192: Zombie Attack

Sir, this is Colonel Glover. I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, sir, but we're at Q2 status. It looks like we've found that lost consignment of Easter eggs. Yes, sir, pretty sure. They've turned up in Louisville.

I'm getting confirmations on this from the Louisville Police Department. Louisville, Kentucky, sir. Well, sir, it would be good news, except that the eggs have hatched. Hey, this is General Joe Shelby, better known as Martinez from Dawn of the Dead, and you're listening to the Dynamite Channel of Movie Meltdown. Stay tuned and stay tight.

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.

What's up and welcome to Movie Meltdown. I'm Brian. I'm Lucy. I'm Ben. And we're here in.

The middle of zombie attack? We're in the middle of the street here in Louisville and um. Yeah, what.... We're waiting for this zombie event to kick off. One of the largest zombie walks, attacks, whatever, in the country.

So, what is your take on. It so far, guys? Terrified. Amazed. And amused.

It's awesome. Even funnier is you took the bus here, so... Yeah, on my way up here on the bus, a zombie got on. And I was just thinking that, you know... If you're the bus driver and if you don't know that this is going on, then that might be quite alarming to see a person with, like, a bloody ripped shirt walk onto your bus.

But he didn't seem to care, so it was all good. This is awesome. Like, right now I'm looking at a zombie military Hannibal Lecter. And that was some kind of rabid monster zombie that I just ran by just now. That was also awesome.

Facing small children. That's fun. Yes. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, I think it's funny that this area in particular now is so used to it, because, yeah, I pulled up to the stoplight down the street coming here, and it was a good amount before it even started, but, like, the car that pulled up next to me, the girl in the passenger seat looked like she'd been brained with a hammer.

And on a normal day, you'd be like, I hope they're driving to the emergency room right now, but here, you're just like, oh, hey, how's it going? It's sad that it's become so commonplace to see people in horrible, horrible, bloody mess, and. We're waiting in great anticipation because it looks like it's about to start. There's more and more zombies just crowding around us, and it's getting darker and darker, and it's just, yeah, I'm very pumped for what's about to go down. If you haven't noticed on this show, we like to go out into the world.

We're not ones like many. Not to, you know, name any names, but a lot of podcasts like to live in their mom's basement. And we're a little better than that, I think, because we get out into the world and experience things. We're pretending to grow and become better people. We're not, but I mean, we're pretending.

So, yeah, this is another one. Of those episodes that I thought, you know, sure there's a zombie outbreak, but let's just conduct a regular old episode. So, as we go along, we're going to talk to some of these zombie people, but... Yeah, we're also just going to have our normal episode in the middle of this mess. So we'll take a break and come back with more crazy zombie activities.

Let's all go to the lobby Let's all go to the lobby Let's all go to the lobby To. Get ourselves a treat Delicious things to eat The popcorn can't be beat The sparkling drinks are just dandy The chocolate. Bars and the candy So let's all go to. The lobby To get. Ourselves a treat Let's.

All go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat. It never stops. All right, so we are here with Lindy Liu, the co-creator of this event. Truthfully, I've kind of done this before. The sad part is it's been, what.

Six years? Six years, yeah. That's really weird because it seems like we just did this. But, yeah, it was in the early print days of the Out of These Stewies, which most of you don't know anything about, so we better start over. So I guess I will ask you, and you've probably answered this one a million times at this point, but how did all of this get started?

This started because John King and I have the same birthday and we wanted to throw a rad birthday party. So we, uh, decided to do a zombie walk. Um, it was one of the first ones in the world. Yay. Whatever.

Um, and, uh, we made tactical business cards and might've spray painted some things about it and almost a hundred people showed up for the first one. So then it became a reoccurring thing every year. Yeah. Did you even plan on it being a event as much as just like your birthday party like just kind of event inviting friends and. Stuff that first time or what did you even have any idea what you were doing at that point no no we did not um or claim to now that's arguable.

Yeah no no we we had no idea we were. Really shocked that 89 people showed up we thought we were like wow i can't believe it And as I was just saying before we started filming, we were having almost that many policemen. Here this year to control the crowd. So we didn't. And then we got about six months out from when we did it the first year.

And so many people had called us and stuff like that asking if we were going to do it again. So we thought we should. Yeah, just being there the second year, it already had built up so much just notoriety at that point that it was amazing how many people showed up just that second year. I don't even know what the count was on that. But it was, I mean, compared to the first year when nobody knew about it, that second year it was huge.

It seemed massive. Yeah. Yeah. For something that, you know, really hadn't even started getting press at that point. It was all just kind of word of mouth.

And, you know, you guys just sort of spreading the word with flyers. We're very popular. And good looking. If you say so. And good looking.

Oh, but yeah. So it's grown exponentially. Exponentially. Exponentially. Exploding it.

Ridiculously? How about that one? Yeah, it's amazing how much, you know, looking at how much it's grown over the years. So are you prepared? Have you been prepared for that?

I don't know if we've been prepared for five years. No, we're, you know. We've got it pretty well down what we have to do every year to make it, like, safe and fun for everybody. It is an overwhelming amount of people, but that's kind of what makes it amazing. And everybody's really, like, good every year.

Nobody, like, wants to come out and just destroy everything, you know. So it's been pretty good. We're partnering now with, like, the Monkey Wrench. So it's, like, we've got more space. It's much bigger.

So, yeah, I think we're doing good. We're doing good. Definitely. Yeah. And then just, you know, that's the planning end of it, prepared.

Mentally, were you prepared for the kind of numbers that showed up? No. Second or third, or by the time you started getting just droves, like, what? The year that people tried to overturn the TARC bus was when I realized we were not prepared and needed insurance. That's true.

So you don't think about that stuff. No. I can at least go to our main question. We were trying to think of something, you know, useful to ask people here. So, again, being the movie geeks that we are, the zombie outbreak, you know, happens.

You're building your stronghold. You can only take three movies into the stronghold with you. What movies are they? God, really? Three movies?

Hard question. Who only takes three movies? It's limited space. You've got food. You've got to plan ahead.

If you're ill-prepared... A real movie geek would know better and would build an entire separate compound. Okay, so three movies. Three movies. Jeez.

Okay, Shogun Assassin, for sure. Oh, my God. This is a horrible question. It's a mean question, yeah. Probably the.

New Dawn of the Dead, and I know that's whatever, but you get to hear Johnny Cash, and I'm assuming if you're an idiot and only have three movies that you're not going to remember to bring music with you. So that's why, and it's good. It is pretty. And the third one, Die Hard. You can't go wrong with Die Hard.

It's a Christmas movie. It's classic. It's Christmas. You might be in there for a while. Covers your holiday.

Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. Oh. That's a solid list.

I didn't do it. I don't know. I'm just telling you. I'm doing an interview. He's a way better interviewee than I am.

He's, like, clever. John, come here and be clever. So, yes, so you come and sit down and be clever. Okay. Okay.

Thank you. All right, thank you. And ask him that damn question. That's a hard question. She doesn't like my question.

I don't like that question. So, yeah, now we're here with John King, the other creator of this thing. I was going into that with her. What preparation did you, as you've gotten into this crazier, bigger event every year, what exactly can. You do to prepare for it?

Oh, well, because it's gotten this big and it takes place in the center of town and it moves, um, the logistics are a nightmare and we work very closely with the city government and we have to work with all five major branches. Um, so we have to work very closely with the police, of course, traffic, uh, waste management, um, Everybody. And everybody has to sign off on it. The emergency services. It's a lot of work.

It's a lot of work. And it's costly. They make us get millions of dollars worth of insurance to cover everybody. But we have still managed to keep it a free event where everybody is invited. But because of that, yeah, it's a ton of work.

And I don't know if you've noticed, but my press photo this year was me hanging myself in the I did see that, actually. It's kind of, you know... Put you in that frame of mind. Yeah. It makes me feel that way a little bit sometimes, and that's where that came.

Up, yeah. Well, yeah, that's what I was saying to her. It's something you never... I mean, that first year, you're throwing a birthday party. You couldn't have imagined any of this.

No way. But then you get a little of that. And it makes it all worthwhile. Oh, so, I mean, this has become one of the bigger. I mean, it was... far as I know, one of the earliest ones I'd seen in the country.

We hadn't heard of any when we started. I think later the second year we came across a website that claimed they had done one a few months before us. But we had no idea. And Pittsburgh has gotten kind of huge, but I'd say we're still probably one of the biggest in the country now. I would imagine.

I looked up online and there's all these different people that claim different numbers and we're right up there. Last year we had Between 8 and 9, the city government said about 8,500, and that's about as big as any other one that we've ever seen. And that's amazing for this size city, too. Well, you know, Pittsburgh is the home of zombies. They can claim it as the birthplace, and I'm all right with that.

So I can see where theirs will be pretty big, yeah. We're a secondary home of zombies. We're the other home. We're where we shipped the zombies after that. Well, you know, I mean, the two creators of Night of the Living Dead, one was a Pittsburgh guy and the other one a Louisville dude, and, you know, Return of the Living Dead was right here.

We're the second home of zombies. I'll take that. I did want to ask, the route has changed so many times now. Is it because they keep wanting to find a better way, or is it stuff that you. guys want to do it differently. The original we wanted to change it every year and then in the middle there got big and we kind of kept to the same but we kind of outgrew the places we were before and we also need to work more with the neighborhood and the city and we all got together and figured the best way we thought we could do it definitely cool keep it going we got to make everybody happy yeah let's see anything else What was the question that she thought?

The question she hates? Again, I was just trying to come up with a fun movie tie-in. So I was like, okay, the zombie outbreak happens. You're building your stronghold. You can only take three movies with you.

What are they? Nice. That's a good one. It's hard. Only take three movies.

No, I like it. I like it a lot. Only take three movies. The Watchmen, number one. All right.

V for Vendetta. Nice. And. Man, that's a good question. Man, I don't know.

What did she say? What did she come up with? Well, it's just fun that of the two of you, we've got two Zack Snyder movies, but different ones. Oh, really? She picked the Dawn of the Dead remake, so that's interesting.

Yes. So what movie did she say? She said Dawn of the Dead. She said the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Oh, that's a good one.

Yeah. Can't go wrong with that. That's classic. I'll tell you, of that series, the 2004 remake is probably my favorite. Yeah.

But, you know, for remakes, I thought that Savini's remake, Annihilating the Dead, was. Really good, too. It is. Probably not as good as the original, but it was really good. It's pretty good.

I have to say that I think the most impressive thing is the upgrade for Barbara. I think she's so... To me, I still love the original better. I think that's the only thing it does. I liked her hysterics, but in the remake, I liked how fucking tough she got.

Yeah, true. And she's not helpless the whole time. There it is. You did it. Ash.

Nice. Well, I guess I will let you get back to the insanity here. We have Ash. Definitely. We'll forward those on to everybody too.

But yeah, thanks again. They only come out at night. They're mean, rude, and dead. Not them. Them.

Them. There's a hundred of those things out there. How many did you say? A hundred. The dead are refusing to remain buried.

What are we going to do? What are we going to do? We're going to call the boss. They've come back to life. They're hungry.

And they're not vegetarians. The graveyard out there is full of people coming out of the ground. We have a little problem. What the hell is going on here? Rabbit weasels.

What? It's party time. We got a party. It's party time. Do you want party?

They're back from the grave and ready to party. It's party time. The return of the living dead. We got a party. All the whippo on the floor, but your A-bones busted and you threw the door, so do the dance.

Cheers. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. I hammered down Mr. Generator's gems, but your pistons don't work to the dead.

Run for ten, the surfing dead. Come on, turn it. In, the living dead insist. It's the latest twist to do the dead. Can we ask you about the cars?

Hi. You can ask. Yeah, sure. These are awesome. They are awesome.

I'm curious as to how you guys made these. They're just amazing. They're all caskets. They are? They're actually used caskets.

One of her boarders at her farm happened to have access to them. And got them for us. And her husband mainly worked on that and welded it and added it to a go-kart frame. I mean, it's not really much to it. They are awesome, either.

They're fun to play with. Do you think you should, like, patent these and sell them to other zombies so they can, like, you know, get around faster because they're all slow and shit? They're pretty fast. I think that'd be a great idea. That'd be a good...

Good way to get some money. So you have to kind of watch it. But no, we've had people ask, and it's just kind of hard to get the caskets. They're not cheap. Yeah, I mean, they're clearly made with love, right?

Yeah, you have to know somebody since they're used. Understandable. Pretty much when people get cremated and have an open casket. Oh, okay. So we have to use ones and clean them.

That's a good one. reusing, recycling. Isn't that how you do it? It's recycling. We've got a couple. We actually own a haunted house.

Or a haunted attraction. So we just have a building with it. I do want to ask our big question. So the zombie outbreak happens. You're building your stronghold.

You can only take three movies with you in the stronghold. What do you take? I don't know where to begin with that. It's a tough question. Night of the Living Dead.

Classic. Zombieland, just because I have to. Nice. And Tremors, just because it's a screwed up movie. Tremors is awesome.

I love the Tremors. That was a punishment as a kid, and now I really like it. It's like my mom would. Make me watch it. We have a Tremors episode.

We have one where we talk about Tremors forever. It's pretty awesome. I'll have to look it. It's taped in here, so I won't lose it. Yeah, it's epic.

Because if I don't do that, everything falls out of my pocket, so I end up with things taped to me. That's true. Which opens. One of the downsides of having a go-kart, yeah. Everything bounces around, and by the end of the parade or this walk, I won't be able to feel anything, so.

Nice. Awesome. Oh, thank you for talking to us. No, we just think you have very cool cars. They are very nice, very nice.

Thank you. In darkness you will find me. I dance among the dead. But very soon I'll need to hunt the center flood instead. Rising from your earth bed.

It thickens in the air. A smell gone sweetly rancid. I know that you are near. Tonight, we'll make love till we die. Tonight, we'll make love till we die.

Dave, I do not get superheroes. Oh my god, I don't get you. What don't you get? Towerbot here. Well, the meatbags were going to say that if you're a geek and like podcasts, then you could try Tower of Technobabble at www.toweroftechnobabble.com.

Then this started. Well, it's up to you. I'm gonna get my taser and put a stop to this. Towerbot out. Okay, monkeys.

It's knock time. I know. You think I'm nasty, but I am no common girl. I once slept with the devil. It was really no big thrill.

The passion of the killers would lie away from me. Just show me my own meaning of death and ecstasy. Tonight, we'll make love till we die. I don't even know how to process any of this. I honestly don't even...

I'm overwhelmed. I'm at a loss for words. There's a zombie fight going on over there with swords. Oh, he's staggering out into the road. He's going to die.

Oh, wait, he's already dead. Never mind. Scratch that. Undead. Okay, tell him your name.

Emily. Okay, so the zombie outbreak happens, obviously. Look around. And you're building your stronghold. You're building a compound.

You're loading up everything you need. You can only take three movies with you for the rest of who knows how long. What movies do you take to your stronghold? Return of the Jedi. All right.

Royal Tenenbaums. different direction all. Right yeah um oh gosh i. Like the range everybody else is throwing horror movies around today so yeah you know. Um oh that's a tough one um i don't know yeah it's like there's so many to choose from you know it's. A tough question i.

Know it's a tough question i don't know if i can answer my own question. Um yeah i don't know what the third. One would be Spin the wheel. What's the first one you think of? The Godfather.

All right. You can't go wrong with The Godfather. I figure that's what it'll come down to when the zombie outbreak happens. You just got to start grabbing stuff. So the first one you grab, Godfather, you know.

Can't go wrong with that. That's true. It's a classic. It is. And people die, so you'll still have that going on around you.

You'll feel at home, you know. Yeah, that's true. The zombie motorcade going by. Police on quad racers here. Makes way for the zombie president.

That's kind of what it's like, yeah. Zombie motorcade. Yeah. Zombie Ronald Reagan is driving through town, and, you know, it's very crowded. Well, he can get shot and keep living, so he might be the undead.

I think he is. He looked undead before he was dead. Wow. A lot of presidents before they died looked just zombie-like in general. Yeah.

But, you know, as movie geeks, you have to like him because he was in movies. And he liked Star Wars, I mean. I wonder. A lot of people probably won't even get that. Kids listening are just like, that dude likes Star Wars?

Anyway. I wonder if Ronald Reagan ever saw any zombie movie and liked it. I don't know why that question popped in my head, but that would be an interesting little piece of trivia to find out. You know, like maybe, you know, he was, I don't know what he was doing as far as politics in the 70s or something, but, you know, maybe he caught Don of the Dead on TV and kind of dug it. Who knows?

By then he was, like, governor of California probably. Yeah, governor of California. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That happened to Arnold, so you never know. President Arnold right around the corner.

Just a minor adjustment in the laws and we can have President Arnold. Sure, sure. God help us. You'd vote for President Arnold Schwarzenegger, wouldn't you? Sorry, I didn't know we were.

This is happening. No, that was the right response. Dumbfounded. No. God help us.

What was the question that I just failed to answer because I was so preoccupied by the zombie apocalypse? We made a connection between the governor of California becoming president, so President Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's a minor adjustment in the laws. We can make it happen. Are you down with that?

How did this thread go there? I don't even know how we got here. We should probably get back to zombies. I don't even know. I don't know.

President, zombies, it's a mess. I give up. They're getting cameras out. It might be time for zombies. I don't know.

It's pretty exciting. Random people are walking by, so that means zombies must be pretty close. It has been established that persons who have recently died... have been returning to life and committing acts of murder. The zombie outbreak has happened. Oh, God, the humanity.

Come with me Take a ride to victory Come on baby. And duck inside Nowhere to run, nowhere to. Hide 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.

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And now, on with the show! Don't be slow. Okay, so we're back. And as promised, we're going to continue on with our normal episode of Movie Meltdown in the middle of the carnage here. We just witnessed the crazy zombie...

Some of it was an attack. Some of it was just people strolling by. It was interesting. We do have a little bit of blood on us. Any other takes on this nonsense we just witnessed?

I am a bit upset about the blood. But, no, this was awesome. Like, they had the circling helicopter... They had the SWAT team, like, ready on the side by Dairy Queen in case shit got real. Yeah, that wasn't a pretend SWAT team.

I think probably the best, like, zombie performances by far were, like, the little kids dressed up as zombies. Like, they were vicious. They really did. Like, it looked like they were real children zombies, like, out to kill me, and it was terrifying. Yeah.

But, yeah, I didn't see that coming. A lot of strange and unique zombie outfits. I did see a zombie in a tutu and a cowboy hat. There's all kinds. Very simple, but I have to give him credit for originality.

That's very strange. It makes sense. If you were a zombie, you wouldn't necessarily know how to dress yourself. That's true. I didn't think of it in terms of, like, a zombie looking for clothes.

I always think of it as, like, the person who died was wearing those clothes. So, like, that person must have been a weirdo, lives in his basement, Buffalo Bill sort. That's what I was thinking. I was, like, I was trying to picture the circumstances in which the person was wearing a tutu and put on that cowboy hat right as zombie attack happened. Yeah.

You never know. So, yeah, who knows? It's just. It just makes you realize that, yeah, you know, there are the weirdos in the world who dress up, you know, in basements. They're part of the zombie population as well, so you have to.

This whole thing is built around weirdos that dress up. It's something to keep in mind, and I appreciate him reminding me of that. Which, again, is my favorite part of our take on it is, as usual, we showed up in our normal attire. We're just dressed like geeks like we always are, so. As you know, the zombie walk is an educational experience.

It always is that. Primarily. For everyone involved. I feel like I've learned something tonight. And I will cherish knowing that I got to see, you know, a zombie cowboy tutu man thing.

I don't know what. And cough and go-karts. Right, right. Yeah. But it was awesome, the whole thing.

Yeah, the kids are definitely my favorite part because they're just inherently creepy being a child zombie. There's no performative aspect necessary. That's what makes a good child actor is that natural thing going on. You grow up and you lose that. You try too hard.

There was some trying too hard tonight, by the way. Yeah, that usually kind of comes with it, too. You get people who aren't actors trying to act, so you get that. It's usually how it goes. All right, I guess we can roll into our geek activities here.

I was trying to think of some stuff I'd done because we haven't really addressed much lately. So I think going back a few weeks, I did watch The Girl from the Naked Eye. Is anyone familiar with this movie? I have no idea what this is. It just came out like maybe the last month or so.

It was just made this year. And it's got Jason Yee is our lead. And actually does a decent job. Like for somebody I didn't know of, and I kind of looked, I guess he's done a little bit of work in the past. But again, not really a big name.

He carries it better than I expected for like a... It may have gotten a theatrical run somewhere, but I was assuming it was straight to DVD. So that's where I saw it. It went immediately to Redbox somewhere. So yeah, it's interesting because it...

Number one, it's the cover of the movie, and I'll get back to that. But as far as what it is, it's trying really hard to be like. A film noir kind of thing. It's film noir, but at the same time, it wants to be a martial arts, kick you in the head kind of movie. Oh, mashup.

It's a different... And the thing is, in the end, it's trying... I think that's the part that's difficult, is it's trying... So hard to be Phil Noah. I mean, it does the voiceover.

It is him figuring out a murder. I mean, it's trying really, really hard to be that. Almost a little too heavy-handed on that end of it. But in the end, it's actually got a lot of decent action stuff. It almost delivers on the action.

He is seemingly trained in it. What's funny is it doesn't follow any rules of a normal martial arts movie. Usually it's kind of specific as to what they're trying to do. Like, this one is mixed martial arts at best. Like, it's the most use of that term because they'll just be, like, straight-up kung fu action, and then they'll just, like, punch them in the face like it's a bar fight, and then they'll headbutt them, and then my favorite part is then sometimes they just shoot each other.

Like, they'll just throw the rules out the window and just pull out guns. They're just like, okay, I mean, I guess this is how it works in the real world. You try to win at any cost. You shoot people if you need to. But it was interesting that, yeah, it didn't even... pick a specific type of martial arts or anything it was just barroom ball one minute then a somewhat disciplined form of kung fu the next it was very interesting uh as to the the cast the other two people in the one again i've been guilty of this twice in the past like two months now i've watched a movie specifically because i went is that dominique swain all right wow now i gotta watch it it's got dominique swain in it.

I continue to be befuddled at every movie she's in. I didn't even know she was still working. She's turning up in a lot of stuff lately. But at the same time, she... And this one has, like, a scene and a half.

Like, she is not at all important in this movie. But what's even funnier... I mean, to me, that's kind of like... She's way in the back. Because the poster is, like, a big shot of Jason there.

And he's doing his, like, kung fu. You know, he's Mr. Tough Guy stance in the front. And then you've got her second character. And then off in the background is Dominique.

So I'm like, okay, she's not going to be a lead. But the second person, the one that's almost as big as our lead, is Miss Sasha Gray. That in and of itself, I was like, okay. So now we're figuring out why you watch this movie. No.

Not that you can prove. And if I was going to, that's not where I would start. You've got to give her this. If you're going to pick a porn actress, porno actress to act in like a real movie she is obviously will be the best choice of of anyone probably it. Doesn't look like most scary porn actresses so.

If you have to go with porn actress in your movie like you know at least don't go scrape the bottom barrel go sasha gray you know do the best you can yeah so it could be worse. But no that was my thing is like i know she's trying to get into legit acting she's trying to pull a tracy lords i guess and become a actress So I was like, okay, this is interesting. We'll see what they do with her in this. That's even funnier, especially because she's almost as big as he is on the poster there and the cover art. She has maybe a line.

Basically, the door opens. She's in an elevator. He gets on the elevator. She asks him a question. Some sort of craziness ensues on the elevator.

She stands there in the elevator the whole time. He gets out. The doors close. That's the entire performance of Sasha Gray in the movie. Sorry to spoil that for you.

That's probably more of a heads up to you, though. If you're looking for a hot Sasha Gray movie, this is not what you're looking for. So she's sort of a glorified extra. Yeah. Well, I guess it's more of a cameo.

I mean, I guess if you know who she is, you're like, hey, look, there's Sasha Gray. But the fact that they're marketing it, like the fact that she is massively featured on that poster slash video box that just like they're trying to sucker people in with, hey, look at this Sasha Gray movie. And I'm like, she's got no scene. She is a cameo at best. So that I think I thought was more entertaining was the marketing angle on that movie.

Because, yeah, at least Dominique has a good amount of speaking lines. And she's in an extra portion later. She comes back. So she's got a little bit of screen time. And she's way off in the background there.

But, yeah, they heavily market Sasha. So I thought that was interesting. Maybe more than the movie. Oh, let's see. What else?

Other than that, let's see. I did watch Cypher. Have you seen Cypher? Wait, who's in that? Um, Jeremy Northup?

Lucy Liu? What's it? Okay, I probably haven't seen it. Lucy, once you named Lucy Liu, I was like, I've only seen maybe two movies from getting to end that she's been in. Well, that's the, I mean, I remembered this mostly because of the director.

The director is Vincenzo Natalia, who actually did Cube and sort of made a name for himself pretty early on. Yeah. Oh. So Cube wasn't, wasn't his first movie. Cube was his first movie.

And then this is like a, like right in the middle. Like he did two other, like one that I watched the trailer for and it's, I think it came after Cypher and it looks like a really, like a much smaller movie. It looks like one that he did almost independent. Like, and then like Cypher was, I guess the full, I think he'd done some short films, but otherwise I think it's like the followup to Cube and it's a much bigger, like just production wise. Like it's, it's, you know, It's still got a relatively low budget, but it's got two recognizable actors as leads.

And then as you go into it, it's got pretty impressive... Again, for a minimal budget, it's got some pretty impressive sets. And some of the effects that they do, they have to work in some things that are kind of weird as it goes on. And for a minimal budget, he's done some pretty good stuff. Again, I like the last thing he did, notably because we did a whole episode on it.

He also is the director of Splice. Did you see Spice? I enjoyed Spice very much. I like Spice. It's a fun movie.

I think it knows when to cross the lines and be kind of ridiculous, and I think it has fun with that. But at the same time, it's really well made, too. So I think that's, he really is kind of a talented director. But this one is just sort of weird. It's like corporate espionage kind of thing.

Like it's, Jeremy Northup's like this super mild-mannered kind of guy, and then he like He's secretly, like, his wife doesn't even know he's going in for these job interviews to get on with this mysterious company. And then the mysterious company makes him go through all these weird tests. And then he, like, gets on. And then basically they're sending him to meetings. And he thinks he's, like, recording stuff and, like, trying to get information about other companies.

And he's trying to steal their information. Again, all of this is so generic. And then as you get into it, I guess that's part of the plot. And then there's, like, other companies, like, trying to... and doubles back around. In the end, I think that was my problem with it.

It tries so hard to be tricky that it overcomplicates it to the point you kind of don't even care anymore. I think if he would have taken a few of the twists out, it probably would have been a more interesting movie. If you would have. Focused a little more on the characters, because I think he does a good job as far as he's the super mom-manor guy and he realizes he's becoming a different... They give him a new name and they send him off on these jobs and he's in a different town and he doesn't know anybody. and he realizes he can become a different person.

So he actually, like, adopts a new personality along the way, and that's kind of interesting. And Lucy Liu's just sort of this weird, mysterious person working for some higher-up somewhere, some group. You know, it's, like, all of it's so, like, confusing midway in that eventually it all, you know, pans out. But, yeah, halfway in, you're just like, I don't know what a lot of what they're trying to do here, but it's kind of interesting, so I'm sticking with it, so... It's certainly not perfect, but it's well made.

Again, it shows he's definitely a good director. Especially for it to be a second movie. He's definitely a director I need to look out for. Because I really like Splice. I really like Cube a lot.

This is about all he's... I didn't know he did that in between. I honestly thought that Splice was his follow-up to Cube. I think he did two other ones. I feel like Cube.

Like the individual moments of suspense are so great. Like some of the most suspenseful scenes that's like I've seen in any movie, like in, you know, that I would say, you know, the last 10 years or so, like really, you know, gut wrenching scenarios where these people have to go through these death traps, but as a movie, it just, it doesn't come together so well. Like, you know, understandably because it's a lower budget kind of, you know, first feature that some of the acting's a little rough and everything. but it's a really cool original concept, but as a movie, like it didn't quite gel together and splice. I liked a lot. Cause it felt like, like this is the only like weird since Cronenberg is probably never going to direct like a really weird, you know, Cronenberg, Cronenberg like type movie sort of gotten away from that now.

Yeah. Yeah. This is, I'm like, this is probably the closest we'll get to that. Um, But at the same time, I did think it was a little underwhelming. Actually, some people thought it got too weird.

I think it should have gone even weirder. The ending kind of... just like it. Gets a lot more traditional and it does. It becomes more like a structure just you know we standard monster beave movie which is fine like it worked well on that level but I'm he's just one of those directors like I've seen like so much that I love in the movies that I've seen so far I'm I think he has like a masterpiece in him. Yeah well that one the more interesting part is the middle where they're sort of questioning everything they do and yeah crossing lines they don't need to be crossing several right so yeah I I He definitely is really interesting.

And I think you can see, like, he's sort of him getting his legs and kind of getting a feel for things. Because even there's a big improvement, I think, in the way that Cypher plays versus Splyce. I think even in that, you know, a couple of years and making another movie in between, he gets better. So I am kind of looking forward to seeing where he goes with, you know, the next movie. I agree, yeah.

So that's most of what I have watched. Are you next up? Yeah, I mean... I've just been kind of on, I guess because for obvious reasons, I've been kind of going back and watching some Tony Scott movies. I missed half his stuff.

He's just one of those directors, like, I always knew, like, you know, I liked the movies I saw of his. And I knew I hadn't seen half of them. I was like, oh, I'll get to them later. Like, I never thought much of them. But as I'm reading all these tributes to him and, you know, the movies of his that people are mentioning...

I'm like, you know what? I really need to see The Last Boy Scout. I need to see Unstoppable. Because apparently these are really fun, like, just well-directed action movies. And, you know, I'd like to check them out.

So I've been kind of doing some backtracking. Like, I rewatched Men on Fire, which I didn't know what to think of at first. But I think it's a really, like, people didn't give that movie enough credit for being, like, a hard-boiled, like, just fucking intense revenge movie. Like, it goes all the way as far as the, like... like almost Korean revenge, you know, like that level of intensity. And it's a big, for a big, for like a Hollywood studio movie.

Like he, it's, it's kind of amazing to see how far like Denzel Washington, Washington goes with the ass kicking in that one. So I thought that was really underrated. And that one seems like it got more respect as it went on. Like it didn't do well when it opened. And like, I was like everyone else when I first saw it that, you know, when I first saw how crazy he was, that, that was kind of, I think that movie is interesting because it marks a weird turning point in his movie making where he did this weird like saturated move.

I don't know what the effect is, but it's like a blurring of the camera and it shifts and there's like a speed up and it slows back down. And then like when people are talking, you see words like text on the screen as they say lines, which I think only Man on Fire did that. But as far as like that camera thing movement, like he did it in Domino. He did it in Taking a Pill Hound. Yeah.

Remake. I think he did an Unstoppable remake. also but it's weird no i thought like that was i liked it better the second time around and uh and i forgot that mickey rourke was in it and then that made me want to go like re-watch mickey rourke's older movies from the 80s so and so i ended up re-watching angel heart and barfly nice um which i like those movies a lot i think those might be his best i haven't watched maybe his two best i don't know I haven't. Watched it since, but Barfly was really hard to get through at the time. It was so depressing. For some reason, I also thought of Barfly because we're talking outside a bar here and we just got done with a zombie walk.

And I feel like Barfly, he behaves like a zombie in that movie. He had to, as far as acting research, looked at a lot of zombie movies and how they move and stuff. Instead of eating people, he just beats people up and gets drunk a lot. But basically, the whole movie is just Mickey Rourke, you know. trudging around like a zombie in LA and it's, it's really interesting and it's, it's honestly what probably one of my favorite movies he was in and Angel Heart is just, you know, just, it's a whole different thing. It's a whole different thing but it's still, it creeps, you know, it gives me chills when I watch it still.

I think it's visually, I mean. Yeah, Alan Parker, I mean, he's, I like the way his movies look. I mean, he's, he gets a lot of shit as a director, I think, but, uh, that's definitely, a lot of good stuff especially after i think he did uh like he did midnight express and uh some other famous movie in the 70s early 80s and then kind of tapered off but i think angel heart is like up there with his best even though it's like later 80s but yeah that's those are just been kind of like nothing in specific just kind of re-watching a bunch of shit this past week? Side note on Barfly, like, I guess Bukowski wanted Sean Penn for it, and I think about that a lot, like, what a different movie that would have been, and what an inferior movie it would have been.

Yeah, I don't think, I think Sean Penn, to be honest, I think he was at a mode, judging from the other movies he was in back in that period, like, he was kind of hamming it up in a lot of the stuff he was doing. Unlike the rest of his career, when. He's known for being understated and nuanced. So subtle. Yeah, okay, that's true.

He does, I mean, he goes, I just, I am Sam just popped in my head. I'm like, yeah, you're right. Okay, I am Sam. I'll give you that. But like, yeah, I think, you know, he was kind of this, I feel like every movie in the 80s he was in, he was always this hothead who was screaming his head off.

And he just, Mickey Rourke, like, I'm sure he would never want to admit it. And if I ever, you know, told him this to his face, he'd probably punch me out. It's weird. I don't know Mickey Rourke. He probably lives thousands of miles away from me.

But it's always like, I have this weird, intimidating feeling. I don't want to talk shit about Mickey Rourke. He'll find me. Like, he's an intense guy. But no, like, I feel like he probably, you know, if any actor had been there or could relate to Bukowski, it would have been Mickey Rourke, you know?

He, you know, he knows what it's like to probably be fucked up in an alleyway, having just gotten his ass kicked, drunk off his ass, and then getting up the next day in his own vomit and walking right back into the bar. You know? But still being beautiful. Like, there's something so. Lovely and soulful about him.

That was probably the last movie before he got, like, he went into boxing. I mean, that was... It was like 89? Not physically, right? Yeah.

He's lost that now. And the irony, that's so weird. Like that movie Johnny Handsome, like that's so ironic. What he looks like in that movie, like the makeup in that movie, like dude, that's exactly what you look like in the year 2012. I want to get in a time machine and be like, but again, yeah, even saying that, I'm like, oh God, make your work.

I hope he never hears me. Seriously. He is a lover. He is not a fighter. He is a lover.

He's a sweet guy. He's real cool. And he still turns in great performances. Oh, no. He's one of the greatest.

I won't pretend like I haven't talked shit about the way he's looked in the last several years. But, I mean, he's still a good actor. Oh, yeah. He's a great actor. Even through all that.

You know? It's like even aside from you should be like repulsed by just looking at him. He's such a good actor, he still wins you back over, and that's impressive. Yeah, and I mean, like, and he's, you know, he's given some, like, he's phoned in some performances, understandably, like in the 90s, and even in the 80s, he was kind of miscast, just because I think, you know, he didn't know, because he never, he was that guy from the streets, he didn't really, he never wanted to be that professional actor, you know, with an agent, you know, he didn't want to go through all that, so I mean, I feel like he would just get stuff on a whim, and not really feel like going into, like, what was that IRA movie where you had to have the Irish accent?

It was atrocious. Like, his accent was so bad. But at the same time, if you got past the accent, like, yeah, I really believe him as a character. He's that good. But, yeah, he's just awesome.

And Barfly is up there, definitely. It's one of his best performances. Angel Heart, too, I think so. That was just a weird, depressing time in Hollywood, I guess, because I'm pretty sure, if I'm remembering correctly. In that span of a couple years, we had Barfly and Ironweed come out.

Oh, now what's Ironweed? I've never heard of that one. It's kind of that same movie. I remember finding both of those hard to get through because it's just two people drunk in a bar the whole movie. Ironweed was like the Jack Nicholson version.

It was like him and Meryl Streep, wasn't it? Yeah. Again, it's just depressing stories and being drunk in a bar your whole life. Yeah. These are just...

These are rough watches. Also. Those are my favorite movies. Seriously, my favorite movies are Drunk People in Bars. They're so great.

Like, the character... They're such great character studies. And also, let's not forget, Frank Stallone, his moment of glory. Can we forget? As the guy who's just like, you want to get beat up, bum?

You know. the whole movie he's just Mickey Rourke's just talking shit to him you know challenging him to a fight and it's just great but yeah that was just I did not I mean for like until I guess before The Wrestler I had no idea like the kind like as far as his movie resume like what he did before this whole you know later era of Mickey Rourke with a different face these awesome movies like Barfly and Angel Heart and Johnny Handsome And what else? I guess Pauper Greenwich Village. That was a really good one. I just watched Rumblefish, which I had mixed. I have some issues with, but it was still awesome.

I want to go back and rewatch. I barely remember. He's definitely the best part of the movie. The first, I'd say the opening 30 minutes are just. Amazing like one of the like it it starts out like there's a great movie in that first 30 minutes and then it just turns weird and has this abrupt awkward ending that i didn't think resonated or made sense but yeah mickey rourke was awesome he his character like he was he was colorblind and deaf which was weird uh which explained why he was you know he's talking like this you know why why you gotta get fucked up all the time it's like dude take it up a few decibels you're like oh he's deaf okay that's I understand.

No offense to any deaf listeners we had. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. I don't want to insult the deaf or anything, but I just, Mickey Rourke was just mysteriously talking in a low volume for the first half of the movie and not till like in the middle where they like, oh, by the way, he's deaf.

I'm like, oh, okay. Well, I didn't know that. I thought they just had this, the mic, the boom mic was being shitty or something. I don't know. But yeah, those are some great movies.

And he's still like the wrestler. It's an amazing movie. Man on Fire, I just watched that. He had a tiny part in that, but he seemed like a... I don't even remember.

He was like a bad guy. The Expendables. The Expendables. Is he even. In the second one?

I don't know. Everybody else is. I don't know. Everyone else is. He might as well be.

I'm sure he came back. He shows up at some point. I just love, I always think that it's impossible for Hollywood to make another movie that he can be in looking the way he does, but they do. I love that they're like catering to him in every role. Oh yeah.

They're like, we love you, Mickey. Like he's a, no, seriously. He's like a, what do you call it? What's the word? Um, can't think of the right word.

Um, not a staple, but just, uh, it's like they look out for him, you know, they, they want, they want one of their own. Yeah. He's one of their own. He's like all the, this generation of actors or producers, they're like, oh, I grew up watching Mickey Rourke. He's, you know, he's one of the best.

Like, he was up there with De Niro for a time, and he just kind of, you know, disappeared. Let's hire him. He's got one of those comeback stories that I think Hollywood kind of likes. He is the comeback story. And audiences really like.

So I think, yeah, that carried him a while. Forget John Travolta. Yeah, it's getting to a point he's going to have to do something not expendable to sort of keep it going. But, yeah, that was a couple of years after that. Everybody kind of loved him just because it was a comeback story.

Yeah. The wrestler, I mean, that was almost mythic how hard he came back with that movie. It was amazing. He made that movie, I thought. Oh, yeah.

I don't know if you guys saw Big Fan. Was that the name of the film? Yes. Patton Oswalt, the writer did after that. I felt like that movie, well, see, I didn't like it.

And I felt like that movie was the movie the wrestler would have been in. It needed a director. It had the gravity of Mickey Rourke. And it needed Mickey Rourke. You know, Patton Oswalt was fine in it and everything, but it needed Aronofsky and It definitely needed Mickey Rourke to be that amazing on that level.

I kind of hate Aronofsky, so I'm giving. It away to Mickey Rourke. Oh, okay. Well, see, I know. I was iffy on Aronofsky before The Wrestler.

I think between this and Black Swan, I hope he stays with this raw kind of handheld visual style. I definitely prefer it over, say, The Fountain or Requiem. I don't know why. Maybe it gives more room for actors to be like give these performances like Natalie Portman. And I don't know what you guys thought of her and black Swan.

I thought it was good. What did you, what did you, what were your thoughts? It was really over the top for me, which I can, it was, it was like, if somebody commits to being over the top and they're like, it's a very director, then I'm awesome with that. If they're like, I'm a Harvard educated intellectual and this film is actually important. I'm not okay with that.

Like it was a silly movie. I thought it's very silly. It's very sensationalistic. I think maybe because I saw in theaters, And it's like maybe because of the big screen seeing that stuff. I was like, whoa, my mind is blown.

Maybe if I were to see it on TV, I'd be like, oh, this is kind of– he's blowing smoke up our ass with a lot of this. But I remember being in the theater and people snickering at moments they weren't supposed to snicker. I still don't know. How– I love, though– I mean, in this kind of way, like, I do think he wasn't– he wasn't being as pretentious as I thought he could have been like he wasn't afraid to be he wasn't the fountain pretentious yeah it wasn't the fountain pretentious he wasn't afraid to go like just skeezy like you know like showgirls level of just like we're gonna actually you know unabashedly show you this just gratuitous you know long sex scene between these you know two hot actresses and you know I'm not gonna you know it doesn't mean anything it's just there you know like he didn't he wasn't pretending to it you know it wasn't too high-minded I guess it wasn't afraid to just be batshit Which, I was fine with.

The fountain, you know, that was just too, I don't even want to talk about it. I think he's just like that. I think, because everything I've seen of his, and I've missed a few, I think, but in general, I think he's just, I think he is very talented, but at the same time, he can be super pretentious. Oh, yeah. You've got to be kind of okay with.

Knowing what you're getting yourself into with his movies, because I know people that love what he's doing, and then people that are totally turned off by the really over-the-top, in-your-face stuff that it comes and goes. Like, he doesn't have to do that. He can do very normal scenes and then he can do stuff that is just chewing on the cellulite. Yeah, he definitely, he definitely gives the whole idea of, like, you know, I'm an artist, that kind of director. Like, he definitely, he's the reason that that's, like, mentioned in the pejorative, you know?

Like, he's the worst example of that. But yet, still kind of talented. Like, art directors. If he was a total hack, I would just call him out. But I'm like, Some of this stuff looks really good.

Even when it's going over the top and trying too hard, it looks good along the way. Exactly. Like, real art directors who I don't think are showy at all but, like, are legitimate, like, they put out good art and they're not, like, in your face about how great an art... Like, people like David Cronenberg, I'm sure they get pissed off when a guy like Aronofsky hugs all the, you know, the faming... attention or whatever. I don't know.

It sounds like he gets pissed off at a lot of directors lately. Did you guys hear that, Owen? Oh, well, you know, that's to be expected from him. He was kind of... He's been.

Talking shit about. He was giving shit to Nolan for doing a superhero movie. Yeah. He was being kind of a snob about it. In his defense, I do realize that, like, yeah, okay, you know, I like Batman, I like The Dark Knight Rises, but I do think a lot of what that was was him... having his release date of this movie, he knew wasn't going to make money.

And he's just on Team Cosmopolis. His whole cast is like, we're rooting for this movie. You know what? We're in competition with this other movie. We'll talk shit.

That's part of it. We want it to make money. And I feel like he wouldn't be outwardly talking shit about Batman if it weren't that his movie was coming out at the same time. It's almost unfair. He's like, damn it.

Well, I mean, he had to know when that was going out. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, he. We've all known for two or three years now. Yeah, but he didn't plan on his movie being released. Has anybody seen Cosmopolis?

I'm so... No, I'm gonna hopefully see it here in the next week. I'm gonna plan to go to Trip Chicago, and it's playing somewhere up there while I'm there. I definitely... I'm so stoked about this movie.

More than I think most people are, because it's been getting kind of mediocre... I love. The reviews it's been getting, by the way. Yeah. They're so, like, cliched, like, he's a bloodsucker, only this time a capitalist bloodsucker.

Like, it's like, oh, really? You're not going to try any harder than that? I was on an airplane. This is the excuse that I'm going to give for reading an Us magazine, but I was on an airplane, and there happened to be an Us magazine nearby, and I read the review section, and the review was so just blissfully clueless, like so confused, like really confounded as to why Edward, is that the character name, would be in this film. They were like, we don't get it.

It's like nowhere near as good as Twilight. How come he never. How come he never get out limo when he get haircut? Why don't he, he should be vampire more. Where's the van?

Like, I don't know. That's just, I just imagine that reviewer talking in like a Cro-Magnon and just, you know, caveman speak. Just confuse that. They're not singing to Twilight movie. It'd be like, they're just like us guys.

They're just like us. Edward, he shops at the grocery. He buys his cars on Craigslist, which is true by the way. Yeah. Right.

But I've just been watching, like, those... You know how, like, when a movie is released now, there'll be, like, a series of, like, five clips on YouTube, like, just released just to market it. And I'm always the person who, like, before I see a movie, I watch all those clips. It's bad. Like, I shouldn't.

I mean, I should go in cold. But I'm just... My anticipation is so great because I love Cronenberg. You know, I get... I got stoked for A Dangerous Method, which I was probably the one person who got excited for that movie.

I did, too. And it was good. It really was. But. Like I saw a clip from Cosmopolis where he was just talking about, he was having this conversation with this guy in his limo about what if, you know, the U.S. currency was replaced with the rat, like with a rat, the animal.

And they were just coming up with all these like jokingly about like. It's like, what about dead rats or pregnant rats? It's like, yes, the Euro was converted into white rats. And they're just like, they're joking about it. I'm like, this movie looks awesome.

Just that scene alone, it just looked weird. That's weird. I don't get it. I just want to know what kind of clothes they're wearing and where they got their hair done. Oh, sorry.

I thought it. Was us, Mike. It amuses me, too, because you know so much of his Twilight fan base. They're just going to go into this. They're just going to walk into this movie blindly. not knowing the weird LSD trip of a movie they're getting into, and they're just going to hate it.

Anybody that walks into a movie blind, it's their own fault. Especially a David Cronenberg movie blind. That's got to be the worst experience. If you're not a David Cronenberg fan, and you don't know you're about to watch a David Cronenberg movie, and you pay money to see it, the rage. I can't even begin to understand the anger you would feel.

I don't know, because I'm a David Cronenberg fan, but I can appreciate how angering, like, enraging that must be. It's the same people that just back, well, now nobody does that. I guess you could flip through the red box, but when they would just go to a movie, like a video store, and pick stuff up based on the box, and like, I know that actor, and watch that. I mean, if you're going in that line, it's your own fault. Can you imagine, like, how that would have been in 1995?

Like, the theater for Judge Dredd was packed, so you went in the next theater to see Crash. Like, oh, movie about car crashes. Oh, this is going to be pretty cool. And just, like, how that person must have just wanted to kill someone. And, like, just you can imagine just arguing with a box office guy, trying to get his money back.

I feel like Cronenberg has done that to a lot of people. Except that one. But never me because I've always been with him. That one out of 100 that was like, this is hot. Do that again.

Crash the car again. Crash the car, yeah. Do that thing with your leg in a brace. Never mind. Yeah, that one weirdo they had to kick out.

The crash weirdo. He kept showing up to every screening. Shut up, I like this movie. Anyway. I feel like I could do a whole episode on just Cronenberg movies.

I'm sure we could. Oh, man. For me, it always goes back to Cronenberg for me. My love of movies, I'll just go on to these Cronenberg kicks. He won't make a movie for a while, and I'll move on to other... directors and then when he comes out with something i'll just re-watch his shit and you know i'll buy into the hype for the release i'll see in theaters and it's it's it's everything's you know everything's right everything's right again with the movie world um i'm just glad he's still out there making his weird shit you know he could have he could have been like a martin scorsese not that martin scorsese movies are terrible you know anything but but he could have like gone to the hollywood studio system and done these big budget things and I'm glad he never.

He's definitely changed in recent years. He's changed, but he's never compromised. But he's still his own weird self to some extent. Oh, yeah. He's even weirder.

I would argue that he's weirder than he's ever been. These clips I've seen of Kalamopoulos are fucking weird. I don't know if you've seen these scenes. I haven't, but just because it's a little... It's going to be a fucking weird movie.

Like, he can hide it better now. Like, he sort of sneaks it in on the audience. Yeah. Whereas before, it was big, you know, plastic stuff on your face. You know, it was body armor.

Well, he has a perfect system. He's able to do that because, like, actors love him. Like, all the, you know, actors, you see them interview, like, oh, I always wanted to be in a David Cronenberg movie because he gets these amazing performances. Like, career... making performances out of actors. So they'll, you know, these amazing, sorry.

Keira Knightley. Yeah. Oops. Everyone, but these like, you know, she's hurty. She's hardly getting any roles these days.

Yeah. It's just, you know, just out on the streets, you know, their handout, it's crazy, but like, you know, these big name Hollywood's, you know, stars like Pattinson, you know, and they're, they decide to be in a Cronenberg movies, you know, and, his fan base has no fucking idea who david cronenberg is they've never seen one of his movies and uh yeah they get suckered into paying a movie ticket and that's how he gets to keep going it's almost a scam but. A whole new breed of fans that don't understand. What he's doing it's not cynical it's it's very he he makes good stuff he's very passionate about what he does and he loves he loves making movies and i love his movies. But uh yeah did we get to yours yet No.

Would you like to? We probably should. Okay. I don't know. I've seen several films in theaters in the last couple weeks.

I guess the one I'll talk about is Ruby Sparks. Did anybody see that one? That was the one I enjoyed the most. Okay. Are you familiar with this film?

I've already forgotten it. I've heard the title, and now I'm forgetting which one it is. It's the Zoe Kazan movie. She wrote it and did not direct it, but wrote it and stars in it with her, I guess, real-life love, Paul Dano. It is fantastic.

Like, I knew nothing going in. The premise is sort of familiar because it's essentially the same as, oh, my gosh, I've already forgotten the name of the movie. What's the Will Ferrell movie? Everything Must Go? A writer and.

Stranger than fiction. Stranger than fiction, yes. I actually like that, yeah. Yeah, and I loved that film. That film I thought was brilliant.

It was one of those films where I walked out of the theater and thought, okay, I hope that whoever wrote this is like a very elderly person who has been writing screenplays for years and years and really... knows what they're doing because this is genius this is a perfect screenplay and i went home and imdb'd him as like some 25 year old dude i was like seriously like. That's just discouraging when you find out like you watch a great movie like oh who wrote yeah like Like, who wrote this script? Oh, like, oh, and, you know, probably some Hollywood, yeah, like you said, veteran, it's like, it's someone my age, and you're like, God. Or younger. Like, you know, people like, people like Lena Dunham, just like, I mean, I love her.

Oh, that girl is so depressing. I love girls. It's like one of the best shows on TV, but that's all the more reason for me to just be depressed about like, I'm like, I want to write a script. I'm like, Oh, but you know, it will never be as like truthful and amazing as, you know. We cannot allow her to be the standard for 23 year olds though.

Like none of us will. Be in the morning. It's like, that's true. It's, it's definitely her own world that she writes about. Uh, but yeah.

Yeah. But yeah, but this film, so Zoey Kazan, I'd seen her in a lot of films, and you recognize her, but you're like, I've seen her in indie stuff, but you can't really remember what. And she's sort of a mousy-looking girl, and she's Ilya Kazan's granddaughter, which, number one, is badass in and of itself. I did not know that. Yes, she is.

That is badass. And actually, after I saw that she wrote the movie and saw Kazan, I was like, she's got to be related, because that kind of genius just. Oh, man. That's got to be cool. You make a movie.

With your girlfriend, and she wrote the script. The whole process is like, yeah, we're awesome. We're this cool Hollywood couple. We're making a movie. You're writing it.

You're the granddaughter of this awesome dude. I mean, it just sounds like it was a fun process. And it's such a star turn for her. I mean, she did it the smartest way possible. First of all, she writes herself as sort of like the beautiful girl.

And so, and she really convinces you of that. I mean, not that she's not pretty, but like, you know, I never thought, I never saw her as being, she's not conventionally beautiful. That's not how Hollywood would cast her. Yes. And so you watch this movie where she's the dream girl.

And then halfway through, you're like, wait, she is kind of pretty. Wait, she's actually really unusually, oh my God, she's beautiful. And by the end of it, like you're in love with her too. So that was fun. freaking smart of her. The other thing that's amazing, I mean, she definitely wrote it as an acting showpiece, I think, for both of them.

I mean, not to be cynical about it, but I mean, there's so many. Hey, you know, if it works, it works. Yeah. There are so many scenes where she gets to show so much range and she totally pulls it off. I mean, she is phenomenal in this film as is Paul Dano, but Paul Dano, you know, kind of always is something.

Um, but it's, it's really, it's interesting and it's smart and it's hilarious and it's sweet and it's touching. And like, I was bowled over by it, how original it was for a film that everybody sort of thought they'd already seen the premise. I, I. Just a couple days ago, I was taking the bus home from work, and they passed by Village 8 Theaters, and they came to a stop like, you know, I can either just go straight home because I'm tired, or I could see Ruby Sparks while it's still in theaters. And I really sat there and debated it, and now you're telling me how awesome it is.

I really regret not getting off the bus and seeing the movie. Because I think you saw it at Village 8, right? Well, I live in Lexington, so I saw it at the. Village 8 Theater, yeah. Right.

I definitely have to see it, though. Because I've heard nothing but great stuff as far as reviews. It's not what I read in Us Magazine. Oops! Damn you, Us.

Where are the vampires? What? Every movie, even Twilight, where are the vampires? Expendables 2, where are the vampires? How come these old guys aren't killing vampires?

I'm not sure why we're slamming Us so hard this episode, but Because they suck. Until they want to sponsor us. If they'd like to sponsor us, send the money right over us, magazine. Change our team. We'll pretend like you're awesome.

Speaking of Paul Dano, by the way, is it Dano or Dano? Oh, I don't know. I hope it's Dano. I just say Dano because it sounds cooler. I would assume Dano because Dano sounds like it's Danish.

Based on Hawaii Five-0. Yeah. It's Dano. Someone almost ruined one of my favorite silent movies, the passion of Jonah arc by saying that the actress in it looked like Paul Dano. I'm like, Holy shit.

You're right. Like, I'm like, she's beautiful. But at the same time, I'm like, she looks like Paul Dano. Like, damn it. Like, why did you have to say that?

Like every time I see that it's going to be in my head, but it's weird. Like you don't think that, but until you see like two side by side, you're like, Oh my God, it's very jarring. But that just made me think, um, Just because she's so beautiful, like that actress, I can't remember her name, she's so beautiful, but at the same time, she looks like Paul Dano. It's kind of. It's a weird contradiction, but yeah.

It's a very random thing that just made me think of that. Anything else? No other movie geeks. Yeah, I saw... I'm hesitant to even say this out loud, because it's like the most beloved film in theaters right now, and I found it a little manipulative.

No, no, no. I want you to leave this out, because I might be able to join in on your disappointment. How do we feel about Beasts of the Southern Wild? Okay. I saw that on a date, and she was a lot more in love with it than I was, and I didn't want to trash it.

In front of her, because she was so... She loved it so much, and, you know, she was like, oh, I'm so glad you're doing that, and I didn't want to be like, ooh, it was awful. Yeah, and just like, you know, go all, you know, just ooh, you know, movie critic asshole on her. But, no, I did have some issues with it. I thought it was very good.

It definitely is. It's better than most of the movies I've seen this year, but it's not like I kind of... The hype, it's one of those things where the hype killed it, and it wasn't... as magical or amazing or profound as the hype would have you believe. It's just kind of... It's definitely an interesting concept.

It's definitely like whatever the director was imagining in his head, he definitely saw it through with this movie. He definitely got to have this complete weird fantasy sort of social reality universe fully played out the way he wanted to, but it just didn't do anything for me. I didn't relate to... Like I not relate, but like the, it, I don't know. People were hyping up with like Pan's Labyrinth and stuff like that.

Maybe that's why I will. It's not Pan's Labyrinth, but anyway, I'm rambling about it. What were you, what were you, what were your thoughts? I just, I don't know. I, I just, I felt just manipulated by like, it was too much for me.

And maybe that was the problem. Maybe I just shut down at some point. Yeah. It was just so heavy handed. It hammers down the emotions and the intense like moments, uh, And.

There's just wave after wave after wave of it. And it's relentless. And I just felt like it was squeezing tears out of my eyes. That I didn't want or that I didn't deserve. Did it feel, like, claustrophobic to you?

Like, watching, like, I don't know if it was the camera movements, but something like, it was going for this kind of tree of life kind of, you know, in there. Like, I don't know how that handheld kind of capturing the beauty of every moment kind of look. But something about, like, it felt claustrophobic. Like, you would think that kind of style would be freeing and, like, really immersive. But it had the opposite effect on me in a way.

Yeah, I agree. It felt enclosed. Like, maybe it's because there were a lot of close-ups and not always on, like, faces of actors, which is what, you know, usually close-ups are for. It just showed, like, close-ups of, like, you know, some trees or some, you know, a jar on a ground. And it's just, like, going all over the place.

I don't know. It just, it was frustrating to me. And it was, like, this weird tick that I couldn't. I couldn't pin down, like, why it was bothering me, but I was like, yeah, the way that movie was filmed, it just. Yeah, my boyfriend got really motion sick.

It just. For me, it felt sort of insincerely folksy. Like, it just... There was something inauthentic about it, and I can't even put my finger on it. I feel weird, dude.

Like, I go back on myself so much, because I even put a Facebook post on, like, everyone should see Beasts of the Southern Wild, and here I am, like, talking shit about it. Which is not unheard of, if you've... Like, me and movies. Like, going. The Tree of Life.

Like, I... I. Joined in on the, you know, the, the backlash on that movie when I saw theaters and now like, I love it. Um, so I, I tend to, but yeah, my, I thought about it and I'm, I'm like you, I feel like it was definitely manipulative with the emotions and the folksiness was definitely kind of like, Oh, this is like, it was going for that folksy charm and it didn't, maybe that would have worked if it were trying to be more grounded in like reality. but because it also had to mix in this random, really random, like did like, you know, the, the warthogs, like I didn't, I honestly don't know what that was about. Like what, what the meaning of that?

Not, not even like the, I don't even know what that was like a metaphor at like, they were just there like, here's some giant warthogs. What do you think of this? In this nuts, this movie is awesome. Right. And I'm just like, what?

Okay. I guess I don't, I don't know what to think. I don't know. Maybe it's just like, you know, the, the, the, I was just suckered by the manipulative nature of the movie when I first saw it. Or maybe it was because I was on a date and I wanted to be in good spirit the whole time.

Because she loved it. Like I said, she loved it so much. And I was like, yeah, it was awesome. Yeah. But it...

I definitely had some issues with it. Yeah. Yeah. Fortunately, my boyfriend and I are both cynical, sad sack bastards. So we're both like, yeah.

Yeah. Oh, that's nice. I've been... You know, I've been kind of... I've been, it's kind of been a year of disappointment for movies with me.

I mean, as far as the big blockbusters, I was a little, like, I liked it very much, but I was disappointed with Dark Knight Rises. Also, what was another kind of big movie that came out that just... I don't watch movies. Thanks. Really?

I don't know. I don't know. Prometheus was actually the one that I thought... See, I'm in the Prometheus camp, man. Don't even.

I will. Champion that movie. We should do a whole episode. Just wait. No, dude, I'm telling you.

Wait until the director's cut, like Blu-ray comes. It will be the fully realized sci-fi masterpiece. I feel like this is going to be... It's like this. Generations like it'll be like Dark City I think and like this cult.

I was pushing to do a whole episode on it when it came out and we couldn't get anybody on board to go see it at the same time so it just. Kind of got pushed off I feel like Ridley Scott it'll be interesting he wanted yeah Ridley Scott he's an amazing filmmaker but at the same time he's like very business minded and that's kind of his weakness like he knew he had this amazing you know complete vision of the movie but you know studios were like we want this cut we don't understand this so he had to have probably cut like a good half hour of content god which i mean some people might argue that it's a better movie. What another half hour of that never mind. Oh really oh man you hate this movie that's great no hates a strong word i just had issues i you know i had issues with it too but here's the thing like i it's one of those movies that the flaws like i i i love it despite its flaws um i definitely think it's the best thing he's done since bloodrunner Honestly, I really do.

I didn't care for Gladiator. I thought it was overrated. I like Gladiator, but a lot of people don't like Gladiator. It's kind of silly. Thelma and Louise, I never thought it was the amazing movie.

That people say it is. It looks really good. Black Hawk Down. It's one of those movies. You see and forget about.

I really liked that one. Again, I have not revisited it. At the time, I did not like that camera movement. It's not like a movie. And now everybody does that camera movement.

It was innovative. Yeah, it was borrowing the Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan film. Because he was the first person to really do that kind of style in a war movie. And then it became like, that's the norm for war movies now. But.

You know, Legend has some odd charms to it. It has a nostalgic value for me because I grew up on that movie. But even so, like... It's got issues, too. As far as just, like, atmosphere and, like, an original...

Like, a good sci-fi story with just a... I don't know, a very... And a good script. I really thought the script was really... People, you know, didn't like the way Damien Lindelof kind of brought his lost aesthetic of, like, you have to fill in the gaps on your own.

But I kind of liked that about it. Um. I thought Scott and Lindelof, like, they made a good pair. But, yeah, it was definitely my, yeah, it's probably my favorite movie this year. That and, I don't know, Moonrise Kingdom, maybe.

I don't know. I think my favorite movies this year are surprises, like, that I just went in with no expectations and was just thoroughly charmed by. Like, Jeff Who Lives at Home, that's easily. My favorite movie of the year. Oh, man.

I need to get, yeah, the whole Duplass craze I haven't even seen I haven't seen you know any of his movies and he's he's had like two in the past year but I've heard that movie's just you know nothing but great things about it yeah I think. It's a perfect little movie really yeah I really do I gotta. Check it out god there's so many like all the great stuff I've just been missing like it's been these you know kind of indie movies but yeah I guess it's just the big studio ones that usually which you know isn't unheard of this you know the Hollywood stuff does tend to disappoint that's. Nothing new Alright, so we're rounding things out here and I think we've made other people answer it, so we should answer our own question.

Three movies. What have we taken in the compound with us? Oh, did that really go to me first? Wait, what was the question? The zombie apocalypse has happened and you're loading your stuff in.

You don't have much room. You can only take three movies. What movies are they? Oh, man. That's a sad question.

I know. Well, it can only be... I can only give a sad depressing answer which is i would you say three movies three movies i would okay it'd be three copies of birdemic just so i could drive myself to suicide within a day just to speed up the process so i wouldn't have to draw out the inevitable loneliness then realizing that you know all my loved ones are dead and everything the future is hopeless Just so I can watch Birdemic, because then right then I'll be like, oh my God, I forgot how bad this movie is, and just blow my brains out on the spot. That's a different way to take it. I didn't see that one coming.

Just because that movie's fucking terrible. I don't know if you've seen it. I've seen it. And I hate it because it gets this cult, like people think it's this great cult. Like, no, it's not even like a fun, bad, it's a bad, awful piece of shit that no one should, it doesn't deserve to be seen by anyone.

And I love a good, bad movie. This is just terrible. Birdemic. And it's getting a sequel, which pisses me off even more. I'm sorry.

This just turned me ranting about the movie Birdemic, which was totally unnecessary. But yes, that's my answer. Do you want to go? Okay, I think I'm ready. So one would have to be my favorite movie of all time, which is Treasure of the Sierra Madre, because I think it's rich enough that it can withstand multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple viewings.

I would need a comedy, I think, to keep me in good spirits. But I would also need like, A cynical comedy that's about how terrible people are so that I will never look back nostalgically on the world I have lost. So I would go with Idiocracy on that one. And then I would go with Cisco Pike just because I would need a movie with both a young Chris Christopherson and Harry Dean Stanton. So those are my three.

Okay, let me give the real answer. Not jokingly, I would probably... If I had to pick three, I know two definitely. The first two. would be one week. Michael Mann's the insider.

Cause that's like, I've just, I've, the more I watch it, the more I realize like, this is the one movie I could watch over and over and over and never get tired of. Like I say that about a lot of movies, but I think this is the only, that's really true about like, I really could watch it. Never. They'd never get so excited. I think it's one of the greatest movies I've seen.

And, uh, I gear the wrath of God. Cause that's just one of my favorite movies of all time. Uh, and I guess just like, uh, Probably a comedy, yeah, just throw in there just for laughs. Oh, what's a good funny movie? Maybe, like, there's something about Mary because that has some of the greatest belly laughs from any movie I've seen.

Which, it's dumb and stupid, but, like, if I just want to laugh, that would be a good choice, I guess. Well, mine's not quite as far-fetched because I was throwing one of those in. Again, much like we said earlier, I think you're just going to be grabbing things, so you're just going with randomness sometimes. So I'll save that for the end. I'll go with, if we're going to have the tribute to the whole event here, I'll throw in Return of the Living Dead because it's kind of awesome and, you know, the best finale of any movie that I can think of living here.

And it's a lot of fun. And you've got to have a zombie movie since the whole apocalypse is upon you anyway. Just to, you know, be able to. live in the moment have a meta thing going on look out the window i'll be like zombies so then you know let's go already again i just mentioned this recently uh at citizen kane i'm a dork i don't care it's textbook fuck it i'm great movie and uh then but the when i said before like randomness you're just gonna grab something i immediately went to don't tell mom the babysitter's dead so that's what i'm. Taking okay. Well, if I had to, okay, I know this is, if, so I don't feel.

You're dead already. I'm dead already. The zombies ate you because you're thinking too much. I know. I snuck in, I snuck in three more movies.

This is what you don't, it's a big plot twist. The M. Night Shyamalan. You're like the guy. Oh, he brought three more movies?

You're like the guy who gets bitten and tries to hide it. No, no, I don't trust this. Because you mentioned Citizen Kane, I was, because you mentioned Citizen Kane, Vertigo popped in there and I'm like, okay, Vertical's, Vertical. Vertigo is one of my all-time favorite movies. Vertical Limit?

Vertical Limit. It's also a masterpiece. You're taking that one. No way. No, you're taking it now.

That's your pen. I'll throw in Vertigo just to like, as the third serious movie, you know, if I don't have to do a light comedy, that would be, I would switch out that with the comedy. But yeah, Vertigo. All right, fine. Beat up.

Now I'm done. All right. So we answered our own question. I thought it would be mean to not do it. So, you know, and it's just kind of random because if I thought too much, my head would explode.

I tried to make us do top ten lists years ago, and I couldn't do it. So, yeah, I'm randomly picking things. It's my only, and again, much like the event, you know, you just got to grab stuff. So that's the only way to do it, really. All right.

It has been an interesting evening. Any final wrap-ups on the goings-on here? Oh, that went to me again, didn't it? Anybody. No, honestly, there was something strangely comforting about it.

I don't like crowds. I don't like people bumping into each other and getting in the way and being slow and not knowing where they're going. But when they're all dressed as zombies, you're like, no, it's okay because they're zombies and that's what they do. That's true. So, yeah.

It's an impressive event that every year I'm still amazed. Like, I keep thinking, you know, those first couple of years, okay, it was cool and it found its following. I keep thinking. Eventually people will be like, Ah, whatever. And they'll move on to something else.

But I don't know if it's just this town or if it's just, I mean, again, they've put a hell of a lot of work into putting this together every year. So, I mean, they do a good job of running it, but I don't know. It's amazing that it still finds its way. this amount of people every year. We're eight years in now, and it's still a ton of people. So, it's amazing that that many people, and I guess just speaks to the society in general at this point and their weird zombie obsession.

It's become pretty damn mainstream now. So, I guess it's bringing in probably way more normal people than it did that, you know, second year that I was standing there when it was just a bunch of dorky kids in a parking lot. That was fun too. So, you know, I'll take both. It's good across the board.

You never go wrong with zombies. That's what I'm saying. Always good times with zombies. So we have had fun at the Louisville zombie attack. So thank you once again to the, uh, the creators for talking to us today and for letting us come later around in the middle of their, uh, attack upon people and, So far, the police department has not shot anybody that we've seen.

So they kept that under wraps at least or at bay or whatever happened. We haven't seen anything. So we'll see tomorrow on the news what really happened. But so far, it's been a pleasant evening of zombies. Otherwise, that about does it.

We will return next week. Same geek time, same geek feed. Thanks for listening. They'll dance on the grave. They're all so sane and plain.

They don't know the answer in vain. It's coming down to make a big show. This party is on fire. Dave and Rach, see you tonight. Thank you.

Bye. I'm up here fighting fake blood being thrown all over the place. And I told one of them, I said, you. Hit me with that blood, I'm going to put you in the hospital. The police officer said, what.

Did you say? I said, you heard me. This episode is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by the Auditude Studios, with the opening music performed by the Empires. For more on how to sponsor or support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com. Talk hard!