Revisiting Willow, Cobra Kai, and Vision Quest: A Feel-Good Nostalgic TV Journey

Remember the magic of Willow and the thrilling suspense of Cobra Kai? As we gathered around our mics for this episode, we kept replaying these shows in our minds, wondering what the sequel of Willow might have looked like. The excitement turned into a lively chat and nostalgia took us on a ride as we reminisced about Warwick Davis and his illustrious career. His daughter's involvement in the sequel was like the cherry on top!

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Did you ever think about the connections between the reboot of Karate Kid with Jaden Smith and the Cobra Kai universe? Bet you didn't! We had fun speculating the possibility of Hillary Swank making a surprise appearance. And oh, how can we forget to mention Toy Story? Yes, we dared to imagine a Toy Story 5. As we journeyed further, we bumped into a classic, The Omen. There's a prequel coming up folks, and we had a good laugh discussing the parody of The Omen on Netflix.

Our passion for movies and TV shows took us back to 1985, where we found "Vision Quest". This movie has left a huge impact on us, shaping our journey of 500 episodes. We were thrilled to delve into the life lessons it imparts. We had the chance to explore the making of the film, the star-studded cast and how the movie has aged like fine wine. And as we wrapped up, we recommended some TV shows and movies to watch, including "LA Law" and a heartwarming documentary about Daniel Radcliffe's stuntman. Hope you guys have as much fun listening as we did recording!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

I'll tell you what you stumbled into a podcast it's binge watching podcast with yours truly, johnny Spoiler. I'm only here to spoil the movies I love. Join us always by the Savage Scream Queen herself except no substitutes is Jordan Savage. She was fluffing her brows before we hit record. I didn't know what that meant. I had to ask, and now she can explain it to the audience.

Speaker 2: 0:25

Look, I found a way to fit it in. Yes, all of you natural brow ladies or gents probably know what I'm talking about when you got some thick brows. Mine aren't even that thick, but I want them to be but sometimes you got to just for those who are listening, yeah, and exactly. You got to just give them a good fluff.

Speaker 1: 0:49

So I got pretty thick brows myself. Usually I just get these wild deep thought hairs, so when you have deep thoughts they just spring out of your eyebrows. I literally push the thoughts through your eyebrows and then you have these wild chrome magnet hairs. You just got to, like you know, clip them. What was your recommendation for a kitty cereal?

Speaker 2: 1:17

Yeah, it sounded like a cereal fluff and brows. I don't know, I'm brows.

Speaker 1: 1:21

I'm general mills and post-series and then I literally thought it's a bowl of hair, that she's just talking about eating some hair and I thought, yeah, pour some milk in a bowl of hair fluff and brows.

Speaker 2: 1:33

I don't know why.

Speaker 1: 1:34

I just envision a parakeet with like you know massive eyebrows you gave me a great idea for Instagram reel. That's such an easy video. We have the production value to make a fake cereal commercial of fluff and brows, and it is a bowl of hair. Guys, look forward to that because I'll, I'll I don't get lazy I'll do some production value and we'll make a. We'll make a video, I mean.

Speaker 2: 1:59

I did a pretty good spirit of Halloween costume for podcast guy for you. Like that was designed.

Speaker 1: 2:07

I'm a slightly entitled whiteness kind of like what, questioning if it was a ghost or perhaps just something that happens on a Thursday night. And you know I'm getting. I was going Southern with it. It's basically what I was. I was really making you turn different shades of color over awkwardness. Okay, no, she had a ghosty and it looked like the Pac-Man ghost, but with sunglasses. It was cool, I accepted it, it was fun. Now she's offended, she's pissed at me. Let's just get Jordan pissed.

Speaker 2: 2:39

Right Top tier artwork. Oh man, Last last time I do something for you, but I'm getting, I'm getting, I'm getting up Snops.

Speaker 1: 2:51

She snapped me and then I'll pour the schnopps and I'll feel better. Um, actually I'm kind of bummed out because, like we had brought this up a while ago. So there's a Ron Howard movie from the 80s, it's a fantasy movie. It's called Willow. It's one of the most classic, best fantasy things, whatever. There's a tiny wizard who fights Ineval sorceress with the help of even smaller dudes called brownies at right on her shoulder and then there's a crazy sword fighter played by Val Kilmer, called Mad Martigan, and they, you know, they protect a baby who's like a prophesied princess or something, who's going to stop the bad magic or whatever.

Speaker 1: 3:31

But they finally made a sequel like 30, they finally made Willow to, but as a TV show on Disney plus. Disney plus ripped down the whole show Like you can't get it. It's gone. And I mean I've seen like bootleg pirate selling people from like the UK selling, you know, bootleg DVDs or something. I'm sure it's a bit torrent somewhere. But Disney plus is pretty good about pulling things down. But what I don't understand is they could have put together like a killer DVD release, especially for the holidays that could cook out willow. The show.

Speaker 1: 4:06

What's interesting is like Warwick Davis is like a super famous little person, actor, right, and he's been in the Star Wars. He was like the most famous Ewok from Return of the Jedi, like he's been acting since he was a kid, literally Like he was an Ewok, you know. And then like he gets in Willow and he's like the main star. And now he and then finally, much years later, after he does like the leprechaun horror movies because he's the evil leprechaun, like the first three leprechauners or whatever. First five, maybe it's the first five movies. There's like seven movies now or something. Let me think, yeah, they did like. No, they did four leprechauns with him, including leprechaun four. He goes to space. Then there were two. He's in the hood, so he's fighting gangsters and pimps for two movies. So that's six movies, right? So wait, yeah, that's we have six movies. And then they did like a prequel and a spin off that have that's supposed to be the same leprechaun, but it's not Warwick Davis, right? Anyway? So I'm just trying to paint this picture of like Warwick Davis is like a cool dude, he's been around a while, he's got a lot of clout, but then they pulled willow two down and like it's sad because his daughter, annabelle Davis, is in it playing his like playing willows daughter. Right, like the character willow has a daughter, so it Warwick Davis, you know real daughter got to be in it.

Speaker 1: 5:27

And then we get introduced to a couple new characters. Um, amar Chayda Patel plays this guy named Borman who's kind of like a replacement for, uh, val Kilmer's character, madden Morgan, because Val Kilmer, because the medical reasons wasn't in willow two. Right, which is, I mean, that's probably the biggest letdown is the fact that Val Kilmer couldn't show up for it. But they like popped in Christian Slater does a cameo and then, um, in the newer spider movies with Tom Holland, there's like a funny flash Thompson played by this guy. Tony. Um, rebel Lori, I think, is his last name if I'm butchering the last name again, you know it's a podcast apology, as always Can't handle the last name. But he plays a kid called Great-in who's like a prince that wants to be a wizard and he's kind of an interesting backstory to his character because like there's some evil magic that worked him over when he was a kid and like his spoiler alert, his twin actually dies in willow too, or whatever. Like his twin brother and and, but then like when willow's training like allora, danon. Allora, danon is the baby from the first one. But now she's like growing up and like learning how to do the magic and try to live into the, this so-called prophecy. Right, like that part's really cool now. Did I harp on it when it came out? Yeah, I kind of had some negative things to say now, don't do here's.

Speaker 1: 6:49

So here's the whole point of this long story. This whole intro to the podcast is like Do I want to watch it because it's not available or do I actually like it enough that I want to play it on repeat? Because Part of me thinks disney is engineering us the desire to see it because they took it away? Right, they're like, yeah, we got low numbers on disney, plus we're, we're gonna hack apart our catalog and we'll give you all this stuff and all this stuff over here, but we're not gonna give you willow too. But I'm like but are they holding back to do something with willow too? And none of us are thinking about it. But then we're gonna be like, oh man, I really need to see that willow too. You know the puppeteering, it's possible. I ain't like like some kind of social engineering. But for movie fans or something, what you're saying, you know. You know, I'm going with that. I know where you're going with it, All right. Yeah, this episode is not about willow too, anyway, all right.

Speaker 1: 7:42

Home video headlines. What's going on in televisions and movies? Stuff, let's see. Um, actually We'll be right back after our theme song and then I'll tell you what's going on in home video headline land I'm just thinking about serial filled with hair.

Speaker 2: 8:02

Crack open a cold box of wine or pour something cold on ice, because it's the binge watches podcast.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Okay, okay, home video headlines.

Speaker 1: 8:29

Let's see what's going on. There's a new karate kid movie that's going to unite jackie chan and Ralph Macchio. Of course, ralph Macchio plays Daniel LaRusso In the original karate kid movies and also he was in that hyped up show cobra kai On netflix. For like what are they on the fifth season or something? Um, and johnny laurence, the other main star of the show, is because this, the show, did something really cool. They turned the internet meme into an actual show, which is kind of a kind of a cool progression of like karate kid. Because they're like oh, johnny laurence is the villain. But then there was a meme online for like what, five years or something, where it's like oh, johnny laurence is the real hero of karate kid and people are like what are you talking about? What are you talking about? Isn't he just a bully? Like a one-off bully from the first movie, and then like, all of a sudden he's this complicated, layered antihero or something. You know what I mean like in cobra kai for a few seasons. But, however, in the meantime, between the original ending of like karate kid three no, actually, no, it's after the next karate kid, where Mr Miyagi, who's played by a committee named pat marita. Like pat marita was in a sequel to karate kid, which would have been karate kid number four, but it's um. Hillary swank is the karate kid right in part four. That's in like the 90s or something. So then Apparently swanks training to be a karate kid after that movie but before.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Cobra kai Is a karate kid reboot and you think it's like in its own universe, has nothing to do with karate kid, like the original karate kid, and it's got mr Han who's like another kung fu master Training jaden smith. You know, will smith's kid to be to be a kung fu fighter in a tournament in china, where it's and it's a good Story kid. Because that little kid and his mom, like his mom's, like an american that gets like a marketing job or something and she has to go to asia where the headquarters is or she's working for some corporation. Uh, I don't know if you saw that movie, but there was like a. There was like a, one of those will smith style music videos, right, of course, when the movie came out I forget what the tagline was, but it was like it was.

Speaker 1: 10:34

It was like one of those like Get jiggy with it, whip your hair back and forth. It was like a very will smith, like stamped, that you know, made a song for jaden smith or whatever, right? Um has something to do with kicking, I think. Anyway, um, that karate kid was like pretty dramatic, like how the how the cobra kai show is like a little bit more serious in tone, with some with some comic relief. The karate kid with jaden smith is like a pretty serious movie, right. However, because, like because jackie chan's not actually playing mr Miyagi, in theory, that movie could have taken place in like the main cobra kai, karate kid universe, right. So I'm like, oh man, they're gonna like fold that movie into the main show, but I'm still holding out for hillary swank to show up on cobra kai, like that's the. I mean, that's where the show needs to go anyway. See, like we could. We're not here to talk about karate kid, I'm sorry, I feel like you're getting for watching, watching you Talk about.

Speaker 2: 11:36

It is like when zack gellifendakis goes down the escalator in vegas, or, and you know, or he.

Speaker 1: 11:43

Hanging over all the cards and he's thinking about all these calculations.

Speaker 2: 11:48

I just can see all of the timelines, just so you're basically saying like I'm rain man because zack gellifendakis character in hangover is slightly based on.

Speaker 1: 11:58

You know, um, that's some hoffman's character and rain man, you know, the special brother, has got to go to kmart gotta buy some underwear when they win the card game.

Speaker 1: 12:07

Yeah, there's walkers on tv. I got to go three o'clock anyway. Well see, I mean. Now my next thought is Like does the, does the audience think we're making a special fun of special needs, or do we just admit that john's on the spectrum and he's been listening to this the whole time without even realizing it? It's one of those two folks. You, you, freaking, figure it out. Send me an email if you figure it out, okay you know where it's at Toy Story five.

Speaker 1: 12:39

Tim Allen was on the tonight show recently and he's talking about how disney has approached him and Comhangs about reprising their roles. You know, buzz light, year of star command, and let's say, the guy woody, woody, woody, this pull string cowboy, um, I, I sat back and I go do I need another toy story? You know what I realized? Jordan. I've seen every, I've watched all the toy story movies. I didn't know this about myself. I was like hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. We need another toy story. I'm like, oh, I much actually like the movies if I've seen all of them, every single one of them, yeah, yeah. But I'm not the creepy middle-aged guy that slides into a movie theater by himself with a bunch of kids. No, I don't do that. I don't play that game.

Speaker 2: 13:26

No, he doesn't watch at home on demand.

Speaker 1: 13:29

When only me and Comcast knows what my view in history you know exactly only me and the cable company knows um, the first omen, a prequel To the classic horror movie that omen is gonna release, probably in april of next year. Now people always joke that like the original omen is like a spiritual sequel to rosemary's baby. So rosemary baby, rosemary's babies. This movie comes out in the 60s and it's about like the mom who gets pregnant with the devil's child and then like the baby's about to be born at the end of the movie, oh, the omen comes in like maybe a decade later and it's not actually a proper sequel, but it's like, oh, this movie's about the antichrist, the devil child, whatever, and it's very occulty.

Speaker 1: 14:15

You know that religious whore fever that's like built up. There actually is like an omen parody, though on netflix it's called uh, is it called little evil? Yeah, it's called little evil and has adam scott, who you might know from freaking uh, party down. Or there's actually a really good apple show. Have you seen this really touristic show where they like reprogrammed? But have you seen the other show where he works in an office and they reprogram? You Like you don't realize that you've Been either stuck in the little town where the workers live or you're stuck in the office complex where you don't know You've been there for like a decade or something. Oh, it's a cult, sounds hilarious, it has a. It has a. It's like a word, like repulchant Anyway, but yeah, they mess with people's brains like they have a microchipper, they do something and it's like a brainwashing show. It's that's actually like if you want to dig up stuff on apple, that one's that's not too bad. Oh, this is I was only gonna talk about. Oh, when I wasn't gonna mention the apple show. This is what happens. This is what happens on a show like this. It's not my fault. Feel thinking about harry serial.

Speaker 1: 15:20

Okay, um, the exorcist believer is gonna drop on peacock on december 1. Here's the thing I cannot confirm or deny Linda Blair showing up as her character. I think her character's name is rigan. She obviously is famous for playing the possessed daughter in the original exorcist. I was gonna spoil it, but I actually can't because I haven't done my research. I haven't actually seen the movie, even though I thought by now I would have seen it. But I'm just telling the truth. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't. I have read stories that she does make an unannounced cameo, but I was hoping to confirm it, but I just can't yet. So anyway, I'll probably bring it up again Stay tuned Like we had.

Speaker 1: 16:06

We had like officially reported it because it was news when they first talking about a Direct sequel to the original exorcist. They're like, yeah, linda Blair is gonna come back. Then for like six months after that I was like no, she's not coming back. But the mother is, but she's not, she's not coming back, she's not. But then people, peoplecom has a whole article with a q&a with the director and supposedly they're saying Linda Blair does cameo now again, like for our own edification. You know our own journalism here. We wanted to confirm some of this shit but you couldn't do it.

Speaker 2: 16:44

Anyway so give us what? Another week or so? Next week You'll probably have a report, if you can watch it.

Speaker 1: 16:51

Yeah, it's good days away. Um, all right movie fans. If you want to stream a word when he shows in movies safely with, oh, you can. You can stream movies and Shows safely with surf shark VPN. Whether you're traveling, staying abroad or you just want to explore a different culture via local content, a VPN can help you stay safe and private when doing so, so don't let anybody track your journey. Choose surf shark for the ultimate online privacy. Get surf shark and let's see.

Speaker 1: 17:25

I believe, tonight's movies actually vision quest has. Now. Here's the real behind the scenes. Let's go deep. Let's do some deep trivia. How long is it taken to get to vision quest? About 10 years. How long we've been doing this podcast? About a decade. How many episodes do we have? About 500?. How many top 10 lists have we been on? At least 10 like. Do we have a single episode that's breaking a million by itself? Yeah, like. Are our top 10 episodes breaking 500,000 downloads each? Yeah, exactly, we have like almost 40 million downloads and we're just cruising right along. How many times we talked about vision quest on the show? Maybe five times. But then I thought did I secretly make this entire show just to eventually get to 10 years later and talk about vision.

Speaker 2: 18:11

Quest Is this, the vision quest. To vision quest.

Speaker 1: 18:15

Like vision quest, you, you're completing your vision quest by Episode if we go, if we go off the air, we're not even a radio show. If we go out the air like we're on the air at all, like if we go off the air guys, if we go off the stream, if we go off the Wi-Fi, like if they drop our podcast on the hosting platform, we've completed the journey and the hero's journey is complete. What have we learned along the way? That's a very good question.

Speaker 2: 18:48

Do you notice?

Speaker 1: 18:49

that awkward silence that we left there for you to fill in the blanks. You tell me what we learned. You actually cannot see yourself. If you're in this, your own story. Right, that's for the observers outside the story to make judgments. We are, we are experiencing the stories. That happens. We cannot figure out what the story is about as we live it. It's just a thing we're doing.

Speaker 2: 19:09

Anyway, you know you want to know what I've learned. What's that? In my vision quest never say, binge, never. I feel like a Justin Bieber song right now by saying oh don't ever say you're never gonna see never.

Speaker 1: 19:21

But yes, my mind is blowing up my like. A little tiny Explosion just happened above my left ear.

Speaker 2: 19:28

There's only like two true binge. Never's for me out there out of all my binge.

Speaker 1: 19:32

Never is so far so did you actually go back and watch some of the things that we scratched out?

Speaker 2: 19:37

No, some of them that I've said binge, never have been once I've thought the most about. Like I would totally read Because of the oddity.

Speaker 1: 19:47

Why do I continue to think about something that I would never want to watch again?

Speaker 2: 19:51

I said my thought Continue. It has. It's interesting.

Speaker 1: 19:57

This is an interesting way to rate, like to think about the critique of the movie is if a A movie makes you think about it, even though you didn't like it, it's still got a reaction. What is a movie's job like? Get a reaction Doesn't positive, negative, that stuff doesn't really filter the equation. You've got some. You stop the squirrel, so to speak. You got somebody, was very busy, has a life to think about something For a minute or whatever. It is Mm-hmm. So then it's profound. It could, it could not be a binge, never, because it made you stop and think about it. Yeah, oh, this is Wow, this is actually. This is actually like evolved binge-watching hierarchy. Right now. This is like. This is like next-level thinking to the rating system. Wow, they are there's reality.

Speaker 1: 20:49

There are no mind blowing, there are no Benz, never, never these shit.

Speaker 2: 20:57

Say binge never never say. Justin binge-watcher, I don't know, instead of like JB's yeah, justin Bieber, never say binge, never.

Speaker 1: 21:15

Dang. That is pretty profound Mm-hmm. Tonight's energy is brought on by this movie, vision quest. I guess just to say what it's about, right? Okay, synopsis time, here we go. Okay, vision quest, the high school wrestler loud and swaying, played by Matthew Maudine, those, look, he must do something significant in his life. Shortly after turning 18, swain decides to lose 20 pounds in a short time. Do an attempt to take on the defending state champion, who happens to be in a lower weight class, but he's also the highest ranked wrestler in the state. Meanwhile, he falls for the edgy, older Carla, played by Linda Forantino, who provides further distraction for the younger wrestler. So it's.

Speaker 1: 22:00

It's peppered with an 80s 90 cast. You got Matthew Maudine, linda Forantino, as we said, ronnie Cox, charles Hallahan, robert splossom, james Gammon and Forrest Whitaker. So we want some best-knowns here. Okay, matthew, for full metal jacket. Or, more recently, stranger things also, oppenheimer and the dark night rises. Got Linda here for men in black dogma or the last seduction. However, I know Linda from a scandal is a scandalous movie, I don't know. Uh, another thought-provoking movie called Jade from 1995. Hmm, google it. Very sexy Eyebrow raising. We were talking about eyebrows earlier. Okay, oh, ronnie Cox.

Speaker 1: 22:52

Let's see, he was the villain, one of the villains in Robocop. He also had an iconic role in total recalls the villain he played the lieutenant in the Beverly Hills cop series. He's playing the dad in this, which is kind of a subdued performance, more of like what, but he's doing a good job because the dad's actually defeated, like that's one of the themes in the movie, like the dad had a row in life and it didn't work out and like this. That's the part of the son's motivation is to see how defeated his dad is. Which I was gonna bring up later on Favorite bits, but I might just mention right now. Like this happens to dads we feel this way, we try things and they don't work, and then like we're also trying to motivate our sons to do better than us or our daughters. Right, because I don't have any daughters, I have sons. But it can apply to every. You can apply to either. Gender doesn't matter or whatever gender is out there. I'm not gonna limit it to any gender, I'm gonna say children. Okay, he was like Dads will fill this way at some point, like if they don't achieve a goal or something goes wrong in a business. Like a dad will get to this point, like Ronnie Cox in this movie, but then also still try to like, motivate your children to live their lives and have their own experiences. But you're obviously You're obviously you're looking through the lens of your experiences, right, anyway. Now let's see who am I talking about? Who's left on the list?

Speaker 1: 24:09

Oh, charles Hallahan, you might know, is the. He's the coach and vision quest, but he plays the captain in a TV show called hunter, which is like a classic TV show. It's a police drama. It was on that for like a more than 100 episodes was like in the main cast. However, this guy is super known for being a special effect trick and the movie the thing from 1982 like he's. If you look at this Horror movie, he's like has one of the most iconic monster transformations. People are getting transmorgapied in that movie, like it's his face that's cast and like made special effects and something happens horrible. Like he. He will never be. He'll be famous for what happens to his character in that movie forever. You know Robert's blossom, check this out. So dude's grandfather the main characters, grandfather and vision quest is gonna show up later as the old man in home alone. Yeah, pretty cool cameo.

Speaker 2: 25:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:07

Yeah, he also shows up in the quick and the dead, which I have to think about who he plays in the quick and the dead, because that would be towards the end of his life and he'd be much older. Who can? The dead is actually a cool Western with Sharon Stone. And who else is in that movie? Russell Crowe, leonardo DiCaprio playing like a Billy the Kid type. That's a good movie, has a pretty interesting history. We'll get to it eventually.

Speaker 1: 25:30

We brought it up. It's like the not. No, we haven't talked about it as much as vision quest before we reviewed it, but we have mentioned quick and the dead in the past. Let's see what else I'm taking a lot of, but I'm sucking up a lot of air time. I get it. Jordan's got a lot to say to you. I was just trying to give some highlights to the the cast. Oh, first Whitaker. This is like one of his first movies. He's on the wrestling team. He's mostly in the background, but he's like he plays saga rare and all the Star Wars cartoons and movies. And I mean I know him from Ghost Dog Way the samurai. I just watched him in this movie where he plays like a military leader in an alien movie called like a rival, but not not a rival 1990. Whatever with Charlie Sheen, it's like a rival with Amy Amy.

Speaker 2: 26:22

Anybody? Amy Adams yeah, one of the famous Amy. Jeremy Renner yeah, yeah, yeah, he plays a leader with a trying for out.

Speaker 1: 26:29

Why are the aliens here and how do they communicate? Blah, blah, blah. But he probably, I think, either one Academy Award or was nominated up the fact. Check that at some point. I should have done it before, but I didn't. There's too many actors to pay attention to. I'm saying the cast is stacked, is what I'm Saying, folks. But force Whitaker, well known for the last King of Scotland, where he plays like an African dictator who's like obsessed with the Scottish Highlanders, like he wears outfits from, like, you know, 1800 Scotland, but he's not. I mean, he's obviously an African warlord or whatever. But For us, whitaker portrayed him In a movie. It's pretty good, anyway. So yeah, cast is stacked. That's my point and Jordan's. That's an average stats.

Speaker 2: 27:10

Yeah, stacked stats for you. So this was Linda Forntino's very first audition out of drama school. So straight out of drama school she got the part and it was her future film debut. She was playing the older woman, but at the time she was really only one year older than Matthew Maudine.

Speaker 1: 27:29

The film includes in a well slow down so he's like 18 or 19 in real life and so she's like a year older. I can't explain like right we can assume that we're more seasoned in the movie.

Speaker 2: 27:39

She's 21 in the movie and he's only 18. So it's not that big of a gap, but whatever I mean it is, but it's not.

Speaker 1: 27:48

I mean, but her character supposed to play like two or three years older and then real life. They're basically the same year, yeah, the.

Speaker 2: 27:54

The film includes an appearance by Madonna Her first in a major motion picture playing a singer at a local bar where she performs the songs Crazy for you and Gambler. In some countries, the title of the film was changed to market on Madonna's emerging fame and the popularity of the song Crazy for you. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 28:18

Matthew funny like.

Speaker 2: 28:22

I mean, this gives you the 80 vibes like through and through. You know, definitely in the bar scene. So it's definitely worth checking out. Matthew Maudine said he started training five weeks before the film and that he learned you are really Wrestling against yourself and it is about how much you can endure. He's also mentioned the sport is very brutal during a rich Eisen interview. I Mean, I don't think wrestling would be so tough. Also, I think they do a good job of depicting the sport like actually in the film too. You know. Anywho, it's based the. The movie is based on Terry Davis's 1979 novel of the same name. So vision quest Never read it, I don't know if you have, no, I mean.

Speaker 1: 29:18

Reading what's reading. I can't read Moving on.

Speaker 2: 29:24

Whatever, no, oh man the film came back.

Speaker 1: 29:34

No, I want to read it, but I've never got around to it, so I'm just making up, you know be as excuses why I've never tried to get it in my hands on a copy of the book.

Speaker 2: 29:42

So this was filmed largely on location and an around Spokane, washington State, usa, and used many local citizens in small parts as as extras the scene where Loudon's big match happens. A shot in the gym of Spokane Falls Community College. Most of the high school scenes take place in real high school or or in high, real high schools around Spokane. A Wrestling coach, like a real wrestling consultant, was brought on to authenticate the matches, which, again, I mentioned that I do think that they're very realistic In the movie. And then, of course, vision quest is considered a cult classic, having found its audience on home video and television Broadcasts, but it's still going strong as a feel-good movie for the ages. Matthew Maudine opened the Spokane International Film Festival in 2016 with the screening of vision quest. We think this is the same screening that marked the 30th anniversary, and Terry Davis was in attendance as well.

Speaker 1: 30:46

Yeah, so like that's rad. I saw clips from the Spokane International Festival Spokane International International Festival and there's a stage and Terry Davis is present, the wrestling consultant, who was like a, as you said, a real wrestler at that time in this Greco Roman style wrestling like Olympic wrestling style that they're doing and Matthew Maudine. And then, like I Was like okay, I think they're the one in the same event, but I didn't get confirmation. So I was like, oh, I really want Jordan to include this under stats and sense it over to you. But I was like, however, I don't want to be like saying like Officially, oh, matthew Maudine and Terry Davis were on stage at Spokane if they were at a different like screening, but at some point they presented the film together and introduced it in front of a live audience at like an anniversary screening. I I'm led to believe they're one of the same, based on the evidence that I could find online. However, there's also another screening that Matthew Maudine was reading excerpts from the book and introduced the film at.

Speaker 1: 31:48

So Look, every 80s kid Rediscovered by 90s kids. It's a little bit harder now because there is no traditional broadcast TV unless you also have paid Gables in your house right that how you're gonna discover these movies. Like I was thinking about this recently, like a lot of my experiences of some of my favorite movies are the things that are sold cheap to TVs and like Were shown on these channels. Totally, you know what I'm saying. So it's like how would like, unless they're Like Guillermo del Toro, the filmmaker was talking about how, because all these companies are dropping Distribution of physical media, like they're not gonna manufacture DVDs and blue rays that we have to become like human Curators of media and in a way, that's like kind of true, because like we're here on a podcast talking about movies, making recommendations for movies, and it's like people are like when did that movie pop into existence?

Speaker 1: 32:41

You know what I mean, right.

Speaker 2: 32:43

Media now to like kind of give people those sort of recommendations where we were fortunate enough to grow up in an era when you would be flipping through the channel and you would land on something.

Speaker 1: 32:54

Yeah, we're kind of like weird time travelers, or like we're pre industrious internet, wi-fi communications, and then also after it. So we're like we're experiencing it at the same time. But we also have these vague memories of life before right, whatever millennials. That's why we can't figure out our heads from our toes, or what we want to do is a generation, because, like we're from two different worlds, man, we live in different worlds one, one before times and the one after times. Whatever you want to call it. Anyway, this is a very philosophical episode, as it's very philosophical yes bringing all these other areas up.

Speaker 1: 33:30

Where are we? Okay, we just finished the Savage stats, so to speak, and we'll be back to favorite bits after these messages. We're just talking about surf shark VPN. You can stream award-winning shows and movies safely with surf shark VPN. Whether you're traveling, staying abroad or you just want to explore a different culture via local content, a VPN can help you stay safe and private when doing so. Don't let anybody track your journey. Choose surf shark for the ultimate online privacy. Get surf shark Again. Earlier I was thinking about eyebrows in cereal. Now I'm thinking about a shark that literally serves the digital world.

Speaker 1: 34:16

Actually, here's how Johnny uses VPNs. When I want to watch British content that I can't get unless I subscribe to certain apps, or I can't get it at all, I want to direct from the source. If you plug in a VPN and you make them think that your computer is blending and then you just watch, you know, uk Netflix or whatever. You know what I'm saying? There you go. It unlocks all these libraries. What? Yeah, it unlocks the ghetto.

Speaker 2: 34:41

Yeah, exactly, but here we have baby at a favorite bits, Favorite bits from Vision Quit. My notes are a little chunky today. I don't know why I went with chunky, but they feel chunky because I like half put things Her notes are.

Speaker 1: 34:56

I'm sure you get it Full note out of cheese she's ripping off of her note.

Speaker 2: 35:03

I thought that some of the writing was really mature, like I loved that about this film. You know it's definitely takes place. You know, with a high school student it's take place, it takes place at a high school, but they're very open about their sexuality, which I thought was super interesting and, really honestly, something I enjoyed in the film. One of them was essentially him like talking about the poem that they had discussed in class. What was it? Who was the teacher.

Speaker 1: 35:34

Oh dang, is it when he's with the English teacher in the nurse's office after one of his nose bleeds? Yes, yeah, I wrote that down as well.

Speaker 2: 35:41

Yes, and essentially the poem is about how this you might need to help me with this because I don't remember. I wish I could figure it out.

Speaker 1: 35:52

I have a great summary for the scene I wrote down. He's experiencing poetic sympathies, but with a boner, and he actually makes a comment about having an erection during English class. When they're talking about romantic poems. It's a girl. It's a coming of age poem about a girl who's experiencing the same mental state and hormonal state as loud and swaying.

Speaker 2: 36:11

but he found a way to convalesce that he understood the poem, but in real terms, in modern terms, Right and it's something about like right, you can like live every single day and you might think about, you know, the day that you die and you can push off everything till that moment. But then you realize she in the poem realizes that every single day she's dying a little bit more and he says something along the lines of quicker but with a hard on. I thought that was so funny. Yeah, he's very smart and he's a very kind character and I just thought that Matthew Modine had really conveyed this like emotionally gentle person who like he does admit that he's also a Subtract to his hormones as well, of his age.

Speaker 2: 37:02

She's like he's a virgin, he's 18. You know, he's obviously, like you know, probably pumping with testosterone testosterone in a, in an athletic event that requires you to be I don't know physically they and pumping weights and I don't know. It just seems pretty wild and he really pushes his limits with his physical abilities to do something incredibly challenging. And I think, yeah, I'm one of my favorite parts about this is that he could win state, he could get championships, he could get full ride scholarships at wrestling at his own weight class.

Speaker 1: 37:41

But it's like this is a little miserably and you don't know. You don't know until the end what's going to happen to him.

Speaker 2: 37:46

Well, and he'd prefer to challenge himself in this way, in a way that he wants to fight the best guy in the toughest weight class, and he's willing to put himself through Not only this like emotional distress, through this like hormonal phase in his life.

Speaker 1: 38:02

It doesn't waste time telling you that that's what he's about, like it? Literally the movie starts making that declaration and then you're in for it. For the ride yeah, and not a lot of movies have the courage to do that like right away and get going.

Speaker 2: 38:16

they should, but I loved to like I talked about it multiple times how they actually depict like the sport of wrestling. Like I knew wrestlers in high school I had to cheer at these matches and so it's kind of a little blast from the past. But watching some of them do some of these exercises I thought was incredibly funny and really cool. Like my favorite one Was when they had what it was the same coach was on his hands and knees and then Loudon had his legs wrapped around coaches trunk and he's doing setups like on his back. I just thought it was like it. Just they did such a good job of depicting the sport so oh, that actually happens in wrestling.

Speaker 1: 39:01

I was wondering I was sitting here wondering tonight if this movie is a reason that I was in middle school and high school wrestling.

Speaker 2: 39:08

Because why would you not want to do sport and wrestlers?

Speaker 1: 39:11

do screw with you when you're on the mat, especially if you get into a dominant position like that. That's what it is. It's about like establishing dominance and trying not to lose it and then or being or submitting like you. But it's basically it like you're your willpower is concentrated over a short period of time and there's a lot of there is embarrassment involved. So if the other wrestler embarrasses you, that that like screws your mental game. You know what I mean. And then you submit. You lose the match. I did like. I mean, do you want me to tell you?

Speaker 1: 39:43

I mean like I had people that, like you know, they flick you in the nads. You know I mean. Or obviously talk shit. You guys are obviously talking shit in each other's ear the whole time and there's a lot of queer baiting, like they try to make you question your, your sexuality just to throw you off your game. You know what I mean that why you're really in the wrestling why you're really into that kind of wrestling.

Speaker 2: 40:07

They do that a lot to louden in the movie to, just because he obviously is a virgin, like he's never been with a woman. Everybody knows about that. Yeah, there was a lot of yeah wrestling stuff that I thought was actually pretty cool to just make you feel like like this movies was really serious about that and it just I don't know if that's the authenticity you know.

Speaker 1: 40:29

Believe it or not, I can still do a neck bridge, which there's this thing in wrestling if you master this, you can almost get out of any hole that's put on you, unless you're suplexed. And they win, like they take you to the mat and suplex, you can't get out and they count. You do a three count but it's not like. It's not like TV wrestling. But there's this thing called a neck bridge where you, but you have to build up. You have to build up the muscles in your neck.

Speaker 1: 40:49

To do this and you, you're, you're on your back. It's the only way to get off your back. But people think you can kick your legs to get out. No, like the neck, the neck bridge is, you pop the muscles in your neck and you're kind of like you're bouncing off the mat with the power of your the muscles in your neck and they spring your head like off the mat in such a way that you can get to like a half a stance and they try to circle around your opponent. But like it's, it's in theory it's a simple technique but it's hard to master. But yeah, it's work on it like you could, I don't know. It's very helpful.

Speaker 2: 41:26

Yeah, it's wild. They did good job with all the wrestling stuff. I would say in my last favorite bit was when he's warming up just for his very last match, just like I don't know. It was a good like, just getting serious, getting you prepped for this match, no matter how it's gonna go down, you know. He of course finally runs back into Carla after she sort of disappeared on him and she tells him to go kick the guy's ass.

Speaker 1: 41:54

So thought that was good, yeah, she shows up to see him. And spoiler alert yeah, he wins, but he deserves it because this kid is working the entire movie for this. Yeah, you mentioned another favorite bit like how they kind of make you question, like the question of sexuality and wrestling or whatever. There's actually a late night room service scene in this movie.

Speaker 2: 42:15

Right early too, I was like what are we?

Speaker 1: 42:17

watching A late night traveler who works as a. Does he sell sports equipment? He sells something adjacent like he's either like sports equipment or shoes or something.

Speaker 2: 42:30

I think it was equipment, because I think he said something like yeah, like sporting goods salesman or something, so I have all the equipment.

Speaker 1: 42:37

If you've ever worked as a night porter or room service guy or worked in a hotel, you encounter some of these characters. So for me, like that was a very real scene. Like again, like without having read the book, I want to conspeculate that the movie includes it because, yeah, teenagers question their sexuality and they have a bunch of experiences and like, what do they do with these emotions, hormones raising through their body, what have you? What kind of person are they? What kind of adults are they going to be? Who are they when they're 18? But like running into a dude like that at a hotel, that's what happens when you work in a hotel. Man, you know what I'm saying? A lot of freaking characters, you know. So I thought that was kind of cool because it seemed real to me. I wrote that down. Then Elmo gives a speech. Elmo was a surrogate father figure.

Speaker 1: 43:23

What's interesting about the character also is I lost him he has like multiple father figures, cause like we know that his real dad is kind of defeated, right he has his grandpa.

Speaker 1: 43:32

I just give him a lot of good advice because he's suffering from a major loss both in his business and his personal life, cause the mothers walked out and his farm went belly up and he's just working a regular job to get by and get this kid through high school. And then so Loudoun has his coworker who's like the cook for the room service at the hotel, and so at one point that cook, whose name is Elmo, gives who's JC Quinn, I should mention. He's an actor that pops up in the abyss. He's in Maximum Overdrive. He's in the prophecy and days of thunder, so he's another good character actor. He plays Elmo the chef and at one point he has, he gives Loudoun a speech.

Speaker 1: 44:11

Because there is a moment where Loudoun, like, is still questioning his confidence towards the end, is still considering withdrawn from the match, and he's like it's not just six minutes of your life, kid, it's really only six minutes for you on the mat, but for the rest of us experiencing it, it also means something to us and here's why. And then he goes into a diatribe about why and it's actually like it's a beautiful speech For a movie. That's when it comes out it's like considered a throwaway movie, and who cares? But Madonna is the soundtrack, so maybe check it out. Like has one of the best movie speeches from this era that I think is like completely underrated and overlooked. And like go watch Elmo's speech in freaking Vision Quest so good, I mean. Folks, you can probably guess how we're gonna rate this movie. I mean, I was so excited to talk tonight. I was actually using social media to throw up pictures of me holding a DVD copy of Vision Quest.

Speaker 2: 45:05

Okay, you could probably guess, but you could probably guess. Our ratings.

Speaker 1: 45:10

The problem is folk tonight, but our ratings are. How do our ratings go on this show, jordan?

Speaker 2: 45:14

So binge now, bring it to the very top of your list. Don't walk run to your bedroom, to your TV. Go throw it out and watch it tonight. Binge later is get around to it, but it's high on the list. And then binge never is not a chance. You wasted your time.

Speaker 1: 45:33

Except Jordan threw us for a monkey wrench earlier, where she made us really, really, really think a binge never can actually exist. It's like is there a number below zero? Or like you know what I mean, I know.

Speaker 2: 45:48

I just want to be more careful with my binge never so never say binge, never So-.

Speaker 1: 45:52

I'm just like first, they can't laugh tonight. So last week I told you I was sick, yeah.

Speaker 2: 45:56

Here's how folks I had pneumonia.

Speaker 1: 45:58

I didn't even realize it. So I was actually really sick, oh buddy. But tonight I'm trying to laugh and I'm still coughing a little bit. Sorry, but you know-.

Speaker 2: 46:05

Stiple it, which is so much harder than actually laughing, but I'd rate it a binge, now for sure.

Speaker 1: 46:11

Oh, absolutely. It's a binge show, 110% binge. Now, so glad that we finally got to do it on the podcast. I don't even know, I sometimes get nervous if there's a movie that I really love and I want like a hundred new people that I've never heard of it to go see it. Like how do I convince them in so many words, like what can I possibly say to you to get you interested in this movie? Where it's like all your parents are like hey, listen to this singer. Or like, hey, read this book. Nah, my parents recommended it. I can't do it. Like Johnny's like, go watch Vision Quest guys. They're like, oh, come on, just as in podcasts, you're talking about a movie from the 80s called Vision Quest.

Speaker 2: 46:51

Anyway.

Speaker 1: 46:52

I'm secretly frightened. How do I convince anybody to see Vision Quest? You know, I would love to have a filmmaking class because I would bring movies like this to show you things that they haven't seen. Do you know what I'm saying? Like oh like, there's a lot to take away from this movie. You get to the inciting incident. You start the problem. The character has to get over in the movie in the very first few seconds of the movie. That's a major point. It does also follow the thing that keep it simple, stupid. It does follow the ethics of that, right, yeah, because it shows you his training. He has the one major distraction, which is his hormones and love for this character that comes into his life. His obstacle is, well, what is it? His job? The fact that he doesn't have the support, initially, of friends and family, right, well.

Speaker 2: 47:46

More importantly, yeah, the girl who falls in love and he wants to just stop everything to be with him the other guys.

Speaker 1: 47:52

They aren't gonna give it to him either, Like the guy playing shoot.

Speaker 2: 47:56

Oh no, he's not.

Speaker 1: 47:57

You know, state champion wrestler. They actually took time to ground this character in reality and say, like, this guy wants to win, even though it's like his eighth or ninth time going at it. However, I would say they also ground Loudoun's chances in reality too, because what we're forgetting and haven't mentioned yet is he's the number one wrestler at 199 pounds yeah, I saw that and he drops down to 165 to deal with the other guy Because so theoretically it's like two of the best wrestlers gladiators fighting in this movie anyway, yeah he could have gone to state.

Speaker 2: 48:29

He could have won state. He could have taken everything in his own weight class. He's up for scholarships Like people are looking at him and he should be just winning right. But he doesn't want to just win, he wants to beat the best person. That's why he's a legend.

Speaker 1: 48:44

That's why he becomes a legend, because it's not good enough just to be a top ranked wrestler in high school. He's like on my way out the door I'm gonna do something with another top ranked wrestler that's gonna put me in the books for like the next decade or the stratosphere and just be a total legend.

Speaker 2: 48:59

That's so good.

Speaker 1: 49:00

This movie will make you feel good, Like if you're having a shitty day, your week's not going great, Hell if your year hasn't gone your way at all. You know, a movie like this can at least make you feel better for the two hours or 90 minutes that you devote your time to it. That's how I should have sold it, by the way. The movie actually makes you feel better about life.

Speaker 2: 49:22

Do it for Elmo. Do it for Elmo. That speech is worth the whole two hours. So, so, so, so so.

Speaker 1: 49:30

So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so so. I want to ask my my opportunity now to travel away from the eighties and well, maybe I don't know if it lasted into the nineties, maybe early nineties. It's like an attorious, like it's kind of like a long order type deal, but it's not from the juan order, people, I don't think. Have you heard about this? But oh, but Steve Vochko, he's a famous TV producer. Know about this? No, dang it. You know how I found out about this. I always wanted to watch it because Harry Hamlin would show up on like reality TV as himself and like, oh, it's Harry Hamlin from LA Law and I'm like what, who? You know what I mean. But he has a famous wife too, who's like an actor and a model or something.

Speaker 1: 50:37

And they would always show up on like these, these other like reality shows based on actors and TV, and so I knew about them from reputation and like the neighborhood, but I didn't know, like never saw the show. Guess what. They dropped it on Hulu.

Speaker 2: 50:50

Well, like six episodes deep and time to get into that. So is that what you're doing for staff picks right now?

Speaker 1: 50:57

Yeah, I was like oh, I realized we did a whole podcast, didn't mention anything else to watch. I was like oh, I better pop it in real quick.

Speaker 2: 51:04

I did watch a staff pick. I won't talk about it in too much detail, but it's. I have to look up the actual specific name really quick because I don't want to butcher it because it's the name of the person. Okay, give me one second, okay. Okay. So Daniel Radcliffe did a documentary and it is so good. It's called David Holmes, the Boy who Lived.

Speaker 1: 51:38

Oh, about his stuntman that got injured on like the sixth movie.

Speaker 2: 51:42

On the set.

Speaker 1: 51:43

Yeah, yeah but there's the lifelong friends.

Speaker 2: 51:45

It has long friends. It's, yeah, obviously sad circumstance, but it's a beautiful story.

Speaker 1: 51:55

Way to bring it down, way to bring it down at the end.

Speaker 2: 51:57

It's still calm down folks.

Speaker 1: 52:02

Balance it out at the end.

Speaker 2: 52:03

Like okay, I'll see myself out. Bye, Bye, oh man.