Transcript
Julian Contreras Jr: Welcome in. It has been a long time since you've ever heard that noise, unless you've been re-listening, which is very much appreciated. But for those of you that are new and coming back, this is Shut Off, Turn On, Episode 75. I'm Julian. That guy over there is
Kendahl: That's Kendall over here.
Julian Contreras Jr: That's right. We still exist, folks. We still exist. I want to say happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and welcome to the new year. This is 2026. We're in early 2026.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: It's only the third. So we're for this year, we're doing great.
Kendahl: just, I, I was, uh, I was, I was, I was talking to my wife the other day and she's like, it's been a while. I said, yeah, it's been since Thanksgiving.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah, it's stuff has been really packed on there. Of course, this year I didn't have surgery. So I actually had to go to work during the holidays, which for me is a lot.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Sometimes I come home and I'm just completely drained. You know how that is.
Kendahl: yeah I do. i do. Well, and I mean, I remember the days when it was crazy. And I mean, I for those of you that may not know, i mean, I did retail for nearly 20 years. it was like It was like 18, 17, 18 years.
Kendahl: And so I was there and I did the Christmas Thanksgiving back to school. I still have nightmares for back to school. when I see BTS, it's the only thing I think about is back to school.
Julian Contreras Jr: I think behind the scenes, but that's maybe because the industry I desired to be in. Anyway, welcome back. We are so happy that you're here joining us. I hope you have a fantastic 2026. We're going to do our best to do our part in your journey.
Julian Contreras Jr: May they keep you entertained, keep you informed, show you what to watch. Since we've been gone, stuff has been piling up. I did go see The Housemaid as soon as it dropped. Very first showing.
Julian Contreras Jr: I did do that.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: But then...
Kendahl: Well, and I, I was going to, and, and then the, the wife was like, no, I don't really want to watch it. And so I ended up going to a theater, which by the way, full of women, just, just, just, there's just bunch of women and I'm like the only dude in there, but yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: That's fine.
Kendahl: Yep.
Julian Contreras Jr: it's It's all good until we got to that little montage, which we'll jump into. But I want to welcome you back. I've texted you a little bit. I've called you over the holidays. I hope you had a fantastic, amazing time, Kendall, coming from the bottom of my heart.
Julian Contreras Jr: But please, fill us in. Did anything crazy happen? Any fun stories? Any cool GIFs?
Kendahl: Well, I mean, honestly, there was not a lot of cool gifts. This year was a little more like utilitarian for for my gifts. I got stuff for my truck and stuff to like I got a new barbecue grill.
Kendahl: So, you know, I, my stuff is all made for doing other things. So, but that's okay.
Julian Contreras Jr: All right.
Kendahl: That's good. I mean, honestly, this, this Christmas break or winter break, I mean, and even over Thanksgiving, like I had, so I had my mom here during Thanksgiving, which was really a wonderful gift from that perspective.
Kendahl: Cause she's from all the way out in your neck of the woods. And she flew out here for little over a week. So it was kind of nice. But I did get to go into DC for a few days, had some good times going to the museums there.
Kendahl: The hard part is it is cold. It has been really, really like abnormally cold or from around here. I say cold, you say, because it's like in the Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Meh. may
Kendahl: So, but now, I mean, honestly, it's not not a ton of crazy stuff. I mean, we've just been, it's been super just busy, i guess. That's the best way to put it. i've I've been redoing our bathroom. That's been a project and a half.
Kendahl: I'm still not done. Still hanging out, trying to finish that thing. But you know what? I say my whole problem with it is nowadays it costs like $10,000 plus dollars to have your bathroom redone.
Kendahl: And for me, it's, you know, three months and a few extra tools. So it takes a little bit longer, but I'll still do it. And it only costs me, you know, a quarter of the price.
Kendahl: So I might have to spend like, you know, I think I'm close to a thousand dollars altogether for everything, but,
Julian Contreras Jr: as long as you got the time, you can do it.
Kendahl: uh that's the hard part right i mean it's i i've been doing it since uh and oh i started in october and then i really got into it over thanksgiving and now i'm still trying to dive into it so you know yeah it's it's a usable bathroom i mean it's it's still usable it just doesn't look completed that's all but how about you
Julian Contreras Jr: That's good.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay. That's totally fair. So in my world, I mean, the best part of gifting is my gift. I'm just kidding.
Kendahl: Mm-hmm.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. No, we had a good time. it was it was a lot of work. Of course, my boy gets everything he wants and more, much more when I'm alone shopping by myself. Because I look at his life and I'm like, oh, I think he'd like that.
Julian Contreras Jr: I think he'd like that. That's pretty cool. He'd like that. And so i just buy things all the time. So by the time we pulled everything out to start wrapping, it's like, oh my gosh, what what did we do? But go ahead
Kendahl: just say I think that's the hard part, right? As you start going through all the presents when you're like wrapping them, you're like, oh my gosh, how much did I spend?
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. Yeah. wait We didn't look at numbers, but he he's really into like a trick scootering now, which is fine because I'm grateful for any physical activity that he wants to go do all the time because I grew up the way I grew up and it was either soccer or find something to do outside.
Kendahl: Hmm.
Julian Contreras Jr: You know, we were the 80s kids. We were outside until the lamppost come on.
Kendahl: Mm-hmm.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. So now it's like technology is so everywhere right now. He doesn't have to move very far. And I'm trying to get that out of his system. I'm like, go go play. go You can go scooter. You can go play basketball outside.
Julian Contreras Jr: Do all that fun stuff. So everything we got for Christmas was kind of about that. i did get him some cool Stranger Thing Funko Pops, which... he's kind of mad about because he doesn't collect quote unquote Funko Pops like dad does when it comes to Pennywise and Terrifier.
Julian Contreras Jr: He's like I don't know what I'm goingnna do with them. I don't have a space. i'm like, well, if you clean your room for one, you'd have a spot. But anyway, oh, he also got a 3D printer, which he's been asking for for years.
Kendahl: Oh, yeah.
Kendahl: Oh, wow.
Julian Contreras Jr: And I thought you had to have all this cool computer stuff, which I'm not very good at.
Kendahl: No.
Julian Contreras Jr: No, it's they're all like through your phone now and you can do whatever.
Kendahl: Well, that's that's what's right here.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay.
Kendahl: You see it in the background?
Julian Contreras Jr: Very nice. So you got one too.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. So if Kendall sounds a little bit different, that's why he was afraid that it was going to pick up the printer ring in the back.
Kendahl: I know I I'm in the middle of like a four hour print right now. And well, I say I it's it's my wife. But anyway, it's in the middle of like a four hour print and I didn't want to stop it.
Kendahl: So I was like, well, I'll just use my I'll use a different mic this time. Hopefully it doesn't pick up the background noise. And so far, I don't think it is, but that's all right.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: It's not.
Kendahl: But yeah, I mean, these things are cool.
Julian Contreras Jr: So, yeah.
Kendahl: I mean, they just they they make a bunch of really cool things. And if once you get into it, it's there's some pretty like useful aspects of having a 3D printer.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah, he, I went to work a few times and he was like, don't look, don't look at what it's printing. It's like a 18 hour print or something in pieces. And I came home one day and he was so kind.
Kendahl: Oh, wow.
Julian Contreras Jr: His sweet little heart printed me a Pennywise looks so cool. Like it had little pieces you had to plug in.
Kendahl: That's cool. Mm-hmm.
Julian Contreras Jr: Like when I saw the pieces apart, like the, the head was in a weird shape, but once you got it all together, it's a super cool Pennywise. I appreciate it so much. He knows I love that stuff. And I left it on the table.
Julian Contreras Jr: Cause I didn't really take possession of it. You know, he's like,
Kendahl: Mm-hmm.
Julian Contreras Jr: He's kind of lonely up here on the table all by himself. I'm like, oh, well I didn't know I was supposed to take him. I'm like, do you want to take him downstairs with his friends? He's like, yeah, take him down there. Like, okay.
Kendahl: That's cool.
Julian Contreras Jr: So he's having a lot of fun.
Kendahl: That's cool.
Julian Contreras Jr: i had a great time. It's starting to slow down. So now the episodes are going to start rolling out. I can go back to the theater. I did make platinum again. I did go see over 24 movies in the theater last year, but just barely.
Kendahl: Nice, nice.
Julian Contreras Jr: The first year i did a lot more. So I'm going to go to at least 35 to 40 this year.
Kendahl: I feel like I went to the theater a lot more this last year than I did in the previous year. And where I typically would turn off my my movie membership, I've actually kept it going because I feel like there's enough coming out in the relative future. And I mean, I i actually just went to the theater yesterday and we'll talk about that. And so where I normally would turn it off by now,
Kendahl: I'm going to keep it rolling because there's still some good things coming.
Julian Contreras Jr: Nice. Perfect. right. Let's not put it off any longer. Let's jump right into something that we wanted to talk about forever. We both read the book. You told me to read the book. I jumped in right away once you told me a certain name was in it.
Kendahl: Yeah. Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: So let's talk about this. The the Housemaid came to theaters November...
Kendahl: yeah eighth yeah Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Nope. November 8th.
Kendahl: December December 19th.
Julian Contreras Jr: December 19th. Right.
Kendahl: december nineteenth
Julian Contreras Jr: I went to the earliest showing. I told him I was leaving work and I had to go do this and I did.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: What did you think? We haven't really talked about it. We talked a little bit.
Kendahl: No. You know, okay, so I still liked the movie. I felt like they stayed... Well enough to the, you know, the elements and the and the suspense the the thriller factors within the book. I do like that. We did talk about some things that they took out or omitted, and I feel like it changes a massive amount of what could be.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah,
Kendahl: And so just, I guess to jump right into it. So we're going to preface this with spoilers. If you have not read this book and you have not seen this movie,
Kendahl: I'm not going we're not goingnna give away a lot of spoiler of the movie part, but we will give away, I think some of the book part to have a conversation.
Julian Contreras Jr: because we have to talk about the differences and stuff they left out, like you said.
Kendahl: So, Yeah. So one of the biggest differences is that a character named Enzo in.
Julian Contreras Jr: Thank you for starting with Enzo.
Kendahl: In the book, he plays a pretty pivotal factor in in what becomes the complexity of the. the the whole storyline. And he even in the book is a is a major part of the second iteration of the housemaid, which is the housemaids watching.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: Right. Yeah. And if you don't have Enzo in this. Part of, you know, kind of being this character that saves the day, then.
Kendahl: you've lost all aspects of what could be the second book. And in this movie, they've basically made Enzo just an obnoxious character.
Julian Contreras Jr: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah, and they went out and got this super handsome guy to play him, and that's why was so excited to see him in the trailer.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: i was like, that's Mossimo from 365, if you know, you know. And I was so excited to see his part, and I'm pretty sure they flirted a lot more in the book, and they may have even done some fun stuff.
Kendahl: And they had conversations.
Julian Contreras Jr: But in this one, like it was so annoying.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: like He didn't mean even do anything. He was just there to trim the same bush over and over again.
Kendahl: No.
Julian Contreras Jr: No metaphor, sadly.
Kendahl: Well... Well, and I mean, Enzo was a major part of, you know, Mrs. Winchester's original like struggles. And and then he also is part of helping when Millie gets into trouble again.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: he goes to her rescue in the first book. And in this, he's just this character that scares Millie and annoys. Andrew. I mean, it just that's all he is.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: He says he doesn't even play anything. he He even in the moment where he's supposed to have this conversation with Millie where he's like, hey, you're getting yourself into trouble.
Julian Contreras Jr: yeah
Kendahl: You need to get far away from this place. That just basically ended up being a you shouldn't be here.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: What?
Julian Contreras Jr: it I don't even know what accent it was in, but it wasn't supposed to be Italian. i don't know.
Kendahl: No.
Julian Contreras Jr: It just made me sad because that's what leads me to believe there is not going to be a sequel. This is a one and done. This is Amanda Seyfried and Sidney Sweeney.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: This is their one swing at the book they had. Please don't do any more, especially with what you did with Enzo.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: He kind of gets that whole ball rolling, like you said, to the new one. And they're supposed to get married.
Kendahl: Yeah. Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: There was no chemistry in between those two characters at all.
Kendahl: No. It was the opposite. It was the opposite. he he He annoyed her and scared her, which is the absolute... beyond part of like, even in the book, she talks about how he is really handsome. And, you know, if if she just understood Italian better, maybe she might be able to, you know,
Kendahl: be, you know, get, get involved with him. And I think she even tries to learn a little bit of Italian in the book to try to talk to him. Like she, and that's, I just, that's the whole thing.
Julian Contreras Jr: yeah
Kendahl: I just, it drives me nuts. But anyway, so them taking Enzo out was a big frustration for me. But besides that, I felt like, the Andrew's death was a little different, obviously.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay. Yeah.
Kendahl: But I don't know. I still felt like the movie was good. It's a one and done. I'll watch it again someday, but it's not one of those. I'm going to run. going to write.
Julian Contreras Jr: Someday.
Kendahl: I'm not going to I'm not going to run the streaming the minute it hits the that option to go watch it.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay. Hot take. Would you rather watch this again or regretting you again?
Kendahl: Oh, this one.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay, thank you.
Kendahl: I mean, we're.
Julian Contreras Jr: I had not even seen the rating they were going with because it I think it said TBD until it went... and Even like halfway through the movie, it was like, okay, they could be this could be PG-13.
Julian Contreras Jr: But then then the F-bomb started dropping.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: And then i was like, okay, this is going to be rated R.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: And then there was that little fast montage that I feel like it was cut down so much, Kendall.
Julian Contreras Jr: Like that whole scene, it was just like, okay, we're done.
Kendahl: Yeah. Well, but then it kind of like extended into days of them just kind of going at it. And yeah, I don't know. I mean, i i the the one thing that I didn't like was I felt like they made this...
Kendahl: they made it feel like there was like this big relationship building when it didn't seem as much inside the book in the book. It felt more one and done.
Kendahl: And then she had like this connection with Andrew, but then everything started rolling and it was kind of weird. Where in this one, it was like she was infatuated with them and going, you know, head over heels and spending days upon days with them. And I don't know, i just I felt like it changed the the their character dynamic a little bit from where the book was at.
Julian Contreras Jr: I do want to talk about some good things that were in this movie because but in all in all it was a very enjoyable movie I liked it oh yeah
Kendahl: Yeah.
Kendahl: Yeah, I mean, hands down, I mean, we've been talking negative, but no, I mean, I i still, I would enjoy watching it again. It's it's definitely a good movie.
Julian Contreras Jr: Let's talk about Amanda. I feel like she played the character who was, let's say, irrational and over the top.
Kendahl: Mm-hmm.
Julian Contreras Jr: I don't want to say crazy because she's not.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: But I felt like it was played to a T when the whole notes scene where she's tearing up the kitchen and throwing everything. It seemed a little bit forced, but at the same time, that's the way it was written.
Kendahl: Oh, yeah.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: So kudos to throwing everything around and doing that. I felt like the character was super cool. Like it when I read the book, that's the character I hated the most.
Kendahl: Well, and I think it's funny because there's this scene where she comes downstairs and sees Andrew and Millie on the couch in the middle of the night.
Julian Contreras Jr: Oh, watching Richard Dawson.
Kendahl: And it. Yeah. And in that minute, I was like, oh, o she looks pissed like you could just she just personified everything that was supposed to be that character.
Julian Contreras Jr: yeah
Kendahl: So I think she did a really good job.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. One of the things I really liked is that Sydney, she did play up those glasses a little bit because it is a kind of a dumb little thing in the book where she puts the glasses on to look smarter for the interview.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: But in the in the book, I felt like they touched on it lot more. Like, are you wearing your contacts? And then she like looks in and like, i don't see them.
Kendahl: hu
Julian Contreras Jr: She's like, oh, I only need them when I'm driving or whatever she said.
Kendahl: Right, right.
Julian Contreras Jr: They only did like a little snippet of that. Like it was like, fine, whatever.
Kendahl: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think... I mean, to be honest with you, in the book, I felt like Millie was very much a... not very pretty woman to start, but then by the end of the book, you can tell she had kind of come into herself a little bit now that she had somebody giving her a nice dress and she had, i don't want to say money, but she had, you know, other things that allowed her to become more of who she was supposed to be.
Kendahl: And Sydney Sweeney just kind of, starts that way. So it was really hard to have this portrayal of somebody that was like down in her dumps in there, know, out of their luck.
Kendahl: And then all of a sudden now is really like coming into herself and looking pretty and all that. I felt like that was a little, i don't know. Like, do you remember that movie? She's all that.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: Yeah, where they try to make her look nerdy and and not attractive.
Julian Contreras Jr: Pony tongue glasses.
Kendahl: And it's like, yeah, you missed the mark on that fact because she's been attractive the whole movie.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. look Got us dating ourselves. All right.
Kendahl: So...
Julian Contreras Jr: I'm going to wrap up. I'm going wrap up the housemate with just two things, two things. Okay. One, what scene from the book were you looking forward to in the movie that didn't happen?
Kendahl: One thing I was looking for. Well, I mean, honestly, most the conversations between her and Enzo, because I wanted to, i kind of wanted a secondary movie.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay.
Kendahl: I wanted to see that they were able to produce the second story because I think the second story is pretty cool and it falls more in line with like film. So that's my, I don't know, that's that's what I would have wanted. So like, especially the scenes where she was trying to talk to him in Italian and and like learning Italian or whatever.
Kendahl: So I think that's probably my my biggest one.
Julian Contreras Jr: Mine is a little bit smaller than that, but it's when Millie is cleaning the sink or the tub, and she comes in, Seafried, Mrs. Winchester, and says that it's still filthy.
Julian Contreras Jr: And she's cleaning it, and she's like, okay, well, show me how you clean it when I'm not here.
Kendahl: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Like, being a complete, like, I don't want to say the word, because we're still PG, but...
Kendahl: Yeah.
Kendahl: Well, and then it wasn't it. Yeah, it was. I mean, wasn't there wasn't there a whole scene where she was like, did you use the natural cleaners?
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah, yeah. And they don't even mention that.
Kendahl: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Or the peanut allergy for the daughter. Like, that came up just a little bit.
Kendahl: Hair. Yeah, just for a minute.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. And I felt like even the the daughter wasn't as... What's the word? Like, she wasn't as mean. Let's say that.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Because in the book, you're like, what the heck is wrong with this kid? Why is she like this? And in this one, it wasn't like that at all.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: So all in all, I give the housemate a six and a half, maybe a seven. I'll watch it again, especially if there's like an extended version or more deleted scenes that they did do those certain scenes because they had the perfect opportunity.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: When she was in the bathroom looking through the medicine cabinet, she was cleaning the sink. And in the trailer, we see that.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: And I thought that's when she was going to say it. And she doesn't. She just hands her the key. And says she wants her to feel safe. And then that was the end of the scene. And I was like, okay.
Kendahl: right
Julian Contreras Jr: That's all right.
Kendahl: Yeah. So, I mean, like I said, overall, it's a good movie. I would definitely, I would have probably given it a, I don't know, i seven and a half, eight,
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay. You're a little bit higher than me, but that's totally fine. All right, let's go to the smaller screen real quick. I mean, these are obviously shows that we have watched and they're done now, but we're jumping right back in.
Julian Contreras Jr: I'm going to start before we get to the big one. Welcome to Derry. Oh my gosh, Kendall. Did you go get this at all? Have you heard anything?
Kendahl: No, i mean, I keep watching social media elements of it, but that's it.
Julian Contreras Jr: Boy, did you miss out? So Pennywise finally came in at episode five. They didn't want to rush and like overload us with Pennywise the Clown the entire season. I totally get that and appreciate that now.
Julian Contreras Jr: The first couple episodes I was like, where's he at? You got to show us a little bit more than you're showing us. But then when he finally got there, these scenes that he was in absolutely were amazing. He was such a good character.
Julian Contreras Jr: what they hit us with, with the lore of everything, how this is obviously way back in the past and the movie remake was when they were kids, they made it and intertwined it to where this is kind of a sequel prequel type thing. We don't know what time it is.
Julian Contreras Jr: The fact that they said that Pennywise is basically linear. He doesn't die. die. He can be reborn in any timeline to try to try to fix it for what he does.
Julian Contreras Jr: And me and my friend Bryson, we were talking about it and it's just crazy. The things they can do with this linear timeline to where Pennywise can go in and out. And welcome to Derry season two, that's coming out either this year or next year. I can't remember. They're going to go even farther back.
Julian Contreras Jr: So it's going to seem like a sequel to the sequel.
Kendahl: Yeah, was gonna say, well, and there's, I was reading something about how there's, there's so much more almost godlike elements that are going to be coming into play.
Kendahl: Mm
Julian Contreras Jr: Oh yeah. He even says it. He says, am a God many times. He's like, even in death, I can be reborn. And at the time I was like, what the hell is he talking about?
Julian Contreras Jr: And then it went on to explain it.
Kendahl: hmm.
Julian Contreras Jr: And the way he was talking to the kids and telling them the future stuff that happened in the movie that we saw. And we realized at that exact moment that, wait a second, how does he know Yeah.
Kendahl: he Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: it just it was it blew my mind, Kendall, and I was so excited. If you watch the whole season again and put that in mind, it's crazy. Clapping my hands to HBO Max for doing this show.
Julian Contreras Jr: This...
Kendahl: well i I heard even Stephen King was really impressed by the show and as a whole. like He felt like not only did it, it you know it did a great job of bringing what he wrote to you know, to a bigger element. Like, you know, they're building an entire universe now around, don't want to say a thought process, but, you know, they're bringing an entire universe around something that was so much more simplistic.
Kendahl: And yet it's still very much on par with what, you know, Stephen King feels like it should be.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah, there is a character in Welcome to Dairy that we figured out and what we didn't figure it out.
Kendahl: So...
Julian Contreras Jr: They pretty much told us, but he is the guy that goes eventually and works at the Overlook Hotel. And that is another Stephen King book.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: And they could totally do a series on that. Could you imagine an Overlook Hotel series? I don't know who would play Jack Nicholson, but if they redid that whole thing with that exact actor, he knocked it out of the park.
Kendahl: Mm-hmm. right
Julian Contreras Jr: It was so much fun to watch him when he was jumping in and out of like, he was kind of playing mind games. Like they could talk to each other inside their heads. You know what I'm saying?
Julian Contreras Jr: So when he got Pennywise into his head and he was trying to trick him into doing stuff, I've never seen Pennywise get slapped twice before until that scene.
Julian Contreras Jr: But he slaps him so hard that you can see in Pennywise that he's like, what is what is happening?
Julian Contreras Jr: That scene was so much fun. I can't say enough about Derry. I hope you go watch it. I'm going to rewatch it and I'll be looking forward to season two on this.
Kendahl: Yeah, it's definitely one of those that I i would like to put on my radar.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay, good, good, good. With that, we're going to talk a little bit of screen. I'm going to let you take the lead on this one because I've been talking a lot, I feel like. But...
Kendahl: No, you're good. So if you have lived under a rock for the last six years, I apologize that you have not heard of Stranger Things. But I actually ran into somebody other the other day. It was like, well, but what is it about?
Kendahl: And I thought to myself, how How is that possible? How do you not know what Stranger Things is? But if you're not somebody that is you know deep into streaming or if this is not a series that you've ever even considered, you you would recognize the lettering. You'd write like it you recognize maybe some of the characters. And you might even recognize some of the actors from it, but you you know you still don't have any idea of what the whole show is about.
Kendahl: And so it was quite funny because At that moment, I was like, how do how do I explain Stranger Things to somebody that doesn't understand it and hasn't heard anything over the last six years about this movie, there's a show? So anyway, if you don't know, Stranger Things did have its season finale on New Year's Eve.
Kendahl: And i I ran to my television and watched it on New Year's Day. didn't watch on New Year's Eve. I was a little behind. But yeah, I actually waited to watch this. So we were talking about this before, but, you know, the first set came out just before Halloween or right around Halloween. Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: I don't remember. It was such a crazy time, but yeah, I think, I think so.
Kendahl: I want to say it was sometime in October and I was like, nope, I'm not going to watch the first four. I'm going to wait until the next set come out. And so I did. I waited until literally the day after Christmas. And on December 26th, I started watching from the beginning of season five. And I was a little scared. I felt like they were taking the franchise in a weird direction because it didn't seem like it was...
Kendahl: i As Julian and I said, I didn't like the last episode before the finale because I felt like it was just this. They were just talking.
Kendahl: There's a lot of talking.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: So let me give you a little backstory on my, I didn't watch mine either.
Kendahl: I mean, Max. Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: i was not even excited. My sister-in-law asked me, she's like, are you super excited for Stranger Things tomorrow? And I was like, eh, like it's been two years. Like I was excited two years ago.
Kendahl: he h
Julian Contreras Jr: And now I'm just kind of like, it's been too long.
Kendahl: Yeah, kind of.
Julian Contreras Jr: So my son watched it on a telephone when he wasn't supposed to, he watched the whole first four episodes and then he jumped back and he was watching the entire series. I'm like, okay, well, i guess he's watching stranger things now, whatever.
Julian Contreras Jr: So it took me like maybe another week or two to jump in. And I was, I think I was sick and I was in bed and I was just, i was like, all right, I'm going to watch them. Let me see. And then i I remembered why I liked them. i was like, okay, these are some pretty good actors.
Julian Contreras Jr: This is a good story. It's still fun.
Kendahl: hmm.
Julian Contreras Jr: Just get through it. And then we get to that episode that you're talking about.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Like you said, Max is running and she's going to find her portal back to her body so little backstory before that not too far back but the beginning of that episode or the episode before she had found the portal before and she stopped and the portal closed and she was stuck again
Kendahl: Portal. Yeah. Opening door. Right. Right.
Kendahl: right
Julian Contreras Jr: So what do we do this time when you have the exact same portal, you're opening, you're getting there, you're going to stop and do what me and Kendall are doing right now. You're going to start a podcast right in there, inside the other town.
Kendahl: about all the About all the things that are that are that are good and and you know just be yourself and don't don't don't try to be something different. And you've had the strength in your in your body the whole time and a 20-minute conversation about
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. By the way, have you heard of Kate Bush?
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Kate Bush is amazing.
Kendahl: Hey, you remember that line in them in the in the song?
Julian Contreras Jr: She's so cool. Her music is good. She's probably going to be nominated for a Grammy for this. Did you know her past? Like, shut up. Like, you got to
Kendahl: Run, run up that hill.
Julian Contreras Jr: Run up that hill.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: And then the part where she turns around and she tells Holly like, oh, yeah, you can't use this. This is mine.
Kendahl: this ain't This ain't yours, girl. just that Yours over there. Yours is going to go over there.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. Well, they didn't even figure out where it was going to first. She was like, duh but why did it take...
Kendahl: know. And then my favorite line, my favorite line of the whole thing is, how did you know that was going to happen? Oh, I didn't.
Julian Contreras Jr: I didn't.
Kendahl: And you're like, wait, so you just talked for 20 minutes because you randomly thought something might happen?
Julian Contreras Jr: but The whole time Vecna's running after him. like it It was too much for me. It was a little bit too much. And I was like, everybody's making the memes about it with them either having a podcast set up going on or talking back and forth or relaxing on some chairs, TED Talks.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Kendahl: Right.
Kendahl: Welcome to my TED Talk in the abyss.
Julian Contreras Jr: You're just supposed to be going. Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: So it was little things like that, that whole episode.
Kendahl: Yeah. Well, and then and then even like that, the very last thing, and this is not to say anything against, you know, Will's character coming out.
Julian Contreras Jr: But it...
Kendahl: But the way that they did it was just this like drawn out, really obnoxious point, because it's like, yeah, we we kind of all know this as like he's trying to do this to the characters in the show, which I totally understand.
Kendahl: But at the same time, as viewers, we've already known this for two whole seasons.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: Like two whole seasons. So I felt like they were drawing it out to draw the viewer into the situation. But at the same time, it's like, hey, by the way, Vekna is about to kill everybody.
Kendahl: The Abyss is about to destroy everything destroy. you're spending a very long time going over this. I'm not, this is again, nothing against what the conversation was about with him coming out. That's not the point. The point is, is y'all picked a really strange time to once again, have a 20 minute long conversation about something that like the viewers are like, Hey, got it. Move on.
Kendahl: Let's go. Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. And the fact that Vecna at the end never even went to that well. Like I expected something like that. Maybe that was going to be his last grasp, you know, like he was trying to fight them all and they were all destroying the huge, which was a really cool mind flayer, by the way.
Kendahl: h
Julian Contreras Jr: Let's get to that cool Pennywise spider type thing. But when he was getting defeated, he didn't even think about going to it. And like that was the whole big deal about the talk was that he showed Will what was going to happen like if he did this.
Julian Contreras Jr: He's like, if you tell your friends and family that you feel this way, they're going to leave you and you won't have anything. He doesn't even go to that at all in the next episode.
Kendahl: No, I thought i honestly i I kind of hated the whole fight of Vecna at the end because for what has been drawn out for a couple of years of Vecna just being this terribly overpowered, crazy being.
Kendahl: And at the end, he's I get it because now you have you have Will who, surprise, has powers and you have, you know, l who is also like has him in a grasp. Like I get you got two very powerful people controlling him.
Kendahl: But at the same time, i just I was expecting more.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah, well, let's let's get to this because that whole fight up there with him, there was the Mind Flayer and there was Vecna.
Kendahl: i was expecting more.
Julian Contreras Jr: That was it.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: There were no demidogs. There were no demogorgons. There were no flying bats that killed Eddie. Why did Eddie die to those things if they don't exist anymore past that?
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: Why didn't they come out of nowhere and they there was a what, 11 of them?
Kendahl: Yeah.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: I'm not going to count them up. I'm just going to say 11 because it's 11's name. but You had all of them with their different weapons and there was nothing else to fight besides those two.
Kendahl: there's There's a lot.
Kendahl: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and
Julian Contreras Jr: And when they were making up their plan, sorry, I want to say this. They're making up their plan like, oh, well, which one of us is going to be bait? Well, it's either be bait or figure out how to climb 300 foot cliff in the next 25 seconds.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: I turned to my wife and my son and was like, I guess I'm bait then because there's no way I'm climbing that.
Julian Contreras Jr: But sure enough, we have Nancy the, uh, Nancy the Almighty.
Kendahl: Well, and there's there there was rumors that she's going to get a spinoff. And so I almost wonder if that was the reason why they put her like front and center. So i don't know.
Julian Contreras Jr: okay Well, she is a good character, but from where they ended everything with their whole reunion scene on top of the tower and they're all living their different lives. What is she going to do?
Julian Contreras Jr: just Is it going to be like a normal nine to five job thing for her?
Kendahl: can i Can I tell you that last half hour of the show was obnoxious. I actually did not like the wrap up. Like I did in some elements, but I didn't feel like I needed a wrap up of those four. Like I didn't need a wrap up on the extent of them up on the roof drinking and saying that they're going to go back to another like day once a year to drink and remember again. i Like i don't I don't think I didn't need that. to be like, oh, that puts closure to them.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: i don't know. I didn't I didn't feel like I needed that. But and then also it was just like weird. It was just, i don't know, like Steve, Steve's character changed so much in that year and a half that he was kind of weird.
Kendahl: And then Nance having that like funky late 80s, early 90s Bob.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. yeah
Kendahl: And and then all of a sudden, like she's no longer this badass character. She's just like this. random girl who's dropped out of college now. I get just didn't, I didn't feel like they fit the two parts that they had already, eat like this whole buildup of those characters.
Kendahl: And I would have just been fine leaving them as they were and just show the graduation of the kiddos. and there's only one thing, there's only one thing I wish they had done.
Julian Contreras Jr: Alright Gus let's finish up with this one
Kendahl: The one thing I wish they had done was I wish that in the end they had shown l Coming, you know, into this random point of walking up and and Will was not Will, I'm sorry, Mike was there.
Kendahl: Like she like randomly stalks Mike to a point where he's by himself and then finds him and then reveals herself to him. Like i that's what I would have I would have loved to have seen.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah, so that's assuming that the whole thing they told us in that story in that dungeon is real.
Kendahl: Is real. Yeah, yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Or if that's just what he hopes and imagined. Like, i I'm a sucker for a happy ending sometimes. This one I felt like they needed, they were so young and they felt like they were so in love.
Julian Contreras Jr: But the chemistry needed to be better between those two in that last mind conversation.
Kendahl: Yeah. Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: It was kind of kind of awkward there, but I understand it. Uh, so I guess if he could just goes and search down every location that has three waterfalls, he could get lucky.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: Cause it looked like she's going to live there.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Like she's going to settle down on that little hill.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Kendahl: In the end, was I disappointed? No, like I still enjoyed it. It was still a good ending to a series that's like a pop culture phenomenon. Right. I mean, it just it's going to be iconic. It'll it'll stay in the lore of pop culture for decades. It just it will.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: I think it's going to go down in the elements of like Lost and trying to think of some of the other like Sopranos. It's going to go down in the lore of like those type of series that were just so
Kendahl: just changing of the industry and the way that we look at things that it'll, it'll be that way for a long time. So I think it, I think it did a good job.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah. right. Stranger Things. I say go ahead and give it a watch.
Kendahl: Oh yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: You'll enjoy it. There's a lot of cool stuff.
Kendahl: Right.
Julian Contreras Jr: It is over. Finally, we can see the growth of some of these actors going on to different projects.
Kendahl: So the,
Julian Contreras Jr: Maybe we'll see what's his face back in a new it movie.
Kendahl: Well, OK, so there. is Yeah. So there is one thing that I want to talk about really quickly, and then we can move on to the next subject. So the last one of the last scenes, Hopper says, I'm going to move to Malta, New York.
Kendahl: Well, if you don't know anything about Malta, New York, there was experiments done there by the CIA in the paranormal. So I'm just saying, like, it definitely led up to the, because the Duffer Brothers have already said they are in the works right now of making a a Stranger Things spinoff, but it's a whole new set, a whole new storyline, all new characters.
Julian Contreras Jr: Yeah.
Kendahl: So...
Julian Contreras Jr: Without Hopper?
Kendahl: Well, I don't know about that part. I'm just saying i they they did say that they that it's all new. So who knows? But we know that they are up to something. They're going to be bringing in something new.
Kendahl: So I guess we'll see.
Julian Contreras Jr: OK.
Kendahl: But, right?
Julian Contreras Jr: Hopper and Joyce in New York. I like it.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Kendahl: Fighting the paranormal again.
Julian Contreras Jr: Again, you know, what as soon as he gets into trouble, he's going to call the the hired gun.
Kendahl: So.
Kendahl: Murray.
Julian Contreras Jr: Nats is going to come back with that Rambo haircut.
Kendahl: Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right.
Julian Contreras Jr: right, let's go back to the big screen before I give you my big announcement of what's coming up.
Kendahl: right.
Julian Contreras Jr: You saw a movie that I wish I had gone and seen.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: I could probably go see it, but I'm going to see what happens today. And we'll get into what's happening today.
Kendahl: Okay.
Julian Contreras Jr: But yeah, let's talk about it.
Kendahl: So, all right. I will tell you right now, I went to go see a movie last night. I did not really plan on watching this one. If you have seen anything, it is Jack Black doing a reboot of Anaconda.
Kendahl: So you you just have this... strange story of a like broke down filmmaker and his, his buddy who is Paul Rudd, who's like a wannabe actor has been in a few shows, but he's also like a worker at Lowe's.
Kendahl: So, you know, they they're both just, they, they wanted to be actors and filmmakers when they were kids and it and they decide that they're going to go on a budget and you have Steve Zahn, who's there like,
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay.
Kendahl: kind of comic relief film guy. He's the one that's running the camera. And they go to, they go to Brazil and they want to remake Anaconda and they call it a, a, like a sequel, but it's more like a, it's more like an homage to, to Anaconda. And then i can be honest with you. This, this 100% was just Tropic Thunder in Anaconda form.
Kendahl: Because they go to they go to make this movie and then everything goes wrong.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay.
Kendahl: And i will tell you, i have not laughed that much continuously for the entirety of the movie. And it doesn't have the best reviews right now, but I'll tell you right now, it's hands down probably one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. i just I literally i was laughing so hard through so much of it. Even my wife, who doesn't really like uh, those kinds of slapstick movies.
Kendahl: I mean, she does, but just not as much as I do. And she was just laughing hysterically. And she even said at the end, I didn't think I'd laugh that much. Like it just, it was good. It's, uh, it's fun.
Julian Contreras Jr: OK.
Kendahl: They get into all kinds of trouble. there's a whole other storyline that's in it. That's not just about them making a film. The there's the scene that you see in the previews of Jack Black with a warthog on his head.
Kendahl: i I have I have laughed. I laughed so much. That was that was probably one of the funniest scenes. And this movie knows what it is. It knows that it's just a stupid movie that you're not really there to watch to like.
Kendahl: grow in any way there's there is no theme behind the movie there's nothing in it it literally is just a stupid movie that makes fun of itself over and over again that has all the slapstick like tropes everywhere it's just funny it's just funny it's so good and funny it takes a few minutes to get going so if you go and you're like oh this is really boring Just give it a second. I promise you once they get to Brazil, it's just beyond funny.
Kendahl: It's beyond funny.
Julian Contreras Jr: This one's PG-13, correct?
Kendahl: yeah Yeah. Yeah, it is. I mean, and there's, i there's, there's definitely enough, there's definitely enough to make a PG-13 for sure. I can, I can see that they went rated R for this and then went, let's draw back a little bit.
Kendahl: I can, I, I am not even joking. I'm, I'm, I am 100% sure there is an unedited or, or, or director's version out there that is very much rated R because it feels like it was wanting to be.
Kendahl: And then they pulled back a little bit. and, and then made it PG-13 to try to get more viewers. But i I think they did a good job of making it PG-13.
Kendahl: But yeah, it's it's good. It's really good.
Julian Contreras Jr: Okay, awesome. I want to go see that, and I might today after I watch Carolina hopefully win the division today at 2.30.
Kendahl: There you go.
Julian Contreras Jr: For those of you that are listening right now when this drops, game's on at 2.30. Feel free to watch and hopefully root on my Carolina Panthers. If you're watching this later and then you look back and say, oh, look, they got killed. This guy's an idiot.
Julian Contreras Jr: I've been there. i've felt that way a thousand times over. It's okay. We still have a shot Sunday somehow. But a thing that I don't think I've told Kendall, but me and a couple of my friends are going down to Las Vegas and we're going down to the Days of the Dead Las Vegas convention.
Kendahl: that's cool.
Julian Contreras Jr: Nothing but horror stuff to buy. We are getting our photo taken with an Arthur Clown in full costume.
Kendahl: Oh, wow.
Julian Contreras Jr: I am super giddy about that one. My friends are there for support for me.
Kendahl: Okay.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: there's just going to be a ton of stuff down there. I'm going to take a thousand pictures and I just can't wait for this to happen. Like I'm so excited.
Kendahl: That's, that's fun. That's gonna be a lot of fun.
Julian Contreras Jr: I've gone to the conventions here and it hasn't, it's been mostly pop culture in general, but this one is very niche. And if you jump on the the website, you can see some of the actors that are going to be there signing autographs.
Julian Contreras Jr: It's going to blow your mind, Kendall. It's a lot of people from when we were growing up in these films.
Kendahl: That's cool.
Julian Contreras Jr: It's going to be a lot of fun, I hope.
Kendahl: That's cool.
Julian Contreras Jr: It's going to be worth it later this month.
Kendahl: And when do you go? Nice. Nice.
Julian Contreras Jr: So it's coming up. That's what I'm looking forward to right now. Just super stoked to see some of the stuff that's going to be down there. What I can get autographed or what merchandise is already autographed by maybe some of the actors we've lost.
Julian Contreras Jr: Like a Tony Todd and the Candyman. Let's see you some of that stuff.
Kendahl: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool.
Julian Contreras Jr: But we'll definitely come back in and I'll show you some of the stuff that I bought. I'll post some pictures on Instagram on our... Yeah, we still have one. It's a shut-off turn on Instagram.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: It's there. I'm in charge of it. I know it's there, but there'll be definitely some stuff on there. And i we're just going to get back into this.
Kendahl: yeah
Julian Contreras Jr: The crazy time's over. I know you got school and stuff. Everything's going on. But I think now that all the... The crazy time is wound down.
Kendahl: Yeah. Well, and I mean, now it's kind of like I'm at the mid-year point for school, right? So from here on out there, I mean, there are a little bit of crazy stuff towards like May for me, but this is kind of that, that lull in a lot of things. Cause you know, after the break, even for me in like school, school for me, cause I was still going back to school. I'm I'm done with school until March.
Kendahl: And then going be even then that's that's a it's not really a class. It's more like. it's It's more like them checking in with me. So I'm not totally done, done with school, but I'm basically done with the aspect of what school is for me for getting that that final last little part of my degree done.
Kendahl: So that'll be good. And also is so a little less stress on on my side. So, yeah, and which is, again, which is kind of why I decided that we're going to keep this this thing going. And I i i have a lot of, there's a lot of movies coming up that I'm really excited about. We didn't even talk about them, but, you know, we need we will probably in the next episodes. But I feel like there's a lot of movies that I didn't know were going to be coming out shortly. And I'm kind of interested to see how they do. So, yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Awesome. I'm so glad to be back. Thank you all for sticking with us. If you see that notification on there and you've stuck with us to the end of this episode, thank you for being a ticket holder. Thank you for being there. New episode drops. You guys are there. You guys got our backs.
Julian Contreras Jr: Love you all as always. Be safe.
Kendahl: Yeah.
Julian Contreras Jr: Kendall, last day I had.
Kendahl: Well, and honestly, i'm just i i miss doing this. I know it's it's been a while, but just find something good to watch. There's a lot of great things out there right now. and Unfortunately, if you're a Supernatural fan, you can't go to Netflix to find that no more, but...
Kendahl: best our part is, is it's still out there. And, uh, there's a lot of stuff dropping on streaming, uh, in the next like couple of weeks, especially from, the big stuff that was over the hall over the, the, summer, a lot of that stuff is starting to drop. So, I mean, go find something to watch. It'll, I promise you it's, there's a lot of really good things out there. Don't just go to YouTube.
Kendahl: don't don't don't Don't find yourself scrolling through YouTube doom scrolling through social media. Find something good to just put yourself aside, put your phone down, or if it's on your phone, watch your phone. That's that's fine too. But just immerse yourself in some really good content because there's a lot of great things out there.
Julian Contreras Jr: Nice. Perfect. All right. Until next time. Beep, beep, Margie.
Kendahl: And don't forget, turn on something good.
