Natey & Katy: At the Movies

Hit-or-Miss Sci-Fi and Heartfelt Humor

Season 4 Episode 70

"Send us a Text!"

Ever wondered how some films manage to completely miss the mark despite having a stellar cast? Join me, Nathan aka Natey, as I uncover the pitfalls of "Slingshot," a sci-fi thriller that inexplicably fails to utilize the talents of Casey Affleck and Lawrence Fishburne. From Affleck's uninspired performance to a script that left me cringing, I break down why this movie felt like a chore to watch. Fishburne does his best to save it, but unfortunately, it’s not enough to lift "Slingshot" out of the cinematic abyss. Prepare yourself for a candid, no-holds-barred review that culminates in a well-deserved one out of six rating.

Switching lanes, I’ll also explore the quirky and surprisingly heartfelt comedy-drama "My Old Ass." Imagine meeting your older self through a mushroom trip—how wild would that be? Featuring Aubrey Plaza, Maisie Stella, Percy Hines White, and Maddie Ziegler, this film tackles themes of sexuality and relationships with a mix of humor and sincerity. Despite some cliched elements and unresolved plot points, the natural performances and witty script make it a worthwhile watch. Hear why this film earns a solid rating between 3.5 and 4 stars, and stick around for a preview of our upcoming discussion on the classic "The Sting." You won’t want to miss it!

Speaker 1:

Hey everybody, welcome to a surprise Saturday episode. Once again I'm your host, nathan aka Naty, of course, and on today's episode I am reviewing two movies, once again a double feature. One movie is a movie I saw a while ago, like a couple of weeks ago, and I actually forgot to record it. On another episode I believe it was supposed to be the Reagan episode with my wife, and when I tell you what I thought about this movie, my wife, and when I tell you what I thought about this movie, you'll understand why I forgot. So let's just go ahead and give a clip for this movie. Let me ask you something, john Sure, are we friends? Yes, I like to think we're friends, absolutely. That's great. I got a friend out here. Join me for a drink? All right, sit down, let's enjoy this together. Look at that Breathtaking. It's lunch, you all right? No, what's that moonshine? My own recipe, that's the secret ingredient. Windex, how'd you know?

Speaker 1:

Talking about the sci-fi thriller weird movie slingshot. But before I talk about my thoughts, I have to go over the synopsis. An astronaut struggles to maintain his grip on reality aboard a possibly fatally compromised mission to Saturn's moon Titan. Slingshot stars Casey Affleck, lawrence Fishburne, emily Beecham and Tomer Capone. This movie was another scene-unscreen film. I'd heard of this movie, I'd seen the trailer multiple times actually, and I wasn't really intrigued in seeing it. So, screen unseen, here we go.

Speaker 1:

And I don't know if it was the script, I don't know if it was just the acting, but Casey Affleck, if it was just the acting, but casey affleck just annoyed me. I thought his acting was very bland at times, which I don't know if that was what his character was supposed to. Be very bland, it was just a really dumb, not very well acted movie. Now, lawrence fishburne did a pretty good job. His, his portrayal of his character was was pretty on point. And what happens at the end of this movie, it's not something new, it's not something we haven't seen before, and so it was just kind of a a waste. And even the audience I was in seeing this with, we all reacted the same way at the end of this movie Like what did we just watch? Like what kind of waste of time was this movie? So there wasn't really anything I liked about it, except maybe, again, laurence Fishburne's character.

Speaker 1:

But other than that, this movie was just lame. It was not very good, and you know I've made a comment about Casey Affleck's character, and, of course, people on the internet. That's just what they do. They started saying, well, you already have preconceived notion You're not going to like the movie. And I was like, well, this was a screen unseen movie, so I didn't know I was going to actually see this movie, so I was willing to give it a chance. I will never, no matter how bad a movie is when it comes to the screen unseen kind of thing, I will never walk out Because I want to give a movie a chance. Maybe it'll get better. This movie unfortunately did not. So I would give Slingshot Sorry. Sorry, casey Affleck, sorry Lawrence Fishburne, but I'm going to give Slingshot a one, a one out of six.

Speaker 1:

I did not enjoy it. I did not think it was good. You might go see it, you might enjoy it. Apparently, some people did so. That's that. So that is movie number one.

Speaker 1:

Now take a listen to this clip from movie number two. Tell me something good, um, something good, um. Why are you struggling to find something good from the future? This is good. Okay, you're gonna be psyched. Okay, tell me that you are a phd student. Yeah, no, what. You're joking, but I don't want to tell you in what? Because I want you to have something to look forward to. Look forward to. Yeah, did you just tell me I'm in my 40s and I'm still in school? 30s, 30s. I'm talking about the newest comedy, dramedy. There's some pretty serious moments and, I'm sorry I'm gonna have to say a little cuss word to say the title of this movie.

Speaker 1:

This movie is called my old ass. Before I can talk about it I have to go over the synopsis. A mushroom trip brings free spirit elliot face to face with her 39 year old self. But when Elliot's old ass delivers warnings to her younger self, elliot realizes she has to rethink everything about her life, family and love. My old ass stars Aubrey Plaza, maisie Stella, percy Hines White and Maddie Ziegler.

Speaker 1:

So this is a movie that this concept has been around before. You know, younger self meets older self, somehow some kind of time travel thing. In this movie. It was a drug-induced trip and that's how she's introduced to her older self. But then they're able to communicate through the phone, which isn't really explained, and there are moments where she sees her older self again and it's not really drug induced. So there are a lot of, you know, parts that didn't make sense. But this movie isn't supposed to make sense. This is a concept that's been done before. It's nothing new. The only thing that's new and if you've listened to the show before this movie is one big old check the box moment.

Speaker 1:

So this main character played by Maisie Stella, the beginning of the movie, she thinks she is attracted to only I'll give you a hint, it's not men. She thinks she's attracted to women this whole beginning of the movie. And then she meets this guy Named Chad, to women this whole beginning of the movie. And then she meets this guy named chad and she's warned by her older self to stay away from this guy named chad. Everything I'm saying right now is in the trailer, so this is not a spoiler of any kind and I'm not going to spoil it.

Speaker 1:

Because here's the thing this movie conflicted me. I was very conflicted with how I felt about this movie. Obviously, I thought it was dumb that they felt the need to make this character gay. I thought it was dumb because if you took that out of the movie, you, it would still be a pretty decent movie, it would be more of a decent movie. It just felt like they were looking at a storyline again that has been done before and they're like what's a way that we can change this up? And this is what they came up with, that, oh she's. She's a lesbian at the beginning of the movie but then for some reason she starts liking this guy Right, and then she's all confused and there's even moments where one of her friends I guess is also a lesbian says you know, it's okay that you're straight, and this character is offended that someone would think that she is straight. Oh, that's like the worst thing you could call me. I mean seriously, I had to sigh a few times. But again, that's why this movie conflicted me so much, because I did think the storyline itself. Besides you know, the check the box stuff, I thought the story itself was pretty compelling.

Speaker 1:

I thought the acting was very natural. It seemed like very natural conversations. It didn't seem like slingshot where the script was terrible. But this script was pretty good. It was very quick, it was very witty. Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Recreation Usually she's very monotoned in interviews and some of her acting, but I thought she did a really great job. I thought the acting. This movie was pretty, was pretty well done. I mean, I can't complain about the acting and, like I said, the script was pretty good too.

Speaker 1:

So it was just the fact that this movie felt the need to add this one character thing that really at the end of the movie didn't even matter. It did not even matter because she ends up liking this guy. So I didn't understand again, other than they were trying to find a way to put that in there, or they were trying to find a different way to tell the story and all this stuff. Because then of course she's like well, am I bi? Am I pansexual? Am I all? I'm just, I had to roll my eyes, I had to sigh, I had to roll my eyes, I had to sigh. But again I'm going to say one more time this movie conflicted me because I did somewhat enjoy it. So there's that.

Speaker 1:

So that is my thoughts on my old beep. I would give this movie either a 3.5 or four because it's not like again, the script was good, the acting was good, the story was somewhat compelling. It was just that thing that they thought they needed to do with the main character. So those are my two thoughts about two movies double feature, surprise Saturday episode slingshot and my old behind. And you can listen to me and Katie's thoughts on the Paul Newman Robert Redford classic the sting on Tuesday on maybe in Katie at the movies.

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