1 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:20,960 Hello, welcome to the extra credits of Steven Soderbergh's 2 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,320 Presence and Black Bag. I'm Trey. 3 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:24,800 And I'm Kelsey. Hey, Kelsey. 4 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:25,880 Yeah. Do you trust me? 5 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:29,920 What would you kill for me? Honestly, that's what we're 6 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:31,520 going to be. Discussing today on this episode 7 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:32,200 if you. Came here for. 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:33,760 Movie talk? Nope, just about our 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:35,760 relationship. How close are we to Michael 10 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,400 Fassbender and Cate Blanchett? Man, Soderbergh is back. 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:41,480 Let's go. I'm so excited for today. 12 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:45,400 I know 2 like really fun theater experiences too. 13 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:47,760 Yes, we just. Talked about Soderbergh a lot. 2 14 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,600 months ago we did Ocean's 11 and Erin Brockovich on the Patreon, 15 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,400 and we discussed around that time in January in preparation 16 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,400 for Presidents and Black Bag coming out over the next few 17 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,400 months and Soderbergh having two major projects in early 2025. 18 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,600 Why don't we have more film makers making cool stylish 19 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,480 movies and Black Bag? Watching it last night I was 20 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:12,000 reminded that like nobody else can do what Steven Soderbergh 21 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,240 does. It is insane and I don't get it. 22 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:15,520 Right. Like you would think there would 23 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:19,160 be so many, be so many great auteurs under the age of 45 who 24 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,240 you think could collect like 7 or 8 of the biggest stars in the 25 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,480 world and just make them look cool on screen in like an adult 26 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,040 caper or an adult espionage thriller instead of like a 27 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:33,360 massive genre sci-fi epic or you know, which we love or like The 28 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,680 Odyssey or something like that, which I'm very excited for. 29 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:37,960 But watching Black Bag last night I was like, why? 30 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:39,680 Don't we get one of these a year? 31 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,320 Why? And it's 90 minutes. 32 00:01:41,320 --> 00:01:43,440 Are you kidding me? Yeah, what Soderbergh is able to 33 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:47,480 do and like, Oceans is obviously, you know, the prime 34 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,760 example of this is like, make something knowingly cheesy but 35 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:58,720 still make it suave, but still have this, like, knowing humor. 36 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:01,680 And I think like, what other people are doing in the space, 37 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,520 similar to like, a Ryan Johnson, Knives Out is different, right? 38 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,440 That feels more like a kind of like a family film. 39 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:09,840 It's still good in its own right. 40 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,800 But like, you're right, not everyone can do this. 41 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,600 And I think something like Ocean's 8, right, is a prime 42 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,320 example of that. Like, yeah, Cate Blanchett in 43 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,520 this movie, I'm like, this is a, this is essentially like her 44 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,120 Ocean's movie. You know, like, she looks cool. 45 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,400 We have cool music. She's just walking down the 46 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,920 street. And that's what Soderbergh is 47 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:34,360 good at. You know, for a long time, 48 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:36,880 Soderbergh fans, I'm sure you're thinking like, what do you mean 49 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:38,040 he's back? He never left. 50 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:40,520 He's so prolific and I understand we are so deep 51 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:42,880 people. He is a big volume guy, so he 52 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,080 makes a lot of movies and he he's even retired a few times 53 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,200 and he's been experimenting for over a decade. 54 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,040 And recently he's come out with movies that I really enjoy that 55 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,000 hit streamers and didn't hit theaters, which was Kimmy and No 56 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,200 Sudden move. And before that, movies like 57 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:58,680 High Flying Bird are really experimental and interesting. 58 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:03,440 But Soderbergh in theaters just hits different, right? 59 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:05,880 And I think these two films we're talking about today are 60 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:10,400 two twists of a genre film. And he puts it under his lens 61 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,840 and uses music like David Holmes score and black bag to make it 62 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,400 feel like nostalgic but also new and refreshing. 63 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:17,720 And he's just so. Good at that. 64 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,600 And I think honestly, these two films might be his best movies 65 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,480 since Logan Lucky in 2016. So maybe in 10? 66 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:27,480 Years. And if some, you know, don't 67 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:31,600 love presents because you felt maybe like you were led astray 68 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:33,880 with the trailer and the marketing from Neon, I totally 69 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:35,920 get it because it's not a horror film necessarily. 70 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,360 But black bag, if you have not seen it yet, it is certainly as 71 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,320 good if not better than Logan Lucky and I would say. 72 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,880 No, that's too. Far let me keep going too far. 73 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,320 For me personally, I think Black Bag is his best movie since 74 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:51,160 Contagion. I'm that into the no. 75 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,960 If Black Bag came out in 2024 this would be Challengers 76 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,760 territory for me. I loved this movie, I had such a 77 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,960 good time with it. I understand why you loved it 78 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:02,880 and have so much enthusiasm for it. 79 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:07,720 It was a ton of fun. I think the Michael Fassbender, 80 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,400 Cate Blanchett, and also all the supporting roles. 81 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:14,400 Like everyone kind of knew what movie they were in and 82 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,279 everything felt cohesive and it felt like a perfect. 83 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,720 Also like bring back short movies. 84 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,080 Yes, both films, 90 minutes or less. 85 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,280 Yeah, I mean, we like before everyone like you know, is in 86 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:29,800 our comment section, we also support 3 hour movies. 87 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:31,240 That's like, you know, that's fine too. 88 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,800 But there is something, something to be said about the 89 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,200 art of like an 8090 minute movie, right? 90 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:37,600 And you could work so good at it. 91 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,640 It's much more challenging to make a really impressive, 92 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,760 compelling 8090 minute narrative feature than it is a three hour 93 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,160 epic which inherently already has the tools for you to succeed 94 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,400 because it is so long. So there's a lot of character 95 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:52,560 building, a lot of story building, a lot of different 96 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,240 tones you can play with over. A different goal. 97 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,400 Period of time, but a great 90 minute movie is hard to 98 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,000 accomplish. Yeah, and Soderbergh does it so 99 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,040 well. I wouldn't say though, that 100 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:08,080 presents or black bag are better than Logan Lucky. 101 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,880 Logan Lucky is a specific type of humor that I really love from 102 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,880 Soderbergh that he has in his oceans movies kind of like 103 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:19,680 bubbling underneath interactions of like Brad and George Clooney 104 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:22,480 and Matt Damon. And then also like what he comes 105 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,120 back to and like unbelievable with Matt Damon, which is like 106 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,040 arguably his funniest movie. The. 107 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,440 Informant. But I think Logan Lucky is 108 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:35,440 really a special type of humor that I didn't expect. 109 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:37,640 Yeah. From Adam Driver and Channing 110 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:38,240 Tatum. You. 111 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:41,040 Know I love that movie yeah it just. 112 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,640 Feels a little bit like he's parroting his own thing. 113 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:44,680 That's fun, you know what I mean? 114 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:46,000 And I. And I love that about that 115 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:47,040 movie. I think it's hilarious. 116 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,040 It's a NASCAR Oceans movie, yeah. 117 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:51,840 Which is sick, you know, and it's a very amazing. 118 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:52,840 Movie. Cho. 119 00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:56,960 Pang's awesome. You made the bacon just the way 120 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:58,960 you hate it and the way I like. It just the way I like. 121 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,280 It and the way you hate it. But yeah, Presence is, I'm 122 00:06:03,280 --> 00:06:05,000 really excited to talk about these two movies today because 123 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,480 they're so meticulously crafted. Presence being this experimental 124 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,200 ghost story that plays with camera perspective. 125 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:13,960 And then Soderbergh on the camera in both films as a 126 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:18,280 cinematographer is such a master Craftsman in what he calls 127 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:20,760 rhythm and release, but really just means like tension and 128 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,080 release. He understands catharsis and 129 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:26,600 film better than basically anyone in these like, low, mid 130 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,720 tier genre spaces. And so with presents, I was so, 131 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,720 you know, affected by that restraint in the filmmaking. 132 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,680 It's really a disorienting movie that you start sinking more into 133 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,880 and wondering, oh, wait, am I watching like a feminist ghost 134 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,320 on screen? Like, is this not, is this not 135 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,360 what I thought it was not a ghost slasher. 136 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,000 So that's a really exciting movie. 137 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,360 It's a lot like Contagion in terms of the way it's shot in 138 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,040 terms of like, if you watch Contagion again, which is a lot, 139 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:53,800 you know, post pandemic to watch it. 140 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:55,880 But we just did recently and I was like, oh, this is one of my 141 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,840 favorite Soderbergh movies because no one's ever shot an 142 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:02,800 invisible slasher like how Soderbergh shoots the virus. 143 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:04,960 Yeah, that's true. Parasite or whatever that's 144 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:09,160 killing the population. Yeah, like it's a horror shot to 145 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:14,720 see someone touch a public, you know, like door, a handle or a 146 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:15,800 railing. Right. 147 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:19,240 And so I was so impressed by him doing coming back to that kind 148 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,720 of that cinematic language and presence. 149 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:26,000 And then black bag man. Like I, I was smiling for 90% of 150 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,760 the runtime last night and we were in a sold out theater. 151 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,520 People were clapping, they were cheering, they were laughing. 152 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:33,640 They stayed through the credits and clapped through the credits. 153 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:36,280 Like people had a great, great time. 154 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,120 I just tweeted today that I thought it would be a legendary 155 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,320 date night movie and focus features. 156 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:45,040 Black bag retweeted me because I think they they're like, this is 157 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:46,400 a good quote to pull. Wait. 158 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,520 Hang on a second. And I knew it when I wrote it 159 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:49,640 and I was like, this is pretty good. 160 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:51,240 This is a nice quote. Great date night. 161 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,600 Movie, but it is a wonderful date night movie because Black 162 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:55,560 Bag is about relationships. Yeah, and it's funny. 163 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,400 For people who, I mean, it's a it's a good date night movie 164 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,760 regardless, but specifically also for people who have been 165 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,440 together for a long time because it's a really funny premise to 166 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:10,920 to kind of go off of something I will say in terms of presence 167 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,200 and black bag is whoever's doing Soderbergh's marketing. 168 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,360 And I'm sure he's involved in it because he's involved in like 169 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,120 every piece of his filmmaking from the being the 170 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:22,600 cinematographer to the director to editing. 171 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:29,360 They really killed it because both of these movies, I went in 172 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:31,840 thinking something else I like the story was going to be about 173 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:32,679 something else. Me too. 174 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:36,400 And I think people will probably there will be like a a backlash 175 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:38,240 from that. Like, this isn't exactly what I 176 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,520 thought it would be. There was a Presence Soderbergh 177 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,039 fan. Yeah, well, Presence also, 178 00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:44,360 people are very touchy about horror, right. 179 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:46,640 So it's actually fun to be surprised. 180 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,000 Maybe a black bag for for broader audiences. 181 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:50,680 The horror community. Does have a little bit of like, 182 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:54,840 not my horror, Yeah. It's like, calm down. 183 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:58,920 But yeah, keep going. But yeah, but I'm, but I was 184 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,200 just saying like, it's fun to be surprised. 185 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,120 You know, it's very, it's not often that you go into a movie 186 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,600 and you're like, they if I didn't avoid the trailer, I 187 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:09,120 already kind of know what this is about. 188 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:11,800 And that's, that's a bummer just with like the marketing of 189 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:13,720 movies. Yeah, I think I just like. 190 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:17,520 I like. Trusting film makers, that's 191 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,760 what's so nice about autours, when they have a visual language 192 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:22,520 like or, or just a cinematic language like Soderbergh does, 193 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,120 you just trust the fact that they're going to make something 194 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,120 for the audience. I think he sometimes gets 195 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,680 misinterpreted as making movies just for him, like he's 196 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:32,480 experimenting every film. But I truly think even though 197 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:34,600 he's experimenting and known as that kind of stylistic 198 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,920 filmmaker, that he's making movies for audiences or whatever 199 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:40,960 budget he's playing with, right. So for Presidents, he made a $1 200 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,640 million movie and then it cost another mil with the marketing 201 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:46,160 apparently. And it's now made I think close 202 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,200 to $10 million. And you can rent it for like 10 203 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:51,320 bucks and streaming right now, which is a lot of money, but it 204 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,440 honestly is very good. I do recommend watching it. 205 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,200 It's one of the best films of the year so far. 206 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:58,680 But then you watch Black Bag and I'm like, oh, this is like one 207 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:03,560 of the most well made spy espionage mysteries I've seen in 208 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:05,920 a decade. Like this is really good stuff. 209 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,760 And not because it's like politically provocative or just 210 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,920 like always compelling. It is just doing such a good job 211 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,640 of what the oceans movies, oceans movies do, which is like 212 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:17,040 that rhythm and the release thing. 213 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,800 He's so good at giving you a serious moment, doing something 214 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:23,480 that feels like a bit or like there's some kind of absurdism 215 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:25,160 going on. And then there's just like a lot 216 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,000 of suggestion. There's a lot of metaphor, 217 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,320 there's a lot of subtext. There's a lot of people looking 218 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:31,520 around corners wondering what someone else is thinking. 219 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:35,200 And then also Soderbergh is in that kind of like. 60 year old 220 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,440 plus. Older man era of really caring a 221 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:43,440 lot about surveillance right now like Kimmy Presence and now 222 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:47,240 Blackbag all basically about surveillance and surveillance in 223 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:49,760 the household in particular, which is interesting. 224 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,160 And then using the family unit or relationships or monogamy in 225 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,560 presence in Blackbag to explore that very idea is fascinating 226 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,400 because he's always been the director who is, you know, he's 227 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:03,960 obviously this very famous indie filmmaker who when the Palme 228 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,000 d'Or Sex Lies videotape, which is a 5 star film and then 229 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,120 obviously out of Sight was a huge success for him. 230 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:11,680 And then basically gave him the blank check for the Oceans 231 00:11:11,680 --> 00:11:15,000 films, which are some of our favorite movies of all time and 232 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:16,840 certainly one of our favorite trilogy's. 233 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,120 So he's had a really long career and he's played really well in 234 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:23,840 those genres, but I just can't believe he's been able to keep 235 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,120 this up for so long. And we still watch something 236 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,320 like Black Bag and you're like, man, he's really mastered at 237 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:34,000 crafting different tones and visual styles and lighting and 238 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:37,120 lenses and, and just figuring out the best way to make that 239 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,560 all come together in a way that feels basically seamless. 240 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,320 But what's hilarious is all those movies I just mentioned 241 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:46,800 are all about like, underdogs against, like, capitalism. 242 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,960 And the Ocean's 11 movie like verbalizes that a few times. 243 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,040 I mean is black bag about that though, no? 244 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,200 What I'm trying to say is like, those movies were about like, 245 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,680 look what's happened to our our world of commercialism, Like 246 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:01,720 we're all ruined by this. And Contagion is a horror film 247 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:03,840 representation of that. But this is his new. 248 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:06,040 Era, but this is like the aftermath. 249 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,320 A more personal project about an aftermath of what's happened to 250 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:12,360 our business run country, and now it's just like we're all 251 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:14,080 being watched at all times. Yeah, I'm. 252 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:16,960 I do like that in those films that you're talking about, like 253 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:21,720 Kimmy black bag presence, they all incorporate technology in a 254 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,320 way that doesn't feel annoying or doesn't Take Me Out of it. 255 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,560 And I actually think that's a really difficult thing to do 256 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:33,200 where it doesn't feel, you know, like, like it's so 257 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:38,720 straightforward that technology is distancing us and that can 258 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,240 feel like over like it's like people are like, we already know 259 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:44,400 that, you know, it's hard to incorporate into that, into a 260 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:47,280 movie that feels natural to the story. 261 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:50,160 And he does it in each of them in different ways. 262 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,960 And it almost feels like, you know, he he's a really special 263 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,640 director to me because it doesn't feel like he is someone 264 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,640 who's like, I've been thinking about this movie for years and 265 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,560 years and years and need to get like everything perfect in it. 266 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:06,080 It feels like he's just like, I'm going to put this out and 267 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:07,360 I'm going to go on to the next thing. 268 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:09,000 He's not self. And there's something kind of 269 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,760 refreshing about that. That's why we love Ridley. 270 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:13,960 Yeah, Ridley Scott operates in a very similar. 271 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:18,760 Fashion it just keeps making movies but and we we like 272 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:22,200 gladiator 2 but plug that real quick just. 273 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,320 Gladiator 2 thumbs up. But also, like, you know, the 274 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:27,920 the best part about all the Soderbergh movies to me is just 275 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:29,560 like watching people talk about things. 276 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:33,040 I don't know. I don't really know what's going 277 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:33,440 on. Right. 278 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,360 Like the kind of like thrown in jargon that's really funny, 279 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:39,840 especially in black bag. That's kind of like how Clooney 280 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:41,720 and Pitt talk to each other. They're like, did you get the 281 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:42,480 thing? Yeah. 282 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:44,640 And, you know, you're just like, I don't even know what The thing 283 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:45,640 is. And I don't care. 284 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:47,080 I'm. I'm here for this. 285 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,560 Or even just like the cadence of how they speak to each other 286 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:49,920 like. When? 287 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:52,480 When Brad Pitt and George Clooney are drinking at the bar 288 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,800 and George is like, you think we need one more? 289 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:56,360 We need one more. We need one more. 290 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,480 Yeah, like that whole line is really good anyway, so yeah, I 291 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,920 thought Presents, if you liked Contagion, you'll like Presents, 292 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:04,280 at least in terms of the filmmaking. 293 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:07,680 For Black Bag, I would say this is a really fun mix of out of 294 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:11,760 sight energy with Haywire for those of you who are really like 295 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,400 sody heads. And then for normal viewers, if 296 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:19,200 you like Mr. and Missus Smith in that kind of tone, Black Bag 297 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:22,160 certainly has that. But it's it's, it's taking its 298 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,600 it's taking its foot off the pedal of the sexiness of that 299 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:26,560 movie, or at least the conventional sexiness. 300 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,640 And it gives us a little bit of a more like absurd sexiness and 301 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,080 black bag, which is very different, like how determined 302 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:36,480 Michael Fassbender's character is to save. 303 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,560 Oh, wait, sorry. Spoiler alert for anybody who 304 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:41,400 has not seen Black bag or presents. 305 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:43,720 We're going to be spoiling these films for the rest of the pod. 306 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,640 So if you've not seen these movies, I recommend watching 307 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:48,640 them. Go see Black Bag in theaters. 308 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:51,480 It's definitely worth it. You go by yourself, you can go 309 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:52,920 on a date, go with friends, whatever. 310 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,960 It's going to be a good time. I recommend opening weekend in 311 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,160 particular because of the reaction that we saw last night, 312 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,680 which usually critics screenings are quiet, but I think we had a 313 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,680 weird mix of different kinds of people in the theatre last night 314 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,480 from all over the place. And so, like, I was really 315 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:11,160 excited to be in that theatre. Yeah, I would say it was a 316 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:15,600 similar theatre experience as Conclave actually from this 317 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:16,560 year. That's a good call. 318 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,120 Which we said it was like another kind of updated form of 319 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,760 Knives Out, like the firm that I wish we got more of. 320 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,880 Yeah, like pulpy 90s thrillers that don't exist to have like, a 321 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,400 little bit of a political edge to them anyway. 322 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:31,720 So spoiler alert. OK, I was just about to. 323 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,560 Make a comment about Michael Fassbender's character being 324 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,160 determined and how like weirdly hot it was that he was trying to 325 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,200 save his wife, Cate Blanchett. We'll get into it. 326 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:41,680 Where should we start? Which one of these movies? 327 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:47,560 Let's do black bag. OK, so Black Bag, this was sold 328 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:51,640 to us in the marketing as a sexy spy espionage thriller, and it 329 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:54,640 certainly is in moments. I would say it sustains that 330 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,440 tone throughout. But the only difference here is 331 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:00,320 I did not realize that we'd be watching something that is like 332 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:02,040 Clue. You know what I mean? 333 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,080 It is almost like Agatha Christie, like Hitchcockian in 334 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,720 its style. It is a mystery more than 335 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,320 anything else, I think. Yeah, I think in the marketing 336 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:12,960 it was, or in the trailer at least, right. 337 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:15,280 It was sold as like a Mr. or Missus Smith, right? 338 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,560 Like a OK, we're going to see Michael Fassbender and Cate 339 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,720 Blanchett kind of like hunting each other down and and spying 340 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:24,760 off, you know, which would have been fine, which would have. 341 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:26,040 I would have been there for that too. 342 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:30,920 But it was actually really fun to see that they like you didn't 343 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,920 know, though it was it like it was introduced at the beginning 344 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,400 that no, actually, that's not what this is going to be. 345 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,040 Maybe like they're suspicious of each other. 346 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,920 But it it like unfolds in a really like not gotcha way of 347 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:47,520 like, Oh, they are actually saving each other. 348 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,640 It was like a slow burn that I really loved in in this really 349 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:54,880 condensed movie because it didn't feel like we had to like 350 00:16:54,880 --> 00:17:00,120 wait super long to to find this out, but long enough to keep the 351 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:01,560 tension. And I thought that was really 352 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,480 well done. What was interesting, it felt 353 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:07,520 like we were in the ensemble cast movie, like their 354 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,280 characters movie, and it felt like there were two other films 355 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:12,839 happening in the periphery led by Michael Fassbender's 356 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:15,640 character George and then Cate Blanchett's character Catherine, 357 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,680 that we never really got to see much of, especially Catherine's 358 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:20,160 movie. We didn't see much of any of 359 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:22,119 that. In fact, I would assume when she 360 00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:26,640 goes to Zurich, I think it is, there's a probably scenes or 361 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:28,440 sequences from that part that were cut out. 362 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:30,640 Unless Soderbergh always planned for this to be a 90 minute 363 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:32,680 movie, which he has a lot of them in his filmography. 364 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:36,320 So I can imagine that. But there is just like arcs that 365 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,240 feel missing from the film that are just hinted at or suggested. 366 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:41,560 And so by the time we see Fassbender Blanchett in the 367 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,280 second act kind of turn over to one another and you're like, is 368 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:46,800 there a gun under their pillow? Are they going to do a Mr. and 369 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,960 Missus Smith like level battle fight out in this house? 370 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,040 If we've seen this before, is going to go conventional? 371 00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:52,560 If so, I'm going to have a good time. 372 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:56,240 But instead he's just like, I don't like being lied to or 373 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,960 something like that. And then they both kind of 374 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,720 reveal to each other that, Oh no, we're getting screwed over. 375 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:03,360 Like we're being manipulated by someone. 376 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,000 We're caught in the hairs of something bigger, right? 377 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:08,840 And also the best kind of about it fresh air, though, yeah, the 378 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:12,280 best part about it as like a marriage movie, about like a 379 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,800 long term relationship movie is that they're not telling each 380 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,680 other to protect each other. Like that's kind of the the plot 381 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:24,360 twist, right? The fact that he like kind of we 382 00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:28,560 learn at the end, knows that she probably didn't leave the movie 383 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:33,000 ticket in the trash can like, but he can't tell her because 384 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,960 then maybe it would he, I don't know. 385 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:39,040 He's like, maybe he's like, maybe she is into something that 386 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:42,560 she can't tell me about because it is like black bag And so I 387 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:45,000 have to save her, but I so I can't tell her that. 388 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,040 And that is really fun. And then you're like, at one 389 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:51,040 point, especially when Freddie comes to talk to Cate Blanchett, 390 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,200 you're like, Oh, well, will she do the same for Michael 391 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,040 Fassbender? Is she willing to save him at 392 00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:01,720 all costs, too? And very subtle, like, not these 393 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:06,200 huge, you know, dramatic things. It feels just like people 394 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,080 talking in rooms, except they're talking in beautiful outdoor 395 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:10,680 locations. I like the idea that 396 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,280 Soderbergh's project or like, personal life matches his 397 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:20,600 project where he believes that solid pacing of revealing truths 398 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,360 and withholding from your partner is the safest way to a 399 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:25,160 healthy marriage. You know what I mean? 400 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,920 Like it feels like that's like what his black bag's about, 401 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,640 which is just like these characters just like getting 402 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,680 their way to the point, you know, not going straight at it 403 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,760 and that kind of brutal honesty. That we break it to them gently. 404 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:41,120 Yes, exactly. I also absolutely love the movie 405 00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:44,960 ticket touch. Just that I love seeing anyone 406 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:49,120 in a movie watch a movie. I also miss movie tickets in 407 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:50,520 general. Yeah, I mean. 408 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:52,760 Because we go to the But what? Do you? 409 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:54,640 What did you ever do with them? You just threw them away. 410 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:56,480 No, I did not you. Have. 411 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:58,000 Movie tickets for my teenage years. 412 00:19:58,000 --> 00:19:59,920 I have a box of them somewhere. Yeah. 413 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:02,480 I kept all of mine. I thought it was so cool. 414 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:05,320 Well, we also used to be, you know, a real place where we 415 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:07,680 could, like, go to movies at midnight or 1:00 AM and, like, 416 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,680 go to. Midnight premieres and I mean go 417 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:12,680 to school the next day, but like, see a movie? 418 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,240 That could be bad, but it felt like it was substantial. 419 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:17,320 I do I like. Eventising movies. 420 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,840 Is missing I mean we are also from like a generation of like 421 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:24,080 Pokémon collecting cards like yeah, you know, so like that's. 422 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,640 Probably where they are. We're we're like the tail end of 423 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,960 the collector's generation. That's true of like, you know, 424 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,040 I, I didn't have any like baseball cards or whatever, you 425 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,840 know, like people, I guess. You know, You know what? 426 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:36,960 A kid said. What am I talking? 427 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,320 About there was a kid. Like I don't have any, why would 428 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:41,960 anyone think I would have baseball cards? 429 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:46,880 But but I do like the idea of collecting movie stubs. 430 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:50,640 I heard a kid say recently that that liking movies was like, 431 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,120 really in again. Yeah, like it's coming back. 432 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,320 Like they just randomly said that to another kid. 433 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:57,600 And I was like, what? Like they they were talking 434 00:20:57,600 --> 00:20:59,120 about movies as if it was like this. 435 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:00,800 Neat. They like went away. 436 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,600 Yeah, thing it wasn't like there my physical media. 437 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,040 They just meant like cinema like. 438 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,640 Literally like anyone. Like you just film, Yeah. 439 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:12,760 I do think the like letterbox has created a really interesting 440 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,280 space where now people can actually recommend good movies. 441 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,160 I do think we are in, especially when we are growing up kind of 442 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:22,360 like the TNT, even though, you know, I love those kind of 443 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:24,600 rewatchable movies and we talk about them all the time or. 444 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,080 Even just being younger like Disney. 445 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,960 Channel, but yeah, exactly we had basically corporations kind 446 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:33,440 of curating what what is on TV and what we could watch and then 447 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,320 you'd have to buy physical media or like, you know, share it with 448 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:40,320 people. And so I think that now that 449 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,320 we're in like the the streaming, right, the Butch comes with its 450 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,280 own problems of like kind of not great movies, just like being 451 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:52,360 put out, but there is more of a a community telling people like, 452 00:21:52,360 --> 00:21:55,280 here's a good movie to watch and you can have like an endless 453 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,400 list of five Star Movies. Well, it's becoming it's own 454 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:02,200 collection, It's becoming it's own Pokémon binder of your of 455 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,200 your list that you've created of a director's. 456 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,560 Film that's what I love about letterbox is that you can see 457 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:12,000 the the movie posters like our friend was making a list she was 458 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,360 going to watch all the like Oscar nominated movies I. 459 00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:17,080 Think she's succeeded? Yeah, yes, yeah. 460 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,880 And I was like, put this on letterbox. 461 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,160 It's just so much more fun to like rank them with the movie 462 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:23,320 posters. You're right, it is kind of 463 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,280 like. Collection the gamification of 464 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:30,120 movies, sadly is, you know, this era, like we are trying our best 465 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:34,720 to commodify the experience of enjoying movies with a 466 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,680 community. And like, if we can't, if we 467 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,000 can't all agree just to go see them in theaters, at least this 468 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,840 is a way for people to like be inspired to want to go see them 469 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,080 in theaters because you know what the classics are. 470 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,280 You know what the highest rated movies are the most popular 471 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:48,480 ones. And hopefully it will, like, 472 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,800 send you to a theater. So it looks like it's happening 473 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:53,200 for young people. I don't know how we got here, 474 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:54,960 but well. I mean but that makes sense that 475 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:56,960 they liked movies where I had to. 476 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,480 Like I feel like I would have to know someone to who really liked 477 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,000 movies and knew the history of movies to be able to tell me hey 478 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,600 go watch all these different things. 479 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,120 Instead I had people telling me to watch like popcorn movies 480 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:10,320 that were OK. Yeah, I mean, but we also had 481 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:12,960 blockbuster, you know, like we like we could walk into a 482 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,000 blockbuster and just walk around and be like, what's the coolest 483 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,000 cover? Or like, ask somebody who works 484 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,520 there if you were an extrovert at 12 years old, Like, what 485 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,200 should I get in the science fiction genre space? 486 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,640 You know, like there's nothing like walking around a 487 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:27,600 blockbuster when you're, I think I was like 10 or 11 and you see 488 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,640 a cover for Guillermo del Toro's one of his crazy movies, you 489 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,440 know, from that era of like 2005 to 2007, probably Pan's 490 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:35,960 Labyrinth is the one that comes to mind. 491 00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:38,320 And me going, who is Guillermo del Toro? 492 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,680 Who is what is Pan's Labyrinth? I did not have the same 493 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,080 experience though in blockbuster. 494 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,520 I was just watching like Mary Kate and Ashley movies. 495 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:50,840 No, I was. Definitely more like The Bourne 496 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:53,120 Identity. Blockbuster for four hours. 497 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:55,960 Yeah, No, I mean, I was literally like just walking 498 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:57,800 around collecting the coolest covers I could find and then 499 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,320 asking people, were these good? Are these good? 500 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,800 Yeah, but your dad also introduced you to like 7 at four 501 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:04,880 years old, you know what I mean? Like you had a different, I 502 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:06,120 think like relationship to movie. 503 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,200 I was 9. All right, so George and 504 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,320 Catherine are our lead characters. 505 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:16,360 George, played by Michael's Fassbender is in particular 506 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:20,240 probably the most like Precise self serious performance. 507 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,720 But I love Fassbender doing. He's always been great at being 508 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,440 a serial killer, which is always LED a lot to a lot of questions 509 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,160 for me personally about how he is in real life. 510 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,520 But he's really good at playing like cold and detached and in 511 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:34,320 this. David Prime example, best 512 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:39,720 character in sci-fi. Hard degree, but he's playing 513 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:43,880 like an inhuman lie detector basically lie detector 514 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,880 personified in this movie and there literally is like a a lie 515 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,680 detector in the film. But Fassbender's performance as 516 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,880 David came to mind certainly also because of his fit. 517 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,800 I thought about Steve Jobs from the film Steve Jobs, which is a 518 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,120 a great Danny Boyle movie that we like and also then I thought, 519 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,160 Oh my God, Steven Soderbergh and David Fincher are really good 520 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:04,280 friends. Like they send each other their 521 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:05,600 movies. They look at their cuts, they 522 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,720 give advice to each other and I was thinking, wow, like 523 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,640 Soderbergh really did watch the killer and went I'll take him 524 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,440 now and I'll make a better movie because I do think Black bag is 525 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,360 better than the killer. So I think it is. 526 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:21,240 Even though I really like the killer, I have to think about 527 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:22,560 it. Picture is my guy, like I mean, 528 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,320 but I black bag's amazing. I don't know, I keep saying it, 529 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,640 but George really interesting character. 530 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,320 Then we have Catherine Blanchett has always been great at being 531 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:36,320 like this unreadable, effortless, seductive person in 532 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:37,120 her movie. A. 533 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:39,880 Little bit scary, Intimidating, yeah. 534 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:45,160 A a sort of like unshakable but very hot person, yeah. 535 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:47,840 And tar is probably. That's how I want to be 536 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,880 described. Unshakable, but very hot. 537 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,880 Yeah, I think people probably do describe you. 538 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:55,560 As that I think people want to be. 539 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,120 I describe you as that. Thank you, I would kill for you. 540 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:01,160 Whoa, don't put it on the podcast. 541 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,240 I wasn't going to say it all right, but I we're going to have 542 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:05,840 to have that conversation. I think Kate Blanchett like is a 543 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:09,320 really interesting like person to put in this. 544 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:14,520 I don't know if I believe in their relationship that they've 545 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:17,720 been together forever. I do but also like. 546 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:20,400 I was going to ask you this. There's something about it that 547 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:24,320 feels like they don't have chemistry, totally, but they 548 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:30,200 feel like I like I know you and they feel like they know each. 549 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,600 Other there's a respect. Yeah, but it doesn't, I don't 550 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,800 know if they like, there's a a chemistry that you normally see, 551 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,120 but it doesn't really matter because of like how you're 552 00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:41,760 describing Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, like just 553 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,040 kind of the powerhouse that they're able to bring as an 554 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:49,160 individual icon to a story that's so condensed. 555 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,240 Like you don't really care about that because they're their own 556 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,480 kind of like figures moving in this world. 557 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,320 Yes. Doesn't one of the ensemble 558 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,080 cast, the woman from industry that we really like? 559 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:00,000 We'll talk about her in a second. 560 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,200 Doesn't she call, I think, Marissa Bella? 561 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,520 Doesn't she call Kate Blanchett like a bad ass bitch or 562 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:06,960 something like that? I think so, yeah. 563 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,440 Yeah, and the whole table went silent and we were just dying in 564 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,200 the theatre because her character lies like kind of just 565 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,280 playing somebody who is sort of shocked and jittery around these 566 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,840 two and almost supposed to be playing like us. 567 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,280 Like basically the audience, like watching 2 Legends of 568 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,880 acting go back and forth doing their best sociopath shit 569 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:28,440 they're known for in their careers. 570 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,640 And it's not supposed to feel, like, deeply intimate or felt 571 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:33,400 because they are supposed to be playing. 572 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:34,680 Which is hilarious about this movie. 573 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,920 Assassins, am I wrong? Is not what their job is. 574 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,160 We don't see them assassinate anybody except sort of at the 575 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,800 end. And even that feels like we all 576 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:46,440 wanted that to happen. So it didn't feel like that 577 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:48,520 malicious, I guess. But these people are like they 578 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,320 have body counts of hundreds of people, I assume. 579 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,800 So I'm like, oh, I, you know, if we if they loved each other so 580 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,720 deeply that it felt like a romance, it would feel a little 581 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:57,920 odd. This is like a little bit of a 582 00:27:57,920 --> 00:27:59,960 more. This is a romance for people who 583 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:02,520 are really good at their jobs, who are obsessed with work, 584 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:07,400 which I think is relatable to for people like us who have two 585 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,160 jobs. Yeah, I think like the biggest, 586 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:14,160 the, the thing that made me believe it, or at least like buy 587 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,880 into the world is that like the biggest piece that you can have 588 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,160 in life is like just knowing that you have someone who has 589 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:25,320 your back and like, and you're like going home to that. 590 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:28,560 And it felt like that they understood that even though 591 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,120 maybe it wasn't, you know, they like, weren't having 592 00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:32,760 conversations over dinner, right? 593 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,880 And that was like, what kind of added to the suspicion not of, 594 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,880 like me thinking, oh, well, maybe they don't love each other 595 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:40,440 anymore. And so they could turn on each 596 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,640 other was more like, oh, I understand that. 597 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,360 They're like kind of cohabiting right now. 598 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:47,720 They're like locked into their work. 599 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,080 They still like have respect aberration for each other, but 600 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,440 like their bond is strong, right? 601 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:55,800 Even though I didn't have like the other stuff that I 602 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:58,200 traditionally have in movies. So I actually I liked it. 603 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,720 It's just that I, it took me like a second, like I was, I was 604 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:02,840 having the conversation a little bit in my mind while I was 605 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:04,160 watching, like I was noticing that. 606 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:07,240 Yeah, no, I understand. I I don't want to talk too much 607 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,440 about them right now in the marriage theme just because I 608 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:14,960 want to go on to the ensemble. So let's get to the the 609 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,200 beginning of the movie. We I came a little bit late, 610 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,440 Kelsey, you saw more of it. But from what I understand, 611 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,960 George receives a sort of message, an ominous message from 612 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:28,120 one of his contacts that there's something happening at MI six 613 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,160 that one of the people in his circle, what I which I would 614 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:33,480 assume would be the five other characters, including his wife, 615 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,560 was leaking information to the Russians, if I remember 616 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,040 correctly. And he hands him a list of 617 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,240 suspects, I think I, I don't know. 618 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,680 And then that list includes his wife. 619 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,520 And then he's sort of like, what the hell? 620 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:51,080 And then he goes back home and we see him cooking. 621 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,400 We have this amazing image of him cooking up some kind of meat 622 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,840 or Stew or whatever. It was an amazing soda bird 623 00:29:56,840 --> 00:29:59,000 cooking scene. Yes, which we've always asked 624 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,200 for, you know, a soda fans, we, like, want him to make a cooking 625 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:03,120 movie. And then you see the steam from 626 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:04,880 the food get on his, like, glasses. 627 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,000 And it looks like an image pulled out of a, I don't know, 628 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:09,880 some kind of graphic novel. Yeah, that's true. 629 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:14,400 It looks really cool. But his plan, essentially is to 630 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,120 invite the suspects over to dinner that you've just told 631 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,120 about, which is amazing. Him and Catherine's, and they 632 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,680 have a wonderful house. And he laces the food with what 633 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:25,840 we don't know, but I think we can assume is some kind of, 634 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:27,320 like, truth serum. Yeah. 635 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,280 I was very subtle, Cate Blanchett says. 636 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:32,760 Like, don't drug our guests, meaning giving them a truth 637 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,840 serum. And I, I wasn't sure like if 638 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:39,640 they were joking or like how much we should buy into the this 639 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:44,840 world of like this magic. I thought it was a metaphor for. 640 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:46,680 His talents movie going to be about. 641 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:48,920 Yeah, I thought it was a metaphor for his, like, talents 642 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:50,560 as a human lie detector. Yeah. 643 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,040 But instead of like, I think legitimately was one of the like 644 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,680 MI 6 technologies. OK, which would make a lot more 645 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:57,520 sense when that? When you watch that impossible. 646 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,000 Again, 'cause everyone's just like revealing so much about 647 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:00,480 their. Lives. 648 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,080 I just thought they got drunk but. 649 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:04,440 Yeah, I think that's a part of the well, maybe we were wrong. 650 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:05,640 Maybe they didn't just get drunk. 651 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:07,320 I thought I saw them put something in the food. 652 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:14,320 Anyways, so we get basically a hilarious dinner party from 653 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,880 hell, right? We get this dinner sequence that 654 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,960 is like a a pretty extended scene that crackles with like a 655 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:21,880 lot of subtext. A lot of power planes. 656 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,840 Long scene to put at the beginning of a movie too, like 657 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:27,680 chasing it. I'm surprised all of this worked 658 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:32,520 because we have even like short, shorter scenes or I guess less 659 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,760 kind of like substance substantive scenes with like 660 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,160 Cate Blanchett talking to the therapist later on that actually 661 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:39,760 feel longer. In the middle of the movie. 662 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,040 I was like, this is so interestingly like put together, 663 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,080 but it works. I loved this first dinner scene. 664 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:48,440 Agreed. Let's go around the table to 665 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,600 learn who our characters are. So we have Clarissa, played by 666 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:55,080 Marissa Bella, who is one of our faves. 667 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:56,240 From industry. Love her. 668 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,320 Great TV show, highly recommend if you're a succession fan watch 669 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:00,960 industry. We haven't watched the latest 670 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:02,360 season. But not yet. 671 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:04,400 People, let us know if we should jump on that. 672 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:06,920 When we watched her in that show, we were like, oh, she has 673 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,040 it. Whatever it is, she has it. 674 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:10,920 She's very charismatic. Amy Winehouse. 675 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,480 Innocent. We haven't watched that movie. 676 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:14,000 We'll pretend like it doesn't exist. 677 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,440 Yeah, she did do that biopic. Biopic's a tough thing to do, 678 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:18,320 but what? I understand why she took it. 679 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:19,920 Too. Yeah, that, that, that as well. 680 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:21,320 We knew from the trailer you're like. 681 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:25,000 I love her, like what she's able to do, the the vibe that she's 682 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:30,720 able to bring to any kind of like movie is is special. 683 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,920 Yes. So she's playing like a jittery, 684 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,160 brilliant tech specialist essentially, right? 685 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:37,880 She's carrying a lot of nervous energy, but she's also very 686 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:40,880 sexy. So she's like mixing characters, 687 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,120 which is a hard tone to mix. But like a Linus from Ocean's 688 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:48,480 11, Like Matt Damon's character with Jlo's character from Out of 689 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:50,040 Sight. Yeah, she's. 690 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,160 Really good at what she does, but there is a, there is a kind 691 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,720 of like, I'm not with the right people here, like maybe I should 692 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,680 not be in this job. Yeah, I love at one point when 693 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:04,000 cable and chats like I need you to check on this thing now about 694 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,440 Michael Fassbender character. And she had obviously like 695 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,000 already, you know, broken the rules, possibly could go to like 696 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:11,920 jail for doing what she did for Michael Fassbender. 697 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,720 And she's like, I'm not, I'm not going to go to jail free people. 698 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,680 And Cate Blanchett was Cate Blanchett was like, sweetheart, 699 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,840 like, you are already way too far for that. 700 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:24,880 And she's like, shit, I yeah. She's like you guys are the 701 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:26,480 same. But it's it is interesting 702 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,920 because she I think that she does the well. 703 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:34,040 No, that's not true. The other actor who plays the 704 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,360 therapist also like I think both the women. 705 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:37,920 Oh yeah. Naomi Harris. 706 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:43,080 Yeah, are able to to play with Michael Fassbender and Cate 707 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:47,400 Blanchett, who are like powerhouse actors, you know, but 708 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:52,520 they feel like, Oh yeah, they belong in this movie in this 709 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:57,040 scene with them verse like the men sometimes took me out just 710 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:01,080 like a little bit. And maybe that's just because I 711 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:05,200 like have seen them in other, you know, movie is like Furiosa 712 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:07,720 or like Bridgerton, even though I haven't watched like 713 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:09,000 Bridgerton. But I just, you know. 714 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,880 So I was surprised by Reggae Jon Page, the the man from 715 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:15,440 Bridgerton who plays James. I was surprised by his 716 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,320 performance because I thought it was pretty revealing of him as 717 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,360 like maybe the bad guy pretty quickly into the second act. 718 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:23,360 But then I was like, oh, maybe it's a little bit of a 719 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:24,800 subversion. Like every mystery you're 720 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,120 wondering, like when the shoes going to drop and if you're 721 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,760 being duped with is a bit too easy of an answer. 722 00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:33,120 Sort of like the Edward Norton situation from Glass Onion, but 723 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:37,679 James character, he plays like this Warhawk nationalist field 724 00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:41,639 agent and he really never fully reveals his hand. 725 00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,679 So he's embodying a pretty good like cold attachment of like a 726 00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:46,760 Bond villain or something like that. 727 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,600 And he's like flexing about the wars won in Syria, even though 728 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,920 they were like innocent lives lost in which the doctor Zoe 729 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:56,320 Naomi Harris's character reminds him. 730 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,240 And we kind of see where she aligns morally or politically 731 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:02,120 different. She's sort of the team's in 732 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:04,800 house psychologist, if you will. Her job sounds like hell. 733 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,680 She's got to get out of there. She is the most like I think the 734 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:13,080 job that nobody wants. And she's pretty skeptical of 735 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:15,080 everyone in the room and everyone at MI 6. 736 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,640 And then the other man I thought was the best performance of the 737 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:22,640 supporting cast was Tom Burke playing Freddie Smalls. 738 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:24,640 And is that the man you're talking about? 739 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:26,720 Were a little bit off. I thought was my favorite 740 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,400 performance actually. I think what he was up to was 741 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,280 pretty reckless. I liked how he was like worn 742 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:34,680 down. I like that he was this wild 743 00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:36,840 card. I like that he's easy to poke 744 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:38,880 fun at. He talks too much. 745 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:41,960 He gets stabbed in the hand. I like the reaction shot from 746 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,120 him. He's in a pretty he's in a good 747 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,280 amount of the moments where you're kind of like how smart is 748 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:49,040 this guy? Oh, he really is just aloof 749 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,720 like, and I enjoyed that about his performance because that was 750 00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:54,320 a hard tone to nail. I also like his introduction 751 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,440 where he's like running in from the street into the restaurant 752 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:58,280 and he ordered some stuff at the bar. 753 00:35:58,280 --> 00:35:59,920 He sees his friends over at the table. 754 00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:03,560 I just like that guy's gravity, you know, like Tom Burke has. 755 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:08,240 He's really compelling presents and he had it in Mad Max Furioso 756 00:36:08,240 --> 00:36:09,800 last year too. That's true. 757 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,160 Yeah. OK, well, maybe I just liked 758 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,880 like, Marissa, is it a Bella? I think so, yeah. 759 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,800 And then Naomi Harris, like, I just liked the women's 760 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,960 characters more, so maybe that's part of it, because I do think 761 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,440 you're right. Like I think Paige and Burke did 762 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:28,480 do a good job, like acting as the chess piece. 763 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,160 You know that they're like that they were playing in this kind 764 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:35,400 of tight, right spy thriller comedy. 765 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:39,680 And because like with Paige, for example, right, he when he is 766 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,640 doing the thing where he is sort of showing his hand at the 767 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,120 beginning and you feel that he's like kind of neurotic. 768 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:48,840 And you're right, like in the beginning sequence where we have 769 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:55,120 this dinner date situation, he is like rationalizing like the 770 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,920 deaths of innocent people. And you're like, I've kind of 771 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,920 seen this movie before. So like, is this actually like, 772 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:05,720 is he the, you know, person who is like behind all this or 773 00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:06,200 whatever? Right? 774 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:07,960 He is he the person we should be suspecting? 775 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:12,320 But also I'm suspecting if I should say that because I think 776 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,280 that'd be too predictable. He feels like a 90s villain in a 777 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:18,120 lot of ways. And he also, I mean, I know he's 778 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:20,040 not an American. I don't believe it. 779 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:22,440 No, he's not. He's not an American, but I got 780 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:24,920 big American vibes from him and I was like that's he's the bad 781 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:25,320 guy. That's. 782 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,440 Like I think so it's like talking to the idea of like that 783 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:31,200 ideology for sure. The the big bad. 784 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:35,320 I I also think that Burke, you're right, like does do a 785 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:38,480 good job when especially when he runs it off the street and he's 786 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:43,800 like kind of trying to be the this like suave guy, but is 787 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:46,080 failing at it. Like he feels kind of clumsy. 788 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:49,520 Yeah. And like he feels like he is 789 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:53,240 kind of, you know, you you picture like everyone else in in 790 00:37:53,240 --> 00:37:55,360 this movie, like they have a really great routine. 791 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:57,520 OK, They have a great skin routine. 792 00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:03,400 They wake up at 5 O clock on the sharp, maybe 4:30, maybe 4:00. 793 00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:05,040 They're. Probably doing high intensity. 794 00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:09,040 Yeah, they're doing like, YouTube HIT workouts unless 795 00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:11,560 their agency pays for them, you know, to have a workout program, 796 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,040 whatever. But he's the only one who feels 797 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:16,920 like maybe he's waking up late, you know, like, maybe he's like, 798 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:19,480 doesn't have it all together. They said he is his vices. 799 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:21,600 He's addicted to drugs and alcohol. 800 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:23,440 I think addicted to sex possibly like. 801 00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:28,520 He's doing a good job, I think, in especially the the moment at 802 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:32,000 this dinner party where they have to do their resolution 803 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:33,840 right. Bassbender says, like, I have a 804 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:39,800 new game and Cate Blanchett's like, like, so excited, like a 805 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:41,600 new game. And it's just like you say, the 806 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:43,520 resolution right to the person to the right of you. 807 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:45,720 And I was like, this is I guess it's true or whatever. 808 00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:47,160 Like, you know what? Hell yeah. 809 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:52,600 And and then the woman from industry, Marissa Abella, is 810 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:55,680 like, OK, my turn. You're going to like, stop 811 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:58,360 sleeping with her, right? This big kind of like dramatic 812 00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:03,000 and drop and Freddie, who is like Burke, right? 813 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:05,960 He does this really great emotional performance where you 814 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:08,200 actually don't know, like is he lying? 815 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:12,760 He you know, he basically subtly says I I have done that before, 816 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,360 but I haven't been with anyone in the last year and just 817 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,320 gaslighting her right, but does do a good emotional performance. 818 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,000 One of the he actually has like the the best. 819 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:27,120 Not he doesn't have the best comedic delivery, but the best 820 00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:31,640 he says our humor like comes from at his expense in the 821 00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:33,720 movie, right? Like because right after that 822 00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:38,000 he's crying. He's like, you like pretty like 823 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,040 crazy person. I haven't like slept with 824 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:41,840 anyone, but you like right, He's like gaslighting her. 825 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:45,760 And then Michael Fassbender says, here's the room you like. 826 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:49,160 Here's the time like. Well, my first thought was that 827 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:52,920 Marissa Bella and her character, they were sort of weaponizing 828 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:54,960 the modernization of a spy movie. 829 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:58,560 And I thought when he said like, you're a psycho and he's clearly 830 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,360 like gaslighting her, like, you can tell I'm like, oh. 831 00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:04,520 Oh, is, is Steven Soderbergh going to make her character the 832 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:06,400 the bad guy? Oh, yeah. 833 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:08,040 And then I was like, I don't know if I love that. 834 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,080 And so I'm glad that it ended up being just like, this is what I 835 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:12,600 love about Soderbergh. He's like, no, like that one 836 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:14,240 guy, he just sucks. He talks about killing innocent 837 00:40:14,240 --> 00:40:16,520 people and was like, for the country, like, you're gone now. 838 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:19,600 Like, that's I like that. Soderbergh's moralizing in that 839 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:22,240 way, where it's not this like, it's certainly a mystery in 840 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:23,360 terms of the way the movie is structured. 841 00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:25,360 It's still like a popcorn thriller, but yeah. 842 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:27,080 But I like that he's just like. No, they're like. 843 00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:29,520 People will tell you if they're bad at dinner parties. 844 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,360 Like, they'll be like, no, I'm a bad guy, you know? 845 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:32,640 Yeah. They'll tell you who they are. 846 00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:38,640 I I do also like the the dinner sequence at the end too, where 847 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:43,640 Freddy's like they find out that Naomi Harris has been sleeping 848 00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:45,800 with Freddy right there. We get that kind of big reveal. 849 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:50,040 And what is he? They're basically like, you, you 850 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,160 did this to get things from him. And he's like, does it have to 851 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:54,280 be about that? Yes. 852 00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,680 Like, I just love all the humor at his expense. 853 00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:00,560 And OK, maybe I'm going back on my take. 854 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:03,200 And I think it really is just that I liked the women better. 855 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:09,000 I felt like it was like more fun to watch them doing their own 856 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,720 assessment of people, right? They also felt like players 857 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:16,480 where the men felt like they were reporting to and trying to 858 00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:17,960 impress their boss. I agree. 859 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:20,720 Yeah, they were followers. The women were definitely more 860 00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:23,520 observant and like actually making actions and I. 861 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:28,000 Love also how Marissa Bella's character is like, yeah, I'm 862 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:31,320 open to like, to have to sleeping with you, to like 863 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:36,000 Michael Fassbender. Yeah, it's just we've really 864 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,680 talked about Pierce Brosnan yet, which is one of the some of the 865 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:42,360 most genius casting I've seen in a long time. 866 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:43,520 I. Forgot he was in this movie. 867 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:45,760 Was he in the trailer? I think so, yeah. 868 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:48,160 He's a quick image. I thought it was a brilliant, 869 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:52,360 self aware bit of casting. He plays George and Catherine's 870 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,760 MI 6 super superior. We should also say that 871 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:57,080 Catherine is on another level than George. 872 00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:58,840 It seems that she's on a higher level than George. 873 00:41:58,840 --> 00:41:59,760 Oh. OK. 874 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:01,960 I think that's how I interpreted it. 875 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,400 It does look like she was in a more important meeting, right? 876 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,600 Yes, which I kind of like that gender flip. 877 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:09,840 Bigger office too. Yeah, yes. 878 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:12,880 And she's one of the only computers without a camera on 879 00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:14,880 it, I noticed, which was interesting too. 880 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,560 But I like that they present Pierce Brosnan's character in 881 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,160 this movie as if he is an aging Bond. 882 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:23,960 Does that make sense? Like in the metaverse of this 883 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:29,120 film, Like he is like a relic of a past era where maybe loyalty 884 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:31,520 to MI 6 is a little bit more clear. 885 00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:33,400 And they got a little bit messier with Daniel Craig. 886 00:42:34,240 --> 00:42:37,120 So I liked his casting. He kind of is the big bad of the 887 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,240 movie. What's the what is what is OK? 888 00:42:39,240 --> 00:42:40,720 What's the like conceit of this movie? 889 00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:42,000 Like what are we all searching for? 890 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:45,240 What's the rabbit's foot, if you will, to use Mission Impossible 891 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:47,160 lingo? What is the thing called? 892 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:50,040 It's called Severus. Severus Snape. 893 00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:53,520 That's how I remembered, but it was so funny because I was 894 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:58,280 locked into this whole entire movie and the one like space 895 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:02,280 that I zoned out for one second was when they explained what it 896 00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:03,440 was. Me too. 897 00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:07,080 I don't know why, but basically, I mean it, it was essentially 898 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:10,920 some sort of it had, it was like a flash drive in a little soccer 899 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:14,240 ball key chain, right? But it was some sort of software 900 00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:17,480 that would lead to. Controlling drones. 901 00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:20,600 Yeah, that would then lead to like, innocent people dying, and 902 00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:23,800 I think the number was like 10 to 20. 1000 I wrote my notes 903 00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:26,400 biochemical weapon question mark, so no. 904 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:28,960 Yeah, I, I literally, I leaned over to you and I was like, 905 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:31,240 wait, what was it? I just owned out and you're you 906 00:43:31,240 --> 00:43:32,640 said it's rabbit's foot. Don't worry. 907 00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:34,760 Yeah, I I just call them rabbits. 908 00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,760 I mean, I call all Mac Guffins now just rabbit's foot because I 909 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:42,200 think it's a hilarious thing. For Mission Impossible 3, shout 910 00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,680 out Philip Seymour Hoffman. Epic performance. 911 00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:49,080 OK, so we've talked a lot about the movie, some of our favorite 912 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,760 scenes, dialogue, character dynamics. 913 00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:55,240 What I think is most surprising about what is successful about 914 00:43:55,240 --> 00:43:59,080 Black Bag is the filmmaking. I think the same about presents. 915 00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:01,800 Honestly, the filmmaking in Black Bag is wonderful. 916 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,720 The rhythm and genre of it is so wonderful. 917 00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:08,680 I love that it is sold as an action film, but it really is 918 00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:12,800 just like a very efficient, sharp psychological movie and 919 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,040 mystery. And I love that there's a lot of 920 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:18,440 small gestures and hesitations and dialogue that build tension 921 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:19,960 that I I'm excited to come back to. 922 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:21,880 It's going to be such a fun movie to rewatch. 923 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,360 It's probably going to be a great rewatchable movie in the 924 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,040 Soderbergh project because it's only 90 minutes and it's got a 925 00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:31,160 great ensemble. I, I loved most of the 926 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:34,040 filmmaking. My only criticism is just this 927 00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:38,480 is a a Soderberg critique in general throughout all of his 928 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:41,680 films, which is lighting and color palette. 929 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:44,200 But that's just like, who am I to criticize? 930 00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:46,080 This guy at this. Point, you know, like really, he 931 00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:48,120 has a visual language and we all can spot it. 932 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:50,960 You know, when you're watching a soda movie because there is 933 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:55,440 such, I don't know, not to be overly critical, but like with 934 00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:59,440 his lights, he often plays with blown out lighting and he plays 935 00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:02,400 with overexposed lighting. And then we'll use a color 936 00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:05,720 palette that is like either really vibrant or really muted 937 00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:11,080 to an exaggerated degree, which adds a layer of disorienting the 938 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:14,880 audience, I think, and also sometimes adds a layer of like 939 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:17,120 surrealness, like I am in like an elevated premise. 940 00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:18,480 Yeah. And that works in like an Erin 941 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:21,760 Brockovich or like a Contagion. And then it also works in its 942 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,280 own way in like the Oceans movies. 943 00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:26,480 But when it's not that and you are, you're kind of like, what 944 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:28,440 is this movie? You're like asking that question 945 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:30,440 as you're going on. Then it becomes distracting. 946 00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:33,200 Well, like the Informant movie I really like one of the funniest 947 00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:35,800 movies I've I've seen in a few years because we just watched it 948 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:37,240 for the first time like a year ago. 949 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:41,000 Matt Damon's arguably his like best performance or second best 950 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:44,200 performance. He that movie in particular has 951 00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:46,440 insane lighting. It feels like somebody shooting 952 00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:49,120 an LED in your face at times. And there's just a lot of 953 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:50,520 moments like that throughout his project. 954 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,200 But I'll be my one thing in the blackback movie that I didn't 955 00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:56,520 love, but I did like how there are these really warm colors at 956 00:45:56,520 --> 00:45:58,680 the beginning of the movie that are blown out lighting and then 957 00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:01,120 it gets more and more white lighty toward the end of the 958 00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:03,040 movie. Whatever lights they had at the 959 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:05,000 dinner party. At first I was like so 960 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,480 distracted. Yeah, it is distracting. 961 00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:08,440 Wild. Yeah. 962 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:12,800 But yeah, yeah, I I think the dinner party lighting was weird, 963 00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:16,880 but I I was so disoriented during that whole scene that it 964 00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:20,840 looking back on it, I like enjoy it, but during it I was like, 965 00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:24,120 what is happening? Like this is so strange to to 966 00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:26,840 just put at the front of your movie, but I I think it's cool. 967 00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:30,840 Yes. So that's basically Black Bag. 968 00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,880 I think the only thing we didn't really focus on too much is like 969 00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:37,600 the big reveal at the end of the movie of reggae Jon Pages James, 970 00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:41,560 who was the real traitor all along and him willing to kill 971 00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:43,120 innocent people. And then also killing Michael 972 00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,320 Fassbender's character's friend at the beginning of the movie, 973 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:50,640 who dies, who has a seizure, and we get that really cathartic 974 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:54,520 shot of Cate Blanchett pointing the gun at us, the audience, and 975 00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,480 then shooting James. I thought that was a really cool 976 00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:58,560 image. I had it as my background on 977 00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:00,680 letterbox and they removed it, I would assume because of the gun. 978 00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:02,960 But like I thought it was a really just a cool image it 979 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:03,600 looks. Good. 980 00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:06,360 Just like having, Yeah, the audience look at her with that. 981 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:11,280 I, I also really love just the premise of like these bookends 982 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:15,080 in this such a short movie of like, let's play a game right at 983 00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,440 the very beginning. And then we also have like the 984 00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:21,400 game at the end where it's, it's another trick of like, I didn't 985 00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,280 really tell you what I was doing where Michael Fassbender was 986 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:27,200 trying to be a lie detector in that moment of figuring out who 987 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:30,000 was going to give up information for him at the 1st dinner party. 988 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:31,400 And then at the 2nd dinner party, right? 989 00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:33,440 It's Cate Blanchett saying like, I didn't tell you the name of 990 00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:35,400 the game. It's who who picks up the gun 991 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:39,960 first, Right. And what I feel like bad spy 992 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:43,040 shit, though, now that I think about it, to not know that there 993 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:45,280 are not bullets in the gun, even though she, like, loaded them in 994 00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:48,240 front of them. You know, whatever I do love, 995 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:50,720 you know, small details like this is what, Soderbergh. 996 00:47:51,720 --> 00:47:53,520 Yeah, but this is what Soderbergh is good at. 997 00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:56,240 Is like, the characters coming in and mentioning like, there's 998 00:47:56,240 --> 00:47:57,600 a new carpet. There's a new carpet. 999 00:47:57,600 --> 00:47:59,360 Like they keep saying it but it feels. 1000 00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:02,440 Well, the psychiatrist notices. Yeah, but I'm just saying it 1001 00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:06,280 feels like something that on paper, I don't know what work. 1002 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:08,440 Does that make sense? But he always makes it work and 1003 00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:11,320 he always makes it like fun in this in the scene, right, That 1004 00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:12,920 someone is like noticing something, but no one's 1005 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:15,200 acknowledging that person. That's a a part of one of his 1006 00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:18,240 like bits that he does. We also didn't talk about Cate 1007 00:48:18,240 --> 00:48:21,960 Blanchett walking to Ocean's music on a bridge. 1008 00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:23,880 And that was it. Amazing stuff. 1009 00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:28,760 HGTV corner of this podcast. Would you live in that home? 1010 00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:34,280 Love the kitchen? I love the kitchen too. 1011 00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:38,760 Love the dining area maybe, I'm not sure it's the. 1012 00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:43,160 It's the lighting that you enjoy like a dim lit house. 1013 00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:45,400 I don't like the lighting in the movie so. 1014 00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:47,800 But you like the. In their in their reality, I 1015 00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:50,960 might have enjoyed that. Yeah, it feels a little bit 1016 00:48:50,960 --> 00:48:52,320 claustrophobic. OK. 1017 00:48:52,720 --> 00:48:56,880 You know, maybe you like the house in presence more and plus 1018 00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:59,320 I get a nice ghost. Yeah, I mean, it is a huge 1019 00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:00,520 house, but I I know what you mean. 1020 00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:02,120 It's like designed a little weird. 1021 00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:04,600 Like if we're going for the if we're going for the dream. 1022 00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:06,200 OK, well, it's not. Fair then. 1023 00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:08,000 I mean, Assassin's designed this house. 1024 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:10,000 It's not. It's not feasible. 1025 00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:15,520 Fair, but I I do like the the kind of like glass. 1026 00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:17,520 I love. I love the kitchen. 1027 00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:19,520 We'll just we'll. Yeah, the kitchen's great. 1028 00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:23,320 Also, you pointed this out, but when they're watching the movie 1029 00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:25,720 in the movie theater, you thought it was so funny that 1030 00:49:25,720 --> 00:49:27,480 assassins were getting jump scared. 1031 00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:30,040 Oh my God, that was so fun. There's so many small things 1032 00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:31,040 like that that I'm missing right now. 1033 00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:32,960 I'm sorry everyone, but we just saw it last night. 1034 00:49:33,240 --> 00:49:36,720 There are so many funny small bits like that that I really 1035 00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:38,480 enjoy. I love all of what Michael 1036 00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:40,840 Fassbender is doing off off camera. 1037 00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:43,560 Like physically, there's a lot of him like screaming in the 1038 00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:46,600 second-half of this movie when he finds out that like, Kate 1039 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:48,960 Blanchett is in trouble. Because when he's going, oh, 1040 00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:52,000 it's a great sequence where he's going to help Kate Blanchett and 1041 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:54,000 he's doing that. He's going with Melissa, 1042 00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:56,360 Marissa, Abella. Oh yeah, we have to talk about 1043 00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:58,720 the scene. And he's explaining that like, 1044 00:49:58,720 --> 00:50:00,880 this is how you do it, by the way, this is how you date within 1045 00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:03,680 the MI 6. Like, you have to make basically 1046 00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:05,480 make sure that they're OK. You have to check on them. 1047 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:07,400 And she's like, yeah, that's so hot. 1048 00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:09,880 Yeah, it's. Great line delivery. 1049 00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:12,960 I yeah, I I love that scene. Actually, that's probably my 1050 00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:15,040 favorite scene in the movie besides the dinner scenes. 1051 00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:18,800 Yeah, it's great. Is her first of all, her like 1052 00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:20,960 saying I would have agreed to this, like, you didn't have to 1053 00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:22,400 blackmail me. I like it. 1054 00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:24,600 And then this. And the second part is then, 1055 00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:29,520 like in that room, you are fully into this conceit of the movie, 1056 00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:31,720 but the idea that, like, they're on the satellite for three 1057 00:50:31,720 --> 00:50:36,320 minutes and then it shows the, you know, the the clip of Cate 1058 00:50:36,320 --> 00:50:38,440 Blanchett with another person meeting. 1059 00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:42,160 At this point, I did think like, Cate Blanchett was doing 1060 00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:45,880 something bad in the movie or, you know, whatever was working 1061 00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:49,920 on her own, I guess. And I just absolutely loved. 1062 00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:52,040 Yeah, Abella's, like, reaction already what you said. 1063 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:54,440 But like, it's so hot that you want to save your wife. 1064 00:50:56,240 --> 00:50:58,080 Yeah, there's just so many great moments like that. 1065 00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:01,320 OK, that was the extra credits of Black Bag, one of my favorite 1066 00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:05,680 movies in probably 2025. I would say the whole year so 1067 00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:07,160 far, this is probably my favorite movie. 1068 00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:12,320 A great sleight of hand, a great mystery, great comedy, great 1069 00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:16,440 date night movie, great rhythm and release editing with 1070 00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:18,280 attention of this film from Soderbergh. 1071 00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:21,520 And I love all the acting and that's going to be my extra 1072 00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:23,280 credits today is going to the ensemble. 1073 00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:25,960 I think it was a really well cast movie, really smartly cast. 1074 00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:29,120 And no, there's really no flaws or holes in any of the 1075 00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:31,320 relationships or or cast members. 1076 00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:34,920 Yeah, and also like to make a a movie like this and not have it 1077 00:51:34,920 --> 00:51:38,280 feel like you actually are thinking, who could it be the 1078 00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:40,840 whole time? Could it even be our main 1079 00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:43,480 characters? You know, I feel like that's 1080 00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:46,920 pretty hard to pull off when you've seen movies like this and 1081 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:49,200 it's still a comedy and it's not taking itself seriously. 1082 00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:51,640 But it is like it's a big tonal balance. 1083 00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:56,480 So my ex credit goes to Soderbergh for that reason for 1084 00:51:56,480 --> 00:51:59,320 just like making sure, especially in the dinner 1085 00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:02,800 sequences, which really I guess is acting too, but making sure 1086 00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:06,240 that it feels like balanced. You can polygraph me whenever 1087 00:52:06,240 --> 00:52:09,000 you want. But I love also when George at 1088 00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:11,560 the end, Fassbender is like, that's why it took me so long to 1089 00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:13,800 figure out he's like, because you're religious. 1090 00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:15,640 And so you just said this because of this. 1091 00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:20,240 And like I, I love the the kind of clue right of the end of of 1092 00:52:20,240 --> 00:52:22,760 piercing everything together. I also that it's revealed that 1093 00:52:22,760 --> 00:52:27,560 George is like at 37 years old trying to throw his dad under 1094 00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:29,320 the bus. Yeah, it's really funny. 1095 00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:31,160 I mean, he's trying to protect his mom, I think, but like, 1096 00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:34,240 that's, that's pretty awesome. Great reveal. 1097 00:52:34,240 --> 00:52:36,600 The rest of the table just being quiet and the audience in our in 1098 00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:39,480 our theater laughing because. When she's telling the story you 1099 00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:40,880 picture him like he's 7 or something. 1100 00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:42,480 Yeah, exactly. Everyone was like, that's I 1101 00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:44,400 mean, it makes sense why you became a spy. 1102 00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:47,320 And they're like, no, that was like, that was like five years 1103 00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:52,200 ago. OK, so presents, Steven 1104 00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:57,840 Soderberg's Presents is less of a traditional like haunted house 1105 00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:02,960 film, more of like experimental, like all those recent movies. 1106 00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:07,800 But I would say like Hypnotic with its use of perspective and 1107 00:53:07,840 --> 00:53:11,800 observation and really flipping the camera back on the audience 1108 00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:13,640 in some interesting ways. But how we're kind of like the 1109 00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:16,880 ghost in this house. We're watching a tragedy unfold. 1110 00:53:17,720 --> 00:53:20,920 It's told entirely from the point of view of this entity, 1111 00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:23,200 which I'm going to call a ghost, which I assume it's a ghost. 1112 00:53:24,240 --> 00:53:27,000 And we get a lot of smart editing that I've never seen 1113 00:53:27,000 --> 00:53:29,600 before. That is just random jarring 1114 00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:34,160 edits where we cut to blackouts and those blackouts have a timer 1115 00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,280 on them. And we don't actually know when 1116 00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:39,800 we're going to get back into the story, but we time jump. 1117 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:42,680 We go for, you know, in these blackout edits for hours, 1118 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:45,560 sometimes for days, for weeks, maybe months. 1119 00:53:45,560 --> 00:53:47,920 Yeah, that was really. Interesting, I've never seen I 1120 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:50,440 like got used to it as like the language of the film. 1121 00:53:50,440 --> 00:53:52,600 It was really drawing at first. I was like, oh, I see why it's 1122 00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:53,960 short now. They're just like cutting around 1123 00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:55,920 in this movie. But then it became like a major 1124 00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:57,800 like basically character in the film. 1125 00:53:58,200 --> 00:54:01,760 And what was really refreshing about this movie as a genre 1126 00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:05,600 exercise, much like Black Bag, is that it twists the horror and 1127 00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:10,000 the ghost slasher concept on to the audience where you're you're 1128 00:54:10,000 --> 00:54:13,240 looking for the jump scares, you're looking for the evil that 1129 00:54:13,240 --> 00:54:16,000 will ensue, but it never really happens. 1130 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:18,360 And the evil that actually eventually comes in the third 1131 00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:20,400 act is not the evil that you expected at all. 1132 00:54:20,600 --> 00:54:24,000 And so it plays with these really like overt horror tropes 1133 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:27,040 and really clever ways and instead of. 1134 00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:29,680 We talked about it like a Scooby-doo movie, right? 1135 00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:31,880 Or Casper. Yeah, It's like Scooby-doo 1136 00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:35,000 Casper, but like, Soderbergh made it for adults, you know, 1137 00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:39,760 And I thought that was just really, really good filmmaking, 1138 00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:44,240 clever and honestly, like, conscious of how audiences are 1139 00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:48,800 kind of inundated with horror movies that feature ghosts that 1140 00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:50,440 are just, like, evil and want to kill you. 1141 00:54:50,440 --> 00:54:54,040 And so not that this movie is like ghost positive or whatever, 1142 00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:57,880 but it kind of Isaac kind of is like it is like saying like the 1143 00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:01,680 ghost is an ally throughout the movie, which is which is 1144 00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:05,000 interesting. And I love the omniscient camera 1145 00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:06,800 movement. I love the fact that it's an 1146 00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:09,520 invisible protagonist. I love the fact that film is 1147 00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:13,040 relying on you being more afraid of the domestic setting in the 1148 00:55:13,040 --> 00:55:15,720 family secrets than the ghost itself. 1149 00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:18,960 Because really, we really don't get any back story about the 1150 00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:21,400 ghost. Yeah, the the ghost is like, 1151 00:55:21,560 --> 00:55:23,920 you're right, essentially afraid of the family. 1152 00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:28,160 So it's hilarious and but at first, I mean because again, 1153 00:55:28,160 --> 00:55:31,280 like similar to black bag, you're like, I do, I know this 1154 00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:32,760 movie. I think I do. 1155 00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:37,760 And so when you're watching it, you have that both suspense and 1156 00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:43,000 tension that is more leaning into a horror feeling, right. 1157 00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:46,200 It's more like, oh, I should be scared when the ghost is moving 1158 00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:50,080 the daughter's books or in the closet watching, you know, the 1159 00:55:50,080 --> 00:55:54,000 daughter. And so then it it slowly kind of 1160 00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:59,280 dissipates because you're viewing the, the parents like 1161 00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:03,120 marriage fall apart and. It was like a rounded 1162 00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:05,440 hereditary. Like imagine, take all the 1163 00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:09,680 elevated beats out of Hereditary and just it's a ghost in a house 1164 00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:11,440 with family dysfunction and secrets. 1165 00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:13,440 Right. And it wasn't anything like, you 1166 00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:17,320 know, I, I felt like it was interesting to see what we were 1167 00:56:17,320 --> 00:56:19,680 talking about earlier. Like he these are like the 1168 00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:23,120 closest things to his like domestic dramas, right? 1169 00:56:23,800 --> 00:56:26,680 But he has like a little mystery spin on it. 1170 00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:32,840 And I, I like that nothing felt like over the top, if that makes 1171 00:56:32,840 --> 00:56:33,600 sense. Like it. 1172 00:56:34,280 --> 00:56:38,240 I I know that people walked out of this kind of feeling like, 1173 00:56:38,240 --> 00:56:41,280 one, they thought it was a horror movie, but two, maybe 1174 00:56:41,280 --> 00:56:43,680 underwhelmed is kind of the sense I was getting. 1175 00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:45,920 So yeah. And I actually liked that aspect 1176 00:56:45,920 --> 00:56:47,800 of it. Like I liked that we it was a, 1177 00:56:48,760 --> 00:56:50,720 we were like, what is going on with this ghost? 1178 00:56:50,720 --> 00:56:53,640 Is it going to kill the family? Is it helping the family? 1179 00:56:54,680 --> 00:57:00,840 I didn't really recognize that that that kid was going to be 1180 00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:02,200 like. That's the big drop. 1181 00:57:02,240 --> 00:57:03,480 Right. The serial killer. 1182 00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:07,680 Yeah, the serial killer. And and I think like even though 1183 00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:10,800 it was slower paced, I didn't have a problem with it. 1184 00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:12,400 Like I had a good time with this movie. 1185 00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:15,840 Yeah, well, I think the filmmaking does a lot right. 1186 00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:19,480 Like Soderbergh with the camera moving around like he is a ghost 1187 00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:21,840 was really fun. And the way he moved quickly up 1188 00:57:21,840 --> 00:57:24,520 and down stairs was fascinating. I had to Google it when I got 1189 00:57:24,520 --> 00:57:25,640 home. Like, how did he do that? 1190 00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:26,000 What? Yeah. 1191 00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:30,280 He got special shoes that he made to like slip but not fall. 1192 00:57:30,520 --> 00:57:34,240 And so he is like kind of sliding all over this house as 1193 00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:36,280 the ghost to to capture in this way. 1194 00:57:36,320 --> 00:57:38,200 And that you know, when I rewatch it, I'm sure it'll be 1195 00:57:38,200 --> 00:57:40,480 cool to watch in knowing there's a camera operator. 1196 00:57:40,480 --> 00:57:44,000 Like gliding through hallways, watching characters from corners 1197 00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:47,760 lurking behind doors. That's really fun because unlike 1198 00:57:47,760 --> 00:57:50,800 conventional horror films, he's building anticipation through 1199 00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:53,720 the idea of other people noticing the ghost, but also the 1200 00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:57,160 ghost trying to find out what the secrets are like. 1201 00:57:57,160 --> 00:57:58,640 That's kind of the the tension as well. 1202 00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:01,200 Like we are the ghost and we're forced to witness this 1203 00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:04,680 unraveling of this lead family. So let's talk about that family. 1204 00:58:05,440 --> 00:58:08,640 The family consists of I think some pretty well observed 1205 00:58:08,640 --> 00:58:10,920 archetypes. We have Rebecca, who is the 1206 00:58:10,920 --> 00:58:15,520 mother played by Lucy Liu. We have the and I guess she's 1207 00:58:15,520 --> 00:58:19,720 like this executive, ambitious executive who is run into some 1208 00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:23,040 financial troubles legally. I never really understood what 1209 00:58:23,040 --> 00:58:25,040 was happening with that like that. 1210 00:58:25,320 --> 00:58:28,200 I don't understand that. Basically she did something 1211 00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:32,080 illegal and then the dad calls like you know, hypothetically 1212 00:58:32,440 --> 00:58:35,400 can his lawyer friend right? Can I get in trouble if my 1213 00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:38,840 spouse is doing something? I never understood totally what 1214 00:58:38,840 --> 00:58:41,400 was happening there. Well, I think she cooked the 1215 00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:43,080 books at work. OK. 1216 00:58:43,160 --> 00:58:46,280 She moved some numbers around. She took some money, right? 1217 00:58:46,280 --> 00:58:48,840 And she needed to buy this house so her son could go to a good 1218 00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:50,680 high school because he's a swimmer, I believe. 1219 00:58:51,040 --> 00:58:53,960 And she wanted him to go to a school, I think that had like a 1220 00:58:54,040 --> 00:58:56,480 a good swimming team. That was the idea. 1221 00:58:56,880 --> 00:58:58,600 They just moved to a new house, a new neighborhood. 1222 00:58:58,600 --> 00:59:00,800 I think it's a new high school for them, I believe is what's 1223 00:59:00,840 --> 00:59:03,720 going on. And so I think she did that for 1224 00:59:03,720 --> 00:59:05,320 her family. That was the idea. 1225 00:59:05,800 --> 00:59:09,520 And her son is his name is Tyler, played by Eddie Mayday. 1226 00:59:09,880 --> 00:59:12,320 And he is like their athletic Golden Boy. 1227 00:59:12,320 --> 00:59:14,920 And she has like an obsessive relationship with him that is 1228 00:59:14,920 --> 00:59:17,680 very strange. And he is this kind of like a 1229 00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:20,960 local celebrity, it seems. And he's also kind of an 1230 00:59:20,960 --> 00:59:22,760 asshole. And he has his own secrets, 1231 00:59:22,760 --> 00:59:24,720 right, about the ways that he's been taken advantage of other 1232 00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:27,720 students at a school through images or videos that he. 1233 00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:30,920 Has yeah, it's like through this, it's because he like, 1234 00:59:30,920 --> 00:59:33,120 wants to be considered cool, right? 1235 00:59:33,120 --> 00:59:36,880 And I, I like that we have the scene where the ghost is 1236 00:59:36,880 --> 00:59:38,800 observing them. So like, we're observing them. 1237 00:59:39,440 --> 00:59:42,200 Yeah. Like, the parents disagree on, 1238 00:59:42,200 --> 00:59:46,240 like, either encouraging him to be a bully or saying, like, I 1239 00:59:46,240 --> 00:59:48,880 don't even know who you are. You know, like that kind of 1240 00:59:48,880 --> 00:59:52,240 tension seems very realistic. Yes, agreed. 1241 00:59:52,800 --> 00:59:55,960 And then we have the husband, Chris, played by Chris Sullivan, 1242 00:59:56,240 --> 01:00:00,840 who is this gentle but also passive figure who they're 1243 01:00:00,840 --> 01:00:04,320 playing into this like trope of like, dad means well, Mom's 1244 01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:07,400 overbearing. And again, they're archetypes, 1245 01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:09,920 but they're again well observed because the father is also 1246 01:00:09,920 --> 01:00:13,240 passive to a fault. And I think Chris Sullivan might 1247 01:00:13,240 --> 01:00:15,600 give the best performance of the movie because I would say the 1248 01:00:15,600 --> 01:00:18,920 performances in this film are not particularly good. 1249 01:00:19,760 --> 01:00:23,040 Lucy Liu gets the least to do as the mother figure, which was 1250 01:00:23,040 --> 01:00:24,840 confusing going into the movie. I thought she would be the main 1251 01:00:24,840 --> 01:00:28,000 character because she's such a famous actor. 1252 01:00:28,680 --> 01:00:31,120 She doesn't totally work in the role for me ever. 1253 01:00:31,120 --> 01:00:33,840 However, when we get to the end of the movie and she lets out a 1254 01:00:33,840 --> 01:00:37,280 scream when she sees her son, her out past son to see son, 1255 01:00:37,280 --> 01:00:39,960 you're wondering if he is dead like at the end, the last five 1256 01:00:39,960 --> 01:00:43,960 minutes or few minutes and you see him in the the mirror and 1257 01:00:43,960 --> 01:00:45,400 he's like waving at his mom. She. 1258 01:00:45,400 --> 01:00:48,040 Screams. And it's like a an ear 1259 01:00:48,040 --> 01:00:51,680 shattering scream and I and I started getting teary eyed, like 1260 01:00:51,680 --> 01:00:54,600 I started getting emotional and I was thinking, wow, like Lucy 1261 01:00:54,600 --> 01:00:56,880 Liu killed that performance there at the end. 1262 01:00:56,880 --> 01:00:59,680 But the whole character, the whole movie was irritating to me 1263 01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:01,600 because of the way she was playing it. 1264 01:01:01,760 --> 01:01:04,120 It was it was not totally realized for me. 1265 01:01:04,320 --> 01:01:06,360 So that was kind of a distancing part of the movie. 1266 01:01:06,360 --> 01:01:08,760 I thought that about all the performances though, kind of 1267 01:01:08,760 --> 01:01:11,720 like I thought they were. They were all kind of distanced 1268 01:01:13,320 --> 01:01:21,240 and it felt like I don't I, it felt like it worked though, that 1269 01:01:21,240 --> 01:01:23,120 I didn't love all the performances because it felt 1270 01:01:23,120 --> 01:01:24,520 like I was actually watching a family. 1271 01:01:24,800 --> 01:01:28,600 I know that's not necessarily like a compliment, but I, it 1272 01:01:28,600 --> 01:01:32,400 felt like I was like watching as I kept going, as I kept just 1273 01:01:32,400 --> 01:01:35,560 observing the family as the ghost from their point of view. 1274 01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:40,720 It felt like OK that things felt messy and I felt distanced. 1275 01:01:41,400 --> 01:01:44,200 Yeah, there was like a little bit of like a stilted dialogue 1276 01:01:44,200 --> 01:01:45,720 going on. Like it felt a little bit 1277 01:01:45,720 --> 01:01:48,480 unnatural, a bit awkward. But you're right. 1278 01:01:48,480 --> 01:01:50,600 Maybe that's a good point. There was a little bit of AI 1279 01:01:50,600 --> 01:01:53,360 guess, a tonal balance between all of them being on the same 1280 01:01:53,360 --> 01:01:55,520 page of get it like delivering lines. 1281 01:01:55,520 --> 01:01:58,000 And well, I mean, I don't know if it was like purposeful, you 1282 01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:00,160 know, like with the dads performance for example, when he 1283 01:02:00,160 --> 01:02:03,040 was trying to do an emotional thing. 1284 01:02:03,040 --> 01:02:09,160 Even though I like the actor I like I I liked him over all in 1285 01:02:09,160 --> 01:02:11,880 this, I still felt I agree. I don't. 1286 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:16,440 Know how much of that was also like we just never watched them 1287 01:02:16,440 --> 01:02:19,880 like a regular movie, but like if it were framed differently, I 1288 01:02:19,880 --> 01:02:21,320 guess. But it did feel like I was 1289 01:02:21,320 --> 01:02:28,320 watching sort of like a, like a television, like, you know, host 1290 01:02:28,320 --> 01:02:32,120 kind of situation where like we're watching a, a camera watch 1291 01:02:32,120 --> 01:02:33,800 people. Well, it felt like a little bit 1292 01:02:33,800 --> 01:02:37,280 of A twist on like I Love Lucy or something like that. 1293 01:02:37,280 --> 01:02:40,760 It felt like A twist on the classic American suburban 1294 01:02:41,360 --> 01:02:42,960 household. And it felt like we were 1295 01:02:42,960 --> 01:02:45,960 watching ATV show like an. HGTV show or something? 1296 01:02:45,960 --> 01:02:48,720 No, like from the 1950s, but like modernizing it, if that 1297 01:02:48,720 --> 01:02:50,760 makes sense. And so like, that's kind of 1298 01:02:50,760 --> 01:02:52,800 where I was. That's what the dialogue felt 1299 01:02:52,800 --> 01:02:56,520 similar to a Lucy character. Then we have the daughter, 1300 01:02:56,520 --> 01:02:59,320 Chloe, who is, for all intents and purposes of this family, the 1301 01:02:59,320 --> 01:03:04,280 main character played by Kalina Liang, who is struggling with 1302 01:03:04,280 --> 01:03:07,840 the death of her best friend or partner, unclear from a drug 1303 01:03:07,840 --> 01:03:11,680 overdose. And from the moment this whole 1304 01:03:11,680 --> 01:03:15,480 family arrives, you start seeing the cracks in the relationship, 1305 01:03:15,760 --> 01:03:18,520 and you start seeing the mother's favoritism toward 1306 01:03:18,520 --> 01:03:20,000 Tyler. You start seeing the father's 1307 01:03:20,000 --> 01:03:22,000 inability to keep the family stable. 1308 01:03:22,160 --> 01:03:25,120 You start seeing Chloe become more and more isolated and 1309 01:03:25,240 --> 01:03:26,920 becoming a little bit more volatile. 1310 01:03:27,080 --> 01:03:30,040 So it's a film about every one of these family members hiding 1311 01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:32,520 secrets. And our ghost Casper is like, 1312 01:03:32,520 --> 01:03:36,080 yo, this family's messed up. And he's doing what he can to 1313 01:03:36,080 --> 01:03:39,440 help the best of them, which is probably Chloe, the daughter. 1314 01:03:39,720 --> 01:03:45,240 And I think Soderbergh positions the ghost as basically the 1315 01:03:45,240 --> 01:03:48,040 victim of this chaos in a in a lot of ways, which is really 1316 01:03:48,040 --> 01:03:49,880 interesting. Even though it's a tragedy for 1317 01:03:49,880 --> 01:03:53,160 the family, the ghost feels like it's having to relive multiple 1318 01:03:53,160 --> 01:03:55,320 families coming in and out of this home and watching the 1319 01:03:55,320 --> 01:03:57,880 fractured family unit. And just like how surveillance 1320 01:03:57,880 --> 01:04:02,960 was a huge theme of marriage and relationships in Black Bag, we 1321 01:04:02,960 --> 01:04:05,240 have surveillance here as a theme that you think is from the 1322 01:04:05,240 --> 01:04:08,880 ghost perspective. But really it's like how all 1323 01:04:08,880 --> 01:04:11,320 these individuals like know nothing about their lives and 1324 01:04:11,320 --> 01:04:14,440 like they're not doing anything to like know anything about each 1325 01:04:14,440 --> 01:04:17,360 other's lives that much. The dad being the maybe doing 1326 01:04:17,360 --> 01:04:20,960 the most, but to the point where like the mother is like trying 1327 01:04:20,960 --> 01:04:23,760 her best to not ask more questions about how Chloe's 1328 01:04:23,760 --> 01:04:27,520 doing or if that makes sense. So like that was an interesting 1329 01:04:27,520 --> 01:04:29,160 twist on the surveillance part of it. 1330 01:04:29,280 --> 01:04:31,760 And then you just have the fact that there is a ghost who you 1331 01:04:31,760 --> 01:04:33,800 think is the surveillor, right? You think of it. 1332 01:04:33,800 --> 01:04:35,680 They are the person who's coming in and creeping in on this 1333 01:04:35,680 --> 01:04:40,080 family only to realize in the 21st century, it's actually 1334 01:04:40,080 --> 01:04:42,160 probably not a ghost that's sneaking up on you. 1335 01:04:42,440 --> 01:04:44,400 It is a sad white boy who's coming to kill you. 1336 01:04:44,720 --> 01:04:47,320 And like that is, again, Soderbergh in his bag. 1337 01:04:47,480 --> 01:04:49,240 Just saying the most obvious thing. 1338 01:04:49,560 --> 01:04:51,920 It is the most obvious person who's probably going to be the 1339 01:04:51,920 --> 01:04:53,600 villain of the movie, which I really enjoy. 1340 01:04:53,680 --> 01:04:57,400 Yeah, me too. And I, I think like, I don't 1341 01:04:57,400 --> 01:05:02,200 know, I, I hadn't, I don't really feel like I've seen a 1342 01:05:02,200 --> 01:05:04,160 movie like this again. We described it as like a 1343 01:05:04,160 --> 01:05:05,760 scooby-doo. You're seeing like kids after 1344 01:05:05,760 --> 01:05:08,000 school unsupervised or whatever, right? 1345 01:05:08,480 --> 01:05:14,400 But it felt like, I guess it just felt like a, a new story, 1346 01:05:14,440 --> 01:05:16,320 right? And that's why I, I liked it a 1347 01:05:16,320 --> 01:05:17,920 lot. I didn't, I didn't love the 1348 01:05:17,920 --> 01:05:20,440 movie. There were parts where I was 1349 01:05:20,440 --> 01:05:22,840 like, Oh, I wonder like what's happening here? 1350 01:05:22,840 --> 01:05:25,120 Like I'm not super invested, but I'm interested. 1351 01:05:26,280 --> 01:05:30,360 And then the, the end really brings it home, I think, right, 1352 01:05:30,360 --> 01:05:33,240 Like, because then you get the, the kind of mystery piece of it, 1353 01:05:33,600 --> 01:05:37,360 it, it is actually like a tragedy right at the end of it, 1354 01:05:37,360 --> 01:05:39,440 you actually feel emotionally attached to this family that 1355 01:05:39,440 --> 01:05:43,880 you've been watching for so long and you know, these like kids. 1356 01:05:44,120 --> 01:05:46,560 So I I think it works. I'd rather jumping in. 1357 01:05:46,560 --> 01:05:47,880 And I have really. Yeah. 1358 01:05:48,720 --> 01:05:51,880 And also the, you know, I'm not personally not into like ghost 1359 01:05:51,880 --> 01:05:54,880 stories usually, like just generally. 1360 01:05:55,600 --> 01:05:57,360 I killed some ghost hunters back in the day though. 1361 01:05:58,000 --> 01:05:58,840 That TV show. Oh. 1362 01:05:59,240 --> 01:06:01,200 OK, OK. Yeah, I didn't actually kill 1363 01:06:01,200 --> 01:06:03,680 ghost hunters, but I I watched a lot of ghost hunters back in the 1364 01:06:03,680 --> 01:06:04,800 day. I never watched that. 1365 01:06:05,560 --> 01:06:09,400 I was, I was a weekly watcher. Oh, wow, yeah, OK, interesting. 1366 01:06:09,400 --> 01:06:10,880 I'll have to ask you. About I don't believe in Ghosts, 1367 01:06:10,880 --> 01:06:12,200 I just thought the show was awesome. 1368 01:06:12,800 --> 01:06:14,680 Or do they if they hunt ghosts in house? 1369 01:06:14,680 --> 01:06:18,440 They were very effective, yeah. At what they did, yeah. 1370 01:06:18,520 --> 01:06:19,960 They got it very successful, yeah. 1371 01:06:21,240 --> 01:06:26,440 So I I love the woman coming in to do the whole like the. 1372 01:06:26,440 --> 01:06:28,760 Seance, Yeah. Yeah, why was I going to call 1373 01:06:28,760 --> 01:06:30,520 that too, but I don't think. That's what it's called. 1374 01:06:30,600 --> 01:06:32,200 I don't know. The ghost finding. 1375 01:06:32,200 --> 01:06:33,720 Yeah, but I loved her. Her. 1376 01:06:33,720 --> 01:06:35,800 She's a medium, right? Yeah, where's my? 1377 01:06:35,880 --> 01:06:39,320 She's like, there's something in this room and I don't believe in 1378 01:06:39,320 --> 01:06:42,240 ghosts, you know? But also, if someone came to my 1379 01:06:42,240 --> 01:06:44,800 house and told me everything that she was telling me, I would 1380 01:06:44,800 --> 01:06:48,080 be really creeped out. Well, so that's what is 1381 01:06:48,080 --> 01:06:51,040 interesting about this movie. I was really, I gave it a really 1382 01:06:51,040 --> 01:06:54,080 good score and I like enjoyed my time because of the film making 1383 01:06:54,160 --> 01:06:56,520 and then because somehow the family drama worked on me by the 1384 01:06:56,520 --> 01:06:58,520 end. I didn't love the serial serial 1385 01:06:58,520 --> 01:07:01,040 killer bit of the twist of the movie because I thought that was 1386 01:07:01,040 --> 01:07:02,640 so elevated considering the premise. 1387 01:07:02,640 --> 01:07:05,160 But also I was like, I like the idea that the ghost is not the 1388 01:07:05,160 --> 01:07:07,920 killer. What really made me impressed 1389 01:07:07,920 --> 01:07:12,400 was that the whole first 30-40 minutes I was thinking like, oh, 1390 01:07:12,400 --> 01:07:14,440 is this like It Follows? Like I kept thinking of other 1391 01:07:14,440 --> 01:07:16,400 movies and I was like, oh, no, it's like Hereditary. 1392 01:07:16,520 --> 01:07:18,120 And then by the end of the movie, I'm like, oh, wait, no, 1393 01:07:18,120 --> 01:07:20,160 this ghost is like the ghost from Interstellar. 1394 01:07:20,160 --> 01:07:21,880 Like he's just like trying to help, like, you know what I 1395 01:07:21,880 --> 01:07:22,480 mean? Like this is. 1396 01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:24,600 That's just Matthew McConaughey. That's Matthew McConaughey, 1397 01:07:24,600 --> 01:07:26,720 probably, yeah. He's coming in from that, that 1398 01:07:26,720 --> 01:07:28,160 library, Yeah. That. 1399 01:07:28,320 --> 01:07:31,480 Library. Yeah, just using gravity to try 1400 01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:40,160 to help this family. So we're doing Interstellar 1401 01:07:40,160 --> 01:07:43,160 later this month on Patreon. I'm so pumped. 1402 01:07:44,640 --> 01:07:47,280 So would you see that this movie has a protagonist? 1403 01:07:48,080 --> 01:07:51,120 That was the last Let me go. Sorry. 1404 01:07:51,120 --> 01:07:55,600 Don't let me go, Merv. OK, what protagonist? 1405 01:07:55,760 --> 01:07:58,640 Yeah, that's my last question here is do you think this movie 1406 01:07:58,640 --> 01:08:00,760 has? AI think it's the daughter or 1407 01:08:00,760 --> 01:08:02,800 the ghost right? Like the ghost is obviously the 1408 01:08:02,800 --> 01:08:03,880 I think that's. The cooler. 1409 01:08:03,880 --> 01:08:08,200 Answer, but I I think the daughter is the the person we're 1410 01:08:08,200 --> 01:08:09,960 following and supposed to be most invested in. 1411 01:08:09,960 --> 01:08:12,000 Can I ask you a question then? Because I joked about the, the 1412 01:08:12,000 --> 01:08:13,520 feminist thing, the ally thing. Do you? 1413 01:08:13,520 --> 01:08:17,760 Because most ghosts in movies, Exorcist, Conjuring, whatever, I 1414 01:08:17,760 --> 01:08:19,960 think those are good examples. Most ghosts in movies, 1415 01:08:19,960 --> 01:08:23,720 Paranormal Activity, whatever they are like evil male spirits. 1416 01:08:23,720 --> 01:08:27,479 Yeah, or or. Patriarchal spirits. 1417 01:08:27,479 --> 01:08:31,960 Or like in The Conjuring, though, they're like women 1418 01:08:31,960 --> 01:08:33,880 seeking revenge who could be evil. 1419 01:08:33,880 --> 01:08:36,760 Like, you know. OK, yeah, so they're usually 1420 01:08:36,760 --> 01:08:39,720 evil spirits, but I was going to say sometimes it is woman. 1421 01:08:39,720 --> 01:08:42,200 But I guess my point was is usually it's gendered to be like 1422 01:08:42,200 --> 01:08:44,640 a man ghost. In my experience watching ghost 1423 01:08:44,640 --> 01:08:49,160 horror movies, in this film, I didn't feel like I don't want to 1424 01:08:49,160 --> 01:08:53,479 gender the ghost, but I did feel like I was like, this ghost 1425 01:08:53,479 --> 01:08:58,080 feels distinctly like different, like very subtle, more like an 1426 01:08:58,080 --> 01:09:01,040 observer, not an attacker. There was something else going 1427 01:09:01,040 --> 01:09:02,279 on. And I thought that was really 1428 01:09:02,279 --> 01:09:04,800 cool for Soderberg because then I started thinking like, is he 1429 01:09:04,800 --> 01:09:06,120 creating like a whole new invention here? 1430 01:09:06,120 --> 01:09:09,080 Is this some kind of like other spirit we haven't seen before in 1431 01:09:09,080 --> 01:09:12,200 a movie like this didn't feel like any kind of traditional 1432 01:09:12,200 --> 01:09:14,880 ghost we've seen before in cinema, which is just a credit 1433 01:09:14,880 --> 01:09:17,120 to the film. But I also just like the idea 1434 01:09:17,120 --> 01:09:19,479 that he was like, I, I, I've never heard him ask this 1435 01:09:19,479 --> 01:09:21,800 question, but I like the idea that he just made a like a very 1436 01:09:21,800 --> 01:09:24,840 kind woman ghost. Yeah, like a just trying to 1437 01:09:24,840 --> 01:09:25,399 help. This. 1438 01:09:25,399 --> 01:09:27,760 Girl out. Yeah, we're initially like 1439 01:09:27,760 --> 01:09:33,560 afraid of, but we learn from the medium, right, that this ghost 1440 01:09:33,560 --> 01:09:37,359 is like has some unfinished business here, ends up saving 1441 01:09:37,520 --> 01:09:41,920 her, right, the daughter. And is also like we have those 1442 01:09:41,920 --> 01:09:45,560 moments where we recognize on reflection is like afraid of the 1443 01:09:45,560 --> 01:09:48,920 family, like backing up into the closet essentially or, or trying 1444 01:09:48,920 --> 01:09:52,760 to watch over the daughter. Like I, I think it's interesting 1445 01:09:52,760 --> 01:09:55,080 to have who goes to be the protagonist. 1446 01:09:55,080 --> 01:09:58,040 And you're right, like I think it does feel, I think it's 1447 01:09:58,480 --> 01:10:01,960 basically it's implied, right, that it's a woman, like a woman 1448 01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:08,320 who did experience violence, right, and is trying to protect 1449 01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:10,680 the daughter from like experiencing the same fate 1450 01:10:11,520 --> 01:10:13,440 because it leaves the house after, right? 1451 01:10:13,440 --> 01:10:15,680 Well, then I started thinking if it's not a ghost, because I do 1452 01:10:15,680 --> 01:10:18,000 agree with that take away. But if it's not a ghost, my 1453 01:10:18,000 --> 01:10:20,840 final take away here is like, what if it is like a nice grim 1454 01:10:20,840 --> 01:10:22,720 Reaper kind of character? Because I kept looking out the 1455 01:10:22,720 --> 01:10:24,600 window. It became like a motif of this 1456 01:10:24,600 --> 01:10:27,000 ghost journey, right? And then the window becomes like 1457 01:10:27,000 --> 01:10:29,840 this, this symbol of fate in the movie, essentially because of 1458 01:10:29,840 --> 01:10:34,000 the brother saves the sister by pushing the nice haired evil 1459 01:10:34,000 --> 01:10:37,080 white boy out of the window, but also to his own death, the 1460 01:10:37,080 --> 01:10:38,880 brother's own death. And I was like, oh wow, the 1461 01:10:38,880 --> 01:10:42,120 window became like this, this strange symbol for the ghost 1462 01:10:42,120 --> 01:10:43,560 journey. If all like the ghost knew that 1463 01:10:43,560 --> 01:10:46,240 that was going to happen. Because the ghost does save the 1464 01:10:46,240 --> 01:10:49,520 daughter, but then it later chooses not to as well. 1465 01:10:49,960 --> 01:10:52,600 Like when that boy puts drugs in her glass again for a second 1466 01:10:52,600 --> 01:10:54,560 time, it chooses not to save her. 1467 01:10:54,560 --> 01:10:56,640 Does it? I thought it just couldn't, Like 1468 01:10:56,640 --> 01:10:58,800 there was something I, you know, there was some logic. 1469 01:10:58,800 --> 01:11:01,320 Watches her drink it. Yeah, but there was some logic 1470 01:11:02,400 --> 01:11:07,000 like holes here because like it could pick up textbooks, Yes it, 1471 01:11:07,120 --> 01:11:08,600 but there are some. Sometimes it chooses to, 1472 01:11:08,680 --> 01:11:10,280 sometimes it it doesn't. Yeah. 1473 01:11:10,280 --> 01:11:12,600 That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I I get what you're 1474 01:11:12,600 --> 01:11:14,080 saying. I it's been a while since we 1475 01:11:14,080 --> 01:11:15,760 watched it. So yeah. 1476 01:11:15,760 --> 01:11:17,520 But I remember thinking that I was like, wait, if I could pick 1477 01:11:17,520 --> 01:11:20,680 up textbooks, why couldn't it like save her or like move him 1478 01:11:20,680 --> 01:11:24,160 or take the yeah, the Saran wrap off her face. 1479 01:11:24,160 --> 01:11:26,080 Cuz then you think oh is it a baby ghost? 1480 01:11:26,080 --> 01:11:27,560 Like does it not know it's own powers? 1481 01:11:27,560 --> 01:11:28,480 What's happening? Yeah. 1482 01:11:28,480 --> 01:11:30,680 It's trying to think about like, what it can do, yeah. 1483 01:11:31,120 --> 01:11:34,480 Before, before we do extra credits, did you think or were 1484 01:11:34,480 --> 01:11:37,320 you nervous halfway through the movie when we're having these 1485 01:11:37,320 --> 01:11:41,720 like black cutouts and we are having this like shake Cam, you 1486 01:11:41,720 --> 01:11:44,120 know, of a ghost going around the house and we realize, oh, 1487 01:11:44,120 --> 01:11:46,400 we're going to be in this house the whole time. 1488 01:11:46,600 --> 01:11:50,360 Did you have any like anxieties about that? 1489 01:11:50,360 --> 01:11:53,680 Because I I found myself thinking like, oh, I don't know 1490 01:11:53,680 --> 01:11:56,400 if I'm going to like being inside the house the whole time, 1491 01:11:57,080 --> 01:12:00,200 especially the way that we are kind of getting the character 1492 01:12:00,320 --> 01:12:04,000 characterization slowly. But then like Soderbergh just 1493 01:12:04,000 --> 01:12:06,360 always does this. This is his like charm is that 1494 01:12:06,560 --> 01:12:09,160 I'm like, yeah, I'm here for the same for the informant, right? 1495 01:12:09,160 --> 01:12:10,880 Like that was the first time I watched that movie. 1496 01:12:10,880 --> 01:12:14,080 I was like, am I going to like Matt Damon doing this like the 1497 01:12:14,080 --> 01:12:16,480 whole time? Oh, yeah, no, I am definitely 1498 01:12:16,480 --> 01:12:18,280 here for the whole time. Obviously way more for the 1499 01:12:18,280 --> 01:12:20,560 informant. But did you feel that at all at 1500 01:12:20,560 --> 01:12:23,440 the beginning of presence? Yeah, I think there's genuinely 1501 01:12:23,440 --> 01:12:27,640 something really collectively fun in a theatre watching an 1502 01:12:27,640 --> 01:12:30,960 indie film where you all suspend disbelief a little bit about 1503 01:12:30,960 --> 01:12:33,440 what the movie has access to scale wise. 1504 01:12:33,720 --> 01:12:37,320 And so you just go, I, I'm cool to hang out in this house for 1505 01:12:37,320 --> 01:12:38,640 because it's $1,000,000 production. 1506 01:12:38,640 --> 01:12:40,240 You can tell you don't know most of the cast. 1507 01:12:40,800 --> 01:12:43,440 It's kind of bad acting, but you're all in and you're all 1508 01:12:43,440 --> 01:12:48,240 watching and it's really crafted with an expert level, meticulous 1509 01:12:48,280 --> 01:12:51,680 detail and the filmmaking and the editing that you're 1510 01:12:51,800 --> 01:12:55,120 forgiving a lot of what doesn't totally work in the movie or 1511 01:12:55,120 --> 01:12:59,360 narrative or just the one location because it feels like 1512 01:12:59,360 --> 01:13:01,560 you're watching something sort of special that we don't see 1513 01:13:01,560 --> 01:13:04,200 anymore. And I think most audiences, not 1514 01:13:04,200 --> 01:13:06,920 horror audiences because they're used to like low budget movies, 1515 01:13:07,160 --> 01:13:09,760 but I think most audiences who aren't used to films like 1516 01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:13,000 Presents probably were surprised by how grounded it was for what 1517 01:13:13,000 --> 01:13:16,240 it was able to achieve. So I liked that it was in one 1518 01:13:16,240 --> 01:13:20,320 location because I think it I think it it forces audiences to 1519 01:13:20,320 --> 01:13:23,440 contend with the fact that every time we watch a $300 million 1520 01:13:23,440 --> 01:13:26,760 Marvel movie, that blows. We're missing 300 Steven 1521 01:13:26,760 --> 01:13:29,040 Soderbergh ghost movies. Do you know what I mean? 1522 01:13:29,080 --> 01:13:30,720 Yeah, sort of, if that makes sense. 1523 01:13:30,720 --> 01:13:31,840 I know the math doesn't totally check. 1524 01:13:31,840 --> 01:13:34,720 Out there, but yeah. So I liked it. 1525 01:13:34,720 --> 01:13:36,400 Did you? Yeah, OK. 1526 01:13:36,520 --> 01:13:40,600 I, I think that would you say how much more would you say 1527 01:13:40,600 --> 01:13:42,880 'cause I feel like you liked both these movies more than me, 1528 01:13:42,880 --> 01:13:44,280 even though I I did like them a lot. 1529 01:13:44,960 --> 01:13:47,360 But how much more would you say you like to black bag than 1530 01:13:47,360 --> 01:13:50,600 presents? Presents to me is like mid tier 1531 01:13:50,600 --> 01:13:52,880 sode, which is great. You know, it's a really good 1532 01:13:52,880 --> 01:13:57,080 genre experiment. Yes, Black bag is immediately 1533 01:13:57,080 --> 01:13:59,400 top ten. I wasn't higher on it on this 1534 01:13:59,400 --> 01:14:01,760 podcast in terms of like really bringing the energy and a lot of 1535 01:14:01,760 --> 01:14:04,680 like examples and deep diving of black bag because there isn't a 1536 01:14:04,680 --> 01:14:07,440 lot of lore. I just love a movie that feels 1537 01:14:07,440 --> 01:14:09,880 like it just handed me a plate of like really well cooked 1538 01:14:09,880 --> 01:14:11,960 salmon and asparagus and it's like, here you go. 1539 01:14:12,280 --> 01:14:13,360 And that's what the movie feels like. 1540 01:14:13,360 --> 01:14:16,840 It's really accessible, digestible, and I just enjoy 1541 01:14:16,840 --> 01:14:18,360 that experience. And we don't have that shit 1542 01:14:18,360 --> 01:14:20,240 anymore. And especially for mid budget 1543 01:14:20,240 --> 01:14:23,360 movies, I hope this film puts up 100 hundred, $20 million of the 1544 01:14:23,360 --> 01:14:25,440 box office. It could surprise some people 1545 01:14:25,440 --> 01:14:27,280 because not a lot of good movies are in theaters right now, 1546 01:14:27,280 --> 01:14:29,960 except for arguably Mickey 17. Debatable. 1547 01:14:29,960 --> 01:14:33,360 But like that people will go and see that, but I think this is a 1548 01:14:33,360 --> 01:14:35,720 great alternative to if people aren't into like sci-fi or don't 1549 01:14:35,720 --> 01:14:37,360 want to see that film. I recommend seeing them both. 1550 01:14:37,360 --> 01:14:41,480 But black back for me is top 10 Soderbergh immediately and it's 1551 01:14:42,000 --> 01:14:45,360 it's out of that tier of sex lies videotape, Ocean's 11, 1552 01:14:45,360 --> 01:14:48,280 Ocean's 12, Erin Brockovich. That's my favorite Soderbergh 1553 01:14:48,480 --> 01:14:50,960 and his best movie. Angela Roberts best film as 1554 01:14:50,960 --> 01:14:55,040 well. Number one and sex lies 1555 01:14:55,040 --> 01:14:58,480 videotape. Those five are really special. 1556 01:14:59,080 --> 01:15:01,160 I might have already said that one maybe out of sight is the 1557 01:15:01,160 --> 01:15:03,120 other. So those 5 or 6 are really 1558 01:15:03,120 --> 01:15:05,160 special. And then I think you have a, a 1559 01:15:05,160 --> 01:15:08,880 debate with like Ocean's, you know, 12. 1560 01:15:08,880 --> 01:15:12,880 And then you have a debate with contagion. 1561 01:15:12,880 --> 01:15:13,280 You have a. Oh wait. 1562 01:15:13,560 --> 01:15:15,400 Are you talking about? I thought you were talking about 1563 01:15:15,400 --> 01:15:18,080 mid tier. No, from like 6:00 to 10:00, you 1564 01:15:18,080 --> 01:15:20,520 have that debate with like Contagion, You have that debate 1565 01:15:20,520 --> 01:15:23,680 with Ocean's 12, and I think you have the debate with like Logan 1566 01:15:23,680 --> 01:15:27,760 Lucky or for some people, like recently with Black Bag. 1567 01:15:28,200 --> 01:15:30,120 You can insert that movie into this conversation. 1568 01:15:30,400 --> 01:15:34,240 Yeah, I think, I think black bag is. 1569 01:15:34,240 --> 01:15:36,440 We did a ranking on our Ocean's 11 episode. 1570 01:15:36,440 --> 01:15:39,040 Yeah, I think black bag is a little bit like I I do agree 1571 01:15:39,040 --> 01:15:43,240 it's in his top ten, right? I think it's, I don't know. 1572 01:15:43,400 --> 01:15:45,600 That's a big deal to. Say in there with Yeah, it's in 1573 01:15:45,600 --> 01:15:47,920 there with. You're right, Like the Informant 1574 01:15:47,920 --> 01:15:51,520 and Magic Mike tier for me. Here's the interesting thing. 1575 01:15:51,520 --> 01:15:54,560 Yeah, if people were not Soderbergh fans, I don't know 1576 01:15:54,560 --> 01:15:59,200 that I would recommend presents. And if you weren't Soderbergh 1577 01:15:59,200 --> 01:16:02,400 fans, I don't know that I'd recommend Black Bag. 1578 01:16:02,400 --> 01:16:05,440 Really, Black bag feels so universal. 1579 01:16:05,440 --> 01:16:08,400 It doesn't have a. It's not strange. 1580 01:16:09,680 --> 01:16:13,240 OK, so I I would recommend, here's what I'm thinking, 1581 01:16:13,240 --> 01:16:14,360 though. I'm thinking of the life of the 1582 01:16:14,360 --> 01:16:15,600 movie. Like I would recommend people to 1583 01:16:15,600 --> 01:16:17,840 go see it in theaters right now. Like if you're listening to this 1584 01:16:17,840 --> 01:16:20,720 podcast, go see it. Obviously like you're the you're 1585 01:16:20,800 --> 01:16:23,400 someone who likes movies. But I'm saying that I would also 1586 01:16:23,400 --> 01:16:25,520 tell people who don't watch movies go see black bag in 1587 01:16:25,520 --> 01:16:27,680 theaters. But I'm thinking like long game. 1588 01:16:27,800 --> 01:16:29,880 No, OK, This is why, This is why I'm a little down on this 1589 01:16:29,880 --> 01:16:32,480 episode because and, and this has been a good conversation. 1590 01:16:32,480 --> 01:16:34,480 I'm a little bit disappointed in today's episode for me not 1591 01:16:34,480 --> 01:16:36,520 bringing enough energy. So I'm sorry to those of you who 1592 01:16:36,520 --> 01:16:37,960 love black bag. What black bag? 1593 01:16:37,960 --> 01:16:41,760 Is is this is if. We got Knives Out, but more well 1594 01:16:41,760 --> 01:16:45,280 made, cooler and hotter people like, and it's in a movie for 1595 01:16:45,760 --> 01:16:47,920 straight up adults. And I do think we're missing 1596 01:16:47,920 --> 01:16:50,880 that, right? Now it felt like when I was 1597 01:16:50,880 --> 01:16:54,000 watching the the scenes, right, everything felt like we were in 1598 01:16:54,000 --> 01:16:57,720 these like pristine rooms with people who are wearing like I, I 1599 01:16:57,720 --> 01:17:00,720 don't even know the stitch count of like their clothing. 1600 01:17:00,720 --> 01:17:04,000 It just like it felt very succession, you know, like I'm 1601 01:17:04,000 --> 01:17:10,120 in these like very wealthy places, but it didn't feel, I 1602 01:17:10,120 --> 01:17:14,760 don't know, like overstated right, and it felt like I was 1603 01:17:14,760 --> 01:17:16,200 like entering into this different world. 1604 01:17:16,560 --> 01:17:19,080 I think it's a lot of fun. I'm just saying I think that it 1605 01:17:19,080 --> 01:17:23,640 is. I think that it's mid Soderbergh 1606 01:17:23,640 --> 01:17:27,480 but I still really fun time. If we're not counting Traffic in 1607 01:17:27,480 --> 01:17:31,800 Solaris and you know, some people love, you know, some of 1608 01:17:31,800 --> 01:17:37,440 his other movies like Schizopolis or The Limey or Let 1609 01:17:37,440 --> 01:17:40,760 Them All Talk. I'm not huge fans of of I'm not 1610 01:17:40,760 --> 01:17:42,320 a huge fan of any of those in particular. 1611 01:17:42,320 --> 01:17:46,160 Maybe the Che movies. But like I would say his 10 1612 01:17:46,160 --> 01:17:51,960 agreed upon films are probably Magic Mike, the informant, maybe 1613 01:17:51,960 --> 01:17:54,760 the Limey, even though I just counted that out out of sight, 1614 01:17:54,760 --> 01:17:57,560 Logan Lucky, Sex, Lies and videotape, Ocean's 12, 1615 01:17:57,560 --> 01:18:00,240 Contagion, Ocean's 11, Erin Brockovich. 1616 01:18:00,240 --> 01:18:02,720 Those 10 are really special to a lot of people and I'm probably 1617 01:18:02,720 --> 01:18:04,840 forgetting one or two there. I know he won the Oscar for 1618 01:18:04,840 --> 01:18:06,640 Traffic. It should have gone to Erin 1619 01:18:06,640 --> 01:18:12,040 Brockovich, but I would say Black Bag deserves to be in that 1620 01:18:12,040 --> 01:18:15,160 conversation, right next to the informant and Magic Mike or 1621 01:18:15,160 --> 01:18:17,520 somewhere around. That I think that's where I put 1622 01:18:17,520 --> 01:18:20,280 it, but I think I'm like, I guess I'm higher on like the 1623 01:18:20,280 --> 01:18:22,680 informant for example. And I'll also though like. 1624 01:18:22,960 --> 01:18:25,440 We also don't like Slayers. People will probably put it 1625 01:18:25,440 --> 01:18:26,880 there. Yeah, I hated Slayers. 1626 01:18:27,360 --> 01:18:29,720 Sorry everyone. Yeah, she was like, probably. 1627 01:18:29,720 --> 01:18:30,840 Like you don't have to say you hated. 1628 01:18:30,840 --> 01:18:32,040 That's OK. We did the picture on 1629 01:18:32,040 --> 01:18:32,800 conversation. Yeah. 1630 01:18:33,320 --> 01:18:39,480 And, and, but I, I think that like also, I don't know, I, I 1631 01:18:39,480 --> 01:18:42,560 guess like I, we put it in the same place, but maybe I'm just 1632 01:18:42,560 --> 01:18:44,960 like way higher on like Logan lucky than you, right? 1633 01:18:45,120 --> 01:18:47,680 It's basically like my you're. It's basically you're Logan 1634 01:18:47,680 --> 01:18:48,880 Lucky. That's fine. 1635 01:18:49,040 --> 01:18:51,240 Logan Lucky is my Logan. Lucky don't do this to me. 1636 01:18:51,240 --> 01:18:54,360 Oh wait, wait, sorry, Traffic did not won Best picture 1637 01:18:54,360 --> 01:18:55,640 Gladiator won. That's my fault. 1638 01:18:55,640 --> 01:18:59,360 Sorry Ridley, but I think Traffic got more love than Aaron 1639 01:18:59,360 --> 01:19:00,840 Brockovich that year for whatever reason. 1640 01:19:01,160 --> 01:19:04,720 Anyways, OK, all that to say I think yes, black bag is going to 1641 01:19:04,720 --> 01:19:08,920 be remembered in that top tier conversation of the Soderbergh 1642 01:19:08,920 --> 01:19:10,480 project. And if people are wondering, 1643 01:19:10,480 --> 01:19:12,240 like, how does top 10 count as top tier? 1644 01:19:12,360 --> 01:19:14,960 He's made like almost 40 movies. Yeah. 1645 01:19:14,960 --> 01:19:18,120 And like a few TV shows. And I'm sure he's made hundreds 1646 01:19:18,120 --> 01:19:19,840 if not thousands of commercials. I have no idea. 1647 01:19:19,840 --> 01:19:21,000 It's hard to know with directors. 1648 01:19:21,680 --> 01:19:25,800 Anyways, that was the extra credits of Black Bag and 1649 01:19:25,800 --> 01:19:27,480 presents from Steven Soderbergh to. 1650 01:19:27,800 --> 01:19:31,800 Soderbergh shoes for and also shooting presents. 1651 01:19:31,880 --> 01:19:35,960 Yes, agreed, presents. My extra credit goes to the 1652 01:19:35,960 --> 01:19:38,760 camera perspective, the omniscient camera, the the POV, 1653 01:19:39,240 --> 01:19:41,160 something that Nickel Boys really relished in as a 1654 01:19:41,160 --> 01:19:44,480 storytelling device. We see that similarly here 1655 01:19:44,640 --> 01:19:48,200 presence, which is pretty cool. I also love that in terms of 1656 01:19:48,200 --> 01:19:50,240 like the family commentary and these movies being about like 1657 01:19:50,240 --> 01:19:52,400 surveillance and like the family unit and relationships. 1658 01:19:52,560 --> 01:19:55,400 The presence is the more cynical tragic take of like the ghost 1659 01:19:55,400 --> 01:19:57,960 not being evil, but the watching and exposing the cracks of a 1660 01:19:57,960 --> 01:20:01,920 family that might be inherently broken as a construct is 1661 01:20:01,920 --> 01:20:03,560 fascinating and horror in its own right. 1662 01:20:03,560 --> 01:20:06,560 Very hereditary coded. And then black bag is more like 1663 01:20:06,560 --> 01:20:09,280 the twist on that which is like Nah like this is a bad ass 1664 01:20:09,280 --> 01:20:12,520 couple who are willing to die for their partner and. 1665 01:20:12,640 --> 01:20:14,160 There's something funny about that idea. 1666 01:20:14,160 --> 01:20:16,280 There's something funny about that concept so well. 1667 01:20:16,360 --> 01:20:18,200 Because it shows its own flaws, right? 1668 01:20:18,200 --> 01:20:20,920 It's like, well, they they're just like this. 1669 01:20:21,320 --> 01:20:22,960 Yeah. How are they any different than 1670 01:20:22,960 --> 01:20:24,600 the people that they might be critical of? 1671 01:20:24,600 --> 01:20:25,680 Yeah. But just to answer your 1672 01:20:25,680 --> 01:20:26,880 question, I would I would kill for you. 1673 01:20:27,000 --> 01:20:28,040 You said at the beginning of the pod. 1674 01:20:28,040 --> 01:20:30,680 I just want to say at the end here, we'll have to delete this 1675 01:20:30,680 --> 01:20:32,120 podcast one day if things get messy. 1676 01:20:32,320 --> 01:20:33,520 You know what's funny about black bag? 1677 01:20:33,520 --> 01:20:36,040 I'm sure there's so many couples who have had that dilemma 1678 01:20:36,040 --> 01:20:40,440 conversation of what would you do if do you know and this this 1679 01:20:40,440 --> 01:20:44,880 movie bad, this movie black bag feels like it's speaking to that 1680 01:20:44,880 --> 01:20:48,480 like unspoken conversation that probably a lot of couples have 1681 01:20:49,200 --> 01:20:50,520 or maybe we're just crazy. I don't know. 1682 01:20:50,840 --> 01:20:52,160 All right, that was the extra credits. 1683 01:20:52,160 --> 01:20:56,280 We'll be back soon with Patreon episode Parasite coming about a 1684 01:20:56,280 --> 01:20:58,040 week or so or this weekend, hopefully. 1685 01:20:58,920 --> 01:21:01,920 And then the rest of this month for Patreon is going to be 7 1686 01:21:02,040 --> 01:21:05,520 Interstellar Toy Story weird month, but it's an anniversary 1687 01:21:05,520 --> 01:21:07,440 month because all those movies have had anniversaries in the 1688 01:21:07,440 --> 01:21:11,280 past few months or or the there might be coming up And then on 1689 01:21:11,280 --> 01:21:13,800 the main feed, we're probably not going to have anything for 1690 01:21:13,800 --> 01:21:15,920 quite a bit. It doesn't look like we have a 1691 01:21:16,400 --> 01:21:20,640 movie worth spending time outside of our actual day jobs 1692 01:21:20,640 --> 01:21:24,280 to discuss in length like this until Ryan Coogler sinners. 1693 01:21:24,560 --> 01:21:27,080 So I think what we're going to do is we're going to do our best 1694 01:21:27,080 --> 01:21:29,920 of 2024 ranking. We've been holding out. 1695 01:21:29,920 --> 01:21:32,960 Last year we did it March 17th. We put it in two parts was a 1696 01:21:32,960 --> 01:21:37,080 four hour episode. It is in March, something like 1697 01:21:37,080 --> 01:21:39,560 11th or 12th right now, yeah. So it looks like we're gonna be 1698 01:21:39,560 --> 01:21:41,400 releasing it at the same time probably. 1699 01:21:41,400 --> 01:21:43,560 I would assume we have a ranking out next week. 1700 01:21:43,560 --> 01:21:45,120 So that's very exciting. Yeah. 1701 01:21:45,120 --> 01:21:46,800 So that's the that's the goal for the main feed. 1702 01:21:47,040 --> 01:21:50,520 And I was just thinking, as you were reading out all our Patreon 1703 01:21:51,240 --> 01:21:53,920 movies, I was like, is the plot of every movie like, are you 1704 01:21:53,920 --> 01:21:58,120 willing to die for someone else? It does feel like a constant 1705 01:21:58,520 --> 01:22:00,320 storytelling or. But that's OK. 1706 01:22:00,320 --> 01:22:03,560 Yeah, All right. You want to tell people where 1707 01:22:03,560 --> 01:22:06,120 they can follow us? They can follow us at Black Bag. 1708 01:22:06,400 --> 01:22:08,720 Black bag. They can follow us wherever they 1709 01:22:08,720 --> 01:22:10,280 listen to podcasts. In the description of this 1710 01:22:10,280 --> 01:22:12,640 episode, you can subscribe to Patreon as a free member right 1711 01:22:12,640 --> 01:22:16,920 now and get 2 free episodes. Dune and what is the other 1712 01:22:16,920 --> 01:22:19,760 episode? It's Timothy Chalamet episode 1713 01:22:19,760 --> 01:22:21,160 and then it's a Sean Baker episode. 1714 01:22:21,480 --> 01:22:24,920 Dune Part 1 and then The Florida Project are free for free 1715 01:22:24,920 --> 01:22:28,280 members on Patreon right now. And then it's $5.00 a month to 1716 01:22:28,280 --> 01:22:30,240 subscribe for three episodes a month. 1717 01:22:30,440 --> 01:22:32,000 We have over 50 deep dives on there. 1718 01:22:32,000 --> 01:22:36,160 We just covered a four hour conversation on The Batman about 1719 01:22:36,160 --> 01:22:39,600 a week ago, which was awesome. And then if you love Soderbergh, 1720 01:22:39,600 --> 01:22:42,720 we did six hours of Soderbergh conversations on the Brockovich, 1721 01:22:42,720 --> 01:22:46,240 Ocean's 11 episodes in which we go through the entire career, 1722 01:22:46,240 --> 01:22:48,920 Steven Soderberg and Julia Roberts on, and Erin Brockovich, 1723 01:22:48,920 --> 01:22:50,840 which is one of my favorite episodes in a long time. 1724 01:22:51,080 --> 01:22:54,960 And then Ocean's 11, we try to recast the Ocean's franchise and 1725 01:22:54,960 --> 01:23:00,240 try to argue for which director should take on a Knives Out like 1726 01:23:00,880 --> 01:23:02,760 franchise with the Oceans we. Should have said this at the 1727 01:23:02,760 --> 01:23:05,240 beginning of the pod. We're so bad at advertising our 1728 01:23:05,240 --> 01:23:07,480 podcast, but today? Was a weird episode too because 1729 01:23:07,480 --> 01:23:10,080 we're tired. But yeah, but also, we were 1730 01:23:10,080 --> 01:23:12,440 recasting the Oceans movies, right? 1731 01:23:12,920 --> 01:23:15,960 And we forgot you texted me in the middle of the day, like, 1732 01:23:15,960 --> 01:23:18,600 weeks later, we forgot to add Josh O'Connor. 1733 01:23:18,880 --> 01:23:23,120 And we need to end this episode with honoring Josh O'Connor as a 1734 01:23:23,440 --> 01:23:26,800 clear, clear candidate. Love you Josh Oceans 11. 1735 01:23:27,200 --> 01:23:29,480 Thanks for listening. Like and subscribe 5 stars only. 1736 01:23:29,480 --> 01:23:29,880 Bye.