The Mandalorian and Grogu, with Will Hines

[0:00] On this episode we discuss the Mandalorian and Grogu because Hollywood said what if the movie Dutch was Star Wars

[0:30] Hey everyone and welcome to the flop house. I'm Dan McCoy. I'm Stuart Wellington

[0:39] My name is Elliot Kaelin and before we get into the laughs and the giggles and the ribald jackanapes

[0:45] I wanted to mention that we have a special guest with us today

[0:48] Returning to the podcast we have one of our favorite guests even though we haven't had him on in a while

[0:54] Actor, improviser, author of the book How to Be the Greatest Improviser on Earth which is a great book

[1:03] I genuinely recommend it. Co-host of the podcast Screw It! We're Just Gonna Talk About Comics

[1:07] One of my two favorite comics podcasts and the podcast Screw It! We're Just Gonna Talk About the Beatles

[1:10] My favorite Beatles podcast. We have joining us Mr. Will Hines

[1:14] Will thank you so much for being with us today

[1:16] Every 15 years I'm going to be on this show

[1:20] There was a period in Spider-Man comics where every 15 issues Venom would show up

[1:25] You're our Venom except it's years

[1:28] Will is the Haley's Comet of the podcast

[1:31] Will what was the movie on the episode that you were on before?

[1:35] Swing Vote

[1:36] Swing Vote yeah

[1:37] That was an episode I was not on

[1:41] I was just going to chalk everything up to a lifetime of drinking too much for my memory being bad

[1:48] That's why his attendance record has been too good since then

[1:52] We have a case that says break in case of Stewart absence and Will is in that case

[1:58] The funny thing is I'm recording today with strep throat so what could stop me?

[2:05] Nature wanted you to not be here

[2:08] The universe was fighting for the balance to be restored and you did not be here

[2:12] But Stewart found a way

[2:14] Stewart heard that Will was going to be on our place and he goes no I'll be there

[2:19] I want to talk about comics for a change

[2:22] Stewart it's funny you weren't there too because that was like an early Paul Schrader riff

[2:27] That's right

[2:28] While you were absent

[2:30] Writer director of heart beeps yeah I know

[2:33] It's the episode that gave us Chopin Goatables I remember

[2:36] Yeah that was a great episode

[2:37] We should have Will on more often that was a great idea

[2:39] You guys are really funny when I'm on

[2:42] I'm like I don't know I'm like a bass player I guess

[2:45] Wow our guitar solos were good when you were here come back again

[2:48] This is going to sound like an insult when I mean it to be a compliment

[2:52] Many have talked about how the Marx brothers were better when Zeppo was with them

[2:56] Even though he seemingly does nothing

[2:59] I'm proud to be the Zeppo of the flop house I would love it

[3:02] I truly would put it on my business card which I just got business cards for the first time

[3:07] And just confuse everybody

[3:09] Hi I'm Will Hines I'm Zeppo of the flop house

[3:11] Is your plan traveling back in time or something

[3:13] Yeah I gotta go door to door selling vacuum cleaners

[3:17] It's like what do you do with these things I remember like I got we got you know daily show business cards

[3:23] I remember being like excited I got a daily show business card

[3:26] And like there was like this huge box of them and I was finding them for years afterwards

[3:30] Because I didn't do anything with them

[3:32] When I struck out on my own I ordered business cards and I still have almost all of them yeah

[3:37] Yeah I got them because I operate an improv theater in Los Angeles

[3:42] Not to big dog you guys but it's like a physical space

[3:45] And our box office staff once accidentally threw the trash out in the wrong dumpster out back

[3:52] We threw it out in the back of this beauty supply store

[3:55] And they were so mad at us that the landlord of our

[3:58] Because we're in like a shopping center called me and was like hey they're really upset about whatever

[4:03] You guys put too much garbage in their dumpster and they're mad at you

[4:06] And so I ordered business cards just to go over to the beauty supply store and hand them one

[4:12] And say I'm so sorry that happened call me if there's ever any trouble

[4:16] And so I ordered a thousand business cards to use one

[4:20] Classy

[4:22] Because you can't buy business cards in units of less than like a million

[4:25] You're not allowed to get like just like ten cards

[4:28] But someday when you when you break into the corporate improv market in Japan

[4:33] You're gonna be glad you had those business cards

[4:35] Very elaborate trade-offs of those cards

[4:37] I'll bow just the right amount just so it's polite and hand over a business card

[4:41] They call that yes anding is you bow as well

[4:43] But you and it you bow a little bit more than the other person

[4:46] Oddly enough though this is not a business card podcast

[4:49] This is a podcast

[4:50] Why not? It could be

[4:51] Where we watch a movie that was either a flop critically or commercially

[4:56] This is an unusual case

[4:58] I would say

[4:59] I'm gonna add a corollary to that

[5:01] Sometimes we just want to talk about a specific movie

[5:03] Well let me finish my sentence

[5:05] This is the

[5:06] Let's see where Dan's going

[5:08] Maybe he takes us in different directions

[5:10] This is the lowest opening of a Star Wars picture

[5:14] So or a live-action one

[5:18] I don't know what you know cartoon ones got

[5:21] I think there have been no cartoon theatrically released Star Wars films

[5:25] There's Clone Wars

[5:26] There's a TV show right?

[5:27] Yeah but there's no there's a movie

[5:29] It was an animated Clone Wars movie?

[5:30] They absolutely did a Clone Wars release in the theaters

[5:34] Tell me if he's right

[5:36] Fascinating argument

[5:37] But my point is in Star Wars terms

[5:41] Oh you're right

[5:42] Star Wars the Clone Wars 2008

[5:44] I knew I was right

[5:45] I knew I was right from the beginning

[5:47] This is the patented fluff house

[5:51] You know barely veiled hostility

[5:53] Plus can't get the show started

[5:56] That you all tune in for

[5:59] What was I saying?

[6:00] You said this was the lowest opening of a live-action Star Wars film

[6:03] On a Star Wars metric

[6:05] And has had some mixed reviews

[6:07] And yeah we just wanted to talk about it

[6:09] As Elliot said

[6:11] Now Star Wars movies rarely get all like stellar reviews right?

[6:15] I feel like generally they're pretty mixed

[6:18] With the exception of

[6:19] New ones

[6:20] New ones sure

[6:21] I mean even the first ones got mixed reviews

[6:23] But that was more a case of like people didn't really know what they were dealing with

[6:26] To a certain extent

[6:28] But it's true that

[6:29] I mean often big but

[6:31] Often entertainment popcorn movies

[6:34] Even when they're great

[6:35] Don't always get great reviews

[6:37] You know because reviewers often

[6:39] They just don't know

[6:40] It feels like it's relatively recently

[6:42] In the life of film reviewing

[6:44] That they've understood that there's a metric for movies

[6:46] That are not trying to be high art

[6:48] But instead are just trying to entertain

[6:50] And recognizing that as a worthwhile achievement

[6:52] That being said

[6:53] This one I think got

[6:55] Got particularly

[6:56] Kind of

[6:57] There were a lot of reviews I saw where it was like

[6:58] The reviewers almost felt like

[7:00] It's going to be too obvious

[7:02] If I say I didn't like this movie

[7:04] So I have to find a way to say that I didn't like it

[7:06] That doesn't feel like I'm just dumping on it

[7:08] Because it is a movie based on a television show

[7:11] Based on another movie

[7:13] You know

[7:14] I also think that like

[7:15] To some degree

[7:16] I mean this is much lesser than what you said Elliot

[7:19] But like to some degree I feel like the art form

[7:21] Of movies

[7:22] Is now old enough that

[7:24] People have seen enough movies

[7:26] That were like

[7:27] Oh this was just made for entertainment

[7:29] Become classics over time

[7:31] That they realize like

[7:32] Oh yes of course

[7:33] Like these things that we

[7:34] Think of as established classics

[7:36] Like many of them were light entertainment

[7:38] Like we can appreciate craft

[7:40] In a way that maybe

[7:42] They were averse to

[7:43] And it was like

[7:44] Okay well this is a new art form

[7:45] We have to hold it to

[7:46] Like I don't know

[7:47] I'm just making stuff up now

[7:49] But I think there's something in that

[7:51] I'm sure you guys have said this

[7:53] And said it better

[7:54] So please correct me

[7:55] But I feel like the Star Wars movie franchise

[7:58] Has got to be the

[8:00] Like

[8:01] Fewest number of actually good movies

[8:04] Proportional to it's like

[8:06] Real estate in the culture

[8:08] You know what

[8:09] We haven't said that

[8:10] But I think you're right

[8:11] Real estate in culture I think is an important point

[8:12] Yes yeah

[8:13] Like

[8:14] Just like how much it occupies

[8:16] Everybody knows Star Wars

[8:17] How like ubiquitous it is

[8:18] How beloved it is

[8:20] How powerful it is

[8:21] How like

[8:22] Truly iconic

[8:24] In a way that few movie franchises

[8:26] Could ever hope to be

[8:28] And yet

[8:29] Almost all of the movies are

[8:31] Mid or bad

[8:33] I think

[8:34] Because you have like

[8:36] You're right

[8:37] Because it's one of the few movies

[8:38] That has it like

[8:39] Influenced

[8:40] Where people are like

[8:41] Yeah I'll put Jedi down as my religion

[8:42] You know it's rare

[8:43] That a movie starts a religion

[8:44] Yes yes

[8:45] Right

[8:46] But the

[8:47] You're right

[8:48] I think it's because

[8:49] What Star Wars really is

[8:50] You have

[8:51] You have a bunch of movies

[8:52] Which are

[8:53] Pretty great

[8:54] Pretty great

[8:55] For all of it

[8:56] Return of the Jedi is like

[8:57] A little bit of a drop

[8:58] Like

[8:59] They're still really great

[9:00] And then you have people

[9:01] Trying to recapture that spirit

[9:02] For decades now

[9:03] Yeah

[9:04] And

[9:05] It's

[9:06] I think we're now

[9:07] It feels like we're finally

[9:08] Like fortunately or unfortunately

[9:09] Running out of the fumes

[9:10] From those original movies

[9:11] Right

[9:12] So you have to

[9:13] Create new things

[9:14] That are good on their own

[9:15] Like Andor or

[9:16] You know

[9:17] Mandalorian season one of the TV show

[9:18] Was delightful

[9:19] It's alright

[9:21] In mainline film

[9:22] Those are both TV

[9:23] In mainline films

[9:24] Like

[9:25] You know

[9:26] It's a

[9:27] It's a contentious

[9:28] Movie

[9:29] And I think that the people

[9:30] Who don't like it are wrong

[9:31] But I don't

[9:32] Yes

[9:33] They're wrong

[9:34] But

[9:35] But Last Jedi was the one

[9:36] That tried to do something new

[9:37] And

[9:38] It scared them so much

[9:39] That they're like

[9:40] I don't know

[9:41] Let's not

[9:42] I'll admit

[9:43] When I saw Last Jedi in theaters

[9:44] I really liked it

[9:45] Watching it again recently

[9:46] I don't like it quite as much

[9:47] Partly because

[9:48] They're taking

[9:49] The focus away from white people

[9:50] Do not like that

[9:51] But

[9:52] I'm just kidding

[9:53] That's a joke

[9:54] You listeners

[9:55] Remind me

[9:56] Draw an invite

[9:57] Star Wars

[9:58] Idiots

[9:59] Who don't like the movie

[10:00] For that reason

[10:01] But it's

[10:02] Watch it again

[10:03] It's just

[10:04] It's a

[10:05] It's a

[10:06] It's a

[10:07] It's a

[10:08] It's a

[10:09] It's a

[10:10] It's a

[10:11] It's a

[10:12] It's a

[10:13] It's a

[10:14] It's a

[10:15] It's a

[10:16] It's a

[10:17] It's a

[10:00] And again, especially watching it with my son,

[10:03] he found it very boring and confusing.

[10:05] And watching it again, I was like, yeah,

[10:07] this movie, the plot is like a little too complicated.

[10:10] And it's a, for considering it's got,

[10:12] it's an action movie with cool set pieces,

[10:14] it works much slower.

[10:16] And so it's one of the things where I'm like,

[10:17] if there's a Star Wars movies,

[10:19] and setting Andor aside, which is a different kind of,

[10:21] they're aiming for something different, it's a TV show.

[10:23] If you release a Star Wars movie

[10:24] that a kid finds boring and hard to understand.

[10:27] Yeah, you missed.

[10:28] I feel like you're missing the mark somewhat, yeah.

[10:31] As a childless man, I don't care.

[10:33] I don't think that my metric is your child.

[10:35] But as a guy who understands the place of Star Wars,

[10:37] a space fantasy series.

[10:39] I mean, the thing is, I feel like there's just a whole span

[10:42] of types of Star Wars things at this point.

[10:44] I do, but I would say that that's not,

[10:47] it's not successful as a whole span of Star Wars things.

[10:49] Star Wars at its best does a thing where

[10:52] it is taking childish entertainment

[10:55] and uplifting it onto a higher level of production,

[10:59] like storytelling.

[11:00] It's a, for lack of a better word,

[11:02] everyone talks about, or there was that period recently

[11:04] where people talk about like sophisticated horror,

[11:06] or like, what do they call it?

[11:09] Elevated.

[11:10] Elevated horror.

[11:10] Like Star Wars is, the original Star Wars

[11:12] is essentially elevated B serial, you know?

[11:15] Like they're taking B serials or science,

[11:17] not necessarily even science fiction, but space opera.

[11:19] Kind of the goofiest, least serious type of science fiction,

[11:23] and doing it in an elevated way.

[11:25] And this, and so you gotta, I feel like,

[11:27] but if you try to elevate it too far,

[11:28] then it's like, well, this isn't really,

[11:30] you're not doing the thing you need to do, you know?

[11:31] Everything, I agree with everything everybody's saying,

[11:33] and yet I also wanna talk.

[11:35] And, but I want to.

[11:38] That was the subtext of everyone on the podcast ever.

[11:40] You've encapsulated it so well.

[11:44] But, you know, Elliot, as you know,

[11:46] my comics podcast recently, not even,

[11:48] last year we did a thing on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

[11:51] We did like a little look at the turtles,

[11:52] which you were a guest on.

[11:53] I was grateful to Pupir on one of those episodes.

[11:55] We talked about TMNT number three, I think.

[11:58] Yeah, we accidentally gave you the least consequential

[12:00] of all the early issues.

[12:01] The one that's just a quick car chase.

[12:03] Just a car chase, yeah, we didn't plan it.

[12:05] Look, here's the thing.

[12:06] I was too old to have really been caught up

[12:08] in turtle mania, wave one.

[12:10] And so I never really read any of that stuff.

[12:12] So out of a curiosity, my brother and I said,

[12:14] hey, let's read all the original Eastman

[12:16] and Laird Turtles books.

[12:17] And they were really delightful and great.

[12:19] And then sort of watched some episodes

[12:21] of the original Saturday morning cartoon.

[12:23] And just kind of like,

[12:24] what were the rocket ship proponents of Turtle Mania 1.0?

[12:30] And I was like, oh yeah, this stuff's all great.

[12:33] I can totally see.

[12:34] But it was like, oh, it opened my eyes

[12:36] to how a lot of these beloved franchises,

[12:40] which sometimes have well-crafted entries

[12:44] and sometimes have just kind of stuff

[12:46] that misses or is bad.

[12:48] They're like toy movies.

[12:50] They are toy designs first and foremost.

[12:54] And Star Wars was the first movie

[12:55] where the effects were good enough that it's like,

[12:57] look, say what you want about the plot

[13:00] or Mark Hamill's acting or the pace.

[13:02] These are the best toys that have ever been made

[13:05] on earth to this point.

[13:06] I will say, I think Mark Hamill's really good.

[13:08] I like him a lot.

[13:09] I like Mark Hamill too, but he was a lightning rod, right?

[13:12] For criticism, people wanted to jump on Star Wars.

[13:14] It was easy for people to like,

[13:16] for people to make fun of him.

[13:17] I think because that character is such a-

[13:19] Exactly, I think Hamill's a good actor too.

[13:21] He's a dweeb.

[13:22] I think he's really good.

[13:23] He's playing a dweeb

[13:24] and he's doing a really good job of it.

[13:25] The misfortune of being cast next to Harrison Ford,

[13:27] which is like-

[13:28] Yes, which is rough.

[13:30] You know?

[13:31] The most charismatic.

[13:31] Even like Ryan Gosling next to Harrison Ford.

[13:33] Who's that nerd Gosling?

[13:34] But I think-

[13:35] Yes, yes, right, right, right.

[13:36] But I think, yeah, there's this great, cool,

[13:39] toy design quality and stuff.

[13:41] And those first movies,

[13:42] I've talked about before on the podcast,

[13:44] that first movie I find to be such a miracle

[13:46] of storytelling where when it starts,

[13:47] you don't know anything about that world

[13:49] of those characters.

[13:50] And by the time they're going after the Death Star,

[13:52] you're so invested in it.

[13:53] And when Hans shows up,

[13:54] a character you met an hour and 10 minutes earlier,

[13:57] when he returns to help Luke,

[13:59] you're like, yeah, he's back, yeah.

[14:01] It is.

[14:02] It's just amazing the way they pull it off.

[14:03] And I haven't seen that pulled off again

[14:05] in a movie the same way

[14:07] until The Mandalorian and Grogu.

[14:09] Yeah, yeah.

[14:10] Hit the bullseye.

[14:11] I was gonna say, we-

[14:12] Hit the bullseye.

[14:13] We've talked in our bibs and dig into this meal.

[14:17] We've talked a lot about Star Wars on the macro level.

[14:21] Let's talk about it in the micro level.

[14:23] We don't have to talk really fast if we wanna go to micro.

[14:26] I'm gonna stop you again.

[14:27] Cause I've only been on this podcast once every 15 years.

[14:29] I gotta ask, is this how it works?

[14:30] Everyone's dragging it off the rails.

[14:33] And Dan, you just like selflessly grab it with ropes

[14:36] and drag it back on the tracks.

[14:38] Well, I mean, I guess.

[14:38] Elliot passed me the ball there.

[14:41] So it wasn't, you know,

[14:42] it's a team effort sometimes to drag it back on.

[14:45] But usually Elliot's the one throwing the ball out of the-

[14:47] Wait, things have changed since the swing window.

[14:49] Things have changed.

[14:50] I am the guy, if we're playing a baseball game,

[14:52] I'm the guy who, instead of catching a foul ball

[14:54] and throwing it into the stands,

[14:55] I'm catching a fair ball and throwing it into the stands.

[14:58] But-

[15:01] Micro level, you were saying.

[15:02] Yeah, yeah.

[15:04] Yeah, yeah.

[15:05] It was, you know, you know, he's a little guy.

[15:06] Baby Yoda.

[15:07] Grogu is a little guy, yeah.

[15:08] Grogu's a little baby guy.

[15:09] The Mandalorian and Grogu.

[15:12] The title built to-

[15:15] They're like, look, we're just telling you what it is.

[15:17] Look, we know this show is called The Mandalorian.

[15:19] We know you're in it for Grogu.

[15:21] Don't worry, he's in the title.

[15:22] You know.

[15:23] What's a title with zero poetry in any way?

[15:28] Stamp it on the box.

[15:29] Tell them what's in the box.

[15:31] Yeah.

[15:31] Someone wakes up from a coma.

[15:33] The Mandalorian and Grogu?

[15:36] Did that one speak a new language?

[15:39] Yeah, no, thank you.

[15:40] I don't like foreign films.

[15:43] And also, the way the title looks on the poster,

[15:44] I think is very funny,

[15:45] because it looks like it says

[15:46] The Star Wars Mandalorian and Grogu,

[15:48] which is like, just the way they place it

[15:50] is very funny to me.

[15:51] Oh, that's really funny.

[15:53] Grogu seems like an afterthought.

[15:55] It seems like it was called The Mandalorian

[15:56] for months and months,

[15:57] and some studio exec's like,

[15:58] where's that little green guy?

[15:59] And they're like, Jesus, just put it in the title.

[16:02] We can't have this guy constantly-

[16:04] At first, they misunderstood.

[16:06] He goes, where's that little guy?

[16:07] Yogurt.

[16:08] They called it The Mandalorian Yogurt,

[16:09] and Mel Brooks was like, I'm in this movie.

[16:11] Hold on a second.

[16:12] Is it finally the Spaceballs

[16:14] Star Wars crossover? I guess I gotta

[16:15] start training again.

[16:15] What if Mel Brooks entered this movie

[16:19] with all the gravity of the way,

[16:23] in sometimes late period superhero movies,

[16:25] like in Deadpool and Wolverine,

[16:29] like when Chris Evans enters as Human Torch or whatever,

[16:33] but this is Mel Brooks as Yogurt.

[16:35] Shows up in the real Star Wars.

[16:38] I would have reversed all my feelings

[16:40] about this movie.

[16:41] It would be the greatest movie ever.

[16:42] It would be so good, yeah.

[16:45] Okay, so we start off The Mandalorian.

[16:48] We start off episode one of season one of The Mandalorian.

[16:51] We all know what a Mandalorian is.

[16:53] There's no reason to explain.

[16:56] No, The Mandalorian, of course,

[16:58] look, I actually didn't even make it.

[16:59] I know that everyone loves the first season.

[17:02] I didn't even make it for the first season

[17:04] of The Mandalorian.

[17:05] I'm like, okay.

[17:06] I'm actually just genuinely surprised by that.

[17:07] I found the first season,

[17:10] light, but really watchable.

[17:12] I think it's super watchable and really fun,

[17:14] but he's such a thin character.

[17:16] I loved Amy Severus.

[17:16] He doesn't really exist as a character.

[17:17] I found it-

[17:18] She was great.

[17:19] A lot of good guest stars, yeah.

[17:20] What I saw, I found perfectly watchable.

[17:21] It was just like, I think I was already feeling like,

[17:24] I don't know if I need this much Star Wars anymore

[17:27] by that time.

[17:28] And Werner Herzog, come on.

[17:29] He loves that baby.

[17:30] Look-

[17:31] I mean, the fact that the guy,

[17:32] I love that Werner Herzog was in The Mandalorian show

[17:34] because they're like, we need another great director

[17:36] to suddenly appear as a surprise in the movie.

[17:39] We'll just get Scorsese.

[17:40] Like we did, in The Mandalorian and Grogu 2,

[17:42] who's going to be the director that's in it?

[17:43] Like, are they finally going to get a,

[17:45] it's like David Lynch's ghost back in

[17:47] or something like that.

[17:48] Yeah.

[17:49] Yeah.

[17:50] Ong Lee or something shows up.

[17:51] I mean, Scorsese might be the best acting performance

[17:55] in this movie.

[17:56] Yeah.

[17:57] So the Mandalorians, are they like all bounty hunters?

[18:00] They're pretty much.

[18:01] So as we know from the Star Wars universe-

[18:03] If the Star Wars thing were like a one race,

[18:04] it's just like a certain thing.

[18:06] So one, yes.

[18:08] In Star Wars, everyone in the one race does the same job.

[18:11] But two-

[18:11] It's like the Muppets.

[18:12] But the Mandalorians are also like,

[18:15] it's like a religion or like a culture, right?

[18:17] So you can be inducted into it.

[18:19] Yeah, they're like Jedis,

[18:20] except their rules are we're bounty hunters.

[18:22] We never take off our masks, which is dumb,

[18:24] because how do you eat, drink, any of that stuff?

[18:27] You never kiss.

[18:28] How do we make the Mandalorians?

[18:29] They come off pretty easy.

[18:30] When they take the helmet off, it just pops right off.

[18:32] Right?

[18:33] You know what I would do?

[18:34] If you never want anyone to see your face,

[18:35] you know what you put underneath your mask?

[18:36] A fucking ski mask.

[18:37] Just cover up your face.

[18:38] Yeah, yeah, yeah, balaclava, sure.

[18:39] Yeah, balaclava.

[18:40] They don't have that technology.

[18:41] Oh, I guess you have light speed technology.

[18:43] You don't have the ability to make fabric

[18:44] that doesn't cover your eyes and your mouth.

[18:46] It's also weird that he like shaves down to a mustache.

[18:49] I would think it's-

[18:50] I have to assume the helmet does that.

[18:52] I have to assume the helmet does that.

[18:53] That's why you wear it.

[18:55] Yeah.

[18:57] All Mandalorians must have a secret mustache.

[19:00] So by pointing this out,

[19:02] we're highlighting, I think,

[19:03] one of the things that we had circled around before,

[19:05] which is the idea that the more we examine

[19:08] the Star Wars universe

[19:09] and the more we attempt to elevate it,

[19:10] I think the more it shows

[19:12] that there's just a general shallowness

[19:15] to the Star Wars universe.

[19:15] Yes, I think that's true.

[19:16] I feel like, I'm not like,

[19:18] hey, I have loved Star Wars in my life,

[19:22] but I feel like there is,

[19:25] the more you start kicking over stones,

[19:28] the more you realize you're like,

[19:29] oh, there's nothing down here.

[19:31] A large part of that's by design.

[19:34] It's supposed to be simple.

[19:35] Yeah, but the thing is that when it's simple

[19:37] and then you explore it,

[19:41] my younger son loves to play Minecraft,

[19:42] partly because he likes to explore the worlds.

[19:44] And it's like, there's not really that much there.

[19:46] He's not discovering new things.

[19:47] It's just the same old trees and animals

[19:49] over and over again.

[19:50] But I think that with Star Wars,

[19:53] people talk about like,

[19:54] oh, the Star Wars world is such a cool world.

[19:56] There's so many corners to look into,

[19:58] but there really aren't.

[20:00] there's not that much going on.

[20:01] There could be, but they just keep going back to the same wells.

[20:06] The closest thing you can compare it to is probably like the Marvel Universe, right?

[20:09] Where there are a lot of corners to Marvel Universe.

[20:11] That's because there's 80 years, 90 years of publishing behind it, of people trying

[20:16] out different stuff and most of it not working.

[20:18] With multiple creators.

[20:19] With multiple, with many, many hundreds, if not thousands of creators working on it.

[20:23] And so you have a, it's just tough.

[20:25] It's really tough and it's not the most complex world, but you also don't have the most

[20:29] complex character in The Mandalorian who is, so I didn't remember this from the show.

[20:34] Is he dumb in the show?

[20:36] No.

[20:37] Because in the movie he's very dumb.

[20:38] He believes whatever anybody tells him at face value all the time.

[20:43] The bad guy he's looking for at first, nobody can find this Imperial Commander.

[20:47] It turns out he didn't even change his name.

[20:49] He's just operating under the same name on another planet.

[20:51] Well, that's everyone's fault.

[20:53] That's not just him.

[20:54] That's everyone's fault.

[20:55] But The Mandalorian in particular, two very obviously evil characters lie to him.

[20:58] And then when he goes to somebody else and he goes, oh, they lied to you, he's like,

[21:00] I don't think so.

[21:01] That's not what they told me.

[21:02] What?

[21:03] Explain.

[21:04] He's very dumb.

[21:05] He's very, he's a very dumb guy.

[21:08] But we'll talk about that.

[21:10] Well, let's get back to him because we haven't even learned what he's done yet.

[21:15] He's on a mission.

[21:16] You know, like at this point he's working for the New Republic.

[21:19] He's hunting down, you know.

[21:22] Which are the good guys in this, not a right wing, like commentary magazine or something

[21:26] like that.

[21:27] He's basically a Nazi hunter.

[21:29] He's fighting a refugee, you know, empire refugees like Marathon Man, but with monsters

[21:36] and lasers.

[21:37] Yeah.

[21:38] Yeah.

[21:39] And this is what the empire has turned into, like weird little like crime bosses, little

[21:43] warlord fiefdoms left over.

[21:46] And that's I mean, and that's a cool idea.

[21:47] And that's a realistic idea that when the empire when you kill the emperor, it's not

[21:50] like the empire.

[21:51] Just everyone just goes, whoops, I guess we're not doing this anymore.

[21:53] Yeah.

[21:54] They don't have their little power bases they're trying to maintain and he's going after them.

[21:58] And it turns out his he has one move, which is walk into a room and start shooting people

[22:03] in the head.

[22:04] And that is true.

[22:05] He is not a master of stealth strategy, great planning.

[22:07] It works great most of the time, except that it gets him to every.

[22:10] So I'll skip ahead slightly, but like he comes back on mission, those things went sideways

[22:15] and it's like, well, they didn't go sideways.

[22:17] You did a bad job.

[22:18] Like, yeah.

[22:19] Like you did the work.

[22:20] You did this in the worst possible way.

[22:21] Yeah.

[22:23] This warlord is abusing his like sort of like under under, you know, like the local town

[22:29] leaders.

[22:30] Yeah.

[22:31] Yeah.

[22:32] And which leads to, you know, a joke that I would have found funny if it wasn't so telegraphed,

[22:36] which is like when Mando comes in and like shoots everyone and like they're all supposed

[22:41] to cover his exit, but they all just point to where he went.

[22:44] And I'm like, it could have been funny, but I don't know whether it was the direction

[22:48] or whatever.

[22:49] But coming so far away that anyway, there's an AT-AT chase or AT-AT, depending on if you're

[22:58] nasty.

[22:59] If you want to say it wrong.

[23:00] Yeah.

[23:01] If you're nasty.

[23:02] Yeah.

[23:03] There's some AT-ATs walking on the most precarious little ledge.

[23:05] Yeah.

[23:06] Like goats.

[23:07] Like goats.

[23:08] Yeah.

[23:09] Yeah.

[23:10] That's because, yeah, I guess AT-ATs are fully goats in how well they're able to maneuver

[23:12] around rocky ledges.

[23:14] Yeah.

[23:15] And Grogu shows up.

[23:17] You forgot Grogu blew his little robot.

[23:19] He's got his adopted child.

[23:22] You know that the Mandalorian is the hero of the movie because he shoots a lot of people

[23:26] dead.

[23:27] He does not stop to help anybody if they are in trouble.

[23:29] And he brings a baby with him into situations where he gets shot at and shoots people dead.

[23:34] Yeah.

[23:35] But that baby can handle itself.

[23:36] He's the hero of the movie.

[23:37] That baby's a powerful baby.

[23:39] And the Mandalorian is really, he's got all those Yoda powers because again, every race

[23:43] is the same.

[23:44] It's exactly the same.

[23:46] It's so funny because I was reading someone was making the point that like Yoda looks

[23:48] the way he does in the Star Wars movies because he is elderly because he is 800 years old.

[23:52] And the idea is that the force has been keeping him alive all this time.

[23:55] But then they're like, we've got to have more Yoda aliens.

[23:57] I guess they all look like little old men and they all dress like Jedi and they all

[24:01] live hundreds of years.

[24:02] You know, yeah.

[24:03] Every race, they're all the same.

[24:04] You know, if you're a rodeo, you're going to be a bounty hunter, you know.

[24:07] I would agree with you, but he's very cute guy.

[24:10] He's very cute.

[24:11] He's very cute.

[24:12] And he is primarily, he at least appears to be primarily a practical puppet.

[24:17] He's a little puppet man.

[24:19] He's a very expensive puppet.

[24:20] I love a little guy.

[24:21] Give me little guys.

[24:22] And you know what?

[24:23] This movie delivers more little guys.

[24:24] It delivers handily with little guys.

[24:26] I don't care if it looks quote unquote fake.

[24:28] I love him.

[24:29] I love the way he looks when he's running around.

[24:30] Dan, you would love it if you could see the puppeteer's arms sticking out of his butt

[24:34] the whole movie.

[24:35] You would be loving that.

[24:36] If somebody, yeah.

[24:37] If somebody told me that they didn't like it because it looks fake, I think I'd slap

[24:41] their face.

[24:42] And I don't even care that much.

[24:45] I just, I'm like, that's the good part.

[24:48] Every Star Wars character, you have to evaluate how good of an action figure slash toy is

[24:53] this character.

[24:54] Yes.

[24:55] And Grogu is an A plus.

[24:56] Oh yeah.

[24:57] Five star toy.

[24:58] One of the all time greats.

[25:01] Right up there with Boba Fett and Hoth Han Solo.

[25:07] The Rancor was pretty good.

[25:08] That was a great toy.

[25:09] So I think, so the Mandalorian, so Boba Fett and the Mandalorian, they show that if you

[25:13] have a cool looking helmet and you don't say very much, you can get away with being pretty

[25:17] bad at your job and still be the coolest guy in the universe.

[25:21] But because the Mandalorian also, he benefits and seems to be aware of that he's benefiting

[25:26] from what I would call Star Wars protagonist defense shield technology, which is if you

[25:32] are the hero of the movie, nobody's going to hit you when they're shooting at you with

[25:36] lasers.

[25:37] They could be an inch away.

[25:38] His armor is like super, he has like a John Wick suit on, right, basically, right?

[25:42] Yes.

[25:43] Yes, exactly.

[25:44] Bulletproof.

[25:45] It's made of that fancy steel.

[25:46] It's super blaster proof.

[25:47] Yeah.

[25:48] It's, you know, it's a different IP, but it's basically adamantium.

[25:53] Let me say that because we saw this in the theater, I was not there with like a little

[25:56] glowy pen making notes.

[25:58] I'm heavily relying on, I do care about my fellow audience members.

[26:05] Oh, so you worked at the Alamo, I guess.

[26:10] I mean, ironically, the Alamo is where you should have gone because they have lights

[26:13] underneath those little tables.

[26:15] So I've taken notes at Alamo movies and made it a little easier.

[26:18] No, I'm just saying I'm heavily relying on the wiki summary.

[26:22] So if anyone wants to jump in, please feel free.

[26:26] So after a big snow battle with AT-ATs and AT-STs, he captures this guy, brings him back

[26:31] to Sigourney Weaver.

[26:32] He doesn't capture the guy, he blows him up.

[26:33] Oh, he blows him up.

[26:34] That's the problem.

[26:35] Sigourney's like, we want him alive because that's how we find other people.

[26:41] And you know, Sigourney Weaver, you get to see her in a rebel suit.

[26:45] So that's a mark in the plus column for this.

[26:49] Some nerd somewhere was just ejaculating into his pants that seemed Ripley in a rebel suit.

[26:54] Some nerd?

[26:55] Yeah, yeah.

[26:56] I think I did, yeah.

[26:57] I was excited.

[26:58] Elliot's looking in the mirror right now.

[27:03] Look, when you nerd into the abyss, the abyss nerds back into you.

[27:07] Yeah, for sure.

[27:08] Yeah.

[27:09] I don't know.

[27:10] I'm sure I was projecting and I did think Sigourney Weaver was cool casting, but every

[27:13] line she said, I felt like she was just a whisper away from bursting into laughter.

[27:18] I mean, especially when she ends up in the X-Wing flying or whatever at the end of the

[27:22] movie.

[27:23] It looked both great and insane.

[27:25] I mean, she is.

[27:27] I mean, I love her.

[27:28] She's so great.

[27:29] There was this feeling of her of like, all right, whatever.

[27:32] Totally.

[27:33] I love Sigourney Weaver.

[27:36] I was so happy to see her in this movie.

[27:37] It does.

[27:38] It has big, like, we have you for one day energy.

[27:41] Right.

[27:42] Right.

[27:43] Right.

[27:44] She didn't have the dedication that she shows as the villain in the movie, Holes, with Shia

[27:46] LaBeouf.

[27:49] But yeah, the next assignment for Mando is a big one.

[27:53] They got to find Commander Coin, who I guess is like the warlord of all warlords.

[27:58] And like, she literally has like a deck of cards of like bad guys, the big, yeah, bad

[28:04] warlords.

[28:05] Pretty cool.

[28:06] Yeah.

[28:07] I mean, this is and this is a takeoff of a real thing.

[28:08] Like when we invaded Iraq, I think it was.

[28:11] They handed out decks of cards with the with the images and names of like the high up guys

[28:15] and Hussein's.

[28:16] Well, it was stupid when our government did it and it's stupid here.

[28:22] It's stupid when the main card she gives him has no information on it.

[28:25] No face.

[28:26] They're like, all we know about this guy, Commander Coin, is that he his name is Commander

[28:30] Coin.

[28:31] He's the worst of the worst.

[28:32] And what I was like, he's a Nintendo villain.

[28:34] Commander Coin.

[28:35] But this movie is so this and this is a this is an overriding note for this movie.

[28:39] It's so boilerplate and flat and not detailed in the way you want a Star Wars thing to be.

[28:44] They don't even give him like a story of something particularly bad he did.

[28:47] They don't.

[28:48] He's not like the butcher of Bespin or something like that, that like Commander Coin, the butcher

[28:52] of Bespin.

[28:53] Instead, he's just Commander Coin.

[28:54] We don't have to tell you anything about him.

[28:55] Who cares?

[28:56] There's there's there's so many places where they could have added a little bit of color,

[28:58] a little bit of like, if you're be a good GM, you know, flesh out a little bit.

[29:04] She's giving him a playing card, which traditionally in the world of playing cards, there's info

[29:08] and stats and like a fun fact.

[29:11] And she gave him just truly a coaster with a silhouette of a humanoid.

[29:16] I have to object to you.

[29:18] Traditionally in playing cards, we have clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds, but in trading

[29:23] cards, trading cards, which is a form of play, you know, so I just wanted to make a dumb

[29:30] joke.

[29:31] You're absolutely right.

[29:32] But the funny thing is, all she had was the name.

[29:34] And as we've already said, that turns out to be all you needed to find this guy.

[29:38] That actually was the exact amount of info that you did need to find.

[29:42] If he had shown up on the world and said, hey, do you know where a coin is?

[29:45] They'd be like, oh, over there.

[29:46] Yeah, sure.

[29:48] So he's in hiding.

[29:49] No one knows.

[29:50] He's like a ghost.

[29:51] He disappeared.

[29:52] But this is I was talking to somebody about this the other day, and they point out that

[29:53] that is a Star Wars universe thing is when you want to hide, you'd use your same name

[29:57] because that people assume, well, if I'm.

[30:00] Son of Anakin Skywalker. Surely he would have chosen a different name than Luke Skywalker. So

[30:05] We don't have one of those

[30:14] If he wanted to go incognito, he wouldn't use the same last name, so maybe it's a maybe it's a sigh up

[30:19] It's like well surely he would yeah

[30:22] He's thinking one step ahead, you know, yeah expect it's it's like um, it's like

[30:28] It is the

[30:31] It is the logic that contestants on the traitors used to determine who's a bad guy based on how they're voting

[30:37] Yeah, yeah sort of thing. Sorry, but so he goes to it

[30:41] So he goes to this planet where he's gonna find commander coin

[30:43] Well, no, he first he has to go to see the Hutt twins or whatever. Like there's a couple of

[30:50] twins

[30:52] Has made a deal the Hutt twins will give him will give them the where to find commander coin if he if

[30:58] Mandalorian first gets their nephew rot of the Hutt son of Java the Hut. Yeah, it is very clear

[31:03] We're gonna meet another evil. They are literally big slimy grub worms who talk like this. Oh, well, of course

[31:11] We just want him to be safe

[31:14] So this is we like checks out you're loving

[31:18] Like the first time we see now hudda, right

[31:21] Which is as you know as a Star Wars fan is the Hutt homeworld all the buildings are like these big like fungus grown

[31:29] Structures with like a little bit of metallic stuff. It looks kind of cool, but it's all lit like dogshit

[31:35] So any action later on just looks terrible too bad

[31:38] It's all it's all dim brown light

[31:40] But I the but the designs that were cool the designs have a real Mobius type of quality or like Miyazaki quality

[31:45] Yeah, and I feel like a lot of the designs in this one are drawn from classic sci-fi

[31:50] Things as we'll see when we see the dragon what the dragon snake or whatever later on the dragon, whatever

[31:57] but when it comes to the Hutt's definitely for me it is

[32:01] Diminishing returns every time I see a different

[32:04] Member of this, but they found they found they found two new ways to make the Hutt's less cool

[32:09] one as

[32:15] Speak English through most of the movie and they look ridiculous

[32:19] And it's like it sounds awesome and how do you so cool?

[32:22] It is like it is the most fun Star Wars language to say no a job a long go

[32:26] Oh, like that's the best, you know

[32:28] Like their mouths are too big and gross to be able to speak galactic common or whatever

[32:33] if in the middle of a Star Wars movie Chewbacca turned to Han and said so what are we gonna do next time like

[32:38] You'd be like

[32:42] Good casting

[32:45] And like not only are their mouths too big and gross but also like the Hutt's are fucking conceited assholes

[32:51] Why would they speak this other language? They want to speak their perfect

[32:56] Blah-blah-blah-blah

[33:00] So it's a it's a it's a couple of big mistakes there and I think it's just for ease of

[33:04] so you don't have to have a lot of subtitles up and then you can cast a famous name as

[33:07] Rado the Hut because that's what makes the movie is bear credit to be

[33:15] Hey, he's in a Star War man, you know if you get offered a Star War, yeah, you're gonna take that again

[33:21] I feel like that is currency that has been devalued

[33:24] Even now Elliot, you're gonna say that if someone just wants to catch someone

[33:28] To me someone says to me yesterday. I was complaining this way to go

[33:31] So if they offered you a Star Wars movie you and taken I go, of course, I would one

[33:34] Yeah chaching, but also to yeah, of course I would I'd try to do the best job I could it probably would come out

[33:40] Not great. What are you gonna do?

[33:41] Like, of course, you're gonna take it

[33:43] Like just cuz you're gonna take a job doesn't mean you think that everything you're doing is amazing

[33:47] Well, no, that's a separate issue

[33:51] His his work in this may be not speaking honeys the whole time. Honestly. Yeah

[33:56] What will you?

[33:58] Yeah, I was like

[34:00] With the Hutt's what have we seen this many Hutt's before in any of the other there?

[34:05] We were lousy with Hudson this crazy

[34:07] Twin Hutt's the nephew Hutt and this is that random Hutt that you see sliding along a burrow and then going it's like slipping

[34:13] NPC Hut

[34:16] They're walking through the halls and like looking down the hallways and seeing like Hutts all over each other like it's fucking irreversible or something

[34:24] This is from the Clone Wars, right? I didn't watch the series

[34:29] But I believe these these the Hutt twins show up in Rada is but that and the Hutt twins show up in

[34:34] Either Mandalorian season 3 or Boba Fett or something like that. I didn't see it. I'm just okay

[34:39] They've been introduced in the show. Okay one of the shows

[34:43] It's a funny layout for the Hutt

[34:46] Palace which is that there's a tunnel that leads to a huge gate door

[34:49] Which just leads to one big throne room and I'm like, what is the layout of this building doesn't make sense

[34:54] And if I'm watching the Star Wars movie, I shouldn't be thinking about how the layout of the building doesn't make sense

[34:58] IP that gets like too successful. It's so funny when things that were probably initially decided

[35:04] You know to be good in one sequence then have to have like a whole

[35:09] like leg of the of the lore

[35:13] Resting on them. It's like Jabba the Hutt and return to the Jedi needs to be the big scary bounty hunter

[35:17] That's after Han and he works great as this giant literal slug Lord

[35:22] Yeah, just kind of gross limited in how much he can move. It works great for the sequence. He looks great

[35:28] He sounds great a big crime boss. He's Sydney Green Street. Like it works fantastic

[35:33] It works great. And now to have to build a whole Hutt world and like government system and like and modes of entertainment

[35:41] What are the cars for a slug land? Is it just huge flatbed?

[35:45] Trucks are moving around. Is it just tanks of water?

[35:49] Certainly drag if it keeps to the Star Wars thing and they're all mobsters. That's a terrible economy. No

[35:56] Someone's got to have a legit job to be fair

[35:58] That is the that is what the United States is turning into is a mobster economy

[36:02] So we'll see what it's like to live in a Hutt world

[36:03] It's like the idea like at a certain point you have to be like so so they're intergalactic gangsters

[36:08] Do they have the wheel? I don't know that they do so how they accomplished all these things, you know

[36:15] Anyway, Matt Mando is looking for Rada

[36:18] He goes to Shikari, which is kind of a Las Vegas planet or at least this part of it's just this

[36:24] In Star Wars all planets are the exact same all over the entire planet. You're a desert world

[36:29] You're an ocean world your city world as opposed to in real real life when all those things exist on our one planet. Yeah

[36:36] He finds out that well, he first he goes he's like the first thing he does is look for information by talking to Martin Scorsese monkey

[36:45] monkey Scorsese, yeah

[36:48] He does what I do he goes to the first street food vendor he sees and basically bullies him into accepting money for information

[36:56] And this is Mark Scorsese, he has like a four-armed monkey man who pretty great it's yeah, I mean

[37:02] Honestly might be the best performance in the film

[37:05] Is is great at that like he's he's it's not like he said

[37:09] This is his first time acting the same with Werner Herzog in Mandalorian like this good

[37:12] These guys are professional actors in addition to being directors, you know

[37:17] He's better than Sigourney, I love Sigourney's casting but I think Scorsese is a better performance

[37:22] He's better than Pedro Pascal, and I don't think that's Pedro Pascal's fault. Yep. I mean grogu. I cannot count as a performance. I

[37:31] Think it's the number one, you know if this if they're gonna go for Oscar bait

[37:34] It's gotta be Martin Scorsese best supporting actor Mandalorian

[37:40] Fisherman fisherman lizard guy

[37:44] Better than that

[37:46] All these other people are very functional and good at what they

[37:49] Who plays the carrot who's like the Mandalorian's like sometimes co-pilot, oh, yeah

[37:55] that character for looking as

[37:59] Sort of wild as he does makes no impact whatsoever. No

[38:03] Yeah, and he's a character from other stuff

[38:05] But I don't know the name or they don't bother to I don't know if they say his name in the movie

[38:10] Maybe they do once but I don't remember it. Do you want to point out that the when they get to?

[38:15] Is it's Katari?

[38:18] Right the

[38:20] Atari yeah

[38:21] Shikari Shikari Shikari. Sorry. It's good. Sorry that of course are the yes guitar

[38:26] It's not like the the foot soldiers of the adeptus mechanicus, but in Shikari course

[38:31] That's what is the Sardaukar from who of course are devoted to the Emperor, you know in the dune. Yeah

[38:36] Yeah, I am the God Emperor of Dune. Um, the

[38:40] Well the universe different yeah

[38:43] Continue. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are we gonna talk about 40k?

[38:47] I mean honestly asking me which I'd rather talk about but continue Stuart. Yeah

[38:53] the soundtrack changes and we start getting like a like a

[38:57] like a synth wavy

[39:00] And the song sounds there's something about the melody that reminded me so much of low by flow rider

[39:06] I was very distracted. I

[39:08] Loved a lot of the music in this. I liked when it got Cynthia. This is the guy who did sinners and

[39:15] Like a bunch of other stuff

[39:17] One of the strengths of the Mandalorian show is the music the opening music is so good and it sets it all up this

[39:24] move this movie the music's really good, but that's also that's always been a Star Wars secret weapon like that

[39:28] You imagine those that first movie without John Williams score. Oh, yeah

[39:31] It's like it's still it's just not quite as great a movie music has always been an amazing really

[39:36] Major thing in Star Wars design in general. It's like incredible in the Star Wars franchises. Everything just kind of sounds cool

[39:43] Yeah, but the music is really good like, you know, I know that they've done different things in the shows before a movie

[39:49] I feel like this is the first time they've like gone away from like pure orchestral John Williams II stuff

[39:55] And so it's this is one case where this movie is doing something different

[40:00] But it's aping what it did, it's the same composer who did the show, so Ludwig Göransson,

[40:08] and so it's continuing the style from the show, but that was one of the exciting things

[40:13] about the show, right?

[40:14] When it started, was that it sounded a little different, you know?

[40:17] But yes, it's funny that...

[40:18] Like Apple computers, they were thinking different.

[40:20] Even though they should have been thinking differently, but that's...

[40:25] That's why you're a PC user, Dan, because you're not cool enough to drop the L-Y and

[40:28] get rid of the Apple.

[40:30] I am an Apple user.

[40:34] What am I talking about?

[40:35] But you're like a PC user who...

[40:36] So, Martin Scorsese...

[40:37] No, no, no, I wanted to say about Martin Scorsese, that's what it was.

[40:40] It is funny that Mando keeps going back to this monkey vendor, who like...

[40:48] There's no evidence that he particularly knows more stuff than anyone else on the stream,

[40:53] and he actively is like, go away, go away, I'm not gonna talk.

[40:57] I mean, also, we should make it clear, in case people don't write in mad, we don't see

[41:00] that he...

[41:01] Do we see if he has a tail or not?

[41:02] Because if he doesn't have a tail, then probably he's not a monkey, but an ape of another kind.

[41:06] It's all right.

[41:07] He's a different kind of primate.

[41:08] A space ape.

[41:09] Tons of email windows closing.

[41:11] All right.

[41:12] I won't tell him my comment.

[41:13] Stay addressed.

[41:14] Fine.

[41:15] Eww.

[41:16] But he does...

[41:17] Your void shields are up.

[41:18] He does have one of the funniest moments in the movie, which I think was legitimately

[41:21] funny, but also makes the mailman look like an idiot also, where he goes, he goes, I'm

[41:26] looking for Radha the Hutt, and he's like, oh, you mean the most famous guy on the planet?

[41:32] And he points, and mailman is standing next to a billboard that says Radha the Hutt with

[41:36] a picture of Radha the Hutt on it.

[41:39] Yeah.

[41:40] We find out Radha's been working as a gladiator for the local crime lord, Janu, and if there's

[41:48] one thing we know about Radha, he's not his dad.

[41:51] He doesn't want to be like his dad.

[41:53] He left town.

[41:55] His fucking waist was snatched.

[41:57] There is no way he is his dad.

[41:59] No, no.

[42:00] He is so...

[42:01] He's a good...

[42:02] A beef hunk of meat.

[42:03] Just a beef hunk of...

[42:04] Good space slug.

[42:05] He is a...

[42:06] So he has a real character arc, where he starts out as seeming like a pretty good guy who

[42:10] doesn't want to be a gangster, and by the end, he joins the New Republic and becomes

[42:14] a pretty good guy who doesn't want to be a gangster.

[42:16] This is the movie's idea of an arc, is they introduce Radha the Hutt.

[42:19] He's like, hey, I don't want to be a gangster.

[42:21] My aunt and uncle are trying to kill me, so I'm just trying to stay away from them.

[42:23] No, they care about you.

[42:24] They really want you back because they love you so much, but he's always the same character.

[42:29] No one grows at all.

[42:30] No, I want to push back.

[42:31] He's a freelancer in the beginning, and he's on salary at the end.

[42:34] Okay, fair.

[42:35] He goes from 1099 to W2 is his arc.

[42:39] They should have visualized his change then by him changing the paperwork he files.

[42:47] This is a bit of an overall critique, maybe early in the show for it, but that is the

[42:53] fundamental issue with a lot of this movie, is that no one has any sort of character arc.

[42:59] Everyone is the same at the beginning of the movie as they are at the end of the movie.

[43:03] Setting aside Mandalorian stupidity, the basic structure of the story is we need somebody

[43:08] to get this bad guy, and Mandalorian goes in and does that, and that happens five times,

[43:14] and then the movie's over.

[43:15] Except by the end of it, it goes from we're trying to mop up the bad guys of the Empire.

[43:20] They're still around, too.

[43:21] Yeah, I guess we'll bring in X-Wings just to help the Mandalorian with his personal

[43:25] vendetta, because he has to murder people who have seen his face.

[43:27] Well, I mean, they do.

[43:28] No, they do.

[43:29] But then afterwards, they're like, oh, it turns out those Hutts were also selling us

[43:32] out, so it was good that we blew them up, but you don't know that until after they bomb

[43:35] them to shit.

[43:36] But anyway, there is one character arc in it, which was described to me by a coworker

[43:43] recently as, at the beginning, the Mandalorian doesn't let Grogu press a button in the starship,

[43:46] and at the end, he lets him press the button at the starship.

[43:49] Wow.

[43:51] So Grogu's really grown in responsibility by the end of the movie.

[43:53] Yeah.

[43:54] But anyway, Rod is like, hey, man, I'm not a prisoner here.

[43:58] I'm exactly where I want to be.

[43:59] I'm working off my debt to this Janu.

[44:03] He's going to let me go after the next fight.

[44:06] I'm going to be a hero on this planet.

[44:08] People love me because I fight good, and it's going to be great.

[44:13] And he doesn't want to be saved.

[44:15] So what happens next?

[44:17] So the Mandalorian goes to see...

[44:19] I think this is when...

[44:20] Is this when or is it after when Rod of the Hut is like, oh, yeah, Janu, he's the guy

[44:27] he's...

[44:28] Janu coin?

[44:29] No, that's later.

[44:30] That's later.

[44:31] He goes to see Janu at a salt bar.

[44:32] That's right.

[44:33] Right.

[44:34] He goes to find him at a bar.

[44:35] He intimidates one of his goons, knocks one of his tusks off the end of his tusk.

[44:42] Yeah.

[44:43] Janu comes out and...

[44:46] He seems very civil, very civil with this situation.

[44:49] Yeah.

[44:50] And so this is...

[44:51] Salt is very valuable on this planet.

[44:52] He's a gangster who trades in big hunks of salt.

[44:55] And he's like...

[44:56] Mandalorian beats up a bunch of people.

[44:57] That's like the real world for a time, you know?

[44:59] Yeah.

[45:00] Yeah.

[45:01] Mandalorian beats up the bar.

[45:02] I don't remember why Janu tells him that, like, oh, I'm lying to Roda.

[45:07] I'm just going to kill him after this.

[45:10] Because the movie needs to get moving forward, and Mandalorian is not smart enough to figure

[45:14] it out for himself.

[45:15] He's also trying to convince him to participate because he thinks that the Mandalorian would

[45:20] be his next great gladiator.

[45:22] Yeah.

[45:23] But it is very funny for him to be like...

[45:24] He goes, you should join my stable.

[45:25] You're a great fighter.

[45:26] I'm going to kill Roda.

[45:27] I'm about to trick him and kill him.

[45:28] Then you should join and be my new guy.

[45:31] If you over perform, that's what happens.

[45:33] The Mandalorian seems to be considering it almost because he's so dumb.

[45:36] You know he's not going to do it.

[45:37] But he's always like, OK, that's not...

[45:38] You will have an opening.

[45:39] I've been looking for more job security.

[45:41] Yeah.

[45:42] He goes back to the jail late at night to tell Roda, like, hey, this is what's going

[45:48] on.

[45:49] You're going to get killed at the next thing.

[45:50] And Roda is so convinced of this crime lord's goodness for some reason.

[45:55] He wouldn't do that to me.

[45:56] He's like, no, no, no.

[45:57] Everyone's dumb in this movie.

[45:59] And he calls for the guards and Mando gets gassed.

[46:02] It was a trap.

[46:03] It was all a trap.

[46:04] It was a trap.

[46:05] Yeah.

[46:06] He now has to fight.

[46:07] There's that real life part of telling him it's a trap.

[46:08] Oh, he died.

[46:09] So he has to fight Roda in the gladiatorial arena.

[46:13] Meanwhile, Grogu is in a little cage by John.

[46:17] It's pretty cute.

[46:18] It is cute.

[46:19] Grogu forgets that he has force powers and just watches everything happen and doesn't

[46:22] do anything.

[46:23] So we get a gladiator fight between Mando and this jacked hutt.

[46:28] Guys, I can't stress enough how much I detest the design of Roda the Hutt.

[46:34] I mean, if you told me there was a...

[46:36] Jabba the Hutt?

[46:37] If you told me there was a Hutt that was like a gladiator fighter, I'm like, OK, we got

[46:44] a big, big old fat slug rolling around knocking dudes over.

[46:47] That sounds great.

[46:48] Nope.

[46:49] They made him like weirdly muscular.

[46:51] And the more they move, like I like Hutts in theory, but like them moving around all

[46:56] digital style looks like dog shit.

[46:59] It's horrible.

[47:00] And there is to say there are you could have him like you're saying you could have him

[47:03] be an intimidating fighter just by him being super tough and just a big thing that will

[47:07] get you.

[47:08] And yeah, there are wrestlers who are just big.

[47:10] All strongmen are like huge.

[47:12] Yes.

[47:13] Stuart, what do you feel about the Hulk Hogan aesthetic?

[47:15] Do you like wrestlers?

[47:16] Did you like the Hulk Hogan character in the world of wrestling?

[47:19] Because the other thing about this this about Roda is he can't stop doing the Hulk Hogan

[47:23] like lifting his arms over his head and flexing and stuff.

[47:26] I mean, I like the idea of a like a peacocking wrestler type guy.

[47:31] I think that's fine.

[47:32] But I think it would be better if he was just a giant blobby slug.

[47:36] But also he doesn't.

[47:38] Jeremy Allen White's performance as Roda the Hutt is that you don't believe this is a character

[47:41] who would be peacocking for the crowd.

[47:43] He seems like, yeah, well, you know, I just want to live my life.

[47:45] I don't want to be I just want to get out from under Jabba's shadow and be my own man

[47:48] somewhere in the universe.

[47:49] I became a famous gladiator fighter.

[47:51] Yeah, that's the only way to go.

[47:53] Let me kill people, please.

[47:54] It'd be funny if it turns out that he's just a showbiz guy like he's like like he becomes

[47:59] a tap dancer.

[48:00] But he's the first like song and dance.

[48:03] I would love that.

[48:04] I feel like a Jackie Chan type background.

[48:06] Yeah, exactly.

[48:07] Yeah.

[48:08] A kid forced to perform and then, you know, I'm trying to be the greatest martial arts

[48:12] star of all time.

[48:13] But tap dancing would even work.

[48:15] I mean, he'd kind of be the only one on this planet who would do it.

[48:17] It would be he's got to get little prosthetic feet.

[48:20] Yeah.

[48:21] Star Wars showing us something we haven't seen before.

[48:23] That is true.

[48:24] Well, speaking of it, you get to have a big, good.

[48:27] I mean, they tried in the Return of the Jedi Special Edition, but we've we've yet to have

[48:30] like a really good, cool, big musical dance number in a Star Wars movie.

[48:34] Right.

[48:35] Yeah.

[48:36] Yeah.

[48:37] Speaking of his peacocking, it's his undoing.

[48:38] He's flexing for the crowd, but that allows Mando to get the upper hand.

[48:43] But he tosses his weapons away.

[48:46] He yields.

[48:47] He's like, oh, he, you know, rather one.

[48:49] So let him go.

[48:51] Forcing John to, you know, enact his evil plan with both of them in the ring.

[48:56] And they'll both have to fight all these monsters.

[48:58] He floods the ring with shaking your head.

[49:01] I, I, I disagree.

[49:03] So because this ends like this, they have this gladiatorial fight between all these

[49:07] monsters.

[49:08] It ends with like one of them, like managing to disable the electric fence that's keeping

[49:14] them in and monsters then rampage over the Star Wars city.

[49:19] I'm like, yes, I've not seen monsters rampaging through a city in a Star Wars movie.

[49:23] I like that.

[49:24] I'm with you.

[49:25] It's weird because the monsters of choice are a direct reference to the first Star Wars

[49:30] movie.

[49:31] They're the holograms.

[49:32] The chess piece, right?

[49:33] Oh, yeah.

[49:34] And so that was what bummed me out is that I'm like, oh, they're just doing that.

[49:38] Well, and what bummed me out was that didn't bother me as much, although I got kind of

[49:42] bored of it at first.

[49:43] I was like, oh, that's funny that they use some of the guys from the from the hologram

[49:46] chess game and they're doing the same moves even, you know.

[49:49] But what bummed me out was the monsters go on the loose in a movie that has a hero.

[49:54] The hero has to catch rot of the hut.

[49:56] Right.

[49:57] But he keeps getting distracted by these.

[50:00] Because he's got to round up these monsters and save the innocent civilians who are now being attacked by these monsters

[50:05] Instead the Mandalorian goes I don't give a shit and just flies after Rod of the Hutt leaving behind people being I have to assume

[50:11] killed by these monsters

[50:13] That was one of the look I don't know whether they deserve death for it

[50:16] But they were all coming to a bloodsport. They were all monster. No, those monsters are out on the streets

[50:21] There are people on the streets not everybody in town

[50:24] Gladiator battle like if it was if I was if there was a like a Freddy vs

[50:29] Jason match in an arena and he dropped an innocent person into it that audience

[50:34] They are culpable in whatever happens, but if Freddy and Jason get loose and are rampaging through they've left Madison Square Garden

[50:39] They're rampaging through New York. Not everybody in New York was tuning into this bloodsport

[50:43] Now is Freddy in the real world or is he in the dream world? They brought him into the real world

[50:47] They brought him into the real world. Yeah

[50:49] They wanted to stop being polite and start getting real

[50:53] But I saw this was one of a couple moments in the movie where I feel like one of the issues with the Star Wars

[50:58] Franchise beyond the quality of the storytelling or the characters whatever is that the moral underpinning of the series has

[51:05] Degraded over time in a way that I find really troubling where in the first movie. It's like the Empire is obviously bad

[51:12] They do bad things. They kill Luke's parents

[51:14] You know his aunt and uncle and the good guys are against that the bad guys are all faceless, you know or or

[51:21] effectless, you know

[51:23] Almost robotic figures and the good guys stand for freedom individuality life, etc

[51:28] the in over time it has become that

[51:31] the good guys are just the good guys because we say they're the good guys the bad guys the bad guys because we say the

[51:35] Bad guys and in the Mandalorian movie the Mandalorian does not act. He's not a heroic character

[51:39] He's a he doesn't help people and by the way, it is but by the end of it

[51:43] It's like well, I have to kill these two Hutt's because they saw my face and I'm like, well, that is not

[51:47] that is not something I can stand behind if you're supposed to be a hero if this is a movie like

[51:52] Payback with or a blank with Lee Marvin, then I go. Okay, I buy it

[51:56] But if it's a Star Wars movie, I do I cannot accept that

[52:00] Like that's the thing like he's a different type of character

[52:03] But then you shouldn't make the movie as if he is a heroic character, which they're trying to do

[52:07] I mean, this is a pro-capitalism movie. He's a freelancer

[52:10] He's yeah

[52:11] He had clear terms for his contract and they were violated and you are allowed to stand up for it

[52:17] And also if you're there to get rot of the HUD and that is what you are being compensated for

[52:21] That's all you should do. This is this is the most capitalistic movie. I've ever seen maybe but Star Wars has moved away from its

[52:28] Marxist communist

[52:31] But it's on the side of the workers, you know, he's slaughtering his his bosses because they have not held up the contract

[52:37] I don't I don't know about that

[52:38] what it really comes down to me is that is this moment where the Mandalorian just lets innocent people get attacked by monsters and

[52:44] Which would have been a cooler sequence if he has to stop what I said isn't true because he violates his own contract all he

[52:49] Violated multiple times

[52:51] But also at the at the end when he's the one who violates the contract to be honest does actually know that's right

[52:57] But also when he they take his helmet off to shame him and he says they go ha ha now

[53:02] You're an outcast because we've seen your face and goes or I could just kill you and is the audience supposed to be like

[53:06] Yeah, exactly. Go ahead and kill them because they saw your face like that's a bad rule

[53:10] That's a dumb rule and I can't I can't that if he's a bounty hunter who is a morally gray character or he's the villain

[53:16] I totally buy he would have this rule of if you see me face after murder you but to be like

[53:20] Well, he's the hero of the movie because he's got this cute kid with him

[53:22] But if you see his face, he has to murder you

[53:26] I don't buy it. I mean don't bother me. I am I'm like, oh, yeah

[53:29] he is a morally gray character who happens to be being used as a

[53:35] Weapon for people we like and he has a cute kid, but that doesn't mean he's not doing these, you know bounty hunter things

[53:42] But then I think it has to I just feel like the movie has to present him in that way

[53:45] And I feel the movie is not presenting him in that way

[53:50] Down on this point like you're absolutely right Ellie and what you're saying

[53:54] But I I don't remember that as being like when he took his mask off

[53:57] I just was like, oh they want us to see Pedro Pascal like why did that show?

[54:01] They're just like oh these huts the Hutt twins as you say every single thing

[54:06] They say is so clearly evil that we don't mind when they meet an untimely end

[54:12] Whatever the logic of you're right. You're right

[54:14] But I was so much for you if he was like if he was like you lied to me

[54:17] You're you're you know, you ruined people's lives as opposed to oh, he saw my face now. I gotta kill you

[54:22] I think I have to admit also and we can get off the plot. I apologize

[54:26] I have to admit that also I can't erase the fact that I'm seeing this movie at this point in time

[54:30] where it feels like

[54:31] Morality is degrading all around me in the world that I live in and we live in a gangster country now that is run by a

[54:37] Hut essentially like there's no if there's any fictional character that Donald Trump reminds me of it is Jabba the Hut and so

[54:44] to then to be thrown into a Star Wars movie where

[54:47] Part of the fantasy of Star Wars is not just I get to be in space and shoot lasers

[54:50] But also there's a world of good and evil and good is fighting evil and good will triumph over evil

[54:54] And so to be thrown into that I feel like if this movie come out during the Obama era

[54:58] I'd be like and whatever but coming out now

[55:00] I'm like Star Wars don't you succumb to the darkness as well like I don't want you to be corrupted the same way that the

[55:05] Government said the Justice Department and big business and tech have been corrupted. So maybe that's it

[55:10] Maybe that's why I'm so so frustrated with it, you know

[55:13] Anyway, we're saying Rana tries to take it on the run

[55:16] But they they chase him to get him

[55:20] with the help of

[55:21] Zeb the

[55:23] Pilot friend I guess who makes no impression. Yeah, I just kind of shows up when they need him and doesn't do anything else

[55:29] Yeah, yeah, and Rada's like don't take me back to my

[55:33] My uncle on opt I guess

[55:35] Don't take me back. They just want to kill me so they can take over the family business

[55:41] which would normally fall to me, even though I don't want it and

[55:44] and

[55:45] Amanda's like no

[55:47] To them to get the location of coin and I was like, oh I know coin is it's Janu and this is the point where

[55:54] I'm like

[55:55] Look, I know this movie is gonna be just a series of kind of unconnected quests

[55:59] But you really make me feel like I'm wasting my time

[56:06] But it's not even like they have to read just scramble the letters in his name or something John Noyak John coin

[56:12] He just goes. Oh, yeah, John who coin that's that's my boss. Like yeah

[56:15] He doesn't have to like pull a mask off or anything. No, it doesn't even reach the level of complexity of a Scooby-Doo plot

[56:22] Figuring out who the bad guy is in this one. Yeah, so I know John who's mansion. Yeah

[56:28] It is I love that

[56:29] He does have like a mansion like an 80s like drug lord in an action movie and they're like

[56:35] Oh, there's a bunch of stormtroopers here checks out that he's like an Empire guy

[56:39] I don't know. They just do a big raid. They just capture him. Yeah capture him

[56:44] Sequence I have no memory of even though I saw

[56:46] Comedy stuff with like they're trying to explain, you know

[56:50] Mando's trying to explain to Grogu over the comms like I need you to get the ship running

[56:55] So I press this button and like he just keeps pressing buttons that shoot

[57:02] Shooting the missiles was funny and I did like the designs of the luxury land speeders, which look like sports cars basically like

[57:08] I thought that I thought it was crazy that these fucking storm these stormies are just blasting away at the

[57:14] the land speeder that's

[57:16] Carrying their ball their boss

[57:20] Open top land speeder one of these will probably hit him. I

[57:24] Crystallized the comedy filmmaking with the Jagger earlier, but I do think I I really enjoyed funny

[57:29] Yeah, well the fact that he's like, no, no, don't do that that that's why there's a protector over it

[57:35] And then he just does it with the second one that has a case on it

[57:40] It's funny that it goes from it was an accident to he just wants to do this

[57:44] Like who is a kid? This is the most kid behavior from him the whole movie. It's like, yeah, but I want to do it

[57:49] So I'm gonna do it. Um

[57:52] anyway, so

[57:53] What happened? That is funny. Yeah, he gets up he gets these

[57:58] ends and

[58:00] Zillins their baby. They're four bar Bobby Frick's is what it is. Yeah, Bobby Frick's

[58:04] Remember Bobby Frick Fritz and I don't remember Bobby Frick being so much like the Minions from the Minion movies

[58:10] But that's they talk just like the Minion. She was pretty I mean like he was a little bit more like old manly

[58:20] But it's also it's also the thing of every Star Wars race is the same so bubble Frick seemed like he was a little old

[58:24] Man, so his race is just little I would have well there and they're all mechanic

[58:28] They all

[58:32] So so these guys show up and they're gonna be part of the adventure later on and I would have loved if either a there

[58:39] It had been like a little bit more variety between the Babu Frick's sure that you can tell them apart in any way

[58:44] Or if they did cool stuff

[58:47] other than just like if they like

[58:50] I mean, I love that. They're constantly doing like sort of Popeye style chatter where like

[58:55] I

[59:05] Love all that I just went like hey, I'm very happy with the meal that's been given to me

[59:10] But I like for it to be more interest

[59:13] Yes, it could have been it could it you want it you want it you want a better meal than what's been getting even though

[59:17] It's it's either it's filling your tummy. Yeah, but I do think and I do like another joke another gag

[59:23] Well was when they're taking the Mandalorian to their ship at the end to escape and he sees the Babu Frick ship is tiny and

[59:28] He can't fit in it

[59:31] But this

[59:32] augers the best

[59:35] You know like the best sort of stretch of the movie is about to show up

[59:39] Which is when the tiny little guys take take over?

[59:44] But when it becomes Star Wars minions

[59:48] Grogu and the minions. Yeah. Hell yeah, give it to me

[59:52] So he drops off coin, yeah, they go to that like what's-his-face

[1:00:00] The Mandalorian, our main guy.

[1:00:02] What's his face? That's appropriate.

[1:00:04] They go to his little lover's house.

[1:00:06] I need a break.

[1:00:08] I need to take a little vacation.

[1:00:10] I need some R&R.

[1:00:12] So he goes off with Grogu to hang out in his shack for a while.

[1:00:14] With the little

[1:00:16] Babu Frick dudes.

[1:00:18] Yeah.

[1:00:20] And a bounty hunter

[1:00:22] from the Hutt shows up.

[1:00:24] And I like the design of this bounty hunter.

[1:00:26] He's a space ninja.

[1:00:28] Yeah.

[1:00:30] He's a little bit Kung Lao.

[1:00:32] And he's also a little bit taller.

[1:00:34] And he has a hat that is armor.

[1:00:36] He's a tall, thin guy.

[1:00:38] He's got one of those wide hats that you see in Ninja Scroll.

[1:00:40] But he uses that as a shield.

[1:00:42] It's hard to tell

[1:00:44] whether he's a robot or not at times.

[1:00:46] Does he have any lines of dialogue?

[1:00:48] I don't think so.

[1:00:50] I don't remember if his name is ever mentioned.

[1:00:52] He communicates menace.

[1:00:54] For a guy who doesn't speak.

[1:00:56] As the kids would say,

[1:00:58] he is constantly aura farming.

[1:01:00] The kids would say that.

[1:01:02] But he's the Boba Fett of this movie.

[1:01:04] What kids have you been hanging out with, Stuart?

[1:01:06] I'm concerned about this.

[1:01:08] I'm assuming most of the

[1:01:10] people who are posting on the internet

[1:01:12] are kids these days.

[1:01:14] But Boba Fett is to

[1:01:16] The Empire Strikes Back.

[1:01:18] This guy is to The Mandalorian.

[1:01:20] He's the cool-looking, silent bounty hunter

[1:01:22] who comes into the job.

[1:01:24] He's got a pet wolf.

[1:01:26] The Mandalorian

[1:01:28] manages to

[1:01:30] shoo Grogu and

[1:01:32] the four little guys

[1:01:34] off to safety

[1:01:36] before he gets captured.

[1:01:38] I'm going to look up what the name of that species is.

[1:01:40] We can't just keep calling them the Boba Fetts.

[1:01:42] I just don't know how to say it.

[1:01:44] It's A-N-Z-E-L-L-A-N-S

[1:01:46] I have it in front of me.

[1:01:48] Anselin.

[1:01:50] But, you know,

[1:01:52] taken to the Twins.

[1:01:54] They've got Radha.

[1:01:56] He didn't escape.

[1:01:58] They're going to slowly torture him

[1:02:00] over his

[1:02:02] hot lifespan of hundreds of years by

[1:02:04] zapping him

[1:02:06] in the brain, it looks like.

[1:02:08] This movie is so dumb.

[1:02:10] Can't they just hear you

[1:02:12] have to say the events

[1:02:14] that happen in order, and there's no

[1:02:16] connective tissue. There's none.

[1:02:18] It really does.

[1:02:20] The next cutscene begins.

[1:02:22] This is the big criticism

[1:02:24] the movie has gotten, which it feels like two episodes

[1:02:26] of a TV show slammed together.

[1:02:28] I think we can't deny that criticism.

[1:02:30] It really does feel like two episodes of a TV show

[1:02:32] slammed together. Not even a good TV show.

[1:02:34] There's no cause and effect.

[1:02:36] It's just like another toy

[1:02:38] enters.

[1:02:40] You know, Will, I can't disagree with you,

[1:02:42] but also the dumb is what I like about it.

[1:02:44] So, I don't know.

[1:02:46] It's a tough one for me.

[1:02:48] I gotta say, you guys told me

[1:02:50] you have to go watch this movie.

[1:02:52] If you want to be on this podcast, you have to go

[1:02:54] and watch this movie.

[1:02:56] So I did, and I was kind of

[1:02:58] excited to do it, but just because of my

[1:03:00] schedule, I ended up having to watch a 10.30pm

[1:03:02] showing of The Mandalorian

[1:03:04] up at the

[1:03:06] Americana, which is

[1:03:08] a fine theater.

[1:03:10] I wish you didn't have to pay for parking.

[1:03:12] I love

[1:03:14] the Americana. I like buying tickets on the old app.

[1:03:16] Yeah, I am.

[1:03:18] But at this point in the movie where it's about

[1:03:20] 12.45am, 12.30am,

[1:03:22] and I'm sitting there and it's like

[1:03:24] and I'm like

[1:03:26] I looked up at the screen and I go

[1:03:28] what is the problem?

[1:03:30] What's

[1:03:32] happening that's bad?

[1:03:34] Can't everybody just go home?

[1:03:36] Everybody's free and they're out

[1:03:38] and why are we stressed?

[1:03:40] It was just like

[1:03:42] so insane.

[1:03:44] They're crime lords.

[1:03:46] It's like if you're cool with people seeing your face, this movie's

[1:03:48] over.

[1:03:52] Yeah, well they punish

[1:03:54] him, as you say, by removing

[1:03:56] his helmet. The ultimate shame.

[1:03:58] I don't care.

[1:04:00] Go home. Revealing that

[1:04:02] face. That mustache.

[1:04:04] And they

[1:04:06] drop him into

[1:04:08] a pit of water beneath

[1:04:10] them. Classic hot move.

[1:04:12] I guess

[1:04:14] all huts have monster pits with

[1:04:16] trap doors that they put people in

[1:04:18] when they're mad at them.

[1:04:20] They're like show me your pit.

[1:04:22] What kind of monster you got in there?

[1:04:24] Very nice.

[1:04:26] This is where the magic happens.

[1:04:30] Welcome to my pit.

[1:04:32] First, he defeats

[1:04:34] these smaller monsters.

[1:04:36] I did like

[1:04:38] these are, my understanding, these are

[1:04:40] animans.

[1:04:42] So they took a background character from Return of the Jedi

[1:04:44] and they made them into creature from the Black Lagoon

[1:04:46] type.

[1:04:48] I didn't recognize them. When would we have seen

[1:04:50] it in Jedi?

[1:04:52] He is so far in the background of Jedi

[1:04:54] at Jabba's Palace.

[1:04:56] I had a couple of the figures, so that's how I

[1:04:58] remembered.

[1:05:00] He's got a staff with a skull on it

[1:05:02] and that's easier to see in the background

[1:05:04] than the actual figure.

[1:05:06] If they hadn't made a toy of him, nobody would remember this.

[1:05:08] I am vaguely seeing this

[1:05:10] Kenner toy in my head.

[1:05:14] He defeats these and you're like

[1:05:16] he's defeated.

[1:05:18] Oh no, my friend.

[1:05:20] There's a big skull-headed

[1:05:22] water dragon that is

[1:05:24] in there.

[1:05:26] This is like a direct

[1:05:28] 70s sci-fi

[1:05:30] paperback cover.

[1:05:32] I didn't know that.

[1:05:34] It looks exactly like...

[1:05:36] If it isn't a direct lift, it looks

[1:05:38] so much like that.

[1:05:40] It's some kind of monster

[1:05:42] from a 70s paperback cover.

[1:05:44] I thought

[1:05:46] it looked cool and I don't care.

[1:05:48] It looks really cool

[1:05:50] and some of the best effects in the movie

[1:05:52] are that creature.

[1:05:54] It was scary.

[1:05:56] In an otherwise fairly

[1:05:58] drab environment, it's this

[1:06:00] pale, sickly white color.

[1:06:02] It's this pop of brightness.

[1:06:04] The fight between him and the Mandalorian is one of the better

[1:06:06] fights in the movie.

[1:06:08] He's fighting.

[1:06:10] He defeats him but

[1:06:12] he's poisoned by the bite.

[1:06:14] He doesn't have his helmet on

[1:06:16] so you know Paperbus didn't have to be in these scenes.

[1:06:18] Grogu and

[1:06:20] Zelens

[1:06:22] have been on their own adventure

[1:06:24] flying in their tiny little

[1:06:26] spaceship.

[1:06:28] Maybe this is part of the thing.

[1:06:30] There's so clearly things in this movie that are meant to appeal to children.

[1:06:32] Which is Grogu,

[1:06:34] the Babu Fricks, to then have that be in the same movie

[1:06:36] where the character is like, you saw my face, I have to murder you.

[1:06:38] It's a clash of tones.

[1:06:40] I would agree that that's a clash of tones

[1:06:42] that you pointed out.

[1:06:44] I was primarily thinking of this

[1:06:46] as a kids movie.

[1:06:50] I was going to say this to the end but

[1:06:52] Lucas said

[1:06:54] oh, these are movies

[1:06:56] for kids and that was always kind of

[1:06:58] annoying when it felt like it was

[1:07:00] a justification for why

[1:07:02] the prequels were bad.

[1:07:04] But now there's been so

[1:07:06] much Star Wars.

[1:07:08] There have been so many movies made that I am fine

[1:07:10] with the idea of, yeah, this one's for kids.

[1:07:12] Maybe it's not pointed at me.

[1:07:14] It's pointed at younger audiences

[1:07:16] and the dad who brought them.

[1:07:18] But if it's for kids, make it a movie for kids.

[1:07:20] Don't try to have it both ways.

[1:07:22] But they're having their adventure.

[1:07:24] They're running around in the woods.

[1:07:26] This is like little rubber guys running around.

[1:07:28] It's just constantly

[1:07:30] over here baby, come over here.

[1:07:32] Oh no, watch out.

[1:07:34] It is very fun.

[1:07:36] If the whole movie was that stuff, man,

[1:07:38] it would be one of my favorite Star Wars movies.

[1:07:40] There's a lot of subspecies in Star Wars

[1:07:42] where they just kind of mumble and throw a word out

[1:07:44] every now and then like Jawas.

[1:07:46] I think you could get them all together

[1:07:48] in a room and it would be so fun.

[1:07:50] If you did a series called

[1:07:52] Star Wars Little Guys and it's the Jawas,

[1:07:54] the Babu Fricks, Baby Yoda,

[1:07:56] that would be great.

[1:07:58] Especially if in the background you have

[1:08:00] the high stakes crazy stuff going on.

[1:08:02] But it's the little guys doing

[1:08:04] the little stuff that's important.

[1:08:06] Here's my pitch for what I think would have made this a better movie.

[1:08:08] You call it Star Wars Grogu and the Mandalorian.

[1:08:10] Grogu is the star of the movie.

[1:08:12] It is his point of view.

[1:08:14] The Mandalorian stuff is kind of happening in the background.

[1:08:16] You're seeing Grogu dealing with stuff.

[1:08:18] You get more of the fun stuff and less of the dumb stuff.

[1:08:20] I'm shaking my head because

[1:08:22] I'm like, man,

[1:08:24] I think I enjoyed this movie more than you guys,

[1:08:26] but this is the version of the movie that would have

[1:08:28] been great.

[1:08:30] I cannot argue that you fixed it

[1:08:32] in one idea.

[1:08:34] Flip that title. Flip the billing.

[1:08:36] Was it because Jin Jajarin

[1:08:38] he has to have top billing all the time?

[1:08:40] Is that in his contract or what?

[1:08:42] Anyway, Grogu and the Anzaliens arrive

[1:08:44] in time to get Mando

[1:08:46] out of the pit he's trapped in.

[1:08:48] They all run off.

[1:08:50] Mando is poisoned

[1:08:52] at this point, obviously.

[1:08:54] You know that he's in danger

[1:08:56] still, but he's still got his strength

[1:08:58] enough to run away.

[1:09:00] There's the great gag that Elliot mentioned before

[1:09:02] where he goes to the spaceship and he's like,

[1:09:04] oh, I can't fit in that spaceship.

[1:09:06] The spaceship is the size of a box

[1:09:08] that the toy Millennium Falcon would have

[1:09:10] come in.

[1:09:12] He tells them to go.

[1:09:14] He tells Grogu to go.

[1:09:16] We don't see Grogu going, notably.

[1:09:18] Is that going to be important?

[1:09:20] We know he ain't going anywhere.

[1:09:22] No, come on.

[1:09:24] Mando shoots a bunch of people

[1:09:26] and then collapses.

[1:09:28] We're talking about battle droids.

[1:09:30] They're all robots.

[1:09:32] From this point in the movie, except for the two huts,

[1:09:34] anything he's shooting is a robot

[1:09:36] pretty much.

[1:09:38] So Grogu

[1:09:40] uses his

[1:09:42] force powers to

[1:09:44] heal the wound, but the poison's still in there.

[1:09:46] Mando's basically

[1:09:48] in a coma at this point.

[1:09:50] There's a very funny part where he makes

[1:09:52] a hut to store

[1:09:54] Mandalorian in,

[1:09:56] and he's using his force to move him,

[1:09:58] but the hut is not big enough and he keeps bonking Mandalorian.

[1:10:00] head against the back of the head.

[1:10:01] I was like, I'm like, more of this, please.

[1:10:05] Um, yeah.

[1:10:06] And then, you know, there's like a whole sequence

[1:10:08] where sort of Grogu's left to sort of fend for himself

[1:10:11] and care for the sick Mandalorian.

[1:10:14] And he keeps running off to a local fisherman on the planet.

[1:10:21] A little confusing about just because it was like,

[1:10:24] oh, so there's other people on the planet

[1:10:25] who are not part of the kind of world.

[1:10:27] I guess there would have to be. It's a planet.

[1:10:29] No, that would make sense in a normal movie.

[1:10:31] But in Star Wars, that doesn't always compute.

[1:10:34] Yeah, I'm going to say this is very akin

[1:10:37] to the Beatles movie Hard Day's Night

[1:10:38] when Ringo breaks off from the band

[1:10:40] and walks around by himself.

[1:10:42] And it's like this sequence of kind of sweetness

[1:10:45] and innocence, and it's also a break from all the loud mania.

[1:10:48] And it ends up being a lot of people's

[1:10:50] like favorite part of the movie.

[1:10:51] Not that it's got everything you want,

[1:10:53] but it's such an oasis of joy and calmness.

[1:10:58] That's what this is like.

[1:11:00] Grogu was like the Ringo of this group in a good way.

[1:11:02] In a good way.

[1:11:03] It's like, just let me just,

[1:11:04] I don't need to see John Lennon cracking wise.

[1:11:06] Let me see Ringo being sweet and earnest walking around.

[1:11:09] It is such a, if we can talk about the Beatles for a moment.

[1:11:11] One, I love that section of that movie.

[1:11:12] I mean, that's a great movie,

[1:11:13] but I love that section of the movie.

[1:11:14] But also what a, what, you have to give Ringo credit

[1:11:18] for having the understanding and not the like the ego

[1:11:23] that he's like, oh, if I'm portrayed as this kind of like,

[1:11:26] you know, kind of like a simpler member of the Beatles

[1:11:28] who's not the fast talking, fast thinker.

[1:11:30] And I just have this moment where I'm kind of worrying

[1:11:32] about myself a little bit,

[1:11:34] like that it's going to look great as opposed to like,

[1:11:36] well, I don't look cool in this section.

[1:11:37] Hold on a second.

[1:11:38] Cause it really does look,

[1:11:39] seem like a lost child whose parents have,

[1:11:41] have let him wander away.

[1:11:43] But he's like, he's like,

[1:11:44] well, I'm one of, I'm the,

[1:11:45] I'm the third most popular member at that time,

[1:11:47] I guess the first, the most popular member of the band.

[1:11:49] Right.

[1:11:50] Cause they would always say he would get the most fan mail

[1:11:51] or something like that.

[1:11:52] I mean, there's nobody in the history of the human race

[1:11:55] who played the cards they were dealt

[1:11:57] better than Richard Starkey.

[1:12:01] You're a mediocre drummer

[1:12:03] in the, in one of the least famous cities on earth

[1:12:06] and you will become the most beloved human.

[1:12:10] If you and Paul McCartney walk into a room,

[1:12:12] they're more excited to see you.

[1:12:13] He is not a great technical drummer.

[1:12:15] He's not a great technical drummer.

[1:12:16] That's what I'm saying.

[1:12:17] That's what I'm saying.

[1:12:18] He brings a lot of joy to what he's doing.

[1:12:18] I would argue that he knew exactly what the songs needed.

[1:12:20] He was great with the middle.

[1:12:21] Played the cards that he was dealt.

[1:12:24] You never have to do a complicated film in your life.

[1:12:27] Stuart is looking at his phone.

[1:12:29] He's like, like the Beatles?

[1:12:34] That Ringo is Ringo is like, I'm on it.

[1:12:35] I'm on it in a band where the third genius is George Harrison

[1:12:40] the, I am working with three geniuses.

[1:12:42] I do not have to be a genius.

[1:12:44] I just gotta, I just gotta be, I just gotta be adorable.

[1:12:46] You know, so let them be adorable.

[1:12:49] Eventually quit the band and kind of come back

[1:12:51] and then who knows and all that stuff.

[1:12:53] Let's get, let's, let's take a trip back to Nalhutta

[1:12:55] and talk about how, so the whole point of this

[1:12:59] Fisherman character.

[1:13:01] How would the movie be different if the Beatles were in it?

[1:13:02] Where would you put the Beatles?

[1:13:03] If you were either casting this movie in the 60s

[1:13:07] and you had to put the Beatles in, who would they play?

[1:13:08] Or would the Beatles be characters in the movie?

[1:13:11] I mean, none of these characters are as interesting

[1:13:13] as the Beatles, but if I had to do it

[1:13:15] I think I'd make the Mandalorian George

[1:13:17] because I think George is the most amoral beetle.

[1:13:20] What?

[1:13:22] Really, even with all his spirituality and all that?

[1:13:23] Yes.

[1:13:24] He just was the most grumpy and kind of like,

[1:13:26] let's get on with it.

[1:13:27] Like, I think he would be very much to die in the streets.

[1:13:29] Come on.

[1:13:30] Not all the time.

[1:13:33] George Harrison was the most like shoulder shrugging,

[1:13:35] like, who cares, wanna go home and go to sleep, I think.

[1:13:40] Like when the Beatles got together in the 90s.

[1:13:42] That would be the argument for being the Mandalorian.

[1:13:44] Well, if you're both agreeing,

[1:13:46] it doesn't matter how you got there.

[1:13:46] I'll stand by it.

[1:13:47] George is amoral.

[1:13:48] But I think he's the Mandalorian.

[1:13:50] Grogu's Ringo.

[1:13:52] Paul is the guy on the ship

[1:13:54] who's like flapping his arms around a lot

[1:13:56] and really doing a lot of activity, but we don't need him.

[1:13:59] And John Lennon is-

[1:14:00] You know, you could have gotten a little bit easier on here,

[1:14:02] that kind of stuff, yeah.

[1:14:03] Yeah, and I don't know who John,

[1:14:04] I guess John Lennon's Radha.

[1:14:06] I don't know where else to put John.

[1:14:07] See, I think I might put-

[1:14:08] Maybe John Sigourney Weaver, I don't know.

[1:14:10] Maybe, I think I might put, let's see,

[1:14:13] you know, I might make George Radha.

[1:14:15] Okay, that's funny.

[1:14:17] And Paul would be Grogu.

[1:14:19] I can't figure it out.

[1:14:20] No, I can't, I can't do it.

[1:14:21] Okay.

[1:14:22] I don't know.

[1:14:23] Ringo is really Grogu, yeah.

[1:14:24] Ringo's Grogu.

[1:14:25] It could be John is the Mandalorian, Paul is Radha,

[1:14:29] and George could be the Hutt twins.

[1:14:31] Hey, let's take this long and windy road back to Nal Hutta,

[1:14:35] where Grogu is, the whole point of this fisherman character

[1:14:40] is he's just there to give Grogu some magic medicine,

[1:14:45] the antidote to the poison.

[1:14:46] And so he takes it back,

[1:14:49] gives it to the Mandalorian who wakes up,

[1:14:52] and they go to the ship,

[1:14:54] and he's like, we got two options here, kid.

[1:14:58] We can go on the run, and we'll always be on the run,

[1:15:01] or we can stay and fight.

[1:15:02] And Grogu's like, hell yeah, brother.

[1:15:05] He doesn't say it.

[1:15:05] No, he's like, goo goo ga ga, let's fight.

[1:15:08] Grogu needs blood.

[1:15:10] He pulls out, you know, he like puts on his little gizmo

[1:15:13] from Gremlins 2 headband.

[1:15:16] 10,000% gizmo watch so Grogu could run.

[1:15:20] There is no question.

[1:15:22] Yeah.

[1:15:24] So they break back into the Twins Palace.

[1:15:28] They battle through the droids out there.

[1:15:31] I didn't even realize this bounty hunter

[1:15:33] that is coming after him throughout this,

[1:15:36] he's from other Star Wars.

[1:15:37] He was in Clone Wars and stuff like that.

[1:15:39] I didn't realize that.

[1:15:39] So this is not a first appearance.

[1:15:41] Design-wise, he feels very of a piece of the Clone Wars.

[1:15:46] It's my understanding that the new guy,

[1:15:48] the new Star Wars guy in charge is very keen

[1:15:51] on bringing back a lot of these Clone Wars things.

[1:15:53] Yes, because that Clone Wars was his thing.

[1:15:55] Yeah.

[1:15:56] Yeah, so he wants to bring this character.

[1:15:57] But not knowing the Clone Wars at all,

[1:15:59] I was like, oh, this is a cool new guy.

[1:16:00] I guess I'll never know what his name is.

[1:16:01] But he was introduced in some other thing, you know.

[1:16:05] I don't care much about the stuff that happens

[1:16:08] in this last action sequence, other than we get these,

[1:16:12] we get these two giant robots that are Phil Tippett

[1:16:17] animated things.

[1:16:18] Those seemed very Warhammer-y, those two giant robots.

[1:16:20] And that was cool.

[1:16:22] I like to see the stop motion on those things.

[1:16:25] Yeah, and Grogu helps the Mandalorian to defeat them.

[1:16:27] Yeah, the young protect the old

[1:16:29] and the old protect the young.

[1:16:30] That's the way, right?

[1:16:32] That is the way.

[1:16:33] Never take off your mask.

[1:16:34] No, the way's a song by Fastball, actually.

[1:16:36] Oh, nevermind.

[1:16:40] I don't know.

[1:16:41] They fight their way in.

[1:16:43] They free Radha.

[1:16:44] They fight the twins.

[1:16:45] Radha fights the twins.

[1:16:46] They all collapse into the pit.

[1:16:48] Everyone's split up into their different fights.

[1:16:50] So Mando is fighting Embo.

[1:16:52] Radha's fighting his Aunt Knuckle.

[1:16:54] Gumbo. Grogu is, I don't know.

[1:16:56] Harpo is fighting Chico.

[1:16:57] Harpo's fighting Chico.

[1:16:59] Harpo punches Margaret Dumas,

[1:17:01] punches the old lady that he's playing guards with.

[1:17:03] Oh, yeah, she can't take it there.

[1:17:05] Punches Margaret Dumas.

[1:17:08] He does in Chico.

[1:17:09] He does?

[1:17:10] Yeah.

[1:17:12] Is it Margaret Dumas or is it the other woman

[1:17:13] that he punches?

[1:17:13] I can never remember.

[1:17:14] But they're playing guards.

[1:17:15] Yeah, you're right.

[1:17:16] It's not Margaret Dumas.

[1:17:17] It's one of the women in the guard.

[1:17:18] And he instigates a fist fight

[1:17:19] and he punches her in the stomach so hard

[1:17:21] that it lifts her off the ground.

[1:17:22] And Chico goes, oh yeah, she can't take it there.

[1:17:29] It is such comedy fighting.

[1:17:30] I feel bad we're all laughing at it.

[1:17:33] At no point do you think he's really hurt this person.

[1:17:35] Yeah, yeah, no.

[1:17:36] It is all very clear.

[1:17:37] It's clearly a gag.

[1:17:37] It was not a thing he did on set

[1:17:39] because he was so into the Harpo character

[1:17:41] and they left it in, you know?

[1:17:45] Anyway.

[1:17:46] Anyway, they're all fighting.

[1:17:46] They all collapse into the pool of.

[1:17:48] Yeah.

[1:17:49] Yeah, so the dragon's sake is gonna kill them all.

[1:17:51] Yeah.

[1:17:52] Force powers to pull Radha up.

[1:17:55] So Radha is safe.

[1:17:57] So the good guys are safe

[1:17:58] and the bad guys are worm baited.

[1:17:59] The bad guys fall in love with Radha.

[1:18:01] And the bounty hunter just goes like,

[1:18:02] peace out, just leaves, yeah.

[1:18:04] Yeah.

[1:18:05] You paid me to fight for you, not to save you.

[1:18:07] He should have said that, but he doesn't talk, so.

[1:18:09] They gotta escape.

[1:18:10] And so they call in the.

[1:18:15] No, I think they actually just appear.

[1:18:17] They just show up.

[1:18:18] And they do an air strike.

[1:18:19] They're like, we're gonna blow up the hut palace.

[1:18:21] And they're like, but we're in the hut palace.

[1:18:24] Well, we gotta get out in time.

[1:18:25] And so they have to butch Cassidy,

[1:18:26] jump from a high point as the dust blows up behind them.

[1:18:29] It's so dumb.

[1:18:30] They fire on his location.

[1:18:32] And they're like, are you sure, dude?

[1:18:33] And he's like, never been sure about.

[1:18:34] Are you sure?

[1:18:35] We can't do that, yeah.

[1:18:36] This is the beat of the movie.

[1:18:39] 100% I would lose if I was in charge.

[1:18:42] Like, it feels so much like, well, it's a Star Wars movie.

[1:18:47] It's gotta end with some like X-Wings

[1:18:48] coming and shooting something.

[1:18:50] Yeah.

[1:18:51] We don't need it at all.

[1:18:53] It's so unnecessary.

[1:18:54] It raises even more questions for me about like,

[1:18:56] so the mission of the X-Wings now,

[1:18:58] they're gonna activate an entire X-Wing squadron

[1:19:01] to save this like free agent bounty hunter

[1:19:04] who keeps screwing things up for them.

[1:19:06] Like they just blow up this hut building

[1:19:07] for no real reason,

[1:19:08] since the huts have just been eaten by a giant snake.

[1:19:11] You know, there's no, it's just totally unnecessary.

[1:19:13] And they jump from a high height

[1:19:15] and Rado's like, that moat isn't that deep.

[1:19:17] But of course they're fine.

[1:19:18] It doesn't matter.

[1:19:19] It's just a waste.

[1:19:20] Who cares?

[1:19:21] Well, we learn after the fact, as I said before,

[1:19:23] they were feeding information to the Empire, so.

[1:19:26] Yes, so that's why they had to take them out, you know.

[1:19:28] But yeah, Rado stays and decides to work

[1:19:32] with the New Republic folks.

[1:19:35] And what's his name?

[1:19:36] The co-pilot or whatever.

[1:19:37] I think I've got a suit that'll fit you.

[1:19:39] It's like, no, you don't.

[1:19:40] Look at this guy.

[1:19:41] That's weird.

[1:19:41] He's wearing a New Republic muumuu.

[1:19:43] Like there's no flight suit

[1:19:45] that fits a guy with his slug body shape.

[1:19:47] Come on.

[1:19:48] Mando and Grogu is what I meant to say.

[1:19:51] They get in their ship and fly off into a new adventure.

[1:19:55] Mandalorian season four, who knows?

[1:19:57] Maybe that's where they're going.

[1:19:59] That's it.

[1:20:00] That's the story. That's the movie. So to boil it down, the plot of this movie is the

[1:20:08] Mandalorian takes on a job, messes it up, gets in trouble, gets saved from messing up

[1:20:15] the job. End of the movie. I could see a version of this where it's a stripped down crime thriller

[1:20:20] version of a Star Wars movie, where it works really well, but it still has to be so big

[1:20:25] and end with an X-Wing blow up at the end. Sometimes you see a movie and you're like,

[1:20:33] oh, this is like 10 pounds of movie in a five pound bag. They put so much stuff. This feels

[1:20:36] very much like three pounds of movie in a 20 pound bag, where you're like, I can't even

[1:20:40] find the movie in the bag.

[1:20:45] We're trending there already. Let's do our final judgments, whether this is a good, bad

[1:20:48] movie, a bad, bad movie or a movie we kind of liked. I'm going to say that, like, yeah,

[1:20:55] what you're saying is correct. The biggest problem that this movie has, I think, is it

[1:20:59] doesn't justify why it's a movie. Like, it doesn't feel like a movie. And I'm not saying

[1:21:06] the stakes have to be high, but there has to be a character arc, you know, like it has

[1:21:12] to feel like things are happening sort of in a inevitable progression rather than like,

[1:21:19] and then this thing happened and then this thing has to feel like there's a story. It

[1:21:22] is telling you a story, you know, and this doesn't really feel like that said, I kind

[1:21:27] of like this movie. I think that it benefited from me having pretty rock bottom expectations.

[1:21:33] I'm at a point now where, like, I still love the Star Wars stuff I love and the rest of

[1:21:39] Star Wars stuff, new Star Wars stuff. I don't know. Maybe I'll check in on it if there's

[1:21:43] a reason to, but I don't care that much anymore. So having those low expectations and feeling

[1:21:51] like, oh, this is a movie for kids, not necessarily for me, as I said before, I enjoyed it enough,

[1:21:58] particularly the stuff with the little guys. My whole letterboxd review was, quote, let's

[1:22:04] do a silly one. And that's the way I felt about all that stuff where it's like, yeah,

[1:22:08] we can be a little goofy here. So, you know, I have almost already forgotten about it,

[1:22:15] as you can see from my trying to summarize it. But I enjoyed it enough while I watched

[1:22:21] it. What do you what, Elliot, you give a. Oh, sure. I'm going to say that similar to

[1:22:27] the movie Solo, I think that this was not a Star Wars movie and was otherwise the same

[1:22:31] movie. I probably would have liked it more if it was just like this bounty hunter episode

[1:22:37] of an adventure in a in a far off space fantasy world. But I think once you slap the Star

[1:22:41] Wars name on it and are in that world, even after the devaluation that that world has

[1:22:47] had over the past 20 some odd years, I still feel like I'm expecting a little bit more.

[1:22:51] I'm expecting something a little bit more magical, a little more special. And I think

[1:22:55] this is the first Star Wars movie where I dozed off for like a minute in the middle

[1:22:58] of it. Like this is the first like seeing this with my this is my son's first Star Wars

[1:23:03] movie that he was seeing in the theaters. And he seemed pretty kind of like not that

[1:23:07] engaged by it. And so even if this was to be like one for the kids, like it didn't it

[1:23:12] didn't satisfy the kid that I was curious about that. Yeah. Yeah. He afterwards he was

[1:23:16] I was like, did you like it? He goes, it's OK. And like, that's pretty fair. How old

[1:23:20] is your son? He's seven and a half. OK. And but he's seen the other movies and he he got

[1:23:25] so into the world of Star Wars as a as a thing to know about, you know, like the of the original

[1:23:30] movie so much. And so I think and then there's that for me, at least there's that tinge of

[1:23:35] like, if this is the one for kids, why is this the one where the hero is supposed to

[1:23:40] be the morally gray character who has to kill to protect the memory of what his face looks

[1:23:45] like and things like that? It feels like this movie is it's like a mishmash. And so I'm

[1:23:48] going to call it a bad, bad movie. But it's we've seen worse movies. It's not it's not

[1:23:53] like I was while we were watching it. I was not like, oh, oh, oh. Instead, it's just like,

[1:23:58] all right. I wish they had. I wish they had like just tried a little harder instead of

[1:24:03] if it felt a lot like, oh, we have the release date for the Mandalorian movie, so we got

[1:24:07] to get something done, you know, as opposed to what's the greatest, coolest story we could

[1:24:12] tell with these characters, you know, were or what what's what's one moment with them

[1:24:16] that's going to be so memorable that we got to put it on the big screen system to be so

[1:24:18] cool, you know? Yeah. And that's the kind of stuff that I hope for when I see a Star

[1:24:21] Wars movie. Stu, Will, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, I'm going to jump in. I'm going

[1:24:27] to say this is a movie I that is just about a movie I kind of liked. I feel like it wastes

[1:24:34] a little bit too much time in a bunch of places. And as much as I like, you know, when I watching

[1:24:41] the original Star Wars movies like that stuff would be like the establishing shots was the

[1:24:45] stuff that got me so excited. I feel like that, like I've kind of lost a little bit

[1:24:50] of that now. I don't know why. Maybe something changed inside me. But all the stuff with

[1:24:55] the little guys I was a big fan of. And yeah, you know, I don't need I don't need to see

[1:25:00] a jacked up. I'm not into that. Somebody is sure. But yeah, it's kind of missing any.

[1:25:07] It's missing any like magical moments that I feel like even, you know, I feel like Last

[1:25:14] Jedi had a few moments that were like, oh, wow, that's pretty. That's pretty crazy to

[1:25:19] even or what's the what's the one with the prequel one? Oh, damn it. The one that Chris

[1:25:28] wrote. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rogue one. Yeah. I think that had some good stuff in it, too.

[1:25:32] But yeah, I don't know. Yeah. This this one didn't really have any magical moments for

[1:25:36] me. Well, when you were just watching the movie, you just texted me. Call the Oscars.

[1:25:41] Yeah. It's my it's a five star transcendent statement of where we are as a country. It's

[1:25:50] a statement of what the star was French. I should be. No, I'm only kidding. This movie

[1:25:54] forgot to exist. It's a bad, bad movie. It's the equivalent of. Yeah, it forgot to have any

[1:26:00] point of view or stance or comment really on anything at all. It is like watching somebody

[1:26:07] else play with action figures for two hours and you have to every now and then be like,

[1:26:11] why is that guy doing that? And he got it. And the kid kind of goes like, well, because he's bad.

[1:26:15] And it's like, OK. And that's what it was like for me. And again, it probably influenced that

[1:26:21] I started watching it at eleven o'clock at night. And so this movie finished at one twelve a.m.

[1:26:27] and I've never been more glad to see the closing credits come up as I thank God. And I just got

[1:26:31] out of there and you're still tired from it. Still, I'll never recover. So it's a little bit

[1:26:36] of an unfair review, but I'm going to say it's not it's inoffensive more than bad, but I'll say

[1:26:42] bad, bad movie. I feel like we live in a world right now where the general feeling in terms of

[1:26:48] consumer products, things that are sold to people or stories they're told people is that's good

[1:26:52] enough. This will be good. Yeah. You know. Yeah. And I feel like it's the equivalent of that. It's

[1:26:56] not terrible, but it's like this is good enough to me. It's like the smartest kid in class wrote

[1:27:02] a term paper an hour before it was due just so that he didn't get in trouble. It's like this is

[1:27:07] all right. I don't know. You obviously were not inspired when you did this. And there's enough

[1:27:13] glimmers of competence in here that I see you could do something interesting, but you didn't

[1:27:17] do it here. So Jon Favreau is generally competent enough. Yeah. I think the first season of

[1:27:22] Mandalorian is a really good time and and like earned its runtime. Basically, I don't think I

[1:27:29] needed any more seasons of it, but it was it was a delight and it filled it filled the had a nice

[1:27:35] simple story that a lot of Star Wars stuff didn't have and it wasn't exposition heavy. And I thought

[1:27:40] it was it it like did a Star Wars thing that I had not seen done before in a nice enough way.

[1:27:47] And this is sort of like a video game cut scene that goes on for two hours and 12 minutes.

[1:27:51] Put that on the poster. Yeah. All fair.

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[1:33:47] I'd like to take a few moments

[1:33:48] before we move on to mention some things.

[1:33:50] I'd like to plug from the world of Elliot Kaelin.

[1:33:53] And guess what?

[1:33:54] It's all the same stuff that I usually plug.

[1:33:57] My new comic, Barbarian Behind Bars,

[1:33:59] is roaring towards the finish of its five-issue miniseries.

[1:34:03] As we're recording this, issue four just came out.

[1:34:06] And issue five will be coming out soon.

[1:34:08] Find out the exciting, thrilling conclusion,

[1:34:10] for now perhaps, to the story of Darkor the Barbarian.

[1:34:14] Will he get out from behind bars?

[1:34:16] You're gonna have to read issue five to find out.

[1:34:18] Harley Quinn, I continue to write for DC Comics,

[1:34:20] despite the wishes of many Harley Quinn fans.

[1:34:24] And my Bat-Quinn storyline, The Harknight Returns,

[1:34:32] is currently running.

[1:34:34] And it's actually getting some of the best feedback

[1:34:36] that I've gotten during the run so far.

[1:34:38] So I hope people enjoy it.

[1:34:40] This is Harley Quinn as her understanding

[1:34:42] of what a grim, gritty Batman would be like.

[1:34:45] And that one's continuing.

[1:34:46] And it's a six-issue storyline.

[1:34:49] And I think it's going along well.

[1:34:50] So wait, it's a comedy book

[1:34:52] that features primarily female characters.

[1:34:54] I would imagine you're gonna get weirdos

[1:34:58] complaining about you.

[1:34:59] The weird thing is, I mostly get complaints

[1:35:01] from people who don't like that it's a funny book.

[1:35:05] They want it to be an adventure book,

[1:35:07] rather than a, or like,

[1:35:08] this is how we're supposed to take Harley Quinn seriously.

[1:35:10] I'm like the clown lady.

[1:35:11] The clown lady, yeah.

[1:35:12] Yeah, but I love writing it.

[1:35:14] So I hope that some people enjoy it.

[1:35:15] But this is a Bat Quinn storyline

[1:35:17] people seem to be liking.

[1:35:18] And my book, Joke Farming, How to Write Nonsense.

[1:35:21] Joke Farming, How to Write Comedy and Other Nonsense

[1:35:23] from the University of Chicago Press

[1:35:25] is still out there

[1:35:26] and will continue to be out there forever, I guess.

[1:35:28] Pick it up.

[1:35:29] I just finished recording the audiobook version of it.

[1:35:32] People have asked me about,

[1:35:33] will there be an audiobook?

[1:35:34] I just finished recording it.

[1:35:35] I'm not sure when that will be out,

[1:35:36] but I think relatively soon.

[1:35:38] So stay tuned to this space.

[1:35:39] I heard when that comes out,

[1:35:41] if you listen to it on like two times speed,

[1:35:44] it's actually illegal to do it.

[1:35:46] You'll get arrested.

[1:35:47] It's too dangerous.

[1:35:48] Yeah, yeah.

[1:35:50] Hey, let's answer some letters from listeners.

[1:35:53] They've done so much for us.

[1:35:55] Let's do the bare minimum for them.

[1:35:57] Yeah, and I'm sure they don't even know who I am,

[1:35:59] but I'll get in on this.

[1:36:00] Yeah, grab a fork, let's get in on this.

[1:36:03] This first letter is from a John, last name withheld.

[1:36:05] Hey guys, I just came out with a Mandalorian movie.

[1:36:07] I hope you like it.

[1:36:08] Can't wait to hear what you say about it.

[1:36:11] From John the Chef, last name withheld.

[1:36:17] John, you know, was an improviser.

[1:36:18] He did that.

[1:36:19] He was on an improv team in Ion, Chicago.

[1:36:21] Oh, really?

[1:36:21] Back in the early 90s.

[1:36:22] Yeah, like around when like Seth Meyers was doing it

[1:36:25] and Ian Robertson.

[1:36:26] Other tremendous movies.

[1:36:28] I will never forget.

[1:36:30] I will never forget seeing Swingers for the first time

[1:36:32] when I was an adolescent.

[1:36:34] I saw it.

[1:36:34] I used to do this thing where this guy in New Jersey

[1:36:37] had a program where you would see a movie

[1:36:38] before it was released.

[1:36:39] He would arrange to have a movie before it was released

[1:36:41] and sometimes he'd have speakers afterwards

[1:36:43] and I would see this every week

[1:36:44] and they showed Swingers and it was just,

[1:36:46] it was like, I was, I think, 14 or 15

[1:36:48] or whatever age I was when it came out.

[1:36:50] But I was like, I thought it was so funny

[1:36:52] and I was like, what a cool movie.

[1:36:54] Like, what a cool, funny.

[1:36:55] And I haven't watched it in years,

[1:36:56] but I'm like, there's something about like

[1:36:58] seeing that movie and being like,

[1:36:59] this guy's gonna, I can't wait to see

[1:37:00] what else this guy is gonna do.

[1:37:01] Yeah.

[1:37:02] And I just, I want him to do more stuff

[1:37:03] that's his own stuff.

[1:37:04] The funny parts of Swingers

[1:37:05] are really genuinely funny.

[1:37:07] It's got like a really sure hand on its comedy.

[1:37:10] And it was very cool until every uncool person

[1:37:14] wanted to be cool.

[1:37:15] Well, it's like how Austin Powers,

[1:37:17] when Austin Powers came out,

[1:37:18] it felt like it was the cutting edge of movie comedy

[1:37:20] and it so quickly became like, oh, this again.

[1:37:23] Yeah, do I make you horny, baby?

[1:37:24] Great.

[1:37:24] No, baby, no.

[1:37:29] This letter is from Kevin Lastname Withheld,

[1:37:33] who writes,

[1:37:34] Hey, Peaches.

[1:37:35] In 2024, I finished the book,

[1:37:37] The Brothers Kermazov by Dostoevsky.

[1:37:40] While reading it,

[1:37:41] I found my receipt for the purchase

[1:37:43] of the book in the pages.

[1:37:44] It was purchased from B. Dalton in December of 2006.

[1:37:50] This book had been in my possession

[1:37:52] through multiple moves for nearly two decades

[1:37:55] before I actually read it.

[1:37:57] What's strange is I read many longer

[1:37:59] and more difficult books in that span,

[1:38:01] but for whatever reason,

[1:38:02] I continued to pass over Brothers Kermazov

[1:38:05] again and again whenever I finished a book

[1:38:07] and needed a new one.

[1:38:09] Brothers Kermazov was excellent.

[1:38:10] I'm glad I read it.

[1:38:11] And now it's a title that's been on my shelf

[1:38:14] the longest without,

[1:38:15] I'm sorry.

[1:38:15] And now the title that has been on my shelf

[1:38:17] the longest without being read

[1:38:19] is The Adventures of Augie March,

[1:38:21] which I'm sure I'll get around to eventually.

[1:38:24] Your recent episode in the film Mercy

[1:38:26] featured two book-related letters,

[1:38:28] so I figure this is fair game.

[1:38:30] What is the book or series or author

[1:38:33] you keep putting off

[1:38:34] even though you tell yourself

[1:38:36] you want to get to it someday?

[1:38:38] Best, Kevin, last name with hope.

[1:38:40] I think this is a funny letter to me

[1:38:42] because I'm literally sitting next to a bookshelf

[1:38:44] with many books on.

[1:38:45] This is my to-read bookshelf,

[1:38:47] and there's so many books on it

[1:38:48] where I'm like, yeah,

[1:38:48] I've owned this book for a long time

[1:38:51] without reading it.

[1:38:51] There was a, I've read like a,

[1:38:53] I had this, I think it was a year or two ago,

[1:38:57] I finally read the Science Fiction Hall of Fame

[1:39:00] volume 2A, volume 2B,

[1:39:02] books that I remember buying on vacation

[1:39:04] when my son was a baby

[1:39:05] and he is now 12 years old.

[1:39:07] And I'm like, but the,

[1:39:10] so I feel like nobody should feel ashamed

[1:39:12] for holding onto a book for a long time

[1:39:13] and never getting around to reading it

[1:39:14] and they finally get around to read it,

[1:39:15] especially when it's a book

[1:39:16] like The Brothers Karamazov,

[1:39:17] which is like,

[1:39:18] that book is already 100 years old,

[1:39:20] you know, more than 100 years old.

[1:39:21] Like, it's not gonna,

[1:39:22] the book, the time is only gonna

[1:39:24] help you appreciate that book more

[1:39:26] because you're gonna be older

[1:39:27] and you'll have more life behind you.

[1:39:28] That being said,

[1:39:29] I also have the first volume

[1:39:31] of Remembrance of Things Past

[1:39:33] or In Search of a Lost Time,

[1:39:34] the pro series,

[1:39:36] and I'm like, I'll get to that

[1:39:37] at some point, probably.

[1:39:39] But the other one is,

[1:39:40] I keep telling myself,

[1:39:42] when I finally finish the job that I'm on,

[1:39:45] I will finally take out from the library

[1:39:47] Gargantua Pentagral

[1:39:48] and I'll finally read it.

[1:39:50] I've wanted to read it for years.

[1:39:52] It sounds like it's super funny,

[1:39:53] as funny as a 17th century

[1:39:54] French philosophy book can be.

[1:39:57] But that's one where I've been

[1:39:58] putting it off for a long, long

[1:40:00] That being said, just on a whim recently, I got from the library and read the biography

[1:40:04] of Samuel Johnson, which is like 900 pages of just Samuel Johnson going out to dinner

[1:40:09] and saying witty things.

[1:40:10] So I should really pick up these books and finally read them.

[1:40:13] I can't remember whether I mentioned this specific thing on the show before, but that's

[1:40:19] never stopped us in the past.

[1:40:22] I don't think it's been on my shelf for particularly long because I can remember exactly when I

[1:40:28] got it.

[1:40:29] I'll get to that in a second.

[1:40:30] But the thing that sprung to mind is The Mirror in the Light, which is the third book from

[1:40:36] Hilary Mantel about the Tudor court after Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

[1:40:41] And the thing is, I read both of those books, the earlier books.

[1:40:45] I loved them.

[1:40:46] I was excited to read the third book, but I got it for Christmas right before COVID

[1:40:53] hit and we all went into lockdown.

[1:40:55] And my brain was not equipped to read something that complex at that point.

[1:41:02] And now it's years later and I'm like, I can't remember the hundreds of historical figures

[1:41:10] she has put into these books and what their relationship is to one another.

[1:41:14] And so I just haven't picked it back up again because I'm like, I don't think I'll follow

[1:41:17] it anymore.

[1:41:20] Much as if George R.R. Martin ever finished the next book, I'd be like, I have no idea

[1:41:26] what's going on at this point.

[1:41:29] I could fill you in, buddy.

[1:41:35] I have been meaning to read the Fathered and the Grey Mouser stories by Fritz Lieber forever.

[1:41:42] I know I would love them.

[1:41:43] I just never get around to it.

[1:41:45] So that I would really like to read a series of.

[1:41:50] You know what we should do?

[1:41:51] I just read for the first, I started reading those recently and I read volume four because

[1:41:54] the first one that fell into my hands and volume one.

[1:41:56] We should read those together.

[1:41:57] You should.

[1:42:00] Let's read them together because they're super fun.

[1:42:01] I'd love to talk about them with you.

[1:42:02] Yeah.

[1:42:03] Awesome.

[1:42:04] I guess it's a boring answer, but when I see when I hear this question, it's the book Dune.

[1:42:10] I've had Dune since I was 14 years old and been meaning to read it.

[1:42:16] And I'm sure I would like it.

[1:42:17] I love a lot of sort of adjacent things.

[1:42:20] I like, I mean, not that these things are all identical, but it's like, I like Lord

[1:42:24] of the Rings.

[1:42:25] I like Game of Thrones again.

[1:42:27] And I like all the Isaac Asimov Foundation series.

[1:42:30] And I like Stranger in a Strange Land.

[1:42:32] I mean, stuff where it's like, well, you're this is probably going to hit something for

[1:42:37] you.

[1:42:38] And I've just I've had it since then.

[1:42:39] I don't know what I don't know what it is.

[1:42:42] Every time I pick it up, I'm like, I don't know.

[1:42:43] There's just so much happening and I just put it down.

[1:42:48] Even as someone who likes Dune less than people who like Dune, I find it very readable, even

[1:42:52] at, you know, 800 pages or whatever.

[1:42:55] I know.

[1:42:56] I think the thing about Dune is I think you should try to go into it.

[1:43:01] I've read it.

[1:43:02] I've read the first book, Dune book, I don't know, probably four times.

[1:43:04] And the sequels I have, it's like as you get farther into the series, I have read them

[1:43:09] less and less until there's some I just have not read because you only really need to read

[1:43:13] the first book.

[1:43:14] But I think go into it being like as you would with any science fiction or anything, there's

[1:43:19] going to be a lot of world stuff I don't quite get a hang of.

[1:43:23] Yeah.

[1:43:24] Let me not worry about it because it's so it's I think I think it's written so so beautifully,

[1:43:28] you know, it really for me, at least Dune casts a specific kind of spell.

[1:43:32] Yeah.

[1:43:33] Only thing I can really compare it to is when I finally took Stuart Wellington's advice

[1:43:37] and started reading Gene Wolfe novels.

[1:43:39] And it was like once I started reading Shadow of the Torturer, where I was like, oh, man,

[1:43:43] this is like if this is like Dune kicked up a notch, even in terms of like, I got to figure

[1:43:48] out what's going on here.

[1:43:49] But so I guess read Dune or read Shadow of the Torturer and then read Dune and you'll

[1:43:53] be like, oh, man, this Dune is a breezy read.

[1:43:57] He's not he's not using every every page doesn't have five antiquated words.

[1:44:01] I have to look up on my phone to figure out what he's talking about.

[1:44:06] The second, you know, very, very important letter is from Jonathan Lastname Withheld,

[1:44:12] who writes, Hello, Peaches.

[1:44:15] I was listening to an old episode of the show where Stuart explained he could make many

[1:44:19] songs into songs about him by replacing you with Stu.

[1:44:24] I realized you could do this with man and Dan.

[1:44:27] Give me your songs like the Beatles, Nowhere Dan, Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Dan and the

[1:44:32] classic song where Neil Diamond explains to a girl that she will soon need a Dan.

[1:44:38] Songs about Elliot pending, Jonathan Lastname Withheld.

[1:44:42] It was a real problem when my kids realized that Elliot is an anagram for toilet.

[1:44:46] That was not helpful.

[1:44:47] I have one more L than the word toilet, but otherwise it mostly works.

[1:44:50] But, you know, but it's hard to fit into songs.

[1:44:53] Yeah.

[1:44:54] Yeah.

[1:44:55] Well, there must be a lot of songs he could put Will into, though.

[1:44:56] Right.

[1:44:57] Yeah.

[1:44:58] And sometimes I'm just a Will.

[1:44:59] Yeah.

[1:45:00] Mm hmm.

[1:45:01] I'll get back to you, but I'm excited to figure that out.

[1:45:10] Will crazy after all these years, a little will schoolhouse rock.

[1:45:17] I'm only a will.

[1:45:19] Yeah.

[1:45:20] Mm hmm.

[1:45:21] Mm hmm.

[1:45:22] Well, and of course, the Metallica's first album, Will'em All and the Willing Moon.

[1:45:30] Yeah.

[1:45:31] Any license to will shoot to will a bungalow will what did you will bungalow will the ruins

[1:45:42] that just OK song, just taking one name and replacing it with another name.

[1:45:48] Yeah.

[1:45:49] Yeah.

[1:45:50] They're similar.

[1:45:51] Bill and Will are basically the same name.

[1:45:52] It's heartbreaking.

[1:45:53] It is.

[1:45:54] Yeah.

[1:45:55] Oh, I'm shattered.

[1:45:56] Um, let's recommend some movies, movies we've seen recently or not so recently.

[1:46:06] It doesn't matter.

[1:46:07] I don't know why I always specify that that might be a better use of your time.

[1:46:11] I I went out and saw the Sheep Detectives, a movie that the moment my wife like I saw

[1:46:21] this trailer, I sent it to my wife because I'm like, this is one hundred percent going

[1:46:27] to be Audrey's alley because it's she's a murder mystery and cozy mystery with cute

[1:46:34] animals.

[1:46:35] Yeah.

[1:46:36] Yeah.

[1:46:37] We've we've we've made this mystery even cozier with the addition of sheep.

[1:46:40] Yeah.

[1:46:41] But it's kind of amazing.

[1:46:43] Like the movie manages to be, you know, a functional mystery, extremely funny and also

[1:46:52] like touching and about real emotions at the same time while also being a movie about sheep

[1:47:00] who are solving a crime.

[1:47:03] And I feel like, you know, the there are certain like special family films that come along

[1:47:11] like your Paddington twos or your babes.

[1:47:14] And I'm comfortable now adding the Sheep Detectives to that class.

[1:47:18] I really, really enjoyed it.

[1:47:21] So that's my recommendation.

[1:47:23] I saw that movie and I also really enjoyed it.

[1:47:24] It was really good.

[1:47:25] Yeah.

[1:47:26] I'm going to recommend another big budget sequel similar to Mando and Grog.

[1:47:34] But this one, I think, captured kind of the spirit of the original material a little better

[1:47:38] for me.

[1:47:39] And that, of course, was the recent smash hit.

[1:47:42] The Devil Wears Prada 2.

[1:47:46] As a fan of the original, I feel like it updates a number of the things.

[1:47:51] It omits the elements you don't like, specifically Adrian Grenier.

[1:47:58] I feel like it's such a joy to get more of Meryl Streep doing this character.

[1:48:06] She's so fun and she's such like, I don't know, she's such a great performer.

[1:48:10] It's just great to have her in a movie being kind of mean.

[1:48:15] And the movie also takes advantage of putting her in situations that are comedic just because,

[1:48:22] of course, it would be very silly to see her have to go to a normal cafeteria or fly coach,

[1:48:28] for instance.

[1:48:29] So I found I found this to be a lot of fun.

[1:48:33] It was just what I was hoping for from this movie.

[1:48:39] It delivered.

[1:48:40] Yeah.

[1:48:41] And as a sequel, it kind of over-delivered because there's always a little bit of doubt

[1:48:44] with a sequel.

[1:48:45] Are they going to be able to recapture?

[1:48:47] So when they do it, it's a feat.

[1:48:49] It's a feat to be a good sequel.

[1:48:52] Especially considering how much time has passed, you would think that there would be a lot

[1:48:56] of effort to just do a lot of like, remember this?

[1:49:00] And they did not that much of that.

[1:49:02] Yeah.

[1:49:03] I think a lot of the original team was involved.

[1:49:06] That's often.

[1:49:07] Yeah.

[1:49:08] That can that can help.

[1:49:10] My recommendation is going to be a Bone Temple, 28 years later, the Bone Temple.

[1:49:14] I just saw it last week.

[1:49:16] And I know it came out like a year ago.

[1:49:19] I was a I was a fan of 28 Days Later.

[1:49:24] Didn't see 28 weeks later.

[1:49:25] 28 years later, I thought was good.

[1:49:28] But in a lot of Danny Boyle films, I although I really enjoyed the ride, it felt like a

[1:49:32] little bit sort of disheveled in a way, although I enjoyed it well enough.

[1:49:37] And the Bone Temple was like, awesome.

[1:49:40] It was just like a really well constructed story with a terrifically fearsome villain.

[1:49:47] And I was compelled and just thrilled the entire time.

[1:49:51] And I'm not in the bag for zombie stuff always.

[1:49:54] I'm not a guaranteed give a crap about the zombie landscape.

[1:49:58] But I was.

[1:50:00] whole movie had me and I just was so grateful to be wrapped, you know, I just to be like

[1:50:06] my attention was just so thoroughly held that I had finished. I'm like, oh yeah, good story,

[1:50:12] good movie, just a solidly good movie in a way that I was, I loved it.

[1:50:17] Yeah. It's really special.

[1:50:18] It's really good. And I feel it's too bad that it was released so soon after 28 years

[1:50:22] later because I think that affected how many people went to see it and how well it did.

[1:50:27] I think it, if they, I think people kind of didn't realize it was a different movie.

[1:50:30] I didn't at first when it came out. Yeah. I remember seeing the billboards for it and

[1:50:34] I'm like, didn't they just come out with one of these?

[1:50:35] Is this like DLC? What's going on here?

[1:50:38] Yeah.

[1:50:39] Downloadable content.

[1:50:40] And 28 years later, I liked, I liked 20 years later, but this was, this was really a special

[1:50:46] film.

[1:50:47] Yeah. It's really incredible.

[1:50:48] And that they, it's rare that you get to get into the psychology of the zombie, you know,

[1:50:52] to like, which was really good.

[1:50:54] I was genuinely moved by that whole bit.

[1:50:56] Yeah.

[1:50:57] That's a good movie.

[1:50:58] I'm going to, I'm also going to recommend a movie that's got a little bit of the spooky,

[1:51:02] a little bit creepy about it.

[1:51:05] And is it a Czech comedy directed by Old Rich Lipski?

[1:51:08] Yes, indeed it is.

[1:51:09] That's right.

[1:51:10] This is a movie that was mentioned briefly in our Evan Dorkin episode.

[1:51:13] This is the Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians.

[1:51:16] This time it is a parody, a parody of a specific Jules Verne novel, but with a lot of added

[1:51:22] stuff to it.

[1:51:23] And it was not as immediately funny to me as Dinner for Adele or Lemonade Joe, the other

[1:51:31] Lipski movies that I've recommended on this podcast.

[1:51:33] But it gets really, really funny.

[1:51:35] And it's just like, these guys are, this opera singer is vacationing in the Carpathian mountains

[1:51:41] and the whole thing is, he's singing Constantly Shattering Glass and things like that.

[1:51:45] And his, his love has disappeared and he's got it.

[1:51:48] He wants, he's looking for her and he becomes convinced that she is in a castle near this

[1:51:52] village that he's in where people think that the devil is there and there's spooky things

[1:51:56] going on.

[1:51:57] It turns out to be a little bit more science fictiony.

[1:51:58] And there are some, there are some gags in it that I think are so funny.

[1:52:02] And there's a lot of Jan Svankmajer designed kind of like steampunk things.

[1:52:08] And it looks really good.

[1:52:09] It's, as it went on, I thought it got sillier and sillier and funnier and funnier.

[1:52:13] And it's readily available on Tubi.

[1:52:16] So there's nothing stopping you from watching it.

[1:52:18] And that's the Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians.

[1:52:20] Again, this, Old Rich Lipski, his movies are the closest I feel like I've come to finding

[1:52:24] Mel Brooks movies made by someone who is not Mel Brooks.

[1:52:28] And I think they're really funny.

[1:52:29] I came close to dialing one of these up the other day.

[1:52:32] I know that's not as good as actually watching it, but that is the furthest you've gotten

[1:52:37] me toward watching a Czech New Wave movie yet.

[1:52:40] Well, these are not Czech New Wave movies.

[1:52:41] These are just Czech movies.

[1:52:42] These are not part of the New Wave.

[1:52:43] You can make an argument that Lemonade Joe is a little New Wavy in some ways.

[1:52:47] You gotta sneak like a bikini in the title or something and dance all over it.

[1:52:50] No, the thing is, like, I'm no, I'll like it.

[1:52:52] I don't know what's like.

[1:52:53] I this is like that book question.

[1:52:56] I don't know why I haven't.

[1:52:57] I should watch a genuine classic of I should watch closely.

[1:53:00] Watch trains.

[1:53:01] You should watch closely.

[1:53:02] Watch trains is is legitimately a movie on a different level.

[1:53:05] That's just I think that's an amazing movie.

[1:53:07] But there's something there can be something as much as it makes me feel like a Philistine.

[1:53:11] Sometimes there are times I'm like, I don't know if I want to watch a subtitled movie

[1:53:14] right now.

[1:53:15] But then when I watch them, I really enjoy them.

[1:53:18] You know, I start I start to forget that I'm having to check the subtitles and it makes

[1:53:23] me look at the screen and not get distracted.

[1:53:25] But you do have to be in a movie, sorry, a mood already where you're like, I'm not going

[1:53:30] to be distractible right now.

[1:53:32] Like sometimes I'm like, I know that I can't do this.

[1:53:35] My attention is not where it needs to be.

[1:53:37] Yeah.

[1:53:38] Even if I'm going to like it.

[1:53:39] I think the one you might like the most, Dan, is is Dinner for Adele or Adele has not had

[1:53:42] supper yet or whatever, because that's the most it's not a parody of Sherlock Holmes.

[1:53:46] It's a parody of like American detective pulp fiction.

[1:53:49] But it's a like that, too.

[1:53:51] There's something kind of I think you might like that one more.

[1:53:53] But I don't know.

[1:53:54] I think his movies are very funny.

[1:53:55] I saw another one of his movies recently called Four Murders is Enough, Dear.

[1:53:59] And like that one, I think didn't think it was quite as funny as the others that didn't

[1:54:03] quite hang together the same way.

[1:54:04] But there was still good, very funny stuff in it.

[1:54:06] It is a great time.

[1:54:07] That's a Giallo title right there, baby.

[1:54:11] That was one where this was one where there are two there's two competing crime gangs

[1:54:16] that are looking for a million dollar check that has fallen into the hands of this school

[1:54:19] teacher who's kind of a nevish guy.

[1:54:21] And they keep killing each other, the different gangs.

[1:54:23] But he keeps getting caught with bodies.

[1:54:25] So people think that he's a serial murderer and he becomes famous in the town and everyone's

[1:54:29] afraid of him and respects him now because they think he's a serial killer.

[1:54:32] And he's like, every time he opens a door, a body falls out.

[1:54:35] And there's a scene where he's with the police.

[1:54:36] He's like, every time I open a door, a body falls out.

[1:54:38] See, and he's just opening doors in his apartment as dead bodies fall out.

[1:54:43] Amazing.

[1:54:44] Well, before we close up shop on another episode, Will, is there anything you want to plug?

[1:54:51] I guess just my podcasts, which are Screw It, we're just going to talk about the Beatles

[1:54:55] and Screw It.

[1:54:56] We're just going to talk about comics.

[1:54:59] They are what is advertised.

[1:55:01] It's just folks chatting about those things.

[1:55:03] So check them out.

[1:55:04] If you say that there is another podcast inside of Screw It, we're just going to talk about

[1:55:07] comics called Screw It.

[1:55:08] We're just going to talk about war games.

[1:55:09] And that comes up a fair number, fair amount more and more, which is weird because that

[1:55:14] movie is less and less important as time goes on.

[1:55:18] We somehow keep finding very important to go into our sub podcast.

[1:55:22] But there's a couple of podcasts where when a new episode comes out, I put them right

[1:55:25] to the top of my queue.

[1:55:27] And Screw It, we're going to talk about comics is we're just going to talk about comics is

[1:55:30] is one of them.

[1:55:31] And I was like, I do with my brother and his opinions are steadfast and immovable.

[1:55:35] And we've bristled recently because if I don't like something and he likes it, he will not

[1:55:41] let the podcast move on until I change my opinion out loud and then we can continue.

[1:55:47] And it's kind of funny.

[1:55:48] And you and your brother, Kevin, are both master improvisers.

[1:55:50] You know, you're so funny at picking up a bit and then just running with it.

[1:55:53] And, you know, I think that's an overstatement, but I do appreciate it.

[1:55:57] You invented improv when you and Kevin started the Compass Players.

[1:56:02] I have two brothers and none of us are emotional people.

[1:56:06] We are deadpan, low energy, non-dynamic.

[1:56:09] And all three of us do improv comedy on stage.

[1:56:12] And it's this.

[1:56:13] And to me, it's the the funniest thing that any of us have ever done is just that we do

[1:56:17] that.

[1:56:18] Thanksgiving dinner.

[1:56:19] Three of the stoniest, most still men.

[1:56:23] And we'll be like, what do you think of how's your improv going?

[1:56:26] How's how's your improvised comedy career going?

[1:56:33] Three guys who should be librarians and arguing about how to properly categorize encyclopedias

[1:56:37] and yet we go on stage.

[1:56:39] Well, but I would say if you're looking to if you're interested in improv and you live

[1:56:42] in a place where they don't have an improv class or theater to go to, Will's book, How

[1:56:47] to Be the Greatest Improviser is a genuinely really good book about it.

[1:56:50] And honestly, if you want a free copy, this is true.

[1:56:52] You can I'm going to say my email address right here, Wines at Gmail, W-H-I-N-E-S at

[1:56:56] Gmail.

[1:56:57] I'll give a free copy to anybody.

[1:56:58] If you're curious.

[1:56:59] I wish I'd known that before I bought a copy of it.

[1:57:01] That's right.

[1:57:02] Just because I know improvisers are broke a lot.

[1:57:05] So, yeah, that's true.

[1:57:06] I certainly would appreciate it if you buy it, but but when I when I it was it was a

[1:57:10] it was a text that I went to multiple times when I was writing my book, Joke Farming,

[1:57:15] because I thought what you said about improv and how it works, I thought was just really

[1:57:19] helped me get to the heart of it.

[1:57:20] Some comedy principles.

[1:57:21] That was very much.

[1:57:22] And, you know, I'm a I'm a I'm a deadpan, unemotional, unemotional man.

[1:57:28] And I have I've I've done OK in podcasting and I'm not a good improviser.

[1:57:35] So if you want someone who has those qualities, but also is talented in some way, then you

[1:57:41] should listen to Will's show.

[1:57:42] Dan is Stuart and I are constantly like, how is it that Dan's the only one of us that has

[1:57:46] any improv training of any kind when he's so quick to shut down bits?

[1:57:50] We'll start a bit and he'll go, don't put me on the spot.

[1:57:53] I don't know.

[1:57:54] It's honestly very, very funny response.

[1:57:59] Well, I mean, there are rules in improv where you're not supposed to just like throw someone

[1:58:04] else into a thing that you invent.

[1:58:06] Yeah.

[1:58:07] I don't know.

[1:58:08] I haven't taken any improv class.

[1:58:09] Yeah.

[1:58:10] I wouldn't.

[1:58:11] Yeah.

[1:58:12] Anyway, thank you for being here.

[1:58:14] We'll try and make it.

[1:58:15] How many?

[1:58:16] Fifteen years.

[1:58:17] Plus years.

[1:58:18] It's been.

[1:58:19] Let's have Will back.

[1:58:20] Hey, no.

[1:58:21] I'm sorry.

[1:58:22] Every 15 year schedule.

[1:58:23] I'm happy.

[1:58:24] I'm I'm truly proud to be a part of this podcast universe to whatever degree that has happened.

[1:58:28] So I love it.

[1:58:29] Two episodes.

[1:58:30] I'm I'm I'm psyched about it.

[1:58:33] Thank you for going out and seeing this movie, making an effort to leave your life for this

[1:58:37] podcast and then my honor to be the least happy member of a four person audience, 1030

[1:58:43] at the American Theatre, there were some old people who were cheering every time Grogu

[1:58:51] did anything.

[1:58:52] And that kind of made me feel like some like wine moms were in the Nighthawk.

[1:58:57] That's great.

[1:58:58] Loving it at 3 p.m.

[1:58:59] It was people loving a movie is great.

[1:59:00] It was a noticeably stony audience when I went to see it.

[1:59:03] They were they did not seem to be reacting to it much at all.

[1:59:06] But maybe they were still they were still dealing with the hangover, having to sit through

[1:59:09] the Masters of the Universe trailer.

[1:59:11] So, hey, maybe it'll be on a future episode.

[1:59:16] Maybe not.

[1:59:17] But, you know, stick around.

[1:59:18] Find out if you like this podcast.

[1:59:20] We're part of a network.

[1:59:21] Hey, we're part of a network of podcasts.

[1:59:23] It's called Maximum Fun.

[1:59:25] Go to Maximum Fun dot org.

[1:59:27] Check out the other great podcasts on said network.

[1:59:30] Also, thank you to Alex Smith.

[1:59:33] He goes by the name HowlDotty on the Internet.

[1:59:35] He is our producer and makes this all work.

[1:59:39] It's it's kind of important to have someone do those things.

[1:59:42] The reason when you're listening to this episode, you won't hear my younger son walk in and

[1:59:45] ask me when am I going to be done is because Alex will do the work of removing that from

[1:59:49] the audio.

[1:59:50] So thank you, Alex.

[1:59:51] You're doing great.

[1:59:52] Thank you, Alex.

[1:59:54] For the Flophouse, I have been Dan McCoy.

[1:59:57] I'm Stuart Wellington.

[2:00:00] Kaelin and we've been joined by guest Will Hines. Expert. Expert improviser.

[2:00:05] Pick that cue right up. It takes years of training to be able to do what I just did.

[2:00:19] So we're talking about a movie about a little kid and his dad, adopted dad, going on an adventure.

[2:00:26] It's called Dutch. Man, we can't stop talking about Dutch.

[2:00:31] You can't stop talking about Dutch. Just like America. Dutch fever.

[2:00:36] Join the national conversation. Watch Dutch.

[2:00:40] It'd be so funny if they're like, to bring America together, to heal us, we're starting

[2:00:44] something called the national conversation. We're all going to watch the same movie

[2:00:47] and then talk about it together. And that movie is, they have like a rotating barrel

[2:00:51] with movie names in it. They pick it up. Movie is Dutch starring Ed O'Neill.

[2:00:55] Yeah. And that's how the civil war finally started.

[2:01:01] Maximum fun. A worker owned network.

[2:01:04] Of artists owned shows. Supported directly by you.

The Mandalorian and Grogu, with Will Hines

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