Top 10 Scariest Movies According to Science + Director of The Conjuring: Last Rites on Horror, Delusion and My Mom + Movie Review: Roofman + Trailer Park: The Running Man

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's Movie Podcast. I am your host Movie Mike. Big episode for you today, I am breaking down the top ten scariest movies according to Science. Also talking to director Michael Schabs. You just did The Conjuring Last Rites. I want to talk to him about the behind the scenes of that movie and what it takes to live out your dream of becoming a big Hollywood director. In the movie review, we'll be talking about Channing Tatum and roof Man in his unorthodox way that he became an actor. And in the trailer park we'll talk about Another Man, Running Man starring Glenn Powell. A lot to get to, so thank you for being here, thank you for being subscribed, shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies from.

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Speaker 2: The Nashville Podcast Network and this is movie Mike's Movie podcaon.

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Speaker 1: As the Science of Scare Project came out with their twenty twenty five list of the scariest movies according to Science. They had test subjects put on heart monitors watch a bunch of scary movies and they monitor their heart while watching these movies. These are the films that had the biggest spikes, and overall average the highest heart rate while watching these movies. It takes a lot for a movie to scare me these days, and I think when I talk about the scariest movies of the year, I pretty much am talking about the ones that are the most disturbing, because I don't think I'm gonna go into a film now, and it's not because I'm some macho, tough guy. It just takes a lot to unsettle me. And the only thing that can really unsettle me now is something really disturbing. Jump scares are good every now and then, but I think if your movie just relies on that in order to make it scary, you're not doing your job will because a true scary movie will still give you those scary feelings if you go back and rewatch it a lot. And I think a great horror movie requires a lot of rewatchability. So let's get into the list. At number ten from twenty twenty two is Talk to Me, which the year this movie came out, I dubbed it the scariest movie of the year. Let's break down the science here. They say the ada resting heart rate the BPM is sixty four, So that is your baseline watching this movie when you first turn this thing on. If you're alive, you're at a sixty four for Talk to Me. The average rate while watching it was seventy nine. The highest spike in BPM was one ozh six, which is pretty high, so overall this movie was given a score of seventy five. Talk to Me is about a group of friends who discover a way to talk to spirits. They have this embalmed hand that looks like this severed hand that they hold onto and they ask it to talk to me, and they blow out a candle and then they are able to go in and contact these spirits and their eyes turned completely black and while they are there, they're not really there, but it almost creates this portal. This movie reminded me of that scene in SpongeBob whenever him and Patrick discover that they have a lot of fun by riding these fish hooks and they don't realize that if you stay on these fish hooks too long you end up being caught. Well, it was almost like throughout this movie that is what they are trying to do. Hold on to the ride just long enough to where you don't get taken over by the spirit or it doesn't invade you or maybe kill you and let go at the right time to maximize your thrills. But what you realize in SpongeBob and also and Talk to Me, it is a fine line to walk. You're essentially playing with fire. You're playing with something that is bigger than yourself. And this movie was great. I love the directors behind it, who also did my favorite horror movie right now of twenty twenty five, Bring Her Back. That is the first movie in a long time to give me nightmares, not so much because of just how scary it is at its core, but I found that movie so disturbing and there's some images from that that just stayed in my mind after watching that. And that movie is now available on HBO Max. So if you haven't seen Bring Her Back yet, highly recommend that one. But at number ten on the list is Talk to Me at number nine and The Exorcism of Emily Rose from two thousand and five, which had an average BPM of eighty two. The highest spike for Emily Rose was ninety six, so a little bit less than Talk to Me, but overall has a score of seventy six. On the scary level. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is one that messed me up as a kid. That scene where she is possessed and they are trying to get the demon to say its name and she just starts counting the six That was a moment that rocked me. I think this is one that kind of cemented my love for anybody being possessed in a movie and why I really gravitated to those stories. I think now in my thirties, I'm probably a bigger fan of haunted house horror movies. That is my go to, but before that it was possession movies. It was the exorcism movies, obviously going back to the OG, but also movies with paranormal activity, like paranormal activity, those were m my go to in horror, and I think it all really started with me with the Exorcism of Emily Rose. That is just a powerful movie without the horror elements, because it goes back and forth between a courtroom drama and the flashbacks of the exorcism, so it has an entirely different level of sophistication than just your average exorcism movie, which I feel like the last ones I have watched haven't been as great, but the Exorcism of Emily Rose from two thousand and five is fantastic. That is definitely on my list of horror movies I need to revisit that I haven't watched in a while, but that comes in at number nine. I'm gonna do these next two together because they are from the same franchise. At number eight is Smile with an average BPM of eighty three, and at number seven is Smile to also with an average BPM of eighty three. Smile has the bigger spike at one fourteen while Smile is at one ten and at number eight, Smile has an overall score of seventy eight, while Smile two at seven has an overall score of seventy nine. I'm a little bit surprised that Smile one is on the list because it's really only scary at the beginning of the movie and at the end of the movie. There's forty minutes in between Act two and Act three that I feel could have been taken out completely because it got so boring. My problem with Smile was that so much of it was shown in the trailer, and maybe I shouldn't have watched the trailer so intently, but I do this podcast, I gotta watch all the trailers. That I felt like they put all the big scares in the trailer, and when I went to go see that movie in theaters after the opening, I had already seen all the good parts, so it wasn't as scared, and then the movie went to an almost screeching halt before we got to that final showdown in act three. That I love the concept of Smile, which is in part one, a woman who witnesses somebody take their own life and then this curse gets put onto them. Because the curse is you see somebody smile, that person takes their life, and then the curse is put onto you, and then whoever witnesses your death, it gets passed on to them and it keeps going and going. So while I enjoyed Smile one, it wasn't my favorite. But Smile Too took that and applied it to a pop star who was on tour trying to get her career back. She went through something traumatic that took her out of the spotlight, had a lot of demons, and then suddenly finds herself with this same curse. I thought the performances were so much better, and Smile too, and all the horror elements surrounding it. It was bigger, it was more elaborate. Instead of it being more of an investigation of trying to figure out the origin of this curse, it was more in a world of fantasy and felt more like a Twilight Zone episode. I think also the fact that it was about a pop star and it felt a little bit more relatable that it allowed me to enjoy it more. And when it came to the differences between Smile one and Smile two, Smile two had a lot more action, so a great improvement from one to two, which oftentimes in horror you don't get that. Whenever the first one comes out, people love it, and then they change it so much between the second, and then usually from one to two to three they just keep getting worse and worse. But when it comes to Smile, I still think the best is yet to come. I'm all in for Smile three if they could keep it up till Smile four. I think it's a fantastic franchise because it can continue to evolve by infecting different people from different walks of life. Going from it being so normal in the first one to now you have the Life of a pop Star, so that is seven and eight. At number six we have Hereditary, which has an average BPM of eighty two. The highest spike is at one oh four bpm and has a total score of eighty one. As much as this movie gets hyped up, I feel like Hereditary is a little bit overrated Tony Collette. I feel like she is an underrated actor because she does so many great characters who are so just different, and I'm so surprised that all the different looks that she is able to give, and I think this is one of her better roles. I was a big fan of the United States A Terror back in the day, and she continues to pop up in different projects that I'm always surprised at the different types of characters that she can do so well. But when I think of the genre that really feels home to her, I think it is a horror genre. And as much as I enjoyed Hereditary, I just feel like this movie ends up on everybody's list at number one, and I almost feel like some people just want it there to feel cool. Like one person deemed this movie to be one of the coolest horror movies of all time. I just don't see it. It is not one of my favorites. But after I experienced that movie for the first time, there's not a whole lot drawing me back to that film. The family dynamic is crazy and twisted, and I think the overall story is great, but when it comes to my core pack of horror movies, is just never going to be on that list. So, especially here at number six, that movie never really freaked me out. I didn't find it that disturbing, let alone as scary enough to make it number six on this list. So I think this one is at a place at number six, but we'll get into the top five now. At number five is The Conjuring, with an average BPM of eighty four. The highest spike is at one thirty two, which is pretty good. One thirty two is really high, pretty big jump from anything else we've seen on the list, and I am a part of that one thirty two. When this movie came out in twenty thirteen, which by the way, it has an overall score of eighty eight, so between five and six, jumping up about seven points on this scale. Whenever this movie first came out, it rocked me for about a week. There is one scene in particular that is so vivid in my head of that demon on top of the wardrobe, that first glaring look you get at them was terrified, and I think that is what cemented my love for this franchise and I will never get over that feeling. And that is something I have been searching for ever since. It was like I got that one big high from the Conjuring and have just been chasing it and nothing, nothing has come close. But I keep watching every single film, especially in the Conjuring universe, to chase that feeling again. But there is something so special of a movie that can make you feel that way, give you that anxiety, because it's all building up that tension to that one moment, and The Conjuring just played all the elements so well because I think out of the entire franchise, it is the film that you feel the most connected with the family but also the most connected with the demons, and I think that is super important. That is why I believe it is the best in the franchise because you feel so bad for this family. It does a really good job at showing you all the characteristics of the mom and the dad, the daughters and why you truly feel terrified for them continuing to have to live in this house. And then it shows you all the different demons and it is just an incredible experience. If there was one horror movie I could go back and experience for the first time, just wipe my brain clean, it would be the Conjuring. So it being in the top five I think is the best placed movie so far on this list, and number four is Insidious, with the average BPM of eighty five, has the highest spike at one thirty three, and an overall scare score of ninety. Insidious is one of those movies where there is one scene that takes this movie into a different level. If this one scene with the red Demon did not exist, I do not think Insidious would be as noteworthy of a horror movie. And what Insidious is about is a kid falls into a coma and as the kid is in the coma, they start to experience all these paranormal disturbances in their home. So they have to find this team that is an expert with the supernatural. They find a medium to try and rescue their kid. And that one scene kind of like in the Conjuring, just that single frame of Patrick Wilson's face and the red demon behind them, I think is one of the best single frame moments in modern horror. And even though The Conjuring and Insidious are not a part of the same franchise, in my head, maybe because they came out around the same time, those movies feel very similar to me in the best way. So if you've seen one but haven't seen the other, I highly recommend both The Conjuring and Insidious because they are fantastic. At Number three is skin a Marink, with an average BPM of eighty four, has the highest spike in BPM with a one thirteen an overall scare score of ninety one. Skin a Marink is a movie I really really try to get into. I think it is a novel horror movie which is about these two kids who wake up in the middle of the night and find out that their father is missing. All the windows and doors in their home have vanished, and now they are living in this house that is just a shifting environment, almost like this weird fun house of mirrors time situation where nothing feels like it is set in reality and it's all told from the perspective of these two kids, and they're talking to each other without real dialogue, and the entire thing was shot in a really unique way on such a small budget, which I think is also what we're going to see with the number two movie on this list. But I think if you just showed me this movie and didn't tell me how critically acclaimed it was or that it was a noteworthy movie, I would think, what are you showing me? And while I love that horror embodies originality and encourages these types of stories and is the only genre that I feel that anybody with any kind of equipment can make movie and also make a scary movie, this movie just really, isn't it. Skin a Marink was a one and done for me. If I was in a situation where I had to completely eliminate one movie from existence on this list to make room for another, I would eliminate skin a Marink. At number two, we have Host, which has an average BPM of eighty eight. The highest spike in BPM is a one thirty and an overall scare score of ninety five. Host is another one of those really novel ideas which is now probably not as novel, but back in the pandemic when people had to communicate over zoom entirely. This was a movie that took that idea and said, all right, we're gonna have six friends who have a seance over Zoom with the medium. Things go horribly wrong and they end up inviting a presence into their home, and then the presence starts to invade all of their zooms. Well they're really invading their houses, but you see it all through Zoom. So for that time when you wouldn't be around people and where Hollywood was basically shut down, this was a perfect breeding ground for this movie. This year, we saw another movie from that time period come out rather late with War of the World, which not Zoom, but that movie took place entirely over Microsoft Team, so that tells you all you really need to know about that movie. But Host was one of those movies that came out of that time that was one of the first to do it. If you do it now with a movie like Searching, which is another movie that takes place pretty much all over FaceTime and your computer screen. And before this, there was a really great movie called Unfriended, which is probably my guilty pleasure horror movie. And I don't really feel a shame for liking any movie. But the reason I say it's my guilty pleasure horror movie is because it is one that I love a whole lot. I would die for this movie, but I love it so much, and if I recommended it to you or to anybody, I would feel embarrassed because it's actually not a great movie. It just embodies a time that I love. Because that movie takes place entirely over Skype, and it is the only movie I've watched that has made me fearful of the Skype ring tone, and I think it is a great representation of the twenty tens. I just love the paranormalness combined with the technology. And now the fact that Skype is completely just done and doesn't exist anymore, I feel like we will never get another movie like that in time. So before Host, there was Unfriended, and I think I just have a soft spot in my heart for these types of horror movies, whether it be paranormal activity, stories that use the resources around you and are able to make something for fairly cheap but create something very large. So Host is like that. Unfriended is like that. I would say when I compare the two as far as which one is scarier. I still think Unfriended is more scary, so I would have put Unfriended on this list over Host. But Host is also a pretty short movie. I think the entire thing is like an hour long, but that comes in at number two. At number one is Sinister from twenty twelve, which stars Ethan Hawk. The movie has an average BPM of eighty six. The highest spike BPM is one thirty one, so still Conjuring overall on this list had the highest. No Way Insidias had the highest at one thirty three, the Conjuring one thirty two, Sinister at one thirty one, But overall they have Sinister having a higher scare score at ninety six. The more I think about this movie and how much it affected me, the more I realized that the praise for Sinister is deserved. I think it is a movie that came out in the twenty tens didn't make a whole lasting impact. But now when you go back and watch this movie and you see the development of Ethan Hawk's character, how just wild the movie gets. By Act three, which is all about Ethan Hawk and his family moving into this house where a gruesome crime occur and he plays a true crime writer. But then he discovers this box of these really old super eight home movies and he finds out what happened in that house. And the further he digs into this situation, the more he puts not only himself but his entire family at risk. And since he is a true crime writer and this is what he needs to do for his job, he risks their safety to get the story, to find out what is happening here. And there are so many single images that are disturbing throughout Sinister, and that is a perfect way to describe this movie. They got the title perfect. This movie feels so sinister and so unsettling that if you watch this movie, out of any movie on this list, and it completely dark room at your house, turned the sound up, no lights on, I feel, out of every movie on this list, it is one that will truly scare you, no matter the level of horror fan you are. If you are like me and are pretty numb to all the things by this time, this movie will affect you in a way that it might be hard for you to go to sleep at night. So out of any movie on this list. If I were to recommend one, and I wasn't even a big Sinister fan when it came out, probably took me the entire decade until I revisit this list as they updated every year. Sinister is so solid, and I'm okay with the fact now that I'm probably gonna oversell it a little bit. I'm gonna overhype it, but I think now after me not giving it its praise for over ten years, I think I'm finally gonna give it up for Sinister and believe that it deserves to be in this number one spot with an overall SCARE score of ninety six. So that is the list. Now let's get to our interview Michael Shaws, the director of The Conjuring Last Rights, which The Conjuring Last Rights is available on Digital Now and on four KUHD on November twenty fifth. I thought it was a really great way to close out the franchise. There is a moment in Last Rights that got me. We've been talking about the scenes that stay with you after watching them. The Conjuring Last Rights it it is all about Ed and Lorraine and essentially their final case, and it is really hard to close out and fully shut the door on a horror franchise. As we've seen with other horror franchises, it is hard to do, almost impossible if you will, because you always kind of want to leave the door open for more. But I think the Conjuring last Rites shut it out in a great way, crushed it at the box office this year. I love the fan base that the Conjuring movies have developed. My mom and I are huge fans of Anabelle, and she was really able to low key be the star in this movie. And there's one scene in particular where I saw Annabelle in a way I never thought I was ever going to see Annabell. So let's get into our conversation now with director Michael Shabs. How are you.

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Speaker 2: I am doing great? Oh my god. I loved the name and I love the podcast.

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Speaker 1: Well, I love your work. I was actually turned onto your work by my mom, who is sixty years old, loves horror movies. She's Mexican, so she's a big fan of like hod Ona. When you're making a movie, do you kind of think about, like man, horror is a genre that really has all different types of fans. Do you have to make a movie knowing that, Okay, I want to appease these fans, but I also want to make something that is honest to myself.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that it's oh my god, I love I love your mom, great tastes in films. I just want to get that out there. You know, honestly, you want to make something that has the broadest appeal, and obviously with this one, I'm so blown away by the incredible response that the movie got. I think ultimately, when you're making something, you just want to make something that satisfies you, and you know that you you enjoy as an audience member. And you know because every day you're the first audience member for the actors when they're getting in front of the camera. You're first one at the monitor. You're the first one like looking at like the stuff that they're doing. You're the first one seeing the movie come together. And so you know, that's just using that as a guide of like, you know what you want to see and you know what's entertaining you is always you know. I think that's what keeps me honest. I think it because it's easy to kind of sec guess things and just think like, oh, people will like such and such and such and such. You know, just you know, I think you got to just make a movie that you're enjoying when you're making it.

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Speaker 1: When you're starting the second guest things. Do you have a director friend you can go to and say, I'm having trouble with this scene or I don't really know where to go with this, give me some advice here.

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Speaker 2: You know, I mean lots of people. I mean, I think, you know, both my producers are just incredible. You know, obviously James, like, you know, I bounce ideas off him all the time. You know, Peter Is is an incredible producer and just a great storyteller. You know on set, Patrick and Vera Is, you know, they're both directors themselves. I think, you know, one of the things, like before I really started directing movies, I was actually like very gunshy to work with other directors because I think there's a feeling of like they're going to know more than you, or they're going to be you know, they're going to take the movie away from you or something like that. And the fact is that, you know, it's actually the people who've directed movies are the most supportive and the most they know how hard it is. They know how hard it is to put together in the movie, and they're usually the most generous with help or guidance or like just kind of helping you to kind of like get what you're after. Honestly just talking with them. They're great collaborators, they're really great. They're great people, but they're just also just like, really, you know, fun to make a movie with.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of you getting your start, what was the first thing you watched that made you think I could do that? Like I could make a movie. What was the first film where there's any piece of work that you saw and like, Okay, like I think I can actually do this and have a career in it.

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Speaker 2: It's funny the things that where you're like watch it and you're like, oh, I think I could do that are usually the bad movies where you're just like, I mean, I could do better than that.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of like some people who say, like when there's a hit song, like I could have written that, and you think, well you did it. If it's so simple you think you could do it.

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Speaker 2: No, exactly. I mean the movie that really always like always sticks with me and I always think about is Jurassic Park. And that wasn't like something like oh I think I could do that. I was just so blown away by that experience. I was like, oh my god, love that movie. I love the experience. I just remember like at the very end, Spielberg's credit coming on, and I'm like, oh my god, I want to I want to do that. Like that just like really like stuck with me, you know, and beyond that, it was just like, you know, you just you know, just make movies with my friends. I was just kind of like, you know, pulling out the video camera and you know, just that was kind of the uh, you know, just how how I got started.

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Speaker 1: When you started making movies with your friends. Who got you your first camera?

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Speaker 2: It's funny my parents are divorced in or yeah, even at the time, and the so they both got me different cameras. My my dad's camera at like my dad's house and my the camera at my mom's house.

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Speaker 1: Did they know the other one had bought you a camera or did you work the system?

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Speaker 2: I worked this out. I get a better camera from No.

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Speaker 1: How supportive were they of you when you were getting started in filmmaking.

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Speaker 2: You know, they were incredibly supportive. You know my dad's doctor. And you know, in a way, like looking back on it, I'm like, I have no idea why he would be so supportive, because it's like you'd almost want your son to kind of do something more reliable. But you know, his dad was like, you know, first generation from the Azores. You know, he came over. You know, my grandpa came over as like a farmer. He was like a dairy farmer. And so I think my dad looked at it, like, you know, his dad had no idea what he was doing becoming a doctor. So it's like even if he didn't know what I was doing becoming a director, it was like, you know, he knew that there would be a path that people have, that it is a job, and someone did it, and and so he was kind of he was very supportive about it. So very lucky. My parents have been great.

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Speaker 1: Is there some part of you that has to be a little bit delusional when you're getting started, because in a creative field you almost have to have this dry where sometimes you could be the only one who sees it. You could be the only one thinking like I am going to make it no matter what. Is there some level of delusion in those early years.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, no, absolutely. I mean I think it's like you know, and I think it's just trying to the trick is trying to have a healthy balance because also that delusion can be really destructive and harmful in a whole bunch of different ways. And also when you're making something, because you need to convince yourself that you can do it, even when you're you're young and starting and not very good, you need to convince yourself like, oh, you know, I'll eventually be able to make good movies. And then I think the delusion can be harmful when you're like when people are trying to give you guidance or advice or even criticism and you don't want to reject that. You need to be you know, in touch and aware enough as you're you're making these things and listening to criticism so you can make the best thing possible, or you could at least learn from things from the past. But yeah, I think there is a little bit of it. But I think what the advice I would give to any filmmaker out there is don't delude yourself too much. You have to like still be aware still like you know, you know, you know, stay open.

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Speaker 1: Not only did my mom give me into the Yoda n now, but she also turned me on to the Nun And then obviously once you started doing the Conjuring movies. One of the things that stick out to me when you made The Nun Too, is you talked about it was just a photo you saw of like some nuns peeling potatoes, and you're like, I love that image. I want to work it into the movie. Was there anything in Last Rites that maybe it was a photo you saw and you thought, I have to put this in this movie.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, so much of it came from like the real case. That's the best thing about the Conjuring is like you get to look at these the original cases and you know, look at like Ed and Lorraine like holding a press conference outside the house, and just like that imagery was like so great and it was stuff like that, Like, you know, so much of the interiors of the house was like the layout of the house was different. The real house was a duplex, and we just made this into a single a single family home for a bunch of different reasons. It just felt the complexity of having a duplex wouldn't really help the story. But the details the texture of that house, the wood paneling, like all of that was came from the real house, and there's so much stuff there that, you know, I was so proud of because it just it really feels like, okay, that we're really in the Smirl's house.

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Speaker 1: There are any kind of guidelines when it comes to crafting the demon? Is there any kind of like rule book of like what the demons have to look like, what they how they have to act or can you kind of just make it all your own?

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Speaker 2: You know, I could make it, you know, whatever I wanted. I think it's the type of thing that it's like, you know, you don't want to like break the general mold too much. You know, it's like if it like if it came out and all of a sudden, like they were all blue or something, it was like a straight out of Avatar. It's like people would reject that. You know, there's a certain I think expectation for what it is. But I think it's and it's not just conjuring films. I think it's even like this kind of like retros supernatural horror movie. Like if you look at the Innkeepers and those kind of like you know, the Great pale face of the woman who hanged yourself. It was like, you know, there's you know, we all know the conjuring such like the you know, the behemoth in the you know, in the genre, but you know there's all these other kind of great examples of like what our expectation for supernatural creatures are. And I think that that is you know, it all needs to kind of work in something like that, and you know we so yeah, it could be anything, but I kind of like just staying true to the core.

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Speaker 1: Well, appreciate this, Michael, This has been awesome.

00:30:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mike, thank you so much. I really appreciate it too.

00:30:18
Speaker 1: Let's get into it now. A spoiler free movie review of Roofman or ruf Man or maybe Rufman, depending on how you want to say it. Starring Channing Tatum, This is low key one of my favorite movies of the year. I found it so endearing and so entertaining. It's based on a true story a guy named Jeffrey Manchester, who I believe is a very complex individual. I think this movie set out to make a statement on how the system can fail people. Because Jeffrey is ex military and he is a guy who robbed forty five McDonald's, and you might say, how could anybody have any deeming qualities who has robbed forty five McDonald's. This movie will change a perspective on him, because if I just watched a new story about him, which this happened in the early two thousands, the movie takes place in two thousand and four, I don't really remember it. But now if this were to happen in twenty twenty five, I would think this guy is a criminal. Get him off the streets. That's a lot of robber that's a lot of burglarising, and I think it shows how the system can fail some people. I don't believe Jeffrey Manchester was an inherently bad person, and again, I just watched a movie about him. They could make me feel a certain type of way about him. He could be more awful in real life. But I don't think they would have told the movie in this way and took that big of a creative liberty, because what you even see in the trailer is Channing Tatum after he has cut a hole in the roof of this McDonald's, because he is a very observant individual and he realized, man, they are doing these deposits at the same time, every day, at every single McDonald What if I just come in before they do it. I put the entire working crew in the freezer, and then I take all the money and I call the cops. And you see him even in the trailer, give his jacket to the manager of the McDonald's because he did not want him to be cold in that freezer, and the manager forgot his jacket. And I think it is those redeeming qualities about Jeffrey that have your rooting for him, because he does do bad things. He does commit crimes. Even though this movie is based on a true story. I won't tell you how it ends, because I think given the context, you want to kind of form the idea in your head of what exactly is going to happen to his character. The only thing I'll say is, obviously, if they made a movie about him, you kind of have to assume what happens to his character. But maybe you don't. But I won't get into that. But this movie comes to us from director Derek cianne France and Derek did another one of my favorite movies of the twenty tens, The Place Beyond the Pine, starring Ryan Gosling, And I think what Derek does so well is showing you individuals who feel like they've been backed into a corner. Society has really knocked them down, and feel like they have no other choice but to commit crimes in order to make money in order to provide for their family. Because that is what Ryan Gosling's character does in that movie. He starts robbing banks and he realizes he is really good at rubbing banks, and even his character doesn't want to see anybody get hurt. But if you keep doing it over and over again, it can only lead to more bad things. But I don't believe Ryan Gosling's character in that movie set out to hurt or harm anybody. This was the only way he knew how to make money. And I think that is the same case we have here with Channing Tatum's character, where he got out of the military, has been given all these tools on how to repair hell, how to break into places, how to take people out, how to protect yourself essentially, how to break into places, and in his case, how to live in a toys r us for six months. And if you give somebody all these tools to do these things while they are enlisted in the military. Then they get done with the military and they come back to the United States, and you don't give them the tools to re enter society. And in this case, Jeffrey Manchester couldn't make money. He had a family he was trying to provide for, and the only thing he was good at was committing crimes, using these skills that he was taught while in the military and now applying it to his life of crime. So, for me, a big thing I took away from Roofman that I really wasn't expecting is how we need to treat people better who serve this country when they come back home and we want them to just quickly assimilate back into civilian life, but we don't give them the resources. I felt the exact same way after watching Warfare earlier this year, where you see people go fight for us overseas, witness the most heinous things, and then come back here and are just expected to be normal. We have to treat them better. Jeffrey was simply doing what he was good at with the tools he's been given, with the cards he's been dealt in life, and he obviously made some bad choices. He could have picked an entirely different career after coming back, but I also think he wasn't put in a place to succeed. And also why I believe this character story works so well is because Channing Tatum is so charismatic and I love the way he embodies this character where Channing Tatum is a good mix of somebody who looks like he could have been in the military. Has an incredible physique in this movie, in particular because there are scenes of him bathing in this Toys r Us and you just see him basically completely naked at one point. But not only can you do those parts of this role, not only can he do the physically demanding things, but he also has fantastic comedic timing. Channing Tatum isn't your average actor. He doesn't really have a vast history in acting. Before he got his start in the early two thousands. Before he got into acting, he was dancing in Miami. You've seen the movie Matter Mike. He was doing that type of thing that dancing led to modeling. He ended up getting a role in a Ricky Martin music video and that's where he was discovered and started doing acting. So he's not like this classically trained actor or had such an affinity for wanting to be a thespian that he went to school for it. And he didn't need to go to school because there's one thing that you cannot learn in any acting school, and that is how to have charisma. And that is what Channing Tatum has. He oozes charisma and brings to life every character he portrays because he is somebody that just draws you in because of the visuals, because of his strong jawline, his muscles. But it's not just having that. You also have to have that charisma to carry the viewer, to make them like you. And another thing he does really well that I don't think he gets enough credit for, not just the comedic timing, but he doesn't overact. He doesn't overcompensate trying to do all these extra things. When it comes to Channing Tatum, a lot of his mannerisms and his dialogue is very subtle and I find that charming and I think also working with Jonah Hill on twenty one Jump Street, who Jonah Hill is a notorious guy who loves to do improv. He will do one scene a million different ways, maybe not a million, maybe not one hundred. Maybe I'm exaggerating, Welcome to the podcast, but that is what Jonah Hill is known for. And I imagine working with a guy like Jonah Hill on a very funny movie twenty one Jump Street, which is probably my favorite at least a top three Channing Catum movie for me. And if you look at Channing Tatum's last five movies, he has a lot of variety, and I think that is what he is becoming an actor that I get more and more drawn to because I don't know what kind of role he is going to take on next. Before Rufman, he did Blink Twice, which was more of a thriller. He played a bit more of a darker character. I like him in that, even though I didn't like his character. Before that. He did Fly Me to the Moon, more of a rom com. Him and Scarlett Johanson, I believe was a perfect pairing. I love that movie. It wasn't anything special, and that is a hard thing right now. If you are not just a completely polarizing movie that makes headlines, because it's not just about making a good movie anymore. You have to have the marketing, You have to have the storylines outside of the film that people are following along fly Me to the Moon. If you put that movie out back in the late nineties or early two thousands, that would be a core rom com. But it comes out at a time where that isn't a novel story to make anymore. Even though I thought it was done really well, it just does doesn't have that same impact, which is a hard pill for me to swallow, because it is movies like fly Me to the Moon. It is movies like Roofman that I love that I go and watch in the theater and from when they start to win they end, I am completely entertained the entire time. But it isn't something as big as a Marvel movie. It isn't something that I feel you have to drive to the theater to see. Which is another thing movies have to do right now is create that sense of urgency that if you don't go see it opening weekend, you are missing out. Roofman isn't that type of movie. And if it can't be profitable, that makes me sad because it could mean we see less and less of these films. It did not great opening weekend, and I'm here just fighting for this movie because it is a really good movie. But before that he was in Deadpool and Wolverine, which he will return his Gambit. He's gonna tone down the accent a little bit more. I love the fact that he is finally getting to play Gambit. He is somebody who has been a big advocate for a very long time trying to get Gambit on the big screen, and a lot of people hate on him, saying you don't look like Gambit, You're too big and bulky. I'd rather have somebody who doesn't exactly look like the character, at least in the comics, but want to play them so bad and want to do that character justice and be such a big fan and big nerd about it that it doesn't take me out of it. The fact that he doesn't look exactly like what we think Gambit should look like. And then before that he did the final Magic Mike movie, Magic Mike's Last Dance. And before that he did The Lost City with Sandra Bullock, which was a solid rom com, a little bit cheesy, a little bit hokey, but I really like the two of them together. One thing I didn't love about roof Man was the fact that it made two thousand and four feel vintage where you see some of the things on the shelves at the Toys r US there's like a stitch toy, And I'm like, that is an inconsistency, because I really pay attention to those things whenever you have a period piece. Which is weird to talk about a movie from two thousand and four as a period piece, but I pay attention to the songs used in a movie because you have to be accurate. But all the things that were on the shelves, all the video games, all the references where they were with technology at this point in two thousand and four, which I also think was a big reason why he could actually get away with this. It all lined up, and that made me feel a little bit old, the fact that these things from a little over twenty years ago now feel vintage. I was like, oh my gosh, it's starting to set into me that you can set a movie in two thousand and four and it feel old, much like when we would watch new movies that came out in the mid two thousands and they took place in the eighties and it felt like an eternity ago. I am starting to feel that now, And that was the only thing I did not like about this experience. So what do we learn in this review. We need to treat our military better and give them resources when they come back to civilian life. Derek c and France can humanize characters who have done bad things. If you haven't seen a Place Beyond the Pines, go watch roof Man and then go rent that on You can't watch it on Netflix anymore, which was the last place I watched it, but you have to pay like that three dollars and fifty cent rental fee. That is fantastic. Radley Cooper is also in it, and that is the movie where Ryan Gosling met his wife. And we also learned that Channing Tatum. I don't think it's that big of a surprise. He's not a classically trained actor, went from dancer to model to now one of the biggest names in Hollywood. But I just feel like overall, this is a real crowd pleaser because it has crime, it has thrills, it has romance, it has comedy, it has a little bit of nostalgia. There is a little something for everybody in this movie. But for roof Man, I give it four out of five toys. R us.

00:42:51
Speaker 2: It's time to head down to movie Mike Trey Lar Paul.

00:42:55
Speaker 1: I think this movie is going to determine how big of a movie stars Glenn Powell is going to be. The Running Man comes out only in theaters on November fourteenth. It is directed by Edgar Wright, who has done movies like Sean of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, The World's End, Baby Driver, and Last Night in Soho really good director. I feel like Edgar Wright's movies are very almost animated esque, always have a fantastic soundtrack, really quick action. It almost feels like watching an Edgar Wright movie is like listening to a really well crafted song with all these instruments that just flow together perfectly. He is a really great director to take on this project. It is a remake. The movie originally came out back in nineteen eighty seven and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is based on a Stephen King novel that came out in nineteen eighty two. The weird thing about the plot of this movie, which is about a near future society, The Running Man is a top raty TV show. It's a deadly competition where these contestants go on to try and make money. They are called runners, and they have to survive thirty days while being hunted by professional assassins. The entire thing is broadcasted, so it is very Hunger Games esque, even though it predates the Hunger Games. But we're also just coming off of Stephening movie The Long Walk, where people competed in this walking competition. One person standing would win the prize. So all these stories that came out back in the eighties are still relevant today. And I just have to know what is wrong with us as a society that this still feels normal, that we are still in a position where it almost makes sense to us, even though it seems like it's this weird near future that we have to compete to earn money for basic human necessities. Because in this movie, Glenn Powell's character is named Ben Richards, and he is trying to earn money to help his sick daughter and the only way he can do that is by going onto this show. So that was the thing I was just wondering, like, Okay, it happens in the Hunger Game, so it happens in the future, it's happened in our past. Why are we still having to put ourselves into life or death situations like the hunger games like squid game, in order just to have basic human needs. But I think it also kind of puts the mirror on us, realizing that we also enjoy watching things like this. And it's one thing if it's just in a movie, just in a TV show, but I think it kind of says something about our society that we like to see somebody suffer for money, and I don't think that part of it is good. But I have to remove myself a little bit and think this is just entertainment. It's just a fun thriller. But with any form of entertainment and a story like this, there is always some truth to it. So hopefully, hopefully we're not remaking this twenty twenty five version in twenty forty five, and it still feels like that has to be an option for some people. But a lot to say about this movie again, why I think this is going to be the movie that determines how big of a movie star Glenn Powell is going to be, and also why he can't get away from roles where he has to put on disguises. Before I talk more about that, here is just a little bit of the Running Man trailer coming out on November fourteenth. You know, I've been thinking about the show for the next thirty days. Everyone in the country is trying to murder me. People on these games never come back. We have no choice.

00:46:32
Speaker 2: We need money for a doctor now.

00:46:35
Speaker 1: Right, Welcome to The Running Man. Contestants will be hunted for thirty days. Now you want can kill you so fy, and you will walk away with a billion dollars. I always thought this was fake, feeling pretty real now. So Glenn Powell's character gets convinced by the ruthless producer played by Josh Brolin to enter the game. He gets into the game, and his sheer, determination and grit turn him into a fan favorite. But then, of course he's got a threat in the entire system. As rating skyrocket so does the danger, and now he has to outsmart the hunters in order to win that prize. But also what you see in the trailer is that the game is gonna be rigged, so can he pull it off? This is probably the third movie I've seen where Glenn Powell has to put on some sort of disguise. Well, I guess one of them is a TV show he did it in hit Man Last Summer, which was a really fantastic movie on Netflix. If you haven't watched that one. Richard Link later did a fantastic job with that story. He's doing it right now with Chad Powers, which is the show on Hulu where he plays a college football player who had his chance at glory, messed it up, and then goes back for redemption while wearing a very ridiculous looking prosthetic face. And now you have him here in Running Man, where in this trailer he is putting on a guys to hide his true identity. So there is something about him that is drawn two roles where he gets to go incognito. And why I think this is going to be the movie that determines how big of a star he is, because while watching this trailer I start to see some parallels with him with arguably the biggest movie star on the face of the planet right now, at least the one who's been around the longest Tom Cruise. Maybe it's the Paramount logo. Maybe it's because since it's called The Running Man, he is running throughout a lot of this trailer. Somebody who is known for being associated with Paramount, who is known for doing action movies where they have to run a lot, known for being a great leading man. I start to see the parallels between him and Tom Cruise. You look at Glenn Powell's career, which has been skyrocketing in the last two years. Specifically, he really hasn't had a movie where he is the leading man that's not based in any kind of property that it has determined how much of a pool he has at the box office. He did it really well with Anyone but you with Sidney Sweetey, But again that was both of them combining both of their star power and how they sold that movie, which made it a success. Hit Man was a really good movie, but didn't go to the box office because it's just a Netflix movie. Twisters, even though him and Daisy Edgar Jones were the two big stars in that film, I think because of the legacy of Twister and that franchise having a lot to do with it, I think that had some influence in getting people to go see that movie. You could argue the same thing here because it is a remake because the original was a success with Arnold Schwarzenegger. But I still feel like when you look around at the supporting characters in this film. There's not somebody else that is gonna bring people in. You need that A list star. Josh Brolin is fantastic. Coleman Domingo is fantastic. You have Michael Sarah in this movie as well, who I hope has a pretty significant role because them two together just in this trailer, I think is fantastic. But I think it's Glenn Powell's name, his face that is really going to be the determining factor of how well this movie does. It's not like you're remaking one of the best films of all time from that decade. It's also a pretty straight ahead action movie, which have become a harder sell at the box office. Speaking of Tom Gruse, he had a hard time selling those last two Mission Impossible movies. And it all comes down to, is Glenn Powell somebody who makes people want to go spend their money and watch a movie like this in the theater. I think it does well. I wanted to do well. I have been a big fan of his work for a long time. Now I want it to be successful. He is right there on the cusp of if he has one or two big hits, he could be in everything for the next two years. He could start suffering from what Pedro Pascal is suffering right now of people just being like, oh, another Pedro Pesqcal at the theater. He's not quite there yet. He needs that big success and I think this could be that first big push to mega stardom. So I'm all in for it. The Riding Man is coming out in theaters on November Fourteenth's head That for was this week's edition of movie Line tram or Bar and that is gonna do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I gotta give my listeners shout out of the week. Love going over to Facebook and TikTok and Instagram and checking all the things there. The place I am always the most hesitant to go over to, though, is YouTube because YouTube is so brutally honest. The people there are either gonna build you up or tear you down, and most of the time they're going to tear you down. But I do spend a lot of time over there posting videos. If you missed last week's interview with Robert England, the full thing is up for you right there, so be sure to subscribe YouTube dot com, slash my Distro. You can find the link in the episode notes. And this week's listener shout out goes to SBZ so Committed, who commented on my Robert England review on YouTube and said, we need one more Freddy movie out of him. I can't take it. He is the goat, which is kind of what I was trying to get to while talking to him in that interview, as I started to ask him about the physical demands, because I really believe that is kind of what kept him from doing the role further now into his seventies. He is seventy eight years old. So as much as we want to see him play Freddy one more time, I just don't think he has it in him at this point. If they wanted to make an animated version of a Nightmare on ELM Street, I think he would be all for it and that would be fantastic. But if we get another Nightmare on Elm Street movie, sadly is just gonna be somebody different. But appreciate that. Thank you for being subscribed over on YouTube. Thank you for listening wherever you are right now, and until next time, go go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later