Project Geekology
Embark on an epic journey with Anthony and Dakota as they delve into the vast realms of geek culture, from cherished classics to cutting-edge creations. Join us for an exhilarating adventure of exploration and nostalgia, as we unearth hidden gems and reminisce about the moments that have shaped us. Welcome to the ultimate celebration of all things geeky!
Project Geekology
Frankenstein (2025)
A stitched body, a sharpened mind, and a creator who won’t claim what he made. We dive into Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein on Netflix with fresh eyes and full hearts, exploring how the film restores Mary Shelley’s original genius while reshaping a century of monster-movie expectations. From the icebound framing device to the creature’s own testimony, the story gives the “monster” his voice back—and with it, a moral authority that turns the tables on Victor.
We talk about the texture of creation: the unsettling, hyper-real gore that makes every cut feel consequential, and the cinematography tricks that make key encounters float with eerie grace. Oscar Isaac’s Victor is magnetic and cold, driven by ambition he can’t control, while Jacob Elordi’s creature evolves from bewildered newborn to eloquent judge, his slender, powerful frame reading as reassembled personhood instead of prop. Mia Goth’s Elizabeth cuts through the gloom with presence that grounds the stakes. We also trace Del Toro’s love of cinema history, from the inclusion of an Igor archetype to the blend of gothic realism that separates his style from the baroque and the camp.
The heart of the episode is the ethics: What do we owe what we create? If the creature is functionally immortal, does denying him a companion become the cruelest act? We follow the thread of generational harm—from Victor’s father to Victor himself—and the way indifference breeds monstrosity more reliably than lightning ever could. It’s not a perfect film; the pacing stretches in places. But the ideas, performances, and design make this a rare adaptation that feels both faithful and new.
If you love smart horror, literary roots, and craft on screen, hit play. Then share your take, subscribe for more deep dives, and drop us a review so others can find the show.
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Hello and welcome to episode 144 of Project Geekology. Today we have, I don't know if it's gonna be a fun show, but it's gonna be it's gonna be uh literary and auditory and visionary and uh monstrous. I'm just thinking of adjectives at this point to describe the topic at hand. Uh we are covering the 2025 Netflix film uh by Guillermo del Toro Frankenstein, based on the Marichelle book that started a whole genre. And we're very, very excited to discuss uh I think this is the first no, it's not the first monster film that we've covered on the channel. We've we've done a couple Godzilla's and we've done the mummy in the past, but this is the first time we're doing anything any anywhere near Frankenstein related, so I'm very excited. But uh my name is Dakota. I'm joined as always with Victor. That's Victor.
SPEAKER_02:Um Anthony, and uh joining us as always is Victor.
SPEAKER_01:No, it doesn't work the second time.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I didn't understand the bit. All right, guys. No, it's Rich. Um happy to be here uh resurrecting uh our show after uh a brief respite of uh a couple days off.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, we we took an extra day to record this one just because we we you know, as Anthony wanted to uh you know, he wanted to let this marinate. Uh not only just with us, but with the listener, you know, like the the the farther along that we are apart from one another, the the juicier our interactions will become uh between uh uh podcaster and listener. So uh yeah, we we we just wanted to allow the moment to marinate into a a much better podcast. And I think that that's what's gonna happen. I hope that's what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_03:You know, I I mean, and while we're there, I mean I think that uh everyone should take a second to to just drop us uh a really juicy review uh this week, uh sponsored by Honest Kids Juice Boxes. Uh this uh we're unofficially sponsored, uh, so we're not getting any money, but honestly, just very delicious juice box.
SPEAKER_01:It's five stars for us, just like this show is for you. Give us a five-star review, guys. We are not sponsored by Honest Kids Juice Boxes. Um, please don't sue us. Um Anthony, I'm gonna throw it over to you before we begin anything. What have you been up to these past couple days? I feel like I haven't seen you in like a week.
SPEAKER_02:You know, it's actually been wait, what did we did we record? Yeah, yeah, it has been a week. I I don't remember if we did Wednesday or Thursday last week, but honestly, man, I I've still been like fighting this cold.
SPEAKER_01:I could kind of tell. Like you you seem like you're excited to be here, but I could see there's a res like you're reserved in like how much you're using your vocal cords at the moment. I could see like you you're scared to have a a coughing fit or something.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, like be because like when when I talk too much after a while, like you know, the I I mean for those of you that that have like a cold and like you've been coughing all day, any like prolonged speaking makes you like cough even more. So but I mean I I do want to be here to to to you know discuss this because you know I I do like doing the podcast and and recording. So I've kind of been um I've been you know just recovering from that, but also I went up to uh Winter Haven for a day because my my my job they uh they had like you know like a holiday thing and so they invited me up for the you know for the event and I actually got to meet some of my coworkers and my supervisors for for the first time. Like I haven't like I've this job is that I do is nothing but remote, so everything has been just like you know, over the computer, like video, you know, webcam. So I got to like actually meet them in person and they actually uh covered for me to stay at a hotel the night and then I came back down the next day. But uh that was pretty fun. It was cool to like be able to meet some of these people for the for the first time.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. Winterhaven, it sounds like uh you know, like an area within the DC universe very close to Gotham. It's like on the opposite side of Bloodhaven, there's Gotham in the middle, and then on the other side is Winterhaven, where all the like rich people live, and it's always snowing for some reason.
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, there's like Legoland, I think, nearby there. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Legolands are we have a Legoland out here. Rich, have you gone to Legolands out here?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we sta uh so I want to say like six years ago, five years ago, uh shortly after it opened or something. We went there during like like after things were opening up again for the pandemic. Okay, so late 2020. I think just one day, and then we went, then we actually stayed, which is really cool. Like they have like themed rooms and they have like puzzles for the kids to unlock and then there's a safe. I didn't know. And they get like a little set. It's pretty it's uh it's it's actually the only thing that wasn't cool was the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night. But uh other than that, they have a pool. It's uh it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01:The fire alarm actually goes off whenever someone steps on a Lego barefoot. That wouldn't make sense. That was just somebody screaming. It masks the screams. Um, Anthony. Uh if if you can't make it through this podcast, um like if you whatever, if you if you die, whatever. I don't want to say it out loud. Uh thankfully this movie has the key to uh bringing you back, you know? It's it's all about tubes and silver and certain acupuncture spots. We got you, bro. We got your back.
SPEAKER_02:And uh, you know, Oscar Isaacs can uh bring me back.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we don't have Oscar Isaac, but we have Rich. My hair's kind of long, so I mean um cool, man. Uh did you do anything else this this week?
SPEAKER_02:Or yeah, yeah, no, not nothing too crazy. Uh how about you, Dakota? Let's uh throw it over to you.
SPEAKER_01:I've been playing a lot of uh Avatar Frontiers of Pandora.
SPEAKER_02:Didn't they didn't they drop like a like an expansion?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they dropped a huge bug. It's I I wanna I want them to go back. Take it back. Just rework it, get all the bugs out. Dude, I've I've never played a game that was working so well to being in some ways unplayable. Like, if I if I shoot the wrong thing, like if I shoot a tree instead of an animal or something, the tree just goes like totally black. It just like falls off the map. So it's just like a black shape. Um if I shoot a rock, just goes totally black. There's like areas on my map that I go to that like I haven't been to in a couple days, and it's just like, you're still black? What what's happening? Like what like it's fully black, it's not just like shaded, it's it's just off the map. And uh like I I've been breaking the game left and right. There are certain quests that would have normally opened and started like totally fine, but like I there's certain sections of the game that I cannot progress in certain quests because they don't trigger anymore. And it really it's uh like like there's a there's a bunch of like people are uh experiencing so many bugs, like some like there's like debuffs that don't ever go away now. Um there's yeah, I I don't want to get too bugged down. I'm still enjoying it, I'm still making my way through it, I'm still you know getting the character stronger, but I can't 100% it anymore until they fix this game. So there's like uh a couple quests that I I just I literally like I'm standing right next to the the quest giver or the quest item. I have the quest item to deliver to the person, but I can't trigger the quest. So I just if I deliver the item, nothing happens. I don't get any like checkbox or anything. So it's it's really frustrating, and um I want them to take it back. Just so the DLC is like it's it's a new game plus mode where you get to have all of your upgrades, all of your weapons, um, and everything, and you can restart the game at like your peak level, and you can you can put it on a higher difficulty, whatever. But the issue with the new game plus is that it doesn't translate into any of the uh DLC content. So there's like two separate story mode content past the main base game. So new game plus only covers the the main game, you can't play past that point. So it's it's just like why even do this?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's weird.
SPEAKER_01:It's so bizarre, and I I'm I'm like actually kind of pissed, but like the big deal now is that there's a a a third person mode instead of uh first person. It's a first person shooter game. Now there's a third person mode. Um, it looks good. I still prefer the first person, it wasn't worth it.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, I had seen that that they added a a third person mode to it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm I'm salty. I know uh some people are like really enjoying their time. Um I'm not. Yeah, uh otherwise, I've just been preparing for next week. Next week's gonna be a big week for me. Uh starting Tuesday, the second audiobook for the Harry Potter Fullcast editions comes out on Audible. And then Thursday, uh Avatar Fire and Ash officially releases. I'll be seeing it. And who knows, maybe I'll see it more than once next week. Maybe I already have tickets.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we know you have tickets, but you have second tickets already.
SPEAKER_03:Aren't you going to like like other boroughs or like other parts of the state to go see it? Oh yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, first the first showing is in New Rochelle. Uh second showing is in Queens. Third showing is in Danbury. We're in Queens. Um I don't remember. Is it Queens? No, I'm not in Queens. I'm sorry, Staten Island. I don't know why. Uh my brother likes that theater. I I'm going to see it with my little brother and he on Friday, and uh he he likes that theater, so I'm going there and probably gonna spend the night because it's like it's a midnight showing. So yeah, for a three and a half hour movie. But um some pretty big trailers are supposed to drop ahead of the movie. Um, like they're being attached to the movie, kind of like uh the trailer for the Fire and Ash movie was attached to Fantastic Four. So there's the teaser andor trailer for the Odyssey, uh Christopher Nolan's upcoming movie. That's exciting. Um Anthony, I know that sends a shiver through your spine. Um that's probably because you have a cold still. Um, but I understand you're you're also deeply attached to the Odyssey as as a concept.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I do I do like the the Odyssey. I mean, I just I always liked the stories within like Greek mythology and stuff because they're always so zany, but um the Odyssey is definitely crazy, you know, like this whole 10-year journey. This man's just trying to get home and just goes through all this like craziness just to get home.
SPEAKER_01:Uh, there's also supposed to be a our first look at the Avengers Doomsday teaser attached to the movie. And what I'm most excited about is um there's a Spielberg movie coming out. We don't even know the name of the movie yet. We just know that it's a m uh it's his first wholly original blockbuster since he made E.T. Um, so it's the first like uh original Spielberg blockbuster in over 40 years. And it's some people think it's gonna be called Disclosure. Uh there was a billboard that just went up in Times Square that uh is like very mysterious and it's for the Spielberg movie, but it doesn't really have the name, it just says all will be disclosed at this date. So I'm very excited about that teaser because apparently it's it's uh it's also attached to the movie. So anyway, there's a there's a lot going on next week. I'm very excited. I I don't really have a lot going on this week, so I'm I'm I'm just like forward talking at this point.
SPEAKER_02:But we did get a trailer for uh season two of Avatar, The Last Hairbender. I mean, I'm still I'm still gonna watch it even though that I I was pretty disappointed with the first season.
SPEAKER_01:You were um I I think I I was mixed. I I think I I enjoyed more than I didn't, but it was a poor substitute for the animated series all altogether.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't I don't think that they I don't I don't think that the that anybody's gonna be able to adapt that animated series well enough. Yeah. I don't know. For for me it just it means a lot. Surprisingly though, I mean, you know, I I am looking forward to season two of uh One Piece, the live action next year, so so the the One Piece live action is interesting because it's not an adaptation of the anime, it's an adaptation of the manga.
SPEAKER_01:So there are subtle differences, and it's it steers closer to the manga than it does the anime, but there's there's always bleed through and you know, in terms of like yeah, anyway. Yeah, I'm also very excited about One Piece. I thought that was a fantastic series, and it got me into the One Piece series. So that's that's gonna be exciting. The the season two trailer for Avatar The Last Airbender live action on Netflix does actually look really good. Like it it it's a very good teaser. My issue is you can already see that there are certain plot lines that they are going away from. So if you like watch the trailer closely, uh when they get to the serpent's pass, right before they go into Basang Sei, at that point in the animated series, Apa has already been stolen. And it, you know, there's there's that couple episodes where he is no longer in the picture. In this Netflix series, Appa is at the Serpent's Pass with them, which means that he never gets stolen in the live action series. So that's a huge departure. Unless they do it in different orders or whatever, but anyway, Toph looks cool. Rich, my friend, how are you? It's been a week. Yeah. It's been a week. Let's go Mets.
SPEAKER_03:Uh yeah. I won't dwell on it too long, but uh the Mets have kind of dismantled uh the team and uh uh basically gotten rid of or uh declined to re-sign uh franchise leader and home runs, uh homegrown Met Pete Alonzo. Uh I am not going to uh mince words here. I I cried a lot. Um my son calmed me down. It's uh it's tough, you know. You you you spend I I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about these people, right? Like if I'm not at the ballpark, I'm watching the games, you know, uh tracking it. So it's uh Yeah, it's it's tough.
SPEAKER_01:It's kind of a crazy trade, too. Like, do you think the Mets have a game plan for next season?
SPEAKER_03:Uh the no, I don't I look I obstentively they have to, right? All right, they have to. Uh what that plan is that is yet to be revealed. I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01:Do you believe that last year's buy of Juan Soto factored into Pete Alonso not being taken on?
SPEAKER_03:I mean, really what it comes down to is they brought in a uh a team president uh who operates very differently and has certain valuations on certain players and positions, and he doesn't budge. Uh and uh he kind of takes sentimentality out of it. So uh look, he he he's was very capable and did and did amazing work in a small market. So uh I'm hoping you know it's an early time.
SPEAKER_01:But uh I could see I could see this as bothering you. Well uh have you done anything else this week?
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna talk about something fun. Uh I will say that I got very excited because Fallout 76 came out with an update called Burning Springs. Uh it's one thing that one thing that they've done is they've def they've technically added different areas to the game. They've added uh New Jersey, which is very mob laden. Uh New Jersey. It's so ridiculous. You're on the Broadwalk and there's like a game, yeah, whatever. Uh then they also added uh the pit, which was like Pittsburgh. Uh the one thing that they've they haven't done, and this is new, is they added this area, but they managed to add it to the current map. So basically, like to the left side of the map, there was very little. Uh, and you basically couldn't go there, and now they've kind of stretched it a little bit, and they've made that quote unquote Ohio, and it's called Burning Springs. Uh, so it's it's pretty cool. There's uh some new enemies or some more recurring enemies. It's pretty nuts, actually. You'll have like two death claws, you'll just show up and they got they've got this new thing called like a Uga, and it's basically like a giant uh tortoise, like humongo just humongous, and you'll see two death claws just like fighting it, and and it's kicking their butts, you know. And uh, you know, it gives you pause for a second, like should I join this fight? Uh, but it it's actually uh added uh added like some uh uh some new weapons, some new armor. Um I'm really digging it, I'm really digging the new missions, uh the new and it's just nice also. I was it really annoyed me when they were adding the other things and you had to go and supposedly like jump on like a helicopter ride or vertebrate ride and you know, alright, I'm bringing you over, you know, and tell me when you want to go back. And it's like I hated that. And you had to load the new area. This is just nice because you're just uh I can literally hop over. I can walk from you know my original house in in the waste.
SPEAKER_01:That's crazy. Uh 76 has been around for almost a decade at this point, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I've been hating this game for uh I've been uh yeah, for a very long time.
SPEAKER_01:It's I'm surprised that they're still releasing new new stuff. Is it was it like a surprise DLC or do they have regular DLC on this game?
SPEAKER_03:Uh they have they'll like announce a map. Like they'll they'll like they'll look not a map, I'm sorry. Uh they'll put out like a timeline of like certain releases over the course of a certain number of months. You know, they'll be like, over the next five months, this will be coming, you know. I don't remember this being announced, but to be fair, something gets announced or something starts, and I'll generally go. And I hate to say it, and I'm doing it with this one. I'll overplay it. You know, I just like exhausting.
SPEAKER_01:And then you get right through and then pick up the next thing.
SPEAKER_03:You know, and then I'm like, oh, back to nothing.
SPEAKER_01:Back to Rance Dance Revolution 2.
SPEAKER_03:My favorite Rance Dance. Love that game. Oh, they did and they did release a uh remaster of the Red Dead. So I downloaded that of Red Dead Redemption the original. Okay. So uh that's like a re it's a completely uh yeah, re uh not you know, like they they really upgraded it uh for the new systems and uh I went I I I went to play it. Uh it looks really I mean it looks fantastic.
SPEAKER_02:They need to do a remaster of uh Red Dead Revolver.
SPEAKER_03:Ooh, well this one, you know, does have if you download it, it has the red Red Dead uh Redemption Undead Nightmare uh DLC, which was I I I would almost say that I enjoyed that DLC more than I enjoyed the original game almost. Like it I loved that DLC, that that that's that little game. It was fantastic.
SPEAKER_02:It was literally like black up zombies, but with buffer red dead.
SPEAKER_03:Dude, they had they had the zombie that would run at you, right? Like a zombie just running at you on all fours. I'd never seen anything like that in any I don't think at that moment in my life I had seen anything like that. I was like, Good god almighty what's happening? And Lauren was like, Are you frightened? And I'm like, I am yes, legitimately frightened right now.
SPEAKER_01:Like this is a little bit too much. Alright. So need to back up. That's too much. Um, Anthony, what are your thoughts on 76? Fallout 76. I I don't think you've ever mentioned whether or not, or you probably did when we were covering Fallout, but like, have you heard anything about the DLC or like what are your thoughts on the game as a whole?
SPEAKER_02:Uh I haven't played the DLC. I mean, I've always thought that that like Fallout was you know, it's a Fallout 76, like I had my fun with it, but like for me, it it's it's tough for a game to like hold my attention for a long time now. Um especially one like that, because like there's just you know so much going on, whereas like it's easier for me to play a game like um like Overwatch because you just jump in, you play a couple matches, and then you call it a day, you know.
SPEAKER_01:There's not Right, there's no time investment, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right, yeah. I I used to really love open world games, but I don't know, man. Sometimes it sometimes it becomes a lot, especially like you know, if you want to be able to explore a lot, um sometimes it it becomes a lot.
SPEAKER_03:So wait, you don't come home uh from a hard day of work and log into 76 and go harvest your grain and corn and and make some bourbon and whiskey and then go to the store and sell it. No, definitely scavenge for more.
SPEAKER_02:It sounds like some like farm town stuff from like back in the day on Facebook.
SPEAKER_03:Farmville? It's the only it's the only thing that honestly has kept me going with this game is like I feel what you're feeling because I just there were literally times where the months at a time where all I was doing was just logging in to like do daily chores and like collect like the you know the the daily like challenges. That's the only I don't know if you've tried that, but one thing that really changed the game for me was the challenges. Uh wait, Rich. You can just go like eat four pumpkin.
SPEAKER_01:Games that you've completed and haven't really invested a lot of time in, say months and or years later, are you still logging in regularly to like do the like the daily missions? Is that what I'm hearing?
SPEAKER_03:If you're asking if I log into Red Dead Redemption, just so I can chop wood sometimes and move the bales of hay because it calms me, because I like completing menial tasks and video games. I love that so much. Uh yes. Oh my gosh. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Uh you're the the rich lore is is quite rich today. I I I have to admit. Um, you know what lore is also quite rich. Frankenstein. I would say yes. Uh the world that Mary Shelley created for Frankenstein uh was so above anything else that anyone was doing in her time period, to the point where she is credited as creating the science fiction genre as a whole. And you know, there were speculative speculative fiction at the time uh that existed prior to this work, but this was the first one that tried to pinpoint a logical system within science to explain the speculation, you know, and uh it was so well thought out to a degree um that it has pretty much shaped literally most other, you know, speculative or like fantasy and or science fiction moving forward. Like the the the number of tropes that come from the Frankenstein book is incredible. Even like the the mad scientist, we wouldn't have we wouldn't have Doc Brown in uh Back to the Future if it weren't for Victor Frankenstein, you know, the the trope of the mad scientist. It's crazy that you know like uh and and that's kind of a weird sentence.
SPEAKER_03:What? It's a weird sentence, but it's true. Like, like hearing that sentence together, like, you know, as one one whatever.
SPEAKER_01:But even actually, it's it's actually kind of crazy because if you think about it, back to the future is a story about someone creating something they shouldn't have, it gets into the wrong hands, and their creation kind of uh runs away from them. Uh, you know, like with with the whole Biff Tannen thing, you know, like going back and creating an alternate 1985. That was basically his uh that was uh Dr. Emmett Brown's monster, basically.
SPEAKER_03:Wait a minute, wait a minute. What year did what year did this did she publish the book?
SPEAKER_01:Ooh, I want to say 1857. Frank was just uh book.
SPEAKER_03:Wait a minute. So are we saying that Doc Brown was a very good idea? 1818, way, way earlier. Oh, never mind. Because if it was 1857, then we could have implied that Doc Brown actually was the was the maybe the inspiration for the mad science. She would have seen it.
SPEAKER_01:Shelly was uh Yeah. She she wrote that in the summer in 1818. Yeah, no, I I've I've always loved this story, and I've always been kind of annoyed at Hollywood's depiction of the story. I thought you just went to Epic Universe. There's a uh I think it's called Monsters Unchained, where there it's like a it's a it's a whole experience in the Dark Universe section of Epic Universe that does include Frankenstein, but it's like it's the universal monsters version of Frankenstein where he's bumbling, you know, like it's very, very different from the Mary Shelley uh created character. And that that kind of always bothered me.
SPEAKER_02:Oh so with that being said, when you stack up that depiction, like you know, the the classic Hollywood version against this version that we see in the movie, how well does this version stack up to the to the original?
SPEAKER_01:To the original in a number of ways, it's it's much closer than any other adaptation of the st of the story than that I've than I've ever experienced. Obviously, I haven't watched every single Frankenstein movie ever, um, or you know, watched every TV show if there was TV shows or anything. But as far as I'm concerned, the story followed the same beats as the novel fairly closely. There were changes. Um some choices were were made. Um I don't think he befriends an old man in the book, but the in in the book it's more like he befriends a family. And anyway, that's a whole that's a whole other thing that we could talk about. But the characterization of the character um being this very eloquent creature who doesn't know his he doesn't know his purpose or his creator's intentions, and is you know constantly trying to find Victor to either get him to create a second. Basically, he is Adam, but Victor is not allowing him to have an Eve, basically. And that's that's a story of Frankenstein, and that's why he wants to kill Victor, basically.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he wanted a a bride of Frankenstein, you know?
SPEAKER_01:He did, he did definitely. Um, but yeah, the the I would say the characterization was was very strong, and the look of the character is pretty accurate. He's a big boy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And like very, very much so patchworked. Like, I feel like he like he looks a lot more patchworked in the way that you would think somebody that was pieced together would look like, you know?
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I thought that depiction was I you know, I mean, I do love my Herman Munster uh from the Munsters, but uh as the his take on the kind of just father, you know, suburban dad Frankenstein. But this was um definitely different than anything I've ever seen. Victor! I can't say I've s I don't think I've seen I I I've seen Frankenstein depicted in things. I don't know if I've seen another Frank, like I've never seen like, you know, the Bella Lagosi or anything like that. Uh Frank. I've seen like clips, you know, uh, but never Yeah, I see what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01:Like you've never like sat down to watch a Frankenstein movie, but you are very familiar with the character and like the mannerisms of that that's why I was I was actually uh like surprised here. I mean, I I I'm sorry, I've seen young Frankenstein, but I don't think that I mean that sounds like you know that might be a little no, it's not that no, it's a yeah, no.
SPEAKER_03:No, that's too much. It's too common. So this uh a couple things that really took me uh by guard uh took me like by surprise were one I because I've only kind of seen that one, and I I don't I I think I attempted to read the book a couple of times, but I don't think I ever really invested enough time and effort into it. So I I you know I know the beats of it, but I didn't the the the regeneration, is that something that they put into the movie or like the his ability to like constantly heal his his immortality essentially?
SPEAKER_01:As far as I can remember, Victor had a very hard time killing him. I don't remember if he was functionally immortal, but he kept coming back. Like he was having a hard time dying. So I think this is taking it to the next level. I I might be wrong here. Uh I I either he is immortal in the book or he's functionally immortal to the point where like he's very hard to kill. Because it's just basically he's already dead, you know, he's just re-animated.
SPEAKER_03:Well, but I mean when he like tries to kill himself with a dynamite, right? Like he there are times where it's regenerate.
SPEAKER_01:I don't remember if I don't remember the regeneration aspect of it.
SPEAKER_03:Because that I will say that that to me completely changes how you understand the movie. Because Victor's choice to not make a white a bride of Frankenstein, right? That is based on like if you understand that he knows that Frankenstein is immortal or that the monster is immortal, then not giving him someone to be with is even crueler than if he just was like, I don't simp I simply don't want to create another abomination.
SPEAKER_01:Anthony, what did you think of the the the take on the character in terms of you can't really get rid of this guy? So what do you do with him?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I thought that was insane that I was like, man, like nobody nobody can kill this guy. Like he's literally trying to kill himself and he cannot he can't die. You know, and like you kind of feel for for his character, but I I've always felt bad for Frankenstein. Frankenstein is uh really just not the monster of the story. And in any iteration, he's never been the monster, he's just been misunderstood. You know, he's just like some being that was created and brought into this world by, like you said, a mad scientist who pretty much like every almost every single time treats him like crap anyway. Like, you know, it's just like, oh, I did this, you know, I've I've accomplished this, I don't really need you anymore, you know. And you know, Frank Frankenstein's monster is just trying to figure figure out the world, you know. And I remember what in the book he he saves like a girl, right? And um gets like shot by the dad because the dad's like, you know, what are you doing, you know? So so yeah, like I mean, Frankenstein's always been some tragic character, and this just like adds an element to that.
SPEAKER_01:And and the the tragic character is a trope that probably doesn't stem originally from this story, but it became a trope after Frankenstein. You know, like you have just the misunderstood heroes or the the creations of the the world or the system that the you know that that's been beaten down, and uh Quasimoto is one. I was gonna say that Quasimoto, Shrek, Iron Giant, uh Bastion from uh Overwatch. The the list goes on and on of like characters who are basically that archetypal. I'm a good guy, even though I'm in a monster's body. And it's it's uh it's it's immediately you immediately attach yourself to this character because you understand the disadvantage that they are placed under, even though they have physical attributes that are potentially much stronger than you know the average person. You you feel bad for them because they can never be normal.
SPEAKER_02:You know what I really thought was interesting was you know, it's almost every other iteration that like we've seen, or at least the ones that I've seen, is that you know, like and like you you mentioned is that he's always this kind of dumb character, right? That's kind of like uh but like really hulking and gi ginormous. Yeah, whereas like this Frankenstein's monster is slender but still very strong.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's the one thing that I don't remember off the top of my head. I when I was reading the book in the past, I don't remember feeling like he was a slender figure. Of course, people back then were thinner in general, um, they weren't hugely muscular, but I remember him being a muscular figure and tall. He is just tall in this movie.
SPEAKER_02:So more like athletic kind of he has a definite athletic build, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um I I think Jacob Alordi, who portrays Frankenstein's monster, did a pretty decent job, actually. Like it took me a while to get into the character because I have seen Jacob Alordi do a bunch of other things. You know, he was um he's one of the main characters in Euphoria. So like seeing like a party animal go from that to Victor Frankenstein. He was he also played, I think he played Elvis in a Sofia Coppola movie, uh Priscilla. Yeah. Um yeah, he's he's he's been in a couple big things, and he's a fantastic actor. But it's uh it's something that like I wasn't expecting, and it it wasn't until like maybe halfway through that I'm like, yeah, this is this guy's Frankenstein. But it took me a while. I I will admit, it wasn't like a perfect match for me uh going into it. What did you guys think of the character or the actor for playing it?
SPEAKER_03:My only issue I I I honestly thought like he was really good. Yeah, you know. Uh I don't know, I didn't recognize him from anything else. I'm not sure if that's just because they did a good job with the makeuping or but I don't recall who you're talking about in the other example, so I may I may very well just not know the actor that well. Uh, which always, as I've kind of stated before, for me always, always helps, unless it's Gary Oldman, because he can play any role. Even um even even a dwarf, apparently, in a movie, but we'll talk about that in another episode. Uh, one the only thing I didn't like was how eloquent he becomes after spending time with the old man. I just it it it feels like one of those like 80 like workout uh montages where suddenly the person like knows exactly how to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Like it's so eloquent that it's just a little in the book, in the book he's taught to read by uh a young girl, not a young girl, but like a young woman. So they it's a little bit of a change, but he does go through several I think it shows him going through several books in the in like the personal library of that guy, right? Yeah. So he does that's basic and in in the Frankenstein novel, he's a very eloquent figure by the end of it, even though he couldn't speak when Victor Frankenstein was around. I think we keep calling him Frankenstein, but he's technically Frankenstein's monster. Yeah, he doesn't really have a name, but it's so it's so ingrained in our culture that this is Frankenstein, you know? Yeah, uh so we're gonna continue messing that up on purpose.
SPEAKER_03:You know what it is, is as an English teacher, right? And somebody who's taught students who've come from other countries and haven't and English is not their first language, right? And having worked with some of these kids for literally like four years, okay, and seen language acquisition skills like in action, okay. I'm like, come on, guys, there's no way he would pass that. He would not pass the nicest lat exam. Like he's only an emerging learner at this point. So I I think it's just my teacher hat that's just like, my dude, do you know how long you need to study to be that eloquent? You know, uh, so I I I think that's the only thing, and like that's the tiniest of gripes for me. Uh other than that, I honestly felt I felt like his roaring at the end was even more powerful knowing how eloquent he was. Oh, because they those became more more like sorrowful cries, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's such an interesting movie. And the the cast is stacked. So, you know, we only talked about Jacob Alordi, but we got Charles Dance in the beginning, Tywin Lannister. Oh, yeah. He he plays Victor's father. We have uh Mia Goth playing uh Elizabeth, and of course Oscar Isaac is Victor Frankenstein. He's probably the most notable name in the movie. He's probably I don't know if we follow uh Elordi more than Oscar, but they kind of have similar amounts of screen time. Um and I I really like Do you think they missed go ahead?
SPEAKER_03:Do you think they missed a like Anthony? Do you think they missed a big opportunity to have Oscar Isaacs say somehow Frankenstein returned? Like I don't I don't I'm so frustrated that I feel like they had it on the table, man.
SPEAKER_01:Anthony's shaking his head in disgust at that, like the Rise of Skywalker pun. Somehow Palpatine returned. Yeah. Um Christopher Waltz or Christoph Waltz is in it, uh David Bradley. It's a stocked cast.
SPEAKER_02:Like they they have actually I'm I'm glad that you bring that up. What do you think about their iteration, their version of Igor in this movie? Oh because these technically Technically Igor.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. His name is actually Igor. I don't remember. I don't remember an Igor in the book. I think that might be I'm gonna look that up really quick.
SPEAKER_02:Something that was added in Hollywood.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And the crazy thing is, is that like there's there's different versions of Igor, but like in the earlier days, at least in Hollywood, they make him like this quasi-modo kind of character.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so so Igor is not a character in Mary Shelley's book. So that whole character arc was completely added to the film. And I think that that's okay. So uh, you know, this is I love Guillermo del Toro. He's he's a fan of cinema first and foremost. Like everything he does is, you know, him just adding another layer onto the history of cinema. And that's I think that's how he views this movie. Is this his adaptation of Frankenstein, not only through Mary Shelley's lens, but also taking stuff that he has enjoyed uh visually from the the archetypes of you know these characters from the past. Uh yeah, it's totally different.
SPEAKER_02:He has a style that you know it's him.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I don't know that this is this isn't my favorite of his movies, but his movies are are the are interesting because like you watch them and you know you're watching something really good, but it's like I have to let this one sit with me, and I have to think about it for a while before I really know like if I like it or if I uh if this is gonna be you know like in a constant rotation. The only one that I don't think ever like I had any question with was Pan's Labyrinth. I think that for me is his uh golden goose. I he he did such a good job with that one, and it's so bizarre and perfect, and it's like a it's a it's its own, like almost Alice in Wonderland type tale. Uh but yeah, no, uh Guillermo's fantastic. He did Shape of Water, which one uh Best Picture doesn't it uh like what six years ago or so. But yeah, Anthony, you he has a style. He he has a very uh gothic style. It's it's not necessarily like gothic in the sense of Tim Burton, it's a m it's a more realism uh gothic that he he likes to employ.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right. I feel like where he kind of he can kind of get close to um Tim Burtony a little bit is uh was like Hellboy um and Blade 2.
SPEAKER_01:Did he direct Blade 2?
SPEAKER_02:I did not and it feels so much so like when when you go in and watching that movie with the lens that he did that movie, you feel you'll you'll think like, yeah, he definitely made this movie.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. He did so good with the Hellboy movies. Um I have to rewatch Blade 2 now. Now that's that's kind of exciting. Yeah, I I love this guy. He's so good. Did he do the first Pacific Rim? I forget. I need to I have to re-up my knowledge on Guillermo. Clearly, Guillermo movies. Yeah, he did Pacific Rim.
SPEAKER_02:Uh yeah, that one was a good one. That yeah, now that I think about it, uh it does feel very much so like one of his movies, especially like when when you start getting to the uh like when you start seeing all of the uh the like kaiju body parts.
SPEAKER_01:He loves that like he's like one of the biggest Gundam fans in the world. Like he he's he loves the Gundam franchise, so like he loves uh Kaiju and Mecha outfits and yeah, so that was totally totally him. Yeah, back to back to Frankenstein. We gotta we gotta reel ourselves back in. Um Mia Goth did uh absolutely fantastic as Elizabeth. Um, whenever she's on the screen, she's like super, she's just like has like an enchanting look to her that you just it your eyes always gravitate towards her. And that was cool. Apparently, what they did uh in the filming of this, according to Guillermo del Toro, they filmed the scenes with her and the the monster at a higher frame rate so that they could slow it down without flick uh like frames clipping, and it wasn't like an incredibly high frame rate. So most films are are filmed at 24 frames frames per second. I think they filmed these at like 30 or 35 frames per second, so that when they slowed them down, it would just be almost like floaty visuals, you know. Like it looked really it it makes those scenes pop a little bit better. But yeah. What did we think of Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein? Oh, we got two thumbs up from Anthony over here.
SPEAKER_02:This guy did a really good job. Like, I mean he killed it. He did, he did a really good job. Like, you know, by the by the end, you know, like you you were really like you know, like you became you disdained him, like you're like, no, this guy is like this guy is a jerk, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he's the worst. He's trying to steal his brother's girl.
SPEAKER_02:Um just tossing away this like person that he made, like try to burn him, blow him.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's so bizarre. It's it's like the it's hard to watch, and I think that's why this is one of the movies that I don't know that it's gonna be in heavy rotation for me. I will watch it occasionally, but it's hard to watch because you you see so much passion and and uh you see so much passion go into the creation of the Frankenstein's monster, but he doesn't think of what comes next. Once he has a person, once he does what he needs to do, he basically realizes what have I done and immediately regrets it, and just can't get rid of this guy. And it's it's so bizarre, it's so bizarre, and I I feel so bad for the the monster throughout this whole thing, but I mean, come on, you gotta feel bad for uh Victor a little bit.
SPEAKER_03:He he he decides to try to go back in the house, and oh man, what a way to break a leg. Uh that was so awful that when he blew back and like his leg got caught on that pillar.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he went back to save him, right? Yeah, like he had like a moment of clarity right before getting his leg blown off, and that was like super gory. Like that that looks so real.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I won't lie. Like uh I'm I can uh you know I can watch mo I can watch I have a good stomach for stuff, but uh when he like that montagey part where he's like cutting the bodies. Oh, that was hard. That was hard to watch because it looks so real. When when I can't say like you say hard to watch, I say it started and I went, I know, and I watched it two times and both times I said I I can't I cannot look at it. So uh kudos because you know if there's any like I can watch Walking Dead, right? Because like I don't know, you see the zombie trying to eat someone and it and I'm like that's fake, right? But when his knife just goes into I was like, oh that looks very real, and I can't be here for this. Like there's no my brain cannot explain away that that's not you know yeah, actual flesh and bone.
SPEAKER_01:I hope it's not actual flesh and bone. Maybe they got actual cadavers for this. I doubt it, I highly doubt it, but yeah, that'd be crazy. Um that would be absolutely insane. Um, Anthony, what are your thoughts on some of the uh the gorier bits?
SPEAKER_02:I mean, that part didn't really bother me too much. Like, I think for me, I was just saying like you know you know I don't I I don't know, like like that part didn't bother me. I did like, I mean, when when he did get blown up, I was kind of like I was like, ooh man, that I was like, I guess that's how he got his prosthetic, because that thing got blown. Like, I mean that leg was covered. Yeah. What about I like the how they like told the story where it was um you know Victor Frankenstein kind of telling him, you know, telling the uh the captain of that ship um that was stuck in the ice, you know, kind of like what's going on and like what this creature is that's like following him, and then like the monster ends up showing up and and then like tells his perspective. I I really like that they did something like that, and um, you know, kind of like what happened to the monster after he escaped from the you know the the building from being blown up.
SPEAKER_01:And so that's actually um a narrative trick that they took from the book. Oh that's how that's a narrative choice that is is very structural to the book. You're he you're seeing Victor's point of view up until the like the monster catches up to him, basically, and then the monster's like, oh, he's telling his tale. Now let me tell mine. Yeah. That that is absolutely like I don't know if it's word for word, bar for bar from the book, but it it's that structure is built into the the original story, which I really liked. And even even like the the scenes on the boat, it like nearing I I think they're going to Antarctica at that point, that is part of the the story in the in the book. So like Victor's going as far as possible to get away from this creature, and he's incapable of it. And it reminds me of this like imagine there was uh you you could you could have as much money in the world, or let's let's just you could have a billion dollars. Would you take a billion dollars if you knew there was an immortal snail that was constantly, no matter what or where you are in this world, it is constantly slowly making its way towards you, but you didn't know where it was. And it's it's kind of that con I mean it's kind of a poor comparison, but like you don't know where Frankenstein's monster is at any given point, but he's gonna find you, boy. He's gonna find you. And and basically, like, the the concept with the snail is like as soon as the snail finds you, you're dead. Like, like it's it's done. Like this the snail has the power and the will to take you down. You just he just has to catch you first, and he's immortal.
SPEAKER_02:So what do what did you all think about the reconciliation at the end, you know?
SPEAKER_01:I like that. Yeah, I yeah, yeah, I it's because it's kind of like creator and creation coming to terms with each other, uh realizing the the the faults of each other. Obviously, he can't create a race of Frankenstein's, that would be the worst thing in the world, because if they are immortal, then this is gonna be a big problem. Basically, they're it's a race of undead people, you know? It's a great story. It's and it it's it's no wonder that this spurred on so much. And Mary Shelley was very young when she wrote this. I mean, I'm not gonna look that up.
SPEAKER_02:That's really cool. Well, I mean, I guess like with 18 years old.
SPEAKER_01:She was 18 years old when she created the science fiction genre.
SPEAKER_02:That's crazy.
SPEAKER_01:Crazy. In 1818, in uh in a summer, it was like I think there was some volcano that had erupted um just before summer of 1818. So the the whole world was kind of like shrouded in darkness, maybe not the whole world, but at least the hemisphere that she was in. Like it was a very dark summer, there was no sunlight that summer. So she was inside writing away about like this gothic uh story that she had come up with, and yeah, just knocked it out of the park. This is it's such a cool concept.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that um Mount Tambora was the the eruption, and it was like the year without summer.
SPEAKER_01:That's it. Yeah, and she wrote in the summer, yeah. Boyos, any last thoughts on Frankenstein? Rich, I'm gonna send it over to you. I know uh you you thought that the gore was a little bit much, but how was the story overall?
SPEAKER_03:I liked it, I really did. I uh I thought it was a little bit on the long side for me. I understand, especially with a dual narrative, that you know, that can happen, but I I did like that the dual narrative wasn't like too repetitive. Like I didn't want to see too much of the same steps, you know, and I thought that they did uh I did uh Little Toro did a really great job of uh kind of navigating that. But it it did feel a little long for me for a little bit. It is supposed to be dark, so I can't really comment to that. Like that's the kind of the style overall of it, you know. Uh so that it but I thought the acting was really well done. Uh Oscar Isaacs, uh you know, I've seen him in a lot of different things. And um I'm putting them I'm I'm almost putting him on um not quite. He's not Gary Oldman like level. He's not up, he's not all the way there. Okay. He's not all the way there. But I think he's I think he's got a really good ability to sell me that he's other people. You know, like this felt like Victor Frankenstein. I didn't feel any oh I see what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01:Not not that he is um on the level of acting as Gary Oldman, but like for you, how you uh see actors that you recognize from other things and you have a hard time like removing them from that those things. Um yeah, I see what you're saying.
SPEAKER_03:Like I saw Bradley Cooper in the hangover, and then I watched the A-Team, and I was like, I put it on as a joke because we had watched all three hangover movies like three nights in a row, and then I put on the A-Team, and my what and my wife's like, Why'd you do that? I'm like, it's Bradley Cooper. I'm like, you liked him in the other movies, he's the same guy. I'm like, that's all he is. He's just like, hey, it's me. I don't know. Yeah, I'm Bradley Cooper. That's where I see him a lot. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you know, he's like, hey, look, I got cool hair. Look at me.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, hey, I mean, you know, he does a solid job as uh Rocket.
SPEAKER_01:He does a solid job as Rocket.
SPEAKER_02:But so but Rocket is just a mini.
SPEAKER_03:The guy from Hangover as a as a as a raccoon who was just like you know what I'm saying? Like he's yeah, he does play that role. He's just as wise, cracky, and you know, but then at the at the end of the day, he's got a heart of gold, despite his his glossy veneer, you know, his his veneer. I don't know. He's even the same in in the A team. He's you know, he he's like a he seems like a womanizer and he's all overconfident, but he's really a sensitive guy under it all.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, there's a couple things that I wanted to bring up before we close. How did Victor get that much gasoline? Bro had it was like a he had like an infinite, you know, like in video games like in in the past, like you could just have like infinite items, uh, and like it was a glitch that you could get. He had infinite cans of oil. I don't know how he did that. Where where was he getting it from? Like that that must have been so expensive.
SPEAKER_02:It was an infinite glitch.
SPEAKER_01:It was an infinite glitch that he he had, but uh the the point that I actually want to break is um I really like the parallel of Charles Dance's character, Victor's father, being unable to love him, and in turn Victor was unable to love his creation.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, well that's that that's uh yeah it's parenthood very much uh in some ways. Uh as much as you say you're not going to be your father like your parents, you know, like I'm I I'm like this weird mix of like my grumpy my grand my my very grumpy grandfather who raised me and my father who's a very soft spoken man. So I can fly off the handle, but then all right, let's let's sit down and talk. You know, it's it's this weird mix, and and when I watched Victor do that, I was like, yeah, I mean you you learn to parent from your parents, uh, unfortunately. And you know, most of us, lucky enough, have enough time with our kids that you catch yourself. You're like, Did I just do that? and and you s you kind of correct, you know, but unfortunately, uh Victor didn't correct until the end, until it was too late, and too bad he couldn't raise himself.
SPEAKER_01:Damn.
SPEAKER_03:Too bad that, you know, somehow Dr. Frankenstein couldn't return.
SPEAKER_01:Anthony, you have any last thoughts on Frankenstein or scenes you wanted to bring up?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I I did like the ending how uh was the Frankenstein's monster was like nice enough to like push the guys out of the ice.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, dude, he he had extreme broko.
SPEAKER_02:Dude, he almost tipped that ship over.
SPEAKER_01:I know.
SPEAKER_02:He's powerful, he's got that super strong, my I mean, like it's just it's it's crazy. But I mean, overall, I I I enjoyed it. I do agree in a sense that it did feel maybe a little bit on the longer side. But overall I did enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01:Very good. Yeah, I I also I also uh I you know I love I love long films, I love just getting lost in movies, but I do agree that I maybe checked the the time remaining uh a couple times throughout throughout this movie. Uh uh not that I wasn't enjoying it, I just it was just like, where is this going? You know? It was one of those. But ultimately, I think that this is a solid adaptation. It's not trying to be so close to the book that it's a one-for-one. It's clearly a kind of like a love child of the book, some aspects of the films that he uh that Guillermo likes, and just Guillermo putting more and injecting more into the story to make it his own. And I think that that was a really cool choice, uh, a narrative choice. And I yeah, the cast was great, the the movie was beautiful, and um I would absolutely watch this again.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Guys, thank you so much for listening to us here for our 144th episode of Project Geekology. You've you've just been Project Geek Colleged. No, that sounds weird. Um, but if you want to check out any of our socials, please be sure to check down into the show notes. Uh you can find uh anything else that we've been up to over there. You can check our our personal socials out. Um and yeah, guys, stay juicy, my friends.
SPEAKER_02:Peace out.
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