#305. 'Friendship' (Theaters)
Listen to this episode ↗on Substack, where the show lives now
This episode centers on A24's Friendship, and it produces a rare split: JVL refuses to even watch it, having read the trailer description and the Wikipedia synopsis and deciding the premise — a friendless, arm-flailing weirdo (Tim Robinson) latching onto Paul Rudd's charming TV weatherman — sounded too "horrific" to sit through, so he skips the review entirely. Sonny and Mike, both devotees of Robinson's I Think You Should Leave, saw it in packed, cackling theaters (Sonny at a paid preview, Mike on a brotherly date night) and loved it, calling it a surprisingly melancholic, cringe-inducing comedy about a man's specifically masculine social and marital anxieties, with an early coffee-cup gag cited as the biggest laugh in both screenings. Sonny also runs down Final Destination Bloodlines, newly the highest-grossing entry in that horror franchise after Warner Bros. wisely moved it from a planned streaming release into theaters. Before any of that, the trio spends the long opening stretch on JVL's deepening pinball obsession and his horror at having to join the in-person "pinhead" community to find a machine (Sonny suggests he needs his own The Rehearsal-style intervention, or a hired surrogate à la Bob Einstein in Arrested Development), Sonny's plan to stake out Dallas theaters hoping to spot Tom Cruise on his surprise Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning promo tour, a tangent on which A-list actors make the best (Tom Cruise, surprisingly-charming-now Timothy Chalamet) or worst (Daniel Craig, Tom Hardy) dinner companions, and Mike's D-Day-grade logistical saga of juggling a rained-out baseball game, a toddler, and a birthday party across rural Virginia on one chaotic Saturday. Mike closes by pointing JVL toward Detroiters as a gentler on-ramp to Tim Robinson's comedy, and reveals he and his brother have started rewatching Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal from the top.
From the show notes
Well it's no new Marvel, that's for sure.
Full transcript
JVL00:00:00There's a new Marvel out that's supposed to be nuts. We should go see that.
Mike00:00:14Welcome to the Sub-Beacon podcast. I'm your co-host Mike Warren. Joining me as always are my two co-hosts who are always giving their money to OVD because they're the only clothes that fit just right. Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Join us over at Sub-Beacon.com. Tell your friends and family to go to Sub-Beacon.com. Become a patron. Get new episodes every Friday morning. Join the conversation in the comments at Sub-Beacon.com. We're going to be talking about friendship later on in the show. But first, JVL, what's happening with you, my good friend?
JVL00:00:53Did you guys have any further pinball things? Thoughts? Did anybody comment with any pinball thoughts?
Sonny00:00:59There were no great. There was no great. There were no great pinball recommendations. Honestly, sadly, I know you avoid the comments because you don't like to you don't like to read them. But I did not see any.
Mike00:01:12No, you know what? I feel like people were so excited that we were doing Andor that a lot of Andor talk. Yeah, well, I think it pushed out all dudes chatting from from the from the conversation. So. But you have new pinball stuff.
JVL00:01:27Well, I don't, except that I would say that my ardor has grown over the last week.
Sonny00:01:33You're more you're more ardent.
JVL00:01:35I am more ardent than ever that a pinball machine is what I need in my life. But I have a problem.
Sonny00:01:41Oh, no.
JVL00:01:42Because one of you know, I've been on some of the message boards. Sure. Following some new pin tubers.
Sonny00:01:48Are you on the Reddit? Are you on the pinball Reddit?
JVL00:01:54Pinside is the pin. Pinside. The pinball Reddit. Interestingly enough, Reddit's pinball universe, the pinball subreddit is actually reasonably not great. Oh, I'm genuinely shocked. Pinside is where that community lives. And the consensus seems to be that the best way to really to find your machine and get into the hobby is to to really integrate with the community. In real life. And so it's like go to the go to some pinball hangouts at the arcades that have these machines and meet the guys who own them and play them. I got to say, my interest in that is zero.
Sonny00:02:41I why, you know, let's think let's think about this a little bit, because I can imagine you going to, you know, the pinball district, the pinball district of New York City, which I imagine is a little bit like the red light district of Amsterdam.
JVL00:02:54Pinball machines.
Sonny00:02:55Pinball machines in the windows with like lights on them as you walk by. Oh, I like that one. I may get bang that one around a little bit. You know, I think that.
Mike00:03:04Hey, man, you want to come inside? Skillshot. Anyone?
Sonny00:03:12What is that a specific like term of art? Is that like getting played pinball?
JVL00:03:16Like, you know, I pull the plunger back and it's like skillshot because you try to release it just hard enough to anyway.
Sonny00:03:25But so anyway, are you you you don't want to you don't want to meet people in real life. You want to be a lone pinballer.
JVL00:03:35Yes. That's all I want. But all I want is a pinball machine. No, see, but this is this is in my basement that my kids and I can play with together.
Sonny00:03:45That's this is not precisely what you want. You want vicarious community. You want you want a community where you share things with people on the Internet, but you don't ever actually have to be around. Them or interact with them, except on the terms that you dictate.
JVL00:03:59I don't mind one way community. Right. Well, that's what Sonny said. I am listening to people talk about pinball. I don't really have the need to share my pinball things with other other pinheads, as we call them in the community. I don't need to share that with them. And I sure as shit don't need to meet them. And I do not need to hang out with them and talk about how was your day? Jim, was it a good day at work or someone's got a case of the Mondays? Yeah, that new dune machine is something.
Sonny00:04:34Fuck me.
JVL00:04:35I would sooner die.
Sonny00:04:37Right.
JVL00:04:38Well, this is what I just want to buy a fucking machine. That's it. That's it. Why do I have to meet people in the community to learn and to want to be a lurker?
Sonny00:04:47What you want to be? So but I guess here is my question. Why do you have to talk to these people? I assume they're they're they're talking about going. To like arcades where there are pinball machines. Why can't you just go and play the pinball machines?
JVL00:05:02So you can do that. But a lot of these arcades have like specialty hobbyist nights when it's like, you know, every Tuesday night is when all the guys come and hang out and that and that a lot of the pinball collectors, the machines are sort of sold and traded within these small communities because it's a little bit like, I guess, stamp collecting or something where, you know, online marketplace for them is real. But a lot of this is really happening at the handshake level of just like friends and people within, you know, like, oh, I've got three pinball machines and I'm tired of one of them and I sell it to you, Chad. And Chad says, God, sorry.
Mike00:05:43No, no, no. I was going to say a lot of people would hear what you're describing here, JVL, and they would say, wow, it's an incredible marvel in 2025. That an interest can sort of supersede the Internet and really thrive in the in fact needs to thrive in the meat space and view this as a sort of a good, you know, a positive thing that we can all celebrate. And you you look at things differently and you look at it and say, what? Like, fuck this. I don't I don't want anything to do with this. I recoil in horror.
JVL00:06:22I I will. So do you guys remember the clip? The club system in Washington, D.C.? Remember, there was the Cosmos Club. Sure. The Metropolitan Club. The Metropolitan Club. University Club. There was the University Club. And briefly, I joined the University Club.
Sonny00:06:40The U Club, as we called it. The U Club.
JVL00:06:41I think you were a member briefly, weren't you, Sonny?
Sonny00:06:43Oh, no, no, no. I was I was never I never I didn't make enough money, really, for it to make sense for me, frankly, to I would just piggyback on like you or Andy.
JVL00:06:53Yes. So I was the same. I was briefly a member. And I remember the orientation when the the member who was running it was explaining that the University Club is so much more than bricks and mortar. It's it's the connections we make with one another. And I just sat there looking around at these other fucking people. And I was like, all I want are the bricks and mortar. I just want access to this building. The building is one block from my office. That is a reasonably good restaurant with good prices and a great gym. That's all I fucking want. I don't want your community. I do not want to talk to Chip. How's the old stock market doing, Chip? Things going well at the pork bellies? You know, I thought, oh, my God, I just leave me alone world and give me the things I want. But I feel like a pinball machine in my basement and a nice gym to go to.
Sonny00:07:44But I feel like you could you could you could get that out of the U Club. The specific let's let's talk specifically about the U Club, because I feel like that is the sort of thing that you could like you don't need that. It could be a hangout place where you're going to meet your U Club friends like that.
JVL00:08:00No, I don't.
Sonny00:08:02And I was that was.
Mike00:08:05But how did it not work out? Yeah. Isn't it? Get what you what you put into it. Right. You get out of it. What you put into it.
JVL00:08:12I guess. I mean, we we walked away from it eventually because like I you know, we had a kid and it was just right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't in the office as much. And oh, no. But every time there was a like. Hey, you know, we haven't seen you at any of the social events. Go fucking die. Take two steps back and fuck your face. Like that's I was Les Grossman, basically. And and that's how I feel about the Pim. I just you just don't want I want an anonymous Internet encounter where somebody can say I have the Godzilla pro pinball machine and it's X number of dollars. And if you will then owe me that money, I will deliver it to you. That's all I want.
Sonny00:08:59What if what if you it's so do you watch Mike JVL? I know you don't you don't watch Mike Mike. Do you watch the rehearsal?
Mike00:09:07The Nathan Fielder literally just started it from season one last last week.
Sonny00:09:13Same same. Weirdly enough. Anyway, but it sounds it sounds to me, JVL, like what what you need is a rehearsal. You need you need a rehearsal to. So the concept. The concept of the show is that Nathan Fielder plays a guy who is trying to help people improve their interactions by practicing those interactions. And it's like psychotically recursive. It's like the show itself is it's like he he does these things where. It's it's very hard to explain without sounding insane, so I'm not I'm not going to. But it is insane. It is insane. The show is insane. It's it's kind of funny. It's also like maybe the most evil thing I've ever seen. But like we can we can discuss that at a different time, maybe. But the but the the the the concept of the show is you need you need you need to you want to practice. You well, you don't feel comfortable doing this. And so you would need practice interacting with these people to increase your comfort level in doing it. That that's what you need. And no, in or in order to get the path that you want, you want in order to get the thing you want in order to get the machines you want.
JVL00:10:24You have me all wrong. It's not that I'm not comfortable with it. I just don't like it. Right. Yeah, that's it. OK, that's it. OK, fair.
Sonny00:10:31All right.
JVL00:10:31Second, second, he's going to come in when we talk about this movie.
Sonny00:10:34Second idea. Second idea. Why don't you pay a stranger to go in your stead as your emissary? You could you could you could find somebody and make it a very professional relationship where you say, I want to keep your ear open. I want this machine in this machine. And when they when they get it for you, you give them a percentage of the deal.
JVL00:10:57It could be. Yeah. Like what's his face in Arrested Development? Who's the surrogate?
Mike00:11:04Bob Einstein.
JVL00:11:05Bob Einstein is the surrogate. And he just wears it. I sit at home watching him on the TV and I talk to him. No, go look at that other machine. Go look at the pin bot machine over there. Oh, that's a Baywatch. That's an original 93 Baywatch. Oh, yeah. How are you boys? Sonny, what's going on? This is why, by the way, I've been hoping that somebody would just say, oh, the best value for buck for a home machine is pinball X and the place to get it is website X and it should cost Y dollars. That's all I wanted from you people. Thanks for letting me down.
Sonny00:11:40Nobody.
Mike00:11:40Well, another chance, folks, in the very niche topic.
Sonny00:11:44I just don't know that. I don't know that that community is there. JBL, I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you. What's going on with me? I don't know. I got I got so wrapped up. In the pinball conversation, I forgot what I was going to talk about. What is going on with me? A big, exciting news in Dallas today, Thursday, May 22nd. We're taping at 1218 local time, 1216 local time in Dallas. And this afternoon and evening, we are going to have a visitor, guys. We're going to have a visitor.
Mike00:12:19Who's coming?
Sonny00:12:20Not to my house. Not like. Noelle. Even better. You could call. I would describe him as pair Noelle, but for the cinema. I speak, of course, of Tom Cruise, who is coming, coming to Dallas and making his right. He's going to he's going to go from theater to theater and say hello to all the good boys and girls who have come out to see the new Mission Impossible movie, Mission Impossible Final Reckoning.
JVL00:12:46Wait, is tonight the premiere?
Sonny00:12:49Tonight. Well, today is the this is the weekend. This is the opening weekend, Thursday. May 22nd.
JVL00:12:55But this is a public showing?
Sonny00:12:57No, it's like so it's like there. I mean, it's like, yeah, it's just like there are, you know, it's Thursday, Thursday showings, Thursday night showings, Thursday afternoon showings. And Tom Cruise is popping in, pop, he's popping in. He's popping in all over the place. We got a lot of theaters in Dallas. And I have I have potentially the inside track on where he might be for these things. So I'm I'm planning. I'm planning.
JVL00:13:23My sojourn after this saw saw Matt Damon interview where he was talking about meeting Tom Cruise and how did you see this? And he just like done Jason Bourne movie and Cruise had just done the qualum, not that the birds to buy.
Sonny00:13:42And he was like, you know, how did you get over that?
JVL00:13:45And Cruise is like, yeah, no, I went to our stunt guy and I explained my vision for the stunt. And he said, you know, you can't do that. And Damon says to him, so what? So what did you do? He goes, oh, I fired him. I got another stunt guy.
Sonny00:14:02That's Cruise. Bring him back. Damon was like, I didn't know you could do that. I didn't know you could actually. No, I saw that. I saw that interview, too. And it's like Tom Cruise is a very interesting individual because he is kind of sui generis in the sense that like a lot of the time you hear about like guys doing their own stunts and that's bullshit. And to a certain extent, it is bullshit with Tom Cruise in the sense that he doesn't actually do literally all of the stunts himself. There's there are things he can't do right there. Like and but it's but it's always pretty obvious when he is not doing it and when he is and he is doing lots of those stunts like he's literally hanging off an airplane as it takes off. That's the thing. That's the he's literally doing a halo jump out of out of another airplane. Right. He is literally. He is literally doing the motorcycle leap off the cliff like 20 times. And like, again, you get that you get these situations where like stuntmen in particular get very mad when they hear guys talking about doing their own stunts because like as I my understanding and I could be wrong. I mean, it probably depends on the guy you ask. But my understanding from talking to some folks in and around the stunt community is that Cruz is the one guy they kind of give a pass on that because he does so much of his own stunts. He does his own stuff and he's like rated to fly so many different vehicles like he can. Right. My understanding. Again, my understanding is he can fly a helicopter and an airplane and like can actually do it. He can.
JVL00:15:35Why did the fall guy take so many shots at him?
Sonny00:15:38Well, that so that that is like, again, it depends on who you talk to and who you ask because like his he does. Again, I was just watching God. I was rewatching Rogue Nation last night. I was rewatching Rogue Nation last night. And remember the opening. Stunt in that one is he's hanging off the side of the airplane trying to get. And so he is hanging off the side of the airplane trying to get in and his camera close up on his face. He's, you know, he's wired. He's strapped in like he's not, you know, he's he's probably not going to die doing this, but like it's it's not he's off without risk. He's going. He's going. Anyway, before that, though, there's a shot of Tom Cruise jumping onto the wing of the plane, which is a prop, which is like a prop plane. It's like not a jet. It's a prop. It's a plane. And that is shot from very far away and very. And like that is clearly not Tom Cruise jumping onto the wing of that airplane, because that is a stunt that like is actually still very dangerous because you can't be strapped in and jump on the wing of an airplane. And if you stumble and fall and fall into the fucking propeller, like all seen Indiana
JVL00:16:41Jones.
Sonny00:16:42Exactly. So like, you know, so there's there is a stunt man in that sequence. And if if Tom Cruise is like, I did that stunt on myself, someone is like, well, come on, you didn't actually you there. You know, whatever. Anyway, we're getting off. We're getting off track here. We're getting off track here. Cinema, Cinema, Père Noël, Tom Cruise is going to be in town. And I am.
JVL00:17:04Are you going to see him?
Sonny00:17:05I'm driving to I'm driving. I will be I will be attending two different theaters at two different times in the hopes that one of them pays off that my sources have been right. I want to what I'm going to. I'm pretty sure he's not going to be there. But the other. One, I'm pretty sure he will be there. I think that's that's what my sources have told.
Mike00:17:27Question. Yeah. What is the what is the point of making these stops to promote the film if people don't know where he's going to be?
Sonny00:17:36Well, because it's all about the surprise and the excitement and people are putting the things on the social media. They're like, oh, my God.
Mike00:17:41But also, like, people know that he might be there. Yeah. It's just they don't know where exactly he put out a video.
Sonny00:17:47He put out a video on his Twitter feed like two or three weeks ago that was like, I'm doing a tour. I'm going to Mexico City on this day. I'm going to Korea. I'm going to I'm going to like whatever I'm going. I'm going to Seoul on this day. I'm going to, you know, and on on Thursday, May 22nd, I'm going to start the day in San Antonio and I'm going to end the day in Dallas. That's what he said. So, wow.
JVL00:18:10All right. All right. I know you are against, as I am, I. Selfies with famous people.
Sonny00:18:17I would not take a selfie with Tom Cruise. I would not do it.
JVL00:18:20I see. This is the one. That's the one. Which I say you have to.
Sonny00:18:26Well, OK, I'll put it. I'll put it this way. If if I'm if I'm in a theater where it's like kind of like it's a thing where he's going to be there and he's like coming up to people in and he's like, let's take. OK, fine. Yes, that's fine.
Mike00:18:41Do that.
Sonny00:18:41Yeah, that would that would be that would be acceptable if I just saw him on. So a friend of mine, a friend of mine. Who is not a listener of this show, so I he won't know that I'm betraying confidences. Tell him my other friend who does listen to the show and we talk the the he's he stays what he's a traveling. He's a world trotting, globe hopping businessman. And when he stays in London, the building he stays in is the building Tom Cruise basically lives in now. And so, like, on multiple occasions has just run into Tom Cruise, just just walking around the building. And like, he doesn't take selfies with him. He can't do that. That wouldn't be. That wouldn't be appropriate.
JVL00:19:23No, absolutely. In that in that case. Yeah. You know what? I bet Tom Cruise would be a really interesting hang for a night. I bet you don't like having dinner at a table with Tom Cruise would be interesting.
Sonny00:19:38Well, you've you you guys have heard the story about Glenn Powell going to his like film school thing, right?
JVL00:19:45No.
Sonny00:19:46So like so like so Tom Cruise kind of takes Glenn Powell under his wing and is like, you know, take.
JVL00:19:52I mean, he's like because of Maverick or is this before Maverick?
Sonny00:19:55This was this was Maverick. This was this is at the same time Maverick. And he he takes he gives he shows Glenn Powell his like eight hour film school course like rents out a theater or maybe it's in his private. I don't know. I don't know exactly how. I don't understand. I don't know. Tom Cruise's works. I am not. I'm not. But he and and like and like it's like a lecture. It's like a lecture and like with clips. He's like running through and I would pay I would pay ten thousand dollars to do that. I would I would I would to do to do that class. I would want to I think hanging out with Tom Cruise for a night would be would be interesting because I think he I think he is one of the most naturally intuitive people about the art of filmmaking that is alive. Like I think he understands story and and he is with he is alongside Steven Spielberg just in a different in a different sort of way. He fundamentally and intuitively understands the form of visual storytelling in a way that almost nobody else does. And in that sense, I think he'd be fascinating to hang out with.
JVL00:21:02Yeah, that's what I'm saying. As an actor, like, you know, who cares actor? But his understanding of film and his insights at that, I think, would be interesting. His his stories, like the stories of from his production work and his work as a producer. Fascinating. I just think he'd be interesting. One of the more interesting hangs as an actor.
Sonny00:21:25I would think so. I would think so.
JVL00:21:27Michael, you look like you don't.
Mike00:21:28No, no, no, no. The way you guys put it there. I mean, if that's what you're talking about, right? Like, I just feel like he's not a good hang for like you're only talking shop with with. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Sonny00:21:41And I think, you know, no, I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to go to a baseball game with him.
Mike00:21:47Exactly. That's what I see the dinner table with him. Yeah, because because my question would be along those lines. Like, OK, give I would love to know what he some big movie that he was not involved in that. What would you change about X? Whatever the movie is, you know, what would you have done differently? How would you know this? What's your what's the biggest failure that you feel like you could have gotten it? It's bar rescue, but for movies.
JVL00:22:18Yes, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I'll tell you. Who, though, maybe the worst hang for an actor like an A-list actor would be in my mind. Sure. For weird reasons. Daniel Craig. I can't think of a leading man actor who I would avoid more than him. Like if I saw that he was like I was at a dinner and he was seated at my table, I'd find an excuse to go sit somewhere else because that guy just radiates dick.
Sonny00:22:46Well, he definitely he. So I will say. The thing about Tom Cruise is that I bet he is always on. I bet I like I don't I don't think I don't I bet it is switch. I bet it is literally impossible for him to turn it off. I think he like that does not there like there is no there there. Yeah. But like, you know, but that's not the right because that sounds dismissive. Like, I just think he is like that's that's the same way Jeff Goldblum is right.
JVL00:23:12The New York Times piece about Jeff Goldblum. Like there's no like that's just Jeff Goldblum. He's not playing a character.
Sonny00:23:19Right. Right. But no, Daniel Craig. Totally. Daniel Craig. There's always and it's I wonder how much of this is. Oh, you know, who's another one? I bet Tom Hardy would also be kind of terrible to be around.
JVL00:23:32I couldn't.
Sonny00:23:33Could you imagine like I like Tom Hardy, who I love. Think great actor.
JVL00:23:37Great actor. Same thing. Great, great actor.
Sonny00:23:39I bet Leo would be a fun hang. Who? Leo? Leonardo DiCaprio.
Mike00:23:44No, you know, you know, I see posse days. You know who I actually want to hang out with now? We've talked about this before on the show is Timothy Shallum. Like, he actually feels like he would be a great hang. Be like, hey, let's go.
Sonny00:23:55That son of a bitch has gotten too charming for his own good. I don't like it.
Mike00:23:59Wait, you've turned on Timothy?
Sonny00:24:01No, I said this during the Dune Bob Dylan sequence. Yeah, that's right.
Mike00:24:09We talked about this on the show.
Sonny00:24:10He went from like even just like a year or two before and like the French Dispatch. He's like the most annoying part of the French Dispatch. I didn't like that segment of the movie. I didn't like him in it. But the first Dune movie, I was like, oh, OK, I can I that's this isn't this isn't terrible. I'm not going to say anything nice about him, but this isn't terrible. And then in Dune Part Two and and A Complete Unknown. But like, more importantly, in the selling of those movies, the promotion in the in the promotional tour of those movies, I was like, oh, shit, he's got it. He has it. And this is really difficult for me because I don't I don't want to like him. But he he like he he turned some sort of corner and I was like, I tell you what it was for me.
Mike00:24:56It was when he was on college game day and he was like he was like making picks for for for the day. And I was like, oh, either he's an incredible actor and is playing at being a bro or he's just a bro. And either way, I want to hang out with the dude.
JVL00:25:13I think somebody whose name is Timothy Chalamet is a bro.
Sonny00:25:20It's he's he's got the. Bro vibe.
JVL00:25:22You got it. I got that's got to be the act. He's right.
Sonny00:25:25He's he's I don't know, man. Again, it was like there was there was one clip during the Complete Unknown tour where he went to like a record store and was like it was like just going through records and stuff. And he like I was like, oh, it's charming. He's being very charming right now. I hate him. Stop it.
Mike00:25:42All right. Michael, what are you up to, buddy? I mean, not much. Again, it's still it's still all like the little got three months left of your baseball season.
JVL00:25:51Right. Will you guys be wrapped up before Labor Day?
Sonny00:25:55Is it how long has it been raining up there?
Mike00:25:58It's constant. We have another game scheduled for tonight, which is our which is a second rain out makeup game. And it's probably going to get rained out as well. No, but I mean, we did get we did get two games in over the weekend on Saturday, the final day of baseball. And we actually got the baseball. But actually, what I want to talk about is. Just the stress of the of like the gazillion moving parts that happens on like a spring Saturday when you've got kids in sports and but there's like other things, too. So we had it was it was unique as well in that my my brother and his wife were down visiting us because my sister in law and my wife were going to this. They were there. They had they had made plans to go out to this like. Antique market way out in rural Virginia. And so it was going to be me and my brother and and the boys doing baseball and all this stuff. But then things got sort of like added on to it all, including like a birthday party for my 10 year old. He had to go to and it it was like this sort of logistical like if everything locked in place perfectly, then it would all work like a dream. So. It was a situation where my wife and my sister in law are way out, way out in the country at this antique market. We've got the triple A game that I'm taking our toddler to to watch. And then my brother's taking my seven year old to his game. Then one of the one of my 10 year old son's teammates is also going to this birthday party. After the game and a third friend's dad is going to pick them up from the ball field so that they can drive out like wait, like basically to Dulles Airport where this like party's being held at some warehouse thing. But it will be timed perfectly because who is the dad taking them to the party doesn't have to stick around because who's going to be coming back toward home is my wife and my sister in law who can pick up. The boys from the party and take them out. But it's like it's this dealt. So it's like the invasion of Normandy timing and precision required of this. And then and then, you know, it's like like with D-Day, right? It's it's, you know, something unforeseen happens because of all the rain. Our game has been delayed 30 minutes so that they can have more time to clean up the field for the earlier games so that it's like, are we going to make it, you know, how it could be because you don't want you can't do the pickup for the party until the kid. And then it's like the kids are at the game and then they win. The game ends right at 230. Perfect. That's exactly what the dad's coming. But then there's the long meeting with the coach afterward. And then and it's just it's extremely stressful. And I don't I again, I was not a parent before cell phones like I don't know how I basically don't I don't think parents did stuff like this before. There was none of this like. Stuff happening before cell phones. You have to have like a cell phone and be able to make these like and like, you know, I'm texting the dad going, hold on. They're almost done. You know, all the sort of contingency.
JVL00:29:32What's that? You know what parents did back then? They said no. Exactly.
Mike00:29:37They said no.
JVL00:29:38No, you can't go to that thing. Pick one. The baseball game or the party.
Mike00:29:43Also, the party wasn't like the party was at the kid's house. It wasn't at the bowling alley. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, not at the whatever. Anyway, so very stressful. Everything worked out fine at all. But it was it was a balancing act. Let me tell you.
JVL00:29:58So a close run thing as I just see Alec Guinness there, you know, how are you going to work in seeing Tom Cruise at the theater amongst all this?
Mike00:30:13It's a good it's a good question. It's a good question. All right. Well, shall we move on to box office? Let's talk. Number one, the box office this week. Final Destination Bloodlines. The is this a reboot, a soft reboot? A what is it of the Final Destination?
Sonny00:30:31Well, it's a sequel with some soft reboot tendencies. Final Destination Bloodlines. So I I saw this. I didn't write about it. I haven't written about it. I might I might end up writing about it. I don't know. But it's a fascinating movie because I saw I binged the whole series before watching this because I'd actually never seen. It's a Final Destination. I've never seen any of the Final Destination. I'd never seen any of them. I'd seen like bits and pieces of them. I'd seen scenes from them, like the log truck scene, of course. You know, pretty, pretty iconic.
Mike00:31:04The tanning bed scene from the Tanning Bed scene.
Sonny00:31:07Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like I like I'd seen portions, but I'd never actually seen one. So I sat down and watched all of them and I was like kind of dreading it because like they're teen horror movies. How good can they be, really? But four of the first five are actually. Like between like entertaining and very entertaining, not great movies precisely, but like really, but really pretty entertaining because they are they are very classically Hitchcockian in the sense that like, you know, a thing is going to happen. You know, this kid is about to die somehow. Right. But how how precisely is it going to happen? And there are these whole like Rube Goldberg contraptions that lead to the deaths. And like the series is as the series is at its best when it is sticking. Very strongly to that formula of like because sometimes they stray away from it and it like everything suffers as a result. But anyway, I like I watched all these movies and they were pretty they were pretty good.
JVL00:32:00I watch they have plots because I've never seen one of these movies. Yes.
Sonny00:32:04Well, the plot the plot is very straightforward and all of in the first five. The plot is very straightforward. In the opening sequence, a young person has a premonition of he and his friends dying horribly in some sort of mass casualty event. In the first one, for instance, it's an airplane crash or airplane explosion. In the in the second one, it's the log truck on the highway that comes undone and kills everybody. And so they get this premonition. So they they get the premonition. So they they don't they don't do the thing that would have led to their death, which angers death. The Grim Reaper himself. And he has to. Death is coming after. He's he's he's got to settle the scales, so to speak. He has to he has all the people that missed his list. He's got to go back and take them all out. And so. Like, that's the plot. As far as as as much as there is a plot in these movies, that's that's.
JVL00:32:56It sounds like a kind of like where when porn realized that it could disaggregate. You didn't have to do a porn movie. You just do scenes. Yes. That does seem like what Final Destination is like. Oh, there's schedules. Yeah. There's sketches of kills.
Sonny00:33:11OK. Well, even like even. So there's a movie that just came out of kills. Basically. Right. So there's there's a movie that actually just came out, a horror movie called Until Dawn, which is essentially that premise, just with the same kids over and over again in different horror formats. Like the plot is these people check into a hotel or something that they don't check into a hotel, whatever. They go to a place and they find that they have been trapped in some sort of time loop where they keep waking up every time they die. Every time they're killed by in the first the first iteration, it's a slasher. Then it's a possession movie. Then it's a zombie movie like they go through. But it's actually like each morning they hear.
Mike00:33:50I got you, babe, by Sonny. And share, right?
Sonny00:33:52More a lot. This is not far off, frankly. That's not that's actually not far off. Anyway, the new one, the new one without I've done like five minutes on Final Destination accidentally. The the new one is incredibly successful. And it is yet another example of a movie that was intended to be a straight to streaming project. It was greenlit by Jason Kalar back in like 2022 as a straight to streaming project. And some somebody somewhere was like, oh, yeah, that's right. People show up for horror movies. We should probably put this in theaters. And it has it grossed fifty one million dollars in its opening weekend. I think it is already it's at sixty two million. It is it is going to probably end up in the one fifty to one seventy five range. It's it's by far the highest grossing of the Final Destination movies before before taking in inflation into account and all that. It will. It certainly will. It certainly will be by the time its run is over. And, you know, it costs like forty million bucks to make. You know, you spend twenty million dollars advertising it. You spend most of that online and it goes pretty far and it's going to be a huge hit. It's once again, Warner Brothers has a huge hit on their hands here. It's like they can't they cannot miss with the exception of Mickey 17, which was terrible. Anyway, you get what you get one miss.
Mike00:35:13That's that's a good year. Friendship. Well, we should talk about friendship because that's number seven on the box office.
Sonny00:35:21Friendship. Is number seven on the box office. And friendship is having a pretty straightforward.
Mike00:35:26A-24.
Sonny00:35:27A-24 rollout where I want to pull up the actual numbers here. Opening weekend. It's playing in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles, and it grows seventy four thousand dollars per theater. On its second weekend, it expanded to 60 theaters and it did twenty three thousand dollars per screen. It's going to I think it goes up to a thousand or fifteen hundred this weekend and will probably do like probably average. Like a thousand dollars per screen because it's going up against two huge new releases and Lilo and Stitch and Mission Impossible. What is this? Eight Mission Impossible seven. Sure. And it's it's it's going to it's going to get swamped by those two. But before we get to the big boy review.
Mike00:36:09Yes, Sonny.
Sonny00:36:10I would like to ask our own JBL a question. At at which minute did you walk out of this movie?
JVL00:36:21Minus one. I was going to wait for the reveal. So after you guys were like, no, it's not a horror movie. I was like, really? Because it kind of looks like a horror movie. I watched the trailer. I went and I watched. I went and read the Wikipedia summary for it. And I just said, I can't fucking do this. I'm sorry. I cannot fuck like this. What are these people even doing? Don't they have jobs? Don't they have families to take care of? Don't they? Like, who has time for this? Who wants friendship? Who? Like, what is. Who wants friendship? Who wants this? Jamie. It just makes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I feel bad. I'm letting everybody down. But I just couldn't make myself go see this thing. It sounded so horrific.
Mike00:37:12That's fair. Sonny and I were, we were both wondering at what point you walked out. I texted Mike separately.
Sonny00:37:19I was like, what? Or no, you texted me, Mike.
Mike00:37:23I texted you. I said, I think I said JVL is going to hate this movie.
Sonny00:37:26I predicted walkout. So I think I'm closer.
Mike00:37:28But none of us predicted not even, not even going.
Sonny00:37:32All right. Fair enough.
Mike00:37:33I couldn't do it. I couldn't make myself do it. Let's do a big boy review, Sonny, of Friendship.
Sonny00:37:39Friendship, starring Tim Robinson of I Think You Should Leave Fame and Paul Rudd of Paul Rudd fame, is about a guy named Craig who is kind of a weirdo, just like a very, very odd dude. Doesn't doesn't quite fit in with anyone who becomes friends, unexpectedly becomes friends with his not quite next door neighbor, Austin, who's played by Paul Rudd. Paul Rudd is just a naturally charming individual. He's the local weatherman at this at one of the local news stations. He takes a shine to Craig despite his weirdness. I think I think in part because of the weirdness, Austin, Austin seems like like a pretty laid back. He's an easygoing dude and and at least at first and and is charmed by Craig's foibles. And so Craig gets invited into the friend group and is so weird that the rest of the friends are like, we can't be around this guy, which, of course, causes Austin to say, hey, man, we're not friends anymore. And that that that is the and then the rest of the movie is Craig trying to figure out what to do with his life. But it's it's a fascinating movie because I I have a hard time. I have a hard time discussing how this movie works as a comedy outside of the context of Tim Robinson is a funny looking person like the thing about Tim Robinson is when it's he does he does this very specific brand of comedy where he plays these in in unspeakably weird people who aren't necessarily bad people. Precisely. But they're also not good people who like we should want the rest of the people in the movie to be around and be friends like we can't empathize with him, I guess, is is the issue here. And what what is what is so. What is that's that is like the heart of what is so off putting about Robinson's characters, but also what makes them kind of weirdly magnetic and appealing like you. You like watching them and you like seeing what they do and you like the faces that they make and you like the way he kind of hunches his shoulders. But you would never want to be around a person like this in real life. And and that is again, it's it's it's it's such a it's such a very it's a very specific and like pretty cult friendly brand of comedy. I can think of some other folks like this, like Connor O'Malley, who has like a bit part in this movie. He's got like a small supporting role in this movie. Or maybe even like I don't like Stavros isn't even like that, really. I don't know. Like it's it's a very specific sort of thing. It's a very specific sort of thing. And you don't see it that often. And Tim Robinson is the absolute master at it. And I will say I will say that if you are a fan of I think you should leave, you will very much enjoy this movie. I saw this movie with a paid preview audience.
JVL00:40:47And what is I think you should leave.
Mike00:40:49I think I think you should leave. This is a now three season sketch comedy show on Netflix made for and around and written mostly by Tim Robinson and his comedy partner, Zach Keenan. So I've literally never heard of this guy produced by the Lonely Island.
Sonny00:41:08Well, have you seen have you seen the meme of the guy in the hot dog costume saying, like, we're all trying to figure out the guy who did this? No, you don't even know what that is. All right. Well, OK, that's that's Tim Robinson. But but he's and it's a very specifically online sort of humor, too. It's like it is it is a it's a weird off brand offshoot of the Adult Swim Tim and Eric kind of absurdity that is also wrapped into a very specific brand of physical comedy. That's not it's not pratfalls, though. He does those sometimes. It's more just like awkward body shape humor, awkward, awkward movement humor, like guys who don't quite know what to do with their arms. Correct. Like that is Craig. Right. That's actually I should have described him this way in my review. He's a guy who doesn't know what to do with his arms. Like we all know people like that who like are weird to be around because they just don't seem comfortable in their own skin. Yeah. Right. And that that is what he is. And so this movie, this movie is this movie has like a real melancholic core to it. Like the idea of a guy who can't make friends, who is like simply unsuited for interacting with people in a social way. What's wrong with that? No, it's not, not, not when they, not when they do it by choice, Jonathan, I'm not talking about hermits. No, I'm talking about, I'm talking about people who want human connection and are unable to achieve it. That is sad. That is sad. That is people who want human connection, sad people who want human connection and cannot achieve it. That's sad. That's sad. Um, I don't know, man. I it's, it is this, this movie is very, very awkward and very cringe inducing and occasionally hard to watch. And I also laughed out loud, like uncontrollable snort or belly laughs like 12 times. Like I, I, it just, and like, again, the, the way I would describe it is there, there's this moment very early on, like five minutes into the movie where Tim Robinson is walking down a hallway with a very full cup of coffee and he's trying to, he's trying to drink it, but also it's like super hot. He's like burning himself. And like everyone in my theater just started cracking up watching him move around the hall. And that is that if you are, if you are, if you know who Tim Robinson is, if you are aware of his brand of humor, this is going to very much appeal to you. It helps also that Paul Rudd is a very similar sort of comic presence, but in a much more. Like traditionally appealing way, like he, cause he's, cause he's, he's very good looking and he's very charming and he's very suave. So like, he'll do a thing with his eyebrows and it just like kind of makes you smile. And, uh, and, and like Tim and Tim Robinson is the. Mirror universe version of that, like where he does a thing, he does the same thing with his face and it makes you recoil a little bit like bizarro Superman. He's bizarro. Right? So this is like Superman trying to be friends with bizarro basically is, is how this, that movie I would have watched Tim Robinson should Paul gun Paul gun, uh, James gun should have Tim Robinson, uh, do a bizarro Superman, but it's actually, it's actually a road trip buddy
JVL00:44:20cop. Movie with Superman and bizarro, I would watch the heck out of that. I would watch the living crap out of that movie JVL.
Mike00:44:30I, I really kind of wish you had seen this only because like your, your pre coiling away from this movie, like it just doesn't like, I just would want to see your actual recoil from it because I, it just would have been, it would have been great. So I saw this movie with, with my brother both of us are huge. I think you should leave fans. We both have the same, very same, similar sense of humor. And so we both went into this excited to see it. I told him, Oh, I'm going to do this for the show. Let's go see it. You and I together. We had a night, we had a nice little date night, just just two brothers. And it was, it was a Saturday night, but it was a full theater, which I was, I was impressed by. I was like, wow. It filled the theater up. And we have the same response in, in our theaters, any that, that you did yours, which is people were like laughing constantly. They were laughing at the coffee gag from the beginning and laughing throughout. And both of us walked out at first of all, we walked out and like, I don't know if I was like conditioned by being in Tim Robinson's brain for the previous 90 or a hundred minutes, but like we had to see. Several moments from walking from the theater to the parking garage that I was like, did we step into the, I think you should leave friendship world. Like just like weird stuff that happens because you'll know, like the, the, the, it's not just Tim doesn't fit in the world in which these Tim Robinson characters live is like a little off. Like it's all like a little off from, from the real world. Do you agree?
Sonny00:46:18Sonny? Uh, what do you mean? What specifically do you mean?
Mike00:46:22Well, for instance, in this movie, they live in Clovis, USA. It's frequently shown the address because this is a whole plot point is the address that that's wrong. That's how they, that's he, he becomes friends. He brings the package over. It's all, it's, it all takes place in Clovis, USA. We're like w what state? It doesn't matter. Cause it's like, does it really exist? It's like a parallel universe where, uh, and we're like, and, and I will say the friend group that, that, uh, Craig Waterman tries to join. They're a little weird too, right? Like one of them is like, like talking openly about like how large his teenage daughter's breasts are. And then like another guy starts singing a song out of nowhere and they all sing a song together to like, it's like a little, just a little off, but like Tim Robinson really doesn't fit in to, to the weird kind of world.
Sonny00:47:14Um, but we both, anyway, we, and it also, it also just to, to, to play on this a little bit. It also primes. His own, uh, it also primes him to like take down his own guards a little bit later in the movie and like display some of his own weirdness, which then like really freaks everybody
Mike00:47:34out. Freaks everybody out. Right. So it's like, oh, you guys are weird. Let me show you how weird I am. And they're like, no, not that weird. Um, anyway, so we get in the car and we both looked at each other and we're, and like, we both had, we, we both like reacted like with a, like, what the fuck did we do? We just watched like, that was bizarre. It was weird. Uh, we liked it and we were quoting things from it just like, uh, I think you should leave. But like, it's definitely, it definitely goes in a much darker direction than any of his previous, uh, comedic, uh, comedic output goes. Um, I'm not saying I didn't like it. It was just, it just, it, it was, it, it went to another level that I wasn't quite expecting. Um, my view on Tim Robinson's comedy. Is that he, he finds comedy in the awkwardness and discomfort of being a man, um, and being a, uh, being a man trying to get through the world. And I think that's, I think there's an, there's, there's a lot of interesting stuff that he minds out of that. So I think about in this movie, Sonny, there's all these, all every anxiety that a man could have of his age, you know? Uh, in his forties with a wife and kids and a job, like every anxiety, like comes to fruition in this movie. Right? He, he's, he's a loser at work. Um, he is, uh, his wife doesn't love him anymore. His kid is like cooler and living a better life than he is. Um, and, and even the guys down the street, like, don't like, they don't want to hang out with it. It's like, it all just like comes like crashing and I just feel like he, he. Tim Robinson kind of understands how, how kind of difficult it can be to be like a guy and try to have relationships or interactions with other, with other men or, or with, with, with women. Like it doesn't matter. Uh, and, and he finds the comedy in all of that. And I just think this movie is sort of minds all of that really, um, to, to, to a kind of extreme. Um, I don't know. I don't know what you think. Yeah.
Sonny00:49:51Yeah. No, I, I, I think that that is about, again, it's a very sad movie if you like sit down and think about it, like it is, it is a very, very sad movie, um, in, in a way that, uh, some of his stuff can be, it's usually, it's usually more exaggerated, uh, than it is in this movie. Like for instance, the, I think you should leave sketch where the monster crawls through the dog door and, and he goes on a whole riff about how, like the first thing I thought was, oh, at least I don't have to go to work in the morning as I was about to be eaten by this terrible monster. Like, what has society done to us? What do we, my first thought when a monster comes into my house is, well, I don't have to go to work anymore. What is it? And, and like there, there's that, there's that kind of exaggerated thing that he does. And this is much less exaggerated than that. It is, it's more, it's, it's more muted, but it is still it without, without losing the absurdity. Like one of the plot points in this film is, uh, he goes. Austin takes Craig on a trip through the sewers of the, the city and like, they wind up at city hall and they have like, they smoke a J on top of the roof and you know, it's not even J it's a cigarette, a closed cigarette on top of the roof. Uh, and you know, and like, he's like, yeah, this is a cool adventure that we're having. I like, I would like to re and so after Austin breaks up with him, he takes his wife on the same trip and gets lost underneath the city and his wife gets lost and they have to like the cops come trying to find her and she's missing for days. And finally she finally comes back and like, and it's, it's absurd. Um, but also like kind of terrifying and uh, and, and also, but again, there's like a very key part of that is he stops going to look for her so he can go into work cause he's got a big work thing and like, and it's like, yeah, I can kind of see that I understand what's happening there. And like that, you know, that is a, that's, that's, that's fucked up. Um, so like, I don't know, it's, it is again, but it's also just, it's also just very, very funny. Uh, again, particularly if you're into that, that whole, the most unbelievable part of the movie though, is, uh, the fact that Kate Marrow's with him, like, I know, right. Did she, did they get together when she had cancer? Was he, was he like her last ditch, you know, savior, what was the, what was that all about?
Mike00:52:20It's again, there's a, in terms of like what I was saying about like the, the anxieties of a man, it's like, he's got this much, much more attractive wife who has, who the whole movie wants nothing to do with him. Like absolutely nothing to like, like treats him with, she doesn't even treat him with disdain. It's like, she doesn't even, uh, she doesn't even think about him and, uh, and, and, and does it like just treats him like furniture in, in their house. And, uh, I don't know, it's like, what is going on with this, with this couple and then the kid and, and, uh, the whole thing and the flowers, uh, it's, it's a bizarre movie. Um, I don't know. Is there anything else to say about this?
Sonny00:53:04I liked it. And uh, I am curious to see, I'm curious to see if it's on enough screens this weekend to get a cinema score. Cause I would love to see what the average audience makes of this, this movie. Uh, but, uh, it plays like gangbusters for the already converted. If you, if you are a fan of the show, you will enjoy this. It's it, if the, if the reaction of our audiences is any, should this have been direct to streaming?
JVL00:53:30Like, why is this a theatrical release?
Sonny00:53:33Well, it's, it's a look, it's an eight 24 movie. It costs like $2 million to make. Uh, and it's the sort of thing where like, if you, if you make a movie like this and it pops off and like really blows up and does $50 million. That's amazing.
JVL00:53:47Uh, fair enough, but you'll make like 4 million. Yeah.
Sonny00:53:51I mean, it's probably not going to be, it's probably not going to be a huge, huge hit. It's an eight 24 movie. So it's going to gross between 13 and $18 million. Yeah.
JVL00:54:00What? 2 million cost. It's absolutely worth it.
Sonny00:54:03Yeah.
Mike00:54:04Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um, all right. Well, uh, by the way, uh, JVL, if you're, if you're put off by the idea or the way we've described Tim Robinson, a better entry point for Tim Robinson's comedy is the show Detroiters, which is on Netflix currently. Um, and, and that's a much more conventional. But get kind of gets you into the weird world of Tim Robinson, um, and, and, and the kind of absurdity of that. So highly recommend Detroiters.
JVL00:54:30Excellent. I, uh, I look forward to not watching that series television with an awkward comedy guy.
Sonny00:54:40No pinball episodes. I don't think.
Mike00:54:42Not that I recall. Um, all right, well, uh, I guess that is all the time we're going to give to this episode. Join us over at sub beacon.com. Uh, tell your friends and family, leave a comment and we'll talk to you next time. What was the biggest laugh Sonny in your, in your theater? Do you recall?
Sonny00:55:08Oh, I don't. I couldn't, I couldn't tell you. I don't know. Uh, what about you?
Mike00:55:12I mean, clearly you have an idea since you're, uh, well, I was trying to debate because that coffee one at the beginning was like huge, it was like this like big, like moment. Yeah. Where everybody just kind of bought in from the beginning, which I thought was a good, it was a good call. Um, but I do think that maybe the biggest one, this is sort of a spoiler, so turn it off if you actually want to see, um, was, uh, at the, was at the very end, right? When like, when the there's the bait and switch where you were, you know, where it's like, he's like imagining that actually the whole movie has been a fantasy or a nightmare and that he's actually been friends, uh, with these guys. With him. And they didn't kick him out. And then it smashed cuts to no, actually he's in the, he's in the police car and he's being taken away. Like that, that whole sequence, like the, the, the audio, it was just like cathartic or something. And it was, it was interesting.
Sonny00:56:04It was interesting. Did you, did you start watching the rehearsal because you watched this movie?
Mike00:56:08No. But, um, again, I told you my brother and I have similar sense of humor and he has been texting me, have you started the rehearsal season two? I said, I've never actually seen the first one. He's like, oh, you gotta do that. So then I was watching it and then I texted him and he was like, oh yeah, we're rewatching the first episode as well because it's so, it's so funny and, and out of, out of control and bizarre. And there's something to that. I mean, there's something like the, like the, the weird people in reality who are like weirder than reality. There's a, it's all kind of in that same world of comedy, finding the comedy in that it is,
Sonny00:56:45it is very, I'm sorry, JBL, we don't mean to exclude you here, but it is, it is very much. In that it is, they are, they are kissing cousins comedically in terms of, but like what I, how far are you just one episode into the rehearsal?
Mike00:56:59We've watched two episodes. So we've now, we've watched the one where it starts with the, the house that they've, they've made so they can train the woman for the hearse being a mother.
Sonny00:57:10Oh, okay. Yeah. So you watch, you watch the first one with the, the trivia contest and the first episode where they build the house for the boat. Yeah. Okay. All right. I have, I have thoughts on this, but we'll save them for when. When you get through the first season, maybe we'll do a, maybe we'll do outtakes next time on that. If you, if you get, get through it.
Mike00:57:25All right. Sure. It'll be fine.
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