#47. Richard Jewell, RebellerMedia, and Multiple Martinis
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Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell draws a rare near-consensus: Vic loved it and found it "very affecting," Sonny liked it a lot, and JVL calls it slow and flabby qua movie yet still comes away impressed. Sonny places it in Eastwood's American-hero cycle alongside American Sniper, Sully and The 15:17 to Paris, but argues this is the one that works because it doesn't have to manufacture drama — the villains are real — and reads it as a "deeply libertarian" film built on the way Jewell's worship of authority is turned against him, citing Peter Suderman's line that this is what every Hollywood movie would look like if Hollywood were of the right. JVL raves about Paul Walter Hauser's physical transformation and insists Sam Rockwell "owns the movie" and is ready to be a leading man the way Jude Law made that jump, while all three defend Olivia Wilde as Kathy Scruggs, with Sonny calling her newsroom introduction — announcing she'll get a boob job so she can go on TV, then double-birding the copy desk — the greatest character intro he's ever seen, and reading the notorious bar scene as two people with obvious chemistry rather than sex traded for a story. That teed up the episode's centerpiece, JVL's blistering argument that the film is if anything too kind to Scruggs, whose hiding behind "accurate facts" is now taught in journalism school as a case study in how not to be ethical, and that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's response — hiring Marty Singer to go after Warner Bros., and staffers buying tickets to other movies so they could slip into Richard Jewell without paying Eastwood — earns his verdict that "America deserves good media, but you people deserve to have your industry destroyed." They also handicap The Rise of Skywalker, which Sonny has already seen and describes as essentially a direct sequel to The Force Awakens, setting an over-under of $180 to $200 million against $247 million for Force Awakens and $220 million for The Last Jedi; JVL, who found only five nerds in line and three costumed fans at his suburban multiplex, declares Star Wars in a cultural death spiral, while Sonny blames assigned seating for killing the line-party ritual. Up top, Sonny finally unveils his secret project, Rebeller Media, with Matt Labash and Joe Bob Briggs writing, a new Across the Movie Aisle podcast, and a first film pitched as "Die Hard in a school shooting," plus news that he's moving to Dallas in a month; JVL rails against the "capitalist toilet" angled to cause leg pain after three minutes as the workplace descendant of anti-homeless bench design; and Vic confesses to four martinis poured from his own pitcher at a Christmas party, a retreat to the back seat of his car until the hosts launched a search party, and his firm position that the aftermath was food poisoning from the three pounds of shrimp he brought himself.
From the show notes
#cdata-section -------------- In this latest episode, sponsored by Circle and SwagRight.com , we discuss Clint E...
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00All right, Richard, here's what we're going to do. We need a voice exemplar. I want you to say into this phone, there's a bomb in Centennial Park. You have 30 minutes.
Vic00:00:20Hello and welcome to another edition of The Subbeacon, sponsored by Circle and SwagRite.com. I'm Victor Mattis, along with Sonny Bunch and Jonathan V. Lass. Just a reminder, the Sub Beacon is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher. Look at our podcast and search for Sub Beacon. You'll easily find us. Please subscribe, tell your friends, and leave a review. Gentlemen, how are we? Sonny Bunch. Hi. Congratulations. Now we can talk about.
Sonny00:00:45Congratulations to you. I'm glad you didn't die last night. We'll get to that. At the free beacon party. We'll get to that at the end of our group's chatting. All right.
Vic00:00:52You first. Congratulations on Rebeller.com.
Sonny00:00:56Rebellermedia.com. Sorry. Rebellermedia.com. Twitter handle is just Rebeller.
Vic00:01:01Tell us about it.
Sonny00:01:02So I have, in secret, been putting together a website called Rebellermedia.com that is basically like a film site, like a RogerEbert.com or something of that ilk. The top part of the site is an aggregator, like a drudge-style aggregator. You click on the link and it sends you off the site to the people who originally wrote it. We're not paying people to sit around and rewrite the same thing over and over again to harvest Google ad clicks. We're just sending people to the sites because that's all you really want. That's all you care about. And we have a section of original stories, people writing, you know, essays, first-person pieces, that sort of thing. I'm hoping to have two to three a day. We have enough lined up through about the first week of January, and I'm taking more on as we go. And we have a podcast network. There's a new show that I'm working on called Across the Movie Aisle with my friends Alyssa and Peter. Alyssa Rosenberg of The Washington Post, Peter Souderman of Reason. It's not on Apple yet. It should be on Apple, like, today or tomorrow. We submitted it to Apple the day the site went live because we didn't want to spoil the news of Rebeller. So it's a bit backed up. And, like, the one catch about this site is that you do have to pay for the original content.
JVL00:02:27Oh, paying for content.
Sonny00:02:28Paying for content. It's a weird model in this crazy upside-down world of ours.
Vic00:02:34Do you give a little bit or nothing?
Sonny00:02:36So if you sign up, you can sign up. Just the tip? Yeah, sign up for a membership, and you can get just the tip. You can get three free original stories a month, and you just got to sign up for a Synestate account with Shopify, basically. Sin Estate is the company I work for. Technically, it's the parent company. And then once you sign up for that account, you can get a free membership that's just three stories a month. But paying for a full membership, it's got to be what?
JVL00:03:10$300 a year? $400 a year?
Sonny00:03:11$500 a year. No, it's just $2 per month. Where do these numbers come from? $2 per month. Or $20 per year. It's incredibly affordable. A whole year for $20? $20 for one whole year of original content.
JVL00:03:29It's not like you have Matt Labash writing for the site.
Sonny00:03:31We don't have the great Matt Labash. Oh, wait. We do have the great Matt Labash. The great Matt Labash on day one writing about Marvel vs. Marty.
JVL00:03:38So you could get Matt Labash for $20 a year?
Sonny00:03:40Sign me to F up. If I could get Matt Labash every week for $20 a year, we'd probably have to charge more than that. But we'll have the occasional Labash.
JVL00:03:49Joe Mitchell is right for the New Yorker.
Sonny00:03:50But we've got a bunch of good stuff. The guy who edited Fred Raston.
JVL00:03:54Nothing is $20 a year anymore.
Sonny00:03:55Nothing is $20. I mean, this is – it's funny. So I have been signing up for a lot of different subscriptions because I've been reading a lot more. And, like, you know, everyone is starting to charge for content finally. Everyone is finally starting to charge for content.
JVL00:04:10I'm glad we had to kill all media to get to the point where we –
Sonny00:04:12Where we realized that this was – the old model is best. And everything is incredibly expensive. You know, New York Magazine, which I like a lot. I read Vulture every day. I link to it a lot on the aggregator side of things. It's like $80 a year. Now, Vulture Magazine puts out a lot of stuff. It's a pretty good product, but it's incredibly expensive. Everything is just incredibly expensive. We are incredibly cheap. And we're even cheaper if you use the promo code SUBBEACON. Two words.
JVL00:04:41What?
Sonny00:04:41All uppercase SUBBEACON. SubBeacon listeners, some of whom have already signed up, are our most dedicated fans. I have to give a very special shout out to the SubBeacon Expanded Universe, who have done just a tremendous job of driving people to the Twitter handle and to the website and signing people up. I am humbled and deeply filled with gratitude. Filled with gratitude.
JVL00:05:10So much so that you're converting to Catholicism.
Sonny00:05:12Well, let's not. I mean, it's baby steps. I think I got it. Don't I have to do like evangelical first and then Catholicism? No. Isn't it like a ladder? No, you can skip.
JVL00:05:21What do you get off for SubBeacon code?
Sonny00:05:24For these, if you use two words, SubBeacon in the promo code, when you sign up at RebellarMedia.com, you get 15% off. So that's an extra. So it's like $17 a month. $17 a year. Not a month. $17 a year for the whole thing, access to the whole thing. It's great. So that's incredibly cheap. That's like – or I guess it would be a dollar – I can't do math. It would be $1.70 per month.
JVL00:05:57Don't do math on air.
Sonny00:06:00But the – I'm a journalist. Wait, what's the website again? It's rebellermedia.com? Rebellermedia.com. So rebeller.com is owned by some Estonian firm that wanted like $150,000 for it.
Vic00:06:08You know what? I gave money to rebeller.com.
Sonny00:06:10Oh, no. You're going to be getting some weird credit. Rebellermedia.com
JVL00:06:15And the promo code again. What is that promo code, Sonny?
Sonny00:06:18It's subbeacon. Two words. Uppercase. Subbeacon. Subbeacon.
JVL00:06:23For 15% off.
Sonny00:06:2415% off at Rebellermedia.com
JVL00:06:26Excellent.
Sonny00:06:27That website one more time. It's Rebellermedia.com Playboy.com Wait, no, I'm sorry. Rebellermedia.com Rebellermedia.com Whitehouse.com Whitehouse.com I am very gratified for the number of signups we have had already. Frankly, in the first two days, we had about as many sign-ups as I thought we would get in a month, and people are into it. Another great columnist for us, Joe Bob Briggs, the great Joe Bob Briggs. You may remember him from TNT's Monster Vision. He's at Shudder now. He's been doing a column for a long time for a number of outlets. He actually wrote for The Village Voice back in the day. He had one of the homes of his column back when Rupert Murdoch owned it. I see a lot of great people who wrote for The Village Voice.
JVL00:07:11Are you going to have time to write for it, or is all your time going to be sucked up with editing and business side stuff?
Sonny00:07:15I'm going to try to write two to three times a week. That is my hope. I have a lot of business side, social media side.
JVL00:07:22In addition to your Washington Post column? In addition to the Washington Post column, which I am not giving up.
Sonny00:07:28So it's going to be, we'll see.
JVL00:07:31You're going to have to work a lot of hours a week, aren't you? Yeah. Wow, like more than 30, right? So you'll be pretty busy?
Sonny00:07:37More than I have been working, certainly.
JVL00:07:39But you'll keep doing this show?
Sonny00:07:40but i will keep doing this show even though you'll be working so hard even i even though i'm moving to dallas even though we're we are moving uh to dallas in a month uh so very very exciting times i uh i hope everybody really likes rebellermedia.com um and there was beacon sub beacon promo code sub beacon promo code two words sub beacon uh and one of one of the really nice things about this this launch was there was a very very uh piece in the ringer i don't want to say it was like a good piece i don't want i don't want scott tobias the author to think he was you know doing promo work for us but it was very fair uh and uh really informative and interesting piece about rebeller and cinestate our parent company and what what we're up to including a discussion of the first rebeller movie it's going to be coming out later later in 2020 uh called run hide fight i'll just give you the elevator boy yeah give you the elevator pitch then we can move on to the next thing uh die hard in a school shooting so that's what rebeller is if you want to know what rebeller is rebeller is run hide fight yeah die hard in a school shooting rebeller media.com sub beacon promo code 15 off you sign up for the the the website you'll get lots of updates on uh die hard in a school shooting. I can tell you that much.
Vic00:09:00Thank you, Sonny. JVL. Ad over. Ad over. That's good. No, you should be a regular sponsor.
JVL00:09:07It's more of an infomercial than an ad.
Vic00:09:08You got a lot of ad money there. Throw it our way. JVL, what's going on with you? Can we talk about the capitalist toilet? Yes. Sure, sure, sure. Explain to our listeners. So I said that thing to you, right?
JVL00:09:20It's a new development for toilets, which places the commode at a slight declining angle, the purpose of which is to cause pain in anybody who is sitting on it after three minutes. After three? I thought it was ten. I don't believe so. I believe it's three. Maybe it's five. But anyway, the point is it causes pain in your legs.
Vic00:09:43If you're not used to that, if you don't have that sort of leg muscle support
Sonny00:09:47What's the muscle in the back? Not the quadriceps. That's the front. The hamstring? Yeah, but that's not a muscle, right?
JVL00:09:54The Kegel muscle.
Vic00:09:57That's what you're talking about?
Sonny00:09:58Yes.
JVL00:09:59So this is, so if you, there was a, about 20 years ago, maybe less than that, maybe 15 years ago, you began to see a change in public space design where all of a sudden benches were given a third hand railing, right? So benches with hand railings on either side, there'll be a third hand rolling in the middle
Vic00:10:23to basically to take a six foot bench and segment it into two, three foot benches. Is that to deter? To deter people from lying down on them.
JVL00:10:32If you look around, you see this all over DC. Any place that there is a flat sort of waist high or thigh high space, like on a wall, it'll have these little decorative iron things sticking up out of it. You think, oh, those are pretty. they're to keep people from sitting on them right and the idea is this is public design as an anti-homeless person uh measure like we don't like homeless people they're poor so they're bad people and so we have to deny them even rudimentary physical comforts once you move to san francisco and you can just poop on the street that's nonsense come on there's a difference
Sonny00:11:10between saying like okay you know we need we need to have we need to have pity and sympathy for the homeless and like also just acknowledging that they can be a menace here yeah but if you if you
JVL00:11:23allow that sort of thinking eventually the capitalist free market oh here we go with the meat which controls the means of production the overlord the one the point zero zero one percent
Sonny00:11:34all right they come all right and they say oh wait a minute leon leon trotsky over here
JVL00:11:39is there a way we could do same thing to the workers no he doesn't work there anymore you You don't have to do that anymore. And that's what the toilet is. This is not a home product. This is a product for offices to make sure that we, I'm sorry, you got to drop the kids off at the pool when you're at the office. Don't take too much time in there. Got to get back to work.
Vic00:12:03This is bad. That would not happen in this office. I'm telling you, half my office uses that for work. They're sitting there for hours. You guys are not outraged by this? It's always occupied. It's interesting. It's interesting, but I don't – you know what, though? People are sitting too long on the toilet, and they get hemorrhoids as a problem. I'm just saying – not me. Oh, it's a public health. I'm not saying it's me. I'm just saying I heard somebody say that.
Sonny00:12:27Can I ask a slightly related question? You know how they have changed toilet design slightly so that you're, like, slightly higher off the ground? Comfort height is the term in the industry. No, but it's not comfortable. It's the opposite of comfortable. This feels much like that. Like, I don't like that. I don't like the, like, higher toilets. You pay extra for those. I don't like them. Oh, yeah, those are the fancy ones.
JVL00:12:49The comfort height and the oval, right? The oblong, the elongated bowls. Yeah, I don't need that. I don't need that.
Sonny00:12:55No, I, if people... Too much pressure down there. People don't want to, you know, feel sore on the toilet and get off it. How about that? Sonny takes the side of the managers and the capital holders. Interesting.
JVL00:13:10Can we take 30 seconds about Star Wars? Or do you want to do that later?
Vic00:13:15We'll get to the box office. When we get to the box office section, even though it's not out yet, we'll get to the Star Wars. You can talk about it now if you want. I haven't seen it. We have an episode.
JVL00:13:24We're doing an episode next week. I have not seen it either.
Vic00:13:26I saw a variety headline about China, and it's like its lowest opening in China. Chinese people hate Star Wars. It's fascinating.
JVL00:13:34I want to talk about box office projections for this. So when do you want to do this?
Sonny00:13:37They should put roses on the poster. Let's do it during the box office.
JVL00:13:40sorry she's not okay we'll do that move that to box office victorino how are you i am you are
Vic00:13:45alive i am alive this was one of the hardest weeks i've had to get through for uh well work was a lot and then um socially because it's the it's the christmas is the holiday season and santa claus is coming to town uh and so what do you mean it was hard for you socially well let's see uh yesterday well i didn't get home i was at the uh the free beacon christmas party and that was nice
Sonny00:14:09it's a banger as the kids say that party is always a banger i was there from like in the mouth
Vic00:14:14somewhere between i don't know we get there at the party started at six uh i got there a little bit after because traffic is horrendous and then uh got home at noon uh not noon 12 midnight sorry i'm confused here got home at midnight um uh took an uber uh and i i met showed in the morning just to be safe so i didn't wouldn't do something stupid and so that was good and then uh let's
JVL00:14:41see wait so what were you doing for six hours last night i was drinking did you did you have
Vic00:14:45any food did you eat anything i did they had a lot of sliders and so i had sliders and things like that so that was good on uh can i get a tally of the drinking um six hours multiple doers and sodas and then uh and then it's multiple three or is multiple more than 15 no maybe just four i don't know and then after that uh i asked our good friend aaron harrison about like you know how can i tell the bartender yeah how do i break out of our package deal because i want to get something off menu you know and he goes just point to me and say hey this guy says it's okay so i did that and that opened up phil louis 14 who ordered that on the receipt somebody got that on the doing shots of johnny walker the funny the funny thing is no so uh you know what i got i i settled on mictors oh mictors is good that's a very good one that's a bourbon so they put one ice cube in
Sonny00:15:38there and did they have the big square ice cubes yeah but not too big not too big that it takes up
Vic00:15:43the whole thing just you know a nice small because you know don't don't jip me you know okay is that the wrong word can't say that really okay so uh i i got that and then and then i had multiple of those and then that's and then but but i had the sliders and then uh we saw a lot of our friends were there so that was very nice and then on monday i was at a christmas lunch from about 12 to 4 uh and so and that was lunch though so you didn't drink at all right a little bit and then on the prior to that was a saturday and that was a christmas party where we saw your lovely wife
JVL00:16:16Oh, that's right.
Vic00:16:18Sonny was there. I only remember seeing Sonny for about an hour.
Sonny00:16:23Vic, I have a question. Oh. I have a question. Yes. Question. When did you decide that sleeping in the car was preferable to sleeping downstairs in one of the guest rooms?
Vic00:16:37I didn't. Well, this is funny. I took myself out of the game, coach. I took myself out of the game. I had decided I would just make my own martinis. Nobody else was having them, and we, you know, so I did the whole thing.
Sonny00:16:52I get to the party maybe an hour after Vic got there. Is that right? Would you say that's right? Yes, yes. I saw you and your lovely wife. And he is drinking martinis out of the martini pitcher.
Vic00:17:04No, not like that. I'm putting it. It's a miniature pitcher. You were carrying around the pitcher with you. And then I.
Sonny00:17:11And just because you're just because you're briefly pouring the pitcher into the glass and it was a small glass. It was a small glass. It wasn't. But it was very I was like, OK, so it's that kind of party.
Vic00:17:22It was. Yeah, it was for me. And I was just really excited. I was in a good when I was really at that point ready to ready to, you know, let my hair down, as they say, and ready to party. So I was in a good mood and and Kate was driving. So I figured, you know, this is good. And then, I don't know, after martini number four, excuse me, I thought, oh, no. Please not throw up in there. Yeah, and there was polite company there. I mean, it was some of our friends, but also polite company. And it's a mixed crowd. Because it's a mixed crowd, they don't need to see me or I don't need to embarrass my wife or my friends or the host and lovely hostess. So I thought, I'm just going to leave now. But I said to Kate, I need to see you. Get me the keys. And she's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, no, get me because I'm just going to sit in the back of the car and just cool off, you know. And at which point I understand. Matt told me, Continetti told me that at some point people were like, wait, where's Vic? Where'd he go? And then he said there was a search party.
Sonny00:18:22We, well, we were concerned. We were concerned because you had disappeared.
Vic00:18:26I think the host was concerned that I was in their bedroom, passed out.
Sonny00:18:30What? I literally. How did this end up in my head? Literally. literally wandered wandered
Vic00:18:39oh sorry I got confused sorry
Sonny00:18:43literally literally
Vic00:18:45she was scared Matt said that she was like oh I checked every bedroom like yeah like like they were worried like oh my gosh we better
JVL00:18:51check the bedroom had all you had was four martinis or had you started with something else and I was a little mixing
Vic00:18:57going on there but I don't really remember he was drinking them out of the pitcher and I and then so I just and I chose back seat because I didn't want But I'm sure a lot of listeners are thinking, no, he doesn't have a problem. But I chose the backseat because, you know, you sit in the front and there's like the light from the house. People walk out. I saw like Kristen Soltis at KSA was there. Like, I think they might have seen me like, you know, in the back. Like, oh, pretend we didn't see that, you know. And they just went on their way. But it was anyway. Yeah, that was. But I had a lot of shrimp, too. I ate a lot of shrimp because I brought shrimp and I made the cocktail sauce. It wasn't a Super Bowl party. I know. I was really excited. And the cocktail sauce I made was extra special. So it's – no, why is it so spicy? That ain't horseradish. I'm just having a conversation with myself now. That ain't horseradish. No, so it's ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco, salt and pepper, chili powder, and lemon juice. And the most important thing is the prepared horseradish, which is extremely hard to find. And so I kept on going over there thinking that nobody was eating enough of the shrimp. And I bought like three pounds of shrimp, right? And so I start just taking that shrimp down. And then Kate finally checks up on me because it's freezing out there outside. And I was like half frozen, but that's okay. I said, if I freeze to death, that's fine. And then I said, take your time. So then eventually she comes back. It's like, okay. And she's such a saint. And she was just like, oh, I'll take you. Oh, you're going to sit back there? Well, I guess I'm like an Uber driver, she says. So we get back. And at which point I can barely just like, I can barely keep it all together. And we get in to the house. Of course, her parents are there because they were watching the kids. So, you know, lovely Dr. and Mrs. Dwyer are sitting down in the living room. And I just give a quick wave and go right upstairs. And she goes, oh, he's not feeling well. And then like, you know, two minutes later. And then it was all the shrimp. That's why I got sick.
Sonny00:20:58It was food poisoning.
Vic00:20:59It was food poisoning. I'm telling you it was food poisoning. And I was so scared for the other people. So you brought food poisoning to the party? No, because I believe I was the only person who ate the shrimp. Oh. Well, thank God.
JVL00:21:09Thank God for that. It's like throwing yourself on a grenade.
Vic00:21:12It was. And after it was done, you know, like three or four times, like, oh. Clarity. I felt so much better.
Sonny00:21:19You felt so much better.
JVL00:21:19I felt so much better.
Sonny00:21:20Did you have a hangover the next morning?
Vic00:21:22Not bad. I was hurting in many ways, but not like your typical hangover. Well, because you got rid of all the food poison.
Sonny00:21:28I got rid of all the toxins. You got rid of all the food poison.
Vic00:21:30Yes. And I went downstairs and his parents are sitting quietly and clearly like they heard the entire thing. And, you know, and doctor, I was like, well, you should go rest. Why did you I'm trying to talk, you know, like you should go upstairs and rest. I'm like, oh, I feel so much better. I literally want a martini. I literally said I feel so much better.
JVL00:21:48But that was it. And yes, I feel like I remember a story and I can't remember which one of you guys it was about, though, where there was a lot of drinking and one of you had to like sit down. on the sidewalk in Roslyn at like 7 o'clock at night. That was me. Oh, right. Okay, and then there was this another story where one of you guys went home and threw up I think it was the kava.
Vic00:22:11That was the same.
JVL00:22:12And your wife had to hose off the front steps. That was the same night. That was the same night. Oh, it was you. It was the same night. You know what? I'm sure this is all totally fine. There's not a pattern. There's no pattern at all. Are you trying to put things
Vic00:22:23together here? I know you're trying to make like something going on here, but it's not. As a certain reporter
JVL00:22:28from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Would say these are just accurate facts Oh that's good I love that we'll get to that
Vic00:22:33That's a good one too So that's the price I paid But you know that's what happens When you want to take it to the next level Speaking of which over the weekend Jumanji The next level I had no idea What else I've never Seen any of these movies I keep on thinking that this is the other Movie where he deals with giant Monsters and dinosaurs
Sonny00:22:54That's Land of the Lost
Vic00:22:56Rampage rampage rampage okay jumanji the next level took the top spot at the box office with 59 million dollars followed by frozen 2 with 19 million and in third place knives out with 9 million uh and in fourth place richard jewel with 4.7 initially it was five i get that much okay box office thoughts and start throw star wars in there if you like i mean i don't really
JVL00:23:25care at all about this box office. Yeah, you want to talk about projections for now. I am desperately interested in
Vic00:23:29the next one. What are you thinking about the
JVL00:23:31next one? Force Awakens opens to $247 million. The Last Jedi opened to $220 million. Where would you boys like to set the over-under on Rise of Skywalker? I think there's a difference between what I want it to get and what
Sonny00:23:49I think it's going to get. So I think Disney is officially projecting i mean it's by the disney is officially projecting uh 170 million or something like that and it did 45 million or so in previews last night we're taping this friday as you all know friday december 20th last night's previews were 45 million or something like that so frankly i think i think 170 is a lowball figure i would i would go 190 i know you think that this is going
JVL00:24:21to be closer to 160 no no i i think 180 i think this does incredibles too yeah i think like in the 190 to 200 range i'll say 200 so uh okay so that's the first question i wanted to ask the second one is what is the number which is is or should be panic inducing because i think that a An opening of the final movement of the Star Wars machine at Incredibles 2 levels should make people panic and set their hair on fire. Because that's a $40 million decline from Rise of Skywalker.
Sonny00:25:04Incredibles 2 was such a weird debut. And that movie grossed $600 million. I don't think anybody saw that coming. That was crazy.
JVL00:25:16Okay, well, take The Incredibles 2 out of it. $180 million going from $247 to $220 to $180, I think should scare the living crap out of Disney.
Sonny00:25:27The Force Awakens, I mean, look, I will play devil's advocate here and say that The Force Awakens overperformed because people were so excited to see the original cast back together again.
JVL00:25:35But that overperformance was mostly in the hold, not in the open.
Sonny00:25:39It opened at $247 million. We're talking about the open. We're talking about the open. Fair enough. The bigger question is not the opening weekend, but the multiple, right?
JVL00:25:49Right, and Force Awakens had a giant multiple.
Sonny00:25:52It had not just a giant open, it had also a giant multiple. I think it did a multiple of almost four. It grossed four times its opening weekend, basically, more or less. It was very close to that. The Last Jedi did closer to a standard multiple, right? It did something like three, I think. I think it was a little below that. A little below that. like yeah but like a standard multiple is 2.7 so like it it was in it was in that range between between a 2.7 and a 3 or something like that here's the question the question the more interesting question for me about rise of skywalker is does it do a last jedi multiple or a force awakens multiple or does it do worse than the last jedi because if it does if it if it is not just that like people were kind of bummed out by the last jedi so they don't show up for uh rise of skywalker But it is good enough that word of mouth is good on it, that people show up and they keep coming back for it and they keep wanting to watch it again and again. I think Disney can spin it as like, look, there was, you know, the audience was disappointed after The Last Jedi. We realize that now. That's why we let all of our people crap on The Last Jedi for the last two weeks of the press period. And we are course correcting. And look, the critics, you know, the critics say this is bad at 55%. but look at the audience score the audience score is uh you know it's going to be an a on cinema score i bet and it'll be uh it'll be uh it'll it's at 86 you know positive on the the the confirmed purchases whatever for fandango so or the rotten tomatoes verified you know reviews so i mean i like i i think that if it has a multiple of between three and four if it opens let's say It opens to 180, and it does a multiple of three. That puts it at, what, 540?
JVL00:27:45540 million? That's not great. It's not great.
Sonny00:27:47It's not great. I mean, look.
JVL00:27:48It's not what they signed up for. When they bought Star Wars, they did not sign up for 540 domestic.
Sonny00:27:53Here is what the problem. I mean, look. The problem is they don't have anybody running the show over there like Kevin Feige runs the show at Marvel. Kathleen Kennedy is going to get promoted so hard after this. Because she deserves it. She's going to spin right up to her own label, blah, blah, blah. And it's going to be great for her. And everyone's going to love what she does next. But the fact that they keep firing directors and keep rewriting and throwing together things at the last minute. I have seen The Rise of Skywalker. And all I will say about it before we talk about it on the show next week is it is a direct sequel to The Force Awakens. It is a direct sequel to The Force Awakens. And the reason for this is because they had no game plan. They had no map for the series. Rian Johnson burned the thing down in the second one. So are they acting like the second one didn't happen? Again, we can talk about this more next week. I would say that outside of one or two scenes, you could play this as a direct sequel to the first one. It's like J.J. Abrams just taking a break and coming back and saying, anyway, as I was saying, and then continuing the story. Yeah, more or less. That's almost exactly what happened.
JVL00:29:16So here's my anecdote and what freaked me out. I went to see Richard Jewell last night, which was opening night. my show was at 4pm the first Star Wars screening was at 5pm my Suburban Multiplex had all of the you know the things the snake lines right that they put outside the rope lines to get people ready to go in one hour before the first show time for the final the final installment of the Skywalker Saga every generation has its heroes there were five nerds standing in line question question yes does this theater have assigned seating so it does and i understand i understand that however the idea of getting in line for star wars was never about the seating of course it was no it was always about the atmosphere it was a it was a nerd prom the the star wars opening day you remember the attempt to see the fact we've told
Sonny00:30:17the story many times the two things the two things go hand in hand you have to stand in line so you make it a party but you don't have to stand in line so anymore so why would you want to be around
JVL00:30:25those people why would you want to be around those you are those people so you would not want to be around those people but the type of people who go to first screening of first star wars an opening night are not you right there are people who are this is the thing for them but this is this part of their identity and then when i came out the theater was very busy a lot of people around but there were no like fan so I came out of the theater and there were three guys three guys in these awesome Star Wars costumes one guy is Vader one guy is Luke one guy is a stormtrooper these costumes were fantastic but there were only three this is the type of thing that every other Star Wars opening night through for my entire life it has been a thing it's like a
Vic00:31:09carnival right and I
JVL00:31:11just think it's not an event anymore
Vic00:31:13I think I think they have killed it as a Because the plan was to make a gazillion dollars every year. We're going to put a movie every year, and everyone's going to come see it. They killed it.
JVL00:31:22And so what I'm saying is I believe that Star Wars is in the death spiral as a piece of cultural intellectual property.
Sonny00:31:31Well, I think that we've discussed this before, but the real problem is that the Star Wars universe is very shallow. It is, especially if you're going to junk all of the expanded universe stuff and all that. But the simple fact of the matter is that people actually only really care about the Skywalkers. They care about the soap opera aspect of it. And when you try and move away from that, I think you lose. But also, like, again, I just disagree with your framing of this. I think that the thing that has killed the communal aspect of it is not the relative quality of these movies, though they, I think, have been low compared to – I wouldn't say they're that much – they're not lower than – none of these movies are worse than Attack of the Clones. which is legitimately a terrible film.
JVL00:32:16No, Last Jedi is worse than Attack of the Clones. No.
Sonny00:32:19Or as bad as. Attack of the Clones is a terrible movie.
JVL00:32:21This is like saying what is the difference between negative 269 degrees and negative 270 degrees. There's no functional difference.
Sonny00:32:28But what has changed the communal aspect of it is just how we buy movie tickets. If you don't have to stand in line, people don't want to stand in line. I disagree. If you have to stand in line, then you make it a social event. But now the normies can just go out and get the ticket at 5 p.m. like anybody else. So you don't have to stand in line to get that first thing. And if you don't have to do that, why would you?
JVL00:32:54See, as a person who is a normie, you don't understand us, Sonny.
Sonny00:32:58Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fair enough. That's fair. That's why. All right. We'll talk more Star Wars next week.
Vic00:33:04Let's look at that. Next week is going to be something. So we're actually talking about a movie that came in fourth place, Richard Jewell. So, Sonny, do you want to give a big boy review of it? What did you think? And you know Clint Eastwood. You met Clint Eastwood.
Sonny00:33:21Yeah. Richard Jewell is the story of Richard Jewell. Richard Jewell, of course, was the hero of the Atlanta Olympics bombing. He spotted the nail bomb under a bench before it went off and saved a bunch of lives by getting people away from it. And for his troubles, he was destroyed by the media, by the government. He was he was made the primary suspect or at least the primary person of interest in the in the investigation and embarrassed nationally. I mean, I the movie doesn't even do this, I don't think. But there was remember they found his porn stash.
JVL00:34:00I don't remember that.
Sonny00:34:01I'm pretty sure that that's a thing that I'm pretty sure that I assume they had to have. They found everything. I'm pretty sure that's a thing that happened. Maybe I'm just making it up. I can see that and that was of course in the news and you know it was horribly embarrassing Richard Jewell is a fascinating film on a number of levels so Clint Eastwood has been in this kind of American hero cycle where he made American Sniper Sully American Sniper
Vic00:34:31American Sniper
Sonny00:34:33Sully a hero among the among the 1517 to Paris yes and now this movie uh richard jewel and again the the kind of unifying uh aspect of all this is like the idea of american heroes right and and they they're all interesting in their own ways and i i think the ones until now have not quite worked because they've all had to manufacture drama like american sniper has that weird dueling snipers subplot that like is totally unnecessary and kind of detracts from the idea of um uh this this great this great soldier and this great hero who is also like a mess who is also kind of suffering from ptsd and in a in a more minor way than like excuse me in a more minor way than you often see portrayed in this sort of thing you know it's a it's it's it's about the strain on the family and all that um and then the the ridiculous sully ntsb subplot that made no i can't remember if we discussed sully on the show but there was i think that was before our time or no no no no no there was but there was a there was a terrible there was this ridiculous subplot where like sully was hauled before the ntsb they're made in the movie yeah and they're like you could have done better things to not crash this airplane in the in the the river uh and totally just totally invented and nonsense um and the 15 to 17 to paris is interesting because it does have a conflict at the core of it but the conflict is like two minutes long so you the rest of the film is kind of a travelogue it's almost like a terence malick movie in a weird way it's a lot of like shots of people kind of also the challenge of that movie was of course because they used and they used the real guys which was interesting but like again it's interesting uh richard jewell doesn't need to manufacture any drama because richard jewell has obvious villains richard jewell has obvious villains in the media and the government and the way that they work together to destroy him um and what is what is most interesting about this film just from a kind of ideological or storytelling perspective is that throughout the film, Richard Jewell is portrayed as a person who has absolute faith in authority. He worships authority. He is worshipful of authority. He wants to be a cop. He loves the police. He, you know, whenever he's talking to the FBI, he's like, I'm a fellow law enforcement agent, you know, even though he's a rent-a-cop. He does whatever the cops ask him to do. The cops who are trying, the FBI agents who are trying to string him up he does everything they want because he he he thinks you know because he is innocent the government will see that and then they will they will clear his name and everything will be fine and the movie is very much about the way that that worshipfulness is used against him um repeatedly by the people he trusts by the people who he think should be looking out for him um and uh and it's it's it is again it's it's it is like weirdly subversive in its own way it's it's a deeply libertarian film um a friend of a friend of mine peter suderman wrote a review in which he said that this is the if if hollywood uh was was of the right instead of of the left as it is this is what every hollywood movie would look like the like kind of natural suppositions about the dangers of the media industrial complex and the dangers of trusting the government and blah blah blah and I think there's something to that I think there's something to that the assumptions in the film are so kind of deeply embedded in it that it's like not it's not partisan it's just ideological in a very real way anyway I liked the movie a lot I thought the lead guy Hauser Paul Walter Hauser is fantastic as Richard Jewell. Sam Rockwell is great as the lawyer. And I actually really like, I know this has been a point of controversy, but I really enjoyed Olivia Wilde's portrayal of the reporter, especially her introduction. Yes. Her first scene, she like bounces into the newsroom like a swaggering football player, and she's like, I'm going to get a boob job so I can go on TV. And then, like, the copy desk is, like, giving her nasty looks, and she's like, screw you, old bitties. I'm out. And, like, flips him the double bird and walks out. I was like, this is, like, this is the greatest introduction of any character I've ever seen.
Vic00:38:56It was the whole sort of, sorry, oh, I'm sorry, my crime stories push your boring stories off the, you know. I'm sorry I'm so good at my job. Yeah. And you, I don't know. I saw that. I was like, wow, that is a definite type of journalist. I mean, it's just a definite type. I mean, and I was like, yep. I mean, I thought she nailed it. I like that, and I did like Paul Walter Hauser. I mean, his portrayal of Richard Jewell, I mean, obviously we know him from the media, but he does come across as also, I mean, yes, he respects authority, but he also is a man-child, you know? Yeah, right. No, he's a stupid person.
Sonny00:39:32I mean, in this film he is portrayed as a dullard, basically, Like a person who, again, who is worshipful, worshipful of authority, who thinks he should have authority and is clearly like not suited for it.
Vic00:39:50And in his spare time, he goes to the arcade and plays a lot of video games.
JVL00:39:58Turkey Shoe.
Vic00:39:58Turkey Shoe. Did you? I know that was great. I do. Those were all real. I'm looking there and I said, yep, I know these games. And so I thought that's good. But you know what? He spent a little too much time on video games. Speaking of which, if you're a parent and you know that kids are tough negotiators when it comes to screen time, and if your kids hear five more hours when you say five more minutes, you could use an ally. Circle is the award-winning way to manage your family's online time across all their connected devices inside and outside your home. With Circle, parents can filter what content is allowed, set limits for screen time, monitor history and usage, and even reward kids for good behavior. Just plug Circle Home Plus into your router, download the app, and you can keep track across every connected device from laptops, phones, and tablets to smart TVs, streaming devices, and video game consoles all from one place. And Circle has been getting rave reviews from the Chicago Tribune, People, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and many more. You do anything for your kids. Do something easy that will keep your family on the right path and get Circle. Right now, our listeners get a limited time offer of $30 off of a Circle Home Plus when you visit meetcircle.com slash subbeacon and enter subbeacon at checkout. Get $30 off when you visit meetcircle.com slash subbeacon and enter subbeacon at checkout. That's meetcircle.com slash subbeacon and enter subbeacon to save $30.
JVL00:41:30JVL. Thank God you made it through that.
Sonny00:41:32You were struggling there at the end. Oh, man.
JVL00:41:36You okay? It is way too early. Do you need some water? Do you need some... Do you want me to go get you another one? It's okay. I'm good. Go ahead.
Vic00:41:43Yeah. What did you think, JV? Sonny liked it. I loved it. Sonny liked it a lot. I loved it. I thought it was very affecting. What did you think?
JVL00:41:53I mean, qua movie, I thought it was a little bit slow and a little bit flabby.
Sonny00:42:01You could definitely be about 15 minutes tighter.
JVL00:42:03I mean, Paul Walter Hauser's physical transformation for this role is really something. Because the guy looks like Matthew McConaughey in real life. And he, I mean, I'm joshing on him. I thought he did a very, very nice job. Especially for a guy who's a comedian. Yeah, that's right. He just, he pulled way back inside. And he does a lot with the way he sort of looks around at people and with his eyes. olivia wilde you know so she has never been my thing i don't think i have ever liked her work especially i don't don't dislike her work but never she's great just great here me too i was
Vic00:42:44surprised that she's i i felt the same way i thought i mean she really it really worked for me
JVL00:42:48yeah uh but sam rockwell owns the movie and i texted this to you guys last night so sam rockwell has been a brilliant character actor for 20 years but I get the feeling between this and Jojo Rabbit that he is on the cusp of being a truly great leading man and is just ready to carry whole movies by himself. Would you disagree? He has been a leading man. Other than Moon? What has he been a leading man? I just feel like he's been working for literally since 1985 and he is almost always a gifted character in the in the background but i i'm just ready to see starring sam rockwell and let's start giving him because he is so good here i mean he was in the best of enemies earlier
Sonny00:43:35this year he's like essentially a co-lead in that uh he was in um uh he he had the that whole fx show
JVL00:43:44the fossy verdon show yeah this is what i'm saying i'm saying he's ready we are ready he is now ready to be uh elite in the same way that like jude law jumped from being a character actor to to a great leading man and i'm ready for the sam rockwell era to begin i don't know he you know by the way
Vic00:44:05he he was on uh i think it was jimmy kimball live and now to be fair he has won an oscar yeah he won for three billboards three billboards i was gonna say outside of having so um he was on And Jimmy Kimmel and Rocco was saying that there was there's that scene where they're looking. They're in the bedroom and they lay, you know, Richard Jewell has to lay out all his guns and they're looking at the guns. But so they're in between takes. And so Paul and Paul Walter Hauser and Sam Rock were just standing there looking at the guns laid out. And Clint walks by and he comes in and he picks up the 44 and he's like, 44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world. He'll take a guy's head right off. And then he leaves. And then Rockwell said he turns to Paul and he's like, that just happened? It was a great story. I liked it. I was concerned about duration because it's long.
JVL00:44:59It's two hours, eight days. It was long.
Vic00:45:01But maybe part of the factor is it was a recovery day for me because the night before was the Christmas party. And I went with my in-laws. And so the three of us go in.
JVL00:45:13Did you detox while you were in the theater? I basically, so I just. Sweated out all the gin.
Vic00:45:17I sit, I lounged out and I allowed myself to just get absorbed by the movie. So I didn't have a feeling of I want to get out of here or what time is it. And I often do that even with short movies if they're not good. But this one, I just let myself get, you know, taken in by it. And I really enjoyed it. And then at some point I realized, oh, wow, I think we're almost nearing the, you know, the end part. But I really liked it. It's a great period piece.
JVL00:45:45Oh, the 90s? It captures the mid-90s so well.
Sonny00:45:50The crane shot of the Macarena is such a silly but also great little moment.
Vic00:45:58Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the music was great.
JVL00:46:01Can I ask you guys about a choice that Eastwood made that I was very interested in? So the first Today Show interview, which is Richard Jewell and Katie Kerr. And that's the real one, right? He chose to. So that scene is shot. You are standing in the room looking at the television. And so you see on the television the actual interview with actual Richard Jewell. And I believe probably Paul Walter Hauser's voice. Yeah, I don't know.
Vic00:46:29It was hard for me to tell because they really do look alike. But the second Today show.
JVL00:46:33I know what you're going to say. Is done not through a TV, but as if you're standing on set watching them. And in that, we get Sam Rockwell and a guy playing Brank. fake Brian Gumbel I found that very very interesting just as a directorial choice to frame the difference they're real when you're seeing them on television through that medium but then when you're actually with them in the flesh then we're seeing the fake movie version
Sonny00:47:00I mean I'm sure there is a technical issue here that if you want to shoot it that way you have to show the real people you can't like superimpose Sure. But the choice is interesting, too, though, because if we're if we're talking about the artistic choice, he is seeing himself on TV be vilified and manipulated and and all and all that later in the film. This is when he's still seeing himself as the hero. Correct. And it is it's it's it's it's an it's an interesting choice. it's a choice i mean it's kind of like what tarantino did with margot robey and uh sharon tate yep uh the real the real right margot so you in once upon a time in hollywood you there's a there's a extended sequence where margot robey watches a sharon tate film um as sharon tate so like she is watching the film and the film that is being shown on the screen is the real sharon tate it's not superimposed margot robey in there um and it's an it is a very it's an interesting directorial choice because he doesn't have to do it and you know he doesn't have to do it because earlier in the film he superimposed Leo into an episode of FBI
JVL00:48:10and into Into the Great Escape
Sonny00:48:15but that was like imagined but I enjoyed seeing that the point is he doesn't have to do that he could superimpose Margot Robbien if he wanted to but he chooses not to because he wants us to see the real Sharon Tate do her thing and I think you get a similar affect here it's not it's not done as showily um because it's Clint Eastwood and it's not Quentin Tarantino but I think it's making the same point because and he's so understated
Vic00:48:41both with the score and just in general I had a question but you were going to say something JV uh you can ask your question mine mine is a larger discussion okay well kind of this one is too question is this movie being punished because of everyone saying the the adjective that people are throwing out there for the movie is Trumpian they say is it being punished because they said how dare you you know the Kathy Scruggs controversy suggests that she slept with the source and you know we don't know that and be you know I mean the FBI so it's a composite character you know and I don't know what you think it's not doing well I have
JVL00:49:24very deep thoughts about this but Sonny you should go first what I'm sorry what was the question uh is it trumpian is our audience is punishing this because this is a cipher for trump you know
Sonny00:49:34somebody dave weigel made a very interesting point on twitter that it exists in a weird twilight zone right now where the the movie has been vilified by anti-trump people uh a great deal on social media but fox news has not picked it up as a like on the libs cause so it uh it it kind of it it is not uh it's not getting the like hope for boost i think uh that that you know do i think this hurt the movie i don't know i mean look the simple fact of the matter is that clint eastwood's uh non clint eastwood starring movies tend to open lower and do less well i mean he he made a movie with uh with leonardo dicaprio a few years back the j edgar hoover movie All right. And that movie, I think, grossed thirty three million dollars domestic, which I think is Leo's lowest box office in a in the last, I don't know, probably 10 years. So I think I think, you know, the a lot of I've seen a lot of people saying like, oh, this is Clint Eastwood's lowest opening, you know, in 40 years. And yeah, OK, I kind of I kind of see that. But it's also a movie with no box office stars. in it. It's about a subject that I don't think people I don't think
JVL00:50:51It's not historical enough. It's actually too close to us historically
Sonny00:50:55It's too close to us historically but it's also too personal and kind of small So do I think that it has been hurt a little bit by this controversy? I think it has been hurt a little bit by this controversy That said, I think the controversy is dumb I think it is, JVL I think is going to talk a little bit more about this but the press turning this into a story about how the press is treated unfairly is like the most, it's like the reason why everybody hates the press. Right. I mean
Vic00:51:23I just thought after reading that and after reading like Owen Gleiberman's column about the two lies of Richard Jewell and one of his Catholic scribes and the other one is the attack on the press because they're just doing their job and then you watch the movie I'm like Clint played it the way he just laid it out there. So anyway, JVL.
JVL00:51:41So I know a lot about this subject. I remember reading the original Vanity Fair article when it first came out about richard jewel my my one thematic complaint about the film version of this is that i think it goes slightly too hard on the fbi and much too soft on kathy scruggs you so you think
Sonny00:52:05the movie lets her off easy i think it lets her off the hook yeah absolutely well they show her
JVL00:52:09being remorseful in the movie right they show her being remorseful and there's there is some indication that she was remorseful, but not for a while. And she, well, I'll get to Kathy in a minute. First of all, I have a great deal of sympathy for the FBI. So the FBI's, here are the FBI sins in relation to the Richard Jewell case. They pushed to the very limits of what is ethical in terms of trying to elicit comment from a witness or a person of interest in their treatment of Richard Jewell. The two characters played by John Hamm and the other in this movie are composites but they hew very very closely to what happened the sort of bringing him in under false pretenses trying to trick him into signing away his rights and be mirandized without realizing he was actually being mirandized as a all of this actually happened um uh they we don't know that it was the fbi who leaked to the press but but the belief is that it was the fbi and that is the the biggest sin of all of this right i mean the part of the idea of police powers of the government is you have to let them off the leash to go and investigate people understanding that they're not going to be right all the time. They're not going to immediately find the guy the very first time out the gate. And so the tradeoff for this is they've got to do it quietly so you don't ruin people's lives in the course of investigating crimes. And if it was in fact the FBI, but whoever, it was somebody in law enforcement who leaked this out. And that is a tremendous problem, like a really, really bad and damaging thing to have happened. Here is where I have a great deal of sympathy for the FBI. So this was the first bombing, the first of four bombings conducted by Eric Rudolph. It was a literally impossible case to solve. At the time that it happened, with the information available, there is no possible way that they could ever have come to the conclusion that Eric Rudolph might be a suspect. He was just a non-factor, right? It would be years until they could put it together. Nobody knew who he was. Nobody knew who he was. he lived off the grid there was no no other bombings to i mean he just used nails and right yeah and so if you're the fbi trying to figure this out we could say like oh they had blinders on but the fact of the world in which they were living in meant that even if they had no blinders on there was nobody else to consider right the only possible person to look at was richard jewell and so you can understand why they did and also richard jewell is a weird guy and and
Sonny00:54:39And I think the movie actually gets into that. I think the movie actually does a fairly good job of complicating the story by just being like, Richard Jewell, kind of weird. A little bit weird. Yes. A wannabe cop.
JVL00:54:52And you see this. So we've had now three in recent years, three of these situations, the Chandra Levy, Gary Condit thing, and the anthrax letters with Stephen Hatfield. That's right. And in each of those cases, Hatfield, Richard Jewell, and Gary Condit, all super weird guys. super duper weird it isn't the case of like hey they just looked at this guy over here and he's just a normal joe schmo like you know no weird guy's a little weird right um well so i have some sympathy for the fbi in that right who else are they supposed to look at if you put yourselves in their moment you have two choices you can either throw up your hands and say well we just don't know which in a high profile case the olympics or you can as aggressively as possible pursue the guy the complaints then become you can't ruin the guy's life by talking about it with the media right right right which brings us to the real enemy which is the media the mainstream so kathy scruggs this is literally this is a case study that is now taught in journalism school about how to not be an ethical reporter and the extent to which she goes and hides behind i'm just reporting accurate facts as if that is the whole job of the media absolutely excuses the extent to which accurate facts can confuse and distract from the truth here are some accurate facts uh kathy scruggs was widely disliked by her colleagues she was exactly as portrayed by all accounts in this movie dismissive glory seeking trying to get murders onto the front page as if that's a public good it's not she was she was pushing the if it bleeds it leads destruction of journalism right dressing wildly inappropriately and flirting with cops there's a big to do about how she never slept with a source in exchange for information nobody is denying that she ever slept
Sonny00:56:49with so here's but here here's what's interesting about this argument right is that the way in in the universe of the film the way it is portrayed here's what i saw i saw an attractive woman flirting with an attractive man while people were dancing around them yep and then five minutes later i see those same two getting together at a bar i see him frustrated and drunk because he has a guy who wants to pin this on i see a reporter looking for a story i see two people who obviously already had chemistry kind of flirting with each other and then i see him give her the information that he wants out there anyway and that she wants to receive and then i see them leave the bar i see them i i it this was not an uh an example of a reporter trading sex for stories i think they wanted to have sex anyway is my point here so so this is like but this and this gets understood
JVL00:57:44Yes. So here here the again, a bunch of accurate facts. Right. And she dies of an overdose of pills. Yeah. At a young age. And she got spectacularly wrong. The most important story of her career. So if I report all those facts to you, could you draw inferences about like, hey, maybe she slept. Maybe she did sleep with sources along the way. Maybe she had a pill problem while she was. Nobody is alleging these things. But hey, I have just reported accurate facts for you. The hell with what the truth is. And, again, the fact that this is not some unbelievably complicated case where the exonerating evidence was something nobody feared. Everybody knew within five seconds. We know where the payphone came from. We know where the bomb went. Just pace it off into the time, right? And the extent to which when law enforcement leaks, when the government leaks against the government, okay, that's one thing. When the government leaks against a private citizen, that's very different. And for a reporter to accept as news value the government making a case against a private citizen without making any minimal effort to see, well, I don't know, is this plausible? And to just report out like, hey, look, see, they got this guy. That's really bad. And the attempt to cover up the Kathy Scruggs tracks here by saying, oh, but look how unfair the movie is to her. Her roommate said. Yeah. You know what? This is like having a surgeon who operates well for 10 years and is pretty successful, but everybody knows has a drinking problem. And then one day he's supposed to amputate a guy's arm, but instead he cuts off a leg and the patient dies. And then afterwards everyone says, well, but look at those 10 years. You know, and there's no there's no evidence that he was drunk that day when he was operating. Like, no, this is a reckless, reckless journalist who really screwed up and should, in fact, have lost their license for it or whatever. the journalism version of his license. I think the movie is actually, if anything, way too kind to her.
Sonny00:59:42And again, I think there is something to be said for the press turning this movie and the discussion about this movie into an argument over the unfair treatment of the press. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution petitioning Warner Bros. Instead of just taking their lumps and saying, yep, you know what, you screwed this up. Hiring Marty Singer, the enemy of the press, To go after Warner Brothers on this. I like everything about this angers me and is just further proof that the public is right to hate the media in a very real way. I like I am so I'm so annoyed by this.
JVL01:00:20You know, I hear I hear that respecting intellectual property is a thing that is deeply important to the media because the media requires the rights of intellectual property to function well in order for it to survive. Right. And my favorite anecdote in all of this Atlanta Journal-Constitution cracking back against Warner Brothers was a bunch of AJC staffers saying that they worked out an arrangement with a local theater owner to buy tickets for a different movie, but then be allowed to go in and see Richard Jewell because they wanted to pay their fair share. But they didn't want to put any money in Clint Eastwood's pockets. I hate him so much. You people, America deserves good media, but you people deserve to have your industry destroyed.
Sonny01:01:06They deserve it. BellerMedia.com. Coupon code, SubBeacon, two words.
JVL01:01:13Are you, like, I'm totally worked up about this. I'm actually furious about it.
Sonny01:01:18I think it's, I think, again, it is just the tone deafness with which the media operates And the cocoon in which it separates itself from like any real world discussion or application of what they do drives me crazy.
Vic01:01:33And I mean, this is a thing that like I've dealt with in my own career.
JVL01:01:36Like I, you know, I stumbled upon a thing that would have been a really big story back circa 1998, circa impeachment. And it would have ruined the subject of this. it would have ruined their lives for me to have reported it. And I had it dead to rights. And the truth is I decided there just wasn't enough news value in it. And you couldn't do it.
Vic01:02:00Also, she told me she was 18.
JVL01:02:03Poor bitch. So, you know, like this is not a, it's not like this was some impossible choice where she was weighing the public good and right to know against it. It was just glory seeking. And this woman is a villain.
Vic01:02:16Thank you. That was like one of the most informative. episodes we've had in a while. That was really informative. Thank you, JVL. It's a sad movie because, of course, you see him having the angina or whatever and his chest, and then eventually, of course, he dies. I mean, he lived long enough to see him be recognized. Yeah, he lived long enough for Eric Rudolph to be caught. Oh, yeah. Eric Rudolph. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But Richard Jewell, I was going to say, and be awarded, I think, like Citizen of Georgia or something. But he didn't make it.
JVL01:02:49So he filed five libel suits.
Vic01:02:51Yeah, that's right. Four of them settled. Settled, except for AJC.
JVL01:02:54Except for AJC, which was vindicated very narrowly and only on appeal. And after he died. And after he died. But he didn't make out. I mean, his total take from the libel suits was under a million dollars in settlements, almost all of which went to legal fees and taxes. So it is not like he walked away. His life, undisputably, would have been better off had this never happened to him. Had this never happened to him at the end of the day.
Vic01:03:19I also think that if he were alive today, he'd probably be shopping at SwagRight.com. JVL, what's going on here?
JVL01:03:25You know, that is entirely true. If you're going to lean right, then SwagRight. At SwagRight.com, get your holiday swag for those you love and like this year. From Trump t-shirts, Swalwell whoopee cushions, and the Pocahontas pillow, to fake news gear and more. And now Swag Right has just released its membership club subscription featuring a monthly wearable gift, drinkable mug, and many surprise gifts. All gifts are relevant to the news of the day. $24.99 a month or sign up for your annual club membership for the value of $19.99 a month. And once you sign up, you'll immediately get your President Trump coloring book, his Promise Keeper shirt, and the Washington Free Beacon Truth Monkey. Go to SwagRight.com now and check it all out. Thank you, JVL.
Vic01:04:16You reading that ad is like me reading an ad for OlderSingles.com. It's just weird. Okay. We've got a lot of shout-outs here going on. And actually, and a query. I'll start with the query, JVL. Listener John Boyer wants to know, JVL, if you could recommend a book on pro wrestling.
JVL01:04:35Yes. David Shoemaker's Life and Death in the Squared Circle.
Vic01:04:39Thank you. Fair. Next, a big shout out to listener Madeline, Madeline, no last name, but she sends us three bottles, mine is already home, it's not finished, it's in my cellar, my cellar. Your wine cave? My wine cave, very good, it's turned into that because of all the mold. Three bottles of Andrew Will Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, which tells me that you can drink it now and it's just right and she sends us notes i'll read the note and it says guys keep doing what you do oh yeah hold on there's something in my eye i can't even never stop never stopping i can't even begin to tell you how much listening to vick's latest adventures in gout sunny's box office mojo adversity and jvl's fetish for dehydrated powder form protein makes my week you guys are the best the gift is meant to be shared with your sainted spouses they're really the true heroes here cheers madeline madeline uh thank you that is true that is all accurate and
JVL01:05:49true uh and the second and you have something here jvl yeah i got our our uh tomabella the official emissary of the substandard expanded universe has sent us whistle pig i don't know that's a really good one is that very very good is it a rye is it a i sent one to for mike warren's
Vic01:06:08wedding i think i got him a bottle of wow uh this is a 10 year is that good whistle pig straight rye
JVL01:06:15whiskey yeah it's fantastic i think we should let vick have the whole bottle man let's not do that have it right now uh okay thanks guys we love you thank you very very kind okay you should give it
Sonny01:06:27you know what i want to say thank you one more time to everybody uh in in the sub beacon universe who signed up for Rebeller Media over this two-day launch period. It meant a lot to me. It really did. I was very, I was touched. You know, I was going to say that...
JVL01:06:43It's funny, maybe you can start eating now. Listeners who want to give presents to each other might go to rebellermedia.com and use the promo code SUBBEACON. Two words, 15%. Okay, that's all the time. This is a long one.
Vic01:06:56And it's coming out on a Friday. That's all the time we're giving to this episode. Questions, comments, complaints, compliments. Tweet us at Sonny Bunch, at Victorino Mattis.
Sonny01:07:05At JV Last. Let's bring it back. Come on. I was on Twitter this week for you, Sonny. You did tweet this week.
Vic01:07:10And you have many followers. For not being on Twitter, you have many followers. Again, be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher. Just type in Subbeacon at a podcast. We're there. Leave a review. Tell your friends. Until next time. I do have a... Yeah. Yeah, okay. Tell me one other shout out to longtime listener Robert Little. It's hey, I know Robert Little. He kindly sent us a bottle of Red Bush Bushmills Red Bush, but it's in my office and I love that and I don't anyway. Thank you to Robert for that bottle. I don't know why they call it that. I mean, I look it's not really red. It's more like a dark brown. If you ever, you know, and it smells good. If you're sure, it's fine. I'm sure it's fine. I'm sure it's fine. I said to the bartender. Do you have black bush or red bush? I'm sure it's fine. Or no bush.
Sonny01:08:06Stop. I'm sure it's fine. I'm sure it's fine.
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