We Almost Missed These 10 Movies. Should You?

Summary

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The Big Picture — "We Almost Missed These 10 Movies. Should You?"

Date: September 22, 2025
Hosts: Sean Fennessey & Amanda Dobbins

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Overview

Fresh from an August hiatus, Sean and Amanda catch up on a deluge of recent film releases, ranging from original indie genre swings to giant franchise continuations. They reflect candidly on notable disappointments (“Him,” “A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey”), highlight under-the-radar gems, and dig into a few blockbusters you can safely skip. Along the way: sharp Oscar analysis, pop culture riffs, and a healthy dose of movie-and-meme nerdery.

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In Memoriam: Robert Redford (02:00–04:50)

• The episode opens with a tribute to the late Robert Redford, noting his enduring contributions as a star, director, and the founder of Sundance.
• Sean and Amanda promise a full Hall of Fame episode later in the year, but reflect on:
  • Redford’s exceptional run in the 1970s and his underrated acting (“...almost entirely made adult films. And I don't mean porn. I mean films for adults.” — Sean, 04:28)
  • The outsized shadow Sundance has cast on American indie cinema.
  • Amanda’s affectionate commentary on Redford’s ‘70s hotness and iconic gold chain in "All the President’s Men."

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News & Pop Culture Tidbits (04:48–13:22)

“The Mandalorian & Grogu” Trailer

• Discuss the drop of the new trailer amidst Disney controversies (06:00–06:50).
• Amanda admits she’s only aware of Grogu (not a Yoda prequel), leading to confusion and comedic riffing on Star Wars lore.
  • “Have they aged him up in your mind? ...He's losing volume in his face. You know, it comes for all of us.” — Amanda, 10:45
• Sean laments the increasing dominance of CGI in modern Star Wars (11:56–12:43) and nostalgia-mining by Disney.
• Amanda’s take: Grogu’s “losing cuteness,” the franchise has gotten too insular, and her lack of interest in Star Wars’ spiritual dimension.

Physical Media, Passions, and Teacups (08:11–10:23)

• Tangent on collecting movies vs. teacups (“You care about plastic.” — Amanda, 09:58).
• Mutual defense of passionate obsessions — whether movies or crafts.

Other News

• Discussion of “Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” movie event at AMC (25:36–28:21).
• Box office analysis: September’s weak receipts, horror dominance, and the surprise success of "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle" (18:04–23:08).

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Mini-Reviews: The Films They Nearly Missed

The hosts blitz through films released over the break, organized reverse-chronologically; spirited opinions abound.

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1. Him (29:06–37:14)

• What It Is: Horror-sports drama, produced by Monkeypaw (Jordan Peele’s company), not directed by Peele.
• Premise: Rising Black quarterback and a retiring legend (Marlon Wayans) converge in a psychological horror set during NFL draft prep.
• Assessment: Striking visuals but hollow, struggles for narrative momentum.
  • “It does effectively feel like a 90-minute commercial...looked beautiful to me, but I thought the story was very hollow.” — Sean, 32:36
  • Julia Fox delivers the only performance tuned into the film’s camp potential.

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2. A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey (37:05–42:40)

• What It Is: Whimsical time-bending romance from director Kogonada, starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell.
• Summary: Two strangers are thrust through pivotal moments from their past by a magical rental car service.
• Assessment: A high-profile flop. No chemistry, treacly tone, humorless. Echos ‘90s magical realism but fails to capture emotional truth.
  • “It reminded me a little bit of, like, really kind of treacly 90s movies, like what Dreams May Come…” — Sean, 39:12
  • “A manic pixie dream girl nightmare.” — Amanda, 39:45

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3. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (44:41–52:26)

• What It Is: Third (allegedly “final”) film capping the beloved TV series.
• Summary: It’s 1930; the Crawleys downsize, Lady Mary faces divorce — all the stately drama and gentle humor you expect.
• Assessment: Heartwarming fan service, precisely what you hope for; Amanda loves the set design and location work, continues her “real houses > CGI” campaign.
  • “If you liked the show, all three movies are great...I’d watch it happily every year.” — Sean, 45:11

Rankings:

• Downton Abbey movies: 2 > 3 > 1

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4. The Long Walk (54:04–58:38)

• What It Is: Long-awaited Stephen King adaptation by Francis Lawrence ("Hunger Games").
• Premise: Gripping dystopian contest; 50 teens walk at 3+ mph until only one survives.
• Assessment: Intense, well-acted (Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson), narrative ultimately fizzles.
  • “I wish it was better. And if this was a podcast about The Long Walk, I’d go frame by frame…At the end, I was mad.” — Sean, 58:31
• Memorable timestamp: Sean’s summary of the premise (55:00–55:45)

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5. Freakier Friday (60:22–66:47)

• What It Is: Sequel to the beloved body-swap comedy, with much of the cast returning (Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis).
• Assessment: Comforting, energetic, funny — perfect for families and fans of the original. Lohan’s return is delightful.
  • “It’s weird that she just came back and everything’s fine. It’s great.” — Sean, 63:32

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6. Splitsville (66:50–71:21)

• What It Is: Offbeat relationship comedy from "The Climb" team, starring Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona.
• Theme: Messy, funny, real take on “couple friends,” masculine insecurity, and romantic comedy traditions.
• Assessment: Very funny, grounded, and a sharp critique of gender dynamics and realism in romantic pairings.
  • “This movie is even sillier than (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) and probably has a little bit less to say socio-culturally. But it’s really fun.” — Sean, 70:28

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7. MegaDoc (71:21–78:37)

• What It Is: Mike Figgis's documentary about the chaotic making of Coppola’s “Megalopolis.”
• Takeaways:
  • Unfiltered look at auteur hubris, creative destruction, and on-set “genius”/disaster energy.
  • Shia LaBeouf features heavily as agent of chaos, both frustrating and, at times, right.
  • “It’s as raw a Making-Of as you will ever see...conflict, failure...Points are being made.” — Sean & Amanda, 75:15
  • “I think MegaDoc is an incredible companion piece...maybe it can help some people on the journey to understand what the hell’s going on.” — Amanda, 73:07

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8. Thursday Murder Club (78:38–82:13)

• What It Is: Chris Columbus adaptation of the British cozy mystery bestsellers, starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan et al. (on Netflix).
• Assessment: Amanda, a superfan of the books, is disappointed; showy sets replace real British locations, undercuts the heart and chemistry of the source material.
  • “I was disappointed. ...They’re all very nice apartments at the retirement home. ...But you gotta go places.” — Amanda, 80:58

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9. Eden (84:01–86:10)

• What It Is: Ron Howard’s odd, low-profile true story about eccentric Europeans founding a utopian society in the Galapagos.
• Assessment: Weird, not particularly good or bad; negligible impact. Ana de Armas is "very campy," Sweeney "not the babe." Some wild dog attacks and miscastings are involved.

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10. Honey Don’t (88:42–90:26)

• What It Is: Ethan Coen & Tricia Cooke’s follow-up to "Drive-Away Dolls"; comic detective romp, Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans.
• Assessment: A misfire, script and tone not working.
  • “I need Joel and Ethan to just get back together. ...No more Honey Don’t.” — Sean, 89:23

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Noteworthy Quotes & Moments

• On "Him"’s style:
  “There were a couple choices that were cool.” — Sean, 37:24
• On Redford’s career:
  “Almost entirely made adult films. And I don't mean porn. I mean films for adults.” — Sean, 04:28
• On physical media collecting vs. teacups:
  “You care about plastic.” — Amanda, 09:58
• On box office trends:
  “September is kinda the new February. … Recent years, the two IT films… Beetlejuice was the big hit. … This year, The Conjuring: Last Rites is a real sensation.” — Sean, 18:04
• On downton location verisimilitude:
  “Speaking of location, including…various LA landmarks. …the ‘real houses > CGI’ campaign.” — Amanda, 44:41–46:44
• On MegaDoc’s transparency:
  “It’s as raw a Making-Of as you will ever see...” — Sean, 74:24

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Redford Tribute: 02:00–04:50
• Mandalorian & Grogu/Star Wars Rant: 04:49–17:55
• September Box Office ("Demon Slayer" et al.): 18:00–24:45
• Taylor Swift/Theatrical Music Trends: 25:36–28:21
• Mini-Reviews Begin: 29:06
  • Him: 29:06–37:14
  • A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey: 37:05–42:40
  • Downton Abbey 3: 44:41–52:26
  • The Long Walk: 54:04–58:38
  • Freakier Friday: 60:22–66:47
  • Splitsville: 66:50–71:21
  • MegaDoc: 71:21–78:37
  • Thursday Murder Club: 78:38–82:13
  • Eden: 84:01–86:10
  • Honey Don’t: 88:42–90:26
• Mets/Misc. Riffing: 93:41–98:28

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Final Notes

• Amanda’s love for “cozy mysteries” (81:49–82:13) and Sean’s take on collecting physical media thread through and enliven the episode.
• Both hosts are overall excited (with relief) for PTA season and the return of more serious fall cinema.
• The episode concludes, as usual, with baseball misery (Sean on the Mets), serving as catharsis for fans and a reminder of The Big Picture’s blend of film talk, wit, and lived reality.

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In summary:
The hosts catch up on a parade of movies they almost missed — flagging major letdowns among original projects, saluting a few sturdy comfort-food continuations, laughing at some studio foibles, and urging cinephiles to catch docs like "MegaDoc" for an unvarnished glimpse at movie magic (and mess). Their candor and banter make the episode sing, even when the movies themselves don’t.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is presented by State Farm. Life's full of decisions, big and small and sometimes you make movie ones you can really stand behind. For example, I was wise enough to stick around through the mid credits during Ryan Coogler's Sinners. And unlike my co host Amanda, I got to see a very special sequence with a great buddy guy, among other things. State Farm gets it. Making confident choices can make all the difference. That's why with the State Farm personal price plan, you can choose the right amount of coverage to help create an affordable price for you. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. This message is brought to you by Apple Pay. Forget your wallet. It's all good because with Apple Pay you can pay with a simple tap of your iPhone. The the wallet you never forget at millions of places worldwide, including websites, apps and anywhere you see the contactless symbol. Security is built in with face ID so you don't have to worry about your cards getting lost or stolen. And the best part, you still earn the card rewards, points and cash back you love. So say goodbye to the bifold, add your cards, Apple wallet and start paying the Apple way Terms apply. I'm Sean.

[B]

I'm Amanda Davis and this is the.

[A]

Big Picture, a conversation show about a lot of movies. So we went on a little bit of a break in August, Amanda and a bunch of movies came out. They did not stop releasing movies just because we took a break. How do you feel about that?

[B]

It's their right.

[A]

It is their right and it's our right to catch up with those films on today's episode as best we can. As best we can. There have been a lot of movies released that we haven't dug into. So we'll do kind of a speed round. I wanted to do roulette. I wanted to like fire a roulette wheel.

[B]

You want to bring more props into the.

[A]

Yeah, I do. Or more. More graphics work for Jack to build out for us. But I didn't do that. Before we talk about this cavalcade of films in the last two months for the show. We do have some news. One, we recorded three episodes in one day last week, last Monday. And then of course on Tuesday, some absolutely terrible news happened. A screen icon, Robert redford, passed away, 89 years old in his sleep. And we didn't get a chance to talk about him at all in the last six days. So now is our chance to make some brief remarks. I will say we will do something much bigger for him, I think in November. It looks like we'll probably do a hall of fame. We'll go back into the lab, rewatch everything.

[B]

And November is for. Is for scheduling reasons for a special treat. So everybody, calm your. Calm your.

[A]

We will have a special guest to join us. Also on the rewatchables this month, or I should say next month, Bill Simmons is doing all Robert Redford movies.

[B]

Are you allowed to say that or are you going to get a call?

[A]

He did announce that already, so I am not, I'm not breaking any news here, only to the listeners of this show. But Redford, I mean, what can you say?

[B]

I mean, on screen, off screen, one of the most important American filmmakers and film stars in history. Truly, you know, between the body of work, you know, there he is. And I will just say, I guess I am jumping just to how hot he was. But, you know, when everyone was posting all the Three Days of the Condor peacock stuff, which is very important, not enough respect given to the all the President's Men gold chain.

[A]

Just.

[B]

I'm just going to put that out there. But, you know, his, his run in the 70s, his work as a director, and then Sundance, which has been, you know, whatever you want to say about it now, and you and I have said plenty. An incredible force in terms of American cinema for the last 30, 40 years.

[A]

The single biggest incubator of American independent filmmaking, period.

[B]

So just, you know, he did it and had it all.

[A]

Yeah. And just an astonishing career. I think there'll be a lot to talk about when we go deep into his work. A very talented actor who is not often celebrated as a talented actor because he was such a strong star and screen presence, but had really interesting taste, did lots of different kinds of movies, almost entirely made adult films. And I don't mean porn. I mean films for adults. And his beauty and charisma sometimes overwhelmed, I think some of his other contributions. He's, of course, been very celebrated as a director as well. He directed many movies. He won a best director Academy Award. It's a monumental career. And we're kind of nearing the end of this generation. I mean, a lot of these people are, are passing on now who contributed so greatly in the 60s and 70s and kind of shaped what would become modern Hollywood. So we'll find a way to hopefully pay tribute to him.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

On the other side of the cultural spectrum. There is a new trailer this morning for the film the Mandalorian and Grogu. Now, I asked you to watch this trailer before I did. I said, have you seen the show the Mandalorian? And you said, what?

[B]

No.

[A]

So you've never seen the Mandalorian clips?

[B]

I think that Zack watched maybe a season or some of it. So, you know, I've been in and out, and obviously, you know, Baby Yoda, AKA Grogu, was like a thing. So I'm not unfamiliar. I've seen the memes. But. And I have listened to a lot of Watch episodes where they talk about the plot, which is a guy who is played by Pedro Pascal when he's not wearing a mask, but primarily just wearing a mask has got to protect this tiny, cute baby.

[A]

Yes. So this is going to be who.

[B]

Will grow up to be Yoda.

[A]

It's a different character.

[B]

Oh, this is Grogu.

[A]

This is Grogu.

[B]

How is Grogu related to Yoda? Do we know?

[A]

Well, I'm glad you asked. I have no idea.

[B]

Good.

[A]

I believe they're just a part of the same species. It's unclear if they're part of the same familial lineage, so that was a.

[B]

Little racist for me just then.

[A]

Well, we should call Henry Lewis Gates, get him on it. You know, explore the Yoda and Grogu.

[B]

I apologize to Grogu and Yoda.

[A]

This new movie is coming out on Memorial Day of 2026.

[B]

Great. I'm going to try to not be here for that. So one way or another, if we.

[A]

Go to Cannes, we won't be here when it comes out, and we'll see if that actually happens. But, you know, this is a. I'll start with this.

[B]

You didn't ask for my reaction.

[A]

I will. I will ask for it. Just wait. You got to share your relationship to the Mandalorian. It's very funny that this movie has come out at a time when Disney is under fire because of the Jimmy Kimmel News. We don't need to unpack the Jimmy Kimmel News. There are a lot of other places to go to for it. But nothing could seem more like a please ignore the noise over here than here is our new Star wars trailer. And I'm not saying that this wasn't planned three months ago, because it probably was, but it.

[B]

And also, here's what we value. Money.

[A]

Yes. Yeah. And I've watched the Mandalorian. I really enjoyed the first season. The last couple seasons, the general Star Wars TV project has really Lost me in the last few years. It will probably come as no surprise for people to hear that hear me talk about all of the TV shows that Disney's been making for adults. And I thought this looked like an episode of the show. And if you like the show, that's great. But this movie is directed by Jon Favreau, who is actually a real filmmaker. He makes a lot of films in the IP franchise space, but he's done some really interesting stuff even in the franchise space when he works on like the Lion King and the Jungle Book. And those, those movies actually look quite good. This just looked like another episode of the show that he directs. And so is that a value proposition for people who want to go out to the movies? I'm not entirely sure I will watch it because I'm a moron and I feel I have to watch all of these films. Despite what Tracy Letts said on the.

[B]

Physical media episode, I'm an hour and 20 minutes in.

[A]

Okay, you've only got six more hours to go.

[B]

I know. Maybe, maybe, maybe longer. You know, I love all of you. All four. All four of you. I love even you though. I don't show up very often. And so for a while in there, it's like, it's nice to, you know, it's nice to be with people. I love talking about something that they love. I do have that ability within me. And also like kind of sociologically interesting. Right?

[A]

A Mount Rushmore sized butt is coming and.

[B]

Well, I mean, that's true.

[A]

Statue of Liberty, of butts.

[B]

So once we. Well, that just makes me think of some other things. Once we get to the part of the episode where you are going title by title and label by label. The best part, well, it just obviously you're all insane and. But to me it was more of the small moments of insanity that are going to stay with me of, you know, Tracy pulling out something, you just being like, uh huh, yes. And then you're just like, this is the hottest Sam Elliott has ever looked at a movie that no one's ever heard of that we, we own in like four different formats. And I was like, okay, so these are diseased people who I love.

[A]

I would like to strongly encourage you to see the film Lifeguard. If you think you would enjoy it, I would be happy, but.

[B]

Except I, you know, is it the right format?

[A]

It's Blu Ray. Yeah.

[B]

Okay. I have one of those. You know, you and Tracy also have like a very like beautiful, almost like Star wars, like, you know, like, you know, like Obi Wan Luke relationship. That's, like, very beautiful.

[A]

He is truly the master Jedi.

[B]

And also, like, I love you both, and I hope your kids get to go to college because the numbers are pretty insane.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I listen. I guess it's good to have passions. I don't think that you should be ever allowed to make fun of me again for any of the shit that I'm interested in, because it's just different shit. But you're always just like, ooh, teacups. You know, but, like, so what? A lot of art and, you know, craft went into making a teacup. So if I care about that. You care about plastic.

[A]

Everyone listening to the movie podcast agrees with you. You should definitely spend $800 on tea.

[B]

But it wasn't about movies. It was not.

[A]

It was. It was about celebrating what's on the plastic discovery.

[B]

It was about the fetishization of steel film slipcovers. All parts.

[A]

All part and parcel.

[B]

So, you know, I appreciate art and visual achievement in all its forms, whether it's a film or a teacup. So there.

[A]

I won't make fun of you for teacups.

[B]

Okay. I don't believe you. Do you want to hear what I think about the.

[A]

I do want to hear what you think about this movie.

[B]

So. Well, I just. I just watched the trailer, and my take is, you know, this comes for all kid actors, but I will say a Grogu is getting less cute as he ages.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And so that's a real problem.

[A]

Sheesh.

[B]

You know, he's just not as cute as he was. But.

[A]

And listen, have they aged him up in your mind?

[B]

Yeah, and he's losing. And listen, it's a pot and kettle situation because I am also losing volume in my face. You know, it comes for all of us, and I don't think he should, but it's just. Yeah, it's getting narrower and it's not as cute.

[A]

The thing is, you know, Yoda is, I think, centuries old, and he's getting cuter with age. Like, I think in their species.

[B]

I guess so. So he's in the middle.

[A]

Cause like Yoda in the prequels, when he's a little bit more. He's got a little bit more, like, pizazz to him. You know, he's flipping around and swinging a lightsaber. He's not as. He's not as appealing as he is in charge.

[B]

I mean, I guess maybe this is like the adolescence of Grogu, and it's.

[A]

Was that communicated in the trailer? I feel like it's like three Days later.

[B]

I'm just looking at the composition of the face over time, you know?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because what else am I looking at? What are those, like, big machines on stilts? Calls AT atz. Yeah. Like, okay, that's. That looks like a cool video game. Hope you guys have fun playing that. I don't care.

[A]

I'm glad you brought that up.

[B]

I'm looking at Grogu.

[A]

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, because the AT ATS are of, like, pretty legendary, I think. I think we first saw them in Hoth in Empire Strikes Back.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Those droids, those giant droid Mach like tanks were handcrafted, and there was, like, you know, made by humans. And in this trailer, they're cgi, and there's just more CGI in Star wars than there used to be. And there's clearly going to be a lot in this movie. And Star wars is kind of is arguably the most relevant movie to the development of visual technology in film in the last 50 years. And Lucas going back into the original movies and adding stuff.

[B]

I see that discussion on the physical media episode and all the CGI stuff.

[A]

You thought that was valuable?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Okay.

[B]

Thank you. But that had nothing to. And I guess the fact that it's not available is both, you know, the filmmaker's intent and also why we need, you know, notes and group projects.

[A]

A lot of listeners reached out about that, actually, and they're like, this is available. This is available. You just have to buy it. But what you're buying is not an officially released version of the movie. It's like, you know, bootleg copies that are being sold on, like, sloppyseconds.com.

[B]

Okay. And so that doesn't have the reference or the transfer that you correct.

[A]

Some people say it's just this good, but I don't know. I haven't seen those. I'm trying to support the industry. You know, I'm not trying to bootleg, but some people have a different philosophy about that. They think you should torrent movies and share bootlegs.

[B]

I did think that the suggestion that you guys donate everything to the public library once you've replaced things is a good one.

[A]

I have a huge crate full of doubles that I be. I. Chris, should get some of them, but I would love to just give them to people who want them. Maybe at our next live show, I'll give away. I have a ton of Criterion doubles at this point that I need to give away.

[B]

How are you going to get them to New York? You going to have a little wonderful Question. Like.

[A]

Like, Tracy, I'd rather not do that since I will be traveling with my family. I'll figure something out. Mandalorian and Grogu. So will you see. You'll see it for work?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Would you ever in a million years see it if you did not have this job?

[B]

No.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Respectfully.

[A]

Interesting. I am. I'm quite curious about how this movie plays because Star wars has not been at the movies in. It'll be seven years at this point when the movie comes out, because the.

[B]

I like Sigourney Weaver. Looked nice.

[A]

She did. She did.

[B]

Happy to see her?

[A]

Yeah, sure. I mean, we don't know what she. Does she. Does she have any dialogue in that sequence?

[B]

No. She and Roku just have a wordless exchange.

[A]

Right. And he.

[B]

And it's played for humor.

[A]

And then like a mug toward him. Ashtray. What is it?

[B]

Looked like maybe a snack.

[A]

A snack. I see. Okay. How do you feel about the Force?

[B]

I mean, I don't think about it a lot, honestly.

[A]

Would you put in the time to learn how to harness it if someone came to you and said, hey, Amanda, the Force is real and I know how to do it and I'll teach you. But it's going to require one year of study.

[B]

But isn't it, like, you have to be called. Not everyone has the Force.

[A]

Yes, but you've been tapped on the shoulder.

[B]

But.

[A]

But you have the midi chlorians needed.

[B]

Yeah. So. But it. But it. It's. I mean, it's genetic. It's like handed down.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. I mean, well, so, you know, that's dicey.

[A]

But it is also religious.

[B]

Oh, yeah. I don't do that.

[A]

Spiritual.

[B]

I think, you know that I'm not really interested in engaging in my spiritual life. But, like, at the same time.

[A]

That's so funny the way you frame that, too. It makes it sound like the. The life does exist somewhere.

[B]

Yeah. No, it's like.

[A]

Like you probably do have it in storage.

[B]

And in some ways, like, I'm just using it every day in my own.

[A]

Way, you know, you probably do have the Force.

[B]

That's what this looks like.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely.

[B]

It's. But no, I'm not.

[A]

Can we get, like, the Force Ghost Halo around Amanda this morning? Just. Can you go and post on that, Jack?

[B]

The. The Rian Johnson one?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, Mark Hamill was such a pill. Like, I'm not putting up with that. Wow.

[A]

You know, Damn.

[B]

When he was training Ray.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, no, thanks.

[A]

Well, I mean, he was a part of a broken revolution, you know.

[B]

He had his spirit crossed, all of that. But, like, is that how.

[A]

I tell you what, the last. Reminds me of another movie that's coming out very soon.

[B]

I know, but now we can talk about different ways that everyone, you know, expresses themselves, coping with the gender, the next generation.

[A]

Okay, that's.

[B]

There I go.

[A]

That hadn't occurred to me. That's really funny.

[B]

As soon as I'm talking about them.

[A]

So one last thing. This did occur to me while brushing my teeth this morning. Cause my life is so sad. I had watched this trailer, and then I went to go brush my teeth, and I started thinking about the Last Jedi and what it did to the fandom of these movies and TV shows, right? And it broke them. The idea of rejecting some of the dogma of Lucas Star wars world in that film cleaved the fandom into two people who like the Last Jedi and people who do not, you know, and people who rejected Johnson's ideas of what the movie could be became like a subjective war about taste and what these movies and TV shows should do. And this movie feels like the final step in the retreat, right? The retreat to serving the fans. The fans, whoever the fans are. I'm a fan, but I. And I like the Last Jedi, but some don't. And it just feels.

[B]

The fans, they can make money off.

[A]

Of, but it feels smaller. It does feel like it's speaking to us. Like, you know, we've been talking about the Marvel stuff and all the. How the franchises are getting smaller across all movies, and everybody's looking for something new to kind of break through. And this is like, this show's been around for five years. You know, this isn't new. There's almost nothing in the trailer that we see that is like, oh, I've never seen that before. You know, I guess we see a Hutt fighting, you know, like, Jabba the Hutt.

[B]

Oh, yeah. In the arena.

[A]

But even still, it's like, we've seen Hutts before. You know, it's just like. It's a lot of stuff that we're like, yeah, I know that Babu Frick. Did you see him in there getting in the mix? Wasn't that Babu Frick?

[B]

Oh, from the Force Awakens?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or no, was he in the Force Awakens or.

[B]

I don't remember, but he was small.

[A]

Jack, when does Bob Afrik show up? Come on. You're the Star wars expert. Literally zero clue. Okay, Anyway, he was small.

[B]

Maybe it was Last Skywalker, because I thought Babu Frick was funny in what was otherwise, like, A ridiculous movie.

[A]

I believe you're right. I think it's the last Skywalker, but.

[B]

I could not remember his name.

[A]

Okay, I guess that's one of the biggest movies of 2026.

[B]

I guess so.

[A]

I'll see it. Maybe I'll love it.

[B]

I mean, I really do hope to be in France. Will it follow us to France is the real concern.

[A]

Well, that is in play, right? It could premiere at Cannes.

[B]

I hope that. I mean, Thierry, come on, have a little self respect.

[A]

I mean, Indiana Jones and the dialogue.

[B]

I know Thierry does not have that.

[A]

There's got to be a big, noisy Hollywood movie that opens the festival, right? Yeah, it's probably the best candidate. Okay, we shall see. Okay, let's just quickly talk about the box office, because we haven't been talking about this for a while. The last kind of mega sensation at the box office was Weapons, which we hit on last week on the show. And September is usually a pretty rough time. September is kind of the new February, and the only thing that really works are horror movies. And so, like, in recent years, the two IT films were released in September. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice last year was the big hit. This year, we've had the Conjuring Last Rites, which has been a real sensation. It's made already $150 million in three weeks, which is pretty crazy. And then after that, it's been a little rocky. So a couple of new films we'll talk about here on the episode. We'll talk about him. We'll talk about the long walk. We'll talk about Downton Abbey. We'll talk about a big, bold, beautiful journey. Those have all come out in the last two weeks. The biggest movie in the country for the last two weeks has been Demon Slayer, Infinity Castle. Now, you haven't seen it. No, and neither have I. Okay, not a huge anime head.

[B]

Nor am I. We're too old.

[A]

That might very much a Gen Z and young millennial phenomenon.

[B]

The generational divide of. We're just like. Well, culturally.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I think I am just a little daunted by what I understand to be everything that comes before this installment of the Demon Slayer story that I'm like, I'm not sure if I'll understand this at all. And so I don't even know how valuable it would be for us to talk about it. However, what's undeniable is how much it is connecting with, like, a hyper niche, like a power niche. And the audience is just showing up for this. This movie's made $100 million. It's the first animated movie in 2025 to make $100 million. First of all, that's an insane statistic. Animated movies are among the most reliable movie types that they have out there. They have been, I think, the highest grossing since then. Prior to this, rather, was Dogman, which came out in January and made like.

[B]

96 million, which I learned my son has seen twice.

[A]

Seen the film twice.

[B]

He has seen Dogman twice. That was his plain film of choice.

[A]

Oh, very cool.

[B]

I had no idea what was happening. I was in charge of the other babies. I was charged with the babies.

[A]

It gentle. Yeah. Anyway, obviously movies like Elio just completely bombed. And so Demon Slayer is kind of blotting everything out now. This is like a kind of a very soft weekend in general. A lot of stuff underperformed that we'll get into shortly. But is there any part of you. Okay, let me ask you this. It's a good way to think about it. It's pretty reasonable to expect that Knox will get into anime. It is like a real draw for young kids. And it's not. I mean, it's. To me, it's not like video games. Like, there's nothing insidious about anime. It's just a certain type of storytelling and it's very movie and television focused. And, you know, I know that the Midnight Boys are probably going to talk about this movie pretty soon, but I don't know when you and I would ever talk about Demon Slayer, like, in depth, the way we would one battle after another.

[B]

Right.

[A]

If he's into it, like, will you encourage it? Will he be baffled? Will he try to.

[B]

How's he getting into it?

[A]

Friends? I mean, it's usually peers, right? It's like one friend likes it and then another friend is like, did you see that?

[B]

I guess so. It still feels like we're a little far away from that. He hasn't come home yet and been like, oh, I need to watch xyz. And even at soccer practice today, this week, there were some Paw Patrol stickers. And Knox came over and was like, I have Paw Patrol. And I was like, well, that's a very special soccer only thing. I don't know where else we would find that, you know? Cause I'm not going down that road.

[A]

So we have managed to avoid that one entirely. I will say something that has been happening that is related to this, and this was not even true when we recorded our episode about it, but K Pop Demon Hunters is such a phenomenon at school. And the shift from 3 years old to 4 years old for my daughter means that the girls, all of her friends, sing the songs together at school.

[B]

Oh, that's cute.

[A]

And talk about the movie. And then my daughter comes home and she says, can we put on the music? I want to dance. I want to fight. You saw some fighting this weekend?

[B]

We did, yeah.

[A]

You know, some battling. And it's like the first time that I've really seen the socialization impact of pop culture Right. From her. You know, she saw the movie a couple times, liked it, didn't talk to me about it after that. And then when the crew is hanging out and talking about it, and this is very much in the same vein.

[B]

Well, the music is also a huge part of that. Right. And that the music is good and can exist independently of the movie and then can also be a thing that they can glom onto so that they like, if they don't understand like the demon hunting mythology or if they aren't attracted to that, they at least can like sing golden 45 times.

[A]

That's what it is.

[B]

So.

[A]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

[B]

So. And. And that is true of a lot of kids entertainments, right, that are based on songs or have songs throughout. And that's how they get continued on. Yeah, I mean, that's sort of why.

[A]

I ask, I think because I'm going through it in my home and I like K Pop Demon Hunters. So it's not a problem. Those songs are great. But there will be something a year from now that is less good. And then you're like, okay, how do we navigate this phenomenon that everyone loves? And we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, I suppose.

[B]

Yeah. It seems right now like Batman and Legos are the two likeliest for you. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, Batman and Legos both rock.

[B]

We tried the Batman Lego Movie, but he was too little and he was scared.

[A]

But do you have any Batman Legos at your house?

[B]

No Legos yet. Because psy is just menace. And so it's like a choking hazard issue. I mean, we could do it, but we got a lot of Magna Tiles.

[A]

I got it. Brainstorming on gifts. The other thing I wanted to note, we've been seeing this a little bit over the last couple years. Is in the top 10. There are two movies that were released several decades ago, Toy Story, which was re released two weeks ago, and Howl's Moving Castle, which was also released two weeks ago. Studio Ghibli's been doing a re release of all their films throughout the summer. And Toy story is 30 years old, which is quite terrifying to learn that it's 30 years old. Yeah, I'm getting old.

[B]

I hosted another of these. I hosted a Q and a after a 25th anniversary screening of Bring it on last night.

[A]

Tell us about it.

[B]

Well, I just bring it on as 25, which is, like, really alarming, especially when I realized I was in high school when this movie came out. So that's just. That's tough. It was very fun. I got to meet Kirsten Nunst, who was absolutely lovely. I got to meet Gabrielle Union. She was absolutely lovely. Lindsey Sloan, Jesse Bradford. But, yeah, no, we're real old. Like, really old.

[A]

It's funny that this stuff is being trotted out as Simon nostalgia and introduction for kids, so little kids can watch this stuff for the first time on the big screen, which I love. But for adults, it's like comfort food for them, too, you know, to go see Howl's moving castle with your kid.

[B]

It's a lot of fun. It's very nice.

[A]

Yeah. One more time.

[B]

We did do that this weekend, but it was for Singing in the Rain at the Academy Museum.

[A]

Yeah, I heard. That's great.

[B]

Yeah, it was great. It was very charming.

[A]

I had quite a movie weekend.

[B]

I did. And Knox really liked it, too. And Knox sat through the whole thing.

[A]

Excellent.

[B]

And he led clapping after every song.

[A]

Was it in the big room or the small room?

[B]

It was downstairs, the Ted Man Theater. The Green theater. The green seats, as they're known in our house. And it was great. It was a mix of. I think Knox was probably the youngest person there, but there were other young kids, and then there were people of all ages. And that movie's really good. I don't know if you've heard.

[A]

I'll check it out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

One other new release thing to get into before we start talking about films that are actually out in the world. It was announced last week that on October 3rd, AMC Theaters will be releasing something called Taylor Swift, the official release party of a showgirl. Which is. What is that?

[B]

So it is an event loosely related to cinema and very related to her new album, the Life of a Showgirl I see, which comes out then, I believe, that day.

[A]

What's the idea behind that album?

[B]

It's about the life of a showgirl.

[A]

Is it a concept album?

[B]

Don't know yet. I worry that it is.

[A]

Is it about the Pamela Anderson film that came out last year?

[B]

I mean, in some ways that would be better. The more that she moves towards, like, fiction, you know, she's not writing from Life. She's writing from her imagination and it's sort of like creative writing workshop. That's tough for me.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Uh, personally, I just, I like, I don't care for it, but you know, she's. This could be about eras tour, it could be about Travis, it could be about, you know, I don't know what.

[A]

Travis.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Have you heard of it, who you're referring to?

[B]

Um, he won a game last night. I heard.

[A]

Well, I would say Patrick Mahomes won.

[B]

A game in the Chiefs defense.

[A]

Um, Mahomes. I, I'm, I'm. I'm just striking the haters down. I feel he still got it. He made three throws in the second half that were out of this world. It was really nice to be not prepping and watching a movie for like 10 minutes and watching football yesterday.

[B]

That felt great.

[A]

Boy. Anything else?

[B]

Are we going to see this or are you going to go? We're going to be in New York.

[A]

I don't know it sound. It's just, it doesn't sound like a movie. Like, if it's a movie, like the Aurora. I was, I wouldn't say I was happy to see it, but I was like, this is a movie event. Right. They have made a concert film which is something that we both like and have done. Well, this feels like a 70 minute like stunt.

[B]

Yeah. There's a song there, there's a music video, there's like behind the scenes footage. I don't really care either.

[A]

I must say. A24 must be fucking pissed because this is the weekend of the Smashing Machine and they had that weekend all to themselves. And now here comes Taylor Swift and this will almost certainly be the number one movie of the weekend. I don't know. Maybe. Can you see it and like level set it for me at some point?

[B]

Well, I don't know whether I'm going to be able to get tickets and I think it's a pretty limited event.

[A]

Do you want to cancel our live show?

[B]

Yeah, I will no longer be there. I will be down the street at the a.m. or I guess like across the park. I don't know what's going on on the Upper east side. I'm excited to find out, you know, if, if I could go on Friday. I guess maybe I have dinner plans, but.

[A]

Okay. I'm not invited to dinner.

[B]

No, actually, but you could come another. We could do dinner another night.

[A]

Thanks for the invite. Did we miss anything else of note?

[B]

I'm sure. But you know, do you think we.

[A]

Should Turn this into a 24 hour livestream, where we just look at social media and see what we've missed in recent days.

[B]

That would go really well.

[A]

Okay, I'm stalling a bit because I don't even know how to dig in all these movies. Yeah, there's been a ton of stuff that's come out recently.

[B]

We've seen a lot of them.

[A]

I've more or less organized this in reverse chronology where we start at the most recent movies that have come out and go backwards from there. How do you feel about that?

[B]

I feel good. I've seen most of the first ones and then at some point it drops off because I was.

[A]

You've seen a couple that I haven't seen too. So let's start with him.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Because him is the highest grossing new movie of the weekend.

[B]

Right.

[A]

This is the new film from Monkeypaw Productions, which is Jordan Peele's company. There were a lot of produced by Jordan Peele notes on the marketing and posters around town, which I think confused some people and made them think maybe this was a Jordan Peele movie. It is not. It's directed by Justin Tipping, it's written by Skip Bronke, Zach Akers and Tipping. And it stars Marlon Wayans, Tyreek Withers, who we just saw, and I know what you did last summer, the reboot of that franchise. Julia Fox and Tim Heidecker. This is not what I was expecting.

[B]

What were you expecting?

[A]

I think I was expecting something along the lines of Any given Sunday. Oliver Stone's look at professional football, non NFL sanctioned, but a kind of ensemble drama slash hyper kinetic action movie set in the world of sports. And I knew that this had a huge horror element. We saw the trailer for this movie at Cinemacon and I remember we were talking with Craig Horlbach and we were like, it's kind of never really been like a sports horror movie before, or at least not one set in the world of football, makes a lot of sense. Football is one of the most beloved and known things in our culture. And coming from Jordan Peele's company, a lot of this makes a lot of sense. The movie heading into the weekend was tracking really well. And then all of a sudden it dived pretty dramatically in part because it's gotten very bad reviews.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I thought this was going to be a big story of epic scope in which a lot of football was played.

[B]

Right. Well, another key word there is story, which you thought there was going to be a story.

[A]

There's not a lot of story. I mean, there's some story, but it is pretty bare bones.

[B]

Yeah. And it's an idea.

[A]

It's a great idea.

[B]

It's a great idea. And it also, it, it is, it wants to be, or I shouldn't say want to. Wants to. It is a movie about, you know, how football, the football industry prays upon or uses up, you know, young black men in particular. I guess it's a little bit about black masculinity. It knows it's all of its ideas, but then that's just like, that's it. It's like. So again, this is what it's about and we're going to say that to you pretty literally.

[A]

Well, there's like one more aspect of it, but it's connected to what you just described, which is I think like the religion of football and the way that like people turn themselves over to these godlike powers and who's really in charge of the institutions and then who do they use right inside of those institutions? How do they prey upon those people? And so in this case, the movie is about a young star quarterback coming out of college who is about to be drafted and could be the next great qb. And the team he becomes closely aligned with is known as the Saviors. Hint, hint. And in an effort to train ahead of the launch of the new season, he goes to the home of a retiring quarterback for the franchise. Maybe retiring quarterback who is an icon to this franchise. Beloved. And Tyreek Withers is the young prospect. Marlon Wayans plays this iconic figure and it's sort of like, like a Silence of the Lamb style horror character study between these two guys and the things that they go through to. And it's sort of a mystery, but it's not scary. And then there's no real revelation at the other side of it. I will say the movie is extremely stylish and beautiful.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it does effectively feel like a 90 minute commercial. You know, where you can watch a commercial and be like, damn cinematography, the vision, the way that this is executed. Commercials can be beautiful, but they're often kind of hollow. And this movie looked beautiful to me, but I thought the story was very hollow. And I thought despite some kind of interesting performances from the two leads, it was like really unsuccessful and kind of enervating. Like the whole time I was sort of like, when is the story going to start?

[B]

Yes, exactly.

[A]

Because it's like it's just a movie about training because there's no football played.

[B]

And then it's. And also the only other aspect of the story is like, is he going to be the goat but they keep saying, will he be the goat? Like, it's like, can he, like, be elected president or something? Like, it's like a literal, you know, title or job. It's like, it's mvp.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And I'm like, well, I'm glad you guys like podcasts so much, but that's not really how it works. And you sound stupid when you keep saying it. I thought Julia Fox was very funny.

[A]

She was. She was the only person I thought who was really, like, on the wavelength of the camp sense of humor in the movie. And I don't know if that's. That feels like a function of directing. Like, the performers are not really at fault if the movie has a completely uneven tone. And the tone is just really. There's times where it is like a brutally violent psychological horror film. And then there are other times where it's like borderline, like slapstick.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I found it a little bit tough to understand what they were actually going for, ultimately.

[B]

Yeah, I. I mean, I was just. I was missing a plot, you know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I agree with you that it looked, you know, good and distinctive. And it's like, I understand what they wanted to convince Bay to us, but I didn't. I was bored. Honestly. I was just bored because there was no, you know, first act, second act, third act. It just. It wasn't moving anywhere.

[A]

Yeah. The movie that it actually made me think about, which it. It on the surface made that seem like it has a lot in common with, but I think actually has a lot in common with is Infinity Pool. I don't know if you ever saw that. The Alexander Skarsgard Me, a goth movie that Brandon Cronenberg directed.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Skarsgrd is like on a vacation and he meets this with his girlfriend. He meets this. This couple and they kind of draw him into their world. And it's about seclusion and cult, like, fascination. And it's very gory and phantasmagoric. And there's, you know, an orgy sequence in this movie. There's an orgy sequence in that movie. But, like, the Cronenberg movie has a million things on its mind, is really immersive and interesting. You have no idea where it's going. This movie is just kind of like dead end after dead end.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And I mean, it is a bummer.

[B]

It's parceled out day by day with like, you know, title cards that tell you what's going to happen. It was really weird.

[A]

And they don't really. But they don't lead anywhere. And they're not really insightful about the plotting of the story. So, yeah, this is. This is a pretty big disappointing miss. You know, you mentioned that you really liked Tyreek Withers when we were doing I Know what yout Did Last Summer. And he definitely. He has. He has screen presence.

[B]

He was good and memorable. You know, I thought that that movie like this sort of did a disservice to its cast. Can't use their terms.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's not his fault.

[A]

Marlon Wayans is 53.

[B]

I know.

[A]

So that would be old for a QB. Now, he looks great.

[B]

He looks great and he's in great.

[A]

Shape, and I guess you could buy it. But I have been living with Marlon Wayans in my life for a really long time.

[B]

But are you supposed to. There are a lot of like. Like occult bargain with the devil. Like, you know, there's a little substance going on in here, so aren't you supposed to believe that, like, I mean, he's like, literally getting blood transfusions. So I don't know. People. People can do weird now.

[A]

But we're not meant to believe in the chronology of the story that he's been playing for 32 years, which is how long he would be playing.

[B]

That's fine.

[A]

But like, in this NFL. Fake NFL.

[B]

45. You know, how old's Tom Brady? And he just.

[A]

I think he retired at 45.

[B]

Okay. So, you know, I. I'm not trying to age.

[A]

Shame. Marlon Wayans, he looks. Sounds better than I ever will and is more.

[B]

That wasn't the biggest logic problem in the movie for me.

[A]

I guess I'm like, I saw Marlon Wayans in a movie in like, 1991.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, so it's just. It's a little. Just a head scratcher for me. Was. Was Hammer more or less of a fiasco than a big, bold, beautiful Journey?

[B]

This is a great question. Maybe less, but that's possibly just because of expectations.

[A]

See, that's okay. So I'm glad you set it up for that.

[B]

And I would say him at least achieves something visually where, like. Huh.

[A]

Where it has a certain kind of style that maybe we don't see it in the movies very often. I enjoyed the one moment in him, by the way, when the headshot comes in and they flipped to X ray.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[A]

You know, there were a couple of choices like, that were cool. A big, bold, beautiful Journey is kind of a heartbreaking movie. I love Kogonada's first film, Columbus Incredible Love. One of my favorite movies of the last 20 years. I talked about it the year that it came out. It was in my top five. I had him on the show for After Yang. It's a really gifted filmmaker. This movie is just, just, just dead on arrival. And I feel terrible to say that, but like I there people have pointed something out interesting about it.

[B]

What happened here.

[A]

It really is top to bottom. Yes, it is. It's like a dead pigeon. Like, it's like. It's a movie that does not. It never takes off. And it stars Margot Robbie. This is her first feature film since Barbie. Colin Farrell, who has been having a great few years and then even in the supporting cast. Kevin Kline, Phoebe Waller Bridge. It's not written by Kogonada and it is not edited by Kogonada.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Something for us to cite if you liked After Yang or Columbus. It has some of this, like, the kind of presentational style, the framing, the way that he sets up a shot, but everything else feels different. And it's the story. It's a movie about two people who essentially get set up on a blind date at a wedding, and they also, through a rental car service, take them. It takes them on a journey through moments in their past so that they can reflect on who they are, who they were, the things that they did, and whether or not they can or should be together.

[B]

And.

[A]

It reminded me a little bit of like, really kind of treacly 90s movies, like what Dreams May Come, you know, totally like in a sort of magical, realist world. And it's a very sincere, sentimental exploration of feeling, but without any, like, sense of humor or grounding that really clicks. And then the worst thing, I think you'll agree with me, is like, these two people who are individually great, have no chemistry.

[B]

No. And I was thinking a lot about the Margot Robbie character is just a manic pixie dream girl nightmare. And so. And it does have that construction of who is this whimsical woman dressed like Blake Lively from. It ends with us leading this man through some sort of, you know, adventure where he can access his emotions and then maybe find love. Really, really bad stuff. I have a friend who read the original script and said that the script was also originally really good and very different. So your point about how it was not written by Koganata. There's maybe a mismatching here and the interpretation. You know, I texted him and I was like, okay, but what was good in it? Like, I really honestly can't find anything maybe besides Colin Farrell doing How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

[A]

Yeah, well, I didn't I kind of enjoyed that part of it for three minutes.

[B]

I was like, oh, okay. So it's.

[A]

You know, there's a High School Musical set piece in the center of the movie that is very charming.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And maybe the movie should have just been a musical entirely that might have actually been more successful. But I don't. Some of this is my own hang up. Cause like, I took this movie in the movie auction in my movie fantasy league that I'm in. I have this movie. It's probably the only movie I. I picked in that league that is like just straight up not going to do anything. And I think maybe just my appreciation for the two previous coconut movies had me hyped up about it.

[B]

You know, I mean, the writing was on the wall as this. You know, this was Colin Farrell, Margot Robbie and Kogonada before we knew anything about it besides what was on paper. It was anticipated. And then the fall festival lineups came on one by one, and there was just absolutely nothing. It gets this release date.

[A]

I think it was originally supposed to be. Was it Mother. I think it was Mother's Day. And then they bumped it and I was like, they bumped it into this September wasteland.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And I was like, that's not good.

[B]

But I think when they bumped it.

[A]

We had hoped it was like always contender.

[B]

Right. Because we thought that it was because it was after a film festival. So we thought maybe it would debut and then coast right into that.

[A]

To not even be a tiff is.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Anyway, that you. The suspicions were correct.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And really tough stuff. It's wild. And I.

[B]

By the way, I didn't think the visual style worked either.

[A]

I think it was trying to do a kind of elevated imagined production design, like children's book production design.

[B]

For sure.

[A]

And at times it worked. And at other times I was like, why are we in a Burger King right now? Like, what is even the thinking here of this product placement that is meant to be whimsical but is just so tacky, really depressing. A series of really bad choices over and over again. And this is tough because him and a big bull. Beautiful Journey are literally what I'm asking for.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Original young filmmakers, relatively inexperienced. I've only made a couple of movies. Original stories, Stars, Ascendant stars using genre as a springboard to draw audiences in. Horror and romance, in this case, I guess, rom com to some extent. Mostly romance.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And a film for young male audiences and a film for young female audiences. And this is these. This was an open weekend where they could do something. And Demon Slayer, in its second weekend, just obliterated these movies.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because nobody wants this specific thing now. Both of these movies got very bad reviews.

[B]

Very bad reviews and bad cinema scores. Like. Like no one. No one is happy.

[A]

Yes. So I don't want to, you know, confuse or conflate.

[B]

Sometimes you try things and they. And they don't work. Yes. And then the studios put them all on the same day. You know, it's the. It's the movie version of taking, you know, Friday news dump.

[A]

Yeah, it's a September dump.

[B]

Exactly. So it feels really bad in this moment because all the things we want didn't pan out, but they are packaged together for that reason.

[A]

They. They are. And the thing is, when you and I grouse about this, or people who just love movies and want quality, original storytelling grouse about it, this is what executives are afraid of. You know, him is probably like a $30 million movie, and it'll probably make its money back and be fine, but a big boy, beautiful journey. This is a big, expensive movie with movie stars, and it's going to lose a lot of money. It made $4 million this weekend. I mean, it's going to lose a ton of money. And Sony's already having a terrible year. So this is why people are afraid to take risks, is because if you make a big, bold, beautiful journey and you fail, you're going to get fired and the studio is going to make three more Spider man spin offs.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because they're. They. They report to their shareholders. So anyway, that context, I think is useful, even though I would have loved to have loved this movie. And ironically, the next movie that we will talk about is the third installment in a movie series which is spun off from a TV series, which is the exact thing that we say we don't want and we're sick of. And it's one of the most delightful movies of the year.

[B]

I mean, as you said to me when we walked out from our fan screening the Wednesday night, we sat next to people who talked loudly at the TV as if they were at the screen, as if they were at home.

[A]

We were the youngest people at the screening. Ye.

[B]

And that's okay because, you know, at some point when you're like, they should make one of these every year and release them, it's like, that is called television. You know, that's true. And I would watch it happily. We are, of course, talking about Downton Abbey, the grand finale, which I hope is not the grand finale.

[A]

Me too.

[B]

You know, let's Keep going.

[A]

What a winner.

[B]

It's 1930. We have 10 years before the war. You know, like, there's plenty more that we can get to. We can do the.

[A]

We could do Lady Mary for the next 50 years.

[B]

Come on. I guess so, though at some point, she, like, she does have to sell Downton Abbey, you know, so that's fine. That's right. But then that actually kind of.

[A]

But then you just change the title to After Downton Abbey.

[B]

I guess so.

[A]

But then you run into mid century.

[B]

Almost caught up on Gilded Age. Hello, Tracy Letts. How are you? And I'm having the time of my life. And that is, of course, like, Julian Fellowes. Like, next big post, Downton Abbey project.

[A]

But that's set in, like, the 1910s, right?

[B]

No, I think it's like the late 1800s. But it is. It is notably not filmed at a existing great manner in the uk. It is filmed on sound stages and then uses, you know, respectfully, some of the worst CGI I have ever seen in my entire life. Cool New York, though, right? Yeah. But it's like, you know, it looks super, super fake because they're imagining a New York of 100 years ago. And then, I don't know, like, no spoilers. But I just watched there. There was a crash recently that, like, was insulting. You know, like, I pay for my HBO max. Like, come on.

[A]

Just how bad it looks.

[B]

Yeah. Like, you guys actually can do a little better. But so you. This is all to say that I, like Julian Fellows, needs the location for it to, like. And I'm loving Gilded Age and, like, I hope it runs forever, but I do think that you need an actual place. And so if they had to sell Down Abbey, that would be tough.

[A]

Well, it's interesting that you say that, because that is obviously a huge part of the tension of this story. Cause this movie takes place, as you said, in 1930, and the Crawleys are. They have to downsize. You know, we're entering a new era of England, and the manor era is ending, and the family has to look at their finances and what they can and can't afford. Just running the Abbey, just upkeeping it, is tremendously expensive. Plus, you know, you've got. Lord Crawley is passing the sort of family heritage and ownership down to Lady Mary.

[B]

Is he Lord Crawley or Lord Grantham?

[A]

Lord Grantham. Excuse me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Why do I keep saying Crawley?

[B]

Well, their family name is Crawley.

[A]

Got it. Lord Grantham.

[B]

He is Lord Grantham. Yeah.

[A]

Thank you for correcting me. And the tension, literally, in the movie is Coral Grantham, I think the core of the flat, which is. Which would be the easily the nicest apartment you and I have ever lived in.

[B]

Totally.

[A]

And he is just baffled and miserable at the idea of living in this flat.

[B]

Lord Grantham gets his. What is a weekend? Which is like, what is a flat?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And he's like, what if I want to go upstairs, you know, to. To take a bath? And they're like, there is no upstairs. But, yeah, they have to. They sell their London home.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

Which is what all, like all the quote unquote, great families were doing at that time. But they. So they can keep the estate.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But if you don't got the estate.

[A]

Yeah, obviously it should be the other way around. They should be selling the Abbey so that they can keep the London home.

[B]

That's what you would do.

[A]

Well, yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because we know what happens to all of these giant manors in the 20th century. They all become decrepit and have to be sold off. I mean, become like museum pieces.

[B]

That is true. And it's the Second World War that, you know, brings it on. And only, really, only they could see.

[A]

The rise of fascism in 19.

[B]

They also open them to. There's an option where they, like, become museums.

[A]

Yeah, sure.

[B]

And that still happens where, like, people live in little small wings and then, you know, like the National Trust.

[A]

What does that mean for Lord Grantham's bottom dollar, though? You know, have you considered that?

[B]

Well, you like, pay entrance and people go. And then there's like a gift shop.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so, you know, that. That could be funny. Like, Lady Mary is like the docent of the something. I don't really know. Keep making them. This movie. The other thing this movie does. Okay. Matthew Good was not available for Movie two, and so he just wasn't in it. And they were, quote, unquote, like, having marital problems.

[A]

Yes. And apparently Matthew Goode's character is married to Michelle Dockery's character, Lady Mary Henry.

[B]

And he likes racing cars, as you know. Sure. So I guess he was not available for Movie three. He was too busy doing Department Q or whatever is going on.

[A]

Good show.

[B]

I still haven't seen it. It'll be next on my list.

[A]

Really liked it.

[B]

Gilded Age is more important to me.

[A]

Personally, but you know me, I never say good show. I thought it was very good.

[B]

Okay, that's great.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So. Although I think Chris and Andy spoiled it for me. Whatever. Anyway, so Matthew Good cut out. Lady Mary's getting a divorce and this is bringing on a lot of social Tension. Which is also a major plot line in episode in season three of the Gilded Age. Just to let you know, things have not gotten better, at least for the Brits.

[A]

Well, that is 50 years in the past, but sure.

[B]

Well, for Downton Abbey, things have not gotten better, but it's really. Also, like Americans, it's okay, but the Brits are slow and proper. Anyway, so Lady Mary is getting a divorce and instead has to possibly get frisky with some people who come to visit.

[A]

Alessandra Nivola, who plays a. A companion of Paul Giamatti's brother character, Elizabeth McGovern. And he is in financial straits at the height of the. No, I guess right at the end of the depression, essentially, 1930 would be. Right. When the depression is ending.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And he has been financially rescued by the Nivola character.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And he whisks his way into this London lifestyle.

[B]

Right. And the novella character also has a horse running at Ascot.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And this, again, it's a major CGI ascot.

[A]

It is.

[B]

And so this is the problem. You need the real house.

[A]

Well, you do.

[B]

I do. Yes. I have standards. Okay.

[A]

But Lady Mary's gonna be downsizing soon.

[B]

This is like your first. This is your version of the at ATS or CGI instead of real. No, no, no, no. We want the real house.

[A]

Okay. I stand with you. I stand with you.

[B]

Like, let's. That's location matters.

[A]

It didn't take away from my utter enjoyment of this movie.

[B]

Yeah, same. But I'm just. This is for, you know, the next grand finale.

[A]

Yes. If you like these movies, like, if you liked the show. All three movies are great. If you don't care about the show, there's no reason to watch the movies.

[B]

Right. I would say that my rankings of the movies are. Number two is the best. Then this one.

[A]

Two, three. One. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Two, three, one.

[A]

I'm with you 100%. Three was great. I feel like it's doing fine. The first movie made well over $100 million. Like, it was a hit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Second movie did fine. This movie's doing less than that.

[B]

Second movie, though, was Pandemic.

[A]

It was.

[B]

I watched it on Peacock with my mom, and that was.

[A]

You didn't see it with me?

[B]

No, I didn't.

[A]

Oh, okay. I saw it in theaters, and I had a grand old time.

[B]

No, I. I watched it at home with my mother, and it was. It was awesome.

[A]

Okay. Let me tell you about the long walk.

[B]

Oh. I was on leave. That's why.

[A]

That makes sense.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

How could you And I noticed.

[B]

And then I was with my mom and we put Knox to bed and we were just like, it's downtone.

[A]

Two is great.

[B]

Two is incredible. And again, they go to the real house in the south of France, and it is also real estate focused.

[A]

You're pointing at me very aggressively.

[B]

Well, you did two hours about physical media. Let me do five minutes about how we need to.

[A]

If you want to do a whole Downton Abbey episode. Houses, you can do it.

[B]

No, just real houses.

[A]

Real places, best movie houses is a great idea for an episode. So just think on that. I know you're going to say father of the bride and da, da, da.

[B]

I have done. I did do that list on an episode of the Rewatchables.

[A]

That's right. On the Nancy Myers episode.

[B]

No, it was actually on the War of the Roses episode, which, by the way, we did not see the Roses. Sorry. Yeah, I saw a lot of posters for it in France. They were really excited about it in France. However, I was not the rare case.

[A]

Where I am a hypocrite in that I don't want movies to go to VOD three weeks after release, ever. I want them to stay in theaters as long as possible. This was the one time where I was like, please, I would like to see the Roses. Because I was out of town when the movie was released. Anyhow, Olivia Colman is on Good Hang last week. Please enjoy. She's great. You're not missing a whole lot. Okay. You saw the Roses. I did. You didn't love it. All right, it's fine. Okay. This episode is supported by FX's the Lowdown, starring Ethan Hawke. Allow us to introduce you to Lee Raybon, a quirky journalist slash rare bookstore owner slash unofficial truth seeker who is always on the tail of his latest conspiracy. This time, his most recent expose, puts him head to head with a powerful family that rules Tulsa. Meaning only one thing. He must be onto something big. FX is The Lowdown. Premiere September 23rd on FX, stream on Hulu. Let me tell you about the long walk quickly, because I've had a lot of people ask me if I saw this. I was texting with a couple of friends over the weekend about this movie, too. Okay, so this is the latest Stephen King adaptation. It is directed by Francis Lawrence. The Screenplay is by J.T. molnar, who is the man who wrote and directed Strange Darling from last year. This is a kind of an interesting movie in the Stephen King history because it is arguably the first novel he ever wrote. And he wrote it in the 60s. When he was a freshman at the. Did he go to the University of Maine? He did. So he went to the University of Maine. He started writing novels when he was in college. His first big hit novel was Carrie in 1974. And this book, the Long Walk, sat on the shelf basically for 10 years. And he got it published in 79 under his Richard Bachman alias, which is an alias that he has. You know, a lot of writers have, have aliases they publish other novels under. He's published many books under Bachmann. I've never read the Long Walk, even though I've read a lot of those 70s King books. For whatever reason, this one always got past me. It's kind of shocking that it hasn't been adapted until now, but the premise is very simple. It is essentially Shirley Jackson's the Lottery mixed with a marathon.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

So it's about teens, one from each state come together once a year to engage in this kind of high stakes contest where they walk for as long as they possibly can while keeping their pace above 3 miles per hour until there's one person left standing. And that one person left standing is the winner and wins a great prize, unspecified amount of money. Okay, this is clearly run by like a state organization, the military essentially. There's a major played by Mark Hamill, who is essentially in charge of this whole thing. And he is in a truck riding with the walkers throughout the entirety of this film. Really good premise. Francis Lawrence, who has made a number of Hunger Games, I was going to.

[B]

Say a familiar premise for Francis Lawrence.

[A]

Red Sparrow, Constantine made some, some interesting movies. It's definitely like a high toned genre violence. Filmmaker stars Cooper Hoffman and David Johnson. Cooper Hoffman is the lead. He's like our entry character, our portal character. And he is a young guy who is bound and determined to win this contest. But he doesn't reveal why until very late in the film. David Johnson, who people may have seen in Alien, Romulus or Industry, is wonderful. In the first two seasons of Industry, he plays another guy, McFrees, who befriends Cooper Hoffman's character early on in the film. And the whole film is just these guys walking and talking and also terrible things happening to them. If they fall below 3 mph, they get three warnings until they are shot dead. Some people get violently ill along the walk. Some people lose their mind and become suicidal on the walk. You gotta remember they're walking hundreds of miles so they have to piss and defecate. And like all of this comes into play, it's a very gnarly movie in that respect. That's kind of showing you everything. And I was. I was like, more or less into it.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

You can see it's a very hard movie to make because it is essentially like the camera is where the truck is that Mark Hamill is standing on, and the actors are just into camera walking through the entirety of their production. I read that they shot it in. What is the word I'm looking for? From start to finish, essentially in the script.

[B]

In sequence.

[A]

In sequence. Thank you. So they shot it in sequence. And Hoffman and Johnson are amazing in this movie. The script is okay. There's some character stuff that is a little bit glib or overwritten, but their performances are great. Johnson's not American and he's affecting a very interesting Southern accent. And Cooper Hoffman is like, I watched the movie and I was like, just put these guys in movies for the next 40 years. That would be amazing to let them star in movies. I thought the ending of this movie was terrible. And I'm loathe to spoil it for people who haven't seen it yet, but I thought it kind of like rejected a lot of what was exciting about the premise. The movie is like so many movies right now, kind of like a late capitalism metaphor for how money and institutions make everyone crazy. And it's how they control people. And, you know, it's very much like a post apocalyptic landscape, but maybe set in the 1970s somehow, but they're nonspecific about everything. It's all just very much about these guys. Some of the actors are good, some of them are not so good, but it was diverting. And then at the end, I was mad. Okay, that's my takeaway from it.

[B]

All right?

[A]

I wish it was better. And if this was a podcast about the long walk, I'd go frame by frame through it. But it just felt like a major rejection.

[B]

I mean, in a movie like that, you have to stick the landing or else everything else is kind of invalidating.

[A]

It was just dead silent in my movie theater at the end, like, huh. And so. And I. That. That was the opposite of what I think the intention was so kind of spoiled the experience for me. But Hoffman and Johnson, wonderful Lawrence, solid filmmaker. This episode is presented by State Farm. You know what's even more impressive than being an expert at movie trivia? Being smart about saving money. And a great way to do that is by choosing to bundle home and auto insurance with State Farm. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. There's one thing I'm going to make sure I pack for my summer vacation. It's my Apple Card. I can earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, including fuel for my car and booking places to stay. Plus, I don't have to worry about fees, including foreign transaction fees, which is perfect when I'm planning to travel abroad. To get an Apple Card for your summer travels, apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 18.24% to 28.49% based on creditworthiness rates as of July 1, 2025. Terms and [e-mail] the single biggest movie that was released while we were out is Freakier Friday.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So I saw it in a movie theater alone like a normal man at four o'clock on a Thursday.

[B]

I saw it in a movie theater alone at 11:50 on a Tuesday. And a bachelorette party came in.

[A]

No kidding.

[B]

Yeah. I don't know. And then some of them left halfway through. It was very confusing. Also, maybe it was a birthday. I don't know. They were dressed up. Someone was wearing something that looked like a veil.

[A]

I see.

[B]

I wish good luck to everyone.

[A]

This is the sequel to Freaky Friday, which is itself a remake of the original film Freaky Friday. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, all returning. Rosalind Chow and Julia Butter, Sophia Hammons and Manny Jacinto have joined the gang.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So two decades after an identity crisis, Anna's blended family faces new challenges. Anna as Lindsay Lohan, Tess and Anna discover their past may be repeating with the next generation. That's the plot of this movie. What'd you think?

[B]

I had a nice time. I mean, this again, I like. I could have watched this at home, you know, it didn't. It looked. I appreciated that they filmed on location in Los Angeles. Speaking of location, including, you know, like at the line, at, you know, various LA landmarks. But it has a glossy Disney movie quality. That would have been fine.

[A]

It was originally slated for Disney. Was that the idea or was it always a theatrical film? I thought it was maybe a Disney film that they converted.

[B]

That they converted. But, you know, it has at least Looks wise. That feel. But, you know, I. I root for Lindsay Lohan. Always and forever.

[A]

Yes. And the Queen of Long Island.

[B]

I thought she was very funny and I liked that Manny Jacinto got to do Dirty Dancing.

[A]

And Manny Jacinto is British.

[B]

Don't know. Let's Google that right now. Manny Jacinto, as far as I know.

[A]

He is not British.

[B]

Filipino Canadian.

[A]

Okay, let's click. That is not British.

[B]

That's true. But did he possibly grow up somewhere? You know, because it's like where you go to school. This is an interesting phenomenon where you get the. He was raised in Richmond, British Columbia.

[A]

Okay. That is not British. They don't have English accents in British Columbia. This is interesting because when British people are cast as Americans or Australians cast as Americans, we say, oh, yeah, sure. Makes sense. Normal. Sometimes it sounds a little bit funny.

[B]

Right?

[A]

But. But we're always willing to go with the flow. When I was watching this.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

All I could think when he was on screen is, what is Manny Jacinto British?

[B]

Right.

[A]

And I don't know what is and is not a good British accent. And this is.

[B]

So that was your entire experience of Freaker Friday.

[A]

I echo your feelings about Lindsay Lohan. You know, we're like the same age. I grew up ten minutes from her. I have always wanted success for her. She obviously is like incredibly talented and then spent 10 years in the wilderness. People legit worried about her in this movie. I was like, oh, it's like nothing happened. She's exactly the same on screen. Her performance style, her sense of humor, how she can kind of hold a movie together. It's weird. It's weird that she just came back and everything's fine. It's great.

[B]

It's great. I'm happy for her.

[A]

And this is a fun movie. This is a movie that when I was watching it, I was like, I wish my daughter was six years older because this would be such a fun thing to take her to. This is exactly the kind of thing I know she's gonna love. Just knowing her sense of humor, she's gonna be all into this. It felt weird to be a 40 year old man sitting in a movie theater alone watching this. I'm happy for Julia Butters. You know, she's making a career.

[B]

So I've learned that Sophia Hammonds, who plays Lily, Manny Jacinto's British daughter, is also American. So that's weird. So. And early life. Again, this is Wikipedia. So Hammonds was born in South Pasadena, California and moved to Boulder, Colorado at the age of Six.

[A]

Okay. They don't have British accents yet.

[B]

They were not schooled in a place where there are British accents, for the best of my research on Wikipedia.

[A]

Because the movie, you know, hinges on this tension between this British family that has left their home country and then has become a blended family with Lindsay Lohan's family and her daughter, played by Julia Butters. And it's sort of this idea of like, I don't want to be here and I miss my mom, but, like.

[B]

It could have been New York and that would have had absolutely no material.

[A]

Plot difference, or you could have cast British actors. And there are a lot of them in la. It's not like they had to fly them in. But I.

[B]

You know, I thought Manny Jacindo and Sophia Hammonds were both, like, very good.

[A]

They were good. I don't know why this. I tripped on this. It's just because I'm like, I know Manny Jacinto from the Good Place. That's not what he sounds like.

[B]

But so then here's another thing. Spoiler alert.

[A]

This is a dumb thing. I'm not complaining about this.

[B]

Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Some of the characters switch bodies.

[A]

Yeah, they do a number of them, which is revealed in the trailer.

[B]

So at some point, you have Jamie Lee Curtis trying to do, like, the fake British accent.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

As the teenager, which. So, like, maybe they did it just for that comedy. They give her a lot of comedy when she is examining what her face looks like now.

[A]

Let me ask you a question.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Where are you at on Jamie Lee Curtis in 2025?

[B]

So, like, oh, I. You know, I did see the Ellen McKay trailer before this. This screening.

[A]

What'd you think of that?

[B]

And I. Well, I'm nervous, John. I'll tell you. I'm nervous.

[A]

I am as well.

[B]

And what I think about Jamie Lee Curtis is that this might wind up being my favorite performance of the three Jamie Lee Curtis performances that I took in in 2025, assuming.

[A]

Including the last showgirl, you're saying.

[B]

No, that was 2024. I'm talking about the bear.

[A]

Oh, the bear, of course.

[B]

Well, that's tv Freaky or friend. Well, you know, but it's been integral to her reinvention. So, you know, she. She plays a mom. A mom with a lot going on. The Next Generation.

[A]

And you know what else she plays?

[B]

What?

[A]

Podcaster.

[B]

Oh, that's right. That was funny. You know, life comes first, comes for us all.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. She's just. She's very present these days. Very noisy. She's won an Academy Award. I listened to her entire episode of wtf. Wild Ride. Yeah, Wild Ride.

[B]

I mean, wildlife.

[A]

She has a lot of person.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Just a tremendous amount of person. I could feel Marc Maron being overwhelmed by being in the room with her for 90 minutes. Anyway, always liked her. In my youth, she was one of the hottest people I'd ever seen. Freaky Friday. I recommend it.

[B]

I do too.

[A]

It was fun.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Splitsville.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Now I'm of two minds about this movie.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So it's written and directed by Michelangelo Covino and Kyle Marvin. They were on this show some years ago for their film the Climb, which was about two buddies who are into cycling, who. It's sort of a existential drama, sort of a comedy.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Slapstick, but with a lot of heart and depth. This movie, very much in the same vein. Right. Very much an exploration of failed masculinity, but also like a funny movie about guys who trick hot women into being with them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In this case, they have leveled up to cast Dakota Johnson and. And who are speaking of hot women, like in a. In a very rare air.

[B]

They are.

[A]

And these guys who seem like lovely guys.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And very funny and talented. Probably not bagging these two ladies. And that is kind of part of.

[B]

The joke of the movie. It is, but not. But not explicitly. But it is. But like, it isn't.

[A]

But we can come back to that.

[B]

If you want the movie. One of the things that I like about this, that I liked about this movie, which I enjoyed, is like, you are asking like, what is going on here? A lot. And not in the hymn sense of like, what is the story and when is this going to be over? Because I'm bored. But everything. You are involved enough in the characters to be like, okay, but why are you making these choices? Which is, you know, the point. This is. It's not a romantic comedy, but it is sort of a. It's so it. It is riffing on the genre. Yeah, sure.

[A]

I think it's an exploration of long term relationships and why they do or don't work.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You know, like couple friends where we have couple friends. You know, we have a lot of couple friends and like the weird energy of couple friends, you know, especially in this case, like when people are like in love with their other friend's spouse and all the awkwardness that comes with that.

[B]

Right, right, right.

[A]

There's a lot of stuff in the movie that feels very like raw and natural.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And that's like. Amounts to the filmmaking. Right. Like, these guys are really good Filmmakers. And they make this feel like a very tactile world. Like a realistic setting for us for a very silly movie.

[B]

Exactly. And so then when either the characters or the situation gets like the heat gets turned on, which it does. And I say just this to the film's credit, that I thought it was over like five different times. Because you're like, okay, so now we've concluded this social experiment. And they're like, no, no, no, we have more. And you're both like, wait, like what? But also I would like to know what happens.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, so.

[B]

So the fact that it is Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona in this lends itself to like, it is another thing of like, okay, but you guys are like really hot. So what are we doing here?

[A]

It's almost distracting.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's distracting on purpose. Like they know what they're doing, right? It is. To me it is. I'm sure that they have talked about this. I haven't. I didn't talk to the guys for this movie because we were on vacation. But Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. Yeah, that movie, you know, Robert Culpin and Elliot Gould are like handsome enough guys, but they're not Natalie Wood and Diane Cannon.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You know, and you're like even watching that movie you're like, wow, these are some really beautiful women with these guys who are like, you know, they're good looking guys, but this is a little distracting. But the same thing that movie is about, obviously like couple swapping and attraction amongst friends and the complexity of social norms and relationships, all the same stuff. This movie is even sillier than that one and probably has like a little bit less to say socio culturally.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But it's really fun and it's good.

[B]

And, and it has also like the, the little observations and the like the one liners and like the, the settings that they put, you know, the, the various experiments are all like very funny, well observed. You know, there's like a very good Airbnb plot line at one point. You know, it's kind of like, oh, things that you recognize and are not like, you know, splitting the atom, but are well done and funny.

[A]

Another very funny. We were talking private schools and public schools offline. There's the whole private school thing here that is very real, you know, very recognizable. I recommend this movie. It's on VOD tomorrow so people can watch it if it didn't come to their city when it came out. Cause it got only semi wide release.

[B]

But yeah, very funny. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Megadoc. Now, we talked about Megadoc a little bit when you got back, when you were still in Venice, actually, on our festival episode. This is the new documentary from Mike Figgis that is all about the making of Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, which was.

[B]

Released almost one year ago. I like, I think probably one year ago.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I might have been November.

[B]

No, no, it wasn't, because it was before Psy was born. And size. Almost one. That was my last podcast.

[A]

It was September. It was post. Post Fall festivals. Because it premiered at Cannes.

[B]

Yeah. And maybe not accidental.

[A]

We were mixed down on Megalopolis. As much as we wanted to love that movie. Yeah, we were. We were befuddled. I have yet to return to it. I have since acquired a Blu Ray copy from Australia, courtesy of our friend Alex Ross Perry, who was in Australia and got me one, which was a very kind actor.

[B]

That is very nice.

[A]

So the Coppola shelf is complete, except for the film Jack. I don't own Jack.

[B]

Okay, what's holding you back?

[A]

No, Blu Ray.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

I own all the other films on Blu Ray. Oh.

[B]

And so it's like a. Do you think that there will be a Blu Ray of Jack released?

[A]

I mean, there's not a good reason to release it on Blu Ray. It's not a film anybody really likes, but I'd like to own it just for my shelf. Anyhow, Megalopolis. I'd like to return to it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's the movie that, knowing myself, I'll find a million excuses for it the second time I watch it. Oh, actually, this. Oh, actually that. Because that is something I like to do.

[B]

And I think Megadoc is an incredible companion piece. And, you know, Francis Ford Coppola invites Mike Figgis to make this documentary, which is just an incredible act of hubris, but also a gift to filmmaking history.

[A]

I guess, because it's hubris and humility. Right. It's like they're really in collision with each other. Because he's risking a lot, not just financially, but personally, by showing himself, you know, at 80 years old making this huge project. And he's very confident in his vision.

[B]

And Figgis has a lot of access and is there for a lot of the conflicts. And frankly, just a lot of you watch all of these people, and primarily among them, Francis Ford Coppola, trying to figure out what this movie is and how they want to make it and what it's supposed to look like, and how is he going to communicate what's been in his head for 40 or 50 years to everyone on set and then to everyone like, you know, in the world who's going to see the film. And I felt better about my struggle to understand it watching this, and it almost. I think if I watched Megalopolis now, having seen Megaduck, I would at least understand and know what to look for a bit more. So in some ways, it is a great guide, and it is, you know, a stroke of genius by Coppola to have this made and made with a real filmmaker so that, you know, maybe it can help some people, like, on the journey to understand what the hell's going on.

[A]

It's as raw a Making of as you will ever see, in part because it consistently shows not just conflict, but failure. And there are two things that I think really recommend the movie for me personally. One is this kind of crisis over the production design and visual effects, which you just never see in a movie like this. And this is something like Coppola's vision was so bold and specific but unachievable, which is, of course, like a signature of his entire career. He's always reaching for something that we have not yet developed. And so he's always trying to put things in his movies, in physical production, that can't be accomplished. And we watch a production designer, a very accomplished production designer, leave this project, quit, get fired, whatever. It's unclear, but because she's just like, this is not how we do this. I don't feel comfortable pursuing it in this way. She wanted a deeper reliance on visual effects. Coppola did not. He wanted things in camera. And that stuff is fascinating, at least for me personally. And then the second thing is Shia LaBeouf, very controversial person. Person who's been at the center of a lot of scandal in the last.

[B]

Five or 10 years, which he acknowledges at, you know, at length in the film.

[A]

Very much. Clearly someone who's got a lot of problems and is trying to work through them. Wildly gifted actor. Yeah, wildly gifted. And even in Megalopolis, he's kind of all over the place at times, but he's just got a lightning bolt inside of him. You see him in on set challenging Coppola over and over and over again. And on the one hand, he's so goddamn annoying.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And he's pissing Francis Ford Coppola off so much. And you can't always figure out even specifically what it is that Shia wants, however, because Coppola has. Doesn't really have his arms around this movie.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's like Shia has located a vulnerability and is, like, attacking it. And he seems like a rude dick. And you're like, this guy's 80 years old and is a genius, and he made the Godfather. And. But also you're like, yeah, something is.

[B]

Points are being made.

[A]

Yes, exactly. Exactly. And again, something you just never, ever seen. It's like this.

[B]

And, you know, and it does have just, like, all, like, the stray moments of serendipity, like, that you catch in a documentary with this level of access. And as you pointed out that because Figgis is such an experienced filmmaker, he puts himself into the documentary at some point, which is usually like, you know, red alert, disaster sign. But in this way, he is adding, like, his own perspective on the ground. I mean, he's doing journalism.

[A]

Totally. And it's like, Dear Diary journalism, where he's turning the camera on himself and saying, like, okay, here's where I'm at, and I'm trying to figure out where to go from here in the movie, which is actually quite interesting.

[B]

But you get, like, some amazing Dustin Hoffman moments. You get, you know, bits like, Natalie Emanuel didn't want to be filmed eating, which I get it. Having now done a taste test on camera. But also then that's, like, the only thing she's, like, otherwise absent from the doc. And, you know, I didn't think her performance worked in Megalopolis. And I was like, oh, you know, you can see this all coming together in real time. So I loved this movie. I think anyone who has listened this far into this episode of the show will love mechadoc.

[A]

I totally agree. There's one other thing that is very cool about it, which you might have mentioned when you were in Venice, was showing the previous iterations of this film that Coppola was trying to mount.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Another version of the movie where Ryan Gosling was portraying the Shia LaBeouf character, which would have been so fascinating and so different. And there are a series of it. There's a James Franco version. Right. Like, what were the other versions?

[B]

I think. I think Virginia Madsen.

[A]

Virginia Madsen, yes. And she was in. Was she in the Natalie Emanuel role? No, she was in the Aubrey Plaza role.

[B]

Yes. Yeah. Aubrey Plaza is also just. It's an Aubrey Plaza experience in.

[A]

She's very fun and funny.

[B]

Yeah. Those are kind of better than.

[A]

The Gosling stuff is awesome. That would have been really, really cool to see him plugged into that movie, especially at that time of his career. It's kind of like, when is that, like, Half Nelson, Murder by Numbers?

[B]

I think so. I think it's like early 2000s.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Like, and that time he was such a live w. An actor.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Anyway, I totally agree with you. If you love movies and you're interested in behind the scenes movies, this is as cool as they get.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Thursday Murder Club. I haven't seen this movie.

[B]

Yes, I have seen it. I've also read every installment of the series on which it is based. I'm reading the new Richard Osmond 30 Thursday Murder Club book right now. I think it's probably.

[A]

I would have watched this if I knew this was such a thing for you, Sue.

[B]

Richard Osmond is a uk, I mean, like actor, TV personality, writer. And he started writing these books probably like five or six years ago. And they are typically, you know, they're like, you would call them cozy mysteries. And it is about a group of retirees at a retirement home in the UK who become friends because they like solving initially cold cases and then murders.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And it, if that sounds, you know, ridiculous and it kind of is. But he writes, he's a great writer. He's very funny. If you are like an Anglophile, if you've seen every episode of Downton Abbey and also read murder mysteries, there is something very, you know, cozy, comforting, but also like, amusing about them. I think he writes, he just like writes about old people, like really, like lovingly and like the, you know, like, there's like, there's life to live after 70 or even 80. And it's so I, the, the books are, are very well done. I recommend them, if that's your bag. The movie stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley and Celia Emery, AKA Una Alkenberry from the Bridget Jones movies. Oh, and you know, and then just a murderer's row of supporting cast. I was disappointed.

[A]

Damn.

[B]

I mean, here's the thing.

[A]

Directed by Chris Columbus.

[B]

Directed by Chris Columbus. There were two things here, which is it just becomes more. Because it's a movie, it becomes more of a, like solving a mystery as opposed to, you know, about these four people. And so you lose like a lot of the buddy, the chemistry and like, and the charm, essentially. Even though all of those people are charming, I would argue that Pierce Brosnan is miscast as a former Minor Strike union leader.

[A]

A little too dashing.

[B]

But that's okay.

[A]

I've just learned he's 72 though, so he is age appropriate.

[B]

Yeah, everyone's age appropriate. Helen Mirren is playing Elizabeth who's like the ex MI5 or MI6 spy who saws things. But I don't know, the Other thing. And not to, you know, not to harp on my location point, but they. They're all very nice apartments at the retirement home. I will say that this series, like, is maybe like, over promising on what awaits all of us at retirement homes because it seems like life's really great, but it's all sets. And, you know, I like. I expect a little, like, broad church or, you know, like, you gotta be on location. Like, I'm. I am if I'm signing up for this British thing. You gotta be in the countryside a little. You gotta go places, and it's very on set. So that was the other part that was disappointing to me.

[A]

Yeah. I guess we should say this is on Netflix, right? So. Yeah, maybe that's why.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm sorry for you. I had no idea you were such a big fan of this series.

[B]

Yeah, they send me the galleys every year. Thank you, Christina. No, I love them. I carried this, like, I carried this to Europe so that I could read for the movie. No, just because I wanted to read the book.

[A]

Okay, great.

[B]

I like these books a lot.

[A]

Okay, I'll never watch this.

[B]

Next up for me is the new Ian McEwan novel. I heard that he wrote a good book for the first time in 25 years.

[A]

Was atonement, his last good book.

[B]

I don't remember, like, when Saturday and all of those came out, but yeah, it's been 20 years. Atonement.

[A]

Shots fired at Ian McEwen in hour two of the Big Picture.

[B]

Apparently it's good again, so I'm ready, you know.

[A]

When are you joining Dua Lipa's book pod?

[B]

Whenever she will have me. Happy 30th birthday, Dua Lipa. You look great. I would love to have one of your podils.

[A]

She's not listening to this podcast.

[B]

Do you remember one time when Dua Lipa reblogged something? It was like some Spotify podcast thing. And so it was like her podcast and our podcast were on the same page. And so we were on Dua Lipa's Instagram.

[A]

Yes. I can't name one Dua Lipa song.

[B]

Sure you can. She should be an Oscar winner for Dance the Night Away. Dua Lipa should have an Oscar. Okay, that's. Did she write that with Mark Ronson? Of course.

[A]

Does she have a writing credit?

[B]

I think so.

[A]

Okay, I'm not questioning her.

[B]

You don't need to say it like that. Okay?

[A]

I'm just asking.

[B]

She's got a book club. She just sold out Madison Square Garden for four nights. She has a Pilates sponsorship where you can have a reformer at home.

[A]

I just want to share this with you. Dua Lipa is not going to fuck you, so you can just to tone it down. She's doing great.

[B]

She's really.

[A]

She doesn't need you defending her. And me, a man who doesn't care.

[B]

You know, she's beautiful. Of course. Of course. And she should have an Oscar. And why were we talking about her?

[A]

Because she has a book club and I. You know what I'm saying? Her whole podcast is.

[B]

Yeah, but she reads far more challenging books than I do.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And they always sound really depressing. And apparently her book events are great, but like I said, I'm reading cozy mysteries.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And Ian McEwan novels.

[A]

Are you aware of the plot of the film Eden?

[B]

No. I think I was at one point, but then I forgot.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I know it's Ron Howard's film.

[A]

This is Ron Howard's film. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. It was an independent production. It did not have a studio, and it was ultimately distributed by Vertical, which is not really the news you want to hear when you have a Ron Howard movie starring Sydney Sweeney, Ana De Armas, Jude Law and Vanessa Kirby. This movie is based on a true story about a bunch of disillusioned Europeans who go to a remote island in the Galapagos and try to restart society. I think in part because they see the advent of fascism in the late 1920s, essentially, and it becomes kind of.

[B]

Oh, it's like a period piece.

[A]

A period piece. It's like a Lord of the Flies style movie about these people from disparate worlds. Like a baroness and a doc, Like a crackpot doctor and two settler, like intellectual settlers. And it is the weirdest movie I've seen in the longest time. It's not a bad movie.

[B]

We're good or weird bad or just. I don't know what to do with this.

[A]

It's more or less negligible.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

It's a fascinating little dot on the roadmap of the careers of the stars of this movie.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

For Jude Law, you'd be like, yeah, sure. Jude Law, late career, Jude Law doing a movie with Ron Howard, period piece. Totally makes sense on paper. Ana De Armas and Sydney Sweeney in this movie, neither of whom are bad per se. Ana De Armas, very campy, very over the top in the movie, but super entertaining. And Sydney Sweeney, who's, like, kind of dressed down, not at all like the babe of the movie. She's very Much. She's Daniel Brule's wife and she gives birth in this, like, very dramatic birth scene where she's fighting off wild dogs. I'm not kidding. There's like a weird.

[B]

Are the dogs real or cgi?

[A]

I don't remember. I think cgi.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because she's, like, beating them off with a broad handle.

[B]

It's an epic. It's an epidemic.

[A]

It is. Anyway, I don't. I kind of don't know what to say.

[B]

All right.

[A]

I'm not mad that I watched it.

[B]

Okay. Happy ending.

[A]

Certainly not. It is Lord of the Flies after all. It's just. It's a whatsit. It's a. How did this happen? This is like a $60 million movie. Movie. It's a Hollywood movie. It's kind of what we were talking about earlier with the big, bold, beautiful journey. I'm like, these are some super famous people. The filmmaking is fine. You know, it's definitely a different stripe of tone for Ron Howard.

[B]

I was just googling the Apollo 13 re release. I missed it.

[A]

You did.

[B]

It was this weekend. God damn it.

[A]

Yeah. You thought you were supporting Bring It On.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Bring it on and Singing in the Rain. You went to two rep screenings in one week.

[B]

Bring It On. Singing in the rain and Apollo 13. 3. Like formative movies for Amanda's film experience.

[A]

Absolutely. I love you.

[B]

Apollo 13. Still not a rewatchables.

[A]

Ron Howard. Let's do the last 10 years. In the heart of the sea. 2015.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not great.

[B]

Is that what inspired though? The Sea is Dope?

[A]

No, that was. That was a different film, I think, called the Black Sea.

[B]

Okay, well, it was two. It was two.

[A]

There were two trailers. But I don't think in the Heart of the Sea.

[B]

The Black Sea is Dope. Let's do it right now.

[A]

Is it the first return or the Granlin search results?

[B]

So, yeah, it is. Okay, let's see. Black Sea. You're right.

[A]

The Black Sea. Yeah.

[B]

And then in the heart of the Sea. Oh, yeah, I was right. There you go.

[A]

We were both right.

[B]

Wow, this sweater that's in this post is really good.

[A]

What is what sweater?

[B]

It's like. It's a fisherman. Like a Donovan.

[A]

Yeah, sure. We're referring to Chris Ryan's legendary 10 year old blog post on granlin.com which.

[B]

Oh, we missed the 10th anniversary of it.

[A]

Of the Sea is Dope.

[B]

Yeah. October 21st.

[A]

I didn't miss it. The Sea is Dope Cult met in my basement. Always in the Heart of the Sea. Inferno, the third film in The Robert Langdon Show.

[B]

I don't think I ever saw that one. I read the book, though.

[A]

I think Solo. A Star Wars Story.

[B]

I love an airport novel.

[A]

Okay. Hillbilly elegy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Watch that. Election Day.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Joe Biden won that day. Thirteen Lives. Pretty good.

[B]

Yeah. I never saw it.

[A]

Pretty good, Eden. That's what I was just referring to. He's also been directing documentaries. Right? So he directed that Jim Henson documentary. That was pretty good. I enjoyed that. He was on the show for that, actually. I like Ron Howard. This is a weird thing. He did great on the studio.

[B]

Wonderful.

[A]

Very funny on the studio. Okay. Speaking of later stage whatsits you didn't see Honey Don't. Right? I didn't, man.

[B]

Okay, well, I don't. I. That man could go in any directions.

[A]

This is the new film directed by Ethan Cohen, written by Cohen and his wife, Trisha Cook. Their second film after Driveway Dolls a couple years ago. Which is the movie that you crashed my Valentine's Day date with my w. Wife to see. This film also stars Margaret Qualley as well as Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans and Charlie Day. It's about a private investigator named Honey who is exploring this scandal around a church. And it's very vivacious. Pastor played by Chris Evans.

[B]

Yeah, it was a No.

[A]

I need Joel and Ethan to just get back together.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I agree.

[A]

I just need them to get back together.

[B]

You could tell from the trailer I didn't mind. What? That other one. What was?

[A]

Driveway Dolls. It's okay.

[B]

It's okay. But one is enough, you know?

[A]

Yeah. And so you see, there's really a trilogy. This is, like, supposed to be the second of three here.

[B]

It's like. Okay, like, that's.

[A]

I think it's great for Trisha Cook. She's exploring, you know, queer stories. These movies are very much about strong, smart women who are in charge and really love sex, you know, on paper. Absolutely. Dig that. The movie just. Script is not good. Tone doesn't work. Performances are weird. It's not. It's such a drag. This movie also got dumped. You know, they're doing the Coen Brothers right now on Blank Check. I've been listening. Yeah, you know, it's great. Been a great season so far. Coen Brothers as, you know, huge deal for me personally. I. They gotta make at least one more movie together. And there was a rumor that they were making a horror movie together next year. I don't know if that rumor is true.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I hope it's true, but I don't.

[B]

Have any Say in the matter, but I support you.

[A]

No more. Honey, don't.

[B]

I agree with this.

[A]

No more. Honey, don't. Okay, I'm just gonna go right to Predators. This will be the last movie we talk about. I saw this movie at Sundance. I think people should check it out. It just opened in theaters. It's a documentary.

[B]

Okay, so it has nothing to do with the Predator franchise.

[A]

It has nothing to do with the Predator franchise. It is a very serious, probing, upsetting documentary about the show To Catch a Predator, what that show was in our society, how it existed. Did you ever watch To Catch a Predator?

[B]

I don't know if I ever sat down on, like, a Friday night. Which is when it was on, right? That's when all those news magazines.

[A]

Yeah, I think so.

[B]

No, I was on TGIF on the other channel. But, you know, it looms large in the conversation.

[A]

It's been for a long time, well past our adolescence. It was a show where it was sort of like a. It was Candid Camera for capturing child predators. That was really what the show did. It was trying to. It set up sting operations and lured people who were trying to seduce underage kids. And there was, like, a sick glee that I think the audience got out of watching these people, these really disturbed people, get ensnared by the host of the show and the producers of the show and the law enforcement that worked in tandem with them, and then kind of the aftermath. The documentary is like, very much sociological exploration of what it meant that we put the show on in our society. We celebrated it the way that we did, why it went away in the way that it did, what role the host and the producers played in it, and then the personal ramifications of the people in the stories. Particularly interesting in the documentary is the young actors who portrayed underage kids who were part of the setups and, like, why they were cast and what their roles were. Anyway, this is a very unusual but very cool exploration of something that is, like, very upsetting in our culture, but really, really, really well done and I hope finds a big audience. David Osett is. Yeah, it's a. It's a. It's a good doc. Okay, so this. This right now is the demarcation point.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So we have. We're. We're. It's September 22nd on Wednesday. Yes, we're. We're doing one more 25 for 25 episode.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

It's a really, really good one.

[B]

Yes. And it's well timed.

[A]

It's perfectly timed. And then Friday, technically, Thursday night is one battle after another.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

And then we have two, three straight months of more or less good movies on the show being covered.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not everything is great.

[B]

No.

[A]

But it's a lot of good stuff. And I'm relieved.

[B]

Yes. It was fun going through 45 weird movies. Great.

[A]

Always great to pod with you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But this felt like the end of a certain stage of the year.

[B]

It's PTA season. It had already started, but now it really starts. And everyone's gonna get to see it this week. And I did get a ticket.

[A]

Oh, good friend.

[B]

Yeah. For Wednesday. Our friend Corey came through for me.

[A]

Oh, incredible.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

I think our seats suck. You probably have better seats than we do.

[B]

I'm quite excited.

[A]

Okay. Fantastic.

[B]

And I think I have childcare. So.

[A]

Amazing. I can't wait to see it again.

[B]

I know.

[A]

I'm also seeing it again on Friday.

[B]

Oh, at the Vista.

[A]

Yeah, at the Vista.

[B]

That's fun.

[A]

So, yeah, it's PTA season. We'll get there very soon in just a couple of days. Thanks to Jack Sanders for his work on this episode. Thank you, Jack. Everything good? How are the Mets doing? Really good, guys.

[B]

What's going on?

[A]

I don't want to talk about it.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But I'll talk about it.

[B]

It's really.

[A]

It's a fucking disaster. I mean, it's a fucking embarrassment.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I'm not kidding.

[B]

Okay. No, I mean, I'm not kidding.

[A]

It is not okay. It's not acceptable. It's not good.

[B]

So they just fell apart. Yeah. And they're not going to make the.

[A]

Playoffs at the moment. They're not in the playoffs. There are six games left to play on the road. Three games against the Cubs, three games against the Marlins.

[B]

What has to happen?

[A]

I expect nothing less than one in five in those six games.

[B]

Okay, so, like. But what happened?

[A]

They've been one of the five worst teams in baseball since June 13th. They've been horrible. They started the season 21 games over.500. And we were like, wow. I guess everything that happened last year, we're carrying it over. And they've been a disaster since then.

[B]

But what happened? Tell me.

[A]

The pitching is just a disaster. They've had a tremendous number of injuries to the pitching. And also the strategy heading into the season around the pitching was very bad. And it's the rare case, and I say this with hopefully some sense of. Of self awareness. Where most fans were like, is this really what they're doing? This can't be right. Going into the season like this. Can't be how we're gonna try to make it through the year. And we were told, no, no, no. We got a plan. This is a good plan. And every fan who was concerned about this particular issue was right. And it's hard to watch that because baseball's so long. The season's so long. So to just be sitting inside a failure for three months just sucks. Yeah. That's the most miserable part is until late, they were, like, the best team in baseball. They had the best record in baseball. They were playing amazing baseball, and for it to just. They've just slowly bled out for three months. And that is. It's been very painful.

[B]

Okay. Is there any scenario in which they do still get a wild card spot?

[A]

There is a scenario. It's definitely in play. It's pretty much a coin flip. Right now, them and the Reds are tied. The Reds own the tiebreaker. There's six games left for both teams. The Mets need to win one more game than the Reds over these next six games. All right, that is the situation.

[B]

Okay, so are you guys still going to be checking obsessively?

[A]

I've already been called for an emergency Mets corner on the Zach Lowe show.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And he said we should drink on the show.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So that's where Zach's head is at.

[B]

Great. All right, well, that's a healthy place to be.

[A]

He's only just returned to rooting for this team in the last 12 months.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where was he before he took, like.

[A]

10 years, 20 years off?

[B]

Okay. For his health.

[A]

Yeah. Well, I mean, for a variety of reasons, but now he's. He's got his dog, he's got a young daughter, and she's all into the Mets.

[B]

Yeah, that's. And he's got her watching this. They met. Mr. Met. Yeah. That would be exciting.

[A]

Yeah. I think she's having a great time, but she's. She is experiencing at a young age this thing that I have been living with my entire life.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

It's not right. It's not right. It's not. Okay.

[B]

Okay. I did watch the Phillies Met Series.

[A]

So, yeah, I can't get too upset about that because it's like, we kicked our ass in the playoffs last year. We kind of owned them this year until that last series. That wasn't good. But, like, the Phillies are good. I don't. I got no beef with the Phillies. Honestly. Like, it's. The Mets, organizationally, are fucked up, and it was supposed to not be this way because of the new ownership. It was supposed to Be different. And it's not. This is embarrassing, okay? And I'm not gonna let it stand. I don't do this on Zach's show because that's his show. This is my show. This is fucking bullshit. What's happening with the team. There needs to be some sort of apology to the fandom. It's fucking disastrous.

[B]

Okay, Okay.

[A]

I got it out.

[B]

There needs to be an apology.

[A]

There does.

[B]

What form would that take that would satisfy you?

[A]

Come to my home, Steve Cohen and David Sterns, who constructed this monstrosity, who ruined my summer, and say, I'd like to begin by saying, I'm sorry. And then after that, it'll be dealer's choice. Whatever they can do to make it right. Fine. Rebuild the team in the off season. Offer me lovely snacks.

[B]

This is honestly, like, a great social media bit for the Mets if, like, they just get, like, a really big, you know, one of the Publishers Clearinghouse checks, but instead of that, it just says, like, I'm sorry. And they just show up at Raiders People. People's houses just like that. That's just some free programming for you guys in the off season.

[A]

Again, I never do this.

[B]

This is. Yeah. You know how I want one of those I'm mad signs. You know, a newspaper in the paper that I'm mad. No. Yeah, you are mad. Okay, that's fine. Listen, I support you on this. Every time we turn the Mets on, Knox asks where Sean is. Because one time I told him that you are at a game, then maybe we could see him.

[A]

I mean, look, Knox, he's pure good.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The Mets are pure evil.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

That's just how it goes. That's what it is in 2025. I'm sorry, Jack.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

I apologize. Well, thanks for listening to this show, which has been very normal. And we'll see you on Wednesday for another 25. For 25. Sam.