Excuse the Intermission
Alex, Erica and Max take you on a journey through film with this discussion podcast about movies.
Excuse the Intermission
The Box Office Revival + Bring Her Back Fails to Impress
May 2025 marked a historic turning point for theatrical exhibition with box office numbers approaching $1 billion on just 128 releases – half the number required to hit that mark pre-pandemic. This stunning 75% year-over-year growth signals what could be the full recovery of theatrical moviegoing after years of uncertainty.
Behind this remarkable surge were five films crossing the $100 million domestic threshold, led by Disney's surprisingly dominant "Lilo and Stitch" ($260M domestic) and Marvel's "Thunderbolts" ($180M). Perhaps most unexpected was "Final Destination: Bloodlines," the sixth entry in a long-dormant franchise that managed to earn over $200M worldwide – proving audiences still hunger for inventive horror when executed properly.
The hosts dissect several recent releases, finding much to be desired in "Bring Her Back," the sophomore effort from the directors behind A24's "Talk to Me." Despite strong performances and effective sound design, the film's telegraphed storytelling undermines its potential for genuine suspense. Similarly disappointing is Guy Ritchie's "Fountain of Youth," described as a "dollar store version of Indiana Jones and National Treasure" despite its star-studded cast. Netflix's "Fear Street: Prom Queen" fares better as a fun but lesser entry in the franchise, while HBO's tech billionaire satire "Mountainhead" delivers mixed results.
Looking forward, excitement builds for Wes Anderson's "The Phoenician Scheme," the Ana de Armas-led "Ballerina," and Ty West's vampire film premiering at Tribeca. The hosts also share news of Luca Guadagnino directing an AI business comedy and James Cameron tackling a dark fantasy project called "The Devils." These developments, alongside the emergence of AI-themed narratives as a distinct subgenre, reflect how cinema continues to process our collective anxieties and fascinations.
Catch Alex and Max each week as they explore theatrical releases, streaming debuts, and industry developments with insight and enthusiasm that reminds us why movies still matter.
How's it? I'm Alex McCauley and I'm Max Fosberg and this is Excuse the Intermission a discussion show surrounding the real return of the box office. May was a historic month for the domestic box office, so Max and I will recap that activity, discuss some recent releases and give an important update on the show. Those conversations up next on the other side of this break. All right, we are back. And for the people on YouTube or maybe this will draw some people to YouTube I have a question for you, max.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've yet to really figure out my lighting situation here. I've moved my desk. I'm in front of a big bay window that looks out over my front yard. Those curtains have been shut for today's recording because the last few episodes I've had them open to get that, you know, natural glow. Now I just have a ring light in front of me because I wanted it to provide stability, but still, as I'm watching this like I'm fading in, I'm dark, I'm light, I'm going back and forth. You have such a nice steady lighting on you. Is that the film school student in you coming?
Speaker 2:out. How do?
Speaker 1:you achieve such consistent steady lighting, because I'm all over the place here with my lighting.
Speaker 2:You like that practical in my background? Yeah, man, I don't know. The ring light why does it automatically like go up and down? And the ring light why does it automatically go up and down? And the?
Speaker 1:ring light itself is not changing brightness. Interesting. And that's why I was like okay, we'll keep. And these are blackout curtains, so there's no outside See. There it does. Maybe it's just my face, maybe I just glow like that, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Do you have the overhead light on as well? Yeah, you do. The overhead light is on. It's interesting how dark it gets. Yeah, I don't know. I would try to, but I guess you had natural lighting going last weekend, right.
Speaker 1:With the curtains open.
Speaker 2:And no ring light. I don't know, it might be something in your computer settings. Perhaps Could be that your camera settings.
Speaker 1:Yeah know, sometimes like if you're listening to um like headphones on a iphone and they'll just like automatically adjust the volume or something for you or the brightness, right. It'll adjust your camera or your phone screen's brightness and then you can lock it. That's maybe what I need to do.
Speaker 2:I just need to lock my camera settings yeah, yeah, that might be something to look into. I into I've got a perfect overcast day today. We had a thunderstorm earlier today in LA, which was interesting. The rain came down in sheets.
Speaker 1:So as a transplant, you probably love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it felt great. We opened up all the windows and it smells awesome and you know I can hear the sirens going off cause, uh, people freak out when it rains here, so forget how to drive. But yeah, we uh, yeah, it was cool to have some, some thunder uh going on this afternoon.
Speaker 1:Nice. Well, up here in the Pacific Northwest it really feels. It feels like things are heating up and summer's. Here it's 80 degrees today, bright blue skies out, oh yeah, which is kind of a good segue into, you know, our first topic here for today's show. Because, with with summer, I feel like there's five or six things that are kind of synonymous with like summer. There's, you know, barbecues, there's fourth of july, there's school being out and then, you know, up there in the top, top five, top seven things I think people associate is like summer blockbusters, like what are you going out to see? Well, this may, which is, you know, kind of the unofficial start to summer, that memorial day weekend is really when, like, we start paying attention to summer blockbusters and how things are tracking, performing and ultimately how they end up. So we have some numbers here from May of 2025 that we want to go over at the beginning of the show here because, like, what a run.
Speaker 1:This is a historic run for the month of May. Month of May, the cumulative box office gross domestically on 128 different theatrical releases is about $33 million shy of a billion dollars. Just to put that into context, the last year that the month of May, here in the United States, domestically performed over a billion dollars was in 2019. And that was a billion and 7,700,000. The year prior, in 2018, it was a billion and, oh excuse me, a billion and 77 million, and it was in 2018, a billion and 40 million, and it was in 2018, a billion and 40 million.
Speaker 1:This these two years, though, if you look at the release numbers and I'm on box office mojo right now in 2019 they performed over a billion, with 225 theatrical releases, and in 2018 they performed the box office performed over a billion, with 218 releases. So once, once again, the month of May in 2025, just shy of a billion by about 33 million, and on half as many releases as 2019 and 2018. So 200, or, excuse me, yes, 200 releases. Back then, we were at 120 releases. This past month, we can talk about the heavy hitters that helped get us to that mark, but what are your impressions of that just right off the bat?
Speaker 2:you love to see it. Uh, I, I think also a number we should be paying attention to is that, compared to last year 2024, may of last year, I mean we've seen an increase in over 75% in box office and only two more releases. And, who knows, maybe there's, just there were more. I guess maybe you think kids films are kind of like the main driver of box office, so maybe there were more kids films this May, but but honestly, I, I really just think more people are going back to the theaters, like I, you know, who knows if it's. I think it's actually totally possible that we could get back to a billion dollars, uh, monthly, uh, like we were in 2019. And it makes sense that it would take five years from 2020 to get back to this point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the rebound was going to take some time, right, because you look in 2020, we had 13 theatrical releases in the May of 2020. That increases to 83, 91. And it wasn't until 2023 that we went back up over 100 theatrical releases, not only in the month of May, but when that started to average back out for all months.
Speaker 2:Well, and in 2023, it went down. It went down only 1.5%.
Speaker 1:The performance went down only 1.5 percent, but the performance went down.
Speaker 2:The performance went down and then last year went even further down. So it's very encouraging to see this, uh, you know, as, as two guys who love theaters, we edging out, you know, 2022, which was the high mark for the past five years, but the fact that we were killing last year, and you know, by 75%, that's great. I'm excited to keep looking at it. 25%, that's, that's great. I'm excited to keep looking at it. Like you know, maybe maybe we start doing this every month, uh, where we we look at the monthly, uh in recent years and compared to this year, but, yeah, man, I, I think it's, it's just all good stuff. It feels good.
Speaker 1:So in the month of May there were five films that grossed over 100 million dollars domestically, which of course helped contribute to that nearly billion dollar mark. Uh, the top film being lilo and stitch. This movie's, I think, well over 600 million worldwide now at this point, but in just the month of May domestically it had $260 million of gross income. Thunderbolts was second with 180. Sinners still performing really, really well, with 123. Mission Impossible, the Final Reckoning 114. And then the little franchise horror movie that could, Final Destination Bloodlines, up over $100 million domestically and when you factor in the international gross for that film it is well over $200 million. So we're talking about, I mean of all the things right Like Lilo and Stitch. That surprised a lot of people, I think. I don't necessarily believe that the consensus was that there was that diehard of a fan base out there for Lilo and Stitch.
Speaker 2:I think they hit the timing perfectly right.
Speaker 1:I feel like kids who were six years old when that original came out are A lot of them have young families now, when that original came out, are a lot of them have young families?
Speaker 2:now yeah, or just even just like people with jobs who can go to the movies as many times as they want, you know yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So they hit perfectly on the nostalgic clock of that and you know really good word of mouth for Thunderbolt. It's a great marketing campaign for that movie, kind of acting as the the shot of adrenaline that marvel needed, I think, gets people out to see that film. Sinners obviously speaks for itself, um, but still just a great accomplishment to see. Mission impossible was always going to do.
Speaker 2:Well, you have a sinners thought well, sinners is interesting because it came out.
Speaker 1:The release date on that is april 18th yes, so I mean so much of this box office to continue.
Speaker 2:Yeah into may is is fantastic and I think kind of speaks to the the quality of that film. Absolutely. You know, lilo and stitch and thunderbolts, are you know those are, those are known ip properties, right?
Speaker 1:so like, yes, they are going to have fandom behind them, but, yeah, the fact that sinners is in the three spot here being an april release, that's, that's huge it is, and and I think, much like sinners will probably continue to see mission impossible play well into june because of that film's late release date in the month of May. But to see it already be over $100 million is really good. But then just back to Final Destination Bloodlines. If you were going to tell me that the sixth installment in the Final Destination franchise would probably end up over a quarter billion dollars when it released that's, I mean, we're talking like one of the top movie headlines, one of the top box office headlines of the year. If you really pay attention to this stuff and and kind of nerd out over it like we do so, just incredible stuff from from the franchise, that that we all kind of forgot about, I feel like yeah, yeah, I, I it's.
Speaker 2:it's pretty amazing that uh cause again that and that film's interesting because I guess it is a franchise right, it's the sixth movie, but also, like it's a franchise, that hasn't been around for 10 years, it's not particularly like a you know it's it's not, it's not a Mount Rushmore classic movie either.
Speaker 1:Right Like it's not.
Speaker 2:it's very fun and we really enjoyed seeing it and I I hope there's no leather face driving it.
Speaker 1:There's no, michael Myers, yeah totally Um.
Speaker 2:so that's really interesting. Mission impossible. It is going to be really interesting to watch them through June because you know that movie is the most expensive movie ever ever. That movie is the most expensive movie ever made, at like $400 million for the budget. So it still has some ground to make up to get close to that budget because we don't know what the marketing was on top of that and there's been lots of marketing for it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I hope it continues. It sits at at 356 million worldwide worldwide yeah, it's done about twice as much business internationally as it's so interesting actually that that's so people love tom. Yeah, we all know, tom tom does not world leader press. Yeah, he does not do press for his film in just the united states, he's worldwide.
Speaker 2:I I will say he has done way more press, I feel like, for this movie than he has in the past decade.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and opened up more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and more long-form stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah exactly. And then just a couple movies to kind of round out the top 10 in the month of May. A Minecraft movie continued to perform well. The Accountant 2 was kind of a out the top 10 in the month of may. You know, like a minecraft movie continued to perform well. The accountant 2 was kind of a sneaky success um 34 million dollars domestically. I guess a new karate kid film came out that was in the eighth spot friendship, the paul, rudd, um and tim robinson tim robbins uh, tim robinson movie.
Speaker 1:And then the last rodeo rounded out.
Speaker 2:I think the last rodeo is like a kind of a sound of freedom picture, like it might be from one of those faith-based studios.
Speaker 1:Can I read you?
Speaker 2:the log line here on Box box office mojo can I do my movie phone voice?
Speaker 1:to save his grandson, a retired rodeo star enters a high-stakes bull riding competition. Along the way, he confronts his past, discovers faith and proves that true courage lies in family.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah oh, yeah, 11 mil, 11 mil hey that's good 11 mil.
Speaker 1:11 mil. That's good for 11 mil. Opening weekend.
Speaker 2:Give me that double Blu-ray with Sound of Freedom please.
Speaker 1:Too funny. So yeah, I mean that's not necessarily to say that June is going to replicate that we do have some big releases coming up. But yeah, I mean, when you have lilo and stitch thunderbolts, mission impossible, a couple of horror movies thrown in there, one original, one ip things like a minecraft movie still playing, kind of the perfect storm, like there's something. There was something for everybody in the month of may.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I totally agree, and that's really what you want.
Speaker 1:There's nothing worse than going to the theaters and say you're going to like an eight screen cineplex and the same movies on four screens, yeah, or five screens, that's always the worst, yeah yeah, so yeah, yeah, keep, keep, keep doing the good work.
Speaker 2:and you know what? Shout out to warner brothers, who I I thought was was dead in the water for a long time. But between Minecraft, sinners, final Destination, they are ascending with their releases, so I hope their good year continues.
Speaker 1:These movies are all continuing to play well, just daily too, because the first film that we're going to talk about kind of here in our recent release, um conversation. I don't even see in the top 10 for the domestic box office from from yesterday, from june 2nd, um, I see, I see that number. Is it number seven here? I think, for domestic box office. June 2nd just single day performance.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is june like yeah, no, this is just june, the month by a month yeah, um, because that's, that's an interesting one.
Speaker 1:That, um, we can we can start to talk about here in in just a second um, but any, any final thoughts on the box office or or any new like favorite theaters to report. Where have you been seeing your movies?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah. So yeah, I think one of the movies we're going to talk about today I saw on a sunday night uh, it was just a. It was an amc at the grove which is like kind of this big, huge shopping center in west hollywood and, um man, just a packed house. Packed house on a sunday night, at like like I had to sit in the front section because I didn't get my tickets beforehand, which was totally fine, but a really engaged audience. It was tons of fun and I would say even like again heightens the experience. You know, I think we'll get into it. But even if the movie I think that's what's so important about going to the theater Even if there are low points in the movie or you can feel stuff dragging, if something shocking or something funny or something sad comes up, you feel that energy in the theater and it does heighten, uh, movie watching. And so, yeah, I would just say keep, keep going to the theaters, keep, keep going. I'll keep seeing you there.
Speaker 1:I can't wait I like it um. So I assume that the movie you're talking about is bring her back bring her back.
Speaker 2:Yes, this is the first film, uh, that we saw, or we both saw this over the weekend we'll saw this over the weekend kind of the first what like big release, mainstream release of june.
Speaker 2:I would say, uh comes from the twins, the australian twins, who made uh talk to me back in. Was that 2022? Um, which was a critical success and a audience success. Like people really, really liked that film. I happened to rewatch it this past week and, yeah, I think that movie is just like kind of hums, you know, like there's no real lulls or bumps and like it does a great job. It has. I think I remember you and I really loving the ending to that film. Yes and uh, I was.
Speaker 1:I was very excited to go see bring her back so bring her back opened on about 2400 screens domestically here in the States and grossed just over $7 million, which I think is a I mean, it's a disappointment for sure, and I think, at least to me, came as a big surprise because I guess a lot of people were still just seeing.
Speaker 1:You know, like Final Destination outperformed this film last weekend mission impossible, of course, and lilo and stitch outperformed it, but the new karate kid outperformed it. Um, sinners was just below it at like 5.2 million dollars, thunderbolts at 4.7. So again, having the diversity, having the variety of different movies to go out and see right now, maybe hurt this film film's performance a little bit, but my screen was not very full, it was like a four o'clock on a Sunday and I think I probably would have enjoyed the movie a little bit more had it have been a packed house, because this movie, surprisingly enough and I mean once we get into a somewhat spoiler-free conversation about it but once this movie got going, um, within the first like 15 minutes, I kind of had one of those like uh-oh moments because it's it's a movie that I thought was really going to be for me and then I realized was a good way that I think I can describe the movie without hopefully spoiling too much was just like it was too handholdy, it was just everything was too telegraphed for me and I think the moments that were supposed to be played for a lot of suspense just don't work when that's kind of the scenario that you've put your audience in. So I don't know, I think we both rated this somewhat similarly on letterbox. So what are your just sort of overall thoughts on on bringing her back?
Speaker 2:I, I think it's just you know I, I think I wrote this like this movie is just fine, it's it's like sure. It's kind of middle of the road for me, like it's it's got it. It's got some weak writing, but like some of the actors give in really good performances.
Speaker 1:I think all three of our main. Really there's four main performances in this film, but I think all three of the main performances are solid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Sally Hawkins is in this film and I think what she's able to do with the material is really fun on one level and like disturbing, but then also like gets a little hammy right. And so you do have to kind of I don't know. You do have to kind of um, I don't know you. I felt myself like ebbing and flowing through the movie where I'm like, oh, this is okay. Here we go, like this is, this is going to be fucking great, and then you just kind of go back down into this. What are we doing here? Like what, what's going on?
Speaker 2:Um, you know, like something that we love in a good horror movie, and especially in a 24, is like a signature score, right, something, some sort of theme, that music theme, uh, that that kind of leads you throughout the film. This movie has a completely forgettable score, like I don't remember feeling the music at all in it. However, the sound design, like the, the Foley artistry of it, um, or the, the sound effects, uh, are fucking fantastic and really heighten some of the visuals that you see on screen.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Um, how did you feel about the cinematography? Because that was one thing that I was like kind of like really annoyed with.
Speaker 1:I was quite annoyed as well. Here's my thing I felt like it was too. It's really interesting because this movie really takes a turn once it starts raining in this town that we're set in in Australia, and I could not stand the lighting and the way things looked once it started raining.
Speaker 2:It was very muddy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought that was a big detractor for the film.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I just I you know some of the lenses that were, that were chosen and the angles, and like I understand that they're trying to make it as intimate as possible and maybe that's supposed to do like up ratchet the the tension, but man, just like, can we, can we get out of these people's ear Like, can you back me up just a little bit so I can see the geography of this place? Um, so I found that kind of distracting. On the other hand, there are moments when we are in a little bit of a wider composition and, like you know, some of the special effects are really really good. You know, uh, there's there's a couple scenes this movie has a lot to do with consumption and eating and there's a couple eating stuff scenes that are like just awesome. And these are moments, especially in that packed theater I was in, where I've got my hands on my head and people. There was a woman two seats down that literally I thought was going to puke all over the floor.
Speaker 2:Sure her gag reflex was just going off like crazy and people are screaming and going oh no and yelling at the screen and like, again, that really heightens the experience of watching this. However, once you walk away from the theater and think about it longer, you know it does feel a little like oh, those scenes were kind of just shocky, right, like what really were the points of those in this, in this story, and it's never really touched on or explained why or what or you know who even really, um, and so, yeah, that I can feel, I can feel that, uh, as, as I leave the theater and like I'm thinking about the film more, that it's kind of a disappointment.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give a quick, just secondhand synopsis of the film, not reading anything right now, just so that I can sort of talk about where I think the movie could have been more successful and the direction I would have liked to have seen them go in. So basically, two half-siblings lose their father, their last biological parent, and from this moment on, which is really how the movie starts, they're then placed into foster care and Sally Hawkins is their foster mother. The younger sister, the half-sister is basically blind. She's like 80 to 90 blind. She says she can only really see lights and shapes, and the older brother, who's about to turn 18, is very protective of his younger half sister.
Speaker 1:And the moment that they move into sally hawkins house which I do agree it's a great movie house I would have liked to have seen the camera explore that space more. You know something is off, and not in a way where like, oh, I know something's off here, I can't wait for them to show me what it is. They show you right away, like what the problem is going to end up being, basically and and. So that's where there's just like a real lack of suspense for me, and I'm not here to say that you know, I think there's been this running joke for quite a few years now and this is another A24 film, and Talk to Me was an A24 film and while that movie was elevated in some concepts, it did feel more of like sort of this just supernatural horror movie concepts. It did feel more of like sort of this just supernatural horror movie.
Speaker 1:This is really relying on you, as the audience member, to once again kind of hand yourself over to to these themes of grief and loss and depression, trauma trauma and trauma, trauma, trauma, the loss of a child, and I I'm, I get it like I I it, but it just sucks that we live in a world where films like hereditary exist and things like this have in in the in that, um, you know that maternal relationship to your, your child, who may be living, who may be dead, who has passed on. We've seen it done so well, not only in her, in hereditary, but in quite a few other films here in recent memory. And so when, when you show so much at the beginning of your film and then you leave a lot unexplored, it kind of it's a it puts the story that we get in a tough place, because then I can only really be hypercritical of the things that I'm seeing the inclination to think like, wow, you're really relying on like a few really well done set pieces where, like, the makeup team is working and the visual effects team is really working hard here, and so, like, when that's what I'm left with this, and then on the other side, I have to sort of like decipher between is this a good, is there a good story here, versus like what could have been, because I think what could have been like seeing if this was really just like almost how hereditary really becomes a tony collette vehicle like alex wolf is obviously incredible in that movie. Gabriel burn also. It's like the, the supporting role of, of the father. There's so much, there's so much meat on that bone.
Speaker 1:If this was just like because this movie's so much, there's so much meat on that bone. If this was just like cause this movie is only about a hundred minutes long. So this was just like an hour and a half of Sally Hawkins dealing with the, with the direct aftermath of the loss of her child and then coming into, we'll say, possession of her first foster kid, um Ollie, of her first foster kid, um Ollie. I think that is would be such a more interesting movie because then that lets us really explore this space of of what we get in the opening credit scene. Really I it's either the opening credit scene or right before things um kind of get going after we've had, like our opening title card but like um, this is a cult movie that doesn't show us anything, anything really that this cult is up to Like.
Speaker 1:We ultimately find out what they're doing to these children and how they're providing people who are going through the loss of a loved one and dealing with that grief and that depression and that trauma. We find out how they are, air quotes, helping, helping people, but we don't really get to see it and and it's just such a tease because really, without getting into too many spoilers for the film, the sort of possession type influence that these abducted children get put under and then get released back into you know society, but not really like they're confined, I don't know. I was getting vibes of like martyrs and a little bit of hereditary and so many different things where I'm like God. There's just so many other movies that have really explored like a dark, fucked up side of a cult like this and just shown us more like this would have been a movie that I just would have loved to have been. It's still a hard-rated R, but show us some really gnarly stuff of how this process happens.
Speaker 2:It is interesting, and you bringing up the other version of this film sounds just way more exciting and way, way more, way more interesting to to follow sally hawkins and like the the discovery of this cult, and then, yes, and then yeah, the acts that she's going to have to do, um, and then you know that feels more.
Speaker 1:That feels more like the movie, that it's trying to be right by making the sally hawkins character, this like tony collette type hereditary figure, that like we're supposed to almost empathize with their madness because they have lost somebody, or we're at least supposed to be like along for the ride. It's a movie, of course, you know whatever, but but like when tony collette has been completely consumed by the, the cult and hereditary, it just feels so earned where, like sally hawkins, her, her mental state just felt so unearned to me.
Speaker 2:I'm like I don't like well, it all happens off screen it all happens off screen.
Speaker 1:Yes, it all happens off screen. Yes.
Speaker 2:You just get plopped into Sally Hawkins and Hawkins is a journey. Uh, and yeah, I, I think, I think you're completely right in in that um observation that they, they could have chose to go a different direction and I think it would have been a much more successful movie. Um, yeah, I will say sorrel wan, who plays piper this is her first time acting in anything ever like. Her mom made her audition because she saw a facebook post for auditions, like in australia. And uh, sarah wands, that's really, that's really cool. That's really really cool.
Speaker 2:Um, it's a great story yeah, and, and, and she, and, and. In real life, you know, she deals with um, almost complete blindness. So I think that's, that's really cool, and and maybe, but I mean that again, I just think, and if we, if we get that other version of the movie, we probably don't get sora wong right, but so there are handoffs, but uh, I don't know, I just wanted to, I just wanted to point that out. That's a, that's a cool little factoid it is and and again.
Speaker 1:You know, the movie that we got did deliver on some levels, like I there's there are about two, maybe three moments where it's just like yes I mean, like for anyone who's already seen the film, or when you're going to see the movie, just like as it's funny because they have the siblings that have siblings have sort of like this, this safe word between them when they they say grapefruit, when I think that means like shit's real. You need to trust me, basically. Um, so I'll just say to all the listeners out there like cantaloupe, that's my safe word for you guys.
Speaker 2:Once you see a melon get pulled out of, just once you see a melon on screen, like buckle up yeah, yeah yeah, it's really great I I also really hated the ending of this film, so weak, um, especially because talk to me is such a strong ending and such a, and an ending that really like is kind of unconventional, where this is just extremely conventional and like, yes, just, you see it in almost every single movie overly, Overly dramatic too yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So I don't know Again, these guys were supposed to make a Street Fighter movie and they made this instead. They pulled out of that project to do this project. So I'm happy that that happened, because we don't need a Street Fighter movie, especially from the guys who brought us Talk to Me. So I hope you know, keep making movies and keep doing these weird gross moments, right, like I hope they keep making horror.
Speaker 1:I agree. Okay, what's another one? What's another film from this last week that you want to touch on?
Speaker 2:That's really our only big theatrical release, but there were a couple on streamers that Max and I found time to watch, so what do you want to talk about on Apple TV Plus, called Fountain of Youth, from a director who continues to work at a high quantity of films. He keeps pumping out films almost every year.
Speaker 1:He's a volume shooter. This is like Definitely a volume, he's a heat check guy. Yeah, this is Kobe post-Shack trade like with this. This is Kobe post shack trade like with smush Parker and Sasha on the team. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And and that that director is guy Richie. Uh and again, this film is called fountain of youth, starring John Krasinski, natalie Portman, uh, eliza Gonzalez.
Speaker 1:He's a don't you dare.
Speaker 2:He's a name Gonzalez and uh, gonzalez, and don't you dare mispronounce his name, gonzalez and uh, domen hall, domen hall, domen hall, gleason, brandon gleason son, yeah, and, and you know a guy from something like ex machina who has done fantastic projects in the past.
Speaker 2:Um, but this is just a. This is like a dollar store version of like Indiana Jones and National Treasure mashed together. It is. It is horrendous. And Apple TV now is. They're hitting on their TV shows, but like this, the instigators, the wolves Wolves yeah, I mean, fly Me to the Moon, like they are really filling a straight-to-video void in the movie landscape with and these are big stars. Natalie Portman and John Krasinski are two of the biggest stars. Granted, john Krasinski is on an all time, just like he. He is ice cold, ice cold after when it comes to yeah, when it comes to acting projects.
Speaker 2:Since leaving the you know like, yeah, stepping away from TV and the office, like it has been dud after dud and he is an absolute dope in this movie and I, I, just this movie is uh did you watch all of this movie?
Speaker 2:I, I certainly did and uh, it is. It is not good. Um, uh, so it's all the listeners out there, please skip it. Um, it is not a new, it's not even national treasure. Like that's kind of my bar. Like I was like, okay, maybe this is going to be like kind of fun, like national treasure. We're going to go on a globetrotting adventure. I love artifacts. Once upon a time I always wanted to be an archaeologist, came and say the word archaeologist, but this is, like I said, it's a dollar store version and it's bad this hurts because Natalie is just like one of the all time best love Natalie Portman paycheck man to play second fiddle in this.
Speaker 1:To John Krasinski is I mean love, Natalie Portman.
Speaker 2:Paycheck, paycheck, man. That's tough to say.
Speaker 1:to play second fiddle in this to John Krasinski is tough, that's rough, and Isa Gonzalez has been really steady, like she's obviously beautiful, um, but I've really liked her projects, so that's that's too bad. I hope everyone got paid handsomely. That's all I can say.
Speaker 2:I'm sure. So that's too bad. I hope everyone got paid handsomely. That's all I can say, I'm sure. I'm just glad I didn't go to a theater to watch this, and I think Apple's probably glad too, because I watched it on their service instead.
Speaker 1:The Apple thing is really weird, like post-CODA. I don't think they've really hit on any movie, but you're right, the TV shows are fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's an interesting uh service right now it'll be. I I don't even know. I guess f1 is like their next big project and now that is going to be in theaters and on the service, and same with highest to lowest.
Speaker 1:So who knows? We could be eating crow in a couple of months.
Speaker 2:I sure hope so.
Speaker 1:Um, I don't not not to say it necessarily excuses this run of stinkers that they've had, but they could bounce back. Um, all right, what else do you got? You have a lot queued up. You're you're crushing it on the uh production skills today. Um, I would love to talk about fear.
Speaker 2:street prom queen yes, yes, go for it okay, so fear street prom queen.
Speaker 1:Such a an interesting release. The timing of this release for me personally, um, and that's because, I guess two weeks ago now, uh, my mom's out of town and she asked me to go over and take care of her cat while while she's, while she's, uh, visiting family, and so anytime I'm over at my mom's house I'm I'm inclined to fire up netflix, because I don't have netflix logged in on any of my devices or downloaded on any of my devices at home. Um, um, I don't, you know that's, I don't know if that's some, like you know, silent protest or whatever for for um, this, the streaming service that is kind of ruined movies.
Speaker 1:It probably is on some level. So if there ever is like a Netflix movie that I want to watch, I just find ways around that Um and and watch it at home some other way. But so I'm over at my mom's house and I'm like you know what movies I've always wanted to watch were the Fear Street films that came out 2021, kind of in the back half of the pandemic, but they were lost on me back then, and so I decided you know what, here we go. I'm going to start with 1994, give it a shot and see what it's like and, if I have a good time, awesome, there's two more movies waiting for me, because the first three were all released kind of in succession.
Speaker 1:There I'm here to tell you that the original three fear street movies so it's 1994, it's 1978, and then it's 1666 a fantastic trilogy, cool and fear street, prom queen, while being serviceable serviceable really really makes those first three movies look like a master class in in, like storytelling over a three film block. Like there's such a clear division. It was the same director on the first three films. The movies tell this story of this town that was divided a long, long long time ago. You find out about this in the third film, 1666, between Shadyside and Sunnyvale. And now, the best thing about these movies is that they are so indebted to films that have come before them. But all of the homages, all of the tips of the cap are done in a way that like yeah, you can say it's a little stranger thingy, um, nostalgic bait, if you will, but like when, when, done right, it's like okay, well, that's, that's what scream was, that's why everyone loved scream, because it brought back the slasher. Like this brings back that first one, especially 1994, which is the time period in which the entire fear street series like kind of relies on um, you have one character, that's that's in all three movies. It's trying to figure out why this town, um, why these two towns of Shadyside and Sunnyvale have been pitted against each other, and Shadyside being like the wrong side of the tracks and Sunnyvale being white picket fences and, um, everybody's well off, nothing bad ever happens over there versus Shadyside, where every so many years there is like a mass murder. Something goes wrong. And that's what these movies do such a good job of showing us is like how the different curses have taken their own toll on the town and become almost like a plague for Shadyside. And so Fear Street Prom Queen is. It exists within that same universe. It takes place in 1988. And there is the awareness of, like Shadyside being the wrong side of the tracks, but it only takes place in Shadyside. So that's the first thing that you're missing in this movie.
Speaker 1:Is that rivalry between Shadyside. So that's the first thing that you're missing in this movie. Is that rivalry between Shadyside and Sunnyvale and Sunnyvale, uh, what we have is like a, a girl whose family has experienced one of these Shadyside tragedies Um, her mom ended up having to to like, stab her dad during an attack or or something along these lines not a story that we're told within the first three films we really get to know kind of like the core killers from from Shadyside in the first two movies, which is again just like so great, really makes you appreciate the lore and the vision and the storytelling in those first three films. Like I can not recommend those first three movies enough. I think they they get in, they get as the as that first trilogy goes along I think the quality falls off just a little bit, like the first one is so fun and then the second one is still really good.
Speaker 1:The second one, taking place in 1978, is really a love letter to the like sleepaway camps of the world the friday through the 13th of the world, that are all like the 13th of the world, that are all like those summer camp teenagers getting promiscuous and then getting hacked to bits. And then the other one 1666, is more of your full core, kind of like poking a little bit of fun at the A24 elevated concepts of the Witch and all these other movies that we've gotten to know here over the last like 10 years I would say. But then the second half of that movie comes back to 1994. So you do get a good balance and once again it wraps up really nice and neat. This movie is just like more of a one off. That's kind of how I felt about it, that one of the best things that these movies all have going for them is whoever is the music supervisor and I know I gave whoever it is in the first film a huge shout out because, like the jukebox soundtrack to all of these movies and this one is no exception in 1988.
Speaker 1:Like this is when you really see just like how stupid big a Netflix budget can be because it's still like these movies can still, you can still say like, oh, it kind of just looks like stranger things, it kind of just looks like TV. It doesn't look like a film but my God, if it doesn't sound like the best thing you've ever heard, like just the best soundtracks. And so this one's no exception in 1988, you can imagine all of the artists that we're getting to hear, you know and, and we're at a prom, and so there's there's like this. Really I've seen people like say it's just incredibly cringe, and this is a part where they like turned it off.
Speaker 1:But there's like a dance off at this prom between these two rival girls who are both kind of running for prom queen. One's the, the leader of, like the popular girls, and the other is this one girl who's had the trauma with her family and everything, and she's trying to make a name for herself and rewrite her family's history and they just have this dance-off. That is so corny, but it's like you know that this was studied from 80s movies, from Dirty Dancing, from all these other things, and so, again, these movies are only as good as the other films that they're indebted to, and if you can just let yourself have fun with that, you're gonna have a good time. Um, they're these all four of these movies just have great brutal kills and then, like, we don't pull any punches, and this movie's no exception on the kills, and so ultimately it's it's the weakest of the four fear street movies, but that's because it just it's not part of that original trilogy and it is. It is the one-off that is is telling us and showing us something that we didn't really know about, whereas those first three movies do such a good job of just like connecting all the different tangled um spider webs into this one giant story. That is just awesome.
Speaker 1:You can still have a lot of fun with Prom Queen, but I see why people are kind of ripping it, you know, whereas, like the first ones have a consensus like three to four to some people are just like God, this is just like so me, core and they give it like a four and a half or a five on Letterboxd.
Speaker 1:I haven't seen anybody really that I that I follow or paying attention to on on that platform go above like a three for prom queen. Um, most of them are like in the ones to twos, I'm I'm somewhere around that three level, um, just because I'm a little bit more generous to to a movie like this that I can just like sit down, spend an hour and a half with and have a lot of fun, um, while doing so. So it's a soft recommendation. The Fear Street trilogy, though those original movies from 2021, could not have been more happy that I just decided to throw those on, though a couple of weeks ago and then, unbeknownst to me, I had no idea that I was doing homework for this new release.
Speaker 1:I just wanted to watch those movies finally. And then I find out the same Friday as the Final Reckoning comes out. Oh, also on Netflix we have a new Fear Street movie. So it was a lot of fun to just kind of have that moment here with this franchise, completely coincidentally. So I would definitely recommend the first couple to you especially. I think you would be able to see through any sort of criticism of this being, like you know, creatively bankrupt or anything like. No, this is what fun horror movies do, is they like take a concept that we've seen work and then show us something new as far as, like, the story goes?
Speaker 2:yeah, they've. They've always been on my radar and always have been things that I've. I've been like, uh, just out of reach of watching, um, yeah, but uh, I'm glad to hear that at least the first three and and even this one, uh, you know, again, I I think there is a space for, you know, these types of movies on streaming um and especially if you can make them for a lower budget and a cheaper budget. Even though we're getting tons of music cues in it, um, you need that.
Speaker 1:Nor you need the the cheese, uh, and so I'm glad that these are filling that void I mean when you watch 1994, which is the first one in the franchise, within the first 20 minutes you will be like, okay, we've got to be up to $4 million on just copyrights alone, because it is like bands that don't normally license their music for films. It is Radiohead, it's Nirvana, it's Nine Inch Nails Closer is playing during the opening sequence of 1994 and it's nine inch nails like closer is playing and during like the opening sequence of 1994, and it's like just a murderer's row of whatever the decade is that we're set in, they just go all out and and take every single song from like the top 40 that year.
Speaker 2:It's great note to filmmakers if you want, uh, the critic alex mccauleyley, to love your film closer in the opening titles it's never failed.
Speaker 1:Walked in, fincher, did it with seven and we've never looked back, okay.
Speaker 2:How about this next one? I believe Did you get a chance to watch?
Speaker 1:Mountainhead. I got about 45 minutes into this one yeah did you watch?
Speaker 2:get a chance? I got about 45 minutes into this one. Yeah, uh, mountainhead is from, I believe, jesse armstrong, who is the writer, creator, showrunner of succession, which was, you know, a phenomenon for what? Four or five years, or four or five seasons, I should say. Um, mountainhead is his new feature film on hbo I guess it's hbo max now hbo max uh, it's an hbo original.
Speaker 2:It follows four tech bros, tech giants, uh, all meeting up at a um cabin, up in like a snowy mountain area, I think, like you know I don't know if it's the alps exactly, but uh, in a huge mansion to talk about, to meet, and I think the original plan is like to have a poker weekend yeah, they're boys, they're all boys they're all boys and they all are like kind of you can see loosely like auras of real-life people in these guys We've got Steve Carell, rami Yusuf, jason Schwartzman and.
Speaker 1:Chevy Chase.
Speaker 2:Mr Chevy Chase. Yeah, what is his name? Corey Michael Smith.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Um, so I was pretty excited for this film. I just to put it out there, I'm not a succession head. I've I've watched maybe two episodes of succession.
Speaker 1:I've never seen an episode. Okay, I should put that out there as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I never jumped on that wave and I know people are, you know, want to freak out about that.
Speaker 1:um, but going in. I still need to watch madman. I still need to watch breaking bad.
Speaker 2:I don't have time I know your severance or any of this shit dude, it's so funny, I I'll tell you off mic. But, uh, yeah, so and and so, while they're together, like and one of their AI programs goes live or like, and takes the, just there's a lot of jargon going on, a lot of tech talk, uh, and I think you know that it it must be really well researched. Um, and I think it's yeah, keep going, keep going. I'm not, I'm not a tech head, I don't. I'm not an ai guy. I'm not an AI guy, I'm not a tech bro. Like, just not my wheelhouse. So I'm while I'm watching this, I'm very trying to get caught up in it, but also like just feeling a little lost and it makes me feel stupid, which I know I'm not, but I just found this movie just like utterly not interesting and I think it's well-timed for its release, with, you know, google releasing Flow last week, I think. You know. I think three of the actors are really good.
Speaker 1:Do you not?
Speaker 2:like Rami, I don't like Corral. I'm kind of done with the whole Steve Corral as the bad guy, as a serious actor. I'm kind of done with that experiment. I think we can move on Again. Another office alum, just like letting me down out here in the uh of films, um, wide world of films, um.
Speaker 1:But yeah, man, I I don't know, I I just was not, I was not hooked, uh, as I thought I would be, with this film so, from what I've seen so far, I do the impression that I get is that so much of the jargon, which I do think is really well researched and delivered pretty well by by these four different actors, I think is made to sound stupid, to make them look stupid because, not only in this film, but, you know, you see it on on social media, on Instagram reels, on Tik TOK, like there's the people who are just like, oh yeah, get that back to me by, you know eod, like, and they're just doing all this just like corporate, like we'll circle back. Oh, put a pin in that. All this just like really stupid, overused, um, you know, just like business talk, tech talk, office talk, that it's like no, these people like I love, um, god watches. I hate people that have three names. What's chevy chase's?
Speaker 2:name. I think it's cory michael smith cory, michael smith.
Speaker 1:Like him, having the puffer vest with, like the polo or, like you know, the long sleeve collared shirt underneath is like just such a look and so funny and so stupid. And same with like corral's look and everything um schwartzman's got the same vibe going. So, like I do think that it's supposed to be like tongue in cheek, like they obviously get that they're playing billionaires and like no one thinks being a billionaire is cool in 2025, right. So I don't think we're supposed to really like look up to any of these guys and not to say that like that's what you were coming into the film trying to do or whatever. Like I think they're all played really well and made to look stupid by by sounding the way they sound, by dressing the way they dress, and then you know this, the ai thing is so different, right, or so so interesting, because ai is going to be different in every movie.
Speaker 1:But I've I said, I guess, just on last week's episode, that like anytime that we have ai in a movie, now I'm just going to call it the entity. So, like the entity and when, when the entity in this movie kind of goes off the rails, you know where it's. We're supposed to. I think, look at how helpless these guys who are supposed to be really smart actually are, and I think that that's well communicated and well executed. I'm I'm really happy that this was and you know I I am definitely going to finish it, um, but I'm happy that this was a movie and not some mini series or not like another Silicon.
Speaker 1:Valley through, like um, like another Silicon Valley, um yeah drawn out, um, so, so I am in, you know, a made for TV movie, like we'll just that's what this is, you know, like, if this is not theater worthy, um, and and so I I do like the space that that it exists in, and I do think people are going to see this. I think I think people are going to watch this movie in there, even if they don't know somebody directly, because you know how many of us know billionaires out there, but like, even just like the douchebag at your, at your office, you know people are going to see people who they know in these characters, and so I do appreciate it for that yeah I.
Speaker 2:I just you know, don't they know that Ethan Hunt's out there saving the world from the entity Like it's going?
Speaker 1:to be all right.
Speaker 2:It's going to be okay. You'll be okay. Yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting.
Speaker 1:You can go harass some bartender at, yeah, the restaurant or wherever you are. Yeah, I was thinking like Aspen, but you're saying Swiss Alps.
Speaker 2:It does feel a little bit more like international now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, um, I don't know, maybe I again. I think I wrote in my review like maybe in 20 years we'll, we'll look back and this will be actually a really, really funny and sharp satirical uh, yes, satire on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I could see that. I could see that. Um, all right, does that cover kind of the big ones? Uh, do you have?
Speaker 2:I don't know, did you watch the ugly?
Speaker 1:steps. I did not watch the ugly steps. I didn't get to it either okay, we'll save that for next week then. Yeah, yeah, great yes um, yeah that's all. That's one. That's one that I feel like we should definitely be talking about together. Yeah, I've both seen it, so I'm glad we're not split one and one.
Speaker 2:Great on it um well, I have a couple of news items okay, if we want to touch on real quick and just going right into more stories about the entity. Uh, this was reported on indy wire today. Uh, luca guadagnino, attached to direct an ai business comedy. Um, could be kind of interesting. I, I feel like luca's name keeps coming up like attached to different movies uh, but this is.
Speaker 1:I mean you want to talk about somebody that's just like fire, like got a full clip always right luca yeah, uh, but supposedly this is for Amazon MGM it's going to be set at.
Speaker 2:have reported that the film is set at OpenAI and follows a tumultuous period in 2023, which founder Sam Altman was outed before immediately returning to the company. Andrew Garfield is reported to to be starring in. So you know the entity continues.
Speaker 1:That's a, that's a combo that makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that could be. That could be interesting. And again, like I, these AI movies. It's. It's kind of a new wave here that I think is going to just continue. It'll be really fun at some point when we're going to be able to build like the.
Speaker 1:AI Hall of Fame. Yeah, yeah, that's a great point.
Speaker 2:We're going to talk about, like Afraid and Mountainhead and this film It'll be Megan and the Drop. It's going to be interesting to see where this genre goes, because it's kind of its own new sub-genre.
Speaker 1:It's very true, you're right. It does make sense because this is what movies have always done, whether it's whatever's happening in not only you know, hollywood's always going to critique upon itself, and so I think that the fear that so many people had a couple of years ago, as far as you know like whether it's facial recognition for casting, or it's script writing, or the millions of different ways that ai could affect the industry, and and some of the I don't know some of the fear that people have surrounding that, I think movies are. You know, to make a movie about it is a good way to exercise some of those fears. But then also, too, just things that are happening in society, like AI is everywhere. It's in the business world, it's in our schools, and so that aligns well with, you know, the counterculture movement that we saw in the 70s and all the great movies that came out of that, and then with the boom with with the internet and and the big boom that we had at the turn of the century, and we saw so many great movies about that, and so, you're right, this is sort of like the next big thing that's happening in our world.
Speaker 1:So, of course, movies are going to talk about it like I wouldn't want movies to not be touching upon AI and like, yeah, make them schlocky, make them stupid, make terrible movies, like afraid that are going to have like a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, but like just just do it though, you know, yeah, yeah, um, no, but Luca, I love listen, luca, and there's a few directors right. Like Scorsese has done it with Netflix in the past, he's done it with Apple, luca, I mean like going back to the Suspiria remake, where we're talking like pre COVID and stuff that was an Amazon feature and maybe he lives on Amazon now. Like you can get it on physical, of course, because it was still made in like a time when we valued those things.
Speaker 2:But like challengers, was an amazon funded movie like luca is what's that? And you know, I'm sure, because it's luca and and honestly, because it's mgm, you know, which is owned by amazon like it's still going to be in theaters.
Speaker 1:So I think that's good.
Speaker 2:They do value that yeah um, but yeah, I'm just, I'm excited, but but because we're getting a Luca movie this year Right After the hunt. Right and then the American Psycho remake and then and now this as well. That's right, like there's just lots of Luca going on and I'm happy about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, doesn't miss, so yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, what else you got?
Speaker 1:Last piece go ahead. Well, I was just saying I have the dailies pulled up over here. Um, you know, there's just more news confirming that garland will do the elden ring yep adaptation that we talked about, um.
Speaker 1:And then I'm looking down here blumhouse has released, or has announced that they're they're going to do, their first spanish language original film, um, which is by some director duo that I'm I'm all for because, you know, I'm I. I see what Blumhouse is doing. Blumhouse makes the Megans and they make the Afraid's and they make these movies that are that will turn a profit, so that they can come out with a movie like the purge or get out or something really like exciting every three or four years. So I don't know, maybe this will be the next one Blumhouse going international. I do really like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's very exciting. Um, James Cameron uh has announced that he has found his next project that he's going to help co-write. Uh, called the devils uh, which is a dark fantasy novel, draws from classic horror tropes. It follows a priest on a holy assignment who discovers the mission he serves is filled with murderers, dark magicians and monsters, meaning that if any of them are to reach God, it will require bloody means. This book was just released last month, hit number one in the UK, hit number five on the New York Times bestsellers list, and it's described as a sharply witty horror adventure. Let's go, big Jim, big Jim, jc coming for us all. As usual, he's going to be diving into horror and I'm all for it.
Speaker 1:Do we think he's done with Avatar? You know, I actually was watching. There's one more coming down the pipe, I'm pretty sure, right? Well, yeah, so Fire and Ash is this December. Fire and Ice is this December.
Speaker 2:Fire and.
Speaker 1:Ash, fire and Ash, so that movie's got to be done.
Speaker 2:That movie, I believe, is this fire and ash, so so that movie's got to be done that movie I believe is, if not done, it's like in the final stages. I'm sure I'm sure they'll be working on it up until till december.
Speaker 2:Um, they'll be working on it 10 years after it releases yeah, and like you know some people I I respect who were at cinema con, you know there was footage shown there and you know people are just like he's. He's done it again he's. You know you thought underwater was cool. Just wait till you see fire.
Speaker 1:This is what a volcano looks like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I've heard the, the term coined. What was it? Mordor Navis, the term coined. Uh, what was it? Mordor Navis, like these are like, oh, like, volcanic Mordor.
Speaker 1:Navis.
Speaker 2:So yeah, can't wait, can't wait for that. Um, okay, so who knows, who knows if four or five and six will eventually come after this third one but I'm excited if he's going to take at least a little break and, and maybe just right.
Speaker 2:Go right and yeah, and not that he is a great writer, but I think he's a great idea guy and I would love to see him go into horror, which we haven't really seen him do. A horror, you know, you can kind of call Terminator or horror, at least the first one, but yeah, so that's. I find that pretty exciting as well.
Speaker 1:The Abyss is, you know, sci-fi, but it has horror elements to it as well. No, that's great and that goes back to something you know I think we talked about this at the beginning of the year like what's on our wishlist for 2025 and beyond is like more, more superstar filmmaker team up movies. So if, like, if james cameron is just like the co-writer on your film, then like, okay, who's shooting it, who's directing it, who's scoring it? Like we could have a masterpiece on our work on our hands here. Yeah, that, that'd be that many people at work.
Speaker 2:That'd be amazing. Um yeah, uh that. That for me is all the news. Uh, in in the town we'll say Nice, I love that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I don't really think I have any. I don't really have any. People are saying, uh, business here either. Um, I will just say that a lot of people. Oh, actually, tribeca kicks off this Wednesday, so if you're listening to this, on Thursday, tribeca Film Festival started yesterday in Tai West. New movie, new vampire movie with Scott Mescady and Kiernan Shipka. I've loved Shipka forever, so to see her in a starring role in a Ty West film about vampires and Kid Cudi is you know the second hand in this movie sounds like a blast vamp vamps are back vamps and and we get and we get Ty.
Speaker 1:You know not that like we needed him out of the Maxine trilogy um the Pearl trilogy.
Speaker 2:He needed to get out of there, but we needed to get out of there. So let's see him do vampires now.
Speaker 1:So that's going to be really fun. I think that'll be great. Yeah, hell, yeah, okay. So then, to wrap up today's episode, we are obviously without Erica. We did preface that at the end of last week's episode that she would be gone for this show. As she is down, I believe, visiting some friends in Portland. If you're following Erica on Letterboxd, please, or if you haven't yet, please go do that so you can still keep up with all of her movie takes.
Speaker 1:She is going to take a bit of we'll call it like an indefinite leave of absence from the pod here, just taking some time for personal reasons. We spoke with erica a lot about this decision over the last week and all agree that it's what's best for her. Obviously we've loved having erica on the show and at live events with us. She's been a great ambassador for the pod, always brought really good um perspective on on films, I think, a unique perspective that max and I have been missing, and so we hate to see her go, but we're happy for her to be doing what she feels is right in the moment, um. So yeah, erica, we love you, we appreciate all the time that you've given to the pod over the last handful of months and enjoy your time away from the show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I hope she continues to listen and come back as a guest anytime. Absolutely, we love Erica and I know I'll continue to share movie takes with her, so maybe she can send some movie takes to us and we can sprinkle them in throughout episodes.
Speaker 1:I mean, she can be one of the people from people are saying she can be one of our persons, um, okay. So as for what's next on the show, max and I will be back to talk about the new Wes Anderson film, the Phoenician scheme, which I'm hearing pretty solid things about, so excited to you know. Know, it's just. It's so funny because I feel like when, when we started this show and big directors would come out with a movie, we're like, okay, cool, now we can do like a wes anderson film, right, but wes has released like this will be his third movie, I think, since we've started the pod, and so we were talking before we got on air and it's like we've done wes anderson hall of fame right, we've given all of his movies, or we've done a whole career ranking, right it's like we've given all of his movies, uh, 15 seconds and so so, yeah, we're excited just to talk about the phoenician scheme, see where it maybe kind of fits into some of west's best, depending on how we feel about it.
Speaker 1:Um, I know you're a huge wes anderson guy so you're probably chomping at the bit to get out and see it. And then we did mention the ugly stepsister, which is a shutter original that we have heard amazing things about and so really excited to check that one out. We'll probably get to a few other films, uh, next week, on next week's episode as well, we have ballerina coming out, and so I'm excited to see where the john wick franchise goes, even though we're supposed to be post-Wick Wick's back.
Speaker 2:We can't be post-Wick.
Speaker 1:They'll never let go.
Speaker 1:They'll never let us truly get post-Wick. But Ana de Armas I feel like we I don't know Next episode will be a good opportunity to talk about her, because I do think that she is a bit of a unicorn. In the sense that she is a bit of a unicorn and in the sense that she did, I think she can actually pull off being an action star while still being you know, just like a a bombshell. And and then also someone who you know the success of a film like blonde certainly not good, um, critically, but she was still nominated for Best Actress in that role. So I kind of think she can do it all. So we'll see. We got a little glimpse of it in no Time to Die in her one scene where she really kind of stole that movie. So we'll see what that looks like played out over an entire film's runtime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and yeah. I think it's going to be a busy week at the movies, so I can't wait to get out there. You know we touched on at the top of the show, but this, this podcast, is on YouTube so you can go watch us there. The Chatter.
Speaker 1:Network. Give me advice on how to fix my lighting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, please, please say something in the comments or send us some fan mail through.
Speaker 1:I just turned the light off. That's way too dark. Right, that's too dark now.
Speaker 2:That's very bright now.
Speaker 1:And that's way too bright yeah.
Speaker 2:It's gotta be a setting. It's gotta be a setting.
Speaker 1:Camera thing. Camera thing on the laptop Yep, all right. Well, it's got to be a setting Camera thing. Camera thing on the laptop Yep, all right. Well, that does it for today's episode. Of course, please follow Excuse the Intermission on Instagram and the two of us on Letterboxd to track what we're watching between shows, and we will talk to you next time on ETI, where movies still matter. Thank you.
