MISCHKE: The Niles Film Files (ep. 122)

Summary

Garage Logic — MISCHKE: The Niles Film Files (ep. 122)
June 24, 2026 | Gamut Podcast Network

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Episode Overview

This episode of Garage Logic welcomes film critic Niles back to the show after a long hiatus for an in-depth discussion of Steven Spielberg’s latest movie, Disclosure Day. With a noticeable resurgence in Hollywood filmmaking this summer, hosts Mishke Cutie and Niles take a deep dive into the state of the big screen, Spielberg’s career, and the lasting magic of movies versus streaming. They also touch on classic films, shared moviegoing experiences, and the upcoming Christopher Nolan adaptation of The Odyssey. The episode is a passionate and critical look at cinema’s enduring cultural power—centered on a lively debate about what makes a great film and what’s missing from today’s blockbusters.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Return of Niles and the Summer Movie Renaissance

• Mishke introduces Niles, noting listener requests for a return to film-oriented content, fueled by the release of Disclosure Day and nostalgia for lively cinema debates.
• Mishke highlights Spielberg’s age (80), the shrinking communal theater experience, and excitement for a major Hollywood event that brings back old show contributors.
• Quote (Mishke, 04:12):

  “There’s a longing for the old days, as there always is. I am not too big to go back to the good old days, especially when we can connect a guy who used to appear on the show to a very contemporary story...”

Disclosure Day: Film Review and Polarizing Reactions

• Mishke: Lifelong fascination with government UFO disclosure and expectation for film to finally “tell the truth” about aliens.
• Niles: Acknowledges his own skepticism and cultural fascination, referencing 2001: A Space Odyssey and society’s mixed readiness for revelation.
• Key Insight (Niles, 07:31):

  “The culture shock that this disclosure could result in, I might have some agreement with... if this stuff comes out, this will result in some world shaking stuff that might not be good.”

Plot & Artistic Choices (08:12–14:09)

• Both hosts are surprised by the minimal explicit alien content.
• Mishke criticizes the film’s opening wrestling scene as confusing and the plot as implausible or contrived at points.
• Niles argues the wrestling scene is a metaphor for truth vs. performance:

  “We are adopting the first person perspective... this is a film about reality; it’s something that Spielberg believes is real, but he’s talking about the line between real and unreal. That’s movies, but it’s also wrestling.” (Niles, 09:01)

Filmmaking Merits and Flaws

• Niles emphasizes that while Disclosure Day stumbles with its narrative, its craft and certain “earworm” sequences (notably a tense, emotional train scene) linger in memory:
  • “[The scene] pulled me back to it... the consolation of art. Because we live in this absurd universe which is so much bigger than we think it is... here is the one thing that we can recognize ourselves in.” (Niles, 14:09)
• Mishke: Finds these moments undermined by what he sees as a structurally unsound film:
  • “Everything that happened to get them into that train was so disappointing...I’m already mad at the movie by the time they’re in that train” (Mishke, 14:45).
• Both acknowledge the film’s controversy and strong audience reactions—some are delighted, many are “enraged” (Mishke, 11:13).

Is Spielberg Losing His Touch?

• Discussion of aging directors and Spielberg’s late-career output versus his classics.
• Niles notes Spielberg hasn’t made a contemporary-set movie in years, often defaulting to period pieces, and compares his reception to releases like A.I.
• Quote (Niles, 17:35):

  “You have an octogenarian filmmaker… I maintain that the flashes of brilliance are there, but Spielberg, much like Scorsese in recent years, has not made a movie set in the present.”

Spielberg’s Best & “Flawless” Films (19:03–36:24)

• Niles’ top Spielberg movies: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Munich, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies.
• Discussion on what defines a “flawless” film. Mention of Tarantino’s shortlist (Back to the Future) and personal choices (Goodfellas).
• Mishke: “Anytime a director I have some respect for says a film is perfect, flawless. That’s a powerful thing to say. I’m going to see that film. A flawless film. That has to be rare.” (35:53)

The Ritual and Memory of Moviegoing (28:45–34:39)

• Lament that movie theaters are often near-empty, but Mishke and Niles extol the vividness and community of theatrical viewing.
• Niles:

  “It actually makes the movie more memorable...it places you in a context of time and space...it places the experience...in the hard drive of your consciousness.” (31:20)

• Mishke shares stories of seeing Jaws as a boy, the detailed sensory memory reinforcing the power of seeing films in theaters.

The Current State and Future of Movies

• Discussion shifts to movie culture’s evolution: from novels to cinema to streaming TV.
• Both note fewer people are drawn to theaters, with streaming “not a replacement” for the communal or memorable.
• Spielberg’s prediction that theaters will persist for 50 more years is met with skepticism but also hope.

Shared Experiences, Debate & Iconic Scenes (38:42–44:39)

• They talk about the phenomenon of watching audience reactions post-movie (Disclosure Day, Jaws, Boogie Nights), and how these shared moments can’t be replicated at home.
• Mishke and Niles swap stories about Oscars mishaps and watching “the impossible” happen live (La La Land–Moonlight gaffe, Jimmy Carter’s slip at the 1980 Democratic Convention).

Looking Ahead: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (50:09–53:39)

• The duo look forward to Nolan’s anticipated Odyssey, discussing its literary sources, the emotional power of Homer’s dog Argos, and Nolan’s fondness for "homecoming" themes.
• Mishke recalls the overwhelming, communal impact of Nolan’s Memento and compares it to the effects of marijuana.
• Quote (Mishke, 51:18):

  “I have not had a feeling like that since I walked out of a theater after watching Christopher Nolan’s Memento... I was disoriented. I wasn’t comfortable with how I was feeling...the great thing about it was, again, this communal experience.”

Enduring Power of Film History

• Mishke and Niles discuss overlooked classics:
  • The Ninth Configuration, The Night of the Hunter (“just for the light and the shots and the artistic presentation of scenes…” Mishke, 55:57), and their influence on later cinema.
  • Niles: “I came through Night of the Hunter through Scorsese, through Cape Fear, because that was a big influence…”

Takeaways on Movie Debates, Memory, and Passion

• Mishke relishes the debate around Disclosure Day as entertainment in itself, showing the value in disagreement over art.
• Niles:

  “I’m happy that people are arguing about a film... When you can do that, I think there’s something better in that than, say, a consensus pick...” (34:39)

• They sign off looking forward to more film debates and the promise of next summer’s blockbusters.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the magic of theaters —
  “There’s something magical about the theater, about watching something on a big screen all together as a group.”
  — Mishke Cutie (04:08)
• On narrative confusion —
  “When I watched Jaws, there was never a moment where I didn’t know what was going on. Never. The story was always clear to me. Now I was often lost in this film, often lost.”
  — Mishke Cutie (12:56)
• On emotional resonance —
  “The consolation of art. Because we live in this absurd universe which is so much bigger than we think it is... here is the one thing that we can recognize ourselves in.”
  — Niles (14:09)
• On audience division —
  “People are talking about a movie whether they disliked it or not. I’m happy that people are arguing about a film.”
  — Niles (34:39)
• On the communal movie experience —
  “There’s nothing quite like looking at the faces of people coming out of a theater where you just watched the same film. Those faces. There’s a whole lot going on there.”
  — Mishke Cutie (38:42)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:06 — Introduction of Niles and the revival of film discussion
• 04:08 — Nostalgia for theater experiences and Disclosure Day anticipation
• 07:04 — Niles on Disclosure Day’s impact and alien “disclosure”
• 09:01 — The pro-wrestling metaphor for reality vs. performance
• 10:57 — Second viewing effect: “an earworm quality” to the film
• 12:56 — Mishke on confusion and lack of clarity vs. Jaws
• 13:27 — Highlighting the emotional train sequence
• 14:45 — Mishke’s critique: “already mad at the movie by the time they’re in that train”
• 19:12 — Niles’ list of top Spielberg films
• 31:20 — Niles reflects on the persistent value of theaters
• 34:39 — Value of debating divisive films
• 38:42 — Sharing and observing post-film audience reactions
• 50:09 — Preview: Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Odyssey adaptation
• 54:52 — Discussion on film classics: Best Years of Our Lives, Night of the Hunter
• 56:49 — Sign off and tease for future film conversations

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Final Notes

• The episode is an ode to moviegoing as a communal, memory-making event and a spirited evaluation of what makes for lasting, meaningful cinema.
• Mishke and Niles blend nostalgia, critique, and hope for the survival—and renewal—of big screen culture.
• They spotlight Disclosure Day as a flashpoint for debates about storytelling, directorial legacy, and cultural appetite for the extraordinary.

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For listeners who missed it: Expect a thoughtful, nostalgic, and occasionally combative tour through cinema—with plenty of classic film love, pointed critiques, and hope for Hollywood’s future.

Transcript

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[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Okay, everyone, places. This is the final scene, so let's make this one count. And action. My name's Mishke Cutie Cutie Hugh. Cutie cutie.

[GarageLogic Host]

Hugh.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the show. Got a guest for you this hour. Some of you will remember the voice, some of you will not because you didn't listen to Me. Back then, this gentleman used to make regular appearances on the show to talk about film, talk about the world of movies, to dive into cinema land and talk about what all was going on there. And because there seems to be a return this summer to a vitality in Hollywood filmmaking, we are diving back in the big story, of course, Disclosure Day, Spielberg's latest movie. Spielberg, 80 years old. You don't know how many more of these he has in him. But it's a big enough film where it was time to bring back Niles, Niles of the Niles Files, a man who goes back many, many years with the show. And I welcome him now after a long hiatus. Hello, Niles.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Hey, Mishke. I'm sorry that my grandma messaged you demanding I come back on the air.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Well, you did have a supporter out there contacting me, so someone did contact me. Hey, it would be nice to have Niles back on the show. That was the same. Same week I got an email from someone who said it'd be nice to get Wildcat Fox back. There's a longing for the old days, as there always is. I am not too big to go back to the good old days, especially when we can connect a guy who used to appear on the show to a very contemporary story and one near and dear to my heart. For multiple reasons. Disclose your day, as you folks know, is one of the big summer blockbusters tackling a subject near and dear to my heart. The idea of finally revealing what the government knows, what shadow governments know, what hidden groups know about this whole alien story that has been really building and building ever since 2017. In my life, it's been building since 1969, whenever the air Force put out Project Blue Book. But for a lot of folks, something kicked in with a front page story in the New York times back in 2017 talking about the idea that we're being visited by craft that are not of this earth, not made here, and that in some cases, we are reverse engineering and collecting what they call biologics. One of my favorite terms for finding a guy that's a biologic there, grab him, Ted. Throw him in this box. We'll take him back to the lab. There's a group of people out there in the United States who eat this stuff up and know everything that's been going on with this story. And there are people who don't know what the hell I'm talking about and why that is, I don't know. To me, it's the biggest story on Earth and disclosure day was Supposed to be a film about all of us being finally told the truth. Spielberg clearly is a believer. And I was not only geared up to head to the theater because I love going into a movie theater. I was geared up because it was a Spielberg film. This is the man. I mean, he is gonna give you a ride, get your ticket, get your popcorn, sit down and get ready. It worries me what's happening in the world of film. I walk into a lot of empty theaters. I don't know what's going on out there. I don't know where this medium is heading. I've been worried about it for a long time. There's something magical about the theater, about watching something on a big screen all together as a group. I felt that was possibly going away. So I had all sorts of reasons to be excited to go to the theater. I should just start by saying, what did you think?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I came into it. I sat down. I actually brought a relative who was very much like you into this subject. And you know, she was all about this stuff. She's like, you see, that's all true. And then she would go into all these other facets of alien stuff that I have no opinion on and personally don't want to think about.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Not interested in the biggest story of your life.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

My conflict, or one of my conflicts, is that the culture shock that this disclosure could result in, I might have some agreement with. This goes back to 2001 A Space Odyssey where the main character, the first part of that movie, talks about, you know, if this stuff comes out, this will result in some world shaking stuff that might not be good. I can't say that I'm rooting for the villains, but, you know, I'm kind of sympathetic to that. On the other hand, while I'm watching it, it's almost like you forget that it's about aliens. I don't think the word alien is ever used in the movie. I think the word extraterrestrial is used once.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I concur. It was surprisingly void of much, much alien stuff. Which again, if you're like me and think that's the biggest story going in the world today to stay away from, that's a little troubling. He didn't stay away from that during a time of more ignorance when that little guy E.T. was on camera all the time and running around enjoying himself. Maybe as it gets too real, it gets too hard to show it, I'd also say it was the worst. I'm going to be. I'm going to be a little hard on this film, I'm sorry to say, it starts out with a World Wrestling Federation fight for no reason whatsoever. Can you think of a reason why it started with a fake wrestling scene?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I know exactly why it started with a fake wrestling scene, thank you.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Tell me why.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

In fact, the first image you see is a boot to the face to the camera, and we are adopting the first person perspective of that camera. This is a film about reality, about something that Spielberg believes is real, but he's talking about the line between real and unreal. That's movies, but it's also wrestling. It's something that is visceral and can have an impact on us, but it's also staged. This is where the movie becomes tricky because I'll be frank too. I watched it and the narrative of disclosure did not land for me in terms of extraterrestrials.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I'm with you.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

But as filmmaking, I'm just captivated by the moviemaking. But at the same time, I'm feeling like this story, to adopt a professional wrestling phrase, is not going over. I'm not sure that the audience is buying into it. I'm not sure that I'm buying into it. And at the end, with the disclosure. And here we come to the spoiler alert in a post truth age of deepfakes and AI flooding the zone with crap. I'm not sure that disclosing this information on these big television networks would actually result in this world shattering, world changing event that Spielberg does. And so I came away from it thinking that there was something anachronistic about this film. Like it feels like it probably should have been made 20 years ago. I think Spielberg's definitely aware of this. By the way, here's where I have to add part two to my review. I saw it a second time.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Of course you did. You liked it a lot more.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I did.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

That happens quite often to you.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

There's an earworm quality to disclosure day. And disclosure day was also provoking a lot of interesting talk. It had its defenders and it had a lot of people who despised it.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

The controversy surrounding it, based on what I've read, doesn't have much to do with the real disclosure story for those of us who believe there actually is a real disclosure story out there. The controversy that I read about is good moviemaking versus bad moviemaking. I know of people who walked out of that theater smiling, feeling just great. And that is a Spielberg signature right there. You walk out not puzzled, not concerned, not worried. So a lot of that and then a lot of people, I would say Enraged. I think rage has been a common response.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Yes. There's some oblique things in this movie because adjacent to this disclosure, this chase, there's a nuclear war on the precipice of happening and no one really cares. The content of that news doesn't really matter. And this is about the obliteration of the human race. Everyone is locked into the comforts of the year 2026. You know, just the banality of our well coddled and comfy time. And I think Spielberg believes that the only thing that would snap us out of this as the human race is on the edge in terms of existence or non existence, is something as earth shattering as discovering that we're not alone. I'm not sure that I agree with that, but I still really admire it. And I found myself much more moved this time.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Here's what I wanted to see when I saw Jaws, which came out, I believe, 51 years ago this week. When I watched Jaws, there was never a moment where I didn't know what was going on. Never. The story was always clear to me. Now I was often lost in this film, often lost. I was delighted to learn that a lot of things that didn't make sense to me didn't make sense to other people who reviewed it. They found things that simply were illogical.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

The main earworm scene in this movie, that pulled me back to it. This train sequence, this big chase sequence where both Josh o' Connor and Emily Blunt have to jump from a car onto the train into the train car while they're being shot at. They get inside the train car and we see it's full of musical instruments and Emily Blunt is shaking. And as she's shaking, she's thinking about her father's Parkinson's.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

And

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I'm sorry, I'm just overwhelmed thinking about it.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Really.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Yeah.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I gotta get more overwhelmed thinking about something with that film.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Well, my dad had Parkinson's, but the point of that scene is that Josh o' Connor says, you're not alone. And he takes her hand and the way Spielberg lights it and the way she's trembling and he puts her hand on the piano wire of one of these pianos. And I got it. The consolation of art. Because we live in this absurd universe which is so much bigger than we think it is. So much is wrong with it, obviously. And here is the one thing that we can recognize ourselves in.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I wish I could appreciate these little things that to you add up to enough interesting, thoughtful and intricate and intriguing little movie making decisions that to me are made in the midst of a disaster of bad choices. Everything that happened to get them into that train was so disappointing to me that by the time they're in that train, I'm not thinking anything other than what I just watched in the seven minutes before that was filled with implausible, ridiculous, cartoonish things that I just wouldn't think Spielberg would be on board for. This isn't a fantasy movie. This is supposed to be dealing with reality. So by the time they're in that train, I'm already mad at the movie. Making almost every chase had implausible stuff in it. Almost every single time. These two people, the protagonists in this film, were trying to get away, they were doing something to help them get away that made the guys chasing them look like they must be 12 year olds if they can't see what these two are up to. There's this ever present alien device that is used endlessly to help the plot move along. If you've hit a dead end in the plot, just use this device and it'll get you out of it. But the basic story, if I use my Jaws example, just tell me a story that holds together. It's not that complicated. If he started out with the idea of there's a whistleblower with files and the files reveal years and years and years of a hidden story having to do with alien visitations to our planet. Great premise. The idea of it being revealed to the world one day, great. Now how do I do that? The way he chose to do that is like the anti Jaws approach. Instead of creating really interesting people that you fall in love with. I didn't fall in love with anybody in this film. There's a belief among some out there that Spielberg at 80 years of age just doesn't have the skill set anymore. There's an argument there. If you were to. I keep going back to Jaws because I like Jaws because A, this is the week it came out 51 years ago. B, it invented the idea of the summer blockbuster. C, it was a real story. There's nobody in any seat in any theater in America who didn't know what was going on. And I think you should take notes from that as a, as a movie maker and director, that there's a way to just tell a story.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

We talk about a director aging himself out. And this again relates to the problem with this feeling so anachronistic. I'm not the only person who thought about Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis while watching this, which was a movie that was probably overripe in the same way that Disclosure Day may have been undercooked. You know, you have an octogenarian filmmaker who still has. You know, I maintain that the flashes of brilliance are there, but Spielberg, much like Scorsese in recent years, has not made a movie set in the present. If you're buffered by period, west side Story, the post, Bridge of Spies, one of my favorite Spielberg movies. Lincoln, another one of my favorites. He hasn't been in the present for a while. The other Spielberg movie that has drawn probably as much ire as Disclosure Day in its time, and I wonder what it'd be like if it had been released in the age of social media was AI which is one of the most devastating movies I've ever seen. But people were really divided on it because of how strange it was for a Spielberg movie. A lot of people didn't know what to make of it at the time. It was a. Not a success commercially. A lot of critics did not like it. A lot of critics loved it. And over time, though, its reputation has grown, and it's now considered by a lot of people to be one of his better films.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

If you were looking at a list of his top 10 or even top 7, give me. Give me what you think those would be.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

It would be the early blockbuster. So you'd be in Jaws, which might be my number one. Close Encounters, ET Jurassic Park. Jurassic park is a movie that I think plays better with time. But when I first watched it, I was like, this isn't Jaws. The dynamics between these characters, between Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum, they're not the human beings that we met with Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw and Roy Schneider. And yet the movie is memorable as hell, and it plays great. I think people would put Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan on that list. Although I prefer. In terms of his more serious films, I prefer Munich and Lincoln and Bridge of Spies.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Love all those. Every one of them. Everyone you named. I loved everyone. I would have walked out with no complaints. I would have understood exactly what was going on. The story would have made sense. The characters would have been great. All those films. I'm with you.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

On one of his less successful movies, the Terminal with Tom Hanks, I think that was.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I like that, too. Do you think Spielberg's gonna make another film?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I don't think he's gonna stop working as long as he's ambulatory. And it feels weird to ask, well, can he get a movie finance? Because he hasn't had a hit in A while. West side Story was really well liked, but it was a bomb. Fabelman, Same thing. It bombed. Disclosure Day is doing okay, but I think it's going to probably lose money. I think it's actually doing better than some people thought it would in the theater. I went to go see it on Sunday, was almost sold out.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Well, I'll tell you, I've talked to a couple guys who work at theaters, and what's helping it out? What's helping it out is the movie's failure to be clear the first time through. Because a lot of people are going back and seeing it again. That's what I'm learning.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I'm not going to Compare it to 2001 A Space Odyssey, but going back to directors confusing audiences, you know, again. Kubrick, 68.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Yeah, that one. I'd have to. I'd have to go back and watch 2001 again. I don't know if I ever saw it and 100% knew what the hell I just saw. But in that case, I really did just blame me. It was just something very profound that I wasn't quite clear on. But it's been many years now. In this particular case, I do not believe it was a mistake of my inability to understand what he was saying. I don't think that's the problem. I just think it's the way he told it.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I think for you, I don't want to step into your shoes too much. It's the way he told it. Maybe it's the story he told. Isn't what someone like you, who really loves this stuff, wanted to hear. To me, it's almost a throwback. I mean, it reminded me of the conspiracy thrillers from this. It really reminded me of Brian De Palma's film the Fury from 1976 with Kirk Douglas and John Cassavetes. And I love those kinds of movies. And even if it sort of doesn't totally work, that kind of thriller, I wish we had more of those.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

It's funny, I heard Spielberg interviewed and they asked, what do you think it's going to be like when we finally know the true story about aliens and these UAPs, UFOs, when we finally learn we're being visited and Spielberg said, it's going to be just like the movie. It's going to be a day like no other. And I thought, he honestly thinks there's just going to be a day. Three in the afternoon, we're going to get word. This thing has been being disclosed for a long time now. Years. And I am awestruck at how many people out there are talking about this topic separate from the movie compared to last year, the year before, the year before that. It's so commonly talked about as a real thing right now that I almost feel like we're past disclosure day. Because again, if you go deep into this thing with journalists who have spent their careers researching, studying this thing, following the story and sticking solely with current and former government officials, people in the military, if you just amass people with solid credentials, sober, serious people, we're beyond disclosure day.

[Ross Coulthardt (Investigative Journalist)]

Former Pentagon UFO investigator and whistleblower Lou Elizondo and News Nation special correspondent and investigative journalist Ross Coulthardt. Lou, do I have it wrong? It's not just about technology. It's about extraterrestrial beings that the US Government is aware of.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I think what you are witnessing before our very eyes is the disintegration of perhaps the greatest cover up in American history. This is a big national, I think, a national conversation that's now just finally, I think, resonating with the American people. And they're waking up to the fact that, hey, you know what? The government's been lying to us. I can tell you, having just come from a viewing of Steven Spielberg's fictional telling of Disclosure, Disclosure Day. This is the next stage. The fact that we do know that the United States government is working with retrieved technology and beings.

[Ross Coulthardt (Investigative Journalist)]

I don't know how to deal with this. Like, you know, if it's not true, then fine, I'm fine to have egg on my face that I reported it at all and that I gave it a platform if it is true, okay, if there is life off of this planet, that is the biggest headline of our lifetime.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

The fellas said, I want to file a complaint with Fury Motors. 63 years they've been doing this same family, the leonards. And in 63 years, nobody at Fury has figured out how to sell a car the normal way. When are they going to learn how you're supposed to sell a car? This fella said, you sell it the annoying way. The way where a person walks in and immediately regrets they walked in. That's the way you run a car dealership. Where was the hype? Where was the hard sell? Where was the bs? I had a whole speech ready. The skeptical customer speech, the arms crossed speech. I didn't get to use any of it because nobody at Fury was working an angle. They just helped me, repeatedly helped me. Apparently that's their whole business model. So consider this complaint formally filed. Fury Motors is making it very difficult to Enjoy being suspicious of car dealerships. Waconia Forest, lake, Stillwater, South St. Paul, Fury Motors. 63 years of ruining everyone else's reputation by comparison.

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[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Back in 1918, when you could have seen horses going down the street, a man in the Twin Cities fixed somebody's furnace. That's it. That's the whole origin story right there for msp. And then there was another generation. And that generation got better at it because now there were years behind them. Plumbing, wiring, duct work. And then came another generation. Same thing. Skill compounding on skill. Another generation, more experience, more knowledge. People getting better and better at what they do. That's what happens when four generations of a family quietly refuse to do anything halfway. They go by MSP now. Minneapolis St. Paul Plumbing, Heating, Air and Electric. Long name. But they earned it. And this June, these four generations want you to know they're taking $50 off any repair. Furnace, AC, electrical, plumbing. Doesn't matter which. A hundred and eight years of going further for you don't believe me? This month it's $50 cheaper to find out. MSP, plumbing, heating, air and electric. I remember talking to you one time about how many films come out each year. There are hundreds of films that come out every year. Hundreds of films that could be taken in of which the masses are aware of. Couple dozen at most.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Yeah.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Do you spend a lot of time heading off into those obscure corners to go looking for these other films?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I don't watch as many movies as I used to, probably. I'm still watching films all the time. But I'm digging into old films I find because there's so many old films, so many of my friends don't go to movies anymore. Going to high school though, it would just be something you would do every week.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Well, I think I had this conversation with you one time that from the mid-1800s to 1950, the novel was king in America. And you could go to a bar, you could go to a cafe, you could go to some club, and people would actually talk about a novel they're reading or that they want to read or so. And so is putting out a new book. It actually was an important part of life. Then around 1950, Hollywood starts to be where people turn to get a sense of the culture, to hear the story of their times, to. To learn the myths that we have to guide us and to learn about who we are. And all through the 50s and then heavy into the 60s, it really picks up mid-60s all the way to the early 80s. It's this dominant movie culture. And that's where films are coming out and shaking up the whole society and changing people's views and changing how they want to be and how they want to behave and who they want to be. And that's. That's the world I grow up in, where I'm sitting at a movie theater every weekend, damn near, and I'm living there. And then the 90s roll around. And we have talked about this. These streaming shows and these series are written so well that that tends to be where America suddenly turns to learn about who it is, what it is. And I remember talking to you about the dramatic difference between a movie that you go down the block to see at a theater and these streaming shows that you binge watch and how radically different these two experiences are and how you'll never get from that streaming experience, which you get at a movie theater if you're watching a good film. That was clear. And I have never stopped going to movies. And I am often one of the few people in the theater. I look around and say, how's this place making it? How are they paying the bills? I am often alone, or my wife and I are alone with a dozen other people. But we're still enjoying the film. Whatever film we've decided to see, we're having that experience we wanted, that we hoped for. I'm well aware that all around me, people are dropping like flies. It's over. They're done going to the theater. Somehow they have decided, what would be the point. I could just stay at home and watch it. So that big screen doesn't do anything for them. The darkness in the theater doesn't do anything for them. And the communal aspect of it doesn't do anything for them. All things that do something for me. And I still watch plenty of stuff at home. I do that too. I like that as well. But it's Not a replacement for the theater.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Spielberg himself has said that he believes that movies will and theaters will endure for 50 years. I don't know. I've always waited for not just movie theaters, but physical media to go away because of what streaming does. But it persists. The thing about going to the theater, since I was a kid, wandering around often by myself and having 10 bucks on me, was it works with your memory. It actually makes the movie more memorable. It makes your life around it more memorable because it places you in a context of time and space. On an afternoon, going to 50th in France to that theater, and seeing this movie on that day. It places the experience of seeing a movie and whatever the content of that film is or was in the hard drive of your consciousness. More permanently than streaming with the stream, things just fade in and fade out. You might enjoy what you're watching, but they all sort of blend together in the digital age. I mean, our pictures have become more disposable. We could take pictures of anything and I love it. But at the same time, it's as if the images themselves are more disposable. Whereas if you had a crappy 35 millimeter camera 25 years ago or 30 years ago, or 40 years ago. Whenever I stumble on some photographs I took in high school with a 35 millimeter camera, there's something special about those pictures. Something special about those images.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

You were talking about memory. I still remember the city bus ride. Jaws wasn't playing in St. Paul. It was in Minneapolis. And I had to get on a bus and head over there. What would I have been, about 13? Something like that? So I take a city bus, and I remember every bit of the bus ride. I remember the weather, I remember arriving there. And the difference between coming in from that bright sunshine into the darkness and the reverse afterward. All those things are in my memory just. Just because of a film. I'd be happy with just another Jaws. I just like the experience of seeing a movie perfectly put together, that I understand, characters I fall in love with, and a story that just leaves me thinking about it three months later. That's what has happened many times with movies. I still find myself thinking about a movie I bet 99% of people listening right now have never even heard of, let alone seen. And it's not because I went digging for some obscure film. It was at my neighborhood theater when I was growing up. I just went and saw it. The Ninth Configuration.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Oh, the William Peter Blatty movie.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Stacy Keech is the star.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

You know, I'VE never seen the Ninth

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Configuration, which speaks volumes because you've seen everything.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

But I know people who have seen it and who love it.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

So talk about falling in love with characters A and B, just enjoying the originality of that story. There are certain films that. That will have that effect on me. And I would not go to Rotten Tomatoes expecting to see a high rating.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Well, the thing I. Again, circling back to disclosure, Dave, what I like is that people are talking about a movie whether they disliked it or not.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Yep, you're right.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I'm happy that people are arguing about a film. They're doing it with several films this year. And when you can do that, I think there's something better in that than, say, a consensus pick where everyone's on the same page about something at the same time. Like last week, I hosted. I sometimes host a movie night, have some friends over, and one of my guests had never seen Jaws in the manner of the late, great Ron Rosenbaum. What? And we sat down and watched Jaws and God, that movie is so perfect.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

It's perfect.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Last year for the 50th anniversary, I was taking a vacation in Washington state and there was a movie theater in North Bend, Washington, where they filmed Twin Peaks. I was out there and they were playing Jaws. And so I had nothing to do that night. So I went to go see it. And then I went travel to the ocean the next day. And a few days later, I come back, I'm in North Bend again. I had nothing to do that night. So I saw Jaws again. No big deal. And it was just. I was totally entertained every time.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I get it. I get that. Did you ever hear Tarantino and his list of perfect films, films that are flawless?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I don't think I've heard that.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Anytime a director I have some respect for says a film is perfect, flawless. That's a powerful thing to say. I'm going to see that film. A flawless film. That has to be rare. You can't say that about much in this world at all. I'm not sure I could say that about anything. One of the films that Tarantino thought was just perfect, he wouldn't change one note was Back to the future.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I can see that. Yeah.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

You mentioned this about Jaws. Do you have a few other flawless, literally flawless films that you would like to pass along again? It doesn't make sense to me that you would be able to name 25 flawless films. Maybe you could. Maybe you could. Flawless is quite a high bar. Every single thing worked. You wouldn't have added one more second to the film or taken away one second. Not one movement of a eyebrow, an expression.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Good, fellas. Probably.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I can actually throw out one thing with Jaws, that has always bothered me. Did Roy Scheider just know if he threw an air tank into a shark's mouth that would just hang onto it like a cigarette?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

He established that those things are quite explosive and dangerous.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Great idea to blow it up that way. But what shark just sucks on a lozenge? They swallow him. Sharks eat things, you know. A decision Spielberg made on Jaws. That is one of these. Show me anyone else on planet Earth who found this. After the shark is blown up, the camera moves to underwater. And he's got John Williams for the score, as he always does. But he needs something more for that. So what. You know what he grabs for that for sound, Right?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Godzilla.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Godzilla. Who in the world is watching that scene going, is he grabbing some sound from those old Japanese Godzilla films? Right here. It's the cry, the sound of Godzilla. The sound Godzilla makes is a sound you're hearing from this underwater shot, but you don't know you're listening to that. When Spielberg picks this, my sense is he's saying to himself, nobody but me is going to know that this is Godzilla. It's not just that it's Godzilla. He needed a sound, and the sound works separate from where he got it.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Yeah, it's what works, what matters. That's really it. And then it's the pinheads like me who tie it together to the. The USS Indianapolis speech with the nuclear bomb or the atomic bomb and how that relates to Godzilla in Japanese culture. And then you tie that together with

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Jaws and see, there you go. There you go. Tying threads that I'm actually seeing as you tie them. That must be fun to go to a film with your brain. I sometimes watch faces after a movie. This is another reason I can't imagine getting all of my moving pictures at home via streaming services. There's nothing quite like looking at the faces of people coming out of a theater where you just watch the same film. Those faces. There's a whole lot going on there. And a lot of people have talked about the faces of people as they leave the theater after disclosure day. But that is a shared experience that you can't match at home. Sucre used to talk about this. There are films where people came out kind of covering their faces and sort of trying to exit out a back door and not be seen. I remember him talking about that Deep Throat very close. He had it happen at the local family theater in his neighborhood for what was the one Mark Wahlberg, Boogie Nights. Boogie Nights, Yeah. The way he described people leaving the theater was delightful. I never saw the film, but

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

are you. You've never seen Moody Nights?

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

No, I never have. Oh, my goodness.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Mishki.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I read the premise of it, and I just said, not getting fired up. No one ever grabbed my shoulder and said, mishki, I got the movie for you. No one said that, I think because they were all hiding with their collars up as they left the film, so they weren't gonna ever say they saw it.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

You like Burt Reynolds, don't you? I mean, that's probably Burt Reynolds greatest work.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

He was just incorrigible for the shooting of that entire film. Just angry, upset, wanted to quit all the time. Just a pain in the ass. No one wanted to work with him again.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

And then he won every critics award that year for Boogie Nights. And he lost the Oscar, I think, precisely because of his grousing. And so they gave it to Robin Williams, who, you know, in a much more feel good movie, Good Will Hunting.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[Twin Cities Savers Announcer]

And I don't.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

I don't. I don't think that that was one of those disasters. On a level with what happened to Paul Newman with the Verdict. If you ever read about the psychological and emotional work that Newman did to play that role in the Verdict, which is my favorite role of his entire career, and that's saying something because I'm putting it above Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, above the Sting, above Cool Hand Luke, everything. I mean, but that was a very, very hard film for him to make. Very hard film for him to make. I would say that's borderline flawless in my mind. Every single character, if they're on for 30 seconds, I love them. And one of them just died. The guy who had a real obscure role, he was knifed to death in the last week. Do you know this? Oh, really? Knifed. The plaintiff in the case in the movie the Verdict, it's her husband. He was a famous character actor who won best picture the year. They didn't give it to Brokeback Mountain.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Oh, crash.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

There's a travesty of justice that somebody is going to hell for.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

It's a, quote, jack Nicholson, crash, crash.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

First going crash. Question mark. I do have to ask. I don't know if I've ever talked to you about this. Did the Warren Beatty disaster with Faye Dunaway, where they got the. Where they got the winner wrong. Did you say to yourself, when that happened? I was watching it live, and I remember thinking, I'm watching something happen here that's impossible. It's actually impossible to happen. It would be more likely that a guy parachuting right now and his chute not opening would just land in the grass and miraculously live, which is possible. Just highly, highly unlikely. It was that level. To me, what I'm watching cannot happen because there are too many ways to prevent it from happening. And even if it was going to happen tonight, it would happen with some obscure award. Not with Best Picture, not with the last one of the night. I'm watching the impossible here. If you put it in a movie, we'd walk out. We'd all walk out and say, you know, don't insult our intelligence. The wonder of watching something impossible happen in real life, there's very little that matches it. The thrill of watching the impossible, I don't know what compares to that favorite

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Oscar moment ever, probably. But it was so beautiful when the producer of La La Land comes up there and he's the one who amended the situation. He held up the card and was looking at Barry Jenkins, the director of moonlight and the producers of that film, and said, you guys won. And he was showing the crowd it was funny and beautiful and it actually, you know, for a show that's accused of being boring and pointless, I don't know, it made it worth it.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Can you imagine, though, the producers of that evening watching the wrong name read? They work so hard to get every little thing right. The thing you and I would never care about or notice. I mean, they want everything just perfect. And then the biggest moment of the night not only isn't perfect, it's just fumbled beyond belief. There was another impossible moment that happened. One time. I think it was 1976 Democratic National Convention. I was watching it live, and when it happened, I said, nope, impossible. I cannot be watching what I'm watching. I can't be. So Hubert Humphrey was still alive. He was dying of cancer. There was Jimmy Carter, who must be just wanting to point him out or celebrate him. And he does this big build up. And then there's this moment where he says his name. And do you know what he says?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

What?

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

You got to look this up. I had to look this up to see if I might have dreamed it. He says, Hubert Hratio, which is his real middle name. Hand blower. I mean, that's. That's impossible. That can't happen. That's in an SNL skit. That cannot occur. And he corrected himself after he said Humphrey, after he said Hornblower. But you know how many People are watching. Back then in those days, everybody watched the conventions and you can't really spend a lot of time saying, sorry, there was no time. I'm just gonna see if I got this right. I mean, I honestly do worry sometimes that I dream these things. Oh, I'm sorry. It was the 1980 convention, not 1976. So Humphrey had passed away already. He was just paying tribute to him. But here it is. And the party of a great man who should have been present and who would have been one of the greatest presidents in history. Hubert Horatio H. What the hell, Jimmy? What the hell? There's a word people use for places like this. The word is facility. No one's ever used that word with any warmth. It's a word for parking. It's a word for storage facility. The well shire doesn't use that word because the well shire isn't that kind of a place. It isn't a nursing home that also handles memory care. It isn't assisted living with a memory wing tacked onto it. Memory care is all the welshire does. When you only do one thing, you learn to do it well. Four households for four different stages of memory care. Because a person early in this world needs a different place than a person further along. And inside that world. Well, at the Wellshire, you'll find live music, an ice cream parlor, a cinema, a barbershop, a salon, gardens, balconies. Not amenities listed on a brochure to make a hard decision, feel softer. An actual living place. A place that's alive. Built for people who are still very much living and alive, even while their memory fades. That's the difference between a facility and what the Wellshire is. Wellshire Memory Care, Bloomington and Medina.

[Twin Cities Savers Announcer]

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[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

There used to be a version of banking where the person working at the bank knew which house in the neighborhood was yours, not your account number. Your house knew that you put the new roof on it in.09, knew your kid played shortstop for the team that practiced a couple blocks over. That was the way business was done. Because when you came in asking for a loan, you weren't then just a credit score floating in the abstract, waiting to be approved or denied. You were a person with a story, and the story was the collateral that mattered most. Somewhere along the line, most of American banking decided that was inefficient. It decided a stranger's spreadsheet was more trustworthy than a neighbor's judgment. Not a North American banking company. Six locations across the Twin Cities, and that's it. They're not in any other community, they're here. North American banking company, six locations, four generations. One idea that never should have gone out of style. We have coming up again this summer, another gigantic film, which is why some people who love film are excited about the summer of 2026, a summer that could pump some juice into this dying medium. This idea that we can get back to looking forward to big films coming out and watching them and talking about them afterward and debating them. What's the next one? I talked about having you on when this one comes out. What's the story behind the Odyssey? The story behind him making it? I know the. The ancient book.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

You know, I heard that the thing while he was reading the Odyssey that sparked his imagination and his emotions and made him want to make it, is the dog. If you're familiar with that part of the Odyssey, Odysseus, dog, Argos, who isn't introduced until the end of the poem. You see the dog who's old, who's been waiting for his master all these years, 20 years. And when the dog recognizes him, the dog's the only person who can recognize Odysseus. And it's when the dog recognizes Odysseus and nuzzles up to him, I think that's when the dog can die.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

That was the powerful moment that made him want to make this film.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

That's the thing, I think. And everything sort of spread out from there in terms, you know, the great story of just trying to get back home. And director Christopher Nolan, if you look at his other movies, he does have this recurring motif of Going back home or trying to get back home. Interstellar, for example, Dunkirk is kind of along those lines.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Did Nolan make Memento?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Yes.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Speaking of movies that you walk out of and look at the faces around you, I have not had a feeling like that since I walked out of a theater after watching Christopher Nolan's Memento. And there was no difference between the feeling I had right then and the feeling I had the first time I smoked marijuana in college. There was no difference. I needed to sit down. I was disoriented. I wasn't comfortable with how I was feeling. I didn't want anybody looking at me. It was really wild what that film did to my head. And the great thing about it was, again, this communal experience. I was able to talk to a couple other people I didn't know who also were having that experience. And that was very helpful to me to hear that which would not have happened had I been alone at home streaming it. So here's what I predict. The Odyssey, people are just going to love it because it already is a monumental, extraordinary story that is already a winner through the eons and. And that it's in the skillful hands of a great director.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I agree with you that it's probably gonna deliver exactly what people are expecting. It's interesting because the structure of Homer in terms of timelines kind of mirrors what Nolan does in terms of flashing forward and flashing back. He does that a lot. And I'm further encouraged that he just went ahead and made an R rated Odyssey. It was rated R because anyone familiar with the ownage that happens toward the end of that poem. Very violent.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Yeah. Yeah. The greatest compliment I've ever heard a filmmaker given in my life. The greatest compliment was delivered by George Will, someone known to exist on the right, to Ken Burns, someone known to exist politically on the left. And it was after his Civil War series. Will watched the entire series, Ken Burns Civil War series and he said, america's Iliad has found its Homer. I thought, Ken Burns can sleep well tonight.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

That's quite a compliment.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Did you know about that?

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

I had never heard that quote before, but I was just thinking someone was asking online, who is America's Homer? I think our Homer was John Ford.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

That fits too. Going back to what you said earlier about how you've been delving into the archives of film and looking at older films of late, rather than sitting around waiting for the great new film to come along, I came upon some site, just randomly, that went on and on and on about a film from 70 years ago or more. Some young guys sitting around talking about it, they were blown away by this film. They couldn't believe that it had been made. When it was made, I think 47, they just were stunned at how it was shot. And the movie they were raving about was one I actually had never seen. And I planned to watch it. I planned to make it my next film. Now you're gonna know all about it. But I had vaguely recalled hearing of this film, but 1947. I'm not up to speed on all the 1947 films. I will. Isn't 47 roughly about the time that the Best Years of Our Lives was made? Yeah.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Yeah.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Which is, to me, a movie ahead of its time. That's a movie dealing with things in a way that I would have argued might have been mid-60s. I just thought that was a tremendous film. So that's one of those films in the 40s that I fell in love with. But this one was the Night of the Hunter.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Yeah.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Is this a film you have a great appreciation for or no? Yes.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, directed by. The only film directed by Charlie Lawton, because it wasn't really well liked at the time. I came through Night of the Hunter through Scorsese, through Cape Fear, because that was a big influence, 1991's Cape Fear with De Niro, which is interesting because Robert Mitchum, the star of Night of the Hunter, played the Max Cady character in the 1960s version of Cape Fear. So it's just interesting how these. The web weaves around each other. But, yeah, that's a great movie. And, I mean, at my dad's funeral, I wanted Everlasting Arms played that song.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Now, that song is from what, The

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Night of the Hunter. It's a hymn, of course, but it's something that Mitchum's character is singing.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

These guys made a big deal out of the light and the shots and the artistic presentation of scenes. And just for that alone, I mean, it sounded like something I could watch with a sound off and probably appreciate based on the way these guys were talking.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Yeah, it's beautiful.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Well, I'm going to enjoy continuing to take in the debate regarding Disclosure Day. I will read all about people's takes on it as a form of entertainment for myself and as a way to learn more and as a way to participate in some residual benefit from having seen the film. I do want to stay in the fray. Maybe I can learn a thing or two. I certainly did, talking to you. I appreciate you taking this time. It's good to have you back on the show for this. And I do look forward to talking to you about the Odyssey.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

Well, thanks for having me. It was great to talk again. I think this is the longest talk we've had.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

Looking forward to talking to you the next time.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

All right, well, take care of yourself and talk to you later.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

All right. Be well.

[Niles (Film Critic/Guest)]

You too.

[Mishke Cutie (Podcast Host)]

That's a wrap, ladies and gentlemen, please clear the set.