96th Oscar Nominations Surprises, Snubs and Predictions with Mike and Kelsey + Movie Review: The Boys in the Boat + Trailer Park: Road House

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's Movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, joined today by my wife and cohs Kelsey. How are you.

00:00:06
Speaker 2: I'm great.

00:00:06
Speaker 1: We're about to get into the Oscar nominations, which I don't even know how I'm gonna react yet. I've had some time to process that a little bit. But we will give you the snub surprises and my predictions. In the movie review, we'll be talking about Boys in the Boat, which you read the book?

00:00:20
Speaker 2: I did?

00:00:21
Speaker 1: I did not. I never read the book, but we'll give the comparison of what was better in your opinion, the movie or the book. And then in the Trailer Park, we'll talk about the new Roadhouse trailer that came out with Jake Gillenhall. Thank you for being subscribed, thank you for listening every single week. Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies.

00:00:39
Speaker 3: 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.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: From the Nashville Podcast.

00:00:58
Speaker 3: Network, This is Movie, Mike Movie, popat Oscar.

00:01:03
Speaker 1: Nominations came out last week. We have a lot to get to, so let's get right into it. Kelsey, Who's nominated first for Best Picture?

00:01:10
Speaker 2: All right?

00:01:11
Speaker 4: We have American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things, and the Zone of Interest.

00:01:24
Speaker 1: As far as surprises, I feel like everything here is pretty typical. My only real surprise is that Air wasn't nominated. And it's hard for a movie that comes out early in the year to be considered once the award nominations come out.

00:01:38
Speaker 2: That was twenty twenty three.

00:01:40
Speaker 1: It was I am just surprised that that one wasn't nominated. You have Ben Affleck, you have Matt Damon, you have so many people involved in that movie. But man, I feel like that was one that was left off the list. I don't think it's a full on snub. I just thought maybe it would land in the category. Well, getting to some snubs here, iron Claw, I.

00:01:57
Speaker 4: Really thought that was gonna get a nom That movie was fantastic.

00:02:00
Speaker 1: And the thing about the Oscars in this class of movies, I love the Oscar. You know I love the Oscars.

00:02:05
Speaker 2: You love the Oscars.

00:02:06
Speaker 1: Every single year I watch it and I'm so dial bow type and my boat, my bow tie hoodie, and I get so excited about it because there are always movies that just change me and get nominated for Oscars, and it's hard for me to pick the one that I love the most. It's the hardest thing I have to do every single year. And this time there's not a sad movie that I love. Those are the types of movies that really speak to me, that stay with me. Last year it was The Whale. There's always that one that just hits an emotional level with me that I'm like, all right, like I want that one to win. I have no real emotional investment in any of the movies nominated for Best Picture. The movie that moved me this year that I continue to think about was The Iron Claw and I can't believe that it's not even nominated. And I guess it's because of the politics and who votes in these some other snubs. Obviously, my favorite movie of last year, God'silla minus One. I thought that would maybe had a slight chance. It had that Oscar level to me, But I guess because it's Godzilla, and there are like over thirty five Godzilla movies. Maybe it's not his novel, which is always what the Oscar nominees tend to be movies that represent the year but also do something different. And that is why I like this category every single year, because I feel like it's a time capsule representing a period of time. But man, I thought that one could have been nominated. Also The Killer, and also Saltburn.

00:03:23
Speaker 2: Not that disappointed about that one.

00:03:24
Speaker 1: I just feel like that movie had an impact, A lot of people talked about it, it came out at the right time. I feel like if they were going for a movie to kind of be that X factor, it would have been Saltburn. So what I think the winner here easily is Oppenheimer, which as we go through all of this list, I think it's good a clean House. It had the most nominations with thirteen, and it's the only one on this list I can really see that also has the critical acclaim, the financial success and it's only challenging that department would be Barbie, which I think honestly probably deserves it more than Oppenheimer. But if I'm looking at who I think is gonna win. I just think Oppenheimer is good at clean house.

00:04:05
Speaker 2: I would love for American Fiction to win.

00:04:07
Speaker 1: That's a great movie if you haven't seen that one. It's a story about a guy who isn't having much success as a writer. He's a black author, hasn't really published anything in a while, so he decides to give his publisher something so absurd and out of pocket, and then they end up loving it and he has to commit to creating this whole entire alias a great movie. Last Comedy Heartfelt. I would love for that one to win, but I don't think it has the caliber compared to the rest of the movies here. I don't think Killers of the Flower Moon will win. Yeah, I'm going with Oppenheimer here.

00:04:40
Speaker 2: What have we got next best director?

00:04:42
Speaker 4: We have Justine Tree for Anatomy of a Fall, Martin Scorsese or as they say Scorsese.

00:04:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess that's how they say it.

00:04:49
Speaker 4: Killers of the Flower Moon, Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer, Yourgos Lanthemos for Poor Things, and Jonathan Glazer the Zone of Interest.

00:04:57
Speaker 1: My surprise here, even though I didn't love movie, I thought Ridley Scott would get a nomination for Napoleon, just because he kind of appeals to what I believe is the Academy. So that's my only real surprise here. Everything else kind of tracks the snub here. The major snub is Greta Gerwig not getting nominated for Barbie. I couldn't believe it.

00:05:19
Speaker 2: It's such a snub.

00:05:20
Speaker 1: It is the biggest snub in years. Every single one of her films has been nominated for Best Picture, Ladybird, Little Women, Barbie, and for her not to get a nomination for Best Director, a movie that has been the highest grossing movie of the last year, one that dominated social media. I'm choking on my own rage here that she wasn't nominated, just nominated. I don't think she has to win, but to not even nominate her is ridiculous. So I don't know what they were thinking there, and that really made me lose kind of my I don't know why I hold the Oscars to this level of like being the greatest thing for somebody to achieve, which I guess they are, but man, it kind of diminished it a little bit for somebody like Greta Gerwy to not be nominated for such an impactful movie that is a snub of the century right there. So who I think is gonna win? It's gonna be Christopher Nolan. What do we got next?

00:06:13
Speaker 4: We have Best Actor, got Bradley Cooper for Maestro, Coleman Domingo for Rustin, Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers, Killian Murphy for Oppenheimer, and Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction.

00:06:25
Speaker 1: The only surprise here I see is that Leonardo DiCaprio was not nominated for Killers of the Flower Moon. I don't think it's a snub because while he was good in that movie, and he's really the only actor I could see portraying that character, not really his best role. It wasn't anything out of pocket for Leonardo DiCaprio. He was just being his best self. But I don't always think that that warrants a Best Actor nomination. I was just surprised, But I don't think it's a snub. The snub here is Zach Effron for him not to get nominated for The Iron Claw after what an amazingform warments for an actor who I didn't think he had that type of caliber of acting in him.

00:07:05
Speaker 4: It was, honestly, I think, the best role because he has perfected the bro comedy. He's perfected being the good looking one on the screen. But this was such a departure, and it was such a good dramatic role, and he played it so well, and that ending scene and like the one line that we all know made everyone cry. I mean that was emotion. That was raw talent in a role. And I've been a Zach Effron's stand since the high school musical days.

00:07:35
Speaker 1: And aside from the acting level that he reached in that movie, also the physical, say, the physical transformation as well the amount of time that he spent on his body. And then some people may ar like, oh, he was on steroids. I don't think he was, so I think a type of achievement with that should also be recognized, the toll that actors put their bodies through. If somebody loses a bunch of weight for a role, they get an easy nomination. If they gain a lot of way, they get an easy nomination. But for some reason, putting on muscle and doing something so physical doesn't warrant that same respect. I don't understand how he was not nominated. I also feel like Barry Keegan could have been nominated here too. He's really great in that movie, Like, without him, I don't think that movie would have really hit as well as it did. So I feel like that's a little bit of a snub just because he's really on the rise here.

00:08:23
Speaker 2: I mean, how many people have walked around their house singing Murder on the dance floor.

00:08:26
Speaker 1: And that's what a movie does, That's what a performance does. Makes people talk like that would really represent twenty twenty three for me, if that had a nomination, I would look back like, oh yeah, Saltburry came out that year. It's not represented here. The winner, though, is Kelly and Murphy. I think easily he had the best performance out of all the actors on this list. So if I were a betting man, which I'm not, I would parlay these three Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture all going to Oppenheimer. What do we have up next?

00:08:55
Speaker 2: We've got Best Actress.

00:08:57
Speaker 4: We have Annette Binning for Naiad, Lily Gladstone, Killed of the Flower Moon, Sandra Huler Anatomy of a Fall, Carrie Mulligan Maestro, and Emma Stone Poor Things.

00:09:07
Speaker 1: No major surprise for me here, but the snub obviously is Margot Robbie not getting nominated for Barbie along the same lines of Greta Gerwig not being nominated like she should easily. She could have easily won this category and to not be nominated not be nominated makes no sense to me.

00:09:25
Speaker 2: I'll tell you who the easy winner is, though, What do you got?

00:09:28
Speaker 1: Lily Gladstone. Yeah, that's who I have too, easy winner. The only one who could pick it up. I don't think she will is Emma Stone.

00:09:35
Speaker 2: Agreed, but I think it's gonna be Lily.

00:09:37
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:09:37
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be Lily too. I don't want to make less of Emma Stone's role in Poor Things because any other year she probably would win this category for a really hard role when you think about it, strong contender because how weird she had to be in that movie, also being very vulnerable and doing full frontal like a lot of it. That is a to and the transformation that her character goes through in that movie and the way she depicted that was amazing. So I think any other year she would have won this category. But Lily Gladstone made that movie. I don't care about Leo, I don't care about de Niro in that movie. I care about Lily Gladstone. So easily. She said, win for Best Actress. What do we have up next?

00:10:23
Speaker 4: We have Best Supporting Actor. We've got Sterling K. Brown American Fiction, Robert de Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon Robert Downey, Junior Oppenheimer, Ohno.

00:10:33
Speaker 2: They're both nominated again. Yeah, Ryan Gosling, Barbie and Mark Ruffalo, poor things.

00:10:38
Speaker 1: The surprise here, I feel like is Sterling K. Brown.

00:10:41
Speaker 2: Just because I love Sterling K. Brown.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: I didn't watch it and think, oh, he's going to get an Oscar nomination for that. But looking back on say.

00:10:49
Speaker 4: When you think back, and also I will say I I'll explain why. I was saying that both the Roberts were nominated because of the globes.

00:10:56
Speaker 2: One of them won and the other.

00:10:57
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, thought Downey one right, yes, and DeNiro like started to get up Robert and.

00:11:04
Speaker 2: He was like, yeah that was the other.

00:11:05
Speaker 1: Oh they should hold on to that. Robert put the camera on both of them and see who wins.

00:11:09
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:11:09
Speaker 1: I just thought Sterling King Brown, I love it. I just didn't think he would be nominated. The snub here, I think is going to the Iron Claw cast Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson, who were both amazing in that movie, and also Chris Tucker in Air, who I thought was hilarious and added just another comedic level to that movie. The winner here is tough because I want to say, Mark Ruffalo, I think it's Gosling. You think it's Gosling.

00:11:34
Speaker 2: I just have a.

00:11:34
Speaker 4: Feeling it's gonna be Gossling, and then it's gonna spark controversy.

00:11:37
Speaker 1: How I could see that. I'm gonna go with Robert Downey Junior. And I hate to load up so much on Oppenheimer, but he's been nominated three times. This is his third nomination and he hasn't won. I almost feel like he's about to have his DiCaprio moment. I always look at it. Who can I visualize up there on the podium accepting their award Gosling, and I could see that, I could see Robert. I just don't think the voters are gonna go the way of Barbie, kind of like what happened at the Golden Globes. They didn't win as many as I thought they were going to, So I feel like all these people are gonna lean towards Oppenheimer really strong. So again, don't want to load up so much. I just think they're the clear cut winner in a lot of these categories.

00:12:18
Speaker 4: What if they pull a La Lowland and Moonlight and they say the wrong Robert because.

00:12:22
Speaker 1: They also both start with a D, And then de Niro gets up there and they're like, actually, come on, Downy Junior.

00:12:27
Speaker 2: And then you gotta take the oscar from de Niro to Downey Junior.

00:12:30
Speaker 1: Oh, I ain't doing that, all right? What do we have up next?

00:12:34
Speaker 4: We have best supporting actress. We have Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple, America Ferrera for Barbie, Jody Foster for Naiad, and Davin Joy Randolph for The Holdovers.

00:12:49
Speaker 1: The surprise here for me is America Ferrera, who delivered one of the best movie monologues of all time. In a world now where we don't really have movie man on the lugs anymore, movie quotes are becoming less memorable. That was such a powerful monologue that I feel like that is what got her that nomination. The snub here I think is ma nameI Hamambe from god Zilla minus one. I don't know Japanese, and was able to feel so much from her character who she plays this woman who essentially is kind of the guy's wife. They kind of play pretend a little bit and then something crazy happens to her and just, oh my gosh. She was so great in that movie. And just to watch a movie that's not in your language and to be able to really feel something and to really just resonate with the character. I couldn't believe that god Zilla minus one didn't get any acting nominations, so that would be my snub here. But the winner here, I think is Davin Joey Randolph from The Holdovers, and it would be amazing to see her win. I think it would mean the most to her and oh Man to talk about a character who went through so much and had so much just baggage and emotion. Oh my gosh, just thinking about her character.

00:13:59
Speaker 4: She's an amazing the actress too, because I do this thing where I AMDB everyone every time I see something, and she had a funny role on Only Murders in the Building and then she switches to this and had this serious, like heartbreaking role. But she puts so much like grief and comedy into it. She was fantastic, and.

00:14:17
Speaker 1: It's like the subtle grief that her character has where in conversation with the other people in the movie, she's relatively normal, and then it's just weighing on her, weighing on her before it just really like hits her. And then, man, her acting ability has really come out in that one. So I really hope she wins. All right, and we'll go through the rest of these, we'll just talk about who we think is going to win.

00:14:39
Speaker 4: Next up, Best Animated Feature Film, The Boy and the Heron Elemental Pnemona Robot Dreams and Spider Man Across the Spider Verse.

00:14:47
Speaker 1: I love that Spider Man was nominated. I feel like they do that as a formality, but man, the amount of work that was put into that movie. It is a work of art, and I fully enjoyed every aspect of that. I just felt like it was a little bit and incomplete because of the way it left us. I would love for that one to win, because Spider Man is my favorite character. I just think in this category, the Boy in the Aaron has more of that critical appeal to it. It's an easy win for me. I'm going the Boy in the Heron. Next up.

00:15:15
Speaker 2: Best Adapted Screenplay, American Fiction, Barbie Oppenheimer, Poor things and the zone of interest.

00:15:21
Speaker 1: So adapted screenplay is a movie that was written based on an established material. So a book, a play, something else, and they adapt it into a movie. So for that reason, again loading up here, I'm going with Oppenheimer, which was based on a book.

00:15:37
Speaker 4: Next up, best Original screenplay, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers.

00:15:41
Speaker 2: Maestro made December and Past Lives.

00:15:43
Speaker 1: So different from adapted screenplay. This was just written as a movie. I'm going the Holdovers here.

00:15:50
Speaker 2: I'm going Past Lives.

00:15:52
Speaker 1: I think The Holdovers is a little bit more novel than Past Lives.

00:15:56
Speaker 2: We can agree to disagree here.

00:15:58
Speaker 1: I'm going with The Holdovers here. What do we have next?

00:16:00
Speaker 4: Best international film? We have Io Capitano, Perfect Days, Society of the Snow, The Teacher's Lounge, and the Zone of Interest.

00:16:09
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the movie you bailed out of watching with me, Society of the Snows too Much, which is about the plane crash in the Andes and.

00:16:17
Speaker 2: I was on the one to watch it.

00:16:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, you were like, hey, let's watch this movie, and then about I don't know, twenty minutes into it, you're like, this is too graphic for me.

00:16:24
Speaker 4: It was, it was and I know it's based on a true story, and it's so amazing how they survived.

00:16:28
Speaker 2: I physically couldn't stomach it.

00:16:30
Speaker 1: So, without giving away the entire story, plane crash goes down, they get stuck in the mountains and freezing cold temperatures and they have to resort to some pretty unusual things in order to stay alive. But the plane crash itself is very graphic, and things happen in that that you don't really think about that would happen in the plane crash, and that's what made you bail out of this movie. And it is a hard movie to watch because of them trying to survive and just all the things they went through. The amount of time that they were stranded there is quite InCred c edible. And it was also done in Spanish, so it feels a little bit more authentic to the actual people who were involved. And then at the very end when you see all the comparisons of the real life people, oh man, it kind of hits you in the gut too. So I'm going Society of the Snow, What do we have next?

00:17:15
Speaker 2: Best film?

00:17:16
Speaker 4: Editing Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon Oppenheimer and Poor.

00:17:21
Speaker 1: Things, getting into the nerdy categories here, which I still really enjoy. I love a good edited movie. I'm going with Poor Things because of the way that movie looked and just the flow of that movie that made me want to continue watching visually that you don't really think about those things sometimes before a movie, just to have like a really nice pacing to show you a lot of things in a lot of really weird ways, and also just great color palettes and all the things involved in that movie goes a long way. I'm going with Poor Things.

00:17:49
Speaker 2: Next up, best costume Design Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon Oppenheimer and Poor Things.

00:17:56
Speaker 1: I'm between two here, Barbie and Poor Things.

00:17:59
Speaker 4: That's exactly what I was because, oh Barbie, the color palette, the color palette, and the amount of characters in that movie, Like.

00:18:07
Speaker 1: That's a lot, I think Barbie, Yeah, because you have to make all these different types of Barbies and then everybody who dressed up. There's a lot in there.

00:18:15
Speaker 4: But I also feel like the crusty old men of the Academy are just like Barbie.

00:18:19
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm thinking of that too, But I'm also thinking of I'm going with Poor Things. I just think it's a little bit more artsy. I feel like the Academy would vote a little bit more towards like, oh this, look at their cool costumes.

00:18:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna say they're all crusty old men don't appreciate the work that went into I mean they looked like the Barbies of my childhood. I mean they had midged the pregnant Barbie in her ugly floral maternity shirt.

00:18:44
Speaker 1: I'm going with poor Things.

00:18:45
Speaker 2: Weird Barbie alone should win an award.

00:18:47
Speaker 1: Give it to Kay McKinnon.

00:18:49
Speaker 2: Honestly, all right, what do we have of next?

00:18:51
Speaker 4: Best Makeup and hairstyling golda Maestro Oppenheimer, Poor Things and Society.

00:18:57
Speaker 2: Of the Snow.

00:18:58
Speaker 1: Society of the Snow is interesting because it shows their characters getting dirtier and dirtier and more disgusting, their teeth getting grittier, their skin just getting so dark and dirty. I would like that one to win, but again I'm going with Poor Things here.

00:19:12
Speaker 4: Next up, Best Visual Effects The Creator, Godzilla minus one, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three, Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part one, and Napoleon.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: They throw some bones in this category. The Creator to get an Oscar nomination is outstanding Guardians. That's a nice nod to a movie that could have easily, in my eyes, been nominated for Best Picture for the emotional toll it took on us for like a week. Mission Impossible is interesting to see an action movie get nominated. That's part of a big franchise, Napoleon getting it's nod here. But you know what I'm going.

00:19:45
Speaker 2: With Godzilla minus one, the movie that was made.

00:19:48
Speaker 1: For less than fifteen million dollars, and I believe only had a team of thirty people working on the visual effects. Thirty people. To think of the amount of people that work on one Marvel scene is probably triple dot trip and they spend so much more money on the entire thing. This movie was made for less than what a She Hulk episode was made for.

00:20:07
Speaker 4: It makes like the American written editions of Godzilla looks so cheesy.

00:20:11
Speaker 1: And then you look at how good Godzilla looks in this movie, all the action it needs to win. If it doesn't win, I'm writing, I'm writing, what do we have up next?

00:20:19
Speaker 2: Best sound?

00:20:20
Speaker 4: We have the creator Maestro, Mission Impossible, Dead Rackoning Part one, Oppenheimer and the Zone of Interest Oof Oppenheimer.

00:20:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going with Oppenheimer. The sounds kept it driving in this movie, and also the absence of sound because whenever the big moment happens, it gets entirely quiet. So it's not always what you put in, it's what you'll leave out. What's up next?

00:20:41
Speaker 4: Best Cinematography, El Conde, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro Oppenheimer and Poor Things.

00:20:47
Speaker 1: I'm going with Killers of the Flower Moon here. I think the cinematography in that movie really played into the landscape of Oklahoma. It really made that movie feel like a modern day war Western, and there was just some beautiful imagery and Killers of the Flower Moon that out of all the movies in this category, I could just take single frames of that frame it and put it on the wall and it would look amazing. So I love cinematography. When I go watch a movie, I'm always paying attention to it, and Oppenheimer would probably be next in that category, also because we saw that movie in seventy milimeter. But I still think that Killers of the Flower Moon did a better job, So I'm going with Killers here.

00:21:29
Speaker 2: Next up, Best original score American Fiction Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny, Killers of the Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, and Poor Things.

00:21:37
Speaker 1: The score in Poor Things was really good. It had like this modern, almost like electronic sounds to its fun and like really artsy two and that really added to the tone of that movie. But I loved the score in Oppenheimer, which was really driving and along with the sound, created that idea of tension and in moments where there was really just dialogue happening and you know, the scientists figuring out things and writing things on the wall, it was the score that kept it moving and made it impactful and made it feel epic, and that is really any Christopher Nolan movie. So I'm going with Oppenheimer.

00:22:11
Speaker 4: And final up, best original song. We have the fire Inside from Flaming Hot. It wasn't expecting that.

00:22:18
Speaker 1: There's a little clip of that such such Next.

00:22:24
Speaker 4: Up, I'm just ken from Barbie anywhere else? Next up it never went away from American Symphony.

00:22:37
Speaker 1: Never went away. Next up was.

00:22:45
Speaker 4: A song for my people from Killers of the Flower Moon. Also, apologies, I didn't say that correctly.

00:22:55
Speaker 1: And finally, what.

00:22:56
Speaker 2: Was I made for? From Barbie?

00:23:03
Speaker 1: This is a tough category.

00:23:05
Speaker 2: These are all strong.

00:23:06
Speaker 1: Barbie kind of splits the votes here between I'm just canon what was I made for?

00:23:10
Speaker 2: I'm just Ken, which is a.

00:23:12
Speaker 1: Great fun and novel song, and I love it when you can incorporate that in a movie. I think that's what makes movies more memorable, to have an original song like that that's so kind of out of pocket and you have Ryan Gosling singing that. But I'm gonna go based on out of all these songs, one that I would just listen to normally, which is the way I have to go in this best original song, just because this is a tough category. So I'm going what was I Made For? By Billie Eilish and Phineas from Barbie.

00:23:39
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say I think that a song for my people, Killers of the Flower Moon is gonna take it.

00:23:43
Speaker 1: That's your pick, Yes it is. We'll throwing it in. We'll come back and talk about The Boys in the Boat. Gonna get into it now. A spoiler free movie review of The Boys in the Boat. This was a movie that came out in December. You missed it then because there were so many movies coming out in December. I hadn't finished the book either, but now it is available for you to rent at home, so we thought now is a perfect time to review it. Kelsey, You take it away with what the movie is about.

00:24:11
Speaker 4: The Men's Crew rowing team from the University of Washington going to the nineteen thirty six Olympics, their journey there, the results of all of that, and just kind of the tension surrounding the nineteen thirty six Olympics, which were held in Berlin right before World War Two started, And of course that was the most fascinating part of the book to me.

00:24:32
Speaker 2: Okay, into that, wa you love World War Two.

00:24:34
Speaker 4: Okay, here's what I have realized. World War Two is fascinating to me because it wasn't even one hundred years ago, and it seems like this very far off historical event, and we have so much knowledge, and there's so many books written about it, and there's so many survivors of the Holocaust and members of like these spy organizations that are writing these books and they're still alive to tell us the history.

00:24:55
Speaker 2: And that just blows my mind, Like.

00:24:58
Speaker 4: There are people still alive that survived the Holocaust. That just it literally blows my mind.

00:25:04
Speaker 1: I love the way they incorporated it in this movie. I almost wish that it was a bigger plot point, but I almost feel like if it were to be, it would be an entirely different film.

00:25:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, because there was so much more in the book.

00:25:15
Speaker 4: So I'll just go ahead and say the most interesting part of the book to me was when they get to Berlin for the Olympics, and the meticulous detail that Germany put into making sure that their very nasty agenda was hidden. They took down all of the signs that said Jews aren't welcome here. They were building the concentration camps not far from where the Olympics were held, and krall one knew what was to come in the next few years, like the sinister underlying, like Hitler and his team. He had a Minister of propaganda. They worked so hard to convince the world that Germany was just trying to rebuild itself after the First War, that they were just a great country, and that he was really leading the charge. And knowing what we know now, it's so fascinating to look back and read about that.

00:26:07
Speaker 1: It's always just like jarring for me to see like a swatstika in a movie and to see Hitler represented. I know you have to put it in there because it's history, but I think about the making of the movie process. Somebody has to make those things. Somebody has the dress of like Hitler. Yeah, it feels really weird to me.

00:26:24
Speaker 4: Getting back to the book, I will say I, as always in my opinion, except for where the crowdheads sing, the book was better than the movie. I loved the book. There's so much more detail. Obviously they have to adapt things. I'll do it without giving any spoilers. The movie starts like the beginning of the year in nineteen thirty six, and they act as if they're just putting together this rowing team. In reality, they've been rowing together for several years. The book starts in like nineteen thirty three when the boys Refreshman.

00:26:50
Speaker 2: Obviously you just have to cut some stuff out.

00:26:52
Speaker 1: Does the book also focus on one character, like in this one it's Joe who's the main character? Is it all okay? So it's the same, yep.

00:27:00
Speaker 4: I wish that they had given more of Joe's backstory. He had a very sad childhood. He and again this isn't spoiler because this isn't even in the movie.

00:27:08
Speaker 2: It's in the book. His mom passed away when he was little, and his dad.

00:27:11
Speaker 4: Remarried and his stepmom didn't really care for Joe, and so at a young age, he was literally left. His family packed up and moved and he was like, where are we going? And his dad was like, well, you're not coming with us, And they left this kid behind to survive on his own. And he just not even a rags to riches but a true you put your mind to surviving, like you are capable of so many things. I think so many of us hear stories are like I could never do that, But until you're put in the position of like having to survive and fight for yourself, he just did what he had to do. The book also goes a lot more into George Pacock. I think it's how you say his name, and he was the boat builder. He actually built the racing holes for most teams in the US, which was really fascinating. He was kind of a sub character in the movie, but he had a lot of wisdom to offer and he and kind of built a relationship. The book dives more into Joe and Joyce's love story. Yeah, they're just we're parts of the book that I really enjoyed. Similar to Killers of the Flower Moon, it took me a minute to get into it. I started it on a flight on our way back from Christmas, and I was kind of like, oh, this is boring. And then once you get just kind of past like the intro of Here's who is Who, I was like, I can't put this down.

00:28:21
Speaker 2: I gotta know what happens next. This is so good.

00:28:24
Speaker 1: So in the movie, it focuses on Joe going to college at Washington. He doesn't really have a whole lot of money and he's trying to find a way to pay for his semester because they're telling them if you can't pay, you're gonna have to get kicked out. And that's why he joins.

00:28:37
Speaker 2: The team because there's a small stipend.

00:28:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, you get a little bit of money for joining the team. But it's a very very competitive team because it's just a crazy sport. And watching this movie, I was just thinking about the physical aspect of rowing and how much of a toll that takes on your body, and how much physical upper strength goes into rowing.

00:28:56
Speaker 4: And your lung capacity all of that. It's like, I feel like you have to have the lung capacity of a swimmer, the upper body of anyone doing like.

00:29:07
Speaker 1: Strength, Yeah, like a bodybuilder, exactly.

00:29:10
Speaker 4: And then just the ability to put those together, because when you're in those boats that they were rowing, then like you were just one single file, one after the other. You can't see the other people because your back's are to them. I just I'm in awe of the you have to like become one. And that's what the book talks about a lot, is like how they struggled to get their strokes in sync and just really become one unit instead of eight people on a boat trying to make it move.

00:29:35
Speaker 1: And I thought of it from a perspective of I run, and that is the thing that you have to have, basically good breathing and just stamina. And I feel like from running it's kind of benefited all other aspects of my physical health of just not getting tired and having energy. And I think of it, if I were to take what I have now and the stamina I built up and tried to do a rowing, I don't think I could do it because it just so much of that upper body strength that I feel like me being able to breathe well and to withstand long distances would have no effect on it.

00:30:07
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even try to row.

00:30:08
Speaker 1: I do it a little bit at the gym, just the row machine like that takes a lot out of you. So I feel like that aspect of it was cool for me to see of how demanding the sport is. For the overall movie, I thought the tone of it was pretty good. It's from director George Clooney. I love the trend of big time actors, or even up and coming actors or we're just well established actors being directors because I feel like they can have a better relationship with the actors. They know what it's like to be behind the camera, and they have an interesting perspective on how to get certain performances out of actors, which is the main job of a director to get what you need out of your actors and to create this story that you have envisioned in your mind. And I thought you did a really great job at creating a very inspirational drama which kind of felt like a two thousand drama, which sports dramas then were like really really popular, And this movie kind of reminded me of a movie that you would watch in school to learn about history, which I don't know, I don't know if they still watch movies in school.

00:31:10
Speaker 2: Oh Man, when that TV.

00:31:11
Speaker 1: Was Yeah, when they roll that thing in We're gonna watch a movie today. It was always like October Sky or remember the Titans. Yes, those were the best days.

00:31:21
Speaker 4: On that cart with the VCRV yeah, VCR and the VHS tape hs, thank you.

00:31:27
Speaker 2: Wow, those were some good days.

00:31:29
Speaker 1: Tech me back, and after watching this movie, I thought I could see this being shown in classrooms across America to inspire kids. And I like that aspect of it because it felt inspirational without feeling cheesy, which sometimes sports dramas are like that. They kind of all have the same formula of oh, here's this ragtag group of individuals who can't win a single competition, but they're going to go on to win it all, and it has a big cheesy montage and all those things. It didn't really have that. It had real life emotion. You had a love story in there. You had the main character, Joe struggling of trying to be the best rower, but also had this emotional trauma with his dad and his family, and then the other people in the team also butting heads. From here to that. There were just a lot of aspects to the movie that it never really felt forced in a new way to me.

00:32:22
Speaker 4: I just wish they could have put more of the struggle of the team because they do to condense it.

00:32:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, they kind of had to make it seem like Okay, they tried, they made it.

00:32:30
Speaker 4: Here we go, but there was a lot of like changing members of the team and fighting for their place on the team. And again that's just the risk when you turn a book into a movie.

00:32:39
Speaker 1: Which it does have a bit of a longer run time, but to get to all the aspects longer. Yeah, you described, I almost would have enjoyed to see it. This movie would be interesting to see of how it would have worked as a mini series because there are so many more plot lines that you could go down some of the stuff I wanted to see more of. Like I mentioned earlier in the World War two connection, I feel like they're could have been a lot more story overall. But I do enjoy the movie easily digestible version of it. But yes, there could have been a lot more in here. So if there were any movie, I would have been curious to watch it as a mini series more than a movie. It could have been this one.

00:33:13
Speaker 4: And here's a little history factoid. People probably know this, but I was like, hmm, nineteen thirty six Olympics right before World War Two? So did they not have them in nineteen forty, because don't really know how we can all come together to celebrate athletes when we're all fighting each other. They did not have the Olympics in nineteen forty due to World War Two, So if you didn't know, now you do.

00:33:31
Speaker 1: Another connection that this movie has with the movie we mentioned earlier was the things going down in the Iron Claw that keeps Jeremy ellen White's character from competing in the Olympics, where the US pulled out of it.

00:33:43
Speaker 2: Yes, that was during the Cold War.

00:33:45
Speaker 1: So it's kind of interesting to go back, and I don't know have the.

00:33:47
Speaker 5: Olympics as a historical marker of like this is the state of the world. It is weird to think about the entire world coming together to compete when we're all just really fighting at any given time. So overall, for the boys in the Boat, what would you rate it?

00:34:01
Speaker 2: Four out of five? Ors? Oh?

00:34:02
Speaker 1: I thought you would go a little bit higher.

00:34:04
Speaker 4: I think I gave the book four and a half or four point seven five, so I need to be fair in that. I thought the movie was a little soub par compared to the book. Great movie, but I like the book better.

00:34:13
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to. I give it as well a strong four out of five college tuitions. Come back and talk about Roadhouse with Jake Dyllenhall.

00:34:27
Speaker 3: It's time to head down to movie Mike treylar Hau.

00:34:31
Speaker 1: The big question I have with the new Roadhouse movie starring Jake dyllon Hall is who asked for this? Seriously? Who asked for this? The original movie from the eighties starring the legendary Patrick Swayze is a cult classic. One day we look back and think of, oh, remember Roadhouse. That was a good movie. But in twenty twenty four, who was asking for this movie too be remade? So going into this trailer, going into all the sort of controversy around this movie, I just thought this was gonna be another cash grab and I thought I was gonna hate it with every fiber of my being. But then the trailer dropped and I was like, Oh, this is not what I was expecting. This actually looks pretty good. It doesn't look like anything that's gonna change my life. But man, and maybe it's because I like Jake Jillenhall, just how slick all the action look, the fact that it didn't feel anything like the original movie. Aside from Jake Gyllenhall's character being named the same as Patrick Swayze's character, a very loose connection to the actual story is very loose. Just happens to also take place at a roadhouse. Everything else feels completely different. So before I get into morerow my thoughts about roadhouse, here's just a little bit of the trailer. A friend of mine suggests it.

00:35:55
Speaker 2: I come talk to you. I own a roadhouse out in.

00:35:58
Speaker 3: The Florida Keys.

00:36:00
Speaker 2: Lately it's been at tracks in the wrong clientele.

00:36:04
Speaker 1: I can pay you good money. Judge him by your car. You need that well, I like my car.

00:36:08
Speaker 2: Think about it.

00:36:09
Speaker 1: I know who you are, that Ad Dulton.

00:36:14
Speaker 3: I got it you for you don't let no one get this close.

00:36:21
Speaker 1: So in this reboot, Jake Gillenhall is a former UFC fighter and now the owner of a Florida Keys roadhouse, finds him sleeping in his car, offers him the job to come work at the roadhouse, and then he gets roped into this big war between outlaws and bikers. There at the end of that trailer you heard real life mixed martial artist Connor McGregor, who I thought his performance in this was gonna be so cringe, But maybe it's because Connor McGregor himself is like a caricature. He's very over the top and cheesy and somehow translated perfectly into this movie trailer so far. So I thought that was going to be a terrible addition, and I was gonna feel like, oh, look, we got Connor McGregor in this, we're making it different, but somehow actually really works for me. This movie is coming out on March twenty first on Prime, which after looking at this trailer, I thought, how is this movie not getting a theatrical release? Given that going into it, I thought, why is this even being made? Throw it on the streaming service and we'll forget about it. But seeing how good it actually feels on a trailer, I can't imagine not seeing this movie on the big screen. But Amazon really now isn't in the business of putting movies in theaters anymore. That's really not what they're all about. They are all about selling Amazon Prime subscriptions. If you forget that element of it, then you gotta be reminded that these are the same people selling you toilet paper. They don't really care about the integrity of a movie. They love having a movie name that people know with a big star like Jake Jillenhall, throw it on their streaming service and give people more of a reason to subscribe to Amazon. So much so that the director is boycotting the premiere of this movie because he wants it to be put into theaters. Now, I have to say, after watching this, I'm kind of with him and Jake Jillenhall. I think this movie should go out in theaters. You have a big star who can go out and promote the movie, and it just seems like an easy plug and play. And this is coming from somebody who normally rolls their eyes at movies like this. Like I said, it feels like it was something that nobody asked for. But it looks way better than the half baked attempt that I was expecting. It looks like a big, fun action movie that demands the big screen that people can go and just enjoy and have a good time. That is the important part here. Now, Don't get me wrong, Jake jillen Hall is no Patrick Swayze. Patrick Swayze was incredibly charming in Roadhouse, even as he was beating dudes up. With Jake Jillenhall, it feels like they are turning up the violence a little bit more, giving him the backstory of being a UFC fighter. It seems like the way they are really making this one different is making a little bit more violent. Not that the first one was, but it was kind of like eighties violence. This is way more modern day, big Hollywood studio violence. And I also just love that Jake gillen Hall will do movies like this. He's an incredibly versatile actor, and I feel like in the last few years he's really had this moment of clarity of realizing that he doesn't need to do all these big dramatic roles to be taken as a serious actor. That he can also do big, fun movies that people enjoy, but then also do the movies that are more critically acclaimed and challenge him more as an actor, which is throw him in a dramatic role and nobody questions it. And if you look back at the original movie, which only costs fifteen million dollars to make and went on to make thirty million dollars, it's not like it's a giant hit, so arguably still it's a cult classic. But I don't feel like there was a mega fan base really wanting this movie to be made, So maybe putting it on streaming is the better move for my financial standpoint. But Amazon, I just throw them the money and put it in theaters. But again, it's coming out March twenty first on Prime Video.

00:39:59
Speaker 2: That is this week's edition of Movie Live.

00:40:02
Speaker 1: Tram or Bar, and that is going to do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I got to give my listeners shout out of the week. I normally do it to somebody who sends me a DM, tags me in their Instagram story, comments on my TikTok at Mike Deestro, or my Facebook page. You just searched Mike d Shrow on Facebook and you'll find me there. But this week I'm actually diving into the voicemail line of the Bobby Bone Show. Got this really nice message from a listener who did not leave their name, but this is what they had to say.

00:40:30
Speaker 6: Morning Studio. I wanted to give a shout out to Mike d. I am a high school teacher and my students are currently doing a movie review unit, and I played one of his podcast episodes to my class to show them what a spoiler free review sounds like, and it was awesome. Thank you so much for all that you do. We appreciate you. We love listening to you.

00:40:51
Speaker 1: A movie review unit in high school. What high school is this? I wish we had that because I was just watching movies and reviewing them for myself back in high school. But thank you for sharing my reviews. I take pride in doing spoiler free reviews. It's a kind of tough process because there are always details that I want to get into, but I don't want to ruin it for anybody who is going to watch the movie later. But this is what I've learned over the years of doing spoiler free reviews, and you can share this with your high school students. Here's my process. First, you go watch the movie, and going into watching the movie, I like to know some background as far as who directed it, who is starring in it, the general plot of the movie. And because of the nature of doing this podcast, I have probably already seen the trailer. So I go watch the movie and as I watch it, I'm thinking of different things that I'm enjoying, and as I'm watching the movie, I'm asking myself different types of questions and really making notes on how the movie makes me feel, because as long as you talk about how a movie makes you feel, that's not really giving a whole lot away. And when I do a review, I usually stop talking about things that happen after the second act of the movie because everything there is total spoil zone. So after watching a movie, I'll go into my phone and just make a list of notes of all the ideas that came to me, as far as moments I liked, things I didn't like things, I saw things I wasn't expecting. If it's part of a big franchise, I asked myself questions like, are people who love this franchise gonna like this installment? What were some key players in here? What actors had good moments, what actors had bad moments? What was the directing like? What parts made me laugh? What parts made me cry? What parts made me angry? What moment did I want to leave the theater if it was a bad movie? And then to top it all off, before I do my review, I'll go and watch the trailer one more time to make sure all the things that I am talking about are featured in the trailer. Therefore, I would say our fair game to talk about. And then when it comes to talking about endings, I just avoid them altogether. Every movie has an ending, so talking about the way a movie makes you feel at the end of it, I don't feel as a spoiler and lets you talk about who lived and who died. But sometimes I don't even like to know how movie endings are going to make me feel, so I don't include that anyway. So that's your process. You go and watch it, you make notes, You go back and look at those notes, maybe write a little bit more, and then maybe go read an article or two that director or an actor has given an interview so you can add a little bit more insight. There you go. That's how you do a spoiler free review. So feel free to share that with your high school class. Thank you for listening, thank you for being subscribed, and until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.