Weapons Director Zach Cregger on What They Don't Tell You About Having A No. 1 Movie, Brad Pitt and His Favorite Punk Bands + Movie Review: Him + Trailer Park: Sydney Sweeney in “Christy”

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike. Today I am talking to Weapons director Zach Kreiger, my favorite horror movie of the year. I don't think I've ever done as much research going into an interview before. Before I even knew this was happening, I almost maybe kind of manifested this a little bit. I started just doing research on this guy because I am so fascinated on how he approaches film and now joining the podcast today Zach Kreiger. In the movie review, I'll be talking about the movie Everybody Thinks is directed by Jordan Peele, but it's only produced by Jordan Peele him. It's a horror movie about football starring Marlon Wayans. And in the trailer park, we'll talk about why Sidney Sweeney just looks a little bit off in the Christy trailer. 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 the.

00:00:51
Speaker 2: Nushville podcast Network. This is Movie Mike's Movie Podcast.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: Zach Cregor is a writer, director, and act They're best known as one of the founding members of this comedy troupe called The Whitest Kids You Know. It was also a TV show that was on the air from two thousand and seven to twenty eleven. At that time, I was in high school and everybody was quoting The Whitest Kids You Know sketches. He directed fifty three of those fifty seven episodes during that period. He also starred in the tbsitcom Wrecked for the entire three season run from twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen, and he made his directorial debut with the horror movie Barbarian in twenty twenty two. This year, I put Zach Kreiger on my list of directors that I'm gonna watch every single movie they put out because I was so moved by Weapons. It's about seventeen kids who all wander outside their homes in the middle of the night and no one knows where they went, and no one knows why. Weapons is now available on digital and it'll be on four K Ultra HD on October fourteenth. And now let's talk to Zach Craiger. What is it like when you wake up and realize you have the number one movie in the country. What is that feeling like?

00:02:01
Speaker 2: It is surreal. It doesn't.

00:02:03
Speaker 3: It doesn't feel like I think maybe somebody might expect it to feel, because it's you're still in your bed and your skin in your room, and it's you know, there's no there's no news, pixie dust sprinkled in the air. You know. It's you can look at your phone and kind of reinforce that that's happening, and then you put your phone in your pocket and you're still just in your house. So it's it's a weird thing, you know. It's I'm happy. Don't get me wrong, I don't. I don't mean to be, you know, poo pooing anything, but uh, you're still you, so.

00:02:36
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think I understand that because I in my life, I've lost one hundred pounds and I was really proud of myself when I was really proud of myself when I did that, and I thought once I did all the work and lost the weight that I would be suddenly happier. And then I woke up one day and I realized I did it. I don't know if I feel any happier. Is it kind of that same way where you're like, I thought this was going to solve all my problems. This is what I wanted to do a chie as a filmmaker, and now that I have it, it's like, okay, cool, this is it.

00:03:03
Speaker 3: Okay, Well I think there, I think maybe, But but I think there's something deeper under the surface that that we have in common.

00:03:09
Speaker 2: Right now, you did.

00:03:10
Speaker 3: Something really hard and and and you are reaping the benefits of that because you probably have more energy, and you probably probably have some self esteem rise from that, right And I think that So even though my moment to moment is largely similar than as it was before, I do have like there is a sense of accomplishment that I think kind of is an underlying vibe that that I can I can recognize as being as being different.

00:03:38
Speaker 2: Do you feel that. I know when I got sober, I.

00:03:40
Speaker 3: Felt that way, you know, I felt like, oh, like things still bother me, but like I have this like cushion of self esteem that I've never had before, and I only got that after I got sober.

00:03:51
Speaker 2: So maybe maybe we have that and yeah, here isn't it.

00:03:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, feeling the self esteem is a big part of it. I guess I just thought that once I lost all the way, that's only all my problems would fix and I'd find a girlfriend and I'd be like, Okay, now I get the job.

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Speaker 2: You would like come storming into your living room and like somebody would just give you a raise exactly. Oh yeah, the world doesn't work out.

00:04:11
Speaker 1: And I think with you in the creative field, that you're always kind of chasing that thing, and then sometimes when you have you're like, oh man, was this really what I wanted the whole time?

00:04:19
Speaker 3: Well, that I don't know, because I think I've wanted to be a filmmaker since I was like six, and so so I you know, there's always maybe a fear that you're going to be like the dog that catches the mail truck and like, you know, is it gonna monkeys pop?

00:04:32
Speaker 2: And by the way, maybe it will. I don't know it. You know, this is all very new, so I could I could be singing a different song in two years.

00:04:39
Speaker 3: But but right now, you know, I'm I'm in Prague and I'm making a new movie, and you know, my wife and I are good, and I'm I'm I'm doing okay, So I'm I'm all right.

00:04:49
Speaker 1: So I'm a huge fan of post Malone. I had the chance to meet him. I posted a picture of him in my Instagram story, and later I saw that he watched my Instagram story. I like, that's cool, post Malone watch my Instagram So that was almost cool then meeting them in some weird way because I don't know. I think we're all just like fascinated with social media and who watches our stuff?

00:05:07
Speaker 2: For you?

00:05:07
Speaker 1: As a filmmaker, do you ever during the process of making a movie, think, man, I wonder who the most famous person is going to be that has watched my movie?

00:05:15
Speaker 2: No, who would that be?

00:05:18
Speaker 1: For you? Though, Like, oh, man, I really wish they would watch my movie. Like I've loved this person maybe since I was a kid. I'm a huge fan of them now, like if this person watches Zach Kraiger movie, I mean, I.

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Speaker 3: Don't know, Brad Pitt, I've always been a giant fan. Would that would be pretty cool? You know, there's so many people you admire and I could give you a hundred names right now. That would blow my mind if they saw the movie.

00:05:41
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:05:42
Speaker 3: It's funny, like to the idea of being on set and being like, all right, I'm sitting up a shot and one.

00:05:47
Speaker 2: Day person Barack Obama watch this.

00:05:51
Speaker 1: And I'm really good to impress him with this one.

00:05:54
Speaker 2: I do not think that way for Barbarian.

00:05:57
Speaker 1: You said you learned to prep the shoot and shoot the prep. What did you learn from Weapons?

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Speaker 3: Great question. I think I learned to and I'm still learning it. I learned I need to learn to just like relax a little bit more. Everybody I'm surrounded by is really good at what they do. The movie's not gonna collapse. You know, we're gonna get it. You know, here's what I learned. My cinematographer said during prep, you know, we're not playing a win lose game here.

00:06:24
Speaker 2: We only win. And I was like, are you allowed to think that way? Do you think that way? Could I think that way?

00:06:31
Speaker 3: And like, yeah, that's the attitude, man, Like I don't need to freak out that if I forget to say something in prep, suddenly everything's gonna burn to the ground and production and the movie will be broken. Like, no, the movie's gonna win, you know, because it's a good idea and I have talented people and it's gonna it's We're gonna get everything we need to get. And I think when I was making Weapons, I had this fear that that wasn't true, but I think that is I'm allowed to like live in that mindset now.

00:06:59
Speaker 1: I think one of the most surprising things that I wasn't expecting when watching the movie and even rewatching the movie were the moments of comedy where it was kind of unexpected. It was maybe Josh Brolin saying line like what the hell? Like what theF for? What's going on here? And there was just these moments I kind of popped in the theater where I was like, Oh, if you cut this movie differently, do you think it could be a comedy.

00:07:19
Speaker 3: Oh, I wonder. I don't know, but I'd love to see someone try.

00:07:24
Speaker 1: Why is it that people who have maybe roots in comedy like you kind of translate to horror so well, like a Jordan Peele. I'd even put like a John Krazinski in there, going from having this background in sketch comedy where people know them for that and now suddenly have such success in horror. Why do you think that is? How do those two genres kind of have some similarities?

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Speaker 3: Because I think you have to have an ear for timing, and I think you have to be good at surprise. I think every joke is a surprise. Every single one, every joke, everything you've ever laughed at, follows a recipe in a formula, like an algebraic formula. That formula is this, an action with an expected outcome yields an unexpected outcome. Okay, So it's basically just saying, you do this, you think you're gonna get that, and you get a surprise. And I promise you there's not one thing you've ever laughed at in your life that doesn't sort of follow that. And and and try me if you ever see me on the street and you think you have one that doesn't follow that for me, come up to me and tell me, and I bet I can, I bet I can beat you.

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Speaker 2: Because it just does.

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Speaker 3: And and and so that someone who's kind of good at that surprise, that like anti rhythm or that that little like pop, is probably going to be good at scaring you, because scares are follow the same anatomy, you know, where it's like you're subverting in expectation. And I'm not sure if it's the exact same, but it's very similar. So it's the same muscle group, is what I'm trying to say. It's it's like a it's like you're good at the same instrument. Maybe is the way I think about it. That was a really mouthful bullshit.

00:08:58
Speaker 2: To describe it a simple question.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, one of my favorite things about you is that you were in a punk band back in the day where you said you would just basically get on the floor and just scream until they totally had to stop. But you grew up in the DC punk scene, which I'm a huge fan of punk rock. If you had to create a Mount Rushmore of punk artists, who would be on that Mount Rushmore? Your top four?

00:09:20
Speaker 2: Wow?

00:09:21
Speaker 3: Okay, I'd go Bad Brains first and foremost perfect for DC. Yeah, I would go Fugazi Probably, I would put you know.

00:09:31
Speaker 2: What a great question, dude, I might have to say the Misfits.

00:09:35
Speaker 1: Oh love it, huge Misfits, early.

00:09:37
Speaker 2: Misfits when Danzig was in the band.

00:09:39
Speaker 1: I don't even consider them the Misfits After Danzig lev It's like it's just dancing.

00:09:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and then like, I don't know, I mean, oh god, that's so hard.

00:09:49
Speaker 2: That's such a hard one.

00:09:51
Speaker 1: Fourth one and what do you got there?

00:09:52
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe Dead Kennedy's I don't know.

00:09:54
Speaker 1: I feel like that is a classic punk rock list. Right there, that is to know.

00:09:57
Speaker 2: But those are all like obvious. You know.

00:10:00
Speaker 3: I could get like really like narrow a niche and say like born against and his zero is gone and and like keep going down that path.

00:10:07
Speaker 2: But I don't know.

00:10:08
Speaker 1: But melt rushmore is the people who are gonna be remembered forever. You gotta have dantic space up there, right, The Crimson ghosts up there is that kind of I would probably put. When I got into punk rock was late nineties, early two thousands, so I'd put Rancid, No Effects, Blink one eighty two, and Green Day.

00:10:26
Speaker 3: These are all pop punk bands, Dude, you don't consider those punk bands too.

00:10:30
Speaker 2: Green All every band you just named is like pop punk.

00:10:33
Speaker 1: Okay, so I'll go punk rock. Then I would go Ramones, Can I Can I take the Ramones? Yeah? Of course yeah, I'd go See then I do feel basic kind of like you did, because I'd go Ramones, Clash Misfits and prop Rants. Would you consider rancid pop punk.

00:10:51
Speaker 2: Not as pop punk? Is like Blink one eighty two?

00:10:54
Speaker 1: Wow, you consider rancid pop punk that is not as the other your commercial taste of music? Okay, that's probably got black flag though.

00:11:04
Speaker 2: That's cool.

00:11:04
Speaker 3: I mean, Ivy was like that was like the band that was my gateway drug, you know, and that's basically you know, that's rancid practically, so.

00:11:11
Speaker 2: So I get you.

00:11:12
Speaker 3: I'm not, by the way, I'm not giving any shade bands at all. I'm just saying like they were all very similar. They're all kind of living in that same kind of kind of like you know, time and space, you know, no effect screen day and you know so that that dude, No, no, no problems here.

00:11:28
Speaker 2: But I'm just saying, like.

00:11:29
Speaker 1: You made me feel so basic, now, Zach, that's not what I meant with you.

00:11:33
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.

00:11:34
Speaker 1: Well, I really appreciate it's been awesome to get to talk to you. You are one of my favorite directors, so this is an honor.

00:11:39
Speaker 2: Thanks Mike. It's really fun to talk to you too.

00:11:41
Speaker 1: Dude.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: Don't hold that against me that I asked you.

00:11:44
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks man. All right, buddy, that was quite possibly one of the funniest interviews I've done on this podcast. If you enjoyed that, I'm gonna post some clips over on socials on TikTok and Facebook and YouTube shorts and Instagram. And sometimes I feel like I don't know what to say. When I see some of my favorite creator posting things, I'm like, that's a really cool clip. I want to do more than just like it, but I don't know what to comment. I'm gonna make it easy for you. Just drop some hot dog emojis into the comments. If you've seen Weapons, you know what the hot dog is referring to. If you don't, not really a spoiler. It's just a very small detail that Zach Kreiger worked in there as an homage to actually his friend that passed away, one of the cast members from The Whitest Kids. You know, he died, I believe in twenty twenty one, and Weapons was a way of Zach coping with his grief. And I rewatched Weapons before the interview, and I really started to see that in the movie. I saw not a horror story of a bunch of people in a town trying to figure out what happened to these kids. I saw somebody trying to deal with the fact that they lost one of their best friends, and how that comes out in every single character in Weapons and all the parts of Zach's story that suddenly this movie made so much more sense to me, so drop a hot dog emoji in the comments. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If not, go watch Weapons. But let's get into what I believe to be my top five directors of the twenty twenties so far. I consider the movies that are also not yet released yet, so it's the movies that have come out so far in the twenty twenties. At number five, I have Selene's Song, who made her directorial debut with Past Lives in twenty twenty three, easily one of the best directorial debuts of the decades so far, earneder an Oscar nomination. I think Past Lives should have won for Best Picture, but she followed it up this year with Materialists. In just two movies, I feel like she has already established who she is as a storyteller with movies rooted in emotion, where Past Lives is so much more a type of movie that makes you want to cry, that just hits you in all these emotional pockets in your body, and as somebody who has a hard time accessing those, a Selene Song movie is going to get those emotions out of me. Past Lives in particular, and then this year with Materialists. It was a little bit less emotional, well leaned in more to the rom com so not really going to hit you in the fields like Past Lives did. But I really love that Selene started to expand on her visual palette and Materialists, which really elevated and drew me into that movie more so. I think Selene's song is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to romance, whether they're dramas, whether their dramas, whether they have more of the comedic elements. She is going to be a director to watch if you love that genre of movies. At number four, our guest of the episode who worked his way into my top five, and it would have been even if he wasn't on the podcast today, because that's how much I loved Weapons. And I even admitted to you guys that I wasn't the biggest fan of Barbarian when it came out, but I respected the integrity of the movie and I respected the vision more so than how entertaining I found it. It is still, I believe, one of the most noteworthy horror movies of the decade, and with Weapons he entered into that. Okay, this is somebody who knows what they are doing and have a very unique way of capturing the attention of people. And then, like you mentioned in the interview, he is also out filming his movie right now. He's working on the new reboot of Resident Evil, coming out in theaters next year on September eighteenth. So dude is so in demand right now. Anything he touches people want to be a part of. And that has to be such a special part of a director's life when they are the hottest thing, when everybody wants to work with him. And I love how I was able to get out of him that he hopes that Brad Pitt has seen one of his movies. And I'm pretty sure I saw Brad Pitt talking about weapons with Josh Brolin, so I'm pretty sure Brad Pitt has seen it. But not only that, I feel that Brad Pitt would want to work with Zach Creiger. Could you imagine a horror movie with Brad Pitt if that happens. I'm going to credit this podcast because we put it onto the universe. But because of that, Zach Kreiger has cracked my top five of twenty twenties directors so far at number three. I'm going with Your Ghost Lantimos. So far in twenty twenty, he has put out Poor Things, Minds The Kindness and has Bougonia coming out in November. His movies are really weird and not for everybody. It's the type of movie that I grew up loving, but my parents would never in a million years let me watch, And even now as an adult, I think I'd rather walk backwards through a cactus field naked than watching Yorrugo's Lundmo's movie with my mom or my dad. Speaking of Naked is because it just has a lot of naked people, and not even doing normal naked people things, just very out of the box nudity that has you wondering what exactly goes on in his mind. But I love a director who is so weird and one that almost becomes a genre in themselves. I feel like he is that for me now. Probably in the two thousands and twenty tens it was Wes Anderson, who is an honorable mention on this list, but now I feel because of the actors, he goes back to his trademark people, his muses, his Emma Stones. Before that it was Colin Farwell. He has a tendency to get a fixation on an actor and do two to three movies with him before he moves on. So I feel like he is the biggest nerd, and as a big nerd, I can respect that, and I can't wait for him to make more new, weird movies. That's why I'm so excited for Bagonia later this year. But at number three is the Greek filmmaker, your Gooslantimos. At number two, I have Christopher Nolan. Now, he started out the decade kind of on a downpoint because Tenant was one of the most confusing movies I had ever seen. I remember when I watched Tenant again in twenty twenty we were still watching movies at home, which was cool for a minute. I had to restart that movie so many times because I thought, what am I missing here, And after watching it all the way through for the first time, I was still confused. And I feel like that was such a big creative risk for him. I don't think that movie is inherently bad. I just think we still don't get it yet five years after. And I felt the same way about his movie Interstellar, where everybody was raving about that movie. It was so highly praised. It took years of me going back to that movie and rewatching it to fully understand what he accomplished there by creating one of the best sci fi movies of all time. So maybe in another ten years I'm gonna look back and watch ten and think, man, we totally got this movie wrong. But he also put out Oppenheimer in twenty twenty three, which he won the Oscar for Best Director. He has The Odyssey coming out next year in twenty twenty six. It is the first movie ever filmed entirely on Imax. That's gonna be big, that's gonna be bold, that's gonna be beautiful. It has Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Hathaway's Zenda. That is gonna be an event. And he is also the only director I can imagine to make The Odyssey an event, because if anybody else tackled that movie, or if anybody else tackled Oppenheimer, I don't think it would have the same impact because I think the source material on its own isn't that sexy. I wouldn't look at anybody else making an Odyssey movie and think that is a mussy thing. That is a movie that I'm gonna buy tickets a year out, which some people did. Tickets went on sale this summer and they sold out. It's like maybe one screening, but that creates a story that is something that only Christopher Nolan can do. So that is why I have Christopher Nolan at number two. At number one, this was an easy number one. It is James gunn So far in the twenty twenties, he has put out The Suicide Squad, which is the quintessential DC anti hero movie. He made everything right that was wrong with the original Suicide Squad. I rewatched it recently whenever Kelsey and I went to New York for our vacation this summer. Oh, it's a great hotel movie, and I was reminded of just how much I loved all the characters inside of The Suicide Squad. They're still kind of back and forth on whether or not Margot Robbie is going to return as Harley Quinn, But after rewatching that movie, I'm like, how can you not include her? With everything going on now with Superman, where we're going with Supergirl, with Batman having his own elseworlds, with what Matt Reeves is doing, I just want all of these things to intersect at one point. Could you imagine a movie now where you have Margot Robbie John Cena as Peacemaker, David Kornswitt as Superman, Robert Pattinson as the Batman. He also put out Guardians of the Galaxy Volume three and twenty twenty three, closing out one of the best trilogies ever of all time in the MCU come On. But also this year he put out Superman, which is now available on HBO Max. I need to go watch that immediately because I really wanted to go see it for the second time in theaters, but it was such a busy summer that I was not able to go see anything for a second time except for Leilo and Stitch. I had to see Lelo and Stitch in theaters twice, which is also on Disney Plus now, so I can go relive my summer watch Lelo and Stitch on Disney and then go over to HBO Max and rewatch Superman, which he also why I included him at number one is Man of Tomorrow. The follow up to that movie is coming out on July ninth, twenty twenty seven. Only two years in between those two which I have to imagine it could shift a little bit, but I almost feel like Superman now belongs in July, so hopefully that release date stays on track. My honorable mentions Wes Anderson, who this decade has put out The French Dispatch, Asteroid City, and the Phoenetian Scheme. I think because of how little I enjoyed the French Dispatch kept me from putting him in my top five. Also have Emerald Fendle, who put out Promising Young Woman in twenty twenty. That is quite possibly one of the top ten movies of the decade that doesn't get talked about enough. I feel like anything that came out in twenty twenty kind of goes under the radar because it was such a weird time for movies. But she followed that up with Saltburn in twenty twenty three. That was the movie that got everybody talking a couple of years ago. She has such a bold and risky style that I love it. She also has a movie coming out year with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi called Wuthering Heights. It is based on a classic novel. I saw the trailer for that, and Boyd does it look steamy? You kidding me? Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi together. I also have directors who so far have only put out one movie in the twenty twenties. Jordan Peel has only put out Nope in twenty twenty two. I also have the co directing team the Daniels, who basically broke the oscars with their movie Everything Everywhere, All at Once. I would say the most innovative storytellers of the twenty twenties Greta Gerwig, but so far she's only put out Barbie, which was a massive movie. I just need some more to get her into the top five. Paul Thomas Anderson so far has only put out Licorice Pizza, but he does have one Battle after another coming out at the end of the month. James Cameron has also put out Avatar two and has another one coming out later this year. Martin Scorsese has only done Killers of the Flower Moon. Quentin Tarantino has put out zero movies in the twenty twenties, but quite possibly he's the only director I know that could make to list with just one movie. And finally, I have Matt Reeves, who I mentioned earlier who put out The Batman this decade and should have The Batman coming out soon. Some details did come out last week. Filming starts in April twenty twenty six, which that sucks because this movie was supposed to come out this year in twenty twenty five, and they're not starting filming until next April. Other details about the movie include Bruce Wayne is finding it very hard to be Batman, which I don't know if that's saying a whole lot. I imagine it's really hard for anybody to be Batman, but apparently it takes Batman in a direction never done before. I pray to all that is holy that it is not a musical do not go the Joker two route. But it's being described as another murder mystery, digging deeper into the corruption, which is really what The Batman did so well. Penguin will appear in five to six scenes. Sophia Falcone will not appear in this movie, but Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson said that it will top the first film is saying a lot because I loved the Penguin in the first one, as the Villain and the Riddler paired together was so good. I would love to see Matt Reeves interpretation of mister Freeze, because the only version we have in the movies is the very comical Arnold Schwarzenegger version. But if you could bring some realism to that character, I think that would be the perfect addition in this world. Because we have enough jokers, even though they introduced them at the end of The Batman. We've seen two Face, We've seen Baine. Give me a dark and gritty mister Freeze. All right, I'll come back and I'll give my spoiler free review of him. Let's get into it now, a spoiler free movie review of him. This movie was not what I was expecting. I think I had too high expectation going into it. The movie was really leaning into the fact that it was produced by Jordan Peel, so much so that his name was bigger on the poster than the actual director of the movie and tipping, so I think they were trying to trick us a little bit. Why were they trying to do that? Was it because they felt that the movie wasn't good enough to succeed on its own, that they had to use the Monkey Pop production's power of Jordan Peele to really sell this movie or were they trying to trick us? Because I think if you just saw the trailer, you saw the poster, you saw the overall aesthetic of this movie going into it, you would think, oh, this is just a new Jordan Peele movie, but he is only a producer. What this movie is about. You have a kid named Cameron Kaid who is on his way to be the next Goat. Has wanted to be QB one since he was a kid. His father just instilled it to him. Starts out really weird at the beginning of him watching his favorite player, Isaiah White played by Marlon Wayans, go through a traumatic injury early on in his career, but then go on to win several rings, probably too many rings to be believable, but that's what he wants to do. He wants to achieve that. And the entire message of this movie, the tagline is how much are you willing to sacrifice to be the best? Your family, your friends, your girlfriend? What are you willing to put on the line. So, right before the combine gets hit by a fan big brain injury, doesn't know if he's going to be able to perform or if any team is going to want him right then, his hero Isaiah White calls him, tells him to come out to his compound lives basically in the middle of nowhere in the desert in New Mexico, to come train with him, and that's where things start to get weird. The issue I had with him is it got too weird too quickly. And there is this subgenre of movies that has become really popular right now of people finding themselves in situations that start to feel like a cult. Not a new thing. It's been happening in movies and TV shows for a while now, but I feel like a lot of things recently have really leaned into this where you go to some big, fancy place, whether it's a resort or somebody's house, and it starts out seemingly normal enough, and then all these weird, little cult like things start happening and you start questioning the person who invited you there. They're very weird and secretive. I've just seen this theme a lot recently, and maybe I'm just getting a little bit tired of it. But the difference with him is it went from zero to one hundred really quickly and didn't lean into the weirdness. Therefore, when it started getting weird. I didn't really know where this movie take place. Is it reality, is it some weird distant side world where things don't really matter? It almost felt too fantasy like, And I know this movie is trying to say a lot. There are a lot of overarching messages about young athletes getting thrown into the spotlight too quickly, having to sacrifice their bodies, us as fans being too critical of them. And then you have the powers that be who really run the organization, who are putting these people into situations where they have to give up their entire life, give up their body, basically selling it away for billions of dollars in fame in exchange for that? Is it worth it? Are you still willing to give up everything in your life to achieve that? And I think that is what him was trying to say, but it never really got there. It focused a lot on the bizarre training tactics, which Cameron never really understood why they were happening, and then never questioned it. And I think that really led to me not really understanding who Cameron was as a character. You saw a little glimpse of him as a kid, but you never really understood what was driving him, and I think that is the problem I had. And then Marlon Wayans, who I thought gave a pretty good performance, maybe a little bit too over the top at times, but without that, there wouldn't have been much to lean into. Because him Julia Fox, I think were the best parts of this movie. I think overall the movie just felt a little bit too one dimensional, and it sacrificed style over substance. And I know not every movie has to have a plot to be a good movie. I think sometimes as people who talk about movies and overanalyze movies, we get too fixated. And all of this didn't go anywhere, and this didn't lead to anything. Sometimes I think a movie doesn't have to have a plot if it has a vibe. And Him, for sure lead more into having a vibe, having an aesthetic more so than the plot, because really that was it. He went to go training with them, weird stuff happened, and then you find out whether or not he makes it into a fictionalized version of the NFL. While I did find the movie entertaining for the most part, I think what really helped it also was the fact that it was only ninety minutes. I just think that all the performances were a little bit too over the top, justin tipping never really just brought it all together and really brought it home. I think if it would have had a stronger third act, this could have not only been a decent movie, but maybe even a good, maybe even a great movie. I think quite possibly for all the people dragging this movie now, I think him could just be a little bit too ahead of its time, because I did see Marlon Wayan's post on Instagram saying, hey, I know we have to have critics. I respect you, but every single movie I've put out in my life has been drug through the mud, has been said that it's bad. A lot of his movies have really low critics scores and oftentimes pretty good audience scores. And Marlon Wains has been a part of movies in his life like White Chicks Don't Be a Menace, the Scary Movie Franchise that when those movies came out, every critic said the same thing of how awful they were. But if you look at some of those movies that he is in, they are some of the pillars of the two thousands that have a fan base but just don't have the critics on their side. I think that could be him. I do think there is an audience for him. It's probably younger, maybe teenagers who are in sports in high school now could watch him and think, man, that is such an awesome movie, and in ten years when they are doing a podcast like this, they're going to talk about him. From twenty twenty five was one of the best movies of the twenty twenties, so it could quite possibly be ahead of the curve and go on to be a classic. But I think for me right now, it over promised and underdelivered. It started to feel a little bit like a bait and switch situation, like we were supposed to get to Jordan Peele move and instead we got some off bran cheerios. So overall, for him, I give it three out of five footballs.

00:31:10
Speaker 2: It's time to head down to movie. Mike Trey Lar Paul.

00:31:15
Speaker 1: I love it when actors go all in. I told you guys, whenever Emma Stone shaved her head for the new Yorgos Lantinos movie, I'm like, that is what I'm all about. Sidney Sweeney, she went all out to portray Christy Martin in this upcoming movie called, well, Christy, She's a boxing legend, intense prep, put her body through the wringer. She had a weight trainer, she had a boxing trainer. Said she ate a lot of smuckers, a lot of BBAJ sandwiches, milkshakes and was consistently eating. But as consistently as she was eating, she was also burning it off at the exact same time. Christy is coming out in theaters on November seventh. Now, knowing all the things that Sidney Sweeney went through to portray Christy in the most accurate way, I am surprised this movie doesn't look as good as I was expecting it too, And that's a bit of a letdown because I also like Ben Foster, who plays her husband in this movie, which I think some people have a little bit of a problem with this style of acting that I want to get into. But that is what this movie is about. It is a biopic Sidney Sweeney as Christy Martin and Ben Foster as her trainer slash manager. It follows her story as she enters the world of boxing, driven by her grit and determination to succeed in the sport and overcome the personal battle she faces outside the ring. As I read that plot, as every boxing movie kind of reminds me of another boxing movie. I was excited for a couple of years ago Big George Foreman, and that felt like a lifetime movie. But I think there could be some good in here. I'm still holding out hope. Oh, but there's also some red flags.

00:32:50
Speaker 2: In the trailer.

00:32:51
Speaker 1: I'm still holding on to hope that in the end this will be at least a good movie. Maybe not a great movie like I was expecting, but it could still be a good movie. Because sports drama, it's probably gonna fall right in the middle. But before I get into more, here's just a little bit of the Christy trailer. There's no Christy Martin without me. I need help, Mama. He's angry at me all the time. Oh, Christie deep sound crazy. At the beginning of the trailer, it looked very fluffy, which I wasn't expecting because from the photos that Sidney Sweetey shared on her Instagram, from the said and the poster, I thought this movie was gonna have a little bit more of a grit to it. I almost thought it was maybe Sidney Sweety saying I'm gonna make a bid to win an Oscar, kind of like The Rock is having now with The Smashing Machine. Also could be unfortunate timing with these movies coming out in about a month from each other, kind of like two twin films, both portraying real life people, one mma one in boxing. I don't want to take away from the fact that she has a great story. The actual person she is portraying, Christy went through a lot of things outside of the boxing ring. Her trainer slash husband went on to be abusive, she got out of that relationship. She was also openly gay and then married her former sparring partner Lisa. So I have no doubt that her story is one of resilience and courage and fighting to reclaim her life. But just because someone has a powerful story that says to someone I need to make a movie about that person doesn't mean that it's easy as plugging and playing their story and putting somebody in front of the camera and having somebody direct that, having somebody write that, knowing what part of their story that you need to tell, because I think that is the most important when it comes to a biopic. That is why I like biopicks that focus on a very specific part of their life where there may be is the biggest change, the most significant thing to history or culture of pop culture, whatever it is. Much like they did with a Complete Unknown with Bob Dylan. While it was a little bit of out how he got discovered, how he got his record deal, it was a lot of his change of going from being a folk singer to being a rock singer and using electric guitars and all the pushback he got there. That is what made that story more powerful. And then when you see some of these biopicks come out and they're trying to cram everything in from their early life and their childhood to their rise to the fall, and it's just a little bit too much. So going back to Christie's story, you have to decide what story do we want to tell here? And one of the things I noticed from watching this trailer is you have all three acts that we're gonna get in the movie inside of this trailer. You see the beginning. You see the turmoil start to happen, You see the relationship with her husband start to go AWRYE. You see her already in this trailer at her lowest points and give her take a few details. You kind of already know where this movie is going to end. And I always say, if you see all three acts of a movie in a trail, that is a red flag. That is a sign of a movie that is trying to load you up with information to get you into that theater. But I think that is a bad sign, and I've been burned there before. Another big cliche that they use in this trailer they always got to use the dramatic version of a pop song, have it slowed down sung a different way, you strip out some of the instrumentation. I don't know why biopics do this all the time, And with all these things combined, I am just surprised to me after watching this trailer that it feels a little bit more like a cable movie, much like I felt when I went to go see Big George Foreman in theaters, where the acting just wasn't there, even though his story was interesting at times it was powerful. I just think the overall vision of that film, much like I'm feeling here just from the trailer, just doesn't quite seem there. When you compare this trailer to that of The Smashing Machine, you can tell completely that those directors had two entirely different visions and one just feels a little bit more powerful. Now, there are some parallels in this trailer, being that both The Rock and Sydney Sweeney did go through some physical transformations. The Rock had prosthetics in his face that make him look different. My theory on that for The Rock it's not so much that they wanted him to look like the Fighter. He is portraying MMA fighter Mark Kerr, because I don't think people are as familiar with Mark Kurr's face, but I think the prosthetics are there one to show people that The Rock is doing something different here. He's trying to get into the more dramatic lane. He is trying to be taken seriously, and by really committing himself to this character, it shows okay, he is going a step further and not just showing up on sit randomly late and peeing in the bottles. I think also for The Rock, it helps him get into feeling like he is portraying somebody else where. If you look at his last five movies alone, he's kind of just being himself a lot. So in order to get himself out of what he is used to, you put your and those prosthetics and suddenly you do feel like you become an entirely different person. Now with Christy, Sydney Sweeney went through the physical transformation of training and getting into the body of a fighter. But the thing kind of holding me back from fully buying into her as Christy is the wig. And I understand that is how Christy styled her hair, But this wig looks like it was bought at party city. It doesn't look like Hollywood movie level wig, and I find it to be a little bit distracting. And it's just the wardrobe department and air department overall. Because Ben Foster, I would say the same thing about him, where everybody looks like they are wearing a costume. And I know in movies you do wear costumes to portray other people. I'm just saying that in this case, it really stands out and it's really distracting. It doesn't feel authentic, and that is the problem I'm finding here. I feel like this movie might be a little bit too over dramatic, maybe taking itself a little bit too seriously at times. And Ben Foster does get criticized for being that type of actor who some say he overacts a little bit, And I like Ben Foster. I loved him in Alpha Dog, probably my favorite movie of his, and I love that in the movie his character is so over the top and so intense, screaming at people on the phone or going over to people's houses and trying to fight them and being right up there in their face. You can see the anger in his eyes. But to some of that style of acting is a little bit off putting, and you look at Ben Foster and think, man, you're going just a little bit too far. You're going to eleven. You gotta scale it down just a little bit. So I wonder if the drama and emotion is gonna have the right balance in Christy. But I want these roles to work for Sidney Sweeney because I believe her performance in Euphoria is really what put her on the map, and she has bounced around to different genres. Did the rom com thing with anyone, but you immaculate jumping into the horror genre, which I think is one of her more underrated roles. She tried the superhero thing being in Madam Web, and out of all the movies she's done recently, I think my best sample size of how she does with dramas was probably Echo Valley earlier this year, the movie on Apple TV Plus with her and Julianne Moore. I didn't fully love Sydney's performance in that, but I also think her character was made to be really unlikable. I wasn't supposed to be rooting for her. I wasn't supposed to like her character. So I'm hoping Christy is my real indication of whether or not she can really dive into the drama roles or if she just ends up going and doing more Anyone but You movies, which I would be perfectly fine with too. But I think she is that level of star that I would like her to be an actor who can do every single genre well because she is going to be around for a very long time and the roles are just gonna keep coming. So I hope I can get every kind of Sidney Sweety movie. But Christy is coming out in THEE on November seventh, And that was.

00:41:02
Speaker 2: This week's edition of Movie Line Tramer Bar.

00:41:06
Speaker 1: And that is gonna do it for another episode here of the podcast before I get into my listener shadout of the week, they did announce the new Super Mario Brothers movie, which I think looks awesome. There's not a full trailer on it yet, because if there were, I would have covered that in the trailer park. But it's called Super Mario Galaxy. The teaser is basically just Mario sleeping underneath the tree. I really thought that they were gonna do Super Mario World before they did Super Mario Galaxy, because I thought that was just the thing they were queuing up. They tease Yoshi at the end of the first movie. But I am excited for Super Mario Galaxy, a game that I played so much on the Wii. Super Mario Galaxy reminds me of college and in my first apartment. Ever, after moving from Maxinatchi to Austin, I lived in an apartment. The ac went out and it was so hot in this apartment that we got a window unit put it in my room, and that night I would crank thing all the way down, fire up the Wii, and just play Super Mario Galaxy in a completely dark room for hours. A great game one, I feel doesn't get a whole lot of recognition of how good that game is because everybody talks about the ogs or all the stuff now on Switch. But I am excited for this just a little bit surprised that they decided just to go with Galaxy over Super Mario World. But I hope we get Yoshi. I would really love for us to get Warrio, but I think we're probably still another movie away from that. But for my listener shout Out of the Week, I am going over to my Instagram checking my dms. And this week's listener shout Out of the Week goes to JW, who said, in reply to my review of The Long Walk, Dude, if you've never read the book, I think it is worth it. It is fairly short and so dark, but good crazy, such a dark dystopian idea that came out decades before anything else like Hunger Games. Appreciate that, JW. I did get a lot of messages saying you have to read the book. I hear you, guys, But if you listen to this podcast, you know I have trouble finishing books. I can start a book, but it is so hard for me to finish a book. And I'm here to give you an update the book I was supposed to read before the movie came out. I still haven't started Project Hill Mary. I still have not brought myself to crack, not one page, but I'm going to do it because it is so at this point, I need to read a book before going to watch a movie, and that is going to be the one. If I never finished that book, I'm not going to see that movie. So thank you JW for reminding me that I need to start that book. But I've already seen the movie. I don't know that I would be motivated to go back and read that book because I have so many things to read that Just in the studio right now looking around, there are two books that I've started and not finished. So I appreciate the book recommendations. I'll pass them along to Kelsey who can probably read those in one night. So thank you JW. Thank you wherever you are listening right now in your car at the time, Jim, if you were on Instagram, tag me in your Instagram story whatever episode you're listening to, I'll repost that. I'll make you next week's listener shout out of the week, And until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.