‘Air’ Screenwriter Alex Convery on Advice from Ben Affleck, What He Kept from the Set and How Free Nike Gear He’s Received  + Movie Review: The Super Mario Bros. Movie  + Trailer Park: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, and today I have an interview with the writer from Air that even if you haven't seen the movie yet, I think you will be inspired by a story and his passion for writing makes me feel like Hollywood is in good hands with the next generation of writers. In the movie review, it's finally time to talk about the Super Mario Brothers movie. And in the trailer Park, we're diving into Spider Man across the Spider Verse and all my theories going into that movie. Welcome. If you are new here, I hope you subscribe and stick around. And now let's talk movies.

00:00:31
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 like a walking IMTB with glasses. From the Nashville Podcast Network, this is movie Mike's Movie Podcast.

00:00:54
Speaker 1: About to get into my interview with Alex Conberry. He is thirty years old and Air is his first first produced screenplay ever. He wrote it as a spec script after he watched The Last Dance on Netflix back in twenty twenty. And what a spec script is. It is when a screenwriter writes a script to a movie in hopes that will be purchased by a producer, a production company, or a studio. Kind of along the same lines as a songwriter would just write a song hoping that someday a big artist would find it, like it and want to record it. So Alex's story is very unusual that the spec script he just wrote ended up getting made into a movie and has had so much success. And even if you haven't seen the movie Air, which is all about the creation of the Air Jordan's show, I think you will enjoy this interview and be inspired by his passion for writing, his love of movies and wanting to create things that he himself will want to sit down and watch. So let's get into this interview now with Alex Convery. What has the last month been like in your life?

00:01:53
Speaker 3: The last month has been a lot of cruss screenings, premieres, interviews. You know, I'm like an introverted writer at heart, so this has been like you got to come out of your shell a little bit and have a bunch of small talking answer, a bunch of questions, which has been good. You know, it's a good exercise, but we're winding down a bit, so I'm excited to, you know, just be back at my desk writing.

00:02:19
Speaker 1: I find that I kind of identify with you in that way, Like outside of this, I'm a pretty quiet and reserved person. From my main job, I am a writer, but I have such a passion for movies and talking about movies. This is kind of how I've had to get out of my show being more extroverted. For you, your entire life, You've just been writing things, and now everybody wants to talk to you. They're all inspired by your story. So what was that like initially of like, oh man, now I got to speak to people. People want to know my story.

00:02:46
Speaker 2: You know.

00:02:46
Speaker 3: It's interesting, like the life of a working screenwriter, Like a lot of the time is spent not writing. You do meetings, right obviously, but you also are putting together pitches, and whether it's you're pitching an original project or you're pitching on like a studio's ip, there is an element of it where you know, there's a bit of performance, you know, which is which is really kind of antithetical to what a screenwriter should be, you know, like it's what you're saying, we're like the nerds who you know, like being alone with with with you know, just with final drafts. So it's interesting, man, I don't know, it's there's a lot to the job more than than than just writing, you know, Interior Nike, nineteen eighty four. You know, it's like there's all this other stuff that comes with it.

00:03:28
Speaker 1: When it comes to your creative process. And we were just talking about how much of your creativity is sparked by just being bored, because I find that sometimes when I'm so busy doing so many things, it's hard for me to sit down, like, all right, now's your time to be creative.

00:03:41
Speaker 3: Well, I look for characters first and foremost, you know, characters that are that are interesting, that have like a clear journey to go on that I think would be fun to write, that I'm excited to write.

00:03:52
Speaker 4: You know.

00:03:53
Speaker 3: It's so hard to write, you know, truly, Like the easiest thing in the world is just not to write. There's so many other things you could be and things that can occupy your time, Like you really have to, at least for me feel passionate about something to like actually get in final draft and get going on it. So I look for characters that spark, you know, and you know, for Air, it was sunny, you know, like it wasn't even so much the shoe or or the world. It was just Sonny was such a fascinating character, and to me, this is such an interesting way into his story. And he was such a fun character to write, you know that because of who he is in real life and the life he's lived and the places he's been. So I chase characters, you know, and I try to find stuff that I'm excited to write about, which sounds like obvious orry Well, obviously you want to write about about, but like it's easy to lose that passion very quickly, right, you have to do rewrites a million times, or especially where I was as like an unproduced screenwriter, you're chasing jobs, you know. So it's like sometimes you can talk yourself into being passionate about it, but like really deep down, it's like it wasn't there, and the script and the movie really has been a lesson for me in chasing those projects that like deep in your core are exciting, you know, and like you want to be at the desk working, you know, because so so you know, usually it's it's the exact opposite feeling. It's like, oh gosh, I guess I have to do some pages today, right, But when you can find something that's like, man, I can't wait to get back into the script and get back to working, like that's a that for me is can be a rare feeling. So it was this one was a lesson and like chase that because this was a script that, especially written on spec you know, they would tell you not to do right. I mean, it's about real people and there are rights issues and all of that, and like the odds of it getting made are just so so low. But for me, it was it was the passion that that really kept me going because it was like, man, I just I love these characters. I love writing in this world. And it was a real lesson, you know, like going forward, that's really the type that's really the only type of stuff I want to be working on, right, And that's easier said than done, But you know, it was kind of chasing that gut feeling that that you know, got got the movie to to where it now.

00:06:00
Speaker 1: I love hearing you talk about your passion because when I watch air A lot of what drove me to the story of Sonny is how passionate he was about basketball, how passionate he was about pursuing Michael Jordan, how he just felt it in his soul, like I know this guy is going to be the guy. So what else are you just that passionate about, like Sonny?

00:06:19
Speaker 3: Well, you just look back to my past scripts and it's like, you know, you don't have to like the line isn't too far from like stuff I love to to what I write about. You know, the script I wrote before Air was called an Excelsior, and it was a biopic about you know, stan Lee and Jack Kirby and kind of those early origins of Marvel comics. And that was because I grew up as a huge comic book kid, you know. But I love the people behind the thing, you know, and like finding those type of stories. And obviously, you know, we don't have to go into the whole history of Marvel, but it was a very unlikely story to get from you know, two guys working in a janitor closet at a magazine company in nineteen sixty two to you know, Guardians of the Galaxy three coming on in a couple of weeks you on, that's just like, what an incredible journey that that marvel has has gone on. I justaid, like, gosh, it would be cool to tell kind of the beginning of that. Before that, it was script about college football, right, and kind of like the underbelly of college football. And that simply came from me being a massive college football fan.

00:07:16
Speaker 2: Right.

00:07:16
Speaker 3: So it's like you hear a lot in film school, they tell you write what you know, you know, which can be taken very literally, right. You could write a movie about your childhood or growing up, I mean, and there's many examples of that, from Moonlight to Dazed and Confused to Lady Bird. You know, those are all very personal stories that feel like, you know, they're almost like someone's guts being spilled on the on the screen, not in a gory way, but in like a passion way. For me, I didn't really have that story, right. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, basically in a John Hughes movie, right, which was very nice and pleasant and and all of that. But I certainly didn't have some you know, a movie out of it. Maybe one day I'll find, you know, that idea but I didn't have it. So it was like, okay, so what do when you say write what you know? What do I know?

00:08:05
Speaker 1: Well?

00:08:05
Speaker 3: I know about Michael Jordan in the nineties, bulls, right, I know about Marvel Comics and Stanley you know, I know about college football. So it was like, you know, it was it was kind of looking at the stuff that left to my own devices. I'm going to geek out over anyway, and it's like, is there a movie in there? Is there a script in there? Is there a character in there that that you know you can kind of latch onto and and go from there.

00:08:28
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated with the writing process and how this movie started out. You've been talking about, you know, watching The Last Dance. You see that part in the documentary where they briefly mentioned the Michael Jordan Nike connection. How do you sit down after you're inspired by that, after you google it and see that you know, there hasn't been a movie made about it, how do you sit down and write that script?

00:08:48
Speaker 3: Well, you start with Faden on page one. Now I'm kidding it. It It goes back to what we're talking about, which is finding the character right, because this is a movie that Obviously you could tell from a lot of different points of view. Right, it could be an actual Michael Jordan biopick. Right, it could be about Phil Knight, it could be about David Fok, Jordan's agent. It could be about Peter Moore, who actually designed the sneaker, you know. So it's it becomes a question of, Okay, what angle is is you know, kind of the most interesting and most compelling on this. Now, because I was doing it as a specscript, I knew right away, like I'm not going to do the Michael Jordan biopick, right, that's just foolish. And if like this is already unlikely enough to get made, that actually trying to do the Michael Jordan biopick on spec that's just like there's no chance. And by the way, Jordan should be the one to tell that story, right, And maybe there will come a time and day when he wants to do that and is prepared to do that. And I think every studio in Hollywood would line up at backup the brink strug to do that story. So, okay, what are the different angles on it? And it gets back to what we're talking about. To me, Sonny, what was most compelling because you know, you go through all the research and at the end of the day and there's a lot of you know, varying accounts and people wanting to take credit for different things. But at the end of the day, all the accounts land in the same place that there was only one guy who said, I have this feeling in my gut that Michael Jordan is a guy we should go all in on. And that's just what an interesting epiphany, you know, like in terms of its ripple on history. I mean, it is it's hard to fathom, you know, if Sonny had had that feeling about any other player in that draft, you know, not to be hyperbolic about it, but the world is different. You know, we have air stocked in or Air Booie instead of Air Jordan. So it is it was, gosh, what drives someone to have that sort of conviction and determination and feeling And that's all stuff I just found, you know, universal in a way too, right, in a way that you know, obviously this is a movie about basketball and Nike and you know kind of like the nitty greed of how that process works. But I just figured, man, anyone sitting in that audience has probably been where Sonny was at some point, right, like employee number five hundred at a company where no one's really listening to you, but you have this feeling. And it's like everyone has had a feeling or a dream or a gut instinct at some point in life and you know, wanted to chase it. So for me, it was like that that's a really accessible place to tell the story from.

00:11:10
Speaker 2: Now.

00:11:10
Speaker 3: The way to reach a universal feeling like that is through specificity, right, which is where like the nitty gritty of the draft process comes from. But no, I mean really, and this was a specscript, right, So it was like I just wrote it all on my own, and I really just wrote it in order. Like this isn't one that I outlined or did a treatment to for or like got notes on in advance. I just one it's a true story, right, so like the outline is kind of already done for you because it's it's you know, it's history. So it was really it was kind of a nights and weekends project, right. I had other stuff that was paying me to write at the time, and that's always the stuff I was focused on focusing on, like during the day, but this was like you know, nights and weekends. I mean I really wrote most of the script from between the hours of like ten pm and like two am, you know, like after my wife would gone to bed. It was just me alone and like with my headphones, and I would just go back and like you know, work a scene or two, and I really just wrote it in order. And it was an interesting process because sometimes I would most of the time, I would just start right at the beginning, you know, and I would read through the script as if I was just like back in my intern days, reading some random script by some random guy named Alex Convary, and I would say, like what would I think of this script, you know, like really trying to remove myself from the process, and I would just keep going until something bumped, and then I would work on that and then keep going and something bumped, I do it again. So it was like it's a very unique process and not necessarily one I would recommend, because it's hard to replicate this obviously being a true story in a very like short period of time, like kind of gave me the frame, the framework was already inherent in the story in a way that isn't there for like most ideas, So I don't know if I could ever replicate this exact process again. Certainly wasn't the fastest process in the world either. I mean it took me a year to write, which is, you know, a long time for the for a first draft of a you know, one hundred page screenplay. But you know, it's what worked for me on this one.

00:12:58
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of this movie, a lot of the conversations take place over the phone. And I grew up in the nineties, but this movie made me nostalgic for the eighties, just so the fact that I could slam a telephone. What has been the most important phone call that you've ever received in your life?

00:13:12
Speaker 3: There are a couple, you know, like I mean dating all the way back to like getting the first call from you know, the guys that would end up being my agents saying like we read your script, bag man and are interested in meeting with you for representation. It was like, oh my gosh, you know, that's the call that, like, you know, in a lot of ways, I've been dreaming of since moving up here for film school. Now at the time, I was like, oh my gosh, I made it. But it's like, Nope, there's still so much work that has to go into it, you know. You know, obviously, getting the call on this one that that you know, Ben was interested and I was going to meet with him, that was an important one. I mean, the call after Ben had met with Jordan basically saying, like, Jordan has given his blessing with a few you know, as long as we can accomplish these notes and we're good to go. I mean, that was that was huge. And then I mean, finally, really the call from the producer saying, like, you know, Amazon is going to finance the movie be that. That's like again, like in terms of calls you dream dream of, like that's that's kind of the list on a spec script, you know, like those are all the ones you need to get, and every one of them is very unlikely in its own way. And I had come to learn that, you know, over my thirteen years living out here, that it's those are very few and far between. Usually it's getting a phone call saying like, yeah, they didn't like the script, that actor passed on it. Well, time time to move on to the next one out. This project's dead, like you know, so it's just like you get used to it. That that the good ones definitely stand out.

00:14:29
Speaker 1: What was the stress like waiting for the final approval that Michael Jordan has given its blessing on the film?

00:14:35
Speaker 3: You know, like, what can you say? I mean, it was. It doesn't get more stressful than that. I mean, it's just like when you lay out what that meeting kind of meant for, you know, again, I was just like I was an unproduced screenwriter and like we had everything else ready to go on this one, and it was basically like, if Jordan gives his blessing, then like we're going to do the movie. And obviously it was Ben and Mad and She's like, oh my gosh, what a you what a dream scenario on this one. But just as easily it was like I, you know, I kind of figured what what incentives Jordan have to do any movie? You know, like he he doesn't need to do anything unless he wants to. So look, it's a credit to Ben that Ben was able to like earn his trust and lay out all of what we were wanting to do with this movie. And and you know, have Michael recognize that that's a very like a person. I would have been scared on my mind sitting there for that meeting. You know, shocker, Ben knows what he's doing, you know, so it was yeah, I you know, it would be hard. I'd be hard pressed to think of like a more stressful twenty four hours than than that one when professionally at least.

00:15:34
Speaker 1: So you got to be on set during the filming of this movie, which is pretty unusual for a writer. What was your role being on set?

00:15:42
Speaker 3: You know, look, mostly I was just there to take it all in. You know, the script was fairly locked by the time we got there. You know, like like Chris Tucker had already done a lot of work on his character Howard, and and you know, Ben and Mann had done a pass on the script and a lot of that was already in place. Now when you know when we every day when we showed up, there was a little bit of invention here and there, you know, from like Bateman like really bringing comedy to his scenes and like that dry sense of humor. You know that it was in the script a little bit, but like he really embodied it to you know, like, look, it's one thing to write the movie, but then you show up on set and it's like, well, the blocking's not quite right and like maybe we cut this line and move that around, and like that's just the creation that that that that happens on set. You know, it's not like I was sitting there like directing it or you know, adding a bunch of input. You know, Ben Ben obviously knows what he's doing. But no, it's just there, you know, kind of kind of taking it all in and enjoying it and you know, helping when it was needed.

00:16:36
Speaker 1: I feel like Air is more a comedy than actual comedies. When I went to go see it in theaters, the entire theater was laughing throughout the entire movie. And you mentioned a little bit of you know, Jason Bateman adding some comedy to his scenes. Was all that comedy written into the script or was it just once you had all these characters together, once you see it all unfolding, that it kind of came naturally. It was just a little more just like, oh, this is actually a funny movie.

00:16:58
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:16:59
Speaker 3: I mean, look so much of that in the performance, and and all credit to the cast. You know, like a lot of the like dry sense of humor in it, Like look, you could play that straight, or you could play it humorous, or you could play it somewhere in between, you know, and that what I love about the movie is like, those are the type of movies I like watching, you know, Like, and I'm a big believer in you know, not putting something in a box, you know, just like, oh, this is a comedy, this is a drama. You know. It's like, to me, the best work, I like, the best dramas have moments of humor in them, and the best comedy is always rooted in dramatic stakes. You know. So it's like the type of movies I like exist somewhere in between those two. And you know, I certainly tried to write it that way, but no, without the cast we had, like, there's no chance it would be nearly as funny as as the movie is.

00:17:44
Speaker 2: You know.

00:17:44
Speaker 3: That's been one of the real joys of getting to watch it in a theater. You know, this was supposed to be a streaming movie, and you know, all credit to Amazon. They they you know, really took a chance on it and and said we're gonna, you know, we're gonna put it out there. And it's just been such a joy to be able to go into you know, a pack instant in the back and just you know, kind of watch people go on that ride with the movie.

00:18:05
Speaker 1: So when the movie comes out and you see that ninety nine percent rutten tomato score come out after that, is there any whispers, any text messages or emails going around like hey, maybe there's a chance for an oscar here? Does that ever kind of come into existence or it's just something nobody else.

00:18:20
Speaker 3: Like make Oh no, I mean gosh, it's just it's just so far out and like there's just so many different things that can happen. It's like, look, my job is done, right. It's just it's you write the script, you film the movie, and you put it out in the world, and you know it's not your place to say how it should be received and who should receive it and why, and you know what you should be awarded for it. Like that's the part of the process of zero control over. So you know what I've learned, you know, over my thirteen years out here, is like you can't emotionally invest in the results, right, you have to emotionally invest in the process. So it's like, as long as I am enjoying writing it and believing that the script was, you know, the best I could do at that time then, like, you know, the rest is really up to up to which way is the wind blowing?

00:19:05
Speaker 2: Right?

00:19:06
Speaker 3: And it's like, if you can't control that part of it, which I don't, then it's not worth losing sleepover, you know, because life is short, and if you have no control over it, then then what's the point of sweating it?

00:19:16
Speaker 2: Right?

00:19:16
Speaker 3: This is why I always wonder why I'm a sports fan to begin with, because I have no control over how the Bulls are playing or how the Bears are playing. Yet I somehow emotion invest myself in in the results of their games. But no, that's about as far as I could go.

00:19:30
Speaker 1: So you're about the same age as Ben Affleck and Matt Damon when they wrote Goodwill Hunting and this being your first you know, credited movie, do they offer you any kind of advice of where to take your career from here next?

00:19:41
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:19:41
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, not so not not like directly. I mean, you know, the getting sole credit on the movie and all of that, and having you know, Ben tell me, you know, personally about that was just a very like surreal to be kind of part of that like lineage. You know, it's still hard to out my head around but no. You know, something ben As said, which I've really taken the heart, you know, over the last couple of months here is like, you know, he really is a believer in good scripts, you know, and that if it's not there on the page, it's not going to be there on the stage, as they say.

00:20:13
Speaker 4: You know.

00:20:14
Speaker 3: He's also talked a lot about the projects you turn down and say no to are in a way just as important, if not more important, than the projects you do decide to take on and say yes to, and goes back a little bit to what we were talking about earlier about like really having to love a project, you know, and really feeling the passion for it, and if it's not there, then you know you shouldn't do it. That's hard when you're young and you've been wanting to, you know, do all the projects in the world for so long. You know, it's like the gut instinct is to say yes to everything, because it's like Hollywood is crazy and you just don't know, you know, how long a moment like this can last. So you know, take it all while you can get it, and and that's the that's kind of the gut instinct. But one hundred percent see where he's coming from. Where it's like, you know, like we were talking about, you really got to love something. You really really have to be married to a project to want to do it and take it on.

00:21:05
Speaker 1: Did you keep anything from the set?

00:21:09
Speaker 3: I'm going to get in trouble, but you know the cafeteria where they where they steal the candy from in that scene where Mann and Jason are working later over the weekend, on the last day, I was like, well, it would only be fitting if I also take something from here. So yeah, I have a I have one of those coffee mugs that that was sitting on the shelf. So it's like, you know, it's right what they say, it's not stealing it.

00:21:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no work in the register, you can take it.

00:21:35
Speaker 3: That's right exactly.

00:21:37
Speaker 1: Did you get any free Nike stuff from working on this movie?

00:21:39
Speaker 3: Not free, but I was, you know, like when these things happen, there's like you get like a start gift when the movie starts in a rap gift when the movie and so from like you know, multiple agents and manager, you know, producers and the whole deal. So you can imagine on this film what most of those gifts were. But yes, those were you know they kindly uh you know, bought those shoes. Uh. And then yeah, it's it's been a nice part of it that I've definitely expanded my my Jordan collection by a bid.

00:22:11
Speaker 1: Do you get a rap gift from from that or from Ben?

00:22:14
Speaker 2: Well?

00:22:14
Speaker 3: You know, like the way it works is like the whole production gets it right. So it's like, you know, it's you get like a production T shirt that that you know says casting through like you can find you can find those for almost every movie that you know that's been made on eBay. You know, did you see Nope. You know that's King Orange hoodie that that he's wearing.

00:22:33
Speaker 2: That.

00:22:33
Speaker 3: That's like that's basically what what like a rap gift is. So you know, I love that part of Nope because it's like it's it's very kind of inside Hollywood. You know. I I when I was in college, I interned on the set of mad Men and similar thing. You know, I got like my season five T shirt and on that one we got some rap gifts, like from the companies that Don Draper was pitching for. So we got like a Samsonite suitcase like a pair of Ravens, which is funny and yeah, like a similar thing on this one.

00:23:03
Speaker 1: I don't know why, but I find it so refreshing that you're also just so into every new movie. Like as a writer, do you just have to stay up to date on like every movie that comes out because maybe like you want to write something like that or you want to avoid copying another movie.

00:23:15
Speaker 3: It's not even that, it's just I love movies. I mean, that's it, you know, Like I I this's how I grew up. I'm just going to the movie theater every single Friday and just seeing whatever was out, you know, And I miss those days because it was like movie going to the movies without pretense, you know, like when you're that young, you don't really have a taste yet, so it's it's it was you just take everything in. And that's still the way I am. I mean, I just you know, I'm my friends will tell you I'm much more pretentious now than I was when I was eight or nine or whatever. But no, man, there's nowhere truly, there's nowhere else I'd rather be, like in the world really than than than sitting in a dark theater and watching a movie. Like there's just still something about it that is uh, you know, it's kind of it's my favorite art form and it's just it's it's I just love the theater, you know, sadly shout here in La, like we've lost my favorite ones, you know, like ArcLight Hollywood gone, the Landmark on Pico gone, The Vista in most feels is finally reopening. But it's been very painful losing those theaters. Man, I like it feels like a part of me is is and like a piece of the fabric of the community is gone. So it's actually went to the last the I don't know if you know La at all, but the Pico, the Landmark on Pico, one of my favorite theaters, especially on the West Side, closed down last March and the last I went to the last showing ever there just because I was like, I it's like that's where I've seeing almost more movies than anything, and there's when I saw everything everywhere all at once. There was very just surreal way to see that movie.

00:24:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do go to La a lot for work, and I remember seeing Black Panther at the Arc Light. So whenever that closed down, that felt like a piece of me went with it. Two.

00:24:52
Speaker 3: No. One hundred percent. I mean in the Cineramadome, it's like there's just there's nowhere else like it. Man, It's just the great thing about the ArcLight Hollywood was it just felt like a community for film lovers and people working in Hollywood, you know, from you know below the line to above the line. I mean you'd see celebrities there, but you'd also just see like other aspiring writers like myself, you know, all kind of together, which which like there's something you know, I'm sappy and romantic at heart, so like I'm going to it that way. But like there was something really special about that place, and.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: It would feel like an event when you went to a movie there, because they would have things out in the lobby and it just felt like there was an energy to it where sometimes you don't really get that movie you just go in there's an empty, bare lobby, but there it felt like something.

00:25:39
Speaker 3: I know. That's one of the painful things now going to you know, look, I'll go to any movie theater truly, but you know, really being restricted now to kind of these chain theaters that don't have like the love of the of the form and like the artists in nature to it like you're talking about, I mean the lobby of the arc light, from costumes from movies to like, you know, I remember seeing the scale model of the Grand Budapest Hotel in there. You know, it's just like that stuff that doesn't exist in your average chain theaters. And you know, even like the bar, there's just nothing better than going and like you know, having a beer before or after the movie and talking about it. And yeah, that's just something really painful about losing that.

00:26:15
Speaker 1: Well, because it's been great talking to you, aside from just talking about the movie Air, I just love talking about movies with you. Is there anything you can say about what you're working on now?

00:26:22
Speaker 3: Kind of Yeah, I'm doing another I'm working on another script for sky Dance and Mandolid too, of the production companies on Air. It's another sports movie, So that's really all I can say. You know, it's another true life story with real people, so I just want to respect that. And you know, we're still kind of in the early early stages of the process here, but yeah, hopefully that'll be the next one. You know, we'll see. I'm into the script and you know, working on it as we speak.

00:26:47
Speaker 1: Well, I wish you the best of luck. Man. I'm rooting for you and I hope you talk to you again.

00:26:50
Speaker 3: Yeah. Thanks man, this is fun.

00:26:55
Speaker 1: Let's get into a spoiler free movie review now. I want to talk about the Super Mario Brothers movie, which is now the highest grossing video game adaptation of all time, but it's on pace to be the highest grossing movie of twenty twenty three. There's no signs of this movie slowing down, and as a kid who grew up playing the video game, this movie was everything I needed it to be. So before we get into this full review, here is just a little bit of the Super Mario Brothers trailer.

00:27:26
Speaker 2: My army upas cupas whatever those things are.

00:27:33
Speaker 1: We will Kingdom. Yea Bowser is coming. I'm not afraid. I'll do anything for my brother.

00:27:42
Speaker 3: We're going to save him. Yeah.

00:27:50
Speaker 1: So, if you are like me and grew up playing Super Mario Brothers, this movie is gonna be a trip down memory lane for you, and I think that is the reason this movie is working so well and resonating so much with audiences. The trouble you always have when going into a video game adaptation is how are you going to incorporate those things from the video game that we all know and love without it feeling cheesy. Now, this is one of the first ones I can think of that has done it so perfectly because it's animated, so what you were seeing on the screen is exactly familiar with what you experienced playing this video game. You get the characters looking exactly like they did in the video game, you get a lot of that same level design, so it all feels familiar. The only difference is now we are hearing actual actors voice our characters that we really haven't heard say more than a few words at a time. And after watching this movie, I have to say, I think Chris Pratt deserves an apology you from the internet everybody saying that he was going to ruin the Mario character. He didn't do that at all. We needed somebody like Chris Pratt to voice Mario, to be able to really make him feel human and not just a bunch of catchphrases, and I think Chris Pratt did a really good job at that. A lot of standout performances in this cast from Anya Taylor Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, which he just sounds like a cartoon character, and it's always suddenly in Philadelphia, so that was a really easy casting for him. Then you have seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, but the one who crushed this movie, and I would say carry the entire movie on his back because he was so good at getting into his character. Was hands down. Jack Black as Bowser. Jack Black is so great at his comedic timing, and he is oftentimes a very physical actor, and I felt like he put all of that into voicing Bowser. I feel like this character took a bit of toll on his voice to make it more gravelly sounding. I know they did add some special effects on his voice to make him sound a little bit more gruff than he normally is, but that combined with his singing ability and just overall comedic nature, I thought Bowser was the best thing in this movie. I love how the entire movie works through different levels of different Super Mario games. Right from the very beginning, when you're doing that side scroll opening scene, it goes into that classic looking Super Mario side scroll game. I thought that was perfect and as soon as I saw that, I knew I was in for a good time here, and as an adult, I was watching for all the little Easter eggs that you would really only know if you grew up playing Nintendo. So everything from Mario in the opening scene of playing kid Icarus on his own Nintendo. That was like some Nintendo inception. And I love the subtle use of different Super Mario scores and themes throughout the entire movie. Just hearing that sparks some nostalgia for me, so I love how they use that subtly. With as iconic as the Super Mario theme is. I love the way they used it, and I love the way they use all different elements from all different games. The one thing they showed that I wish there would have been more of, but I completely get it, is they kind of tease this with some Yoshi in there. There's one scene where you see a big group a herd of Yoshi running across the screen and you just get a small little glimpse at him. I'm sure they're setting that up for a sequel. And speaking of that, I often feel that sometimes movies don't give you everything in the first one because they want to make you come back for the second one. I feel like that wasn't the case with the Super Mario Brothers movie. Maybe since the first live action one didn't work that well, and they haven't made one since. They were very careful of what they put in, and they also wanted to make sure that all different types of fans would be satisfied after watching this movie, so they kind of threw it all in there. So visually this movie was perfect. I thought the voice acting was great. Where this movie lacked for me, I think it's because I'm an adult now and the story felt very watered down and very basic. So I think the intention with that is because they wanted this movie to resonate not only with kids, but also with adults, but also they needed it to appeal to a world wide audience, which this movie is not only crushing it in the United States but crushing it everywhere in the world because Mario is worldwide. So I feel for that reason, the storyline was very basic and I wanted something a little bit more to chew on. It was a very quick origin story of why Mario and Luigi started a plumbing business and then very quickly get sucked into the mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi gets separated in the beginning, so Mario makes it his mission to save his brother before Bowser gets to him and probably kills him. So he does that with the help of Princess Peach. I did enjoy the role reversal here because Princess Peach was awesome and she's not the one who needed saving. It was Luigi. So Princess Peach in this movie was the one who was the most knowledgeable, the one who was the strongest, and had been in the Mushroom Kingdom the longest, so she was the one teaching the ropes to Mario, and it's his rise to being the hero in this movie, but I still think above him is Princess Peach. So I think that's a great message for any kid watching and maybe is so used to just seeing that normal thing of the guy being the hero. That is not the case with this movie. Although oddly enough, I did find this movie to be kind of dark for a kid's movie. There is one character in particular that is infatuated with death, which I found funny just on a comedic level. But it was a little bit darker than I was expecting for a kid's movie, and I guess I just wasn't expecting a kid's movie to go there. Also, with Bowser wanting to kill Mario, kill Luigi, and kill all these other people. A lot of death around this movie, so I guess I was expecting it to be completely bubble gum and kid friendly. And then even with the message in this movie, it is Mario trying to prove himself and also trying to get the approval of his dad, who kind of thinks he's a loser, and it shows you that he has to go through such extremes to prove to his dad that he is not just some worthless dude who hasn't done much with his life. That was also an interesting plot line to explore in a kid's movie. Is just a guy named Mario trying to get approval from his dad. And then you also have Bowser's character trying to force upon a marriage on Princess Peach. They have a lot of death issues with dad and a forced marriage proposal. I have to say now what I was expecting in this movie. So what I take away from it is that your parents are never going to be satisfied with you unless you save an entire city, an entire world, and then finally they'll say, hey, good job. So after watching this movie, I now think that every video game adaptation should be animated before this one. I would say the Sonic franchise is my favorite video game adaptation, which is more a live action franchise. Those movies are just a lot of fun to me. I like Jim Carrey, and I feel like they got the character of Sonic down in those movies, But I don't completely put that one on this same level. I did have fun watching Mortal Kombat. I think if they make some changes going into the Sea to that, that one could be a pretty solid franchise as well. Uncharted was fun but pretty forgettable, And the other one I would probably compare this one to would be Detective Pikachu. But the problem with Detective Pikachu is I think as Pokemon fans, that's not entirely the movie we wanted. We wanted just straight up Pokemon trainer Pokemon battles, and that one feels kind of adjacent to that story. While it is in the world, it doesn't really deliver like this Super Mario Brothers movie delivered because it is exactly like the video games. So I think what this movie opens up is definitely more movies in the Super Mario franchise. They'll make it two they'll make a three. I'm curious to see how since because they incorporated different games in this movie, like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. If they just explore that a little bit more, or they go into maybe some of the other games, I think there is a lot to work with here. I think the Nintendo movies that I would like to see after watching this one easy call would be a Donkey Kong solo movie because Seth Rogan is so great in this one, and just that entire world of Donkey Kong Country, I think would be a fun one to explore that one could even go more into the comedy space. Another movie I would like to see would be a legend a Zelda movie. That one would be a tricky one to make because I think that world kind of teeters on that line of it could be great, but it could also just as easily be a bomb if you don't cast their pride, if you don't have the most entertaining story when it comes to Zelda. But I think visually that would be a stunning one to make, especially just seeing what they can do with the world of Super Mario. I felt like a lot of the costume and character design felt very real to me. I like seeing the texture of denim on Mario, the attention to detail on the hat and the face. I would love to see that in a Zelda movie. I think the coolest thing ever and we got a little taste of it in this movie, would be a Super Smash Brothers movie. I think you make that the same way you make a Marvel Avengers movie. You have your Donkey Kong, maybe Luid's mansion, maybe your Yoshi story, maybe a little Metroid, a little star Fox, so many of those original Nintendo movies. You have your solo films, and they all build into a Super Smash Brothers movie. There are just so many stories you can explore, and there is so much money to be made off a Nintendo So I'm glad this one was a big success. I also think this one is doing so well because it's right at ninety minutes. Before you get a chance to even get tired of it, it's already over. It didn't feel like I needed more, didn't feel like I needed any less. So ninety minutes animated movie is the sweet spot for the Super Mario Brothers movie. Who see this is tough because as much as I enjoyed all of the visual elements. I did find myself not spacing out, but finding that it was hard for me to grasp on to a real story here. But I would still go four out of five mushrooms. I think that is top level for a movie that both appear adults and kids. But I think there is a lot more advances they can do story wise. But now that the world is built, the stages set, I think Super Mario Brothers Movie Part two will be in that four point five, maybe even a five point range.

00:38:18
Speaker 3: It's time to head down to movie Mike trailer.

00:38:21
Speaker 1: Paul, I keep getting more and more excited for this movie. My highest anticipated movie of twenty twenty three. I'm talking about Spider Man Across the Spider Verse, and I've been sitting with this trailer for a couple of weeks now itching to talk about it because it looks like they took this movie to an eleven.

00:38:39
Speaker 2: Now.

00:38:39
Speaker 1: The first one costs ninety million dollars to make, which is a lot for an animated movie, but this one is nearing about one hundred and fifty million, and just by the look of this trailer, it looks a little bit more refined. It looks like what they already did with the original one, with creating such a unique animation style, which is what makes this movie so fun to watch. It's all the little d tails they add in there that makes it look like a live action, living and breathing comic book. And that is why I enjoy this franchise so much and why I think this is the franchise that is going to change the way people think about animation. And also in a world where we're getting a little bit oversaturated with superhero movies, this is kind of what they need to do to evolve, create these different worlds to keep it fresh. Nobody really questions another into the Spider Verse movie because it's so different. On a mainstream scale. There's really not anybody else doing a movie like this, so I don't see anybody complaining. That is great for me. So before I get into my full thoughts, here's just a short little clip of it. What's the guy I gotta do to join this Spider team? You can never be part of this comma. Go easy on the kid. He had a terrible teacher. Peter Farles, you have a babe, I have a babe. Everyone keeps telling me how fun story is supposed to go him. So what was so exciting to me about the first one is it felt while watching that movie that that had no rules going into it. It could be anything it wanted to be. And it was a love letter to all the people who grew up with Spider Man, who grew up with the cartoon, playing the video game, reading the comic books, and it took all of those elements and put it into this movie and there were no rules, and then also into the Spider Verse, gave us all these different variations of Spider Man. And now on this movie they are taking it to an entirely different level by creating a cast of hundreds of Spider Man. So this was really the first movie when it came out back in twenty eighteen to dig into the multiverse first. And now everybody's doing it, but I think they do it the best because it's just fun to see all these different kind of Spider Man that exists in all these different universes. So in this trailer you see all these different Spider Man. You have Oscar Isaac who plays Miguel O'Hara. He is leading a group who is trying to protect the multiverse, and Miguel Harah kind of has this Stanos things going on of he is fine with sacrificing some of them for the greater good, but Miles Morales doesn't see it that way and he wants to protect everyone. You also have some new characters voiced by Essa Ray as Spider Woman and Daniel Caluya as Spider Punk, who is probably the one I'm the most excited to see. The movie is coming out on June's second, so I feel like in this movie we are going to get what is known as the classic Spider Man dilemma, the one that Tom Holland, Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield have all had to face of that struggle of wanting to be Spider Man and also wanting to be the person underneath the mask and wanting at the end of the day to always help everybody out and be the good guy. Where this movie seems to take a different turn is that Miles Morales is struggling with not wanting to end up like every other Spider Man. He wants to create his own journey. And you have all these people in this movie telling you this is your fate, this is what's going to happen, can't really change and alter your destiny because we've all experienced this, We've all experienced loss, we've all experienced the same struggle you're going through. We know exactly what you're going to do. But you hear Miles Morales in that trailer say nah, I'm gonna do my own thing, and delivering that with such confidence. You feel Miles Morales really coming into his own in this movie, which in the first one he was really trying to figure out how to be Spider Man. He was just some kid who just had these powers and was trying his best to just navigate them and save the world. But he really wasn't that strong in that movie, even in that final scene where he still struggles to defeat the villain, but you get a sense of him really maturing. So I feel like this movie will follow his journey and wanting to change the course that everybody tells them he is on, and him wanting to escape the inevitable. Inside that trailer, there's also an Uncle Ben reference, which we all know the story by now. I feel like in superhero movies we overtell their origin story so much, but that is what Spider Man has always had to deal with, whether it be the death of Uncle Ben, the death of Gwen Stacy, it is dealing with that loss and coming back from that kind of like a change person. Because whenever Spider Man experiences a loss, it alters their chemical makeup, It changes what they are fighting for, It changes their decision on whether they want to continue being Spider Man or they want to just go back to being that same regular human. So, by the looks of this trailer, even though it's not giving us a whole lot, I feel like that is what we are going to see. It's usually what we get in the part two of a Spider Man movie. They have to deal with some kind of loss, They have to deal with something that's really good. To tighten the screws on our character creates some tension. Will Miles lose his dad Jefferson Davis, Will he lose his mom Rio Morales or maybe Gwen Stacy, Or will he be the first to change history and be able to save the loved one that always gets lost in every Spider Man movie. I would like to see that. But I would also hope that they do with this one is avoid the love story, which they hinted at. It a little bit more in the initial teaser trailer, but I didn't really get that vibe in the first one that there was going to be a romantic relationship sparked between Miles and Gwen. I feel like it's a lot different because her character has the Spider Man abilities and she is fighting alongside them, So I hope they just continue that relationship of wanting to save the world together. I think it's the better storyline. The most frustrating thing to me about Spider Man is that all the movies are owned by different entities, whether it be Sony or Disney. And I did see that they just added on Disney Plus the Original Spider Man trilogy and the first Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider Man movie, and then they are going to add Homecoming, I believe next month in May. But there's just not one place where you can watch all these movies. And I was hoping that they would add into the Spider Verse on Disney Plus because it would just make it so much easier. And I feel like if this movie was a little bit more accessible, more people who haven't seen it would be able to watch it. But there's not a home for this one, so I hate that the solution would be for Sony to have its own streaming service because I'm not ready to add another streaming service to my arsenal. I just wish that they would all be available on Disney. Plus, I just need one place where I can get every single Spider Man movie and watch them all when I want to. Is that too much to ask? I think it's probably too much to ask. But again, Across the Spider Verse is coming out on June second, twenty twenty three, will probably be my favorite movie of the summer, if not easily enter the top five of the year. And then Beyond the Spider Verse, which will be Part three in this series, will come out next year on March twenty ninth, twenty twenty four. It is a great time to be a Spider Man fan.

00:45:45
Speaker 3: If that was this week's edition of Movie by.

00:45:48
Speaker 1: Framer Bar, and that's gonna do it for another episode here of the podcast. Before I go, I got to give my listeners shout out. And before I even get into that, I have to let you know that we went viral last week. If you missed it, I had the Broken Lizard guys aka the guys behind Supertroopers on the podcast, and I posted a clip of that interview on my TikTok where they talked about how they chugged actual bottles of maple syrup in that movie Supertroopers.

00:46:12
Speaker 4: I drank two and a half and I made him drink three and a half because you don't have it yet. Afterwards, we laid down in the dark in my trailer and just shook. And then when I got back to the hotel, I saw him coming out.

00:46:26
Speaker 1: He goes, have you pooped yet?

00:46:27
Speaker 4: And I'm like no. He goes, report back to me after you wait for it, and he goes, there's a reason. It's part of maple Syrp's part of the of the master clets.

00:46:35
Speaker 1: So I posted that clip on TikTok, didn't expect anything of it. Posted it one morning and checked back on it later in the afternoon, and it had a quarter of a million views. I went to bed that night it was probably sitting around seven hundred and fifty k, woke up the next morning it had crossed that one million mark, and at the time of recording this right now, we're at one point five million views on that clip, which is amazing. The first time I've experienced going viral on a clip, and I'm glad that the name of the podcast is right there on the clip. So maybe you listening to this now are new because you discovered that clip on TikTok and decided to check out the podcast. So welcome to the podcast. Welcome to the movie crew. On every single episode, I like to shout out a listener who just comments on my page, sends me a DM, or emails me Movie Mike d at gmail dot com. Since there was an interview last week, I always give a secret emoji, and it was the Lizard, so I went through all the comments and picked one at random. And this week's listener shout out of the week is Amanda Meyer and Amanda Road. Favorite interviews so far. I love the Broken Lizard guys. I've been a huge fan of them since Super Troopers. Still waiting for my sequel of beer Fest aka weed Fest that was teased at the end of the movie so many years ago. But I love listening to them talk about their process and how many movie projects they have in the works that haven't seen the big screen yet. They can do no wrong, So thank you, Amanda, I did see them talking about that. Your best sequel. Apparently Warner Brothers owns the rights to it, so could possibly see the light of day down the line, but they are working on Super Tubers three again. If you miss that interview, go back one episode here on the Feed. And this week, since we had another interview, time for another secret emoji. If you enjoyed the Alex Convery interview talking about Air, comment on my page with the basketball emoji and I'll pick one of those comments to be next week's listeners shout out. Thank you so much for listening, and until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.