#231. 'The Family Plan'
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Sonny, JVL, and Mike take up The Family Plan (2023), the Apple TV+ action comedy in which Mark Wahlberg plays a retired hitman hiding his past from his suburban family, and split three ways on it: Mike loved it, calling the family dynamics unusually real for the genre (the daughter's clash with her mom, the son's mysterious anti-violence streak, the sibling relationship) and admitting he watched it grinning at an airport gate, though even he concedes the third act drags once the plot turns serious and the kidnapping feels forced; Sonny liked it well enough as a "high concept action programmer" in the classic early-2000s mold, praised the highway-chase set piece where the baby watches from its car seat while the rest of the family sleeps (very Raising Arizona), and used the movie as a jumping-off point for a whole riff on how movie stardom now survives mainly via streaming-thumbnail recognition; and JVL disliked it most, arguing it falls awkwardly between too-adult-for-kids (an extended, plot-irrelevant sex/topless scene) and too-thin-for-grownups, unfavorably comparing it to the Kevin Costner/Amber Heard hitman film Three Days to Kill as the genre done properly — the trio also needles the movie for being shot entirely in Georgia while standing in for Buffalo, and for a bad-guy henchman roster JVL finds oddly cast. The episode opens with a long stretch of denim and watch talk: JVL shows off a new limited-edition "Greetings from San Francisco" Swatch gifted by the SSU (the Sub-Beacon community) and reports a surprisingly gentrified, hobo-free San Francisco, which spirals into a running bit about shipping the unhoused to "hobo hamburger plants"; Sonny announces he's crowdfunded a pair of Japanese selvedge stretch jeans through the site Gustin and gives an update on his dog's ACL surgery recovery. Mike then delivers a lengthy three-act tale of a self-unaware fellow traveler on his New Hampshire-to-Boston flight home — cutting the boarding line, ignoring a gate agent, and repeatedly smacking a seated woman in the face with her backpack while oblivious — which Sonny needles him for just standing by and watching. Box office is skipped almost entirely in favor of an extended Netflix/WWE discussion after Netflix acquired Raw (plus international rights to the rest of the WWE catalog) for $500 million a year; JVL argues it's a great deal for both sides given churn reduction, muses on a decaying, "grim death"-looking Vince McMahon and a fresh sexual-assault lawsuit against him (complete with a wrestler-themed dildo detail JVL insists must be true), and worries that corporate stewardship — as opposed to a carny, PT Barnum-style creative hand — will ultimately hurt WWE relative to upstart AEW. The episode closes with Mike lamenting he has no consuming hobby like JVL's watches or Sonny's denim, prompting the others to anoint him the "Mulch Man" and riff on a future WWE gimmick built entirely around lawn mulch.
From the show notes
Denim talk! Watch talk! Airplane etiquette talk! Wrestling talk! We even talked about the movie for a couple minutes!
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00Before I met your mom, I was a covert assassin. I escaped that life, and now they found us. Being your husband and their father, that's the real me. You're like James Bond in a minivan. I love that minivan. I need to be that guy one last time for us.
Mike00:00:30Welcome to another episode of the Sub-Beacon Podcast. I'm your co-host, Mike Warren. With me, as always, are my two co-hosts who do tacos on Wednesdays, because on Tuesday, everybody's doing it. Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Check us out over at SubBeacon.com, where you can become a patron, get new episodes every Friday, bonus episodes on Mondays, comment, vote in polls, become a part of the Sub-Beacon community. At SubBeacon.com, we're going to be talking about the family plan later in the show. But first, how we doing, guys? JVL, we missed you last week. We're so glad you're back. What is happening in JVL's world?
JVL00:01:17I missed you, boys, too. Thank you. Here, the most important thing is that I have a new watch. Whoa! I have a new watch. Watch talk! And the watch was given to me by... S-S-E-U. It is a Swatch.
Sonny00:01:34Is that a Swatch watch?
JVL00:01:35It's a Swatch watch. They went and got me a Swatch. And so I am wearing on my wrist right now, for the first time in my life, I've never had a Swatch before. A Swatch. This is a Greetings from San Francisco. It can only be purchased at the San Francisco Boutique as a special limited edition. And I don't know if you guys can tell. Listen, can you hear it? Can you hear it?
Sonny00:01:59Is it ticking?
JVL00:02:00You can hear the ticking. Oh, wow. I can't hear it.
Sonny00:02:03Is that good or bad? I can't tell.
JVL00:02:05It's driving me insane.
Sonny00:02:07It's driving you insane?
JVL00:02:10No, it's lovely. It's a Wokes watch. It's got rainbows and the Golden Gate Bridge and bathhouses and a little club called the Manhole. It's fantastic. Is there any shit on the street?
Sonny00:02:24Is the Golden Gate Bridge woke now? Has that been claimed by the Wokes?
JVL00:02:29I think so. I have to say, San Francisco, so I have been to run-down-ish sort of cities recently. Seattle is, like, not great. Yeah, yeah. And I would say, like, four years ago when I was in San Francisco, pre-pandemic in San Francisco, there was, like, you know, shit on the streets. Yeah. This time around, San Francisco was as nice as it was in, like, the late 90s. It was great. It was great. It was like Disneyland. San Francisco, getting a bad rap.
Sonny00:03:05Didn't they, but didn't they actually, like, clean it out recently because, like, the Chinese dictator was coming and they wanted to show off for him? Isn't that what happened?
JVL00:03:15Maybe, but that was a while ago.
Sonny00:03:18It wasn't that long ago. It was, like, a month ago, right? It was, like, within.
JVL00:03:22When I was a kid, the Democratic National Convention came to Philadelphia. And I went. I watched Philadelphia clean that shit out for the, like, for the full year leading up to the convention. One week after the DNC was over. Well, Philly was back to Philadelphia.
Sonny00:03:41That's Philadelphia, though. The thing about San Francisco is once you put all the hobos into the hobo hamburger meat plants and ship that off to China, it's not they're not coming back. It's that's a one time. That's a one way trip. That's not.
JVL00:03:56There's no. Yeah. So a little bit of denim talk, too. I am really I am. My body is wrestling the jeans, the denim into submission. I am making. I'm claiming it. I'm making it mine. You're mounting.
Sonny00:04:14You're mounting your jeans.
JVL00:04:15It is feeling fantastic. I feel like like I have gotten to put the jeans or my prisoner and I'm in the process of breaking them. Yeah. So you show those jeans. It's great. And I love it. I'm so glad that I have a dozen pair. And these these bitches are not going in the washing machine.
Sonny00:04:35Wait, I'm sorry. So are these the are these the Prada axioms that you purchased from the hobos who were being put in the hamburger plants?
JVL00:04:44Purchased is a strong word. Took from them before they before they went into the before they were thrown in. No, I believe them up. I've been working on two pairs. I will one pair. That's a new pair from Amazon and one pair. That is the previously owned by a gentleman who's no longer with us. And I've been alternating with them to try to break both of them. Because, you know, like you got to you got to got to bend them to your will.
Sonny00:05:07Yeah.
JVL00:05:08And it's going really well. It's like a child. It's going really, really well.
Sonny00:05:12Calcitrant child.
JVL00:05:13That's all I've got. How are you boys doing? Sonny, what's going on?
Sonny00:05:16I also have a denim update. So we mentioned we mentioned we talked all about the selvedge jeans, you know, denim and all this.
JVL00:05:25We did not talk about Japanese denim.
Sonny00:05:28We we we did not. We talked a little bit about it.
Mike00:05:31There was a there was a there was a discussion that it was like different.
Sonny00:05:35But here's so here's here's here's what that's. All right. All right. Guy from the show Deadwood. Calm down. Calm down over there.
Mike00:05:50I spend a few days in San Francisco.
Sonny00:05:54Things are things are taking a turn here. So the the I. So I. We mentioned we talked about the salvage, the salvage, self edging denim and and in the in the in the comments on our at the Patreon. It's a beacon dot com. One of our one of our listeners noted a website called Gustin G. U.S. T.I.N. Which is like a it's basically there right now.
JVL00:06:22Let me mute myself so you don't ever type.
Sonny00:06:24OK. Yeah. Gustin dot com. But it's basically like they have a bunch of different things they do. There are campaigns, right? They they try and you got to get a certain number of people to agree to buy a thing. Then they make it and whatever. But they had a they have a Japanese salvage denim with a little bit of stretch. And when I went to the site, it was like the first thing I saw. I was like, that's exactly what I want. I want Japanese salvage denim. I want a little bit of stretch. And so I went and I like did the measurements. I figured out, you know, what size I needed.
JVL00:06:58Instant correction. Sorry. Where? Wheregustin.com.
Sonny00:07:01Oh, it's wheregustin.com. I'm sorry. I just Google. I just Google Gustin and go to whatever. I don't know what sort of weird site you just went to. I don't know what gustin.com is. But so anyway, I I have I have now committed to the campaign for the Japanese steel and gray steel. I don't know. Hold on. Let's see. Let me see if I can actually pull it up in my inbox real quick. Um, uh, you've placed the order and steel stretch, uh, in, in the Japanese salvage. Uh, I think it's like 95%, uh, campaign filter. I don't know. I don't know what the actual term for these things are, but, uh, these are pricing there. Yeah, it's like eight. I think it was $86 was the, uh, was, but like for a. For a pair of, again, for a pair of like Japanese salvage, it's like, not, that's not bad. That's a, that's actually pretty cheap.
JVL00:08:07So is that campaign closed? I'm looking at this.
Sonny00:08:10No, it's still open. It's still, it's, uh, here I'll, I'll say, I'll, I'll text you the link to the, to the, uh, the thing. Sorting by.
JVL00:08:20Oh, I see the Jap, the Japan. This is thrilling podcast.
Sonny00:08:24I just texted both of you. I'll put, I'll put a link in the, in the, in the. Email.
JVL00:08:30Oh, the steel, the steel stretch. There it is. Yeah.
Sonny00:08:32So anyway, uh, I, I, I don't know when I'll get these. If ever, I don't know if like, if it gets to 99%, but doesn't get to a hundred percent, if they just cancel it. I don't know. I don't know how that works, but hopefully with sometime in the next two to three months, I will have a pair of these jeans and I will let you know how they feel compared to my, uh, Levi five Oh five.
Mike00:08:54Well, with the power of the sub beacon community, I mean, they should be. Yeah. Able to put this campaign over the edge.
Sonny00:09:01I'm not going to, I don't want to pressure anyone to, to get out there and buy any, uh, Japanese salvage, uh, uh, denim jeans. I don't, I don't, I don't want, because I don't know if they're any good. I want, I need to get them and test them. I only recommend things. This is, this is true. I will only link to something on Amazon if I own it. Sure. If I, if, if someone, if someone is like, do you have a recommendation for a 4k Blu-ray player? I will say, yes, I own. I own this one and it's wonderful and you should buy this. But if someone is like, Hey, what's a good book by, I don't know, some lady author. Cause I don't read women. And I would be like, I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't, you gotta pick your own lady author book. You gotta, that's how you, that's how you get out there. Somebody yelled, somebody called me sexist the other day for not liking Barbie enough.
JVL00:09:49Can you believe it? Can you believe it?
Sonny00:09:51Outrage. Called me, me sexist. I couldn't, I couldn't believe it.
Mike00:09:58Well, uh, that's a, that's a lot of, this is a lot of denim. This denim talk has really stretched through like four weeks. Question.
JVL00:10:05Yeah.
Mike00:10:05Question.
JVL00:10:06I'm looking at the fit where you order the, the, the, they only give one number.
Sonny00:10:11So there, so the, the, uh, yes. So the, the, uh, you know, the, the inseam, they're all like 36 or something. And the 36 inseam. And then you have to, and then you, then you have to cuff. Well, the whole point of salvage is you cuff it. Right. That's like the, that's the point.
JVL00:10:31I understand. But that's like the people who want to show off that it's salvage. I think maybe some people don't want to cuff it. They just want to, I don't think I can wear.
Sonny00:10:40Then why would you even wear it? Then why would you even, what's even the point?
JVL00:10:43Cause it feels good.
Sonny00:10:46But it doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good. It's self edging. It feels amazing. It feels great to the denim. It doesn't do you any good.
JVL00:10:53It just keeps you right on the edge. It's self edging.
Mike00:10:55You should try, you should try self edging yourself. Right there. Uh. Okay. All right. Well, there we go. Keep us posted Sonny on what's going on with your Japanese jeans.
Sonny00:11:05What else is going on? Oh, my dog, my dog had her leg surgery, her dog ACL surgery. Oh, right. How did she do?
JVL00:11:11Did she make, no, I, I listened to the show.
Sonny00:11:13So she, she's, she was fine. She, the first day after she was, uh, she, she stood the whole day cause she, she like didn't want to bend her leg to like lay down even. So she just, she stood there stock still for hours on end. And like, and it was like, we were like, you gotta sit down. You gotta, you gotta lay down in the, in the bed. And she just stood there. And eventually she like pass, she literally like her eyes were like, she, her head was like dropping and like, she was like falling asleep, standing up. So eventually I like, I tried to like kind of force her down. I was like, you gotta, you gotta go to, and, and, uh, eventually she went to sleep. So.
Mike00:11:53Yeah. It must just feel so bizarre. You know, you have no idea like what's happening.
Sonny00:11:58I mean, that, that would be, imagine how much of a nightmare that would be. If you got, you just like got picked up, you got taken, you got knocked unconscious. You woke up, your leg didn't work anymore and you're in agony and, uh, you got a giant plastic cone on your head for two straight weeks.
Mike00:12:13And your owner is pushing you down.
Sonny00:12:15Your owner, your owner is yelling at you because you don't want to bend your horribly mutilated leg. Like, I'm sorry. I don't know what you want from me. I'm in agony over here. Leave me alone. Just let me stand here. Eventually I'll collapse. So anyway, uh, it was, it was, it was, it was a rough, rough day or two, but she, she is fine now. She's like hopping all around. She still has the cone on because sutures don't come out for another five days, six days.
JVL00:12:42So I don't want to sound heartless.
Sonny00:12:47Yeah.
JVL00:12:50But as I was listening to that section of the show last week, I did think, really? I mean, it can't be cheap. Major surgery.
Sonny00:13:02Yeah.
JVL00:13:03It would be one thing if she would look at how do you get health insurance for pets? Because I meant, can you do pet insurance? How much does pet insurance cost? Is it worth it? Or is it a scam? Is that like when you're at Best Buy saying, sure, I'll take the five year protection plan, sir. It's on my DVD player.
Sonny00:13:19It's very expensive when a dog is as old as my dog is because this is when this sort of thing starts to happen. No, it wasn't. It wasn't cheap. And look, it'd be. It'd be one thing if it was like cancer, if she had like cancer or like a recurring illness. But this is like a thing that she'll get better from and hopefully we'll live for another five years. We'll see.
Mike00:13:42Yeah. No, I think. Yeah. I think the difference is the is something like you said, like a sort of acute illness, you know, that is is going to make her life like miserable for the next five years or six, which she'll be she'll be like normal when like she'll be running around normal
Sonny00:14:02and yeah, a couple of shortly.
JVL00:14:04Yeah. Don't we have enough living creatures to take care of already? Do we need to bring into our lives more living creatures who are dependent upon us? I would say our ability to make money.
Sonny00:14:16I would sacrifice every hobo on the streets of San Francisco for my dog.
JVL00:14:21I would put there aren't there aren't any left, Sonny. I would put them. So your dog shit out of luck. I would put. I'll go.
Sonny00:14:27I'll go. I'll go up and down the Western Seaboard. I'll go to Seattle. I'll go to Portland. I'll throw them all in the hamburger machine before I let anybody take my dog.
JVL00:14:36A lot of hobos in Seattle, my friend.
Sonny00:14:38Well, I good, good.
Mike00:14:41Get rid of them hurting us with our hobo listenership.
Sonny00:14:44Do you think we get what you think? We got a lot of hobo patrons who are like they're going there. They're plugging in at the McDonald's and waiting for somebody to rush them out the door, charging, charging their phones up using the McDonald's Wi-Fi.
Mike00:14:58Not to continue the hobo talk too much, but isn't there something specific about what a hobo is or a hobo like a hobo ride?
JVL00:15:05Hobo is not a homeless person, right? Hobo rides the rails, right? Homeless people are living in encampments. Some of the hobo is just Jack Reacher is a hobo.
Mike00:15:16Yes, right. Yeah. Somebody who just kind of rides around.
Sonny00:15:19We're talking about the difference between a hobo and a bum. Yes, right. There's a bum. Bums. Bums just live on the street in their own filth. Correct.
JVL00:15:27Hobo. Hobos have gunny socks. Hobos are like heroic. Yeah, a code. They're like knights almost.
Sonny00:15:33Hobos have a... What am I... The Ronin. The Ronin. Did you guys watch... I know, JVL, you didn't watch Mad Men. Mike, did you...
Mike00:15:40I watched the first season.
Sonny00:15:41You didn't... I watched one season.
Mike00:15:42I watched like 10 episodes. All right.
Sonny00:15:45There's this, I think, unintentionally funny bit of Mad Men where we find out that in the process of, you know, Don Draper's childhood where he was living in a... A whorehouse or something. I can't remember exactly what. But there was an episode where a hobo came to his house in the midst of the Great Depression and was gonna... It was doing work. Was doing work. He was gonna get paid in corn muffins or something. And his father or father figure or stepfather, whatever is the... Whatever the relationship there was, stiffed the hobo. And at the end of the... At the end of the episode, we find a... The mark on the post. He finds the mark on the post, which is hobo code for a Welsh lives here, a cheapskate lives here, someone who breaks his word. And it just sends the little baby Don Draper into tears because he realizes...
JVL00:16:43And I was just like, you know...
Sonny00:16:46If he wanted job security, he should go work on Wall Street.
JVL00:16:53That's what I said to that. He should have been working for Microsoft. He should have been... Exactly.
Sonny00:16:56He should have been... He should have been... He should have been working a real job with a steady paycheck, not going door to door working for...
JVL00:17:04Barter economy. That's right.
Sonny00:17:07Yeah. Right in the hobo hamburger machine he went when he got to my town. Just chucked him in there.
Mike00:17:17All right.
JVL00:17:19Michael, how are you, buddy? So I have to tell you, as you were giving your harrowing tale...
Mike00:17:28I feel like I didn't express it as harrowing as it really was. I didn't express how harrowing it was. Oh, no, it was harrowing to me because I have done this. Yeah.
JVL00:17:36And I have done it in Iowa and New Hampshire and Wisconsin, the three primary states where I had to cover primaries. And I felt as though I almost died driving through snowstorms. Everything else was warm. Everything else was like Florida, Nevada, South Carolina, but those three states and at least Wisconsin doesn't have mountains in it. Correct. And New Hampshire has mountains. And when you were talking about heading up to the Bretton Woods place in the snow, I just thought to myself, I was, I was white knuckling listening to that.
Mike00:18:14Well, it was again, I can't remember if I mentioned this. It was another journalist once I was up there when I was like, yeah, I guess I'm going to drive back two hours down back to Concord. And she was like, no, you're not.
JVL00:18:30Did you have any of your stuff with you or was all your stuff at the hotel in Concord?
Mike00:18:34I had nothing with me. I had my, I had my laptop and that was it. So, yeah, but it was fine.
JVL00:18:44I mean, I see the event go off because this is a couple of times I drove through horrible snowstorms, like three hours to get there. And then the campaign canceled the event. And man, I got hot about that.
Mike00:18:57Yeah, no, no, it was, this was going to happen. And Hillary Clinton fucked me like that once.
JVL00:19:02Yeah.
Mike00:19:03Um, as she was going to do. Um, yeah, no, it, it happened. It was, it, it, it was, it was a good event. I mean, so the, the thing was, is, was that, um, so this was a Nikki Haley event. So the governor, Chris Sununu was with her and, um, he stayed at the hotel that night as well.
JVL00:19:24He has his own snowplow that goes in front of him.
Mike00:19:26Yeah. Who knows what he is. I mean, he basically, yeah. Um, but he stayed at the hotel cause I saw him in the restaurant, um, later and he was holding court there and, um, he had stayed there, but like it was, it got, it got bad.
JVL00:19:39Uh, did you ask him about his personal guarantee of a landslide that he made in late December? I did not.
Mike00:19:47I did not. Um, but, uh, so the, when I got out to my car, I don't know if I mentioned this. I had like two feet of snow to dig my car out of. And it was fine.
JVL00:19:58It was all really soft and, and, and did you have like a, cause up there, most of the Hertz is put. Oh yeah.
Mike00:20:05I had stuff in the, yes, I had, I didn't have a shovel, which would have been nice, but I had, um, I had a brush and that was, that was easy enough. All I had to do was just get the wheel bait, like get the wheel, uh, able to, to go over a couple of inches of snow. So it was fine. Um, and, uh, but when I told my kids that when I got home, because we had snow here in Northern Virginia and it was like, it was a lot of snow for here. And, you know, it was like six inches. They told me the way it was six inches of snow. And I was like, yeah, you want to hear a story? I had two feet. They're like two feet. Whoa.
JVL00:20:40Did you at least like have a, an all wheel drive super outback or something? Or were you like a Nissan Altima?
Mike00:20:46I had an SUV and by the next, the next morning it was fine. It was fine. So, um, but no, so it was good. I was glad to be home. I do want to say, I do want to give a shout out actually, because I was covering things on election night of the New Hampshire primary and I had, uh, someone, uh, I met someone. So I was basically a source connect me with this, with this person, um, who was at the event that I was covering. Um, and he's a sub beacon listener, Brad Harold. Uh, if you're listening, Hey Brad, look at the big brain on Brad. Exactly. Uh, he was, uh, that's what I said. I said, you know, like he's got great taste and he's a total movie buff. He knows, I would say he knows more about movies than I do. So, um, he was, uh, it was great to meet. Um, we talked about movies for like 20, 30 minutes, um, with some of his colleagues and, uh, so just thank you for listening, Brad. And, um, you know, it's, you never know where you're going to, he doesn't actually live in New Hampshire. He was up there for work, um, lives in Birmingham. So, um, thanks for, uh, thanks for listening, Brad, but no, it was, it was fine. It was up there for a long time, but my observations, the thing I wanted to talk about this evening are based on my flight home and particularly. One person on my flight home and it just, you know, when you see somebody in the world and every interaction that they have with the world, it reveals their lack of self-awareness and awareness of others and awareness of social expectations. And like all within the span of like 15 minutes, I saw this person and knew everything I need to know about this person. So, we are, okay, so where to start? The zoning when you get on the plane, you know, you're at the gate.
JVL00:22:50Is this the Ember Air? Is this like the small, small jet that you take from Manchester to DCA? No, no, no.
Mike00:22:55I was flying from Boston to DC. So, I was on American. It was-
JVL00:23:00It was like a real air bus or something.
Mike00:23:01A real air bus. Yeah. But, you know, so, okay, I am not a stickler on these things. Like, by the time they're calling group six and then group seven and then group eight, like, it's American. It doesn't really matter what order you get on at that point. And like, there's no point in sort of, in being like, oh, excuse me, I'm group six. I need to go before you, you know, Mr. Group seven, right? Okay. So, stipulated that that's the case. And I'm not a stickler for that. If somebody with a group seven gets in front of me and I've got a group six, no big deal. But, but, they call group six. Everybody kind of does that amorphous lineup where everybody's kind of coming together and, and, and, but, but we're all going to the same place. But like, hey, we're all group six here and we're all like trying to move in the right direction. Meanwhile, the gate agent calls group seven. With maybe three group sixers on the plane at this point, we're all still waiting to get on. And I can see this person. Can you give us a little more of a, draw a little more of a picture? This is a, a young woman. I happen to. Is her name Karen? No, but I, I learned that she is in the same business that we are in. And, but not, not, not. It's strictly in the same business, but in the same general, but she's up in this part of the country for the same reason.
Sonny00:24:33Um, she works in media broadly.
Mike00:24:35Yes.
JVL00:24:36And 15 years ago, she would've had her Blackberry out the whole time.
Mike00:24:40Yes. Well, but she was gabbing with her friends who were also in the media and I can see it happening, right? I could see what's going on here. So we're all lined up and, and like, there are people in line trying to move forward. And. They call and, and they're just standing there and then they call group seven and without any sense of, excuse me, or, um, you know, let's, let's go line up behind where this amorphous blob of people are lining up, right? Like these people are in line and clearly moving forward towards something. Like the polite thing is generally to get in the back, queue up, queue up, right? Am I crazy? Again, I'm not trying to be a stickler here, but you line up behind the people who are already in line, not her market zero, Donnie, not her. He just moves right in. And I can see there is a, um, a British gentleman of, of distinction, uh, who is also in line, uh, who can, uh, who can see what's happening and like makes a V and I, I admire this guy for what he did because he makes a very physical effort. To make sure that they do not get in front of, uh, in front of him. Uh, so they ended up getting in front of me, but because, because I'm sort of like, again, I have this attitude of, it doesn't really matter why, why am I going to make a stink of it? It was more the principle of the thing, guys. It's the principle of the thing. This isn't nom, Michael. Exactly. We're living in a society. We're supposed to be civil. Uh, and then it's just, it, it, it, then it, it. Is, um, constant chatter, like, like mindless chatter all the way down the jetway. And she on the phone. No, no, no. With, with she's, she's, she's brought it. Maybe it's unfair for me to single her out because there, she brought two others with her, but it's this person, the whole group of terrible. There's, there's three of them, but, but, um, oh, and actually now I've just remembered because it was actually the friend who does this. So at this point, they're checking. Every rollerboard bag, you know, at the gate, right? Because this is a full flight, ladies and gentlemen, group six, group seven, your, your
Sonny00:27:04boat.
Mike00:27:05Exactly. Um, and so they're checking at the, the, put the tags on at the gate. Well, at a certain point, it's up to the gate agents to get those tagged bags down the jet way so they can get put on the plane at the gate. Um, so we're all standing there waiting to get on or waiting in the jet way. And one of the gate agents comes down and, you know, you're not facing where the gate agent is coming from, but he says in a loud, clear, polite voice, excuse me, trying to get by. He's got bags. He's moving. Takes him three times to get one of these other young women to move. And they act as if like they're, she's like swatting a fly away because she like moves and then moves right back in. Like it was this minor annoyance and she's not. I'm going to change where she's standing. Well, he has to come back like three times to take more bags down. And every time he has to say, excuse me to her, we've all moved to the left except her. All right. So this is like thing number two. That's driving me nuts. And I do remember now that it was one of my original woman's compatriots. And then the coup de grace where we are in the plane now and we're moving to the back.
JVL00:28:24She goes into full recline the minute she gets. No, no, no, no, no.
Mike00:28:27This is before that, before all that. But she's got a big ass backpack on because, of course, she's got a big ass back. Is that a fall raven? I don't know what it is. I don't pay attention to this stuff. All I know is it's big and it's in the way. And it's the kind of backpack where, like, if you turn in a tight space, you're going to hit somebody and you're going to know that you are. You ought to know that you're going to hit somebody. So, she's moving down right in front of me and she, like, turns to put up her bag up in the overhead space. It's not a rollerboard, so she can put it up there. But she's still got the backpack on. And as she does, she swings it and I'm looking at the woman sitting in the aisle seat as this bag is, like, smushing this woman's face into the back of the seat. And, like, and it's, like, and it keeps going. It's, like, it's, like, it's, like, a comedy movie. And she's, like, keeps turning and, like, smacking this woman's face. And the woman's, like, and I'm, like, do I need to say something? But, like, we're about to move. And, like, this woman's, like, looking up at me desperately, like, like, help, help, because she's being swished. And this person has no idea what's happening. And I'm, like, like, kind of, like, tapping her on the shoulder. Like, like, you need, like, totally clueless. And then by then she's. She's off. And this poor woman, you know, is, like.
Sonny00:29:59So you just let that woman take a bag to the face repeatedly. You didn't. You didn't really do anything.
Mike00:30:04No, no. I tried to do. I tried to do something.
JVL00:30:05She didn't listen. You just. It's not your business.
Sonny00:30:08Watched it happen.
JVL00:30:09You just.
Mike00:30:09She could have said something.
JVL00:30:11You just.
Mike00:30:11She could have pushed back. She did try to push back. She's low.
JVL00:30:15She's got all the leverage. All she's got to do is reach up and push that bag back around. Say, you know, hey, go take a seat. You see what. Right. I mean. Yeah. Easy.
Sonny00:30:25This is one of these situations where the. American hesitancy to use the C word really works against us. That's a good point.
Mike00:30:31Anyway. So. So. So it was just. It was a. It was a play in three acts. And. It just. It's like. This is why things like. This is actually why things like air travel are miserable or can be miserable. It's because. Because of people. People with a lack of self-awareness.
Sonny00:30:47The reason everything is terrible is because of people, Michael. It's not. This is not limited to air travel. Everything is terrible because we live in a society. You know. What society is made up of terrible people.
Mike00:30:59But I mean.
Sonny00:31:00All people.
Mike00:31:01Terrible. I maintain that if people are aware of themselves and where they are in space and time and in relation to other people. That that solves 95% of our problems. Sure. And there. And if you have.
Sonny00:31:21The idea that 95% of people give a shit. I know. Laughable.
Mike00:31:26I know. I'm just. This is my lifelong crusade. Lifelong crusade. All right. So that was my. That was my. Box office. Yeah. Let's let's let's move on to box office. Thank you. JVL. Let's talk about it because Mean Girls maintained the number one spot.
Sonny00:31:44Worst weekend. This is a bad weekend at the box office.
Mike00:31:46And then number two, the beekeeper. Yeah. Which we talked about last week. Number three, Wonka for migration. Yeah. How that is.
Sonny00:31:54Migration kids movie. I took. I took my son to see. Migration for a second. I mean, he loved it.
Mike00:31:58Is it about birds?
Sonny00:31:59It's about a family of ducks who have to fly to Jamaica for the winter. They're going on vacation to Jamaica, but they wind up in New York somehow. I can't explain it.
Mike00:32:11Box office thoughts. What do we have about this?
Sonny00:32:13I don't really have any box office thoughts, but I did. I did. I was. I did want to talk Netflix getting the rights to WWE JVL. This is a huge deal. Did you see this story? Do you see this?
Mike00:32:26Oh, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Just for the record, and then you can continue JVL. So we're effectively skipping a box office talk. Well, I'm just. Okay, go ahead.
Sonny00:32:35No, we're doing a different. We're doing a different version of box office talk. We're doing ratings talk. It's a streaming talk.
Mike00:32:41Sonny JVL, you have the floor.
JVL00:32:45I mean, WWE has been making a whole bunch of moves on the street. The first thing they did was do a merger with Endeavor, which owned UFC and they formed a new company called TKO. TKO now is, you know, they've got a bunch of rights. They've got UFC rights, which are currently with ESPN, but you're going to come up in two years, I think. And WWE has their product sold across a variety of different platforms. Currently, they have some of it on Peacock, some of it on USA, some of it on. Uh, I forget the, the CW maybe. Yeah. And like the NFL, they are trying to play each of these deals are staggered in terms of when they come up. And so they are trying to, uh, make it so that they are each time one property comes up. Like, so for this, this is raw, which is the, the, the premier. The destination. Um, that's like their version of Monday Night Football. Right. That is going to go to Netflix for 500 million, $5 billion, 5 billion, 5 billion. Right. So $500 million a year. Uh, I believe this is where all of the premium pay-per-view content will live. Although that's not clear because that stuff is all currently on Peacock.
Sonny00:34:16So, so what was interesting, what I, what I did not realize about the deal at first and which instantly made it a much, much bigger and better deal is that. Uh, Netflix is getting the rights is getting the domestic rights to Monday night, raw domestic domestic international domestic rights for, uh, for all the other things, stay where they are for the time being, but they're also getting the international rights to every everything, to every, to, to all the other
JVL00:34:45shows, very, very big, it's big in the Middle East, big in South America and central America, and it's very big in, uh, England.
Sonny00:34:52So it's a huge, so this is, this is actually like. So at first I was like $500 million for raw is a lot. I mean, it's, it's not, I, I, it's not crazy. It's not unreasonable if you are making a play into this space, but $500 million for everything and raw domestic for everything international and raw domestic. Is actually, I think a really great deal for Netflix for two reasons. I mean, one, it, they, as you say, JBL, there's, they have a huge built-in fanbase. So if people want to watch WWE, they gotta get, they gotta get Netflix. Uh, and you know, who knows? How many actual subscriptions this will lead to, you know, who knows what the overlap between.
JVL00:35:28I think it's bigger on retention.
Sonny00:35:30I think it's, but this is, but this is the second thing, right? Is that it reduces churn because if you, uh, are, if you are a fan of the WWE, if you're one of the three to 4 million people in the United States who watches the WWE every week, you are not going to quit Netflix because you're going to want to keep it and if it's everything in the world, that's a huge retainer for the rest of the world. I mean, I, I just like, I saw that I, I, again, I saw the deal at first. I was like, ah, that's kind of a lot. Uh, maybe that works out once I realized that it was everything international. I was like, oh, that's actually a great deal. That's a, that's a fantastic, it's a really smart deal for Netflix.
JVL00:36:05And so it works for Netflix. Uh, I think it works for the WWE for, it works for both of them because Netflix is either the most down market or the second most down market of the streamers. Right.
Mike00:36:17Um, so what's the most down market then paramount paramount plus, um, uh, which
JVL00:36:24is what the, the, the audience for WWE is. Sure. To be frank. Um, and so it, I think it helps them. I suspect that almost everybody who currently subscribes to Peacock for WWE is already a Netflix subscriber. I think this really helps with churn. It's, it's probably also Netflix is, this is an experiment for them getting into live sports so they can figure out if they can manage it because it is technically difficult as a streamer, it's not the same thing as having a library, um, and if so, then we should expect Netflix to, at some point in the next decade, be a bitter for NFL rights or maybe premier league rights or La Liga or something like that. Um, so I, you know, in the same way that YouTube has, you know, Google have moved into that space, right? Uh, so it's, it's interesting in a lot of ways. I don't know if you guys have seen Vince McMahon, but he looks like grim death. Have you seen him recently?
Mike00:37:25I saw a photo of him recently.
JVL00:37:27So his, no, no, he doesn't, no, no, he does not look old Sonny. He looks like a death mask. So his, his skin is, so first of all, it's like his, his head has shrunken. Uh, the skin is like very white and waxy, but his hair, which had been gray and white is now jet black and he's got this pencil, but the kind of mustache, a pencil month, the kind of mustache that I have not seen anywhere since like Clark Gable.
Sonny00:38:00Victor mature, the Gomez Adams.
JVL00:38:05It is a, the entire package. And between this and the, the, you know, his kids, when he did the thing with endeavor, his kids left the board. Um, I think this is a guy who is in full on I'm about to die mode. And this is
Mike00:38:23succession, but
JVL00:38:24this is, this is succession, right? And what he has chosen is he's chosen to not leave it to anybody. He's, he's chosen to push it and make it part of a large corporate entertainment conglomerate. And in the long run, just as a creative thing, I can't see how that works because the WWE is not a sports league, right? It, it, it is, it is. Uh, a check it's much more like the MCU. It's this gigantic sprawling story that takes place a bunch of times a week with 300 different characters and the cast is always changing and you, the creative for that has to be somebody who is deeply in touch with wrestling and the culture of wrestling and the history of it. And how it works and what the crowds want and able to sort of shift around and move. And I mean, it has to be somebody who was like deeply populist in a certain way. Right, right. And put pop a populism, which is willing to take risks and do things like, I think people hate gays, let's do Chuck and buck and make them villains for a few months. And see if we get a pop on that or, you know, I, I, boy, there's a lot of people hating post after nine 11, we're going to bring Admiral Akbar in or, you know, whatever the iron cheek, the iron sheet, you know, stuff like that sort of like, I just don't see how corporations are going to arrive at those decisions. I think what I'm trying to get at is in the, in the long run, I think this is very bad for the WWE as a, as a place that people go. To, to actually be fans of wrestling. I think AEW, that's the, which is the current, I actually do think AEW is the future, um, because it wrestling can't work as a corporate property.
Mike00:40:39It, you gotta have that Carney spirit.
JVL00:40:41It has, there has to be PT Barnum, right? And if there isn't a PT Barnum figure, you can't have a corporate board managing the creative on wrestling. Yeah. I just don't think it works.
Mike00:40:52I mean, that is, that is the, that has been the success of WWE is like literally the board, the corporate board is part of the storyline, right? I mean, this is like, it is so wrapped up into it. It it's, I, I totally agree with you. And Vince has total control and he does it all by feel, you know, it's like, I, I look
JVL00:41:13like this is an era of big bodies when you guys were just big, you know, when, I don't know, like he it's PT Barnum, he's PT Barnum.
Sonny00:41:22Yeah, no, I, I, I think that's probably about right.
Mike00:41:25I, and, and whoever takes over, like the board will not make as good memes as Vince McMahon, you know, and that's, you know, that's, that's, I think, uh, a big part.
JVL00:41:35So he is, uh, I don't know if you guys saw this today. I mean, so Vince McMahon is a horrible human being. Yes. Just a horrible human being. And today the wall street journal has a report out that there is another sexual assault lawsuit against him. And I, I don't want to get too political, but I want to say that there is a detail in the complaint against him, which is so telling that I think it has to be true. And I think the entire thing has to be true. This woman says that one of the things he liked to do is that he had a collection of dildos, which he liked to use on her. And they were each named for him. And they were each named for different wrestlers, and you know what, I'm sorry, but that has to be true. That is the most true thing I've ever heard. And you couldn't make it up.
Mike00:42:33That's it. You, you can't make that up.
JVL00:42:36You can't make that up. And also the minute you hear it, you say, yeah, yes, of course he does. Of course. Vince has a Hulkster dildo and an Andre dildo and a Kamala dildo that he likes to use on, his on Janus.
Mike00:42:53Of course he does. What's the rock look like?
Sonny00:42:57Nope. Nope.
Mike00:42:59Yep. All right.
Sonny00:43:01Uh, gonna put, gonna put a kibosh on this whole train of thought. I don't like where this is going.
Mike00:43:06All right. Uh, okay. Well, this is, this is good. This is, uh, this is good. Now we're going to do 10 minutes on the family plan, you know, a little bit longer. Uh, okay. So, uh, the family plan, Sonny, you want to give us a review?
Sonny00:43:20I'll do very quick. Very quick review here. Uh, so the family plan is an early two thousands high concept, uh, action comedy. That's what this movie is. The, the high concept is, uh, Mark Wahlberg is a, uh, re a retired hit man. He has a family. They don't know about his life as a paid killer, uh, and they think he's just a normal boring old dad and their, his life is very boring. Uh, the, the kids resent, you know, that they don't really do anything. And the, the mom is like, oh, my life has passed me by. I'm just, I could have been in the Olympics. Now I just do, uh, this, this physical therapy work and Mark Wahlberg sells cars and he's super happy because that's all he's ever wanted is just to have a normal family. Uh, but then somebody comes to kill him. Uh, he has to do the whole hit man thing, but also keep it from his family who he is taking to Las Vegas to get new identities so they can start a new life unbeknownst to them. So that's the, that's the high concept here. High concept, uh, retired hit man, keeping secret from, from family until they all have to come together to defeat the, the people who are menacing their, their family. So, uh, it's, it, which, which leads to basically the first two thirds of the movie are farce. They're like, they're, they're, they're like, it's, this is the most comic element of it, right? Is him trying, him getting into various situations. Where he has to beat people up and keep the secret from his family. And the, the biggest set piece in the film is a, uh, is a, a, uh, basically a draw a nighttime drive on the highway where the family is asleep, but the baby is awake and the baby is watching while dad evades a bunch of, uh, you know, motorcycle assassins on, on the freeway. It's very raising Arizona. Like if you remember raising Arizona where the kid is like pulling the, uh, bus, uh, pulling the, you know, hoodie over his eyes, it's, it's very much like that. Very similar. Um, uh, so that's, that's the long, I like this movie enough. I like this movie enough. I don't think it's great. I don't think it's, I don't think it's like the best movie I've ever seen, but I enjoy, I enjoyed it for what it is, which again is like a high concept action programmer. This is the sort of movie that you would get 15 of a year. And it's just what was out that week. It's got a star. It's got a. And Michelle Monahan, it's got a good villain and Kieran Hines. And then it's got, you know, some funny stuff and some action and it, that that's all it is. I find, I find the movie, um, I, again, I found it entertaining. I find the movie fascinating because it's the, the most watched movie, uh, on apple TV plus in their, in their history, right? They sent out a daddict that was like, yeah, most, most watched movie of all time, which is their second most watched movie, uh, in a, in a row after, uh, so this, the, before
JVL00:46:18this Martin Scorsese.
Sonny00:46:19Yeah. Martin Scorsese, uh, killers, well, killers of the fire moon, maybe it'll get a big bump because of the, because of the Oscars who knows, but the, uh, um, but, uh, before this, it was ghosted. The Chris Evans and at harvest movie was their most watched movie. And I, I find this fascinating because it is, it is more proof of this thesis that I'm building up in my head that movie stars now only really exist on streaming and they only really exist on streaming because they're the only streaming. Because the streaming outlets are the only ones who are willing to pay their salaries. And the reason they're willing to pay their salaries is because the, if you are scrolling through Netflix or Apple or whatever, and you come across the thumbnail and you see Mark Wahlberg's face, you're like, I recognize Mark Wahlberg. I like him. I will watch this. That is what I'll watch this weekend. If Dwayne Johnson, you know, if you're, if you're scrolling through Netflix and you come across red notice and you're like, oh, there's Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. I like those two fellows. I will enjoy watching them. I will enjoy watching them together. And that is, I think that this is, this is basically the model of stardom going forward is having a face that is familiar enough to get people to click a button on their couch to watch you on their screen. Because I don't think that that is enough anymore to get people to theaters there. There are very few people who, uh, have enough name ID, facial recognition that people will be like, I want to go see this guy in theaters.
JVL00:47:47So I, I agree in part. I disagree in part, what I disagree about is the, why people stop on the thumbnail. And I believe the reason people stop is because recognizing a movie star is a, a signifier of higher quality. Yes. So when you re but the problem is right, it's, it's just, it's all blockbuster, right? This is just people now doing from their couch, what they used to do in blockbuster. You walk along the wall. You look at 900 video cases and what catches your eye? Things with stars. Why? Because that was probably in a theater. Cause it was more expensive. Oh, so if it was good in theater, it was, it was good. Yeah. And if it went direct to video, then it wasn't good.
Mike00:48:32Yep. But the problem is as we, as everything winds up migrating that way, then the star is no
JVL00:48:39longer a badge that it's a better movie because the stars are now making too many, right? This is what happens when a star makes too many direct to direct to video movies. They are no longer useful as a, as a badge signifying that this thing is, is good enough.
Sonny00:48:55Yes. 100% totally agree. I am very curious to see what the lifespan on this cycle of stardom is. The other thing is right. These, the, the faces that catch your attention are all the people who made it big in movie theaters. Name one person from movie theaters in the last 10 years who has appeared as a movie star in movie theater movies. Who you would turn on Netflix and see their face and be like, oh, I recognize this person. Name, name a single one. I don't think you can do it.
JVL00:49:27I'm confused what you're saying. I like Chris Hemsworth, right? Isn't that the, that's not last 10 years.
Sonny00:49:32That's more than 10 years. That's he's, he's been doing this for somebody. You're saying somebody knew somebody knew somebody knew in the last 10 years, somebody who gotcha, somebody who has come onto the scene and, uh, is like, I, I genuinely don't know what the answer would be now. You could do it. Some streaming people, right? Like Jenna Ortega would fall under this category, but she's a streaming star. There are streaming stars who are starting to emerge.
Mike00:49:57Ana de Armas might be the, might be the Armas, Tom Holland, um, it's Tom Holland star.
Sonny00:50:04It's hard. It's Tom Holland, a star or a Spider-Man.
Mike00:50:07I would. Yeah.
Sonny00:50:09I agree with that. I mean, is like, is Chris Evans a star or is captain America a star? Like, I don't know. I it's anyway, it's interesting, but this is, but this is. Hey, this is why I find the movie interesting more than for the movie itself, which again, I enjoyed. I it's amusing in the moment. It is, it is. It's a, it is a, a high concept action comedy programmer that is entertaining, uh, and is like good family. You could sit down and watch this with the whole family. It'd be fine.
JVL00:50:37Wrong.
Sonny00:50:38Oh, you didn't, you don't think you could watch this with the family. Is it too racy for the kids?
JVL00:50:41JVL. JVL. So this is, this is my, I'm sorry. I'm just not letting you talk at all. Michael. I did. I found this film mystifying because I mean, we've all seen a dozen, but this kind of movie can be one of two ways. It can be an actual adult movie like Mr. Mrs. Smith, right? It can be a kid's movie like, uh, what was the, the Henderson's in the robot thing?
Sonny00:51:11The animated Mitchell versus the Mitchells versus the machines Mitchell versus the machines,
JVL00:51:16right? Right. Or like, uh, the, uh, the Vin diesel, the pacifier or something, right?
Sonny00:51:22Right.
JVL00:51:23Kindergarten cop, kindergarten cop, right? This thing sits in the middle where it is not nearly interesting and smart enough to play for grownups, but they give us way too much sex stuff for the kids. Way too much. I mean, way too much. I am sorry. But I could not put G money in front of it because I, I wanted to, that's what I thought going into this. I was like, yeah, I really want to see this because I just wanted to make sure we could preview it. So it'd be good for everyone. No, no, we do not want like Michelle Monahan, like talking about BJs and stuff like no. And none of that was integral to the movie, but would have been fine again, if this is a movie pitched at grownups and it wasn't, that's what I found mystifying. So like the, the Ana de Armas. Uh, ghosted, ghosted, ghosted is pitched at grownups. It's not pitched as a like family movie. And so it's cool. It's cool to have all that stuff. Right. Am I wrong, Michael? You agree with me?
Mike00:52:29No, you don't agree. Am I rude? No, no. I, I totally agree with you. I mean, I, but I also don't show my kids anything that's I, I keep a whole bedroom thing afterwards
Sonny00:52:40talking about like a seven or eight year old, but like the whole family could watch it. I, I, a family with teenagers, there's nothing, there's nothing I would, there's nothing that I would watch with my kids. Uh, you know, like there's no, there's nothing, uh, PG 13. I would watch with my kids probably, but that's the same, but like mission impossible fallout
JVL00:53:02with them. I wouldn't watch that with a dead reckoning. Are you kidding me? I've watched dead wrecking with G money last weekend.
Sonny00:53:08Well, now he's going to be terrified of the entity.
Mike00:53:11He loved it, but okay. So did you have any other thoughts on this JBL?
JVL00:53:16Did you, you just think it's this is what I don't understand. So like, like the giant sex scene in the middle of it, right with, with, that is not integral at all to them. It's just a weird thing because by putting that in your closing off part of the viewing market, but I don't think you're creating any viewing market for it.
Sonny00:53:38Wait, what?
JVL00:53:39And it doesn't the, when they, they do it now, when, when he, when they Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monahan do it. And she's like, wow, I can't believe it. You're doing it. So how did you learn how to do that thing? Right.
Sonny00:53:53Oh yeah. I forgot about that again.
JVL00:53:56This is not a problem for me. I'm kind of, I don't know, I don't love a little bit of topless, Michelle Monahan studio.
Mike00:54:02Like, uh, just like, uh, kiss, kiss, kiss, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
JVL00:54:06But, uh, it doesn't do anything to the movie. It doesn't advance the plot. It doesn't do any, all it does is say, oh, also, you're not going to be able to. I actually show this to your kids.
Sonny00:54:17You're like one of those zoomers who's anti-sex scene, but it's, it's not, it's not hurting.
Mike00:54:23It's not hurting the, uh, the movie on, on views. Right.
JVL00:54:27I mean, Apple TV, I guess I just found that mystifying and the whole thing was, you know, there are movies which are better than they have to be at every turn. This is a movie which was just, just barely as good as it needed to be. Most of the time. And, uh, I don't know, like I could see a version of this, which was better than it had to be throughout, which would have been kind of fun. Three days to kill, which is, uh, the kits, a Kevin Costner Amber heard movie. Oh yeah. Uh, it, it, it, nobody saw this thing.
Sonny00:55:08I don't even know.
JVL00:55:09It is a similar ish. The idea is that Kevin Costner is a hit man. He is divorced, estranged from his wife and daughter, and he has to, he has, he has terminal cancer and he's got three days to kill a bunch of people. So, but he winds up in hijinks with his daughter and dragging his daughter around Paris while he assassinates people. And it is like this in a sort of vague way, but it's really good. It's like a really good action movie and it's smarter than it needs to be. And Costner is incredibly charming. And Amber Heard is great. And you could see this is a, a programmer that is better than it needs to be. And whereas family plan, I think is, you know, I, I take it back. It's not as good as it needs to be. Hardly ever. So. Okay. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't like it all that much. You didn't like it. Yeah.
Sonny00:56:08Uh, you didn't like it. You didn't like it.
Mike00:56:10That's that's unfortunate. I loved this movie.
JVL00:56:14Really loved it.
Mike00:56:15Tell me more. I was basically until the third act, I was just flying high. I was riding high on this thing. I, so I watched it, I got to the airport early and I watched it on my laptop while waiting at the gate.
Sonny00:56:32As one does.
Mike00:56:33And I was just cracking up every, like all the time. I thought, I thought the, the, the humor was like, was pitched perfect, uh, perfectly to like, to what I was doing, which was like. I'm watching a movie to kind of just like disconnect. I've just been working for the past 10 days and I had a blast watching it.
Sonny00:56:51You just wanted to watch a fun movie and have a good time. Which is what I did.
Mike00:56:57And I did. And, and I thought they, but I also thought like all the family dynamics in the film are terrific. I mean, all of the, um, relationships that Mark Wahlberg has, like with the kids, which are, um, they are more real than you normally see. In a movie like this, I, I thought the, um, like the relationship with the, the, the daughter, the oldest daughter, you know, where like the, the mother is frustrated with her and, and they are clashing and, and Mark Wahlberg is sort of like, he, he gets, he gets both sides of, of that divide and he's, and he's working to bridge it and, but he's also sort of like, I don't really know what to do. Um, I thought the, the, the, the. The relationship with the son was great because he was, um, you know, his, his motivation for being anti-violence is sort of a mystery to the son, but there's a story behind it, but he's also, you know, he's not like, he doesn't come down on the son when he finds out what, what he's doing and, and that he's this big game streamer and all this stuff. And I thought the relationship between the older brother and sister was terrific. Like, I just thought all of those dynamics were very real to me and, and funny, like right. And funny. Um, and there were just like little jokes written into the script that I love a little
JVL00:58:20bit. I tell you what I really liked, Michael, when he goes to the high school to grab his daughter and she's not at the, the school paper and first he bribes the, the editor who is like offended. But then when he doubles the bribe, she's like, yeah, she's under the, when he shows up under the bleachers and first I'm thinking like, oh, she's making out with this guy that they've been talking about. And then I know she's sitting with her little circle of, yeah. And the, that bit in there with like, this is safe space.
Sonny00:58:51You can't just come in here.
JVL00:58:52Like, right. That was actually very, that was cleverly written and I enjoyed it and I thought it was lovely.
Sonny00:58:58See boyfriend later on, who's just using it for sex.
?00:59:01Yeah.
Mike00:59:02That was, that was pretty good. That was great. I love moments. There were moments. There was like a, there was like a joke at some point where, uh, they make the sort of like talking there. There's some. There's a moment where the, where the, where Michelle Monahan and Mark Wahlberg are like arguing or, or having some conversation and they're talking about, um, how they were, you know, oh, oh, I know they're talking about their, their first few dates. You know, it's like we had the first date, we had our second date, uh, and then I got pregnant. Then we had our fourth date and the daughter's like, what, uh, what, what do you say? And she just goes, do, do the math. And then like moves on. I just love, like, they were like little jokes like that. I thought were very well done. And Michelle Monahan is, is like, so like everybody, everybody. All the actors do a fantastic job in this, in this, um, I thought, so I, I loved it. Um, I do think the third act kind of drags a little once it, once it becomes serious. Um, I didn't, I didn't love, it felt like the, like where they, where the, well, spoiler alert, right? Like the family, like they find out and the wife takes the kids and leaves. They can all fight together. It's the Mitchell's versus the machine. Yeah. But like the, the, I just thought that. Yeah. That felt forced to me. Like we got to get them so that they get kidnapped by, uh, what's her name from the beginning of the movie that you knew was going to come back. Like, and then, and like that felt forced, but then I, I did love when they worked together. So, so it was not, it wasn't even the whole third act, it was just getting forward to
JVL01:00:30the sequel. And I'm glad that they don't kill Kieran hands because in the sequel, when some other bad guy from his past comes after them, they can break Kieran hands out from jail and then like fast and furious. They can, they can reconcile and he becomes the good guy. It's all family in the family. It's all about family.
Sonny01:00:50It's all about family. It's all about family movie since the fast and furious year series has been run into the ground. So, so capably, uh, I'm glad to hear that, Mike, I I'll be honest, the third act doesn't entirely work for me either. Just because like you have the, the movie is one thing and then it shifts to another thing. And the, and the, the first thing I think is, is just, it's just better. It's just better. It's just better done than, than the second thing, like it, it is less, uh, it, the finale just feels fairly, uh, pretty, I mean, it just, it is what it is.
JVL01:01:25Um, and there, but although again, I do like, I like, I liked when she kills the one sympathetic bad guy with the one, the one bad guy who we kind of like, yes, she, she flat out murders him. And then as they're watching, she's like, maybe he's all right. That was it. You know what you're talking to me. You know what?
Sonny01:01:45Okay, fine. It's a bit. And also she, she, she also uses her skills as a decathlete to, it all comes back together.
Mike01:01:51She uses the skills as a decathlete, but I love, I love the, I loved the, the fake more
JVL01:01:58sex when he's like, you know, like, oh, did you ever bang it out on a, the, the pole vault pit? Again, I just know that's great if it's just me and Shannon, but what you're doing is making
Mike01:02:09sure that I can't watch this movie with G money, but I'm going to defend. I'm going to defend this on a character and plot, uh, point, which, uh, uh, basis, which is that, um, they make a whole thing, how their it's their, their sex life is something that has suffered because that is not a thing that needs to be again.
JVL01:02:27I actually, you know what? I take this back. It's not just G money. I wouldn't want to watch this with flash or favorite either. You're closing it off. You're taking this and you're robbing me of a family movie. You're making this a movie that I can only watch with my wife. Which to be honest, makes it a heavier lift for me because well, no, just to find the
Mike01:02:50time to do, right?
JVL01:02:51Because if it's a thing that we can all watch together, then we can, oh great. This is a thing. We're going to do this on Saturday, otherwise, otherwise we got to wait until after the kids are in bed and then we've got to watch it in three different shifts over the course of three days. And you know, with multiple days between each viewing of 40 minutes, well, and take this
Mike01:03:11in the spirit with which it's intended JVL, it that's more of a, of a you problem than a movie problem. Yes, it is a me problem, Michael.
JVL01:03:22I only care about movies as they serve my own personal needs as you should be reasonable.
Sonny01:03:27Frankly, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a totally reasonable point of view. Uh, Mike, I'm glad you, I'm glad that you're not a sour puss like JVL over here. I'm glad you, you like this movie.
Mike01:03:40I loved it. Yeah.
Sonny01:03:42And, and, and we watch it.
Mike01:03:43Can, yeah. Well, can I say, can I also say that, um, I mentioned this before, but like, as I'm watching this, like this is the most laughable Buffalo that I've ever seen on like makes
JVL01:03:54Buffalo.
Mike01:03:55It looks amazing. Well, so I had a feeling and I was right. Cause I looked it up after I had a feeling, I was like, this is all filmed in Georgia.
Sonny01:04:04I know.
Mike01:04:05I know. Yeah. I know what Georgia looks like. Yeah. And, and, and in fact, I was able to look up. The exact places where they, I was like, yes, this is all filmed in Georgia and yet it's supposed to be Buffalo, New York.
Sonny01:04:16So there were, there were, so there, there were a couple, there were, there was some on location shooting. They shot a couple sequences in Vegas, but like the, the sequence in Vegas, in the, in the suite, they built that whole suite on a, in a studio.
JVL01:04:29I believe that. I believe that. I got, I got one question. One thing really stucked out at me in casting. Yes. The team of bad guys. Is there anything about the makeup of the team of bad guys that really jumped out at you over and over again? No. Cause I don't see that.
Sonny01:04:53I don't understand.
JVL01:04:55It was just a weird choice to me. It seemed like of the bad guys that we meet eight of the nine of them are, are African-American. I think it was weird. It was weird. It's like, oh, another, another black X, CIS, CIS, black X.
Sonny01:05:17I'm just like, there was like the Asian woman, Karen Hines is like as Irish as they come.
?01:05:23Yeah.
Mike01:05:24And use it a weird accent by the way. Can I say that? Like Karen Hines, his accent was like, it was not his normal Irish accent.
Sonny01:05:31It was, it was, yeah, there was, it was, uh, well, cause at one point the, this, the guy
Mike01:05:36goes, our grandfather's British. And then I was like, wait, did, did he have a British accent? And then he spoke like a minute later and I was like, what is that? It's not like, it's not like South African. Yeah. It's weird. Um, anyway, so no, I didn't, I, I, I didn't notice it.
Sonny01:05:51Uh, this movie needed an Afri Connor's, a guy in a Afri Connor's Hornets outfit to come
Mike01:05:59in and maybe the, yeah, then this would operate within the same universe as the beekeeper.
Sonny01:06:05We could have a cross family.
Mike01:06:09By the way. Uh, the, the daughter, I can't remember the actress's name Zoe something. She is in, uh, only mergers in the building. She I, I recognize Zoe Coletti. Yeah.
JVL01:06:20She, she, if only Vic was here, she, she is, oh, that was Maggie Q playing Gwen. I haven't seen her since correct. Like mission impossible three or something. Wasn't she? She was in one of them. She was in some of the later ones too. She was in one of the mission boss.
Mike01:06:35No, she was only in one mission. She was only one. I thought she was in anyway. No, no, this, uh, Zoe.
Sonny01:06:40Uh, she was in the protege, which I loved. I loved that movie.
Mike01:06:43That was great. Oh, that was a good movie. Um, no, she was, she's the, this, uh, Zoe, the, the, the, was the daughter is the daughter figure to Steve Martin and only murders in the building.
Sonny01:06:53The, oh, they're like step, the step, the step daughter kind of mission impossible three
Mike01:06:59Maggie Q was in good. Good for you. Good for you, Jim. Oh yeah. You're right.
JVL01:07:04Um, all right. Well, yeah, I bet Vic would be really into Zoe Coletti. All right. Well, all right. Not very woke.
Mike01:07:09Uh, all right. So, uh, no more thoughts. Okay. We are, that is all the time we are giving to this episode. Uh, check us out at sub beacon.com and we will talk to you next time.
JVL01:07:23Hey, I, I just want to say again, thank you to everybody in the SSU who chipped in to get me. This watch is incredibly sweet and kind of you.
Sonny01:07:39That's why it's not one of the, it's not one of the space swatches.
JVL01:07:42It's not one of the, so they thought about getting one of those for me and I'm glad they
Sonny01:07:45didn't because, because you would have thrown it right in the trash in front of them.
JVL01:07:50No, just because like they, they are ludicrously expensive for what they are and the only reason to buy them is to flip them on eBay because there are idiots on eBay who will pay anything for them. So uh, anyway, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm just grateful. Thank you.
Mike01:08:09I need to get, I need to get obsessed about something like watches or denim because like I don't have an obsession like this and I would feel like I would, I feel like I would get good, good gifts if I just express that you got mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch.
Sonny01:08:26Have you forgotten? You're the mulch king.
JVL01:08:28Do we need to pine straw?
Sonny01:08:29We're going to bring you a mountain of mulch. You're gonna be the mulch man, mulch, full yard, uh, God, God only knows what WME is going to do. With, uh, the WWF, WWE, whatever the, the, you know, once Vince McMahon retires, they're going to wind up with a mulch man character coming in all the mulch, man, I'm just going
JVL01:08:49to power bomb you into this mulch.
Sonny01:08:52I'm going to cover the floor with you. There'll be, there'll be mulch matches where like the loser is the one who gets dumped in the container, a mulch, worst thing. It'll be the worst thing that has ever been on WWE, even worse than all the racism.
Mike01:09:08I'm sure it'll be fine. - Fine.
JVL01:09:11- You mulch.
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