#109. 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent'
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All three regular hosts are reunited as Sonny, JVL, and Vic review The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, in which Nicolas Cage plays a fictionalized version of himself — deep in debt to his hotel, pursuing one last big role, and persuaded to attend the birthday party of a Catalonian billionaire played by Pedro Pascal who turns out to be a suspected cartel kingpin. Sonny came in primed to champion the film and left disappointed, arguing it's really two movies stitched together: a clever, funny first thirty minutes skewering Hollywood stardom (complete with a creepy de-aged imaginary Cage from the Wild at Heart era riffing with him) that gives way to seventy-five minutes of generic studio action-comedy padded with grating supporting turns from Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz. JVL liked it more than Sonny did — charmed enough by the Cage/Pascal chemistry and the running Paddington 2 gag (which culminates in Cage sobbing through the credits of the "greatest movie ever made") to forgive the script's flatter back half — while Vic started out ready to give the plot a Quadrant A+ but dropped it all the way to a C once the clunky CIA subplot kicked in, landing overall on duration A, action/violence B, and sex/nudity F, with Lily Mo Sheen's performance as Cage's daughter the film's unexpected highlight. The long opening stretch covers JVL's big reveal that he's closed on a house back in North Jersey (Morris County) and is living out of a duffel bag while the Virginia house goes on the market, plus a comic-book digression about reading Secret Wars and early Ditko/Lee Spider-Man to his son on a kids' Kindle; Sonny brings a grim coyote update from his neighborhood after the animal attacked and nearly ran off with a toddler, prompting mob-justice riffing from JVL; and Vic contemplates raiding his in-laws' fridge for aging deli cold cuts. Box-office chat covers Everything Everywhere All at Once holding flat and becoming A24's fourth-highest-grossing film ever, huge tracking numbers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and rising excitement (despite Sonny and JVL's mutual indifference to the original) for Top Gun: Maverick.
From the show notes
JVL announces a life change. Sonny has a coyote update. Vic's considering some aged meat. And the gang watches The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent !
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00What's the worry here, Nick? You've lost some of your talent as an actor?
Vic00:00:05No.
Guest00:00:09What did he say? He says he loves you, but he went in a different direction.
Vic00:00:14I'm done. I'm quitting acting. Tell the Trades it was a tremendous honor to be a part of storytelling and myth-making.
Guest00:00:25Ah, fuck, man. I'm driving through the hills. I'm sorry. One more time. We got another offer. It's a million bucks. It's to attend a wealthy gentleman's birthday party. I would never do that. It's the easiest gig ever. You play yourself.
Vic00:00:49Hello 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. Gentlemen, how are we? JVL, welcome back. What is new with you?
JVL00:01:14Hey, man. Thank you guys for doing the show without me last week. I was up closing on a new house. Oh, whoa!
Vic00:01:22Whoa! Congratulations.
JVL00:01:25Going back to the homeland. Gabagoo!
Vic00:01:29Oopa! Now, can you get into specifics of where or?
JVL00:01:33North Jersey. North. That's a good one. North Jersey. Morris County. Morris County.
Vic00:01:39Yes. So where you get the, not the pork roll, but I guess they call it Taylor ham up there. The Taylor ham.
JVL00:01:45Go to the Taylor ham section. I am going to be 2.2 miles from Shannon's folks. Very nice.
Vic00:01:54Very nice.
JVL00:01:55So we could run to her parents' house.
Vic00:01:59Morris County. How far are you from action park? Because now you're no longer great adventure centric. Yeah. Like when you lived in Moore's town, you just go east. Now you have to go. That's right. Now you're just up, up the road to Vernon.
JVL00:02:10Just up there. Just up there. I don't, I, Mawa. Yes. Is not that far away. That's nice. I think Mawa is like 40 minutes or something like that.
Vic00:02:18They used to have a tennis tournament in Mawa. Mawa.
JVL00:02:21I want to find, I want to go to the Wawa in Mawa. You should. I want to go to the Mawa Wawa.
Vic00:02:26It sounds silly, but it's actually. From what I've seen from the tennis tournaments for years ago, it looks like a lovely place. Looks like a lovely place. Fairly nice. Well, congratulations.
Sonny00:02:35Do you guys have Wawa's in New Jersey?
Vic00:02:37Oh, lots. I thought that was just a. Mawa's a Philly thing.
JVL00:02:40So it started in Philly.
Vic00:02:41Yeah. I thought that was a Philly thing. And then it moved its way. Yeah. South Jersey is Philly. Yeah. It annexed. It annexed South Jersey and then finally moved its way down. I don't think it's up north. I don't think it's New England. Right. I don't think you'll find it. No. You won't find a Wawa like in Boston.
JVL00:02:55No. You get like quick checks up there. Right. Quick check.
Vic00:02:59Wow. That's good. Isn't that what you get out there in Boston?
JVL00:03:02Yeah. That's right.
Vic00:03:04That's right. So I'm very excited.
JVL00:03:06Everybody. You're gonna get some amazing pizza up there. Everybody's Italian. There is a place in Denville. This is the most anti-keto state in America. And so there is a place just called the pasta shop. Just the pasta shop. Lots of pasta. And it is, you know, all they serve is pasta and it's all takeout. And it's, it's like the greatest pasta you've ever had in your life.
Sonny00:03:29It's like Barilla.
JVL00:03:31Oh, he's Victorino.
Vic00:03:34It's so good. He's trolling. I bet it is. It's so good. It's like, it's like a part of the world.
JVL00:03:39It's named Sergio.
Vic00:03:40Oh, that's nice. Uh, it's, it's like a part of the world where you can actually draw in customers with the words pasta house. Yeah. Like if you haven't here in Arlington, people would flee, people would flee, like burn it down. They'd say pasta house, burn it down cards.
JVL00:03:54Yeah. That there's another place nearby a place called Matadonna, which is great. Oh, and here is, here is, here is something for you in the little town, which I, I have, which we are moving to. There is an Indian Italian fusion restaurant. Did, did you know such a thing existed?
Vic00:04:16Victorino? Uh, question. Is this just a pizza place run by Indians? No, no, it's like a, there's, there's a Chicago pizza place. Oddly highway that's actually run by Indians.
JVL00:04:27No, it is a, it is an Indian fusion. I looked at the restaurant and it's like curries and lasagnas.
Vic00:04:33I remember, I remember Asia, Cuba, but Indian Italian. No, I haven't tried it. I got to try it. You have to try it and just bring a, bring a little bottle of Tums. It's uh, go either way.
JVL00:04:48I'm sure it'll be great. So I'm doing that. Uh, we don't actually move until. Yeah. Late June, our Virginia house goes on the market. One week from today.
Sonny00:05:00Mm-hmm.
JVL00:05:01Woo. One week. Oh wow. It's great. Uh, basically everything we own is in storage.
Vic00:05:06I've been living out of a duffel bag for six weeks already. Storage up there already storage.
JVL00:05:10Storage down here.
Vic00:05:12Storage down here. Is all your stuff in a pod?
JVL00:05:14Do you have a pod? No, no. It's in a, a self-storage place.
Vic00:05:18The pod in front of, the pod in the driveway that everybody sees.
JVL00:05:21Well, you can't do that because you got to sell the. Sell the house. So the house is staged. So the entire house looks like an Ikea catalog right now. Staged. Very nice. And you know, I run around yelling at G money all day saying, don't touch that. Don't touch that. Don't touch that. You can't go in there. Get your hands off the walls. We just repainted the walls. Don't. And he's like, dad, what can I do? I'm like, I.
Vic00:05:42Nothing. That's yes. No. Nothing.
JVL00:05:46You can't do anything. Sit there in silence. Stare at the wall. It's sold. Even the Nintendo, even the Nintendo is put away. Like there's just nothing for them to do. Uh, so, but what I have been doing with him. I have been reading to him. Are you ready for this? Secret Wars.
Sonny00:06:00Oh, Marvel. Yeah. Marvel comic from the 1980s. The Marvel comic from the 1980s. Secret Wars. Where the alien symbiote suit was introduced.
JVL00:06:08That's exactly. We, we read that issue.
Sonny00:06:10In the Secret War. Is that when they threw superheroes together?
Vic00:06:12Like how did I get Zap in here?
JVL00:06:13Superheroes and super villains. The Beyonder. The Beyonder brought 12 superheroes or 15 superheroes and 15 super villains together to battle world. And this thing. Popped up on his Kindle. So he's got a little.
Sonny00:06:27That's funny.
JVL00:06:28The kid's Kindle. That's nice. And he was just paging through the Marvel books section and it was there and he just like, look at the cover. This cover looks amazing. Can we read it? I was like, yes. So how do they.
Vic00:06:40I have a question. He's so into it.
Sonny00:06:42I have a question too, but go ahead, Sonny. I have a question. So are, in terms of reading a comic book on the Kindle. Oh, this is my question. Mm-hmm. Because I, I'm looking at my Kindle. It's so good. I'm looking at my Kindle right now.
JVL00:06:52Are you looking at like frame by frame? He has a kid's Kindle. He has a kid's Kindle. What's a kid's Kindle? It's, it's like an actual tablet.
Sonny00:06:58Oh, so it's a tablet. He has a tablet.
JVL00:07:00It is, it is the Amazon's Kindle fire for kids. Okay. So it is a, it is a full, you know, ultra HD screen. And what's brilliant about it is that you get each panel goes screen size. So you're not like looking. I was gonna say the panel is.
Sonny00:07:19Okay.
JVL00:07:20So what you do is you tap the screen and it brings you not to the page, but it goes panel by panel. So the next panel.
Sonny00:07:25Along the page. That's what I wanted to ask because it seems like a real pain to read a page of a comic book.
JVL00:07:30Right. You'd have to then zoom. This is one of the very few things in which the tablet version of it is infinitely superior to the hardcover. And I don't say this for normal comic book reading, cuz if it's just me reading to myself, I would much rather, cuz you know, you get to see the splash pages, right? Right. The grand scheme of it. You can really, you can really soak in the art. But if you're reading to a kid, this is the best format. Panel by panel would be. That makes sense. And he loves it. Great. I would say Secret Wars holds up. Oh, good. I mean. Secret Wars holds up. And it's a lot of the interior life of Dr. Doom cuz Dr. Doom just doesn't respect any of the villains that he's with and realizes that the only person who is smart enough to figure out a way out of this is Reed Richards and even though he hates Reed Richards, he decides he's gonna go over and talk to him and this way. It is interesting seeing how.
Vic00:08:26It's a funny idea that they, that this concept.
JVL00:08:28Yeah. It's interesting seeing how. So I, it's been a long time since I've read any comic books with Iron Man in it. Oh. And the extent to which the Robert Downey Jr. version of Iron Man has become my own head canon. Right. Wildly different than the comic book.
Sonny00:08:48Is he not? Well, certainly back then. Sardonic.
JVL00:08:51Like the. Yeah. Sardonic. He's not all that smart. Oh. He's, he's really like a second or third tier hero. That's funny. Yeah. He's, he's much less important to the overall. Yeah. Scheme of things.
Sonny00:09:03He's just not interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he wasn't, he wasn't interesting. Like ever. Yeah. Until the late nineties, early aughts. Yeah. I mean, like he was, he was just a very boring. I mean, even the, even the like, oh, drunk Iron Man. He's struggling with alcoholism. It was like, eh, they did that better with Daredevil.
JVL00:09:20Yeah. Absolutely. The other, the other thing I've been reading to him a little bit is, uh, I've been reading
Sonny00:09:25early Spider-Man.
JVL00:09:27So we, we pulled up also on his little Kindle, the Ditko Lee, early Spider-Man, and I had forgotten the amazing extent to which that was pure soap opera for, for teen boys, the amount of time spent on his crush on Betty versus his crush on Gwen and this and that. I mean, the, the fighting superhero criminal stuff is like this much. I'm putting my, my forefinger and thumb, it's high school, it's high school stuff. It's high school stuff. And it's just, it is deeply invested in all of the, the, the boyhood stuff, but the energy behind everything in from the art to the, to the writing, to the narrative voice, cuz you know, these books have narrators, right? And it is very much Stanley's voice narrating and here Marvel lights, you will notice that, blah, blah, blah. You can see why people went crazy for it and why it revolutionized the industry. It worked. It worked. Like it really, you just look at it and you're like, yes, I understand.
Vic00:10:30I get it. I believe Betty, isn't she the news anchor in the Spider-Man movies?
JVL00:10:34Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Uh, and, and Anna Lee Gorey or Ann Gorey-Lynn or something. She's very cute.
Sonny00:10:40The actress. Well, and in the, in the, in the, uh, first one, the Raimi one, uh, the Raimi trilogy, she's played by, uh, Elizabeth Banks, right? Wow. Yeah. Grant is like, she's like J. Jonah Jameson's assistant after high school. Yes. You got it.
JVL00:10:56I think that's right. That's right. So anyway, how are you boys doing?
Vic00:11:01Yeah, Sonny, what is going on? I understand you have a coyote update for us.
Sonny00:11:05Coyote update. Coyote update. So sad news in the neighborhood.
JVL00:11:13Did it kill your dog?
Sonny00:11:14No, the coyote has killed several dogs, however. Oh my gosh. It also attacked and badly wounded like a two-year-old kid. What? Two-year-old was playing out in the front yard. Mom like ran inside, you know, to get something. Oh my gosh. Was out there with like his sister or something. And coyote like saw the kid, ran up and like grabbed it and tried to run away with it.
Vic00:11:41Like broad daylight.
Sonny00:11:42Just in the middle of everywhere. So this coyote, they're-
JVL00:11:46You're putting together a posse in the neighborhood. Well, it's not.
Sonny00:11:49It's now a whole thing. It's now a whole thing.
JVL00:11:51Have you asked for $10,000? I'll kill your coyote. I want $10,000. Gonna put a barrel on him.
Sonny00:11:58The moms of the neighborhood are like putting together money to get like Critter Cody or some guy. Basically like the Dallas, Texas version of Quint to get out there. I'm sorry.
JVL00:12:14The dads of Texas? This is Texas where everybody's got a six-shooter and Spurs.
Sonny00:12:19Yeah, not really in my neighborhood. Not really in my neighborhood. But no, it's like- You're not gonna put in your 10-gallon hat and go out in Spurs, right? It's a real thing. We've got like- That's scary. We're now at the point where like the cops are driving around and like in force trying to find this coyote. We get like live video feeds of it from random people walking around. And like one went out today. And the park rangers who are like in the area were like, well, we can't do anything because it's going back to its natural habitat. It was like they- It wasn't in the neighborhood. It was like just outside of the neighborhood, you know, in the woods or whatever. And they were like, well, we can't do anything. And it's just like we're gonna- Like this is how like Freddy Krueger mobs get formed, you know. We're gonna-
Vic00:13:08You're gonna trap it in a basement and then push it into the furnace.
Sonny00:13:12We're gonna be out there, you know, like crucifying innocent coyotes.
Vic00:13:15Just finding whole, you know-
JVL00:13:17What you gotta do. What you gotta do, Sonny, is after you guys kill it, you gotta gut it, okay? Take all the viscera out and then you mount the head on a pike with the pelt hanging down behind it. You stick that out on the entrance to the neighborhood so all the other coyotes, they come by, they see it, they go, oh no, I see what they do to our kind in there. And they just bypass your neighborhood and go somewhere else.
Sonny00:13:47Or like in Game of Thrones where they- When they killed Richard's- Richard Stark's wolf.
Vic00:13:55Oh, the dire wolf?
Sonny00:13:56The king of the north. Yes. They killed his dire wolf. Oh, then they wore it. Cut its head off and put it on him.
Vic00:14:00Sonny, you could wear- you could be the king of the north. King of the south. I could do it.
Sonny00:14:04No, it's- but it's bad. It's scary. It's like the- it's like- it has gone from being like a kind of quirky, like, oh, there's a coyote wandering around the neighborhood. To like, the coyote is like going- like, so what happened?
JVL00:14:19They're unafraid. It's got a taste for children.
Sonny00:14:22There are- there are like- there's like ring footage of the coyote going up and like taking people- you know, people get groceries delivered, right? And just like going up and like grabbing boxes of groceries and stuff and wandering off with it.
Vic00:14:33They're unafraid.
Sonny00:14:33And now it's- it's not- it's not afraid of anyone in the neighborhood at all. Like, when people see it on the street, they like make noise to get it to go away. It just kind of saunters along like, uh, fuck off. I'm gonna- I'm gonna eat your kids.
Vic00:14:44So you gotta be out there with your- with your six-shooter. Wait till it- wait till it tries to go for somebody big, like an adult or something. That- that- Then, you know, it's crazy, you know, or- or rabid.
Sonny00:14:51Well, I- there's- there's- it's bad. It's- so we're, uh, I don't know. I'm, uh, wandering around now just with my Glock, shooting it up in the air like-
Vic00:15:00Question, Sonny. Question. Yeah. Uh, are they supposed to be traveling in packs or is this a renegade?
Sonny00:15:08Well, coyotes do travel in packs. Mm-hmm. But this one is- there's one in particular that's been, like, coming into the neighborhood and- Interesting.
Vic00:15:15And I'm pretty sure it's the same one.
Sonny00:15:17Pretty sure it's the same one. I mean, I- you know- I'm a- I'm a coyote racist. They all look alike to me. So I can't- I can't- I can't tell you for certain if it's- Are they- are they like- If I've seen the same one over and over again or if it's been different ones. But I have seen- Size. I've seen a coyote, like, three times now.
Vic00:15:32They all know each other, right? Just wandering around. Is it- is it about dogs?
Sonny00:15:34If I see it- if I see it while I'm driving around, I'm gonna just run it over. Yeah, you would. I'm gonna- I'm gonna- I'm gonna drive into somebody's yard and run it down and be like, oops.
Vic00:15:40Oops, sorry. And then it turns out to be a dog. Oh, sorry. I didn't know that was your dog. Are they about dog size now? What are you talking? German Shepherd size or are we-
Sonny00:15:47They're, uh, they're probably- they're probably about- this- this coyote is probably about as tall as a smallish German Shepherd. Not like a huge German Shepherd, but like a smallish. And mangy. It's much skinnier.
JVL00:15:59It's much skinnier and, like, narrower.
Sonny00:16:01It's not- it's not- it's not big like a German Shepherd or, uh, like a, you know, Husky or like a- It's very disconcerting. It's very narrow. That's very disconcerting. It's- it's- I mean, like, again, it went from being like- kind of quirky, like, ah, coyote in the neighborhood to, like, fuck, coyote in the neighborhood. Yeah, I know. So-
JVL00:16:17This is- this is not, I take it, a Hank the Tank situation. You remember Hank the Tank, the beloved bear out in Tahoe? Right, no. Right, the lovable, lovable. So- so with Hank the Tank, people were like, no, we shouldn't kill it, we should relocate it. I assume that everybody in your neighborhood is out for blood and wants this thing dead.
Sonny00:16:35No, at this point- at this point, we want to, like, string its guts for garters. Like, it's, uh-
Vic00:16:38Yeah, because he violated- he violated the-
Sonny00:16:40Well, he- he broke- he broke coyote code. The coyote code. You know, it's one thing, you can't- you can't- look, if- if a coyote's just wandering around, okay, fine. We're not gonna- If it kills a dog once- If it kills some chickens, well- That's right, a chicken. Kills a chicken. You know, it kills a chicken, like, okay, you probably shouldn't have chickens in the neighborhood anyway, but whatever. Like, but if it kills a dog, that's bad, but, like, again, it's like, you know, animal-
JVL00:17:03Attacking a baby.
Sonny00:17:03Animal on animal violence, but, like, attacking a person, attacking- attacking a two-year-old kid, like, that- that- that coyote's gotta go. That coyote's gotta go with extreme prejudice.
Vic00:17:12That's horrifying. So they basically just go for- normally, though. I mean, okay, so, uh, two more questions. One is, uh, I find it surprising that they're out in broad daylight. That's disconcerting, because I imagine they're, like- Oh, yeah, just- just around all the time. I imagine they're dawn and dusk type animals, but I guess not.
Sonny00:17:28Uh, well, there- there is some- there is some talk about whether or not this dog- this coyote is rabid. There's some- but I- but doesn't seem- actually, it doesn't seem to be. It's not- it's not moving like it's rabid. It's just, like, out in the daytime.
Vic00:17:40Mm-hmm.
Sonny00:17:41Yeah. It's just- it's just- it- it just- It's just, like, want- that's when it wants- it wants to be out and doing things. And- and- and- And it's not afraid of anyone anymore.
Vic00:17:48And- and what are they normally, like, trying to tip over, like, garbage cans and stuff like that?
Sonny00:17:52No- no, I mean, again, like, literally, just, like, going up to people's yards and, like, getting- like, if you've- if you've got- if you've got food delivered or, you know, if-
JVL00:18:01I mean, we do have- we do- we do literally- Set up a- set up a- a peapod delivery that's actually full of arsenic.
Vic00:18:07It's like- Oh, that kind of a trap. I was gonna say in a bear trap, but the garbage- the- the bag is in my pocket. I don't know what- yeah.
Sonny00:18:13I was thinking about, like, the machine guns and aliens that are just on a tripod getting motion, you know? This is, uh- Take that, Coyote.
JVL00:18:22This is fascinating. You guys need pitchforks and torches.
Sonny00:18:25I mean, that is- I- like, it really is to just about the point where it's, like, if the- if the government- if the city government is not gonna take care of this, then, like, the good citizens of Lake Highlands are going to have to- Take the law. And once we- once we get a taste for vigilantism, who knows where that's going to end? Like the Coyote. Like the Coyote's getting out of control.
JVL00:18:45One of your neighbors who maybe pirated, uh, pirated the new Nick Cage movie. Oh, he'll- You're gonna find out about that and you'll go out there. You'll lead the mob over to their house, right?
Sonny00:18:54That's why I have- that's why I'm investing heavily in drones. To do that kind of work- uh, the spy.
JVL00:18:59Not just a Coyote, but this person over there went to Pirate Bay!
Sonny00:19:03Fire a Hellfire rocket at it. No, no. I mean, it's, uh, yeah, it's- so anyway, it's bad. It's bad here in terms of- I have to go out with a dog now every time I can. Just, like, put her out in the backyard. Oh, yeah, your dog. You know, like- Oh, yeah. That's- I gotta go out there with the kids. Oh, and the kids! Somebody- somebody said, and I still don't know that I believe this, but somebody said that the- the Coyote, like, jumped up over a fence. They could do that. They got somebody's dog. I don't- I- I don't entirely buy that. I mean, like, a small fence- I never underestimate. Like, a small chain link fence or something like that, yeah. But, like, I have, like- my fence is, like, eight feet high. I'm not- I'm not super- I'm not super worried about a Coyote jumping up.
JVL00:19:41Is this a Coyote or a Velociraptor?
Sonny00:19:42Well, that's a th- like, now the- the Coyote's starting to take on, like, mythic qualities.
JVL00:19:48The Jabberwocky.
Sonny00:19:49It's like- it's like, oh, god, I- I- I came outside and there were eight exsanguinated goats. Couldn't figure out what was going on. It must have been the Coyote. Oh, you know what? Coyote's a Chupacabra.
Vic00:20:02Chupacabra! It's- it's- it's the- what was it? The goat- what was it called? The goat killer? The goat sucker. Goat sucker. Goat sucker. Yeah, Chupacabra.
JVL00:20:10Oh, Victorino, how are you, buddy?
Vic00:20:11I'm doing- Okay. Uh, uh, you know, unlike- unlike the- unlike the, uh, Coyote- How's your toe feeling? What? Toe's- How's your toe feeling? Toe's feeling fine. Okay. Even though I've had a lot of shellfish lately. Uh, unlike Coyote, I actually go for the scraps. You know, I'm not going for fresh groceries. You can't let it waste. I'm going for the old groceries. Right. So, uh, in fact, uh, here's an interesting situation. Um, so, my in-laws have left to go back to Connecticut for the summer, and then as soon as they got back, my mother-in-law calls Kate and says, Oh. Oh, I forgot. There's a few things. Uh, if you go to the apartment at some point, there's like thermostat stuff that, you know, things that they forget about. Put this way. Can you check on this? And, um, and plants and whatever. And also, oh, we had bought cold cuts. We forgot to take them with us or throw them out. Can you do that so it doesn't stink up the fridge? I'm like, well, I said, hold on.
JVL00:21:03Can't waste it.
Vic00:21:04I said, when did she buy it? She goes, I don't know. But, you know, they left, like, you know, uh, over the weekend. And she says, I don't know when I'm going to get up there. I'll eventually in a couple of weeks, I guess I'll get up to the apartment, to the apartment to check on things. I'm thinking I might go after the show. I know where she keeps her keys, Kate. I will take the key from a key chain and I will drive it in the middle of the night. How far? Stay down at Roslyn, down at Roslyn, four miles. Get in there.
Sonny00:21:30Oh, that's not far at all.
Vic00:21:31Go upstairs, go into the car and maybe hang out there, fix myself a drink and just see what, I just want to see what the date is. What is the sell by date? That's what I want to know. And what kind of cold cuts are we talking about?
Sonny00:21:42Is it? Are we talking about like fresh from the deli?
Vic00:21:45Unclear. Oh yeah. If it turns out to be like the Oscar Meyer in the thick, no, I don't know about it.
Sonny00:21:49Yeah. Nobody wants that. No, nobody wants that. If it's like Boar's Head, if it's like Boar's Head roast beef or something.
Vic00:21:53I will revive that. And if it's like, even if it has a slight off taste, you cook that, you put that, you put that in a pan. It's problem solved.
Sonny00:22:02That's not how that works. I don't think. Really? I don't think you should eat rancid roast beef even if you cook it.
Vic00:22:08It works for me. And make sure when you go to bed that you're near a toilet. But at least you didn't waste it.
Sonny00:22:14How close do you have to be to the toilet? Six feet. You mean like go to sleep next to it? No, I'm on it. Like in the bathroom?
Vic00:22:19No, if I have, if it's particularly bad, I might sleep on it. Elvis style? Yeah, that's right. Elvis, I just tilt my head on the wall. Okay. You know, at least I didn't waste it. Speaking of leftovers, over the weekend, the bad guys remained at the top of the box office with $16.2 million. I can't believe that. Followed by Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with $11.5 million and bringing up the rear is Fantastic Beasts, The Secrets of Dumbledore. So to speak. With $8.3, I was wondering why I wrote that, $8.3 million. Box office thoughts, obviously, this is the eve before the big one. Or is it a big one? Sonny, I've been hearing there's some pushback on this movie coming up. Oh, tell me, what are we talking about?
Sonny00:23:05Well, first off, the most interesting thing about the box office this week was none of that, but the fact that everything, everywhere, all at once declined. Zero percent.
Vic00:23:12Oh, yeah.
Sonny00:23:13It actually held perfectly in the, I'll pull up, since you have neglected to mention it for some reason, the great movie that is beloved by audiences and critics alike, it was actually up 2.2% weekend to weekend. Have they expanded theaters? It's its sixth weekend.
Vic00:23:35Have they expanded theaters for it?
Sonny00:23:37It added 80 screens this week. I think those were all... Those were all IMAX, though. There was like an off week on IMAX, so they put it back in all the IMAX theaters. But it grossed $5.5 million this weekend, which is slightly better than it did the weekend before. The weekend before, it had grossed $5.4 million.
Vic00:24:02So it's really just coasting along.
Sonny00:24:04Word of mouth is fantastic on this one. It is looking... It depends on what happens this weekend with Doctor Strange. I think it's going to... We'll see what happens. We'll talk about that in a second, because Doctor Strange is putting up huge tracking numbers. But we really need to celebrate the great success of Everything Everywhere All at Once.
JVL00:24:29You're all in on that one.
Sonny00:24:31Huge win. Going to be a big hit. Going to be A24's highest grossing movie, if it holds similarly this weekend. We'll see. But I don't think it will hold similarly. I don't think it will hold similarly this weekend, because I think everything is going to get blown out of the water by Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.
Vic00:24:47Is Everything Everywhere up to like $40 million now?
Sonny00:24:49It's at $35 million. Which is, again, so at $35 million, like $35 million doesn't sound like a lot. It is, however, currently the fourth highest grossing movie ever released by A24, which is, again, it's a smaller studio. You know why?
Vic00:25:04Because the ending isn't completely dark and depressing. Well, you know what?
Sonny00:25:11The highest grossing is?
JVL00:25:13Midsommar?
Sonny00:25:14No. What? Uncut Gems.
Vic00:25:17Oh, okay. The only movie that JVL walked out of.
Sonny00:25:22I'm sorry.
Vic00:25:22You want to think about, you talk about the movies I don't like. Man, Sonny and I liked it.
Sonny00:25:27He left. He left. I was shocked. I was shocked. I figured JVL would want to see Adam Sandler get his comeuppance at the end of the movie.
Vic00:25:35No, I know. Okay.
JVL00:25:36If I had known he was going to get shot, I would have stayed.
Vic00:25:38Well, you've got to stick to the end. I keep on having... Having to watch this ridiculous... It's a trailer. So you get to see A24 trailers and it's... What is this one where she... Men? Is that what it's called? Yeah. Is that one? Is that the one? And she gives it the echo into the darkness and then... Men. What is happening?
Sonny00:25:57So that's from... That is from Alex Garland. That's directed by Alex Garland who made Ex Machina. It's not like Blumhouse.
Vic00:26:03It feels very Blumhouse.
Sonny00:26:04Well, it is. It's elevated horror. It's very... It's highbrow horror. I've talked to a couple of people who have seen it. And it is... So the title of the movie is Men. The basic premise that we see from the trailer is a woman whose husband killed himself goes to stay at some house in the countryside and all of the guys in this town are played by the same actor for some reason and they're all basically trying to gaslight her in one way or another. It's going to be about how men are bad. I'm just going to... I'm going out on a limb. Going out on a limb and going to... That's what the point of this movie is going to be. We'll see how it does. I like the director who made it. It was Alex Garland. He made Ex Machina and Annihilation and he also wrote Sunshine and The Beach and 28 Days Later and a bunch of other stuff. So I like him a lot.
Vic00:26:57Which Sunshine is that, Sonny? Which Sunshine? Not Ralph Fiennes' Sunshine.
Sonny00:27:01No, Sunshine the one... The Danny Boyle one where the... Aliens? Yeah, starring Cillian Murphy and...
Vic00:27:08Oh. He has to restart the sun.
Sonny00:27:11He goes on a mission to restart the sun. It's called Sunshine. It's good. I don't think you would like it, but it's good. But anyway... Thank you.
Vic00:27:20You're saving me some time.
Sonny00:27:22That movie comes out in a couple weeks, I think, in Dallas.
Vic00:27:26So Doctor Strange... Give me a number, Sonny. Give me a number for Doctor Strange. That's what we want to know and I want to know what J.V.
Sonny00:27:31The number I am seeing... So there are a couple interesting little things going on with this movie. The number... The projections I am seeing are between $175 and $200 million, which is... Holy crap. Which is a big number. Big number. That's a very big number. Very big number, obviously. I eat my... That's a big number. There... I want to highlight... I want to highlight two... I want to highlight three things from The Quorum, which is a website that follows tracking numbers, okay? The Quorum has a nice little feature where you can compare two movies. So I want to just compare very briefly Doctor Strange and Spider-Man No Way Home, because I do think that this is... It's going to put up numbers approaching Spider-Man No Way Home. Spider-Man No Way Home had higher awareness at its release date. It had a higher awareness number, but I don't think awareness is really an issue. I think everybody knows, basically, that this is coming out. Spider-Man No Way Home also had a higher interest number. More people were interested in Spider-Man No Way Home. However, there is one very important piece of data here. There's a field... The quorum tracks location. Where would you prefer to see this film? In theory, the way the poll originally started was in theaters or at home. But the question now is just, are you interested in seeing it in a theater, basically? Whereas Spider-Man No Way Home was at 60% interested in seeing it at a theater on opening weekend, Doctor Strange is at 70%. What? I thought it was going to be lower. More people are interested, a higher percentage of people are interested in seeing this movie in theaters than Spider-Man No Way Home. And Spider-Man No Way Home opened to about $250 million, right? It was a huge, huge hit. I don't think Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is going to do that. But I could see it putting up $215 to $235. Oof.
JVL00:29:31I mean, the idea that... JVL. A Doctor Strange movie, which the first Doctor Strange opened to... I want to say $45.
Sonny00:29:42No, it's like $70. It did okay.
JVL00:29:45That they could get the opening of that to $3X. It's just another demonstration of Marvel's strength as a brand. And that the IP is so strong. Yeah. That they can do with Shang-Chi and Doctor Strange, these tertiary characters. Yeah, and McMagic.
Sonny00:30:05Doctor Strange. I mean, the thing about Doctor Strange is at least it is connected to, you know, Marvel Phase 2 and 3. Like, people are still, people remember it from the Thanos movies. There are lots of, you know, people are going to want to go see it opening weekend to avoid being spoiled of all the cameos. Oh, is that okay? I don't want the cameos.
Vic00:30:24Sonny, have you seen the movie yet?
Sonny00:30:26I have seen the movie. Oh, my goodness. Don't spoil it for us. I won't spoil it. I won't spoil it.
Vic00:30:31So there are, because I don't, I have, I don't know of any cameos, so I should go in with that. That's good.
JVL00:30:38Yeah, that's good. I have a question for you, Sonny.
Vic00:30:40I hope it's from the Eternals. I hope the Eternals make the cameo. It's what I'm hoping for.
Sonny00:30:44Angelina Jolie's show.
Vic00:30:45Oh, thank God.
JVL00:30:47Is Top Gun going to be the monster I think it is? Has to be. I don't know why. So that's another one. I just have a feeling that people want to see this movie. Yes.
Sonny00:30:56So here, I.
JVL00:30:59People are arranging.
Sonny00:31:00I think, I think two things. I think two things at the same time. One, I'm, I'm kind of surprised that people are talking about it as like a must-see movie.
Vic00:31:08It's a great trailer. That said. The most recent. It was fantastic.
Sonny00:31:11Everything I have heard from everyone who has seen it is that every, they're just all blown away by it. Oh. Like absolutely blown away by it. That it, like the, Paramount kept it out off of their streaming service for a reason that they are, they are, they are, they kept it to be a big summer release for a reason that the word of mouth on it is going to be amazing. This is Memorial Day? We think it's a Memorial Day release. Yeah. But it's, it's, I, I, everything I have heard about it from people who have seen it, I have a friend who's going to the. The premiere tonight, um, to, to see it in San Diego and everything, everything that I have heard about this movie is that it is going to be an enormous, massive, monstrous hits with people who go see it. People who go see it, love it. So whether that translates to good enough word of mouth to keep it going, we'll see. Uh, but I, I have, I have heard, I've heard very, very strong things despite the fact, I mean, look, it's a legacy sequel. I'm, I'm like.
JVL00:32:08That nobody was asking for.
Sonny00:32:09That nobody was asking. For starring a guy who is frankly like outside of the mission impossible movies at this point
Vic00:32:15is kind of hit and miss a lot of skepticism, a lot of skepticism when you first heard about this.
Sonny00:32:20And, uh, I'm, I was skeptical. I'm still a little skeptical because I've never been a huge Top Gun guy. I'm just like, it's, I think it's before your time.
Vic00:32:28It's before your time.
Sonny00:32:28It's good. It's good. But it's a little before my time. Yeah, I know.
Vic00:32:31I know. I know. Sorry. There's no video showing me a JVL. Victorino and I are both, we are, we are both.
JVL00:32:40I'm going to walk out of this podcast. In disapproval.
Sonny00:32:42Yeah.
JVL00:32:43Not a Top Gun guy.
Sonny00:32:45I'm not a Top Gun guy. I mean, it's a, it's an okay movie. It's like Tony Scott's seventh or eighth best movie.
Vic00:32:51No CGI is what I loved about it. They flew those things.
Sonny00:32:54It's like Tom Cruise's 20th best movie.
Vic00:32:56Victorino, I got a question for you. Yes. I joined the Civil Air Patrol after that movie. If I wasn't blind as a bat, I'd be an F-14 pilot right now.
JVL00:33:04At the time.
Vic00:33:06Yes.
JVL00:33:06At the time. Yes. Yes. No, don't go to like. You know, with the current knowledge. At the time, Meg Ryan or Kelly McGillis?
Vic00:33:17Oh, Kelly McGillis. Kelly McGillis. She reminded me of somebody. So I was like, oh, yeah. So there was this thing. But speaking, while we're talking about this, why couldn't she have made an appearance in this movie? Meg Ryan. Say it. Why not? Yes. Who?
Sonny00:33:35Kelly McGillis?
Vic00:33:36No, no. Both. That would be great. And I know, I know. How do we know? I don't know if Kelly McGillis isn't in it. That would be wonderful. Right. But what's her name instead? Like, the woman in this movie is. Jennifer Connelly. Thank you, Jennifer Connelly. Jennifer Connelly, right.
JVL00:33:48But why not? She's ageless somehow.
Sonny00:33:51Because Jennifer Connelly is ageless like Tom Cruise is ageless. I mean, that's the real reason. But like, not like. Jennifer Connelly looks amazing for a 50-year-old woman. And Kelly McGillis looks like a properly aged mid-50s woman.
Vic00:34:07Which also is fine. But it's. Like, I have to. Speaking of Tom Cruise, you know, before any movie in AMC, I have to see the Nicole Kidman promo for AMC. And she's, you know.
JVL00:34:19It's insufferable.
Vic00:34:20And she's got, you know, it's a lot of work done. She has no wrinkles. Yes, thank you, Sonny. Oh, if only the video showed Sonny's impression. Like a Facebook Live version of this. I thought I was looking at Nicole Kidman with a beard. That's what I was looking at just now.
Sonny00:34:33She was with Tom?
JVL00:34:39Dead. D-E-D, dead. D-E-D, dead. D-E-D, dead.
Vic00:34:45So what about Meg Ryan? What do you think? Do you think they asked her or do you think they didn't ask her?
Sonny00:34:50No idea. I don't know. Come on. JVL, give me something.
JVL00:34:52Come on. Well, she's the mother of the Goose character, right?
Vic00:34:57Of Miles Teller. She would be Miles Teller's mother. Yeah.
JVL00:35:00You know what? I'm just so there for this movie. Good. I hope they don't.
Vic00:35:03Is she being replaced by another actress?
JVL00:35:05We don't know.
Sonny00:35:06I actually already have my tickets, so I'm excited to go see it.
Vic00:35:08You're not seeing it? I'm not seeing a screener for this.
Sonny00:35:11I assume there will probably be a screening, but I bought tickets just in case. Okay. Because they have it showing the Wednesday before it comes out at my local draft house. So I have tickets for that just in case. But I will, if there is a, hopefully there's a screening at the IMAX because I want to see it on IMAX. I want to be deafened by the afterburners in IMAX.
Vic00:35:32And again, because they're flying F-18s and I believe, I'm looking at the footage and it looks like they're flying F-18s. I think Tom Cruise would, of course. Just be an actually, like he's in the backseat of a plane when they're filming this. He has with cameras and everything.
Sonny00:35:44There's something like 300 hours of aerial footage or some insane amount of like aerial footage. Yes.
JVL00:35:51That's what I want. That's what I want. When they reveal that this is taking place in a parallel universe, Vic is going to lose his shit at the theater.
Vic00:35:58That's right. He's going to see each other. He's going to be this other Tom Cruise.
JVL00:36:01When it turns out it's Top Gun in the multiverse.
Sonny00:36:04Tom Cruise goes through a sonic boom and all of a sudden it's 17 Tom Cruises. Again, you can't see me.
Vic00:36:10Vic is going to be very unhappy. You can't see me. I'm getting very upset now. Okay. We're not talking.
Sonny00:36:14Everything everywhere all at once in the air.
Vic00:36:17Yeah, that would be it. So, 35 minutes in. We are actually talking about a movie that's not quite as exciting as Top Gun.
Sonny00:36:25Area Podcaster shoots up theater.
Vic00:36:29It's very, does it? It did not take my breath away. Okay. We are talking about a movie that came in number six on the box office. This week, that would be the un, the very unwieldy name, the unbearable weight of massive talent. It's a long title star. It's, it's, it's, it, I might as well say to Wong Fu. Thanks for everything. Julie Newmar had a great time. See you next week. Starring Nick Cage, which they got a lot of great potential. I'll save my comments for later. Sonny, how about a big boy review?
Sonny00:37:07The unbearable weight. Of massive talent is the much awaited, much anticipated movie where Nick Cage plays Nick Cage. Oh, it's high concept. Nick Cage plays a, an actor named Nick N-I-C-K Cage, who is, uh, he's, he's in debt, not technically to the IRS in this film. He actually owes the Sunset Tower 600 some thousand dollars because he has, uh, stayed there for a year and they want it. They want their money. And he's trying to get, he's trying to get one last big part from a, from a hotshot director played by. David Gordon Green in this. I don't know if you guys caught that.
Vic00:37:41Who is he?
Sonny00:37:42But the David Gordon Green is he, he's made the, the two most recent Halloween movies. He's a, oh, so he's like a real, he's probably playing an indie, but he's like a real, he's a real director. He's a real director. Um, uh, he's trying to get this one last big part and they go another way and he decides to see, he's gonna, he's gonna earn a million dollars by going to the birthday party for an international kingpin of crime played by, uh, the Mandalorian himself. Pedro, Pedro Pascal. Um, uh, and goes there, gets hijacked by the CIA. Who's like, Hey, this guy may have kidnapped, uh, the daughter of a presidential candidate to get, to be able to do, do drug deals in Catalonia. You gotta, you gotta figure out what's going on there. And it becomes kind of a standard action comedy of the studio Hollywood mold. And that's it. That's the movie. So here's, here's the thing. There's, there are two different movies here. There are two different movies here. The first movie is. A relatively clever, I think, fairly funny critique of Hollywood and the idea of movie acting versus movie stardom. Okay. That's about the first 30 minutes of this movie. And it has lots of nice little jokes, like the aforementioned David Gordon green appearance. Um, the fact that, uh, Nick cage is constantly riffing with a, a imaginary version of himself from the, uh, wild at heart era. He's played by this, like, he has this like terrible, creepy de-aged CGI thing going on, which I think is actually like part of the meta joke here. Um, and, and all sorts of, they're, they're just little, they're a little funny, funny tidbits. Like the bit about, uh, you know, do I need, what, what do I have to be the gay uncle in a, in a, um, uh, God, what are those brothers names? Duplass brothers movie. Like they're, they're like little, they're little funny, funny jokes that are like very specific to this moment in Hollywood and also like the idea of a guy trying to like, get back to where he was there. The movie, the movie in this part reminds me a little bit of adaptation, the two Nick cages. So, which is another, so that movie was directed by Spike Jones, written by Charlie Kaufman. It is essentially about Charlie Kaufman trying to write the adaptation of Susan Orleans book, the Orchid Thief. Uh, and he has in that movie, an imaginary brother named Donald Kaufman. Who's like, he's real in the movie, but not real.
Vic00:40:07I was going to say, wait a minute. I saw that. I saw the movie. You're telling me he was fake.
Sonny00:40:10Oh, he's, he's, he's real in the movie, not real in real life. And, and it's all about, again, that, that tension between, between selling out and doing the Hollywood thing and like being true to yourself and being an artist. And that movie is great. And it culminates in a third act that is essentially a, an ironic mocking of like, how would you tell this? How would you end this movie in a studio fashion? And it's great. It like all works really well. Adaptation as an ironic comment. So this movie. This movie is 30 minutes of that. And then it's like 75 minutes of a very standard, I would argue, subpar action comedy from a studio, from a big studio movie that has big studio beats, that stars big studio people in comic relief roles like Tiffany Haddish, who I almost always hate. I thought she was very good in the card counter, but I just find her generally grating elsewhere. And she is in full grating mode here. And Ike Barinholtz, who I find generally grating all the time. And some things, but I generally find. And they are both being very standard Haddish-Barinholtz roles, and it's very annoying. The whole thing is this. The whole thing tries to do the ironic comment on, you know, oh, if we were a terrible Hollywood movie, we would have an action beat here. But this is a character-driven thing. But we have to have a trailer moment. So we have to do it. And it just doesn't work. It doesn't work at all. It's not funny. All the best jokes are in the trailer, which we've seen. We've seen it a million times. It is really, it's really very disappointing. The whole thing is very, very disappointing. I was really looking forward to this. And I would have overlooked a lot, I think, to champion this movie and be like, this is the thing we need. Nick Cage needs to make his comeback. It's a great idea. And it does not work. It doesn't. It just doesn't work. I'm sorry. I wanted to like it, and I did not like it, sadly. JVL, did you get a chance? Did you get a chance to see it?
JVL00:42:09I did. I liked it. I didn't love it. Oh, you did? I didn't love it. But I was charmed enough. I was charmed enough by it to enjoy it. And it's not a great movie. If it had been 30% more madcap, then it could have become an instant classic. It's not off kilter. Enough. Right. Not even the meta-ness. My favorite joke in the whole movie is when the young version of himself, Nicky, is berating him at a bar and then kisses him and he's making out with himself and he enjoys it. It's just fabulous. Everything about that is a fabulous moment and a fabulous beat. But the rest of the script is just dialed. Back a little bit from that. And I don't know.
Sonny00:43:13I was charmed by it.
JVL00:43:15I enjoyed spending time with Nick Cage and Pedro Pascal going around stoned. I did not even really like stoner stuff. I don't know.
Sonny00:43:26I will say.
JVL00:43:27Maybe, Sonny, is it possible that you were too keyed up expecting this to be like an instant classic?
Sonny00:43:32It's certainly possible. And look, here's the other thing is most of the stuff with Nicolas Cage I actually like. He's always interesting to watch. He's always doing interesting things. And even the stuff that I think is slightly off key, like, for instance, the his delivery of the monologue from the Boston crime drama where he is like, it's it's bad. I mean, it's like intentionally bad. He's doing it intentionally. Like. That's not what I like. It's it's Nick Cage making fun of himself, but making fun of himself in the wrong way. Like, I don't think he would. I don't think he would deliver something that bad.
JVL00:44:05How about the the. The very patient set up where Cage has asked Pedro Pascal's character, Javi, his three all time best movies, and he goes face off, then he names this like experimental German cinema from 1930. Oh, the cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Right. And and then at the end, you know, we get like 45 second montage of the two of them drinking here and drinking like this all night bender, just trying to hash out the best movie ever. And he finally says Paddington, too.
Vic00:44:38You mentioned this.
JVL00:44:39And this is a funny thing, because which is a legitimately great movie.
Vic00:44:43I would really like to see this flips out at him and yells at him.
JVL00:44:47And we then smash cut to the two of them as the credits are rolling on Paddington, too. And Cage's is bawling, which is, again, if if you have seen Paddington, too, you make the joke even better. John Padorez is right now nodding his head along with me.
Sonny00:45:01Felt felt me me felt like a meme felt like they were trying to make a meme happen.
JVL00:45:06I don't even understand.
Sonny00:45:08I mean, that criticism, honestly, I mean, it's like it's it's how I feel about everything in Thor Ragnarok, like the you're you might be wondering how I got here moment from the from the trailer. And like, it's like they're they're making they're going out of their way to do something that will appeal to the Internet people and like will become a meme fan service cage. Nicolas Cage crying about, you know, watching Paddington, too, is like Twitter bait. That's just it's Twitter bait is what it is. This is I got to say, I don't understand. I have to dislike. As I said, I don't understand. I turn the knob down.
JVL00:45:39I turn when I turn my can you could you could you criticize the art itself instead of Frank
Vic00:45:44Lutz meter? Do you do that when you're watching in the screen at Sunday?
Sonny00:45:48You just I wish I wish I had one of those. I would I would be working at all the time.
JVL00:45:52Sonny, could you criticize the art itself instead of your I've been criticizing the frustration with the expected reaction of the audience?
Sonny00:46:00I've been criticizing the art itself this whole time. I just don't I don't think it works. I don't think it works. Yeah, the movie doesn't work for me.
JVL00:46:07Again, I. I would not I would not go back and watch it again. It is not an instant classic. It is not a legendary. But on the other hand, I thought it was just charming enough. And I I did not begrudge a single minute that I spent with it. So it probably is 15 minutes too long, but I didn't which is funny for it didn't bother
Vic00:46:26me seven. Right.
JVL00:46:28But it didn't not a long none of that bothered me.
Sonny00:46:30It also it's it's both it's both like slightly too long and it's both clearly had some stuff ripped out of it. Yes. Like, for instance, the. When they when they get to the CIA. Yes. And like Ike Barinholtz is already. Yes. Yeah. And Tiffany Haddish had been shot. And she's like, what happened to Ike Barinholtz? It's like, wait, what happened? He's a legitimate actor.
Vic00:46:48He's not he's not he's not he's not some, you know, B actor or whatever. I mean, not to be. He's not a, you know, some unknown. I mean, he's.
JVL00:46:56Yeah, it feels it feels like they rip like 15 minutes out of that part of the story. We went from the van and suddenly. This and Lost City of D. But neither sort of lived up to their potential. Right. Lost City of D could have been. And again, it just wasn't written well enough. It could have been like really, really good. It could have been old school levels of outstanding if it just had been written better. But it wasn't. It was just sort of fine. Plus the CGI of Lost City. But this, I don't know, I just I enjoyed it. Like, look, if you go to the movies every week and this is the movie you see that week, then I you're pleased with it. So, yeah, that was fun. Victorino, what'd you think?
Vic00:47:34I was not expecting to like it then. I really started to enjoy myself in the first, you know, 30 minutes or so. And then once the CIA thing happened, once he landed in Mallorca, which, by the way, is the Cancun for Germans. That's like that. That's their that's their Daytona Beach. So you and the Mallorcans hate it. Yeah, I didn't. You know, it's like it's it's great, but it's like a million tourists there and they're all from Germany. And then it just I just got so annoyed by that whole thing and just plot holes and it used to feel like things jumped. And so on the quadrant score, I was going to give the plot an A plus. That's very easy, straightforward. But then the CIA thing happened and I got so angry that I dropped it to a C. They were in the van telling him, oh, you know, it's like the worst line of the we're with the CIA, you know, or whatever it is. And you've got to help us. Really? What was your plan? Because you weren't expecting the cage to be there. What was the right? I'd like to know what the original plan is. And suddenly they jumped to I thought he was imagining in his mind what he'd have to do. But suddenly we jumped to the birthday party and he's doing all this stuff. And then again, the thing with suddenly she and again, you know, he's talking to Nick Cage is talking to Tiffany Haddish. And and I was like, I was just really annoyed. And then all of a sudden I see I bear it holds in a chair and he's either knocked out or dead. Do you think? And is she does she die at the end? Do they both die? What happened? They both die. They both died.
JVL00:49:06Victorino, did you not enjoy? The sort of buddy comedy hangout stuff with Pedro Pascal and kind of kind of.
Vic00:49:13And I like Pedro Pascal in this, by the way. So the race chemistry together duration is an A action violence. It was like a B and sex nudity is an F. And I'd like to bring this is a rated R movie. There's a lot of profanity in this movie, but I'd like to bring up face off when John Travolta. Well, OK, it's hard to explain, but it's John Travolta, Nick Cage. I mean, I'm sorry, not. Yeah, John Travolta, Nick. Cage and they do the face off. And so it's now John Travolta, but secretly Nick Cage inside him pretending. And so he's now a villain. He comes home, discovers he has a family. He knew he had a wife, but then John.
JVL00:49:50Joan Allen. Oh, and the girl, the daughter, right?
Vic00:49:53Was that Alicia Cuthbert? Oh, in my mind, it was. And he opens the door and she's there on the bed like, oh, hey, dad, I'll look that up. And she's like only like in like short shorts and something. And do you remember? John Travolta says under his breath because it's terrifying. It's like really scary because, you know, he's not the dad, but it's creepy. And he just says under his breath, the plot thickens. OK, so you get points for that. There was any Dominique Swain. Oh, yes. Dominique Swain as in Lolita. Yes. OK, as in that's really that's that's that's, you know, great work. It's great work. OK, I think there was a lot of potential. And there's I like the idea of wanting to know what people I think in general want to know. What are actors like when they're not in character? Like, what are they as themselves? And it's amusing even if they're pretending like John Malkovich and being John Malkovich.
Sonny00:50:50Yeah, I mean, I think I think this movie has has some good ideas. And I do think there's there's something interesting in in the scene where Nick Cage is like, well, they say I work too much. How can I work too much? You know, I just actor. I like to work. This is what I do. And like the the the the tension between stardom. And choosing star projects and being a working actor and trying to work all the time is a real one. And I think it's interesting. And I just like, I don't know, man, I like there. I wanted the whole thing to be like the first 30 minutes and only the first 30 minutes was like the first 30 minutes.
Vic00:51:24I agree. The couple of funny lines you talk about these little bits. One of them is, you know, I think it's when Nick Cage discovers Pedro Pascal's shrine to Nick Cage. How much do you pay for that? Right. Which is a great line again, but it's in the trailer.
JVL00:51:39I'll give you, it's grotesque. I'll give you $20,000 for it.
Vic00:51:4220, he doesn't have money. Uh, but, uh, there was a reference. I think it was like, oh, that's the gun from, he's a captain, not, not the one for face off, but Captain Corelli's Mandolin. And what does he say? He, in passing, in passing, he goes, oh yeah. Oh, it's underrated.
Sonny00:51:59It's thanks. And I think Nicholas Cage says, thank you or something. Right. Like, it's like, yeah, he was like, no, it's nice.
Vic00:52:04He's like, yeah, thank you. No, it is underrated.
JVL00:52:06He says, and that's really nice. It's really funny. No, his vanity to, to, to the fact that in the, the very beginning when he's in a therapy session, it turns out it's not about his therapy. It's like him and his daughter and he has nothing to say about hysterical because he's self-obsessed as many actors can be, I imagine.
Vic00:52:22Uh, and then there was a, uh, the other thing, it was at the very end of the movie and he's talking about his belt buckle. Uh, and he said, oh, it said, did you hear that? The bees? And he says, oh yeah, not the bees though. He said, cause it could be like bees, but because not the bees, I mean, that's, that's funnier, man. Right? Yeah.
Guest00:52:37Yeah.
Vic00:52:37So, I mean, I, uh, it's funny. And the idea, as you mentioned about the other Nick cage, his alt, you know, his imaginary Nick cage is, is, uh, younger. Uh, it was also, if you notice not only how he was, you know, CGI young, the voice was slightly younger sounding than the old Nick cage too. And there were moments when imaginary in a cage actually had the same voice as from when Peggy Sue got married. Do you remember how ridiculous, uh, he was very young at the time, but he had that ridiculously high sort of voice. And it's a really interesting character. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was interesting, but the, I have to tell you that whole CIA thing, that plot just really tanked it for me.
Sonny00:53:23It's just so, it's so generic and boring and blah, like, I mean, it's, it really is like, it really is like something you would get from Robert McKee. It like, it, it like, it's like, uh, it is like that whole bit. Of adaptation, except just like unironic. Like this is the movie we're doing.
JVL00:53:42I liked it. Victorino, what'd you think of the daughter? Corrections. Shout out.
Vic00:53:50Hold on because that, that actress is 23 years old. I know. Okay. I don't have to. I thought that his daughter, she is, she's a sheen daughter. Is she Charlie?
JVL00:54:00Kate Beckinsale.
Vic00:54:02Oh, that explains it. You know, it's so funny. I was just thinking about Kate Beckinsale. This morning. I mean, no, not this morning when I was out, I was, uh, I was, I was at work. I was at work and I was, I swear to you, I was at work. No, I'm not kidding. I really was thinking about Kate Beckinsale, but it was unrelated. And we thinking about her later tonight too, as it turns out, let's try this time to end the show. Uh, as it turns out, I was like this girl. Okay. She's pretending. I just want to put point out. She's pretending to be 16, but she's actually was born in. She's very old. She was born in the nineties. Okay. She was born in the nineties, Lily Mo Sheen. And, and so I was like, who is the Sheen? So it's not Charlie or anything. This is, I wonder who, very interesting. Oh, I thought she was great.
Sonny00:54:49I thought she not, is she not Len Wiseman's kid too? Is it not, is that not, I can tell you, I don't know.
Vic00:54:54I just thought she was the highlight of this movie. That's all I got for you. Thank you for asking. I don't know why you would ask me that you didn't ask Sonny.
JVL00:55:03You asked me, should we, uh, should we rank the Nick cages? Oh, is that, or do you want to save that for the bonus, save it for the bonus.
Vic00:55:11People are going to have to wait a few days cage draft.
JVL00:55:14If you will. There you go.
Vic00:55:16Nicholas cage draft thinking about this all weekend. Um, the weirdness of the title. Can I just say this? And then we'll move on. Um, is this supposed to be an unbearable, like a play on unbearable lightness of being, is that what this is?
Sonny00:55:31I don't know.
JVL00:55:31I think it's, again, it's a relic from when it was a quirkier, when it was a quirkier story, a title like that would have made sense, right. But again, it's just too conventional. It's it shouldn't have been as conventional as it was.
Vic00:55:46Well, so if you haven't seen it, by the way, unbearable lightness of being, it does great on the quadrant. Let's just say that. Okay. Uh, all right then. Any other thoughts on this? All right. Uh, corrections, shout outs, anything sunny.
JVL00:56:00Are you drinking?
Sonny00:56:03No Corona light, Corona, Corona light. Oh, that's imported. That's Corona. 99 calories brewed and bottled by server. Seria Modelo, Mexico, La Playa. Must Fina Pacifica was my somewhere in Mexico.
JVL00:56:18That's right.
Sonny00:56:19Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Vic00:56:21Okay. That is 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. Tell your friends, just go to sub beacon.com. We're there. Don't wait two weeks for this episode until next. I had one observation to end things.
?00:56:37Do you have something other than that, or, or I can go now I can just, and you could end it yourself. You have something else.
Sonny00:56:41Go. You can tell us. But it's very short.
?00:56:44It's very short.
Vic00:56:45So just be prepared. I'll just say that I'm, I'm, we, uh, we got a big game tomorrow. Oh yes. My boys. You know, we're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game.
JVL00:56:56We're going to have a game.
Vic00:56:57We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game.
JVL00:57:00We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. We're going to have a game. So just be prepared. I'll just say that I'm, uh, we, uh, we got a big game tomorrow. Oh yes.
Vic00:57:09My boys.
JVL00:57:10And, uh, I think I might let flash pitch. You should. I had him do, uh, I had him pitch against our team in practice yesterday. It was funny.
?00:57:20I'm short.
JVL00:57:21All right. What do you got Victorino? Uh, the ending of, uh, I was going to say, what's it called?
Vic00:57:24The name of this movie is unbearable weight of massive talent. I have to honest this I'm being absolutely honest here. I did not initially recognize that that was Demi Moore as me neither.
JVL00:57:44Oh, right.
Vic00:57:45Me neither. Right. And I was like, Oh, I think she's somebody, but Sonny, did you recognize her? You did. I kept on staring. I gotta go. No, it can't be. Is that?
Sonny00:57:56Oh, I was like, No, that's I was like, Oh, it's Demi Moore. This must be the movie. It must be a movie within the movie they're making.
Vic00:58:03Yes. Well, the one thing I noticed is, well, that's not the actress who plays his wife.
JVL00:58:07So I thought the joke in that scene was that they cast as the daughter, a girl with giant boobs.
Sonny00:58:16Well, I think that was that was wasn't that the joke?
JVL00:58:20Okay, great. The movie version, the daughter is like, slow mo with her boobs jiggling. Great. Up and down. That's great.
Vic00:58:27I know they could have. But I didn't even notice Demi Moore. Real daughter would have been fine too. Real daughter would have been fine. That would have been great. I'm sure it's fine.
Sonny00:58:33I'm sure it's fine.
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