Best and Worst of the Month (November) with Mike and Kelsey + Why Disney Hasn't Had a Billion-Dollar Movie This Year + Movie Review: Godzilla Minus One + Trailer Park: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And I want and two and hello and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, and what you hear there is the joining sounds of cracking a cold brew with my wife and coach Kelsey. Oh there we go. Not sponsored, by the way.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: No, we just truly have Hybrid set up on subscription.

00:00:18
Speaker 1: Today. We're here to talk about the best and worst movies for November that we've seen. I also want to get into how Disney has not made a billion dollar movie this year, dum and in the movie review Ooh, you set it up perfectly. I'm gonna be talking about god Zella on minus one. And in the trailer park we have a look at a new mad Max Fury Saga movie starring Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor Joy. Thank you for being here, shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies.

00:00:45
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.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: A man with so much movie knowledge.

00:00:58
Speaker 3: He's basically like walking IMTB with glasses from the Nashville Podcast Network.

00:01:05
Speaker 1: In cases movie Mike Movie Podcast. We'll kick it off. What was the best movie you saw this month?

00:01:12
Speaker 2: Easy? The Holdovers.

00:01:14
Speaker 1: What made you excited to see that movie going into it?

00:01:16
Speaker 2: I honestly don't know.

00:01:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, you wanted to watch more than I did because I trailed that.

00:01:21
Speaker 4: The Bellcourt was doing a thirty five millimeter screening and we ended up not seeing it there. But anytime they do something in thirty five millimeters, I'm like, Oh, it has to be good.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: It's on film.

00:01:31
Speaker 1: And The Holdovers is about this kid who goes to a boarding school. He's supposed to go home for the holidays, but his parents suck.

00:01:40
Speaker 4: A group of kids. That's why they're called the holdovers. They hold over from one semester to the next. They don't go home for the holidays.

00:01:45
Speaker 1: So he gets stuck there with another group of people who have nowhere to go for the holidays. And Paulo gia Maadi is a teacher there who also gets stuck doing that job of taking care of all the holdovers and bonding with them. But he is such a not like teacher who gives really hard homework and assignments that he translates that into their vacation of Hey we're all going to do schoolwork.

00:02:06
Speaker 4: But you also have the supporting cast, which was amazing. You had the cook who had just recently lost her son and she was grappling with like the first holidays without him. It just they kind of became like a little makeshift family. I loved it. It warmed my heart. There were laughs, It was touching, and it takes a lot.

00:02:24
Speaker 1: For me to go into a movie knowing that I wasn't excited about, primarily because I don't like Paul Giamonni we know, no, I don't think people on this podcast know that I don't like Paul Giamani. Ever since two thousand and four Sideways, I heard him do an interview where he was pretty disrespectful to a fan who was just a fan of that film, and ever since then, I just had this feeling that he wasn't that great of a guy. That made me not enjoy any of the movies he's been in.

00:02:50
Speaker 2: But you like Christian Bales movies, and he has the Notorious Rant, which he has a terrible human.

00:02:55
Speaker 1: In that case, I can separate the art from the artists. But with Paul Giamani, I also don't like the roles he takes, and I also feel like he ruins movies by being in them. Okay, when he was in Spider Man two as Rhino, it made me hate that movie. Even though I love Spider Man, I was Apologiamondy's in it. I don't care for it, and everybody just when I said that, I feel like everybody has this undying love for him, and I was like, what role does he have that really defines him that makes him such a great actor. But while watching this movie, I think it helped that you're not really supposed to like his character, and I think he plays that really well. He plays unlikable so well that it didn't make me like him, but it made me enjoy his character in this story. And I feel there was so much just well roundedness from every single character that it made me enjoy the movie so much more, and how much they connected with each other, and how much it was like an unorthodox story of unlikely characters put together, which is what I like. Nobody in this movie looks like a movie star, but the story is so good and the message is so heartwarming, and it's a great movie for or people like me who don't necessarily love Christmas movies that you can enjoy.

00:04:05
Speaker 2: It also had depth overall as a movie.

00:04:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think I was on the verge of tears, but there were definitely elements of the story that made me like, oh man, that sucks. And out of any movie that I've seen this year, I never felt a bond like this that I did with these characters that you enjoy going through their entire journey and seeing where they end up at the end of this film, you truly feel invested. It almost felt like I went to school with them and experienced it with him, because that's how well their characters were written and how great of a performances that they had that it made me feel like I was there with them. So I think that is a feat in itself and maybe something kind of a long shot, but it could have some Oscar attention there. But I love the little details that had even in the opening scene of showing Paul Giamatti's office and all the little things that show you the kind of person he is, Like showing you the things that are in his bathroom, the things laying down on his desk, and the way he receives other people. It kind of tells you all you need to know without even saying anything. So I think, just from a filmmaking standpoint, this movie just really shines. So I also think there's something to going into a movie having very little expectations and leaving loving it.

00:05:17
Speaker 2: I did have to drag you to it.

00:05:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did not want to see it. It was a movie that just didn't really speak to me. But I'm so glad that we ended up watching it.

00:05:24
Speaker 4: But in this household, it's like when parents ask their kid to try one bite of food, you have to try the movie.

00:05:30
Speaker 2: I just hate it. We can leave.

00:05:32
Speaker 1: For my best movie of November, I went with The Killer, which is on Netflix, in a movie I haven't even fully reviewed on the podcast and has Michael Fassbender who plays an assassin, and the movie is so interesting because there's very little dialogue throughout the entire movie, and it's very much just him having monologues inside his head. Because as an assassin, the movie shows you that there's a lot of times that you're just in solitude, waiting, why are you looking at me?

00:05:59
Speaker 4: So weird because I didn't watch the movie, so I'm excusing myself from this review, but I just it doesn't sound good.

00:06:05
Speaker 1: Oh but It's the thing is I love movies that build a lot of tension. I say that all the time. You could probably take a drink every time I say tension, But that's what this movie does, because it's a psychological thriller that just takes you inside the mind of a killer. It starts out with him trying to kill somebody, it goes wrong, and then the company that hires him out to other people turned the tables and try to kill him, and then he goes all the way around the world kind of on a cat and mouse game. But I just loved everything about this movie. It's also from the director who did Fight Club and Gone Girls, so if you like movies like that, it's a lot of the same that you would expect from David Fincher, and some really great fight scenes too. So I know a lot of it is like the waiting and thinking game, but there's also just a lot of action. It's a very good balance of both of them. And for Netflix, who really hasn't had that many hits this year.

00:06:57
Speaker 2: More flops, more flops, more flops than bops.

00:07:00
Speaker 1: It was a movie that I started and had to finish immediately. There's so many movies that have come out on Netflix that I start and sometimes just never go back to because they're not that great.

00:07:08
Speaker 2: For TV shows, we do that a lot.

00:07:10
Speaker 4: I think we have more TV shows we've started, oh, definitely this year than things we've actually finished.

00:07:15
Speaker 1: I've been doing a lot of these, like six things to get to Know Me on my Instagram story, and there was one for six series to get to Know Me, and I couldn't do it. I feel like I've fallen out of love with TV so much lately that I couldn't think of my six favorite shows anymore. The Simpsons that's all I had, really lost, that's one. And Jackass, That's really all I had. And I felt like putting Jackass is one of my favorite shows of all time felt a little bit weird. But that question is so easy for me to answer when it comes to movies that I would have to pick a certain genre. When it came to TV shows of my lifetime, I couldn't even think of six that I would say that I just love anymore.

00:07:53
Speaker 2: SpongeBob SquarePants.

00:07:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of great comedy in Sponge, but I don't watch it any well. I mean sometimes I.

00:08:00
Speaker 4: Definitely still Watchpongebob sometimes don't lie.

00:08:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, but anyway, Yeah, The Killer on Netflix is a movie I highly recommend, and I know some people just want to watch something at home. If you haven't seen it yet, you gotta check it out. Now, let's talk about the worst movies we saw in November. What do you have?

00:08:18
Speaker 2: I have Napoleon?

00:08:20
Speaker 1: I do you're gonna do? Now? This is a movie I drug you to go see.

00:08:24
Speaker 2: Listen.

00:08:25
Speaker 4: I know that I come on here and I talk about every book that I love, those historical fiction, and I have decided I like historical fiction about the ladies because here's the problem with like war movies and things like that. It's just a bunch of dumb men holding swords, yelling charge at each other.

00:08:41
Speaker 1: That is essentially what Napoleon is.

00:08:43
Speaker 4: That was the whole movie. There's a graphic scene that involves an animal perishing.

00:08:49
Speaker 1: Okay, when you said graphic scene, I thought you meant the hooking up part. No, that was that was also graphic, and there one of those and.

00:08:55
Speaker 2: Children walked in on accident right after that.

00:08:58
Speaker 1: Traumatizing.

00:08:59
Speaker 2: No, but there's a sad you know, with an animal.

00:09:00
Speaker 4: There's also we talked about this and I would truly love if somebody knows the reason for this, please educate me. But what was the point of like the drum line in war times? Because we just put those men on the front with the drums with no weapons, and were they just like providing a soundtrack letting them know they're coming.

00:09:18
Speaker 1: Yeah. So there's a big fight scene where Napoleon is leading the French army and then you see all these people, you know, armed with guns, and then there are people on the front lines just with big drums, just for ambiance to make it scary.

00:09:31
Speaker 2: But yeah, I know I left historical fiction.

00:09:34
Speaker 4: Now, if we had talked about, like the story of his wife, we had done one from her perspective, I.

00:09:38
Speaker 1: Thought that would have been a better movie.

00:09:39
Speaker 2: Would have been great.

00:09:40
Speaker 4: Vanessa Kirby would have been amazing in a like starring feature film like that. So if we had done one from the point of view of the woman, but just Napoleon himself, he was also so emo. He cried a lot. Let me put it out there. I have nothing against men having feelings. I love it, but he just would cry all the time, like he'd say something and then even start weeping.

00:10:01
Speaker 1: I think it was a big movie to say something very small, like a small statement, not hating on his size or anything, but it was really just a movie made to show you that, hey, Napoleon was always just searching for validation. That was the summary of that entire movie. You could have done that in an hour and a half.

00:10:18
Speaker 2: I was so bored.

00:10:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that was one I thought I was going to love. I love Joaquin Phoenix, I love Ridley Scott. But I found myself being bored in that and gave it a two point five out of five.

00:10:27
Speaker 4: I even asked you going into it, I said, am I going to enjoy this? And you said, I think you will.

00:10:31
Speaker 1: I thought I was going to.

00:10:33
Speaker 2: I need you to eat.

00:10:33
Speaker 4: Those words, because I was me eating the words.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: I did not enjoy it.

00:10:39
Speaker 1: So that was your worst. My worst was The Marvels, which I also gave it two point five at a five. Kind of along the same lines is I had higher expectations going into this.

00:10:48
Speaker 2: Movie, more entertaining than Napoleon.

00:10:50
Speaker 1: It was more entertaining, smart women, but it was so much just down the middle that nothing really was changed after that movie. That that's fair. I found myself like, what was the point of that? As much as I love the actual Captain Marvel character, I just felt that in the MCU right now, it felt like such a misstep. And I always love the second part and a superhero story, I always feel like it's so much stronger because you're really supposed to get underneath that character's skin to the point that it makes your break whether or not they want to be the superhero. There was nothing on the line in that movie, and some things just felt all out ridiculous, like the cats. The cats, and yeah, that was like the funnest part of the movie. But then I think it's also coming off the heels of Secret Invasion, which is by far the worst Disney plus Marvel series they have ever made.

00:11:43
Speaker 2: Also a flop. Couldn't even get through the first episode.

00:11:46
Speaker 1: I watched that entire thing and hated it, especially I did the season finale was terrible news to me. And then they brought in the scrolls from that into this movie again, and I just find those characters so insufferable and boring that on screen, It's just like, why am I watching this?

00:12:06
Speaker 4: This is not me making fun of the way you talk. I thought you said squirrels, and my brain was like they brought in Squirrels.

00:12:11
Speaker 1: There was Squirrels. No a squirrel from Bokemon, no scroll. It's a dumb character and it's all.

00:12:17
Speaker 4: Squirrels spelled like Travis Kelsey's sweet lazy writing.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: Oh No, I opened. I opened to that box.

00:12:23
Speaker 1: So more so than any other movie we saw in November, that was one that just left me with disappointment and a character I wanted to root for.

00:12:32
Speaker 2: I'm not mad, I'm disappointed.

00:12:34
Speaker 1: I am I'm just disappointed in it, and I didn't want to come at it as the typical dude in his basement type person who just hates on any female led superhero movie.

00:12:43
Speaker 2: We have a basement, Yeah, we do have a basement.

00:12:46
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I'm not the guy in the basement. We don't own a basement. But it just feels like when I go through the comments on TikTok, it's like those dudes who just hate female led movies. And I didn't want to be a part of that group. But I also couldn't in good faith say that I love that movie or loved aspects of it. So I hope, if anything, there is redemption later for the Captain Marvel character and just creating a whole new storyline that makes more sense.

00:13:12
Speaker 4: If you're gonna be a dude in the basement, can you be like Paul Dannel in Dumb Money? Can you be that dude in the basement and make us a lot of money?

00:13:19
Speaker 1: I think about that movie a lot too, too.

00:13:21
Speaker 2: It was so good.

00:13:22
Speaker 1: I was thinking of like how transparent he was with showing how much he invested it, having that spreadsheet, and how cool that aspect of.

00:13:30
Speaker 2: Pete Davidson was so funny.

00:13:32
Speaker 1: That was a really good movie. I feel like we're again, like we were saying earlier because of the strike, didn't get promoted as much as it should have been. I feel like that is one that's going to go through the cracks this year of being one of the best comedies, A.

00:13:43
Speaker 2: Great role for Shalene Woodley.

00:13:46
Speaker 1: All around almostaid the same thing all around Dumb Money. We'll go throwback review here, go back to last month. Yeah, I was gonna mention that so far in twenty twenty three, Disney has not made a billion dollar movie. And this includes Pixar, this includes Star Wars, this includes Marvel movies, everything that Disney owns, and this is the first time this has happened since twenty fourteen, not counting the pandemic years of twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. The reason I feel that this is important is because it shows you that Disney doesn't have that rain that they once did, and having a billion dollar movie is very impactful because that shows you that it's kind of the new gold standard. If you're able to make a billion dollars at the box office, that shows that you have the secret formula to get people in the seats. And the fact that Disney has not had one this year. The closest one was Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three, which made eight hundred and forty five million, and Wish so far has made like fifty million dollars is a big flop. What I think this says more so than the Marvel side, I think that is in a whole different phase right now that's going to bounce back next year with Wolverine and Deadpool teaming up. I think I think it really speaks to the animated side of Disney and then becoming so reliant on their properties that are just the most known and not really putting the same amount of money into these new properties that they're trying to make.

00:15:13
Speaker 4: I feel like they're not hiring fresh talent, or as we saw with the writers strike, they're not paying their good talent enough. It is true, they are probably hounding their talent to just push out content. And if you have a quick turnaround, if you just demand something from someone, you're gonna squash their creativity because creativity takes time. So I feel like they're either not giving people a break, not paying them enough.

00:15:38
Speaker 2: Well, we know they're not paying them enough.

00:15:40
Speaker 1: I also think they're just not finding the best stories. Yeah, not too with a movie like Wish that's supposed to honor the one hundred years of Disney. And even for me saying that I would love to see a movie use two D animation again, just seeing that trailer made me realize that two D animation looks so dated. And to think about a kid right now that wants to go something in theaters that they're going to love, want to sing along to, two D just doesn't really do it. You could do a scene maybe in two D to make, you know, a fun little moment, but going back to that just feels like reverting back to an odd time. And also just the way they invest in stories. Now when you look at their other big movies that they spend a lot of money on and lost money on Indiana Jones and The Tail of Destiny, which wasn't a bad movie.

00:16:25
Speaker 2: I was not. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

00:16:26
Speaker 1: But it lost so much money. And it's just them going back to what works. But now going back to what has worked in theaters is not working anymore. What are you gonna do? Even The Little Mermaids still still failed to meet expectations, even though that did probably better than all of their other remakes. It just feels like they're missing out on something here. It's really time for them to almost take a step back and think, Okay, what are we gonna do here? And even the CEO, Bob Iiger, came out and said, we're getting back to quality over quantity. When you look at the history of the statements he has made, he has said that year and year like we're gonna and they don't do it. They say they're gonna work on the quality, but they're not. They are a money making machine and just going to put out things that are so uninspired. And I say this knowing that I'm an adult in my thirties talking about Disney movies. But still they make movies for the entire family. They are making films that appeal to kids, but that parents are going to also pay money and take the entire family out to go see, and they're not doing that. Therefore, I'm putting myself in that category.

00:17:28
Speaker 4: But they also make movies like Indiana Jones is not meant for kids. Yes, a lot of the Marvel movies are geared towards adults.

00:17:36
Speaker 1: That's true. I also think they are having this issue where they want to also appeal to gen Z, which is kind of what they did with the Marvels and Miss Marvel's character, and it almost feels like they're trying a little bit too.

00:17:48
Speaker 2: Hard for anything appeal to gen Z.

00:17:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, they doesn't care.

00:17:51
Speaker 2: They're unimpressed. And I say that having two brothers that are gen Z.

00:17:55
Speaker 4: They're unimpressed by anything, absolutely anything.

00:17:59
Speaker 1: They're just like, okay, I don't care whatever else. Yeah. So, maybe in the twenty tens, they set this really high bar for themselves, making movies that just generated so much revenue and really cemented themselves as the force they are now. But as that force starts to slip a little bit more and more, and you look at some of the other movies that have made a billion dollars this year. Super Mario Brothers movie was just a lot of fun with a known franchise, and it took what that video game was and brought it to life on the big screen. Barbie and Oppenheimer were also just really great movies that at the core of it, even though Barbie was rooted in a known product, it wasn't really rooted in a franchise, so it still felt fresh. Nothing on the Disney side feels fresh anymore, and it's going to take a lot to get back to that. But it hurts them when they do have something that's fresh, but they are kind of weary about taking the risk on it. They just throw it on Disney Plus and therefore loses out on all the profits.

00:19:00
Speaker 4: To get all philosophical, but I feel like this happens in any area market, not just movies. Like Disney was this juggernaut kind of slowly not becoming that anymore. Think about social media, Facebook, the heyday, MySpace, all these things were like a juggernaut of their time, and now they're just going to fall into the wayside. So I feel like that's anything. Something reaches a height of popularity and it doesn't always stand the test of time. And I get that Disney's different. It's been around forever. It's to the test of time, bigger company than just like a social media brand. But I feel like it's kind of cyclical and trends.

00:19:31
Speaker 1: I think it's just a fact, like you said that Disney has been around for one hundred years, that they are held to a different standard. They have had their dark periods when they were xeroxing all their backgrounds and their animation felt lifeless. They had to have the renaissance in the nineties, which they reinvented themselves, took another dip in the two thousands, came back strong in the twenty tens. So yeah, maybe this is their twenty twenties decade to kind of take down until twenty thirty is maybe when they rise again.

00:19:59
Speaker 2: The other thing, too, is it's like the stories are out there.

00:20:02
Speaker 1: I know that, Yeah, they are still.

00:20:04
Speaker 2: Have great stories.

00:20:05
Speaker 4: So I don't know like what Disney needs to do to find those and hire the talent and the people that have those stories because they're out there, because people are smart.

00:20:14
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they need to go on Reddit of people who write fan fiction about Toy Story. On Reddit, I read what is or would have been the best ending to Toy Story ever, and I still think about it, and they didn't do it, and now they're making Toy Story five and it'll never be done.

00:20:29
Speaker 4: The story reminds me of the Reddit thread with the girls that she read Harry Potter fan fiction and thought it was the real book, but it was a a rawnchy fan fiction.

00:20:42
Speaker 2: She thought that was the real Harry Potter. It's my favorite story of all time.

00:20:46
Speaker 1: Oh, clarify, not all fan fiction is raunchy, because I know that Fifty Shades of Gray was like fan fiction of Twilight.

00:20:54
Speaker 2: I was gonna I feel like you gotta clarify that girl.

00:20:56
Speaker 1: Well, toy story it was just like Andy grows up and then wants all this toy back and then the way he you know whatever, is not sexy at all. But anyway, that is our best and worst of the month. Anything else you want to say before we go.

00:21:09
Speaker 4: I need to go put together and we still have one month left of the year of my best books of the year, because I am going to do that episode again because I did get very nice feedback from people that they enjoyed it, So if you like to read, we'll be recording that in the next few weeks, probably put it out, maybe.

00:21:24
Speaker 2: Right before Christmas breaks, so we have a lot.

00:21:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have to do best movies of the year, worst movies of the year. There's a lot of stuff to get to you.

00:21:30
Speaker 4: But my books will put that one out so people can read over Christmas break.

00:21:33
Speaker 1: And then I am about to completely nerd out about god Zilla Minus one. And sometimes when I nerd out so much about a movie, people don't know the level of like, oh, is it just he loves it so much? You did not want to see it?

00:21:45
Speaker 2: No, that's not true.

00:21:46
Speaker 1: You were not a Godzilla fan.

00:21:48
Speaker 4: I didn't watch the trailer. I had no clue what the movie was about. I just said, Kylie Napoleon, am I going to enjoy this?

00:21:53
Speaker 2: And this one?

00:21:54
Speaker 4: You did not lead me astrang. I did enjoy god Zilla Minus one. I had an emotional connection to some of the characters.

00:21:59
Speaker 1: There you go as I get into my fully nerded out in review.

00:22:04
Speaker 4: But it was one of the most annoying movies we've been in a while because there were teenagers in the back and not to sound like a grumpy old almost thirty year old. But they talked the whole time, and they were on their phones and they had that like text thing that the light goes off on your phone, and so just like every few minutes, they were just loud.

00:22:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, we usually have pretty good luck when it comes to respectful audiences in movies, and that was probably I mean, if that's the rowdiest it gets, I'll take it. But it was a little bit distracting.

00:22:33
Speaker 2: I would imagine they didn't know that it was subtitled.

00:22:36
Speaker 1: And they're like, I have to read is this.

00:22:38
Speaker 2: Part of your review?

00:22:39
Speaker 4: How we talked about even with subtitles, you can get the humor. Do you dive into better reviewers me saying that a spoiler you can get this.

00:22:47
Speaker 1: No, you can say that.

00:22:48
Speaker 2: We were talking on the way.

00:22:49
Speaker 4: Home about how even in a different language, without the same inflection as the English language, you can tell when someone's being funny and like the tone in which they're trying to say it, just from the subtitles. And it was weird because I didn't think about it until you said that. But there was like some like dry humor parts where you read it as dry humor even though they were speaking Japanese and the subtitles were in English, and again the inflection isn't the same.

00:23:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, the movie got a few good laughs out of me, and I chuckled. I don't know Japanese, but yeah, so.

00:23:20
Speaker 2: I thought that was a cool way that, like humor translates.

00:23:24
Speaker 1: There you go. You have Kelsey's review. I'll come back with mine after this a movie review. I cannot wait to do Godzilla minus one. I now realize that I've been a low key fan of the famous monster since I was a kid. I really think my relationship started back with my older brother got a Godzilla toy at a yard sale and it was a hand me down that I got from him, and I would play with that all the time. I remember having bubble bats where I would play with the Godzilla like, oh, look at him terrorizing the people. And then in the late nineties and ninety eight, whenever the Matthew Broadery Godzilla version came out, my mom was working at Taco Bell and they had the best toys, and I remember they had this big collector's cup that had Godzilla wrapped around it, and I told my mom, please get your hands on one of those, and she did, and I loved it. So I think as kids we are always just drawn towards dinosaurs, and Godzilla being the coolest one of them all having a really historic past. There's been over thirty Godzilla films, and over the course of them, they've all kind of been similar, and you kind of know what to expect going into a Godzilla movie. It's a big, crazy monster. You have the atom bomb, you have his fiery breath, and he destroys cities and people go running and then in the end they defeat the monster. That is basically the formula for every single Godzilla movie, and most recently in the twenty tens, we've had a little bit more of a sophisticated look at the creature, trying to make it more cinematic, more Hollywood like, but still kind of been along the same lines of you don't really go watch a Godzilla movie to have a change or influence your life. Big fun action, big mind suns, that's what you get. But with this one, we have it going back in the hands of Japanese filmmakers, where I think the franchise truly shines with the people who created it, and this movie takes place in a bombed out Tokyo post World War Two. It focuses on one character who went to war was a Kama Kazi pilot, ended up not dying in war and returning home after a crazy encounter with Godzilla where he is traumatized he is dealing with PTSD, goes home and essentially gets scolded because he went to war as a Kama Kazi pilot but returned home with his life which was not supposed to happen. So he has all of this weighing on his soul, combined with the fact that he's now terrorized and living with this fear of a Godzilla. You gets the job as a mind sweeper in order to help out this woman he met who was taking care of this young child, and they start to form this little family, and that is where our character story really begins. Now, the thing I was not expecting about this movie was the human element where it really shines. Because all this stuff I've been telling you, I haven't really told you about how good Godzilla is in this movie, because it was so well rounded and so three dimensional that it made me forget that I was watching a monster film, and this movie really attacked it on every single level of the filmmaking process. But at its core, this movie had heart, had story, and had characters that I was so invested in. And that is really what movies this year and then really the past five years have struggled with, is there needs to be something on the line. And this movie was only made for fifteen million dollars, but that's really all you need to accomplish is create a mission for a character that has you rooting for him, and in this movie, you are rooting the entire time for him to be the hero in this story. So he is here just out living this normal life, trying to do this job to earn some money that is a relatively dangerous job. And then Godzilla keeps popping up here and there. So now that we've told you about our character and the story we have going here, let's talk about Godzilla, who in this movie looks the best he has ever looked. And what I really loved about Godzilla minus one is that maybe it was the fact that it was made for fifteen million dollars, but in the last few Godzilla movies I've watched, which I have enjoyed, God Delivers's Cang was a fun time, but in those movies, I don't really feel like they have the look and the essence of the character of Godzilla down in those movies. In this one, I really felt like Godzilla had personality, Godzilla head swagger, Godzilla had an identity, and it felt like there was weight behind the actions he was doing and acting in a very intelligent way that I haven't really seen in recent additions to the Godzilla franchise. But every single time he was on screen, it was important there was the right amount of monster to non monster ratio in this movie, because sometimes we just get a bunch of Godzilla where he's running around the entire time, and you just get used to it. It becomes a norm and it doesn't feel like a spectacle when he's on the screen. Every time I'm in this movie, when Godzilla is on screen, you care about it because I love the way his attacks were so articulate, almost like he plotted them out of coming up. He's going to terrorize and then he's going back. He was like a really well dialed in quarterback almost who knew what they wanted to do, knew how they wanted to score the touchdown, went out there and scored the touchdown. And then got off the field. That is exactly how Godzilla was in this movie, and I loved him for it. And I referenced the size earlier that in this one he was a little bit more agile, and he grew throughout the entire movie, which really made it more impactful. As the tension grew, Godzilla grew with it. He became more of a threat, and he became even more of an unstoppable force. And the thing I was not expecting was to actually feel terror from this monster, where other times it just kind of feels like big dumb fun Whenever Godzilla is on screen, you're rooting for him to tear down buildings and breathe fire. But I was actually genuinely scared throughout this movie, and I wasn't really expecting it to have any kind of a horror element to it, but this one was truly terrifying that it made me feel like what would happen if Godzilla actually existed the rain of terror he would go on the amount of destruction he would create, not even just from his feet, but even his tail whipping around and crashing buildings, and the way people reacted to his actions in this movie felt so real and genuine. To me, it is the best I've ever seen Godzilla look. So it all goes back to that human element, and it also just goes back to the filmmaking process in this movie, where like I was saying earlier, all the recent iterations of Godzilla had been very dark and eerie, and you don't really get a full picture of Godzilla the way I wanted to be seen. Had this really classic monster like vibe to it, but it was very bright and colorful, to the point that when Godzilla was on screen, he was very much the focal point, primarily in the scenes that take place in the water. That just looked beautiful seeing Godzilla rip through water, and that is truly where the character shines because he is creature of the ocean. And that was also the reason I felt scared, because there's one part where they're in this really small boat out in this open water and you have this terrorizing monster. You feel the most vulnerable in that situation, and the movie puts you right there in that action. My only regret of this movie was not seeing it in Imax, because it truly truly warranted the big screen, and even bigger screen that I went to go see it on because not only were the visuals so big, the soundtrack and the score and the music and the special effects all added this other level that really puts you in that seat. I mean, whenever a monster has its own theme music, you know you're in for a good time. And whenever this track hit, I genuinely got goosebumps. And how just classic monster movie is that theme? I'm gonna play it again just because I love it so much. But then you have that combined with the terrorizing roar that is Godzilla, the roar we all know and love, but more sophisticated. And then it has some of the best chase scenes I've ever seen, not just in a God'zilla movie, but in any movie really. With the soundtrack that just packs in the tension building it. Listen to that soundtrack, It's so simple, a few charging notes. They just adds a little bit more layers each time. It is a treat for the eyes, a treat for the ears. And to say that this was the best Godzilla movie ever would be easy. This is one of the best movies of the year. I'm looking right in the camera as I say this. This movie Godzilla minus one is one of the best movies of the year, and there is nothing I can say that would take away from any level of enjoyment. The movie comes in a right under two hours, and it's the only movie this year that left me wanting more. And I would say, if you take apart all the little things, if I were just looking at this strictly from the viewpoint of a critic, I would probably give it a four point five out of five. But I have not stopped thinking about this movie and how it's going to impact this genre. And then I go back to the fifteen million dollar budget and it's made about thirty million dollars at the global box office, which is amazing. And to think that you could make a movie like this that looks so big, looks so cinematic, has Hollywood written all over it, even though it was made in Japan for only fifteen million dollars, that is astonishing to me. And then you look at the fact that the movie is in Japanese and I watched it with English subtitles and there was nothing lost in that translation. Like the director of Parasite said after winning the Oscar, once you overcome the one inch tall barrier of subtitles, you'll be introduced to so many more amazing films. You cannot say it any better than that. You should not let the fact that a movie is in another language keep you from enjoying it. And what I loved about this is that even though it was in another language and I was having to read and interpret, there was nothing lost on the characters themselves. I could easily tell and define each of those characters for you because of how good the acting was. But the movie had it all. It had a great opening, which I love in a monster movie. It had character development, it had great character arches, beautiful cinematography, a beautiful score. There is nothing bad I can say about this movie. I will say I could see why this movie is not for everybody, and even Kelsey who went with me, this is not a movie she would ever go see you on her own, but she ended up enjoying it. She doesn't like any type of horror movies, but it was that human element that sucked her in. And yes, maybe in the beginning there were some kind of brutal not really rated R kill scenes from Godzilla, even though it's not overly bloody in any way. I think again, it goes back to that human element in the story and the characters that had her in as a non Godzilla. So just by checking all the boxes without any other influence, this movie is easily a four point five out of five. But due to the fact that I have not stopped thinking about it, I want to go watch it again. I definitely got to see it in Imax because I didn't realize how big this movie was going to look on a fifteen million dollar budget, and the fact that it left me wanting more. That is the biggest factor in my rating. When I went to go see the two other movies I've given a five out of five. Oppenheimer was one. At three hours. I loved it completely. I still stand by that five out of five, but I was good after that. Same with Barbie. I love that entire movie, but after it was over, I was good on it. I don't even need a sequel there. On Oppenheimer, obviously you will do that, but on Barbie, I don't need a sequel for God's Silla minus one. I could have been in that theater for another hour because it was so great, and I want to see a sequel to this story. So I don't normally hand these out This is only my third of the year, maybe fifth or sixth in the entire time I've been doing this podcast. But for god Godzilla minus one, I give it five out of five Godzilla Roars. Give it five out of five roars. You gotta go see it. And I don't even say that often when I close a review, because do what you want to do with your money. I just tell you how I feel about movies. But I honestly feel this is a movie everybody needs to see an experience, and even though it is a part of a legacy franchise, it still doesn't feel to me like that same category of everything being a remake in a reboot, because it's such a fresh take. So do yourself a favor. Check out Godzilla minus one.

00:35:45
Speaker 3: It's time to head down to movie Mike trailer pauls.

00:35:50
Speaker 1: It is rare that I watched a trailer and just drool over it. But the new Mad Max trailer is a prequel, and I'm not the biggest fan of prequels. It has me drooling, and I don't even consider myself a huge fan of the franchise. I didn't really love the original one back in the seventies or all the sequels from the eighties, but when Mad Max Fury Road came out, it changed my entire perspective on the franchise, which a least their own Tom Hardy. Their performances in that movie match with the visuals and all the awesome vehicles. That movie was an unexpected hit for me, And honestly, I didn't even know this movie was coming. I knew they had some things in the works, but I thought we would have a sequel to that movie before we got the prequels. So I'm not the biggest fan of prequels. I told you guys when talking about Hunger Games The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, because I always feel like we do a deep dive into a character and focus on such a minute part of the entire story that I often feel like prequels are always just a bit of a cash grab. But this movie is called Fury Yosa. It's part of the Mad Max saga. It's a standalone film. The movie stars Anya Taylor Joy, who you may know from The Queen's Gambit. She is really crushing it right now as a new actress. I loved her in the Menu, playing the character that Charlie starone played in Fury Road, except the younger version. It's kind of her origin story. You also have Chris Hemsworth, who is store but has really been looking for where he's gonna go post MCU, and I think this could be a great fit for him. The movie is coming out next year on May twenty fourth. The official description says it's about a young Furiosa. She is snatched from the green Place of many mothers and into the hands of a biker horde led by the warlord Dementius. Essentially her trying to get back home through the wasteland. So a similar concept to all the other Mad Max movies. It's essentially one big epic road trip. So before I get into Morrow, what I think about Furiosa. Here is just a little bit of the trailer. Whatever you have to do, however long it takes, Promise me you'll find your way home. Fury yourselves. Give me this promise? Why stop origenis hi there up the darkest of the joy?

00:38:02
Speaker 4: Did you have it in you?

00:38:03
Speaker 2: And I might get epic?

00:38:07
Speaker 1: So I honestly did not know that this movie was coming, therefore making this a delight and a treat. I honestly thought we would get a sequel to Fury Road before we had a movie like this a prequel. But after diving into this trailer, I am really excited for this movie. It looks a lot more cinematic than Fury Road, almost to the point where it looks too cinematic. It almost looks like a video game brought to life. And watching it on my laptop and on my phone, it looks a little bit weird, I gotta say, but I think that that is going to demand a big screen. It looks so perfect. Probably if you go watch this movie in imax, it just has such a large landscape in the Mad Max world that this is a movie that needs to be made right now to give people like you and I have reason to go in theaters to experience a movie like this. Because of the visuals and because of the soundtrack, it looks very glossy, So I really think they stepped it up from Mad Max Fury Road until now. And this movie is directed by the same director, George Miller, who has done them all since the nineteen seventies, So making this a part of the saga looks like a part of a plan to create this entire Mad Max universe, which I don't know that there's the biggest fandom for these type of movies, but when you go watch them, you can deny how entertaining they are. What I really love about this is I already knew Anya Taylor Droy is a great actress, and I'm excited to see how she does in a big, epic action movie like this, and from the shots of her covered in dirt or riding underneath one of these vehicles, it looks amazing. I have to say the person I'm most interested in to see how this plays into the trajectory of his career is Chris Hemsworth, who I was just saying is probably gonna someday regret playing Thor because he's going to continue to be typecasts that big muscly dude really only known for doing one thing. But I feel like in this role he has found one that he looks the part but is also able to show a different side of his acting skills, playing a very quirky character through the use of costume, his hair, but most importantly his makeup and the work on his nose, he looks unrecognizable that until I was one hundred percent sure that it was him in this movie. After he shared the trailer on Instagram, I could have been convinced that was somebody else. So I think this definitely will be his best role he has taken post MCU. So I will encourage you if you've not seen Mad Max Fury Road, which came out back in twenty fifteen, to go check out that movie, because probably, like you, if you haven't seen it by now, you probably haven't had a whole lot of interest in this franchise, which I didn't at the time it came out. But that movie is so fun and cinematic and was so unexpected for me to be a hit not only among just the general movie going audience, but also critically acclaimed with Oscar nominations, which is a very rare thing to happen for a movie like that. So the only concern I have with the prequel is it's going to be hard to replicate that same kind of praise, because I do think a big part of that was the leads in that movie. Charlie the Roan and Tom Hardy together just on paper, is a much stronger duo than Anya Taylor Joy and Chris Hemsworth. So it does look like this prequel is going to lean in a little bit more to the quirkiness and play up the visuals a lot more. So will it be as Oscar worthy? I don't think so. But this movie looks a lot more fun to me just based on this trailer. So I'm hoping that the intention of this movie is to play towards the fans of Fury Road more so than the critics. So I think if they're able to execute that, there's much more of a success straight as far as building a fan base and making all of these chapters in this saga working out in the long run. Again, this movie is coming out on May twenty fourth, and twenty twenty four is already shaping up to look like a really great year in film.

00:41:48
Speaker 4: Said.

00:41:49
Speaker 2: That was this week's edition of movie Line Tramer.

00:41:52
Speaker 1: 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 of the week for this week. I'm going over to Instagram and a couple people who tag me in their story, so it's a double listener shout out. So this was the week that all of the stats came out with all of the music and podcast, everybody listened to the most. So my shout outs go to Taylor Lewis and Keegan O'Donnell, who I was in both of their top five most listen to podcasts for twenty twenty three. Thank you for listening. Thank you for tagging me in your Instagram story. If I've made anybody else's top five, I'm looking for a number one here. So if I made your number one most listen to podcasts of the year and you have Instagram, share that and tag me in it, and I will give you next week's listener shout out. But this week it goes out to Keegan O'Donnell and Taylor Lewis. Thank you guys for listening. Also, thank you to the movie crew and you listening right now for listening every single week. We are in the best time of movies right now. We have Oscar season coming up right around the corner, and then we get into the start of the year and I start looking forward to all the movies coming out in twenty twenty four. So now is a really great time to be subscribed and listening to the podcast. So thank you, have a great rest of your week, and until next time, go out and watch good movies, and I will talk to you later.