← all The Sub-Beacon on Substack episodes
#2. 'The Dink' (Apple TV)
Listen to this episode ↗on Substack, where the show lives now
The main event is The Dink on Apple TV+, Josh Greenbaum's pickleball comedy starring Jake Johnson as Dusty "The Hammer" Boyd, a washed-up youth tennis prodigy whose career-ending injury story turns out to be a lie he tells everyone. All three came wanting Dodgeball for pickleball and none of them got it. Sonny simply couldn't make it work — he barely laughed, thinks the film is at its best when it's quietly funny rather than when it's trying to be funny, and can't put his finger on the failure, especially since writer Sean Clements did Workaholics and the much-loved The Grinder; he pins part of it on the structure, a snobs-versus-slobs National Lampoon setup in which you're supposed to cheer for the slobs. JVL went on a genuine journey: he stopped 45 minutes in, considered never returning and faking his way through this very episode, then came back and landed much warmer — the second act is slow and doesn't work, but the third act is lovely, and it's not Dodgeball so much as a sweet, faintly edgy movie about adulthood, with his one real objection saved for the ending and Ed Harris's vicarious-living terrible father. Mike is the most enthusiastic, singling out Johnson's chemistry with Mary Steenburgen, the sycophant played by Aaron Shen, the pair of old ladies he plays against, and Ed Harris; the segment detours into unanimous agreement that Dodgeball is one of the great comedies of its era, a home run alongside Old School where every joke is better than it has to be. Around the review: a belated happy birthday to Sonny, a sustained Sonny rant about refusing to use apps because he is old and accesses the internet through a browser and would still like to click a Netscape icon, further Odyssey box-office breakdown as Spider-Man moves in on the premium large-format screens, and Sonny once again begging Mike to fix the microphone that auto-adjusts its gain every single week.
From the show notes
It’s a slobs v snobs movie where the snobs are unambiguously in the right. Death to pickleball!
Full transcript
Mike00:00:00Welcome to the Sub-Beacon podcast. I am your co-host, Mike Warren. Joining me, as always, are my two co-hosts who hate country music, but maybe they'll love it. Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Just give it a try, guys. Join us over at Sub-Beacon.com. We're on Substack now. Sub-Beacon.com. Tell your friends and family. The show is free at Sub-Beacon.com for the next couple of weeks. So if you've got somebody that you think would enjoy the show, tell them about Sub-Beacon.com. Let them know. Sub-Beacon.com. We are going to be talking about The Dink later on in the show. But first, Sonny. A belated happy birthday to you. Thank you. Just this past weekend. What is going on with you? I didn't get you anything.
Sonny00:01:08It's fine. You know what you got me? JVL is the gift of your friendship. That's all I want. The gift that keeps on giving.
JVL00:01:16It's the gift that keeps on giving. Did you get that other thing that we talked about offline before last week's show? I did, but it hasn't come yet.
Sonny00:01:28No spoilers. No spoilers. I don't want to talk about it that much. No, I don't want you to talk about it. I don't want you to talk about it. I just want people to think about it. Think about what it might be. What it could have been.
Mike00:01:41Leave your guesses in the comments.
Sonny00:01:44What's going on with me? Can I tell you what I have grown to hate with a passion over the last... Ross Douthat. Six months. No, that's your ballywick. I'll leave that one to you. Like, I'm not an app guy. I don't like apps, right?
JVL00:02:04Like, I don't like... I prefer browser... Mozzarella sticks? I like... Jalapeno poppers?
Sonny00:02:09No, no. Applications on phones, right? Applications. I don't... I'm not an app guy. I don't like apps. I like to just go to a browser and... Because I'm old. I'm old and I access the internet through a browser. If I could go to a Netscape...
JVL00:02:23On your desktop computer over the information superhighway.
Sonny00:02:28I want to click the Netscape icon and have it launch and go... Do you still use a mouse, Sonny? I don't. I... I have a mouse right here. I did until I moved here and I don't really have space on my desk. So, I just use the trackpad, which is not as good, frankly. Hold on. Not as good as a mouse.
Mike00:02:46Pause, pause. Hold on. Yeah. JVL, Sonny, you both don't use a mouse, so you just use the trackpad? So, what if you've got your rig where you're, like, sitting back at your desk? Like, I... I've got, like, you know, a second monitor. I'm not reaching... I've got the computer off and... I don't have a second monitor. Okay. Well, whatever. I've got it, like, lifted up.
JVL00:03:07Touch my trackpad right now. I... Hey, now.
Mike00:03:10That's right.
JVL00:03:11I have conflicting feelings about this. I'm doing it right now. You can't even see it, but I'm moving my cursor all over the screen while we're taping. All right. All right, Jeffrey Toobin. Jeffrey Toobin over there. Calm down. Calm down. Now, I'm double-clicking, double-tapping on it.
Sonny00:03:23Woof. I got to say... So, no, I don't... I don't use a mouse. And when I'm, like... If I lean back, I just have my laptop on my lap. I just have it baking my genitals. Is that not what you're supposed to be doing?
JVL00:03:36See, I have a laptop not here. I have a desktop computer. I have a Mac Mini, which I cannot recommend highly enough.
Sonny00:03:45Wait. So, wait. $600. You have a Mac Mini. Do you... Yeah. But you still use the trackpad? Is there a trackpad in the... Like, how does that work?
JVL00:03:54I have Magic Keyboard and Magic Keyboard. Magic Trackpad. The trackpad is on the keyboard. Got it. It mimics a laptop, but it is wirelessly connected to the Mac Mini, and the Mac Mini is on my gigantic 5K screen. It's more than... I have more Ks than 4. More than 4, but less than 8? 4K was not nearly enough. It might be an 8K. Might be an 8K? It's an amazing display. Not the Apple version. It's the... The Asus copy of the Apple display. But the beauty of the Mac Mini is that you can replace it every time they come out with a new one, and it costs you about $200 because you trade the old one in. They're only like $600 each. You get $400 or $350 for the old one, and you're just like, yep, fast as shit. It's amazing.
Sonny00:04:51We've discussed this before. I may buy a laptop and then use it till it explodes. I have a laptop, but I only need the one computer.
JVL00:05:03I need to be able to take something around with me when I'm traveling. But when I'm not traveling, I want a big, powerful machine sitting on my desk in my office.
Mike00:05:14Well, that's, I mean, that is a very, no offense, JVL, that's a very old viewpoint on computers. Desktops.
Sonny00:05:24Desktops are, unless you're a gamer. Unless you're a gamer. Well, that's true. The desktop is.
Mike00:05:30I feel like we've gotten you far afield of what you wanted to talk about, Sonny, which is you wanted to rant about apps or something. Yeah, I did this. No, it's both of us.
Sonny00:05:38It's okay. It's okay. It's fine. This is the show. This is what people are paying their hard earned dollars for. Not this month or not.
Mike00:05:46Try not to remind them of that.
Sonny00:05:47Not this month. This month it's free. Apps. I have, I've never been an app. I've never been an applications person. Don't like it. Prefer to surf the web. On my browser, on my phone. That's that's just because I'm old because I'm an old person. But apps have become more and more necessary. They like has gotten it and this and this is like true of, you know, like food, like restaurants. If I want to order from Domino's or whatever, I go to the app. It's the Domino's app. Whatever. Or or Jersey Mike's. Right. Like, you know, whatever. But but got to get those surf points or or like the Kroger app is actually really is actually really good in terms of its usefulness. And like it has like maps of the stores. So if I am trying to find an item, it will tell me what row and whatever. OK, so like I have come to in some areas of my life, except that grudgingly, except that I have to use them where I am going insane. Is with my kids. Because every just stop right there. Every every every. Class that my child is in has a different app. Oh, my gosh. And the teachers all use different communication tools.
JVL00:07:13And like I whatever school classes or like extracurricular classes.
Sonny00:07:19These are school. The school has an app and you got to go through the app to do things. And then it has transcended beyond that this season. To where there are now apps for individual camps. And each of the individual camps has an app and they have a different app. And I have to sign in, sign the kids in with the app and have to sign them out with the app. And if I don't have the app, I can't get my kids. They're just going to keep my children at the zoo this week. I guess if I don't have the app, if the if the. I'm sorry. They're going to have problem solved. I mean, I I it does feel like an out for me, frankly. It's like it's this.
JVL00:07:55I tried to get you guys, but my phone crashed.
Sonny00:07:57And so the app is tied to my wife's email and she gets the code to log in. And I can't. Oh, kids got to stay here overnight. Enjoy the monkey house. But I'm I'm so tired. I'm so tired of it. I'm so tired. I'm so tired of the different apps I need to communicate with sports leagues. I'm so tired of the different apps I need to sign. Again, it just every everything has a different app. And I want I want I want to. I want it to stop. I want it. You know what I want? I want when I go to a place, I want to be able to sign a piece of paper scrawling with my hand and just be like, give me ownership of my things, my children, and let me leave. That's all. That's all I want. That's all I want. I don't want I don't want to have to. I have. So I have.
JVL00:08:48I shouldn't need a phone to park on the street with a meter. I should be able to put my my quarters and nickels into the meter.
Mike00:08:57Why do they assume everyone has to have a phone? What is the menu has a QR code?
Sonny00:09:06I remember when you scan a QR code to get my kids. Why not just put the mark of the beast right on their neck? Why not just put the barcode on their neck and I can scan their necks. Why not do that? No, I have to. I have to scan a QR code. It's different for every every school. Anyway, it's driving me. It's driving me insane.
Mike00:09:25So it's like talking point. Right here comes the bus game changer team snap it like my phone is just
Sonny00:09:34riddled with that is the worst and they're just in the back. They're just piling up on the last page of my home screen because I'm not make I like I'm not making a folder to put all these fucking things in. I don't want I'm not I'm not doing my kids have been riding the school bus
Mike00:09:51for six years now and I have downloaded the here comes the bus app, but I have no idea how to get into the here comes the bus app like with all the information and apparently I have to sort of like provide my own blood to the school in order to get the login code. So I like I it's just it's just sitting there and like I'm, you know, if I
JVL00:10:12ever need to know when the bus otherwise the pedos would be all all up on the here's the bus app. Yeah, apparently they're all there. I mean, honestly, this is one thing where I'm like, yeah, not a bad idea that that's a state fair enough fair enough.
Sonny00:10:22It's just it's just do I need again the school the school whatever like the school thing. I make some sense. Okay, there's better.
Mike00:10:32Whatever consolidated on one app is what I just did.
Sonny00:10:34I wanted one.
JVL00:10:35I want to rule them all. I don't want the app to bind them. I would be great. That would be for my kids. Sure. Maybe an everything app X something. Here we go.
Sonny00:10:49That's all I want. Wasn't this kind of information on Elon's shit show?
Mike00:10:55Isn't this kind of the promise of Google and it hasn't really come to pass like Google was supposed to sort of in there. I mean, I do a lot of things on Google, different Google apps, but it does kind of feel like the whole, like everything can kind of be there and live there in the Google cloud. It hasn't quite happened. Like everybody wants to log in.
JVL00:11:17So, so this is true. The login is what the promise is that you can use your, if you're logged in on your device to your Google account, that can be your universal login for everything. So it doesn't matter if you're going from app to app because your login state is provided by Google. That's right. That's basically your Apple ID, right?
Sonny00:11:36Yeah. That's, that's, that's how my phone works. Or Facebook. Right.
JVL00:11:40Facebook tried doing this. I think Facebook, I think that has died. Facebook is never going to win that war. That's right.
Mike00:11:46All right. Well, I'm sorry, Sonny, you have to deal with the apps.
Sonny00:11:49Anyway, just wanted to complain about that. Thank you. Thank you for listening to me for these 10 minutes.
Mike00:11:54Slash rant. JVL, what is going on with you?
Guest00:11:57Um, you know, a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff. Uh, flash got into his first car accident. It wasn't his fault.
JVL00:12:03Amazingly enough. Um, he was just stopped at a stop sign and, uh, somebody making a left-hand turn at the intersection, just cut it short and turned into him. Uh, I gotta say, I really crushed that as a parent. Tell us. Absolutely crushed it. No, like he was all upset and he's like, I'm leaving for college and my car won't be ready. And I was like, buddy, you just got into your first car accident. And nobody was hurt. This other car had a woman with an infant to the backseat. They are okay. You are okay. Nothing else matters. Like this is what, this is why we pay insurance premiums is for the, the thing, you know, believe me, I'm paying $6,000 a year to Geico just for auto insurance. Um, this is why we do that. And, uh, nobody's hurt.
Sonny00:12:52Who cares? How has, how has the Geico car accident experience been for you?
JVL00:12:57I mean, the fine, the, you know, we, we, we did it not through the app, but through a live human being on the phone, because I wanted it on speakerphone so that he could, I wanted him to do it. So I could just lurk and like, you know, make sure he wasn't doing. Yeah.
Mike00:13:14Yeah. Doing something.
JVL00:13:15And he's, you know, he is responsible for the entire repair process. Like I want him running point on that. And again, I'm sort of lurking in the background in case needed, but I just, you know, I want him to experience all that stuff. And, uh. Yeah.
Mike00:13:29The other driver, the other driver, it's entirely her fault. Like she is. Entirely her fault. But even if it wasn't. No, no, no. But nobody's hurt. No, no, no. Of course. But I'm just thinking in terms of the ease, like it's, it's probably a lot easier for him in this process because he can just say, you know, it, it, it, the insurance companies are dealing with it. There's no, honestly, there's no difference.
JVL00:13:52So we have collision and the way it works is, you know, we have a deductible. We pay a thousand dollars. And Geico pays for the rest of the repair. And then because he's not at fault, Geico will attempt to get that thousand dollars back from the other driver's insurance company and maybe they'll succeed or maybe they won't. And I don't, I mean, I don't care because it's only a thousand bucks, uh, which is, it's not nothing, but it isn't $10,000 and, uh, like everybody's fine and I want him to learn the lesson that with these things, the only thing that matters is that everybody's fine. Uh, and also. If it teaches him a little bit about, uh, auto safety, that is not just like what you're doing, but you can't control what other people are doing. It's got to be defensive driving. Yeah. For all good lessons and. 100%. So I had one, one small thing. Um, the, uh, the pinball company, a new pinball company, the new Jack pinball company, we talked about them a few weeks ago, uh, barrels of fun. They're the ones who have that, uh, that. That very limited edition Winchester mystery house pinball machine that I can't get because they're only like 487 of them made and it's driving me crazy. Like I want it because I can't have it. They announced a new machine this week. Oh, Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi machine. Bon Jovi pinball machine in New Jersey, in New Jersey. And so I was like this close to hitting by now. And, uh, and then I went to pin side to see what the community was saying. And it turns out this machine is universally loathed already. Just from the announcement. And I realized that I am now not even, I'm now a dork within the community of pinball people. So within the, the universe of people who go to the pin side message door boards, I will be, would be mocked and looked down on. Are you high in notice because you're making me laugh? No, because I like it because I think it looks cool. I was like, Oh, it's a band for girls.
Sonny00:15:57Is that the argument that Bon Jovi is not good music? Is that what these people are arguing?
JVL00:16:04It's a dual argument. It is not music pins. The world of music pins, Metallica, ACDC, Rush, Elton John are looked down upon. They're frowned upon. Kind of like, like a jukebox musical biopic type things. Sure. And, and Bon Jovi specifically. It's corporate. It's corporate. Two strikes.
Sonny00:16:27You know what? You know what? These people have their Godzilla pinball machines and their, their Spider-Man pinball machines. And they're going to tell you that Bon Jovi is no good. You know, this is the crazy thing.
JVL00:16:45The pinball world has been all a flutter for the last week because another maker has announced a, a dungeon crawler Carl pinball machine. Very popular with the young people. I don't. I don't know what dungeon Carl crawler Carl is, but the pinball community thinks that that is super cool. Dungeon crawler. And me with my Bon Jovi is loser.
Sonny00:17:08Dungeon crawler Carl appeals to like 10 year olds though. There's no 10 year olds playing pinball. I mean. That's like a gen, that's like a post Gen Z thing. That's like Gen Alpha.
JVL00:17:19On the community, they are dink for dungeon crawl, dungeon crawler Carl. I don't even know what it is.
Mike00:17:27They're on the, they're on, they're on the cutting edge. I would say this, this, you know, and you're, how did it, you're on, you're on dork JVL in the pinball, even with the pinheads in ball on pinhead on.
Sonny00:17:39So, so it doesn't have anything to do with the gameplay. It's just like, we don't like living.
JVL00:17:45Nobody's even played it yet because it doesn't like, we just got the announcement with the, the video and the trailer. And I'm sorry to me, it looks like a great fucking game, but you know, I'm a dork because I like Bon Jovi.
Mike00:17:57JVL, this is where you take control of the board of these message boards and you say like, Hey, God, he's power.
Sonny00:18:03Yeah. You say, you say, Hey God, because this is a new generation.
Mike00:18:07JVL, here's, here's what's happening. You are not the only one to think this is cool. There is a silent group of people on this silent majority.
JVL00:18:15I am literally the only person literally the, I've been monitoring the pin side threads for this and. The sentiment against the Bon Jovi pin is 100%, hundreds of comments. Every single one of them.
Mike00:18:39Are you high and lowest because you're making me laugh. It's all comic book guy. JVL, JVL, let me tell you a little story called the emperor's new clothes. Okay.
JVL00:18:50The, the emperor, this guy had some pretty radical ideas long time ago. He thought that we should all. Look out for each other and that his heavenly father would make a place for him. And that guy was pretty cool.
Mike00:19:04I'm just saying you could start a revolution. You could start a pin side revolution. All right. Uh, how are you, Michael? I am fine. So JVL, you've, you mentioned last week that you're, you're, you're somewhat in a, and I don't want to bring up those feelings again, but you're somewhat in a rough spot knowing that flash is getting ready to go to college and just the, the, the, the shake up. Seven days from now. Yeah, exactly. Well, I, and I don't mean to, I. Do not, this is not stolen valor here, but like my oldest just came back from his week at summer camp and at, uh, at, at boy scout camp. And like, I, I, like, I got exactly what you're feeling and what you're talking about just in the, uh, at the other end of it. Like the, the, the, the excitement that you will feel when he comes back for the first time for like Thanksgiving or whatever. So like he comes back on, uh, on Saturday. Uh, last Saturday, he's gone for six days, basically. I drove them down there and, and then one of the other dads brought them back. And like, I was like, like giddy. I was like, I can't wait. Like he's, he's going to get here and I'm going to hear about all of the things that he did. And like, even to the point, like, you know, the kid didn't smell great. You know, there, there, this is, he's, there was a lot of rain. There was not, you know, maybe three showers, uh, for, through the whole week, which, which, uh, seems like actually a lot. Relative to the other kids in the camp. But like, I sat down with him in his room and was just like peppering him. Tell me how it was. What'd you do and what happened here? And how did you get through this, this part, you know, and, and what was, what was, and it was, it was just, uh, I, I realized I was like, oh, I'm going, I am going to be a total wreck in a few years when, when, when, when he's got like the, the total balance of the house was just totally out of whack and, uh, it's back in whack now. So it's, uh, but I, I feel. I feel your pain is what I'm trying to say.
JVL00:20:58Was it, uh, did he have a great time? Did he come back?
Mike00:21:01I would say, here's my question.
JVL00:21:03Did you notice like any difference in like independence or maturity levels from the experience of having been away like this? Or no, just like the same kid.
Mike00:21:13He is the same kid, but, but with a, like, I would say my impression, my impression. He's seen the elephant. Of how my impression is that my impression of him. And my like estimation of his ability, because, you know, we sent him there and we were kind of, he was like even a little unsure about going. And then a bunch of his friends were going. So it was like, okay, he'll go to. And, and, you know, I had a good time at, at, at scout camp when I was a kid. Uh, my wife went to, went to like two week summer camp, uh, and then was a, was a, uh, was a counselor. And so like, she's familiar with camp and, but we're just like, I don't know, like of all the kids of all three of our kids, like he's the, the biggest homebody. He's the biggest sort of like, he needs everybody to be around. Like he, you know, all that sort of thing. And so, but I also know that he's like very, uh, able and independent in different ways. And so seeing that come through this past week, like he was, he basically, there was one day where one of his friends had a birthday and, uh, the, the kids parents who we know friends of ours sent like a video message. That he was able to watch for his birthday. Hey, here's what's going on. Like, and then it was like on the Tuesday of the camp. And, uh, and this kid like kind of got really homesick because of that. Right. Like, and, and, and my son said like, yeah, we all got kind of homesick. Like that was like kind of the low point. And then, and then we got out of it and we were fine for the rest of the week. And there was just this self-awareness about.
JVL00:22:50And we went and hooked up the Girl Scout camp from across the lake. No, well, this is scouting USA, which is now that there.
Mike00:22:57Our girls at this, at this camp, which like there was, he said there was one.
JVL00:23:03Did he come back changed in any other ways? No, give me a break. Give me a break. Uh, he's your son. Did he like whip out the guitar and be like, yeah, no, there's no one around on it.
Mike00:23:13No, there's not.
JVL00:23:13She's sitting at the end of his cot. Hey, Madison.
Mike00:23:17It's not like that. There's there's dad. That's like, it is not that typical summer camp. It didn't stop you. It didn't happen at Boy Scout camp. I'll tell you that. Um. But nobody, I certainly wasn't looking for it. Uh, but no, it, it, it was, it was good. It was like, I also got the sense he went with a lot of his own peers, you know, but, but their troop is kids from high school down to, you know, he's sixth grade. Um, and he was like, yeah, I kind of hung out with kind of all of the, all like different ages of the guys and, and which I think is like a good thing to, especially as an oldest brother, you know, like he spends a lot of time with younger kids, uh, and kids his own age. So it was good to kind of mix it up. And, and, and so anyway, it's a great experience. Uh, I didn't realize I, I guess the point is I didn't realize how much I had missed having him around until he was gone and he was coming back. And it was a, it was a little lesson for me too, for, for dad. So anyway, uh, good luck feelings.
JVL00:24:16Good, good luck in those feelings, man. With, for you, JVL. All right. Sonny's looking at us like he has no idea. It's like none of this computes. He's like, can't wait.
?00:24:24Can't wait.
Mike00:24:25No, no, no.
Sonny00:24:27I think it's probably just have to check more apps. I'll get even, I'll get photos sent via the sleepaway camp app.
Mike00:24:35Uh, all right, well, let's move on and talk about the box office. Uh, the box office. I mean, no surprises here. Number one, once again, this past weekend, the odyssey, uh, I mean a 27% drop from its opening weekend, Sonny. That's unreal. That's unreal.
Sonny00:24:55Well, so this is, this is, uh, you said. I didn't say no surprises, but I would say that the, the hold on the odyssey is actually a little surprising.
Mike00:25:03I meant the, the, where it, no surprise that it's still at number one.
Sonny00:25:06Yeah. And like Hadestown, the musical being number three. I don't think anybody saw that. That's a, you know, that was a, what is my show? Did you go see it? Yeah. Are you kidding?
Mike00:25:18What is Hadestown? What is that? Is that something I should know?
JVL00:25:21Is that like a Broadway winning Broadway musical? Probably the second best musical ever made. Never heard of it. Behind Hamilton. Never heard of it. No idea. This was the pro shot. It was an original cast recording where they brought the original cast back. Cause everybody has, you know, all the originals have departed the show, brought them all back and did the show in a London West End theater for a week and made a pro shot of it. Basically, it's the Hadestown version of the version of Hamilton that you watch on Disney+. And these things are really, really hard to get made because of rights. And union rules. You know, the reason there's so much, you know, don't you go taking any pictures or videos of a Broadway show is because of all the IP rights and all the union rights. Cause the, you know, the guy, the light workers union number 721 wants to make sure that that theater is always in business. And so that's why they had to do this in London. Because it was a little bit easier for them that way. And with these shows, you tend. Only get them when the, the show is the brainchild of a single, um, a single writer because it just cuts down the rights problems. And so like with Hamilton, the whole thing is Lin-Manuel Miranda with this, the whole thing was Anais and, uh, it, it was amazing. It was absolutely, I've seen that show four times in on Broadway and, uh, the pro shot was totally different experience. And wonderful.
Sonny00:26:58I have to say JVL being a giant musical theater guy has, is always a funny thing to me. And I don't know why I don't like most musical theater.
JVL00:27:09Like I, for the same as you, I just like the artifice of it. I do not like the traditional musicals where it's a play and then they break into song. So what do you like? So what I tend to like are things which are much more like opera, which is Hadestown and uh, Hamilton, Hamilton, which have no spoken dialogue. Neither one of these shows has any spoken dialogue at all. Everything is sung and as such, they wind up being much more operatic and Hadestown in particular, because of the structure of it, it feels much more like an art installation than a musical even. And I don't want to spoil it because maybe someday you'll see it, but there's not selling it well, but there's a circular nature. Of it, which is, uh, which is fascinating.
Sonny00:28:01I'm sure it's great. I'm sure it's great. Uh, not, not for me. Um, but I, but that, I think that was a pretty big surprise. I don't think anybody was expecting the 10 million release of Hadestown, the musical to do 10.2 million this weekend. Uh, but apparently I should, apparently it's huge. So I, I should have, I should have known better.
Mike00:28:20I don't know. Um, well, look at, look at, look at what else is out there. I mean, it's, it's kind of interesting, right? We always complain about there's no, there's no movies for kids. There's three movies for kids out there right now. Uh, Moana, Toy Story 5, Mania's Monsters. And the Odyssey.
Sonny00:28:33And the, I mean, obviously the Odyssey, uh, is a big story here. It's the biggest story of, of the, this year at the box office. Easily. Three hour R-rated sword and sandal epic, uh, is, will on Thursday at some point pass the entire domestic box office. Of Oppenheimer, um, which was, uh, which like itself was a massive over performer. Like, I don't think anybody, nobody expected Oppenheimer to gross $330 million or whatever
JVL00:29:10it made as a business pro as a, as a piece of business. Can you consider the Odyssey a sequel to Oppenheimer? Like these are both Chris, Chris Nolan forward R-rated. Grown up movies that are very long and like Oppenheimer, is it just a mark of quality? Nobody knew they wanted an Oppenheimer movie and everybody saw it and loved it. And the promise of the Odyssey to that same audience was, oh, would you like another grown up movie by Christopher Nolan? Here it is.
Sonny00:29:46There's that. And there's also the, the, there's, there's that. There's also the IMAX of it. Like, I, I think this cannot be, uh, overstated, which is that this is. Being sold very specifically as a thing you need to see in theaters. And we've got this very special format. There's the IMAX 70 millimeter. There's only like 25 of those screens, but it's going to be on. I'm, it's going to be on all the IMAX screens for four weeks and you're going to be able to see it that way. And it's big and it's loud. And it's Christopher Nolan. I mean, look, the Christopher Nolan is probably one of, I would say he is one of three directors who. Like normie audiences hear the name and are like, I'm going to go see the new movie by this person. The other two are probably Quentin Tarantino and Ryan Coogler. Ryan Coogler's audience a little more, uh, it's like black audiences are like, I'm going to go see the new Ryan Coogler movie. And then there's bleed over from there. Um, for sure. Quentin Tarantino is definitely like kind of older gen X, but Christopher Nolan is everybody like there's like he, he is the only four quadrant. Um, big name movie director at this point, uh, the, in terms of like, can get audiences out to theaters, um, on his own, just by his name. So there's, there's that. I mean, there's also a thematic, frankly, connection between Oppenheimer and the Odyssey. There's, there's some, there's some, there's a lot of, of, of bleed over there, but I mean, again, the numbers on this thing are just ridiculous. I think it, it just had the second. It just, it just had the best second Tuesday of all time.
JVL00:31:30This, this, how much does Spider-Man taking over the premium large format screens hurt it?
Sonny00:31:37Well, so it's, so if you, uh, I actually, I broke the numbers down on this, uh, a couple of days ago. So the Odyssey has IMAX screens for the next two weeks. The, the, it has a four week run in IMAX.
Guest00:31:54Okay.
Sonny00:31:55Um, IMAX. IMAX accounts for about half of PLF screens in the country. Uh, the rest are either Dolby or, you know, the kind of the internal house brands like Cinemark XD and, um, the big show at, at Alamo draft house, et cetera. So the, uh, so, so the, the split is roughly the, the, the Odyssey grossed roughly half a little more than half of its money. I think 58%, something like that, uh, on premium large formats. Screens this week. Um, the breakdown on that as half of that was IMAX.
JVL00:32:36Something's happened with Mike here. Yeah.
Sonny00:32:38Mike, your, your microphone is way too loud. I don't understand what's going on with your, I'm sorry, your game. It's picking up your, it's picking up your headphones. Turn your headphones down a little bit and turn your microphone game down some.
Mike00:32:49I've done that.
Sonny00:32:51Somehow it's getting louder. I don't, I don't understand what's going on with your mic, but your, your mic does this thing where it like. Picks it like increases and decreases. There's some setting we need to change on your end because it like, it, it is, it is like auto adjusting the gain in, it does this every week and it's very annoying.
Mike00:33:08I was, I'm sorry. I was clicking around and I should have been silent.
Sonny00:33:11My bad.
JVL00:33:12Uh, right. You shut your whore mouth, Michael.
Guest00:33:16Great content. Anyway. Uh, yeah. Well, I have to try and figure out how to get rid of that.
Sonny00:33:24Um. Anyway. Uh, you know, the, again, the, the, the, the, let's see. So it's 50%, 58%, uh, PLF and then half of those PLF screens, uh, half the revenue was from IMAX. So it's going to keep that 25% and it will probably decline a little bit, but I'm, I'm, you know, I think best guess is somewhere between 45 and $50 million still in its third weekend. Um, even, even with Spider-Man playing opposite it, we'll see. I mean, I don't know. It's. Spider-Man is going to be enormous. I mean, Spider-Man will gross almost as much in its first weekend as Oppenheimer did in its first 10 days. So we'll, we'll see what happens. But the fact that it's even in the conversation is a real, is a surprise because nobody is surprised that Spider-Man is going to gross 1.5 to $2 billion worldwide. The, the fact that the Odyssey is probably going to get to somewhere between 1.2 and 1.4 is a, is a pretty big, pretty big deal.
Mike00:34:24Is there anything to say about the marketing? Because I, it seems to me, this movie has been marketed a lot more directly than Oppenheimer was. And, and I don't know, I just feel like it's out there and, and, and the, and the anticipation is, was, is, was so much greater than for Oppenheimer, which kind of like eventually it kind of snuck up on, I think everybody else in the whole Barbenheimer thing worked to its advantage. But I mean, just, just the amount of. I, I just felt like I was seeing it everywhere. Go see this movie. I'm seeing Matt Damon do and Anne Hathaway do promotional stuff all the time.
Sonny00:35:08Yeah, I, I think, well, part of that is just this movie has bigger stars. Uh, I mean, Robert Downey Jr. is an Oppenheimer, but you know, the, the star of that movie is Killian Murphy and you know, not as many people know, know Killian Murphy. Everybody knows Matt Damon and then Hathaway and Tom Holland. Right. And so there is, there's, there's a bit of a, there's a bit of a knock on a fact here too, because there's some overlap between this Spider-Man movie that's coming out in two weeks. Right. Cause you've got Tom Holland and Zendaya are out there doing promo work, you know, for, for that all, all. So it's definitely, there's, there's just a lot going, but again, I think I, part of it was like the big eventized nature of, um, Christopher Nolan made this crazy IMAX movie and you wanted to see, uh, you wanted to see Senate hearings in IMAX. And you think about how much better it's gonna be with the Cyclops and shit.
?00:35:59Right, right, right.
Sonny00:35:59Like, you know, that's the, that's the, I think that is the real basic thrust of it is like, it's a big event film on the biggest format from the biggest director, and if you don't see it in theaters, you won't be able to fully
Mike00:36:14experience it, so like, you won't be able to say you saw it. I mean, there's so much of like, uh, uh, I saw it. Like, have you seen it yet? You know, that, that conversation happens all the time with like my normie friends. Like, what do you think? Which one should I see it on? Like, it's just constant. It's, it's, it's an event, so not surprising. All right. Well, uh, we are talking about it. I would say a similar companion film to the Odyssey, uh, this week. The, uh, the dink on Apple TV plus. Sonny, do you want to give us a big boy review of the dink?
Sonny00:36:48The dink, uh, double income, no kids dramedy about a father who was trying to, you know, or not father trying to. Shit, I watched the wrong one. Convince his wife that it's time for them to have kids. No, uh, the dink is, uh, it's a tennis comedy. Think something like, uh, dodgeball, but with pickleball instead of, instead of dodgeball. Um, Jake Johnson plays Dustin, Dusty, the boy, the hammer Boyd, who's, uh, you know, was a great youth tennis player and got injured. Uh, according to the legend that he tells everybody when he was playing Andy Roddick and, and ended up derailing his whole career, a spoiler. It turns out that that wasn't true at all. And it's, this is one of the many lessons of this film is, you know, he is, uh, learning to, to live with himself. Uh, Mary Steenburgen plays his pickleball partner. So Jake, Jake Johnson, uh, his father runs the, uh, tennis club. Their father played by Ed Harris, who was very funny as always as kind of the surly tennis pro they, they have encroaching pickleball members. The, the pickleballers want to take over a bunch of courts at their, at their tennis club and to fight them off. They are going to have a duel. The, the, the club, one of the funnier bits in this movie is them discussing the, uh, old bylaws for this country club. And they're like, you know, back in the day, we could decide who could join and who couldn't join by having a duel and, and two players would play. And if you, and, and somebody's like, well, who were they trying to keep out in the 1950s? Don't worry about that. Don't worry about it.
JVL00:38:26It's just the rule book. Let's just focus on what's going on today.
Sonny00:38:30And, uh, that, that's it again is the funny, funny little bit there. Um, and this movie is at its best when it is quietly funny like that, as opposed to when it's trying to be funny. I don't know about y'all, but I, um, I, I didn't find it funny really very, very often. It was, it just didn't work for me in the same way, not in the same way. That like something like dodgeball worked for me. Dodgeball, very funny. I, I still laugh at dodgeball and I don't know, maybe it's just cause I'm old and don't and, and, and don't appreciate humor anymore, but it does feel like this is a sort of movie that doesn't really get made anymore. Certainly doesn't get made for theatrical release. Why it's on Apple TV. Um, and, and I, I can't put my finger on what doesn't work about it, but it didn't, it didn't work for me. I don't know. Uh, it's, it's, uh, directed by Josh Greenbaum, written by Sean Clements, um, Sean Clements, uh, or I'm sorry, uh, Greenbaum. Who was it that you wanted to, that you wanted to, to do the show because of Mike, was it Sean Clements?
Mike00:39:41Yeah. So I, I'm a fan of Sean Clements' podcast, uh, Hollywood Handbook, which he does with whose name is, last name is escaping me. Uh, and, and, and they have, well, we'll, we'll get to that, but yes, Sean Clements, is a writer that I'm familiar with, comedian.
Sonny00:39:59Well, so Clements, Clements is interesting. Like he made, he, he worked on the shows, uh, Workaholics and The Grinder, both of which I thought were pretty funny. Grinder is amazing. The Grinders is again, very funny. Um, and I, and I like, I, I liked Workaholics, even though it was never a show that I like sat down and watch. It's one of those things that would be on Comedy Central all the time. And I would watch two or three episodes and be like, oh, this is funny, but never like made a point of watching it, you know? Um, so I, I, it's not that I don't find. him funny or his style of humor funny. Exactly. I just, this just didn't work for me. And I wonder JVL, maybe this is my problem is in a, in a snobs versus slobs comedy, which is very much what this is. This is a snobs versus slobs, uh, national lampoon style. Like, you know, you're supposed to cheer for the slobs. You are usually like from the point of view of the slobs, this movie takes the point of the snobs, but then they become the slobs and you're supposed to cheer for the slobs. But I don't cheer for the slobs cause I fucking hate pickleball. And I, I don't, I don't want pickleball to take over. I agree with Ed Harris that tennis, tennis is the sport of Kings, intelligence and patience strategy, not this, not this old woman sport pickleball that is taking over the world. Um, so I, I had, I had, I, maybe I just had an ideological problem with it.
JVL00:41:26Um, JVL, yeah, I, I went on a journey with this cause I was so excited to see this cause I wanted dodgeball for pickleball. And, uh, so we, we watched this in two halves and after the first like 45 minutes, when we stopped, I was considering not going back to it. Um, and just faking my way through the rest of the show. Um, because this is not dodgeball. Dodgeball is a madcap heightened, heightened reality comedy. And this is like a little heightened reality, but it's much more, uh, I, I would say like mythic quest is, is the vibe going on in this. And, uh, and the two actually kind of look similar, like they're shot similarly, which I guess is like the Apple TV house style. Um, and, uh, and so I was like, you know, like, do we have to go back to this? But then when we went back last night and finished it. I was more on this level. Like it, it, I think the middle, the second act of it is, is just slow and doesn't really work, but the third act is, is lovely. And it's like, it's not dodgeball. It's kind of a sweet movie about adulthood. That's a little, like a little, you know, edgy, but not too edgy. And there's only one thing that I really didn't like about it. And that is the very ending when, can we say do a spoiler alert on this? The spoiler alert is that Ed Harris is a terrible father and he does nothing but put down his son, Dusty the Hammer, because he was living vicariously through him when, you know, pushing him to be a tennis prodigy. And at the end, when Dusty beats Andy Roddick in Pickleball, that is when Ed Harris falls and finally learns to value his son because he did it and he won. And this is treated not as a continuing indictment of him, but as the reconciliation between him and his son. The redemption, yeah, yeah. And I just thought, this is a giant dissonance. Like, this goes against everything that the story has been setting up. You know what I mean? Like, the whole idea of Dusty's growth is that he, I mean, he is genuinely touched that his dad is finally proud of him. When the arc of his growth should be that this is where he realizes that, what, his dad is proud of him now? Fuck that. Right. Do you know what I'm saying? And that false note bothered me, but not a lot. Like, it's nice. It's nice. I would have preferred Dodgeball for Pickleball. I would have preferred literally, you know, Purple Cobras. You know, all of that. Blazer. Blazer.
Sonny00:44:21You get a little bit of it with, like, the weird It's Pat couple. A little bit of that. Right.
JVL00:44:27But I could have had a whole movie of that. Yeah. I could have had a whole movie of Globo Gym where Ed Harris is, like, over the top and touche. You know, like, all of the... I'm sorry. I think Dodgeball is actually one of the great comedies of our time. Absolutely. I put Dodgeball up there with old school as, like, comedic home runs where every joke is better than it has to be.
Sonny00:44:55You know?
JVL00:44:57And this is just, like, a sweet, not quite rom-com, but this is for older people. It's not for kids. Like, this is a movie for 50-year-olds, I think. Or maybe 60-year-olds.
Sonny00:45:08Well, so this is... I wanted to ask you guys about this because I feel like it's an interesting movie in that all of the jokes feel about 20 years out of date. Like, there's a very specific one I mentioned to you where somebody mentions doing, you know, another comedy and, like, we're just going to go there and we're going to talk with a straight face and that's what will make it funny is, you know, we're being, just being real and they don't understand what's going on. And in my head, I thought, oh, just like... Nathan Fielder. Just like Nathan Fielder. Or just like, what's his name from the Netflix series? Tim Robinson. Tim Robinson, right? So, like, I'm thinking, like, Nathan Fielder or Tim Robinson. And instead, the reference... is Kaufman. Andy Kaufman, yeah. And I'm like, and I was like, okay, that, that also works, but it, it also feels like, again, like 30 years out of date.
JVL00:46:07It's a very funny joke about The Graduate, but it's about The Graduate, right?
Sonny00:46:11Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know. I just feel like, again, it's like, these are jokes that, these are jokes that frankly would have worked and frankly been better at the time that Dodgeball came out. That was 20 years ago. It was 20 years ago, 20 plus years ago. I don't know. Michael, what did you think?
Mike00:46:30He wanted to like this movie as I'm, as you mentioned, Sonny, I like the writer and I, and I will say before I make a judgment on the entire movie, there are moments in this movie, moments in the script, which are kind of pure, uh, Hollywood handbook is the only way I describe it. Like if you want, if you listen to that podcast and understand, just to give like an idea. So the podcast is these two comedians who are basically journeymen, uh, comic writers they've written for the reason I think that they're on this, that he did this movie is because I believe he and his cohost wrote for severance, which is the Ben Stiller, uh, television show, which Ben Stiller has a cameo in this and he produced it and et cetera. Um, but their approach is, uh, sort of an improvisational, um, absurdist kind of, uh, you know, the, the, the premises, every guest that they have on, they have, you know, other comedians and people promoting stuff. Uh, everyone, every guest is their friend is their personal friend, you know, in this sort of fake Hollywood way. And they, and they have this, they're always coming up with schemes that are sort of, it's, it's, it's like this arch absurdist Hollywood. We're going to make this movie. We're going to make this TV show. We're going to make this product with you. And it's hard to explain, but basically it's absurd. And there are these little moments within the movie. That spoke in that same language that I was like, ah, that's funny. You know, the whole like country music thing where, where Mary Steenburgen's like character is into country music. And Jake Johnson says, I hate it. And then she like makes him this list and then he's in love with country music. Now, like, it's, it's hard to explain, but like, that's that, that whole sequence definitely feels like some absurd idea that would have been hashed on their podcast. So in that sense, I was like, oh, I like this movie. Cause I like this. I like this, but I don't think the movie works in part because of that in part, because it goes in these weird directions and doesn't live in that weird world. It lives very much in it's, it's much more grounded. And so there's a dissonance in the comedy. Like it, it doesn't need to be, it's almost as if it's almost as if Clements is trying to sneak in this stuff into what is otherwise a. Grown up, pretty soft comedy for old people. Just, it, it is, it, it is as pickleball is to tennis. This movie is to an actual kind of absurdist or surreal, uh, uh, sports comedy. And, and, and that, so it was disappointing in that way. I mean, I still laughed. I still, I really liked Jake Johnson. I think he's, uh, I think he's terrific and I enjoy watching him.
Sonny00:49:24I like Jake Johnson.
Mike00:49:25I thought, I thought his, his chemistry with Mary Steenburgen was great. Like she's terrific. And, um, I, I loved like most of the smaller parts, Aaron Shen, who plays the kind of suck up, uh, a sycophant to Jake Johnson, hilarious, like everything about that character was, was very funny. I love the old ladies that he plays pickleball with against. They were both, uh, terrific. Um, the old, the older, the older white woman. She. She, I believe she's, she died since the production. Um, but she's, she's a terrific character actress. She played, uh, Charlie's mom on it's always sunny in Philadelphia and none of the things. So it was, she, she's, she's wonderful. Ed Harris. I like that. Uh, Patton Oswald is the, as the kind of the president of the, or the, the leader of the committee, the pickleball committee, um, Chris Parnell getting killed in his attic is great to see Chris Parnell. I, I love John McEnroe's like weird little, I mean, which is, there's the dodgeball connection there. Um, you know? Uh, John McEnroe sort of the, the, the weird gag. This is like where the weird gag kind of works, right? Where he's eating a larger piece of food as he's doing his commentary.
JVL00:50:34This is the only time I think John McEnroe has ever worked on screen because normally he's like playing John McEnroe as a commentator in a booth and it's stilted and wrong. And by having him do that as if he's a mentally ill person sitting in the stands, talking to himself, it, that works so well. And then throwing this like Mel, uh, Mel, Mel Brooks style gag where with the food, with the food, I just thought that was a brilliant choice and, uh, and, uh,
Mike00:51:11a great piece of writing by the way, John McEnroe is not on dodgeball. I don't know why I thought he was.
Sonny00:51:15Maybe I'm mixing it up with, well, you're thinking of, uh, you're thinking of, um, either Chuck Norris or, uh, or Lance Armstrong, maybe like showing
Mike00:51:23up and Lance Armstrong. That's who I was thinking of.
Sonny00:51:25Yes. Uh, but no, the, the McEnroe thing is funny. I I'll say the, the other time that I have liked him on screen was, um, in, I think it was in Mr. Deeds, Mr. Deeds, the Adam Sandler movie, Mr. Deeds. He shows up as like, Mr. Deeds is just like hanging out in New York city and like runs into Johnny Mac and they're, they're, you know, causing, causing chaos together. That, that, uh, but yeah, no, he's, he's good. He's good. That, that, that part is well conceived within the universe of the film. And I feel like a lot of things in this movie aren't quite, you know, you know, who else is very funny and very good is Ben Stiller who with his, his ridiculous, he plays a doctor who is like trying to get, uh, Jake Johnson's character to sign up for like a, a lonely singles type website and you know, it like, again, it just like, it, it's, it's kind of like perfectly 10 degrees off of how he should behave in real life. And, and does it repeatedly? And like the, the repetition is part of the, I don't know.
Mike00:52:27No, I, I, I think you're right. It's it, to me, it seems like it was like all the pieces are there. And, and, and at the end of the day, they made a decision. They're like, we've got to market this to the 60 plus crowd. Like this has to be a movie that they're going to want to watch. Um, and, and, and, and so they like pulled back from making it like full comedy. And, and that, that is a disappointment. And it was so predictable in that way. Like they made it more predictable.
Sonny00:52:58It's interesting. It's interesting that you put it that way because that, that kind of crystallizes. So like National Lampoon's Animal House is designed to appeal to kids who were in college, right? Kids, kids like that was, that was designed to appeal to like 15 to 25 year olds, basically. Or that's the, that's the comedy there. Or you have Caddyshack, which again is designed to appeal to like 15 to 30 year olds, whatever. Like young people. Young people who are like kind of familiar with golf. But again, take the snob side on the snobs versus slobs. This is, this is designed to appeal to people who play pickleball. Yes. AKA old people, older, older individuals, older American individuals. And like, that's fine. But you do have to like tone down the, the, the absurdist humor that appeals to the generation that was raised on adult sports. Swim and Cartoon Network for it to work for them, which I think, I think is about right. I think is probably the best way to look at this.
Mike00:54:00That's right. That's right. So it was, I was disappointed, but I also, I enjoyed watching it. Like it was a fine way to spend that time. Yeah, exactly. And, uh.
JVL00:54:09Could have been 15 minutes shorter. Could have been 90 minutes. Yeah. Or 88 minutes. Could have been like 80.
Mike00:54:15I think that's right. And, and I will say the other, the other thing I thought was very interesting that they did was, um, like the whole kind of graduate, uh. May, December romance thing, which like they, like they get up to that point and then they kind of, they kind of go, no, actually that's not what's going to happen. I thought that was like a, uh, an interesting choice.
JVL00:54:34I was very concerned that they were going to like actually do that. And I was like, this is a terrible thing for these two characters. And I'm like, this would be unhealthy for them to do it. This is a movie about people like growing and changing. May, December romance is not the thing to do. And I was, I was happy that the story backed away from that.
Mike00:54:50But it, it, it also feels like. Like what they did was riskier than doing just the May, December romance in a way, like pulling up to it and then pulling back and sort of trusting that, like we all kind of would like that. And I think, I think it's like universally seen as like, yeah, that was a good, that was a good call. Like I just, I'm, you know, bravo for making that choice. So, um, any other thoughts, uh, on, on the dink or on, on sports movies or on pickleball? Do you guys, have you guys ever played pickleball? No, I want to just haven't, haven't gotten there, but I, I have loved ones who play pickleball and, and, and, and love it. It's, it, it just looks really dumb. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It just, it just looks like a dumb sport, but it's like tennis, but easy, you know, as they say, Sonny, I can't play tennis anymore.
Sonny00:55:44Cause I fucked up my shoulder and I refuse, I refuse to play pickleball as a, as a consolation. I just, I can't, I would. I would rather die.
Mike00:55:54Well, Jake Johnson said the same thing. The hammer said the same thing until it, until it showed him, showed him a new side of things.
Sonny00:56:01I don't need to learn it. I don't need to learn any life lessons though. I'm already perfect. My, I'm, I cannot be improved upon. So pickleball is not going to help me there. All right.
Mike00:56:10All right. Uh, okay. Well, uh, I think that is all the time we're going to give to this episode. Join us over at subbeacon.com. Tell your friends and family, go listen to a, uh, an, an old episode of the sub beacon. They're all. Uh, they're, they're available there. So subbeacon.com and we will talk to you next time.
Sonny00:56:32Thank you.
Mike00:56:32Thank you, Sonny. Um, yeah, I, I, uh, I, I really, it's like, it does kind of feel like this movie is like maybe 18 months late as well. Like, I feel like the height of the discourse over like tennis versus pickleball was like a year and a half ago when people were stored up. Of making the complaints about pickleball courts, taking over tennis courts and, and all that sort of thing. And, and it's since died down, but I don't know. No thoughts.
Sonny00:57:01I was, I was actually wondering that myself. I was like, do, is pickleball still a thing? Do people, I guess people still play it. It's still relatively popular. Uh, it's still, I still see pickleball courts anytime I drive past tennis courts and it fills me with white hot blinding rage. So I, you know, that's, uh, I guess it's still a thing. I don't know. I'm sure it's fine.
?00:57:22© transcript Emily Beynon
Spot something wrong in this episode? Suggest a correction →
Comments
Loading…