WE MET TOM HANKS!! Plus More Movie Star Encounters + Movie Review: The Flash + Trailer Park: Pixar’s Elio

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, joined again by my wife, Kelsey.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: How are you great.

00:00:06
Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about meeting Tom Hanks. I have some other movie star encounters. I think my top three I've ever had. In the movie review, we'll be talking about The Flash, which you won't be here for that part of the podcast, but give me one word about the Flash man Ooh, it's a pretty good indicator of what my review will be to come. And in the trailer park we'll be talking about the new Pixar movie Ilio coming out next year. Thank you for being subscribed, Thanks for listening. Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew, and now let's talk movies.

00:00:38
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.

00:00:51
Speaker 1: He's basically like a.

00:00:52
Speaker 3: Walking IMTB with glasses from the Nashville Podcast Network.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: This is movie Mike, So that is the headline. We met Tom Hanks and it was awesome. And we have not told this story in full how it all went down, but I rarely get starstruck, and leaving that place, I felt like I was floating.

00:01:14
Speaker 2: You were so giddy.

00:01:15
Speaker 1: I've never been that excited about meeting somebody before.

00:01:18
Speaker 2: We're incredibly giddy.

00:01:19
Speaker 1: And I think it's because I feel like movie stars are a little bit unattainable. We live in Nashville and we experience all of kind of the music world. We see a lot of artists inside of country music, but also in the pop world. It's not unusual to meet somebody in music, but when it comes to movie stars and people you onways see on the big screen, it feels like a whole different world.

00:01:44
Speaker 4: Unless it's Reese for there student because she lives in Nashville part time.

00:01:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, so if they're not a Nashville local kid true, which I'll have something on her later, But yes, it just feels to me like movie stars are people you're never going to meet and will never have the chance to meet unless you were starring in a movie with them. So I think that's why I was so excited to meet Tom Hanks. So how this all came together? If you only know me from this podcast, it's not my primary job. I am the head writer on the Bobby Bone Show, and I am also the executive producer on The Bobby Cast, And on that podcast we had Rita Wilson.

00:02:19
Speaker 4: Who is an actress, producer, singer, and also happens to be married Tom Hanks.

00:02:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, she was in one of my favorite movies, Jingle All the Way.

00:02:27
Speaker 2: That's a great movie.

00:02:28
Speaker 1: So it was also cool getting to do that podcast with her and meeting her, and through that I formed a relationship with her PR person and she was doing a show here in town at the Bluebird, which if you haven't been to Nashville, I would say that is one of the top places you have to go. Surprisingly, I've lived here for seven years, you've lived here for three years now. We've never been, so that was our first time going.

00:02:51
Speaker 2: That was the best date night we've had.

00:02:53
Speaker 1: So if you ever come and plan a trip to Nashville, I would say plant it around a visit to the Bluebird if you can, which is harder to get into because it is such a small venue. I think it holds less than one hundred people, so it's a small, very intimate show. It's a different vibe than a normal concert because it's songwriters sitting in a circle telling stories and playing songs that they wrote at this event. In particular, it was a Rita Wilson show where she brought in some of her favorite writers that she's worked with and they all went around telling stories and it was awesome.

00:03:23
Speaker 4: So it was like the most eclectic mix of songs that I wasn't expecting, oh yeah from that evening, Like they were the writers that she had, like wrote some of the biggest hits, and I was like, I wasn't expecting to hear waffle House tonight, but shout out Daniel Tashin.

00:03:40
Speaker 1: It's one of the most Nashville experiences you can really get beyond the rhyman, beyond the opry. I think it's one of the coolest experiences that I've had, So I'd say put that top of your list. But we go to this show and we walk in and in the back of my mind when we first were talking about going to the show, I thought there was a slight chance that Tom Hank could be there.

00:04:03
Speaker 4: Tom also does love Nashville. I would like to say he did a book event here last month. Yeah, when he released his book. Yes, you were supposed to go with me out of time for work. It was unfortunate, But I went and held the fort down and got to listen to Tom Hanks talk about his book. And he's close friends with Anne Patchett, who is an author and owns Parnassas Books here, and so they did the book event. So I feel like he likes Nashville. And obviously Rita comes to do songwriting, so I feel like Tom has a soft spot for Nashville.

00:04:32
Speaker 1: I feel like he just loves music after seeing how he acted at this show. But we went to the show, and, like I said, just in the back of my mind, I thought, what are the chances that he is here too? The only reason I thought he wouldn't be there is because he wouldn't want to take the spotlight away from Rita. If Tom Hanks shows up, suddenly he becomes that, oh Tom Hanks is here, and all the focus would be shifted towards him. But that wasn't the case here. We walked in, we sat down in our seats, didn't even notice him at first.

00:05:01
Speaker 4: No, the lady sitting at the table with us was like chatting, and then she was like Tom Hanks is over in the corner, and we just like turn around and there's Tom just like chatting away with who we later realized was.

00:05:13
Speaker 1: Faithful, So another mega celebrity, and he was just there in the corner of the entire time, just chilling and hanging out, having fun, singing along.

00:05:22
Speaker 4: Tom was the most supportive husband. There was a point when Rita asked everyone to get their cell phones out and turn their flashlight on and wave them and Tom couldn't have gone his flashlight out faster, hands are in the air. There was another part where she does not like a call in response, but like she wants people to like echo the words that she sings. I don't want to give it away. But Tom is in the corner like shouting the lyrics. He knows all of her songs. He's clapping along, and I was like, this man is so supportive of her, and it was the cutest thing ever, like to see him as like Tom Reda's husband, not Tom Hanks the superstar.

00:06:02
Speaker 1: And I think for me, like I love the show. I was fully engaged with the show, but throughout it I would go and check on Tom just to see how he was taking care of it. In him yeah, singing, And the thing is to be that big of an actor, you have to be very charismatic and very animated, and it was interesting to look over to him and see him be that. Yeah, to see him have like reactions on his faces, clapping his hands, like just having that moment to interact with the show and have it affect him. You can see why he is so good at what he does. So just seeing his interaction was also fun for me. So the entire time I was thinking, how are we going to meet Tom Hanks? I just couldn't imagine leaving that place and not even just saying hi. And even when you would go walk to the bathroom, you would walk by where he was and it was just kind of cool to see him. I was like, there just has to be a moment. But again, nobody was bothering him during the show. People later figured out that he was there, but there was never like a mad dash to go say hi to him. Nobody mess with him.

00:07:01
Speaker 4: The focus was very respectful on Rita and the other songwriters, and also the way the Bluebirds set up, like you can't really not focus on the songwriters, and that's what you're there for. You've bought the ticket for that, You've paid to come to this. So I would say everyone was very like respectful. He was also in the corner to where most people's backs were to him, and I feel like if you didn't realize before the lights went down that he was there, you weren't gonna notice it.

00:07:26
Speaker 1: I think it's also speaks a little bit to Nashville, is there's not really that culture if you do see a celebrity out in the wild bombard them, you kind of let them be. But afterwards we went and we said hi to Rita, and then out of the corner of my eye, I see a line for me and I realized that somebody has now broken the seal and asked him for a picture.

00:07:47
Speaker 2: Shout out to that person.

00:07:49
Speaker 1: And once they do it for one person, it opens it up for everybody to go up and take a picture. And I looked at you and said, I gotta get that selfie, And in that moment, I just thought we'll go over there. It was funny because it was kind of like an unauthorized meet and Greek happened that people just started forming a line, and the whole system just formed on its own of you go up, you say hi to them, you take a picture, you go up say It was.

00:08:15
Speaker 4: Just very respectful except for the people that did try to cut in front of us, and we were just straight that the Bluebird was gonna like shut it down. And so normally I'm like whatever, I'm not gonna fight someone, but I did put my foot.

00:08:26
Speaker 1: Like you dominated that situation.

00:08:28
Speaker 2: I can handle a line.

00:08:30
Speaker 4: I was like, nope, I was here because I was just worried that they were gonna come over and be like, so sorry everyone, Like can't have everyone either like congregating here or we need to shut down.

00:08:38
Speaker 1: Which is almost what happened because we walked over there right after talking to Rita, and we were maybe six groups behind the front of the line, and a couple people went, but then they turned up the house lights and it looked like they were about to start kicking people out.

00:08:52
Speaker 4: I were cleaning the tables, and again the Bluebird is so small, so like the staff is trying to clean up and go home for the evening, so they're clearing all the tables using the tables, and everyone waiting is like.

00:09:02
Speaker 2: In the way.

00:09:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I got worried about it.

00:09:04
Speaker 4: I was like, oh no, they're gonna come over and kick us out. We were gonna have been so close to Tom Hanks.

00:09:08
Speaker 1: And there was also still another two or three groups of people behind us, so I was like, let's just move it on.

00:09:13
Speaker 2: I wouldn't worry about them. If I'm being honest, I.

00:09:16
Speaker 1: Kind of was. I don't know why I was. I am just thinking about other people and how much I wanted to meet him that I would be so bummed out if it got cut off right before us. So also, Tom is a pro, and I saw him doing the selfie method or where he just grabs the person's phone, takes the selfie, moves it along. I think that is kind of the go to move for people trying to take a bunch of selfies at one time. But luckily we made friends with the person in front of us.

00:09:39
Speaker 4: Who is a listener of this podcast. Shout out, Donna, you were so kind, so nice. She took the photo for us, and it is a great photo of us.

00:09:48
Speaker 1: It is great.

00:09:48
Speaker 4: It is going to get framed in this office up on the wall. We were going to tell her kids someday that we met Tom Hanks and like, I mean, you put on Instagram, it wasn't your run in the mill like selfie.

00:09:57
Speaker 1: It was a great picture.

00:09:59
Speaker 4: Although I will say, she took two and then one of them my eyes were closed, and you sent me the picture after we left, and but you sent me the wrong one, and I was like, I just run this photo. We're gonna have to like photo show eyes on me. But now Donna thank you so much. She were so kind. It's lovely to meet you. You took a great photo.

00:10:15
Speaker 1: I will say, that's always my worst fear of taking a photo with somebody famous is that the picture's gonna come out. You get one shot either not come out at all, or like what it wasn't that first one of having my eyes closed. And the weird thing is, I've also had dreams of meeting famous people and then I go to look back and like, is the picture actually there? And it's always disappeared. So I've had this nightmare of it not actually happening. But before we got up to him, I started thinking about what I was going to say to him, and I told you that I wanted to ask him or just mention about Asteroid City, which is coming out this weekend now. And once we got up there, all of those ideas just kind of went out the window.

00:10:53
Speaker 4: For me.

00:10:54
Speaker 2: I dominated the conversation.

00:10:55
Speaker 1: You did.

00:10:56
Speaker 4: I told him that I was at his book event because I wanted Tom Hanks that in this house we value all of his work.

00:11:02
Speaker 1: And I think that's also the mentality I had, is I wanted to talk to him about something he had coming out versus Oh, man, you were really good, as would he.

00:11:10
Speaker 2: I feel like he was very excited that he was. He lit up, Oh that was a great event.

00:11:16
Speaker 1: Yes, it was, sir, And really all I said to him is right when we walked up, I said, it's an honor to meet you. You mind if we take a picture with you?

00:11:23
Speaker 2: That sounds right?

00:11:24
Speaker 1: And then he was like, come on in, and then I walked up a little bit. He was also standing on like a riser, so that's why he shok his hand.

00:11:31
Speaker 4: He put his hand on both of our shoulders. A week later, I don't think you've washed that hand.

00:11:35
Speaker 1: I've not watched the hand. That was something I wasn't expecting him to shake my hand and had such a great handshake like that is something I will not forget.

00:11:43
Speaker 4: And like the picture, he is just like so like fatherly in the photo, like over both of us with.

00:11:47
Speaker 1: A hand on our shoulders, and people were saying he looked photoshop. He was not photoshop. That was really he was real. So, like I said earlier, I left that experience floating. I didn't just something I didn't think would ever have, and meeting somebody that famous, who I've seen in so many movies, and then having every expectation of what I thought he would be, like completely met He is as nice as you would think he would be, He's as charismatic as you think he would be, and the entire situation played out perfectly that I just felt like it was a dream.

00:12:18
Speaker 4: It did give us like a lot of like cool points with my younger brothers because I was like, Tom Hanks is in this room and they really get a picture? Yeah obviously, And then they were like, well you really met him? Like yeah, we did.

00:12:28
Speaker 1: It's rare to get a picture with somebody that famous. It's one thing photo shot.

00:12:32
Speaker 2: Again, we owe you.

00:12:33
Speaker 1: It's one thing to just see somebody that famous, but you get a picture, even just a selfie, but as good of a picture. We got ten out of ten. So that is by far the most famous movie star I've ever met. I put together a list of my top three so easily. Tom Hanks's number one I don't think anybody could compete with that. I think when it comes to the biggest movie stars of all time, or at least the one's still dominating now, it's the two Toms, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise. And if I had to meet one of them, definitely Tom Hanks.

00:13:01
Speaker 2: Yeah don't. I don't really have any desire to meet Tom Cruise.

00:13:04
Speaker 1: But second up on my list that I've actually met is Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. So I actually met him before he really got into acting in movies. He was still Troy Barnes in Community, but now he's also played Lando in the Solo movie. He was the voice of Simba in The Lion King, at least the live action one. He was also in Spider Man, the first one with Tom Holland, and I think that was cooler for me, just because I was a bigger fan of his music and his comedy at the time and afterwards is now when he has gotten more into the mainstream into acting.

00:13:36
Speaker 4: And if you're like me, it took you a year into dating.

00:13:39
Speaker 1: To figure out that.

00:13:40
Speaker 2: He and Childish gambin over one person.

00:13:43
Speaker 1: But the first time I met the first time I met him, he came in and did an interview on the Bobby Bone Show when We're still in Austin, and I had written a letter to Donald Glover proclaiming how much I loved him, loved his movie, loved community, loved everything he has ever done, and then Bobby read it to him on the air, and then I got to meet him afterwards, which in the moment he was probably a little creeped.

00:14:04
Speaker 4: Out, but does feel a little embarrassing. I don't know that I knew it was read to him on air.

00:14:08
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it was read to him, But then afterwards he signed it for me. I did not what was signed, and he wrote thank you, Donald Glover, and then we took a picture afterwards. And also I ended up getting tickets and VIP passes to his show that night at Stubbs in Austin, and it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. At number three on my list would be Dennis Quaid. It was at the time he was part of a podcast called make It Up as We Go, which is like a scripted podcast, but it's based on country music, and Bobby had a part in it. So he came into the radio station to basically direct Bobby on his lines. And Dennis Quaid. I mean, I know him from the Day After Tomorrow, one of our favorite disaster movies, The Rookie. He's been in so many movies.

00:14:51
Speaker 2: You're forgetting the parent Trap, thank you.

00:14:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was in so many movies in the two thousands, and meeting him, I realized, like sometimes people just look famous. He not only just looks famous, but he has like that famous person energy. He walked in, he was like wearing a leather jacket in the middle of summer, and he immediately went into like director mode, was firing off different ways for Bobby to say lines. So he very much had that movie star presence to him. But he is one of the most famous persons I've met that I don't have a picture with. But I do have like audio of me like talking to him down the line when we were recording, but he didn't know he was being recorded, So I don't want to play any of that, but I do have it. But I never got a picture with him because right after he was done, like I said, he had that movie star energy in and out, I'm out of here, poof of dust, and he was gone. Those are my top three most famous movie stars I've ever met, and then I have a list of other people who I've had just encounters with. A Number one on that list would easily be Nicole Kidman, who I saw at the mall. At the mall of all places.

00:15:54
Speaker 2: Stars are just like us, they love them all out.

00:15:56
Speaker 1: I've seen her multiple times at this same mall, just her and her kids, and I kind of forget how famous Nicole Kidman is.

00:16:03
Speaker 2: She's in insanely famous.

00:16:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, then you see her and Keith Urban at the met Gala and you're like, oh, yeah, she is really famous. And she also shops at Nordstrom and I didn't really have interaction with her whatsoever aside.

00:16:16
Speaker 4: Shops in a different part of Nordstrom from us.

00:16:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, she has like a whole different tax bracket situation. You know how much she can'spend. She's not trying to get a coupon at the at the counter when she goes to check count.

00:16:27
Speaker 2: Okay, I feel attacked right now.

00:16:29
Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with the good coupon, but she doesn't need it.

00:16:31
Speaker 2: She doesn't need it.

00:16:32
Speaker 1: Also, one that we experienced together was Gwyneth Paltrow. Oh yeah, I forgot at the grocery store at Whole Foods, and that was one that both you and I realized it at the exact same time, which we are pretty good at fighting out famous people, we are.

00:16:47
Speaker 4: And I was so thankful in that moment for this, Like I don't know, we've been together five years. It's like shared language of like looks like we can communicate really good, like we could have an entire conversation non verbally. And so we're like walking in Whole Foods, and I know he told the story, but like we see her and I think you were pushing the car and you turned around to look at me and we just like nodded, and it was just a little big and then we end up on the same aisle.

00:17:10
Speaker 1: And then she was there with her daughter Apple and they were buying peta chips.

00:17:14
Speaker 2: We were in our way. We had to say excuse me, I know.

00:17:17
Speaker 1: And after that our running joke is now calling her Gwynn Quinn, Can I call you gwyn And I think that was also weird of seeing that famous of a person in a grocery store just being a normal human dressed in regular clothes.

00:17:31
Speaker 4: Not just very clothes. She was looking very like coastal California.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: She like just rolled up Whole Food. I'm gonna buy a few things and head back home.

00:17:39
Speaker 2: Car was full.

00:17:40
Speaker 1: The cart was probably pretty expensive, but yeah, Pepper Potts in the Flesh was one of the coolest ones that we've just randomly run into. And then my final one in my top three is Lynn Manuel Miranda, who I met. I didn't really meet him, but I was in the same elevator with him. I was in Washington, d C. At the Kennedy Center on her and Casual and he I shouldn't have been there. I was just there with Bobby and I was in like a T shirt, a leather jacket, and like some kind of sweat jogger pants because we had just flown in that morning and I didn't know I was gonna be hanging out there all day. And I like a bum and I'm just trying to find a bathroom. So I go and I can't find one. So I walk all the way down this hall and there's like this industrial sized elevator and I think, hey, maybe if I take this elevator it will leave me to a bathroom. I get on it, I go up, I find a restroom and then I'm coming back, get on that same elevator and then we hit another floor and all these people get on and one of them is Lynn Manuel Miranda's with like a group of other people all dressed in like white suits, look looking very fancy.

00:18:44
Speaker 2: That was like the height of Hamilton.

00:18:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, like fame.

00:18:48
Speaker 4: That was before it was out on Disney Plus. But that was when he was still doing like all the shows. That was like peak Hamilton fame definitely.

00:18:56
Speaker 1: But I'd say that was a pretty just random interaction with somebody pretty famous.

00:19:01
Speaker 4: I have want two interactions with the same random famous person.

00:19:05
Speaker 2: Here.

00:19:05
Speaker 4: One was with you. We saw Johnny Galecki crossing the street and from Oh and then I had a friend in town and I was telling her how we ran into Johnny Glecky in time and it was the most random thing. And we're at brunch and I go to the bathroom and who walks out of the bathroom but Johnny Galecky.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: He just shows up.

00:19:23
Speaker 2: What it weirdest moment like I had.

00:19:25
Speaker 4: We had been in the car telling her about this, and then I walked out of the bathroom and I was like, okay, all right, yep, there he is again.

00:19:31
Speaker 2: So I've now seen Johnny Gallecky twice.

00:19:33
Speaker 1: I freaked out when we saw him. I wanted to roll it. I started to roll down the window to get stopped.

00:19:38
Speaker 2: You from embarrassing us.

00:19:39
Speaker 1: I was like, big bang theory. No, no, but that is our interactions with movie stars. If you have met somebody famous in a random location and have the picture to prove it, let me know. Hit me up on Instagram, TikTok at Mike Distro, or send me an email movie Mike d at gmail dot com. Come back, I'll give my of the flash and then we'll talk about Pixar's l e O in the trailer park. You got something to say?

00:20:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had a funny thought of like a missed opportunity. When I was in college, Taylor Kitch came to the UT campus for something totally random I don't remember, and I had left campus, gone back to my apartment, got my car, and I went to my oil changed and I missed meeting Taylor Kitch and one of my friends sent me a picture and I loved Friday night Light. It's like, oh, Taylor Kitch was the end all be all, like timber Agains forever. And I was at Jiffy Lube, and I was like, this is what I get for being responsible. So it was a missed opportunity.

00:20:35
Speaker 1: Yeah. One missed opportunity for me is mister T was at the mall and I kept telling myself, I'll go a little later, I'll go a little later. And once I got there, the guy at the mall said he just left, and when I asked if he'd ever come back, he said, I didn't know. It's actually a quote from The Simpsons, and there we go. We'll be back after this. I try to get into my spoiler free movie review of The Flash, a movie I had ha hopes for because the trailer made it look awesome and made the action look like it was gonna be just shot after shot of really cool things. You have Michael Keaton back as Batman, the og Batman my favorite out of any single actor who has put on the latex suit and pointy ears. You also have Ben Affleck, who I feel like didn't really get his fair shot at playing Batman, so I thought maybe this would be a little bit of redemption for him. And there was also a lot of speculation of all the people who are going to be in this movie. I won't ruin that for anybody. But I was going in expecting a lot of humor, heart and surprises, and it was being described as Back to the Future meets Spider Man No Way Home. So what the story is here with the Flash. This is his first movie. We've seen him in the Justice League, but this is our first time really getting to know Barry Allen as the Flash. So what the Flash is experiencing is he is really just the bottom of the barrel superhero when it comes to the Justice League. He is the one who is sent out to clean everybody's messes. So if Batman can't be there to save somebody, they send the Flash. If Superman needs somebody to clean up his mess, they send the Flash. If Wonder Woman gets a little too tired and can't make it there in time, they send the Flash. He is really like the custodian of the Justice League, and he kind of knows this and accepts this as his role, being the youngest and most inexperienced of anybody in the Justice League. But aside from what he experiences as the Flash, in his personal life, his dad is on trial who is being accused of killing his mom, and Barry Allen is trying to clear his dad's name, so he has all these conflicting things going on in his brain, and he is reflecting on his childhood when he still had his mom around and now that his dad has been in prison for so long, and he kind of has this fit of rage moment, this overly emotional I'm just gonna run until I can't run anymore, which I've had that as a runner. Sometimes it just feels good to run as fast as you can to get all that energy out. Sometimes I get really emotional when I run. I can actually remember a couple times where I cried running because I had all these emotions flowing through me. I didn't know how to deal with it, so I just went on a really long run. So I identified with that scene in the Flash. But what the difference is with him. He runs so fast that he realizes he can go back in time, and that is exactly what the premise of this movie is. He realizes through that that he went back the day before and now has the idea, if I've run really really really really really fast, maybe I can go back and change the past. So that is what this movie is about. The big question. This movie asks if you could go back and change the past, would you what would you change? I myself personally, I don't think I would go back and change anything. I really think that things happen for a reason. There's nothing in my life that I really regret happening, and I think going back and changing one thing, as we learn in this movie or really any other movie that deals with time track, is that it's gonna have some repercussions. That's gonna have some effects on your life that you're probably not gonna be happy with. So I wouldn't go back and change anything in my life. But when it comes to Barry Allen, he wants to go back and save his mom and make it to where he doesn't have to get to the point where he has to clear his dad's name, who has been accused of killing his mom. The other big question this movie brings is do you have to let tragedy define you? It really explores along with the Flashes character, also a little bit with his interaction with Bruce Wayne. They've both had really tragic things that have shaped them and really given them the tools to become superheroes. So if you take that away, do you take away what makes a superhero a superhero. So just on the premise alone, I thought it was going to be a little bit more of an emotional movie. I thought there was going to be really something on the line in this movie. And the opening scene was very unusual, but I was into it. It was Barry Allen trying to save all of these falling bits from a hospital wing, and not only did it look unusual with the visual effects, but it was just kind of a weird concept. I even looked to Kelsey at one point and thought, are they really doing this? So I enjoyed their commitment to do something different because I will say that opening sequence had a very unique feel to it. It felt like something I hadn't seen before. So at this point I was still all in. I thought that every single suit in this movie was the best it ever looked. Whether it was the Flash, whether it was Ben Afflex Batman, he looked awesome and bulky, and I thought if they would have had that look the entire time, it would have been so much better. I feel like everything in this movie had a lot more detail of the comic books, and that is what I enjoyed. And with DC, who have really the best characters of the most popular characters, if they just played into that a little bit more, it would be so great. So you also have Michael Keaton back as Batman, who I think is the best Batman ever, and he was looking the best he had ever look in the suit. And now that technology has caught up with Batman, I feel like if you made those movies today, there would be way more advanced and look way more awesome. Also, Supergirl's suit also looked awesome. But aside from the costumes, in the original premise of this movie, there is really nothing else I enjoyed. This movie is called The Flash, but the entire two plus hours moved along at a snail's pace, and by the end of this movie, I thought to myself, what was the point of this movie. I did not feel at any point from beginning to end that The Flash really did anything heroic. The entire story in this movie probably could have played out in just the length of a TV episode. There wasn't enough here. I feel like in any superhero movie, especially it kind of serves as his origin story. It's his first movie. It doesn't really feel like a full on origin story, and maybe that's where it threw me off a little bit, but I don't really feel like Barry Allen grew as a per or even had any real heroic moments. And by the end of this movie, I thought to myself, what did we learn here, what did his character actually go through? And was that worth a journey? I have to say no. And there are moments in this movie that it moved so slow that I was bored. And in a movie when you bring back the original og Batman and he comes on screen and I don't feel excitement, you're doing something wrong. And this was one of the only times in a superhero movie that all the best parts were in the trailer. Everything that had me hype going into this movie I had already seen. And I think it's because DC doesn't really have the power to just put people in a movie and not tell everybody about it. So how I was describing this movie to people, it's like back to the future. It meets No Way Home and No Way Home. We did not know those cameos that were coming in the third act of the movie, and it served as such a big surprise, such a big pop in the theater. Here we already knew Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck were going to be a part of it, so when he comes on screen, we're already expecting it, we already know. It doesn't really give you that big, fun, heroic moment that I think they could have had if they didn't show all their cards on the table. And it's because of the history of DC of busting at the box office. They needed to have that star power, They needed to gain that interest, because I really don't think there was that much of an interest in just a solo flash movie. So if I'm not really fully into his character, everything else you throw in there isn't really going to have any effect on me. Supergirl was fine in this movie, but again, all the best parts of her were in the trailer. Even Michael Shannon returning as the villain. It didn't even need him. He wasn't even a threat. And then you get to the visual effects in this movie, where when I first watched this trailer, I thought it looked like all the action was going to demand the big screen. You had Batman flying around, you had explosions, you had a chase scene in the sky with Supergirl flying right next to Batman. It looked like it was gonna be a very fun time for my eyes. After watching this entire movie, there were so many things wrong with the visual effects, and there are moments in this where now the director is saying that it was done on purpose, that we are seeing things through the eyes of the flash, and whenever he is traveling through time, the VFX is supposed to look very cartoonish. It looks so bad. It looks like a video game from the late nineties early two thousands. But supposedly that was done on purpose, and I kind of felt that it kind of made sense that this was not the reality of it. It was supposed to be a little blurry and weird looking, but it felt a little bit jarring, and I think if you don't know that going into it, you just think it looks like just a bunch of bad visual effects, and maybe it was. Maybe that's just an excuse they made after the movie came out and people started complaining about it. But that's not the only time the visual effects look bad, because in this movie, you have two Barry Allen's when he goes back in time and finds his younger self, so you have a lot of visual effects going on because you have two Ezra Miller's on screen at the same time, and I was always aware of which one was the actual Ezra Miller and which one was the one put in there with special effects. And at this point, for a movie coming out in twenty twenty three, you should be able to put the same actor up there twice playing two different characters with no problem. They were doing split screen way back in the early filmmaking days. This should not be an issue in a movie of this scale in twenty twenty three. What were they thinking. The face looked completely off, and I knew that was the VFX version, so that was frustrating. A lot of the fight sequences the CGI looked bad as well. It looked very droopy, and I was very aware that I was just watching a bunch of actors on a green screen. And I'll compare it to the last DC film in Black Adam. That wasn't a perfect movie. I left of the same way I left this one, going in excited, left disappointed. But the visuals in Black Adam were so much better. The action looked a lot better in that movie. I don't know if it was a post production thing or they ran out of money on visual effects and thought it wouldn't be a big deal, but it was a big deal to me. But I really think the main problem this movie had is that DC really wanted to step into the multiverse space. Marvel's crushing at it. Movies like everything everywhere all at once, are really changing the game with the multiverse, So what's the hot thing right now? And DC had the idea, all right, let's do the flash. But it's only good if you know how to execute it. Just because you throw in cameos and characters that people love doesn't mean it's going to have the same effect. So I really think they shouldn't have even messed around with the multiverse stuff in this movie. I think they really should have owned the idea of time travel, going back in time, going into the future, stay out of the multiverse lane. Marvel is dominating that right now, and eventually that will die out and nobody will really care about multiverse anymore. So get in on something new right now. Own the idea of time travel. But they didn't even do that. But really, what it came down to is this movie didn't make me feel anything. They showed me a lot of things. They showed me the sad situation with him and his mom, and him and his dad being in prison. But they didn't make me feel it, And that is the difference between a good and a bad movie. If it can convey that emotion and make you feel it through his actions and through character development, that is the sign of a good movie. That is the journey I want to go on. I did not go on that journey with The Flash, So I think they missed out on what the tone was of this movie. Who exactly was this movie for. Were they just trying to compete with Marvel and make their own version of No Way Home? With the introduction of a character that is still relatively new to us, they should really be building on that a little bit more so for that reason, I don't think this was the story to be told now. We needed his full on origin story first to even get to care about him, and then maybe in the second or third movie is when you do this, when you realize how much not having his mom really has affected him. It's just like meeting somebody at a party for the first time and learning their parents are dead. Yeah that's really sad, But I just met you. So I needed this movie to show me, not tell me. So I've seen a lot of bad movies I've told you about him. I didn't leave the theater feeling like I was robbed. I just left the theater disappointed. And isn't that worse when your parents tell you they're not mad at you, they're just disappointed. I am just disappointed with DC and fumbling what could have been their best movie. Yet. I also felt lied to because James Gunn said this is one of the best superhero movies that's ever been made. I now know he was just saying that because he's about to take over DC and he needed people to buy into this movie. I also think Tom Cruise is a lie because apparently after he watched this movie, he had a fifteen minute call with the director telling him how much he loved it. I think Tom Cruise is now just a movie influencer trying to get us all riled up and back into the theater. So I felt lied to. I felt disappointed. So for that reason, I give The Flash two point five out of five Lightning Bolts.

00:34:23
Speaker 3: It's time to head down to movie Mike trailor Paul.

00:34:28
Speaker 1: Could this be the return of Pixar that we all know and love. I think it could be after watching this trailer. It made me feel like a kid again and thinking maybe Pixar's back.

00:34:40
Speaker 5: Baby.

00:34:41
Speaker 1: The movie we're talking about is called Ilio and it's coming out next year. And for me, I love me a good Pixar movie, but as of late, they've just been a little bit uninspiring. And you're probably thinking to yourself, well, you're a thirty year old man, of course you're not gonna like Pixar movies anymore. Not the case. I think Pixar movies, for the longest time, really since their origin, they have been movies that, yes, are made for children, but that adults also enjoy as well. And I believe that any piece of art is open for interpretation, It's open for anybody to give their opinion on, especially a guy like me who does this every single week talking about movies. So I get that I'm coming from a different perspective and not the key demographic of this movie, and not primarily the key demographic for Fixar, a thirty year old guy who has no kids. But as a movie fan and a movie lover, I think this movie looks a lot more up my alley. So what Elio is about? He is this kid who in this trailer gets beamed up and then accidentally mistaken for the Ambassador of Earth, and through that he goes on this journey of finding out who he really is. So it seems like this little kid going on a big adventure in a whole new world. That is classic Pixar to me. So before I tell you more about what I think about Pixar's l e O, here is just a little bit of the trailer bring Us Your Leader. Hi.

00:36:13
Speaker 5: Can you hear me?

00:36:13
Speaker 4: Honey?

00:36:14
Speaker 1: Now is a really bad time? Okay?

00:36:16
Speaker 2: Bye? I love you, I love you.

00:36:19
Speaker 5: He please state the name of your home world, uh Earth. Welcome Leader of UH.

00:36:38
Speaker 4: So.

00:36:38
Speaker 1: You get a lot of things in this trailer. You get a little humor, You get your first look at Elio, which I was curious just based on about a year ago when they put out the poster for it. I thought this one, out of everything they've announced recently, looked the most interesting to me, and coming off of I really enjoyed Light Year last year. I loved Pixar stepping into this sci fi space. And I know most people had a problem with that movie, but I enjoyed it more so than the story. It was the visual aspect to see how much Pixar could flex their animation skills when it comes to creating a sci fi movie. And after watching this trailer, aside from the humor, which is kind of just classic Pixar, you get something that finally feels fresh and new with their animation, which Pixar has always just pushed the envelope. At least in the nineties and two thousand, they were so innovative in the movies they made. But as of late, since Coco, I would say in twenty seventeen, they really haven't pushed that envelope anymore in their animation or even in their storytelling. Just look at all the movies that have come out since twenty seventeen's Coco. You have The Incredibles too, which is part of a franchise, so not pushing the envelope. There. You have Toy Story four, just cashing in on a bunch of characters we already know.

00:37:54
Speaker 3: In love.

00:37:55
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty, you had Onward, which I hardly really remember much about that movie. It was very okay, a lot of people loved Soul, but I feel like that movie hasn't stood the test of time. And tell me, that was a kid's movie that was much more of a movie geared towards me than it was for kids. Luca which was fine but came and went turning Red, which I thought was a pretty good bright spot for Pixar, but it was weird that that movie came out on Disney Plus. I feel like it didn't have that same effect that most Pixar movies usually have. Then you have light Year and Elemental, which just came out this past weekend, and I will save my review for that for a later episode, but even going into that movie, I felt like Elemental had a lot of elements and no pun intended of inside Out and also a little bit of Zootopia. But Ilio feels like a fresh new concept, an original idea and animation that's actually gonna want me to pay money to see it on the big screen. And that is a big part of what Disney is facing right now with their Disney movies and with Pixar movies, is everything lately has just felt like Disney plus qualities. So maybe they haven't had the big vision on what's going on Disney Plus and what's going in theaters. But this movie, to me is saying we're putting this out in theaters, and this is a movie we believe in and are really going to invest in, and this could be the start of a new chapter for Pixar. So bring back that old school vibe that made those movies great and push the envelope again on the animation. What I love about this trailer is it really speaks to my curiosity. You really don't know a whole lot about Ilio, aside from the fact that at the beginning of the trailer he is giving his mom a call, probably just something kid related. Maybe he's frightened by something and just needs to talk to his mom, not knowing that she is intercepting a call from this alien life form. And somehow his call gets messed up and he gets sucked in and called before this alien organization. So there are a lot of questions about the story I still have after watching this trailer, and that, quite frankly, is what a trailer is supposed to do. Supposed to make me curious. It's not supposed to tell me beginning, middle, and end and then get me to go watch the movie in long form. Just give me the taste, give me the look and feel of the characters, but give me a reason to want to go and explore more. It also kind of reminded me the first time I saw the full Leelo and Stitch trailer, where you see this alien creature, you learn his name is Stitch, and then he's flying into Earth on a stolen spaceship. I just think Disney in Space is so good, and this is the time that this movie should come out. Maybe if Disney is planning some kind of Pixar multiverse, we get a Stitch cameo in this movie. I wouldn't hate it. And Elio again is coming out on March first, twenty twenty four. I would be the oldest person in the theater without kids.

00:40:47
Speaker 5: He said that.

00:40:47
Speaker 2: Bar is this week's edition of movie Line.

00:40:50
Speaker 1: Tramer Bar, and that's gonna do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I gotta give my listeners shout out that I've been doing every single episode since I started this podcast back in twenty nineteen. This week's listeners shout out goes to a comment I got on my TikTok page. If you don't follow me on TikTok, you're missing out because I do post videos over there that I don't post anywhere else. So for just following me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, you gotta go over to TikTok to get all the movie content. So this week's listener's shout out goes to Rick, who commented on one of my tiktoks and it was my Transformer's review, and he said, I was oddly excited by this movie too. The only thing it was missing for me was a good Lincoln Park song at the end, and I fully agree with you, Rick, I think what I've done by Lincoln Park, played at the end of the original Transformers movie, is one of the best uses of music in a movie ever. That is one that I just vividly remember the first time I experienced it, and I only identify that song with that movie in that moment. And I am also just a sucker for a good closing song to a movie that plays at the credits. That is my favorite genre of music, songs that would be good in movie credits, and I think what I've done by Lincoln Park is one of the best. So thank you Rick for that comment, Thank you for listening. Make sure you're subscribed, and maybe tell a friend because next week I have director Lee Cronin on. We'll be talking about the Evil Dead Rise, and we'll also be talking about the greatest movie posters of all time. Until then, go out and watch good movies, and I will talk to you later