5 Awesome Female Empowerment Films.
This is a transcript of the Force Five Podcast episode titled 5 Awesome Female Empowerment Films w/ Sunflower (2024) writer/director Mateusz Balcerek. To listen to this episode, use this link.
Note - transcript services may not be 100% accurate; if you have questions about a word or context, please listen to the episode or reach out to me at forcefivepodcast@gmail.com.
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What's up, List Nords.
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I am your host, X VideoStore, ClerksCreenwriter, and fellow List Nords Jason Cleavering in this
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is Force5.
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A show where I force my guests to come up with a movie-themed top 5 list topic.
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And then we reveal our picks on air.
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This week we're diving into a topic that's as powerful as the films themselves, 5 awesome
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female empowerment films.
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These are the stories that give a voice to strength, courage, and resilience.
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They inspire us, challenge outdated narratives, and remind us that the best heroines don't
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need a cape, they just need a story worth telling.
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When I think about female empowerment in films, there are so many incredible moments that
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come to mind, and that's one of the challenges in a show like this where you have to just
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kind of pick 5 of them.
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There's the fiery determination of Norma Ray from 1979, taking on oppressive working
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conditions to start a union, Ripley taking on the xenomorph queen, the raw emotional defiance
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of Thelma and the weas as they choose their own fate.
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These aren't just movies, they're cultural touchstones, films that shifted perspectives,
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and left lasting imprints on audiences worldwide.
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And let's talk about how far we've come.
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Over the decades, Thelma has been evolving, albeit slowly, in a way that portrays women.
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There was a time when female characters were confined to side-kicks or love interests,
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with little agency and little depth, but now we've got richly layered protagonists who
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are strong not only in their actions, but in their vulnerability, their intelligence,
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and their complexities.
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Films like Wonder Woman, Black Widow, and Captain Marvel have made it clear that women can
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carry blockbuster franchises, while others like Hidden Figures and the Help tell important
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historical stories.
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And let's not forget the indie gems and hidden treasures that have championed these narratives
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long before Hollywood caught up.
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But of course, this journey is not over.
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For every amazing female driven film that breaks through, there are countless others that
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deserve more attention, and part of the fun of a list like this is shining a light on
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those movies that may have slipped under the radar or reigniting love for the classics
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that we all hold dear.
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I'm hoping that by the end of today's episode, you will not only have a few favorites
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confirmed, but also walk away with some new titles to add to your watch list, because at the
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end of the day, movies are about connection, connecting with characters, themes, and sometimes,
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even with ourselves.
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And the films we're celebrating today have a unique way of making people feel seen, inspired,
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and ready to take on the world.
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But of course, I'm not tackling this alone.
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I'm not ready to take on the world alone.
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Joining me this time we have Matt Balsarek.
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In 2022, he was on Forbes Europe's 30 under 30 list for his work in marketing, and since
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founded Sounds Better Productions.
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His short film Sunflower is in contention for the 2025 Oscars, which you'll hear more about
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in the episode.
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If you're a long time listener to Force 5, thank you for sticking around.
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It's an honor to be in your headphones right now, and if you're new to the show, welcome
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in.
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Welcome to being a list nerd.
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If you have film recommendations or feedback about the show, I'd love to hear it at Force
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5 podcast@gmail.com.
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Spreading the word about Force 5 really helps me out, so consider subscribing on whatever
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platform you're listening on, and please rate the show.
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Here's Matt Balsarek in five awesome female empowerment films.
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Welcome back to the Force 5 podcast.
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This is Matt Balsarek, a writer, producer and director whose newest short film Sunflower
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is currently in competition for a possible Oscar nomination come 2025.
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Matt, how's it going this afternoon?
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I'm great, how are you?
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Thank you so much for having me.
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I'm good, yeah man, I'm excited to talk about your film and your journey.
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First, I think one of the most telling aspects of a director's influence is from their favorite
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films.
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So what are some of your favorite films of all time?
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Oh, favorite films of all time.
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That's a tough one, outside.
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Maybe that just narrowed down to this year.
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I'll say this year, Challengers will be on top of that list.
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I just love how dynamic it is and just pacing and storytelling.
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It's just amazing.
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I've just seen a couple of more recently that I loved to like the substance.
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Obviously that everyone is talking about, you know, the great one.
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But you have all time, it's actually sometimes I tell everyone that it's Shrek.
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I love Cartoon movies.
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So I think of all time that will be Shrek.
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I used to love Shrek and when I worked at the video store, it's the movie that would play
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on the TVs at the video store and it played on the TVs in a loop for about a year.
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And so I feel like my life was Shreked out.
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But I haven't seen it in like 25 years, so maybe I should go back and rewatch it.
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Yeah, I think it's something that I watched like once a year, but I know like every single
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word and every part of this film.
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I just love this film.
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That's awesome.
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I'd like to know more about your cinematic origin story.
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So when did you first realize you wanted to be involved in movies?
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When did you first realize you wanted to be a director or a screenwriter or both?
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Well, I first realized I wanted to be in film TV.
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I remember that actually very vividly when I was just seven years old.
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My mom took me to the dancing of the stars to the audience.
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And it was a small drawn to like what's happening behind the screen, like behind, you know,
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like the stage, then what's happening on the stage.
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And I think that was the day when I was like, yeah, like that's what I wanted to do.
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And since then I've been, you know, doing shorts as a part of school and then doing bigger
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productions.
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And HDS, a lot of unscripted concerts too and then moved on to the film.
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So you sing as well?
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I did sing for sound time.
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And Paul and I was actually a child actor slash TV host for several years.
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And I was hosting like a lot of like music festivals around the country, which was super fun.
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And then I just decided to move more into producing.
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But I still want to, you know, like that creative part of me still stays.
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So I do direct sometimes and writes and so I did with some power.
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So obviously like a childhood dream now from seven years old.
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And finally, starting to come to fruition really, really kind of be realized.
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That's amazing.
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I want to get into sunflower.
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But first I got one question that I always ask of creative people and I always get really
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interesting answers.
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If you had the ability to write, direct, whatever, make a movie based on any existing property,
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any budget you can think of, what would you choose?
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I think that would be something related to Harry Potter.
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Oh, okay.
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I would do something similar to that, but in like maybe a different world or like a sequel
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prequel of that, I think that would be my dream.
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I always, I love this film so much and the story itself, how it was built.
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Like if I could be a part of that universe, I would just absolutely love that.
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All right.
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The Harry Potter spin-off series directed by Matt Balserick.
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Let's see it.
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That'd be awesome.
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All right.
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Like I said, I intentionally buried the lead here because I know that your film, Sunflower,
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directly influenced today's topic, which is five awesome female empowerment films.
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So let's talk about sunflower a little bit.
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What is the film about and why should people see it?
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Well, it's actually the story of my grandmother that she's been telling us and this times
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every single Christmas, every family celebration we've been hearing in so many times.
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She just experienced the war in 1944 being still like very young kid.
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She doesn't remember that those events very vividly in her mind, but there is a couple
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of elements that she still remembers.
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They were playing a game of hide and seek at her house almost every day.
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And that was the way of explaining to kids that they need to hide from danger, hide from
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soldiers coming.
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And one day my grandma experienced her grandfather being murdered in front of her eyes when she
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was hiding under the bed.
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And since then her mother was using sunflower to explain the concept of death and like
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use it as a metaphor kind of with petals representing every family member and those
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were leaving the family or being murdered in other terms.
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But we wanted to tell that story from a bit different perspective.
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I just didn't want to do another like a word drama that's super happy that we see all those
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times.
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I wanted to make it lighter.
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I wanted to make it more from kids perspective.
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That's why we don't even mention like the time we don't mention the location because the kids
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who is not young.
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That's not the topic that they would think about.
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They would mostly trying to understand, comprehend like what's happening around them.
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And that was like the subject that was like fascinating to me and I just love going into
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the kids.
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Vision of the world and how they understand and how they learn.
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And yeah, that was the origin for the start of sunflower and also for that reason we mixed
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like stop motion animation with live action and to build that world within the imagination
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of the kid.
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Yeah, I was going to say the stop motion sunflower is really cool.
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I love the way that we see the sunflower in that movie as you see them devolve essentially
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and then eventually act as a sign of hope in the same movie, which is yeah, really cool.
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That was a goal and make it lighter as well.
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Like you have like sort of different vision of the world that you normally have.
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Yeah.
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And speaking of the child perspective, the child actor that you got was amazing.
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A film like this can be made or broken on the strength or lack of strength of a child actor
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and she was awesome.
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Her name is Martina Zazula.
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Yes, Martina Zazula.
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We've auditioned so many kids for that role.
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I was terrified of working on set with a six-year-old kid.
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And you know, like because of the time constraints and all of those scenes including her pretty
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much like every single scene includes the kid in our film.
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So it was a challenge, but then right when we got on to set, I think in the first hour,
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I still remember that event, sorry, vividly.
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She said, well, I actually asked her can you move a little bit to the left when she was hiding
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under the bed and she said, my left or camera left?
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And that's when I knew like, okay, I'm working with a pro and set.
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And she just wrote so much energy onto this set.
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Like honestly, we're shooting like mostly at night.
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And she was just so energetic, so positive, so powerful.
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I love working with her.
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That's great.
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And that scene that you talked about with your grandma, you know, like the child hiding under
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the bed, it's really well done.
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It's a really well shot movie, well lit movie.
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It's, I can't wait to see what this does.
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Or just having an amazing, amazing team.
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I know it's true honor to work with them, starting with obviously the DP who helped me
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from the very beginning, he brought all of this life into this story and he, he proved
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his, he worked on amazing movies as well.
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He, his mentors, he enters Camille's, he worked on West State story.
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His recent film, Robin Oomin, I think, won a tryback up film festival two years ago.
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So amazing, amazing word before.
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So it's currently in competition for the 2025 Oscars to see if it becomes one of the
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finalists.
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What does that process look like?
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Do you submit it and you submitted it as a Poland's entry, correct?
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Yes, yeah, it's correct.
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So now we are on the long list amongst, I think, 180 films this year.
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And we're just trying to get it in front of the Academy members' eyes and trying to make
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them watch our film.
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See what they think about it.
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And I think next month, mid December, there's going to be a voting for the short list
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over the top 15 films.
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And January down to five for the nomination.
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Well, I wish you luck, my friend.
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I hope that it works out for you.
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Thank you.
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Obviously, I was able to watch it.
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Where can other people watch this or when can they see it?
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So it's not available out there yet, just because of all the regulation about around it.
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But depending on the next steps of the whole process of the Academy steps, it might be
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a bit of a bone January.
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Okay, cool.
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Well, I will keep listeners posted for that.
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All right, Matt, well, let's talk about some more female empowerment films.
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Did you have any criteria when you were coming up with your list?
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Were there any sub-themed that you found yourself focusing on or was it just women empowerment
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in general?
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I've been actually struggling.
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I've been thinking, should I just focus all time, any movies, recent movies, Oscar-winning
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movies, or just those from general audience?
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I think I've got a diffuser from very different genres.
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So every single movie is totally different from each other.
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It might be also questionable if it is about female empowerment.
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I've been talking about it with friends and even starting actually with the movie The Substance
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that I've just mentioned a few minutes ago, I still don't know if it's a female empowerment
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story.
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We've been just like discussing between each other.
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Like, is it female empowerment?
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Is it not?
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Have you seen it?
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I have not.
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It's on my list of things I need to watch.
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Okay, so, well, I'm not going to spoil it for you.
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That's basically, I think the whole conversation about societal expectations and going against
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them, sort of, or trying to go against them, but not necessarily winning with the system.
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That's something I've seen in that film that was very powerful from that perspective.
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It was pretty cool.
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Well, there are so many different aspects of female empowerment and we'll get into some
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of that.
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And these lists obviously are not gate-kept by anybody.
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So your list could be whatever you want it to be.
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There's no real rules.
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It's whatever you think it should be on your list.
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Matt, are you ready to get into our list?
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Yes, let's do it.
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You know what's going to happen?
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I know what's happening right now.
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I know what's going to happen.
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No, no, no, no.
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You just made the list.
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I'm going to kick us off here with my number five, which is from 1996, directed by
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Hugh Wilson.
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It's a film called The First Wives Club.
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Stand back.
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The wives have arrived.
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Don't see the raves.
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The first wives club is great fun.
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Great stars.
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Stop.
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Middler Hawn and Keaton are a comedy dream team, says Rolling Stones.
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Family.
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Gene Shannett calls it a sparkling, grown-up comedy.
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And Rex Reed cheers.
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Everyone will want to join this club.
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Happy days.
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The first wives club, now playing in theaters everywhere.
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Are you familiar with this one?
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I am not actually.
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All right, great cast.
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The way that the movie starts out, and by the way, as I described this, it's not going
295
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to sound like a comedy, but it is a comedy.
296
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The plot could be, like, if you just read the plot, it would sound like a drama, but it's
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not.
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So it starts out with four women, 1969.
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They're hanging out.
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They are about to graduate from college.
301
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We have Cynthia, Brenda, Elise, and Annie.
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OK.
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And they make a pact over some champagne that we're going to be in each other's lives forever.
304
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Then we fast forward 30 years, and it hasn't exactly happened that way.
305
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They've kind of gone their own separate ways and they don't stay in touch.
306
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But they do come back together almost 30 years later under really terrible circumstances.
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Cynthia's funeral.
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Cynthia has committed suicide because her husband left her for a much younger woman.
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So the remaining three girls, they come to the funeral, they're reunited, and they found
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out just through talking that they have very similar stories.
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They've all had, they've all backed up and helped their husbands out and made them become
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successful.
313
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And then all of their husbands kind of took them for granted and have either separated,
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divorced, or are cheating on them.
315
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And so these ladies are like, you know, we can't take this anymore.
316
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And they come up with a plan to exact justice forming the first wives club and their plan
317
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is to destroy their exes.
318
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And I'm not going to say what their plan is to extort the men because it is the climax of
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the film, but it is absolutely empowering.
320
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A great cast here.
321
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You got Bet Middler.
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She plays Brenda.
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She's a woman who's kind of struggling financially after her divorce.
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Goldie Hawn plays Elise.
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She's an aging actor who's not getting the parts she used to.
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She's going in for like Botox treatments and trying to really land these young woman roles.
327
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And now she's being offered roles of like crazy moms and she is not having it.
328
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:10,080
And then there's Diane Keaton who plays Annie.
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She's kind of the audience surrogate.
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She's a woman whose husband is cheating on her with a much younger woman.
331
00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:17,520
Great cast overall.
332
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:19,040
Sarah Jessica Parker is also in it.
333
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,880
Dan Hadaya, Stocker Channing, Elizabeth Berkeley in an early role.
334
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:23,880
Rob Reiner.
335
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:28,840
She's the all-offant's first on-screen role as a producer for a movie.
336
00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:29,840
It's a really funny movie.
337
00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,960
I mean, when I say that plot, these women come together to get revenge at one of their
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friends' funerals who committed suicide.
339
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,640
It does not sound like a comedy, but I assure you it's comedy.
340
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:40,080
It could have been a lot darker.
341
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:44,800
The source material was a lot darker, but this removed a lot of that serious stuff and
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leaned more into a kind of slapstick vibe.
343
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But I think it's really fun.
344
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:53,720
And it's a film about regaining self-worth, self-respect, and refusing to be defined
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00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:54,720
by others.
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00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:58,920
You're going to see this theme pop up a lot on my list, but it's about female solidarity
347
00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:00,800
and sticking together.
348
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:05,680
There's a fight against ageism, like you were mentioning with the substance.
349
00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,520
One of the characters is an actor who's trying to push back against those stereotypes.
350
00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:12,720
And overall, I think it's a movie just about taking back control.
351
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,720
So if you're looking for a comedy that's got some female empowerment, I think the first
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00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:21,440
Wives Club is a good choice from 1996.
353
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:28,160
For me, I think the number five is 9 to 5, so from 1980.
354
00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:29,160
9 o'clock.
355
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:30,160
Well, a gift is for $11.30.
356
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:31,160
Oh, so Mr. Hart?
357
00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:32,160
It's called the Frank.
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00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:33,160
$2.45.
359
00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:34,160
Do I need to get a gift?
360
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:35,160
Fourth block.
361
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:36,160
What?
362
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:37,160
The whole company knows you're having a fair five.
363
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:47,640
I'm going to get that gun on, and I'm going to change you from a rooster to a hand with
364
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:48,640
one shot.
365
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:53,520
Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, 9 to 5, ready to be cheap.
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00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:58,000
Now playing at a select theater near you, if I remember, so Dolly Parton movie.
367
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:01,800
I've just actually seen recently a new documentary about it, which is really, really good.
368
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,160
I think it's coming out soon somewhere.
369
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:10,400
But I think just Dolly brings so much joy and different perspectives on this time, and
370
00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:15,120
obviously the songs that she brought into it and just super like empowering in a sense
371
00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:21,440
that, and those times obviously all the women were, you know, like getting any cool pay and
372
00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:26,080
working 9 to 5 as those assistants and corporate setting, and they were trying to get out of
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00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,720
it and fight against men.
374
00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,200
And what's interesting is that they were talking to a lot of like women this time and like
375
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:38,960
seeing like all of those societal problems that arose from that, and now we're trying
376
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:41,760
to fight with that through that film.
377
00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:46,000
And I think that was something that really powerful from my perspective.
378
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:52,000
Just talking about it finally for the first time and such a big movie and obviously Jane Fonda
379
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,600
and Dolly Parton being being amazing in this film.
380
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,600
It's got a great support in cast too, Lily Tomlin in there.
381
00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:01,000
Yeah, that's correct.
382
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:02,000
That's correct.
383
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:03,000
That's correct.
384
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:04,520
This is a great film.
385
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:09,440
I don't come back to it often, but whenever I do, it's just a very good watch.
386
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:10,440
All right.
387
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:12,000
9 to 5.
388
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:15,600
Well I'm going to take us to a real different place with my number 4 here.
389
00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:20,880
We're going to go with a more recent film and in my opinion one of the best action films
390
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:29,480
ever made with Mad Max Fury Road from 2015 directed by George Miller.
391
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,480
My name is Max.
392
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:35,720
My world is reduced to a single instinct.
393
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:36,720
Survive.
394
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:51,000
As the world fell, it was hard to know who was more crazy, me, or everyone else.
395
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,000
I want a day.
396
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,320
What a lovely day.
397
00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:02,880
If you've never seen Mad Max Fury Road, despite the name, it's not really a Mad Max movie.
398
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:07,040
It's a Furiosa movie.
399
00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,600
She's an Imperator for this guy, Immortan Joe.
400
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,000
And her mission is to take this thing called the War Rig.
401
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:18,960
It's a giant diesel truck that's fitted with all kinds of weapons.
402
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:23,680
And she's supposed to take this war rig to go and trade produce and water for gas and
403
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:29,720
ammo with two other heads of different areas in this kind of post-apocalyptic land.
404
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,400
And she needs to go see the bullet farmer and the people eat her.
405
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,920
But Furiosa does not intend to make those trades.
406
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:42,380
She instead intends to flee with Joe's five wives to this place that she knows as the
407
00:23:42,380 --> 00:23:47,240
green place where she grew up before she was kidnapped and brought to the Citadel.
408
00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:54,120
So like I said, one of the best action films ever made in my opinion, the entire film is
409
00:23:54,120 --> 00:24:00,160
essentially one long chase scene from one end of the lands to the other with incredible
410
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:05,240
practical effects and really great performances from everybody involved.
411
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,160
It comes down to being a feminist movie.
412
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:14,960
There's an Indioire article that's called Oops, I made a feminist manifesto by Sarah Stewart
413
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:20,000
and she writes in the end, the movie basically sets up the start of a matriarchal society as
414
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:24,640
an antidote to the barbarian warlike tribes that came before.
415
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:30,520
And Furiosa really is the difference between the testosterone soaked chaos of the first three
416
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:35,000
and then this one and the prequel, which is also really good called Furiosa, which I think
417
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:36,480
came out earlier this year.
418
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:40,160
She's just really, really good as this fleshed out moral center of the movie.
419
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,480
It's about liberation from oppression.
420
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:48,280
It's about female community again, the reclamation of power in the subversion of these traditional
421
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:56,760
gender roles and even the wives who at first are just kind of meek women who don't have
422
00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:01,920
much to say or do they all get their chance to shine individually during this movie.
423
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:06,680
So despite the name Mad Max, yes, it takes place in that universe.
424
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:11,200
Yes, he's in it, but this is a Furiosa movie from the start.
425
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:12,200
It is a great movie.
426
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:13,200
We agree.
427
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,600
I never thought about it about Fimman Parman, but he now, it totally makes sense.
428
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,000
I don't know why I didn't even come to my mind.
429
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,400
Yeah, for me number four will be a legally blonde.
430
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,840
I'm going to make an amazing warrior.
431
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,440
Welcome to Harvard Beauty and Brains.
432
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:31,440
I have a 4.0.
433
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:32,440
Why?
434
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:33,440
There ought to be a law.
435
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,440
You don't run into Harvard law.
436
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:36,440
What?
437
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:37,960
Like a tarp?
438
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:38,960
This Friday.
439
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:39,960
I object.
440
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:40,960
I try.
441
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:42,960
America goes blind.
442
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:52,960
Hey, it's Corpus.
443
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:54,960
I've a dentiary support.
444
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:55,960
Come again.
445
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:56,960
Don't ask.
446
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:57,960
Now you're thinking like a lawyer.
447
00:25:57,960 --> 00:25:58,960
No biggie.
448
00:25:58,960 --> 00:25:59,960
Legally blonde with PG 13 starts Friday.
449
00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:00,960
A theater is everywhere.
450
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:01,960
So 2001 movie starring obviously Reese with her spoon as L Woods says we probably all know.
451
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,960
I think it's just like such an iconic story of while Fimman empowerment wrapped in this
452
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:08,960
like feel good comedy.
453
00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:14,960
It's just about you know like breaking state stereotypes, defying expectations.
454
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:21,960
Stereotypically we obviously think about dumb blonde women, but then was obsessed with fashion
455
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:23,960
beauty and her dog.
456
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:29,960
But she kind of challenges that and ultimately just proves us wrong, which is which is really
457
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:30,960
really cool.
458
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:36,000
And I think that individuality that she also presents in that film like identity that she
459
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:42,000
created for herself and obviously it's kind of like shaped by my her relationship after
460
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:47,000
all, but still is like about like championing that kind of identity that you can create for
461
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,000
yourself.
462
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:54,000
Even against all the prejudices and you know, stereotypes out there.
463
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:59,000
Yeah, this one's especially a good for this list because when the movie starts off and
464
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,000
it's been a long time since I've seen it, but the movie starts off and she's I think she's
465
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:09,000
just trying to be what she wants to be her fiance is like trophy.
466
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:15,000
Yeah, I think she wanted to like meet his expectations sort of right that she thinks he has those
467
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,000
expectations, but she creates them more.
468
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:23,000
So, but then it's then it's becoming just about like proving him wrong like that she's not
469
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,000
just as blonde, but girl, she's more than that.
470
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,000
She's she can do anything she wants.
471
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,000
It's hard for them.
472
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,000
Yeah, joining Harvard just to prove him wrong and then kind of becoming her own woman along the way.
473
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:37,000
Legally blonde.
474
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:42,000
I considered legally blonde for my list and I'm glad I didn't choose it because you you have it on yours.
475
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,000
All right, number three for me is my only animated film on here.
476
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,000
I could have gone with a bunch of animated ones and I'll talk about some of those inter-honorable
477
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:54,000
mentions, but I went with Brave from 2012 from Pixar.
478
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,000
The Grey World.
479
00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:01,000
I am the rival of the princess.
480
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,000
This is the king.
481
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,000
She's the queen and then there's my brothers.
482
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,000
Me?
483
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,000
Devils more like I played you.
484
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,000
Stop from the system.
485
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:13,000
You're side of the family.
486
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,000
What is this?
487
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,000
This is highly irregular.
488
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,000
Since you're seeing it and I was in there, see it for myself.
489
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:22,000
What?
490
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:33,000
It was originally known as the bear and the bow and it takes place in medieval Scotland and you've got princess Marida.
491
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:42,000
She's set to be married to the winner of the Highland Games and the Highland Games are where like first born people from other clans come to compete.
492
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:50,000
And Marida decides to throw her own hat in the ring because she's also a first born and she's a really skilled archer and she easily wins.
493
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:57,000
But of course this causes a bunch of chaos in the kingdom because everybody's expecting one clan member to get married to another.
494
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:09,000
And so her and her parents are fighting about this and she runs into the forest and her mother Eleanor follows her but finds herself at the home of a witch and she is transformed into a bear.
495
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:14,000
Marida must bring the clans back together in an alliance by breaking tradition.
496
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:24,000
She needs to turn her mom and her brothers back into human beings because her triplet brothers ate the enchanted cake and they are a great, great side characters in this movie.
497
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,000
And then she has to battle the mythical savage bear known as Mordu.
498
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,000
I think Brave is awesome.
499
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,000
I think it's an underrated Pixar film.
500
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,000
It was their first fairy tale.
501
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,000
And I have great memories of watching this because it was one of the first Pixar movies that we showed my kid.
502
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:46,000
And he always found the mom as a bear really funny because she's trying to adjust at one point to becoming a bear.
503
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:50,000
And you have to eat fish and berries and all this stuff that she's not used to and it's really, really funny.
504
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,000
But also has a great voice cast.
505
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:57,000
You got Emma McDonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connelly, All Great.
506
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:03,000
And then a lot of themes of female empowerment like Marida breaking the tradition of marriage.
507
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:09,000
No more being kind of sold off to the winner of these games. Now anybody can marry whoever they want to marry.
508
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:17,000
Relying on her own skills in order to save the kingdom and not just like with her bow but also with critical thinking as she reunites the clans.
509
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:23,000
And this broke a lot of molds for Pixar as well. This was Pixar's first main female protagonist.
510
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:31,000
It was said to be Pixar's first female director and unfortunately that didn't work out because of creative differences but would have loved to see that.
511
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:39,000
So yeah, Brave from 2012 is my number three. This is a great movie. I love Brave too.
512
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:43,000
The audio commentary.
513
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:51,000
It's a dying art form but here at OneTrackMind I, your wonky and affable host, Ryan Lewis Rodriguez,
514
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:59,000
analyze film through the prism of these embryonic forms of podcasting, one audio commentary at a time.
515
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:07,000
Masterpieces, crapster pieces, live action, animation, cult classics, films literally no one has ever heard of.
516
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:11,000
NoTrack is too small and noTrack is too big.
517
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:17,000
Join me and my guests from the entertainment world as we keep these features alive every other Tuesday.
518
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:23,000
Hey, who else is gonna discuss Bill and Ted's bogus journey one week and Citizen Kane the next?
519
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:31,000
Us, that's who? Sure you have to put up with my voice but there's a certain give and take in this industry.
520
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:37,000
That's OneTrackMind, part of the someone's favorite productions family and available wherever you get your podcasts.
521
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:59,000
Not every killer is captured. Justice does not always prevail. Some killers slip away or hide in plain sight, leaving behind only questions and the lingering fear that they're still out there.
522
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:15,000
I'm AC Roberts host of Wanted where we explore the chilling cases of killers who disappeared without a trace. In each episode we dive deep into the psychology of these elusive figures, unravelling what makes them tick and examining the mysteries they left behind.
523
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:21,000
Who could they have been? Why did they kill? And how have they managed to evade justice?
524
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:33,000
Join us every Friday as we dive into the dark corners of unsolved mysteries and uncovered truths. You can find Wanted on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
525
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:45,000
Mine is actually also sort well. Is it animated? It's probably not fully animated but a little bit. It's Shape of Water. So 2017 Guillermo D'Otoro.
526
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:57,000
If I told you about her, what would I say? Perhaps I would just warn you about the tale of love and loss and the monster who tried to destroy it all.
527
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:23,000
If I spoke about it, what would I tell you? Read your door. One of my favorite directors. It's a story that can be interpreted, I think, as one of FEMA empowerment.
528
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:35,000
It's obviously more about love and acceptance, challenging societal norms. And again, proving that she can do something more that they wouldn't expect her to do.
529
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:45,000
Because they made when they made crease that relationship with a monster. But I think it's still about the empowered protagonist.
530
00:33:45,000 --> 00:34:07,000
Alisa is her name. So she was just a character with, she was mute. So works a mundane job against, she's a maid. And she kind of defies those expectations by asserting her own independence, showing her desires, moral carriage and that respect.
531
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:19,000
And I think her actions obviously choosing to save the creature, the monster, risking everything. The whole family that she created, all the friendships that she had to protect him.
532
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:35,000
Just demonstrate how strong she is as a woman. And goes against all the odds to reach her goals and create a new life that she wants for herself and for her family and for that creature as well.
533
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:52,000
It's also kind of like interesting in a sense that obviously there's that FEMA alliance, so like, do them and working in, in, in, in this building, trying to unify what they think about love and, and, and work conditions.
534
00:34:52,000 --> 00:35:06,000
But I think that friendship that she forms with Octavio Spencer, I don't remember the character's name right now, but that showcases like just this strength of like how solidarity is important like between women.
535
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:14,000
And how they jointly went on to, to, to resist male control and oppression within the workspace.
536
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:30,000
And, you know, reach their own desires and, against both that. That was a great movie. I just, I love how it was like the story of it was just so different from what we had that year. And generally what we, what we have from searchlights.
537
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:34,000
So it's, it's just such a good watch as well.
538
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:47,000
Agreed. And a good segue from my number three, because they're both kind of fairy tale movies one more ancient and one more modern, but yeah, he's one of my favorite directors too. What's your favorite del Toro movie?
539
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:57,000
Well, I would say definitely shape of water would be on top, but besides that obviously Pinocchio.
540
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:10,000
And well, I do like also pan's laboring, but also to an extent, I don't fully love this film. Like there is parts of it that I love parts of it that I don't love.
541
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:23,000
Like it's, it's very dark obviously. So it's, it's, it's kind of different from what we typically see, but he also like takes animation from like a different standpoint. Like he always makes them like darker and not very obvious.
542
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:29,000
This movie kind of style, which I love about him. What's your favorite one?
543
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:40,000
Pan's laboring is my favorite. Yeah. It is a, it is very dark. Like you said, and it is also a fairy tale, but yeah, that one just gripped me from the minute I saw it. I had no idea what to expect.
544
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:51,000
I'm pretty sure he also worked on that movie, le Pupio. It was a short from Alice Robacard that was nominated for an Oscar, I think a few years ago.
545
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:57,000
And then I think you might have been a producer on it, maybe, but still it was just, it was a great film as well.
546
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:08,000
All right. Well, my number two is also pretty dark, pretty dark. We'll bring it back up for my number one. But my number two here is called Lady Vengeance. It's from 2005 directed by Park Chanwook.
547
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:19,000
This is the third and final in the unofficial vengeance trilogy. It was preceded by sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Old Boy in 2002 and 2003.
548
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:26,000
Have you seen this one before? Yeah, I've seen that one before. For those who haven't seen it, the movie starts with, with this woman named Gumbjah.
549
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:38,000
She's being released from prison after 13 years. She was convicted of kidnapping and killing a five year old boy and gained no right in prison after becoming a kind of this model for prison reform.
550
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:53,000
And her spiritual transformation got her released early, but Gumbjah is not really reformed. She was acting reformed in order to get out and exact her revenge upon those who framed her for this crime.
551
00:37:53,000 --> 00:38:01,000
And she's going to do so by using the connections that she made while in prison. And there are plenty of twists and turns in this movie.
552
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:10,000
I'm not going to say much more about the plot because it is some of the themes even I won't be able to say because they are directly tied to twists in the movie.
553
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:20,000
Just know it's a really fantastic slow burn revenge flick that delivers when it counts in a third act. Park Chanwook is an amazing director.
554
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:32,000
And if you haven't seen any of his films listeners, you got to watch the vengeance trilogy. Not easy to watch, but really good. Stoker's great handmade ins great and then joint security area is a little more.
555
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:40,000
It's a little lighter and it's probably a good place to start. And that's actually where he first worked with the main actor in this movie Lee Young A.
556
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:51,000
She plays Gumbjah and she's amazing. She won the Blue Dragon Award for Best Actress That Year that's like South Korea's Oscars. And you see her transform on screen emotionally.
557
00:38:51,000 --> 00:39:08,000
It's a really special performance. The themes that I can talk about on display here, resilience and control because she reclaims agency in this world that has continuously oppressed her manipulated her kept her jailed for 13 years.
558
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:20,000
Again, solidarity with women. She's the connections that she made in prison on her quest for justice here. And like I said, there's more, but I don't want to spoil anything. You're going to have to watch it. Not an easy watch.
559
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:35,000
Grimey nasty people in Park Chanwook's worlds, but it is rewarding and it's a perfect example in my opinion of female empowerment. So, yeah, Lady Vengeance or sympathy for Lady Vengeance in some territories is my number two.
560
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:42,000
Very cool. For me also, it's a very dark one here. Well, the one I mentioned before this substance is my number two.
561
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:48,000
Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?
562
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,000
Yeah!
563
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,000
Younger.
564
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:55,000
Perfect.
565
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:57,000
Beautiful.
566
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,000
So smart!
567
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:24,000
Again, questionable of its film, a few empowerment or what it leads, but it's a psychological thriller, body horror, whatever people call it these days, but film focuses on, you know, like the autonomy, societal expectations, pressures placed on the women.
568
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:52,000
Paul for like a very, very unique and genre blending lens. I think I think the director here, like she she just so powerfully delivers something that I have not expected from this film and just like talking about like how women see themselves, how they fight with like the persona that they're creating within them as well, like how they portrayed themselves to the world.
569
00:40:52,000 --> 00:41:21,000
It's the film basically divides one person into two women and they just swap roles within their own life, which is so interesting to see in how, how that kind of like showcases breaking free from, you know, the societal norms and meeting expectations that people put on them and obviously the ageism is another element like that the industry, especially entertainment industry wants everyone to be young and then.
570
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:48,000
Beautiful and sometimes that ends, but I think women is just women are in the center of that story very much so and it's a very female driven narrative and that respect just showcasing that autonomy control control over one's body bodies, big element of this film, how, how that changes depending on how you see yourself and what you do with yourself.
571
00:41:48,000 --> 00:42:02,000
Especially when it comes to like all the surgeries and changes that you can do to your body it's just talking about all of those like oppressive slash abuse relationships with people that you don't even see typically.
572
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:11,000
But they're affecting you and how you perceive yourself and how you change yourself to me, the societal expectations for just really really cool.
573
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:30,000
Why heard Demi more as amazing in that movie I haven't been able to see it yet see it is amazing if she's just so powerful in that film like honestly at first I didn't like this movie that much but then when I started thinking about it like what story tells it kind of like start understanding what is what is about.
574
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:40,000
But it's it was a very very cool approach to something I have well I have not seen something like this before which which is pretty cool.
575
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:47,000
Yeah, I mean it's made a lot of waves and people have been recommending to me left and right I just got to see it it's out of theaters now.
576
00:42:47,000 --> 00:43:03,000
I feel so for a recommend this film to watch like it's something you should see but it's not a recommendation I think like you should know I should recommend this film like just just the way it's like portrayed to the world like it's it's very visual very very visual.
577
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:16,000
Well when it hits when it hits Blu-ray and 4k I'm sure I'll pick it up and give it a spin. All right Matt we're at our number ones here our grand finale here what we might think are the best female empowerment movies.
578
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:25,000
I don't know that there is one in my opinion is better than 2000s Aaron Rockovich directed by Steven Soderberg.
579
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:36,000
You're a lawyer hell no I hate lawyers I just work for this spring you may want to rethink your wardrobe a little yet ready for the truth you might want to rethink those times the whole truth.
580
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:42,000
I may just think you can walk in there. I'm what we need they're called boob said and nothing but the truth.
581
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:43,000
How did you do this?
582
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:48,000
Seeing how I have no brains or legal expertise. I just went out there and performed 634 sexual favors.
583
00:43:48,000 --> 00:44:04,000
This stars Julia Roberts as Aaron Brockovich and unemployed mom of three who gets hired to work at a secretary as a secretary at a legal firm.
584
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:17,000
She's got no experience and starts off with no respect from anybody but she's given the files for our real estate case and when she starts digging into them she notices there's some medical stuff in here and she realizes there might be more to the story in this film.
585
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:33,000
This is the story in this place called Hinkley California and using only her grit and her determination she doesn't take no for an answer she starts digging into the case and finds out that the groundwater in Hinkley is contaminated and that the power giant PG&E could be responsible.
586
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:40,000
So this is a true story that details Aaron Brockovich's efforts to hold PG&E accountable while holding her own family together.
587
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:50,000
This is not a film just about one woman it's it should be an inspiration to all women to trust their instincts to take risks and to challenge those systemic injustices.
588
00:44:50,000 --> 00:45:09,000
Like I said, this is a true story when we first see her she's telling a story to a guy who's interested in her and she says she has 16 bucks in her bank account and no formal education but she accomplished what she did because of how determined she was.
589
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:25,000
She also worked to break gender stereotypes at work at the firm Albert Finney placed her boss and in one of the very first scenes that she's there she tells her she might want to think about wearing some less revealing clothing and she basically says I'm gonna wear whatever I want.
590
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:34,000
I think her quote is like as long as I have one ass instead of two I'll wear whatever I want and she uses that sexuality at times to get what she wants and it works.
591
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:44,000
She rises up to the challenge of every bump that's put in front of her she gets over it from getting signatures for a lawsuit to going up against the team of highly trained lawyers.
592
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:56,000
It's really an incredible story Susanna Grant wrote the screenplay she spent a year following Aaron Brockovich and her family around she did insane amounts of research on the case and the notes from the real files.
593
00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:03,000
Julia Roberts also did a bunch of research for this she was the first female to break the $20 million salary mark with this movie.
594
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:17,000
And she earned it she's the first person to ever one to ever win the BAFTA critics choice golden globe Sagaward national board of review award and the Oscar in the same year.
595
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:32,000
And the film was nominated for best picture best director best supporting actor for Finney and screenplay really really fantastic movie also a hell of a year for Steven Sotterberg who did not win best director for this movie but did win best director for traffic.
596
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:43,000
So he was nominated for best director for two different movies in the same year which is pretty insane to me but Aaron Brockovich if you haven't seen it check it out very cool.
597
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:52,000
So for me number one will be a film from Yerga Slandtemaus of 2023 poor things.
598
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,000
I am Bella Baxter.
599
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:58,000
I'm a flawed experimenting person.
600
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:05,000
I seek outings in adventures. Bella so much to discover.
601
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:08,000
You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
602
00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:11,000
I am finding being alive fascinating.
603
00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:13,000
Bella.
604
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:16,000
Why I keep it in my mouth if it is revolting.
605
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:20,000
I must go punch that baby.
606
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:30,000
We must experience everything not just a good degradation shall we see all right.
607
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:35,000
Sadness.
608
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:38,000
And we can know the world.
609
00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:41,000
I'm gonna be know the world.
610
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:47,000
The world is ours.
611
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:52,000
No more animals too much.
612
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:59,000
Which is also a very interesting movie to watch but it's definitely a tale of female empowerment.
613
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:04,000
Very surreal, dark humor.
614
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:06,000
Dark humor in it.
615
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:11,000
In a provocative way I would say a little bit but it's definitely a story of empowerment.
616
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:18,000
Obviously starting from Bella's transformation played by Emma Stone.
617
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:26,000
And autonomy is just she's resurrected with that new brain and body and obviously symbolizing that clean slate free from any societal expectation.
618
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:37,000
But the way she behaves the way she is is becoming a part of all those conversations and general disagreements about her.
619
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:47,000
And I think it's just this rebirth allows her to reject all of those notions of womenhood and morality and behavior.
620
00:48:47,000 --> 00:49:00,000
And allows her to like explore all those desires sexuality that obviously is a big topic of this film like the unapologetic desire that she portrays in the film.
621
00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:14,000
She's obviously very open to exploration of her sexual desires and relationships that she has that are against all of the societal norms and expectations of women's proper behavior.
622
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:29,000
But I think that this unfiltered fight battle towards pleasure and connection is just like a statement of liberation to some extent from everything that she's been going through.
623
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:39,000
And obviously the patriarchal structure as well like the confronting male authority, the dad in the beginning, then the other man that she's been with.
624
00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:45,000
It's just very interesting how it's portrayed and it's all attempting to impose their will.
625
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:53,000
They are attempting to impose their will on her but she's fighting against that and turning those power dynamics.
626
00:49:53,000 --> 00:50:05,000
That even though those people may have money may have the power she's going against it and she's still on the winning side of all things which is super interesting for me.
627
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:22,000
And finally obviously like that beams of evolution, beams of reclamation reclaiming her voice, someone who might seem like Bernie Naive childish but as she evolves, she becomes just a force of intellect, force of autonomy, force of women.
628
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:35,000
So women feminism her journey is like you know all about like reclaiming her voice both literally metaphorically as well after being silenced by societal and personal circumstances.
629
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:46,000
But it's I think deriving all from like this hunger for for knowledge and rejection of of ignorance at some points maybe.
630
00:50:46,000 --> 00:51:03,000
It's just so interesting how how it's being portrayed in this film and and the Argos just created a totally different world in this film that I really really appreciate and it's such a powerful critique of of the society.
631
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:14,000
Very visual again and I really appreciate that film so if you haven't seen it definitely watch that it's funny how many parallels there are between poor things and Aaron Brockovich.
632
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:19,000
Yeah, I think about it. They're very similar characters, but also different portrayal.
633
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:27,000
Yeah, how fitting that we ended our list with two Oscar winning actresses for the roles that they played. That's great.
634
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:35,000
Oh yeah, to Sarah Tosker here. Yeah, no kidding. We've got 10 films on the board. We did not cross over on any of them. That's amazing.
635
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:47,000
I do want to talk about some honorable mentions that I had and if there were any that you wanted to mention we can get to that as well. But first let's recap our lists for the listeners and I will go first on that.
636
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:59,000
So you got number five. I had the first wives club at number four. I had mad Max Fury Road from 2015 at number three. I had brave from Pixar at number two.
637
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:14,000
I had Lady Vengeance and at number one, I had Aaron Brockovich from 2000 for me was on the fifth position. That was nine to five. Then I had some legally blonde.
638
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Shape of water. The substance and poor things.
639
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:36,000
All right. It's tough whittling these things down to five. Were there any films that you wanted to throw out there is I had so many on my list. Literally I was thinking that's why I had to like now thing which one I selected for the places because honestly I didn't like rank them before.
640
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:51,000
But I had like 12 on my list that I was thinking about. But obviously like sometimes like it's not like a clear female empowerment story like it's it's kind of like a question like is it about female empowerment is it not.
641
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:59,000
But there's just so many good movies around it and obviously I was thinking about even before about like hunger games or.
642
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:07,000
That was probably maybe as a female empowerment movie but I think my list was just.
643
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:18,000
It was that I personally love and I think they're just very fulfilling when comes to the story. Were there any that you wanted to mention as as ones that like if we had a top 10 you would have thrown in there.
644
00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:26,000
Yeah, definitely. I think hunger games would be on that list. I was thinking about hidden figures as well such a great movie.
645
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:39,000
I was a dying lady, super jazz but these are Marley cliche movies that I think just everyone knows already and have seen so I just wanted to come up with a list that it's a little bit off typical list.
646
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:45,000
Yeah, yeah, I could see that. I had a couple that I wanted to throw out there. I mentioned I could have put a bunch of animated ones on here.
647
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:53,000
Moana was an easy one. Moana was also on my list of those 12 movies. Yeah, I was thinking about Moana. That's a great one.
648
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And then Mulan which the only reason I didn't choose Mulan is because I just used Mulan for a similar theme not too long ago so I didn't want to throw that out there.
649
00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:11,000
And then one that came close I'm glad that you had Reese with their spoon represented with legally blonde. I almost went with the Reese with their spoon movie wild from a couple years back.
650
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I think that was really good too.
651
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:16,000
I was also thinking about wild that's such a good movie.
652
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And then there was another one with Holly Hunter that I think it's called living out loud that that one crossed my mind to Danny DeVito and Queen Latifa.
653
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:29,000
I almost chose that one but had to get cut.
654
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:35,000
I was also thinking about how could have sex. I think I don't know if you've seen that film. I think it was 20 last year maybe.
655
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:41,000
It's definitely was like an festival circuit quite a strong one. Also quite good movie.
656
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But still I think not as strong as the other ones that we've talked about.
657
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Great list of female empowerment. Matt is there anything else other than sunflower that you want to promote or direct people to go see more of your work anywhere?
658
00:54:56,000 --> 00:55:00,000
Not right now specifically we're obviously working on the feature film right now sunflower.
659
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:05,000
We're turning that into a feature next year so hopefully we're going to talk more about that soon.
660
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:13,000
We're going to work on a new TV series and you are scripted show so I'm sure you're going to hear more from us.
661
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:19,000
Sounds better productions very very soon. We are working on quite a few projects projects right now.
662
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:27,000
Obviously sunflower being on top of our minds right now because of the award season and all of those conversations happening.
663
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:32,000
But yeah stay tuned. I'm sure there's going to be more to come from us.
664
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All right you'll find links to everything in the show notes here so go check that stuff out and when sunflower is available I will let everybody know where you can watch it.
665
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Matt when you have that feature film coming out you let me know and we'll get you back on the show to talk about it.
666
00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:47,000
Well do thank you so much.
667
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:54,000
What did we leave off that should have been on our lists? Let me know by emailing me at force five podcast at gmail.com.
668
00:55:54,000 --> 00:56:06,000
You'll find links to support guests and force five in the show notes to very easy and very free ways to support me are to review force five wherever you get your podcasts and tell your friends about the show.
669
00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:16,000
The force five theme song comes courtesy of Nate Spears outro music comes from cheesecake chat and the top five list bumper was produced by me with music from audio binger.
670
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You only get one life spend it with the people and the movies that you love.
671
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:39,000
Yo check it I'm on a mic just to let you know about the force five in that radio show talking movies dropping all the data pros breaking down like current so I turn this course say you won't from blockbuster in the hits they got it all analyze and film stay never.
672
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:50,000
Thank you for listening to hear more shows from the someone's favorite productions podcast network please select the link in the description.
673
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:54,000
[Music]
5 90’s Hidden Gems.
This is a transcript of the Force Five Podcast episode titled 5 90’s Hidden Gems w/ Jordan Courtney from Filmshake - The 90’s Movie Pod. To listen to this episode, use this link.
Note - transcript services may not be 100% accurate; if you have questions about a word or context, please listen to the episode or reach out to me at forcefivepodcast@gmail.com.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
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You are now listening to the someone's favorite productions podcast network.
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And that for your future presentation.
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We're two or three.
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Four, five, four, five, two, three!
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What's up, listeners?
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I am your host X Video Store Clerks,
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screenwriter and fellow listener Jason Kleberg and this is Force Five.
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A show where I force my guest to come up with a movie theme top five list topic
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and then we reveal our picks on air.
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Jordan Courtney from Film Shake, the 90s movie podcast, joined me once again to talk five 90s hidden gems.
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And when I say hidden gems, Jordan brought his A game.
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There are three films on his list that I had never even heard of.
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And I can almost guarantee that even if you are the most hard core,
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cinephile, there's going to be something on our list today that it's going to make your ears perk up.
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If you're a long time listener to Force Five, welcome back.
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And if you're new to the show, I hope you like what you hear.
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A couple notes real quick before I get going this past week.
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I made the decision to stop using all of my social media accounts.
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But I still want to talk movies with you, the listeners.
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So here's the deal.
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Send me an email at forcefivepodcast@gmail.com
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and have a conversation like human beings that way.
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I want to hear what you have never heard of on this list.
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And I'd like some recommendations from you of 90s hidden gems that you may have in your pocket that I and the Jordan may not have heard of.
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And I will send Jordan anything that you send me so he can react as well.
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And you can still find me on letterbox.
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You'll find the link to that in the show notes if you want to talk movies with me.
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Now, because of the lack of social media for the show,
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spreading the word about force five is one of the only ways this show can grow.
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So consider subscribing on whatever platform you're listening on if you haven't already.
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And also rate the show for me.
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I've got some ideas brewing for some other interactive stuff.
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And hopefully I'll have some news on that soon.
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We'll see. I don't know. I haven't really worked it out yet.
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Anyway, here's Jordan Courtney in 590s hidden gems.
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[Music]
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Welcome back to the forcefive podcast.
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Today, my returning guest is Jordan Courtney,
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a guy who seems to like 90s movies a little bit.
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He's one half of film shake the 90s movie podcast.
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And the last time Jordan was on the main feed was way back on episode 11.
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When along with your co-host Nick, we tackled top five 90s sci-fi films.
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Jordan, how have you been?
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Hey, man, doing great.
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And thanks so much for having me back on the show.
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Yeah, like I said, it's been forever.
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And I've been really enjoying listening to your show and how it's evolved.
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Over the years, so great job with that, man.
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And yeah, I'm doing great.
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Just been cranking out lots of 90s movies as always.
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Indeed. I appreciate the kind words.
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And if you're interested in Jordan's favorite films, you can go back and listen to that episode.
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I actually went back and listened to that episode to make sure that we had talked about your favorite films.
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And we had. And man, it's my vocals just sound so rough.
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So four, four years ago, almost.
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Yeah, I'm scared to go back and listen to my early episodes as well.
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I don't know why that's good as I would like.
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Not great, not great.
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But we're not worried about the past year today, well, until we get to our list.
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Right now we're worried about the present.
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I'm going to ask, Jordan, what are some cool things that you've seen lately that you liked?
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Well, speaking of the present in the past, I feel like I'm always in the past because I'm just, you know,
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I'm doing a 90s movies podcast. I'm constantly looking back at older decades of cinema.
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I've seen a few things in the theaters this year.
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Nothing that's really grabbed me a whole lot, but I've been diving into some favorites of mine and discovering some new stuff.
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So I don't know if on that episode 11, I shouted out this movie in my favorites.
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I probably did if knowing me, but this year I rewatched with Nail and I from 1987,
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which has been just like a top five movie of mine.
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Just really hilarious, drunken, British comedy, just this very cult movie, starring Richard E. Grant,
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and a magnificent drunken performance. It's really great. Have you ever seen this?
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No, I haven't. And it's been recommended on this show to me before I just haven't gotten into it yet.
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Nice. Yeah, it's basically two actors at the end of the 60s.
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We're just going to fed up with London City Life, decide to go on holiday in the country.
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And it's a grave mistake because they're just met with torrential rain and like a raving homosexual uncle who wants to have his way with one of the guys.
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And just all sorts of craziness. And it's one of the most quotable movies I've ever seen.
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And I can just rewatch it over and over again. So that's basically what I've been doing this years.
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Rewashing that movie and quoting it on like a Facebook group is where basically they'll find like any image and somehow relate it to the movie and bring like a quote to that movie.
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It's just like every little piece of dialogue is quotable. So that's an old one that I've just kind of fell in love with again.
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And then for a new discovery, watch 1977's Rolling Thunder.
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Oh, love that one with William DeVane. So I'd never seen it before. I mean, I had known that Quentin Tarantino named his production or his distribution company at some point, Rolling Thunder.
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And that it was just, you know, a Paul Schrader film, same writer for taxi driver. So it's got a lot of the same kind of vibe to it.
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But really love this revenge flick. Just love William DeVane. I think he should have been, you know, a bigger movie star, like had more like starring roles.
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He says, looking back at his filmography, I don't see a ton and I haven't really seen a whole lot of his other movies, but yeah, he's awesome in this as this Vietnam vet who returns from the war.
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He's like back in Dallas, Texas in the 70s. And then he's like awarded all these silver coins on live TV.
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And then of course, you know, some bad guys come to his house and like murder his wife and his son and chop off his hands.
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Yeah, got to get those coins, but they chop off his head and a garbage disposal. And then he gets like a hook for a head. And then he goes after the guys.
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And I know he's just he's just such a badass, but his wife is also like leaving him for like another man soon as he returns home from like a POW camp was just like so rough.
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But yeah, he's great in this. And it's just really great and Arley revenge thriller with Tommy Lee Jones as a super young role. And he's just epic in this movie as well.
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So yeah, really enjoyed that. I love rolling thunder. My favorite part in that movie is where Bill Devane is explaining to Tommy Lee Jones that they need to go and get revenge.
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And Tommy Lee Jones doesn't ask any questions. He's just like, fuck it. Let's go.
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Right. No, yeah, it's it's really kind of chilling because he it's like badass, but also like man war has changed these men. And he's just like, all right, let me get my gear.
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And he's just like ready to go kill like all these people just at the drop of a hat. It's crazy. I agree. I think Bill Devane could have been way bigger. He for me, his most resident role with me is as the president's advisor on 24.
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He was on 24 for a long time. I think he was an advisor, but yeah, he was on there for a couple seasons. And I really loved his character.
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You mentioned to me just off hand as we were emailing back and forth that you're starting to get into VHS collecting tell me a little bit about that.
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Oh man, it's it's like a rabbit hole of try to avoid going down for a while now because I've been through like, you know, any sort of analog audio or video collecting to a degree.
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But yeah, I worked for the public library and we started to do some offering video conversion for people that have like old home movies on, you know, VHS tape. I even had like an old beta max player in my closet from years back that I got working.
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And I've been converting like all my home movies to digital to preserve them and will be offering that to some of our patrons who want to do the same. So feel like that's just kind of like inevitably open me up to like weirdo VHS collecting like just, I don't know, just the covers and the like socially like horror or cult stuff.
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So they just like looks really wicked on VHS and has that certain kind of grimy charm to it. So I went down like a real rabbit hole for a while collecting audio cassette tapes like from the 90s like alternative rock and stuff.
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So yeah, I just, I just get into these obsessive modes where I'm just like, what other nostalgic thing can I dive into now? So unfortunately that's where I'm at.
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Nice. So you have how many tapes now VHS? Yeah.
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Not really a whole lot just been in the last like I had I'd found like a pulp fiction VHS tape at a estate sale and that kind of like sat on my shelf for a while. I'm like that does look pretty cool.
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And it had like I even for our digital conversion thing I captured some of that because it had like an interview at the end with Quentin and like the extra bonus scenes and I'm talking about it. So it's just like I wonder how this looks and sounds and it's probably on YouTube or whatever was just like a fun thing to do on your own.
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Sure. So yeah, I was I was actually very impressed at the audio quality even though like the video look like shit. I was like, bad this audio held up pretty good. But yeah, then like I don't know, it was just today I went to one of our record stores and the dude had brought out like a bunch of like anime like 80s or 90s anime VHS tapes. I was like, damn it. I've got to buy.
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So like they might be worth money in anime sometimes limited runs. Yeah, yeah, I mean I was looking on eBay and stuff. So she's like, all right, let me let me stop or I spent all my money.
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Are there any like rare tapes that you're going to keep your eyes open for? Oh man. So I roughly talked about we must have talked about a cure on our sci fi episode. Even though that's 80s not 90s.
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I don't know. I feel like maybe we brought up Akira or maybe it was on some other anime episode that I did, but Akira from the 80s is like my favorite sci fi movie, my favorite anime movie of all time.
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And my best friend actually grown up like the first time that I saw that movie. I watched it on VHS with my friend from down the street.
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And he still has his tape. So I contacted him today and I was like, Hey man, let's get together and watch that. And I will capture that digitally and give you a copy. So I'm looking forward to that.
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Very cool. I had a guest on here not too long ago. Dan Kinnam. He made the documentary, a gesture tracking, which if you haven't picked that up, I would advise you to pick that up. It's got tons of interviews with VHS collectors.
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And they outlined some really interesting tapes. There's a tape called Demon Queen that fetches like thousands of dollars.
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Tales from the quad dead zone. That's another one that I know is super rare that gets a lot of attention when it gets on eBay.
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There's some people have these alerts set up and some of these cats are on there like every day looking for tapes.
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I don't want to get that into it honestly, or I'm just like, I'm not spending $50 on a tape. I don't know. It's looking at eBay and some of the prices.
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I'm like, this is a little out of hand, but I found the movie Heavy Metal, the animated Cartoon. I found that for like three bucks. So I was like, All right, I'll buy that.
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I think it's a good little shelf piece or something. Well speaking about the past, what's going on over at Film Shake these days?
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Yeah, so this year we've been covering all 1999 movies for the 25th anniversary.
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So we've recently just covered Bing John Melchowicz, which is one of my favorite movies. I think it might have been on my top five sci-fi 90s.
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Nick hates it though. So this was the first time that he had ever seen it. So we got in a big fight over that.
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We watched the sixth sense, which I'm kind of Luke Wormon and it's like his favorite movie of all time. So we got in a big fight over that.
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And then we watched the Blair Witch Project, which I had never seen. So that was, you know, an interesting run of like, I don't know, all this contentiousness over these favorite movies of ours.
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And then we both kind of landed on Blair Witch like really enjoying going back and watching that.
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So yeah, lots of heated debates getting a little dicey there. I thought we were going to break up the, the pod.
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But no, it's been really fun looking at this particular year focusing on 1999, you know, which some would say is the best year in cinema.
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And on top of that, Nick and I have just been watching like a ton of 1999 movies on our own. And I think he's logged like 80 plus 99 movies this year.
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99, I would have been not yet working at the video store, but I was, I had a friend that worked at the movie theater. Well, his brother worked at the movie theater.
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So we would all get to go for free and we go in on a Saturday, like 10 o'clock and we just jump movies all day long until, you know, we had to leave.
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Yeah. And so I think I saw most everything that came out in 99 just because of that year.
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That's, yeah, that's a lovely way to spend your time as a 12 year old or whatever, you know, just live at the movie theater, miss those days.
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I have a 99 movie on my list today. So we'll see if that comes up.
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I try, yeah, I got one, I got one on my list too. I felt like I had to represent.
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Go check out film shake if you want to hear Jordan and Nick breaking up on a consistent basis and then coming back together over a player wedge project.
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Yes. Well, let's talk top five 90s hidden gems. So you hit me up. You said, Hey, I don't know if anybody's done hidden gems.
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We ended up narrowing it down to 90s, kind of fit the theme. What drew you to the topic of hidden gems?
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Yeah. So hidden gems are really interesting to me from the 90s and in particular, just because I think we do, you know, mix it up a good bit for the show where obviously we have to cover, you know, things that we think will interest both ourselves and our listeners.
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So we might be revisiting things that we already know about for our main feed.
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And so really kind of on a side quest, like getting to dig deep into some obscure films from the decades, really fun.
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And there's such an independent filmmaking boom in the 90s that there's just a lot of small pictures with great cast, great stories, you know, that never made it really big.
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They're made on like a shoestring budget, but they're really fascinating.
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So always like diving into, you know, mostly genre fair, like neo noir from the 90s is a big thing for me.
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Just other like under the radar stuff within horror or thriller, but you know, you have your your heavy headers like early 90s erotic thrillers like basic instinct, but then it's like, well, what are some of those underseen ones that kind of ripped that off or did something different.
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So that's kind of what, you know, got me thinking about this.
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And I think the neo noir play, I think I have two neo noir's on my list. So we'll see if we match up at all. I really love this topic. And I think listeners will know I try to highlight hidden gems on list when I have the opportunity.
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You wouldn't believe how many emails I get from people complaining that I put something on a list and left off something way more ubiquitous just because the topic is name top five.
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So I just have to explain like, hey, you know, from the opening, I mentioned it many times before I used to work at video store and that's the video store clerk coming out in me.
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You know, we have top five time travel movies. I'm probably not going to put back to the future on my list because everybody knows back to the future.
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I just I love recommending flicks that you might not be familiar with. And so this topic came across and I'm like, this is awesome.
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It gives me a chance to do five of those right and really dig deep. So I had to really kind of process how I would define a hidden gem, but I'm interested in your take on that.
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How do you define the hidden gem? Yeah, well, first of all, I have to say I really enjoy that aspect of your show where I'm listening and like, oh, I haven't heard of that movie or maybe I've heard of it, but I've never seen it and you're highlighting it.
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So I love that instead of just like, oh, let's give you the top five movies that everybody talks about within that topic. So keep that up, man. You're doing good work.
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But yeah, breaking it down, hidden would imply it's under scene, right? And then a gem would imply it's got some sort of quality to it.
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So films that feel like they're not talked about enough in the broader pop culture or film discussion, but should be because they're great or unique in some way.
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I mean, all this is very subjective because, you know, what's hidden for me might not be hidden for you. And, you know, what's a gem to me might just be trashed as somebody else.
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But, you know, my biggest fear coming into this was, you know, I'm going to sound like some basic bitch, like, pick something that the listeners will be like, oh, that's not hidden at all. I've seen that.
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But, you know, I tried to gauge, you know, basically by letterbox or IMDB, like how many people had logged it or reviewed it, you know, the films I had in mind.
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And then, you know, try and weed some out that way at least. So I'm not just like, oh, like, I had never seen this going up, but apparently everybody else did. So I tried to give that some consideration.
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What is this Titanic double VHS box? I bet nobody's seen the numbers. Yeah, exactly.
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I also used letterbox as my litmus test. So users or users listeners, if you're not familiar with letterbox, you should be. It's where you can log everything that you've seen.
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But, when you log something, it goes into their database. So you can look up a movie and you can see how many people have logged that movie in their film diary.
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And so what I first did is I went and I looked at what I thought would be the most popular films of the 90s. So I looked up Titanic and I looked up the Matrix, which I would think are, you know, two of the most widely seen movies of the 90s.
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And Titanic had 3 million people logged it and the Matrix said 2.9 million. So I feel like 3 millions, kind of the top end.
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Yeah. And then I started thinking about middle ones where maybe people have heard of them, but maybe not seen them or they weren't super popular and started whittling down the list that way.
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And I found one that I thought, you know what, this is probably a hidden gem and I looked it up and that was around 25,000 logs, which was way more than I thought it would be.
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So I decided that my hard stop was going to be 10,000 letter box logs that was going to be anything under 10,000 is probably under seen. Now on my list, the most logs that I've had for my number five is going to be 6400.
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And then I have one on here that has as little my number one has 171 logs.
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Nice.
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Yeah, so this is going to be fun. Jordan Courtney from Film Shake, are you ready to get into our list? I'm ready. Let's go.
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You know what's going to happen?
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How long is happening right now?
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How long is it going to happen?
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No, no, no, no.
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Of course, you just made the list.
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[cheering]
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Five 90s hidden gems. I'm going to kick us off here and I have mine on my list in order of the amount of logs on letter box.
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So we're going to go from the most, which is 6400 down to 171. And at 6400, I have a 1997 film with a fantastic ensemble cast.
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This movie is called City of Industry.
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The plan.
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So we're skipped. I'll be down tonight. Who else is coming? I'm Brother Roy. I do a gibbon.
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What's in there?
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It's a West Coast distribution site for the Russian diamond tree. Where do you get your information?
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I bought it.
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We're on the heist.
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Has on me!
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Let's go.
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The goods.
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We did great, kid.
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I think we'll do pretty good for today's work.
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So much you made.
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He says we took down two or three minutes.
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How much you didn't get?
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The betrayal.
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This is directed by John Irvin. He is probably most well known for raw deal and hamburger hill.
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But like I said, incredible cast here. Harvey Kytel plays the lead. Steven Dorf plays the antagonist.
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And then you have smaller roles for Timothy Hutton, Famic Johnson, Michael Jai White, Lucy Liu, and even an Elliott Gould cameo.
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But this movie is all Kytel. He plays this character named Roy.
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He's a retired criminal. He comes out of retirement to help his brother Lee with a jewelry heist down in Palm Springs.
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Also on the team, he has a guy named Jorge. He's a guy who's just trying to make some money for his family because he's about to go away for a long time.
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He got picked up on a gun charge.
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And then there's a guy named Skip.
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And Skip is played by Steven Dorf.
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He is the man. He's wearing such a 90s outfit.
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He's got these like wrap around Oakley's with the yellow lenses.
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He's the getaway driver. He's the wild card.
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And the stick up at the jewelry store, it's they pick a very specific day because there's a crooked consulate member.
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He's going to deposit a large illegal diamond shipment there.
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And so they bust into the back room.
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Heist goes off without a hitch. They get out of there. Everybody's happy.
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But it's a it's a noir film. And you know, there's going to be a double cross.
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And of course that's Skip because you can't wear yellow Oakley's a not be a bad guy in the 90s.
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Especially not the 90s.
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Yeah, and especially not Steven Dorf. He's not playing like a straight man here.
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No, not ever.
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So they're counting their fluid out. They're figuring out how big the score is.
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It's around three million and Skip shoots both Lee and Jorge.
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And Roy somehow gets away.
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And that's where our cat and mouse game begins because Roy knows Skip has a couple of days to get rid of these diamonds at best.
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And Roy knows all those guys that he could try and fence the diamonds to so he's kind of doing his best to stay one have one step ahead.
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I think this gets lost a little bit in the post 90s Tarantino crime film mountain of movies that you would have seen at the video store.
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But I think it's worth watching for a couple of reasons. First off, Harvey Kaitel is awesome in this role.
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Especially once the second act starts and he has this weight of his dead brother really on his shoulders.
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He's freaking out at times. He's got some great one. He's got some great lines.
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I won't say one lineers because it's not like comedic, but he's got some great lines.
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Somebody's like, why don't you call the police?
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And he looks at her dead in the eye and says, I'm my own police.
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Just lines like that that I really love.
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And then of course, Steven Dorf. He's great in this. He's this slimy villain.
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But I really I enjoy him as a villain. It's a really solid underrated LA neon.
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Or it's worth checking out. It's got a great soundtrack to which I know you would appreciate massive attack tricky lush death and Vegas.
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Oh, nice.
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Yeah, just overall big fan Kevin Costner was originally attached to this.
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And at the time the budget was 30 million bucks.
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And when he left the project, the budget went down to eight million.
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So yeah, city of industry at number five for me from 1997.
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Nice man. Yeah, I've definitely got to check that out just for the cast alone.
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Harvey Kitell in the 90s Brad Dorf. That's awesome.
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All right. So number five for me on letterbox. This has 11,000 logs.
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So a little bit over that 10, but not by much.
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This is 1991's stone cold.
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They warned him when he went undercover that this would be a most unpleasant assignment.
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I look forward to it.
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But nobody expects him to be pleasant.
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They put down the dog pranks for everybody.
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Brian Bosworth is stone cold. And then some red it are.
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So this is directed by Craig our backstreet.
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And he was apparently a stunt man before he became a director.
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So you know, anytime you have like a stunt guy go director, I feel like you're going to get like just kind of balls to the wall action nonsense.
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And that's exactly what this movie is.
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So you've got Brian Bosworth.
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He plays Joe Huff.
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He's a tough loner cop with a flare for infiltrating dangerous biker gangs.
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So the FBI blackmail's him into an undercover operation.
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And he infiltrates the brotherhood, which is a Mississippi biker gang led by Lance Henrickson.
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And his name in this movie is chains.
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Of course.
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Yeah, of course.
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That's wild look at you. He's got the not Oakley's, but he's got these like purple circular sunglasses on in this like really long crazy hair and beard.
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And you also got William Forsyth in this and he's amazing.
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I think he plays a guy named ice.
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But you've got stuff where like Brian Bosworth has a pet commoto dragon for some reason that lives in his apartment with them.
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And I love a good like movie scene where you just take a blender and you put lots of random shit in it and blend it up.
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And then you know, the action star drinks it.
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But in this one, he blends up like, you know, snickers and chips and whatever, you know, pepped a bismol or whatever, you know, they put in there.
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And then he feeds it to his his commoto dragon for like a wake up meal.
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And then, you know, of course, he's he's doing all the action stuff where at one point he shoots like a guy who's chasing him through a courthouse with a bazooka or something and the guys chasing him on a motorcycle.
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So the bazooka kills a guy on the motorcycle, but then the motorcycle flies out the window and in pales a helicopter, which then crashes into like a car that explodes that then triggers an explosion of other cars in the parking lot.
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So I mean, like if all that doesn't really get you go it, I don't know what else to so definitely check out stone cold if you haven't already.
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So cold delivers it's hilarious. I saw this keynote put it out in a really good blu-ray last year, I think. I maybe saw it six, eight months ago.
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Yeah.
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Had such a great time with it. He's so fun.
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Yeah, I feel like I must have must have seen a lot of people talking about it because of that on Twitter. And I had never really been familiar with it.
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So that's what got me to go check it out. And I'm really glad that I did.
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We have two of the best villains in the same movie with Lance Hendrixen and William Forsyth. You can't go wrong.
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Yeah. And I mean, if also it's just it's just full of ridiculous gratuitous nudity and strip clubs like I think they go to a strip club name tit for tat.
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And it's just like, okay, let's just throw in the scene and a strip club of course because we're 90s action movies.
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So, you know, if that's your thing. That movie. So my number five was originally offered to Kevin Costner. I don't know if you know Stone Cold was originally offered to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Makes sense.
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And they couldn't pay him what he wanted. I think it was like, you know, his $20 million fee and they just couldn't swing it.
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Yeah, I'm really glad though that Brian Bosworth ended up getting that role. And I feel like again, another guy who, you know, he was like what a linebacker for the NFL or whatever.
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His movie career didn't really take off like it should have, but I know he's really charismatic and fun and this and I would have loved to see him do a lot more and get bigger.
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Yeah, I thought it was fun. Yeah.
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Well, on my number four here, it's got a little bit in common with Stone Cold just in terms of being like a really sweaty movie.
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This one actually takes place in your neck of the woods because you're over in Louisiana, right?
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Right. Yeah, so this is from 1996. It's a movie called Heaven's Prisoners.
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When he turned in his badge homicide detected Dave Robachoe, thought he had put away his past.
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He and me. That's the only thing I have. That means anything to me anymore. But just what he thought he was out.
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I'm in trouble holding back in. You guys smoke, when did you play crash one mile? Do you know what the south west pass?
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I have a bomb suit case for the bunch of child's clothes, but they're when the kid on that plane says when is the D.A. care about some little kid?
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Whoever took out that plane wasn't counting on anyone else, then what they certainly can't come on anyone surviving.
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And this has been logged 2300 times on letterboxery familiar with this one. I'm not. Yeah, I don't know this one.
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All right. Well, if you like neon Wars, obviously the 90s gave us a ton of dusty Midwestern neon Wars,
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but also gave us some really good, sweaty, sunny, southern Wars as well.
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I think wild things I could have put the big easy on here, but I'm going to go with the under scene Heaven's Prisoners,
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which recently was released on region two Blu-ray from umbrella, which is how I learned about it because it was in a package of these 90s and wars.
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So this stars Alec Baldwin playing a recovering alcoholic named Dave. He's a retired New Orleans detective who now spends his time at his bait and tackle shop with his wife Annie.
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And they're just living the cheap good life. And one afternoon, they're chilling on their boat in the Louisiana rivers.
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They see a biplane in the distance and it's really low and they're like, wow, that thing is going really, really low.
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And they realize that it is having engine trouble and it passes right over their boat, causing them to jump down to the deck and it crashes maybe 50 yards away.
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So Dave tosses on some scuba gear. He goes down to find any survivors. And there's only one a young girl who they rescue. And there's a couple of dead bodies in there.
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So obviously the cops come and law enforcement's there. There's like a CIA guy or an FBI guy or somebody there.
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And Dave's old detective tendencies start to show up again. And he starts investigating a little bit because he doesn't feel like everything's on the up and up.
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And he ignores warnings to stop poking his nose where it doesn't belong. And once he does that, his house is invaded and leading to tragedy.
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And that pushes him to find out who the killers are. Another great cast, Kelly Lynch, Mary Stewart Masterson, Eric Roberts sporting the craziest haircut you'll ever see Eric Roberts sport.
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Terry Hatcher. And Terry Hatcher is introduced in it. So she's with Eric Roberts. And Alex Baldwin goes to their house like this old plantation style house.
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And he gets out of his truck. And Terry Hatcher is just standing on the balcony just but naked. And just stairs at him and kind of walks away walks right back into the house. Vandy Curtis Hall is in here as you do.
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You know, that's just Don Stark has a great role in this for those who aren't familiar with the name Don Stark. He plays Bob on that 70s show.
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Donna's dad with the big afro, but here he's this menacing mobster and he has a great scene where he basically tells Alec Baldwin to stop sniffing around. And he has this line where his crony has him in a chokehold and he bends down and says, you're only breathing because I'm in a good fucking mood.
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And I just I love it. It's a really just it's a competently made film with some really nice twists. It's got great performances, fun confrontations got a really good foot chase.
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And I love the ending. So if you're looking for a good sunny neo noir heavens prisoners from 96 is an under scene gym. Nice. Yeah, you had me at sweaty southern neo noir.
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Uh, um, all about it. So that sounds amazing. Let's check that out. I do wonder how well Alec Baldwin is going to do a New Orleans accent.
309
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He does. He does. He does. He does. Okay, good. It's kind of better if you don't, honestly. Yeah. Now the big easy on the other on the other hand, if that's not on your list, uh, if it is on your list, I'll cut this out.
310
00:34:46,000 --> 00:35:00,000
But not the big easy watch that one to see Dennis quay doing the most ridiculous attempt at a New Orleans accent because that that's like get some beers and watch that one because you're going to have a lot to laugh about.
311
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:15,000
Well, I've seen him do really good like Texas or other southern accents before, but yeah, New Orleans is a specific thing. And especially if you're from here, it just really sticks out and you're just like, oh man, just, just don't, just don't try.
312
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:21,000
All right. So my next one is 1994's fresh.
313
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:35,000
Esteban is playing for me. The quirky is playing for power, but someone else is playing them ready for the real thing. Fresh ready bar, non-play everywhere.
314
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:46,000
Are you familiar with this one? Yeah, I know of it. I have not seen it has a Samuel Jackson, right? Right. So it's got a Samuel Jackson, Giancarlo Espicito.
315
00:35:46,000 --> 00:36:02,000
They're kind of peripheral characters really. It's mainly about this young boy played by Sean Nelson. He's like a 12 year old drug runner basically. So he's in the projects in Brooklyn.
316
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:19,000
And he's, he basically gets to the point where he's fed up with like the murder and mayhem and violence that he sees around him. So he goes to set the different employers like the different drug dealers against each other.
317
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:48,000
So I've seen this described as like a yojimbo in the hood kind of thing because it definitely focuses on this kind of chess master like machination of this 12 year old boy who, you know, suspend your disbelief somewhat where he's just like he, he allowed, he kind of elaborately sets up this, this whole game for who's going to take the fall for this, who's going to take the fall for that.
318
00:36:48,000 --> 00:37:03,000
And you know leads to basically the drug dealers like, often each other. But it's, I thought it was really well done as far as, you know, all that sounds very like genre and very, you know, noir.
319
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:18,000
But it's a nice like portrait of just childhood as well and you know, child in these particular circumstances. So I felt like all the kid actors were really great in this, which you know can be hit or miss.
320
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:25,000
Samuel Jackson is like his drunken chess playing father that he only sees in the park.
321
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:47,000
But he lit basically this boy just kind of like lives in in the projects and an apartment with like 10 other kids in his aunt and, you know, just seeing like all these kids like sitting around in the apartment playing video games and like while he's off like running, you know, drugs and stuff for these different drug leaders in the community.
322
00:37:47,000 --> 00:38:05,000
And they're all kind of like at some point afraid to go outside because their affiliation with him and like what he's getting caught up in. So I don't know. It's just like it's like a slice of life mostly, you know, until like the very end where it gets more into the like heightened genre stuff.
323
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:20,000
But you know, it made me think of other films like juice, which I really love. There's just like a really intense like shooting scene on a basketball court in this. This like an absolute gut punch.
324
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:34,000
So it's just it hits really heavy with with the violence, but it has like a purpose behind it. Yeah, it's just it's really authentic. And I really enjoyed like seeing the on location footage like in Brooklyn from the early 90s here.
325
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:50,000
Which it also like mixes in a lot of poeticism and like weird editing and like a kind of unexpected score as well. So it's definitely worth checking out. So that's fresh from 1994.
326
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:59,000
I mean, you had me at your Jimbo in the hood. I think that kind of sums up. And yeah, that's yeah, that's playing two sides against one another. That sounds great.
327
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:16,000
Okay, from my number three, we're starting to go under a thousand logs on letter box. So these are some real hidden gems, I think this next one has 766 logs. Jordan, when I say movies that are so bad that they're that they're so good.
328
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:23,000
Like those movies that are really terrible, so terrible that they're entertaining. What's the first movie that comes to mind?
329
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:36,000
Troll to troll to that's a great one. That's a great one. Are you familiar with the room? I am familiar with it. You know, I've watched the disaster artist. I have never braved actually watching the room itself.
330
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:40,000
But I'm very familiar with the story and you know, Tommy was though and everything.
331
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:48,000
All right. Well, what if I told you there was a film that was basically the room mixed with a Van Dam film. Would that get your.
332
00:39:48,000 --> 00:40:04,000
This is a movie from 1990 called Angel Town. Angel Town. Los Angeles. LA, city of the angels. Angel Town.
333
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:19,000
A place where a stranger can forget the best and start a new life, a place where they understand turn. Tradition.
334
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:20,000
Where you grab my.
335
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:41,000
Crazy. Where is the crazy. Courage. Low. This plot is pretty incomprehensible, but I'm going to give it my best shot.
336
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:57,000
I'm going to give it my best shot. I'm going to give it my best shot.
337
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:10,000
Now it's kind of unclear whether he's a student or a teacher and I'm pretty sure he's both which is it's very confusing. He's positioned as a teacher who's there to help train an Olympic team of fighters.
338
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:18,000
But at the same time, he's also positioned as a student because he acts like a student. He kind of attends things as a student.
339
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:28,000
And he's even living or he's searching for a place to live in the student housing. It's like I said, it's very confusing.
340
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:35,000
But that's kind of the vibe of this movie. The view that this movie takes of Los Angeles is absolutely insane.
341
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:46,000
It's like somebody made a movie about LA based only upon what they saw on one Fox News article or posts from their crazy uncle on Facebook who's never been LA.
342
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:54,000
There's a point where he's walking through town. He's looking for rooms and they tell him, don't go past this one street.
343
00:41:54,000 --> 00:42:03,000
And so he's searching for rooms and everybody's, you know, they got the sign on. It's like vacancy and right when he walks up, they flip it over. No vacancy type of thing.
344
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,000
And he gets to that street. He looks up at the street sign.
345
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:25,000
To one way, you have like a bunch of affluent white girls with shopping bags and then he looks the other way and there's a couple of Hispanic guys in like a rundown home with a broken down car out front and they're playing drums on broken cars.
346
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:26,000
Of course.
347
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:36,000
And yeah, so this is this is viewed and that's kind of the queue of like you don't go past that that street super racist. It's like the past that one street.
348
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:40,000
It's the post apocalyptic Terminator 2 Los Angeles. It's just crazy.
349
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:50,000
So the conflict in this movie starts when Jacques rents a room from this lady and her brother is being recruited to be in the street gang.
350
00:42:50,000 --> 00:43:03,000
But he doesn't want to be in the gang. So the gang leader angel gets really mad and it's you know from the start it's going to come down to Jacques and his band of Olympic fighters going up against angel and his goon squad.
351
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:13,000
But I never understand why the gang leader is so mad that this guy doesn't want to be in his gang but they harass these people non stop because of it.
352
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:19,000
Some of the choices in this movie are so inspired. There's a scene where the gang surrounds Jacques in this neighborhood.
353
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:30,000
And it's like eight or nine guys and they start fighting him and the fight just naturally progresses into these bushes like some type of loony tunes cartoon.
354
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:37,000
So everybody disappears in these bushes and you see some guys rolling out of the bushes and then they just kind of dust themselves off and go back into the bush.
355
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:43,000
And at one point, Grooner just moves out of the bushes and then it's like those guys are fighting themselves.
356
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:56,000
And he just like walks away like a fucking Mentos commercial literal loony tunes cartoon. Yeah, so funny. The real the real gem here is this dude Grooner and is acting bless his heart.
357
00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:06,000
He is he's trying. But if you thought Tammy Wizo was bad in the room. This is the precursor. It's like he's never acted before and every take was his first one.
358
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:15,000
And it's probably true. He probably never acted before and it feels like every take was his first one. And I mean, I can't blame the guy for some of the dialogue he was given.
359
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:26,000
There's there's a line. Somebody says ask the frog and he says that's Mr. Frog. I mean, it's it's like that. Right. But very, very entertaining side note.
360
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:36,000
Side note, I'm pretty sure that Olivier Grooner wrote his own bio on Wikipedia because I was looking through. I was trying to get more information about this movie.
361
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:46,000
I'm going to read the Wikipedia entry. It has to be written by this guy. It says in 1989, he started in his first movie. This is a 1990 movie, by the way.
362
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:59,000
He probably just filmed it in 1989 says the urban action movie Angel Town, although the film was not well received Grooner was recognized his presence with his acting compared favorably to that of Dolf Lundgren.
363
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:09,000
Like what? And then later on it says in that same article, both Nemesis and Angel Town have been extremely, extremely popular in video.
364
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:20,000
And Nemesis is one of the movies Grooner is most proud of in this movie. He offers action drama fighting and gun fights and had to drop down to a 4% body fat to be at his peak physically.
365
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:36,000
Oh, is this the guy from Nemesis is that the, um, PUN movie? Yeah. Yep. Okay. I was punished with that for film shake once upon a time. And man, I hated that. I hated like, I just, I don't really like PUN and like any of the stuff that I've seen.
366
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:45,000
Honestly, it's just like, I like trash. I always say I like trashy stuff, but I don't know his, his stuff is just, I don't know, it's, it's not for me.
367
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:50,000
It's never been that interesting. But yeah, I think I recognize the actor that you're talking about there.
368
00:45:50,000 --> 00:46:00,000
Angel Town is entertaining and I would highly suggest checking this out. MVD actually put this out on Blu-ray and it has some extras on there.
369
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:08,000
They gave it a really good treatment. So that's where I watch this. You should definitely give it a shot. It's one of those like, you know, get the friends together and get some beers.
370
00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:21,000
Yeah. Well, anytime you have a gang leader named Angel, I feel like that's a sign of good times to come. Yeah, he's just constantly driving around in his, his low rider, of course.
371
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:29,000
Yeah. And they're driving him around in it. He stands in the back with an oozy. And he just rarely uses the oozy. People surround his car.
372
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:34,000
Waves him off and then they drive away. Sounds great. I'll have to check that out.
373
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:39,000
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374
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377
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380
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382
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383
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384
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385
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386
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387
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388
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389
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390
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398
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399
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400
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,000
Jordan on to your number three.
401
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:19,000
Alright so my number three is 1995's The Passion of Darkly Noon.
402
00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:29,000
Don't, don't do that. Being naked isn't the same as sex you know. It's the same. I'll surely go admin for us to enjoy ourselves.
403
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:36,000
I never met anyone like you before. I know. I think about you.
404
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:40,000
Callie loves Clay. She has since the first time she saw it.
405
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:45,000
I know what you're feeling. I can see it in your eyes back there.
406
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:54,000
You're wrong. Monster of the forest boy. You know what it fades out. Beautiful young man. Just like you.
407
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:58,000
I love Clay. God can start me down dead if there's something wrong with that.
408
00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:02,000
And then she can't succ to tempt and to taste you know.
409
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:09,000
That has where you're living now. I live there. My husband found the girl. The edge of the forest.
410
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:11,000
I knew she was evil from the start.
411
00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:16,000
You can walk as far into the woods as you have a mind to go. She attempted him to her.
412
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:19,000
And she killed him.
413
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:25,000
Oh I've never heard of this. Okay cool. Well this was directed by Philip Ridley.
414
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:33,000
But check out this cast. You've got Brendan Frazier, Ashley Judd and Vigo Mortensen.
415
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:48,000
And they all you know are heavily featured in this. And the quick synopsis is desire torments a former cultist taking refuge at the home of a scantily clad woman whose husband is away.
416
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:55,000
And if that sounds like a basic normal movie then that is not what this movie is.
417
00:50:55,000 --> 00:51:07,000
I had never heard of it. I had stumbled upon the arrow blu-ray at the library. So just one of those kind of happenstance things where I was looking for one thing and I stumbled on this and I was like whoa.
418
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:12,000
Check out this cast like Brendan Frazier, Ashley Judd, Vigo in the early 90s.
419
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:20,000
And this is apparently an adult fairy tale set in a mythic American forest.
420
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:29,000
So why not? Let's give it a try. But basically Frazier plays this young man who's been separated from a fundamentalist cult.
421
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:39,000
He wanders into a forest and he comes to stay with Ashley Judd. And Vigo plays a mute in this movie. It's Ashley Judd's husband.
422
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:50,000
And they're in this secluded homestead in the middle of the woods. And Brendan Frazier is you know overacting his heart out for the most part where he's twitching a lot.
423
00:51:50,000 --> 00:52:01,000
He's stuttering a lot. You know it's like a homeschool kid like to the extreme where he's just you know has all this pin-up sexual desire for Ashley Judd.
424
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:10,000
And that soon turns to kind of poison via his religious repression. So you know it's very sumptuously shot.
425
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:23,000
It's this golden widescreen takes of the forest sensual sweaty close-ups of the actors like you just have Ashley and Vigo jumping each other's bones multiple times.
426
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:33,000
But the the writing the performances it's all very theatrical and over the top. So you kind of either love it or hate it I feel like.
427
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:48,000
And it's definitely an intended thing from director Phillip Ridley. So it's basically like a brother's grim fairy tale that eventually turns into like this wildly surreal terrifying nightmare.
428
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:57,000
And Brendan Frazier I don't think has ever been more like menacing and animalistic by the end of this movie.
429
00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:04,000
So that's really exciting to see like we normally just see him kind of play these nice guys right.
430
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:11,000
And he starts off the movie that way and like a very stuttery you know repressed form.
431
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:19,000
But by the end he's like covered in blood and wielding an axe and you know chasing after Ashley Judd.
432
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:24,000
So not just well too much but you kind of know where it's going from the start really.
433
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:31,000
But yeah I really thought that was delightfully wicked to have him you know in that type of role.
434
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:41,000
The whole film really is just like an extremist style like over the top like art house blended with trashy thriller vibe.
435
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:49,000
So it was delicious for me. I don't think everybody would be on this wavelength but it's definitely worth a watch.
436
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:54,000
And you know you can't get better than that cast from the mid 90s.
437
00:53:54,000 --> 00:54:02,000
I have never heard of this movie this is one of the reasons why I do this shows to learn about movies that I had never heard of before.
438
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:04,000
It's called the passion of darkly noon.
439
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:13,000
Yeah so Frazier's name in the movie is darkly noon that's of course it is yeah that's his cult you know family name or ever form.
440
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:17,000
But yeah it's the passion of darkly noon from 95.
441
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:19,000
I want to have to seek this out.
442
00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:25,000
Yes man and the blue the arrow blu ray looks like beautiful it's got great features on it.
443
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:33,000
It's got like a whole booklet that comes with it like for this obscure like no one has you know very few people have seen movie.
444
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,000
They went all out on this thing.
445
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:38,000
Well cool I learned about a new movie today.
446
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:45,000
Hopefully this next one I can clue you into because I don't I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you've probably never heard of this one.
447
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:54,000
This one has 497 logs on letterboxed this is a movie from 1997 called dead silence.
448
00:54:54,000 --> 00:55:02,000
At 8.30 this morning a school bus containing seven school children from the LaVont player school for the death was hijacked.
449
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:09,000
And the children are now being held in an abandoned slaughterhouse some three miles north of the 20th town of Beaumont, New York.
450
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:11,000
Hey Dan, right now hurry up.
451
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:18,000
I'm John Potter from the FBI. Yes famous voice everywhere in front of this point is considered the kill zone.
452
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:26,000
She's out the window. I think I found a way to escape. Get down. Is that what those children are to you? Acceptable casualty?
453
00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:29,000
No not acceptable but maybe unavoidable.
454
00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:31,000
HBO Pictures presents.
455
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:35,000
I'm shooting. I'm going to shoot her and set the two minutes but I'll give that an amount. He's going to kill them all.
456
00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:38,000
James Garner. Kim Coates.
457
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:42,000
David Abitch and Marley Mapper. One minute 30 seconds.
458
00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:45,000
15 seconds.
459
00:55:45,000 --> 00:55:48,000
10 seconds.
460
00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:53,000
Five, four, three, two, one.
461
00:55:53,000 --> 00:56:02,000
When you look up dead silence you're going to get I think it's a James Wan movie that came out with a doll from the tens.
462
00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:19,000
This is a different one. This one is made for HBO. It's a made for HBO film and it stars James Garner as a hostage negotiator who's called an action when three escaped convicts jack a bus full of hearing impaired school children and take them hostage in an abandoned factory.
463
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:20,000
Wow.
464
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:21,000
So that's your setup.
465
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:22,000
Nice.
466
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:43,000
It lets you know right off the bat that it is going to go harder than most made for TV films. The three convicts it opens with them screaming down a country road and they smash into a car driven by an older couple at an intersection and the leader of the gang dead jumps out and just blows them away.
467
00:56:43,000 --> 00:57:02,000
So great squib work and shortly after that you know so there's the two cars that are crashed there at this intersection the school bus comes by and they flag the school bus down and jump into it with their guns drawn and they go to this nearby factory and James Garner is great as he always is he plays John Potter.
468
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:21,000
He's a negotiator who has had some time in the limelight unfortunately and he's returning to work after a very publicized hostage negotiation went wrong and they don't really tell you what went wrong at first but you know that it was in Houston and you know that it involved an explosion and so he's got that kind of hovering over his head.
469
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:27,000
The reason that I wanted to bring this up is because his foil in this movie his name is Ted.
470
00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:47,000
He's played by Kim coats now Kim coats is an amazing character who's probably best known for his role as TIG in sons of anarchy but he is absolutely insane in this role he is savage and some of the things he does in this movie really makes you believe that he could kill one of these kids at any moment.
471
00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:59,000
He douses the area where the kids are being held in gasoline and then he tells one of his guys like anybody comes in here he just dropped this lantern on it and burn up all these kids.
472
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:16,000
He does some stuff in here that will have you on the edge of your seat Marley maintenance in this she plays one of the teachers Kenneth Welch is in here as a local sheriff and Scott Speedman has an early role here as a fellow officer and who else is the stunning Lolita Davidovich.
473
00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:36,000
Comes into the film late as an FBI agent who has a history with Ted so there's some great back and forth between James Garner and Kim coats there's a really exciting escape attempt and there's a really fun third act I was kind of settling in on this movie like I thought I knew what it was and then it there's a little twist in that third act that I thought was really well done.
474
00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:55,000
It was directed by Daniel Petri Jr who if you recognize the name it's probably for his writing he wrote Beverly Hills cop Turner and who's boys soldiers but he got a directorial chance here and you can watch this well when I watched it maybe a month ago it was on HBO Max so
475
00:58:55,000 --> 00:59:10,000
Max the one to watch for HBO whatever the hell they're calling now so dead silence 1997 I really recommend it especially for Kim coats role as Ted awesome yeah I have to give a shout out to the pure cinema pod
476
00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:39,000
I don't know if you listen to that podcast but they do a lot of great like deep dives into under seen movies like if you're if you just want to podcast about hidden gyms in general like that's the podcast for you because it's like you know every episode they list off like 50 and it's like I haven't heard of any of these but I feel like I've heard them talk about dead silence I've never seen it before but I do love a movie where you have a bad guy that you really believe can just
477
00:59:39,000 --> 01:00:05,000
lantern up a field of kids so that's pretty great indeed like anything can happen those kind of movies are like I know they're not pulling any punches like they might actually set all these kids on fire so yeah not that a condone violence towards children or anything but knowing the threat is there it makes your movie experience way more compelling yes yes exactly
478
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:24,000
getting down the number two this is another 1990 not 1991 movie and speaking of pure cinema pod I've heard about this from their show and never heard of this movie before it's only been logged 3000 times but this is Ruben and Ed Ruben for needed company
479
01:00:24,000 --> 01:00:31,000
that's it yeah out of this house and maybe some of friends no yes no yes no
480
01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:49,880
head shuttle needed customers excuse me that's off you've got a big problem six six work fate brought them together hello Ruben but I
481
01:00:49,880 --> 01:00:55,720
tremendous day let's say we motor on over to the seminar and get you started on the express to the
482
01:00:55,720 --> 01:01:08,520
set no I guess you're pretty broken up but you can't and this is directed by Trent Harris and the catch for me was this has crisp and
483
01:01:08,520 --> 01:01:19,800
glover and a really outlandish ridiculous role so you got him you've also got Howard Hesman and Karen Black or kind of the other
484
01:01:19,800 --> 01:01:33,640
two names it's to go to me but the plot of this is really wacky and ridiculous so you've got reclusive Ruben he teams up with vocal but very unsuccessful
485
01:01:33,640 --> 01:01:48,800
multi-level salesman Ed Tuttle on a quest to bury Ruben's dead cat in the perfect spot which leads them to a trip through the Utah desert where they have run-ins with Ed's ex-wife Rula
486
01:01:48,800 --> 01:02:08,800
and an elusive Andy Warhol critic so this is a really just eccentric wacky movie like if I talk you into watching passion of darkly noon and like that's on your wavelength then this is like I don't know even more ridiculous so definitely watch it for
487
01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:36,800
Chris been a lover carrying around a ice chest with his frozen dead cat in it there's a line of dialogue that perfectly describes this movie which is Ed Howard Hesman the multi-level salesman guy who's just like trying to sell Ruben some sort of like pyramid scheme the whole movie and he's he calls him L weirdo because Ruben is just you know this very quirky
488
01:02:36,800 --> 01:02:58,800
like almost mute kid but you know most of this is just them trying you know it basically him Ed trying to get him and on this like scam seminar that nobody will we'll go to with him and then they're wandering through the Utah planes looking for a place to bury Ruben's dead cat
489
01:02:58,800 --> 01:03:14,800
and it's just oh okay so there there's a highlight here Chris been clever lost in thirsty in the desert drinks his own shoe sweat as well as water from the cooler that contains the remains of his default dead cat
490
01:03:14,800 --> 01:03:25,800
so yeah weird wacky stuff right there where did you see this I want to say a minor try like I have a friend that has a plaque server and he just has like a
491
01:03:25,800 --> 01:03:43,800
you know bajillion movies on there like under the undersea and stuff so I probably tracked it down on there geez all right I looked up the director Trent Harris and it says the thing he's most known for is the beaver trilogy oh yeah yeah actually that was just added to the I asked my friend ad that's the
492
01:03:43,800 --> 01:03:57,800
complex server because it's like a weird documentary with Chris been clever and Sean Penn is like them reenacting some some documentary I don't know sounds interesting looks very strange
493
01:03:57,800 --> 01:04:12,800
all right that's Ruben and Ed you said from 91 yep now I got to to that I got a seek out here my number one here is the least logged on my list 171 logs now Jordan
494
01:04:12,800 --> 01:04:23,800
just to say there was a 1999 film that started Joey pantiliano and carry on moss I'm sure that you would say the matrix right but they were in another film in 1999
495
01:04:23,800 --> 01:04:37,800
a film directed by Michael Hurst called new blood are you familiar with this one I am not what we got victims alive is condition stable for now we need to know what happened last night for every mystery
496
01:04:37,800 --> 01:04:53,800
the other day we got the contract on a kidnap y'all know we don't have to do this right I'm part like that this is us moving up there is a story the target was a mark called Robert Williams so you're the new blood for every crime of the just fine
497
01:04:53,800 --> 01:05:06,800
so boys are you gonna take it enough how you plan on getting in not come to door there is a victim I'm the only one that knows what happened if I can keep it like that then there's a chance that I can save my friends
498
01:05:06,800 --> 01:05:29,800
I need to take this man's place for every lie they got a belief that everything's run like clockwork are they gonna kill us all there is another so this was a blind buy for me because one of the Blu-ray outlets that I frequent was having like a really crazy sale on things I got this disc for two bucks nice I figured Joey Pants carry on moss
499
01:05:29,800 --> 01:05:45,800
John hurt oh yeah wrong with that can't go wrong so yeah picked out up and I was actually pleasantly surprised this one starts by showing us the aftermath of a gun battle dead people everywhere cars shot the shit blood splattered all over the place
500
01:05:45,800 --> 01:05:57,800
and there's an old guy played by John hurt who was found alive and then we cut to the hospital you've got a couple of law enforcement officers and they're setting the stage for us they said the guy that they found is named Alan White
501
01:05:57,800 --> 01:06:16,800
but they also found a recorded statement by the guy in which he says he's a car magnate named Robert Williams and so the story unfolds as the man talks to these two police officers from his hospital bed and he recounts the last day or two and you see shootouts robberies kidnappings and murders
502
01:06:16,800 --> 01:06:27,800
so it also stars Nick Moran he plays Danny he's John hurts characters son and if Nick Moran doesn't ring a bell he is one of the main characters in lock stock into smoking barrels.
503
01:06:27,800 --> 01:06:45,800
He's in this movie doing his absolute worst American accent that I've ever heard it's really something else he's got a best friend named Shawn Wayne or named Valentine played by Shawn Wands and he's part of the crew carry on moss plays a chain smoking second hand Joey Pants' character.
504
01:06:45,800 --> 01:07:14,800
His name his characters name is Helmann and he's this deranged fixer his look in this movie is absolutely amazing it looks as if he's you've seen the office before yeah you ever seen the episode where they hire the Benjamin Franklin character to come in and they think he's a stripper right yeah yeah he looks just like that Ben Franklin stripper that Michael Scott orders
505
01:07:14,800 --> 01:07:30,800
it is hilarious this hit video store shelves probably around the time that I was I started working at one and I thought this was going to be when I when I watched this I thought it was going to be one of those Tarantino Sotterberg guy Richie knockoffs that came out around that time
506
01:07:30,800 --> 01:07:45,800
and in some regards that's true the director tries these really stylish flourishes that I think take away from the film rather than adding to it but it is a really twisty noir that is way better than a lot of those other diamond doesn't retreads
507
01:07:45,800 --> 01:07:56,800
John hurt is great in this he plays a character that gets put in a very tough spot by his son while his daughter is languishing in a hospital bed awaiting a heart transplant
508
01:07:56,800 --> 01:08:17,800
and throughout the film we get to see why the father and son are strange we get to see what happened between them Joey pants like I said he's just chewing scenery as this guy and carry on moss is always fun she looks beautiful in this movie too as this second hand so I recommend checking out new blood from 1999 MVD also put this out on blu-ray
509
01:08:17,800 --> 01:08:29,800
I don't I think there's a commentary I haven't listened to it yet but it's not like a stacked disc but it looks great and it's one of those under seen noirs that I think deserves some attention new blood from 1999
510
01:08:29,800 --> 01:08:40,800
man just realizing Joey pants and carry on moss were in quite a few movies together when you mentioned them other than the matrix of you know immediately go to Memento
511
01:08:40,800 --> 01:08:57,800
you get Joey pants there too so it's like oh another noir I need to check that out all right my friend grand finale for you all right yeah I've been waiting for this because this is one that I've discovered via preparing for this show so that's always fun
512
01:08:57,800 --> 01:09:15,800
and I definitely I never heard of this it's only been logged 400 times on letter box and this is based on a unproduced Edward script so if I have your attention there this is called I woke up early the day I died
513
01:09:15,800 --> 01:09:30,800
it's listed as a 1998 movie because it hit some festivals but it only played once in the U.S. in 99 at like one theater in New York and then was never seen or heard from again
514
01:09:30,800 --> 01:09:36,800
you can watch a rip of it on internet archive which is where I saw it
515
01:09:36,800 --> 01:09:50,800
from the legendary lost screenplay by one of Hollywood's most original filmmakers at work in a silent for the criminally insane a madman has a state
516
01:09:50,800 --> 01:09:59,800
but a change of clothes and a stolen car are just a star of a murderous spree
517
01:09:59,800 --> 01:10:14,800
this stars Billy Zane and like a thousand other people in cameos but he plays a mental patient who escapes from an asylum in drag as a nurse that he's killed
518
01:10:14,800 --> 01:10:27,800
then he proceeds to rob a bank and go on the lamb so but you know that you know might sound basic but again like you hear that premise
519
01:10:27,800 --> 01:10:37,800
but then you got to dig into it and so if you got any idea from the other movies I've listed I enjoy pretty wacky out there ridiculous stuff
520
01:10:37,800 --> 01:10:44,800
I mean you know come on a focus on the 90s and that's you know that's kind of part and parcel for that decade
521
01:10:44,800 --> 01:10:53,800
but this movie is so packed with random craziness it's all it's all dialogue free for one
522
01:10:53,800 --> 01:11:04,800
and that was like the condition of Edwards you know widowed wife was like he wrote the script he was really dedicated to the script but he never produced it
523
01:11:04,800 --> 01:11:11,800
and anybody that tried to come along and make it wanted to add in dialogue but it's basically like a silent film
524
01:11:11,800 --> 01:11:21,800
it you know it harkens back to a lot of like the over the top physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin buster Keaton those days
525
01:11:21,800 --> 01:11:32,800
but it's kind of ambiguously set in the 70s where Billy Zane is coming from like what the biggest budgeted movie
526
01:11:32,800 --> 01:11:41,800
you know in the history of the 90s with Titanic he's then producing and starring in this unproduced Edward script
527
01:11:41,800 --> 01:11:57,800
and it's this black comedy silent film experiment weirdo cinema from this first time director and I don't think he made it much of anything else after his name is Eris Iliopoulos
528
01:11:57,800 --> 01:12:08,800
really sweet guy because I love this movie so much I emailed him and the composer and they got back to me and the composer Larry Grupe
529
01:12:08,800 --> 01:12:23,800
it's like an ode to silent film soundtracks but also just a smorgasbord of weirdness with like ambient sci-fi notes like funky breakdowns like kung fu sound effects like norin western vibe
530
01:12:23,800 --> 01:12:30,800
guitar orchestra you know like a melodramatic orchestra for all the silent film throwback stuff
531
01:12:30,800 --> 01:12:39,800
but yeah man this is like the zaniest movie I'd seen in forever it really just grabbed my attention right of the way
532
01:12:39,800 --> 01:12:51,800
because it's like an Edward thing it's a silent film thing but also has like like a punk rock and trip hop soundtrack mixed with like those melodramatic orchestra stuff too
533
01:12:51,800 --> 01:13:07,800
so it opens with this song this punk rock song and like this kind of fast like collage-esque editing the song is by Darcy Clay who was a New Zealand artist punk rock artist
534
01:13:07,800 --> 01:13:19,800
and the song is called Jesus I was evil so it's a great opening track for this like this crazy movie starring zane who's just like this kind of evil
535
01:13:19,800 --> 01:13:27,800
like you know twirling mustache kind of character he's this madman he escapes from the middle institution like I said in drag
536
01:13:27,800 --> 01:13:38,800
the marketing for this movie like the little that there was like leaned heavily into like him as a trans bestite because of the whole Edward connection glanner glenda stuff
537
01:13:38,800 --> 01:13:45,800
but he's really just in drag so he can like escape from the middle institution and he's not in drag at all for the rest of the movie
538
01:13:45,800 --> 01:13:58,800
but you know he's he basically like steals everything that he needs after he gets out like clothes shoes a car he robs a bank he goes on the lamb he loses the money in a coffin
539
01:13:58,800 --> 01:14:08,800
in some sort of like creepy cult sayhunts and a cemetery and then he goes on a murder spree to like kill all the cultists to get the money back
540
01:14:08,800 --> 01:14:19,800
which includes like a stripper a drunkard tippy headdren who's in this for some reason and like a very hitch cocky and homage to the birds
541
01:14:19,800 --> 01:14:29,800
you also have Ron Pearlman who plays a graveyard groundskeeper and he lives in some sort of like pyramid in the graveyard
542
01:14:29,800 --> 01:14:42,800
and he plays the bagpipes and it's a point the bagpipes are like a key you know key theme of this movie because Billy Zane's character has some sort of like sensitive air condition
543
01:14:42,800 --> 01:14:57,800
where anytime like he you know he's like out in the real world now out of the silent when he starts hearing all this noise and it's like intercut with like PSA like stock footage like we just like a really wild movie
544
01:14:57,800 --> 01:15:07,800
but he you know he starts like having these convulsions where like he just can't take the real world and all the noise that's out here and the bagpipes don't help for sure
545
01:15:07,800 --> 01:15:16,800
but you've got again Karen Black you've got Andrew McCarthy and Steven Weber you've got Christina Ricci in here as a hooker
546
01:15:16,800 --> 01:15:29,800
it's just like insane the amount of cameos that they got in the late 90s basically everybody was just like yeah I want to be in an Edward movie and they got just everybody you could possibly think of I mean this has the guy who played
547
01:15:29,800 --> 01:15:34,800
lurch in the 90s Adams family and Jonathan Taylor Thomas
548
01:15:34,800 --> 01:15:50,800
like wait what is this um yeah it's it's just so wildly edited to it's in it's just like stock footage and then like the actual screenplay of Edward script comes on screen at times
549
01:15:50,800 --> 01:15:58,800
like fill in the details and you hear like the typewriter noise and stuff it's just like so tongue and cheek weird on purpose
550
01:15:58,800 --> 01:16:14,800
it's just mixing all these things like slapstick silent film exploitation of the 70s like unintentional camp of the Edward 50s films and then just like weirdo outside or 90s art
551
01:16:14,800 --> 01:16:27,800
it's just it's wild man I definitely encourage anybody to go check this out on internet archive again maybe this not be everybody's bag and they would just be like oh this is boring or I hate it
552
01:16:27,800 --> 01:16:44,800
or it's too stupid the critics like they did see this just pandit and like hated it but man I really had a good time watching this like uneironically 5 out of 5 just for how like wild and experimental and weird and fun it was
553
01:16:44,800 --> 01:16:56,800
all right that's I woke up early the day I died from 1998 it's kind of insane that Billy Zane went from the most popular movie of the 90s to one of the least popular movies of the 90s
554
01:16:56,800 --> 01:17:08,800
it's it's really weird I guess they just got him on board for this and he's like okay like I like the script I like what you're doing here you know everybody's just like okay I want to make this
555
01:17:08,800 --> 01:17:20,800
unproduced Edward script and then if you really want to dive into the 90s nostalgia with me the movies original 1998 website is still alive somehow
556
01:17:20,800 --> 01:17:39,800
so you can go check that out and I spent like an yeah it basically looks like a geocity's website what's like the web designer who made this apparently the the check bounced after the films distribution company went bankrupt like the day after it premiered
557
01:17:39,800 --> 01:17:55,800
so it's like somehow this this website still exists and I spent like an hour trying to track down a flash player that would work on my computer because you know like I guess around 2021 they stopped using flash
558
01:17:55,800 --> 01:18:16,800
and there's this like stupid makeover game that you can download from the website and basically you're like taking the the nurse clothes off of Billy Zane and putting like his weird 70s like huge collared shirt and vest outfit on him like
559
01:18:16,800 --> 01:18:33,800
but it's got like the punk rock song in the background and everything I don't know it's just like very very niche nostalgic for me wow all right I'm gonna look at the website I will put the link in the show notes so everybody can try and play this Billy Zane game because that sounds amazing
560
01:18:33,800 --> 01:18:44,800
another fun link here I looked up I woke up early the day I died on IMDB and I went to the cast there and there's a guy named Michael Green that is also in Ruben and Ed
561
01:18:44,800 --> 01:18:54,800
so you have the same actor in your one and two nice I did not realize that he's the fourth guy listed is this nice bucket head now I was like I just saw that guy
562
01:18:54,800 --> 01:19:04,800
yeah I'm in Ruben and Ed that's where I saw him that's awesome well that's three movies on your list that I've never even heard of so I can't wait to check that one out
563
01:19:04,800 --> 01:19:12,800
we're gonna recap our list for the listeners and then we'll get some honorable mentions I'm sure you have a couple I have like six that I want to talk about real quick
564
01:19:12,800 --> 01:19:29,800
but I'll recap my list first and you could go after me I've got at number five city of industry from 1997 at number four I've got heavens prisoners from 1996 at number three I've got angel town from 1990
565
01:19:29,800 --> 01:19:39,800
at number two dead silence from 1997 and my number one hidden gem from the 90s new blood from 1999
566
01:19:39,800 --> 01:19:46,800
awesome and yeah a lot of good stuff there quite a few that I have not seen or I was not familiar with so
567
01:19:46,800 --> 01:19:55,800
giving me some good homework here to check out for my list I had at number five stone cold from 1991
568
01:19:55,800 --> 01:19:59,800
number four fresh from 1994
569
01:19:59,800 --> 01:20:12,800
number three the passion of darkly noon from 1995 number two Ruben and Ed the crazy christmium Glover lost in the desert movie 1991
570
01:20:12,800 --> 01:20:24,800
and my number one I woke up early the day I died from 1998 I'm calling it 99 because it only showed once in 99
571
01:20:24,800 --> 01:20:40,800
but yeah my number one with a bullet definitely check it out I had a great time with that one it sounds like your number one and two would be like a great one to punch there oh yeah there would be a great double bill just for you're in like a weird wacky mood
572
01:20:40,800 --> 01:20:53,800
wow all right I'm sure you got some honorable mentions any that just narrowly missed your list that you want to mention yeah I really debated on putting deep cover from 1992 on my list
573
01:20:53,800 --> 01:21:08,800
I feel like it's got the criteria now which is what turned me on to it so I feel like it probably is a little too big at this point but I feel like yeah it was one that kind of got lost over the years
574
01:21:08,800 --> 01:21:22,800
and you know they're giving good attention to it but that's with Lawrence Fishburn and Jeff Goldboom and another neo-noir and a neon soaked neo-noir again undercover drug dealer stuff there
575
01:21:22,800 --> 01:21:34,800
but I really love that movie it's really great so thought about putting that one on speaking of criterion and hidden gems they also just put out dog fight from 91
576
01:21:34,800 --> 01:21:44,800
and that's got my beloved river Phoenix one my favorite actors hit him and what's her name Lily Tomlin
577
01:21:44,800 --> 01:21:57,800
I haven't seen dog fight I just know that it came out recently yeah but it's great he's really great in it it's it's basically dog fight is him and his military
578
01:21:57,800 --> 01:22:06,800
military buddies they're about to go off to Vietnam so it's set in the seven or late 60s of leave and they have this game
579
01:22:06,800 --> 01:22:21,800
where whoever can get the ugliest date to come to their dance wins like some money so he's you know it's just horrible premise it starts off you think like this guy is just a turtle a turtle asshole no a total asshole
580
01:22:21,800 --> 01:22:33,800
but yeah he ends up it ends up being like this kind of sensitive character piece between damn it is it Lily Tomlin or Lily Taylor I'm gonna hate myself for that
581
01:22:33,800 --> 01:22:48,800
but anyway between river Phoenix Lily Taylor Lily Taylor okay thank you yeah so it's just this sensitive like character study between them so really interesting like kind of romantic bent to it
582
01:22:48,800 --> 01:22:57,800
you know that starts off rough and then you know goes and should this just kind of you know one night of them hanging out and like walking around the city and stuff
583
01:22:57,800 --> 01:23:09,800
so yeah it's definitely worth a watch and now that it's on criteria and it's some shirts gonna look beautiful I had another one from that was just introduced by criteria into a lot of people that was John sales
584
01:23:09,800 --> 01:23:18,800
loan star that was the one that I kind of used as my lip miss I think that one was at like 27,000 logs or 26,000 logs something like that so
585
01:23:18,800 --> 01:23:29,800
little over what I wanted to come in at same with red rock West which is another great noir movie starring Nicholas Cage and Dennis Hopper that was not a fun yeah that's a lot of fun
586
01:23:29,800 --> 01:23:41,800
sticking with the noir theme Browns Requiem which I believe came out in 98 or 99 that's a real fun noir that I saw recently with Michael Rooker as a PI
587
01:23:41,800 --> 01:23:56,800
okay let's see I featured this one on a list before so I didn't put it on here but I really wanted to 1997's the wrong guy yeah remember I've heard you talked about that one a few times and I'm really curious to watch it yeah stars Dave Foley
588
01:23:56,800 --> 01:24:05,800
and that is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen it is really really funny so check that out running at a time which is a Johnny tow movie
589
01:24:05,800 --> 01:24:26,800
but I didn't put it on here because I figured we could do another list of like 90s hidden gems non non US 90s and gems yeah keep that one in the pocket for later and then now that you're into VHS collecting keep your eyes open for a VHS release of dead boys can't fly from 1992
590
01:24:26,800 --> 01:24:55,800
it's a real weird like these crazy right wingers take over an office building and terrorize the people in the office building but it's one that has always intrigued me you can watch it on YouTube it has only ever been released on VHS and it's a pretty rare tape so I have an eBay alert set up for some reason I don't even have a VCR but for some reason whenever a dead boys can't fly comes up on there I'm I'm getting that alert so I'll shoot it to you next time I see one.
591
01:24:55,800 --> 01:25:24,800
Alright alright awesome I had a few more I can run through if we have time yeah so just a kind of list off real quick so pump up the volume 1990 I mean I feel like it's probably you know bigger than what we're talking about here but you know Christian Slater Samantha more yes Samantha Mathis I just love them together get them later on with broken arrow I don't know I just always feel like Christian Slater is kind of an underdog in a way
592
01:25:24,800 --> 01:25:49,800
in a way I mean plays it he plays it in a lot of movies but again another guy I'm like I know he was a big movie star but I always just like bomb myself in the 90s rooting for him and wanting to see him you know go bigger than he did and I mean he's he's done a lot of great stuff but you know Christian Slater early 90s as a pirate radio station host named Happy Heart on Harry
593
01:25:49,800 --> 01:26:07,800
pretty much the precursor of all podcasters you know so I love that movie so original podcast that that's right the OG but yeah we did a we did a episode on film shake for that one early on that's been one of my favorite episodes over the years and
594
01:26:07,800 --> 01:26:36,800
SLC punk be another ones kind of like one of our strangely enough like not a you know it's a Matthew Lillard movie it's you know from the 90s but it's I wouldn't say it's like a huge movie or anything but it's like our most listened to episode on film shake somehow I don't know people are just searching punk and they're finding us that way but I love that movie so much I don't know how hidden that really is but you know it deserves some love all these movies
595
01:26:36,800 --> 01:26:55,800
deserve more love you know no matter how many logs they've got in my mind that reminded me of when you were talking about Christian Slater there's a movie from the early mid 90s called untamed heart yes which also stars Marissa to may that's probably one that hasn't been
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that's not very much on letterbox to yeah yeah this the one where he's convinced he has a baboon heart I still need to see that one out honestly let's get you out of here I know it's late by you let's do some plugs where can people find more of your work yeah pretty much any podcaster any platform spotify Apple podcast whatever
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you just search film shake the 90s movies podcast up next we've got an episode on idle hands and teaching Mrs. Tingle I'm really excited about that I've been waiting to do idle hands for a Halloween
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episode but yeah you can find us on any podcast app you can find us over on Twitter at 90s movies pod so yeah check us out hope you enjoy the show
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all right links to everything Jordan and film shake will be in the show notes as well as the website for I woke up early on the day I died so I'm gonna check that out
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I gotta give it some love indeed Jordan thanks so much for coming on man this is a great topic and I had a lot of fun watching a lot of these movies for the first time that I had seen on video store shelves back when I was working at at the store
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yeah man thanks so much for having me has been really great what did we leave off that should have been on our lists let me know by emailing me at force five podcast gmail.com you'll find links to support guests and force five in the show notes to very easy and very free ways to support me are to review force five wherever you get your podcasts and tell your friends about the show
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the force five theme song comes courtesy of Nate spears outro music comes from cheesecake Chad and the top five list bumper was produced by me with music from audio binger you only get one life spend it with the people and the movies that you love
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y'all check it I'm on a mic just to let you know about the force five in that radio show talking movies dropping all the data pros they break it down like current saw I turned the score say
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you want from blockbuster in the hits they got it all analyze films they never
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thank you for listening to hear more shows from the someone's favorite productions podcast network please select the link in the description
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[MUSIC]
Top 5 Zero to Hero Films.
This is a transcript of the Force Five Podcast episode titled Top 5 Zero to Hero films w/ film critic Lindsey Dunn. To listen to this episode, use this link.
Note - transcript services are not 100% accurate, if you have questions about a word or context, please listen to the episode or reach out to me at forcefivepodcast@gmail.com.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
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You are now listening to the someone's favorite productions podcast network.
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And that for your feature presentation.
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Let's work on it!
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Or two, or three.
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Or four.
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Five, four, five, two!
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What's up listeners?
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I am your host X VideoStore Clerk, screenwriter and fellow listener Jason Cleberg
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and this is Force 5.
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A show where I force my guests to come up with a movie theme top five list topic.
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And then we reveal our picks on air.
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Before I get into the show, if you're listening to this the day it drops.
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It's a day before election day.
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If you don't have a plan to get to the polls and vote, please do so.
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Use your power.
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And let's make sure this country is not a dictatorship or a mirror of Nazi Germany come January.
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Go vote, it's all we can do.
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If you've been feeling election anxiety like I have, hopefully this show and other film podcasts
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like it provide you some entertainment in these times of weirdness.
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Alright, Lindsay Dunn from one of my stories joined me this week to talk top five zero to hero films.
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When I think about zero to hero, it's about characters who are nobody's, outsiders,
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underdogs who lack the confidence, skills and resources to accomplish what they need to.
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But they have a drive towards a goal that they eventually achieve by showing resilience, bravery and belief in themselves.
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Zero to hero stories have been in the fabric of storytelling for centuries with mythological tales like
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Perseus, Hercules and the Iliad certainly standing the test of time.
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Film examples like Spider-Man, Rocky, Mulan for example, inspire audiences with the idea that anybody, no matter how you start, has the potential for greatness.
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In this episode you're going to hear a lot of examples of this and I can almost guarantee, you know what I'm going to say it, I can guarantee that you'd never guess what our number one picks were.
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If you're a long time listener to Force 5, welcome back.
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I hope you know how much I appreciate you and if you're a new listener, hello, welcome to the List Nerd family.
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Please consider subscribing and rating this show wherever you are listening.
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It helps me out, helps the show.
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Without further ado, here's Lindsay Dunn and Top 5 Zero to Hero Films.
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[Music]
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Welcome back to the Force 5 podcast.
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Today my guest is Film Critic Lindsay Dunn.
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In addition to being a member of the southeastern Anne North Carolina Film Critics Associations, she's a podcaster, she's a musician, and she runs one of my story's Lindsay Dunn, how are you?
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I'm great, I'm excited to be here Jason.
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Excited to have you, great topic.
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Now Lindsay, when I have a new guest on, I think it's important to get a sense of your cinematic taste so I'm going to start off asking you what are some of your favorite films of all time?
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Yeah, always a daunting task to try to, to try to enumerate your taste.
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I think my long standing favorite film is going to have to continue to be Lawrence of Arabia.
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It's of course a film of epic proportions, but I think what really keeps me keeping this as my top movie is it's a mystery I can never really solve.
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It's a movie that no matter how many times I watch it, I cannot really solve the mystery of Lawrence and who he was, and why he, why things ended the way they did in that movie?
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Now his life story is slightly diverges from the film.
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You know, they make, they've made fictional work of his life in some instances, but when I watch the film, I'm like, oh he got so close and then I'll fill it apart.
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What went wrong? And you're like, what was going on inside of his head? He's such a enigma.
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So that's definitely top of my list.
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I also wanted to mention a category I like to call like films is therapy. So in there, I'll put things like Lars and the real girl and eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.
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They sort of reveal things about life and relationships that are true and in a heartwarming way and a really interesting way.
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And then I also like films that echo my life. So an instance for that would be the place beyond the pines. It's a great film about fathers.
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But it has a special connection to me because when I watch that film, it makes me think about my nephew.
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So sort of matches parts of your life that you recognize.
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And then I also wanted to mention a film that I watched many years ago that is in my favorite collection called The House of Sand and Vogue.
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And it starts Jennifer Connelly and you know that guy Ben Kingsley, he's awesome.
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But you know it was a movie that sort of opened my eyes about an issue I haven't thought about which would be immigration and the reality.
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So those are the kinds of movies I'm attracted to and sort of the categories of films that I'm definitely interested in.
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So those are some that all mention, yeah.
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Awesome. Lawrence of Arabia, did you see the re-release in theaters? It just happened like last month I think.
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I sure did. Any time that is on the big screen, I'm there.
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Awesome. I was hoping to be able to make it but I wasn't able to go.
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It was like the theater by me was only playing on a Sunday and I had already had plans.
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And then one other thing I'll mention films as therapy. Have you gotten a chance to see the film my old ass yet?
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I haven't. I haven't. It looks really interesting. I love Aubrey Plaza too as a bonus.
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Yeah, she's great in it but that movie is a really thought provoking, really touching movie.
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I think you should definitely see that just based on the other films that you like from that kind of subcategory.
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I think you really like it.
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Well, thanks for sharing some of those with us. Lindsey, you run a brand called One of My Stories.
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I was going to say it was a website originally. I was going to say it was a podcast but it's more than that.
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It is really a brand. Where can listeners find it and what is one of my stories all about?
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Yeah, so I've been writing about films since 2007 but I've rebranded myself three times in there and I think
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I felt pray to what a lot of people do which is I really didn't know what I was doing.
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I just knew I wanted to write about movies. I wanted to dip my toe into it.
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And so I was just like made my brand about me and like the fact that this is who I am.
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And so I think originally my website was just called Lindsey Says or something like that very conceded like who's Lindsey? Who cares?
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Then later I kind of changed it to I won't go back because I was thinking about wanting to keep moving forward in life.
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And then at a certain point I took a break and I stopped doing it and I was doing other things with my website like writing poetry and writing about relationships.
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Like the therapy aspect writing about things like enabling codependency and things that you know were harmful that I see many day you know many times.
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And so I was kind of doing something completely different and I sort of took a break from it all.
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And then I met someone that had a game board like he created games and he had been doing a podcast for years and I was really impressed by the fact that he had a brand.
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And sort of that brand communicated who he was and let people know what to expect.
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And so I really sat down this time and I thought about who I was and what I wanted to do.
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And I came up with a name one of my stories because I was thinking of how important stories are to me, how they've been, how they helped me to develop in a story could be communicated through a book, through a movie, through a TV show, through a song.
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And the thing is that the stories like shape us and they form us into who we are.
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And so those those that let people know kind of what to expect from me and also help me like shape and choose what projects I would work on and focus on.
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So I started at that point I was going to film festivals and that's how I became a film critic because I met some film critics and asked them like,
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how do you become a real film critic and it used to be that you'd have to work at a paper and get paid to be considered a critic these days it's different.
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And it's really about do people accept you as a critic and so you need to join an organization.
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So at that at that point I joined and became an official film critic and got screeners and was able to get things in advance.
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And then I wanted to start a podcast and I couldn't figure out how to do that technologically so I just started that was the time of Zoom and began a YouTube channel with Zoom things I would do.
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And then I figured out the whole podcasting thing and started a podcast.
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So the YouTube channel that I used to use for most of my stuff is still being used and it's in process and I make things but just not as often as I would say create a podcast episode or write writing is really what I'm mainly doing right now.
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I may change the podcasting I think I think I'm more talented as a writer when I podcast I have to sort of write things down so that I don't stumble all over my words.
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And but yes that's that's what I do.
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And so what will you will find there would be searches for true intersections of faith in film films eliminate life and good storytelling that eliminates culture or shows how the world could or should be I tend to do pretty deep analysis and reflection in my writing.
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So my website is just plain old one of my stories dot com that's the number one of my stories dot com and you can find my YouTube channel podcast and all that by just typing one of my stories in any search.
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And I'm the one that comes up there's a link tree that is on all my site so if you want to find everything you can you can use that so that's how you find me and what my site is all about.
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And you're going to find links to all of those in the show notes listeners so just a duck down there and it'll be there.
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Lindsay do you have any advice for aspiring film critics out there you've been writing seems like for me a very long time.
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Any advice for aspiring film critics.
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It's important to be clear on your purpose just saying I love movies isn't really enough.
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You need to figure out your lens and communicate that clearly focus on the projects that fit your purpose and then talk to other critics and work with them learn from them collaborate with people.
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Don't be afraid to message people like I messaged you Jason and said are we still going to podcast together.
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You know all people can say is no so you have to reach out and go for what you want.
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Yeah you'd be surprised how many people are receptive to that there are plenty of people that I've sent messages to that I expected to either get ignored or get a no and they're like yeah let's do this.
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Well Lindsay tonight we are talking zero to hero films what are you to the topic.
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I think that this topic is one of my favorite types of movies it's a really hopeful theme.
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You know the person starts with nothing and they fall even further than nothing they fall from neutral then they climb they level up they work hard and they get somewhere they make progress and let's just think that we could do it.
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You know this fall to the lowly state goes from ground zero the great rock lost the great rise they level up they learn these special techniques they become mentally stronger.
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I think these movies when you watch them they create a sense of ecstasy in the experience that's something that you don't often it's very unique.
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So there's many feelings you can experience when watching a movie but watching a zero to hero comes with a special elation or ecstasy as you watch it.
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You just feel really happy and you want to you know you want to cheer and jump up when they when they get what they want just fill you with joy.
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Lindsay do you have any heroic moments any any any moments in your life where you could say I was a hero.
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One one thing that came to mind when I saw you ask me this question is I had a I had a I had my own training montage that that took place recently as you get older you start to think you can't learn to do anything new there are many things I can't do I never learned to ride a bike for instance.
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The other thing I never learned to do was how to hula hoop and I don't know I can't remember why exactly but one day I decided to I was looking at YouTube videos on hula hooping and thinking why I wish I could really could hula hoop that would that would be cool.
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And I came across a video and I think he's he's channel still active it's called hoop smiles and he was it was a video I saw about how he taught an absolute beginner how to hula hoop.
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And so I was watching these videos and I learned the secret I learned the secret Jason that and that's what these people have to do in this movie that they have to learn the secret to getting better and the secret is to get a gigantic hoop.
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A hoop that is so large that it's really hard to find one of the size you need because that makes it when you have a larger hoop it forces the hope to slow down you can actually learn the motion.
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And so I bought the hoop actually bought one hula hoop that I had to return because it was it was almost too big it was I was like this isn't going to work.
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So then I had to get and find another company that had a my hula hoop is 50 50 inches 50 inches in diameter total.
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So I had to find it I had to wait and so I was doing a lot of there was a lot of failure doing this you know I would like I would try what that I had been shown and you know it fell and fell over and over again and I thought I'm never going to learn how to do this but.
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Sure enough I know how to hoop now and so I felt pretty heroic learning how to do that I didn't think this day would ever come but it really does work if you are willing to fail and be humiliated a bunch of times well thanks for sharing that story with me next up maybe the bike we'll see.
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Lindsay Dunn are you ready to get into our list top five zero to hero films I sure am.
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You know what's going to happen.
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You just made the list.
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All right why don't you kick us off here with your number five.
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Okay now I was waiting for you to ask me if I had any special process in.
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Oh yeah we can go there.
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Can we can we make a pit stop there before I reveal the absolutely so let's see how a number one how did you maybe whittle down your list and number two is there any criteria that you had for your heroicism.
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I think you know if one of the one of the qualifications I had more qualifications than anything else I think specifically I want I you know in order to start with the zero you have to you have to lose a lot of stuff and so that was that was really important to look for.
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You also need to become a hero you need to do the end result needs to be something we root for.
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And I think you have to differentiate this theme from other themes such as underdog stories which can be a group for me zero to hero is definitely like an individual one person and it's not a zero to anti hero situation where they become really good at being a bad guy.
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So those are some those are some things I looked at when yeah when learning how when trying to whittle this down.
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All right yeah we're on the same page there I kind of went with people who had very low to no expectations starting out in the story they're all individuals and they all do go from zero to a heroic act that you're rooting for.
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I didn't put any let's see I don't have any sports ones on here because I was looking at more a hero in the traditional sense and not you know the person kick in the field go out the end of the game.
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So that's kind of how I did my list and I do have a couple on here sometimes I will take films off that I have talked about on the show before but I've got a couple on here that I've talked about on the show before I've got three on my list though that I don't think have ever made it I know that for a fact they haven't made a list.
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Two of them for sure have never even been mentioned on this show so that'll be fun.
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Lindsay Dunn what do you got at number five on your list of zero to hero films.
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So my number five is actually a brand new movie this year and it's Monkey Man directed by Dev Patel.
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When I was a boy my mother used to tell me a story of a demon king and his army they brought fire and data to the land until they faced the protector of the people.
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The white monkey.
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You need to fight for all the fires.
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That's boogie.
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I didn't walk.
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Monkey Man, where you are.
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This is actually his directorial debut and I couldn't be more happy he decided to make this movie.
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For people who haven't seen it Dev Patel plays Kid.
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Kid has memories of growing up loved and protected by his mother and she knit in his bones the stories and prayers of the Hindu people.
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Kid's life tale is a story of the Hanuman.
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The Hanuman thought the sun was a mango and he tried to eat it.
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His thoughtless action burns him to a crisp and returns him to a lowly state.
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He forgets his power and purpose it becomes the lowest of the low.
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Eventually he rises from the ashes reborn and claims his rightful place again.
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As an adult, Kid has become a street fighter paid to lose.
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Turns out he's been living on scraps just waiting for the right moment to push play on his ultimate plan to punish the people who stole his life of happiness from him.
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How he accomplishes this is the point of the film that I won't spoil.
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And you know this movie is all about Dev Patel's performance and it's hard to direct yourself and some people do it in a way that he's not a good man.
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In a way that gets mocked I think by the media because I'm thinking of Kenneth Branagh for instance directing himself in a four hour hamlet.
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That can come across as kind of egotistical.
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But I think he's Dev Patel is such a likable person.
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He came on the scene with a slum dog millionaire and he had this face that lit up with his goofy grin.
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But I remember thinking how attractive he was even then.
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And so something about the fact that his character seem to be able to love so fiercely even after such suffering.
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And he tries to carry the burdens of others at his own expense in many of his roles.
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Now in the green night he played a more rogish, Nair duel and goes back to, he goes back, here he goes back to suffering in silence.
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And so I think Dev Patel is now leveled up from actor to director.
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One thing I think is notable about this movie is you know you think of a John Wick style style as action flick.
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Everything's choreographed to perfection.
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But with Monkey Man it has this very gritty feel and you feel like you can feel the punches in your gut.
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It has a great score by Jed Kressel, a lot of my zero to hero movies Jason, you'll hear have great scores.
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That seems to be a characteristic they all have.
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And so that is my number five pick. Have you seen Monkey Man?
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I have. I didn't, I didn't love Monkey Man, but I did love the kitchen fight scene.
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I thought that was one of the better fight scenes that I've seen this year.
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I do go back and rewatch that every once in a while just to check it out. And I thought Dev Patel was great.
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I think his direction is great. I can see a long career behind the camera for him as well.
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So I am excited to see what he does next.
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My number five, let's see I didn't even put numbers on mine.
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So let's just fly by the seat of our pants here.
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Number five, I'll go with one that I have mentioned on this show before.
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But it was one of the first ones that came in my mind when you said this.
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And it's funny because I've talked about this pick with a couple of my friends and they were saying, wow,
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I wouldn't even have thought of that. So maybe, maybe this is one that most people won't think of as a zero to hero film.
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But I think it is. And that's 2004's collateral starring Jamie Foxx as our zero named Max.
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Most people 10 years from now, same job, same play, same routine.
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Man, you're in a way, be 10 minutes from now.
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We just met him once and you kill him like that. But I should only kill people after I get to know them.
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You drive a cab and make my rounds. You might make it through tonight.
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Oh no.
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New news. We're headed schedule. This film is not yet rated.
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At the beginning of this movie, Max is a taxi driver in LA.
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And the first passenger that we see in his car is Annie. She's a California district attorney.
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And Max is telling her all about his dreams of starting his own limo business.
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And we find out over the course of the film that he's not really getting anywhere close to his dream.
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It's just this pipe dream that he seems to tell all the passengers that come to his into his car.
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And we also find out that he's been lying to his mom at one point because he tells his mom that he's running a successful limo business.
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So that's kind of the state of Max in the beginning of this movie.
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Unfortunately for him, the second passenger in his car is a guy named Vincent played by Tom Cruise.
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And Vincent tells Max he's in town to settle a real estate deal.
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He wants to hire Max for a couple of stops and basically use him throughout the night.
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And soon after really the after the first stop, he realizes that Vincent is not in town for a real estate deal.
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He's a hitman. And he can't get tangled up with Vincent and is essentially held hostage for the night as he makes a deal.
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Like I said, directed by Michael Mann, a great look at Los Angeles.
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I don't think anybody films Los Angeles like Michael Mann does just kind of in his blood.
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And he was like, he and you have Tom Cruise going against type.
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I think this is the only movie where he's been a villain.
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And I really think he should do it more often because he looks great here as a silver haired fox that's just going around killing people throughout the night.
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It's very different from what you have seen from Tom Cruise in movies like Top Gun and his more heroic feats.
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But of course this is really focused on Jamie Foxx as Max.
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The ending of this movie, I'm not going to spoil it for people who haven't seen it.
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I really highly recommend you watch this but it builds from that first scene to the last scene and really has a nice wrap around in giving Max a chance to be heroic.
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And the final scene ends on a train. There's a deck that stacked against him with an expert and a hostage involved in Max really gets to be the hero that he's wanted to be.
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So I think collateral is amazing. I watched it again for this episode and I will always love to revisit this one.
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It's one of my favorite Michael Mann films. I think it's under scene comparatively to his other films.
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And I think more people should give it a shot. I haven't seen it before. It's one of the movies that whenever I see the trailer, I think I really should watch that movie.
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That's so good. Well, yeah, I'll definitely watch it now.
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All right, number four for you.
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Number four is you're going to be the first zero to hear and maybe I think I ever saw or remember seeing.
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And so in a way, it's the one that they are all measured up against and it's the 1984 karate kid directed by John G. Adelson.
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The odds are on their side.
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You're gonna whip!
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Experience is on their side. But now he's got someone on his side fighting always last answer.
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Someone who knows what it takes. Always is crying and is willing to share it.
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You're the best friend I've ever had.
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You're pretty old kid. The karate kid.
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Now playing at a theater near you. Check your local listings.
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So I'm sure most people have seen this movie, but if you haven't, a kid named Daniel Laruso from Jersey moves to the San Fernando Valley.
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He struggles to find friends in a new place to fit in. And after he hits on the wrong girl, he becomes a target of karate-wilding kids who call themselves the Cobra Kai.
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Well, their teacher actually calls them Cobra Kai. I shouldn't say they call themselves Daniels and despair and Delhi meets Mr. Miyagi, the mysterious handyman that works at his apartment complex.
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And this has all of the components I think that I look for in a zero to hear a movie. I mean, it makes sense to see the one they're all measured about.
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He has these weird teaching strategies. Mr. Miyagi does the Daniel. And Daniel has Daniel sort of questioning like, "Why did I even think that I could get help from this old man?"
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He's much more impressed by what happens in the Cobra Kai gym because it's all flashy and there's a lot of awards. And so he sort of dazzled by that stuff while Mr. Miyagi is just a lone guy at his house fishing and teaching him how to wax his deck and paint his fences.
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And he thinks maybe it's some weird form of child abuse that he's gone into.
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But also Daniel is in need, has needs like he needs a parent. He needs a mentor and Mr. Miyagi opens his eyes and helps him to grow.
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And of course, as he's learning under Mr. Miyagi, he becomes much better at karate and it spawned sequels, TV show Cobra Kai that has become another continued the joy for me of getting to experience.
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The world of the Miyagi verse over and over again and it has a great score by Bill Conti and I feel confident that you've seen Karate Kid Jason.
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I have seen Karate Kid. It's been forever though. I probably saw it when I was 10 or less and I haven't seen it since then. I own the disc. I just haven't been able to watch it again.
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And I probably will now that I have a kid. I'll probably put it on for one of our We Do Family Movie Nights on Fridays.
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So maybe I'll toss it in for one of these family movie nights. I've never seen the TV show but I've heard a lot of good things about it.
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I must warn you if you show it to your kid, you're probably gonna have to watch the TV show sequels because kids love this movie.
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Yeah, yeah. I remember liking it quite a bit when I was a kid. And Bill Conti, I didn't know he did the score for this. He's done some iconic scores.
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Yeah, I mean, even as it there were some, you know, Karate Kid 2's a pretty good movie Karate Kid 3 is kind of bad but they've retrograded it great for the show.
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But that Bill Conti scores in there making you cry at any at any movie no matter how sort of cheesy it gets.
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All right, that's a great pick.
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My number four relates in that hour zero in my number four is also a martial arts student.
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I could have gone with a lot of different superhero movies for this list because superheroes typically are zero to hero stories initially.
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But I didn't want to go with something that everybody has seen. I kind of wanted to come up with something new for this.
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So I'm going with 1991's The Geiver.
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They are here among us.
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Nothing less than the fate of the human race is at stake when this girl meets this boy.
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I don't know what the hell that is and I'm not sure what to find out.
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The most lethal weapon ever conceived a one of a kind prototype and all you have for me is he pulled a switch.
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Have you seen this movie or heard of this movie?
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I don't think so.
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No, okay. So The Geiver, oh, this movie is so weird, but it's so much fun.
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I have this guy named Sean. He's this middleing martial arts student. He's the first time we see him. He's in class and a CIA agent played by Mark Hamill walks in and starts questioning this guy's girlfriend who's there to watch him do class.
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And he witnesses the conversation.
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He doesn't hear what's going on because behind glass, but he sees them talking and then they both leave together.
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And so Sean follows and it turns out that his girlfriend, her dad is a scientist and he's been working with this company called Kronos and he was supposed to meet up with the CIA guys.
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And unfortunately, he never showed up for the meat.
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So that means bad news for her dad.
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Well, Sean shows up. He's, you know, dicking around the crime scene like he's not supposed to.
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And he finds this kind of mechanical looking disc and it turns out that was the father's research. So he chucks it in his backpack and he goes on his way.
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Well, when he's on his way back, he is assaulted by this gang. His scooter breaks down and he's assaulted by this gang.
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And this piece of technology flies out of his backpack when they're beating him up. His face lands right on this thing and it envelops him into this suit.
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And it's a suit called the Geiver. And this thing gives him, like, really interesting special powers and all of a sudden his skills and karate moves are way enhanced.
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And he finds himself up against the president of this company called Kronos and the thugs.
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And if he doesn't, if they get a hold of this suit, well, it's going to destroy the world.
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A couple of reasons why you should watch this movie. Number one, if you're into practical special effects, there's nobody better in my mind. Well, maybe Tom Sivini is number one.
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But I think number two would be screaming mad George. And screaming mad George was tapped on the shoulder to do this movie after he did Nightmare on Elm Street 4, the Dream Master.
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And he said, yes, I'll do it, but on one condition, I want to be able to direct. So he brought his other friend Steve Wang, also a great effects artist.
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And the two of them co-direct this movie. So all of the suits, all of the effects, they're pretty much all done practically. Although there's some crazy, crazy early 90s CGI in this, which, you know, is really fun.
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But when you see the Kronos corporation has been doing a lot of experiments on people and the guy was not the only experiment that they've worked on, there are fish men, there are giant gremlin-like looking creatures.
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And every thug in this movie kind of changes into something. And it was like the Power Rangers villains before Power Rangers is really, really fun.
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The last third of this movie is absolutely insane. It takes place in a laboratory. We get a chest-burster type of scenario that happens.
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We see Mark Hamill turned into a horrifyingly grotesque monster, which is a really well done scene, but very sickening. It's not a kids movie.
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It's based on, I believe it's based on a manga that was pretty gory and pretty intense. So you get a lot of that in this movie.
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Highly recommend checking out the Geiver from 1991. There was a sequel I think that came out in 1994 that was pretty well received as well. And they replaced Sean with another actor in that one.
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I have a soft spot for the Geiver. I rewashed it again for our conversation today to make sure I was on the right track. And I certainly was.
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Okay, another one to check out the Geiver. I'm trying to even imagine how this is spelled. Is it?
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It is GUI, V-E-R. And if you're interested in watching it in the best way possible, there is a new 4K edition of this out.
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It looks better now than it ever has before.
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Is this one of the ones the first time mentioned on your show?
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This is, yeah, this has never been mentioned on this show before. Hey listeners, jumping in here real quick to tell you about today's sponsor.
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Hello, my name is Kevin Tudor and I'm one of the three hosts of almost major film podcast by selecting many major indie studios in the films they release.
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Every week myself, Charlie Nash and Brighton Doyle discuss overlooked, forgotten, or bonafide classic indie films via studio specific miniseries.
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We've previously covered numerous films from Artisan Entertainment, Lionsgate films, and new line cinema.
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Titles including the Blair Witch project, American Psycho, Dogville, But I'm a cheerleader, Saw, Recording for a Dream, and Ringmaster.
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You know the Jerry Springer film?
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Anyways, we have a fun time every week and we hope you will join us.
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Subscribe to almost major wherever you get your podcast.
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Now proudly a part of the someone's favorite productions podcast network.
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So my number three is actually gonna be another childhood favorite.
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I can't remember if I watched this one before, after their karate kid, but I was surprised to look it up and see that it was came out in 1979.
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I didn't realize it came out that long ago.
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And so this is the Black Stallion, directed by Carol Ballard.
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You wanna believe in magic, in beauty, in friendship, and freedom.
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Believe in the Black Stallion, the biggest, the blackest and the strongest, most beautiful horse that ever was.
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This is for Copa, the presents Walter Farley's timeless classic, whose time has come. The Black Stallion.
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The story of a legendary horse who could only be tamed by a young boy's love.
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Together, they survive a shipwreck.
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So this is the story of Alec and the Black, a wild Arabian Stallion.
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Alec is a very quiet old soul who goes on a steamship cruise with his parents, or it might just be his dad in the 1940s.
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And he meets the Black who's being transported, you know, who had the idea to transport a horse on a ship.
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I guess that's the way they had to do it.
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But the ship sinks and both Alec and the horse survive on a deserted island. At first, they aren't a...
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He isn't really able to approach the horse because it's this wild horse who has been mistreated by humans.
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But gradually they form a bond and get rescued and then Alec ends up having to integrate the Black into his life, his life at home.
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And he becomes a race horse in a series of horse races.
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So this is... There have been many... There are many horse movies that I think could apply in this zero to hero category.
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But I had to mention the Black Stallion because I believe it was the first one for me.
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And every time other... these other horse movies came out, I'd be like, "Well, they're just copying the Black Stallion."
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It really tugs at your heartstrings. And it's... Sometimes when you remember a movie as a kid, you're like, "Oh, it probably wasn't that good."
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But during... During COVID, I had access to the Disney Channel for like the first time.
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And the Black Stallion was on there and I was missing my sister and I was thinking, "I'm gonna watch this movie."
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And it was just... Maybe call it Childhood nostalgia, but I was sobbing during this movie watching...
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The horse ends up rescuing him from a cobra snake and then he slowly approaches the horse.
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A lot of it's done without dialogue between this boy and this horse.
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And just their sweet relationship and their love for one another is what makes this movie really special.
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The horse rescues him, he rescues the horse, vice versa.
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And it's not really spoken of in the movie, but you get the feeling that Alec is... he's sort of an awkward, painful childhood.
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If he's very quiet, so you can imagine he's probably not making friends easily. He's... I think it's implied, but not...
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It's implied that his parents are maybe their marriages on the rocks or they're separated.
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And another thing that's notable is that it's set in the 1940s, but as a kid, that just didn't really dawn on me.
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But it feels timeless and then also it's got a great score. I'm feeling myself tearing up as I'm talking to you about this.
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But the score is... I was like really? Carmine Coppola. So, relative of Francis Ford and all the Coppola people.
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So it's got great music and one of those animal bonding movies that you never really grow out of, I guess, is an adult.
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So that's my number three. Jason, do you do these movies tug at your heart string like they do mine?
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You know, I've never seen the Black Stallion. This is... you said this is on Disney Plus?
336
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:17,000
It was at one point. Do they still rotate movies in and out of their catalog? I don't know.
337
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:25,000
That's a good question. I'm not sure... I mean, I'm sure I can find it somewhere, but it sounds like another one that I should watch with my kiddo.
338
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:32,000
I was listening to your number three and I was thinking, well, there's probably no way I can transition from your number three into my number three.
339
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:37,000
Until you said that you cried while you watched it, because I definitely cried while I watched my number three.
340
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:45,000
It's a completely different style of movie. This one actually came out last year in 2023 and it has made one other list on this show.
341
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:52,000
It made my top five of 2023 last year. It is Godzilla minus one.
342
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:59,000
Godzilla minus one, or zero, is Koichi. He's a kamikaze pilot in the very first scene of this movie.
343
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:05,000
He lands on an island that's set up to fixed planes for the Japanese army and he brings his plane down.
344
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:10,000
He says that there's something wrong with the plane. The mechanics can't find anything wrong with the plane.
345
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:15,000
So they're like, I don't know what you're talking about. And then a small version of Godzilla.
346
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:24,000
This is a young Godzilla shows up. And during the skirmish, Koichi is instructed to go get his plane to use the 50 cow guns on board.
347
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:30,000
And he hesitates and everybody but the lead mechanic and Koichi are wiped out.
348
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:34,000
And he is branded a coward by everybody that he runs into. He's shipped back.
349
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:44,000
The lead mechanic obviously thinks he's a coward. But when he gets back to his village back home, they also see him as a coward because he was not expected to return.
350
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:49,000
He's a kamikaze pilot. He was expected to kill himself for Japan.
351
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:57,000
And so he starts living in the destroyed village. He has made a bond with a woman who has a child with her.
352
00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:04,000
And so they kind of make this makeshift family and they start living amongst the rubble and slowly start building themselves back up.
353
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:13,000
Her name is Noriko. And then he starts working on a fishing boat that's designed to locate and destroy mines in the ocean.
354
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:18,000
Because the war at this point is over. We just get to spend a lot of time with Koichi.
355
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:29,000
And he really has a low opinion of himself as well. When his friends ask him about Noriko and their relationship, he kind of passes it off like she and I aren't together.
356
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:34,000
And it's not because he doesn't want to be. It's because he doesn't think that he's deserving of love.
357
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:44,000
And there's a scene in the city where Noriko has a heroic moment for herself where she shoves Koichi out of danger from another Godzilla encounter.
358
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:54,000
And after that moment, he joins a team that is going to take down Godzilla and become the kamikaze pilot that he believes he was supposed to be.
359
00:42:54,000 --> 00:43:07,000
This is a fantastic film in all regards. Like I said, it made my top five list of 2023. It was number three on that list. Since then it won the Oscar for best visual effects, which it totally deserved.
360
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:17,000
Marvel Spectacles ringing at like, I don't know, $200 million budgets. And you still see dodgy CGI in those movies.
361
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:27,000
There has to be some type of racketeering going on because you don't see $200 million worth of money on screen. This was said to have cost under $20 million.
362
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:34,000
I think they said between 15 and 20 million dollars. And you see every dollar on screen. This film looks amazing.
363
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:44,000
And since we last talked about it on here, it's also come out in a four disc collectors edition. I think it's actually now out of print, but it's an amazing looking collection.
364
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:54,000
The standard 4K disc is coming out soon. And it was also released in a black and white version, which is called Godzilla minus one minus color.
365
00:43:54,000 --> 00:44:03,000
And it also looks great. It was not just a huge change during post production. There was actually a colorist assigned to create a black and white version.
366
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:14,000
And of that version, the director said, "Rather than just making it monochrome, it is a cut by cut." I had to make adjustments while making full use of various mats as if they were creating a new movie.
367
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:23,000
And quote, "So if you've seen Godzilla minus one and you want to see it in a whole new light or rather a lack of color, you can do that.
368
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:33,000
Godzilla minus one minus color." So yeah, that's my number three. I really, really love this movie. And I love that underdog story or that really zero to hero story in there.
369
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:44,000
It's what keeps it together. And I think I said this during my original review. It felt like when I was watching this movie, it felt like Godzilla was interrupting the human parts of this story for me.
370
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:57,000
And I think that's the strength of this movie because when you go to see a Godzilla movie, typically you want to see Godzilla ring havoc on people. And in this one, I wanted to, I wanted less of Godzilla. I wanted more of the humans.
371
00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:00,000
And it really, really has a satisfying climax.
372
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:06,000
Yeah, it was in my top 10 from last year. I don't remember. I can't remember exactly what position it was put on.
373
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:17,000
But I'm a huge fan of the Godzilla movies in general, but there was something about, I think it was the way it came out so close after Oppenheimer.
374
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:35,000
But it just felt so much more weighty than any Godzilla movie I'd seen. And this was a return to a Japanese Godzilla movie we've had sort of the American studios, which are feel like more spectacles and anything.
375
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:45,000
So you're right, I had a very human story. And I didn't think of it as a theater here, but it totally is.
376
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:57,000
So we're on to my number two pick. And this I will say is maybe the movie that got me thinking about picking this topic in a way.
377
00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:07,000
Because, you know, after we had, we had a podcast with Steve on, we talked about once upon a time in Hollywood.
378
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:24,000
And that sort of got me thinking about Quentin T.R. Tarrantino again. And so then after we podcasted, I ended up watching both the Kill Bill movies, which is my, I think those are my, that is my favorite Quentin Tarrantino movie.
379
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:30,000
They kill Bill, so I'm gonna say Kill Bill volume two, although of course they work in tandem.
380
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:40,000
I was quite the professional in exclusive industry and we all worked for this man. Bill, but when I tried to get out, they did me.
381
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:46,000
So I suppose it's a little late for an apology, huh? You suppose correctly.
382
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:47,000
Hi!
383
00:46:47,000 --> 00:47:14,000
Get even, even Stephen. I would have to kill you. I'm sure this movie has been mentioned on the show, but it's about the bride who gets her revenge on Bill and his posse of assassins for hire after they slaughter her whole family and friends and all the people she cares about.
384
00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:28,000
I think out of all the movies on my list, probably nobody got as zeroed as the bride. I mean, she's left for dead. She has her child stolen.
385
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:35,000
She really gets, she really gets left in a bad, bad place.
386
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:45,000
And so, you know, she's going after all the people that have harmed her and will culminate with Bill.
387
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:54,000
Now, one of my favorite moments and probably the reason this movie is on the list is her training segment with Pyme.
388
00:47:54,000 --> 00:48:14,000
And there's something about that scene that just is so empowering, I think, as a female and probably, you know, people who aren't female also feel the same way, but you really, back to when we're talking about the film and why I wanted to do this theme.
389
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:24,000
I want to believe that yes, you too could learn how to break a board at a few inches from you so that you could break through a coffin.
390
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:33,000
When all hope is lost, she resorts to the techniques, the secret techniques she learned from Pyme.
391
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:40,000
And there's the glorious scene when she's, you know, she starts in the coffin and you think, boy, this lady's dead.
392
00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:45,000
And then they go back to the history and you see her past with Pyme.
393
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:53,000
Now, you don't see everything. You don't see the one thing she was taught that lets her ultimately win.
394
00:48:53,000 --> 00:49:03,000
But you see that she, you see like sort of her path and her journey learning from him and how terrible she was as a fighter and how humiliated she was.
395
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:19,000
And then, you know, then you go back to where she's in this coffin buried alive and you see her break through this coffin and break through the earth, like an almost a literal resurrection from the dead.
396
00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:24,000
And it's perfectly paired with this score by Ennio Morricone.
397
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:34,000
And it's magnificent. It's, it's enough that makes you want to shout your eternal yop over the universe and do your own like Walt Whitman yopping.
398
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:39,000
So it's going to have to be, that's going to have to be my number two pick, Jason.
399
00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:43,000
Kill Bill, that's an interesting one. I actually did not even think of this.
400
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:48,000
I was going through my shelves yesterday and I considered Django unchained.
401
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:51,000
But I already had a Jamie Foxx movie on my list.
402
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:55,000
But this works too. Yeah, this is a great pick and I love Kill Bill.
403
00:49:55,000 --> 00:50:04,000
It got me into looking at all these references too for the movies that came before it that inspired Tarantino and I've seen so many movies because of this movie.
404
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,000
Huge soft spot for Kill Bill. Love it.
405
00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:12,000
All right. My number two is one that I thought if we're going to have any crossover, it might be this one.
406
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:20,000
The zero in question here is Hercules from Disney's 1997 film Hercules.
407
00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:35,000
I figure how can I have a list for zero to hero and leave off a movie that has a song literally titled zero to hero for those who have not seen Hercules takes place in ancient Greece.
408
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:47,000
And it starts off with most of the gods. They're happy for Zeus and Hera because they have a son named Hercules but Zeus's wicked brother Hades plots to overthrow Zeus and rule Mount Olympus.
409
00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:57,000
So Hades learns that in 18 years a planetary alignment is going to allow him to free the Titans to conquer Olympus but only if Hercules does not interfere.
410
00:50:57,000 --> 00:51:02,000
Now Hercules is immortal. He's a god. He has super strength.
411
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:06,000
But in true kids movie Disney fashion.
412
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:19,000
Hades sends his minions to murder the baby and they have a potion that's going to strip him of his immortality and so they kidnapped the baby. They feed him the potion but a couple of farmers.
413
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:29,000
A farmer couple rather interrupts them before Hades could drink every last drop. So he's only stripped of his immortality but he retains his godlike strength.
414
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:38,000
But as a teen because of this strength he's an outcast because he cannot control his strength and we see some examples of this that are obviously funny.
415
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:45,000
And throughout this process he learns that he can earn back his godhood by becoming a true hero.
416
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:55,000
So throughout his journey he has to battle Hades. He has to battle the Cyclops, the Hydra and more in order to save Olympus and his soon to be love interest Meg.
417
00:51:55,000 --> 00:52:03,000
Like I said it's got the song zero to hero. It's a great song but I think my favorite song and one of my favorite Disney songs in general is going the distance.
418
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:10,000
I think it's a very underrated song. It's got great voice acting talent. Danny DeVito is in there. He was almost not in this movie.
419
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:18,000
They offered Danny DeVito the role and he did not want to audition. So they audition people like Ed Asner, Ernest Borgnein, some others.
420
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:27,000
And finally the directors just caught Danny DeVito out in a telling restaurant when he was filming Matilda and they got him to sign on the line that was dotted James Woods.
421
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:33,000
I can't stand the man now but he is a great voice actor and as Hades he really puts on a good performance.
422
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:39,000
And yeah I think it's a really underrated Disney movie development on this actually started in 1992.
423
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:48,000
So Disney would do these things and they may still do this where they have a bunch of people like give rapid fire pitches and they get two minutes to pitch.
424
00:52:48,000 --> 00:53:00,000
And one of the pitches was in an adaptation of the Odyssey and that actually went into production and then they failed to come up with anything good so that choice was ditched.
425
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:08,000
And Hercules was one of those pitches that they came back to and I think after the success of Aladdin.
426
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:18,000
And then in true, again, true Disney fashion just kind of like changed over time and the original writer left and they eventually came out with this in 1997.
427
00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:20,000
Do you like Hercules?
428
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:32,000
You know it's been such a long time since I've seen it but it's funny that you were talking about that song because I would, you know, was doing research and seeing what other people considered as the art of your movie.
429
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:42,000
And of course the first thing that comes up is that song and today I thought I was like maybe listen to this song today and I didn't do it Jason but I think I need to know.
430
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:50,000
I need to know the song we could have sung it together for you know recorded it for the podcast to go with our theme.
431
00:53:50,000 --> 00:54:00,000
We could have yeah and I can't even play it over the you know normally like sometimes I'll play the song or excerpts of the song but it's Disney and they'll probably get my podcast taken down and murdered.
432
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:04,000
So yeah not gonna risk that.
433
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:06,000
Alright Lindsey we're here number one.
434
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:08,000
What do you got at the top of your list?
435
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:15,000
Yeah so this is a movie that I have been wanting to talk about ever since I've seen it.
436
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:22,000
Now I have an opportunity because of this list and I think it's what I would call the ultimate zero to hero movie.
437
00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:26,000
So that is the 36 chamber of Shaolin.
438
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:34,000
Do man have a right to say what they believe in must they always do what the government said.
439
00:54:50,000 --> 00:54:58,000
It was a hero Shaolin techniques could be taught here people could use it by the man.
440
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:10,000
Nice directed by Lau Karlong and starring Gordon Lou which has a tie in with Kill Bill volume two of course as he's also in kill bill two.
441
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:18,000
He's actually also in kill bill volume one probably maybe cute tea people know but yes he played do rules in that movie.
442
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:32,000
But this is a fictional rendering of a real live martial arts disciple so Lou Uday is the pupil of an activist teacher in rebellion against the Montu government.
443
00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:36,000
And that is led by the brutal general TNT.
444
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:47,000
The general and his accolades kill Uday's friends and family and he ends up running away because he hears that the Shaolin monks are known as the best.
445
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:59,000
Kung Fu fighters ever if only you could get there they don't accept outsiders but he arrives by fruit cart and they are bound to help him because they're monks and they're going to be kind.
446
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:13,000
So once he's there they decide to let him stay and he asks them to after a time he's there for a while he asks them if he can train and they ask him where he wants to start.
447
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:25,000
And in his pride he says he will start with a 36 chamber but they explain that no you need to start at the bottom you need to start at the beginning you can't you can't jump all the way to the top.
448
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:39,000
And so then he starts from the bottom and is I think his first station is he has to cross a water like a lake of logs if he wants to get food.
449
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:45,000
And so he has to learn how to balance upon these logs across the water.
450
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:51,000
So there's a great list in Mr. Miyagi would always also want Daniel learn is how do you keep your balance.
451
00:56:51,000 --> 00:57:06,000
So obviously everybody who's there training has to learn to do these things but Uday learns how to do things much quicker than everybody else because he is very observant.
452
00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:25,000
And he notices things in nature and as he notices things he begins to apply them to how he accomplishes these tasks and as he accomplishes each chamber then he gets to go to the next chamber and at a certain point he actually learns how to fight finally.
453
00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:46,000
But one of the ultimate things that happens is he has to learn he's trying to beat these very skilled people in later on and he there's one person that keeps there's always has to be a disdainer in the crowd right someone that says like he's not good enough or we shouldn't have let him in.
454
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:59,000
And he says that if he beats him in a fight then he can become like part of the group or part of the top.
455
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:10,000
And he notices that tree branch operates a certain way and he creates this three section staff.
456
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:30,000
But the whole thing is he wants to protect his family and friends that are remaining at home and so he has to learn to do kung fu so he can protect them but he also wants to teach normal people how they can fight for themselves so that these oppressive governments can't take over.
457
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:50,000
So of course we're rooting for him. This is a movie that I think I believe I wanted heard about this movie many times from people like as one of the greatest kung fu movies ever and I think I might have even heard Quentin Tarantino talking about it and it was one of these movies that are like maybe I'll watch it one day.
458
00:58:50,000 --> 00:59:00,000
And I can't remember exactly but it was on Amazon Prime and I watched it and I was just entranced for the whole movie I thought this is one of the greatest movies of all time.
459
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:08,000
So I finally get to talk about today I will say that currently it is on Amazon Prime for free as part of that.
460
00:59:08,000 --> 00:59:22,000
However it's only an English dubbed and so I joined movie for one week so that I could listen to it in the beautiful tones of actual Japanese the actual Japanese that spoke in the movie.
461
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:34,000
I do not recommend English dub I hate dubbed movies in general but the dubs on this movie are particularly bad so that is my number one pick Jason tell me you've seen this one.
462
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:40,000
Of course I've seen it yes of course I've seen it and I've seen the two sequels have you got an chance to see any of the sequels yet.
463
00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:52,000
I have not I tried I tried I started I there's a minute looks I thought there was many sequels I see many movies that are called something Shaolin I thought I think there was like zombies or vampires or something.
464
00:59:52,000 --> 01:00:03,000
That may be it may be a different direction but I started to watch a different movie that and it it was it came across as much more mocking or silly than these.
465
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:09,000
So I wasn't sure I would like it but maybe you can give me some recommendations of actual sequels on joy.
466
01:00:09,000 --> 01:00:28,000
There are a bunch of knockoffs and it happened all the time with old Hong Kong fight movies there's just when one gets popular you see a ton of knockoffs you see it with Bruce Lee movies you see it with Jimmy wine you movies there's just tons of knockoffs.
467
01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:48,000
The real true two sequels to this are returned to the 36 chamber and disciples of the 36 chamber and if you are into Hong Kong movies listeners pick up the shot scope volumes from arrow there's volumes there's two volumes out now depending on when you're listening to this there's one also coming out in November.
468
01:00:48,000 --> 01:01:08,000
But the second one volume two has all three of the 36 chamber movies and they're packed with extras to so looks great and you learn a lot about the movies the making of the movies I love the 36 chamber movies all three of them great this is a great choice I didn't even think of this and you know I.
469
01:01:08,000 --> 01:01:37,000
I actually thought of putting some type of Hong Kong movie on my list and just didn't and I'm glad you you had one on your so we could talk about it now it's interesting that you said that you thought yours was the quintessential film and I noticed that I did this I do the same thing is you when I'm when I'm researching a list like this I'll go online and I'll look at these lists of zero to hero movies and to be honest there aren't very many lists of zero to hero movies I was very surprised I thought there was going to be you know letter box list of three.
470
01:01:37,000 --> 01:02:06,000
And there's almost nothing out there and I did not see the 36 chamber movies on any of those lists so nice job there I also believe that my number one is the quintessential zero to hero movie did not see it on any list at all and I think that once you hear this this title I'm sure that you've seen it when you hear it you'll say yeah you know what you're right this should be on those lists it is from 1964 it is rude all the way.
471
01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:09,000
It is Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer.
472
01:02:09,000 --> 01:02:20,000
But he knows reindeer is back his big blinks like a blink and beaker mingling with missfits battling snow monsters.
473
01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:25,000
We'll have to cancel Christmas and lighting the way for jolly old Saint Nick.
474
01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:29,000
Rudolph with your nose so bright.
475
01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:39,000
I want you guys my slate tonight. Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer. Globo's got it tonight at 7 30.
476
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:52,000
This is a holiday favorite I watch it every year I'm sure many do and maybe because it's a holiday movie it gets the short end of the stick on those lists but I think the Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer is the ultimate zero to hero.
477
01:02:52,000 --> 01:03:02,000
The movie starts with Donner and his wife having a baby named Rudolph something's different about him you've all heard the song his nose glows red.
478
01:03:02,000 --> 01:03:18,000
Now Donner is a real dick and instead of letting his kid just be his self he rubs mud over his nose so he can hide it and then later on he has a fake nose that they slip over his nose to hide it more.
479
01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:33,000
And eventually that fake nose pops off when Rudolph gets really excited the first time that he flies and when his nose pop pops off everybody just loses their shit they're like you gotta go get out of here.
480
01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:56,000
Come it kicks him off the squad he's basically run out of town he runs away and eventually finds himself with a missfit elf named her me and a gold prospector named Yukon Cornelius and they go to the island of missfit toys which is a place where unloved and unwanted toys live and they go on this adventure together and you see Rudolph grow up.
481
01:03:56,000 --> 01:04:16,000
Away from his family away from everything he was born into and the three eventually take down the abominable snowman and Rudolph decides that he's gonna head back home and he heads back home on Christmas eve everybody celebrating because it's Christmas eve but Santa walks in and announces that a huge snowstorm is coming he's gonna have to cancel Christmas.
482
01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:45,000
And of course that's where Rudolph steps up saves the day saves the season saves Christmas you all know the story you've probably heard the song a million times this has been telecast every single year since 1964 it was originally on NBC and then switched over to CBS in 1972 which makes it the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in the United States ever is widely regarded as one of the best Christmas films ever made.
483
01:04:45,000 --> 01:05:10,000
It also has some sequels that you may not have seen in 1976 there was Rudolph's shiny new year that one aired on ABC and is still aired annually on ABC and then there was Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July in 1979 and in 2001 there was a direct to video animated film called Rudolph the Red Nose Randier and the Island of missfit toys.
484
01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:19,000
So I'm sure that you've seen this before. Yeah of course. Never thought of a thing this year to hear a movie though.
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When you watch it this year when you watch it this year just pay attention to that aspect and it's so clear yeah zero to your own.
486
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I know there's a lot of honorable mentions I want to mention some myself but first let's recap the list for the listeners and I will go first there at number five I had collateral from 2004.
487
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Number four I had the Geiver from 1991 and number three Godzilla minus one from 2023 and number two Disney's Hercules from 1997 and my number one Rudolph the Red Nose Randier from 1964.
488
01:05:53,000 --> 01:06:08,000
Okay I had for number five monkey man directed by Dev Patel that's 2024 number four is Karate Kid directed by John G. Avaldson which is 1984 I think I maybe just said that twice.
489
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The Black Stallion directed by Carol Ballard 1979, Kill Bill Volume 2 directed by Quentin Tarantino I don't have the year on that 2004.
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Up great and then the 36 chamber of Shalon directed by Lau Carlong. Awesome list I'm so happy that we didn't have any repeats on our list and even an honorable mention that I have on mine I thought you would mention it and I'm glad it was left off because it's been talked about here before before I get to my honorable mentions though what did you have that just couldn't make your list.
491
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I will mention a couple I think you're right though that there I guess because of those like my separation between like underdog stories and I have special feelings and things I'm looking for so there aren't as many zero to hero as I thought there were in for my definition but the ones I did have that I wrote down were rocky which is another avaldson of course.
492
01:07:09,000 --> 01:07:24,000
Wip Blash that's on the border because that could be a zero to anti anti hero I don't know how people feel about the his ending decisions in his path and then evil dead too.
493
01:07:24,000 --> 01:07:36,000
I'm sorry with ash you know becoming the ultimate action hero after he is that left fighting a bunch of gullies so those are the three I had for honorable mentions.
494
01:07:36,000 --> 01:08:05,000
Yeah I was a little surprised that rocky didn't come up at all but I'm glad that it was mentioned here in the honorable mentions that was also on my honorable mentions one that I had mentioned that I left off because it had been on another list previous and I actually felt bad leaving it off my my montage movie list was Mulan from 1998 but I didn't want to have two different Disney movies on my list speaking of Disney movies I also considered.
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The movie trope of zero to hero then back to zero then back to hero in one film and that came up twice and I was like you know what maybe that could be a separate list the double zero to hero one would be the HUD sucker proxy by the Colin brothers where the main character I think his name is Norville he starts as a zero then is made the president of the company then becomes really successful and then he becomes a zero.
496
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Again then he has to become a hero again same with the similar Disney movie made for TV the garbage picking field goal kicking Philadelphia phenomenon starting Tony Danza that's another zero to hero to zero to hero story I considered nobody with Bob Odin Kirk but you know he's portrayed as a as a kind of zero at first but you realize there's more to him that you might then you might have thought so I didn't really feel like that fit to go along with your karate kid pick.
497
01:09:03,000 --> 01:09:09,000
I almost played the art of self defense directly by Riley Sterns that is such a hilarious movie.
498
01:09:09,000 --> 01:09:32,000
Yeah love that one and then the last one that I'll mention I didn't rewatch it so I just that's one of the only reasons I kept it off bad company were Chris rock and Anthony Hopkins star Chris rock plays twins but his twin was killed in a line of duty and they have to use Chris rock as the twins brother to like it was a lot of the
499
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two like infiltrate do some CIA work so he basically goes from nothing to be in a hero I remember like in the what 2002 when it came out.
500
01:09:41,000 --> 01:10:00,000
All right Lindsay done before we get out of here let's plug your stuff one more time again links to the stuff will be in the show notes but some for somebody new to your website to one of your store one of my stories I guess I want to say one of your stories but the website one of my stories with the number one
501
01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:27,000
where would you have people start would you have a start with a certain piece a certain avenue like a YouTube channel podcast website yeah I mean it's what you said like additional plugs one thing I wanted to mention was that if you like besides besides movies I do also do recaps of select TV shows.
502
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The big show is the one I recapped with the barns which is dark which is the German sci-fi travel show if you like that show you always wanted to see recaps or want to revisit it I've recapped every single
503
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episode of that show through both writing and YouTube my recaps are like the number one recap on Google now I've I've leveled up to to that position as far as where to start though I think you know people usually get
504
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interested through current things you know looking at what are you doing right now and so things are a little bit slow at the moment just because I'm trying to do besides stories with movies I'm trying to capture stories of people that I went to an Alabama pilgrimage with where we visited civil rights things so right now I'm doing that but my last review was pretty funny it was about the movie
505
01:11:29,000 --> 01:11:36,060
Caligula which was remade which was a movie I really hated, but I did a lot of research for that movie and enjoyed
506
01:11:36,060 --> 01:11:38,840
bashing that movie a lot
507
01:11:38,840 --> 01:11:43,620
So I that would be a fun one to read to get a flavor, but also
508
01:11:43,620 --> 01:11:48,640
Just you know going going to one of my stories calm and looking at
509
01:11:48,640 --> 01:11:53,980
What I've done recently you might also if they're like just a certain genre
510
01:11:53,980 --> 01:11:56,880
You like I do label all my reviews by genre
511
01:11:56,880 --> 01:12:02,060
So if you want to see what I did with horror sci-fi you can just put in that search term and come up with
512
01:12:02,060 --> 01:12:07,480
Looking at the reviews I've done I've been writing since 2007
513
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So I do have a lot of stuff on there going back to several years if you have a favorite movie
514
01:12:12,820 --> 01:12:17,560
Go on there and see what I have but I also I mean it's on my link tree
515
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:26,280
I do more review more movies on letterbox than I do on the website because there's just many movies to watch and I can't
516
01:12:26,280 --> 01:12:28,960
Write about everything I do this as a part-time gig
517
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So
518
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If you're on letterbox you can also go to one of my stories there and look for that
519
01:12:35,920 --> 01:12:41,580
So I think those are those are some places I would start all right cool and like I said all of that will be in the show
520
01:12:41,580 --> 01:12:43,820
No, so check out Lindsey check out her
521
01:12:43,820 --> 01:12:50,680
Various brands thanks so much for coming on Lindsey this was a great topic at a great time rewatched some of these movies and
522
01:12:50,680 --> 01:12:55,360
Hopefully our listeners have some motivation to go back and watch some zero to hero films
523
01:12:55,360 --> 01:13:02,200
Yeah, Jason. Thank you so much for having me on and and ditto. Yes, this is this was fun to watch these and
524
01:13:02,200 --> 01:13:06,080
especially getting to watch 36 chamber again and and
525
01:13:06,080 --> 01:13:09,600
Getting to talk to somebody who's actually seen it before
526
01:13:09,600 --> 01:13:13,640
What did we leave off that should have been on our lists?
527
01:13:13,640 --> 01:13:20,120
Let me know by emailing me at force five podcast at gmail.com or on Twitter at force five pod
528
01:13:20,120 --> 01:13:25,140
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529
01:13:25,140 --> 01:13:32,060
And very free ways to support me are to review force five wherever you get your podcasts and tell your friends about the show
530
01:13:32,060 --> 01:13:35,240
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Outro music comes from cheesecake chat and a top five list bumper was produced by me with music from audio binger
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