[BONUS] Stinky Pop: Christmas Special

Summary

[BONUS] Stinky Pop: Christmas Special – Detailed Summary

Podcast Title: Tales from the Stinky Dragon
Host/Author: Stinky Dragon
Episode: [BONUS] Stinky Pop: Christmas Special
Release Date: December 18, 2024

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Introduction

In the special holiday edition of "Tales from the Stinky Dragon," the hosts—Blaine, Chris, Ben, and John—shift gears from their usual D&D antics to dive into a festive discussion centered around their favorite Christmas movies. Titled "[BONUS] Stinky Pop: Christmas Special," this episode serves as a heartfelt gift to their audience, featuring in-depth conversations about classic holiday films, personal anecdotes, and behind-the-scenes insights into the movie industry.

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Choosing the Favorites

The episode kicks off with the hosts deciding to share their favorite holiday movies. As they prepare to "roll initiative" to determine who speaks first, Ben jokes about the unpredictability of rolling a natural one, sparking laughter among the group.

• Ben: “[03:04] I rolled a NAT one. I've never been more excited in my life.”
• Chris: “[04:01] And then I said Chris picked it. Picked that movie. So you have to Lethal Weapon.”

The playful banter sets a lighthearted tone as they introduce their movie choices: Blaine and Chris opt for the classic action film "Lethal Weapon," while Ben selects the family-oriented comedy "Jingle All the Way."

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Deep Dive into "Lethal Weapon"

1. The 80s Action Vibe

Chris leads the conversation by highlighting the quintessential 80s elements of "Lethal Weapon," emphasizing its gritty action and memorable characters.

• Chris: “[04:19] Okay, I have mixed feelings on Lethal Weapon. First off, it's very much what I'm calling NSFSDA. It is rated R with nudity, drugs, and self-harm within the first five minutes.”

Blaine adds his appreciation for the film’s authentic action sequences and the dynamic between the main characters, Riggs and Murtaugh.

• Blaine: “[17:23] I think... I like the unlikely friendship that develops between Danny Glover and Mel Gibson's characters and how good their chemistry is.”

2. Production Insights and Casting Choices

The hosts delve into the behind-the-scenes aspects, discussing the casting of Bruce Willis and the film's meticulous planning by director John McTiernan.

• Chris: “[06:38] I was writing all these movies because apparently I need to immediately end this podcast and go watch Lethal Weapon with what you've described.”

They discuss how Bruce Willis's involvement was pivotal, influenced by Cybill Shepherd's pregnancy, which allowed him to juggle roles between "Moonlighting" and "Die Hard."

• Chris: “[27:25] Before, while the movie was in pre-production, they were trying to cast John McClane, which they actually went through tons of people. They wanted to get Bruce Willis, but he had a scheduling conflict because he was a TV actor. That's what he was doing his foray into film.”

3. Character Dynamics and Themes

The chemistry between Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is a focal point, illustrating the blend of high-octane action with deep emotional undercurrents.

• Blaine: “[18:29] I think that shows the range of Christmas and how people can celebrate it. Some are surrounded by family, others are alone and going through serious stuff.”

Chris compares the relationship dynamics to those in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," noting the balance between comedy and action.

• Chris: “[18:48] He pontificated that the arc and dynamics of Riggs and Murtaugh's relationship are almost identical to 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' with Steve Martin and John Candy.”

4. Iconic Scenes and Practical Effects

The discussion highlights memorable scenes, such as Gruber's fall and the practical effects that have allowed "Lethal Weapon" to age gracefully.

• Chris: “[46:33] They used technology previously developed for military purposes to achieve the perfect rack focus during Gruber's fall, making it an iconic and seamless shot.”

Blaine praises the believable action sequences, emphasizing the absence of CGI and the reliance on practical effects to enhance realism.

• Blaine: “[43:00] They use practical effects, making it believable and fun. It ages well.”

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Exploring "Die Hard" as a Christmas Movie

1. The "Christmas Movie" Debate

John strongly advocates for "Die Hard" as a bona fide Christmas movie, countering common skeptics.

• John: “[28:58] It’s 100% a Christmas movie. The entire plot takes place at a Christmas party the night before Christmas. There are Christmas decorations throughout the movie. There are stairs. The soundtrack is almost entirely Christmas music.”

Chris concurs, elaborating on how the Christmas setting is integral to the storyline and character motivations.

• Chris: “[31:02] The Christmas party is what wraps the whole thing together. You’re right. There are all kinds of other Christmas elements, including... it's like swooping down with white snow falling.”

2. Behind-the-Scenes Trivia

The hosts share intriguing facts about the film's production, including Bruce Willis's transition from television to film and the influence of Cybill Shepherd's pregnancy on his availability.

• Chris: “[27:52] This movie wouldn't have happened if Cybill Shepard hadn't gotten pregnant. It shifted Bruce Willis's schedule, allowing him to film 'Die Hard' at night while continuing his role on 'Moonlighting'.”

3. Memorable Characters and Performances

Alan Rickman's portrayal of Hans Gruber is lauded for its sophistication and menace, providing a perfect foil to Bruce Willis’s everyman hero.

• Blaine: “[51:14] He has this amazing scene where he's doing tai chi and he’s shredded...”

The iconic "Yippee-ki-yay" catchphrase and the villain's intricate plans are discussed as standout elements that elevate the film beyond typical action fare.

• Chris: “[59:35] The line 'Yippee-ki-yay' has become legendary, capturing the essence of John McClane’s character.”

4. Practical Effects and Stunt Work

The hosts express admiration for the film's practical effects, emphasizing the authenticity they bring to the action sequences.

• Chris: “[44:07] They used a string between the rocket launcher and the car, allowing the rocket to travel with the car accurately, leading to the spectacular explosion.”

Blaine notes that these methods contribute to the film's lasting appeal and realism.

• Blaine: “[45:05] It's practical effects. It's believable. It's fun.”

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Spotlight on "Jingle All the Way"

1. Plot Overview and Nostalgia

Ben introduces "Jingle All the Way" as his favorite, describing it as a quintessential 90s holiday comedy that captures the frenzy of last-minute Christmas shopping.

• Ben: “[53:24] It’s about Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a workaholic dad trying to get his son the coveted Turbo Man action figure on Christmas Day.”

2. Cultural and Family Relevance

The movie is praised for its nostalgic portrayal of 90s consumerism and the chaos of holiday shopping, resonating with listeners who remember the era.

• Chris: “[55:18] It’s derived from Randy Kernfeld watching his in-laws desperately trying to get a Power Ranger doll… reflecting the fervent rush for in-person store items that was prevalent before the internet era.”

3. Performance and Character Dynamics

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comedic performance is highlighted, showcasing his ability to balance action with humor effectively.

• Blaine: “[61:31] They really attempt to minimize Arnold's bodybuilder physique to make him appear more like an everyman, which adds to the comedic elements.”

Phil Hartman's character is commended for adding depth and humor to the film, making interactions more engaging.

• Blaine: “[62:21] I love Phil Hartman's character. He’s a good, obnoxious neighbor who adds charm and humor…”

4. Practical Effects and Production Value

The hosts appreciate the film's use of practical effects and real locations to create authentic and memorable scenes, such as the chaotic mall sequence.

• Chris: “[65:41] The parade scene utilizes practical effects combined with matte paintings, involving over 1,500 extras to create a vibrant and believable setting.”

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Personal Anecdotes and Connections

Throughout the episode, the hosts share personal stories related to their favorite movies, enhancing the relatability and warmth of the discussion.

• Ben: “[68:17] I had a Turbo Man hunt pre-pandemic, trying to get a Nintendo Switch and went all over the Austin area to find one.”

• Blaine: “[70:53] Reinforces the familial bonds and the lengths parents go to for their children, mirroring the themes in the discussed movies.”

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Conclusion and Patreon Promotion

As the episode winds down, Chris reminds listeners that this Christmas special is just part one of a two-part series, with the second part available exclusively on Patreon. The hosts express gratitude to their supporters and encourage new listeners to join their community for access to additional content.

• Chris: “[73:16] Thank you to our supporters. Have happy holidays and a wonderful new year.”

• Ben: “[73:23] I was happy to pick 'Jingle All the Way' and share its fun elements.”

The episode wraps up with the hosts expressing their enjoyment of revisiting these classic films, reinforcing the sense of community and shared nostalgia that defines "Tales from the Stinky Dragon."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Ben: “[03:04] I rolled a NAT one. I've never been more excited in my life.”
• Chris: “[28:58] It’s 100% a Christmas movie. The entire plot takes place at a Christmas party the night before Christmas.”
• Blaine: “[51:14] He has this amazing scene where he's doing tai chi and he’s shredded…”
• John: “[56:05] My brother watches it every Christmas.”
• Ben: “[67:30] What if they're not around to see you in a Power Ranger outfit on Christmas Day…”

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This Christmas Special episode of "Stinky Pop" provides a rich and engaging exploration of beloved holiday films, blending humor, deep analysis, and personal stories. Whether you're a seasoned D&D player or new to the genre, this episode offers a festive auditory adventure that captures the essence of holiday movie magic.

Transcript

[Blaine]

Nah, not quite. What's up?

[Chris]

Sell my car in Carvana. It's just not quite the right time.

[Blaine]

Crazy coincidence. I just sold my car to Carvana.

[Ben]

What? I told you about it two days ago.

[Blaine]

When you know, you know. You know. I'm even dropping it off at one of those sweet car vending machines and getting paid today. That's a good deal. Ugh. Great deal.

[Chris]

Come on, what's your heart saying?

[Ben]

You're right.

[Blaine]

When you know, you know.

[Chris]

Sold. Whether you're looking to sell your car right now or just whenever feels right, go to Carvana.com and sell your car the convenient way. Terms and conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by Dutch Bros. Big smiles, rocking tunes and epic drinks. Dutch Bros. Is all about you. Choose from a variety of customizable handcrafted beverages like our Rebel energy drinks, coffees, teas and more. Download the Dutch Bros app for a free medium drink. Plus find your nearest shop. Order ahead and start earning rewards offer valid for new app users only. Free medium drink Reward upon registration. 14 day expiration terms apply. See Dutchbros.com Film Motion pictures Cinema if you like those words and you'll love our Patreon exclusive podcast called Stinky Pop. Just go over to stinkydragonpod.com to show your support and you can watch me, John Risinger and the rest of the Stinky Dragon team talk about a different movie each episode. Watch along with us as we talk about our favorite films. And do not forget, we have tons of other awesome exclusive content for our patrons. So once again go visit stinkydragonpod.com to sign up today. Welcome to Stinky Pop. We make so many pop culture references and tales from Sneaky Dragon, I figured we need a pop culture show to accompany it. But it's only here because of our direct supporters on Patreon. So from the bottom of my heart, this is all their fault and I hope they're happy with themselves today. It is a Christmas miracle. A stinky gift from the Stinky family to you, our stinky audience. Normally, shows like Stinky Pop and our other Patreon exclusive shows are only available to our supporters. But we forgot to get you all something this year. So this is our gift to you. A Christmas special where I've gathered our entire cast and crew to talk about our favorite holiday film or a favorite holiday film of theirs. But you might notice something is missing. Where are Gus, Barb and Micah? Well, they're in Episode. Their episode is part two of this special and you guessed it, it's Only available for our supporters on patreon.com stinkydragon and to top it all off, I told everyone to turn their cams on so I can see their beautiful mugs. And the video is also available on our Patreon in case you're listening to this on the RSS feeds. So I've got Blaine, Chris, and Ben to talk holiday films. And to start it all off, everyone roll initiative.

[Ben]

Oh, wasn't prepared for this.

[Blaine]

I don't have dice.

[Chris]

Hold on. I like, I like how that triggers things in everybody when you just say that. That sentence.

[Ben]

We have this issue on behind the Screen, one of our other Patreon shows where Micah, Gus and I will always roll initiative at the top to see who has to answer the question first.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

And we're always so excited when we roll low. And with that, I want to tell you, John, I rolled a NAT one. I've never been more excited in my life.

[Chris]

Oh, my God.

[Blaine]

19, 19, 20.

[Chris]

Wow. We got the two exc streams. Good job, man.

[John]

I was. I thought I was excited to go first.

[Blaine]

Oh, it rolled over to 19.

[Chris]

We're talking about Dexterity, Blaine's choice, which I'll be. I'll be clear. It was his second choice because he picked Chris's movie, but he was late to the draw. Blaine picked Lethal Weapon.

[John]

Oh, what a weird pull.

[Chris]

My favorite of Chris's reaction that he just did right now because that was. That was like tweet 20 emotions in about half a second. It's so good. 19, 7.

[Blaine]

Wait, am I actually going Lethal Weapon?

[Chris]

You said Lethal Weapon?

[Blaine]

No, I said one was a different movie, but Lethal Weapon was.

[Chris]

And then I said Chris picked it. Picked that movie. So you have to Lethal Weapon.

[Blaine]

Oh, my God. I haven't watched Lethal Weapon in years.

[Chris]

Okay, good news. I just watched it for the first time ever. So we talked about it.

[John]

Yeah, it's great.

[Ben]

I can't wait to talk about this movie I've never seen.

[Chris]

Okay, I. I have mixed feelings on Lethal Weapon. Okay. I. It's, it's, it's, here's, it's. First off, it's very much which I'm calling nsfsd. It's not safe for Stinky Dragon because it is a. It's rated R. There, there is nudity within the first minute. Yeah. There are drugs within the first minute and a half and trigger warning. There is self harm within the first five minutes of the movie.

[John]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

So pretty. 80s.

[Chris]

It's pretty. It's very 80s. Written by Shane Black, directed by Richard Donner. Shane Black, known for a lot of movies. Known for a Christmas movie. I love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It's a great one, which is very good.

[John]

He loves Christmas movies.

[Chris]

He does Robert Downey. Yeah. Even his Iron man movie was a Christmas movie.

[Blaine]

So, Chris, you pissed picked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang?

[John]

No.

[Blaine]

Okay. You said Chris's movie.

[Chris]

No.

[Blaine]

Christmas.

[Chris]

Christmas. Christmas movie. Christmas movie. Yeah.

[Blaine]

Shane Black has a thing with. He writes movies that are, like, not Christmas movies, but they take place during Christmas.

[Chris]

Yeah, well, I would disagree on that with some of them. Like, I think Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a very Christmas movie. But maybe. Maybe you're right. Maybe you're right.

[John]

I'm actually. I'm gonna watch that over Christmas.

[Chris]

Robert Downey Jr. And Val Kilmer. It's fantastic, huh?

[Blaine]

Robert Downey Jr.

[Chris]

I was just repeating you. Richard Donner. Didn't realize. Richard Donner directed Lethal Weapon, director of Superman, the Christopher Reeve Superman, and one of my favorite obscure movies, which I use to reference my relationship with my girlfriend, Lady Hawk, because I'm an early morning person and she is like a night. A nocturnal person. And Lady Hawk's all about this story about this fantasy relationship between these two characters where one is stuck as a hawk during the day and then the other one is stuck as a wolf during the night.

[Ben]

Hold on. I'm writing all these movies because apparently I need to immediately end this podcast and go watch Lethal Weapon with what you've described in the first five minutes.

[Chris]

Now, it stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, and I. Yes. Don't say the last word. Don't say it.

[John]

I'm sorry. It's a quote. I didn't mean to.

[Chris]

It's a good.

[Blaine]

Gary Busey's also in it, too, and he plays a really. He plays a real cool assassin bodyguard guy.

[Chris]

You know what's funny about Busey in this film is that he. He was a teeth. He got.

[Ben]

He got.

[Chris]

He got that. That man has teeth. He got, like, super in shape between this movie and his last movie. This was his first movie of, like, coming back to, like, films. And, like, he wasn't, like, super big. And this was like, the first time he had played like, a. Like a villain and Joshua. And so this kind of, like, this was like a restart for his career. I will say, as problematic as he is now, I was such a big Mel Gibson fan during this, like, the 80s and 90s. Yeah. And I will admit, the man is jacked and ready to be an action hero in this movie. He's so ripped.

[John]

I'll say this about him in this movie, is he. You know, Mel Gibson's Australian, and you can definitely tell in this movie he's like, I'm from. I'm from the.

[Chris]

Yeah, I don't think he is.

[Ben]

Oh, yeah.

[John]

I'm just from the Midwest. Eh, I don't know about that.

[Chris]

I thought I read that he was born in America but lived in Australia.

[John]

For a while, maybe. But he has in this movie, when he's like, yeah, I went to Vietnam.

[Chris]

I will argue, though, that this movie is definitely an 80s action movie. It is like Shane Black wanted to write a Dirty Harry story. A man who is so, like, far gone and his only skills are, like, killing people, but he finally finds a use for it that is helpful. And to be clear, Mel Gibson, like, kills like, a man every 10 minutes in this movie. It's a high body count. It's a high body count.

[Blaine]

It's a really cool dynamic between a very energetic, like, action, like, hungry young cop and then a grizzled older cop who's a little bit more by the books.

[Chris]

Danny Glover's character.

[Blaine]

Yeah, he's just like, I just want to play it cool until retirement. That's like the classic line. Like, I'm getting too old for this. And he's like, oh, it's like he. That started the trope of, like, ah, one week away from retirement.

[Chris]

I have one. I have a question about a scene with Danny Glover and Blaine. I want. I want to hear your read on this scene. It's his actual toilet. No, he's not in the toilet. He's in the bath.

[Ben]

Oh, oh, oh. Yeah.

[Chris]

His opening scene is he's in the bath and then his family comes in to sing Happy Birthday.

[Blaine]

Yeah.

[John]

Weird.

[Chris]

He's like. He's fully just in the bath. There are some suds covering the parts. But, like, I'm a dad. If my kids ever did that, I would scream at them to get out of the bathroom. Like, and these aren't toddlers. Like, his daughter's, like, 18, basically. And they all come in, sing Happy Birthday, give him hug, he even jokes to pull his, like, young son into the bath. That kind of thing. It's a weird, like, kind of moment.

[John]

80S were a different time.

[Blaine]

I really do think it's a difference in, like, a time thing. And then, like, that's just a family dynamic that we probably don't know about.

[Ben]

How else are you supposed to show the family camaraderie if not set in the bathroom while you're showering?

[John]

Not with a nude scene.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah.

[Blaine]

I Do actually think that there is something to that been though, where it's like, they're like, we need to like, show that this family is so close knit, tight knit, that this father, if something happens to his daughter, would do anything.

[Ben]

Where are you the. The most vulnerable? The shower. All right, cool. We have a setting for the scene. Let's go. Writer's room. Let's get it going.

[John]

Well, you joke, But Lethal Weapon 2 has a pretty good scene in a bathroom.

[Blaine]

Is that the bomb defusal scene that I'm thinking of?

[John]

I don't.

[Chris]

Maybe you can say it. Just say, okay, these are very old movies.

[John]

There's a bomb. Yeah. Is it the word diffusion?

[Blaine]

Is that how you do you diffuse it or diffusal?

[John]

Yeah, In. In. On a toilet in the bathroom.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Blaine]

It's like. That is the other thing I wanted to comment about Lethal Weapons. So, like, I think my logic behind this movie, then I'm assuming what Chris's movie is, is I don't necessarily have to have a Christmas movie be about Christmas. I think in my life, Christmas has kind of just become a setting. It's not. I. I've separated from the true meaning of it in some ways, and I just like the vibe of Christmas. So I like movies that also just have the vibe of Christmas. Every now and then you see a tree and you hear some Christmas music and you're like, oh, this is a good setting. This feels warm, this feels comfortable. And I like that.

[Chris]

And.

[John]

And I would say on that note, this movie, because Christmas for a lot of people can be sad times because they feel, you know, it's. It's winter, there's less sun, and if you can sometimes feel sep. You know, if you don't have family or you're missing people from family or friends or.

[Chris]

Something like Mel Gibson. This entire film.

[John]

Yeah, this movie, I think, is a good, I don't know, echo of that, where people. A lot of people feel that way. But it also, you know, has some heart to it that makes you, you know, pull. Can help you feel better.

[Ben]

You know, Blaine and Chris are really selling it on me, I think. December 25th, I'm gonna get my family together, I'm gonna draw a nice bath together, and we're gonna watch Lethal Weapon 1 and 2.

[Chris]

It's so not a pivotal moment of the movie. It just stood out because the introduction of Danny Glover's character and I was immediately like, this is weird. Are they looking at his. At his junk? Are they trying to avoid it the entire time? What are you Doing.

[Blaine]

Don't think about it.

[Chris]

I do.

[Blaine]

Like, Chris, that's a good point. I think this shows the range of Christmas and how people can celebrate it. Some people are surrounded by their, like, loving family. Some people are alone and going through, like, serious stuff. And it's just, like. It just covers the breadth of the emotions of the holiday season. But it's set in la, so it's still warm and sunny and it.

[John]

Yeah. And it shows, I don't know, people finding other community in other ways.

[Blaine]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Blaine]

I also enjoy that. Just also from, like, a franchise perspective, Lethal Weapon has probably, like, the best. I don't know. They did. They did sequels really well, in my opinion. I don't think that this. The sequels are all that weak. I think that the second one is, like, just as fun and epic and is just as quotable.

[Chris]

There's four of them in Joe Pesci.

[John]

Joe Pesci getting introduced is great.

[Blaine]

And Renee Russo, who's another one.

[John]

I'll say this.

[Ben]

I.

[John]

Sorry.

[Chris]

You're good.

[John]

The fourth one, I haven't seen them in a while, but the fourth one, I feel kind of is the weakest sequel because they took, you know, Riggs, who's this, like, you know, loose cannon.

[Blaine]

Yeah, he's a loose cannon mate from Los Angeles.

[John]

And then by the fourth movie, he's completely, like, you know, reversed. And so he's kind of. The dynamic of the characters completely changed, and it's kind of taken the. The. The.

[Chris]

I can understand that. Like, there's got to be a point where he's got to progress past that.

[John]

No, I understand that.

[Blaine]

That's why it just takes away from the foil. Like, the dynamic of Martin being, like, this crazy guy. Let's get nuts. And then Murtagh being like, let's, you know, calm it down and stuff.

[John]

I got a family. Yeah.

[Chris]

Yeah. Like, Mel get. Riggs gets. He's. He's like. He's not crazy until he's super crazy in this movie. Like, he plays it cool and chill and like, a very charming guy, and then he's insane. And then he's fighting Gary Busey in Was it Raining or was it a. Was it a. Hydrant was broken? I can't remember. Fighting him shirtless in the street as the entire LAPD force watches and goes, let him have this one.

[Ben]

Yeah. It seems to be, like, kind of the opposite trajectory of actual Mel Gibson. I'm looking at his Wikipedia page right now, and I'm looking at that.

[Chris]

Don't do that.

[Ben]

80S Gibson and 90s Gibson, who's like. Like 90s Gibson, he looks kind of like Henry Cavill. Like, he's like, wearing like, you know, it's like, nice button down some suits. But his actual, like, Wikipedia page article image, he looks completely unhinged. He's those, like, crazy eyes.

[Chris]

I think he is unhinged. I think Deep dad is core.

[Blaine]

He's the thread a little bit. Yeah.

[John]

I do think, though, that's very true for people oftentimes who are going through issues, mental issues or, you know, depression. Sure, they can seem super happy and friendly and funny and then. But also have issues like they're very good at hiding.

[Chris]

He is, well, severely suffering from what is clearly PTSD and depression. Depression. He is mourning the loss of a. Of a significant other. And he was in. What is it? Vietnam. Vietnam, yeah. And my. One of my favorite little things that I was reading because I like to. For any of these movies, we talk about sticky pop. I like to do a huge deep dive as much as possible into, like, articles about it and interviews and stuff like that. And I love reading about the pre or the production of the film where they were like, yeah, we worked really closely with lapd. Mel and Danny did, like, extensive training for like, two months prior to filming. And then they had supervisors on set the entire time. And they were like, trying to make it as, you know, real for the LAPD experience. And I thought that was hilarious because throughout the entire film, they do stuff that is very illegal, awful, and very awful, you know, And I was like. But I get, like, why it's the action movie thing, you know, but like, it all, even that. That fight scene with Busey and him at the very end. I'm like, this is when they told the suit, like, the tech supervisor, don't. Don't tell us this is. This can't happen. We need Mel to be shirtless and using what they described as, like, new fighting styles that hadn't been really seen in movies. He. Like capoeira and jiu jitsu and stuff like that.

[John]

Capabera. I love those. They're so cute.

[Chris]

Yeah, cute.

[Blaine]

They're very cute.

[Chris]

I do like Blaine. Tell me this. What is your favorite? What is your favorite thing about this movie? Is it that whole thing that it is not really a Christmas movie? Is that why it's a favorite of yours or what is that? Because I think this one that you said you watched this, you've watched this a lot. So what?

[Blaine]

Yeah.

[Chris]

What's the draw?

[Blaine]

I think. I don't know. I don't know if it's like a Christmas draw at all. But I do like the unlikely friendship that develops between Danny Glover and Mel Gibson's characters and, like, how good their chemistry is. Because I remember at one point, Riggs does something super unhinged and he puts himself in another person's life, in danger. I think it was like the jumper.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

There's something that. Yeah, that's insane. That he should not have done. It's very unsafe.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

And it's at that point that, like, Murtagh is such a good detective and he just, like, he knows this guy's not right. And he is like a. Like a. Like a comet just, like, hurling through. And he's going to. Just, whenever he hits, he's going to explode and everything around him is going to get destroyed. And he's like, I want no part of that. And he likes. He's like, you got to button your stuff up and in, like, this, like, talk where he's like, get it together and stuff. And it's just such a cool dynamic where it's like, I'm. I'm. I'm clean. I'm almost at retirement. You're not going to mess this up for me. And this other guy is just like, I don't care.

[Chris]

You know what's funny as I just realized, is that the arc and dynamics of Riggs and Murtaugh's relationship and the Lethal Weapon plot line all the way to the very end, how the movie ends is almost identical to Planes, Trains and Automobiles with Steve Martin and John Candy.

[Blaine]

I just watched that. Yeah. Where it's less shooting, though.

[Chris]

Yeah. There's way less guns, way less death, way more holiday elements. Although Plane Strange Automobile is a Thanksgiving movie, I think the best Thanksgiving movie, but it still ends with, like, you know, this, like, crazy person that you never thought was going to be integrated into this family. And at the very end, they all have, you know, their meal together. Lethal Weapon. I think the only real Christmas elements were that there is a gunfight in a Christmas tree farm at the very beginning, and then they end the movie having Christmas dinner together. I don't think Christmas is a part of it the rest of the movie.

[Blaine]

And that's totally fine with me. It's the backdrop, a cool movie. Also, they. Okay, real quick side tangent. The trailer. If you haven't watched the movie or even if you have, just go watch the trailer for the first one.

[Chris]

I love watching because trailers from, like.

[Blaine]

The 80s, they use this song and I think that they use in the movie, but it's like, it's like a clock ticking to kind of just like, show, like, you know.

[Chris]

Oh.

[Blaine]

Like things are going off. Like, you don't know if it's like a clock ticking come. It's because it's a bomb or because time is running out. But it's like this cool song, and I remember being obsessed with that song and I could never find it. And they use it again in Shaun of the Dead.

[Chris]

Oh.

[Blaine]

Or maybe Hot Fuzz. I think it might have been Hot Fuzz.

[Chris]

That makes.

[Blaine]

Anyways, I was obsessed with the song, and then I ended up cutting a version of it for a student film in college because it was just such a good, like, high energy, like, tense. Tense musical thing. Yeah. This movie's. This movie is great. It's. It's like classic 80s it's. It's. It's from a time where you didn't need a CGI helicopter outrunning a avalanche of, like, monster trucks, like. Like the Fast and the Furious franchise.

[Chris]

Like, sure, sure.

[Blaine]

It's just like, you watch this and you just.

[John]

You.

[Blaine]

You're not at all invested because it doesn't feel real. But you watch this and you're like, no, this feels like real action.

[Chris]

It's funny you mention helicopters. The original ending did involve more action as opposed to kind of ending on that fight scene. And it was going to involve, like, a car chase with helicopters.

[Ben]

So Lethal weapon came out 87.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Die Hard came out 88.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Both are set during Christmas.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Do you think Lethal Weapon inspired Die Hard to be set there or they.

[Chris]

Were in production over that kind of thing?

[Blaine]

Die Hard was based off of a novel.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Yeah. It was one of those things of, like, man, if this. If I had a nickel every time this happened, I'd have two nickels. But it's still weird that it happened twice that close together.

[Chris]

The last thing.

[Blaine]

It's frustrating because I think Shane Black also often gets Ms. Credited for doing Die Hard because there's. There's so many similarities. There was like, a funny panel where he was on it, and someone's like, when you were writing Die Hard, he's like, nope, nope.

[Chris]

I think I. Actually, there was, like. With all these movies, there's always a million actors that are looked for this stuff. And I think it was like, Bruce Willis was looked at for Mel Gibson's part. The last thing I want to talk about Lethal Weapon, because we do have two more movies to talk about, and I want to be able to give time for those, is I want to tell you my only Experience ever with Lethal Weapon prior to watching it yesterday, two days ago, something like that. For some reason, you know, back in the day when we were kids, you would turn on the TV and just flip through the channels and find movies. I flipped through the channels, found Lethal Weapon, and the only scene I'd ever seen, and I was like. I was waiting for it the entire time I was watching the movie is Mel Gibson hanging from the chain and getting electrocuted with that sponge thing. And that was the only scene I'd ever seen of Lethal Weapons. So I had no idea what this movie was. So even watching, I was like, oh, he's the Lethal Weapon. Okay, now that answers the question. That's nice to know.

[Blaine]

Yeah.

[John]

Because there's a line.

[Chris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm saying. I finally experienced it. I know. Who's the Lethal Weapon? Mel Gibson.

[Blaine]

I talked to Josh Flanagan, friend of ours, and we were writing in, like, he, I think, has some sort of connection with Shane Black, but he was always talking about how Shane always writes characters who are the best at what they do.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

And Martin Riggs is like. He's like the best soldier. He's the best at what he does. And I think that that always makes for a fun character where it's like, he's.

[Chris]

He's the best there is. I would highly advise people to check out Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Nice Guys, which are, I think, two of Shane Black's best films.

[Blaine]

And they're also Christmas settings.

[Chris]

Nice Guys is not. But Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is.

[Blaine]

Oh, Nice Guys ends on Christmas. Does it? There is. There is a Christmas moment, I think, in the very end, I think to Shane, always doing Christmas settings. Iron Man 3, Shane Black, also Christmas.

[Chris]

Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Good. He loves to pair people together. But that's Lethal Weapon. I think it's a choice that I'm. No one's surprised that we would be in Blaine's cadre of favorite movies. Speaking of Blaine's cadre of favorite movies, Chris, what movie did you pick?

[John]

You know my name. But too many movies as a child. Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he's John Wayne, Rambo Marshall, Dylan, Blaine. I'm fine.

[Blaine]

Something about Yippee Kai.

[Chris]

No, no, he doesn't say that.

[Blaine]

He says it doesn't.

[John]

He goes, wow, it's always partial to Rory. Roger.

[Blaine]

Yeah.

[John]

And then. And then they have some more stuff. Then he's like, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, yippee ki.

[Chris]

Mother effort, mother trucker.

[Ben]

I'm so glad we got that on video. For anybody who's watching the video version of this, probably not.

[Chris]

Chris got so excited on video. Chris has tried to bring in his. His Gruber impression as often as possible, which is very fun. For those who don't know Die Hard is the movie we're talking. We haven't said the name 1988.

[John]

We've talked about it already.

[Chris]

We've talked about already. I have two things I want to say about this film. This is the second time I've watched it. I rewatched every film that everyone picked, even the ones that I've seen before. The only one I had never seen before was Lethal Weapon. And actually, I want to say thank you, Blaine, for giving me an excuse to finally watch the movie. I love ticking off movies off. Like, my. I never watched it list. And this was, like, just a great excuse. I'm like, oh, yeah. I've never seen it go through the whole franchise.

[Blaine]

Because when Renee Russo shows up.

[Chris]

Ooh. Yeah. I was reading up on interviews, and they were. She showed up in a lot of the interviews I was. I was looking at, and they were talking about her being a really good, like, pivotal addition to the. To the group. I finally get this movie, Die Hard. And before. No, because I will say that on its surface, it's very easy to judge the movie as a soulless action movie.

[John]

Oh, but it's not.

[Chris]

Let me. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. A soulless action movie that its only real claim to fame is some, you know, obviously iconic and cheesy visuals that people like to repeat. You know, John McClane crawling through a vent, his bloody feet. You know, stuff like that. Or its argument, is it a Christmas movie or not? I get it. It's actually a comedy that takes place in an action story. And if you watch it for some reason, the second time I watch it, it's actually made with a lot of effort. And maybe this helps that I read about how the movie was made and all that, and that probably can really help you appreciate movies more, especially if there's a lot of really interesting stuff out there from, like, I read stuff from the cinematographer and the writer and the director and. And all these people and interviews with, like, what's his name, dad from Family Matters.

[Blaine]

Reginald Vel Johnson.

[Chris]

Yeah, Val Johnson. All that kind of stuff. And I really enjoyed it this time. I did not enjoy it the last time I watched it. I thought it was a dumb action movie. I'm glad I rewatched it. This movie is actually pretty Fantastic.

[Ben]

And, John, let me be the first to say, welcome to the party, pal.

[Chris]

Okay. Okay. That was great. You've seen the movie, right?

[Ben]

I. Die Hard is the movie. I like, start like the holiday season.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Ben]

I love watching Die Hard.

[John]

My brother watch it every Christmas.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Ben]

It's like something my brothers and I all watch together. I love that movie.

[Blaine]

I got to show it to Kristen, I think, last Christmas or the Christmas previous to that, because she had never seen it. And I was like, oh, it's December.

[Chris]

I gave you Die Hard.

[Blaine]

Die Hard.

[Chris]

Okay. And the other thing I wanted to say really quick before I give you, Chris, a moment to talk about why you love this movie is I have a really fun fact about this movie. This movie wouldn't have happened if Cybill Shepard hadn't gotten pregnant.

[Ben]

Go on.

[Chris]

Before, while the movie was in pre production, they were trying to cast John McClane, which they actually went through tons of people. They wanted to get Bruce Willis, but he had a scheduling conflict because he was a TV actor. That's what he. This was his foray into film. And he was doing Moonlighting with Cybill Shepherd. But thanks to the fact that she got pregnant, it shifted his schedule enough that for the beginning of production, he was Michael J. Foxing it. And he was filming Moonlighting during the day. And then you would go to the Fox Plaza and film Die Hard at night, which is crazy. But it actually. I'll talk about how that actually helped the movie, but because his schedule opened, he was able to take this movie, and that is the only reason that he was able to Die Hard and why we have Die Hard the way it is. So thank you, Sybil shepherd, and your child.

[Blaine]

Way to go.

[John]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Okay, Chris, why do you pick this movie?

[John]

Well, I want to quickly address the claims that it's not a Christmas movie just to get that out of the way.

[Chris]

I'd love to. I'd love to hear this.

[John]

It's 100% a Christmas movie.

[Chris]

I would agree.

[John]

The entire plot takes place at a Christmas party the night before Christmas. There's Christmas decorations throughout the movie. There are stairs. The soundtrack is almost entirely Christmas movies. I mean, Christmas music. There's Christmas music everywhere.

[Chris]

He just played Christmas movies for the soundtrack. It was just like clips from Christmas Girl.

[John]

And it ends again in la, but with surrogate snow falling down the paper.

[Chris]

Burning papers.

[John]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Which, by the way, Shane Black wanted. I forgot his other thing. Lethal Weapon was going to end with all that stuff. And a snow of cocaine is what it was supposed to end. Genuinely, Chris, I'M glad you brought that up, because I actually thought long and hard about this, and I've come up with. I'm sure I'm not the first person to come up with this, but this is my. My take on it. You guys know what the Bechdel test is, right?

[Blaine]

Yes.

[Chris]

Yeah. Bechtel test is, does a movie pass the Bechdel test? It can if there are two female actors that have a conversation that is not about another man or a man. I've come up with the Ebenezer test. Can this movie have happened, how it worked if Christmas was removed? Now, I would actually argue not to remove, you know, your choice. I'd say Lethal Weapon actually could work perfectly with the entire Christmas element removed. However, Chris, you are correct. A pivotal reason why John McClain is at the. What's the name of the.

[Blaine]

Nakatomi Plaza?

[Chris]

Yeah, Nakatomi Plaza is because he is coming in town for a Christmas party. Now, he wouldn't have come into town for and stayed, you know, for anything else other than if he had done that. It would just been him awkwardly staying with his, like, on, off, you know, ex, current wife kind of thing. And it would have been very married.

[John]

But not together, estranged.

[Chris]

And it was. The Christmas party is what wraps the whole thing together. And you're right. There's all kinds of other Christmas elements, including, like, you know, the sweater that he writes on with blood on the guy that he kills with a little, you know, ho, ho, ho. It's just. I'm so glad we're recording video so we can see what your mouth has to do to do your Alan Rickman.

[Ben]

It's weird. Whenever you do.

[Blaine]

Oh, my God. Now I'm trying to think of a quote. I just. I just gave. I blew it. Now I have a machine.

[Chris]

There it is.

[Blaine]

You gotta lock the jaw out.

[Chris]

You do. You do a lot of under.

[Ben]

I feel like it's the same thing you kind of tend to do. Like, when you're trying to do a Matid voice. You have to. You, like, shift your mouth in a way of, like.

[Chris]

Matid would like Alan Rickman. By the way, what were you gonna say? Ben.

[John]

Says that's how it's.

[Ben]

My name is Matid Kanfes.

[John]

That's actually pretty good, man.

[Chris]

That's not bad. Another fun thing I learned about this movie, it has four Academy Award nominations.

[Ben]

Oh, kudos to it. Well deserved.

[Chris]

It's for the categories you would expect from this movie. Film editing, visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing. But I would actually argue. I think it Actually earned all those nominations. And for some reason, maybe it was the way I watched it this time. It's actually got a fantastic sound mix to it. It's. I don't know what it was, but, like, the. Even just the gun shot sounds were just. They really hit me in the chest. And it was. It's. It's. Bruce Willis's performance is actually very subtle and different than previous action heroes that they wrote the whole thing to be like, what if, like just the. Every regular guy. Yeah, yeah. Was an action hero, not an action hero.

[John]

Action hero.

[Chris]

Yeah. Not. Not like a Schwarzenegger or a Rambo or something like that.

[John]

Well, that's. That's the whole thing. It's like, oh, you think you're a Rambo, you think you're John Wayne or whatever. It's like, no, he's just like a guy who. See, you know, it's like he's just a dude. And that's why they. I mean, he. He was not an action action hero.

[Chris]

No.

[John]

When he was a cop, he did comedies. He was a TV comedian.

[Chris]

Yeah. I mean, this is. This is. This is why we have Bruce doing all those kinds of movies.

[Ben]

I was actually talking with my partner while I was watching this movie, and she asked, like, who would you cast if you were to reboot Die Hard these days? You know, like, because Bruce Willis is such a. I don't want to call him like an everyman, but he's so different from someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger in any of these, like, action movies. Right. Like, who would fit today?

[Chris]

Bruce. Bruce is a very subdued actor.

[Blaine]

Paul Rudd.

[John]

Oh, that would be. I mean, it'd be a very different dynamic. Yeah, but it would be really funny.

[Blaine]

It had to be a comedic style actor. You said Schwarzenegger earlier, and I said. I mentioned Frank Sinatra. So this was supposed to be like an adaptation of the book the Detective, and they made that into a movie starring Frank Sinatra. And I think that there was somewhere in there that they had to offer the role of John McClane to Frank Sinatra. But by this time, he was super old.

[Chris]

He was 70. He was 70 when this movie.

[Blaine]

He was gonna take it, but then.

[Chris]

Oh, yeah, like, that was the funniest. They had to offer it to him. And I'm like, man, Frank should have taken it. Just. Yeah, right. Should have taken it.

[Blaine]

But John McTiernan directed this. And he also did Predator and Commando. And in Predator and Commando, they have, I think, a fictional country called like, Valverde or something like that.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

And these are, I think they referenced that in this movie. So these are all, like in the connected universe.

[Chris]

Predator and commander McTiernan Cinematic Universe.

[Blaine]

And I think John Matrix was also supposed to be the same character.

[Chris]

Mc Tiernan actually wrote one of our. Directed one of my favorite action movies of all time, which does star Schwarzenegger Last Action Hero, which is a parody on the action movie franchise. And it's fantastic. I highly recommend people check that out.

[Blaine]

John McTiernan rocks. And he just got out of prison, so I hope he directs another banger.

[John]

Wait, why was he. Why was he in tax fraud? Wasn't it tax fraud?

[Chris]

Yeah, that's always why they.

[Blaine]

Hey, hey. Justice for Ted. John McTiernan.

[Chris]

I'm still.

[Blaine]

You what?

[Chris]

How long was he in prison?

[Blaine]

Oh, I don't know. I think he. He got out a decent amount of time ago. And I know that he currently has. There's. He has something in production, but it's been like, in production hell for a minute.

[Ben]

I'm still stuck on Frank Sinatra and Die Hard. I like, just imagine getting through that whole movie and you get to the end, you're like, you're a loose cannon cop. How did you stop the bad guy? And he turns to the camera and he goes, I did it my way to black. Oh, what a great movie.

[John]

Then you got some zingers in this podcast.

[Chris]

Yeah, Ben, waiting for these moments. Another fun thing I read about this movie is I was reading an interview by the Cinema photographer Jan DeBaun, who shot Die Hard, but then also directed Speed and Twister. So accomplished filmmaker. They were talking about how it was either him or maybe I was reading D'Souza, who was one of the writers on it. They were talking about how in action movies you need to have a hate cute, which is like a meet cute in rom coms, but it's between the hero and the villain. And the hate cute for Die Hard actually came out of a moment on set where a crew member was talking with Alan Rickman, and he was unknown at this point. This is actually his first movie. Yeah, this is his launch.

[Blaine]

He was like.

[Chris]

He was a stage actor and known, you know, a little bit in London, but not known. Or England, not known at all here. Anyways, they were like, you know, hey, we, you know, we hear a lot of, like, English actors have, like an American accent. And Alan Rickman's like, oh, I don't have an Amer. I have a Californian accent is what I can do. And so he did it. The writer heard him and said and went and grabbed someone else, like the Producer was like, alan, do that again. And he did it again. And then they went and grabbed the director, and he's like, do it again. And so Alan's like, did it again. He's like, why are you making me do this? And they were. And like, D'Souza and the director looked each other. He's like, do you get it? He's like, oh, yeah. And so that's why Gruber and McClain meet each other. And Alan Rickman pulls out that fantastic American accent.

[Blaine]

You're one of them.

[Ben]

You're one of them, aren't you?

[Chris]

Oh, God, yeah.

[Ben]

I want to know what the line was that the guy heard that was like, do it again. Do it again. Like, keep delivering that line.

[Chris]

I can't remember, actually. I think they wrote it down. But I love that. I love moments like that. Like, they were writing, rewriting a lot of the movies while shooting. Yeah, but. Which is crazy because they actually were highly prepared for the movie because they. They wrote the movie. The first writer, I can't remember his name, but D'Souza got his hands on, and he had access to Fox Plaza before they actually started principal photography, which is where they shot, because it was.

[John]

It was actually under construction. So they. They use the. That in the movie. They were, like, incorporating elements of the.

[Chris]

It's like one of those, like, dream location finds where it's like this, like, you know, playground. Yeah, this playground. This, like, very obelisk, like, tower that looks like it should be this super advanced, you know, business building. But then it was also, like, partially under construction, so they had plenty of place to do filming in there. It had a rooftop for them to.

[John]

Do, you know, good action devices.

[Chris]

Well, yeah, and that's what I was gonna say was that they got to go through and, like, blueprint the script around the building. And so that's why all the action is very meticulously scripted and shot a very specific ways, because they, like, they basically went in and planned the whole thing in the building.

[John]

I've had dreams about that, but in a terror nightmare, dreams before explain, you know, how you. Well, you. How you always have those dreams where you're like. You show up and you realize you. You skipped the class and you have a test or something.

[Chris]

Sure.

[John]

It was when we were at Roosterteeth, and it was like Laser Team 3 or something, and.

[Blaine]

Oh, my God.

[John]

I was talking with Matt Holm, who's directing it, and he was like, yeah, we. We don't really have the script for this next scene, but it takes place in this room, like, do you think you could, like.

[Chris]

Yeah, five minutes.

[John]

We're shooting it. We'll be here in an hour.

[Ben]

I probably shouldn't tell you guys this, but that's sometimes how it feels when we're filming Stinky Dragon, where I'm like.

[Chris]

Okay, here's an empty room from how you wrote our first quarantine campaign for rtd.

[Ben]

Oh, man.

[Chris]

From that.

[Ben]

There are sometimes days we'd wake up and I go, all right, Gus, I got three sentences for you. One of them is descriptive. Have fun. Good luck.

[Blaine]

Also, I did some quick research. John McTiernan actually went to prison because he was doing a lot of wiretapping illegally.

[Chris]

Oh, really?

[Blaine]

He did go in through some financial problems. Wire tapping for bankruptcy. Yeah. I think it was, like, on the production of Rollerball. And then there was also an invasion of privacy, civil suit.

[John]

I remember probably reading all about this. Yeah. It was like, he. A whole thing about a dispute on money or something. There's and about. About.

[Blaine]

It's like Rollerball and someone was trying to, like, mess.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

He was trying to get someone on tape talking badly about the production company. Yeah.

[Chris]

Wow.

[John]

Illegal wiretapping.

[Ben]

Sounds like research for a wiretapping movie.

[Blaine]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Chris probably found out about that because.

[Blaine]

He had a hidden camera show at one point. At Rooster Teeth.

[John]

No, no. I think it was just that late night, you know, watching Wikipedia. Then you like. It sounds like I do the same thing that John does, which is just like, read up on the movies and, like, the production aspects of. Not all of them, but a lot of times I do. And I like watching a lot of, you know, breakdowns.

[Chris]

Yeah. Video, like diaries, DVD extras and stuff. Speaking of which, I have three other fun things I learned about this movie that I think helps people enjoy the movie more. One was. You were talking. We were talking about how. I was telling you guys about how Bruce Willis was not able to be on production during the day for a while until he got off Moonlighting. That actually forced or inspired them to write more supporting character stuff. So Reginald Val Johnson, his character was actually fleshed out more.

[Blaine]

I shot a key.

[Chris]

It's such a good line. It's such a good line. And the whole scene of McClane's wife meeting Gruber and, like, taking charge of, like, the situation and telling them, like, you know, you need to feed these people that kind of thing.

[John]

That's great. Yeah.

[Chris]

That was written in.

[John]

She's a great character.

[Blaine]

Bonnie Medallion.

[Chris]

Yeah. So basically, every time you watch the movie and it's not a Bruce Willis moment, that's Actually them going, we need to film some other stuff. So we're gonna. Even the. The scheme. Reporter. That was a whole thing that they, like, fleshed out and, like, went and shot with, like, you know, the nanny and the kids at the house.

[John]

It's such a good, well written movie, though, despite.

[Chris]

Yeah. Despite the fact that it was, like, made on the fly a little bit.

[John]

It really is a tight script.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

And there's very few, like, flaws, but, like, one of the big ones is the ambulance at the very end, being in the truck.

[John]

Well, don't spoil.

[Chris]

Oh, that. It's not there.

[Blaine]

Sorry.

[Chris]

It's not there. And then it is there.

[Blaine]

There's a huge continuity issue, but, like, the movie's so good. It's kind of like Jurassic park where there's also a huge continuity issue in.

[Chris]

That there's actually a reason no one.

[Blaine]

Cares because the movie's so good and you're just along for the ride. What are you saying?

[Chris]

There's actually a reason behind that continuity error. They didn't plan that until they were doing this, like, supporting character stuff. And so that whole. The guy in the limo, they fleshed him out more and came up with the reason for him to stay around and to that thing. And so they wrote it in. Yeah, he's got some fun shots of, like, him, like, living it up in that limo and then like, just insanity happening behind him. The other thing, knowing.

[Ben]

Knowing that they, like, used, like, you know, the. Everything. Like, they used this building that was, like, in construction. Like, they fit scenes. I like to imagine it just like someone got injured on set and they called an ambulance in. They're like, we gotta film this. We gotta get this. We should use this while we have it.

[Chris]

The other thing I was reading about was the action visual effects, stunts that they were doing and how I was. I say the one. There's one really silly shot in this movie. There's probably more than one, but there's one that really stood out in this viewing, which is when, you know, the FBI is throwing. Is like sending in the squad and ruining the whole thing. And they send in that truck, you know, and the truck, like, storms the building and, like, the whole time, you know.

[John]

Oh, and he's seen. He's literally saying. All through the. You know, he's saying the Christmas poem during that scene. Like, it's incorporated into that.

[Chris]

Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that they build it all up. The German terrorists are, like, putting together that, like, the rocket launcher and it's like this whole thing and then they cut to the shot of the rocket hitting, like, it seems like they're gonna shoot this thing as it comes up. This car drives forever, by the way. It. Like, the whole time that they're putting together the whole rocket launcher, I'm like, how far away was this car? This special car? Anyways, they finally cut to the shot that they're shooting the car, and they, like, the rocket launcher is, like, in the second story window, just right above the car, just, like, shooting down at it as though it's, like, just pot shooting. And they talked about how, like, that was one of those moments where they, like. Yeah, there's, like, a string between the rocket launcher and the car, and the rocket travels with it, and then the car, like, explodes. Like, all the windows blow out at the same time and everything like that.

[Blaine]

Again, like, practical effects.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Blaine]

It's believable. It's fun.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[John]

It ages well.

[Chris]

Yes, I would agree.

[Blaine]

Yeah. And you mentioned, like, the side characters, and it's not just, like, the good side characters you fall in love with, like, the FBI cops, Johnson and Johnson.

[Chris]

They're so sick. They're so.

[Blaine]

Why do they have the same name? Who cares? And they're just like.

[Chris]

It's Johnson talking.

[Blaine]

The other one they're talking about, like, one of them is a Vietnam vet, and he's like, I was in third grade.

[John]

You know, Little, like, real moments.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[John]

All, like, just good dialogue.

[Blaine]

It's very funny character. It feels like on. Like, on set, you can tell that the director was like, okay, we need this shot. You go take cover behind that, you know, bar. You're preparing your gun because someone's about to come in, and then they, like, he grabs the candy bar. Like, it's just such a weird little detail, but, like, it just makes it so much more human character, even to all the.

[John]

Even the bad. The little Goonies, you know?

[Chris]

Yeah.

[John]

Like, the little bad guys, though.

[Chris]

The very tall, blond, like, Hans. They all should just be named Hans. I know there's one named Hans, and then the rest are. But they're all just Hans to me. I do want to talk about the infamous falling shot, which everyone. This is a spoiler, but I think everyone's seen this. The shot of Gruber falling at the end, it's one of those things that's shown in every film montage that's ever made, every parody.

[Ben]

It's been parading Family Guy. Every animated series out there that wants.

[Chris]

To make a joke, they used a technology that previously had only been developed and used for military purposes. To focus on Rickman as he fell because it was a rack focus that would have been impossible to nail manually because he's falling 70ft and it's in slow mo. So if the focus was out of focus, it would have been out of focus for forever. Yeah. And so they actually had to use this. Like, they used, like, it's like, basically a computer technology that was, like, calculating the speed of his descent and racking the focus with him so that it would go down with him. Which I also love that Alan Rickman did the stunt and had to fall, you know, several takes. And it is true. They. They don't tell. They didn't tell him when they were gonna drop him. It was like, we're gonna drop you on three, and they drop him on two. But they did it multiple times. And so. But because they. They wanted to get it. They wanted. They. They wanted to get it. They did it multiple times because they wanted to get the surprise. But you can't just have a surprise. They wanted to give. They needed him to also be able to show emotion of, like, his. His realization he's dying. Like, that's what they also wanted to give that thing. But I love that. That shot, like, took so much work and endeavor, and it's. It is. It's just an iconic film shot.

[Blaine]

I. I like. Ellis is my favorite side character.

[Chris]

Ellis is.

[Blaine]

He's the guy that is clearly trying to get John's wife.

[Chris]

Oh, the one who's, like, caught doing, like, blow at the beginning of it.

[Blaine]

He, like, negotiates deals for breakfast.

[Chris]

You know, when that guy wants, I'm your number one.

[Blaine]

I'm your white knight, you know?

[Chris]

Like, it's so the entire scene, you're like, I can't wait till they shoot this guy. They're going to shoot him, and I cannot wait.

[Blaine]

But even. Even, like, John McClane is like, a good character, is like, ellis, don't mess with these guys. Like, you don't know what you're doing. And then he's, like, trying to stop him. Even though this guy's a terrible dude.

[John]

I negotiate multimillion dollar deals for breakfast. I think I can handle some Euro trash.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[John]

Yeah.

[Chris]

The stunt that kills me every time that I watch it, I guess now, is John McClane falling through the elevator shaft, missing the first ledge. He was going for was an accident. And going for the next one.

[John]

That was.

[Chris]

That.

[John]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

That was not extension, though, right? That wasn't like he was actually in an elevator.

[John]

Yeah, but he did that stunt. The stuntman was supposed to catch the ledge and missed. And they just used it.

[Chris]

It's perfect. It's perfect.

[Ben]

So cool. I didn't know that. That's awesome.

[Blaine]

I have to rewatch that before he.

[Chris]

Hits it, like, hard, like. Yeah, it is not a. Like, oh, he just kind of bounced off. No, that dude bangs off a metal wall and then somehow grabs the ledge underneath it.

[John]

The stuff where action heroes mess up is so good to me. Like, they do that really well.

[Chris]

It's never good on set. You never want it to happen.

[John]

No, no. But like.

[Chris]

But use it if you got it.

[John]

What is the one? Wherever it's like ghost. Is it ghost protocol where they're in Dubai on the super high building and he's like, supposed to swing and grab hold of the ledge. Instead just bangs his head. And so it's just like whenever it's like. Oh, yeah. It's not always. It's so much more interesting when they're not perfect.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Well, it feels like in character too, for John McClane. Right. He's not used to that. He's just a New York cop. Like.

[Blaine]

Well, that's why Die Hard. Like, I know that two gets a lot of hate, but Die Hard 1, 2 and 3 are like, I think a really solid trilogy. It's not till 4 and 5 the gluff free Die Hard and then a good data Die Hard that he becomes Superman and He's literally fighting 1v1. Like in a fighter jet.

[Chris]

He gets airplane Fast and Furious treatment.

[Blaine]

Yes.

[Chris]

The.

[Blaine]

But the first three, it's like, I'm.

[Chris]

Gonna watch you now.

[Blaine]

It's. It's a Christmas movie. It's another one that takes place during the holidays.

[Chris]

I had no interest.

[John]

I have a direct hit.

[Chris]

Go for it.

[John]

I have a direct connection with the actors from both of the movies we talked about.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

Oh, yeah.

[John]

You. Day five, I worked Gary Busey son.

[Chris]

That's right.

[John]

And then Jake Busey.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[John]

And.

[Chris]

You'Re looking it up now. Who's the other person you have connection to? You cleaned Bruce Willis's head once.

[John]

No, sorry, sorry, sorry. William Sadler in Dave. I also. I worked with him. He is in Day five, season two. So I directed him on. In that. So it's like.

[Chris]

And Sadler is who?

[Blaine]

And William Sadler is in Die Hard to.

[John]

He's the villain.

[Chris]

Oh, and Die Hard. Yeah.

[Blaine]

He's the main bad guy. He has this amazing scene where he's doing tai chi and the nude and he's shredded. I mean, he's like an absolute unit. And then you're supposed to be like, oh, this guy's not right in the brain. Like, he's like.

[Ben]

He's like, unhinged a little bit.

[John]

They didn't tell him about that scene. They told him about that scene after he was like, on the first. Like, after he's already sent up to the movies. Like, we shoot it last because I need to get shape shredded.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[John]

Like, what he.

[Blaine]

What did he end up doing?

[John]

He just worked out the entire movie so that whenever they actually got to filming it, he was ready for it.

[Chris]

I mean, it shows.

[Blaine]

I don't want to spoil it too much, but it is like, it's this just hulking guy. And then he does this thing with this final move where he turns the TV off the remote, but it looks like a gun. And you're like, oh, that guy's insane. That's our villain for the movie.

[Chris]

Okay, Die Hard, I'm one over. I like it. I'm gonna. It's gonna add it into the rotation of my Christmas movies. Thank you for making me watch it again. And thank you, Ben, for picking your movie.

[Ben]

I was gonna say, I'm so happy.

[Chris]

It is one of my favorite Christmas movies ever. And I'm so happy when anybody else. I'm so happy when anybody else brings it up. What movie did you pick, Ben?

[Ben]

I picked Jingle all the Way. I'm so happy that we have action stars all around.

[Chris]

Action stars all around.

[Blaine]

Episode.

[John]

We've got some crazy action heroes in our.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[John]

This is such a. Such a bro Christmas special.

[Chris]

Oh, yeah. Gather your family around between Jingle all the Way and Die Hard. You want to know the connection is. Yeah, Schwarzenegger turned down the role of John McClane to do comedies, which he went on to do twins with Danny DeVito. He. He wanted to branch out into other films, and so he. We. We almost had Schwarzenegger to this role, which is why we have Schwarzenegger and Jingle all the Way because he became infamous for doing comedies and family movies and that kind of stuff in his later years.

[John]

Can you. For people who aren't as familiar, what. What's the premise of this movie?

[Ben]

Oh, man, I'm. I'm so glad you asked, Chris. It is about Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is playing this, like, hard working, kind of workaholic dad who is trying to get. He. He misses. And he's chronically late for, like, all of his son's, like, big events like karate classes and whatnot. His, like, you know, the mom, the wife's starting to get on to him about it. And for Christmas, the kid just Wants one single thing. It's a toy. It's. It's Turbo Man. And he basically last minute Christmas day has to go out to get this toy that he's told his wife that he definitely already has. Just left it at the office. And the adventure that happens from that.

[Blaine]

And man, him trying to acquire a. A hot toy for. It's basically a furby or like buzz.

[John]

You know, like tickle.

[Ben]

They keep calling it a. They keep calling it a doll. And at one point he gets corrected to like action figure. But throughout the movie everyone calls it a doll. It's just such a 90s movie. It has like the 90s, like push ins. Like you have like a long hallway scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger where he realizes it's going to be like hard to get this or something. And he does that like shocked face, eyes wide, punches in.

[Blaine]

It's got old Jake Lloyd in it.

[Chris]

Before I forget, this movie has Jake Lloyd. Until I watched the movie and I.

[Blaine]

Jake Lloyd was a huge child actor. And then Star wars completely ruined his career.

[Chris]

Well, people started to hate it, ruined his career. And then he's. He has suffered severely from mental illness since then. He is, he is highly schizophrenic.

[Ben]

The way I like to describe this movie, poorly to friends is what movie can you watch the Terminator disappoint and redeem himself to baby Anakin while fighting the brother of a blues brother and his army of mall Santas. Oh, whoa.

[John]

That's a great way of phrasing it.

[Chris]

So it's funny thing about this movie is that it was originally written by Randy Kornfield who this is derived from him watching his in laws desperately on Black Friday. Try to get this Power Ranger doll which you can tell Turbo Man's very Power Ranger.

[Blaine]

Y gotta be Green Ranger. No, gotta be Red Ranger.

[Chris]

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. Which by the way, I was gonna say this is. I didn't say this about Ben. Your choice of this. I would say this is one of the most anime Christmas movies ever.

[Ben]

Absolutely.

[Chris]

And this feels very much in your foray of like your interests. And so I actually every single person. This was like a weird personality test. Everyone picked stuff that spoke volumes about their personality.

[Ben]

It's it.

[Chris]

No one, no one missed the mark. No one missed the mark.

[Ben]

It's just one of those like. I didn't really get into like pop culture and movies until I was like.

[Chris]

Yeah, this is one of the latest movies picked of the Christmas movies. 1996 is.

[Ben]

And so most of my, my like movies or Christmas holiday movies are like spent with my family like watching like more like family oriented movies. So this is a movie. My dad was like, this is a.

[Chris]

Movie for Stinky Dragon.

[Ben]

Yes, this is a movie. It's safe for Stinky Dragon. But adults will still love like love it. There's stuff in this movie as I was like rewatching through last week that I was like, oh, there's several things in here. You, you one probably can't do in today's movies, but also to like you can't you watch through. And as a kid you're like, I remember this scene being like so much longer feeling so bad for like Arnold Schwarzenegger's character. But then as an adult you're like this idiot. Oh my God. Like I believe this scenario he's ended up in. But also it's like so funny that like flew over like kids heads, right?

[Chris]

It was like what.

[John]

Can you, can you elaborate?

[Chris]

Well, I'll just. The whole premise of it, it doesn't really. It's. It's something that had to happen in the 90s because this you know, fervent rush for the in person brick and mortar store items is a thing of the past. Like even the shots of the store employees getting stepped on and you know, parents pushing people into shelves and that kind of thing. Like it's funny, Blaine, you were about to say Buzz Lightyear. It was actually rewritten by Chris Columbus who had the same situation trying to get a Buzz Lightyear one year.

[Blaine]

Interesting.

[Chris]

And so it's, it's, it's all based around that kind of a thing of a bygone past.

[Ben]

You know, like fervent Black Friday fever when like parents, people would get together and line up at like 5, 4 in the morning to get into stores.

[Chris]

First I was gonna say, I would.

[Blaine]

Argue that that's still, that Holiday Rush still exists because like PlayStation fives were like very difficult to acquire.

[John]

But I guess the Internet not as much as it used to be. You know, like when you think about Black Friday and like it was original.

[Chris]

The original toy of this was Cabbage Patch Kids. That was the original toy that was.

[John]

Yeah, that's. I think, I don't remember that this.

[Ben]

Movie has like the stampede in the mall where like a group of people are like literally stepping over employees. Like yeah, there's the ball scenario where for whatever reason the owner of the shop is like for a megaphone is using some toy with a microphone to like so great talk to the audience. That's there. And then they just throw all the balls up. It's like in a lotto system.

[Chris]

It's like a raffle situation.

[Ben]

And Arnold Schwarzenegger has to, like, crawl through a mall playground full of kids.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

And like, he gets accused of being some, like, creep toward these kids and beaten by a bunch of moms.

[Chris]

My. I think people could argue for themselves what their favorite thing that Arnold Schwarzenegger says in his accent is. There's always lines that everyone loves. You know, get to the choppa. That kind of thing.

[Ben]

Do it. Do it now.

[Chris]

I would actually argue my favorite line is in this movie. It's after.

[Blaine]

Down.

[Chris]

No, it's. And that's a great movie as well. Put it down. That's a. That's a great line from this movie. Put the cookie down. That's what it is. No, it's after he is caught trying to wrestle the ball from a little girl and all the moms are banging on him and yelling at things. It's. And he's like. He retorts back. He goes, I'm not the pervert. It's so good. Such a good Arnold line.

[Ben]

He's like, in the ball pit, and he's like, hello, little boy. And he, like, picks up this red ball, like, do you want to trade this red ball for me?

[Chris]

It's very much a thing that if a parent saw that, you'd be like, that's a pervert. There's a pervert in the ball pit.

[Blaine]

Get that?

[Chris]

Not the pervert.

[Ben]

And I feel like if you're watching a movie today, you'd be like, o. This feels. This feels a little, like, too real or, like, creepy. But there's also, like, the two other things that stood out to me that I was like, oh, I don't know. Like, there's a literal, like, bomb package scene. And this with Sinbad. And it was Martin Mole, who's like the principal from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He plays a DJ in the scene. And Sinbad pulls a package out and he starts shaking it and being like, this is a bomb. Don't mess with me.

[Blaine]

Oh, baby. This. That's pre 9 11.

[Chris]

Let's talk about Sinbad for a second. Because I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole because, like, where is Sinbad been? Because he was huge in movies, these kinds of movies for a while.

[John]

Shazam.

[Chris]

No, I'm just kidding. But he kind of went away for a while, and it turns out he did a lot of TV work, a lot of voice acting work. In fact, he's Mr. Smiley in Steven Universe, the owner the arcade.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[John]

Whoa.

[Chris]

Yeah, that was a fun little thing. He did have a comedy special in 2010 that did pretty well, apparently. But he also had a stroke in 2020 and is still recovering from it.

[Ben]

Did not know that.

[Chris]

I love him being cast in this because, one, he is enormous next to Arnold, which they actually did that on purpose. They wanted to get somebody who would not look small next to Arnold so that they could, like, kind of be a, you know, a foil to each other. But there's. There's a moment where they're standing next to. It's when they meet in the line for the first store and Sinbad's standing over Arnold. I didn't realize Sinbad was that big of a guy, but I love.

[Blaine]

They really do.

[Chris]

No, you go.

[Blaine]

They do their best to minimize Arnold's bodybuilder physique. They put him up against Big Show. Who's the giant Santa? A professional wrestler. Anything they can do to make Arnold look like an everyman, which is impossible.

[Chris]

I know. I know. It's still silly. And I, like, this is not surprising. And this happens a lot with comedians. But if you rewatch the movie, I think it makes it even better. Most of Sinbad's lines with him and other, like, co stars and like, Arnold were improvised. It's just Sinbad, you know, yelling, like, you know, like, when he gets tackled during the whole balls, like, being thrown around the raffle thing. And, like, he's like, Rodney King. Rodney King. Like, it's just so good.

[Ben]

The one line from him that's always stuck out to me, this movie is like, after the bomb package scene, and he, like, stops. He goes, oh, man, that was a bomb. This world's messed up, man. This world's messed up.

[Chris]

He is so good.

[Blaine]

I love Phil Hartman's character. Phil harbor, good, obnoxious neighbor. He did a similar character in Small Soldiers.

[Chris]

Yes.

[Blaine]

Where he's just got this charm and he just smiles.

[Chris]

You just want to punch in the face. He is everyone. I actually, I texted the one person I know that loves this movie more than anybody else. Former Roosteeth employee Tony Simonetta, head of our merchandising. Tony adores this movie. Has a ton of apparel that has this movie all over and that kind of thing. And I'm watching this movie, and it is, like, it's poorly reviewed on the Internet. It's kind of a. It's still like. I know a lot of people love it, but it's also, like, a lot of People think it's stupid. And I asked him, I was like, why do you think this movie works? Where in my opinion, a lot of movies that try the same kind of like quote unquote dumb humor. It just feels cringey and unfunny. And I loved his take on it and I agree with it. A lot of it boils down to Arnold's likability performance. And throughout this whole movie, yes, he is a bad dad. You know, he's that trope. But he's still likable throughout the whole thing. And it's actually everyone's performance is what I actually came. I kind of took that a step further. Cause like, Sinbad is firing on all cylinders with comedy this entire movie. Phil Hartman is being one of the best. You want to punch him in the face. Villains. The mom even feels like genuine and like, she's not Rita Wilson. Yeah, Rita Wilson's not like a one dimensional, like just ragging on him the whole time. Like she really wants Arnold to win. Like, even when he accidentally yells at his son, you know, over the phone, like, her response is like, dang it. Like, she's like, this was your opportunity to like, succeed. I want you to win. Like, they're all doing great. In fact, I don't want to speak ill of him. The one person I actually think that does poorly is that I think Jake Lloyd actually gives a pretty bad performance in this movie. It's very forced and robotic. Where I think if like a more natural sounding kid could have like, felt a little bit better.

[Ben]

It felt a little like over the top, like Christmas movie to me. You know, like a little cheesy for like the kid to be that up. Like a kid would be upset with all the things he was going through. But it was a little like pushing it to be like, I need this Turboman dad. I got to get this Turbo Man.

[Chris]

He's pushing lines the whole time.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Chris]

I was looking at the. The movie is set in basically the Twin Cities, min. Minneapolis. And what's the city next? I can't remember. And the parade at the end, which I love, is it's like all practical except they expand it with some matte painting stuff. But it was like 1500 extras, that kind of a thing. Wow. And it's actually based off of a parade that they had in Minneapolis. The parade is no longer there. It's like a marketplace now, changed in 2002 or something like that. But it's called the Holidazzle Parade. And it was one of those things that happened Every night in Minneapolis. There's a whole thing that drew commerce and people there, but they did during the day for the movie. And one of my favorite things about this movie is the level of advanced technology that is in the Turboman suit at the very end.

[Ben]

Yeah, I was watching. I was wondering, like, drones weren't really a thing when they filmed this. Like, how would they have filmed those scenes where he's like flying around?

[Chris]

The filming is clearly green screens. I meant, I agree with you, Ben. It's the technology in his suit. Like the literal flying hand control Iron man suit. Correct, Right.

[John]

For a holiday parade, it is high.

[Chris]

Production value parade costume.

[Ben]

It's the combination of all of those things that I was just like, how did this come together? I started analyzing the film brain. Right. Of like, okay, wait, hold on. How did they do this scene? What would be practical way to do this in 95, I think 96, when this movie came out, like to execute on this.

[Chris]

Yeah. And I agree with you, Blaine. They do their best to downplay the Arnold of him, but it gets the most comedically silly at the end when he is in the Turboman suit and it's just his eyes are obscured by an orange visor and he's got a voice modulator that barely modulates his voice and his child and wife don't know him while they are a foot from his face.

[Ben]

It's movie magic. The parade is also the other like things you can't do today moment for me was the last one of like they pull up to the parade and the mom's like, all right kids, get out. We'll find you later. And they just throw their two kids into this like parade of 1600 people. Yeah, the 90s. Yeah, man.

[Chris]

I have one gripe about this movie.

[Ben]

Go for it.

[Chris]

And I've had this gripe about a lot of movies actually, now that I've gone back and rewatched movies like this. This is one of those movies that sets expectations of parents impractically high. It's very from the kids perspective of how parents are supposed to be. But now, as someone who has raised children for the last 14 years of my life, I watch and I'm like, arnold's trying his best, guys, okay? He is, he is like trying to be a bread earner in a one income family. He is trying to make it to all of his. Like he even has the conversation with the kid at the one point he's like, I was at your green belt. He's like, but you missed my yellow belt. And it's like the dad came to what he could come to. Okay. Yeah, you can't come to everything.

[Blaine]

He's not the black belt.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

John, I swear to God, if I don't see you in some kind of Power Ranger outfit Christmas Day, flying through the downtown streets of Austin, I'm questioning your parental abilities.

[Chris]

You're a bad parent in my opinion on this rewatching. Sinbad's the hero in this movie to me because he is the low income public servant who is desperately trying to be a hero to his kid. The system is not in his favor. He's. He's actually the nice guy who's trying to befriend somebody in line and that kind of thing. And, and I was rooting for Sinbad the whole time.

[Blaine]

Have you, have you guys ever experienced this situation where you're on the hunt for something that's like, really sought after and there's not many left and you have to like, track it down?

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Blaine]

What was, what was the last. When was the last time you had to do that? When was the. Sorry, this is, this is related to the movie, but like, it's something that I think at the time people were able to relate to. And I had a, like a Turbo man hunt pre pandemic. I was trying to get a Nintendo Switch and I like, went all over the Austin area.

[Chris]

Shortage. Yeah.

[Blaine]

And it was, it was like, everyone knew we were about to go into lockdown and I. And it was like online ordering and like the, the online system for like, you know, how many they had in stock and stuff. Like, that was totally garbage. But I ended up finding one like three cities over. And I remember the rush to get it and stuff.

[Ben]

Similarly for me, it was the, like, Wii, like the original Nintendo Wii. I was working in high school at a GameStop and I couldn't get one. Like, my manager was like, we just. They're already booked. People have already, like, reserved them all. And then I remember coming to work one day and she came up to me and she was like, I just got word. Walmart's gonna have a release tonight at midnight for the Wii. If you get in line earlier, not early enough, like, you can get one. And I, like, got off of my shift, walked next door to the Walmart and like, got in line. And I was the like, last person who was able to get a ticket to go get. Never felt more like, validated of like, I feel like I had insider information to like, get where, where I needed to go just in time.

[Blaine]

It's.

[Chris]

It's really good manager for a movie.

[Blaine]

Oh, yeah, totally.

[Ben]

Oh, she ruled. She would, like, you know, like GameStop corporate, you know, is. Would be very strict with a lot of, like, rules and everything. But she would, like, put the rock band set behind the camera so, like, when it was slow, we could go play rock band on work hours. She ruled.

[Chris]

That's pretty good. That's pretty good.

[Blaine]

It's good stakes for a movie. It's like I'm on the hunt for this Christmas gift and there's a built in ticking clock and it's a good setup for comedy. And it's.

[Ben]

Yeah, I was worried. You should. I was worried, like, rewatching it because it'd been a while and John asked me, like, what movie do you want? I was like, oh, jingle. Always like one of my favorites. Let's go with that one. If Blaine hasn't already picked it because it has Arnold Schwarzenegger, it might be like one of of his favorites. And I was rewatching the start of it and I was like, oh, man. Like, we have the mall scene. Maybe this is a little slow. Maybe I'm misremembering this.

[Chris]

The movie moves and is and gets out.

[Ben]

And then like, we get to the mall Santa scene and like, where he's like fighting all the mall Santas in the warehouse. Never mind. This movie slaps.

[Chris]

This movie's great.

[Ben]

This is awesome.

[Chris]

It's pretty great. All culminating in, like, the whole, like, him accidentally being in the parade is just so silly. Which I realized, like, it's our only time we've gotten to see Arnold dressed up as like a comic book superhero. I think. I don't think he's been like, very action. Like. Like a super suit. Has Arnold been in like a super suit kind of situation? Mr.

[Blaine]

Freeze?

[Ben]

Oh, I guess.

[Chris]

Oh, yeah, I guess he was a. He was a villain. This is him being a hero. We got to see him as a hero.

[Blaine]

There's so much like making is technically a comic book.

[Chris]

It's true. But like, I meant like, like him being in like a full body super suit. You know the Iron man costume.

[Ben]

Spandex. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't think so. Like, Mr. Freeze even was like so much makeup and costuming, like, it doesn't feel like a superhero type thing.

[Blaine]

You know, Running man was kind of a superhero costume a little bit the.

[Chris]

One piece, like a spandex suit. Another connection to Tony Simonetta. He had. He made a Running man costume. In fact, I think Blaine didn't. Don't you have it.

[Blaine]

It's currently in my closet.

[Chris]

Yeah, I was gonna say, Tony is like one of the best little fanboys I've ever met. He makes costumes and has so much paraphernalia. He's so fun to talk to about that kind of stuff. This movie's fantastic. I think. I think this was a really good choice as well.

[Ben]

I love it. It's just such a good, like, feel good movie. Also, I like a lot of nostalgia with it. Right. Like my dad and watching this with my brothers.

[Chris]

Yeah. Oh, man, I could talk about this movie for so long. But I'm going to end this here and remind everybody that this isn't the end of the Christmas special. There's actually part two available right now on the Patreon. If you go to patreon.com sneakydragon you can sign up and watch it there, along with just a avalanche of other content, including previous episodes of Stinky Pop, Second Wind, our supplemental episode for Stinky Dragon, our main show behind the screen. Our DM LED kind of behind the screen, behind the screen show, stuff like that. And also we have a bunch of video game content where we play things like Baldur's Gate and stuff like that. And we would really appreciate your support. It would bring a Christmas smile to our face. But thank you, guys. I think I loved all you guys choices. This was so fun to watch these movies. I watched like six Christmas movies in the course of, like, two days. It was a great, like, jumpstart to the Christmas season for me. And I think you guys all picked actually really good choices that were just, like, really fun to talk about and learn about.

[Ben]

My dad's gonna be psyched when Christmas morning comes around. I say we gotta watch Lethal Weapon 1 through 4.

[John]

I'm curious. I really want to know what Gus, Micah, and Barb picked.

[Chris]

I won't say it on Mike because I want people to go watch the thing, but I'll tell you once we cut the mics. Chris.

[Blaine]

Ooh.

[Chris]

Yeah. But thank you so much. And thank you to you, our audience, and especially thank you to our supporters. Have a happy holidays and a wonderful new year. Bye.