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
LONELY LIL' SPACEMEN: The Martian & Project Hail Mary - Ep. #120
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Boy, it sucks to be stranded in space!
On this 120th episode of the Triple FFF we’re going to chip away at the rock solid box office pairing of Author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard as we discuss their two sci fi smash hits, 2015’s The Martian directed by Ridley Scott and starring
Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Michael Peña, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, MacKenzie Davis, Donald Glover, and Jeff Daniels along with
2026’s Project Hail Mary directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller and James Ortiz as the lovable and wacky alien Rocky.
Returning to the show to discuss these crowd-pleasing and visually spectacular space epics is none other than Dr. David Johnson, DMD, whom I’ve called upon as a secret weapon in the last three films we’ve discussed because they were squarely in his wheelhouse: dancing and strutting his stuff with Michael, putting on a tough fit with Prada 1 & 2 and now his biggest passion and strength, HARD SCIENCE.
Before we drift into deep space, the synopses:
In the Martian, astronaut Mark Watney is impaled and presumed dead during a wicked Martian storm which causes his crew of astronaut/explorers to launch an emergency evacuation. Alive, wounded and alone on Mars Watney must use science, engineering, and endurance to survive long enough for Earth to mount an impossible rescue mission.
In Project Hail Mary, Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut suffering from memory loss, awakens aboard a spacecraft on a desperate deep-space mission and gradually discovers he is humanity’s last hope against a cosmic extinction event. Along the way, he encounters an alien astronaut from another species sent on a similar mission to protect its own civilization.
Can the two work together to save their respective planets?
Are these films fabulous or fails?
Find out!
Watch the podcast on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/KqQbMzJx6wY
And now it's time for fabulous filming friends. On this 120th episode of the Triple F, we're going to chip away at the rock solid box office pairing of author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard as we discuss their two sci-fi smash hits 2015's The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chuitel Ediofor, Kristen Wigg, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Mackenzie Davis, Donald Glover, and Jeff Daniels, along with 2026's Project Hail Mary, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and starring Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hewler, and James Ortiz as the lovable and wacky Alien Rocky. Returning to the show to discuss these crowd-pleasing and visually spectacular space epics is none other than Dr. David Johnson DMD. Dave, welcome back.
SPEAKER_05Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_03Always a pleasure to have you, Dave. Say, warm us up by giving us your best Rocky the Alien impression. For a second I thought I was in outer space trying to converse with an alien.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's as good as I got, Gene.
SPEAKER_03Sorry. That was awesome. That's better than any of Alex's impressions. All right. Before we know what I said, though.
SPEAKER_05What's that?
SPEAKER_03I don't know what I don't know what I said, but I said family is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_05Oh, I didn't know this is a fast and furious episode. Are we talking about Lou Toretto or Dom Toretto? Dom Toretto, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Dom. Hey Dom. It's about family. Okay, before we drift in dripped, before we drift into deep space, the synopses. In the Martian, astronaut Mark Watney is impaled and presumed dead during a wicked Martian storm, which causes his crew of astronaut explorers to launch an emergency evacuation from the planet. Alive, wounded, and alone on Mars, Watney must use science, engineering, and endurance to survive long enough for Earth to mount an impossible rescue mission. In Project Hail Mary, Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut suffering from memory loss, awakens aboard a spacecraft on a desperate deep space mission and gradually discovers he is humanity's last hope against a cosmic extinction event. Along the way, he encounters an alien astronaut from another species sent on a similar mission to protect its own civilization. Can the two work together to save the respective planets? Are these films fabulous or fails? Find out. Okay, Dave, uh I have called on you as a secret weapon of late because the last three films we've discussed are squarely in your wheelhouse. We had Dancing and Grooving Michael, putting on a tough fit with Prada 1 and 2, and now your biggest passion and strength, hard science. Are these lay it on us, Dave, are these the best of hard science fiction?
SPEAKER_05Well, okay, let's clarify. Hard science. I'm no engineer, I'm no astrophysicist. You know, I had a microbiology undergrad and a family three.
SPEAKER_03So um your cousin Bill, your dad, it's a science family. Let's let's let's stop being modest. Well and dentistry is a science. Let's face it, it's a science of the teeth.
SPEAKER_05Okay, okay. I I'm just gonna say Project Hail Mary was a little far-fetched for me. I mean, we're out on the um you know, fringes of you know, the astrophage and all that stuff, you know, inner. Have you heard of the astrophage?
SPEAKER_03Have you is that something bandied about an Omni or anything that you ever read about? I've never heard, I never heard about until this movie.
SPEAKER_05No, I I think that's made up, I think. I I mean I did do a little research on it. Um you know, the Martian has more legitimate science behind it, except the um, you know, uh a big windstorm on Mars because Mars has less of an atmosphere than the you know than the Earth that you know 10 whatever miles per hour windstorm is not gonna be as if you know, you won't feel it up on Mars as you would here. So that that was a little exaggeration.
SPEAKER_03But uh it was a 300 mile an hour storm.
SPEAKER_05Maybe. I mean, was it the best hardcore science? Um I would probably say, I think as far as the Martian and botany, I think that was pretty cool in chemistry. But uh was there anything fake?
SPEAKER_03I I didn't I haven't I don't I don't hang around. I'm I'm I'm a nerd, but I'm more of a I'm I'm more of a drama darling nerd. Now of course you with the my premise with these both these films is drama darlings and science nerds are becoming one and the same person. But anyway, yeah, but I I my my my specialty is drama, so uh so uh I don't know. I haven't researched it, I don't care. Um, but was all that plausible of him growing the potatoes and all that?
SPEAKER_05I mean, technically, yeah, except the soil on Mars has toxic um chemicals in it. So I guess you would have to wash that. I don't know if he did. I don't, I mean, um there are some I mean, there's some problems with it, but as far as the two sciences, the Martian felt like he was legitimately doing science today compared to Project Hail Mary, which was just kind of like I don't know, uh imagination science fiction. I don't I mean there were I think there were some mathematics involved, and I'm not a mathematician, my son is, but I um anyway, I'm trying to think of the best. Um did you consult with your son? No, I'd you ask him what he thought about.
SPEAKER_03Did he did he see Project Hail Mary?
SPEAKER_05Um I don't know if he's seen it. He's so busy in school right now that um I mean I mean there's no they're no Star Wars. I mean, talk about hardcore science.
SPEAKER_03I mean, you know, but you know, I I argued I've argued before with uh other fellow podcasters, namely my friends Ken and Dante, and they they qualify Star Wars as science fiction, which I don't at all. I I Star Wars is space fantasy to me. It's like, no, that's not it. It's not a anyway. So that's my opinion. When I'm talking about science fiction, it's 2001 or Star Trek or anything in between.
SPEAKER_05You know, I'm the same way. I I agree. I think I agree with your statement that it's becoming, how did you put it?
SPEAKER_03Science and well, I said the drama darlings and the science keeps are becoming the same per the same the same caricature. They're both getting really irritating. And that's so there's seeds, there's that not seeds, there's there's plants in in uh The Martian, which is why I didn't like I never I I I saw the movie when it came out, I I thought it was fine, but I didn't love it. And I remember I was discussing with Roseanne, who probably should have been here for that reason. We were talking about why it didn't matter, and Roseanne made a good point. She said, Chuatel, who had just maybe two years before been nominated for 12 years a slave, you know, and she said with the furrow of his brow, he could, you know, I remember Roseanne writing the others for saying it. She said with a furrow of his brow, he could uh demonstrate just the the the terror and the the the at the the stress and the fear he was feeling. And it was all undercut with all these jokey scenes of, you know, where he and Mackenzie Davidson are like, does he mean what the fuck? Or what the fuck, you know, it's all like I just think they'd be working on the problem, you know. Yeah, yeah. So I think, okay, first of all, before we launch into getting to nitpicking and bitching about these films, uh, do you like them?
SPEAKER_05Um, I appreciated The Martian better than Project Hail Mary. I was kind of bored with Project Hail Mary. Um, but do I would I watch them both again? No. Um, just like Interstellar. I don't think I'd watch that one again. Um, I'm just trying to compare other.
SPEAKER_01I'd watch that one again over these, honestly.
SPEAKER_05I I I I think I would agree, but they're not none of them are my favorite. I mean, like to me, um I'm just like I would watch uh you know 2001 Space Odyssey. I I do like the older Star Trek, the new ones I don't really care for. Yeah, um and I would I would have to put in the I'm saying yeah as nonchalantly as I can.
SPEAKER_03I'm dying to launch into my Star Trek rants, but I'm not. I'm gonna spare you and I'm gonna spare the audience.
SPEAKER_05And uh the original Blade Runner, I think, is science fiction. Sure. I mean, and and that to me is the pinnacle of a science fiction movie for me. That's my favorite of all time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but Blade Runner still sort of veers into the more fantastical. These are these are basically movies about what's possible essentially now, right? I mean, obviously, going to Mars, going to Mars is a bit of a stretch, but it's it's very possible, right? I mean, there Elon Musk and everybody's working on it. So it it's not out of the realm of okay, this could happen, this just wouldn't happen. Blade Runner's a bit, I mean, it's the the ideas are there, and of course it could happen, but it's still years away, and it's still, you know, it's still sort of a dystopian look. It's it's a little different than our reality. Whereas the Martian and this movie are set in our reality, right?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I agree. But I'm looking at Blade Runner from the androids. I mean, we're getting there with robots and stuff like that. But stylistically, yeah, the dystopian side, I get. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03No, I'm just saying stylistically, Blade Runner is more of a a piece of art. Then this is more, this more veers into almost like if it well, not documentary, but it it's a reality-based approach to science. So it feels like it could really be happening, you know? Yeah, yeah, it's not allegory. Blade Runner's more into allegory and planet the apes. Some of the best science fiction is sort of allegorical about our society. Yeah, this really is just sort of problem solving, right?
SPEAKER_05I I agree. And I think that the Martian is more hardcore science than Project Hail Mary.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05To me. Yeah. Like he's using, you know, things that um science methods and and uh you know, chemical formulas that are legitimate. I mean, so you know, I'll give that credit, but but you know, back to your question, they're not my these aren't my favorite science fiction movies.
SPEAKER_03So okay, so the next question is what's wrong with them that make that don't put them on the Blade Runner level.
SPEAKER_05Um okay, personally, for me, Project Hill Mary, I hated the alien Rocky. I could not stand it. I that whole interaction, friendship, you know, linguistically breaking down the alien's language in a matter of weeks, you know, that's like impossible.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um and then Matt Damon is just not my favorite actor.
SPEAKER_03Wait, Matt Damon or or Ryan Gosling?
SPEAKER_05Well, I like Ryan Gosling better, but I'm saying from the Martian standpoint, oh like for so he just bothers me for some reason. And uh so and as far as Blade Runner, I mean, come on, it's Harrison Ford. I love the vibe of the whole film. Um cinematic.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so then let's Blade Runner is not a fair comparison. Let's take 2001 then, in terms of just uh hard science fiction.
SPEAKER_05Um well, I mean uh geez, I have to go back to my memory banks. Uh what's the computer name? Hal. Um straight up amazing. Just and that is reasonable, right?
SPEAKER_02Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_05Having that. That's more appropriate now than ever. Yeah, yeah. And um, you know, he's heartless.
SPEAKER_03Especially I was arguing with AI. I was arguing with AI about these two films. They the AI was got it wrong today. That the brains melt on AI. That said that the Martian hasn't come out, or not the Martian, Project Hail Mary has yet to come out. Where I was like, what are you talking about? Yeah, you know, the the brain melts on it all the time.
SPEAKER_05So but you can't argue with AI, they're always right, just like how no, it's just like how.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, I feel it all the time.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um, so I I think you know, 2001 cinematically was amazing. Um, and I I and I'll give credit to Project Hail Mary. You know, I think cinematically it was kind of cool, like being out in space and um, you know, the CGI. I don't know how they made this stuff, I'm assuming all CGI, not models and stuff, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um more cinematic than the Martian.
SPEAKER_03You know, the Martian was just more of a gritty kind of uh he's just in his little Yeah, but the the Martian's Ridley Scott and you know, Blade Runner's own Ridley Scott. And it looks it it's a big looking movie. I mean, it's got big effects, and and of the the the I'd say the the the strength of the Martian is the everyday uh sort of workmanlike approach to science and living on Mars, and it looks really good. You never go, Oh, that looks fake. You know, it always looks pretty good. I mean, it's not you know total recall where you're going, what is this? You know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um, but anyway, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's odd science. That's that's hard science.
SPEAKER_05That's science fiction. I mean, that's real science. That's science fiction. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04You know, I I I um I don't like them.
SPEAKER_03So again, the Martians, yes, the Martians better than Project Hail Mary. I didn't like like I thought I didn't like Mar the Martian at all. Uh like I kind of dismissed it as I was saying, like, I didn't really think about it. I saw it, I went, eh, it's okay. And then and then thought it was not like didn't thought I never want to see that again. And then we I see Project Hail Mary, and I should point out that my wife and I saw Project Hail Mary in a crowd full of my age group. Uh, it was all oldies, gray-haired oldies. And it was two months after the movies come out, and it's already on streaming, and it was still packed. I mean, we just saw it last week. And they were so it's not even a young, it's not even a youth, like a generational problem where I am just grumpy because the younger generation likes, you know, gets the jokes and I don't. The oldies, all the except for me, with my arms folded, they were chuckling and a niece laughing. They loved all the jokes. And I would the first I I you said you hated the the alien, but I didn't warm up to the film at all until the alien showed up. Not that I like Mac and me and E.T. so much, you know. But at least I I could I could uh appre I could I could buy that he was sarcastic with it. But the first hour when he doesn't have a memory or anything, I was like, what is this? What's with all the jokes and the drinking and the dancing? How about how about trying to solve the problem a little bit? I just thought it was it was too glib, but it was too very joky. So I was just irritated the first hour at least, or whenever he runs into the alien. I just said, ah, this this feels like the Martian, but with even more quote unquote irreverent drama darling humor, you know.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And he, you know, he like so I'm confused, like, well, he's he's alone, he's in a coma. Did we ever really get down to why those those other crew members died?
SPEAKER_05I didn't, I don't remember they ever explained why.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So uh I did sometimes you don't need to explain too much. In this case, well, how'd they die? I thought we were gonna get a flashback that said, Oh, he, you know, they died trying to save him or something. You know, he was their last hope. I I had no idea what the hell happened. Did they die of a cold? Did they get pneumonia? What?
SPEAKER_05You know, I don't yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Something would be like, he was humanity's last hope, so wouldn't there be some sort of hey bomber bro, bro, your crew members died and shit, but you gotta figure this out. He has to figure everything out, like who he is? Like there's no there's no guidance whatsoever. I just thought, okay, I'm not buying that. Like this movie felt off for the first. So the the alien stuff. Have we seen it before? Absolutely. So I can think uh beyond Mac, beyond Mac and me.
SPEAKER_00Boy, Mac, wouldn't you like to go to McDonald's?
SPEAKER_03Or E.T., you got you got arrival. Yeah, you know, so this movie starts off. So think of all the movies about the civilization ending, you know, event. You got that in my life, in the last 20 years, it's Deep Impact, Armageddon, um, uh Red Planet, uh Mission to Mars, Interstellar, uh Sunshine. Sunshine, Danny Boyle's movie with the Killian Murphy, and and so there's this plot. I mean, we've been seeing this plot forever. Oh, the big event's gonna kill us. We gotta save the planet. So that that didn't feel new. And then then you couple it with the arrival slash ET slash okay. And then and you think about there's another movie. Um do you ever see Enemy Mine with with uh Luce Gossett? Dennis Quaid and Luce Gossett Jr. It came out after, came out in '85 after Jaws 3D. They were paired up in in Jaws 3D, and then they two years later they did another movie called Enemy Mine, which is actually a pretty good movie. It's not great. I mean, people never think about it, but it's I saw it because the effects were done by ILM back in the day, and I was so I was like, oh, but it I mean it never came to Ontario, so I had to wait for video. But you know, I was like, oh, when's that enemy mine coming out? And it came and went, like nobody was interested. Yeah, and I think over time it sort of gained a following. But that essentially they're enemies, they're a enemies stuck on a planet and they have to work together and save each other. And Lewis Gossett Jr., spoilers everybody, gives baby, gives birth to his own baby, and then Dennis Quaid ends up. Yeah, Dennis Quaid. He well, he's a lizard alien, so he he gives birth to his own baby, and Dennis Quaid ends up raising the child and then becoming the hero of the plan. Like he becomes honored by Lewis Gossett's planet at the end of the movie for for peace and love and all that. Not the you know, not incredibly deep, but it's this movie reminded me of that too. I'm thinking, okay, I this movie just feels like uh all right, why is this this huge smash? Because it feels like every movie we've been watching, every sci-fi movie we've been watching, in addition to all the jokes, and in addition to the crut contrivance of him figuring out the language, lickety split, like this feels like he's a rock making squeaks. Seems really hard to figure out his language.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Even with an AI computer.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, did the I forget, you know, some of that was in the dark, and I was I was going to the bathroom a lot because I was kind of bored. Did the alien take his computer and jig it up a little bit so he could talk? I forget.
SPEAKER_05No, I think uh if I remember right, uh Ryan Gosling just recorded his voice and they had pictures, he would draw things, and then he would say, Oh, this is this. So there was a lot of speculation on what each tone meant right from the end of the right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I remember that.
SPEAKER_05Sure. He could have he could have been saying, you know, you're insane. What do you, you know, I'm not helping you. He's like, Oh, you like me. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, it definitely felt a little pat. I'd say in him learning to fly was a little pat, too. He wasn't an astronaut. No, and you know, so they were just gonna leave him in a coma and just hope for the best?
SPEAKER_05I guess. I mean, doesn't it sound like a smart plan? No, but well, and he's a teacher, you know, and then he gets he's not an astronaut, he's not a pilot, so and then he gets drugged, he wakes up on the spaceship and he doesn't know.
SPEAKER_03I have a hard time with video games with Z Space. Can you imagine actually flying something in in in where in an in an area in a medium where you can get lost really fast? Yeah. So it just seemed a little everything seemed a little cute. Yeah, he had the training montage. But even still, he learned to fly to the planet pretty easily, you know?
SPEAKER_05Well, and one thing about uh okay, so you have a crew you're sending up, right? Yeah. In Project Hail Mary. And and I'm glad. Going back to you know, alien and and aliens, you know, you have a whole bunch of people on a ship. They only have three on this ship. I mean, that doesn't, you know, you would think there would be a bigger crew because two of them died, and now, hey, good luck, you gotta figure everything out, you gotta figure out how to fly, you gotta, you know.
SPEAKER_03Not to mention, all right. Spoilers, everybody, not to mention, they knock him out. Yeah, they inject him.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And he's like, Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. But it's like, gosh, this movie's just uh I don't know. I didn't read the book. Did you read reading any of these Andy Weird? I haven't read either one.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I've heard the Martian is better.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I I think, but I I haven't read either one.
SPEAKER_03What's the science community tell you? Um I mean Do they love the guy? They must. I mean, he's a best-selling author.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I think so. I mean, he's a bestseller.
SPEAKER_03So that so scientists are just like so desperate for attention they even though that most shows are science fiction, right?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's about science. I love it. Is it like that? Like horror movie fans? Oh, as long as somebody's dying, I love it.
SPEAKER_05Like what you know, I don't I I haven't listened to any um, you know, I read some stuff about the movies in the books, but I haven't, you know, listened to actual scientists being interviewed. Hey, what do you think about this? But I would assume they would say, Oh, I love it, just to your point, because science is great.
SPEAKER_03I I remember seeing Crimson Tide, which I thought was nothing but hogwash with some Navy guys, and they thought it was great, you know. Yeah, and they they were like, ah, it was so what it was dumb. They didn't care that it was dumb. They knew it was dumb, they didn't care, they just liked the whole vibe, which I think is like that's kind of weird. Because I I think if you're going to do a like if I was if I was a cop and there was just most cop movies are full of crap, I would be like, ah, come on, that's not gonna happen, you know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I'm the same way. There aren't many movies about dentists, but it's there were so what about how about that little shop of horrors?
SPEAKER_03You just oh no, I do like I do like stuff. That is so fake.
SPEAKER_05I mean, that one I will give credit, but like uh Corbin Bernstein Bernstein, uh the dentist, you know, where he's it's kind of a horror flick. I mean, you know, there are but I would be the same way. I'm like, okay, that's ridiculous. You know, you don't do it that way.
SPEAKER_03Have you ever done a dentist movie where the guy's just a cockballer? I seems like dentists, that's that's the gig. If you dentists is like fashion photography if you want women, and you you're laughing because you know I I've done a lot of videos for dentists. I've done start when I was starting out, I did a lot of $200 videos for dentists. Those guys got it going on.
SPEAKER_05Some do. We're a weird group, we're like the science nerds, but you know, we're all a little bit off. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03All right. All right. Plastic surgeons and dentists. I did a lot of videos for those guys. It's like, man, if you want to get women, there's a profession. Or just you know, here I thought it was acting.
SPEAKER_05Nobody likes us, Gene, so they need us.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. But okay. So um getting back to the topic at hand. Uh The Martian. So The Martian is definitely the better film because it it actually has some it the stakes feel immediate and you you have a decent setup.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, I thought the setup of The Martians pretty good, right? You know he's uh trying to he's he's with the crew, he gets impaled by a piece of machinery and I think what the the satellite dish or something, what something impales them and blows them clear away from the crew. They want to go out, though Jessica Chastain wants to go after him, but the rest of the crew is going, no, Commander, no, we gotta go, we're gonna all gonna die, and they take off. And they think he's dead, and then he wakes up and he's alive. Good, good, good premise. You're like, okay, this is good stuff. And then he immediately starts joking, which I'm like, okay. Uh it's not as bad as Project Hail Mary, but it's it's still kind of like, mmm, hmm. A few too many jokes for my taste, considering who's he joking to, you know.
SPEAKER_05Well, and the circumstances.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Because if I was stuck on Mars, I'd be holy shit, what am I gonna do? No, I'm gonna be joking with it.
SPEAKER_03The jokes now they say, oh, people people people joke to undermine tension. That's natural, obviously. However, you have so again, the the the the gold standard is Apollo 13. There's some jokes in Apollo 13, but the mission is again, it's based on real life, so that's you could say, oh, well, that's not this quite the same thing. But the gold standard being everybody's super serious about getting these guys home. Yeah, they can joke to each other. There's some asides, there's some jokes, but they're never like, oh yeah, this is whatever.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna drink to them.
SPEAKER_03You know, it just seems like they take this in. I like that. I like that kind of attitude of okay, we gotta solve this problem. And yeah, obviously in his in his log, he can make some jokes to himself, but it just seems like he's being such like almost kind of a dipshit or a douchebag about like I am gonna die here if I have to listen to any more Donna Summers. I just don't think he would care. No, I don't think he would. No, I just it just seemed dumb. And and they were like I say, being giant, you know, drama darlings, drama darlings being a euphemism for how we we used to call them in high school. And I say this being who became one of them, you know, like, yeah, they're just show-offs, and it's like, look at me, look, like me, like me. And it's they're irritating. And now, and I've seen that it's now it's on Star Trek, all the like the cool Shatner again, Shatner, Nemoy, DeForest Kelly. Sure, there was interplay and humor, but the the mission was always serious. But now if you watch Star Trek Strange and New Worlds, they got this or Discovery, they just got the most irritating characters going, that's the power. They got Spock saying stuff like, That's the power of science, people. Like, oh yeah, geez, Louise, who the hell writes this stuff and why I think and now the science community's embracing it, you know?
SPEAKER_05Well, you know, I think an example of a film that so this is a little side quest here, but the Tom Hanks film when he's on the island, uh, what is that one?
SPEAKER_01Um Castaway.
SPEAKER_05Castaway. Okay, so he's on an island on in on Earth, yeah, and there's no humor in that at all. It's just the mission to get out, and then but here you have Matt Damon on Mars, and he's you know, joking, making jokes, and just I I think if you know you're in that situation, you're gonna be like pretty serious about I gotta figure out how to survive. Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't I don't know. I uh and I you know, and you say you don't like Matt Damon. I'm I uh when he was in the born identity uh phase, I liked him. I thought he looked cool, I thought he looked cool. He I liked the born identity. I mean, obviously he can't play Jason Bourne every time, so maybe he was like, hey, I need way more jokes. I don't want to be Jason Bourne you know stuck on Mars. But his character is sort of mildly irritating. And then it transfers to Donald Glover and you know, doing the little spaceship thing with Jeff Daniels and Jeff Daniels being the grump. And it's like, well, if Jeff Daniels is a grump, why would he do that? And wouldn't anybody just go no? You're like, yeah, no, you know, like when he's doing his old, okay, I'm gonna rock it around. And it just it just seems like okay, they're being drama darlings, and they're being like cutesy to explain to the moron. Again, I just hate that too. Everybody in the audience is a moron, and we have to explain everything so in a really basic term, so you get it. And like I I'm again, I am into film and and film music and not science. And I got what was happening. Like, yeah, so I'm watching the second time just for this podcast. I'm going, yeah, I remember thinking this is stupid. He wouldn't do that, unless, you know, you're talking about the head of NASA or whatever, whatever Jeff Daniels' role is. He's he's a chief.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Just knocking out. I don't care how Gen Z Donald Glover is. It's like, yeah, okay. And then maybe there's gonna be some, oh no, my boss is totally cool about us acting like dorks. You know, maybe. I mean, it's a much more casual world. Hell, everybody wears pajamas to work now. But you know, so I don't know, but it's just to me, it just seems like you're being cute so the audience understands what they're what you're talking about. But I understood it the minute he said it. Like, yes, you're oh, you mean we're gonna rescue. Oh yeah, I figured as much since Jessica Chastain is your mission commander and not, you know, Shmo McShmoy. You know, it's like, yes, you've got a star. She's obviously gonna go back and get him. You know, like we didn't set her up, like, oh yeah, once you lose Matt Damon, you're done in the movie. You know, like we it just seems like you don't need this explanation. It's cutesy, it's stupid. And then Jeff Daniels is conversely is playing Uber grump about everything. You know, I I just thought it was all kind of dumb, you know, especially the second time going, oh yeah, I forgot about because I had saw it and forgot about it. But the second time, I'm like, yeah, it's a better, it's definitely a better movie. Uh it's in my opinion, it's not so contrived. But you know, the end and everything, it's all action movie stuff. Yeah. Sir, our telemetry is off. Oh, yeah, we're you know, are we short? Blah blah blah. You know, like, okay, yeah, they gotta do all the back to the future stuff, you know. And that, yeah, I gotta say, back to the future did cause a lot of this, you know, where all the hijinks where because I think not that movies didn't have that stuff, but back to the future definitely is one of the first that I can recall where they just kept raising the stakes, you know, the the the clock tower, the electric thing gets unplugged, he's got to slide down. It's all you know, the the ticking clock, it's all just building, building, building. And every movie feels like they they have to do it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And I just everything that can go wrong goes wrong.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, he's shooting with the space shoot, and you know, like, okay, like you know, oh yeah, we gotta cover this in plot tarp, and like, yeah, what happens if that blows away? You know what he's in a vacuum of space when he just gets sucked out? You know, I don't know. Tell me physically, what's gonna happen if that tarp comes off? Nothing. Um, in space, yeah, it just seemed like that's a pretty risky deal. Did we need that? You know?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I don't, you know, again, I'm not an astrophysicist, but I'm assuming it's a vacuum, right? Yeah, yeah. So you're yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I just felt it all felt like, are they doing this? I uh the second time I'm questioning, going, is this all needless? Did we really need all this? It seems hard enough just for him to make it, you know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but we we don't need all the other stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it just felt like they just did it just to ratchet up the drama, and it gets a little boring in a sense. Like I wasn't like, Oh, is he gonna make oh jeez, you know?
SPEAKER_05Well, to be fair, both were a little boring. I'm not gonna lie, both still for me.
SPEAKER_03I'd say the martian is less boring. I was more interested in Martian than than Project Hail Mary. Project Hail Mary for sure. The first hour. I thought the first hour was interminable. I I looked at my wife, I said, I don't know if I can handle this for three hours because I knew it was a long movie.
SPEAKER_05I was like, this is just a they could have cut a lot out of this.
SPEAKER_03But then Rocky warmed my heart, God bless you.
SPEAKER_05Okay, I can't. I can't. I the Rocky I pushed me over the over the edge. I was dangerous.
SPEAKER_03You know, I I don't know what it is. I mean, I've seen this. I mean, I was I was like, this gag's got whiskers, but uh I felt more interested in the second half than the first half.
SPEAKER_05That's yeah, that's fair. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Anything more we gotta say? We we are we done in a half hour? Is that it?
SPEAKER_05I mean, you know, I know both of them were hits. I think Project Hail Mary is it was a bigger hit, right?
SPEAKER_03I think they're both well Martian was nominated for Best Picture. Probably Project Hail Mary will too, right? You think I don't know if you think I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised. It's uh it made quarter of a billion three quarters of a billion dollars. It's it's gonna, you know, they're gonna pay an Amazon studios produced it, right? So they're gonna put you know, uh Amazon and Netflix now call the shots, you know. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_05I I I hope not. I didn't know.
SPEAKER_03I I think it will be. I I'm pretty sure. I'd be shocked if it wasn't. Because it's you know, they're gonna say it's best picture material. Well, it's not, it's just a pot boiler, really.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's yeah. I I don't know what else to say.
SPEAKER_03I mean, what I'm I will say this, you know, I I this is a little off the subject, but I'm looking at the audience, just cracking up and loving this film. And okay, I'm I'm a misanthrope, I'm negative, I've been hearing it all my life. But I'm sick of this Gen X is the F-A-F-O generation. Like, we're so tough. And I'm like, I'm sorry, again.
SPEAKER_02Excuse me, excuse me. I was there, you know.
SPEAKER_03No, and if this generation is laughing at this stupid movie, it just proves how much we suck. Yeah, like you really want to watch E.T. all over again, you dumbasses, you know, like that's you're loving this film. It's not wasn't the younger generation, it was all my age and older. Just loving this film.
SPEAKER_05I'm like Well, I know like my daughter, my daughter liked Rocky, you know, and she's uh I'm trying to think. She probably a Gen Z, I'm assuming, when she was born. I don't know. I think the the Rocky Well, I shouldn't say Rocky, I think the relationship with Ryan Gosling and Rocky You know, it was tender. Sorry, I'm just laughing. I mean, you know, they're like, oh, that's so cute, you know.
SPEAKER_03It's like um it was standard issue fall in love with your stranger routine, or fall in love with the enemy or the unknown. You know, it was standard issue ET stuff, you know, like okay. Yeah, but I I don't know. I mean, it was a three-hour movie or whatever, two hours and 40 minutes, however long it was. I did feel it picked up in the second half.
SPEAKER_05No, it was uh definitely the first hour was a grind for me.
SPEAKER_03Like it was slow, but it was slow, but it to me, I just thought it was gonna be off. Like it, I'd say it to me, uh, does a movie work? And and I didn't leave the theater going, that didn't work. It worked. I will say, okay, ultimately it worked, but I didn't like uh I'd say the first half, I thought the movie wasn't gonna work. I was like, this isn't working. I was just looking at my wife going, what the hell's happening? I have no there's no context for this. It and honestly, once the film came together, I don't even know why he lost his memory. It didn't really affect the story whatsoever.
SPEAKER_05You know, maybe it was the drugs and the uh yeah.
SPEAKER_03I just like but this sort of who done it, it didn't affect you. And we'd know just as much as we know to to follow the story because it didn't matter how the crew died.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, you know, it was true.
SPEAKER_03And I I just thought, uh, so I just was kind of irritated for the first half, going, eh, and then he finds the alien, like, okay, they solved the problem. It just became a buddy movie. It was a reasonably interesting visual experience, you know. Yeah. When when they just just his spaceship and and all the things that they were doing, I thought, okay, it's fairly engaging as a just a standard issue, uh, like I say, a pot boiler, page turner pot boiler. It just it it succeeded as okay, I'm I'm not bored anymore. But first hour, I thought it was a snooze, you know. And then once they got going to the Rocky, not that I was so like, I like Rocky, I can't wait for them to get back to Rocky. You know, when Rocky when Rocky died, I was like, oh, that's cool, but then he didn't die. I was like, yeah, oh man, I was like, okay, good. He met this alien and it died. I thought that'd be kind of cool. I was like, bold choice, but they didn't stick with it.
SPEAKER_05No, you gotta have the happy ending.
SPEAKER_03No, in terms of a movie, it was as conventional as it gets, you know. Like, oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05It would have been interesting if they had the uh for all the conspiracy buffs that listen to the podcast of the galactic battalion and all the alien species trying to save Earth. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, I know that's out there, but it's like there's a lot of people that believe that. And maybe Rocky was part of the Galactic Battalion coming to you. You you know what I'm talking about, right?
SPEAKER_03No, not really. Is it what all these spaceship sightings we've all these is that well the yeah, the galactic battalion is a bunch of different E.T.
SPEAKER_05species, like in their names for them, and I can't call them out of my mind. But and you know, they're trying to you know save Earth from what we're doing to Earth, and uh at least that would have been an interesting twist.
SPEAKER_03Like, you know, well, I think with all the space like so-called sightings we have today, it'd be fine if the you know Rocky had been to Earth or something. You know, yeah, it it doesn't matter. I mean the movie's fine as it is, I don't need it, but it I you know, I I just feel the first half we could have dealt more with them making contact with Rocky, and you know, but then it would be too much like a rival, I suppose. Because it was like they compacted a rival into like a 20-minute seek or 10-minute sequence of him learning the language, you know, yeah, and then you know, believe me, I was not like I was wiping tears away from my eyes when they were watching Rocky, the the Stallone movie, or or looking at trees and all that. Like I could have done without all of that, yeah. You know, yeah, I just would have thought it was better if they were just constantly trying to solve that problem, yeah.
SPEAKER_05And the Harry Styles music. That's you know, um, it would have been cooler if it was Khan coming out from Star Trek.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_05That would have been cool. I would have been like, okay, this is interesting now. Instead of a rock alien. But anyway, I couldn't take it.
SPEAKER_03That would have been awesome.
SPEAKER_05That would have been awesome.
SPEAKER_03That would have made the untitled Star Trek prequel.
SPEAKER_05That's right.
SPEAKER_03He just kills Ryan Gosling at the end and goes back to sleep. Goes back to sleep to be found by Captain Kirk.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that would have been that would have see. I think we have some ideas, dude. We can fix this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Ryan Gosling. Let's talk about see. You like I'm I like Ryan Gosling generally. He he did a great job in Blade Runner uh 2049. Um but you know, he does a lot of Saturday night live, and it felt like he was even is in was in Saturday night live mode for this film.
SPEAKER_05No, I agree with that. Yeah, I liked him in the Blade Runner, although it wasn't as good as the original Blade Runner as a film. As discussed in our podcast. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03But um he he did a good job in that. And so so lately he's been sort of on this jokey little tour of films where he's always, you know, what was that movie he did with Russell Crowe?
SPEAKER_05What the hell?
SPEAKER_03That movie, I forgot what it's called already.
SPEAKER_05Tell me the plot, and I can maybe help you. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's a lethal weapon. It's Shane Black, it's a lethal weapon clone with Russell Crowe in him. It takes place in the 70s.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't remember the name. But I already forgot the name of it.
SPEAKER_03But yeah. Anyway, I I I think he's fine. I didn't like him in this. I I I'd even prefer Matt Damon. So interestingly, you know, Matt Damon, he was rumored to play Captain Kirk in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie, and then they said he was too old, which Chris Pine barely looked younger than Matt Damon at that point.
SPEAKER_05They look the same to me, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I'm like, Matt Damon would have been a great choice as Captain Kirk, I think. And and now that he's getting old, you know, we're all getting older, he looks like TJ Hooker era William Shatner. His nose is flattening, his face is getting puffy. It's like, yeah, I'm perfect. Give him that curly wig. Yeah. Make him the the Kirk era, you know, the Star Trek 2 Rath of Khan era William Shatner. Matt Damon would be perfect.
SPEAKER_05I think I think he's a good actor. Um, I just don't like him for some reason in a lot of his films. I mean, I like him. I liked him in the Born Identity.
SPEAKER_03Born identity, and I like him in the talented Mr. Ripley. Did you ever see talented Mr. Ripley?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he's he was creepy.
SPEAKER_03Fantastic in that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like that's where he proved he could act.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03He just I don't know. I think lately something something's up. He's been kind of lame lately. I don't know why. Right.
SPEAKER_05It's not like I've seen any movies that Brian Gosling and Project Hale Mary kind of felt like you know how Ryan Reynolds is getting works.
SPEAKER_03Getting okay.
SPEAKER_05Okay, but you know what I mean. Like everything.
SPEAKER_03He's one of those I've never understood to love. Even back when he was on that Pizza Place show, I was like, how about that guy make it? Yeah. So I was like, everything's a joke.
SPEAKER_05You know, he's joking and um I I but for the first hour to his credit, he was you know, not I don't know. He even though it was boring, he was a little more serious, it seemed like in the first hour of the film.
SPEAKER_03But maybe I'm really because I thought I thought the drinking and all that seemed out of character for but that was on the ship, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05No, I'm talking before he went up in space.
SPEAKER_03Like when he was a teacher, he was just kind of you know Well, that we're we're shooting back and forth anyway. Um his character as a teacher was fine, but again, that gag has whiskers too. It's the the Walter White syndrome. The guy who's a genius who ends up as a tea, a stupid little teacher in a stupid little school. Like, well, don't you know, like if they're that smart, wouldn't they just have another gig? You know, I've I've never met this teacher who was just like this super genius who would have been as big as Bill Gates. I've just never met that person in my life.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Dan Johnson, my dad.
SPEAKER_03Oh, right, except for your dad, of course. No. It just I've just never met that person in real life. Like it just seemed like, oh, so he just ends up as a teacher, even though he's weren't you the so-and-so.
SPEAKER_02I forget the lines, but if it would be it's because you told the I told the the science chair to stick it up his keister, you know, like it's always like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, because you're too much of a rebel.
SPEAKER_03You know, just I I just thought the movie was like, come on, this is corny.
SPEAKER_05You know that stuff never happens. Whatever you're uh, you know, your academic professor getting your doing your dissertation, you just do what they say. You just want to get done. You don't argue. You gotta fix this on your dissertation. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. Yeah, anyway. It's his theory. He had the theory, right? About the what's it called?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Oh, I can't remember the theory. You just said it. Yeah. I did, yeah.
SPEAKER_03No, at the beginning of the show. What's the the the the thing that was the Sun Eater or whatever it was called? The part of the.
SPEAKER_05Oh, Astrophage. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03He had the theory on that, right? Yeah. In the script.
SPEAKER_05I that's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So he had the theory or something. You just you may be a jerkwad, but you just so happen to have the theory that we like. You know, whatever. We're just like, oh brother, this it all just seemed like by the book. It's just box checker. It was just a box checking movie, in my opinion. So again, it didn't feel like hard science, and it felt like way more cliche than the Martian.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Alright, so let's just get into let's just do the the routine. So be as we wind down here. Uh so just head to head. Gosling or Damon. Damon, gosling, gosling, Damon.
SPEAKER_05Um although's better, I'm gonna say the Damon.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Wow, you just first you were ripping on Damon, now you like him.
SPEAKER_05Well, I don't like either. I mean, I don't like Ryan Gosling in this character. They're both annoying in a lot of ways, so but the film is better, so I'm gonna go with Damon.
SPEAKER_03Okay, uh so who uh who did you like better between Jessica Chastain or Sandra Hula?
SPEAKER_05Um I think uh Sandra played her part well. Like really was just cutthroat, you know.
SPEAKER_03But she also could sing.
SPEAKER_05She could sing and she was nice to him and then when she dragged her show.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Don't you think?
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean it was his show. It was definitely a showcase for Ryan Gosling.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, I you know, you got this whole cast of characters in the Martian, and then you got this basically a solitary performance with a with a robot, you know, the puppeteer slash voice actor. Um yeah, I don't think there's any there's there's no comparison of supporting actors. I don't think oh, this guy Ortiz, he's just won my heart as Rocky.
SPEAKER_05I mean Yeah. Rocky. I mean, come on, you know. Uh you know, you have Jim Hanson Muppets up there, so you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_03Well, I I I will just say that as I said in the beginning, the Chuatel Geo4 was was just under you. Like he's he's nominated for 12 years a slave. He does a great, great job in that movie, and then he's just been like they forgot about him or something. He's been in the Doctor Strange movies. He's just there's a great actor who's not given who's not given much work, I think. So in this, I think the beginning is The Martian, where he's just sort of cast aside and given jokes, and when he should have been much more serious, you know, he should have been James Earl Jones serious in this kind of that kind of role. Like that's that's the role he had.
SPEAKER_05But that's under the direction of uh Ridley Scott.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Again, that's the script. I think it's the screenplay, and Ridley Scott, probably like, oh, oh, whatever.
SPEAKER_01These kids like to joke. Okay, fine. All right. They like jokes these days.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. He's kind of put out some yeah, blade runner. Yeah, you know, he again.
SPEAKER_03I can't forgive him for Alien Covenant. That was just the worst thing ever.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Ever.
SPEAKER_05Well, Gladiator wasn't that great either.
SPEAKER_03Well, Gladiator, he's still trying, you know. I don't like Gladiator for stylistic. I don't like Gladiator for a lot of reasons. I think the script is thin and it's just a lot of stuff I don't like about it, but that's I get why people like it. It's at least it's an effort, you know. Yeah, I will say gladiator is an effort, but Alien Covenant, not so much, not such a and the and the didn't he do the duel, right?
SPEAKER_05Uh wait, what was it with Matt Damon?
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah, the duel.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Again, I didn't like Matt Damon in that one that much either.
SPEAKER_03Well, he's playing an idiot, you know, with the molly. So I mean, I think he was I like that he was up to the task.
SPEAKER_04He liked that fight. I like that fight.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah. All right, so special effects. We want to talk. So Greg Frazier did the sorry cinematography before special effects. Greg Frazier did the son cinematography for um the Project Hail Mary, and he's done Dune. He's he's like the in he did Batman, the Batman. He's like the premier cinematographer right now. So it yeah, Project Mary Hail Mary looked great. I'll give it a lot of it.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it did. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, and both both films look, I mean, really, Scott's films never look bad. Even Alien Covenant looks really good for the piece of crap that it is. Um so yeah, I cinematography, no complaints. Music, I'd say music's fine in both films. Seems like pop music plays more of a role in each. You know, disco and then as you say, Harry Styles.
SPEAKER_05Harry Styles, yeah. Fine of the times stuck in my head from that movie. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh direction. So really Scott does a better job. So Phil Lord and uh Christopher Miller, they they've done like you are you aware of who they are? They did Lego movie and they did Clouding the Chance and Meatballs animated films, and they've done the Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse animated films. I mean, their live action films are 21 and 22 Jump Street. And I maybe a couple others.
SPEAKER_05You mean the comedy? 21 Jump Street?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Uh okay.
SPEAKER_03I didn't like the first one. I thought the first one was terrible, but some reason everybody liked it. I thought the sequel was legitimately funny. I I legitimately laughed at the sequel.
SPEAKER_05Did you see? I haven't seen I haven't seen this technical. I didn't okay.
SPEAKER_03So Dave, is somebody who hated the first I hated what the first movie was saying, sort of kind of uh anger at the disrespect for the older generation. I just thought they were being I just didn't like the attitude going on in that film. The second movie I thought was really funny. I actually had to me as my as I always say, my criteria is three solid belly laughs, and I had three solid belly laughs in that film. All right, I they they they did funnier things in the second one, and all under the the um packaging of well, it's a sequel, we have to be bigger and dumber, and like they kind of make fun of the fact that it's a sequel, and so they sort of have a meta commentary on second movies and having way more money, and you know, because the first movie didn't expect they didn't expect much, so it's kind of it's funny. Ice Cube is really funny in it, like he has really funny scenes, so it's a it's a funnier movie, you know.
SPEAKER_05Do you think when there's two directors, you kind of lose a little direction in the movie?
SPEAKER_03I don't know. The Cohen brothers do it. I think people can do it. They work well together. Again, I remember I bought Claudia Cloudy and the Claudie. I bought Cloudy and the Chance of Meatballs from my son when it came out, like we saw it, and I remember being completely surprised that it was funny. And I did not like the concept because it took a children's book and completely rewrote it. Like I thought, okay, they're just making this loud and obnoxious for kids because you know, this quiet, sort of silly, you know, play on words. And uh, I don't know if you ever saw the book, Cloudy and the Chance of Meatballs, you being a children's author like me, two children's authors here. Yes, all right. Yeah, so I just thought, okay, that's gonna be stupid. And it they they wrote a script and they stuck to their premise, and it's it was funny, you know. Like, okay, it's not the book, but as an idea from the book, it was fun. I I enjoyed it. So I remember thinking that was a a real coup to make a funny movie out of this sort of you know, silly little wordplay book.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, you know, and anyway, I I I didn't love the Lego movie. I thought the Lego movie was sort of eh.
SPEAKER_05I like Will Arnett as Batman. Yeah, I liked his voice. He was the only thing I liked about it.
SPEAKER_03But the Lego movie, it it what did it copy? It it felt like it felt like another movie just like it, where the same thing happened. I'm forgetting right now, but I remember just not loving it, thinking, eh, okay, whatever. So I I think they're okay directors. I think their Spider-Man movie was good. Um, but they introduced that.
SPEAKER_05That's the animated one, right? The first one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but I don't love those films because you know I'm I'm a Peter Parker fan all the way. To me, again, I've gone on, I've said this before on other podcasts, but take the 60s, Steve Ditko, and Stanley Spider-Man, and and use the animation techniques and and quality of Spider-Man to the Spider-Verse and go back and make those make those great comic books into animated movies. Because they are great. The reason why we like Spider-Man is because of those. So anyway, don't get me on that tangent, but that's that's the deal. And I just think, yeah, like, oh, and then they won the Oscar for best animated film. We made a film for people who look like Miles, like ah, well, the the real approach to is make a good film, period. Black or white, you know, like my idol Michael Jackson would say.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Anyway, um, yeah, so I think Ridley Scott is as sturdy and predictable as his direction was, he did the better job.
SPEAKER_05I agree. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03All right. Well, you recommend either film.
SPEAKER_05I mean, I if you're like hardcore science, I think the Martian is there. It's there. If you just want to go to a film that's three hours long and not think too much and you know speculative uh science outside of the mathematics, I think, yeah, Project Hail Mary.
SPEAKER_03I mean, as I was walking out of the theater, I heard I heard one of the oldies tell his friend that was unique. I want to see that again. And I'm like, see, that's the problem. That movie was not unique at whatsoever, you jerk. Sorry, poor guy. Who am I? You know, it's all Christian. But I think but like you said, it's like it's not unique. That's the problem. The film is like, this was a hodgepodge.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it it it did, and I I back to your point. Um, you know, Christopher Nolan Interstellar. I mean, I think I my problem with Chris.
SPEAKER_03My problem I like okay, the the the the the last vestige or the last hope for human humankind, whatever. Yeah, we've talked about it before. We'll maybe we'll do the film at some point, but the best part is the time jump, you know, uh but then it gets into that labyrinthian string theory, like space and time, where he has like it, and we it's like it's like what I said about the Martian. Like, dude, we know he's gonna come back and warn the daughter's gonna warn the father, and you know, we know where this is going. We know that where this is going. Do you have to just make this so endlessly complex and boring? That's my problem with that film. Like, ah, just keep it moving, Chris. But it no, that's not what he's gonna do. Just like Tenant and all his other films, he just wants to make us like uh, I guess I'm supposed to be confused or something, but I'm not, I'm just bored. I know where this is going, dummy.
SPEAKER_02You think it's all complex, but it's not.
SPEAKER_03She's going to be warned, you know.
SPEAKER_05Um, speaking of science fiction movies, and I just watched, and it's on Netflix. And this is way off topic, but since we're, you know, would I recommend The Martian and Project Hail Mary? Yeah, I guess, but they're not my favorite. I did watch source code and I hadn't seen that in a while. And I don't think it was a big hit, but the concept was really fascinating.
SPEAKER_04I saw that, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I thought the concept was cool.
SPEAKER_04That's a Jakeall one, right?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, where he they keep inserting his consciousness in this time loop.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was, yeah, you're right. That was fine.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Anyway, I can see it again.
SPEAKER_03It's been a while, but I remember thinking that was pretty good.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And they're not, and they're not joking in that one, by the way.
SPEAKER_03Well, again, treat your premise seriously, even if you have jokes in it.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, nine and uh Roseanne and I just talked about the drama. The drama it makes a comedy out of the most horrifying serious subject matter, and it works because they treat the subject, they overall that it's not like it's the jokes don't undercut the drama. And that's that's the main thing. Obviously, I'm I'm the funniest guy around. No, but you you know what I mean. I'm not like I'm against jokes, it's just like jokes come at a c come when they're earned, and when you start joking immediately, it you've you've destroyed the credibility of the characters, you know. And that's probably what those those guys got fired from the Christopher uh Miller and Phil Lord got fired from the solo movie. Again, I wasn't there, I don't know, but the rumor, the Hollywood rumor, has always been that it was too jokey, and they I it was probably a tone problem. Yeah, and they waited a long time before they fired them, so they're probably putting things together going, This tone is too comedic. Now, again, I don't know if they're the problem or the script was the problem because it's the same screenwriters, and it wasn't their screenplay for Project Hail Mary, but I'd say right off the bat it had a tone problem. Yeah, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_05I agree.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay, well, thanks, Dave. Uh thanks everyone for listening.
SPEAKER_03Uh stick around, I guess. Uh or stick around. We'll see. I never know what I'm saying at the end. Uh, we hope you'll come back for our next great podcast soon, which will I guess because we're duty bound by society to watch The Mandalorian and Grogu. But I'm I'm telling you first right off, I didn't really I don't really want to see it.
SPEAKER_05Maybe you'll be surprised. Maybe you'll be, you know. Yeah. It's yeah, I mean, I'm gonna go watch it. So I think it'd be we we owe it to all of our mini fans out there.
SPEAKER_03They're dying to know what we thought of a film that nobody likes. All right. That's right. All right, bye everybody. Thank you for listening to Fabulous Film and Friends, copyright 2026, a Bel Air Films production.