Episode 346 - Michael as told by the Jacksons

[00:00:04] It's time to Feel the Rage!

[00:00:34] I'm drinking coffee. I know you are. I tell ya. So if the introduction's out of the way, mmm, let's rage on. Alright, well thanks for supporting us. If you love our independent podcast, please like, subscribe, share and give us a rating on your listening platform or you can dare us to see a terrible movie and if it played anywhere in the world, we'll watch it. Let's get to Rage-ing! For the first time today!

[00:01:05] Yes, it's all brand new. What would the amazing mom predict? What would the amazing mom predict? Will he predict the rage or will he predict the mondo? Where is Bryce when I am singing today, everybody? Better watch out kids cause here he comes. He's coming swimming to you. And you and you.

[00:01:33] Swimmery, swim, Murray. Swimmery, swim. Swimmery, swim, Murray. Swimmery, swim. Swim all the way to our hearts, our little rage filled hearts.

[00:02:13] Alright, we had five movies this week. Double Rage. Double Rage. And we have Mother Mary, which is an A24. Apparently by the guy who did The Green Knight, which I just loved so much. You did love it so much! I'm gonna go double meh. Green Knight was so good. So good. Even had a talking fox. Even the yellow-bellied coward knight. That's what I call him.

[00:02:40] Uh, except we have I Swear, which was at, had a thing with the Baptist about a guy with Tourette's syndrome and you know, you can't help being who you are. And yeah, he said some stuff during a live award show they didn't like. He woke him up, baby! That's right. It was very un-woke. So, Double Mondo. Uh, then we have Fused, which is like some kind of action movie in London. There's a bomb. I don't know. Looked horrible. Double Rage.

[00:03:10] Ha ha ha! Then we have Little Lorraine, which I thought was about lobster fishing. Apparently it's not. There is some lobster in it. But it's Canadian, so let's go Double Mondo. All right. All right. Nice! You know I'm bad. I'm bad. Jamowita!

[00:03:39] Your butt is mine. It's your butt is mine, right? Yes. Butt as wide as Weird Al Yankovic. Wait, so there's- Exact same set. Was it- Oh, because it was I'm Fat. Yes, I'm Fat. Not I'm Bad. Okay. Jamowita! Michael is he loved Weird Al and he gave him permission to use all of his songs. Does- Did Weird Al say Jamowit in his songs? Probably. Oh, okay. I don't remember. Well, you know all his songs. You sing them all the time. Yeah, but he did eat it as well.

[00:04:06] Did he say, Jamowit, I'm fat, Jamowit? Sure. I'll sit back and listen to it, but sure. Nice! All right. So if you hear a film is a biopic or a documentary and then you see that the person or their family is part of the production team, that usually is your cue to run as fast as you can away from a movie. With Michael, the Jackson's family fingerprints are all over this.

[00:04:34] There are six Jacksons listed among the 15 producers. So going in, you already know one thing about Michael Jackson is that he is one of the most controversial figures that have ever lived. And this film gives none of that. Maybe they're saving it for part two, which honestly feels like it's coming based on the ending. Or maybe it's like becoming Led Zeppelin.

[00:05:01] They- where they just stop the story right when things are about to get interesting. Here it ends when Michael decides he no longer wants to be just a Jackson. He is his own person. Jamowit! Uh, what this really feels like is the family, now that the father is gone, decides that this is the version of Michael they want us to remember. The music and his abusive relationship with his dad.

[00:05:31] So, if you want a movie about Michael dealing with an abusive father, Michael being the only real talent in the family, and Michael being the only one who stood up for himself, then you might actually like this. Because that's basically what it is. A concert film, stitched together with scenes of Michael not wanting to be a Jackson and pushing back against his dad. Outside of that, there's almost no character development.

[00:05:57] Not the brothers, not the family, not Michael Jackson himself. But, what do we get? We get Michael's very talented nephew doing a great job playing him. A bunch of performances of classic MJ songs. Almost two hours! Which makes it feel like, almost like a live music video.

[00:06:19] And look, watching someone as talented as Michael Jackson's nephew perform these songs is always going to be entertaining. But, if you're expecting a real story, anything touching on leaving Neverland type content, the controversies, Neverland itself, the circumstances around his death, anything that might be outside of us basically wanting to be in love with Michael Jackson, you're getting none of that here.

[00:06:49] This film avoids everything uncomfortable and focuses solely on making you feel sympathy for Michael, it's him, and his abusive dad. And that's the lens we get. We also get some random stuff like a lot of CGI monkey. Which, who doesn't like CGI monkey? Moonwalking and singing, obviously. The idea that only Michael and his mom ever watched movies together.

[00:07:15] And that he had basically no one else in his life except his bodyguard and his animals. And somehow, that's supposed to be enough. By the end, I had one real question. Was Janet Jackson in a different family? Because if you're not listed as a producer, apparently you don't exist in this version. Bottom line, this movie doesn't show us anything we didn't already know. Doesn't go deeper emotionally.

[00:07:41] Doesn't explore anything controversial or anything outside of anything that we didn't already know. So, yeah, it gives us some songs, some nostalgia, and some very controlled narrative. Michael survived abuse, becomes the king of pop, end of story. Yeah, for that reason I didn't like it. It was a rage. There were some great MJ songs. But, yeah, this is not the story of Michael.

[00:08:11] Like it's promised. It's just, my dad is abusive. And now I can go on a solo mission. That's how I felt. Yeah, and I really expected it. I know you wouldn't like it. The king of pop, Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. Forgetting for a minute about all the weird stuff he did, you know, hanging his kid off the balcony, blah, blah, blah. All the weird. Blankets? The last like 10 years of his life, which is just weird. And all the child abuse or whatever allegations.

[00:08:39] Just focusing on his music. There's no doubt what an impact he had on the music industry. The 80s, there was Michael Jackson and Prince. I can't speak for these two, but I was on team Michael. I was on team Prince. Prince was good too, but I can only name a handful of his songs. Like seriously, one hand, I know like five songs. Uh, I know almost all of Michael's songs.

[00:09:08] Thriller was my first album. As in LP, as in record. Uh, the first music I heard that wasn't country because I grew up in a country music household. So yeah, his music was a pretty big deal to me. I lived in a small town in Saskatchewan. We didn't have a lot of access to music. So let's get it out of the way. There is nothing in this biopic about the later years. The child abuse cases or any other, the crazy stuff.

[00:09:37] There was also nothing about Janet Jackson in this film. Because she asked to be left out of it. And they obliged her. They didn't, she didn't support the movie. That's fine. They just didn't talk about her. What about Rebby? I don't know who Rebby is. It's the older sister. It's the oldest daughter. There's like 10 people in the Jackson family talking about the Jackson five, the musical ones. Yeah. Well, what about the other ones? What about the ones that they ate at the dinner table? Like Janet still would have been eating. I didn't count heads, but there's like the Jackson five.

[00:10:06] There was the five brothers. But were we led to understand that the other kids had to eat in a different room? Where's Randy? Maybe he was at the house. I have no idea. That's what happened, Murray. Come on. Randy was born in 1971. I wasn't there. That's exactly what happened. They had room for the performers. And then they had the, wait, Janet was a performer. But yeah, this film was produced, as you said, by and with the consent of the entire Jackson family, including Michael's son, who was one of the producers. Except Janet. Except for Janet. And his daughter.

[00:10:35] And except for his daughter Paris, who I think is a flake anyway. The reason for the whitewash, so to speak, is that the court order about all the cases from Neverland and all that child abuse stuff or whatever, forbid them from actually talking about it. Unfortunately, they had already shot a bunch of scenes talking about it. So the producers had to spend 15 million dollars to reshoot to avoid any of that stuff. So yeah, it was a puff piece.

[00:11:05] I get it. What we have is the life of Michael Jackson from the late 60s, when his father formed the Jackson 5 to his Bad Tour in 1988. For me, that was enough. Jafar Jackson, son of Jermaine Jackson, was amazing. I don't care if he didn't sing any of the songs, although I guess he did some of it. His look, his demeanor, his dance moves, he was the embodiment of Michael.

[00:11:36] His performance really pulled me into the life of the King of Pop. Being a bio pick, I'm sure it's not completely accurate, even though it was done with actual family members who were there. I don't care. Joe Jackson may have been a complete monster, but he did everything for his family. Anyway, Coleman Domingo did a great job playing both the abusive father and the shrewd manager. The rest of the cast was decent too.

[00:12:02] Mike Myers, once again, popped up in a small cameo as a music executive. Totally straight. I don't think he's trying to be funny at all. Much like Bohemian Rhapsody. In this case, this guy was a bit nicer. I think he was the head of CBS and he basically demanded that Michael's videos be played on MTV, which apparently they didn't play black artists back then, which seems stupid to me. But Michael, Lionel Richie, Prince, all these great black artists from the 80s and MTV wouldn't play any of them?

[00:12:32] That seems stupid. I don't know. That was weird. It felt weird, yeah. I didn't remember that. I don't remember that. Well, we didn't have MTV. We had much music. Yeah. Video hits. But they played everybody. Anyway, yeah. It was probably one of the best biopics I've seen in a while. I loved it so much that I need to go out and buy the Thriller album again. Nice. Because I'm sure I lost mine along the way over the years. So yeah, it was a mondo. I know you guys don't agree. It's okay.

[00:13:01] That's what we do. Yeah. I didn't like this movie. I thought that... I didn't even like the performances. I thought Coleman Domingo phoned it in. You guys seem to think he did a good job. I didn't see that at all. He just played a character and it was just... It was a one note performance that did very little for anything. What I will say is they had opportunities to do something special at times. The fact that we had...

[00:13:30] Here's a scene that sticks out in my mind more than anything. I could go into the... You know, Bubbles is like the most developed character in the whole movie, which he is. He definitely is. I could go into a number of things that it's just kind of silly and you look at it. And the fact that this plays out like a greatest hits package instead of an actual movie. But what I will say is they had an opportunity at one point to actually really, really have a powerful scene.

[00:13:56] And the scene is when he actually gets the gang members together to do Beat It. Yeah. I don't even know what that was. And they just... And this actually did happen. He had gang members... Like those are gang members that are in that video and they were rival gang. They were the Bloods and the Crips from the 80s. So, and the fact that they don't... Number one, I can't believe Michael Jackson wore that red jacket and that didn't become a problem. But... Aside from all of that. Half of those guys would have a problem. Okay, so what?

[00:14:26] But here's the thing. They made that... That scene was so awkward and like out of place in that movie where it should have been one where they showed... Somehow they showed like what went down. And apparently there was some violence on that set where they, you know, stuff got out of hand sometimes. I'm sure. Like there was something finally interesting. So... And they didn't even touch it. Like why even put that scene in there unless you're gonna make it something.

[00:14:55] Well, that's what even makes it more confusing. Exactly. And that's my problem with this movie. They just stuck in these snippets and they didn't even delve into anything. We got the... Just the surface of everything and we didn't dig deep into any single thing in this man's life. So it's funny what you say that because my opinion when seeing that movie, okay? As I'm watching it, cause my wife and I watched it together. And as I'm watching the movie, I'm like, um, is...

[00:15:23] They just brought together these dancers? So, so there were Bloods and Crips who knew how to dance? I don't think that... Well, I think he had his own professional dancers. He had some dancers in it. And the Bloods and the Crips just watched them. But yeah, no, there, there were actual gang members in that video. That's a fact. Okay. So I know that. Well, that I did know, but I didn't know what that scene was, was that. Yeah. Cause, cause it doesn't make any sense to me. No. And that's the thing. They finally had something interesting and they just like, they didn't even go there.

[00:15:53] That's just what it like. And that's the whole movie to me. Yeah. So you know what? As I say, there's, there's, there's lots of like the music of course is going to be great. They will can't deny that. But, but, and I will take nothing away from Jafar Jackson. Jafar Jackson was brilliant in this. Yeah, he was. The problem is he was in a, he was not in a good movie. Um, this is a total rage for me. Um, I wanted to like it cause who doesn't want to go to Michael Jackson. Yeah.

[00:16:22] Who doesn't want to go to this movie and like it, but it just wasn't a good, it wasn't a good movie. It just, it was so like there was nothing. It was, it was nothing. It was absolute empty calories. This movie. You know, you know what this, this movie should have been called Miss Jackson. If you're nasty. There you go. Cause she wasn't in it. No. I hope Janet Jackson has her own movie. No, I don't. I was also a huge Janet Jackson fan.

[00:16:52] Maybe she can cast her, uh, her nephew as well. Yeah. You know what? She can, her nephew can play her. Her nephew. Cause she had, people used to confuse Michael and her. Yeah. I think Jafar Jackson could totally play Janet Jackson. He could play, he totally could. Play both roles. There you go. You know what? Let's make this happen. Janet. Are you listening? I love that. Sorry, Miss Jackson. If I'm nasty. I am kind of nasty. So she is Miss Jackson. So yeah. I am for real. Okay.

[00:17:21] Uh, so that was, uh, a Mondo rage rage. It was a Mondo sandwich. Yeah. With some delicious, tasty rage bread. So, so, so tasty. So tasty. All right. Speaking of tasty mother Mary. Oh my. Uh, so you could say this film is a power struggle between two people, a designer and a musician, both masters in their fields.

[00:17:49] But from the very beginning, the power clearly sits with Michaela Cole, who plays Sam, the designer and former friend of Anne Hathaway's mother, Mary. We know this instantly. Mary comes to her begging for a dress saying Sam is the only one who understands her. The only one who can do this right away. The balance of power is set through this.

[00:18:18] We understand these two women have history and that Mary is now sorry for what happened between them. We do eventually find out what and why just not right away so that it's kind of like that Hitchcock thing. It's planted it there. We know something's coming, but we don't know what. Uh, what follows is essentially two performers confronting their past, present and future in a poetic and intense way.

[00:18:45] Both of them deliver every line of this modern eloquence, heavy dialogue. And we get the blood red ghost, uh, manifestation created by Sam and carried by Mary for one. For one it's cathartic for the other it's invasive.

[00:19:13] Maybe it comes from hate from being shut out, or maybe it's just a release forcing both of them to confront their roles in the collapse of their relationship. The ghost becomes the metaphor of friendship, healing, forgiveness, acceptance. The film itself leans fully into that.

[00:19:35] Poetic, stylized, almost stage-like with music crafted by Charlie XCX that actually works really well and helps carry the emotional weight of this story. All of it builds to a kind of seance-like climax where they attempt to cast out the ghost in a bloody symbolic moment. It ends with a sort of blood oath between them, a renewal, a healing on every level.

[00:20:03] And honestly, David Lowery is just on another level of creativity here. He's so unique with his craft that there's nobody that can make a film or it can even come close to the feelings of a David Lowery film. At times it feels like watching a modern-day version of Shakespeare, just filtered through fashion, music, dance and emotional trauma.

[00:20:32] I love the relationship renewal film that we get here. I think that Anne Hathaway, yes. Anne Hathaway was not a favorite actor of mine for many years when she was doing fluff pieces. She did a lot of Princess Diaries and stuff like that. Yes, and all of the movies were garbage. Not my favorite movies are hers either. Yeah, but she is choosing her last five movies that she's been in have had her brilliance shine.

[00:21:02] I'm not taking back what I've said about her in the past because I thought she couldn't act up until the last five movies that she's been in. But now for her to stand toe to toe with one of our favorite actors, Michaela Cole, and come out swinging. This is a battle of two Titans that was so eloquently written. I loved it. It was Mondo. I forgot this was by the guy who did The Green Knight.

[00:21:32] I should have known better. I should have just stayed away because I hated that movie so much. But it had Anne Hathaway and she was singing. I'm like, I love to listen to her sing. So what the hell? What the hell was this movie? I honestly don't know. I just told you. No, it wasn't what the trailer set thought it was like in the trailer. They showed them in a circle. I thought, okay, there's like a music like witchcraft and stuff. There was witchcraft. Yeah, like the 98 minute mark.

[00:22:02] Like, uh, yeah, presumably it's about an aging pop star returning to her former dress designer for one last outfit. Uh, the first hour of this was blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah about dressmaking and whatever. Yes. Mary did to piss off her dressmaker as Sam. Some online say they were actually lovers. I don't know if that's true or not. Ah, they could have. Yeah, it, it did have hints of that.

[00:22:29] Honestly, the symbolism and the hidden meanings were lost on me. I was mostly bored for that first hour. I'm sure Michaela Cole is good. I've never seen her in anything. I didn't see that art movie you went to. All she did was put me to sleep with her blah, blah, blah. Like seriously, her voice put me to sleep. The accent and how low it was. I was drifting. Uh, I actually got up halfway through to go to the bathroom.

[00:22:58] I didn't have to go. I just wanted, I had to wake up. Uh, stretch your legs. When I got back, there was like somebody flipped a switch on the movie and it became this voodoo Ouija board thing with Mary having some kind of spirit living inside her. Uh, the rest of the film made no sense to me. Uh, I couldn't wait for it to be over. The only thing that saved this for me was Anne Hathaway who I freaking love.

[00:23:29] Only thing I like better than watching her act is hearing her sing. Even that wasn't enough. Very, very mediocre man. I just hope her next four movies that come out this year will be better for me. As do I, except for I can guarantee one of them will not. You never, you don't know. It's true. Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt. Yeah. Meryl Streep is horrible by the way. She is not. The quicker she retires, the better it will all be. And Stanley Tucci.

[00:23:59] Yeah, I don't like him. The Tucciinator. Anyway, go. Go. Ha! Mother Mary. Quite contrary. Yeah. No, David Lowery's brilliant. Uh, this movie's brilliant. Uh, Anne Hathaway is okay. She's fantastic. Michaela Cole is brilliant. Um, yeah. Anne Hathaway, the fact that she can actually stand in front of Michaela Cole and not look completely out of place is, is, is impressive in itself.

[00:24:29] Cause as I say, Michaela Cole is, is at the point now in her career where she can take on anybody. She'll, as I say, uh, uh, uh, uh, just about took out. She just about took out Sir Ian McKellen in, in the, uh, in the Christophers. I mean, when, when you can stand toe to toe with that guy. And I would say that he was maybe at his best in that movie. And she was, he was, he was reeling. None shall pass. Yeah. She, uh, He's like fine wine. He's better with age. Yeah. Kind of does. Um, but yeah, no, she, she's just a force.

[00:24:59] The, the, just the expressions on her face where she can go from like, just a smile to just, uh, absolute dread. Like that. Her face just is so expressive. Um, and the way that she delivers lines is just, I mean, that accent, there's just something about it. That's just that if it's put in the right context and in the right movie, it's just, it's, her voice is, is mesmerizing in itself.

[00:25:24] You combine that fact with, with the fact that she's striking and the fact that she also has such expression in her face when it's, she just, she's just a complete actor. You know, and Siri, just to jump in for a quick point on that, because this movie kind of has some hints of overtones of horror, but it, it's, it's really, it's really the ghost aspect of it that, you know, why I kind of compare it to Shakespeare and how he wove ghosts

[00:25:52] and witchcraft into his, but to see her, I think in a real horror movie, like we've seen Lupita Nyong'o in it and she's also brilliant in it. I would love to see her come across the pond and do some, um, films in USA or Yankee land or Holly weird, whatever you want to call it. Cause putting her in a horror movie, fuck, there's nobody that could touch her. Yeah. Well, I, I, I just want to see her in anything. I don't really care if it's a horror movie or not.

[00:26:21] Just, just give me more Michaela Cole. Um, but, uh, yeah, uh, this, this movie has it like the, the music in it, the, the just absolutely striking scenes. Like just David Lowery is, is a true filmmaker. He's a, he's a true original voice. It is, it is just a pleasure to watch this guy's movies. There's nobody, nobody's making movies like this guy. Nobody. And, uh, they are, they are something to see.

[00:26:51] Um, I absolutely adored this movie start to finish. Um, there's, there's really not a misstep. Um, I it's Mondo. I love this movie. And it's funny. Uh, we have a, a friend of, of film rage, uh, the Verne with, um, cinema recall podcast that refuses to see this movie because he's, there is a band called Mother Mary that does a similar style of music to the music that's in this.

[00:27:20] I guess Charlie XCX does, which I don't know what this style is. Do you know what this is? The style is Murray. Do you know what it is? It's pop. Definitely. It's like droning, pop or something. I don't know. And used like, you know, Gaga, Beyonce, all those references for it. So that's just together in one character. Yeah. So, I mean, anyway, he, he refused to see this because he was mad that they didn't use Mother Mary's music in this. Oh, that's dumb.

[00:27:46] Well, it is dumb because that the music is really not the movie and having her actual performance, having, having her music, having Mother Mary's music in this would not fit. But this has had to be original content to fit David Lowery's story. So anybody that may have that same opinion of our good friend, Niverne, please go see

[00:28:10] this movie because it's, it, it should hold nothing against the original band Mother Mary because they're completely unrelated. Okay. That's what I would say. Yeah. I don't even know what you're talking about, but, uh, cool. All right. I've been on. I don't know who Mother Mary is. I don't need that surprise me. He knows everybody. I know. Yeah. Wow. That's not true. He doesn't know pop artists. That is true. I know pop artists all the way up into, and then once you get into the two thousands, I kind of, no, nineties, I'm good.

[00:28:39] Eighties. I'm good. But when you get into the two thousand, I start, that's when I started to get into the heavy. Rita Carpenter. You know, we, we saw a movie at cuff and they brought it up and it both made Bryce and I both laughed at the, at the same time, which was, they asked him, okay, what are your, what are your influences? And they said big shiny tunes? Five. Oh no, it wasn't. It was actually my land kicks. It wasn't that cup. Yeah. It was my land. What was, what is your, what is your major influences?

[00:29:10] Big shiny. Which was hilarious. Yeah. It totally. Now is music. Yeah, exactly. You know, big shiny tunes. Heard the name. There you go. I don't think I know what's on it. It's basically a greatest hits of whatever year that it came out. I get it. Same with now. They made one every year. Big shiny tunes, one to whatever. All right. I swear for fuck's sakes. Don't swear. A young 14 year old boy. There's no need for that type of language.

[00:29:39] Who's a bit gifted in pretty much everything he does. Living in Scotland. Learns suddenly that he has developed Tourette syndrome. Does he live in a Scottish cottage? Scottish. Cottage. He kind of did live in a Scottish cottage. Cottage. Uh, but he gets Tourette syndrome all of a sudden. And I didn't know that's what happened with Tourette's, but I guess it kind of makes sense. It's like schizophrenia, right?

[00:30:04] Like takes over when you get into, um, uh, adolescence. And what follows is a heartwarming and motivational biopic that is filled with humor and some tears for what this poor man has to go through. The big issue with this film is that it's very cookie cutter moment by moment, scene to scene, almost as if it was written in powerful moments that were a bit predictable.

[00:30:33] One after the other, like a tick box they had to cover, but it really doesn't. It really doesn't show the truth behind what people with Tourette's would actually have to go to. This person had, uh, a support system.

[00:30:52] And I think having a support system is important for anybody with a disability, but in, in particular Tourette's is one of those ones that majority of people with Tourette's don't get the benefit of having jobs. Don't get the benefit of, you know, being in supported relationships. A lot of them end up on the streets because they can't, they can't get jobs. They can't work.

[00:31:16] They can't cause no one's going to hire somebody at McDonald's to, when you come in and make an order and say, bitch, cunt, fuck jizz bucket, you know, to you as you're ordering a big Mac. So, you know, this is the pieces that were missing for me.

[00:31:31] But as the story rolls on, it gets you so connected to John Davidson and his challenging life that ends with some amazing things he does for his community and helps us ignorant people to understand all that is Tourette's. And we get to learn how important it is for us to take the time to understand that people with Tourette's are just like us. They just happen to swear all the time and they can't help it.

[00:32:01] I can say I never knew what I needed in my life was to see a Tourette's off in a film. But now that I have seen one, I can die a happy man. I really, really, really liked this. I laughed, I cried a bit and I felt like I might have a chance of being a better person the next time I see someone with this condition. I don't know if I've seen too many people. You know, every person that I've ever seen with Tourette's is homeless.

[00:32:30] Like I haven't met somebody at my work environment that had it or so it, my vision or my filter for me was that if you have Tourette's, it's going to be a tough life for you. And yes, I think that movie, this movie gives it, but it doesn't really give us the rawness. It was a high meh for me because it is a real feel good movie and I could see me and my grandma sitting on Sunday afternoon watching this movie. Especially if she's a potty mouth.

[00:33:00] Especially, my grandmother has a fucking potty mouth just like her grandson. That's where you learned from. To swear like sailors. I just learned how to swear in French because I had a French grandmother. Ah, me we. Yeah. She wasn't talking to me, she was on the phone with her friends, but yeah, she would just let it fly. I love your grandmother. She was a tough lady. I loved her. All right. What'd you think there, fuckface? That's unnecessary. Spunk for milk. Spunk for milk. But appropriate.

[00:33:32] Yeah, I swear. It's an important movie. It sheds a light on Tourette's. Um, if I think a lot of people that end up seeing it probably don't know, uh, much about it. Anything about it. And you come out of this and you, you, you learn a few things. There's no question. Um, I wish that, like in my mind, I wish it would have went to the darker places and, and really shown this, the struggle.

[00:33:59] I mean, yes, it, it, it touched upon things and there, there was, there was some, you know, he obviously had a rough life, but I think it was actually probably more rough than they're even there. They're even kind of showing. And I think that would have been like more effective for me. However, um, perhaps they kind of knew the movie that they were making and maybe they just wanted to reach a wider audience. So they kind of glossed over stuff a little bit, kind of gave you that hallmark version of the movie.

[00:34:25] Um, you know, with a fair bit of swearing, but nevertheless, um, so I'm, I'm kind of wrestling with that. The fact that, uh, it wasn't the movie kind of made for me, it was more to made for the masses and there's nothing wrong with making movie for the masses, especially when the message is as important as the messages in this movie. Um, there are some scenes in this movie that are very, very powerful.

[00:34:49] There's some laugh out loud moments, um, watching him when he gets that, uh, that, uh, that sort of, uh, therapeutic wristband thing. Watching him walk through that library for the first time, for the first time since he was 14. That was, that was a really moving, moving scene. And there, there are a number of moving scenes in this movie. Um, especially Dottie. Yeah. And Dottie's fantastic.

[00:35:16] Um, you know, uh, and, uh, the, uh, the Tommy character, he's, he's fantastic. Like every, it's just such a well-cast movie as well. Um, everybody in it's very, very good. Um, it's just, it, it just wasn't amazing. Um, but it's very important movie and I think a lot of people will enjoy it. And I think it's, as I say, it's an important movie for people to see.

[00:35:39] Um, it's, it's not a mondo for me cause they're, you know, for, but at the same time, it's very, very good. And it's, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's a high meh. Um, but, uh, it's a man never the less. I think that nobody would see this movie and not say, I enjoyed myself. Yeah. You're going to enjoy yourself. And at the end, I, I would hope that most people will come out of this and maybe, you know, it's not going to change your life, but you might be a slightly better person when you come out of it.

[00:36:08] I would hope so. Like, I would think that at the very least there, you should have more understanding about, and it's, and, and understanding goes across. Like, it's not just Tourette's. There's just, you know, once you're, once you become an understanding human being, you start to become an understanding human being about a lot of things. Yeah. It's kind of contagious when you start understanding one thing and you start understanding other things, but I'll leave that. Um, but yeah, no, this is a high meh. It's really worth watching.

[00:36:37] Um, but it wasn't made for me. I would have liked to see some darker stuff. Made for your grandma. Made for your grandma. Yeah. You know, it's funny you say that, that, um, I think that's why, like, like we talked about this. We talk about it a lot, but everybody has their own motivations why they go see movies. Mm-hmm.

[00:36:57] And for me, and I think for, for you too, Bryce, that we go to see movies because we want to be changed by the film to become more understanding people. Yeah. Either from the culture that we're experiencing from the film that's delivered or by the situations that happen or.

[00:37:19] We want to, we want to go into a movie, not just to be entertained, but I want to go into a movie and I want to be challenged a little bit when I go into that. Yeah. And I want, you know, I want, I want to be able to question things. I want to be able to think while I'm watching and I don't want, you know, I'm, you know, if I, if I want just pure enjoyment, I'll go play a video game.

[00:37:40] But if I'm going to a movie, I want to, I want to experience this movie and I want to, I want to, and if I grow as a person, wow, that, that movie just did something better. And, but you know, there is genres like you could, you hardly ever are you going to an action film to like, you're going there to check your mind at the door. And that's the thing. And sometimes I have a tough time checking my mind at the door, but if it's a really good action film, I will, but boy, it's got to stand out.

[00:38:07] And I'll fully admit there's certain genres where I'm, it's going to take a lot to win me over. But when it does, you know, that was a really good movie. And there is a lot of people like, I think Murray, you're more, you go see a movie because you want to be entertained. Are we not entertained? I don't want to grow as a person. Be reminded of how bad life is. I want to see how good life is. Oh. Yeah. Because my life sucks. You like, you like happy endings. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:37] It's, it's, it's interesting. The more content we get. So speaking of movies that you could check your mind at the door, we're now going to talk about probably one of my least favorite genres. Heist movies? Heist movies. They're all right. With a bomb. Yeah. With a bomb. I'm not a big heist movie guy, but I have. I think you have a bigger appreciation. Oh, undoubtedly. Of all of us. I'll go into a heist movie with a more open mind than you will.

[00:39:05] No, I go into it with the exact same mindset. Yeah, but you know you're going to hate it. No, because sometimes there's a heist movie that I like. Yeah. If it's done well. Yeah. And this is not one of those. No, no. This was, this was done fine. No, no. This had the potential to be something and something, I mean, it could have been worth seeing if it was done well. But this was not. We had an entire cast of characters that were unlikable, except one. Yeah.

[00:39:33] The corporal dude, the guy who was the, the super sleuth. Yeah. That, you know. Smart guy. Smart guy. Yeah. That, uh. He's like, wait a minute. What's with this little. This doesn't seem right. What's with this little thing that's on there that doesn't belong? That does. One of these things does not belong. This does not seem right at all. Exactly. It's like everybody else is just, you know what? Just ignore it. Just ignore it. Get. Although. Ignore that man behind the curtain. That's one of the twists though. We find out why he's saying he's brushing it off. Yeah. This was not a twist to me.

[00:40:03] He was pretty much forced into finally. It was obvious foreshadowing from the get go. And then they try and make us feel. Foreshadowing is what it's for. So you can see the future. Based on a true story, but it was supposedly only inspired by a bomb that was in London. It's about these guys who do a bank heist at the same time that a World War II bomb is

[00:40:28] found in the area, thus making a perfect shield for what they were actually doing. Brilliant. Breaking into a bank to steal diamonds. And no, it was not. There is a lot of little details that I think are supposed to impress us with the exactness of what happens. But these are also things that cause cause its downfall because on top of there being some

[00:40:53] minor holes in the details they provide, there's quite a few things that I, as I'm watching this and I'm like, oh, that doesn't make sense. And if, if you're putting it so that it's so much detail that it, that why don't you make the details accurate and follow correct protocols and procedures? But no, they want us to think that there's so many details that all these details are so intelligently written, but they're not. But they are. They're not. Cause there's this one thing.

[00:41:21] Because there's one person that's, that's kiked, that's trying not to do the details because he doesn't want. Okay. They have SWAT teams that go into the sewers that know these guys go down, went down a tunnel and they're like, but we only want to go down two steps in the tunnel. Let's go the other way. They looked, they looked, they looked, they had nothing to see here and they turned around. It's fine.

[00:41:47] They clearly see in their, they go to night vision for like five or not night vision, whatever it's called, uh, heat seeking imagery for like five seconds. Oh, there's something, you know, maybe we should turn on the heat. How about you turn the infrared on for the whole fucking part of the movie? No, no. We're going to turn it on. And then guess what? We're going to turn it off. Yeah. Like there's just one thing after another that they throw into something intelligent and then they counter it. They're like, yeah, we don't need it anymore. Yeah.

[00:42:17] Okay. You're just proving my point that, that they just do attention to the wrong things. Jim. Yeah. Just go for the ride. Okay. I can't go for the ride, Bryce. How you can go for the ride in a movie like this, but you can't other things. Just I'm like, blah. Cause this had a killer soundtrack. Okay. That's what that, there you go. Don't even get the fucking soundtrack started, which is, it was like listening to John Carpenter, but not John Carpenter written.

[00:42:45] It's like someone was trying to pretend they were John Carpenter. I know. They did a good job. Two notes that just kept playing over and over. It was so great. It was subtle and it was just underneath the surface. No. It just, it just created. It was. It just made. And those tense moments just bubbled to the top every time. It was supreme torture. Oh, it was so good. Yeah. So this happens in an already obvious triple cross film. And then. There's so many crossings.

[00:43:12] You think Murray, thank God it's finally over. Yes. But no, Murray, it's not over. They, we already knew the whole story, but then they needed to add in a flashback. They want to show how. 10 years earlier. They need to show you how these guys got together. They, they, we already knew how they got together because they told us they got together, but then they had to show us that this, one of the stupidest flashbacks in any movie that's ever existed. Not the best flashback.

[00:43:41] You had to layer the rage cream soaked filling. Could have done, could have done without the flashback. On top of, on top of the worst rage cake. I will tell you that. Yeah, you're right. That, that, that was unnecessary. It was, it, it, I was already in a rage state. And then when they put that in there, I was like. It got even dumber after that though, because they, then they put it. They tried to pretend. Like, like, like animal house style at the end where they're like. Let's tell what happened with their lives. Went to university and. Yeah. And became a congressman.

[00:44:10] And, and, but in this case, oh, and then they were trying to be funny too in those. And it's like, what? Was it? Well, yeah. No. I had already lost my patience with this movie. Because he's like, he spent all his money on hookers and blow. Just kidding. Did you not see that? Yeah. I, I was already checked out, but yes, I did see it. Cause it was also. It wasn't funny. It was stupid. Fueling my rage. That, that, that alone would, should make anybody rage. I, I, I'm already there. I was there before we got to that.

[00:44:39] But you just had to just cut it off before the flashback. They, they, yeah, they, what they should have done is made a good movie, which they didn't. And the other thing they should have done. Yeah. Is ended it probably 20 minutes earlier. God, I'll agree with. Uh, you know, it was probably one of the best heist movies that's ever been made though. So I think people should see it if you like stupid heist movies that you don't have, don't follow any of the logic. Cause the logic isn't really there. No, no, no. There's logic. It's kind of there, but then they throw a bunch of things that don't make sense.

[00:45:08] Ah, you'd be too critical. You know what? Let's, let's have it so that, you know, all these things are important, but then let's pretend that, uh, that all the logic that would be truly in reality isn't placed into the movie. There you go. So you liked it? It was, I was a rage. Like it was really horrible and I hated it. Well, fuse killer soundtrack. Actors were good. I like that Theo James. Uh, what, what do you call him, Murray?

[00:45:38] He's a British Franco. He's a British Franco. There you go. I don't say a Franco, but he's a mainland. He does look like a Franco. I'll give you that. He's a Franco. Um, yeah, this was just a good little heist movie. It's, it's just, you're not going to go in there and think too much. You just go in there. You enjoy the ride. I thought that the, the tension built pretty, pretty well. Um, and thank, and, and not in small part to that killer soundtrack through the whole thing. And it just, it just bubbled underneath. I know what's a good soundtrack.

[00:46:07] And it came up and it came up. Dune. Now Dune is a good soundtrack. No, Dune's awful. Dune's just like three hours of. That's how I felt watching this movie. Oh, whatever. Anyways. Um, yeah, it was, I mean, it was just a enjoyable little romp. You got, you got a Sam Worthington sighting, which is not necessarily great, but you know, it is what it is. Um, I don't know. I, I didn't hate this movie. I'm, I didn't love it, but you know, it, it rolled along as far as heist movies go.

[00:46:36] I thought that the, the twists and the turns were actually fairly cleverly done yet. They heavy handedly foreshadowed some stuff, but that's fine. That's what's foreshadowing for you. You just, you, you, instead of like dropping breadcrumbs, they were dropping loaves of bread, but that's okay. Cause the payoff was still good. And the fact that the way that they tied all these guys together, I thought was kind of clever. And I liked the fact, and I didn't initial, I'll admit I'm, I'm, I'm a bit of a Mark, I guess.

[00:47:02] Cause I did not, I did not get why initially, why they were showing this family that seemed to have nothing to do with anything. And even, even when they were like, you know what? It's their apartment that all this stuff was going down. And I was like, huh? Yeah. But there's a point in the movie, you see the guy go up to the roof and put the real diamonds there. Yeah. But that was after that. No, no, no. It was a long time before in the movie. I'm not sure if you maybe fell asleep.

[00:47:31] No, no, no. But they show him switch the bag out near the beginning of the heist. No, they didn't. Yes, they did. No, they didn't. Yes, they did. You're saying that, that, uh. Yes. The, the dude. Yes. He went to the ceiling when he said to the other guy. That was after. No, it wasn't. They had the drones and they were going to put the shit in the drones. That wasn't him. That was, that was the other guy. He did. He switched it out. That wasn't the, the guy that was the family guy. No, it wasn't the family guy. That's what I'm talking about. No.

[00:48:00] But, but that's what you knew. He was coming. The guy who lives there is coming back. They already showed that he lives there. He's going to come back into the place. It was, everything was so obvious. Why are they going to leave it on top of the ceiling? No, it was obvious. Everything was obvious. I don't know why we're arguing about this. The movie. It was so horrible. The movie was fine. It rolls along. It's a heist movie. If you like heist movies, see it. It's, it's good. If you don't. Um, it's, uh, it is what it is. I, I didn't hate it. Uh, it rolled along.

[00:48:28] It was a pretty tight, just over 90 minutes. Didn't drone. It's the type of movie that could have droned on for a couple hours and it didn't. Thank goodness. Um, they could have cut seven minutes out of it and had a nice tight 90 minute heist movie, which would have been fantastic. Cause we, we really didn't need the last little while. I, I hated the fricking little thing at the end with, uh, with telling us what happened and the, Oh, this guy went and went to college and got a girlfriend and had a family of six and got a dog.

[00:48:56] I, it was all so stupid. So I didn't need that, but you know, I still enjoyed the first 90 minutes. It rolled along. It was meh. Nice. You raged about it. You didn't agree. Yeah. I agree that he liked it. Yeah. I'll move on. Yeah. I was just going to say, I think you might like this one. Yeah. Here we go. Do you like his heist movies? I think of all of us, Murray likes heist movies the most. I do. There you go. He's heisty. I like the ones you guys hate. He's heisty.

[00:49:26] I'm very heisty. So heisty. All right. Little Lorraine, which I think is the name of the town. I, okay. Thank you, Murray. Thank God you're here to keep us straight. It's a town of like 50 people. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. But of all the 50 people, they still have things. Which is not really a town. It's like a village. Grocery stores and bars that are full of people. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

[00:49:52] So 1986 was a good year for music, including Michael Jackson. We got music. We got music by The Spoons and Strange Advance and Gowan and band that isn't Canadian. So it was like they put all this Canadian music and then they put China Crisis. I feel pretty sure. There wasn't any Brian Adams. China Crisis. Well, what's the point then? Exactly. Right, Murray? No Brian Adams, no Corey Hart. What's the point?

[00:50:18] Yeah, they didn't play Corey Hart, but they played the worst of all the Gowan songs. Corey Hart wasn't good. Oh. He wears his sunglasses in there. That's right. Yeah. So he can watch you weave and breathe your storylines. That's right. Another nonsensical stuff. This is based on a true story about a few miners who lose their jobs as miners after a terrible fire kills 13 people.

[00:50:45] So I guess there was 50 people, then minus 13 is whatever the math is. No, it's 37 now. Yeah. In Cape Breton, underwater coal mine. And then they start working a lobster fishing boat disguised for a cocaine boat headed up by the mesmerizing Stephen McCaddy. Chased by Interpol and Finland possibly found dead?

[00:51:15] No, I don't know. Where these incidents become a blemish on the people of Nova Scotia, still to this day, I'm guessing. And they're honest, God-fearing living. Hmm. Which they were all pretty God-fearing, you know, honest people. Except Stephen McCaddy, who's from Montreal. Obviously, Montreal was a bad influence on him. I don't think they're very honest.

[00:51:44] We get scene after scene after scene after scene after scene after scene after scene of nonsense dialogue, storylines, and consistent things that don't make sense. Inspections by Interpol where they search two boxes because they stopped their boat on the ocean. Yeah, but then they got called away. It's like, oh, we got something else going on over here. We should probably, we've probably not searched.

[00:52:11] Rather than look at the box underneath, we better just get off the boat and leave. Yeah. Even though, you know, checking that box would take about, I don't know, three seconds. So, but they didn't have time for that. Or open the, this boat is a small boat. Just open the thing that looks into the- The bowels. Where the bowels were, the lobsters. And they just had to look in there. It was full of drugs. Yeah. Yeah, but they didn't do that. Or fishermen. They got called away. Fishermen who can't swim, Murray. So, if you couldn't swim- Well, they brought that up.

[00:52:41] If you couldn't swim- I had no problem with that. No. Okay. So, here's the thing. Any fisherman that's worth their salt, see, because they're on the ocean. But he wasn't a fisherman. That's the point. He was a miner. Okay. I gotcha. Yep. That's it. So, I know if I couldn't swim and I was on a boat- Well, if you need the money- And I lived in- Oh, you'd wear a life jacket. I love a jacket. I might wear a life jacket. That's probably a good idea. I would wear two. Yeah. So, none of that happened either. Right.

[00:53:08] Drug dealers that are kind of like a friendship circle of niceties until the end when they're not. Hmm. This is by far the worst East Coast film that I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot lately that have been pretty good. Yeah. There's been a lot of good ones. Yeah. This movie was a rage. Um, this is the worst rage I've had for a Canadian film since seeing Zombie Town in 2023. There you go. Except, at least in Zombie Town, I got a few kids in the hall sightings.

[00:53:38] This movie is really, really bad. Like, it's just scene after scene of nonsense. That's it. And, you know, and just every scene makes you more angry than the scene before it. It's, it's a movie where you're watching it and you're like, well, that would never happen. And then you get to the next scene. It's like, okay, well, that would never happen. And then you get to the next scene and you're like, well, that would never happen. And you, you, you get to the, like, I don't know, hour, hour and 10 minute point and you start becoming numb to it. It's just like, it's all just such nonsense.

[00:54:07] It's like in a million years, nobody would act like the way that these people are acting and they wouldn't do the things that they're doing. Like they literally make zero sense. And that's the problem with this whole story is none of it makes any sense all the way up to the end where you get this ridiculous payoff where I, I don't even know what's going on at this point. Like I just, I think I checked out after about 45 minutes cause everything was just so stupid. Like this is the dumbest movie.

[00:54:36] Like maybe that's ever been made like nothing. There's nothing there. And I don't understand how anybody can watch this and see anything but that it is. It is a dreadful, dreadful movie. It's poorly acted. The writing is atrocious. The only thing it's got going for it, it's got some nice scenery cause it's on the East coast, but Cape Breton. And it's beautifully shot. But other than that, this is a disaster of a movie. I, I just absolutely hated it. There was no tension.

[00:55:04] There was no, cause you know why there was no tension? Cause nothing made sense. Like nothing made sense. How, how can you have any tension when you're confused? Confusion and tension don't go together. So yeah, this was a total rage. Is that the first time you got to hit buttons today? I don't know, maybe. I think it was. Oh, I'm glad I missed it then. Yeah. Yeah. I thought about going to it. And don't even get me started on the Amels. They need to go away.

[00:55:34] There was only one Amel. I know. Well, it doesn't matter if it's Steve. I don't even know the difference. I don't know if I was watching Stevie or Robbie or what? One was, one was Arrow. I don't know who the other one was. I don't, all I know is if it's got an Amel in it, it's probably awful. It had Sean Astin, didn't it? Yeah. All I know is if it's got Sean Astin in it, it's probably awful. He's a president. But it had Reese Darby in it. What a waste there. There you go. Reese Darby. Reese Darby. Reese Darby. Steven McHaddy. And even they couldn't even make anything make sense. Hey, are those guys on the list somewhere?

[00:56:05] Reese Darby used to be. He got taken off. Oh, he got taken off. Right. And Steven McHaddy's still there. Although he wouldn't have made it there if we had seen this movie beforehand. Actually, I didn't hate him in this movie. I did. I just felt sorry for him. I thought he was awful. I felt sorry for him. I also felt sorry for him, but he was awful. Everybody was awful. This movie's awful. Are we done? Yeah, we're done. What?

[00:56:34] For some reason, this is taking forever today. I don't know why. Yeah. I don't know. We're punch drunk. It's one of those days. I'm tired. You know, I don't even, I should have been more prepared to list how many movies we saw at Cuff. There was a lot. There was a lot. I skipped the last three days. We really immerse ourselves in film festivals when we go to them. And, you know, at least we took a break off during the middle of the week. I'd already seen those movies before. I took a break at the end.

[00:57:03] And then we took the last day off, which, you know, congratulations to Cuff, though. Yeah. Surprising. The last day, everything was sold out. I thought about going to check something out. But it's like, no, every show was sold out. When we were at the festival, it felt busy. Every movie felt busy. It was. And I turned to Bryce, I don't know, maybe three or four days left in the festival. And check out Calgary Underground Film.org for the films they played, by the way.

[00:57:29] And I said to him, I think we've got a 30% increase above last year. And Bryce was like, no, no, no. It's maybe 10%. So the final numbers came in. They were 25% more tickets sold over last year. So I was closer. But it's like a few sellouts. I'm so happy that people are coming back to cinema.

[00:57:53] And to be honest, even the movies we saw outside of Cuff, there's more people going to the cinemas now, I think. My theater is like every weekend it's busy. I think part of that was because of Mario. But I went two Sundays in a row and there was nowhere to park. Yeah. And it's next to like a mall. I had to park like half a mile away. I love it. This gives me hope that the theaters aren't going to close. Maybe. So I'm super happy about it.

[00:58:20] So, you know, we just decided we would have talk about our favorite films. We're only going to do three. So my favorite film of the festival, I'm not going to go backwards like Bryce does. My favorite film of the festival was Hocum, which is good for people listening here. So if you... It's coming out. It's coming out soon. So it'll give you a chance to see this film. It is a big ticket film. You know, it's got Adam Scott.

[00:58:49] It's going to have some money behind it. So it's going to have a pretty good release. You all get to see this in cinemas. So look forward to it because it's fantastic. My next favorite one is Thanks for Nothing, which is the German film about the four young ladies who... The group home. The group home.

[00:59:11] And I don't know if that's going to get a major release, but I was so emotionally connected to these so well-crafted characters that I just love this film. And because actually suicide has touched my life personally, that the scene with the suicide in it was very touching for me. And it really helped move the level even further for me on this film. My last...

[00:59:36] My third favorite is a tie between two movies, which came from the second half of the festival. One is Luger, which is an Argentinian film. And to be honest, like we originally, I just knew it was in Spanish, but I didn't know it was Argentinian. And to be honest, Argentinian action movies are... If it's an Argentinian film and it's an action film, just go see it. That's all I want to say. Just go see a movie. And I hope that this gets major release.

[01:00:06] This is like a gangster movie for the ages. The characters are so likable. So, so likable. I freaking absolutely loved Luger. I'm so glad we got to see it. And then tied with that, or I guess a runner-up, however you want to say it, it was called Mag Mag. It's a comedy j-horror that there is a scene in this like nothing I've ever seen.

[01:00:36] The scene alone is worth seeing this movie for. I'm just going to say that they're artists and get sort of, you know, the typical j-horror witch, right? Like the witch ghost that comes back. I mean, the ring, the grudge, they're all that. They have this haunt. So they have this and they know this is a staple of j-horror. But the comedy behind it is so well done.

[01:01:04] And there is a scene in this movie that has her have this giant, she's madly in love with this other artist. And there's a giant wall of his face. And in the middle, he has these pursed lips. And she basically mouth fucks him for about five minutes. And it's one of the funniest scenes. I must have laughed for 10 minutes straight. It is so good. This movie is so good. I slept through it. I know. So it's one that you will have to eventually see.

[01:01:33] I would have to because it's not in English. Yeah. No, I was just really tired. Plus they went halfway through the short before it. And then they had to... Technical issue. Technical issue. And they had to restart it. So I'm like, well, I'm just going to close my eyes for the first part of the short because I've already seen it. But then I never opened my eyes again. And the short was great too. I forget what it was called. Yeah, the short was really good from what I saw because I saw it the first time around. But then I didn't see the ending. Yes. Because I'd fallen asleep. And I did tell you how it ends.

[01:02:03] And it was really quite fun. And then we got to the feature. And I kind of had my... I maybe had my eyes open for a total of seven minutes through the whole movie. Dude, you've got to see it. Yeah. All right, Murr. What was your favorite of the first? This hasn't really changed since last time. I saw two movies since our last podcast. One was the... What's his name? Seagal.

[01:02:27] Jason Seagal one, which I can't give a mondo because it's a remake of a Norwegian film that I loved. It was okay. It was an American version. But anyway. And concrete, I hated. But yeah. Yeah. So my top three is Friday the 69th, which is a nice, awesome, low-budget slasher movie. Super funny. Making fun of them. And then there was, like you said, Thanks for Nothing, which despite the fact that it was in German and I had to read subtitles, I still loved.

[01:02:57] Nice. And I'll also put The Fox up there, which I also love. Nice. I did too. It was really funny. Talking Fox, Talking Magpie. Yep. And Tam Neal in it. Honorable mention or tie, whatever you want to do it, is one I actually, I previewed it, didn't give it that high of a rating. But I saw it with a live audience and that made all the difference. It was, oh my God. Why did I forget the name of it? The pickleball one. Oh. Oh, Kings of Venice.

[01:03:28] Kings of Venice. Kings of Venice, yes. It was Paddle, which is like a small version of tennis. Paddleball, which they play here, versus pickleballers who are trying to take over their courts. And they had one of the actual athletes there, the guys in the movie, he was easily the most entertaining guy in the movie because he's Italian and he had a really bad temper. Like to smash rackets and stuff. And he was here. And the director was. And when the final tournament happened, the crowd was like, they were up. They were cheering.

[01:03:57] They were having an awesome time. Even the Q&A was fun. So because of that, Kings of Venice, I think I want to put on my list. All right. I mean, I don't know if it'll ever come out, but it's a great documentary. Even if you don't like sports. Because some of the characters in there are so entertaining. Just the fact that they got the number one pickleball player in the world in their paddle tournament and he almost won the whole thing. It's like, that was a stroke of genius. Yeah, I loved it. But yeah, the second half of the festival, not so much.

[01:04:27] And I took the last three days off. I just. Because you were at the. Well, that was one day, but I just. Then we got more freaking snow and minus temperatures. I was like, why am I going outside? So I didn't. And then you couldn't get in the last Sunday. The last day was sold out. Nice. So that's what I got. All right. Bracey Pants. Holcomb, Luger, Every Heavy Thing. Every Heavy Thing. Oh, that was. What's his name? Mickey Reese, baby. And just for everyone's notice. Your pal, Mickey.

[01:04:55] The short that played in front of Mag Mag is called Floor. There you go. So if you get a chance to see that short. Yeah, some of these will come out and some won't. The closing night film, which we didn't see with Kiki Palmer. And I can't remember. There's some other big name in it. Is coming out like this week. Demi Moore. No, no. The black guy. I can't remember who the black guy is. Oh. He's somebody big. I can't remember who he is. Anyway, it's like they're.

[01:05:23] They like steal stuff. I love boosters. Boosters, yes. That is coming out. Yeah, it's coming out pretty soon. There you go. Which we will be seeing. Because it's got Kiki Palmer in it. There you go. Plus we see everything. Not a big fan of hers. I am a huge fan of Kiki Palmer. All right. You guys are going to like this, but I'm going to go ahead anyway. Okay. I love music. Boosters? Biopics. There I said it.

[01:05:55] Yeah. As I've said, I loved Michael, even though you guys didn't. So I was thinking back to some of the music biopics I've seen and some of my favorites. Nice. Since you guys hate it so much, I'm going to keep it short. To quote my favorite movie critic, besides us, if you don't like what I like, I don't give a leap. Nice. He always says that. That's why I love him. That's good, Murray.

[01:06:22] Plus, it turns out he has the exact same opinions about movies that I do. There you go. It's like he's my twin, except he's an old black guy from the south. Nice. Other than that, we think the same things. That's awesome. So anyway, you're in my top five. La Bamba, 1987. Richie Valenzuela died into playing crash along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, 1951. Hello, baby. Spoiler alert. Robbing the world of his future stardom. Robbing the world of his future stardom.

[01:06:47] His short career included hits like Come On, Let's Go, Donna, Bluebirds Over the Mountain, and of course, La Bamba, for a guy who didn't even speak Spanish, which was funny. The movie starred a young Blue Diamond Phillips, portrayed Valen's many ups and downs professionally and personally. The ending isn't exactly a surprise, but the performance still brings out all the emotions. Yeah, I liked La Bamba when it came out. It was okay. Elvis, 2022. Yeah, Tom Hanks was awful.

[01:07:17] Considering I love about 90% of his movies, that's saying something. He was terrible. He was terrible. And the movie was told from the point of view of the evil Colonel Tom Parker, his manager. All that doesn't matter because of the absolute transformative performance from Austin Butler. His musical portrayal of the king was amazing. Elvis is a big, bawdy, risky, and successful portrait of a complicated artist. You know, controversial, you might say as well. Yeah, I didn't like it. I know you didn't.

[01:07:46] I loved it. Ray, 2004. Ray was good. I knew almost nothing about Ray Charles before I saw this film. And that's probably not historically accurate. I don't care. If even half of it was true, I still learned a lot about the music icon. Yeah, apparently he slept around a lot. I mean, if you were a famous singer, wouldn't you sleep around a lot? Yeah, and he was blind. So he got around pretty much for a guy who's blind. Jamie Foxx was perfectly cast as Ray Charles.

[01:08:15] I gained so much respect for him as an actor because all I knew before that was his wacky characters from Living Color. Yeah. It's no coincidence that he released his own music after this film. Yeah. Walk the Line, 2005. Really? This will be your favorite actor. This will be the only time you will hear me say this. Joaquin Phoenix was really good in this film. Yes, he was.

[01:08:41] Or I prefer to call him Leaf because that's his given name. He became Johnny Cash, even learning to play the guitar the same way that Cash did. Much of the attention went to Reese Witherspoon, who won the Oscar for a portrayal of June Carter. They were both amazing. And seeing what the man in black went through with the drug problems to come out the other end, that with the help of his loving partner, it was an inspirational film.

[01:09:12] A Complete Unknown, 2024. I have to give the Chalamet props. His portrayal of Bob Dylan was very good. Yeah. There have been more than a couple of Dylan documentaries slash biopics. This one was done with no input from Dylan himself. Yep. Didn't even meet him. What Chalamet brought to the role was amazing, learning to play a different instrument, and using his own vocals for many of the performances.

[01:09:42] He probably should have won an Oscar for this. Sadly, he didn't. Okay, I have to give honorable mention to this film that you guys didn't like. What? Bohemian Rhapsody. I know. It's not accurate. Rami Malek's a terrible actor. Blah, blah, blah. Again, I don't care. I loved the performances, especially the live concert at the end, and I had all kinds of emotion watching this. Plus, Queen rules. Okay.

[01:10:11] Queen doesn't rule. I'm done. Queen is the most ruly of all rules. They are very ruly. Temperature rising. Vision blurring. Rage taking over.

[01:10:46] Okay, so my rage could be that cuff is over now and I have to go back to my regular life and spend more time with my wife and family, which, you know, that's enough to make anybody rage. But my true rage this week is I'm going to be going on holidays coming up here in May.

[01:11:12] And I just found out that there are some pretty good horror movies coming out that I've really wanted to see coming out around the time that I'm going to be on holidays. And I may not get to see them in theaters. So, A, I'm not going to get to see them in theaters. And, B, I'm probably not going to get to see them with Bryson Murray. So, that is my rage is that I should have planned out my vacation around the movie release schedule for the year.

[01:11:42] So, that's on me. But you guys will all get the benefit of seeing some pretty great horror films coming up here in May. I'm going to be, I'll be in BC on the side of a mountain. So, they don't have any screenings there. We might have a, so you mean we might actually have a week where Murray does the podcast by himself? Maybe. Yeah, that ain't going to happen. We might have to create a special episode. Yeah, we got to talk about what's going to happen that week.

[01:12:10] I'm not really sure what's going to happen that week. So, stay tuned. My rage may be everybody's rage. The first week, Film Rage doesn't release an episode. Right? We haven't, we've not. I'm sure we missed one. No, I'm pretty sure we haven't. Really? I guess, yeah, I guess even when you were away, I did it on my own a couple times. During the Christmas break, we have a week where we don't, but then we come back and at least talk about the films we saw over the Christmas break. So, we'll see. Yeah. So, this may cause all of our listeners to rage too.

[01:12:40] I don't know. That's my rage. All right then.

[01:13:11] My rage is pretty simple. There's certain things in the biopic, Michael, that made him seem like a saint that I just, just didn't sit well with me. The whole, you know, him saving these animals and whatnot, but putting them in just an absolutely unnatural place.

[01:13:38] It just, they made him out to be like this, this, you know, almost environmentalist, which he absolutely was not. He just wanted a buddy to hang out with. And I wish they would have just, with all the stuff that they left out of the movie. Yeah, they should have just left that out. I wish they would have just left that out because it just didn't sit well with me. I was already not enjoying a lot of things that were going on and that kind of almost pushed me over the edge. So that's my rage this week. But not even a giraffe, like giraffes, they live in California, don't they? Yeah.

[01:14:08] They're walking around in the California wild. Oh, they're in San Diego. That isn't that far from there. Yeah. In a zoo. In a wildlife park too. I've seen them. Yeah. Those wildlife parks there. Let's not even get into that. I can better than zoos. That's debatable. Rage.

[01:14:37] Well, it was a pretty full week. We're going to hopefully catch up some sleep. Possibly next week we might be back with our completely new episode of... Really? Yes. Hmm. Film Rage is totally retro. Nostalgia Recall flashback. Stay tuned. Thanks, Rages, for listening. Thanks to the extended Film Rage family you can find in our show notes. Thanks to Casey from the Nerdy Photographer for the voice of Rager Dare,

[01:15:03] our god of rage, and the voice of Film Rage's totally retro nostalgia recall flashback. Find the social media for Ragerie Photographer everywhere you see this podcast. Find us on social media at Film Rage YYC. Check out everything Film Rage at FilmRageYYC.com, including our merch site for Rubble and TeePubble. We're always waiting for Raging Blast for all listeners, so please comment, like, subscribe, share, and send us emails to FilmRageCowbridge, email.com,

[01:15:30] there's some terrible movies to fuel our rage, but no matter what you do, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please make us a rage. A lot's involved this week. Rage on.