EP.37 Matthew McConaughey

Alright, alright, alright! This week, Tyler and Justin are breaking down the wild career of Hollywood's favorite Texan, Matthew McConaughey. Whether you know him as the shirtless rom-com guy or the intense Oscar winner, we’re showing you how he pulled off the ultimate career comeback—the 'McConaissance.'
We’re diving deep into the gritty performances that changed everything: from his raw, soulful turn as a fugitive in the indie gem Mud to his transformative, Academy Award-winning role in Dallas Buyers Club. From his improvised debut in Dazed and Confused to the mind-bending Interstellar, we’ve got the perfect starter pack for anyone new to his movies. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

All right, all right, all right. Welcome to newbies to movies. I'm Tyler, and I'm Justin the Movie Guy. Welcome to our podcast, Newbies to Movies, the podcast where we like to talk about new movies based around themes, actors, or directors. With this week being, based on the intro, Matthew McConaughey, the Texas Ranger, the Texas mascot, honestly, at this point. Every Texas football game you see, he's out there acting like he's part of the team. And you know what? They let him because he's pretty darn entertaining of a guy. Yeah, he's a pretty, pretty like known actor in the world, not just for his performances, but like his persona. He's just such a unique person, as well as anything. Um, but first we're gonna start off like with stuff that we've been watching this week, either shows, movies, or something. Just a movie guy, do you want to start?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Yeah, actually, shocking here, not a movie this week. Been watching two series, big superhero guy this week. Invincible, really good show. I'm gonna keep telling you to watch it until the end of time. Um, I know you're not a big animation fan, but it's so good. The thing is, I have watched like the first two to three episodes, and I just wasn't into it. So it's like I I give it. You have to go back, rewatch them. You were sick or something. I don't know what was going on that day. And then Daredevil 2. Um, a lot of people weren't a big fan of the, you know, Disney bringing back Daredevil Born Again season one. I thought it was a pretty good season. Um, they're really hammering home some huge plot points this season, and it's been pretty peak, honestly. Um, it's been really fun and enjoyable to watch. Some of the Daredevil stuff can kind of drag as he's kind of like moping a lot of times, but um, this has been a good mix of moping, action, plot building, kingpin, all that all that stuff. So um it's been cool to see, and I'm pretty sure they're gonna bring back the defenders. So Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage. So it should get pretty intense here coming up.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

That's cool. I I watched those season one. I actually didn't know season two came out this week, just because there's so many different shows coming out in the next like three weeks, which we'll get to. Yeah, so I didn't even know season two came out just because it's been so much TV coming out recently.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Which makes sense because the Emmys is like I think the cutoff point is at the end of April or May, so it makes sense why a lot of TV just comes out all of a sudden in two months.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah, for me, uh I got a couple of movies that I watched. Since it was Matthew McConaughey, I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into his bibography, some of his younger stuff. So I watched A Time to Kill, came out in '96, also stars Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson. It's a courtroom drama that involves like civil rights movements about this guy that kills people that raped his little girl, and then the director goes fully into like dark mode and is not afraid to like really touch on those subjects. I really enjoyed it actually. Um yeah, I didn't hear anything about this movie, but some really good actors in it, really interesting subjects into it, and again, not afraid to like touch those subjects. Um, and then watch Contact. Jody Foster is like the main actress in it, and Matthew McConaughey kind of plays the love interest about like she hears like aliens through a radio network and then tries to reach out to them, and then it I thought it was gonna turn into like this arrival kind of film or interstellar, but it was more so like really not as science fiction as I would like it to be. Um, but it seemed like it would have been. And then two movies I saw in theaters, Reminders of Him, totally forgettable movie, don't recommend. And then You Me in Tuscany, I saw last night uh romantic comedy starring Halle Berry and a guy from Bridgerton. Don't even want to try to pronounce his name. Um, it actually got me. It was actually pretty like funny. It had me laughing in the theater, a good theater experience. I think I was like one of the only dudes in that theater, but it's alright. I recently got AMC A-list, so I was like, you know what? If I don't have to pay for a ticket, may as well just go and go see this. I got nothing better to do tonight. It was pleasantly surprised.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

I liked it. Uh next time, next time you go to a rom com and you're the only dude in there, and then they play the advertisement. Like, we'd like to thank our A-list members like to stand up and be like, start bowing.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

I drank four beers, four beers during the entire movie. I just kept going back for refills. So I think that should have shown people enough of like, well, alright, what's this guy doing here? I was just trying to have a fun Saturday night. I was like, oh yeah, why not? But uh yeah. And then the boys' season, new season came out, and that's like been one of my favorite shows. So watch the first two episodes of that.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yeah, me and Matt decided to wait on starting that and Maul Shadow Lord, Darth Ma, not the Maw. Yeah, not Paul Boy. We decided to wait, yeah. We decided to wait on those two. So we're gonna finish Invincible and Daredevil, then jump to those two shows. And then, you know, they'll fully be out then, so we can kind of binge them a little bit. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yeah, I've just been really looking forward to the new season of The Boys, so and I don't mind like the weekly releases, it kind of gives me something to look forward to every week.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah, it's tough right now because I'll see the boys stuff on Instagram and TikTok, and I just gotta so fast swipe at it.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

You just gotta try not to talk about it enough to where your phone hears it and then shows up with spoilers. Like that's pretty much what you gotta do. Um cool. So I'm gonna try something new this week where we get about like recent movie news, like future movie news about stuff that's going on in Hollywood. Doesn't have to be relate just to movies, also TV that's going on. Um, and then Justin will give his reaction to it, and then I'll also give some insight that I just want to say. Cool. Uh first one is Project Hail Mary finally passed 500 million globally and it's on track to make 750 million globally when it was produced at 200 million. So uh pretty big achievement for the movie itself.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Yeah, uh definitely curious to see, and I know it's crazy to think about this now, but the Oscars, how much love will it get from that? You know, is it being gonna be looked at as like this, you know, big box office popcorn movie, or are they gonna actually look at a lot of the acting and be like, oh yeah, there was something here?

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah. I'm wondering if it's gonna get like a probably not as big as the Sinners kind of treatment, but I could see like a Top Gun kind of love for it. Like a lot of like different categories or below line categories, and seeing if Ryan Gosling can get a nomination or not for it. Yeah. But it is cool to see like an independent film that is based on like a really popular book, but like just not an IP kind of film that got really big. Talking about Project Hell Mary, Ryan Gosling was slated to be in the Daniels movie. The Daniels directed last time their last movie was Everywhere, Everywhere All at Once. He was slated to be in that movie, and then 24 hours after it was announced that he was in the movie, he pulled out of being in the movie. There's a lot of hate on Twitter being like, Why is he doing this? And then literally 24 hours he pulled out of it.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know much about their movies, but I did see a lot of the hate, everybody being like, dude, just plays anybody now for a paycheck. And so, yeah, I don't know if that had anything to do with it or if it was on his own decision, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

It was interesting. I was like, wow, I think maybe social media really got to it, or maybe like it wasn't confirmed and like he had scheduling conflicts or something, and he was just like, it just was way blown out of proportion.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Um, so the drama is on pace to be the fifth A24 movie above 100 million when it was produced at 20 million. Yeah. I think that's pretty big for not just A24, but about movie stars themselves. I mean, you have two of the younger stars, um, even though Rob Pattons I can is now 41. Zendaya is like 29. You got two like art like two young actors still like in the prime of their career doing a movie like that and just doing great at box office. I think it's just a a great thing for box office itself.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Yeah, and I feel like, I mean, I don't know that we've talked about it much on the podcast, but having A24 is uh being such like uh, I don't know, small like giving such I don't even know how you say it, giving such like opportunity to like young directors to do like really like niche stories, I guess you'd say.

unknown 8:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

It's such a cool thing, especially in this world like you were talking about, like full of IPs and everything's a franchise. Um it's really cool just uh and refreshing to go see a movie that has no connection to anything else.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah. Um I think the like the proper term that you're looking for is like a tour, is what they talk about. It is where like they write it themselves, they direct it themselves, and like it's like an original idea, kind of like what Ryan Kugler and Paul Thomas Anderson is kind of known for doing for the like for last year, and that's why like the Oscar's race was kind of cool last year. There's a lot of tours doing big things compared to like usual IPs be taking bigger names, and then the Nora the year before also won it. So I think that's like the proper term of what you're we're trying to go after. Yeah, yeah. So the the invite trailer came out. I was like 10 minutes into watching it, or 10 seconds into watching it, and I was like, you know what? I don't want to watch this anymore because I saw the actors' names and I was like, I'm just gonna watch the movie. I don't want to know anything about it going into it. Because it involves Seth Rogan, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton, and Olivia Wilde. Directed by Olivia Wilde.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Wait, is it directed by Olivia Wilde? Let me make sure of that. Let me just not speak out of my butt no, yeah, it is directed by Olivia Wilde. Those are just some crazy good actors and actresses that I was like, you know what? I don't need to know anything. I just want to come see it. It's made by A24, produced by them. I got trust in it, and I think it's their big summer push of a movie.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Did you see the uh trailer for the backrooms? Yes, I saw that trailer. It looked interesting. I don't really know the lore of the backrooms at all. Yeah. I just know that like it's kind of scary. A24 is really good with horror, so hopefully I I got strong belief. And they gave it to the guy that created the backrooms idea when he was like 14, and now he's like the youngest, gonna be the youngest director to do like own written story and directing movie, another really cool thing that A24 is doing.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Yeah, I think it should be interesting. I don't know too much of the lore either, besides like a lot of it is just like kind of the fear of the unknown, uh, which is one of my favorite types of horror. If I really had to pick a horror genre, that would definitely be one of them. It looks pretty neat and the the girl from Sentimental Values in it and the uh I forgot his name, the guy from Doctor Strange. Yeah, and he's also in uh Children of Men.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yeah, Toyote Ed of Or, I think is it is his name. Yeah. Yeah. Should be interesting. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I definitely see it. And then A24 is really good at like that kind of horror too. All right, so I'm gonna quickly rattle these off about shows that are coming out, either came out this past week or this next week. The boys came out this past week, euphoria comes out this weekend. Of when we're recording this, by the way, because this comes out in two weeks. But we're recording this, the boys came out last week, euphoria comes out this week, and the beef season two comes out next week. And those are just like three kind of big shows. I think Euphoria and Beef are probably gonna get like some Emmy love because they have in the past. Um, I don't think the boys will ever get an emmy love. I think it's too crazy of a show. Huge popular culture, like kind of thing. And then, like you said, Daredevil season two just came out this past week, too. So just huge shows coming out.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Yeah, Mall Shadow Lord just came out. Should be interesting to see what they do with that, especially with the upcoming like kind of like Star Wars coming back to the theaters with Mandalorian and Grogu, and then also Starfighter with Ryan Gosling and uh Invincible is finishing up as well, which has been pretty great as well to see.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yeah. The pit season two, but I think its finale is this Thursday as well. I've been keep I've been watching it week by week. It's way easier to keep track of. I really like the pit as well. So fun time for TV. It seems like it's a it's a big push all of a sudden right now. Yeah. Awesome. So let's get into our actor this week, Matthew McConaughey, the Texas legend himself. Grew up in Texas when he was younger. You Valdy, Texas, a smaller town. For part of his high school, he went to Australia for like a year, where he had like sponsor parents, and then from there he went to University of Texas and was a grad student or was a student in filmmaking, got a bachelor's of science in film. And from there, that's where he got his first like he was doing commercials and then got his first role in Days and Confuse from that, and then kind of started his career of really stood out in Days and Confused, and then from there started his own career. And uh what do you think about Matthew McConaughey, the first startup?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Yeah, um, I've always been a big fan. I'm just kind of shocked myself that I've haven't seen as many of his movies as I thought I have. But I think him as an actor, he also does so much in the public eye as himself, like him himself as a character of his own. Kind of put it up there with like people like The Rock, right? We see The Rock and we think like, oh, he is that person. You know, like he is he lives up to that name everywhere he goes. I kind of see it the same way with uh Matthew McConaughey, as you know, he's just a really good dude. We see him all the time in the public eye, whether it's like you said, videos of him on the sideline at the Texas game or helping out at a school or something like that. You kind of just see him everywhere, even though maybe it's not always in the movies.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Yeah, he's he's quite an interesting guy just because his career has like three different points, I would say maybe even four, because he's still got like a little bit of potential, even though he's in his fifties now. He's still got a little bit left of movies that he could make. But he started off early in his career and he does movies like a time to kill that I talked about at the beginning of this episode, and but he was wasn't really a leading man that he was more like a side leading man, and then through the early 2000s, he was like a romantic comedy kind of guy and established himself word by word, is what they say, as a sex symbol, and really he's getting tight-casted in these rom-coms, and then he wanted to personally get out of that. It's phrased as the Maconnaissance from 2011 to 2014 when he did Magic Mike, Mud, Bernie, Dallas Buyers Club, and Interstellar, like all within like those four years, and then he started doing the Lincoln ads that got made fun of a good amount, and then he did True Detective, and then from there he kind of like got out of the limelight. Like, I feel like his filmography with the last five years, he's just not done as much as you would think he could do. Like, I'm sure he's had a lot of roles to be open from it, but I think he's also been a lot into like politics, it seems recently, um, especially with the like Texas politics. Yeah, but he came out with one movie last year, um, Led Lost Bus, and I haven't seen it, but it came out on Apple TV. But other than that, he isn't before that he was just cameos in a documentary.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

So I think he's quite an interesting actor. I think that range from 2010 to 2014, arguably, is probably like one of the better actors in that time range, just because he was took over the culture at that point. But yeah. So if we want to get right into it, you want to go ahead with Mud.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah. Mud was kind of interesting to me. I'd never heard of this movie before, but I I didn't know what I kind of I had known nothing coming into this. Um, I mean, base premise of the plot is about two young boys, kind of a coming eave-age story, and they encounter Mud, Matthew McConaughey, who uh is a fugitive. They don't know that at first, but he is a fugitive kind of hiding. Um, and they know that they find out eventually that Mud killed somebody to save this girl, you know, from a kind of domestic violence case that was going on. Juniper, it was played by uh Reese Witherspoon. And, you know, Mud really is kind of, I don't know how to explain it. He's kind of just like uh suffering with Juniper. You know, he loves her, but she'll never really love him back the same way. And then yeah, the kids kind of help Mud uh try to escape while also letting Juniper know what's going on, making sure that she's safe. It was very interesting to me this film because there's a lot of different ways you can kind of follow it, right? You can really fall follow Mud's plot line of being like a hopeless romantic for this one girl. Um, you can follow the kids, right? It was a really strong coming of age story. Um, you can kind of follow uh the guy that he killed and his family, kind of tracking down somebody and that that vengeance that kind of consumes them and ends up getting them killed as well. Um, and then obviously Juniper, who's just kind of chasing around something that you don't know that she'll ever find. Um, I thought it was pretty interesting, and I give the plot a nine.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Wow. For me, the plot, this was a very like 2010s coded movie for me, plot-wise, to where I felt like a lot of movies kind of follow this storyline of a coming of age, that evolved romance. That for me, I think I have a bigger problem with the characters than the plot itself. I enjoyed the plot. I wish I got a little a little bit more out of Mud itself, again, maybe a little bit hitter on the characters, but the movie's named after him, and I feel like Ellis is the main character of this movie. It could be like Mud is like the biggest influence's life, but I feel like the big the biggest theme of this film seems to be love about his young love and what it means to him. And he thought he was in love with that with that girl, Mud's love for his, but then his parents who are getting a divorce, that kind of love too. So it's like three different types to where you got this love, this young love, you got this forbidden love kind of situation, and then you got this like a strange love. And it kind of explores all three different from his different perspectives, where he's experiencing one and seeing two different types where they where he would do anything for her, but like she just can't do anything for him, and then the other people just won't do anything for themselves.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yeah, I mean I see what you're saying too, with the the movie not being fully focused around Mud. I felt that way until the end. And then I at the end, kind of his redemption, you know, spoiler alert, the kid gets bit by a uh cotton mouth, and Mud basically risked his you know own life getting arrested and putting in prison for the rest of his life to taking the kid to the hospital, not only because he had helped him them for so long, but also because I think he saw a lot of himself in him. He explained earlier in the film that was exactly what happened to him when he was a kid. So kind of getting into that, the characters, I gave it an eight, obviously very focused around those two as characters. I thought the rest of the characters were kind of mid, I guess you could say. I did think that um Tom Blankenship, Mud's kind of fig figurative father, was uh really interesting character. He was a father and the and that he was hard on his son, but he was always there for him. You know, he was always looking out for him up until the very end, making sure that even though he knows he messed up bad and there wasn't a lot he could do to get him out of it, he was still gonna help him out the best he could, which I thought was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah, I think my biggest problem with the characters in this is Juniper, how she's like supposed to be this focal character of like why Mud is doing all this for. And like I don't give a flying care about her. Yeah. Like you don't tell me anything, and I don't see any resemblance of like their real love, other than I guess from Mud's standpoint, but like I don't know, I just don't really have any care for Juniper, but he's doing all this stuff for her, and it's like she has no re any redeeming qualities to me in this whole film. Like you're just assuming that she's getting like he was she was getting beaten and stuff, but it's like, oh wait, but they were in love while that was happening, and I was like, wait, so did did he do it because he loved her or did he do it or I don't know, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 19:20

I think that's yeah, I I do know what you mean, but I think the main point of that was not to make the viewer fall in love with Juniper, but make us fall in love with the person that McConaughey was describing, Mud was describing, right? He was describing such this beautiful woman because we don't we we don't really see her till like 35 minutes, 40 minutes into the film. So he was really describing the love of his life, and then we get there to see her, and we pretty much know from the beginning that she doesn't care, she doesn't care about him like she he cares about her. And I think that's the point. That's that theme of love is kind of being like that hopeless romantic in love with somebody that'll never love you the same. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that's what I took from it. Yeah, I guess. I understand what you're saying though, too. From the viewer's perspective, you don't get anything on her, so there's no there's never a sense of having any love there.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Maybe there's an expectation that like that's Wreath Witherspoon, that that's not like a no-name, like attractive actress. That's Wraith Witherspoon, and you're gonna have her in the movie for probably like five minutes of scream time, it felt like. And I was like, You're not gonna give me anything. She's an Academy like nominated actress, and you're not gonna give me anything from her, but alright. I think she was a big problem. And then Neckbone was like a big character at the beginning, and like the first also crazy name, by the way, of some of these characters. You got Mud, Juniper, and Neckbone. And Mary Pearl, two first May Pearl, and then Print Princess. And I was like, all right, this is the South part, right? But, anyways, Neckbone is like a crucial character where you're like, Oh, okay, I want to see more about this kid, and then it's like, uh, never mind. He actually doesn't matter as a like the character, he's just kind of like a side kid, while Ellis is like the main kid, if that makes sense. It would have been cool to like go behind like both of their family like situations, because it seemed like Neckbone didn't have it any better. Like there was like no he wasn't having his parents weren't getting divorced, but he grew up in the same kind of neighborhood that he did.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yeah. And I mean, Neckbone's uncle was just kind of like there. Like I thought that was gonna work towards something, and then he was just like, nah, I'm going scuba diving.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

You have like the whole scene about like him trying something crazy in the bed, and then like there's no explanation of him as a character after that. That's all you know about him. Again, another good known actor, another I'm pretty sure Academy nominated actor, Michael Shannon, just in the movie to do that for like five minutes, and they're like, All right, bye, dude.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Yeah, no, neck neckbone, though, he was definitely just there to be like the useful guy. There's no way a kid should know his way around an engine at eight years old, like that kid did. But he it just had to be like slightly useful. And he asked for the gun.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Ellis did it. He was like, Can we get that gun? It's like, all right, fair. enough. He gave him the gun with no bullets. He was like, damn it. Who was he planning on shooting up?

SPEAKER_00 22:08

What was his plan? I have no idea, dude. He was a funny kid though. Yeah. Because I mean Ellis was really, really serious the whole time, and Neckbone was definitely like good comic really. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

He was also he was also just and he's just an actor. He's in um he's in another show. Uh the new oil show with your guy that you really don't like. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Landman or some stupid shit. Yeah, yeah. He's in he's in Landman as as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

But uh he's just kind of a goofy looking dude. Yeah. Getting into cinematography, I gave it a nine. I thought the movie looked pretty. I think the swamp looked good. It really reminded me of where the crawdad sings, probably filmed in a similar area. I thought it looked really good. The lenses and the widescreen shots looked really good and just kind of like the overall look of the river and that kind of run down. I know that's more in the set design, but the camera captured it well. I never thought there was anything that I was like oh this looks kind of cruddy or it doesn't look like it's capturing everything perfectly. I thought it looked good.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yeah it was used as steady cam for filming and pretty much that's what he was using for the most time. And following it it was shot with like 35mm I don't really know about the different types of lenses and all that but I think it is quite interesting. And yeah you get into more set design but it did look really cool and where the crawdacks I mean it was mainly filmed in Arkansas but yes it looks like the South it looks really cool and they and they made it look pretty. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Like where you could you know getting into dialogue I thought the dialogue was pretty good in this I think most movies where you have McConaughey talking there's going to be some good lines. I feel like he has some really really iconic lines across cinema and my favorite one from him was in this one was there are fierce powers that work in the world boys good, evil, poor luck and the best luck. I thought that was cool and just kind of encapsulated his character right just a guy really always living on the edge and just hoping that luck's on his side. I thought it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah Matt McConaughey something about him and some of his better known roles is like a character that seems like he's battling himself the entire movie. And a couple of lines that kind of goes after this like also the idea about like he was in love with this idea of a woman where he like he didn't really know her all that well is like she is like a dream you don't want to wake up from and then how you said before he straight up says to like both of the boys he's like I like you two boys you remind me of me. And then there's fierce powers at work in the world boys good evil poor luck best luck as men we've got to take advantage where we can that straight up sounds like something Matthew McConaughey would say like on a podcast.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

That's not even like a movie thing like maybe that's why his lines just hit so good in the movies is because it's probably stuff he just came up with I don't even know if they wrote it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Well there's a couple of interesting things I heard about set of the Dallas Byers Club the other movie that we're doing but I'm guessing it had to do something with Mer Mud too when he gets like so into character that like they cut out a lot of stuff of he just like starts yammering about stuff and it's not even on like the screenplay. And they're just like alright. I'm sure Christopher Nolan held him back a lot more because that is kind of a different character during this time.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

But this character the Dass Byers character and the true detective character are all very similar in the way where they're battling themselves and you can see like they have they're having like an inter like personal like fight.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Yeah. Also I just want to bring it up before I get what a poor ass excuse to try to make McConaughey look like an unattractive man just by giving him some fucked up teeth. Like that was gonna make a difference he still looks good. And name a mud and you're like yeah he's ugly oh he's gonna look rugged look nasty nah dude it doesn't work like that the teeth look so cheesy I don't know it was like bothering me the whole movie getting into set design like we talked about I thought it was great um looked just very wet and nasty and swampy the whole time which I thought was so cool. Always felt like around every corner was a safety hazard. Obviously the theme of snakes getting involved were a big thing throughout the movie so that's always kind of dangerous out in the woods. Yeah I just thought it looked great as a movie overall.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah this is like the one highlight for the film is cinematography and the set design for me were really cool. Like I said before film entirely in Arkansas the whole time in the backwoods on location and I'm guessing out in like those muddy air muddy air like areas it's pretty hard to bring like a whole camera suit to it which makes sense why they brought like a steady cam and something that you just have to hand out hold the whole time. Makes sense why they use that mainly because uh it's probably pretty hard to film out in those kind of places.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Nah not if you're Christopher Nolan you just take you just take IMAX cameras out into the middle of Egypt. I mean that's what uh Ryan Kugler did for center Yeah for acting I thought it was uh pretty well done obviously by the main actors one thing I'd like to highlight uh Ellis his actor was really good I feel like that kid even for like a kid I thought it was really well done I never felt like it was corny or anything like that. Neckbone was a little corny here and there but I feel like also that was his character. And obviously McConaughey uh did a really amazing job. I know this movie wasn't a hundred percent centered around him it was kind of centered around him and Ellis but um I thought they both did a really good job.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah really good child acting from Ellis um Ty Sheridan this is his second movie that he ever did so that's even really more impressive where he pretty much is like even though it's name mud I think Ellis is like the main character in the film. McConaughey again this is during the McConnaissance that is named so I think he's like in his prime at this point and just like cooking with all of his roles. But again the only the only hits for me for acting wise would be like Reese Ritherspoon and it's like just one and more. I think that's more of a directing choice from him than anything against her herself and then as well as uh I I guess neckbone just didn't stand out to me just because I think Ty Sheridan was just so much better.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Yeah in into directing uh Jeff Nichols uh hasn't really done much else I I didn't see like any big movies or anything that he's done. I enjoyed this story um I know you had some issues with some of the characters and how they developed throughout the movie. I thought they were well done I didn't really take too much away from her not being that much into it but um I gave it a nine I thought it was pretty decent. Probably his best movie if I had to guess.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Yeah I I've only seen one of his other movies The Bike Riders came out in 2023 had Austin Butler and Tom Hardy in it. I liked that film a good amount uh probably a little bit more than Mud, but for me I think it was just some directing choices were the best for me. Because at the end of the day when I came out from this film one in was more of Mud. I more I don't even know if a background is a proper term but like maybe he was just like such an interesting like character for me that I just wanted to see him more. And it seemed like for the back third of the film you see a lot of him but the first two thirds of the film you barely even see him.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

I think he's a very side character into this and you're just like intrigued I guess but he's buying you in buy you in and then it didn't pay off for me in the way that I guess I'd really wanted um and then soundtracked I gave it a seven I thought the the music was good obviously kind of fit that that that style of uh set I guess you could say I think it did its job to you know swing and portray plot points was pretty good but nothing special.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yeah I I agree there's nothing special but very similar to like where the crawl dag sings some other films that have been filmed in the backwoods of like the south just like that kind of music that kind of adds to the area itself but nothing crazy.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Getting into theme I gave it a nine I thought it was interesting. I thought the romantization of Outlaws was interesting right these kids are looking up to this guy everybody else is scared to even hear his name the pain of heartbreak obviously is a huge one and mentor mentorship as well the kind of mud taking these kids under under his wing. I think the Mississippi River kind of serves as a symbol for like the dangers of life um you know you always got to keep an eye on them keep them in your peripheral vision I guess and then also just the character's overall journey for both Mud and Ellis.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

You got you got a lot of the good themes out of that that I just personally did not receive as much from a thematic wise for me. It seemed like a very um I want to say simple but like coming of age story that involved with a figure that he probably shouldn't be looking up to but it turns out he is a good guy. What seems as like a middle ground gray kind of character turns out to be a really good person that just found himself in a bad situation and falling for the wrong kind of girl.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Yeah. Then editing too I thought the pacing was interesting in this like we kind of talked about you don't see much of Mud at the beginning it's kind of mysterious with with his life and what he's got going on just for the ending to kind of like kind of be all about him and you know his survival but also the kids and him saving the kids. I thought it was uh pretty well done I gave it an eight I wouldn't have changed much otherwise but I think some help from the characters like you stated as well as maybe some more focus on Mud would have helped the overall pacing and finishing touches of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Yeah it's interesting because it's like a pretty it's not a super long movie. I mean it's like 130 minutes running time. And I don't feel like any scenes are specifically drawn out that you could cut but I don't think there's anything I would say that hindered the editing style. I think it's just more of a director choices that I had a problem with this film. So I had no problem specifically with editing.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Yeah and I can tell where this is going this you're gonna think this is high but I gave it an overall score of 8.6 or 86. I I think I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Kind of surprised me too because at the beginning I was like oh this is going to be a stereotypical kind of cliche movie but I thought it was pretty good and I got a lot from it.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Yeah for me I gave it quite a lower score score so I gave it a 6.6 out of 10 or 66 out of 100. It's pretty refreshing because the last two weeks it feels like we've been like the same scores for all the movies. So we have differing opinions about this one. This does have like a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes for the critic's choice and then 80% on the popcorn meter. So this was a pretty highly regarded movie for itself.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

But for me it just it didn't draw me in as much as I wanted to yeah no I definitely see why too like I that's a good point I didn't really think about uh as much with uh Juniper like I was always just seeing her as kind of that uh I don't know like she was just there as like a plot device not really to be used but I understand what you're saying too that's a huge actor just to be using as a plot device not really an actual character yeah for an indie film to use somebody like that I was just surprised I don't know and I I will say there's some like comedic parts to this film when you look back at it especially the top like the Michael Shannon scene of him in the scuba gear just talking about putting the thumb up a butt I guess is what he did or something and she just wasn't he's like you see that seal ceiling fan right there he's like yeah he's like I found that in the river I was like okay I feel like I feel like they just told Michael Shannon and uh Matthew McConaughey's like you guys can just say whatever you want and like we'll just see if we add it to the film.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah you guys just be some river guys for a little little bit and they're like alright bet.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Yeah just be some slightly cracked out river guys and we'll figure out the rest. Yeah cool.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

So the other movie that we did this week was Dallas Buyers Club. Dallas Byers Club follows a a character or like the story of Ron Woodroof uh played by Matthew McConaughey which is a cowboy diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-1980s kind of the AIDS epidemic really where there's stigma going around it and from there he sees the drugs that they're giving to people in the hospital and he doesn't see people getting treated well for them and like actually improving from them. And from there he goes out of his way to try to get different types of drugs um gets a friend on along the way played by Jared Leto and gets the different types of drugs that he has to border cross and then starts selling it like a subscription. You pay four hundred dollars for like a month of the drugs to help you feel better pretty much because once you had AIDS it's kind of like a death sentence at that point during that time but this was to make you feel better while you're going through this and even extend it. At least that's like my opinion about like why people would do that in the first place. Yeah what did you think of the plot?

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Yeah I mean a big point of it too was uh kind of his fight with the you know the FDA and stuff like that. Fact of it is he wasn't really bringing in drugs. It was a lot of vitamins and minerals and stuff to really like help support your body in the fight not really fight after the the disease itself which was interesting. I thought the plot was really well done. I think they could really created a a great story with great characters really harped on the stigma around it right including the stigma between the doctors as well even the doctors knew kind of what they were doing wasn't right and it was just a cell medicine. I thought it was uh really well done really well paced really really really good at everything in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Yeah I really enjoyed it as well I gave it an eight out of ten. Right at the beginning of the film it kind of seems like a redemption story of morals for him because he's they deem him to be this very homophobic character um that kind of turns himself around after he learns it because he's like how did I get AIDS? Like I I don't have sex with men and all this kind of stuff. And then it kind of turned into helping people in the community to where he's like oh if you don't pay the$400 you won't to turn and being like you know what like if you can't afford it it's alright I'll still help you out. Which by the way this is like a note from the character himself like the real life person Ron Woodworth it's ke it's come out to like people that knew him said that he is not homophobic and he did not harbor any anti-gay beliefs. He was actually an openly bisexual person and he was a member of the Dallas gay alliance. So I think this was like kind of like Hollywooded to have like a redemption arc into the movie that really didn't exist in the real world.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Not to take away from the movie because sometimes you have to do that but just to state that out as people that actually knew him said that he was I mean I don't I don't really feel like you had to here I mean the only reason that you would do it is to make Jared Leto's character's passing like a little more hurtful right when that happens you can see it how it affects him. But even then like they were really close business partners and friends for a a while at that point so it he would have cared anyway.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

I don't think you have to add that extra element in just for Hollywoody they did say that he lost a lot of friends when he came down like officially was diagnosed with AIDS because of that thought process but he was a very openly biased sexual person it was said so it is quite interesting like that is more for like the first third of the film or even like the first quarter of the film it it doesn't really touch on it from there in my opinion just more so his friends and like the stigma because there obviously we weren't live but from hearing there was a big stigma about HIV and AIDS and the whole epidemic itself. Yeah. Um and then getting into characters I gave it a eight eight out of ten as well I really enjoyed Ron Rudolph's character played by Matthew Connor and also Jared Leto's character. I like both of them a lot on which if you've listened to this pot a good amount you know I'm not a big Jared Leto guy but I thought this was pretty well made and their relationship as like friends growing through caring for each other as they're both going through pretty much a death sentence was very interesting to me and I really like that dynamic.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Yeah I mean the uh very uncommon Jared Leto dub here he was really good but yeah I thought their their dynamic specifically was so cool as well as kind of their connection with uh Julia I can't think of her name Jennifer Gardner Jennifer Gardner's character um I thought it was really good kind of the three of them but also he was kind of like a a father figure for Jared Leto's character. You know seeing especially Jared Leto's character using drugs all the time he's like you know get off that your body's not gonna react well to it especially with this disease going through you. But he also needed that as well right he needed somebody to look after to kind of keep himself on his toes and and learn more about everybody involved in you know the AIDS epidemic as well.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

Yeah it was like an older brother kind of relationship it seemed like obviously it was they were like friends but it also turned into like where he was looking out for him. And that's why when he left and they lost him I feel like he felt like he was guilty for it because he wasn't there for the moment it happened but Leto Rayon decided that like a week before when he decided to pull off his own to save some money. So he kind of decided at that point that it was a lost cause. For me the only reason why I take two points off or even like why they didn't exceed was Jennifer Gardner was playing a very Jennifer Gardner role where she wasn't going out out of her way to like play some special character where I think McConaughey and Jared Leto were like playing these truly insane kind of characters for themselves where like she was just playing like a motherly role as like a doc. Yeah dude she plays this role a lot yeah yeah no hate on it like it if it ain't broke why fix it but like yeah for me I just I just can't give something that higher when it's like the same character playing the same thing over and over again. Yeah no that makes sense cinematography I gave it eight out of ten I really enjoyed this as well and there's nothing like crazy special for me but it was shot 100% handheld. So the steady cam as well um which made it interesting because there's a couple like scenes where he's going through it mentally and it's kind of a shaky camera. And at first glance I was like all right that's kind of distracting but I was like I think this adds to like what the character's feeling itself when you think about it to where the director said that he didn't include some real life things about Ron because he wanted it to be more of a character study film than being like an actual true bio drama yeah I think that was a good decision.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

I also like to say that scene when he was in Mexico and he kind of walks in and I don't know if they're fireflies or what, but they all start lighting up I thought that was such a cool looking scene especially for McConaughey's character in that moment. I thought the movie overall looked really great. And maybe maybe it's just McConaughey and handheld cameras I don't know what what we can attribute these to but I think both of these movies we did this week look pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Yeah they're very good. The dialogue I gave it eight out of 10 as well I really liked a lot of the like the sayings that he said again it I mean it's just Matthew McConaughey. Somehow he just like finds like these crazy things to be saying that you would believe that he would just say on his own but he's like let let me give y'all some new news flash there ain't nothing out there that can kill fucking Ron Woodrough in 30 days and then he lasted seven seven years. He wasn't lying and then this is this is him talking to the FDA they're like Mr Woodroof I'm afraid that you're nothing more than a common drug dealer. Oh I'm the drug dealer. No you're the fucking drug dealer I mean goddamn people are dying and all up there afraid that we're gonna find an alternative without you I mean he's right yeah he's just like I mean he's just preaching in this film I feel like but um he's right yeah something interesting about the dialogue and also the characters so Jared Leto was never broke character so this film movie was filmed in 25 days something about Jared Leto and I think why I don't like him as an actor is he did break character for 25 days. Like everyone said they didn't actually know who he was until after filming. Because he just was just that character the whole time which is like you could be super into film but like that's a bit much man. I think that's what why everyone hates him as a joker. Didn't he like shit in somebody's cereal and tried to cover it up yeah it's like alright man um yeah but then uh apparently Matthew McConaughey had like Jennifer Gardner said that there was a bunch of lines that were cut that he would just like start rambling on in character like while filming that like the director was like cut and he would just keep going that they had to cut but uh really character interesting character studies but also just dialogue to where like they said some of this stuff wasn't written and that McConaughey would just be spittin' it's like you know that doesn't surprise me. Yeah that doesn't surprise me though yeah acting this is where I gave it a 10 out of 10 and I can if she was the Jennifer Gardner playing herself just because McConaughey and Jared Leto, even though they're crazy I guess filming stories like they did really good and they both really well deserved their two Oscars that they won.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Yeah it makes sense that they won Oscars for these because yeah just amazing work. Like you said both so into the character I never felt like I was watching Jared Leto or Matthew McConaughey I felt like I was watching their characters and I think that's a true tell about uh good acting you know especially when we see people um that you know big stars playing all kinds of different roles like you said Jennifer Gardner's played that role a thousand times will play it a thousand times more I don't think you can just come up with something that Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto can kind of counter this with yeah it was very very good roles so Matthew McConaughey that year went up against Christian Bale and American Hustle Bruce Dern in Nebraska Leonardo DiCaprio and the Wolf of Wall Street and Cherotel Ejafor 12 Years a slave DiCaprio's really good in Wolf of Wall Street don't get me wrong but like I think McConaughey probably deserved it this year.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Yeah that was just an insane role and he also lost 50 pounds to for the role So did Jared Leto lost 30 pounds for it. Yeah, they look like crap most of the movie. Yeah. They look like they're going through the disease. Yeah, they look like they're dying. Yeah. So it just says more about their acting, even more. For sound, I gave this a five out of ten. Probably the biggest hit on the movie. Just because this movie doesn't have its original score. It doesn't have any score of its own. Mainly uses is different music from different bands and stuff. Even from Jared Leto's own band. And there's nothing clear crazy added to the movie for this. Like there's nothing that stood out to me. And any movie without original score, I don't think I can really score that high personally.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

Yeah. I mean, no original score. And then also, yeah, just not a lot of great music. Nothing that stood out to me, like really connecting scenes or connecting plot. It's just kind of there, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Yeah. Um, getting into set design, I gave it an eight out of ten. Uh it was mainly filmed. Give me one second. So it was mainly filmed in New Orleans and then Baton Rouge as well, which is quite interesting because it's called Dallas Buyers Club. And I guess maybe they just couldn't buy an area in Dallas. But I've only been to Dallas two times in my life, and when I was watching this, I was like, that doesn't look like Dallas. Yeah. Just like from a rear glance of a person that's barely been there, I could tell right away it wasn't. But with that being said, it was enough of a southern feel to where it didn't take away from the movie and the motel feeling I like the motel setup was really cool in itself, of like a business setup in the motel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

So yeah. Well, yeah, is the motel was uh definitely one of the coolest parts of the set, I think. I mean, it was just like so jerry-rigged, they're literally like waiting down the steps of the motel, and then you have to walk up one by one to go up and just talk to them. Yeah, it was it was well done there. I thought the uh scenes set in Mexico were a pretty stark contrast too. I don't know if they actually drove down for that or just went to a bad part of town, but it looks super run down. Uh it's definitely interesting to see that as well. Yeah. And then it's like his costumes where he like switches up.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

He'd be like a priest to go fly over to Japan and stuff. He just plays different characters. And then directing, I gave it eight out of ten. I don't really know this director all that well. They haven't come out with a lot of other crazy films. Wild is another film that they did have uh with uh Reese Witherspoon, who we just talked about, another Oscar-nominated movie. But uh yeah, for me, there's nothing that I think he just made really good choices. I had to take a hit though on like adding like the anti-home or the homophobic storyline of this film at the beginning when it seems like for no reason. Yeah. Because he wasn't actually for me, I had to take off some points for that. I even though I thought everything else was really good directed and the plot made sense. I can't give a full 10 to somebody that just adds in that effect for what seems like no good reason.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Yeah, I mean that makes sense. It's just kind of it seems unnecessary. I think the the plot still would have been carried really well throughout the movie for that. So yeah, I just don't really get that move either.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Yeah. He also apparently had a daughter and sister, but again, they wanted it to be more of a character study. That's why they didn't want to include the daughter, because it probably would have made it a little bit new more of a nuanced situation to where he wants to stay alive longer for his daughter, and that's just a different kind of movie, you know. Editing I gave a seven out of ten just because this movie didn't feel like it dragged along. I think they drawed out scenes that needed to be, especially right after Reno dies. They really drawed out like how he was impacted. At first he was angry. It was kind of like he went through the five stages of grief. And you could see it going through a hit was where he was angry at first and then he just broke down on the bed. And for me, I really like the drawing out of that.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Yeah, I think it was a pretty well-paced movie, too. A lot to uncover here. I mean, yeah, this is pretty much what three, four years of time passing and a lot of different stuff going on through just his life, but also the AIDS epidemic at the time. A lot to do, and I think it was all paced very well. I had no issues with it.

SPEAKER_01 48:01

Yeah. Um, and then lastly, the theme I gave a nine out of ten just because I think it is a very interesting subject that I had no idea really about, that that they're not just about Dallas Buyers Club, but there's buyers clubs all over the country during this epidemic, and it's just nothing that you read in the history books about it. They don't really talk about it really in the history books. And what you hear from about it is mainly from like different popular culture like platforms. And it's such an interesting way that the that these buyers clubs were really made to like make people feel better as they were pretty much given a death sentence at this time, is what my um view of it was is like once you got aid, the doctors pretty much told you you only had a certain time to live. And they were trying to extend it and then also made you feel better as you were getting through it, so it didn't feel like you were this entirely sick person.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, such an interesting thing. Like you said, we don't really get taught that. We get taught the FDA's story about it.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 48:55

Um, I give it 7.9 out of 10 or 79 out of 100. Um, I've thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I think once I learned about like the real story about Ron, I think that's where I kind of took a little bit back from it just because I don't see the point of like sustaining somebody's legacy as a person when there's no reason to, you know.

SPEAKER_00 49:13

Yeah, it's the unfortunate thing that happens with biopics, it seems like I actually gave it a 9.0 out of 10. I really loved this movie. But yeah, learning that it is a little bit frustrating, I'd probably have to move it down a little bit as well. But yeah, I I really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was really well done. But besides, yeah, now learning that is kind of a downer for sure.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

Yeah, yeah. Well, awesome. So that that concludes like the two movies that we did this week with Dallas Byers Club and Mud for Matthew McConaughey. Really interesting actor, really interesting, like popular culture star character person. I don't know. He's just a really interesting guy. I've I've listened to a couple of his podcasts this week with him and Theo Vaughn, to where like the conversation starts at one place and then it just goes crazy out there. And you think he's like on drugs, but like I don't even think he like really does drugs like that.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

So, like, no, he's definitely not. And I watched him with uh um, I don't know if you've ever seen the British guy Diary of a CEO. He was on with him as well, and that was a pretty great one. I'd recommend that one to you as well to watch.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

Yeah, Theo Vondit started with him talking about evil Knievel and how he knew him, and then they're just like watching me videos of evil Knieval to like him talking about religious and like the path of religion. And I'm like, what? Yeah. I'm like, all right, man. And then Joe Rogan, he just starts talking about his tuna sandwich like making. So we're gonna do what we do with most actors and start to rank his, but we're gonna go out this little different route to where we're gonna decide what his ten best like performances in a movie are first and then rank them without choosing like teams, just because Justin hasn't seen more than 10, so it's wouldn't it be really fair to do like a top 10 if he hasn't seen like all 10. Yeah, cool. Um, give me one second to pull up his filmography. Before we start this, we're only doing movies, but I want a big shout out to the True Detective Season One. What I think is his best work, and I think most people would agree is his best work as an actor. True Detective Season One is a masterpiece. Go check it out. If you we included shows, that would be like be easily number one, but we're just doing movies. Dang, even over Interstellar. Yes, by far. Okay. You just have to see it. You just have to see his performance in it. Like, I don't know how to describe, like his performance in it is it's just insane. Check it out. So we're well, first we're not gonna do his like uh cameo kind of roles or like very minor roles. So we're gonna start with Days and Confuse. For me, I think Days and Confuse should be in his top ten. It is like his breakout character. I agree. Okay, yeah, I think just Days and Confuse is very good. Um he originally saw the casting director, and they're like, oh, he casted Sean Penn and Fast Abridgement Times, and he's like, Oh, let me go talk to him. And then he was supposed to be a minor character, and then he meshed so well with all the other characters and the other actors that he ended up being a bigger part of the film, and then the rest is history. Yep. Um, so and then the next couple of movies I haven't seen, but The Angels in the Outfield, Return of the Texas, Chainsaw Mask Kerr, and Glory Days. I haven't heard that he's a main guy in any of them. Is this still when he's trying to come on the scene? And then Lone Star. I heard a good bit about this film. Um, it's the reason why he was cast in Dallas Buyers Club. The director says he saw him in this and he was like, Yeah, this is who I want to play. But he's a super minor character in it. So I so I don't think it should be included. Alright, that's fair. Um A Time to Kill, which I saw this past week. It's like his first leading role. Uh and I think it's a very good movie. I personally wouldn't add to this in my top ten. You would? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:57

I'm down. All right. Looks good. Um, the other one is Contact. He's a very side character and kind of fits into his this is when he starts to be like this uh romantic comedy, like sex symbol, I guess, character. Yeah. But uh for me, I just don't think he's that m big into the film that really matters. We'll jump a little bit until he's like kind of a main character again. So the wedding planner is his his peak rom-com days, and I think we need to include one of them. But if I had to choose any rom com to put in here, I think how to lose a guy in ten days should be the one. That's what I've heard, and I was planning on watching it this week. I just didn't get the chance to. Yeah. I think it's just like the most notable one. I'd seen that most people talk about it compared to all the other ones. So I think, yeah, how to lose a guy in 10 days will be the third one that we add into this before we rank it. Alrighty. And then we jump into so Two for the Money, Brandon Lang. Let's look at this. But has Al Pacino in it. I actually heard really bad things about that movie. Probably not. I'm good with keeping that off the list, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Um and then Fool's Gold, you've seen, and you said you like it, right? I do like Fool's Gold. Yeah. Wouldn't you want to put this in the top? No, probably not. Okay. We'll come back to it if we see it. Okay. If like if we if we need another one or two. And then the next one is Tropic Thunder, which by the way, he has not seen Tropic Thunder, which I did not know until today. Um I'm making the official rule, a movie like this, he's just too side of a character. Yeah, he's just not a main character. He's really funny in it, and he kind of plays, but he I wish they played more into like him as Matthew McConaughey in this, but this is before he be goes through the McConnell's. I think this movie comes out five years later. They did they like make a character that makes fun of him because Tom Cruise plays Lex Grossman, where he just straight they straight and make fun of Tom Cruise in the film, which I really like. But yeah, too much side side of a character, but you gotta check out the movie, man. Gotta check it out. Yeah, I need to watch it. All right. The next big one, Lincoln Lawyer. I feel like this needs to be on on the list. One because he's a main actor, but also like the the the the commercials that comes out of this and like the memes that come out of Lincoln itself, I feel like just means that it needs he needs to be in it for this. Yeah, it's probably fair. The next one being there's Bernie and then Killer Joe. I started watching Killer Joe, and he's like this really menacing character, but I haven't gone through it. But I've heard really good things about him as a character. I think this is like a yellow, so like with something we come back to. Okay. And then Mud. I think you definitely should keep Mud in here. Yeah, I agree. And then Dallas Buyers Club, I also think 100% should. And then Interstellar. Agree. He's kind of too sad for Wolf of Wall Street. Yeah. Uh Loki, I would I wouldn't. I think that would be like a fun number 10. Because I think that is probably one of my favorite scenes of like out of any film. It's just good. Him at that scene. That's like the most McConaughey role I think I've ever seen, where he's just like, he's like, mm-hmm. There's a time in college where I think for like four years I would just do that at random times.

SPEAKER_00 56:10

Just because I was like, what we were talking about too. It's like him just like taking over a scene and there's nothing anybody can do.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

Yeah. Like he takes over the scene with Leonardo DiCaprio across from him, and he's just yeah, he just takes it over. Not many actors can do that. Definitely not. We'll keep it just a yellow right now, just to hold it back. We also skip Magic Mike. I've seen Magic Mike. Matt, I mean Channy Tatum is like really good in that movie. Matthew McConaughey is not that good in that movie. I said it. Never a movie I'm gonna see again, though. Nice. Um the f the free s the free state of Jones. Um have you s you haven't seen this, have you? No. So it's about like this all armed revolt against the Confederacy in the Jones County following the Civil War, and he's kind of like the lead actor in it. He also produced the film. I think we should include this just because he is a main actor in this, and I think it is kind of a knowable role for him.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

Okay. What do you think? Yeah, I mean that's fair. He looks just like the guy. I just pulled it up and saw the pictures.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:19

And then do you think we should include Singh? Or no? I mean, he plays a pretty big role. I know it's a voice acting role, and I think it's a good movie, but it's up to you.

SPEAKER_01 57:33

Yeah, I mean Star Moon is Yeah, I've seen both of them. Yeah. I actually like them, but um Yeah, he is like the main Yeah, he pretty much is the main character in it. And then like the rest of his movies, out until like 2025, in my opinion, don't really deserve to be in it. So it's like our sing, I guess, out of any of them. Because I've seen the gentleman. I don't I'm not a big fan of the gentleman personally. Um I don't really like it. So let's do sing. Let's let's have a little animated film of this. I'm sure uh Madison's gonna like that. She will like that. That's one of her favorites. So right there is nine. So we can go either Wolf of Wall Street, get it in there. Yeah. Yeah. Wolf of Wall Street is gonna it's gonna get in there. Awesome. Cool. So from there we're gonna rank his top ten. And do we wanna go this from like the top down or just kinda because we're just gonna do it a little different how we do usually where we like choose one each, just cause Yeah, just go top down. I think Interstellar's one. I agree. I think uh it's a pretty outstanding number one, not just film, but like his performance as well. I think a really good performance. Um Interstellar.

SPEAKER_00 58:46

I think Dallas Buyers Club second, but I mean you if you think so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:52

I think so too, just because he won the Oscar for this and he did so much for this role, and I it's just great acting. So like it's crazy that these films came back to back years with each other too. Mm-hmm. So people go to Dallas Buyers Club. Yeah. Dallas Buyers Club, I think, is number two for him. This is where I personally would put um a time to kill at number three.

SPEAKER_00 59:13

Okay. Yeah, I just haven't seen it, but uh feel free.

SPEAKER_01 59:16

Just because it's his first leading role and it's insane what he's doing in their first leading role. He's across from Samuel Jackson, who two years earlier came out with pulp fiction and was like kind of a big actor at that time, and he takes over scenes and like his final I love a good court drama film and like the final court monologue to like the jury, he's just so good in that role. It is just really good. And then for number four, I'm thinking Link either Lincoln Lawyer or Mudd.

SPEAKER_00 59:47

I I've heard more about Lincoln Lawyer, but it's your call. I think it it's a four and five there.

SPEAKER_01 59:54

Yeah, I think Lincoln Lawyer and then and then Mudd. Um Yeah, I think that's a good four out of those five top five movies all came out with like three years of each other. That's crazy. Cool. And then from there, I think what do you be what do you think about Days and Confused at this next spot? Number six.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:12

I don't know. It's just I know it's like the opening role, and that's kind of what got him into the movies, I guess. But it's I just remember it being such a small character, and I was kind of let down by that movie overall, and I wanted it so bad, that's what's stopping me. But I think I mean I've never seen How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, but I Madison's been talking that up all week to me. So what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:37

Yeah, I think this would be a good role for how to lose a guy in ten days, because I think it also speaks to like him as like a rom-com guy that he was kind of typecasted in for like six years. So it kind of makes up for all those roles, even though like this is the best role out of all those. And then okay, so then number seven, do we want to go with Free State of Jones in, where he's like a lead? That works. And then number eight, what we just said fucking do Wolf of Wall Street at number eight and then Yeah, you can do like Wolf of Wall Street, uh dasting competencing Okay, I like that. They're gonna be like he was in the film for like five minutes, and it's like, yeah, but yeah, but you know he was in the film.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:25

It was the most rememberable five minutes of that movie. Yeah. It's so weird, it's just such a weird scene. Just talk about jerking off.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:39

Now I want to go watch that movie tonight just because I'm gonna.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:41

I just want to watch that scene again.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:47

Yeah, he's like, you got to at least three times a day.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:50

It's like what? He's so Leo. I mean, I don't know how he didn't crack, but he's so alarmed too. He's like, so he's like, excuse me.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

Dude, I wish uh because you haven't seen True Detective, but him and Woody Harrelson are so good together in that they're like, I wish they did a movie together. Yeah. The Texas boys and Imagine it worked out pretty well.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:11

Before we end this, I feel like it's hard not to bring up Woody Harrelson with him because like they were such close friends growing up. And then also uh apparently like Woody Harrelson's mom had like or dad had like connections with Matthew McConaughey's mom at the time that he was born. So like they said that there's like a 50-50 chance that they're brothers. Interesting. And they don't want to find out. Yeah, I guess they're just like, whatever. Makes these one. Yeah. But apparently they're coming out with a show, and there is no like release date for it, but where they chronicle a fictional version of the lives of themselves, whose strong friendship is put to the test when they decide to live together with their families at Matthew McConaughey's Ranch. Interesting. So yeah. So they just come out with a movie kind of making fun of themselves.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:02

Yeah, I mean, the way you described it, maybe that's it, but I just could not care less about seeing that movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:12

Yeah. Well, yeah. If the trailer comes out and it looks really funny, then sure, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:17

So they're playing fictional versions of themselves. Yes. Maybe I don't know, maybe McConnell would just be good at that. Like I think he's just playing himself most of the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

Yeah, he's just like they just let him rant for like 20 minutes in each one where you're like, what is he talking about? What is going through that man's mind? Does anyone want to know?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:37

Probably not. Shout out him too. He's a Redskins slash commanders fan because he was sick of growing up with a hole Dallas fans his whole life. So shout out to a real one.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:48

I didn't know that. Yeah. He's a Texas legend too. UT legend. Gonna see him on the sidelines in a couple months. He warms up like he's a part of the team. I think one game I saw him jogging on the sidelines as if he was about to go in the game. In boots and a cowboy hat and a leather jacket every time. Um, you gotta love like the commitment, man. And the coach just lets them. They're just like, you know what? It's not worth the fight of being like, yo, you're distracting. He's done enough for the state. I'm pretty sure last year in the playoff run, like a quarterback threw an interception, and then I looked on the sideline and Matthew McConaughey was talking to the quarterback. He was like, it's all right, buddy, you'll get the next one. And then the coach is like, God damn it. Who said he could talk to the talk to the players? Yeah, that sounds like him.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:33

Yeah. Just nothing's too big for him, man. Nah. I definitely recommend you watch uh it's called The Diary of a CEO, and he had Matthew McConaughey on. I was like so interested into that. I I watched it over the span of like three days driving to work. It was so good. Interesting. I I'd definitely check it out because he's so interesting to listen to.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:54

Well, thank you for listening to this episode. We had fun talking about Matthew McConaughey and uh some other stuff that we tried out. Next week we're doing Merrill Street, so make sure you come back and listen to that. See ya. See ya.