Binge-Watchers Podcast

Stocking Stuffer: 99 Homes

December 17, 2019 Johnny Spoiler, Dangerous Dave, and The Binge-Watchers Season 14 Episode 2
Binge-Watchers Podcast
Stocking Stuffer: 99 Homes
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Show Notes Transcript

Hi from Binge-Watchers Podcast, tonight's episode is a stocking stuffer* called 99 Homes.

*Our Stocking Stuffers are all the worst movies we have been given over the years as gifts during the holidays.

On tonight's episode:

  • 99 Homes movie introduced as every American worker's problems.
  • Getting laid off while chasing "The American Dream."
  • Down and out in Idaho story.
  • The discoveries inside a Retro-fitted MacDonald's.
  • Why people assume John likes movies involving real estate.
  • Fears of your life's potential passing you by.
  • Losing forward momentum while trying to pay the bills.
  • Country Song Of Regrets
  • Paycheck To Paycheck Philosophy 
  • Having enough 'house' for someone to take.
  • Very cheerful soul-searching.
  • That Wonderful Life ending.
  • Liking 99 Homes even thought it makes you super sad.



Binge-Watchers is a late night show for your ears with entertainment news, film history, philosophies based on movie plots, hear the adventures and successful failures of our host, JOHNNY SPOILER joined by his buddies he has known since film school, DANGEROUS DAVE, NICKY LATES, and sometimes, their friends from TV, Film, and Music come along for the ride. One epic binge-watch after another. You could say this crew are professional binge watchers because they are movie fans that grew up to to try to make some films of their own as they navigate the industry, day jobs, and real life.


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Speaker 1:

Let's see.

Speaker 2:

I hate money probably because I don't have enough of it and it stresses me out to juggle bills. But I mean, I remember the early two thousands, there was a brief minute and time where I wasn't living paycheck to paycheck.

Speaker 3:

Correct. Open a cold box of wine or pour something cold on ice because it's the binge watchers podcast

Speaker 1:

[inaudible]

Speaker 2:

and going like, you know, playing Russian roulette with, with all of my bills. And uh, that's what the main character 99 homes feels like consistently through the entire movie. And so does everybody else seen encounters? And it's kind of like, um, it's definitely not a movie you want to watch if you're having a good day. But if you're fighting with your spouse or your kids are asking you for an X box that you can't afford to buy or you get, you're getting the, the, the pink slip in the mail, you've lost a job or you're getting like a notice that your electricity's about to get cut off or you're like three months behind in the mortgage, that's a perfect time to watch 99 homes. Really relive the most horrible moments of your, uh, you know, 2008, 2009 lifestyle that you were living. Like, let's just revisit something California in 2008 or whatever. Um, actually the movie is supposedly set like in Florida, but as Dave and I know when you see a movie that's when you see movies, you can just tell, okay, you know, 80% of this movie is just down the street in Los Angeles and the suburbs. And then they got some aerial shots where they, you know, they paid probably a, probably really a footage from just to buy some aerial shots of like Miami downtown or something, you know what I mean? Or like, or, um, Palm Springs or like not Palm Springs. Palm is it? Palm beach is the power. Yeah, I think it's like Palm beach, Florida is our camp. Oh, Tampa. Like Tampa area. There's like these splashy, a couple of splashes in the movie where it's clearly a shot of Florida, but for the most part, I mean you're just like, okay. Yeah. You know, um, it's just typical movies, you know, the whole country looks like California anyway where the whole country can be attained with it contained within like a California neighborhood. Um, let a motel live in people, a lot of motel creatures in this movie. Um, so the maker doing like construction work in the beginning and then, you know, they run out of money to pay the guys building the house on the crew he's working on and he lives with his mom but it has a son, but his mom's behind in home mortgage and he goes to court on her behalf and he thinks he's going to have more time cause they file some form or whatever. But it's all bullshit. And the guy who works for the bank that bought his house shows up with a sheriff who's like, clearly like there's a setup, like he's like tipping, you know, he's tipping some cash, you know, there's a little bit of payoff, right. Cause he always has like the same two deputies and he, you know, he goes to the same court clerk. So it's all kind of like a range, you know, like he works for a bank corporation and, well, not the main character. I'm kind of confusing characters now actually back up. Michael Shannon's character works for the bank who repossess it and then resells for cheap a bunch of homes. Um, Andrew Garfield's character is the dude who works with a construction company and gets laid off at the Boone and the movie has a mom and a son he takes care of and um, and then they're, they're on there. They're out on their butts. They, they file the form, but it doesn't matter. What's that? Yeah, no, just say, yeah, they really are out in their beds. All their shits on the street. Yeah. They can only carry so much in their truck. Yeah. Like, I don't know man. I, I remember like, uh, we lost our place and that was basically it. We had a, I had a moment in time like that, you know, my kids were babies and like we were, yeah, we were here. Like our stuff was in there. Everything he owned was in the car, including the cats we owned, you know, you know what I mean? So I've been there driving around and I had just started a new job and didn't have a place and like, wasn't really like, I remember we had like lunch at a McDonald's and it was like, you know, my last few bucks and we had a full, we had like a whatever, how much gas we had. I had to put the, I had to take the spare out of my car cause we had popped the, the tire on the road driving like 200 miles where we're going. And like, um, this one, I don't remember if I remember when I briefly lived in Idaho. Do you remember that? I was working for Jerry TV. So yeah. Runs in a place from like my wife's cousins or whatever. And then, uh, that didn't work out longterm. So we had to find a place that I remember that I remember taking, let's stick memory of like taking a lunch at a McDonald's that was like retrofitted. You remember when the McDonald's is in like the early two thousands, we're trying to look like the McDonald's from 1950 where they brought back the mucked the McDonald's hamburger guy and like they had like the, the double arch thing and like it was weird, like retro 50 sixties style stuff was one of those joints. And like I remember circling ads in a paper for apartments and calling apartments and we got an apartment and it had the kind of same energy that this movie has in the beginning where like your stuff is literally in your car with you and you're literally driving around for a place to live, like right as it's happening in real time. You know, like, so yeah, I've been there man. Been in tight spots and like I said, and I think about this like, you know, if I make movies, who are the people that want to reach reach? Like probably the people that can't afford to buy movies and they're like, you know, their streaming services probably about to be shut off because they don't have the extra seven bucks on top of everything else. Credit card bills, rent, everything. Like the Americans that I care about are those people or like, not even Americans. Like, I mean, I'm sure it's happens in the rest of the world too. And I think about this like it's our life's still that much better than the rest of the world. He used to say that like, all you're entitled, you're American. Like your stuff is still better than the rest of the world. I don't know if that's true anymore, but who knows? Like, you know, are my complaints, like first-world complain or is it like, is it really that tough? You know? Um, I don't, I dunno if this ever happens to you, but I imagine it happens to a lot of people. Like you wake up in the middle of the night going, how did I get this age? Like what direction am I going in and how stuck am I? Like I like I realized I know what bills are already coming out from like you know, I don't know if you feel like that like this, you can tell me, but it's like you know your bills that are going to come out for the like the next six months or whatever or like the schedule that you have, right? Like you know what your bills look like in, in 30 60 90 days and whatever

Speaker 4:

and[inaudible]

Speaker 2:

it does feel like a trap. It does feel like, okay, this is it. This is all I'm doing. I have this job, I pay these bills. And I think about this like a house of cards. Like the, the thing that this guy experiences in this movie, it's not so like abstract a concept. Like it's not shooting aliens in outer space in his spaceship. This is like right if the right, it's like the right circumstances happen to each and every one of us. Like we're this guy. You don't even to be like the only a series of events has to happen and we're all this guy in a pickup truck looking for a motel because you've been booted out of your house, you know, you know what I mean? And then, and the now the twist of the movie, the turn, like when he starts to go to work for the real estate guy that took his house, that's where it gets into a little bit of flight of fancy. Cause typically people in real life, either they struggle and maybe they get their house back

Speaker 4:

or, or

Speaker 2:

they just move on, they get an apartment, townhouse, whatever. Or that's it. It's like the end of their story. But this guy, you know, ends up working for the banker and then, then he's evicting other people from our houses. So I shouldn't say it's kind of a story. Yeah, I guess I should have said, spoiler alert on that one. Huh? I hyped up this movie big time. And then I just literally said one of the major plot devices, but I said, I don't have to tell them where the guy ends up. But um, and then, and then the banker's running his own scam on his own, on the, on the companies that he has contracts with and the government that he has contracts with. Like he works for like the major corporations, like a Fannie Mae or whatever, which is like a government backed mortgage loan company or whatever. And uh, that's kind of student loans. I think if I remember right when we were going to school, and I think they own student loans now, but they're like a big, big loan corporation. But like in the movie what Sally Mae and there's Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac as a bunch of Mays. Yeah. And uh, so then, um, this game is like, he has the guy pull out the appliances and then he resells them in the homes he already owns or something like that. Like they keep pulling appliances and then they put it into like insurance claims. Right. And they get, they get pay outs still AC units and shit like that just to scam the Fannie Mae or whoever is. And what's funny is, uh, do you know how I got this as a stocking stuffer? Well, I mean, my day job is like in real estate, right? Like I do social media for a real estate company, whatever, and I go to like their trade events sometimes and we're kind of like marketing campaigns, you know, like online and through social media platforms, whatever, support, customer service, all that crap. Someone's just like, Oh, John works in real estate. So here, here you go. Here's a copy of 99 homes. You know what I mean? It's like a mixed message. Well, Oh, like, Oh, they think like, I'm like the piece of shits in the movie or like, like if they, if they want you to aspire to be like Michael Shannon that movie or that's not the message you should be taken from that movie. I don't know if that's what they're trying to say. I don't know my up, my other fear is this too is like,

Speaker 5:

Mmm.

Speaker 2:

Then one day I'm not going to recognize myself like what I set out to do in my life. It's not going to be fully realized. You know what I mean? Like sometimes I crack open an old script and I'm like, this is really fucking good. Like if I was a studio head, I would green light this and this is not just John May talking up, John Neisha. It's just like I really put a lot of thought and effort and time into writing these screenplays that I have. And uh, I dunno, like everybody has regrets, but I don't want to be like a book of regrets or I don't want to be a country song of regrets. I don't want to be like a cautionary tale, you know what I mean? Like I, and I remember this like, um, some of the groups Sixers were trying to organize like a reunion for us, you know, and I'm like, I, I don't want to show up to that. Like, what am I going to say to these people? Look, my hair fell out, look, uh, um, on like a hundred pounds overweight. Look, uh, um, I'm in debt. I live paycheck to paycheck. I got a regular job. Uh, didn't make any of the movies I was talking about making, but I'm not like this guy named Holmes. I can't, I don't even have a home to lose. Never had enough foam, didn't never had enough house for somebody to take it. You know what I mean? But the closest I can say to that is like, I did take out a loan to pass some credit cards, you know, it's Christmas time. Got to buy those fucking presents, you know? Yeah. Man is a definitely a holiday, a cheer movie. Well, yeah, this is, this is like, yeah, you know, um, get some, uh, get some vanilla ice cream and some Apple pie. I sit down with the family, put in 99 homes at the end of the, by the end of the movie, the son doesn't respect the father and uh, spoiler alert, he may or may not lose everything by the end of the movie. Ah, shit. I actually, I mean, he spends half the movie trying to negotiate how to get back his family home and then by the time he gets it, he doesn't even care anymore. Right.

Speaker 6:

It's uh, I really liked this movie. I don't, I mean it's, uh, it's not, uh, you know, we're kind of joking, but it is not a feel good movie. Uh, you know, like you said, you don't want to throw this on if you're having a good day. This isn't going to lift your spirit a hell of a performance by Michael Shannon though. He's really good at playing sleazy kind of shit. Hold on.

Speaker 2:

[inaudible] sit down, lets you know, he looks like three or four real estate brokers that I've encountered, you know, so he's definitely, he's definitely a, he fits the mold, that's for sure. But he's not wrong either. I mean, could you imagine Rowan rolling in some bills? Like, could you imagine like, I dunno, concentrate. I mean, I guess your lifestyle has to be equal to earning money and that's it. Like that's what you would have to do. Like nothing else would have to matter is sir, just starting those bills, chasing that paper as the rapper say, you know, getting that cheddar David, getting that cheddar. Uh, man, um, the movie's pretty artistic. I mean, it's by like this, he's actually, he's Iranian, but he doesn't live in Iran. He's a filmmaker from like Connecticut of all places, but his parents are immigrants and, but he's like a first generation American. He's the guy that made man pushcart[inaudible] I've seen it. Yeah. Um, it's pretty good. Take a look at that. And then he made this other movie that I wanted to see about some farmers that are in some kind of controversy with, uh, let's see, Dennis, uh, Dennis, Dennis Quaid. I haven't watched it yet. Dennis Quaid and Zach Efron. I haven't seen it. I haven't seen that movie, but, um, Hmm. This guy, he's an artsy fartsy director. He's kind of known in that circle of like being like a really good indie director.

Speaker 6:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, he just most recently did like a, a new version of Fahrenheit nine or not Fahrenheit nine 11 a Fahrenheit four 51 for HBO. Yeah, Michael B. Jordan, but I haven't gotten to that. He's definitely an art house director. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I liked it. Like I said, I, um, Michael, Michael, Shannon still's a show mean he's usually pretty intense

Speaker 2:

actor anyways. Yeah. I mean, Andrew, um, what's his name? Garfield. Yeah, British guy, but well, I mean like, and then somebody comes pounding on his door, like he knocked on people's doors, offers them like this dollars for keys deal or whatever, like to basically pay them a small amount for their homes if they vacate within the eviction process so they don't have to take them to court. But, um, then he has a good guy who recognize them, moves into the same hotel that he's living in, you know, like you just evicted me, blah, blah, blah. And it gets all intense. And then like later on there's like a forged court document and like he, this guy definitely feel stuck. Like I said, if you ever feel stuck, if you ever feel stuck by like your circumstances, your bills, or like your own whatever you're going through. Like, this guy feels that in a movie and he's, he's doing, he's doing a good enough job in the performance for you to feel that way. When you watch the movie, you feel stuck with this guy, but then he makes a series of bad choices and then you kind of like decide like, do you still go on the ride with him or whatever. And I'm like thinking about, you know, like what if somebody did give you an opportunity to get out of debt and to get some, get the money you need where, where he takes it too far. It's like after he saves the house that he was supposedly fighting for, then after that point it's just greed I guess. Right. It just like something completely different.

Speaker 6:

Um, yeah. I mean it's, he definitely, I don't know how far into greed he went. I mean, I mean he collected money cause he was trying to get his house cause he never did anything crazy with his money. I like, I feel like it was all in service of getting his home back and getting back on his feet. Like, he didn't like live an extravagant life by working

Speaker 2:

for utility, decides to go buy the McMansion that has the giant coal and then sells his family home as collateral as like the down payment on the McMansion.[inaudible]

Speaker 6:

so right. Uh, you know, I, it's been about a week or so since I've seen this, so maybe I'm missing some small details of,

Speaker 2:

and then, and then when he's no longer in debt and it has money in the bank and a place to live, his mom ditches him and takes the son with him. And like the son, I don't know, like in the beginning the sun was devastated by everything that was happening to his dad and at the end of the movie, like it's like he didn't stick up for his dad and then he just took off with the grandma and they went to like, wherever her sister lived, I forget like where her sister lived, but they just like took her up. Oh, Scottsdale or something. They somewhere in Arizona, the aunt lived or whatever, and they just like, they all skid at all out of there. Um, I mean at that point you're Mr. Wall street. Keep the Nick mansion, buy yourself a new car and fucking enjoy it. Don't do the next thing that he, this guy does. I mean he basically like commits like[inaudible] at the end, not, he doesn't literally commit like honorable suicide, but there was a forge court document that this real estate company turns in in order to procure this other house, which is like the last house in the series of like, this is this little neighborhood that they want to flip at the same time to build like a freeway or something. I don't know what the hell they're going to do, but they need to get a hundred homes and they have one left and it's this guy who encountered the MaineCare who knows him and he liked their kids, went to school together or whatever and they got to get this guy's house and some paperwork wasn't fireable correctly. So on a technicality, they weren't going to get the guy's house until they filed this other paperwork. Right? Like they submitted it after the date X, like the allowance for the time or whatever. But they clerk got paid off, so they just like stamped the form, whatever. But the main character knows that. And then like the other guy loses his total shit, takes out a machine gun, start shooting. Cops are starting to shoot their realtor guy, Michael Shannon and like really is losing his shit. And I thought he was going to shoot, you know, the main character that's going to shoot Andrew, Andrew Garfield's character, you know, if I was going to blow them away. Um, but just for feeling that there's like a document in court, honestly, I don't know how that, how far that goes in real life. Most likely, like the main character would just lose his job. He'd just get fired for willing company secrets, you know? And the company would probably just take a fine, they get the guy's house anyway and the guy who shot up the neighborhood, so he's in fucking jail, you know what I mean? He shot at the police, could be attempted murder and he put his kids in danger in overseas kids again. You know what I mean? So it's not like there's a fairy tale ending. And that guy gets to keep his house, you know? You know what I mean? Just cause you found out that the bank filed the paperwork incorrectly, you know, and uh, and whatever.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, that's, that's kind of a good point. You know, I, Andrew Garfield has a crisis of conscious, if you will, tries to save the day, but like, yeah, you're right. The guy, no matter what, even though Andrew Garfield stick up for him, that guy is still like, you know, shot at cops and shit. So no matter what, no matter you now you've put your karma back in place, he's still gonna go to jail. So what the fuck?

Speaker 2:

And like they do it accidentally shot his, his, his own wife and kids too, you know. Anyway. And folks, I'm not saying like I'm upset at my day job. Like I feel the pressure of my bills just like anybody else. I think about what am I going to do, you know, weeks from now, months from now, years from now. I just want to be a stranger to myself. Like, this guy is at the end of the movie, you know, you know what I mean? I'm not gonna end up in the back of a squad car or shooting up wives and children. Do you know what I mean? Like, like Jesus. Um, yeah, the is definitely intense. It's only a stock and separate because the whole definition of stocking suffers is these are movies that somebody has just given us because we like movies, but they don't know our tastes or whatever. And they just go, one thing led to another. Here's a movie. And I think these things, they're real estate connection. They know I do something related to real estate, you know, for a living. And they just like, here you go. You know, you know what I mean? Here's a movie with, with homes and the title. Oh man, uh, happy holidays folks. Yeah. Hope you're paying your bills and if not, um, instead of shooting out your living room with like an[inaudible] or whatever the hell that is, uh, just, just have another glass of eggnog and maybe sing some Christmas carols and remember the ending of a wonderful life. He didn't take out a machine gun

Speaker 7:

[inaudible].