#274. 'Woman of the Hour'
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All three hosts rave about Woman of the Hour (Netflix), Anna Kendrick's confident directorial debut, in which she also stars as the real 1978 Dating Game contestant who unwittingly matched with serial killer Rodney Alcala; Sonny calls it a shockingly tight, stylish 92-minute thriller and singles out a subtly unnerving shot-reverse-shot sequence in a tiki bar, JVL praises its handling of an underdiscussed killer and Kendrick's screen presence (while noting the actor playing Alcala isn't nearly as handsome as the real thing), and Mike loves how convincingly it recreates 1970s texture and its restrained, non-preachy handling of its "nobody believes women" theme — with Tony Hale scoring laughs as a lecherous Dating Game producer. The episode opens with Sonny's harrowing account of his son's first Boy Scout campout, including a two-man tent built for "one and a half people," a disastrous foam sleeping pad, and a kayak trip that puts him on a collision course with alligators in the campsite pond, plus praise for a fellow dad's absurdly elaborate camp breakfast spread. JVL then delivers an unusually earnest sales pitch for the new Absolute Batman comic, calling it the best thing he's read in the genre since The Dark Knight Returns and diving into DC's copyright-driven reimagining of the character, before a quick box office check-in on Smile 2, Terrifier 3, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. They close with a lengthy, gossipy detour into a Washington Post profile of Nicole Shanahan, tracing her path from Sergey Brin fling-turned-wife to RFK Jr.'s running mate.
From the show notes
Anna Kendrick and Buster, not GOB. Buster. Duh. Sonny's fired.
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00I've been on this show since 1968. The one thing I've learned is No matter what words they used the question beneath the question remains the same What's the question Which one of you will hurt me and a bachelor number three. I'm counting on you What are girls for?
?00:00:30You
Mike00:00:38Welcome to the sub beacon podcast I'm bachelor number one Mike Warren joining me as always our bachelor number two Jonathan V last and bachelor number three Sonny Bunch Join us over at sub beacon dot-com join us there leave a comment You can listen to new episodes every Friday But you Can only do it at sub beacon calm tell your friends and family to go to sub beacon calm We're gonna be talking about woman of the hour Later on in the show, but first what is going on guys Sonny? Let's start with you. What's what's happening?
Sonny00:01:16Not a whole lot. It was so my son had his last weekend this weekend this weekend passed My son had his first Boy Scouts camp out and like it's like a legit camp out where? You're sleeping in tents and all that sort of thing, so I had how did Beth enjoy that. I think she did not go I had that I You you went yeah, it was me and my son it was not it was not ideal There was not nothing about this was like so I had to go so I went to rei I had to buy a tent because we don't own a tent I would never I would never purchase Did you get the half dome for no I got I got a tube two-man tent two-man tent Which is the perfect size for one and a half people which do you not understand that you're always supposed to buy a tent?
JVL00:02:05That is one person larger than the number of people you're gonna have in there JBL
Sonny00:02:10Do you have to understand I don't give a single shit about camping. I will never do this again
JVL00:02:15I'm spending the least amount of money while you were crammed into that little tent. Didn't you know I'm not really because again
Sonny00:02:21It's like me. It's me and it's me and a five-year-old It was it was it was a perfectly fine size. I mean like it's like
Mike00:02:29If you had gotten the three-person tent you'd be going camping all the time because if I got if I got the four-person tent
Sonny00:02:35It would have been fine it but like as it was it was fine It took it took me literally like two minutes to set up which was nice. It's the REI something or other the hold on Great great. I'll try I'll try and look it up so glad I came to you first sunny But uh, but the anyway, it was it was fine. It was a it was Yeah, in addition to getting the tent. I also got one of those little I got like these little like foam egg crate Sleeping pads that were terrible just absolutely gotta have them just absolutely useless like almost even worse than useless like at one point my son was like These are poking in my back because you know, they're like kind of like again, they're shaped like egg crates
JVL00:03:24What's that? You didn't go the inflatable again on the REI brand inflatable sleeping pads
Sonny00:03:29First off car. There's not enough space not enough space in this tent for inflatable Pads But uh, no, it was it was fine I mean look again It was miserable in the sense that like I'm sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag, but the weather was perfect I mean it was like 80 degree high like 55 degree low Overnight, so it was like it was it was just it was really really nice weather that campsite we went to was fun like the There's a there's like a kayaking pond and in the kayaking pond. There are alligators like Alligators like five six-foot alligators, and they're just like yeah, I know you just it's fine You just kayak and next to the alligators What if what if somebody falls in they're like they could the alligators are too small. They're not gonna bother any kids. It's fine You're you're really they're more a small dog of them. Do you have any small dogs because you Got small dogs that you have to worry about but a kid kids gonna be fine. I was like okay So anyway we get in the kayak, and I'm I'm kayaking thanks Steve Irwin What he got killed by a stingray you got killed by a much much an animal which everybody said was safely safe He wasn't but if he had been killed by a crocodile it would have been you know anyway It would have been at least ironic instead. It was a stingray. It's like a stingray
Mike00:04:57Any irony to that there's an irony to that To him getting killed by a stingray, but anyway
Sonny00:05:02Anyway, so anyway Why like we we get that we get that first off it takes forever to get the kayaks out there because the guy who had The key to all the kayak stuff wasn't there so we're just standing around looking at the alligators the kids are all like throwing rocks at the alligators And we're like stop throwing rocks at the alligators. They're like no it's fine. We're gonna throw rocks at the alligator to establish dominance It worked because we we get that we get that we get we get the kayak and we push it out into the water and Like of course, you know like my son is in like the front kayak seat. He's like all the way In the front and I'm like you got to sit you got to stay seated on the kayak Don't get up and move because that's how you fall out of the kayak. He's like, okay Okay, so he's just sitting there and I'm pushing it and I'm like in the muck and I'm pushing I get it I finally get it into the water and start paddling and I realized that we are paddling Directly toward the alligator like like not not like next to the like head on like a tri-ream about to ram another ship Toward the alligator. I'm just like I'm going dead-on at this at this at this guy and it's staring at me It's staring me down the whole way this alligator. He's got his eye on me. He's both his eyes. He's turned around He's looking at me. He's looking at me and I'm just paddling I'm like trying to steer around them, but I can't because I don't have enough speed or momentum yet So I'm just I'm just I just was like fuck I'm going right for him So I just I speed up and go toward him and as we're getting there He just dives under the water and swims away because that's what alligators do there They understand that they're not the they're not at the top of this food chain here. We'll be wearing alligator
JVL00:06:34They are a top of that food chain
Sonny00:06:37They are absolutely not at the top of the Boy Scout the the five-foot alligator is not at the top of the Boy Scout food chain for this camp out if if an alligator tried to harm a child it would be like dead within an hour they
JVL00:06:55Who would kill it? Would you get out there with your? Dora Knox swiss army knife and
Sonny00:07:03I Don't know if you know where I live now I live in Texas and we were in we're in like East Texas and I guarantee you there's there are at least a dozen Firearms within very short distance of where we were Maybe maybe more than that So anyway anyway long story short it was fun the kids the kids all had a good time there. They're all psychopaths
JVL00:07:29Do it again
Sonny00:07:32Every six months probably I mean, I'm gonna steer us toward doing the YMCA camp out next time because that's like in actual cabins It's much easier. It's it's so so much less work
Mike00:07:45And the worst When I was growing up in the Cub Scouts the absolute worst campouts were actually the ones that for whatever reason were held in the basically the front yard of the church that that sponsored our Cub Scout pack and it was literally just like It was just like a wooded area And so everybody just slept on roots Like all all like 20 feet from the road and it in the parking lot. It was insane Like I do not know how all the dads Survived that but but they did so
Sonny00:08:24Yeah, I just looked up the tent the tent was the trail made to tent with Footprint again, it took like I haven't set up a tent in literally 25 years It took me literally like three minutes to set up. It was super easy So hard hard recommend if you're in if you're in the if you're in the market for a one-person tent Go go with the two-person trail trail made rei - that's a it's a it's a very solid very solid tent I Padding thing would have worked if I'd put so I had two of them I had one for each of us if I put them on top of each other I think that would have actually been okay, but with just one it was
JVL00:09:10If you have to do this twice a year just spend the 40 bucks on the inflatable rei
Sonny00:09:16Yeah, I well if we do that if we have to do this again I'll probably upgrade to a bigger tent and get get an inflatable You know cuz I'm like I'm setting up and I'm like I've got a two-man tent and I'm looking around and all the dads
JVL00:09:29Have like four to six man you really need a four man because your boy will grow up soon Unimportant we'll do gear gear lab later
Sonny00:09:39Yeah, the but the fuck the the the most fun the most fun part of this is one of the dads is like one of the Dads before he had kids was like a traveling, you know parking lot cookout guy would like, you know, like tailgating But like slightly more serious Slight like slight like a notch above tailgating like competitive tailgating And he he was like he was like I'm gonna take I'll take care everybody just throw me 40 bucks I'll take care of all the food and I was like, okay that that sounds fine I was I was assuming it would be I was assuming it would be you know, like pretty pretty bare-bones So but it was like it was like breakfast. It was bacon eggs and pancakes The the lunch was a portable riddle No, it was like it wasn't a poor I I guess I mean, I don't know how to describe it exactly But it was like a propane fired griddle like it Yeah, yeah So like that that it was it was like a - it was like a two-top He had like a yeah - I mean it was big his whole I don't understand how he got all that stuff out there he had like multiple coolers like multiple Yeti coolers full of food and And yeah, I was just like better. I was like you how did you how did you how do you even get all this in? Your car and he's like well, it's a very tight fit, but it fits perfectly. All right
Mike00:10:59But let me let me tell you that like that It's that that gave him so much joy that entire thing totally the planning Yeah, packing of the car and then the cooking of the food for everybody and having everybody go. This is great Thanks Bob for doing this 100
Sonny00:11:15I kept I kept going over there being like, how can I how can I help? What can I I feel like totally useless? He's like I got it man. Just go sit down and I was like, all right, but it was like he was he was having He was having a good time and like it I was you know, like again tell you about that time he was on the dating game. What's that?
JVL00:11:34Did you tell you about that time? He was on the dating game?
Mike00:11:39It sounds a lot better than the hobo meals that we used to eat when we would go camping when I was a kid Which was like you would pre make your you would pre make your meal and it was like stew meat potatoes Whatever, maybe some butter thrown in there and you wrap it up and foil and you put it in the cooler and then when you get to the campsite and it's dinnertime, you just Pick out your hobo meal in it wrapped completely wrapped in foil and throw it in the fire and then like get it out And that was your meal and it was it was it was like the fucking ring of power
JVL00:12:17You just throw it into the fire to see see if the flame reveals any messages in your food or something Hold out your hand
Mike00:12:27It's quite cool. It's not quite cool Yeah, so anyway, all right. Well JVL what's going on with you?
JVL00:12:33So, uh, you know, I'd wanted to talk a little bit about the Nicole Shanahan profile in the in the Washington Post today, but maybe we'll save that for outtakes. What I really want to talk about is Batman and I texted you guys about this This is You know, I'm a I'm a I'm not a high volume consumer of comic books And you know, like I'm not out there buying comics every day, but I or every week but you know, I read some comics and this past week I Had like five different friends who are all like into comics at various levels all say to me Hey, you got to go check out absolute Batman. I Was like what I don't even know what that is. They're like, it's it's a new line from DC it's a reimagining of Batman and it's It's crazy good And so I was like, okay I happened to be in some comic book shops last week and I picked up a copy and I read it and I don't think I have felt like I was reading something important In this way since the first issue I picked up of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns when I was like 13 By important I mean like this I think is gonna be a comic book series that is going to Utterly redefine the character of Batman They're gonna be movies that spin out of this and a decade from now We'll be talking about this as like a seminal event In day, I mean, I it sounds crazy But it's like so good that I can't even really
Mike00:14:19Explain it question. I found this exciting can you give us sorry Senate can you give us like a a two to three sentence explanation of what makes this Batman different than the Batman that we all know and love so this is a
JVL00:14:35wholesale reimagining of the character and I believe that the reason that this exists is Intellectual property law and we can talk about that in a minute, but I believe that that's the motivating force behind this it is written by Scott Snyder who is one of the you know batter of the current crop of regular comic writers and When I say a wholesale reimagining I mean that we we begin with the very first appearance of the Batman in public He is about 24 26 years old so it's got a sort of Batman year one kind of angle to it Bruce Wayne is not rich Bruce Wayne His mother is still alive His dad was a school teacher who was killed in front of him during A mass shooting during a field trip. They were at the zoo when he was in fifth grade Alfred Pennyworth is a British Special Operations British Special Forces. What are the British Special Forces called SAS that he's an SAS type And we don't know exactly who he's working for but he's he's SAS who has been sent to Gotham. He's in Gotham on on assignment and seems to have Bruce grew up in crime alley and He seems to have been his childhood group of friends seems to have been a bunch of people who will eventually become villains like Selina Kyle Oswald Cobblepot, etc, etc And it looks like the Joker on the other hand is Bruce Wayne so that which by which I mean the Joker is like the 30th richest person on the planet
?00:16:29and
JVL00:16:30A psychopath and anyway, the entire thing is it's incredibly hard-boiled. I mean it is it is It's it's a very rough and gritty Batman But the whole thing I don't know how to say this except that the whole thing is just crackling with energy In a way that if you if you still if you go back and you pull Any of the Frank Miller Dark Knight books off the shelf and I do this like once every four or five years It is stunning to me how vibrant and alive they are like it is not like you are looking back through a piece of the past like these things are just still There's still energy coursing through them
Sonny00:17:17And they're very very few comics that are like that, right?
JVL00:17:20Most of them are like of the moment and then they age, you know, they age very quickly This thing man It's fucking good And if you if you are at all Anywhere a tiny bit interested in comic books stop by a comic shop and pick up issue number one of absolute Batman They are releasing today was the release of issue number one of absolute Wonder Woman. I Believe absolute Superman is already out. Oh, I could be wrong. It may be coming next Yeah, but as I said, I believe the motivating force for all this is that Batman and Superman will move into the public domain and I believe it's nine years and I I believe that this the motivating force of this is To reimagine the character on a significant enough scale to reset the the copyright timer For this version and so it's one of these things where if you change, you know If you change enough things about it, you can get a sec a separate patent, right?
Sonny00:18:22You know somebody patent something and then there's a copyright is copyright is from the invention of the care. So like just as as a so like You know the way copyright works, right is that the Batman enters public domain in nine years or whatever But then you know the the penguin enters two years after that Catwoman enters three years after whatever whatever like whenever that character debuts
JVL00:18:47I believe that this is created in such a way as to count in terms of Copyright law as an entirely new character Even if you look at the the look like the Batman logo itself looks Absolutely nothing like any version of the Batman logo ever used before and the only reason I can think of that is because They sat down with a team of lawyers and said we got to change You know X number of elements of the character in order for the character to be a completely new version
Sonny00:19:22Yeah
Mike00:19:23Why did they do this with why did the a a milne? Estate do this with Winnie the Pooh? So we we didn't have that like killer Winnie the Pooh movie from from a few years ago. Remember it when it went into the Public to me. Yes. No, nobody remembers. Yes. Yes. Sorry. Go ahead Sonny
Sonny00:19:39Yes, I remember again the the issue here is that like Winnie the Pooh is in the public domain but Elements from Winnie the Pooh are not there are like Winnie the Pooh characters that cannot be used
JVL00:19:50In the probably like Tigger right Tigger feels like a more modern character whatever Tigger was added later. Yeah. Yeah
Sonny00:19:57Piglet or whatever So like All right, I guess here's my my big question is how is this different from? Well, first off you described the way you described that Joker would be character. It basically sounds like Mark Millar's nemesis
JVL00:20:13Maybe I mean he seems insane Yeah, not I mean nemesis is a like imagine if the Joker was insane but also
Sonny00:20:23You know had Elon Musk money. Yeah. All right. The second the second thing here is like, okay, so how Is this so I mean this basically just sounds like a Miles Morales situation
JVL00:20:36Not really, I mean maybe I mean if it feels a little bit like the ultimate The Marvel's ultimate universe right did something like this except that this is bigger, I think in terms of the the fundamental changes to to the main character and all this and I mean, I mean, maybe maybe it is gonna wind up being similar. I like the miles Morales Universe kind of I liked the ultimate spider-man universe. I thought it was fun. I liked all the ultimates Honestly, I like the ultimate Avengers. I like the ultimate x-men
Sonny00:21:13And I mean my point my broader point though, is that like this can't Reese this does this cannot reset the clock on the?
JVL00:21:221928 Batman no, it has to be the creation of an entirely new character character. Right? Yeah, who right? I mean this is
Sonny00:21:29So the people can't use it right and the end the theory is that this is what? Warner Brothers and DC will use going forward. I believe the main Batman I will say so so my my my fear I mean, I I understand I I can see that argument and maybe it maybe that's what happens when You know Batman really does hit the public domain and everybody starts, you know desecrating the corpse and whatever but the but I do think I do I like I always I mean Miles Morales is I Have to be very careful what I say here because people get weirdly defensive about this Miles Morales is a pale imitation of the real spider-man and like I like I think you'll see that if you if you if it wound up in a If you wound up in a situation where they were trying to do Miles Morales movie like live-action movies not like the Into the spider-verse titles
JVL00:22:29Well, what I mean what Miles Morales did was create an entire spider-verse right, and then the idea of there being canonical events and that you know all of the The creation of Miles Morales is bit is like the splintering of an entire spider-verse where they realize like shit We could just have an infinite number of this character, right, right? Yeah, and that's that's not what this is. I mean that was also that was happening for a long time and I was like, oh my god, what's going on here? You know, I'm like, you know, it's like it's like there's an energy to it. That is I It's as good a comic it's as good a comic as I've read in 30 years I And I don't know how to say it any any Non-crazy sounding than that. Yeah, like it's just it's cool. It's interesting. It's propulsive The art is fantastic. The characters are very crisply drawn Like frames that you can just see becoming totally iconic images on screen You know, like I if this is like if you read it as if it was a storyboard For for a movie be like, oh, yeah, people are gonna fucking love this So that's all I just I felt the need to proselytize about it, which is again you guys have been listening to the show for a long time I have not done about a comic book. I think in the history of the show ever. It's really good It is If you have even the tiniest inclination to do so go pick up the first issue of absolute Batman because it's something special There all right, and we'll talk about Nicole Shanahan on the back end sure whole Craven Shanahan, do you know what I you know, I'm doing that. I don't
Mike00:24:22Let's talk about that on the back end the big game hunter
Sonny00:24:29Ready, I ever I haven't read it yet. So I have no I don't even know who this person is. So
JVL00:24:35Let's let's be juniors running mate running mate former
Sonny00:24:42Lady that crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. This profile is nuts okay, again, this is how unimportant she is I Had to google her to remember who she is. Okay. Anyway, all right. Well
Mike00:24:59You know non non-factor. Why are you move on to? Oh, I'm fine. I have nothing to say nothing interesting It's all I can say is the beginning of this week in DC was It was another example of like a false fall, you know where it got warm again But we are trying our best To usher in which is what is my favorite season for food, which is that fall like where you're making Chili once a week or like lasagna both of which we had at my house this past week You know, it's it's it's the kind of you know, depending on what the casserole is I love a good casserole, but like all those hearty dishes. It's just like it's been too hot too long It's time for a little cool time for some some chili That's all I have to say. Let's move on to the box office to talk about you know where you are How nobody know I'm on the road for work. It's not that interesting Yeah, let's let's move on All right. Let's talk about the box office smile - Number one at the box office. This is this is a horror movie right smile - this is yeah. Yeah, okay, so another horror movie wild
Sonny00:26:24No paramount paramount paramount, okay smile Smile came back in 2022 and it was a huge word-of-mouth hit it opened to like 20 million and then ended up doing 120 something like that
JVL00:26:38Another terrifying movie that I'll never see. Yeah, it's not it's not
Sonny00:26:42Your cup of tea here. I again Terrifier 3 Continues to do very good numbers dropped only it dropped only 50% in its first Week in its second weekend, which is a very good hold for a horror movie particularly one that is theoretically as front-loaded as What's it gonna leg out to Sonny?
JVL00:27:01What's that? What's it gonna leg out to? I?
Sonny00:27:04Don't know. I think I I would say like 60 millions a good result here for this this movie, but it I mean 60 million would be a very very good result for this movie that that would be that would be an enormous amount of money And that that that would and that's again. I that's a multiple of three or so which you know would be Which is solid again. I think everyone thought this movie was going to be As front-loaded as something like five night at Freddy's remember that movie last year came out open to Eighty million dollars or something like that and then dropped 80% in its second weekend, and so that's that's not this Though it will it will end up gross grossing less money overall, but I mean like it's just that's it's an enormous hit It costs again. I I hate to keep hammering this but it costs about two or three million dollars to make they spent about $500,000 on marketing and it's 40 million I think
Mike00:28:00Good for them just if he gets to 60 it will beat where both Joker 2 and Transformers 1 are right now
Sonny00:28:09So yeah, so I mean that's you know look it's it's that's a it's a great That's a great number a Beetlejuice Beetlejuice continues to hold on it's it's inching its way towards 300 million No, no surprise at Warner Brothers once wants to make another one
JVL00:28:26you know I have like it's
Sonny00:28:29Kind of interesting time and again like I keep I keep mentioning this but the the The gap in the year-to-date number continues to shrink So I like I think there's a decent chance that this year will end up outgrossing last year, which nobody thought would happen Certainly after a month or two
JVL00:28:48Will be called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I would assume three times. I would assume so
Sonny00:28:56Can be an enormous hit everyone loves
Mike00:28:59All right We're not talking about Beetlejuice or Beetlejuice Beetlejuice or Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice We're talking about a different movie that is not in Theaters, but is on Netflix. It's called What I have to say is among the worst titles for a movie. Terrible. I were terrible No idea what it means or what it has to do with anything in this movie But Sonny, can you give us a big-boy review of this terrible? titled movie woman of the hour
Sonny00:29:31Terribly titled movie I to the extent that I literally had to look it up before I sent the email for this show out I was like wait, what's that? What's that called? It wasn't woman of the year. Was it no woman of the hour?
Mike00:29:43I thought it was one of the year first
Sonny00:29:45Terrible title look for for what is it? What is actually a I think very good or at least like interesting competent And entertaining and very tight at 93 minutes Or something like that movie so directed by and starring Anna Kendrick Who remains like delightful? She just like she is she is like maintained a very steady like she is a delightful person to to look at and hear For for like 15 years now Starring and directed by Anna Kendrick It is as it is a true true story. It's a you know, I'm sure there are liberties taken here And there but it is a true story about a serial killer who was on The dating game was on was on the dating game or was on a dating game I forget if it's like the ass the dating it was the dating it. Yeah, so is she she this the serial killer was on the dating game the 70s and the woman ends up who's played by Anna Kendrick ends up picking him and they go out for drinks after the show and She gets the heebie-jeebies But the but this this story this like kind of main This main, you know narrative thrust is intercut with this guy killing women through the years over the years and in New York and in the Wyoming Wyoming in California and It's just it's just really well done I like I was kind of shocked because I know this movie had gotten this movie Got a lot of buzz Netflix picked it up for you know, some some large amount of money on the festival circuit in 2023 But I I have to say I really really like this movie and it shows and it's sometimes Actors who direct fall into a trap of doing like really showy things it's like there there are actors there actors who direct for the first time and They want to use all the tricks that they learned or everything that they've seen and thought like we should Put this in a movie like split diopter shots and all that sort of thing I think there is actually there may be a split diopter shot in this one. I can't remember but like This is this this woman woman of the hour is incredibly subdued It does not it does not fall into any of those traps, but it is not Without style and there's this just great moment about two-thirds three-quarters of the way through the movie where? Anna Kendrick is with the serial killer guy. They're at a tiki bar and At first the conversation that they're having a shot in a very standard shot reverse shot format so like just to explain what I'm saying here, you know when you see it when you watch movie, but a shot reverse shot is like Conversation is happening one person is like slightly to the left of the screen and when they cut to the other person that person is On the slide is like slightly on the right hand side of the screen, right? And it it creates a mental image in your mind of people like looking at each other and it just gives you it gives you a sense of space It's a very stay again very standard cinematic technique You never think about it while it's happening because it's so standard but midway through this conversation As it starts to get weird she switches it from being the kind of shot counter shot with a standard You know off to the left off to the right To a a shot counter shot where they're both right in the middle of the screen and it's a very it's a very again It's a very subtle thing. It's it's not the sort of thing that you necessarily pick up on consciously, but when it happens You're like oh, this is weird, and I don't like it. It's weird It's your brain is like this is weird And it's unusual and what is happening right now in this conversation is weird And it's unusual and I don't I feel uncomfortable. I feel uncomfortable and that's reflected in how she feels she feels uncomfortable She has lost power in this situation. You know whatever blah blah blah I again. It's it's it's a very subtle piece of filmmaking And it's one that doesn't necessarily jump out at you, but it is It is incredibly assured for somebody who has never directed a feature before I think she Has done a couple directed a couple shorts, but like it's just it's just really it's really well done I like I again. I love her in this. I I have loved her since up in the air. I think she's been She's great in everything and is like weirdly underutilized She was great in the accountant you guys remember the accountant the Ben Affleck never sold. I never saw oh man. It's great great I love that movie. She's she's good and that I
Mike00:34:30Love her. She's she's so good in that movie. She's so good in the up in up in the air
Sonny00:34:35And you know who else is you know who else is in this perfect? You know who else?
Mike00:34:39I never really like Tony. Oh, I did see the accountant by the way. That is a great movie
Sonny00:34:44You know who else is in this in his great is Tony Hale, Tony Hale Joe Bluth himself shows up
Mike00:34:52He's Buster he's Buster or Buster Buster, I'm sorry Buster
Sonny00:34:57And he's He's uh, he's just uh He's he's delightful. He is really delightful as well delightful being a lecherous delightful being just a real jerk Just a real real jerk. I don't know I I'm curious to know what you guys made of it because it's definitely it's the sort of thing that is like There there it is a little Exercising it is a little like it's a serial killer movie, but not really a serial killer movie But also, you know about women women not having Power in the world and not being nobody believes women and but but I just thought I thought the whole thing was Really well done and again remarkably efficient Compared to 90% of what Netflix put out puts out. It's a 92 minute movie It needs to be exactly 92 minutes not a minute longer and probably you I mean you could maybe trim three or four minutes here Or there but like it couldn't be that much shorter And still be the same exact kind of movie that It that it's trying to be I just thought I thought it was I thought it was great great performances Really really well directed nicely put together very well lit Like again, I go back to that shot that sequence in the tiki bar where it's just really really it like it's got nice shadows And it's got interesting lighting and like it's not all overhead fluorescence as you get in so many movies these days I don't know. I'm pro. I'm pro this movie curious to know what you guys made of it
Mike00:36:26JVL, what did you make of it? Thank you?
JVL00:36:28Sonny JVL, it's it's great I mean, it's a it's a very competently put together thriller about a very interesting and under under Discussed serial killer and Rodney Alcala is I mean he killed we think at least ten women He was arrested Early on and And then was let out on bail and given Permission to travel cross-country where he went and killed somebody else in New York and he He then comes back to LA and Was actually interviewed by the task force that was doing the hillside strangler. I Mean just think about that for a moment There were so many serial killers in Southern California in the 1970s that the cops who were looking for one of them interviewed unknowingly another serial killer during the course of their investigation It was a weird time it was a very very weird time and it's She's I'm sorry. I I think Anna Kendrick is great. I get the sense there people don't like her that like America's sweetheart Anne Hathaway There is she gives off theater kid energy. She is she's a New Jersey Like Anne Hathaway, she's a New Jersey North Jersey theater kid And you know what like and have a fork in love in Hathaway in everything she's in and I I'm really Like Anna Kendrick as a presence in everything She's in and it would make me very happy if she turns out to be a gifted director as well That would be that would be wonderful I'm pro. Yeah I will say this the guy they they had played Rodney Alcala Not Rodney Alcala was very handsome That's not if you go and look at him like you he's like a very square jawed You know flowing black hair sort of wavy hair. I mean he looks like 70s kind of 70s Heartthrob - yeah, yeah, and the who played who plays that character in this he looks sort of like doughy and weird Yes, yeah, and and that sort of misses I think a little bit about what was It misses a little bit I think I know this is a silly thing like, you know, like oh the actor wasn't as handsome as
Mike00:39:12the the real life, but
JVL00:39:14The handsomeness of Alcala was actually sort of striking
Mike00:39:18And and it was it was a part of his it was a part of his appeal to the to his victims, you know Yeah, hundred percent right hundred percent. That's like Molly's fashion photographer
JVL00:39:28And he kind of looked like a fashion photographer, right? You'd be like, oh, I can't believe that It was sentenced to death died on death row Was he actually executed or did you know die on no died a natural causes died it was like 77 he only died in 2021 Like this is all very recent history, you know in a in a way Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Can you imagine? I mean the fucking dating game producers pulling onto a show I mean, this is how loosey-goosey everything was Back in the 70s, right? Yeah, this guy was out on, you know had skipped bail on charges of Like attempted murder. I think it was And it just kind of gone into the wind and in LA. They're like, yeah, here's some dude We'll just put him on a dating game thing, you know, we're gonna do any sort of background checks or well
Sonny00:40:20And and the movie is very good at setting that tone to we see it. They we see it through how Anna Kendrick's character is picked for the show like she just she gets a call from her agent who was like we got we but I booked you on TV and she's like Oh, I was booked on TV. What I Didn't try out for anything And they're they're like, yeah you just show up at this studio and we'll get you they'll get you in and you can go and like Again, it's it's just it's kind of wild
Mike00:40:50By the way, you JVL you mentioned like how bizarre it was and how many serial killers there were in the 70s for like For them to sort of be crossing paths like this. I read on Wikipedia that He apparently worked in an office with another serial killer in when he was in New York The the Times Square Ripper Richard Cottingham Who it's like they apparently didn't know each other but they like worked in the same. It was like an insurance office It's an that was it's just like I think
JVL00:41:27America can fully appreciate the extent to which the entire country lost its mind for ten years in the 1970s
Mike00:41:36The 60s are actually the 70s. This is David Frum's great. David makes a point
JVL00:41:42Yes, the 60s actually begin in the summer of 1968 the 60s as we know them, right? Yeah, they extend through like 1981 Those are the 60s. That's that's what the 60s were And they took place almost entirely in the 70s and with the bleed into the early part of the 80s until Ronnie fucking crushed that shit. I
Sonny00:42:02mean it's it is it is wild like you you It is all the things we kind of or at least all the things I grew up taking for granted like Never hitchhike never pick up a hitchhiker. Yeah, like never never do either of those things
Mike00:42:18You know this movie and like stranger danger like yeah, all of that stuff is very So not present in this in this man be like just all of these sort of just the way in which like young girls and women were like Just on their own, you know, I mean in Living on the streets and and that sort of thing. I mean, I'm not saying it doesn't happen now, but there was This is gonna sound callous but it's like It's it's it was bizarre that there were so many seemingly like middle-class You know young people who were sort of living these Drifter lives, you know, and that really comes through nobody nobody asked me what I thought of this movie, but I did I said Michael What did I?
Sonny00:43:09Said I'm curious to know what both of you guys made of this movie not I was not well, I fucking hated it
Mike00:43:17No, I'm just oh No, I loved it. Um, sorry. I just I Do inject some some some difference of opinion, but no I I did love it. I I
JVL00:43:29I
Mike00:43:30Here's what I loved about it. Everything you guys said enjoyed the performances and and the the skill with which You know, the directing was executed. I thought the Look of the movie. It's so For a time that I didn't live in like it it's so felt like the 70s and looked like the 70s in my mind of what that period looks like just the clothing that people wore the Offices and color buildings the color palette for sure I think that's like in that tiki that tiki bar scene like what you're talking about. Sunny is very much Like if they captured what what light looked like, you know back then Lots lots more sort of accent light and not not the overhead So I thought that was terrific. I thought the the message of the movie was Was very skillfully done. I you know, I am sort of an like I naturally just like recoil at like You know message movies not because it's like oh here comes another Hollywood liberal message But it's they are often done like this a different version of this movie would have been really ham-handed in the message that like, you know, which is essentially that like like women aren't listened to When they're trying to tell
Sonny00:44:58Authorities that something is wrong. It not just right up to that line It gets it gets up. It gets right up next to it. Yeah, your mileage may vary
Mike00:45:07I thought they I thought they did it very skillfully because Because I thought the whole thing was kind of understated You know, there was no grand speech Like so like the the girl who spoiler like girl who's in the audience the young woman who's in the audience at the dating game who recognizes Rudy as being someone that she believes killed her friend like She doesn't have some grand speech where she like makes it which I think a lesser movie would have done where she like makes the point of the movie and Instead she you know She has that one moment where she kind of screams like do your job That baby is the moment Sonny you're thinking of where I kind of inches up to that But I but I thought I thought it was very like I thought her whole frustration And not being listen to was very underplayed and affect more effective than than an otherwise would have been and and I just thought Like that that was a credit to it and there, you know, look there were also moments where Where The the well, anyway, that's that's just my that's my thought about let me clip my thoughts But I don't know what you think of that Sonny if you thought you thought it was a little it got a little close to the line
Sonny00:46:26No, I Sequence that jumped out at me as as a little close to the line was earlier than that in the car the bit in the car where the the boyfriend is like Well, you think that's the guy but okay, no It's the guy and really do we want to bother everybody with your womanly? Suspicions, you know, like I was like, oh, I'm your hysteria I was like, I was like, okay smile more. All right. All right. I get it
Mike00:47:02I get it, but but but but I even think the boyfriend like he wasn't a villain in that scene He was just he was just like he like he goes on forever
Sonny00:47:12It just goes that sequence goes that sequence goes on a long time and it like it dry It really drives home that boy. I mean look and again, it's like as you say There's a version of that that ends. There's a version of that sequence that ends with the the girlfriend being like This is how? This is how women are abused and taken advantage of because nobody believes us But I am like I there there's there's a much there's a much more ham-handed version of that sequence But I definitely was like like all right we get it. We it's you know It's fine Yeah, no believe women whatever roll my eyes over here
Mike00:47:54You know, I know I know here is this this?
JVL00:47:58I could tell you really you're changing this movie, which feels like Captain Marvel
Sonny00:48:03Right there totally yes, that's what I guess. That's this isn't it I think I think this movie does I think this movie walks that line much better, and I I I was never I never found myself I never found myself annoyed by it although like I definitely like nudged up to annoyance once or twice I was just like all right come on. Let's let's go. Let's keep moving and a Kendrick story to tell great Let's get back to movies. She's
Mike00:48:28Sort of like more movies can I say one more thing about? the the whole dating game show Like this the whole concept of it, and I thought I just thought they did I thought all of those sequences were really fun to watch especially when she when she starts When she start you know she changes where she like loosens up and has some fun and kind of makes fun of how dumb these These guys are um oh, but I Know what I wanted to say so bachelor number two is like the guy who's like yeah? I only like like girls with big tits or her give blowjobs or whatever was and like and He's like set up to be To which he is to be just like the this gross. You know misogynistic like douchebag But I thought it was interesting that it was his character who gives her the very first tip off That this Rudy guy who's just who she's just selected is somebody to be avoided like like I don't know I thought that was an interesting choice in the script to like have him say as she's saying goodbye To as she's saying goodbye to bachelor two for him to say like watch out for that asshole I'm like you see in her head like she has this recognition like wait Do I need to do I need to listen to this and like consider this I saw that was an interesting kind of nuanced choice
JVL00:49:58The other thing is just sort of I'm sorry This is this is a non sequitur, but I'm just thinking about historical eras In like when eras happen as we were talking about like, you know, the 60s are really in the 70s. Sure All of these characters were born in or around the middle to end of World War two Yes Again, I mean these these people were these characters are all born before there are jet airplanes and They are living in a world in which We recognize as thoroughly modern Right. I mean the dating game is like The Bachelor or something like I mean it is a they're they're doing this thing reality television that is utterly familiar to us and Anyway, it just struck me as Yeah, how?
Mike00:50:57Is like mashed together, and we don't often realize it totally and it also strikes me that we're this is our second movie in a row that takes place in like the mid-70s and You see some of that effect in Saturday night when we when we cover that that movie All right any other thoughts we have on Woman of the Year does does anybody have any theories about why it's called woman of the year or woman of it? I got it wrong a woman of the hour
Sonny00:51:25Because she's an hour-long show Hour I don't I I had a question. I actually had one question about the dating game was it was it broadcast live? Because there's that whole sequence where like the TV tips over and they're like going to commercial break and like they're coming
Mike00:51:42I was I assume that was live to tape. I assume that was live to tape. Yeah, you know where they know idea
Sonny00:51:48I was just like Vic would know that sequence that sequence plays as if it's supposed to be live
JVL00:51:54Which didn't really John is screaming at his phone right now. Yeah
Sonny00:51:57The only the only other thing I'll say is children. How do you not know what they did with those? If you guys if you guys haven't seen a simple favor, which is another Another Anna Kendrick movie. That's also kind of a murder mystery movie big fan of that She's she's very it's also on Netflix right now directed by Paul Feig Was his his post Ghostbusters movie much better than Ghostbusters late Michael you gotta see pitch-perfect. It's great
JVL00:52:26What's that Michael? Has to see pitch-perfect. I'll put it in the queue. Let's it's the Hoosiers of college a cappella movies
Mike00:52:35You're not selling it. You're not selling it. Well, maybe you not it's
JVL00:52:40I guess only one of the three of us was a college a cappella guy
Mike00:52:49All right, that is all the time we are gonna give to this episode join us over at sub beacon dot-com Leave a comment tell your friends and family And we will talk to you next time All right, give us give us a couple minutes on Nicole Shanahan, but can I say something listener to the show? Yeah friend of mine drew If he's listening, he knows who he is. He has a connection to Nicole Shanahan, which is that his wife's cousin is Shanahan's current husband Okay, okay, and that they were invited to the wedding and did not attend Because it was gonna be some Weird like it wasn't called a wedding It was like a joining ceremony or some, you know, maybe bullshit bullshit like that. And it was like It was anyway, and they also were like we have like kids and we can't fly across the country for Some random cousin's wedding, but that's that's the connection. So that's all I have to say JVL go
JVL00:54:03so Nicole Shanahan grows up in Oakland, California the daughter of a Chinese couple she has a very hardscrabble young life and Goes to college at some low-level college in Washington State and then goes to China for several years comes back to the States enrolls in like Santa Clara Law School and Comes out and founds a tech company which so far as I can tell never makes anything But in the course of this, why is that a problem? starts met exactly starts meeting VC people and She gets engaged to one of them While she's engaged to a this fellow She bumps into Sergei Brin who is already like super wealthy famous has already been married and through one divorce And she starts banging it out with him While she is engaged to this other dude, you mean you mean banging out as in
Mike00:55:20As an investment sheets, right? Like that's there. They're not on. Oh, okay. No
JVL00:55:26and but at this point Sergei has decided that he's never getting married again and he's in full YOLO mode because he's been told that He carries a marker which shows that he might get Parkinson's someday and so he's he's basically decided he's just gonna fuck everything that walks and She She marries this other guy anyway, even though she's banging it out with Sergei and Then she shortly after marriage like 29 days later He finds out they get divorced and Magically she winds up Marrying Sergei because she gets pregnant So Sergei who's decided he never wants to be married and doesn't want any more kids She winds up pregnant and they wind it they then get married like two weeks before the babies do
?00:56:27and
JVL00:56:30She also at some point meets Elon Musk and starts fucking Elon When Sergei finds out about this He divorces her and gives her one Billion dollars as To go away And she got what she wanted the quote in this piece is one of the most devastating things I've ever heard it is from a an anonymous friend of Sergei's And I am sorry. I need to find it because it's just too good for me Sergei gave her money so that she wasn't going to do harmful things to him said one person familiar with Britain's thinking So now she's doing harmful things to the country And what I mean it is this is I believe I believe the phrase is a big game hunter and That this is like a kind of thing that exists in the world There are people who you know called him founder hounders or whatever, but they're just like they understand how this is they're like just pretty enough and they're super fucking crazy and She was clearly, you know from VC to Google founder Google founder to like hoping Maybe she could get in on Elon that didn't quite work out, but she got her contract consolation prize and the go-away money from sir, it's just the craziest thing in the world and You know what a country and also, I don't know maybe she's a fucking Chinese asset for all we know
Mike00:58:09It is super bizarre that like in the middle of all this
JVL00:58:12She just spends a bunch of time in China and all our only things only take off when she comes back from China
Mike00:58:18It's wild. That's it's it's just Bruce. It's just Bruce Wayne from Batman begins. That's all that's all she was doing
JVL00:58:25She was Sonny. You're just shaking your head
Sonny00:58:27You know, none of this strikes really weird or there's nothing I can say in this conversation that won't get me branded as a terrible sexist so
Mike00:58:36I've already said probably have it so I'm sure it's fine
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