#330. 'Now You See Me' (Peacock) (With Audio!)
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With Now You See Me: Now You Don't topping the box office (on soft numbers, alongside disappointing holds for Predator: Badlands and Glenn Powell's The Running Man), the crew uses the moment to rewatch the 2013 original, Now You See Me, on Peacock rather than review the new sequel outright. Sonny praises the Jesse Eisenberg/Woody Harrelson/Isla Fisher/Dave Franco "Four Horsemen" heist comedy as charming but structurally broken, arguing the New Orleans/Michael Caine sequence (with its Hurricane Katrina insurance-fraud revenge plot) is so much better written than the rest that a different screenwriter must have parachuted in to fix it, only for Caine's character to vanish afterward and the Mark Ruffalo mastermind twist to collapse into nonsense. JVL agrees the first fifty minutes coast on star chemistry but calls the "Eye of Horus" secret-society reveal utterly implausible, and pins the blame on director Louis Leterrier's track record of "garbage movies" (Clash of the Titans, The Incredible Hulk, Fast X), noting some cautious optimism that the more competent Jon M. Chu directs the new installment. Mike, watching it for the first time in years, comes away hating it, dubbing it "Christopher Nolan for monster-energy-drink obsessives," dunking on its Michael Bay-knockoff spinning camerawork and unearned closing romance, and lamenting how the movie squanders Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and especially the Eisenberg-Harrelson chemistry that worked so well in Zombieland, which spins off into a long tangent comparing Eisenberg's ad-libbed-sounding line delivery to Robert Downey Jr. and Bill Murray, plus a detour marveling at Woody Harrelson's decades-long durability since Cheers. The first third of the show is consumed by JVL's giddy, exhaustively itemized purchase of a custom Arcades Are Fun cabinet (50-inch screen, recoil light guns, RGB buttons, four-way joysticks, the works) that spirals into a sprawling video-game nostalgia tangent covering N64 regrets, Goldeneye, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and the worst consoles of all time, followed by Mike's rattled account of getting rear-ended at a red light on the way to pick up a book for a work interview, with JVL shrugging it off as a pure insurance-and-inconvenience matter, nothing to grieve over. The episode closes on the trio's running "I don't want to say it" bit, needling each other into (and out of) saying the show's sign-off catchphrase.
From the show notes
(With audio file this time! Sorry about that. Sonny's juggling too many podcast productions. —SB) Is this a good movie? Well, no. But is it at least an entertaining movie to talk about? We think yes! Hopefully you agree.
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00A year ago, these guys were a bunch of street magicians. Now they're pulling off amazing robberies and not keeping a single cent for themselves. You do realize this is a game played out on a global scale. Vegas was just a start. This trick was designed a long time ago.
Mike00:00:28Welcome to the Sub-Beacon podcast. I'm your co-host, Mike Warren. Joining me as always are my two co-hosts, because the more you think you see, the easier it will be to fool you. Wait, I had some set up for there, and I don't even know what it was. Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch.
Sonny00:00:48I assume this is a misdirection and that 40 minutes from now you're going to come back and it's going to be something actually entirely unrelated.
Mike00:00:56The closer you look, the less you see. That's actually the reality. There you go. Join us over at Sub-Beacon.com. Tell your friends and family if they want to listen to the show. They've got to do it at Sub-Beacon.com. Join the conversation in the comments. Say hello to us on Instagram. And we are going to be talking about Now You See Me later on in the show. But first, JVL, we've got to have the update that everybody has been waiting for. What's your decision? Tell us the decision. I did it.
JVL00:01:32Giddy up. So last Saturday, last Sunday, G-Money and I drove out to Flemington, New Jersey to the workshop of the company Arcades Are Fun to get a demo. And what we saw shook me to my very core. Ugh. Ugh.
?00:01:56Ugh. Ugh.
JVL00:01:56Ugh. This console is astonishing. This guy, he builds good video games and it plays, I mean, you go through it and it's a good thing that it has the ability to favorite games and to create your own favorites folder because there are 40,000 games on it. It would be overwhelming if you couldn't do that. It would take forever to find the game you wanted to play. Right. And so the first time, you know, the initial setup, it's going to take you a long time finding, oh, I want to play this game. I want Marvel versus Capcom three. You know, I want Soul Calibur two. Anyway, it is a, again, everything, all arcade up through like 2005, every console and by every console, I don't just mean Nintendo Entertainment System and Atari. I mean, Amiga. Coleco vision in television, fam, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Atari Jaguar, every 64, every single like, you know, niche Sega console, Sega CD.
Mike00:03:16They're all there. How about Tigers game dot com?
JVL00:03:20No, I don't know what that is. They might have it for all I know. That was all the game. That was that was that was that was.
Sonny00:03:26Like, is that how you played Leisure Suit Leisure Suit Larry?
Mike00:03:30Was that the game game dot com was the knockoff cheapo version of the Game Boy that was like three times in size that I had because I didn't go ahead. Sorry, I didn't derail.
JVL00:03:42Anyway, I just I just sat there looking at this thing. And with the marquee that is a giant LED screen, which gives you the true arcade marquee for all the games, you know, upon it as you load them. And I I basically in this moment. I decided. Let's fucking do it. And so I went from do it and be legends. I that's that. Let's do this and be legends. And so I I went up from the 42 inch screen to the 50 inch screen because he's like, you know, the cabinets are the same width. You're not sacrificing any more space, you know, and you do get a lot more square inches. That's, you know, and, you know, it's and and then you also get a bigger marquee in the end. And was I going to get the light guns? Yeah. You know what? I got the light guns. Was I going to get the premium light guns with the recoil action? Yes. Can I play Terminator 2 Judgment Day and House of the Dead and Time Crisis as well as like Duck kind of? Yes. Yes. I can do that now. And then you get to the buttons. And do you want do you want the standard buttons or do you want the upgraded buttons or do you want the competition level gold leaf LED RGB buttons, which are all individually wired, individually wired to two separate boards so that when you pull up a game and start a game, the buttons illuminate because, you know, you'll you'll it's like the six button configuration illuminate the buttons that are operative for that game. So that, you know, oh, these are the four buttons that I use for this game. JVL, did you did I do that, too? Yes. Did you get the underbody coating and the paint protection? The racing stripe, the floor mats, every I just I just decided you're going to want fucking let's go all the way. And I love it. Sonny, I'll let you bleep this. OK, but so so bleep the numbers, but I would say I entered this thinking, you know, I might spend as much as a hundred dollars on one of these things. And then I was like, no, that's all you just get to get an arcade one up. That's really not very good. And, you know, maybe if I could just do it for I can make it. And then I was like, I don't know. I mean, to really get like the really good one, you got to get. It's like, you know, I have to be willing to spend about. And anyway, all in, I'm at.
Mike00:06:33Honestly, though, Jamie, the way you were talking about this over text, I was expecting even more so. I mean, you're you're getting away. You're getting away with here. You're this is a steal, basically.
Sonny00:06:45I mean, I mean, it's it's the whole thing, too. It's it's the it's the it's a it's a custom made. I mean, I assume there's some sort of, you know, they have they it's not. It's not, you know, bespoke, right? But it's like they but they you know, they have to put it together. It's custom. They have to they have to wire it all. They got to paint it with your nude women on the side. And you've got waifu.
JVL00:07:10I believe the term is something like that. I don't know.
Sonny00:07:15You know, that's my Chun Li. I would say that's not an unreasonable. I mean, it's a lot. It's a lot, but it's not an unreasonable figure for a. Centerpiece family. How much would you spend on like new couches, like new couches, loveseat, et cetera?
JVL00:07:34Probably I just I've bought new couches, two new couches in the last year. And let me tell you, it was not that much. But, you know, it was a lot of money.
Sonny00:07:44A couple of grand.
JVL00:07:45Yeah. And that is expensive.
Sonny00:07:48This is you know what?
JVL00:07:48This is going to last a lot longer than this is going to last a lot longer than couches. This thing is going to my couch. I'm going to inherit.
Sonny00:07:56This thing I in in all seriousness, no, I do need to I need to bring it back. I need to bring it back to my original question about this, which is what precise is there some sort of like pass through thing where you you send away for the board at some, you know, undisclosed location and you have to like kind of plug it in yourself because I can't imagine, again, the legality of this. On the intellectual property level is suspect, right?
JVL00:08:32Oh, I believe that this is probably on the level so long as I'm not using this for commercial purposes.
Sonny00:08:44You're as long as you're not running an a penny arcade that can't possibly be true. That can't. There's a zero percent.
JVL00:08:54Fuckers at Atari. Come and try to get me. Come and get me coppers there.
Sonny00:08:59Because even if even if that even if it was true in the sense that like you were compiling, you were pulling these off the Internet and you were putting them on a board and then you did. Even if that was true, that's not what this guy is doing. This guy is very much doing it for a commercial.
JVL00:09:14So I don't know. He is. I mean. These things are being bought through a company. There's a company called Big Box. They like they are the ones who compile this emulator. And what it's a company I'm assuming the company would never do it. It's a company.
Sonny00:09:30It's a company that has they pay taxes on a garbage island in the middle of the Pacific.
JVL00:09:37This company pays taxes if they were in violation of intellectual property rights. And I assume the intellectual property police would have raided them a long time ago. All right.
Sonny00:09:46Well, I mean, I'm I mean, look, I this is true. This is 100 percent true. I'm just I'm I I continue to have questions about all this.
JVL00:09:56Being downloaded from the Pirate Bay, I will say it is one of the things that is shocking. So, you know, so the screen you're getting at the 50 inch was 16 by nine aspect, right? But of course, many of these games were not done in that aspect ratio. And what the game system does is it displays them. In the proper aspect ratio, but then on the side, instead of black bars, they have recreated the like the instructions for the game and some of the art from the cabinets. Oh, yeah. And it looks so beautiful. It looks so good.
Mike00:10:42I mean, we're living in. Wow. We're living in incredible times that like this is something that can be purchased. I mean, just name your favorite arcade game. Favorite arcade game. Mine was. Probably Cruisin' USA. We got it. I'm coming up. I'm coming up to New Jersey.
Sonny00:11:03What about what about the handheld games like the, you know, the Game Boys and the Game Gears?
JVL00:11:10Yeah. Pokemon. They're all there.
Sonny00:11:12Yeah. Because those are I mean, the controls on those are, you know, those are thumb based. Do you have to you do you have to use the joystick for Tetris? Yeah, you have to use the joystick.
JVL00:11:23I will. I will say, which is kind of interesting. So I also got as one of the options a second joystick because I mean, you have each player. It's a four player set up. Of course, I'm not a farmer. I'm not going to get a set up for only two players. I want to be able to play the full Simpsons game with all four characters. Of course. And but but though the modern joysticks are what are called eight way joysticks and the classic arcade games such as the original Donkey Kong and the original Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man use four way joysticks. And I would say people who are not as sophisticated as I am might try to use an emulator in which the they use a basically like a version of upscaling, but it's downscaling, which tries to make your eight way function like a four way. But I said, no, sir, no, I would like to pay extra for the option where you include another four way joystick on the control board so that when I choose to play those classic games, I can have an authentic experience.
Sonny00:12:36Do you have to take it on and off?
JVL00:12:39No, no, it's it's just it's it's there in the board. Because, again, the console is so large that there is ample room for so many joysticks and so many buttons.
Sonny00:12:51Does each does each of the four spots have the four way and an eight way?
JVL00:12:56No, because those four way games only have they have two players like, you know, there is a two player option on like the original Donkey Kong, I think. Sure, sure. But but you take turns on it, right? Like with the original Galaga, you just got you. So, you know, on those ones, you only need one of those joysticks because there's only ever one person. Right, right.
Sonny00:13:17Simultaneously. That makes sense. Is NBA on there?
JVL00:13:20Uh huh.
Sonny00:13:22So so one of the. Sorry, go ahead.
JVL00:13:25Yes, yes. Yes, I saw it. We ran NFL Blitz Ninja Turtles.
Sonny00:13:30Do you have Baseball Simulator 1000?
JVL00:13:33I don't know what was what system was it on?
Sonny00:13:36It was on the NES. Then, yes, Baseball Simulator 1000 was great because it was like this. It was like a baseball. It was like RBI baseball, kind of, except all of the players had a superpower, basically. So like some guys, some guys hit a ball and when they when it when when you tried to catch it. It exploded in the in the kept in the in the mitt and it blew up the guy that and one one of them was a knife ball where it would just it would shoot. And if you tried to stop it while it was in the air, it would impale you all the way to the fence. It was great.
JVL00:14:12Super NES. I think it was Super NES had a game that was Bill Lambeer's combat basketball, how Bill Lambeer was able to parlay himself into getting. His name on a video game. I've noted, but it's like basketball, but they're robots and they do. They fight each other while playing best. So one of the worst sports games I've ever seen, just like Bill Lambeer, all of the WWE
Sonny00:14:39wrestling games.
JVL00:14:41Yes, they're all there.
Mike00:14:44Oh, what about what about the WCW wrestling games?
JVL00:14:48Because I loved those games.
Mike00:14:51The ones where you could where you could you could plug in there was a secret there was a secret. Code that you could do and you could get on the selection screen for all the wrestlers. You could get them to do the suck it. Oh, that was great. That was when we figure that out.
JVL00:15:05That was it is WWE, though, not WCW.
Mike00:15:08Wasn't it WCW?
JVL00:15:10No, it is Degeneration X.
Mike00:15:12Oh, that's Degeneration.
Sonny00:15:13Yeah, that's right. Fake, fake wrestling fan. WWF wrong. What's the worst game system? What was the worst major game system? I have an answer for this. 3DO. You think it's 3DO?
JVL00:15:303DO was pretty bad.
Mike00:15:33Bad in terms of like the console, not home console, but like because like because people have said that the Sega Saturn was like major generation, like, you know, major.
Sonny00:15:48I'm talking about the big ones of the big ones. What's the worst one?
Mike00:15:53Sega Saturn was like ahead of its time, right? Like it was just sort. Of like, you know, Sega Dreamcast Dreamcast Dreamcast. Sorry, Dreamcast Sega Saturn was bad. Sega Saturn.
JVL00:16:01Yeah, I have an answer.
Sonny00:16:04I have an answer. It's going to be kind of it's mildly controversial, not just because none of the games I had for it were any good. And the only game that was good for it, I didn't enjoy playing that much. Still don't really. And whenever everybody talks about how much fun they had playing it, I'm always like, yeah, it was fine, I guess. Nintendo 64.
JVL00:16:26Did not care for it.
Sonny00:16:27Nintendo 64 did not care for it at all. I hated the games. I hated the graphics.
JVL00:16:32Hated the controller. The controller was the worst. That is the shocker of controllers. Yeah. Three steps. I don't have three holes. But with the rumble pack.
Sonny00:16:42The rumble pack. The rumble pack. Stupid. The rumble pack was stupid. The only. I think you're right.
Mike00:16:50I think you're right.
Sonny00:16:51People people have a lot of nostalgia for Goldeneye, right? And like Goldeneye. Goldeneye, fine game, whatever. I'm not I'm not going to dispute that. I didn't. It was not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed watching other people play because I would get really into it. But man, I like every I I had every Nintendo system up to the N64 and I did not get another one until the Wii came out. Like I did not. I did not buy any video game until until until the Wii came out. The Wii came out like 10 years after. I like went 10 years without playing video games and the Wii came out and I was like, oh, this also have like Nintendo University.
JVL00:17:33That was Wii U. That was a Wii University. Yeah, OK.
Mike00:17:36Not Wii U. Not Wii University.
JVL00:17:38I will say so. The N64 and this is is the only Nintendo system in which the best game was not a Nintendo game. Because Goldeneye is not like Nintendo is a lot of fun. I think so. Yeah, but it's a licensed. And that's just not how like Nintendo is always pride is of we the best games on every Nintendo system are made in-house by Nintendo. And it's telling the N64 that that wasn't the case.
Mike00:18:08Goldeneye was Goldeneye was rare.
JVL00:18:10Oh, there you go.
Mike00:18:12Speaking of rare and 64, I'm guessing you didn't play this since you didn't like it. Conker's Bad Fur Day. Are you guys familiar with Conker's Bad Fur Day? It is. It's a terrible game, frankly. But it's sort of shit.
Sonny00:18:25It was on N64.
Mike00:18:27But it's it is it is it is of this. It looks similar to like Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo Kazooie. Remember those games? But it was like it was like adult. So Conker is like a hard. It's like he like drinks. And there's like there is like very suggestive sexual stuff. And we back to leave Larry.
JVL00:18:49No, it's sort of like no system. Yes.
Mike00:18:52Yes. So it was a late it was a late N64 game. It came out. Like 2001. And it let's just say it hit me at the right age. I we I still I still laugh about Conker's bad for it.
Sonny00:19:05It's there was a it's very dumb. I think I'm pretty sure they made they released a Duke Nukem game for the N64. Oh, they absolutely that. And that was like that was pretty risque. But it wasn't it was like a toned down version of Duke Nukem.
JVL00:19:19It was not, you know, the I never played Duke Nukem. I thought it was just like a Wolfenstein.
Sonny00:19:24Basically, it's like that. But. But rude. The guys, the guys got the guys got real like Bruce Campbell and Army of Darkness vibes. And then, you know.
JVL00:19:34All right. Well, listen, I once this thing comes 13 weeks from now, we're going to have to figure out a way to get you guys to come up. So we can do it. We get to a tournament. 15 hours. That's a great scene in front of here. Just like we live stream. Do you have any?
Mike00:19:49Can you get some Mountain Dew and some Funyuns?
JVL00:19:51We get some Dr. Pepper, some smart food, order some pizza. Can you get some? Can you get some Domino? Or Papa John's? I never completed the side-scrolling X-Men game. But we sure can.
Sonny00:20:02I never did either because I would. I only played that in an arcade. Right. And I like I'm not spending the money to finish a side-scroller in an arcade game.
JVL00:20:12Well, my friend, I already did.
Sonny00:20:16Probably cheaper this way, frankly. You add up all the.
JVL00:20:20I'm very excited.
Sonny00:20:22It's the only thing.
Mike00:20:22It's the only thing good I have in my life right now. Good for you, JVL. We're happy for you. Sonny, what's going on?
Sonny00:20:28I got as you can. You can. Mike, it sounded like you had things to say.
Mike00:20:32Oh, yeah. So. So here's how here's how my day ended.
Sonny00:20:37Oh, to them. So for the record, I want to just I want to preface this by saying to everybody that five minutes before the show started, Mike Warren texted us and was like, I'm gonna be five minutes late. And so JVL and I, we were sitting here, we were talking. And then Mike gets in here. He's like, hey, guys.
Mike00:20:54Oh, that wasn't. Don't be don't be so dramatic. Sonny, come on.
Sonny00:20:59JVL. OK. Yeah, he's he's not. He's he's got the big eyes. He's not in his head.
Mike00:21:05I feel like you're setting this up for more than what it is. So, OK, well, I don't know.
Sonny00:21:10I don't know what's going on in your world. I'm just saying it looked like when you got on this thing, you look like you were wiping blood off of your forehead.
Mike00:21:17I had to make a drink. So the end of my day. So I leave my office in downtown D.C. with the. Intention and of going to. So, oh, sorry, let me back up a little bit. This is a story about like when you diverge from your normal routine, like ninety nine percent of the time, like it's it's fine, like you're like you you diverge and you do the things that you need to do for hard disagree and and then you go home and it's fine. But then there's the one percent. Of the time where it like something happens at the at some point and you're like, if only I had not diverged from my from my routine, then this would not have happened. So I have to go pick up a book from a Barnes and Noble because long story for my day job, I have to interview an author and I need the I need to read the author's book and I need to get it immediately. And like Amazon was going to be too slow, so I needed to just like go pick it up in a physical location.
Sonny00:22:26Do you not have a Kindle?
Mike00:22:28I got to read it physical. I can't read. I can't read it.
Sonny00:22:31I I'm with you on that. I'm I'm kind of with you.
Mike00:22:33I just can't do it. I need to take notes and all that stuff. Yeah, because I could be writing about somebody. Sure. But if you're just talking to him. No, it's it's it's a thing. It's the thing with me. I'll just roll with it. So I I'm going it's it's not far from my house, but I just got to go a little out of my way to go to this Barnes and Noble and pick it up. It's there. It's great. I'm halfway down there. I'm halfway to to it sitting in traffic and a source.
Sonny00:22:59Which Barnes and Noble?
Mike00:23:00It is the one near Springfield Mall, if you really need to know. Are you are you familiar?
Sonny00:23:07I know that one. OK. Is it like the one in Potomac Yards?
Mike00:23:11No. In near. What did I just say, Sonny? It's in your Springfield Mall. Across from the Springfield Mall.
Sonny00:23:16Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah. Sorry. No, no, no. I know. Sorry.
Mike00:23:19I was a DSW right around.
Sonny00:23:21Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's Best Buy right around there. Yeah. Yeah.
Mike00:23:24So. I it's on the other side of the welcome to Suburb Talk. Exactly. You go past the UNO. I go to Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond. I don't know if we'll have enough time. So. So. Halfway down there.
Sonny00:23:39That's the BJ's Brew Pub. BJ's Brewhouse. I'm sorry. BJ's Brewhouse. Yeah. BJ's Brewhouse. There is a BJ's Brewhouse down there, isn't there? Yes.
Mike00:23:47Yeah. I think it's still there. Yes. I know exactly what you're talking about. So halfway down there, a source calls me for something I'm working on, kind of surprising. I wasn't expecting it. So then, you know, all of a sudden now I'm talking to this, this source. I get to the, to the Barnes and Noble and I got to like park, take out my notebook and start taking notes for my, again, for my day job to like write stuff down. So I am, you know, doing this for my, for my, for my work. And I'm in there for like, I'm in that parking lot for like a good four to five minutes before the phone calls over. Good stuff. Helpful. I got to go get the car. I'm already kind of running late because I wanted to get home in time to cook dinner so that my wife could go to the PTA meeting. That was that night. So like all of it, I'm already like, not just off my routine, but off my plan for going off routine. So then I go in, I get the book. It's waiting there for me. It takes a little while to get it, whatever. And I get back in the car and I realized, you know what? I'm really running low on gas. I need to go stop at a gas station before I get home. I'm about 10. 15 minutes from my house. So I am driving through beautiful Springfield, Virginia.
JVL00:25:03Love it there.
Mike00:25:04I am stopped at a gorgeous. It's beautiful. You know what, JVL though? It's so much better looking than it used to be. And I'm, that's not, I'm not even kidding. Like it's just, it looks so much nicer than it used to be. Couldn't possibly look worse. Exactly. Hey, I live near Springfield. And hey, where I live, it's great. Anyway. I'm parked, I'm, I'm, I'm stopped at a, at a red light and I want to, I want to, I want to paint the picture for you. So this is a, a small road that crosses over a relatively busy road. And I can see across the street and to the right is the gas station where I am going to get, get my gas, fill up my tank before I go home. I can see it. I'm parked in, or I'm stopped in the middle lane, right? Left lane is a left turn lane to get onto the busy road. Right lane is a right turn lane to get onto the busy road. Middle lane only goes straight. Okay. Lots of, lots of streetlights, uh, uh, lots of, lots of stoplights. There is a red light for me. There are also arrow, red light arrows for both right and left. Okay. Okay. The left arrow, left turn arrow turns green. Okay. I am going straight. The only way to go in my lane is straight. I'm sitting there waiting. And about five seconds after the light turns green for the, the, the, the turn goes green. I am still on red. All of a sudden I am just like smacked into in the back of my car, like hard. And I look up. Like I'm piecing all of this to get, you know, it's like all the things that you like pick up on that you don't act, you know, you don't actively like pay attention to, but like your brain goes back and goes, what was just happening? The car behind me had been there. The car is not coming out of like nowhere. It's not like nobody is behind me and all of a sudden the car is coming through and you know, they're not paying attention or they're, you know, zooming through and they're, you know, you know, high on high on speed and they just ran into me. They are just sitting there behind me. And they saw, they saw the left, they saw the light turn green and they just accelerate boom right into me.
Sonny00:27:33Was it, did they accelerate into you or was it just like they took their foot off the brakes?
Mike00:27:37That's, that's hard to tell, but I would say it was, it was hard. Like I've, I've never been, it's funny. I'm almost 38 years old. I've never actually been in a car accident before, uh, until, until tonight.
JVL00:27:48Um, I have no surprise there.
Mike00:27:51Is that no surprise? Okay. You're a responsible guy. So I have been. I have been like bumped in a parking lot before, which I don't count, you know, where I can just bump. I know what a bump feels like. And this was not a bump. Like my body went like this. Um, I heard a crunch. So, so then we, so then I rolled the window down and I like gestured toward the gas station where I was already going and this car followed me. Um, so I immediately got out and looked at, it was like a 20 something girl in the front, in the front seat of the car. Driver's seat. And I immediately just said, are you okay? And I could see in the back, there is a toddler in a car seat and there is like a mother in the back seat with the toddler. And, uh, I'm like, are you guys okay?
JVL00:28:40You started yelling at them. I hope.
Mike00:28:43How dare you?
JVL00:28:45Do you know who I am? That's exactly what I said.
Mike00:28:49Um, uh, anyway, so I, uh, I was like, uh, are you okay? Is the baby okay? Or whatever. And then I guess, and she's very upset. So then I go around to the back of my car to look and basically, so I, I drive a RAV4. Um, and it is a, it has the sensible car. Um, yeah, exactly. It's, and you know what it is? Um, I may have talked about on this, on this show before it is the, the rare RAV4 that has the third row, the optional third row. Well, it's, it's only, I mean, it is only for children, truly only for children to sit and it folds down and it's mostly anyway. So, but it's got the, it's got the, you have those. Yes, I do. Um, it's great. Um, the, uh, the, the, the, the, where the spare tire is that little, there's like the, there's like the, the plastic cover over that there's a hole in it. It was crunched. It's so you could see that damage. It honestly does not look that bad. I opened the, the hatch. It's not a hatchback. It's a. It opens out. Um, and I could hear some like grinding, so we'll see. So honestly, it could have been a lot worse. Um, but it was, uh, it was just not a, it was, it was like this moment where like I got a lot of stress, you know, like I got a lot of stress with work and home and we got Thanksgiving we're hosting next week, all this stuff. And it's like, this thing happens. And my first thought honestly is like, why did I have to do this? Why did I have to go pick up this book? Why did I have to stop for gas? Why did I like leave at the time that I did that? All this stuff, which is like an insane thing to think, but that's, that's where I am. So anyway, that's that.
Sonny00:30:38Causality. Yeah, exactly. Cause it's your, you became the Mero of Indian. What? Sliding doors.
Mike00:30:44It was the sliding doors, butterfly effect kind of thing.
Sonny00:30:47Um, so anyway, um, so did you, you guys just like traded insurance?
Mike00:30:51We traded insurance. Um, I mean, you know, it, there's. No, there's no question who's at fault here. So, um, and they were just very, you know, it ended up as it was interesting. I don't know how much I should say about this, but like the mother was the one who insures the car. Um, and so she jumped out and, and, and shared all that insurance and then, um, so yeah, so, so there we are. So that's, that's, that's, that was, that was the way my, my night and I made it back in time so that she could go to, uh, to the PTA meeting.
JVL00:31:26I say car accidents are the one, not the one, but one of the few things about which my attitude is whatever. This is, this is why we have insurance. Yes. That's why insurance exists. Car accidents, uh, are, should not be grief, right? So long as nobody is hurt in a car accident, like inconvenience, not grief. They're, they are absolutely not worth getting upset over because we all pay a bazillion dollars a year in car insurance. We pay year after year and you, you know, we can go 10 years without, you know, making any call on that. And there's an entire industry built around this. Like the people who get upset over this stuff. I just, well, I could guys calm. Yeah. Everything's going to be okay.
Mike00:32:18Totally, totally agree. Once I found out everybody was fine in the other car, which once I saw that little kid, I was like, oh God. Gosh, I hope, you know, but the, the, this poor driver, you know, I I'm, I'm interpreting a lot of things here, but like, I'm guessing a single mom, you know, all that sort of stuff. She was, she was a wreck. And I just was like, you know, like, you know, not that I was ready to come guns a blazing or anything, but I was just like, I was just like, let's just do this and get this over with and all that stuff. It was just, you know, it's, I will say for all of that, I think you're right, JBL. It is even for something as minor as this, right? Like the, the amount of stress that's like suddenly was on me just in terms of everything else was like, gosh, am I going to get home in time? There was a one point where I'm driving home and like, it could all be in my head, but where I was like, am I here? Is the car, does the car still sound right? It's like, it's like all of that. I'm just like, and anyway. Oh, so that's, that's, that's what you saw when I said, sorry, you had that. It's, it's fine. Everything's fine. I'm fine.
JVL00:33:32Everybody's okay.
Mike00:33:32I don't feel like things are a little, feel a little weird here on the right side of my body, you know, my neck and my, my wrist, but it's okay. It's fine.
Sonny00:33:40So I'm a little bit numb.
Mike00:33:43All I can think of was this JVL.
Sonny00:33:46You may remember the Mike, your, the left side of your face is starting to droop.
Mike00:33:50I don't know if you know, it was the, the scene when, uh, from the Brady bunch. Where the guy tries to sue the Brady's for the neck brace with the neck brace. And, and, uh, Mrs. Brady drops the book on the, on the table in the courtroom and his head jerks to the side. And they're like, aha. So she's like Matlock that Mrs. Brady. Exactly. So I know when I go to court and bring these people and, and, and take them for everything they got, I'm not going to make that mistake. That's for sure.
JVL00:34:18Yeah. And make sure that baby has nothing. Doesn't even have two nickels to rub together.
Sonny00:34:23That's right.
Mike00:34:24Oh, is that, is that all? Is that a lollipop in your mouth? I'm taking that too. Um, anyway, so all's well that ends well, I suppose.
JVL00:34:32So there we are. I'm glad.
Mike00:34:34All right. Should we move on and talk about the box office? Because it's, I was looking at the box office this week and it's amazing. All three of our last three shows, including this week's show, um, are represented in their, uh, in, in their successor films in the top three.
Sonny00:34:53Predecessor. Sorry.
Mike00:34:54Sorry. Did I say successor? Yeah. Predecessor films. No, no, no. They're, they are represented.
Sonny00:35:00We did the predecessor film.
Mike00:35:01Correct. We did the, that's right. I was saying it right, Sonny. I was saying it right.
Sonny00:35:04I'm not sure what you're trying to say over here.
Mike00:35:06Who's hosting this podcast, by the way? Who's hosting it? I don't know.
Sonny00:35:09Please do. Please continue. I host too many podcasts.
Mike00:35:12The successor films of the movies that we reviewed in, on this podcast are all in the top three. Number three, Predator Badlands in its second week at the box office. Number two, The Running Man, the, the new one with Glenn Powell. And then number one, Now You See Me, Now You Don't, aka Now You See Me 3 is number one at the box office, but pretty abysmal, abysmal showings, right? For, for these films. So it's, it's like the same story, right?
Sonny00:35:41Bad movies doing bad movies, movies, bad movies, movies in bad movies in bad place.
Mike00:35:49Yeah. Thoughts, thoughts.
Sonny00:35:52I don't know. Let's see. What else? What else? What all? What all is on the list here? We got, we got, I don't know what the hell that is. Black phone to regretting you is the, uh, the, uh, Colleen Hoover adaptation that is like, is hanging around. I think it's grossed. It's grossed about 80 million worldwide. I bet that gets to a hundred million worldwide. It didn't, it didn't cost very much money. These cheapo girl movies are always a decent bet.
Mike00:36:18Um, chick flicks woke is dead. You can say chick flicks now.
Sonny00:36:22I'm not sure that cheapo girl movies.
JVL00:36:25Is much more politically correct than chick flicks.
Sonny00:36:29I don't, I don't think, uh, I don't think I was really, uh, trying to play that one too safe.
Mike00:36:34Uh, sorry, sorry. I don't mean to interrupt you here, but the running, can we talk quickly about the running man? Sure. Remake here or whatever. Um, most, not, not really the running man, but Glenn Powell, because he was the host of Saturday night live this past weekend.
Sonny00:36:47Sure.
Mike00:36:48And, uh, I thought, I mean, the stuff that I saw from him, he, he was like totally charming. He's like, he's totally charming. He's totally one way over. And it's amazing that he can only open, he can't open a movie. It's like less than $17 million.
JVL00:37:02That's not true. He opened the Sydney Sweeney movie that did really well.
Sonny00:37:05Well, he didn't pretty well twisters that movie, the Sydney Sweeney movie didn't open that hung around for a long time. I mean that, that he opened twisters. Okay. Um, I look, the thing about Glenn Powell, um, our JBL and I's friend, Richard Rushfield wrote a couple of pieces about that. This last week, which is that studios, studios are not sure how to market these movies to people. Um, and they don't, they, they do these long drawn out press campaigns. So you have like Sydney Sweeney's all over the place for this Christie movie that nobody's going to see. Right. Nobody, nobody's interested in seeing Christie, um, uh, movie, movie, uh, has grossed $1.9 million. Right. And she was everywhere. I mean, like, again, there was no, no shortage of earned media on that one. Um, uh, the running man has, has gross is, you know, is gross open to $16.5 million. I bet it drops pretty harshly. Just like predator Badlands dropped pretty harshly by the predator Badlands dropped almost 70% this weekend. Yeah. Nobody's talking about that, but that's a, that's a fairly disastrous number.
JVL00:38:13Um, uh, you're saying Rushfield was talking to, they didn't know how to market them.
Sonny00:38:19Yeah. So, you know, the, the problem, the problem is you, you, you get these movies. With these long drawn out star campaigns. And because the stars are on TV for free all the time, nobody really feels the need to go see them in the theaters. Right.
Mike00:38:35Uh, or I already saw Sydney Sweeney all over the place.
Sonny00:38:38Why do I exactly, do you, do you want to see Sydney Sweeney in the dour boxing movie where she's playing a dressed down woman boxer, or do you want to see her be hot on a red carpet and do interviews?
JVL00:38:53Yes.
Sonny00:38:53Yes. And like, I, yeah. I, so like the, the running man one is, I'm a little surprised by the running man soft opening because a, it is a, it's a, it's a movie. People know cinema score.
JVL00:39:06Cause they don't know the movie. They know a different movie that has the same name.
Sonny00:39:11That's true.
JVL00:39:12Uh, and this is what I was interested in. Like, I wonder if the cinema score is bad plus B plus.
Sonny00:39:18That's not bad. That's not bad.
JVL00:39:19It's not great understood. Cause I can just imagine people showing up to that, looking for a remake of their move and be like, where the fuck is dynamo and buzzsaw.
Sonny00:39:28Yeah. But it's, it's a, it's just, it's a, it is a, it's a fairly charming movie. It's not great. It's paced all wrong. It's 30 minutes too long. I mean, it's, you know, the original running man, which we did two weeks ago, uh, was, is 99 minutes or so. It's like a hundred, 101 minutes. This movie is an hour. Uh, I'm sorry. It's 135 minutes. You know, it's, it's like, it's, it's 50% as long.
Mike00:39:50Do you know what the cinema score for the Schwarzenegger running man is? Also.
Sonny00:39:54No, it is also. Oh, that's really. Yes. That's shocking to me. I feel like audiences were harder on movies back in the eighties. Cause you, you know, that, that's a, anyway. Uh, so I don't know. It's, uh, I, I have a hard time blaming Glenn Powell for this precisely. Um, the simple fact of the matter is that nobody is opening anything. Yes. Anywhere like that. That's, that's just, I guess that was my point.
Mike00:40:20It's like the guy has, has been exceedingly charming and, and, and I like seeing him on TV and these things. And like, you know, he, if he can't do it, who can, is I sort of my point.
Sonny00:40:34Yeah. So, I mean like the original, the, the original, now you see me as kind of an interesting, um, comparison point here, because this is the, you know, that movie grossed about 350 million worldwide. It grossed 117 million domestic. It opened to just under 30 million. Um, this is opening to two thirds of that number. Uh, and. Probably, I mean, it's, it's not gonna make a hundred million dollars. I don't, you know, uh, I don't, but the, but, but again, it's the sort of movie you make this because you expect it to do basically predator badlands numbers. Right. You want that to open to about 35 to $40 million. Instead it's opening to $21 million. Um, I, it's the weirdest franchise too.
JVL00:41:16I can't wait to talk about it.
Sonny00:41:19Yeah.
Mike00:41:20I, I believe that was my, all right, let's, let's just forget this box office stuff. It's, it's so, it's so dismal. Let's just jump right into the movie. Right. Um, we are not talking about now you see me now you don't, which is also known as now you see me three, we were talking about the original, which incredibly, by the way, I cannot believe that JVL and I had both seen it and Sonny Bunch, the professional film critic did not, this is not like I saw one week ago because we
JVL00:41:46were road testing movies to possibly be family movies, like for all six of us to
Sonny00:41:50watch, right? All right. Well, does this, does this, does this make the cut?
Mike00:41:54Um, we'll, we'll, we'll discuss that for the show. Sonny, give us, give us a big boy review of this movie that you just saw this week. Now you see me.
Sonny00:42:04Now you see me, uh, 2013 common heist, magic thriller illusion, illusion, illusionist movie, uh, starring Jesse Eisenberg and, uh, Woody Harrelson and the red head Isla Fisher. And, uh, the not James Frank and Dave Franco, Dave Franco, uh, as, uh, the four horsemen, the four horsemen of the magic apocalypse. And they, uh, we meet them in the early going and they're doing some street magic, uh, Jesse Eisenberg, Jesse Eisenberg, who like is, I can only describe his, his hairstyle in this as like late aughts douche, which is just, it's, it's really amazing. It's a really amazing look for him. It's something that you don't see on him very often. Like he, he is, he is, he has done up to be kind of suave in this movie, which is interesting. It's an interesting turn against type for him.
Mike00:43:09Um, anyway, interesting.
Sonny00:43:11Look at what, what was going on in 2013, but yeah, well, I, again, like I would say closer to like 2011, you know, whenever, whenever, whenever, anyway. Uh, so he is, um, uh, anyway. The, the four of these, uh, we see them doing some street magic. They, they all are given little cards that instruct them to come to a place at a certain time and they get there and they meet each other and they, they, there's some, some energy and then they go in the room and it's like an escape room or something, except instead of escaping, they, they see some 3d holograms, hologram plans that show them how to do the thing that they have been commanded to do for some reason. And then we. Flash forward a year, they're in Vegas and they're doing a big magic show in a Vegas casino and at the Aria, very nice casino. Frankly, the Aria is too nice for a trashy magic show like this, but it's neither here nor there. Um, uh, and as in the, in the course of doing the magic show, they rob a Parisian bank and distribute the money over everybody in the, in the, in the auditorium. And here's the, here's the trick they. They really robbed the bank or somebody robbed the bank. Nobody's, nobody's for sure who actually robbed the bank. And this is the movie. Mark Ruffalo is playing an FBI agent. He's trying to figure out who's robbed the bank. He teams up with Melanie Laurent, AKA Shoshanna from, uh, uh, Inglorious Bastards. Um, and, uh, they have to figure out what, what the four horsemen of the magic apocalypse are doing with this. What, what, what's their, what's their plan? Are they, are they really a part of an ancient? Egyptian cult of real magicians who are trying to tip the scales back in favor of the poor, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, or are they just, uh, in it for themselves? Are they just in it for themselves? Morgan Freeman is there. He's a debunk. He's a debunker. He's a professional debunker who, uh, when he was younger, debunked some guys so hard that he did a stunt so dangerous that he killed himself to try and prove that little, little bit of dialogue there that when it happened, I was like, that seems like it's probably relevant for later in the movie. Spoilers.
JVL00:45:30Um, it's 12 year old movie, Sonny. You can spoil it.
Sonny00:45:33And, and also in this movie is Michael Caine. And I want to, I want to just focus on the Michael Caine character here for two minutes, because this is, this is a very weirdly structured movie. This is a very weirdly structured movie, um, on, on several different levels. And, and the, the, the, the level on which it is the most weirdly structured is that the second robbery that we see is the most convincingly crafted of them in terms of the plot and the thematic of thematics of the film, right? So again, spoilers here. We got, we've got spoilers. Just spoil. So, so the four horsemen are in, they've, the second show takes place in new Orleans. They are there. They have flown there on the private jet of, uh, their benefactor who I guess. Does he, is he supposed to own the Aria? I don't know. He has, he's like he owns. The Aria, but he also owns, uh, uh, insurance company. And when, um, he they're in, they're in new Orleans, they're doing this trick. And, uh, they basically what the way it works, I'm not going to explain the whole mechanics of the trick. Long story short, they steal $145 million from this guy and they give it to all the people who are in the, in the audience of this, uh, magic show who were screwed out of their hurricane Katrina settlements by this guy's insurance company, right? So this all, this like all very logically makes sense and it makes sense for the last third of the film for then Michael Caine to be getting his revenge on these people like this, he is set up to be the heavy for the rest of this movie. And then he disappears. He disappears from the movie. He goes, he vanishes entirely from the movie and we focus on a whole different set of problems and villains and companies. And I'm just sitting there thinking to myself. OK, so I and I and at this point I was like, OK, I got to see the screenplay credits after this, because what has happened here is an entirely different writer has come in and inserted this sequence. And it has made the rest of the movie not make any sense because because I and sure enough, Ed Solomon is has a writer credit. Then there's a there's a two man writing team that has a second. So somebody in this movie came. Came in on top of either Ed Solomon or Ed Solomon came over in on top of these other two guys and and kind of rewrote what they did. But they're there. It's it's a movie that is like weirdly at war with itself in terms of. Just what it's what it's trying to do, what it's like, the whole purpose of it. Again, that whole middle sequence is really good. It's really well done. It's very tight. And like thematically, it perfectly mixes the magic with the the with the revenge with the with the like Robin Hood aspect of it. And then none of the rest of the movie does that at all. It's bizarre. It's frankly, totally bizarre. Again, this is why I think Ed Solomon's a very good screenwriter.
Mike00:48:38It's almost the rewriter.
Sonny00:48:41Yeah, I think I think he parachuted in and tried to fix the problems at the heart of this movie by adding this sequence. And it's just so obviously better than the rest of it that it unbalances the whole movie. And again, like Michael Caine. Shows up. He's there. He's very good for about 40 minutes. And then he just disappears. I don't I didn't understand. I don't I did not understand what was happening just in terms of the like plot and structure of the movie. I don't know. You guys had a problem with the ending. You didn't really like the ending. The big reveal, of course, that again, spoilers. Mark Ruffalo has like orchestrated this whole thing to take revenge for his father who drowned in the safe in the river because Morgan Freeman's and it turns out this whole thing is about revenge. Revenge on Morgan Freeman somehow JVL what?
JVL00:49:29Yes. Yes. So here's the thing that I found so weird about it is that it's a really charming movie for like 50 minutes and it's not it's not like a good movie, but it's charming. It's charming because Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson and Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are all very, very. Good and you know, I love Fisher is fine. Like she's not she's not great here, but she, you know, she's not given a lot to work with. She is not given a lot to work with. Her part is the least the least well-written of a bunch of parts that none of which are really well-written, but also Mark Ruffalo's night is is fun to watch and the Shoshanna the French girl is fun to watch and like it's like I said, it's charming because it's like hey, it's half a magic movie half oceans 11. But with a little bit of Thriller in it and then you get to the third act and as you said like so Michael Caine disappears that character disappears and every nothing's really making sense and then we get to the like the final scene of the third act and I'm sorry, we're just gonna have to talk about it.
Mike00:50:43Yeah, go ahead where they go to Central Park and it is revealed that
JVL00:50:50Mark Ruffalo's FBI agent has been behind the entire thing, which is utterly implausible preposterous.
Sonny00:50:57There's no it does not make any sense and I'm sorry, but like the
JVL00:51:01whole idea of illusion heist movies is that they're supposed to make at least superficial sense, right? You don't you don't have to like pick them. They don't have to withstand close scrutiny, but you have to be like, oh, okay. Yeah, I know I could see it now the resources required for these series of heists go to the millions of dollars. The amount of planning is unbelievable. This guy's been an FBI agent on an FBI agent salary for 15 or 20 years like it just I'm no, this is not so does anybody know how the FBI works? The FBI you don't get to pick what field office you're in, right? How did he arrange? I mean, none of this work, but but that's not even the problem. The problem is you get to and everybody know. I mean, I don't know. I knew he was the guy, but you they go to Central Park to and there's like a tree with magic and then all of a sudden a carousel starts up. It's being powered by by ghost magic and they get on the carousel and just start going and he's like and now you're members of a secret society.
Mike00:52:06What the fuck is happening for those last 10 minutes?
JVL00:52:11I really I've never seen. I don't think I've ever seen a movie fall apart because it was so you're actually you're actually understands that it wants to get to the reveal that Mark Ruff. Lowe's behind the whole thing. Okay, I understand that. But the execution of that reveal again, it makes no unless I'm just missing you're leaving out. Sorry. Go ahead Sonny.
Sonny00:52:37Well, I have I do have a question just about factually what happens at the end of this movie. So at the end of this movie at the end of this movie, are we to believe they're there? They're one of two options. Option one is that Mark Ruff. Lowe's character was using. The Eye of Horus the like super the secret Society of magicians like he was it was a ruse. It was like a thing that he had just he had he hadn't made up but he had like kind of pulled the myth from history and that that was like the cover for what he was doing. Right? So in in option number one, the Eye of Horus is fake not real option. Number two is that the Eye of Horus is real and that's where he gets all his resources from is that there's this huge National Society of magicians that have billions of dollars like that.
Mike00:53:26Yeah, yeah.
Sonny00:53:28So I don't know which maybe this is answered in the sequel. Have you guys seen the sequel?
JVL00:53:32I don't see the sequel.
Sonny00:53:33I want to say I'm going to just look up now. You see me to real quick. You guys go ahead.
JVL00:53:36You don't want to watch it Sonny. No, not really. So I very much want to hear Michael's Michael's views on this, but I will say you guys were inclined to blame the screenwriters. I blame the director because the director is Louis Letelier who makes garbage movies. The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, Fast X.
Mike00:54:01Where are the garbage movies?
JVL00:54:03Horrible, horrible movies. His best movie is The Transporter.
Sonny00:54:10Yeah, The Transporter is good. No, it's not good.
JVL00:54:13The Transporter is good for what it is. It is a schlock movie that is good for what it is.
Sonny00:54:18It's a good B movie. It's a good B movie.
JVL00:54:20It's a good B movie. That's it. Everything else that he's done has been horrible. He's a bad director. He is U-Bowl. U-A-Bowl. How are you supposed to say his name? He is U-A-Bowl level talent. And so I blame him and I expect I have not seen the second one. But I'm kind of interested because John Chu directs it. Which is in Crazy Rich Asians and Wicked. He is a he is a competent director.
Sonny00:54:49Better director. Better director.
JVL00:54:50So I don't know. And you asked about family movies. So I would say there was a divergence in our in our house. My wife thought after the first 30 minutes, like, oh, no, it's that scene where Jesse Eisenberg almost has sex with that girl. Like, that's too risque. And I was just like, really? I mean, come on. We're on kid number four. That would have been too risque. Oh, very, very early. Yeah, yeah, right. But but at this point, I'm sorry. We're past that. But having finished the movie, I would not. But my kid, I would not sit my kids through it. It's bad. Yeah, it's bad.
Sonny00:55:33I just want to say, I'm sorry, Mike. We'll get we'll get where you can say the things you want to say here in one second. I just want the opening paragraph of the plot description for the Wikipedia entry of Now You See Me 2, which should have been called Now You See Me, Now You Don't. And then this movie should have been called Now You Three Me. But neither here nor there. But 18 months after escaping the FBI, the fugitive four horsemen await orders from the eye, the secret society of magicians. So I guess the eye is real. And that's where all of the resources come from.
Mike00:56:06They were able to place Mark Ruffalo in the FBI because that's how that works.
JVL00:56:13The Illuminati.
Mike00:56:15Before I share. Well, there you go. Before I share my thoughts on this. What? You loved it, didn't you? Best movie ever. No, before I share my my full thoughts on this, you actually, JVL, you you you didn't describe the final scene because the final scene is where is actually like one of the worst scenes in a movie ever, which is it's this it's supposed to be a denouement epilogue thing where where Mark Ruffalo explains to sexy French cop the whole.
JVL00:56:52Yeah, just shows up on the bridge and is like, I never thought that I would love you.
Mike00:56:57And it like explains like all it's it's like those like badly written exposition scenes at the beginning of movies, but at the very end and you're like, and that romance is totally
JVL00:57:11unearned. One hundred percent, one hundred percent unearned. All right.
Mike00:57:15So as I was rewatching this, I was like, oh, this is like this is a Christopher Nolan movie. For dum-dums, this is like this is a Christopher Nolan movie for like monster energy drink obsessives, right? Like it's like so it's so because it has the pretensions of being like if like where the movie is, you know, the movie itself is a misdirection, right? Because like there is the whole thing where you're led to believe that that that Alma, right? That's the that's the Interpol officer like maybe she's in on it, right? And that's the misdirection because that you what you don't realize that it's that it's Mark Ruffalo. Wow, there's the prestige, but like it's like it has that sort of those like pretensions, but it's just so dumb. It's so dumb and even like I wanted to be like sort of brought along with it again. Like I remember watching it the first time when it came out. It was just like, oh, like, yeah, fine, fine. So I was like ready to be brought along with it again. But like I found everything from the just the style of the movie like it. The style of it is so reminds me of kind of like the worst of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
JVL00:58:43early spinning cameras. No, it's it's very specific. Camera never stops spinning.
Sonny00:58:48Sonny, what were you saying? It's it's very specifically knock off Michael Bay. It's like it is. It is. Yeah, there's a lot of that parallax. That parallax 360 shot that JBL is talking about is like the it's it's a shot that lots of people try to do. And only Michael Bay ever does right. And and there are other little things in this, like every shot is cut a third of a second too quickly. So like nothing quite flows. None of the shots quite flow into each other. It just like it's chopped apart within within an inch of its life.
JVL00:59:21Well, it's also.
Mike00:59:22You know, it's such a waste of all of this talent like like Mark Ruffalo is not my cup of tea. He's never been my cup of tea. Like he's the worst. He's the worst part guy. He's the worst part of Spotlight. He's the worst part of of the Avengers movies. Like I just I don't care for him. But I do feel like I felt bad for him. Like watching this movie, it's like, oh, that's like, come on, like, don't do Mark Ruffalo like this, but like we've already seen Jesse Eisenberg. Woody Harrelson together in Zombieland, which is a I love that movie. That's such a great movie. They have such great chemistry, the two of them, because they're so they're so different, right? Like Jesse Eisenberg is like, you know, neurotic and is sort of like talking really fast, you know, and Woody Harrelson is, hey, you know, chill out, you know, he's got that kind of laconic attitude. It's there's such a great pairing and this totally wasted in this movie. I mean, obviously, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are wasted in this movie like it's so it's such again another. It's knockoff. Christopher Nolan team. Christopher Nolan. Totally. Yeah. It's TV. Christopher Nolan. Absolutely. I just I, I kind of was okay with this movie going into it was like, oh, yeah, I kind of remember enjoying it. It's like not great, but it'll be fine. And I came out of this watching it again this week, like hating it. I was like, oh, this is so dumb. Awful. Oh, also, the movie. Let's see. I'm going to take it off my soapbox here, but like the movie leads you to believe that Jesse Eisenberg is going to be the focus. He's the he's the leader of this group. And like it becomes a Mark Ruffalo movie like like pretty like early on. And I'm sorry. I just don't care. I want to watch Jesse Eisenberg. I don't really care about a Mark Ruffalo.
Sonny01:01:15Yeah. Yeah. No, this is so again, this is like a weird and interesting thing about the structure of this movie. Is that. I don't know how to describe it, except to say that it like has no connecting tissue with the actual heroes of the movie from like they they basically you see their introductory bits and then we cut to which I love, by the way, I love that part where you meet all four
Mike01:01:44of them.
Sonny01:01:45That's a good sequence. Totally, totally. Great. The first sequence, the first high sequence is very good. It's very it's very amusing. The second high sequence, again, is the best part of the film. I think, again, like the thing that makes the most thematic sense, everything else. But it's it's so funny because, like, there's a moment after there's a moment after the New Orleans heist where we just cut to them all together in an apartment in New York City and they're running around trying to decide if they need to leave.
JVL01:02:18And I'm just like your walls.
Sonny01:02:19I was just like, wait, what do we do? How did we get here? How do we. It's happening. What is happening?
Mike01:02:26What is happening in the movie? But let's let's talk about this, too, because this movie was insanely successful. It made like five times its budget. How did that happen? It's nuts. It's nuts. But but it goes to my point again. It's Christopher Nolan movies for for morons like it's like it's like it's like it makes perfect sense in a lot of ways.
Sonny01:02:48I. I kind of get it. I kind of get it. It is everybody in the movie is charming, is the thing, you know, they're like star power goes a lot a long way. And like this is this is the moment where Jesse Eisenberg is kind of at the height of his star power. Totally agree. Like he is.
JVL01:03:07Can we have a Jesse Eisenberg side conversation here? Go for it. What do you guys think of him, Sonny?
Sonny01:03:17In what sense?
JVL01:03:20As an actor, as a presence on screen.
Sonny01:03:22I have always found him to be better as like a as as more of a seasoning than a main course, if that makes sense. But I will say that, you know, look, I mean, Social Network is great and he's great in it, but he's playing a deranged psychopath in that film, kind of. And and I have I will be I have always liked his Lex Luthor. I always thought his Lex Luthor was was was good.
Mike01:03:51I think. Jesse Eisenberg is. Again, he is reflective of a time period like we will go back and look at the time of like basically like the Obama administration in movies like that, just how I think of it, how I think of him, like I'd be like, oh, like Jesse Eisenberg was a star then.
Sonny01:04:15That explains, you know, who you know, who the A plus iteration of this is. Remember Dane DeHaan? Yes. Dane DeHaan was a guy. They tried to make a star. They tried to make Dane DeHaan a star. And it was like, no, that's not that guy's not that guy looks too weird to be a movie star.
Mike01:04:31Speaking of Christopher Nolan, he put him in Oppenheimer, I believe we discussed it on this show about how he was.
Sonny01:04:37And that's again, that's that's how he is the best. JBL, what do you what do you think of Jesse Eisenberg?
JVL01:04:43What I what strikes me about Eisenberg is that he has a talent. I mean, the only other actor I can think of who's really like this is Robert Downey Jr., which is the ability to. Do dialogue as if it sounds like he's improvising.
Guest01:05:07Yeah, right.
JVL01:05:08I mean, when you listen to Eisenberg, there is never a moment where it. I just everything about him feels like an ad lib. He's such a loose presence. In that way, which which is wrong, because he's actually very tight and very, very wired. I just mean in the way that the language comes out of him is there is a looseness to that staccato, which makes it feel like it's again, the only other person I can think of who hits this way for me is is Robert Downey Jr.
Mike01:05:42I have another one. It's not the staccato elements of it, but it's the every word that he says comes out. Sounds like he's making it up on the spot. It's Bill Murray.
JVL01:05:50Yeah. Yeah. You know, another Zombieland. Yeah. So that that's what I just find Eisenberg interesting as a screen. I think you're right, JVL. I think you're totally right, JVL.
Mike01:06:00Yeah.
JVL01:06:01So, yeah. All right. Any other. I find Melanie Laurent also interesting as a screen presence. Me too.
Mike01:06:10Mm hmm.
JVL01:06:11Oh, yeah. She's really something. She is something else. Woody Harrelson, can we just I don't know, it's like for five seconds. The durability of Woody Harrelson. It's great. As an actor, whether he's a leading man or or comedy or drama or like or art house type movies or supporting actor now since Cheers, which is like 1985, like 40 or 50 years of Woody Harrelson. As a guy who can be like the ultimate utility player, he can do anything. Totally. Yeah. Stunning to me. Never would have guessed that.
Sonny01:06:54I I feel like we've talked about this before, but him being the guy to come out of Cheers. Stun as the guy was shocking is is just a shocking thing.
Mike01:07:04But I charge you to go back and watch the the the Woody Harrelson seasons of Cheers like go. Why? They're on. They're on Netflix. Like he's he's magnetic, like even in as playing a dumb dumb from, you know, Hick from Indiana, he's he's great from the moment you see him and knowing what happens afterward. Like you're like, oh yeah, yeah. That makes sense. Yeah, that all tracks.
Sonny01:07:31That tracks. It's like watching. It's like watching the early seasons of Always Sunny in Philadelphia and seeing Charlie Day. Yes. Like re seeing Charlie Day for the first time and being like, oh yeah, he was obviously the guy on that show who was 100% was like, yeah, no, it's great.
Mike01:07:47No. But you look at all those Woody Harrelson projects, right? That's like everything. From Cheers to uh, like what white man can't jump people versus Larry Flint. Like he was doing like those kind of movies in the 90s.
JVL01:07:59No country for old men. No. Um, he was in, um, uh, true detective born killers.
?01:08:04Totally.
Mike01:08:05Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's great. Um, all right. Any other final thoughts on, uh, now you see me, no. What a disappointment. It's a disappointment.
JVL01:08:19What a terrible disappointment that movie is. Yeah. And I think Michael, you had it exactly right. All right. That's the first, it was the first time for everything.
Mike01:08:27Uh, all right. We'll join us.
Sonny01:08:29That's the real magic trick.
Mike01:08:30Join us over at some beacon.com. Tell your friends and family, if they want to watch this show, listen to the show, rather listen, listen to this show. They can only do it at some beacon.com and we will talk to you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
JVL01:09:01Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
Sonny01:09:05Bye. Bye.
JVL01:09:07Bye. But you know what?
Sonny01:09:09I don't want to say it. I want to say it. I want to say it. I want to say it.
JVL01:09:13I want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it.
Mike01:09:25I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it.
Sonny01:09:41I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it.
JVL01:10:28I don't want to say it.
Sonny01:10:29I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it.
Mike01:10:42I don't want to say it.
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