140: Megalopolis (2024)

Alex, Nick, and friend-of-the-pod Dan go back to the cluuubbb and review Francis Ford Coppola’s apparent magnum opus, “Megalopolis.” The guys discuss director passion projects, bad line readings, nonsensical plot elements, Adam Driver starring in everything, how Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, and Jon Voight stole the movie, and much more.
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Transcript

0:10

Hey, everyone. Welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex with throw in. I'm joined by my best man, Nick Doster. How are you doing there, Caesar? Cattle. Lena series. Well, I'm. I'm happier to be here than you are. I have to say, you seem bothered. No I'm not. No, I think our guest is bothered. And so. Well, okay. Okay. I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be here. I'm glad we saw it. I'm glad we got to experience it together. But how's it feel beyond that was, that that was, that that was a movie that that exists, that was made. We have a friend of the pod, Dan, here to give us his thoughts on Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis as well. How are you doing there, Dan? It was not the worst movie I've ever seen. What's the worst movie you've ever seen? Soul plane oh, yeah. Yeah, that's. Yeah, I did not, I did not. I usually finish most movies and not finish that one. Okay, well what's yours? I get the worst. I'm not going. I'm not doing that here. Can I please go into yours? Mortal Kombat annihilation. Oh, yeah. It's so awesome. That second we have a second one. That was the first time I ever realized that movies can be bad. Yeah, we've talked about that. Oh, yeah? Yeah, in my innocence, yeah. Mine was like a wild, wild west. I saw that and was shot and I. Yeah, I remember being like, oh, movies can like like they can, they can really be badass. They take your soul. No. You know how like you, you ever had this happen in, like, in day to day life where, like you, you say a word out loud and you're just like, I don't think I say that word often out loud. He had that quick thought. Sure, I don't usually use the word abysmal in real life. Okay, you're using it now for yo, man. Yo. So why don't we start with the movie? Yeah, the movie I will. You seem. As soon as we started going, you seemed a little more pep for it. You seemed like you liked it. I did not think that was the vibe of all three of us. I had a great time. I had a great story. Okay, I enjoyed it. I was I enjoyed my experience. But it was a bad movie. Yes, yes. And I like bad movies. But this was a bad movie. All right. So I flew out. Happy birthday to Nicolas. So still today is his birthday. Flew out for actually to see Megalopolis. And it was coincidentally just your birthday. So we were so we all went to see it last night. Universal city what AMC see city Walk okay, okay. The Imax screen. We were in there with some wow sold out crowd. What a crowd. I've never seen anything like it before. Yeah, some of I don't know. I don't know who those people were. Everyone was like into the movie. So I think it's safe to say we all had a really fun time. Well, I know at least you and I had a fun time watching it. We laughed often. I yeah, no, I laughed, I have to say, I feel like our pocket of the theater was the laughing area. Yeah, when people in front of us laughed a lot too. But at some point in like early on, we're laughing with the movie because there are some things that are intentionally funny. I did not know this was going to be a comedy at all, but then at some point it changed and a lot of people, mostly, and namely us, were laughing at it. Yeah, actively were laughing. Terrible line readings were laughing at how nonsensical this is. So yeah, Megalopolis is a movie that exists. I'm very glad we all got to see it together, but we did way more laughing last night than I thought it. And then what's left of it. We'll get into a little bit of the movie, but it's like, what was that we saw? Why did that get made? What the hell? Like, why did he spend all this money on it? So that's where we can, I guess, start. I guess I could start by saying that now that we have, the time has come and the time has passed. I can't tell you a single thing about what that movie was about. You just piece water. Yeah, exactly. Like it's. What? I didn't know what the hell was going on for the majority of it. Like, all the stuff involving the family was pretty easy to track. It's like, you know, Roman type stuff. Family dynamics. Okay. All the stuff involving this, like utopia of Megalopolis, that Adam Driver's character is attempting to build, it made no sense to me. And the movie just lost the audience and you could feel it. We're trying to. We were trying to figure out when it happened, like the exact scene. I don't know if there is an exact scene, but I never really experienced. I experienced stuff like that, but it was like we all felt it in the there was a it was a huge. I think it helps that we saw it in LA, because I feel like majority of that audience was trying to put up a fight to, to to understand it. Yeah, I like it. They're like, we want to like this because it's Coppola. And then it just like you said, he lost the room. We are almost no one went to the bathroom like of the whole crowd. We commented on that. So that says something. I'm like, I think people want to, like, see if they could stick it out. And, and I mean, people were like applauding in the beginning, like, yeah, when we're excited. Title card game. Yeah. We're applauding. Yeah, yeah. People were ready. We were guys. The guy in front of us left, and they would. That was very strange because halfway through the movie, a group of them, like six of them, they were they were an interesting group. I couldn't figure out their seats. I yeah, which is weird and seems like they didn't know each other. They were, I see, I thought they didn't know each other and they were like before the movie started standing in front of us, I don't know, for a long time, like I'm 18, 19 and like, who cares if you all know each other, just sit down. So yeah, a lot of negotiating on where they sat. And then the one guy right in front of me an hour and he just leans forward to his friends, puts up a peace sign and leaves, you know, like ten minutes later went, oh, he's gone. He's done. He didn't come back and he left. It was such a smooth exit. I'm like, okay, all right. He had somewhere better to be, which is probably we all kind of did. But yeah, I track the other walkouts. No. Yeah. I mean, there were some, but yeah, there was a girl way down in the front that was cackling at the movie a lot. Yeah, yeah. And I she was funny. You laughed a lot. I were like, I, I mean, there was some things that were just like, completely ridiculous that I that's the thing. Like, I had a great time because even though I don't yes. The movie was not very good. Yeah. But it but it certainly wasn't like, the feeling that you get when you watch a movie and you're like, this has got to end like, I cannot stand this feeling. I it became a thing to me. I'm like, what is going to happen next? Like, this is I was invested. Yes. Out of control. Illogical. But it was still entertaining. Yeah. There were scenes that and things that were happening that I'm like, what the fuck is that? It's so often. And that's the laughter in the theater, I think encapsulated that. We're all like, what the fuck is going on here? What is the point of this? Why are they showing us this person now? Why is there like a virginal pop star that they're giving hundreds of billions of dollars with a lot of money? Yeah. What the hell is going on here? Right. Yeah. So a lot of that. But I definitely enjoyed my time with it. I was invested in the movie. I wanted to see where it went, but Nick and I've been talking a lot about that at some point. The movie, you don't know when a movie's going to lose control, like you're just we're all sticking with it. We're like, okay, where is it going to go? And then at some point we realized this thing is not in control of itself. I feel like I would have liked it better if the reads of certain lines weren't as bad. There was some bad line delivery. Bad? Yes. Yeah, yeah, that cannot be it. Just like every I mean, obviously I irk me every time I hear it and it just kind of I think it took me farther and farther out of it. So yeah, it is. And also people started laughing every time there's a bad line. Yeah. Well, there was like when the movie first started, there certainly was a tone and and it shocked me because I was like, oh, this looks a bit like over-the-top cartoonish, like goofy. Yeah. But it seems like it's under control. Yeah. So I really vibe with it. I was like, okay, this is where we're going with this. In the first, like I would say 20 minutes, like I'm tracking everything kind of. And then yeah, I don't know what happened because it became a thing where I started to realize I go, oh I don't know if this thing has been in control ever. Right. It's just that this was the way it started because we haven't settled in yet. We haven't gotten to what this movie's about. There's no foundation. There's not really anything. But these characters are pretty outrageous. Yes. And and, and and then it just keeps getting more outrageous. But there, there is no recovery. There is no, like, the movie just never grabbed a hold of itself to allow the audience to go with it. So we're left just kind of watching things happen that we can't explain. No. Can't understand? Nope. But yet it's still entertaining. So you're still in it. But that's weird. Yeah. Now we are laughing at it as opposed to laughing with it. Right? I, I don't know what the through line was. I don't know, like the movie. No, I mean either that's like that's what I think made it feel so nonsensical, like, yes, it was his character. I just thought I just, I don't know, I again, I like I liked certain parts of it. So did I like every scene we shot I Leboeuf I was very he was gray area right there. So yeah, there were parts of it that were really good, like Aubrey Plaza killed. Great, great. Every action for it, every every actor you think would nail it, I think nailed it. But again, other actresses couldn't read their freaking lines and it just, yeah, ruined it for me. Dustin Hoffman had some tough line deliveries. Yeah, he seemed like just in bad shape. Like he was not. I don't know, I don't know. Yeah. I didn't even think Adam Driver was bad. I didn't think he was bad. He's he seemed to be embodying like you're saying this tone. Yeah. This goofiness. He's he is kind of like a goofy character. It can be mocking, but I just didn't know what the point of any of it was like where any of it was going. And then when we got to where it was going on with, that was not worth it. That did not land at all. It did not land. Yeah, yeah. And I think I don't think there's anyone in that audience that would disagree. That damn woman that was behind us when we were leaving, wasn't she? Like it was so pure. It was so honest and so sincere. And we were like, is she talking about Megalopolis? I think you said there's no way. Maybe, maybe, maybe she had to fit. Maybe she was leaving the theater. She had to have a dog. I mean, she walked out after seeing the wild robot. Maybe she walked out of our hotel. Which I don't know what movie she was watching. God. Something on her, I don't know. Was it watching make love? I can I don't know if sincere is the word that I would ever use. Maybe she maybe after she slept on it, she woke up with a different perspective. So she slept during the movie that night. If you go down today, today, she wants to be on here with us and be like, that was bullshit. But is she wrong? Wasn't I mean, this this is Coppola's baby. All his money, sold his winery, put that money and got loans. But he got like 25 million for selling that, put that up against loans to get $120 million to make this. This is his vision. He had no notes, no studio. So isn't it considered like, isn't isn't this exactly what he wanted to do? And then to me, isn't that where the problem lies? It doesn't make any sense. He's like, he's buy this. He's satisfied. He's satisfied. He seems very satisfied. Which to me is baffling. Yeah. Utterly baffling. And you told us that he just showed up at, like the square last night. And I think before the movie starts, I think he knows better to show up before than after. Well, because people will have questions most. Well, yeah, but but exactly. But I'm saying even at the con, even at the con screening, was it a thing where like that what happened to us? Like it changed in the room and suddenly people are laughing at that. Like, what is his take on that? This movie is not even projected to make $5 million this weekend. Oh holy shit. Like it's going to be a bomb. It is a terrible CinemaScore. It's not. I was just I mean, we just saw this like a few hours ago, so I haven't done too much, too much research on it. The reviews are some are like kind of trying to support it, but no, nothing is glowing. Most are pants. I mean, can you blame them? Like that's I just can't believe he something like saw this in 1977. Wrote it around then. It's gone through so many different variations and this is like his magnum opus. I can't believe it's this. That's I don't know. I told you I saw a better self-funded movie this year. No you didn't. Yes. Right. So. And that was not entirely self-funded. Costner got some money. Did they gave him so he had to, like, take notes. Just for reference, everyone. Dan is a very big fan of the horizon. Don't say very big. I never said very big. I don't you you're the only you champion that movie. Mark and Alex is dead. My dad does not. He's misguided in that front. He loved it. He was like it was fine. What's the big deal? We followed him around, I got it. I'm like, what? What if he loves Megalopolis? She's like, no, it was just, I don't know, I can't, I can't see, right. So we're more than, we're more than ten minutes in. We all now officially have the green light. Anything goes. So we are going to we're going to take this anywhere. If we spoil it, then you have been warned. So if you don't want, what is there to spoil? Well, bear with me. So if you don't want anything spoiled about this and I don't know, turn it off. But I don't really think to next point it's going to matter too much. What the fuck is Megalopolis like? What? What? So the movie's about this guy. It's like party boy Caesar. Catalina, who's a nephew of this rich family. And he has this. He created this, like, new, it's not an element, but type of thing. Megalodon. That's supposed to be stronger than steel and concrete. How does. Yeah, yeah, how does it, dude invent that number one? And then he's going to use this resource to build a utopia in modern day New York, which they've called New Rome in the movie, we see the utopia like being built, and by the end a part of it is built. It doesn't make any sense not to finish by the end. Then it's what the. How is that a utopia for everyone? It's so small. It's like a small. No, it's not finished because he says he's like, there's still so much more work to do. I plucked out Esposito. Yeah. It's like, please build, like, nobly. So they're going to keep doing it. But this whole, like, utopia doesn't make sense. There's no fucking skyscrapers. Where is everyone going to go? At one point, he says, everyone, every adult will have a yard. Yeah. What? How many? How many people live in New Rome? Like it just didn't make sense. So like a tiny, tiny yard, though. Yeah. So that's like over here that's doing that thing. And then that's, you know, a big threat of the movie, I guess. And then the other threat is just the family drama, which was certainly easier to follow. Yeah. You know, his he's got I don't know. He's got a rich Uncle John Voight who's got who controls all the money. He was very like a very. The Roman family drama was easy. Yeah. Because he according to Wikipedia, he based is partly on a cattle Aryan conspiracy. And 63 BC a coup de tor by Lucius Catalina to overthrow the Roman consuls. Okay, that makes sense. Okay. Why? It's a good year. Yeah, yeah. Great year, strong year. But, Okay, so he uses that in it. I don't know, guys, if there's a lot of support, if the supporting cast wasn't as fun, I wouldn't have, I would have. So yeah, when the movie begins, he's kind of just like, well, one of the very first things we see in the movie. No, it's never fucking pays off. So he works in like the Chrysler Building or what, you know, when he, like, leaves a window at the very top of it. He goes and looks like he's about to slowly, like, walk off the edge of the building. And then he says, stop. And yeah, he stops time. You can stop time. You can stop because that's a big deal. In this movie it is a big deal. But why? No how? It's not so well, exactly. No. They treat it like it's like you don't know how he does it. You don't know like he what? The point blows up the building, then pauses it just to see where it's going to fall. And then I don't know, he can't like, I like he can move things. Well that one time. Oh no. Like moving them all. Yeah. And she was like moving that ball or that orb above the bed. And I'm like, what? What are you. Is this real? Like, what are you saying here? And that never paid off. And it's a running motif. And then like he loses his power to stop time and his arch enemies daughter who he falls in love with, gives him back to power. Like what? It just doesn't. Why is this in here? Like, it doesn't make any sense. I'm not asking you guys to tell me. I know now you're asking rolling Stone. You're asking the universe because you want answers. You're asking me? I don't want answers. I don't think they're all good. He. Could you explain all this? So. Okay. Where to begin? Where did it, like, lose you? Like we're going and, you know, let's talk. Let's just start talking about some scenes because Adam Driver's kind of first big scene, they're all like, whatever the hell that thing was. They're like above a replica of the city. Oh, and everyone's giving speeches and jumping around, jumping around, and he comes in doing hamlet, Adam Driver, do this, the whole thing. You're not to be or not to be speech. And then everyone's talking, but no one's ever, like, in the same frame. It's the same. No, it's very weird kind of blocking. And I'm like, okay, I think it was some sort of mayoral thing because no one like the mayor because he had bad ratings. Giancarlo Esposito plays the mayor. Yeah. Franklin. And then the Shia LaBeouf came in because it was all about a power. They wanted to control the city. Yeah, because, like, the mayor wants to run the city, but Adam Driver, he does this like, he doesn't want to run the city. He wants to make it better. Yeah, he wants to, but there's obviously the evil person who wants to run the city who hates his cousin Caesar Catalina. For some reason, for some reason that never pays off, that we never know why or any little buggers need. Yeah, she was great. And so, yeah, they're like going along as this battle for power. Adam Driver wants to build this megalopolis. Utopia. The mayor is like, no, fuck you. The main purpose for no reason. The mayor hates Adam Driver and did something to, like, mess with his wife's death and like, blame him for him for some reason, which is never clear. No, it's making a grimace face because he doesn't. Maybe because he's out of breath. Yes, maybe because he's part of these flashes of blue to like this blond hair. This is why. Yeah, I know who it is. But, like, maybe it's because of John Voight's family. He doesn't like them. I don't know, maybe. Yeah, they're crooked or, okay, okay. Or whatever. Because Jon Voight runs the city. No. What, is he so rich? You see, like he's CEO of Bank of a bank. Yeah, that's. Yeah, CEO of a bank that the dad, Adam Driver's dad is never mentioned. No. No, what? His mother to me apparently hates and played by Talia Shire. She's always, like, undercutting him. Tell him alligators. She even says I don't think they eat. Whose father is right, I don't know. Oh, that he didn't. Oh, oh, I don't know. I that went right past me. I mean, I, I a lot of things got right past me so I might be wrong. I mean it doesn't matter. It doesn't, it does. It doesn't matter. So then of course Caesar Catalina is you know, his arch nemesis is the mayor Cicero. And then he meets the mayor's daughter, Julia, played by Nathalie Emmanuel. They fall in love. I know her from Game of Thrones, but yeah, that was that is her. Had a tough break here. She was. Yeah, she. This was tough. Like there were a lot of laughs a lot of laughs a lot of civic. Like a lot of accent changing. Not even like to British to a like no accent, but like they even had like she did some jersey in there. It was, it was a bit spotty. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. She at the time she was great. She's great. Let's have I seen her in but I don't. Yeah she's good but yeah I don't obviously direction probably wasn't great. You know where she could go. But that did the club. Oh my god. So that's what I mean. There's some funny stuff. Deliberately funny stuff, some deliberately funny line readings and you feel like Adam Driver does have a hold of this guy and can be goofy and can get all, like, fucked up as the character and, you know, space out and all that stuff. But it but she even said he gets fucked up for show. Yeah. For show. Like it's not even he can lose himself for hours. The level he gets fucked up is like, he's like gone. Ridiculous. Yeah, he's gone. Like he's totally exhausted. Just passed out in the backseat of a car, and he gets arrested and doesn't even know what's going on. Yeah, okay, I guess. Yeah, okay, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Other characters Jon Voight. Yeah, of course. Jon Voight Jon Voight is Hamilton Crass. He is the third, the wealthy uncle to Caesar Shiloh. But this is either son or grandson. The little unclear to me. He's. Oh, it's his nephew. Okay. Yeah, sure. Well, no. No, sorry. She's Jon Voight son, right? Adam Driver is his nephew, right? Right. Yeah. Okay. My favorite character in the movie. Yes. Wow. Platinum. Yes. Played by Plaza. She actually did have it through like she did. The movie was just 90 minutes long and focused on her. It would have been a cool little thing, but. Yeah. Let's talk. She made sense. Yeah. I love she just like, killed it too. She did. She did you see all of all of all of Aubrey's best qualities were on display here. I thought Shiloh Buff had sort of a throughline, I thought, because he was like the jealous cousin who got. Why? Yeah, I mean, jealous because maybe he's never had the power, so that's I, I assume I assume driver's character was more revered than I feel like the Shire was always in the shadow. Possibly. Yeah. But it was like during his, like, I don't know, I guess you could call it campaign ING, like, whatever that, that, like that, like thrust to power he tried to take. It never seemed like he actually gained any kind of, like, real control, I think I love him, yeah. Yeah. Like what, the take over and yeah, he seemed like he always just had a very tiny little mob crowd with him. And that was supposed to be his uprising. Well, there was a huge, like, over shot of very bad CGI of mobs running around, like setting fire to the city. Well, then that was supposed to be like, that was his mom. Yeah, his job and then his, like, right hand man. It's like, this is a really bad idea because all these people are degenerates, so they're going to let you down, which they ultimately do. But I mean, I guess there's a through line. He wants power, Aubrey Plaza wants power. So but her like way about going to get it is money clear. Yeah. Money. But she tries to seduce Adam Driver Adam Driver and then moves on to Jon Voight because he's actually has the money. Yeah, yeah. And she and she just wants power. And so she's just going everywhere. She can get it. Yeah, yeah. Climb the ladder. Yeah. That was the show. But she does it. Yeah yeah yeah. Tries to go back to Adam Driver. Yep. Wow. Which is hilarious I mean that's another intent very intentionally funny moment. Yeah. Great moment. That's played well. Great movie where you can feel like the audience like. Oh okay. There's still like, yeah, the person who made this movie knows how to make movies and there's some little gems in here, but shit, it was like two hours and 12 minutes. Yeah. It didn't. Thank God it wasn't longer. We were tied to that in the car right back. I'm like, yeah, we could still be there. Yeah. It's just I'm surprised it's no longer. I'm surprised you didn't. I don't know if it was the Redux way for the restart. Technically you could really start the movie here, what with just not watching it. It just also like the whole, like. Because what the. And Laurence Fishburne like he he would he's the narrator. He would talk every voice over and then he would then like he would initiate, but he would. But there was one the first scene, you see him, I think he you hear the voice over. It would be like a cannon diegetic. And then he wouldn't start verbalizing it. Yeah. He was like, wait a minute, I like her. And you're like, oh, okay, I think you. But then he's reading the book at the end. Yes. He was like Adam Driver's assistant and like a story slash, like I'm reading like often throughout the movie, there would be these like, scroll quotes that would come on the page. Sometimes he would read them to us, sometimes he wouldn't. By the end, the guy in front of us just went, what? Well, that was that. So they had children. They had children. Read it. I know, I know. Hey, Laurence Fishburne killed it. Yeah, he was great. Great he did. He was very in command. Didn't have a lot to do, but knew kind of what to do and was very in command. Knew how to play off the Caesar character. Well, I didn't really have any problem with the majority of the performances. I thought they were amusing. I just don't, I don't I think the thread got lost somewhere along the way, and I don't know, there was some sort of like there was just no control. That's the best way I can describe it. Yes. Yeah. But no, they even had like smaller bit parts. Yeah. Balthazar. Getty. That is great. For like one scene, I always forget the guy's name. James Remar. James very much. Who got, like, kind of an applause break in the theater. When he first showed up, people were like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So good to see him, I think so, I think, I mean, he's good. I just like the tiniest people roles. I mean, I haven't seen Balthasar since Twin Peaks The Return, right? Exactly. Me either. Jason Schwartzman showed up. Oh. So weird. Smile, smile. But see. But after you told me he was a Coppola, I made so much more sense. Yeah, he's. She's a son. Yeah, yeah, well, of course, of course. And shout out to Talia Shire. I didn't understand why she was so mad at Adam Driver. We never do, man. She. She really hit those two on the girls. She. Yes, you did, she did. She wanted the girl. Only reason. Yeah, she was effective. She had her brief roles. And at the end, she just like in the crowd. Evie Sweeney. Oh, yeah. See, I wasn't, I didn't get I, he was a commissioner. Yeah, but I, I missed him like. Oh no. Was he the one that, like picks her up. Picks. Yes. He's in a couple. Yeah. We'll see it. I think it's more in the beginning. Yeah yeah yeah that's right. He does. He's like getting the car to her because he works for the mayor okay okay. Dustin Hoffman what a what a death. So but there's like this movie stuff going on and a lot is going on in the movie, like, as it's happening, one of the first things we see is this old, like link. So yeah, this whole, like, Russian satellite that is decrepit and is at some point in the fall. And it is apparently, we're told, very quickly going to fall to where it's not going to harm anyone. Yeah. And then they get like 10s warning to where it's going to, not now and just destroy it. So that happens. And then we come back from that whole event. But that wasn't even like a big event. It was very strange. It was handled. It was like the shows throughout the convention, all like the debris falling down and show like one hit that fades to white. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I'm like, did he not have the budget? Probably not the $20 million. Jesus Christ you would I, I don't I don't know. But yeah. Very not handled well at all. Like a lot of things were dropped. Well then when we come back from that scene, it's like just that the reporter thing. Yeah. This has been speculated about so much that that, there's like this little box it the movie shrinks to like a box and it's Adam Driver answering a question from the member of the press. There's a lot going on about this scene. So, Nick, what Dan and I had heard is that their every screening was going to have a plant, like someone was going to come in, go to the front of the theater with a microphone and ask a question. And I heard that in some screenings they were bringing the lights up for this moment. So it felt like you were in like a press room with him. None of this makes any sense. Like, you know, why are you doing this? Like what? How are you going to have a plan at every single screening? I think it'd be hilarious if the you actually, if it was like, I. Well, that's what they that's what I wanted to do. But then you could ask because that'd be a perfect. Well, that's what they're going to do to be like what's happening in this movie. Exactly what's going on. But yeah, we come back for that. He's giving a little like, we will rebuild. And it's kind of like McCabe that this benefited here. Like, oh yeah, that this, this like tragedy benefited him because now he can finally build his megalopolis. A weird camera choices in this movie. Yeah. But then when we come back to Tilton, it's the next time they mentioned Dustin Hoffman's character, like, oh yeah, when he died. Then we get a two second, we'll try about kill them of him. No he didn't. I know I could have sworn. I thought it was implied that she had him killed. Well, it's impossible to tell because it happens. So I guess I just have to rewatch it. I thought it was implied. I'm not never going to rewatch this. I thought it was implied that he was just like walking around when the saddle. Oh, I didn't oh, I didn't know by standing. Oh, well, okay. You you're never going to rewatch this. No, I might at some point if he goes all out with if he, if there's like a crazy 4K and he's not a stranger to commentaries. And Tandy said, what if there's a commentary? I will listen to that because I want to hear him. I don't know, John. You have the means. You have to buy it physically 4K. Yeah, that's all right. We'll see if that. We'll see how it is. We'll see if the price is high. I'm sure I can find someone who would, lend me one. This is not going to be a cult classic. No, no, it's going to. It's going to fade into the Walmart dollar bill. It'll be an all the negativity in the room. No, it'll be an all timer kind of self-funded bomb, I think. I don't think it'll be up for a lot of raises. We'll see. We'll see you I'm I think well, one thing we all did really like about it were the costumes. Costumes were very well done. If it gets an Oscar nomination, I think it'll be for that, but I this isn't one I'm going to, like, rewatch to try to figure out, you know, like, well, I know I, I don't know, maybe if he does a commentary for it, maybe it'd be a great drinking game, movie, which for one, like you have to come up with a lot of different things, but you could every time maybe doesn't make you like, God damn, now there's things you could absolutely make a drinking game out of this movie. It'd be really fun. I had a time. It was a time. I know last week. I'm not even upset about it. I'm not. This was kind of what I was expecting. I. No, you were you were the most upset is because you saw it in Imax. And right as soon as it started, I went off because the screen is huge in that theater. And I went, if he did not. I have a strong feeling this was not filmed in Imax and it's not going to be projected. It was not made a giant sword. Alex. He has been bottom of the screen. He's like, motherfucker. Yeah, I like right when it started and when you son of a bitch. Yeah. Oh, you did it. You're like son of a bitch because they fool you with that Imax promo, which looks awesome when it's, you know, counting down. You're like, oh, cool. That's what we're going to get. No, that's. I don't like that shit at all. It was probably three minutes of Imax like. Yeah. Total footage. Yeah. Didn't you like at the end when they start showing like historical footage of Hitler and people started laughing, they're like, what? And then the 9/11 stuff were like, what? It was. And he just. And he rewrote the pledge of allegiance like he no mention of God in there? No, that's what the guy was like. What?$120 million. Did the movie look good, fellas? Did you like the way it looked? It was shot by the guy who shot the master. Good cinematographer. But how was the CGI? Of which? There's a lot. Well, okay, I'll say this about the CGI, because I am, as you know, not a CGI fan, but because the movie starts out in a world where the CGI, I would say is like 80 to 90% of everything that we're seeing. I agree, so I did not mind it. I feel like you guys, like, know it well. When a movie sets, it's world up. Exactly. I'm okay. It's when it's you're based in like a reality type thing, and all of a sudden a big explosion happens and it's all fake. Like, the sky always looked fake. And this the clouds was moving. Really fast and I thought they kind of owned I think. Yeah, I like almost every scene or shot. It had some sort of like weird like shimmer effect. So I think the fact that it was so special effects heavy, I didn't care, you see, like dust, like oversaturated that were like floating through. Yeah. I think that's supposed to be the megalodon. Yeah, some mysticism craps on it. Oh, this is every shot and I don't it didn't never bug me. It didn't really help me either. I got the world. I'll tell you what bugged me was the cuts. Oh, okay. Let's talk about, the cuts. Fast cuts, like within scenes or two different scenes. Like, all the time. I felt sometimes it felt like that was the pacing. Yeah, but then sometimes I'm like, we're there was it. We were fade out. We all laughed at when he's lying in bed in it. Yeah. With her like. Yeah. All laughed. Yeah. What. Like what. Yeah. Okay. Mid scene. It's that you expected a resolution to that scene. To the scene it. Yeah. That's right. There was some of that. I was like there were some odd edit a lot of fades to black. There were some odd and questionable at it. We were all like, is there more to the movie? Why isn't it longer? Because it just it feels like a lot special. You don't if you have like final say, why not make it long? Exactly. That's why I thought the runtime. I was stunned when I saw what it was going to be. I'm like, oh wow, okay, not that long. By today's standards, Kevin Costner's making a fucking 12 hour movie to tell his story. You know, the stories about America. That's fucking idiot. But yeah, I thought Megalopolis looked better than horizon. Horizon? The horizon was like, shit, more fun to see the flat. It was so much in red camera like, it's it's not. I don't want my Westerns in red. As your buddy said, the how were you going to make a movie called horizon and not shoot it with anamorphic lens? It's like. And it's a really good point. They just look so like flat. And you did that to save money. I can I can connect, Megalopolis to a Western right now if you want me to go for it. D.B. Sweeney okay. He's in Lonesome Dove. Oh, you didn't see six degrees. Oh, I, I thought you were going to say it reminds you of, like, remind me one of my favorite Westerns. That's not true. Do you know what he used as some inspiration for Megalopolis? Aside from, of course, the cattle and Aryan conspiracies, all these old movies. Now, he used Metropolis from 1912. That makes that makes sense. Caligula, 1979. The big one, Nicholas the Fountainhead, I oh my God, yeah, it was a huge inspiration. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, I I'm, I mean, wow, Jesus, that's a stretch. I mean, there's, I mean, the only thing that I can think of that is just like the architecture part of it. Right. And like that, that because the one thing The Fountainhead is, is that it, it makes the world that that's in that book. Architecture is the the biggest thing that could ever possibly happen. Is it about like, utopia building? No, it's just about it's about the new, like new age, modern age of architecture and like, skyscrapers being built, buildings being built. What this means, how people feel about the times they're living in church. So I could see how he could use it, as in the. It just there's I mean, the Fountainhead just so much better. Well, I mean, a lot of things are much better than Megalopolis. I'm still I'm not I'm not saying like I'm rooting for the movie. I'm not going to shit on it all the time. Like it was just a it was a thing, you know, I don't know. I have no idea how I'll even review this like on Letterboxd. I don't know what grade I'll give it. I don't give a Coppola, the director of The Godfather, gave it a five. Yeah. Can you watch it? Yeah, crazy, I crazy. I will say though, I am not upset. I spent two hours watching it. Me either. I'm sat with it at all. It's going to make my top ten of the year. Yeah. Really? Okay. If you have you only seen ten movies? I've seen a lot this year. I'm proud of you this year. Well, not of this year, but I'm proud of myself this year ain't going on though. But yeah, we can. I had a conversation. I just want to open it up now. Chris, talk about Adam Driver just briefly. We've never really done it on the podcast. We were watching Logan Lucky. We just turned it on. You were like, what do you think about him? And I said, I never think a performance from him is just, like, flatly bad, but I don't get it. I don't get why seemingly every director wants to cast him as a star. There's nothing also within his performances where I'm like, yeah, the movie Megalopolis movie. And okay, Adam Driver is fucking amazing. So how do we feel about him? Adam Driver is like a thing. I think he serves every single role he ever does, right? I think you get it. Like why every director wants to work with him and. But I will I I've never really understood how any actor sometimes feels like they just get like the keys. No I don't yeah, yeah. Like like, I mean, honestly, for a long time I didn't get it with Margot Robbie. Sure, sure, I, I mean, I like Margot Robbie, but, like, it seemed like, you know, after Wolf of Wall Street, it was just like, okay, here's every single major director that you could possibly want to work with. And and you're just you're just the rocket got strapped to you and off you go. So I never understand in general that process. So for Adam Driver, it seemed like that also happens. Yeah, yeah. But I don't ever complain. I think he, I think he always does the role, the service that it needs to be done. Yeah. Even in this. Yeah. This is a teaser for a few of our upcoming episodes. But, you know, last year was also another crazy passion project from a famous director, Michael Mann, who had always wanted to make his Ferrari movie. Adam Driver is a star. That that movie is not good. And he, it's not like he's bad in it. It's just the material does a disservice to him. But what he must be great to work with, he must take his work seriously. I don't know, it's just. Yeah, I guess you're right. It's more of a question of how do you get that? Like, what's the keys to the kingdom? Yeah. How are they just handed? Isn't Michael Mann going to put him in heat too. So yeah, maybe he's that he's a very fun to work with. Maybe it's great to work with. I think he takes his work seriously and I think, you know, he seems like. Yeah, he seems like he's not all that shit. Yeah, I think he's probably drama free. The rumors that Austin Butler is playing Val Kilmer in Heat, that Oscar Isaac is a young Pacino in that, Adam Driver would be a young De Niro. It's. This makes sense. It makes sense to present day Kilmer. I think, I think the way they would do it is they would just do a prequel. I think that's what he said. The book heat two is half prequel. That sequel said, but I don't. I think he's just going to leave the sequel stuff out, which will probably be smart, because it would be weird for Austin Butler to go, yeah, prequel and then jumping ahead. So I don't know. And every actor is just one role away from it to like you know, winning me back over. And if he fucking kills Adam driver kills a young Neil McCauley. I mean, kills it. Cool. I would love it. Ferrari made me very nervous for heat two though. Like very nervous because, yeah. I think there's something to say about these directors who think about this shit for so long and then are given. How is he able to do it? And then it just, I don't know, I think it I think the material, they're too close to it. It fails. And I was driver in Gucci. Well yeah that's another thing. Like he got annoyed to that. Like he plays that okay. Like he plays it well. But I didn't think that I mean the movie's fine. He's fine, he's fine. He's always just kind of like okay, cool. It's like it's like the takes. We saw that driver game is probably what Coppola directed him to do. Yeah, I, I liked him in this movie. I'm just. Yeah, I just more wanted to talk about his enjoyment of, what I'm saying. Yeah. I mean, you know how Michael Mann told him, directed him. So whatever. No. Michael Mann very precise. But I heard there was a lot of improvised allowed on Megalopolis, and they were allowed to just go with shit and do crazy shit. Really? You guys remember the art department and the visual effects team quit in the middle of production it made then it was like a big deal. I remember. And he came. Coppola was like, oh, this happens. It doesn't matter. We found some new people, so, but yeah, I, I've never had a problem with driver like, I don't, I like I if I find out like a new driver movies coming out, I don't rush to the theater to see it. Yeah. You're not like. Well I think that's a common thing now just with movies, with most actors. Yeah. Like I, I it's rare nowadays to just have an actor be in a movie and be like, oh, I'm going to go and see the next such and such movie like that, that, that, that feeling just doesn't exist. There's an appeal, but it's usually, shared by three other actors in the same kind of caliber, gender, age doesn't matter, but it's sort of like, oh, heat to it. Perfect example. All right. We're going to have Oscar Isaac. We're going to have Adam Driver, we're going to Boston Butler and you're like, okay, well the stars that we need are here, but we don't have that one movie star where it's like, ooh, he's selling it, right? Yeah. Good point, good point. Very true. Except Zendaya, I think Zendaya's the only person right now currently that could possibly, like. Okay, Zendaya's in a brand new movie. What's it about? No idea, but I'm going to go see it. I'm having a challenger. So like challenger was a hit financially and. Yeah. Yeah. So you yeah, you could be right of this age group, you know, of this generation. Yeah. Yeah. But but I just wanted to kind of. Yes. Latch on to your point about these directors that have these big passion projects. Yeah. Because I know we talked about this a bit on the Scorsese. Scorsese, he had three movies that were in his entire career. His like, these were the things that he wanted to make more than anything else. Last Temptation, gangs, New York, Silence or Silence? No, actually the three were New York, New York, oh, yeah, the Temptation of Christ, Last Temptation of Christ and silence. Those were like, you know, gangster was like his big one, and he fucking, Weinstein just butchered that. Yeah, but all those movies are they're very close to him, and they didn't largely work for audiences. Silence is good. It's a punishing movie. Yeah. But yeah. And drivers in it. Two drivers in the driver. Yeah. He's trying to make it for decades. And Adam Driver comes in and he's the guy who can get your passion project. And I'm not saying that his movies are bad. I actually like those. Yeah but but but at the same time it is one of those ones where it's so like, oh, these were the ones that you want to make more than ever anything. But yeah, they are not Goodfellas. They're not Raging Bull, they're not taxi, like all the big ones that Scorsese is like, adored for. It's sort of like, Maybe there is something about being like a bit removed. Yeah, like you can fall in love and do that, but maybe if if it means that much to you, you're too close to it. Yeah, I don't know. It's a strange thing, but at least Scorsese, he had studio knows. Exactly. Yes, exactly. Someone's got to say no. And they screwed him. It's in the in gangs in New York. That's how he once butchered that and like, screwed in the editing. Oh, yeah. Like that movie, from what I've heard, never had narration. And Leo's narration is terrible in it. That's that was a one scene edit that was like a four hour cut. That to me is Scorseses fault. Like, you can't, you know, this asshole is never now. 223. Maybe 220 to say that cut I would love to, but he has to know. Weinstein's never going to release a four hour movie, but I just think they butchered it. And there's a lot of weird cutting, weird editing, a lot of flashbacks to remind you, like, this is who this character is, which Scorsese you would never do. So I think he got screwed. And he never talks about that movie. He never he just talks about how it wasn't an easy post production process, but yeah, he did have some oversight. Coppola had no oversight here. Now he's his own producer, his own director, so he doesn't have to listen to anybody. So that's kind of my overall point. Like, this is his movie. There is no denying it. He cannot put the blame on anyone else except the audience that were dumb. And we didn't get it. Maybe that's what it'll be. I don't know, we didn't get it. Yeah, sure. Well, I prefer I prefer not getting David Lynch over. Not getting Fred. Yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, I'm just saying I'd. I like the mysticism. Yeah. Of Lynch over. Yeah. This wasn't like a mysterious movie and at all. Oh yeah. It's just bring it back real quick. You guys mentioned, actors who are, like, younger of a draw. Robert Pattinson for me. Well, for you, I'll see anything I. But I don't think he's like selling out theaters though, you know. Not necessarily. I don't think he's like, yeah, well, we know how you feel. You know how you feel. I mean, I like Hanson, I like Benson a lot, but I just don't think that there's any actor. I think we do have our individual ones that like, like I will go see any movie with Ryan Gosling. And I think there are a lot of people that feel that same way, but there's still like image like, I mean, fall Guy didn't do all that great. And so it kind of goes to show where it's like, okay, well here is like a big summer blockbuster. You've got Emily Blunt, you've got all the ingredients that you need for a big success and for whatever reason, no one really went to it. I think they thought that was going to be like just an easy hit. Yeah, I think that is why people do what. Yeah, but that attitude, they're like, this is going to be the biggest movie. People like another bullet train wasn't right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So so yeah. So I think in terms of like American masses, like like it's the, the, the days of Tom cruise, like where it's sort of like his name is bigger than the title of the movie. You don't even care what you're seeing. I'm seeing the next time. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah. The star system is like, gone. It's been gone in Hollywood for a while. Marvel that just because people weren't going to see Robert Downey Jr, they were going to see Iron Man. That's that's what's so yeah, this we talk about this a lot that start. Yeah. I don't know any actors who can like get asses in seats just by their name alone. Now I don't know I don't know if it exists. Really. Well, I got a question for you. It might be the only question that actually matters. Let's do it. What do you think of this boner? I'm. Damn it! That's what I was gonna fucking end up. Good. Yes, that's. I was like, we have to end on Jon Voight boner as every great boy got. It was just bow and arrow was a shitty bow and arrow. So it didn't look like his, you know, Peter. Huge giant. But there's no resistance to that bow and arrow. First of all, it was like a fucking toy bow and arrow for little kids. Yeah, he's like, just had a stroke. The way he pulled back, he's like, can barely pull it back. And he just killed. I don't care if we say who it is, but he killed someone with a bow and arrow, like right to the chest. That was bad CGI that bad. That was very bad. That was the worst looking thing of the movie. I was like, did he want that to look like a cartoon? Like, yeah, Shia LaBeouf gets shot twice in the ass with arrows like what? But that at that point there's not much time left of the movie. So if you want to fake, see if you want to, like if you want to hide an arrow on your sheet, pretend it's your own wrecked. Or if you want to hide an arrow in your stupid interior rec penis, that's fine. Sure it was. I just, I, I have to know, was that scripted or was that an improv? You said it had to be scripted. Oh, no. No, because it's a prop like you have to. Oh, man. That's it was you. Do you think Coppola wrote in the script? What do you think of this boner? I don't know, probably if it's related to a prop, you can't improvise that because it's like there I think I don't I don't know, maybe it was. What do you think of this erection? Voight threw an boner there. Voight was a little horndog in this, like, oh, the entire thing. And he's being interviewed by overlords, and he's like, when he turn these cameras off. That's fun. Guys. She's like, yeah. No, seriously. So that yeah, that was going to be my closing thought. Jon Voight boner, Jon Voight just began being him playing a drunk in the movie. He was great. Great, hugely active drunk. Yeah. He can slur so. Well, yeah. Like, and I mean, you know, he, Coppola very intentionally casted, canceled actors like buff, like Voight, like Hoffman. And, it was kind of good to see it again. I like Jon Voight. Like, it was just fun to see him. He's like one of my favorite parts of the movie. Yeah, his best role? No, not his best role. I don't know. Anacondas. Anaconda family maid. Anacondas up there. Oh, I fucking love anaconda. What else? Do it, do it well, okay. Jackson actually here because this is going to come up before, but our next directors episode is on David Lynch. And there is a person in Mulholland Drive, the long haired guy who gets killed by the hitman. You remember when they're talking? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that was that. That long haired man is none other than Mateo. Still no Mateo. Kill all of them. No. You want to kill this man, I take you to kill this man. I'm going to render all the dope babies and the bad. Final prompts. Should people see Megalopolis or Anaconda? No. Anaconda. People. Go see. Should our listeners go see this film? Should they go to the theater? Should I? I would highly recommend, if you're going to see this, go to the theater because you will be in there with other people who I hope are laughing. Well, that's part of it. I don't think this is going to be fun at home if you're just at home alone, like, yeah, what is this funny? Is it I funny? I've seen a few movies over the years where like if I'm watching it in a theater, I would think to myself, there is no way I would finish this if I was home. Exactly, exactly. I think if you're in home, you have an out. If you have home, you have an out. Many hours you had a theater. I'm like, I'm going to sit through this. So stupid. Fade to black. So you're like, cool, bye. Yeah, no, I was I would I would never lose. No, I would finish this at home. So I for the first time would be challenging. If you wait, if it lands on a streaming service, I think. What is Lionsgate have a deal with Amazon maybe. I don't know, they might come out on Amazon because Lionsgate did. They had a distributor with Borderlands in The Crow that are in real well lines. Those are Lionsgate. They're having a tough time now. Yeah, yeah. But should people would you recommend that people go see it? I would recommend people go see it. Because, I mean, there is something to be said about seeing a movie that doesn't work. I think that it because you because it's certainly not like I was saying before, like it's not a movie where this is excruciating and painful to get through. I agree, there is like horizon. There is a fun element to the movie, but I do think that being amidst a crowd that is also laughing, unfortunately at it, that was a big fun part of the night was sort of like, okay, like we're all like in agreement and we're in theaters that this is ridiculous. And then as things keep happening, it's a fun moviegoing experience. It was it really was. So I would say, go see it, go help Francis make his money back. And, we didn't talk about the baby. Well, we will in a second. And and, but, yeah, I watching it at home. Oh, yeah. That's that's a rough one for a first time. Yeah, yeah. But you cannot lose you like, you know, it's like. I mean, I'm gonna say that cliched term phrase that art is subjective. Like, if you have that, that that woman that came out behind is praising it. There are people who are going to love this movie. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. Fine. Good. Go. Good. Great. I'd like to talk to them I would too, I want to know what they were thinking. I want to know how much they are putting into the movie. Like, oh no, that meant this. And I'm like, well, you're bringing that because the movie does not give us a lot. We were leaving, asking questions, the three of us all the way. She seemed like she got everything. She seemed like she probably fucking worked on the movie then or something, I don't know. Yeah. No, I don't know. I don't know, but maybe she was a plant. Maybe she was like, singing praises that she left. It was so cool. I wish I remember the second thing she said because it was it was like it was so. It was so sincere. And there was something else like, And I was like, if she can't be talking about the same movie she's watching. So we're we're talking about all this, like, is it supposed to be funny? Unintentionally funny? Here's one I genuinely don't know. They, you know, Adam Driver, Natalie Manuel find out that she's going to have a baby. He's very excited. And she says if it's a girl, its name is going to be, I believe, sunny Hope. Yeah, something like that. If it's a boy, his name will be Frances and everyone starts laughing. Oh my God. Because the director's name is Francis Ford Coppola. Like, everyone is laughing. And I'm thinking it when you wrote this, like, did you think this is going to be a laugh line or would he be mortified that we're laughing? I that's what might not have been a laugh line. I there's no way. Yeah, but the tone that had to be the tone of the scene. Okay, so here we go. You guys disagree. Yeah. So you don't think it was. So was it. The music was weird. Yes. A lot of times the music was a little weird. So you think it Dan thinks it was not. There's no way I was. It was a laugh. I was laughing at the movie during that line, so was I. I thought everyone was. I thought that was just. I thought that was ridiculous. Because I think because you find out like, much later in the movie, that Jean Carlos name is Fran Franklinton. Franklin is what it says. Francis. Yeah. Mean like so if they would have if they would have pitched that scene at first, if they would, if they would have mentioned his name in after you. Dad. Yeah. Francis. Right. It would have. I don't think there would have been a laugh, but it's still like Francis Ford Coppola made that character's name. Franklin. Francis, Frank, whatever it is like. Why not? I don't know, you know what I'm saying? If they were, if they would have revealed his name before the bit, that would have held the line, I don't think it would have landed as hilarious, right? I agree, but what do you think? Do you think it was? I think I think it was 100% sincere and genuine, and I think Francis Ford Coppola himself would be fucking mortified that we were all laughing hysterically at it. And how do you not laugh at Tom? That's what I mean. How do it's all sitting there watching it with them? Like, how do you not laugh at it? I don't I think the majority of the laughs in the movie somewhere definitely intended go to the club like that was that was great. And when she's like, you read gossip columns and he leaned in. Yeah, sometimes thought like that was funny. Like stuff was funny. It's a very funny movie. Yes, but the majority of Jon Voight was very intentionally funny. But a lot of the laughs that were in our theater, we were laughing at it. You know, he was not you know, it just Natalie Emmanuel's line readings were not intentional. It's just saying something we're like. But I feel like a lot of funny lines to me that were meant to be funny. It was awkward because I feel like for some reason the humor was sucked out of the scene, so the lines that intended to be funny were funny, but it just didn't make sense in the tone of the scene. Yeah, I agree. Oh this lines it is funny. Yeah, the rest of the scene is it was like if it was score. Yeah, it was tone. I don't know, it was just. They're abysmal. They're they're abysmal. They're abysmal. Wood okay. So we know I am recommending people go see it as well if you want to in the theater. If you're like, oh, I'll wait for streaming. It's not going to be as enjoyable as, as time you're if you're sitting there just laughing, like, with yourself and you're not, you don't know if this is funny or not. So you're going to see it go to the theater. You do not have to see it in Imax at all. Dan, should people go see Megalopolis? More like Francis Ford Coppola? Okay. Don't waste as good as George Lucas, which is on the top. And, last action hero. Poor baby. Something like that. Who said that you killed? But you did. Yes. Oh. All right, we are talking about last action hero. You immediately went to revenge of the Sith because that's a natural jump. And I was like, what? How do we get here? And then he went more like George Lucas. And now he's laughing at his own joke. It doesn't. It's the first time I've heard it. It's funny. You fucking said six months ago. Megalopolis. Oh, Francis. We. Hey, I it was a great experience. I've no regrets about. We saw the 10 p.m.. That was the only Imax showing that is late for you. I'm on. Yes. For me. Yeah. I'm on, East coast time, so, but no regrets about going to see it. No. No regrets about the experience of seeing it. I, you know, something that was that entertaining, whether it was designed to be or not. I'm not mad. I'm not mad about it was not a waste of time. No it wasn't. It was fine. Let us know what you think. The big long list of, Yeah. Just let us know. I don't know, let us know if you're seeing it that way. Well, I w underscore podcast. Let us know what you think. A dance performance on Twitter Instagram letter box. But as always, thanks for listening and happy watching. Want to see this bonus? How do you think it is? How do you justify asking what do you watching? Like what do you watching at the end when you do it? When it feels right? Oh, that was just kind of that was when I'm ready to just end. When asked what he was watching, that's why I was curious. Oh, we didn't do what are you watching? So that's how I feel like. I mean, we don't do this for the Oscar recap. Sometimes with brand new movies, we forget because this is the one you watching? Yeah. Got it. Movie. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I think those are more a little bit more tailored to, like, whatever the topic that we're in. Yeah. Like, we don't do a whole commentaries. We don't do it because like, you're watching the movie with us presumably. Yeah. We don't. And then but yeah. Good call. Just curious. Megalopolis and plus I, I've wouldn't have had I would have said Anaconda. God damn right God it's the shared. What are you watching right. Hey, it's Alex, you're stuck with me for a few minutes. We didn't do a proper. What are you watching? That's funny. We just breezed right past it. Megalopolis. It's. You know, it's been like a week since we recorded that episode. Go see it if you're going to see it, see it in theater. Because if you watch this at home on streaming for the first time, a lot of the stuff we're saying is funny may not be funny at home. I don't know, I don't know how this plays. If you don't see it in a packed theater. I don't know. No one went to see it. Big box office bomb. Didn't even make 5 million. It's first week. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. Go on the megalopolis. Instagram. Coppola's. He's just pushing on forward. I have to respect it. On Letter Box. They gave it like two and a half out of five stars. I think I'd give it if I was giving it a letter. Grade A, C or C plus this is not an F movie to me at all. The ambition I have to admire, but it didn't ultimately land, I don't think is a complete movie. So, sort of proper. What are you watching? I don't know if it's a recommendation, but something I've seen recently. Joker Fully Ado, also known as Joker two. The general consensus seems to be that Warner Brothers gave Todd Phillips about $200 million and Final Cut to make a giant fuck you movie. Is that is that what happened? Because this thing is wow, wow. I mean, the first movie made it for 55 million. It becomes the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. A sensation. Do you all remember in 2019 and a month before the movie was released, there were threats that this is going to cause riots. People are going to turn to the Joker, cities are going to burn. It was nuts. This is only five years ago. And pundits, whoever the hell were flipping out about this stuff, of course that didn't happen. The movie just went on to make a shitload of money. Got nominated for the most Oscars that year. One to watch Queen Phoenix finally wins an Oscar, and that's its legacy. Then they announced the second one that they're bringing Gaga on board. And I've talked with Nick a lot about Joker. We haven't really talked about it on the pod. I mean, the first one, he and I are in complete agreement about the movie. We think the movie is just okay. This is a tired criticism, I know, but if you if you had a triple feature and you watched Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese is the king of comedy and Todd Phillips is Joker, you're going to go, this third movie really seems to be stealing a lot from those first two movies, and no credit was given, no official credit anyway. And it just I felt the movie was just a rehash of a lot of things I had seen before. I did think he was remarkable. Joaquin, Nick and I played a fun game that if Leo did not have an Oscar, never won for The Revenant, who wins in 2019, do you give it to Leo for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, or do you give it to Joaquin for Joker? Nick picked Joaquin. I went with Leo, but Nick went with Joaquin, which I thought was a huge deal. So we love we appreciate the performance. The movie's just okay for us. The best thing I can say about Joker two is that it's not specifically aping off of 1 or 2 movies the way the first one so clearly is. I mean, it's definitely throwing back to old Hollywood musicals. There are musical numbers, but I mean, they're musical numbers. They're singing like Sinatra and Stevie Wonder. You know, you get all that from the preview, the singing. I if what I'm understanding is correct, Joaquin and Lady Gaga, we're not asked to fool Bel Sing. It's this kind of like, you know, down here, like from the throat type of singing. They're not belting it out. Why? Queen Phoenix is not a good singer. I think that's kind of, you know, the point is just a dude kind of like in a mental asylum, just singing some tunes and she joins in. Sometimes I get that, I get that approach. What I don't understand, and I don't think a lot of people understand, is there are better actors than Lady Gaga to play this part. They're the star. There are a handful of them. There are no better actors singers than Lady Gaga to play this part, because Lady Gaga can sing. We all know this. She won an Oscar for singing. Why you cast her and not have her go full out. I mean, her argument is I'm not playing Lady Gaga. So this character, Lee, does not have those singing skills. Like, okay, I hear that. But then why? Like, why cast her? Like, why cast? I'm Mike Tyson in The Hangover if he's not going to throw a fucking punch, I don't know, I don't know. Whatever. The movie's very contained. It's mostly in Arkham Asylum. I just it it didn't really work for me, but neither did the first movie either. So this is not some huge, like massive letdown for me. I love Walking Phoenix. I love Lady Gaga. They were both fine. I thought they both could have been better. There was a little bit of, I don't know, autopilot. The movie was a bomb in its first week and it looks like it made under 40 million. It has a price tag of about 200 million. AD. I don't know what another hundred or so for marketing and I. Yeah, this doesn't look good. I've been theorizing. Will this get any Oscar nomination? It was the most, it was the most nominated movie of 2019. Will it get a single Oscar nomination? I don't know, I didn't hate it. I didn't love or hate the first one, but it just didn't do much for me, really, at all. There. That is next time. You know, we recorded a few episodes in LA. It was fun. I could go any number of directions here, but most shockingly, Daniel Day Lewis is back in the news. It looks like he has sprung himself out of his acting retirement, and he is going to be featured in his son's first feature length film. Very excited about that. In Los Angeles, we recorded a deep dive podcast on the motion picture Phantom Thread. We have talked about Phantom Thread a lot, talked about it as one of my favorite films of the 2010 decade. That was our second ever episode. We did an entire PTA breakdown, but why? We're opening the books on Phantom Thread again is because we invited a very special guest to come and talk about the film with us. That is the great Mickey Hernandez. If you have seen the movie that I directed, that Nick starred in called I Am Alive, Mickey plays his girlfriend in the film. She was based very closely. Her character is based very closely on my now wife, as Nick's character was just a mirror image of me and that film. So Nick and I have both worked with Mickey. We've been looking for the opportunity to have her on the podcast. This is a great episode. I had so much fun talking about this film with Nick with Mickey. Please stay tuned for that. It's going to be next. And you're and you're all just going to love the ten minute side tangent we take, saying how Del's never going to be in a movie again. Just great, just great. Really fun episode. Stay tuned for that. Go see Megalopolis. Good luck with Joker to let us know what you're watching at AIW underscore podcast. But as always, thanks for listening and happy watching. Hey everyone, thanks again for listening. You can watch my films and read my movie blog at Alex withrow.com. Nicholas.com is where you can find all of Nick's film work. Send us mailbag questions at What Are You Watching podcast at gmail.com or find us on Twitter, Instagram and Letterboxd at WRI. Underscore podcast. Next time it's a deep dive on Phantom Thread with the great Mickey Hernandez. Go watch him alive on Vimeo if you have time. Really excited for this one. Stay tuned.