Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Sup, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub. It's week three of Leprechaun a Thon.

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Yes, and we will be covering Leprechaun in the Hood and Leprechaun back to, that's the number two, the, that's T-H-A, Hood, and then we'll be chatting about the movie Slanted and reminders of him.

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And for TV, we'll be discussing Monarch, Legacy of Monsters.

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Doot doot do do do do. Yay, let's go.

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This is We should card that Episode 29.

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We should watch that with Ashley and Sheep Feel the Bible. It's a nice one.

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In left five and six, we head to the hood. The jokes are outdated, but kills are good.

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From Afropic stabbings to bomb rips galore, it's messy and wild, but never a bore.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Okay, friends, this is what we have been waiting for. It is time for Leprechaun in the Hood, aka Leprechaun 5, which might be one of the most notorious movies in the franchise because of its absolutely unhinged premise and the presence of rapper Ice T. That's right. It's outrageous, it's wildly memorable, and honestly, kind of, I mean, infamous. But does it live up to the chaos? Let's get into it. All right, picture this, friends. We open in the 1970s with ice tea wearing a massive afro and a fur-lined coat, breaking into an abandoned building with a friend to dig up treasure. And immediately they hit the jackpot. They see gold, they see a cult 54. Yes, 54, not 45. This movie didn't want to get sued.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

And there's a mysterious flute. It obviously is going to be important to the plot. And a statue of the leprechaun wearing the famous amulet. Um, Ice T looks at it and says, You midget midas motherfucker, which it tells you exactly what kind of movie this is. Now, of course, his friend immediately messes everything up by removing the amulet. The leprechaun comes to life, and within seconds, the guy is stabbed in the neck with an afro pick, guys.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Guys, you never remove the amulet.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Never remove the amulet. So the leprechaun pops out, and oh my god. Oh no. I think it's important at this moment to take a step back and let you know that this was written by a white man. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Actually, one of the writers was black. It was directed by a white man.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Oh, really? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah. But I don't think the lead writer was black. I think it was one of the secondary writers or something like that. So just putting that out there. I did do some research on this.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Hell yeah. Well, anyway, that is important because the leprechaun, when he busts out, he says, Oh my god. He says, free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, I'm free at last. What the hell? Yeah. So when we were watching it, Sushi and I fully paused the movie and just stared at each other. Like I had already been nervous about stereotyping. And then the MLK quote hits, and it's like, what are we in for? Ah, okay. So after that uh momentous beginning, the soundtrack kicks in with full black exploitation music. Well, Ice T starts pulling weapons out of his afro. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

And I'm just sitting there like, uh, okay, I'm a white lady and I am profoundly uncomfortable. Uh, but uh, but but that's what this movie does, okay? So cut to the present day. Ice T's reband rebranded himself, and he used to be a pimp. Now he is a hip-hop mogul running his own record label. Now he doesn't want to own asses anymore. He's in the rap game. Meanwhile, we meet our main trio, Butch, Stray Bullet, and our main dude, Postmaster P. They're aspiring conscious rappers, and honestly, they're they're kind of a fun group, but they're okay. Straight Bullet's a hothead with questionable ethics. Butch is a goofball, constantly like, why are we doing this, guys? And then Post is this overly serious rapper who says his name is Postman Pete because he delivers a positive message. Okay. All right, 90s conscious rap. But yeah, he's still down to do some shady stuff. Then they go into Ice T's office, perform a very mid-song, and get completely roasted by Ice T. He basically laughs at them and calls them the Milly Vanilli of Compton. So naturally, they decide to take the rejection and just move on with their lives. I'm kidding. They decide to rob him. So, of course, it goes horribly wrong. They break in, they steal gold and the flute, and that fully brings the leprechaun back into play because of course they remove the amulet. And what do we say, Sush?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Uh, you don't mess with the amulet, man. You never take the amulet off.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

That's right. Now, at first, they don't realize what they've done, they're just excited they finally got something over iced tea, you know. Uh, and then they figure out oh, the flute's magical, like wish granting magical. It makes their music pretty uh appealing to people all of a sudden. So they start using it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they start using it to level up, you know. They want money, they want status, they want success. And for a minute, it kind of works. People start getting into them. But at the same time, the leprechaun is out here killing people, hunting down his gold. And the movie does what leprechaun movies do. Now, here is an interesting twist when they realize that ice tea is out to get them, there's a stretch where they hide out at a local trans woman's house, which um I did not expect from this movie. Um and yeah, it's it's got all the 90s stereotypes, stereotypes. They're not cool with I mean, they're somewhat cool with her, but yeah, it's pretty. Oh boy, it's what you would expect. Yeah, and here's the thing she's actually kind of one of the more likable people in the movie. Yeah, even with the 90s handling of it, she's kind of cool for a moment. The film slows down a little bit, but that doesn't last because very quickly we're back in insane territory here. Oh my god. And the leprechaun is loving being in the hood, as he would say. So the leprechaun sets himself up with these zombie fly girls, as people start calling them, which are these like well, I mean, that pretty much says it. And they lure women to him every night, which is exactly as weird and creepy as it sounds. Meanwhile, the guys keep using the flute, but every wish clearly has consequences, and then we get to one of the most ridiculous elements of the movie. Okay, four-leaf clover, but weed. Yeah, so because in leprechaun lore, clovers are as kryptonite. We've seen this throughout the movies. So, of course, in this movie they put it in the weed, and yes, he smokes it, and yes, he gets pretty fucked up, like both you know, high-wise and physically wise. So, this leads to an absolutely wild infiltration plan. Oh, where the guy this is so insane. The guys dress and drag from their trans host, and they get into the lair because the fly girls will only bring women. So they're like, ooh, let's Trojan horse this thing. And the plan itself is kind of loose at best, but involves seduction and drugging him with clover weed.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

And then I can't believe this is real. The leprechaun tries to get a blowjab and passes out mid-attempt because he's too high.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

So she this movie is unbelievable. Okay. From there, everything completely spirals as if it hasn't been spiraling already. Ice T shows up because he's been hunting the flute and immediately shoots Butch, who is still in a dress, which is one of the most abrupt and chaotic deaths in the movie. I was kind of sad to see him go. He was like the movie's goofball, and I always loved the token goofball as a goofball myself. And Post fires back, shoots Ice T multiple times, and now everything's just collapsing on itself because right then the leprechaun wakes back up. He comes downstairs, no longer weakened, and then immediately starts using his magical powers to overpower post. It looks like it's completely over. But then in a last minute move, Ice T, who somehow is still alive, uh, drags himself up and attacks the leprechaun with a chair. The leprechaun retaliates by literally blowing up his torso like a full explosion. But with the last bit of strength, Ice T throws the amulet up in the air, and you're never gonna guess. Then we cut later to it feels almost like a post scene, was part of the movie, and Postmaster P is now a super successful famous rapper. He's living the dream, everything worked out. You're like, okay, wait, did this movie just give us a happy ending? What's going on? But no, because he takes off his sunglasses and his eyes are glowing green, just like the zombie fly girl's eyes had been. Then we see the leprechaun in the crowd, alive and fine, now acting as his manager, and he literally says, I taught him everything he knows. And then the movie ends, and then there's another post-credit type scene where the leprechaun is rapping, lep in the hood, come to do no good, with a bunch of fly girls. And honestly, wow, what a journey. Sush, what'd you think of this one?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

I don't know. Um, let's just go with uh am I supposed to really believe this motherfucker got giant-sized and blown up in space only to somehow end back up on Earth and be turned to stone once again by the red gemmed amulet from Leprechaun 2? And then dude is turned to stone again when the thing just gets thrown into the air and coincidentally lands around his neck. Like, are we serious here? Come the fuck out of here. That's insane. Oh man, even though Postmaster P is corny as Buck, I have to say that he's clever at least in coming up with the reasoning of his name being uh that he's here to deliver a positive message.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

But the character is so annoyingly back and forth with his indecision. Like you'd never think a guy like him would rob someone, even if Mac Daddy, who is played by Ice T did insult him, but he does it anyway.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Oh, yeah, just because the plot needed him to.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yeah, then shit goes wrong, and he's all like, I can't believe we robbed and killed that guy. But his friend immediately talks him down and is like, Well, it's over, so it's totally fine. And then Iced T shows up literally right after that happens. So you're like, what's going on? Butch is apparently a virgin and dumb. Oh, yes. But he knows characteristics, like mixing household products together and spreading them on a heating pad to create a fire trap.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Oh my god, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah, and while his whole shtick is initially kind of funny, for me, it got old really quick. Okay. Uh stray bullet or stray.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

I don't really have a problem with him, but he's a horrible rapper. Well, how the fuck does a dude like him stay friends with someone like Postman P?

SPEAKER_03 13:18

Postman P doesn't really have any ethics.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

That's true. Once I I guess initially, it was like, why are they together? You know, they're like on completely different ends of the spectrum with the whole rap thing and probably life. But maybe that's not the case. The pimp to hip hop record executive pipeline is fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

I mean, there's some truth there.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Yeah, but it's not unheard of. So even if I think it's a bit far-fetched, I guess I gotta let that one slide. Um, but Ice T's character, Mag Daddy, is no doubt a stereotype.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Oh my god, it's rock.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

I'm getting used to, but I think ultimately I'm okay with it on the basis that I know that Iced T has always not given a fuck what people have said.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

And really hasn't dialed back his personality for other people's sake for the over two decades that I've known of his work and music and later TV. But I think for some people his character can be triggering, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Uh, regardless, as a rap group, those guys are fucking awful.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

Oh, they were really bad.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, one of the aspects I disliked the most about this movie was having to actually sit through the performances. Oh shit, yeah. They happen in this movie quite a bit. I wasn't into the whole flute thing they brought in for this movie mostly because I can't recall any basis for it being a thing in any of the previous movies, nor do I recall it being mentioned on the CE ROM from Leprechaun 3. Nor do they ever really explain the shit in this movie beyond it being some kind of mind control device. I mean, don't we have enough things between the gold collar from Leprechaun 2 to Leprechaun's ability to create hallucinations to where you know we don't need to bring in yet another thing. But what was interesting about this fun fact, I tried to research whether a flute was something mentioned in leprechaun mythology, but I found that it really wasn't. What was interesting though, there was a viral St. Patrick's Day news report from Crichton, Alabama from 2006 about a leprechaun flute. The shit is hilarious. Go look it up. It's literally a piece of hollow steel post that's been engraved and has some holes drilled into it. The shit doesn't even look weathered in any way. Uh R.I.P. to my Asian brother, Chow.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Oh, Chow, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Yes, you lived on business and you died on business. Damn. The whole cross-dressing thing is so cartoonish. They can come up with anything else but to do that in order to make their way into the club. I don't know, man. Uh uh, is this hard to get past how many stereotypes there are that they try to jam into the runtime? It's already short.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Uh, from all the stuff that I've already mentioned, uh, stereotypical manthirsty pre-op transsexuals to the black church experience and the people you'd encounter there, to rich white record executive dudes trying to make money off of black artists. It's so extreme. It's like they were trying to win some sort of contest and offend as many people as possible. Yeah. By the time we really get to the whole zombie fly girls thing, I think I was already too checked out to find it amusing.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Also, of course, this is the movie where we find out that the leprechaun loves weed. Yes. Because nobody else smokes weed except for black people.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Oh god. Oh, this movie.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Oh man. I don't know. It's weird, but in the previous leprechaun movies, the characters I hate are usually ones that I look most forward to to getting killed. But in this movie, I literally don't care because these guys are kind of dumb. And yes, I know this is a leprechaun movie. But the best ones I think have been the ones where it seems like there's at least some sort of reasonable connective tissue between the different elements and how things at least make sense in some context. But this one does some real reaching and does all sorts of all over the place, which would normally be fine, but it manages to repeat a lot of what makes it all over the place to the point where it gets so tiring, way past the point where you've already gotten the point. But then it continues to beat you over the head with way too many leprechaun bass rhymes and raps. Yeah. So for my pots of gold enjoyment rating, I could only give it a three out of five.

SPEAKER_03 18:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Yeah. And then my end of the rainbow favorite moment was actually just the whole postmaster pee and drag without the wig shooting iced ski multiple times. And I'll tell you why, because it's kind of a metaphor for how much of a mess this movie was and how happy I was that it was almost over at that point, but still wasn't completely, even though I really wished it was. So it's like I envision myself being the one with the gun shooting the movie and trying to kill it, but it's like still doesn't want to end.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

Uh but yeah, that's like are you postmaster P because you're delivering a positive message? I guess I don't know if it's a positive message.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Oh man, but that's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

Okay, so for my pots of gold, I actually okay. I lived through the 90s. I remember what television was like, yeah, I remember that the stereotypes were insane and thinking they were insane now, and they're insane looking back, you know. The the MLK quote really I like felt uncomfortable in my guts, you know. I was just like, Yeah, it was wild. What the hell? But then there's iced tea, and I like iced tea. Uh there's some good kills. Uh the the smoking weed is interesting.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

I mean, I really went back and forth because I like that they at least brought that into it finally.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

Yes, and it does continue.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Just the heads up, it's a lot better in the next one.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

It plays a more central part to the plot, and also it's funnier. It's it's less about uh it's less a race thing and it's more an interaction thing. Yeah, it's more about him getting high.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

Yeah, yeah. It's so funny. As we've been discussing it, I've downgraded my pot of gold twice. I was originally gonna give it a three just for some of the what the fuck moments. You know, I love a chaotic movie. This is a chaotic movie when it comes. Uh I but I I gave it a two.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

Because the stereotyping and stuff is incredibly uncomfortable. Yeah, and it's gonna watch stuff too.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

That it that it's in it, but they just keep trying to beat you over the head with it. Like, okay, guys, we get it.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

It's really obvious and really stupid, yeah. But I did like seeing the leprechaun rap. So, what are you gonna do? And and that is my rainbow moment, lep in the hood, absolutely no good. And again, not because he's a good rapper, because God knows he isn't, but just for sort of the fever dream experience of seeing the leprechaun uh rapping.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

So yeah, I'm envisioning the director going up to Warwick and like telling him that he has to do this this right.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Also, part of the joy of these movies is picturing that very nice man being a leprechaun. It cracks me up all the time. Yeah, it's pretty wild.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Oh, also I want to point out that Ice T's full character name in this movie is MacDaddy Onassass.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

Okay, Steve. That's that's good. That's pretty good. So that was okay, Leprechaun in the Hood. It is uh classic, but it it is maybe not the best.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Problematic. Yeah.

LEPRECHAUN-A-THON Feature #2: Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood - discussion and review (with spoilers)

SPEAKER_03 21:56

All right. Well, moving on, we got you know the leprechaun, I guess, left the hood at the end of the last one because it the next movie is Leprechaun back to the hood.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

Yeah. So, okay, and in this movie, it opens and immediately the production values are better, guys. It's great. You've got this animated old-timey storybook introduction is pretty cool. Like it looks good. It's giving fake mythology, it's giving effort. We learn an ancient king summoned a bunch of leprechauns to guard his gold, and that was like their job. And when he died, all the leprechauns just I don't know where they went, but they left except for one. And that's our guy, our particular leprechaun. And over time he becomes completely corrupted and fully obsessed with gold. Not like mischievous anymore, just locked in this, you know, as we've explored. This is mine, I will kill you. Yeah, it's the me gold of it all. So we got our our beautiful intro, and then cut to present-day, well, 2000s day LA, where we meet Father Jacob, who finds gold under what will become a youth center and decides to use it for something good, which is noble and also a terrible idea. Also, he is a drunk priest, and that adds a nice edge to the whole affair. So the leprechaun shows up, you know, pretty much immediately. And this is where we learn the rules. Okay, we got a new one here. So we know we know that clover's bad, we know that amulet freezes, and now we learn that holy water also affects him. Okay. So holy water, stabbing, and prayer. These are the three things the priest does to the leprechaun. And combined, they summon these like demonic hands to rise from the ground and drag the leprechaun underground. Damn, it's honestly pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

Uh, but then Jacob dies from his injuries. So, really, all he did was delay the problem here. Then one year later, we meet young Emily and Lisa, who I think are supposed to be in high school, but they look like they're 29. And they go to see a psychic woman named Esmerelda, who I loved immediately. She's glamorous, she's dramatic, and it's very clear to her that, hey, Emily, you're about to come into some money, and you have to refuse it, or something terrible is gonna come with it. Like terrible, terrible. She's he's a flash forward of the movie, so we know she means business. And of course, they'll absolutely not be doing that. They're gonna take the money, guys. Otherwise, we don't have a movie. Yeah, so cut to a barbecue at the abandoned youth center site, of course, with yep, with Jamie, who is fully weed obsessed and very funny, and Rory, who is Emily's horrible ex-boyfriend slash drug dealer. So Emily gets in a fight with uh Rory because guess what? He like stole her money and gave it to some other girl, and then Emily, because her luck is just so bad this day, she falls through the floor into the ground. What was, I guess, the youth center? It's not entirely clear, but it's a nightmare, and she finds Father Jacob's hidden stash of gold, immediately forgets everything the psychic said, and yeah, they just dig in, they split the gold with zero hesitation. The girls go straight into makeover and spa day mode, which honestly I respect because if it was me, well, number one, I would never take a leprechaun's gold. No, but yeah, and I would never get off his amulet, but I would maybe you know treat myself a little bit. Um, meanwhile, there's this running bit where the dealers are like, ain't no clovers in my bud. For some reason, in this movie, it's normal to have four-leaf clovers in weed. I don't understand. Um, and anyway, Jamie is surrounded by garbage bags of weed once he starts cashing in that gold. Then the cops show up, he tries to oh my god, I know this is a favorite part of yours, Sue. He tries to defend himself by saying, Oh, my mom is Italian and oregano because she really likes it, which is probably the worst lie ever told. So he gets arrested, and yeah, the leprechaun is back, immediately starts reclaiming his gold coins in the most insane way as possible. At Jamie's party, he impales a guy with a bong and then goes, thanks for the smoke, which I loved. No elaborate pun, just clear and effective. Jamie gets arrested, as we said, which you know feels right. And also, this is now the second movie where the leprechaun smokes weed. And I really appreciate that that's a new part of the lore, you know, a little something else green into his character. And there's a even a moment where he gets the munchies, eats butter, gets stuck in a fridge, and then hotboxes himself in it.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

So it's still funny.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Yeah, it's pretty good. Then at the salon where Emily works, things get uh gross. So we get a shot of the leprechaun's nasty ass toenails while he's massaging a woman by walking on her. And then, of course, it turns out she's wearing gold. So she tries to fight back. Emily gets in there, she jams like one of the buzzers in his eye, and then green blood goes everywhere. His eyeball literally pops out while it's stuck, and it's oh, it's nasty. Anyway, around that same time, hey, our girl Lisa gets killed at home, and it's actually pretty brutal. I was pretty bummed that she died because I'm like, hey, I know her. You know, you just establish the character, she's dead so soon. But yeah, it shifts the movie into, oh, this is not fun anymore. So the group splits on what to do about this whole situation. So Emily and Jamie want to give the gold back, but Rory, being a selfish asshole, does not want to. And guess what? He steals it. But almost immediately he realizes he's in over his head, comes back just in time to save Emily from the leprechaun. So, you know, he gets like a little redemption moment, but that doesn't fully redeem him, okay? Then the leprechaun goes to Rory's place where his other girlfriend uh has used one of the gold coins. She's gotten it smelted. That's kind of exciting. This is our first gold coin smelting in the series. It's smelted into a gold tooth. And boy, you're gonna be able to guess right away what leprechaun does. He rips it out of not her mouth, he rips her whole jaw out of her face to get it back, which is horrifying. And also, here's the thing: it raises the question why does he keep his nasty old teeth? They're like black and like rotting. Why hasn't he already replaced them all with gold? That seems like it'd be the more practical thing to do. But you know, he's not a thinking ahead kind of guy. Then we also get the cops involved, okay? And when one of them tries to kick the leprechaun, like he fully thinks he's Jean-Claude Van Damme, the leprechaun's like, wait a minute, I know what I'm gonna do. And he just rips the dude's leg directly so we can't physically kick him anymore. I mean, kind of genius, but not bad. Now the cop reacts instead of falling over, he starts like hopping towards him, trying to grab his leg back. I don't know if he thought they were gonna sew it on again or what, but yeah, he doesn't make it. Then later, the leprechaun tries to drive off in the cop car, but he can't because of his height, his legs won't reach the pedals.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

So even being a thinker, he grabs the severed leg and uses it.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

Yeah, he uses it to drive. I mean, it's kind of genius. I love it. Then Rory's rival dealers show up and try to kill him, and the leprechaun wipes them all out. These guys are so confused, they did not know what they were walking into. At one point, they're just like machine gunning him. Like it does nothing because, yeah, that's not gonna work, dude. This is a leprechaun. Where have you been? But with no options left, they end up going back to my girl Esmeralda. Love her, she's got great elaborate hair headpieces, who drops a little more lore about how this leprechaun is different and more dangerous. So Rory takes the clovers that were literally hidden in the weed because in this movie clovers are in weed and he cuts them up, and then he happens to just, you know, by pure coincidence, have hollow point bullets in his gun. So he puts the four-leaf clovers inside the hollow, and then I liked this part. He melts a candle into it so the wax would stick them together. That's just practical because otherwise they would have just fallen out of there. Okay, so we got our four-leaf clover bullets, and he shoots the leprechaun and says a beautiful, beautiful line. Say hello to Saint Patrick for me, bitch. So it actually works. The gun, it it hits him, and there's all it's very weird, guys. There's like these little like gold uh CG things showing up, which I don't know if that's supposed to be like little halos or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

That's weird.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

I couldn't tell if they're supposed to be tiny imaginary gold or like there's holes in him, but whatever. But even though it's working, his gun jams and he can't finish the job. And then Emily runs up and just hits the leprechaun with a car, which I love that. I love when you have a character just standing there talking, and then a car comes out of nowhere. It's great. So, yeah, then the car happens to be a lowrider, my friends. So they try to crush him. They try to crush him by using the hydraulics in the lowrider. Oh my god. You know, Jamie gets some hits in. Esmeralda has a magical showdown with him and loses. Everything's falling apart.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

It's very scarlet witch coated.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

Yes, I love it. And then Emily figures it out finally. He only cares about the gold, dude. Yeah, so she is it against him. She throws the coins into wet concrete to distract him. He's very sad. He's all like, me pretties. And then she lures him into the basement, tosses the gold in the furnace, and knocks him in after it, which is not bad as a plan. But of course, he's a leprechaun dude. So he's not dead. Then we get a final rooftop fight. So Emily ends up hanging off the edge. The leprechaun is taunting her. Rory is out of bullets and still trying to hold him off. And then Emily lands the final move by smashing him with the chest of gold, sending him into the wet concrete where he sinks and gets trapped in it. And yeah, then the true tragedy: Emily and Rory get back together. I know you guys went to prom, but that doesn't mean you need to be with him forever. So yeah, they get through. Jamie survives, and everyone kind of moves on. And it's yeah, that that's the movie, man. You got weird kills, you got oh my god, I didn't even mention the bong kill. He shoves a bong in someone's gut.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

I think you did. You mentioned that.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

Did I? Okay, good.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

You got the jaw ripping, the oregano, you got the lowrider physics, you got clover bullets. Were the racial stereotypes really rough? Yeah. At the beginning, yeah, but it was a lot better than the previous one. And I think what really makes this one better is the actors were good.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Like, yeah, it was semi-serious.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

Yeah, I cared about them. Jamie, I recognized from being a guest star in a million TV episodes, you know, network TV stuff, and he was in the Meg one and two. So yeah, it's an interesting one. What do you think, Sush?

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Oh my god, I got so much to say about this. Um well, uh, just uh that it took us until the sixth movie to really establish that this leprechaun we've been dealing with throughout these movies has been a specific standout leprechaun.

SPEAKER_03 35:48

Yes, he's not your average leprechaun.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

I don't know. Better late than never, I guess. Okay, so leprechauns are also vulnerable to holy water and the whole pastor summoning demonic hands to drag lepre underground. That was wild too. The series really tries to include the most wild random conversations. This one, there's a discussion about bikini waxing within the first 10 minutes of the movie.

SPEAKER_03 36:17

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

True. But uh, we get both Laz Alonzo, who most people will probably recognize as Mother's Milk from the boys, yeah. And Sticky Fingus from the rap group Onyx.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

The page turn and spiral transitions are hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 36:37

Oh my god, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

In this movie, almost 15 minutes into this movie, and I couldn't gauge how crazy it was going to be in relation to the other movies. Uh-huh. Even getting a scene with a fortune teller. Of course. Just as I took that note down, I was presented with a scene where Jamie gets high and has a full-on conversation with a dog. Marcos is wild as fuck, and while it doesn't seem like this movie is as weird as the last movie, I'm pretty sure he's the whitest character we've met across both movies. We finally get a fucking rainbow in this movie that actually has something to do with the plot. True. Emily literally stands at the end of the rainbow, which I'm pretty sure was on, or at least near the hole that she falls through a short while later. Also, I don't get how they just built over this basement and whole ass tunnel underground that the pastor had. Yeah, it was literally just boarded over. So you'd think, at least for engineering purposes, they check underground before they laid the foundation for this place. Yeah, man. Like it's literally just been a year since the events for the start of the movie. So I can't imagine that the basement has somehow been completely covered from being discovered if Emily can just fall through it.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Yeah, that shit is not up to code.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

I don't get how Lep exactly gets free this time.

SPEAKER_03 38:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Like I think sometime around when the gold is found and split among Emily, Lisa, Jamie, and Rory, it happens. Wow. Lep was stopped by having holy water splashed on him. But I just don't get how like gold specifically ties to his release time around. I mean, I know these movies are supposed to be ridiculous, but given that in the previous movies, if Lep isn't free at the start of the main story, something like a four-leaf clover, like the amulet has to be removed or get free. So I was at least expecting something like that for this movie, you know. Jamie, the girls told you no bud, and you just garbage bags of weed. We got all the bud. Jesus Christ, man. Uh, I find it kind of amusing that in this movie we kind of see Leb plotting before he actually takes action. Like we see him just standing on a tree branch. Like a bird.

SPEAKER_03 39:15

That was again one of my favorite moments because I just was picturing Warwick Davis up there.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Oh damn, yeah, that's true. I love how the prop gold is so poorly painted in this movie. Looks partially silver. Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Did we really need to wait until the fifth movie to make Lep enjoying weed a thing? Like this one, sixth one, but did we really have to wait until the last one to do it? You really don't think anyone would have been smoking in Vegas or even in space?

SPEAKER_03 39:48

I would expect poke in Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

You think people would bring it to space when you can't really do much edibles. And this movie, dude, has a full-on session with one of Jamie's party guests before, of course, stabbing the bong straight through the guy. Honestly, I think the franchise as a whole would have fared better if they had just had this reveal in an earlier movie since that would have made it clear to everyone that they were also targeting stoner audiences with these movies if it wasn't clear enough.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

Oh, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

But I'm incredibly happy to have experienced it. Uh also, how does dude just have a bong with him when he gets the fridge door closed on him? Is he using magic to stash his weed and paraphernalia now?

SPEAKER_03 40:40

It's gotta be weed magic.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Yeah. I also can't believe it took until the sixth movie for someone to smelt down Lep's gold. Having it reformed into gold crowns is definitely a great setup for Chanel getting her jaw yoinked out later on the movie. But yo, also, why the fuck did he clean all the meat off of her jump?

SPEAKER_03 41:05

Yeah, that is baffling.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Did he literally just eat it or what? That shit was crazy. It was corn cobb in it, just wasn't even on the same, like the tooth was in her upper row of teeth.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

It's so stupid.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Do massage therapists really refer to massaging their clients as quote rubbing someone down making it lit, maybe. Also, these are the most brightly lit massage rooms I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_03 41:37

That relaxing, not at all.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Oh my god. Some lady in the massage parlor farted, and then Lip decides to still rub her down.

SPEAKER_03 41:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

It's Lip is nasty. Yeah, it's weird because he seems to react strongly in a negative way to the fart initially. But that really gives the lady a great massage. I mean, she's loving that shit up until the moment that she realizes it isn't Emily.

SPEAKER_03 42:07

Honestly, sometimes when I'm getting a massage, I have gotten once where they walk on you. Yeah, and if I get one again, I'm just gonna picture Leprechaun walking around.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Oh my god, I don't know if that's good or not. Probably not. We get a sort of tribute to the shining when Lep busts through a bathroom door in this movie when he's chasing after Lisa. And damn, the way I think he killed her uh with the cordless phone was pretty brutal. Even if we didn't actually see the phone going into her, the fact that Lep stares her in the eyes while he's doing it is probably one of the few moments where he comes off as genuinely scary.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Uh I think one of the best parts of this movie is that even though Lep does ultimately win every time, he really gets fucked up in this movie.

SPEAKER_03 42:55

Yeah, there's a lot of women beating him.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

Yeah, like he gets stabbed in the eye, hit with a baseball bat, gets straight up blasted with a saw-off shotgun and everything.

SPEAKER_03 43:05

Dragged to hell.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Oh my god. It's weird, but I think out of all the Leprechaun movies so far, this movie strangely takes itself more seriously than any of the other ones. There's definitely some seriousness. Uh a lot of the acting in this movie, even though it's not consistent. But Laz Alonzo and Tanji Miller definitely deliver a more serious performance compared to the rest of the cast. I love that we literally get a Mortal Kombat fatality move when Lep just pulls out Watson's heart.

SPEAKER_03 43:34

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

But I don't know how convincing it really is given how much Lep has gotten his ass handed to him in this movie. This is probably the slowest ending out of all the movies so far. So, yeah, let me move on to Pots of Gold enjoyment rating. I gave it a 4.5 out of five. Whoa! This is my favorite leprechaun movie so far. And I honestly think the only way I could potentially see it being better were if a black person actually wrote the movie so it were less stereotype dependent, or at least got a pass for the ridiculousness. But what's wild is I have a three-way tie for end of the rainbow favorite movie.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

First is Jamie lying to the cops about the garbage bag of weed that they found. Yes. Uh, quote, my mom's Italian. She likes a lot of oregano with her lasagna. Oh my god. The second one is Lep fighting the white cop that weirdly does a bunch of karate kicks on him. A whole setup with a camera panning down to see the blood dripping, and then panning over to Lep, who has torn the dude's leg clean off. That was amazing. And then my last one for the tie. I never thought I would see a lowrider scene like the one we got in this movie with Lep hanging onto the undercarriage while it bounces, but fuck, fuck, fuck, is that so good?

SPEAKER_03 45:14

It's amazing. Oh man. So many good moments. So for my pots of gold, I gave it a four, you know? I think it's pretty dang good. Like the acting is pretty solid. So even though it's insane, you care about the characters a bit more. So that was kind of cool. And for my end of the rainbow moment, I love all the ones you picked. There's so many good moments. The munchies moment, great. But I I gotta go with the whole cop encounter.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

From the the leg getting ripped off, from him going to get the leg back to the leg finally being used as some sort of uh flesh prosthesis.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

Leg saga.

SPEAKER_03 46:00

Yeah, I loved it. So yeah, man, that was back number two, the hood. It was a good one. I'm a little nervous about next week's because the next one is supposed to be hmm. We've got one good one to look forward to and one that we think might might be a little suspicious. So we shall see.

SPEAKER_01 46:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 46:27

Okay. So on to our non-leprechaun movies for the week. Our first one is Slanted. Slanted is a satirical body horror comedy from Amy Wang that takes a pretty wild premise and uses it to go straight at identity and beauty standards in a way that's honestly kind of unsettling in a good way. It follows Joan Wang, played by Shirley Chen, a Chinese American high school senior who is desperate to fit in and win prom queen. So instead of doing normal teen social climbing, she ends up signing up for this shady experimental procedure that literally changes how the world perceives her as white, which is already, well, okay, we're really going there. And when I say perceive, I mean they literally completely change her face. She is a white woman now. And after the transformation, the role shifts from Shirley Chen to McKenna Grace, with Vivian Wu and Fang Du playing her parents. And what starts as a heightened high school story quickly spirals into something much stranger as the experiment starts to unravel, and Joan realizes that trying to rewrite who you are on the outside comes with some pretty disturbing consequences. So I know we were really interested in this movie based on the trailer, but other than that, I didn't really know a lot about the people making it. I was just hoping it would be good, but a little worried that it could be a little campy. But I think this movie did a really awesome job at threading the needle of satire, but also talking about a very real powerful emotional experience and also getting into family dynamics. What surprised me also was the acting. I think they did a great job of both doing some heightened work that sort of went with this more stylized, surfacey look of it. But the performances were awesome. In particular, I think the parents were standout. They do some really, really beautiful, subtle work that oh my God, you really feel for them. And I think that also McKenna Grace did a really good job once she came in as the whitened version of her character. She fit into the family dynamic in a way that felt really natural. I think from seeing the trailer, I was nervous that that character would come in. And if the acting isn't just right, the premise isn't going to work. But I think she did an awesome job. Also, getting into the sort of more heightened aspects of the movie, I loved the look of it. It's very over the top with the design and the set. There were multiple times when our audience laughed at just business signs in the background, like prayers and ammo. There were all of these really absurdly heightened white American ads in the background that were a little depressing, but also a little bit funny. And I thought it looked great.

SPEAKER_01 50:06

Well, I didn't recognize the filmmaker or any of the chaos aside from Mechanic Race going into this movie. However, looking into things, I found out that Amy Wang was one of the creators and writers of The Brother's Son.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Oh, I loved that.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

Yeah, which I've unfortunately not found time to get around to. And I also found out that I've seen Charlie Chen previously in Vivian Wang's movie Dee Dee.

SPEAKER_03 50:28

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

Yeah, and Quiz Lady 2, where she played the younger version of Sandra O's character, Jenny.

SPEAKER_03 50:36

Oh, she's been in some great stuff.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

I think the trailer did a great job at grabbing my attention, especially as an Asian American who moved from a fairly diverse suburb to a nearly all-white suburb around the age of 10 and dealt with similar issues growing up. The difference for me was that I definitely didn't feel like I wanted to be white when I dealt with those issues. And more so I just remember being really angry and disappointed that racism still very much existed when, at least in my experience in school growing up until then in my old neighborhood, uh it seemed to be a thing of the past. Yeah. Regardless, I did empathize with Joan and what she had to deal with. And since the substance was one of my favorite recent films, I figured I'd also enjoy this movie for elements that I felt were similar to that. Uh, I didn't really see a lot of promotional content aside from the trailer ahead of seeing the movie. However, I do want to mention that since the theatrical release, I did see Bleaker Street posted a hilarious motion image parody of the Animorphs cover. Oh, right. Uh well, Joanne morphing into Joe. So that was uh pretty hilarious. But yeah, getting into the movie, seeing in, I really enjoyed the writing in the movie. Even though it's an obvious exaggeration as far as the lengths some people go to be accepted as a person of color. However, I do want to mention for anyone who doesn't know that while the specific ethnic modification surgery in this movie doesn't yet exist, probably, people of color have been doing things for centuries to either adhere to Western beauty standards or to literally look like white people from cosmetics and personal care products that bleached or lightened skin tone to surgeries, like eyelid fold surgery. So even if there isn't something exactly like this in the real world, I think this movie is timely. Since the past decade or so, I feel like there's been more examples of plastic surgery that could probably be considered ethnic uh modification surgery.

SPEAKER_02 52:38

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

Yeah, both of people of color want to look more western or even white, as well as white people wanting to look more ethnic.

SPEAKER_03 52:47

Oh, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 52:49

As far as cast goes, I think this is another fun McKenna Grace appearance in a horror movie. I honestly uh don't know if casting directors just look for her to be in these movies because she does fit the usual look of a young blonde actress that typically appears as uh an expected victim of an antagonist. While I do think she does a pretty good job in those roles, I really feel like she did a great job as Joe Hunt, the post version of Joan Huang. Uh, I really did closely watch the interactions with her and her parents following the surgery, and I think she did a great job speaking Mandarin and seemed convincing as the white-ified version of Joan. I also think Shirley Chen did a great job playing Joan uh and expressing the emotions that come with trying to connect with her white classmates, having been someone who dealt with similar challenges. Even though I didn't agree with the action she took to address it, I could definitely empathize with her throughout the difficult moments she worked through. I love Vivian Wu as Joan's mom, Sophia, and especially Fang Du as Roger, Joan's dad. I think Vivian did a great job playing an immigrant mother who doesn't seem to understand the hardships Joan's dealing with. But I'm more impressed and slightly envious of Fang playing Roger since the movie establishes they have a close connection very early on in the movie. Uh beyond them, I also think that uh, and I'm gonna butcher this name probably, Maitreye, uh Rama Krishnan as Brinda.

SPEAKER_03 54:25

Oh, she was great.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

Best friend. And Amelie Zilber, who played antagonist Olivia Hammond, both did a great job, though I would have liked to see more scenes with uh Brenda and Joan, or Joe, and more backstory uh regarding Olivia. I really like the set design, especially for the fun businesses they show uh that uh seemed hyper American, though I'm sure some people will automatically associate them with right-wing Americans. Uh uh, I think one story was named Prayers and Ammo, which I thought was pretty funny. And finding out that the filmmaker was actually Chinese Australian and close friends who grew up or currently live in rural areas, it kind of made sense that this wasn't specifically pointed out as right wing by anyone in the movie. Yeah, or not, I can't. Do you think this is more an outsider's view on an exaggerated version of America? I mean, after all, I do have more than a handful of left-leaning friends that both believe in gun control and own firearms. So I honestly don't think that gun ownership in itself is really a definite indicator of political affiliation across this country. Uh, I think the only criticism I had regarding design was maybe with the horror makeup. I think that the look has been better given how recent body horror movies seem to at least look more convincing. Is considered the budget, and even though it took me quite a while to search for and finally find something about it, uh mentioning it costing nine million, uh, which I can't say for sure is accurate. Uh I have a lower budget than compared to the other recent films that I think are similar to this one. I think uh the substance was a little more than that, maybe. Uh anyway, I'm a little conflicted on the mood of the movie. Uh while I did enjoy the horror comedy angle, and I understand that sometimes when it comes to topics like race, approaching it with some humor and sarcasm can make the messaging more palatable. I almost feel like this movie could have been more effective if they leaned heavier into the horror side of things. I mostly felt this way because I felt the majority of the humor in this movie is tied to exaggerated attributes of either the business in town or the clients and employees at Ethos, the medical center where they perform the race changing surgery. Uh, but pretty much any of the moments that Joan, her family, or anyone visibly ethnic, uh I have to make that distinction because of the surgery. Uh, right, physically deal with seem to be of a serious tone. Uh, so aside from giving us a break from a lot of the plot that may be otherwise emotionally heavy, I don't know if it really serves a purpose in the plot itself. Uh however, I do feel like I already had a uh similar impression from seeing the trailers, so I don't believe that the movie was that dramatically different compared to what I expected. Going into my rating, uh, I give it a four for enjoyment and a three and a half for quality. Overall, I had a great experience with this movie, especially given my personal experiences that paralleled the movie. I think the most enjoyable aspect of it for me was the overall story of Joe and trying to deal with the challenges of growing up and connecting with classmates in a predominantly white neighborhood due to my personal connection. However, I also enjoyed most of the elements that contributed to this being a horror comedy movie since they were all done in a way where I could feel like there was some real thought put into how they presented the horror elements and some real cleverness in coming up with the comedic elements. As far as quality goes, I thought overall it was good, especially the budget figure I found of 9 million, uh, if it was anywhere near accurate for comparison. Uh, the substance was reported to have a budget of approximately 17.5 million. To me, that made sense relationally, since I felt like that similar uh body whore aspects between the two movies were done significantly better in the substance. Still, I did give this movie a point over the 2.5 middle rating because I still think it did a great job presenting Joan's challenges genuinely, especially the post-op scenes where McKenna Grace takes over the role of Joan or Joe and interacts with her family and others. There's definitely some nuance in how young Asian Americans interface with their parents that I'm personally aware of that's different than white Americans. So I give preps to McKenna for doing a great job and ensuring they were carried over from Joan to Joe without losing any authenticity. Uh, as far as recommendations go, the only one I really have that's related to this is Dee Dee. If you're looking for something to watch that's a non-or Asian American coming of age film, since uh Shirley Chan is also in that movie, playing the sister of the titular character.

Movie Review: Reminders of Him

SPEAKER_03 59:17

Yeah, it's such a great movie. So for my enjoyment, I gave it a four, and I was just so impressed with how our whole crowd, it was a very vocal crowd, you know, and you would be really laughing so hard. And sometimes it would be about something in the background, and it would be like a wave throughout the audience when you're like, Oh, that person just saw the sign. Yeah, sometimes it would be an outrageous stereotype. But then, I mean, I I cried watching it, I thought it was so emotionally true, and it sort of gets into some of the absurdity of how mainstream America perceives itself versus how it is. And uh it just is a great, I I would recommend just about everyone see this movie. I think it's really amazing. For quality, I also gave it a four. I think I I would agree with you. The the effects, some of the the look at the end, I thought, well, you can see the budget there, and that's all it is. It's not something where uh the vision of it is wrong or like they didn't have the skill, it's just they didn't have the budget, I think, to make it look as good as some of the other movies. But yeah, it's weirdly a very good time for how much of a gut punch it can be at times. So definitely recommend people check it out. Our next movie is very different. Reminders of him, which we kept cracking up about because one of our leads here, Tyreek Withers, was in the movie Him earlier.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:03

So I have a note about that later.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:06

Yeah, cracked me up. But this is a romantic drama based on a bestseller from Colleen Hoover. Now, Hoover is somewhat notorious now, I think, because of her relation to the whole Blake Lively Justin Baldone thing. I think she was popular on book talk first up. Yeah, and she's had several movies come out recently made from her books. This one stars Micah Monroe, who you might know from It Follows and Long Legs as Kenna Rowan. The supporting cast includes Tyreek Withers, who's fantastic as the male love interest. Then we've got Rudy Panko, Lauren Graham, Bradley Whitford. And the story follows Kenna, a young woman who returns to her Wyoming hometown after serving time in prison for a car accident that killed her boyfriend. And this is in the trailer, so you're good, not a spoiler. The main goal is to rebuild her life and somehow reconnect with the daughter she's never really had a chance to know. But the people raising the child understandably don't want her around her because they think she killed their son or is responsible for his death. Um, but the one person who's willing to give her a chance is Ledger, who is her late boyfriend's best friend. Yes, the name is Ledger, which is a wild race. This is a something you'll notice in a lot of Colleen Hoover properties.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:37

The names are insane.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:39

Then from there, the movie leans into themes of grief, forgiveness, redemption, second chances, all that good stuff. While Kenna tries to prove she deserves a place in her daughter's life. Okay. So I have to admit that I went into this thinking it was gonna be corny and silly, like a real deformulate popcorn movie. It's based on Colleen Hoover books, those can be a little melodramatic. And honestly, at the beginning, there were a couple of times we where we kind of looked at each other and rolled our eyes a little bit. You know, the premise is shaky. Like there are definitely moments where you're thinking, this seems legally questionable. I think our lead would have a better plan than just uh show up at her kids' house unannounced and expect to become her mother. But what surprised me is that once the movie settles in, it actually works because the characters feel pretty real to me. I think one real highlight was Kenna's neighbor, Diana. Um, she has Down syndrome. And at first I was really nervous that the movie was going to use her as a cheap inspirational character, but they didn't. She's actually sarcastic and funny and well written. And the relationship that Kenna and Diana build feels like this really sweet big sister, little sister thing. Um, ended up being kind of one of the most believable parts of the movie and one that I really liked. The humor in general helps a lot. Everybody has like a little bit of sarcasm, which makes the characters feel more human. Also really helps when they're reacting to things in the plot that are a little out there. Then the acting carries the movie a lot more than I expected. Characters are likable enough that you start to connect with them. And uh yeah, I'll admit I got a little misty at a couple points. Um, and the kid in the movie that oh my god, the daughter is really cute, really natural, and that makes a difference too. She felt like a normal kid. I also liked how they handled the central relationship with Ledger, which again, why is his name Ledger? Where did you come up with that? Was she just like, what do I name and what do I name him? She's at her accountant's office. Oh, Ledger. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:01

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:01

But their chemistry really worked, and I think the movie does a smart job by sort of getting some of the big conflicts out in the open early on, uh, which instead of dragging things out, lets you get to know the characters a lot more and see how they react to each other and on their own to the conflicts that arise. Um, I also appreciate that they don't do the thing where they turn characters into villains. Um there's people in the movie that I think in uh a lesser movie would be just a stereotype. But in this one, you grow to understand why they feel the way they do. And because of that, it allows the main characters to come to resolution with them, which is something you can't do if you just paint a character as an out and out villain. But yeah, honestly, I was really surprised. I I thought this was. gonna be something I would laugh about, have a little bit of fun with you know it going with like conventional plot lines, but yeah, I think it did a good job. The performances were good, characters feel human. The movie has more emotional nuance than I expected, and I was pretty satisfied with it. What do you think, Sush?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

Well, before seeing the movie, I'd already seen posters for this movie mentioning it was another Colleen Hoover adaptation. Of which I think we've seen maybe one or two. I haven't seen anything from director Vanessa Caswell, but I have seen Micah Monroe and Long Legs and Independence Day Resurgence. Oh and I've definitely seen Tyreek Withers in a few horror movies like him and the most recent I Know What You Did last summer movie. A ceiling trailer I already had expectations that this would be as bad as the last Colleen Hoover adaptation we saw Regretting You. Like with that movie it at least seemed like another movie where its most positive aspects would likely be the acting ability of the cast since I thought the plot as presented in the trailer just seemed stupid. I will say that while I didn't actually sit and watch it, I did come across a few pre-release interviews with the cast, which I feel like sometimes but not always means the movie isn't expected to do as well and needs to lean on its otherwise likable leads. Whether or not that ended up being the case I guess I'll get into coming up I'm getting into the movie after seeing it I did a quick search and found that there are some slight differences between this film and the book it's based on oh interesting but aside from some minor timeline changes and maybe having less emotional intensity everything else is pretty much the same. I can't say if these elements were that way due to co-writer Lauren Levine's involvement or director Vanessa Caswell but I will say that ultimately I think that's what made the movie somewhat enjoyable. This may be untrue but the impression that the previous Colleen Hoover adaptations have given me at least is that her books might usually be stories that are based on exaggerated fantasies dealing with some kind of forbidden love centered on some ridiculous completely coincidental sequence of events.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:33

That stands true for what I felt was maybe the first quarter or third of the movie. I feel a bit rushed but after that I've felt like the movie kind of acknowledged the absurdity of calling Hoover stories. But rather than making a spectacle of trying to convince you how crazy they aren't it decides to focus on making the story as genuine as possible by delivering above and beyond for the other aspects of the movie. I hate the stupid names that some of these characters have but man did the cast do a great job Mike and Monroe playing Ken Rowan a character fighting to reconnect with her daughter while also trying to deal with the trauma over the death of the love of her life by boning his best friend I guess. Yeah come on but he's Iron Withers and he seems nice yeah I record is as great as Ledger Ward. I think he's been likable in most of the movies I've seen him in even when he's not always playing a character that's 100% a protagonist. I think the romance that progresses between the two of them outside of maybe the questionable decision making is really believable and genuine and doesn't seem too over the top at least most of the time I think Lauren Graham and Britt Bradley Whitford as the parents of Scotty kind of his boyfriend who died in the car crash were okay in most cases but probably more so just because they didn't have a ton of screen time and seemed to just be presented as the antagonist for the lovers to have a challenge to overcome but obviously later on they're fine. Aside from the two leads I think the standouts in this movie are Laney Wilson who plays Amy the coworker who looks out for Kenna at her supermarket job and uh Monica Myers who plays Lady Diana Kenna's neighbor and Nicholas Duvernay and Hilary Jardine who play Roman and Mary Ann Ledger's co-workers uh maybe employees since they mention he's the owner uh these characters really infuse this movie with some humorous and lighthearted moments which are so well performed that it kind of allows you to forget how ridiculous the story at the center of this movie is I don't think there's anything standout about the design elements aside from the fact that the set and costume did convey a sense of small town USA especially with the sparse homes and businesses connected by long dirt roads that they always had Kenna walking down apparently he should get a bicycle man. Exactly yeah they could have at least given her a bike if you're a Colleen Hoover fan I assume you'll probably see it but I think if you're on the fence and someone who has had a similar opinion of Colleen Hoover adaptations but otherwise as an opposed to seeing a pretty decent romance in a times romantic comedy this might be worth their time. Otherwise maybe just pass on and if you have options that might interest you more since I don't feel like this is a movie that is in any way being presented as a first choice option for most moviegoers. Going into the rating give it a 3.5 for enjoyment and a three for quality overall I thought this movie was going to be way worse than the actual experience I don't think this is going to be a favorite of mine. I definitely feel like it delivered above what was expected based on both the trailer and previous Colleen Hoover adaptations. My higher than average enjoyment rating is purely based on the acting from the leads as well as the humorous moments with the supporting cast supporting cast specifically I felt that's some heavy lifting in this movie so I give them equal praise as our two leads uh quality for the most part was right in the middle for me nothing especially notable good or bad but as I mentioned for enjoyment the two leads and most of the supporting cast really delivered above what I was expecting so I gave it a slight bump to three no recommendations uh related to this but I really really really hope that Tyreek Withers gets asked to be uh guest host on Saturday Night Live sometime soon so they can hopefully do a crossover parody between this movie and the other movie that Tyreek Withers is in with Marlon Wayne's him I mean they literally could call it reminders of him with the him stylized in blood like it was for that movie.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:53

I love it. Yeah Tyreek Withers is great. I've really liked him in everything I've seen him in he was like one of the major highlights of the I Know What He did last summer movie and yeah I'm excited to see what he does next what's that um YouTube series that we saw him in oh yes Brittany Broski's Royal Court yeah yeah yeah he I didn't realize he was so funny until I saw him on that with her he was fantastic and I mean Britney Broski is so funny but I love that series in particular she does some she was hilarious in that one and I was not expecting him to be nowhere near as funny as he ended up being holy shit kind of nuttier than I expected yeah he really is uh yeah it's kind of exciting to see younger actors and be like oh I wonder what they're weird yeah it's cool whatever man yeah so for this movie I gave it a 3.5 for enjoyment for honestly similar reasons as you there's nothing better than going into a movie and having it pleasantly surprise you having it be more than you expected for me when I realized it was going to be better than I thought it was was when they handled that Diana character so beautifully and then just the the relationship they had between the two of them it felt almost like it succeeded in spite of some of the source material conventions. I haven't read the book so I'm not saying they're mad or anything but romance is a genre like anything else that has the standard setups. But I thought it did a really great job it though super effective. I would watch it again if it was on TV maybe for quality I gave it a three it's sort of balancing it out the setup again like you said that like first quarter to a third of the movie it's a little it's a little um yeah you're still asking yourself what is this going to end up being like are you headed for disaster? Yeah I was like guarding myself you know exactly once we get into seeing these actors really cook it just settles in and you know you're in good hands.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:08

And I think we need to also remember that the directors change for these adaptations so we shouldn't always expect that just because it's a colleague that we're going to get the exact same thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:17

Because I do think that even the last one was better than the one before yeah I think it's Blake lively the I think I think we've seen like two or three calling my background watch the one with Blake lively. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:31

Because every time I kind of stop to watch it I'm like oh man this is really melodramatic and like yeah they're just trying to create people who are horrible so they have an excuse to do things against them and then I have a story for it. Yeah.

TV Episode Recap: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters - S2E3 - "Secrets"

SPEAKER_03 1:15:50

Yeah I think this it was just beautifully handled you know I think they did a great job with the source material. So yeah reminders of Kim so what do we got going over on in the TV side of things?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:06

Well Monarch we start the episode with a flashback storyline in 1957 picking up as uh Keiko and Shaw have encountered Titan X as it arrives on the shore of Sonanta Soledad, Southern Chile. Titan X has a red neon glow and it doesn't look happy thrashing about. But soon we see that it's only there to meet the swarm of scarabs. Once it does the red glow turns to a cold blue and we see the softer side of the Titan communicating and seemingly protecting the scarabs. Keiko takes a few pictures of them and remarks on how disappointed Billy will be that he missed it, but Shaw seems a bit confused given their brush with death earlier and now seeing the townspeople appearing from their homes approaching them, Lee, realizing that he's lost his gun attempts to sneak himself and Keiko through town to safety but they're soon confronted by the angry townspeople. Zia approaches them asking for the camera but Keiko refuses. Eventually one of the townspeople loses their patience and slash Keiko's arm with a knife Shaw attacks and gets stabbed himself before managing to take the man a hostage with his knife to the neck eventually allowing him and Keiko to run away as the townspeople pursue Keiko and Shaw through the forest Shaw decides to create a distraction that he hopes will end their pursuit by taking the film but leaving Keiko's camera for them to find which seems to work. One of the townspeople senses the two of them hidden nearby but luckily Lucia convinces him to leave with the rest of the townspeople later we see the two in a rainstorm as Shaw spots a cabin and tells Keiko they can take cover inside so he can dress her wound. As he's bandaging her up Keiko tries to confront him over the kiss that they shared earlier during the dance but Shaw obviously isn't interested ending the conversation by saying that she's with Billy and it was just the wine Keiko wakes up in the cabin after some rest while Shaw stayed up to keep watch she fusses over his wound but their individual stubbornness drives them to get into an argument an admission from Shaw that he can't leave her and eventually them making love. The following morning as Keiko and Shaw are heading through the forest towards the shore to reunite with Billy she feels the need to address what has happened Shaw once again misinterpreting her question their encounter with the Titan while she means the feelings and that situation between them that doesn't happen however as Billy spots them and rushes toward Keiko profusely apologizing for leaving without her Billy seems really concerned over what he presumes could have happened to her leaving her with the townspeople and the Titan but we can tell as her and Shaw exchange glances that her mind's elsewhere later we see Shaw is living alone in Washington DC presumably still working for Monarch as he looks over documents from them someone slips a letter through his mail slot which ends up being a letter from Keiko confessing her love to him but that Billy has her heart and they can't be together let Billy know what happened between them or destroy the man she loves their closest friend obviously Shaw doesn't handle this well as he starts drinking in response we jump forward to 1962 where we see a young Hiroshi searching in a chest Billy finds him and Hiroshi tells him he was hoping he could find something Uncle Lee left and he could use to sharpen his knife and says he misses him to which Bill responds he misses them both. Bill offers to clean up after him and after Hiroshi leaves Bill spots the letter Keiko dropped off for Shaw picking it up as the episode ends. And then in the modern day storyline which starts immediately following the opening credits of the episode where we see Outpost 18 docked at the port of Tokyo Kate and Korra who we also know as May but I'll be referring to her by a real name Korra from now on share a moment on the ship with Kate wanting to leave over concerns that she's just making the situation worse. Still blaming herself for pressing the button that led to Titan X being able to come to Earth. But it seems like Korra wishes Kate realized that she means so much more to others than the mistakes she can't seem to look past. In the conference room Tim is meeting with Keiko, Shaw, Hiroshi and Kintaro to update them on the situation given it's been three years since G Day and this is the first since then they've had to deal with a Titan potentially threatening the human population. Tim remarks that they can't hide Titan next but Keiko and Hiroshi seem to believe otherwise or at least that they believe they can redirect it. Hiroshi suggests using the Suzuki device used to lure Godzilla in the first season but Kentaro reminds him that Kong destroyed it on Skull Island. Luckily Hiroshi mentions still having a prototype stash wei in his Tokyo workshop for shadowing their next destination Tim gets called into the command center he's met by Jason Trisop head of special projects at Apex Cybernetics who looks like he's taken over as we see Apex employees hauling in cases of their own tech connecting to the network and Apex logos appear on the display panels in command. Tim assumes Trisop is there to support Monarch but apparently he didn't get the memo that they're taking over at least temporarily Tim in disbelief contacts Director Barris who confirms the situation while Tim might have prioritized saving the lives of those on the ships others are more concerned with him losing track of Titan X. Barris forces him to not only turn in Shaw but also Keiko and support Apex seeing as they're providing them with the technology necessary to find Titan X. The good news is Tim doesn't comply instead choosing to inform Keiko and Shaw of the situation and giving them a brief introduction on Apex cybernetics before helping them sneak off OPOS 18 to Tokyo. In Shibuya Tokyo we see our team of Keiko Shaw Hiroshi and Kintaro try to avoid CCTV cameras by blending in with the crowds in Shibuya crossing as they spot wanted alerts for themselves in the huge LED displays overlooking the intersection they make it to Hiroshi's workshop but they need to modify the device in order to make it meet their needs needing to speed things up with Monarch now on the trail the team splits up with Hiroshi and Kintaro leaving to find necessary components as Keiko and Shaw leave to retrieve wiring diagrams from Hiroshi's office they'll need to reference for the modification elsewhere in Tokyo we see Tim joining Korra who's having a bite to eat as he thanks her for agreeing to meet Tim beats around the bush a bit before Korra asks him to just come out and reveal why he wanted to meet with her he believes Apex is up to something and wants her to be a mole asking Brenda for a role at Apex which Cora agrees to and will probably be as simple as seeing as she believes that she has something that Brenda wants Cora travels to the apex offices in Pensacola Florida to meet with Brenda who initially seems apprehensive but eventually Cora implies she still has the code that she worked on at Apex as when Brenda brings it up she corrects her saying that it was only destroyed at apex implying that they still had it from Monarch. Soon after we see Cora at Apex searching through the restricted data only to find that they've been spying on her and the randas since the beginning Kate arrives home in San Francisco surprising Carolyn who begins crying as she welcomes her daughter home with a big hug James Caroline's partner and her start asking Kate about her adventures but Kate seems detached. Caroline seems concerned and as Kate seems to still be processing everything that's happened reminds her that whatever happened to her is now over and in the past but unfortunately Kate having gone through what she has and believing what she does may not find those words comforting she tries to reunite with some teacher friends but as she pulls up in a cab to meet with them she has a change of heart instead decides to head to a club to get wasted and party as an escape from everything that's happened. Unfortunately she can't and when there's a monarch alert for a Titan spotting we find she's still stuck on blaming herself for Titan next escaping to earth as she pushes away her date who just wanted to lead her to safety. In Hiroshi's office Keiko sees family photos of him with both Kate and Kintaro realizing and asking Shaw if they had different mothers he confirms it but Kate seems really bothered by it asking Shaw if he understands the situation he legitimately doesn't have any insight and tells her that's something she needs to speak with Hiroshi about with her realizing the parallels to her own life remarking I guess we all have our secrets Hiroshi and Kataro meet up with Shaw and Keiko at an intersection with Shaw soon recommending that they split up and ask Kentaro to go with him leaving Hiroshi alone with Keiko Keiko tries but we soon find is unable to keep herself from questioning him over the recent discovery as Hiroshi seems a bit defensive about his past abruptly ending the conversation saying she wouldn't understand that we know based on what's happened between her and Sean the flashback storyline that this isn't true. The four of them return to Hiroshi's workshop only to find out that Apex has trashed it and taken his prototype as Hiroshi walks out of his workshop frustrated Keiko tries to calm him down and eventually mentions seeking help from Monarch this not only frustrates Hiroshi but eventually leads to the reveal that Bill left him when he was only 11 years old. We see Kate walking past an area of San Francisco fenced off after the events of G-Day covered with notes and pictures of loved ones that is turned into a memorial of sorts as she relives her own encounter with Godzilla she sneaks through the fence eventually standing up to face the broken bridge it took place on as she fights the tears she's held back for so long and that's the episode Ashley what'd you think wow well I mean so this episode leans heavy on the legacy light on the monsters um we got some cool insights into our lead characters their relationships to each other and I I'm into it I thought it was very cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:09

We really get a sense of how dedicated Keiko and the people of her family are in the flashback sequence we see how Keiko high on mystery drugs faced with an entire town of angry villagers will do nothing to back down. You know she will not give them her camera. She is willing to risk her life for a couple photos that's incredibly powerful that's how important it is to her. And I think it's cool in the story it's not framed as reckless it's framed as purpose um and you start to realize that that kind of mindset that obsession it obviously doesn't end with her because we see how it runs through her entire family you know I guess that's true in different kinds of ways like even kids

SPEAKER_01 1:28:00

Is obsessive to a different point, like just in her feelings and how she's potentially caused the situation to become even worse. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:10

Absolutely. I mean, it's almost like a higher power thing to this family. It's really like the central organizing factor in their life. And then in the present day, we see Kate being back in California, and it's kind of uncomfortable. You see how wrong, quote, normal life is to her. I was really fascinated by the scene with her mom and her mom's partner. Her mom clearly gets that Kate's been through something serious, but both her and her partner are pushing her with this like, everything's fine, move on energy, very toxic positivity, but also just like they don't get how important this is to them. And I really like the writing on this show. One of my favorite lines this episode is when the moms tells Kate it's all in the past. And I'm like, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:07

It's not all in the past. I know this because literally half of every episode is the past. And the vision, I think, of the creators is about how the past informs the present. It's constantly bleeding in the things that they learned in the past, the emotions they had, the way some of their tendencies, like dang, apparently Keiko passed on her loving two people. All of that is very present. And then you've got the Hiroshi revealing to Keiko that, yeah, he had two separate families that he kept a secret. And it's really messy, the whole double life thing. And what I like is again, the show doesn't portray what he did as a betrayal, they portray it in a more nuanced way. And also, it's interesting because you can tell Hiroshi's nervous to tell his mother when she finds out he expects this judgment, but instead you see complicated feelings, and then of course we go on to learn why. So yeah, that was really the big theme that I saw in this episode. That like past is present, and that sort of obsession the family has. And then just totally aside from those themes, I like the idea of Tim recruiting Cora as a mole. I'm into it. And I feel like that storyline feels like it's gonna sort of pop off, gonna be something interesting. But I like that we're getting a little more emotional depth so that when things start going nuts, we're gonna be really invested in these people. Oh, yeah. What'd you think?

SPEAKER_01 1:30:48

Well, the first thing I really want to mention is that this episode again reinforced me how much of the show just expects you to remember things from before and is kind of unapologetic about it, specifically how they reintroduce the Suzuki device from season one into this episode when trying to figure out how to deal with Titan X. And then when Korra is acting as a mole for Monarch and she meets with Brenda at Apex by leveraging the fact that she apparently still has the code she developed for them uh from her time there. While she did destroy it on her end, apparently the data they collected from Monarch wasn't. So yeah, I think I really have to go back and both watch the last season and maybe some of the monster verse movies surrounding these timelines, since I feel like we've gradually referenced the previous season more and more. So I assume I might need to remember other things in the upcoming episodes too. I like that we get a brief conversation between Hiroshi and Kintaro where it's really apparent how deeply Hiroshi cares for Kate, even with the decisions he's made that might seem otherwise. I don't think it's wrong for Kentaro to feel like he does and allow Kate her space. But I do think it's really telling that Hiroshi responds to this attitude toward it by seemingly suggesting that they need to do better than that for her as her family.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:10

Man, Keiko kind of messed up having this love triangle. But obviously, I think Bill is kind of more responsible for all the messed up stuff that's happened since. I'm glad we finally got this reveal, not only because I know we've discussed wanting to know how the bill played by Anders is becomes uh the bill played by John Goodman, right, as far as perceived differences between their personalities, uh, but because we also mentioned how likable Anders has been in this role. Uh-huh. I think having this letter potentially being the cause behind him leaving Hiroshi at 11, while inexcusable, obviously, yeah, really makes sense giving what Keiko said to Shaw in the letter. But yeah, because it likely hurt him more than anything he's ever had to face before, you know, because these people are the two who are closest to him and they are keeping this from him.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:03

Yeah, that's gotta be really devastating.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:06

Yeah, yeah, especially still taking care of her child, yeah, and mourning her and missing her. Yeah, yeah. I think having Cora spy on Apex after she already took them down for the project she can prove you to code to was kind of funny. Yeah, and I'd be really surprised if Brenda wasn't at least somewhat suspicious. Cora wanting to work with them. It just seemed too easy for Korra to find out Apex has been keeping tabs on her and the Randas. And while I think she's smart enough to hack into a system or something, I don't believe she's smart enough to cover up, given that I'm sure Apex is crazy security and she'd probably be going up against some of their best security-minded talent. Let's keep in mind here that they do mention that like Apex is a tech, they're not in any way actually knowledgeable about Titans. They literally are just the tech company that is trying to use technology to deal with this thing. Yeah. I wonder what Apex's play is by stealing the Suzuki device prototype from Hiroshi's workshop and moreover, spying on Korra and the Randas for so long. Given that it seems like the governments that oversee Monarch don't seem to be happy with the Titan X situation, and they now have a Suzuki device of their own that they can potentially use. I think they might even try to leverage it by putting on a demonstration of how they can control Titans, which could potentially result in them being preferred over Monarch when the world has to deal with Titans. Uh, unfortunately, as we know from the movies and them being the ones that created Mecha Godzilla, it's probably not good to entrust the protection of the people of Earth to them, but hey, at least we know it's probably not going to be a short-lived conflict because they called Cliff Curtison to join the cast.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:58

Hell yeah. Love Cliff Curtis.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:02

Yeah. Uh, I'm definitely feeling more satisfied with the season after this episode.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:07

Good.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:08

Yeah, while I mentioned during our discussion of the last episode that I didn't know what direction things were going in story-wise, I think it's at least somewhat clear now that for the flashback storyline, we'll probably be filling in more of what happened during and following the years Bill, Keiko, and Shaw first encountered Titan X and everything, with Bill leaving Hiroshi after finding the letter. While the modern day storyline will likely continue to deal with Apex attempting to take over as the organization entrusted by the world's governments with overseeing and responding to Titan activity owners.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:43

Yeah, I'm looking forward to next week.

What We're Watching Next

SPEAKER_01 1:35:45

Oh yeah. Ashley.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:00

And ready or not too, Colonel here I come.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:04

Colins. And uh for TV, obviously, more monarch legacy of monsters.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:13

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:14

Episode four. And the second season premiere of Daredevil Born Again.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:20

Ooh, I hope it isn't emotionally devastating like the season one premiere.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:26

Oh, it's Daredevil. It will be emotionally devastating. Yeah, true.

Outro

SPEAKER_03 1:36:31

Join us next week for the devastation. Thank you so much for listening, guys. We really appreciate you taking the time hanging out with us this week. We hope you'll join next week for the pod.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:48

Yeah, and make sure to subscribe, rate, and review positively, man. Because like thumbs up and things like that. But yeah, follow us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and yeah, thank you to everybody, and we will catch you guys next week.