#4. The Sub-Beacon on Serenity and the Big Game
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The main event is Serenity, sitting at number fourteen at the box office, which the guys agree is a genuine curiosity rather than simply a bomb. Sonny walks through the spoiler — that Matthew McConaughey's tuna-obsessed fisherman is a video game character being rewritten by his son so he can learn to commit murder — and calls it "a fascinating disaster" and "a really interesting failure," admitting he's a total sucker for writer-director Steven Knight's on-the-nose metaphorical storytelling, the same instinct that made Locke work. JVL says he guessed the twist about a third of the way in purely from video-game grammar: the NPCs, the Zydeco ambient radio station, the drive through the cornfields, and the fetch-quest structure where you farm fish or farm Diane Lane for gas money, which he notes is "straight out of the hot coffee scene in GTA." He thinks the twist is earned but that the film still breaks its compact with the audience — "you cannot go in to see Bambi and then get hostile" — a point supported by the D-plus CinemaScore and by the fact that Sonny's screening consisted of four groups of middle-aged women there for a McConaughey–Hathaway sex noir. Vic, the group's designated normal moviegoer, went in braced for something crazy, would have given it a C or D otherwise, and reads it against Jacob's Ladder, The Truman Show, The Lego Movie, and The Sims (where you can drown someone by removing the pool ladder); Sonny wants a Final Cut-style book about how CAA packaged this cast and Aviron then buried it with no ad spend until Hathaway and McConaughey started leaking their fury to Deadline. The first half is Super Bowl fallout: unanimous agreement it was the worst big game in a decade, JVL's astonishment at his brother-in-law's two-way baby monitor ("this is God — stop touching yourself, Kent"), Sonny buying a full pound of cocktail shrimp and ranking seven-layer dip above guacamole, and Vic's food-poisoning odyssey down to a stranger floor's bathroom after Goldfarb warned him off their own.
From the show notes
#cdata-section -------------- In this latest episode, the Sub-Beacon discusses the movie Serenity —how did a movie with A-List talent like...
Full transcript
Vic00:00:00Unfortunately no one can be told what serenity is. You have to see it for yourself. Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sub-Beacon. I'm Victor Matus along with Sonny Bunch and Jonathan V. Last. I'd like to remind you the Sub-Beacon is available on iTunes and Google Play. Just look at a podcast and search for Sub-Beacon. You'll easily find us. Please subscribe, tell your friends, and leave a review. We've got many reviews coming in and I wanted to mention one. Sherm Shermy gives us five stars and calls it, quote, one of the best gout-focused
JVL00:00:50podcasts. It might be the best.
Vic00:00:55One of? One of? That means that there are other ones out there. I'm going to report that review. And the other thing is that means we might be even ranked in the science and medicine category. We'll have to check that out. So that's it. Gentlemen, how are we? JVL, how are you?
JVL00:01:13Do you ever have these moments where a piece of technology hits and you thought you understood what the state of the art was, but the new technology hits and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe they can do that now. That's amazing. Yeah. Do you ever have that?
Vic00:01:26Yes, that would be my DVD player.
JVL00:01:28I had that with a baby monitor this weekend. I went over to my brother-in-law's house to watch the bowl of super big game goodness.
Sonny00:01:37The big game. I don't think we can call it the SB here. The big game. Are we allowed to?
JVL00:01:42Have we licensed the phrase Super Bowl? So you went to go see the big game. We went to see the big game at his house and we, before the big game, did a big life step, converted the crib for his older daughter, my goddaughter, my niece, into a toddler bed. Okay, yes. And so she had her first night in her toddler bed. And as we were watching the big game after putting her to bed, which was lovely because she's so sweet. I love all my nieces equally. But anyway, he has one of these video monitors. She's the calm.com of nieces. She's the, yeah.
Vic00:02:23Did the toddler bed have like a little rail thing? A little rail thing. Sure.
JVL00:02:26Anyway, so we're downstairs and we are watching the big game and we notice on the video monitor that my favorite niece sits up and starts getting out of bed. And my brother-in-law says into the monitor, get back into bed. And I said to him, why you can't, she can't hear you. And he goes, yes, she can. It's a two way.
Vic00:02:50Have they always been? No, I don't think so. We bought our monitor. We bought our monitor for Flash.
JVL00:02:55You can't speak into that. And that was it. And we never, is this a thing that all baby monitors have now?
Sonny00:03:00No, it's definitely not all baby monitors, but some do and mine does. That's crazy. So we can, we can say, you know, get back in bed.
JVL00:03:06It reminded me of.
Sonny00:03:07Sometimes she talks back to the monitor. I don't appreciate that.
JVL00:03:10It reminded me of. We can have a conversation. My favorite scene in Real Genius, where they put the implant into Kent and Val Kilmer says, this is God. Right. Stop touching yourself, Kent. It is God, he says, right? He says that to him. That's right. And so I thought, I thought my. My sweet little favorite niece would have been like, God can see me getting out of bed.
Vic00:03:30I could have just scurried right back in. That's very funny.
JVL00:03:33If we'd had those things for us. That's right. It is.
Sonny00:03:36It's funny too, because like your, your, your brother-in-law. Yes. I, we never had to use it when she was in the crib. It wasn't until she got in the bed and she could start getting out. And so the first, I remember the first time we used it, she ran. She ran back into the bed.
JVL00:03:54She was like, somebody can see me.
Sonny00:03:55I don't understand what's happening. That's great. Raising your children in the panopticon. We really are training our children to be monitored at all times. By Lord Bezos. That's fine.
JVL00:04:04You are, these are the training wheels for Lord Bezos so that they will just be that when Alexa is always watching them and always listening to them, they will be perfectly okay with it.
Vic00:04:12You know, in Real Genius, Val Kilmer's sort of like machine gun delivery, you know, of one line is rat-a-tat, right? And there was one where he accuses, I was just, when you mentioned this, one of my favorite lines. This is what he says, or the time, he goes, or the time that we caught you in your room naked with a bowl of Jell-O. And Kent immediately replies, it was hot and I was hungry. It's a great line. Well, good for you, JVL. How are you boys?
Sonny00:04:39Sonny, did you enjoy the Super Bowl, JVL? Did you enjoy the big game? The big game?
JVL00:04:45The worst.
Sonny00:04:46The worst.
JVL00:04:47The worst game that we've seen in the big game in probably 10 years. We've had a run. Oh, my gosh. Really compelling Super Bowls when the big joke used to be that the Super Bowl is always lousy and it's because the AFC sucked and the NFC was dominant. So for like 15 years of our youth, it was just NFC dominance. The NFC championship game was always the real, the real big game. And it was a return to one of those.
Vic00:05:11The other thing is, even in past years, you would sometimes have a slow start in the first couple of quarters and then it turns into a real thriller at the end. This could have ended 6-3. This could have ended 3-0.
JVL00:05:21What bugs me is the people who know nothing about football, who, but who are, love the way the Patriots play because of the excellence. They play the game the right way.
Vic00:05:32Is this, is this, where is this on, on, uh, uh, in TV or email? I got some emails. Whose voice is that? I want to know whose voice that is.
JVL00:05:38You young people just don't understand. This was a defensive masterpiece. No, no, it wasn't. So you not, not, not all low scoring games are actually defensive masterpieces, you know? They, sometimes teams, just bad teams can't score a lot of points because they're so bad and you, the way you can tell is watching. Has somebody told you that they like this? Watching the clock management. This, this voice that you do. The pre-snap penalties, the drop passes.
Vic00:06:01We need those, we need those meters. We need those meters Sonny of the people, the parts that people, yeah. The Frank Lentz dial meters so we could know if it works or not.
JVL00:06:10It is that, that was a, that was like a week three game.
Sonny00:06:14You were talking, no, it was like, it was like, it was like a big 10 game. It was like a, it was like a college game. You know why people like the Patriots though? I, I, and I, you know why, and you were talking. This is somebody who was a Patriots fan. You know why people, you know why people like how they, how they play the game. You know why? Because of Trump, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. What do they have in common? Just going to throw that out there.
JVL00:06:39They're both really jacked, both big white dudes. You know what people like? Julian Edelman's not a big white dude. Julian Edelman's a little white.
Sonny00:06:46What are you talking about Sonny? Uh, I'm just throwing this out there. It's race, racism. That's what, that's the reason why people like the Patriots.
Vic00:06:53And that's why we cannot cheer for the Patriots. Patriots. Yeah.
Sonny00:06:56Racism.
Vic00:06:56Or for Liam Neeson, I guess, huh?
Sonny00:06:58Or for Liam Neeson. Are we going to talk about that? Well, it's movie related, Cold Pursuit. We'll talk about that next week when we talk about Cold Pursuit. When you were- Cold Pursuit's actually really good, by the way. I, I, it's shockingly good. It's not like I have a set of skills on a train.
JVL00:07:12They played the trailer for that last night at the screening I went to of this other movie. And for the first minute and a half of it, I thought to myself, I didn't even realize they were doing it.
Vic00:07:24I literally thought it was a, it was the Taken series. It's a Taken with snow plows. Save it, save it for next week. Because we got nothing else to talk about. Right, that's true. That's true. So otherwise, otherwise you're fine, Sonny? Yeah. Super Bowl was boring. The commercials were boring.
JVL00:07:42You concur, it was bad football. It was bad football.
Sonny00:07:45It was bad football. I will say that it was, it was nice watching the game at home, not at a party or whatever. I've, I've like gotten, I've gotten away from the Super Bowl party thing because now we have kids and they're too young really to take out in a, in a party setting. So now I just, I just get to like eat whatever I want. And you know what I, you know what I did this year? This year, my, my Super Bowl snack, I just got a pound of cocktail shrimp. Just a pound of cocktail shrimp. I would not. I love the idea of it.
JVL00:08:19Like Eleanor Shellstrom. Yeah, there you go.
Sonny00:08:21And, uh, but, but the problem is that's way too many. Shrimp. So I, I only like shrimp. Is that, I don't know. Well, it depends on the size. I mean, it depends on the size, but it's a pound of shrimp.
JVL00:08:31So I, I ate about, I ate about like a quarter of the bag. I have no sense of weight. Give me, give me a volume like this. Maybe this many ball of shrimp.
Sonny00:08:39It's like two soft balls worth of two soft balls of shrimp. And I, I got about, I got about a quarter of the way through thing. I was like, this is too many shrimp. You, this is way too many shrimp.
Vic00:08:49You, you had a craving and you met that. I feel that way with like dips for. Potato chips. I love making dip. And after a while you could be dipped out. Oh yeah. Like half the dip is still in my fridge. Too much dip.
Sonny00:09:01Wait, wait. Can we, can we get a quick, can we get a quick ranking of Superbowl party foods? Oh. Here's, here's, here's my top three. From bottom, from bottom to top. Now at the bottom, it would have been at the top before this. Cocktail shrimp. Number two, guacamole. Nice, good homemade guacamole. And number one, I think the king of the Superbowl. Snack foods is obviously the seven layer dip, right? Like whoever brings the seven layer dip is the king of the. Right.
Vic00:09:31And then the very bottom of the dip is like a whole layer of cream cheese. You know, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, yeah, it's cream cheese and chili and melted cheese on top of that. Believe me, my buddy, George Guattari's brother, Dean. Oh, Dean Guattari from Philly made this dip. What's your favorite snack food?
JVL00:09:49You people go to some weird parties with parties where there are cocktail shrimp.
Sonny00:09:55You've been to Super Bowl parties where there are cocktail shrimp. I'm pointing over here. That was Sonny Bunch. We're like the, the, the, you know, like the round plate. Did you get the seafood tower? No, no, no.
JVL00:10:05Did somebody bring a seafood tower from Harris Teeter?
Sonny00:10:08The round, the, like, the, like, the plate of, the plate of cocktail shrimp or whatever
JVL00:10:12costs like 10 bucks. I have never in my life. What? Been to a Super Bowl party with cocktail shrimp.
Sonny00:10:18That's, it's like the easiest thing you can bring. It's like, it's actually a lazy thing to bring.
Vic00:10:23And it's mostly, you know what? And I wouldn't. I feel that bad, Sonny. There is some cholesterol issue with shrimp, but the shrimp that you're probably having is loaded with water. A lot of water. It's just really water weight. It's fine. I love it. As the main course, though, I'm a big sub sandwich guy, but my. You want the, you want the, like, the party sub? The one that is like the length of the table.
Sonny00:10:41The one that's the length of the table and also like a foot wide. And the foot wide.
Vic00:10:44I want that. And you always see this on, you know, TV shows where they're doing a special.
JVL00:10:49It's all lettuce and bread.
Vic00:10:49A little bit. But I like the meat. I like, obviously, and you got to have mortadella, cabagool. Salami. Now, I don't even, you don't even eat prosciutto. Prosciutto, I'm with Sonny. Most prosciutto is, I think, is overrated. Prosciutto is trash. It's a trash meat.
JVL00:11:02Unless it's really, really, really good prosciutto, but most of it is not.
Sonny00:11:05Well, to be fair, all deli meats are trash meats.
Vic00:11:07I love deli meats. I could live in a deli.
Sonny00:11:09The only good deli meats are like roast beef and like. Pepperoni.
Vic00:11:14Pepperoni. Hard salami over Genoa salami. Cabagool. Mortadella.
JVL00:11:21How is your Italian voice any worse than my British voice? No, I'm just kidding.
Vic00:11:24I'm just trying to pronounce it. I'm not being, I'm not putting on an accent. I'm just saying. That's how we pronounce it. That's how we pronounce it in New Jersey.
JVL00:11:32Anybody who would use any sort of food dip or shared communal food stuff at a Super Bowl
Vic00:11:38party with people you don't know is a monster. You can't do it. You can't do it. It's fine. You're not going to be. It's fine. There's no germs. You can't function. You can't function. Okay. Well. Victorino, how are you? I'm fine. I'm recovering from a minor, minor battle. Are you still off your meds? I am. I am, but I'm recovering from a minor bout of food poisoning. So, it happened a couple days ago. I had gone out. Matt and I, Matt Continenti and I had gone to meet some friends for an editorial luncheon where they wanted the, I'm not going to say where, but a Q&A about the publication. No, no, no, no, no, no. It was in their offices. Oh, okay. But before that, we had to go and get lunch and then bring it up, right? And so they said, you know, get whatever you want. And it happened to be a Jack's Fresh Deli, which I know your wife, JVL, she's aware. She knows those, right? She's talking. We've talked about this, but I can't remember the context anymore. I don't think so. About Jack's Fresh Deli.
JVL00:12:28There used to be a Jack's Fresh across from the old place.
Vic00:12:30Yes, yes. So, anyway, I went to get a burger, you know, and fries, just a small burger with bacon and lettuce, tomato, because it's RG, reduced gluttony, got lettuce, got the vegetables in there. Wait, sorry, sorry.
Sonny00:12:43So, you added things to the sandwich to reduce the gluttony?
Vic00:12:48I just said everything on it. I forget. You know, they said everything and I said yes. So, anyway, that was everything. I go out there. But you said everything's salty. Too many. It is, it is. And it was shredded lettuce is good for you and tomato. And then, like, a couple hours later, so I'm in the gym and then I'm like, why is it so hard for me to get through 30, you know, the 30-minute running? And I'm like, I'm sweating bullets here. And finally, I go, I don't feel so well. And then I go over to start trying to lift weights. I'm like, oh, no, this could end badly. You know, like trying to bench. Right. Thank you for that noise.
Sonny00:13:23Just a fire hose. Let's not push it, shall we say. Just a fire hose off the bench splashing against the mirror.
JVL00:13:35Always wipe down the equipment after you use it, boys.
Vic00:13:38This is going to need more than a towel. I might have to use those wet wipes. They have the wet wipes. I use a spray because the sweat and other things and other things. But the bench is dark. You can't tell. The bench is dark. You wear brown workout shorts, right? Nobody noticed anything. No, no. It was brown workout. They were brown now. It's a good thing. They're brown now.
Sonny00:13:58It's a good thing they're remodeling that.
Vic00:14:00Yeah, because they're going to have to burn the whole thing down. After this thing, believe me, they need the new gym. So I said, I got to make an emergency stop here because I normally don't do this. As you know, I'm not one of these people. And I said, I got to go up. So I had to go. I went back up to our office. It was after hours. I go, good. Nobody's going to be up there. I can use it. I walk in. I walk in and then Goldfarb comes right out of the stall and he just says, don't come in here. It's like somebody died. And he goes, it's not even me. He says, it's not even me. He goes, I don't know. It's somebody else has this terrible. So I said, OK, I can't even breathe now. And I'm having the cold sweats. I'm like, I got to have an accident. So I said, where should I go? He says, go downstairs. He says, do you guys have Xanadu here? Well, he says downstairs. One floor below us, he says, is like the executive lounge at Xanadu. It's great. I said, when? He goes, any time. It's always empty. So I go in there. Sure enough, it's empty and dim. So you could tell nobody has been there in a while. I go there. I feel much better. Sure enough, I'm walking out. A guy is walking in. And I make eye contact. He sees me. I'm all sweating from my workout, too. And I'm pressing that elevator button. I got to get out of here before he opens the door. Before you know it, it's going to happen. I'm sure he's looking for me now.
Sonny00:15:10I wonder if he works on that floor, if he's another tourist. Oh, wait. That's happened here. I saw a guy on our floor once, Sonny. He does not work here. We know everyone who works on this floor, because we're the only people on this floor. So when I see some. And when I see a stranger coming out of there who's not a delivery man. Look, if the FedEx guy's got to go, whatever.
JVL00:15:28Totally cool.
Sonny00:15:28That's fine. But when I see a stranger coming out of that bathroom. What are you saying? I don't say anything. If you see something, say something. I don't say anything. But all I can think is, I hate you. I hate you so much.
Vic00:15:39I hate you more than. Right. No, no. I saw another Asian man walk. I said, I'm the only Asian man on this floor. And I said, you don't work here. And I knew he wasn't there to pee. So, you know, that was good. I didn't come up to destroy your bathroom. So, it was retaliation what you did.
JVL00:15:56So, we have war between the 25th and 26th. So, wait, wait, wait.
Sonny00:15:59So, you did kind of Pearl Harbor, their floor. Oh, my gosh.
Vic00:16:03It was like the bombing of Dresden. It was incendiary.
JVL00:16:11Sorry, JVL. This is a terrible discussion for the show.
Vic00:16:14And really, we don't do scatology on Sub-Beacon. We apologize to our reader sensibility. Twice a year, Topps. At Topps.
Sonny00:16:22You shouldn't.
Vic00:16:23You shouldn't.
Sonny00:16:23It's not that kind of a show. Anybody who's driven off the road, we apologize.
Vic00:16:26Yes, I'm sorry. So, anyway, yes, I did, but I felt much better and continued my workout. And then the next day was fine and watched. I thought it was utterly boring, the Super Bowl, but did watch it to the end. And then the Super Bowl commercials. You didn't like any of the commercials or some of the commercials or what?
Sonny00:16:47The only commercial that I watched and thought that was clever was the one in the elevator. With Jason Bateman. With Jason Bateman, where he's going to the, I guess he's going to a Hyundai store. I thought that was actually kind of clever. It's like, look at all of these terrible things and we're going to take you someplace nicer. But all of the other ads were kind of terrible. The Pepsi ad is one of the worst ads I've ever seen. People got so excited about that ad.
Vic00:17:12I don't understand.
Sonny00:17:12Just from a theory of advertising perspective, Pepsi has waved the white flag in the soda wars. They've conceded. They've conceded. They've conceded that everyone's first option is Coke and they've also conceded that everyone hates the second option because Pepsi is never okay. Pepsi is never okay.
Vic00:17:33And also that they-
Sonny00:17:34If people wanted Pepsi, they would ask for Pepsi.
Vic00:17:36They're also admitting that it's a common phrase, is Pepsi okay? Right. JVL's raising his hand. JVL likes Pepsi. Of course he does. Of course he does. Some people.
JVL00:17:46I prefer, I mean, for no car purposes, I don't ever drink these things, but when I was carving, of the two real sugar options, Mexican Coke, which is cane sugar, or real Pepsi, which is beet sugar, weirdly enough, I prefer real Pepsi. I prefer the beet sugar, which you would not expect.
Vic00:18:08Real versus real, I'll get back to you on that. And you know, either one, when they're real, I don't drink as much.
Sonny00:18:14I can't drink either of them because they- They're very rich. They make my teeth hurt. Like, real sodas make my teeth hurt. I just, they, like, I feel like I'm dirty. There's like a-
Vic00:18:22And you have perfect teeth, Sonny, as we know.
JVL00:18:24And you don't feel like that with the corn syrup fructose slime sodas?
Sonny00:18:29I only drink diet sodas. I only drink, I mean, I just, I have, I have, like, I have seven pounds of cancer in my stomach somewhere from all the saccharin that I've consumed over the years, but I'd rather have that than, like, the gross feeling on my teeth.
Vic00:18:46Who wouldn't? I like, I like the NFL 100 commercial. It was good, wasn't it? Peter Berg. Yeah. Peter Berg. And I like the unexpected Bud Light Game of Thrones commercial because everyone hates those people from Bud Light and Dilly Dilly and to see the guy get the mountain treatment. So that was very exciting. If you watch Game of Thrones when the mountain appears, I thought that was very exciting.
Sonny00:19:06So I actually missed this ad. Could you explain it to me?
Vic00:19:09Well, it starts off with the music. It's Bud Light, so it's not like pretending to be. So Bud Light agreed to be made fun of in this commercial where it starts off and it's very Dilly Dilly. And then they're having this joust and then, you know, the quips back and forth and then the Bud. Light Knight is there in blue going against somebody we can't see. And then he gets totally taken down in the joust. And then you see the figure walk over and it's the mountain from Game of Thrones, Sir Gregor Clegane. And then he proceeds to crush his skull doing what he did in Game of Thrones. Family entertainment. Yes. And then the dragon appears and then burns everybody up in the in the crowd. So.
Sonny00:19:44So does that mean no more terrible Bud Night ad?
Vic00:19:47No, because they came after that. And I was expecting more Game of Thrones and it wasn't. So it was just one little.
JVL00:19:51So Dilly. Dilly was a victim of its own success like the was up. Yeah. Right. Yeah, that's right. Will it ever come back and be sort of retro? Hey, remember when we did Dilly Dilly? Yes.
Sonny00:20:01Yeah. Well, how long?
Vic00:20:02The kids will do it. Not us.
Sonny00:20:04The people who are like 12 now.
Vic00:20:06As you were saying, did you say this JVL in your son's class? The kids are saying Dilly Dilly. Yeah. Our little hippie Montessori school on the playground.
JVL00:20:13They'd be like, Dilly Dilly. It travels around.
Vic00:20:15They'll be using it. What did you think of the Avengers trailer? Commercial, really. I liked it. Yeah. Okay. Me too. Sonny. It's fine. Okay. Good.
JVL00:20:28I liked it.
Vic00:20:29No, I like it because it doesn't give you too much.
Sonny00:20:32Yeah. I will say that the sense that I get from the next Avengers film is that it will be much more of an actual film with beginning, middle, and end and an actual story that they're trying to tell as opposed to a summation of 10 years of 20 movies. May I just say one thing, though? Please.
JVL00:20:51The thing which has stuck with me most since the Super Bowl was the abbreviated trailer for Us. Yes. And you could not pay me enough to go to that thing.
Vic00:21:07In the sense that it's bad or scary for you? Too scary or too bad? It looks terrifying.
JVL00:21:11The creepiest, most terrifying movie ever made. Scary kids versus kids. And who would have thought that this super funny guy, Jordan Peele, would turn out to be like the Wes Craven of hipster horror or something like that?
Sonny00:21:26The trailer for Us, which I've seen now four or five times in theaters, is legitimately terrifying. Legitimately freaky and scary in a way that Get Out wasn't exactly. Get Out was like kind of clever horror. I know it. It was more intellectual horror. But this movie is going to make all of the money. This movie looks, it's the scariest looking trailer I've seen in a long time. But you know what else has? This is actually a really good and kind of creepy and terrifying trailer. Have you guys seen the trailer for Pet Sematary? Yes. Yes. Oh, and I am not seeing that movie.
Vic00:21:58Definitely not.
JVL00:21:59Definitely not.
Vic00:22:00Hard pass. Because we know what happens. Okay. Question. Is Captain Marvel supposed to be in the Avengers Endgame then?
JVL00:22:10Yeah, will have to be.
Vic00:22:11Right, because she. Well, at the end of Avengers. That's right. It contacts her.
JVL00:22:15But it wouldn't surprise me if she's the big save. Somehow doing something. She's the key.
Vic00:22:20Right, because prior. Prior to that will be her movie. Yes. March. Coming up. It's like a superhero overload. Speaking of which, over the weekend, Glass continued its rule at the box office with nine and a half million dollars, followed by The Upside with 8.8 million and Miss Bala in third place. I'm sorry. With 6.7 million. Moy Malo, Miss Bala. Excuse me. Yes.
JVL00:22:42You used overload as your transition, but you didn't want to use that. Which one? You didn't want to do overload with superheroes.
Vic00:22:49You didn't want to do that with the food poisoning. Because that is a missed opportunity. Well, yeah. It's happening. This is all on the fly. Anyway, a very weak weekend. I can't imagine I have to do another Glass transition next week, right? It's over. Or no.
Sonny00:23:01No, you won't. Next week's going to be... What's this weekend? This weekend. Oh, Cold Pursuit. Lego?
Vic00:23:07Lego or no?
Sonny00:23:08Or yeah, maybe the Lego movie's coming out. Yeah, Lego. Okay. Which I still haven't seen. We don't have to see that, do we? Do we? No, unless our listeners are kids. You're Mr. Lego. You are. You're Mr. Leppin. It's really the Leppin movie. It's going to be the big... If I torrent it, will it be the Leppin movie? There you go.
Vic00:23:26I saw the trailer. I'm not getting any sense of what it is, though.
Sonny00:23:31That's my thing. It's just Legos. I hate all these Lego movies. I've actually... I've gone from being kind of okay with the first Lego movie to hating all of them now. I hate all of them.
Vic00:23:40The Star Wars ones, I think, are pretty cute.
Sonny00:23:43Can I just... The one on TV. On TV.
JVL00:23:46One box office note?
Sonny00:23:47Yes. Please. Can we just note the success of... They Shall Not Grow Old, which is the World War I documentary directed by Peter Jackson with the kind of restored, colorized World War I footage. I've seen it. It's very good. And everyone should go see it. I can't imagine we'll do an episode on it. But it was number 10 this week, which is pretty good for a documentary about World War I. It made $2.5 million or so. And it has grossed almost $11 million now. I think it's actually grossed past $11 million now, which means that it could very well outgross Mortal Engines, the $100 million disaster produced by Peter Jackson, which is kind of amazing if you think about it.
Vic00:24:39What they should do is have, you know, the World War I battlefields on machines that rove through the countryside battling each other. You should have Hugo Weaving narrating. Yes, that would work. And then you could combine both.
Sonny00:24:53But this is what your thing, Sonny, is produced by is such a... Produced by is such a nonsense. There are very few instances where you will get somebody excited by telling them that somebody has produced a film. Even better, from the producers of it. Yeah, from the producers of it. From the studio that brought you. Like, no. The studio. From the country. People don't care about directors. Really. Like, if you asked the average American to name ten directors, I would be surprised if they could do it. Ten current working directors.
JVL00:25:30I'd be surprised if they could name four.
Sonny00:25:32I would be... I mean, I don't know. You know. But I don't think it's like a huge selling point. But it's at least kind of a selling point. And it at least makes sense. Like, the director puts his stamp on the film and everyone kind of knows what to expect from a Peter Jackson movie, more or less. Bloat. But when you get down to, like, from the producers of, or from the team that brought you, or from the studio that brought you, it is just... It's nothing. It means nothing. And it means nothing to the people who are going to see movies, obviously. Because the big selling point of this movie was from Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings. Oh, then it's going to be just like it.
JVL00:26:13Do you know who that's for, though? That's for the talent. That is literally... I'm going to stroke the talent to make them feel loved, because it's not going to hurt you with anybody, right? Nobody in the audience is going to say, I won't see that, because it's from the producers of. But the producer of... Why would the talent care? Because the talent's already made the movie. Have you ever met any of the talent? Well, okay. Because they all care. As one of them once said to me, it's not about the money. It's about the love.
Vic00:26:44I'd love to know who said that. The money must be nice. Okay, but we're not actually talking about any of the movies at the top of the box office. No.
Sonny00:26:51We have to go now all the way down to...
Vic00:26:53All the way down to where, Sonny? 14.
JVL00:26:55Okay, not bad. I thought it was lower. Is that good? It's bad.
Sonny00:26:59We are talking about a movie called Serenity. Serenity, not the film sequel to the show Firefly. Different Serenity. No, yes.
Vic00:27:10And if you watched the trailer for Serenity, I can imagine the kind of movie you'd be going to expect, right? And in fact, everybody's talking about Serenity, not just... Not just because it's so amazing, but because of this weird ending, Sonny.
Sonny00:27:23Vic, could you, as the normal person filmgoer of our group... Mr. CinemaScore, yes.
JVL00:27:29Wait, who saw this? I saw it. I saw it.
Sonny00:27:33Yeah, I saw it too.
JVL00:27:33Did anyone else see it? Creates havoc.
Vic00:27:37No, she didn't. No. That was the only line. He had one sentence. And that's the only sentence you want to hear, you know? A roll of the dice, you know, with Anne Hathaway, you know, roll of the dice. Roll of the dice. I don't know. Oh, from Havoc. Was it two or one dice? I hope it was just one.
Sonny00:27:56It was just one. Just one. Right, right. From one to six. What was her name? Who was the other girl? She rolled a three.
Vic00:28:02She rolled a three. Does that mean three including me or three and me? That was the big question. Okay. See Havoc to understand what that was all about. It also has a cat, woman. Right, of course. Thank you. I forgot about that.
Sonny00:28:17Sonny, you were saying? As the normal cinema goer of... Of this group, Vic, could you explain to me the movie you were expecting from watching the trailers? Okay.
JVL00:28:28We should set this up because I think there's a large probability that like two-thirds of our listeners don't even know what we're talking about.
Vic00:28:35This is why I want him to explain the trailer. There is a guy, Matthew McConaughey, who is working somewhere I think in the Keys, the Florida Keys, and doing what he does, takes people out on boats, and then the mysterious, amazing, gorgeous Anne Hathaway appears. Sultry. Sultry. Anne Hathaway appears and says, I want you to take my husband, who is abusive apparently. Played by Jason Clarke. He was everywhere these days, out on a boat, and it's kind of a corny line. She delivers it cornyly. It didn't work for me, which is, and drop him in the water. Feed him to the sharks or something like that, and I'll give you $10 million. Okay. So it's a moral dilemma movie.
Sonny00:29:18Right. It's like a noir. It's like a noir. It's like a noir-ish type.
Vic00:29:22And there are other people. Diane Lane's in the movie. So, you know, this could be really interesting. Like a sexy, sultry noir. It's really wild things meets L.A. Confidential or something like that. Right. There's something right.
JVL00:29:36It's very much actually, the trailer feels a lot like Wild Things.
Vic00:29:40Yeah. Right. There's a sexiness about it. There's crime and murder. Sex and murder. What can go wrong? So, but it's not quite that. Sonny, you want to give a? Sort of a review of it?
Sonny00:29:53All right. So, we're going to get into spoilers here. So, if you're one of the people who wants to go see Serenity, if you're one of the ten people left in the country who wants to go see Serenity, you should tune out now. Serenity stars Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in a re-teaming of the actors who brought you Interstellar, but we're not in the stars this time. We're on the ground in an island. Where Matthew McConaughey has fled. He's fled society. He's just a fisherman. He's going for the big tuna. He wants to catch the big tuna, you know. He's called this tuna Justice. He wants to catch Justice. But he can't. He can never catch Justice. It always eludes him. And into this mix walks Anne Hathaway, who is his ex-wife. She offers him $10 million to kill her abusive husband. Who's played by Jason Clarke. And about midway through this movie, you discover that none of this is actually real. That Matthew McConaughey is a video game creation of his son who is trying to bring him back to life so he can, so Matthew McConaughey can teach the son how to commit murder. This is literally, so this is literally the point of the film is that it is about a boy who is using video games to rewire his morals. And you can actually, you actually see several shots of him, you know, coding and programming on the computer to try and make, change the video game in a way that will allow the main character, again played by Matthew McConaughey, to kill people. And it's a fascinating disaster. The whole thing, the whole thing is just a really interesting failure, I think. The movie itself is, I'm going to be honest, from a pure like filmmaking point of view, I think it's an extremely well done picture. The twist is teased in ways that are both clever and a little bit obvious if you know what to look for. There's this one shot, for instance, when Matthew McConaughey is walking on a cliff and the perspective over his shoulder like keeps switching kind of randomly, which is a thing that anyone who has played a first person shooter will recognize, the weird camera shifts that you are not quite in control of. Acting is of course very good, Matthew McConaughey is an Oscar winning actor, Anne Hathaway is an Oscar winning actress, Jace Clark is a very talented master of skullduggery, Diane Lane is in this film, she has an Academy Award nomination, Jaimon Hunsu is in this film, he has an Academy Award nomination, like there's an enormous amount of talent in this film that is frankly bizarre, that is frankly weird and bizarre and the sort of thing that I don't, I can't really see how you would ever be able to sell to the sort of audience that is going to go to a Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway sexy noir, right? Like so when I went to see this movie, the audience I saw it with, there were four other groups of people, all of these groups were middle-aged women who were there to see the Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey sex noir. Well they got a lot of Matthew McConaughey acts. And I wanted to, and I wanted to. It's true. And I wanted to, I just, I wish I could have talked to them afterwards to ask them what they made of the film that they had just seen because it is so weird and strange and it has this out of left field twist that nothing is real, that it's like the matrix, you know, I like, I, I want, I wanted to ask them what they made of all of this. You could have, you could have just talked to the people. Why would I talk to people? Why would I ever talk to people? I mean if you really wanted to talk to people. The Sonny Bunch dilemma. No, come on, come on.
Vic00:33:49I want to know but I can't ask.
Sonny00:33:50I want, I want to know but I can't ask. I want to know but I don't want to, I don't actually want to know. So the, but, but I, so here's, here's what I, what I liked about this movie. I liked the fact that it is an earnest, it is earnest to the point of campiness in its treatment of morality and the ways in which we confront difficult situations because again this movie is literally about a kid who wants to stop a, a man from beating his mother, killing his mother, he's worried that this man is going to kill his mother and so he is trying to teach himself how to violate his own moral code against, it's like the most hardwired moral code in all of us, thou shall not kill, it's like that's rule number one as a social animal, we don't kill people, that's like what we do and he is trying, he's It's not, not the actual rule number one though, is it? Well, I, I'm sorry, I'm not, I'm not going by the Ten Commandments, alright? Five? Is there a... Is it number five? I think so. There's, there's actually a golden calf on the, the island, he has to melt down first. Please, please go ahead Sonny. Anyway, but like, this is like rule number one as a social animal, you don't commit murder, it's like the worst thing you can do and he is trying to teach himself how to do that and again, the movie treats this in such a literal fashion that it's kind of comical and you, you kind of think that it's a joke but the, the final shot of the film is Matthew McConaughey and his son reunited. They're running on the island and they grab each other and they hug and they're spinning around. It is pure camp. It is like pure, earnest, total camp. Ernest goes to camp. Unintentional camp. It's the purest form of camp. So the, the, but here's, here's what I like about it, again, is that this director Stephen Knight has kind of made a career of making movies that are sort of like this. Did you guys see Locke? No, we, we talked about this, I have to... So Locke is, Locke is a fantastic movie. It's just Tom Hardy in a car. He's driving. And he's driving to the birth of his bastard son. And he knows that doing this will cost him his job. He's leaving a construction site where he's going to engage in the biggest concrete pour in European history. He's gotta, he's gotta get away from that. And he knows it will probably cost him his family. He's on the phone throughout the car ride with his wife trying to, you know, talk her into, you know, accepting this thing that he has done. But he does it because he knows that this child, this, you know, this blank slate deserves to have a father. And his life, he, uh, he grew up without his father. He wanted to, he needs, he, he needs to redeem, uh, himself and he needs to, you know, not make the mistakes that his father made before him. But again, the, the central metaphor of the, of the film is this concrete pour. And it's all about how the concrete has to be good. And if there, if there are flaws in the concrete, if there are flaws in the foundation, cracks will appear and everything will come crashing down just like happened to Ivan Locke in this movie. So it's like, again, it's like, it's like super. You're on the nose, uh, metaphorical storytelling to be born in the darkness as I was. Exactly. Exactly. So I, I, I, I am a total sucker for this sort of thing. And this is a total sucker for this.
Vic00:37:05And it's a recurring theme for the director. Then this fathers and sons is what you're saying. Yes. It happened twice. Uh, what was your audience like JVL? There were three people. Okay. Yeah. Similar. Including me. Okay. I, I felt like in mine, that's why they were, they were dudes. And I think I, when I could, you know, when, when it's bright, I could see the reaction of their faces and it was comical. I think they were in on it. I mean, I, did you know the specific ending? This is, I didn't know the specific.
JVL00:37:32Did you guys go in cold? I went in totally cold. Haven't seen nothing but the trailer. I read nothing.
Sonny00:37:37I went in, I went in totally cold knowing nothing, uh, except that there was going to be a, there's like a crazy twist. I did not even know that.
Vic00:37:44I was bracing for wacky ending. So I assume, including that this could be completely virtual, surreal, something crazy.
Sonny00:37:50I gotta say.
JVL00:37:50I, I found myself wondering about a third of the way through because of the, if, if you are familiar with video game language, there's a lot of stuff in it. Like the drive from his house to the town, which is through cornfields, which feels a lot there. The, like the very first of these sandbox games was a Dreamcast game, the name of which I'm now forgetting. Um, it sounded like Tekken. It was Japanese, but it wasn't Tekken. Tekken was a 3d fighting game. The, the radio. Yes. So the radio station, which has the same type of Zydeco background music and they say that sounds like the kind of radio station you hear as ambient noise in a video game. Uh, the, the NPCs, like the old guy sitting in the, everything about it felt. And so I, I feel like the twist in its own weird way was earned. Yes. Uh, the, it felt like mini games and missions find the cat, uh, you have to get, you have to trade your stuff. You need, you can't go out on the boat unless you have money, you have gas, you need money to buy gas. And so you either have to go and farm some fish or you've got to go farm the gigolo, you know, like having sex with Diane Lane to make money to get the, to go out and hunt the fish.
Vic00:39:06That's straight out of the hot coffee scene in GTA.
JVL00:39:09It is kind of. And, and so when the, when the switch came, I was basically prepared for it. I just kept wondering. How this movie got made. Yes. Yeah. That's a mystery. This feels like a very, and I actually think this movie is destined to be a tiny cult classic where 14 year olds who are going to see this when it comes out on streaming, like 14 year old Senate budding, Cineasts, the 14 year old Sonny Bunch would have his mind blown by this. Right. And it's going to say, but you can look, you could actually examine it as if it is limbo, right? It's not even video game where this is where the mind goes after he dies and arrives at home. Back before he moves on to the next thing. And, and truth is the son is actually God who is the one who can change the rules and you're merged and brought together. That's what the definition of heaven is, is to be with God, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Uh, and so you can read it on multiple levels, but the question of how you put a bunch of movie stars in a big stars, enormous talent, enormous talent in a movie that is essentially like a grad student film student project where you can't prepare the audience at all. It is on the one hand, you want audiences to go into movies called, this is a thing I have with John Puthart. It's like John, John believes he, you should really, the, the pure way to see a movie is to go in cold. I am very pro spoiler. I find that knowing about a movie does not affect me one way or another when I go into it. Uh, but on the one, even that, even John's like going in cold, a movie is making certain bargains with you. Even if you're the coldest of cold before you step into the theater, you're cannot go in to see Bambi and then get hostile, right? I mean, like people, there are certain compacts that you can't break with the audience and certain things that are not even swerves or twists. If you don't prepare the audience for in some way prior to being in, it doesn't matter if you earn the twist because they're not, they are not in the movie they wanted to see or thought they had any reasonable expectation of seeing.
Sonny00:41:14Well, there's a reason this movie got a D plus from cinema score.
JVL00:41:17I was, I can't believe that got even that high. Yeah.
Sonny00:41:19Well, because I think. I think there, I think you are right that there is a subset of people who are going to love this movie. Oh, yeah. Who are going to absolutely adore it and, and think it, and those people all gave it A's, which brings up the, the, again, middle-aged woman there to see the sex noir and they're like, uh, F, what is this nonsense? Right. Right. I, Vic, what did you, what did you make of all this?
Vic00:41:45I was trying to figure out. What would you have given it?
Sonny00:41:47If you're talking to the cinema score.
JVL00:41:49A plus.
Vic00:41:49No, no, no.
JVL00:41:50No, just A plus plus. No, seriously, though, you are our man on the street. I would like to know, what would you. Like a C. Were you satisfied? No. Were you bothered? It's, it's, I'm trying to imagine. How did you feel?
Vic00:42:04Well, I was bracing for a bad, a crazy bad ending. And so, you know, it was not as much of a surprise when it actually happened. I think if I went in thinking it was going to be this sort of, uh, you know, murder, uh, sex, you know, murder for hire kind of a movie and it, and I had no idea this was happening. I would probably give it a C or a D. I'd be like, well, you know, like, you know, what is this? Um, but throughout, I was always, I was always trying to figure out what's up with the movie because it didn't seem right at the moment where he wakes up from the table and there's water on the table. And then the kid who we don't know, uh, Patrick, the son has water as well. And, and I'm like, okay, so there's something cosmic going on here. My first thought was like Jacob's ladder. He died in Iraq and he's finding his way to until, you know, he goes up. And then the second part was like. Well, it's kind of like part Truman show too, you know, where there's people controlling and then ultimately then it reminded me of the Lego movie because there was a creator, you know, and, but it's like, they became aware it's it's. And the other thing is, you know, I mean, it's very much like, like the Sims, you know, I mean the Sims, it's like a movie where the Sims become aware if you play the video game Sims and you're not supposed to commit murder or kill people or characters on the Sims, but you can theoretically do it, the swimming pool. Yeah. The swimming pool, you take out the ladder, you know, the, the person or whoever will die. Will drown and, and, and they have a whole thing for that. And, and so it's sort of like the other characters saying, we don't want to go that way, we don't want it to be that kind of a game. So that was interesting, I guess.
Sonny00:43:31I also liked, I liked, again, I'm a, I'm a total sucker for this sort of stuff. I like the little touches, like him not being able to run the red light. Like he's trying to run. So there are still rules. There are still codes, there are still rules and codes and, and the, the character who walks around saying I am the rules, like that guy is like, again, kind of unintentionally hilarious, but also, uh, an interesting representation of like the conflict within, uh, within, within the kid's mind and within the, the mind of the characters.
Vic00:44:04So we're assuming that the kid did not create the game, but he bought a game and is breaking into the code to change the game that he purchased. Or he, all from scratch. I thought he created the game. He created it from scratch. All right.
Sonny00:44:12Cause he's like, he's like some sort of genius autist or something.
JVL00:44:15I would say, I even thought that the movie earned the tension. Towards the end about whether the kid wanted him to break the rules or not. Right. I mean, cause the central, the central, but I mean, whether you should or not, I mean, whether the, the character of the kid wanted him to, because there's that sort of ingenious way in which the game is rebelling to try to convince him to not do it and you're thinking crap. So which does the kid want him to break it or does the kid really secretly not want him to break it to keep him from doing something? Terrible.
Sonny00:44:51Well, uh, and they, and they, they, they come up with a workaround, right? That Matthew McConaughey does not actually kill Jason Clark. Justice kills him. Yes. Correct. Fish does the fish name justice. Yes. A tune, a friend of mine joked on DMS that like back in the, the WPA days, uh, Hollywood studio would have been paid by the government to give out of work writers, something like a fish named justice to work on.
JVL00:45:15But like it is, it is again, I, I, I'm like, I, I, I don't.
Sonny00:45:20I don't love this movie, but I love the audacious earnestness of it all. I think it's, I just think it's, it's fascinating.
Vic00:45:26I'm, I'm, I'm amazed as you mentioned earlier that this stellar cast, you know, read the script and said, yes, I want to do this, you know, but maybe they were only allowed to read half the script, you know?
Sonny00:45:35So this is, this is, uh, something that I would like to talk to somebody who actually knows something about Hollywood, about maybe our, our friend Richard. Hi Richard.
JVL00:45:42Yes. But this, this, so this was a, this was packaged together by CAA.
Sonny00:45:47Hathaway and McConaughey both work for creative artists. Uh, and it was, it was sold to a studio. I'm sorry, CAA works for them. Well, you know, in theory, CAA packages this deal with McConaughey and Hathaway and the script. I don't think night is repped by them, but like, uh, CAA puts this together, puts together all this talent, sells it as a package to a studio that goes under Averon, picks it up, uh, with the agreement that they will do a, they will do an ad spend that will, that will, that will be commensurate to a film that will be on. You know, 2,500 to 3,000 screens, uh, and then just backs out of that, just does not advertise it anywhere and delays it for a year, delays it, pushes it back six months. It was supposed to, it was supposed to be kind of an Oscar season type movie, uh, pushes it back six months, does no advertising for it, uh, to the point that the stars and their, their agents are, are leaking things to deadline about how angry, uh, Anne Hathaway and, and Matthew McConaughey are about this. How furious they are that they are being sandbagged by this, this distributor, uh, Averon. And it is, it's a fascinating, it's a fascinating glimpse into what, how everything can go totally wrong with this kind of pre-packaged entertainment complex. I would, I, I, again, I would, I think there's, there's a whole book, there's a Final Cut style book to be written about this movie. Um, and I would, I would gladly read it. Uh, but I, uh, somebody would have to write it and who's going to want to write, you know.
JVL00:47:18Maybe we could just get an oral history. And it was access.
Sonny00:47:22Could somebody over at The Ringer do that for us? If anyone at The Ringer listens to The Sub-Beacon. That'd be really good.
JVL00:47:27Uh, yeah, no, you know, funny, I walked out of the movie thinking to myself, that is the weirdest damn movie I've ever, like, what, what the hell was that?
Vic00:47:34Weirdest ending ever, though, right?
JVL00:47:36Over, over, no, just everything about it was weird. Like, but over time, again, I, it's an interesting film. I can't hate it. Like, it's, I wouldn't see it again, but I'm not unhappy I went to see it. And I'm happy that somebody tried to make a movie like that. Like, everything, I guess, it really is an interesting failure. And again, had we, if we were legit adolescents instead of only overgrown adolescents. We'd be all over this, you think? I think this would be, like, a seminal cinematic experience for us.
Vic00:48:03Don't you think? Totally, totally. Havoc would also be seminal for me, too. Different, different way. So does, so does Meek. You know what I thought of was the, also, in terms of endings, crazy endings, right? You know, it's like, what other movies or TV shows have crazy endings? It's on, it's on a podcast. It's on par with, I think, the ending of St. Elsewhere. Do you remember the ending of St. Elsewhere? Yeah, it's all, like, in the crazy person's mind. It was an autistic kid who was... Again, autistic kid. Yeah, so he, and he's looking at the snow globe. In the end, the doctor is actually a construction worker and the whole thing. You can see the clips on YouTube. But a lot of people, I think, at the time were outraged that, you know, they just spent six seasons with these people. Well, that was unearned, though. I mean, as I said, this was not just a, like, hey, he was dreaming. No, no, no.
JVL00:48:45This was a very earned twist in its own way. I'd say if you're a middle-aged woman who's never spent any time in video games, it would not be earned to you at all. This is not. You would just look at it and go, what the hell just happened here?
Vic00:48:57That's right. That's right.
JVL00:48:58Because then the only tip-off you get is the kid's eyes in the very beginning.
Sonny00:49:02The kid's eyes at the very beginning. Yes, the beginning. The bit where he goes under the water and you can kind of see the code. There's, like, yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Vic00:49:10And there was a lot, there was also a lot of Matthew McConaughey, like, nudity in the water thing. And I just wasn't, you know, all of a sudden I thought it was turning into one of his other ads for, what is it? What did he used to do? Dolce & Gabbana? Lincoln, too. But he used to do Dolce & Gabbana. Like, oh, okay, we're going there now. But, you know. But you can't have, when you see Matthew McConaughey, sometimes you can't tell if it's a Lincoln ad or if it's a movie because he has to say. And the scream. What did you make of the scream? He does the Matthew McConaughey scream. Well, not that. Besides, that's great, too. But it was kind of weird. What scream? You know, he's getting frustrated and he's in the boat and he's just screaming. Thank you, Sonny.
JVL00:49:47It's kind of weird. Is the McConaissance over?
Sonny00:49:50I think it's been over for a couple of years now. Yeah.
JVL00:49:52What ended it? Where do we draw the line at the end of the McConaissance period?
Vic00:49:57This movie.
Sonny00:49:58No, there was, he was in a couple of. Give me a sec. I'll effort this.
Vic00:50:04In terms of endings that leave you confused, I was thinking going back. The Dark Tower. Oh, yeah. That's right.
Sonny00:50:12I mean, that is, I would say, the definite end. I mean, he was in, so Interstellar is like, kind of the peak of McConaissance. Because that's also the year True Detective came out, I think, right? Was that 2014?
JVL00:50:25I thought True Detective predated it.
Sonny00:50:28But then he had a couple of good movies, Cubo and the Two Strings, but then the Dark Tower was a disaster.
Vic00:50:37I was going to say, best surprise ending for me was probably No Way Out, still. I've mentioned that movie a million times on this show with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman. Terrific ending. Ending I really didn't like at the time, in the theater, with a twist ending, was Time Bandits.
JVL00:50:53I know our listener, Brian McFaughton. How dare you?
Vic00:50:55Brian Faughton loves that movie. I love that movie. It's a weird movie. Look, I saw it when I was eight in the theater, or nine. And so the ending, the parents die? That's terrible. The parents sucked. Don't touch it, it's evil. They were attracted to evil. Because they were obsessed with their gadgets. I wish he stayed with Sean Connery, Agamemnon, in the end of the movie. I was so upset. We can't call them midgets. The little people, they took him away, and then it was like, oh, this terrible thing. I remember being very upset about that. JVL, thoughts?
JVL00:51:31The passion. The end of that, I just did not see it coming.
Vic00:51:35The passion of the Christ?
JVL00:51:37I was just like, wait a minute.
Vic00:51:38Did you stay to the very end, though? Did you stay to the very end? The stinger? Oh, yeah, the stinger. The stinger at the end.
JVL00:51:43But he's dead!
Vic00:51:47I hope you stayed for that stinger.
Sonny00:51:49Sorry.
JVL00:51:50Come on, that's edgy. I still hope for you, Father Harrison.
Sonny00:51:54Yeah, I was going to say, he appreciates that. I still want to get the passion sequel that Mel Gibson has been working on. He was supposed to do, where he descends into hell. What's the journey through hell?
Vic00:52:05Yeah, and he descends into hell. And he talked about it in an interview, I think with Stephen Colbert.
Sonny00:52:10Jim Caviezel has been talking about it for, you know.
Vic00:52:13Yeah, so that would be very interesting. Okay, do we have other thoughts?
Sonny00:52:19I have no more thoughts about Serenity. I do hope people find it in home video and at least enjoy it on some level. Enjoy it on some level. Enjoy it on the unintentionally hilarious level that some people are, or enjoy it on the earnest level that I, and I think JVL to a certain extent, does.
JVL00:52:39Yeah, it's a meditation about, I think it works best as a meditation about limbo. Right, and purgatory. I mean, this is the definition of purgatory. Whatever. I don't want to get too Catholic. I'll let Father Harrison and the clerically speaking guys do that.
Vic00:52:57But of course, limbo technically no longer exists, as you know. Does it? Yes. So you know where they all go now, the babies? They all go to the Hudson Institute. That was my joke.
JVL00:53:05That's a very inside joke because everybody works at Hudson. I used to say that all the time.
Vic00:53:09Thank you. Very inside. The movie definitely made me want to drink rum and go to an island. And that can't come soon enough. That'll be me in April.
Sonny00:53:17Rum is gross. I like rum.
Vic00:53:18Okay.
Sonny00:53:19It's better than gin. I like gin too. Gin tastes like pine. I like gin too. Pine salt. A little bit.
Vic00:53:26Okay. Corrections, additions? Anything?
JVL00:53:28Nothing?
Vic00:53:28We're good? Wonderful. That is all the time we're giving to this episode. Questions, comments, complaints, compliments? Tweet us at Victorino Matus, at Sonny Bunch. At JVLast. Again, be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, YouTube. Is that correct?
Sonny00:53:44My understanding is Paul Crookston is currently working on a YouTube something.
Vic00:53:48That's very exciting. Okay. Just type in Sub-Beacon under podcast.
Sonny00:53:51Make sure to leave us a review too. Oh, please. Reviews are very important to the algorithm, to the almighty algorithm. They really are, actually.
JVL00:53:59Even if you reviewed us before, you can go and hit the stars again.
Sonny00:54:03So you can give five stars like infinity times. But also, if you just write something about how good it is. Please.
Vic00:54:10I'm so happy. We haven't been slapped with the E yet either. You know what I'm saying?
Sonny00:54:14How is that possible? Because we don't... Because you've been good at bleeping. Because we bleep. We shouldn't have been getting an E in the first place. Our numbers are even higher now. That was an effort by a certain somebody to sabotage us, I think.
Vic00:54:25Okay. Well, anyway, thank you again. Leave a review. Tell your friends. Until next time. Do we have anything?
JVL00:54:37I have two things. Oh, two things.
Vic00:54:38Fantastic.
JVL00:54:38Go for it. One, can we talk about that text I sent you last week, Victorino? Oh, no.
Vic00:54:43Which one? Which one?
JVL00:54:44You were talking about Emily Ratajkowski. Oh, yeah. I love her. When we were talking about Emily Ratajkowski. When we were talking about the Fyre Festival. Yes, of course. And I found an interesting tweet from her that I sent to you. Would you like to share it with our audience?
Vic00:54:55Yeah. It was really, it was a picture of Emily Ratajkowski. That she posted. Of herself. That she posted of herself. And she looked great. And then my phone stopped working. Oh. It just went black. It just faded. It just exploded in your hand?
JVL00:55:11No, okay. Well, I don't want to spoil it. Come on. It exploded in your hand? I know.
Vic00:55:16Well, no one could see if they had Facebook. Uh, live, then you could see my reactions here. So I got a little something for you boys. All right. Go, go for it.
JVL00:55:24Flash has got himself a podcast.
Sonny00:55:26What?
JVL00:55:29You let your, you, you let Flash have his own podcast? Flash and one of his buddies from school are now doing a show that they call the Sports News Universe. Oh, that's fantastic. Sports News Universe.
Vic00:55:40That's great.
JVL00:55:40They do them and they just do it. It's on SoundCloud for their buddies. And it's just to be passed out for their little hippie Montessori buddies.
Sonny00:55:48So this is. So this is the equivalent of the, the zine.
JVL00:55:51Yes. This is the middle.
Sonny00:55:52This is the modern middle school equivalent of the like.
JVL00:55:55This is what we always wanted. We always wanted to do that. And it's just the two of them sitting around, at least in the first episode, talking about Bryce Harper and free agency and how greedy sports agents are and how Scott Boris is the worst person ever. It's very, very funny.
Vic00:56:11Do they do Spirit of the Week?
JVL00:56:14I'm sure it's fine.
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