Fabulous Film & Friends
A podcast for the true cineaste. This podcast examines the impact great or memorable films have on us both personally and culturally. If you've ever bonded with someone or joined a lively discussion circle based on your love of cinema, this is the podcast for you.
Fabulous Film & Friends
Ep. 114 - 2025 Year END Review
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Happy New Year everyone ! And welcome to the 5th Annual Year End Review here at the triple FFF. We have a ginormous, star-studded show for you with an all star panel consisting of a who’s who of series regulars Alex Robertson, Roseanne Caputi, David Johnson, Kendrick Wright and all the way from El Paso, Joe Field!
Welcome everyone.
We’re just going to get right into it. So right off the bat, 2025 is the year that didn’t make up for the doldrums of 2024 and the pandemic years so we saw a lot of hand-wringing and ruminating online and in the media about the end of cinema.
But I contend that my theatrical film intake was the same as it’s ever been. I just wasn’t blown away by what I saw.
Was 2025 the beginning of the end?
Find out!
Watch the video podcast on youtube:
https://youtu.be/h2e4AE-Aao4
And now it's time for fabulous filming friends. Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to the fifth annual year-end review here at the Triple F. We have a ginormous star-studded show for you with an all-star panel consisting of a who's who of series regulars, Alex Robertson, Roseanne Caputi, David Johnson, Kendrick Wright, and all the way from El Paso, Joe Field. Welcome everyone. Acting Joe, where do you live now?
SPEAKER_01A much less auspicious town of Beazel.
SPEAKER_02Alright. It doesn't have the same ring, right? Alright, thanks for joining us. We're gonna get right to it. So, right off the bat, 2025 is the year that didn't make up for the doldrums of 2024 and the pandemic years, and so we saw a lot of hand-wringing and ruminating online and in the media about the end of cinema. So, first questions first. Alex, is this the end of cinema as we know it?
SPEAKER_06Uh maybe the end of one type of cinema, I'm hoping. I I'm hoping something rises from the ashes. And I don't know what it is, but there were movies that held out hope. Okay? That's what you get from.
SPEAKER_02Ken, you think this is the end of cinema?
SPEAKER_03Well, certainly not the end. The question is like, where are the creative people gonna appear from? I I do think there was one movie this year that what that did step up that I I was very surprised, and I was like, great, so we just need a little more of that coming along.
SPEAKER_01Joe, and the cinema? No, I I think that uh we have some things to hopefully look forward to in the future. Um I agree, I think that some things are starting to kind of die off, and people are questioning whether or not things that have been popular should continue to be popular. Um I'm I'm like a rom com, for example? Actually, I I was thinking I mean, I don't know. I was thinking more about superhero movies in general, but uh No, I think there's still gonna be the big event of I'm not saying they're gonna be gone immediately. I'm saying there's gonna be hopefully some changes, um, some shifts, hopefully, in direction.
SPEAKER_03Dave, from what I've seen. Oh sorry, well just jump into real fast. The funny thing is I didn't see any of them, but I've I've seen three superhero movies on the top ten lists. I'm like, what the hell?
SPEAKER_02Those are from pretty lowbrow top ten lists, I imagine. Dave, what do you think? End of cinema?
SPEAKER_04Um I mean I think cinema is struggling when I say cinema, obviously movies released in the theater. I think the streaming devices, you know, Netflix, stranger things, theory reviews. Um I think they need to have more creative, better movies. It's so much easier to watch them at home from your theater couch or whatever than though I love going to the movies in that whole thing. I I don't know if you know my family was in Stranger King series, and and I was surprised. I mean, it was huge.
SPEAKER_02You know, the the finale played in the theaters, did you go?
SPEAKER_04Um, I didn't go. We watched it in our at our house because we couldn't get tickets, they were sold out.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_04So yeah.
SPEAKER_02Roseanne, thoughts? End of cinema?
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, it's the end of cinema for me. So whether or not whether or not it is, you know, like I have to just sit and watch the death rattle and that sort of thing, it seems like that is what's happening. But in terms of me, you know, I used to go to the movies, like I would try to watch every best picture nominee and go see like four movies in a day, and all you know, that that's completely dead and over for me. So yeah, they've made me like this cynic. So yeah, it is the end of cinema.
SPEAKER_02Well, I I would kind of agree, except this year I I just counted it up. I went to the movie 23 times. Now, of course, you can scoff and say, well, that's because you have a podcast, and you get a very sizable tax deduction. But honestly, I I like still going to the movies, even though you know it's still a pastime for me. So I'm like, well, I think the movies suck, so it feels like I didn't see that many movies, but I saw probably more than or either more or the average. I'm sure I see about 20, 25 movies a year just going to the theaters.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, but you're like a you know, you're like a recovering alcoholic who's now just drinking like non-alcoholic beer. It's just a reflex. This year was the fucking O'Dules of cinema.
SPEAKER_02Well, fair enough. So that's the discussion. So I'm going to start off. So I s my my intake's the same as it's been. And in 2025, I saw Captain America Brave New World, a Minecraft movie, Nova Kane, The Accountant 2, Sinners, Thunderbolts, The Materialists, Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning, 28 Years Later, F1, Superman, Fantastic Four First Steps, The Phoenician Scheme, The Naked Gun, Weapons, Down Nabby the Grand Finale, One Battle After Another, Roofman, Predator Badlands, The Running Man, The Smashing Machine, The Housemaid, and Marty Supreme. And I think I do have five movies that I liked in there. So number one, the Phoenician Scheme. Number two, the Naked Gun. Shock. I actually loved it. Uh, number three, Marty Supreme, number four, Sinners, and number five, the Smashing Machine. Who wants to go next? Volunteers, who wants to go next with your list of movies that you've seen and the ones that you actually like? Doesn't have to be five.
SPEAKER_03Uh, I'll I'll go. Go, Ken. Um I have a terrible memory, so I don't actually remember all the movies I saw. I don't it's not a lot. Maybe I saw six, seven. Um, but um, I will number one, I'll say sitters. Number two, I will say well, this is actually a little tough. I'm gonna say the finishing team. Number three, I'm gonna say F1. Um are we doing five or are we doing three?
SPEAKER_02Whatever. We have five, list five.
SPEAKER_03Well, well, I just like like I say, I didn't see a lot, so almost all of them are gonna be my top five. I did see um uh Thunderbolts, but that's the that's the that's the um super move superhero movie, right? Yeah. I enjoyed it. Like, I'm not a big superhero movie fan. I don't go out and watch them all. I happen to see that one, and I it had the right tone for me. Like too many of the superhero movies are too grand or glossy or slick, and I liked that it was a downtone uh movie. I enjoyed it.
unknownOkay?
SPEAKER_02Anyway, who else? Who wants to go? Joe, lay it on me, lay it on me.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Okay, so uh the m I I didn't watch a ton, but uh I did watch Superman uh Fantastic Four First Step, The Naked Gun, um 28 Years Later, Nation's Game, uh Captain America, Brave New World, How to Train Your Dragon, and Mickey 17. Oh, it's a Mickey 17. Yeah. Um, so I would say that I don't it's hard to say that I have a specific order, but I do think that the Nation's game was a very fun and interesting movie that has some some good rewatch value. Um so I I would definitely put that up there. Um I also in a very different way, but I also enjoyed uh Take It Gun. Um I I for the first time watched the original uh like a month ago or so, and uh I enjoyed it for all of its ridiculous plastic humor um and felt that the new one kind of held on to some of that pretty well and also kind of continued with doing its own thing to some extent. Um so I enjoyed that. Um and I would say uh Fantastic Four. Um not that Fantastic Four was a particularly great movie, um, however, I really appreciated the kind of direction that it was going in with regards to the sort of superhero flick. Um it's something that didn't feel like it was ashamed of kind of picking up on the 1960s original Fantastic Four type stories. Um and kind of wasn't, like I said, I I mentioned this in the podcast before, didn't feel like it was ashamed of its source material. Um it wasn't trying to be something too different, you know, or trying to divorce itself from it.
SPEAKER_02Let me just jump in real quick because I have to apologize to my voluminous fans out there. Uh I I sounded when I did the podcast, I sounded like I loved the film, and then I s I bought a copy of it and I couldn't finish it. I was this it just does not have any re it's it's not the Phoenician scheme. You don't watch it again, go, oh I I forgot, or even I saw the naked gun twice. Second time through, I was laughing as hard as e as equally as hard as I did the first time. I just think it's a really funny movie. The um the Fantastic Four didn't hold up a second time. I was like, why did I buy why did I spend the $17 on this crap? You know, I was mad at myself for buying it. Like I just fell into the Marvel trap. It's it it's shiny, it's interesting, it's new, but it's a story is just not there. It's just not that's all. I just have to tell everybody it doesn't, it's it's not a film I want to see again, you know, and that's weird because I thought I did, but I actually don't.
SPEAKER_01I I think that's mostly I mean I I think that's mostly true for a lot of superhero movies, though. I I think that honestly, I mean, maybe people are gonna be very much in disagreement, but I think that in general they have a relatively low rewatch value unless it's been so long that you've forgotten many of the details.
SPEAKER_03But you know, if you had never seen um Phantas IV, would you have wanted to see it once? I don't understand your question, Ken. Well, well, on rewatching, you weren't that into it, but uh the first time you saw it, you liked it. So are you glad you saw it the one time?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sure. It's it's a it's a fine movie, but it's to me uh to me, uh a top five, top ten movie is something you want to see again, you know. Like sinners, I'd want to see it again. Yeah. All right, enough of my yak. Dave, what do you what do you got? Oh, I'm sorry, did are you finished, Joe? I'm done. Those are my top three. Dave, what do you got?
SPEAKER_04Hey, I'm going off memory. Phoenician scheme. Uh Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, F1, Valerie Um Naked Gun. Freaking your training dragon. Um there's a few other than that. Um was finished in the game. Um fantastic though. And surprisingly, I agree with you. Naked gun was I burst out laughing so many times in that. I was surprised. I was a little worried. That's why I was hesitant to watch it. My third choice, um, except for the ending when it when Quentin Carantino was 28 years later. My third choice.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Uh Alex?
SPEAKER_06Yes. Uh, when we talked earlier, I said I saw 12 movies. I jumped the gun on that one because I was anticipating going to see Marty Supreme today. We had a little bit of a crisis in the household. My poor wife slipped and fell in the bathroom. She's okay, but uh it was touch and go. So I decided no, we're not gonna go out. Uh so I saw 11 movies. Uh and my list comes down to, and I'm gonna give you top five. No, I want to hear all 11. List the eleven. Oh, okay, okay. Phoenician Scheme, Song Song Blue, Roof Man, One Battle After Another, Naked Gun, She Ride Shotgun, The Accountant 2, F1, Sinners, Weapons, and Materialists. And so I'll give you my top five right now as it stands, Sinners, and this is not in any order right now, but Sinners, Naked Gun, Phoenician scheme, scheme, weapons, and I'm gonna go with materialists. Uh, because uh, well, i one of the things we're talking about is the hope for cinema, the future of cinema are unique voices. And whether we agree with the material or whatever, I just thought this the the woman, somebody give her her name Jang.
SPEAKER_00I'm sorry, song.
SPEAKER_06Thank you. Uh I would like to see more of her work.
SPEAKER_02Well, there's the other film. What's the other film, Roseanne?
SPEAKER_06Past Lives.
SPEAKER_02Past Lives. That's the other film she did.
SPEAKER_06No, but uh uh Yeah, I think the biggest surprise was Naked Gun. What are the most pleasant surprises?
SPEAKER_02Because I was I didn't ask that question yet. We're gonna go around the panel.
SPEAKER_06Oh well, I just thought I would jump the gun anyway and just ruin it for everybody.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, all right. Well, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Okay, well, anyway, that's it. So that's what you get.
SPEAKER_02All right, Roseanne.
SPEAKER_00Can you refer to me as Miss Spaghetti?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sure. Bozo eating spaghetti. Um laugh every time. Every time bozo eating spaghetti.
SPEAKER_00Um like I said before, I think my favorite movie this year is just Benicio del Toro, because he Phoenician Scheme was the only film that I saw that I thought was like thoroughly good. But also his performance in one battle after another made me think for a second that I liked that movie and then realized I didn't. So Phoenician Scheme, Materialists, and Frankenstein would be my top three.
SPEAKER_02Wow, we nobody saw Frankenstein. But was that a wasn't that straight to Netflix? Doesn't that don't we have to strike that from the list?
SPEAKER_00How is that?
SPEAKER_02I wrote specifically in my instructions. My rules are if it has to play in the theater, otherwise it's like a it's like a straight to video movie, doesn't count.
SPEAKER_00Fine, then just Phoenician scheme and materialists.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, I saw more movies than that, but again, I can tell like Dave and I clearly have kids, so I saw the karate kid and you know, like Avatar Fire and Ash. Avatar.
SPEAKER_02Let's hey I want to go around the room. Besides you, Roseanne, having to see it, who wanted to who's seen, besides Roseanne, who's seen who watched Avatar Fire and Ash? No one. Okay, show of hands. Who wanted to see Avatar Fire and Ash?
SPEAKER_03Well, I still haven't heard anything about it. I'm I if somebody said that's a good movie, I would love to go see it. But if they say it's a shitty movie, I'm gonna not interest.
SPEAKER_02Okay, but based on Avatar 2, do you want to see Avatar 3?
SPEAKER_03Based on Avatar 1, I would see Avatar 3. Based on Aversar 2.
SPEAKER_02No, that's uh forget Avatar 1. After Avatar 2, would you say, oh boy, I can't wait for Avatar 3.
SPEAKER_03Oh, no, no, I mean I'm gonna wait until it is streaming or something.
SPEAKER_02No, I I I won't even see it with the library DVD. I'm I don't want I just don't care. I absolutely don't care. Dave, do you care about Avatar Fire?
SPEAKER_04Hell no. I have no interest in watching that.
SPEAKER_01Uh Joe? Avatar 3? I I watched the first one and felt no need to watch anything else. I didn't feel the need to watch the first one. I'm sorry. Did I hear my name?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh Alex. I'm sorry, Joe. Finish your thought since I interrupted you.
SPEAKER_01No, no. I was just saying I wasn't a huge fan of the first one, even when I was watching it. So no reason to watch anything beyond it.
SPEAKER_03All right. Well, here's just a question. Well, I'm sorry, can I just ask Roseanne? Like, what do you think? Awful, okay, fair?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like it's awful. Again, I don't even like the first avatar. And so the third one at this point is just like mind-numbingly stupid. It was better, like I said, it to Gino, it was like Matrix Revolutions compared to Matrix Reloaded. So it was mildly better than the second one, but still like garbage sauce. Um, so it's it's not like it's a war, what it should be is a silent, it should be like fantasia. It should be a silent film where you just get to watch these like images flit across your you know, transom or whatever, and instead it's just bogged down by the just absolute top gun idiocy of James Cameron and his inability to tell stories you know past 1988. So it was just awful.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, Alex, did you have any desire desire to did you see the second one? Did you see the first one?
SPEAKER_06I saw both. I saw the first two, and I was I was wowed by the first simply because of the 3D glasses. Yeah, you know, gone were the days of John Candy and Eugene Leffey, you know. But it was uh you couldn't help but walk away feeling I've seen that story before, but it was an experience. Uh and the second one was like I think I go with Joe. It's like the first was enough. You know, if he just would have stayed with the first, it would have been fine. There's your legacy, move on, do other things. But how many more of these is he planning on coming out with?
SPEAKER_02Well, that's the question.
SPEAKER_06See, so because this one is making movie, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_02Well, it sounds like that that's that's the point I'm trying to get to. So uh and Roseanne was sort of coerced by her son, which I understandable, you know. He he wants to see he wants to see the visuals, sure. But uh the first one I legitimately wanted to see and and actively went to the theater to see it, you know, right off the bat. Like, oh, I gotta see this. Second one, I did the same, thinking, well, Cameron's never let me down before, except at that point he'd done Terminator Dark Fate, so I was like, okay, he's he's swinging and missing. So absolutely hated it. It was just, you know, pound for pound, rehash, terrible, hated it. So I just thought there's no way I want to watch another rehash. I read some reviews and say it's a rehash. So, like, no, not gonna see it. No way. So, but here's my point. All in this panel of all six of us, nobody really wanted to see it. So, how the hell is it making a billion dollars? Who out there is going, I can't wait to see a three-hour rehash of the for the third rehash of a of a movie that's kind of boring to begin with. That's what I don't understand. How is this? How does this keep happening?
SPEAKER_03Well, I'll just give the very first one, like the the visuals were pretty mind-blowing, especially in the 3D. Sure. Um, I was I was blown away. Um, so I think there could just be this hope that okay, it's James Cameron, it's 2025. The visual aspect of the third one could, you know, hypothetically, it could be really, really, really good.
SPEAKER_00But again, I think as an idea. I think nostalgia has taken the place of storytelling, and it's just so unbelievably irritating. And so that's to me what keeps people going. Just like automatons, or you know, someone just like going towards the light of something they know. So that's superheroes, that's avatar, that's every what again, every single film that's out there. That's why they they've killed it for me. Because I'm like, I don't want to just keep seeing this over and over. And yet it's all they're giving me.
SPEAKER_02Well, that is that is for sure. The so uh it begs the question. Let's go around the room, what is the most original film you saw this year? Joe Field.
SPEAKER_01I mean Phoenician scheme. Like, I don't know. I'm not sure that I've seen a whole lot of I certainly haven't seen any other movies this year that were like it. Um and I'm not sure that I've seen a whole lot of movies before it that were similar um in either tone or but you haven't seen a lot of Wes Anderson as we discussed. True. Yeah, I mean my my exposure to Wes Anderson is pretty limited, but it was I mean, still I would say that like out of all the other movies that I've seen, it wasn't trying to be over I don't know, it wasn't a copy of something else, it wasn't a remake of something, because there were also, I mean Naked Gun and How to Train Your Dragon are both remakes, basically, of something, or you know, and then you've got all the superhero movies that are all just continuations of the same kind of stuff, also. Um or Superman's also a remake. Fantastic Four is also a remake if you want to be super technical, but I mean it's kind of Phoenician scheme scheme wasn't a remake of anything, it was its own thing and it was its own full contained self story. You know, there don't there's not gonna be another sequel for Phoenician scheme that I would ever anticipate. Um and there doesn't need to be, there shouldn't be. You know, you can have your own story and you don't have to have a big continuation with a bunch of things that link into it and have an after credit scene, you know.
SPEAKER_00Especially, and I wonder, like also endings of movies have become even more terrible than you usually scheme had the best film.
SPEAKER_02Roseanne, you're gonna have to repeat speaking your mic. It's not like you're wading through mud. Just repeat what you said. None of it came out. Did anybody hear what Roseanne said? No, no, you gotta you gotta repeat it just so I can edit it.
SPEAKER_00Okay. We were handling it. Oh, it's telling me that I have low dance. Yeah, I'm sure. Um, I'm just saying that I think all these unoriginal bastard movies have ruined the ends of films almost entirely. And I thought Phoenician Scheme had one of the best ends of a film I've seen probably in years, where the end actually, you know, puts the entire film into perspective, which again almost never happens because we're always just like, oh, and then there will be the other one, and then there's the other one, and then there's the other one, or whatever. Whereas Phoenician Scheme Sinners, though.
SPEAKER_02Sinners is a real I'd say Sinners is probably the most original movie, but the ending sucked.
SPEAKER_00The ending garbage. That's why, again, Sinners. I again can't I understand why you like it? I saw Sinners in the theater three times, which is why I was busy not seeing other films. But um I I liked what Ryan Kugler was go trying to go for, but the end is complete fucking garbage, yeah. And I just thought childishly wrought, and and I felt that way again. Unfortunately, about materialists, a film, if you're gonna talk about surprising, I was surprised by, and then the end was just the worst, and it ruined the tone, and there was just a whole heap of problems, and so that's why again, Phoenician scheme, even though I I have watched a lot of Wes Anderson movies, so it's well in line with that. But I just think the end was just beautiful, and and I think it made it into its own piece of art, uh separate from his other films, and certainly separate from any other film I saw this year.
SPEAKER_02I'd agree with that. I for sure. I mean, it's well we fortunately you weren't there for the podcast, but yeah, uh absolutely the ending was uh was a bonanza. Um, but so let's talk about materials for a second. Uh, just all you lunkhead sexist chauvinist pigs who didn't see it. Did you think it was a chick flick? Is that why you avoided it, Ken?
SPEAKER_03Uh I have no opinion of it whatsoever. I I don't it has not penetrated my concept.
SPEAKER_02Do you know what we're even talking about? You know what we were talking about? It's uh a Dakota Johnson from Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith fame. I like her. I do. And she's uh she's sort of the the the preview would make you believe she's in between crazy you know bohemian Chris Evans and uptight straight lace Preto Pascal. So you You know what?
SPEAKER_03I saw it.
SPEAKER_02I did see that.
SPEAKER_03You're you're ridiculous, Ken.
SPEAKER_05Grotesque, Ken.
SPEAKER_03Um I thought it was a fine middle of the road boat movie. I enjoyed um you know those characters. I do like Dakota Johnson. It was nothing special I as far as just basic entertainment.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I'm gonna be something special.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna fight back on that, Ken. That it was a women-based film that wasn't cutesy and annoying and clawing and stupid. It was actually fairly intelligent. My problem, my problem with it is that it was um it it it she kind of got insecure at the end and then made it a chick flick. Which is we were we were going on a pretty interesting film that dealt with with the the the the sort of what's the word? Um the the what's the word the uh of marriage, the the the bargaining quality, not bargaining, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Transactional transactional marriage.
SPEAKER_02Transactional quality of marriage, and then the idea that this can be dangerous to the point of a girl gets sexually assaulted because of one of her setup. It actually I when you say middle of the road, I mean, well, what middle of the road movie have you seen that's like this?
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, I guess you're right that the theme is certainly uh trying to be more substantive substantive than other like like this, almost seems like a rom com to a degree, but it's but it is more serious.
SPEAKER_00They marketed it like a rom-com. Yeah, they they market it like a rom com, but the content is substantive. The thing she's saying about human relationships is in no way middle of the road. And again, I'm sorry that no one saw um past lives, which was her her Korean, and I mean, maybe maybe you guys saw it, but it was really good, and she really does try to explore this. So, middle of the road to me is is something like a rom-com that's sometimes funny. This isn't a rom-com.
SPEAKER_02Middle of the road is the housemaid. Do you see the housemaid? That is middle of the road. That is squarely in the middle of the road. Like, okay. I'm I'm at the halfway point, I'm leaning over to my spoilers alert, spoilerts to all you beach readers who can't who don't want to be sure surprised. I said, I wonder if it's the husband who's the killer. And my wife said, My wife turns to me and goes, How did you know? And I'm like, Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00Well, again, though, I will still say they didn't know how to market it. And so a lot of people didn't see it, and and that I think is unfortunate. And then I understand why they didn't know how to market it, because the end they just get married anyway. So, anyway, regardless of it, it was surprising. That's all I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02I'd say it was I'd say it's it's a kind of contender for the most original film of the year because it's hey, we're we're talking about upscale white women in New York, and it's actually interesting. So I was like, Oh, that's that's a shock. This movie's actually interesting. Uh my problems with it were two twofold. She's a theater director, and and she seems like she's writing the polemic. You I'm surprised you didn't love it, Ken, because it was all polemics, you know.
SPEAKER_03Well, I know. And I did, I did, I mean, I didn't mind that part of it, but I thought you would hate it because of the polemics. But to me, I'm like, yeah, this is I I'm on board with this. Um, I didn't think it was like absolutely groundbreaking because it's not new to me. Um but they enjoyed it being presented.
SPEAKER_02It just sort of fell off, it just hit hit a wall and went and then dropped off the cliff because it where could you go with it? Alex, you want to talk about it?
SPEAKER_06Um you know what? Okay, so if we're gonna talk about polemics and dialectics and all that sort of stuff, that was one of the things that really drew me into the story early on. And I remember thinking this woman has to have a background in like epic theater. And sure enough, she was a big fan of Bertolt Brecht. And I do, and that's what I really liked about that first part of the movie, where uh I don't want to say that everything was delivered in a robotic way, but with Brecht, but it was less emphasized.
SPEAKER_02It was like a black like when I got it.
SPEAKER_06Not as obvious as the play that Chris Evans is in the world.
SPEAKER_02When he's in the play, when Chris Evans is in the play, I turn to my wife and said, This hardly feels different than the movie.
SPEAKER_06Uh I think now that the funny thing about that is that is that yeah, there there's a I think a Harold Pinter one act, which is exactly like that. A man and a wife sitting at a table aside from each other and just talking about really nothing in well, in the br uh the Pinter version, it's like he's saying more practical things and she's sort of dreaming of.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, that was it's the same thing. They're buried to their necks in sand and doing the same thing.
SPEAKER_06So in the Pinter police, they are sitting, literally sitting at a table. He's drinking a beer and she's just sort of in this reverie of gosh, I was so you know. I'm I don't know. But I like that. I just felt that they started losing that especially when you got to the really serious you know, when they mention the sexual assault, I mean, my wife and I were watching it together and she gasped. And it's like, you know, it was. I mean, in the midst of all this, you know, poetry and whatnot, this awful terrible act rears its ugly head, then I thought that the movie started to veer more toward melodrama. Um when she when she tries to confront the Sophie character. I th I don't know. I felt like they dropped the bomb on that one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I did too. I thought that it was not I I mean w watching it, and I don't quite recall what my reaction was specifically, but I remember thinking that like if I was these people, I would do it differently. Like you're you're kind of constructing this problem. Well, obviously, you know that the the salt is a big deal, but the way they address it, I'm like, I would do it differently, and it would be much more simple and and easily, you know, you wouldn't have this great angst over it. You get to the bottom of it and move up.
SPEAKER_00She has angst over it. To me, I think it made a lot of sense that she wanted to talk to her. She's again, she's always in like hyper conversation with every one of her clients, and so that's just how she reacts to these people. So her wanting to talk to her. I like the fact that a big thing about this movie, too, is not just men and women, it's it is about rich and poor. And it's one of the few films about dating that really talks about uh if you're wealthy, you have a better chance of ending up with someone you don't ex that doesn't suck. Again, that line of you're not ugly, you're just poor. Um I I think that hasn't been said in any movie, anyway.
SPEAKER_06I I don't think I uh no, I agree. And I I don't know if it's melodrama.
SPEAKER_00I felt like the assault stuff went along with her character. I felt like towards the end, as she gets with Chris Evans, that's when it sort of trays me.
SPEAKER_02When they kiss in the bar and the movie's over. When I I I pause because I was getting tired of it, and then I paused it and I go, Oh crap, we got a half an hour left. I'm like, what is there more to say?
SPEAKER_06Well, see, I think it's uh the probably the problem with sinners, you have these false endings. It could have ended in a better way. I loved, you know, when they crash the wedding and they have that case and he walks off. Yeah, you know, because it did I it, you know, there is that disparity between rich and poor. What is this all about? You know, and I love the fact that you don't despise Dakota Johnson. She as you I don't know if you said she's anal in some way or just the way she is.
SPEAKER_02I I don't know. She says very she's very uh analytical.
SPEAKER_06Well, yes.
SPEAKER_02Well, the other kind of Yeah, but I was like Ken that I said I'm surprised you don't have your your materialist poster on your wall. It was like the analytical movie.
SPEAKER_06You had to admire the way she has all of her ducks in a row. It's got to be this way and this way and this way. There's you know, even though there's always a little bit of room for deviation, but uh you know, uh again, it was I don't think I've ever seen a movie like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'd say it was original. It didn't seem like oh, this seems like you're like I I thought it was turning the whole chick flick thing on its ear, the whole sex in the city thing on its ear, and I thought, oh, this is pretty good until it ran out of gas.
SPEAKER_06That's you know, or that point where you're like, you know, at some point Jack Black or Jude Law are gonna walk in the door and forget about it. But no, I um anyway.
SPEAKER_02We're poor Dave and Jude. So enough. Uh so materialist okay. Uh to my our our listeners out there, materialist is worth seeing. It was just disappointing, I felt.
SPEAKER_06Well, like a long time.
SPEAKER_03Okay, and I'll and I'll just revise mine like not middle of the road is in mediocre. It was good. I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_00Just not, you know, not elevated to literally what middle of the road means, Ken. That's confusing.
SPEAKER_02You need to see the housemaids, Ken, to understand what middle of the road means.
SPEAKER_06It's that meaty part of the middle of the road that's got the nice view with the little trellis garden and all that.
SPEAKER_02All right, getting back, getting back so we can all so we can all talk. Uh let's just uh just consensus uh around the around the panel as fast as we can. Alex, best move of the year. Phoenician scheme. Ken, best move of the year.
SPEAKER_03Uh Phoenician scheme.
SPEAKER_02No, sinners. Dave, best move of the year.
SPEAKER_01Phoenician scheme.
SPEAKER_02Joe, best move of the year.
SPEAKER_01Phoenician scheme.
SPEAKER_02Roseanne.
SPEAKER_00Phoenician scheme.
SPEAKER_02I'm at Phoenician Scheme. So this we're just, boy, this is just an inbred podcast for because nobody is saying Phoenician Scheme is the best. Have you ever ready lists? Is Phoenician Scheme the number one movie of the year?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02What is?
SPEAKER_00New battle after one.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so New York uh film circle critics circle, whatever the hell they're called, they they listed one battle after another. Oh, everyone. Which leads me to what is the biggest disappointment of the year? Alex! One battle after another.
SPEAKER_03I didn't see enough movies to be super disappointed. I actually enjoyed one battle after another. It wasn't great, but I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_02Dave, biggest disappointment.
SPEAKER_04For me, personally? Yeah. Uh Mission Impossible. Yeah, that's actually.
SPEAKER_02Wait a minute. We've done podcasts every podcast about how lame those movies are.
SPEAKER_04Let me pick another one. Okay, Ballerina.
SPEAKER_02Oh. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Even though Anna DiArmas is in it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, that would be disappointing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02My biggest disappointment of the year outside of the screen is her dating Tom Cruise. It's like, oh my God. I thought I liked this screen. For real? Yeah, they were dating. Oh.
SPEAKER_04That says everything about her. That just ruins it even more.
SPEAKER_02Joe, best movie of the year. Or biggest disappointment. No. Biggest disappointment. Superman. Superman. Okay. Roseanne?
SPEAKER_00Uh, definitely one battle after another.
SPEAKER_02And I'm I'm again. Boy, we're just birds of a feather, one battle after another. And it's disappointing because Paul Thomas can just so we have to explain this to you. He's made such great movies, it's just a shock to see. Like he no doubt about it. Vinicio del Toro, there's lots of great stuff in it. But just lazy, lazy, lazy filmmaking and storytelling, especially with Sean Penn. But if you heard our podcast, we go in deep. It's just so lazy, you know, where he's he's so he's so cunning and yet he falls for the white supremacist, burning him alive at the end. It's like, ugh, it's just stupid, just lame.
SPEAKER_00I have to say though, too, Sinners. Actually, Sinners was a really big disappointment to me as well.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's your number two disappointment.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, is it your number one? If you've changed your you've changed in terms of what I was looking forward to, then yeah, I would have to say Sinners. I would say Sinners was the bigger disappointment just because I wanted it to be fucking hardcore, man. I really did it. And it wasn't. Well, I wanted him to make up for me having made Black Panther, and I wanted this to be it.
SPEAKER_05And I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I felt like the same filmmaker who made Black Panther made this, which was a bummer.
SPEAKER_03Well, I thought I was watching a movie about two brothers uh starting a um a speakeasy, and I was down like imagined by the time you got to the end of it, you were like, This is awesome.
SPEAKER_00I get that. Sure.
SPEAKER_02All right, worst movie of the year. Joe Field.
SPEAKER_01Uh worst movie of the year. Um the ones that I saw, I would probably say how to train your dragon.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's your fault for going. It is. I mean, it really is. Let's get let me just start a one-minute rant. Why does anybody go to these? The first time I saw one of those live action remakes, I'm like, why the hell would I go to this? This is so stupid. You know, like it's just to me, it's no different than going to see Snow White or whatever ice capades or something. Like, what do you expect? It's just it's a reenactment of a cartoon. So I just I don't know. But Joe, what curiosity, why were you like, hey, maybe this will be good?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I wasn't. Um, I was invited by other people, and I was like, okay, I guess I should try to be social occasional. Okay. Fair enough, fair enough.
SPEAKER_02But did you ever see like the jungle book? I remember I went to the jungle book, like, why did I watch this? This is just a No.
SPEAKER_01I I I on a principle level, I hate remakes of things. Like, especially like the whole, like, oh, it was animated, so what's the live action gonna be? It's like, no, it the animated was its own feature, and if it did well, you don't need to remake it. Right. Like the ones that are I mean, try remaking something that was yeah. It's it's a movie all on its own. It's not like, oh, now here's the real version of this. Right, no. You know, it it's it it it also, I feel like, disrespects like animation as its own sort of the genre and art form and everything else, saying, like, oh, well, the real version, you know, the live action one, that's the that's the important when you look at when it's really just a crash.
SPEAKER_02When I saw How to the Trainer Dragon the Pre-Vo, I I can barely tell the difference between the two. I mean, honestly, it's it's identical. It's like in terms of and not even forget the plot. I'm just talking about the look. It looks exactly the same. Like, what's the difference? The kid still looks fake. The kid, the real kid actor still looks like he's like CG cartoon. You know, I'm like, uh, there's no way. So anyway, that's kind of a let that and karate kid. So the kind of like, no way I'm going. Avatar. I'm just not going to how to train your dragon. Sorry. Uh moving on. Sorry, Joe. Roseanne, what's the biggest disappointment? Wait, what are we on? No, worse, worse, worse, worse, worse. Roseanne, what's the worst film of the year?
SPEAKER_00Uh, Five Nights and Freddy's Two.
SPEAKER_02No. The two of you are coming up with the obvious. Anything juicy? Anything like surprising?
SPEAKER_00What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02Like, okay, so I'm gonna I'm gonna go next. I'm gonna go next and get controversial. The worst film, not only of the year, but of the decade. Oh, here we go. Downton Abbey, the grand finale.
SPEAKER_00It is so that's so controversial. I hope the fans come after you. I hope they finally do.
SPEAKER_02No, but what Ken would call middle of the road, I'd find insultingly stupid. Just like this is what this is what people want in movies. Just tired homespun adages and and just the the worst sort of pontificating and smarmy moralizing. You you just couldn't, I just couldn't believe it. It was like I like my wife's like, oh, you want to go to this movie? I really want to see this movie. And I'm like, uh, fine. I need thought I needed an editing break the whole time. I'm looking at my watch and scoffing and groaning. And and Nina's like, I'm never going to a movie with you again. But and it's so cheesy. There's no there's no conflict. There's no conflict in it. Nothing happens. I was gonna ask, I was gonna ask, what's the plot? Great question. There's a confidence man, and he's out to get money from the Downton Abbey crew. And our our girl, Michelle Dockery, sleeps with this con played by Alessandro Navola, who's you know, that's like Jerome Crabet. When you cast him, you're like, okay, obviously he's gonna be the sleazy confidence man, you know. So when she sleeps with him, it's like, uh, this is so predictable. He's gonna take her money, he's gonna take her money. And and then it's okay, you think the family's gonna get together and figure it out? No, they're they're at a racetrack, and some random schmo, extra 101, goes, Sir, that man is a confidence man. And then they're like, Oh, oh, Paul Mao is a confidence man. And so Michelle Doctor goes up and all of a sudden with Divolo and goes, I hope you I hope you're you think you're victims when you think or some I hope you remember your victims when you think of this. And he the cuts to him, like he goes, like it's the worst movie.
SPEAKER_00And then poor uh mission impossible is better. Yes, like resoundingly better.
SPEAKER_02It's okay, they're of a type, sure.
SPEAKER_00Again, these are trap, these are preferences. I I just loathe at this idea of just like bird brain mal gays and women, you know.
SPEAKER_02Okay, but mission impossible is impossible is for popcorn stuffing chumps who love football. Fine, fine, and I again I there's no quality either.
SPEAKER_00One is better than the other, both are reprehensible.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm just saying, I don't know, maybe because I'm a guy, I can handle Mission Impossible. I'm laughing with and at Mission Impossible. But Downton Abbey, I just wanted to leave. I'm like, this is horrifying, this is so bad.
SPEAKER_03Well but you know, you put your finger on it. You said maybe because I'm a man I can deal with Mission Impossible. Well, if you're a woman, maybe you could deal with men.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00But they love it. I'm a woman and I can deal with Mission Impossible.
SPEAKER_03Okay, but Miss Impossible. I'm saying Gino thinks it's utter garbage. I'm saying if he came from a different perspective, it may not be. So Mission Impossible.
SPEAKER_00Mission Impossible is just as garbage.
SPEAKER_02Mission Impossible is just as dumb for sure. It's just as dumb. Fine.
SPEAKER_00Okay. That's all I that's all I want. That's all I want. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Alex, worst movie of the year. The Accountant 2.
SPEAKER_06Oh my god. I think it did too. I think it forgot the first movie. I mean, the first movie wasn't great, but it had something. But then it becomes like a stupid buddy movie, like this weird buddy movie. And you got rid of Anna Kendrick, who was a very interesting part of the first film. She brought this dynamic, and now it's well, you know, it's like magic.
SPEAKER_02Accountant. Accountant two is like magic micro XXL or whatever. It's everything you thought the first shit with you like the first movie's surprisingly watchable. Like I saw the accountant went, oh, that was that was okay. That wasn't the worst. Yeah. That's middle of the road, Ken. It's a fine middle of the road little pot boiler. Meh little movie. But the sequel is just irritating. It's just okay. Now they think they've got a they've got some sort of thing going with John Bernthal and uh Ben Affleck, and they just didn't.
SPEAKER_06It just doesn't work. I mean, as a as a no, as a okay. Yeah, it just doesn't work.
SPEAKER_02It's terrible. Kenny. Ken, worst movie of the year? Do you remember the worst movie of the year?
SPEAKER_03Well, like like I say, I have to I have to bow out I didn't see enough to like the movies I saw I either liked or thought were mediocre. There was none that I thought were terrible. So there's no worst movie. Yeah, I mean maybe somebody like like if you went through your list again, maybe I'd pick one up, but um from my brain I can't pick a one.
SPEAKER_06F1. F1 that would have been my no, I enjoyed that more. That was the biggest math for me. I'm sorry, I know, but I I was waiting for Tom Cruise to show up in that movie. It's like Brandon. Oh yeah, but it was just, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Literally in the title, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's pretty much Dave Johnson. Worst.
SPEAKER_04So as bad as how to train your dragon was, um I would have to say Freak Your Friday takes it for me.
SPEAKER_06I didn't know they made a sequel. I guess they did, huh?
SPEAKER_04I mean they released the original. What's that?
SPEAKER_06With the original, with Lindsay Lohan?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and uh what's her name? Jimmy Curtis. Jimmy Curtis. Yeah. And uh and I I asked my wife if she wanted to go to Downton Abbey because she loves British accents. Yeah, and she said no, so I dodged a bullet on that one.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's it's it's a it's a cornballer too.
SPEAKER_04I would have but she didn't want to go, so we went to Pre Cure Friday instead. I think they were out this close to the same time.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. But it's yeah, it's not that great.
SPEAKER_02Well, okay, so I I want to bring up the probably there's some controversy here because and I and I'm sorry to leave those of you who didn't see weapons, but weapons was really touted as this new like master of horror. Worst movie of the year. Oh, weapons. See, that there's that's a con there that's a controversial take because most people it got a 93% on uh Rotten Tomatoes. Oh it made it made 300 million worldwide, it's a big hit. Um, and it the the script caused a bidding war for the budget of the film, so the director got 38 million dollars to make that film, which is why he had all these stars and all these thankless parts. Justin Long. What happened, baby? Justin Long was he was Schmo number five. I couldn't believe it. You know, he like he didn't even get top billing, he got like a little name in the credits. Like, what the hell happened to Justin Long? It was sad, you know. But um anyway, he he lined his cast with with top stars, and I just thought it was okay, it was an hour and a half of the some of the most creepy, well-lit filmmaking I've ever seen, and then it just revealed its plot and jumped off a cliff. So I don't think it was the worst, but I didn't I didn't like it.
SPEAKER_03I would say that it was um very interesting, like a setup like eerie, like what's gonna happen, and then internally dull, and then jumped off a cliff.
SPEAKER_02I didn't think it was dull. Anyway, Alex, what do you think, sir? You liked it.
SPEAKER_06I did. Look, I I liked it for this year's Krampa movies. Is it the greatest? No. But I think what's his name, Zach Krager? Yeah I think so. I think he's somebody I'd be curious to see what he can do down the road. If he can, you know, if he can square the deal and finish the sale, as you would say.
SPEAKER_02Um finish the sale to the tune of 38 million.
SPEAKER_06Yes, he did. I like money too.
SPEAKER_02Um and that that's 38 million about a movie in a s in a town with a couple roads.
SPEAKER_06Pretty much. Yeah, yeah. Pretty much. Um, but I I I do like the setup. I mean, it was genuinely the the way it was paced, and there was just that sense of dread throughout. And there were some heavy-handed moments. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03The the first half hour I enjoyed. Like I was I was waiting. I was like, I'm waiting, I'm waiting. Oh, this is gonna happen. And but then after like a half hour, I'm like, well, nothing's happening. It's and then they finally go into the house, and I'm like, well, I'm no longer uh in suspense. Now I'm just a little like, what the hell?
SPEAKER_06That's a good point.
SPEAKER_02Well, once once they reveal Amy Madigan as sorry, folks, those of you who are gonna get spoiled on this.
SPEAKER_06Uh well, it's been out long enough, they should know by now.
SPEAKER_02She's a witch, and that's it. Like, what? Witch? That's your guess.
SPEAKER_03I literally she's the aunt, right? With the ant that came to visit or something. So I got to that, I got to that reveal of her, and I literally just turned it off. I just couldn't, I couldn't.
SPEAKER_02Wait, you didn't finish it? I didn't. Oh, well, boo to you, Ken. I mean, hell, I finished the accountant too. And I finished I didn't walk out of Downton Abbey. You should you need to finish these movies.
SPEAKER_03So well, in fact, that's the first that's probably the first movie I didn't finish in like I I probably may have not finished three movies in my life, and that was one of them.
SPEAKER_02Well, again, I I then it goes crazy, and then the then all the possessed kids just start smashing the shit out of the whole neighborhood, and then you think, okay, this is just getting into comedy now. And then I'm right, well, it's a satire, it's a satire of the whole missing children's genre. And I'm like, Well, okay, but uh uh whatever. You had a mood and you broke it. And I've I'm I can respect that because I've long wanted to do it. But if you're gonna do it, do it for real. You know, if you're gonna break that mood, just go crazy with it. Because I just thought what is going on at this.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's kind of the problem is once the witch, once the aunt came and then she's a witch, then it's like anything is possible. Any anything is a conspiracy.
SPEAKER_02And again, I could live with a coven of witches, I could live with the politicians or a coven of witches, I could live with some sort of global conspiracy because it felt like it. Like, ooh, where'd these kids go? How come everybody's nobody's doing a thing to find them? And then you find out it's just like, oh, that's just because everybody's stupid. You know, oh, okay. So they can't find the kids because they're they're morons. Oh, fine, great. Okay, so that's all. It's so so Dave, Joe, sorry to leave you out. Roseanne, sorry to leave you out. It's I just had to get it out there because it was such a oh, a new voice in horror. Like, what? Highest bidded horror script in years. Like that all the studios are bidding for this script. I'm like, oh my god, this is where Roseanne, it is the end of cinema. If this script about a witch played by Amy Madigan of all people, is uh is the film, you know. Anyway. Okay, so last question. We're almost done, folks. Uh, what are you most looking forward to in 2026? Joe Feel.
unknownOh wow.
SPEAKER_01Uh honestly, I haven't really looked into the you know, say it's in two way.
SPEAKER_02Say Avengers Doomsday, just say it.
SPEAKER_01But I'm not looking forward to that. Uh ever since they mentioned Robert Downey Jr., I'm like, oh okay, they're just going for nostalgia again. Like they're they're trying to replace all the mistakes that they've made with trying to go in new directions with things like quantum mania, uh, which again was horrible. Um, and just being like, oh, well, in that case, our best option is to not do something different, is to do exactly the same thing we have been doing, which means rehiring Robert Down Engineer. Um, and it's like okay, I think that you are out of idea.
SPEAKER_02Did you see that trailer with Chris Evans? I've got to say that was a disappointment.
SPEAKER_01I haven't seen any of the trailers.
SPEAKER_02I I haven't I haven't cared it now. He's back. Shh, surprise, surprise. No, I gotta say, the the material, getting back the materialists, which is funny, because I've seen two films with Chris Evans. He where he was in there's one called London, and the other one's called Before We Go. He made he directed a movie called Before You Go with Alice Eve from Star Trek. Uh Star Trek Into Darkness. He did this movie where he and Alice Eve walk around New York talking about relationships the whole time. And then this movie London is him and Jason Stateham in a bathroom at a party talking about a girl for two hours. So he likes these movies where people talk relationships. He's it's like Roger Rabbit and shaving a haircut, you know. He's oh wow, this is the best, the materialist is what I've the film I've always wanted to do, a film where I get to talk about relationships, you know. So it's like he's drawn to these babies, but they don't make any money. So there he is back in uh Captain America. So I just thought, oh, lame. This he died, let him die. I mean, that's just lame. You know, live okay. You Falcon was a big bomb, fine, or Captain America Brave New World. And again, we didn't talk about it because it's not we're talking about, but it wasn't the worst of the films. People are just mad about it. Like it was fine. And honestly, Joe and I talked about it. Captain America Brave New World was about as good as any other, you know. You know, we there were things we liked about it. It just was an underwhelming action movie for sure, but it it was fine. Um the but they just because they hyped up Captain America's replacement too much. Just let it die. You know, that's that's what I say. So I'm seeing Chris Evans, I was like, wow, they're they're just they got nowhere to go. They just so it's rehashed city, so re revive them. Anyway, Dave Johnson, what are you looking most for to?
SPEAKER_04Uh I haven't looked at 2026, but 2027 I'm ready for the new Batman 2. So I was asking about that.
SPEAKER_06So it's not coming out this yeah, it's not coming out this year. 2027.
SPEAKER_042027. That was my favorite Batman of all time. Speaking of superheroes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Well, that nothing in 2026. I don't even know Avengers.
SPEAKER_04I can't wait. I don't I haven't even I haven't even looked that far out, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, Jay did Ken, have you have you looked at the current crop of movies coming that'll keep this this whole industry alive? Well, there's uh of the Marvel crop, there's Spider-Man and uh there's the Avengers. And I go us me being a wor a long, lifelong Spider-Man fan, I'll I'll probably see that in the theaters. I don't know about Avengers. Do you expect it to be good? I don't know. Do you expect it to be good? I I don't know. I you know, it's they you know the here's the thing about Marvel, they go, Oh, we're gonna go back to a street level movie with Spider-Man and just the Kingpin and like the street level villains. I'm like, oh, good, good, good. And then they then you find out the Hulk's in it, and like, okay, forget it. You know, I can't resist.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, uh the Hulk and Marvel. I'm looking forward to Wuthering Heights in February.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, I that has my I'm definitely um curious about that one. It's uh I suppose we'll we'll have to do the the ultimate Wuthering Heights smackdown on that one. There, I said it here, so I have to I have to hold to it. Yeah, we'll do a Wuthering Heights smackdown, all the great weathering heights. Why?
SPEAKER_00Again, we've talked about this because the best weathering heights is TV.
SPEAKER_02Well, we'll we'll make an exception.
SPEAKER_00All right.
SPEAKER_02All right, Alex, anything? Uh the bride?
SPEAKER_06Ah, yeah. Um, and I mean, come on, you got you got you got Jesse Buckley. I got a thing for Jesse Buckley. Um I there's something about no, she's I'm surprised she's not further along, but she's she's putting in a good body of work. And I'm curious, I don't know if Hamnet counts because it was released in 2025, but it's getting its major release in 2026.
SPEAKER_02Is that an Oscar contender, by the way? I don't know.
SPEAKER_06Maybe that's what they're trying to do. And I guess if there's one other movie, uh werewolf, Robert Edgers. I'm hoping he can do something. Yeah, but not until Christmas Day. Oh, and uh oh, and Fokers 4. Not what is it? Never the Fokers. Oh meet the parents, oh really? The fourth! The fourth one? They're going for it. Oh, they're going for it, baby.
SPEAKER_03And you said and it's in the question of a cinema dead. Come on.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you are real thoroughly.
SPEAKER_02Getting back to that topic, I just think it's it's just create the interest in films we want to see, right? You know, okay, so is art house cinema dead? Are documentaries dead? Yeah, probably. Why are you gonna pay to see a documentary in the theater when you can get it at home? I so I think that's probably it's probably the death of documentaries for sure. But I don't think so.
SPEAKER_03Well, no, but because you can get them at home, documentaries are are very, very strong. You just get them at home and not in the cinema, but they're very strong.
SPEAKER_02That's what I mean. I mean as a theatre, as I mean, I'm sorry, theatrical theatrical viewing of documentaries.
SPEAKER_00First of all, documentaries I think has stayed the same most of the the time.
SPEAKER_02Like, no, I know like no way. I work in this industry. The film festivals, they're they're just not it's just not the same. They they don't even play, they just have them on streaming now. You know, even in the film festival world, they just stream documentaries for people to judge. They don't even have a theatrical viewing of a lot of them. So it's it's not the same. I mean, it has to be like a big ticket, you know, the the Paul Rubens or something big in order to get a theatrical, you know, it's like uh the Broadway Rocky musicals. They're just in order to get the butts and seats, it has to be sort of like this populist thing. So doc I know documentary viewing has gone down, but and obviously dramas and comedies are gonna go down because and that's a disappointing thing about Naked Gun. It wasn't a very big hit, you know, and I didn't see it in the theaters. I didn't see it in the theaters because I didn't think it was gonna be any good. So I was just like, yeah, I'm not gonna pay to see that. And then lo and behold, I'm cracking up. So, you know, that's that's the thing. I just think theaters are probably going to be just event movies. But make the event movies better. You know? If you're only gonna do one movie and you're gonna spend $300 million on it, can't you just really work on the script where it's not crap? You know?
SPEAKER_00I don't think that's the way it's headed.
SPEAKER_02Well, again, Marty Supreme, uh, I didn't we didn't talk much about it, but I liked Marty Supreme a lot. But the problem is the Safety brothers make things so exhausting and unrelentingly unpleasant that I couldn't just say I enjoyed it. It I walked out feeling like I just survived a car crash. But it's all really good. It's just they they have this sort of pressure cooker like writing and directing style where you're just like, oh, geez, you know, you know, you sort of hate your care the character in a way, and then but you know, you they're they're great filmmakers and they're good writers. Um, but they they just have a way of making things so unrelenting like in this movie, it just got a little unpleasant for me. Not that I'm it was bad. I just it was that was the point of it. I just was like, did I enjoy it? I don't know. I don't know. I I think, you know, so that's all. Um, but it's it's a great they're they're great writers. Now Smashing Machine, I didn't say anything about that. Uh, real quick, it just seemed convenient the other Safety brothers. So Josh Safty did um uh Marty Marty Supreme, and then Ben Safty did the Smashing Machine, and that was good, but that was like a just your standard biopic. Well done, good acting. It's it's shot like it's on like 90s video cameras, so it looked like the whole time it looked like you know the WWF or something, it just had this very 90s video look to it, which I thought was cool.
SPEAKER_00So, what you're saying though with the Safety Brothers by your discussion of the Safety Brothers is that yes, there is there are some sort of signs of life in cinema.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that's what I'm saying. Thank you. You're saying like Shell Me Gill.
SPEAKER_00You're saying like event movies, 300 million should be better, and then you're talking about the Safety Brothers. Do those films not belong in theaters, then?
SPEAKER_02I mean, I think they do. I think they do. Okay, but it's it's but they don't find their audience. Like Smashing, I don't think the Smashing Machine found its audience. It'll probably find its audience on video or on streaming, you know, because it is a good movie, but it's not a great I don't think it's an amazing movie. Uh Marty Supreme, that's different. That is sort of a big budget extravaganza in terms of uh a cinema. It's it's is a good, great looking film, and it's it's just a little unrelenting, that's all. Um, anyway, yeah, that's my point, is it's gonna take really great filmmakers to to fill those seats. Anyway, everybody's thoroughly bored by this.
SPEAKER_04So well, thank goodness for uh Christopher Nolan then.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's it. That's right. The Odyssey. Oh, I'm looking forward to that. I am looking for that. I will you know, say what you will about Christopher Nolan. This looks like a big epic movie. I'm I'm curious about it.
SPEAKER_00I will say whatever I feel about Christopher Nolan. Yeah, I'm certain I will be right and that we will be stupid.
SPEAKER_02Okay, whatever it's stupid or not, it looks interesting. You know, just like Oppenheimer looked interesting, I just didn't like it. But uh I I'm I'm I'm kind of like, yeah, I uh say what I say what you about Christopher Nolan. This looks like an interesting film, at least something I want to see.
SPEAKER_00Well, it does feel like what this podcast is saying tonight is that if it's like epic, you'll people will see it in theaters. Yeah, but then weapons isn't saying that. So there's a it's difficult trying to find a common thread with films that are hits and films that aren't, especially Marvel isn't working anymore. So say say you're not me and you don't think cinema is dead, then it is difficult to find the common denominator of what is keeping it alive. And maybe we're too old to tell. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Well, again, looking at my son, Dante just watching Naked Gun, arms folded, didn't laugh once. Just like, what is this? I'm watching. It's just not the the Gen Z and Gen Alpha, they're just not interested in film. He he had no reference for any of the jokes, and he didn't like it, and he just doesn't like movies, and he likes movies, but they don't like going to the theater as much as as we do. You know, they've got they've got other interests.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, okay. I think that's true.
SPEAKER_02But so they only like stupid shit like Spider-Man and everything. And well, again, I like it too, so who am I to who am I to judge them? But I'm just saying that's when they'll go to the theater. Like they all went to my all my kids went to Five Night at Freddy's too. They all went to see it.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so who but who made weapons the hit that it was?
SPEAKER_02Teen horror fans, and we all know horror fans love everything, you know?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so just like horror fans encompassing Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z?
SPEAKER_02I think so. I think people just love horror across the board.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so you could also say that but people don't like comedies because if we're thinking about it, okay, Naked Gun should have been a hit. But what comedies were big hits in 2025? I'm just trying, again, I'm trying to find the pattern.
SPEAKER_02There is no pattern. It's just the box office is down. But look, Brave New World wasn't a hit, Fantastic Four wasn't a hit, Superman. They're called they're calling it a hit, but it wasn't a hit. It it broke even, it made a little bit, but it wasn't a giant hit.
SPEAKER_03So well, I'll say that um you know, Sitters was um that was a big hit. What's my point? Yeah, exactly. But but a but an original movie, not a blockbuster, like an interesting original movie that caught fire with an audience. And so that gives me a little bit of hope that directors will see that. Like, hey, if I bring something new and different, you know, there's still an audience for it. The thing is, there's very little that's new and different, and so we're all a little bored. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. All right. Well, thank you, everybody. Anyone, any last words, Alex? No. Good talk, good talk. All right, talk. Happy New Year, New Year.
SPEAKER_04Happy New Year. Happy New Year.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for listening to Fabulous Film and Friends. Copyright 2026, a Belar Films production.