Natey & Katy: At the Movies

Controversial Cinema and Psychological Depths

Season 4 Episode 72

"Send us a Text!"

Is race and cultural appropriation the new battleground? On this episode of "Natey & Katy: At the Movies," Natey and his wife Elizabeth tackle the provocative documentary "Am I Racist?" by Matt Walsh. They dissect the contentious themes and dive into Walsh's unique approach, drawing comparisons to Sacha Baron Cohen's "Borat" series. Listen as they scrutinize the believability of Walsh's disguises and share their personal ratings. They also explore the film's impact on the portrayal of white individuals and the monetization of DEI efforts.

Shifting gears, Natey offers a thorough review of the psychological thriller "Speak No Evil," spotlighting James McAvoy's mesmerizing performance. Whether you're a fan of the Danish original or a newcomer, this film's gripping narrative will keep you hooked. And don't miss a special announcement—Katy and Natey will tackle the eclectic mix of "A Clockwork Orange" and Disney Pixar's "Up" in an upcoming episode. Expect a blend of random musings and profound insights that promises to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Speaker 1:

Surprise Saturday with you Time parade one stop Flip today my boo and we stay. Hello everyone, and welcome to a Surprise Saturday episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies with me, Nathan aka Nady, of course. And on today's episode I'm doing a double feature and the first part is with my lovely lady. Hi, lovely lady, Hi, how you doing? Doing great, that's great. So Elizabeth and I went to go see a movie and here is a clip from that movie.

Speaker 2:

My daughter's four years old. I am an anti-racist educator, quote, unquote. She's still watching Disney movies and she is choosing a white princess over princesses of color.

Speaker 3:

Have you talked to her about that?

Speaker 2:

All the time.

Speaker 3:

My three-year-old daughter is very. Her favorite princess is Moana. Love it. It's a good sign.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

But then I also thought you know, there's a little bit of cultural appropriation here. She wants to be Moana. Love it, it's a good sign, yeah. But then I also thought you know there's a little bit of cultural appropriation here. She wants to be Moana for Halloween.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3:

So how do we navigate that? Do I go and buy the Pacific Islander native attire for my white three-year-old?

Speaker 2:

I wouldn't, I wouldn't.

Speaker 3:

But I guess what we might call the Moana problem here is what, on one hand, is cultural appropriation, on the other hand, there's gravitating towards white characters, right. So it's almost like no matter which way you go, you end up back in racism.

Speaker 2:

We think every space belongs to us because we live in a white supremacist society.

Speaker 3:

Is America an inherently racist country?

Speaker 2:

I think the word inherent is challenging there If we say Fundamentally, fundamentally, yes, america is racist to its bones, all of the so inherently yeah.

Speaker 1:

Talking about Matt Walsh's newest documentary. Am I racist? So if you know matt walsh, you know he's from the daily wire with ben shapiro and all those other guys and gals and all those other people, and this is the very first theatrical release for a Daily Wire production. So we wanted to go and, I guess, support, so let's just go right into it. What did you like about this documentary? My love. It exposes the fraudulent schemes of the left and this agenda that they have of every white person being racist.

Speaker 1:

If you don't know what this documentary is about, Matt Walsh basically exposes the fact that a lot of people are making money off of this DEI thing that's all the rage right now and what's interesting is that every time he interviews one of the people in the movie, they actually show the price tag of what they charged to be interviewed.

Speaker 1:

So you have people who are charging like $15,000, some people $50,000 just to be talked to about their thoughts on race and racism and things like that, and a lot of people are calling this kind of like the conservative Borat. So if you've ever seen the Borat movies with Sacha Baron Cohen I think that's his name and how he basically dresses up as this character and goes around and basically trolls what some people might say conservative people where Matt Walsh turns around and dresses up in a costume and trolls like liberal people. The only thing that I sometimes I had a hard time believing that some of these people didn't realize that it was Matt Walsh, Like I don't know if he introduced himself as Matt Walsh or just Matt when he put on the wig and stuff like that. So were there times that you kind of had a hard time believing that it was real, or or did you just go along for the ride? Yeah, sometimes you could tell it's him with the wig on. It's not a great wig, Well, and it's funny that they use that wig.

Speaker 1:

I think he should have shaved his beard or his mustache or something. Yeah, he had talked about that on his podcast, about how he refused to shave his beard because he's that's kind of like what he's known for yeah he's.

Speaker 1:

He's the one that has the rugged beard out of all the guys on the daily wire, and the wig is actually from another daily wire movie that they made called lady ball, which you can only watch on their subscription service, and it's actually pretty funny and I kind of wish that they had released that because it kind of is about the whole men and women's sports kind of thing. So it's pretty funny if you have the time to watch it. So I don't I mean, even though there were times that I thought it was kind of semi-unbelievable that these people wouldn't recognize who he is, it was still very entertaining. I had actually watched it. Well, we both had actually watched it already, because I guess they were trying to get funding through Angel Studios, the production company, and so they had like a you could preview it on their guild thing that they have, and so Elizabeth and I had already watched it on there, and so, like I said, we wanted to like, I guess, financially support content that we believe should be out there and not just like conservative documentaries, like content in general that should be better representation of. You know they all talk about representation nowadays.

Speaker 1:

So what would you give Matt Walsh's? Am I Racist. One to six stars, 5.5. Wow, that's pretty high. I'd probably get a 4.5, maybe a 5. Because again, there were moments that I just didn't believe that these people didn't know who he was. I just yeah. But other than that it was very enjoyable. So that is the first movie of this double feature, saturday episode, so let's move on to the next one by listening to this clip oh god, what happened, honey, you all right, hey.

Speaker 2:

uh, patty, can you come take a look at this?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, sure, God, there's a doctor in the house. I'm not a doctor. What Wait? But didn't you say you were a doctor?

Speaker 2:

Did I In Italy, you Sometimes, when I meet new people, I'll get a little bit self-conscious you just wanted to make a good impression. Yeah, what do you do then? I don't do anything.

Speaker 3:

Like anything. No, I don't work, I don't believe in it.

Speaker 2:

Let's get that fixed. Where's the plasters? Oh my God, look at their faces. We should have taken a picture. Of course, I'm a bloody doctor. We totally had that we totally had that right how else could we afford all this? Come here.

Speaker 1:

I'm reviewing the 2024 remake of the 2022 Danish film Speak no Evil. Before I can talk about my thoughts, I have to go over the synopsis. A family is invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they realize that a dark side lies within the family. Who invited them? Speak no Evil stars James McAvoy, mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNary. So, like I said, this is a remake of a 2022 Danish film. So it's only been two years since this Danish film came out and I'd heard about this movie with James McAvoy. I'm a big fan of James McAvoy. I think he's a very underrated actor and I'll talk a little bit more about his performance in this film. But before I can do that, I have to talk about the fact that I did watch the 2002 Danish film of the same name and let me tell you I have never felt like there's movies that I've watched before where I have felt bad about watching them Hereditary, sausage Party. There's been other movies that I've watched and I've felt horribly bad about watching them, and this 2002 Danish film, speak no Evil, is also one of those films. There is no redeeming factor in that movie at all and and an artist side of things. I think that was kind of the point. And you know, the whole premise is about, I guess, like human trafficking and ignoring, ignoring the travesty of that and you know, just ignoring all these evils, not speaking about all these horrible things going on and when we just let them happen over and over and over and over again. At some point in reality it could happen to us, and so I guess that's what the film was going for. And if that's what they went for, then, okay, they successfully did that, but it was one of the most depressing things I've ever seen, one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen. And again, that could have been the point of the whole movie.

Speaker 1:

But I read, you know, people's reactions to the fact that they were doing this newer one, this american version, I guess you would call it, and a lot of people were saying like why would you mess with the original? The original is fantastic, the original is so great. And I just had to step back and be like what in the world? Why are we the way we are in this world that we think a movie like the Danish one is a masterpiece? You know, it's just, it scares me, and it was like one of those movies that at the end of it I was like what kind of mind do you have to have to make that kind of movie? So those were my thoughts about the Danish film.

Speaker 1:

So let's get to this newer one, this Americanized version of this film. It kind of has the same, you know, set up, the same, you know, setup, the same storyline. Basically, the only difference is the ending, and so I'm just going to tell you right now spoiler alert, spoiler alert Alert. So the ending of this movie is a much I guess you would call it happier ending, because I'm going to talk about the ending of the Danish film as well. This family meets this couple who have a son who cannot talk because his tongue is not there, and they try to hide the fact, the reason why it's like that, but then you find out later that this couple has been luring other couples and basically kidnapping their children and cutting the tongues out of these children so they can't speak about the travesties that they've gone through. Well, the ending of the Danish one ends with this couple losing their daughter. Basically, and I thought that's all I'm going to say Again, it was one of the most horrifying things I'd ever seen in my life. And again, I mean, I don't know if it's because I'm a dad myself, you know just can't even fathom being in that kind of situation and witnessing it is just like I said, it was just horrifying. So this one does not end as depressing now there's still some moments that are like hints of depression. But you know, again I'm gonna tell the ending. The two bad people die in this movie. They they're killed by the married couple who take the boy who has no tongue. They take him with them at the end of this film and the way james mcavoy's character dies is he's killed by the, the boy, and so it's kind of like a is this evil going to continue with this boy now? So I mean, I know I kind of just spoiled the whole film, told, talked about it, but let's go to my likes and dislikes.

Speaker 1:

I really liked James McAvoy's performance. Like I said earlier in the episode, he is an underrated actor. I think he is fantastic. The very first time that I've noticed how good he was was in the movie split, which was an M night Shyamalan movie, which surprised me how good his performance was. Anyway, this is, you know, some of the other acting in the movie was, you know, not that great, but his performance was just phenomenal. He blew. He blew me away, you know, it was just great. And so this movie he kind of has that same kind of character. But what I liked about his performance, compared to the Danish actor, is that the evil inside of his character is much more subtle.

Speaker 1:

I remember watching the Danish one and you know it also could have been because I knew kind of the storyline, but I already was like I don't think this guy's a good guy like at all, and the he didn't really portray the character as having a, I guess, nice side to him. But James McAvoy, from the very beginning of the movie, you've, he's very charismatic, he's, you know, there's a reason why this the main guy wants to be friends with him, because he is, he's very friendly, he's very funny, he's very, like I said, charismatic. And then as the film progresses, his madness and his evil side slowly but surely reveals itself, until the very end where he just loses it, you know. So I think his performance was really good. I think the married couple still frustrated me at times when they decided to stay, but in this one they justified a lot more the reasons why they ended up staying, and so I think they did a better job at making you not as frustrated that they didn't leave sooner, because again, they gave all these reasons that you could justifiably say, ok, you know, maybe we misjudge these people and things like that. So I thought this one was a lot more believable and a lot less frustrating.

Speaker 1:

But again, you know, as much as I harp against the Danish one, there's a message there. You know, it's kind of like. It's kind of like Game of Thrones. For me, game of Thrones has a lot of bad content in it. It has you, you know, things that obviously shouldn't be watched. It's very violent, a lot of language, but there's a message there, and for me, the message of game of thrones is the same as the 2022 danish speak new evil is that one evil leads to another, one leads to another one and then eventually, if you just keep on ignoring all this evil, bad things, horrible things, terrifying things, unspeakable things, unspeakable, unspeakable things can happen, and I would never recommend the 2022 speak new evil. I would never recommend the 2022 Speak no Evil. I would never recommend anyone watch it, but I can appreciate somewhat the message being put forward.

Speaker 1:

This one is a lot more safe, which I appreciated, and I think that's one of the reasons why I probably enjoyed it more. But more so it was the performances. I thought all the performances in this movie were great. I don't think there was a weak link in it. I don't think there was any bad acting, and so that right there intrigued me. I don't know if anyone in my audience that I went to go see this with if they had seen the Danish one or if they had known this was a remake. It was a fun movie. I wouldn't really consider it a horror movie. It's a thriller, and so I think it was a good thriller, psychological thriller. So I would give Speak no Evil probably a solid four, mostly for James McAvoy's performance. So, yeah, that is the double feature. Surprise Saturday episode. You can check out our last episode of September where Katie and I do a double feature We've never done one before on a Tuesday of a clockwork orange and Disney Pixar's up. So get ready for randomness on Nadie and Katie at the movies. Outro Music.

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