.jpg)
The Fandom Portals Podcast
"Welcome to Fandom Portals—the show that explores how your favourite fandoms can help you learn and grow!" 🎙️✨
Each episode, we explore TV, movies, comics, and games to reveal how these worlds and the characters in them help us learn about resilience, courage, friendship, and more.
The Fandom Portals Podcast is hosted by Aaron Davies and Adam Brasher, two friends who are obsessed with fandoms, storytelling, and building a community where passion and positivity come first. From Marvel to Middle-earth, Star Wars to indie comics, we dive deep into the stories you love — and how they help us learn and grow. ✨
The Fandom Portals Podcast
Chef (2014) Sharing your Passions with the Ones you Love | Becoming your True Self
Summary
Aaron and Brash explore the film 'Chef' directed by John Favreau, discussing themes of passion, creativity, and the importance of sharing one's love for food with others. They delve into the character of Carl Casper, his journey of self-discovery, and the relationships that shape him, particularly with his son Percy and his friend Martin. The conversation highlights the significance of vulnerability, intrinsic motivation, and the healing power of connection through food. The hosts also critique the film's pacing and structure while celebrating its heart-warming moments and the portrayal of male friendships.
Theme Arc: Becoming your True Self
Takeaways:
- Passion should be shared with those we love.
- True fulfilment comes from aligning what you love with who you love.
- Vulnerability is key to authentic relationships.
- Intrinsic motivation drives creativity more than external approval.
- Friendship can be a powerful support system in pursuing passions.
- Father-son relationships can be strengthened through shared experiences.
- Food serves as a vehicle for connection and healing.
- The pacing of a film can impact its emotional resonance.
- Criticism can either motivate or discourage creativity.
- The journey of self-discovery often involves overcoming external expectations.
Chapters
02:34 Exploring Chef: A Synopsis
05:01 The Journey of Carl Casper
07:34 Friendship and Connection in Chef
10:31 The Role of Food in Healing
13:02 Parenting and Shared Passions
15:39 The Importance of Authenticity
18:37 Finding Flow in Creativity
20:05 The Battle of Logic vs. Creativity
23:15 The Dangers of External Motivation
26:32 Finding the Flow State in Creativity
28:24 The Importance of Passion in Cooking
31:46 Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
35:07 The Role of Support Systems
40:15 Healthy Masculinity and Vulnerability
49:14 Connection Through Vulnerability
50:39 Parenting Moments and Personal Connections
51:14 Memorable Scenes and Performances
53:14 Quotes That Resonate
55:11 Nitpicks and Pacing Issues
57:39 Recommendations and Final Thoughts
59:08 Ratings and Reflections
Apple Tags:
Chef, John Favreau, passion, creativity, father-son relationship, food truck, vulnerability, intrinsic motivation, friendship, film analysis
Contact Us:
Website: https://www.fandomportalspodcast.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FandomPortals
Instagram: instagram.com/fandomportals/?locale=en
Threads: threads.net/@fandomportals
Email: fandomportals@gmail.com
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/fandomportals
What happens when the fire that once fueled your career begins to fade? Do we lose ourselves when we chase approval instead of creativity? In this episode, you'll learn how Chef from 2014, directed by Jon Favreau, shows us that sharing your passions with those that you love is the key to becoming your true self. Hello everybody, welcome to the Fandom Portals podcast. This is the podcast that explores how fandoms and film can help us learn and grow. I'm Aaron, a teacher and a lifelong film fan, and each week on the podcast, we explore the stories we love to learn more about ourselves and the worlds that shape us.
Speaker 2:As always, I'm joined by brash hello everyone, I am brash and I am here and we did chef, which was the 2014 movie starring john favreau.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't call it an indie movie, but it's not as well known as some of the others that we've covered on here.
Speaker 2:Brash yeah, it took me a while to watch it because I like john logan and I was like, look, I'll watch that because he's in it, and then I just never really did. And then we're like, oh, we'll do it for the podcast. I'm like, oh, I've got to watch it now absolutely so.
Speaker 1:This episode here is part of our theme arc on becoming your true self, where we're exploring the stories about breaking free from expectation, silence and smallness and stepping into the people that you were always meant to be. Now this one here is looking at a gentleman who's stepping out of a toxic work environment or redefining success, and we kind of wanted to look at chef, because it reminds us that our passions were never meant to be hidden or hoarded away. They were kind of meant to be shared with those that we love, and you know, it's all about sharing what we love with who we love. So that's what we're kind of looking at today. But before we dive any further brash, you're going to give us one of your all-time famous film synopses.
Speaker 2:Chef Paul Casper, played by Jon Favreau. He is the main character and is a talented but frustrated chef working at a high-end Los Angeles restaurant. Though brimming with creativity, he is stifled by his boss's insistence on playing it's Safe with traditional menus. When a harsh food critic publicly ridicules him, carl's outburst goes viral, costing him his job and reputation. At first, carl spirals angry, prideful and disconnected from what truly matters. But his journey takes a turn when he starts a food truck With the encouragement of his ex-wife, inez, and support of his loyal friend Martin. Driving cross-country, carl reconnects with his passion for cooking by serving honest, soulful food. The biggest transformation comes through his relationship with his young son, percy. By the end, carl isn't just a better chef. He's a better father, friend and man. His growth comes from letting go of ego, embracing creativity and recognizing that true fulfillment comes from both passion and the people you share it with.
Speaker 1:Perfect. I love that. I love how the answers to all of his problems in this movie was indeed a food truck. Yeah, food.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Just food.
Speaker 1:Food.
Speaker 2:Food solves all your problems 100% Upset Eat some food. Sad Eat some food. Angry Eat some food. Happy Eat some food.
Speaker 1:Well, not that we're sponsored or anything, but Snickers made a whole ad campaign about that exact thing.
Speaker 2:You're true Not?
Speaker 1:yourself eat Snickers. Yeah, you're not yourself when you're hungry. But yeah, what were your opening thoughts or first impressions about this movie Brash? Because, yeah, we've said already that it kind of was a bit of a sleeper, a bit of a sleeper. So what were your initial?
Speaker 2:thoughts. Yeah, I really enjoyed it, but I found it to be lacking in, I think, the part that they needed the most, which was the food truck. It's a very good point. There's a whole hour and a half of this opening and then you get the last half an hour of the movie is a food truck and anything it's like they should have.
Speaker 2:I reckon they should have tried to compress the start a little bit more so you could, so you could spend more time on the food truck and the actual growth the scene. Because, like it was like, oh yeah, I see this guy emotionally distant from his son because he's working so much, tries to sort of not fake it, but he takes his son on like trips to the movies or theme parks or something fun for like the hour or two he can spend with him and then drops him back off with his mums and he thinks, oh yeah, I did a good job because I went and spent some money and did something fun with the kid, when the kid actually just wants him to be around and present more, his growth just happens, it just all. It also just seems to happen really quick that you don't really get to take it all in, and by the time the movie ends, you're like, ah, that was it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right. I think the trip does end quite abruptly because we do only spend a little bit of time with the food truck and the worst part of that for me is the fact that I love those scenes so much in the food truck I, like Percy, did not want it to end. I, like the movies of Food Lovers, dream and everything in the food truck was just. It was really awesome to see those three individuals just like working in a state of like flow and and being connected to one another and sharing passion. And even though, like a lot of it was travel, but even the travel in between for me seemed like it was a really good experience.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, it's like. It's like they get back into the back to los angeles and like they don't really spend any time for the food truck there. It's like they get something like los angeles straight away any time at the food truck there. It's like they get something at Los Angeles Straightaway meets up with the food critic and then they jump like another six something months and they've got a new restaurant and the movie ends.
Speaker 1:And they're getting married, yeah. Spoiler alert.
Speaker 1:They're getting remarried. Yes, true, correct. Yeah, so I can see where you're going with this. I think the pacing is a little bit of a snag for some people.
Speaker 1:For me, I did like those establishing scenes at the start where it showed Kyle Casper's initial sort of character introduction, where he was seen as like an up and coming star of a chef who really did enjoy his food and really took pleasure in the passion of cooking. And then it sort of placed us into this situation about where he is now and he's very sort of morose with his job. That's where we kind of meet him. He's not looking at it with the best attitude and then he gets this opportunity to really go and show some creative flair and then that's taken away from him as well. So it all leads up to that pivotal scene which is like the one where most audience members feel secondhand embarrassment for Jon Favreau who plays a Carl Casper. He also directed this movie. We will note that as well. But it's the scene where he absolutely loses his stuff in the restaurant at the Food Critic which causes his sort of transition as well. But very star-studded movie, this one Brash, that was another thing. I noticed too Lots of famous actors in here.
Speaker 2:I don't know about you, but when the scene where he loses his shit, oliver Platt, who plays the critic, rems Michael but before that he was at his place and he cooked up this 10 course meal at his place and I was like I for sure, when he saw that Rems was at the restaurant and he's like, no, screw this, he leaves. I thought that he was going to pack up and bring that food and bring something to the food. Be like, this is what I wanted to serve you and then throw it at him.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then have a go of ballistic and then storm out and then the actual guy maybe tries some of it Shit. This is actually really good.
Speaker 1:Well then it would have been like movie over, wouldn't it?
Speaker 2:Well, no, but it was because he still doesn't have his job and his reputation is already ruined. But then because Ramsey tries something and goes, oh that's really good, and he goes off, goes off and does the food truck thing.
Speaker 2:Then he comes back and then Ramsey can and it was really fucking good, and I've tried some of this food and it's even better. Let's go into a partnership Like. I can see what you want to do and I can see that you were held back. Let's go, because otherwise the East Coastal Food Truck goes. I tried some of his food truck food and goes. Oh yeah, this is awesome. Let's make a restaurant. This is fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that scene shows a lot of various different aspects of the character, but it would have given it a little bit more depth to that resolution. So one thing I did like about this movie that I noticed is that Jon Favreau obviously does have a passion for food himself and I think that is displayed on parade here in the movie of Chef. So one thing that I noticed was there was extreme close-ups of food in all different kinds of ways, and there is also when the close-ups of the food are happening or when somebody's working on food or chopping something. They really zoom in on that process and the background is always blurred. And whenever Carl Casper started to cook something and he started to get really creative, that Cuban music would start playing. So they also used color really well. So you'll notice that his apartment, like Carl Casper's apartment, is lots of grays and mellow browns and things like that. And then the vibrancy comes when he put that food on the table and it's all just full of color and you can see the passion that goes into it.
Speaker 1:And I think that that cinematography was really well used because there was a scene after the initial credits where Roy Choi, who was an actual chef that trained Jon Favreau in this role was telling him how to cook a grilled cheese sandwich. And he goes your attention and focus is right here and he's pointing to the grilled cheese sandwich. And he goes nothing exists outside of this. And he points to the grilled cheese sandwich again and he goes your attention and focus is right here. And he's pointing to the grilled cheese sandwich and he goes nothing exists outside of this. And he points to the grilled cheese sandwich again and he like, flips it over and pauses for a bit and Roy Choi goes and if this messes up, then everything in life fucking sucks.
Speaker 1:So and that's absolutely apparent through the whole movie is just that love of food, that passion and the bright colors that they use really sort of emulate that. But also the way that Carl Casper, john Favreau, just comes alive or just is in the moment when he's engaging in his passion, which is cooking. I also thought and we noted about this before we started recording that John Leguizamo and John Favreau's friendship in this, or Carl and Martin's friendship, is probably one of the greatest male friendships that I've seen on screen, or I was surprised by it at least, coming from this movie. I thought it was amazing.
Speaker 2:What were your thoughts? Yeah, well, I love John Leguizamo. I've watched, I think, every, though there have been some hit in this movie is looking at you.
Speaker 2:Mario Brothers. I absolutely, absolutely loved it. And and like I remember when, um, when we were doing this very just for like in our relationship, sort of like there's, uh, I got to do something and you just come along you like and just jump in with joy, yeah, that's like this podcast journey exactly I kind of started it like like carl casper did, and then, uh, you jump on and just yeah, because in the movie obviously he goes whenever you get a job you call me and I'll be there even.
Speaker 1:And then you know you never thought he would actually come to join him on the food truck because it paid nothing, but he did, he came straight away.
Speaker 1:I love the scene where he was on the phone talking about that too, because you saw that he was like on the phone in the old restaurant and martin was telling him that I've just got sous chef and Carl was really happy for him. But the way they positioned that shot was that Martin was really close to the phone and he was in focus, like full focus, and the restaurant in the background was all blurred and in really sort of dull colors as well. Even when he was talking to the other gentleman, tony, who's played by Bobby Cannavale, he couldn't even see him and his words were really muffled. So it's almost like Jon Favreau, directing that scene, wanted to show the audience that Martin's heart wasn't really in that restaurant, because we can't even focus or see what's behind him. His heart and focus is on the conversation he's having with Carl right now. And then the next scene. You see him coming out of that taxi and really pulls him out of the fire.
Speaker 2:Because it's almost like Martin and Carl's characters are, I wouldn't say identical, but they're very similar. They both have this passion and that restaurant just wasn't fulfilling their passion. Because when Martin joins them and helps out the food truck, you see arton's the one that like, like you'll see carl steps back and martin does the actual cooking the first time and makes the food and like he or him yeah, he pretty much he does yeah, you see him doing the cooking for all the guys that helped him put the oven into the truck. It's like when two people have a similar passion and they're also friends just creates this sort of I don't know like.
Speaker 1:It's like a vehicle for authenticity and healing and deep connection and they become really close because they've got that shared passion and they just have this symbiosis of like yeah, yeah, they just meld together so well, like they don't need to like over communicate, they know what they're doing and they just, they just feel it together yeah, and then the sun comes along on that journey too, because initially they share their passion with each other, martin and carl and then percy sees that friendship and sees that passion and that connection and he's then drawn into the truck and wanting to be a part of it as well, because he's obviously wanted that relationship with his father.
Speaker 1:But there has been debate on some of the things that I've read. That character of Carl really only uses Percy because he is advantageous to his business, because he works on the truck for him for free and also social media markets him. And you know what? There is anous to his business because he, like, works on the truck for him for free and also social media markets him. And you know what? There is an argument to say that yeah, there is an argument.
Speaker 1:There is an argument to say that that's the case. But I think what that's supposed to represent was that Percy's passion was that social media marketing and showing outwardly like his technological Ackerman was what he really liked. Bonding with his father on Like when he asked him to make the Twitter profile earlier in the movie, it was like I kind of like doing this, and that's when he had that realization. Carl had the realization that, oh, you don't like going and doing stuff. You like working on things with me and spending that quality time and sharing passion together and building something like that. That's where that sort of came from too.
Speaker 2:So Like scrub those pants.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that was at that fridge, yeah, yeah who hasn't been there with their parent, though just like honest moment right now, I've I've been there. Absolutely. You get the cruddy job from your, your father or your uncle or something like that, and you know it too, because you're they don't want to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1:It's the same as the same with apprentices yeah you have an apprentice, you get them to do all the shit. Well, that's exactly what he was treating him like. That's what he was treating him like to start with, but then that's when his character, carl, he started to realize. Oh wait, a minute, he's here connecting with me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's my child, that's actually my child, yeah, yeah. And then he runs away. But the good that Carl does is that he actually goes and owns his shit. Basically, he goes and he apologizes and he says hey, do you want to go and get some ingredients? He goes and actually initiates that, which is a good role model. One for his son. He realizes he made a mistake and he apologizes for it and he shows that vulnerability. But also two it starts to then understand why this is going to be an important journey for both of them and he sort of starts to transition and change from that point on.
Speaker 2:And then I don't even think like throughout the whole trip. There's sort of like slight moments where he, like when he makes that grilled cheese and it's burnt and he's like takes it out and he's like I live for this, this is everything to me Like. So you like having it burnt as a sandwich and saying, oh, that's all right, they didn't pay for it, is it's no, everything, everything goes out of this truck has to be with our full heart like. And it's throughout the whole trip. It's almost like there are moments where he's like he sees, like his son as a son instead of slave labor and just a media market, and it's not until the very end when he's going through all the photos and he sees photos of both him and his son smiling and happy. When he's like when it finally I think that's when it finally clicks.
Speaker 1:He's like we're both enjoying ourselves right here and I sort of took that for granted yeah, I think that's absolutely true, because those the one second a day video, the the beautiful part about that was that carl was seeing that journey from percy's perspective. So it's that's a very hard thing to do when you're in it and you're experiencing it as well. But after the fact he got to look at what that journey meant to Percy through that one second a day video and he did show different sort of pictures of the food which was Carl's focus and passion and where all of his color came from. But for Percy, a lot of those photos, as you said, were with the connection along the way and the laughter and the joy that they were experiencing through there and the authenticity and how they were able to align what they loved doing with who they loved, and I think that was the importance of a part of it and that's what our most valuable takeaway from this movie is as well. So we'll get into that now.
Speaker 1:Our most valuable takeaway for this movie is that fulfillment doesn't come from external success or approval. It comes from the alignment with what you love and who you love. So when passion is shared with others, especially the closest ones to us, it becomes that vehicle for authenticity and healing and closer connection, which is what we're looking at here in our arc of becoming your true self. So finding your passion and who you want to share it with is very important to being that authentic version of yourself and allowing yourself to have that sort of creative passion process. It's something that we all go through. Have you ever gone through this thing, brash, where you're doing something and you completely just lose track of time? You have this sense of intense focus and concentration. There's amazing control over the task. It's almost like a loss of self-consciousness. You're just like doing, you're just moving through this thing and you're just doing and the activity itself feels rewarding, or not even you don't even know.
Speaker 2:It feels rewarding, but you're just doing it because it feels good to do it's like I'll play video games and I'll get lost in it and then like four hours will pass and I'll be like have so much fun playing the game, but then afterwards I'll be like oh, I could have done so many other video games for four hours.
Speaker 1:That's the adult brain coming back yeah, that's the adult in me.
Speaker 2:Some I don't get all the way through, but I'll start a project and I'll do start doing something and I'll just lose myself in it for ages and ages, because I like working with my hands, like so putting, I put a gate and a drop down table in my fence with my neighbors because I'm really good friends with my neighbors, so that was a lot of fun that and that took me like I just spread it out over two weekends, like I lose myself a lot and doing stuff like that and even just the excitement of potential projects, I can lose myself and actually like I can sit there for like oh, thinking of a potential project and then sit there for hours and just like try and plan and map it out. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think you know you. You describe it as being a waste of time or you could have spent your time in a better way. But like the joy that you feel when you do it is exactly that deep enjoyment of that experience and being fully present is a feeling that I think a lot of people sort of take for granted, like I used to get it when we. I get it too. No, I get it doing three things. I get it when we play Dungeons and Dragons, like you just get into the complete moment of it and
Speaker 1:time just disappears, and I think a lot of people can relate to that too. I get it when I'm playing gridiron football. So the thing with that one is the challenge and the skill are sort of perfectly balanced. So there is a challenge in front of me and my skill level is either just good enough or not good enough to meet that challenge, and that is a really good sort of balance and gets me in this sort of state of flow.
Speaker 1:And the other thing is like playing games with my kids that can, that can do it to me as well. So it's like nothing else exists, to the point where you know. That's why a lot of the time when we were kids, when the street light would come on, you'd be like, oh crap, okay, I got to go back inside because you just lose that complete track of time. But I think that, back to the movie that we're talking about, that state of flow is exactly what Carl gets into when he's actually starting to let go of those restraints. That is put on him by reaver, I believe his name is, who's played by dustin hoffman, the boss of the restaurant that he was working at. Yeah, and he he tells him you know, play the classics, and that's like the worst thing that you can do for sort of creative is tell them what to do and how they should do it, because then it literally makes them not want to do it anymore.
Speaker 2:Can I say, though, Dustin Hoffman in this movie. I think this is probably one of the most surprising performances. I actually felt in this movie, like because Kyle's like oh sorry guys, I'll handle this, it'll be fine. Blah, blah, blah. And then the way he just dismantles him, yeah, without like Completely. He just dismantles him, yeah, without like completely, just without even like raising his voice or saying he's wrong or something like that. He's just like just explains this stuff.
Speaker 2:Even though I was like good point, yeah, fair, yeah good point, like he's like, because I don't think of the punk he hits. I'm like fair. I'm like if I went to, like, say, a Blink-182 concert, like I'd want to hear some of those, like the old songs I listen to, like some of the new songs is just as good, but you know, I want to listen to those old ones too. So I was like I sort of had to like agree with him and I was like it's that creativity.
Speaker 1:That's literally what Jon Favreau was doing in that scene with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Favreau himself, because obviously Karl Kasper wants to be creative and he wants to show what he can do and he's got this passion inside of him that he wants to let out. That he eventually does on the food truck and also at his dining room table after he gets all the ingredients and cooks it for himself. But then you've obviously got the logical side, which is Reva and Dustin Hoffman saying you know, business is what we need, the money is what we need. And that sort of comes back as well to this thing that's called the over-justification effect. So sometimes we use it in schools and it happens when you're already intrinsically motivated to do something, like to do an activity which, for Kyle Casper, is cooking, but then you're given like an extrinsic reward which is like you're paid to do an activity which, for Kyle Casper, is cooking, but then you're given like an extrinsic reward which is like you're paid to do it, and sometimes that can be or a prize sometimes, or a star if you're at school or free time, whatever. But that can be used as like a little carrot, but it can also be something that is Change. Yeah, it change you to people. And obviously Reva in this case uses it then as a weapon to say like these are my napkins, her salary is what I pay. Like I pay for all your staff salary, I pay you to do this job and that's why you have to do it my way. So then it sort of undermines the original joy of the process and instead of strengthening Carl's motivation to cook, it actually has it reliant upon that external reward. And then it ends up being that he sort of lets it go in the.
Speaker 1:In the long run it ends up being the justification for his meltdown, because he's looking for that external approval over the internal joy, because he's doing it all for the critics and he's doing it all for the review. And you can see at the start of the movie, when all the people were sort of gathered around to get that guy's review to, to get Ramsay Michelle's review, they were all really excited until it got to the point where it wasn't a good review. And then it wasn't then about him cooking for the passion and the joy of it, it was more than about he had been publicly ridiculed. And then that can go two ways as well, for students and for people.
Speaker 1:You can look at it and be like, now that that's happened, I don't want to do that thing that I was passionate about anymore. But for Carl and for some other people it made him like double down. He was like no, I'll show you, and that's the two sort of ways that it can go. But it's a dangerous game when you start to monetize or put an external reward on the things that you're really sort of motivated to do's very sort of dangerous. And you see a lot of podcasters do it too. When they monetize their podcast they're like I don't want to do this anymore or it gets that, that expectation to create and that's the worst thing for creatives too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I I did one part that. Um, the part we're talking about this did confuse me a little bit, because even Reva was like talking about his, about the review and how important it is, and then they get the review and it's fucking pretty, oh it's how you're going.
Speaker 1:It is how you're going, yeah.
Speaker 2:Pretty horrendous. And yet when then the second time, when John was like would you do something different? And he's still like no, no, no, no, I play this. It's like did you not read that review? He's like did you not read that review? He's like he's like yeah, but we're fully booked out, we're all sold out. But yeah, like yes, because it's not going to happen straight away, but this review down the line in the long run can have detrimental effects on the business but yeah, yeah and that's what I saw like I was a little bit confused with how like stuck to his guns Reva was about this, I'm like yeah, yeah, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was definitely a part of the movie that was showing how, like Reva, dustin Hoffman was really doubling down on the fact that he is catering and cooking for lots of people, not just his ego and one critic or himself in Carl Casper. So that was sort of making that point known that you're not doing this for your enjoyment, you're doing it for their enjoyment out there, like the hundreds of people that have now booked to be in the restaurant. That's who you're doing it for, not for yourself and not for the accolades that are coming from the critic. But he then goes and sort of gets into that state of flow like we were talking about before, and he cooks the most vibrant meal that you've ever seen and the Cuban music starts to play, which is a technique he uses to emulate that sort of flow state that Carl gets into. And he hits the sweet spot, which is what we look for as teachers as well. You kind of look for the sweet spot where something is challenging enough to engage you, but also you have the skill level there that you are able to achieve it with support or without support, and I think that that is used throughout this movie at different sort of levels of Carl's journey. First, initially, they're in that cooking scene in his home, but then, after they start to sort of make the sandwich, and when he starts to then teach Percy, it happens as well. So he puts Percy into this sweet spot, which in schools we call a zone of proximal development or ZPD, and if students aren't in that space, you can see things like task avoidance, disengagement, you can see disruptive behaviors, all of which we saw from Kyle Casper when he absolutely exploded at Dustin Hoffman too, because he wasn't in that space. That was challenging him, allowing his creativity but also allowing him to use the skills that he had there. And it's really really powerful to find that space and be able to learn and work in that space, because from there and what he did as well was he removed that extrinsic weight, he removed the pressure of the critic, he removed the approval, he removed the money, he removed any of the things that would drain him from joy, and he took a step back and was able to then actively and privately, and almost imperfectly as well, continue on his cooking journey without any sort of validation.
Speaker 1:Because I was watching this with Kalia and one point that she actually made about this was. I thought what he wanted to do is create all these really creative and awesome foods that he made, and he didn't want to just keep repeating the same old foods over and over again. But then he went to do a food truck and he's just cooking sandwiches over and over again. So how is that feeding his creativity? And I thought that was a really good point. But I don't think the point is about what the food is that he's cooking. I think the food is that he's cooking because he enjoys to do it, and it's also a connection to the people he loves in Inez, with the Cuban sandwich and his friend as well, martin so I think that was the sort of point is just like the passion feels heavy for him at the restaurant and he was able to take it back to that playful space, which is what I think he needed to do as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm pretty sure like they had other food besides the sandwich. I think the sandwich is just a main point, because that was something that like they could all focus on yeah At the start as well.
Speaker 1:But one thing Kalia pointed out to me as well I didn't pick it up on my first watch, and she picked it up when we watched it together was every single time they visited somewhere new and they experienced something new. They imported that experience into their menu. So it was almost like the passion that they were experiencing as they were moving through, like when they went to New Orleans, for example, and Carl and Percy had that amazing moment together where they just went out to try one of those donuts I forgot what they're called, but they just did it because they wanted to do that and Percy even said you know, do we have to get anything else? And he goes nope, just this today. And then they put those on the menu as well. So it was almost like the passion that they shared together was then sort of moving into this space where they were creating the things they wanted to eat and the things that they wanted to share with others too, and they're doing it all for themselves. So I really liked that part of the movie too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was definitely one of the highlights. Then I was going to say those are pretty much the highlights. Were always like the food truck moments.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I definitely agree your point earlier that you made about the pacing and the start of the movie being quite extended.
Speaker 1:I do agree with that because I think, like you, start to see hints of the fact that this is what Karl Kasper wants to do, like in that initial scene. Whenever he's talking to Molly, who's played by Scarlett Johansson, he kind of starts to become this vulnerable sort of version of Karl where he's saying, like, why don't they like my food? And then eventually he goes and cooks her a meal and that's sort of like the first spark of it that you see that, oh okay, he actually really has a passion for this, because you can see the way that Molly is looking at him while he's cooking it. It's almost like she's in awe of the fact that he is in this state of flow. He's in this state of like he's doing something he absolutely loves, which is awesome to watch anyone do. Like if you watch a painter and they're an amazing painter and they love to paint it's good to watch somebody that is good at what they do but also really passionate about what they do.
Speaker 2:so I think ross yeah, bob ross exactly also really calming to watch the rest of bob ross. I just had to re-up. When we went to the trip to melbourne we was at bar and I had just bob ross playing in the back of the tv.
Speaker 1:I don't know how long I was just in the stair and just watching that just while I was having a drink yeah, oh, that was la la land, wasn't it shout out la la in melbourne.
Speaker 1:So yeah, before we went to yonya yeah, yeah, yeah, that was a really good place. But yes, I completely agree, because I wasn't. I was intoxicated by that too. I was looking at it and go. But yeah, let's, let's talk a little bit about motivation, because I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but I definitely have. Like it's that that sort of space where you feel like you want to do something, but then you like somebody either tells you to do it a particular way and then you just lose all motivation to do it, or it goes back to that sort of area of, like, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Have you ever heard of those things before Brash?
Speaker 2:Yeah, just on Friday so it was afternoon Friday I had to do that exact thing. So one of our guys at work he was told, well, he used to do a job and he was told by someone else how to do the job and he was like I don't like that way of doing it. And he came and talked to me and I said, well, don't do it that way. I'm like someone can show you how to do something or tell you how to do something, but as long as you do the job, it works and it looks good, it doesn't matter how you do it, I don't care, like you don't have to do it their way, do it your way. And then I'm like like, look, I'll show you my way and if you don't like that, take what you know from my way his way, make your own way yeah, that's exactly it, because I think the it can rob you of that joy, but it also robs you of that autonomy which is there's.
Speaker 1:There's three things that sort of lead to to motivation. There's that autonomy, there's competence and there's relatedness. So the autonomy that you're talking about for your story, and if we relate it back to the movie of Chef as well, is where Carl gets his autonomy when he starts to run his own food truck and cook his own foods. If you get to perform a project in a way that is chosen by you or in a way that suits your abilities, then you're more likely to want to do that intrinsically, like internal motivation. You want to do it because you want to. If somebody else is telling you how to do it, then it becomes extrinsic motivation because you want to then impress them or do it their way or satisfy a need from them. So external, extrinsic motivation. So it hits when you're looking at kids, too, in a school system, because obviously it's much easier for them to do any sort of learning that you want them to do or that they need to do if they're intrinsically motivated to do it.
Speaker 1:And I think teachers sometimes get caught up in justifying learning by saying, oh, why do we need to learn this? So you can get a good grade and then you can get a good job and then you can get good money? And to kids yeah, that's important and it probably causes anxiety, but honestly they don't really care. Like at that point I don't. I know I didn't. When I was at that age I didn't really care about 10 years in the future because I was worried about what was going to happen at the playground at lunchtime. I was wondering who was going to be on whose team in the footy field. So you have to kind of find that space of relatedness as well, which is another thing for intrinsic motivation. And for percy and for martin it came from being like passionate about the same thing as carl was. So that was their relatedness from the movie too.
Speaker 2:So I think that's an important part. Talking on your point with like, in terms of like children, like, I think it's more important, like you said, we use like the old date they do because they did for us in school as well. Yeah, they use the thing.
Speaker 2:This is for your future, however, many years ahead, when realistically it should be, this is for you now yeah like show, like show you this in a way that's is useful now, yep, and then that will entail more, because it's like oh shit, yeah, we can do like what I can is this now exactly it doesn't. It doesn't motivate me to want to learn it for something that's so far off yeah like it feels to motivate me to learn something that I could use tomorrow.
Speaker 1:But hell yeah absolutely because it's something new, something new, something new to do that you can do now yeah, and I think that's really important, especially when you're dealing with with students, because it allows them to then gain that sort of competency towards a skill that they value now, as opposed to a skill that you perceive they will value in the future.
Speaker 2:How often do you use that in your daily life?
Speaker 1:The thing with, like maths and things like that. When people say, oh, when am I going to use that? I always relate it back to the process, like you don't use those math skills all the time, but you follow a set of instructions and you have perhaps an equation that you then follow these steps through to get to the answer and that's the life skill that you're teaching through math. It doesn't have to sort of relate to that trigonometry, but I think for this one, when we're talking about Carl, he does chase that critic and that fame and that pleasing of the restaurant owner and Reva, and there is an argument to be said that he kind of comes full circle in the end when he does end up pleasing the critic and the critic offers to be his partner and then he opens his own restaurant. So he's almost then going back to that point of risking falling into the over-justification effect, where he's now got a burden upon him to do that and create that. So therefore he may not want to anymore. So that's the sort of risk that you can look at of the movie sort of going full circle.
Speaker 1:But I think the key difference for this one is that he got to that point through following his own passion and through connecting with people that he loved. And it seemed like to me he continued that on into his own restaurant at the end, because, if you noticed, when they had the scene with the remarriage between Inez and Carl, they closed down the whole restaurant to have that event. But they're also like playing Cuban music, which you know he's passionate about. They were serving food that you know he was sort of passionate about as well, and they had that sort of display, very colorful too. Actually, that's a good juxtaposition between the kitchen he was in at the start was really dull and gray and then his one was really colorful lights, beautiful food. So I think that's the main difference is that he did it his way.
Speaker 2:Remember Billions everywhere, like.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I think that's the important part that we sort of have to think about in terms of his motivation and his intrinsic desire to then create that in the end and build. It was not kind of where he started as well. But one thing that you can do if you're starting to sort of find that motivation is lacking and Carl sort of did this too, and we do it at schools as well is sometimes you can increase the support and reduce the demand. So Carl did it obviously not by choice. He left his job and then had to find something to do.
Speaker 1:But he got very authentic and vulnerable and ended up going and taking Inez's idea to get the food truck, which reduced his demand or pressure. And then the support was increased when his son, percy, and martin sort of joined. But also inez was sort of nurturing him through that transition process too, so she didn't expect anything of him in terms of care for their son. She was very supportive of that, but she also sort of encouraged him because she knew that that's what he kind of needed and wanted as well, and in carl saw that as well yeah, and that's a big thing too, is the support, like your support system in this, like he had, you know, martin, his son, even scarlet in a sort of way?
Speaker 2:yeah even the other ex-husband for five seconds marvin bought him or got him the food truck, I think think which was just a huge rundown, yeah.
Speaker 1:He's like don't thank me until you see it. Yeah, yeah. I thought that was that I thought the way that I watch movies as well, and what was different about this one and what I liked was I expected that moment to come back around and be like a point of conflict, but it just never. It never ended up happening.
Speaker 2:It was just Robert Downey Jr was in it.
Speaker 1:He did a kind gesture, yeah, he did a kind thing, yeah, but yeah, it's that support system.
Speaker 2:Like your partner or your friend or something like that, they have something that they're passionate about, that they want to do. Like it may not exactly be something that you're also extremely passionate about, so is it the fact that, say, marvin Carl and Inez Inez is an overly a foodie but finds a passion in his passion?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and helps him discover it or rediscover it.
Speaker 2:I think that's a big thing. It may not be exactly your thing, but you should find. Well, I know for me personally finding happiness in helping friends, partners with their projects, hyping them up because it's something that they love, and seeing them love something like that like also makes me happy, seeing them happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's just like, it's's just one, it's just all. Just full circle. Comes back around, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah and that's why you're martin in this situation of our podcast here, because that's exactly what he did. If we're talking about the sort of the two things we're talking about with this podcast right now, is is obviously the passion part, which is exemplified by by carl. He has that passion but then he learns the connection side, which I think is exemplified through his very awesome friendship with martin.
Speaker 1:He does nothing in this movie but build that man up like yeah everybody wants an ally yeah, like martin, even even when he was like getting that run down by reva, and there was a silent moment where he's just like going and collecting his knives and these things because he's just got laid off. There was that moment where, like tony and martin were there and then there was that pause and he was like my god, what's gonna happen? And then carl said you're like come on, guys, let's go. And tony was like standing there, no, and then obviously martin was just like nah, stuff this, I'm coming too. And he, yeah, but then carl obviously told him to stay, but there was that sort of ride or die support, which was awesome to see.
Speaker 1:And you know what? According to Film Freak as well I read this from 2014, when they tested this movie, john Leguizamo's character of Martin tested higher with audiences than Carl Casper did in terms of likability, and that tracks, because he is absolutely the star of the show.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's simply the same. Like they're saying, like, like they're gonna do something, like you gotta kill a man, yeah, yeah, you're gonna do so, good, well like or, yeah, just even, just simple things just to help the other person you know fully commit to their, their passion, and yeah, it could be as simple as just hyping them up absolutely, and martin says it as well.
Speaker 1:he says this line. He goes I've never been this happy cooking. I forgot what it felt like we're doing something real here, like there's that moment that he actually sort of puts that forward into the universe and then they share that really awesome connection after they've finished doing the job of cleaning out the truck. There's that scene of Carl Martin and Percy sitting outside of it having the Mexican beers that aren't really alcoholic or there may be, I don't know, but they're having the cigars as well and they're just really relishing in the fact that they've just done something really great together. And then this movie is just full of those sort of authentic connection moments and the fact that Carl and Martin's friendship on that is just a really great representation of two males enjoying the same things together.
Speaker 1:But also sort of bonding and showing masculinity in a really healthy way to Percy, who's a growing young man as well, was something I really enjoyed and loved about this movie too, because that's something personally I want to show to my son.
Speaker 1:I want to show him how I'm friends with some of the great men that I have in in my life, because I want that to obviously be emulated in his life, and I'm fortunate enough to be surrounded by some really great friends that he will then have access to when he starts coming along to the things that I start to do as well. So I think, think that that friendship is rooted in passion and therefore Carl in this movie was really able to heal and then obviously sustain it through to his growth at the very end, and I honestly think that friendship was the anchor that everything else developed from, because he had that ride or die, that person that would help him out in this situation, and I would probably say as well that carl would do the same for for martin maybe not the start of the movie, but definitely yeah, yeah, in a way he sort of did like when he left and he's like, oh, everyone's gonna leave with me and no one sort of left.
Speaker 2:And then he's like, and I'm gonna go, and he's like, oh, no, I don't want to fuck him.
Speaker 1:If no, you just stay for now at least anyway, and he was really supportive when he announced that he was the sous chef. He was like that's really awesome this is great championing for him as well.
Speaker 1:But he always kept that door open and offered him like he felt he not fell through but he followed through on his promise to to give him a job wherever he was.
Speaker 1:But I really liked how vulnerable they could both be with one another as they were sort of they were talking about really getting into their sort of passion project, and also how much of a great influence martin was on percy like even though he was that a bit of like the weird uncle's sort of vibe with the baguette and also the, the cornstarch and things like that.
Speaker 1:Like those moments were just sort of really awesome to show that sort of connection. But I thought it was good because a lot of men sort of, or young boys, grow up and they're sort of taught not to be weak or not to feel pain or don't show emotion or don't fail, and the sort of script is changing on that now, which is good. But I thought that this friendship in this movie really sort of changes the script on that too, and percy actually says it too. He's just like like dad, this is amazing when they're talking about the food and they're talking about the thing that they shared together and even martin and carl when they're eating the, the, the meat and they're eating the and it's not store-bought and they're sort of poking a bit of fun at Percy when he's sort of trying to really sort of join in on what they're doing. I thought was really good too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, the connections in this movie is definitely one of the highlights of the movie and sort of helps alleviate the sort of lacking of the pacing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 2:Because they do, I I'll say, I'll say cram. They do cram a lot of the context and what makes this movie great in such a short amount of time.
Speaker 1:But yeah, again, it would be nice to have that expanded yeah, and I think those are the most vibrant parts of the movie is when they're on the truck, because at the start there was hints of little pieces of sort of Cuban music coming through and all that sort of joyous vibes through the soundtrack, and then, as they were going through the food truck parts, it was literally constant.
Speaker 2:I almost think it's moved in another half an hour.
Speaker 1:I think it could have that end portion. Really could have worked well if they did a little bit more in maybe California and then yeah.
Speaker 2:Because even when it finished I was like, oh, it's over. I'm like that was really quick. I was expecting it to go for a bit longer.
Speaker 1:I feel like an after-after on that maybe wouldn't have made it drag on and probably could have helped to extend the road trip or extend the food truck part, like have him get back and use a food truck for a while before he all of a sudden gets a new restaurant yeah, yeah, before we move on from this one, one thing I also wanted to mention in terms of like the friendship and the masculinity side of this was carl does sort of exhibit that bravado at the start and he's talking to Percy in terms of food and telling him all the great things that sort of are about food, and Percy asks him if he could ever go to New Orleans and he's like, oh, yeah, one day, you know we'll go. But then towards the end he kind of does model that vulnerability and that authenticity because he takes him. But then also, whenever he makes a mistake, he always is pretty honest about that and shows up for Percy and talks to him about it, like even on the phone, when he says you know, I can't go to New Orleans with you anymore. And Percy does sort of show a brave front in that moment where he's just like, yeah, that's fine, that all good. But he does break that down towards the end because Percy shows that brave front once more when he says, oh, we got to go back to how it was. I just don't want to disrupt your expectation Like, this is not how it's going to be all the time.
Speaker 1:And Percy does show that brave front again, which is that old sort of your masculinity where he can't really show his sort of feelings. But then he opens up and says, hey, you know what, I would really like to spend this time with you. Or he says, hey, you know what, that wasn't a really good way to speak to you. I'm really sorry when he's talking about the dinner pan and he's just really able to sort of speak to him from this space of hey, I made a mistake, I messed up and I'm really sorry. And as a teacher I've done that in my classroom as well and it's so effective because it then allows your classroom to be okay with making those mistakes too. And I think it's good for young boys to see like a male teacher in myself doing that, because you never know, if they've seen it before for one but two, whether they've seen an adult in general sort of apologize to them. So that's really powerful for respect, but also for that modeling of masculinity, I feel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it just shows that respect as well. That's really powerful for respect, but also for that modeling of masculinity. I feel, yeah, and it just shows that respect as well, because you can't just ask or demand for respect, you've got to show it now and then, Well, that's exactly it.
Speaker 1:There's this question that goes around all the time I think it's on social media, but it's also something that we get taught is they say, how do you earn respect or how do you get respect from your students? And the answer is you show it first. That's literally 101. But I think that he does a really good job. Carl does a really good job of doing this with his son over time, which is something we're all learning to do as well. And yeah, I think it started when there was that pivotal scene where he pulls him out of the truck and he says what does he say? I may not do everything great in my life. I may not have been the best husband.
Speaker 1:And I'm sorry if I wasn't the best father, but I did as well. Yeah, but I'm good at this and he also disclosed and was vulnerable about the fact he goes. Everything good in my life has come because of that. Like that thing there and he wants to. I want to share it with you. Like I'm vulnerable right now. I'm telling you I'm I'm breaching out for connection. I want to share it with you. Is that something you want to? And you and percy says yes, so that's also. That was actually the quote in the moment that I saw that made me want to watch this movie, because that's the trailer sort of quote. But but I thought that was a really great representation and I didn't want to pass before. We sort of mentioned that. But yeah, all right, do you want to get into our best scenes, best quotes, etc. Etc.
Speaker 2:Yep, all right.
Speaker 1:I will go first with the best scenes we'll do first. I think the best scene for me would have to be the scene where Marty and Carl are sitting down after a really hard work on the food truck and they're having a sip of those beers and Percy takes that sip. And you can see just MJ Anthony who plays Percy. His face is just really screwed up and his dad goes huh Like piss right. And then he says you remember that when your friends offer you a beer, right. And then he says you remember that when your friends offer you a beer.
Speaker 1:And I think like those sort of parenting moments was good for me because obviously I've got my a son of my own and that's probably a moment that's going to happen in my son's development for sure. But I like that one. And but then also I can't pass up the, the quote where he says or the scene where he says you know, everything good in my life has come because of that, because I can relate to the fact that something I'm passionate about has led to a lot of good things in my life and I think that everybody can sort of relate to that fact and I liked how raw and authentic that was in this movie. What about you best scene? What do you think?
Speaker 2:best scene there, I'm gonna say the whole food trucks is amazing. I think, bringing up from what I brought last time why some of my favorite scenes are actually the fallout of Carl, and when he has the talk with just Dustin Hoffman's performance Like he's just because out of all the acting and everyone acting it was great, but for some reason just Dustin Hoffman just caught me off guard.
Speaker 1:He's a brilliant actor man.
Speaker 2:He's a brilliant actor man. He's fantastic actor. He just caught me off guard and you cause he was just. His delivery was just so poignant that I couldn't not accept what he was telling me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he was. He was almost casual, but very firm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and he could have played that in so many ways too.
Speaker 1:He could have played that in so many ways too. He could have yelled it. Yeah, he could have yelled.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but the delivery was pretty good and like he did raise his voice and like I think, but like for the most part, it was almost like he was father scolding his son yeah, but you couldn't even look back at that scene and be like Reva's, an arsehole. You can't, because no, I think yeah, because you're like and from like his perspective.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, he shows you his perspective and it's like dude, this is my restaurant. Like this is what I want to do, Like I pay for everything. I pay for you guys to make the food. I want this food made, you guys, chefs make the food Exactly. And it's just yeah, it does happen. It's just yeah fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, he's definitely one of the I wouldn't say better because they're all really good, but his performance definitely shone in terms of the small cameos that some of the people are playing in this movie. All right, what about your quotes? Do you have a quote, brash, or do you want me to go first? You can go first. I think I've got one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll see what yours is first.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I've got a couple, obviously, the first one being I get to touch people's lives with what I do and I love it and I really want to share this with you. That's a quote that Carl said to his son, percy, that I really liked. There's another quote where it sort of explains how I don't want to be in this box. He says I want to cook what I want, which is showing that he's really intrinsically motivated to cook the food that he wants to cook. And there's also, like moments between Carl and Marty where he goes I don't want to hear about your salty balls, like that was a good one. Yeah, I think that any sort of scene between Carl and Marty was really good and it's not really a quote, but I liked how Marty was just like, hey, percy, and then Percy looked towards him and he's got this baguette and he's using it like a thing. You know, I like that scene because, yeah, weird, uncle vibes, it was pretty cool. What about you? Because, yeah, weird uncle vibes.
Speaker 2:It was pretty cool. What about you? So one of my favorite scenes or quotes from the movie is when both Carl and Martin start singing sexual healing. Yes, great scene. Percy's there, just like he's too old a guy For me. It was just because that's something I do.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I just sing some Raiders of England, yep.
Speaker 1:I liked it. There was no premise for them to be good at singing that song either. They were just like yeah, this is happening.
Speaker 2:Also the cornstarch boat, and I did have it. He's like, oh yeah, he's like what are you doing, dude? I'm putting a little cornstarch on my huevos. It's a little tissue fit down here. He's like dad, I got my mom's cornstarch on these bowls. Yeah, I expected, I expected a scolding. He's like want some.
Speaker 1:Really good Cause. Yeah, when that happened I expected, like Carl to wake up and sort of slap Martin.
Speaker 2:But yeah, apparently that's a young. In the morning you can dip your nuts in oil and make hush coffees, yeah.
Speaker 1:Apparently, that's actually something that chefs do sometimes in the kitchen, because they're obviously really cold places and humid places to work.
Speaker 1:I don't know if they do, and if they do, probably don't tell the workplace health and safety guy. But yeah, apparently that's a little technique. All right, what do you got for? We sort of talked a little bit about our nitpicks. I think my biggest nitpick for this one is that Robert Downey Jr, scarlett Johansson and Dustin Hoffman had very small roles in this. But from talking to you, I also think that the pacing at the start also kind of needs to be a bit kind of adjusted, because it is a bit of a slow start. And more time with the food truck, please.
Speaker 2:That's my things, that's my net fix yeah, my, my biggest grub with this was the middle needed more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, too much start, not enough middle and pretty much a non-existent end yeah, I think that the end was really sort of pushed in terms of, like we got a six month later cut after the.
Speaker 2:The food critic, ramsey michelle, that's probably something I hate most about movies is when they do that kind of like. I don't mind that kind of thing at the start, like they do, like their quick start, and then six months later, you have so many movies, do it, I think too, which is, yeah, I.
Speaker 2:I always want to know what happened in between, but I guess like you can like sort of do something, like you can do a montage of the different kinds of foods that they make and then at the end of it have it like the six months later.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that would have given us a little bit more, even though I did like the ending where Inez and Carl got back together. I would have liked to see that develop a little bit more, because I think that they gave the audience credit in a way where when they went back to California, they'd obviously reconnected enough, where Inez was then working on the food truck. Two things immediately entered my mind. One, how good they're back together. They're working together for their son. That's really awesome. Their connection is growing. Two Inez really should have her hair tied up in the food truck because that's a danger. That was my first spiritual thoughts. Where are the hair nuts? Yeah, that was that was my first two initial thoughts. Where are the handouts? Yeah, it's a fear of the guy. There you go. There's another nitpick there. But one thing I will say, brash, is if you liked this movie and you liked that food truck vibe, there is actually a show from 2019.
Speaker 1:They made it five years later and john favreau made it with roy choy, and there's 25 episodes on netflix yeah, I've seen and it's called the Chef Show and they go around and they talk to celebrities about food and it's just the biggest comfort watch and they share a meal and they chat and they have like the Avengers people on it as well. Like Tom Holland is on there on a few episodes. It's just a really good one. Like, if you love food and you love this movie and you want a little bit more of it, I definitely recommend going and watching that too.
Speaker 2:It's a bit of fun. Actually, I've watched a few of those episodes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kalia is a foodie, so I knew that as soon as I watched this it'd be one that she would want to see, and she did enjoy it. And at the end of it she said that was a really warm, feel-good movie, which is also good for her because she hates any of sadness or unhappy ending. But, yeah, after he exploded in that restaurant, there was pretty much no sad parts in this story, which she kind of liked. So, yeah, if you're a person who loves those happy stories and those really uplifting ones and you haven't seen this and you're not deterred by all the spoilers you heard tonight, definitely go and give it a watch. All right, so ratings Brash.
Speaker 1:I will say that I have put this on my favorite movies list and I gave it five out of five. Despite the nitpicks, I just loved the feeling of this movie and there is too many good points for me to detract at any. I would slip it down to a 4.5 after chatting with you and talking about those pacing issues and how it could possibly be improved if we were both multi-million dollar directors, but I think I'm I'm comfortable with it sitting at a five for me. What about you?
Speaker 2:well, I was initially going to give it a three, but I think it might bump it up. It's so good and even like the start. The start was good, like there's nothing wrong with the start.
Speaker 1:I think it was we wanted the food truck party oh, it should be equal parts.
Speaker 2:It seemed like there was a massive part at the start. They should have that same amount of time at the end, but it seemed like the end was really short. It might be interesting to.
Speaker 1:Sorry to interrupt you there. It would actually be pretty interesting to have a look at what the timestamps are, because the first part felt long and the middle part felt quick. But maybe it's because we were having a great time and we entered that state of flow that we were like actually that was 40 minutes we didn't even know about.
Speaker 2:Could have been I don't know, but it's all that thing I don't really count until they actually, until they go and see that food truck the first time. That's when I reckon that part starts.
Speaker 1:When it rolls around.
Speaker 2:So this has a long time in between those parts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so I might give it three and a half stars.
Speaker 1:All right. So that means Chef, directed by Jon Favreau, gets a combined rating from Brasher and I of 4.25 for this week. So, after discussing Phantom Portal's friends, brasher and I have decided that the movie Chef is now our fifth place movie. It sits above the Phantom of the Opera and it sits below Crow, which is the Crow, which is like two really dark movies to sit in between. But yeah, it's a little bright ray of sunshine in between those two dark stories. So yeah, sits in fifth. I like it All right.
Speaker 1:So that was our episode on Chef Everybody, and it was all about talking about how passion and connection can help you become a true version of yourself. This is the third movie in our arc so far of Becoming your True Self and next week we're running into a really big milestone. And I said running for a reason, because we are doing the movie Forrest Gump in 1994 starring Tom Hanks, and this is gonna be not only the grand finale of our theme for Becoming your True Self, but it is also our 50th episode that we're going to do together. So 50 episodes of Phantom Portals podcast, wow, 50. 50. 50.
Speaker 2:Half the country.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we want to thank everybody that's stuck around from one to 50, or even if you're just from 49 to 50 or if you're just listening to this for the first time ever. Thank you so much, guys. We appreciate the listens. It really does make a difference for small podcasters like us, and the best and biggest thing you can do is share this with a friend like word of mouth, talk about it with your mates, do some of that connecting we were talking about before and share something you love. If you both love podcasts, throw ours into the ring. We'd love it. And if you want to talk to us social media, we're at fandom portals everywhere, mostly Instagram. So that'll be next week that you can get our 50th episode on Forrest Gump and we'll be exploring how Forrest is a true example of how being your true self can lead to a really full life. So I hope you can join us and celebrate the close of this arc and a huge moment for our podcast. Brash, I want to thank you for joining me along the ride for being my.
Speaker 2:That was cool.
Speaker 1:Martin Love it.
Speaker 2:And he's on. I love it. It's an enjoy. Yeah, makes me happy.
Speaker 1:Me too, my gratitude. That was one of my gratitudes, but my second gratitude I want to shout out my friend Wayne this week, because I have been searching for ages to get my representative jersey for Queensland football, because I made the Queensland team a state team for Groudon as a quarterback and unfortunately I was unable to go down to play because I had to have surgery and I never ended up getting my representative jersey. But after some detective work and tracking it down, this fine gentleman, my friend Wayne, found it. So now I've got it. It's here. So even though I didn't get to play, I can commemorate the fact that I was selected for state ball level. And yeah, I want to shout him out Gratitude, grateful for you, mr Wayne. Thank you, thanks Wayne, thanks Wayne. What's your gratitude, brash? What are you grateful for this week?
Speaker 2:I'm grateful for my friend's partner, who's also my friend, for doing house calls for veterinary work and getting ACEs shots for less than what it would be to actually go to a vet. Fantastic Also grateful to you, Erica. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 2:And thank you.
Speaker 1:Erica for looking after our third unofficial co-host, ace, who's very upset with me right now because he hasn't had dinner yet. Yes, he is going to get it right now. All right, this is Aaron signing off. Keep learning, keep growing, keep loving fandoms. Goodbye.
