MOVIE MIKE: Kelsey Rates a Major Movie a ZERO (Best and Worst of July) + Movie Review: The Naked Gun + Trailer Park: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bobby Bones Show Episode: MOVIE MIKE: Kelsey Rates a Major Movie a ZERO (Best and Worst of July) + Movie Review: The Naked Gun + Trailer Park: Avatar: Fire and Ash
Release Date: August 9, 2025
Host/Author: Premiere Networks

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1. Introduction

In this episode of The Bobby Bones Show, hosts Movie Mike and Kelsey delve into the cinematic landscape of July, evaluating the best and worst movies of the month. They also present an in-depth review of "The Naked Gun" and discuss the upcoming "Avatar: Fire and Ash" installment. The conversation offers listeners insights into their personal movie experiences, ratings, and expectations for future releases.

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2. Best and Worst of July

Best Movies

a. "Sorry Baby" (Indie Film by Eva Ava Victor)

• Kelsey’s Favorite:
  Kelsey praises "Sorry Baby" as a standout indie film, highlighting its heartfelt narrative and subtle humor. She remarks, "It's the type of movie that just feels like it was made just for me. Even though I don't directly relate to all the characters. It just feels so personal." ([04:53])

b. "Superman" (Directed by James Gunn)

• Movie Mike’s Top Pick:
  Movie Mike expresses high admiration for the new "Superman" film, stating, "It was just my... when we were watching it, I felt something change in my brain... it was almost perfect." ([07:48])

  • Notable Quote:
    "Superman had a heart." ([08:44])

Worst Movies

a. "Eddington"

• Kelsey’s Lowest Rating:
  Kelsey vehemently criticizes "Eddington," giving it a zero out of five. She shares her frustration, saying, "I have never wanted to leave a movie so bad." ([22:42])

b. "The Old Guard 2" (Netflix)

• Movie Mike’s Reaction:
  Movie Mike labels "The Old Guard 2" as his worst of the month, describing it as a "B-level action movie" with subpar special effects and generic action sequences. He notes, "The acting was so bare minimum. The special effects... look so bad." ([14:34])

• Notable Quote:
  "It felt like a movie that would come on Saturday afternoons on a random channel... It was straight B-level." ([15:21])

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3. In-Depth Movie Reviews

a. "The Naked Gun"

Overview:
Movie Mike provides a comprehensive, spoiler-free review of "The Naked Gun," starring Liam Neeson. Initially skeptical due to the trailer's absurdity, he concedes that the film exceeded his expectations.

Key Points:

• Humor and Writing:
  Mike compares the movie to a "Looney Tunes cartoon brought to life," praising its consistent humor and clever writing.

  • "A lot of play on words, which I kind of think is the DNA of this franchise." ([34:33])

• Performance:
  Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson receive commendations for their on-screen chemistry and comedic timing. Mike also highlights Paul Walter Hauser's standout performance.

  • "Hands down, my favorite part of this movie was Paul Walter Hauser... he's one of the best new faces in comedy." ([37:07])

• Recurring Gags:
  Mike discusses specific comedic bits that enhance the film's humor, such as the escalating coffee cup scenes and absurd investigative methods.

  • "They keep making fun of how in action movies and cop movies, they always get a fresh cup of coffee." ([44:19])

• Runtime Evaluation:
  At just over an hour, Mike appreciates the film's brevity, claiming it maintains engagement without overstaying its welcome.

  • "I think different categories of movies do require different run times. For the Naked Gun... it proved me wrong, I give it 3.5 out of 5 big old coffee cups." ([34:33])

Conclusion:
Despite initial reservations, Movie Mike concludes that "The Naked Gun" is an enjoyable and efficiently paced comedy that delivers consistent laughs.

b. "Avatar: Fire and Ash"

Overview:
In the Trailer Park segment, Movie Mike discusses the upcoming "Avatar: Fire and Ash," the third installment in the Avatar series, slated for release on December 19th.

Key Points:

• Extended Runtime:
  The film boasts a massive runtime of 3 hours and 12 minutes, consistent with its predecessors.

  • "Avatar 3, which is over three hours long, I believe. Three hours and 12 minutes." ([04:24])

• New Villain Introduction:
  The antagonist, Varang, is portrayed as a fierce, fire-wielding warrior with a menacing presence.

  • "She is described as fierce fire-wielding warriors who dance around blazing pits of flame." ([50:50])

• James Cameron’s Vision:
  Mike explores why James Cameron continues to invest heavily in the Avatar franchise, citing its global appeal and box office success.

  • "These movies have the opposite effect. They are some of the highest grossing movies of all time." ([58:00])

• Box Office Insights:
  Highlights the international dominance of the Avatar films, with a significant portion of earnings coming from overseas markets.

  • "Only 26.9% of the money made at the box office was domestic. The other 73.1% came from the international box office." ([58:00])

• Legacy and Future Releases:
  Discusses the planned sequels up to "Avatar 5" by 2031, emphasizing the extensive world-building and immersive experiences the series offers.

  • "I am all in for Avatar, Fire and Ash coming out on December 19th." ([58:00])

Conclusion:
Movie Mike remains optimistic about the future of the Avatar series, praising its meticulous craftsmanship and broad appeal despite the lengthy runtimes.

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4. Additional Discussions

a. Other July Releases and Ratings

• "Jurassic World Rebirth": Rated 2.5 out of 5
• "Opus" (HBO Max): A horror film with a generic plot, receiving a 3.5 out of 5
• "Fantastic Four": Highly rated at 4 out of 5
• "Dangerous Animals": A mid-level horror movie earning 3.5 out of 5
• "Materialist": Received a 2 out of 5 rating
• "I Know What You Did Last Summer": Another 2 out of 5 rating

b. TV Shows and Books

• TV Shows:

  • Kelsey mentions binge-watching "Jenny in Georgia" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."
  • Movie Mike watches the WWE documentary on Netflix, discussing the behind-the-scenes aspects of scripted wrestling.

• Books:

  • Kelsey discusses reading "Project Hail Mary," noting its scientific complexity and the challenge of visualizing certain concepts.

c. Listener Interactions

• Listener Shout-Out:
  Movie Mike acknowledges a listener, Mayo Ketchup, for their comment on his "Fantastic Four" review, highlighting the importance of superhero suits in audience engagement.
  • "You said... how bad the suits are, but to stand up for a movie that so many people just dislike. I applaud you, Mayo Ketchup." ([58:06])

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5. Concluding Remarks

The episode wraps up with Movie Mike and Kelsey expressing their anticipation for upcoming films and their commitment to sharing honest reviews. They encourage listeners to engage with them on social media platforms like TikTok and continue watching quality cinema.

Final Notable Quote:
“Go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.” ([58:10])

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Movie Mike on Time Perception:
  "Because when you're younger, like, everything is new and you remember all these things. And then when you get older, you have less of those big experiences. So it feels like time moves faster." ([02:49])

• Kelsey on "Sorry Baby":
  "It was phenomenal. It was very, like, heartfelt. Made you feel things, made you think, and just really well done." ([04:24])

• Movie Mike on "Superman":
  "There was nothing wrong about it. That if I would have rated that movie immediately after getting up, getting up out of my seat, I would have given it a five." ([07:48])

• Kelsey on "Eddington":
  "I have never wanted to leave a movie so bad." ([22:42])

• Movie Mike on "The Naked Gun":
  "A lot of play on words, which I kind of think is the DNA of this franchise." ([34:33])

• Movie Mike on "Avatar" Success:
  "James Cameron is the master filmmaker and knows how to create a story that has a wide appeal." ([58:00])

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Conclusion

This episode provides a thorough exploration of July's cinematic offerings, offering listeners detailed opinions and ratings on various films. Movie Mike and Kelsey balance their critiques with enthusiasm for standout performances and promising future releases, ensuring that the audience remains informed and engaged with the latest in movie entertainment.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Glen Washington]

I'm Glen Washington, the host of Snap Judgment from KQED. Every week we don't just tell stories, we drop you inside them. Real people, real voices, real moments that split a life in two. What do you believe? What do you risk? What do you want? Snap Judgment New episodes every Thursday wherever you get your podcast.

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[Movie Mike]

Hello and welcome back to Movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host, Movie Mike, joined by my wife and co host, Kelsey. How are you?

[Podcast Host]

I'm great.

[Movie Mike]

It is the end of July. I heard a sad statistic is the reason time goes by faster when you're older is because you start or stop recording good memories. Because when you're younger, like, everything is new and you remember all these things. And then when you get older, you have less of those big experiences. So it feels like time moves faster. And I know every time we sit down and do these episodes, we're like, how is. Another month passed.

[Podcast Host]

July went simultaneously slow and fast because there were like five work weeks in it because the way the month started, so that was it made the work month feel long, even though I was on vacation for a couple days.

[Movie Mike]

But there were a lot of good movies, which we got to get into.

[Podcast Host]

So many movies. I watched so many movies and I read a lot of books this month. So forgive me if things are jumbled in my head.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, I'm looking at the list of not even just movies we saw in theaters, but just of the entire month that I want to recap. It was a lot. In the movie review, I'll be talking about the movie I didn't think I was going to go see in theaters, the Naked Gun. Oh, man, that trailer looks so dumb. But I was like, I gotta see for myself. And in the trailer park, I'll be talking about Avatar, Fire and Ash, which is Avatar 3, which is over three hours long, I believe. Three hours and 1212 minutes. Yes. Same as Avatar 3. Yeah. So we'll talk about that. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being subscribed. Shout out to the Monday morning movie crew. And now let's talk movies.

[Ryan Seacrest]

From the Nashville Podcast Network.

[Glen Washington]

This is Movie Mike's movie Podcast.

[Movie Mike]

Let's hop right into it. Best and worst for the month of July. Kick us off with your best pick.

[Podcast Host]

I know it was a month of blockbusters.

[Movie Mike]

Big, big, big, big blockbusters.

[Podcast Host]

But I have a feeling you're gonna take my. Okay, favorite blockbuster. So I'm gonna go favorite non blockbuster. Sorry Baby, which was an indie film by Eva Ava Victor. It was phenomenal. It was very, like, heartfelt. Made you feel things, made you think, and just really well done. Kind of like a biting sense of humor. Like it wasn't outwardly like, lol funny.

[Movie Mike]

But how would you describe the plot of the movie?

[Podcast Host]

Well, I don anything away. Even though it's probably in the description.

[Movie Mike]

I'll put it up just so we can have it.

[Podcast Host]

Agnes, the main character goes through something difficult.

[Movie Mike]

And in the description, they just say something bad happens to Agnes.

[Podcast Host]

Something bad. And it's about her friend supporting her and her life. And just kind of like a. Almost like a year in the life. Ish. Kind of goes through different seasons.

[Movie Mike]

Slice of life. Ish.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Movie Mike]

This is a movie that makes me love movies. It's the type of movie that I just seek out. And to me, even though this movie deals with some heavier topics, at times, it felt really comforting to me. I described this movie as putting on your favorite hoodie on a fall day. Where it's like, this movie just feels like it was made just for me. Even though I don't directly relate to all the characters. It just feels so personal. And she wrote and directed this movie and starred in it. To me, it feels like even though it is her first film, her masterpiece already. Because they say you have, like, when it comes to artists, your entire life to write your first album. This one I felt she made so personal. And it's a movie that only she could make. It just feels like it just directly from her brain onto the screen.

[Podcast Host]

It was. Yeah, it was wonderful. That was a Bell Court showing because we love seeing indie flicks there.

[Movie Mike]

I also feel like this is a movie that doesn't think less of the viewer because there were a lot of things that were implied.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Movie Mike]

Where.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Movie Mike]

Through very strategic forms of cinematography where it'll show a situation and then kind of take you out of it and you kind of assume, like, what happens during those moments. And I think that's just so much more impactful. So. Yeah. I also really love this movie. One that kind of snuck under the radar. A24 movies are interesting because they always have, like, a early premiere in the year and then they have, like, a midtime release, and then they have, like, a full release. So I never know when to let people know about these movies because then we talk about them and then they're not out yet for everybody.

[Podcast Host]

We saw the trailer for it, I feel like, forever ago.

[Movie Mike]

And then by the time we saw it, it didn't officially come out for, like, two to three weeks.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Movie Mike]

So it, like, just came out fully, like, on the 26th or something. So that is one that. If you can go see it at an independent theater local to you, maybe some bigger chains have it, but not really.

[Podcast Host]

I mean, it was in the Regal app. They just never had.

[Movie Mike]

They never had Showtime. So try to find your independent theater or later. It'll probably eventually come to HBO Max because they get a lot of the A24 movies. But it is a really great one that if you're just looking for something completely original and different, it's good.

[Podcast Host]

It gave me the same feeling of like, when we left past lives where I'm like, I love an original concept.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah. And even though it's nothing like groundbreaking or novel, it feels new and it feels just different than all the other big blockbuster movies that we saw this, this summer. So I like the balance that we had. We had the big movies and then we had the smaller movies, even though some of the smaller movies we didn't love. But there was a lot of contrast in July. For my best, it was the one you were talking about that you could have also taken Superman.

[Podcast Host]

It was so good.

[Movie Mike]

It was just my. When we were watching it, I felt something change in my brain. And that's only happened maybe three or four times in the last five years. And even when we first left, I was like, I told you, I was like, that movie was perfect. There was nothing wrong about it. That if I would have rated that movie immediately after getting up, getting up out of my seat, I would have given it a five. And then the more I thought about it compared to some other of my favorite superhero movies and also the fact they could expand the world a little bit and we're probably gonna get a better Superman movie with this cast. I was like, okay, I'll leave a little bit of room for growth. But it's almost. It's almost perfect. And it was interesting to see how many people hated Superman now, where I think it was a lot of those people who were Zack Snyder fans who like the more ripped up, hardcore, take no prisoner Superman that they hated what James Gunn did to the character.

[Podcast Host]

Superman had a heart.

[Movie Mike]

And I was like, do you not like somebody with the moral conscience, which is all what Superman is about. Do you not like movies that are fun and have interesting music throughout? Do you not like cool looking characters? Like, man, I get it if it's not for you, if you don't like superhero movies, but if you hate this movie, I don't think I could be friends with you.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I don't see any reason to hate it. I thought the casting was phenomenal. Nicholas Holt as lex Luthor was 10 out of 10 casting. David Corn Sweat, Rachel Brosnahan, and again, I always love when James Gunn puts Sean Gunn in a little Kirk appearance. For the Gilmore Girl fans, it was.

[Movie Mike]

Also one that I wanted to go and watch again.

[Podcast Host]

Chevy time. There's been so many, so much to.

[Movie Mike]

See, because easily Any other week. Because, like, we saw Lilo and Stitch in theaters twice. That was great.

[Podcast Host]

Still loved Twisters in theaters.

[Movie Mike]

Theaters twice. It's been harder this blockbuster season to go back and watch movies twice because there have been so many new movies.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. We just don't have the time.

[Movie Mike]

Like, my favorite weeks right now in July, have been movie weeks. When I've watched four new movies in a weekend, I'm like, oh, this is so good right now. And my new favorite thing is to go at 9am and go watch a matinee of a horror movie that you don't want to watch.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Movie Mike]

So it was just finding time to get all these movies in. So what was your worst for the month?

[Podcast Host]

Speaking of. A24. Love you. A24. It was Eddington.

[Movie Mike]

This was what I got asked a lot about. Like, when you're going to review Eddington. I wanted you here so we could both give our opinion on it. What did you hate about it?

[Podcast Host]

I would like to say what the bleep was that movie.

[Movie Mike]

It was a lot more boring than I was expecting with having Joaquin Phoenix.

[Podcast Host]

And Pedro Pascal, and it got unnecessarily, stupidly violent.

[Movie Mike]

So the movie is essentially, it takes place in the summer of 2020 and is about this small fictional town right in the midst of the pandemic. And what I just found myself not interested in is I didn't want to relive that time. As soon as they got into all the things. And it wasn't like they added any extra context to it or did it for an artistic reason. It was almost just documenting exactly what happened, why people were fighting with each other.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, it was the, like, I'm not wearing a mask in a grocery store. And I was like, I think five years is actually too soon.

[Movie Mike]

And it didn't feel like the right time to make this movie. That I found the first 50 minutes of it very uninteresting. Because that's all it was.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, the first 50 minutes. Because the movie is like over two and a half hours.

[Movie Mike]

It was like 220, maybe 218. And that first hour drag, I thought.

[Podcast Host]

It was even longer than that.

[Movie Mike]

Was it longer?

[Podcast Host]

I feel like it was longer.

[Movie Mike]

Let's see.

[Podcast Host]

Because it's like 143, I think it.

[Movie Mike]

Was like it's 2 hours and 25 minutes. Yeah, that was a long movie.

[Podcast Host]

It's so long.

[Movie Mike]

And very little happens in that first hour. And then it just kind of goes off the rails where I like this director. He also did Hereditary. He also did Mitsumar, which are very interesting horror movies, but I kind of think he should go back to doing horror movies.

[Podcast Host]

I feel like this was kind of a horror movie.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, it kind of was. I feel like this was him trying to make a Quentin Tarantino style movie or trying to make his own version of no country for Old Men. Because where this movie takes you, I don't want to ruin anything, but where the action kind of unfolds, I feel.

[Podcast Host]

Like you could ruin it.

[Movie Mike]

It kind of takes like that modern western type vibe, crime thriller, but it was doing a really bad impression of it with characters that you just didn't care about whatsoever and then just kind of made no sense and said no statement at the end of it.

[Podcast Host]

And then it had like low budget gore.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, that's kind of a stylistic choice. I think that's kind of his style where it didn't. I think it's done for effect, but on a movie of this scale, it does look a little bit like it's low quality, but I think it's on purpose. I think it's meant to be more shocking.

[Podcast Host]

I hated it.

[Movie Mike]

I found myself sitting in the. In the seat wanting to leave very badly. I was very uncomfortable throughout the majority of this movie just because there was nothing. There was no characters that I was following along their storyline or rooting for the story. Just felt like reliving a really bad time in the world. Maybe in 15 years or 20 years, we were more far removed from this. I would have cared more about it, but I just think overall this movie was really just uninteresting and not worth the 2 hour and 25 minute runtime now, especially with. I mean, I like both of these actors and now Emma Stone and Emma Stone and Austin. I mean, I don't really like Austin Butler, but you have that many people in this movie, you think somebody would have given a performance that was worthy of like, okay, I can see why they were playing.

[Podcast Host]

Turns out it was still bad.

[Movie Mike]

So yeah, I can co sign on your worst of the month.

[Podcast Host]

If we had seen that one at Regal, we would have left because we.

[Movie Mike]

Had the unlimited and.

[Podcast Host]

But we like actually bought tickets for it. So it was kind of like, oh, we, we financially committed to this.

[Movie Mike]

Right. We're at that point of wanting to leave. And I was gonna tell you, like, you want something interesting did happen. And I was like, okay, maybe it's going somewhere now. And it didn't really go anywhere.

[Podcast Host]

I'm currently reading a book that I feel similarly about and I'm not even gonna like, say the name and recommend it on this podcast. I wanted to not finish it, but I bought it. And so I can't bring myself to not finish something that I bought. So I'm like powering through. I have a third left and I need to finish it today and just be done with it. It's one of those where, like, I don't want to say dread. That sounds dramatic, but, like, I pick it up and I'm like, oh, I've got to read this feels like homework. Yes.

[Movie Mike]

Eating your vegetables as a kid. Yes, I understand that. And I have the role of if I don't finish a movie, I can't review it because it feels incomplete. It's like they put out their art. If I don't at least put in my effort of finishing the whole project, then I can't talk about it fairly. I mean, I can say it was so bad I didn't finish it, but that's all I could say.

[Podcast Host]

I probably would have said nicer things if I hadn't had to finish that movie.

[Movie Mike]

But that brings me to my worst of the month, which was The Old Guard 2 on Netflix.

[Podcast Host]

Is that what you watched on the flight home from vacation?

[Movie Mike]

How was my face while watching this movie?

[Podcast Host]

Looked like you were in physical pain.

[Movie Mike]

It was so. And the thing about Netflix movies, there are a couple of things. There's one, they're just inherently bad. Two is they come out so far between the other one that I forgot what happened in the Old Guard one. I kind of forgot the premise of it, what the characters were about. So they didn't do a really good job at resetting that, which I was. It took me maybe about 10 minutes to remember exactly. Oh yeah, they did this. And this is the story behind them. Essentially, they live forever. That's why they're the old guard. But this movie was so B level action movie. And Charlize Theron is a good actor.

[Podcast Host]

B is generous from what I looked over and saw on your screen, because.

[Movie Mike]

It felt like a movie that would come on Saturday afternoons on a random channel, not even on cable, but on broadcast TV that I used to watch as a kid. Like an old 80s movie. The acting was so bare minimum. The special effects in this movie were just straight. I probably could have made better special effects on Cap Cut on my phone because I was like, that's just a green screen. This looks so bad. And all of this action just felt so generic. I hate when I watch action movies and people are just fighting for the sake of fighting. There's no purpose to it.

[Podcast Host]

So like the Real Housewives.

[Movie Mike]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

You hate watching that with me.

[Movie Mike]

No, I just mean, like, there are certain action movies where. Where two characters fight and there's a reason. There's an emotional weight to it. They're fighting for a very specific reason in this movie. It just felt like, okay, we need an action sequence here. So these people are going to fight and then there's going to be a chase scene. And that. It was just filler. Every fight scene just felt like filler from the very beginning. The first opening fight scene where they're, like, going to break into some house. It just felt ridiculous. Lame fight scene.

[Podcast Host]

No, just like filler movies.

[Movie Mike]

Oh, yes. That is kind of what they do, where they get big stars, like a truly theron, and now are building these kind of franchises that they have where they put out these movies originally, like, three or four years ago, and now four years later, they're like, let's make a sequel to it. So they're trying to build these fan bases on these franchises that don't have a fan base.

[Podcast Host]

Which, speaking of filler movies that did have a fan base.

[Movie Mike]

Happy Gilmore, too. Yes, that was. That was an honorable mention because I gave the old guard a one out of five, which is really low. And I gave Happy Gilmore, too. I like giving movies the number that it's in, so I gave it a two out of five. So I'm like, the review is in the title. But I was so surprised of how many people found joy in this movie.

[Podcast Host]

Let me tell you, Taylor Swift did not watch the whole thing, despite what her Instagram story said. I think she watched.

[Movie Mike]

What did she rate it?

[Podcast Host]

A 13 out of 10. Because 13's her number. I think she watched old Travis scenes and was like, all right, he was.

[Movie Mike]

In it more than I anticipated him.

[Podcast Host]

Bad Bunny.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, I still like Bad Bunny in it.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, I loved Bad Bunny in it.

[Movie Mike]

But aside from that, it was too many cameos.

[Podcast Host]

It was so. It. It was just cameos and callbacks. That's all it was.

[Movie Mike]

And that is what I dislike about it the most. And I think that is what people found enjoyment in, which I don't understand. This movie felt like exhibition to me. Some people like watching movies to be reminded about other movies. I hate that.

[Podcast Host]

It felt almost like product placement, but with actors.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, well, one had some product placement in it with the whole subway thing.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, but this was just like the actors were the product.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, that's true. Oh, yeah. Because it just felt like when it came out that it was like, the biggest movie in Netflix had the biggest debut. It's like, yeah, well, you have all these celebrities who have millions of followers on Instagram.

[Podcast Host]

I mean, we had, like, Alex Earl in it.

[Movie Mike]

It was like, so strategically you put all these people in it to get so many people to watch it. Because then you have, like, the WWE fan base in your post. Malone in it.

[Podcast Host]

I already forgot he was in it.

[Movie Mike]

The biggest. I mean, Bad Bunny is one of the biggest artists in the world, not just in the United States.

[Podcast Host]

Taylor Swift. Well, I mean, people watch for. But, yeah, she posted about it.

[Movie Mike]

So I. I hate comedy. I hate legacy comedy movies because it's never going to be as funny as the original. It kind of tarnishes what you love about the first one. And I know I sound like I don't like having fun. I do like having fun, but it even takes me back to whenever they made Dumb and Dumber, to the sequel where all they did was do the gags from the first one. It's like, hey, remember what we did in the first one? Let's do it again. And even when this movie started out, I was like, okay, maybe we're gonna get a real story here. And it felt a little bit like, okay, he's actually going through some things here. And then by maybe 20 minutes into it, it just kind of goes off the rails, and they're just doing a bunch of random jokes. It felt like a mid SNL episode.

[Podcast Host]

I did love that Sandler's whole family was in it.

[Movie Mike]

See, I cannot like his movies, but I can like Adam Sandler. I love Adam Sandler because when you think about it on the grand scale and you look at what he's doing, he is making art with his friends. He's putting his family in it. So while having the best time, he is.

[Podcast Host]

He just gets to. He gets to do what he wants.

[Movie Mike]

And he makes a lot of money for it. And he gets to spend time with his family. Because if you think about it, if you're an actor working like he does on this, on this amount of movies, that would take you away from your family, he's able to put them in his movies. So he's working, and he's spending time with his family. It's like Jerry Jones with the Cowboys. He's like, this is why I built this, because I get to have this team. That's my dream. But I also get to work with my family. So the whole time I'm working, I'm spending time with him.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, yes, the Jones family. Yeah.

[Movie Mike]

But Family, but he does that. And then he also brings a super loyal friends. He brings them back. Even though they probably don't get along all the time, he still brings them back because he knows people love those characters. He keeps them working. He gives them jobs. He can kind of put a little spark into their career again. So I do respect him as an actor, as a business person, as somebody who is making movies that he wants to make. I mean, going back to Billy Madison, that was like, the first movie he had some creative control over. And to go from doing that to doing this, where he's like, this is how I'm gonna make movies. It's still resonating with people. And I don't want to say, like, oh, you're dumb for liking this movie.

[Podcast Host]

This wasn't for us.

[Movie Mike]

I just wanted a real movie. I wanted a real plot, like a real reason to make a sequel to this. Because I think the story is there. I think it was there in the beginning. And then it was just like, let's just kind of parody all these things now. And I guess I didn't like the golfers. There were too many people who were not actors in significant roles.

[Podcast Host]

Yes, we did. Yep. The whole.

[Movie Mike]

That's why when you do have, like, a cool, random cameo, it's usually small and brief. But when you have those people who don't act are not known for acting, it makes it harder to watch because they're. You can obviously tell that they are not good actors. Mainly the golfers took me out of it because they were in it so heavily.

[Podcast Host]

I already honestly forgot they were in it.

[Movie Mike]

Scotty Scheffler and a bunch of the people on his team. Yeah, I think that was. Probably was just like, okay, too much of this. Which. The first movie, it was a golf movie, but it was all just about him.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, we didn't need actual PGA Tour.

[Movie Mike]

Golfers, but that was an honorable mention for my worst of the month. I did hate the Old Guard worst, though. I'll go through the list of all the movies we watched in July. I started with Old Guard, watching it on the plane coming back from vacation. We also watched Jurassic World Rebirth, which I gave a 2.5 out of 5. That feels generous. Pretty low on the scale. Then watch Superman, 4.5 out of 5. I watched Opus on HBO Max, which is a movie with AO a debris that I wanted to watch in theaters earlier this year. It's a horror movie where she's like a music writer and then goes out to cover this artist who's kind of like a Prince type artist and is making their first album for a very long time. But then it gets kind of weird. It just kind of falls in that category of a lot of movies right now where, like, somebody goes out to like a weird retreat and there's like these weird things happening behind the scenes. So it just kind of felt generic to me. Eddington, we gave a two out of five. Would you rate that one?

[Podcast Host]

Oh, I give Eddington a zero.

[Movie Mike]

A zero.

[Podcast Host]

I have never wanted to leave a movie so bad.

[Movie Mike]

No nutritional value whatsoever. Wow.

[Podcast Host]

It was two and a half hours of my life that I won't get back.

[Movie Mike]

I don't think I've ever rated anything a0 before.

[Podcast Host]

I don't think I've read books a0. Most of the time I'm like, you put words on a page. But this I can't. I can't get behind. I'm too angry about my 2.

[Movie Mike]

Is generous.

[Podcast Host]

Extremely generous.

[Movie Mike]

I gave. I know what you did last summer. A two out of five.

[Podcast Host]

Lots of twos.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah. There's a high contrast because I gave sorry baby a 4 out of 5.

[Podcast Host]

So good.

[Movie Mike]

The assessment, which I watched on Hulu, which is with Scarlet Witch, the other Olsen sister.

[Podcast Host]

Elizabeth. Olsen.

[Movie Mike]

Elizabeth. The overall story wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. Like, the movie looked really good. It's from a French director, so I think it kind of had a bit of an artsy vibe. But essentially her and her husband live in like the not so distant future where you have to pass an assessment test to have a kid. So the whole thing is like somebody coming to their house and evaluating whether or not they're allowed to have a kid. Could we implement that maybe 50 years in the future? But I gave that one a 3.5 out of 5. Fantastic Four a 4. I gave it a 4 out of 5. Would you give that one?

[Podcast Host]

I think 4.

[Movie Mike]

I also watched a movie called Dangerous Animals. I gave it a 3.5 out of 5. It's about these people who go out into like a shark tour in the ocean and then they find out the guy, the serial killer.

[Podcast Host]

You also called that movie like three different names when you were trying to tell me. You were like, dangerous trenches, dangerous waters, water in the trench, scary sharks.

[Movie Mike]

But dangerous animals. It is. It's a good kind of mid level horror movie. It was just incredibly frustrating when you watch horror movies and you're like, why are you doing this?

[Podcast Host]

So I don't watch them.

[Movie Mike]

And then, oh, I. I gave a 3.5 out of 5, which I was surprised that nobody was laughing when we went to go see that movie.

[Podcast Host]

That was one of those that. I don't know if people watched the trailer.

[Movie Mike]

It's like an anti ROM com, but I think people thought it was straight on rom.

[Podcast Host]

I think people thought they were. They were getting the ROM com because.

[Movie Mike]

It'S about a girl who goes on an away trip with this guy she's been dating for like three or four months. And at the very start of it, he tells her, like, oh, I don't want to be in a relationship.

[Podcast Host]

And it's in the trailer. She's like, our first trip away as a couple. And he's like, what? I love Molly Gordon.

[Movie Mike]

So then she chains him up to the bed and she says, okay, I'm gonna keep you here for. Was it a day? 12 hours. And if I can convince you of what life would be like with me as a girlfriend, you can make your decision after that. So it's kind of like the movie Misery. Wherever she ties up James Con in the bed for. Well, she just keeps him there. But it's kind of that inspired. But like the Gen Z version of that, where she's just trying to get this guy to be in a relationship with her. Yeah, I thought it was funny. We were the only people in the entire theater laughing, which that's not the.

[Podcast Host]

First time that's ever happened to us.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, but it's supposed to be. It was funny.

[Podcast Host]

It was funny. I'm telling you. I don't think people watch the trailer. So I think they were like, when? When does the ROM com.

[Movie Mike]

I think the ROM com is a very interesting genre right now because the people who want to go experience ROM coms are trying to remember those of the 2000, and they very much changed. Like Materialists, I would consider a ROM com, but when I did that review, people are like, that's not a ROM com. It doesn't have the traditional things that a ROM com has. So I think it has evolved much like the horror genre has evolved. How would you Rate the 3 Pedro Pascal movies that we watched this summer? Because we watched Materialist, which came out. Started the summer we watched Eddington, and then we watched Fantastic Four, which came out within a week of each other.

[Podcast Host]

Fantastic Four number one, Materialist number two. And then I'm not even rating Eddington. It's off the board.

[Movie Mike]

I'll rate it and I'll put it. After watching all those movies without revealing anything about how much they are specifically in it, can you feel that he is A little bit overworked right now.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Because I'm busy.

[Movie Mike]

If you'll go to a theater and you see which Pedro Pascal movie do you want to watch? You see him on three different posters. Like, how did he have enough time?

[Podcast Host]

He's booked and busy.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah. I could definitely feel it in Eddington that maybe he fit that in between those movies. Maybe he, like, went back and forth a little bit, or he's like, pedro's here this amount of days you have him for this movie.

[Podcast Host]

I feel like that's how it is.

[Movie Mike]

Because whenever we went to these Baby Girl screening with Nicole Kidman, she kind of talked about what it's like to do an A24 movie.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Movie Mike]

Where you're. You have a lot longer days, but they're very. It's less of a schedule because you have less days to do it, but the days are longer. So it is a little bit more demanding because of the smaller budget. I would have to imagine that's what it was like filming both of those A24 movies.

[Podcast Host]

Materialists was 824 as well.

[Movie Mike]

So I kind of want him to be in less things moving forward just because he was in Last of Us this year. He's in a lot. He is so hot right now that people are starting to get sick of him. I worry that because I still like him. I like him. I like him and everything, but I don't want him to reach that level of crisp Pratt where people just feel like he's in everything. And then I think they also just.

[Podcast Host]

Hate Chris Pratt for other reasons.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, I guess it could be a little bit of Chris Pratt, but I.

[Podcast Host]

Think it's like, Chris Brad is a person, honestly, that people don't like. It wasn't a lot, but I think there's, like, more on the personal side.

[Movie Mike]

But I feel like people hated it when he was cast as Mario and then as, like, Garfield. Like, they just get Chris Pratt for everything, and he doesn't put any effort into it.

[Podcast Host]

And those are also movies for, like, do you just need, like, a paycheck, bro? Are things good? You're not making the mortgage.

[Movie Mike]

But you did send me that story of Pedro Pascal's allegedly his role being reduced a little bit in the next Avengers movie, which I saw the director say that he was never really queued up to be, like, the star and the head of the new Avengers team. So I don't really think we know what that's going to be. And me kind of knowing from just reading the comics where Doomsday and Secret wars are going. We're gonna have a lot of characters come together. So I don't really think there's going to be one, even one team that's kind of the main in either of those movies, because I think it's about to get very large. So I think it's going to be a lot different than Infinity War to Endgame, where it's going to be just so many people in it. We saw the chair announcement. You saw how many chairs were at that thing when they were like, all these people are going to be in this movie.

[Podcast Host]

I would also like to go back to what you said, that I sent you that story. Yes, I did. I do a lot of unpaid intern work for this. I would just like to pat myself on the back. I find a lot of stories for you.

[Movie Mike]

That was a good one.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you.

[Movie Mike]

Because I think people are wondering now, after watching Fantastic Four, how it's going to feed in. Because the only next movie in Marvel that we're getting is the Spider man movie and then Doomsday. Which one are you more excited for? I think you know my answer.

[Podcast Host]

I love Spider Man.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, me too.

[Podcast Host]

I'm gonna go Spidey.

[Movie Mike]

I'm going Spider man, too. Just because we've never had an actor who has played Spider man get a fourth movie.

[Podcast Host]

Tom Holland's about to be the Pedro Pascal of next summer.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah, he's gonna be. Oh, yeah. The Odyssey trailer. He's gonna be in a lot, him and Zendaya together. Do you have a TV show for this month? Because I do not. I have not finished the show. And it's weird that we live in an age where we still have slow seasons for TV shows. You think there should be great stuff coming out all year round just because of the way streaming works, But I guess even streaming services kind of take a slowdown during the summer.

[Podcast Host]

I do. I binged all of Jenny in Georgia.

[Movie Mike]

Oh, yeah. I've watched episodes here and there. I've kind of pieced it together just a little bit.

[Podcast Host]

It's nothing groundbreaking. It's good, though. I was glad that I had three seasons to binge, and now I'm like, I have to wait. But then I started the marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which again, is also an older one. Also glad that I have all of that to binge, but I was like, I need more Rachel Brosnahan after Superman. So I'm watching that. And that's delightful.

[Movie Mike]

So far, the only thing I'm watching currently is the WWE show on Netflix, which is like the documentary it's supposed to be like the behind the scenes stuff they never wanted or stuff we would never show you of them. Kind of breaking the illusion of how real wrestling is breaking the fourth wall, which I think has kind of been broken in modern wrestling, where they show you exactly, like how strategic everything is. Like how everything's on a calendar. Every single movement and plot line is. Has all these people behind it.

[Podcast Host]

Honestly, that's really upsetting to me.

[Movie Mike]

Why?

[Podcast Host]

But it's so fake.

[Movie Mike]

I mean, the storylines are fake, but people still get injured. Like whenever somebody gets hurt in real life, they have to write it into the show. But it is interesting because they do talk about some of the wrestlers go to the writers and they want to know before a match, am I going to win or am I going to lose? And sometimes they don't know.

[Podcast Host]

I don't like that.

[Movie Mike]

It's just that part of it is kind of weird because they are performers. It is sports entertainment. But then you have to think like, man, I can't even win this match if I want to. Because it's. It's determined. It's written in the script because they have all these plot lines they need to play out over all these big events. So I find that part interesting. But I also find I'm not as turned off by the fact that it's not quote unquote real, that it's fake. Because yes, it is kind of like a soap opera. But it's interesting to see these people want to reach a level of success and the only people that are in the way are the writers. Because to become the WWE Champion, you can't just become the champion. They have to say, you are now worthy of doing this and we're going to write you in. So that part is crazy. Do you have a book?

[Podcast Host]

I do. My book club read project Hail Mary this month.

[Movie Mike]

Am I gonna have a really hard time reading it?

[Podcast Host]

Not a really hard time, but I will say someone who has a science background, there were even things. And my background's not like molecular biology like he is in the book, but I have a pretty good understanding of scientific concepts and even some things I was like, I gotta remember what that is. And then there were. There's some things that you just can't even visualize. So you just have to like, accept it and be like, okay, I'm accepting that this exists, but I don't know what it looks like in my head, if that makes sense.

[Movie Mike]

Did you go back and watch the trailer after I did it? Are you excited for it? Does it fit? Does it look like what you kind of thought, even though you kind of saw the trailer? A little bit.

[Podcast Host]

But I would try to go the bathroom every time the trailer came out.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Because I really didn't want.

[Movie Mike]

You were not going to watch it. But then we didn't think about when we'd go to the movies that they did.

[Podcast Host]

It was like, the first trailer.

[Movie Mike]

I got to get out of here.

[Podcast Host]

Yes. I'm very excited for it. It actually helped having seen a little bit of the trailer, because I read the book in Gosling's voice. I read it as, like, Ken from Barbie.

[Movie Mike]

See, whenever I read Hunger Games, it was before the movies came out. And I didn't associate Jennifer Lawrence at all with that character, to the point that when I watched the movies, I was like, you're not Katniss. That's not what I pictured in my head. But the movie comes out on March 20, 2026, so I have. I have some time to read it.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I'm. I have faith in you.

[Movie Mike]

I'm gonna read it, and I want to experience that. Even though I've already seen the trailer and people say there are some spoilers in there.

[Podcast Host]

Not that many, though. Nothing that, like, it's like, oh, you shouldn't read the book. Like, I still think you will appreciate having read the book.

[Movie Mike]

I'm good, then.

[Podcast Host]

But you do have to not read it fast. But I feel like you have to keep the momentum so you don't forget the things. Because it's very detailed.

[Movie Mike]

Okay. Once I'm in a book, I'm good.

[Podcast Host]

Wouldn't know. Haven't seen you read one.

[Movie Mike]

Like, if I could just sit down, like, probably when we go on our trip, if I take it with me and I'm on a plane and that's all I have. Like, that's when I do my best reading because I'm like, what else am I gonna do?

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Movie Mike]

So that is my next task and a 6am flight. Yes.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Movie Mike]

Hey. It could happen. Anything else?

[Podcast Host]

No. It's hot.

[Movie Mike]

It is fine.

[Podcast Host]

I'm so over the heat.

[Movie Mike]

Yeah. I'm gonna go jump into a cold bath right now.

[Podcast Host]

Our water doesn't get cold. We got a new water heater, which we will appreciate in the winter. But you're right. Like, I find myself. I don't even turn it over to the hot side when I get in the shower because it's not hot.

[Movie Mike]

I turn it.

[Podcast Host]

It's not cold.

[Movie Mike]

I turn it down as cold as it will go. But then it gets like, really? There's like no water, then you're just turning it off. Oh man, get colder. All right, I'll come back and give my spoiler free review of the Naked Gun.

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Movie Mike]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Glen Washington]

I'm Glenn Washington, the host of KQED's Snap Judgment podcast. And at Snap, we don't just tell stories, we live them. Every week a different journey, like on a plane with Rihanna, a racetrack in Tijuana, a year inside an Oakland homeless encampment. Real people, real voices with original music and cinematic sound. Snap Judgment from kqed New episodes every Thursday. Wherever you get your podcasts, let's be.

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[Movie Mike]

Let'S get into it now. A Spoiler Free Movie review of the Naked Gun starring Liam Neeson. Although I might be a little bit just loose on the term spoiler free because I don't really think this is going to be a movie that I can spoil. I think talking about some of the comedic elements that I actually ended up enjoying, which I thought I was going to hate this movie. I saw the trailer for it and I thought that looks so dumb. The scene in particular that almost kept me from watching this movie was whenever you see the girl enter the bank and then turn into Liam Neeson and then start fighting people, I thought, no way could a parody movie be good in 2025. I also don't know how much of the fan base was really itching for another one of these movies, except maybe the couple next to me in the theater. They were probably a good 20 to 30 years older than me. The original came out back in 1988, so it's been 37 years. Those people might have been waiting for this movie. Me in particular. I was not. But it does come to us from director Akiva Schaefer, who I had faith in. I just didn't think the actual movie was going to be good. But I am here to admit I was wrong. The Naked Gun is actually a funny movie, and let me tell you why I think it works. Now I'm gonna relate it to a recent comedy Legacy sequel that we got, Happy Gilmore 2. Even in the Sandler verse, it was a lot of just recalling old things they did in that movie. Here it's something completely different because the Naked Gun actually builds its own world where everything is ridiculous in the best way. This movie is a Looney Tunes cartoon brought to life with a lot of great writing, a lot of great jokes per minute. So consistently throughout this entire movie, you're getting joke after joke, recurring bit after recurring bit. But not only things in the foreground, you're getting things in the background, small little details put in there to make you laugh. Now are all of them huge, big moments that are gonna have you on the floor of the theater laughing split in your side? No. But it consistently just tries to make you laugh. It commits to every single joke. A lot of play on words, which I kind of think is the DNA of this franchise. And a lot of it just works. And I was not expecting it to. From the very beginning, the very opening sequence, I was like, okay, I'm in for this ride. And it honestly didn't take me a long time to believe in Liam Neeson in this role, which I thought was going to be the hardest part, because I just see him as the taken guy, really. But what this movie is about, he is investigating a bank robbery, and then it starts investigating a car crash. Somebody died. But Pamela Anderson's character was the brother of the guy who died in the crash and said, I don't think he killed himself. I think there's somebody else behind it. And that's really it. A very minimal plot of him just trying to figure out who the bad guy is and how this crime unfolded. And what you get through all of that is a series of comedic events that just work. Liam Neeson was great. I thought Pamela Anderson was really great in this role as well. They have some pretty good on screen chemistry. She also has, surprisingly, some really good comedic timing. But hands down, my favorite part of this movie was Paul Walter Hauser, who I believe just owns every role that he does right now. He was just in the Fantastic Four as the Mole Man. I also loved him, and I think you should leave the Tim Robinson Show. He is somebody who I believe is one of the best new faces in comedy, and it's great to see him start to get bigger roles. I think now that people are becoming a little bit more familiar with him, they're like, oh, isn't that the guy from Richard Jewel? He's actually pretty funny. I think his character should have had a little bit more of a presence, because anytime his character was on screen, I loved it. There were three reoccurring bits that I love now. I said I wasn't going to give away any spoilers, and I don't really think this is spoiling anything. But these are the type of things that are inside of a Naked Gun movie. At number three, at number three is whenever they are at risk of getting shut down immediately, Paul Walter Hauser is standing out front with his box and a Spirit Halloween sign goes up behind him. I thought that was hilarious. At number two, whenever they were investigating the car crash and they're trying to get it out of the water, Liam Neeson does a terrible job at investigating. And then they're like, all right, nothing else to see here. And you think they're going to be smart in the way that they pull out the car, but then the guy working the crane literally has like the claw from the claw machine and then pulls it up. And that is the best representation of this movie. It goes all in and allows everything to be ridiculous. But number one, my favorite bit in the movie is they keep making fun of how in action movies and cop movies, they always get a fresh cup of coffee. So they're getting a fresh cup and then immediately get another fresh cup, and then the cups keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And I just thought that was funny the way they committed to that. And my final question about this movie, does length matter? Because this movie was over before I knew it. And I think that's also what led to my enjoyment is because the humor will start to wear on you a little bit because it kind of starts to be the same thing over and over. And even though you really enjoy it for those first 30 to 45 minutes, it starts to reach a point of like, okay, this is still funny. And I get that they're still firing off jokes and firing off jokes, but it does get a little less and less novel as it goes along. But before I knew it, this movie was over. It was under one hour and 15 minutes, which I think is probably the lowest runtime I've ever seen in theaters. And I ended up loving it. I think different categories of movies do require different run times. Now, if a movie is just good, all out good, no bad things to say about it, it can go on as long as it wants. But if a movie is kind of teetering on the line of, I don't know if I like this, I don't know if I'm really committed to it, the runtime can be very influential. And before this movie, I would say a great comedy runtime is 90 minutes. But if you could make a movie in one hour and 15 minutes, I think it has to be as ridiculous as the naked gun. But 1 hour and 15 minutes is also pretty good because like I said, it kind of tricks your mind into thinking I'm a little bit over this. Oh, it's already over. Everybody's leaving. All right, I'm good. I think I enjoyed that because it got me out of there really quickly, said what it needed to say, did all the gags, and didn't waste time trying to build anything else that it didn't need to. For an art house movie, I feel is right around the 1 hour and 40 minute range. Art House movies are usually a little bit lower budget, the story is kind of stretched out a little bit more and anything more than an hour and 40 minutes starts to feel a little taxing to me. A horror movie I think right now needs to be 1 hour and 45 minutes. I think that is the sweet spot for horror enough to really build that story in the first 20 minutes, really ramp up in that 40 minute mark, and then really start to go off the rails about that 1 hour, 1 hour and 10 minute mark. And those final 30 to 20 minutes give you a great final battle. I think 145 is the perfect run time for a horror movie. When it comes to superhero movies, I used to say two and a half hours, but recently I think right around that two hour mark, which is what DC and Marvel are both starting to do, is kind of that sweet spot. Maybe it's because we have a little bit of superhero fatigue, But I think two hours, maybe even 155 is the perfect amount right now for a superhero movie. Now if it's an Avengers level movie, I'm okay with the 245 for Secret Wars. I will give you another three hours for that one. And speaking of run times, I feel like I've talked about this movie too long at this point because the movie was only one hour and 15 minutes and I'm still here yapping about it. So for the Naked Gun, because it proved me wrong, I give it 3.5 out of 5 big old coffee cups. You can make a difference in someone's.

[Ovelity Representative]

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[Movie Mike]

They also provide paid time off and opportunities for overtime.

[Ovelity Representative]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through August 26th, it's back to deals time where you can enjoy storewide deals and earn four times points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Hershey's, Cheez It, Kellogg's, Gatorade, Smart Water, Skinny Pop, Oberto, Zoa and Activia. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pick up or delivery subject to availability restrictions.

[Movie Mike]

Apply.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[Glen Washington]

You think you know Snap judgment? Yes, it's on npr. It's a podcast. It's storytelling. But snap has gone deeper. Stranger, Wilder. We've taken you places that the New York Times, the Rolling Stones, the Ambis, the Webbies, the Gracies all stood up for.

[Podcast Host]

Welcome to the Podcast hall of Fame.

[Glen Washington]

Glenn White Award winning stories, original beats, soundscapes that drop you into the heart of the story. Find snap judgment from KQED every Thursday wherever you get your podcast.

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[Ryan Seacrest]

It'S time to head down to Movie Mike's Trailer Park.

[Movie Mike]

How much Avatar can we take? Because Fire and Ash is coming out this year on December 19th. We have another one coming out in 2029 with Avatar 4 and then Avatar 5 comes out in 2031. Before this in 2022 we got the Whale Water, but there was a big gap between one and two because Avatar came out back in 2009. And not only are these movies mapped out from now until 2031, they are also girthy movies. Avatar 12 hours and 42 minutes. Just flirting with that three hour runtime. The way of water 3 hours and 12 minutes. Fire and ash the exact same run time of 3 hours and 12 minutes. I can only imagine 4 and 5 are gonna be at least 3 hours and 12 minutes. So not only do we have five of these movies. But we also have to prepare ourselves before we go watch these movies in theaters. Limit our liquids beforehand, plot out when is a good time to go to the bathroom. And what I've learned from the Way of Water is pretty much every act is an hour. So if you have to go pee while watching Avatar, a thing I do with every single movie I go watch is I time it. So I would say right when that first hour is wrapping up, maybe go five minutes into the next hour just in case there's like a big action sequence. But every hour is pretty much an act. So if you have to go pee, go in that 55 to 105 range and add that to the two hour mark and then you kind of got to stay at 3 hour mark. But this is a lot of Avatar and it's a very polarizing franchise. Because I think we wonder how do these movies make so much money, why are they so successful and why are we getting so many of these? But in this one, we have a new tribe leader who is the new villain in this movie who looks pretty menacing. Her name is Varang, I believe is how you pronounce that. She is the villain in Fire and Ash. She is tormenting Jake Sully and his family as he attempts to protect her from her wrath. She looks how you would imagine a villain look in an Avatar movie. Still has the blue skin, but also has white, black and red body paint. So it kind of has like a warrior vibe, which they all kind of have a warrior vibe. I saw the trailer when I went to go see Fantastic Four and I saw that in imax. So I got to experience it just a little bit, get that little taste of what this is going to look like on the big screen. And I liked it. This third installment introduces the Ash people, described as fierce fire wielding warriors who dance around blazing pits of flame. I would also describe myself that way, except I'm not blue. I'm brown, baby. But I want to dive into Avatar. Why is it so successful? Why does James Cameron just put all of his time and energy into these movies? And why is this going to be the legacy that he leaves behind? Before we get into all of that, here's just a little bit of the Avatar 3 trailer.

[Glen Washington]

You cannot live like this, baby. In hate.

[Movie Mike]

If there is something you can do, then you must do it. The children.

[Podcast Host]

No, no, no, Spider.

[Movie Mike]

And we will find another way. Your goddess has no dom. So it looks like we are picking up from wherever way of water left off, which in that one they had to leave Pandora, leave their home, go out to live with these people who are water based, hit the way of water, and still have to battle this difficult war against the humans. It kind of looks like the same thing happening here again. Constantly on the run, constantly just trying to protect their children. When it comes to Avatar movies, I was a hater in the beginning, but now seeing a lot of movies use very, very suspicious techniques when it comes to just getting special effects passable. And that has become unacceptable to me. Whenever I see a special effect that looks like it could have been fine tuned to see it on the big screen, just look mediocre. I just really start to hold it against these movies. When they continue to do that, they continue to rush their production to get this movie out sooner and cut corners when it comes to the special effects. But James Cameron does not do that. Each one of these movies is so immersive, whether it's the visuals, whether it's the score, whether it's the acting. It is all at the top of its game constantly. So it's so reliable on its ability to create a spectacle that it has audiences still pouring in to go watch these movies in theaters because they are an event. And I do believe this is a passion project of James Cameron. He wrote the first treatment to avatar back in 1994 when it was called Project 880. From that 80 page treatment, he began working on a screenplay for this fictional universe in early 2006, with a movie finally coming out in 2009. So from when he first wrote the initial draft to when he actually started developing the screenplay, including the language, including this whole fictional universe of Pandora, that was over a decade. And then three years later, Avatar came out in 2009. And then another decade plus three years go by before we got the sequel to that movie. And I find it interesting when people put the classification of a passion project on somebody's work, oftentimes that means it is something that they are doing just for the love of doing it, even though it is not financially successful. I think artists hate that term because of the connotation that, oh, I'm just doing this as a passion project, meaning I would do this even if I wasn't getting paid. I don't care if it's successful. I just need to get this creativity out of my head and onto a screen or onto a canvas and I don't care if it ever sees a dime. But even though this is a passion project for James Cameron, these movies have the opposite effect. They are some of the highest grossing movies of all time. And why is that? It's not only because they are successful in the United States, which the biggest movies in the world are often American movies. We only look at the numbers here. But if you look at the Numbers specifically for Avatar 1, only 26.9% of the money made at the box office was domestic. The other 73.1% came from the international box office. And that is the gold that James Cameron has struck. And I would hate to say that the movie is so middle of the road that it appeals to everybody because I don't think these are mediocre movies. I just think he is the master filmmaker and knows how to create a story that has a wide appeal. And when it comes to the Avatar movies, they are blue people. They are not specific to anybody. You could argue the fact that we could all see a little bit of ourselves in these people because they are blue and alien. Like you don't associate a race to them because it has that sci fi element. And due to the fact that because you don't see American actors on the screen, even though the people voicing them and doing the motion capture for them are for the most part American people. But all you have to do is have actors who speak different languages go in and do the voice acting to fit any country. Because these movies are huge in China, France, over in the UK and Spain, they do so well over there because of that. So it's not just because it's a middle of the road that it doesn't offend too many people. There are just a lot of elements in Avatar that appealed to not only different people around the world, but also inside of demographics. It appeals to the older audience. It appeals to the 20, 30 year olds who are into the sci fi element. That's where I fall in. And then it even appeals to kids because, well, technically it's kind of animated and bright and colorful and very immersive and there's a lot of action. So they're also not so artsy that they turn people off. And they're also not so bottom of the barrel, lowest common denominator that maybe somebody who is turned off by those type of movies, those AKA popcorn movies, still feels challenged by a movie like this. Still feels like they're getting something out of it that they can sink their teeth into and not just watching something dumb and mindless like a Fast and the Furious movie, which also does well internationally. But I am a huge proponent of these movies now. But I will say I still have to psych myself up to go and watch a movie that's three hours and 15 minutes, even though I do not mind a long run time on a movie if it is warranted. And James Cameron has proved to me that it is warranted, that he can hold my attention and my overall curiosity for that entire run time. But I still have to psych myself up. Because there's something about going to the movies when you go in and it's daytime and you come out and it's dark, you're like, man, how long was I in there? Because then you factor in the 25 to 30 minutes of previews and then that's like a four hour event with the driving. So that will eat up your entire weekend when you go watch Avatar in December. But I still think it is worth it. I've still enjoyed all of these movies and I think I will continue to enjoy 4 and 5. So I am all in for Avatar, Fire and Ash coming out on December 19th.

[Glen Washington]

And that was this week's edition of.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Movie Minds Trailer Park.

[Movie Mike]

Ah. And that is gonna be the episode for this week that'll do it. But before I go, I gotta give my listener shout out of the week. This week I'm going over to Tick Tock, which you can follow me over there. I put the link in the episode notes. If you search Mike Distro, you can find me on Tick Tock. For some reason I can't change my username, guys, but it is me, I promise. I'm going over to. I posted some clips from my Fantastic Four review, which is a movie that I still want to go watch again in theaters to experience it. I still also need to go and watch Superman again in theaters. So as soon as I'm through all these movies coming out in August that look really good, I will go back and re watch some of the ones from July. But this week I'm going over to Tick Tock and. And shouting out Mayo Ketchup, which is a fantastic username. Who commented on that Fantastic Four video of me talking about how much I love the suits and said, I'm gonna say Eternals have much better suits, but don't fight me. Listen, Mayo Ketchup, that is a hot take for sure. Maybe one of the hottest ever. Like, because the Eternals. Oh. Because aside from the storytelling in that movie, one of the things I dislike the most were the suits. And I'm big into figure collecting and every single figure from the Eternals movie. All the action figures that were made in preparation for that because they thought it was going to be a huge success. They are still sitting on shelves in discount stores across America. They are burning the pegs of any ollies that you go to because people just don't want them. And why do they not want them is because the suits are terrible. Superhero suits are what sell comic books. They're what make people buy tickets to go watch them in theaters. They sell T shirts, they sell merchandise. Because if a superhero has a cool suit, you want to see that suit. You want to see that logo. And man, that is such a hot take. Because I feel like nothing about those suits stands out. The fact that pretty much all of them are the same, just different colors. They look so boring to me. But to say something like that, that is so bold to stand up for a movie that so many people just dislike. I applaud you Mayo Ketchup. You said not to fight you about this, so I won't fight you. I will counter you with saying how bad the suits are, but I respect your opinion to say that. So thank you for listening, thank you for being subscribed and until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later. For years, everyone thought Verizon had the best network because they did. But now the best mobile network in the US is T Mobile. T Mobile's network has the most advanced 5G with more towers and their signal reaches further than ever. So you can text an insta talk and say, you won't believe where I am.

[Glen Washington]

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[Movie Mike]

In the US based on analysis by Ookla of speed test intelligence data 1H.

[Glen Washington]

2025C T mobile.com network hey, it's Ryan.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through August 26th, it's back to deals time, where you can enjoy storewide deals and earn four times points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Hershey's, Cheez It, Kellogg's, Gatorade, Smart Water, Skinny Pop, Oberto, Zoa and Activia. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Shop in store or online for easy drive up and go. Pickup or delivery subject to availability restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[Glen Washington]

Angwan, Washington the host of Snap Judgment from KQED Every week we don't just tell stories, we drop you inside them. Real people, real voices, real moments that split a life in two. What do you believe? What do you risk? What do you want? Snap Judgment. New episodes every Thursday, wherever you get your podcast.

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[Glen Washington]

The Roses were living the dream.

[Movie Mike]

To you my darling. No to you until it all came crashing down.

[Podcast Host]

You got fired.

[Movie Mike]

Fired on August 29th. Stop.

[Glen Washington]

You stop and see the Roses. Rated R in theaters everywhere August 29th.

[Podcast Host]

This is an I Heart podcast.