#124. 'Elvis'
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The main topic is Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, which surprises even Sonny — a self-described Luhrmann skeptic — into loving it; he argues the film isn't really a musical biopic at all but a superhero origin story about the creation of an American myth, with Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks in a fat suit and a wandering accent) functioning as the Salieri to Elvis's Mozart, à la Amadeus. He finds the first 90 minutes hyperkinetic and brilliant but thinks the back third, once Elvis gets bogged down in Vegas and Parker recedes from the narration, sags — the 2h40m runtime is 30-40 minutes too long. JVL calls it "the fable version of the Elvis Presley story," agreeing the first 75 minutes are "a truly great movie" before it bogs down after the army section, and blames the sag partly on estate-mandated sanitizing (Priscilla is rewritten as a saint who doesn't even mind the affairs). Austin Butler's performance is praised by all three as genuine acting rather than mere impression. Vic's Quadrant scores land at Plot A++, Duration C (upgraded from a threatened F), Violence/Action B (he found the musical numbers, especially the Vegas orchestra's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" open, riveting), and Sex/Nudity C; both he and JVL then swap stories of formative Graceland pilgrimages — JVL's post-college road-trip epiphany watching a weeping fan with an 11-inch Elvis calf tattoo, and Vic's 1997 college trip — that turned them into real Elvis obsessives, while Sonny admits he's never been. Opening banter runs long: congratulations to friend-of-the-show Kristen (KSI) on her new baby, JVL's move to New Jersey (Eastern European movers whose friendly small talk veers into white-nationalist demographic panic, a surprise third truck, and an agonized tip negotiation), Sonny's three straight dentist visits (a gum infection, no cavities ever) sandwiched around a California funeral trip where he watches Newport Beach women cosplaying "real housewives" get shushed by a restaurant manager, and Vic's mall trip with his daughter that turns into an extended, deadly serious set of etiquette rules for conveyor-belt sushi, plus his own benign jaw-bone "torus" diagnosis. Box office: Elvis opens at number one with $31.2 million over Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion, while Lightyear suffers a brutal 64% second-weekend drop.
From the show notes
Adventures in moving, adventures in dentistry, and adventures in mall going. And then, Elvis!
Full transcript
Vic00:00:00He's a young singer from Memphis, Tennessee, give him a warm hayride welcome, Mr. Elvis
Guest00:00:09In that moment I watched that skinny boy transform into a superhero He was my destiny. I wish to promote you, Mr. Presley. Are you ready to fly? I'm ready, ready to fly.
Vic00:00:59Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sub-Beacon. I'm Victor Matus along with Sonny Bunch and Jonathan V. Last. Just a reminder, the Sub-Beacon is now available through Patreon. Go to Sub-Beacon.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. And where are you? Hey! Hey, what's up Victorino? Oh! You just out with your Gumar?
JVL00:01:27Gonna go out and get some cabagool over at Sergio's.
Vic00:01:28Oh, that's quite an accent you got up there. So here's what's interesting. You know, you hear about families from the north. They move when their kids are very young to the south. And suddenly the children are talking like southerners and such. Is something going to happen to your family? Are they going to start saying like, you know, when I go up to when I go up to Jersey, everybody says, hey, Victor, everybody, hey, Victor, is it going to be is it going to be like that?
JVL00:02:02It'll be very interesting to see what how that shakes out over the coming years. Yeah, it's it's great. I'm up here. First, first, Victorino JVL, I had no idea who you guys are going to have in for me last week. And when I heard the dulcet tones of Michael Warren, America's dad, it was fantastic. It was. Ah, Mike, thank you for sitting in and what a great show was with you. Well, yes, Mike is Mike is a delight.
Vic00:02:31Mike is a delight.
JVL00:02:32Can we also start with congratulations for our friend of the show? Oh, my gosh. Sanderson who
Sonny00:02:37Oh, one co-host in the past, you know, just absolutely wonderful.
JVL00:02:42Just now. I don't want to complain, but I had thought that KSI and I had an agreement that I would be on the second wave of texts that she, you know, like your first wave of texts with the baby pictures. Yeah. Yeah. Are to like family, really close friends and family. But then you have the second wave of like, you know, friends. And I thought that our agreement was that that instead I have to get a forward of a tweet.
Vic00:03:07But second wave JVL, the second wave is tweets now. Yeah. Tweets. Tweets are the gram. Yeah. What a baby. I'd like to consider myself in the second wave.
JVL00:03:16That is an adorable looking KSA with a beautiful baby girl, she and Chris. This little girl is lucky to have Kristen and Chris who are great parents. So congratulations, guys. Okay. So I'm in Jersey. I made it. We are in the house. There are boxes everywhere, but the Internet is working half the time. But now I have a mesh explain, explain your mesh setup. My mesh setup is the Netgear Orbi, which, of course, doesn't tell you much because there are like nine different types of Orbi. The whole mesh router system is a mystery. The answer seems to be you should just spend fifteen hundred dollars. But I didn't do that.
Sonny00:03:57And well, I mean, you don't need to spend fifteen hundred dollars and a good euro system. That's what I have. I have the euro system works perfectly. Two hundred bucks. Two hundred bucks.
Vic00:04:07I had I had a mesh and now I'm in the middle of a class action lawsuit. Well, thank you, Jamie.
JVL00:04:14I anyway, what do you guys want to hear? I got so many moving stories. Yeah. Well, how is how is life out there?
Vic00:04:21How is life in the in the promised land?
JVL00:04:24Well, you know, so I'm driving with G Money a few days ago and he's the backseat. We're just out doing one of the fifteen trips to Home Depot that we've done so far. Yeah. And he says. Dad, you know, I really like our new house. That's great, buddy. I'm so glad to hear it. He goes, So when are we going to go home? Oh, I said, What do you mean home? He said, You know, back to our other house. Oh, I said, Oh, never, buddy. This is where we're we're living and there's where we live now. Silence. And he goes, What I was like, Oh, he thinks this is he thinks so far. It's like we've been having a fun staycation at a B&B or something. Oh, man. How many days into it?
Sonny00:05:07What's this?
JVL00:05:08It's like two weeks into it for him for me. So so can we talk about movers? I think everybody likes talking about movers.
Sonny00:05:19Yeah, sure.
JVL00:05:20Oh, sure. We chat. I don't remember if we chatted in the last time we with you about the movie situation. How did it go? Oh, it was it went. It went early on my my movers were of Eastern European. European descent, excuse me. And yeah, I was having a nice conversation with one of them. I really liked these guys and we were just talking about this and that and you know, I was trying to get his story from him and he talked about how he had gotten married here in America and then before and then had a kid and they got divorced. I said, Well, you know, that's great. He said, Yeah, I wish we'd had another kid. I was like, Well, you know, kids are hard and it's it's tough. And he says, You know, people aren't having enough kids. And I'm like, Yeah, that's true. Did you give him some of your literature? This is something I know a lot about. He says, You know, especially here in America and in Europe, all of a sudden, my spidey sense starts tingling. He goes, You know, not like in Africa and Asia. Pretty soon, people will start having more, more babies, there just won't be any more white people anywhere.
Vic00:06:30Oh, come on. You didn't say that. You didn't say that.
JVL00:06:34And I tell me, I guess, I guess they leave that part out of it. And I just was like, Whoa, we got to white supremacy real fast, didn't we? I was just like, Tell me your story. And then we're white power bills story.
Sonny00:06:46I mean, look, that's an integral part of his story. So don't deny his truth.
JVL00:06:51I guess I don't deny his truth. So here's here's the thing that happened. So after quoting me an incredibly high amount of money as to what it was going to cost to to do this move. He then says to me is we're two thirds of the way through the move. You have more stuff than I thought. We can't fit it on two trucks, we have to get a third truck. And he's like freaking out about who's gonna get a third truck and you know, it's gonna cost money. He's like going nuts about it. And I was like, Okay, well, you know, you're the professional, I'm sure you're, you'll figure it out. And, you know, it's like hours of him like, you know, is, you know, very nice Eastern European tongue on the phone. And at one point, he says to me, How can you be so calm? Why aren't you freaking out? I said, buddy, would it help you? Ah, that is a line, as you know, from Bridge of Spies. Oh, I said, you know, if it was if it is helpful to the situation, if we'll get us to a resolution faster for me to freak out, then I guess I'll do it. But my working understanding here is that you'll you're gonna do your job and I'm gonna do my job. And he's like, I just don't understand how you can be so calm.
Sonny00:08:03And I was like, I don't know, maybe four kids. Did you? Did you explain to him that you have already done your job by writing him the check? Oh, no. For the service? No, no problem to figure this.
JVL00:08:14I had to. I had to stroke a third check, Santino, a third check, and you have. And then I had to go and get cash out for the tip, because evidently you don't tip your movers. And you know what? One of the things that I saw as I was hunting around. So my sister and I and my brother in law are sitting this final night trying to like crowdsource. What is an appropriate tip? I think I reached out to you guys about this, right? And many of the things that I saw suggested that it's like a restaurant bill where it should be a percentage where I was going to ask, is it a 15% even? And I thought to myself, no, 10% of this is going to be another $1,500. No. That's not right. No, no, no. Should I be giving these movers an extra $1,500 after they fucked me on how much the whole thing was going to cost in the first place?
Vic00:09:13No, the tip should be like a meal at a rest stop.
Sonny00:09:18You tip a flat rate per guy, so between $50 and $100 per guy, something like that. I think it's reasonable.
Vic00:09:26For that distance of a move, yes, I think.
Sonny00:09:28Wait, I have a question. So was it the same guys in the truck? Yes. Did the same guys unload the truck? I have a second question. Did you get a mom and pop mover? Is this a guy who has one truck? I don't understand. No. Was it Mayflower?
JVL00:09:45No.
Sonny00:09:46No, no. In that type of- It was a local- You don't have to tell me.
JVL00:09:50Don't tell me the actual name, but like- No, it was a local, but an actual company, and what many of these companies do is they don't maintain their own fleet of trucks. They are renting the trucks.
Sonny00:10:00They rent the trucks.
JVL00:10:01Right. This was the Bratislava bros.
Sonny00:10:03That's what they are.
JVL00:10:04Bratislava bros. Anyway, it's fine. It's fine. We're all out here. Nobody wants to hear about my moving- I bet you didn't get-
Sonny00:10:10Do as you got us. ... binding estimate? I mean, I got an estimate.
JVL00:10:13I don't know how binding any of these things are, and the estimate was, in fairness, it was based on the idea of there being two trucks, and everybody's estimate was two trucks. Again, I did bid this out to multiple vendors, and everybody's estimate was this job will require two trucks.
Sonny00:10:31Yeah.
JVL00:10:32How big was the truck? 26 feet.
Sonny00:10:35So it's like one of the big moving trucks.
JVL00:10:37The largest moving truck you can have before you expand into semis. Yeah, I was going to say. Okay.
Sonny00:10:43So before you hit semis. So it wasn't a semi. Right. No. Again, it wasn't like a Mayflower- No.
Vic00:10:49... container thing. When do you tip, by the way? Do you tip at the ... When does that happen? Because I would always think ... In my mind, we always end up tipping people at the end of the service, but I always think in my mind- Yeah. ... that it would be more useful- Yeah. ... to tip them in the beginning. To tip in the beginning. Right? Same thing with parking valets, by the way. I read a book. The same guy who did the waiter rant-
Sonny00:11:11Waiter rant.
Vic00:11:12Yeah. He did another book about tipping. And supposedly, according to his reporting, he talked to parking valet people who say, "Oh, if they don't get a tip at first, they don't like the guy," they do terrible things in your car.
JVL00:11:24I'm sure they do. I don't doubt that. I don't doubt that for a minute.
Sonny00:11:27Don't doubt that for a second. No. So my move- I had different guys in DC and different guys in Dallas.
JVL00:11:35Oh, so I assume you tipped them both.
Sonny00:11:38I tipped them both. So I tipped the guys- Sucker. I tipped the guys in Virginia. It's another snow job. And then I tipped the guys in- Oh!
Vic00:11:45Speaking of which- Oh, hold on. Speaking of which, save that one for later.
Sonny00:11:50No, but I think we ended up doing 50 bucks a guy in both locations was about what it came out to. I don't know. Maybe I screwed them. I don't know. Maybe that was too low, but-
JVL00:12:05Whatever. The point is we're here and I've already gotten to taste the fruits of living in New Jersey because when I went to see Elvis this week, I went on a date with my mother-in-law, Peggy. I said, "Peggy, I'll come over. I'll pick you up." We dropped Flash off at her house so that he and Pop Pop could sit and watch Yankees baseball all night and we- Like the Yes Network? On the Yes Network. And Peggy and I went out to the fanciest AMC we could find, which was-
Sonny00:12:39The look on your face. The look on your face when you said the fanciest AMC I could find because I wanted to ask. My understanding of the New Jersey theater situation is that it is poor.
JVL00:12:51So we can talk about the AMC because it is interesting. I went to a concept AMC. It was not a normal one. It was AMC Dine-In. Oh yeah. There are a few, which is really a halfway house version between AMC and Alamo. We can talk about that experience later. But the truly great experience was being able to sit there with my mother-in-law and watch this ridiculous movie. And it was great. The idea that I have a movie buddy, because she, I don't know if you guys remember, but I often take her when it's the summertime and we're down at the beach together, I would take her to see like Rampage or I think she and I went to see Bridesmaids together. Once. But I love going to movies with my mother-in-law. It's great. Really depends on the movie. Yeah, I imagine it's a lot like going to see a movie with your dad, Vic.
Vic00:13:40Oh, he's he's very easy, hardly says anything, though, you know, it's great. I saw Kate. It was the funniest thing is my me, my dad and Kate, just the three of us over the years have all seen like most of the Harry Potter movies together because it's like, I got to
JVL00:13:57see it. You know, got to see what happens.
Vic00:13:59The Half-Blood Prince can't be left behind.
Sonny00:14:00But have you been watching the the Fantastic Beasts movies?
Vic00:14:06No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, so you're not. You're not. You're not. Hallows part two.
Sonny00:14:11That's it. Okay. So you're not you're not watching with bated breath as Ezra Miller destroys. No. His his whole career. I don't know if you guys have been following this.
JVL00:14:19Oh, yeah. Anyway, Sonny, how are you, buddy?
Sonny00:14:23I've had a terrible like three weeks. It's been it's been not great. So as some some folks will remember. I mentioned this on the show. My lovely wife was out of town for a week. She went up to visit a her her mom and her husband.
JVL00:14:39You've been driving your daughter to camp in Plano, Texas, nine hours away each day.
Sonny00:14:45My kids to to various camps in the suburbs of Dallas.
Vic00:14:48So it's only nine hours away this this week.
Sonny00:14:51The camp was at the Perot Museum. Oh, yeah. The Ross Perot Museum. Oh, yeah. The Ross Perot Museum. The Perot Museum. I think I've talked about the seconds now. I think I've talked about this on the show before. But the Perot Museum is awesome because it's like a natural history museum. So, you know, it has like dinosaurs and birds and, you know, diamonds and gems and whatnot. Right. But then it has a whole wing that's like the miracle of oil, which is like no joke. No joke. That's like the whole. It's like, you know, like a Simpsons. Yeah. Yeah. Humans used to rely on the sun for energy and you could only feed like two humans per square mile. But then we found hydrocarbons and now we frack them. And it's like it's it's genuinely like Troy McClure doing, you know, welcome to the wonderful world of oil. So that that that's fun. I'm glad she's learning about the importance of oil. I think she's actually learning about dinosaurs this week, which become oil, which is an equally
JVL00:15:50dinosaurs are an important part of the petroleum lifecycle.
Sonny00:15:54Yeah. So anyway, over the weekend, last weekend, I had to we we had to go. We had to go out to California for a funeral. I don't really want to talk about that too much, but it was awesome, awesome. It was good times at the funeral and at the the wake and all that stuff. Just just really wonderful. We did get to spend some time in lovely Southern California, which the weather was one of the
JVL00:16:23big time.
Sonny00:16:24Eighty degrees. Oh, yeah. This this big. I don't know if you guys have been. I saw. A little moments ago. Or is it happening? No, it's happening. It's it's a done deal. USC and UCLA are leaving the Pac-12 to go to the Big Ten.
JVL00:16:37Oh, so the Pac-12 becomes and Washington and Oregon, I think, are leaving, too, to go to, I think, the Big 12, the Big East.
Sonny00:16:44I don't know. You know what might as well. So the the the college football landscape has has all the University of Washington is actually
JVL00:16:52going to the SEC. Sorry, correction.
Sonny00:16:54Nothing. That makes more sense. That makes more sense. And then on top of all this. So we get back on Monday. We get back on Monday. I take my mom back to the airport. She was nice enough to fly out here. I take her back to the airport. She flies home. And then I have I have a I have a teeth cleaning at the dentist. I got some dental.
JVL00:17:11Oh, we can't. You know, this show can't handle any more dental talk.
Sonny00:17:15I got some dental talk here. So I was I was going in.
JVL00:17:18Did you get any cadaver bone?
Sonny00:17:20No, thank God. Thank God I did not have any malignant horror movie teeth in my head. Yeah. I I just I went to the I went to the so this is a this is a sad confession I have to make. I have not been I've not had a proper teeth cleaning since I moved to Texas. It's been like two and a half years. Funny.
Vic00:17:41Okay. But remember this. I go every four months. I go every four months.
Sonny00:17:45Seriously? Yes.
Vic00:17:47How do you do that?
JVL00:17:48Every six months. And that's enough for me. But the four listeners need to be reminded. Months is not enough for me.
Vic00:17:53Listeners need to be reminded that Sonny famously has perfect teeth.
Sonny00:17:57I've never had a cavity and I have still never had a cavity. Yeah. I went to the I went to the dentist and they they were checking me out and they said it was a 90 minute appointment for this first one because they were like, here's your first time. We got to do all the X-rays. Yeah. And I don't know if like dental technology has had like a quantum leap forward in the last two and a half years, but they put my head in this machine and the the thing was like spinning. Yes. You got a panoramic. It was it was taking like 3D pictures of my skull, you know, actually kind of cool.
Vic00:18:25You know what that does? You know what that does? That raises the amount of money you have to pay. Of course. Of course. Of course. I guarantee you, you know, the dental insurance is like, what? Oh, no, you didn't need that.
Sonny00:18:38So anyway, we do we do it like for like 40 minutes. We're taking X-rays. 40 minutes. And you can't move. And we can't move. And we and we sit down to actually do the you know, do the inspection and do the cleaning. And the hygienist looks in there like, oh, hmm. Hmm. Yeah, we're going to need to do like an extensive cleaning and I was like, OK, I can I can kind of understand that. And on top of that there, I had a like minor infection on my gum line.
Vic00:19:06Oh, you basically came in with like the teeth of a homeless person. Is that what? I mean, no cavities, but they were all yellowed and I mean, they were they were like the normal
Sonny00:19:17amount of yellow. I mean, I would not say they were overly yellow, but the the dentist, the dentist, the dentist.
Vic00:19:24I mean, the dentist, the dentist, look, you know, that kind of thing.
Sonny00:19:29You know? Yeah, basically. So the dentist looked at my teeth and literally she looked at him for like two minutes was like, No, these are all fine. You just got to get that fixed. So we we ended up having so the first the first hour and a half appointment ended up only being about an hour. And the oral hygienist was like, I got to schedule you for the next two days to get in here and get them. And so I had to go back for the next two days and get like, on the on where the where there was the gum infection, I did have to get some like Novocaine. So they shot it up. They shot it up real good. My mouth did not work for for basically that whole day. And the second day, because it's like numbing agent.
Vic00:20:06So you know, you legit had an infection.
Sonny00:20:08Yeah, no, there was like, so I saw my wisdom teeth, teeth, my perfect my perfect teeth. And there was there was like, there was like an abscess on the gums. But like, but again, the dentist was like, it's not a it's not a it's not on the tooth. So we're not actually that worried about it. It's just you've got a little pocket here. Where you've got those you got those you got those wisdom teeth back there. And they look great. We don't have to take them out or anything. But you know, they it's hard to floss.
JVL00:20:37I was like, Yeah, doctor was ready for his boat. Then those wisdom teeth will need to come out.
Sonny00:20:43Very hard to floss there. I do so much flossing back there. Let me tell you, it's impossible to reach.
Vic00:20:50So anyway, I have like the teeth for you. It's like the version of unbreakable.
Sonny00:20:55But no, it is a like T. And this is all this is entirely. This is entirely genetic. Like my dad is the same way. My dad, I think he's had like one cavity in his whole life. Like my mom's teeth are like chalk, basically. But the but the you know, anyway, long story short, I had to go to the dentist for three straight days, which was tons of fun. Tons of fun. You guys, I love going to the dentist.
Vic00:21:21Ah, well, you don't have to tell me.
Sonny00:21:25So anyway, that's been my that's been my three straight days.
JVL00:21:29Three dental visits and a funeral.
Sonny00:21:32Three three dentist trips and a funeral. Southern California was nice. It was actually nice. I like whatever that we could talk off the air about the actual ceremony. I don't want to talk about it on the air, but the but Southern California itself was very nice. And we went to a very nice restaurant on in in Newport, Newport Beach. Oh, sure. We were right on the water. Literally right on the water. I'll send you guys pictures, but it was fun times when we this restaurant. So one story about we went to this restaurant, it was like it was a very it was a fairly nice restaurant. It was like pretty expensive because, again, it's on the water. So it's like a fairly nice restaurant, but it was just stuffed. The tables were stuffed with women who were like cosplaying real housewives.
JVL00:22:23Were they cosplaying or were they actual? Yeah, I was going to say maybe that's just because. No, no, no.
Sonny00:22:30They were more beach. They were definitely like wannabe real housewives of Newport Beach, like like they were just they were like fifty two year old women all dressed up and done up. And when one of them would show up, everyone at the table go, ah, and then they start doing just like to the extent that to the extent that the manager had to come over at one point was like, ladies, you got to calm down because you're making everybody else here uncomfortable. And that that. And they did not care for that. They did not like to be shushed anyway. Fun times.
Vic00:23:04Intriguing. Maybe they were maybe they were auditioning for something.
Sonny00:23:07Vic, how are you doing?
Vic00:23:09I'm fine. You know, I've learned to live with that bump in my jaw that everyone tells me is not a tumor or an abscess. It's just this bone that's stuck out there. So, you know, malignant tooth node unrelated. You remember? I mean, it was it's this bone on the side of my jaw that can't look at that. Don't try to show me. It's probably Bill. It's probably just a big tumor, right? So they did it. The panorex and it's it's and my dentist went right in there. Jonathan's covering his eyes and he's like, that's that's bone. That's not a it would show up big bone. Yeah. You know, it's jutting out. It happens. The Wolverine blood doing all this to your body.
JVL00:23:49What was that? The Wolverine blood. Wolverine blood. I don't know. I don't know. I'll tell you what. It's like bony protuberances. I'll tell you what's going on. It's like your claws. That's right.
Vic00:23:59Yeah. Well, that's happening, too. It's not having to you guys with the retractable claws like it hurts when it comes out. But it's pretty handy. I think it's out ever since I split my tooth and I had it removed that I couldn't wear a mouth guard. The grinding and then the grinding causes a thing called a Taurus. It's not that uncommon, but nevertheless, it's weird. But we'll see. Maybe they were wrong and the X-ray didn't pick up the fact that it's a tumor. Okay. Other than that, I went to the mall. I went to the mall over the weekend with.
Sonny00:24:30Which mall?
Vic00:24:31Tysons. Tysons. You know, the mall where there was a gang shooting.
Sonny00:24:34Tysons 1?
Vic00:24:35Yes. Yeah. I'm not ready for Galleria. Come on now. It's for my daughter. She had to buy some stuff. First of all, again, no idea how that clothes for girls are expensive. That's crazy. Two, kind of weird hanging out outside dressing rooms of women's and girls like clothing stores.
Sonny00:24:55So I.
Vic00:24:56In what way? Weird for you? Oh, it's my daughter. Oh, by the way, she's. Just here with my daughter. I thought she was in that dressing room. Sorry. Right. Next thing you know, it's like Ronnie Dangerfield and back to school. You know, he's looking for his son in the sorority house, by the way, you're perfect. You know? No. But then we went to the ridiculous conveyor belt sushi because she loves that. It's such a. It's a. You know what I'm talking about? Oh, yeah. It's so ridiculous. But it's like the second or third time I've done it. Sushi go round. In my in my life. Right. I put. I just wanted to provide our listeners with some advice in case they go to the conveyor belt. Number one, let it go around for a while. You don't need to sit down and start grab. Oh, that looks good. I'm going to take it. See what's out there. You know, don't waste it. You're going to end up like with what account if you miss it?
JVL00:25:47What if you take it and then what if you see something like and somebody else takes it, Victorino?
Vic00:25:53Well, there's going to be more. I'm convinced of this where they they will refill these things. And every now and then. It's like the same number, the same number of things. And suddenly there's something new that appears. That's kind of exciting. But just let it go around a couple of times.
Sonny00:26:05Can you put in requests? Can you not that I don't know?
Vic00:26:08No, not that I know. That's not a lot. It's just like whatever they put out there, putting it out there. Yeah. OK, so that's just let it go. And then once you get a general feel of, hmm, OK, now I'm ready, then take something that you want. But, you know, once you take it, you can't put it back. So just wait for it and don't waste it on like a cow like again, like a California roll. Don't put that anywhere. Look for something that looks interesting. That's my first rule. The second one is one plate at a time, like you might like a couple of things and don't do that. I'd say this thing will keep on going. It's not going to end. So when you're finished. Then take your time and then get something else. Don't start loading up your table. You can get full. I mean, just there's no rush is my whole point. And then my third advice is, of course, avoid the gimmicks, you know, because you're there for the sushi or the sashimi. There was one. It's called Japanese snacks. I'm not going to get that. You know, it's like, I don't know, something like little little like little like crackers. I don't need that. How much does that cost? There was another one, peanut butter and jelly roll. That's basically like white bread and they stuff the peanut butter. Maybe if you have kids. You know, OK, that you can think I don't think that's a grown up. No, I can't. Well, yeah, I wouldn't get that. And then every now and then they'll throw in some dessert, you know, and all the conveyor belt is like a slice of cheesecake. Ah, you know. That's a bit much. So my warning, my warning to everybody is just to be consistent with what you get, because if you start mixing in all sorts of different things. You can have a situation in your stomach and you're in a mall and mall bathrooms. You don't need to go there. Unless you're just going there for like number one, but if there's anything else, you don't want to be in a mall for that kind of things.
Sonny00:27:52It's what about in Galleria?
Vic00:27:54That's an interesting one. I would rather go to like the hotel connected to Galleria. Like where Johnny Depp was, I would, yes, I would go to the Ritz where Johnny Depp was and use that bathroom. Otherwise there's all sorts of horrible.
Sonny00:28:05Oh, was he staying? Was he staying at the, for his trial? He was staying. He was staying at wait, he was staying at the Ritz out in Pisces instead of the one at Pentagon city.
Vic00:28:16I guess that makes sense. No, it was down the street.
Sonny00:28:18Cause it was on chain bridge road. Yeah.
Vic00:28:20Yeah. Right down there. And he went to the, uh, and he would go to the Palm and get a chicken Palm and get like thousand dollar wines or whatever it is.
JVL00:28:26I think.
Vic00:28:27My sources tell me it was like, I don't know, $3,000 a dinner or something like that in any event. Uh, but again, careful how much you could be King. Yes. Oh, speaking of which I had another one, by the way, Sonny, my, mine was a little bit more, um, uh, crude and it was just careful how much you eat because you don't want to have a bathroom situation. Speaking of which over the weekend, Elvis squeezed one out at the box office, uh, three, I thought it was going to be a top. Tie $31.2 million, uh, over top gun Maverick with 29.6 million. And in third place was drastic world dominion with 26.7 million, um, box office thoughts. I have two thoughts for you. One, uh, what is the drop on Jurassic and two, where did light year go?
Sonny00:29:21Uh, another thing though, worth noting, there was a fourth movie that grows more than $20 million this weekend. Uh, the black phone group did 23 million did better than, uh, people were expecting it to do, you know, low teens, mid teens. Uh, and it's one of these horror movies that just, you know, these, you can ever, you can ever be quite sure which one's going to pop, but this one I think did pretty well. And I think it might actually have legs too, because a, there's not a ton of other horror movies on the horizon or, uh, except for the Jordan Peele. Nope. Um, yeah, this is a Blumhouse movie. The Blumhouse. I saw it this weekend, this week, uh, after one of mine. My many trips to the dentist, um, uh, and it was, it's, it's interesting. It's not a good movie exactly, but it, it has some, some kind of good stuff in it anyway. Um, the drop on drastic world was, uh, I think like 55% or something like that. Uh, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's holding okay. It's going to end up, you know, getting up towards three 50 to 3 75, somewhere in there. Um, so that, that's fine for this movie. Um, it's about what you would have expected, uh, for a three cool light years has fallen off a cliff. I mean, it dropped 64%, I think, uh, first weekend, the second weekend, which is a huge drop. That's a huge drop. And, uh, I, I did not expect that frankly, I, I figured it would hold okay. Because it's the, it's like the only new family movie out there.
JVL00:30:48Yeah. Except that it failed because kids didn't want to see it, but it failed because kids
Sonny00:30:52didn't want to see it. But I think, I think Disney has, I think Disney has created a problem for itself. Yeah. In which, uh, they, they have trained folks to wait for cartoons on Disney plus. Yeah.
Vic00:31:03I think that's, I think that's a real, I don't want to see it. I saw the trailers and the first one I like better than the second one, the trailer wanted
Sonny00:31:11to see it.
JVL00:31:12And I thought it's positioned almost like it's a hard sci-fi with a character. They don't like the character that they know, but it's a different version of the character. Like with the voice. Well, again, I mentioned some last year how confused I was about this.
Vic00:31:25Yeah. But the second thing is, you know, you. You'd be going in as a kid saying, where'd the, where's the other toys?
JVL00:31:29Yeah. No, I, I just think it was wrong in every just conceivable way.
Sonny00:31:33Okay. Yeah. Uh, I think that's, I think that's definitely part of it. I mean, we'll, we'll see what happens with minions is gonna do really well. Oh, I think it's probably gonna, I think it's probably gonna do pretty well, but I think, I do think, I think Disney has created a minor problem for itself with its, with its emphasis on Disney plus with its moving everything from Pixar for the last two years straight to Disney plus.
JVL00:31:53Just cause it knows that all the Pixar movies are garbage.
Sonny00:31:56Yeah. Really interesting. Yeah.
Vic00:31:59Soul was good. Host Lassiter. Host Lassiter.
Sonny00:32:02What did you say Sonny? Soul was good. I like soul. Uh. False. Uh, but they, but they've also been, I mean, they've also only given the Disney movies short runs in theaters and thinking Canto was there for 30 days. Yeah. Raya and the last dragon was like split between, it was, it was a Disney premiere act.
Vic00:32:16That's gotta be a regret for them because that's gotta be their biggest hit in Canto.
JVL00:32:21Uh. Yeah. And people came to that, the, the, and Canto is like the princess bride. Yeah. But in, in the theaters, it did not work and the strength of the soundtrack of that music saved. Right. I mean the, the, so people came back to the daughter once they were listening to the soundtrack. Yeah. Yeah.
Sonny00:32:40Yeah. Okay. So, uh, anyway, um, yeah. Lightyear lightyear sucked was, was bad box office, but Elvis, Elvis was kind of a surprise hit too. I mean, I like, I, you know, I was expecting, I, I was texting our friend John pot awards and I said, I put the over under on it. It was like 17 and a half million.
Vic00:32:58I thought it was going to be a bomb, uh, relative other Baz Luhrmann.
Sonny00:33:01Well, I mean the, the only Baz Luhrmann movie that has opened higher than this was, uh, the great Gatsby, which opened a $50 million, but that also starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Uh, and it started, you know, uh, uh, Tobey Maguire, like that had, that had like real stars was, was kind of positioned and it, and it had, and frankly it has, you know, it has a good pedigree. People want to see great Gatsby movie. Uh, but the, this, this I thought was going to be, I thought this was going to be a tremendous bomb because I figured it was aimed at old audiences and old audiences have not come out to movies. I mean the, uh, the, it was, it's been kind of the, the, uh, last holdouts are the, the older audiences and the, the audience for this, I think was 61% over the age of 35 and 50% over the age of 45, which is, which is a very old audience. Relatively speaking. Um, it's a very, well, I mean, it's, it just is, it's like over 35, I'm over 35. I'm like in the, I'm in the old quadrant.
Vic00:34:07I'm like old man and I are now the ancient one, I guess. So, uh, that's what we're talking about this week, by the way, it's Elvis, uh, by Baz Luhrmann, uh, Sonny, how about a, a big boy review?
Sonny00:34:23I think what people have to understand about Elvis. The movie by Baz Luhrmann is that it is not a musical biopic. It is a superhero movie. This is not, this is not, this is not a, this is not a movie that is about Elvis and his life and times really. It is a movie about the creation of an American myth and, um, and an American God and like it, it's, it is very much a, a movie about the mythology of America, the story we like to tell ourselves, the heroes we like to create. Yeah. To portray it. And it's not subtle about this. It's not subtle about this. I mean, there's a whole early stretch of the film where, uh, Elvis has a child is running around with the Shazam lightning bolt. Um, he's running around with the Shazam lightning bolt going from, uh, the, the, again, this is not a subtle movie. He's, he's ducking between the whorehouse where they're playing RNB and then, and the, and the, the church that where they're doing a revival, it's the sacred and the profane. And it's, you know, this is what rock and roll is. It's sacred and the profane above, uh, uh, but it is a movie about, it is a movie about a superhero and his origin story, his birth, his life, his death. Um, and what that meant to, uh, to America and to the people around him. Um, you know, I, I, I, I went in this, I was kind of dreading this movie cause I am not a Baz Luhrmann fan. I'm not, I think it's a bit much, even as somebody, even as somebody who likes movies that are like. Uh, maximalist kind of over the top movies. He has always been, he's always rubbed me the wrong way. Um, uh, Moulin Rouge is like, makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it. Uh, and the great Gatsby I thought had had its moments, but it is still kind of a, it's, it's just kind of an over the top and Julia, I like it. Okay. I mean, I, I like, I don't, I'm torn on that one cause I kind of like it, but I also like, again, it's just a lot. It is just a lot of movies. Yes, it's a lot. And this is a lot of movie, but it's a lot of movie in the service of a very specific thing again, which is creating this idea of Elvis as larger than life, uh, myth. And it does, it does it in an interesting way. You know, I've had, I I've seen people compare the movie to walk hard, the Dewey Cox story, right. Or walk hard with Dewey Cox, whatever, um, whatever that movie is called. Uh, which is like the, the, like, if you, if you've ever seen a musical biopic, this right.
Vic00:36:53It's a parody with John C. Riley. Right.
Sonny00:36:57This is right. Exactly. Like you, you never need to see another musical biopic after you see this movie because it hits, it like shows all of the beats that you hit in these stories. But I don't think this movie is like that. This movie is more like Amadeus. Um, and the Solieri figure is Colonel Tom Parker, um, who was played by, uh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Colonel Tom Parker, uh, who was played by, uh, Tom Hanks in a fat suit, uh, with a kind of vaguely ridiculous accent, European Africana. Conor's accent. I don't know what, I don't know what exactly that is he's doing, but in Dutch, uh, but, but you have to have, like, I know some people have complained that there's too much Tom Parker in this, that it's like from his perspective too much, but I think it actually works really
Vic00:37:42well because you have to have, but that was the same thing with Amadeus, which was narrated
Sonny00:37:46by the villain. Exactly. Right. Exactly. This is, again, he is the Solieri in this. You can't, Amadeus does not work as a movie without Solieri and the, uh, the, the, the whole, the whole way the film is built is it's like, look at this disgusting pretender who like talks about having to, you know, trick people with his snowmanship. His, he has got a snow, he's got to do the snow job to shake free all of their loose cash. And you compare that like conniving Huckster to a guy with actual talent, right? Elvis is like a force of nature. He's like a, uh, a man who's like very hip twitches can like induce involuntary spasms and women, right? Like that. It's like a superpower. Superpower is not really the music. It's the, uh, impact that his, his hip wiggle has on, uh, the rest of the world. Um, I kind of loved it. I kinda, I, I, it's, it's such a ridiculous movie, but I loved how ridiculous it was. I loved, I loved how they leaned into it again. It's a superhero movie. It's not, it's not a musical biopic. It's not really a, it's not a, it's not even really a boss Lerman picture, uh, so much as it is like something that is. The Warner brothers comic book movies. Um, and frankly, I think the movie, when it slows down a little bit in the last 45 minutes or so, this is too long. The mo the whole thing is too long. Uh, the first 90 minutes are very like fast paced, high tempo, go, go, go, go, go. And then things kind of slow down a bit as Elvis, as he gets bogged down in Vegas, you mean? Yeah.
Vic00:39:17As he, as he gets bogged down in Vegas and as a prisoner against his own, well, the movie,
Sonny00:39:21the movie slows down and like stylistically, it slows down. It's not just, you know, uh, The, the fact that we're not really going anywhere, it's that he's, you know, he is, he's stuck there and we're not cutting as quickly and we're not doing as many ridiculous things. And that, that, that section of the film, again, it goes on a little bit long. It's it didn't quite work for me, but I, I like on the whole, I actually, I'm shocked. I'm shocked at how much I liked it.
Vic00:39:44JVL, you have all sorts of expressions on your face. I'm trying to read them, but I'm not really sure what to make of them.
JVL00:39:49Yeah. I'm a little, I'm a little way down here because in my notes, I literally have written that biography of Elvis. It's the fable version of the Elvis Presley story. And, uh, I, I, it was rare that I find myself in near 100% agreement with Sonny, but basically there for the, with a little bit of a caveat, I, I really didn't like the second half because, uh, well, for reasons that I don't really know, um, the, for the first hour, 15 hours or 20, I sat in my seat thinking to myself, this is a truly great movie, uh, and, uh, right up until he comes back from the army. And once he hits Holloway, once he hits, uh, Hollywood, the whole thing just bogs down to my mind. Yeah. And I mean, it's, it's two hours, 40 minutes. It's probably 30 minutes too long, maybe 40 minutes too long, but on the other hand, I can't tell you where. It's not like that back 40% of it is bad exactly, but it just feels bloated.
Sonny00:41:05Well, it just, it, everything slows down. It goes, it goes from being, it goes from being this kind of hyperkinetic again, lots of whip pans and, and Dolly pushes and, uh, and like rapid cutting and like super and like, and like a hyper re he, he shoots this movie. It's funny. He shoots this movie like it's, um, the movies that called the mind were 300 and sin city where there's the constant green screen background that creates a kind of hyper reality.
JVL00:41:35And you see that the, the, there's a very, very sin city moment where you get an actual, like the animated black and white, right. The car going down the, yeah, same thing in my notes.
Sonny00:41:46But it, it, it, but it, it, once they get to that Hollywood sign and have the conversation with the hippies, it all just, all that kind of stops. Yeah. It just slows down. And also the other thing that happens here is that Tom Parker recedes from the narration of it. He, he becomes less focal and less, less, less. And I think that's a problem. I think that's, it's again, it's like you, if you rip Sully area out of the last hour of Amadeus, that movie doesn't work.
JVL00:42:14So one of the, you thought about Amadeus. I thought about Hamilton where, uh, Parker is the Aaron burr figure of this movie. And the problem is that. That in, in Hamilton burr becomes more important as you go on. And in, in Elvis, in, in this telling Parker becomes less important as you go on. So you're sort of building away from the climax of that relationship. Uh, but the other, the other real problem I actually think is all about rights. Um, so this is, so the, just the truth is that the, the, well, I think. I think the reason the back half feels bloated in the front half does not is because the front half is telling a lot of story in 75 minutes. And then the back half, the truth is for the amount of what's going on. I mean, it only covers like five years of his life, I think, you know, or maybe a little bit more than that, but not, not a whole lot. And it just is, it's pulled up. And, and why is that? It's because this is a blessed piece, uh, blessed by the Elvis Presley corporation. I was wondering about it had to be, if they were going to get the music, cause you can't make this movie without the music and in order to, to sanitize Elvis's life, those last five or six years, you have to just chop out all of the important stuff that happened. And so the, the extent to which, if you know, even this much about Elvis, this is sanitized to a ridiculous degree, which again, wouldn't be. A problem except that it means you, the second half of your picture, you're not very happening in it. Well, there's just not as much happening, right? I mean, when the sanitized version just has, it's flatter, there's less story to tell. And I think that's the problem is that the, you know, this had to be signed off on by, by the Elvis Presley corporation. And to do that, you would've had to make this, I think a shorter movie, uh, because it just isn't much happening.
Sonny00:44:23And I don't even. I don't even mind the sanitization. I mean, there's, there's a lot of faintly ridiculous stuff in this movie about like equal rights and like, you know, Elvis Presley as like crusader for civil rights or like Elvis Presley as, um, uh, there's a, there's a very funny moment in the film where, uh, before Elvis is a big star, they, they are listening to his album or listening to one of his LPs and Tom Parker, uh, is like, oh yeah. That's by the, the record company that makes all the albums for the, for the colored kids. Right. And one of the, one of the young guys is like, we're going to have, he's going to open up for us in front of the hayride, you know, but, and, and, and he's like, we should have him, we should have him at the carnival. And Parker's like, we can't have a colored kid at the, at the carnival. We can't do that. And the, and the, the other character says, no, he's white. And then everybody else in the, in the, in the scene is like, oh, he's white. He's white. It's like having. Having a sociology major, right. A line about cultural appropriation in a movie like that. Yeah. It was a bit sequence play on the nose. And like, again, again, it's, it's on the nose and it's ridiculous, but it is also like the unsubtlety is the point. Like you, you are, you are building this American myth. It is, this is like, again, I find it, I find it a really fascinating work. I wonder if an American filmmaker could have made this film because it is very much a movie from an, it's like an. An outsider's POV of like, what is it? What is like a great American of the 20th century? What is his life like?
JVL00:46:02Victorino, what'd you make of it, buddy? I was interested in what, I was interested in what the duration of it would overwhelm everything for you. It's not a well-paced.
Vic00:46:10You and I are big Elvis guys, right? You more so, I think. Yes, you are. But first the quadrants and then my thoughts. So.
JVL00:46:21Terrible on quadrants.
Vic00:46:23Yes and no.
JVL00:46:24Because this movie is death on quadrants.
Vic00:46:25Yes and no. So the plot, I gave the plot an A++. It was very straightforward. It's like a biopic. This is his life from Baz Luhrmann's vision.
Sonny00:46:34It's interesting because we're hopping around a lot. A little bit.
Vic00:46:36I had, well, maybe because if you're familiar with Elvis, you know what's going on and you pick up on everything. And because you know how it ends and what's going on, I could spend more time appreciating some of the little details. There's a scene in the. In the in the limo after he's divorced with Priscilla and it's like the last time, you know, and he's already with his girlfriend, Ginger. But when they're having this conversation about, you know, you know, with talking about the daughter and everything else, Lisa Marie, you see, you could see in his head, he's holding the scepter.
JVL00:47:13Yeah.
Vic00:47:13JVL, the scepter, the royal scepter, which sometimes is a flashlight, but that's OK because he's the king. I mean, it was like I said, I'll watch you. I'm just staring at it and kind of like laughing to myself. So I really thought it was OK duration. I was going to give it an F and I upgraded it to a C and I'll tell you why. I just give it a C. I saw it was going to be two hours and 40 minutes of Baz Luhrmann. I'm like, oh, and I honestly thought to myself, I'm just going to leave after two hours, you know, because I can't I don't think I can handle the musical numbers.
JVL00:47:47And no, no. And I feel too good.
Vic00:47:48You had to watch them two hours and 40 minutes of Moulin Rouge would be a bit much, you know, and. I found myself just glued and of course, wanting to get to the end because I was curious, how were they going to get to the end?
JVL00:48:01I got to stay for suspicious minds.
Vic00:48:03Oh, my gosh. OK, so that's that. And also the ending itself is like not a dry eye in the house. I said, are they going to show the actual footage of Elvis in all of his glory? That it's one of the few heads that are bigger than mine when you see that. And and he's singing Unchained Melody. I'm like. Oh, my gosh, this is so good. So I didn't feel action violence. I was being sort of half joking here where I gave it a B because it was musical action. Sorry, I found it riveting. I'll tell you what I found riveting. So he goes to Vegas and, you know, it's like, OK, you know, he started with, as he explains, you know, just three or four guys in the band. And now he's got you know, he's got his black singers, his white singers and then a 30. And his band. Yeah. And then this 30 piece orchestra. And do you know that the scene where he tells the brass to the opening that those three
JVL00:49:03opening notes. And it's his Zastra opening.
Vic00:49:07Yes, I also struck Zarathustra, right? The theme like 2001. And then after that, going right into. In a theater with that sound. Yeah, the whole thing, the whole thing. And I looked, you know, in the theater, there were old people. And I looked and I could see them tapping their feet. They were into it.
JVL00:49:28So I am interested in what anybody who has not seen that, who did not understand. Yeah, that's how it used to open. That is, to my mind, the greatest way that any concert or show could ever possibly open. Right. I mean, to have that.
Vic00:49:44What they didn't show is that sometimes when he'd come out with the white towels and he would wipe his sweat and then give the towel away.
JVL00:49:51Yeah, throw it into the. And they gave a little. A little bit of the Battle Hymn of the Republic medley. Yes, I heard that. Which is another one of my favorite. A little bit. That's right. Bits of Elvis Ania.
Vic00:50:00I've been to Battle Hymn. And then Sex Nudity, you're going to have. Really failed. Really failed on this count. You might have to bleep this, Sonny. Look at the time mark here. Sex Nudity, I gave it a C. Why is it a C? Because you don't see anything, but the girls, the expressions on the girls' faces. You know what that expression was?
Sonny00:50:24Oh, boy. Do I have to bleep that? Oh, come on.
Vic00:50:26If you don't, I'm going to get in so much trouble. That's so crude. It's so crude. And don't tell me if you're going to bleep it or not. I like a surprise. But, okay. So, I was prepared to hate this movie. I did not want to see this movie. And I really love this movie. I can't believe I'm saying this because I just kept it. And Kate will tell you, you know, I kept on humming, you know, like Elvis songs, like for the next day or two. Just because it's so I know. And it's what I liked about it is. Probably my expectations were so low because it was Baz Luhrmann that I was like, that he actually, this is an actual movie. I mean, you know, of an interpretation of Elvis, but nevertheless.
Sonny00:51:04I'm fascinated how much I'm fascinated. You like this movie. I figured you would, you would not. I think it's only because I like Elvis.
Vic00:51:11I know, but I like Elvis and JVL. I was going to make a joke, but you just answered my question, which was why wasn't there a scene of, you know, Elvis calling in the hit, you know, to kill the karate instructor, Mike Stone. You know, Mike Stone must die. I guess the estate must've said, no, you can't do that.
JVL00:51:28I mean, all the, the estate stuff is so crazy that firstly, all of the drug use is portrayed as basically Elvis getting shot up by other people, right? As you know, he's just a pawn. Dr. Nick. I was happy that they had Dr. Nicopolis. Yeah. This is not the way it was. I mean, Elvis was out there. Dr. Nick was on his speed dial. He would call Dr. Nick in the middle of the night. When he was in Graceland, Dr. Nick, come on over. Give me what I need. That's I mean, Elvis had agency in all of this. Right. But the one that really got me was when Priscilla leaves him. Right. And he says, is it because of the girls? And she says, no, of course it's not because of the girls. I don't care about that at all. I'm only leaving you because I love you too much to watch you hurt yourself like this. You know, if only every wife was that level of sanitization, I'm just like, oh, yeah, for fuck's sake here. Like it is one thing to want to protect Elvis, but do then simultaneously want to protect Elvis and make Priscilla the saint who doesn't even care that her husband is banging 30 chicks a day while he's in Vegas. No, that doesn't. She only cares about the well-being of the king.
Vic00:52:42OK, so two things, two thoughts. One is my understanding is that he started taking pills when he was in the army. Right. Like things to keep him up at night when they're doing like, you know, night duty and stuff like that. That was my that's what I heard. It started that early and the second like speed and things like that. And the second thing is, of course, Elvis had a very complicated, as you know, sexual relationship. He thought he quit. He loved his mother very much, as you know, and there's a little bit of that in this movie. He loved her, you know, just like any good Southern boy does. Are you saying Norman Bates? No, but no, no. But then he sort of my understanding is that he very much. Equated Priscilla into a similar role as being as very sacred, like the mother of his children, and therefore couldn't do certain things with her because she is the mother of his children. So he would just do it with other women.
JVL00:53:37Yeah, I don't think that's what I want to know is, do you think that works as an excuse
Vic00:53:41is what I'm asking?
JVL00:53:42I mean, wasn't she like 14 when he started dating? There's that.
Vic00:53:45Yes, it's Jerry Lee Lewis like, but not as young as Jerry Lee Lewis.
JVL00:53:49So I the other thing this movie leaves out is the weirdness of all this. Would you guys indulge me so I can tell you my personal Elvis journey? So I was not into Elvis until so after I got out of college and my life was falling apart and I didn't know what I didn't want to do with myself. I just I drove around the country and played basketball for months and I hit all the lower 48 states. And when I was in Memphis, just on a lark, I decided to go to Graceland and I was blown away by it for lots of reasons, one of which was just the weirdness. Of it. Uh, another was I spent a lot of time as I was going through the exhibits, uh, reading Elvis's personal correspondence in which he was like writing to J Edgar Hoover, volunteering to help roll up. Oh yeah. Drug gangs and stuff, and just, you know, volunteering his services and stuff like this. And he was a prolific letter writer to people in power and the federal government. And you know, this is the guy who showed up on the white house steps to meet Nixon. Unannounced Nixon. Do you guys remember the, the famous picture of this young woman, you know, Nixon had no idea who he was. They, you know, they, they brought him in, then held him in holding so that they could brief Nixon. And there's that picture where Elvis is like, oh, and Nixon has this, like, what the fuck am I doing here? Look on his face. Uh, and, and I, I was, I'll never forget this moment as long as I live. So I'm out in the, out of the house in the backyard by the pool and the graves. Yeah. Because they have the, the gravestones are all there. Elvis, his mom, I think his twin brothers has been moved over to there. Uh, and, and eventually I guess Vernon and Vernon Vernon, our bold buddy, David tell when he first went to Graceland, Vernon was still living there. You know who? Yes.
Vic00:55:43And you know, he, uh, he met uncle Vester.
JVL00:55:44Yeah.
Vic00:55:45There was something like uncle Vester. I was thinking about David. Tell uncle Vester. Yeah. Uncle Vester. That's right. Also living in the house. I was thinking about David tell as well while watching this movie.
JVL00:55:53So anyway, so I'm out there and it's like this reflecting, it's really set up the out, the outside as like a very solemn place. And there was this woman, so I'm 22 years old. There's this woman who probably was only about 35, but who I sort of in my 22 year old thought going, eh, she's an old person, you know, she could be 45 or 50, but not old enough to have ever overlapped with Elvis Presley in any meaningful way. Right. Uh, in this one was sitting there. She had a tattoo on her calf of Elvis's face. That was probably 11 inches long, like this intricate tattoo on her, on her fucking calf of Elvis Presley's face. And she was, you know, probably 240 pounds and she was weeping like genuinely weeping by the grave of Elvis Presley. And I just thought to myself, this is wow. This is something. And Elvis's place in American culture is almost impossible to understand unless you've gone and excavated it a little bit and see, because it really was crazy. He really was an American superhero and he was famous in ways that nobody in America has ever been famous before. And ultimately, you know, there are a lot of things I'd like to talk with you guys about and all of this, you know, the movie sandblasts away his weirdness, which I think sort of does a disservice to it. But again, that's, that's all part of the making a fable, not a, not a biography. But the weirdness is part of the attraction to him. And I think the weirdness is part of why America was attracted to him. But in his death, the reason it all didn't work out. I don't think people are meant to be as famous as he was. Like I just don't think human psyche works at that level of fame. Yeah.
Vic00:57:54Nobody can handle that. Do you, do you think, do you agree that, uh, with the, uh, the stories telling is that this like, like Colonel Tom Parker basically killed him.
?00:58:05Yeah.
JVL00:58:06I mean, that's what the story is.
Vic00:58:08Particularly the scene where he collapses.
JVL00:58:10I think he's, yeah, the, the only, the most important thing is that this man gets up on that stage. Yeah. Uh, this is not, this is not a, this is, this is not a, uh, truth. Right. Full reading of the situation. But again, that's what's part of the fable. This is, it's Salieri and Mozart. This is Sonny's exactly right.
Vic00:58:29I, I would have to, I'd have to say by the way, um, the same thing happened when like I knew Elvis. Yeah. His music is great. Okay. And then, uh, in 1997, I think me and, uh, Peter Lowe and my college buddies, we drove from St. Louis down to Memphis and he said, we're going to go to Graceland and he said, okay, sure. Why not? And I came out of that, like totally just like, wow, I get it now. And I was so, there were so many things about Graceland that are so fascinating and, and then you just want it to know more about, and I remember you, when you, when you tour the letters that you're, you're talking about the letters and this is the time when the narration, when you, you have to take the audio tour and the audio tour at that time was still Priscilla. It wasn't Lisa Marie and it was Priscilla Presley and another man. And I, and I remember stopping by and they actually had. We had a clip of, uh, vague, uh, Elvis in Vegas, like one of the last, when the later performances, when he's so out of it and he was singing, love me tender and you know, there's that sort of monologue ish part of the song where you can go off and he said something to the effective 2% sales tax sugar-free and I was like, oh man. And then, uh, and then the great narration, which was, you know, they claim that, uh, Elvis died that he played racquetball racquetball, right? It was like, okay, sure. They went back. Other people who expired, why not get up and he went back and expired. That's right. He went to rest. He went upstairs to rest and I'm using my quote fingers here, the, uh, so, so for instance,
JVL01:00:11this is, this is a thing which the movie hints at, but it is, so I say it ignores his weirdness all of a sudden in the movie, he's in these elaborate jumpsuits.
Vic01:00:22Yes.
JVL01:00:23Um, with belt buckles, the size of hubcaps and rings everywhere and, and bracelets and the scepter. Yes. And the movie just, just ignores all of that. Like they're like, yeah, we're gonna dress him the way he dressed and we're just gonna don't ask any questions. And it would ask it. Yeah, that's right. Right. When this is, you know, like the type, we get the tiger jumpsuit in this, the legendary tiger, which was all from his martial arts, cuz he was, yeah, he was Dirk Diggler levels into karate. Oh yes. Yes. He had, he had serious instructors, you know, and you know, his, his, his personal logo TCB with the lightning bolt, which was taking care of business and a flash, like all, all this stuff, which, which you have to, to understand, understand what Elvis really was. And the movie just, I think just doesn't wanna, it just puts all, it presents it in that it puts it on the screen. Yes.
Vic01:01:15It's just there. It ignores that it's there. It's like pretends it's not even happening.
JVL01:01:18You and I know, know about it, but I guess it'd be interesting for other people if they
Vic01:01:22just saw it on the scene.
JVL01:01:23I guess what's going on every, I would say this to listeners. If you ever have the chance to go to Graceland, do it don't, don't pass it up if you have a chance to do it.
Vic01:01:32Cause it's crazy. The best tour I've ever taken in my life. Yeah. Yeah. And I've seen, I've gone to sex museums and this was even better.
JVL01:01:42I would say Sonny, have you been, have you done Graceland?
Vic01:01:44Sonny?
JVL01:01:45No. Oh my gosh. I, I might go so far as to say that you can't understand 20th century America.
Vic01:01:53Unless you've been to Graceland, unless you've seen the jungle room.
JVL01:01:56Yeah. Well, all of this, it's also, it's all smaller than you think it would be.
Vic01:02:00Oh my gosh. It is.
JVL01:02:02You know, like many people who listened to this show probably live in houses bigger than Graceland.
Vic01:02:07It's, it's, it's something else. Also. I saw the three TV sets and I do believe he shot one of them supposedly because Robert
JVL01:02:14Goulet was on, but I don't know if I thought it was just to turn it off because he couldn't find his, his remote control or he knows, or he didn't want to get up to not like Robert.
Vic01:02:23But yeah, it's, it's an amazing piece of Americana, Sonny, but man, I figured I knew that we were gonna go on about this. Um, so many Elvis.
JVL01:02:31The other thing is also, can I just say he is underrated as a musician and really underrated as a singer. I mean, that guy's voice, I would, you know, he and Roy Orbison are like, you know, one a one B.
Sonny01:02:45What did you make of Austin Butler's performance as Elvis in this movie?
Vic01:02:51I liked it. I, I, I was skeptical. I mean, I didn't know anything about him. I, I guess he was a Disney guy, but I knew nothing about him and I, I, I, I accepted him in the role.
JVL01:03:02Yeah. I just, I thought he was good. I thought it was great. I mean, I mean, I think of these roles as a continuum with, uh, Remy Malek's Freddie Mercury impression on one end where, right. So if we have impression and acting on the two ends of the book, and I thought that Austin Butler was all the way to the other end. I think where he's actually, you know, he has a theory about the character. He is, he is portraying that character on screen and, you know, has something interesting to do with it. A lot like, uh, Taryn Edgerton in rocket man also, which had the imprimatur of Elton John. Yeah. So what, what did you think? Sonny?
Sonny01:03:42Did you like him? Yeah. I thought he was great. I mean, I, I, I am not an Elvis guy as people may have gathered by the fact that I, I haven't, I don't have a lot to say in the segment. I'm not an Elvis guy, but I, I. I will say that I feel like I understand the appeal of Elvis better now than I did two days ago.
Vic01:04:01Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's a, it's wild. There's one thing that was distracting me through the second half of this movie and Sonny will get this having to pee. No, I, I was glued in there. I was glued in there. Uh, um, the, the, the, you know, the Christmas special, which I really thought was great, but I, I want to know, but it seems like they played around with the time of timing of it. So I'm like, really?
Sonny01:04:23So like I didn't, yeah, I wasn't, it wasn't a hundred percent clear to me what was going
Vic01:04:27on. Right. It's all happening at the time of, uh, what, I mean, it sounded, I mean, it sounded to
Sonny01:04:33me like they, they had a plan for Christmas special and then Elvis just like changed it up at the last minute, but it was a big, it was there.
JVL01:04:41It was the big comeback. Uh, the 68 comeback special, the one on NBC and which is by the way, if you've ever gotten
Vic01:04:48the sound director, it's sensational. Yeah. Like it's so good. Uh, so what was distracting for me, Sonny is I kept looking at the co-producer and thinking to myself, why do I think it's Jared Leto? It's not Jared Leto, but I think it's Jared. No, it's driving me crazy. It's driving me crazy. And then I realized it was a Billy from stranger things.
Sonny01:05:06Yeah. Yeah.
Vic01:05:08Yeah. What do I know this guy from?
Sonny01:05:10Oh, it's him. Yeah. No, it, it took me a second too, because I was like, Oh yeah, that's right. That's right.
Vic01:05:16Okay. We gotta go. Um, corrections, shout outs, anything we're good. That's another shout out to Kristen. Yes. We said we gave a shout at the KSA very, very happy for her, uh, 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. Just go to subbeacon.com. We're there.
Sonny01:05:40Tell your friends until next time you have anything, you know, we didn't even talk about
JVL01:05:51the AMC dine-in. But we could save that for the bonus show where we talk about blade runner 75th anniversary.
Vic01:06:02I would, I would say, you know what I was going to say? I remember when Elvis died. Really? Yes. I was at 78. So I'm going to say I was like four or five and I was at the kitchen. This is true. I do remember this cause I was young, but I was at the kitchen table and my mother was at the counter getting stuff ready for dinner, whatever. And I said to her, I said, mom, I said, why did Elvis die? And she said, he had a heart attack. And then I said, why did he have a heart attack? And then she said, he ate too much meat, but I'm sure it's fine.
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