We Should Watch That
Weird neurodivergent couple, Ashley and Sushi, discuss recent theatrical release movies and current TV episodes from the past week. May contain TV spoilers! Uploaded weekly on Friday mornings.
We Should Watch That
Moana (2026) & Evil Dead Burn Reviews + Silo S3E2 Recap | WSWT Ep 16 - Jul 17, 2026
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This week's movie reviews:
- Moana (2026, live-action)
- Evil Dead Burn
This week's TV episode recaps:
- Silo (Apple TV) - Season 3, Episode 2 - "It's All Good"
- Upcoming: Recaps for new HBO/HBO Max series, Lanterns, begin next month, starting with the Series Premiere on the August 21st episode of our podcast
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Intro
SPEAKER_01Oh, this week we review two movies that have fire-based antagonists.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's right. We're gonna be talking about Moana, the 2026 live action one, and Evil Dead Burn.
SPEAKER_01And for TV, we'll be discussing Silo season three, episode two.
SPEAKER_03Anyway, as the action movies say, uh, light it up.
SPEAKER_01Hell yeah. So glad we finally found an opportunity to say that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01This is We Should Episode Super Sweet.
SPEAKER_03Super sweet.
SPEAKER_0116.
SPEAKER_03She's becoming a woman. Watch that.
SPEAKER_02It's a nice one.
Movie Review: Moana (2026, live-action)
SPEAKER_03All right, weirdos. Grab your paddle. We're heading back to Montanui for Moana, the live-action reimagining of Disney's 2016 animated hit. It's directed by Thomas Cale, making his narrative feature debut after helming the Emmy-nominated Hamilton concert film. And newcomer Katherine La Gaia takes the title role in her feature film debut with Dwayne The Rock Johnson, reprising Maui from the animated films. Rounding up the cast is John Tue as Moana's father, Chief Tui, Frankie Adams as her mother Sina, and Rena Owens as her grandmother, Grandma Tala. The story follows Moana as she's called by the ocean to leave her home island for the first time, crossing its barrier reef and setting out on a voyage with Maui at her side to restore the well-being of her people. So what'd you think, Sush?
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't usually see many Disney animated films that aren't from Pixar. But I remember I saw the original Moana and Disney Plus. It was only on my radar for a while because I remember I was following The Rock pretty closely on social media at the time. And he kept posting stuff about him self-playing Maui. So I was probably bored because this is during COVID when I watched it and figured, what the hell? But in the end, I really did enjoy the movie and appreciated this effort Disney seemed to be making to put out these more cultural animated feature films and that it wasn't just a cash grab because it felt like a genuine effort to give children of color characters that they could actually identify with.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I know personally I would have liked that back when I was a kid, since pretty much all human main characters in Disney movies were white back then.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01As far as this live action film, I don't think we initially were going to see it. I know it was Slim Pickens for movies last weekend. I think it was. Because we already saw and reviewed Gilday and the Celebrity Sex Past early on last week's episode, which pretty much just left us with Evil Dead Burn and this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we saw the trailer previously, and I just couldn't get past how awful the rock looked in that weird tattooed goose suity swing. Oh, the goose suit. Yeah, but I think we ended up seeing it in the end because we felt uh weird for not going to a movie theater for over a week.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god, it was horrible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, last week we did summer blockbusters because neither of the 4th of July weekend releases were of interest to us. So I guess that's just a long way for me to say don't be surprised if this movie doesn't get a stellar review from seeing the movie, it was bad, but somehow worse than I expected.
SPEAKER_03Uh damn.
SPEAKER_01I ended up actually caring enough about it to be pretty disappointed with it. Uh-huh. And for me to really feel that way about a movie that I really didn't care about to begin with, that says a lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I honestly disliked it enough that I felt that I needed to rewatch the animated film to make sure it wasn't my personal feelings about the direction the Ross' career is taken or anything like that. Right. But yeah, it wasn't actually. The one thing I will say about the live-action movie that was completely out of its hands was the animated Moana was pretty universally loved by both critics and audiences. So I do want to call out that this is obviously a challenge that this movie would have had to overcome with somehow being better. But unfortunately, I still felt that there were aspects of this movie that could have easily been improved. And because they weren't, it was really difficult for me to find the value in seeing a movie like this. I'm going to jump to talking about the design elements because I think the visuals are where most of the worst aspects of the movie reside. But before I start dunking on it, I just quickly want to mention elements that I think were still good, which were the music and the more cultural costumes and props.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01The music pretty much stayed consistently good from the animated to live action movie, uh, with the exception that the use of real actors over animation might have limited how fun they felt. But this was easily the strongest aspect when it came to the artistic design. And I normally wouldn't have as much context to be able to talk about costume or prop design for a movie like this. But given that Ashley and I were also watching Chief of War, the Apple TV series with Jason Mamula, that's a dramatization of actual events that happened during Hawaii's history back in the 18th century, and how in line the costumes and props on this show were uh with the ones on that show. I have to assume the accuracy is at least fairly good. Yeah. As far as the other visual elements beyond the whole discussion around how Disney decides to lean more or less cartoony when it comes to reimagining their animated characters for live action, this movie, compared to the animated, to be funny, but also speaking some truth, was a night and day difference. I think that kind of connects to my biggest issue visually, the lighting in this movie. I'm not sure what caused it, but I was really surprised to find out that a good part of this movie was shot in Hawaii. What? Yeah, because it honestly felt like some of the more panoramic shots or most of the locations they shot on for Moton Nui uh for the live action film look way less realistic than the animated film.
SPEAKER_03Seriously. Wow, that's nuts.
SPEAKER_01All I can assume is they could have been dealing with weather that wasn't helping the lighting, or they overprocessed the video after the fact. But regardless, it just didn't look right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01If the live action sky didn't look fake, it just looked blurry or dim. Even if we were supposed to believe it's daytime and sunny. I think what also could have contributed towards the fake feel of the live action movie was either that the sets they designed for these on-location shots looked too fake or sanitized in some way. Or they just made the weird poor decision to use shots that were filmed on closed sets to otherwise represent scenes that were taking place outside. I'm not really sure which one it was. Um I know. Yeah, I saw part of the behind the scenes video, and it looked like what they had to do was obviously block off a lot of the lighting, I think, to get some of these big wide shots with a lot of the people on the island doing dances together and things like that. So maybe that somehow affected the natural lighting somehow. All I know is as someone who was born on an island and having spent a lot of time with the everyday people who actually live on the coast, that shit just doesn't look real, even by today's standards for some resources. And uh we're meant to believe the story takes place in ancient Polynesia. I don't know, man. Aside from all that, overall, I get that Disney really likes to play it safe and try to just carbon copy their animated films into live action. But this wasn't even that. No, they weirdly decided to change a few things, which I can only assume were based on having the technology, but really didn't assess how well the outcome translated to screen. I think probably the best example of this was the scene with Tamatoa, the coconut crab. While the scene wasn't too overbearing and actually pretty funny in the animated film, the fact that they try to create a more realistic character model of him, like as a crab, with CG in the live action movie, but they use the same jokes. Like they have the joke with him asking Moana to pick an eye because his crab eyes are on stocks. But given that the pupils in the live action crab aren't really looking at her, right? Because that's not how actual crab eyes work, the joke just doesn't land right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Additionally, I get the desire to want to make all the treasures toa's uh hoarding look more like real gold and jewels in the live action movie, but it almost makes it too much to watch. It's literally an attack on the senses.
SPEAKER_03It was very overwhelming.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I want to round out talking about the design of this movie by talking about The Rock's goose suit.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01If you don't know what a goose suit is, it's basically a padded suit to make people look buff. Why the rock needed to wear one, I really couldn't make sense of until later on when I realized that he wasn't trying to make himself look buff. Oh honestly, if that was the point, I think he could have just not worn a suit at all. Right. But I think they wanted to make him look more like Maui, the character. Unfortunately, the other major part of this costume didn't help with that. By that, I'm referring to his wig. Oh my god, the wigs. Or wigs, rather, yeah. Uh since it seemed like there was one for the hair down and another with an updo that just wasn't even that much of a difference.
SPEAKER_00It was no beard. We went from an animated Maui, a fucking large pebble of a man, built like a brick shit house to the rock. I mean, the guy is at least twice the height of what I'd imagine Maui would actually be.
SPEAKER_01Even that alone already makes me not think the character is accurate. So it doesn't really make me connect to the Maui character from the animated movie, except for just the voice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that is actually a great segue to my notes about the cast, which I honestly don't have that much to talk about beyond the rock. I mean, I don't know the driver for replacing the entire voice cast except Jermaine Clement and the rock on this movie.
SPEAKER_03Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I think the new live action cast did a good job for the most part. Yeah, nothing felt too out of place, though Arena Owen's grandma Tala did seem considerably more toned down than the version voiced by Rachel House in the animated way more tame, yeah. Yeah, Catherine Lagatia, I think, did a great job playing Moana, especially with the singing. Uh I almost had to check to see if she actually did the singing because it sounded so good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, the rock, man. There wasn't any doubt that he looked goofy as hell in this movie based on the trailer. But given how good the animated Milana was, I was willing to at least give him a chance to live up to the animated Maui. But even the guy who voiced them 10 years ago couldn't make that happen. Well, part of the problem, obviously, is the costume and how much that takes you out of the moment. The other part is I honestly felt like there was some noticeable change in the rock's general demeanor since the failure of Black Adam and the smashing machine not being as big of a deal as he was probably expecting. So all the criticism he's gotten with his involvement and WWE storylines over the past couple years, it just really feels like these disappointments have either affected his ability to act, or maybe the costume and wig bothered him as much as it did some viewers like myself. So maybe he couldn't commit fully with that thought in his head. I don't know. But what I do know is that I took a look at his upcoming films. It's interesting that he's pretty much avoiding playing any of the big hero type characters.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so even though I obviously didn't care for him in this movie, I kind of am looking forward to him branching out a bit more since I didn't think the smashing machine was bad. I mean, at worst, it's really just felt a lot smaller skill than what we were used to seeing him in. Right, right. So I think that was the only thing. But going on to my ratings, uh, for this, I gave it a one and a half for enjoyment and a two for quality. Oh no. Overall, I thought this movie was pointless. I'm all for live-action adaptations of movies, but given Disney's track record and how good the animated film was and how short the amount of time was since its release, as well as the sequel, I just can see this is more than a cash crab.
SPEAKER_03You know, oh yeah. You talk about cash crabs constantly, and you're like, oh, it wasn't a cash crab. Well, this one was.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It really was. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01My enjoyment is low simply because this movie didn't present us with nearly any improvement beyond the original. Like I've been saying to Ashley since we saw it, everything I enjoyed in the live-action movie was not only already done in the animated film, but nearly always done better. And even though that lack of originality or improvement in making this movie was what ultimately really affected my enjoyment rating, I also have to say that it obviously was uh representative of the quality as well. While you'd think a movie like this could have been made into something qualitatively better than its animated counterpart, they somehow did the complete opposite with this movie by basically doing what I felt was just copying the animated movie scene by scene and applying a real life filter over it.
SPEAKER_03I honestly can look real.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. I honestly can't think of any moments where I felt like, oh, that was a nice change to make in this movie. Which I feel like is something I always tend to do in live action adaptations. I did, however, give this movie a half-point bump up because I did think it was great that there was good Pacific Islander representation in the cast. I think I at least noticed half a dozen faces from Chief of War.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I'm just glad projects like this are giving opportunities to other Pacific Islanders who want to make a career uh acting, but maybe just don't have family ties to professional wrestling to segue from. Um as far as my recommendations go from this movie, uh, I don't want to be too obvious with recommending the animated Moana, uh, but if you haven't seen it, go see that. So I think I'm going to recommend the one Disney live action adaptation that people actually praised, which was 2016's The Jungle Book. Oh yeah, I haven't actually seen it myself, but it's been on my Disney Plus watch list for a while, I think. So I guess I should probably get around to that. But yeah, what'd you think of uh Moana live action?
SPEAKER_03Oh well, you know. Okay, here's the thing. I had never seen the original Moana when we saw this. Um I somehow just totally missed it. So I went into the live action remake with basically no baggage. So I was interested to see am I gonna enjoy this on its own merits, which is something that's happened to us before. Like uh, I know we like the how to train your dragon live action. And so I was really curious what was gonna happen. But I basically knew, okay, Moana sings a song that's like the Disney heroine, I've figured out who I am song. I knew the rock sang you're welcome, and I knew there was a chicken. Okay. Now I had seen those really terrible trailers, so I kind of expected it to be bad. But for the first, I would say half hour, I was like, oh my God, I think maybe I was wrong. You can vouch for me. I even leaned over to you and was like, oh my God, I might like this.
SPEAKER_01I just told you to wait, I think, if I remember correctly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Moana is just immediately such a compelling character. She has such a strong drive that at one point I leaned over and whispered to you, it's like Moana's on the spectrum and water is her special interest. Now I say that with love. I love a fellow neurodivergent lady, but she's just so focused and she has such a mission. And then I also thought the performances were strong for the most part. The whole village felt really grounded and it was genuinely cool. Like you were saying, seeing a story inspired by Polynesian cultures told by overwhelmingly Polynesian castes. That's fantastic. There's not enough of that. But, you know, things are chugging along. I'm liking it and loving the dance numbers. Then I just eventually found myself getting more and more distracted by how fake everything looked. Genuinely. Uh just to echo what you were saying. The lighting just never felt like sunlight.
SPEAKER_02Yes, weird.
SPEAKER_03It was nuts. And the backgrounds, they didn't feel like real places. Listen, I've done a fair amount of community theater in my lifetime. I've seen some of these props.
SPEAKER_01And also, I should probably point out to the listeners that we saw this in IMAX. So what a weight. And so it's not at all anything, you know, about the screen that we saw it on, because yeah, we were not seeing it in just a regular format screen.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I got really frustrated, almost mad about the fakeness of how the movie looked because I'm like, okay, guys, Pacific is not just the backdrop, it's literally a main character. And if there's ever a movie where you want to actually see where it takes place, it's this one. It takes place in like one of the most gorgeous places in the world. It looked so great. And I just kept asking why is this live action? Like I know that they had to make it for the cash grab, but I feel like as a whole, the movie just didn't proceed as if there was a reason to make it live action aside from that. Because you've got like living water with a personality as a character, you got dancing tattoos, you've got a chicken that looks like it wandered out of who framed Roger Rabbit, a giant singing crab. These are not things that make sense to do in live action. At one point, I thought, why the fuck make this live action if it's also gonna feature dancing drummer warrior coconuts? Come on, that's so silly. It's just like instead of bringing something new to the story, it just reminded me why animation exists in the first place. And we did watch the animated one the next night. 10 minutes in, I was like, okay, I get it. It was easier to follow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Somehow I was gonna say the same thing as you the water looked more believable and real in the animated one from 10 years ago, too. Our technology is advanced, but it still looked so much better 10 years ago. I also found it frustrating, aside from the not realness of it, that there wasn't like a consistent visual language. The water, the tattoos, the monsters, the chicken. Live action, they don't feel like they belong in the same world. It's like they plucked them out of another movie and threw them on the screen together. And yeah, I gotta talk about The Rock. Okay. I love The Rock. I love The Rock. Just last year, I found myself watching a 30-minute video that was nothing but a picture of his face and just every version of his WWE entrance song throughout the world.
SPEAKER_01Which is like not that different from version to version.
SPEAKER_03But you know what? That song kicks ass. But yeah, you know, like I love The Rock, but he did feel a little flat, you know. He just never had that larger than life energy I expected from Maui. Yeah, somehow they managed to make him look waxy or fatted. The look of the suit, but also the makeup, the wigs. It was just all crazy. And just I guess watching the animated version, though, I thought, okay, I just like Moana. The things that I liked about the animated version weren't because they're in that movie. They're because they're from the original movie. And I think that's because the remake just reminds me of animation isn't a stepping stone to live action, dude. Animation is its own art form, it allows you to be expressive and creative and interesting. And you take away all that magic from an animated film, and you just like flatten it out, just destroy it in a version like this. I gotta say, it also just wasn't super enjoyable. Ending when things started happening with our CG antagonist, and there's all the waves. I just blazed over. I was like, I don't know what is happening.
SPEAKER_02Just chaos.
SPEAKER_03Just tell me what happens at the end. Just sing again, please. God, they had beautiful voices. But I think my favorite part of the movie was when we walked out of the theater and all the little kids were singing You're Welcome to it, like in the bathroom and stuff after and walking throughout the theater. It was cool to see how much it entertained kids. So, you know, if you've got kids, hey, it's what, 90 degrees out now. Go see it. It's not gonna have anything for the adults.
SPEAKER_01It's just unless you like uh just dunking on people and things.
SPEAKER_03It wasn't like quite bad enough to dunk on, though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, actually, it didn't even make me feel good to dunk on it. Because I remember the whole time I'm just like, the rock just looks sad, man.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he does. I can understand a real challenge in redoing a performance you've already done. And he's doing all these more grounded performances, I think, and has more coming up. So he's probably in that mode.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that makes sense. It was probably difficult.
SPEAKER_03But I just want to see him do something new for my ratings, you know, not fabulous. Okay. Enjoyment, I gave it a two. I had a good time for a while. The characters are interesting, the cast was good, the story is great, but those visuals just really ticked me off at the end. And for quality, strong performances, great cast, but they just couldn't overcome that it had no reason to exist. So I also gave it a two. I almost gave it a 1.5, but I did knock it up also because of the cast, because I just think they were really great. And it's exciting to see a big, big movie like this feature so many actors that really deserve a chance to shine. So Moana, man, I won't see that again.
SPEAKER_01Moana, you are welcome, I suppose.
SPEAKER_03I have been singing You're Welcome Around the House a bit. Sorry.
Movie Review: Evil Dead Burn
SPEAKER_03Next up is Evil Dead Burn, the sixth installment in the Evil Dead franchise, and a direct follow-up to Evil Dead Rise. It's directed by Sebastian Vanichek, whose 2023 feature debut Invested. Ooh, that's a good horror name. Became a cult classic, and Sam Raimi saw it and then invited him personally to be the director of this uh run in the franchise. So Hela Jakub leads his Alice and Hunter Duhan as her brother-in-law Joseph. We got Tandy Wright as his mother Susan, and Maud Davy as grandmother Polly. So this movie follows our character Alice following her husband's sudden death. She joins his family at a reunion at their secluded lake house, and what's meant to be a chance to mourn together quickly turns into a fight for survival as a dead eyed possession works its way through the household. So, Seosh, what'd you think?
SPEAKER_01Well, since I didn't get into horror until the last few years, I never saw the original Evil Dead movies with Bruce Campbell. But we did watch both the 2013 Evil Dead movie and Evil Dead Rise, literally hours before seeing the film.
SPEAKER_02That's true.
SPEAKER_01Uh before that, though, I think I was already pretty bought in based on the trailer. It just seemed to align pretty well with a lot of the horror movies that we really enjoyed, where there's some really quality visual and makeup effects for the horror elements, but also some humor thrown in that I really feel makes some of these movies less depressing, I guess. I mean, I don't think Ashley and I are as into straight up classic gory slasher type films. Yeah. So I think the horror movies we do see also have thriller suspense elements that require characters to kind of live in these horrible situations they've ended up in for a while, where the horror aspect isn't as immediate, and you sometimes start thinking about the aftermath of what these people have to deal with.
SPEAKER_02Right, right.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, possessed girl walking in the front door of a house with a headrest stabbed into her head, yoinking it out, uh, then later spooking one of the characters so they fall onto a poorly loaded dishwasher with all the knives, forks, and other stabby things facing upward. Yeah, hilarious. Perfect trailer for this stuff. Seeing the movie, I definitely think it was in line with the trailer, but the one thing I will say is that it was a lot more gory and disgusting than I expected.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Which wasn't necessarily bad, but it can kind of take your focus away from the story at times. For me, the movie was noticeably slower paced than the previous movie. I'm not sure if that's an overall feeling or due to the seemingly slower possessions of the characters in this movie, I think, compared to the last. But I think it definitely contributes to how disgusting this movie is, since you're kind of led to sit in those moments a bit longer before any sort of payoff than you probably would have in Evil Dead Rise. One of the things that Ashley mentioned after seeing this movie that I kind of agree with now is that we found the previous movie, Evil Dead Rise, probably aligned even better with our usual taste for horror movies.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I think compared to the 2013 movie, I think I enjoyed this movie a bit more. Uh, regardless, even though some people might disagree, I did enjoy that this movie kind of builds on the Evil Dead lore in a way that it better defines the rules and allows for more connected sequels. There is one aspect of the story in character development that I think can affect how scary the movie is. Uh, without going into detail, even though I think it was intended for and work for character development and motivation. The aspect I'm referring to I felt could possibly make the movie feel more like a gory revenge slash payback movie instead of a horror movie in certain moments. I guess the one related upside to that is when some people start getting killed, you might not feel as bad about it as you did in some of the deaths from the last two evil dead movies.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_01As far as the cast goes, they're definitely one of the aspects of this movie that I think really made it feel kind of grounded at the start before shit goes horror crazy. Halia Yakub, I think, did a great job as Alice. Big part of her character was conveying this aspect of her relationship with her husband, Will, played by a George Pilar, that was kind of hidden from part of his family. So I think the fact that she was able to play someone in that situation and how it affected her decision making and other capabilities in relation to everything that happened in the film made her stand out a bit. Hunter Dewin is Joseph. I initially thought he was fine as a character, but otherwise indifferent. Though I think his character becomes more interesting, but deeper into the film you get. Yeah. Also, one thing that Ashley and I just that was a bit eerie, but unrelated to the movie itself, is that this dude looks exactly like Anton Yeltsin.
SPEAKER_03He looks so much like him.
SPEAKER_01It's crazy. The guy who played Chuck Off in the newer Star Trek films away back in 2016. Man, R.I.P.
SPEAKER_03This is Yeah, it was such a tragedy because he was really young and it was kind of a freak accident.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was.
SPEAKER_03He had so many great roles. I looked up this actor to see if they're related. No, they just looked really similar.
SPEAKER_01Beyond that, I enjoyed the rest of the cast, and overall, I think it was interesting that we went from Evil Dead Rise that centers around the curse affecting a family, to this movie that also deals pretty heavily with a family because I feel like the cast from each of the films did well in portraying the type of family you'd associate with the lifestyle or living situation they were in.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01Special shout out to Maud Davy, who played Polly, the grandmother of characters George and Will. She was especially hilarious when she gets possessed, as you kind of get a taste of it in the trace. Design-wise, I think a lot of the visual elements align pretty well with the previous Evil Dead film. Though I have to say that compared to the previous movie, at least, this was significantly more disgusting. Like the blood, war, and violence rarely gets relegated to happening off camera. So that's definitely something to be aware of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Another thing that I realized that probably contributed to that feeling was a good part of this movie happens in daylight, or at least within lit rooms of a home. I think with horror films, especially ones that do as good a job with the practical effects and set design as this movie, it almost makes the movie scarier because you're like, oh shit, these things don't even have to creep out of the shadows to even come after me. As far as the sound goes, there wasn't too much music or score, but like most of these types of horror movies, most of it was leveraged to uh increase the intensity of different horrific scenes. So no complaints there since nothing took me out of the moment, but also nothing special to really highlight about that stuff. Moving out of my ratings, I gave this a three and a half for enjoyment and for quality.
unknownHuh.
SPEAKER_01Overall, I'd say this is probably my second favorite of the three recent Evil Dead films. With my number one being People That Rise. Yeah, it's good. I just had so much fun with that movie from pretty much the moment it started off so hilariously with the body rising out of the water, coinciding with the title text.
SPEAKER_03It was great.
SPEAKER_01I love that so much. Oh man. Even though I didn't know if it uh lends as well specifically to the horror aspect of the movie, I really did enjoy the character and family relationships more in this movie than in the last one. Oh. Yeah. Based on the complexity, though, and how that affects the characters and potentially the story. Though I think there's something noticeably different with how I feel as a viewer of a horror movie when the story is centered on characters that have genuine, arguably undeserved trauma versus more superficial problems.
SPEAKER_03Uh, okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I guess it's just harder to really enjoy the horrific aspects of a horror film when they're rooted in real life bad stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Which I could admit probably affected my overall enjoyment of this movie. Quality-wise, I think a lot of this movie looks as good as the last movie. So even though we didn't review that movie on the podcast, just to give some context, I definitely put that movie in the same ballpark of somewhere between three to four for quality. But seeing how I felt there was a somewhat noticeable effort to film more of the gory, horrific scenes in full daylight compared to the previous movies, and that they managed to pull it off without them being noticeably worse than the 2013 Evil Dead or Evil Dead Rise. I decided to give this movie that three and a half for quality. My recommendation this time is probably more just because we couldn't get away from how much Hunter Dewan looks like Anton Yelchin. So my recommendation is actually Fright Knight from 2011.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01He's in that movie. And I think that's the only horror movie that Yelchin actually was in. I haven't seen it personally, but I'm a fan of both Colin Farrell and David Tennant. Oh, I've seen it. It's fair.
SPEAKER_03Sorry, I got excited. It's really fun. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I probably will catch it now that I know that. Beyond that, I found it kind of funny that uh Fright Knight also happened to be directed by Craig Gillespie. The same Craig Gillespie who also directed Supergirl that we reviewed a few times. No kidding. Yeah, uh kind of interesting connection there. But what did you think of uh Evil Dead Burn?
SPEAKER_03Okay, so I think Evil Dead Burn made me realize something about myself and my relationship to horror. I don't think I actually love horror for like watching people die grotesquely or whatever the cliche is. I think what I love in horror is the joy of being surprised. I love, love, love that moment where you gasp and then you immediately laugh because the movie just got you. Like it totally came out of nowhere. And I don't think Evil Dead Burn is that kind of movie. Um, now, full disclosure, it's probably been about 20 years since I've seen the original Evil Dead movies. But from what I remember, even when those movies are absolutely disgusting, they feel like they're having fun. Sam Raimi's camera is doing weird shit. The kills are inventive, there's so much charisma in the performances. And there's also this little wink to the audience like, can you believe we're getting away with that? And I love that. So, in an attempt to get up to speed, we did watch Evil Dead 2013 and Evil Dead Rise. I thought 2013 one was fine. But I agree with you, I really liked Rise. I liked it a lot. The family felt real immediately. Everyone had their own personalities, their own baggage, their own relationships. So when everything goes to hell, the violence isn't just happening to random bodies, it's happening to actual people who I cared about. I started thinking after seeing Evil Dead Burn why Rise worked so much better for me. Like, why do I care so much more about Rise than Burn? And yeah, part of it is like I was saying, there's a great emotional investment in the characters in the previous movie, but I don't think it's just that. I think it actually comes down to something that an acting teacher, like a hundred years ago, told me that really stuck with me. He said that you can't ask an audience to stay at the same emotional intensity forever. You have to keep changing the rhythm. So you could be in the most serious movie in the world, but sometimes you have to break that rhythm and have a little bit of humor or some quieter scenes. Sometimes it's just changing the level of tension you're creating. But if everything's operating at the same pitch, eventually the audience just stops feeling it or starts reacting weirdly, like laughing at things that aren't funny. And I think this is a movie that it's not that it's too gory, it is gross. It's that it's gory in a way that it became monotonous to me. You don't see that change in the pace or the humor thrown in. It's just like gross thing, gross thing, gross thing, gross thing, gross thing, and it's over. After a while, those gross things, it's not just discomfort. I felt like, why? You know, why is it happening the same way throughout? It has to come to a head at some point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there definitely is. I guess the best way for me to refer to it is piling on the misery in this movie because you're seeing bad shit happen physically, but then you're also watching these characters deal with the emotional aspect of the possessions, which is also messed up. And yeah, this one I will agree with you, they didn't break it up as much with the back and forth uh uh as the previous movies.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and that combined with that slower pace you were talking about just made me feel not just uncomfortable, like ew, this is gross uncomfortable, but a comfortable like get on with it. And the other thing is when I think about violence in movies, I mean, action movies are more my speed, so I'm gonna talk about action movies. Yeah, but I like to have violence in movies that's doing something, it's telling you about a character. For example, in Atomic Blonde, Charlize Theron stabs someone in the face with her keys. That is an amazing moment because women literally are taught to hold their keys like that when walking through parking lots in case someone attacks them. That's a great story bit. Then she keeps kicking guys in the nuts, which number one, funny. Sorry. Uh, and number two, it's a way that makes sense for someone who's smaller to fight with someone who's larger than like the violence isn't done because it's cool, it's constantly telling you something about who she is, how she survives, and that's memorable because it's character. And I look at Evil Dead Burn, and honestly, I can only remember a couple bits of action that happened. I remember some gross stuff with teeth. I remember someone's head getting split open, and I remember thinking, didn't Ichi the killer do that like 20 years ago better? The only kill that really stuck with me, and I do think it was it was great, is the one you mentioned with the dishwasher.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I think that's awesome. Everybody has an irrational fear of falling onto utensils sticking up in the dishwasher. I think about it every time there's an open dish bar.
SPEAKER_01That's also why they don't usually design dishwashers with those compartments at the bottom. They're like on the door, usually against the side or the top rack.
SPEAKER_03Oh, you know, I never until well, until now had one like that. So maybe it's like an older thing.
SPEAKER_01Maybe it was a safety thing, and that's why I wanted to.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god, I bet that's why it is. Damn, I wonder who got Evil Dead burned in real life. Yeah, but yeah, you know, I thought that was cool. It's taking something like a normal fear people might have, twisting it into horror. That's memorable. I wanted more moments like that. And I think it's a shame because there's an interesting movie hidden in here. This movie did have some interesting family dynamics, but I didn't think they fully leaned into them either in the dialogue or in the violence in a way that would inform those relationships. So, yeah, when the violence comes, I just wasn't invested as much. I mean, there was really only one character I really, really wanted to succeed. But in Rise, I cared about all the family members immediately. So I I just feel like I couldn't get my grip on this movie. And yeah, it's gross. There's moments where I covered my eyes. Weirdly, stuff that I covered my eyes for was not the violence, though. It was the nasty stuff. I I'm so sick of horror movies and and stuff relating to teeth, but what are you gonna do? That's a classic. But yeah, when the grow sound reactions were off, I kind of just felt like, okay, whatever. I can still picture moments from the Evil Dead originals. I can picture drag me to hell. Those kinds of things. Those movies really stayed with me because they surprised me. They did things in an interesting way. Like if you took all the blood out of the original Evil Dead movies, you'd still have humor and personality and chainsaws. And chainsaws and inventive filmmaking. But I think if you took all the blood out of Evil Dead Burn, I'm honestly not sure what would be left.
SPEAKER_00Just fire, pretty much.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Just in an old house.
SPEAKER_01It wouldn't be like just an old house. It's basically what you would expect to happen in an old house. Yeah. Oh my god, that's so funny.
SPEAKER_03So for this one, I went really back and forth on scores, but because I think that it's definitely technically good filmmaking in terms of uh execution, how things look. I think their performances are good. Getting enjoyment first, I just didn't enjoy it that much.
SPEAKER_01I can understand that. I think between the two of us, I'm more entertained by discomfort, I guess would probably be the better way to put it. So I think that's probably why I rated this one significantly higher than you on enjoyment, because this was very uncomfortable for a lot of this stuff. And I even like legitimately was kind of wincing at some of the stuff near the later half of the movie that really was not as much to do with the demon or possession aspect of it. So yeah, it was uncomfortable in I guess ways that maybe some people are not as prepared for or okay with. And I get that.
SPEAKER_03I also just don't like it. I live with a fairly low level degree of being stressed out about things all the time. So I don't need a movie to stress me out at a low level as well. She is, you know. But uh quality-wise, I gave it a little bit higher at 2.5. I think the performances are good. I think the gore look like the the effects work, makeup, all of that looks good. Um but uh you know ultimately I didn't give it higher because I don't think it's uh inventive or engaging as as I would like. So um
TV Episode Recap: Silo - Season 3, Episode 2 - "It's All Good"
SPEAKER_03Hey sushi. Yeah, what do we got going on with those mole people?
SPEAKER_01Mole people. Hey Sushi.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, what's going on on Silo?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, we are on season three, episode two, titled It's All Good, but is it really? No, but that the title is it's all good.
SPEAKER_02Right, right.
SPEAKER_01Just a heads up, especially those who haven't actually seen or read anything about this episode yet. We're continuing with cutting to the flashback timeline. I guess I'll be calling it throughout the episode. And I'm assuming for most, if not the rest of the season. So just be aware of that. But let's get started. Camille stops by to check on her and soon realizes Juliet's hiding something, which leads her to consult with the algorithm soon after. It warns that Juliet's willingness to lie is a greater threat than the note itself. The algorithm reveals that memory reset programs have been used successfully in multiple silos over centuries and follows up with instructing Camille to increase surveillance and continue Juliet's treatment. Cutting to the flashback storyline, Congressman Daniel Keene visits his sister Charlotte, who is recovering at a medical facility after surviving a disastrous mission. Daniel tries to help restore her memories through your family stories and photographs without any apparent success. He ends up unknowingly venting his frustrations to her doctor, Dr. Viktor Sernkovich, during a chance encountering the lounge where he tries to provide Daniel some insight and better understanding of his experimental treatment, which suppresses traumatic memories and gradually reintroduces each of them selectively when patients are deemed ready. This reveals that there likely is some connection between this treatment and the medication being given to Juliet for recovery. Back in silo 18, we see a woman stop by Sheriff Billings' office to report a missing person. Turns out the woman is Orla Kent's sister, and she apparently didn't check in with her the night before. While Billings is initially dismissive, she explains Orlock always stopped without Phil every day and would have at least sent a note if she didn't, convincing Billings to look into the matter. We return to the flashback timeline where we see Daniel meeting with Senator Thurman's daughter, Anna, at a coffee shop. Helen Drew, the reporter that Charlotte asked them to meet with, who reveals that Dr. Sarnkovich might not be as virtuous as he comes off, pointing to the selective restoration of memories his treatment involves. However, Anna seems offended by what Helen's implying and defends Dr. Serenkovich fairly aggressively, which begins to seem suspicious, especially with Helen pointing out how Charlotte didn't end up in the facility without someone pulling some strings. Anna being the first person to notify Daniel of this. We cut back to Juliet as she returns home and experiences fragments of memories involving Martha Walker and decides to trust her instincts rather than the official narrative she's been given. She heads down to Mechanical looking for answers with Deputy Jerry, who's been assigned as her security detail, following. Knox appears and meets with her, trying to remind her of some details she's shared with him before she lost her memory, as well as her close friendship with Shirley. She eventually meets with Martha, but once Martha realizes Juliet has not only lost her memories, but also the fire she once had in her request to uncover the secrets of the silo, she decides to leave. Her only advice to Juliet being try harder. The episode then returns to Daniel's timeline. Helen Drew continues her investigation, meeting with Charlotte at the facility where she's being treated, and uncovers evidence suggesting a broader conspiracy. During Helen's interview with her, we see Charlotte suddenly have flashbacks of them meeting in a car prior to the Iran mission and leading to a panic attack. We see Dr. Serenkovich watching them from afar, reinforcing suspicions that Charlotte's memories are being deliberately controlled. We return to Julia and the Jerry as she tries and immediately fails to request some private time away from him to presumably continue looking for answers. Luckily, Juliet ends up encountering a group of her fangirls who she leverages to slip away from Jerry. We cut briefly to the flashback timeline for a scene showing Daniel arriving at the medical facility to meet with Dr. Cernkovich, who apparently had notified him of Helen's meeting with Charlotte as he leads into the lounge where she is apparently being held. Before we continue with Juliet's story and her being led to a secret meeting with a group of underground dissidents, including Patrick Kennedy. They show her evidence connected to her past and suggest that the vitamins she's been taking are actually memory suppressing drugs, leading Juliet to question her. Everything she's been called since her return, which is unfortunately cut short by police arriving after being tipped off about the meeting. We return to the flashback timeline for its final scene in this episode, establishing that Charlotte was actually the one that was suspicious of the Iran mission and reached out to Helen to see if she could dig up any information during a conversation that she has with Daniel as she's being let out of Philly. Back in the silo, we see Julia being walked back to her home. Camille leaves her to Jerry, who expresses his frustration about the way Julia got away from but surprisingly offers to support her in investigative efforts. She also begins testing the dissidents theory by secretly avoiding her medication, though her nurse sneaks into her home to check her drain, only to find the unconsumed medication. Near the end of the episode, the stakes escalate dramatically. The algorithm concludes that Juliet's recovering memory threatens the stability of silo 18. Rather than limiting the program to a single person, it supports a full-scale memory protocol, as they call it. So we end the episode watching the beginning of the process to distribute the memory-suppressing substance through the silo's water supply, potentially resetting the memories of the entire population.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01So, Ashley, what did you think about this episode?
SPEAKER_03Oh my god, I loved it. Like the last one was putting the pieces back on the board. This one, things are moving. We're getting answers.
SPEAKER_02They were.
SPEAKER_03I know. And every answer we get opens up like three more questions, which is what I want from silo.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_03For sure. And then the reveal that the silo was reset 140 years ago. Holy shit!
SPEAKER_01That's like the matrix. It makes me think about the matrix, you know, how they said this whatever number of simulations they've gone through. They're like, oh damn it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's so nuts. Because in the last episode, we learned the silo's been around, I think, roughly. 300 yeah records a year, too. Um, but it's pretty crazy to hear that that recently they reset everyone.
SPEAKER_01They did that to this silo, but whatever happened in 17, they never followed that up with more people, I guess.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's right. Because they must have distributed them somehow and then gave them the knockout juice or something crazy. Um, also, fuck Dr. Viktor Cherkovich. That dude tries to convince Daniel that he's helping people, but yeah, it's pretty obvious that he's evil and he's just trying to erase people's memories.
SPEAKER_01Well, I like how he kind of makes him look like an ass about it because he jokes about like whether they can plant lies in her head, and then he's just like, Oh, why would you do something like that? He's like, But it's possible. Okay, so if it's such a bad thing, why would you tell somebody that they can do it? Just don't even let them know that it's a possibility.
SPEAKER_03Okay, you have no reason to do that. And then he starts talking about artifacts, he literally uses the word artifact, saying that they can almost have a soul because they help people recover memories. And I was like, Oh my god, that's why they can't have artifacts. It's not because they're old and make them think they have a past, it's because they literally help people remember things. So I thought that was interesting. I really love Juliet in this episode. She isn't just magically remembering everything.
SPEAKER_00Instead, I like that.
SPEAKER_03It's so cool because she's getting little moments, but she's not just letting those moments go. She is figuring out who she is by talking to people who knew her. And I think the coolest part is that even without her memories, she is still Juliet. She still caresses her gut. She still pulls little schemes, like when she pretends Jerry grabbed her so she could escape. She's hearing everyone describe who she used to be, but she's also still that B, as they say. And I think my favorite scene in the whole episode was with Martha Walker. She's such a great character, such a great actress. I thought it was cool that everyone else is treating Juliet like she's super fragile. And Martha's just like dry harder, which sounds mean, but she also is the only one who doesn't treat her like she's broken. She reminds her of who she is, that she's stubborn and pig headed and self-assured. And I just loved that. And then you've got Helen, the reporter, confirming what I kind of had an inkling of, which is that Charlotte sought her out. And that whatever's going on, that was fascinating. Then you've got whatever's going on with the missing supply woman. You've got the nurse that's sneaking into Juliet's room at the end of the episode. And then you've got Jerry basically saying, like, yeah, it feels like we're treating you as a prisoner. There's just all these great, great, great character moments that are also building the story. I'm super excited to see what happens. All around, yeah, I just really like this episode so much. It's like you get to see all the important players. For sure. And I want to know what's going on, man. Where's the lady from supply? How's Juliet gonna navigate hiding her investigation from Camille? And what was that nurse doing in her room? I have so many questions.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03What'd you think, Seuss?
SPEAKER_01Well, before I give my thoughts on the episode, I just have to say it's funny that I somehow ended up with another series that is a flashback timeline.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god, I know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what's up with all these timelines, Apple? Why y'all so obsessed with timelines? Apple. I recently also switched over from being a heavy Windows computer user to using a Mac. So I also got timelines in my time machine backup now. Oh, but what's the obsession, guys?
SPEAKER_03What's going on?
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, given that we both kind of felt the premiere was mostly a setup, I'm actually kind of surprised that we seem to significantly pick up the pace as far as yeah, progress in the storyline in this episode. Maybe not so much as far as action overall, but I like that this is basically the episode where we see Julia kind of start to return the form, like you were saying.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01Uh, I know that her meeting with Martha Walker maybe didn't go as well as Martha had hoped, but I really think that as different as they are, the approaches taken by those uh specifically who shared some sort of meaningful connection with Julia prior to her memory loss will ultimately overcome any of the efforts that the algorithm or the Sims might be attempting in order to keep her in the dark. I guess my one criticism of the show so far is that it seems so weird that the controls that Camille put into place seem to vary wildly as far as how airtight or foolproof they are. Oh like I get that Nox might just be generalizing when he says Camille asked them to just not mess with Juliet's head too much because she's recovering from memory loss. Okay, but they're allowing this to happen. So they also realize that it's only a matter of time before Juliet realizes that everything that she's being told by The Sims and what's actually happening or has happened doesn't really line up. There's a lot more people, I think, who want answers than are willing to just live in the situation that they're currently yeah, and there's so many people who want to see her and be around her and talk to her.
SPEAKER_03So all of those could be potential memory containers.
SPEAKER_01Also, part of my argument is that if the algorithm seems so adamant about controlling the situation that it finally feels the need to roll out memory-suppressing drugs into the water supply.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like, why don't you just avoid the entire potential challenge by having Julia monitored around the clock by those loyal to Camille and or just follow through with releasing the drugs into the water supply without allowing that much freedom? I just feel like they have more of an argument earlier in Julia's recovery if they would have done something. But why would they have not done it earlier to better ensure compliance? It's just weird, at least I think, that we're supposed to believe the algorithm is some kind of AI.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I just can't see AI making that kind of mistake. So maybe I just don't realize it also has to learn itself into the realization of best practices. Who knows?
SPEAKER_03You know what's interesting that I hadn't thought about is that AI learns by interacting with people and it also caters itself to the person. Like my stupid AI sometimes tells me it laughs at things I say. I'm like, what the hell? But how did this AI, if that's what it is, develop over the last 300 years without constantly getting new input from a number of interpretations?
SPEAKER_01Why would it be so loose with its watch over people when it's had 300 years of behavior to study and probably come to the conclusion that that probably wasn't the case, that there's always some part of humanity that is looking for answers that is willing to dissent if what doesn't line up.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna lose it if this is a Wizard of Oz situation. There's just a man sitting behind that thing.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I know I was joking about the timelines before, but I actually do kind of like what's been happening in the first time. Yeah, me too. Yeah, in a way, I'm almost more looking forward to how the events and that timeline play out compared to the current timeline in the silo, but only because I feel like we've pretty much been led to believe that the silos timeline will likely lead to some sort of revolution or uprising against those working in service of the algorithm. All we know about what happened in the past is whatever treatment Charlotte is getting is likely connected to these memory-suppressing drugs being used in the silos in the current state. And that she sought out Helen in an effort to find the truth behind the Iran mission. Also, either Anna or Senator Thurman or someone they report to is likely at the center of this fake Iran mission or whatever test the secret mission that's being used for. Given what Helen pointed out in this episode, I know I've done some exploration of the book series Silo is based off of, as far as watching some YouTube videos comparing events between the two mediums, probably months ago, though. But the thing is, what I've come across recently is pretty much established that the show is going to be significantly different than the source material. With the big challenge being Juliet's character continuing at the center of the current, you know, non-flashback events on the show. Given that's a case, I'm honestly more curious as far as how and what events ultimately led to the use of the silos, since I also think that it'll give us more insight on what actually is happening in the current timeline with silo AT and how things will go with that. So yeah, really looking forward to everything that's happening, but definitely more of the flashback stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait.
What We're Watching Next
SPEAKER_01Ashley.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01What are we watching next?
SPEAKER_03Oh my god. Next week we're gonna be seeing The Odyssey from Christopher Nolan.
SPEAKER_01Three hour slug. Oh man, all I know is I'm gonna have to pee at some point.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Oh my god. Listeners, are you aware of runpee.com and the run pee app?
SPEAKER_01Should we get sponsorship? Probably not.
SPEAKER_03I know. It tells you when you can go to the bathroom during movies and gives a little blurb of what happened to the street.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we are not getting paid for this at all.
SPEAKER_03No, but I think that's gonna be necessary for the Odyssey.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And since it got a limited release a few weeks ago, we'll be checking out the invite with Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogan as well.
SPEAKER_01Cool. And for TV, we'll be continuing on to episode three of the third season of Silo.
SPEAKER_03Yay!
SPEAKER_01But I also want to announce that the next show we'll be adding to TV recaps is Lanterns.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Which will be on HBO and HBO Max. Uh, it premieres on Sunday, August 16th. So, yeah, expect recaps from us for that show once it premieres. Really looking forward to that since it'll be interesting to see what I'm assuming is an older Hell Jordan, which I don't really remember from any comics covering that I've read anyway.
SPEAKER_03Awesome.
Outro
SPEAKER_03Well, thanks so much for listening, guys. We really, really, really appreciate you. And I think it's awesome that you took some time out of your day to listen to us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and make sure to subscribe, rate, and review, preferably positively. Like how I'm absolutely and positively certain that Juliet on Silo is gonna take down the whole algorithm or water after she gets her memories back. Uh yeah, also follow us on social media. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and just thank you for tuning in again.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, have a nice day.
SPEAKER_01We'll uh check you guys next week.
SPEAKER_03Eat something delicious. Give yourself a treat.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, that's a good idea. Maybe we'll do that now.
SPEAKER_02All right, so I'm gonna go to the house.
