162: Sci Fi Soulmates

I was actually surprised by War Horse. I expected not to like it for what it told me. Oh, God. We'll get to this. Lucy, are you okay?

Yeah, I'm. Sorry. Were you upset that I actually liked it? Let's go back to the show. You hated it?

You didn't hear and say that yet. I like it because of what happens. Okay. We've never said a word. You don't know that he's seen it.

The following program is a proud member of the Palover family of podcasts. Check out all the shows over at palover.com. That's P-A-L-A-V-E-R dot com. The following feature has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. It is intended for mature audiences and parental discretion is advised.

It's showtime, folks. Enjoy the show. Our nuclear reactor pumping out one million kilowatts of power. To provide more cooling in the containment chambers. To your citizens, we have revealed that by entering this room, a timer has been started.

When the timer expires, the door in front of you will be locked forever. Way down among Brazilians, coffee beans grow by the billions, so they've got to find those extra cups to fill. They got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil. What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian.

I'm Greg. I'm Lucy. I'm Fred. I'm Alan. I'm Merlina.

I'm Beau. And we've got the full house once again. So it is time for another exciting episode of the Caffeinated Movie Geek. Cappuccino my butt. I still drink coffee.

The last fucking thing you need is another cup of coffee. It's time for the Caffeinated Movie Geek. We are coming to you live from Nancy's Babel Grounds via digital recording, where we get together, drink coffee, and talk movies and yammer on for hours on end. So, Fred, I ask you, what blend of coffee are we drinking this week? Oh, wait, let me see.

He's counting some now. Ah, that, I'm going to say that's Oregon breakfast. Well, let me, oh, no, it's Pepsi. You lost the Pepsi challenge. Sorry.

No, no, you're right this time. It is Oregon breakfast. Everyone enjoys them now. They can see us. They can.

What we need to do is we need to start doing some folio. Yeah, I was just thinking. This is theater of the mind. So before we get... I told you to start taking pictures.

I've got the camera. We need to call the guy from Prairie Home Companion and make him narrate. Nah, we'll just bring Michael Winslow in here. He'll cover it. He'll cover all of that.

So before we get too sidetracked on many, many things, I did want to send out a thank you. The reason we have this many people sitting at the table right now is because we were able to buy a new mixer. and a new microphone to round out what we were missing to put this scenario together. So I've, again, we're in the hole for them, but we're trying to pay them off now. So we did throw out a nice little fundraising effort, and it's going well. I was surprised.

We got a few people contributing, and I did want to send a thank you out to those who have donated so far. We're not done. We're only at about 40% of the goal now, so... Keep the donations coming in. Otherwise, they'll repo this thing, and Amelia will show up at our house and take it back, and we're fucked.

Can we start a repo? You might get to see Harry Dean Stan. So, yeah, it's a pretty reasonable goal. I was just setting kind of a normal, you know, if you can throw $ 25 in there, we'll mention you by name on the show or your preferred pseudonym. however you like to do it. So we did want to throw it out there.

A big thanks to, we'll throw both of them in there for him, Ken from Los Angeles, or Buda Bukowski on the Twitters. So yeah, Ken has donated. And another big one to Jeff Beyer, who this one amazed me because I saw it come through and I was just like, I kind of remembered his name. And then I went, wait a minute, didn't I just talk to him? He's been listening for about a month. and already sent in a very generous donation.

So that's amazing to me because I think there's a lot of people that have been coasting for a couple years now. But anyway, you think about that yourself. You guys just sit there by yourself and you think about it. But Jeff, on the other hand, was awesome and came through, so thank you. Way to step up, Jeff.

Yeah, thank you to Jeff, thank you to Ken, and yeah, it's been really cool seeing that people actually came through and sent some our way, and we need it because every episode we go a little further in the hole. Jeff's going to call in and request that you play Misty for him, and I'm just going to sit down. That has a different meaning on this show. Does that mean I just have to do her voice and tell people I want to punch them in the face? I can do a pretty good impersonator at this point.

The role of Misty will be played by Brian. Let me tell you how much I hate. Let me get the list out. Hold on. I can see what I can do, but I don't think I will do it justice.

I think the Misty fans are a little... Too dedicated to it. I don't think you can talk as fast as Misty is able to talk. I can't listen as fast as Misty. I have to slow down the tape.

Misty is a very special girl. We're glad to have her on board. She won't leave the house, so she never comes to these. But, you know, what are you going to do? She's one of those homophobic people.

She won't leave the house. I think she's homophobic. That's a callback to last episode. She's not talking about homophobic. Homophobic.

No, no. She's... She does like her house. Her house is awesome, by the way. I don't blame her.

If I leave that house, I might not leave. That's what I'm saying. There's something going on there. I don't blame her. Toys, movies.

It's a pretty sweet setup they got going. But yeah, thank you once again to Ken and Jeff. Every donation kind of makes a difference and keeps us going here. So I just wanted to thank you for your support. And anybody else out there who wants to follow in their footsteps, I'm not going to.

Talk you out of it. Maybe we'll say your name and your dream in life will be accomplished. I'm sure you'll be really, really excited. Okay, on to the geek activities. Bo, you had something for this episode?

I've seen a couple of episodes this past week. I mean, a couple of episodes. A couple of films I saw this past week that I enjoyed. One of which was The Artist, which I think is probably the front-runner for Best Picture, at least the way things are looking. I wasn't going to go see it because I couldn't find it in Dolby Surround.

I've been tempted to ask people when they come to buy tickets for me, like, do you want to see the 3D version or. The regular version? It's in 4D audio. Just an utterly endearing movie, man. I had a smile across my face the whole time.

It goes beyond being just a novelty. It's just a generally good film. And something I was surprised by... that I actually liked and didn't expect to like was War Horse. Is this where I insert my feigned shock? Our choreographed moment.

Prepare for the gasp. Go ahead, give me what you got. She's doing a Laura Dern cry face. Hold on. Oh my god.

I don't know where she's going to attack me from, so I'm just going to at least try to. The trenches, my friend. Yeah, I know, I know. Watch out for the barbed wire. I don't know, it's just everybody who would see it and they would come out and tell me about it and say, eh, it's just sappy and filled with treacle.

And so I went in expecting something just very mediocre effort, and I didn't expect to like it. And those are usually the movies where I'm genuinely surprised and do like them. This is one that I enjoyed simply for the fact that I feel like all that treacle was not necessarily him being sappy for the sake of being sappy, but he was trying to do an homage to the films of the late 30s or early 40s. And when you look at all of the way that the, um, scenes are set within the film, it just seems purposeful the way the camera work is done. And I also like the fact that every single time the horse switches owners, the camera style switches.

And so does the art direction. So like when you go from on the farm, this, you know, very sunny green pasture and all these still static shots, you go to close up handheld gray overtones, like when he's with the Germans or when he's, um, With The Young French Girl, everything has these very vivid yellow tones. It's like the art direction changes, and it's just... It was a very unique anthology. And if I'm not too much of a spoiler, I actually like seeing a World War I film where it didn't have a bleak ending, as opposed to like...

Path of Glory or Joyeux Noel or anything else like that. I did like the Joyeux Noel reference, since that movie was lifted and inserted in this movie. I don't want to shame you for liking it. I really wanted to like it. And it was actually every year my family goes to see a movie for Christmas.

Sadly, a couple of Christmases ago, I suggested Up in the Air. So I'm not allowed to pick the Christmas movie. So this year, when my brother said War Horse, I lost my privilege. When my brother said War Horse. That's obviously our family Christmas movie.

A little bit of biographical background information. My dad has a horse farm. My dad is in love with horses. Just to see his eyes light up when he sees a horse, he's rapturously in love with horses. And he plays war with them.

He also is rapturously in love with movies. My dad is one of these very pure spirits that's so adorable. Every movie I've ever taken him to, it doesn't matter how crappy it is. As long as there are images flickering on a screen, he is just in heaven. Well, you certainly didn't get that.

We've seen one movie. We've seen one movie together. I can't even remember what it was. Oh, it was She's Just Not That Into You. And at the end of it, he turned to me and was genuinely distressed and looked at me and said, Lucy. that wasn't a very good movie.

Was it? No, Dad, it wasn't. And that was. This breakthrough moment when my dad finally realized that cinema could be crap. That was when your dad was traumatized.

Lucy, why is she just not that into you? I don't understand. So this movie, my dad, again, let's go back, movies and horses. Walks out of this movie and he's like, was that supposed to be a kids movie? Because that was dumb.

And I was. Like, well, Dad, I kind of feel that way too. I don't know. And I totally get what you're saying in terms of it being an homage. And I did appreciate that.

And some of it was really beautifully done. It was just to me so silly that when it got to the big, and again, no spoilers, but when it got to the big moment, Instead of crying, which, by the way, everybody around me was doing, my dad and I both simultaneously laughed. And, like, he's not jaded or cynical at all. And somehow this movie made my dad jaded and cynical. He was the laughing guy.

You heartless bastards. So, anyway, I just don't have anything to say. No, it was something about just the dialogue and just there were a lot of scenes where it looked like there were purposeful backdrops or matte paintings that were used. I mean, it just... It had that characteristic feel of something, like I said, from the early 40s.

I could see where it would throw people off because the way it was marketed in theaters, you'd go in and you'd almost expect Saving Private Ryan. But with a friggin' horse. And it wasn't that type of film at all. I like that he at least took an idea that was used a lot in those films, and especially post-World War II to where you would have a movie about some kid, he's growing up on a farm, he goes off to war, and then he comes back and he's like a man, and they took that sort of tired genre and still did an homage to it, but did it by changing it and making the horse that individual. I just thought that was...

Yeah, I mean, I kind of like how. The horse learned different things from different people and how that helped him in the next scenario, and there was like a good through line, and I don't know. There's an earlier scene where they're doing the tilling or whatever, I don't even have the. agrarian vocabulary to talk about it. I think that is right. But my mom turned to my dad and she was like, why are they doing it up and down the hill instead of side to side?

And I was like, yeah, wait, this scene doesn't make any sense. And I felt like that's what was going, like, there's this big dramatic scene where the thoroughbred horse has to pull the thing up the hill to do it. And she was like, yeah, that's not how you plant crops. And it just felt like that was the movie. There were always these sort of setups that were silly and not based in reality that created tension but were just so contrived.

It would be like going back, and we were talking about Old Yeller last episode, or in Thomasina. It also reminded me of some of those Disney films, too, to where if you go back and you watch those Disney movies, and it's like, if you watch them now as an adult, it's like, that really wouldn't work. I think it kind of reminds me of this movie, and what we're talking about reminds me of what Roger Ebert said about the Journey to the Center of the Earth remake, in that he came out and he utterly detested it, but then he heard these kids coming out and they were like, oh, that was really cool. And the parents were like, well, that's based on a book. And he's like, you know, that's the ultimate thing.

Sometimes we get so past that point where we're jaded and we've seen all these other films, you forget that. if something's kind of intended for a kid, and of course, you're saying your dad's like, was that meant for kids? Yeah, but it was so violent. It wasn't for kids. I mean, it's a PG-13 movie. It was supposed to traumatize.

At the same time, though, I mean, you know, Old Yeller, I mean, that's sort of traumatizing, too. It's like, it's made for kids. I mean, you have this, you have the bull that's got rabies in it, and then Old Yeller's killed at the end, but at the same time, it's still got that sort of hokey corniness to the beginning of it, too, and it's, there's a lot of, that's impractical. I don't know, it's just, I think it probably helps that I went in expecting not to like it. And probably I set my levels lower and so when it didn't disappoint me, I was pleased with it.

I am discovering the expectation. Like we were talking last week about Planet of the Apes. That was Yeah, you went into it with everybody saying, you have to watch this movie because it's great. I went into the movie thinking, it's Friday afternoon, I have a couple hours to kill. Let's see what James Franco's got for me.

And I was like, oh my gosh, this is so much fun. And it helped that there was a dude behind me that was like, what? The whole time. I was like, yeah, I like your enthusiasm. Audience experience.

Well, I think War Horse should have kept the giant puppet. That's what I think. The stage play there were like four people working a puppet I wouldn't see Spielberg work with that make that. Dramatic in these scenes because supposedly everybody loves the play and I'm just trying to imagine serious scenes with this giant because I'm just going to be watching the puppeteers try to work this giant horse puppet so yeah I kind of want to see that thrown in the middle of this movie. Good luck making that work yeah Oh, any others, or is that to round out your geek week?

Can I make a. Comment about the artist? Yeah. I haven't seen it yet. I'm very much looking forward to it because I love silent movies, and I'm happy that there's one that's so mainstream.

But I think it's important for people to know that Guy Maddin has been doing this for the last 20 years. There is somebody making silent movies nowadays, and Brand Upon the Brain is just something that has to be seen to be believed. So go see that one. See, and I tried to get into Brand. On the brain.

It's just, I mean, I saw it through its finish, and I think the thing that drove me up the wall, I wish I could have turned off any and all narration on that. It didn't matter. I mean, I tried Chris McGlover. I mean, I can't remember. There were like several different people you could switch to that were reading that narration that was going with it, and I was like, please just stop.

Just let me have music, and I would enjoy this more. That, to me, drove me up the wall on that film. I mean, I understand. It didn't bother me. The music was really incredible.

It would have been nice to. Yeah. I just wanted just an audio-only track with that. And I wish it had that option, because I didn't think that the narration for Brand Upon Brain, it added to the film at all. I felt like it detracted from me, because it kept taking me out of what I was seeing.

But visually, it's pretty astounding. He's got a few. I haven't seen them all, but yeah. I feel badly. I didn't mean to trash it.

Pure evil no but see that's the thing I think because even when I got out of the movie I was like one of the only people who was defending it because all the other people in the theater seemed to be like no it's a problem I was like. No see I really feel like that he was trying to create trying to create a film that went back to that genre and I think. I just don't think it works with today's audiences. But see, I love, I mean, I, you know, I'm a junkie for the old stuff. Like, I'm a junkie for Hokie.

I'm a junkie for Preston Sergis and Frank Capra and all that stuff. Like, I'm over the moon for. So, I don't know. But, I mean, I guess the same could be said of Darabont's The Majestic. I hate that movie, too.

And that was one where I saw he was doing it for some reason. It just didn't work for me. Oh, you just don't like anything Darabont does? No. Really?

I could be missing something. A soul. I think he's on to it. I do hate cartoons, too. That's him.

I actually like the black and white. Version of The Mist, but I'm not a huge fan. I really like The Mist. I think that's one of those few movies where black and white adds a tremendous amount to it. Yeah, I really like The Mist.

Actually, I like the end of The Mist. Seriously. I didn't like this movie where the horse could have been killed but doesn't, but I liked getting in the mess where this guy kills his own son. That's all. Okay, I didn't hear if you said you liked the end of the mess or if you just changed the subject entirely and said you liked into the mist.

I'm like well that's kind of random. I like gorillas in the mist I. Have such a mist connection but. Right oh play misty. For me yeah like play misty for me wow alright does that round out the geeky sure All right, we will take a break.

We will be back with this week's movie. Look at me I'm as helpless. As a kidney of a tree And I feel like I'm clinging to a cloud I can't understand I get misty just. Holding your hand. Walk my way And a thousand violins begin to play.

Like you crave that corn when it's freshly bopped. You gotta beat it to the box with the butter on the top. Get with it, man. Start strolling down. To the sweets that you're rolling.

The best in town. Our candy's real gone. If I'm understood, to all you squares, that means the confection is positively delicious. Quark that stuff. Give me five.

Let me send you into this nutty jive. Go, man, go. It ain't very far. Shake it on down to this cool snack bar. Come on, Jill.

Give us a treat. A friendly pepper-upper with a tasty beat. Drink Dr. Pepper, Dr. Dr.

Pepper. Cause it never. Lets you down. Frosty, man. Frosty.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' master of grand-scale adventure takes you beyond the limits of human experience in. The People That Time Forgot. See monstrous prehistoric battles, terrifying paradoxes, see the diabolical city of human skulls, witness a thousand nightmares, all new, never before shown. The People That Time Forgot, from American International, rated PG. Okay, Carol, now you take these notes, and then we're about ready to begin.

Okay, sure. Well, what are you two doing here? We don't record until tomorrow. We're making a new promo for All Games Considered, since you were dragging your feet getting one written. Hey, she's right, though.

It's been too long, and a lot has happened since the last promo. Yeah, like winning the gold NE for Best Gaming Podcast for 2009. You mean the one you try to work into the conversation every other episode? Hey, now, now, there's more than that. There's the new format.

You mean the main show every two weeks and the assortment of other features in the meantime? Right, like games you may never have heard of, the review in new shows. Don't forget the RPG buffet. And on the main show, we have more time to focus on gaming topics. Like board and card games.

And RPGs. And the people who play them from the old school to the newest of the new. But no changeling. Hey! Find out more at agcpodcast.info All games considered, because there's more than one true way to play.

The next show will start in three minutes. I love the movies. Welcome to the biggest movie event of the year. We're going to have a great night, ladies and gentlemen. And the Oscar goes to.

And the Oscar goes to. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen. Prepare yourselves. That's what I'm saying, but half the time there's only three of us that show up for this.

Right. Brian's going to be sitting here buying this stuff. It's just me. With pork products. So, anyway, I'm going to have Hot Dog watch this show.

Hey, look at that. She's got a fancy dress on. That would be fantastic. Coming to you soon. Brian by himself eating Hot Dog.

Give it. The 2012 Oscar party. From his basement. With all the blitz, glamour, pork products, and vicious commentary you've come to know and love. Hey guys, I like bologna.

So I took some bologna and I wrapped it around a hot dog. Rupert Popkin. Mom! I'm having a show down here! Keep it down.

I'm trying to tell all the people about this fancy dress she's wearing. Coming soon to this feed. The fourth annual Oscar meltdown. The Academy Awards will never be the same. Tweaked Audio, your source for high-performance, noise-reducing earbuds.

Available in three styles and seven colors. Durable and designed to sound great for both music and those chatty podcasts, like the one you're listening to now. Tweaked Audio earbuds come with a one-year warranty, and now there's a special deal for Movie Meltdown listeners. Just go to tweakedaudio.com, and when you check out, enter the discount code MELTDOWN. Then you'll get 33% off and free shipping.

Tweaked Audio. Sounds better. Movie meltdown movie oh man i'm gonna get out the dvd player this. Is michael winslow from police academy one through infinity. And space posit now.

Brooks movie meltdown. It's part of your problem, you know. You haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies. And now, on with the show.

It's time for Sofa Theater. Are you tired of sitting around waiting for love? Introducing Timer, a revolutionary device that tells you not only who your soulmate is, but when you'll meet them. Timer, take the guesswork out of love. So how long have the two of you been dating?

About a month. After implantation, if the two of you are meant to be, then both of your timers. At the very same time go. Huh. So where's Brian?

He's not my one. It's fine. It's not even about Brian. I just want to know. Even if it says I'm not going to meet him until I'm, what, 43?

I see your timer's blank. Nothing. You're sweating your future, though, right? It's a shame, because you'd have a much more exciting present. If you really wanted to.

Do you think the timer works, or is it just a self-fulfilling prophecy? Remember when you said you loved me And all the time you're thinking of me Hey, I feel great. In my heart every day This is my countdown to love Oh, this is my countdown to love. Welcome back to Really Well Done Sofa Theater. This week's Sofa Theater feature is Timer.

The year is 2009. The director, Jack Schaefer. The plot, if you can go by IMDB, which actually just sort of seems to use the tagline here. If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soulmate, would you want to know? That's what they call the plot.

But all right, whatever. It gets you into this. That was lazy, wasn't it? Yeah, that was really lazy. Spoiler alert.

If you haven't seen it, yeah, I'm sure we'll ruin the hell out of this. So go watch it right now. Come back. Are you back yet? Okay.

All right, so where would you like to begin? Can I start? I mean, the movie was at... totally horrible to watch i'm with you but the plot oh my god that plot makes me want to smash things like there's it's not like you're biologically wired to like mate and marry and fall in love with someone and like be together forever and ever and ever there's so many different factors it's like if this movie was the movie seems to be based in reality somewhat you know if it was like if there were like different and different things that added to this ridiculous plot line, then maybe it would have made sense. I think it's meta in a way that completely depletes the energy and interest of the movie because... the central science fiction metaphor... is not a metaphor for something in life.

It's a metaphor for something that exists in romantic comedies. In a romantic comedy, you know that people in life, you don't know that you have a soulmate out there. In a romantic comedy, you do. And it's going to get resolved in an hour and 20 minutes. Exactly.

You know that feeling like you're watching the movie and it's like, well, I've got 15 minutes. To wrap this up. And that's what they've plopped into the middle of this that makes. Sense i didn't interpret it that way because the movie didn't really seem that like deep to me. No i don't think it's it's meant to be meta in in a way i think it's just referencing something that's such a just unconsciously referencing the basic requirements of romantic comedies which I'm not a great fan of.

My favorite is Broadcast News because she doesn't have to pick between two guys because it's an amazing movie. But that's the thing. I guess what I'm saying is when the kid finds out who his soulmate is, it's uncomfortable. It's like you think you might not want to know, and it's kind of sad in a way. And so is the movie.

It takes the fun out of it. And so you. Mentioned that, and I feel like they could have gone one of two directions. They could have gone more on the satirical end, or they could have tried to just really invest interest in the romance, but really it just stayed right in the middle of the road. It's kind of lackluster.

Yeah, it was just lackluster. There were good performances. The acting was okay. I do think Emma Caulfield, who I like, and she does a lot of interesting things, But in this role. She doesn't seem needy.

She just seems like she wants her soulmate because that's what you do. Or it's like because that's what the script tells her. It's like, oh, according to this, I should be seeking a soulmate. So, okay, that's what I'm doing. Isn't that what life tells you to do?

By herself, you never see that moment where you go, oh. You never see her at home alone like she needs somebody to talk to. She doesn't. There's the shot of her watching the documentary sitting there by herself. There's that moment where it kind of feels like she doesn't want to be there.

And it does feel like she needs somebody. But it is one of those, I think it feels like, like I was saying, she feels like she's expected to need someone. Because isn't that what we're told? From day one, aren't you sent off on this path without the magical timer? Aren't you supposed to be figuring out who you're soulmate is supposedly i think i.

Think it's just like i couldn't get over the ridiculous like plot hole i mean like it made it really hard for me to enjoy the movie i think it really like hindered my ability to watch the movie because the whole time i'm thinking like this is such bullshit. Well that's the science fiction element that's the leap you have to. Take i mean it's just like this everything was exactly like the world is now but they've magically figured out this thing it's like nothing has advanced or progressed like figuring out minds or like everything is exactly as it is now but there's this like magical chimera that finds your soulmate like if it was a little bit more set in the future or if there was some reason that like I don't know.

Sorry. I was going to say, that's almost metal like he was talking, too, because we could have all this grit like the internet at one point in time was going to be this huge, tremendous resource tool, and it's just basically nothing's advanced. We just kind of part around and squawk. It's the same thing he said with that. It's like, yeah, it's this great creation, but.

I kind of like that. I mean, it feels like that's what we do. It's like we've got all this technology, but are we worried about curing cancer? No, we're trying to make a better cell phone reception. It's like that's how we operate.

Go ahead. That's actually one of the things that I actually really liked about it, how there was no, like, pseudo-scientific, like, anything. There wasn't, like, they didn't try. It kind of reminded me of, like, The Cell. Was that the movie?

I like The Cell. I love The Cell. Because it was just like, you know what? She can get in the head of the serial killers. Deal with it.

And then you go. You put on a red suit, you're there. But if the movie had actually been like, well, this happened and that happened, then you'd be like, okay, seriously? But where they're like, look, this is how it is. There's a timer.

You stick it on your wrist. They got the exposition out of the way during the opening credits. You get a cheesy commercial. Yeah, you're all set. Because they explain it by the one guy they interview on the street.

No, well, mine's out there. They went through all the scenarios. I thought that was done really well. without telling you. They just showed you, this person had this happen, this person had this happen. Yeah, they could have belabored it more, but I think it may just be me.

It's not that I don't like sci-fi. It's just things that get concept heavy. I feel like it changes the relationship of the person watching to the person producing it, the director or the writer or whatever. Just stuff that has a heavy.... Built on a concept it's just tiresome it's like having a gay friend who's not out and they're always telling you like they were hanging out with their roommate and you just feel like oh come on you know can we just drop call it what it is yeah.

I actually really enjoyed. The heavy-handed debate that's why i liked it i like that that was my favorite part of. It no yeah i'm not you know i've seen a generally like romantic comedies because a lot of the time they're just kind of stupid and, and, uh, unpredictable. And this one, you have this clear cut debate and you have several different aspects of it. You have like the, the, uh, teenager who's basically being thrown into this arranged marriage, uh, without his, I'm not convinced that anybody asked him, do you want a timer when you turn 14?

Just his parents are like, you're going. To get a timer. Um, and then you have like the, you know, the people who don't believe in the timer, then you have her, a father who's with a woman who they're not the one, but they're together anyway, because they're in love. And there's just a lot to it that, um, I enjoyed the exploration that made the ending for me. It was really depressing.

Yeah. I, the second I saw the guy in the, um, spoiler, the second I saw the guy in the nursing home, I was like, I know the ending. I know where this is going. It goes back into that predictability thing, but it didn't, It was also, it also, you got me thinking a minute ago when you were talking about how, you know, we're told from, you know, when you're young that you're going to have to meet somebody and that counting down as I was watching it. Um, and also going back to what you were saying, that lack of biological credibility, I got to think, it's like, why not just make it to where instead of it counting it, like making up, you know, this thing like midichlorians.

So there could actually, you're, there could be a way to detect your body. Like when you get to that point to where you can no longer like sexually procreate. And it's like, What if it's just counted down to that point for you, and then just there it's focused on the desperation to find a mate so you can go appropriate to find a family. Before I watched the movie, that's what I thought it was about. I thought it was about her biological clock.

You know, like, you're out of time to have children. Are you losing? That one's a little more obvious. Yeah, I felt like the thesis of the film was that the idea of soulmates was silly, so it made sense for the. Whole concept to be silly.

But I think it raises some interesting questions along the way, more than I expected. Well, the idea of soulmates, I heard people talking about it recently. It goes back to Plato by way of Aristophanes. There's this ancient legend that people used to be spherical, and they had eight limbs, and they were cozily joined together. And they could walk, but they could also roll.

And they could roll so fast that they got a kind of confidence that they decided to roll up Mount Olympus and take over. And Zeus got angry and threw thunderbolts and split them apart. This is what I thought. This is how it happened, people. Come on now.

Split them apart into separate halves. And then they had to adjust them. They had to turn the heads around. And they had to put the genitals like this. You could reach them if you want.

And then they left them with this memory, this memory of having had another half, so they spend their lives searching for it. And I think I heard this on Radio Lab, I think. It was in the symposium. Oh, yeah. I think that's a good idea.

I was going to say, this is a man who's actually used the internet for knowledge, instead of finding funny videos on YouTube. But there was this cat, and he was one of the funny. Yeah, well, they did a show on symmetry, and it had many other interesting features, including when Jimmy Carter flipped his hair part, and what. A big deal that was. Somebody had actually written to him and suggested he change his hair part, because Well, this is the coolest thing.

It's off-topic, but if you look at the photo we all know of Lincoln, if you reverse that thing, it will freak you out. Like Lee Harvey Oswald? He's not a good-looking. Guy, but if you reverse it, if it's backwards, you will go, oh, no. No.

That can't be the same picture. No, there's something in symmetry. So to actually see how you. look to other people you have to put two mirrors at a right angle so that you see the reflection of your reflection and it all went into this like these symmetrical mated humans who are split apart and then they feel empty until they find their soul mate. Like the young crystal yeah yeah. And, you know, full disclosure, I should mention that I've been married like since I was 12 or something.

You were like the little kid in this movie. Whether you liked it or not, you were attached to it. All of my adult life, I've been like, you know, my wife and I can form a sphere. And you roll really, really fast. And we roll.

I thought, you know, when you think about the things that bring up, it really, I think And what I think they really were showing was almost that the mother, especially forcing the son to do this, I thought it was very much child abuse because he did not want it. It was, I think, especially with the sister, the other daughter, I think it almost felt like they were ruining her life because she was delaying her joy. I'm not going to be able to live my life. I'm not going to be able to search for love or have good and bad things happen to me until this date. I can't start until this date.

To me, that takes all of the... If you know the ending of a movie before you watch it, you're not going to watch the movie. It does. It does seem like hell almost. I've got to wait until I'm 43 or whatever to.

To get married, or to meet the person that I'm supposed to marry, how much of your life are you losing? You're just killing time until the whole rest of your life, which does seem like a waste. A thought I had on that subject is, in this world, if this was really a thing, there would need to be somebody following up on these couples. Because they say it works 100% of the time. You need to do a really long-term study to see, are they staying together forever?

And if so, is it because they're really happy, or because... They're miserable, but they think it's the one, so if they get worse, then it's only worse. Well, they even say self-fulfilling prophecy. So you need to study, and if they find that, yes, it does completely work 100% of the time or closer, then maybe it would. Be worth it.

But we're in that middle period. I think in the story it had been around for 15 years, so they've got this... In the 15-year span, it's like a 90% approval rate or something like that. It was only six. But I guess you.

I guess that would change things if you had this really, you know, a whole generation worth of study. Involved in it. And same thing with all those matchmaker, online matchmakers. If you're told that a computer, that someone who has science has figured out that you're right, you're one of the few people that are right for each other based on your personality test they take, well, then you're going to take it more seriously. You're going to invest more in it.

You're going to have a conversation first. You're not going to. you know, mess around, you know, on them or whatever. And so they probably still are going to do that. I know, but, but I think your chances, if you're, if someone just tells you this is the right one, your chances of success should go up because you're forcing yourself to placebo effect. Right.

Or, but I mean, it's like that Stanley Milgram experiment where he made people shock people. Yeah. And, and everybody acts like, uh, That's because people do what they're told, but it didn't show that at all. It showed that they thought they were doing it in the interest of science. But when the scientists told them they had no.

Choice, everybody disobeyed. So they didn't do what they were told. They thought they were. Doing it because it was the right thing, and that would be the effect. So being married and staying together in a committed relationship is basically like shocking people.

Well, and down the line, it would work. eventually like if everybody just fell into that for a generation or two it is that sort of along they'll say that wet monkey syndrome thing is like by the time you take the original people out of the scenario and all you've seen is this over the years you will completely accept it and fight anyone who tries to tell you differently so i think you know you would have that effect somewhere down the line that people wouldn't even question. It it is sort of allegorical now too when it comes to things like facebook i mean um there's going to be a generation of individuals i mean that are going to grow up in, none of us actually grew up in that era to where we were dependent on it, but you think of, say, kids that are, you know, 10 or 12 or 13 now to where their concept of what a friend is is just clicking something online and just having casual conversations.

Right. I don't know, it's like, how will that lay itself out down the line as well? But it will be equally as real as what we've thought somewhere down the line. Yeah, that's true. They'll be equally as good of friends in their way of thinking as, you know, when we grew up together and we hung out as kids and we played every day.

It's like, Is it going to be that different somewhere down the line? Yeah. Actually, I read this sociological study on, you know, online relationships. And the funny thing is, like, you choose who you are to people, you know? Like, you're choosing yourself.

Online? You can hide and share certain things. I've always thought that. You know, it would almost be like in this situation, you know, like, would you create a false self to fulfill this? Yeah, but if you create the self, is it false?

That's true. In a way, I've always said that on, like, online, when they first started the whole little, each version of this Facebook or MySpace or whatever, it's like you never put yourself on there. You put this ideal version of yourself on there. And here's my best photos, and here's the really cool things I do, not the terrible things I do when nobody is around. So, I mean, you always create this ideal version.

That's why I'm always weary of anyone who's, like, Facebook profile or, like, any type of, like, dating site where they just suck and sound boring and awful. I'm just like, you could have made yourself really awesome and you didn't, so that means you're really. Really good. Maybe most people suck and are boring and they're choosing to be. Honest, so that way when you meet them, they'll be honest.

That was my approach. I'm not going to bother to lie. But when it came to this movie, I mean, there were a lot of cool concepts in it. I just didn't feel like there was enough to, you know, span out to an hour and a half it would have worked like maybe a little short 20 to 30 minutes exactly i don't like the. Interest was not the yeah it was small it just feels slight yeah i.

I thought um i was really going quick because in the in the the score in the first uh five ten minutes of it all the songs had a ticking clock in the song yeah and i thought oh they're gonna go they're gonna they're gonna do a lot with this we're gonna be it's gonna be layered And then it didn't. Actually, the more I listened to the score, the more I felt like whoever wrote the score, the director came up to him and said, okay, I want you to watch Little Miss Sunshine. I want you to make something that sounds like this, but not so much that they could sue us. I think a. Lot of film scorers try to do that.

They try to be recognizable so that you feel... feel almost like it's something you've heard. People do like familiar. That's what movies do, generally. Well, yeah, I mean, like Last of the Mohicans and Dances with Wolves. I hear them like, wait, is that one from that?

And then all the pseudo Philip Glass scores. Everybody thinks they're Philip Glass. I mean, most John Williams stuff is Philip Glass. Well, yeah, he's so signature at this point, it's like you get that response from his sound as much as anything. It's like trying to hire Tim Burton.

I was thinking Danny Elfman. You get that same response from him every time. But at first I thought, oh, that's where they're going to be going with this. I liked the guy in it. And the biggest emotional impact was just like, You broke my fucking heart.

Give me a, you know, that was as big as it got. Right. That was as big a moment as it got. He was a pretty realistic character. Yeah.

And I don't know. She just seemed really strong. I think the other, the rest, I don't know. I think the character relationships is probably what I like best. I think plot wise it has issues, but, and that's more of the regular stuff.

You know, it's like the grand theme of it is interesting, but The characters are interesting. I think it's just that middle part of making it all work I kind of have issues with, and it doesn't do anything all that original in the normal parts of it. But as far as chemistry with them, I think she's got kind of problems with the dating part of her, but what I thought was amazing was her and the sister. Oh, you're up. You're an ass.

Now you can tell me where you went last night. Oh, my God. Tell me what you did or I'm going to pee on your bed. I met this guy. Timer?

Mm-hmm. How long? Four months. And some change. Hot.

The closer they. Get to D-Day, the more inclined they are to throw you around a little bit. Oh, so hot. It was. So unbelievably hot.

He kisses like, um. I don't even know. He has really big hands. I'm so proud. Seriously.

You finally got laid proper. See? One night stands. That's what it's all about. Yeah, though I don't really. know if I'd classify it as a one night stand.

Uh, well, you're not gonna see him again, right? Una? Mm-hmm? Even if your mismatched timers wasn't a recipe for disaster, he's not gonna want a repeat of last night. They never do.

Mm-hmm. But it was fun, right? Yeah, no, it was so fun. Fun. You want animal pancakes?

When do I not. Want animal pancakes? That was the most realistic sister relationship I've ever seen. And they weren't even supposed to be blood sisters, but it was one of those. It did feel like they had spent years around each other, and it did feel very real between the two of them.

I said that to my wife. She watched it with me, and I said that to her. I said, that's what stepsisters are. They're told they're sisters. And what's nice is they...

You can tell that they immediately became sisters, and it's a wonderful relationship. Just like you're told this is supposed to be your mate, well, you're told this is supposed to be your sister. I liked that. And I thought the sister was the most interesting character in the movie. And that was kind of my favorite part of it.

As it went on, I was like, even if you took the rest of this out, You could take those two characters and put them in something else and give them more to do, and I would like to see that. Actually, the sister who was constantly pushing her, that actually is something you mentioned that I hadn't even thought about, that could have been brought up by the characters themselves. Using that particular scenario, saying, look, we didn't want to be sisters. We were told we were, and it worked for us. So why wouldn't it work when it comes to this?

It struck me that the concept of love kind of seemed to not matter like that yeah una i guess that's her name right yeah she she didn't know what love was because we're in this world now where you're told who to love and so love is no longer this spontaneous thing that just kind of emerges she's she without the timer she may have felt she was in love with mikey but since he wasn't the one she was conflicted about what she felt she'd never felt before and it can't be love because he's not my one and that just seemed. He was capable of loving her because he never got the time. That's what I liked about the Mikey character is like he's so, you know, more or less dumb for the rest of the time. But he's the only one that kind of sees things the real way that they are.

And in that way, it's like he's kind of more wise than everybody else because he hasn't been duped by this system yet. You know who he is? He's the guy in Invasion of the Body Snatchers standing on the highway that pod people are coming from. He's the last of a dying breed in this movie. You mentioned that, and I think that's what made me disassociate with the film quite a bit because all the rest of the characters were pod people.

Your main protagonist... She is not invested in their relationship, and as such, it's hard to invest in her, for me. I had trouble investing. I didn't feel her need. I didn't feel her as somebody who.

Felt incomplete and needed. I mean, she seemed pretty together. She was at the point where it's like, I'm not going to accept that I'm incomplete until this timer turns on, which it doesn't turn on until like. What she needed was a bracelet that tells you who, like, society will object to you getting together with she needed a Romeo and Juliet bracelet like who's the person that I can get with that will piss the world off and then. That I did like that conversation with the two mothers yeah I was just thinking that she's like I would prefer it if they started seeing each other in secret and hated each other for.

It they forced us to be yeah they forced us to be a family kind of going back to the sister thing like forcing them to be a family so I Again, there's more under the surface here than is on the surface at all, really. I thought there were a lot of layers to it. I actually really enjoyed it, and I really liked that premise that people weren't investing in relationships because they knew they were going to end, and it's like, well, that's what we do every day. We date all kinds of people where we know it's not going to work out, but we let ourselves fall in love and have experiences, and I really liked it, actually. Did it bother anybody that there were two montages.

I looked at my wife twice. There was a. Happy montage and a sad montage. You know when the music swells to drown out everything. It's coming.

That's what I was saying in the unoriginal part of it. There's parts when it falls very much into, and to me it doesn't even feel much like a romantic comedy, but it's like someone who's been watching romantic comedies their entire life is like, here we've got to put it in. I don't think I laughed hardly. No. It's not really a laugh out loud.

Funny is just kind of amusing at times. Yeah. And again, the back and forth with the sisters was kind of, and occasionally something ridiculous that Mikey would say. But yeah, other than that. I thought there were some great.

Lines and very naturally delivered lines. And it felt very real to me. The performances I really liked in it. I thought they had a lot of chemistry, Mikey and Nina. She's, again, she's just a weird character.

I think he works so well with her. Yeah, those scenes with them, kind of, but yeah, it's hard working her into this whole romantic scenario, really. One thing that I did enjoy, too, so many dream sequences are not, in other movies, are not like the dreams I have. But for her, that she sees the egg and she's looking in the pot and just waiting and waiting and And then he's there with the mask on, and then it's over with. It's very short.

It kicks you out of the dream. That's what dreams are like. It's like, yeah, it's not right. Because in normal film dreams, it's extremely, you know, like Salvador Dali's in your dreams and messing things. And they're not like that all the time.

But they're just a bit off. Like, I'm the guy, and he's got the mask on, and then it's over with. Yeah, slightly uncomfortable. Yeah, and I was like, that felt real. That felt like somebody did have that dream.

My dreams are either the drunk scene in Dumbo, or I live for 40 years and build up a 401K and then I wake up in the sky. For those of you who weren't here last week, too bad for you. Well, I think you were saying about... love not really meaning anything i thought what i thought was kind of interesting is you get to that point where they're having their whole big argument midway in and she it's love you know saying i love you isn't a guarantee like it's been made into you know this this thing is so official you know it's so worked into their their brain that that's it and that your actual emotions really don't matter, that he does feel that way about her, and that doesn't matter because she doesn't have this little machine that tells her, you know, 100% ironclad guarantee, you're the one for me, which, yeah.

Yeah, but the thing is, he decides that for himself, and the concept. Of the movie takes all the creative act out of love. It's not something for everybody else. Again, he's the only one that makes any sense. You know what I always think is really interesting, and I think about this any time I see a romantic subplot, which is every single movie almost has a romantic subplot, if you think about it.

It's just storytelling. Even John Carpenter's a thing. I love the thing so much. It's not romantic. But it's just so, like, I don't think people really consider the fact that Love, as we know it, is a modern concept.

Up until a couple of hundred years ago, it was strictly utilitarian in almost every single case that it existed. So it's funny that people are like, this is this groundbreaking thing that's changing the world as we know it, because it's just like the world has changed recently, and that's what love has come to mean and be for people, but that's not. Yeah, there's still many places where the idea. A journalist, I think, was in. She was talking to a woman in Vietnam, and she said she had these Disney princess movie ideas, and she kept asking them things like, how did you know he was the one?

And they're just laughing. You know, it means nothing to them. It's a ridiculous idea. So it's an idea that we've created... And then the movie starts to treat it as if it has this independent, reified...

But for me, he was the most interesting character because he was the one. Who brought Nietzsche into it. You know, it's a matter of deciding. You're speaking of the Mikey character. Yes, Mikey.

Yeah. And then the guy she winds up with, I just didn't feel like a connection, and it just seemed sad. And I think that's sort of the other level that the film operates on, is that, I mean, at its core, there's this corporate entity that's telling her who the appropriate partner is, and she falls in love with this person that's younger, and he's not successful, and he realizes that she actually needs those things, and then she even tries to take his record to her. record producer. Dad to see like well maybe he's got talent and maybe this can be parlayed into something that will you know be success on paper and so it's about this sci-fi concept but it's also about just this idea that sometimes we let the right person go because they're not appropriate or what we were told is appropriate.

Yeah, and it reminds me of the scene to where... she first goes over to his house, or I think the second time, but it's basically when she's in the bedroom, roommates come home, and then he's out, and he's yelling at them. He's like, I've got this girl way above my league, which I like that scene. I liked her reaction. When she heard him. But also, at that point, you're thinking objectively, whether it's you as the audience member watching this, or whether you, if you just happen to know these two people in real life, looking at that relationship, you think, that's never going to work out.

It's just sort of a thing. And then that goes back to the whole idea of that timer. It's like, yeah, it's telling you it's not going to work out. But, you know, still, I mean, it had a lot of clever stuff in it, but it's just there was a lot of padding in between those moments for me. You know what's a much more fun movie with some similar themes is that Eternal Sunshine.

Yeah, I was going to get to that because it's sort of, I don't know, it skates around those same kind of ideas. What I like about that is no matter what you do to get rid of, you're going to get drawn back in by love, if you're meant to be. That's what I thought was interesting in this, and they even bring it up, because I've thought that. It's like, yeah, there's... something I'd like to take out of my entire brain. I don't like this relationship so much, I want to remove it.

But then you look at, well, maybe you needed that relationship to get where you are. So then they go into that story about her and her dad. And it's like, if you and my dad were never supposed to be together, then I didn't need to exist. And I'm here. And I don't know, it does throw that big loophole in this plan.

It's like, that's bullshit. Because if everything has this path that we're supposed to be on, then that was supposed to happen. Regardless of whether the timer told you to or not, this did happen. I am here. I think it is one of those, and you see that where it kind of has that maybe there is some sort of path that you're supposed to be on, regardless of what decisions you make.

You still sort of end up going where you need to go. I don't know. I think there was a little bit of that thrown in there that was kind of interesting. Again, They just sort of skate around it, but I thought that part was really cool. How am I supposed to truly enjoy a great movie if I've never seen a bad one?

You have to have a comparison level. Spotless Mind is kind of concept-heavy, too, but for me it was a little bit more involving, a little more fun. Stylistically, it's, you know, yeah, everything, I mean. It's not a fair comparison, really, but I'm making it anyway. I think it throws a couple of different things out there.

Aside from that where you're supposed to end up thing, I think it also has that, and he even says, live in the present rather than stress about the future, which is a very legitimate way that some people live. And I think, again, that concept has nothing to do with the timer. There's that that they throw in there that I think is, is really interesting. And you can build an entire movie around just that, about just somebody in a relationship who is just there to have fun and that they want to be there. And they're not really worried about the future.

And you've got somebody who that's all they worry about. I mean, there's, there's two different ways of taking the, you know, that, that relationship or, or any, I guess your life in general in that, in that capacity. I don't know. That gets me thinking about, uh, midnight in Paris. Uh, it's kind of a similar mindset in the sense that you've got this, another, this pair of characters where they're in a relationship that where there's not that really that much love.

And it's rather than one person being obsessed with the future, they're obsessed with the past, but they kind of come to a similar realization throughout it. Yeah. I thought that was, again, really interesting and it works completely outside of the sci-fi element. It really is just about how you look at things and how you live your life. If you're in the same situation, you're just kind of working the opposite end of it.

And it really does come down to that, well, what are you okay with? Are you okay with just screwing around right now? Or do you have to have some sort of plan? It has to be going somewhere and you know 100% okay, you're going to be around later. I don't know.

I thought that was kind of interesting. But Mikey, I mean, he's like, in his mind, he's made up his mind that he will be around. He's not really just In the present, he's like saying, well, you have to decide. You have to make up your mind. I think that's him kind of growing up, too.

Because in the beginning, he was just sort of, hey, let's hook up. You're some hot chick at the grocery store. And by the end, he's the one saying, I can tell you now. You're from now. We're going to be together because I want to be with you.

And she's the one that can't. All of a sudden it sort of switches, and she's the one that can't commit to that because she needs this thing telling her that that's okay. Which makes it sort of bleak and fatalistic. It does. It does feel bleak.

Because you've got this thing, and it's like there's no way. It doesn't matter what path you choose in your life. It doesn't matter whether you choose to go off and get your doctorate or become a drug dealer. If you're going to meet your true love in two years, then that's just what it's going to be. There's no way to escape that, at least.

Because they could have played up that angle to where, she makes certain decisions in her life to where it alters the time on, you know, somebody's wrist, but it doesn't, it doesn't explore that at all. One, one thing I, I would, I, when I kept thinking over and over in my brain, if I, if, if that day was my day, I don't know if I'd be able to get out of bed. I would, I would stay almost, I've had that thought in my mind. If everything is predetermined, then why get out of bed in the morning? And that to me, that's a really, uh, you know, I, I would, I would like, well, if, why get up if I'm supposed to meet that person today?

And she did that, right? And she did, exactly. And I said, that's exactly what I would do. And then your house catches on fire and it's the fireman. It reminds me of that scene in Stranger Than Fiction where Dustin Hoffman's like, well, just stay in bed all day and see if you control your destiny or if it comes to you and the thing comes and bulldozes his apartment.

Yeah. It is, yeah. Again, it's that, you know, you're heading down that path whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not. Whatever decision you make still ends up leading you to that destination that you have to be at. But then Mikey was always on that path because she doesn't go meet him because she's hanging out with Mikey, and assumably if they both had timers and both been on, then that would have been the day rather than the day 15 days later or whatever.

I mean, I don't know. It's a weird circular thing going on. It's like every episode of That's So Raven where she has a permanent. And the thing she does because she had the premonition, lead the premonition. That's true.

Is that a real name? Yeah. Sadly, that's actually accurate. And it's worse than I can tell you. He's right.

I feel like Mikey's got this youthful, hopeful, ignorant thing going on because he says, yes, I know we'll be together in a year, but he's just been having sex with random women and then he actually. Connects with one and falls in love, and it's like that first love, of course you're going to be together for a year, but maybe not. He's just never had that before, so he doesn't really. Know how that first love works. But isn't that how it's supposed to be?

Well, yes. Again, in the real way things were. And I was rooting for him, but he says, I know we'll be together for a year, and maybe not. Apparently not. Apparently not for a week.

You never know. What if things just. Don't work out with the guy that she's fated to be with. That's the thing I thought, actually. I was like, by the end of it, it seems like it sort of shoves you into this thing.

But I was like, really? I mean, she's taken the timer off. She already has this realization that it's kind of bullshit. And it's this grand gesture on one hand. But at the other, it's her sort of saying... she doesn't believe in it on the one.

I mean, she's still sort of falling into the trap, but at the same time, it's like, well, when he's just a guy who was already in love with this other woman, if, if that was his real one, you know, if, if you're not, if you're assuming that the timer is bullshit, like I guess she is at this point, then, you know, give it a year and maybe she does end up back with Mikey. I just think the timer, you know, declaring that you're going to be together for the rest of your life, It's just, like, I mean, I'm the kind of person that, like, worries about, I don't know why I think my mother did this to me. I worry about freak accidents constantly. Like, I worry about horrible things happening at any given second of my life.

And I'm watching this movie and thinking, like, what if he gets hit by a bus? Like, what if, you know, he goes to work and a plane crashes into his office building? A truck. You know, what happens to his timer then, or her timer then? In order for this timer, for everyone to have a timer in it, be your soulmate that you're going to be with for the rest of both of your lives, that would have to mean that no one can die, like no one can get cancer and die, you know, no one, it's just like.

Or it just goes back to the fatalistic thing, like we were talking about earlier, where it somehow just knows, and that's not really. Well, it knows because you can fast forward to the end of the movie and then back up. That's the nature of film is that it is already decided by the time you're watching it. But for me, I just have a mental habit of... of always i guess i'm amused by the idea of opposites or symmetry but immediately i think well do they have like a divorce timer it's like we're gonna get to. This point and it's like we're gonna call it quits now.

You speak of divorce, did you all take it as a huge betrayal that was glossed over even by the daughter that the mother lied to her about her father having the timer and him saying that it wasn't... It was almost like she was denying that... I don't know. It does seem like a big deal. If it was your relationship, you'd go, what the fuck?

Because that would change my whole concept of from an early age of what love was and what my parents love was. And then, you know, the fact that my dad did or didn't have a timer, you know, uh, before they broke up, that's to me as a huge, it's. Like in strictly ballroom when you find out the dad never danced and. The whole vision of him, you know, going overboard. It's like, well, he never danced.

What? Yeah. That changes everything. And the other thing is the sister gets pissed because, That the guy that she's dating or wants to date is the one. Well, she has no claim on him.

She knows it's not him. She's already met him. Even if he doesn't have his timer yet, she's already met him. So she has no... I mean, I thought that was kind of almost manufactured....

That felt like sisters to me. I think she was really transferring that anger because she was really pissed that she got hers taken off and can't get it back on now. And then you bailed on me. Right. Yeah, that's true.

And she knows it's still not going to be for a long time. Regardless of if she removes it, she knows the date. Everybody's gotten the calendar out. As soon as they get their thing, they've planned out the date and they know that date better than they know their own birthday. So having that on means nothing.

She knows she's going to meet the guy. It just makes it sort of pointless other than having that certainty of, bumping into that person, that alarm went off. But for the better part, I mean, it's just. I wonder what their refund policy is. Right, that's true.

Because then you could get it on, get the date, and then say, no, I've changed my mind. But you also have to pay to get it off. You pay twice, yeah. When the sister had her thing removed, though, the guy she was supposed to be with, his would have gone blank. And so he would have thought, oh, she was in an accident or something.

And so he would just say, okay, well, I'll do the best I. Can, then. find and fall in love with someone else. They would have met on the bus and not known each other. They may meet and not know each other, or it may just completely change the path. But also think about how bleak that is.

All of a sudden, it just goes blank on you. Like, oh, my soulmate died. My soulmate's dead now. Well, see, that's what I like. I think all the sort of issues that we're bringing up, the movie was smart enough to at least address in passing.

They do address that that's what happens. I liked that the one character didn't want to get a timer because his wife had died and he was just so fully committed to the idea that this woman that he was married to obviously had to have been his soulmate. I don't think it was poorly made or poorly thought out or even poorly written. I just think it... Yeah, it just didn't have a lot of impact.

And I kind of wondered if that was because, you. Know, it's something that is a big deal to. A lot of people. And a lot of people are really unhappy about their relationship status. And maybe it's just.

For me, it seems to lack oomph, but maybe it's just sort of comforting. I don't know. I don't know if it just... I don't know how it would be comforting. It's such a grim outlook, it's kind of the other way around.

I would not want that timer to go off, ever. Well, it's a grim outlook if you were in the movie, but since you're not, it's kind of like it's just taking a conventional thing and playing it out, but maybe... real life seems a little more tolerable. By comparison no not really no see maybe that was you said is they took kind of an unconventional and cool idea but it still came off as feeling conventional in the end story-wise it did to me it has moments it reminds me of a movie that apparently doesn't exist anymore but it was a really good movie and it was uh It was in a series of American shorts, and they basically filmed some classic short stories. And it was called Vintage Thunderbird. It opens with a couple in a car lot with the little plastic triangle things blowing in slow motion in the wind.

And they have this vintage thunderbird, and I just remember they break up, things go wrong, and she's sort of getting back with her previous boyfriends. There's a hilarious conversation with the boyfriend and the ex-boyfriend, and it has nothing to do with it. It's the city, man. It makes you crazy. You've got to get out of the city.

And it's advice from the ex-boyfriend to the new dumped boyfriend. And in the end, she sells. They get back together, but she sold the Thunderbird, and she really got screwed on the deal. And the ending is about trying to buy back. The Thunderbird, and they're going to have to pay you off more than they got for it.

And it just captures that sense of diminishing returns. They're together again, but they've lost something, and they've lost something like kind of that certainty about their relationship, even though they are together. Yeah, you've pulled back the curtain, too. You can't have what you had before because you sold it. Even if you buy it back, you're still never going to have it back.

And that's kind of like the feeling I get from this movie. It's like her connection with the guy who is her guy just seems so disappointing. Yeah, again, that's the sad part of it. What I think was kind of cool was just the way it's showing you the way that the world really works and how that actually works. Because the one that she has chemistry with is Mikey, and then the sister is the one that has chemistry.

The only time she ever seems kind of happy is when she's with this guy. He goes to get the timer just because she's made him realize he doesn't want to be alone the rest of his life. So they both sort of are working out their relationships the way that nature intended them. And then the timer fucks everything up. We have to consider, though, that maybe Una and Mikey would have been miserable together, and Steph and Dan would have been miserable together, and now Una and Dan will be happy together.

And I still see it as depressing, but ultimately we're trying to find happiness in our lives, and if that's how they find it, then maybe they all avoided miserable lives. Mm-hmm. We could have had the plot of Closer. But it's our happiness that matters. Are the pod people the happy ones, or are we the happy ones?

That becomes the question, really. Well, whenever. People do get together in a relationship. They are kind of like pod people, especially after they have kids. Then they're just like, come be like us.

When are you going to get married? When are y'all going to have kids? It really is. Nobody ever says, when are y'all going to get split up so we can have fun again? The timer's almost like a mother permanently attached to your wrist.

Like the literal mother. Are you married? The way that she is, like the mother brought up how, you know, that lie, like the mother is not a good character. And, you know, not even in the way mothers are normally annoying. But this is like above and beyond that, where she's just like, well, he's not your one.

And like she's just adding fuel to this fire of how dysfunctional this whole situation is. And again, she brought it on herself by, you know, doing it to herself, doing it to her kids now. So, yeah, the mother comes off really bad in this movie. Like I said, to me, I thought of having the guy over and he's almost forcing this on like a shackle on the kid. You have no choice in who you're going to love and you don't even get to try to love anybody else.

Yeah. It's like child abuse to me. Robbing them of their life for their choice. She was super cute. If somebody told me, I would have been doing cartwheels in the front yard.

Yeah, I was looking at the kid's reaction. I'm like, what is he, gay? No, but you also got. To look at it from the point of view of a standard 14-year-old to where it's like, Screw you, parents. You're telling me that I'm going to be falling in love with this girl?

Fuck you. I'll do what I want. Because that other girl that he was talking to at school, she was probably fine, too. No, she wasn't. Yeah, but think what a great setup that is for a young guy.

It's like, hey. Hey, I'm the right one. Which, if anything, you mentioned that. I was almost more interested in seeing more of that story than the one that we were getting. It's like, I want to see more of this scenario to where it's I thought the whole timer thing would have worked better as a subplot rather than the whole gimmick behind the film, and that's something where you could have done it with.

That's why these two met, and then they're forced to possibly be soulmates or not throughout the film. I could see something like that be more investing than the characters we had. Yeah, it was like when Apu met his wife on The Simpsons, and they were like, you know, oh, what the hell, we can always get divorced. It was an arranged marriage, but it's sort of okay. It works out pretty well.

What was her name? Manchula. It's like when Apu met Manchula. Or like when Lord Zedd met Rita in Power Rangers. Yes.

That is a faded meeting. Right up there with Romeo and Juliet. Yeah, amazing. I found myself really curious about the technology itself. And At the beginning, they mentioned the personality profile.

So I'm wondering, are they matching by just this really extensive personality profile? And if so, people change drastically over the years. And if not that, then what? And then the other thing is they've invented precognitive technology. Yeah.

This is what they're doing. Again, that seemed very real. That's how we operate. Well, there were some scientists who threw this little quick 30-second pseudoscience blurb out. To me, I could kind of get into that, because it's pretty much the director's way of saying, accept it or don't.

Yeah. You're right. I wasn't thinking too deeply, but I just. I like that it was so dumbed down that the. The technicians in the store had no clue how.

Any of it worked. They were like people at the Apple store. Yeah, exactly. They were the people at the Apple store. No, it felt like a cell phone store to me.

They were just trying to sell you the new plan. Yeah, same thing. Especially the manager who was less knowledgeable about it than she was. And was like 21. Right, right.

Yeah, let me put this on you. Hold on. They have no clue. That's, you know, you're dealing with potentially the greatest invention of mankind and Yeah, again. It's not a fair comparison, but the technicians in The Eternal Sunshine are spotless.

But I like the way they were here, because they were also like... They were like that Disneyland happy about everything, but at the same time cold about it. Just like, oh, are you back again? And she's like, you know, dying alone. You're like, hey, time for another sale.

I like the mindset, too, that when she's wanting to get rid of it, really? It'd be no different if you went to a cell phone provider and said, I want to get rid of my cell phone. Who are you going with? Nobody. I just don't want a cell phone anymore.

Are you sure you want to cancel this plan? Yeah, I know exactly what they do because I did that recently. And they say... We can give you a free month. And I'm like, sure, do it.

And so my daughter's been calling all her out-of-state colleges on this phone that they gave us a free month. We've already switched. There's no way. We're going back. But, you know, if they want to give me a month, I know I've already paid for it.

This is how it works. Oh, okay. So how many more times are we going to do this? Well, as many more times as you let me. Okay.

See, I. I'm not like you. I've slept with a total of four men in my life, and each time I've had to face the very real possibility of losing them. And with you, it's actually not a possibility. It's absolute certainty.

So I guess you can relax, then. Wait, um, so you're saying that I'm lucky number five? Ha ha ha! So we're getting it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Just shut up. I just think it's silly to think of a life where you're not allowed to make mistakes. You know, like. I've had horrible relationships, but, you know, like, I've learned a lot from them. They've shaped me and made me, like, who I am, which might not be, like, the most awesome person in the world, but, I mean, like, you know, I reserve the right to be proud of these things that you overcome.

I don't know. I mean, like, imagine if you've never gone through, like, a horrible breakup or, like, never had a shitty boyfriend or girlfriend in your life. Like, And I think that's what the movie's saying. It's like this preoccupation with the perfect one is going. To screw you and keep you from having a, you know, being an interesting full person.

So live your life. So would any of you get A timer, if it was a thing? No. It seems like a really bad idea. Except possibly getting that fake one and then just hooking up randomly.

I like that fake wedding ring thing. That was kind of funny. I was proud of him when he took it off. I was like, good job. But I like, once again, he could just be a sleazy guy trying to hook up, but I like that he also had a reason behind it.

Man, if I was that teenage kid, I'd be trying to hook up. That's right. I just want to experiment and see if it would work if you put it in a light bulb. dog or cat. Something that is more animalistic. Are they going to find their sizzle?

That's why you hated Planet of the Apes, because you're pro-animal testing. I hated Planet of the Apes because I was just like, no, there's no logic to it. I like the fact that the whole... We're totally getting excited. That never happens on this show.

If we're going to suddenly go back on this like we're going back to the war horse today. My whole issue was, I like the idea that the apes were escaping and all this, but the ultimate question is, Why did the apes have to fight the humans? There really wasn't a reason for it. Because they escaped from the compound in the dark of night and managed to be stealthy and get away without anyone knowing. They could have gotten across that bridge and to that redwoods area without anybody knowing.

I'll have to revisit the movie. Or it's also, where does all the technology and know-how go? Go because they're really primitive in the planet of the apes. I mean, well, we don't know what happens between now. But also, too, it's like, well, if they wanted it to attack humans, I could have also seen it to where you had an ending to where they just attack humans to get back at them because they felt like they were wronged.

And it just, it was, they kind of went for the middle of the road thing and it didn't work for me. And, you know, there's just a lot of stuff. I mean, even like the whole Spielbergian ending at the end, where it's like, you know, Caesar's home now. It's like, okay, it can change him mentally, but it can't change him physiologically, and that ape's going to be incapable of speaking like a human. I mean, just little stuff like that.

Well, if they're so much. Smarter, then why does technology, you know, go, and. Why don't they have the wrist bracelets? That's my question. Why don't the apes have the wrist bracelets if.

It's If it's going into the future, the timeline. Right. They should all be in the middle of some sort of romantic comedy right now. Just with monkeys. I want to make a romantic comedy about monkeys.

Give them all timers. So basically we've decided that monkeys can fall in love. Of course they can. Who was it? Cordelia and Roddy McDowell?

Cornelius and Zero. Oh, yeah. Cornelius. I'd watch that movie, though. Because those two were a charming couple.

They were. I'd watch that any time. I'd watch the Dr. Zayas spinoff, too, that would inevitably come. He's got to be a horrible guy to go out with.

That guy's a jerk. Bitter, bitter, lonely old man. I mean, like, If you married the first person you've ever dated or, I mean, I guess some of you guys at this table. Sorry to say, we've got an interesting group here, actually. That's the first relationship I ever had.

It's not the first relationship I had, but we were... Potheads and stuff. We didn't date. We didn't date. I didn't start dating until I'd been married for five years.

Then we had free time and a little extra money. Let's go on dates. But no. Oh, wait, I have to take you? I mean, I guess you don't if you have a complete happy, loving relationship.

But I was with the first guy I ever dated for six years from the time I was 12 to the time I was 19. And, you know, I just, like, think, what would my life be like if I'd married him and never made any other mistakes? Like, I would always wonder what else, like, is out there. There's still plenty of room for mistakes and pain within a long-term relationship. You can achieve a lot of mistakes in a very short period of time.

A friend of mine told me that, oh, like, when her relationship was breaking up, it had been, like, three years, and she said that's really the shortest relationship I've ever had, and I said the shortest relationship I've ever had was about 30 minutes. You can make all the mistakes you need. You don't have to spread it out. I mean, I guess that's true. You've got a relationship like in Wet Hot American Summer to where the entire summer is condensed down to a single day.

Right. It begins, it's over. Marriage is absolutely not happily ever after. You have to worry, which I'm wondering about the characters in Timer who It's your soulmate. It's supposed to be happily ever after.

So when they have their first big fight, are they freaking out and wondering if the time is. I don't know. It also takes all... Again, it's so prophet-like that it takes all of that out to that point that, well, we can't not be together. So obviously this argument isn't going to do anything.

So again, does it become that self-fulfilling prophecy that once you have accepted that, You don't let it break you up? And is it is it happy this that you settle into or is it just some sort of mundane existence once. You sold the timer to everyone your company then is gone you can't have a 2.0. Yeah it's a maintenance. Fee which uh with that many people have it that's a it's all yeah.

That's true It's all about the maintenance. I'm sure there's a convenience charge in there somewhere. Upgrade. It goes back to what you were saying. I mean, why not just get the time? get the date, and it's like, okay, and then just have it pulled out.

Because imagine if you get this timer put in, it's like 21 years from now. It's like, how much is this going to cost? You start weighing it like that. You don't care about the love anymore. It's like, how much is this going to cost?

I can read a calendar. But you're forgetting that next year's model, they're going to have new apps. You're going to be able to play Angry Birds on it. I mean, you're going to want to have this. Let me tell you.

This is the pitch they're giving you. Angry Spouse. You slingshot your spouse. If you do happen to have that date, the only wonder is, what if I end up at a concert and there's a couple hundred other people there who I know here, who it might be. But here's the thing, if it tells you the date you're going to meet and that person you're fated to be with, then why do you need the bracelet at all?

You're fated. It's going to happen. You don't necessarily know that. There's a song that came out like last year by Ben Foltz. It's about that, like about two people who are meant to be together, but like ran into each other at a party or they went to the same movie and like didn't look around at each other and they married other people.

And, um, there's lines like they were never really unhappy, but they had this vague feeling that something was missing. Yeah. That always, everybody feels that something is missing. If you don't feel something's missing, there's. Something wrong with you.

There's something that's unbreakable. Yeah. There's something missing if you don't feel like there's something missing. I mean, maybe I'm just extremely cynical. There's your country music song.

I mean, like with the first boyfriend that I had that I ended up not marrying, I hadn't seen him for like five years, and I ran into him like... two no one week before he got married and i'm just like this is fate this means something and i was like really. Torn up about it you were kind of freaking out i remember yeah i remember i remember that and now i think about it i'm just like when did i ever believe in that like why why would i even think that that's ridiculous i don't know i think i've just become so cynical maybe through the years that i just think like yes that was a strange coincidence But. It doesn't mean anything. And I mean, I think that further jaded me, you know, because we didn't end up together.

I didn't, like, ride in and crash his wedding on a white horse, you know, like. You could have. It's hard to be in conversations with other women. Just watch that and feel like it. Yeah.

But I mean, it's just like, I think I've just been so jaded that, I don't know, just, I have a hard time with concepts like things are supposed to work out or people are like meant to be together. I don't know. I think I just have a hard time finding that. I think the question would be like, if you know there's somewhere down, if you're like the sister, if you've got this 20 year span, do, do you do what she does? Do you then get involved in random relationships just for the hell of it?

You know, cause that's kind of what we ended up doing anyway. Really? You know, it's like assuming you're not going to end up with all these people along the way, but you're, assuming down the line you're going to meet this person. So each time that these other little ones along the way fail, you do have to quit. It wasn't a mistake.

How different would it have been if you knew this magic number and avoided all those? Would you be less of a person for not going through that? Or would you actually be happier because all of these kind of sucked along the way? It's kind of both because there's times I feel both sides of that argument. I think for me it would be.

I liked her scenario better than any, and I think she was misusing it because it would be very freeing. I can do all of these things and not have to worry about anybody or taking care of somebody or looking for love or wasting any time. Now I can just go be with my friends, get the degree that I want to, travel the world when I want to, and it's going to come when I'm 46. Yeah. You know, I kind of saw that.

I mean, that could be her because it was she was working crappy jobs. It's like she really could just be focusing on, you know, what she wants to do with her life. And so she did have that option that she could have done and didn't. But I don't know. That's kind of what I was thinking of it as it went on.

Is it like do you is it worth having these other throwaway relationships if you're assuming somewhere out there there's this perfect person that you're supposed to be with in the real world versus, you know, in both of these scenarios? Is it worth it? Why wasn't she doing more with her life? I know. Because she's kind of a slack ass.

Yeah, she was working at a nursing home in a bar. In a bar. That would be horrible. I'm a bartender, too, and I very much like it. But, you know, I have other things that I enjoy as well that I work on.

Bartending is not my ultimate ambition. You're just there to meet men. That's what she was there. That's what she said. At the nursing home?

First of all, the old dude at the nursing home, I don't even know, recognize the actor. Yeah, Dutch. That's the date of my life. That's right. He played Mickey Morton.

Yeah, that's right. I had to look. Him up, but I knew I knew that guy. That's right. I loved that old man.

I wanted more of that old man. See, that's something I thought too. I was like, okay, if you have like this little indie little budget, you don't always need it, but it always helps to have like. that seasoned character actor that is just there for like that one role just to, you know, give that movie a little bit of presence. It's like, okay, you kids have your fun. I'm going to come in here for about two minutes, blow you away with my scene.

And we'll steal the show. Hi folks at home, hope you're enjoying my cameo. And then I'm out. I was like, can't wait for one of those to pop up. I thought that's what the executive or the music producer dad was going to be.

I was like, okay, that's going to be Bruce Dern. That would have been very cool. Yeah. I did like that scenario too though that you get to that character that I guess she's the only other character outside of Mikey that was just like yeah he wasn't my one but I said fuck it and I was just like okay I like this you know it's like all of a sudden there's somebody else who kind of sees the way the world really works and it is one of those that's like okay I'm going to you know accept the situation I'm in and enjoy the life that I have made for myself now instead of waiting for something that may or may not ever actually come. See, I think there was a character that sort of explored every possibility of this scenario, and that's what I really liked about it.

There's more of an ideological sort of. It didn't really acknowledge, in a way, the whole ugliness of the. Corporate exploitation of things that people are so anxious about. How it makes people feel like bad about their lives, even though they're doing okay. It's like, no, but you're supposed to do this.

You're supposed to find your soulmate. Those commercials were pretty good. She felt so disaffected and so cut off. I mean, I think that's why she was working these jobs. Like she said that she worked in the old folks home because they didn't have timers.

And that was like the only sort of community that she felt normal around because she wasn't being pushed or, you know, seeing everybody else hooking up and getting married and knowing that it wasn't. Her time yet. Actually, old people are the worst about that. I mean, in real life, they're the ones that are like... I mean, I get asked by old ladies how many kids I have.

I'm just like, I don't have any kids. I have no kids. I'm not married. I do not have kids. Just because I'm 26, it does not mean I have to have these things.

But you have to understand, they got married at 16. Yeah. But I actually, the mother character, I know that we've been complaining about her, but I actually found her to be a sympathetic character. Because she had. Been through the heartbreak and wanted to prevent her children from going through that, and it was completely misguided, but that was her impetus.

And, you know, lied, I think, about the father just because she didn't want, she was denying her own heartbreak. She was trying to be. Like, well, I was. Not sympathetic, but tragic. They at least gave you that perspective where you understood.

When she lays that out in the car for them that you kids are so lucky because you don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about catching diseases because you know the person you're supposed to sleep with. She lays out several reasons that you're like, I can see. She got suckered in by the sales pitch. There is a way to look at this where it's got all these upsides to it.

It's a good sell if you buy into all that shit. I kind of saw the mother, I mean, kind of going off topic, I disliked her because I saw her as sort of this typical upper middle class kind of condescending white woman, like the Thanksgiving scene I found. The Thanksgiving dinner. I guess, you know, she sees it as a nice gesture that she's making Mexican food for their new friends. It's kind of a condescending thing and It's massively kind of simple.

Nachos and margaritas. And I love the little details, like when the sister drinks out of her margarita glass and there's the price tag. On the bottom. Yeah, I saw that. They just got out and bought the glasses, but they hadn't even washed them.

For the birthday party, where I bartend, I actually bartend for events, banquets, dinners, things like that. A lot of very rich people who I wait on. So so then during the surprise party, when they hired caterers to come and bartend down their house, it's like, yeah kind of. Have you ever watched Party Down I have not seen it it's a sad it's a sad week for me I just finished season 2 oh I'm so sorry. Yeah oh god it's one of the best shows ever I mean it really it's amazing.

It meant so much to me that my kids liked that show they like really got into it they thought it was great and it's like okay. I'm done yeah it sucks I used to do that as well, so I've avoided the show. They keep talking about it. I've avoided the show because I was like, I lived in that world, and I did. I hated everyone that ever had a party with us.

Oh, man, there's one guy in there who's like a sci-fi nut, and he's a writer, and he, I don't know, he has some unfinished novels, but if you count them together, he's, you know, if you count all his unfinished novels, they add up to how many novels he's written. But a guy he used to work with hires them as caterers. Just to rub it in his face that he's got a multi-million dollar. Oh, the resentment and the unhappiness and just the unease and awkwardness of it is just magnificent. It's like the episode of SpongeBob where Squilliam comes to the Krusty Krab to rub it in Squidward's face that he owns a restaurant.

Yeah. I love our references on this show. It's also like the. One where the only way out for SpongeBob is through the perfume department. Yeah, that's a good show.

It's about caterers. Well, it's caterers in L.A. It's about SpongeBob. It's about the sponge. Won't wear square pants.

And a pineapple under the sea. Trying to figure out who killed Laura Palmer. And he has these psychic visions and he has to.... And there's an actor who's like given up on acting he's tried he got a commercial it stuck to him so much now he can't get any other work and he's working as a caterer and he always wears a shirt that's weirdly too. Small no that bothered me and everybody is in it at some point or another I think Omar.

Sharif wanders through even You know, Jessica Tandy's in the old show. SpongeBob. There's a SpongeBob episode. It's a great show. It's a great show.

I'll give you that. We've gotten sidetracked. Wasn't as magical as you hoped? You know, it doesn't all have to be chemistry from the jump. Feelings can grow over time.

Yeah, sparks are fleeting. Nothing to talk about can last a lifetime. So, I don't know. As far as directing, I was going to go into, I mean, it doesn't do anything groundbreaking, but I think it does a pretty decent job of just piecing it together. What I was going to say I thought was interesting was the, because as I read the director, I read it as it's written in IMDb, which is Jack Schaefer.

It's J-A-C because it's Jacqueline. And I'm wondering if she's trying to hide that fact until it's, you know, until she's got her foot in the door. Because it's, yeah, it kind of, I don't know. That's what I wondered. Because that's how Emma, you know, referred to her as Jacqueline.

And then I got to this and I was like, it's, I mean, it is such a weird situation to be in as a female director at this point. What else has she done? This was it. This was her first one. And I kind of wanted to see where else she was going.

And she hasn't done anything since then. So. The thing that I thought was really weird, there's an episode of Better Off Ted where they assign people to date other people within the corporation because it would make the insurance cheaper. And it reminded me of this movie. And it's so funny, like the commercial at the beginning reminded me, there's always like this commercial in Better Off Ted for their company that's like ridiculous.

And it reminded me of the commercial part. So I don't know if one was, I don't know the date. or which one came first, but I wonder if one was inspired by the other, just that it was eerily similar. Did anybody notice, like in the title credits, when you have the news things and the testimonials and everything, on one of the news people, there's the news ticker at the bottom, and it says, Return of the King maps 11 Oscars, which puts this taking place in 2004, which means this technology has been around since the late 80s. Yeah. It's like an alternate universe.

There's a futuristic thing set in the present. Yes. Yeah. Well, at this point, yeah. It was made in 2008, I think.

Another Earth was like that, too. It's set essentially present day. Yeah, it's present day, but 2009 is how they list this one. But I guess they were probably making it in 2008. But yeah, that kind of falls in that same category.

And a lot of people... I had issues with that and the science of that, too. Yeah, but it's better than predicting what slight changes there will be and then being horribly wrong, and then when it gets to that date, you're like, oh, that looks so bad. Yeah. I don't know.

I guess I'm. Jaded to that because I grew up with weekly readers that told us all earnestly that, None of us would ever have to learn to parallel park because the wheels would turn sideways. We would all be wearing little wrist radios. But technology somehow just went around that. We have wrist radios.

You can put your. Your iPod, they. Have their watches. Think how much you can do with your phone that they never saw coming. Yeah, yeah.

And the cars do park themselves. All these big things. And there actually was a car that the wheels turned sideways, but when they were showing it for investors. There was a horrible accident. It just never happened.

But you still don't have to learn how to parallel park if you just buy a new car. Technology's kind of catching up with the crazy stuff we come up with in sci-fi. It's really funny that this is so off-topic, but... And even those, like, Tex Avery, House of the Future things, it's like they predicted all of these things. Most of the things in, you know, the Tex Avery cartoons are silly.

They're meant to be silly. But, like, a lot of shows that are, like, silly predict the future things have actually been somewhat accurate. They never predicted, like, changing gender roles from, like, the Tex Avery. It's like. The house might do all these amazing things, but the wife is still a wife and she's still like a housewife.

It's like the Jetsons. Nothing about that is futuristic. It's interesting. Well, that would upset the audience at the time. The woman in charge of men?

Not in our future, no. Hell it'll be. Yeah, you know, it's weird because I remember reading when I was in college that Ibsen's doll's house was performed in louisville in 1893 before it hit europe. And nobody found anything up and they went to. The play it was a good play.

And they all went home and then and then. It burnt like a fire across europe and everybody was inflamed about it but the odd thing about that really is that it didn't really express any opinions that weren't. In newspapers, but something about the play just set people off. And I think that's why they don't predict things that maybe because they do see them coming is why they don't predict them because they're not trying to create a controversy or a statement. They're just trying to make a fun entertainment.

Is there anything else we have on this one? I think we've kind of come to that conclusion. Again, I think it's Got a lot more there than you... I mean, if you're not paying attention, you could kind of just throw this in there as a bad romantic comedy, which, again, I don't think it is. But even as, like, a relationship movie, it's got a lot more going on under the surface than you can kind of tell right off.

Well, I'm really impressed by all the observations people have made about it, because I have to admit, I just. And I think a lot of well that's the thing and then I looked up I just felt like it lacked spirit and I wasn't that engaged and so. I don't know if I like the mom or not I don't know. Again I go back you know I think it's sort of been concurred by a couple people there's a lot of stuff there just not enough for a feature length film at least not where it's at it. Just didn't excite me I mean I'm sure there's stuff there I mean I'm sure if I peer in my neighbor's window there's stuff going on there I'm just.

Not going to do it well You know? I think it's just, it wasn't exciting for me. I think her story is the least interesting story to me. Like, everyone else's story is the one that I would like to spend, you know, more time on. That's not usually.

I mean, you've got to have the boring character as your main character a lot. Or they seem to do that a lot of times because you want to tell these other side stories, but you need somebody there to carry you through. That's pretty much the whole premise of Seinfeld. Yeah. He's the least interesting character, yeah.

So... I don't know. But that's what I was going to say as far as people's response. I went to Rotten Tomato just to kind of see what people... It's got a not-so-good rating, but then if you go down to the reviews, they're almost all positive.

It's like everybody kind of has good stuff to say about it. Maybe not raves, but everybody has positive things to say about it, and then it's got like a 58 or something. Yeah, it's likable. It's just you don't care that much. I think it does kind of fall in there.

I think there's a lot of good things in there, but something doesn't quite click with it. It never quite gets to that point where it's great. But there's some really interesting stuff going on. I just kind of got drawn in by the philosophical debate presented. Yeah, I think I did too.

I think that's what I liked. I say I like it because just that overshadowed everything else for me. I told my wife, we watched it together, I'd seen it before, and I told her before we watched it, it's... You probably won't love it, but it's better than it should be. Yeah.

I think I like it for what we just had. I think the fact that it brings about all these questions and all these different thoughts and scenarios of the way things could work or should work. It is an interesting way to debate. Yeah. Probably better than the finished product itself.

And I think Lucy said it a couple times that they do explore– all of the scenarios. And that's what's good about it. They don't... Because you're apt to say, well, what if this? And they didn't cover that.

It's very coherent. And they at least follow that and give each person has their own story on what would happen if. Which is pretty impressive for her first movie, too. Yes. Sometimes I think too much outside the context of a film without really thinking about other, like, ways to interpret a film.

And that's what gets me in trouble with either, like, liking a stupid movie or not liking a good movie. I mean, I'm definitely guilty of that, you know. But I. Think there were just, you know, they did explore a lot of what-ifs within the plot line. But I'm just too busy thinking of, like, what if, and if this means this, then this means this.

And I just, like, couldn't. Subscribe to it. I don't know. Yeah. For me, it lacked the key emotional moments where I care about.

I wasn't worried about her. I mean, she wound up with him. Cool. I'd be okay. If not, well, she'll be okay.

I'm pretty sure she was going to be okay no matter what happened. Again, I think it's because you said she's such a strong character on her own, really, that whoever she ends up with, or if she stays alone for years, it's like she's still... kind of a good person and you know she'll be all right so i can i can. See that i wasn't i didn't have those moments like well in manhattan uh that hemingway girl at the end she says i can't believe you found somebody you like better than me and that's just so raw and affecting it's such a great. Moment mikey's the only one that's got that yeah he has that moment like that and i i care but even he seems like Yeah, I don't know. Or people make fun of the movie Juno because it's so self-consciously...

And it is. But there's that scene where the guy starts creeping on her and then she's driving along and she's crying because she's fucked, man. And that's a good scene. That's the kind of thing that, you know, makes it, like, real within its emotional world. And there.

So I. I think for me, it's interesting philosophically, but it's kind of bloodless. I'm not worried about the stakes in the movie, really. I could see that. I think if it was more of a commentary, it just didn't seem...

It kind of seemed like they halfway wanted it to be about almost the absurdity of everyone in life feeling like they need to find that person that they're supposed to be with forever, but I just feel like it fell a little short on the... I mean, I guess it was supposed to be a lighthearted comedy, but I don't know. It was like. I think maybe you want it to be... you know, skull crushing. I think that's what it is.

Like you were saying, they do such a good job of exploring these avenues a little bit that they never pick a road, you know, much like this. It's like they never kind of decide where they're going with the movie because they're so busy kind of covering their bases. They do cover the bases and it's coherent and it's kind of enjoyable, but, you know, it'd be hard to watch it again. It's not that they at least left some ambiguity to the end of it. I did like that.

Because again, I sort of, took it the other way. I was like, because she's now kind of free of it, even mentally, you know, granted she'd already found out who, but that, that gesture was her kind of, you know, saying, screw it. And, you know, hopefully following her heart, which was the basic idea behind all of this. So I don't know. That's kind of the more how I took the end of it.

You never see anybody officially together who are supposed to be other than the parents, you know, other than her parents are supposed to be by the timer. Because the kids never get together, and the sister, of course, hasn't found anybody, and she never officially, you know. So none of that's ever resolved, I guess. No one gets the person they're supposed to. Not really.

Yeah, how do you depict that? Right. Show a wedding? How cheesy would that be? Sequel!

I will not see the sequel to this movie. The hell he said. Unless you sign it. Just the idea of a sequel to this movie is so enjoyable. You could go a really weird couple of directions with that, actually.

Two timers. Two timers. It could be interesting. Oh, there you go. That would be.

I still... Yeah. That would be the. It'd be timer two. Two timers.

With Reese Witherspoon. In 3D. Or there's like a new app where it turns out that the old software was out of date and actually maybe not everybody's timers were accurate. Yeah, and there's a big lawsuit. And all of a sudden all these people who are together, their timers recalibrate and they don't.

Sync up sadly that would be more interesting. They should have said it in like the mid 90s and then we get there and realize none of them were programmed for the year 2000 they don't know how to flip over y2k probably y2k goes to hell that's what it should be you see well before we totally round it out uh we do have the the one from the vaults from emma caulfield which I normally run into the beginning, but this one, I, I, you know, we talk a little bit about the director on that episode. If you go back to her episode, it's, she's pretty awesome. So, and I'm convinced our timers link up, but anyway, you know, don't tell her boyfriend that, but, um, yeah, she's, she's pretty awesome. But I kind of saved this one because I asked her sort of her thoughts on the general theme of it all.

And I wanted to sort of leave it to the end. So yeah, let's see what Emma thinks. And timer's interesting, you know. It's an interesting idea. And again, not a very typical traditional ending.

Yeah. Which, you know, I'm a... There was definitely a camp of people who didn't like that ending, who wanted Una to end up with Mikey. And her argument was that she felt real. And had she done that, she would have had to sell out the entire film in order to give the audience that ending, even though it might have made them really happy.

And I really liked that. I liked the fact that it was an unorthodox ending. And I think it was a pretty gender-friendly film. But it does sort of raise those weird questions. I mean, do you, I don't know, as far as the.

Relationship stuff goes, do you feel that there, I mean, it has that, you. Know, you're meant for one person kind of thing, and then it's got the other camp. That's sort of like you meet people and you grow to love people, and I don't know, it sort of raises that weird question that, do you think that there is one answer to. That, or.... Um, I don't, I don't know.

I don't, I don't think that there's only one person for you. I don't know that that's fair. Um, particularly if you look at just friendships in general, right? You have, you have soulmates in a lot of different ways, not just sexual, not intimate. You know, you, you can definitely bond with people and have really intense workable relationships that run the course of of a lifetime if that's your end result, right?

If success is predicated on a lifetime of being with that one person, whether in a friendship or in a relationship. well then I guess that'd be the point of the timer. The timer would argue, no, you'll be with them until death. Like that's, that's it. That's that success. You can't be with someone successfully for 20 years and then grow apart.

That's considered a failure. And if you had a timer, well, you wouldn't be with someone 20 years. You'd be with them forever. Um, really negating 20 years. And I don't know that that's fair.

Yeah. I don't know that a limited impact is, is equal to failure. I don't think that that's true. I think that there are people that you get caught up with that really, if you could have avoided them, you would have been a lot better off. I don't think every lesson needs to be learned, put it that way.

You know? Definitely. There are plenty I could have avoided and should have avoided in my life. If you just had a darn timer. If I just had that darn timer, yeah.

Okay, so thank you once again to Emma and I think we're done. I think we've timered this thing out. We've zeroed out on the timer. Again, we've talked about a movie longer than the movie. That's how we roll.

Anything else for this week? Anything to pass along to these people? Follow your heart, damn it. Not your digital watch. Right.

All right. Otherwise, that about does it. We will return next week. Same geek time, same geek feed. Thanks for listening.

They even looked at each other once across a crowded bar. He was with Martha. She was with Donald. Neither of them really knew What was going on A strange feeling of never Heartbeats becoming synchronized Staying that way forever But most of the time It was just near Mrs. Atkinson's Once in a bookstore, once in a party She came in as he was leaving And years ago at the movies She sat behind him Six-thirty showing While you.

Were sleeping Never once looked around. It's so easy from above You can really. See it all People. Who belong together Lost and sad and small But there's nothing to be done for them It doesn't work that way Sure, we all have soulmates But we walk past them every day on earth. And it's not like they were ever actually unhappy in the lives they lived.

He married Martha, she married Tom. Just this vague notion that something was wrong. A naked absence. A phantom limb. A bitch that could never be scratched.

It's so easy from above, you can't really see it all. People who belong together, lost and sad and small. But there's nothing to be done for them, it doesn't work that way. Sure, we all have soul mates, but we won't pass them every. Day on them.

Neither of them knew what was. Coming on A strange feeling of never Heartbeats becoming synchronized Stay that way forever. Who knows whether that's how it should be Maybe I'll go swim in that vacancy Maybe that's how books get written Maybe that's why songs get sung. Maybe we are the unlucky ones It's so easy from above You can't really see it all We all belong together Lost and sad and small But there's nothing to be done for them. It doesn't work that way Sure.

We all have some makes But we won't pass them every day on Maybe. That's how books get written Maybe. That's why songs get sung Maybe we all need a lucky one Maybe that's how folks give in. Maybe that's why songs get sung. Maybe we are the unlucky ones.

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