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Jesus and margs: 2023 Year in Review
125 Plays1 year ago
Rock and Rob start the new year off by talking about some of their favorite, least favorite and surprising movies, TV shows and books they consumed in 2023. They are then joined by a very special EXPERT guest before discussing which movies they are most anticipating in 2024 and some potential episode ideas for the upcoming year.
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Transcript
Introduction and Holiday Experiences
00:00:00
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? Brothers don't shake hands. Brothers gotta hug. Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus. I don't want your life. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul. Okay, a simple wrong would have done just fine.
00:00:26
Speaker
Happy New Year everyone and welcome to The Movie Showdown with Rock and Rob. My name is Rob Mansfield and with me, my partner in podcast crime, it's Alex Rockline. Hey Rob, good to see you again. I feel like it's been a while. It does and it's been a couple weeks but it feels like an eternity.
00:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, Christmas time with young children goes by really fast, but also it's like its own lifetime of chaos. What time did your boys wake up on Christmas Day? Well, we had a fun night. Two of our boys were sick. So I was with Tanner from 3 a.m. and Christa held Jordan starting at like somewhere around 2 a.m. So I don't know. Weston, the only one that actually slept, got up at
00:01:12
Speaker
Sometime in the sixes, but I think that's because he thought if he woke up too early Santa Claus wouldn't come so nice Hey, it works. You got to use that stuff. Well, we've got a special episode this week It's not a movie showdown per se instead Rock and I thought it would be fun to give a look back on some of our favorite movies TV shows that we watched in 2023 and
00:01:34
Speaker
And stick around because we also have a special guest joining the show later, which should be
Seinfeld and Friends Episode Draft
00:01:40
Speaker
fun. But first off, rock question of the week. How was your Christmas? What you've been up to since the last time we spoke? My Christmas was very nice. Thank you for asking. We've relocated to be closer to family. Christmas means a lot of family time. We had little kids, all the cousins did cookies with Mimi.
00:01:58
Speaker
Nice. Christmas Eve festivities, which also means going out for Mexican food. Ooh. Little church and then Mexican food. That's fun. I like that. Yeah. And then Christmas morning at our house, which was great, and then met up with the whole fam. No knock on Tuxbury, Massachusetts, but I'm assuming you can find some better quality Mexican food down in Tejas. Yeah, I would say it's, you know, it's a fine line between Tuxbury and Houston, Texas for Mexican food, but we managed to find a good spot this year.
00:02:26
Speaker
nice that's fun i love having traditions like that i think back to the traditions i had growing up and uh being able to create that with your own families that's that's really cool so that's a fun one church and then mexican food jesus and margs jesus and margs that's how we do it down here yeah absolutely
00:02:45
Speaker
You know, we love to do these Seinfeld and Friends connections to the movies that we're battling. So I thought it would be fun to do a speed draft of Seinfeld and Friends Christmas slash New Year's episodes. How's that sound to you, Rock? Oh, that sounds great. That sounds right up my alley. So we will do four episodes each, Snake Draft. Alex, would you like to go first? I can go first. All right. Take it away. OK, so for my first pick,
00:03:13
Speaker
man, this is so tough. There's so many great new year, which is surprising for I think Seinfeld, especially that there's so many good like Christmas moments. Yeah, it's just not that kind of show. They're not warm characters. They're not very traditional friends. I'm not surprised, obviously, but Seinfeld I was when I was looking back, I was thinking about just like off the top of my head, some of the episodes and I looked it up afterwards.
00:03:34
Speaker
I was like, man, there's so many. I think I'm going to have to start with the Festivus episode. Gotcha. It's just such a classic. I mean, and it's even to this day, it has such a cultural impact, which I think when they made the episode. So it's season nine, episode 10 called The Strike. I think when they made the episode, I don't think they thought that 26 years later, however long it's been that
00:03:56
Speaker
this would still be a thing that people actually celebrate, which is pretty crazy. That's a good pick. Sorry, that was very wordy, but I feel like it needed to... No, it's hard to keep it short for when you're describing a TV episode. Yeah. Okay, my two picks. I can't pick between these two, so I'm just going to take them both since I have back-to-back picks.
00:04:15
Speaker
My first pick, I'm going with Friends, the one with all the resolutions from season five. I just watched it the other day. Again, it's hilarious Ross with his leather pants and then not being able to get them back on and just the catastrophe of a date. And then that's the one where Joey and Rachel know about Monica and Chandler.
00:04:35
Speaker
It's a really good episode. And then my second pick is friends, the one with the routine from season six. Yep. That was going to be mine. Just give me more dance routines in 2024, please.
00:04:47
Speaker
both just really fun. Great picks. Next up, I'm gonna pick the red dot Seinfeld episode when George cheapens out like usual and gets Elaine a nice cashmere sweater that's heavily discounted because there's a red dot and he doesn't think she'll notice and of course she notices. Anyway, a lot of things happened that episode.
00:05:05
Speaker
But that is definitely an all time favorite for me. And then I will follow that up with yet another Seinfeld episode, the pick. We got the one where Kramer takes Elaine's photo for her Christmas card and there's a wardrobe malfunction. And actually the part, which is improvised, which is one of the funniest parts of the episode, where George is mad that he doesn't get a card and Elaine's like, you want a card? I'll
Seinfeld Episode Insights
00:05:27
Speaker
give you a card. She grabs his head and like, you know,
00:05:30
Speaker
It's fantastic and his hair's all like crazy and he's got like this look in his eyes. It's so funny to me how much you love Seinfeld because you are not anything like the characters from that show. I cannot connect with any of them on a personal level. But maybe that's why you're drawn to it. Yeah.
00:05:45
Speaker
It's also funny, I mean, you took three Seinfeld episodes. I've taken two Friends episodes. You have. But I get two picks here. I would be happy to go with some more Friends episodes, but I'm going to mix it up a little bit. I am going to go with, for my third pick, Seinfeld, The Millennium, from season eight. Yes.
00:06:03
Speaker
Lauren Graham as the guest star, one of Jerry's girlfriends, Jerry and Lauren Graham's stepmom are arguing over their position on the speed dial list. I don't even think that's a thing anymore. No. Actually, that episode has one of my favorite Kramer moments, which is so random. He's got all these balloons that he leaves in Jerry's apartment. And they're like, Kramer, your balloons are not going to last until New Year's. It's so far away. He's like, those are my everyday balloons. Just great that Kramer has balloons. Yeah.
00:06:32
Speaker
I also really like in that episode how they're arguing over what year the millennium actually starts. Is it 2000 or 2001? And that's just a fun episode. And then my last pick, I am going to take another Seinfeld episode from season five called The Dinner Party, which
00:06:51
Speaker
Actually, this episode has nothing to do with Christmas or New Year's, except for the fact that it has one of the funniest dialogue moments about New Year's that you will find in any form of entertainment. And that is when Elaine says to Jerry at some point in the apartment, Do you believe I got Happy New Year today? It's February. I once got Happy New Year in March. It's pathetic.
00:07:17
Speaker
I thought of that the other day, that exact line. And it's just so funny. Cause it's happened
Favorite Movies of 2023
00:07:23
Speaker
to me, not that, I don't think it's been that late, but every time someone says happy new year to me, pass to the window of the new years, I'm always like, what are we doing?
00:07:30
Speaker
It's lines like that that make Seinfeld so great. Yeah, I agree. OK, so my last pick, I'm going to go I'm actually going to go friends. There's a lot to choose from for friends, but I'm going to go the one with the holiday armadillo. I feel like that's just like an obvious one that you got to pick. And yeah, I'll take it as my steals. My last pick. Nice.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's one of the most iconic Friends episodes. The other New Year's Eve episode of Friends is from season one, and that's the one with the monkey. But I am just very anti Marcel the monkey. So wasn't interested in touching that one. But yeah, OK, well, that's fun. There's a lot to choose from. There's surprisingly a lot to choose from. Do you know what my favorite New Year's Eve episode of TV is of all time? I feel like you should know this. Man, is it?
00:08:16
Speaker
Is it a boy meets world or how I met your mother episode? It's how I met your mother. Okay. The one, gosh, it's so fuzzy to me right now. Tell me what happens in it. So it's from season one. It's called the limo and they're trying to hop at all different parties. Yes. And Barney makes a get psyched mix, but it just keeps playing. You give love a bad name by Bon Jovi. So every time they get in the limo, it's just like shot to the heart and you're to blame.
00:08:45
Speaker
Isn't the limo driver the what's his face? The guy that he's the driver for Rajeed, I think. Yeah. Yeah. So good.
00:08:54
Speaker
I think that might've been the episode where the show, that show got me. We used to watch that show all the time. I love how I met your mother. Well, that was fun. All right, Alex, so we don't obviously have showdown categories for this week, but I did bust out a few different categories of things that I'd like to talk to you about, get your opinion on, hear your thoughts on. So what do you say, you want to jump into it? Yeah, let's do this. Let's talk about each of our top five movies that we watched from 2023.
00:09:23
Speaker
Now these could be newer movies, these could be older movies that we've just seen for the first time. Why don't you jump in first? Yeah, so I have a real mix of movies that I wanted to talk about. I have a couple that are technically rewatches, but it has been so long since I had seen them that to me they felt like watching them for the first time. I kind of went on like a throwback movie phase earlier this year.
00:09:51
Speaker
where one movie led to another, which led to another. And also it's like, oh, these movies are so good. And then some of the movies that I actually saw in the theaters, which weren't that many, and then just some of the other ones that I probably shouldn't admit that I hadn't seen before to lose any credibility. But you know what? I'm okay with that.
00:10:07
Speaker
There's three movies I'm going to kind of lump together as my rewatches for the year, which were the usual suspects, seven and Pulp Fiction, which to me are three of the better movies from the 90s. Again, I don't know which one I started with.
00:10:24
Speaker
I watched one of them and I was like, man, I kinda wanna watch that one now. And I watched that one and I was like, I kinda wanna watch that one now. Yeah, they really all flow together. They really do. So the usual suspects in Seven, I think are a little bit more similar because they are, they definitely have like a twist, you know, some sort of twist at the end, which you don't see coming. Some of the same actors. Seven, I remember seeing it a long time ago. I think I was definitely way too young when I first saw it. And when I re-watched it again, I was like, man, this movie is just like unbelievable. Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman,
00:10:51
Speaker
What's in the box? Kevin Spacey. Yeah, the ending. You're just like, oh my goodness. Like the whole thing is just phenomenal. The usual suspects. Same thing. Like you kind of, I don't know if it's like predictable, but wow, you really love Kevin Spacey. I do, which is like a problem because it is a problem. Just, we shouldn't admit that on.
00:11:08
Speaker
on the podcast. I think I can separate the actor from the person. No, you can. So yeah, those those three movies I'm saying are like, I'm lumping in to kind of as like one as like, as part of a rewatch. Sure. Sure. I mean, if you if you haven't seen those movies, which I'm sure everyone has at this point, but they're very good. They're pretty gruesome.
Continued Movie Discussions
00:11:25
Speaker
They're pretty vulgar, but they're just really well done movies. I also watched All Quiet on the Western Front, the Netflix movie. Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:11:33
Speaker
Which technically did come out late 2022, but I didn't watch it until early 2023. I'm not usually into war movies or shows or anything, but I think I was homesick one day from work. It was like in the top spot or something. I'm like, ah, we'll try it out. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really good. It's really heartbreaking at the end. Is it called being homesick from work when you work from home?
00:11:53
Speaker
Yeah, I was at work sick at home because I work with an excuse to not do your work. I feel like I talked to some of my coworkers about this now. If people are sick, they still work because you're at home. I'm like, just take the day off. You don't feel good. Team don't work if you don't feel good. I didn't. I didn't work. I watched movies all day and this was one of them. Nice. Again, really heavy. Did you ever see 1917? Yes.
00:12:18
Speaker
I think, I don't know. World War I. War movies all blend together. Yeah, me too. But those two, I think, really stand out to me more like 1917 more cinematically. 1917 is the one where they did like the really long tracking shot, right? Correct. Yes. But all quite on the Western front, again, it's just like, it's brutal start to finish. And it just like I remembered watching it and being like, man,
00:12:41
Speaker
I'm glad it did not grow up in that era because you just would have been forced to be part of the war. I don't think I would have done well in war. I don't think I would have either. Great movie though, check out. Cool. Alright, I'm gonna mention two movies I actually saw in the theaters, which most of the movies I do see in theaters these days are for kids. It's just the only time we get to the movies. Super Mario Brothers movie, which came out over the summer. I really enjoyed that.
00:13:02
Speaker
Yeah, I know it got some like whatever ratings like people were a little upset about it. I didn't care so much about that part. I just thought it was really fun. We've watched it at home a ton of times. I like the Easter eggs in it. Chris Pratt did a great job with the voice. I love how they set it up in the beginning where it was like he had the ridiculous accent for the commercial.
00:13:20
Speaker
Yeah. What do you think about the accent? I'm like, perfect. They squash. Yeah. Yeah. All the critics like, well done. Great job. I like that movie, too. I saw it with my oldest son in the theaters and it was fun. I think people were looking for a reason to not like it, but that was enjoyable. I just hope it starts opening up more movies into that universe, because I think it'd be it could be really cool, even if, like, you know, I heard a lot of critics being, oh, there's not a lot of substance. Like, who cares? Like, it's a Mario movie. Yeah.
00:13:46
Speaker
I heard that they were actually going to do a Legend of Zelda movie next. That'd be cool. Legend of Zelda would be cool. Super Smash Brothers would be cool. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's for kids movie at the end of the day, you know? Yeah. You ask your kids. I like to part with the, you know, Mario Kart. Well, just wait. I think I think that movie might come up later. Oh, I'm excited about that. Another movie I saw in theaters, which I went to see by myself because Abby is not a Wes Anderson fan, which is totally fine with me. Asteroid City, which is very Wes Anderson.
00:14:15
Speaker
I don't know how you feel about Wes Anderson. You were the first person that I knew that was a big Wes Anderson. Yeah, I feel like he's polarizing, you know, it's I haven't seen enough. To be honest, I have everything I've seen. I haven't been to like, it's just not my style. Yeah, I appreciate it for the art of it, but it's not my style.
00:14:34
Speaker
yeah but i totally could see how it would be for other people and i can see why people wouldn't like it it's very you know very dry very matter of fact yeah i wouldn't say asteroid city was my favorite of his movies but i really enjoyed it was so different and the cast yeah every cast he has is always incredible you never know who's gonna pop up in those movies
00:14:52
Speaker
I know his poll of actors and who he can get in his movies. It's insane. And like now it's like kind of to the point where there's the usual people and then like, he'll just bring in like people that you wouldn't need like, really, they're in a Wes Anderson movie, like Maya Hawk was in it from Stranger Things. Yep. She was great. Like Mike, yeah, she fits in this universe. Yeah. Margot Robbie.
00:15:13
Speaker
crazy. It's funny you said you saw it by yourself. I see almost every movie by myself unless I'm taking my kids because Krista just like refuses to go to the movies. Abby and I enjoy definitely we definitely enjoy going together but sometimes you know fun like I really want to see this you like just go see it like who cares.
00:15:29
Speaker
Yeah, I'll usually go after the kids are in bed. I'll just go try to go on a Tuesday because the tickets are cheap. But yeah, I think the last movie Krista and I saw in theaters was the live action Beauty and the Beast remake. Wow. So that would have been 2017. That's the last movie that we went and saw together in theaters.
00:15:48
Speaker
And I beg her. And if she's listening to this episode, please just reconsider. Come to a movie with me. Come on, Christo. Just give me a shot. Give it a shot. You never know. As Nicole Kidman says, heartbreak feels better in a place like this. They need to stop playing that. You know what I'm talking about, right? Do you go to AMC's ever?
00:16:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. They need to stop playing that. Like, either come up with a new one or stop playing it. Just like that's our thing from now on. Total eternity. They've been playing it since like the end of 2020 when movies open back up and it's just like she's trying to be so dramatic. And I'm at the movies to see Super Mario Brothers. Yeah, right. I don't need like. Cool it. Wes is like, what is this lady talking about and why isn't she collecting gold coins? Yeah, why isn't Mario on? Come on.
00:16:35
Speaker
Anyway, last one I want to talk about real quick is Spider-Man Homecoming, which I had never seen before.
Film Ranking Habits
00:16:42
Speaker
Okay, I kind of went started to go through the Marvel movies, because most of them I had not seen before, which is weird to admit, but I just never really got into them. And then Abby wanted to see Guardians of the Galaxy three in theaters, which we did not get to, but she's like, you have to watch just a few movies like to get there. And then she listed them out and they're like 21. And I was like,
00:17:00
Speaker
I don't know if I can watch 21 movies and have a job. I tried I got like 15 or so in so I think it's more than 21 it might be she's like you can skip a few like skip this one Yeah, yeah, but spider-man homecoming. I think was one of my favorites. That's a good one Yeah, I also did an MCU rewatch inspired by you. That's right And you would you had done it and I was like, you know, I'm gonna do it too I made it all the way through though. So congrats to me. Yeah
00:17:28
Speaker
Spider-Man Homecoming is really good. I don't remember where I ranked it. I ranked all the MCU movies. I rank everything that I watch or consume, except for sports. But every season, every movie, television show, whatever, I rank. So one day I'll release my MCU rankings, but Spider-Man Homecoming is up there. Yeah, I like how you keep track because when you were like, oh, like we'll talk about stuff we watch. And I'm like, what did I watch this year? Yeah.
00:17:53
Speaker
So like I said, I keep track of everything. And when I was running through my list, I consumed about 270 pieces of media this year. That's movies, TV shows, reality shows, books, basically anything, not including sports. The top movie on my rankings, which I'm not going to reveal what I ranked because I want to do it on this podcast at some point. It's slightly higher than a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I want to do this movie and that would be Happy Gilmore.
00:18:21
Speaker
So out of all 270 things that I watched or consumed this year, Happy Gilmore is at the top. And is that the thing you've watched? Like if you were to look at everything you consumed, is that the thing you have consumed the most out of anything from the past year? Like how many times have you seen Happy Gilmore in your life? Oh, in my life? Yeah.
00:18:38
Speaker
If it's not the top, it's probably top two or three. Yeah, it's like Tommy boy. I've seen that so many times and I'm still like, yeah, it's 100. It's 102. Yeah. I want to talk about newer movies that came out, a movie that came out in 2021 that I just hadn't seen until this year. And it won best picture show. This isn't a shock to anybody, but CODA was really good. I ranked it a 93 on my list. CODA stands for child of deaf adults. So if you're listening and you haven't seen this, it's about a family where the two parents are deaf and
00:19:08
Speaker
They have a daughter who wants to be a singer, and she is not deaf. But it's a Gloucester family, so it's North Shore, Massachusetts, connects me to where you and I met. The school they use in the movie is actually Briscoe Middle School in Beverly, which I used to drive past every single day and spend some time. I used to go to a church that used to meet at Briscoe Middle School, and it's a really touching, good movie. So that's not really shocking at one best picture, but it's good if you haven't seen it. New movies I want to talk about, though.
00:19:37
Speaker
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One. I gave this in 87.5. This was a very enjoyable addition to the Mission Impossible franchise. I actually saw it when I was visiting Massachusetts and I saw it with one of our fellow cake eaters, Austin. We had a great time. Cake eaters. Going and seeing that. Shout out Austin Benson. I did feel bad because he didn't know it was a part one. And so the movie ends like kind of on a cliffhanger and he turns to me and he's like, so I guess that's only a part one.
00:20:07
Speaker
at least it wasn't the part two yeah yeah you're like wait what I miss love you Austin but the last motorcycle stunt in that movie was unbelievable so if you haven't seen it you probably Google it at this point YouTube it was really good second movie which I also think will come up later Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem I gave that in 87
00:20:26
Speaker
I love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies. I'll see it any of them they want to make, but I thought this was good. It was fun. I saw it with Wes when we were in the Outer Banks. It was a rainy day and I said, hey, you want to go see that movie? And it was awesome. They've got a show coming out and Wes got a ton of Ninja Turtle toys for Christmas, which are actually really fun to play with. Man, I used to have so many of those when I was a kid. I have no idea what happened to them.
00:20:48
Speaker
Santa got him the headquarters and he got the pizza mobile from my mom and he's out. It's fun And the pizza mobile shoots I had the one one like that came when we were kids. This one is awesome It's a lot of fun. Oh, I'm just gonna go on eBay for a few hours. Yeah
00:21:05
Speaker
Also want to shout out John Wick 4. I gave that an 86 and only because Keanu is the man and we love him on this show. I also really liked Across the Spider-Verse. That's the second one in the Miles Morales Spider-Man movies. I gave that an 85. That's probably the best way you can tell a multiverse story.
00:21:23
Speaker
It's way better than what the MCU is trying to do right now. And then last movie that you had mentioned earlier, Guardians of the Galaxy 3. I gave that an 84, and that was probably the best MCU thing from this year, which isn't saying much because the MCU was not very good this year. But that movie was good. And dropped the first F-bomb in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it was pretty funny.
2023 TV Shows and Comedy Highlights
00:21:43
Speaker
Who was it, Chris Pratt?
00:21:44
Speaker
Yeah, you haven't seen that movie yet. I have not. No, see, I haven't made it that far. I do like the first two a lot. I find that like when you you know, you break out Marvel, the little subcategories that they were definitely one of my favorites. Well, cool. Well, that was fun. Next category. What was the worst thing you watched this year?
00:22:03
Speaker
You know, feel bad having to do this to some, some people who obviously listen to our show, all the directors and writers of these movies. Sorry guys. I'm going to give you a few things I did not enjoy. And then one throwback, like real old movie that was just so bad. It was, it was good, but not good at all. Yeah. So some things that I did not like this year, the new little mermaid didn't love again. Am I the right demographic? Absolutely not. Cause my daughter.
00:22:34
Speaker
Adores that movie. She's yeah, it's fantastic. I thought you know It's not the original and I think a lot of people you know My age felt that way the six-year-old demographic loved it So the 36 year old demographic did not some of the MCU movies that I did not like I did not rank them like you did but the two That I feel like would probably end up near my bottom Iron Man 2 and Age of Ultron did not love
00:22:57
Speaker
Age of Ultron, I thought like the idea was really cool. I just didn't really hook me. Yeah, I gotcha. Age of Ultron has some good scenes and moments in it and it sets up some good things. Yeah, I get what you're saying. Yeah, I just think like it felt very rushed. Yeah, jumps into it, too. Yeah. And then the last thing I'm going to say, so a little setup. So my nephew, Cash, has gotten into watching movies with my sister and my brother-in-law that are like 80s, 90s.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah, that they liked watching when they were kids. So he's at that age where they like to like show movies that are, you know, obviously age appropriate. So every time I see them, I'll catch up. I'll be like, Hey, like, what did you see this this week? He's like, Oh, yeah, like, just watch Back to the Future or like just a drastic part. I'm like, awesome. Yeah, that's incredible. So we were over one day this summer. And my brother-in-law was like, All right, cash, like,
00:23:45
Speaker
We got this movie we're going to watch. It's called Over the Top. Oh, yeah. Have you seen this movie? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I want my arm wrestling on this show. The Sylvester Stallone. Oh, bad. The Force movie. And he's a traveling arm wrestler. He's a truck driver. So bad.
00:24:03
Speaker
It's so bad, but it's so great. And I think people would agree with me. It's like a typical Sylvester Stallone. It's ridiculous. Yeah. His name is Lincoln Hawk, which is a great movie name. What a name. Let's, let's be honest. It's a great movie name. Who knew that the underground world of arm wrestling was like this prestigious too. You know, it's, it's, it's something else.
00:24:24
Speaker
He's just trying to get his kid. He's trying to spend some quality time with his kid. He's just trying to win his kid back. Going on black market underground arm wrestling contest. I recommend this movie to every single person in the world. Oh, nice.
00:24:41
Speaker
Like I said, I watched a lot of stuff this year and there was a lot that wasn't great and also did a rewatch of all of the Sandler movies. And like I said, Happy Gilmore was at the top of my list. Sandler probably had two of my top four things that I saw this year. But I also need to point out that my bottom eight movies I saw were also all Sandler movies.
00:25:03
Speaker
It's very, yeah, he's, you know, most of the stuff he does, I really, really like. But there's just a few movies that I just can't completely get behind. And I'm not going to go through all of them. But my bottom two Sandler movies, he had a Netflix movie that came out a few years ago called Sandy Wexler. He's an agent or a manager in the 90s. And he's just always like he's on the Atkins diet. So he's always eating meat in it. And he's doing this weird voice. And
00:25:30
Speaker
You know, it was one of those movies where I think like if you were a part of Hollywood, it's probably really funny, but I'm not. So it wasn't really for me. I gave that a 24%, which is I think saying something for me. And then I also watched Sandler's first movie he ever did. I think it's available on YouTube. It's called Going Overboard.
00:25:50
Speaker
He's not bad in it, but the movie just was all over the place. It felt more like a student film, which honestly, it may have been a student film. I don't even know. The problem was, yeah. But that got an 18%. Okay. So it was going great. The MCU limited series secret invasion was very, very bad. I did hear that. I didn't watch it. I hadn't gone that far, as we've talked about. Track my journey as I make my way through, but yeah, I heard it wasn't.
00:26:18
Speaker
I give the MCU a lot of leeway and usually I'm pretty forgiving, but that just wasn't good. I mean, they've been like so relevant for so long now in this genre, which is pretty amazing. You'd have to think at some point, you know, like quality is going to deteriorate. Like I know like every so often, like you have some stinkers and then some really good ones. Yeah.
00:26:36
Speaker
Adam Sandler, I love everything you do. You're never gonna listen to this, but if you ever stumble across it, you are probably my favorite actor of all time. I love all of your movies, even the ones I don't like, I still love. Next category, most surprising movie from 2023.
00:26:54
Speaker
I wouldn't say there's any movies. I think it's more like TV. I watched a lot more TV than I did movies this year. Oh, all right. What was some surprising TV for you? So I think surprising TV that was better than I thought it would be was, have you seen Slow Horses, Apple TV plus show?
00:27:10
Speaker
Yeah, I have not watched it, but I have I know the show. I went into it not really knowing much. It's a book series. It was a bunch of books and watched the first season. I really, really enjoyed it. And then I watched the second season because there were two out already that I just didn't. Yeah, I didn't realize.
00:27:26
Speaker
For me, this movie will come up later in another segment, but I really liked Leo. I gave that an 82%. That is the Adam Sandler Netflix animated movie. And Krista, who is not typically the biggest Sandler fan, actually loved this movie too and thought it was really good. And it's good for kids. You guys should check it out.
00:27:46
Speaker
Another Netflix movie, Old Dads, that's starring Bill Burr. I gave that a 74%. It was a little too long, but there were some moments that really made me laugh really hard. I thought it was pretty surprising. I never know what to think of these Netflix movies, but that was a good one.
00:28:03
Speaker
And then I saw this movie in theaters, the Jennifer Lawrence, our comedy, no hard feelings. Uh, I gave that an 81%. That was actually really funny. And it's on, I think Netflix right now as well. So if you haven't seen that, check it out. It's pretty funny, not for kids, definitely an adult movie, but it was, uh, it's good. So those were my surprising things that I went into not really knowing what to think. And they.
00:28:28
Speaker
they were way better than what i thought i like that i was like when that happens yeah the things that exceed when you're just like meh whatever and then you're like wow that was actually really into that all right let's talk about some miscellaneous things that we liked from 2023 so these could be anything in the media landscape
00:28:49
Speaker
Let's just go back and forth on this, so you do one, I'll do one. Yeah, sounds good. I went back and I rewatched the entire series of Community. Great show. And I remember watching it when it first came out and then falling off pretty quickly. And I don't know why, because that show was fantastic.
Apple TV Shows and WWE Book Discussion
00:29:05
Speaker
It's really good. It changes a lot when some of the main characters leave, for sure. It's not as great at the end as it was at the beginning, but that's a good one.
00:29:13
Speaker
Speaking of TV shows, I really liked the Apple TV show Shrinking. That is the Jason Siegel Harrison Ford TV show about a therapist getting his life back together after losing his wife. I gave that a 93%. It's a Bill Lawrence show, Bill Lawrence, who did Scrubs and Ted Lasso. It's really good. It's really funny. And it's like a true grown up comedy. You know, if you're an adult, you're going to find it funny.
00:29:38
Speaker
Apple TV Plus has some of my favorite shows, but I feel like no one, not no one, I feel like not many people actually watch them. I don't actually even have Apple TV right now. I get it for like one month a year. Yeah. Watch everything I need to watch and then cancel it. It's such a shame because I'm like, man, like there's so many great shows on Apple TV Plus and like I know like The Morning Show and Ted Lasso get a lot of.
00:29:58
Speaker
Lot of air time and people talk about it, but some of my favorite shows are not those shows Yeah first season of a show called silo came out this year, which I really liked It's you know, it's another one of those like post apocalyptic world type things, but it's very different It takes place in an underground bunker that's shaped like a silo. Oh nice. Nice. It's again It's a book. It's a I think it's a three. It's the trilogy book series So I bought the first book afterwards cuz like man, that was really good. Yeah
00:30:28
Speaker
Oh my gosh. I like the comedy special, stand up special, Nate Bargazzi, Hello World. I love Nate Bargazzi. Yeah. I gave it a 91%. Nate Bargazzi is my favorite working comedian. It's a good special. I actually saw him live and I saw a lot of this material live in Hershey, Pennsylvania with loyal listener, Steve Ohms. Shout out, Steve Ohms. And it was just as good the second time.
00:30:56
Speaker
You know, even when I knew the punchlines are still good. Despite his failure on the man and cast, he has had a great year and I love his stand up. I love his dryness, his humor. I watch his stand ups all the time. Even though I know the punchlines, they're so funny. He was great on SNL, too. He was really good. His Starbucks stuff is so good. Yeah, it's just there's so much. And yeah, Abby loves him, too. And we're like any whenever he comes anywhere remotely near us, we're going to definitely try to go see him.
00:31:26
Speaker
So there are, there were a few shows that actually wrapped up this past year. I just want to give a quick shout out to those would be Ted Lasso, which we mentioned succession and Barry. I mean, all very different shows, but I thought all of them had great finales, great final seasons, just as good as they were in the beginning, which I feel like can be very rare with television, all three of those shows.
00:31:50
Speaker
didn't really have that many seasons, which I think you'll see a lot more of now. You're not seeing these shows being dragged out like they were in the past. Here's my thoughts on season three of Ted Lasso. Unsolicited, but I have a mic, so whatever. Always solicited.
00:32:06
Speaker
I thought Ted Lasso season three was good. I thought that the series arc felt a little rushed, specifically with the Nate character. Yeah. I'm happy they didn't drag it out any longer for Ted's arc.
00:32:21
Speaker
But the Nate arc, it just he went so bad, so fast. And then within like an episode or two, he's good again. Yeah. Yeah. That whole aspect wasn't super believable to me. It was really frustrating. And it even made it seem like towards the end, like they were trying to get us to root for him again. It's like I know I remember what happened. He hasn't done enough redeeming things to make me forgive what he did.
00:32:47
Speaker
One point I was like wait, did I miss an episode cuz he's like same back in the locker room same I agree. That's the one thing that did bug me Yeah, it was like I wanted him to kind of have to pay his penance and he didn't yeah, right another show. I really liked
00:33:03
Speaker
This is actually an Amazon freebie show. So anybody can watch it now. And that is Primo. I gave that an 89%. That is the Shay Serrano comedy about a San Antonio family. It's semi based on his life. It's really great. It's funny. Mike Schur is involved with it. He's Mike Schur of Parks and Rags in the office.
00:33:23
Speaker
It's really good. It's an easy watch. If you're listening to this and you haven't watched Primo, you should check it out. It's just a fun, lighthearted show that makes you feel good. So my last thing that I have, which actually these seasons have not yet wrapped, but these are definitely two of my favorite shows on television. For All Mankind is currently in season four and Fargo is currently in season five. Nice. Up to this point, these seasons have been great. For All Mankind is definitely one of my favorite shows on television right now.
00:33:49
Speaker
Yeah, you've been telling me about For All Mankind for a while and now other people have started telling me so once I get Apple TV, I will absolutely be checking that out. Yeah, check that out. It's fun. Quick synopsis. It's an alternate reality where the Soviet Union won the space race back in the 60s and how that has changed the course of history.
00:34:08
Speaker
OK, my last thing, I want to talk about a book I read. I read about it in a book, in a book. So Christa reads all the time. I think she read something crazy like 48 books this year. Wow. Which is good for her. She is like a super speed reader. She has a very unique set of skills when it comes to reading books. Yeah. Abby is the big, big reader, too. I'm always like, I want to be. I read four books this year. Hey, that's great. Hey, that's one a quarter.
00:34:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. One book that I want to give props to that I thought was really, really good. It's called There's Just One Problem. It's by Brian Gewertz. And Brian Gewertz, it's kind of a autobiographical look at his time as a writer for the WWE. He was actually a writer for The Rock.
00:34:54
Speaker
And he ended up being the head writer in WWE, worked very closely with Vince McMahon. Now he's working for The Rock, seven bucks production. But this book, I gave it a 92 percent. It was hilarious. It spoke the truth. I'm a wrestling fan. I enjoy it. So it was cool to kind of see some of the behind the scenes stories that, you know, you don't get if you're just watching it on the screen.
Weston Mansfield's Top 5 Movies
00:35:16
Speaker
So.
00:35:16
Speaker
That's a good book. If you like WWE, check it out. Even if you don't currently like WWE, if you ever liked it, it's worth reading and it's an easy read and it's funny. I was going to say I was never into wrestling, but the idea of there being a head writer or any sort of writing team is very interesting to me because you just don't hear about that. It's an interesting look at how things work and essentially it comes down to these writers all pitch.
00:35:39
Speaker
ideas and then Vince McMahon basically just says like, no, I want to do this. Nice. It's like, all right, you want to still pay me? Sure, whatever. OK, you ready for our special guest, Alex? I'm ready. I can't wait for this. Joining the podcast for the first time, my oldest son, Weston Mansfield. Welcome to the show, Wes. Thanks for having me, dad. All right, Wes, take it away. What do you got for us? My name is Weston and this is my top five movie for five years.
00:36:10
Speaker
Number five. Super Mario Brothers. Super Mario Brothers are super cool. Nice. Number four. Real. Talking wizards are super cool. Nice, nice. Good Adam Sandler pic, just like me. Nice job. Number three. Bedtime stories. I like when that guy just keeps punching people in the nuts. Nice. Number two. Ninja Turtles.
00:36:39
Speaker
I love the turtles, Cowabunga. Nice, great choice. And finally, number one. Homeward. Nice, good call, Les. I thought that Old Man Laurie was scary, but when my parents said that he was sadder, I only helped Kevin at the end, so he was good. Nice. And I actually made a track map by myself, and I wanted to make tracks around the house. Well, I'm glad you didn't. That would have hurt.
00:37:08
Speaker
This has been Weston's Top Five Movies for 2023.
Anticipated Movies of 2024
00:37:13
Speaker
See you next year. Great job. Good job. All right. Thank you, Wes. That was great. Parents, if you have any kids, take those suggestions to heart. Very good movies. Okay, Alex, what are some of the top movies you're looking forward to in 2024?
00:37:30
Speaker
Actually, it's funny, two of them are aimed at kids, but you have kids and you have to sit through these movies, so I want them to be good. One of them is If, the new Ryan Reynolds movie, just a big fan of Ryan Reynolds. I love Ryan Reynolds. Another one is Inside Out 2. We watch Inside Out a lot, so Inside Out 2, we're very excited for, so everyone has been asking about it. Inside Out is so emotional.
00:37:54
Speaker
It's very good. Yeah, great voice cast and great story. And then another one that I am looking forward to is A Quiet Place Day One. So the prequel to The Quiet Place movies. Yeah, that looks good. I like John Krasinski. Me too. John Krasinski, one of the writers, Michael Sarnosky, also a writer director for this film. Cool, cool.
00:38:15
Speaker
For me, I am looking forward to the new Mean Girls movie. That's a movie based on the musical, which is going to be written by Tina Fey. It looks funny. It comes out in January, so Mean Girls 1 was really good. I'm interested in seeing this. I am looking forward to another Ryan Reynolds movie, Deadpool 3. This might be the last hope at saving the MCU and also Wolverine's the freaking man, so if he's in any movie, I'm going to go see it.
00:38:42
Speaker
Really interested in Gladiator 2. Yeah. I've seen Gladiator 1 like a billion times. So I'm really intrigued where they take the story. Gladiator 1 is phenomenal. I love it. This movie will have a lot to live up to. That is such a long time between the sequels. Yeah. That's great. And lastly, I'm intrigued at Adam Sandler's next drama role. It's called Spaceman. Yes. Paul Dano's in it. It's by the Chernobyl director. It seems very interesting.
00:39:12
Speaker
When I heard about this movie and then I heard that little nugget about the Chernobyl director, I was like, okay, because I loved that miniseries.
2024 Podcast Plans
00:39:20
Speaker
Yeah. And I love space stuff in media, even though the idea of space is pretty scary. And Adam Sandler. I like it when Sandler does dramatic roles to kind of just show people, you know, I'm actually an NYU trained.
00:39:34
Speaker
Actor. Yeah. Like I know what to do. I just like having fun. It kind of like fits the premise of what we do here. We're all about fun. And that's why I think I love Adam Sandler so much. But the premise of this movie is a spaceman meets this alien spider type thing. And then when he returns to Earth, his problems start magically getting fixed. I don't know. It's a weird premise, but I'm in. I'm in. I'm all the way in. Next category. What are some movies you would like to cover on the show this year?
00:40:05
Speaker
Yeah, some of the movies that I would like to cover, some of my favorites, which I think might be underrated or might not have gotten a fair shake. And I think you might agree with some of these first one have to be out cold. Yep. It's just, I love that movie. It's just a great movie.
00:40:20
Speaker
Gonna have to do that one. Grandma's boy, again. Just one of those movies. Probably why I can't even count. We go to my friend's house, play GameCube, and then we're like, you want to watch Grandma's boy? That was like every night for us. That was like the greatest thing ever. And then another one, which I saw as a kid and I have not seen since, sidekicks with Chuck Norris.
00:40:42
Speaker
which honestly I don't remember anything over that movie but I remember seeing it and I really just want to rewatch it because I remember like being really into it we got to get some Chuck Norris some love we got to get some Chuck Norris in there yeah yeah those are three those are three they could there's more but I'll just give you three
00:40:56
Speaker
For me, we got to do some Sandler movies at some point. Like I said, we need to do Happy Gilmore. We definitely need to do Billy Madison. I don't know how we'll tie that in if we put them head to head or if we match them up against something else, but we got to find a way to do a Sandler movie. Really like the high school rom-com, so a movie like She's All That. I kind of want to revisit that. And sometime in the summer, maybe we could do a camp-themed episode and do the movie Heavyweights.
00:41:26
Speaker
Ooh, yes. I love heavy weights. That would be fun. I like that camp theme. Yeah, for sure. Ben Stiller is so funny in it. And then lastly, I don't know when, but at some point, we're going to have to do Mighty Ducks.
00:41:38
Speaker
Yeah, I have just yeah, I mean, there's not much to say about it, but that is definitely one of my all time all time favorite movies.
2023 Movie Rankings Review
00:41:45
Speaker
It's criminal what it is ranked on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah. So that's that's a shame because that movie is so good. I mean, all three of them are the first ones the best, but even two and three I'm like, these are awesome. They're so good.
00:41:58
Speaker
Okay, I wanted to give an opportunity for us to kind of look through where we ranked the movies that we had done on this show this year. I'll read the list real quickly and we'll go from top to bottom, highest average score. So what I did is I took your score, I took my score and I averaged them out.
00:42:14
Speaker
And I just want your thoughts on if you think that's a fair shake at where these movies are or if some need to be adjusted. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. So we had, from highest to lowest, Tommy Boy, Home Alone, Four Christmases, Hocus Pocus, Armageddon, Varsity Blues, Seventeen Again, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, National Treasure, Black Sheep, Christmas Vacation, Replacements, Gone in 60 Seconds, Deep Impact, Jennifer's Body, Scary Movie, Sweet Home Alabama, The Whole Nine Yards, Not Another Teen Movie, and then Fred Claus, Bringing Up the Rear.
00:42:43
Speaker
Anything stand out to you about that? Looking at this list, I feel like top to bottom, I feel like top and bottom spot on, even like the top three or four, bottom three or four, pretty solid. Like I wouldn't make any adjustments. It is interesting to look back after all these rankings.
00:42:58
Speaker
There's not many I would change from my scores. I still think Tommy Boy, I would probably readjust and give it a higher score. Home Alone, I'd probably give a few more points to. The three in a row that I think are the most surprising to me of where they fall is National Treasure Black Sheep Christmas Vacation. Right in the middle. I feel like National Treasure should be, like I'm surprised it's that low within the ranking. It was one of our earlier movies.
00:43:23
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like we were maybe like we were like a little more hesitant to like go too crazy with some of the scores, which isn't fair to the movie. You know, I feel like the movie should get the score it deserves. But it's just interesting to see like some of these like in a row. And I'm like, well, Christmas vacation versus black sheep, like those are within a half a point. Yeah, when I think about it, I'm like, are they really within a half a point? It's just interesting. I think the middle ones for sure are like harder to distinguish.
00:43:47
Speaker
So you think National Treasure should be higher? I think I would say National Treasure should be higher. Christmas Vacation, maybe a slot or two higher. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, maybe higher. Yeah, I think that probably needs to be higher too. Jennifer's Body, Scary Movie, like those feel about right. Even Gone in 60 Seconds, I'm like, that's not a great movie, but it's so much fun. You know, like it's like it's so much fun.
00:44:11
Speaker
I wouldn't change its position. I don't know if Fred Claus is worth as low of a score as we gave it. Yeah, yeah. I don't think it should be higher than any of the movies ahead of it, but it's like its score was pretty low. I think I'd probably put Sweet Home Alabama ahead of Scary Movie, probably put Sweet Home Alabama ahead of Jennifer's Body and probably ahead of Deep Impact just on rewatchability. I don't know if it's a better movie, but I'm more likely to rewatch that movie than those other ones.
00:44:37
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that might be some of the tiebreakers if we were going to have a tie-in score. Yeah. I will say, looking at this list, I would rewatch any of these movies. I really would too. I really would too. I didn't hate any of them. No. And to think about their Rotten Tomatoes score, it's like you would think there'd be a few on there that you're like, yeah, I'm good. Never seen that again. Yeah.
Podcast Growth Reflections and Listener Engagement
00:44:57
Speaker
Okay, I think it's, you know, it was interesting to kind of go and re review it. But I kind of agree. I think our top and our bottom are all pretty spot on. And even if we change scores, I don't think those would change. You know, those middle movies, honestly, depends on what day you get me on where I think they fall. Yeah, exactly. And they're all within a couple points of each other. So make sense.
00:45:17
Speaker
OK, Alex, let's close out. You have any hopes and dreams for 2024? I like what you always do. You track your stuff, what you watch, what you've read, all that kind of stuff. That's one of my I guess you can call them one of my resolutions for the podcast. And just to I think I do this a lot. I think I like have to like talk myself into watching things that I don't think will be the best thing ever. Like all this is going to be like the next best show, the next best movie. Who cares? Just watch it. Yeah, like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You never know where you're going to pull out of it. No, I agree.
00:45:44
Speaker
Yeah, for me, I'd like to keep growing this podcast. It's been really fun. I think that while we're still going to focus on movies with lower and underappreciated Rotten Tomatoes scores, I think we can kind of mix in some more themed episodes if we can really connect to movies.
00:46:01
Speaker
You might see some more of that this year. Getting to start this was great and I'm excited to see what 2024 brings. One thing I will ask all of our listeners, please go on Spotify, go on Apple, rate and review this show. That's how those apps push us out to more people. Five stars only, even if you hate it, just give us five stars out of the kindness of your heart. It really helps us out.
00:46:27
Speaker
Spotify and Apple go on takes like 10 seconds rate review and Want to give a special shout out to my brother Dave got me this cool. I mean, I know you can't see it It's an audio but he got me a cool the movie showdown with rock and rob hat it looks like the Dustin hat from stranger things but with our logo on it and then Alex is repping our movie showdown with rock and rob and
00:46:52
Speaker
official hat that we will be putting up for a giveaway on social media. So if you're not following us on social media, make sure to do that. I am wearing one of our branded sweatshirts that will be put up for giveaway as well. So we got some fun stuff coming in 2024. It's going to be good. Alex, any closing thoughts? I'll see you in the new year. New year, new rules, maybe. We'll see. I'm excited. I'm excited to see what 2024 has. That's going to be fun. I am.
00:47:20
Speaker
Well, this has been The Movie Showdown with Rock and Rob. Make sure to like, subscribe, rate and review all that fun stuff. And follow us on all the socials at Rock and Rob Show. Until next time, peace. I'm out of here. See ya. Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you're going to do something like this. And totally redeem yourself! I'm not sure what to do with my hands. By relation.
00:47:48
Speaker
That's your home! Are you too good for your home? Answer me! Hasta la vista, baby.