Books That Should Be Turned Into Movies with Kelsey and Mike + Movie Review: Vengeance  + Trailer Park: SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mix movie Podcast. I am your host movie Mike. Today I am joined by my co host and wife, Kelsey. How are you great? And we're gonna be talking about books that you think should be turned into movies, which I am curious to see your list. In the movie review, will be talking about Vengeance, which is a new movie by bj Novak, which you said is one of your favorite day of the entire year. Yes, I did bold statement. I don't know if I still stand by it. We'll see. We'll see when we get to the review, and then in the trailer park we'll talk about the new Chazam movie coming from d C later this year. Appreciate you for listening every single week, for being subscribed. Movie crew, you already know what this is. Let's talk movies. 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 AUDIMTV Who's glasses from the Nashville Podcast Networking Movie Mi Movie Podcast. So about a month ago, we did a review of Where the craw Dat saying and you said that that movie was actually better than the book. And you read a lot of books. How many books do you think you've read so far this year? Let everybody know I can tell you exactly how many. It is one and my goal is that is a lot of books you can probably read if you tried really hard. How quickly could you finish a book that's fast for me to complete? Opposite, I've probably read half a book a year. I started a book over vacation and I am about sixty done, still haven't picked it back up, and then I'm probably gonna hop to another book, because that's kind of how I read books, that is how you read books. So since you've read so many, we thought and had that idea last time that you should come up with the list of books that you think would be great movies. I think there's only one of these, maybe in development, but all these seem like they would be great movies. So what is first on your list? First? Is the one that actually is in development. It is Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan. And I'll just read the snopsis for all of these, but this one says Pino Lela wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager, obsessed with music, food, and girls, but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs. Pino joins an underground railroad, helping Jews escape over the Alps and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents forced him to enlist as a German soldier, a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he has recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler's left hand in Italy, General Hans Layers, one of the Third Rites, most mysterious and powerful commanders. Now with the opportunity to spire for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino enders the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams that will one day share. Sounds pretty intense, it's true story, and the author went to Italy and like met with Pino and walked through all of the places where the story takes place, and got his account, and I think there's only he even says in the author's note, there's like a few things like details that Pino can't remember. So Mark Sullivan did the research filled him into the best of his ability. But it's a true story, like overall, in all of the major events of Pino's life. What makes you think that this would make a good movie. What cinematic quality did it have when you were reading it? I mean, it's got everything. It's just got like emotion. I don't know how to describe, like how good it was. Like this is what kicked off my love of like reading World War two books earlier this year, I love a World War two movie. It is and I think just knowing like that it's a true story. And obviously, like most war movies are, they're based on the war, which is a factual true story, but this one being so like specific about one person um and so interesting of how he kind of infiltrated and was able to get inside and get inside information. I always find any time a movie depicts Hitler, I find it very fascinating. He was a terrible human and it seems like so long ago that I don't really have an image of it in my head, and seeing it on film, it just adds like a really sinister quality to a movie, whether it be like Glorious Bastards, it's just really weird to see and it's such an intense character to portray that I do think this sounds like a really good movie, and it is in development now. I haven't seen anything pushed along in like four or five years. Tom Holland is said to star in this movie. I haven't seen that he's still going to. I think after about three or four years of a movie getting pushed and pushed of being made, he probably won't be anymore. He would be he would be really so good in it, like that's I read the book picturing him as Pino and so like now I have Tom Holland in my head. How old is the character in the book? Does it say, yeah, he was a normal Italian teenager Tom Holland still playing Spider Man. He could, Yeah, he was injured and then at the age of eighteen he was the personal driver, so he could still pull that off. Hopefully he's still attached to the project, because this does sound like it could be a really good movie. And he is really kind of leaning into that dramatic stage of his career where I don't really just associate Tom Hollng with Spider Man, like I love him as Spider Man and he's a great Avenger, but he's done other movies that are action based, that are drama. Base was It wasn't Cherry. He wasn't cherry. Was Cherry that he was in? Yeah, And he shows that he has some range, especially in The Devil all the time I didn't watch some One. Well, he's very like dramatic and intense in that he can show that he can play an American accent. He can do really a lot of things early in his career. So this almost sounds like the right director was attached to it if the story was closely followed. What the book does? I mean, this could be like an Oscar contender. It sounds like I would love to see it on screen. All right, what do you have next? I have a book called We're Switching Gears are going to like a drama. Also, I should add the only things I really have read lately or like I go back and forth between like a World were two book and a thriller this year. That's just like my genre with a couple memoirs biographies, so we're onto a drama, which is interesting going back to that that you really love reading about World War Two, but you don't like war movies. I don't like the gory nous of them, which is typically what war movies. I like Nineteen seventeen, it was a great movie. Um hacks All Ridge was lid little too bloody for me. Didn't watch the trailer. Very a lot of bloodshed in that movie. So yeah, I just can't handle like the gory, like limbs everywhere that but just like stresses me out. Yeah, I like the stressfulness of a war movie, but reading I can dissociate, Like the there's not the gory nous as much in a book. And it sounds like with Beneath the Scarlet Sky it's a little more character based. Let's it happens during World War Two, but it's not like in the Battles all that. So yeah, that sounds like something I would really want to see. But next movie, Okay. So with the Push by Ashley Audrain and the synopsis is blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby, Violet, that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter. She doesn't behave like most children do. Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her husband Fox says she's imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question Blythe is telling us about her life as well. Then their son Sam is born, and with him life has the most blissful connection she'd always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fallout forces Blythe to face the truth. Interesting. So what makes you think this one would be a good movie? Oh, it's such a good thriller and the twist is so good. It's very Her daughter is pretty sinister, not not great child. It gives me like kind of gone girl all vibes, like in the creepy thriller kind of way. So are you thinking of somebody like an Amy Adams in this role? I think Amy Adams would be good. She does a good thriller, like I could see her in that. We were watching her and No Clonal Animals recently. Yeah, I think she would be really good in it. What about the husband in this book? What kind of character is he dismisses like all of the wife's concerns, so like, not very attentive to her concerns, and she's like, everything's fine. Who could you see playing the husband? Give me Amy Adams and Ryan Gosling together. That sounds like a movie I would want to see Ryan Gosling over Ryan Reynolds. Yeah, Gosling just does a better drama. He does, And I recently posted that I find I like Ryan Gosling more than I like Ryan Reynolds. I think the only reason I compare them to is because they're both named Ryan. They're both very big movie stars, and they're both Canadian. That is true, and they play very different character is in very different movies. But I feel like Ryan Gosling has more of the range where he doesn't really dip that much into comedy, but when it comes into his dramatic roles, he can do just just straight on drama. He can do the action and then if he really wants to, he can do a movie like The Good Guys where he's a little bit comedy, a little bit of action. I feel like Ryan Reynolds does the same character all the time. I mean Ryan Gosling and gray Man. It was drama and like a witty comedy, like a sarcastic, like a dry humor, which I think is his knee, Whereas like Ryan Reynolds goes for like free Guy, which is meant to get the l O ls, which he does really well he does. I just feel like he does it again and again. But if you're so good at something, why would you deny everybody that of what people love you for? Yeah, Ryan Reynolds is I mean he's the funniest person on like when he and Blake Lively troll each other on social media. I live for it. Which one do you think is more attractive? Ryan Reynolds or Ryan Gosling. Oh, it was a really hard question for me. If I had to pick one, I would go with Ryan Gosling. I think I go Gosling. I think about like the scenes and like crazy stupid love the Notebook. Yeah, hands down. Gosling didn't have to think about that one. Too hard. Yeah, in this story, with this book into a movie, if you put Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams together, I think that's a pretty good pairing. Yeah. Back to the book. Read it. You will gasp so good and I will say this, Actually, I think I read this one early one and it's stuck with me in my head. That's not even I've read one like this year. What do you have next on your list? I have a memoir called Tell Me Everything by Erica Krause. So the synopsis Erica Krause has one of those faces I don't know why I'm telling you this people say, spilling confessions and follow two thousand two, Erica accepts a new contract job investigating lawsuits as a private investigator. The role seems perfect for she quickly realizes she has no idea what she's doing that A lawyer named Grayson assigns her to investigate a sexual assault a college student who was attacked by football players and recruits at a party a year earlier. Erica knows she should turn the assignment down. Her own history with sexual violence makes it all too personal, but she takes the job anyway, inspired by Grayson's conviction that he could help change things forever, and maybe she could too. Over the next five years, Erica learns everything she can about p I technique, tracking down witnesses, and investigating a culture of sexual assault and harassment and grained in the university's football program. That is, the investigation grows into a national scandal. In a historic civil rights case, Erica finds herself increasingly consumed in the case and her life both implode at the same time. Erica must figure out how to help win the case without losing herself. So a memoire, Yes, so a true story? Correct? Why do you think this one would be a good movie? It gives me Aaron Brockovitch vibes. So I'm gonna I'm gonna nominate Julia Roberts to play Erica. Oh that's an interesting cast thing there, one of your favorite movies of it. So it's like court movie. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of follows what Aaron Brockovich like. She wasn't a lawyer. She gets this job and then starts finding all of the cases Aaron Brockovich of, like the medical problems associated with the water there. She ends up helping when the case same here, Eric is not a lawyer, she's not even a p I, but she has one of those one of those faces where people just kind of start telling her things they're comfortable with her, and she starts using that to her advantage and becomes a p I and helps take down this program. Which I don't think that's a spoiler. It's a memoir and you can read about the case, but it's how she does it along the way, and like all the obstacles that they had to get to and how it changed things for college campuses. Some interesting things I see from the synopsis in this book of how it would be a good movie. First of all, it takes place in two thousand and two, which I think people are looking at two thousand's culture right now. If you find movies and stories too. I think that's kind of a popular thing of just people reliving a little bit of nostalgia. And I feel like the stuff from the two thousands is slowly creeping back over the nineties stuff. And then I mean, in my head, I just have Julia Roberts now, and she's not doing a whole lot of movies. I think he has like one Netflix movie coming out pretty soon. She has a movie with George Clooney coming out in October. Okay, but aside from that, she takes maybe one two movies every five years. So if you could attach this is somebody like her, I could see this movie getting made. And I haven't really seen a whole lot of good courtroom style dramas or just legal dramas that something like this would be perfect for. I think to like we saw Bombshell a couple of years ago, you didn't love the way that it was portrayed, you didn't think it was the best story of like the Me Too movement Fox News, I think this one could be done really well and add to that genre of starting to really live sent to women and their stories and their experiences. So I think if this one was well done, but Julia Roberts in it, and I think it's gonna be great. Yeah, Bombshell was an interesting movie because what was the actual story of it. I loved it was the way in the style of that movie that I felt like it didn't do the story justice and also thought Margot Robbie was going to be a bigger part in that movie. She deserved more screen time in that movie. You fell asleep during the movie. I did I'll admit to that. And it was also a weird thing to be entertained by, Like it covers such an awful thing that happened, and you're kind of rating it by like how entertaining it is, which it shouldn't be have like this weird entertainment value. It's just like, I don't know really that it's the entertainment value, but like the portrayal of the story, does it keep you engaged and do the story justice? So I don't know if it's as much the entertainment as well as I don't think it did the story justice. Yeah, I just felt weird saying that I didn't like that movie like this. I wasn't discrediting like what it was about or anything like that. You didn't like what was done. I don't think that discredits it. I just feel like when you have such a powerful like rights to a movie to make something like that, it could have been better agreed. So that's how I feel about Bombshell. But yeah, I think this one also sounds like a pretty good one. You're doing really good here, thank you. What do you have next for us? I have Breathless by Amy McCullough, and it is journalist Cecily Wong is in over her head. She's come to manislew, the eighth highest peak in the world, to interview internationally famous mountaineer Charles McVeigh on the last leg of a record breaking series of summits. She's given up everything for this story, her boyfriend, her life savings, the piece she's made with her climbing failures in the past. But it's a career making opportunity. It could finally put her life back on track. But when one climber dies, and when everyone else assumes is a freak accident, she fears their expedition is in danger, and by the time a second climber dies, it's too late to turn back. Stranded on a mountain in one of the most remote regions of the world, she'll have to battle more than the elements and a herring fight for survival against a killer who was picking them off one by one. This sounds good. I'm into this one. It was a really good book. So it's a survival type movie. Yeah, on a mountain. I mean, that sounds like a documentary that I would be into. But the fact that it's fictional, I mean, I can only imagine the places that this movie could go of trying to survive while somebody's trying to kill you and then just the harsh environment. Who could you see playing the lead in this movie. I'm gonna go with Jamie Chung. I think she's super talented. I haven't seen her in a big movie like this in a while, and I think she could just do like the action intensity like I think she could play it so well. Is there a lot of physical things that happened throughout the movie or throughout the book and they're literally climbing like the what was it the eighth highest mountain in the world. Sounds pretty intense. Yeah, so I would I would go Jamie Chung. I love her. Out of both of us, who do you think could survive on a mountain for longer? Okay, well, I have actually, fun fact, climbed a fourteen er in Colorado, which is a fourteen thousand the mountain, which I know it's not Everest, but um that was an experience without any training and without any acclamation and the only thing you had to eat was a cliff bar and one leader of v on and it made it to the top and the top mynad is what's called a Class three scramble in which you were on your hands and knees at the top of the mountain. And I'm in like hocas, not even hiking boots. I am in hoca running shoes. It was not my choice. This was part of a trip that I went on and someone else planned that, and I didn't really understand what we were getting ourselves into. Her. I probably would have said, hey, guys, I'm not going to do that. My favorite part of that entire story is you guys left behind one of the members of the group. It's not great because it was so intense. We're like, we'll go on without you. She was like, hey, guys, I'm gonna turn around. We should have sent someone back with her. I should have gone back with her. But we were all like, okay. She was like, I can make it down by myself. No, she had like altitude sickness. It was. It was not a good experience. No one come at me for that. But I have climbed a fourteen mountain. So with your experience here, you're saying you would also be qualified to play the role in this movie. Yeah, cast me. There we go casting Kelsey. All right, what do you have next on your list. I have one that I just recently read, kind of a sci fi type book. It's called The Measure by Nikki Irlick, and the synopsis says, it seems like any other day you wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you as a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside, the answer to the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is their truth to what they promise? As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice. Do they wish to know how long they'll live? And if so, what will they do with that knowledge? Now? This is one of the coolest books you told me about of all the books you've read. It was amazing, and I think what sets this apart is the trope of what are you going to do with your life? If you knew you were going to die? Can be overdone, It can be dramatic, it's like kind of gives me. It reminds me of like timgrawl live like you were dying, but in a way where I think people are just like, I'm going to live in this fantasy world, but this one people are faced with. They know when they're going to die, they don't know the exact day, and they don't know how they know in how many years, And so it makes people wonder like do I change what I'm doing with my life? Do I keep on going? And some people don't even open their box. So it's a string inside, and then scientists create like this predictor that tells you, based on the length of your string, how long you have. So some people are like, I don't want to know. I don't want to know. I just want to live life. And when it's my time, it's my time. And these stories are woven together. There's about eight characters. I think that it focuses on and the ways in which the stories weave in and out. I loved that it reminded me kind of like the TV show A Million Little Things, where like it's about a group of friends, but yeah, the side by aspect, but it wasn't like dystopian sci Fi. It was just this idea of like, could this happen in the society. There's so many things screaming at me that would make this a great movie. I think it has like that black Mirror type feel of like it being something that could actually happen in our lifetime. It has the I think what a great movie does is bring back a question on everybody. And I think the marketing on this movie would be easy of like, well, what would you do in this situation? Would you open your box? Would you want to know? For you? Would you want to know? Would you open the box? Open the box? I think I would too. Like I think I even now somebody said, would you want to know when you're dying? I think I would want to know? Yeah? Am I like wasting my time working eight to five? If it's already like said and determined and I could find out, I would want to know, and I think I would change my life accordingly. I feel like now sometimes I do things, maybe not every day, maybe not even a week, but knowing that it might not be I might not have another chance to do this. I think most recently, what I've kind of adopted is I try to tell people when I'm thinking about them, especially like family. I had a really sad I thought the other day. I even made a note of this of like, someday I'll go to like text my mom and she won't like respond, she won't like answer the phone, and I think about that if just like well, sometimes I put off calling her, sometimes I don't text her. Knowing that I might not always have that chance makes me do it more. So I think, along the same lines of the plot of this movie, I would want to know just to make sure I'm doing everything in my life to not have any regrets and know when I should be living life a little more because I don't have as much time left or that I'm good, I can. I have time to do it later. But I think I would want to know it doesn't really freak me out. We're all gonna die, Like that's just that's just fact, and we're not like guaranteed. And I also, I think, coming from a perspective of and I've said this on the podcast before, i lost my dad when I was two and a half, and so I've always grown up like knowing nothing's guaranteed. Like I've always been very like tell people you love them, all the time. Like if you're thinking about someone cinema text, She's like, hey, he was thinking about you. Love you Call your parents, call your family, call your friends. So I've always grown up with that mindset. Um. Yeah, And I think another really interesting aspect of this book was what they started to do in society with the boxes. They started to kind of make these restrictions like if you had a short string, you couldn't do this kind of job. Oh yeah, that brings in a whole other Yeah, that was the other interesting. It wasn't just like the heart strings part, but it was the like how does where does where? Does it stop? With the rules? Yes, and it's actually as a political figure in it, and that's kind of factored in. So I thought that was really interesting. It reminds me of like how entrance companies won't give some people in trance if you have a pre existing condition. Kind of gave me that vibe. So anyways, read this book. I think it's awesome. It's a quick, easy read. The chapters are pretty short, go back and forth between the characters, and I think kind of initially is like over a year. I think it's divide into spring, summer, fall, and Winter and everyone gets the box from their twenty two interested on your twenty second birthday. After this initial day of everyone getting the boxes, who could you see in this movie? So I think this would be like a really good opportunity for like an ensemble cast of like because it's a lot of a lot of characters intertwined. I'm gonna cast Sandra Bullock because I love her. Oh, I like Sandra Bullock, you know what, you know, he's been a good trio lately, Sandy be Brad Pitt, and Channing Tatum. Put them all in here, bringing back that cru They are really great. They are great together. We have seen them in two movies this year, in the Last City and another one which we can't say because it would be a spoiler. But we've seen them in two movies. Yes, there's been another movie. They were great in The Lost City. I think put all three of them in and then I'm trying to think, like Sprinkle in you know, it hasn't been in anything in a while, to my knowledge, Let's put Dawn Cheatle in it. Don Cheatle is great in an ensemble and an underrated actor. He's in so many movies. I feel like maybe sometimes if you sat down to make a list of all the movies he's been in, you'd forget. But yes, he is so good and everything that he is in. Yeah, I love don Cheatle. Let's put him in. How about could I throw in an Aubrey Plaza? Did she fit anywhere? Yes? I was just thinking. I was like, we need like another like younger female pup plause in it. Love It, She's another one. I feel like you love. I love all of her movies. I feel like she takes on roles that she really cares about, that the story is different, and that she whenever she promotes a movie which is weird, she like really, I feel at least like she really believes in it, and that takes a lot from an actor. I feel like some actors just keep working for the sake of, you know, keeping the work, because it is hard to keep getting work in Hollywood. But I feel like she's been very selective in the movie she picks, and a lot of them are just things that automatically appeal to me. I really liked her movie Black Bear, which it's kind of like an indie horror type movie but has a little bit more of a stylistic approach to it. And then I am wanting to go see your new movie Emily the Criminal, So I think she would be great in this, And I have two more. I'm gonna suggest jim A Chan from Eternals and Crazy Rich Asians. I think she's wildly talented, she would be excellent in this. And then my wild card, Selena Gomez. Oh yeah, we were talking about her the other day that I forgot how big of a pop star she was and how famous she was. But we've really been enjoying her and only Murders in the Building and the only other movie I can think about that wasn't a great movie. But I liked her in with spring Breakers with James Breakup, which I think a lot of people hated that movie. But she is a great actress. Nonetheless, Listen, Selena is a great actress. Her makeup company's great, rare beauty Shoutout's funny on TikTok. She's funny on TikTok. She talks about mental health. I think she's so well rounded, like she has gone through the waves of like child fame and still come out like standing and like she has like this persona now, like she doesn't really care what anybody else says. I want to be best friends. So they're just two hours from Texas. She sounds awesome. All right, what do you have? How many more do you have? One? Last one? All right? What do you have? Okay? This is called The Last Flight about Julie Clark. I also read this one last year, but it's stuck with me. It's a great one. Synopsis. Clara Cook has a perfect life, married to the scion of a political dynasty, with the Manhattan townhouse and the staff of ten. Her surroundings are elegant, her days flawlessly choreographed, and her future auspicious. But behind closed doors, nothing is quite as it seems. That perfect husband has a temper that burns bright, and he's not above using his staff to track clears every move. What he doesn't know is that Claire has worked for months on a plan to vanish, a plan that takes her to the airport, poised to run from it all, but a chance meeting in the airport bar brings her together with a woman whose circumstances seem equally dire. Together, they make a last minute decision. The two women switched tickets, with Claire taking Eva's flight to Oakland and Eva traveling to Puerto Rico is clear. They believe the swap will give each of them the head start they need to begin again somewhere far away. But when the flight to Puerto Rico crashes, Claire realizes it's no longer a head start, but a new life, cut off, out of options. With the news of her death about to explode the media, Claire will assume Eva's identity and along with it, the secrets Eva fought so hard to keep hidden. Now I remember this one. You tell me about it, all right, Let's get into the casting first. On this Who do you think could be the main Emma Stone? Some of these I'm just picking like my favorite people. She's so talented. Emma Stone is phenomenal La La Land, crazy, stupid, love easy a. I love Emma Stone. She started range Spider Man. Duhn. Ever get that, I see like a Dakota Johnson kind of in that same We're so into Dakota Johnson and movies lately, kind of in that same category of every last movie we've seen her in I've really enjoyed. We just watched that Apple Plus movie Cha cha real smooth, and I feel like a lot of people associator so much with the fifty Shades of Gray movies. I feel like she has that kind of hanging over her whenever she takes on another role, and it's hard being like a part of a movie that is so defining, kind of like the same way people still associate Robert Pattinson with Twilight and you go down all the book adaptations. But I feel like she has really broke out of that mold in the last five years that she really doesn't get the recognition she deserves. And just by hearing you talk about this book again, I feel like she would be good in that. What about this book made you feel like it would be a good movie. It's such like an interesting story, like these two women trying to escape their lives. They're gonna switch, but then something terrible happens to one of them and the other is like, oh no, Like is this my fault? Like I was supposed to be on the flight, but like now that she's gone, like I just have a free life, Like when don't even switching lives anymore, I'm just starting over. After you read this book, is there like a jaw drop moment of like, oh, I wasn't expecting that, Yeah, because I feel like just from what you read of the synopsis, I feel and maybe you can lend a little more light to this, but it seems like an almost easy plug and play. Like I could see somebody just wanting to buy the rights of this movie and all they have to do is take the story as it is and just adapted, adapted, Like that's like changes like a lot of times in a book, you know, they kind of have to put in like one more like jaw dropping like movie type twist, like I think of the one that comes to mind is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, which um sure a lot of people have seen. But anyways, they like completely switched the ending from the book to the movie, and I didn't necessarily feel like that was they didn't have to do that, but they did to kind of give it more of like a type moment. But I don't even think this book needs anything. It just it sounds cinematic enough that good. All you have to do is like you can't screw that movie up. And I feel if you putting the right but the wrong director, just follow book, I think you'll be good. I feel like the sign of a good book to movie is not having to change things to make it more like film, ask but the trouble being what you take out to make it fit into a two hour or two and a half hour movie. And that sounds like there's already a lot of story there, and based upon what you said how you felt after you finished the book, I think that's a good one. If you could only have one of these books turned into a movie, which one would you pick? I think I have mine kill. I'm gonna take off beneath the Scarlet Sky because I'm holding I hope that that one that was still could happen. I'm gonna got the measure taking. That's the one I was going to pick of all these. I feel like that is what speaks to me plot wise, and I would love to see that play out and just be able to visualize it all more. But I think that one would make the best one, The measure of the push. Oh, I was gonna go to the last flight next. I mean, they're all good, That's why I picked them all. That's why I only picked six out of like the forty I've read this year, and then however many read last year. So if anybody wants to follow you along on good Reads? You cool with that? Yeah, we're gonna put I don't remember use your name, but we have a link and we'll put it in the podcast notes. I think my user name is honestly just like Kelsey Rodriguez or something, but that's probably a pretty common name. Still put the exact link. I think you have to request to follow me, but I will approve this. So there you go. And next up, we're going to talk about the movie Vengeance, and we'll do that after this. All right, let's talk about the movie Vengeance. What you said is one of your favorites out of the entire year. I said that immediately upon watching. I don't know if I still stand by that. All right, So we'll play a little bit of the trailer and then come back with our spoiler free review. I have a story, okay, I in West Texas where this family just lost their daughter to an opiate overdo Oh my god, I'm so sorry. It's okay, it's not someone else close to him, but he flew to Texas for it. Uh. Yes, it was a girl I hooked up with a few times. Her family thought that we weren't more serious than I do. If I've heard so much values I've I've heard, Yeah, I really and just didn't die. She was murdered. What the two of us are one venture? I feel like Vengeance is a hidden gem of a movie. It was one that I was curious about because I like PJ. Novak mostly known from the office. He also had a small part in Inglorious Bastards, and he was in The Mini Project, which you love. He was only in a couple episodes, but he was in it. He was in I do love The Mini Project. I love Mindy and b J. They're great and then they dated off and on and they're just like BFFs now but in my heart like they're infre But he wrote, directed, and started this movie, which is about this journalist slash podcaster who goes from New York City to Texas to investigate this death of this woman that he really just hooked up with and her family thinks that they were her boyfriend, and he goes kind of looking for a new story, looking for a new podcast concept, and then decides to turn his investigation of her death into a podcast. So the movie is a bit of a hidden gem. And why I think that is because it is a lower budget movie. I think it only has made three millions so far. But upon watching it, it felt like a very refreshing movie, even though it doesn't do anything completely crazy. It's also it's not heartwarming, so like when we say, when we say refreshing, it's not like you're gonna leave like wow, that made me feel so good inside. Yeah, because it's a dark comedy, there is some obviously it's dealing with death, so it's not like you said, yeah, like a very it's gonna uplift me type movie. But it does such a great job at creating these characters, which in the movie he is, you know, recording and doing this podcast and trying to find unique characters. That's why he thinks that there's a story there. It's the family of the girl and they live in a small town in West Texas, which we are both from Texas. And I always take it very personally when a movie portrays Texas because I feel like there are a lot of stereotypes associated with people who live there. But I thought it did a pretty good representation of what like a really small rural town in Texas is like where yes, there is a lot of that country aspect to it. But we're not like riding around on horses everywhere, which you know, sometimes it just gets portrayed in a movie. But a lot of what this family does is I feel pretty true to a small Texas town, especially their love for water Burger. I think this is the first time I've seen water Burger in a movie portrayed like this really ever, it's usually like in the discussion of best burgers, it's like in and out five Guys, But in this movie, it really explains why people from Texas love water burger, which that was funny. You're a water burger guy, not a water burger guy. Yeah, it's what a burger. You say water burger is when you've just said it's almost like water burger. Yeah, that's how I say it, Like you're drinking water burger. Yeah. I mean I say the same thing, but I'm just pointing out that you're all You're all, yeah, it's what a burger. I had two favorite things about this movie. One, the self aware self deprecation cameo from John Mayer is kind of like a womanizer BJ's friend in New York, and I thought that was very just like tongue in cheek because that's also kind of like b J is I feel like reputation around like New York in l A. So I thought that was funny that at the beginning they're just like going through their phones. They're like, oh, this girl like I don't remember the names, somebody like Stephanie, like tender, like that sort of thing. I thought that was funny. The second, thank you, b J. Novac for casting the Grahama from Friday Night as the grandma in this movie. She was Grandma Saracen. If you watch Friday Night Lights, you know where um I'm at her. That's my claim to fame in this movie. So Sweet matter in Austin at like a TV festival a couple of years ago. I thought she was fabulous as a grandma. Again, she's just like the like quick witted, like sharp, doesn't mince her words. Thought she was so good in this thought Dove Cameron was really good as one of the sisters. Thought it was great. So maybe I do still stand by I don't know. And then you have Ashton Kutcher in this movie. He hasn't been in anything in a while, and he plays a character that I don't think I've really ever seen him play before. Plays a record producer, and he has like a very kind of cool, ominous persona. You can't really figure him out throughout the movie. And that's also what this movie did a really good job at. As the main character is trying to figure out what happened, you are too, So it's kind of like that murder mystery thriller type. There's some danger here and there. I think why it feels like a even more of a hidden gym movie, and one that's maybe I guess harder to recommend to people is it's kind of like a slice of life movie with a little bit more of dark darkness to it. There's just like it's just like this piece of this family dealing with this death, and the added element is him trying to make a podcast out of it. But I thought the acting and it was pretty good, and for a lower budget movie and for mostly unknown actors on the family side, I thought that dynamic kind of added a little bit more to it. I think lower budget movies have an advantage and that you don't have to pick a list actors and you end up getting some really fresh talent and you get some people that you wouldn't expect to be so good, Like, you don't have to because it's already a low budget kind of indie. You're not looking to sell it. I mean, had Ashton Kuttry, but you're not looking to sell it by the names on the poster. You're looking to sell it by the story and the way that people portray it. So I thought I thought it gave actors a great chance to be like, oh wow, these people are really talented. And I think with a movie like this, you have to have a really good story to get it made. It's hard to get any movie made, but for a lower budget movie like this to get picked up and distributed the way it has been, it's something different. So I think that's what I was talking about. That's why I find it refreshing because I didn't really know exactly what we were getting into when we watched this movie. I didn't even watch a trailer, And I like that part of it, like just going into it having not the highest expectations, but just knowing you're going to watch something unlike anything you've seen in a while. As long as it's not scary. I'm like, and we don't have any plans and I'm like, cool, let's go see a movie, and that was kind of one of the only things out there. You go. So, if you had to rate Vengeance, what would you give it? Being one of your favorites so far? Four point to five out of five honey better chicken biscuits from a burger? What a burger? I would just like, I would give it four out of five podcasts. I feel like this movie since it is lower budget, since it has kind of an indie field to it. I feel like when I rank anything above a four, it's a life changing movie. And it's also a movie that had maybe like Black Panther. Yeah, Like it's a movie that's gonna stick with me for a very long time. That's why I feel this movie kind of hits that threshold of four, which I really enjoyed it. I would really like to see another movie from bj Novak, but it's not necessarily one I'm going to keep revisiting. All right, Well, thank you for bringing the topic today. You're welcome. I did a lot of prep for this. You crush it with your list. Anything else you would like to say? Um? Everyone, feel free to follow me on good Reads see what I'm reading. Got a lot of good ones on deck. I think, hope. Let me know if I should pursue a career as like an audiobook narrator. I don't know. I felt like I did pretty good reading those synopsis. I thought kind of reminded me of like when you had read aloud in school and you get that like formal voice. Oh yeah, he must not trip over the words. You crushed it. Thank you, um, everyone enjoy. Let me know if you read any of those books too, let me know if I inspire you to start reading. There we go. All right, thank you for joining me. You're welcome. Good Bye, It's Todd. Head down to movie Paul. All right, let's talk about Shazam Fury of the Gods, which is coming out on December one. I think this is going to be one of the most pivotal movies for d C. Who is I don't know, low key going under a crisis right now after putting an axe to the Bad Girl movie. The fate is up in the air for what's going on with the Flash. But they have two movies coming out this year before this. We'll get Black Adam with the Rock on October one, but I think Shazam two has a really good chance to kind of just I don't know if it's going to reinvent you see or get people excited about him again. I just think it's has the chance to be a win for them, because I really enjoyed Sham one, and I'll talk about more why and why I think this movie is going to be a step in the right direction for them before we get into Sham two. Here's just a little bit of the trailer. I don't deserve these powers. And I'm being honest, Like, what am I even contributing. Oh there's already a superhero with the red suit with a lightning bolt on it. Aquaman is literally huge and so manly, and Batman it's so cool and I'm just me. So you have Zachary Levi back at Shazam, and what I think the first movie got right is it made DC movies like fun again. And I think that's what the problem is with some of the DC movies and why they haven't performed as well. And I feel like this was the most Marvel like DC movie, which is kind of unfair to compare them, But what Marvel does so well is bringing really bright, fun characters that everybody can enjoy. And I think what d C has been known for and how they kind of feel to me is they're all very moody movies. They're very just dark in the way that they look. They all kind of look like two thousands metal music videos. And some of this could be because of Zack Snyder, but just every DC movie I watch it has like this grainy green look to it, a lot of just dark. It feels very dramatic, and the characters are very like almost regal, like to make it kind of stiff. And that's why I don't always love everything they put out, and why I kind of lean more towards always liking Marvel movies because they are brighter, they are funner, and they don't take themselves as seriously. I think when you boil it down like that kind of what it feels like, it feels like the DC movies take themselves very seriously, but when it comes to Shazam, they kind of throw that all out the window. And that's largely due to what the character is. It's this kid who becomes Shazam, and he is essentially this adult like hero figure, but inside he is just a child. And in this sequel, Shazam Fury of the Gods. It will continue the story of this teenager named Billy, and he still has these superpowers to where every time he says Shazam, he turns into the superhero alter ego Shazam, which is just fun in itself. And in the first one, all of the action is just very fun because it is from the perspective of a teenager. And I think it's as close as DC can get to what Marvel did with Tom Holland as Spider Man. You have this character who is, you know, just discovering really how to use their powers, really how to be a superhero. But the ad an element here is he looks like a full adult man. He is Zachary Levi, So unlike Tom Holland playing what is a younger Spider Man, you have Zachary Levi doing a really good job at portraying what a teenager is like. And then you put them with some other people who also have superpowers. And the first movie had a pretty good villain. I feel like they may be getting a little bit more ambitious and this one by adding some villains to where that is the only thing and the only reason I have a little bit of hesitation, and after watching this trailer, is I wonder if they're like, all right, we had some success with the first one, let's at some more villains. And that is where DC really tends to lose me. I feel like a lot of their villains are, when it comes down to it, kind of boring. I think they have a shot at really having another hit on their hands, but I don't know if it's going to be enough to change the perception of d C, which I think is what they're really trying to do. Maybe Black Animal Help coming out just a couple of months before this, but I think nothing else. It will be a pretty good day at the box office for them and maybe continue at least one of their franchises in the upward direction. But shas Am to Fury of the Gods comes out on December one, which is a pretty ambitious time to put out a movie, so we'll see how that plays out for them. That this links edition of Movie bar and that's gonna do it for this week's episode. But before I hop out of here, I gotta give my listeners shout out who I give to anyone who sends me a d M, sends me an email at movie Mike d at gmail dot com, and this one, I'm actually doing my shout out to somebody I met over the weekend. I did a couple of live events where I met some listeners over the weekend, and it was cool getting to meet people who said they listened to the podcast. I haven't done a whole lot of live events since I've started this podcast, so it was cool getting to put faces to some of you who listen. So my listeners shout out today is too Higgy. I met on Saturday night who said he's a listener of the podcast. Cool getting to meet and talk to you in person. It's always just like interesting to me, and it feels weird because I just sit and on microphone and I know you guys exist. I see you online, tweeting me, sending me messages, so I know you are real people. But taking that a step further and actually meeting you in real life makes it all just feel like I'm not just speaking into a void or a black hole. So thanks, Higgy, Appreciate your listening, Appreciate you saying hello. I hope everybody else has a great rest of your week, And until next time, go out and watch good movies and I'll talk to you later.