#49. Uncut Gems, Fantasy Island, and New Year’s Resolutions
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The Safdie brothers' Uncut Gems produces the sharpest split of the era: Sonny calls it his third favorite film of the year, a portrait of compulsion so effective it gave him a physical reaction — chest tightening, actual anger — and he singles out the scene where Kevin Garnett and two other big men get trapped in the jewelry store's security vestibule while Howard Ratner wanders off looking for tools. He loves serious Adam Sandler in the Punch-Drunk Love and Funny People mode, understands exactly why it drew a C+ CinemaScore, and admits the movie's Long Island Jewish basketball-obsessive milieu called up fond memories of his own college fraternity. Vic gives it an A/A-plus, granting the two-hour-eighteen runtime is long but arguing that as someone who can happily watch strangers play blackjack for hours he's the ideal audience, and he raves about Eric Bogosian as Arno, remembered from Talk Radio, and about the pulled-off-the-street non-actor faces. JVL walked out — his first walkout in a year and a half — calling the film flabby, circular, and improvisational in a way that only works if you're actually Steven Soderbergh, and admitting he wanted every single character dead, from Sandler to Idina Menzel to the children to Garnett, with the sole exception of the leg-breaker, "the only guy I liked." He then predicts the ending almost beat for beat, right down to the bad guys getting stuck in the same vestibule, and when Sonny confirms that the leg-breaker shoots Howard in the face and kills Arno, JVL says, "So it has a happy ending... now I feel bad that I left." His score gripe is memorable — "a 1985 score in a movie that is set in 2012" — and he floats a theory that the film only lands for people who love the action, which Sonny diagnoses as a plain likability problem. Elsewhere they dissect the Blumhouse Fantasy Island trailer, which JVL sums up as "Fantasy Island turned into Hostel," prompting Vic's loving reconstruction of Aaron Spelling's rigid three-plot formula and the show's weekly moral that the fantasy you wanted was in front of you all along, then a monkey's-paw round in which JVL would request a Rolex and receive one with the Cyclops date window he loathes, Vic would order Kumamoto oysters, beluga, Krug and king crab and be rewarded with gout, and Sonny declines to play because "all of my dreams have come true." The Rise of Skywalker held first with $34.5 million ahead of Jumanji and Little Women, and Sonny doubts it reaches $600 million domestic or beats The Last Jedi worldwide; JVL confesses he quit The Mandalorian the moment they finished recording their episode about it, while Sonny reports the final three episodes were the best of the season. Resolutions round things out — Vic wants to ride the Peloton more and finally read the books he only pretended to read in school, JVL actively rebels against the whole concept — plus a Golden Globes theory involving Taron Egerton throwing a birthday party where Elton John performed for all 91 HFPA members, over-unders on the Harry and Meghan marriage, and Sonny working thirteen-hour days at Rebeller two weeks before leaving Washington.
From the show notes
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Full transcript
Guest00:00:00You're taking my money all over town, placing bets. I'm having very serious second thoughts.
Sonny00:00:06Are you serious right now?
Guest00:00:07I know I'm f***ed up. Howard, where's the money right now?
Vic00:00:24Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sub-Beacon, sponsored by DoorDash.com and as always, SwagRite.com. I'm Victor Matus along with Sonny Bunch and Jonathan V. Last. 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. But don't penalize us for all the crazy construction noises you might hear on the next few recordings. They are doing construction in the empty office space. We have no idea who's moving in, but that is what you are hearing. Gentlemen. How are we? Hey, boys. Happy New Year. Merry New Year. Merry New Year. From the trading places. Eddie Murphy. He walks in. I don't really remember that. Sorry. It's the best scene.
Sonny00:01:11Is it? Yes. That's not the best scene. That's where he was. This isn't the monkey rape scene. That's the best scene.
Vic00:01:18Al Franken was in a scene in that later on, too.
Sonny00:01:21In the monkey scene, right?
Vic00:01:23He was working there. He was working on the train. How are we doing? I am. Do you know what's going on? I am. What's going on?
JVL00:01:29What's happening? I am great because a minute ago, I was reading my new favorite website, Rebellermedia.com. Oh, Rebellermedia.com. And I ran up against a paywall.
Sonny00:01:39What? You ran up against a paywall.
JVL00:01:41Because like all real businesses, Rebellermedia.com has a paywall. That's right. And so I... But it was very easy to get around it. Well, that's good. You just paid. All I did was I just bought a subscription for $20.20. That's a good price. Is that a month? That's a good price. That's a year. Wow. For one year. For one year. For one year. And so I just purchased my Rebellermedia.com subscription. And so I'm a super happy boy.
Sonny00:02:04Yay. Thank you very much, JVL. That's how I'm feeling. That's very, very nice of you.
Vic00:02:07How are you guys? I would subscribe, but you know, I don't read about movies.
Sonny00:02:11Yeah, yeah. Well, that really... I don't care. I don't care about movies. You don't need to be about movies.
Vic00:02:16Dot, dot, dot about movies.
Sonny00:02:17But JVL, did you not use the promo code SUBVEACON, two words, all caps, at Rebellermedia.com?
JVL00:02:24You know, I didn't.
Sonny00:02:24You just wanted to pay full freight. Because I wanted to pay full freight. You just wanted...
JVL00:02:28That's very nice of you. But wait a minute. If people who are listening would like to save themselves, how much was it? 15%.
Sonny00:02:33That's $3 on an annual subscription. Is it SUBVEACON, in two words? SUBVEACON, two words, all caps. That's how they could do it. That's how they could do it. Rebellermedia.com. Yeah. Well, anyway, so that's why I'm super happy today.
JVL00:02:43And that might be, in fact, the best thing to happen to me so far in 2020, is that I
Sonny00:02:47got my subscription to Rebellermedia.com. That's very nice. I have to say, I'm exhausted because I'm working 13-hour days at Rebellermedia.com. Which is, again, normal. Which is normal. This is normal for a startup, right? This is what people in digital media startups do. That's right. Yep. Totally. But it's only two days a week, right? You only do this two days a week? Yeah. Right. Exactly. No, this is a part-time job.
Vic00:03:09But it's worth it when you get to cash out all your stock.
Sonny00:03:11Yeah. Yeah. I should have asked for equity. Yeah, that's right. No, I'm very, but I'm very, very happy with the site. There's, shortly to later today, after we tape this, but before it gets published. So it should be on the site by the time you guys are listening. We've got a great interview with Marilyn Vance. You have no idea who Marilyn Vance is, but Marilyn Vance is the costume designer for a bunch of Walter Hill movies and a bunch of action movies. So she did the costumes designs for Predator and Die Hard and Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Streets of Fire, a bunch of stuff. She's fantastic. We have an interview with her that I wanted to pair with a piece that we published yesterday about the costuming in Walter Hill movies. I decided to spread things out.
Vic00:03:58For those of us, who's Walter Hill?
Sonny00:04:01Walter Hill. So Walter Hill is the director of 48 Hours. He directed 48 Hours. Oh, the original 48 Hours? The original and the sequel. He directed the 48 Hours movies. Another 48 Hours? But he also directed Streets of Fire and The Driver and The Warriors. Oh, yeah.
Vic00:04:21You're going back to the 70s. Yeah, yeah.
Sonny00:04:23He did a bunch of 70s. But he's also, I think, Geronimo. He directed.
JVL00:04:29Who is this?
Sonny00:04:30Jimmy Cantor.
JVL00:04:32I have not heard of him.
Sonny00:04:33Anyway, Walter Hill is one of my absolute favorite directors.
Vic00:04:36I like his movies.
Sonny00:04:38One of my absolute favorite directors. And one of the nice things about this gig is I can take little things that I like, like, for instance, the costuming in Walter Hill movies. I was literally watching The Warriors, and I was like, the only reason this movie works is because of the costumes, because you have these gangs in New York, and they're all dressed, and they're crazy outfits. How did they put that together? Kind of mutated into these two pieces, although Marilyn Vance didn't do The Warriors, but whatever. Anyway, she also did the costume design on The Untouchables. She's the person. She was nominated for an Oscar for that. So anyway.
Vic00:05:14That was all Armani. I'm getting so excited.
Sonny00:05:17Yeah.
Vic00:05:18Other jackets in the scene in the Canadian border. They have these fantastic, I mean, the suits are obviously great, but they're at some really great outfits when they're on horseback, and they're coming at the cross. They're coming over to the bridge, and I think Kevin Costner has this great leather jacket. It's just, that's great. You should ask her also about Die Hard and about the suits, because Alan Rickman has a great line about it in The Elevator.
JVL00:05:43Which is the maker of the suit?
Vic00:05:45I think it was in Armani. No, no, no, no, no. It was too obvious to be Armani. It was something else. And he goes, oh, yeah, I have two of them or something, he says. Yeah. Fantastic.
Sonny00:05:54Well, good for you. Anyway, I'm very excited for that piece to go out.
JVL00:05:56John Phillips, London. I have two myself.
Vic00:06:00What was the name of the, Mr., I don't want to get accused of racism, so I'm not going to guess what his name was. Takimoto. Mr. Katagi. Tamagotchi.
Sonny00:06:10Katagi?
Vic00:06:12Takagi?
Sonny00:06:13Takagi? Takagi. Yeah, Takagi.
Vic00:06:14But that's not the name of the building.
Sonny00:06:15No, no, it's the Nakatomi Plaza.
Vic00:06:18Nakatomi Plaza. Yeah. Thank you.
Sonny00:06:20Absolutely. I was going to say Tamagotchi. Absolutely.
Vic00:06:22Anyway, that's great.
Sonny00:06:23Rebellionmedia.com.
JVL00:06:24Remember, Arafat buys his there, too, right? Is that what he says? Yeah.
Vic00:06:29Great, great, terrible line. Warriors is interesting. I always think about, at the same time, I think it came out like with Escape from New York around that time. Yeah, around there. Yeah. Because it was when things are so bad, they just thought they turned it into a prison island, but that's before things got better. Gee, I hope it doesn't get bad again.
Sonny00:06:49It is an interesting time to look back at the kind of genre movies from then, right? Because you do have, you have the Warriors, which is actually based on Xenophon's, Anabasis, right? But they transport it to New York. I wouldn't know. It is. Is that another movie? I'm watching to see how Vic tries to get by.
Vic00:07:08You know what? I didn't see Xenophon's Anabasis. I did see Clash of the Titans.
Sonny00:07:12Yes, it's the same. Imagine it's similar. Same, same. Anyway, very, very exciting.
JVL00:07:17It's a good show so far.
Sonny00:07:19Yeah, we're really, we're really crushing it.
Vic00:07:20Seven minutes in. Really crushing it. Can't do my ad read yet because they don't like to be in the first 15. Do you guys have New Year's resolutions?
JVL00:07:28No, I, you know, I hate New Year's resolutions. I, I, I actively rebel against the very idea of them. Is that right? Do you? I mean, they're a thing that everybody do does. So I assume you do it too.
Vic00:07:40I want to use Peloton more. Well, after that video, Xenophon's Anabasis. Yeah, I don't even know what that is. And Jess King. I hear she's a great. That I know. I just saw she has a great YouTube video and I'm going to check it out tonight on the Peloton. Don't. I'm happy with the workout and stuff. And I'm happy with that. I would like to.
Sonny00:08:02There's a great Peloton scene in Burn After Reading. Have you guys?
Vic00:08:06No, wait a minute, though. That was before Peloton. Oh, it's not. Oh, the contraption. Yeah, the contraption. That's a great contraption. The basement contraption. I think it was that George Clooney's contraption. Have you seen it, JVL?
Sonny00:08:18Have you seen Burn After Reading? You should see. You would actually really enjoy Burn After Reading. It's weird. It is a consummate DC movie.
Vic00:08:24Yes, sure. Surprising. There's a surprising. It's a surprising thing that happens. Your New Year's resolution. Oh, yes. Read and write more. I just don't have time. But read and write more.
JVL00:08:37I would love it if you wrote more. I know.
Vic00:08:40Me, too.
JVL00:08:40I would love it because I love me some Victorino.
Vic00:08:44Almost all my writing goes into my lines scripts now. That's where all my writing goes. Love your byline. Thank you. And reading. I was thinking, you know what? I'd love to go back and read all the books that I pretended to have read. Like, in high school and college. You don't need to read something you've already pretended to have read. You know what? You're not going to believe it. I read Animal Farm. But, you know, like everything else, 1984, whatever, just like, and actually read it. And then I can come on the show and say, I read a new book today, and it was Tom Sawyer. Or whatever. You know, I mean, it'll be Little Women, Macbeth, you know?
JVL00:09:21Can I suggest audiobooks?
Vic00:09:22No, I don't think it counts. I understand. And I listen to it. But in my mind, you have to read it. What do you think? Do you feel that way, Sonny, about audiobooks?
Sonny00:09:30I don't think it counts. I don't like listening to novels on audiobooks. I like listening to nonfiction, like memoirs, biographies, pop science, that sort of thing. But for some reason, I have a mental block when it comes to novels. I just can't do it. That's funny. I'm the exact opposite. Oh, really?
JVL00:09:48I listen to almost no nonfiction. Certainly not serious nonfiction. Almost exclusively my audiobook time is, and I'm now coming up. I'm now coming up on three months of total listening time, like three months of my life. Three months of straight just listening to. Having spent, I was checking the Audible app the other day. Do you, well, you listen when you're driving, right? I do. I mean, that's, well, that's, yeah. But Vic could listen on the Peloton, is what I'm thinking.
Sonny00:10:16Well, no, I thought the whole point of the Peloton was that you have the lady yelling it.
Vic00:10:19Yes. Well, no, she was yelling. Do you have that in the background? Oh, I didn't, no, I need to. You don't need the audio. I do because she needs, yeah, well, she tells me how to adjust my audio. How to adjust my strokes on the, for the pedals. That's, that's what I needed. Stroke. Okay, somebody, somebody.
Sonny00:10:34Stroke.
?00:10:35Stroke.
Vic00:10:36Stroke.
Sonny00:10:37Wow. What is, who is that? I don't even know what song that is. Is that Def Leppard?
Vic00:10:41No, no, no, no, no, but it does go back to before that time. It's, people are listening and yelling at us right now. Who is, I don't even know who that is. There's a great scene in Billy Madison. Billy Idol? There's a great scene in Billy Madison where he shows up in his car and he's playing that song, trying to impress her. I have no idea what the song is you're talking about.
Sonny00:11:00Hold on.
Vic00:11:01I'm going to, I'm going to effort this real quick. Okay. Billy Squire, The Stroke. That's what it is. The, somebody was asking on Twitter, one of our listeners, if you had any Golden Globes thoughts. Do you? Didn't, didn't watch a second of it. Did you guys watch? You know what I learned?
Sonny00:11:17I watched the monologue. You know what I learned from Richard Rushfield's newsletter? Those are my only thoughts, is that Netflix got hosed. Well, Netflix, well, I mean, I don't know about that, but what I learned from Richard Rushfield's newsletter, The Ankler, which is great. Everyone should subscribe, is that apparently Taron Egerton threw a birthday party at which Elton John performed and invited the entire HFBA.
JVL00:11:43All 91 members.
Sonny00:11:44And lo and behold, Taron Egerton wins best actor, or not best actor. No, I'm sorry.
Vic00:11:50Yeah, yeah, yeah. For, uh.
Sonny00:11:51Oh, for comedy or musical. Yeah, yeah. For comedy or a musical. That's right. That was a surprise. Which was a huge surprise. Everyone was like, what is this? What is this? Nonsense.
JVL00:11:59Well, in fairness, though, Taron Egerton did give a great performance, and Netflix. He did. He bought every single member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association a Learjet, and they did not win almost anything. So. Yeah. Did they win anything?
Sonny00:12:14Did they? Or Lord Dern, maybe? I think they got the crown. Yeah. Literally, the crown was there. Like, eh, you can have this. And when I like Crown Season 7 or whatever is going to be lit. Oh, yeah. Give it everything that's, you know, happening.
Vic00:12:25You know, after watching, now we're talking about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. And they're giving up the royal duties to be independent. Now, I think their spin on it is, hey, we don't want to take any of the taxpayers' money. How long does that last? I have thoughts. Five weeks? I have a lot of thoughts on this. Okay. But I'm afraid they're more appropriate for, like, the Free Beacon podcast than they are for a podcast. For the pop culture segment? Yes. As opposed to the family podcast known as the Sub-Beacon. Boy, that show's really taken a turn since I left. Yeah, it really has. She, I imagine Meghan Markle is very skilled in the arts of different things. Persuasion? Persuasion, yes. Persuasion. Thank you. Thank you, Sonny. And, you know, and that is how Prince, I was going to say Andrew. Excuse me. That's the wrong one. Prince Albert. Harry. No, Harry has decided to. Come on. Thank you. A little something for that, please. That was also very good. Yes. To do whatever she wants him to do. And somebody said, how do you know it's not him? No. I'm sure it's her. But, you know, after watching The Crown, like, I would love that job. I'll go around. Glad handing for a living. Glad handing for a living. You were made for that job. And living and having, you know, drinking champagne.
Sonny00:13:40Like going to fancy dinners.
Vic00:13:41Fancy dinners, dinner parties, and schmoozing and living in nice places that are very clean.
Sonny00:13:47How is Vic not married into a royal family? That's what I want to know. He did. Yes.
Vic00:13:52Have you met the Dwires? Have you met the Clan Dwire? They are amazing.
JVL00:13:57It's a clan. It's a clan.
Vic00:13:58It's an Irish clan. But, yeah, I just don't understand. Like, oh, they gave up. They didn't do the Christmas get-together at Sandringham. Are you kidding me? I would do anything to go to Sandringham. If any listeners out there can get me into Sandringham.
JVL00:14:12Seriously, how long do you think this lasts before they are like, yeah, okay, it is not what we like out there. We're coming. No, they haven't.
Vic00:14:19Apparently, Prince Charles is having a talk with his son right now.
Sonny00:14:21Until he gets divorced from her. Oh, you think that's the minute he gets divorced? Yeah. I mean, like, there's no... That is exactly where this is headed.
JVL00:14:29How long do you give this marriage?
Sonny00:14:31Four years. That long? Four years. That long? I give it four years.
Vic00:14:36I think Sonny's right. Four. I'll take the under. Okay. Right. Well, it's almost 50 years.
Sonny00:14:42I'm sure the priests are listening and thinking, God, you guys are cheering for sin. I'm sorry. No. You guys are cheering for sin. They're Anglicans.
Vic00:14:49It's not a real marriage anymore. Yeah, that's right. It does not count. It does not count.
JVL00:14:52You know what? I do not like when priests are like, well, you know, just because a marriage wasn't in the church. But, yeah, it's still about. They're married in sin.
Vic00:15:01No. But I imagine that she is very good at the arts of persuasion. That's all I'm saying.
Sonny00:15:09You know, we understood what you were doing the first time around.
Vic00:15:12I couldn't get it with the tongue. This microphone is throwing me off here, and I'm just looking at the darn clock. Okay. You know what else I wanted to do for news resolution? I just want to work harder. The problem is if you work harder, you're not going to have enough time to cook. Thank God for DoorDash. DoorDash can help you get your next. meal from your favorite restaurants in minutes. DoorDash connects you to your favorite restaurants in your city. Ordering is easy. Open the DoorDash app. Choose what you want to eat, and your food will be delivered to you wherever you are. Not only is your favorite pizza joint already on DoorDash, but there are over 340,000 restaurants in 3,300 cities, so you might find a new favorite, too. With door-to-door delivery in all 50 states and Canada, order from your local go-tos or choose from your favorite national restaurants like Chipotle, Wendy's, Chick-fil-A, and the Cheesecake Factory. Don't worry about dinner. Let dinner come to you with DoorDash. Right now, our listeners can get $5 off their first order or $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter promo code SUBBEACON. That's $5 off your first order when you download the DoorDash app from the App Store and enter promo code SUBBEACON. Don't forget, that's promo code SUBBEACON for $5 off your first order from DoorDash. We met, you know, talking about Wendy's, they refurbished a Wendy's near our house that I have never gone to, but it looks so nice from the outside. They never refurbished the kitchen. Well, I don't know.
JVL00:16:34No, I've seen into the back of them. One of the Wendy's they've redone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all the facade. Everything is the facade. A little bit of like the restaurant area. The restaurant area.
Sonny00:16:43Everything in back of that. Yeah.
Vic00:16:45You know what else?
Sonny00:16:46They haven't refurbished the staff either. To be fair, everything in the back is the height of technological perfection.
Vic00:16:52Oh, yeah.
Sonny00:16:53So, I mean, it's just a hot surface that you cook meat on. There's really not a whole lot more to do there.
Vic00:16:58I got, you know, burgers. I never, I don't go to, I rarely go to Wendy's. So, I got something I never had. Wendy's is the best. I never, only, yeah.
Sonny00:17:08Wendy's, of the, like, quick.
Vic00:17:11Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's.
Sonny00:17:12Of the Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, it is the best. It's not as good as Five Guys, obviously. You know what?
Vic00:17:17The burger at the Whopper, I like that flamed royal taste. I do. A double Whopper, even crazier. But I had the Baconator at Wendy's.
Sonny00:17:26Baconator. That was really good.
Vic00:17:28And then what happened was I had a coupon for two for the price of one. So, then. You had another burger. Well, I got a burger for my son, my daughter. I wanted something different, smaller. But then there was an extra burger. Because, well, if you can get something for free, even if it's like a fourth burger, wouldn't you just get it? People are starving in Ethiopia. Right. So, I got it. And let me tell you something. The two burgers was probably a bit much.
Sonny00:17:50You had two Baconators?
Vic00:17:52No, no, no. Do you have the meat sweats right now? I have. I'm sweating my forehead. Okay. So, question. I asked you this on text. Have you seen the trailer for the new Fantasy Island? I was skeptical. Can we talk about this? My first thought was, is this a TV show? No, it's a movie. And then I see at the trailer, it's a Blumhouse movie.
JVL00:18:13This is not the Fantasy Island you wanted, Vic, is it? No. No. This is like Fantasy Island turned into Hostel.
Vic00:18:19Yes. It looks like. Sonny, did you see the trailer at all?
Sonny00:18:22Yeah. Okay. I wasn't 100% sure what was going on.
Vic00:18:25I couldn't quite tell if it-
Sonny00:18:28So, it's a horror movie. It looks like it.
Vic00:18:33Everybody's brought on the island for their fantasies to come true, but-
Sonny00:18:37But it turns out that it's terror. Yes. The true fantasy is terror.
Vic00:18:41But it's more than that. Okay. So, if we could just go back to the original Fantasy Island, the errant spelling Fantasy Island that aired on Saturday nights from 10 to 11 p.m. on ABC, because we would watch Love Boat from 9 to 10, and it's like, okay, kids, go to sleep. You go to bed, and then you could hear- Did you do this before?
Sonny00:18:58Did you do this before or after your duck and cover drills, Grandpa? How dare you?
Vic00:19:06How dare you, son? I remember when Gunsmoke was on. Do you remember that episode of McHale's Navy? Okay. So, anyway- So, I'd come home from the big band concert with Perry Como. That's right. No, no. I loved your show of shows. Okay. With Sid Caesar and Imogen Koga. Okay. So, on the original Fantasy Island- Aaron Spelling had, just as he did with Love Boat, it's a very basic structure. There's three different things, three different plots going on, right? There's romance, there's comedy, there's drama. And then they all get resolved because everybody likes it. It's a bit of something- There's something for everybody.
JVL00:19:41I never realized that's what was happening.
Vic00:19:42Every time, right? Yeah. I knew there were three couples, but I never quite understood it. There's somebody looking for love. There's somebody who's getting away from something, perhaps an illness and trying to get over something. And then there's antics, you know?
Sonny00:19:52And so, there's three- So, it had an A, B, and C plot.
Vic00:19:55Yes. Some people call it that. And Fantasy Island was the same way, but Fantasy Island always ended the same way, which was, you know, A, careful what you wish for, and B, you know, the fantasy you always long for was right in front of you. You see tattoo. You know, he would always say that at the end. There was always more, you see tattoo. There was, you know, the fantasy that they always- The fantasy they always wanted was right before their very eyes. The plan, the plan. Thank you, Herb Villashez. So, we could do a whole thing right here, back and forth.
JVL00:20:26Wasn't there one scary episode of Fantasy Island?
Vic00:20:28Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was. There was. There was a haunted- Yeah, there was a haunted house. Yes. And then there was one, and you would always see some of your favorite stars, like Bob
JVL00:20:35Denver from Gilligan's Island and stuff, and that would be an antics one, obviously.
Vic00:20:39But this one seems to be more than, you know, you learned your lesson, you should be happy with your life and stuff. It's like, rather, we have caught you.
JVL00:20:47I mean, if I could give away the plot- Yeah, yeah, go ahead. JV, I'll talk about it. People come to Fantasy Island thinking that they are, they're all young and nubile, and they're going to live out their fantasies, but then it turns out they're living out their dark fantasies, and then it turns out that actually they are there as part of somebody else's dark fantasy. Right.
Vic00:21:05Which looks like Hostile, especially the part where she says the girl who is like a bully and she wanted to get even, and that whole set scene in the trailer looks like straight out of Hostile, or Hostile 2, or 3. The one in Vegas was terrible. That went straight to-
Sonny00:21:20Hostile 3.
Vic00:21:20Yeah, that went straight. Don't watch it. You could see the-
Sonny00:21:22Eli Ross didn't direct that one?
Vic00:21:24I'm not sure, but you know what? It still lingers with me. Every time I watch it. So knowing that fantasies can go bad, right? Careful what you wish for. If you were on a fantasy island, what would your fantasy be? Knowing that, you'd play it safe, wouldn't you, JVL? What would you get? Peloton.
Guest00:21:44You're ridiculous.
JVL00:21:46No, a watch. Obviously. Yeah, and that's it, right? How could a watch go wrong? How could a watch go bad? How could a watch go bad?
Vic00:21:52Sonny, I see you're looking up. You're thinking. You're thinking.
Sonny00:21:55I'm trying to think what the monkey paw would do. Right. Well, that's-
Vic00:21:58That's exactly right. The monkey paw.
Sonny00:21:59It would turn out to be one second off, and it would drive you insane. No matter how perfectly you said it, it would always be one second off.
JVL00:22:05You know what? I'd say, I really want a Rolex, and it would give me one of the Rolex models with the Cyclops date window, which I hate, and so I could never actually wear this thing.
Sonny00:22:18I don't understand what that means. That's what it would be.
JVL00:22:20That's what I would get from Ricardo Montalban.
Sonny00:22:21But why would you ask for a Rolex, though? That's not your fantasy.
Vic00:22:24No, I'm just saying. You want to play it safe, though. You want to play it safe. You're thinking, how could it go wrong, and that's the way it could go wrong.
Sonny00:22:30You'd be like, I want Tom Cruise's watch, because you just watched Mission Impossible 12. And I get his. The watch, and you get his swatch from when he was six. Right.
Vic00:22:41You got the wrong one. I was thinking like- Monkey's paw. I would like just Kumamoto oysters with beluga caviar on top, and Krug champagne, and the Alaskan king crab claws.
Sonny00:22:53So much food poisoning.
Vic00:22:54Well, that worked. Oh, then the gout. And then your foot explodes. Oh, my gosh. And it's like, hurry, you got to escape from this thing. It's falling, and I can't move. And I'm like, ah, then I get crushed. And then excruciating pain, and it's worse than the torture scene in a hostel. So, Sonny, do you have any sort of fan- I don't have any wishes.
Sonny00:23:11All of my dreams have come true.
Vic00:23:13You know what I was going to say? I was going to say, the funny thing is, people actually go to Fantasy Island already. I believe it's called Thailand. I won't get into those fantasies. I thought you were going to say sandals or something. No, no, no. Thailand. Thailand for your deepest- What's the adult only? Hedonism. Hedonism, too. Hedonism, too. And you know what goes on there. Speaking of which, over the weekend, Little Women took third place with $13.6 million behind Jumanji, the next level, with $26.2 million. And in first place, again, was Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker, with $34.5 million. Box office thoughts.
Sonny00:23:57I don't really have any-
Vic00:23:59It's doing well. Star Wars is doing well.
JVL00:24:01It's doing okay. So, Sonny, how is the hold? How is the- update people on the hold that Star Wars had over the holidays. Yes.
Sonny00:24:07It had an okay hold. I think analysts think it might not make it to $600 million. It's going to be a close-run thing, I think. It'll pass a billion worldwide, but it is going to- That'll be the headline. It is going to gross- it is almost certainly going to gross less than The Last Jedi worldwide.
JVL00:24:27We thought it was going to lose. It's going to limp to $500, and it's going to pass $500.
Sonny00:24:31I mean, I don't- I don't- yeah. I mean, it's definitely holding fine. It's holding-
JVL00:24:36A 60% drop and then a 52% drop.
Sonny00:24:39It's holding acceptably. I mean, it's also weird to look at the weekends because it's hard to judge because there's holidays. This weekend is going to be a real test. Well, it's going to get- I mean, I think 1917 is going to beat it this weekend. It's finally getting into a broader, wider theater. So, I mean, look, I think- You know, everyone- There were a lot of people who downplayed the box office drop that The Last Jedi suffered compared to The Force Awakens by saying, look, if you look back at the history of Star Wars, the first movie does exceptionally well. The second movie has a relatively major drop off. And then the third movie does better than the second movie, but not as well as the first movie. That's what happened with Return of the Jedi. That's what happened with Revenge of the Sith. So, the theory was- Rise of Skywalker will do better than Last Jedi, but worse than The Force Awakens. And it will almost certainly do worse than The Last Jedi. I think that is a safe assumption. Which should be a real sign that The Last Jedi broke this fan base in a serious way. But it will probably not be treated that way. And instead, all of the critics and writers and analysts who love The Last Jedi will say, oh, no, this is a- This is an A.J. Abrams problem. This is a Rise of the Skywalker problem. If they had just kept going with the story that Rian Johnson left them, which had nowhere to go, you know, they would be fine. So I don't know. You know, we'll see what happens. But it's just another data point showing that the franchise is not working out as they had planned it. It is kind of a mess and kind of a disaster. And if they- If they want to get the movie series as opposed to, like, The Mandalorian, which is, by all accounts, doing pretty well. People seem to like it. Back on its feet, they need to, like, I don't know. They need to promote some people. Start over. They need to promote some people and start over. Yep.
Vic00:26:50Okay. Do you have any thoughts on the JVL? No. Those are just my thoughts. Speaking of The Mandalorian, you saw the- The last- You're all caught up. We're all caught up. Did you like how it ended? Did you like the way the first season ended?
JVL00:27:02Oh, I stopped watching as soon as we finished our show about it. I didn't like it enough to give it any more time. Oh, really?
Sonny00:27:08The last two-
JVL00:27:09It got better.
Sonny00:27:10The last- So the first two episodes- Or the first two or three episodes I thought were pretty good. Then there were a couple of really soft episodes in the middle, like, where they go to the, like, forest planet. Help the people in the village. And then, yeah. Like, but then the episode with Bill Burr. Did you see that one? Who's Bill Burr again? Bill Burr's the comedian. It's the one where he goes to the prison ship.
Vic00:27:29Yes. Who does Bill Burr play?
Sonny00:27:32He's the comedian. He's the big comedian. He's like a redhead. He's like a bald redhead. Okay. In this- How do you not know who Bill Burr is? Anyway. Clancy Brown's in it, though. Clancy Brown is in it. Yes. Clancy Brown is in it. The- Ah, blah. Sorry. Anyway, the show started getting better after that episode. And the last three episodes I thought were- Were very good. So there's- There are definitely like two or three like soft episodes in the middle. Got much better at the end.
Vic00:28:02IG-11 2.0.
Sonny00:28:04Yeah.
Vic00:28:05That's what I love.
JVL00:28:05How do they- Do they end it open-ended? Like, or is it a cliffhanger leading into season two? Or do they wrap it up the story in a way that is satisfying on its own?
Sonny00:28:14I think they wrap up the story that they are telling here satisfyingly while also like setting up a second season.
JVL00:28:19That's great.
Sonny00:28:19So. Good. I wish them well.
Vic00:28:21But of course we're-
Sonny00:28:22So are you just- You're just done with Star Wars? You just don't care about Star Wars? You're Star Warsed out. Yeah, basically. Okay.
JVL00:28:28I'm sorry. Is that-
Sonny00:28:29You still have the subscription to Disney Plus though, right?
JVL00:28:32Oh yeah. We watch Disney Plus constantly. Noel. Best new Christmas movie in a long time. Best new Christmas movie since Elf. I don't know what that is. Really? Yeah. Huh. Yeah, you would love it. Anna Kendrick is in it.
Vic00:28:43You know, there's something about her. I shouldn't find her attractive and yet I do.
JVL00:28:47Okay. Well, I was going to say she's a great actress with fantastic comedic timing, but she's also very physically attractive too, if you would like to objectify her. It's the only- If that's the only thing you care about.
Vic00:28:56Yeah. I go to Hillsborough. I go to Hilton because of her. Just kidding. I don't-
JVL00:28:59No, no, but she's in it. I would never. Who's the SNL guy? I would never date to go to Hilton. Strictly Marriott. Yes. Bill Hader is in it. Oh. It's great. Noel is a great guy. Okay, question.
Vic00:29:08Can we go- I hate to do this. It's driving our listeners crazy to go back, but what is- can I just- this is in the middle of every- apropos of nothing. Fleabag. What is Fleabag? It won some stuff in the Golden Globe. Do I need to see Fleabag? What is Fleabag? I haven't watched Fleabag. Everyone loves Fleabag.
JVL00:29:23People love it. Isn't it a BBC show? It's a BBC slash Amazon show. Okay. All right. Okay, great.
Vic00:29:29We're actually going to talk about, however, a movie that came in eighth place this- over the weekend at the box office, Uncut Gems. Uncut Gems. Starring Adam Sandler. I don't think it's getting any wider release. It's- it is where it is, but- You know what? It's in like 2,500 theaters now, I think. It's pretty good. Sonny, how about a big boy review? Wait, hold on. Yeah, wait, wait. Who saw it?
Sonny00:29:54I saw it.
Vic00:29:54I saw it. I saw it, too. And that's it. That's it. Sorry. Okay.
Sonny00:29:59Uncut Gems. So, Uncut Gems stars Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, who is a degenerate gambler. He has smuggled a rare black opal into the country from Ethiopia, or I don't know, some African nation. I think it's Ethiopia. Ethiopia. Ethiopia, yeah. And he wants- he thinks it's worth about a million bucks. He wants to sell it, settle all of his gambling debts. Which are heavy and many, and he owes a great deal of money to his brother-in-law, Arno. And the whole movie is essentially a portrait of compulsion. It is a portrait of addiction, and it is terribly tense and fantastically well shot and incredibly acted by Adam Sandler. I love this movie. I mean, it's one of those rare movies that- That actually provoked a physical reaction from me, in the sense that while I was watching it, I kept like, I was like getting tight in the chest and getting like nervous and kind of angry.
Vic00:31:03I thought it was just, I was so scared it was just me again having one of my once a week palpitation, AFib, arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, and I got to jolt myself. I said, thank God AMC has one of those defibrillators.
Sonny00:31:22I really like this movie a lot and I understand totally why it got a C plus from CinemaScore because it is a movie that a lot of people are not going to like. It is a movie that makes you, I mean it is, again, it is a movie designed to make you feel uncomfortable. People do not like to be made to be felt uncomfortable and it also has, the ending is not I think what people wanted or hoped for, which we can get into in a minute, spoilers in a minute, but I loved it. I love this movie. I love Sandler in it. I love serious Adam Sandler. That is like, I know that this is like a cliche critic thing, but I love him in Funny People and I love him in Punch Drunk Love and I love him here. And I do not know, it is a weird and kind of fascinating movie that, again, uses a lot of director tricks to kind of heighten the tension. Like for instance, there is this great scene. So the film is kind of structured around Sandler. Sandler giving this opal to Kevin Garnett, the actual Kevin Garnett, the basketball player who then becomes obsessed with it and thinks it is his good luck charm and like takes it to games and stuff and uses it and like has it in his locker room during the playoffs. In the midst of a playoff run against the Sixers. In the midst of a, did you remember the, so anyway, we will get to that in a second. So the way the film, the film kind of builds to a climactic game seven between the Celtics and the Sixers where Sandler has. Actually managed to get himself out of Hawk. He has sold this opal. He has the money and instead of using it to pay off his bookies, he puts a like six bet parlay down that will turn his $200,000 into like, I don't know, 5 million or something. Some, some insane number. And the whole last part of the movie involves watching this game play out, not quite in real time, like a truncated version of the game, but you're watching it and like watching the bets pay off one by one and like hoping he, he, he makes it and, and. Uh, the way the guys who made this movie, the Safdie brothers, uh, made this movie is again, it is, it is designed to heighten tension. Like there's this fantastic scene where Kevin Garnett comes to the jewelry shop that Adam Sandler runs and gets stuck in the, uh, gets stuck in the vestibule, the like security doors. Right. And Kevin Garnett's a big dude and there are like two other dudes in there with him. So it is, it is already claustrophobic and then he gets stuck and the camera just kind of stays on Sandler as he walks back and forth. Through the jewelry shop, trying to get the tools to open it and kind of cuts back to Kevin Garnett and, and the guys who are like stuck there and getting, and it's just like, let, let them out, let them out of that room. It like, it, it is, I, again, an almost physical reaction, uh, provoked from me, which is unusual in a film that is not directed by Michael Bay and shown on IMAX. Um, so I don't know. I liked it a lot. I liked it a lot.
Vic00:34:19Hey, thank you, Sonny. I, I, I, I totally agree with that. I was so glad that it wasn't just me having some sort of, you know, cardiac issue because, uh, and I had seen it with some of our friends from the beacon. Uh, so there was a group of people, a group of, uh, the guys here who went to see the movie and after it ended, I asked them, I said, you know, was it just me? And they said, no, they all felt the same way. And the way you did, it was just like, it was so much tension. And I just felt like, cause you know, your, your heart's pounding. I said, man, I just need to find a way to calm down JVL.
JVL00:34:48Hey, we are back in the new year with my favorite of all of our sponsors calm.com that is C A L M.com. It is an app for your phone that has guided meditations and breathing exercises and sleep stories. And this is a 100% true story. So the other morning favorite wakes up sort of before she should. She comes in, she crawls into bed with me. I'm like, oh, we gotta go back to sleep, baby. And she is, she's like, why don't you put on a sleep story, daddy? And so I said, okay, I got. Pull up my phone and I'm scrolling through. I said, who do you want to listen to? And we then begin a discussion at like 4:32 AM about who our favorite sleep story narrators are. And favorite is like, you know, I really like Anna Acton and I know that flash his favorite is Clark Peters. He listens to Clark Peters all the time, but Keegan Connor Tracy is great too. Keegan Connor, Tracy, an actress. Uh, and she's like, and you daddy, you love that miss Tamara, right? And I was like, yup, yup. Miss Tamara is, is my go-to. And so like, we have like favorites of all the authors named. One of the things you can do on the app is look up stories by narrator. It's so cool. And I wanted to share with you a, I have found a new narrator who I only listened to his story because it was his, his name listed is the French whisperer.
Guest00:36:12I am the French whisperer and we are about to embark on a voyage to the mysteries of the mythical lost continent.
JVL00:36:20And this wow, that will put you to sleep right quick. So I, I'm just the biggest fan of calm. Uh, we use it all the time in our family. I think everybody frankly should, uh, for the listener of the show. Calm is offering a special limited time promotion of 40% off a calm premium subscription at calm.com/sub beacon. That's 40% off limited act, unlimited, sorry, unlimited access to comms, entire library, and the new content is added every week. Get started today at calm.com/sub beacon. That's calm.com/sub beacon. It's awesome.
Vic00:37:03Thank you JVL. The French whisper reminds me of the guy in true lies when Arnold Schwarzenegger has to record the voice and there's a guy in the recording. No slowly turn around. Oh, that's so cool. That's all sort of picturing JV. Oh, you just saw, uh, uncut gems more recently. What did you think?
JVL00:37:25So I, you know, I, I, I had a reaction to the movie. Um, I walked out. I haven't walked out. Are you talking about in wow. I haven't walked out on a movie in probably a year and a half because of health reasons. No, it was just horror. It was a bad movie. It was it's flabby. It's clearly improvisational. In the way that a Steven Soderbergh's movies are his smaller films are often improvisational. Uh, and now, you know how sunny now, now, you know how I feel when you guys talked about widows, but it was, but it's a movie without actually like Steven Soderbergh behind the film who like understands how to, how to do things. I just, everything about it was predictable and flabby and sort of circular and so, so I hate it. Let me, let me build. Build up to this here for a moment. Uh, I hated every single character and I wanted everybody in this movie to die. Uh, I wanted Adam Sandler's character to die. I wanted his wife, Adina Menzel to die. I wanted their children to die. I wanted Kevin Garnett to die. I wanted his business partner, uh, uh, the Keith Stanfield, the, what was his name? Domani, Domani, Domani. I wanted him dead. I wanted everybody in this movie dead, the girlfriend. Oh God. I wanted that girl dead. Uh, all of them. I wanted them all shot in the head and, uh, and. Uh, so hold on, hold on. I walked out shortly after the two of them break up, shortly after he breaks up with the, the mistress. Okay. Uh, let me guess what happens. Okay. Because this is how unbelievably predictable this stupid movie is. Uh, so at some point the bad guys come to, uh, come to, to Adam Sandler's office and they also become stuck in the vestibule. Mm-hmm. The way Kevin Garnett and his crew were. Is this true? Mm-hmm.
Vic00:39:23You promised you haven't, you don't know. You didn't cheat. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Okay.
JVL00:39:27Okay. They become stuck in there. They are watching the, the, the payoff from the, some big bet because he has unloaded the Opal and instead of paying off his debtors, as you said, I knew this before you, you even said it, he has let it all ride on something and he probably had to use the mistress. They probably had some sort of weird, like getting back together thing. Right. And then I'm going to guess that he wins the payoff of the bet and yet everything goes terribly wrong for him anyway. Mm-hmm. I'm guessing that this is the end, the ending of the movie. Let me say this. Let me say this. There's only one character in this entire film that I was rooting for and that is the leg breaker for the. See, you would have loved it.
Sonny00:40:11You would have loved the end. You would have loved the ending.
JVL00:40:13The only guy I liked is the leg breaker. I wanted him to kill everybody.
Sonny00:40:17He's the deliverer of justice at the end of this movie. At the end of this film from JVL's perspective.
JVL00:40:20All right. Then maybe I should have stayed. What happens?
Sonny00:40:22You should have stuck through. So they get stuck in the vestibule, right? And the leg breaker guy and his little buddy. Because he's the only honest person trying to do like real work. And also Arno, right? They're all three of them get stuck in the middle. The great Eric Boghossian. And so again, spoilers from, you know. Yeah. And Sandler wins the bet. He wins the six bet parlay. Sure. And lets them out of the booth and he's like, all right, you're going to get your money and the leg breaker shoots him right in the face. Okay. That's awesome. See, you would have loved it. You should have stuck around.
JVL00:40:56So it has a happy ending.
Sonny00:40:57Has a happy ending for you from your perspective, from your point of view. Does everybody else die too? Does the leg breaker kill everybody? Well, he kills the brother as well too. Well, he also kills Arno. He also kills Arno.
JVL00:41:05Well, this really is a good movie. Now I feel bad that I left. See, you never leave a movie halfway through. Never. I guess I should have gone. No, it just dragged on and on and it felt like wildly predictable and sloppily put together. And the score. God, the score. It was rated on my nerves. It was weird.
Sonny00:41:20It is intentionally abrasive.
Vic00:41:22I haven't heard a score like that since like Scarface with that weird synthesizer.
JVL00:41:28It is a 1985 score in a movie that is set in 2012.
Sonny00:41:33But it's also shot like a 1985 movie. It's shot with that kind of gritty, you know. It's anachronistic.
JVL00:41:40The movie is a period piece that is using music from the wrong period. You could evoke the feeling of tension or whatever using period. Period appropriates music.
Sonny00:41:49There was a whole interview with the cinematographer, Darius Kanji, who he talked about how like this movie is designed to evoke the kind of New York of the 1980s without being in the New York of the 1980s. We shot it in a way that is, you know, kind of grainier and kind of grittier. And we, you know, wanted it to look like one of those types of movies.
Vic00:42:14In addition, the Diamond District in its own way is its own world. In New York. It is its own little city. But you enter the Diamond District, it's a whole different scene. In what way, Vic?
JVL00:42:26I knew you were going to ask me about that.
Vic00:42:28In a more cosmopolitan way, JVL.
Sonny00:42:31Ruthless. Ruthless cosmopolitan way. Another thing I actually really liked about this movie. Our friends used to joke about this. Another thing I really, you joke about this, but one of the things I actually really liked about this movie is that it evokes a very particular sense of like Long Island, New York, Jewish, like basketball obsessed culture, which are like all of my friends in college were like this for what I was actually in a like nationally Jewish fraternity. And all of my, all of my friends, and all of my, all of my, I wouldn't say all of them, but a number of my friends were from like New York, Long Island, love basketball, love the NBA. One of them actually worked for David Stern for a summer. He's very sad this week as after, after the commission is passing and so that, that also like, it, it called to mind like weirdly good memories for me, which was, which was an interesting part of it. So I'm, I'm, I'm, again, I'm sad that you, you left because I would have, I wanted to get your take on that game, the Celtics Sixers game, because it, it feels like I, I, I was curious how it would play to somebody who like knew what happened in the game.
Vic00:43:40So question is, since I don't follow the NBA, that was an actual, they, they, they, they connected the actual footage. From Kevin Garnett playing in 2012 with Kevin Garnett, obviously 28, 2019 Kevin Garnett, but I thought it was seamless because he looked pretty good. They did. They didn't just use, I mean, no, no, no. I mean, well, Kevin Garnett acting in the movie. So I mean, and he let it, and so it's like, you know, but he's ageless. If you get close, it's one of those episodes, huh? It's one of those episodes. Fine. If you get close up, you could tell he looks older, but otherwise he's 29 and he didn't let, he didn't let himself go either. You know what I mean? A lot of athletes.
JVL00:44:17You know, but one of the guys with a build that he will always be that kind of a bean
Sonny00:44:23pole.
Vic00:44:23It's like, it's a good thing. They did a movie about Charles Barkley or Patrick Ewing. Patrick Ewing. They'd have to CGI that thing.
Sonny00:44:30Okay. So originally Kobe Bryant was one of the people they looked at for this, for this also Amari Stoudemire and Amari Stoudemire, which also has a Jewish connection. Yeah. Yeah. They've been working on the script for like 10 years. They've been kind of trying to figure out.
JVL00:44:43They spent 10 years on this script.
Sonny00:44:47They're trying to match it with the writers, with plot points. It's all, it's all scripted out.
JVL00:44:51At some point you've got to get the hammer and then come back into the other room, but you can say whatever you need to do while you're doing that. Cause that's what this is. It's clearly an improvisational script. It's great.
Sonny00:45:00It's, I mean, even if it was improvised, it was great. It, it served the intended purpose for me, which was to make me anxious and nervous. That's so interesting. And I think it, I think it did the same to you. You just didn't like it. You just walked out. I don't mind getting out of my comfort zone for a couple hours.
JVL00:45:15Maybe that's what it was. No, but the other thing. But the other thing is I also, as a moral matter, I resent the entire world of hustling and I don't like hustling. And almost everybody in this movie is a hustler, right? Nobody's creating value. Everybody's lying to everybody else about a debt.
Vic00:45:33I agree, but I feel the same way about Goodfellas and yet I'm fascinated by these people and I don't mind being engrossed by it for two hours.
Sonny00:45:41You are articulating a likability problem. That is what your problem with this movie is. There's nobody that's likable in this movie. There is. The leg-breaker. Well, okay.
JVL00:45:50No, but he's doing his job in a real way. Fine. But he's doing it at an appropriate level, of course.
Vic00:45:54He's not thinking. He stood to gain millions of dollars. He was going to get millions of dollars. And instead, Smashing Graham said they shoot everybody and then they just steal the jewelry and leave. That's the principle. I would have said it. Principle of the thing. I would have told the guy because the guy at the end was like, you made your point, now let us out. First thing I would have done was let him out the other way. But the other thing is because she managed to escape the girlfriend to get to collect the money at Mohegan Sun. And that was an interesting sort of side plot involving this guy, Wayne Diamond, who plays the... That's so weird. It's just very strange, but I found it fascinating. Anyway, I just would have explained to the guy. Okay. So you guys liked it. I gave it an A. A slash A plus. Okay, ready?
Sonny00:46:33My third favorite movie of the year. Of last year. Wow. That is really something.
Vic00:46:38Duration. Duration. I grant it. It was long. It was two hours and 18 minutes. It was long. Could have been 70 minutes. On the other hand, I love gambling and betting and I can watch other people play blackjack and... I don't even have to be at the table playing my... I don't have to have a stake in it. I can stand and watch people gamble all day. And it's that kind of a thing. And it's just that kind of a movie where I like to see what they're doing in their life. It's a whole other world that I'm interested in and don't necessarily want to be a part of, thank God, because very unsavory characters. But I don't mind for two hours or so to get into that world and see what it's like. And it's very intense. And then after the end of the movie, like, oh, thank God I'm not in that. But I still found it, you know, good. The plot, obviously, straightforward. You said, especially if you know what betting, you know, how betting works, then you can understand parlay and things like that. The Vig. Yeah, and the Vig. And the Vig. And so people who don't, maybe that's just all over their heads. The violence, I thought, was very realistic, especially the ending. Nudity. I can't believe you left after that great scene with the Smith and Walensky. She comes home with her Smith and Walensky. No, but she's on the couch and he's there and she's... In 2019. In 2019, that's as racy as it gets in a movie. Let me just say that. Okay, so there you go. What else do I have to say? I have a feeling that a lot of the people they cast were not actors, but actually just real people. Actual jewelers and thugs. The guy who you liked, JVL. They picked him up off the street. Yes, that's what they said.
JVL00:48:08His face was perfect. Yes, he was. It was like broken Eric Roberts. Yes. Brokener. I remember watching an episode of Law and Order. They just area casting for local people, and they all have great faces.
Vic00:48:23I loved Arno, Eric Boghossian. Do you remember Eric Boghossian? He was in, I think, one of the first Oliver Stone movies I ever saw, which was Talk Radio. And he plays the shock jock, the Howard Stern type in the end. And here, he just had that. I didn't know what his relationship was. So, I mean, I knew he was related to him because all of a sudden you see him at Passover, and then you're like. Ah, there's a connection here, and that makes it weird because when they're beating him up and they put him in the trunk, he has a look of like he kind of feels bad, but he can barely control these animals, and so they're going to do what they do. And I'm like, why does he care?
Sonny00:48:59This is a movie that is also very much about people who get in over their heads. Like Arno, for instance, wants to be a tough guy, wants to be like a, you know, I want to be the deal-making, leg-breaker, tough guy, bookie, and he doesn't understand the people who, he is like, it's like when the mob hires the Joker, right? He does not understand the people he has gotten in bed with. And again, this is like, this is also what's going on with Adam Sandler's character. He does not under, he thinks that he can keep playing these games, and he cannot. And it's about people learning that that is a terrible way to live. I think it's actually a weirdly moral movie in a way, JVL.
JVL00:49:39Does the mistress get away with the money? She does. You don't see what happens to her?
Sonny00:49:43Well, she gets into a limo. She gets into a limo. She gets into a car accident on the Jersey Terminal.
Vic00:49:47I don't know. No, no, no, on the Connecticut. That can be your headcanon. Connecticut, it's the Mohegan Sun. It's the Mohegan Sun.
JVL00:49:53Can I propose a theory?
Sonny00:49:55Sorry, we keep interrupting the quadrants.
JVL00:49:58Oh, I'm sorry.
Vic00:49:58I thought we were done with the quadrants. We are done with the quadrants. I just wanted to say, I was slightly distracted through the first half of the movie because I kept on saying, oh, I can't wait to see Judd Nelson. I haven't seen Judd Nelson since, like, St. Elmo's Fire.
JVL00:50:11He's on the credits.
Vic00:50:13It was Judd Hirsch. Or did I actually see Judd Nelson?
JVL00:50:15No, Judd Hirsch, but who did Judd Hirsch play? The father. He's the father. He's the one who buys the opal.
Sonny00:50:21Is he the father of the father-in-law? Father.
JVL00:50:24It's very unclear to me.
Vic00:50:25I was gone by then. But I was thinking Judd Nelson, and I said, I think I must have been thinking of Judd Nelson instead of Judd Hirsch. Sorry.
JVL00:50:30JVL. So three data points allow you to make a theory. I have a third person in my life who loved the crap out of this movie, and she is not a degenerate gambler because she doesn't gamble often. But she doesn't gamble often because she knows she loves the action. Same. Same as you. Same as you, Sonny.
Sonny00:50:54I am totally indifferent to it.
JVL00:50:56Maybe.
Sonny00:50:56You actually hate gambling. You don't like gambling. Basically, yes.
Vic00:51:00You gamble a little bit. Even when we have gambled together, like on the cruise ship. Very nervous about it. You don't like it. But also, you don't back up your bets, like on the come line and things like that. Excuse me.
JVL00:51:12Continue. And so I wonder if maybe this movie. Decide that. Is really for.
Vic00:51:17On the cruise. At the casino, not at the cabin.
JVL00:51:22We never had to share a cabin. No, no. We never did. We never did. I mean, that was a choice. That was a choice. We were never forced to. I said we never had to share a cabin. Very good. Very good. So it's a movie that appeals to gamblers. Yes, is what I'm saying. That if you really like gambling, that this is a movie which is good for you and which speaks to you. And otherwise, it's like watching a football movie for somebody who hates football.
Vic00:51:45On the other hand, you loved Rounders.
JVL00:51:48I did. I did. But what I love mostly about Rounders is the performances. Yeah. I mean, I could watch those guys, Turturro and Malkovich and Fonka Jansen and the stuff they're doing all day long. Also, I thought that was a very tight script. Like, Rounders doesn't have a lot of flab on it. Rounders is working a lot of angles. It's great. It's true. Okay. Do you have any other? Get it. Rounders is working a lot of angles.
Vic00:52:14That's good. Thank you.
JVL00:52:16Very clever. I'm sorry. I didn't appreciate that. Yes.
Vic00:52:18Sonny, anything else?
JVL00:52:19No. JVL's wrong.
Vic00:52:20This movie's great. Okay. KG. I thought he was great in this movie. My eye. Sorry. That's under my eye here. You remember that story. I can't discuss that on air. Come on. Thank you. This is one of those that you and me. This goes 20 years. It does because it was my friend. 20 damn years. My friend, the former flight attendant who lived with a girl who dated Kevin Garnett. What are you?
JVL00:52:42When he was with the Timberwolves. Bail out. Bail out. Bail out.
Vic00:52:47Bleep that whole thing? You think it's too dangerous? Okay.
Guest00:52:50Bleeped.
Vic00:52:51Okay. That is it. Oh, wait. Hey, just a reminder before we go. Again, for those of you who lean right, SwagRite at SwagRite.com. Good. Get your holiday swag for those you love and like this year. We're still in the holiday season. For Trump shirts, Swalwell whoopee cushions, Pocahontas pillow, the fake news gear and more. Now, SwagRite 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 SwagRite.com now and check it all out. Corrections, shout outs. I just want to say. I was at a cocktail reception on Monday night and met a listener, Tim Rice. Very nice to meet you. Thank you for listening, Tim. And a really big shout out to our friend, the artist and illustrator, Doug TenApple. Thank you for sending us these gorgeous books, Earthworm Jim, Launch the Cow and The Making of Earthworm Jim.
JVL00:54:04These are really beautiful.
Vic00:54:05They are very beautiful. You can go to DougTComics.com to get the book and help with his future crowdfunding campaign because he's got to do this all by himself.
Sonny00:54:15Thank you, Doug. Thank you, Doug. It's a very nice looking book. I am very, very like kind of shocked.
Vic00:54:21These are objets d'art.
Sonny00:54:22Yeah. Very, very nice.
Vic00:54:24And that is all the time we are giving to this episode. Questions, comments, complaints, compliments, tweet us at SonnyBunch at Victorino Matus. Again, be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher. Just type in Sub-Beacon on a podcast. We're there. Leave a review. Tell your friends. Until next time.
JVL00:54:45Oh, that was wow. I was waiting for Sonny to do it. I know. And you weren't. I thought, oh, so Sonny's not going to do it. I'm done. I'm done with that.
Vic00:54:57Well, there's going to be, as you know, a lot of changes coming up in the future. So you have to stay tuned for that. Sonny, are we allowed to talk about a countdown until you're gone from the national capital area?
Sonny00:55:07Yeah, I'm leaving in like two weeks, basically. Two weeks already.
JVL00:55:13So what's going to happen to the show?
Sonny00:55:15My understanding is we're going to tape it remotely. So nothing should change, really. Awesome. I like that. Yeah.
Vic00:55:21I keep on thinking of the line, the apocryphal line from the woman who said, you know, who do I have to get off this podcast? That's right.
Sonny00:55:31Now I got to do all this bleeping. I'm sure it's fine.
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