Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2024 + Movie Review: Mean Girls (2024) + Trailer Park: Love Lies Bleeding

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, and today I want to share with you my yes my top ten most anticipated movies of twenty twenty four, the movies I'm looking forward to the most and the ones that get me out of bed in the morning and make me want to do this podcast. In the movie review, we'll be talking about Mean Girls, not the one from two thousand and four, but the one from twenty twenty four, which is a musical adaptation of the movie that said. We'll get into all of that and then into the trailer bark. Let's talk about a new movie starring Kristen Stewart called Love Lies Bleeding. Thank you for being here, thank you for being subscribed, Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies.

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Speaker 2: In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically.

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Speaker 1: Like a walking IMTB with glasses. From Nashville Podcast Network.

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Speaker 2: This is Movie Mike Movie Podcasts.

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Speaker 1: This is one of my favorite episodes to do. Every single year. I usually do it a little bit earlier. But here's what happens all the time is they start changing all of these release dates, and then I put the episode out, and then everything changes when people go back and listen to it. So I've waited a little bit to do this episode, and I'm ready to get it out. I want to share with you the ones the movies I'm the most excited to see, not what all the critics are saying are going to be the best movies of the year, the ones that I'm actually genuinely excited about going to the theater to watch. Because as many movies that I watch every single year, which is usually around the hundred mark about new movies, about one hundred and fifty total that I end up seeing, which involves going back and rewatching movies or rebe there's a movie I haven't seen, I get to a point that there are some movies I just go watch because I want to be able to review them and talk about them and obviously doing a podcast like I gotta be in the know on every single thing coming out. And then there are movies that I just go to the theater for that even if I didn't do this podcast, and I had nothing to create content wise, I would still be excited to go see no matter what. And those are the movies that make my top ten list. The director, the franchise, or my favorite actor is in one of these movies. That's what the criteria is to make this list. So we'll get right into the list. We have a lot of things to talk about with in the criticism of new movies, because these graphics come out and everybody's like, ah, everything that remake, everything that that's to a franchise. We'll get into all that. So let's start the list now. At number ten, I have Doune Part two, the sequel. Now, I was not the biggest fan of the original one. Thought it was pretty slow, thought it was pretty boring. Visually, it looked amazing. I love the director Delnis Villeneuve, who I was just rewatching Secario, which he also did. He is a fantastic director. And sometimes when movies come out and they say the first one is good, but the second one is where all the action happens, I'm hesitant about that. I went on that whole entire rant about Rebel Moon last week, but in this case, I'm willing to give this one a shot, and I'm excited about it because Dune two is said to be where all the action is in Dune, and Dune has a very passionate fan base, people who read the book and loved that first movie. I felt like, genuinely, there was something I missed about that first one. Watching it the first time, I wasn't impressed. I even rewatched Dune and it was still not quite there for me. So I'm going to give it one more chance. Going into Dune two, which is coming out on March first. It was supposed to come out at the end of last year, but the writers strike affected this one got it pushed back. So I'm excited to see some more action in Dune two, which I really thought. That was the main reason I didn't enjoy one. I didn't feel like there was that much action until the very end and the movie was over it. It's also a really big world that they are creating in Dune. There are so many characters it really just reminds me of Game of Thrones. But now that the entire world is established, I think we have a really great epic movie on our hands. You have Timothy Shallow, Mazon Day Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Patista, Christopher Walkin. The cast is stacked in this movie. So even though I wasn't the biggest fan of the first one, I'm really looking forward to Dune Part two, so that one comes in at number ten. At number nine, we have the first animated entry in my list. It is Inside Out Too, coming out on June twelfth, which is the sequel to Inside Out, which is one of the best Pixar movies. Who in a very long time, Pixar has been kind of hit or miss lately, and I know these movies are intended for kids, but Pixar has always been the one, more so than Disney, that crosses that line of they are movies that ki enjoy, but adults enjoy them just as much because of the themes. And sometimes I would even argue with a movie like Soul, that movie didn't even feel like a kid's movie to me. So for that reason, and the basis of what this movie is about is essentially Riley, who was in the first one. She was a kid in that one, but now she's growing up, she's a teenager, and you have new emotions being introduced, so we do have Amy Poehler back in this one. Lewis black in this one, but they are introducing a new character who is Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawk. Maya Hawk is just crushing it right now, and the trailer this one looks promising. You find out that Riley is now thirteen, so they have this demolition crew go through and totally rewire her brain. The first new emotion you meet is what I said earlier, anxiety, who literally comes with emotional baggage. So I feel like the attention to detail in this movie is going to be heightened, and I think it's also a necessary win for Pixar, which really hasn't had a major hit in a one, and Pixar tends to be a little bit more selective on the movies they decide to make sequels too, so I'm hoping that this one takes what made the first one great and elevates it a bit. So that is why I put Inside Out to at number nine. At number eight, I'm going with the only proper Disney release coming out this year coming out on December twelfth, so almost this entire year is going to go by without a new Disney movie, which after a really poor showing at the box office in twenty twenty three, I think their entire strategy is changing, which I am excited to see. They're scaling back not only on Disney releases but also on Marvel releases. But the movie here is Mufasa the Lion King, which is the prequel to the twenty nineteen live action version. Now I am not the biggest fan of prequels, but it is The Lion King, which is on paper, probably the best Disney movie ever made, the first animated one in nineteen ninety four, and they remade that movie as a quote unquote live action movie in twenty nineteen, which didn't really change the story whatsoever. They just took everything and created really a new animated movie, because it's not like they went over to Africa and got some lions and hyenas to act in a live action Disney movie. I don't even know why they call some of these live action movies live action movies. They're really just animated movies but making them look more realistic. So that movie was good, It wasn't anything mind changing when it came to the style they decided to film that in and make that in, but the songs were there, and if you love the story from the original one, they just copy and pasted it. So it was Disney just trying to crank more money out of an existing story and existing franchise. At least here it is going to be a prequel and show us the rise of Mufasa, which in the first one Mufossa is really in only the first act of the movie, and the entire thing is dealing with the loss of Mufasa. So I do think it will be interesting to see his rise, maybe his relationship with Scar, although I do wish that he was being voiced by James Earl Jones, who has such a great voice and he is Mufasa in my eyes. But instead you have two new actors voicing Mufasa and Scar, and you also have Seth Rogan and Billy Eichner coming back as Timone and Puma. So I am in for a photo realistic version of Mufasa's origin story coming out on December twelfth, and number eight I have Mufasa the Lion King and Number seven is a movie coming out on December twentieth, directed by Jeff Fowler, who did Part one. It did Part two and I don't know what it is about this franchise that has me totally invested. And I've seen both of these movies in theaters and love them. They make me feel like a kid again. It is Sonic the Hedgehog three, the video game adaptation, and there's something about these movies that I just love. They're probably not the greatest movie, even the best kids movie, but I think it's because I was such a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog the video game as a kid, and playing that game was such a fun experience in I just remember having that association of this is one of the best games I ever played. Because the video game landscape in the nineties is Mario was nominating it was the best video game. But then you have Sonic the Hedgehog come along and is a real competition to Mario. You have this cool character who speaks the way we speak, and he's revved up and fast. It was fun and exciting and kind of what they did in the nineties was you take the old, boring thing and you make it cool, you give it a cool hairstyle, and that is what Sonic the Hedgehog was. And those games are amazing. The soundtrack was fantastic. It had one of the best video game villains, doctor Roe Botnik, who was played by Jim Carrey in the first one and the second one. Sadly he is not returning to this movie. But I just thought they did a really solid job on both of these movies and making them fun and making them exciting for not only kids, but also people like me who were a fan of the video game and are now thirty year old adults going to watch these movies. So in Part one was the origin story of Sonic and him befriending a human and him just trying to find his purpose and not be an outcast. Part two introduced the character Knuckles, and Part three is gonna introduce the character Shadow. But like I said, Jim Carrey is not returning, so it looks like we're gonna be dealing with a new villain here. But these movies are just fun, and that is what gets me out of my bed in the morning and wanting to go to the theater is just to watch something fun, whether it be just a popcorn flick like this where you don't really need to think a whole lot about it. But every now and then I just need a great video game adaptation, which is really hard to do. But it also reminds me of watching the old cartoon from back in the day where Sonic was voiced by the one and only Rkle. So for me, it's anticipated because it's something that I associate with my childhood. So at number seven, I have Sonic the Hedgehog three coming out on December twentieth. At number six, I have a twenty four Civil War, which I featured recently on the Trailer Park. It is a movie from director Alex Garland, who also did a really fantastic movie called Ex Machinaw if you've not seen that, which has a lot to do with sci fi and AI. That movie was so ahead of its time. I highly recommend that one, and this one kind of looks like it's along the same lines of that one, except this is something that could probably actually happen today. I mean, X Mackinaw could probably happen today now that AI is so advanced and on everybody's mind. So Alex Garland is really good at doing that. But the movie stars Kirsten Dunce, her husband, Jesse Plemons, Nick Auferman, Kaylee Spainey, takes place in the United States after it falls into a state of civil war, and it follows these reporters trying to trek across the country as things are getting more and more dangerous. So I can't wait to see what the origin of this civil war is in this movie and how outlandish or how probable it could actually be. I do see some concerns of it. Looks like California and Texas in this have taken each other's sides, and I don't know how realistic that is. For having lived in Texas and feeling the tension between both states, maybe I'm the only one who sees that here of feeling like maybe that's the most improbable pairing of two states that would side with each other. But hey, we'll see what happens. But the movie is from Age twenty four, which I said is getting more into the realm of making big action movies like this, trying to establish themselves and building their own franchises and making more movies that feel like something that people are a little bit more used to, but also holding true to their roots and making things that are oftentimes rooted a little bit in horror, which this civil war movie does give you a little bit of those vibes at least with some of the thriller aspects in it. So maybe not full and scary blood and guts, but there's always a sense of fear in a movie from A twenty four and I think that's what they're showcasing here. So giving people who have been fans of A twenty four for a very long time, which X Monk and I was also an A twenty four film back in the day. I feel like that would be a really great move for them to also put out movies that crush it at the box office so they can continue to make more movies that are even more obscure. So at number six, I have Civil War at number five. Again, this is a reason that I have to wait and do this episode because Mickey seventeen is the new movie from Bong June Ho, who ooh, fantastic director. You probably know him best from Parasite, which is the last movie he did one best picture rightfully so, but he's also done movies that I love, like Oakja and snow Piercer. He rarely misses. He's one of those directors who just has a vision in mind, has a story and just nails every aspect of it. And this movie, Mickey seventeen, was supposed to come out on March twenty ninth. I was so excited for it, but it was just announced this past week that Warner Brothers has taken away the release date and instead moved up the date of Kong and Godzilla. This movie does not have a release date, So I'm still putting it at number five because I'm very optimistic that it will still come out in twenty twenty four due to the fact that it had a March twenty ninth release date. But this is a highly anticipated sci fi movie for me because it's said to be a movie unlike any movie that he's done before, and the movie stars one of my favorite actors, Robert Pattinson. Well, right now, in my eyes, can do no wrong. Really, Robert Pattinson for me, just nails every single role that he is doing. But he's the star of this movie, and he plays a space explorer who gets cloned with his memories intact every time he dies. The movie is based on a book, so it's an adaptation of an existing story, but it's said to really ramp up the idea of cloning that the book touches on. It does remind me of the movie that came out last year on Netflix. They Cloned Tyrone with John Boyega, which was a really great movie, and I really wish that it would have just touched more on the cloning and more on the sci fi elements. I really love the first act of that movie. I felt like it fell off a little bit there towards the end. So I'm hoping this movie has much more of an emphasis on cloning and much more of an emphasis on the sci fi part. And maybe with the director like Bong Juneo who was affected by the writer strike, I think he is just taking a little bit more time to put the finishing production touches on this movie. So hopefully soon we get the official release date of this movie. But again I'm still hoping that this movie will come out in twenty twenty four. I feel pretty confident about it. So at number five, one of my favorite directors with one of my favorite actors. I have Mickey seventeen at number four as a movie called Challenger starring Zendeia and it's coming out on April twenty sixth, and I've been seeing this trailer for a little bit Now this is another movie that was supposed to come out last year but because of the strike, is now coming out in twenty twenty four. It's from director Luca Guadanino, who also did Call Me by Your Name, And if you've seen that movie, you know sometimes the theme in his films are a little bit riskuey, emotionally complex, sensual, the visuals are very jarring at times. He also did a movie called Bones and All which came out last year, and I'm getting the similar vibes in Challengers. But in the movie, Zendeia plays a tennis star turn coach, and then the trailer you see she's involved in a love triangle with a couple other tennis champions played by Josh O'Connor and Mike Feist. So this movie looks like it has a little bit of everything drama hooking up, which you see in the trailer. You also have Zendeia's character getting injured, which she looks to be like an elite tennis champion, and maybe the injury takes her out of the game a little bit and turns her into being a great coach. But she's just another one of my favorite actors, which obviously she's in Spider Man, which is one of my favorite superhero franchises of all time, and she does a really great job as MJ in those movies. But even more so than that is her role in Euphoria, where she just goes and is unrecognizable and shows that she is one of the best actors working today. And I hope with everything that that show has been through that they are still able to make another season, maybe the final season of that show. I'm hoping hoping that it doesn't get Hansel, which that show just has so much that goes into the production and the writing that I'm just really hoping we get another season to that because I need to know what happens to her character in that movie. So she is an actor that I'm highly invested in In a movie like this with the director of this caliber, it just looks like one of those movies if it would have came out at the end of last year, would probably be up for a lot of awards right now. But I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to see this story unfold. So at number four, coming out on April twenty sixth, I have Challengers. At number three, I have Joker Io which is coming out on October fourth, from director Todd Phillips, who also did the first Joker movie is also famous for movies like The Hangover. Yeah, the same guy who did the story about three guys going to Vegas and not being able to remember what they did the night before also did one of the darkest movies in twenty nineteen that I felt was so shocking and controversial at the time because it really resemble and reflected what was happening in society and maybe hit a little bit too close to home. But this movie is said to be a musical, and now you have Lady Gaga involved in this movie. She is playing Harley Quinn, and the fact that it's a musical is one of the most interesting aspects of this film because you look at a movie like Joker, which is so dark and has so much to do with mental health, inciting riots, straight up murdering people, and was a reflection at the time of gun violence and just people who were just not in the right frame of mind. And what I really loved about that movie was unpacking and thinking, were all the events that happened in Joker, did they actually unfold in that world? Or did they all just exist in Arthur Fleck's mind because he is going through some stuff mentally, He's just not all there. And you even see moments in that movie where you think one thing has happened, and you later learned that all those events kind of just existed in his mind and they didn't go down the way that you first saw it as the viewer. So now thinking about that entire story and when involded and how he became the Joker, how is that going to translate going into this movie? Is this one going to be him at Arkham, going on a big journey that all exists in his mind? And that first one crushed it at the box office, which is surprising because it is an R rated movie became a billion dollar hit. So as much as I loved it, I didn't think that it warranted a sequel. So maybe that's why Todd Phillips decided to do one so differently and make it a musical, to make it so different than the first one, to give us a reason to take another journey with the Joker. So I feel like this could be hit or missed either way. And just because I'm anticipating it doesn't mean that it's gonna be a great movie because maybe the concept of turning it into a musical, and just because it's the musical. I don't think it's gonna be like high school musical. I think you can have a very demented movie just throw to some songs to show how unreliable and how mentally fragile these characters are. So I can't wait to see what that looks like. And just from some of the photos that have been released from this movie so far, it is looking fantastic. So at number three, I have Joker too. At number two is another comic book movie, and it is the only Marvel movie coming out this year. It is Deadpool three, which is coming out on July twenty sixth, from director Sean Levy, who has also done all the other Deadpool movies. You have Ryan Reynolds and you Jackman returning as Wolverine, and what this movie is about. You have Deadpool across this pass with Wolverine who is recovering from his injuries, and they team up to defeat a villain. And you just think about those two actors getting to play two of the best superheroes in the last ten years, and just their chemistry together as friends, which they are friends in real life. I think that is what's going to translate so well into this movie. And the Deadpool movies have been really solid so far. I loved the first one, loved that it was kind of an unexpected hit, which that one was a disruptor of the superhero genre. It was really a movie made poking fun at all the tropes that superhero movies were becoming known for, and it was a bright spot because it was something different. It was R rated, it was more violent, and I think also the fact that it was made for a relative heavily low budget is what attracted me to that movie. I don't even think those movies are as funny as everybody else finds them. That is not the most appealing thing to me when it comes to Deadpool, even though it is a reflection of the character from the comic books. I guess maybe I just get a little bit tired of Ryan Reynold's coirkiness, and he kind of has the same overall essence in all of his roles. I just love the gritty, R rated nature of those movies, and that's what makes them so different to me. And Deadpool two was a little bit more forgettable, and since the first one was a hit, they had some more money to play around with, so I feel like some of the visual aspects did get better in that movie, but I don't think the story was as solid as the first one. But in this one, now you have the budget there, but you also have Wolverine returning, who is one of the most beloved characters in all of marveling back to the early two thousands of the X Men movies. So I think that is a really important thing. And you think about how Logan ended, so you wonder how those movies are going to be addressed, and also how this is going to fit into the MCU, which Deadpool one and two were not in the MCU, and with it now crossing over and Disney having the rights to it, you wonder how much it's still going to poke fun at all of the MCU movies. And this is the only MCU film coming out in twenty twenty four, And I think that is a really important thing, which my criticism last year was only that Marvel should probably take a break just to get their quality better. And everybody right now is saying that the superhero genre is dying and we're tired of them. Even actors are tired of them, hating that they have to compete with all of these superhero movies to be relevant anymore. And saw Tom Hanks mad about it, And if Tom Hanks gets mad about it, then you know other actors are just over it if they are not involved in these movies. Now, what I think about this is I don't think the superhero genre is dead, and I think it's weird for people to say that they need to go away and we're over them, because the criticism is that there are too many superhero movies, but you do not say that about any other genre. You don't see a trailer for a new drama and say, man, there are too many drama movies. There are too many action movies. It is just a genre now that exists, that is always going to exist. That it really wasn't until two thousand and eight, in that entire decade plus run of Marvel that they became a dominant force in Hollywood. I don't think the genre is dead. The genre is here to stay. I think what is dead and what people have fatigue of is the formula. And I think that is because MCU just had that formula for basically every single movie. It worked from two thousand and eight up to twenty nineteen with Endgame, and they just kind of kept using that formula thinking we wouldn't get tired of it, and I think that has contributed to us not being as invested in these new characters. It is just the same formula. We need to have directors who have a vision and don't just want to make a superhero movie because they think if they can nail it and have success at the box office, they can go on to have a career and make any other movie they want. I need somebody who is passionate about superhero movies making superhero movies. Look at James Gunn and what he did with Guardians of the Galaxy and then also went on to do The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. He has a passion for superhero movies and those projects are amazing. Matt Reeves Is The Batman is a great movie, and there's nobody denying how good those movies can be when they step out of that formula. The darker superhero movies are where I live. So I think the formula needs to be revisited and it needs to feel less corporate. So I'm hoping that is what Deadpool three does, because initially it was the disruptor. It was the one making fun of all these tropes that we came to love in superhero movies but got a little bit tired of. So I'm glad the MCU is only putting out one movie this year, and in order for them to succeed, they just need to change the formula up a bit, give us something to root for, put real action back into the MCU. I was just rewatching Civil War, which has some of the best action, and it reminded me of how good fight scenes used to be and how memorable they used to be. You don't have that anymore. Get rid of all the comedy and get back to the action in the MCU. So that is what I think needs to happen in the genre. I think it's here to stay. If they don't make some changes to the formula, it could go the way of the way. But at number one. My most anticipated movie of twenty twenty four, coming out on July nineteenth, is Twisters, starring Daisy Edgar Jones and Glenn Powell, but unfortunately, none of the original members of the Twister cast which is a little bit of a bummer, and it is a new take on the Twister movie, and it's not a direct remake, which the initial one followed the iconic storm Chasers in Oklahoma and at the time was known for really innovative special effects for the nineties. And I still go back and watch that movie at least once or twice a year. It is the only movie I have seen more than fifty times in my lifetime. And I think why I love this movie so much is because it kind of caused me to get over my fear and face them. Because I grew up in Mista Hill's mobile range and walks a Hatchee, Texas, and my biggest fear growing up was that a tornado was going to rip through the trailer park and there's nowhere to go. You see all of these survival tips that people give you on what to do during a tornado that does not apply to a trailer park, and it freaked me out as a kid. We would either have to run across the street into the laundry mat, or if we knew a storm was coming way in advance, we would go to my cousin's house, who lived in a brick house, which as a kid, that was like my biggest you've made it moment if you lived in a brick house, because we lived and not even a double white trailer, a single white trailer that was two bedrooms and I didn't have a room stepting on the floor. My biggest fear was a tornado ripping through our trailer park. So I think I would watch Twisters so much to get over my fear, to think, if I can watch this movie and face my fear, I will be okay with being able to deal with it. So luckily, later in high school we were able to move out, but still it is one of my favorite movies. I think the disaster genre doesn't get enough credit for how entertaining they are because, yes, on paper, they are not the most well rounded movies. They don't really check all the boxes when it comes to just being great cinema. But I love me a disaster movie. It just has all the elements I look for, big action, small love story, but also just really crazy and outlandish things happening, like cows being sucked up by a twister. We have cows. Twister is one of my most quoted movies of all time. Dorothy, you took her, You damn thief. I could quote this movie all day long, and I am upset a little bit that none of the original cast is returning, so I'm hesitant that it's just gonna feel like an entirely different movie and just slapping on the Twister name. What I really wish is that this movie would have come out back when Bill Paxton was still around and he had plans in a script and an idea to make a Twister three D movie, back when Avatar got us all to be obsessed with three D movies. I think that would have been a great time for this movie to come out. So sadly he has passed away. So I'm just hoping that this movie does justice to one of my favorite movies of all time, a top ten film for me, and that is why it's my most anticipated because I'm hoping it's gonna be good, but if it's bad, it's gonna hurt. It's gonna feel like, oh Man, like when your parents tell you they're not mad at you, but they're disappointed. That is how I'm going to feel about Twister. And also knowing that a lot of the actors who are in that first one are still around and they are still passionate about their role in this how big or smaller they might have been. I've even had Sean Wahlan on this podcast talk about Twister because I love this movie so much, so I really wish for that reason they were a part of it, because they deserve it. But nonetheless, I cannot wait to see this movie. On July nineteenth at Number one, I Have Twisters. We'll come back give a spoiler free review of Mean Girls, and then we'll talk about a new movie with Christen Stewart called Love Lies Bleeding. Let's get into it now, a spoiler free review of Mean Girls. It is twenty twenty four, now are still trying to make Mean Girls happen. There are a lot of people a little bit confused about this movie on a couple of things. One is that this movie is a musical. When the trailer came out, it didn't showcase any of the singing and dancing, but it is a musical. I feel like movies are starting to do this a little bit more now because I feel like the perspective I kind of have a musicals of not really enjoying them until there's a really great one is how people feel there's some hesitancy when it comes to people wanting to go see musicals. So if you can disguise it just a little bit, get people in sucker Boom, I got your money sit through this musical. And also that it's not a direct remake of the original movie, which I feel a little bit different now after watching it. But it is a movie adaptation of the musical, which the musical was based on, the two thousand and four movie that Tina Fey wrotees it is that movie adaptation, not a direct sequel. But I feel like they were also kind of lying to us on that. So first thing, I was surprised by walking into the theater primarily female, which I just thought Me and Girls was a universally loved movie from the two thousands. Male or female, I thought didn't really matter. I know girls in the title, but there was maybe two other guys, maybe three other guys in there. That is fine, but that is kind of the basis of who I'm using the reactions from in the audience on some of the things that I found a little bit cringe worthy. So what you have here in this movie is taking all the same iconic characters and same iconic story, throwing all that into a movie and then breaking it up with song and dance. Everything that you probably have laughed at in that first two thousand and four movie is in this one line for line, which caused some really clunky dialogue which I just found to be very cringe worthy, and I started to think, why is that If something that was so funny in the original movie you do it again, why is it not funny now? And to me, it felt like if I had a favorite comedian and they put out a special on Netflix. I watched that special at least once or twice a week because I love this comedian so much. Then I go see that comedian perform live in town, and instead of doing all new material, they do the same exact special. You know exactly what is coming, and even though it is still funny, it just doesn't really hit. And nobody in the audience was really laughing at all of these lines, you know, all the lines from the original movie, and they were doing them again, and it just felt very forisd to the point that I thought when they were making this movie, didn't they feel like this wasn't really landing? Or once they started showing it to audiences, did they feel like that was really still connecting with people. However, where this movie did shine was with the singing and dancing, and it took me a little bit to warm up to that because I was so distraught about what was going on with the actual story in the movie. But that is what this movie needed to be. That is where this movie showcased all the things that made it great. You have Verne Rapp, who is also a singer, a great artist. She plays Regina George in this movie, which is Rachel McAdams's character in the original movie, and does a really great job, maybe too good of a job, because in the first movie, of course, Regina George is the villain, but in this one it's so much more amplified, to the point that I questioned, who would even be friends with this person. I don't really have that feeling from the original movie, but she was so awful and so mean in this movie that I thought, this doesn't even really feel believable. But I think they were just trying to turn up that character a little bit more and make it a little bit more hardcore. And Gary Rice, who I primarily know from The Spider Man She was also in Mayor of Easttown. She plays Katie, which was Lindsay Lohan's character. She was my favorite part about this movie and really was the only actor who didn't just completely replicate their character. She actually brought a whole new perspective on Katie, and to me that felt that this was the shining star out of this entire movie, because it felt like she approached the character a little bit differently and that I wasn't comparing her to Lindsay Lohan at any point because it felt so different. You also have Ali Lee Cravalo, who is the voice of Mawana, so already a great singer. She played Janis in this movie. She was probably my second favorite actor. By the first ack, I was like, oh, man, I don't think I'm gonna be able to get through this. But it was kind of like when you get into a pool that's entirely too cold and you think, oh, man, I had to get out of here, my body is freezing. But you wait a few minutes, you get a little bit more used to it, you wait a little bit longer, and at that point you're like, oh, it doesn't even feel cold to me anymore. That is how I felt watching this movie that by the second act I was into it, and I thought the songs got better and better as the movie went along. I still think the very first Katie song, what Afs, was probably my favorite and one I would listen to even outside of being in a movie soundtrack. Revenge Party was also great, and I'd Rather Be Me was probably my third favorite song, and that's even as the music kind of tapers off by the end of the second into the third act and really gets into that story. So the songs were good, which led me to feel that if this movie didn't have to rely on the source material, it would have been a much better movie. Instead of making it the exact same story with the exact same characters, I almost wish they made more of a sequel that was a musical, because it would have felt entirely different. If they would have been the daughters of everybody who was in the original movie, I think it would have been a much better story. You still could have had a little bit of referencing in the nostalgia that works in there, but it just would have felt a little bit more fresh because they actually did put in new lines that were actually funny and moments that I actually laughed out loud was with the new material. I don't want to spoil it here because if you end up going to see it and I told you the line, and then you're not gonna laugh at anything in this movie. But that made me feel like, oh, they did put some thought into the writing in this movie, and they could have done it. They just chose to really just bring back all of those same lines. So I felt like the movie struggled because it had to incorporate all those moments that they thought people went there to see, but looking around, nobody really resonated with those Again, because we've seen that movie so many times, we wanted something different and just making it a musical wasn't enough. The other thing I really wasn't expecting was how kind of poor this movie looked. And it costs twice as much as the original movie to make, but this movie looked like a student film, especially in those first opening scenes when they're at school. And if you take one frame of the original Mean Girls movie, it looks iconic, it looks warm, it looks cinematic, And maybe it's just because people have been posting memes and gifts from that movie. For so long. I just feel like the way that movie was shot looked so much better and so much more refined. This one really felt like it was somebody's college project that they did, and it was just shot on a bunch of digital cameras that had no feel to them, and that is where the movie kind of felt lifeless too, feel like where they spent all their money was on the musical numbers, which were more elaborate, more fantasy like, and much more colorful. So it felt like all the budget went into making those moments seem so different that the actual stories suffered from that by the way that it looked. And then the top it all off. The thing I always notice is whenever they have a lot of product placement, whether it be the phone that Katie was using, which was a flip phone. Maybe that was also a reference to the two thousands, but it was obviously a nad for that flip phone, which I won't say the name of that phone because then they win. But they also used a concert ticket app that was very apparent that it was a sponsor. There was also a makeup brand in there that were like, hey, look look at this makeup brand, but obviously you gotta fund the movie, you gotta pay the bills. That stuff is just a part of filmmaking, so can't really hate on them for that. But man, when it's so apparent, it just kind of gets to me. So it would be hypocritical of me to say that this movie shouldn't have been remade. They just keep remaking things when I myself am a fan of superhero movies and how many times have they remade Batman that I'm still highly invested in And I don't think that's really the case here that I'm getting at. It's just they haven't remade Batman where they take every single line, every single action point and just do it again. So overall, I think the movie was a victim of itself. But I do think if you were a diehard fan of the original movie and you love musicals, you will enjoy this movie, even though it'll feel entirely too familiar. There are some great performances, there are some fun moments. But if on the other end, you hate remakes, you hate things that are just a direct copy of what we already know and things that just feel a little bit cash grabby, you will not enjoy this movie. But overall, for me and girls. I give it three out of five music notes.

00:41:16
Speaker 2: It's time to head down to movie Mike Trailer Paul.

00:41:21
Speaker 1: For the first time in a long time, I found myself being a fan of the trailers and going to see a movie as often as I do, at least once a week, sometimes two, three times a week, depending on what is all coming out that week. I've seen every single trailer, and I love trailers. That's why I've dedicated an entire episode on this podcast to talk about trailers, because I want to stay in the know. I want to keep you in the know what is coming out in theaters, what looks good, what looks like garbage. But when I go to the theater, I just want to get to the movie. That's just because when I'm going to an event, and I would love it if the time that they said when you get your tickets is the actual time that the movie starts, maybe a five minute buffer. But I did an entire episode last year because I headed down to a science of what time to show up when you just want to see the movie and want to skip the trailers because at that point I've seen them all, I don't want to see them again. But now at least Regal has shifted that and now there's thirty minutes of previews, which now, yes, you can adjust the time you want to get there to get there right before the movie starts, if that's what you want to do. But I just think, man, why are we showing so many previews? I just want to get there and watch the movie. However, over the Christmas break, when my family went to go see The Iron Claw, this trailer played and it was one that just slipped through the cracks of me watching all the trailers, and it was the first time in a long time where I went to see a movie and was hooked by a trailer. They served their purpose, they did their job. So really that is the point of trailers, and I forget that not everybody is probably us who actively seeks them out. We see them on Instagram, we see them on TikTok, and by the point that we go into an actual theater, we've seen everything. We're aware of it. But I think it really has a pretty good effect when it comes to indie movies, and I think this year is kind of the rise of indie movies where I feel like audiences are getting a little bit tired of big franchises and sequels, and yes, when these things come out of like these are the most anticipated, which we have been talking about this entire episode. The reason that there's the most anticipated is because they're associated with the franchise. But if I told you that Love Life's Bleeding was one of my most anticipated movies of the year, it would be harder to explain it. If you just put that on a graphic comparing it to all of the other movies coming out, you would look at that and not know what it is. So when people say that all everything's remake, everything's a sequel, that's the reason why, because well, really those movies get the most attention because you have association with him already. So this movie easily could have made one of my most anticipated movies of the year. It is called Love Lies Bleeding. It stars Kristen Stewart, who I think is a really great actor, and I know everybody associates her much like Robert Pattinson, who I went on an entire rant of how much I love them earlier with the Twilight movies, and she has done so many great movies since then. I'm gonna give you my top five Kristen Stewart movies. But this movie, it looks like all the things I want to see in a movie. First of all, it's a thriller movie, which is now one of its way back into my top genre, and this movie has it all. It has crime, it has romance, it has bodybuilding, and just the dash of fantasy. In this movie, Kristen Stewart develops a relationship with an accomplished bodybuilder whose name is Jackie. They develop feelings for each other, and Kristen Stewart's character helps her out because even though she is a bodybuilder who has made some money, she needs a job, so she sets her up with the gig with her dad, who looks like a shady character played by Ed Harris, and it leads them both into the criminal underworld, which are there any underworlds that aren't bad? But this was the first trailer in a long time that I hadn't seen prior to going to the movies and thought, I need to see this movie when it comes out on March eighth. So before I get into more details about this movie, here's just a little bit of the Love Lies Bleeding trailer I found the body lex I keep got your hands, ball.

00:45:34
Speaker 2: Over grab.

00:45:38
Speaker 1: We'll just need to fight back. When of them told them everything you ever did, FBI, open up? Are you threatening me? Yep? Well that was really stupid, nutty. I never for a monk Oh, that's sound track that eighties vibe, which when it comes to movies and decades of movies, I don't really find myself going to the eighties much. I much like a modern movie that takes place in the eighties, And I was reminded of that after seeing Air last year, which was just a relic of the eighties, and the attention to detail to make that movie feel like the eighties completely nailed it there, But overall the decade is pretty cheesy and the real eighties classics to me aren't really cemented in that time. So when I think of like movies like Back to the Future, yes it's an eighties movie, but that movie transcends that entire decade. So I would much rather see a modern approach on an eighties style of movie. But in this movie, Kristen Stewart plays the manager of a rundown gym. Her character's name is Lou. She's kind of in a lost place in her life and she has this strange relationship with her very shady family, who you get glimpses of in this trailer, and they allude to some criminal activity. They don't really go into a whole lot of detail of what exactly it is that they are doing illegally, but it has to do with firearms. At one point they go to a gun range, so some shady is happening here. Christen Stewart is probably the perfect person I could consider for this role because she plays somebody really well who is in a very complicated at times toxic at times just not good for you relationship. I don't know why I associate her with that type of role, but she does it so well with her mannerisms and the way she just portrays this kind of disassociated, sad look on her face. She does it perfectly. So if you just told me the plot of this movie that it was an a twenty four movie that's somewhat indie looking but also has a Hollywood style production to it, I would think put Christen Stewart in that role. Some of my favorite movies of hers include at number one Has to Be at Ventureland. Then I would go with at number two American Ultra, which she started with Jesse Eisenberg, a highly underrated movie. At number three is another movie it's probably her most critically acclaimed and one that kind of really opened my eyes up to, oh man, she can really do it all was a movie called American Shopper. And then at number four, I would go with Twilight, just the first one. I loved that first one, say what you want overall about the franchise. Those movies really put her on the map, made her an a list star, and she is a type of actor who probably loves and respects those movies for what they did for her career, but also wanted to do everything after that completely differently. And I think she's done a fantastic job of doing that. And yes, has she taken some roles that were clearly just to make some money ie Charlie's Angels. Yes, I'm sure she's done that too. So still I would put Twilight at number four, and then at number five is tough. I thought about The Runaways, but I still just don't fully love any music. Biopick, even though I thought she was great in that Happiest Season was a good Christmas movie that came out back in twenty twenty but I would probably put Spencer, where she played Princess Diana, at number five. But Love Life's Bleeding is directed by a relatively new director. This is their second movie ever, Roseglass, who also wrote this movie. I love the tagline that this movie uses in the trailer that says revenge gets ripped. I don't entirely know what that means. It looks like Kirsten Stewart's character is getting revenge on her dad and then her new bodybuilder girlfriend seems to be the muscle in the relationship. And I love that it has like a little bit of fantasy. In the trailer. You see at one point her character essentially hulk out where her muscles just instantly grow. So I'm curious to see how this fantasy element plays into a very realistic thriller type movie where you just have that eighty soundtrack kind of at the foundation of everything. And then you also have Dave Franco, the brother of James Franco, in this trailer looking completely for it and completely ridiculous. And I just love movies that take risk on the costume design and the character design where it just doesn't feel straightforward and give it a period piece like this being an eighties movie, I love that they really committed to that. So I love going into movies and getting a little bit of fashion inspiration, so maybe this will be that type of movie for me. And the movie is rated R and it comes in at one hour and forty five minutes, which is like the sweet spot when it comes to thrillers. So I'm hoping by the pace that's established in this trailer and also that it really doesn't reveal all the little details about what is exactly happening as far as crime, that this movie is going to be a pretty good roller coaster in under two hours. So again, the movie comes out on March eighth. It's called Love Lives Bleeding, and I'll let you know after I see it where it ranks in my top five Kristen Stewart movies at that For next week's edition of Movie by Framer par and Not as Good do It for another episode here of the podcast. Before I go, I got to give my listeners shout out of the week. How do you get a listener shout out of the week? Really simple. You can just send me a DM on Instagram. You can tweet me at X. Are we still tweeting over there. I've just gotten used to calling it X, but you can send me a message or whatever over there on X. You can comment on my TikTok. You can always find all of these things in the episode notes. But this week's listener shout out goes to Jenna Moore, who DM me after listening to the last week's episode and said the migration trailer also hooked me into going expected a little more from it, but still enjoyed it overall. Yes, another instance of a trailer working. It's like advertising actually works. Oh my gosh. But thank you Jenna. I do agree with those sentiments. I thought the movie overall. I thought, given that Alka Fina was in it and featured so heavily in the trailer, that that character would be throughout the entire movie and bring a little bit more comedy. But instead it was a lot of animated action and overall just trying to teach a lesson. So a pretty good balance of all three of those things, but I kind of wanted some more laughs, especially for a kid's movie, So thank you Jenna for that DM. Thanks everybody for listening. I hope you have a great rest of your week and until next time, Go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later