Cigars and Cinema Podcast

The Special 100th Episode! Ep. 100 3/13/26

Eric Drazin and Mike Coleman Season 4 Episode 7

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:05:35

Send us Fan Mail

100 episodes of Cigars and Cinema! Celebrate with us for a very special show of heated disccussion, nostalgic trips down memory lane, and updates on what is to come! It's going to be a BANGER of a show! 
We are smoking the Bruno the Butcher Maduro

Bruno The Butcher LINK:

https://oakglentobacconist.com/?s=bruno&post_type=product

Sign up for the OGT Cigar Society Subscription
https://oakglentobacconist.com/product/ogt-monthly-subscription/

SPEAKER_02

Welcome back to another episode of Cigars and Cinema. Grab a cigar, something to pair it with, and let's journey into another episode of Smoke and Scream. Custom cigars 15 months at 199. Join the community and work with us on the Oakland Tobacchinist YouTube channel as we delve into the written experience of 18 and craft cigars. And many cigars and my full list is custom made just for our membership. If you're interested and if you want to find out more about the subscription and the whole host of these cigars, visit us at www.oplandist.com or find us on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok at OGT Cigars. Boom. Not just another episode are we here for, guys. Thank you so much for jumping on. We are here for the official 100th episode of Cigars and Cinema Podcast. It's crazy to think about, Curtis. 100 episodes.

SPEAKER_00

How do we how do we do it?

SPEAKER_02

How did how do we get here? Feels like just the other time. We're just like starting it and now we're ready to go. So 100 episodes. Thank you guys so much for jumping on for Cigars and Cinema Podcast. If you have not been listening to the other 99 episodes that we have done, this is the podcast where we smoke cigars unabashedly commentating and in some cases giving extreme opinions on film and entertainment. As always, coming to you from the East Coast, I'm one of your hosts, Eric Drazen from OGT Cigars. And joining me, my co-host from the West Coast, Curtis Bailey. Let me just say exactly.

SPEAKER_01

That's what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you so much, guys, for jumping on. It's gonna be a little bit of a different format for the 100th episode. We're not specifically talking about a movie, we're taking a look back through history. Um, and so it's gonna be more casual. We have a cigar pairing with a like particular spirit tonight. Um, so we would love to know uh your thoughts. As always, please put them down in the comments. We would love to pull those up as the show progresses. Also, something to think about. Uh, I would like to ask right now, if you're watching at any time during the show, put down in the comments what was like one of the highlight episodes, the highlight movies we have talked about. Um, because I'd always love to know. It's always good to know those things.

SPEAKER_00

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So let's see here. We got RJ on saying, Hello, Eric and Curtis. Congratulations on the hundredth episode. Thank you, RJ. Uh, while I'm not much of a movie guy, I still tune in to listen to you guys talk movies and of course cigars. Congrats once again. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks. I we've appreciated you showing up over the last several weeks. And uh, especially if you're sticking around to hear uh probably particularly me yammer my stupid head off about movies because I can do that all day. I love cigars, I love smoking cigars, I love the experience, I love the whole thing. I can probably say five words about cigars. I'm I'm not the guy to come to for like good detailed cigar discussion. So thank you for sticking around. That means a lot.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, thank you so much for everyone showing up uh or even downloading our uh podcast. It's it's awesome and with the uh much appreciated to have you guys with us. Um, Jason saying, Top of the world, happy 100th episode. Thank you too, Jason, for jumping on. Uh, we got Mike saying congratulations on the hundredth. Thank you guys so much. Thank you guys so much. Um, so what we thought would be kind of cool, instead of like, you know, let's just do another movie um for the hundredth episode, we wanted to take a look back and see where Curtis and I rated very differently the movies toward their conclusion. And I will also say this it's not just me lowballing movies. There's a few here, also Curtis was uh not too impressed with for sure. So it'll be cool. But uh for tonight, as we had mentioned, we have a cigar pairing. Um, I thought it would be cool because it was in the variety pack, but also it's one of those cigars that I continue to go back to and also easy to pair with. Tonight we're gonna be smoking the Bruno the Butcher. So this is a uh conclusion to the Rare Breeds trilogy. Bruno the Butcher uh is in collaboration with Shafio Cigars. It sports a San Andreas Maduro wrapper, very dark, uh Nicaraguan binder and filler. It is a box press coming in at a five by 56 uh Robusto, Robusto Extra, however you want to look at it. Um, but that's what we're gonna be smoking tonight. So um just before we jump into those things, if you guys are interested, uh we made Bruno the Butcher available tonight because of the show. So if you wanted to explore that or even explore something super rare, and that's the entire uh like rare breeds collection, including the two-tone and the Mr. Pen Stripe over two years' age, that is available. Um so check that out while you have the opportunity. Curtis, uh, I'm in the mood for a cigar. Uh, what say you we get this lit up?

SPEAKER_00

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_02

All right, all right. So we're gonna get this uh first with cut, see a cold draw. What's happening with this cigar? I'm gonna go ahead and give it a cut here. There we go. Excellent open draw.

SPEAKER_00

You know, before before I started this, I do want to comment. There's something about the um the bulldog on here. Yeah, and the this Vitola, this kind of like short, fat Vitola. I was like, those feel like they align up with each other. Yes, yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_02

100%. Um, I see your guys' comments. So uh we once we get this lit up, we'll come right back to that. Thank you guys so much. Keep dropping them in. Um a cold draw, and I know a lot of you, Jason, RJ, Nick, you've smoked the cigar before as well. I get a little bit of like this position between like fennel and like star and ease.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, I could see that. I'm also picking up like um alfalfa, probably.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, yeah. Interesting. All right, well, let's go ahead and get this lit up. Every cigar is smoked in thirds. First, third, second, and final, just as every movie in three acts. As you light up, take the time to toast it, smell the room note, and experience the first notes as the tobacco comes alive. In the same way, movies follow a structure, the Aristotle's structure. Inciting incident, attack, crisis, climax, resolution. In this order, we will break down the cigar and we will break down the movie. Well, this cigar does not lack in smoke output, I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, and we're we're freshly in uh daylight savings time now, so I got all this light streaming in from the screen behind me. So I'm just gonna be like all aglow tonight.

SPEAKER_02

So right out the gate, a lot of pepper on the retrohale. Um, I get this like barbecue-y, like savory barbecueiness as well. Um, I don't know, what are you getting up front?

SPEAKER_00

I'm trying to put my finger on what that there's a flavor that's reminding me of it's kind of like a dark, toasty, like sesame stick kind of flavor.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Okay. Yeah, there's something toasty in there, or even charred. I feel like there's like a charring to it as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's like if you've ever been to those um Italian restaurants that would sometimes before dinner serve these long, thin, hard breadsticks that had sesame seeds on them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

If you take one of those and just like, you know, torch it for a couple of seconds, like that's what I'm getting.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, okay, I can see that. Yeah, this cigar grabbed me from the beginning. Uh, it is my personal favorite out of the entire Rare Breeds trilogy. Um, and like you were saying, you have the Bulldog, the short, stocky cigar, but I even feel it's reflected in its like smoking experience. It's it's heavy, it's full, and it's why it took us the longest time to get this thing like actually blended. I think it the reason it was like I think two years after the other releases is we went through so many different iterations. We're like, okay, this is finally the one. So it took us a while. Um, let's see here. We got a few comments as well. We'll pull up before we get into our spirits. Let's see. Uh Nick is saying, made it, and congratulations on number 100. Thank you, Nick.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks, that's appreciated.

SPEAKER_02

And as Curtis said at the beginning, RJ, Nick, even also Iron Love, big congrats. Guys have been coming back and back, uh, listening to the shows. It's awesome. So thank you so much. Um, Jason is saying, Oh, let's see here. Enjoying a balcony's lineage with Bruno the Butcher. And on the Bruno the Butcher saying, I'm definitely getting a cedar note. Yeah, maybe like woodsy. Um, I don't know. There's like this peppery spice. I can see that like toasty breadiness that you're saying as well. There's like a barbecue, and then maybe like a charred oak or something. A lot of different things going on that's like kind of pulling back and forth. Yeah. Uh Jamie Williams, Bruno is delicious. My Bruno sticks are at home. I'm stuck on the road with a Padrone 1964, number four Maduro. I'll make it work.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, Darn.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Oh no, Padrone, too bad. No, that's a great cigar. So uh we talked about let's not only have a cigar that we're smoking to uh the same, but also pairing it with something. And uh it's difficult because being in North Carolina, my selection is is limited to ABC stores, of course. So so when we were talking, I was like, what was and I remember seeing Noah's Mill, and I was like, wait a minute, I think Curtis enjoyed Noah's Mill, and I think that's gonna work with Bruno because they're both kind of heavy hitting. So that's what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you do need a uh a a buff little uh bulldog of a cigar to go up against this bourbon because it's pretty it's pretty hot. It clocks in a what like 57%, I think, or something like that.

SPEAKER_02

It is like 114 proof, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. So for those who have not had it, this is let's see if we can that's Noah's Mill. Uh, this is one of those bourbons that uh I tried pretty early on, quite a while ago, and I fell in love with. And I'm not really the biggest fan of like heavy bourbon, like like in terms of higher proof. But this one, I feel like it's not the same experience, it's a magnificent and uh whiskey, so I figured, hey, let's give it a try.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, definite, definite strong vanilla on the nose.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I gotta catch up.

SPEAKER_00

I gotta get my from that uh new oak barrel.

SPEAKER_02

I have a I have a bourbon question for you. Yes, and I I hope I didn't give misinformation. I had a friend visiting last week who was on the show. Uh, he's very much the the wine enthusiast.

SPEAKER_00

I caught a little bit of that episode, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So uh we were talking about bourbons, and I was like, I believe, and I was like, I need to ask Whiskey Batman this, but I believe that to be a bourbon, the first aging process has to be in an unused, like a virgin white oak barrel. Is that correct? Correct.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, and that uh that came about purely from uh I don't know if lobbying is the right word, but input from the lumber industry because they're like, hey, we just want to keep supplying new barrels. How can we do that? Well, let's slide in there while they're defining what what bourbon is and say, hey, it has to be an unused barrel.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah, that's one of the defining features of bourbon. Some bourbon makers, I think, feel like it's also a little bit of a hindrance because you know it it it limits to a degree how much they can play around with things, you know, if you're always having that unifying uh thing, but it's also what defines the category, and I'm sure it provides, like I said, that that heavy vanilla and um uh caramel kind of thing. I mean, that's what bourbon lovers are looking for, so yes, yes, and I think that's why I've always enjoyed this.

SPEAKER_02

So, as you said, you got a bit of like vanilla on the nose. Um I picked this up actually while he was out because we did a little bit of a bourbon tasting, and I was like, we got to give this a try. Vanilla was one of the things I recited to him, and I also hear what he was saying, he's like, Wow, that's like ethanol to the nose. Yeah, you can you you take that 114 proof.

SPEAKER_00

All right, let's have a second.

SPEAKER_02

All right.

SPEAKER_00

One of the things that I think that I really appreciate about this one is that uh a lot of bourbons for me, especially when they're hotter like this is, can end up being a little bit too like burnt caramel tasting, and that starts to put me off a little bit. This one is rounded off with what I think, or at least what my brain interprets as like a kind of butteriness.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like even the texture of it, it's very buttery in terms of cuttering, uh covering your palate. Um, I get some of that vanilla, I also get some a little bit of barrel spice on the finish, like through the nose. But it's it's very good. If I'm gonna smoke, if I'm gonna enjoy a higherproof bourbon, it's usually something like this. And um, we did this for a tasting. We also did like its younger brother, Rowan's Creek, which is also really good, even more affordable.

SPEAKER_00

I remember liking that one too.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I respect it. Uh Iron Love is saying, I'm just sitting with a little guy right now watching. Soon as he goes to sleep, I'll light up a Bruno. Well, nice. There you go. Uh Nick says, Let me grab a Bruno. I was getting started. Uh uh be positive, need to refresh what it's like. Cool. Yeah, please join us in this. Uh, Jason, watching Eric drink wine, I wanted to ask him, Are you chewing gum? I I'm gonna tell you, like, wine is it just it's a whole new thing. And what I finally understand when someone tells me, like, there's so many options in cigars, it's a little overwhelming. I'm like, that's wine for me. I get it, like it's sure it's vast.

SPEAKER_00

I I I also feel that way for whatever reason. I've I've found um whiskey to be more accessible for my palate, and it could just be because like I'm a stupid blunt instrument and I need strong flavors so I can figure it out. Because wine for me, as as much as I do enjoy drinking it, I go tasting. It's I think it's the best thing to serve with dinner if you want to have alcohol with with a meal. But um uh for me, wine is crazy subtle a lot of the time.

SPEAKER_02

So uh yeah, I no, I agree. So going back and forth between this, and I know we're gonna get into some of the movies we talked about, but the pairing itself, I feel like if I if I experience the Bruno and then I go into the drink, um there's there's more like that the the whiskey coats, whereas if I have a sip and then I go to the Bruno, it brings out more sweetness and like lighter tones. What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I agree with that, and I think in particular, I pick up a little bit of fruitiness uh uh after a uh a draw in this cigar that you know isn't maybe quite present there. So, like yeah, fruitiness and spice. So, like maybe almost like a little tiny bit of cinnamon, cinnamon apple, you know, kind of uh direction. I feel is like where my palate goes with that.

SPEAKER_02

Um I agree, I agree, and that that's something I really enjoy, and and maybe it's what I enjoy coffee and cigars so much is is when either the drink will pull more out of the cigar or vice versa, or even balance it a bit more. Like the Bruno is definitely heavy hitting to have more of the subtle sweetness come forward is a cool experience. I enjoy it. Okay, so we uh to Curtis's credit, and first of which I want to give a shout out to him. He uh designed this backdrop you see behind us, uh, the 100th episode. And also, Curtis is responsible for basically all the reels that Cigar and Cinema puts out. So the cuts, compiling all that data together. Um, this is obviously for both of us a very much a labor of love, love, uh, a passion project, but even more so for Curtis. Um, and I think it really speaks to uh your enthusiasm about movies and what it kind of like expresses and such. So I wanted for anyone who uh who maybe doesn't know this, even though it's posted on our Cigars and Cinema page and I do the posting, Curtis does all the editing.

SPEAKER_00

Well, thank you. That's that's very kind. It's it's uh you know, I at first, of course, I started off as just a fan of this show because I haven't been a host for the entire hundred of them. Uh and uh shout out to uh to Mike Coleman. Uh he should I I loved when he was on the show. I've re-listened to some of those episodes. Uh he was awesome. Uh miss him, but uh I I just you know I have a big appetite for this kind of thing, and uh, you know, probably to a lot of people's annoyance. And so the fact that uh, you know, I I'm allowed to hop on here once a week with you, uh, not only just so that we can spend time together, but talk about one of my favorite subjects in the world because I like cinema, I like storytelling. And uh, so yeah, I have uh I have a lot of enthusiasm for this, so it's fun to be involved, and I I like I like getting to work on it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, and it's it's definitely something I've always enjoyed talking to you about. Um, and I I for those who don't know, people know at the shop that I used to always like jokingly say, Oh, yeah, Curtis is customer zero, that being like first customer to come up, and we quickly, I believe over the weekend, because you came up a few times the first weekend, quickly learned like, oh, this is someone that I like to talk to about movies. Like, I quickly like learned that, and it was something okay. We talked a little bit about the cigar, what the business is doing, you and graphic design, and then it always inevitably will come first full circle to have you seen this, have you seen this, or yeah, something like that? Guilty as charged for sure, and I love it, I love it. Um, let's see here. A few more comments here. Uh, let's see here. David saying, Cheers to 100 fellas, just lit up a Bruno. Awesome. I'm glad everyone's smoking it. And since you're smoking it, what are the flavor notes? Love to know it. Christopher Cossman saying it was great with a Penelope cigar blend. Nice, which I needed more. I've only had one Penelope bourbon. I need to jump more into it. Daniel Frazier, ah, woke back up just in time to catch the show. Don't mind me, I'll probably fall back asleep. It's been a long week already. No worries. Well, thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00

Well, if uh if that happens, let us know afterwards, then we can put it in a review. Cigars in Cinema Podcast, it will put you asleep.

SPEAKER_02

Um, but on top of that, Curtis has also done the the uh tedious work of going back through some of our episodes and finding where he and I have kind of had split like views on movies. What those movies are, we're gonna we're gonna rehash some of those. Um, it's funny because I feel like our palettes align very, very close. But I do appreciate the fact that our movie views don't because there's like different sides of the argument.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Um, there's definitely ones that we've disagreed on a fair, but and it was interesting to go back and and look at the the scores that we gave things because you know we're we're gonna be you know relaying some of that information, and some of you guys will be like, well, that's not that big of a difference. But like for us, same as with the cigars, oftentimes we're only within like a point or so of each other on something, maybe even only a half a point off. Um, you know, so there are some of these that's you know, like maybe it's three points away, you're like, well, freeze not a lot, but out of ten, that's a hefty percentage, right?

SPEAKER_02

So it is, it is, and kind of to give an overview and see what you would if you agree with this. I would say for me personally, your your scale from one to ten. If you have like a rating of one to maybe like four, this is like I don't I don't want to watch this again. I did not enjoy it, I thought it was bad. Uh, and it's not something that I would recommend. Um, five is like, okay, I can appreciate it, it's just it doesn't tip it enough for rewatch value. Six is like more like I'll watch it again, it was all right. And then seven and eight are like this was a good movie. Anything beyond is like top ten.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I I roughly fall into that same feeling, you know. I I also sometimes will, you know, uh uh weight a rating depending on like, okay, maybe uh a movie has a lot of artistic merit, or it's a really good representation of a genre, but maybe that's a genre that I don't like, or maybe the artistic merit is there, but it just didn't resonate with me on a personal level. Like it's not a bad movie, I'm not the audience for it. So, you know, that factors in there too.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, a hundred percent. And I have also mentioned this before that rewatch value is huge for me. Um, but I think that's a product, and this is something that's really interesting. Because I grew up in the era, and a lot of people uh kind of similarly where like you had the VH uh S tape like drawer or like counter to where it's like these are the movies that we have at home, these are the movies you're gonna watch multiple times, and then you get to rent movies on top of that. So, like it became a ritual, like, all right, let's go back to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Like who cares? And with streaming, it's kind of gone away to some extent because you have so many different options.

SPEAKER_00

So Yeah, yeah. There was definitely a uh a thing there. I remember there was like this cabinet at home where I grew up where there was a a stack of about I don't know 20 VHS tapes with handwritten labels on the side because my dad had recorded this or that movie off of the TV. And yeah, that was the library. That was the library that I would go back to. It's like these are these are the choices, these 20 movies.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and then you you watch those movies, and like sometimes the commercials were still recorded in between, so you're like, This is when that commercial comes up.

SPEAKER_00

In fact, for years, the only way that I watched Star Wars as a kid, because you know people my age and older are will remember this, but home video didn't really become a thing until the late 80s when they figured out how to get the price down, and that was like 1987 or something when Top Gun came out and they had a Pepsi commercial at the front or Coke commercial, and that's how they subsidized it and made it more affordable. So, um, you know, it wasn't easy to like get your hands on a like a VHS set of Star Wars for a long time. So I watched a version of it that my dad recorded off of TV, and they must have aired it on like PBS or something. Like, I don't know how or where he found it, but included with that was a uh a preview of the movie uh by Mark Hamill, where he talked about working on the movie, he showed you some of this behind the scenes special effects stuff, yeah, and all that, and then they played the movie. So for years, that's how I watched Star Wars.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so it's funny because I feel like I was just like a few years after that because the the version we had, we had the box set, but it had the Leonard Malton interview with George Lucas, and that was a part of it, or like I've seen that one too, yeah, or like Last Crusade had uh the Diet Coke Indiana Jones commercial before it would play the movie. Yeah, crazy, crazy. Uh, let's see here. Uh, a few comments. Christopher's uh Cosman saying literally smoked a bleaker midwinter with Morris Day of the time on the Jay and Silent Bob Cruise as uh two weeks ago. I say do a Kevin Smith night.

SPEAKER_00

We could do a Kevin Smith night. I I know what he's talking about. Uh Kevin Smith uh and his podcast partner Mark Bernarden uh have done two years in a row now, or two two times at least. I can't remember if it was two years, just like a big they uh rent out a whole cruise ship, bunch of fans pay to show up, and then it's just like several days of you know, uh um uh panel discussions and comedy bits, and just like the whole shebang. So that's cool that you got to go. I'm a little jealous. Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_02

Iron Love is saying, I've got some six slash tens that I'll watch multiple multiple times, ain't winning any reward awards, but they are guilty pleasure hits at home.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yeah, I get that for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Um, Nick saying, cigar question. Don't know if my it is over humidified, but the Bruno doesn't want to stay lit. Definitely getting pepper. It might be if you like feel it, it feels a little bit spongy, it might have a little bit too humid. How much humid humidity? You may even want to set it down for a bit, maybe like 10 or so minutes, and try to relight and purge it. That might help. Um, but to your Star Wars question, it says that was the PBS run during the holidays. Okay, yeah. So there you go. All right. So, in terms of the list, uh running down what you have compiled here, it looks like we have about seven different episodes, movies to talk over. Um, one of them, I believe, was the first time you guest showed before you like were a co-host on the that's right.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, in fact, that audio that episode is audio only. It was before you were doing the YouTube thing. Um, so if anybody wants to listen to that episode, I think it's a great episode.

SPEAKER_02

It is because it's a great episode.

SPEAKER_00

Uh and uh you so you can listen to that, like you know, Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or where you know, wherever you you haven't posted. You can find that episode there, but that was episode number five from number five, all the way back in April of 2023.

SPEAKER_02

That's nearly three years ago. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, seriously.

SPEAKER_02

Crazy. So the episode and the movie in question is The Last Jedi. Now, we'll we'll cover a little bit into this and also our rating, but I have to tell you the backstory of why this was the first episode that Curtis guests on. Because at the time, me and the other co-host, Michael Coleman, shout out to uh Coleman in Riverside, California. Um, we were doing the shows and we're like, well, let's talk about Last Jedi, because at the time, like those movies were still being talked about. And Curtis and I had gotten to a discussion before the episode, and I was like, Curtis would be a great person to jump on because he loves this movie. Um, and I do not. So that was kind of the backstory of let's let's dive into it, let's get his perspective. Uh, and it's a great episode.

SPEAKER_00

I agree.

SPEAKER_02

Now I don't agree with Curtis's rating. So when it came down to it, I gave it a 6.2, which I still consider very generous. Um, Curtis gave it a nine out of ten.

SPEAKER_00

Last Jedi that's appropriate. Nine is the appropriate score for that movie.

SPEAKER_02

So, as we kind of rehash old wounds, no, as we talk about this, uh, everyone watching, Last Jedi. If you've seen it, scale from one to ten. What's your rating? Mine was 6.2, Curtis was nine.

SPEAKER_00

I already know Nick is gonna slide with you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I get I get one.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, there's one in your corner.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's gonna go downhill once we start mentioning the other ones. Um, so what was your what uh not was what is your reasoning? What makes it a nine out of ten for you?

SPEAKER_00

Um the one of the things that has bugged me the most about a lot of you know, um uh for lack of a better term, new Star Wars projects. If you're talking about stuff like um some of the animated things that they've put out, um even the Force Awakens, like now in hindsight, you know, yeah, I have a clearer vision on what that movie was doing. Um what the the Mandalorian show turned into, a lot of this stuff is that they are so hyper focused on kind of navel gazing at the the past and trying to deliver what they think fans want in the terms of look, a character you recognized, or we're you know, we're repeating a plot point because we think that's what you want, and maybe lots of people do want that. And you know, hey, if that's what you get out of Star Wars, awesome. It's that's not what I want it to be because you know, if we think back to you know 1977, before May 25th, 77, whatever date that was that Star Wars came out, there was no Star Wars to compare it to. It was just a brand new ass story, and you got two more of them, and we fell in love with those because they weren't like anything else that we had seen before, other than like you know, blending all the influences that George Lucas pulled from to put in there. Sure, yeah, and I want Star Wars to keep feeling that way, okay. And for me, um, The Last Jedi of that that sequel trilogy, those three films that they've made recently, far and away accomplishes that way more than the other two, especially uh uh Rides of Skywalker. But so that that's like the main thing for me, is just that, like, you know, it's it it it it clearly still loves Star Wars. I think that you know, because there's a lot of the complaints were like you know that this movie was poo-pooing all over like you know, some of the ideas of the the the past that that Star Wars has. But I if you really take the story at face value, I think that it's um it's paying it the greatest respect because it treats Luke like a real character, a real human being, not a perfect paragon. You know, just because he overcame uh some weakness and tried to save his uh um his father at the end of Return of the Jedi doesn't mean now that he's never gonna make another mistake or doesn't still grapple with the same uh uh uh inherent personality flaws. Most of us have to deal with those our whole lives, right? And um, you know, stuff like that climax where Luke basically saves the day by getting into a non-violent confrontation, which reinforces what Yoda has to say about the force, you know, use it for knowledge and defense, never attack, right? You know, like uh all that stuff that so is so clearly tied up in you know the like the purest essence of Star Wars and what the Jedi can mean. Uh I yeah, and plus, you know, I mean it's shot gorgeously, the whole thing looks amazing. I love the art design. Um uh I like the fact that they killed off the um the emperor analog character because I thought that meant we could go into the third movie without having to rehash that plot point, but they found a way around that. So yeah, um, it it's it's definitely an imperfect movie. I mean, if you go back and listen to that episode, uh there's stuff that I I point out as you know not being my favorite things, but like uh on balance, what it does well, I think it does really well, and it feels like the most like a movie that's trying to be Star Wars and honor what it means to be a Star Wars movie without pandering to us. That's what I like about it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Now, uh, we got a few comments here uh on that. Um, let's see here. Iron Love is saying, definitely enjoyed it in the theater. Nick is saying that's a fair argument. Iron Love agrees with that. David Vaughn says solid eight, and Nick says cinematography was great in it, yes. Um, so my counter to that, and I think the reason I will defend my 6.2 is that I agree with you. Uh, in the entire like whether you want it's hard for me to separate Star Wars and superhero movies at this point because of the umbrella of Disney. Yeah, there's so much cash grab, there's so much let's just vomit out uh uh content so that we can draw back in. And you're right, a lot of it is based on how much can we milk that cow of nostalgia to get what we want. Um, however, when we go to Last Jedi, a lot of it to me felt like filler that really doesn't accomplish or further a lot of the characters they chose to focus on in the trilogy. So we go through Force Awakens and then we the entire struggle, Ray finds Luke. Luke takes the plot of the first movie, throws it off the shelf, and then goes into I am basically gonna be the like the teenager who doesn't really want to train you, even though we know it's gonna hit to that point, we know it's gonna happen. And I think when you have a movie that lasts over two hours, when the major portion of the plot for a lot of our characters are we ran out of gas, we should have stopped by Arco, was like, I I can't, and then the side quest of the the casino planet with uh such a waste of Beniso del Toro's like acting, like all of that. I was just like, This to me is maybe ambitious, so ambitious that it really is falling a flat zero on where it's supposed to be hitting its heart. So, yeah, to me, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

I I I I I understand that, and I think probably the the reason that we see that those aspects of the movie so differently, because yeah, you're right, there is like some a lot of clunkiness in the canto bite sequence, which is the casino planet. You know, there's there's clunkiness there, um uh, you know, some some contrived things. I know people are worried were worked up over the uh the the uh holdo maneuver where she lightspeeds the ship into the other ship so that it blows her up, you know. Like, well, that's never been done before. Yeah, like that's why it's awesome. Anyway, um I think the I think the reason that uh um that disagreement exists between us is that um when it comes to movies like this in particular, I'm more of a uh I I really appreciate when characters and themes are handled correctly. And if if I think that they're doing a good job with that, I can forgive or not care about a lot of maybe plot quirkiness. Okay, whereas I think for you, you're like, okay, yeah, the themes and stuff are awesome, and it's great that they're there, but I want the the plot to feel more like it's you know, um uh I maybe less contrived to achieve the the thematic goals, perhaps. Okay, is the right way to put it. Does that make sense to you?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, um, no, no, and definitely, and so that's what I think what's so valuable about conversations with you because uh about movies is that when I try to make fun of or talk badly about a movie, um, or likewise you don't like a movie I do, it's definitely I value your opinion. I don't think your opinion is wrong on this, but here's why I think this movie is this to me. Um, and in the end, I feel like when a movie is only best known for Leia flying through the the space, it like zombie fly.

SPEAKER_00

Cite your sources that that's how it's best known for.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, so on the flip side, iron love does say seven out of ten with the brain shot off, four out of ten, four four point eight with it locked in. So there's that too. Um, Chris Cossman says, as a Star Wars nerd, not hater, I will take and love anything Star Wars Last Jedi wasn't amazing, but it's still Star Wars man. So there's that.

SPEAKER_00

That's that's a fair fair viewpoint, too.

SPEAKER_02

And he also asks, Are we looking forward to Gosling's Starfighter movie?

SPEAKER_00

Uh, I'm uncertain about that one because if I remember correctly, if somebody wants to Google and and double check me, it's being uh directed by Sean Levy Levy. I'm not sure how to pronounce his last name, and he's the guy that made uh like um uh gosh, what's the name of that one? I think it's the movie where um uh Ryan Reynolds is like uh a computer guy, like free guy or something like that. Um, yes, he made he made Deadpool and Wolverine.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, night museum, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And real steel that one was okay, actually. Um, I I I'm just wondering, like, is this the guy's voice that I want doing Star Wars stuff? But um I other than that, I know almost nothing about like what it is gonna be or what it could be. So um I've always liked the idea of a like you know, space squadron focused Star Wars movie. So why not? Like if they can make it awesome, I'll I'll I'll I'll be there for it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh Nick says lay up poppins. Yeah, that's definitely okay. We're rapidly running out of time, so we're gonna move to another one. Now, this is one that I rated higher. Uh, this is episode number 30. Uh, and Curtis was not as in favor as it was that I it aired on October 8th of 2023, and that is Man of Steel. This is Zack Schneider's project on Superman. I gave it an overall rating of 8.5, he gave it a rating of 6.5. Yep. I think there's a lot of things to could be discussed, and I know we can't get into too much or really like stretch out because there's a lot to cover tonight. Um, but here's what I will say on on the surface level, kind of you were saying like there is some clunkiness in Man of Steel, but when you have a movie that's based on a comic book series called Action Comics, and that is where this movie shines the most, and it is definitely like focusing on the action that's going on it. And I think one some of the best like visuals in a Superman movie in terms of action, that's where I will defend this movie because Amy Adams, horrible Lewis Lane, some of the character ideas, not so much, but cinema we want to talk about cinematography, punches, punch in, focusing on where it needs to focus. I think it does a masterful job.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I'm I mostly agree with you on that. I'm like, I'm not as enamored with the visual presentation, I think, as you are, but you know, that's generally one of Zack Snyder's stronger uh uh things in his artistic repertoire. But uh I I think the same problem exists for me with this movie because, like we were just talking with Last Jedi, I don't think this movie handles its characters and themes very well. In fact, I think they're incredibly unclear. And uh to the degree that uh they are clear, what he's saying about Superman and some of these other characters is a version of them that I do not like.

SPEAKER_02

So kind of what you were saying with Last Jedi, and actually we'll be talking about this movie later. In fact, we might as well just tie it in because because for the sake of time, later on, uh on episode 74. This was aired uh June, uh sorry, uh July of last year. We talked about the new Superman. So, kind of drawing those two parallels. Um, on that one, I gave the new Superman a 5.5, and you gave it a 7.5. The thing I didn't like about that Superman in terms of its themes is that it was this it so much so I felt like it didn't want to know what to say about Superman, and it was trying to be so contemporary of the time that it like left me not with a strong emotion either way. I wasn't upset, I wasn't really happy. I was like, Well, this isn't even something remotely that I can jump on. It's just in the teaser.

SPEAKER_00

I want to make sure I didn't hear you incorrectly. Did you say that you feel like this movie doesn't know what it's saying about Superman?

SPEAKER_02

I'm saying that you're talking about the new one, right?

SPEAKER_00

The new one, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, the new one is that it compromised so much of Superman's character, I felt like to a contemporary sense that I was like, this is not this is something that's a different story with Superman's name on it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, give me a specific, like what's what like something a little more coherent to to to grab onto because I think I understand what you're saying, but I want to be sure.

SPEAKER_02

So, like, okay, so they they they take a bold move in in the first like quarter of the movie about him kind of justifying and arguing with Lois about uh like his decisions in his actions, and she's like, Okay, I'm gonna interview you. Now, to her credit, she did a great job as Lois Lane. To to him, it's more of like he's he's trying to kind of like I felt like Gunn was trying to paint this picture of like Superman is like a normal person. These are the normal arguments you have with your girlfriend, but it's so outside of what Superman is, to where like he's getting frustrated, he's getting heated, and such like that. And I'm like, I where is this in any other Superman thing? And the only thing I can see is like you want to bring it more to a contemporary, relatable sense. Well, that's what superheroes like Peter Parker are for. That's not what Superman has ever been, and on top of that, you want to code it with a background music to link back to like son of John some of John Williams's scores. Yeah, I didn't like that choice. Where are you going with this? And it just it left me.

SPEAKER_00

That that's that's fair. I mean, the I think my take on it is that um Gunn was trying to position this version of Cal L as someone who is radically empathetic. Um, because sure, sure. Uh of course, Superman's you know uh power derives from the fact that he's virtually invulnerable and he can fly, he's got eyelasers and all that cool stuff. But like, you know, what makes him a hero? Like, you know, what is it that makes him, you know, quote unquote the best of us? And uh I I understand like if this isn't your thing, but I think the the movie very clearly is trying to you know make this point about this version of Cal El being a person who um almost can't help but want to do the right thing all the time. And for me, you know, especially when we're talking about a character that's that powerful, you know, that's kind of a big deal. I you know, I I appreciate in um uh Batman v Superman a line of dialogue that um uh Bruce Wayne has where he says, uh uh, you know, because Superman is so dangerous, we have to take it as a you know, if there's a one percent uncertainty that he's evil, we have to take it as if it's a hundred percent because he's potentially so dangerous. I don't think Batman should be saying that, it should have been Lex Luther saying that, but you know, like I I uh I I appreciate that I idea about the idea of you know fear around somebody who's as powerful as Cal L is. So for me, guns take where he's like, you know, this guy, you know, even though his parents we found out in this version sent him there to be a overlord, you know, that's not that's not who he is here in his heart, right? So that's what I think is uh you know most laudable about this movie is just like planting that flag really firmly in the hit his character that you know this guy uh you know loves and cares and uh chooses to use all of these crazy abilities that he has to help people. And there's a lot of messiness along the way, you know. I I wish that uh uh Clark Kent was more of a character in the movie than he actually is, because it's mostly just super. Superman all the time. Sometimes he's wearing civilian clothes. But um, because I like that version of Superman, I kind of forgive a lot of the other stuff that the movie doesn't do quite so well.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and I would say a better example though of the empathy of Superman and like where you feel the weight is actually in Brian Singer's version. When super there's a moment where where he goes up to the atmosphere and he's listening to everything, yeah. Something like that where like when he takes Lois up and says, Do you hear that? Like, I hear everything, everything all the time.

SPEAKER_00

I I like that version of him too. That's a solid movie for me.

SPEAKER_02

So uh Nick's got a uh string of comments here that I'm gonna go ahead and pull up. Sorry, Nick, I haven't been pulling up some of these. Uh, in terms of uh Man of Steel saying, A little uh too dark cinematography-wise, way too muted with Eric on Superman presents James Gunn Superman. Uh you are not the best of us, go conquer the earth. Uh, Gunn was trying to make Invincible, but as Superman, uh, his in the end of the day, his humanity, the Boy Scout is Superman's nickname. But I would also say that, like, Boy Scout to me doesn't necessarily represent humanity. I always felt like as a kid reading some of the comic books, it's like the Boy Scout of like the person you always know will do the right thing that's really not human, right? Because humans make mistakes, and so to try to be like, we're gonna make Superman as human as possible, is I'm like, this just really isn't working in the mythos of Superman for me.

SPEAKER_00

I get that, yeah. Well, and and you know, to go back to Man of Steel, I I have the inverse problem with that movie because you know, I I I think I brought this up to you in a uh a private conversation, but you know, Zack Snyder is uh an objectivist, that's Ayn Rand's philosophy. Um, and a feature of that philosophy is that you know, great men should be allowed to be the masters of their own destiny, and that the rest of society should kind of bow down and let them go off and be great. And because of their greatness, they have the right to choose however they do stuff. And the way that that version of Superman has that there's a component of that to the way he's portrayed in that movie, where you know he's even got dialogue about like, you know, I'm gonna help you, but it's gonna be on my terms. You know, he's really kind of like you know, it's kind of working out does humanity deserve my greatness, and that's just an icky version of Superman to me. I don't like it. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02

Well, yeah, so and we we we gotta move on to other stuff, but I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00

Do we want to talk about the cigar too?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yes. Jason's also saying Michael Shannon uh in anything is great. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I I that was one of the things I appreciated about re-watching that movie for the episode where we covered it, is that like fuck Michael Shannon is awesome. He's and I think that I probably would have like knocked a couple points off of that movie if he wasn't in there just being super wickedly cool as Zod, because he is unambiguously great in that movie.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yes, I agree. Uh, yeah, let's talk a little bit about the cigar. Um, I don't know for you, I always get this note, it's not always at the same point, but it's somewhere in there, and I get this like Anise licorice flavor, like somewhere in there, and I love it, it's very unique. Um, but intermixed with that anise, there's darker tones, definitely like really, really heavily dark chocolate for me.

SPEAKER_00

Um, bitterness from espresso, those things are coming in through for um another uh thing that I'm getting that um you know, you uh we often talk about on the uh cold draw that uh a common flavor to pick up there is tea, right? At least it is for me. Yes, but that almost never shows up in the actual cigar itself. I think it is on this one a little bit, okay. In the top end. Um, so that's a cool little like subtle part of the profile that I appreciate.

SPEAKER_02

And really impressive for its size. Again, we're not smoking a Lancero, Churchill. This is a short, stocky cigar, but it's got a lot going on in it, and I think it's what always depresses me.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and you know, smoke experience is great, burns been great, smoke output, great. Like 100%.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so now we'll talk about an episode episode 33, which was our first the infamous number 33. The the first episode of the year in 2024, and that of course is tombstone. Uh, this is also known as the lowest rating I've ever given a movie. It is now now. I'm not gonna lie, is it the worst movie that we watched? No, there's a lot of personal skin in the game in this one, of course. Um, so my rating was a 3.8 for Tombstone, yours was a seven. So it wasn't like this is your favorite movie, but you appreciated it definitely better than I.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, and you know, this is a movie that I I probably have a uh a funny relationship with because if we had done that episode 15 years ago, I would have been like, it's a tan.

SPEAKER_01

It's a tan.

SPEAKER_00

Because I because for a long time I really loved this movie, like you know, kind of completely, but you know, over the years, as my taste has changed and I kind of started to be a little bit more critical and think about things differently. Um it's it's definitely a big imperfect kind of thing, and uh a lot of that has to do with this slightly operatic style that they brought to it, you know. Some things are kind of big and broad, and it doesn't always work for me. And there's a lot of sloppiness, I think, with that like b-roll of horses running as why it goes on his revenge ride that just like pulling the taffy so hard on that sequence. It's like, all right, let's let's get to it. So, you know, there's lots of stuff to to to to not like about the movie, but um uh for me, like maybe five of those seven points is just Val Kilmer being awesome every time he's on screen, you know.

SPEAKER_02

No, a hundred percent. Um, yeah, I mean, I I don't I feel like I've talked about this movie at nauseum, so I don't think we got to get into it too far. Um, I do feel like one of the biggest things about this movie is when you're taking a subject like Tombstone and the real historical figures, and you're like, okay, so do we go like outlandish Hollywood or do we go with accuracy? Accuracy, what is that? Let's go this way, and it's like um like uh I just I have low tolerance for it. Um, but you're right. If I if I'm gonna say anything positive, Val Kilmer does a great job in this movie uh and makes it a little less painful, which makes the two-hour runtime or whatever like 28 minutes of it's not bad, right? So there you go. Um, all right. So moving on from there, uh episode 45, uh, which was in June of 2024, was none other than Joker.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh Waquain Phoenix. Now I didn't rate it crazy high. I gave it a seven. Um, you gave it a 4.5, didn't reach a five. Um what would you say if you were like this is the one of the main reasons why it's just not gonna reach to that five point?

SPEAKER_00

Uh it's it it feels like a movie that doesn't have its own identity to me. It it's you know, Joaquin Phoenix is great in it, but um, it's borrowing so heavily from uh uh King of Comedy and Taxi Driver, uh by both by Martin Scorsese, that uh I feel like it's it didn't do enough to synthesize that stuff into something that felt like a new, fresh interpretation. It's just felt like, oh gosh, I can't remember the director's name. It just seemed like he was like, Hey, I really like these two movies. What if them but Joker? And I'm I'm not I'm not here for it. It and plus, we find out in the sequel this guy isn't even really the Joker, anyway. So it's like all weird and convoluted now, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So for me, uh I fully understand and realize that it probably sounds a little hypocritical for me to defend this movie in terms of like why I like certain superhero movies, why I like certain movies. I will just say that the the sauce in this movie, the secret sauce that comes up with this movie in terms of cinematography, in terms of some of the acting uh ability of the people in this, as well as just music soundtrack, like the elements that it pulls on is something that I really enjoy. And there are moments in it, it's horrible, but it's also I I can watch this movie once a year. I I really, really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00

I've I've seen it enough for a lifetime. I will say one thing I really do appreciate about this movie is because of the fact that you like it so much that you put together a fantastic Joker Halloween costume.

SPEAKER_02

One of the well, I appreciate it. I mean, it's definitely a nerd move, but I thought it was great. Uh, so yeah, that was that was uh Joker. Uh, we're down to our two last two movies to discuss, uh, both of which took place last year. One of them was in May, uh, which was episode 73. Uh, which I mean, we really went through the Superman after that was the next episode. We went through some separation on voting there, uh, but was the last mission impossible uh final reckoning. I gave it a seven, you gave it a five. But the distinct thing I remember, and I'm like, I definitely disagree with this, is that you're you said uh that you possibly could even say it might be the worst mission impossible, and that it's not it that number two is better, and that to me blew my mind.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and if anything, I feel that way even more now, like after having let let it like marinate in my brain case for a few months. It's just it, and for me, it's uh it's maybe not less about like the individual quality of each movie, but for me, the thing that I think makes that hurt so much, and the reason I'm so down on that movie is that I wanted it to be so much more fresh and alive and and and uh uh um uh less predictable than it was, but it was so bogged down with um uh exposition because they came up with these crazy scenarios that required tons of explanation to the audience, so you knew what was happening, and uh it just it's one of the things that I've always liked about the best uh movies in this franchise is that it felt very light on its feet, and this one is ponderous, and because I was such a cheerleader for this franchise for years, and then it just turned into this like sludgy, self-referential, overdone version of itself for the final one. That's like a big part of why I'm like, Man, I don't this is not what I wanted for this.

SPEAKER_02

So now you now you're also of the opinion though that you didn't mind Dead Reckoning, right? The one that came before this.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it was okay. Uh not my not among my favorites, but I wasn't as down on that one, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so Nick Nick is saying, no, two is still worse.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, that's a fair viewpoint. I I get it.

SPEAKER_02

I I think for me, I've always taken the Mission Impossible like franchise with a grain of salt, hefty grain of salt.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

The one that I will definitely say, like, this is movie through and through is just good. I always will say number three, and that's due to performances. Uh, I'm not the biggest JJ Abrams fan, but I was like, all right, you you were on spot, like you were you were doing it uh for this.

SPEAKER_00

I'm gonna find her.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, exactly. I'm gonna hurt her. And possibly like not, I won't say the best, I will say personal favorite action sequence in the entire franchise is that entire like uh operation that goes down on the bridge when they extract. It's it's just beautifully shot, dialogue's perfect, acting's perfect.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I I have I have issues with JJ Abrams, but that he's good at that kind of thing, I think that he really is.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's solid. I agree. Um, but yeah, no, I I would say that I did not absolutely hate the last one. There are definitely some sequences I thought was great, and it was what Mission Impossible does. Was it the best version of it? No, was it a long movie? Yes. Um, but I enjoyed it. I I haven't seen it since we kind of reviewed it that time, and I think that was like right when it was in theater, so I just freshly watched it. Yeah, so that might be something I need to go back, watch it, and then kind of like fully dive into after that.

SPEAKER_00

One other thing, real quick about that. The other thing that kind of made me go eh with that one was um it's clear to me at least that Tom Cruise wants to comment on the art form and his career through his movies, and um uh making AI in the villain, the villain in this felt very purposeful. Sure, it doesn't work. I understand why they wanted to make that thematic point, but like you know, it's just boring, and they had to stick in Gabriel that like substitute villain character, and he was kind of sketchy, you know, lazily sketched in. So, you know, for a movie where you know Tom Cruise versus whatever is kind of like the whole thing you're selling, and the whatever in this case is AI, it was kind of for me, yes.

SPEAKER_02

As Mallory says, Yeah, the entity. The amount of times we were watching it that Mallory would just randomly say the entity. It's I mean, it it definitely shows there's a weak spot here. Um, but I mean, hey, we also like no one goes to Mission Impossible to be like, give me the best each story I'm ever gonna watch. It's like, all right, what what fun action am I gonna watch? What fun action am I gonna see? I get that. Um, so the one I'm most unfamiliar with still is Rogue Nation. I've I think I've only seen it like once, so I tried to rewatch uh number four and I was not a fan. Um, okay, so here comes our final movie. This is our most recent episode out of the entire thing, and our biggest separation in rating.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, now I have to say the rating on this one was a little funky because this was part of our one of our tournaments. We were we were doing multiple scoring sessions and rating things out of 50 overall. So I had to like you know calculate them down to base 10 to like you know get a an equivalent. Uh, so you know, the way that we did the ratings on those was different from how we usually do them. But yeah, I was kind of shocked when I sat there and I was like, wow, this is the one that has the biggest point spread. I didn't feel like we're just worried about it that much, but that's how that's how it works. True, true.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, so we're talking about LA Confidential, which aired on December 4th last year. I gave it a 4.4, and you give it gave it a 7.8. Um, I think deep down, and I know you're gonna hate for me, so I'm not trying to be inflammatory, but I think deep down a movie like that, especially when it takes place in a time period that I love movies take place, whether it's the 30s or the 40s, yeah. They tend to, if I don't like it, not only be like, oh man, I just was not a fan, but there's an inside part of me that I'm like, I'm upset. And I think that maybe the rage a little spiteful in that. Uh, and yeah, that's a movie that I was like, yep, don't need to watch that movie again.

SPEAKER_00

So I I mean, to be honest, that's very uh of the movies on this list, even though I really like LA Confidential and re-watch it uh pretty regularly because uh Crystal loves it. Um this is probably one that I feel like the least combative over. It's like all right, fine. If you don't like LA Confidential, whatever I'd like to sure, it's not like disliking the last Jedi like a crazy person.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so out of I I'd be curious, out of the movies we mentioned tonight, if like you could pick one and be like, you know what? I just really wish I could convince Eric to see how wrong he is on this.

SPEAKER_00

Oh gosh, is it last Jedi or Man of Steel? Last Jedi, Man of Steel, last Jedi, Man of Steel, last Jedi, Man of Steel.

SPEAKER_02

You have you have one one one shot at this. Uh then what would that be?

SPEAKER_00

Um yeah, but I mean, probably last Jedi. You've thankfully seen the light in recent years that Zach Snyder's kind of fallen to pieces and he's making a bunch of crap. Um, so yeah, but and because you know, I mean, uh, like a lot of Gen X nerds, Star Wars is so near and dear to me. I I love it so much, and I want the the good things that it does to be celebrated. And why aren't you celebrating last Jedi here? That's yeah, it was this last Jedi.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so similarly, and it's funny that you were going between those two because mine is Man in Steel. Um, never gonna happen. I think probably to prove your point, uh, is the reason I wouldn't want you like that, is because there's only a select few people on this planet that I've talked to that really enjoy that movie, and I'm like, Yes, it's we can talk to someone about this movie, and there's just I get the problems it has, but then it also just brings out the inner like kid in me in terms of some of the action sequences, even the dialogue with Russell Crowe. That I'm like, This is like what I want. If I were to read a comic book of Superman fighting somebody, let's say, even take Death of Superman, and I see it visually on a screen. Yeah, there it is, it's right there, and this I have a great appreciation for it.

SPEAKER_00

I understand that.

SPEAKER_02

I do. Uh, for Jason on that question, he says, for Curtis, Caddyshack, Eric.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we were we were a little hard on Caddyshack, didn't we? We were, we were.

SPEAKER_02

I just I can't I never forget after watching it, and I was like, I hope Curtis doesn't love this movie because I don't have much things good to say, except I'll probably agree with him that Rain Rodney Dangerfield is pretty funny in this movie, and he's my least favorite part of it. So, well, there you go. Uh, that's kind of a snapshot through the years. Uh, that's crazy that it's been over three years that we've been doing this.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I I wonder, and now I'm kind of curious to go back. Like, what movie, what single movie out of all of them did we agree the most on? Ooh. True. I don't know if I could immediately think of anything.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I know we agreed pretty heavily on uh Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. I remember that being just kind of a yes, yes, yes, yes. That's a great movie. Yeah, it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00

In terms of one and one and two, they're both great.

SPEAKER_02

The two that stick out to me that we have did we both agreed how horrible it was was very bad things. We both did not like that movie. And we also both did not like um Barbarian. That got us scathing, scathing review.

SPEAKER_00

That's that's one where I'm just like, what are all these other people thinking? Yes, that movie got pretty good critical uh acclaim, and I was like, I don't see it, whatever it is they're seeing. I'm I'm completely blind to it.

SPEAKER_02

You you're channeling my inner monologue when it comes to tombstone.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_02

Uh Mallory's saying one that we both agreed on, and it was both our number one of last year was uh Sinners. We both really enjoyed that movie. Sinners is great.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, if anybody listening or watching hasn't seen Sinners yet, go watch Sinners. It's probably gonna been win a handful of Academy Awards uh this coming weekend.

SPEAKER_02

Speaking of which, and this is a random question, is I've never I realized I was telling Mallory, I've never sat down and watched the Oscars.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, really? Yeah, is this a thing that you normally do? I do almost every year. There's definitely been ones that I've missed, but yeah, if if I have the time and I'm not doing anything else that day, but uh my wife and I have a ritual we've developed over the years that we we we we clear anything off the schedule if we're gonna we can be free that day. I go get Baker's and we watch the Oscars.

SPEAKER_02

There you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_00

Nice routine.

SPEAKER_02

Nice. Uh Jason says, once again, thank you guys for all the movie reviews and laughs. Uh, thank you, Jason. Thank you, Iron Love, Nick, everyone watching, uh, RJ. Um, we really appreciate it, and it's it's been it's been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, and uh Eric, I I want to thank you directly for not only you know uh thinking that this was uh a cool idea for a show, but wanting to have me involved. It's been super fun. Uh it enriches my life, gives me something to do. And uh, like I said, you know, now especially that you uh uh absconded with all the OGT wares to um uh North Carolina, it gives me an opportunity to hang out with my friend, and I am eternally grateful for that.

SPEAKER_02

So, yes, 100%, 100%. Um, so uh guys, we're gonna be as daunting as this is, we're gonna be returning to our final movies of Leonardo DiCaprio. We are uh next week, we're gonna be talking about um Django Unchained because Tarantino films, everyone seems on some level to have some opinion about his movies, which is always makes for great conversation. Uh, and I definitely have been vocal about how much Django Unchained is not one of my favorites, but I also haven't seen it for many, many years. So I'm excited to revisit it and see where it lands.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's it's been a few years for me, too. It'll be interesting to see how it lands for me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So all right, well, good night, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the 100th episode of Cigars and Cinema Podcast. We will see you guys next week. Thank you for uh listening and uh for all the support jumping on. We'll see you then.

SPEAKER_00

Cheers, everyone.