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239: Liquid Dynamite

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239: Liquid Dynamite
Movie Meltdown
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About this episode

Movie Meltdown - Episode 239 This week we sit down with actor Zach Galligan to talk about his latest starring role in Hatchet 3. Then Zach co-hosts this week's Sofa Theater segment as we discuss William Friedkin's 1977 film "Sorcerer". This often over-looked film in Friedkin's arsenal is filled with amazing sequences and wrought with tension. Plus Zach tells us about actually working with Roy Scheider earlier in his career.  And in between kids asking ridiculous questions, we also mention... Werner Herzog, expecting to see something spooky, Bug, running into a celebrity in the elevator... sort of, Blue Chips, larger and bigger than the other two, multiple storylines, Meryl Streep, opening against Star Wars, the massive tree, Jade, This is the End, BJ McDonnell, I'm just about to retire, James Franco, having an Oscar-nomination, Tracy Letts, a dog is a tool?, awkward elevator rides, Blue Thunder, aging directors in Hollywood, a "special" call time for me, Larry Bird, Brink's Job, Emma Watson, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, Still of the Night, Killer Joe, nihilistic, gremlin voices, Nick Nolte, Deal of the Century and a guy in an ALF suit. Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for "Sorcerer", so watch the movie before listening. You have been warned. "The dude from 'Jaws' just made out with me on-camera!"

Transcript

Automatically generated, so expect the odd misheard name.

Hi, I'm Adam Green, the director of Hatchet, and you're listening to Movie Meltdown. 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 am Brian. And I'm Greg. And we are once again coming to you live via digital.

Recording from Fandom Fest. So. Surrounded by geeks we are. It's extra geeky because I said it kind of Yoda-like. Did you want to tell your superstar story about in the elevator?

Yeah. So coming into the place I used Randy's parking permit to get in and it took me into this labyrinth of parking under the gold house here in Lowell which was broken up and I think it was part of I don't know, some underground railroad moments. It might have been. We did have that here. But it was never really underground.

But, you know, anyway. Figuratively. Figuratively. I was lost. I was completely lost.

And I came out, like, in a building that wasn't attached to any of this at all. So I knew there was a walkway in between. So I was going to take the elevator up. And there was a gentleman, a well-dressed gentleman already. But he was carrying his suit and his nice lady friend, who was attractive as well, and he was carrying her dress as well.

We get on the elevator, and he says to me, I think he assumes that I'm coming in like the guest entrance or the celebrity entrance. And he, I think, might have assumed that I was somebody on his level. And he looked at me and he goes, these things are crazy, right? And I was like, yeah. And he says, well, you got to keep coming to them because they really do help us make a lot of money.

And this elevator ride went on forever because I was so awkward. I think he's starting to realize that I'm not one of him and that I'm not making money off of this and that I'm probably paying money to be here, which I'm not. The extra awkward part. You have no idea who he is. Oh, yeah, and he's supposed to be a guy.

I have no clue. I don't know if maybe she's the celebrity. I'm going to have to go back to the list and look and see who it is and find out if, again, they were both attractive. He had nice hair. She had on a nice pair of shoes, and I'm very happy for you, but I was just awkward.

I was like, I'm supposed to know who this person is, and now he feels like a dork because he knows that I don't know who he is. So it was a great moment. And I walked out, and I was just kind of walking, almost laughing to myself, coming across the little skywalk walkway. And I think people were looking at me. I was going to say people were thinking I was weird, but most people are kind of weird.

Especially here. I mean, most people in the world are pretty weird, but they cover it up everywhere else here. Everybody's kind of okay with being weird. Just do what you want. Yeah, pretty much.

And, you know, you're universally accepted, though, I think. I support that, especially here. I mean, it is one of those, I will make fun of extra dorky people here. No, don't get me wrong. We're all kind of dorky.

I certainly include myself in that. There's a hierarchy. But there's, I mean, there are other people that I'm just like, what? hell are they wearing? You know, you'll, you'll, that's our nature. That's what we do.

But like, it's still like, it is funny. Like when I come to these versus, you know, when I go out into the regular world, I still feel way more at home here with like kids wearing fur hats with ears on them. And like, you know, a guy in an elf suit, a guy in an elf suit walking around. And like, Alf had his hat on and he was crouched down on the floor and quickly eating a sandwich so that he could get the sandwich down. It was a ham and cheese.

No, it was Cat, don't lie. It was Cat? Oh, he was eating Cat. You're right. Gordon Shumway, is that his name?

From Melmac. From Melmac. It's so sad that we know all of that. Before you know it, he's got his hat back on, walking around. He had some sign.

I don't know what it was. I think it said, got Cat. Or something to that effect. You get where he's going. So basically, because he's young, he knows what Alf is, but he probably never watched the show.

Or has tracked them all down from somewhere like this. Because I don't even think that's on Netflix. I mean, it's one of those somebody's gotten him copies of all of them, maybe. Because, yeah, it is funny now that you mention that. He was, like, what, 20, maybe?

Maybe. There's no way he watched it originally. No, no. Yeah, it is funny how everything sort of comes back around. And, like, kids... once again get excited about stuff that they shouldn't.

They shouldn't have ever gotten excited about. It's stuff their parents liked, you know, or should have. Like, again, it's not, it usually doesn't carry it over. Usually their parents were total squares, and, like, now they're, like, super geeky, and they're into stuff that was popular that their parents didn't want anything to do with when they were that age. But no matter what, I'm sure that he doesn't know that it's the Aquamanics that live next door.

That is so sad that you know that. I used to come home from Boy Scouts and hope that I could come home early from Boy Scouts. So it was on 8 o'clock on Monday nights. And I thought ALF was just hilarious. And it's not.

I mean, it's one of those, like, I think back on it now and I think how audacious it was to, like, make that show. To be like, look, we're going to make a show. The main character is a puppet. He's going to sit on the couch most of the time. And a lot of it, we're going to talk about space.

But really, we're just going to sit in this house all day long. It was a sci-fi show that had nothing to do with science fiction. I mean, they just referenced stuff all day long. They went, ha! So that's pretty much it.

I mean, yeah, at the time, I remember thinking it was marginally amusing. I don't remember being the biggest fan in the world, but I do remember watching it quite a bit. You know, Mrs. Achmanek's next gig was as Jerry Seinfeld's mom. That's true.

I don't think she changed. No. But if you want to get extra geeky on TV here, if you watch, Jerry's dad changes like maybe three times. Yeah. I know there's at least a difference.

There's at least two. Yeah. I know too. Yeah. There's at least two, but I'm thinking maybe at one point it switched to a third guy.

It's like they hadn't made up their mind yet. And like within one season, it switches like two different times. And then finally they settle on that guy. And then that guy's dad for the whole rest of the run of the show. But it is funny when you hit those weird one-off episodes that like things don't match up.

Like they still hadn't mapped out where they were going with characters or plot lines and you get these weird things that look back, you're like, what the hell's going on here? Well, it's like the early years of, early two or three episodes of How I Met Your Mother when Barney really wasn't a player, and he really didn't have, you know, fantastic luck with women. He was kind of lame. So, still wore the suits, but It was, they're still feeling that character out. Yeah, it is interesting.

Everything comes back to How I Met Your Mother for me. Yeah, it's so sad. I watch it while I wash dishes on my iPad that I have set up on the ledge in front of the kitchen sink. So sad, so sad. No, I'm the lamest person I know.

That's okay. I don't care. I mean, you get to use celebrity entrance. I mean, you're a pretty big shot around here. Right.

You know, it's funny how we went from walking around the convention to talking about Seinfeld. In a very smooth transition. It's not much different for us. Geek is geek. It all sort of revolves around the same thing, really.

We're not going to get interrupted by any more body art people. We're in a room that's supposed to be for body art. We claimed it. It's for Movie Meltdown. Right.

We've got six tables set up for Movie Meltdown and water. This is our new podcasting station for the moment, and we'll be making use of it until we're damn good and ready to leave. We basically keep telling people that the body art's not here. Well, it's not. And they're leaving.

Unless we're going to showcase our work. I don't think this is it. The body art people are going to come in, and all the people aren't here. because we've run them off. Hey all we said is we haven't seen anybody except the people wandering around looking for a show but they're looking for a lot of other stuff around here people. Can stay we didn't ask anybody no i.

Actually wanted to kind of have them come sit down and start talking to us about you know movies and Their going's on at the convention this week. But, you know, what are you going to do? I wouldn't be surprised if one of the convention staff does kick us out before. Too long, though. I would think it's about to happen.

Right. It's going to happen. Well, that being the case, maybe we should lead right into this week's guest. Okay. And our special guest co-host for this segment.

And we'll be watching a movie and discussing it as well. All right. Hopefully you've done your homework and you've already watched this movie. So if not, you should have been listening and you probably should have been paying attention to the Facebook page. So we will be sitting down with Zach Galligan and we'll be having a little catch-up session with him and getting into the movie this week.

All right. We will take a break and come back with it. I'm gonna take it all I'm gonna. Be the last one. Standing Golden, pure, creamery butter.

Rich, flavorful, satisfying. That's what it takes for the finest buttered popcorn, and that's what we use. See for yourself why there's no showtime treat to equal the crisp, delicious flavor of hot popcorn that's bathed in real melted butter. It's at the concession stand now. Isaac Hayes is Truck Turner.

He's got six deadly pieces in his arsenal and six sexy ones in his stable. There ain't no Mac here's man enough to ice Truck Turner. If he gets you, you're cold meat. If you get him, you get them. And that ain't cold at all.

Isaac Hayes is Trock Turner. Rated R. Under 17. Not admitted without parent. Tweaked Audio.

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Ain't got no gun. Ain't got no knife. Don't you start a fight. Cause I'm TNT. I'm dynamite.

TNT. All right, so we are back here with Zach. And I did want to have you, and I don't know if you remember this, have you back on. Because technically many, many years ago, it was a very limited little basic interview. But I had you on, and it happened to be the very.

First episode of Movie Meltdown. Really? And what was, and where was I? You were at, it's one of the Horror Hounds. Oh, well, I've only been to one, so that's. it's it was indie 2008.

Yep it was 2008 i do. September right before the election i remember. It because we were and it was very minimal i didn't even have this much because a lot of that stuff was still we've sort of just gotten into the audio so we were we were still doing a lot of print stuff at the time so i wasn't even sure if it was going to be like a print piece so it's it's a very minimal little thing but but it was just enough to realize that you kind of got how the show went. So I was like, okay, you would definitely be up to one of the more in-depth movie discussions. Oh, I would think so.

I would think so, yeah. But yeah, I thought. That was kind of cool that you had the honor of being our first interview. Wow, cool. Interesting.

And it was a Christmas episode. Excellent. I guess you get a lot of Christmassy stuff. Yeah, well, you were thinking ahead in September for December. All part of the plan.

All part of the plan. But I guess just a little, like, catch up for people? You know, what have you been up to since then? Or tell people what you've got going? Well, I don't know when you're going to do this, but by the time this comes out, I would imagine that Hatchet 3 will be on Blu-ray since it's coming out on August 13th, 2013.

Should be. So, yeah. So, you can check me out in that playing Sheriff Louis Fowler in the pulse-pounding... conclusion to Adam Green's Hatchet trilogy directed by B.J. McDonald. So that's basically the most exciting thing filmically I've had in quite some time.

That seemed like it was a pretty sizable role. You can kind of argue that I'm the lead or the co-lead along with Caroline Williams. Danielle Harris obviously has a good part in it and Kane Hodder obviously has a good part in it too. But I think if you look at the size, now that the movie's finished, if you look at the size of the roles... Basically, it comes down to mine and Caroline's character.

Very cool. We actually just had Adam on recently. Really? Yeah, he's awesome, and he speaks highly of BJ. So I'm interested to see, just as a director, what his take on it.

How was he to work with? How was he to work with? He was great. You're talking about Adam or BJ? Which one?

BJ. He directed this third one. Yeah, BJ. I mean, this is his first movie, so obviously a little nervous in the beginning because it's a big undertaking for him. But he certainly knows what he's doing.

He knows shot selection. He has a very good visual sense. Obviously, he's an excellent camera operator. So, you know, they shot in anamorphic. So I think the picture looks great.

Have you seen it, by the way? Not the third one yet. Not the third one. Yeah, yeah. It looks fantastic.

I mean, it looks noticeably, to me anyway, it looks kind of larger and bigger than the other two. And that also comes from shooting on location in Louisiana, California. And not in a studio. Yeah. You know?

Well, I guess anything else? Were you, it seemed like last time you were teaching as well? Still teaching. I'm teaching tomorrow morning. Yeah.

You got to get back to work? That's why I was freaking out. If I wasn't working tomorrow, I wouldn't care about my flight being canceled. But I have to be at work at 1030 in the morning. So I was like, I got to be there.

Yeah. Is it just straight acting? It's kind of auditioning. I teach them how to do commercials and also how to do monologues so that they can meet agents and managers and kind of get a foot in the door. All right.

Well, I guess since you've got to get to work tomorrow, we should get right into the movie. Absolutely. It's time for Sofa Theater. In 1971, William Friedkin directed The French Connection. It received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture of the Year, In 1974, he directed The Exorcist.

It made history. Since then, Friedkin has spent over two years in five countries on three continents, creating his latest film, an unusual adventure into the realm of suspense. Four men, condemned by their past, robbed of their future, trapped in a life that was also a death. Four men take an incredible chance, face an impossible challenge, and risk the. Only thing they have left to lose.

Roy Scheider in a new film by William Friedkin, Sorcerer. This week's Sofa Theater feature is Sorcerer, the year is 1977, director William Friedkin, and the plot, according to IMDb, which is always pretty sketchy, I'm just going to cap it off at about the first sentence because it goes on. A group of outcasts from different backgrounds and nationalities are forced by misfortune to work for an oil drilling operation in South America. And there's a fire and there's dynamite. Never mind.

Spoiler alert. We'll get to the rest later. But that's the very basic overview that they give us. So I'm actually glad that you chose this movie. So what.

I guess what led you to this one? I have a feeling it's one of your favorite movies. Yeah, it's up there. It's an incredibly gritty movie, and I kind of, from a screenplay standpoint, really like it because it's interesting how it starts. It's very confusing.

You have just storyline number one, and then storyline number two, number three, number four, all about four different characters right at one after another. So after about 25 minutes, you're like, what is this movie about? Because I don't understand how any of it kind of is, you know, holds together and is cohesive. Yeah, you're a good 15 minutes or more in before you get to Roy Schreier. Yeah.

And you're like, wait, that's my guy. Exactly. That's the guy in the front of the box. I need that guy. Yeah.

And then they very wisely follow him to wherever it's down in, like, you know, it's supposed to be, I guess, Nicaragua coast or someplace like that down in Central America. And he shows up. And then the three people that you saw on the other storylines show up, too. And you go, oh, I see. I get it now.

Everyone's, we saw a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of that person's life, a little bit of that person's life. And now they're all ending up in the same place together as a group of outcasts. Cool. Very, very cool. You're in the workers' hotel.

Yeah. I like the southern exposure. Yes. I thought about it myself. I understand you used to be in banking.

That's the rumor. I have no idea it was the subject of rumors. Carlos here used to be an ex-rights marshal. Right, Carlos? What is your profession?

Mister? Dominguez. Dominguez. Ice hockey. Read about this place in a travel brochure?

I heard it had a healthy climate. Not what you expected. It was exactly what I expected. It is really interesting structuring. It is something, yeah, because that's the thing.

I had almost forgotten that very first guy when the hit happens at the very beginning. And, like, you get midway in, you're like, oh, yeah, that really is, like, so far into the movie. You're like, I do have to kind of go back and realize how much this. Was all plotted out. It is a little confusing.

But then I think basically by about the 40-minute mark, you're pretty much clued in. And then you're kind of excited. And then there's the oil rig explosion fire, which is another– Another great sequence. That's probably one of the things that I like about this film is that it's got some amazing sequences in it. There are bits and pieces of the movie where you're like, eh, I don't know, that's not that great, you know, or it's okay.

But the stuff that's good in it is so good. The truck going over the bridge in this storm is amazing. Once you see it, you'll never forget it. Either that's the thing it goes through that smaller bridge at first you're like oh that was rough and then like 10 minutes later they end up on that second really long broken rope bridge i'm just like oh my god like that yeah it's like they're sort of fake you out on that first one you're like that was rough i didn't think he's gonna make it across the and then like that mess that that second bridge is. That second bridge is such a disaster and the way he builds the tension with the cutting and the editing And the guy in the rain seemingly screaming 50 times, get back, stop, slow down, slow down.

It gets you so anxious. He's going to get run over. It gets you so anxious, that sequence. Then, in a kind of lesser sequence that's just kind of amazing and badass, is the massive tree. Almost like a redwood, or I don't know what kind, just a gigantic tree that's blocking the road.

And they have to figure out a way to get it off. The way they figure out how to get it off and the sequence of everything and, of course, the subsequent destruction of the tree. That whole sequence is so fantastically shot and edited. It's really... I don't know who the editor...

Do you know who the editor was on the movie? The editor was fantastic. It is, yeah. It is so well put together. But then, like, that's the other thing.

It's like it's... I'm glad they came to that conclusion because that was like as soon as they got to that tree and Roy's kind of freaking out. I'm just like, you do know you're sitting on six boxes of dynamite. Right. Granted, they're unstable, but there's got to be a way to get that out of your way.

Yeah, for sure. I was like, thank God they didn't try to do something else. I was like, it's just it's too simple. You got to you're going to get killed doing it more than likely. But that's your plan.

Yeah. Right there. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what's interesting about the film, too, is there are great performances all the way through the movie from these other people, like Bruno Kramer and everything.

People you've never even heard of in your life. And they show up and they do these excellent performances. And then you never hear from them again. That's what, yeah. I'm just trying to write down the basic leads.

Yeah, it's like Francisco Rabal. Francisco Rabal's amazing in it. Bruno Kramer's amazing in it. Amadou? Amadou, the guy who just has one name, and I guess that's all he needs because he kicks ass.

He's awesome in it. And all of these people, and obviously Roy Scheider is good. I think one of the reasons also that I have a soft spot in this for Sorcerer is that I worked with Roy Scheider in 1982. He played my dad in a movie called Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number. And so I got to spend about three, maybe four weeks.

I don't really remember. About a month. On location. Well, not really on location because it was in New York and I lived there. But I spent a month with Shudder and he played my dad.

And he's the only actor that played my father that ever kissed me on the lips. There's a scene where he's in prison. And I haven't seen him in six months. And my family, you know, I'm like 17 years old, 18 years old, and I go see my father in prison. And Roy Scheider, we didn't rehearse it this way, but I guess he was just in the moment feeling it.

And so I walk into prison and Leif Ullman, the Swedish, or actually he's actually Norwegian, everyone thinks he's Swedish, Swedish actress who's playing my mom, walks into the prison and he kisses her. You know, kisses her right on the lips, obviously, because it's his wife, right? And then I'm his kid. So I guess maybe he had kids and he would, like, you know, as his dad, he would just kiss kids on the lips because he loved them, you know, not in a weird way. So he pretended I was his kid.

So he reached up and he grabs me and he gives me a kiss smack right on the lips. And he didn't tell me. Take one. And I was like, the dude from Jaws just made out with me on camera. And in the movie, you can totally see it because they went with the first take.

And you can see me sort of like, whoa, I just got kissed by Roy Scheider. It's like hysterical. Aside from making out, was he very parental in the time you were around? No, he wasn't really all that parental. Not very parental.

Not very parental. Well, here's the thing about Roy. And he was a great guy. May he rest in peace and everything like that. He had a very exciting time in his career.

It was 1982. He had just done Blue Thunder. And he was kind of convinced that Blue Thunder was going to come out and make him large. I mean, it should have on paper. Like the studio system being what it was, action movies.

I mean, it should have, really. He thought it was going to come out and it was going to make him like Bruce Willis. That's what he thought. And he thought he was going to have a Bruce Willis career sort of for the rest of his career. He was going to be...

That kind of guy. You never know. No, you do never know. You never know. And he had an Oscar nomination in 79, 80, you know, March of 80, basically.

And so that was only two years ago. So he was, like, feeling really good. He'd just done the movie that was coming out with him and Streep in The Still of the Night. So he was like, I just worked with Meryl. I got an Oscar nomination.

I got Blue Thunder coming out. I'm going to be humongous. Yeah. And I think what happened was that he started to kind of buy into that. So when we were shooting the movie, he would show up like two, three hours late.

And we'd be like, call time was 8 a.m.? He was like, not for me. And I was like, wow. So he was not really that parental. But I will say this for him.

I mean, he gave 1,000% in the performance. You know, when he showed up and did his work, he was great. And he was totally cool to me, you know. I mean, I'm only an 18-year-old kid, so why on earth does he give a damn about me? You know what I mean?

But he was pretty sweet. So, you know, he's Roy Scheider from Jaws and from Sorcerer. So he was badass. You're in the French Connection. You can do whatever you want, right?

French Connection, yeah. Cloudy. Well, that's okay if we're doing that. And I'll only go into this because I just realized it today when I was looking through the list. I guess technically, if we're playing this game, I worked with William Friedkin.

In the most lame pedestrian way. You did? I forgot. I'm looking through his list. I forgot he directed Blue Chips.

Oh, right. Are you in that? They shot the section where Nolte goes to try to recruit the kid from Indiana. They shot in French Lick, Indiana, where Larry Bird is from. Oh, right.

They actually planned this whole little... That scene where they have that whole parade, they planned this whole thing, and they brought Nolte in, and Larry Bird was there, and... I would assume. I mean, freaking would have had to been on hand unless they sent the second unit to do everything. But like they shot some other stuff in town.

So it's like I'm standing in a background as an extra in one of those. Very visible. I went. Well, it's actually on Netflix now. I went today.

I didn't realize it was even on there. And I got to that scene. I'm like. There I am. It's like I can pick me out because I know where I was standing, but it's a crowd scene.

Of course. There's a whole big shot. But you're visible. I'm there. It's the only time, yeah.

So you're in a picture with Friedkin. Yeah, I'm in one of those Friedkin movies. I just thought that was funny because I'd forgotten he was the director on that. It's so not one of his kind of movies. It isn't.

It's very strange. It isn't. Well, it seems very much kind of like a movie for hire. Yeah. But you know the thing, if you ask Friedkin...

Not that I have, but people have asked him, because he does a lot of these Q & A sessions, and you can find them online. And he says, you know, there is no such thing as a William Friedkin film. He hates to be pigeonholed, and he loves to do all sorts of different movies. So his feeling is like, you know, Deal of the Century, that movie he did, right? Or or another, right.

Deal of the century or, or blue chips. He's like, that's just as much or Jade, just as much a William Friedkin movie as anything else. I mean, as I look through the list, I was like, well, he is kind of all over the map. It's just like, The only ones people really remember are the ones that sort. Of all go together.

And didn't he do Brink's job? Yeah. Yeah. So he's like, he does some decent comedies too. He can be funny.

Obviously, he's such an intense, serious guy. If you ever see even two minutes of any kind of interview with him, he's a very serious and intense person. Yeah. So it's hardly a surprise. Well, I guess getting into his style, like it is funny though that like even in this, which could be a very like, standard cut and dry kind of like action movie or whatever you get those scenes by the end that become really sort of trippy and he does those layering of shots like at the end when he's driving the truck by himself and like he starts like layering images over top of him and like having weird little flashbacks and it almost hits that like exorcist mood for a second like you can see those little glimpses of the This.

Is the guy who just made The Exorcist. And he has that mood, even in this movie, which really doesn't call for it. But it's just him. You can see that kind of coming through, that he is that kind of filmmaker. Well, I think the big mistake that they did with the movie, and I think it came out the week after Star Wars or something like that.

They always claim that. They always claim that. But I don't think that's the problem with the movie. I think the problem with the movie is that Friedkin was the director of The Exorcist. Then they call the movie Sorcerer.

And it has nothing to do with the supernatural. It has to do with trucks in Nicaragua. So why do you call it Sorcerer? It's a total... It's misleading.

It's very misleading. It's borderline fraudulent. And so, yeah, it's the name of the truck. But it has nothing to do with it. It still seemed like it was very much.

Chosen. Somebody at the studio. Somebody at the studio said, let's get your Exorcist followers in here to see this. It's suspenseful. It's the same thing.

It's not even remotely the same thing. It's totally a different picture. And I think people went to see it expecting to see something spooky. And they were like, it's this grim movie that takes place in the jungle. They would have done a lot better if they called it Grim Times in the Jungle than Sorcerer.

Death Truck. Can I tell you something? Death Truck is a much better title. Then Sorcerer. Because I said to my girlfriend, I've got to show you Sorcerer.

And she's like, oh, cool, you're ghosting it? I'm like, no, it's about Chugs and the Jets. So she did that right off the bat. I said, it's by the guy who did The Exorcist. And she's like, oh, my gosh, is there a cool possession movie?

I'm like, no. It's about four dead. And she's like, what are you talking about? I said, yeah, that was the problem with the movie, the title. It was a misleading title.

And people went to see it expecting one thing. And they got something totally different. And they were pissed. Because even when you asked me the other day, you were running through stuff we could watch, and you said that. And that's why I hesitated.

It wasn't because I was trying to remember if I'd seen it. It's because I was remembering some weird sword and sandal movie that has something very similar to that title. It already seems like it's going to fall into that sort of knockoff, straight-to-video Conan wannabe movie. Absolutely. It seems like that's what it should be.

Totally. And so, yeah, I mean, that had to hurt it at the box office because nobody knew what it was. How could it not hurt it at the box office? It's almost an impossibility. Yeah.

I'm also leaning towards my new title, Liquid Dynamite. Liquid Dynamite. That's a 50 times better title than Sorcerer. I'm going to start writing that now. I don't know what's going to happen in Liquid Dynamite, but it's going.

To be explosive. It's a thousand times better than Sorcerer. Because Sorcerer, when you say Sorcerer, you expect some guy in a cave and he's rubbing something and he's conjuring something. There's a crystal ball. A crystal, but something like that.

He's looking in the thing and he's going, I see demons after you. That's what you see. You don't see a bunch of down and out foreign film actors. taking a truck through the jungle full of nitroglycerin. You do not see that. You don't expect the first 15 minutes to be subtitled.

You do not. It's in French and it's in Italian or whatever. It's totally true. It starts off so weird. You do not expect that.

It never comes to Sorcerer. It just doesn't. So yeah, I agree. That was what I was going to ask to begin with. It was like, How much did that hurt it?

How about this? A ton. I guess nothing coming up against Star Wars would have hurt it. No, but that's not true. If you look at that summer of 77, there were probably some other films that were successful, weren't there?

They held their own. They had to be. Yeah, of course. Mom and Dad had to go see something. Something.

Goofy kids were off looking at this. Yeah, totally. That stuff has been sitting in the better part of the year. It's worthless. What do you mean?

It sits for a. Long time without being turned. That liquid nitro seeps out of the sticks and into the bag. If you give those cases any kind of a bump, it'll blow. It's risky moving one of those cases 10 feet.

That fire is over. 200 miles away. If it were up there, could you use it? I suppose we could boom load it a little bit. At a time, yes.

How the hell are you going to get it up? That's not your problem. We'll get it up there. We were talking about the bridge. I wrote down a few.

There's a quote from Roy that he's talking about being on that bridge in the middle of the storm. Poised over this lake. Because they said they did a good amount of their own stunts, too, which is amazing on that movie. Yeah. Well, Friedkin, you know, again, is famous that way for he, like, stunt crew.

He's like, he's kind of, you can kind of see Friedkin with his glasses, right, and his barking voice going, stuntmen are for pussies. Can't you see him like that on the set? That's what I hired you for. Get in there. You get it.

Yeah, exactly. Still, what's the matter with you? Get in there. Get in there, Nancy boy. Well, that sounds like what happened because, yeah, the quote from Roy is, did someone really talk me into doing that?

Exactly. He's watching the footage after the fact and that's his comment. It's like, how the hell did I get into this? Apparently, freaking can talk people into doing a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff.

By the way, I'm not talking down about freaking. I follow him on Twitter and to my shock and amazement, he followed me back. It was one of the great moments of my life. Yeah, well, that's the thing. It's not like he, like, went down over the years, it's like, again, looking at the list, I forgot the movie he just did.

Killer Joe? Yeah, Killer Joe. Killer Joe was amazing. And, like, again, it's not what you would expect from freaking. Well, again, that goes back to that there's no kind of such thing as a conventional freaking movie.

And it's like that one is such a pre-existing, like they based it on that, I think it was a play. Yeah, it was a play. And so, I mean, the fact that. He's doing it to someone else's. The movie he did before that, Bug, was also a Tracy Letts play with Michael Shannon.

The fact that he can take someone else's idea and still be able to adapt to it and still put his own spin on it. Again, he's still turning in amazing work even now. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, yeah.

I don't know. Here's the thing that he's got working against him. He's a classic film director, but he's also 70-something. Yeah. And Hollywood, for right or wrong, freaks out about that.

Oh, yeah. They go, he's 70-plus director? Forget it. Why can't we get some 30-year-old? You know what I mean?

So they freak out about that. But I would have thought, and it may happen, I haven't checked his IMDb page like you have, but does he have anything coming up? I think that was the last one it had listed. Yeah. It was just Killer Joe.

I don't remember seeing stuff in production. That movie was a terrific movie and a great performance by Matthew McConaughey. Oh, yeah. And you would have thought, let's put it this way, if he was 42, his career would be humming right now. It's only the fact that he's 72 and that, and maybe he's, I mean, I don't know, maybe from a certain standpoint, he could potentially be difficult to work with.

I could see him potentially just being like demanding, like it needs to be, yes. Not just being a dick for a dick's sake, but just saying like, it's gotta be this way. I need this. This has to be that way. If it goes over budget...

But, you know, BJ McDonald was Steadicam operator on Killer Joe. Nice. And he loved Friedkin, but he said Friedkin did this. Friedkin worked for either eight hours or ten hours, and if they were in the middle of setting up for a shot, he's like, ten hours? Okay, everybody home.

So Friedkin does not work, apparently, work long hours. He comes in, doesn't rehearse a lot either. Like, does a lot of blocking rehearsal, and then, like, oftentimes, does it, he's, like, two, three takes, and that's it. And you either get it or you don't. He is not a five-take or a ten-take guy, at least not on Killer Joe.

That I know for a fact from B.J. McDonald. Interesting. So I guess, yeah, I mean, there are some that are super, like, really into working with the actors, and then there are other guys that are more technical, and they're like, I hired you to do the performance, you show up, you bring that end of it, I'll do a couple, you know, they do seem like I'm going to do a couple takes, and hopefully you've got it, because that's what I brought you here for. Exactly.

So, yeah, I mean, that's, I guess, how is that, just from having done that, how is that to work with, like, doing both versions of that? Which do you prefer, I. Guess, as a. Between which and which? Between, like, having.

A director that really takes time to work with you and gives you what he wants out of your performance versus one that's just more on the technical end that brings you in and says, okay, hopefully you're ready for this because I've got the stuff blocked out. You do the acting. Well, I mean, I would be lying if I didn't say the former. But the latter is there are advantages to working with someone who just sets it up and says, listen, we've got to do this in two or three takes. First of all, there's something exciting there.

Almost every actor I've ever met hasn't really started as a film actor. They start as a stage actor, and then they gravitate to film. and learn how to make the shift and everything like that. So most actors are not... freaked out by, hey, man, you've got to do it once or twice and that's it. Because when you do a play, you only get one chance. Right.

So that doesn't necessarily freak you out. So there is an edgy kind of exciting quality to that. At the end of the day, though, if you're a bit of a perfectionist, you kind of want more than two cracks at it because you do think, shoot, you know, I can– I can do better than that. And, and, and, and also now I feel like, wow, I've really getting gotten to the emotional point and they're moving on and it's over. And like, if you did the third one now I would be on fire and, and they don't care.

They've moved on. There's such different approaches to all of this stuff, the directing and the acting and the fact that they all have to kind of meet at the right place at the right time to get that perfect. Exactly. Yeah. Performance.

Oh yeah. Everybody. It's, it's interesting. Yeah. Yeah, it makes it difficult, I guess, to plan any of that stuff out, not knowing who you're going to end up working with until you're in the middle of it.

And he's shoving you over a bridge in a rainstorm. You know, yeah, exactly. You know, the flip side on what you just mentioned, though, is that sometimes you get 10 or 15 takes and the take that you thought was really good on number 12, they look back at it again, they go, you know, number two actually has kind of a reality and a freshness and an immediacy that we kind of didn't notice. But now that we're looking at it back and it's frozen and you just look at it, You know, the freshness and the immediacy of those first takes were pretty good. So it's really kind of like, it's kind of six of one, half a dozen of another, to be honest.

And then it comes back to the editing. And then they're just like, well, artwork's best. So get a good editing. Yep. The other part of this that I wanted to go into, other than all the super tense and explosive scenes, literally sometimes.

The town that they live in. The which? The town that they live in. That little town that they. All end up in.

Oh, the town, yeah. It's so amazing because he spends a good amount of time there and really sort of invests. a decent amount of the story into just sort of giving you the sense of, like, we could have just glossed over that part in, like, five minutes, but he spends a little part of the movie there where we get a good sense of that bar that they hang out in, these horrible little places that they live, the job that they go to, and, like, you get a real, like, feeling of how, like, desolate and hopeless that town is. Yeah, well, you know, that also, if you look at Friedkin, he's such a detailed guy. Yeah. And so I bet the location scout on Sorcerer was tearing his or her hair out because I bet he looked at 40 different villages until he found the one that he really was like, here we go.

This is exactly what I see in my skull, how kind of like dilapidated and impoverished and how people were just, you know, what I always think of it. See, this is the way I always think. Anytime I see a town like that, I would think, if I lived down there, I'd spruce it up. I wouldn't just sit and stare off and look at the goats and look at everything fall to shit. I would actually kind of try and spruce up the town, pick something up, pick some garbage, try and fix the roads and everything like that.

Why don't the people who live in those towns spruce up their town? I don't know. I don't understand that. My favorite thing in the town was. And again, this is so minor, but it shows somebody who's really... putting an effort into making this film and inserting things in there.

It's almost like there's this little ray of hope in this horrible town, and it's Coca-Cola. Yep. That shot of him just. Staring, like he's staring at the girl in the painting at first, and then he equally as longingly looks at the Coca-Cola that she's holding. Well, that was also so much more true back in the 70s before sort of the corporate explosion where the tiniest little taste of America and your home and your previous experiences is like gold, gold nuggets.

Now there's Coca-Cola everywhere. You can get it, yeah. But back then. But I like that he worked it in like a little while later when he gets taken into the police station. That's the only time you ever see is the cops have one and he's drinking a nice cold Coca-Cola and I'm like, The cops who are taking a bribe at that point are the only guys that have any level of comfort and have any niceties of life.

This episode is not sponsored by Coca-Cola, by the way, but if they'd like to send a check, feel free. But yeah, I just thought that was funny that that little touch that's thrown in there is just like something like that thrown in this depressing little town. It's something as basic as a Coke. is like a big deal. You know, and you have to kind of pay attention to catch that stuff. Yeah.

I kind of like that. But I guess just, I mean, when you get to that last half of this movie, like that's kind of what it's all about. Like all of those scenes, like it just continually goes from one tense scene to another. So you get, like, the first little bridge scene, and you get the road. Like, those roads crumbling underneath the tires are, like, still, like, that is so, like, hard to watch.

Because I'm like, I know they actually shot this stuff, and he probably was, like, that close to killing these guys. Yeah. Because they, like, reading on it, they said they actually had to build some of those roads. They weren't even there when they got there. And they built them to fall apart.

That's freaking. Underneath the truck. That's freaking. That's amazing. Yeah.

But, yeah, I mean, then you get through, like, all of those little scenes. Once you get, like, even through the bridge, like, then you get through the next, like, even when they get to the calm part of the drive, when they start, like, reminiscing about, you know, the wife back home. But once they start doing that, you know that something really bad is going to happen. The soldier just showed you the picture. Of his girlfriend back home in this war movie.

Or the cop just said, you know, I only got seven hours left on the job before I collect my pension. About to retire. About to retire. Oh, no. Or you're wearing a red shirt and beaming down onto a planet.

It might have been. As soon as he started talking about. The wife, I was just like, oh. See, that's why now, and here's another one that they do now. You watch television shows, like these kind of grim television shows, like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad or Justified or anything like that that are kind of edgy, and the wife gets pregnant.

You go, oh, no. Here we go. He's a goner. But yeah that's but again that's like you really like that was kind of the next character that I got so attached to like the French guy is like he seems like he has this interesting backstory that we really even with that little intro at the beginning we only get kind of a glimpse of and you haven't figured out exactly what all he was involved in. And the whole like the guy killing.

Himself and like I don't know like the fact that he just takes off in the middle of dinner with his wife like it was a pretty heavy situation he was involved in so it's like I kind of wanted to see where else it could have gone. But, yeah, once he started talking about her and bringing the watch out, I'm like, oh, that's it. Yeah. And we knew, like, we knew the fact that they had two trucks. I mean, they worked into the story to make it smart.

That's their backup. But I'm like, well, we know we're seeing one of these trucks go up. Like, that's just, you know, that's good movie making. Otherwise, what's the point? Yeah, why would you?

I mean, if you weren't going to show one blow up, you'd just give them one truck in the plot line. That's right. Like, we know one of these trucks is going to blow up. But you know if you've got two trucks and they're both filled with nitroglycerin, Can we please see one explosion? At least we need one to explode.

Exactly. We've already seen you blow up an entire tanker area. Which was massive. Like, that whole explosion scene at the beginning is... They talk about how much they put into the whole oil fire explosion.

Wasn't it way bigger than they expected? Oh, yeah. They probably took out a few people. But life's cheap down in Nicaragua, so they're just like, those Guatemalans just went flying through the air. Bring in some extras on a freaking movie.

You don't worry about them. They're disposable. Yeah. Yeah. Like, that explosion...

Like, they talked about how much. They spent just building that whole yard and then blowing the hell out of it. And it is funny, as they went through in total all that stuff, how much in the hole this movie went. They spent... In reading about it, they compared it to Star Wars, and it had a hell of a bigger budget than Star Wars did.

And we all know what Star Wars made, where this one made. what I think it made 20 million 15 million started at. About nine yeah and then like later they added in all the other stuff but I think box office like it barely cleared 10 million dollars yeah something they spent like 23 or 30 million dollars on. It which was a just a fortune back. Then I'm like that's so much money to I mean again if I guess if he didn't have that name there's no way you could have even gotten that but that's still that's so much money to invest in this weird movie about four guys in a truck yeah I don't know it's it's amazing that they threw that much money at it and it tanked at the time. Like it's only now that people, you know, rediscover it and be like, this is a good movie, but it's amazing how much they spent on this little movie that nobody remembers.

Yep. You've got a problem. Tell me about it. You're on the hit parade. What?

I appreciate why it was Carter. Richie's brother. Get the heat. Rich himself was out looking for you. You know, I never carry a pistol.

Would you like to tell him that in person? Got any money? $ 2, 000. How about a passport? What for? The $ 2, 000.

That's your passport. You mean out of the country? Uh-huh. Where? I can say it's a good place to stay low.

Why? It's the sort of place nobody wants to go looking. I guess. I don't know. I did want to get into the end.

There and your thoughts on all of it. I mean, it is interesting that even the truck, our namesake, breaks down. It still doesn't even make it there, really. So, like, one more reason it's stupid to name it after the truck. Yeah.

The truck didn't even make it. But we've I mean, we lost all our guys at that point. It's just Roy dragging along by himself. So it's like it's it's an interesting conclusion. And then you almost think like, you know, they've given him the parade back into town.

You kind of think that's where it's going. Yeah. And then he's going to make it. And you're like, dude, he's not going to make it. And then what what is the dance scene on your show?

Like, why do you think, do you think that's just him knowing that it's coming? So, I don't know, because that. Seemed very strange at the time he did it. And then a few minutes later, I'm like, well, maybe that all plays into it. Yeah, I think he had a feeling that the boom was coming down.

And so he thought he'd go out with like at least one kind of fun thing. Go out dancing. With the wash woman. Yeah, I think he kind of knew the boom was coming down and he was just like going out with a happy finale. That is a weird, grim way to end, especially this movie.

Like, it's such a heavy, gritty movie anyway that, like, you don't even get, yeah, it's like he doesn't even pull out a semi, you know, maybe he'll get back to America ending. Well, but I think that was another thing that really doomed the movie was, you know, the year before was Rocky, and that is the beginning of the there's no more, the Downing Enders must cease. Yeah. And he went against the grain with that. People were like, I like movies like Rocky where he comes in and loses the fight, but it's kind of wins a moral victory.

And here, what are you telling me? He just dead? Then what the fuck did I watch this for? And I think a lot that they so bad name, bloated budget, misleading sort of ad campaign, too. And and super downbeat ending and no women.

Yeah. No love story. The closest thing we get to any kind of a love interest. So basically half the human race stayed away. Although, I have to say, the guy's wife with the watch, kind of attractive.

And then when he gives him the letter, I'm like, well, she's a widow now. I mean, you make it back to America. You're in France, I guess. It's like, you have to go look this woman up. It didn't pan out.

But I'm like, for a second there, I was like, well, that's what we need to do. Well, now they would do that. Now he would go back to France. And he would deliver the letter. and then she's like would you like to sit down and have a coffee with me and he'd go yes and they'd pull back from the cafe and you'd go he made it and he's gonna end up with a wife and the women are all smiling and that's great and. That woman she's not gonna be a sad widow now exactly.

But this is freaking freaking it's like everybody dies everyone suffers everybody. Dies But I don't know. I did also want to ask, what is your take on the journey of it? It does seem like it's such. An epic story.

There is sort of a little something that's a little heavier there of these characters and them going on this whole journey along the way. I think it's more than just we have to blow up this fire. I think it's a pretty nihilistic movie, though. I think it's basically like, this is life. Struggle, sweat, strain, followed by death.

Thank you very much. And so it's just a super... What it is, is it's like a leftover 70s downer. Like the Parallax View. all of these movies that just ended, like Tulane Blacktop, movies that just end with Bonnie and Clyde. That's kind of a 60s one, but still same thing.

It starts with Bonnie and Clyde, goes through Easy Rider, and this is kind of like, you can argue this is the last super nihilistic ending that a studio ever made. It's funny, in that same little thing where they were breaking it down and comparing it to Star Wars, they said this is the summer. This is the last... of those little indie movies backed by a director that's an arty kind of director, and then the birth of the blockbuster. From that point on, everything was how to make that next summer movie. There was still a little bit of overlap, like there always is.

Nirvana comes in 91, and you still have Hair Metal in 92. They're clinging on to it. They're clinging on to it, but by 93, it's done. You just see there's that overlap. And this was basically the end of that Easy Bulls, Easy Rider, Raging Bull, Easy Rider era.

That indie film. Yeah, maybe Raging Bull. I suppose Raging Bull could be the last one. But yeah, that kind of is the last of that era, really. And everything at that point becomes sequel and blockbuster.

So yeah, so that's my take on Sorcerer. And I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, I'm glad you picked it. It was definitely one I needed to see anyway. Anything else you need to tell people?

Anything to send them off with? I don't think so. I did my Hatchet 3 plug, didn't I? Yeah. Nothing else for them to look for on the horizon.

Not at the moment. Not at the moment. Follow me on Twitter at ZWGMAN. At ZWGMAN. And if you see him at conventions, you really don't have to do the Gremlin voice.

No. I've actually heard it done several times. Just once or twice. You can probably refrain from Gremlin voices. Just my suggestion as well.

All right, gang. See you next time. Thank you for sitting in with us. Yeah, definitely. Thanks for having me.

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That's Y-O-U-E-I-G-H-T-I-G. You ate it. Education has never been so wild. Hey, this is Danielle Harris. So I am now maybe, quite possibly, one of the newest members of Movie Meltdown.

If I can ever actually get to the movies. But I'll review some old 80s rom-coms for you. See ya. It had to be you It had to be you. I wandered around and finally found the somebody who.

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And now, on with the show. All right, we are back. So thank you once again to Zach for sitting in with us and for picking that movie. So that was a good choice, I think, of our movie talk. What have you seen lately yourself, Greg?

What's your Herzog movie? Oh, it's Happy People. And he spends a year in. The Taiga, I think, is about as remote in the U.S. As you can get.

And it's cold as it can get, pretty much. And it's all hunters and trappers that are in this town. And for half of the year, they're gone and they're alone off in the wilderness. And so he and his, it was co-directed, and forgive me, I don't know. I wasn't even prepared for this.

I don't even know who the co-director was. But there are definite moments, if you've seen Herzog enough, that you can tell, oh, he's... Because he's very much... You point the camera at something, you ask a couple questions, and you let it develop. And you let the characters give them. them.

And he's very fluid in, he's not coming into the documentary with any preconceived notions of what he wants to get out of it. And when he finds the story, he latches onto it. And there's one moment that is fantastic. There's the Native Indians are... Um, uh, they're not even Indian.

I mean, the native Russians or Siberians, I guess, in that area are, um, they work the meager jobs in town, you know, throwing wood, cleaning fish, that kind of stuff. And nearly all of them are alcoholics and, um, they blame everything on the Russians, uh, the Soviets in Moscow. And you can see one guy, he stops and is getting interviewed. And you can tell that this interview is being conducted by Herzog because it's different than a lot of the rest of them. And he, and the guy is just, he gives his little, you know, two minute talk that's translated.

And then he just, it, it, the camera holds again, like he does, especially in grizzly man. You can see where people are being interviewed and he holds it a little longer and And there's a brief uncomfortable pause and then they just spill. And then he just goes off on, it's, it's horrible. This is why it happens. This is what's going on.

And then one of the older guys that's, you know, kind of trying to get the guy to go back to work is basically telling him to shut up and comes in and you can see this, this struggle. And you almost wonder if Herzog thought maybe he was being held back, that this was the, this was the real story of this, of this documentary. And I was like, oh, give me, it's like you get a taste of something really good. It's like, I want more of that. I want more of that part.

And it was so different from where the story, you know, it obviously wasn't going to turn into a trapper story anymore. Also, there's a moment where, you know, they spend a lot of time with the dogs, right? that are the trapper's best friend and really tool that they have to have. And he really humanizes them extremely well just by pointing the camera at them and then pointing out the differences. And this one moment where one of the husbands comes back for New Year's. New Year's Eve is they all come back for one night for the entire eight-month run that they're out.

And he has to travel over 24 hours, 100 miles, and he's got a sled, a snowmobile, snow machine sled, and the dog is not allowed on it. He runs alongside the entire way. And then he just points the camera, riding along, points the camera on this dog, and you're just– it's kind of sinking in that these people really do see it as a tool and they don't really care. Even though this dog is really the only thing that cares about the man for months, doesn't really care about the dog, you know. And the dog gets bagged.

The kids greet the dog and, you know, throw out some food and everything. And then the kids say, I'm going to get him some food. And the husband's like, yeah, he's probably hungry. He hasn't eaten in 40 hours. You're like, what an asshole these guys are.

So as a dog lover, it was harsh, but it was a very Herzog moment that you're getting all of this out of it. So it's a good watch. It's a slow process, but it's fascinating, some of the stuff you get to see. Out of it. So I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I guess to counter the Herzog film I watched, this is the end. Oh, nice. So switch gears to dumb comedy. And that's one of those things, like, I don't normally like comedies now. Like, I just, I don't set out to like that.

Like, I like comedies. They're all, I've realized this time's gone on, older comedies, like, 80s and before, I still find things funny, but, like, the stuff that's supposed to be comedies now usually does not hit the mark for me. Like, it's just most of the time way too dumb, just way too watered down and stupid and made for masses that don't deserve a comedy made for them. Like they're just so dumb. So, um, I don't know.

This one looked a little different and it's made by people who have made some pretty dumb comedies in the past, but I was kind of like, all right, it at least looks like they're trying for something different. And it looks like they're trying like first and foremost, it looks like they, took this upon themselves to make this movie and they want to do something with it. So I, I saw it and I have to say, I did laugh probably more than most comedies of recent years. I, I mean, by the end it is like, it hits moments where it is so juvenile and like 12 year old boy, because they are a bunch of 12 year old boys, essentially. I mean, granted they're all probably in their forties, but, Like, it's just so, I mean, it hits those moments where it's pretty dumb again.

But along the way, like, you really can tell they had this fun idea. And it's not just like the let's go to Hawaii and shoot a movie because I want a free vacation kind of thing. Right. But what works about this one, because that's just they wanted to go hang out in Hawaii. Right.

Like in this movie, it is like a bunch of friends that get together and decide they want to make a movie. And it comes off on screen like a bunch of friends have gotten together. And like there is so much of it that's pretty genuine about just them hanging out. And so much of it is just such, I mean, them playing with all this downtime that they have in this, you know, end of the world situation that like it's just sort of them hanging out and they can't get out of the house. So it's them together.

And it kind of works because you can tell they are all friends and like, this is one shade away from being a real hangout session with them. You know, it's thrown into this ridiculous circumstance and like, it's there. And the thing I probably like the most is the fact that they're not exactly playing themselves. They're playing a version of themselves. Like they're playing some pretty close version on some of them.

Like, you know, Seth is probably not far from that, but like, James Franco is making a very specific choice with the way that he plays James Franco. And what's the super bad? Not Jonah, the other dude. Oh, Sarah? Yeah, Michael Sarah is hilarious.

Michael Sarah makes a real choice of how he wants to play. And so, I mean, just that kind of stuff that they're like, really having fun with their own persona. And like, you've got, you know, a guy at the airport in the very beginning that like is asking Seth, you know, how come all your movies are the same? How come you don't ever play a different character? Like he wrote that line, you know, like they're, they play a lot with how they're perceived.

And like, I think that part is interesting and honest. And then sometimes they fall right back into the dumb 12 year old boy. I'm jerking off jokes. Then that scene goes on way too long. But like, there's so much other stuff that, that actually kind of works.

And I am surprised that they sort of went the direction they did with the plot. Like, I won't even go into all of it, but like, they don't half-ass it. Like at first I thought they were just going to go very general with, Oh, something horrible happens. But by the end, they're. Very specific about what's going on.

And like, it can, like, at least they picked the direction. Like I was afraid they were going to be really wussy and be like, we don't want to commit to one thing or the other. And, Nope, they totally commit. And by the end, they follow through with the scenario. And I give them credit for that too.

So I kind of wish it across the board could have been a little smarter and thrown out some of those jokes along the way that are just so juvenile. But there's some great moments. Emma Watson's badass in it. So yeah, for any Emma Watson fans, definitely look for her. Also, you'll have a whole new perspective of Channing Tatum.

Oh, really? There's a lot of really good, like there's, they get so, cause they have a big party at Franco's house and like, there's so many cameos. It's amazing. So from that angle, it kind of works like again, and probably just from being a movie geek, it's like, you like seeing these people in a project that's not what they're normally in. And like, they're sort of playing themselves, but not really like they're playing around with that.

So for me, all that stuff worked and it was definitely worth watching. And there's some really big laughs in it. It's not perfect, but it's, it's probably better than anything most of those guys have done in years. Like it's, it seems like they really tried for something and, and I give them bonus points for that just because they put a lot of effort in it. You can tell, and then a little bit of heart towards it.

So it's, yeah, it's better than I expected. So not perfect, but fun. I love that. I love that. The, uh, Voted confidence better than I expected.

That's a good review. Especially for a comedy now. No, that's one I was wondering how it was going to be. So, yeah, that sounds like. It's entertaining.

Let's put it that way. It's definitely entertaining. Good. Not one for the kids. The gross-out humor is plenty of gross-out humor.

I show them all that. Oh, Lord. No, I don't. You're in trouble then. No, I don't.

But, no, it's entertaining. We'll go with that. Good. All right. I think.

Maybe this is the end of the world here in this big empty room. I win the body art contest. Let's see about that. You're going to. Have to show it off then.

Otherwise, I'm taking this trophy home. This cup of water that they left out? This cup of water that they left for us. I'm taking it home. All right.

Otherwise, that about does it. We will return next week. Same geek time, same geek feed. Thanks for listening. I'm tired I'm thirsty I'm wild eyed In my misery.

Yeah, yeah. In your finery, hey, hey It's a high price For your luxury. Yeah, yeah Sorcerer, who is the master? A man and woman. On a star stream.

In the middle of a snow dream Sorcerer, show me the highlight. Come over, let me put. You on. I need you badly. I'm wild-eyed.

In my misery, yeah, yeah. Timeless. When your binary hangs, it's a high price. Man and woman on a star stream In the middle of a snow dream Sorcerer Show me the highlight Come over. Let me put you on.

All right. Lady from the mountains. Won't you tell me who about? Lady from the mountains. Because I was clumsy.

Thank you. I blame Feldman. Feldman really did it. It's all Feldman's fault. The downfall of humanity.

Trust me, a lot of problems have to do with Corey Feldman. In my world. This episode is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by The Oddity Studios, with opening music performed by The Empires. For more on how to sponsor or support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com. Talk hard!

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