#54. 'The Last Duel'
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The main review is The Last Duel, Ridley Scott's Rashomon-structured medieval drama (written by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Nicole Holofcener) which limped to a fifth-place opening weekend of $4.8 million behind Halloween Kills ($49.4 million, despite day-and-date Peacock streaming), No Time to Die ($23.8 million), Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Addams Family 2. Sonny calls the marketing "total malpractice," arguing the dour, mud-and-clouds trailer sold a joyless MeToo message movie when the film is actually weirdly funny and should have been pitched as "Gladiator made by the Good Will Hunting guys"; JVL agrees it's not a message movie but a catharsis movie — "Django Unchained for MeToo" — packing in nearly every sexual-abuse trope of the last forty years (slut-shaming, church corruption, a shitty-media-men list, even a horse-rape subplot) so the audience can watch Adam Driver's Jacques LeGris get a dagger through the mouth. Both hosts single out Ben Affleck's bleach-blond, gold-slippered Pierre d'Alençon as the funniest and most interesting performance in the movie, essentially acting in his own comedy while everyone else plays it dead serious; they also praise Jodie Comer's restrained work as Marguerite and debate whether Ben and Matt Damon, forever bankrolled by Harvey Weinstein, are quietly working through their own guilt. Vic, who caught a near-empty weekday matinee, gives it a weird Quadrant grade: an A for plot clarity, a middling grade on duration (he wanted longer Braveheart-style battles), an A-plus-but-also-an-F on sex/nudity (a great, too-brief orgy scene undercut by the horrific and necessary rape scenes), and near-perfect marks for the climactic joust, whose practical dagger-through-the-mouth finish nearly got him to stand up and clap. The episode opens with an extended, running flat-tire saga: JVL brags about changing a tire on Shannon's Honda Odyssey in under an hour and marvels at Honda's tool-tray design, Sonny one-ups him with stories of blowing a tire on I-66 and denting a rim on his Volvo, and Vic recounts a pregnant-Kate turnpike flat on the New Jersey Turnpike, plus a tangent on Royal Caribbean's 274-day cruise and cruise-ship fraternization rules from a friend in the business; Sonny also recaps his camping trip, hiking a rock face in gusseted Prana jeans JVL once bought him.
From the show notes
This week the guys discuss tires. A throwback bit! Box office chatter. And a half hour on the fifth-highest-grossing movie of last week, The Last Duel . Does Ben Affleck give the performance of the year? Did the marketing team do this movie any favors? All that and more on this week's episode.
Full transcript
Vic00:00:00The most unspeakable charge has been brought against you.
Guest00:00:06Jacques Legris entered our home. He attacked me.
JVL00:00:12The accusation is false.
Guest00:00:18I am telling the truth. The truth does not matter. There is only the power of men.
Vic00:00:27This should be settled quietly. Very innocent! I request a duel to the death. If you lose, your wife will suffer dire consequences. One of us has lied. Let us let God decide. Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sub-Beacon. I'm Victor Matus along with Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Just a reminder, the Sub-Beacon is now available through Patreon. Go to subbeacon.com, you'll easily find us. Please subscribe, tell your friends, and don't forget about the Sub-Beacon merchandise store at tpublic.com. The holidays are just around the corner and with supply chain issues, you need to order your mugs, onesies, and headache shirts right after listening to this show. Gentlemen, how are we? JVL, what's going on?
JVL00:01:22I changed a tire this evening. What? Very good. Tell us.
Sonny00:01:28On the side of the road or in a parking lot? Let's exchange flat tire stories.
JVL00:01:33Go ahead. I got some of those. You know what? All I was going to say is that changing a tire is not like riding a bicycle. Oh. If you don't do it for a while- You forget? You forget.
Vic00:01:45Okay. Question. Yes. Did you know, it's funny, you know, I assume it's still standard on all cars, new cars. If you purchase a car, forget about like a used car or whatever, but if you're purchasing a car or leasing a car, I assume it's still standard that somewhere in the car there's a compartment that contains all the tire changing tools. Yes. Including a jack, maybe, a mini jack.
JVL00:02:13A jack. A mini jack. Just enough. And a donut. Not a full size spare, but a donut. Oh. Okay. This one was quite easy to find in the Honda Odyssey. Very, very thoughtful. Very, very thoughtfully designed. Very, you know, honestly, the tire was basically where you would think it would be almost. May I guess? Not on the Kia Sedona. Okay. The Kia Sedona was that the tire was underneath the car. Yes. Oh. Kate's Highlander. And that you had to go and find some tiny little screw that you undid from inside that then dropped the tire down. That's exactly right. Kate's Highlander. Terrible design. Terrible design. Kate's Highlander is exactly the same way. It's not in, it's underneath. Worst design ever. But the Honda Odyssey, did you want to guess Victorino?
Vic00:02:58I was going to guess it was underneath the way the Kia Sedona was because that's what I thought it was going to be. Nope.
JVL00:03:04Is it in the trunk? No, it's just under on the floor underneath, essentially the center console. So you go in through the middle, the middle row, the floor, the middle row. Oh yeah. Oh, directly. Just peel up the carpet, open up the little wood flooring and, and then pull it right out. It was great. And Honda, I would say this about Honda. The thoughtfulness of the way. The tools were laid out in its own little tray that itself fits inside the donut spare. Well, that's very, very thoughtful design.
Vic00:03:34Oh, that is nice. Right in the middle. Yes. Uh, where were you when it happened? Like a, a, was it like a quiet road, a highway somewhere in between?
JVL00:03:44No, Shannon was just going to pick flash up from baseball practice tonight. And as she was driving over to the middle school, she hit something and it went pop. And so she pulled into a little gas tank. Station parked off to the side, called me. I came over with the other car and, and the point, the point is what I was going to brag on myself for is that from, from soup to nuts, from the time I arrived on scene till the time I drove away, it's only one hour, Hey, not that considering I had to figure out where everything is. Yes. Then very move all of the various assorted crayons and masks and books and whatnot off of the floor. Right. And all the, all that stuff that accumulates on the floor in the middle row, I had to move all that out of the way. Then I had to remember like, okay, where's the, where's the Jack go?
Sonny00:04:35How does, how many turns, wait, there's a wheel lock.
JVL00:04:38Oh, I gotta find where the wheel lock is. Oh, the wheel lock is in the, the special secret compartment in the dashboard. Anyway, all of that, all of that. An hour. One hour. I think that's pretty good.
Vic00:04:52That's very good. It's not bad. I think you were saying that, you know, you forget, but not really. It came back to you. Including to me. Yeah.
Sonny00:05:00Don't lose those. Did you remember, did you remember to loosen the nuts while it was on the ground before you jacked it up? Oh, hell yeah. Okay. Hell yeah. Very good. You gotta get that. That's, that's always, that's always, that's always mistake number one. You start trying to unscrew it after you've lifted it up. You're like, ah, it's just turning. It's spinning around.
Vic00:05:15It's spinning. Uh, okay. Uh, Sonny, have you ever been in that position? Oh yeah.
Sonny00:05:20Yeah. Oh yeah. Uh, twice I have had to change a tire, not in my own garage or parking space. Um, once I was on like 66, I was, I was doing like 80, uh, and hit a pothole and very, very loud noise. And like, sure enough, like five minutes later, the, you know, the, the little indicator that was like your low tire. So I like pulled over, pulled off, uh, got it changed. I like pulled into a. I pulled into a like Walmart or something or a Sears or something, um, a place that sells tires. And I like went to the guys, I was like, uh, I think my tires busted. Cause there was a big old knot on the side of it. It was like a, it was like a grapefruit sized ball on the side of it. And I was like, they were like, yep, gonna need new one. Not going to be able to fix that patch that I was like, I was like, all right, well, do you guys have one? And they were like, Nope, not for this car. I was like, fuck. So I, uh, so I changed that one myself. Uh, like. And in the parking lot, uh, of the, of the Walmart or Sears or whatever it was. And then, uh, and then like a year later, the same, the same, oh, the bonus on that one was I didn't just, I didn't just pop the tire. I also dented the rim of the wheel. Have you ever dented the rim of a wheel?
JVL00:06:42That's expensive.
Sonny00:06:43You know what that means? You gotta buy a new rim. That's a, that's a, that was on the Volvo C30, that was a $1,000 fix on top of the tire, which was, you know, however much more, um, at which point you might as well just move both tires.
JVL00:06:57Did you get spinning rims then?
Sonny00:06:58I mean, if you're gonna, yeah, well, I got, I got the ones like in the, from last week's episode with the, they pop out the side and they, they tear, they tear up the gladiator. Very good. That's, that's what I got.
JVL00:07:08Uh, I got, uh, I, I had my favorite changing a spare tire story is probably not true. All right. So let's just accept that. It's probably apocryphal, but in high school, my friend Seth told the story about how the first time. He changed a tire and he put the new one on that. He did not tighten the lug nuts. At all. In fact, maybe even forgot to put the lug nuts back on. Oh boy. And he started driving and he was driving down a hill and the tire came off. So the tire comes off the lug nuts on the, the, the whole car down onto the, the front corner, but the tire then rolls down the hill up the other side. Of the hill then comes back and then crashes into the front and then dents his bumper.
Sonny00:07:59That's it. Yeah. That sounds like something that you would see on a Simpsons episode.
Vic00:08:02The crazy thing is the girl in the passenger side had a hotdog, all in one, what are the odds? We got an email from somebody who's like, well, I was listening to you guys.
JVL00:08:14And I thought to myself, wait a minute, that hot dog girl went to my height.
Vic00:08:18Oh, she transferred. She transferred from that, from that listeners. Two hours in mine and yours. Anyway, I, uh, I, uh, when, uh, Kate was pregnant with, uh, our son, we were going up to Connecticut and it was, it was a brand new Highlander at the time was about two years, a year old or something. And clearly hit something very long and sharp in, uh, on the turnpike, uh, uh, heading towards New York. And it was like right before it might've been Vince Lombardi between Vince Lombardi, Joyce Kilmer. Uh, and you hear it and you, the, the worst is what you hear it parked far away on the
JVL00:08:56parking lot over by the, the reads and the rushes, but I usually flipped, you flipped your lights off a couple of times just to make sure they were still working.
Vic00:09:04I said, Hey, do you got a Jack? That's what I said. Uh, so the, the, the thing is the, the, the worst, thank you. The worst thing is when you're driving and you're hearing the noise and you put yourself in denial, you're like, no, that's not it. Oh, I'm sure it's just a paper plastic bag and it, you know, and everything starts shaking like this. Yeah. And then I said, wow, so we had pull over, luckily they were doing some sort of construction on that rest stop exit ramp. So it was a different one. So it was quiet, but it was right on the side of the turnpike. Um, and I pulled over and I said, well, that's seen in Bohemian Rhapsody. So anyway, and you know, and well, you know what happened. So, uh, then I said, then Kate said, well, I mean, I guess we can call it triple a and I looked, I said, you know, we're heading up to see her parents, I said, I can't live with the shame. And I said, all right, I'm going out and see what I can do. And that's when I discovered that the tire was underneath and that you had to sort of, you know, turn the thing to get it lower.
Sonny00:10:01What a terrible design it is.
Vic00:10:04How do, how do these engineers live, you know, with me and cleanliness, you know, my hands were just covered in black. I'm just trying not to think about it. And I actually did a site change and all the other equipments there. So I was able to jacket and then, uh, I was, uh, and then, and then put the jacket before I changed the tire before I changed.
JVL00:10:21Jacket at the, at the, were you on the rest at the rest stop or are you on the side of
Vic00:10:26the truck? I was on a lane. I was on a lane that had been closed and I was sitting, uh, as the kids say, but I was, yeah, I know. I know because you hear this all the time where you get, you know, and so my, my back is to the turnpike, right? It was a lane that wasn't used, but one lane over was used. So then I'm sitting there and I put it together. And the funniest thing is we got to, uh, and it's a real tire. Donut. But we got to the, uh, uh, when we finally got to Connecticut, my father-in-law said that, um, my in-laws had a discussion about, Hmm, I wonder if he's going to change it himself or if he's going to call triple a and my father bet that I would change it. My mother-in-law said, no, he's not going to change it anyway.
JVL00:11:08Honestly, I think it's incredibly butch of you to have done that for me. Yes. No, anybody, anybody. If I was on the side of an I-95 or on the turnpike, you know, in one of those spare lanes and it's not comfortable. I sat. I'll call. I will call triple a and sit in like play snood on my phone or something.
Vic00:11:26I sat flat on, I sat flat on the, on the, on the, on the, on the road, which was also very weird, but you could die doing, you could, and people have the craziest thing is prior to that. Um, well remember I used to drive that red Montero. I had that Jeep JVL, that one, I would wear those tires out until they were so thin and I've actually blew out a tire on that one on just after I passed, uh, the Miller tidings bridge in. Uh, Maryland. Oh, like, and it immediately, the car without even, you know, it just immediately went into the right lane. Thank God there was nobody in that lane. I have to call triple a for that one because I couldn't get the Jack high enough and it's weird. You could see all the stuff blown out with the, the one, you know, the steel, the stuff inside.
Sonny00:12:08Wait, wait, Jay, Vic, when you, when you changed your, when you changed your tire on the side of the road, did you, did you make sure that you had the, the, was the car was the, was the bad tire against.
Vic00:12:21The bad tire was like next to the lane.
Sonny00:12:26Oh yeah. So that, that, I don't, I don't know if I would do that.
Vic00:12:29Frankly. Yeah.
Sonny00:12:31It was, it was, it was, it was like, did you put out, did you put out like flares out there?
Vic00:12:36It was, it was in the morning. It was, it was in the morning.
Sonny00:12:38So, you know, it was maybe, do you make the kids stand in the lane going like this waving
Vic00:12:43their hands? No, no flares or anything. And uh, yeah, you know, it's one of those things that afterwards you think, Oh, that was kind of dangerous.
JVL00:12:50I will just say this. In case there are any engineers listening who work for automotive companies, it would be nice.
Sonny00:12:57And it would cost like half a penny if they included in the car change kit, just a pair of latex gloves.
Vic00:13:06Yes.
JVL00:13:07So that should you have to do this work, you can have clean hands when you're done. What, what would that cost? Right. Right. You throw two, like one pair of small, one pair of large, you, you put 'em in a little like with a, you know, in a little. Got a wipe thing right in the little where the jack is.
Sonny00:13:24You're not doing it in a tux. You're not in a black tie changing it. I was. It's part of the fun. It's part of the fun is getting dirty and being like, look at me. I'm almost a man.
Vic00:13:34I was, I almost, I was completely, I was completely dirt. I had to go to the next rest stop and wash my hands cause they were all covered in lube. Anyway, uh, Sonny, uh, what's going on with you?
Sonny00:13:47So as you, as I mentioned on the show. Last week I was going camping this weekend. Last weekend. Oh yes.
Vic00:13:56Went camping.
Sonny00:13:57Camping up there. And, uh, I survived obviously I've, I've returned triumphant.
JVL00:14:02You were cold. Weren't you?
Sonny00:14:04No, I was never cold. It was, it was, it was in, it was in a heated cabin. Like the nights were in a heated cab. I was cold. Like during the, like when it was like outside where we were standing around the fire, you know, cause it got down to like 40, I was in shorts first day, um, second day we went out, we went out early for a hike for a little hike slash mountain climb. I was not expecting this, but there was like an actual, like nearly sheer, you know, uh, solid like a real, yeah. And stuff. Uh, and we, we did some climbing there. Um, and so like when I was, when I was packing, when I was packing for this trip, I, you know, I don't really own a lot of camping stuff. Right. I like, I was like, what am I gonna, what am I gonna need for this trip? All right. I need some boots. I've got some boots. I'll bring my darn tough socks for my, for my, for my boots.
JVL00:14:56As you know, I have the darn tough socks.
Sonny00:14:58Perfect. Yeah. Perfect. But I was like, what am I gonna, what, what pants am I gonna wear? What do I have that would work for camping? I don't know. I mean, I've got some, I've got some like sweat pants, got some, got some corduroys. Yeah.
JVL00:15:11You got pocket squares.
Sonny00:15:12And then, and then I was like, oh, I know what I can wear. Prana. I can wear my Prada jeans, the Prada, the Prada jeans. No. The Prada jeans that JVL purchased for me many years ago. I put them on. They still fit. They were, they were perfect. Well, the gusseted crotch. The gusseted crotch. But on top of that.
JVL00:15:32You didn't go hiking in denim. Did you?
Sonny00:15:34Yes, absolutely. The, the, the, the, the best part was, the best part was we got to, we got to this like rock wall, this like sheer rock wall. Like again, it was like not, it's, I mean, it's not like I was able to do it. So it obviously wasn't difficult, but like, it was like, it was, you know, you, you, you had, I had my hands on the ground while I was going.
JVL00:15:52Right now, Matt Robarts is dying.
Sonny00:15:55And we get there and the, the guide's like, all right, you, you want to put your, you want to put your water bottles in your backpacks? And I was like, backpack. That's funny. So I was like, what am I going to do? What am I going to do with my water bottle and my, and my daughter's water bottle? At first I was like, I was, I was like, here, all right, you hold this, Katie, you should, you hold this. And she was like, she was like, well, that doesn't make any sense. So I was like, oh, you're right. You're right. Okay. So I was able to get both of the water bottles in the deep pockets of the Prada jeans, the, the Italian designer, influence of the deep pockets of these Prada jeans, I got them right in there. I got it. And I was able to, I was able to get up both hands. I had all my, so I want to thank, I want to thank JBL for his very thoughtful gift a year or two back. And for introducing me. To the brand of Prada, which I had never, I mean, I like, we know we've got this house of Gucci movie coming up from Ridley Scott. I wish it was a house of Prada movie. Cause I would, I would have lots of, I would have a lot of, uh, you know, I would, I would, I would sympathize with them more cause I would, you know, be part of the fashion.
JVL00:17:09That gusseted crotch really hooked you up while you were climbing the rock wall. Didn't it?
Sonny00:17:13Yeah.
JVL00:17:14Couldn't imagine you in jeans with a normal crotch.
Sonny00:17:16Oh yeah. No, no. If I was wearing like my Levi's, no way.
Vic00:17:20I would have worn the Pradas too, because that's, that's all I, that's all I, if it's not that I'm going in khakis, those are the choices. So I'll stick with the Pradas.
JVL00:17:27You know, you'd wear your cargo shorts, Victorino. Oh yeah. Well, yeah. I have my cargo shorts. That's very true. And maybe you'd have your, your Georgetown university sweatshirt tied around your shoulders.
Vic00:17:38Oh, that kind of a sweatshirt. That kind of a, no, no, I don't have a hoodie. I don't have that kind of a sweatshirt.
Sonny00:17:42The other thing, the other thing I wore was a very nice shirt that my, my wife had bought me a Vermont flannel shirt, which was, uh.
JVL00:17:50Were you at an Indigo girls concert or camping?
Sonny00:17:53I could have, I mean, I could have easily in my, in my Prada jeans and my Vermont flannel shirt. It was amazing.
JVL00:18:00I could pick up my Subaru. So Sonny, I need you to give me a greater than less than all right. Sure. Beach. Woods.
Sonny00:18:09Uh, woods greater than beach.
JVL00:18:13Oh, really? Woods.
Sonny00:18:15Woods greater than beach. Oh, this is dirt.
JVL00:18:17Dangerous stuff. So much more capacity for dirt.
Sonny00:18:19Yes. The beach is nothing but dirt. The beach is just a big ribbon of dirt.
Vic00:18:25Sand is not dirt. Help me. It's not mud.
Sonny00:18:28The beach, the beach is just a ribbon of dirt and you just, it gets everywhere.
Vic00:18:32It's wonderful. I might go to course. It's bad. It's bad.
Sonny00:18:36My, uh, no, the woods, the woods is better. I mean, I, I, I, I find, I find like the, the, I like, I like the, the, the sites of the, the forest, the woods and stuff more than I like the ocean and waves. And.
Vic00:18:50Oh, I love that.
Sonny00:18:51I can stare that forever. Again, just the strip of dirt. Like, oh, here's, here's a strip of dirt. We're all gonna sit on it for hours in the sun. Oh, that sounds awesome. Right. Pass.
Vic00:19:00Related to, related to, uh, beaches, Sonny, you were very outspoken, I noticed, about this Royal Caribbean 274 day cruise saying that you wouldn't. Did you see that? It was ridiculous. I did. And it said. I, I missed this entirely.
Sonny00:19:16What is it? Explain, Sonny, this. Well, the Royal Caribbean is putting together a nine month cruise. It's nine months on a cruise.
Vic00:19:21There are a lot of people who do these hundred plus day cruises. They're mostly elderly.
Sonny00:19:25270 some days, 274 days, 272 days, something like that. But it's basically nine, nine straight months on a cruise ship. I would rather die. I would rather, I would rather die from dysentery. I don't know.
Vic00:19:40Than go on that cruise. I'm just saying, I'm curious.
Sonny00:19:42I probably would die from dysentery on that cruise. You would die of gout. Your gout would explode your, your toe. After like two weeks straight.
JVL00:19:48Your foot would.
Sonny00:19:49Of crab claws. If you were on, if you were on a cruise for like, for, for nine straight months, by month two, you would have had to like have one of your feet amputated.
Vic00:19:59The question is what would outweigh which, which meaning, you know, I could use the gym every day and I can eat buffet every day, you know, what would win out? And I guess maybe the food I would have to work out much more than considering what I'd be eating.
JVL00:20:14I gotta think that in a normal ship's compliment on this. A nine month cruise probably means, let me do the math, 40 dead people.
Vic00:20:29Oh, because it's like one out of every four trips in and out. Right. You know, remember our friend.
JVL00:20:35No, no, it's, it's a couple, a couple of them die on every trip.
Vic00:20:40And maybe they intend that this is where I'm gonna spend my final days.
JVL00:20:43Every, you go on a one week cruise with a bunch of old people and at least two of
Vic00:20:49them don't come home. Every trip. Yeah. Yes. And, but you know what? And that's why they have that holding area for, for the, in the, in the event is right next to where they keep the shrimp in the lower level.
JVL00:21:01That's what they do.
Vic00:21:02They put 'em in the freezer. The freezer with the ice.
JVL00:21:04They put 'em in ice.
Vic00:21:05The, uh, the thing is, I mean, do you remember hearing, I heard, I remember talking to our friend who was in the cruise business, uh, saying, you know, there were people, uh, couples, for example, who chose to basically live at sea. For tax reasons and other things like that. And there was like, you could like weigh the, you know, costs and benefits in terms of how you pay your taxes or where you live, your residence. And if you have enough money, I mean, I don't know how much it would cost. How much is a 274 day cruise, but you know, you got people taking care of you basically like it's a nursing home, you know, and, and if you don't mind the occasional heavy seas, you know, then, then you're fine and you have three meals a day, at least not counting the midnight buffet entertainment, if you don't get tired of the same sort of show all the time.
JVL00:21:50Uh, on the other hand, if it's one of the, the real Caribbean booze, cruisy ones that we see with all the 20 year olds, yes, that, that thing after nine, I would do a lot of
Vic00:22:01babies being born when they come back to ports. So yes, I would, I would like to do that one just to see what my odds are, you know, also see if I could break, see if I could eventually violate the, the, the fraternization ban, right? Eventually they finally break that. I gotta, you know, let's get together with the cruise.
JVL00:22:19Oh no, I don't think there's ever, ever any break in the fraternization. Ever. That would never happen. Once you have a lot of money.
Vic00:22:27Yes. No, I, uh, I knew a guy who worked, uh, he used to work at, uh, one of the, the cruise lines, uh, in a previous life and he had so many fascinating stories about, you know, their world versus our world because, you know, I mean they had their own hangout areas internally right within, inside the ship. But one of the interesting things he said, for example, you could not go alone. You, you were allowed, if you were not the bottom rung, if you were not the cabin boys and the, you know, I mean the workers per se, but let's say you were in charge of like, you know, um, entertainment and thing, you know, involved into the entertainment side. Then the, he said that you'd be able to go to the bar, but not alone. You would have to be accompanied by a fellow employee. You couldn't sit there and then suddenly chat up guests. That would be, I guess, considered dangerous. And the other thing is you were never supposed to, if you, anyone asked you for help, you never say you're welcome. You would get in trouble. If a boss heard you say you're what you're always supposed to say, my pleasure, my pleasure. Of course.
JVL00:23:26So of course now this is, I can see the job Bluth version of a cruise ship where the, when they're off hours, you're encouraged to go to the bar by yourself.
Vic00:23:36That's a good job. Bluth voice. So house of Gucci. Is that something we're going to, you think is that going to be regular theaters? Dune is Dune. Oh yes. Right now. Dude is great because he could just sit there. Now I will see it over the next. It's like four days. Cause I believe it's like, it's basically a week long show, but his house of Gucci going to be in like, is it select it's going to be all theaters. Cause I saw the trailer.
Sonny00:23:59I don't know. I, I, I get the sense that this is not very good from, from what I have heard and what I've seen.
Vic00:24:05Yeah.
Sonny00:24:06So despite the director, despite the director, Ridley Scott has a not insignificant number of flops on his artistic misfires, shall we say, speaking of Ridley Scott.
Vic00:24:18This weekend at the box office, he did not appear in the top three. Uh, we'll get to that in a second. Um, the, uh, uh, at the top of the box office is actually Halloween kills, you know, weeks ahead of Halloween. Actually. It's not until next, next weekend slash its way to the top of the box office, 49.4 million followed by no time to die with 23.8 million. And in third place, is that good? We're going to get to that in second venom too. Uh, I'm just going to call it venom too.
Sonny00:24:4815 and a half million box office thoughts, gentlemen, uh, Halloween kills did 50 million at the box office, despite also being on Peacock, a service that has 54 million subscribers somehow.
JVL00:25:05Is it because they get it for free with some of the, I believe that means anybody who's a Comcast subscriber is a Peacock subscriber.
Sonny00:25:13I don't know. I don't know. I would assume that that is, there's some sort of fudging there, but like. The numbers, the numbers that they report 50, 54 million accounts, uh, anyway, uh, Halloween kills did $50 million, which is a, which is a big number. A lot of, a lot of people, some people were pretty surprised because again, it's on Peacock, which has 54 million subscribers. I am not that surprised because when I, when people were like, oh, but it's on Peacock, that's going to depress them. I was like, nobody uses Peacock, nobody, nobody in there. Nobody on earth has ever watched anything on, on Peacock. And then I got a bunch of angry people on Twitter saying, oh, I watch for sports. I watch for the office. Wrestling. I watch it for wrestling. No, a lot of wrestler, a lot of wrestling fans out there. So I was like, okay, I guess some people have Peacock, but nobody was watching Halloween.
JVL00:25:57I watch the cock all the time, man.
Sonny00:25:59I'm sure you're a big fan of the cock, but like I, my point is, my point is, uh, 50 million was a big number. People were surprised by it. Uh, we'll see how it holds. Um, it is, uh, I mean, it depends on how you count a quiet place. If a quiet place counts as horror, part two counts as horror. Or, or action or whatever. But it is, uh, it, it, it, it, that's a big number. Um, uh, no time to die dropped about 52 or 54%, something like that, which is, uh, which is like on par with Skyfall or, uh, or Spectre, but you know, people were like, oh, this movie is going to hold so well. I mean, it debuted way worse than either of those movies and it is holding about the same. It's just a, it's like, it's not gonna, it's not. It is a, it's a soft, it's a soft, uh, it's a soft bond movie, um, at the box office, at least domestically. Foreign, it's still doing pretty well, you know, it's over 400 million. Right. Um, what was third? Oh, third was Venom. Yes, right. Uh, Let There Be Carnage, which is at like 160. It's gonna, you know, it's gonna get up towards around 200 million. Good, good for it. Uh, and The Last Duel.
Vic00:27:11Well, and fourth place was Adam's Family 2 and then in fifth place.
Sonny00:27:16Oof. Was. Was Adam's Family 2. Fifth place was The Last Duel.
Vic00:27:20So here's the thing. It's 4.
Sonny00:27:224.8 million. Let me, so I'll just, I'll just segue into my, my, the big boy review here. Okay, go for it. So here's the thing about The Last Duel. I don't know, I, you guys don't go to the movies quite as much as I do. Um, you, you're, you still go, you still go more than the average person, I think, but, uh, you do not go as often as I do. And I, I saw, I saw the trailer for this movie probably 20 times over the last six months.
Vic00:27:44For The Last Duel.
Sonny00:27:45For The Last Duel. It played in front of every movie. Yes. Played in front of, played in front of every movie. And it was an interestingly cut trailer in that it had like these, the sliding swords and like the sliding cross. And it looked like this kind of courtroom drama, but set in medieval times. And it looked, it, it looked hopelessly dour. It looked like the, the, the like angstiest movie, uh, that could possibly be released. Again. It looked like a courtroom me too drama set in mud times. Cause that's all that, that's all you could see in this trailer with mud and clouds, just gray scale. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's, it was sold to people as this like horribly dour message movie about me too. And I don't know how you guys, I don't know how you guys experienced the film, but it is not that it's actually, I like it's funny. It's like weirdly funny. It's weirdly, uh, entertaining. It is. It is. I mean the way they should have sold this movie to people is this is gladiator by the Goodwill hunting guys. Um, and that's the elevator pitch that would, that would be the, this it's gladiator and it's written by the guys who wrote Goodwill hunting and it should have had more Ben Affleck who is great in this movie as the ridiculous counts date dial a song or whatever. Um, uh, anyway, so the, the basic, basic, basic plots review of this movie, uh, it's, it is told in a Russia mon like structure. It's broken into three parts told from three perspectives. First perspective is Matt Damon's, uh, Jean de Carouge, uh, who is a kind of lower French noble, not quite a noble. He's like, uh, he's, you know, uh, I don't, I don't know how French nobility works, but he's, he's like a little below the nobles. He's working the land. He's, he's got some land, not educated, some surfs and whatnot, not educated, can't read, can't write, but he, but he's great in battle, kills a whole bunch of people. Uh, second perspective is Jacques Legree. Uh, it was played by Adam Driver. Uh, and he is a, he is an educated, uh, you know, uh, again, like just below the nobles, but he gets, he gets, he gets along well with Ben Affleck's Pierre D'Alessand. Um, and, uh, he is, he is, uh, in, in the course of the film, he, uh, attacks Marguerite de Carouge, who is Jean de Carouge's wife, uh, in, they have, he sexually assaults her. Um, from his perspective, this is a game of the. It's a sort that the, the Royals play all the time and the, the 14th century France. Um, and then the final perspective is Marguerite's, uh, and she's like, no, this is rape, rape, not sexual assault. This is rape. It's not fun. No games. It's not, not cool. So the, the, the, the titular last duel is the fight between, uh, Jacques Legree and Jean de Carouge to, um, uh, sort out before the eyes of God who is telling the truth here. Was it rape? Was it not rape? Um, again, I found this movie to be weirdly funny. It is the, all of the interactions between Damon and Affleck are funny. All of the interactions between Affleck and driver are funny. I mean like the scene, the scene where Adam driver's got like 17 different abacuses going and he's like, he's, you know, he's figuring out how much money the count is, is owed by various people and Affleck just knocks it over shouting recalculate like I, I like lost it in the theater. I was just, I was laughing, laughing my ass off. Um, I, uh, I, I, it is, and it, it, it, it has again that like kind of gladiator style extreme sword and sandal violence, right? There's just a lot of like really brutal stuff in this, um, which you could sell to people more easily than like, here's the medieval me too movie. I, the, the marketing for this film, and here's my point, finally, I'll, I'll get to it. The marketing for this film is total malpractice. Like I'm not, I'm, I don't blame people for not going to see it, um, because it was sold to them as like this dour message movie. And it is not quite that, even though it is definitely a message movie. This is, this is very much medieval me too. That is a acceptable elevator pitch. Um, but it is more than that and it is more entertaining than that. Uh, but I get the sense that JVL disagrees. Yes.
Vic00:32:08Before I, cause I want to ask JVL what he thought, cause I saw your text earlier, but I said, I'm going to save it for the show. As we always do. I will say this Sonny, cause you were asking about our theater experiences. Mine. I went to a weekday, uh, showing, uh, and there were only two people in the, uh, theater, me and some other dude in the front who was making some weird moaning noises. So I don't know. Also, he was saying the same thing about some guy in the back behind him anyway, uh, JV, JVL.
JVL00:32:36I can't believe I sat three, let a three hour sword and shield epic with not one work in
Vic00:32:45it. Why do you throw this? Why do you throw that in there? Uh, okay.
JVL00:32:49I mean, I, I would like to preface, preface our entire discussion. This is a rape movie. It is a movie about rape and there is no way for us to have this conversation about the movie without talking a lot about rape and it's a great movie. So if people find this upsetting or like, this is a, it is very, it was very uncomfortable. Take it off. I mean, um, so it's not, it's not a message movie. It's a catharsis movie. This is not th th this is Django Unchained for me too, right? The joy of Django Unchained or Inglorious Bastards is a retelling of things in such that the people who are always getting shit on get to go and just absolutely eviscerate the bad guys and that's, that's what the last duel winds up being. This movie, which is not, there is no shades of gray in it. There are no like, well, it, it isn't Rashomon, right? So Rashomon is the, the telling of a story from three different ways and the audience is left to try to figure out, well, which one is which. This one literally tells you when it gets to the third version, which is Marguerite's it's L it calls it the truth, right?
Vic00:34:08If you see the rest of it fades out, but the last two words you see is the truth.
JVL00:34:12And so the, what, what, what the filmmakers are telling us. Yes. Is that it is using those other two perspectives to indict those characters, not to show it from their perspective, but to, to add an indictment of it. And this is, you know, like what, what do we want to see happen? You know, you said this in, in your view at the, the Bulwark Sonny, this really is. I think as you say, Matt Damon and, and Ben Affleck working out the extent to which they have been complicit in the entire. Like Bill Clinton thing, democratic world thing, and Harvey Weinstein thing. And what is it that everybody would like to see happen to Harvey Weinstein? We would like to see somebody put a dagger through Harvey Weinstein's mouth, a roundel that it comes back out the back of his head and then have the, the, the fat piece of shit stripped naked and hung upside down in the town square. That's what, that's what the last duel gives you.
Sonny00:35:12Can I, can I, I, can I disagree with this slightly insofar as. It's not, it is not Django Unchained or, or something like that because it is very clear that Marguerite does not want what is happening to play out the way it plays out. It's not, I'm not saying she doesn't, she doesn't want, uh, uh, Jacques Legree dead. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that she, she is unhappy with the way all of this plays out. And the, the, the second to last shot of the movie is, is this great shot of, uh, Marguerite and Jean kind of writing out of the, uh, they're writing out of the stadium and the camera from her, the camera on her, she, she is like, she looks kind of relieved, but like also like done with it. And the camera on Matt Damon, he's like breaking into full smile. He's like, finally, I'm getting the recognition I deserve.
Vic00:36:06He's always wanted this respect.
Sonny00:36:07For what I have done, for what I have done and for what I, I deserve.
JVL00:36:10But we are then given in the CODA what we want because the CODA to the movie tells us a year later.
Sonny00:36:16In the crusades and that she lived happily ever after with her kid and never remarried.
JVL00:36:22So this isn't what Marguerite, I mean, Marguerite actually does eventually get what she wants, but we, the audience get what we want from this.
Sonny00:36:29I, uh, I, I mean, I think this is, I think this is the, the, the deny, deny, deny line is that that is from the Clinton literally from the Clinton.
JVL00:36:38I mean, I have, but it's not just, I mean, I, I put together a whole list of this movie is, is not just about. Yeah. The, the Clinton stuff. It's a, it is like every sexual abuse story from the last 40 years in America. We have slut shaming and the public vilification of rape accusers, which happens with the friend who narcs out on Marguerite having said that Kylo was handsome. It has the corruption of the Catholic church with Ivo. What's his face talking about how the church trials are more lenient because a lot of priests do this sort of thing. We have the shitty media men list where the, the lady at the ceremony. Who blows Kylo off is like, yeah, we all know about, you know, thanks. We have the toddy and you can't get pregnant from rape. We have the seventies obsession with how women never orgasm during sex. The, if you orgasm during rape, it's, you know, is it really rape? Husbands can rape their wives at, at some point, like two hours in this movie, I felt like every plot line from every law and order SVU ever made was put into this and to the extent where they literally give us a. Scene of horse rape, just in case there was anybody in the back, not paying attention.
Sonny00:37:52Yeah.
JVL00:37:53And when I, so, but please understand I'm not complaining about any of this. This is why I'm saying, I don't think it's a message movie. I think it's a catharsis movie with all of these things, which are terrible, right? Which have been happening in the world around us. This is the movie that just supposes, all right, well, what if all of those assholes got theirs and that's why it's Django. Django and change, right? And Django, we wanna see him shooting up all the people at candy land, right? And this, that's what this gives us. And is that it's as, as, as you know, as Sonny says, there is a playfulness to it. Um, it's, it's really dark in its indictment. And I think actually paints a very nuanced, not nuance, a very accurate picture of what sexual predators are like. This is, you know, we said that the Rashomon aspect of it is there to indict the, the two men, but it really does a great job of playing on our, the audience's expectations of things, especially with, with, uh, Ligree, right? So when we see Ligree, who is the Kylo Ren character, um, Adam truck, right? Him, uh, he is educated and charming and he's funny and he actually like tries to do the right thing by a lot of people, right? He's he's. We're all thinking to ourselves, yeah, actually this guy's the good guy in the movie, right? So there's a good guy. Uh, but then we see that that's all part of, because he's a predator, right? This is the, you know, the, the predators do this sort of thing to pass, right?
Sonny00:39:29And how can I just interject here slightly. So do we, how, how much of the, him being a predator is innate to him and how much of it is him being in and surrounded by the Ben Affleck characters world, right? It is, this is, again, this is why it reminds me so, it reminds me so much of the Weinstein and Hollywood stuff. Cause it's like, you have people who would not necessarily behave this way if they were not conditioned to see people doing it, like conditioned by seeing people doing it all the time. And like you, and you get parts of that in the movie where there, there is an, there's a literal orgy in, in Ben Affleck's chambers and like. Great scene.
Vic00:40:11It's. Vic's favorite scene in the movie. Vic's favorite scene. That almost got it, got it to an A plus. But.
JVL00:40:16Uh, you know, I actually think that we are, we know that this is innate to him because he is asked about his studies for the priesthood and he says, you know, there were aspects of the priesthood, which I simply could not live with. And he and Ben Affleck chuckle about that. So I think this is a, them telling him that this is what he likes doing. Like he likes abusing women and we see him, you know, chasing around. There's a scene where at the party, he chases around the woman and catches her and that again, it's not clear. Is that a playful she's saying no or not. They're setting that up, I think as a, you know, way for us to try to start alibi-ing his character.
Sonny00:40:58Yeah.
JVL00:40:59So that, I mean, I think the rug is then pulled out from under us when we see something that is clear, clearly rape and, and which he, during the rape clearly understands is wrong. That's the other, they don't alibi us, uh, they don't let us the audience alibi his character by saying, oh, well, he actually really thought the reason they show it from his perspective is because, I mean, this is the classic legal definition, right? You have to be able to, a reasonable person would have to understand that what they were doing is wrong. And in that scene, he understands what he's doing is wrong.
Vic00:41:29Well, it's funny because you know how they talk about, um, how they break it into three different, you know, acts and it's like his, uh, you know, Caruso's version, LaGreece version and Mark reads, and even in LaGreece version, I thought for sure that the encounter was not, was going to be a lot, uh, uh, a lot more, um, uh, mutually, you know, uh, like in his mind, but even from his perspective, even from his perspective, I thought he was going to be like in his mind, oh, I thought she was really into it, but now it's like, wow, that was really bad. And then of course it was even worse when you get to her part, but what did you think of it? Uh, I liked it. I liked it a lot. Um, and this is a quadrant.
JVL00:42:12It is. It's a weird quadrant.
Vic00:42:14It's a weird quadrant. Really? Like it hits some of them. It doesn't hit up. Okay. So the plot is an a, it's pretty easy to understand, right?
Sonny00:42:20It's just three different stories about what you weren't confused by seeing it. No, I don't think I had any questions.
Vic00:42:26That's not what he said when they talked to the, he said in the other words, right? No, no, no. This is not like, it's not like that, uh, under the silver lake movie thing. That was insane. Okay. This is, this one is very clear cut. Just three different. It's not like widows. Oh, where to get me out of there. Uh, duration was a D man. That was, it was long. Because it's like, okay, well after you get through the middle of the second version, you're like, wait, we have to go through this again.
Sonny00:42:52And luckily it's a little bit long, but it's zipped along for me. It did not. It did not drag for me.
Vic00:42:58Action and violence is a plus, but not an a plus plus. Why is that? Because the last battle was so incredible. I'll get to that in a little, in a moment, the previous, the battle scenes I wanted gladiator level. Because there's, it has this weird Ridley Scott has the same sort of, it was the same thing gladiator where in these fight scenes there's a shakiness going on in their movements and stuff. It's very grainy or gritty. I can't really explain it, but I wanted a longer sort of a, a brave heart length battle somewhere. Instead, they tease you if you're into, if you're into history, right? I find it fascinating. I'm I will often watch movies that are a period piece of historical drama. And then I'll get distracted, uh, from the plot by, in my mind, trying to place it in perspective of the time and what was happening. So in my mind, you know, this is like in the middle of the hundred years war, you know, between the English and the French and the battle, you know, uh, Plantagenet's house of Valois, all this things going on in Normandy. I just couldn't stop in Scotland. I'm like, well, it's a century after brave heart, but it's, you know, 30, 40 years before Agincourt's. I mean, it's like, I'm thinking I'm really into it because I really liked this movie. But I wanted longer fight scenes. Uh, okay. The sex nudity thing, it, it suffered, uh, because you get raped, you care, you get raped the merits. Okay. It was 80 plus by the time they got to the orgy scene. And then it lost points because rape demerits were added. I don't know if you remember this, uh, the quadrants added it, uh, after the accused came out, you know, the quadrants have been around since like the late seventies. I don't know if you know this. And so it, you know, you lose points. You know, one wants to see that. That's terrible. I mean, obviously you want to see, you know, I'm sorry.
JVL00:44:43I have to ask you something. It was Victorino. It was terrible. Yeah. If I told you you're going to get a scene that's an orgy with four French maids going at it together.
Vic00:44:57Yes.
JVL00:44:58Why are they? That sounds amazing. But was that, did that scene deliver on the promise? Because for the most part, they're all in the distance away and I could just tell you
Vic00:45:11were leaning around. What is that? Back to the screen. I said to the other guy, I said, could you get a better view from your seat? You might, if I sit next to you, not nearly exploitive enough, right? You know, great style. You mind if we just, you know, okay, it starts off like that, right? Remember that? Remember that? And next thing you know, you're not even looking at the movie, you know, I mean, that's what happened. You know, it's a slippery slope so to speak. Uh, okay. So no, uh, yes, that, that was the, the cons, the cons of the rape. It was, it was, it was, it was awful, but it was both an A plus and an F. Yeah. Yeah. Because even it was intentionally so, because you're seeing what she had to go through. It was not great. But that last scene, um, I I've seen just, if you've ever seen that Heath Ledger movie where he plays a night, this is not like, what was it called?
Sonny00:46:00Wasn't it first night?
Vic00:46:01First night. I always get confused with first night. No. A night's tale.
JVL00:46:05A night's tale. I like to think of that as the Paul Bettany movie.
Sonny00:46:07First night was a Richard Gere way.
JVL00:46:09That's I like to think of a night's tale as a Paul Bettany movie stars. Yes. Heath Ledger.
Vic00:46:16That's right. That's right. Paul Bettany. Uh, and, and so, you know, you see that or these joust movies, or if you even go way to medieval times, medieval times, if you go way back and, uh, you can go back to, uh, Connecticut, uh, Yankee King Arthur's court, which I saw on TV as a kid, everyone's very clean in them. And, you know, even in the middle ages, no one's, you know, their teeth, everyone's very, everyone here is so dirty with a few exceptions, Marguerite for one. Uh, but even like King Charles, it's Charles VI, Charles VI, who was still a teenager at the time. Right. So, I mean, his uncles were the Regents, right? They were, they were the ones who were calling the shots, you know, there's a little griminess to them all, but, uh, um, but that final scene, you know, a joust is not just the Lance and, and I always thought, you know, they go at it, somebody got knocked down. Okay. You know, and no, it just repeats itself until finally you get off, you dismount and then you get to work and th there are the bladed weapons, but there's also the blunt weapons, right? The hammer hammers malls and round and the roundel is the last thing. It's the dagger. You can carry the dagger on the side and, oh, what an ending. I couldn't bless. Are they going to show it? They're going to show it going right, right into the mouth. I was, I would, that I almost stood up and clapped. It was so good. You know, the thing I did, and you know what I didn't see, I don't think it was CGI, Sonny. I think it's like all virus, ILM, I think, I don't mean it that way, but I mean, it was sort of like more ILM. It was practical. It was practical. Practical effects. Yes. I didn't, I didn't stay to the end. I wonder if it was ILM that did it.
Sonny00:47:50Cause they're really good at that sort of, I mean, I'm sure there's, there's a 100% chance that there were digital effects in there, but the, the actual fight was pretty, pretty practical.
JVL00:47:58Yeah. I mean, you know, it's what I did not realize about joust is that they didn't have to wait for the other fellow to get his next Lance that you just, you just go, if he's with his Lance. So what you just keep going. That's right.
Vic00:48:14And the Squires and the Squires had a day, got killed, killed, killed, and it did not
JVL00:48:19seem like the crowd really cared to did it. Did not give, no, there was no like, oh, you're not supposed to kill the square front row,
Vic00:48:27front row seats. I would've had front row seats.
Sonny00:48:29So did you guys catch, oh, for the, I'm sorry for the murder games, you would've had front row seats for the murder games and you would've been, you would've been totally into it.
Vic00:48:38Oh, interesting. Interesting. I had no, I had no problem with that other movie. Did you?
JVL00:48:43Did you catch in the beginning of the, in the very beginning of the movie, when we are being shown the voiceover as they prepare for the last duel and the voiceover, which is establishing the rules of the duel says that no one may carry any weapons, which are enchanted. Oh, right. Or have been blessed or had spells placed upon them. And that's the moment where I said, fuck this movie. I'm out.
Vic00:49:13No, no, no.
JVL00:49:14No, no. I can't walk in there with a plus six ice sword.
Sonny00:49:18You can't go in there with Sting or what sort of you're not allowed to go into a fight
JVL00:49:28with, with enchanted weapons.
Vic00:49:29That's right.
JVL00:49:30Oh, I'm just going to reach into my bottomless bag and pull out my bottomless bag for more
Vic00:49:36hammer. That's right. Yes. The bottomless bag, the troll killer. Yes. I, uh, but one of the weird things about the movie was. Again, you were talking about the trailer, but the whole, you know, like who's telling the truth. It's pretty obvious. Who's like, you know, it's not like, Hmm, well I wonder, well, it's interesting.
Sonny00:49:53So the, the, the Rashomon aspect is interesting, uh, for, for a couple of reasons for just, I, I, the very, there are very subtle differences throughout the film. For instance, when, when Matt Damon comes back, uh, from his, you know, his, the wars in Scotland and he's like on death's doorstep, he's like, Oh, he's like, you know, he's, he's got, he's got, he's got, he's got croup, he's got, you know, um, uh, and then everybody else who sees him at this time, he has like a sniffle. He's like, Oh, he like coughs a little bit. It's like, it's very, it's, it's interesting again. It's like, it's like from, from his perspective, he's like almost dying. He's so sick. He, like every man who has ever had a cold, he is so sick that he is almost dying. Uh, and from everybody else's perspective, it's like, all right, get it together guy. The other, the other one that jumped out at me. Uh, and I'm sure there are more, but the other one that jumped out at me was in the, in the prelude to the, to the rape, um, as in, from, from the Greece perspective, she takes her shoes off. Oh, right. Before she goes up the stuff.
Vic00:50:57Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Sonny00:50:58And when we watch it from her perspective, they fall off as she flees. And it's, it's just, again, it's, it's cause you're right. You're right. JBL. It's not, none of this is designed to show like, Oh, they thought it was one way, but it was actually this. It is. It's interesting. The little details that stick out in these characters mind to kind of, uh, you know, absolve them.
Vic00:51:21Yeah. Also the subtleties of the location of the kiss when she kisses him right on the mouth, on the cheek, who's kissing whom he, you know, you know, when they, uh, when they, uh, you know what I'm talking about? The scene where Marguerite is introduced to.
JVL00:51:35Yes. You know, can I, can we talk a little bit about Ben Affleck because he's halfway doing Bruce Wayne. Oh, but he's also the most interesting thing in the movie.
Sonny00:51:47Absolutely. Yeah. And that's performance like my favorite performance of the year so far, Ben Affleck in this.
JVL00:51:53Okay. So I don't go, I wouldn't go that far. I don't think it's a great performance, but it's a really interesting performance because he is acting in a different movie than everybody else.
Sonny00:52:03Huh?
JVL00:52:04Well, this is everybody else is doing their own thing and it's very serious. And he is not, he's in his own movie and he's in his own movie, regardless of who, which person is telling the story, which is kind of interesting.
Sonny00:52:18Uh, and he also is the only male character who might be okay.
JVL00:52:24Every other male character is evil in some way or another. And Ben Affleck is the one guy who, when LaGree comes to him, his first response is, did you do it? Like he cares whether or not LaGree did it.
Sonny00:52:38Can I, uh, two things to this, uh, first he, he does feel like he's kind of in his own movie, but I feel like that is absolutely the point. That is absolutely like the core of the character. Oh, totally true. He is so privileged. He is so privileged. And so above all of these concerns that these people have with their like petty morality and everything else that like, he just, he floats, his big concern is, does he wear the gold shoes or the lacquer shoes? It's great. You know, it's like, I love it.
JVL00:53:05No, I wasn't indicting it. I was saying that's what makes everything in the performance interesting.
Vic00:53:09He wore the same gown. He wore the same gown. He was known as, uh, Adam Driver's, uh, mentor in, uh, the force awakens.
JVL00:53:19What was his name? The LeMay. Snoke. Snoke. Snoke. Oh, he does look a little bit like Snoke. Yeah. The gold LeMay thing. Yeah. I, yeah, I, I love the Ben Affleck performance and I love the, I love the way the character is written. Uh, it is funny. Like he's the one who sparks life.
Sonny00:53:39I'm glad that you, I'm glad that you say that because you were giving me a look when I was
JVL00:53:42like, oh, I know what he was saying that the movie is weirdly funny is not where I would
Vic00:53:48go. There were moments where I did laugh out loud as well.
Sonny00:53:51His, his, uh, Ben Affleck's entire time on the screen is like high comic value. I, the, like, I mean, even just the very first moment where Matt Damon shows up and he kneels like slightly too far and affects like closer does not like him. Well, it's just like everything about it, like the look on his face, the, like his rolling, the eyes. How do you deal with this idiot, illiterate, I, you know, I just, I love it bonus points
Vic00:54:18for the movie when, uh, Marguerite and, uh, Adam and, uh, agree, uh, start talking in German, uh, about parts of all, I was like, oh, this is getting good. Sorry.
JVL00:54:31Well, that was before the thing it, uh, yeah, no, I actually thought the movie suffered slightly whenever he wasn't on screen and she's great. Who's that actress again? What's her name? Jody Comer. She's she does really subtle work all movie long and never devolves into either sentimentality or trading on the audience's sympathy for her. I, I thought she was just dynamite performance.
Vic00:54:57Yeah. I liked her a lot too. I thought the whole, the whole cast is solid. Did you notice, uh, uh, legrees right-hand man is the actor, Adam, the Gatiss who also was in gunpowder, uh, milkshake. And he plays a scumbag in both, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. That's right. That is him. Yep. Guy. I don't know if he is that he just fits it perfectly.
JVL00:55:22The, uh, the corrupt sheriff from, uh, corrupt sheriff from Chav King Arthur is in it is one of the, yeah, I think that's him. Yeah. No, it's, it's lovely. I, uh, did you catch the, the telling us exactly whose kid the baby is at the end where we, uh. Oh no.
Sonny00:55:44Wait. So are we, are we, are we supposed to think that it is Ben Affleck's kid?
Vic00:55:49Ben Affleck's kid. Uh.
JVL00:55:51Why? What happened? No. Not Ben Affleck's kid. It's, uh, it's, um, LeGree's kid.
?00:55:56Oh, that's what I mean.
JVL00:55:57Why do you think that? Because of the mayor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I was going to say. LeGree's. That's what I meant. LeGree's. So as he's, as he's walking out of wherever that, you know, the, the thing where they all met up, he goes up to this gray mayor and it's two of these crazy weird kissy faces. Do it and all like, it's a weird thing while he's talking to his little right hand guy. Yes. And then we later see that, uh, Matthew Damon has bought this mayor and brought it home and is going to breed it and it's going to be bred. But then the horse gets raped and is pregnant with the, with the, the stallion, which raped the horse.
Sonny00:56:36And so, you know, I, I missed all, all that was over my head. All that was, all that was very over my head, I just thought because of the like super blonde hair, he looked like, no, I was like, that doesn't, that doesn't, that doesn't make sense as Adam Driver's kid or Matt Damon's kid, but maybe, maybe it's peroxide Ben Affleck.
Vic00:56:53No, I was going to say my, my, my vote is agree because I feel like Ben Affleck, um, Matt Damon is once again playing a, uh, an, uh, a character who can't deliver the goods because remember that he was the same thing in the departed, you had issues, he had issues.
JVL00:57:11Yeah. I mean, I do wonder how those guys reconcile having Harvey Weinstein as their patron. Yeah. I mean, they owe their careers to Harvey. Sure.
Sonny00:57:22I bet they never think about it. I bet they never, I bet they, I mean, I think this movie shows, they clearly think about
JVL00:57:30it a lot.
Sonny00:57:31Don't you? I think I, I, I think, uh, I, I think this movie, I think this movie is them. I don't know. I mean, look, I, there there's, I, I have always. I always thought that Ben Affleck is smarter than he gets credit for. There was a, there's a joke. There's a joke early in, uh, early in family guy, one of the first few seasons back when I was actually watching it, where they're talking, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are like, like Matt Damon is like finishing the script for, uh, goodwill hunting. And Ben's like, I'll put my name on it too. Put, put my name on it too, Matt. And Matt's like, oh, come on, Ben. I wrote the whole thing. And the, the joke was always like, oh, Matt Damon's a smart one. Ben Affleck's kind of the idiot, you know, paparazzi. Loving, you know, jackass. And I've always thought that was wrong. And I think that his directorial career has shown that that's definitely wrong. And I think that, I think that this movie is like weirdly interest is I think I, I mean, I, I do think it's introspective. I do think that they, they probably think about this when they want to think about it, but I don't think it like keeps them up at night.
JVL00:58:34That's probably right. I mean, the reason Affleck has that reputation, I think is because of his drinking problem. Right.
Sonny00:58:39I mean, people took the drinking and the, again, the paparazzi.
JVL00:58:41Before, but, but that paparazzi stuff is all because he had a drinking problem and it was so young in his life that people didn't realize they just thought, oh, he's a wild party guy. And it wasn't, you know, like if you're still doing those things when you're, when you're 45, that's when people realize, oh, he's not a wild party guy. He has a problem. And I think, you know, he just had a problem the whole time. Uh, and Damon didn't, but anyway, William Goldman wrote that movie anyhow. So yes, this is okay. Which every, he always denies. I never believed it. I, I, I will go to my grave believing that William Goldman did the actual important script doctoring on that. I'm just gonna say the treatment.
Sonny00:59:20I see. But I, I would, I, I don't think that's true after the, the movies that Ben Affleck has written and directed and, and this movie, I mean, I, you know, I don't know.
Vic00:59:31Okay. I think we can, uh, move on from here. Yes. Dune. Unless you had any other thoughts. Wow. That's gonna be a big one. Uh, okay. Any other, uh, so you have any questions? Any corrections? Shout outs? Anything of that nature? I have a shout out to new listener, captain Peter Christensen for subscribing and thank you for your service. That's all the time we're giving to this episode, questions, comments, compliments, tweet us at Sonny Bunch at Victorino Mattis. Again, be sure to subscribe to us on Patrion. Just go to sub beacon.com. We are there. Tell your friends until next time.
Sonny01:00:11Bye. Bye.
JVL01:00:13Wow. So things are so slow. We're now giving individual shout outs to new subscribers when they come on.
Vic01:00:19I don't know. What was that? What was that all about? He is the brother of Josh Christensen, who is a colleague of mine at the Free Beacon. So I guess that's a shout out. Oh, okay. Not a completely random, but I see we're up again. We were down.
Sonny01:00:32We're back up. No, this has been a good month for sign ups. We're doing these bonus Squid Game episodes. I think it's because of Squid Game. People are like, people love Squid Game.
Vic01:00:38Listen, you want to find out what we think about these games.
Sonny01:00:41I'm excited to talk about episodes four and five. I have turned around on the show and I'm actually kind of into it.
Vic01:00:48I have to, I have to pretend that I didn't finish it and also without giving anything away. I just want to say JVL turns out you were right. Okay. I'll just leave it at that.
Sonny01:00:58All right. I'm sure it's fun.
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