EP.43 Home Invasion Films

In this episode of the Newbies To Movies Podcast, host Justin and guest Madison dive deep into the harrowing subgenre of home invasion thrillers. The conversation centers on Michael Haneke’s bleak, meta-fictional 1997 psychological thriller Funny Games and David Fincher’s high-tech, claustrophobic 2002 film Panic Room. They contrast Haneke’s confrontational critique of media violence with Fincher’s masterful use of physical space, building tension through a terrifying clash between the safe domestic sphere and external threats. Wrapping up the episode, the duo pivots to a conversational ranking of their Top 10 home invasion films.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hello, welcome to Newbies to Movies. I'm Justin, and this week I have on a regularly occurring guest, uh Madison.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Obviously filling in for Tyler in his absence. Um I'm gonna be having on a new person every couple weeks. Sometimes I'll have reoccurring guests on. Um, but this week we'll be diving into a very specific movie category, and that is home invasion films. Kind of getting into home invasion films, it's a very iconic type of horror category, but we've also seen it done outside of horror and comedy and other ways like that. I think it's very interesting as it's kind of a horror category that takes away the viewer's sense of safety in their own home, right? And uh gives them the illusion well our homes kind of give the illusion that we're safe in them. And when it comes to the specific genre, I guess you would say it kind of takes away that. What do you kind of think about uh home invasion films, Madison?

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Kind of the same thing about your home is supposed to feel like a safe place, and in these movies they ultimately become this dangerous place. And while you know, like especially with home movies, you know the layout of your homes. Most times you kind of like lose control and power, you're tied up, you're in a sharp you can't get to what you need to like save yourself. Um and I've seen home invasions in movies, but also in TV as well, like a lot of criminal shows, like the um that's a like a big aspect of it. But I think too, like a lot of it is the thrilling, you never know what might happen next, the power control, the vulnerability, and different things like that throughout the movies of home invasions.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, yeah. Uh so this week we did Panic Room, which is a David Fenture film, and then Funny Games, the 1997 Austrian version, um, the original version. I'm obviously not the biggest fan of horror movies. It's pretty well documented on here, but um, we'll get into that here in a minute. First, we'll kind of go into what we've been watching this week. Addison, if you want to start, you were telling me about one you had been watching.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Um, so this week I watched the Send Help movie that came out in this year. It's a horror comedy starring uh Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien. They essentially are on like a plane, get stranded on an island, kind of giving you like castaway vibes, but this one was a little bit more darker. Yeah, I did think it was a little bit funny because she like was a big fan of Survivor. From watching Survivor, you could kind of see like some of her like skills and like almost like her thinking with like how Survivor players played the game. But it was good. I I thought it was a good movie, it was enjoyable, definitely had some twists and churns, but it was overall really good.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah, I remember Tyler telling us that he got to go see that early. I don't think he was the biggest fan of it, if I remember correctly. But yeah, I just have no interest in watching that. I know you asked me if I wanted to watch it with you.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

I mean, it's definitely goofy, but I think it's entertainment. Like I think it has like a 90-something and like Rotten Tomato like audience score.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yeah, we also watched Withering Heights last night. It was fine. I think it dragged that movie. It was really hard to get through. I thought it was gonna be a lot darker, a lot more, I don't know, I guess you could say deep. Um, I didn't care about the characters that much besides like having big actors in it. The story kind of fell flat for me. There's a lot of he said, she said for two hours, and I just didn't really enjoy it that much. But what do you think?

SPEAKER_03 3:37

I mean, knowing that it's a book adaptation and knowing the original book, it wasn't a great adaptation considering there are 30 different adaptations out there. It did feel like let's just throw some big names out there. I've heard the director like it's this was like her version of what she thought the book was when she had read it years ago. It wasn't like my favorite. I'm a big romance person, but it wasn't it just didn't do it for me overall.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Yeah, I don't think it was that well received by um the book audience, but the movie audience either. Obviously, when adapting from a book, you're gonna kind of have uh both worlds collide. And yeah, from what it seems, didn't do that well. The movie looked pretty. I will say that. I mean the shots were really well done. Yeah, but besides that, it kind of fell flat. All right, so getting in here before we get into our actual movies, we've been talking about doing this for a while, so we're gonna try a fun game. We've seen TikTok clips and everything like that. I'm gonna share my screen so Madison can see.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

Am I doing the guessing?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

We'll do it together just because it's kind of our first time.

unknown 4:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

You can see everything now, right?

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

All right, let's pick a random date here. This is the I did the one for today to try to kind of try out this website. So just give me a random date. We'll go from there.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

May 4th.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

May 4th, Star Wars. Okay, so we're back. We figured out why it wasn't working. We found a new website. So basically, what we're gonna try to do is we're gonna try to guess the movie based on the letterbox review. So let's see if we'll hit start here. Oh, this is like multiple. Okay, if my boyfriend of five years left me for a cartoon princess, huh?

SPEAKER_03 5:15

I think this is enchanted. I could be that's because in the beginning it's like cartoon.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Do you think that kid with the blue tongue has any other powers, or is that or is that it? The blue tongue.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

So I think I'm thinking those are the movies we're supposed to connect them.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah, yeah. I'm thinking for this one. Jeez.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

I think it's the the pony.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

I was gonna say that, but I didn't think so. It's probably X2. Wow, no? No. Wait, we messed this one up. Okay. Wait, what am I doing? Okay. High pitched Ryan Gosling screen.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

The nice guys.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

Wouldn't that be?

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yeah. Um, I think I've seen this one before. It I think it's her.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

Her? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

No, it's not grand.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

I was thinking Titanic.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

That's my emotional support lobby boy. That's gotta be a Grand Boot. So pretty effed up that I wasn't born a cartoon witch.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Well, this could be no really witches and Cinderella.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

It might be Ponio.

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Uh, it could be it.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Nope. Mr. President, a second bullet bill has hit the tower. Yeah, I don't know this one.

SPEAKER_03 6:25

Super bad?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Why didn't Owen Wilson bring his phone to 1920s Paris and make everybody flip their friend shit? I know this one.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

That's Midnight in Paris.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah. You can now officially watch the pegging scene on Disney Plus. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Deadpool?

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Probably. Sad horny man listens to ASMR girlfriend roleplay.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Would that be that her or maybe.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

It's either that. Yeah. This is really 80% mice, huh?

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Cinderella.

unknown 6:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

This whole movie feels like an extremely long video game cutscene. Like it feels like you should just be able to control it, but you can't. You just have to watch the chaos. You know, the easy answer would be the Super Mario Bros. movie, but I don't know. That's the only thing that I think That also gives me Polar Express.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

I was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Could be good job.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

That's the coolest effing story I've ever heard in my entire life. That's insane. It is. Can I hear it again? Do you have time? Yeah, dude, I don't know. This one's throwing me. I don't know what this movie is. Kiki's delivery service. You gotta guess here.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Um, you kind of like froze.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Are you good?

SPEAKER_02 7:37

You froze.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Oh. Alright, let's see. What do we have here? I'm just gonna guess on this one. So I think we got eight out of fifteen, which is pretty terrible. Yeah. Can I see that?

SPEAKER_03 7:50

This one's kind of hard.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Yeah, it was. Okay. Wait, right there.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

Guess the film based on letterbox reviews.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

What this? It's okay. It's okay. Guns don't kill people, I kill people for Happy Gilmore. I don't know a lot of these. We didn't see half of these, I feel like.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

Yeah, I was gonna say some of them didn't pop up.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

That's okay. Well, I'll find a better one and we'll do it next time on the show.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Yeah. That was kind of hard and weird because I was expecting to do like one movie and it give us like kind of like wordle, like a bunch of different hints towards the movie. Well, that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

But I'll find one like that.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

And we'll go into it next time. Getting into the movies this week, though, obviously we talked about um with home invasion films, so we'll start off with Funny Games, 1997 Austrian film. Very interesting. I wasn't expecting to go into this with uh subtitles, but it wasn't bad. The plot, I gave it a four, was a basically it's a psychological thriller movie, kind of like we were talking about, and it follows this kind of middle class family and their vacation home, and two kind of sadistic young men show up and they're really like nice and weird about it, and they end up holding the family captive and subjecting them to like physical and psychological rewind, or he would turn and talk to the camera. Um, but it was never like for any plot points, it was always just for like the artsiness of it, which I didn't really enjoy at all. But what do you think about the plot?

SPEAKER_03 9:16

Um, it wasn't bad. It also like I feel like it was a bit different than other home invasion movies I've seen because of kind of like that fourth wall thing. But the scene where he winded kind of weird, like it threw me off guard. Like I wasn't expecting it that part. Um, but you're right, though they were really like weird, quiet, sadistic, and they kind of almost like fed off each other, like the one main guy, he was like kind of a jerk to the other guy. Um, but yeah. And the house too, like it felt very like realistic, like a normal, it doesn't feel like a total set kind of thing. Just does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Yeah. I just yeah, I mean, we'll get into it more kind of here with the characters. I gave it a three. I didn't really care about any of these characters. I told you like halfway through the film when we were watching this, kind of like somebody important dies, and we could see like a 10-minute scene of the other characters dealing with that, and I just didn't care at all about the characters. There was no lead up, there was no like character development at all. I just didn't feel any emotion uh towards any of the characters, and that goes for both the uh antagonist and the protagonist. I just couldn't care less. I don't think that the uh story really developed the characters that well, and that's kind of why this one just fell flat for me.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

Yeah, I'd have to agree, like, because we see them coming up, the family coming up to like their vacation home. We don't really know much about them at all, so it's just like, oh, a normal family. Like we have no idea who they really are. We see that they meet the neighbors, they're kind of acting weird, they get to the house, and then the intruders are the boys are introduced, and they're and then they're like gone for half of the movie, doing whatever. But they kind of just I feel like we're the same. Like there was really no growth with them, weird and quiet and like sadistic. Um, I didn't really like you said, like there was no attachment to anyone. Where I feel like other home invasion movies you kind of watch and you like, oh my gosh, like I want them to fight, like I want them to survive. And this one here's just like, okay, that happened, what's next?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Yeah. I felt like too, like, yeah, I think horror movies in general, they try to just get you to grasp onto the fact that like 95% of their audience is gonna be this middle class family people, and but that just doesn't do it for me. That's not enough to get me involved in these characters and care about them enough because these could be bad people too. I don't know. I don't know because you haven't told me anything about them, and so yeah, I'm not supposed to care any type of way about them. The cinematography, I gave it a five. I thought it was pretty poor and tedious to watch. I thought we'll kind of get into it with the director. We'll talk about kind of like the where this movie came from and the idea behind it. But I just interpreted this as being like really lazy, um, especially when it comes to the uh breaking the fourth wall, kind of jumping out, him talking to the camera and talking to the audience. It just felt really lazy and felt like they were trying to do something cool, like artistic or different, but it just came off as very lazy to me and uninspired.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

Yeah, um, for this part, say it's a home invasion. So a lot of the movie is shot in the house, which there was nothing like really memorable, rememberable about it. It's kind of just like felt like a typical house, like there was nothing shocking or this or that. I mean, I thought the outside looked great. I thought they were gonna utilize like the lake more or the outside a little bit more just because it was like a vacation home, and sometimes they do that throughout other you know home invasion movies where they like utilize the outside as well. But yeah, the cinematography I gave is six out of ten. There wasn't like anything, oh my gosh, wow, this is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, I mean you kind of bring up a good point too. It was a big house, and I think we went into two different rooms in the home.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Uh yeah, it was like the living room in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Yeah. And so that was kind of weak in itself as well, just coming from the aspect of being uh home invasion week. I can't knock the movie on that too much, but since we're specifically talking about that, yeah, um, it felt weak there. The dialogue I thought was okay, which is kind of crazy for me to say that that was this was probably the best part of the movie, um, considering it was in another language. I thought it was done deliberately, unsettling. I think they're them as uh antagonists, the two guys, that was the scariest part about them was you kind of never knew where their conversations were gonna go. But besides that, I didn't feel too deeply about them. They used a lot of just words and psychological torment against their victims rather than the stereotypical um, you know, pain and suffering and violence. So yeah, I thought that part was kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Yeah, I have to agree with the dialogue again. There wasn't anything that really stood out to me about any one thing that was said, but they were like really calm, and I think that was more unsettling. Like they were just like, oh, this is just another normal day. Like it was normal conversation for them. I think that kind of bid in more of like the scare I guess like scary part of it. Uh like the family just for the family there seemed like some normal conversations, nothing really there either. I will say though, like I don't know if it's I considered dialogue, but like the one part where they kind of just sat in silence off and on for like a little bit, that did feel like a little bit dragged out, but other than that, I guess there was that one scene where like the son was running away and he kind of was like running throughout and ended up finding like a gun or something, but that didn't really go anywhere either. But I guess a little bit with the set design, I think like because the house felt a bit more normal, that it I guess it was a bit more uncomfortable because sometimes when you watch those movies it does feel very cold, where this one did kind of feel like warm and like it was really a house. So I will give them that. Like that was a nice part of the movie. It did feel really homey, but I wish they just utilized the house more throughout the movie.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah, that scene with the son running away, that was probably the he ran into their neighbor's house that they had already killed. So the two guys had already killed the neighbors. The son escaped to that house and found more dead bodies and weapons there for them when they tried to escape. That scene felt the most claustrophobic out of anything in the whole movie. Like it felt the most contained and scary in that house than the house they were actually in. The house they were actually in felt open. It felt like they were just kind of hanging out with each other instead of actually being like utilized in a sense of we need to get out of here.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Yeah. I will say that was one of the more intense thriller moments because like he's running, he's hiding, he's catching up to him, he's like shouting things. You know, I felt like that was a bit more not that them like sitting in the house wasn't, but it definitely felt more of like, oh my gosh, like what's gonna happen kind of thing when it came to like that part of him running around.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Yeah. Um getting into acting kind of like a lot, especially you're in a life and death situation. I know it's a lot going on, but uh, you should either accept death or get a move on because they are coming back, and we've saw that. Um, and then also I thought Arno was the guy that played uh Paul, and then Frank that played Peter. I thought they did a really good job of being uh really sadistic, like I had mentioned earlier. Although the plot didn't help them that much, the actors, I think that it was uh pretty decent acting all around.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Yeah, I I will say I think that the intruders definitely helped with a lot of it. I think just their presence, like I think they acted being creepy and like that kind of like emotionless really well. Like they were just like, okay, we're just gonna do what we do every day kind of thing. And then with the family, I thought the mom, she did really gave some very emotional scenes. I thought on that front her acting was well. The little boy, he just kind of seemed to me like just another little boy that's kind of like in a scary movie kind of situation. And I thought a good scene between like the mom and the dad was like when she was trying to run, and then the phone thing, like there was kind of that tension of like you could see that like they cared for each other in that aspect, he wanted her to go. And you could see like the emotions, like I don't want to be here by myself, but like you need to go, you need to go find help. I thought that scene, acting-wise, was really good overall.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah. Um, kind of getting into this movie, some background on it. Basically, the director was trying to take a anti-violence statement towards the horror film genre. Says here he kind of grew frustrated with how the modern cinema and television kind of desensitized audiences to brutality in the real world. And, you know, that kind of he's not wrong. It kind of made a lot of uh horror movies in the 90s very cheap popcorn entertainment. So he kind of just cut out the violence, though. It's still heavily implied that there's a lot of violence in this movie. We just don't see it, which I don't really understand his take at this point. Um, if you wanted to make something scary without violence, that's one thing, but don't also just imply the violence. You see what I'm saying? Why would you imply that there is violence in the film if that's your issue with it? So for that reason, I gave the directing a three. I think that specific stance uh took a lot away from the film. I think it took a lot away from the actors and their roles, but I also think it took a lot from the uh character development and the plot development as well.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

I didn't know that that he was trying to do that about the horror movies. You are right. Like a lot of horror movies now and then they're very gory, they're very dark, there's like a lot of violence, but you do make a good point. Like if you don't want it to be violence, then why involve violence? Especially because you kind of s you see like that they've been hurt, you see the blood, like you you know, all you see all that stuff, so I feel like if you wanted to do the anti-violence thing, then make a scary movie with no violence or don't show it or don't show it, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Yeah, I think the idea was kind of, you know, to make a thriller that didn't involve as much b violence, you would care more about the characters, but if you're not gonna develop the characters um in absence of violence, then don't. You see what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 19:40

Yeah, I guess that's too like because we've seen other home invasion movies, and like you might not know so much about the character in the beginning, so you but throughout most other movies, like you learn more about them, you learn the background, you learn this and that about them, so then you actually start to care. Where I don't feel like the director did a very good job of like making me want to care for them in any aspect. Like I feel like it was more of like a sympathetic thing, because yes, it it was a sad situation, you don't want that to happen. I feel like there could have been more. I don't have much to say on his directing. I don't I don't really know this director, to be honest, but I could tell that like what he was trying to do, like build the tension and the whole like almost more like I felt like trying to draw in the audience in a different sense by like being in like the intruders, like getting on their side kind of thing, because like that's who was interacting with you. Like he was winking, he was talking, like he had the remote, like you know that kind of thing, but like I'll have much to add for the directing, and it wasn't like anything crazy to me.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Yeah, he hasn't done uh many more big movies. It looks like the other one uh was the piano teacher in 2001. I don't know that one um either, but it uh has uh pretty decent reviews. But getting into the soundtracks, I gave it a two. I think there was like a Austrian rock song, uh very heavy metal song that played in the beginning and then the middle of this movie. That was absolutely it uh when it came to the soundtrack. There was no other music played throughout this movie. Again, horror movie, you're really trying to seek the thrill, and I think you need to add more music in to help um carry a non-violent movie that would uh went a long way here, I believe.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Yeah, I mean, we heard a little bit of music in the beginning when they were in the car and like they were playing the CDs as a family, but I think it was more like classical music. Like it was more like they were trying to guess, like, but other than that, like you're right, like there was nothing really soundtrack-wise that added to the movie. Like, I can't be like, Oh yeah, that part. There's because you watch some movies and you're like, oh, like that sound makes this movie so much more scary or have so much more of a thrill to it in different scenes like that. But I gave it a three out of ten overall for the the soundtrack.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Yeah, probably the most frustrating part about this movie is the theme. I found absolutely nothing after. Watching this, there was nothing I could point to and be like, this is a good takeaway from this movie. So I started doing a little digging. I was like, let me see what other people are talking about when it comes to the theme. But the only absolute only thing that comes up is the director and him talking about the anti-violence and the mainstream media and how he kind of wanted to get away from that compared to typical horror movies, which sucks because that has nothing to do with the movie. That just has to do with the director's stance on it. So you're giving us a movie that has no actual themes in it, nothing to take away, no real character development, no real plot development. Yeah, this is gonna be a cruddy movie. And um, there is people that absolutely love this movie and think it's an artistic masterclass. I just don't understand where they are going with this because it really subverts the entire genre of home invasion and slasher films in general.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

The only theme like that I really took away from this was like that the violence always continues, especially because believe it or not, there's really not a happy ending to this. Nobody survives where it's like most other home invasions. There's a sole survivor of at least one or maybe just like a couple or something. But we see like obviously in the start of the movie, we see them where they begin. And then the entire movie we see the family that was like the main point. And then in the end, after the boat scene, we see him doing the same exact ruse to the next house that from the lady that they met earlier. About so-and-so is making eggs. I need some eggs, may I come in? And then it's like it kind of all starts over again, it seems like, and they're just like doing the whole thing over. So I can that's like the only thing I really took away from the theme-wise, is like the cycle always continues, but but then again, you're right about I didn't know about the violence thing. It just doesn't if you're trying to not go against the violence, then why are you continuing the cycle of violence rather than ending it?

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Yeah, I mean, I see what you're saying, but again, that's kind of a reach to just trying to make that a main theme of the movie would yeah, it's it's a lot. Finally, yeah, I get into editing. I gave it a three. The idea of breaking the fourth wall is neat and all, but when it doesn't affect the plot or generate any kind of real plot development because of it, um, it just felt shoehorned in for kicks and very pointless. Felt like you got bored and just wanted to do something kind of cool in the movie, and then it absolutely fell flat.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Yeah, um, overall I I didn't give I gave it two out of ten um for editing. Did I think just it felt so long, but it didn't f need to be so long. I feel like a lot of it could have been like edited out, like the long scenes, or like if there was a 10 scenes, like have something more happening, like add in some more, like give me something to like work off of or want to be continuing engaged. But I think it was just kind of slow. I felt like there needed to be more, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

Yeah, I uh I gave this an overall score of a 3.9 out of 10 or a 39. That's high, I'd I'd say, compared to most people. I did want to read real quick. Tyler was able to watch this movie this week. Um, he gave it a 29. He said, uh lowest rating yet, and it deserves it for wasting my effing time. Need a banger next week to make up for this one. So yeah, I'm glad he felt pretty similar about this. But what'd you give it for your overall score?

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Um, I have a 48 out of 100 or 4.8 out of 10.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

Which is low for me because I usually rate movies pretty high. As long as I find them enjoyable, I will give it a high score. But this one, I was like, okay, I'm not a fan.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Yeah, this is definitely a uh cult team movie. There is a really hard following for this movie, and I think that's kind of what put this on Tyler's radar when he picked that this for this uh week, you know, kind of see what everybody's talking about in that following. I wish I could be like, this is why some people would like it, but it's not for me. It's just I cannot grab onto anything and be like, oh, this is why people like it. You know, normally you could, especially in something in this sense, if it was really gory, if the the thrill was that good, but I just couldn't get in tune with any of the characters. I couldn't get in tune with the setting or the plot or the themes. It just really fell flat for me.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

Yeah, and I mean I think that's interesting because like when you look it up, it has like overall good ratings on many different platforms, and people do rave about this movie. When I was going to add my own personal rating to it, and I started reading, I was like, did I miss something? Like I'm not understanding, but I guess if people like it, then people like it. Maybe it's just not meant for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Yeah. Um, getting into the next one, we watched Panic Room as well this week. Definitely a lot better. Uh, I gave the plot a uh seven. This movie follows uh divorced Meg played by Jody Foster and her diabetic daughter Sarah, played by a really, really young Kristen Stewart. Um, as they move into uh New York house on their very first night, three men kind of break in and steal a hidden fortune, forcing the mother and daughter into this home's high-tech fortified vault in her bedroom called their panic room. Interesting plot, especially compared to the last movie. Um, a lot here to handle. Um so overall I gave it a seven. The only reason I gave it a lower score than I would typically give is I think again, this movie really drags in the middle of the movie. Uh I looked at you and I was like, how is there still like 45 minutes left? Uh it it came to like a kind of stagnant halt where none of the characters were really developing anymore besides Forrest Whitaker's character. Um and I was like, yeah, you could just end this, wrap this up now, and I'd be okay. It'd be a good movie, but it just really dragged there towards the middle to the end.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

Yeah, overall, I did enjoy this movie a lot more than the last than Funny Games. I feel like this one definitely had a lot more attention tension and almost the fact that like you're supposed to, again, feel safe and especially in a panic room, like you're in a box that's like supposed to be protected, but you feel you still feel so much like I don't even know how to describe it, but just like so much tension and like fear for them. And I did think the movie overall was a lot better. I think Forrest Whitaker, I did like his story throughout the movie. I think it did build a lot better. Did care. I feel like there was a lot more building of caring for them, the good and the bad people overall.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Yeah. Um, so yeah, kind of getting into that. The characters, I gave it a seven. Obviously, you had Meg played by Jody Foster, Sarah played by Kristen Stewart, Burnham played by uh Forrest Whitaker, my boy Junior played by Jared Leto, and uh Dwight Yokam played Raul. Obviously, we didn't see his face uh that much because he had a mask on the whole time. But I think that the the first three I named, Meg, uh Sarah and Burnham, all had pretty decent plot development in this. Obviously, the mom and daughter relationship was really cool to see and a really high end.

SPEAKER_03 28:46

I did really enjoy the characters. I really liked um Meg and Sarah. I think they're dynamic. They played a really like believable mother and daughter. And especially in the scene where she's like struggling, I guess she's having like some sort of low with her diabetes. Like she's like doing everything in her power to like make sure that her daughter is okay. Um and two, throughout the movie, we kind of learn a little bit about like the intruders, the three men, like their different backgrounds, a little bit about their motivations and why they're doing this. Um so I did think that was interesting and I feel like that kind of helped build it up a little bit more as well.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Yeah, I think you tapped me at one point during the movie and was like, hey, Jody Foster and Kristen Stewart could be mother and daughter, a hair row. I was like, yeah, they do look alike.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

I mean, especially when she was so young, and like I think it might have been her hair the way her hair because it was very blonde. I think she has darker hair in real life, but like her hair was just like styled like that perfect. They had like that perfect shade of blonde, and I was like, I really feel like they could actually be related in real life if I didn't know who they were.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Yeah. Getting into the cinematography, I gave it a six. Um I can't help but compare this to other Fincher movies, saying that this is a Fincher film as well. From what I'm reading, very troubled production. Original cinematographer was from Seven, and you know, we've just recently watched that, so you can understand how I would feel a little down about this movie when we look at the cinematography of Seven, but then was replaced a couple weeks into filming by the same guy that did American Beauty. So I'm sure there was a lot of different artistic versions that went into this. The movie, technically complex, yes. You know, Fincher likes to really work in the CGI from the early 2000s into his film. So we can look back and say, wow, that looks bad now. But I I didn't get too much out of it. Especially, I know it's it's tough when you're contained in one home, like we've been talking about with home invasion films. Uh, you really gotta make that house interesting. And I just didn't find it that interesting when it came to the cinematography in the house itself.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

Well, I think a little bit different. I think compared to like the last one, I think they do utilize the house a little bit more in this one because we go from floor to floor to floor, and we even see it like a little bit at the outside. We see the panic room, we see their rooms, we see the different levels, we see the kitchen, we see the I think the utilization overall for the cinematography of the house was a lot better. Like you could see the camera gliding from floor to floor, transitioning from looking at the cameras to where they were standing. I think that part of the cinematography works well. But I think cinematography overall, when it comes to a house, can only be done. You can only do I feel like you can only do so much with it. Especially if the whole focus is the house and the home invasion part, you can only, I guess, make a house feel so much.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Yeah, yeah. I part of my thing is too just comparing it to other Fenture films. I mean, we're talking about Zodiac, Social Network, Fight Club, Seven, all having really amazing cinematography work. And so you go you look at this and you're like, well, compared comparatively, it's just not those.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

I think it is hard to compare it to other David Fenture movies, but I feel like those ones also there's a little bit more to it. There's more themes, there's more plot. So you can build up cinematography in other places rather than just the whole.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Yeah, yeah. Um, dialogue, I gave it a seven. I thought it was fine. I couldn't really pick out a best line in this film. Some of it felt really corny, it felt like early 2000s movie lines. Yeah, nothing special to me.

SPEAKER_03 32:11

Yeah, I would say nothing really stood out to me. I thought some of their conversations were just normal, like you could feel the intensity, especially um in the one part where they kind of start arguing, like the three guys start arguing about the money, and then he wants to leave. Like I just think what I liked so much about the dialogue is you could really like feel the like feeling of, oh my goodness, I don't know what's about to happen. Like, I think the dialogue did help feel a little bit more of that feeling of the tension and the fear and the thrill of it.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Panic room for the uh set design. So it was entirely built on a soundstage that costs like six million dollars for them to build this house on the sound stage. Obviously, they didn't build an actual home, they just built the sets around it. I thought it was fine on the set design. I thought it was a lot better than the other film, but again, I think you could do a lot more when it came to a home invasion film, really make me feel like I know that home, like the back of my hand. I still felt a little lost. Part of that I think was because it was a massive home and meant with a lot of different twists and turns, but make me feel like I know the home, you know? Make me involved in it, make me feel scared for what's around every corner. I still felt a little lost in the house when everybody was running around.

SPEAKER_03 33:29

But the set design this is revolving around the house the whole time. It was I feel like too is like almost hard to build like you know the house so much because like they also had just moved in. I think that was like another point of they were trying to learn the house layout just as much as we the audience were. Because they had been there for what, a day, maybe half a day. Like this was their first night there, like they're trying to get an understanding overall. Like she kind of used the less as well. They remembered the elevator, they used that to help them kind of make an escape, get to with a panic room kind of thing. I will say I feel like we did really at some point I was confused, like when they were in the room and like they were cutting through the bathroom. But overall, like nothing crazy about the set design. Just felt like somebody was moving into like a New York uh what they call it, like a brick house or a brick stone kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Yeah, they called it a brownstone. Getting into acting, I gave it a seven. Um, I think Jody Foster and Kristen Stewart really stood out here with the main takeaways, but I also, again, I really like Forrest Whitaker's character. I think he's a great actor playing Burnham. I was kind of the most interested in him. Obviously, never been in a mother-daughter relationship, so that one doesn't really click with me as much as it would for moms and daughters. But for his character, I found it interesting. You know, like I kind of talked about, he's the antagonist, but he's really down on his luck. He's not a bad guy, he's just doing a bad thing. Um, I always think that style of character is really interesting.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

Um, I actually really enjoyed the acting in this. I think Jody Foster did a gr uh a great job. I think because in the beginning, you could kind of tell, I mean, obviously it's called Panic Room, but from the beginning, you could kind of tell that the movie was gonna revolve about around the panic room. And then when they went into the first time, like you could see her fear, like almost like she had claustrophobia. And like the first night, she was literally sleeping with the door open. Like you could see her fear of the room. And then the mother-daughter aspect, I think that was played really well. Obviously, I have a mother, I'm a daughter. So I could feel that bond between them. Like you could tell, like, she was trying everything to make make sure her daughter was okay. Like she'd only really wanted her daughter to be okay. Um, and Force Whitaker, I think his acting was really well. I think you make a good point. Like, he wasn't a bad guy, he just was doing a bad thing. And come to find out, like, he was actually the one who built these pantroms, so he knew a little bit more about them. Jared Leto, I mean, he kind of just played like a jerk in the overall, but I didn't think the acting was bad.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

I was trying to refrain from bringing him up, but yeah, he's just playing a asshole like he does in every movie, very poorly acted, just kind of yelling and screaming at every corner. Um was kind of happy when he got his side of his face blown off with uh the fire. That was fun to watch. Directing, I gave it a six. Just wanted more out of Fincher here. You know, kind of like you said, getting into the claustriophob the claustrophobia aspect with Jodie Foster's character. I just only got it in the beginning. I never felt like, you know, put into her mindset of being claustrophobic ever again throughout the whole film, which was frustrating. I was expecting him to lean on that more, was expecting some cooler shots out of Fincher. Yeah, the development really dragged in the late to middle of the movie as well, which kind of took me out and didn't make it feel like a Fincher film to me.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

I think in the beginning, when they first got in there, you could because I think Christian sort, like she looked over and was like, Are you okay? And she kind of just like I think tried to play it cool. But I think at the same time, like she also had that motherly instinct to protect her daughter, so I think she kind of had to quickly get over that fear of being in there almost, I felt like. But I do enjoy David Fincher films. We've watched a lot of them. I wouldn't say like maybe this is one of his best films that he's done. But I don't think it's a bad film overall. Like I think he worked pretty well with what he was, you know, doing. But yeah, I I gave it an eight out of ten for the directing.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Soundtracked, I gave it a five. Um, I'm gonna keep harping on it, but it was fine. Not as good as other Fincher films. I feel like he didn't really go out there and grab films that would make uh or grab music, sorry, that would make this film kind of, you know, push forward. Um and I think that might have been why it dragged a little bit more for me. But yeah, overall just okay soundtracked, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

Yeah, I don't have much to add for soundtracked. Um, to be honest, I don't I don't think anything was really memorable to me. Sometimes when it comes to these soundtracks, I'm like, oh, like that makes that movie kind of thing. Didn't really have that effect to you. It's kind of just like you hear the noises and different things like that. And I think that kind of helped make it a little bit more thriller scary.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

And then theme, it's it's really hard with these horror movies, and I think this is my overlooming problem with horror movies and thrillers like this. I give it a four. I got the illusion of safety, um, the nature of the destructive nature of greed, and also motherly instincts and protecting a child. I think all three of these are cool, but they were definitely assigned to one character and then used one-dimensionally throughout the movie. Character who really developed, I feel like, was Forrest Whitaker's character. Every other character walked out of the movie being the same exact person that they were coming into it, which kind of made me question who was the main character supposed to be. I feel like they got assigned these themes and then just stuck with them the whole movie, never really went anywhere. But um, what'd you think?

SPEAKER_03 38:40

The themes again, I think kind of hit on the nose, like survival, protection, mother, the mother aspects. And I guess you could say like they felt maybe only for Swittaker. But I think Jodie Foster, I feel like she changed a little bit in the end, especially in that one scene when they're sitting on the park bench and she's like, Oh, like look at all these homes. She's like, we don't need anything that big, like we can just get something small. Yeah, but that's I know that's such a little thing. Like, she didn't she didn't have a drastic change like he did. Like you could see, like he was he because in the end he came back and saved them.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Like, yeah, he he was redeemed. She she just realized she doesn't need a big house. Like, come on.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

No, I guess that is true. Like, he definitely did like come and redeem himself. He did have one of the bigger developments throughout the movie. Um, but I think it kind of hit the themes on the head. There was really nothing else. I did think it was kind of funny that like the one thing I thought was like interesting is again, you're supposed to even feel like this extra security, and now it's like that theme of like being uncomfortable and like having that security almost like breached not once but twice now. Where it's like that sense of security is just kind of gone.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Yeah. Um getting into editing, I gave it a six. Uh, definitely had a heavy reliance on that early 2000s CGI post-production to you know, kind of work in the the bigger scenes of the vault and breaking into the vault, trying to figure out how to get into the vault. Some cool edited scenes, but nothing special compared to the other Fincher movies to me. And so that's why I'd only give it a six on this one.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

I didn't think the editing was bad. I like I had mentioned previously, like I thought the cuts from like floor to floor were really cool, or where they were looking at them through, you know, the cameras on the TV down to where like they were. I didn't think that was bad. Nothing crazy editing-wise, but overall I gave it a seven out of ten.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Yeah. Overall score, I gave it a 6.1 out of 10 or a 61. I felt pretty okay about this movie. Saw that it was Fincher at the beginning and got really excited. And then throughout the movie, my excitement just went slowly down and down and down because I realized this movie was gonna pretty much go nowhere besides uh Forrest Whitaker's character getting redeemed in the end. That was a whole lot of nothing. Tyler let me know, he gave it a 72. Um, he said he hadn't watched this in a long time, but um, he thought it would kind of have a higher score. He said this was kind of like the first adult film he ever watched growing up. He thought the nostalgia would hit a little higher, but um, he said it's a solid popcorn film. Kind of what I was getting at. For Fincher, I was expecting a lot more, but it kind of just was like a typical horror movie, a big nothing burger, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 41:22

Um, I gave it an overall of an 82 out of 100 or an 8.2 out of 10. I enjoyed this movie. I overall felt the tension. Did think there was some parts that were like a little long. I'm like, okay, wait, come on now. But I thought it was entertaining. Um, and I thought the characters were good, I thought the story was good. But you are right, with Venture, like there definitely could have been a little bit more knowing who was actually directing the film.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

Yeah, so getting into it next, we are going to do a home invasion film ranking. Now, I haven't seen that many home invasion films. I think you've seen a lot more. Tyler told me he's seen a lot more, so we'll do the best we can here and we'll see where this goes. Um, because this could get interesting fast. Yeah. Um, so basically what we'll do, um, we'll take turns going back and forth 10 through to one. Team A will have one veto, they'll get the number one pick, obviously, and then team B will have two vetoes, they'll have two, four, six, eight, and ten. So I'll spin the wheel here for us. See who we get here. Alright. Is Madison.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

I get what team A is what, nine?

SPEAKER_00 42:30

Yeah, you'll start nine, seven, five, uh, three, and one. And you'll get one veto.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

I guess just yeah, give me team A. Or yeah, whatever that team was.

SPEAKER_00 42:41

Yeah. So you'll get picks nine, seven, five, three, and one. But you just get one veto. I get two vetoes if I decide to use them. So yeah, I'll start at number ten. I'll start with the purge, the original purge. Been a while since I've seen this, but obviously breaking into the home when the the purge breaks off, it's fine. Typical horror movie, kind of like I've gotten into. Um, yeah, just not the biggest fan of horror movies. So all of these are gonna be kind of underwhelming for me to take.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

But I think for number nine, I'm gonna take the movie Hush. I don't know if you've seen it. It's a home invasion movie, if I'm remembering correctly. I'm pretty sure she's deaf. So like that makes it a little bit more terrifying. Because when it goes to like, I think it this is how like when you you were in hair point of view, everything's quiet. So like all the sounds around you are quiet just like how she would hear. And I think that like makes it a little bit more interesting on that end.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

Yeah, that makes sense. Um, I did see Tyler's uh top ten ranking. He has this way higher than nine, so he probably won't be too happy with this um here.

SPEAKER_03 43:47

I don't know. I haven't just I haven't seen it in a long time.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Let's see. What do I have next? I'll go ahead at number eight and take panic room, I guess. Um obviously we just talked about it. Not Too much going on here for me. It was an okay film. Better than The Purge, I believe, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

Oh no, seven. I'm going to do number seven. I think I'm going to do Your Next, which I'm pretty sure we watched on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

We did?

SPEAKER_03 44:12

Yes. During Slash Rock.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

That movie was so dumb.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

Okay, well you can veto it.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

No, no, it's okay. Keep it. I'm not gonna.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

I just I don't know if some of these movies are technically like home invasion-wise, so but like let me see.

SPEAKER_00 44:27

No, I think you're right. Like I'm gonna start reaching here on some crazy ones.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

Like this is just I'm just I feel like I've seen some, but I don't know if they're technically considered like home invasion movies. Alright. What do you got?

SPEAKER_00 44:38

I mean if they're breaking into a home, then yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

So wait, you're taking your next for number seven? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Hmm. What?

SPEAKER_00 44:45

You're taking taking your next for number seven?

SPEAKER_03 44:48

Yeah, I'll take it there.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Okay. So I'll be a number six. Let me see. I feel like it's definitely too early. Let me see what I have here. Definitely uh running out of movies here. I just had I'm not a big horror guy, and m most of these are gonna be uh horror movies, but um let me see. Sorry, give me just a second. Yeah, I got almost nothing here. Hold on. Can I take E.T.

SPEAKER_03 45:17

I don't think that's considered a home invasion.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

Okay, give me Halloween.

SPEAKER_03 45:21

Okay, that's that works.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

E.T. would be funny as shit though.

SPEAKER_03 45:25

I mean, technically Technically, okay. I see what you're doing there, a home invasion. If you want to throw it on there, you can throw it on.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

I'll leave it off.

SPEAKER_03 45:34

I actually can't say that I've ever seen E.T.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

fully. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 45:41

Okay. What I what are we at? Five?

SPEAKER_00 45:43

You're at five now.

SPEAKER_03 45:45

I have like two that I want I think that deserve to be a little bit higher. Here, I guess you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm gonna say screen, like the original.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Yeah, that's good. I mean he's breaking in, right?

SPEAKER_03 45:56

They are, yes.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

They are, whatever. Alright, here I'm gonna take us. I haven't seen it, but I've heard good things, and it's Jordan Peel, so I'll trust in him.

SPEAKER_03 46:05

Okay. I feel like it could be a little bit higher.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

I got a good one.

SPEAKER_03 46:10

Frick, I don't know what to put at three now.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

I got one that'll make Tyler mad.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

This is my number three. Um, give me a second. I don't know if it's because it's not that good. It doesn't deserve to be up here, that's the problem.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Well, take it, I'll just veto it.

SPEAKER_03 46:25

Well no, because I had I thought us was number three, and I don't like I don't have anything else to be honest. Like I can say like don't breathe. I heard that one's pretty good. I I know people talk about that one.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

I have two different like funny kind of ones, but they definitely are.

SPEAKER_03 46:41

You know, let's just put don't breathe at number f number three.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

Breathe. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 46:45

Um I think I should have might have watched some of it. I just don't think I've I've heard good things. Yeah. I think it has um pretty sure he's like blind and they're breaking into his house.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Alright. I'm gonna take because I think I know what you're gonna take at one.

SPEAKER_03 46:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

So I don't know whether to be okay, I'm gonna take home alone here. Well, I did I know that would be It was between that and Parasite, which I know you're not gonna take either of them.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

What I I told you that parasite earlier. I said, Oh, like that's technically a home invasion. I said that.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

Wait, you're gonna take it for one?

SPEAKER_03 47:18

No. When we were talking earlier, I said you could I thought you could use parasite, because I know you've seen.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Oh no, I know. I can see I can use parasite, but I know you're not gonna take those for the number one answer. No. Yeah, that's what I was saying.

SPEAKER_03 47:32

For number one, I'm gonna take The Strangers.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:36

The original one from the early 2000s, not like the remake. That movie is actually terrifying. My dad won't watch it. He's seen it like I think like once or twice, but anytime I mention it, like it's like one movie like that he doesn't like to watch because he says it's like it's like one of those scare movies that like he really thinks can happen. Not that other scary movies can't happen, not that other crimes don't happen, but he's like this one. I just feel like is the most realistic. I guess it just scares him the most. And I definitely can feel that. I think I've only seen it a couple times because I'm like terrified of it.

SPEAKER_00 48:05

This shit's so far-fetched and so poorly done. Somehow it's on a top 10 list.

SPEAKER_03 48:10

Um well for this category.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

Yeah. I'm gonna give uh top 10 home invasion films for Tyler. He said he's seen 21, and all of these are at least at at least 65 out of 100 or above, which uh should just tell you something because any other top 10 list, we'd be talking about movies that should be a 90 or above, but we're lowering our expectations all the way down to a 65 um and above. Um, so here we go. Uh number 10, the invitation uh from 2015. I don't know that one. Uh number nine, Barry in 2022. He said uh in quotations, weird ass movie. Number eight, the gift, 2015, number seven, us, 2019, number six, the purge, uh, number five, the panic room, uh, number four, signs, number three, hush, twenty sixteen. Um, I was kind of surprised you picked that one so low on our list. Number two, The Strangers, 2008, and then number one, Home Alone Baby. He gets it. He gets it.

SPEAKER_03 49:11

Yeah, I think I can see where I then mess up a little. I put hush a little low, but I also didn't like I didn't know what you had, because you said you had like a couple that you had, so I was like, I don't and you hadn't seen it, so I didn't want it to be like like put it higher kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

But I definitely could have.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

I'm looking here on uh Wikipedia for all homes that involved a uh uh home invasion. So some funny ones on here. E.T. as I mentioned, Fargo, which yeah, technically correct. We said that. Let me see. There's another one. John Wick, it's kind of funny. Parasite is on here as well. It's just goofy. No country for old men. I'm trying to think. Yeah, yeah, it is. And then another big one once upon a time in Hollywood. I don't know how I didn't think about that till now.

SPEAKER_03 49:57

Oh, yeah. I didn't think about it either.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

It is kind of goofy how many movies that involve a home invasion, not necessarily horror, but uh yeah, kind of funny. Uh the mystery here.

SPEAKER_03 50:08

I guess where I got stumped maybe, because a lot of these that you mentioned I've seen. I guess when I was thinking of it, it was just like the whole premise of the movie, like was based around a home invasion. Where some of these, you know, they have other parts to the movies. So I guess maybe that's where I kind of got stumped and I could have definitely thought a little bit more outside of the box.

SPEAKER_00 50:24

Yeah, yeah. All right, cool. Well, thanks for coming on, Matt. Again, just want to say thank you too for all the stuff you do for the newbies to movies podcast social medias, whether it's the graphics or just posting every day and doing all that. We really appreciate it. I know our fans appreciate it too, just so they can uh keep up to date with the podcast, even if they're not listening to full episodes. Um, it's always neat and exciting to see what you have um planned for us. So we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 50:50

Of course. I appreciate you guys, you know, for trusting me all the time and everything you guys do. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 50:56

Yeah. All right. We'll see you guys next week. Bye bye.