Jeff: Hello and welcome to the FilmWord Podcast. I'm Jeff Ward.
Matt: And I'm Matt Ward. Good to see ya.
Jeff: We are two We're two brothers who ⁓ like to talk about movies and this week we're gonna be talking about some of the movies I've watched recently, ⁓ because I just flew to Jakarta, all the way from Salt Lake, so I had about twenty four hours to sit and watch movies. and then we're gonna discuss Forgotten Island, which came out this week, and then we're gonna revisit Hamnet because Matt just watched it for the first time. And then we're gonna give our top five lists for Tom Cruise. Top five Tom Cruise movies of all time. And I already know Matt's picking cocktail, number one. Cocktail.
Matt: number one film of all time, Cocktail. The the drink mixing skills were unparalleled in Cocktail.
Jeff: We just we had to revisit because we we talked Days of Thunder. So now Days of Thunder also number one. Come anyway. We'll we'll get into that later. All right, Matt. ⁓ well tell me about your week. Did you watch did you have I mean, I know you didn't have as much time as me. I I watched at least six movies. but ⁓ anything on your ⁓ anything that you watched this week?
Matt: I yes, I wrapped up watching No Country for Old Men and still really like that the movie really did belong on my top five best winner or best picture winners of all time. It's so there's just so much to ji digest in that movie and all the performances are so unique, well acted. chilling in many cases. And I I think I especially enjoy Tommy Lee Jones and his reflections throughout the the film. So I watched that and I am almost done re watching Forrest Gump since that one made that was your was that your number one?
Jeff: Well, I'm I'm gonna talk about that here in a minute, 'cause that is one that I rewatched this week as well. ⁓ but yes. Yes, it was my number one.
Matt: And and ⁓ you know, a lot to like in Forrest Gump and a lot of interesting parts, but I f I feel I I still just really like the performance of Lu Santa Dan. I like a lot I and I like the story about him diving ⁓ about Forrest Gump becoming a a shrimp boat ⁓ operator. I think that that's just a really sweet part of the the movie. So
Jeff: Mm-hmm.
Matt: Lots of sweet parts, lots of parts I just kinda jumped over also. I just Jenny's just a bit toxic. A bit. I think is probably an understatement. She's the rough that's a rough friend to have in your life, but but besides that, no, I spent a lot of it watching Hamnet and Forgotten Island, which I have put down as Forgotten Planet and Forbidden Planet and all sorts of different things. different films that I keep on thinking were the actual name of that film, but Forgotten Island. So h excited to look into that. How about you?
Jeff: Yeah, I kept calling it Forbidden Island, like over and over. But it is called Forgotten Island, as far as I know. It might be Forbidden. I I keep mixing it up. ⁓ well let me just talk about Forest Gump for a second because I was like, Well, ⁓ I I chose this one as number one on my on my best picture top five, and clearly that's a list I'm gonna have to redo at some point 'cause I probably have some regrets. I need to rewatch all five. But let me start with Forest Gump. ⁓ I just wrote that it's a great soundtrack. You know, I owned the soundtrack when I was a kid. very compelling story. Like obviously like I love the part with Lieutenant Dan and the shrimp boat captain as well. ⁓ but frankly, after watching it, just wrote that it lives deeper in sentimental value than in actual like film quality and and ⁓ performance. I you know from the very first scene Even with the feather floating, which again, like kind of lived in sentimental value for me for years, ⁓ like just I don't know, maybe it was maybe maybe it was partly my mood, but like I found it to be like an interesting story and a fun story, but didn't really feel like ⁓ you know the same way that I feel about other movies that I've watched maybe more recently. ⁓ kind when Tom Cruise or Tom Cruise, when Tom Hanks started talking. Found it to be like kind of cringy ⁓ at first. And then you kind of get into the character and kind of move on. So so I actually would probably shift for scump probably out of my top five. ⁓ but I yeah, I'd have to revisit it ⁓ for sure. ⁓ actually kind of give it probably give it a probably give it a four out of five now, probably. So I don't know. Time time has a way of changing your feelings. Now I've got to rewatch Braveheart. Because like I loved Braveheart when I was a kid, but now I'm scared that I'm gonna rewatch it and be like, that wasn't that good. All right. ⁓ on my flight, I watched Hamnet. That was a rewatch. We'll talk about that later. ⁓ I watched Breadwinner with Nate Bargatszi. ⁓ yeah. Dumb humor, heartwarming. Two out of five.
Matt: ⁓ yeah. Really? I I was excited to see that one and 'cause I love Nate Bargassy. I I've seen him live and have watched every special he's put out, but I I heard it wasn't that great and so I I just haven't made it a priority to watch it yet. And so maybe maybe I still will, but it doesn't sound from from your review and others that I've read it doesn't sound like it was the winner that it Maybe ⁓ it could have been, which is and I like I like Colin Jose also. I enjoy him on weekend updates. ⁓ but I I maybe maybe it fell under the S N L curse for for films where it's just
Jeff: Well yeah, funny enough, Colin Jose actually was probably one of the funnier parts of the movie. I really liked his role. ⁓ it that was kind of that was kind of fun, but overall the movie just I don't know, it's kinda kinda fell flat. ⁓ the next one I want to talk about though is backrooms. ⁓ I know that your your boy wanted to watch backrooms. ⁓ I have you guys watched it yet? I guess not, because I would have heard about it. Yeah.
Matt: Yeah. Not not yet. I it is on the list of one to watch soon, but we haven't made it through it yet.
Jeff: It is fun. It is creepy though. I mean, not creepy in the way that like movies that when we were younger, I mean, sixth cents, I probably didn't get over that for like six months when I was a kid. ⁓ maybe it's just because I don't really walk through backrooms a lot. You know, I'm I don't work in an office building. ⁓ maybe you would find it more creepy because you do work in an office building, but ⁓ I don't like scary movies. I would give this a five out of five. It was fun.
Matt: Yeah.
Jeff: It was creepy, ⁓ compelling plot. ⁓ really enjoyed it.
Matt: I will say that even just in I I record a lot of times from our office. And sometimes if I'm the first one here and I'm turning on the lights in our wing of the office, it's it's not my favorite place in the world. I think it's and I it you know, I can just imagine, you know, I used to work, you know, I worked retail and as a teenager as as a lot of us did. And just going back if you're the first one into one of those stores or just
Jeff: ⁓ you're gonna love this movie.
Matt: I don't know, but I get I get creeped out very easily, so
Jeff: Yeah, you're gonna find this movie to be pretty pretty ⁓ creepy and entertaining. ⁓ and it yeah, because I don't work in an office building, maybe not as scary for me. All right, the last one that I'll talk about is ⁓ Eternity. I don't know if you saw this one with Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller. It's basically like the plot is that ⁓ she was married when she was like in her early twenties for two years and this guy went off to war. And he died in war, and then she gets remarried and ⁓ and is married to Miles Teller for like sixty-seven years. And then they all die. They go to like I guess purgatory, temporary holding place, where she has to decide like which eternity she wants and with whom she's gonna spend eternity. And ⁓ she has to choose between her like two year marriage with this guy or her like sixty seven year marriage with Miles Teller. And ⁓ It's I mean, it kinda goes the direction you think it's gonna go if you had to choose between your you know, your two year spouse or your sixty year spouse. Like but then one's kind of like hot and like the two year guy is like kinda hot and fun and the sixty seven year guy is like kind of like boring and complains a lot. So like you kind of you know, there's there's an interesting plot point there, but Ultimately, you know, who you gonna choose? I give that one a three out of five. Kind of a compelling thought piece, but ⁓ you know. Wanna watch it again.
Matt: Well, that Was it Yeah, well and that one I for a while I had wanted to check that one out. I remember hearing about it and and you know, I I'm not sure if there's I don't know, it seemed like just one of those awkward movies to watch where if you watch it watch it with your spouse and you just constantly be like, You would you still choose me, right? Like
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well it's it's ⁓ compelling, you know. But it's ⁓ you know, interesting idea, but ⁓ you know, finally executed. I just I don't know if it's probably not not for me. So it's like you kinda you kinda know from the from the get go. Like but anyway. Alright, well let's dive into some industry news. We'll just cover this ⁓ Quickly here. There's some I I gotta talk to you about this first one. The new Star Wars that they announced. John Watts directing. ⁓ they're really calling it episode ten?
Matt: That's what I am seeing here. I don't know if it's going I mean it says the next episodes in the Skywalker saga. So I'm I'm curious to see if this is the the continuation that none of us have asked for. And I thought for a while they were just gonna get rid of or ignore the the latest trilogy that they put together, but Who knows? We'll see how this ends up going. But what are your thoughts? Are you interested in another trilogy that follows the Skywalker saga?
Jeff: I mean I think John Watts could do a good job. ⁓ At the same time, they botched I know we've talked about it, but they botched seven, eight, and nine so much that I just don't know like where they gonna pick up from here. Are they gonna rebuild the Death Star again? Is that where is that where ten's gonna go? We're rebuilding it again, but this time it's gonna be even bigger. The third
Matt: Like that'll be the fourth times the child and it's we don't wanna rule the galaxy, we want to destroy every opposing planet in the galaxy. That's that's until there's only one planet left and that planet's on board with with our regime, so
Jeff: That's right. And that planet might just be the the Death Star, right?
Matt: Yes. We've destroyed every other planet except for the Death Star. And that's where all the people that are in line get to hang out.
Jeff: It actually really bothered me. I think the Death Star like the original Death Star didn't bother me that much, but it was like even the first time when you see the Death Star blow up a planet, ⁓ it's like, well that's a little bit Yeah, just like kind of a plot hole a little bit. Like, hey, we can blow up any planet we want any time. It's like, ⁓ okay, well What ⁓ how are we gonna fight against that?
Matt: Yeah, well I I liked the strategic strikes that the Death Star did in Rogue One, where they're like, We'll just take out this city that is against us instead of I'm gonna blow up an entire planet. It just seems it's almost like the Thanos logic where you're questioning, does this make any sense to just blow up a whole I mean, I'm sure you have some sympathizers on that planet and now you Now they're just gone. Like I just it seemed a little a little overzealous at times.
Jeff: Yeah. It's almost as if like in Avatar they were just like, Man, these guys are causing us a lot of problems. We're gonna blow up that whole planet and then we'll just take all the resources after it's blown up, you know? It's like I don't know. It's just
Matt: Yeah. We'll we'll capture the unobtainium from space. It's just as it's just scattered. We'll pick and we'll vacuum it up. We'll use the space ball's vacuum to just suck it all anyway.
Jeff: Exactly. Exactly. Alright. So the next note that you had was ⁓ Wild Wood. ⁓ wo it's interesting. I I had marked this one on my calendar because I saw the trailer and it looked pretty good. I don't know. I mean after Forbidden or Forgotten Island, which we're gonna talk about and we s I saw this in the in the previews for that movie.
Matt: Wildwood.
Jeff: And I thought, ⁓ it looks pretty good. I'll mark it down.
Matt: Yeah. I saw the trailer as well ⁓ when watching ⁓ Forgotten Island and I the the the only th so this is stop motion, I believe I mean nowadays I don't I I assume that they're still doing the purest form of stop motion, but maybe they're they're mixing techniques a little bit more just to save a little bit of time. I honestly if you ever if you watch Coraline, or maybe it's a different There may there's there are couple movies that were stop motion, I believe from the same studio. And one of them has this really cool ⁓ featurette where they show in like ⁓ sped up, they show the actual scene by scene or frame by frame creation of the stop motion. And it's amazing to watch. I mean, kudos to anyone who is committed to making stop motion, especially nowadays when when things have gotten so easy. You you could probably have AI generate a stop motion scene in 30 seconds. And these these teams are still putting together these beautiful films. And so I'm excited about it. My my ⁓ comment was that I was a little surprised about is that the film is PG thirteen. I'm just scrolling down here. ⁓ so you can see it. Rated PG thirteen for strong fantasy violence, bloody images.
Jeff: Ha ha.
Matt: Thematic material, suicide related material, and then brief partial nudity. And I just it's like, what are we doing, people? I mean, I guess it's not maybe not the family film to take my my kids to, but I just thought, can you imagine being the guy, the person working the stop motion? You're like, here's here's the prepartial nudity scene. So I just thought that was a a little shocking, a little unexpected, but I I will I will spare my judgment until the the film comes out and we'll we'll see how it goes.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're ⁓ hey guys, ⁓ as the director, Travis Knight, I just really wanna say we gotta we gotta cast like the right butt in this sh in this show. 'Cause ⁓ everybody wants that. Everybody when they come to see a stop motion animation movie, we gonna
Matt: That's right. There there's something missing in this film. I just can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's seeing somebody's behind. That's that's what I need to see.
Jeff: Mm-hmm. That's right. That's right. and yeah, do you wanna talk about your last note? Pay homage to the fallen
Matt: ⁓ and then Yes. Yeah, one last one, let me just pull pull this up so we can ⁓ discuss here we go. Dennis Haskins, Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell, sadly passed away the other day. And Saved by the Bell, a large part of our childhood, ⁓ very meaningful. Probably all the ⁓ the strange expectations that we had for life ⁓ partially came from Saved by the Bell and how high school was gonna go, and and then just to face the reality of how high school goes. ⁓ but
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt: you know, Mr. Belding, not to speak at all about the man. I don't know anything about Dennis Haskins, but ⁓ his role on Save by the Bell I thought was always a a fun, ⁓ enjoyable part of that show. And just ⁓ to see the well, I think what's really surprising he died i in his mid seventies, it's you know, you look back thirty years ago, he was about our age whenever he was filming Save by the Bell, which is always a sad reflection to have. 'Cause he looks so young. And ⁓ and then just ⁓ anyway, any any favorite moments from Save by the Bell that come to mind, Jeff.
Jeff: Well, I I just have to echo what you said, which is it gave us false expectations of what high school is gonna be like. and yeah, I mean I don't know. I mean there were certainly some fun moments of high school, but ⁓ no, like I I feel like we probably will have watched like every Save by the Bell Bell episode. I'd I'd really be surprised if there's one that I've never seen. ⁓ but yeah, no, I agree. He was ⁓ He was like a fun part of Saturday mornings, I guess you could say. So
Matt: Yeah. And I will say the you know, there were there were points points where they should have called it quits. You know, I didn't need the new class and I didn't need the college years. But the the core high school years of Save by the Bell and with Mario Lopez as AC Slater and Mark Paul Gossler is Zach Morris, which he's given some interesting interviews recently and the big standout from From all those is that his hair was not naturally blonde and that he had to bleach his hair on a regular basis ⁓ to keep it that that beautiful blonde that we have in Save by the Bell. And you know, there just there was actually, just to go back to Mr. Belding for a sec, there was ⁓ the rafting episode where his brother comes and everybody thinks it's mist the cool building, and just to realize that he's a loser. So do you remember that one? Anyway, great great ⁓ save by the bell memories and ⁓ sad to see these people getting older and and passing on.
Jeff: It all it all passes on pretty quick. ⁓ I will say didn't Zach Morris also give some or Mark Paul Goster give some ⁓ interviews about how they did a lot of drugs on the set of Save by the Bell? So It was the nineties.
Matt: Yeah, well and ⁓ you know and they ha and Screech, you know, Dun ⁓ was his ⁓ anyway, they ⁓ he Screech came out with some some pretty wild allegations. I I feel like they they came back and said that not everything he said was accurate, but Mark Paul Gossler I think has been pretty forthcoming with with which is the the sad state, you know, you watch these Saturday morning shows.
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt: And you're just like, ⁓ wow, this is these these people like Tiffany Amber These and like ⁓ like his Kelly, like ⁓ these people are just so wonderful kind of they and they give that Saturday morning pure purity vibe and then you you read behind the scenes and you're like ⁓ my god ⁓ my goodness guys like just I I don't need to know any more of the behind the scenes. Just let me enjoy the the serenity of these shows for my childhood.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah, I agree. All right, well let's move into the movie the new movie of the week. ⁓ chose an animated one, ⁓ Forgotten Island this week. And ⁓ I guess we chose this one. Really, I'm not exactly sure why I chose this one because the trailer, as many have pointed out, was not great. Did you watch the trailer before you went? Like I I thought that this movie was like I would
Matt: I did.
Jeff: I was really like throwing the dice on it. Like I didn't think the trailer looked that good. ⁓ and then we went to see it and I was just like, I think maybe because my expectations were low because of the trailer, I was like really, really pleasantly surprised ⁓ with how much I enjoyed this movie. And there's a lot of pieces here that I think we can both talk about, but ⁓ I'll I'll just go ahead and dive in. To kind of my quick walkthrough and review and maybe we can touch on some of these points later. But ⁓ it is a you know, the the th the plot of the movie is that two Filipino girls are best friends and grow up together and have this like dream of kind of visiting this fantastic world, the Forgotten Island, which has a name, but I don't know the name. ⁓ do you know the name? So they have this dream of visiting this this ⁓ island of fantasy that ⁓ Joe's grandmother has visited, and they eventually get to actually go there and they have this like cool adventure on the island. And it is ⁓ I don't know if I already mentioned it's like Filipino culture, and so you get to kind of dive into that whole culture quite a bit. and I thought the animation style was like really, really cool. I think you compared it to Last Airbender, which I haven't seen. ⁓ but I go ahead.
Matt: Well, the the animated Last Airbender I think was I was part it's you know, I think maybe anime feel in general, but I mean they it was enjoyable animation and and I my my boys have watched a lot of Avatar Last Airbender and it kinda reminded me of that, but I'm sure people who really know animation and anime would be would tell me to my face that I'm absolutely out of my mind. So I don't know exactly what to to tie it to, but it was all over the place, honestly, with the animation. They and it was enjoyable in that regard 'cause it was very I mean, very fast paced, very just loud, kind of explosive on your eyes at times. And all that I thought was was a very interesting take on on the story and helped move it along.
Jeff: Mm. Yeah, and I watched it with Oscar and we walked out and he immediately said that reminded me a lot of TMNT. I don't know if you watched the newest ⁓ version of Teenager Ninja Turtles. I think it was called TMNT. And I did watch that one. And I would say it was actually pretty comparable to that animation style. ⁓ the other one that I thought w it was kind of similar to was ⁓ Spider Man, I think it's into the multiverse, ⁓ maybe what it's called. ⁓ but yeah, just like a really fun animation style, really captures your attention, kept it moving. And then ⁓ I guess the last thing I'll point out r ⁓ go ahead.
Matt: Well i and I will say I I'm not on board with the the Spider Man across the multiverse comparison because I think that that animation is fun just over the top, amazing. And I did not I would not put this on that level, but it was very it in it ⁓ definitely sucked you in how they animated it. But the Spider Man films are just I just can't even imagine how they complete I mean, clearly with the the the delay on the third one coming out for years, it's a struggle to even make those 'cause they are just out of this world, ⁓ complicated and and impressive.
Jeff: the let's see, the the only other thing I want to talk about from my end was ⁓ well, maybe I'll let you dive into it a couple of things. I've got I've got a two more things to say, but maybe I'll let you kind of dive into a a few of your notes and and and your thoughts.
Matt: Yeah. The first one that I wanted to to bring out was just the how enjoyable it was to get a little slice of the Filipino culture. And and people from the Philippines may say that's not that's not an accurate representation of us at all. And we have a sister who spent ⁓ a while in the Philippines and we should ask her for her take some time. But from my perspective, as one who enjoys learning about different cultures and thing, you know, I I thought it was they they pointed out, especially on the in the beginning, you know, the first 20 minutes of the show, they spend a lot of time referencing Filipino culture and they have like a a big barbecue and they have all sorts of things that I mean it's just they bring in a lot of the culture. And what I like about is, you know, this was a DreamWorks film. We've done the the the country specific studies a lot lately, especially with Pixar and Disney. Coco had, you know, let us dive into Mexico a little bit more. And Encanto jumped into Colombia. And it made me remember the Paraguayan. I've spent time in Paraguay quite a bit. And and the Paraguayan representation in film, ⁓ there have been other films about it, but the one that comes to mind is The Mission from the 80s with Robert De Niro. Where the Guarani ⁓ natives slaughter the ⁓ Catholic missionaries. And so maybe we need maybe Paraguay needs to be the next one on the list of representation for an animated film just to bring in a little more of the culture ⁓ and the beauty of that country. But I enjoy I thought that that part was was fun and they didn't they didn't overdo it. It was balanced and it was enjoyable, even just the relationship with the grandma, which felt a lot like Moana. and so I I do wonder sometimes about on the DreamWorks side and the Pixar and Disney side how much they're looking at each other and and doing a bit of the Armageddon deep impact catastrophe from from our our childhood where they're they're they're pulling too much of each other's stories in or they both have the brilliant idea at the same time and and this is when we actually get it. ⁓ but overall I enjoyed the the cultural references that happened. ⁓ Anything you want to say about that on that regard?
Jeff: Well, I really liked you know, I just thought it was like pretty funny watching them at the Filipino party. ⁓ I think her name is Risa and she's having a going away party and ⁓ Jo shows up in her ⁓ like chicken outfit from her
Matt: Wait. I think it's the other way around. Is that Joe Joe's the Joe's the brains. Ross is the wild child.
Jeff: ⁓ okay. Okay. Gotcha. Joe's Joe's the one that's leaving for college. Risa is working at a chicken restaurant and shows up in her chicken outfit. And ⁓ I just I mean, there's a scene where I guess it gets a little sacrilegious, but where she sees the picture of picture of Jesus. And I just thought that was like, you know, very like I don't know, it struck me as like probably a a bit of a cultural thing that you like have a picture of Jesus like over the food, like everywhere you go, you know, stuff like that. So ⁓
Matt: Well
Jeff: I just thought there were some elements that were like pretty funny.
Matt: Yeah, and and I think very accurate and and not in any way diminishing. I mean, that's the South that's the South American way and and it sounds like ⁓ in lots of other countries as well. So the the other point that I I thought was interesting was, you know, have you seen friendships that are actually like this where you have l let me just qualify it a little bit. You have someone who's very intelligent, very Brainy, whose best friend is absolutely insane and that somehow they make it work. I I think what's Joe in some cases does absolutely crazy stuff and and so I I don't feel like she's just as reserved and just staring at her books all the time. Like she can definitely get riled up, which they they do illustrate in the film a few times, but in general I thought that this the the fact that they became that they stayed best friends being so different. And with Rosie especially being so crazy, I just was amazed that they were able to make it work after for eight for all those years.
Jeff: Yeah. Definitely says something about friendship and ⁓ you know, how stick through stick through it, through thick and thin. But ⁓
Matt: Yeah. I I thought, well, maybe they'd be like co-founders of a business together where you have the kind of the the the brains, the talent, the the skill of a developer who really knows their craft and the salesperson who's out there and engaging and to have that balance. But if it if that were the case, I think I thought to myself Even if it was a company, there's just no way I could handle Rosa for all those years. 'Cause she is nuts. But and she's entertaining. She's very entertaining. I just I think I would just sit back and say, You just committed a crime or you just did you know this thing that's just too far. And but you know, I I I agree. To the power of friendship, they were able to to keep it together. So ⁓
Jeff: Yeah. ⁓ well, tell me what you thought about the the story itself. I I think from the trailer you can garner that it's a little bit like the hangover for kids. ⁓ they basically go to this island and then kind of wake up and can't remember a thing and have to figure out what happened the night before. No no drugs or alcohol involved, ⁓ as far as as far as I remember. ⁓ but yeah, tell me what you thought about this the story and then I'll kinda get into my thoughts.
Matt: Yeah. In general, I the story was not my favorite. I I don't I I agree. ⁓ very much like Hangover, which I I've not seen it's in its entirety. The other one is Dude, where's my car? Where they're trying to piece together their their what happened? Where where did I get this tattoo? ⁓ things like that. I I don't love that approach, it's it was a struggle honestly for me to follow. I took I have a five year old. I took him and he had absolutely no idea what this movie was about in any form or fashion. And so and and the the villain who who's probably not shouldn't be classified as a villain, but the the the bad the bad guy in the show was terrifying to my kids. It was a little over the top, ⁓ and maybe unnecessary, how creepy they made ⁓ made her. But the I I not just that I don't enjoy the story, the story probably would have been fine. I think the hangover worked fine. It's just the pacing with it was not my favorite. I didn't feel like we were going anywhere. And and so you're you're being pulled along through this journey and most of the time you're just saying I don't care. Like just and the fact that they even wanted to go to this place is fine, but it just wasn't there wasn't that much going on in the island to be like, ⁓ yeah, I can see why we talked about this place for so long. ⁓ so in that regard and the animation I do l I liked a lot of the animation. The one that I thought was out of place, I'll just pull this up so that we can reference it, is The merman, merman, ⁓ that I sorry, I said probably ⁓ I thought I had it ready to go. Anyway, the merman in the film was just animated completely differently than than the rest. And let me see if I can I'll I'll give it one more try here. and I felt like he was out of place in the in the film. You can see, did that come through? Maybe not. ⁓ but just his face and his animation was bizarre. It felt it reminded me of like the Tinkerbell shows or Sophia the First or something. It's almost like they just pulled in a team that does this ⁓ very different, unique animation, and they're like, You're gonna handle all the romance stuff. So didn't didn't care for that. ⁓ all right, your your thoughts.
Jeff: Yeah. Well yeah, well, we should probably move on from Forgotten Island, ⁓ and give our scores, but I will just throw out one one additional piece, and I agree with you on your points about generally about the story. but I think the thing that kept me engaged and found it like pretty compelling is that unlike a lot of movies where you just kind of have some funny parts in the early stages of the movie and then Like maybe at the end there's kind of a climax. ⁓ but in in between there's kind of like this lull of like humor or ⁓ engagement. I felt like they did a really good job of like pacing and that the ⁓ the movie ⁓ had enough humor to kind of keep me engaged. And I thought the the writing was extremely witty as well. And so ⁓ what I just enjoyed was like picking out little like If you listen closely to the dialogue, because it is a very fast-paced movie, but if you listen very closely to the dialogue, you'll you'll catch a lot of wit and humor. And some of it is extremely quirky. Like, ⁓ I noted this character named Bungie who or Bungie who has three eyes. He's a baby. And like I thought it was hilarious. Like when they first find him, he is like still connected to his mom via umbilical cord. ⁓ and then and then later on in the movie he's like, I think I'm gonna go home. So I can get my cord reattached or something like that. You know, I just thought it was like quirky and weird and like I've never seen a movie where they like do stuff like that. Or when he was like really worried about getting pink eye and then he does get pink eye, you know, just like ⁓ really fun, like quirky stuff that ⁓ and like the merman was super weird, but ⁓ quirky in the in the same way. Like they probably could have done without it, but at the same time it was like so weird and out of place that it was just like kind of fun in a way. So I I walked out of the theater and I I said I'd give this one a five out of five. ⁓ it sounds like you might not go that direction, but ⁓ I really enjoyed it.
Matt: A five out of five, Jeff?
Jeff: I I enjoy I mean, it's for you know, for an animated movie I would give it I would watch it again. I thought it was really fun. I guess is that my only maybe that's my only requirement for giving something a five out of five. Wood watch again.
Matt: I mean it's that's that's a pretty high mark, but I gave it a three out of five. I don't see myself ever watching the movie again. But that's but I dun you know, and even the the the people who made this movie made Puss and Boots L The Last Wish. And I would take that movie over this one and I didn't love that one. I just thought that it was more enjoyable. But it you know, maybe maybe one
Jeff: Must must have been Yeah. I was just gonna say it must have been my mood. Walked in and I said I said, I'm just in the mood for this one. ⁓ but it might be it might be a forest gump experience where I watch it again and I'm like, What was I thinking? That's definitely a three out of five. So anyway, three out of five for Matt, five out of five for Jeff.
Matt: All right. Let's go. Let's go on.
Jeff: Go see it and tell us what you go t tell us what you think. All right, moving on.
Matt: All right, Hamnet, the the unofficial ⁓ biography of William Shakespeare. And this one, I was surprised you you mentioned this one. This reminds me of when I recommended watching Million Dollar Baby to a friend, and he came back and said, You did not prepare me for that one. It's that's heavy. It's a heavy film. And it's I I saw the I watched the trailer.
Jeff: It's very heavy.
Matt: And they talk about it being a tearjerker and they were not lying. Is it was rough. I was explaining this to the movie to my wife yesterday and got teary eyed just explaining the what happened in the film. But I'm I'm a sucker. I I fall apart. and but this is just to preface it a little bit, I know it's been out a little bit, but the the story of and they I feel like they covered the the whole story in the trailer. Also, so I don't feel like we're really hitting any spoilers, and they've talked about it a lot. But the story of William Shakespeare and his family, and and we should preface it also that we have no idea if much of any of this is is true or accurate or a a fair representation of any of these characters. But it is it touches on a few key points from the life of William Shakespeare. ⁓ he he did get married to Anne Hathaway, and he did have a daughter and then twins.
Jeff: ⁓ Is that her real name, Anne Hathaw? ⁓ I thought I thought that was no, I I just knew her as Agnes from the movie.
Matt: That's yeah, yeah, that's ⁓ isn't that interesting? Yeah. Yeah, well well that's anyway, Agnes ⁓ is what they they taught caller. Yeah. ⁓ and then they have a daughter and then they have twins. And one of the twins is Hamnet and is their is one is their son. And the story covers the initial meeting and relationship of William and Agnes and then their family life and his struggles as a as a writer.
Jeff: Now now I know.
Matt: And then his eventual success and ⁓ the the story really centers around the loss of their child, Hamnet, and and how everybody deals with their their grief and sadness from the loss of that child. And so beautifully done. I I'll I'll actually turn it to you, Jeff, if ⁓ if you wanna give some some additional ⁓ preface or commentary.
Jeff: Yeah. ⁓ I don't know what additional commentary I necessarily have. ⁓ director Chloe Zhao ⁓ did from my perspective just a really masterful job of of this ⁓ you know, taking this story, which was a book, and and converting it to the to the screen. And ⁓ you know, one one thing that I think we can both agree on just is is the unique way in which it's shot. ⁓ a lot of like still camera where it's like symmetrical with ⁓ you know something in the center as as the focal point and then like symmetry on the sides. ⁓ she gets a lot of those shots. ⁓ you have one that maybe you can share. I also put another one in in there ⁓ from from the performance of Hamlet at the end. But ⁓ really beautifully shot and and beautifully composed. And I guess to get into my commentary a little bit, ⁓ The movie is probably in terms of different films that we've seen, ⁓ th probably the deepest exploration on death and grief and finding peace that I've ever seen. And it's mind-boggling to me that this movie did not win Best Picture over one battle after another. ⁓ because I feel like it's just one of the like deepest movies that I've ever seen. Now we went to the theater and we saw this not knowing fully what to expect. And I will say that we might be a little biased because we are the parents of one son. And obviously our son means everything to us. And so the idea of losing him is something that we've contemplated and you know, tried to like find peace with this idea of like, I hope it never happens to me. and sometimes it's it's easy to look back on history and just think like, ⁓ they had a lot of kids back in those days. It was probably easy for them to like lose a child. ⁓ but this just takes that to the next extreme where it's like losing a child for anyone for any reason has to be like the hardest thing. in the world. ⁓ and then I think the other piece of this movie is just how they handle their grief after the loss of their son and how ⁓ Agnes struggles so deeply and publicly and just allows her grief to impact every aspect of her life and she feels hatred toward ⁓ maybe herself in many ways, but definitely hatred toward Will. ⁓ and then Will kind of keeps it inside and uses it as, you know, he feels the pain and grief in other ways and uses it as ⁓ I guess an emotional place for his his plays to land and ⁓ And I just found the whole thing to be very compelling, but definitely like probably the emotional climax of the movie is is probably the performance of Hamlet at the end, ⁓ for me. And ⁓ I think the performance ⁓ last point for me, I think the performance by the actors was incredible. ⁓ Paul Mescal and ⁓ gosh, I'm ⁓ Jesse Buckley. ⁓ Jesse Buckley won best actress for this ⁓ for this role and I think rightfully so, but a lot of people online criticized them for being like overly dramatic or like acting like it looked like they were acting too hard in the movie or something. ⁓ I didn't get it, but we people can say what they want to say.
Matt: I would definitely not say that that's the case for Paul Mescal. I think his his was definitely a more controlled ⁓ expression in every scene. I f I feel like even whenever he he gets upset, it's so controlled. But on the wife's side, I I I agree that with you, but I do remember a few scenes where I felt like it was a little over the top for for my tip. But I mean I'm I'm probably I would probably fall more into the camp of of the Paul Mescal or the William Shakespeare of how I deal with it. And I feel like that's the big question and is is just how how do we deal with it? And I will say that it's it's such a unique ⁓ they did such a good job showing the variet the the difference, right? And this is I've seen this in my in my own life, ⁓ with different experiences, just how how do people deal with these situations? And it was so true to the film was true to how people experience it. And it doesn't capture every nuance and every ⁓ variety that's out there, but it they do such a good job of presenting both sides. And just the resentment from the wife that that continues until she views the play. I mean, that's supposed to be years, right? I mean, this is it's not something where it's, you know, three weeks later she goes to see Hamlet and is like, ⁓ all is all is resolved. It's like she's she's harboring this resentment for a long time and then goes to see the play and and s finally has her moment where she can not only kind of encounter ⁓ directly the death of her child, but also understand how her husband had been dealing with things for all this or how he how he chooses to express his grief ⁓ in a meaningful way. ⁓ any any other points you wanna make? I have a few that I'd like to that I can jump into as well.
Jeff: Yeah, I guess the last point that ⁓ that is still on my mind is that ⁓ I've never really been much of a Shakespeare guy. I don't really understand, I mean, I some could say that I'm just not very smart, but I don't really understand what they're saying. And I think that's modern English, you know, we just don't, you know, a lot of the lines just kind of fall flat for me when I just read them. What I loved about Hamnet is that When Paul Mescal is l as the ghost and he's talking at the end and he's giving these like this very dramatic ⁓ you know speech to Hamlet as the as the ghost. I think Hamlet's father, he you know, I don't I don't I don't understand like really a thing that he's saying really in in word form, but the emotions carry through. And it's like you feel you feel what he's feeling just through his emotional performance. ⁓ even though you don't really understand the words necessarily, ⁓ or you're not like really contemplating every line that he says, but you're just kind of like capturing the the emotion of it. So I I really enjoyed it. But yeah, I'd love to hear what additional thoughts you have.
Matt: Yeah, well, and just in that regard, I I do love Shakespeare. I've been trying to convince my children that they should love Shakespeare, but I did I studied a lot of it in high school and in college. I'm not saying I'm anything great with it and I still struggle to understand it, but I I love Shakespearean plays, and I felt the same way. Watching Hamlet, I was like, I I even was trying to digest it a little bit. And I will say that, especially in that final scene. I didn't feel like I could really digest the emotion that they were trying to reach with the scenes. I I wanted to be there. You told me to watch this film in one sitting. I did not. And I was struggling to to capture to get through it just because of demands on time and things. And it was frustrating because there is a lot of emotion there. And and it just is something that is almost needs to be studied more than just and you can feel it, but you I just the wording and the reason that they chose certain lines from the play just is is tough. But they do talk about remember me, right? Remember me. And I feel like that was one of the big themes also. few other things that that I really enjoyed. I the you talked about the shots. They do a lot of shots of the of doors and of passageways. And so much of the film centers around the the passage from birth into life and life into death. And they have some very beautiful scenes with with the sun kind of passing on. They'd have scenes of Shakespeare as he's performing as a ghost, walking into the darkness, ⁓ as he leaves his scene. They just so well done, so thoughtful with so many of these scenes. And again. It's it's a film that really deserves to be studied kind of scene by scene. There's a part where the last time that William Shakespeare sees his son, Hamnet, they have it. The scene, I wanted to get an image of the scene, but I I couldn't pull it. ⁓ but they have him on one side of a building and a kind of a sharp divide in the center of the frame, and his son on the other side, and he's telling his son to be brave, and he's like, I'll be brave. And they keep saying bye to each other. And it's really, and you know what's coming, right? You know what's coming in the film. But they they they show that divide initially without the characters knowing that that's that's a divide. The ⁓ the the strong emotions throughout the film, ⁓ the tension between Shakespeare William Shakespeare and his father, ⁓ his father treating him like he's nothing. It it reminded me a little bit The the aspiration of William Shakespeare in the film that they do get into a little bit. I I I really love films like that. It reminded me a little bit his aspirations of the film Tick Tick Boom, that maybe sometime we'll talk about some more. But the the the writer of of Rent, ⁓ and his struggles as he's approaching thirty, of trying to define success for him in his life also. And so some of those internal struggles, there's strong emotions there. Agnes and her connection to the woods and the the connection that she has there and to her children and then just the connection between Hamnet and his twin sister. And then I should also say one of ⁓ the more endearing parts of the film that's that's probably understated is the connection of Agnes and her brother that I really liked. I and I kudos to the actor who played his her brother for again having a kind of an understated support for his sister and her best interests ⁓ throughout the film. The last point I'll make is just I love, I love the historical fiction imagination that this story affords. Because we only have a few specific points ⁓ of their lives, you can it's a blank canvas almost to make this into whatever whatever focus we want to have. Do I believe that Hamnet is an accurate representation of what actually happened in the life of William Shakespeare? No. I I I don't. I think we'll probably end up finding out, maybe we'll find out someday more and be like, ⁓ my gosh, like not anywhere close. But but the the story kind of is allowed to take a lot of liberty because we don't have the facts in front of us and we only have a c few key points and they do a a a beautiful and brilliant job of it. I contrast that with Greatest Showman, where we do have a lot of historical fact about that. the the rise of Barnum and Bailey and just P T Barnum and his life and what's documented and they convoluted his story and the story of Ringling Brothers, ⁓ what or the original circus that he put together to no end, to no end, to just fit the narrative that they wanted, which is not accurate in any form or fashion about that person's life. And so I I appreciate taking a story like this one where you really do have that, where nobody can say that's not how happened, right? Or maybe you could say that to some degree, but it's it just gives you a lot more of a blank canvas to to create this this masterpiece.
Jeff: Yeah, I like that. Well, Matt, I think it goes without saying I'm giving this one a five out of five. I promise to not give every movie a five out of five.
Matt: The big question, Jeff, is Hamnet and Forgotten Island, are they both five five out of five? I mean, I've we don't need to dive into it again. I'm just messing with ya.
Jeff: Do well my justification here is that I I I feel differently about Forgotten Island. I I walked in and I I just said, you know, I sat down and and the whole time I felt like engaged and interested in this movie. And usually again, like movies usually they're engaging at first and then I lose them and maybe that's all it takes for me to give a five out of five. It's just like, was I engaged the whole time? Was I interested? ⁓ so I don't know. Keep no say.
Matt: I I'll leave you alone about it. I I also give this a five out of five. I there was a a few parts, most likely to do due to how I watched it, that I started to waver and started to say, okay, like what are we doing here? But it really the the ending does redeem any struggles that I had through it and just just kind of, you know, just like you said, pondering the message. And what they were trying to accomplish, I feel like it was almost flawlessly done. And so absolutely five out of five for Hamnet as well.
Jeff: Yeah. But in this day and age you gotta be ⁓ yeah, you gotta be patient because it is a slow burn. Like it it is not a quick it's not a quick one. It's not an action movie or something. so maybe that's why people didn't love it as much as as I did. ⁓ all right. Top five Tom Cruise. Let's dive in. I guess we'll we'll move a little fast on this, if that's okay with you, so we don't go too far over an hour on our episode length here. ⁓ but we'll kinda keep the I guess we'll keep our commentaries to a general minimum ⁓ for the Tom Cruise movies. And yeah, Matt, you want to kick us off with number five?
Matt: Yes, I will do my best to limit commentary. I there there I wanna make sure I justify, but yes. ⁓ the number five for me, Mission Impossible. We've we've we've said we've established the rule, no clumping the entire franchise in w in our top five. You have to choose the specific one. I debated between Mission Impossible one and three because I enjoyed Philip Seymour Hoffman a lot in three and I thought that the action in three was great. But Mission Impossible 1, you go back to the original. I should say I don't I feel like the number of Mission Impossible films that Tom Cruise Cruise has made is is unnecessary. I don't love the majority of them. I thought the first one was well done. It still is not my favorite movie of all time by any stretch, but the dialogue is enjoyable. He takes the explosive gum and throws it onto the fish tank or whatever and blows up the room and is running and then there's the scene where he's descending into the the chamber where on the rope and he's kind of floating there at the bottom and c iconic scene, classic scenes. And so I ⁓ it was a it was a fun one. I remember watching in theaters and just really enjoying it kind of end to end. And so Mission Possible, number five. How about for you?
Jeff: Yeah. All right, number five, I'm giving it to the fun action flick. Memorable, a great rewatch, Edge of Tomorrow. ⁓ I like it. It's ⁓ it's just fun, live die, repeat. That's all we can say about it. ⁓ yeah, I mean, is it as iconic as Mission Impossible? Probably not. ⁓ I did recently watch Mission Impossible and ⁓ you know, found the story to be fun and engaging. I'll dive into my Mission Impossible rankings later a little bit, but Edge of Tomorrow is just one of those movies that's again, like it's engaging all the way throughout. It's fun. It's an action flick. And maybe Tom Cruise is ⁓ that's really his ultimately his genre is action flick. And that that is ⁓ just one of the one of the best of his. So number four, what you got?
Matt: Number four, controversial take, Far and Away. The Ron Howard film with Tom Cruise as an Irishman. And the film got a lot of heat for his accent. And I do not know Irish accents that well. And so it never bothered me. I love the story. They start in Ireland. They start as kind of poor farmers living on borrowed land. And
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt: make their way, Tom Cruise makes his way with Nicole Kidman to America. And so they show New York in the ear, you know, in the ⁓ early 1900s. And he becomes a fighter in in bars, you know, as a kind of a bar fighter. And then they make their way out west. And so Ron Howard directed, I love Ron Howard movies. He did Apollo 13. He did ⁓ lots of he did backdraft Really good films. Those are probably not the top of all the the you know, the ones that I I've always really enjoyed, especially Apollo thirteen. And just very sweeping. It's a sweeping romantic epic in a sense that we don't that we don't really do too much anymore. It's certainly not a perfect film, but I really enjoy it. The the Oklahoma land rush ⁓ that they do at the end is is really exciting and beautifully done and it's definitely worth a watch.
Jeff: I also give my number four to far and away. ⁓ I know. Here we are, twin is
Matt: That's right.
Jeff: Well, we grew up we grew up with a lot of Far and Away and like these kinds of epic movies, Dances with Wolves. And ⁓ when I got married, Lisa had never seen any of these movies. And ⁓ I made her sit down and watch Far and Away, which was probably the last time I watched it, which was quite a while ago. I mean, I bet it's been at least ten years since I've watched Far and Away. But ⁓ yeah, I mean the Land Rush scenes really stand out. I think ⁓ it's just an epic film that kind of takes you through a from my perspective a great immigration story. And yeah, I mean, maybe Tom Hanks doing the forest gump accent and Tom Cruise doing the Irish accent. Like they're not known for their accents. ⁓ Tom Hanks keeps trying though. At least Tom Cruise learned his lesson. Anyway, I love the ⁓ yeah.
Matt: Like like Valkyrie where he's just like, I'm not even gonna try.
Jeff: That's right. ⁓ obviously we ⁓ we grew up saying the line, ⁓ do you like my hat? Tell me you like my hat, you know. We do that one a lot. ⁓ I still say that to Lisa all the time when I'm wearing a hat, because I do wear a hat a lot. so I like Far and Away. I think it's a fun story and ⁓ people who don't like it can go jump in a lake, so
Matt: That's right. And and an absolutely beautiful soundtrack by John Williams on that. Ron Howard did a lot of films ⁓ or several films with James Horner. ⁓ this one was done by John Williams and just it really captures the again the s the sweeping the ⁓ side. They have Irish kind of old Irish music, they have more of the ⁓ American ⁓ sounds as well towards the end. All right, you ready for number three? All right, number three for me, Top Gun.
Jeff: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, let's do it.
Matt: The original, not Maverick, although I'm not opposed to Top Gun Maverick. I thought that was also a a really well done film, but not quite as realistic in my mind as the original Top Gun, which I just there's so many iconic lines, memorable lines from the original Top Gun. I feel the need, the need for speed, right? There's it's just great. And his relationship with Goose is So memorable the lines with Val Kilmer as Iceman. The and and really also just the footage that they did ⁓ is just really everything was just enjoyable. It's exciting. It's a very fun film that that still I I watched it just recently with my kids and I still really love the original Top Gun. I feel like it holds up pretty well even now.
Jeff: I give my three to a few good men and ⁓ I just gotta say I haven't seen it in a long time. I watched some clips from it. I don't know if Tom Cruise is necessarily the highlight of a few good men. ⁓ you could argue that Jack Nicholson is the highlight of a few I don't know. ⁓ but Aaron Sorkin, ⁓ I was just again, I was watching these clips and I was like, There's a lot of ⁓ like mad Tom Cruise in this movie. ⁓ Kind of a little sad that maybe Tom Cruise and Aaron Sorkin haven't collaborated again. I don't know. But ⁓ no, I mean it's a it's a great movie, it's a classic movie. And ⁓ I actually was was recently watching a clip of Aaron Sorkin talking about his early writing career. Did I I don't know if I sent you this clip on Instagram. Aaron Sorkin just sat down for an interview with I think the New York Times, Lulu Garcia Navarro, I think is her name. Anyway. She's been doing these interview series and she was talking to Aaron Sorkin and he was talking about his drug addiction and how he would use ⁓ like pot and then later like cocaine. And I think I think it was cocaine. But he said like the first time he sat down or the first time he used cocaine, he sat down and wrote a few good men in like it I think he said like three days or something. Like he just like sat down and like busted it out. And ⁓ it's a great movie. So I mean Whether or not Tom Cruise was like the best actor in it, I don't know. But ⁓ it's a great it's a great film. It's a classic film.
Matt: Well what an endorsement for using cocaine. I'll I'm just kidding.
Jeff: Well, he did eventually have to tell him it's an interesting interview 'cause he's talking about ⁓ how it like really drove his creativity, but then he he felt like he couldn't create without it. So and now he's not using it anymore, at least he says he's not. So ⁓ anyway, it's interesting.
Matt: Yeah. All right. Number two. I'll I will go back and put Edge of Tomorrow in there. And I'll just add a little bit to what you said about Edge of Tomorrow. It's kind of the action version of Groundhog Day. And unlike Groundhog Day, I feel like around minute, you know, seventy or eighty, it doesn't start to drag in my mind, ⁓ for Groundhog Day. Edge of Tomorrow has Emily Blunt also. She does a a really great job and
Jeff: Nice.
Matt: And like you said, a very funny film. Tom Cruise is very charming ⁓ throughout the whole film. And the story just keeps moving. And I've watched it. It's usually very available on streaming. ⁓ I'd say it's probably one of the more available of any movies on streaming that I see because I always feel like it pops up and they must know me by now that I'll always just turn it on and say, All right, we'll give it another watch. But it's it's a very well developed ⁓ and and some of the alien parts that they have are are gonna be alien parts that don't really make any sense. ⁓ the whole story probably doesn't make any sense, but it sure is entertaining and very enjoyable, very rewatchable, and the dialogue throughout the whole film is just top notch.
Jeff: Alright, number two for me, I went with well, I'm going with the Top Gun ⁓ franchise, but I chose Maverick. Now, I I hear you on, you know, Top Gun is iconic. I enjoyed Maverick a lot. And ⁓ I think part of it is because they had so many like more ⁓ modern effects and and things. ⁓ like they could just do so much more with the jets and with, you know, the I guess the cinematography. ⁓ I mean a lot of it was still inside of the inside of the cockpit, but I don't know. I just really enjoyed Maverick. I I thought it was ⁓ like again, like the audio and I mean just everything was just so well mastered. ⁓ I thought they really hit the nail on the head with Top Gun Maverick, not to take anything away from Top Gun, ⁓ which I agree is iconic in many ways and has some great lines, but really enjoyed Maverick.
Matt: Yeah. Well and I felt like the only recurring thought for me during Maverick was and I know it's been brought up many times in reviews, is just why on earth would you ever send human pilots to do this mission? It's just so they're like, You have to dive down and then you're gonna have to pull up so hard that it's gonna make you pass out because of the G's. But no, we can't get a drone in there. And it's like it's just impossible with the drones. Like, I mean, ⁓ all right, but
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt: I agree. The movie was very well acted and had lots of fun lines and brought back some some great memories as well for Top Gun.
Jeff: Or you could have just flown a plane at like fifty thousand feet and dropped a bunker buster. But hey, had to be that way. But it was compelling. It was it was fun. That's right. That's right. All right, what do you got for number one?
Matt: What? Nope, no, it had to be this way. Had to be this way, Jeff. You need the top top pilots in the world. All right. Number one for me is a few good men. I feel like and let me preface that by saying I tried to shove in Born on the Fourth of July into my viewing so that I could speak to that. Because Tom Hanks or sorry, Tom Cruise had his past, you know, ten, twenty years have not been what I would consider focused on acting skills. He's done some great films in that time. ⁓ that I don't want to diminish in any way. But he did some really well. And there's some really great films back in the 80s and 90s. He did Rain Man, he did Color of Money, which I thought was kind of a fun mixing with Paul Newman from The Hustler and Tom Cruise as this young fool shark. There there are lots of other films. Born on the Fourth of July is a very interesting film about ⁓ a very enthusiastic gung-ho Marine during Vietnam and how he And changes his perspective on everything. And so it probably deserves a top five somewhere 'cause it really it was ambitious. It was the follow up, ⁓ or or a soon follow up to Platoon from Oliver Stone. And and again, definitely is kind of the focus, maybe is maybe we need to focus on on war films or Vietnam or something at some point, which which clearly we understand very well, being our age. But the but I'll go back to a few good men. ⁓ that was we don't actually understand it. That's if that didn't come through. To anybody listening. it wasn't our era. But a few good men, the ⁓ I I I I love the writing. I feel like every scene is so spot on with the dialogue. It's very witty. I think I think Tom Cruise really does go toe-to-toe with Jack Nicholson in the film. And I I appreciate that. I felt like every scene that Jack Nicholson was in, which are amazing scenes, Tom Cruise is. is really the counterbalance that keeps the film going. And so his enthusiasm and his wit in the film on the Tom Cruise side is just unparalleled. I mean he he wants the truth, right? I mean that's the the key key line at the at the end. And I just feel like it w he he really showed his chops as a as a strong, powerful actor and a few good men more than any other film I can think of.
Jeff: Yeah, but back to your point about how many Mission Impossible movies he's done, which I agree is too many. And clearly the plot couldn't carry through seven. ⁓ because that last movie was the worst plot of any Mission Impossible movie and maybe any movie I've seen in recent history. ⁓ it's it's a little sad in some ways that he did seven of those because even though they're he's made like some of them are very fun. ⁓ the Like his acting to your point, like it he hasn't really developed as an actor over the last because he he made his mark, he made his career as an action hero. And ⁓ kudos to him for having a great career. But ⁓ he did show a lot of promise as as a, you know, actor. And he's frankly probably getting back to it, trying to get back to it with Digger right now. So we will see. We will see. ⁓ What was I ⁓ yeah, so number one. I still have to say number one. ⁓ my number one is from the Mission Impossible franchise. My favorite is Mission Impossible three. And ⁓ you already touched on it, but Philip Seymour Hoffman was ⁓ in that one as well. And we I d I rem I haven't rewatched the whole thing ⁓ in some time, but w you know we were watching Mission Impossible one, then Mission Impossible Two, then we started Mission Impossible Three.
Matt: Number one for you.
Jeff: We literally made it through that first scene with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Cruise tied to a chair, and his wife in the room. Very, very intense. And it just reminded me like this movie was awesome. And then Oscar was like, We gotta turn this off. This is really intense. And I don't blame him at all because it was extremely intense. ⁓ but really enjoyed that movie. But do need to go back and write rewatch it. And maybe I'll rewatch it and be like, Actually it's not my number one But ⁓ as far as I remember my Mission Impossible ⁓ ratings, I think that was number one for me. So
Matt: Very good. I think I think three also at the time made me more interested in JJ Abrams as a director. of course he squandered it with the with the third Star Wars. But he has he ⁓ we just actually rewatched Star Trek also, which JJ Abrams did. Infamous for the lens flares and the constantly having flares on the in the scenes, but ⁓ JJ Abrams definitely had a a run there.
Jeff: He did.
Matt: for a while and Mission Impossible Three is is kind of the best of it.
Jeff: It's probably probably cocaine.
Matt: The great enabler of all film producers.
Jeff: And then it takes you takes you high, takes you low. So anyway, well good chat. ⁓ I'm back to the USA next week. So that'll be good.
Matt: Yeah, Jet, I don't think we ever actually said it on the podcast. You are filming from Indonesia this week.
Jeff: Filming from Indonesia, which if there's any bad connections, blame that. So I'll be glad to get back and probably we'll watch another six movies on the way back. So we'll see. Hopefully I'll have more updates next week. So all right, until next time, onward and filmward. And ⁓ please like and subscribe. Gotta throw that out there. Okay. Alright, catch you soon, Matt. Bye.
Matt: All right. Onward and film word. ⁓ right.
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