Intro

SPEAKER_02 0:00

What up, party people? This week.

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We'll be chatting about In the Gray and Is God Is.

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And we have a third movie review we'll be doing with a special guest, Ashley's friend Jen. Yay! Joining us to talk about obsession.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Oh my god. I'm so, so, so excited. I don't think I could be more excited. I love this podcast so much. Ashley!

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No more weird shit. Or at least leave it for the pod. We gotta get started. This is We should watch at episode eight.

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Ashley and two shit feel the vibes. It's a night zone.

Movie Review: In the Grey

SPEAKER_04 0:50

All right, friends. Our first movie In the Gray is directed by Guy Ritchie and stars Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Isaac Gonzalez. The film follows a set of extraction specialists operating in a dangerous gray area between the law and military operations and just criminal shit, as they take on a high-risk mission involving a senior negotiator and a massive international money deal. Like a lot of guy Richie movies, it mixes espionage, action, and crime thriller elements with a story centered around covert operations, shifting alliances, and a team of highly skilled operatives trying to stay ahead of escalating danger. So, Stoosh, what'd you think of In the Gray?

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Man, May has really been a weird month for me because this was yet another movie that I completely forgot about until we got to release week.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

I know I've seen the trailer a few times over the past few months. It's weird because the premise sort of sounds original. An action comedy movie that's about a team of asset recovery professionals.

SPEAKER_07 2:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Played by Henry Kevill, Jake Gyllenhall, and Isa Gonzalez. I felt like the movie looked pretty forgettable, but otherwise fine. Maybe even some slight originality. But as we get closer to seeing the movie, I realized something about it bothered me. I honestly couldn't really figure it out at the time, and I got ADHD. So it eventually kind of drifted out of priority in my mind. But as I was putting my notes together, I think I finally figured out the underlying logic that got me to that lack of excitement. Okay, so bear with me now.

SPEAKER_06 2:34

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

The title of this movie reminded me of the movie The Gray Man. That movie also led by a trio of popular actors. Same two-male, one-female lead formula. That movie led me to thinking of another movie Chris Evans was in that had a color as part of the title as well. Okay. Red One. Okay. Also led by the same two-male, one-female lead formula. This time carrying Wayne The Rock Johnson and Lucy Liu with him. That movie then led me to think of another movie with The Rock that had the word red in the title, Red Notice.

SPEAKER_05 3:20

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Yes. That, like In the Gray, was an action comedy heist movie again with the popular two male, one-female lead formula. Oh my god. Ultimately, I think what bothered me about In the Gray was that I ended up associating it with Red Notice, which a lot of people thought sucked. And I might have started feeling like this would suck because of that. I don't know. Maybe I should have listened to that feeling because I don't know if actually seeing this movie made me feel differently.

SPEAKER_05 3:57

Sushi, I love your brain.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Oh my god. So while I think that I kind of followed through with seeing this movie due to feeling some slight guilt actually over that assumption that it sucked because I connected it to Red Notice in a roundabout way. I mean, I I've enjoyed at least half of Guy Ritchie's past films, so I was probably overthinking it, right? Well, maybe not. As I was watching this movie, I realized lately I haven't really enjoyed Guy Ritchie films as much. But I had to think about why that was the case. And eventually I identified it as a feeling that he's a really good writer that gets significantly worse the longer he works with the subgenre. And I honestly think this film really illustrates this idea specifically with heist films, of which he's done nearly half a dozen. Yeah. That's not even counting the ones that are considered like gangster films. Okay. So this is just purely heist films. So that's a pretty high number, right? Honestly, even though I wasn't consciously thinking it at the time, I think my brain just checked out because this was another guy Richie Heist movie. Reading it was only two specific things I vividly remember about the movie walking out of it. One, Guy Richie loves dialogue with numbers in use of cardinal and ordinal directions. Seriously, it was like every few minutes, it was just numbers and from the southeast, from the northwest, you know? And I guess I really wasn't exaggerating because I remember being able to point it out several times after I realized that was happening.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

You did. You kept turning to me and being like, numbers, numbers, directions, yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

And then two, our leaves are pretty quippy, like annoyingly quippy at certain points, especially Jake Gyllenhaal. I normally like the guy, but he's a bit much in this movie. And I guess that leads me into the cast. Again, Jill and Hall. Solid but annoying at times. Definitely felt like more of an issue with the writing, though, than him playing the character. I don't know if Guy Ritchie knows Bronco, the character Gyllenhaal plays is annoying, but regardless uh how he wanted it played, that's how it made me feel. Isa Gonzalez, I think I would have been fine with her character if she weren't written to be so visibly affected. I guess is really the best way for me to put it. Her character is supposed to be the negotiator, or maybe not exactly since she doesn't actually do any negotiating, but she's basically in charge of delivering the message, right? So you'd think they'd put somebody in that position that could maintain their cool regardless of how much they were threatened. And this absolutely was not her because I remember at least two times where she was dealing with Manny Salazar or his men in this movie, where I felt like she was visibly worried or concerned.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Honestly, the only people in this cast I enjoyed seeing at all were Henry Cavill playing Sid and Carlos Bardem playing Manny Salazar, the person who they're trying to recover the stuff from. Everyone else in this movie plays a character that's probably leaning more into caricature. It's like the laziest version of a character you've seen before for each of these types of characters. Oh, and while I'm on the topic of laziness, I just want to touch on writing again for a second, just to say that this movie was written so lazily as a heist movie that there were moments where they basically just didn't bother to let us know ahead of time that there was some sort of contingency plan in place. They just came out of nowhere, like, oh yeah, plan B. And we're like, what? Plan B.

SPEAKER_04 7:53

Yeah, they did sort of set a lot of things up. So you thought everything was gonna be structured.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Yeah, but then they ended up having to work with contingency plans, which was weird for a heist movie. I mean, like one that they didn't end up explaining to you.

SPEAKER_06 8:08

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Like you see that stuff with the oceans, but at least at the end they'll come back and show you how things happen. But they didn't do that with this movie.

SPEAKER_06 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

With that said, I guess I can admit that this movie had some good design elements. Like it looks cool. Set, costume, and stunts are probably the standout elements, like you'd expect a guy Richie film with a budget estimated between 40 to 70 fill 70 million to look.

SPEAKER_07 8:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

So while not bad, I really don't have much to say about the look of everything other than 40 to 70 million dollar budget, it should look that good.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Although I think that's mid-budget these days.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Yeah, I guess it's true, but it's not like they really did anything crazy in this movie. This movie ended up being worse than I expected. Like I expected something that Guy Ritchie's done before, but nowhere near as tired a movie as I felt this was. I think I just enjoy when he does something original because I recall really enjoying the Covenant when we saw that. Yeah, I did too. I forgot that I've kind of gotten tired of his heist movies. So for my rating, I gave it a two for enjoyment. And a two and a half for quality.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

Inter okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

I think I enjoyed this movie as much as I believe someone could seeing something that a writer-director uh is known for and potentially uh has done progressively worse as they continue to release additional movies within the same subgenre. Again, great looking movie, actors are good at what they do, but they're just written without any consideration, leaving us with either characters we've seen a bunch of times or ones that are motivated by things the writer didn't bother to share with us during the movie.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Ah, well, I could say that.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Yeah. The action is good, everyone has great outfits, but very much style over substance. And really, that leads into my quality rating because the lack of substance really kept me from giving it above a middle score of two and a half. That whole two and a half is down to how this movie looked and how good of a job the actors did because there wasn't much else for me to be thrilled about quality-wise. For my recommendation, I think I went as out there because I did connecting this movie to Red Notice.

SPEAKER_04 10:26

Your ADD is strong this week. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah. Anyway, my recommendation is the 2010 movie Repo Men, starring Dude Law and Force with a curve, mostly because that movie is also about asset recovery. It's one of those bad movies with an interesting premise. I just remember it being kind of entertaining for the gore, so maybe I'll have to rewatch it soon.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

But yeah, that's well, I'm not gonna re-watch it with you because I remember it being very gross.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

All right. Well, I won't make you do it. All right, yeah. What did you think about uh in the gray?

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Well, I actually had a fun time with it, even though you know the movie's ridiculous. But I mean that affectionately, because the movie clearly it does not care about realism nearly as much as it cares about the vibes. This is less a spy thriller and more a luxury department store espionage fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

That's definitely the feeling I get.

SPEAKER_04 11:26

Yeah, it's like every single person in this movie packed three perfectly coordinated styled covert operations outfits before leaving the mission.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

One thing that I kind of picked up on, and I think I mentioned this to you when we were watching it, but maybe I didn't. Did you also get a feeling that weirdly this was a culmination of the types of movies Guy Ritchie's worked on? Because it seems like this movie had a lot more special ops, covert ops type stuff, given that it followed the covenant that was more of like a dirty special ops movie.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

I would agree, yeah. It's like sort of a mashup because when you're doing covert things, it doesn't make sense to be quippy, exactly, and it doesn't make sense to be wearing suits. Yes, yes, it's just sort of like a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B, and just the clothing is such a big part of this movie.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah, like why is everybody wearing khakis and running up shirts, man? That's not really comfortable for doing the stuff that they do.

SPEAKER_04 12:34

Yes, early in the movie, Jake Gyllenhall makes a big deal about how he's wearing a silk shirt. Isa Gonzalez is out here wearing these giant flowing dramatic cardigans in the middle of a windy combat zone. And I'm like, why would you want Billowy fabric in a tactical operation? But also, she does look fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah, people look good in this movie.

SPEAKER_04 12:56

That's like the whole movie. Every creative decision I feel is based on does this look cool and does this sound cool? And you're committed to that. Eventually, though, I realize the movie works better if you basically stop expecting any kind of tension and just accept it as a stylish hangout movie where glamorous people confidently improvise international crimes while dressing. You know what this would be great. What?

SPEAKER_02 13:24

If you were having a fancy wine and cheese party at your house and you needed something in the background playing.

SPEAKER_04 13:28

Oh my god, gorgeous for that.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Like if we threw a wine and cheese party, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

We would probably have this movie in the background.

SPEAKER_04 13:34

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

That's perfect. That's that's the perfect setting for in the gray. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

We got it. We figured it out, guys. And it's it's sort of got a weird structure. You know, we were talking just a second ago about the covert stuff and the heist stuff. It's weird because it feels like a heist movie, but technically it isn't. All the sort of heisty planning things are because they have to be ready to extract Ease the Gonzalez's character. Yeah, basically. And the whole thing is built around plans and contingencies and mission execution in a way that at first reminded me a little of how in Top Gun Maverick they do a really good job of explaining the operation beforehand. So the audience understands the geography, the stakes, everything that's going to happen once the mission starts. So they understand the importance of each thing that takes place. But in this movie, they do all the setup. I mean, so much of the movie's runtime is set up and practicing routes. But then, like you said, you don't get the payoff. Because instead of getting that satisfying, like, oh, that was the payoff to the setup, you get a relaxed, like, ah, okay, I guess they had another secret contingency plan that the movie didn't mention until now.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yeah, they're fine. They'll be fine.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

Yeah, and that annoyed me because there's a real satisfaction in expectation and over delivery. I think a lot of movies can do that well. A movie that you don't like that I ended up really liking, the um, now you see me, now you don't. I'm not saying it's the best movie out there, but there's that. But there's something incredibly satisfying about the way they do the setup and payoff. And they just don't do that here, which connects to something else that this movie is weirdly obsessed with, which is lists. So this movie fucking loves lists. Like at one point, there are giant titles on the screen listing every ingredient of a cocktail that the lead character is making. Like something happens and she it says sweet vermouth, and then there's Colombian coffee, orange garnish, gin. And I'm sitting here like, why do I suddenly have a full recipe for this Negroni variation rather than well, it does look good though.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

If you were playing this at one of your fancy parties, oh my god, sushi, you would have to do it. It would be the perfect backdrop for you to be like, oh, maybe I can make a Negroni now. I got the full recipe right here.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

I'll have everyone wear gorgeous silk blouses and drink fancy Negronis. But yeah, it's just there were so many lists, and then there's a later scene where they start laying out the operation, and the list takes up literally half of the screen. It's so comical. And I get that there's something that can be really fun about titles on screen and explanations. That's something the guy Richie definitely does, but I don't need to see half a screen full of copy. Especially when you're not gonna actually pay it off. So, like, what are you doing with my time here? And then, oh my god, the dialogue is insane.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Oh my god. Nobody talks like that.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

Definitely not Americans. Half the time I was sitting there thinking there's no way Americans talk like this, but it's Guy Ritchie. Everyone speaks in a heightened theatrical British criminal poet rhythm where every line sounds like it's workshopped in a luxury cigar lounge. That is Guy Ritchie. And okay. This is why I weirdly think that Isa Gonzalez felt slightly out of sync with the movie. She's a great actress, it's no knock on her acting. But she's playing the role fairly natural and straightforward, even a bit more earnest than the other actors.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 17:33

So the other guys, Henry Cavill and uh Jake Gyllenhall, they're just sort of like I don't know, frothy is the word that I think of. They're sort of like it's all about the quips and this cryptic cool guy dialogue. And she is saying lines that are written that way, but she's very serious. But she's constantly rhyming, guys. So there's this one point where she's talking about what they're gonna do to the bad guy's assets, and she says, freeze, fuck, seize. And I'm like, okay, why is this lawyer constantly rhyming? Because the only rhyming lawyer I know is Johnny Cochran, and she's no Johnny Cochrane. And then, oh my God, there's a line she said where I thought that's gotta be something dirty, and that's gotta be something very uh descriptive. At one point she says that something smells like a wizard sleeve. All right. Now, I'm not gonna tell you what a wizard sleeve is. It's not my job. But I will say it's very descriptive and also not something an American lawyer would say. But yeah, thank you, Guy Richie, for that. That's now in my vernacular. I appreciate it. But also, here's the other thing getting back to the blouses in this movie. Guy Ritchie is absolutely obsessed with dressing Henry Cavill like a gigantic 1940s comic book hero. So this man is so comically large that's genuinely like they're struggling to find fabrics that can contain him. And I'm like, wait a minute, didn't Guy Ritchie just make another movie with him, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare? And didn't that take place in the 40s? Yes. So now the whole movie, all the stuff's going on, and I'm thinking, did they use the same wardrobe for both movies? What's going on here?

SPEAKER_02 19:32

They probably had some outfits left over from that one.

SPEAKER_04 19:35

I'm telling you, that's a way to squeeze that 40 to 72 million dollar budget. But I have to say, there's things I liked, but my biggest disappointment was the gyrocopters. So during this movie, when they're talking about the setup, they keep talking about gyrocopters, and they're basically like individual-sized helicopter things. And I was so friggin' excited to see what was gonna happen with them. I was obsessed, and all they do is they just show them sitting in them as they're practicing, and you never get to fully see them realized, and it's just very sad.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

But the fact that you even got as far to notice and hold on to the dream of seeing gyrocopters and made it to the end of this movie, still having a desire to see them is amazing because I just I just checked out at one point.

SPEAKER_06 20:37

Well, I think it also may be something to say that the the plot itself wasn't holding my attention fully. So the gyrocopters. I think my brain's like my brain filled what the plot lacked with gyrocopter lore.

SPEAKER_04 20:51

And sushi, I've got to tell you about gyrocopters, okay? They were invented by the Spanish engineer Juan de la Sierva in the early years.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Well, I thought you were about to say that they were invented by a Brazilian guy who did Capoeira named Gyro.

SPEAKER_04 21:07

Oh my god, I wish. I wish. But yeah, so it's a precursor to helicopters, actually. They're like a proto helicopter. And they've historically been used for everything from military reconnaissance to search and rescue. Anyway, I'm obsessed with gyrocopters now, but I didn't get to see them fly yet. So you know who got the best one though? What?

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Inspector Gadget. It's like built into him.

SPEAKER_04 21:35

Oh my god. He is the gyrocopter.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Yeah. That's maybe why I didn't find it so exciting. I watched Inspector Gadget growing up, dude. I've seen this before.

SPEAKER_04 21:48

I love it. And okay, my last point here is again, I'm gonna be a little lot on the left field. I have to keep myself entertained during some of these movies. So one of the things I kept thinking about is Ross Perot. Okay. If you're I'm gonna get into it. So Ross Perot was a very weird little man and ran for president in the 90s.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

He was the small, short man. Egg-like. He had a very particular uh twang and mannerisms.

SPEAKER_04 22:26

Yeah, very strange guy. He's one of those guys who's a a a businessman who randomly runs for president kind of thing. So okay, I kept wondering if something that happened with him in the 70s was partly an inspiration for this. Because during the Iranian revolution he literally hired an ex-commando named Bull to rescue two of his employees from an Iranian prison, which apparently because rich businessmen in the 1970s could become action protagonists for a weekend was successful. He broke them out of an Iranian prison in a big massive break. And I was like that gives me the energy of this movie. Just rich people doing stuff outside the law for their employees.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

I mean it makes complete sense because back then you could pretty much just walk into an airport and like go all the way to the door for boarding and not even show a ticket.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

You know now I wonder if he used gyrocopters. I'm gonna look it up later. I'll report back to you.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

All right.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

But yeah I was like oh okay this is pretty good and then something crazy would happen and I'd be like ha but I you know it helped my occupied enough to live it did keep me occupied. And so actually my enjoyment score okay it's largely on the shoulders of Henry Cavill's blouses yeah well largely on the Henry Cavill's shoulders which are very broad to begin with.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

He could carry a lot with those shoulders like this whole entire movie pretty much yes so I I gave it a three okay that's fine.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

No I didn't think it was pretty it's great for a charcuterie party I got a new I mean I'll give you that because I didn't think about it in that sense until after we started talking about this. But yeah it would be perfect backdrop for like a fancy definitely so get some wine and cheese don't even worry about the plot and uh for quality I gave it a 2.5 I think uh it's good looking it looks good I think there's some fun lines I could do without the wizard sleeve thank you very much if anything it sort of spurred some uh amusing concepts for me that kept my brain going but I've definitely seen him do better and I do sort of wonder if it is that thing where he was pushing two of his interests together too much and they sort of clashed. But you know it's a movie yeah yeah in the gray in the gray not to be confused with gray man or red one or red notice or even gray the movie where I was promised Liam Neeson punching wolves in the face but he never showed it again see you know what I'm gonna give a don't recommend to watch to that because that's you didn't get the gyrocopter payoff in this movie you don't get the punching payoff in gray I'm done with gray for now all left downs anything with gray in it and this is the letdown man. All right all right on move on

Movie Review: Is God Is

SPEAKER_04 25:45

all right guys our next movie is Is God is now when I'm telling you what the movie is that is is not included in the title okay so it's just Is God is and it's directed by playwright and filmmaker Alicia Harris based on her acclaimed 2018 stage play of the same name which blended revenge thriller Greek tragedy and spaghetti western influences. The film stars Kara Young Mallory Johnson Sterling K. Brown Vivica A Fox and Janelle Monet and Harris adapted the play into her feature film debut. The movie follows twin sisters Racine and Anaya who were left physically and emotionally scarred after a fire destroyed their home when they were children. After reconnecting with their dying mother the sisters are given one final request track down and kill their father. What follows is a violent surreal journey across American South as the sisters wrestle with revenge, trauma and whether carrying out their mother's wish will actually bring them peace.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

So Soosh, what'd you think of Is God is well my awareness of this movie was purely based on seeing the trailer for it either before some other movies we saw and or as a part of the weekly compilation of new trailers on Rat of Twin who's uh YouTube channel that we usually watch I thought the premise was interesting. Sure it's definitely not uncommon these days to see a trailer for yet another revenge film but I think this film still seemed to include some elements that I felt weren't commonly seen. The standout one for me was that it had two protagonists who were twin sisters and the revenge mission being the dying wish of their mother. Also while I didn't know the leads that play the sisters I did think it was cool that Vivica A Fox played their mother since I don't think I've seen her in anything for a minute. I want to mention that I kind of thought about how well the trailer was cut uh especially after seeing the movie like you get that setup that I mentioned but then it moves into the supporting cast which are just as notable Erica Alexander who I know mostly from the Cosby show and Living Single and musician Janelle Monet who I know I've seen in some TV shows at least I think it helps to kind of keep the viewer from even the thought of complaining about how played out the subgenre is because it's really got some cool energy to it as we cut different scenes of the movie. Now even with all that it manages to still do a pretty good job of informing you of the plot. But more amazingly after seeing the film it was crazy to realize how much we didn't see in the trailer or at least anything that was seen wasn't enough to give things away based purely on how rare it was to see the trailer I was under the impression that this movie would have a limited release. Only saw it maybe like two or three times I think yeah I was really surprised they didn't promote it more especially after seeing it yeah I don't think this was actually the case at least not for AMC theaters around our area since we noticed that this was playing pretty frequently across all of them over its opening weekend but actually what I really wasn't expecting in Clocked was that this movie actually had more show times than in the gray. Oh yeah did in our area it's kind of wild when you think of like how big of a name Guy Richie is so yeah I thought that was kind of interesting to see. Seeing the movie I thought it was really original. Doing my usual post-screening research I wasn't aware of seeing anything else Alicia Harris has worked on and was admittedly under the impression given the younger leads and seeing an ad on social media for this movie with audiences from early screenings that took place at HBCU's uh that she was just a younger director I hadn't heard of or something. Interestingly I found out that Harris is actually around our age I've seen interviews with her she looks young but yeah it kind of made sense because Vivica Fox is more of a name from when we were young adults and and teenagers and Harris mostly worked as a playwright which also makes sense since I remember mentioning to Ashley during the movie how some of the dialogue really felt like it belonged in a live theater player. Yeah. While I was aware that this was a revenge film I guess I just didn't pick up on this specific aspect in the trailers but this movie shared a lot of the same energy as I felt with another specific revenge film or films Kill Bill for this movie instead of one where we have two women as our leads in this quest for vengeance of sorts and I bring that up because I kind of enjoyed that aspect of it. Mm-hmm I mean I don't know if Ashley would agree but I think we see a lot of revenge movies. Yeah I would agree yeah and so a lot of the time I do feel like there are a few of the same types of plots that get recycled even though I wouldn't say this movie has a completely original plot I will say that it has enough original and less commonly recycled elements where I didn't feel like I'd seen something like it before because really that's not all it is either. I've also seen people mentioning this movie being a Southern gothic film. As I've probably mentioned before I only took a single film course in college so yeah I had no awareness of the subgenre but looking into it a bit and comparing it to the other movies I have seen that are also classified as such uh Sinners starring Michael B. Jordan for example I guess it made sense given that it did feel like there was a common vibe between them even if it they took place in different points in time with sinners taking place in the 1930s and this probably being closer to present day. I don't think I've seen any other movies that I'd consider modern Southern Gothic besides this one. So I really feel like that kind of added an interesting stylistic element to the movie with scenes taking place in like updated versions of the types of settings that uh the movies shared previously this movie also had a great cast uh I appreciated having some familiar names because I did feel my age a little bit heading Kara Young as Racine and Melory Johnson as Anaya were amazing as leads just great balance and a great duo that really goes through a whole range of emotions and situations that at times were expressed with this lingo that I at least felt like only these twin sisters knew. Vivica A Fox is their mother Ruby she was one of the names I mentioned being familiar with earlier since I've seen her in some movies back in the 90s and shit there's a definite kill bill reference if I really needed one because she was in it. But I really enjoyed her character in this Erica Alexander I thought her character Divine the Healer was hilarious. Oh my god yes she's just as good as the impression you get of her from the trailer also Janelle Monet as the new wife was great and our guy Sterling Kate Brown actually wasn't going to mention him initially because I didn't remember him being in the trailer but after we watching the trailer he actually was in it and his name was in the list of stars in the movie so yeah just wanted to point out he really did a great job. This movie was really stylized and while part of that was through the delivery and the acting most of it was probably due to the visual elements I really like the cinematography the set design and the costumes I suppose these elements also really tied this movie to Kill Bill for me with cinematography being leaned on heavily to evoke specific emotions and using elements of the set and costumes to kind of inform certain character's status. Like how in Kill Bill you had Michael Madsen's character who was slovenly living in a trailer pawning off priceless katanosaurus. But then you have a character like Lucy Lu who's this crime boss and not only was she dressed impeccably but even her henchmen were all suited up too you get some of that too in this movie with the impression that the twin sisters in this movie definitely lived a less luxurious lifestyle than newest wife does which you can kind of feel from the visual elements so I thought that was interesting. Compared to the trailer though I think this movie actually feels less frenetic. There are definitely moments in this movie that feel as fast and wild as they do in the trailer and I do think that this movie doesn't really slow down uh mostly it just keeps moving at a steady pace with maybe some scenes that stand out as being significantly heightened I guess you could say but otherwise it delivered pretty much what I expected for the most part. For rating I gave this a four for enjoyment and a four and a half for quality I ended up enjoying this movie more than I expected to I think I went into it expecting some sort of disconnect. We started off the movie really stylized and I hadn't really figured out kind of where this movie was coming from so to speak. I was kind of worried but then I ended up really being able to connect it to other movies I've seen and maybe even some personal experiences. So yeah I really only took off a point because I just don't think it's possible for me to completely enjoy a movie that admittedly leans heavily into motivations that can be rooted in pretty disturbing despicable acts yeah but it does make you care about what's happening through those actions too so I wouldn't say that they don't provide any sort of value it just doesn't provide as much enjoyment. Yeah and uh like I was saying I think it also doesn't speak for the quality which I gave a slightly higher rating than enjoyment because this movie while also stylized is still relatable in a lot of ways. Yeah I think others out there have had similar albeit less dramatic experiences in life that I think parallel the ones in this movie a betrayal by partners or family members being the most obvious but the fact that we get that along with so much style and a great adventure and revenge thriller that also had occasional elements of live theater and everything else uh and most importantly how well all of it was balanced all really contributed towards my high quality rating. Oh and I am a bit excited about my recommendation I have tied to this because it's one of my odd favorites if you didn't know I weirdly enjoy roller skating films. Oh my god and so my recommendation would be the movie ATL starring rapper TI and Lore in London. The movie came out in 2006 so if you're into rap and RB from around that time and roller skating then check it out. You can rent it or buy it through most VOD providers also in case anyone is concerned because I would totally understand um it can be a lot uh EI is pretty young in this movie so rest assured he is not using the same absurdly fancy vocab that he does in his reality yeah I was for a minute I was like is this guy gonna recommend roll bounce with this movie?

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Oh no but I mean you should definitely see roll bounce to it so good.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

You should watch roll bounce before this one because it happens I think in an earlier time in history or to take place there. But anyway enough about roller skating movies.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

What do you think about this?

SPEAKER_04 37:36

Man I really liked it. I thought it was stylish and visceral and funny and upsetting also and cathartic. I mean honestly definitely one of the most interesting revenge movies I've seen a long time. Yeah it's it's one of those movies where I walked out of the theater and I just didn't know what to say about it at first because there was so much rattling around in my head and that's kind of a rarity for us. We usually get out of theater and start yapping but I was like whoa there's so many big concepts so many performances so much style it was a lot in the best possible way. And I think what's wild is that the plot is actually incredibly simple. Yeah you sisters survive a horrific fire as children then their mother sends them on a mission to kill their dad okay off they go and they just go to do that mission and all the things along the way and you don't know how it's going to turn out but the execution of the story is just so rich and layered and emotionally complicated. I knew going into this movie there was based on a play but what I didn't realize is that it's the director the writer director's first film. And I can believe I mean she is really a confident director there's such a strong command of tone I'm sure because of her years in playwriting. I mean the movie constantly balancing brutality and humor and tenderness and surrealism.

SPEAKER_02 39:12

Yeah and I think that's why I thought maybe it was just a younger writer that I hadn't heard of that is just like some kind of prodigy or something because it does kind of have a weirdly youthful but also very polished vibe for something that is very stylized. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:32

Yeah I was really impressed because I was really looking forward to this movie but I was sort of bracing myself for it to be kind of grim and difficult to watch there are some moments of humor but I wasn't sure and it's just so well balanced. And the cast is incredible really great cast Kara Young is incredible as Racine. She brings real intensity to the role where she feels equally convincing when she's having moments of righteous fury as when she's in quieter scenes caring for her sister. There's this tenderness underneath the rage and then Mallory Johnson as Anaya is so graceful and sensitive. She gives off kind of a softness that's really nice to have in a movie that has a lot of intensity I thought that was a great contrast Vivek A Fox is a fucking badass. Like I I would watch a movie just about her character. I was intrigued they meet her and she's in a bed garments on I'm assuming the cover burns but what she's wearing it looks like pearls or beads sewn into it and she's so angry and regal I was really impressed. And then oh my God you mentioned her but Erica Alexander I think she might feel MVP I don't know she was this baby I think yeah for sure like she just really stands out. She's so funny and so over the top in a way that also perfectly fits the heightened reality of the movie.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

It also fits her a lot too because I remember her from living singles. Yeah she's great so yeah I was really happy to see her in Vivica because like I was saying I did feel kind of old but then the two of them like okay this is kind of made for me too so yeah we're like hey we're all here we're young yeah exactly yeah and visually the movie is so great I mean it it looks really vibrant it's got heightened style without ever losing emotional reality underneath it.

SPEAKER_04 41:42

I loved his sisters' wardrobes the scar makeup is beautifully done and then the flashbacks have this sort of nightmare logic that makes them almost feel mythological. Yeah one of the visual details that I love is how the movie delays showing Sterling K. Brown's entire face you see like his mouth or you know like a part of him and it becomes this kind of looming force where you can feel his presence before you actually see him as a whole person. And I mean honestly the thing that hit me hardest about this movie is just anger. This movie is burning with anger anger at abusers anger at systems that protect them communities that ignore the violence when they go to women who they think are going to support them and they don't and and anger at the way that women black women are expected to suppress rage in order to remain acceptable. And there's a real brutal clarity I think in the way the movie portrays the victims because these girls are victims but it's as if some of the people that they interact with don't view them that way at all. It's like society either wants to explain away their suffering because acknowledging it would be too uncomfortable or they just want to ignore them. And the thing is is they are owed their anger they should be mad. And I think that's one of the movie's strongest ideas. It never judges the women for their rage it understands where it comes from but at the same time it also understands that rage can spread like if violence spreads trauma spreads you know one person's violence kind of blooms outward and affects entire families and communities and that's where I think Greek tragedy really comes in. I I watched an interview with Harris and she said that that that was one of her main inspirations. She wanted a Greek tragedy that spoke to her community. And there's this thing I kept thinking about while watching it there's this concept in Greek tragedy that's sometimes called inherited Guilt, sometimes it's ancestral fault, where descendants continue suffering because of the actions of the people in their family that came before them. And when I was younger and taking classes on theater and stuff, I used to think that it felt unfair or narratively unsatisfying. Like, well, wait, these people are being punished for someone else's actions? What's the point of that? But now I'm like, well, that's how life works. That's literally how life is. People don't magically escape the consequence of violence and trauma, doesn't end neatly. Like one act of violence can affect a whole community as it sort of affects each person and it carries on and on. And I think that movie understands it in a really profound way. This is a movie that I thought about more and more after I saw it. It was just so thought-provoking. It's almost like the experience of thinking about the movie is almost as good as watching it in some ways, because it really made me think deeply about all these themes: violence against women and revenge and codependency and religion and beauty, like all of this. It's big stuff. But it's also a fun movie at times. Like it's also enjoyable. There's genuinely funny moments in the movie. There's wild performances, crazy tonal swings. I love the tender scenes between the sister that kind of give everything grounding. It's a hard watch sometimes, but it's also a blast at other. Kind of strange to say. But again, I think it's just so well balanced. So I honestly can't wait to see what Alicia Harris does next. Because I feel like wow, if this is her first movie, can you even imagine what she's going to come up with next? Crazy. And I guess that gets to my ratings. So I actually came up the same way that you did here. I did a four for enjoyment and a four point five for quality. And basically the same reasons. I feel comfortable saying I loved the movie, but the rating is enjoyment. And there are times that were really upsetting, you know? So I couldn't quite give it a higher rating in that way. But for the quality, I think every aspect, I can't imagine it's being done better. I I think it's just beautifully written, beautifully shot. The ensemble cast is fantastic. I want to see the lead actors in everything now. And I really, really recommend you guys go check it out. If you have it playing in a theater nearby, definitely go. It's produced by Amazon, I believe. So I think it will be streaming, but it should have a normal theater run. And uh yeah. What a fun, crazy, upsetting movie.

*FEATURED* Movie Review (w/ special guest Jen Fett): Obsession

SPEAKER_04 47:07

All right. Our next movie is Obsession. So Obsession is written and directed by Gary Barker, a 26-year-old filmmaker who originally built his audience through YouTube horror shorts and comedy videos before breaking out with micro-budget horror projects online. The idea for the film was inspired in part by the classic Simpsons episode Monkey's Paw, which Barker used as a starting point for a much darker story about desire, control, and toxic obsession. The movie stars Michael Johnson, Indy Navarrett, Cooper Tomlinson, and Megan Lawless. It follows a socially awkward young man named Bear who discovers a supernatural object called One Wish Willow and uses it to make his longtime crush Nikki fall in love with him. But when the wish actually comes true, her affection becomes frighteningly obsessive and spirals into psychological and supernatural horror. And guys, I'm so excited. Joining us for this episode is my dear friend Jen Fett. She is a true horror fanatic and a longtime member of my annual Halloween vacation crew. And when it comes to her horror bona fides, all you have to do is look at her list of past Halloween costumes. You've got Carrie from Carrie, you've got Rosemary from Rosemary's Baby. You've got Wendy from The Shining. You've got Casey from Scream. And suddenly you've got Alex from Fatal Attraction in full boiled rabbit energy, then Mandy from Mandy, and she absolutely killed it as Quint from Jaws. Jen is an absolute delight, if I say so myself, who fully commits to the horror bit year-round. And if you've ever been to the Hollywood Theater in Portland, Oregon, Jen is probably bartending in a fun horror t-shirt underneath the theater's replica of the cheddar goblin from Mandy. So make sure you tip her well and keep an eye out for her during the theater's Sunday service industry nights, which she occasionally programs herself. And without further ado, Jen, welcome. We're so happy you're here. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_05 49:24

That was such a wonderful introduction. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. I'm super excited to talk about this movie too.

SPEAKER_04 49:33

Awesome. Well, I always appreciate your opinion on horror movies because it's something that I'm just kind of getting into a little bit more now, but you're like a seasoned pro. So I really am excited to hear what you thought of the movie.

SPEAKER_05 49:48

All right. I was so pleasantly surprised by this movie. Yay. Um one of the greatest things that can happen to me when I go to the theater these days is if I walk out saying, like, that was so much more disturbing than I hoped it would be. And that is what I said when I left this screen. This movie, you can definitely tell, was made by someone who is steeped in horror. And though Curry Barker is only 26, he has an almost Quentin Tarantino-like homage theme going through the whole thing. Just see nods to classic horror films throughout, like it little specific scenes, pieces of dialogue and things like that. But also just the way it looks and feels is very evocative of things like, for example, in midsummer, where before they go to Sweden, everything is so dark, it's almost the cinematic equivalent of clinical depression. Like you can't make it out entirely clearly. There's notes of greens and yellows, right? There are discordant sounds throughout, punctuated by silence, which is also something that happens in this movie a lot. I think that the fact that they all work in a music store lends itself to that effect. And yeah, I was so, so impressed by everything. And especially considering the story, which I know we we don't get into spoilers on the pod. So I won't say anything about the plot, but it's obvious that this is a story about unrequited love and having the tables turned and having the object of your uh affection return that affection suddenly and in a very extreme way. And so, you know, I was real nervous about how a male writer was gonna portray a female character who's suddenly head over heels. But I think it's not a spoiler to say that he does so by making her more of a vessel for this type of thing rather than just a regular old lady with anxious attachment and like zero boundaries, you know? So I was just so impressed by it. I never once felt gross or nauseous by anything. I thought good or bad as a horror fan. Uh I didn't feel gross or nauseous in the way that he intended, but I did feel a little bit sick, like I said, based on the visuals and the sound.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 52:17

I felt sick in all the right ways, guys. Yeah. So again, I really wish I could talk about specific scenes and specific nods, but uh without being able to do that, yeah, I was so, so blown away by it. Very impressed. And I can't wait to see what he does next. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:32

So okay, Jen, as a horror expert, where would you rate this enjoyment-wise? So enjoyment-wise, I would say four.

SPEAKER_05 52:43

Yeah. It hit all the right notes for me, but it hasn't stuck with me in the same way that things I would five stars have, which is surprising to me because right after I got out of the theater, like I said, I was absolutely blown away. But going with four for enjoyment. Yeah. But for quality, I would say 4.5.

SPEAKER_04 53:04

Ooh, okay. Yeah, it's definitely a good one. Okay, we're gonna have to have a spoilers talk offline for sure. I'm so excited to see what this director does next. Definitely. So, Sush, what did you think of it?

SPEAKER_02 53:20

Well, before I start talking about that, speaking of obsession, you remember that fragrance obsession by Calvin Klein?

SPEAKER_03 53:27

Heck yeah. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:28

Yeah, I was just thinking, what if they made a cut of the trailer for this movie in like the same vein as those commercials?

SPEAKER_05 53:36

Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 53:38

You know those are David Lynch directed too?

SPEAKER_05 53:40

Yeah, damn, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

Yeah, I don't know. It would be interesting if this they did that. But you know how they have those trailers that come out after the movies release sometimes that are kind of yeah. I think it would be good post-release promotion stuff. I really like streaming or something, it would be funny.

SPEAKER_04 53:58

So genius.

SPEAKER_02 54:00

Anyway, um, yeah, talking about this movie, uh, I think I've been at least interested in this movie since seeing the teaser, because it really had me wondering what this dude had gotten himself into. Uh, because we established the key obsession in this movie is apparently due to a wish that this guy had cast upon a girl he liked. But even though this guy doesn't sound like he got what he wanted, for some reason he's still willing to go with it as long as he can change something. What that already had me wondering what this guy got himself into and why he still seems desperate enough to put up with it because I'm obviously expecting something horror movie crazy. Also, though I initially assumed Curry Barker might be a filmmaker whose work I've seen before. He wasn't after I looked him up. Actually, this was only his second feature film, so that was a cool find. The first full trailer, holy shit, I was sold out of this movie.

SPEAKER_06 55:00

It was so good.

SPEAKER_02 55:01

Yeah, mostly because of the portrayal of the crazy obsessed girlfriend. That was probably more scary than I've ever seen it played before.

SPEAKER_03 55:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:10

And there were just so many different examples of how she was acting crazy in that trailer. Yeah. Also, as someone who has dealt with a certain degree of real life crazy partners, I guess I might have. I guess I might have been personally interested in seeing how the craziness progressed. Since I assume the movie would probably start somewhere relatable before going off the rails. I didn't really think about it before seeing the movie, but I do think it's amazing how much the trailers did to sell me on the movie, given that it had no actors that I recognized across both of them. I know there was a third one, but after seeing that trailer in preparation for this, uh, I realized I probably only saw the teaser and the first full trailer. So going into my thoughts about the movie after seeing it, uh I love this movie.

SPEAKER_03 56:07

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:08

I think what really made it work for me was that it not only worked as a horror movie on a very superficial level with the whole, oh damn, that crazy girlfriend you wish for is too much. Uh, and the blood and gore as a result of the actions she takes. But you kind of realize that the whole essence of scary and fucked up as the movie progresses and details are revealed might not be just limited to the Nikki character. I'm sure you two ladies will touch on that. So really uh as far as some of the more nuanced aspects of the movie, I will say it is really thought-provoking, especially with all the incel stuff that's been in the news and everything lately. I don't think this is a direct commentary on that, but I do think there's a lot of aspects of it that probably provide for some good reflection on those kind of conversations.

SPEAKER_03 56:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:58

Uh, with that said, even though I didn't know who Curry Barker was, nor did I know pretty much anyone from the cast aside from Annie Richter, who doesn't play a huge role, but I guess still a significant one. I thought our leads who played Baron Nicky, Michael Johnston, and Indian Navaret did a great job playing each of their characters. I was about to support that with an example from the movie, but honestly, this is really one of those movies where it'll be difficult to have a discussion without spoiling. So I'll just say that I feel like initially I assume they'd be typical horror movie characters, but I think as you learn a bit more about how the wishes work, uh you start realizing how much depth and nuance they give to these characters. The best way I can put it without spoiling it is that the whole impact of the wish and characters are in a constant state of flux for a lot of the movies, so you never really get settled even before you start really thinking about things and getting unsettled, I guess. Uh, but I also want to mention that we realized we actually saw Indy Navaret in a movie earlier this year, Trap House that Dave Batista started in.

SPEAKER_04 58:11

Oh, yeah, I liked that one. It was pretty fun.

SPEAKER_02 58:15

Yeah, she actually was pretty good in that too. So I hope I see her in more roles, but maybe something different than another scary lady role. I know it's hard because she's so fucking good at playing crazy in so many different ways, but we should at least see if she can do other stuff, right?

SPEAKER_04 58:33

I'm sure you can. She's great. Oh my god, she's so good.

SPEAKER_02 58:37

Yeah. Supporting Cass, Cooper Tomlinson is Ian and Megan Lawless is Sarah, Bear and Nikki's friends were also great. I appreciated how they seem to contribute to some of the plap twists because while they may not have gotten a ton of screen time, you still get a feeling that they're really involved in the progression of the story.

SPEAKER_03 58:56

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 58:57

Uh, visual elements were amazing. Um, yes. And for someone who doesn't always enjoy it, I think the few moments were faced with it during the movie. Uh, while very over-the-top crazy girlfriend type stuff was pretty expected. Uh, there were clear setups for things uh before they happened, so it feel like it was earned and it didn't come out of nowhere. So what I think really made the movie stand out for me was how a lot of the horror elements were actually just pretty reasonable examples of someone showing interest in someone else. But obviously cranked up to the most extreme degree that it turns scary. Uh it was really interesting how a lot of times it's uh seem more like a growing disgust towards something eventually turned into a legitimately scary situation. It really achieves this by leaning into visual elements like cinematography, especially use of shadows or close-ups or how a shot was framed. And even though I can't really say it was enjoyable, really, I'll say that the practical effects like prop stuff and makeup was pretty impressive and at times disgusting in this movie.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:07

Yeah. Think it a good way. Yes, yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:11

As far as meeting expectations, I definitely think this movie achieved that as far as delivering a plot that was in line with what the trailers gave us. More importantly, though, I think this is one of those horror movies that's really timely and relevant to some recent societal challenges, and weirdly it kind of serves us as a good reference for real life scary behavior. Since I definitely felt like some of the crazy things that happened in the movie are kind of a result of them. So going into my rating, I gave this a four and a half for enjoyment and uh four for quality.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:46

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:47

Yeah, this movie definitely ended up being deeper than I expected, but it still didn't fail to deliver on the fun, crazy horror premise pitched in the trailers. Uh, cast-wise, no doubt, Indy Neverett made this movie what it was.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:59

Oh my god, she's so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:01

Yeah, Michael Johnston did a good job as Bear, but the character Nikki ran the world in this movie, and Bear just doesn't realize it until it's definitely too late. All the great visual elements really helped take her performance to a really creepy place, and the story just uh rounded out this entire nightmare that I just can keep from watching. I think if this wasn't a horror movie, calling the experience like witnessing a horrible car crash, you know, the whole I can't look away because I'm just frozen by how fucked up what I'm seeing is, uh think it wouldn't be a compliment. But that quality is what I really felt uh made this movie as enjoyable as it was. I think I honestly enjoy horror the most when it's just consistently unsettling or the unsettled vibe kind of crescendos through the runtime of the movie. And I really think this one definitely does that. So for quality, uh man, given that this movie is made for reportedly no more than a million dollars.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:00

That blew my mind.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:02

It's fucking amazing. Uh again, Indian Navaret's performance, phenomenal. They didn't waste a penny of that budget, though. The only reason I didn't give it a five were that I think the story uh could have been significantly better if we had a little more backstory in our leads. Not to say that it wasn't enough for the movie to be enjoyable because that obviously wasn't the case. I just think that we could have felt a bit more connected to the characters if we knew more about them, and it wouldn't have taken a ton of effort to do that.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:32

It is true that they don't give you a ton of backstory. It's sort of you meet them, you find out their relationship to each other, but I didn't have a sense for how long they've known each other, that kind of thing. Yeah, I see what you mean.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:45

Also, I feel like while this movie did do a good job starting some conversations about sexism and gender imbalance, it seemed to shy away from calling out the specific examples most of the time, even though I felt like it got pretty close at times. Um, but I guess I understand with this being Curry's only second film. You probably wanted to hint at those things so it could be less direct about that stuff and have wider appeal. I mean, this movie does also work on a pretty superficial horror movie level, too. So people who that stuff may be about may not even notice at seeing this movie. My related recommendation based on the whole potentially scary consequences thing would probably be the butterfly effect starring Ashton Kutcher.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:30

Ooh, deep cut. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:32

Yeah. I'm not someone who has ever given a recommendation with anything with that guy. But I guess if I did, that movie would be it. Maybe it was just that by the time that that movie came out, I was just glad that I didn't have to see him acting all goofy and punked, or people parodying him acting all goofy and punked, I think. But yeah, not wishes resulting in what started as a dream becoming a nightmare, but time travel and changing things in the past to fix an event resulting in unforeseen consequences when returning to the present. Definitely not as good as this movie, but kind of along the same lines, I guess. Interesting. So yeah, Ashley, what did you think?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:12

Okay, so I was really looking forward to this movie. The trailers, the first one we saw was kind of a while ago, and we were really intrigued. I mean, the whole idea of one of those jokey little gifts that you get at like an occult store being real. I mean, that's amazing. And as far as my movie going experience, there was a guy sitting next to me during the movie who every five minutes was like, oh, hell no. Every time Nikki did something wild, he could not believe it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:46

Oh, yeah, this is a great audience movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:48

You gotta see it with an audience. I remember sitting there thinking, man, I really hope people don't walk away from this though, thinking that Nikki's the monster because she does a lot of wild shit, you know. On the surface, this could look like one of those quote unquote crazy woman horror movies in the tradition of fatal attraction or misery. And to be clear, Indy Navaret as Nikki is really scary, like super scary. But, you know, what's going on here is a bit more complicated. And I have to say, my immediate reaction walking out of the theater, I think I even said this to you, Sush, was this is a movie about how men make women crazy and then pretend they had nothing to do with it and then take no responsibility.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:39

You know, that's perfect because he literally makes her crazy through the wish. I know. He is literally the cause of it. That's not where he wanted it to go, but that's where it ended up.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:51

Yeah. I thought that that was it was weirdly relatable to see.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:57

Do you want to hear something kind of funny about that? Yeah. Weirdly relatable to me because as a guy who is pretty honest with myself about dating experiences, I constantly see my guy friends put themselves in situations with people who they probably shouldn't get involved with because they think that they're interesting or think they're gonna be a good time. But it's one of those things. I think maybe that's one of the reasons why I thought it was so interesting. Because like, oh, this is clearly a story that I've been trying to tell a lot of my guy friends. But nobody ever listens to you when you tell them that the one person who they're like crazy over is a problem. But yeah, good movie to make because everybody can kind of connect to that point.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:44

Absolutely. And the title, Obsession is perfect. I think it's so much about how you can become obsessed with the idea of a person to a point that it dehumanizes them. And that's clearly something throughout. I will say, hey, just based on trailer stuff alone, you can probably imagine that there is something thematic going on about consent and control. And I have to tell you, there is, and it's very good, uh, very resonant, and also very enjoyable to watch for something that's horrifying, both in terms of just visual scares and the deeper concept. And I think part of why this movie I hope is gonna be a big hit is that I think it does hit on such a nerve with people right now. So today, before we were recording, I went back and rewatched the trailer, and I was honestly kind of shocked by the comments. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:46

Oh, yeah. That was crazy. You're telling me about them.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:50

It's wild. So the number one comment uh at the time was from a guy in his 30s talking about being deeply lonely and never being with a woman and deeply relating to Bear, the male character. No, yeah, it's and it gets worse, Jen. I don't want to hear it. Well, underneath more people, me too, me too, me too, me too, and everyone's sharing their stories. Now, I think that's interesting because the movie taps into something really real. I do think there's a lot of lonely people out there, especially. I mean, I'm so sorry to talk about younger people as if I'm an old person here, but I do think that um just how online everyone is, especially after COVID, I think can separate people. I think that the way on social media we project an idealized version of ourselves can lead other people to think of the people in their orbit as being different than they really are. But what I hope is that the people who feel that way, you know, the people who are deeply lonely are able to watch this movie with nuance because I think that this movie is really trying to get people to see the other side of that perspective and see some of the horror, you know, of obsessing in that way without connecting. And so I'm super duper curious what people's reaction will be. I think that I'm gonna be in the comments a little bit more this weekend, sort of seeing what people online are saying about it, just because I'm so curious. Because it it's an incredibly entertaining movie, but I think it's also a bit of a lightning rod. And I think it's gonna draw in some people who may be more like Bear, thinking that they're gonna see something more from this side, and they're gonna probably be a little well, everyone's gonna be horrified.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:52

Well, you know what? It probably wouldn't be so bad if some women saw this movie and dumped their shitty boyfriends.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:00

Oh my god. And just say it's a dream.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:02

You can kind of find that stuff in this movie. You can really see examples of that type of behavior. I'm not even talking from like any character specifically, because there's actually more than one character that exhibits this type of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:17

So yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:18

Yeah, I think it's one of those things where it may actually cause some people to kind of reflect on their own situation because maybe they could see, like, oh, some point things were like that, and uh I didn't see it.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:30

I really hope so. And again, without getting into spoilers, if you've seen the trailers, you know, hey, things don't go right for him when he does this because it's a horror movie by design. But uh, I think that the what happens as the result of his wish for me also hit a nerve emotionally because it taps into so much about control and about perception of women and the way I think women can be judged for their reactions to an unfair, insane, poor treatment. It made me think of, okay, you know, I get deep into this stuff, but it made me think of how women were labeled hysterical, where women's emotional reactions to being oppressed and abused and powerless and those kinds of violations were reframed as evidence that women themselves are irrational or unstable. I mean, the word hysteria comes from the Greek word for uterus. So there is so much rich stuff in there that I think it's gonna be like cadnip for a lot of women to see, but I also, again, hope it's thought-provoking for people. Now, that's not to say that this movie isn't entertaining because it is, man. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's not like some dry morality play. It is nuts. There's scenes that had our theater just losing it. Like there's nervous laughter, there was screaming, there was a lot of talking back involuntarily. It was crazy. And I think this movie understands the social humiliation horror on a primary level, knows how long to hold on awkward interactions till it becomes unbearable. And the visual storytelling, just like you guys were saying, it's incredible. I mean, I loved how the movie physically tracks Nikki changing over the course of the story. At the beginning, she has like a cute, kind of tomboy-ish outfit. Oh, she's got a skirt, but she's got like sort of a boxy big jacket. And then once the wish goes through, she shows up at his house with like a red off-the-shoulder slinky dress. Also, it's amazing to see how women dressing for male validation and both both people participating, one unwillingly, in objectification in that way.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:55

She also, just real quick, Ashley, with what you're saying about how she changes visually as the movie progresses. There are more and more scenes of her in the darkness, right? It's like, oh yeah, behind a shadow or just out of view, or or you don't even see her, you just hear her voice. That happens more and more as it goes on, like as a physical representation of her losing herself.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:18

Yeah. I mean, and she's literally hiding at times, physically, like literally, but also hiding behind a projection of what she thinks in her state he wants her to be. And it's crazy. I mean, and this movie is also just scary as hell. There are multiple moments that made my jaw drop and made me squirm, like yell out a little bit. It's just incredibly effective at delivering those visceral horror moments while also having some meaning underneath. And just, oh my God, the lead performance is so good. Yeah. I I was just like, I hope she pulls an Aunt Gladys and gets nominated for an Oscar for this.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:02

I think so too. Right?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:04

It doesn't uh yeah, there's no way she's not gonna win something for this. This is ridiculous.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:12

It's incredible. It almost borders on Isabel Agiani from possession level. I don't know if you guys are familiar with that movie, but I haven't seen it in a long time.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:23

But yeah, yeah, it's like she's using every aspect of acting toolkit, you know? She's doing really interesting things physically. God, it's some of the vocal stuff that she does is insane. I I almost felt like she was wearing a mask at points, the way she was so good at uncomfortably projecting a facial expression. It's just fantastic. I really, really loved this movie. I really did. And I think it's kind of fun that it's a horror movie about hey guys, obsession's not romantic, things can go wrong. Okay. And I think a lot of insecure people, lonely people, think about wanting someone to be crazy about them. And it's such a funny and poignant concept to be like, wait a minute, guys, think about it a little bit more. Yeah. You really want them to be crazy about you.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:23

You're like hanging out with other people.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:26

Well, you're not going to.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:28

Right. I know. And I think so many of the things that uh the character does as a result of that spell, man, you would never expect. So classic that monkey paw scenario. Loved it. And so for my ratings, I'm just gonna go straight out. I gave it a double 4.5. So I loved it. I had so much fun. I was so engaged the whole time. I felt like it went by in an instant. It was so good.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:02

And for quality, again, I just think the writing is so good. I think it's such a clever idea the way it's positioned. I think it looks beautiful, the acting's fantastic. I love it. I love it, man. So I actually don't normally do the recommendations because I don't know why, but I do have one this week. So one movie that I kept thinking about was Neon Demon, the Nicholas Winding Refin movie from 2016. So they're very different movies, but I just kept thinking about that sort of well, obsession, if you will. And Neon Demon with sort of beauty and youth, and then here, just that whole thing about how idealizing people is not going to go well. That being said, you should all idealize me.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:55

So in this podcast, y'all.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:58

And this podcast. And Jen. Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:01

I accept that any guests, any and all guests that we have.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:04

Um now, Jed, before we leave, if you can say them without context, referent movies that are referenced in it.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:13

I can do that, yes. I think there's a big thread from get out in the I I noticed two scenes that are direct nods to the Exorcist aliens. Um, like I said before, I do feel like this is influenced heavily by the work of Ari Astor, especially Midsummer. And also It Follows.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:40

I really want to see that one. Oh, you've never seen It Follows? I've I've never seen it in like last year we got super into the smile movies. And I know that there are some characters that overlap. Oh man, now I want to watch it like today. Oh, you should.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:56

It's so good. It's so so good. It's awesome. I also forgot to give recommendations. These are not directly related, but I just thought, as your horror guest, I'd like to like to pitch a documentary for anyone else who loves all things horror. There's a documentary called Shane Reactions, which is about um lasting impressions of uh the Texas Chainsaw Massacre throughout history.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:25

Not to be confused with the movie with Kiana Reeves. No Shane Reaction.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:31

Although maybe we should recommend that too. And then I recently saw this 1986 Polish film called I Like Bats, and I love it. I can't say enough good things about it. It's also kind of involves gender politics, um, but in a very different way, and it's just very fun and beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:52

Yay! You know what else is fun and beautiful? You well, thank you so much for joining us, Jen. We're so happy to have you. I always love talking to you about movies, especially horror movies, because I'm new, I'm a baby horror movie fan. I still have several things that I'm a no-go on, but I loved always talking to you about them.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:18

So thank you. Well, thank you so much. And I always love talking about any movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:23

So all right.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:25

Uh let's hear it for Jen. I'm just gonna clap.

What We're Watching Next

SPEAKER_04 1:19:33

Hey sushi.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:35

Hey, what are we watching next week?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:38

Oh, well, it feels weird going first uh with the movie stuff. But for movies, we'll be seeing Mandalorian and Grogu. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:48

Those two, yeah. You know, so excited. Father and son adventure.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:53

Grogu's gonna be so gigantic on that screen.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:56

I know, it's probably the biggest they'll ever be.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:58

Ugh.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:59

In our lifetime, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:03

And we'll also be seeing I Love Boosters.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:05

Oh my god, I can't wait.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:08

And then for TV, we're gonna be watching, oh my god, Spider Noir, starring the one and only Nicholas, parentheses Coppola, and parentheses cage. That's right, Nicolas Cage. This show is coming out in black and white and color. I don't know which one we're gonna watch, but I bet it's gonna be a fun time.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:30

So, yeah, we'll have at least one episode recap for that.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:35

Excellent. Well,

Outro

SPEAKER_04 1:20:37

thanks so much for joining us, guys. We really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks to our special guest, Jen Fett.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:44

And uh make sure to subscribe, rate, and review positively. Um, you know, it doesn't take much effort, kind of like uh Guy Ritchie film nowadays.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:56

So just you know it's good, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:59

Just feel like it's good. Yeah, that's cool. And also follow us on social media, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. As we mentioned last time, we're posting a bunch of shorts and stuff now, so that'll be fun. Um, but yeah, other than that, thank you for tuning in again, and we will check in with you guys next week.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:18

Have a great day. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:19

Bye.