MOVIE MIKE: Movie Experience with In-Laws, Kelsey Questions Mike’s Google History, Underrated Movie Snack  + Movie Review: Why ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Fell Short + Trailer Park: Keanu Reeves Is A Guardian Angel In “Good Fortune"

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bobby Bones Show
Episode: MOVIE MIKE: Movie Experience with In-Laws, Kelsey Questions Mike’s Google History, Underrated Movie Snack + Movie Review: Why ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Fell Short + Trailer Park: Keanu Reeves Is A Guardian Angel In “Good Fortune”
Release Date: June 7, 2025

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I. Favorite and Worst Movies of May

A. Best of May

• Mike's Favorite:
  Mike enthusiastically endorses "Thunderbolts", expressing his unwavering support for Marvel movies. He states, "I always enjoy a Marvel movie. Even if a Marvel movie is a bad Marvel movie, it's still a good movie in my opinion." ([03:50])

• Tom's Favorite:
  Tom shares his love for "Lilo and Stitch", awarding it a 4.5 out of 5. Although he holds the original in higher esteem, he appreciates the live-action adaptation and its ability to evoke nostalgia. He reflects on a memorable moment when Mike surprised him with a lifelike Stitch figure: "He was cute. He was adorable..." ([09:27])

B. Worst of May

• Mike's Least Favorite:
  Mike critiques “Friendship”, suggesting it may resonate more with socially awkward individuals. He mentions, "I think people who were slightly more socially awkward enjoyed it because they see themselves in it." ([16:39])

• Tom's Least Favorite:
  Tom discusses "Final Destination Bloodlines", rating it 3.5 out of 5. He feels the film suffered from a lack of fresh ideas and relies heavily on shock value, particularly referencing memorable props like the infamous logs. "I don't like horror franchises like Final Destination. It's not my go-to." ([19:27])

II. Underrated Movie Snacks

Mike delves into the often-overlooked world of movie snacks, sharing his family's unique preferences. From popcorn and hot dogs to tater tots, he highlights the diversity of choices: "A lot of people still complain about going to the movies now because snacks are expensive. But they really are part of the experience." ([08:24])

Tom concurs, advocating for tater tots as a superior alternative to traditional popcorn. "Tater tots are an underutilized movie snack. They're salty, delicious, and easy to eat while watching." ([09:15])

III. In-Depth Movie Reviews

A. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Mike provides a comprehensive review of the latest installment in the franchise, "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning", giving it a 3.5 out of 5. He discusses several key points:

• Length and Pacing:
  Mike criticizes the film's extended runtime and slow pacing, stating, "They spent so much time setting up all of these big action sequences, I felt that's all it was." ([49:30])

• Plot Redundancy:
  He feels the movie repetitively references past events, detracting from the overall narrative. "They are just referencing things that happened all throughout the series. It was really disorienting and overall just really boring." ([40:00])

• Tom Cruise’s Stunts and Legacy:
  While acknowledging Cruise's dedication to performing his own stunts, Mike questions the sustainability of this approach. "Tom Cruise in his underwear running on a treadmill... it just didn't feel like the ending." ([48:00])

Despite these critiques, Mike acknowledges the film's commercial success and its role in drawing audiences back to theaters. "The movie still did really well at the box office. Even though it couldn't beat my boy Stitch in opening weekend, it was still a best for the franchise." ([50:44])

B. Trailer Park: "Good Fortune"

Tom introduces "Good Fortune", highlighting its unique blend of comedy and fantasy. Keanu Reeves stars as Gabriel, a guardian angel, alongside Aziz Ansari and Seth Rogen. Key elements include:

• Plot Overview:
  Gabriel attempts to help a struggling gig worker by orchestrating a body swap with a wealthy venture capitalist, leading to unforeseen consequences. Tom compares it to classic body-swap movies like "Down to Earth" with Chris Rock. "It's a classic body swap movie which has been done before... It reminds me of 'Down to Earth' with Chris Rock." ([56:37])

• Aziz Ansari's Directorial Debut:
  Tom praises Ansari's transition into directing, noting his deep involvement in both writing and performing. "This is finally going to be his directorial debut. And it probably also means a lot to him that he also wrote the script for this movie." ([58:00])

• Nostalgic Appeal:
  The film taps into early 2000s nostalgia, appealing to audiences who cherish that era's storytelling style. "If we want more movies like this that remind us of the good old days, we gotta go support them when they are out in theaters." ([61:00])

IV. TV Show Highlights of the Month

A. Mike's Favorite:
Mike raves about "Overcompensating", a sitcom centered on Benito Skinner, a comedian navigating life as a closeted gay man in college. He rates it 5 out of 5, appreciating its humor and relatability. "I loved it. Highly recommend it on Prime." ([20:33], [32:31])

B. Tom's Reviews:

• "The Last of Us" Season 2:
  Tom gives it a 4 out of 5, noting its departure from the grittiness of Season 1 towards a more "Walking Dead-ish" vibe, leading to some fatigue. "I think season one was much grittier... but this one felt more like Walking Dead and I'm fatigued on those types of shows." ([25:07])

• "Rehearsal":
  Rated 4.5 out of 5, Tom appreciates Nathan Fielder's unique, meta-humor approach but acknowledges its niche appeal. "It's another show, kind of like Friendship, where I'm not exactly sure I would recommend it, even though I really love it." ([27:17])

V. Book of the Month: "The Names" by Florence Knapp

Mike spotlights "The Names", a novel exploring the impact of different names on a child's life over several decades. He praises its compelling narrative structure and inclusive storytelling, awarding it a 5 out of 5. "It was so good. I didn't feel like it was so long." ([31:36])

Tom echoes the sentiment, intrigued by the book's premise and considering it for his top 10 of the year. "You telling me the premise of that, I was like, oh, that sounds like a really good book." ([32:19])

VI. Personal Anecdotes and Celebrations

A. Anniversary Celebration:

The hosts share a heartfelt moment celebrating their four-year anniversary. They reminisce about their early relationship days, overcoming long-distance challenges, and the seamless transition to being an "old married couple." Mike expresses, "I don't do well with gifts... But if you're wondering, it's a purse that I sent to that's usually my go-to gift." ([32:56])

B. Gift-Giving Mishaps:

Tom recounts humorous stories about attempting to find the perfect Father's Day gifts, resulting in mix-ups like sending incorrect items and the amusing reactions from his father. _"He was like, 'angie, what does this mean?'... 'something like bueno.'" ([28:29], [29:27])

VII. Listener Engagement and Shoutouts

Mike acknowledges the growing support from listeners, aiming for more subscribers on his YouTube channel. He commends Vivian Ford for her positive feedback on his Regal Lilo and Stitch merchandise review amidst mixed reactions on social media. "Thank you Vivian for that comment. Thank you for sharing that video." ([64:01])

VIII. Sponsors and Promotions

Throughout the episode, the hosts integrate various sponsor messages seamlessly into their discussions, covering credit cards, insurance, and mobile services. Notably:

• Regal Unlimited:
  "Our Regal Unlimited has come in handy... It's easy peasy." ([06:50])

• Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card:
  Engaging in a humorous competition over paying the bill, the hosts highlight the benefits of earning cash back. "People with The Wells Fargo ActiveCash credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash back on purchases." ([36:32], [53:05])

• Discover Credit Card:
  Tom promotes Discover's widespread acceptance and cash back rewards. "Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide." ([37:56], [66:23])

IX. Closing Remarks

The episode concludes with warm wishes for their anniversary and encouragement to listeners to continue supporting their favorite movies and shows. Tom wraps up by acknowledging listener support and urging everyone to enjoy good movies. "Until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later." ([65:21])

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Mike: "I always enjoy a Marvel movie. Even if a Marvel movie is a bad Marvel movie, it's still a good movie in my opinion." ([03:53])
• Tom: "Tater tots are an underutilized movie snack. They're salty, delicious, and easy to eat while watching." ([09:15])
• Mike: "I give Mission Impossible the final reckoning. 3.5 out of 5 self destructing messages." ([49:48])
• Tom: "It's a classic body swap movie which has been done before... It reminds me of 'Down to Earth' with Chris Rock." ([56:37])
• Mike: "I loved it. Highly recommend it on Prime." ([20:36])
• Tom: "You have to be into that brand of entertainment and humor to even understand it." ([27:43])

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This episode of The Bobby Bones Show offers a diverse range of discussions, from in-depth movie reviews and TV show analyses to personal anecdotes and listener interactions. The hosts provide insightful commentary on current entertainment trends while maintaining an engaging and relatable dialogue for their audience.

Transcript

[Mike]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Tom]

NBC Nightly News legacy isn't handed down or NBC News. I'm Tom Brokaw. We hope to see you back here. I'm Lester Holt.

[Kelsey]

It's carried forward.

[Tom]

Tom Yamas is there for us.

[Kelsey]

Firefighters are still working around the clock.

[Tom]

As the world changes, we look for what endures. We are coming on the air with breaking news right now. We look for a constant and from one era to the next, Trust is the anchor for NBC Nightly News.

[Kelsey]

I'm Tom Yamas.

[Tom]

A new chapter begins NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas evenings on NBC. Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the Now It Pays to Discover. Learn more at discover.com credit card Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report, this.

[Kelsey]

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[Mike]

I've never felt like this before. It's like, you just get me. I feel like my true self with you. Does that sound crazy? And it doesn't hurt that you're gorgeous. Okay, that's it. I'm taking you home with me. I mean, you can't find shoes this good just anywhere. Find a shoe for every you from brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas and more at your dsw store or dsw.com hello.

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[Tom]

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?

[Mike]

I'm good.

[Tom]

Here to talk about the best and worst of May. We'll get into that in the movie review. I'll be talking about my thoughts on the new Mission Impossible movie. And in the trailer park, there's a new movie with Aiz Ansari, Seth Rogan and Keanu Reeves. It's comedy. Out of all those three actors, who do you like the most?

[Mike]

Sorry, I'm distracted thinking about how much weed they smoked on this set with Seth Rogan there. Yeah, probably Seth Rogan. I do think he's funny.

[Tom]

I'm going to go Aziz Unsar. But I think most people love Keanu Reeves. Not that I don't like Keanu Reeves. I just think I've been a longer fan of Aziz. He also hasn't been in a movie in a while, so I think that's also why I'm excited to see him back in something. So I'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 from the Nashville Podcast Network.

[Kelsey]

This is Movie Mike's Movie Podcast.

[Tom]

We'll jump right into it. Best of May. What do you got?

[Mike]

Thunderbolts?

[Tom]

Were you surprised how much you enjoyed it?

[Mike]

No, because I always enjoy a Marvel movie. Even if a Marvel movie is a bad Marvel movie, it's still a good movie in my opinion.

[Tom]

So you don't have superhero fatigue that a lot of people are complaining about? I don't know if that's a real thing or just a thing journalists and people online are talking about, like, superhero fatigue.

[Mike]

No, it was also fun too, because we went to see it with my family. So we saw it with my brothers. And it like kind of took me back to when I lived in Texas and lived close to them and we'd go see every Marvel movie together.

[Tom]

The thing I've had to learn from going to movies with your family is your family is a back of the row theater family.

[Mike]

The top row.

[Tom]

The top row in the back where there's nobody behind you, it's at the very top. Why is that?

[Mike]

Because my dad's a former cop, so.

[Tom]

It'S a security thing.

[Mike]

It's a he Wants to be able to see his environment. He's just always been that way. Has to sit facing the door of a restaurant. We've just always been top row. I think they also just like that there's no one behind them.

[Tom]

That part I do kind of like. It's. It's a lot higher up than I would. I would prefer. Because our normal row is.

[Mike]

Yeah, but it's still not that high up because the. It's like the bougie recliners. Theaters used to be way taller. There was one aging myself called tinseltown off of I35.

[Tom]

I remember that.

[Mike]

And those were like giant because that was when it was just like the normal stadium seating. So what you call it. So there were more rows now that it's all like lux recliners. There's less rows that you can put in. So I don't even feel like the further back is.

[Tom]

It's not that far. And the screens have gotten bigger since back then.

[Mike]

I would much rather be on the back row than the front row.

[Tom]

I also think the front row isn't that close as it used to be anymore because.

[Mike]

No, but you still can't see that well. You're just like staring up like you leave your neck hurts.

[Tom]

Cuz whenever I went to go see Minecraft, I got our normal row. But there was a whole family taking up the row and they had like young kids. And I was like, I don't want to make this a thing of making them move. So it went down further up where I was in that bottom section. Like in the last row of the bottom section. But even that wasn't bad. And I could have gone to the very front row and I wouldn't have had that issue where I was like, oh, my neck hurts.

[Mike]

After this, I feel like we saw something. Is it Star Wars?

[Tom]

Star. Oh, don't tell the story. Don't tell the story.

[Mike]

That was when we were long distance.

[Tom]

Which we were long distance for two years.

[Mike]

And I was coming to town for before Christmas and Star wars movie was coming out like right before Christmas. Multiple visits. I was like, hey, we should get tickets. And you're like, we don't need to get tickets. Like gaslighting me that it was not gonna sell out.

[Tom]

I was like, we'll be fine.

[Mike]

Where'd we end up sitting?

[Tom]

The front row.

[Mike]

Yep. And who was right that we should have bought the ticket sooner? So now never argues with me when I'm like, let's get the tickets.

[Tom]

We always get tickets really early, which I don't Know, if a lot of people do that whenever they like, we're the type of people, whenever they go.

[Mike]

On sale, we're like the first people buying tickets. It's also so easy in the Regal app. This is not an ad for the Regal app, but again, Regal, if you would like to sponsor us, let us know. And I just do it, and we get the seats we want, and I just check out with a little Regal Unlimited. Easy peasy.

[Tom]

I will say our Regal Unlimited has come into handy in the last month. Like, 30 bucks. Less than 30 bucks.

[Mike]

It's like 29 something now. Yeah. We were looking at. We were like, you know what? Let's branch out and go to a different theater. Like, that's fun in your 30s. I was like, let's go to a different theater in a different grocery store this weekend. Like, genuinely that. I was like, it's gonna be a fun Saturday.

[Tom]

They do popcorn.

[Mike]

And then we looked at the prices and I said, never mind. We don't need to go have fun elsewhere. It was like, $21.

[Tom]

That's almost our whole month matinee. Almost our whole month of Regal.

[Mike]

And we can go see a movie every day. We can see the same movie multiple times. We're going to go see Lilo and Stitch again this weekend.

[Tom]

Oh, yeah. I can't wait. And I'm like, in this economy, got to save money.

[Mike]

I. I can't do that.

[Tom]

I ended up really enjoying Thunderbolts as well. I think it got back to what made Marvel so great in Phase One, and I think it sets up where we're going with the Fantastic Four. I do want to get into here later of all the other movies coming out this summer. But now I'm excited again, which I never really jumped ship on Marvel. There were some movies here and there since 2020 that I haven't loved.

[Mike]

I think it was disappointing. After Captain America, Brave New World was not as good as everyone hoped. I think that was kind of like, oh, no. Like, is Marvel done for?

[Tom]

But after that, I feel this has taken them an entirely different direction. The action was back in this, where it was like, oh, this is actually just good fighting. Good. Just the building of a team again, which we saw what happened at the end of it. But I think, like, this is what they need to do. They need to stop trying to hold on to all the old characters from the old Avengers movies and kind of move on and establish this world, which I think they did a really good job.

[Mike]

The other funny thing about going to the movie with my family is just the snacks that they get.

[Tom]

Yeah. Your family goes all. All. Like, we. We do drinks and popcorn and they go all out.

[Mike]

My parents are always like, how do we spend so much money? And I'm like, that's because I think my dad got. I think he started with popcorn and a pickle, which we've discussed this for. Pickle in a bag in a bag are a very big thing at theaters in Texas. And then I think halfway during the movie, he came back with a hot dog. My youngest brother had a bag of Takis and a Slurpee, and then the older one had a large popcorn. A drink.

[Tom]

I.

[Mike]

And I know Regal does have, like, I'm putting air quotes. Food, but where I grew up in Texas, there was a theater, had tater tots, and they were so good, let me tell you. I'm sure they were frozen out of a bag and just thrown into the fryer. But you could get a whole styrofoam container of tater tots. Underrated movie food.

[Tom]

I mean, it's also easy to eat while watching a movie.

[Mike]

Like, it's.

[Tom]

That is an underutilized food vibe as popcorn.

[Mike]

Like a salty delicious.

[Tom]

I would be more inclined to get some tater tots. Yeah.

[Mike]

You don't eat popcorn.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Even when your braces are going to be off, I don't see you eating popcorn.

[Tom]

Which is soon, by the way, for everybody who's been asking me.

[Mike]

Oh, I didn't know we were going to. Exclusive.

[Tom]

Exclusive. They're coming off after this airs in like a week and a half.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Tom]

Yeah. So maybe I'll be speaking better without them on. So what would you rate? Thunderbolts?

[Mike]

Four and a half out of five.

[Tom]

Bob's good old Bob. For my favorite of May. Would it be any other movie? Lilo and Stitch, which I did not give a five out of five because I think the original is a five out of five. Doesn't quite come close to it. I don't think anything's ever going to touch that. But I gave it a 4.5 out of 5. And at the moment of recording this, we do have tickets to see it again.

[Mike]

I was reviewing our credit card statement for the month, and I was like, those Regal charges for that Stitch merch. The most we've ever spent. Like, I don't pay for popcorn at the movie because I have. We have our Regal credits. Like, we go to so many movies that we're just always accumulating credits that I always have a free popcorn or.

[Tom]

Some kind of discount or something.

[Mike]

And to pay for popcorn. I was like, y' all are out here paying for this. This is expensive. Yeah, I see why people complain about going to the movies now.

[Tom]

It is expensive.

[Mike]

And it was a very small portion of popcorn.

[Tom]

Popcorn. Pale, as I called it.

[Mike]

Yeah, it was a pail. You told the story, too, of how I, like, went on my lunch break to get the giant thing, and then.

[Tom]

It was still to make sure you could get it.

[Mike]

And they're still in stock.

[Tom]

But you know how it would have worked the other way if you didn't do that.

[Mike]

I know it's fun to surprise you, but it was just like the day I picked to go. There was so much traffic, and I was regretting every choice I'd ever made. And then we walk into the theater and somebody's, like, walking out with one, and they're like. I was like, are you bleeping kidding me?

[Tom]

But when it came to the first theater experience, I think I was judging it. So first, there have been only a handful of movies I've seen twice in theaters. Twisters was one in recent history. Blue Beetle was also one in recent history, before Black Panther. Black Panther. Because we saw it, you and I, and we saw it with your family, which is kind of the same deal with Blue Beetle. And I think those are all the movies I've seen twice in theaters and now about to be Lilo and Stitch. And it's because whenever we first went to go see it, I was comparing it to the original and wondering what they were going to keep in and what they were going to make differently, that I don't think I fully enjoyed all of it.

[Mike]

Yeah, you were analyzing.

[Tom]

Because I was like, okay, they could do this. Oh, they're gonna cut this out. Hey, this is different. And I had to think of, like, how's the story going to change if they don't have this? So I think now that I know what the live action version is, I can go into it and just enjoy it for what it is. And then it starts forming into like, oh, this is how I differentiate the two. But I think the opposite thing kind of happened for me is where sometimes when they remake a movie, I love, I'm overly critical of it, but I think how much I love the original, I was almost going to love it no matter what.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Tom]

So I can see why some people didn't enjoy it, and they kind of put it in that category of Disney just trying to cash grab on all their old properties, but I just can't see it that way. I even Said bit of a bias here, because I love the first one so much that there's nothing they could have done that would have made me hate it. I can't hate you. He was cute. He was adorable.

[Mike]

I was afraid that he was going to look terrifying. Like, those first few renderings, when they started saying, like, live action, I was like, oh, no. And then you watch it. You're like, he's so cute. I want him to bet.

[Tom]

I thought it was going to happen, like, whenever they first made the Sonic the Hedgehog movie and the first rendering came out of Sonic and he looked terrifying, and. And people online complained about it so much that they went back and changed his eyes and changed his mouth, and then he looked cute again.

[Mike]

Listen to what people want.

[Tom]

So I think the fact that Stitch looked good helped the entire movie, because if he didn't, it would be really unbelievable and even more so than the original movie. I was like, oh, man. Like, I wish I had my own Stitch. And now because of you, I do. I come in here every day and I smile because of that thing staring back at me.

[Mike]

Your reaction was so pure. It was. So I got home with it. You were in the shower, so I ran into the house first to make sure you, like, weren't around. I was like, hello, I'm home. No response. I was like, okay, I'm good. So I run back out to my car, I get it, and I come home, and I put it on the counter in the kitchen, and you had walked past to get something out of the guest bathroom, and then you turned around and you, like, locked eyes with it on the kitchen counter. And you were like, what is that?

[Tom]

Say, where'd you get it? Where'd you get that?

[Mike]

And I was like, where do you think I got.

[Tom]

Just looks so lifelike that I was like, wait, what is happening here? It felt like I was having a very vivid dream because I'm lifelike. I'm like, why is Stitch on the counter right now? But that's going to be a core memory for me of you showing up with that randomly. So I think even though we probably could have got it on opening night.

[Mike]

And I forgot to use our real.

[Tom]

Unlimited discount, yeah, I think that memory alone is probably worth it, but. But again, I. I'm not the one who had to sit in traffic, so it was fine.

[Mike]

I also was going to Sephora, so.

[Tom]

Made a trip of it. But for Lilo and Stitch, after the first viewing, I give it a 4.5 out of 5. Still can't really go up from there. I don't think it's going to go down from there. I think that is where it's going to live forever. I am excited that with the success of it, they're probably going to make more of them. And the crazy thing was, well, maybe not that crazy, but I think the biggest audience that came out for her opening weekend was zillennials and millennials.

[Mike]

Oh, absolutely.

[Tom]

So it wasn't even like, this is a family friendly 100.

[Mike]

It was millennials in, like, Stitch Snuggies.

[Tom]

I think it was like over 50 of people were, like, our age who went to go see it. Which made me feel better about it just because even with you getting me that popcorn bucket and how big of a fan I am of Stitch, I kind of felt like, not ashamed, but a little like, oh, man. Like, as an adult man so into Stitch. But I think seeing that there's this entire fan base that is my same age and just seeing people on Tik Tok post about it, I'm like, oh, everybody's doing this. It feels more normal.

[Mike]

I also told you not to be ashamed of things that you enjoy.

[Tom]

I like collecting things.

[Mike]

I was thinking about this earlier. For some random reason, I was like, we in the age of people making tiktoks of, like, things that give me the ick. Things that are in, things that are out. Like, I understand the, like, good natured fun of it, but I also think those things can be really, like, hurtful to people because don't yuck someone's yum. Like, I just was like, the things that, like, some people choose to spend their money on. If it's not how you spend your money, that's great. Like, just enjoy what you enjoy. Life's hard enough.

[Tom]

It's so hard to find things, have the hobbies you want that bring you joy in this life. And just the way everything has been in the last few years, it's like, man, if we could just find some kind of comfort in a blue little creature, why not?

[Mike]

I did use this as a learning point for you. I was like, see, you want all these different stitches. They're the same thing, but they serve a different purpose. That's how I feel buying 17 blushes.

[Tom]

Yeah. If you look in this room, I can see three different stitches. One that you're holding right now, which is a stuff stitch, like a weighted stitch.

[Mike]

There's five stitches.

[Tom]

There's the popcorn bucket. Oh, yeah.

[Mike]

There's the small one. There's the one I'm holding. And there's two Figures. There's five stitches in here.

[Tom]

Five stitches. I think he's almost up there with Spider man in this room. He's getting close.

[Mike]

Yeah. So I love your room. I think it's turned out so cool.

[Tom]

I love it. So our worst. Now, what was the worst thing you saw in. I. I don't think I'm going to like this in May.

[Mike]

Friendship.

[Tom]

Oh, I love friendship. Tom Robinson. Tim Robinson.

[Mike]

Sorry, but I. And I don't mean this rude. I think people who were slightly more socially awkward enjoyed it because they see themselves in it.

[Tom]

Is that why I love stuff like this?

[Mike]

I think so. I think that's why you're into, like, the rehearsal, like, because it's just, like, socially awkward people trying to make their way.

[Tom]

Maybe that's why I love Robinson so.

[Mike]

Much, to me, is that you're not socially awkward around me.

[Tom]

I can't quite explain that because you're the only person I can be my true self around, where I don't care what I say or how I say.

[Mike]

It, but it's like, I'll post things on Instagram or stories, and, like, my friends find it hilarious. And I'm like, y' all think he's so quiet, but I'm like, this is the mic that I get 24 7.

[Tom]

Yeah. Just whenever I'm around people, even people I do know, I just feel like in my head so much. And I think that's why I find comfort in these characters that, like, Tim Robinson does. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's why I love this movie.

[Mike]

I. It just wasn't my brand of humor.

[Tom]

And it is. It's a really hard movie to recommend to. Say, this is going to be funny. You should go see it.

[Mike]

I don't know if it's a. I would recommend to anyone in theaters.

[Tom]

Yeah.

[Mike]

My way.

[Tom]

Because the. The comedy is so interesting, peculiar, and it's so original. But sometimes when you're so original, a lot of people can find it off putting and just kind of dismiss it, which I get. And if you watch his show on Netflix or if you watch Detroiters, which was a Comedy Central show, the Netflix show is. I think you should leave. You kind of know his brand of humor, and I love it. I love probably Detroiters more just because it is more character driven and there's an actual storyline, I think you should leave. Or, like, really short episodes with a bunch of random skits. And if you don't know Tim Robinson, he started out as a writer on snl, was, I think, a cast member for A little bit, but never, never really quite panned out there. I think it's because his brand of humor was so specific that it didn't really work on Saturday Night Live, which.

[Mike]

Is funny because I feel like a lot of things that SNL does are niche humor.

[Tom]

Yeah. But sometimes even like a Kyle Mooney, who. Who I would say was more successful on SNL than Tim Robinson. His brand of humor is also so specific that it didn't really quite take off on SNL as much as maybe some people thought. But I think Tim Robinson has had more success outside of it. And this movie was kind of a culmination of all of his TV shows. And I thought it was good. I still enjoyed it, but I thought I was going to love it more based upon him being, I would say, my favorite comedian right now. So still a really good movie. I thought Paul Rudd was really good in it, too. I just think overall the story was exactly what I was expecting.

[Mike]

Kate Mara being in it was a surprise to me.

[Tom]

As far as my worst movie for May, there wasn't really a bad movie, and I think that's a good sign for the summer blockbuster season. But the one I enjoyed the least was Final Destination Bloodlines, which I gave a 3.5 out of 5. I just think they kind of ran out of ideas. And overall, when it comes to horror franchises, Final Destination isn't my go to. I also went to go see it alone because you're like, I don't want to any part of this.

[Mike]

The only one I've ever seen all the way through, and I've seen it multiple times because it was like a go to sleepover movie in middle school's Final Destination, too. It's traumatizing. The only thing I remember. The logs are in that one, right?

[Tom]

Yeah, the logs.

[Mike]

That's all I remember. And I can't drive behind anything that has things that are, like, tied to it. I will go around, and I feel like that's the most effective marketing that our generation has ever seen.

[Tom]

They even brought back that marketing with this movie. And I think maybe something I missed a little bit was not seeing it with people because I think it is one of those movies where you go with somebody and you both kind of poke fun at how ridiculous it is and have that kind of bonding moment. It was also kind of an empty year theater. So I also like seeing horror movies, like in the middle of the day. It's just one of the best feelings. But that would be my worst of the month of May. Overall, not a Bad month that got the lowest rating. What was your favorite TV show of the month?

[Mike]

Easy Overcompensating.

[Tom]

That was a really funny show. What's the premise of that?

[Mike]

So it's Benito Skinner, who is a comedian. He has been doing, like, sketches and skits for years, and it's his story of being gay in college, but no one knows, so he's still not telling people. Hiding his identity. And it's him, like, trying to navigate college is kind of like a bro dude, but, like, being gay and trying.

[Tom]

To be accepted, therefore, overcompensating.

[Mike]

It was so funny. And I was listening to he and Mary Beth Brown. They do a podcast, but they were on Jake Shane's podcast, and he was like, people are like, oh, my God, I need season two now. And he's like, well, I love that. I need. You also know it took seven years to get this first season made because he. He'd been writing it for so long and shopping it around until 824 and Amazon picked it up.

[Tom]

Yeah. So it was on Prime Video. It's kind of like an artist who has their entire life to write their first album.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Tom]

And then they only have, like a year, maybe two years to write their second album. That's hard, though, because it is such a good show and it has the momentum, but you think about how much goes into it.

[Mike]

The soundtrack.

[Tom]

Yeah. Because every good. Every episode is the name of a song and it takes place. Well. It kind of feels like it's modern day, but if you pay attention to it, it feels like the early 2010s.

[Mike]

I think it. That's when he was in college.

[Tom]

Okay.

[Mike]

Because he's my age, 31.

[Tom]

You know how I pay attention to things. Whenever something's supposed to be set in a time period, they were making references to things that felt modern, like using phrases that we would use now, but with all the characters and all the music they were listening to or the movies they were referencing. I'm like, oh, this is all stuff from, like, 2009, 2011.

[Mike]

Even the tie in of, like, Charlie XCX was like, her older songs.

[Tom]

Yeah. When Boom Clap was out back when.

[Mike]

I met her, I think the next day I went to boxing and we boxed to Boom Clap. And I was like, wow. It's like one of those things when you pay attention to something and then you start seeing it everywhere. I really tie in.

[Tom]

I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was really great. And I'm also just really nostalgic for the 2010s, which I think was the best time to be alive. And it reminds me probably because that's when I was in college too. And I think just having something that represents that time, when ever you're in it, you don't realize the things you are doing are going to be the things people remember about this decade. And now you watch that back and you're like, oh yeah, like early social media, how big like going to concerts were and being seen by people overall, like relationships and the way just culture was at that time. You're like man 2010s, that was a time to be alive.

[Mike]

I think my peak, not peak, but like My favorite was 2015, 2016, my senior year. It was, it was the best time. We. I took all of my classes with my best friend. Like we were the same major, had the same schedule. We like staggered our classes so we only had like Tuesday, Thursday. So then we'd like walk on Thursdays, talked about this, Trudy's on campus, we would have margaritas and we'd fill up on the free chips and salsa for dinner and then we'd walk home because we lived near campus and it was just the best time. And like 2016 was when closer by the Chain Smokers came out. Like music was great. Nothing will give me a feeling more than Closer by the Chain Smokers. Like, but just take me back.

[Tom]

A lot of great movies around that time too that I felt were kind of just core memories as far as like movies that eventually led to me doing this. So it was cool to see that represented. Represented in a series.

[Mike]

Yeah, I loved it. Highly recommend it on Prime.

[Tom]

What would you give it?

[Mike]

5 out of 5.

[Tom]

O. 5 out of 5.

[Mike]

I loved it.

[Tom]

I'm going to go. I watched two shows on HBO in May and I kind of feel the same way about both. As far as HBO shows feeling short, which they both had season finales that I did not know were coming. It was the Last of Us in the rehearsal, but that I feel like.

[Mike]

You just weren't paying attention how many weeks it had been on. Because the Last of Us had seven episodes. Yes, I know White Lotus has had in the past. It only had eight this season, but that's a typical HBO show.

[Tom]

But I just feel like not. That's not enough episodes.

[Mike]

Well, I agree, but it was just so funny that you were like flabbergasted.

[Tom]

I was like, how is this a finale?

[Mike]

I was accounting episodes expecting you to say like four and you're like seven. I was like, that's an HBO season.

[Tom]

It's because they came out, they both aired on Memorial Day weekend. And I was like, oh, I could actually watch these live if I want to. And then I was like, what time does it air? And they were like, the finale of. I'm like, the finale? Yeah.

[Mike]

You spiraled.

[Tom]

I was like. I was not prepared, like, mentally. I was like, how is this story on both of these shows going to be done on this episode? So I just feel as a whole, like, man, we're not getting enough episodes. But then going back, what you're talking about with overcompensating, I feel like these shows are just taking more and more to make.

[Mike]

There were only eight of those.

[Tom]

Yeah. And they're at a level where it takes almost as long, if not longer, like it would to take a movie. But it's a show. And with the show, we are expecting to have another season at least by the next year, but it's now, like, two or three years before we have to get another one.

[Mike]

Let me tell you. On the other hand, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, first season came out in September. This season came out in May, and there were 10 episodes. And they were dragging those plot lines.

[Tom]

Oh, yeah. Is that the one I heard?

[Mike]

I ate it up. But they were dragging the plot lines, so, yeah.

[Tom]

Overall, I enjoyed the Last of Us, Season two. I thought I was gonna love it because I love season one. I just felt season one was much more grittier. This one started to feel more like Walking Deadish, which I'm. I'm fatigued on those types of shows. So it didn't really have a uniqueness to it that I was looking for. That made it feel like Last of Us.

[Mike]

I don't. I don't want to be one of the last people standing. I absolutely don't.

[Tom]

Yeah, I would be really bad at it.

[Mike]

No, thank you.

[Tom]

I'm like, we got to not get food from a grocery store. No, I would not survive.

[Mike]

I can't online shop and just get things delivered to me. I have to, like, forage. No, thank you. But cannibalism. No.

[Tom]

Well, cannibalism I'd be interested in.

[Mike]

Somebody's going to sound like that. It's going to end up somewhere.

[Tom]

I mean, if it came to it. At the end of the world. I dabble.

[Mike]

It's like that movie was a movie about, like, the Argentinian team.

[Tom]

Oh, Society in the snow. Society of the snow.

[Mike]

Society of the Snow.

[Tom]

Yeah. Society of the snow. What I say?

[Mike]

Society of this. I wasn't hearing the society.

[Tom]

Society of the snow. I couldn't and Espanol.

[Mike]

I couldn't handle the graphic nature of the cannibalism in that one.

[Tom]

That is the movie that made me realize I could probably do it. When they start cooking it and it's like, stop. It probably tastes like chicken, to be honest.

[Mike]

How would you know? You're a vegan. You haven't had chicken in 10 years.

[Tom]

I just think humans taste like chicken. Let's get a cannonball on the line. But, yeah, army hammer. Hey, I don't think he actually did. Or did he do that? Allegedly. But last of us, season two, I would give it a four out of five still.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Tom]

I just felt kind of dipped in the middle and then blindsided me. With the finale being so soon, the rehearsal I would probably give. I rarely give any show of 5 out of 5, so I would give it a 4.5 out of 5.

[Mike]

That show is so awkward. Again.

[Tom]

It's. Again, probably why I like it. Nathan Fielder is a socially awkward guy, and in the first season, he was working with a bunch of different people and having them rehearse big things they had coming up in their life that they were anxious about. And in, like, the first episode of season one, he's helping out somebody with trivia night. And then in this season, it's basically him trying to change the rules in aviation and make it safer.

[Mike]

But there was one in the first season where he's, like, helping someone think about raising a child, and they get like, a new child, like, every couple of days to see the different stages. I think that's the only episode I've watched.

[Tom]

And then it just goes layer and layer and gets more meta and more meta until it's like, is this a show? Is this an experiment? What is going on here? So it kind of blows. Blends the lines of reality. So it's another show, kind of like Friendship, where I'm not exactly sure I would recommend it, even though I really love it. I just feel like you have to be into that brand of entertainment and humor to. I don't want to say enjoy it, but just to appreciate it, to even understand it. To understand it. Like, if I recommended that to, like, my dad or something, he'd be like, I no idea what this is. This is ridiculous.

[Mike]

Speaking of your dad, were you looking for Father's Day gifts for him on Amazon?

[Tom]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Were you looking for gifts for Mexican dad?

[Tom]

I googled gifts for Mexican dads on Father's Day.

[Mike]

I went to buy something on Amazon earlier, and because you use my account, your search history comes up and it was like hand soap. I bought a hair clip. And then gifts for Mexican dad.

[Tom]

If you Google that, you find that it's a lot of alcohol based things. There's like a mug white dad. And then some are like, oddly like, oh, a chili pepper. That's just like, I don't think that should be in this search history. That feels a little racist. And then other things. Oh, the funniest part is there were some things that were like, custom, like custom made with your last.

[Mike]

We can't get custom gifts for your guy.

[Tom]

And I was like, I can't do that again. Last year I tried to get him a custom hat that was like his first trucking company that he worked for and his name on it. And I went to a website, I got it custom made. And they did not send him the right hat whatsoever.

[Mike]

And it was a reputable website. If it's. It was a reputable website, we won't slander them.

[Tom]

And instead of sending him one hat like I ordered, they sent him two different hats that made no sense. One of them said Angie and his name is Angel. And he was like, angie, what does this mean? I think the other one said like.

[Mike]

It was like bats or something. It was like purple with like bats in it.

[Tom]

But it even had a word in Spanish. I don't remember what it was.

[Mike]

Like it was so.

[Tom]

Or something.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah, it said bueno.

[Tom]

Something like bueno. And he was like.

[Mike]

It was close enough to where he was like, I think this is probably what they ordered.

[Tom]

And that's what made it worse is.

[Mike]

Because he thought made it even funnier.

[Tom]

He's like, this has my name on it as far as the address. And this one's in Spanish and this one's almost my name. I'm just confused why you would send this to me. And all he did was just send me a picture of it. And I was like, oh, no, that's not right at all. And I had to call him and explain. He was like, oh, that makes more sense.

[Mike]

And then we also bought him the wrong shoe size for his birthday. So we didn't really do great on the gifts list.

[Tom]

Yeah. So that's why I googled gifts for Mexican dads, and particularly ones that don't require a size or any customization, really.

[Mike]

Limits.

[Tom]

Yeah. So I'll have to go back to Google to find something.

[Mike]

And we can't get him a cooler. No, My family loves to gift your dad coolers. I think they've gotten him too, haven't they?

[Tom]

It's an Easy dad gift. Like dads who drink beer.

[Mike]

But they've gotten him, like. What's that one they got him? It was like a super. It did something cool, like, had, like, something on the side or something. You know what I'm talking about?

[Tom]

Yeah, I don't really know what it is. It has a bottle opener. It can play music.

[Mike]

It was something, like, fancy. And then my grandparents got him. So that's the other thing. My grandparents love your parents. When we do a family get together, it's like, my parents, your parents, your siblings, my brothers, and my grandparents. And they are obsessed with your parents. And so my grandpa was, like, at Costco one day and sends me this picture. He's like, you think angel would like this? And it's one of those, like, metal tubs that you can put, like, ice in and beer in. And I was like, yeah, I think he wouldn't. He, like, bought it and took it to him the next time he saw him.

[Tom]

And he loves it, but.

[Mike]

Yeah. So no coolers. That's been overdone. Not overdone, but done enough spec to the drawing board. If anyone has good gift ideas for gifts for Mexican dads, let us know.

[Tom]

Yeah, let me know. We'll wrap it up with your book of the month, easy.

[Mike]

It was called the Names by Florence Knapp. I read it in 48 hours. It is this woman who has a son, and there's a name that her daughter wants to name the baby, a name that she wants name the baby, and a name that her husband wants to name the baby. So each perspective. So it's set in chunks of, like, seven years. So it's like 1987, seven years later. Seven years later, all the way through, like, 2022, I think. But it's. Each chapter in that section is told from the perspective of the kid. If he was named each one of those different names, and how his life would have been different. It was so good.

[Tom]

Yeah, I. It would take a lot for me to want to read a book of that size. But you telling me the premise of that, I was like, oh, that sounds like a really good book.

[Mike]

I didn't feel like it was so long.

[Tom]

You know how I am with books.

[Mike]

It's like 300 pages.

[Tom]

Yeah, that's like my. That's like a real book. It takes a lot for me to read a real book with 300 pages.

[Mike]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's on my top 10 of the year.

[Tom]

Would they make a movie?

[Mike]

I mean, make a movie of anything these days, but I think that would be really good.

[Tom]

I would watch. It almost sounds like it could be a limited series though. Like episode by episode. Like the.

[Mike]

Oh that.

[Tom]

I feel like it's a limited or.

[Mike]

No, each episode Is that seven years?

[Tom]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And there's like 20 minutes each character.

[Tom]

What would you rate the book?

[Mike]

Five out of five.

[Tom]

Ooh, five out of five. Gonna be in the top 10 of the year.

[Mike]

Possibly.

[Tom]

All right. Anything else for everybody?

[Mike]

It's our anniversary. This I guess this week. This comes out on Monday.

[Tom]

Happy anniversary.

[Mike]

Four years married.

[Tom]

We could have graduated college again.

[Mike]

I just feel like an old married couple at this point. In a good way. Like it just feels like. Yeah. Like I don't at this point I don't even remember long distance. I don't remember dating. It's just like oh yeah, yeah.

[Tom]

Long distance seems like so long ago. And even you living here feels like I can't remember you not being here.

[Mike]

Yeah, I don't remember it either. So.

[Tom]

Happy anniversary.

[Mike]

Thank you. Thank you for my gift that I picked out and sent you the link to.

[Tom]

You're welcome.

[Mike]

And then made you let me open three weeks early.

[Tom]

Thank you for my gift which came in early and you made me open immediately. But I love it.

[Mike]

Yeah, I don't do well with gifts.

[Tom]

You're like it came in surprise, here it is.

[Mike]

I did do that. But I do love it. And if you're wondering it's purse that I sent to that's usually my go to gift. We're not those people that do the like four year. I think four years is fruit.

[Tom]

Fruit.

[Mike]

But people do like really like creative interpretations. Like I could have gifted you something from Apple. People do like different interpretations.

[Tom]

Like an edible arrangement.

[Mike]

You could do that and we should be better about that. Like I know people like the first year I think is paper and then it's like cotton. I'll be honest, I just find something I like and send it and say this is a great reason to get me a gift that works.

[Tom]

Happy anniversary.

[Mike]

Hello.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Hello. Malcolm Gladwell here. Nowadays it can be easy to get lost in the noise. Especially if you're an employee at a company with over 300,000 people. I mean that's approximately the entire population of Orlando, Florida. But more on Orlando later. Infosys is that kind of company and they're growing every year. This created a unique problem. How to handle the day to day growth, appreciation and training needs of a mid sized city worth of employees. A one size fits all approach simply would not work and individualized attention would need its own army of employees to manage. So Emphasis went above and beyond creating an innovative AI based employee platform that boosts productivity and helps everyone reach their full potential. Of course, the company couldn't do it without some powerful partners. Infosys teamed up with T Mobile for Business to make this innovative employee offering mobile first and built it around the most transformative tech since the personal computer artificial intelligence. Now, we're not talking about ChatGPT or image generation here, we're talking about a deep, database driven application that personalizes itself for every employee. Since launching this platform, Infosys boasts a workforce that feels connected and ready to take on whatever challenges come next. For this hard work, Infosys was awarded first place for innovation in employee enablement in 2024 by T Mobile for Business. And that brings us to today. Entries are now open for this year's T Mobile for Business Honors. The awards ceremony will be held October 20th in Orlando, Florida. See, I told you we'd be talking about Orlando. And I'll be there as a keynote speaker and guest judge. Entries are open now. Head to t mobile.com enter to nominate your team and with any luck, I'll see you in October.

[Mike]

Wasn't that delicious?

[Tom]

So good. Your bill, ladies. I got it. No, I got it. Seriously, I insist.

[Mike]

I insisted first. Oh, don't be silly. You don't be silly.

[Tom]

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[Mike]

Okay.

[Tom]

Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot. No, the Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Terms apply. It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane.

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[Mike]

NBC Nightly News Legacy isn't handed down or NBC News.

[Tom]

I'm Tom Brokaw. We hope to see you back here. I'm Lester Holt. It's carried forward. Tom Yamas is there for us.

[Kelsey]

Firefighters are still working around the clock.

[Tom]

As the world changes, we look for what endures. We are coming on the air with breaking news. Right now, we look for a constant.

[Mike]

And from one era to the next.

[Tom]

Trust is the anchor for NBC Nightly News.

[Kelsey]

I'm Tom Yamas.

[Tom]

A new chapter begins NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. Evenings on NBC. At Ameca Insurance, we know it's more than just a house. It's your home. The place that that's filled with memories.

[Kelsey]

The early days of figuring it out to the later years of still figuring.

[Tom]

It out for the place you've put down roots. Trust, Amica Home Insurance. Ameca Empathy is our best policy. Let's get into it now. A spoiler free movie review of Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning, which was a bit of a rebrand. It is the eighth and final installation in the series, the last time we're ever gonna see, at least allegedly, Tom Cruise play Ethan Hunt. The movie takes place where the last movie left off, which was Dead Reckoning Part one. That's why this movie had a little bit of a rebrand because that movie ended up underperforming. Came out at a time where it was very competitive at the box office. Tom Cruise was also competing for IMAX screenshots because he is a big proponent of I gotta get these movies out in theaters where people can see them and on the biggest screen possible. Because he takes a lot of pride and what they put on the screen and the links they go to get these incredibly well crafted and choreographed action sequences that are really the thing to me that make these movies worthwhile to go see in theater. So that is why I have a bit of a I don't love Tom Cruise movies, but I respect what he has done for the movie industry In a post Covid world, if it wouldn't have been for Top Gun Maverick, I don't know that a lot of theaters would still be here. So he is still putting out movies that get people excited to go back to the theater, that keep cinemas alive. So I like that aspect of it. But when it comes to what I see as Tom Cruise the person, the actor and overall his work in the last 15 years, I wouldn't call myself the biggest Tom Cruise fan for a period of my life. If Tom Cruise was in it, I would kind of be like, I don't think I want to watch it because of that. But with the last movie, Dead Reckoning Part 1, I really enjoyed it. I thought it had some great action and it had a moment that was probably a total of five, six, maybe eight seconds of him jumping off a cliff on a bike that I felt was the moment of that movie and how much work went into getting that one specific shot, I thought made it. And it's him doing those things that excite me and made me interested in going to see how they were going to wrap up this entire franchise, which started back in 1996. And I was not just a little bit, but kind of a lot of it let down because it just felt like they were running over the same stuff over and over again. And in no way should this have been two movies. This one was almost three hours. Same with the one before this. And it was really the entire story. Again, what this movie is about. It's Ethan Hunt and the IMF team. They're on a race against time to fight this thing called the Entity, which is essentially this rogue AI that has taken over the world. It's gonna cause a bunch of just chaos and mayhem and war. And if this thing is not stopped, we're all not gonna be here. So you need Ethan and his team to stop it. And apparently he's the only one who can do it by running really fast and fighting people and getting into situations that only he knows how to get out of, apparently. And the problem I had is, overall, it was too slow and too boring, aside from the big action sequences. But even the problem with those big action sequences in this one is while they look really expensive, and I'm sure they took a long time to film and there was a lot of process that went into it, they spent so much time setting up all of these big action sequences, I felt that's all it was. And the time in between all the big moments were boring and slow. And my theater and myself just became restless because it was a lot of exposition, not a lot of action. Especially just because it was retreading everything that happened in the first one. Because I really hate the trend of splitting up the last movie in a franchise into two parts. It is just everybody seems to do it now because you film one big movie and you think if you put it out into two parts, you can make double the money. I just find it really annoying and cash grabby, especially because now two parts feel very incomplete. And that is how this movie started, where they started telling you and reminding you all the things that happened in the part before this. Because just in case you didn't see it or in case you forgot about it already, they have to remind you if you are a big fan of the franchise and you like sitting down and watching all of them back to back to back, it's gonna be so annoying. By the Time you get to this point where they're just referencing things that have happened all throughout the series. I don't like all the callbacks at the beginning. It was really disorienting and overall just really boring. And the problem I had with the story here is that it didn't create a sense of urgency like it did in Part one. It just kind of felt like it was there. And they were really trying hard to make an emotional finale for Ethan Hunt. That's really what this was. Him and the team all doing it one last time. Him telling his crew, like, one last time, I'm gonna have to ride with me or something like that. And I feel like this franchise has lived different lives throughout one through three. I kind of see that as a trilogy. Those carried over into the 2000s and in the 2010s, I almost feel like they became this entirely different franchise where the story got better, at least it got a little bit more cohesive, it formed its identity a little bit more. It also kind of went the way of, okay, we have to franchise this thing now. We have a formula that we have to follow to make a Mission Impossible movie. You throw in all the self destructing messages. And that was really in the 2010s, where Tom Cruise became even more obsessed with doing his own stunts, with breaking his ankle, jumping from one building to another. But I really feel like the apex of that was in Dead Reckoning Part one. That is where the good stuff was. That is where just the beautifully shot moments were that I say were even Oscar worthy. And the final reckoning just felt like the falling action the entire time. And that was just really hard for me to sink my teeth into and really ride this wave of, I want to see how this is all going to play out. And I didn't really care what was going to happen to Ethan Hunt's character. And I love finales. When it comes to TV shows, I will watch the finale of a TV show, even if I haven't seen all the seasons, just because I want to know, oh, how are they going to wrap this thing up? Will it hit me emotionally if I am not aware of all these things that have gone on with all these characters? And I love a finale of a movie franchise even more because it is very monumental to take this story, to take Ethan Hunt, who has been around since the 90s, who has been around almost my entire life. I remember these movies being so impactful as a kid, iconic moments throughout its entire run, but this just wasn't it. It lacked that feeling it lacked that emotion, it lacked that creativity, it lacked that finality. It didn't really feel like this was okay. I am. Well, you're never going to be completely satisfied with the ending to anything. There's always going to be things unsaid. There's always going to be better ways to wrap it up. But as long as I feel satisfied, I think that is as good of a job as you can do as a filmmaker. But in no way did I really feel satisfied. Because it felt like this movie was playing it safe from beginning to end. Now, they did give us some good action moments. I think the scene with the airplanes that you probably saw in the trailer. But even that didn't hit the same way that some of the action sequences have in previous films. They've gone to greater length. So this entire film just kind of felt like it was all the extra scenes that didn't work in anything else that they had done. But what I am excited for is Tom Cruise to move on from Mission Impossible. I don't know exactly what he's gonna do next or even if this franchise is really gonna be dead because he says that. But if they come a knocking with another idea and they pay him enough money, I could actually see the rumor coming to life of Glen Powell taking over the franchise. And maybe even not him fully. But you start kind of rotating who these movies are about and then eventually Tom Cruise comes back as Ethan Hunt. And maybe three or four movies down the line where that feels a little bit more impactful. Much like Robert Downey Jr. Returning to the MCU. Tom Cruise at his age, in his 60s, still loves doing these big action movies. So I have to imagine another Top Gun movie is on the way. Kind of in that same style of him just seeking that adrenaline. There is serious talks now of him reviving his character from Tropic Thunder. So I think he's in a position where he's just gonna do movies where he wants to have fun. Hopefully he wants something a little bit less demanding. Because when is the last time you saw Tom Cruise in a straight ahead drama in a rom com or something that maybe earned him an Oscar nomination? I feel like he does want to get back to that at some point. And maybe he has this pressure on him or feels a need because of his status as one of the last standing just A plus movie stars that can really influence people to go out and pay their hard earned money to spend on a ticket to go see something in theaters. He feels the need to create these summer blockbusters and that if he went and just did a drama, did something like Rain, and did something a little bit more straightforward, it would be harder for him to promote because this has kind of been his identity now for over a decade where he's really just like here. All these crazy action moments, you gotta go see them in the big screen. You gotta go eat your popcorn really aggressively like he does. Maybe there's just some kind of pressure there or that's what he wants his legacy to be. Knowing that he's not going to be able to do these roles forever, he's going to get to a point where he can't meet the demands of an action role like this, which he still looks really good in this movie. There were a lot of moments where there was a lot of shirtless Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise in his underwear running on a treadmill. And I think that was also him like saying, hey, look, I still look good. I still got it. It just really didn't feel like the ending to me that started back in 1996. It feels more like the ending of the era that started in 2011. And I knew I wasn't heavily invested in it when we got to that hour mark and I was already wondering, when is this thing going to be over? And by the time we got to the two hour mark, I was ready to get out of there because I now spent almost six hours on the same plot and I was ready to move on. I was about to take Ethan Hunt out myself. And some people might say, oh, you just don't like long movies. I love long movies. I have been a long proponent of three hour run times. I want to see the brutalist that was three and a half hours with the intermission. I am not against long run times. I highly encourage it, especially when it goes to streaming at home because you can take it in how you want three and a half hour movie. Break it up into 30, 45 minute increments and suddenly it is a limited series, which most people have no problem binging a limited series in a weekend because the nice little digestible portions for you do that with the three hour movie and you'll still find it really enjoyable. It's just when something does become three hours, you already have to set this expectation of, okay, this is going to be an investment no matter what. I do have to judge this a little bit differently because if you are telling me that you needed three hours to tell your story, I'll accept that, I'll go watch that. But if at any point I feel that that three hours is unearned and I check out, then you're kind of in a world of hurt there. Needless to say, the movie still did really well at the box office. Even though it couldn't beat my boy Stitch in opening weekend, it was still a best for the franchise and I think the more hardcore fans of this franchise were saying this was a 5 out of 5, a 4.5 out of 5. A lot of film bros were really just gung ho about this movie. So much so that I thought what am I missing here? And I know some of those people are probably watching or listening now and I'm gonna feel the heat for this, but I am okay with that. I still want to see it. Would I still go watch another one? Yeah, because I still think these movies are entertaining and really benefit from that in theater experience where we went to see it opening weekend and the entire theater was full, I would say pretty close to sold out on opening night. That is a feat in itself. So I do give it bonus points for actually getting people out into the theater for performing better than the movie that came before it, but still just wasn't quite it for me. I give Mission Impossible the final reckoning. 3.5 out of 5 self destructing messages.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Hello, Hello, Malcolm Glabel here. Nowadays it can be easy to get lost in the noise, especially if you're an employee at a company with over 300,000 people. I mean that's approximately the entire population of Orlando, Florida. But more on Orlando later. Infosys is that kind of company and they're growing every year. This created a unique problem how to handle the day to day growth, appreciation and training needs of a mid sized city worth of employees. A one size fits all approach simply would not work and individualized attention would need its own army of employees to manage. So Infosys went above and beyond creating an innovative AI based employee platform that boosts productivity and helps everyone reach their full potential. Of course the company couldn't do it without some powerful partners. Infosys teamed up with T Mobile for Business to make this innovative employee offering mobile first and built it around the most transformative tech since the personal computer artificial intelligence. Now we're not talking about ChatGPT or image generation here, we're talking about a deep database driven application that personalizes itself for every employee. Since launching this platform, Infosys boasts a workforce that feels connected and ready to take on whatever challenges come next. For this hard work, Infosys was awarded first place for innovation in employee enablement in 2024 by T Mobile for business. And that brings us to today. Entries are now open for this year's T Mobile for Business honors. The awards ceremony will be held October 20th in Orlando, Florida. See, I told you we'd be talking about Orlando. And I'll be there as a keynote speaker and guest judge. Entries are open now. Head to t mobile.com Enter to nominate your team and with any luck, I'll see you in October.

[Mike]

Wasn't that delicious?

[Tom]

So good. Your bill, ladies. I got it. No, I got it. Seriously, I insist.

[Mike]

I insisted first.

[Tom]

Don't be silly. You don't be silly. Silly people with the Wells Fargo active cash credit card card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash back on purchases.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Tom]

Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot.

[Mike]

No.

[Kelsey]

The Wells Fargo active cash credit card.

[Tom]

Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash terms apply. The NBC Nightly News legacy isn't handed down or NBC News. I'm Tom Brokaw. We hope to see you back here. I'm Lester Holt. It's carried forward. Tom Yamas is there Force Fire.

[Kelsey]

Firefighters are still working around the clock.

[Tom]

As the world changes, we look for what endures. We are coming on the air with breaking news. Right now, we look for a constant.

[Mike]

And from one era to the next.

[Tom]

Trust is the anchor. For NBC Nightly News.

[Kelsey]

I'm Tom Yamas.

[Tom]

A new chapter begins. NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. Evenings on NBC. At Ameca Insurance, we know it's more than just a car. It's the two door coupe that was there for your first drive. The hatchback that took you cross country and back.

[Kelsey]

And the minivan that tackles the weekly.

[Tom]

Carpool for the cars you couldn't live without.

[Kelsey]

Trust Amica Auto insurance. Amica Empathy is our best policy. This is Justin Richmond from Broken Record. Are you the kind of person who sets standards for themselves? Like personally, I told myself if the Lakers lose their do or die game five, I wouldn't let it impact my mood at home with family. The standard Lexus has set for themselves is to experience amazing. Lexus measures success by the feelings and emotions evoked in a driver, like exhilaration and joy. Amazing can only be achieved by knowing people on a deeper level. The standard of amazing results in machines that make you feel more human. Because a car that doesn't make you feel something is a car that stops short of amazing experience. Amazing at your Lexus dealer.

[Tom]

It's time to head down to Movie Mike's Trailer Park. Keanu Reeves out here doing side quests. He's one of the biggest actors who just randomly will do a movie that makes you go, huh? And then you watch the trailer and you're like, oh, that actually makes a lot of sense. It's him and Nicholas Cage. That they can do a really serious or even just a really big blockbuster movie like a John Wick and then come out with a movie that you're like, did they do this as a favor? But somehow I'm so interested in this. Keanu Reeves plays a guardian angel in a movie coming out called Good Fortune. It is written and directed by Aziz Ansari. It also stars Seth Rogen. What the movie is about. Keanu Reeves plays a well meaning but rather inept angel named Gabriel who just wants to make a difference in the world. So he sees this struggling gig worker played by Aziz Ansari, who is kind of lost in life and wants to help him out and tries to prove to him that, well, if you had money, it wouldn't really solve all your problems. So let me prove it to you by making you switch bodies with a really wealthy venture capitalist played by Seth Rogen. But then it turns out it kind of does solve all of his problems. I like the premise, even though it's not the most original thing I've ever seen. I could compare it to three movies right now, but I think. I think this just might work. It's coming out in theaters on October 17th. Before I get into more about good Fortune, here's just a little bit of the trailer. Martha. Yes, Gabriel? Is there any way I can have more meaningful duties? I want to guide people. I want to change their lives. To save a lost soul, you have to find the lost soul.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Arch.

[Tom]

I'm an angel. My name is Gabriel. I'm here to save you.

[Mike]

What?

[Tom]

Who the are you? How do you know my name? I'm normally only in charge of saving people from texting and driving.

[Mike]

Wait, you're telling me I have a budget Guardian Angel?

[Tom]

Kind of. I think the two of them look really great together. Most people are probably seeing this as a Keanu Reeves movie because he is such a huge movie star coming off of the the John Wick franchise. I am seeing this as Aziz Ansari movie because I've been a huge fan of his. I've always loved his comedy. I think most people still associate him with Parks and Rec. And as much as I love that show, I was such a huge fan of his that I don't even associate him as the guy from Parks and Rec because I used to watch all of his standup specials. And when it comes to his TV roles. He hasn't even done a whole lot of those in a long time. Really the last major thing he did was Master of None on Netflix, which did get two seasons. First season was fantastic. The second season was a good follow up and then kind of fell off. They did another miniseries under the same umbrella of Master and None, but really we only got two seasons of that show. He went through some personal stuff dealing with things in the news and then he was gonna make another movie back in 2022 called Being Mortal that starred Bill Murray. But then Bill Murray got accused of himself, so that movie got shelved, never came out. And now this is finally going to be his directorial debut. And it probably also means a lot to him that he also wrote the script for this movie. So getting back to the plot, it all centers around Gabriel, who one day notices this man down on his luck. Aziz Ansari plays a guy who is hit rock bottom. He is at a Denny's restaurant and he gets his car towed. And that is where Keanu Reeves character shows up trying to help him out. He finds out he's working for Seth Rogen doing all these random jobs and he's trying to convince him that hey, even if you had all of your boss's money, it wouldn't make you any happier. So as an angel he says, well, let's make you two swap bodies and see what happens. Well, it turns out having Seth Rogen's character's money actually does solve all of his problems. So Gabriel loses his wings and is sent down to earth to live among the humans. And now Aziz Ansari's character takes over Seth Rogen's body and just gets to live as him now. So a classic body swap movie which has been done before, so it's not like this plot is entirely original. It even reminds me of one of my favorite body swap and also Guardian angel movies, down to Earth with Chris Rock. And the reason I see parallels between these two movies, which down to Earth came out back in 2001 and it's just one of those movies from the 2000s I felt should have been a hit. That movie is about Chris Rock's character who plays an amateur comedian. I see the parallels between him and Aziz Ansari in real life and Chris Rock is another one of those people who fantastic comedian has had so much success but when it comes to his movies hasn't really mirrored that same success. Even though I love down to Earth, I love Top five. He's done some pretty good work in the grown ups movies. You just don't really see Chris Rock and consider him to be a movie star. But in down to Earth, he plays a guy who dies at a point in his life where he thinks it is not my time. He convinces an angel that, hey, you guys have made a mistake here. I need to get back down to Earth. So they're like, all right, we'll work out a deal with you. We'll put you in a temporary body for now until maybe we can find you another body. So they put him in the body of a rich white guy, and suddenly he is Chris Rock, acting the same way he was before, but now in the body of a guy whose wife tried to kill him. And he gets to do all the things that he thinks he needed money to do, but is still also trying to do comedy. So there's some great moments in that. There's a little bit of love and heartfelt moments. But overall, I think the movie just didn't resonate with audiences and maybe only resonated with me. But that is an underrated movie of the 2000s, in my opinion, and Good Fortune really reminds me of that. So a lot of people have this question, why don't they make movies like this anymore? Referring to nostalgic movies that we all grew up loving that maybe weren't the best reviewed, maybe even are considered box office bombs, but they are movies that we cherish. They're cult classics. This feels like one of those movies, and it's maybe one that's not going to get a whole lot of attention. Where this movie might be able to strike while the iron is hot is the fact that of course you have your big star, Keanu Reeves, but also it's coming out on October 17, which having a movie like this come out in October, that's not a horror movie counter program the horror. You beat all the Thanksgiving movies and definitely beat all the Christmas movies. And I just hate the fact that a lot of people are going to watch this trailer, hear the plot, and think, oh, that's just a streaming movie. If we want more movies like this that remind us of the good old days, we got to go support them when they are out in theaters. I'm talking movies like Good Fortune, movies like Friendship, movies like Riff Raff from earlier this year. I love everything about it so far, even though I might be having a little bit of Seth Rogen fatigue. Maybe that's because I'm coming off the studio and all of his recent projects just kind of feel like it's Seth Rogen playing himself over and over again. And maybe that is the secret formula for him. Like, I know how to play this role and maybe that's exactly what this movie needs. But it just kind of feels like he's showing up in these projects and just being his exact same self. And sometimes just the characters that he plays and the situations that he is in I find really annoying. But is that him just being a good actor? If he is meant to play an annoying actor doing things that irritate you, is it getting its point across? Is he really just doing his job? Because it's a lot to invoke an emotion like that. So maybe he's just really good at it, but I kind of just want a different look at him. Even talking about movies that Aziz Ansari has been in, one of them was Funny People, which was a big movie for Seth Rogen. That was at a time where he did have a little bit more of an acting profile as far as I can do these comedies like Knocked up, but I can also show a little bit of a different side of me where I'm not just playing the same character over and over again. Can we get back to that? Seth Rogen? So other movies mentioned that I think you should check out if you want to dive in more to Aziz Ansari or more into body swap movies. 30 minutes or less, which was based on a true story. It also stars Jesse Eisenberg. He plays a pizza delivery guy who gets a bomb attached to him and then threatened by the people who put the bomb on him, who force him to go rob a bank. The real life story was wild and tragic. The movie doesn't exactly follow what happened in real life. It's a lot more comical and less depressing. But that is a movie from the 2010s that I feel is also underrated and underappreciated and kind of just went under the radar moving forward a decade before that, 2001's down to earth with Chris Rock. If you want some 2000s nostalgia and a movie you probably couldn't do today, check that one out as well. And that'll probably cue you up for Good Fortune coming out on October 17th.

[Kelsey]

And that was this week's edition of Movie Minds Training.

[Tom]

And that is gonna do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I gotta give my listener shout out of the week. Thanks to everybody who has gone over and subscribed to my YouTube channel. Almost to 600 subscribers, which isn't a whole lot. But I am on my quest to get a thousand followers so if you don't mind just go down to the show notes. You can always find the links to all my social media. Thanks to everybody who has been sharing the clips from recent episodes. That means a lot. This week I'm actually going over to Facebook and shouting out Vivian Ford as this week's listener Shout out who commented on my video where I broke down all of the merch I got from Regal for Lilo and Stitch and said the Regal bucket looks so cool. I saw it last week, loved the movie and enjoyed it even with the slight differences in the storyline from the original. Thank you Vivian for that comment. Thank you for sharing that video. There have been so many split feelings on Lilo and Stitch. Surprisingly on Facebook a lot of people loved it. When I went over to YouTube people were dragging me there calling me out. I haven't seen this many people upset about a family friendly movie in probably 10 years. So appreciate that comment. Thank you for listening right now. Wherever you are. And until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.

[Mike]

Behind every successful business is a vision. Bringing it to life takes more than effort. It takes the right financial foundation and support. That's where Chase for Business comes in. With convenient digital tools, helpful resources and personalized guidance, we can help your business forge ahead confidently. Learn [e-mail] business chase for business make more of what's Yours the Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply. JP Morgan Chase Bank NA Member FDIC Copyright 2025 JP Morgan Chase & Co.

[Tom]

Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn [e-mail] credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report here at the.

[Kelsey]

Almond Joy Factory, where tropical vibes abound, we use soft, fresh tasting coconut, the.

[Tom]

Crunchiest almonds and delicious chocolate candy. Ah, but do you know what our.

[Kelsey]

Most important ingredient is?

[Tom]

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Almond Joy's got nuts and something even.

[Mike]

Way better than that.

[Kelsey]

Yes, Almond Joy is made with almonds.

[Mike]

And.

[Kelsey]

We finally switched to T Mobile because with them we can be connected here and there.

[Tom]

Dad, the cousins in Mexico have a surprise for you.

[Kelsey]

And enjoy the gift of staying connected. Switch and start saving today. Get four Samsung Galaxy S25 phones with Galaxy AI on us and four lines for just 25 bucks per line plus non stop talktax and data between us and Mexico. Visit a store t mobile.com or call 1-800-T-Mobile- 1-800-T MOBILE. See details@t mobile.com this is Justin Richmond from Broken Record. Are you the kind of person who sets standards for themselves? Like personally I told myself if the Lakers lose or do or die game five, I wouldn't let it impact my mood at home with family. The standard Lexus has set for themselves is to experience amazing. Lexus measures success by the feelings and emotions evoked in a driver, like exhilaration and joy. Amazing can only be achieved by knowing people on a deeper level. The standard of amazing results in machines that make you feel more human because a car that doesn't make you feel something is a car that stops short of amazing. Experience amazing at your Lexus dealer.

[Mike]

This is an iHeart podcast.