Speaker 1: Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Get My Burbs Going. It's a burb, the wave form,
Speaker 1: the bird, the bird? Is that a technical term that
Speaker 1: I don't know it's it's it's audio slang for the
Speaker 1: wave form, Is it really? Yeah? I don't know where
Speaker 1: I heard that bird or burb. Well, I mean it
Speaker 1: turned into it b I R D. But it's turned
Speaker 1: into bourb among me and my co hosts. Oh, okay,
Speaker 1: it's not a thing. It's just your thing, exactly all right,
Speaker 1: inside inside scoop. Now you're now you're in the friendly
Speaker 1: Fire nest. We still need to do our joint episode.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not even gonna happen this year. That's
Speaker 1: the saddest thing. It's not gonna happen in the next
Speaker 1: two weeks. I was wondering if it was on the
Speaker 1: calendar and I just missed it. But yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: see it. Yeah, we had a great time. Had Fuck
Speaker 1: I knew I didn't tell you about it, and you
Speaker 1: did a stone movie without me. Goddamn it. Welcome to
Speaker 1: movie Crush everyone. I'm talking with Adam Pranica already, man
Speaker 1: as well, leave that stuff in. That's fun. Oh Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the best stuff. That's the cream Adam of Friendly
Speaker 1: Fire excuse me from the Max Fun Network and Greatest
Speaker 1: Generation and what's the news? The newest one, the new
Speaker 1: Star Trek show is called Greatest Discovery, Greatest Discovery And
Speaker 1: I forget that show about Star Trek that you pay for.
Speaker 1: You don't pay for the podcast. You pay for that
Speaker 1: kind of Star Trek. Oh really, it's a what's it on?
Speaker 1: You gotta give some money to CPS for for the
Speaker 1: new Star Trek. Yeah. Wow, that's a smart move by them.
Speaker 1: It makes a lot of money off those treks. It
Speaker 1: looks like they're making a boatload. It's a very very
Speaker 1: polished show. Now I know your co host John Roderick
Speaker 1: because I'm his friend. And what he says, he says
Speaker 1: star Trek just to you know, be contrary. But does
Speaker 1: he say trackers instead of truck Trek or track ees
Speaker 1: instead of truck E's Oh that would be the worst.
Speaker 1: All right, So you haven't heard him say that, We haven't, No,
Speaker 1: but don't give him any ideas. Yeah, that's true. I
Speaker 1: need to get told you off Arab behind on Friendly Fire.
Speaker 1: So I'm looking forward to get back. I had noticed
Speaker 1: our a tick down in our statistics for the show
Speaker 1: I'm downloading, and motherfucker, that's all that counts. We're down
Speaker 1: to we're down to four subscribers, and they're all our parents.
Speaker 1: My old joke with listeners who would write in and
Speaker 1: say they didn't listen as much anymore, But like started,
Speaker 1: I was like, as long as you're still downloading it,
Speaker 1: that's fine. Yeah, yeah, it counts the same to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no one knows commercials, no one cares. Also, thanks for
Speaker 1: telling me. Yeah, exactly, all right, so everyone knows a
Speaker 1: couple of things Adam and I are are continuing are
Speaker 1: Paul Thomas Anderson series were almost done for now at least. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, when he hits his next movie comes out,
Speaker 1: we'll make a special episode for that, right, Absolutely, we
Speaker 1: should keep it up. As long as he's making movies,
Speaker 1: we'll keep doing these PTA meetings. Yeah, but we'll have to, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to wait justin do a podcast with
Speaker 1: you every three years, so you'll have to pick someone
Speaker 1: else another theme out. I like you tried to do
Speaker 1: a bunch of research before stepping up to the mic
Speaker 1: for these shows, and I had thought that, like in
Speaker 1: every in every article about Paul Thomas Anderson, he always
Speaker 1: manages to sprinkle in his influences or his favorite movies
Speaker 1: at the moment or whatever. Maybe we should do a
Speaker 1: series that's just on his influences. Oh, like films are
Speaker 1: filmmakers are both? Ye? Both? I think that would spreadsheet,
Speaker 1: That would that would send us down a pretty fun path.
Speaker 1: I think I love it, And in a way, we're
Speaker 1: still honoring the master. I don't need much of a
Speaker 1: reason to keep doing shows with you, Chuck, No, I know. Uh.
Speaker 1: And the other thing that you know that we do.
Speaker 1: Part two of that opening statement was that Adam and
Speaker 1: I always take this time to just fellowship with one another,
Speaker 1: be with each other because we're close friends who miss
Speaker 1: each other and love each other. And we share a
Speaker 1: drink together. And Adam, what are you drinking tonight? I
Speaker 1: am drinking a just a a classic show drink that
Speaker 1: Ben and I have when we're out doing live shows
Speaker 1: for the greatest gen. Just a junk tequila soda, just
Speaker 1: probably a triple Okay, I'm drinking the un organic blanco
Speaker 1: to you learn here, and little soda and like a
Speaker 1: little lime or not, Yeah, a little soda, little lime,
Speaker 1: But it is like it's three quarters tequila one quarter soda.
Speaker 1: You know the ratio we've had these together. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a very clean, nice drink, I think. Yeah, yeah, a
Speaker 1: lot of ice, biggest cup you got that kind of
Speaker 1: love it. Yeah, it's good. So I'm drinking a martini.
Speaker 1: How I drink my martinis, which is slightly different in
Speaker 1: one way than a lot of people. I have a
Speaker 1: gin martini. Obviously obvious, it's a martini. Have it up obviously. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is Farmer's botanical gin. And I'm using I like
Speaker 1: a dirty martini and instead of using the olive juice
Speaker 1: from a jar. I have you ever heard of Dirty Sue? No,
Speaker 1: but I'm looking it up right now. Yeah, so actually
Speaker 1: not look up Dirty Sue. I'm gonna wait, why did
Speaker 1: that website? Why did that? You are l auto load?
Speaker 1: What's going on? It's already bookmarked? So it's a dirty Sue?
Speaker 1: Is it's a company that makes um I don't it's
Speaker 1: not alive juice, obviously, alive brine or whatever in a bottle.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing it pack of four and I get that
Speaker 1: because I don't need olives. And that's the weird thing.
Speaker 1: I like dirty Martini, but I don't like olive. So
Speaker 1: what I do, as you'll see my friend is I
Speaker 1: do a dirty Martini with the lemon twist and it's
Speaker 1: really nice to me. The citrus in the salt works.
Speaker 1: I've gotten a lot of side eyes from bartenders. Uh,
Speaker 1: but I love it. That's how I have mar Martini
Speaker 1: and it's really delicious. So does that have a name,
Speaker 1: just the brine and the twist, but not the olives themselves.
Speaker 1: It feels like, I don't think so it's called the Chuckini.
Speaker 1: The chuck the chuck tiny chuck teeny sounds delicious. I
Speaker 1: like it. Don't let me have another one. We haven't
Speaker 1: started talking about the movie yet. A friend of mine
Speaker 1: made me a martini, also with gin. We're in Texas.
Speaker 1: I should I should mention this. That's the most important
Speaker 1: part of this story. Friend from Texas makes me a martini.
Speaker 1: And on the skewer is a halapano a pickled halipano.
Speaker 1: Ah also very briny, and that in that pickled talipano, Brian,
Speaker 1: I mean, the it was, but it was, but it
Speaker 1: worked something. In the hot margarita, yeah, it's the only
Speaker 1: one I've ever had. I had not thought to make
Speaker 1: one for myself. Very interesting. Yeah, and everything comes with
Speaker 1: the Halapano in Texas. I guess, yeah, I guess. So
Speaker 1: I know they put him in the Bloody Mary's. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: with a big fucking piece of bacon too much. I
Speaker 1: just want a little bloody Mary. Is that? Why is
Speaker 1: that suddenly off the menu? It feels like when you
Speaker 1: get a bloody Mary, it comes in a fucking growler
Speaker 1: with a sandwich like stabbed to the top of it.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't need that much of anything. Now
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I'm a I'm a one bloody IM
Speaker 1: make a good bloody Mary too. We should try that
Speaker 1: next time you guys come and stay with me. Let's
Speaker 1: do that for sure, and go to the lake, which
Speaker 1: I miss. Uh. This makes me think a Hodgman though,
Speaker 1: because I don't drink. It's onto martinis. But whenever Hodgeman
Speaker 1: is in town, especially when he stays with us, I'm
Speaker 1: doing a lot of martini stirring for the two of us.
Speaker 1: I love that about hanging out with him. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: a gin man like me. Really is, alright, dude, So
Speaker 1: we are tackling inherent vice, which, as you know, is
Speaker 1: a movie that I had never seen until today, which uh,
Speaker 1: I think I explained it briefly, but the deal was
Speaker 1: is when it came out, and it's still weird that
Speaker 1: I didn't see it. I heard such negative things from
Speaker 1: people I know personally that I didn't want to do it.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to see a bad Paul Thomas Anderson movie.
Speaker 1: And then it kind of just slipped off my radar
Speaker 1: because I could see that wearing off and then me
Speaker 1: wanting to see it. But I kind of just forgot
Speaker 1: about it to a certain degree, and that's my reason.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great reason I have been Opening
Speaker 1: Night Paul Thomas Anderson guy for his entire ave, not
Speaker 1: for this movie, for the same reason I kicked the
Speaker 1: can down the road a little bit. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to have my heartbroken. And then I started to hear
Speaker 1: some more favorable things from you know how you have
Speaker 1: like your main filmmaking friends that you you really trust
Speaker 1: their opinions, and then they're like the tertiar area ones
Speaker 1: that are like, well, they're kind of their coin flip friends.
Speaker 1: You can take their opinions or leave them. And I
Speaker 1: started to hear more and more positive from from that group,
Speaker 1: and that's what got me into the theater a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks maybe after it had been out, and that
Speaker 1: that had been enough time to empty out the theater
Speaker 1: and give me a nice private showing. At least it
Speaker 1: felt that way, And that's how I said. So I
Speaker 1: did see it in its in its theatrical run, but
Speaker 1: well I will say this too and looking through, Um,
Speaker 1: I watched it today then kind of did some research
Speaker 1: on it and read a number of reviews. And most
Speaker 1: of the reviews I read, which were you know, the majors,
Speaker 1: were pretty positive, and I was kind of like, I thought,
Speaker 1: I remembered this getting panned, but it didn't at all
Speaker 1: like it was. It wasn't like they didn't put it
Speaker 1: up there with their Will Be Blood, but they were
Speaker 1: pretty good reviews. Yeah, I had the same experience. It's
Speaker 1: weird how our own personal memory of things at the
Speaker 1: time didn't hold up. Weird, right, yeah, I think. So,
Speaker 1: So where are you now with this movie? Like before
Speaker 1: we kind of dig in, like what's your what's your
Speaker 1: rating or what's your rating system for this? Are we
Speaker 1: cutting to the end right now? Well? I mean this
Speaker 1: is for the listeners who don't listen to Friendly Fire
Speaker 1: every week they rate, actually rate their movies at the end,
Speaker 1: but it's a rating some system composed by Adam specific
Speaker 1: to the film, So like five you know sticks a
Speaker 1: dynamite if it's a movie that has dynamite or whatever,
Speaker 1: So can you do one on the fly? Oh? Shoot,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean this is a comedy first and foremost.
Speaker 1: I think everyone knows that. I think. Uh, I think
Speaker 1: if I were to assign an object to the rating system,
Speaker 1: to construct a rating system out of, it would be
Speaker 1: from the funniest moment of the film to me, which
Speaker 1: is which is when Jenna Malone's character shows the picture
Speaker 1: knew you were going to say that of her daughter
Speaker 1: to Joaquin Phoenix and that takes like a heroine baby, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: And the take that he does off of looking at
Speaker 1: that picture is everything to me. And I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be one to five pictures pictures of Jenna
Speaker 1: Malone's daughter. That's so funny, dude, because as you started,
Speaker 1: I started thinking about what is Adam going to choose,
Speaker 1: and the first thing that popped into my head was
Speaker 1: one to five scary baby pictures. Yeah. I just really
Speaker 1: like the suitcase from Pulp Fiction moment in this film,
Speaker 1: I wanted to keep going and see that he wanted
Speaker 1: to see that baby picture. Yeah, so bad. That's an
Speaker 1: interesting take by Joaquin Phoenix there. And I saw a
Speaker 1: couple of reviews said, like, the one big misstep was
Speaker 1: that kind of out of place reaction. So some people
Speaker 1: did not like that, Oh that it was it was
Speaker 1: too prep broad. Yeah, I think so this is a film.
Speaker 1: I think that, like through its entire run time makes
Speaker 1: you wonder what is real and what isn't though, And
Speaker 1: and that that's a take that is brought enough for
Speaker 1: me to wonder if it even happened, you know, like
Speaker 1: in that moment. I think that's the idea, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Because Jenna Malone doesn't react to him. That's just alright
Speaker 1: talking about this, Give me your number, go ahead and
Speaker 1: rank it, because I don't I want to start. I
Speaker 1: have a feeling I'm gonna like this movie more after
Speaker 1: I talk to you about all this ship so wonderfive
Speaker 1: baby Pictures. The thing about the friendly Fire custom rating
Speaker 1: system being as customed as it is is it forces
Speaker 1: you not to compare war films to other war films. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't compare this to other Paul Thomas Anderson movies
Speaker 1: then exactly. So I'm gonna give it three messed up
Speaker 1: baby pictures, Okay, but I think I can't help but
Speaker 1: compare this to other Paul Thomus Anderson films, and that's
Speaker 1: what gives it the three out of five. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, I give it. Oh boy, that is tough.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it two and a half, and I
Speaker 1: think I could inch toward three by the end of
Speaker 1: this conversation because I know that you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: take that I'll appreciate. Movie crush inflation is a thing
Speaker 1: that happens throughout the course of our conversation, and I
Speaker 1: could see that too. It really is. I mean, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna name names, but you know when someone
Speaker 1: picks out their favorite movie and you really didn't like it.
Speaker 1: It's a challenging episode that hasn't happened much. But I
Speaker 1: try to find something in every movie because it's no
Speaker 1: fun to listen to it if I'm like, I thought
Speaker 1: that part sucked, right, and someone else really likes it.
Speaker 1: Look at you keeping the listener in mind. I know,
Speaker 1: but I like that. It's not like I'm faking it
Speaker 1: or anything. It's only happened like once or twice where
Speaker 1: I was like, I didn't really like this movie. Well,
Speaker 1: I you and I are looking at each other during
Speaker 1: using using the video conference technology. I have not seen
Speaker 1: you do the jack off hand motion yet so or
Speaker 1: the things are going great or the insert frozen chocolate
Speaker 1: banana in my mouth move. Yeah, that's what I thought
Speaker 1: was the funniest part of this movie was Josh Brolan
Speaker 1: filating himself and just Josh Brolan's character, I mean Bigfoot.
Speaker 1: It seemed like a Tarantino character. It was really really great.
Speaker 1: I thought he was very very funny. I mean you
Speaker 1: evoking tarantinos An made me think a lot about Once
Speaker 1: upon a Time in Hollywood and it maybe recency bot,
Speaker 1: but it definitely felt like these are two, uh two
Speaker 1: films on the same track a little bit. Now. I
Speaker 1: totally got that vibe, a little Lebowski vibe. It's like
Speaker 1: if they took the Big Sleep or in any sort
Speaker 1: of early uh you know, Private Dick story married it
Speaker 1: with like a Lebowski and Once upon a Time in Hollywood,
Speaker 1: but with some pt Anderson in there, like I think
Speaker 1: part of the thing. Well, first of all, I guess
Speaker 1: I should rate it. No, I did two and a
Speaker 1: half stars, but that's that doesn't mean I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: Like part of it was confusion on my part. For
Speaker 1: a lot of the first hour or so of it
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like a Paul Thomas Anderson movie, So I'm
Speaker 1: a little bit confused. You can tell it wasn't an
Speaker 1: original work by him, and uh and totally I didn't
Speaker 1: know what to think of because I hadn't read a
Speaker 1: lot about it. It's weird to watch a Paul Thomas
Speaker 1: Anderson film that doesn't make me feel like I need
Speaker 1: to cry at any point for some reason. And I
Speaker 1: think I think that comes from what you're describing, like
Speaker 1: that he didn't write it himself, or it's an adapted
Speaker 1: screenplay or whatever it's it's based on a on another
Speaker 1: person's works, on very faithful Supposedly, I feel like there's
Speaker 1: something about PTA's own writing that has that ability to
Speaker 1: like just reach inside my chest and start sucking around
Speaker 1: that this one was incapable of or unwilling to do.
Speaker 1: But that might just be a genre thing, right, Like
Speaker 1: I wish I had some examples of this, But does
Speaker 1: every great filmmaker have their attempt at doing a Coen
Speaker 1: Brothers film, Like like do they all just want to
Speaker 1: try to do one? This feels like that. This feels
Speaker 1: like a Cohen Brothers film in a lot of ways
Speaker 1: to totally uh with because it's a it's a kind
Speaker 1: of humor I think that the Cohen Brothers like to
Speaker 1: use which is not so obvious, mean, unless it's like
Speaker 1: a brother Ward that I was pretty broad, but generally
Speaker 1: it's like should I be laughing at this? Like this
Speaker 1: is funny to me? It's characters and situations that maybe
Speaker 1: shouldn't be funny, but it is right Yeah, that it's
Speaker 1: the it's the absurd type of comedy in this one.
Speaker 1: And the comparison to Big Lebowski and like Fear and
Speaker 1: Loathing in Las Vegas is is right there. And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try during our conversation not to make that comparison.
Speaker 1: It just feels really easy. I wonder if, like casting
Speaker 1: Joaquin Phoenix as the main character here made me think
Speaker 1: a lot about how crucial that decision is in making
Speaker 1: a film like this hit that pleasure center. And there's
Speaker 1: something about like a Jeff Bridges that has like like
Speaker 1: that core that is that is gentle and kind, like
Speaker 1: you never feel threatened by the big Lebowski, by by
Speaker 1: that character where Joaquin Phoenix like as dopey and doped
Speaker 1: up and as he is in this film, like there's
Speaker 1: something inside him as an actor that feels unsafe in
Speaker 1: a way that that that colored this movie a little
Speaker 1: bit for me, Like I couldn't get all the way
Speaker 1: cheech and charmed with him because it's because of him. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: now I'm with you. It was I'm glad you said
Speaker 1: that because I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Speaker 1: Like Lebowski, you love the dude. Most people love the dude.
Speaker 1: I know some wives that are annoyed by the dude,
Speaker 1: but most people love the dude, extremely endearing character, and
Speaker 1: you're really emotionally even though it's a silly movie emotionally
Speaker 1: on his side. It's harder to get there with Doc Uh.
Speaker 1: He's likable a little bit, but he's not the dude.
Speaker 1: He's not over endearing. He hints at it though, like
Speaker 1: you want to really like him, but you're just sort
Speaker 1: of for me at least, I was just kind of
Speaker 1: more watching this character than investing in this character. I
Speaker 1: couldn't be sure he was a good person in the
Speaker 1: way I was pretty confident Lebowski was. Yeah, totally. It
Speaker 1: was a little more uh like Lebowski. And maybe it's
Speaker 1: because Lebowski actually talks about his past being a uh,
Speaker 1: you know, democratic protester and sort of radical left and
Speaker 1: maybe that has a bias with us. I don't know,
Speaker 1: because part of the thing is, I think what is
Speaker 1: I didn't really know anything about Doc. He worked at
Speaker 1: Doctor's office. There was a lot of mystery to it,
Speaker 1: which is kind of cool, but we don't learn a
Speaker 1: ton about his backstory. Yeah, I think it's a film
Speaker 1: that really depends on the amount of empathy you can
Speaker 1: conjure up for someone who's heartbroken like his We all know,
Speaker 1: and I think we have been personally someone who has uh,
Speaker 1: who has allowed for someone else to have the kind
Speaker 1: of power over them the way that that the Katherine
Speaker 1: Waterson character has over walking Phoenix, Like there's something sympathetic
Speaker 1: about that. But you really needed to work for you
Speaker 1: big time, I think for you to come around on
Speaker 1: rooting for Doc throughout the film versus just going sitting
Speaker 1: next to Doc in that and that first trolley car
Speaker 1: on the ride. That is this movie. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess that's where I was, because I never really
Speaker 1: felt like he was heartbroken. Yeah, he maybe because he
Speaker 1: was just such a stoner. I don't know. He seemed
Speaker 1: kind of nonplussed about everything. But I liked him, I did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I liked him, but I did not love him. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He pronounces Dinus one of the great uh this kind
Speaker 1: of uh nonverbal side stoner characters in movie history. And yeah,
Speaker 1: presented without explanation throughout the film. He's just there. He's
Speaker 1: just sort of his lackey. You get the feeling he
Speaker 1: does not get paid any money or anything. I love
Speaker 1: a wheelman in in a heist film or in any
Speaker 1: other kind of film. So I expected Denis to die
Speaker 1: at any moment. I kind of did too. Yeah, it's funny. Uh,
Speaker 1: And you know, the acting was great. I mean, right
Speaker 1: after The Master two put Walking Phoenix in such a
Speaker 1: different kind of costume was pretty interesting, I think. Um,
Speaker 1: And like I said, I like the guy. It was
Speaker 1: just a hard character to really get behind in Root
Speaker 1: for Yeah for me, the film also never gives you
Speaker 1: a chance to miss him because you were always with
Speaker 1: him in every single scene. Right. Yeah, he really is,
Speaker 1: isn't he? Yeah, yeah, and I kind of I can
Speaker 1: appreciate cutting away a little bit to get that whatever
Speaker 1: happened to Doc? You never asked that question in this
Speaker 1: movie because you're always with him, right and as he
Speaker 1: why is he working a doctor's office? Kind of Yeah,
Speaker 1: what kind of person goes to see him as a doctor?
Speaker 1: I guess someone wants to hit the tank. They had
Speaker 1: that great Uh, he had that great part which a
Speaker 1: little nod to his wife when you know my Rudolph
Speaker 1: was playing the receptionist and he uh threw down a
Speaker 1: mini Rippertson music que right after a scene with with
Speaker 1: my That was not great song too, that is that's
Speaker 1: one of those perfect closing the loop moments in a
Speaker 1: movie that, yeah, you just have to live for. The
Speaker 1: music was great, I mean it was Uh Johnny Green
Speaker 1: went again with the score. But the the I mean
Speaker 1: he's always going to have great soundtracks. But all that
Speaker 1: Neil young Man and yeah, not Neil Youngman. That was
Speaker 1: a different guy, Neil Youngman, so good Man right up
Speaker 1: my alley. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely made me want to
Speaker 1: put on the Harvest record just to chill out. Gotta
Speaker 1: love that song. Um, well, let's talk about the setting.
Speaker 1: I mean there's I think it's no accident that it
Speaker 1: was seventy and not or seventy six. U that weird
Speaker 1: time at the beginning of the seventies, I think, where
Speaker 1: the the sixties didn't quite work out like everyone thought
Speaker 1: in the you know, sort of end of the that
Speaker 1: feeling in a lot of ways, but before before the
Speaker 1: seven and he's really sort of started leaking in. And
Speaker 1: also some really weird holdouts like Josh Brolin, like these
Speaker 1: kind of late fifties early sixties guys that were still
Speaker 1: in seventy wearing the flat top and buttoned up like
Speaker 1: that interesting time period, it really is, And and so
Speaker 1: many references to Manson in in the film too. Cults. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of that. I can't imagine what it was
Speaker 1: like too to live in California at the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's interesting too because Boogie Nights, I guess they
Speaker 1: did the switch from the seventies to the eighties that part. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you hear my dogs. They're having a great time. They are,
Speaker 1: We'll just leave that in. They're parking at somebody, which
Speaker 1: they do all the time. Uh. But yeah, the acting
Speaker 1: is great. At mean, he's awesome. I thought the one
Speaker 1: character that I thought was that he didn't do a
Speaker 1: lot with, but maybe that was just the point. Was
Speaker 1: Benicio del Toro's character. But it's weird to cast him
Speaker 1: if you're not going to really like fucking make a
Speaker 1: weird character. That felt very uh self aware, And by
Speaker 1: that I mean you don't want to have him be
Speaker 1: the same person he was in Fear and Loathing like
Speaker 1: The Help, Crazy Attorney, and as soon as he introduced himself,
Speaker 1: you feel like that's the direction that this could go.
Speaker 1: But he's in it very few times. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean under used. For sure. Reese Withinerspoon was good. I
Speaker 1: did not expect to know that Martin Short was in
Speaker 1: this movie. Yeah, and I was really really delighted when
Speaker 1: he came walking stepped off that elevator. Elevator I want,
Speaker 1: that's so bad. Yeah, that opens I've always want an
Speaker 1: elevator that and right into your apartment. Yeah that's amazing.
Speaker 1: That's how you know you've made it. Yeah, for sure, Um,
Speaker 1: he was great and it made me wonder why he
Speaker 1: isn't used more like that. I agree, Yeah, he should
Speaker 1: be in every movie, like so many comics, like there's
Speaker 1: there's like that that heart of darkness to them that
Speaker 1: that translates so well to film. Yeah, it's a treat
Speaker 1: for a Martin Short fan to to see him in this.
Speaker 1: But it's but even if you don't know who he
Speaker 1: is or why he's important, like, I think you can
Speaker 1: sense that that darkness inside that that really works. He's
Speaker 1: really great. That scene was really funny. Yeah, and that
Speaker 1: that whole part was a bit of a diversion. I
Speaker 1: guess they bring and the names in this are great.
Speaker 1: I guess those are all straight from the book, but
Speaker 1: I guess the Japonica thing sort of comes up there
Speaker 1: and that does have a thread to the overall plot.
Speaker 1: But I think it was definitely a little bit of
Speaker 1: fun they were just having with Martin Short and that character.
Speaker 1: Do you think the names were one of the things
Speaker 1: that uh that professional film reviewers had a hard time with,
Speaker 1: because like a lot of the lot of the reviews
Speaker 1: for this film had to do with it's it's coherence
Speaker 1: or incoherence as a story. As I was watching it,
Speaker 1: the thing that struck me most was I'm not I
Speaker 1: am the person who gets introduced to people at parties
Speaker 1: that forgets your name as soon as you say it. No,
Speaker 1: that's me too. And so as I was being taken
Speaker 1: through this film, we're hearing about so many characters just
Speaker 1: by their name by by two different people having a
Speaker 1: conversation about a third person. And this is a thing
Speaker 1: that happens over and over in this film, to the
Speaker 1: extent that by the time we meet that person, I'm
Speaker 1: working it out in my head where I've heard that
Speaker 1: name before, instead of placing myself in the scene in
Speaker 1: a way I like to be interesting. And that made
Speaker 1: it hard to hold the story together when I'm when
Speaker 1: I'm constantly trying to to place a face to a
Speaker 1: name that I've heard. It's it's a tough movie to follow.
Speaker 1: I mean, I did read stuff that said it. You know,
Speaker 1: it really helps if you've read the book. I kind
Speaker 1: of want to read it now. I've never read anything
Speaker 1: by him, and I did a little research on him.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that really anything so about his reclusive
Speaker 1: nature and all that stuff, and it definitely piqued my
Speaker 1: interest to check it out. But that's just a literary
Speaker 1: hole that I've got. It's I have the same one.
Speaker 1: We have the same holes we do. I always knew that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he's supposedly in the movie as a cameo,
Speaker 1: but P. T Anderson has not. He's sort of half
Speaker 1: denied it and hasn't really said one way or the
Speaker 1: other that he's one of the guys under the hood
Speaker 1: in that in that meeting on the compound, the wo
Speaker 1: woo meeting outside. Okay, that'd be a good place for him,
Speaker 1: I think, because you don't see too many phases besides
Speaker 1: Owen Wilson's and that guy with the swastika face tattoo.
Speaker 1: I bet, I bet they got him in that room
Speaker 1: and and just probably shut him up a little bit.
Speaker 1: I don't know where else would be unless it was
Speaker 1: just I don't know, unless say it was just some weird,
Speaker 1: random background, which would be a kind of a strange
Speaker 1: thing to do. I mean, I know it's unusual that
Speaker 1: he even agreed to have one of his books made
Speaker 1: into a movie, so it wouldn't surprise me if he's
Speaker 1: snuck in there. Um denis got that guy. I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought all the like, there was so much uh
Speaker 1: and and and it's not over acting at all, I think,
Speaker 1: just so much. So many of these small roles. They
Speaker 1: were just sort of chewing through those scenes and a
Speaker 1: really kind of big fun way, and like that's what
Speaker 1: I appreciated about it, Like when they went and saw
Speaker 1: his wife, When they went and saw the Wolfman's wife, Uh,
Speaker 1: and you know, she was dulled up in the high
Speaker 1: heels and bathing suit and does her interview. Like what,
Speaker 1: she doesn't put on a little bathing suit robe. She
Speaker 1: just does an interview on the couch and that her
Speaker 1: personal advisor or whatever comes in and he's just like,
Speaker 1: you know, juiced up model. You know, I really appreciated that.
Speaker 1: That was very Cohen's Brothers to me. One of my
Speaker 1: favorite lines of dialogue or exchanges in this movie is
Speaker 1: in that scene where Doc is like, how do you do?
Speaker 1: And that guy in the yellow trunks is like pleasurable? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I thought at first we were never gonna see his
Speaker 1: face because it just rangs in between like his picks
Speaker 1: and his you know, like a little bit of a
Speaker 1: mupp at Babies moment where we were just going to
Speaker 1: see legs the entire scene. Man and uh, Owen Will's
Speaker 1: was good too. I mean he was do your own
Speaker 1: Wilson impression. Wow, I love it. It's a one word impression.
Speaker 1: There are more words and a few of many other impressions.
Speaker 1: He was good though. I liked him. I like seeing
Speaker 1: him muse like this, which was kind of a small part.
Speaker 1: And uh, he didn't have to be like Owen Wilson
Speaker 1: for a second. Yeah, it's interesting to see like some
Speaker 1: Wes Anderson to Paul Thomas Anderson crossover, you know, like
Speaker 1: this this was This was a film that p t
Speaker 1: A like did not use his his players for in
Speaker 1: an interesting way. And I mean, I guess Joaquin was
Speaker 1: a repeat was anyone else, right, But I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone else was, man, I don't think so. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: is crazy. Yeah that's a conscious choice. But it's neat
Speaker 1: to to see him play with other crayons, you know.
Speaker 1: And and I think you're right Owen Wilson's usage here
Speaker 1: it was really interesting. And he got to get big two,
Speaker 1: like when he was in that at that Nixon rally.
Speaker 1: That was fun. They did a little Forrest Gump moment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was pretty funny. That was a looked really good.
Speaker 1: Forrest Gump looks so much better these days. If they
Speaker 1: tried to do that, This film looked great. Yeah, for
Speaker 1: what it was trying to do. Like I I got
Speaker 1: the Apple TV version like the four K version of it, yea.
Speaker 1: And god it really looked period, you know, did it
Speaker 1: looked sun drenched? L A. And now that you're there,
Speaker 1: you know, you get you've had enough of that to
Speaker 1: know to the extent that it was like muddy sometimes
Speaker 1: in some scenes, Like it wasn't a super crisp digital
Speaker 1: looking film at all. It was it was really really
Speaker 1: satisfying visually. Yeah, and it was what's his face again,
Speaker 1: right it Bob Ellswitt, right, yeah, yeah, he is the
Speaker 1: man um. I was listening to a podcast where Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers was the guest. Aaron Rodgers the quarterback for the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers. Interesting, he mentioned that he was in
Speaker 1: a state farm commercial and could you guess who was
Speaker 1: on camera for the state farm commercial? Bob Ellswit. Bob
Speaker 1: fucking Elswit. Can you believe that I can, dude, because
Speaker 1: I used to work on TV commercials and you know,
Speaker 1: I worked on a commercial with Tony Scott and Michael
Speaker 1: Bay And like that's the same with dps. They they
Speaker 1: it's quick, fucking fat money. Yeah, Like Bob Ellswit is
Speaker 1: getting his rate. It's probably making more per day mad
Speaker 1: than he is. Any movie. Gotta be and and not
Speaker 1: having to go far from home. It was great about
Speaker 1: this interview with Aaron Rodgers with it he could appreciate it.
Speaker 1: He was like, people who show up for State Farm
Speaker 1: commercials probably don't reckon Nys the guy like you see
Speaker 1: the white hair, you see him behind the camera, you
Speaker 1: know who that is. But Aaron Rodgers as Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: is a film nerd, like it was. It was awesome
Speaker 1: to hear him geek out about Robert Ellswood on a
Speaker 1: State Farm commercial. But I didn't know, Oh, you're a
Speaker 1: packers guy. Yeah, that's right. I forgot about us watching
Speaker 1: that game in San Francisco. That's right at the wine bar,
Speaker 1: get the wine, getting wine smashed yep in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: We all kinds of smashed you and me. Um yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean it's like Robert Ellswood. He gets the call
Speaker 1: and he's like, do you want to make you want
Speaker 1: to go shoot a State Farm commercial with Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: and make dollars over the next four days? What's your answer?
Speaker 1: Of course, I don't between film jobs. You know, that's
Speaker 1: just great money. Do you really have a lot of
Speaker 1: confidence that you're paying the least in premiums when you're
Speaker 1: insured company was paying, but they will switch to shoot
Speaker 1: the commercials. Yeah they could. You could have shot that commercial. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm not using you. It was like no, yeah
Speaker 1: or anything. No. Um. The one thing that cracked me
Speaker 1: up about the own Wilson character was when gener Malone
Speaker 1: was talking about their relationship in the past and he
Speaker 1: was a surf sax player who actually played solos right,
Speaker 1: improvised solos. That's great. I didn't quite recognize her at
Speaker 1: first for some reason, even though it totally looks like
Speaker 1: genlem alone. I think I just hadn't seen her in
Speaker 1: a while. Maybe it's funny how like how the right
Speaker 1: prosthetic can really blow your mind about a recognizable actress,
Speaker 1: Like like the forehead that Charlie's throne War and Monster
Speaker 1: makes her look unrecognizable, but the teeth in Gena Malone's
Speaker 1: mouth make her look unrecognized. Bowl were those fake because
Speaker 1: of her drawing attention to him? Was that the deal?
Speaker 1: I mean, I hope so now that I've said something
Speaker 1: like that about her teeth, but pretty big I'm looking
Speaker 1: at I think it's an appliance. It's gotta be uh.
Speaker 1: And then we had Joanna Newsome in there in a yeah,
Speaker 1: kind of an interesting role, Like, so what's your what's
Speaker 1: this whole thing about? Does she exist? Well, now, I
Speaker 1: thought you said at the beginning, or maybe you're talking
Speaker 1: about something else that some parts of this movie really
Speaker 1: didn't even think happened. I wasn't thinking about it in
Speaker 1: terms of her character as the omniscient narrator. But I
Speaker 1: think that's a great film paper. Okay, I think that
Speaker 1: really works. I mean, you don't see her interact. Well,
Speaker 1: I guess she's in that first pizza pizza parlor scene
Speaker 1: with a group of other people. What I was talking
Speaker 1: about specifically was was in an example of it was
Speaker 1: that take that Doc had looking at the picture. Was
Speaker 1: the questionable reality that existed that Doc lived in throughout
Speaker 1: the film, Like are these things actually happening? Are these
Speaker 1: outbursts actually happening? Are there actually, you know, a hundred
Speaker 1: cops crawling through the desert outside of the brothel, like
Speaker 1: like are these things real? And a lot of the
Speaker 1: visual gags that that we're told exists in this film,
Speaker 1: like are those real? Now? Did you cook this up?
Speaker 1: Or is this this a popular you know, online theory.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm bouncing this off of you in the moment. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's work and if it plays, I never thought about it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I suppose that adds. Your contribution
Speaker 1: to this hypothesis is all about that Joanna Knewsome character
Speaker 1: that I didn't even well wait until you brought it
Speaker 1: up that she may not be real. You just mentioned
Speaker 1: who all did she was she with besides Joaquin? I mean,
Speaker 1: I the you seen I remember her interacting with other
Speaker 1: people was in that pizza parlor scene in the beginning,
Speaker 1: right after Shasta shows up for the first time, like
Speaker 1: where Doc goes to chill out after that initial interaction. Well,
Speaker 1: I will say this, I mean, I think it was
Speaker 1: kind of a smart move um and slightly necessary to
Speaker 1: kind of it's confusing story. She helps orient the story
Speaker 1: a bit and uh and and that stuff is pulled
Speaker 1: straight from the book. So I think people like fans
Speaker 1: of his work of the book, I think probably appreciate
Speaker 1: the you know, the verbatim h narration. I think you
Speaker 1: really need her in this movie to keep us as
Speaker 1: as grounded as we are in in our understanding of
Speaker 1: the story. I think without her it's I won't say
Speaker 1: it's a mess, but I think it's it's that much
Speaker 1: more difficult to comprehend what's going on without her. It
Speaker 1: is messier. Yeah, for sure, she's great as everyone else
Speaker 1: is in this movie. Like she's not in this film
Speaker 1: a bunch, but she's memorable and really good. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: is Rhese Witherspoon. It was cool seeing her in a
Speaker 1: role like this. I think um Erica Roberts is has
Speaker 1: has like a centerpiece scene like like shot from below,
Speaker 1: like one of the most unflattering angles at any actor.
Speaker 1: He's able to pull off because he's Eric Roberts and
Speaker 1: he just owns that moment. God, that was that was great.
Speaker 1: I'm also an old fan of Martin Donovan from the
Speaker 1: Hal Hartley days, and to see him come in as
Speaker 1: uh Japonica's dad at the end was pretty great. And
Speaker 1: Atrian Prussia, these names were so good. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: things got really weird there toward the end. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: it took me in a while to even figure out
Speaker 1: I was watching a comedy. It might have behooved me
Speaker 1: to read more about it beforehand, because totally I just
Speaker 1: didn't get it because it was P. T. Anderson. And
Speaker 1: then the more I started to kind of get it,
Speaker 1: and feel it. I think it's a movie that I
Speaker 1: would like more of the second time. Totally. This was
Speaker 1: my second time, and I liked it a lot more
Speaker 1: than the first time I saw it. Yeah. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: it all goes back to that. I mean there's an unfortunately,
Speaker 1: I think there's an expectation with Paul Thomas Anderson films
Speaker 1: where it's going to it's going to get inside and
Speaker 1: it's gonna mess you up, at least if you're me.
Speaker 1: And I kept waiting for that that inflection point where
Speaker 1: where Doc is so traumatized that that it's super affecting.
Speaker 1: But but that's not what this film is about now,
Speaker 1: And there's not a father son sort of mentor character
Speaker 1: like he's he's really known for. Uh. I guess it
Speaker 1: does have a little to do with family and that
Speaker 1: he's trying to reunite, which you aren't even super clear
Speaker 1: until the end actually that he has this sort of
Speaker 1: drive to reunite uh Owen Wilson with jenlem alone and daughter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's the punctuation on the film, is that that
Speaker 1: shot that just hangs on Doc in the car. It's
Speaker 1: really sweet too. Yeah, yeah, it really was. You can
Speaker 1: get that great scene afterwards to the last scene with
Speaker 1: Brolin when he kicks in the fucking door, sits down
Speaker 1: and starts eating that big fucking tray of weed. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, that was so great. I thought so much about,
Speaker 1: Like my my production brain was totally activated in that
Speaker 1: moment because as as you as I know you thought about,
Speaker 1: like how when he takes do you get for for
Speaker 1: a scene that's messy? Is a thought like because the
Speaker 1: resets awful, but also like the details of Josh Brolin's
Speaker 1: lower lip going going above the bowl, Like you have
Speaker 1: to direct that right because you're behind the camera and
Speaker 1: you're like cheat to the camera a little bit with
Speaker 1: that lower lip. Josh, like, really emphasize the lip get
Speaker 1: up under that bowl for hut. It's like the cinnamon challenge.
Speaker 1: I don't know how Josh Brolin does that without coughing
Speaker 1: or coughing and laughing or what have you. And that
Speaker 1: seems to be like that's not something you talk about
Speaker 1: when you talk about great actors, like their their ability
Speaker 1: to not funk up a scene like that. But I
Speaker 1: think it's a quality of great actors to not break
Speaker 1: when your mouth is filled with a regano and you
Speaker 1: get a bowl up to your face. It's such a
Speaker 1: great moment for him. He's awesome. He's so funny. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he's got the funniest scenes in the movie. I
Speaker 1: think there's that scene. There's the one where he gets
Speaker 1: just browbeated by his wife. She just comes in and
Speaker 1: owns him. She's calling him Christian, like you don't even
Speaker 1: know his name until that part of the movie, and
Speaker 1: then like calling him what he is, like, don't walk
Speaker 1: away from me like a beaten dog. Yeah, currently only
Speaker 1: after one night a week out of you. And then
Speaker 1: the scene in the Asian diner or whatever. The pancakes
Speaker 1: scene is vectacular for pincakes. He's help me understand this scene.
Speaker 1: Is he getting green onion pancakes or is he getting
Speaker 1: pancakes with syrup, like like from a diner. I got
Speaker 1: the feeling that they were Asian pancakes, right, I yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's clearly a Japanese restaurant or whatever, like,
Speaker 1: because there's there's stuff on the walls that indicate that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: although he said his mom made him, but he's dipping
Speaker 1: them into what looks like a diner style ramikin of syrup.
Speaker 1: So it's so confusing. What's happening there? Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: really funny. He talked about being there for the respect
Speaker 1: or whatever. Yeah. Uh. And then the scene where he
Speaker 1: gets and this is one an upsetting amount of Japanese
Speaker 1: pancakes easy, um, the ones, you know. That was really
Speaker 1: funny and and sort of confused me a little bit.
Speaker 1: But now that I fully embraced it as a comedy,
Speaker 1: I think that's just what it was, which was when
Speaker 1: after Dot goes and visits with Wolfman's wife at that
Speaker 1: party and he's in that suit with a wig on,
Speaker 1: he comes out and just runs on top of the
Speaker 1: police car, Yeah, and gets that really funny slow mo
Speaker 1: beat down, Like what was that? I think that's another
Speaker 1: bit of surrealism that that to me felt like it
Speaker 1: may or may not be happening. It may just feel
Speaker 1: like it may just look like what it feels like
Speaker 1: to Dock instead of what it actually is. I like
Speaker 1: this read I'm gonna have to watch this again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it had to be fun for an actor to get
Speaker 1: that physical, and it had to be fun as a
Speaker 1: character to to give that kind of double middle fingers
Speaker 1: too to Bigfoot, like I'm gonna throw myself up onto
Speaker 1: the hood of your car, you fucking asshole, Like you're
Speaker 1: not gonna do it to me, I'm gonna do it
Speaker 1: to myself. Yeah. There are a lot of middle fingers
Speaker 1: to the Yeah, they turn it around. Yeah. And the
Speaker 1: girl at the end with the which I thought was great,
Speaker 1: that ending bit with when they had to exchange the
Speaker 1: drugs and they send this like nuclear family and a
Speaker 1: wooded station wagon and the girl just flicks them off
Speaker 1: at the end. That was big fun. I like that
Speaker 1: that composition, it's almost it's almost Western film genre composition,
Speaker 1: Like the super long lens facing off like in profile
Speaker 1: of the car and the characters, and it makes that
Speaker 1: like sears or whatever in the background looked just monolithic
Speaker 1: back there, like that a fucking shopping mall in the valley,
Speaker 1: just looking imposing and dangerous. Yeah. I think it's a
Speaker 1: sneakily good looking film. But when you're used to Paul
Speaker 1: Thomas Anderson's showy nous, which I like, with the camera
Speaker 1: and just sort of known for doing those big camera
Speaker 1: moves are really complicated, long camera moves. There's not a
Speaker 1: ton of that in here. A lot of close ups,
Speaker 1: a lot of actors without a ton of makeup on,
Speaker 1: like a lot of unkind sort of real close ups.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're definitely spoiled with his films because there
Speaker 1: are some really long sequences without cuts that I don't
Speaker 1: think you notice until they're over. You don't appreciate them
Speaker 1: until they're done, because it just comes with the package. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 1: we're spoiled with with this filmmaker in that way. And
Speaker 1: I mean they're no less enjoyable, but but they don't
Speaker 1: stick out in a way that they might in another
Speaker 1: film because it just comes with the territory. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: certainly some beautiful shots though, uh that just that opening
Speaker 1: bit with her the sunlight behind her hair beaming around
Speaker 1: her hair was just gorgeous. And there are a couple
Speaker 1: of shots towards the end that are really really pretty
Speaker 1: um but it never felt like I don't know, I
Speaker 1: think when you're shooting southern California like that, you can
Speaker 1: kind of lean into that a little too much and
Speaker 1: rely on that a little too much because you get
Speaker 1: these great sunsets all the time and these great blue skies.
Speaker 1: But in that New York as a character in the
Speaker 1: film kind of way for l A. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think I think it was Jared. Yeah, Like, I don't
Speaker 1: think he's trying to show off too much here visually. No,
Speaker 1: And I think he got those reps in in in
Speaker 1: Boogie Nights and and several other films set in southern California.
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, it's not really what this is about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is beautiful though. It's so much beach eat than
Speaker 1: any other pol Thomas Anderson film, and that's enjoyable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't wait for this next thing he's doing,
Speaker 1: the high school kid in the seventies. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think they just wrapped at the time of this recording.
Speaker 1: That's great, which is something to look forward to in
Speaker 1: the new year. Absolutely. Um. Another thing I thought was
Speaker 1: really kind of funny and interesting. I guess it's a
Speaker 1: book thing too, was how the doc is just like
Speaker 1: he's just collecting cases basically, Like it feels like every
Speaker 1: other person he meets is like, hey, I need you
Speaker 1: to need you to find some out something about somebody
Speaker 1: for me. At a certain point in the film him,
Speaker 1: I was like, they never talked about money, what is
Speaker 1: he doing? Eventually they do, but it is really that
Speaker 1: that kind of film where he's just sort of a
Speaker 1: baton that's being passed among suspects in this crime ring,
Speaker 1: and it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. But
Speaker 1: like the contract employee and me is always like, you're
Speaker 1: not making this official, man, You're gonna get screwed. What's
Speaker 1: going on? Yeah, I mean his whole business is a
Speaker 1: little mysterious and that you never hear about money at all.
Speaker 1: And then also he's just sort of like he didn't
Speaker 1: Paul Thomas Anderson didn't do the thing where he's sort
Speaker 1: of the stoner detective, but he's a super genius stoner detective.
Speaker 1: But he's also not a dumbass who just like very
Speaker 1: broadly stumbles upon every clue. It was this weird middle cround,
Speaker 1: which kind of made it another ambiguity of the character
Speaker 1: that was hard to too because I think we're so
Speaker 1: used to one or the other. That's a great point,
Speaker 1: Like there's a passivity to Doc's character where he just
Speaker 1: kind of floats. Yeah, he gets very little agency throughout
Speaker 1: this case. He very naturally follows things in a linear
Speaker 1: fashion and never really breaks anything for himself due to
Speaker 1: his own intelligence. And I wonder if that's one of
Speaker 1: the like to the extent that there's a problem with
Speaker 1: generating empathy for him as a as a heroic figure
Speaker 1: in the film. Like I wonder if that's part of it,
Speaker 1: is that, like he doesn't do anything great enough for
Speaker 1: us to respect right and and see him in that way.
Speaker 1: Is this Fletch that's the comp right there? Is this
Speaker 1: Fletch means big Lebowski. Yeah, it's not really Fletch, but
Speaker 1: I mean it's not not Fletch. It's not not Fletch.
Speaker 1: Those mutton chops, man, I'll take those all day long,
Speaker 1: so big, Like you get the sense that he's gonna start,
Speaker 1: that he's gonna solve it, but not in some like
Speaker 1: he never even remarks about figuring anything out. Like usually
Speaker 1: in a movie like this, there's like several aha moments,
Speaker 1: and you're right, he just is really just sort of
Speaker 1: bouncing around. I love how there's no costume change that
Speaker 1: covers for the mutton chops. Like I think there's a
Speaker 1: scene where he's like, well, what's the dress code at
Speaker 1: the restaurant and the guy's like, well, coat and tie
Speaker 1: if you've got it, but like there's no nothing's going
Speaker 1: to cover up those chops. No, And I think his
Speaker 1: look is like I think he in Brolin's character and
Speaker 1: in Bigfoot were these weird two sides of the same coin. Like,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't have surprised me if at the end of
Speaker 1: this movie they're revealed to be brothers or something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: were you wanting or expecting that epiphany at the end,
Speaker 1: like all of this was going to come to a point,
Speaker 1: a satisfying point at the end of the story that
Speaker 1: made it all make sense. The epiphany of of reuniting
Speaker 1: Owen Wilson or or with Shasta, either or both or neither,
Speaker 1: like something else like you're talking about, like like the
Speaker 1: revelation of a character like that, that that he and
Speaker 1: the Josh Brolin character brothers or whatever. It could be
Speaker 1: a version of this, but like the the mental explosion,
Speaker 1: the mental climax that often comes at the end of
Speaker 1: a movie that you don't quite understand until it's conclusion.
Speaker 1: You know, you know, I thought this movie didn't have
Speaker 1: the strongest finale. Uh, what do you think? It's unfair too?
Speaker 1: It's unfair to Paul Thomas Anderson to heap like using
Speaker 1: his previous work as a sm measurement for what he's doing.
Speaker 1: But it's easy to make that the answer to a
Speaker 1: question like this, right, like at the conclusion of Let's
Speaker 1: Do This Together, because I did not prepare to have
Speaker 1: this conversation in this way. But like at the end
Speaker 1: of Heart eight, it's Sydney looking down at the at
Speaker 1: the bloody shirt sleeve, like we get we get a
Speaker 1: nice tight conclusion there. In Boogie Nights, it's it's Mark
Speaker 1: Wahlberg's giant dick at the end, you know, before we
Speaker 1: did shoot out and shoot another movie, he's back in
Speaker 1: the game. The mirror monologue. In Magnolia, it's it's Officer
Speaker 1: Jim talking to me, Laura Walters. We get that tidy ending.
Speaker 1: It's there will be blood. It's it's a bowling pin
Speaker 1: like that. Like his films tend to come to a
Speaker 1: conclusion that is like a really tight bow Yeah. And
Speaker 1: that's another quality of this film that just feels different.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, because it doesn't it just kind of breathes. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think more than anything, it felt just
Speaker 1: very obviously like an adaptation. Um. I want like we
Speaker 1: don't know him, but I want him to be able
Speaker 1: to do stuff like this. I want a creator to
Speaker 1: get the satisfaction of dabbling. Yeah. Yeah, without without two
Speaker 1: assholes like us criticizing him for it, you know, like
Speaker 1: I mean, if this is his worst movie, like you're
Speaker 1: doing pretty great, yeah you absolutely, Yeah, And I want
Speaker 1: I want creators that I like and respect to be
Speaker 1: able to stretch in this way. And like, what other
Speaker 1: type of career is there where you're able to do this,
Speaker 1: you know, where you're able to get weird and then
Speaker 1: maybe come back if you want to, or go in
Speaker 1: a different direction like this is this is part of
Speaker 1: a creative persian's life to get a rep like this
Speaker 1: and I and I'm just like reluctant to criticize it
Speaker 1: too harshly because it's just not what I was expecting
Speaker 1: or somebody has made previously. Yeah, because he made all
Speaker 1: these movies is great, run these really big, sweeping, like
Speaker 1: tough stories, and this is a long movie too. But
Speaker 1: it's my own ship that I just want to be
Speaker 1: hurt by his movies, Like right, that's my problem. It's
Speaker 1: not his fault. It was an artist going like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, I want to try something different this
Speaker 1: time out. Yeah. Yeah, Like I'll always take that and
Speaker 1: they and they deserve that if it takes that to
Speaker 1: keep a great filmmaker working instead of getting bored and retiring, Like,
Speaker 1: give me ten avies easily if it Yeah, if it
Speaker 1: keeps giving us the occasional there will be blood or
Speaker 1: a boogie knights or whatever, like like you bought it
Speaker 1: paid for. No, for sure, I definitely want to see
Speaker 1: it again. It's a movie I did enjoy to a
Speaker 1: certain degree, and I think now tone that we've talked, like,
Speaker 1: I won't spend the first hour wondering if it's a comedy,
Speaker 1: so I can really start relishing in the comedy that
Speaker 1: can really drive a viewer into the ditch. That that
Speaker 1: that translation of expecting a genre and getting a different one,
Speaker 1: Like it's hard to recover from that mid movie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Punch Drunk Love. He definitely went down a
Speaker 1: different tonal path. But I think I got that one
Speaker 1: a little quicker. But it's still sort of like this
Speaker 1: in that you know, he's he's an ambiguous guy when
Speaker 1: it comes to this kind of tone, He's not. You
Speaker 1: didn't go straight up bra and make it very obviously
Speaker 1: a comedy, which can be I think he likes clearly
Speaker 1: likes to make viewers uncomfortable, or else he wouldn't make
Speaker 1: movies like The Master or There Will be Blood, So
Speaker 1: maybe this is just another kind of version of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're really exploring the space of discomfort in in this
Speaker 1: three film series, right, Yeah, this one's there's a bit
Speaker 1: of discomfort in Like what exactly am I watching here? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a film that I like more for having
Speaker 1: had this conversation, for sure. Yeah. Absolutely, I'm up to
Speaker 1: three uh weird baby pictures. Hey there you go? Are
Speaker 1: you three and a half? You sold three? Oh? I'm
Speaker 1: at three and a half sun Okay, all right, that
Speaker 1: might be the three and a half tequila SODA's talking. Well,
Speaker 1: all right, dude, you got anything else? No, I don't
Speaker 1: think I do. I love great. I love this film
Speaker 1: festival we're doing and I and I'm grateful and excited
Speaker 1: that there are more films being added to this list,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, I was so happy to see that they
Speaker 1: were in production on another p t A film and
Speaker 1: then it wasn't going to be a five year break
Speaker 1: or whatever. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And we get Phantom Thread next,
Speaker 1: which it's a movie I liked a lot and I
Speaker 1: only saw once and I can't wait to see it again.
Speaker 1: Oh good, Yeah, I've seen it a couple of times,
Speaker 1: and I like it a whole bunch really cool. All right,
Speaker 1: my friend, Uh, well that wraps for this one. We'll
Speaker 1: take care of that. The new pt Anderson. Obviously, you
Speaker 1: and I love your idea about diving, keeping it p
Speaker 1: t A adjacent and diving into his, his mentors and inspirations.
Speaker 1: Whatever it keeps us doing this thing of ours. I'm
Speaker 1: all for it. Where we could just do flench. Let's
Speaker 1: do fletch before we do the other thing. Okay, just
Speaker 1: stick there and stick it there in the middle, the
Speaker 1: fletch into regnum. Let's do it, all right, Thanks dude.
Speaker 1: Everyone check out Friendly Fire, Greatest gin and greatest Discovery.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, taste. Uh follow you where, follow me on
Speaker 1: Twitter at cut for time and that's that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1: All right, We'll see you later, dude, see you a check. Movie.
Speaker 1: Crash is produced and written by Charles Bryant and Meel Brown,
Speaker 1: edited and engineered by Seth Nicholas Johnson, and scored by
Speaker 1: Meel Brown here in our home studio at Pontsty Market, Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 1: For I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.