#51. Bad Boys for Life, Strong Coffee, and the Best Movie of the 2010s?
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The main event is Bad Boys for Life, the 17-years-later Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reunion that Sonny correctly predicted would blow past its tracking — projected in the mid-30s, it took $62.5 million for the weekend and $73.4 million over the four-day holiday, after he clocked a Thursday 9:45 IMAX show at Hoffman Center running 75-80% full. Sonny enjoyed it as disposable fun (the voodoo-priestess villainess, the Belgian directors playing with Michael Bay's signature 360 shot by having Lawrence slam a car door into a fire hydrant, Bay's own cameo, which made him the only person in the theater laughing) but hated the ending's attempt to redeem a killer who spends the whole film murdering judges and snitches while whispering "no innocents." JVL is unabashedly on the other side, defending the twist as fully earned — the vengeance is revealed to be for a man who wasn't his father, which un-righteous everything — and declaring the film "better than it has to be at every turn," the best buddy cop movie in five years, a Lethal Weapon 4-style payoff of accumulated audience affection, and possibly, he refuses to rule out, better than 1917 or the single greatest cinematic achievement of all time. Sonny also buries Doolittle, a 15%-fresh, $175 million catastrophe he figures loses Universal north of $100 million on the heels of Cats, tying it to the 1967 Rex Harrison version and Mark Harris's Pictures at a Revolution. Vic, who hadn't seen the sequel but watched the original for the first time, then unveils his best-of-the-2010s list: Rogue One, Hell or High Water, Inception, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, The Big Short, Dunkirk, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Social Network, and The Dark Knight Rises at number one, drawing Sonny's objection to three Nolan films and Wolf of Wall Street sitting at eleven. Earlier: a one-star review from "T-Mod Austin" telling them to become accountants over the Rise of Skywalker math, JVL's rare unmedicated appearance at Sonny's going-away party, and Vic's Knights of Columbus breakfast disaster, where he dumped an entire industrial bag of grounds into the urn, produced coffee an old lady compared to tar, broke the machine at 9:30, and blamed it all on the stranger whose apron he was wearing. It's their last show in the same room before Sonny drives to Dallas.
From the show notes
#cdata-section -------------- In this latest episode, sponsored by SwagRight.com , we discuss Bad Boys for Li...
Full transcript
Vic00:00:00I'm done, Mike. I'm a bit tired. Uh-oh, here we go again. You want your legacy to be muscle shirts and body counts?
JVL00:00:08Look at this mess! It's carnage!
Vic00:00:23Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Sub-Beacon, sponsored by 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 under Podcasts to search for Sub-Beacon. You'll easily find us. Please subscribe, tell your friends, and leave a review. Speaking of reviews, JVL, what's on your mind?
JVL00:00:45Yeah, so we got a review about our Star War episode. Uh-oh. Star War. The gentleman, I assume it was a gentleman, who left the review was not happy with us. He wrote, one star, this is T-Mod Austin, who should drive into a tree and die. I usually enjoy your reviews, but the totally in-the-weeds review, in-the-weeds in quotes. In-the-weeds. Of Rise of Skywalker was so depressing I had to turn you off. Something to remember going forward for me. If you have to do the math to justify enjoying a movie, become an accountant, but stop doing reviews.
Sonny00:01:26I don't even know what that means. But he doesn't get to listen to the show anymore. Yes. He's banned. You're banned from the show.
JVL00:01:33I saw that review. I go, oh, I don't want to tell JVL. Can I give you a little, just as a for instance. For instance. One of the things I have learned from doing my other show on Patreon is that you can actually block people from being able to listen to it. Really? If there's like a person who you don't want them to be able to, like they come and they're like, hey, I'd like to give you money and listen to your show. You can say, meh, I'd rather not let you listen to it. I'd rather you didn't. Wow.
Sonny00:01:59Just a thought for us going forward. T-Mod Austin. Yeah, no, I, well, I, I, the thing I didn't understand about that review was, was it, was it in the weeds or was it too focused on the numbers? Like there, there, those are two different things really.
JVL00:02:15Like if your numbers was like a 90 second. Yeah.
Sonny00:02:17The numbers, the numbers, like whatever. I mean, it's the actual only interesting thing about Star Wars at this point is looking at the box office.
Vic00:02:24I thought he meant, I thought he meant like the calculations you did. For Death Stars and the amount of water and manpower that was needed. Oh, maybe that was it, yeah. Was that what he was thinking about?
JVL00:02:33Well, that was 90 seconds. Yeah. The box office talk was slightly more than that. I don't know. You know what, whatever, whatever. I thought it was interesting. That was a great episode. That was a great show.
Sonny00:02:41That was a great show. You should all listen to it again. People who, people who don't like that show. Mm-hmm. There you go. Like T-Mod Austin. The one star. Driving to a, driving to a bridge above.
Vic00:02:49Hurtful.
JVL00:02:50Other than that, JVO? I'm fine. I'm still recovering from having gone to a party.
Vic00:02:58What? When did you do that?
JVL00:03:01I went to a party for you, Sonny.
Sonny00:03:05Why would you do that?
Vic00:03:06I was wondering, I was wondering you were acting so funny.
Sonny00:03:09I was curious. I just kind of assumed that Shannon would show up and you would stay home with the kids. That's how we normally do it. Yeah, that's what I used to do.
Vic00:03:15It's a going away party for Sonny, so Jonathan will stay home.
Sonny00:03:18I figured that that's what would happen. I would, now I was fine with that. I see you, I see you pretty, pretty regularly. We did that recently, actually. There was some party that she wanted to go to that I was like, oh.
JVL00:03:27The Christmas party. The Christmas party. The McCartney party. The McCormick Christmas party. Is that what it was?
Vic00:03:30Oh, yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Oh. Thank you.
JVL00:03:32I may or may not have texted a regular babysitter and told her, don't come, so that I would have an excuse to stay home with the kids and not have to go.
Vic00:03:40But see, the thing is. Would you like John?
JVL00:03:42What? The thing is, I like John fine. You just hate parties. Well, I hate parties because you can't.
Vic00:03:48That's why I don't invite you to the New Year's party.
JVL00:03:49One bad, one bad person that you don't like is all it takes to ruin everything. So who is, who is the bad person?
Vic00:03:55Yeah, that's now I want to know. Who is it?
JVL00:03:58The list is long. Is it Andy Ferguson? The beauty of the party for you was that it was all great people. All good people. It was only the people I really, really love. That's good. It was great. Good. Good. I'm glad you came. I'm glad you came.
Sonny00:04:12I had a good time. I had a good time. Was it bittersweet? I was glad I didn't.
JVL00:04:16Did it tug at your heart strings?
Sonny00:04:17It was nice to see all of the people in, from the D.C. metropolitan area, more or less, who have.
Vic00:04:27It was a good turnout for you. And the missus? Yeah. To send you off? It was good. One last time?
Sonny00:04:32It was nice. It was fun. Sonnyfest? It was fun. I was very touched. I was glad Matt did not ask me to make any remarks. Would it have gotten dusty? No. I just wouldn't have had anything to say. I would have been like, hey, thanks, guys. Good riddance. Thanks, guys. Thanks for the memories. Thanks. Thanks for coming to this. Thanks for throwing this so I didn't have to do it. See you guys later.
Vic00:04:54I remember when you were a kid.
Sonny00:04:56You were a kid.
Vic00:04:57Just a boy.
Sonny00:04:58UVA intern at the stand. That's right.
Vic00:05:00Once upon a time. And he was quiet. I didn't know what his opinion was.
Sonny00:05:042002.
Vic00:05:05I didn't know if he had any opinions. Little did I know. Well, he had opinions and they were all right. They were all in there. They were all correct. They're not really opinions.
Sonny00:05:13They're just facts. Waiting to come forth. Lots of dark thoughts. Lots of dark thoughts.
JVL00:05:17So you leave tomorrow?
Sonny00:05:19Yeah. We pack up the truck tomorrow. When you say pack up the truck, we've got a truck coming. Do you mean you're moving yourself? No, no. Mayflower. Okay. So you did not.
JVL00:05:28You did a truck that you're going to pack the truck yourself. You are hiring.
Sonny00:05:31Yeah, yeah. We've hired movers. Yeah, that's a big operation. We have the house, I would say, 95% packed up. We've got like five or six boxes of stuff that probably still need to go away. We're at the point where we're just like throwing things into boxes where it's like we're like going through the kitchen. Not packing them. This, this, this, this, this. The only thing, the only big thing I have left to pack is my like 65 inch plasma TV. And I'm terrified. I'm terrified that that is not going to make it.
JVL00:05:57The chances of that.
Sonny00:05:58The chances of that making it successfully across the country are basically zero. I know. I'm, I'm really, I, I, I should probably just give it to, to a good home here, but I like can't. I can't. Don't you have any neighbors that you like? You like, hey, here. I don't, I don't have that much. I don't have any who are willing to take 130 pound plasma TV. You forget, people forget how heavy those were. Oh yeah. Like the plasmas. I, like I, uh, it's funny. I, I went to a Target the other day and I was like, oh, how am I, how heavy? Is this like 4K L-C-O-L-E-D TV, you know? Uh, and I picked it up. It's like 30 pounds at the most, like including the box and all that. And I was like, oh, okay. That's, that's great. Uh, that would be much more convenient than the TV that I'm trying to move across the country. I'd say there's, I'd say there's, uh, there's like a 30% chance. I would say there's a 10% chance that both of my plasma TVs make it. Uh, and I would say there's like a 40% chance that one of them makes it. We'll see.
JVL00:06:57That's right. That's tough. Oof. I have two plasmas. That's right.
Sonny00:07:01I have not upgraded my TV situation in like 12 years. I'm sorry. Because they're so good. Do you like, do you like nice inky black? I like, you know what I like? I like black levels that don't gray out. Yeah. So I, that's why I've come. The only TV, again, we, we had this discussion, I don't know, earlier in the year, I guess. But the only TV I would consider upgrading to at this point is an OLED. And I'm waiting for those to come down to a more reasonable price point. The OLEDs are very nice.
JVL00:07:27Victorino. How are you?
Vic00:07:29I'm recovering as well. I feel just like you because I also had been drinking from Tuesday to Sunday. So that was a very rough.
JVL00:07:36Oh, to be clear, my recovery was not drinking related. Although I do have, I did have two.
Vic00:07:41Oh, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't drinking related. It was just like social anxiety.
JVL00:07:47No, no. I went to that party without, I went to that party. We did heavily medicate. I didn't realize we were medicated. No, not even medicated. No, I went without taking my Xanax. That's why it was such a, that was, yeah, I went totally. Totally naked and vulnerable.
Sonny00:08:00And then I had two Shuffer Huffers.
JVL00:08:03You did? I saw you drink one. I was like, okay.
Vic00:08:05But then when you broke the second one out, I was like, whoa. Getting crazy. So you had to drink. Key bowl is coming out.
JVL00:08:10You had to drink from when to when?
Vic00:08:12Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So I took off Monday and Tuesday.
JVL00:08:17So this was like a saw that there were, you were locked into a basement. And there were people with.
Vic00:08:21Yeah, there was like the, there was the, there was the glass in the cage with the hands. And then there was the, uh, the. The pendulum, the pendulum, you know? So, uh, don't watch them. They're terrible. They're awful.
Sonny00:08:34I've seen the first, I think.
Vic00:08:35Crush your hands or you will get split in half.
Sonny00:08:38And the guy's like, it's two people.
Vic00:08:39Ah, you know, it's so disturbing and there's guts flying and it's just okay. But no, so it was different occasions, different reasons, functions, dinners, lunches, things to be friendly with people and stuff like that. And so, uh, that's what happened. And the culminated of course, in Sonny Fest on Saturday night. And, uh, uh, I don't know. I made myself, oh, I was making drinks. You were making drinks. I was making Manhattans, which is always an easy, I don't know why I feel like it's easier to make in my mind than martinis. And I love making martinis, but I think if you're making it for eat for larger crowds, cause the ratio is for me and my, my feeble mathematical mind, I, even I know the ratio is like two, one, two, which is, you know, two parts.
Sonny00:09:19Yeah. With a martini, it's like nine to one or depends on how dry you want it and different infusions
Vic00:09:25and things. But the, uh, if you want, you know, orange bitters or whatever. But with the Manhattan, it's, it's for me in my mind, I got that pretty much set. And I think people like that. Uh, the secret is the cherry juice. When you give people a cherry, uh, if you decide to go that way, you get a little sweetened it up and then they can't tell how much they're drinking. That's usually my point.
JVL00:09:42Wait, so you, you were only making them for other people.
Vic00:09:45Oh, and I, a little, I gotta make sure it's because I thought I saw you with this big,
JVL00:09:50there's like a big silver milkshake container. Oh yeah. That was for everybody.
Vic00:09:54Oh, you didn't see me drink out of it. I was just using it to make drinks for. Other people.
Sonny00:09:58You just tasted.
Vic00:09:59I tasted from time to time, every other, you know, thing, but that worked out well. But the problem was, uh, uh, I had, uh, also previously volunteered, um, to, uh, work the, uh, the, the breakfast buffet at, uh, at the nights and said, I'd love to help you guys out, you know? And they said, great. And I, the, the breakfast buffet starts around, you know, nine 30 in the morning. I can do that. And because, well, they said, you know, our coffee OJ guy isn't here. Uh, so if you can do that, uh, I said, perfect. What time? Like, and he's like, yeah, 7am. If you could show up at 7am, that'd be perfect.
JVL00:10:31So squeeze the orange juice yourself.
Vic00:10:35Every, so I was like, how hard can the job be right at 7am? Uh, so I show up and you know, it's, it's, it's a giant kitchen because it's, they have a huge reception hall and, uh, and the buffet breakfast that goes from like nine to noon or something like that, or eight 30 to nine to noon. And so you do have about hundreds of people who come in. And so we're, uh, it's so. The juice is, the juice part is fairly easy except for you have to find. And so I don't know where everything is. And so it's finding these old, the frozen concentrates, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The frozen concentrates, you've got to put in a giant tub, right? And you got, and then, and then you put in the water and then it's like three to one or four to one with the, you know, with the ratio, more math and they got to mash it up. You know, I went to Georgetown. I'm not, I'm not for this. And then you got to take it from the giant tub and pour it into the nice container, the carafe. I started doing that. I didn't realize the spout. It was open when it was there at the carousel. I poured it. It starts coming out, you know? And so I got the coffee. I got orange juice everywhere. The coffee thing was interesting because they have these giant carafes. I don't know, 40, 50 cups, you know, for a thing. And you put it under this giant machine. I said, fairly easy. And you got to put the filter in and they have these giant filters and they have these industrial bags of coffee.
JVL00:11:49You know, I'm sure only the finest Robusto beans.
Vic00:11:52Kate, Kate was asking me the name of it. And I was like, I don't know, reserve, chock full of reserves.
JVL00:11:57Not even, not even, not even, right?
Vic00:11:59So I say to the guy, I said, how much coffee do I, how much, how much? He goes, I don't know. I mean, Jay was the one who did it. And I don't know. So I said, all right. So I put a whole bag, the whole bag into this filter thing, right? And I put, when I looked at it and it's a giant filter, I go, that kind of looks like a lot, but I'll put it in anyway. And then I just hit watch.
JVL00:12:16Did you overflow it?
Vic00:12:17No, but it started coming out looking really dark and thick, you know? And so then they had watered the whole thing. I put it out. So then the people start showing up. And by the way, nine o'clock. 8.30, the old people are there already. You know, they're waiting. They show up early even for breakfast.
Sonny00:12:32They show up early because of the early bird.
Vic00:12:34If Mass is at 7.30, whatever, they're there and they're just waiting. They're chomping at the bit. So I bring it out. And then all of a sudden it starts picking up. And then people are saying, you know, some people want tea. And I forgot there's, I put up, you know, a hot water section with the plates. And then, and then people, you got to get the OJ out and then bring out the other cartons. And then of course the coffee and then the cream and everything else. And it's just going around in a circle. I come out to check and there's an old lady there and she goes,
JVL00:12:57Oh my gosh, this coffee is so strong. I can't drink it. It's too strong. And I said, well, it just had more cream. She goes, I did. It's just, it's like tar.
Vic00:13:06And I'm like, I don't know. I'll go and check who made the coffee and I'll tell them. I don't know who it is, lady. I'll find out. I was also wearing an apron that had another person's name on it. Bryant. So if anyone complained, it was, you know, that Bryant guy, he was the worst. Can we, can we back up on this?
Sonny00:13:21Yes, Sonny. I don't understand why you were working.
JVL00:13:24You were going to be a night at Columbus soon, Sonny. What is it? But your initiation, we'll learn how old this is.
Vic00:13:29We do a, we do a breakfast for everybody in the Arlington area. It's like a $10 for it's cheap. It's really cheap.
Sonny00:13:38And all the cheap and all the $10 for terrible coffee.
Vic00:13:41It's a huge buffet. And, and it all goes to charity. It all goes to, it all goes to charity. It got water, watery or later because we were running out of juice. And it's like, let's just taste a little water down and go. That's because it is anyway. But you know, and it all goes to charity. Nobody gets, I mean, we're all volunteers. And so we do this and they're, the guys working in the back, you know, they're slaving away with the bacon and everything else that I try not to get in their way. You know, you try to, I'm not a restaurant person myself, but you try to just plan what your route is. So you're not constantly bumping into people and just doing your job.
Sonny00:14:13Did you, did you have to yell out on your right?
JVL00:14:15Right.
Vic00:14:16On your right, on your left. Fire up, fire up a Scrabble. And then they say, and then they'll repeat it for you.
Sonny00:14:21Did anyone call you an idiot sandwich? No, but. With the pieces of bread on your head. This happened to you? No, it's a, it's a, it's a meme.
Vic00:14:29Oh, it's a meme, it's a meme, it's a meme. Okay. So then, so that's going on. And then at 930, the coffee machine breaks. Uh-oh. And 930 in the middle of service. Yeah, that's no good. And now there's like, you know, a hundred people.
JVL00:14:41And, and. How did it break? It probably didn't have anything to do with somebody jamming it full of five pounds of grinds. The indicator said, the indicator said. It's a mystery. Error. It was Brian. Brian did it. Brian did it. Oh, Brian.
Vic00:14:53Brian, Brian. And it said, water supply error, water supply. I said, oh, that can't be good. And so I brought in the other fellow, Steven, this Australian who is, he was normally the bartender at the club. And he takes, he takes no guff from anybody. He's a tough guy. And he, he, so he's calling, he's got a call and they're telling him it's the thing in the back, you know, because it connects to the, to the actual water pipe. Right, right. So it supplies it. Plumbed. As we call it. Plumbed. Call it business. And, and so then they finally get it done. And it's like, it's, it's going to take 30 minutes to heat up this water. Oh. And I said, that is going to be the longest 30 minutes. And I said, do you want to tell them? He goes, they're all out there. Like, where's the coffee? And even he was like, he goes, I'm not going out there, mate. He goes, they got their knives out. And so I said, oh, you're going to stab me. So I said, forget about it. So we just waited and finally brought out. And then, and in the middle of the chaos, and then one of the other nights, a big fella comes up to me and he goes, I'm not saying new guy shows up and all hell breaks loose. But new guy showed up. You broke it. You broke it. And I said, yeah. I said, I don't know. Complain to that Bryant guy. The lesson. He's the worst. Bryant is the worst.
Sonny00:15:53The lesson, as always, is never help anyone. Never volunteer. Never volunteer for anything. Never try to improve. It was exhausting.
Vic00:16:00From 7 a.m. till about 2. I didn't get home till 2. Never try to improve people's lives. It was exhausting. We had to break. And we got to break it down. We got to break everything down at the end.
JVL00:16:08I have, this is a continuing complaint of mine, which is for any sort of fundraiser, like this sort of thing, or kids selling raffle tickets, or the scholastic. But you, like you, you know, your kids are selling. The wrapping paper. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Charleston wrapping to raise money for this choir. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just let me write you a check. Oh. I don't, I don't need to go to this thing to drink watery orange juice. You just want to throw money at it.
Vic00:16:38Oh. No, but also. Don't worry. Normally it's much, it's, it's, it's. There are expenses. I'm getting better. Right.
JVL00:16:43Anytime you set something up, you got to pay for the bacon. You do have to pay for the ice orange juice, right? These are, wouldn't it be easier for everybody? Instead of going through all this rigmarole for people to come and drink tar coffee that costs money to make anyway. And for you to give up like 10 hours of your weekend. How about everybody just write to check for $15 and be done with it? For a lot of these folks. Why do you have to pretend that you're getting a breakfast out of it? Community. Community.
Vic00:17:06I love, I loved, I loved working with the brothers at the kitchen. I thought that was exciting. And also, a lot of those people do enjoy the food. I do. I took home a giant tray of bacon. And it was, I did. I took a picture of it and put it on Twitter. I filled up an entire styrofoam of bacon. And they got an omelet bar. And they got waffles and fried chicken. And it's delicious. And it's a service. And people, and people, old people, they're not going to, you know, they like that. You know, coffee's fine. I'm getting better at the coffee. I'll put it to you this way. Next month, it'll be just right. You're going to do this every month? I'd like to. I enjoy doing it. And once a month. It's once a month. It's once a month. And I like helping them. And besides, when I wasn't helping them, I was eating there. You know? And then so I have your fellow brothers serving you. And I'm like, kind of weird feeling like that. You know what I mean? It's like, I could do this.
JVL00:17:55Yeah.
Sonny00:17:55Just write them a check.
Vic00:17:56Oh, I love the food. I love breakfast buffet.
Sonny00:17:59Oh, you mean brothers as in brothers of the Knights of Columbus? Yes. Yes, Sonny. Yes. Sonny, your time is coming. Because you're going to be a knight soon.
Vic00:18:06When you said brothers in the kitchen, I had an entirely different mental image.
JVL00:18:16And I was like, that is incredibly racist.
Sonny00:18:21It felt like that. These guys work hard. I was like, Vic, that is incredibly racist. I'm going to have to put this out later. But you mean brothers of the knights of Columbus? Brother knights, Sonny.
Vic00:18:31I don't think you're going to have to bleep that. I was just sitting there thinking.
Sonny00:18:36I'm glad we explained it to people because I know I'm not the only one who heard that. Because I looked at JVL and JVL gave me kind of the, huh?
Vic00:18:43But it's not probably for you because, again, you are dealing with a lot of people. I like it because it's $10 and it's a lot of food. I easily get $50 out of that. You're taking money away to the charities now. No, in my stomach. In my stomach. What surprised me, here's my interesting observation from the coffee service, which, man, it goes fast. That stuff goes. I mean, people love their coffee. But they also, most people, I'm surprised, take a lot of cream with their coffee. They like the milk and the coffee. I thought, I don't know. It's like, I don't know. I felt it was like more than half of people. Maybe when you get older, the more you use. Is that it? I mean, what do you do? Do you take cream and stuff? I know you do, Sonny, because you're up. Oh, yeah.
Sonny00:19:24I don't like coffee. So much as I. Yeah, that's right. You're not. I've used this line before, but I don't particularly care for coffee. But coffee is an excellent cream and sugar delivery device. So, like, I like. I like sweetener. Yeah, you'd like. I like that. I like skim milk.
Vic00:19:41I had sweetener out there. You would have liked that.
Sonny00:19:42If I could just drink a cup of skim milk and sweetener with, like, a caffeine pill ground up in it.
Vic00:19:47You would take that. But you're a coffee snob. I could see why you would not like my coffee. Brian's coffee. Brian's coffee. Oh, right. You drink espresso.
JVL00:19:56What brand of espresso machine do you have at the Knights of Columbus Hall? Is it a La Mazaroco? Such a snob.
Sonny00:20:03Somebody brought up the show to the creator of the Black Blood of the Earth.
Vic00:20:08Yes. Yes, I saw that.
Sonny00:20:10On Twitter. On Twitter. The guy who runs the. I didn't realize it at first because it was like.
Vic00:20:15Herr Doktor.
JVL00:20:16It was Bill Bronson.
Sonny00:20:17Is his name? Is he a listener of the show? I don't. I don't. But somebody, like, mentioned the fact that we did it on the show. And he was like, did they start talking faster as the show? The show went on. They're like, yep.
Vic00:20:28I didn't understand it at first when I was looking at those tweets because it was like all this BBOT. I thought it was a certain kind of fetish. Like BB, you know, you know.
JVL00:20:37And in your mind's eye, what did it stand for?
Vic00:20:39I don't know, but I typed in some other thing. And the next thing, you know, I would say that what surprised me is, again, just how much we go through. People love their coffee and the old people, they like coffee. And it's affordable for old people to go to these things and families and kids. It's great to take your kids after church. How much?
Sonny00:20:56How much is it for kids? Five bucks. So it's $10 for the parents and five bucks for the kids. Yeah, it's great. Let me ask you this.
JVL00:21:01It's great. Yeah. Let me ask you this. What is the total gross revenue take for a typical breakfast?
Vic00:21:07I have no idea. I'm not the money guy there.
JVL00:21:09I'm not the treasurer. I don't know what the numbers are. Because I got to think that the total take then minus the expenses, because bacon is even like C-class bacon, which is I'm sure what you guys are getting.
Vic00:21:19It was good bacon.
Sonny00:21:21It was good bacon.
JVL00:21:21That stuff costs money. You got the boar's head.
Sonny00:21:24The thick cut boar's head.
JVL00:21:26If you really want to raise money, just say to people, everybody stay home, cloistered by themselves, and send a check.
Vic00:21:32But then you don't get the joy eating with all your friends and family. Right. So it's win-win. Win-win is what he's saying.
JVL00:21:39So it's better.
Vic00:21:40Unless, of course, the, I don't know, is, I haven't, anyway, go ahead. Fellowship. The deadliest virtue. Terrible. Yeah. It was crazy.
Sonny00:21:49Was fellowship in the Seven Deadly Virtues?
Vic00:21:52Yes. You have to memorize it. It was. Yes, that's right.
Sonny00:21:55Who did that one? I forget. I can't remember. I got to go back in. I packed up, like, four copies of various Deadly Virtues books when I was, and two copies of Vodka. I've told this story on the show before as well, but it was funny. I had two copies of Vodka, and I was like, I got to get rid of one of these. I don't need both of them.
Vic00:22:14I'm going to find one of them and second story books.
Sonny00:22:17Except I opened it up, and the first one was inscribed something like, from Vic to Sonny, you're getting this one for free. So you better buy one, because I assume I got it at a book party or something, the Discus book party, probably. And then I opened up the second one, and the inscription was, to Sonny, I'm glad to see you bought one from Vic.
JVL00:22:39So I was like, I need to keep this. I need to keep these.
Sonny00:22:41It's a set. It's a set.
Vic00:22:42They're literally bookends. Okay, so I missed my transition here, which was- Sorry. We went through three, four actual whole cartons of milk, because people really love their cartons.
JVL00:22:50I thought you had the transition with brothers.
Vic00:22:56Because I prefer to take my coffee black. Speaking of which, over the weekend, Bad Boys for Life, and you were supposed to say, like your men, and then it's going to say, over the weekend.
Sonny00:23:09See, now I'm really glad we explained the brothers in the kitchen.
Vic00:23:11Well, this is good, because this is really the end, anyway. This is the end of the whole thing, anyway. Enjoy the show, folks. This is it. Bad Boys for Life took the top spot at the box office with $62.5 million, but $73.4 for the whole week holiday.
Sonny00:23:26Four-day weekend. Four-day weekend.
Vic00:23:27Followed by 1917, just barely edged out, Doolittle. 1917 had $22 million, and Doolittle did about $21.8. I guess Doolittle did little at the box office.
Sonny00:23:42Oh, good one. Thoughts? What was interesting about this week's box office take is that Bad Boys for Life did about twice what tracking thought it was going to do. This was projected in the mid-30s, and it ends up doing about $70. Which is obviously an overperformance. And it's funny, so I went to go see it on a Thursday night, Thursday night, 9.45 showing at the... At Union Station? No, at the IMAX AMC Hoffman Center. And usually... IMAX? Yeah, well, there's like, I mean, it's like an IMAX screen, you know. I went to the AMC Hoffman Center, watched it on the IMAX screen. Usually, the screenings for a movie like this are like, at 9.45 on a Thursday. Between a quarter and half full. And this one was probably three quarters to 80% full, like probably 75, 80% full. And I was like, the tracking numbers on this are wrong. The tracking, like, people are very excited for this. People are very into it. I think those first Thursday night sneaks were like six or seven million dollars, which is a lot for an R-rated movie. So, I was like, yeah, the numbers are wrong on this and glad to see that that played out. The other thing, obviously, is that Doolittle is like one of these catastrophic bombs of relatively... Mortal Engines level. ...historic proportions. I have seen two figures bandied about as the, like, potential loss number. One was 50, one was 100. I could see. I mean, who knows? After ancillaries. But I think if Universal loses any less than $100 million on this, they're pretty lucky, which is good because they've also lost, they also lost like $50 million on Cats, a few weeks before that. So, it's been a bad couple weeks for Universal. Somebody's going to be promoted soon.
JVL00:25:32Does the stink of Doolittle hang around RDJ at all, or does he just get to shrug his shoulders and say, yeah, I was just collecting a check?
Sonny00:25:41I think because he's doing his... And I wonder how much was the check.
JVL00:25:44His Doolittle is essentially the Tony Stark slash Sherlock Holmes Doolittle.
Sonny00:25:50I mean, he's doing his thing. Sure, sure, sure. I think he... Well, I mean, look. The Sherlock Holmes series never really took off. It did okay. It didn't do great. Everything he has done outside of the Marvel movies over the last 12 years has been, at best, mediocre in terms of box office success. I mean, I would say that Robert Downey Jr. is not the guy you're going to want to necessarily hang a franchise on. That's not to say that the movies he's been doing aren't good or interesting or whatever. You know, I, for one, would love to see him do more Kiss Kiss Bang Bang style stuff and get back into that mode. But, I mean, at the same time, I don't know that, you know, a Kiss Kiss Bang Bang style movie allows for, you know, like trailers for his, you know.
JVL00:26:43Can I interrupt, though? Have a dasher. Because this illustrates a maxim in Hollywood, which people often forget, which is that stars are invaluable if they're... If they're in the right part. And so, Robert Downey Jr., as Tony Stark, is a goldmine. Like, people really want to see that. But it's not... A star absent a part that people really want to see him in. Is this too little a period piece? Yeah.
Vic00:27:14Yes. So, what is it? Like, 1800s? Something like that.
Sonny00:27:17Whatever it's at. I don't know. Is it English? I haven't seen the movie. Oh, no, no. I didn't see it. I didn't want to see the trailer. I didn't want to see the trailer. I felt like I'd seen it. Not just reshoots. Lots of reshoots and re-edits and script work. It was not a great... It was not a well-received movie. I think it's like 15% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. But, I mean, look. I think that Robert Downey Jr. is... You're right. There are roles that he is well-suited for. He is not well-suited for this sort of thing. And Hollywood has to stop making do-little movies. There is the 1967 bomb almost sunk one studio. This could very easily... I mean, I guess Universal is probably more resilient than they... They can absorb a couple hundred million dollar losses. Because they're owned by Comcast. And also the Fast and Furious movies each earn $100 million. There's the Eddie Murphy do-little. Oh, that's right. I like that one. There was the Eddie Murphy do-little.
Vic00:28:20I like that one. Now, the first one. What was the first one you mentioned? Is that Jerry Lewis? That's not a professor. No, no, no, no. Jonathan Winters?
Sonny00:28:28Yeah. It's like a... It was nominated... It's not Rex Harrison. It's funny. There's a book called Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris that was about the five best picture nominees of the 1968 Oscars, I think it was. Sounds interesting. And Dr. Dolittle is one of those movies. So it's this snapshot of the industry in transition. Dr. Dolittle was the old school, big budget... Whatever. Whatever. Prestige picture that MGM muscled into the best picture race despite the fact that it was a box office disaster and nobody actually liked it. And it was up against Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate as well as In the Heat of the Night. I forget what the last one was.
JVL00:29:10Well, that's funny. One of these things does not look like the other.
Sonny00:29:12Yeah. So the lesson of Dr. Dolittle was this is a terrible thing for Hollywood to keep trying to do. And it's just history repeating itself 50 years later. It's crazy. I literally... I literally cannot believe somebody in 2018 or whenever this movie was greenlit was like, you know what we need? $175 million Dr. Dolittle movie. Sure. Sure.
JVL00:29:38How about The Hold for 1917?
Sonny00:29:39Very good. Solid.
JVL00:29:41Very, very good.
Vic00:29:41I get my 60%. Love them. There's a lot of pushback against that movie now. Really? Yeah. I was looking in Variety and other places. What is it? 1917 should not win.
JVL00:29:51Why not?
Sonny00:29:52Well, it's not the best movie of the year. That's why. It shouldn't win. The best movie. Uncut Gems. Obviously. Uncut Gems.
JVL00:29:59Uncut Gems. There was another movie.
Sonny00:30:01Uncut Gems is certainly among the best movies of the year.
Vic00:30:03Oh, and then there was the article in Salon that says that we shouldn't like 1917 because it vindicates the president.
Sonny00:30:10Yeah. It was a weird headline that was like 1917 is a gift to Trump. Yes, a gift. It's a gift. Because it's nationalist. Imperialist, nationalist, fascist. It's literally. It's like the least. Something-ist.
JVL00:30:23It's. All right. Stop the riot. I want to get off. Okay.
Vic00:30:27Bad boy. How about a big boy? A big boy review of Bad Boys Forever. Sonny.
Sonny00:30:32Bad Boys Forever is the reteaming of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as the Miami cops who like to shoot things and blow stuff up and drive around in fast cars. The series, of course, was originated by Michael Bay. And there were two Bad Boys movies under Michael Bay's helming. The series has been dormant for. I think 17 years now. I think the second one came out in 2003. Yeah, so 17 years. So it is a long time in coming. So long, in fact, that Martin Lawrence's character is now. I'm just going to call the Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in this. Yes, please. So Martin Lawrence's character is a grandfather. He's a grandfather now. He's rushing around in his car to go see the birth of his daughter's first child. These Bad Boys are now Old Boys. Like the movie Old Boy. No, never mind. I don't know. Look, I like this movie a lot because it so the plot is relatively disposable. The son of a drug dealer wants to take revenge against Will Smith's character because Will Smith's character put his father in prison. The mother is behind the scenes coordinating everything. She's some sort of priestess witch voodoo. She's a doctor and she's, you know, putting curses and hexes on everyone. And the whole thing is just an excuse to have some great fun shootouts and high speed car chases and some like fun grandpa humor. It is definitely one of these movies that like really leans into the they're getting older and, you know, age sucks and blah, blah, blah. I had a good time in the theaters. I don't think it's high art. I think it does some interesting things visually. This movie is not directed by Michael Bay.
JVL00:32:27It's directed by a pair of Belgian, Belgian, Belgian kids who are nine years old when the first bad boys came out. Pair of Belgian kids. They're 30. That's so depressing.
Sonny00:32:36So they do this kind of amusing thing with the playing with the classic Michael Bay spinning 360 shot where they're coming around the Porsche. And as the as the camera comes up in its arc, because, you know, the shot starts from below and it goes around and it comes up. And as it's coming up in his arc. Uh, uh, Martin Lawrence slams the car door into a fire hydrant and it, it both like kind of plays with that, that, uh, that lineage. And also, uh, and also, oh, also makes it makes a little bit of fun with it while also like paying homage to it. It's not like this is high art. It's not like this is a spectacularly well put together piece of filmmaking. It's just kind of fun.
Vic00:33:16Is this, is it R?
Sonny00:33:17Yeah. Yeah, definitely R. Language. Were you surprised not to see the Platinum Dunes logo on it?
JVL00:33:22Because Bay doesn't even have a producing credit on this. But interestingly. All he has is a cameo. He does have a cameo, which is interesting. It's weird. I couldn't believe that he didn't.
Sonny00:33:30I would assume, I would assume that Platinum Dunes doesn't. Produce this at all? I would assume that Platinum Dunes, I don't think Platinum Dunes existed when this, it's a Bruckheimer movie. It's a Simpson Bruckheimer movie. Oh, yeah, okay. And Bruckheimer, Jerry, Jerry Bruckheimer produced this. Yeah. So I would assume that he has like the, uh, but I mean, Michael Bay, but it's, the Michael Bay's cameo is the one time in the movie theater that I actually laughed out loud. And of course I was the only person to recognize. Recognized him as the, uh, M.O.B. So it was one of those, it was one of those awkward moments where I'm like guffawing to myself.
Vic00:34:00Was it, was it, was it the Sonny Bunch? Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. Was it that one?
Sonny00:34:03No, it was more like, it was more a snort, like, ha. It was like Fred Barnsian. Like.
JVL00:34:08Did you have your arms crossed?
Sonny00:34:09I was, I was sitting like this because again, it was like, at this point, it's probably like 1030 at night. I'm sitting there. I'm like trying not to fall asleep in the theater because 1030 is when I go to bed now. Uh, and I'm like, oh, Michael Bay. Ha. Uh, anyway. So I don't know. I liked it. I thought it was fun. I, I have no, I have no incredibly strong feelings about this movie. Um, except for the fact that I hated the end. Can we talk about the end or should we save the end for a little bit? We can talk about the end. Spoilers. I don't care. Vic didn't even see it. Vic didn't even see it. Uh, the, I hated the like attempt to, so the, the set up. Oh, I have a question.
Vic00:34:45Is Will Smith still single?
Sonny00:34:48Yes. He is still single in this movie. He is still single in this movie.
Vic00:34:51Did he ever marry? Was he ever in love? Or is it? I don't know. I don't know.
Sonny00:34:54I don't know. The, uh. Spoilers. So he was in love with the witch. Oh. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. It's his one love. His one true love.
Vic00:35:02Does Taylor Leone have a cameo in this, by the way, though?
Sonny00:35:04She does not exist anymore. You, you, you just watched the first Bad Boys, right? I did. Vic, did, let me ask you a question. Yeah. Did it jump? It's so very 90s. Did it jump out at you that Taylor Leone was made to look exactly like Megan Fox?
Vic00:35:18Like Megan Fox would look. Thank you. No, vice versa. Ten years later. Well, right.
Sonny00:35:22No, that's what I meant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, I'm just saying that, like, she. Charles Girding says. But Taylor Leone. Vice versa, yes. But Taylor Leone doesn't actually look like that, really, in real life. And Megan Fox does kind of look like that, just like all the time.
Vic00:35:33It's the, it's the half, half open mouth look.
Sonny00:35:36He was, he was clearly, he was clearly, like, perfecting his image of, like. Of womanhood. Of woman, of womanhood. His Eve, it's really his Eve. Until he could find, he could find the, the perfect figure. Oh, and he did. No, um. They had, they did.
Vic00:35:52There's a similarity, yeah.
Sonny00:35:53So, uh, the, the, the thing I hated about the ending of this movie is the whole movie goes through, like, this, this drug dealer, this, the scion of the drug lord is, like, the baddest dude ever. He's just murdering people left and right. He's, like, killing criminals. He's killing judges. He's, like, blowing up, uh, uh, snitches and, and cops and blah, blah, blah. And then, at the end of the movie, uh, he is, like, they, they, like, try to redeem him and make him to be not a terrible person. At one point. At one point, he actually whispers to himself, no innocence. When he's, like, trying to, he's trying to take out, he's, like, trying to pull the trigger on a sniper shot. Yeah. And he's, like, he's, like, no innocence. But all he's killed are innocents. All he's killed are innocents.
JVL00:36:35All he's killed are innocents. No. They're all people who set up his dad.
Sonny00:36:38And then the, and, yeah, his dad, the bad drug murder guy.
JVL00:36:42But it turns out he wasn't his dad.
Sonny00:36:44It turns out it wasn't his dad.
JVL00:36:44That's why he regrets killing all those people.
Sonny00:36:46It turns out it wasn't his dad. And also, like, at the end of the movie, uh, sets, is set up as, like, a Fast and Furious style, like, the villain's gonna become one of the good guys. It's, like, total, it's a total ripoff of... I bought that.
JVL00:36:57Hook, line, and sinker.
Sonny00:36:58You, you bought that? The whole... I hated all of that. I'm telling you, I hated all of that.
JVL00:37:01I thought it was a totally earned twist because the whole time, throughout the whole movie, the mom is being off, the witch mom is being awful to him. And he is just, like, taking it out of a sense of duty. He thinks she's wrong about all of this crap. He doesn't kill the innocent bystander because he thinks these are all righteous shoots because he's avenging his father. And what flips him is, at the end, he realized he was avenging somebody who had... Has no relation to him. Which means it isn't vengeance, which means none of that stuff is righteous.
Sonny00:37:26Like, I bought it all. So, but if none of it's righteous, then he should not be redeemed.
JVL00:37:33Well, no, he's happy to do his time because he says, I know I got to do my time for all those terrible things I did. Because they were only terrible. Remember, like, Fast and Furious, it's all about family.
Sonny00:37:43It's all about family.
Vic00:37:45Watching Bad Boys for the first time. Did you love it? No. What? It's weird. It's weird because it also, it feels derivative. But, of course, it was what spun off all these other movies that became derivative of that formula. I mean, he was, that was, this is his first, is his directorial debut, Michael Bay, or no? No. Bad Boys?
Sonny00:38:05I think, maybe his feature film. Okay, yeah. Feature? Debut. Okay. He definitely, like, directed, he directed, like, meatloaf music videos.
Vic00:38:15Oh, right, right, right, right, right. But it's in terms of a big movie. So, like, the quick cuts and the 360, as you mentioned. And the music, the pulsating music and the whole thing. And the explosions. And, of course, but that was, you know, he was really want to, you know, make his mark on that. And so, I thought that was very funny to watch that in retrospect. Oh, my gosh, you're totally right.
JVL00:38:40Bad Boys is his directorial debut, followed quickly by The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys 2, The Island Transform. The Island?
?00:38:53Yeah.
Vic00:38:54What is The Island? Oh, The Island.
JVL00:38:56The Island's the one with Scarlett Johansson.
Vic00:38:57Oh, the one where they try to, yeah.
Sonny00:38:59No one can be told what The Island is. Oh, right. The Island, it's where they have the clones, where the rich people raise, the rich people raise their clones and then harvest their organs from them. It's actually a pretty interesting idea.
Vic00:39:09I thought that was the Matt Damon movie. The Matt Damon movie. What is it called? Eleathera. What is it called? Elysium. Elysium. Elysium. Elysium. Same idea, I feel.
Sonny00:39:18Amongst Michael Bay's credits before this, of course. Wilson Phillips, You Won't See Me Cry. Poco, Nothing to Hide. Lionel Richie, Do It to Me. Play That Funky Music. Playboy, Carrie Kendall, September 1990 Video Centerfold. I bet that's good. You know, you forget, also you forget that Martin Lawrence was a skinny dude. Well, it's another funny thing about this movie because they really lean into like Martin Lawrence being like kind of old and heavy. And it's, it's, it's, it is like.
Vic00:39:45He's aged, whereas Will Smith probably still looks good.
Sonny00:39:48Well, Will Smith does, but he also looks like, he looks like a 50-year-old man. Who was trying to not look 50. Like there, there are a couple of scenes where he's like lifting weights. There are a couple of scenes where he's like lifting weights and I'm like, okay, I, you know, I don't know that this is like, you, I don't know that we need like the shirtless Will Smith shot here. It's like, it's, it's a little bit self-indulgent. It's a bit like, remember when Tom Cruise had the shirtless shot in Jack Reacher? Yes. The first Jack Reacher and Rosamund Pike was like, oh my. And I was like, he doesn't look that good. Like, like, you know. He doesn't look that good. He looks good.
JVL00:40:23He looks good. I would be thrilled.
Sonny00:40:25No, but I'm saying, but I'm saying like, it is, there's a difference between.
Vic00:40:28It's aspirational really for people our age. There's a difference.
Sonny00:40:31There's a difference between like having Channing Tatum do that shot and having like Will Smith or Tom Cruise do that shot now. Like, I don't, I don't think, I don't think it's necessarily age appropriate.
Vic00:40:40So my, my sense in bad boys. Put your shirt on grandpa.
Sonny00:40:43Put your shirt on grandpa.
Vic00:40:45In, in, in bad boys. Well, I guess much like in bad boys forever. There's not much of a plot. Like, I don't know who the villain is. I mean, I know who the villain is. I know who he is, but I don't know what his story is. You don't really know that. And the idea, it's funny, the idea where they have to switch identities, but it's not really needed to do that. It's just for the comedy shtick when they do that in the original bad boys. I mean, it makes no sense, but they do have good chemistry. And of course I noticed when I saw the credits, both movies, I guess all three movies have my, my good friend, my good friend, Joe Pantoliano. Yes. Joey Pants buys it.
Sonny00:41:17Pour one out for Joey Pants.
Vic00:41:21Question, is he bald in this or did he still give him a little fake crew cuttish buzz cut?
Sonny00:41:27I think he's got a little crew cuttish thing going on. He's great in this too. Yeah. He's, he's great in For Life. You seem to like this movie much more than I did, JVL.
JVL00:41:36I mean, I'm not going to say it's better than 1917 because it's a different film. It's a different kind of movie. Apple's oranges. But maybe it's better than 1917. I don't know.
Sonny00:41:451917 you thought was the best movie of the last decade. Of all time, probably. Possibly of all time.
JVL00:41:50It's very possible that Bad Boys For Life. Is the single greatest thing ever put on.
Sonny00:41:54The single greatest cinematic achievement.
JVL00:41:56I'm not willing to commit to that, but I'm thinking about it. Okay.
Vic00:42:01It was great. Taya Leone, you're right about Taya Leone. She was good in this movie, right? Yeah, it's probably.
Sonny00:42:07That's not what I said. Exactly. I said she, I said she. She looks like the beta version of Megan Fox. I said she looked like proto Megan Fox.
JVL00:42:14I was, we were talking about this.
Vic00:42:16Obviously these are cinemas. But no, I mean, we had a conversation about this on Saturday where you were trying to sell me on her. In this movie, because I really don't like her. And I saw her in, I saw her in Deep Impact, but I thought it was going to be a different kind of movie. So, okay. Do we, do we have any more?
JVL00:42:35Can I make the case for Bad Boys Gemini Man? Because I thought.
Sonny00:42:40Bad Boys Gemini Man? And that's the other thing. It's totally, it's totally 100% a rip off of Gemini Man.
JVL00:42:45Weird, weird Gemini Man thing going on here.
Sonny00:42:47Which came out like, you know, two months ago.
JVL00:42:49So it is, it's a heritage. It's a heritage movie in a lot of ways. And. Heritage action? Well, so it is, it is a buddy cop. It's a, it's a buddy cop movie. No, I don't. I said heritage action.
Sonny00:43:02Some of our listeners get it.
Vic00:43:03Oh, yeah. Very good. Listener Mike Needham got it. No, I'm just kidding. I don't have. Just not, sorry.
JVL00:43:09So it's sort of, it's like a, a New Jack Lethal Weapon series. People really like the, there's a great deal of affection, which is why it overperformed. Film Twitter does not understand this. Affection is right. That's right. But there's affection for these characters. And this, this version of it, the third installment, plums all of that affection in ways which is very gratifying for people who like it and not at all exploitive. It's, it's not a cash grab, nothing like that. It reminds me of Lethal Weapon 4. Oh, yes. We saw that in the theater. Right. And so Lethal Weapon 4. People were very excited to see it. Is that the one with Jet Li? Yes.
Vic00:43:46Yeah, which is really the end of Lethal Weapon series.
Sonny00:43:48That is fantastic in that. But it's. I think it's literally. Isn't that the last one? Yeah. I don't think there was a Lethal Weapon 4.
Vic00:43:53I would have seen it if there was another one.
JVL00:43:55And it was, it was just the whole thing was like family, right? The end of Lethal Weapon 4. It sort of wraps it all up. That's right.
Vic00:44:00And pictures from the old movies.
JVL00:44:02So this does a bunch of stuff. It pays everything off in ways. This is, this is my measure of movies like this. If they are better than they have to be. And Bad Boys for Life is better than it has to be at basically every turn. Right. The transitions from action to comedy are way better than they have to be. The moment when Martin Lawrence. You're going to know exactly what I'm talking about. So they are, they're in a motorcycle chase. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith use a rubber bullet to shoot the bad guy they're chasing. The bad guy falls off his motorcycle. They go over to his body and he's got this giant, I don't even know how to describe it.
Sonny00:44:37He's got like a hematoma.
JVL00:44:38Like a giant hematoma on his head. From the rubber bullet. From the rubber bullet. And they're looking at him. Martin Lawrence goes, I can't stop. I'm sorry. I can't. He reads it because he has to touch it.
Vic00:44:48It's hysterical.
JVL00:44:49Yeah. Because Martin Lawrence is either. Martin Lawrence is very funny. The black Will Ferrell or he is the real life Tracy Jordan. Martin Lawrence is a wildly underappreciated comedian.
Sonny00:44:57He was also your favorite part of The Beach Bum, remember? Yes. He had that great like 10 minute cameo.
JVL00:45:03One of the worst movies of the 2010s. Martin Lawrence is absolutely great. And they, all of the jokes.
Vic00:45:08Very difficult. Very difficult. Wildlife that Martin Lawrence leads a wildlife.
JVL00:45:13May I explain to you? So this is my favorite gag in the movie is a sort of, it's a second level humor, right? So early in the film. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith have to go chase down this hoodlum. And when they see who the hoodlum is on the computer showing him and they turn to the like, oh, we know each other. We know him. Martin Lawrence says, I coached him on the 10 year old rec basketball team that I had as a kid or that I was, you know, 10 years ago, whatever. And, and he says, yeah, no, he was terrible. I had to bench him in the championship game because he called me up. I don't want you to have to bleep it. Bad word. A bad word. Right. And Will Smith says, but, but you won anyway, right? He goes, no, no, we lost by 40 points because he was our best player. Will Smith's like, that guy was your best player? Because he's this big fat guy. He says, yeah, no, he was great. But I made my point anyway. So it's this funny bit between the two of them. And then 20 minutes later, they're in the club trying to arrest this big fat guy. And he pulls this insane parkour move where he like jumps off of a balcony and rides a column all the way down.
Vic00:46:17Will Smith and Martin Lawrence look at each other. Lawrence says, I told you he was athletic. This is a good, again, everything pays back.
JVL00:46:24There was a scene where Martin Lawrence is watching a telenovela at like a spa or something that is funny in its own way. Except then is replayed at the end, which is like the big climax. And all of a sudden it's eerily like the telenovela scene. And he picks up on it. Everything about it is better than it has to be. I loved it. It's a fun movie. It's a fun movie. What is the last, I would say best buddy cop movie I've seen in a while dating back.
Sonny00:46:51Back to maybe the nice guys or I haven't given this serious thought. I don't know.
JVL00:46:58Or 21 Jump Street. So I would say in several years, the best, this is the best buddy cop movie I've seen in probably like five years.
Sonny00:47:04Yeah. I like the nice guys a lot. Yeah. Different. That's a different kind of movie than this.
JVL00:47:09It is. It is. Anyway, it's great. Victorino. I can't wait for us to go see it together.
Vic00:47:14We'll see. We were talking about the 2010s. You want to discuss it. And then it turns out that I was the only one I think who put together a list.
JVL00:47:21Yeah. I thought we were going to do it like some other show. Okay. So let me just go through. So best movies of the 2020s. 10 to 1. 10 to 1. Can I just preface this? We are ripping off the Expanded Universe because they did a show about this. Oh, they did? Okay. And I thought it was such a great bit that I wanted us to do it too.
Vic00:47:33I did not. I did not listen to it. So I'm not cheating. I did not get it from them.
JVL00:47:38Well, their opinions were terrible. Okay. Well, we'll see.
Vic00:47:4210 to 1. 1 being the best. Okay. Number 10. And don't try to guess before. Best of the 2010s.
JVL00:47:47Best of the 2010s. Don't try to guess before I say it.
Vic00:47:49Don't try to guess before I say it. Just wait for me to say it. Number 10. Rogue One. Yeah. I like that one. It's great. Krennic. I love Ben Mendelsohn. I just think he's really great. And he makes that movie. There were problems with that movie, but he makes that movie. I feel like Saving Private Ryan in space. Okay. I like that. They all die. At the end, they all die. There's a scene where the defector TIE fighter pilot is there. And he knows he's got to run over and turn the thing on. And he has a look at his face that he's going to die. And it reminded me of a scene at the end of Saving Private Ryan where they got to go over the bridge and the fuse and the whole thing. And he knew he was going to. I mean, he did it very well. Okay. So number nine is Obscure-ish. Not to you guys, but for some people. Hell or High Water. I don't know why I like that movie, but I liked it a lot.
Sonny00:48:43Well, you liked it because it's good.
Vic00:48:44Yeah, it's really good. Okay, good. So the scene where they go into the little diner and you got to order the T-bone or something like that. And nobody.
JVL00:48:52It's very funny.
Vic00:48:55Number eight is Inception. That's low. That should be higher. That it required. Well, if it was easier to understand, it would.
JVL00:49:04Also, it was very long.
Vic00:49:06It was very long.
JVL00:49:07It was very long. You know, if you think about it, it's amazing that it made the list at all. And it really is a miracle.
Vic00:49:12It is a miracle that it made the list. It's a deep thought. And Marion Cotillard. Okay. Number seven. Number seven. Argo. I know there are issues that people don't like. I like that movie a lot. And I know it's not. Obviously, there was no chase scene at the end with the plane. I understand that. But that opening scene of the storming of the embassy is so harrowing.
JVL00:49:37Loved it. Is this your only best picture winner? No, no, no, no. I think there's a couple others. I can't remember. I have terrible memory.
Vic00:49:45But best. Best pictures. Number six. Zero Dark Thirty. So it's almost back to back. And I like Zero Dark Thirty a lot. You guys did, right? You liked it? I liked it a lot. Okay. So no complaints. Okay. Number five. The Big Short. The ending is so preachy, but it's still an enjoyable movie. The Big Short.
Sonny00:50:00Yeah.
Vic00:50:01And I love the... It's now... If any movie does it now, it's... What's the word am I looking for again? Derivative or whatever it is. Because where you have this, you know, they splice in people talking and doing the explainers about, you know, mortgage. Mortgages and such. But easy to understand that way for people like me.
Sonny00:50:21Nails the quadrant.
Vic00:50:22Nails the quadrant. Okay.
Sonny00:50:25If you're going to go with... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have to interrupt. If you're going to go with a, like, Wall Street is bad, Greed of Wall Street. A Wolf of Wall Street. You've got to go with Wolf of Wall Street.
Vic00:50:32I have mixed feelings. I think that was 11. Okay. Number four. Dunkirk. Great movie. Great movie. Again, obsession with time as he has of experiencing Dunkirk in our movie. Hours, day, and week, but it worked for me.
JVL00:50:47Sorry. Can I pause here?
Vic00:50:49And the crazy thing is they really didn't use their entire Luftwaffe to go... It's crazy.
Sonny00:50:53It's a crazy story.
JVL00:50:55Wolf of Wall Street was at 11? Yeah. And Big Short was at five? I'm telling you. It was long. Just by the quadrant. I'll tell you.
Vic00:51:02And I love... Look, I love the director. I know. Believe me. Believe me. Margot Robbie. I loved it. But it really failed the duration.
JVL00:51:12It really failed it.
Vic00:51:14But it's interesting.
?00:51:15It is long.
Vic00:51:15It's enjoyable. It's like three hours. I need to see it again. It's an epic. I need to see it again. So Dunkirk was what? Four. Four. Okay. Number three. Number three. Now it's serious. And again, you gotta give it some time, right? You gotta give it some time because sometimes, you know, it's like, I don't know, the movie's new. Is it gonna hold up? And maybe it won't. But at the moment, number three is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Sonny00:51:32Very subtle choice.
Vic00:51:33Really interesting. I need to see it more than once. And I plan on it.
Sonny00:51:36I've seen it three times now. It gets better every time. There you go.
Vic00:51:39Okay. Great hangout movie. Number two. Number two. The Social Network. Did you like? I liked it a lot. It really says a lot about, I wonder if it holds up if I say, but I mean, I just felt like it was obviously well done. And it really explains everything. Everything that we're in now really goes back to that, which is insane. Okay. And number one for the 2010s, blue is the warmest color. Do you remember? Do you remember Gene's review from 2013? Do you remember that review? Did he review it? Oh, back in the day. Yeah, he did it back in 2013. Can we find this in the archives? Okay, find it. Find it for a second. Boop, boop, boop, boop. Blue is the warmest color reminded me of Ridley Scott's 1492, a titillating journey of discovery that takes the main character deep into a forbidden jungle. And both movies tackle hot button issues. Adele encounters the alluring Emma, who's got scruffy blue hair. On her head. Adele's best friends turn their backs on her, but not Emma. And when Adele confesses her love to Emma, Emma promises she won't tell a soul. Her lips are sealed, but not for long. Because she's telling everybody. I give blues the warmest color, four stars.
?00:53:05Wow.
JVL00:53:07Boy, that was great.
Vic00:53:08I'd forgotten that one. You did that on today's show.
JVL00:53:12That was, uh, that was, that was before he was on the Sub-Beacon.
Sonny00:53:14That was back when we were doing, no, that was, that was part of our testing phase. We did, people don't understand this. We did three years, three years of test episodes.
Vic00:53:22Some people don't, some people use them later. You know, I know you do that. You did a lot of, uh, with, with, with your podcast across the aisle, you use them, but we, we buried a lot.
Sonny00:53:30We, we, we took just three years of stuff and just put it, put it, buried it deep down. Oh, okay. Okay.
JVL00:53:36When Shannon asks me what blues the warmest color is, I'm just going to send her your directions. That's it, that's it, that's it.
Sonny00:53:42You just send her a link. Sapphic.
Vic00:53:45Uh, number one, uh, The Dark Knight Rises, which was, I think 2010, 2012. 2012.
Sonny00:53:512012. So you have three, three Christopher Nolan movies on here. I know, I know, I know. No, it's fine. I like Christopher Nolan a lot. Why, why wouldn't he? Wouldn't you have three? I would probably have three. I would, I would not because when I make lists of this sort, I, I create rules, I create rules that say you can only have one from a director or you can only have like one.
JVL00:54:06So why would you penalize the greatest living director just because he happens to direct other movies than everybody else?
Sonny00:54:11I, look, I'm just saying I like a little bit of diversity in my lists. You know, there's no, there's no women on this, on this best of, uh, oh, I guess Catherine Bigelow.
Vic00:54:18I, I, I need to, I, I do think I need to go back to Wolf of Wall Street and maybe if I think of it in my mind as like a three part mini series, um, then I think it would be really amazing. But you know, when you see it in all, it's a lot to take in. It's a lot to take in. The first time, the first time I saw that movie.
Sonny00:54:32Certain parts I do remember. I saw, I saw that movie in, I saw that movie in Los Angeles at the, uh, the Hollywood Arclight. Um, because I was like, I was visiting, um, my wife's family who lives in Los Angeles and our flight left the next day. And so we got it, we got a hotel basically like, uh, down near LAX and we took like an Uber or whatever out to, to, you know, the, the, the Arclight. And it was the first time I'd ever used one of those screen. It was the first time that I had ever been to a theater with assigned seating. So I was like, oh, I guess I'll just get this one. And I had picked the seat that is directly in front of the screen. Oh, not the seat that was all the way. I thought it was all the way in the back instead of all the way.
Vic00:55:14That's confusing sometimes.
Sonny00:55:15And I, I like got into the theater and I was like, oh no. So for three hours, just like this, oh my gosh, in front of the like enormous Cinerama
Vic00:55:24dome, Margot Robbie must've been just like right on your face. The actress. Yes. Right over you. Uh, uh, there's, you know, who else was good at that besides the, uh, the usual, uh, the, the main characters, Kyle Chandler. And I, I, I'm glad to see him come around. You know, the whole thing. Uh, okay. I had some, I think I had another thought about, oh yes. The end of the, uh, the, the bachelor party scene the next morning and you see all these bodies lying around, uh, uh, a good fall of room type stuff. Yes. A good friend of ours. I'll leave his name out of it. Who we all know, uh, saw that movie and he nod, he just said, yes, yes.
JVL00:56:01I know exactly who you're talking about.
Vic00:56:03Okay. Uh, before we go, uh, just a, uh, a reminder, a word from our sponsor JVL.
JVL00:56:09If you're going to lean right, then Swag Right at SwagRight.com. Get your swag for those you love and like this year from Trump shirts, Swalwell whoopie 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. $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.
Vic00:56:58Thank you, JVL. Sonny, you can't get enough of it. Okay. Swag Right. Corrections and shout outs. I have some interesting thing here. You're going to find this interesting. A listener, Brandon Chizul says, "We should watch The Velocipastor on Amazon." I texted you guys this yesterday. I know you did. That's why I didn't reply because I was going to save it for the show. Quote, he says, "This hits all the Sub-Beacon high notes of morality action plays being just over an hour long, Catholicism, drug dealing ninjas, and man-eating dinosaurs." What?
JVL00:57:31Did you watch the trailer, Sonny? No. Okay. So the premise of the movie is there's this priest who is... He is boning the super hot girl on the side. What? But also, he turns into a velociraptor sometimes and then kills ninjas who are dealing drugs.
Vic00:57:50So he's a Protestant minister?
JVL00:57:51No, no, he's Catholic. It looks amazing. It looks Toxic Avenger's level of... Do you remember the Toxic Avenger? Yeah, sure. Or YouTube? That was the first one. This is a Troma-like production.
Sonny00:58:02Yeah.
Vic00:58:03It looks amazing. Okay. On the other hand, listener Christa Soltis Anderson, I'm not sure who she is, recommends Fleabag. She says, "Each episode is short, like 30 minutes or less, and each season is six episodes. I think it easily checks all boxes in your quadrant." All boxes? That's what I said. Okay. Thank you. KSA deserves better than that from you.
JVL00:58:28Just read again. I'm telling you.
Vic00:58:30She likes Fleabag. All right. That's all the time we're giving to this episode. Questions, comments, complaints, compliments, tweet us @SonnyBunch, @VictorinoMattus. If you don't like a review, DM us first before you hit how many stars. We could talk it through. We could talk it through. Okay. And be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitch, or just type in Sub-Beacon under Podcasts. We're there. Leave a review. Tell your friends. Until next time. Well, I can't believe this is our last show together.
JVL00:59:05It's the last time we are all going to sit in the same room together. Ever.
Sonny00:59:10Ever. Ever. Well, I mean, after lunch.
Vic00:59:13We're going to have lunch.
Sonny00:59:14Because SunnyFest never ends.
Vic00:59:15SunnyFest never ends. And then should we tell listeners you're going to take a week off for transitioning?
Sonny00:59:21Yeah. I need to establish myself in Dallas and figure out exactly what the technical challenges of recording remotely are, and then we'll get it.
Vic00:59:33How long does it take to get through?
Sonny00:59:35How long is your driving going to be? Our place to Nashville is 10 hours, and from Nashville to Dallas is 10 hours. So Nashville is like right in the middle.
Vic00:59:44That's weird. In my mind, I picture Nashville closer to us than being equidistant.
Sonny00:59:50It's right in the middle. So we're going to drive to Nashville one day, and then from Nashville to Dallas the next
Vic00:59:56day. Do the movers with their trucks, do they just keep on going or they stop with you?
Sonny01:00:00No. So the movers, it's like a big giant moving van. So they have like four families to pick up, I'm sure, on the way. You're not getting your furniture until August? What I want to know is who's getting there first. It's going to be like, we're going to probably be in the house for like five to ten days without like real furniture. Five to ten days.
Vic01:00:20Five to ten weeks. And then when we come back in whatever format that be, there are going to be a lot of changes.
Sonny01:00:28I'm sure it will be fine.
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