Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey there everybody, and welcome to Well what would normally
Speaker 1: be tech stuff, And it's a Friday, and typically we
Speaker 1: would do a classic episode on a Friday, but we
Speaker 1: thought we would bring you something a little different. You
Speaker 1: may have heard that recently I launched a podcast with
Speaker 1: my friend Ariel, casting show that she created actually several
Speaker 1: years ago, called the Large Nerdron Collider Podcast. I had
Speaker 1: Ariel on not too long ago to talk about science
Speaker 1: fiction and fantasy gadgets and concepts and whether or not
Speaker 1: they were realistic in the tech world. But we thought
Speaker 1: we would bring you an episode of the Large Nerdron
Speaker 1: Collider Podcast so you could listen to it find out
Speaker 1: whether or not it's your jam, and if it is,
Speaker 1: you should go and subscribe to it. This episode is
Speaker 1: called Homehard and for those who don't know, in the
Speaker 1: Large Nergron Collider Podcast, we cover stuff like nerd news,
Speaker 1: we talk about you know, deep dive geek topics, and
Speaker 1: we mash up different properties to create something new, in
Speaker 1: this case, die Hard and home Alone. So I hope
Speaker 1: you guys enjoy this episode of the Large Nerron Collider
Speaker 1: Podcast and I'll chat with you again after the episode plays.
Speaker 1: Sit back, relax, Let's get nerdy. Hey, everybody, Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Large Nerdron Collider podcast, the podcast that's all about
Speaker 1: the geeky stuff happening in the world around us and
Speaker 1: how excited we are about it. I am arieokasting and
Speaker 1: with me as always is my co host, Holly Jolly
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. Yep, Um, got a belly leca a bowl
Speaker 1: full of jelly. That's what That's what lockdown does to me. Hey, Harriel,
Speaker 1: I got a question for you. So here's your question.
Speaker 1: To start off this episode. Let us say that, for
Speaker 1: some cruel twist of fate, you are limited to only
Speaker 1: being able to watch one holiday special or film each year.
Speaker 1: What would you have picked for this year? Oh golly,
Speaker 1: oh that's such a hard one, Jonathan, I know, way
Speaker 1: to go. Um. Now, keep in mind next year you
Speaker 1: would be able to choose a different one, but you
Speaker 1: can only have one this year. I'm gonna say Scrooged, Scrooged,
Speaker 1: the Bill Murray Classic. Okay, that's a that's a decent answer.
Speaker 1: That's a decent answer. It's one that that's actually very
Speaker 1: divisive to I know people who have very strong feelings
Speaker 1: about that one because it is they feel a bit
Speaker 1: too mean spirited. But I think the anarchic nature of
Speaker 1: that plus the really weird meta fourth wall breaking ending
Speaker 1: is kind of interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, just to
Speaker 1: keep it fresh. Like, that's one that I haven't watched
Speaker 1: that much recently because like you said, it's it's a
Speaker 1: little bit divisive, So I've watched a lot more, you know,
Speaker 1: Charlie Brown Christmas and things like that. So just it's
Speaker 1: a clean change of pace for a year. Got it?
Speaker 1: What holiday movie would you watch for this year as
Speaker 1: your only holiday movie? Ariel, I'm so glad you asked
Speaker 1: me that question. I really I've been agonizing over this
Speaker 1: since I asked you about three minutes ago. I would
Speaker 1: pick Immott Matters Jug Band Christmas, but it would absolutely
Speaker 1: have to be the version that originally aired on HBO
Speaker 1: back in the eighties that has all the stuff in it,
Speaker 1: including all the interstitial moments with Kermit the Frog, because
Speaker 1: if you've only seen em at utter post the HBO special,
Speaker 1: then you may not even know that Kermit was in
Speaker 1: it because that part of the Henson Company split off,
Speaker 1: like the Immitt under property split away. From the Muppet part,
Speaker 1: and then you had this complicated rights issue. And unfortunately
Speaker 1: it also meant that typically the version of emmett Utter
Speaker 1: that you can find these days, whether it's on DVD
Speaker 1: or streaming or whatever, cuts out some of the jokes,
Speaker 1: and I don't understand why. Like, there's typically one song
Speaker 1: that gets cut at least, and there's one there's one
Speaker 1: joke that literally without the joke, the scene doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: Now I'm aware of this. I can't remember the joke,
Speaker 1: but I remember thinking that was incongruous. And then we've
Speaker 1: had this conversation before. Because I feel like you would
Speaker 1: pick emmett Utter every year for your soul holiday movie,
Speaker 1: and probably for your only movie for the entire year.
Speaker 1: I might occasionally swap it out for the Scrooge the
Speaker 1: Musical with the thank you very much, thank you very
Speaker 1: much that song. I love that song, and I love
Speaker 1: that version of Christmas Carol. There are lots of different
Speaker 1: great versions. Yeah, that musical one is a lot of fun,
Speaker 1: I mean hot take, And people who know me know
Speaker 1: that I have this opinion. I am not a fan
Speaker 1: of the Muppet Christmas Carol, even though I love the Muppets.
Speaker 1: Me neither neither. I'm more of a traditionalist it was,
Speaker 1: and I mean I don't I don't even mind like
Speaker 1: the jokes and stuff, and I do appreciate the fact
Speaker 1: that they incorporate Charles Dickens into that version of Christmas Caroll,
Speaker 1: so you get to hear more lines that you normally
Speaker 1: wouldn't hear because no one would. It's it's descriptions that
Speaker 1: no one would ever speak in dialogue, right. That is cool. However,
Speaker 1: I just feel like the Muppets aren't muppety enough in that, Like,
Speaker 1: like they don't go far enough in the Muppets thing
Speaker 1: for it to feel like a real Muppet movie, not
Speaker 1: like Muppet Treasure Island. I feel is way more more
Speaker 1: liberal with the Muppets. But my favorite Muppet movie is
Speaker 1: Muppet Treasure Island. And see that's the thing the same
Speaker 1: same here, I really, I mean, my favorite is still
Speaker 1: the original Muppet movie, but Muppet Treasure Island I feel
Speaker 1: they got it right, right. I feel like they didn't
Speaker 1: go hard enough with Christmas Carroll. Also, I mean, I
Speaker 1: know people who absolutely love his performance, but Mike Cocaine
Speaker 1: was not my favorite Scrooge by a long shot. I
Speaker 1: don't like picking favorite scrooges. Um, it's like picking a
Speaker 1: favorite child. I think there are plenty of old men
Speaker 1: who are very curmudgeed lely and play the role quite well,
Speaker 1: and a few women too. There have been a few
Speaker 1: versions of Christmas Carol with a female Scrooge and those
Speaker 1: are Yeah. And also there are plenty of mentioned lee
Speaker 1: older people who play Scrooge very well. And you've you've
Speaker 1: been in productions of Christmas Caroll, so you also have
Speaker 1: that that perspective. Yeah, I've played uh Mrs Fezziwig, I've
Speaker 1: played Mrs Cratchett, I've played the Ghost of Christmas Future,
Speaker 1: I've played the Charwoman. Yeah, Concertina street Caroller. So you've
Speaker 1: got you've got you've got practice of of ominously pointing
Speaker 1: in the distance downpat Yeah, so I'm a little bit Well.
Speaker 1: They weren't real stilts. They were like plywood stilts that
Speaker 1: then got caught under the like the long black robe. Us.
Speaker 1: It was a wonderful experience. I never fell over personally. Um.
Speaker 1: This is also crazy, guys, because most of you probably
Speaker 1: don't know this, but Ariel is approximately seven ft tall already,
Speaker 1: so I'm only five. Um, but so I'm a little biased,
Speaker 1: but you know, you asked what movie I'd watch a year.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's kind of an unfair question because
Speaker 1: we've gotten a whole lot of new holiday movies this year,
Speaker 1: and not just the Hallmark Lifetime slew that we normally get. No,
Speaker 1: but the Hallmark Lifetime Slew does account for about seventy
Speaker 1: eight percent of all holiday movies every year, but that's
Speaker 1: just by volume. Yeah, but I mean sometimes if you
Speaker 1: want something uplifting, you just want some uplifting background, that's
Speaker 1: great because you're guaranteed to get that with a Hallmarker
Speaker 1: Lifetime movie. That's true. I mean, like there might not
Speaker 1: be a whole lot of of meat on the bone there,
Speaker 1: but you can be pretty certain you know what the
Speaker 1: emotional beats of those films are gonna be. They're kind
Speaker 1: of like the holiday equivalent to romance novels, where they
Speaker 1: all follow a pretty similar pattern and you know how
Speaker 1: they're going to turn out. Now. Granted, some of the
Speaker 1: holiday movies that are also uh popular on streaming this year,
Speaker 1: because that's that's how that's how we're all enjoying these days. Um,
Speaker 1: some of them, some of them go a little dark
Speaker 1: there are a couple that are are either emotionally really
Speaker 1: going to to tear at you or in one case,
Speaker 1: you've got a Santa Claus who's it was it was
Speaker 1: an action movie star kicking butt. So, you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of years I might go for this year, I know,
Speaker 1: I said Scrooge, I'm kind of filling uplifting. I'm willing
Speaker 1: to one of these new movies kind of take Scrooges place, yeah,
Speaker 1: to kind of kind of sume things. I think soothing
Speaker 1: is something that we could all use. This year, it's
Speaker 1: been a it's been a I don't know if you
Speaker 1: guys out there have noticed, it's been a weird year, y'all.
Speaker 1: M h, it really has. So we are we are
Speaker 1: recording this a little bit before it airs because we
Speaker 1: want to spend time with our families for Christmas as well,
Speaker 1: you know, whatever form that takes. But um, we we
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about some of the holiday movies coming out. UM.
Speaker 1: One of which is actually a TV special event it
Speaker 1: will have aired by the time that this episode airs,
Speaker 1: which is The Grinch Musical event with Matthew Morrison as
Speaker 1: the Grinch. They showed a commercial for it. If you
Speaker 1: watch the Macy's Day Parade this year on television, they
Speaker 1: showed a commercial for it. It got some mixed reviews,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm I'm a little mixed on my
Speaker 1: opinion about it as well. I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 1: Might might have by the time you listen to this,
Speaker 1: But um, I don't know. I love The Grinch, and
Speaker 1: I think that the actions and I think that the
Speaker 1: music translates very well to stage. But any time I've
Speaker 1: seen an exception of one person who plays the Granch amazingly,
Speaker 1: which is a mutual acquaintance of Jonathan and I Judah,
Speaker 1: he plays an amazing Granch. But otherwise, anytime I see
Speaker 1: a live action version of a Grnch, it feels fake
Speaker 1: to me. Yeah, well, the person in a large, green,
Speaker 1: fuzzy Muppet suit. Yeah, I I'm I don't have any
Speaker 1: desire to see live action versions of The Grinch. I'm
Speaker 1: fine with the original cartoon. Um, I think it's I
Speaker 1: think it's a classic. I'm not saying that no one
Speaker 1: should ever adapt it for other forms. I don't believe that.
Speaker 1: It's just I don't have any interest in it. It
Speaker 1: doesn't like when Jim Carey's films came out. I didn't
Speaker 1: really have any interest in seeing that when the musical
Speaker 1: first it stage, even with people like Patrick Page, who
Speaker 1: is a phenomenal actor. Um, he plays Hades in Hades Town.
Speaker 1: He was the Grinch. Like I watched. Yeah, I watched
Speaker 1: a clip from the Macy's Parade from two thousand fifteen,
Speaker 1: and they did the who Celebrates Christmas or who Loves
Speaker 1: Christmas song and it's the Who's by the way in
Speaker 1: case you were wondering, um, And and at the end
Speaker 1: of it they also did a little bit of your
Speaker 1: I mean one Mr Grench and Patrick Page was playing
Speaker 1: the Grench. That version of the makeup and costume I
Speaker 1: thought looked pretty darrible. But then again, also the video
Speaker 1: I was watching was really bad quality. It was on YouTube.
Speaker 1: It was some someone who just captured it off their
Speaker 1: TV or whatever. Um, it was not great. And uh,
Speaker 1: I was just blown away that Patrick Page had played
Speaker 1: that part, because I that somehow escaped my attention when
Speaker 1: it was happening. Um. But yeah, I mean, I have
Speaker 1: nothing against Matthew Morrison. I think he's a very good performer,
Speaker 1: and I don't have anything against um, the other folks
Speaker 1: who were in it. I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know this areal. One of the other cast members
Speaker 1: of this production is Dennis O'Hare, who was one of
Speaker 1: two actors playing the dog and Dennis dog No. The
Speaker 1: other actor is also a human being. Uh Dennis so
Speaker 1: here for those who don't know well. First of all,
Speaker 1: he was in American Horror Story the first season as
Speaker 1: a supporting character. But I think of him as Charles j.
Speaker 1: Geteaux from Assassin's the same production that Neil Patrick Harris
Speaker 1: was in, and he did a great job in that.
Speaker 1: I look at him and I go he would play
Speaker 1: a good Grunch for as as much as I like
Speaker 1: a stage porson the Grig. I will admit that I
Speaker 1: did not see the Macy Stay Parade version of the
Speaker 1: Grunch musical. I've only seen the granch on stage in
Speaker 1: adaptations of suskal Um. But I think it's just some
Speaker 1: uncanny Valley costume stuff for me. Maybe maybe it's just
Speaker 1: never been the right costume design. I agree. I will
Speaker 1: probably watch it. I'm just gonna say I will probably
Speaker 1: watch it because I like encouraging them to make musicals
Speaker 1: for television. Sometimes they nearly completely hit the mark, and
Speaker 1: one day they will yeah, yeah. I like the idea
Speaker 1: of more live theater having greater exposure, especially in a
Speaker 1: world where one you can't really go see live theater
Speaker 1: right now, not if you're being responsible and too. Even
Speaker 1: when you can, it's not the most accessible art form,
Speaker 1: especially if you're looking at stuff like Broadway. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's that's for profit theater, and it is very
Speaker 1: exclusive and very expensive. So having that increased accessibility I
Speaker 1: think is great. And if it if it inspires more
Speaker 1: people to get into theater, that's great. If it inspires
Speaker 1: people to support theater, I love that as well. So
Speaker 1: I'm fully on board with supporting it. I just don't
Speaker 1: think i'll be watching it. Yeah. Yeah. So there are
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of Christmas movies that follow
Speaker 1: into the general Christmas story genre, but I think that
Speaker 1: we should focus on a couple of ones that are
Speaker 1: much more geeky, because that's that's what we're about, right.
Speaker 1: You didn't mean to go off on a whole diet
Speaker 1: tribe about the it or, although that's certainly geeky. So
Speaker 1: let's start with the one that you alluded to early on,
Speaker 1: the darkest one on our list, which is Fat Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Fat Man, No, not Batman, Fat Man starring Mel Gibson,
Speaker 1: which already at least for some people including me, starts
Speaker 1: to raise red flags. But Mel Gibson is playing the
Speaker 1: role of Santa, who is kind of down on his luck. Santa,
Speaker 1: this is set in a very cynical world. Um And
Speaker 1: the in fact that's something that that really stood out
Speaker 1: to me is as I was reading the synopsis, that
Speaker 1: just screamed cynicism to me, where Santa's disillusioned because more
Speaker 1: kids are appearing on the Naughty List than the Nice List. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Santa's income is dependent upon him delivering more presents to children,
Speaker 1: like it's the number of presents he delivers relates back
Speaker 1: to how much money he gets out of a budget
Speaker 1: from the U S remant. And because there are fewer
Speaker 1: nice kids, he's supplementing his income by essentially renting out
Speaker 1: the North Pole and the elves to produce like military
Speaker 1: weapons and vehicles, and there's like you know, apparently some
Speaker 1: action hero type stuff that happens. And it's just one
Speaker 1: of those things where I told Ariel before we started
Speaker 1: recording that you mentioned Scrooged at the beginning. It reminds
Speaker 1: me if you If you watch Scrooged, there's that segment
Speaker 1: where there's this fake action movie that they have a
Speaker 1: commercial for called The Night the Reindeer Died where Santa
Speaker 1: Claus and Um the six Million Dollar Man are are
Speaker 1: fighting off various ninja and terrorists at the North Pole.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh my gosh, it sounds to me
Speaker 1: like someone saw that and thought, let's make that for real,
Speaker 1: but do it with without without humor. Yes, seriously, now
Speaker 1: I do hear you know? The reviews on this are
Speaker 1: pretty mixed. You said, not happy. Holiday movies tend to
Speaker 1: be a little bit more divisive. In The Assassin that
Speaker 1: the child who receives coal, there's a rich child who
Speaker 1: receives coal in this movie and hires a hit man
Speaker 1: on Santa And apparently there's some high jinks in there.
Speaker 1: Um played by played by Walter Goggins, And I like
Speaker 1: Walter Goggins as an actor, but yeah, that's he's playing
Speaker 1: a hit man. Coming after sentence. He apparently has his
Speaker 1: own his own acts to grind with the jolly Man. Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: so I guess if you don't you know, I I wasn't.
Speaker 1: This one's kind of flown under the radar for me
Speaker 1: as a movie that's even happening. So if that's your
Speaker 1: kind of jam and you just have watched so many
Speaker 1: Lifetime movies and Hallmark movies that you are two hyped
Speaker 1: up on the cotton candies substance of those movies, maybe
Speaker 1: this will bring you back down to earth. Um. I mean,
Speaker 1: and to be clear, like I like some dark holiday
Speaker 1: themed movies. There's some some Chris Smith themed horror movies
Speaker 1: that I really like, uh, you know, including things like Crampus.
Speaker 1: We'll be talking later in this episode about movies that
Speaker 1: are not really Christmas movies, but they are set during
Speaker 1: the holiday season. But Grampus is one that really is
Speaker 1: dependent upon Christmas. It's just it's a Christmas themed horror
Speaker 1: movie that I think of kind of similar in a
Speaker 1: way to another film we'll talk about later, Gremlins. So
Speaker 1: there's you know, there are things out there that I
Speaker 1: gravitate toward that are not your traditional holiday feel good stuff. Uh.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I I feel like you, I don't really
Speaker 1: I don't feel a strong pull to this particular one.
Speaker 1: Have you seen or did you have you? Have you
Speaker 1: watched yet? The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. I haven't.
Speaker 1: I have watched the original Star Wars Holiday Special with
Speaker 1: um it looks like the old quiz No mascots where
Speaker 1: the novels were transposed on some poorly written uh cartoon characters,
Speaker 1: except for in this case, it's actually just wookies. So
Speaker 1: I've seen the original Star Wars Holiday Special. I first
Speaker 1: of all, I'm sorry, so you got to see be
Speaker 1: Arthur and Harvey Corman and all those people doing weird
Speaker 1: Star Wars sketches and things. I like. I like it
Speaker 1: for certain definitions of the word like, but I have
Speaker 1: to be prepared for it, and I just haven't been
Speaker 1: prepared for that. For the lego version, well, the lego
Speaker 1: version is not it's not a recreation of the Star
Speaker 1: Wars Holiday Special. It is a news story. It's a
Speaker 1: new story, and it it focuses on Ray, not So
Speaker 1: which which clearly it had to be a new story
Speaker 1: because Ray was not a character when the original special
Speaker 1: out two sisters, Dough and Me. She does not. And
Speaker 1: also the holiday special it does reference the original special
Speaker 1: a little bit because Chewbacca does have a family, so
Speaker 1: you get to see you know, Stinky and everybody show up,
Speaker 1: but but they don't other than that, there's no real
Speaker 1: nod to the original holiday special. It's more of a
Speaker 1: goofy comedy time travel story uh that has a lot
Speaker 1: of funny little moments in it. So I do recommend
Speaker 1: that one. I think that one if you need your
Speaker 1: your holiday geek itch scratched. I think that one does
Speaker 1: a decent job. I will definitely check it out. Another
Speaker 1: movie I'm going to check out and it's actually I
Speaker 1: should have checked it out by now, it's already on
Speaker 1: Netflix is Jingle Jangle. I am so looking forward to
Speaker 1: seeing this too. I haven't made the time yet, but
Speaker 1: it's on my must watch list. So I don't let
Speaker 1: myself watch Christmas movies before Thanksgiving. So that's why I
Speaker 1: haven't watched a lot of these Christmas movies at time.
Speaker 1: At the time we're recording this, but yes, I want you.
Speaker 1: Jingle Jangle is a new Christmas musical set in the
Speaker 1: Victorian era with a I'm not sure if it's all
Speaker 1: black or predominantly black cat predominantly black. It's about a
Speaker 1: young girl named Journey who was sent to spend time
Speaker 1: with her curmudgeon le grandfather Um and they create toys
Speaker 1: and the thing I love about this movie is that
Speaker 1: the gentleman who wrote it, David Talbert, had been wanting
Speaker 1: to do it for a stage play and just couldn't
Speaker 1: quite make it work on stage and couldn't quite get
Speaker 1: the right tone. And it took him twenty years, and
Speaker 1: he had a kid, and then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: he was able to collaborate with his child on on
Speaker 1: this story. And then he went to Netflix because he
Speaker 1: previously had done El Camino Christmas, which is not a
Speaker 1: breaking bad movie, but it is a dark, a dark
Speaker 1: Christmas comedy. Um, and uh, Netflix said, hey, don't make
Speaker 1: this movie to budget, make the movie you want, and
Speaker 1: will fund it so to have. And he wanted to
Speaker 1: make a movie that showed there are not a lot
Speaker 1: of Christmas movies that feature black casts, and he wanted
Speaker 1: to provide that representation and so on so many multiple levels,
Speaker 1: from the the representation in the cast and in the
Speaker 1: costuming too. The fact that Netflix, who, as we've talked
Speaker 1: about before, they make stuff for a wide variety of people,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that is not for me. Yeah
Speaker 1: they Yeah, they fund a lot of different productions, some
Speaker 1: of which seem incredible just on the face of it,
Speaker 1: some of which you're like, I did. They just have
Speaker 1: money left over in the budget that they absolutely had
Speaker 1: to spend and that's why they funded this. But but
Speaker 1: Jingle Jangle does look like like the preview I saw
Speaker 1: was so captivating, and the costumes look so amazing, the
Speaker 1: special effects like the whole plot behind it involves a
Speaker 1: former apprentice of the grandfather who has stolen the grandfather's
Speaker 1: designs and become wealthy using those designs while the grandfather
Speaker 1: is kind of toiled in in uh In in poverty
Speaker 1: really and Keegan Michael Key plays the former apprentice, Gustufson,
Speaker 1: and he has a costume that makes him look I
Speaker 1: don't know if they were specifically going for this, but
Speaker 1: to me, he looks like like the Wizard of ODZ,
Speaker 1: Like he looks like he could have come out of
Speaker 1: the Emerald City. And I wonder if that was a
Speaker 1: a purposeful choice, but it was just the first thing
Speaker 1: I thought. Maybe it's just because his his jacket is
Speaker 1: like Emerald green, but yeah, it's it's all the classic
Speaker 1: setup of your your classic Christmas tale of you know,
Speaker 1: an old disillusioned person rediscovering joy through the association with
Speaker 1: youth and overcoming great odds and it's a musical and
Speaker 1: the dancing looks amazing and yeah, just it's that kind
Speaker 1: of thing that is hitting all the right switches for
Speaker 1: me for a feel good Christmas movie. Yeah. Another another
Speaker 1: one that I think flew under the radar for me,
Speaker 1: but is hitting all the rights, which is is Dear Santa.
Speaker 1: There was a two thousand and eleven movie. Is this
Speaker 1: about Santa Claus? Who? Is this about Santa Claus? Who
Speaker 1: has antlers? And it's not it's not so it's not
Speaker 1: d e E R Santa. It's d e A R Santa.
Speaker 1: Although I would watch, I would watch d e E
Speaker 1: there might be one too many ease and there are
Speaker 1: Santa as well. Dear Santa. Um. Now this one is about.
Speaker 1: This is a documentary about the Operation Santa program the
Speaker 1: United States Postal Service does with all of the letters
Speaker 1: they get from children who who write to Santa Claus.
Speaker 1: And it's it's a little bit more real life, uplifting
Speaker 1: and I very much look forward to watching it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good to remind ourselves occasionally about the capacity we
Speaker 1: have to do nice things, because we often can forget
Speaker 1: about that with the the deluge of stressful, negative news
Speaker 1: that surround us all the time. Well, we have a
Speaker 1: full discussion to have coming up about movies that may
Speaker 1: or may not be Christmas movies, depending upon as Obi
Speaker 1: Wan Kenoby would say, a certain point of view. But
Speaker 1: we will get to that after we take this quick break.
Speaker 1: So we didn't even really get to talk about all
Speaker 1: the movies we wanted to. But that's okay because we're
Speaker 1: going to go from the new to old. Like Jonathan said, so, um,
Speaker 1: these movies are a few of my favorite things. No,
Speaker 1: you went right for the reference of the one that
Speaker 1: drives me nuts the most and it's not even a movie. Well,
Speaker 1: I guess the movie is also considered a Christmas movie. Yes,
Speaker 1: some people do consider us. So we're talking about the
Speaker 1: sound of music, which uh, so Ariel, when you think
Speaker 1: of that, do you think of just the music or
Speaker 1: do you think of specifically the song? Uh? My favorite things?
Speaker 1: So uh, I think when I think of sounded music,
Speaker 1: I think of the musical and I specifically think of
Speaker 1: the movie musical. Uh And I go, well, maybe that's
Speaker 1: kind of Christmas Eve. But a few of these are
Speaker 1: a few of my favorite things. Does play at the
Speaker 1: holiday season all the time, and so to me, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's about gifts. It's just a Christmas song, even
Speaker 1: though it's not that one. That one drives me nuts
Speaker 1: that it comes on. Like when I listen to a
Speaker 1: holiday music station and that song comes on, I get
Speaker 1: irrationally angry because I think that is not a Christmas song.
Speaker 1: It mentions Christmas in passing in the song. It mentioned
Speaker 1: snow in passing in the song, but it is. There's
Speaker 1: literally singing about a few of their favorite things. It
Speaker 1: could be in the middle of July, it's still still
Speaker 1: one of your favorite things. Don't play that on my
Speaker 1: holiday station. I feel very strongly about this. Well, I
Speaker 1: guess it's got snow flakes on nose and eyelashes, which
Speaker 1: you're not normally going to get. But they're just they're
Speaker 1: just yeah, they're just telling about a few of their
Speaker 1: favorite things, which may only happen once in your lifetime.
Speaker 1: I mean, kittens usually have what happened what in the
Speaker 1: spring and summer's well, it's not really up to us,
Speaker 1: but typically we see that more in the spring. Okay,
Speaker 1: So there are some other movies and there I know
Speaker 1: that you feel very passionate about them that people think
Speaker 1: are Christmas movies. Um, the I think the most divisive
Speaker 1: one that I've ever talked with you about, Jonathan is
Speaker 1: die Hard. Yeah. Yeah, there's some people are like die
Speaker 1: Hard It's my favorite Christmas movie and I will die
Speaker 1: on this hill. Hard. It is not a Christmas movie.
Speaker 1: It is a movie set during Christmas. It is not
Speaker 1: a Christmas movie. Is there a Christmas tree in it? Yes,
Speaker 1: there's a Christmas party. No, it is not. It's not
Speaker 1: a Christmas movie. It is not. Die Hard is an actor.
Speaker 1: First of all, Diehard is is the perfect action film,
Speaker 1: and that is both a positive and a negative. It's
Speaker 1: a negative because die Hard created a new paradigm for
Speaker 1: action movies, right. Die Hard started a new trend that
Speaker 1: everyone was trying to copy, which is why for many
Speaker 1: years in the nineties and even unto the early two thousand's,
Speaker 1: people would describe action movies as it's die Hard on
Speaker 1: a something something so like Speed was die Hard on
Speaker 1: a bus and then later die Hard on a boat
Speaker 1: because they also had speed to Um yeah, yeah, so
Speaker 1: so both good and bad. But die Heart is a
Speaker 1: phenomenal film all in its own. It just isn't a
Speaker 1: Christmas movie. It does have some Christmas music in it,
Speaker 1: but it's not Christmas movie. See, I might wager a
Speaker 1: different opinion because if if everyone had not been at
Speaker 1: the at the Nakatmy Plaza for the Christmas party, that
Speaker 1: would not have been nearly as many casualties. So Christmas
Speaker 1: in a way fuels everything that happens in that movie,
Speaker 1: but could to me, even though it doesn't focus on
Speaker 1: the Christmas spirit, it is a Christmas movie because without
Speaker 1: the Christmas party, nobody would have been there too. It
Speaker 1: would have just been a basic corporate robbery. It could
Speaker 1: have also been a New Year's Eve party. There was
Speaker 1: no reason that had to be a Christmas party. It
Speaker 1: could literally have been a party for any reason. It
Speaker 1: could have been this is the anniversary of the founding
Speaker 1: of the company, and you would still have that same
Speaker 1: reason why people get together now. Granted, Christmas party is
Speaker 1: the kind of party where you typically have not just
Speaker 1: the employees, but often their families there too. Thankfully, I
Speaker 1: don't think we see any kids in die Hard, which
Speaker 1: is a good thing considering one the people at the
Speaker 1: party are behaving in a way that is not appropriate
Speaker 1: for children, and too, when when when stuff goes down,
Speaker 1: you don't want kids there. But but you see, you
Speaker 1: said it could be anytime. It wasn't the writer to
Speaker 1: make a Christmas but again, but again, if you had
Speaker 1: said that there's Christmas music, if you had said it
Speaker 1: at any other time of the year, the rest of
Speaker 1: the story would still play out as it does. It
Speaker 1: is not dependent upon Christmas, so it is not a
Speaker 1: Christmas movie. It's not dependent on Christmas. But it does
Speaker 1: take place at Christmas. So I think it's a Christmas movie.
Speaker 1: I think we might disagree with this. Maybe I'll concede
Speaker 1: that it is a winter holiday movie. No, it's an
Speaker 1: action film, and that's it. It's an action movie. It's
Speaker 1: a great action movie. It's my favorite action movie, to
Speaker 1: the point where it actually kind of ruined action movies
Speaker 1: for me for a really long time. But it's not
Speaker 1: Let's move on to a different movie. Okay, sure, okay,
Speaker 1: So what do you think about Grimlin's Christmas movie? No,
Speaker 1: not a Christmas It's said it Christmas and technically, Gizmo
Speaker 1: the Magway is Christmas a SMAs present. But it again,
Speaker 1: the story does not revolve. There's some cool Christmas Eve
Speaker 1: stuff in it, like there's some cool uses of Christmas
Speaker 1: in it, but unlike Crampus, for example, it is not
Speaker 1: it's not revolving around Christmas. I also argument well because
Speaker 1: because I think Gremlins and Crampus are like they're like
Speaker 1: they're like sister movies there. They both have a similar tone.
Speaker 1: They both have a kind of mean spirited edge to
Speaker 1: the malicious nous in them. They both aren't so intense that,
Speaker 1: you know, like a younger viewer, someone who's maybe ten
Speaker 1: to twelve years old, could probably watch either of those
Speaker 1: and it would be it would be a lot, but
Speaker 1: they could probably handle it. I mean, I saw Gremlins
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, and I turned out mostly okay.
Speaker 1: But I think Crampus is around the same way. I
Speaker 1: didn't watch it until I was a little bit older.
Speaker 1: I've never watched Crampus. I think it would be too
Speaker 1: scary for me. I think Gremlins is much more a
Speaker 1: Christmas movie than die Hard, and I love die Harden.
Speaker 1: I like saying die Hard Christmas movie, not just to
Speaker 1: annoy you, Jonathan Um, but primarily to annoy me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I I would say one Gremlins is a Christmas
Speaker 1: movie because if the entire story focuses around a Christmas Present.
Speaker 1: I guess. I guess I could be more convinced about
Speaker 1: Gremlins than die Hard. Um. And the one reason why
Speaker 1: I really could go with it is one of the
Speaker 1: worst parts of the Gremlins film, but one of the
Speaker 1: best parts of Gremlins too, which is when Phoebe Kates
Speaker 1: tells the story about why she hates Christmas, which is
Speaker 1: the most over the top awful story to ever have
Speaker 1: happened to anyone ever really in a in a Christmas movie.
Speaker 1: And then in Christmas Too, she they satirize that with
Speaker 1: her talking about uh President's Day. I think, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: her character have based RPG characters, Monster of the Week
Speaker 1: characters off of her. Um, okay, what about Shazam? Not
Speaker 1: a CHRISTI Christmas though, I would agree that that one.
Speaker 1: I'd agree it's not a Christmas movie to me either.
Speaker 1: Winter movie. Yes, Um, I know that the director really
Speaker 1: liked Christmas, but umve the Holidays, which is why he
Speaker 1: said it at that time. But yeah, to me, it's
Speaker 1: not a It's not Christmas. Yeah. I saw that one
Speaker 1: pretty late, like it had already left theaters, and I
Speaker 1: caught it on I think I caught it on a
Speaker 1: plane actually, and I was. I had heard it was entertaining,
Speaker 1: but my expectations were fairly low, simply because I had
Speaker 1: been let down so frequently by d C superhero movies. Uh,
Speaker 1: they just weren't for me. I'm not saying that they
Speaker 1: were bad movies. I'm just saying they didn't appeal to me.
Speaker 1: I didn't like them, with the exception of Wonder Woman
Speaker 1: and this one. I really liked it was I thought
Speaker 1: it was really in training. But even as I was
Speaker 1: watching it, like when you said when you put it
Speaker 1: on this list, I didn't even remember that there was
Speaker 1: anything about Christmas in that film at all. Like that,
Speaker 1: that doesn't even I don't associate the movie with Christmas
Speaker 1: because that's not what I think of when I think.
Speaker 1: No grant, I've only seen the movie one time, but
Speaker 1: it's not what I think of when I think of
Speaker 1: the film, which again, is entertaining. I recommend it for
Speaker 1: people who haven't seen it. I did watch it for
Speaker 1: the first time last Christmas season. Um film, Ariel, Ariel,
Speaker 1: You can't. You can't count something a Christmas movie just
Speaker 1: because you happen to watch it around Christmas. Well, if
Speaker 1: that were the only reason I was counting it as
Speaker 1: a Christmas movie. I wouldn't. Okay, here's here's one that
Speaker 1: a lot of people disagree on. What do you think
Speaker 1: about Love actually, not as a movie, about whether it's
Speaker 1: a Christmas movie? Uh, I have never seen Love Actually,
Speaker 1: I have never seen I've seen the clips, Like, is
Speaker 1: that the one that has the bit where the guy
Speaker 1: is at the door and he has the poster board
Speaker 1: cards with the words written on it, and he's essentially saying, Hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I totally dig you, but you're married, but
Speaker 1: I still dig you. So I'm gonna totally leverage this
Speaker 1: awkward moment and ignore the fact that you are actually
Speaker 1: in a committed relationship. So you need to like totally
Speaker 1: back on me because I'm really a cool, handsome dude.
Speaker 1: I hate that, Like, I don't have any context for
Speaker 1: that scene, but it makes me so mad. It's um
Speaker 1: that movie. I enjoyed the movie. It just it's an
Speaker 1: anthology of relationships. So I like certain bits of that
Speaker 1: movie better than others. Next, Batman Returns not a Christmas movie.
Speaker 1: Said at Christmas, I love Batman Returns. I love it.
Speaker 1: It's it's got its faults. I don't think that the
Speaker 1: version of the Penguin is one that I particularly agree with.
Speaker 1: But I think Danny DeVito was great in the movie,
Speaker 1: so I think I think he did a great job.
Speaker 1: I just didn't like that version of the penguin. Um.
Speaker 1: But penguins are all about Christmas, No, they're not. You
Speaker 1: know that. You know that when Christmas is over, penguins
Speaker 1: still exists, right they don't. They don't just puff out
Speaker 1: of existence year round. Yeah, I know. It's it's a
Speaker 1: shock to the system. Uh. Batman Returns is not a
Speaker 1: Christmas movie. Uh. It does, however, have an amazing performance
Speaker 1: by Christopher Walking in it. I. Um, I will agree
Speaker 1: with you on that one. I love that Man Returns. Um,
Speaker 1: I just want, I just wanted. I like my penguin argument.
Speaker 1: I know it doesn't hold water much like a penguin's
Speaker 1: wings don't fly. Um. Okay. Edwards scissor Hands also so
Speaker 1: Edwards Scissor Hands I think of as more of a
Speaker 1: fairy tale that happens to be said at Christmas. But
Speaker 1: it's it's this one's borderline for me because it has
Speaker 1: some of the magic that you associate with Christmas stories, right,
Speaker 1: Like there is a magical element to Edward scissor Hands,
Speaker 1: and it really is got that fairy tale field to it.
Speaker 1: It's one of the you know, Tim Burton stuff in
Speaker 1: general tends towards the fantastical. Um, even his more realistic
Speaker 1: films still have elements of that in it, and Edward
Speaker 1: scissor Hands is pretty far into the fantastical. So I
Speaker 1: think of it more as a fairy tale that that
Speaker 1: is set in the winter. But I don't think of
Speaker 1: it as a Christmas movie. This one kind of ends
Speaker 1: at Christmas with the snow and it's snowing again. And
Speaker 1: to me, because it has that final note of you know,
Speaker 1: now it snows on Christmas. To me, that makes that
Speaker 1: that one note makes the entire thing a Christmas movie.
Speaker 1: I don't know A related note, then, what do you
Speaker 1: think about The Nightmare Before Christmas? Is that a Christmas movie?
Speaker 1: I have never seen that. You've never seen The Nightmare
Speaker 1: Before Christmas? You've got to see that. I think you
Speaker 1: would really dig it. It's it's a very sweet movie.
Speaker 1: I don't think of it as a Christmas movie. Um.
Speaker 1: I think of it as a Honestly, I think of
Speaker 1: it is a Thanksgiving movie because it's because it's because
Speaker 1: the action takes place between Halloween and Christmas. Now, granted
Speaker 1: it does end at spoiler alert, it does end at Christmas,
Speaker 1: but I don't. I think of it as sort of
Speaker 1: that bridging season between Halloween and Christmas. That's where that
Speaker 1: movie really lives. So I think the thing is that
Speaker 1: I don't like mixing my Hallywodeen with Christmas. They're two
Speaker 1: completely different, like emotional genres for me in real life,
Speaker 1: and so it's just never appealed to me to watch
Speaker 1: it in movie form. That being said, plenty of people
Speaker 1: have told me I should watch it, including like you
Speaker 1: and my husband. Uh, just like plenty of people have
Speaker 1: told me I should watch Up Um, I just haven't.
Speaker 1: I will probably watch Nightmare before Christmas before I watch UP. Well.
Speaker 1: Up is great. The first ten minutes will destroy you. Okay,
Speaker 1: Coming to America is Coming to America Christmas story. There's
Speaker 1: a dude in a whole lot of Santa suit. It
Speaker 1: is not. It is not. Listen, the the bath scene
Speaker 1: alone tells me it cannot be a Christmas movie. There
Speaker 1: is a line in that scene that will never belong
Speaker 1: to a Christmas movie. So no, it is not. Okay,
Speaker 1: I I don't really think that was a Christmas movie either.
Speaker 1: I want to argue you for comedy's sake, but we're
Speaker 1: already running along. So I've got one more Annie. I
Speaker 1: don't think of any as a Christmas movie either. Like
Speaker 1: it's It's interesting because when I looked at this list,
Speaker 1: some of them I do remember being set around Christmas,
Speaker 1: and others I think, and I'm like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't have any. I have no memory of that
Speaker 1: taking place around Christmas. Now. It has been a very
Speaker 1: long time since I've seen Annie, uh, And I don't
Speaker 1: associate with Christmas at all, because Annie is really getting
Speaker 1: pretty much like all the comforts that she could want
Speaker 1: because she's been adopted by a billionaire. Um so, so so
Speaker 1: in that case, it's like Christmas almost seems like it's
Speaker 1: a overkill because she's already getting everything. But but I
Speaker 1: just don't remember it having anything to do with Christmas.
Speaker 1: In the stage musical, it's Christmas when uh, when Miss
Speaker 1: Hannighan and Ruster Lilier caught at the Warbucks mansion. So gotcha,
Speaker 1: I you know, I guess I can see what you're
Speaker 1: saying there. So really, really where it falls the line
Speaker 1: to me is if Christmas drives the plot. Even if
Speaker 1: it's not focused on the ideals of Christmas, it can
Speaker 1: count as a Christmas movie. To Jonathan, it seems like
Speaker 1: if it doesn't uphold the ideals of Christmas is a
Speaker 1: part of the movie, then it's not a Christmas movie. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: if it's if it just happens to be set around
Speaker 1: Christmas time, that's not enough. You gotta try harder. Uh Like,
Speaker 1: it could still be a great movie, it's just not
Speaker 1: a Christmas movie. Might be a movie that you watch
Speaker 1: around Christmas doesn't make it a Christmas movie. Well what
Speaker 1: if we mashed up a Christmas movie with a not
Speaker 1: Christmas movie? Would that make it three quarters Christmas and
Speaker 1: enough to count for you? I guess we will find
Speaker 1: out after this short break. All right, Aeriel, tell everybody
Speaker 1: what two movies you decided to mash up together? Because
Speaker 1: you picked these? I picked these, which I dug a
Speaker 1: real hole for myself, you guys, it was. It was
Speaker 1: a challenge, but when I gladly accepted. Originally it was
Speaker 1: going to be home alone in Annie because I liked
Speaker 1: the dichotomy of uh, someone defending their house wheresus someone
Speaker 1: who was an orphan Um. But then Jonathan actutely pointed
Speaker 1: out that we've had so many musical mashups recently, so
Speaker 1: I changed it. So I really just beg you to
Speaker 1: spare our audience from me singing again. Fair enough, So
Speaker 1: we're doing Home Alone, which I will fight tooth and nail.
Speaker 1: Is a Christmas movie. Um, and I don't think Jonathan
Speaker 1: would disagree on this. I mean no, I guess not.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean it takes it takes place
Speaker 1: at Christmas. He's left at home because his family leaves
Speaker 1: for Christmas. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: I know. He talks to Santa. He asked Santa for
Speaker 1: his family. It is a Christmas movie. And Die Hard,
Speaker 1: which is not a Christmas movie, as we have already established,
Speaker 1: it's very Christmas music. Uh. Do you want to go
Speaker 1: first or you want me to go first? Um? I'll
Speaker 1: go ahead and go first. Okay, go first. I now,
Speaker 1: we have not shared these with each other, and we
Speaker 1: don't know how similar they're going to be. Probably fairly similar.
Speaker 1: But I want to hear your pitch. Okay, So this
Speaker 1: is Home Hard, Lost Knock, Tommy Plaza. Love it already
Speaker 1: because if you if you um, putting like die home,
Speaker 1: die alone alone. Yeah, there is, there was die Hard
Speaker 1: like it is, just there weren't any good combinations. So
Speaker 1: home Hard lost Nacka Tommy Plaza. So it's Christmas Eve
Speaker 1: and Kevin mccleanister's mom because Kevin McAlister is a character
Speaker 1: and home alone. We didn't really deep dive into it.
Speaker 1: But I want to get right to the meat. So
Speaker 1: Kevin mccleanister's mom, refusing to leave him at home alone
Speaker 1: has stuck him in the worst imaginable place, the kids
Speaker 1: play area at Nakatomi Plaza, while she and her new
Speaker 1: husband Kevin stepdad Argyle attend her company Christmas party. Our
Speaker 1: gyle is the driver in Die Hard, Okay, so just
Speaker 1: so people can realize my brilliance, okay. Staring wistfully out
Speaker 1: the will window of the kids play area, bemoaning the
Speaker 1: fact that he is a mature tine year old stuck
Speaker 1: in a room with a bunch of children, Kevin notices
Speaker 1: a suspicious yet all too too familiar van pull up
Speaker 1: to the office building. On the side of the van,
Speaker 1: it says, sticky groopers. Uh. Sticky bandits were the second
Speaker 1: iteration of the wet bandits from home alone one and two,
Speaker 1: so they must have upp to their game. After having
Speaker 1: been foiled by a latch key kid twice already um
Speaker 1: and moved to corporate crime. Kevin also realizes that if
Speaker 1: these sticky groupers ruined his mother's Christmas party, he will
Speaker 1: be blamed for it. Uh. You know it's kid logic,
Speaker 1: go with it, So he decides to stop them. He's
Speaker 1: done it twice before, it shouldn't be any different now.
Speaker 1: He scours the playroom looking for anything he can use
Speaker 1: to his advantage, but all he finds is a set
Speaker 1: of legos, a tarantula and a terrarium, and an empty
Speaker 1: NERF gun and a bag of marbles. I guess it's
Speaker 1: not only that's a that's a good arsenal for this kid. Uh.
Speaker 1: He just succeeds at gathering all these items up when
Speaker 1: the Sticky Groupers shoot the window and enter the building,
Speaker 1: causing enough of a distraction for Kevin to crawl into
Speaker 1: the duck system and out of the blay room. He
Speaker 1: exits the duck system at the top of the elevator.
Speaker 1: I don't know how duck systems work, but I'm assuming
Speaker 1: this isn't so he lands like on top of the
Speaker 1: elevator and the elevator shaft. Just as the Sticky Groupers enter,
Speaker 1: He drops the tarantula through the little latch door at
Speaker 1: the top, causing them to hit half the buttons on
Speaker 1: the elevator. But he realizes all too quickly that they're
Speaker 1: gonna get really sick of stopping on every floor, so
Speaker 1: he also jams a bunch of legos into the into
Speaker 1: the elevator, works to stop it and get it stuck. Uh.
Speaker 1: This leaves him just enough time to load load the
Speaker 1: marbles into his NERF gun, aim at the groupers through
Speaker 1: the window and take through the little door at the
Speaker 1: top of the elevator. Elevator thank you, and take him out.
Speaker 1: Just then the legos break, the elevator goes up to
Speaker 1: the next floor, the doors open. Kevin gets thrown on
Speaker 1: top of the Sticky Groupers, who are now passed out
Speaker 1: from being shot in the head with marbles from a
Speaker 1: NERF gun and open. It is on the Christmas party
Speaker 1: when kevinemy clanister's mom sees him. Mccleanister's mom sees him,
Speaker 1: she blames him for escaping the play paid place, completely
Speaker 1: overlooking the fact that he foiled a dangerous corporate robbery,
Speaker 1: but because it's Christmas, she's so happy to see him
Speaker 1: that she doesn't ground him, and they go home and
Speaker 1: they live happily ever after. Okay, so I can tell
Speaker 1: you kind of lost the plot halfway. I can tell
Speaker 1: you that we totally did not go the same way.
Speaker 1: So you are you ready for my attempt? That was
Speaker 1: a masterpiece? Areal? That was a masterpiece. So thank you.
Speaker 1: I am so ready. Yours are always fantastic. Here we go.
Speaker 1: N Kevin McAllister is returning home after being away all year,
Speaker 1: having recently graduated the police academy. He gets to the
Speaker 1: family home and discovers, to his shock that his family
Speaker 1: isn't there. They've left on a Christmas trip, completely forgetting
Speaker 1: that Kevin was on his way back home to visit them.
Speaker 1: How can the same thing happen to the same guy
Speaker 1: like eight times, Kevin says. Kevin lets himself into the
Speaker 1: family home, having traveled all that way, and does his
Speaker 1: best to make merry. He watches old action movies, dances around,
Speaker 1: and generally tries to have a good time. We can see, though,
Speaker 1: that he is not having a good time. We see
Speaker 1: this with occasional glimpses of his face, which is sad,
Speaker 1: and the fact that he's making fists with his toes
Speaker 1: on the carpet a sure sign that he's experiencing anxiety.
Speaker 1: Late in the night, a pair of apparent robbers or
Speaker 1: bandits if you prefer, break into the house just as
Speaker 1: Kevin is in the kitchen making some snacks. Kevin hears them,
Speaker 1: so he's able to be quiet and evade notice, but
Speaker 1: his service revolver is in his spare room where he
Speaker 1: had planned to sleep. He conceals himself and listens in,
Speaker 1: and soon it becomes a parent. The bandits are more
Speaker 1: than just your average house thieves. For one thing. They
Speaker 1: are soon joined by another thief, and another and another,
Speaker 1: like twenty guys show up. They're all vaguely European except
Speaker 1: for one guy who is clearly American, and he's a
Speaker 1: hacker because he wears glasses. These bandits have heard that
Speaker 1: Kevin's dad has a huge number of bonds hidden in
Speaker 1: a safe, which is in itself in a hidden part
Speaker 1: of the house and will require an enormous amount of
Speaker 1: time to break into. And so they get to work,
Speaker 1: and before long they're using various tools to try and
Speaker 1: break through the safe. Kevin meanwhile sneaks around the house
Speaker 1: quietly setting up various booby traps. He's without his gun
Speaker 1: after one thief while just doing a cursory search, happens
Speaker 1: across the revolver. Using tools like gardening implements, paint cans,
Speaker 1: ball bearings, crazy glue, hungry Hungry Hippo's board game, and
Speaker 1: some steak knives. Kevin McAllister takes out the bandits one
Speaker 1: by one or sometimes one by two, because you know,
Speaker 1: he's kind of a badass. At the end of the movie,
Speaker 1: it's down to Kevin and the last two bandits, which
Speaker 1: are revealed to be his old nemeses, the Wet Bandits themselves,
Speaker 1: who are just desperately clinging to the idea of one
Speaker 1: last big heist so they can retire. So Kevin totally
Speaker 1: shoots them a whole bunch with his revolver, which I
Speaker 1: forgot to mention he managed to retrieve I don't know,
Speaker 1: like maybe three bandits ago. At the very end of
Speaker 1: the film, the phone rings, and as Kevin stands in
Speaker 1: what is essentially a pile of corpses, he has a
Speaker 1: conversation on the phone that sounds like he's talking with
Speaker 1: his family. But then at the very end he says,
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas. Mr McClean. Boom. Kevin mccallister's teacher at the
Speaker 1: police Academy was John McClean. But you didn't see that
Speaker 1: coming the end. Oh I love it. I love the twist.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, I thought you were going to swear
Speaker 1: for a second. It was a real roller custody. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: there was no yippy kaya ying in that. I was like,
Speaker 1: please me, Mr Falcon, not not the but that was
Speaker 1: I loved it. Yeah, yeah, see I was. I was
Speaker 1: trying to think of, like, it's cool because you actually
Speaker 1: went to the die hard setting whereas I went to
Speaker 1: the home alone setting, and as I said, like, we
Speaker 1: did not talk about this beforehand, so we had no
Speaker 1: idea what the other person was going to do before
Speaker 1: they did it. So that was kind of that was
Speaker 1: that was a fun experiment, and it was just lucky
Speaker 1: that we both went the opposite way. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: sure there are other ways to go with it too.
Speaker 1: It's not one or the other. In fact, if if
Speaker 1: our listeners come up with ways that they would like
Speaker 1: to combine these two classics, one a Christmas classic and
Speaker 1: one totally not a Christmas classic, then they should do
Speaker 1: that and let us know about them. Yes, you can
Speaker 1: reach out to us on social media on Twitter where
Speaker 1: at l n C Underscore podcast, and we're also on
Speaker 1: the facebooks and the Instagrams. You can post a message
Speaker 1: or you can send us a d M. If we
Speaker 1: like your ideas and your mashups, will read them on
Speaker 1: an episode. And you can also tell Jonathan that die
Speaker 1: Hard is totally a Christmas movie. Actually I will listen.
Speaker 1: He won't listen, let him have this this this holiday,
Speaker 1: but I'll listen, so you can tell me, Um whatever
Speaker 1: you think either way, Well that I think that wraps
Speaker 1: this one up. I think it's time for us to
Speaker 1: to wrap this episode up and then maybe unwrapped some presents.
Speaker 1: I agree, So until next time, I'm aerial casting and
Speaker 1: I'm jingling Strickland. Happy Holidays. That was the Large Nerdron
Speaker 1: Collidor podcast. I hope you guys really liked it. If
Speaker 1: you did, go subscribe to the Large Nerdron Collator podcast
Speaker 1: were available pretty much everywhere you get your podcasts and
Speaker 1: listen to it. Let's know what you think. Get in
Speaker 1: touch with us, help us grow the show, help us
Speaker 1: evolve the show. We want to make a lot of
Speaker 1: different segments, for example, and if you guys have ideas
Speaker 1: for cool stuff we should do, then we would love
Speaker 1: to hear it. And also, you know, make sure if
Speaker 1: you do like it, share it with people, leave a review,
Speaker 1: all that nice stuff, all the stuff that helps a
Speaker 1: brand new show kind of find it's it's audience. You know,
Speaker 1: we don't need to be the biggest show in the world,
Speaker 1: but we do want to make sure that the people
Speaker 1: who would really enjoy it get a chance to listen
Speaker 1: to it. And uh, you know, Ariel has put in
Speaker 1: so much work on this show and I kind of
Speaker 1: am almost along for the ride. I know you wouldn't
Speaker 1: know that because the way I talk, but it's true anyway.
Speaker 1: For tech Stuff, if you guys have suggestions for topics
Speaker 1: that we should cover on tech Stuff, make sure as
Speaker 1: always to reach out to me. The best way to
Speaker 1: do that is on Twitter. The handle for the show
Speaker 1: is text Stuff H s W and I'll talk to
Speaker 1: you again really soon. Yeah. Text Stuff is an I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. H