Episode 173: The Hurt Locker + M*A*S*H

[00:00:04] Hello everybody! Welcome back to the Film Buds Podcast. This is episode number 173, and my name is Henry. And I'm Paul. This week we are going to be reviewing two military war films. We have a review of The Hurt Locker from 2008, and then we have a review of MASH

[00:00:43] from 1970. So going back a little bit, and then for news, not too much news for me, Paul, anything that you... Yeah, it comes to mind for you. Yeah. And then we... Really? Yeah. And then we do have a listener question concerning war films in general, the

[00:00:57] kind of perception of war films. So we'll get to that. Plenty of stuff we watched on the side as well. So, you know, not too much to complain about really with this one. Paul, how are

[00:01:09] you doing? I'm doing well. You know, it's weird that it's finally June. I don't think that that's really sunk in for me yet for some reason. But I've got plans for a busy July. Gonna see

[00:01:23] some family coming up and I was working on making some plans this week on those sorts of things. So not too much else to report. What about you? Well, yesterday I took another Air Force Special Warfare Fitness Test, my third one and I passed. So that was

[00:01:42] something three for three now, which is nice. I improved on everything, all my scores and times except for running. My run was a little bit slower. Paul, I hope you will forgive me for that. Oh yeah, of course. Pretty embarrassing. Running is such a...

[00:01:59] Such honestly if you're just not in the right headspace some days, you know. But went well otherwise. So happy about that. And other than that, not a whole lot really. And if you want to know what that entails, that test, you can check out the last episode. I

[00:02:18] talk about it there. Yeah, but other than that, not too much. Just summer life, you know? Yeah. So now Paul, do you want to talk about your script a little bit or do you want to

[00:02:30] wait until? Yeah, sure. I can talk about it now. So I finished it up. It's going through an editing process. I'm guessing that the final page counts going to probably settle in around 140 probably. Nice. So about two hours, 20 minutes, which is a good mouthful of a movie.

[00:02:54] And depending on certain, you know, that's page count alone. Certain sequences could visually take more time, visually take less time. So you know, if it were ever to be made, it could end up actually clocking in close to like a two and a half runtime.

[00:03:08] But it's a really fun movie. It's kind of, you know, in the vein of some of my favorite filmmakers who go in and sort of stitch together a whole bunch of different things that they

[00:03:19] know of a certain genre like the Coens do with noir films and like Quentin does with just about everything. I kind of did that with a superhero story. And so it has a whole bunch of

[00:03:30] references, especially filmic references to comic book adaptations and comic book movies that I enjoy. So you know, it's kind of all of them put into this weird blender, especially calling upon like Hellboy as like a really big touchstone actually for a lot of it. And it's this

[00:03:51] weird, cool, crazy concept, you know, kind of borrowing a superhero team motif, you know, but a little bit of almost suicide squad vibe in the sense of, you know, they're people who are incarcerated, but not all of them necessarily super villains. They are all just incarcerated people. So

[00:04:10] you know, it's a weird kind of out there script that definitely borrows a lot of different tones and textures. But I think that it comes out to be like a really fun, weird experience that's I think at least good and memorable. And our lead character is

[00:04:27] a turtle man who was mutated in World War II. And he's on a sort of journey of self-discovery and figuring out, you know, why his life has been sort of unsatisfying on a certain level.

[00:04:40] That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I'm dying to read it. Now, Paul, who would you say you would like that didn't make sense? Who would you like to direct this? If you could, if you could choose

[00:04:54] anybody. If I could literally choose absolutely anyone. Would you self-direct? No, never. I mean, maybe, but not this. No. I'll think about it and I'll give you an answer by the end of the show. Okay, cool. Oh, and one quick thing I forgot to mention on my end,

[00:05:13] my sister and I'll talk about more later. My sister came into town this past weekend and we braved it and went and saw a movie in a theater. Oh, okay. Yeah. When saw A Quiet Place

[00:05:23] Part 2. So that was interesting. Went well. No, no problems. So I'll talk about that later what we watched. But yeah, I did that. Nice. Yeah. So cool. Well, we got plenty to

[00:05:37] talk about Paul. You want to jump right in? Yeah, let's go for it. Alrighty. So let's get to our first review, which is the Hurt Locker and we do have a clip. So take a listen. We don't got enough time, Sam. We got enough time.

[00:05:55] I gotta get these bullets off. No, we had a minute and a half, man. We gotta get out of here. I'll handle this. Just go. Look, Will, come on. Look, I'm right behind you. Just go. Fuck him. Come on. Sam, when I got the suit, just go.

[00:06:09] Sam, oh yeah, 45 seconds. You have 45 seconds, Sam. Don't leave. There's a fucking damn man, Will. Go! Everybody get back! Go, go, go! Hang on! Come on! Go, Will. I got one. Go, get back! Get back! Get back!

[00:06:35] There's too many locks. I can't do it. I can't get it off. I'm sorry, okay? You understand? I'm sorry. Not over here. You hear me? I'm sorry. I'm sorry! So the Hurt Locker came out in 2008. Seems way more recent than that, but I guess they're...

[00:06:55] Or I guess 2009 was the release date for in the States. And it's directed by Catherine Bigelow and it stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Girardi, I believe is how you say it, Guy Pearce, Ray Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly, very briefly. That's about... Guy Pearce, very briefly.

[00:07:17] Yeah. And the synopsis is during the Iraq War, a sergeant recently assigned to an Army bomb squad is put at odds with his squadmates due to his maverick way of handling his work.

[00:07:32] Interesting synopsis there. Well, this one was a big hit. One best picture and as well as many other awards. Best picture, best director, best original screenplay, best sound mixing, best sound editing. I think maybe something else, but that's all that I remember.

[00:07:58] Yeah. Oh, and one kind of shameless plug here. If you are interested, I actually interviewed one of the composers of this movie on the music buds, Marco Beltrami. And he also did

[00:08:11] a quiet place part two and the first one as well. And we talk about those... Or at least the first quiet place on the music buds. So you can check that out if you have any interest.

[00:08:21] So anyways, yeah, this one... Yeah, as I said, it was a big hit and it was really the launching place for Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie, I would say. They both kind of went on to have pretty big careers after this, although they had been in stuff beforehand.

[00:08:37] Paul, had you seen this one prior to this? Yeah, I think this is one... I'm pretty sure that I saw this one in theaters back in 2009. Because I also went back and looked at everything that was nominated against for best picture. And

[00:08:53] I was like, oh yeah, I saw pretty much all of these in theaters. So... And I had watched it like maybe once or twice since then, but I hadn't watched it in quite a while. It's good.

[00:09:07] I don't think that it's quite as great as I had remembered it, but I still very much enjoyed a lot of it. And I think that it is an interesting take and a really interesting perspective.

[00:09:20] And I think that it is a really strong film from Catherine Bigelow, who really doesn't have as like wide of a filmography to sort of call on as other directors. So I think that this was a great movie, but not as great as I remembered it being.

[00:09:37] That's fair enough. Yeah, well, as I had said, I think we talked about it with Sky Tilly ages ago when we were talking about directors and their best films. This is my favorite of hers. And it's one of my favorite

[00:09:50] military or war films, whatever you want to call it. I've seen it many times over the years, and I've just always been fascinated with this job. The one very loose connection that I will say

[00:10:03] is that some of the people who I am trying out with at the Special Warfare Fitness Test, one of the jobs is EOD, this job. And so I've actually met some people already

[00:10:16] who are going in to do this exact thing, but just in the Air Force because every branch has their own unit. So that's been interesting to talk to those people. But yeah, so I really love it.

[00:10:29] I think it's incredibly intense. And I think one thing and it's partly the writing, but also partly the direction, I think is that pretty much every action sequence feels very unique to the others. Like every time they go into dispose of a bomb, it feels very unique within

[00:10:50] the context of the film. And I think Jeremy Renner is great. And I mean, I think the whole cast is really, but I love him in this. It's probably my favorite performance of his. The score is excellent.

[00:11:03] Sound design, all of that stuff is excellent. And I like the idea of this adrenaline and danger being an addiction and seeing how someone could... That could really happen to someone in real

[00:11:17] life, especially in the context of war. And I guess one big thing with this movie, not that I have any experience with it personally, but from what I've read and I think even the first time I saw it,

[00:11:28] I could realize this is that there were a lot of issues with it logically or realistically in terms of how someone would actually go about this job. Like I think the big... One big thing

[00:11:40] was one of these technicians, they would never take off their bomb suit near a bomb like Jeremy Renner does with the car bomb or take off their headset if they're getting annoyed, all that stuff.

[00:11:52] Again, if anyone is listening who has experience with that, feel free to tell me differently. But from what I've read and from what I've heard from people within that world, there are a lot of issues with it realistically in that sense. But I think

[00:12:06] within the context of the movie, it's okay. It's not... I don't think it's meant to be a documentary necessarily. And I don't think that the specifics of the job are what's important or what's the point of the film. And so I personally can let that stuff go because

[00:12:22] I think it's just so well done cinematically. Probably the most interesting scene for me is the car bomb. I love how that plays out. And probably the most intense one is the suicide bomber one. And I think that Jeremy Renner's performance in that is amazing. So yeah. And

[00:12:44] there are other scenes that I have small issues with that they don't really bring the movie down all that much. But if I had to nitpick, I can talk about those later.

[00:12:54] No, yeah. Of course. It's not a documentary, but I think one thing that I realized while watching both of these because to remind viewers or let viewers know who we're just listening in, we didn't land on these at the recording of last episode. We ended up picking them

[00:13:17] like what? Friday or Saturday? Something like that. Yeah. And so he picked one and I picked one. This is Henry's pick. And so mine is MASH. And they're both very much sort of these slice of

[00:13:32] life. You know, you're just following a cast of characters, not necessarily documentary style, but very fly on the wall sort of cinema verite using zooms, using these sorts of techniques you don't often see in a lot of movies to give it this kind of grounded, gritty, almost

[00:13:53] documentary feel. They do it in very different ways, obviously. But I think that this movie does have a really, you know, the sort of ticking clock of it being the last few days on rotation. You just kind of watch these characters spiral a little bit downward.

[00:14:10] If I had any complaint about the movie, I would say that for me, I think, and maybe it's intentional, I feel like you're a little bit too outside of whatever Jeremy Renner is really feeling and thinking about it. I don't feel like you ever really get into his

[00:14:26] perspective in the movie enough until you get to the end when it's him at home and then him returning. And I feel like that's the most in his shoes that we are.

[00:14:37] And I think that some of the some parts of the movie, I think for me do get a little bit on the laggy side. I think that you're right. I think the action is and the suspense is incredible. It really knows how to build tension in a scene

[00:14:50] and use all of that tension to full effect. And I also enjoy that death is treated as you know, a pretty unglamorous as opposed to the shot and slow mo and the bleed out.

[00:15:11] They get their last words or whatever it is. It's just like boom and someone's gone. So I think that those are some real strengths of the movie. But I definitely think that

[00:15:22] for me at times it's almost a little isolating because I don't think that you ever really get into his head. And honestly, I'm not sure that any of our characters are necessarily likeable.

[00:15:35] Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say I really dislike anyone totally. I guess the one that is the more fish out of water is the young guy in the squad because he's kind of struggling with

[00:15:50] staying there and staying sane. And he's kind of like in a way kind of the moral compass almost. But for me personally, that wasn't really an issue, but I can see that as a criticism.

[00:16:04] No, yeah. And maybe it is, I guess sort of a personality thing. But you know, he was you know, he was not necessarily unlikeable, but also he made a lot of bad decisions. You

[00:16:18] know, he was pretty complicit in going on that little hunting trip, if you will, at the end of the movie that leads to his injury. Anthony Mackie, I think is likable up to a point. But

[00:16:33] then you start to realize that he's he's cracking just as much as the other kid is, but in his own different way, you know, he's having his own different sort of struggles and breakdown.

[00:16:44] And I just I feel like we don't get all the way into those footsteps as fully as I would like to. I you know, I do think that overall the movie is very, very good at depicting it,

[00:16:56] but I'm not sure that it's always necessarily the best at making me feel it on a certain level. That's fair enough. Yeah. I can see that. I think maybe and maybe it's just

[00:17:06] because I've seen the movie so many times that I've just had more time to sit with that stuff and it doesn't really bother me as much. But I still really enjoy the dynamic between

[00:17:17] the squad. I think like little, little moments that are like great character moments that are very relatable, not in the sense of disposing of bombs, but just of human behavior that I enjoy is

[00:17:29] like when he's in the trying to when he's in the car with the in the car bomb sequence and the Anthony Mackie is saying, hey, we need to get out of here, you know, let's go. And

[00:17:42] Jeremy Rinner just goes, uh-huh. I'm going to figure this out. And he just keeps going. Like I love that kind of stuff and it feels very human in a lot of ways where he's just like,

[00:17:52] I'm going to keep going, you know, and not necessarily for the better always, but it's still interesting or like I like it when I think the sequence where I guess it's the first time they go as a squad together and he walks down the street and there's the

[00:18:07] interaction with the guy in the car and then the scene where he's just digging at the ground and investigating the IED. I think all of that stuff is great and, you know, you can imagine the stress of that kind of job where you're doing that literally every single

[00:18:24] day pretty much, you know, for who knows how long months, years, whatever. And so all that stuff is great. I think the scene that I would have the most issue with logically is where Jeremy

[00:18:38] Rinner leaves the Army base and goes on the hunt like in Baghdad to try and find the killer of this kid. And then he's able to come back with fairly little consequence, like that's kind of stuff,

[00:18:50] even not having been there myself, it feels a little, he gets off pretty easy. And I feel like that would not be the case actually or a soldier actually going out and doing that. I don't

[00:19:02] totally buy that, but otherwise it's just yeah, I think it's very unique in a lot of ways. I love how it's shot and it's incredibly well directed. And I do like this, the sequence towards the

[00:19:19] end where he's at home and he's like walking by the freezer and he's like pizza, pizza, in the grocery store and where he's just sitting in front of the TV and it's static and he's so bored

[00:19:33] being at home with his family because he's so addicted to war and that, you know, the EOD lifestyle. And so all that stuff is great. And yeah, Jeremy Rinner really, really sells it for me.

[00:19:46] Yeah, for sure. No, it's a standout performance for him. And it's a visually very striking movie. I think that she, I think that Catherine Bigelow for me ended up making a better film with

[00:20:00] Zero Dark Thirty as just sort of overall experience. But I think that this was a really, really great great movie and I understand why it was especially so popular at the time,

[00:20:16] why it hit so hard at the time. We were hitting at that point year, seven or so of still being embroiled in the Middle East. And we were just getting into the upcoming election year time and

[00:20:32] new presidency time and things like that. So I completely get why this movie ended up really taking hold the way that it did. So I think it's a great movie and I'm glad that, you know,

[00:20:47] I think that more than anything though, I think that I do prefer Zero Dark Thirty to this one. And I think that this one didn't hold up the way that I wanted it to. Sure. Sure. I do like

[00:20:59] for the most part, I do like the relationship with the kid, the Iraqi kid who's selling the DVDs like where they're playing soccer. I like that stuff. And of course, that all kind of gets

[00:21:12] twisted and turned later on in the movie. But yeah, and I love Zero Dark Thirty as well. I think I kind of love it in its own way. I love both movies, but that one is amazing in its own way

[00:21:25] for me. What do you think of the Sniper sequence in this? I think it's good. I think that it's probably out of all the action sequences, maybe my least favorite on a certain level.

[00:21:39] Just because again, for me there were certain moments where I felt like it was a little bit saggy. And I also just think that the bomb diffusal stuff is pretty much always where the movie is

[00:21:47] at its best. Yeah. Yeah. I think while I think that scene is interesting, it feels the most like it could go. Yeah. I still enjoy it and I like the dialogue in that sequence and the

[00:22:03] cinematography and all that stuff I think is awesome, but I feel like it's about what? Two hours and 10 minutes ish? Yeah. Like that. And I feel like that scene could go and you would, the viewer would not, you wouldn't really notice if it was. No, not really. Yeah.

[00:22:20] But Ray Fine comes in there briefly and he's great, of course. Yeah, makes a lovely little cameo. Yeah. So yeah, it's, you know, there are minor issues with it, but I still,

[00:22:33] it's one of my favorite war films for sure. And I remember, I think I didn't see it in theaters, but I saw it, I guess when it was on VOD. And I remember just the first, even that

[00:22:42] first sequence with Guy Pierce, I was really blown away by how visceral it was and just completely different from what I'd seen before. So I, I'm a big, big fan of it for sure.

[00:22:55] No. And I definitely think that it's a standout, especially amongst movies that are about more modern warfare, you know, because it's definitely either, you know, World War Two and maybe Vietnam and maybe some Civil War. And then as far as modern warfare goes, you know,

[00:23:15] it definitely gets a little underrepresented. And I feel like a lot of the representations that we get are very one-sided, you know, or a little jingoistic or sometimes even a little bit more action movie-y on a certain level. And so I feel like this is a really good

[00:23:33] grounded take that has a lot of almost journalistic sensibility in the way that it just sort of dutifully depicts, you know, the journey of these specific characters, regardless of how accurate it may or may not be on certain levels.

[00:23:49] Yeah. And I guess it should be said, Mark Boll, the screenwriter, he did go in, he was embedded with a EOD unit in Baghdad before he wrote this. So he, you know, he, he was a journalist before he became a screenwriter. If he's also doing that

[00:24:04] as well now, I don't know, but he brings that in, in the movie for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And he did go on to write Zero Dark Thirty and Detroit as well for Catherine Bigelow. So

[00:24:17] they've worked together a lot. So yeah, it's, to me, it's awesome. So yeah, it's worth checking out if you haven't seen it yet. Yeah. And don't be too concerned, you know, it's not like some war movies where it gets

[00:24:34] pretty graphic. Honestly, as far as violence goes, this movie is relatively tame compared to especially other war films, you know, and military films like Black Hawk Down or Saving Private Ryan are a much bloodier experience than this one is. Yeah. All right. Anything else, Paul?

[00:24:59] No, I think that pretty much does it for me. Yeah. Okay. Out of five? I'll go, I'll go three and a half to four. Okay. It's a five for me. Big five. So all right. Cool. Well, let's get on to our next review, which is Mash from 1970.

[00:25:22] And we do have a clip as well. So take a listen. All right, we're here. There you go. Now then, you all come here to see your final farewell to O'Wall here. Farewell, O'Wall.

[00:25:38] Farewell, O'Wall. You know, I got an idea that maybe it's not such a final farewell after all. I think maybe O'Wall's going on into the unknown to do a little recon work first all. I just want to say one thing. Nobody ordered Walt to go on this mission.

[00:25:58] He volunteered for certain deaths. That's true. That's what we award our highest medals to. That's beautiful. That's what being a soldier is all about. Oh, yes. Okay. So Mash is directed by Robert Altman and it stars Donald Sutherland,

[00:26:21] Elliot Gould, Tom Scarrett, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, David Arkin. Am I forgetting anybody big? Bud Court. Sure. Yep. And the synopsis is the staff of a Korean War Field Hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.

[00:26:46] So this one, Paul, you suggested and would you like to kick things off? Well, had you seen this one? I had not. Okay. Well, why don't you take it away then? Yeah. So I had seen other Robert Altman films before. I think I've seen,

[00:27:07] I don't know, maybe six or seven. And he's a filmmaker who I tend to respect more than I actually enjoy watching his movies. Like I think my favorite probably is a Prairie Home Companion, which was his last movie.

[00:27:26] And I also like McCabe and Mrs. Miller, the Western. Those would probably be my top two. But for the most part, I find his style while I think it's very thoughtful and very realistic in a lot of ways. There's just something too

[00:27:42] mundane and kind of distant about his films that I just can never seem to get fully invested in. Even if like, I wouldn't say there's one I hate or anything, but I feel like

[00:27:54] a lot of his movies that I watch, I want to like them more than I do. Even though I respect his style and I see what he's doing. It just personally does not always connect for me.

[00:28:04] And this one, I didn't know a whole lot going on. I knew of the show and everything, but I think I had those same issues that I just described with this one. I do find that some of the hijinks as the synopsis says towards the

[00:28:25] nurse and all of that, I think in this day and age, some of that feels kind of dated. Whereas I feel like at the time, not that it was okay then, but I feel like at the time it would have been more accepted to here.

[00:28:39] We're the guys really bearing the brunt of the gore and the horrors of war. And we're going to play pranks on the people who are not fully living it and accepting it and are just ordering us around that kind of thing,

[00:28:51] which I can get. But I feel like with not to go too political, but with the whole me too movement, all of that stuff, I think some of the hijinks towards the nurse seem a bit mean spirited to the excessive. Yes.

[00:29:07] And so that stuff kind of brought the movie down for me and just for lack of a better term, it felt pretty dated in some ways. But other parts of the movie, I thought the performances were very good. I think Donald Sutherland was probably my

[00:29:20] favorite. And I think one interesting thing about the script is, and it almost reminds me of Ghostbusters, where the humor almost entirely comes from performance and direction. I think which is the same for Ghostbusters, if you read the Ghostbusters script,

[00:29:38] not having seen Ghostbusters, I feel like it can almost play as a straight drama almost. Not totally, but I think a lot of the comedy would not be there for you. I think it would be the same with MASH, which is my favorite kind of comedy.

[00:29:56] I think that's why some of the comedy holds up. And I like the setting. I like the look of the movie. Robert Altman has a very interesting eye. He kind of has that kind of hazy old fashioned look to his films. Very tangible.

[00:30:09] And I like that a lot. So, you know, overall, I wouldn't say I really enjoyed it. I didn't completely loathe it, but there were... It's not one I really feel the need to revisit.

[00:30:26] I guess film critics hold this in very high regard. And I guess for the time that it came out, I can respect that. But I think now I don't think I would put it in a top comedy list or

[00:30:40] something like that. No, yeah. So... No, that's all really fair. So I had seen this one before. I saw it, I think probably 10 years ago now. I think the first time I saw it was in high school. And I'd seen it since then in

[00:31:02] a college setting, I think as well. And it's one that I really enjoy. I haven't seen as many Robert Altman movies. I've seen McCabe and Mrs. Miller, which in case you

[00:31:13] don't know is sort of the basis for a lot of the plot and costume elements of the movie solo. That's why I... And Paul, I think we saw that together in class, right?

[00:31:26] Yeah. I think that was one of the ones we watched in one of our classes at college. Yeah. Not solo. No, McCabe and Mrs. Miller. So he does have a very distinct visual style. This

[00:31:41] movie is 1970. So he is also being influenced on a certain level by the French New Wave, which kind of breaks a lot of cinematic rules that were established by Hollywood. And this is a very... Again, going back to what I was talking about with Hurtlocker,

[00:31:59] it has this kind of weird nebulous place between a documentary and a film. And that's kind of where this term cinema verite lives is in trying to be this very grounded perspective and storytelling.

[00:32:15] With both this, but both with both MASH and with Hurtlocker, my wife was completely unaware that they were kind of these almost plotless sort of just follow the characters through

[00:32:28] this journey films. And so with both of them, it took her a little bit of a second to really wrap her head around it. Also with this movie, it's a little bit of a touchstone and it can

[00:32:40] make the first few minutes chaotic to a viewer because this is one of the first few movies that really had a lot of layered sound of people talking over each other at the same time with

[00:32:50] audio happening in the background at the same time. So it was a big forward step sort of of a movie on a lot of levels. And I agree that it's definitely something where

[00:33:02] a lot of the comedy could be zapped from it if it were other performers or other directors. MASH is also a big touchstone for... And Robert Altman as a filmmaker is a big touchstone for Wes Anderson. And so while I was watching it, and if you ever,

[00:33:22] dear listener go and watch it, no, it's very much the film I think that is called upon primarily for the look, feel, pacing and certain plot elements of the life aquatic with Steve Zee-Soo. Sure. You know, it's follow around this kind of jerk hero as he is

[00:33:45] a little bit of a jerk and kind of throws and bandies jerk antics around. And I think that's also one of the reasons that the movie MASH doesn't really work as well.

[00:33:58] Sort of the older it gets is because we have gotten a little bit more forward thinking and progressive as a people. And there are definitely some moments in this movie that are very,

[00:34:09] very dated. It's like going back to certain parts of animal house or some of the other sort of comedy classics of a certain generation. You hit certain things that have a certain cringe factor in a modern context. So that is something to look out for and it's unavoidable.

[00:34:32] But I do think that a lot of the character work in the movie works. I think that everyone feels sort of unique. And I think that for the most part, I find it a fun, interesting Vietnam movie while being set in the Korean war as well.

[00:34:53] Yeah, I get that for sure. I like the idea and of course having not been in war myself, just having to try and experience it through people like this. I do like the idea in the film

[00:35:06] of these people, these surgeons who are seeing such horrible war wounds and just the horror of war but then and having trying to find extreme ways of keeping saying, which of course involves playing pranks and not necessarily doing nice things. But of course they are in war.

[00:35:29] And so it's not really hard to fully judge them for that because you don't know what's that is really like unless you've been in it yourself. And so I really enjoy that concept. It kind of

[00:35:44] reminds me of, I guess it was called Generation Kill, the HBO miniseries from I guess the early 2000s about the first Marines going into Iraq. And kind of reminds me a little bit of that in

[00:35:59] terms of soldiers trying to find ways of keeping their sanity, which I mean the hurtlucker has that a little bit as well. And so I think ideas like that that feel very Robert

[00:36:10] Altman and very thoughtful. I enjoyed that a lot. And I think what works well with him across all of his movies is even if he's trying to inject comedy or satire or whatever it may be,

[00:36:24] he has a very natural way of still showing that he cares about the subject matter. He's not just saying, here look at these guys playing pranks. It's so funny. He's still saying look at what situation they're in. And again as you said, a different director could have

[00:36:42] completely ruined that and he nails it. Yeah. And ultimately it's an anti-authority movie and it's an anti-authority message. And that's also a large part of their pranks. And then coming up with all of these ludicrous things is because a lot of them were drafted.

[00:37:04] There's a joke in the movie. How did someone that awful make it to the rank of captain? He was drafted. Yeah. So it's a pretty anti-authority movie kind of in the same vein as

[00:37:20] honestly, I wouldn't put it past someone like a... Oh my God. I'm drawing a blank on his name. He directed the big short. He directed... Oh, Adam McKay? Yes. It feels almost an Adam McKay kind

[00:37:37] of sensibility on that level. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. And yeah, it's definitely obviously not for everyone, but I think that it's an interesting movie and I think it's even more interesting given how many people remember the TV show

[00:37:57] and how the TV show now at this point feels like much more of a cultural touchstone than the movie that came before it did. And the book is just completely forgotten. And also in terms of how the characters are perceived and how someone outside of their

[00:38:19] position may try and judge them, I think it's interesting that it's set in the Korean War because even though it was still very serious and very horrible, it's kind of considered to be

[00:38:32] the forgotten war, at least in comparison to World War II and Vietnam. But even if that's the general consensus, that doesn't mean that these people still went through absolute hell. And still had to... If someone in World War II had seen the same thing, sorry,

[00:38:50] someone's texting me, had seen the same thing, that doesn't mean that because the Korean War was considered by some to be lesser than that the people involved still didn't go through absolute shit. And still had to find ways of keeping their sanity

[00:39:05] regardless of what they were doing. So... No, yeah, absolutely. It's definitely... I was watching the DVD. It's definitely one that I was like, man, it would be great if someone went through and restored this thing. And I was like, but no one's going to take the time to

[00:39:22] restore this thing. I'm actually surprised it hasn't. I feel like there are so many movies that do get restorations and I'm surprised this one hasn't. Also, the young guy with the glasses that wasn't radar that gets blamed by Robert Duvall for the

[00:39:43] guy dying. That is Bill the Bond Stooge in the Life Aquatic. That's a blood court. Yeah. So, yeah, it's an interesting movie, an interesting part of film history to put it kind of broadly. So, yeah. Go ahead.

[00:40:08] Yeah, I was just going to say it's a director that made a lot of impact on a lot of current filmmakers now and his movies, even though they may not be as remembered, he made a lot.

[00:40:22] He was a career director. And so, if you haven't heard of Robert Altman, I'd say that this is probably one of his more immediately approachable ones, even if it hasn't aged as well. Yeah. Yeah. He also directed Nashville, yeah, Prairie Home Companion,

[00:40:41] yeah, McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Yeah. I mean, just looking at his filmography, he has a pretty long list. So, he's worth checking out for sure. So, yeah. Anything else about MASH? No, I think I'm all right. All righty. Out of five?

[00:41:00] I'm going to go, I think, with the same three and a half. Same for me. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, with the reviews done, we can, I guess we can skip over

[00:41:12] news, not pretty slow, pretty slow news week. And so, we can get to the listener question that we got. And so, the Filmbuds podcast at gmail.com is where you can reach us at also Facebook,

[00:41:26] Twitter and Instagram at Filmbuds. I've got to just put that as a recording. I've got to say that every time. You know, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram at Filmbuds, also at the Filmbuds.com and all that stuff is in the show notes if you need more

[00:41:42] clarification. And so, if you're a new listener or if you're an old listener, you can just send us any questions, comments, whatever you would like. We love hearing from anybody out there.

[00:41:53] And so, the one we have this week, this one was over email, but they used a pseudonym. This comes from The Meatball. So, there you go. The Meatball says, Dear Buds, I have encountered something frequently over my film, Lover Life. And I'm curious if you

[00:42:15] all have too. Some viewers I know say they love horror films, particularly gory ones, ones that almost fetishized violence. Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Saw, Zombie Films, etc. But at the same time, many of them say they choose not to watch war films because they're too much or quote-unquote

[00:42:39] not the same thing. I understand the basic difference between the two, but it seems a little hypocritical to me nevertheless. What do you think? The Meatball? Paul, what are your... What are you thinking? Paul seems very lost in thought.

[00:43:01] I don't know. I think it's partially, I guess, if we're stripping away, I guess the obvious, which is the political nature of the question. Then I guess it's probably just a question then of

[00:43:18] fantasy versus reality to me, right? It's the issue of can this really happen to a person versus can this not happen to a person? What do you think? Where's your head at?

[00:43:34] I think I've encountered the same thing. At times maybe, I don't think I've ever gotten into a conversation that politics is not involved in that way. It's purely from a violence perspective. If you're talking about zombie movies, that's an exception. I can see why someone could enjoy

[00:43:59] or accept the gore in that as opposed to saving Private Ryan. I still feel like some of the point of horror films is that you can, I guess, try and imagine, oh my God, what if I was in that

[00:44:10] situation even as something is over the top as Saw or whatever it may be? I think at times, it does seem a little odd that people will be like, no, I don't want to... I'm going to go watch

[00:44:23] the new Rob Zombie movie or Eli Roth movie or new horror franchise film. But no, I don't want to watch the Hurt Locker or I don't want to watch Dunkirk or Saved in Private Ryan or whatever. And while

[00:44:37] personal taste, I can get that if you don't like war films, whatever. But I think that people who try and argue, who try and write off war films for some of the same reasons, but then they'll

[00:44:47] go and watch a really gory, fairly realistic horror film sometimes or they'll praise it for that. Times that kind of irks me a little bit, but... No, I completely get that. I think it boils down to

[00:45:05] horror on a certain level is meant to be catharsis. It's meant to be, I think, a little bit of a release. Whereas a war film at a certain level, there is no escapism to that.

[00:45:19] Just in terms of a pure narrative structure, there's no escapism really at play, especially in a realistic war film. Whereas theoretically, most people on the opposite side of a horror film, especially one that really gets you going, have that kind of adrenaline pump. It's kind of like

[00:45:43] coming off of a roller coaster. It's tension and release. Whereas oftentimes in war films, it's just tension or it's tension and then the release is like sorrow. So I can also, I guess, understand it from a perspective like that.

[00:46:04] I think that the other argument, I guess, since we didn't necessarily get a clear depiction, I think on what some of the problem is from the argument side. I think there's probably an

[00:46:16] argument to be made for some of these people that they don't want to valorize or glorify military death for reasons pertaining to them being disagreeable to the military industrial complex. That would probably be my other guess. And I can't make a case for why you should or shouldn't

[00:46:35] support the military or the military represented in films, but if that's your argument, you can't really stand on the basis of it's too violent because at the end of the day, violence as a depiction is just that. It's a depiction. So if you can stomach violence

[00:46:54] in a horror film, but you can't stomach it in a war film because you don't like the reality basis of it, then that's fine. And that's a totally valid argument if you're trying to, I guess,

[00:47:10] lump violence as a problem with war films as a reason for violence being a downside, but you also then go and watch a whole bunch of other gory shit, then you're kind of in a slippery

[00:47:24] slope. But you know, you're edging the line. Yeah, pretty close. It's a case by case basis because at the end of the day, very little should be off limits from depiction if it's grounded in

[00:47:39] narrative purpose. No, yeah, that's a good way to put it. I mean, I've always been a big fan of or very interested in military history. And so I enjoy watching military films

[00:47:53] just for the context of it, the historical context of it, the experience of it. And even, of course, if a lot of films are injected with Hollywood, Hollywood isms, I still think the context of certain wars, whatever are interesting to me just to learn about. And of course,

[00:48:10] that's even more so for documentaries about war. But again, that's very personal taste. If you don't enjoy watching that because it's so real and it's so grounded in horror, that makes sense. But I

[00:48:24] think what you said is better than I could put it. And this is really, it all boils down to actually taking the time to argue these points. And so I guess we ran into this kind of thing when

[00:48:41] we were in the media studies program. Those are people who are actively going to talk about these things, whereas in the office place you might not be and it might not matter. So yeah, that's

[00:48:55] a good question, Meatball. For a great example of someone who can handle a lot of violence on a certain level, but not in other places. My wife can do a lot of gore and stuff,

[00:49:09] like The Walking Dead and other action movies and stuff like that. She can definitely handle herself with squeamish uncomfortable things. But Defyve Bloods, where the one guy steps on the landmine was a big out for her because of the graphic realistic representation that was on

[00:49:30] display and how grounded it was and how gritty that particular moment was, was a really hard out for her because there was a lot of depiction of suffering. It was tension followed by suffering instead

[00:49:44] of tension followed by cathartic release of success on a certain level, which comes with the kind of violence that you see at times in Jango Unchained. Yeah. So again, it's a complicated topic, but I think it really does boil down to in terms of

[00:50:07] who you're talking to, how they're talking about it and if it's... And what the movie in the context is. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, because saving Private Ryan and House of a Thousand Corpses, the Rob Zombie movie, they're not the same thing.

[00:50:25] They may both have a lot of gore, but they're completely different. And so I think that someone chooses to watch one, but not the other, that there's an argument to be had there.

[00:50:39] But it is a case by case basis, as you said. So yeah. Paul, anything else about the subject that you can think of? I mean, and I guess we could briefly, since you were talking

[00:50:51] about it beforehand, certain war films that come to mind, not necessarily pertaining to this topic, but any favorites, any ones that strike you? Well, the last thing that I'll say about specifically anything related to the meatball discussion, which thank you, the meatball.

[00:51:11] Yeah. You mentioned Rob Zombie a lot. This is some news. He's apparently working on a Munster's movie. I saw that. So who knows? Maybe you're about to get Bloody Munsters.

[00:51:26] As far as military and war movies go, I think that there is a distinction for me at least of a military movie versus a war movie. I think that there are a lot of movies that have

[00:51:38] military characters, military perspectives, things like that, but are not necessarily war movies. Captain America, the first Avenger is probably for me more of a military movie before I would call it an active war movie. Even though it is active war, it's not really like a war movie.

[00:52:00] Transformers, the first one at least. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson make up a lot of the B plot of that movie. The military is enough in that movie for me to

[00:52:12] solidly say that that is at least on a certain level a military movie, but not a war movie. As far as absolute war movies go, some of my favorites probably obviously saving Private Ryan. Yeah. It's obvious. It's too obvious. Dunkirk, Apocalypse Now. Did you see 1917? Yeah.

[00:52:38] Yeah. What did you think of that? I really enjoy 1917. I'd probably put it on a list of best of war films. Fury is one that I really, really enjoy. Did you see Lone Survivor? Yeah. What did you think of that?

[00:52:56] I like it a lot. It's not one of my favorites, but I like it. It's pretty intense. It's got some great gritty action moments. Did you see 13 Hours? My Colway movie? Hell no. Did you? I did, sadly. How was it? Not the best. Yeah, it sounds great.

[00:53:17] I was waiting during the action sequences. I was waiting for the moment where the cars were going to transform. It was truly like Transformers action just in a war film. Interesting. Black Hawk Down is one that I really like. That's great.

[00:53:39] What about you? What are some of yours? Pretty much all the ones you listed now is Zero Dark 30. What would you consider that to be? Probably more of a military film than a war film, if only because she's there

[00:53:52] operating as a CIA agent inside of the context of a war. I think JoJo Rabbit is another. That would be more of a military or war story taking place within a war. I think JoJo Rabbit is great. And Glorious Bastards. Of course. Yeah, that's a classic one.

[00:54:15] The longest day, the film from decades ago is great. A Bridge Too Far is awesome. Bridge on the River Kauai. Yeah. Empire of the Sun, the Spielberg film. We were soldiers. It's not bad. It's kind of aged poorly, but Full Metal Jacket is another.

[00:54:34] That's kind of a pretty obvious one. Valkyrie is a really interesting one with Tom Cruise. Patton is a great one. If any of you all haven't seen that one, it's written by Coppola. Yeah. Born on the 4th of July is good. Oh, Platoon. That's a great one.

[00:54:58] Shindler's List, that's more of a story within a war. It's not really about battles or anything, of course. But yeah, that's a great one. Jarhead is really interesting with Jake Gyllenhaal. Yeah. A Hidden Life, the recent Terence Malick film is awesome.

[00:55:16] That's another, you know, contact or a story taking place within a war. I honestly thought that you were going to potentially pick Jarhead. Really? No. That was... I haven't seen it in a long time. I would like to rewatch it.

[00:55:30] So that's a good one that has really stayed with me. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, there are plenty of others, but, you know, that's a good list, I think. Band of Brothers. Oh, I love Band of Brothers. Yeah. Oh, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters to Yujima. Yeah.

[00:55:53] Yeah. That would be an interesting double header to do at some point. Yeah. A lot of people don't realize that they're sequels. Yeah. Yeah, that's... That was... Yeah. That would be interesting to talk about. Some that are not very good, like American Sniper.

[00:56:13] We reviewed that on the show. Did not like that. Pearl Harbor, you know... In college, dear listener, if you ever want to do something interesting, I'll have to try and look up what the first film was. But we did this sort of study of three different

[00:56:32] depictions of the Pearl Harbor attack. And so the first one was a 50s film, and I'm totally blanking on it. Was it a Torra, Torra, Torra? That was the 70s one, was the second one. And then the last one was Pearl Harbor, Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor.

[00:56:53] And so we watched like the Pearl Harbor scene of those three movies back to back to back. The best one was Torra, Torra, Torra. But it was really interesting to watch this kind of progression and watch the depiction happen over three very different time periods of filmmaking.

[00:57:13] I can't remember what the first one was. And now, one thing that we'll say about Pearl Harbor, the film, I think that... It's like what, three hours long? Brutally long. Yeah, something like that. I think the Pearl Harbor sequence is intense.

[00:57:31] That, you know, I don't know how long it is, maybe 30, 40 minutes. I think that is as Hollywood as it can be at times. I think it still is a pretty well done action sequence. It's just that as with every Michael Bay movie, you're like,

[00:57:45] Oh wow, this is pretty good for like 20, 30 minutes. And then you hit that two hour, 20 minute, two and a half hour mark. And you're like, oh, okay, I see why people don't like this. Yeah. So, yeah, that was interesting to do. Yeah.

[00:58:02] So if you ever want to go and just do like a really interesting little just for yourself, I suppose, trip down that rabbit hole, I really need to try and figure out what the movie was. Because I don't think that it was from here to eternity.

[00:58:19] Yeah, I'm not sure. I feel like it might have been the movie December 7th. Hmm. No, that's not right. It doesn't matter. I'll figure it out and I'll let you know. All right. Paul, do you remember that? I think you were in class with me.

[00:58:38] Do you remember that kid who there was this one moment? I can't remember which teacher it was, but out of the blue, we were having some open discussion and he said like something like, excuse me, professor, I think you mean mis-conjuniality too, armed and fabulous.

[00:59:00] It was like he was that kid like that was like one of the standout moments of the whole program. I do vaguely remember that moment. I can't remember what class it was in. Yeah. Great. But I do remember that moment. Great line. Great line. No, yeah.

[00:59:22] And called out on their mis-conjuniality knowledge. Yeah. As you should be. Anything else, Paul, about war films in general? You know, the depiction swings on a pretty radical spectrum in terms of depiction.

[00:59:43] And on a certain level, the military has been like one of the most depicted subjects on film. And it goes literally everywhere from hypercritical, which on a certain level, I would say both Hurtlocker and Mesh fall into the category of.

[01:00:00] All the way up to the super, super jingoistic, nationalistic, almost propaganda films that you sometimes get with like John Wayne World War II movies and stuff like that. So it really swings on a spectrum and in a modern context, some of that's also complicated by the

[01:00:22] fact that the military is a moneymaker and the military can license certain images and things like that out to people. So, you know, much like any other sort of profession or any other kind of person,

[01:00:36] its depiction in film is always up to the decision of whoever it is that is depicting it. Yeah. And so whenever you watch a movie, you know, always be cognizant of who's making it and always interrogate why it's being made, you know, with everything that you watch.

[01:00:57] Everything that you watch, that's a weird thing to do on a certain level. But it's always worth doing because it helps inform a lot of intent and with military movies, it swings on a whole spectrum of very, very pro to very, very against.

[01:01:13] And so you should always be aware of who's making it regardless of the argument that's being made. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. All right. All right. Yeah. So again, the FilmBuds podcast at gmail.com is where you can send us those questions and also on social media.

[01:01:31] So thanks again, Meatball. That was a good time. So you want to end off with some picks of the week, Paul? Yeah, sure. All right. I'll give it a crack. So in the military related theme, we ended up watching the first Transformers, which I do recommend.

[01:01:55] It's a little bit of a saggy movie. It could be pared down and it has issues. Don't get me wrong. But like what a really solid blockbuster movie. Like going back, I remember 100% why I liked it all the way back in 2007. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:02:14] It's the best of the lot probably followed by Bumblebee. Hmm. Yeah. You know, it's interesting and this is why we should talk about all of them at some point. I agree that the first one and Bumblebee are objectively the best because they actually make some sense.

[01:02:35] But after having watched like Age of Extinction and like the last night and how absurd those movies become, I actually find having seen all of them now that something like Bumblebee is the least interesting to me because it's the most normal.

[01:02:51] Even if I was talking about them objectively from a constructive standpoint, I agree those are the best. So and that's probably one of the only franchises where I would say that. And so like, yes, I would say the first one and Bumblebee are the best, but of which

[01:03:10] ones I would rather watch, it would probably be Age of Extinction. And honestly, for me, four is so bad that it's good. Five gets into just brutality land for me. Yeah. Five becomes a problem. Yeah. One thing I will say though about that movie.

[01:03:27] I think Michael Bay needs to direct a medieval film because I. Yeah, sure. I loved the opening sequence in the last night. Oh, see, I hated it if only because I literally couldn't tell who the fuck was on what about it? It was just absolute chaos.

[01:03:48] It was Transformers, Pearl Harbor, but just in the medieval context, incoherent, completely, but Michael needs to do it. Lord have mercy. I'm also going to the next one that we watched Aliens, the second Alien movie. Great movie. Yeah. Great, great movie. Well, taste it. Well, taste intense.

[01:04:14] Great practical effects. Really, really good movie. Love it. Army of the Dead is a very, very sad remake of that movie. Oh, quick thing. That movie, I mean, because I rewatched it too about maybe a month ago.

[01:04:30] It has one of my all time favorite lines in all the film. It's when... What's the guy's name? He went on to be really big. He was in Edge of Tomorrow. Bill Paxton. Bill Paxton. When he asks Ramirez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?

[01:04:52] And then she says, no, have you? Yeah. Love that line. Yeah. Love it. Anyways. And then Body Heat by Lawrence Kasdan. Oh, yeah. Body Heat's a part of the erotic thriller offshoot of the sort of neo-noir revival of the 80s and 90s,

[01:05:13] which, you know, lumps it in with movies like Basic Instinct and Wild Things and to a certain extent, Showgirls. And it's really good. I enjoyed it a lot. Lawrence Kasdan wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark. He also wrote Empire Strikes Back. He wrote and directed The Big Chill.

[01:05:37] And he wrote and directed Body Heat, which is very much akin to like a double indemnity kind of plot line. And it's really, really good. You know, it's a slow burn film and it feels like a 40s noir film.

[01:05:52] But it's really, really good and it manages to really capture that essence well. Yeah. And revive it. And I like it a lot. Yeah. Did you ever see The Big Sleep? Yeah. What do you think of that? I like The Big Sleep. Yeah.

[01:06:11] The Big Sleep with Bogart, correct? Yes. Yeah. That's the basis for The Big Lebowski. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. And any others for you? I'll say this. If you're into like the neo-noir revival, you know, the Coens were a big part of

[01:06:27] that movement and their very first movie, Blood Simple, is a kind of remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice. So go in and check that out if you haven't seen it yet. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess the first thing I'll talk about is A Quiet Place Part 2,

[01:06:44] which as I said, I saw in theaters. This is the first time I've been in the theater since, I think, late February of 2020. So long time. And it went really well. It was about half full the theater and I felt very safe. It was very clean.

[01:07:02] Most people had their masks on like we did, but no, it was, it felt pretty normal. And so I might try and go back sometime again soon. And so that was kind of a relief. So yeah, it was a very enjoyable experience.

[01:07:22] And yeah, it was a pretty, I thought, oh, and the movie itself, movie itself was good. I don't love either as some people might. I thought that I mean, as I've said before, I love Killian Murphy.

[01:07:38] And I was happy to see that he was a pretty big part of the movie. Sound design is great. I like the just the ideas in the film. I like the use of silence.

[01:07:48] My probably my main issue with this one was it's called part two, but I feel like not a lot is learned by the end. I feel like the story that's there could maybe work as a TV episode.

[01:08:04] It did not feel worthy of a whole film in my opinion, but overall still well directed. There are a few other issues with it that if we ever review it, I could go into more later. But overall still a good experience, a good sequel.

[01:08:20] So that was that was good. Then I rewatched Sicario Day of the Soldado. Paul, have you seen this? No, I saw the first. I didn't I didn't see the second. Okay. This one we did review on the show back when it came out.

[01:08:37] And I liked it a little more this time around. It's nowhere near as good as the first. I think the main thing is it's not directed by Denis Villeneuve. So the sense of direction is not as strong, but I still think I love Benicio del Toro in it.

[01:08:54] He's great. Josh Brolin and the young girl in it who's gone on into be she's like Dora the explorer now and she was a Transformers. She's very good in it. I think Isabelle Monair maybe I think it's her name.

[01:09:11] I could be wrong there, but so that was good. Then rewatched Sleepy Hollow Tim Burton film, which I enjoy a fair bit. There are some issues with it, certain parts that don't hold up totally, but I still love the look of it. I like Johnny Depp in it.

[01:09:27] The score is great and the the depiction of the headless horseman is awesome. Yeah, that's a fun one. Yeah. Yeah. And then I rewatched Spider-Man 2, the Tobey Maguire film, which I think I can say this. It's my all time favorite superhero film. Okay. Yeah.

[01:09:49] I think it's so it's so emotional. It sounds kind of cheesy to say, but I think it really is the action sequences are incredible. I love Toby Maguire as Spider-Man and Peter Parker. And I do like Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane.

[01:10:05] And it's yeah, for me, I love the movie totally. I have really no issues with it. Then I rewatched Funny People with Adam Sandler, which is about he's this. It's kind of almost autobiographical in a way. He's this aging stand-up comedian who's been a lot of very successful,

[01:10:26] but very terrible comedy films. And he finds out he has this, he has cancer and he's only has a certain amount of time left to live. And it's about him coming to terms with his life and all that. And it's pretty good.

[01:10:40] The main issue with it as with all Judd Apatow films is it's like way too long. About two hours and 20 minutes. And it could easily be an hour 40. And then lastly I rewatched Billy Madison, which I hadn't seen in ages. And I still like it a fair bit.

[01:10:58] There are a lot of parts that do not hold up that well, that are very 90s, two 90s for me that are just too silly, too absurdist, too, too tiring. I guess you can say, but still love Adam Sandler in it and it has some good moments.

[01:11:17] And I think that's about it for me. Okay. That's pretty good. That's a good group. Thanks. All right. Anything else, Paul? No, I'm glad that your theater experience went well. We might try going to a theater sometime soon, but if we do it'll probably try and make it

[01:11:41] like a midday thing as opposed to an evening thing, if we can. But yeah, I'm glad that it went well. I'm not surprised there weren't people with masks on. That doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

[01:11:52] But yeah, no, that was a good group and a quiet place too is definitely one that I'm looking forward to. So, you know, I'll definitely go into it with where I, you know, expectations set. Right. For sure.

[01:12:08] Oh, it was funny. The previews beforehand, it was honestly like 30 minutes long. The previews, it really felt like the movie studios were like, okay, they've missed a whole year of films, of previews. We need to put all of them in there that they've missed.

[01:12:27] And that's what it felt like. I mean, we, I felt like we were seeing every big release that was coming out the rest of the year. It was so long, but you know, it was all right.

[01:12:38] So cool. Well, I guess that is about it for the show, sadly. Now next week, Paul, I know you had discussed potentially picking some really early classic films to talk about, but is that something you're still vibing with?

[01:12:51] Yeah. We can go and see if we can't, you know, go way, way back next week. Okay. Yeah, that's cool with me. Yeah. So keep an eye out for that, you know, social media. Oh, go ahead.

[01:13:04] How far back do we have to go? Because what's the current oldest one? I think Psycho. The original Psycho is the... Okay. You feeling like going silent or are you feeling like 30s, 40s? Something like that? I don't know. Because I think it does.

[01:13:21] I'm down to do silent if that's... but up to you. Let's play it a little bit by ear. Let's at least currently have the stipulation of before Psycho. Sure. Yeah, that's cool with me. So that'll be a great time.

[01:13:38] All right, yeah. I guess the only other thing to say for me is, you know, check out the Music Buds podcast, do a lot of interviews with film composers and as well as some rock bands and singer-songwriters, things like that. And that's at least for now is going

[01:13:53] to be weekly. That may change later, but that's, you know, that's pretty fun. Had some cool guests on there. Paul, anything else for you? No. Hopefully I'll have the script typed up and sent over to Henry so that he can get a little bit

[01:14:10] further in it and give you all some thoughts on it next week. Yeah, heck yeah. That'd be awesome. Cool. Well, yeah, Paul's always thanks man. Always appreciate you. Yeah, yeah. No problem.

[01:14:23] And yeah, well, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and we'll see you next time.