402: Poolman

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[00:00:31] Subconsciously trigger emotions through music.

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[00:00:40] Identify a problem.

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[00:01:00] 110.

[00:01:02] Let's get to Pool Man,

[00:01:04] which did technically come out last year in festivals,

[00:01:07] but it was only just recently released on VOD.

[00:01:11] It's directed and co-written by Chris Pine,

[00:01:14] also stars Chris Pine,

[00:01:16] as well as Jennifer Jason Leigh, Danny DeVito,

[00:01:20] Annette Bening,

[00:01:22] John Ortiz, and a few others.

[00:01:25] And the synopsis is,

[00:01:26] Darren Barronman is an unwavering optimist and native Angeleno

[00:01:31] who spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block

[00:01:37] and fighting to make his hometown a better place to live.

[00:01:41] So I remember when this one premiered

[00:01:44] at maybe Cannes or Toronto Film Festival, I'm not really sure,

[00:01:48] but when it did, it got horrible reviews,

[00:01:53] at least from what I saw.

[00:01:54] They were saying, oh, this is like the worst debut in years.

[00:01:58] It's one of the worst premieres at the festival in ages.

[00:02:01] I was like, all right, how bad can this movie be?

[00:02:04] But at the same time, I was like, all right,

[00:02:06] this seems like a fairly harmless sort of film.

[00:02:08] It's nothing really crazy.

[00:02:11] End of the day, it's really just a private detective comedy of sorts,

[00:02:16] comedy noir, whatever you want to call it.

[00:02:18] And so didn't really know what to expect.

[00:02:21] The unreliable PI, like hippie PI,

[00:02:23] is something that's a bit of a soft spot for me in movies like Inherent Vice,

[00:02:28] Big Lebowski, that sort of thing, Beach Bum,

[00:02:33] and which all of those are in this movie for sure in little bits and pieces.

[00:02:37] So I was interested for sure.

[00:02:40] And I definitely don't think that the movie is horrible.

[00:02:44] I guess I can see why some people are trashing it.

[00:02:47] But at the same time, I think it's really inoffensive.

[00:02:50] It's nothing amazing for sure.

[00:02:52] There are points where the plot, the direction,

[00:02:56] storytelling gets a little too unfocused,

[00:03:00] and it's not really cohesive the way that other meandering noirs do.

[00:03:06] And like all those ones I just mentioned,

[00:03:08] it's nowhere near as good as any of those for sure.

[00:03:11] Definitely would be the worst.

[00:03:12] But I still found it entertaining.

[00:03:13] I thought Chris Pine, who I think has just turned into the pool man,

[00:03:18] basically when you see him, it premieres with his long hair and beard

[00:03:21] and just living life, which is awesome.

[00:03:23] I think he's great in this.

[00:03:24] I love the character,

[00:03:26] and I love this sort of character that's very innocent and earnest

[00:03:30] and also at the same time sort of hippie and pothead.

[00:03:33] It's just funny.

[00:03:34] So that was by far the best part of the movie for me.

[00:03:38] Everybody else is fine.

[00:03:40] I don't think that there's anybody amazing in the movie,

[00:03:42] performance-wise that is.

[00:03:44] And the comedy, I don't think I ever really laughed that much.

[00:03:49] It wasn't really a laugh out loud sort of film,

[00:03:51] but I still found it charming and I was engaged through most of it.

[00:03:56] I liked the callbacks to certain things like Chinatown and other noirs.

[00:04:01] So it is one that I don't feel a huge need to go back to anytime soon.

[00:04:06] I'm not upset that it's out there,

[00:04:08] and I guess I am in some ways a defender of it,

[00:04:11] although it would definitely not be anywhere near my top 10 list

[00:04:14] or best of the year or best of Chris Pine.

[00:04:17] But still, I think for the right audience,

[00:04:20] I think you could enjoy it.

[00:04:21] It's not too long.

[00:04:22] It's not too complicated.

[00:04:26] And in some ways, it's at least refreshing with the sort of film that it is,

[00:04:30] and it's not trying to be anything else that it's not,

[00:04:32] and it's just living within its own little world, weird world.

[00:04:35] So I like that.

[00:04:36] Maybe I'm in the minority there.

[00:04:38] I don't know, but I would give it a look at some point.

[00:04:41] Maybe just wait for it to come on a streaming service,

[00:04:43] which I'm sure it will, but at least it's trying to be different.

[00:04:48] So that one is a very, very light three out of five.

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[00:05:24] Anatomy of an ad. Subconsciously trigger emotions through music.

[00:05:28] Perfect. Define an opportunity.

[00:05:31] Imagine talking to millions of people across the U.S., like I am now.

[00:05:34] Identify a problem. Creating an audio ad is time-consuming.

[00:05:39] Offer a solution. Utilize cutting-edge AI.

[00:05:42] Imagine creating all that in under 30 seconds.

[00:05:45] Well, we did to create this ad.

[00:05:48] To learn more about AI in the audio industry,

[00:05:50] download the white paper from audiostack.ai.