The Bride! (2026) — "My darlings, a revolution is coming!"

Weiry vera. What's my name? I can't remember. I don't want this. I don't want any of it.

Frank, It's fine. It's the dead end of revenge. What did you go to the projection booth? Time? Your host Mike White join me once again.

Is mister Chris Dasher. Hi, I'm here, I am, I'm here, Mike. I'm ready to talk about films with you. New films, films that have come out this year, which we haven't have we talked about anything else this year. New No, The Bride has brought us back from the grave.

Good God in Heaven, it sure has. On this special episode, we are looking at Maggie Jillen Hall's twenty twenty six The Bride, and yes, I said that with an exclamation point, Inspired by Mary Shelley's eighteen eighteen book and James Wales's nineteen thirty five film. The film stars Jesse Buckley as Ida and Mary Shelley herself. You can also call her Penelope where you can call her the Bride, or you can. Call her Hell.

You can call her Stacey, Mary, Jo Lisa. But that's not her name. That's not her name. Oh, how you could call her touretts too, if you wanted to call her that as well. We sure are.

Yeah, anyway, we are definitely delving into identity and the importance to a woman to own her own name and image, especially in an era where there's an act in Congress, the Safeguard American Voter Elegibility Act, which threatens toudition franchise any woman voter who has ever taken another name in her life. And there I go getting political again. Also all already, Mike House, I would you we've been at this for less than five minutes. Also along for the ride or the dances Christian Bale as Frank aka Frankenstein's Monster aka Dietrich. Though that one might be a joke.

I don't know. It's tough to tell to tell jokes from non jokes in this one. The film is brimming with ideas, and we will be sharing some of those and spoiling the film as we go along. So if you don't want anything ruined, please turn out the podcast and come back after you've seen the movie. And if you wait for a couple of days, I have a feeling it's going to be streaming pretty soon.

Chris, what were your initial impressions of the Bride. Wow, that was brutal. Mike that streaming suit, Well it's a box office bomb, jinx, you owe me. Well that'll be between me and sounds good. What did I think of a movie that feels intentionally polarizing?

One could say, well, this is Maggie Gillenholmes. She's an a tour and she's doing her own thing. And this is written and directed by someone who has a clear vision for things, has an idea for what they want, knows how to achieve what they want, and has gone about it in a way where I mean, look, Maggie Jillenhall, this is her second film that she's direct She directed a short film in two thousand and seven to a short film in twenty sixteen twice and then twenty twenty one The Lost Daughter, and then this is her I mean again, second directorial film. But in a lot of ways, I would say most people this would be their first directed and written Maggie jillen Hall film they're ever seeing. It is a movie unlike a lot of other movies I've ever seen it, both good and bad.

I think it has some interesting things going on. I think it has some interesting ideas. I'm not sure how well executed it is. I don't know if it's I don't think it's really to say. I don't think it's Maggie Jillen Hall.

I think is to not be truthful because I think if you're willing to put directed and written by on the movie, and you're willing to be as forthright as the promotion well materials are for this movie, here comes the motherfucking Bride. Like, all right, guys, this is Pride of Frankenstein movie. I'm not gonna say it's cringe, but it is kind of cringe like it is. I think, on the face of it, the movie is a tad cringey, but that's it reminds me in a lot of ways of when we talked about Joker Mike, Like it's it's a movie that's like it's trying to be a thing, and it's trying really hard to be that thing. And I'm not saying it doesn't achieve that thing.

I think there will be people who dress up like this character for years to come, and hot topic will be replete with bride stuff at some point when people reapprise this movie. Because this movie's not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. I just think it's totally the movie Maggie Gillenhall wanted to make for good and for bad, and when that's the case, just like Joker, just like so many other writer director films, you take the good with the bad, and sometimes there's more good than bad. I think this movie treads about sixty forty maybe fifty five forty five, but it's I could definitely see, especially with Jesse Buckley's performance, how this movie would be immediately polarizing for literally anyone.

And you either get on board with the movie from the moment it opens or you don't. And if you don't, the movie's really not concerned with getting you back on board a point, and there's nothing wrong with that. I do applaud that as a kind of point of matter, which is a director has made a film that they believe in and a film that they clearly wanted to make. But there are parts of this movie that don't resonate with me, and clearly there are parts of this movie that don't resonate with other people. I will say the most unfortunate thing about this movie is the budget was ninety million dollars did you really think a movie like this was gonna make that budget back?

For real? It this is a over budgeted art house film in a lot of ways, or an overbudgeted vanity project like this reminds me of toys. It's like, look at all this crazy stuff we can do. But that doesn't translate to people coming to see the movie unfortunately. So I just here at the opening.

I think it's an interesting experiment, and I think it's an interesting film, but I don't ultimately think it's the kind of movie that is going to be initially popular. But I do see this movie becoming popular over time, genuinely, and I'm sure you would agree, Like I think this movie's gonna find its audience in the long run, for good and for bad, but I do think it will find it. So I think the movie has definitely already started to find its audience. And it's a real shame when it comes to anything directed by a woman where there's this, it's like twofold. There's there's the bros on the one side that are just like, see a woman can't direct a film, Look at how badly this is doing, YadA YadA, YadA.

And then there's the women on the other side that are just like, you know, all you people are just coming to shut down women directed movies and just you come at this and you go, see, it never works, and that's why we don't get money, and that's why we can't do this, and that's why we can't take big swings and all this. And it's like, all right, I'm somewhere in the middle, like I already like on YouTube, you look at the YouTube reviews and like ninety percent of them are thumbnails of confused men with their hands up, going it sucks or it didn't work or what a failure, box office bomb, all these kind of things. Were angry about things, and then you've also got reviewers who are shutting down discourse about the film.

Like there's an article that I'm going to quote from by bj Colangelo. The Bride was going to be a box office Sorry, the Bride was never going to be a box office smash. It was always going to be your new favorite movie on slash film. And she said the Bride flop because and this is a quote from the article, the Bride flop because misogyny is alive and well and we've seen time and again with films like Heather's Jawbreaker, Josie and the Pussycats, Jennifer's Body, and Lisa Frankenstein. And I'm surprised she didn't put the Charlie's Angels movie in there too.

Movies about ungovernable women that embrace being the most are never rewarded at the box office, yet have the power to completely change the brain chemistry of those who resonate with them. And I'm sorry, but like Jennifer's I know, people always go back and they're just like, Jennifer's Body was so fucking great, and it's like if Sam and Dean Winchester or Moulder and Scully had shown up in that movie, then maybe it would have been somewhat entertaining, but it was just it had no engine to that movie, and it was just like such. A I don't know, you're disappointed twenty sixteen Ghostbusters didn't get mentioned. I don't you understand that they just it's like, no, well that was directed by a man though, so oh right, we're just talking about female directed movies, I think.

But yeah, so so she posts this. Bja posts this on Blue Sky with the text that said the Bride was always going to become a barometer film that people used to make judgment calls about someone, rather than actually engaging to learn why they feel the way they do. As such, I know that I should explain myself further, but I would prefer not to. So then I shared it, and I was just like, Okay, you're talking about this film becoming a barometer that people used to make judgment calls about someone. So I played along with that, and I was just like, well, I guess I'm an asshole because I didn't like this movie.

So then she wrote back and said, piggybacking off an article about women's anger and the way our industry doesn't finance women filmmakers to become to make big swings or allow a runaway sorry, or allow a runway to try and then judge our views on films as a barometer of our character instead of engaging with us. Is to say, guess I'm an asshole is certainly a choice. And I'm like, what, yeah, you talking about it being a barometer Like It was the strangest interaction I got. Maybe she didn't know where I was coming from, but I was already like, okay, you're just shutting down any sort of discussion about this stuff. So I'm like, it's okay.

There was a point where bj Colangelo was disenfranchising bisexual people on Twitter and saying we didn't exist, which which was super great. So I think both you and I probably have lost any opportunity to do any sort of work with some DVD extra work. But that's okay, you know what they say. I tend to rather have an open discourse about things, and not liking a piece of media does not discount an argument or a conversation to be had. There are much bigger issues right now.

Then I didn't like a movie. That's a reason for me to just roast you on the internet. Wait a second here, like do you hear do you hear yourself? I guess? Is my point?

Like, and that's the problem here, Like it's it does remind me of Ghostbusters twenty sixteen, because we come back to this idea of like, well, if you didn't like this thing, then you're a certain way and it's like in and look, we're all guilty of it. I you know, like Mike, like you and I even like just because someone is X does not make them why And it is very hard in this day and age to get around that, because there are certain things that if you are X, then you know why is the case. There are certain things that are almost hard to get around that not being the case if X is the way that it is for someone. A movie that comes out that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make and produce, that doesn't make any money because they didn't know how to promote it or any number of reasons, is not a thing that is a barometer for anything other than, frankly, the success or failure of the studio who released the fucking movie.

Thank you very much for coming to my ted talk good night. I don't know why it's anything else, like it doesn't It doesn't even matter, because there is no other reason to call this anything other than a movie that got made that they did not understand what they were making, and they did not read the room about the kinds of people that go see movies like this. People that watch this kind of movie are gonna watch it after it comes out on vod and other places, not in the fucking theaters. And that has willed out once again here. And I'm sorry that it's all it's women director, It's say women directors.

This is like fucking Greta Gerwig mid Barbie that she made it hundreds of millions of dollars. So let's not And this is a property, for God's sakes. This is not just you know, Metropolis, for fuck's sake. This is a movie that is based on a pre existing property from eighteen eighteen at the earliest, and nineteen thirty five at what some people would consider the latest. Yeah, no, absolutely, And yeah it's you.

You don't like that movie, You're a misogynist. It's like, really, I just thought that all the quef jokes could have been paired back to like, you know, half as many. Maybe I don't know, like. I really enjoyed all the wanton soup jokes. They just kept throwing at us over and over and over again, like I'm I'm I guess I'm sorry that that's not something that I came to see Ghostbusters for.

And it wasn't to see men fighting ghosts. I came to see something funny and engaging, and it wasn't right. Yes, I'm not saying because you liked it, you're a certain way, but because I didn't like it, I must be a certain way. How is that remotely an okay thing for anyone to get to at this point in criticism. And like you said, all this does is just shut down criticism more or less completely.

I mean, I don't know how else to describe it. But my god, if you're gonna do this, people can't have a discourse about anything. I guess we should just close up shop on the podcast and leave. All right, Well, next time we get together. Wait, wait, no, let's talk about this movie.

I've got a lot of thoughts on this. Yeah, this movie has a lot of this movie he too, he too. This movie has a lot. One might say it's replete with them. It has a plethora, a plethora of thoughts.

Yeah. It reminds me of when Jeffrey Jones as the Emperor listened to that song by Tom Holse's Amadaeis and he's just like, there's too many notes, you know, just get rid of some of the notes. And I would honestly be okay with them getting rid of some of the notes in here, and some of it. Some of this movie just hits me very hard in the face with just how pretentious it is as far as like we're going to name all these characters after these things try and figure out, and there's certain things where I'm just like, is this supposed to be a reference? Like the mob boss who we meet right up front, who apparently has no friends, who's just kind of sitting there at the bar rather than being with all of his boys and the women and everything.

His last name's Lupino, and I'm like, Okay, is this a Lupino or are we doing that? And then of course his whole thing, Lupino's whole thing is he loves to cut out I would say people's tongues, but I think it's exclusively women. I think he loves to cut off women's tongues. And that is just so heavy handed when it comes to the oh see, he's silencing women. He is literally silencing women by cutting out their tongues.

And it's just like, so many of these things are so heavy handed. I'm like, oh, okay, it feels like, I mean, the movie is very much a fairy tale, so I can't, you know, jump to any sort of logic as far as like, oh, well, Frank talks doctor Euphronius into you know, how him out pretty easily. There's not a whole lot of discussion here. Not a lot of moral quandary when it comes to this. And yeah, it's it's a doctor Euphonium.

Oh sorry, yes, who obviously is based off of the doctor Pretorius who was in Brida Frankenstein, the incredibly gay actor that played him. And I kept thinking that there was like a relationship between Annett Bennings character Euphronius and her maid. But then later on she's like, well, I was married and this and this and this. I'm like, oh, okay, any sort of backstory would be good about this doctor and why she knows all this, and like her story about how they she and her husband were doing all these experiments. That sounds really fascinating.

I almost would like to watch that movie instead. Well, and that's the thing, it's there's such a like I will give Maggie Gillenhole a lot of credit for creating a very interesting world that I think is very distinct and unique. I mean, the success is that this movie has, I think are balanced directly with the failures that it has, because in a lot of ways, the successes that the film has are the set design and I think just the framework and the idea of Okay, we have Mary Shelley essentially as a demon or a demonic entity or a possessive entity who is possessing this woman's body and again externalizing as Turets in the most I think, if you were to talk about it in modern day terms. But then in the.

Film happening two weeks after the BAFTA Awards, the disastrous baft Awards, you know, like, I know, I've seen this type of character before. I know, obviously Ed Norton in Motherless Brooklyn had tourettes, but there are other characters where when they're losing their mind, they just start spouting off these things. And I think Father Malone on Midnight Viewing compared her to a really coked up Robin Williams, which I can totally see. Yeah, I heard him say that, and I would agree, Oh yes, beautiful thing. Oh yes, franky Sysons, Oh yes, beautiful thing.

Like okay, all right, chill, just. Weird when she gets into these fits, because they have to tell me. I want to I want to hear what your thoughts are on Jesse Buckley's performance, because I feel like the film lives and dies by how you respond to this, and it's this is not like a oh, from the moment she's on screen, she's like this, like no, you get about five minutes of her not and you get this like I think, very tried, true and frankly lazy character of like, well, she's a sex worker and she's gonna get one over on the big bad mob boss. But you can't do it without the demonic, possessive entity that is Mary Shelley. Like Maggie Chillin'hall I think is it as an eye for things, has an interesting voice and a place that she's coming from.

But Maggie Chillenhall needs to learn some subtlety because my god, like it's it's it's like it's like a like someone's first draft of something like han Solo because you're by yourself, like we don't you don't have to hang a lantern on every single thing because it doesn't do a whole lot. And this movie, just because it lacks subtlety, every single kind of Hurrah Women thing it does just kind of comes off very forced and icky. It reminds me a lot of that moment when Hillary Clinton pulled the hot sauce out of her bag and it's just like come on, like you know, the optics of this. I get what you're doing, but like, nobody's gonna see this and not think you're trying really hard. And this movie, this movie doesn't need to try that hard because Maggie Jillenhall clearly knows what she's doing well.

I love Jesse Buckley, I right, every time I see her and stuff, I'm just captivated. And she was so good in that season of Fargo. She was probably the best thing in that season of Fargo for me every time I would see her otherwise. And she's one of these actresses even though she's got a very distinct look. When she's not acting, she can try transformed pretty well and turn herself into other people even when.

Wit style, I would say yes. Even when she's Mary Shelley, she doesn't look like Jesse Buckley, very very different though. When she speaks as Mary Shelley, she reminds me of Patsy from ab Fab like Patsy with Tourette's, you know, because she she seems drunk more than she seems angry. And this, I guess this whole metaphor is this is the angry voice that lives inside of every woman that a man like me is trying to silence or whatever, and it's just like, you know, oh yeah, with this, like she's found her power and this you know, takes over and yes, she's able to insult the mob boss and all these things and start off this stuff. I mean, it's so weird that, like she isn't even really murdered at the beginning of the film.

It's a slip and fall accident. It's like she went to live in Fall School. Yeah, and then of. Course that's why I gotta take a fucking David provoll as Richie Afril slip the Fall School. You want to go slip at full School.

And then of course, after she gets reinvigorated by doctor Euphronius and Frank, she's got a severe case of CMA Convenient Movie amnesia, where it's just like, oh, tell me who I am, remake me in your image, guys, and give me. Get it, get it, get it, get it. It's like it's like get it, get it, like someone like poking you at the movie. You're like, get it, get it. See see It's like yeah, it's yeah, very Nolan esque again.

It's like you know, like we yeah, well, it's like you're not that you're not being that clever. And I'm not saying I'm that clever, but you're not that clever, Like just you need to cool. It right well, And how obvious is it that frank is an inceell? I mean, in an interview, Christian Bale's like, oh, yeah, he's like a stalker, and I'm like, no, no, he's totally like an inceell. You know, this whole like uh, you know, the male loneliness epidemic.

It's like, I know, like he's been alone for what over one hundred years and that's what he goes through Euphronius with And it's like, Okay, that's a that's a choice. I mean, I understand, like the monster quote unquote from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of the most sympathetic people, characters, creatures ever period. Yeah, and this whole like, you know, I'm rejected by everybody. I just you know, no one understands me. I'm trying to learn how to read, and i want to connect with this family and I want this and I want this bride and then Frankenstein fucking aborts his own creature and kills the bride before she can even live.

It's just like, ah, you know, like you feel so much for this guy. I feel for this frank Like he just he does seem like an insult, He seems like a weirdo. And when he gets the bride, he just yeah, like oh well no no, he just lies to her and gaslights her the entire time. Which is really uncomfortable. Oh very very gives her a new name, gets a tattoo of her name on him, and it's like wow, okay, yeah again, it's just like very twenty twenty six when it comes to explaining the dynamics of these relationships.

Which I guess, you know, it was a very Night's tale, right, Like it's so anachronistic because this movie is taking place in nineteen thirties Chicago, I guess, but not real nineteen thirty Chicago. Nineteen thirty Chicago, where human beings can be reinvigorated or reanimated per the film's language. And everybody seems to know about Frankenstein because like. Well, Frankenstein exists in this world. Yes, that's the other Like this is also slightly meta, and you know we've already commented.

Jesse Buckley plays Mary Shelley, so you have Mary Shelley going, Hey, by the way, I wrote the story Frankenstein on a dare, and then I wrote I would have written something else if I hadn't died. Is essentially what she says. This is what that is, which, by the way, can we just can we just talk about that for a second. What a fucking babe, Ruth shot call point to the fucking outfield that you're doing here, Maggie Gillenhall. Frankenstein is taught in schools two children and adults and everyone in between as a story, like you said, Mike, about a lot of things, and one of them is again like the sympathetic nature of the creature at the center of the story.

This is not come on like you really like you. It's almost like in an X Men x Men Apocalypse where they're walking out of Return of the Jedi and they're like, the third Ones always suck, and it's like, so as the movie just essentially hanging lantern, the fact that it knows that this movie sucks. This is that situation where I'm like, I don't think there's any universe where this is going to exceed or even be of the same caliber of Frankenstein. Written by Mary Shelley, but you are calling a shot here that I would not be taking ever. And I just it's it's it's a little I don't know.

I don't want to say it's a little. It's a little bit of Hubris, but a lot of Frankly, And I just I don't maybe I'm taking it the wrong way, but it would it's off putting regardless of who's doing it, man or woman, Like I just it's just it's very off putting. Yeah, and it is nineteen thirties Chicago, though she speaks with I would say more of a New York accent naturally. Yeah, And she frankly, she sounds a lot like Harley Quinn to me a lot of times. Well, I was gonna say, that's the that's the performance that this reminds me of.

Was like at Margot Robbie at her suicide squad, the first one worst, that's this just like manic horseshit. Sometimes, Well, it's interesting because she talks like Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, but she looks like Lady Gaga is Harley Quinn, Like when she's got her hair all up and she's got the ink on her face and everything. She looks like, oh my god, I forget, right, I mean, I remember it, but I also you forgot about Joking too. I forgot. I forgot, But the same time, I enjoy that movie, but I forgot it was Lady Gaga.

The other musical Joker. I mean, because this movie reminds me of Batman so much. I mean, you've got Batman as Frankenstein. It reminds me of Joker a while, like and which is you know again Batman and Jason like it? It feels very and look it's directed by Maggie jillenhol What was Maggie jillenhol doing at one point a fucking Batman movie?

Like she replaced Katie Holmes in a Batman movie with Christian Bale, Like you said, well. And then her uh the in that movie? Uh? I think it was that movie. It was either that Win or Dark Knight Rises, because I know we just talked about that one where you've got the Sons of Batman and that whole I don't wear hocky pats those kind of right, Okay, And it's like that whole thing is like to me, the this movement, you know, like, oh, we're going to imitate Batman.

We're going to put on the you know, the the suit and everything. We're gonna go out. We're gonna find crime, you know. Or it's like the Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains where everybody dresses up like our main character, like third degree burns. And it's just like it's so to me, this movement that she creates is so unearned, and it's like, what have they done?

They killed a cop, they did dance number, but otherwise, like why is she this folk hero? Is several cops? Mike? They give several cops, including a cop played by Lewis can Sell Me and I kid you not. The character's name is Officer good Man.

Wow. The subtlety, the just subtle whiffs of we get it. Like it's just if you were trying to be deep, you missed it and you ended up just feeling like that guy who gets high at a college frat party. And it's just like, don't you you just don't understand Zack Snyder's the Justice League. It's just like, you're right, I don't and I'm not here too understand it because there's nothing to understand.

I'm not saying this movie is not trying, but I just think you're missing the point kind of over and over and over again, and you keep really trying to make a lot of points, and I'm not sure. I'm not sure it does any of them very well. I think it tries really hard, though, and sometimes trying really hard instead of being something where you're like, yeah, good for you, it kind of seems like you're flailing, and flailing is not something you want to be feeling when you're watching a two hour long Frankenstide movie. Well, so, nineteen thirties. I was trying to figure out exactly what date it would have been.

I think it probably is around thirty five thirty six, just from some of the things that are around that time period, because there are some interesting things where it's like, I mean, Putting on the Ritz was from twenty seven, but it was probably still on the charts, you know, different people doing versions of it long before Taco did his, you know, probably the nail in the Coffin version, and of course major oddly young Frankenstein reference. I'm like, what, it's so strange, But so it's nineteen thirties Chicago, But I don't know why it's it's not weymar Germany because when they have the whole thing that takes place in the alleyway, there are posters up behind them that say vymar that's say Data, that's ay Bauhaus, and it's like, why did you not just set that over there?

And that also calls to mind like you mentioned Metropolis, which is also the city that Superman is from. But with Metropolis, it's like she is basically Maria, like especially with the blonde hair and the dancing and all that kind of stuff. And Maria was also this automaton who was brought to life, which was kind of like also an early right of Frankenstein type's story. So yeah, it's like we're doing this, but we're not doing that at the same time. And I guess it's also in nineteen thirties because of Bonnie and Clyde.

I mean basically they become Bonnie and Clyde. Get it every time. I'm just like, get it, Oh my god, we get it. I like the idea where this movie went. I like the idea of, Okay, we have these two people on the run.

Oh there, it's you know again, it's it's misunderstood what happened like it's a misunderstanding in a way, like it was an accident sort of, and then that they kind of traffic in that from the original story of Frankenstein. But for me, I guess I have a hard time seeing them as equals because it doesn't really feel like she has any agency as a character. And that's a thing that the character of Bonnie has in Bonnie and Clyde is she has agency, and Jesse Buckley's bride doesn't have any agency until like less five minutes of the movie. Well, she's about to get raped on the side of the road by. My officer good man.

Yeah, and frank finally decides to shoot the guy. I'm like, how long were you going to wait? How long were you watching this new weird creep? Who? By the way, Bail looks very similar to the Frankenstein from Van Helsing.

He's got like the head wrap and everything. Yeah, yeah, I like when he wears the scarf over face. That's very dark man, maybe very dark man. I know father alone mentioned the shadow. I'm trying to think for me, it reminded me of the Lodger the Actually I think that was from nineteen twenty seven.

Maybe the Hitchcock film, which was kind of a retelling of the Jack the Ripper. Story go one step further. It's very invisible. Man. Oh yeah, I can see that.

I can definitely see that. I'm curious because you know, I think for me that you know the thing that obviously Jesse Buckley is the bride to the titular character in them. What did you think of Christian Bale as Frankens, Because I mean, we mentioned that he's in this movie, We've talked about his character a little bit, but what did you think of him in this movie? Because I honestly feel like he kind of gets lost in this movie. The performance is almost like he has to get out of the way, which is to me very hilarious because Christian Bale not an actor known for getting out of the way, not in terms of like because he's some big personality who can't share the screen with people, but he tends to make big choices too, and so when he is opposite someone who I would say is making a rather big, bold choice, it's surprising to me.

I don't think you needed Christian Bale in this movie because they kind of don't do anything with him. It's interesting that it's Christian Bale playing Frankenstein. Sure, but the novelty of that wears off rather quickly. It is. Yeah, I didn't even know, so I didn't watch any trailers me either, didn't know anything about this movie coming in.

I didn't know Christian Bale was in it until I see him in the movie or maybe in the credits. So yeah, it was. I was very surprised. And then yeah, I was thinking, for whatever reason, I'm like, oh, okay, he's playing Frankenstein. He's gonna have to die pretty early in the movie, because you don't cast an actor of this caliber to just play second Banana.

I mean, it's really because he's not. It's not a buddy cop movie. It's not. When I say Bonnie and Clyde, I mean, it's basically Bonnie. You know, she's the one that gets killed in the hail of bullets.

He gets an unceremonious headshot. So yeah, it's it's very much it's the Bonnie Barrow story. And yeah, you're right. It's just felt very odd that would like the amount of time a Net Benning is on screen, I felt would have been appropriate for the amount of time that Christian Bale should have been on screen, but yeah, he's just there all the time. And then his whole thing of falling.

I mean, the whole movie is about movies, really, like even the thing that brings her back to life, that gives her the spark of life. I believe those are two tungsten rods, which is what used to light you know, the projector back in the old day, and that's why fire would break out the projection quite a bit, you know. And yeah, we see him multiple times at the movies. Even when a Net Benning is like fixing her leg and everything, she kicks him out and he goes to the movies and sees this Ronnie Reid and then you know there's another leg thing in there, because Ronnie Read's got one leg shorter than the other. I really am fascinated by the Ronnie Read character.

But before we talk about that, yeah, just him. He disappears into the movies like literally will appear in the movies many times, like as a background dancer, and then he the second time we see him, he is the main He takes over for Ronnie Reid and becomes the main person on screen, which gives Bail some things to do. I've never really seen Bail being a song dance man. But well he was in Newsi's that's true. It's been a while I remember that.

Yeah, was that the musical about like while the Jews burn, we sell newspapers? Was that what that was? That's what Bill Pullman saying. I believe that. Okay, yes, it's.

You know, Christian Bale is an actor who I have a lot of respect for because I enjoy a lot of the things that he's done, and I think he's a really interesting actor who makes interesting choices. He's also been in a lot of things I really don't resonate with. I was told recently that I excoriated the Dark Knight Rises on your show, which I mean, I don't know if I excoriated it, but I mean, Christian Bale's Batman is not a character I'm a super big fan of, and his version of Frankenstein. If it wasn't being dressed up with the trappings of Frankenstein, it could literally just be anything like it's unfortunate that he's not allowed to make bigger choices that it's not a frank I mean, I'm not saying I wouldn't want to see it.

Jesse Buckley story, just don't have him in it this long because he kind of just doesn't need to be there and kinda does get in the way of her character having any agency. It's like the movie gets to the point where it should have gotten at the end of the movie. It should have gone to that point in like the first half hour. It's a fucking two hour movie. And you get to the point where Frankenstein dies in the last ten minutes.

What she's still dragging his bleeding corpse into that room at the end of the movie, which means he just died. Like it's It was shocking to me how late into the film Christian Bale is he's in the entire god damn movie. Was shocked. I was shocked because I expected this to be a movie that's a Jesse Buckley movie, not because I watched a bunch of trailers, but because it's called The Bride and she becomes the Bride at the end of the movie. And look, this movie's not getting a sequel, so why didn't you just make this that movie?

Make it? Look this is gonna sound dismissive and it's not meant to be. But more I think speaking to how it should have been approached in terms of the way it could have resonated with people. This should have been the women's answer to Joker. Oh yeah, And that's what it was attempting to be.

And it failed like miserably because even Joker had some subtlety, didn't that much, but it had a little bit more than. This, probably more in the first movie than the second movie, I would think. I mean, I like the second movie for different reasons. The second movie is a is a tacit rejection of the first movie completely. Oh yeah, but that's what I like about it, yes, so yeah, yeah.

It is weird how much this is tangled up in that DC universe with Joker, with her Quinn. I mean, there are moments of this film that reminded me of the fantabulous emancipation of Harley Quinn as well. And I'm just like. Again about I guess there was some cruel and made the white the black and the yeah and the like the I mean again, like not to say like raw raw feminism, but I mean again, like if you're not gonna have something interesting to say, it does just kind of come off as raw, raw feminine. Well, and it was weird that the antagonists in that movie was Another Woman, where I'm just like, why didn't you make the antagonist male, Like, come on, make it a little interesting, you know, I don't know.

And then there are parts of this movie that really reminded me of Poor Things. I mean, especially when in the scene after she's brought back to life and drops the coffee cup and all those things. I just was thinking of poor Things, and I was thinking, yeah, that seems Even though overall I don't think I liked Poor Things that much. I felt that one was too long in the tooth, I still felt it was a little bit more interesting. And I really felt that Bella had a lot more agency than this character does, because, yeah, she's just acted upon.

She's given these new names. She finally takes her own name at the end, but yeah, the whole thing is just manipulating her. And what's funny is if you go and read like the Wikipedia synopsis for the film, which plenty of people will go and read, it doesn't mention at any point any of the back and forth about her name, the fact that she gets called anything else. They call her the bride throughout the entire synopsis that is not her name, Like this is, you know what this is. This is in a lot of ways like an origin story, the Bride origin story, Like there ain't gonna be a sequel to these We're not getting the Bride too, that is not happening.

Like ever, this movie is a bomb, and there is no amount of going to watch it that's going to turn that around. Now again, it will find its audience once it is on physical media, once it is on Blu ray and four K and all those other things, it will find its audience. That's just not right now, because people aren't paying to see this kind of movie in theaters because I'm not even sure they know what this kind of movie is. Because I don't think this movie knows what it is. It's just kind of a bunch of things thrown into a blender and turned onto high and you know the fact that it's spinning really fast is meant to, you know, kind of dissuade from the fact that you're not really saying anything or doing anything that someone else hasn't done already in a much more interesting way.

Even if I don't resonate with those movies, at least those movies have something to say. This movie doesn't really feel like it has anything even to say. Christ, do you honestly think that if this movie made three hundred million dollars that they would make a sequel to it? Yeah? Really, yeah?

I just think way this equation works out, more money equals let's do another one. I can't see this ever being a sequel. This feels like such a just statement in and of itself that it would never have anything else to say. Yet Joker to fucking exists, Mike, it does. Yeah, yeah, I mean that movie did not need sequel, and yet it got a seep.

So I bet if they had said, oh, Maggie Gillenhall, how much money does this movie make? Six hundred million dollars? Half a billion? This is a runaway success. People the bride Manias run a wild Maggie, Will you come to another one that?

Yeah, fucking I will. You know. I'm right. It's unfortunate, and I don't think there's anything like. The problem is this movie didn't really do much with the time that it was given two hours, and so I can't imagine what another movie would say other than what this movie has already said, which is not much.

Like there's a lot of posturing and not a lot of substance behind it. There's a lot of stuff in here that I just wish they would have explored more, which is weird to say when we're talking about a two hour movie. Right Like, her her broken neck seems to be healed by the reinvigorating process. Her broken leg does not her broken leg. I don't know.

That's the representation of the of like the Frankenstein biomechanical, right, Like, that's the way I interpreted it. There was like the very like easy way of introducing that. I guess so, But there's also this whole thing of like they so she doesn't know that she's dead for the longest time in this movie, and when she does find out that she's been brought back to life, she does talk about, you know, the dead do this, the dead do that. And I'm just like, what does Frankenstein feel about being dead? I mean that famous line from the end of The Bride of Frankenstein, We belong dead.

It's like he is a dead person brought back to life. She is as well. What is their feeling of being around these humans? Basically these living beings, the ones who are born with souls? You know, it's it's like, do they heal?

If they fuck? Could she get pregnant? Like I'm curious, Like, you know, he pulls out some staples at one point, He's got some open wounds on him, and I'm just like, do these things ever heal? Is there a way for that to happen? Or are you just stuck the way you are?

Like if he cut himself shaving in eighteen eighty seven, would he still have an open wound for that today? Does he? Does he have a beard? Does that grow? You know?

Does he have to get haircuts because his hair looks awful? I would definitely sue the barber. He his hair, His hair looks great. And the character who the character who I really wanted to know more about. It's such a weird entrance and exit is Ronnie.

I want to know more about this Ronnie guy, this Ronnie actor who well, obviously he's played by the director's brother, the incredibly talented Jade Jillenhall. But so he was sick when he was young. He has one leg that's shorter than the other. But yet he becomes a song and dance man, you know, big triumph. They meet him in person, which was kind of a surprise.

In New York City after they get chased out of a movie which was not originally as far as I know, released in three D. By everybody's wearing three D glasses and you see them up on screen, this whole thing of them. You know, at first it's just Frank is up on screen, but pretty soon it's Frank and the bride can like are represented in the movies and everything. But with this song dance Man, it's like, you know, Frank's like it's very when I talked about being in so it's a very like awkward thing where it's like, Oh, you're gonna you're gonna be so happy. I'm so much better.

He's like ruper pupkin coming up to Jerry in the movie, just like, oh, I'm so much better now, you know, Da da da da da, And like there's a little bit of like, you know, uncomfortable laughter and all this, and you're like, okay, so Jillian Hall is just a jerk. He's just a dickhead movie guy. Like I was hoping, Yeah, I was hoping there'd be way more stuff, Like I wanted to hear the Ronnie story. I wanted to know like was he a child actor? Did he survive child acting, because we are also talking about a director and her brother who were child actors as well.

So it's like, what was his experience? Is he a jerk? Is he a nice guy? Is he just embarrassed by this weirdo that's coming over to him? Like I just wanted to know a little bit more about him, and instead I got the whole sub plot with mister Jill and Hall, Peter Sarsguard and Penelope Cruz has Myrna Maloy For some reason, I kept reading all these interviews that called her Myrna Malau and I'm like, was that in the press notes?

I don't know where you're getting this name from. Yeah, And I'm like, okay, so is that a reference to Myrna Lloy, who is in The Thin Man where it was eventually the movie series was basically named after William Powell, even though he wasn't The Thin Man, but she was really the brains of the operation. Like I'm just like, I don't need these characters and they just feel so superfluous, and it's this whole like, I mean, I got it in five seconds in the Silence of the Lamps, right when Jack Crawford goes over and starts talking to all the detectives and leaves Clarice there to actually do the detecting work. We'll get the exact same scene in this movie. Right, And I liked it there better because again it's done with some subtlety.

Oh it's just a lack of subtlety in everything that's done. Yeah, I mean Jesus Christ, Peter stars guard my Lord his care what what was his character? What? What? What?

Like? What limp wristed character was he being asked to play. It's the most strange performance. Like, I I'm not gonna feel bad for this guy, and I don't understand how the movie's trying to get me to because he is a crooked cop who got this woman killed and now he's wanting sympathy and he also slept with her by the way, Like what why? No, no, like that.

Don't write this like write this character as someone who needs to have come up and it's not someone who just disappears from the movie halfway through, which is literally what happens. It's like, I have to go now, my planet needs me. Like he poochied himself out of the movie, kind of like Jake Gillenhall like Jake Jillenole's character should have had his head split open by Frankenstein. That's what I was expecting to happen. Yeah, I was expecting Frankenstein to just you know, go full Frankenstein's Monster and kill him.

Nope, he just starts dancing like an idiot, you know, and it's it's it's uncomfortable, and it's intentionally uncomfortable. And I understand that, and I appreciate that it succeeds in that regard. But you had this opportunity to do something interesting and you just kind of didn't. You chose not to, you didn't want to. Well, it's funny that so when people see Frankenstein, like when uh, doctor Euphronius's made sees Frankenstein, she screams, and that's kind of like the only time you get that reaction from people.

And there are a lot of times during this movie where I'm like, how do people see him? Like? Are they not seeing what the maid saw? You know, He's you know, very obvious when it comes to him approaching Jill and Hall in this and being like, oh, your biggest fan, all this kind of stuff, and I'm like, well, nobody else is reacting like, look at this fucking monster that just. Wants look at this stitched up human being who's also gigantic, right, like all right, and also he looks like Batman.

And when Frank starts to dance and do the whole putting on the ritz thing, and then everybody joins in because I'm just like, well, is this just him? Is this all in his head? Is he just the one that's doing this? And then everybody jumps in and I'm waiting for a hard cut at the end of this dance number to just show him and her Frank in the bride just standing there, you know, everybody else's mouth open, aghast at what's happened. But instead, I guess that's the reality.

And again, I know how many days ago do you see this movie? This was Saturday? You're still waiting huh. I'm still waiting to find out. Still waiting to find out, because yeah, that was one of those scenes of this movie was like what am I expected to believe is going on here?

Do you know? You brought up Ghostbusters twenty sixteen. They also have a forced musical number in that where everybody's possessed by the ghost and I think it's Chris Hemsworth leads the whole dance. That was cut out of the original version of the movie. Oh okay, Fracture's cut the too funny.

Further, too funny for mainstream audiences. You know what's interesting, you know, to go to go back to the like this this scene in this movie. It it is a forced musical number. And I mean like forced in terms of like it's forced into this movie. Like it does not it doesn't serve a purpose because it's not given any context whatsoever.

And like you said, it is it in Frankenstein's head? Is it not? Like what is happening here? Please explain because you can't. You can't just do this in this kind of movie without explaining explaining it because this is not a musical.

If this is a musical, then I assume that the logic is kind of suspended in these moments and we don't need to kind of restrain ourselves to reality because it's a musical number. That's from to this point. That's not been the case in this movie. You have not established any of this, So why do you think you could just do this? I don't understand.

It's just tonally makes no sense. Against what I seen up into this point. Well, it is interesting that it has been a musical of sorts because it's the Ronnie Reid stuff is the musical stuff, and then which is almost diegetic, right, Oh yeah, one hundred percent diagetic. Yeah, it's every time they go into because they go to the movies at least like five times in this that ends. Up being like a framing device of like, where are they going?

Right exactly? Yeah, because Penelope Cruz's character, Myrna Maloy, she's the only one that's smart enough to put two and two together after she finds the clipping, the Ronnie Reid clipping, to say, oh, they are going to all of these locations from these movies, which means that she must be a huge movie fan because you can't check them out from the video store in nineteen thirty, so she must know all of these movies as well. And yeah, that's she's so her detective work is good. It is that great. I mean, basically, she puts two and two together when it comes to that.

But it's definitely way better than Peter Sarsguard. Yeah, Peter Peter Sarsguard's character completely u this necessary written out of the movie halfway through. It does not need to be there. Why it's back at the end. Oh right, you're right, I'm sorry, Yeah.

For two seconds, you know, like just to I guess he's now helping these women get their revenge on Lupino. Great, that right, the post credit scene, glad I stuck around. Remember when Sam Jackson coming out was actually a thing that mattered as opposed to whatever. Like again, Peter Sarsguard coming back at the end of the movie proves my point, like there's no point to any of this. His character serves no purpose.

Ultimately, if you wanted to make a movie about Jesse Buckley as a bride, just do that. Don't do anything else, don't have Frankenstein, don't need it, Like, don't need it, it's not necessary. Go ahead and embrace this whole split personality thing. Do all of me? Was Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin something you know, because it comes up and it's just basically a plot device.

It just comes up the most inopportune times, like when they're hiding on the train as she just starts screaming her head off with this and it's like, all right, now, you know you're gonna get pinched because of this, and that leads to another person's death, that leads to her killing somebody. Yeah, I don't. I don't think that Jesse buckley performance leaves enough room on screen for anybody else to do anything else. And I think that that's the intention, and there's nothing wrong with that. No, but don't have Christian Bale in your movie.

Don't don't write yourself into a corner where the character is supposed to have agency, has no agency throughout the entire front, no agency whatsoever throughout the entire And again, when I mean, you have all these other interesting characters that you could you could see Jesse Buckley interacting with. You didn't even mention the most abhorrent thing about Jake Gyllenhall being in this movie. Jesse Buckley doesn't even. Interact with him. No, he interacts with them essentially for like two seconds and that's it.

That's it, like literally two seconds in that one scene, Like why why are we even doing this? Like I don't, I don't understand why they didn't just do the thing that they wanted to do because there's no one stopping them from doing that. They instead, they made a story about getting to that point, it's like, you're not going to get to go any further. This was never going to be that kind of movie. So why not just don't pull your punches, don't put Christian Bale in your movie as Frankensiegn just do Jesse Buckley.

She can carry the movie. Trust us, she can carry the movie. Oh yeah, no, And I would be very welcome to watch her just completely carry this movie. And again, like trimming some of the fat would not be a bad thing. And I could consider Frank to be fat, you know, Frank.

And Christian Bale performance is fat in a movie. Take that in for a second. I mean Frank Scartsguard is Jake Wiles, Penelope Cruise is Murder Malloy. I mean, all of that stuff could just go by the wayside. It really doesn't need to be there.

And it's just basically to have this on the lamb stuff, to have more corruption and things. It's just and what are they doing while they're on the lamb? Is it ever really explained? One? Yeah, they don't need to really steal food.

Maybe again, do they eate? I don't know. I guess we see them at a restaurant. I guess they process human food. Yes, yeah, like that's I don't know.

Actually I don't. I take it back. I don't think we see them at the restaurant. I think we just see Jake and Murder at the restaurant. They need money because he goes into the fountain.

It takes all those coins. And there's also so there's that water theme. There's also the water theme of them living in this pool with. No water in it, the pool from Annihilation. Yeah, I was thinking the pool from Oh.

I can't even see what it was because I forget the name of it, the Deep End and what. They leave that place. They go to another place, and I'm trying to remember where their other hideout is before they end up, you know, in the car and going all the way to Niagara Falls. Slowly, I turn. Hey, they're going to the most romantic place in the country, Mike, Niagara Falls, right.

Ah. Yeah, I'm trying to think of what else I need to say about this one. Yeah, you're right. The only thing she does, Jake Jillenol is just point a gun against his head. Yeah, she does.

It's It's wild to me that a character that is as instrumental to a lot of what is going on in this movie. From more or less, the onset of the learning about and meeting Christian Bale's character ultimately does not factor into anything and could have been excised completely from the movie without the movie suffering. Like I think the movie suffers because he's in the movie and takes away from Jesse Buckley's performance as opposed to us getting more of her. We just get Jake Jillenhall. Well, I kind of would have liked to have known what these brides were up to other than just sticking out their tongues.

You know. It's like these have Couella. They did that Corilla too. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Yeah.

I mean they just want guns in the air and they shout and they scream and they take their shoes off and throw the cars Like I don't know what they're doing. I mean, the one woman looks like she's doing a a a reenactment of the counselor by Rubberin or Kouch against some of the guys front windshield. But I'm not getting it. You know, It's like, I don't know why these folks And you know, you said Kruella and I forgot about that. Black and white fur coat that she just happens to find in the back of a car, and that becomes part of her outfit too.

So when you are doing your couple's costumes at Halloween, you're gonna have to get the black like draping, the sunglasses of course, the makeup, the white fright wig, and then now also this red dress with the black and white fur, so that's very important to make sure. And then I don't know, guys, how you're going to do the whole inside out jacket thing that frank is doing, but I'm sure that's going to be the choice. But if you want to dance poorly, which most men dance poorly, you've got it made because Frankenstein dances pretty poorly, as one might expect Frankenstein, would you mentioned the black on the lips of the Bride? Can we talk about that for a second, because this is the moment where I want to ask you about the reinterpretation of the character of the bride of Frankenson, or the motherfucking Bride as the movie likes to so aptly put it.

What did you think of the redesign of the character for Jesse Buckley's version of the Bride because we talked about Bail and what he looked like, and I think his flesh toned Frankenstein is fine. It's a little off putting, but it's fine, I guess. But what did you think of what they were doing with her? I mean, you know, you did mention Kruala. She does have that type of look.

I mentioned Lady Gaga. She's got that going on. Also met Harley Quinn. Right, yeah, very Harley Quinn. And I'm trying to think of, like which era of Harley Quinn, maybe the Suicide Squad.

Eraon well, and also like the versions of her that are in like Arkham Night or the video game like the Batman video games, like very a certain style to Harley Quinn of a certain kind, and the comic book is very much like that and has been like that for a while. She is not a court gesture anymore, folks. She looks more like Margot Robbie or Margot Robbie than she ever has because it's not really else. Nobody else has really played that character, like, not in any sort of substantive way. Right right, But yeah, as far as the stains on the lips and that go down around her arms and everything, and her fingers all black.

I kind of like it. I think that that's the very distinct look. Yeah, it's an interesting character had and I I mean, I guess it's just as distinct as the kind of lightning bolts through the hair that Elsa Lancaster had. So yeah, you need something to set her apart as being not of this world, and I think that works pretty well. Yeah, I would agree with you.

I think, like I said, I think the art design and set direction are one of the more successful things about the film. And I think the choice, I think the choice to have her look the way that she does is a successful choice that they made. I think she looks interesting. She doesn't look like any other version of the character I've seen. I'm glad they didn't give her the kind of big hair as it were.

I'm glad they just gave her a kind of I would say, in between kind of like, you know, stylized hair, but not like so distracting that you'd be like, come on, this looks a little wonky. No, I think she looks great. I'm kind of wondering if Penelope Cruise's look is supposed to be reminiscent of leave her to Heaven just kind of reminded me of the main character from that with the sunglasses and the kind of bob haircut, who is a gingear me in that. So I don't know, I like, I can like that whole subplot just it's like, okay, yeah, this is good. I mean there's this whole thing of how she would have to overcome sexism to become the detective and become, you know, known as that role because the cops just don't accept her as the detective, right, And I'm like, but you also have all of the racism too.

I mean, she's a very she's a Latina woman with a very strong accent. I can see people rejecting that even more than her being a woman. Right, Yeah, they don't even make mention of it. No, it's like, oh, by the way, we're not even going to acknowledge the fact that she's clearly Hispanic. Right, right, which I guess fits well with Chicago and the multiculturalism of Chicago.

But again, when they're out in the world and taking their road trip, I'm surprised she's not having to put up with rednecks and jerks on the road too. I mean, if we're just. Gonna throw more stuff into the blender? Why not a little green book? Sure?

Sure, why not? I mean, I don't know, Like this movie has some original ideas, but a lot of this is us talking about other movies that this movie clearly cops from or is very much influenced by or inspired by. Not to say that that's a bad thing, but like it's not really hiding its influences. No, no, And it's weird because a lot of times I love a good reference to things, but this one, I mean, Frankly, I guess it's because I got pretty bored while I was watching it. It's like around the one hour twenty mark, it really slows down to a crawl, like after their big thing in New York, and when they start to go on the Lamb and then we rejoin the cops, it's just like, okay, yeah, what else is going to happen?

Because, like you said, once they go on the lamb, there is no thing to do other than I guess, go around to different locations from the movies. And even then they don't really spend any time with that. It's not like he's Frank's going like, oh this is I think he does it once right where he's like, this is a spot where this happened or something. But it's a weird flex man. Yeah.

It it like again like when you have the bail character of Frankenstein being so front and center and the more interesting character is being played by the person who's not being given any time as much as he is or any agency. I like you said, I in the second act of the movie, I just started getting extremely bored. I was like, what are what are we doing here? Like? What are they doing here?

Because I'm not sure that the movie is even clear as to what it's doing. It kind of feels like it's spinning its wheel. And look, it's a very pretty movie, but that's not going to get you very far. And I think the advertising for this movie is kind of indicative of what this movie is, which is a very I think messy movie. It's a movie almost without a plot, and I would almost say maybe it revels in that fact that it doesn't have a plot.

And I'm not saying that you can't do a vibe movie, but this movie's not successful in that regard either. It could have been, but it isn't even in that regard. Right, Yeah, I'm curious. I didn't look up. One of the few things I didn't look up is when drive in movie theaters became a thing.

I'm sure that they are around since pretty much the invention of cars, but having the one of the climax of this movie, one of I'll take place at the drive in movie theater, and then of course you've got her up on screen, I'm just like, Okay, well, this is somewhat interesting. And I was actually a little surprised by him getting shot in the head. But yeah, but then it's like, okay, well, if you like that, there's another twenty minutes of this movie to go, and I really was feeling it. I don't tend to get bored at movies that often, but I was definitely just like, how much longer do we have to go with this? I don't get I don't get bored either with a lot of things like this is you know, going to the movies is something that especially if you're going to pay thirty dollars because I went with another person and I went with Ryan actually, and I paid for his ticket.

Uh, you know, it's not cheap, and so you know, you want to get your money's worth, and you want to feel like the movie's been entertaining throughout, and for it to kind of drag in the second and definitely in the third act, it's like, hey, I kind of maybe only enjoyed the first thirty minutes of this two hour maybe the first forty five minutes if that, which it's a shame because for me, I ignore as you do. Jesse Buckley is a great act So it's hard to see someone who's so talented be it a movie that is attempting to utilize her talents in an interesting way. But I think ultimately just misses the mark pretty spectacularly, which is too bad because to you know, most people's points, they don't back one hundred million dollars up to somebody's house every day to make a movie like this.

I know why they did as well as you did, because Maggie Jillenhall is a known quantity. She's a good actor, she is a good director, she is a good writer. I just don't think this is her best effort. But I think it's an interesting effort. It didn't have to be the best effort for it to be interesting.

Interesting things are failures more or less all the time. You know, it doesn't have to be successful to be interesting, but it definitely has to have something about it that's worth coming back to to be interesting. At least, this movie is not boring throughout at least it's not just making no interesting choices at all. But it's not really living up to even what I think it wants to, which is this kind of feminist rallying cry. And it doesn't.

It's not that well. And again it's so obvious, like when Buckley screaming me too, me too, and I'm just like, okay, yeah, we got we got this fifteen minutes into this movie. If that late, you really don't have to bash me over the head with this. And I understand that by me saying that makes me sound like I'm this callow asshole, but I'm just like, I understand the reference. I get the reference, and I get why it's important.

I just I don't think. I just felt so hamp fisted, you know, felt like there could have. Been subtlety, whatsoever. Way more subtlety. I mean, Lupino could have easily been turned into some sort of slimy Hollywood producer a La Weinstein, and we could have gone down that route.

That probably would have been too. That probably would have been way too obvious as well having her scream me too. I'm just surprised you didn't say hashtag me too, hashtag me too. Like this takes place in nineteen thirty six. Well, you know when the Monster Mash came out, it wasn't nineteen thirty six, That's true.

That was my floor. My job was on the floor. I started fucking laughing so hard. I was like, holy fuck, in a ninety million dollar movie. They were working in the lab mic late one night.

What I mean. I grew up with Goofy Gold, this ktel collection of nolloty songs. So as soon as I heard the chains. Rattling, I'm like, oh, same, same, Yeah. Yeah, I'm like, oh, well that goddamn Monster Mash.

Yeah, Boris Peckett and the Cryptkeeper creep crypt Keeper five. So yeah, So I'm more a fan of were Wolf bar mitzvah. Were Wolf bar mitzvah. Spooky scary boys becoming men, men becoming wolves. That's much more Mice feed you.

It's a family guy thing. It's a it's thirty rock. I'm I I'm not shocked that they closed the movie with Monster Mash. But it's like, you didn't earn that, and there is a universe where they earned that, and you and I both know that. That's the funny part, Like you could have earned that and I would have been on board with it.

It's just this movie kind of takes itself a little too seriously for that, which is funny because I don't think this movie really wants to be taken seriously, but it's it's it's like it's like someone who does what they can to be taken seriously, but when you start taking them seriously, they're like, why you're taking me seriously? I'm like, wait a second, is that what you wanted? Miah? And that's how I feel about this movie. I'm like, I think you want to be taken seriously, but yet you close your movie with Monster Mash.

These things are incongruous with one another. So get me to understand this, because otherwise I really don't. And it's like, at the end of the day, I see a lot of people loving this movie, but some of some folks I think are just gonna love it just for the spite and be like, whoa, hey, nobody got this movie before. I'm the one that gets this movie. I understand this.

They'll probably go through and do the exact same game of spot the reference that I was doing while I was watching this movie. And just like, hell, if more people watch lever to Heaven or Bonnie and Clyde or any of these kind of thing, great, that's terrific. You know, Return of the Zombie the movie that they're watching at the movie theater. And again I'm curious, like, well, what do these two dead people think of watching a zombie movie? That would have been interesting, you know, and it's the only time they go to see something that isn't a Ronnie Reid musical.

Anyway. Sorry, I'm asking all these questions. You're asking of a two hour movie. I don't think it's improper to be asking this. Wow.

Yeah, it's just it's so stuffed with stuff. And to your point from earlier, again, like another revision or two and just refinement of these ideas and maybe again making them a little more subtle. This is as subtle as the rape scene and the brutalist you know. Right, it's a capitalist raping a brutalist who we get it. Yep.

Wow, it's hard for me to watch movies like this and do anything other than go. I get that you want me to take you seriously, and I want to take you seriously, but I'm not sure that you're going about it the right way. And not going about it the right way, you kind of just turn me off completely and don't make me want to engage with you in a substantive way. And this movie doesn't get me all the way there. But you know what I mean, It's like there's part of this where I'm just like, you're just You're kind of like that loud person screaming for attention in the corner, and I kind of don't want to give it to you, not because you don't deserve it, but because you're going about it the wrong way.

Yeah, oh, Chris, any final thoughts about The Bride. It will find its audience. We are not necessarily not its audience. I think if I rewatch it a couple times, I may enjoy it more than the first time I watched it, as I'm sure you will. But at the same time, I just I can't understand giving this movie so much money and then expecting it to make a lot of money and it doesn't make a lot of money.

And that's anyone's fault, but the studio executives, it's not Maggie Jillenhole's fault. Like if I were her, fucking run with it. They gave you one hundred million dollars to make this movie. Hell, yeah, good for you, seriously awesome. That kicks ass.

However, it doesn't make the money that they wanted it to, so I don't know if you're going to get another one of these opportunities for a while, which is unfortunate because that shouldn't be the case, but it's going to be because that's the way the system works. And I don't think this movie is that big of a failure, but based on the numbers, it will be seen as such. And that's unfortunate because Maggie Jillen Hall has an eye and I think it's a unique one, and I think with some refinement, and I think a second or third pass on things, I think she could really have even more interesting things to say in a more subtle and nuanced way than she did here. I don't disagree with any of that, and yeah, more power to you.

If you love this movie, that's great, but just realize that if people don't like the movie, it's not that they're coming for you and your values. Like, why are we having to tell people that I don't get the fuck universe? Are we in? Like what dorkest timeline did you and I fall into where people would accuse us of doing that when we've spent more or less our entire time doing this trying to stop people from doing that. Right, Yeah, just shutting down discourse and not properly looking at stuff.

Yeah, look, Mike, if you don't like Ghostbusters twenty sixteen, it's because you're a misogynistic man. Okay, yeah, no, I mean that makes total sense. Yeah, one singular thing discounts your entire being just because Okay, how dare we ever do anything like that to anyone else? Right? Reminds me when I walked out of a movie and was told that I have no right to write about it, and I was like, I think I do, Like pretty much me writing or review saying I walked out of this movie should be enough.

Right. No, No, no, you don't understand. Because you didn't watch the whole film, because you left because it didn't resonate with you or you were in some way wanting to leave, your opinion is invalid. Okay, do people not hear the way that they sound when they say these kinds of things, realizing that they would not want that done to them, but yet they have absolutely no problem doing it to other people, primarily because Lol, gotcha Internet culture like that BJ works for Slash Film, Like come on, I've actually interviewed BJ at one point, like that's you're you're better than that, Like your point is valid, Like you cannot label someone something just because of one thing, and that is unfortunate that we are now living in this society.

But at the same time, like I guess if everyone else is going to do it, we can't be surprised when people who are kind of in our same sphere of things are doing it anyways. So cool. Yeah, I mean, I guess if you don't like the Greasy Strangler, I don't like you. Right Jesus never seen artist? You know that's because you're a bullshit artist.

I mean we are we all know that. Yeah. Well, I want to thank my co host Chris for joining me on this discussion of the Bride. So, Chris, what have you been up to lately? Sir?

There's been bullshit artists from day one over at patreon dot com, Slash Culturecast, where you can find my patreon where I talk about James Bond movies with you once a month and sometimes post bonus episodes, and then everything else can be found over at Weirdingwaymedia dot com. See I didn't reverse this time, where all the other things that aren't on my patreon can be found. So yeah, go over there and do that. What about you, Mike White, Well, yeah. Everything I do is over at Weirdingwaymedia dot com, except for the stuff that we do on Patreon.

If you want to join the Patreon community, visit patreon dot com slash Projection Booth or Chris's at patreon dot com slash Culturecast. Every donation that we get helps the Projection Booth and the Culturecast take over the world. Busch the Buds from the books, from the Boss from the Books, fro