a wonderful life. I'm ready. I am ready. All right. And we hope you're ready too. It's a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capron, released in 1946. The synopsis reads, a holiday favorite for generations.
00:17:50
Speaker
George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building alone company. But on Christmas Eve, the business $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.
00:18:07
Speaker
and This is starring James Stewart as George Bailey, Donna Reed as Mary Hatch, Lionel Barrymore as Mr. Potter, and many more. Have you guys seen this before? Nope.
00:18:18
Speaker
Yes. Okay, so it was just me and Tachi. Yeah. When was the first time you watched this, Alex? I don't even remember. This was one of those like classics i I just hadn't seen.
00:18:32
Speaker
And you know what? God damn it. Why? Same. surprised I hadn't seen it yet. All right, let's do our letterbox love like loath and then we'll get into our thoughts and feelings on the movie.
00:18:44
Speaker
um I've got our five star and it comes from patron Ely. The first time I watched this movie, it gave me a sinus infection because I cried so much and that's the power of Jimmy Stewart.
00:18:56
Speaker
ah That was my Jimmy Stewart impersonation. If you couldn't tell. $8,000.
00:19:07
Speaker
I'm not even going attempt to try it. Let me show our show. How's that? Is that better? What's in here?
00:19:17
Speaker
Sorry, proceed, Alex. Our three star comes from Daisy one one. Unfortunately, this was just fine. Too long. And I think the very end somewhat ruined the whole point of it.
00:19:30
Speaker
The very end was the whole point of it. However, we have another review. From Young's Young's. mommy youngs This one I think is very profound. So just listen.
00:19:47
Speaker
Guardian Angel Star, can I please has one boob in my hand? okay um somehow that makes more sense than daisy one one's interpretation of the movie that was great so katachi pass to you this comes in uh from tom with an h one star review no it isn't
00:20:17
Speaker
but on a real note uh another actual review from alex peter I don't need another movie telling me my life matters just because I exist in some small town where nothing happens.
00:20:28
Speaker
George Bailey spends the whole movie whining about wanting to leave Bedford Falls only to be guilt tripped into staying because his absence would have messed up some other people's lives. So what? We're supposed to believe his dreams don't matter because he helped a couple of neighbors?
00:20:42
Speaker
Life's too short to pretend we don't deserve more than the hand we're dealt. Sorry, but be happy with what you have isn't as profound as everyone thinks. Kind of an interesting review.
00:20:52
Speaker
That is an interesting review. What do guys what do you think of that? Like to me, like, I can't say he's not valid in how he feels, but I mean, at the same time, i'm like,
00:21:07
Speaker
that's that's just life sometimes you know i was gonna say it's such like a simplistic view of the way the world works that i almost think while i do think it is a valid review i think he has like a room temp iq because dude yeah you have to be happy with the way the cards were dealt yeah there are no other cards coming that's Your life is your life. Okay. I have hopes. I have dreams.
00:21:35
Speaker
I want to travel the world. I want to make millions do that. But I don't have all that. And I have to cope with the fact that my life isn't everything I ever imagined it to be.
00:21:51
Speaker
Maybe this is jumping into the movie review a little early. i think it's, but I mean, you have, you have to be happy in life. You have to be happy with the life you're given.
00:22:01
Speaker
hu and And it, it never goes the way that you expect. i mean, we all have things that have happened that were not what we expected. Maybe not even be what we wanted, but you need to be appreciative of it.
00:22:20
Speaker
have to be happy in life or else you're going to spend the your entire life wishing and reminiscing on things that never happened and you're going to be miserable.
00:22:32
Speaker
Agreed. Finding contentment with the results of your choices. I think that's a hard lesson, but valuable. And who knows what would have happened if he kind of did get what he wants in this movie he was able to do all the traveling and everything. Maybe he'd be traveling doing all that. And then he realizes, oh, there's a big like hole inside of me and I don't know what's wrong.
00:22:56
Speaker
Well, this was like the 20s and 30s. So if he went to some of the places he was talking about, he probably would have gotten dysentery and died. Oh, wow. There's also there's also that.
00:23:07
Speaker
That's true. It happens. Happened to my buddy, Eric. tom You said, um, like you said, um, let's, let's hop into it okay I was just waiting for you to say something. I was like, yes. Let's let's hop into the movie. I mean, so I've seen this movie a couple times and I've seen it in a couple different formats. And so I'm going to pass it to you guys first because I want to see.
00:23:34
Speaker
want to hear your thoughts. All right. Here's a which format did you watch it in? Did you watch it in black and white or you watch it in colored? oh B, what did you like? All right.
00:23:45
Speaker
ahll go first. You were saying that there's a correct format to watch this, whether that be black and white or color. Yep. Once I typed this into Amazon, I saw that I had the option for black and white or color.
00:23:57
Speaker
And said, hmm.
00:24:00
Speaker
And I went with my heart. And I went with what I think is the correct format. Black and white. Tachi?
00:24:10
Speaker
I did the exact same. Let's go. As God intended. Let's go. That's exactly it. I think that that was correct. I have seen it in both. I have seen it in both. And the color restoration is not bad.
00:24:22
Speaker
But... It does look a little off. How does color restoration like that work? Vibes. Huh? I actually genuinely do not know.
00:24:35
Speaker
Do you know? I genuinely do not know how it works. Do you know what the year was where we got color in TV and movies? It was before this because The Wizard of Oz was before this movie. Oh, 50s?
00:24:47
Speaker
No, The Wizard of the 30s, right? I don't know. I was watching some YouTube videos. it was um It was just showing every like best picture winner since the start of the Academy Awards.
00:25:00
Speaker
It was this interesting, obviously, just seeing everything black and white and then slowly transition to color. But like in like the 40s, there was some color, but still for like a long time, they were still shooting in black and white. The the Wizard of Oz was 1939. So we had color fesis when this movie was made.
00:25:16
Speaker
Okay. I'm sure it was maybe just more expensive to do color. Yeah, because color didn't become prominent and it didn't really look like until the late 60s, early 70s.
00:25:28
Speaker
They're like, all right, most most films are going to do this now. Well, maybe their film budget went to the set budget because the sets were great. So that's Ross, actually. Yeah, this movie specifically, like, it just feels... mean, it is a classic.
00:25:42
Speaker
Like, I understand why why people love watching this. This is a very... I'm surprised that this is, a like, a Christmas classic. Like, when I think Christmas classics, they're very, like, happy.
00:25:55
Speaker
This one does give you, like, a good feeling towards the end of it, but, like, the... Most of this movie very sad. Yes. And downtrodden. Yeah. so yeah part shocked So that part shocked me a bit.
00:26:08
Speaker
Yeah. It's um honestly, most of it is like a fairly heavy watch. I didn't read the synopsis. I didn't know. All I've known is that this is a Christmas classic and that I need to watch it.
00:26:22
Speaker
I didn't know like what it was about. where i'm I'm sure you knew like the bit with the angel. I mean, that's that's been parodied. I literally did not. You know how shocked I was? I was watching it and it was the the scene of ah of him and Mary kind of just walking down the street, I think after the dance.
00:26:40
Speaker
And he's asking Mary, he's like, oh, you want the moon? I'll ask for you the moon. And I was like, that's where this is from. I had no idea. Yeah. I said, wow. I stood up in my living room and I started clapping. See, yeah i even iCarly parodied this movie.
00:26:56
Speaker
i Now I see the parodies, but I didn't know what it was par parodying. That's nuts. The angel popped up and I was like, whoa. You mean in the first 10 seconds?
00:27:07
Speaker
The movie opened with the angel being like, we gotta go do some divine intervention. Yeah, that's true, but like I kind of thought that that was just going to be like the vehicle for us to watch the movie. I didn't think that there was literally going to be divine intervention in human form in the last 30 minutes of this movie. Yeah, that was convenient for George.
00:27:27
Speaker
Good for him. That also happened to my buddy, Eric. Imagine if that's just how life worked. Like an angel comes down. like, dude, Malik, what are you doing?
00:27:41
Speaker
That'd be kind of cool. It'd answer a lot of questions I have. Kind of changed my entire life. um On the topic of the set design, i mean, i think that this movie, again, like watch this. get This is i don't know how many times I've seen this movie, but whatever time it was, I mean, that was the thing that really stuck out to me was like the snow and the streets and the.
00:28:04
Speaker
Just a lot of like, whoa, like this looks so neat. It was very cozy setting. It was. hmm.
00:28:12
Speaker
It felt small. It felt intimate, but at the same time just had like such like large feelings about like, like to the entire thing. Um, I really liked the set of space that they had. That was cool.
00:28:26
Speaker
Yeah. The floating styrofoam balls. I'm sure they really did what they could in the forties. Um, the movie shot very well. Okay.
00:28:39
Speaker
They obviously knew what they were doing. All the sets look great. do you have any nuggets on the director or or film production, Alex? Frank Capra?
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah. I believe this was the first movie he made coming back from World War II. Oh, wow. Nice. Which, okay, funny enough, and I wanted to bring this up because there's a bit about halfway through the movie where World War II happens, and there is some crazy battle footage. Yes, I was wondering about that.
00:29:09
Speaker
um The funniest bit about it is ah Jimmy Stewart's character, um George Bailey, is deaf in one ear from something that happens in his childhood. And and he doesn't go to war because of it.
00:29:24
Speaker
However, in real life, not only did Jimmy Stewart go to war, he was like a decorated combat pilot.
00:29:36
Speaker
of a bomber over europe oh wow jimmy stewart definitely kill a lot of people damn that's wild he was no like he was intense i think he was what did what was his rank i don't remember what his rank was but he i mean brigadier general was his highest rank wow sounds legit yeah I to think that was really funny because it's like of this decorated war here. And he, I think, was a celebrity at the time when it happened. And he still went, registered, enlisted, and became a pilot.
00:30:16
Speaker
I wonder if that has anything to do with his the brother character in this movie becoming a pilot. I feel like it has to, right? Yeah. Hmm.
00:30:28
Speaker
good old Harry Bailey. But yeah, that footage was crazy though. Yeah. it's like i can where and I was like, is this real? Did they film it just from the movie? Yeah. I'm assuming real footage that they had to have gotten a hold of.
00:30:42
Speaker
World War two, not the like sidetrack from the movie, but like world war two footage is such a crazy thing because it's so like who cameras back then were not like,
00:30:55
Speaker
easy to conceal and it's like who's who's running around with the camera like in like the back of a jet like I don't know or plane because there weren't jets at the time. Actually, there were the V2 bombs from ah Germany had jets, but um you're in the back of like a prop plane and you're filming and it's like someone is like like, what are you thinking?
00:31:21
Speaker
I don't know. It's a lot easier today with like a GoPro. Yeah. but they didn't have Or duct tape. Yeah.
00:31:33
Speaker
i don't know. That's pretty wild. um Donna Reed. Wanted to shout her out real quick. Really good. I love her in this. Is that Mary? So good. Yeah, Mary. Oh, bro. Mary's like infallible.
00:31:48
Speaker
She's kind of a like a perfect human. She's the first angel in this movie. So she's like Mary. Right. Yeah. It's crazy. Did you guys cry when you watched this?
00:32:00
Speaker
Or tear up? I haven't. I did twice. Okay, I did too. did twice. You did it twice.
00:32:07
Speaker
And then like one was in the first half and then one was in the second half. What was the first part you did? Well, this is a good way to segue into what were some of your favorite scenes? um The second half is it's just the end.
00:32:22
Speaker
i mean, there's the end. Yeah. Yeah. But the first half was it's right after George and Mary get married and the run on the bank happens.
00:32:33
Speaker
And they go to the the building and loan and they start giving out. Mary just volunteers their honeymoon money to to keep the business afloat.
00:32:46
Speaker
And then like the scene transitions and all the building and loan people are there. and But she isn't. It's oh, well, where's Mary? And it's like, oh, like then she calls and she's like, well, come home to 320, whatever, whatever the street is. um And they go there and she had set up like a honeymoon in the old house. Yeah.
00:33:07
Speaker
yeah That got me like that really got me. She was setting up the posters from all the other countries and everything. Yeah, it was amazing. And they're they're singing outside. And i mean, that scene just absolutely hit me like a knife in my chest. And I got really, really misty eyed.
00:33:33
Speaker
I mean, because at the end of the day, it's like, to our one-star review friend, it's like, oh, like well, he didn't get to go travel. But it's like, you can go see the world. But if anyone ever did that to me, that would be enough.
00:33:47
Speaker
Oh. that whatever That would be like the whole world. Yeah. In that one room. Because what else do you need? you know yeah Exactly. And that's that's the entire movie.
00:34:00
Speaker
like i want to go to Iran. But I need love. will agree with you. The part that I got misty. I didn't is the very end.
00:34:13
Speaker
um Like i was saying, the whole angel thing took me for a surprise. Didn't know that that's where we were going. Kind of. um What's that other Christmas movie? the Ghosts.
00:34:25
Speaker
christmas carol didn't know we were gonna yeahp oh oh yeah christmas carol like vibe the ghost yeah go with the vibes of like a christmas carol like showing him the life of like what would it be like if he was never born like i think it's him showing him like this his life what it would be like if he was never born but it's also showing him the life of like if he went off and he did all that traveling like what things would be like like these are the people he loves and this is the effect that he had and ah Clarence has some quote. He's like, it's something like it's crazy the effect that one man can have on like so many lives. But um yeah, I turned up at the very end seeing the entire town coming together to chip in money and then his brother, i think I think he writes it or something. But he says to my big brother, George, the richest man in town.
00:35:14
Speaker
As soon as I saw that, I was like, oh, yeah, it got me. It was tough. It's tough. It really is like ah it's so cheesy in a sense how nicely it all wraps up. But oh, my gosh, does that ending just get you? It was he's got like the tinsel on his hair and he's all like bedraggled. and you know.
00:35:35
Speaker
You just I and it it is funny because he never left Bedford Falls. But there are so many like incredible things that like happened to him there that he lived and he did kind of take it for granted.
00:35:49
Speaker
I mean, one of my other favorite scenes in this movie is the the dance scene um right at the beginning. Yeah. Where he dances with Mary and hitting that shit. Well, he sees her. He sees her across the room and it's just like.
00:36:04
Speaker
It's just one of those cinema moments of, you know, locking eyes and the music swells and. Mm hmm. You know, then he goes and he dances with her and they fall in the pool and they keep dancing and like... Crazy setup in that gym, by the way. is how yeah horrible What kind of gym is that? did that Was it like that? Was that just normal? Like, we gotta save space. Put the basketball court on top of the pool.
00:36:28
Speaker
Let's have an earthquake function. Yeah. We were robbed. ah better i didn't even have the lockers in my high school, so whatever. I don't know if we're gonna say that we were robbed. i was I was looking it. was like, are there going to be any black people in this movie? too There was one issue. It was the help. all right there i think there was a second i think there was a second. There was a piano player.
00:36:53
Speaker
Awesome. yeah Also helping. yeah I think there was maybe a third at the end that gives George money. That was the help from earlier. No, no, no, no. I think this is another one.
00:37:05
Speaker
Just like randomly, just like, here you go, George. ah Before she comes in. Okay. Annie? Yeah, before Annie comes in. I guess, man.
00:37:16
Speaker
No, I was not saying we were robbed in the sense of like that society. I was saying we were robbed in having basketball swimming pool combos. I agree. I was just thinking of it in like terms of taking back. I got was born in the wrong generation.
00:37:32
Speaker
I think I was born at the right time, actually. I'm good. I'm good. maybe we Maybe the cutoff is like when Snack Shack happened. Yeah. like I could be born in the 80s. I could be born like 15, 20 years earlier.
00:37:49
Speaker
Well, i think to I think to really enjoy the you have to be born in like 60s. Well, I was saying I would love, i don't need to be enjoying the 80s. I'd rather enjoy the 90s, I think, as like a 15 year old.
00:38:02
Speaker
Like 15 in 1990. my God, that's my mom's age, actually. Anyway. What didn't work for you guys? did Anything not work?
00:38:17
Speaker
You know, it's kind of hard to say. i think i like i think as far as like movie watching goes, a big blind spot for me, which is which I'm excited that we've already done a couple of these, is getting to of the older older movies. like Even Huge blind for me.
00:38:35
Speaker
like huge blind spot for me And so I think when I watch these movies, there's just like a deeper appreciation for the art form that I don't really look at it.
00:38:45
Speaker
Not that like with movies now I'm looking at it through like a super critical lens. i'm like, oh, what's wrong with this? What's wrong with this? But it doesn't, they just don't really like feel like that for me because whatever doesn't really work, I know is just a product of the time.
00:38:58
Speaker
yeah i'm like people don't talk like that i'm like they did apparently um so it's hard for me to say what doesn't work because when i walk away from this movie i just it's purely just the performances and the the theme that it wants us to take away with it and by the end of it like i'm crying and i'm like that was beautiful it is a wonderful life and i just have this newfound appreciation for like anything and everything So all in all to say, hard for me to talk about what doesn't work because it's just I just don't think it's it's that for me. It's a wonderful movie. i mean Maybe I just loved it.
00:39:38
Speaker
I think you did. i mean Obviously we can point out like editing mistakes where you know they needed to reshoot a scene and you know the character's not perfectly lined up to where they were a half second ago.
00:39:51
Speaker
I don't know. I mean... It doesn't really matter in grand scheme of things, considering, like you were saying, in the context of the time, the movie, the message, all that. So I don't know. i don't know what didn't work for me either.
00:40:06
Speaker
at least at this moment, I just finished watching it like an hour and a half ago. So it's still fresh and I still feel good and grateful.
00:40:19
Speaker
How does Clarence as like the vehicle for redemption work for you guys? Like I was saying, like, yes, we got the quote unquote angels in the beginning talking, but I did not think that we are physically get an angel.
00:40:33
Speaker
So that kind of came out of nowhere for me. How does that work for you guys? i I liked it because it didn't really spoon feed it to George. It just kind of showed him the way.
00:40:46
Speaker
it opened the door and let him run through the halls and the rooms and run through the cupboards. And. He was just like, you asked for it. Like, yeah.
00:40:58
Speaker
OK, let's go find out. um I wouldn't even say he was a vehicle for it. I i think he was like the gatekeeper for it. He had the had the set of keys to get in and I liked it.
00:41:10
Speaker
Because the vehicle crashed into the tree. Yeah, because he was drunk. yeah Imagine drunk driving back then. Dude. I mean, it couldn't have been that bad, right? Honking one of those horns. It probably wasn't even a problem.
00:41:23
Speaker
No seatbelts. Didn't go above 15 miles an hour. Honking one of those horns. Oh, God. Oh, God.
00:41:33
Speaker
yes so You know what? Take me back, actually. I'm down to go. Just want to drink a six pack on the on a country road. Yeah.
00:41:46
Speaker
Yeah. ah Mr. Potter's a piece of shit. He's giving me... um What's his deal? sucks. Literally the worst person to ever live. Okay.
00:41:57
Speaker
Ranking villains in cinema. I think... Like... Revenge of the Sith Anakin... Was like and he killed children.
00:42:10
Speaker
Spoiler.
00:42:13
Speaker
He killed younglings. I still think is a bigger force for good than Mr. Potter. And like this is post like Mace Windu. Killing Anakin. Yeah. Mr. Potter is the worst.
00:42:25
Speaker
It's like Mr. Potter. ah A lot of villains. Thanos. Anakin. Everyone else. Mr. Potter is number one. Yeah. I mean, like we're getting to the point where Mr. Potter probably ranks against like real life villains. I was about to say this is just like capitalist greed that is more prevalent now than ever.
00:42:47
Speaker
Would you rather hang around Mr. Potter or John Wayne Gacy? I'll take Mr. Gacy. I'll take Mr. Potter. I don't know about you guys. That's an easy answer.
00:42:58
Speaker
I hate capitalism. He'll make me poor, but he won't do other things to me. i I sure. OK, I mean, this guy, he he hates poor people.
00:43:14
Speaker
No, Mr. Potter was like genuinely like the worst. And the funniest bit is, is like if you look at it now, there's like some things in the movie that haven't aged a day where.
00:43:28
Speaker
you know, uh, George Bailey going, you know how much it takes a working man to raise $5,000? Like ah still takes the working man a long time to raise $5,000. That being said, a $5,000 mortgage is nuts.
00:43:41
Speaker
Could you imagine? Absolutely nuts. I, um, I looked up the conversion from 8,000 to what that'd be worth today. And so
00:43:51
Speaker
what, like roughly $160,000, $170,000? Yeah, I did the conversion for the job he got offered from like $23,000. and it was like And it was like $383,000 a year. This is what happens when you take the dollar off the gold standard and it's worthless and just can be printed and... Yeah.
00:44:12
Speaker
Thanks. Take me back with my current salary.
00:44:18
Speaker
Thanks, Nixon. Yeah. Idiot. But he's not a crook. I'm not a crook. um A crazy bit. I can't believe he's coming up a second time on this podcast, but a crazy bit of lore.
00:44:35
Speaker
And um I really try and not get political on this podcast. But apparently Ben Shapiro thinks Mr. Potter is the good guy. There's no way. Ben Shapiro is character. Apparently his argument is that sure Mr. Potter is like a dick but he's correct from like a financial standpoint because if George Bailey gets his way and I quote all of Bedford Falls collapses.
00:45:09
Speaker
There's a way for them, I think, to maybe even like work together to not exploit the people of Bedford. Potter wants a monopoly on the entire city. Mr. Potter literally stole $8,000, knows that he did it, and then called the police to have George arrested for misappropriation of funds. He was happy to do it.
00:45:32
Speaker
He was laughing. Yeah. Laughing to the bank. Literally. That's probably where the saying comes from. He called the cops and he's like, bro, come get your boy. You're going to find out some shit and I know you will.
00:45:45
Speaker
Oh, speaking of cops, Bert and Ernie. Oh, Bert and Ernie. yes Sesame Street, which who who came first? I think this did. OK. But were they named after them?
00:45:58
Speaker
Sure. They had to have because they gave me like roommate vibes that have kissed and you know, kind of love each other. Yeah. Like I'm in love with the the other guy was saying, Oh, I got a wife and kids. And I was like, no, you don't.
00:46:12
Speaker
And if you do, you have Ernie. No, no. Who? They were not derived from it's a wonderful life. Apparently it was a coincidence.
00:46:27
Speaker
Uh huh. Is that just what they said to protect themselves or? I don't know. Interesting. Okay. Sources from within the Sesame Street production team suggest that the identical names were coincidental.
00:46:43
Speaker
Of course we didn't steal the names. We would never do that. Did you know that Sesame Street was produced by one Mr. Potter? Shut
00:46:56
Speaker
up. Here's a fun fact. The gym floor that opens in the middle to a real swimming pool underneath was filmed at Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California. It's real and it is still in regular use.
00:47:08
Speaker
there ah There was one scene where they're going through Potter's Field. Or, I mean, ah Bailey Park. Yeah. And it's clearly California. Oh, yeah. With the mountain in the background. Yeah. And I'm like, that's Pasadena. like it's salt It looks like hot and sunny and it's supposed to be winter.
00:47:31
Speaker
That's okay. um It actually broke the immersion. One out of ten. Would never watch again. Anything else you guys want to shout out from this? Everything.
00:47:42
Speaker
Literally, this is such a beautiful movie. actually really like the running gag of the the thing on the staircase that keeps popping off. Oh, I did too.
00:47:53
Speaker
That was nice. That was. I loved just the recurring characters throughout like the whole life. Like Violet, Mr. Gower. Martini.
00:48:04
Speaker
Yeah. And then, yeah, seeing them all come back at the very end, I was just like, this
00:48:11
Speaker
is so... It genuinely, like... It really... it like if you don't like The end of that movie hurts. Yeah. It's like searing needles going into me every time someone drops money in.
00:48:25
Speaker
And, like, if you hate it, I'm sorry, you're miserable. you I hate you. Like, I hate you. Yeah. yeah fuck you Genuinely, I mean, because at the end of the day, it's it's, I think a movie, it's one of those movies that I think truly gets better the older you get.
00:48:44
Speaker
i remember the first time I watched it, I was like, what's the big deal? Like, I liked it, it was neat, but I'm watching it now, and it's just like, this really does resonate home. Because I mean, to tie back to my rant there at the beginning, like, we all have, you know, maybe what should have been, what could have been, I should have done this differently, I should have done that differently. Mm-hmm.
00:49:04
Speaker
And it's really important, I think, at the end of the day to bring it all back in and remember that, you know, if you did things differently, the lives that you affect, that effect may not have happened. And the secondary effects, who knows what that would have been. Because i think we kind of lose sight, and it's it's through the fault of nobody. It's like, we all affect so many people's lives.
00:49:35
Speaker
On a daily basis. Especially the ones we're close to. so if you were to pluck any of us out of that, there would be a void.
00:49:47
Speaker
There really would. And again, I think the older you get and the more life experience you have and the more life experience you miss... I think it makes that movie, I think it makes this movie just that much better.
00:50:01
Speaker
It makes it a little bit too poignant. Yeah. By the end. I mean, there's a reason why nearly 80 years later, people like us are still discovering it and loving it just as much as people did on day Don't loop me in with that, people like us. People like us is me and Tachi, okay? You watched this two years ago. Because I'm him. You were still 78 years late.
00:50:26
Speaker
Me and Tachi were their opening day. That's right. Yeah. All right. Final rating. Oh, shoot. wasn't expecting this.
00:50:36
Speaker
how are yeah
Exploration of 'The Holdovers'
00:50:38
Speaker
Actually, let's think.
00:50:42
Speaker
It's okay. I'll go first. Okay. Five. Wow. What about you, Tachi? What do you think? I think considering that I would like to buy like the the soundtrack on vinyl, even though i don't have a record player, think I'll give it a 4.5.
00:51:01
Speaker
It's pretty nice. ah had this movie at a 4 out of 5 for the longest time. And looking back after that today, i don't really know what the hell I was thinking.
00:51:15
Speaker
Because this movie is 5. Yeah. I feel like with repeated watches, it's going to get up there to a five with me. Just because fives just have this really strong personal connection, I guess. 4.5 is essentially perfect.
00:51:31
Speaker
Yeah. um i I totally get what you mean. i think every now and then, even on the first watch, there is that movie where you're just like, horse I know after rewatches, I'm going to feel the same, if not deeper.
00:51:43
Speaker
I know that with this movie, and I know that with our next one. Next, we're talking about the holdovers. Directed by Alexander Payne, released in 2023. For a second, I thought it came out last year. can't believe it's already been two years.
00:51:56
Speaker
um Synopsis reads, a curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them, a damaged brainy troublemaker, and with the school's head cook who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
00:52:15
Speaker
And this is starring Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sexa, Davine, Joy Randolph, and a few more.
00:52:26
Speaker
um well
00:52:30
Speaker
We'll do our Letterboxd love-like load before we gush over this movie. um I'll start with our five star, and this one comes from Frames of Nick. Five stars. Like a warm hug from a friend you haven't seen in years, all while crying on their shoulder over and over again about how much you miss them.
00:52:47
Speaker
Our three star comes from Fran Hopfner. sort of the simmonin yeah Sort of the cinematic equivalent of this with a link to one of those 10 hour like Yule logs burning in the fireplace.
00:53:05
Speaker
You can link on Letterboxd reviews? Yeah. Yeah. I think a stronger screenplay would have left more unsaid. The eye, et cetera. I sort of wish they all just watched the newlywed game the whole time. All three leads good enough to elide the film's constant desire to explain itself and fear to engage with how difficult everyone was.
00:53:27
Speaker
Carrie Preston's so beautiful, it must be said, dot, dot, dot. This comes in from Lauren, one star. This made me feel like I was an old person on her deathbed waiting for my eldest child to pull the plug on me so I can finally just die.
00:53:44
Speaker
Wow. That's nuts. That's insane. It's kind of incomprehensible. um Do you guys remember the feeling you had walking out of the theater the first time you watched this?
00:53:57
Speaker
Like, what what was that was that like? It was just, I can't wait to watch this again. So let let me tell you about it. Let me tell you about it. Cause I remember as clear as day.
00:54:09
Speaker
Um, I had just flown back from Rhode Island and I'd been up since like three in the morning. Cause I flew out of like Boston or something stupid like that.
00:54:20
Speaker
And I had tickets to see it the day I came back. So I was like sleep deprived and tired out of it. Long travel day, whatever. I was coming back from Thanksgiving break.
00:54:33
Speaker
I was not excited to see this movie. Like i I had no not hard feelings about it. I wasn't like, i don't want to watch this, but i was just like like, I'm just watching this because I keep hearing people talk about it.
00:54:46
Speaker
And I know it's going to be on lists. So it's like, yeah, I'm going to I'm going to check it out and see what what's up and. yeah I was going to give it a fair shake, but I wasn't like, oh, this is you know the one of my anticipated movies of the year.
00:55:00
Speaker
i was blown away.
00:55:03
Speaker
Just walking out, I was like, what are we doing, man? It was just an instant classic. Yeah. It really was. and like I felt it.
00:55:15
Speaker
i felt I had that same exact feeling. so many times during the movie, like while it's happening and I'm watching it today. And it's like the first 10 minutes.
00:55:29
Speaker
I remember watching the first 10 minutes and just the choir boys singing and then we get all like the the static shots of the snow and then we get the song. I think it's by like Chamber Brothers that kind of kicks off like our our intro.
00:55:42
Speaker
know it's by. um Damien Gerardo. Damien Gerardo. Is it Silverjoy? Yeah. Okay. Silverjoy song kicks in.
00:55:53
Speaker
And I'm just like, all right, I'm already in. and Such an incredible needle drop. This soundtrack is impeccable. I have this one. I have this one on vinyl. i I'm going to get it.
00:56:05
Speaker
Yeah, you need to. It's beautiful. And we'll get into like, i mean I'll just get ahead of myself on this and start on the soundtrack. The Boston scene and the Karongbin needle drop.
00:56:18
Speaker
Levitated. It is such... That is such a beautiful scene and I think such a pivotal moment in the movie. We're jumping way ahead, but who cares?
00:56:28
Speaker
yeah I mean, I'm such a Northeast boy. that was like... it That movie sent me... Like one-shotted me back into growing up nostalgia in Northeast Winners and going to Boston in December and just like...
00:56:46
Speaker
See, again, like similar to to Place Beyond the Pines, you grew up in the Northeast. I did not. But with these movies, I feel it. Like, I'm there. And you're moving to California, not the Northeast. Come on, dude. Hey, plenty of movies about the West Coast.
00:57:00
Speaker
Yeah, they all blow. and i Just like your move. ah Oh, my favorite scene. Well, not my favorite scene, but it just it cracks me up so much. It's when Dominic breaks his arm in the gym. Paul Giamatti is like furiously trying to scrape the ice off his car. and That was so funny. Yes. Then yelling at each other in the car. Yeah. it gets me every time this is your rubicon aliyah yachta est i i really i really love that scene because it shows i think that's like the first time that we really see um dominic sess's character like like he's not a bad kid and paul giamatti's right like he is smart like i'm not gonna know what the response is to like someone saying that this is my rubicon and he gives them like the perfect response in whatever language that is like he is a smart kid in latin yeah It's the dias cast. That's what that means. So it's like, that's what Caesar said when they, when they crossed the Rubicon.
00:58:05
Speaker
Well, I would have known that, but he did. Do you not think about the Roman empire every day? No, I think more about space than I do the Roman empire.
00:58:16
Speaker
Space is my Roman empire. What about space Romans? I would like to see some space Romans. It is a great scene. The whole sequence. Yeah. You said you'd wash my hands. you wash your hands with me.
00:58:31
Speaker
i matter Metaphorically, of course you did. didn't think you going to literally wash your hands. How should we go down? do we want if there's anything that doesn't work for us, should we say that and first?
00:58:46
Speaker
I guess. But what is there? Because I'll be honest, there's not a lot for me. I don't... i I think my biggest thing is I wished... And this isn't even like ah it was a problem with the movie. It's just I wanted it for my boy.
00:59:01
Speaker
um I wanted the romance at the Christmas party for Angus to like come back around later and it never did. Yeah. The girly kissed.
00:59:13
Speaker
Yeah. I just wanted that for my boy and it didn't happen. But it's like the it's like the summer fling, like the winter fling at the adult winter party. It was like a 45 minute fling. Yeah.
00:59:23
Speaker
My boy needed more than that, dude. Well, maybe we'll get a sequel. Two hold, two over. Yeah.
00:59:33
Speaker
I guess one thing I could point out in my first watch was that when all the other boys at the school ah got to leave and it was just Angus ethical ah at the school, I was like, oh man, how's this going to play out? Like this might be kind of slow and boring.
00:59:52
Speaker
Yeah. How wrong I was. How wrong you were. Was that a problem? like it It was like, at at the time. Like during that moment. thought was going to be like ah like an ensemble cast like holdovers. It's going to be like all of them. Right. Like we get to see like these multiple relationships fleshed out.
01:00:11
Speaker
Then we saw the real holdovers. um I really like the scene of the one kid who had a nightmare. Oh, the little Asian boy. Yeah, the little Asian boy and Dominic Sessage is like comforting him.
01:00:25
Speaker
I thought that was really sweet. It's just there's there's so many little moments of like each individual character in this movie that makes me tear up.
01:00:36
Speaker
Dude, and I think I teared up like three or four times watching this today. I can't believe that that was like his first role. Yeah, it's insane. It's insane. It's like.
01:00:47
Speaker
Probably like one of the greatest debut performances of all time. Yeah, it said in the beginning title card said introducing Dominic Cesar. And I'm like, that's just nuts. Sick.
01:00:58
Speaker
They just found him. They weren't looking. Literally. Yeah, they just found him. Yeah. It's crazy. How did they find him? Do guys know the story? it had So I think he was in the drama club at the of the school they pulled the boys from for like the larger ensemble. Okay. Yeah.
01:01:17
Speaker
And they just saw him cooking. They were like, oh my God, get this guy in the kitchen. What's crazy is, I mean, his next like big movie is about Anthony Bourdain.
01:01:30
Speaker
Really? So he will literally be cooking about cooking. Yeah. And it's like apparently like a really specific time in Bourdain's life to like in like 76. And like the letterbox description is just like. Like 76 when Anthony Bourdain had a profound experience in wherever.
01:01:48
Speaker
Is he playing it? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my God. Called Tony. Matt Johnson, he did the Blackberry movie. He's directing this one. i like the Blackberry movie. Still need to watch it.
01:01:59
Speaker
I'm excited for this one. Ooh, Stavros is going to be in Tony. That's funny. um I want to see more of Dominic Sessa. I thought by now we would have.
01:02:10
Speaker
He is in a Christmas movie that came out this year, actually. Okay. Oh, what Supposed to be not great. Oh, what fun. Yeah. Or, in other words, he's the only good thing about it.
01:02:22
Speaker
ah Felicity Jones is in it too, actually. oh wait, I like her. I do too. Jason Schwartzman. So is Jason Schwartzman. Yeah. Okay. Joan Chen. I'll attract my statement. Wait, hang on, hang on, hang on. It's got a 2.6 on the letterbox. Oh, okay. Listen to this cast.
01:02:36
Speaker
Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Dominic Cesar, Jason Schwartzman, Joan Chen, Eva Longoria, Danielle Brooks, Maude Apatow.
01:02:50
Speaker
This is stacked. This has to be money laundering. Could be. Who directed this? Michael Showalter. He directed ah The Big Sick. Oh, he's the guy.
01:03:03
Speaker
What guy? Because isn't The Big Sick like about him and his wife? I don't know. Oh, he did The Idea of You. Dude, that movie stunk. Yeah, I've heard all of his other movies aren't good. I like The Big Sick, though.
01:03:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah, I gave that one a four and a half. If I'm not mistaken, that's about like, it's like a pretty close to true story about him and his wife. Starring Kumail Nanjiani as Kumail Nanjiani.
01:03:28
Speaker
Basically. No, literally, that's what he's listed as in the credits. Anyway. Yeah, back to the holdovers. Back to the holdovers, yeah. I'm not saying anything negative about this movie. Fuck you guys.
01:03:40
Speaker
No, it's there's there's I can't think of anything. I genuinely can't. Like, I mean, maybe like some of the script is a little too show. Don't tell. I mean, tell, don't show. o That's about it.
01:03:51
Speaker
But even then, like, I don't care. Like, yeah, why is there so great? It really is so endearing. Yeah, I don't I don't need like I don't need to like search for anything. I don't need a I don't need that.
01:04:03
Speaker
It's all right there on a silver platter. Yeah. On the silver screen. And I mean it up. The craziest thing, which I mean, I'm sure everyone knows this. um Give me that better. Paul Giamatti was robbed.
01:04:15
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Best actor. Okay. Wait, who won? Killian Murphy. It was really hard. Yeah. Devine Joy Randolph did win, though. Right. and She was the first of the night. yeah I remember that. And I was very, very happy with that.
01:04:31
Speaker
I remember us saying, I was like, Paul Giamatti would be cool, but it's going to be Killian Murphy. And that's okay. I picked Killian and I still took home our Oscar trophy. There you go.
01:04:42
Speaker
want it all. We want have that on your desk. Paul Giamatti did ah famously go to In-N-Out after the Academy Awards, though. Dude, can you imagine going into In-N-Out and Paul Giamatti's there? I can, because it's going to happen to me.
01:04:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah, because you're going to live in L.A. Anyway. So jealous. This movie looks fantastic. It looks like it was ripped straight from the 70s.
01:05:12
Speaker
Like, I thought that this movie was shot on film. It's not. Really? Yeah. I don't know if you guys knew this. I thought it was. I just found out. It's very like. You're telling me this now for the first time. The lengths they went to to not just like emulate film, but to really give it the feeling of like Alexander Payne that he said that he wanted this to feel like a low budget movie from the 70s. You're raising your hand.
01:05:41
Speaker
Yes. Why didn't they just film on film then? I think there were limitations that they couldn't accomplish. So they had tried it with 35 millimeter and like 16 millimeter.
01:05:54
Speaker
And there was just a certain look that they were going for that they couldn't get with film. Plus I know it's more time consuming and a lot more expensive. And so him, the cinematographer and the colorist just like did everything they could to shoot on digital, but make it look like film. And like they captured it perfectly.
01:06:13
Speaker
that needs to be the gold standard for all filmmaking yes sorry i honestly i kind of agree and also the effort that they put in for the sets that they shot on all all real places but like several several places that they shot at yeah just to give the feel that they yeah like no problem like no like no um what's the word
01:06:39
Speaker
they shoot like warehouses? Like none of that, like all real places is what you're saying? All schools. Yes. Yeah. yeah Speaking of set locations, that bookstore in Boston, the outdoor bookstore, it's a real place. Yep. Oh, that's cool.
01:06:52
Speaker
I want to go. Mom and dad, if you're listening and I know you are, can we go when I come home, please? please sound stages. That's the, that's the word I was looking for. No sets or sound stages were used.
01:07:04
Speaker
Devine joy Randolph, a non-smoker found that smoking fake cigarettes looked unrealistic. Randolph opted to smoke real cigarettes on screen for the role while being very sensitive to not becoming addicted to. Dog.
01:07:17
Speaker
We regret toforming you that she is now addicted. She deserves that Oscar. Yeah, in Eternity, she's like, welcome to heaven. Did you guys watch Eternity?
01:07:31
Speaker
Not yet. All right. I won't say anything then. ah Who's your favorite performance in this? Dominic Sessa. Gun to my head. i think Paul.
01:07:42
Speaker
Gun to my head. i think I'd also go Paul. But they're so good. They're all so good. It's unbelievable. If we had to pick one. Yeah, Paul. I think Paul is the best.
01:07:56
Speaker
I think Dominic's is my favorite just because it's like it feels so raw and real. And it was his first one. Like. That's fair. It just has weight. The scene of him after visiting his father um in the mental hospital, having that conversation with Paul and him just kind of like pleading that he just doesn't want to be like his father.
01:08:19
Speaker
That scene really, really does it for me. That's my standout scene for Dominic Cessa in this movie.
01:08:27
Speaker
Like that's the entire heart of the film for me is that interaction between them two. See, I think for me, the heart of the film for me is the handshake. At the very end. Yeah. You want to talk about tearing up? Yeah, that one's brutal.
01:08:42
Speaker
I love them. Yeah. Just such a dude's rock moment. don't think I've ever heard of that, but I like that. What, dude's rock? Yeah.
01:08:54
Speaker
Just guys being dudes. Literally, like, just handshaking it out. No hugs. No funny business. Just a nice firm handshake to go on your way.
01:09:05
Speaker
and then But that handshake was worth a thousand hugs. And a see ya. And ten thousand kisses. And two Miller High Lifes. Dude, they're the champagne of beers. It's permanently. This movie has permanently entered my vocabulary to the point where any time, any time, no matter who I'm with.
01:09:27
Speaker
If I see anything Miller High Life related, I'll point to it and go champagne of beers. Champagne of beers right there. Have you ever had a Miller High Life? Yes. It is not the champagne of Pierce. It's they like They said that in the movie, and I was just like, sure take Different time. you know It's the 70s.
01:09:45
Speaker
I bet Miller High Life back then ripped. It probably hit like crack. Dude. The CIA replaced Miller High Life with crack.
01:09:57
Speaker
How does the length of this movie work for you guys? a lot i feel I've seen some people say that it's a little too long. yeah I wish it never ended. Yeah. I think it's a little over two hours. I think you can feel the runtime. most I'll give you that. Most times that's a negative.
01:10:14
Speaker
That's a positive for me for this one. Agreed. I'm fine just sitting and stewing in it.
01:10:22
Speaker
All day long. Just getting all the Bennett. All the Bennett. I want to go sit in the snow. I do too. And I wish my eyesight was, it looked like film. They're going to say it looked like Paul Giamatti.
01:10:40
Speaker
I didn't see it, but I feel like I've seen somewhere. So obviously they gave him a wonky eye for this. Is it true that they kept switching it like during filming?
01:10:52
Speaker
Have you guys heard about this? No. It sounds very vaguely familiar. Right? Because like, and it's possible. Doesn't it look like it switches during the movie? um Sometimes it's his left eye, sometimes it's his right eye.
01:11:03
Speaker
Yeah. I only remember it being his left eye, though. Like sometimes it switches. i don't know. I just wanted to bring it up because I feel like i' like I saw something like that.
01:11:17
Speaker
Well, I'm not sure. Maybe, maybe I made the whole thing up. Um, do we enjoy Randolph? Obviously very, very good in this movie. Very powerful. Very powerful. Got the Oscar for, for supporting actress.
01:11:29
Speaker
So deserved. Very deserved. Like there was, there was no hesitation that it should have been her, her at the party. Yeah. let' say that Breaking down in the kitchen just with the loss of her son.
01:11:41
Speaker
That immediately gets me. Heartbreaking. Yeah. And it's the way that like shortly after they're leaving the party, Dominic says this thing that he wants to stay and him and Paul are are kind of bickering about it.
01:11:52
Speaker
And she was just sobbing in the kitchen and has to like kind of like put her chest up and like correct these two for like fighting and like go off on Paul and like the switch up that she can do. Like she's, she can be so vulnerable, but then so strong, like seconds later, great performance. Yeah.
01:12:09
Speaker
I loved it. Speaking of the party, that scene of Paul on the couch, oh the watching the the host, i forget I forget her name, but um that crushed me too. that That whole Christmas party was like a roller coaster.
01:12:23
Speaker
Because he had like even like 2% hope. like he like We meet him and he puts on this facade that he's very okay with the life that he lives, he knows that the students hate him. He knows that the faculty hates him, but it's like something that he thinks is like endearing to himself because he wants to be framed like the monks and abstain from the pleasures of life and everything like that. And then obviously we find out as the movie goes on none of that's true and he still like wants affection and wants that love i think it's the first time you finally see his walls get let down a little bit like she kisses him under the mistletoe so maybe he had just like that glimmer of hope yeah and then yeah he turns around and then turns back to the camera and it's just the most heartbreaking eyes yeah yeah these two movies like have just folded me emotionally yeah i love christmas so happy why are we crying during christmas
01:13:21
Speaker
See, but like at the end of both of these movies, they both really do feel like warm hugs. It feels like we just went through something in life that it's like, maybe it was difficult. Didn't really want to go through, but you came out at the end and you're much better for it. And that's what both of these are. earned really Yeah. That's what they really feel like to meet him.
01:13:42
Speaker
After all that pain, it was definitely earned. Who would win? Paul Giamatti's character or George Bailey? In what? The Christmas off.
01:13:53
Speaker
I'm going to George Bailey. George. George Bailey, saying. I'm from Bedford Falls. See? Paul Giamatti would just get everybody gifts on meditation. And I don't think it would go over well.
01:14:08
Speaker
Now you listen here.
Humor and Villain Comparisons
01:14:10
Speaker
i appreciate this, Mr. Hunman. I appreciate this book by Marcus Aurelius, but I'm missing $8,000. Ha ha.
01:14:19
Speaker
And I don't know where to get it. You can see Mr. Potter in the back calling the police laughing. I bet Mr. Potter ah jailed Dominic's dad. He's behind the whole thing. running the mental institution.
01:14:39
Speaker
Who's a bigger villain? Angus's mom or Mr. Potter? Because Angus's mom blows. Yeah, that first phone call was actually insane.
01:14:50
Speaker
Could you imagine? Hearing your mom's reasons and that's that's what you get. He's like, oh I gotta go, bye. Yeah.
01:15:01
Speaker
That's crazy. I'm gonna say i'm gonna say his mom. And like he's not wrong with his read on her either. He's like, I know what she's doing. right like He has what she's been through with hard, but like I can see what she's doing. It's easier to just not see me.
01:15:15
Speaker
And that's heartbreaking. It's terrible. I know. And she is she's just looking for any excuse to send him off to military school. And Paul sees that. And so him standing up at the very end, like knowing what was going to happen to him is just admirable.
01:15:31
Speaker
At least Mr. Potter it doesn't pretend to be anything he isn't. That's true. Yeah, he's real to himself. ah He's a real hater. Oh, here we go. Here we go. but Paul Hunnam's lazy eye was Paul Giamatti's idea and started out as a prank on co-star Dominic Sessa before being incorporated into the script.
01:15:51
Speaker
Alexander Payne came up with the idea on set to continually swap out the lazy eye on either side as well as the car doors to show the character development of trying to see yourself in someone else's situation.
01:16:03
Speaker
How neat. So they would switch it out. You're not crazy. All right. There was something at least for now. For now.
Praise for 'The Holdovers'
01:16:11
Speaker
Yeah. um I love this movie. This was an immediate classic for me walking out of the theater. I knew I'd be rewatching this every year.
01:16:20
Speaker
And I don't think it'll I don't think it'll get old. Yeah, I don't think we can sing its phrases enough. The performances are spectacular. Visually, it's beautiful. The soundtrack is perfect.
01:16:33
Speaker
Like it's I really don't have anything bad to say about this movie. And if you do, I'm coming for you. I wonder what you're going to give it when we rate it. Although I actually think we have all given our rating for this movie on the pod before. Probably.
01:16:49
Speaker
It should be abundantly queer. Yeah. How do you feel? um I gave this movie a five. Same. Same. Here we go.
01:17:05
Speaker
Wow. Those are bulls are vis five stars. It's the first time we've ever talked about movie all had five stars. How we feel about that sound? We can workshop it. I don't know if i liked it.
01:17:17
Speaker
I just hate that Tachi robbed us of a double five star giving that paltry 4.5. Oh, shit. You're right. Oh my god, my bad guys. You ruined us. Dude, your taste? Are you kidding me? We almost went from no five stars for all of us to two in a row the same episode. I don't know what's wrong with I've given the last three months. That's very true. No, four.
01:17:44
Speaker
I've given four. It's a Wonderful Life, this one, The Exorcist, and The Place Beyond the Pines. I'm washed. my ah my My criticism is just washed.
01:17:56
Speaker
That's not true. I'm just finally seeing some five-star shit. Well, hopefully we see more with Marty. All we had to do is just leave October.
01:18:11
Speaker
We've been on an upper swing since then. Right, guys? Nothing was wrong with October. God damn it. Please. No. It'll be worse next year because it's all going to be live from The Exorcist House. Oh, perfect.
Upcoming Episodes Teaser
01:18:24
Speaker
Anyway, house if you have yeah if you haven't seen The Holdovers, I'm sure you have. It's time for you to go rewatch it anyway. And if you haven't, we're going to send Mr. Potter after you.
01:18:36
Speaker
And Dominic Sessa's mom. They're going to get you. um We've got a couple more Christmas episodes coming out this month, so be on the lookout for those.
01:18:47
Speaker
I'm excited for them. Me too. I hope you guys are too. Wrap it. That's a wrap. Martini. It's a wonderful life. It is. The Holdovers. Five stars. We love it. You love it.
01:18:59
Speaker
We'll see you in the next episode. Goodbye. See you. Bye.