Wonka Director Paul King on Why He Chose Timothée Chalamet + Calah Lane on Playing Noodle in Wonka and Learning From Co-Stars   + Movie Review: Drive-Away Dolls + Trailer Park: Twisters

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, Big episode for you Today, we're talking to the director of Wonka, Paul King.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: We're talking to Kayla Lene, who played Noodle in the movie.

00:00:10
Speaker 1: The original one is obviously one of my favorite movies of all time, and I also was a big fan of the version with Timothy shallow May so I can't wait to dive into these interviews. In the movie review, we'll be talking about Drive Away Dolls, which is a new comedy thriller. I'll give you my thoughts on that if you go see it in theaters or wait for streaming. And in the trailer park, we're talking about another new chapter of one of my favorite movies of all time, Twisters. I've been inching to talk about it since a debuted back during the Super Bowl, so it looks like the theme of today's episode, at least in the interviews and in the trailer park, we're looking at new chapters to two of my favorite movies of all time that easily land in my top ten. So thank you for being here, thank you for being subscribed, thank you for telling your friend. Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie Crew. He now, let's talk.

00:00:54
Speaker 3: Movies in a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast. One man stay to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking IMTB with glasses. From the Nashville Podcast Network, this is Movie Mike's Movie Podcast.

00:01:18
Speaker 1: About to get into my interview with director Paul King. He is the director of Wonka, which is available now on digital so you can watch it head home. It's also gonna be available on four KUHD on February twenty seventh, So if you're listening to this episode on release day, that's tomorrow. If you're listening any other day after February twenty seventh, it's available now. I highly recommend this movie if you are a fan of the original movie, because that is one of my top ten favorite movies of all time. So going into this film, which is a companion piece, not a remake, not a reboot, It is a prequel to that original story of Willie Wonka.

00:01:55
Speaker 2: Way before he gets to the chocolate factory.

00:01:58
Speaker 1: It is a young Wonka try to open his own candy shop, goes to a new City has no money, and then realizes that it's going to be really tough to do because there are people in this city who already run and have a lock on the candy and chocolate department, and they don't want him to succeed.

00:02:14
Speaker 2: But Willie Wonka.

00:02:16
Speaker 1: Knows where there's a will, there is a way, so he teams up with some people who see his vision, see his big plan, and help him accomplish his dream. This movie has fantastic visuals and fantastic music, which I really feel like compliments the first movie, which the reason that movie is one of my favorites of all time is because it has everything inside of it that I look for in a movie. It's so theatrical, The musical numbers are very big and memorable. They have incredible set design, incredible wardrobe. But at the core of it, it is such a great story about Charlie Buckett, a kid who.

00:02:52
Speaker 2: Comes from nothing poor.

00:02:53
Speaker 1: He is hungry, and all he wants to do is really be able to provide for his family and give them something to eat, and really just try to find a way to feel like a normal kid, because since he doesn't have a normal life, he doesn't get to experience, those little things like having a part of chocolate seems so out of reach for him. So I think as a kid, I truly just identified with that. And I feel like this movie spans generations because I was born in ninety one. The movie came out twenty years before I was even born, but it still feels like my childhood. And I've gone back to this movie so many times because i just want to feel that again. And I think because this movie was done with so much practical effects, and because Jane Wilder is so amazing, it is really a timeless movie. Particularly That's probably why I didn't love the Johnny Depp version, which was directed by Tim Burton, because it had so much more cgi the oplumpas were played by one person that was duplicated throughout the film. It just didn't really have that same feel to it. But with Paul King's version, it does a really great job at honoring that first one but also giving it a modern feel even though it's a prequel, with all of the special effects being a lot more expensive looking and elaborate, and obviously using that to heighten the story, but without it feeling so overproduced and looking completely unrecognizable. There is still so much life to this movie with all of the fantastic elements, but at the core of it, like the original, it is just a great story about a young Willy Wonka trying to make his name known, gives him a really great backstory, and also presents some really new, great characters like Noodle, who we'll hear from Kayla Lane later about what she loved about playing that character. So I really feel like this movie has something for everybody. So again, you can own Wonka now on digital and on four k UHD on February twenty seventh. Let's get into these interviews. First, we're talking to director Paul King, who also directed Paddington I and Paddington two. He is the first director I've talked to they can say he has a movie with a ninety nine percent Ron Tomatoes score, and that is well deserved for Paddington too. So let's talk to Paul now about why he wanted Timothy shallow May to play Wonka, what he loved about the original that he didn't get to include in his version, and how he felt about people who had no idea going into this movie that it was a musical.

00:05:16
Speaker 4: Carry you, Paul I'm really good.

00:05:17
Speaker 5: Thank you.

00:05:18
Speaker 6: How are you?

00:05:18
Speaker 2: I am great good to get to talk to you.

00:05:20
Speaker 1: The original Willie Wonka is one of my top ten favorite movies of all time, so I hold it very precious and after seeing Wonka, I completely loved it, and I'd have to imagine it was such a hard thing to do. And the thing I want to start with first is I love the way Timothy shallow May portrayed Wonka. Did you have that vision first before he was cast? Or was he cast and then that vision happened and it came to life.

00:05:44
Speaker 5: Well, that's a really good question. First of all, thank you.

00:05:47
Speaker 6: That means a huge amounts to me because the original Willi Wonka is is right up there for me too, and it's a daunting experience to kind of walk in those footsteps. I think when I started working on the movie, i'd been fortunate enough to meet Timothy in that kind of year where he did call me by your name, and Lady Burden knew what a wonderful actor he was, and I really wanted to write something for him, and so pretty much from the second David Haymees suggested a young Willy Wonka film to me, I was like, well, that could be Timothy Shallo.

00:06:19
Speaker 2: Mate.

00:06:20
Speaker 6: So there's obviously never a guarantee that you're going to get the actor that you want, but in my head I sort of went, well, him or someone like him, I don't know who there is like him would be absolutely wonderful in this world because he feels so sort of mercurial, but he's also emotionally grounded and slightly unknowable, and he has that whole sort of range. And I felt that he could feel like a younger Willy Wonk or you know, Geene Marder twenty years before the events of that movie. Like it felt like there's a sort of kinship there somehow, but without doing an impression. And you know, once we've written the script and sort of sent it to him, it's a nerve wracking moment because you sort of go, if it's not you, I really.

00:07:00
Speaker 5: Don't know who it could have been. And I thank my lucky stars.

00:07:03
Speaker 1: He said, yes, you mentioned Gen wilderlier And I got to imagine when you're you know, had this vision of this movie in your head, there's all these things you want to pull from the original.

00:07:12
Speaker 2: Was there anything that you.

00:07:13
Speaker 1: Didn't get to put into this movie that you wanted you from the original.

00:07:17
Speaker 2: Either it was too expensive, or it just didn't work, or it just didn't make sense.

00:07:21
Speaker 6: There was one bit we tried to do the forward role and the pop up thing, and it felt it just felt a little shoehorned into the moment. It was felt like kind of an Easter egg for the sake of an Easter egg. And and we didn't do it in the end because it felt like it was it was there for fans rather than because it didn't serve the story.

00:07:38
Speaker 5: So I think.

00:07:39
Speaker 6: But what was so funny was how much kind of went in and some of it where it went in, and I'd kind of forgotten where it had come from. But you know, obviously I sort of imbibed the original so much that it was sort of like would come out and you sort of go just little bits of choreography and little gestures, and we always kind of were aware of it on set, where you go, oh, you could do the cane thing, and you could do the step thing, and and this is the coin and the storm draining, and I think some of the kind of building blocks. It was kind of really looking at that movie and the original book and go here's the kind of this is like the playground you're in.

00:08:11
Speaker 5: Now, go play with the toys.

00:08:12
Speaker 1: I think my favorite shot out of the entire movie, Like I'm just a stickler for cinematography, and when I see a great shot, I just make a note of it. The one shot I made a note of it's whenever there's that great silhou were to Timothy Shell, May you really just see like the shadows on his face and the outline of the hair, how much time goes into just getting there one shot?

00:08:31
Speaker 6: Probably too much for that shot that was. I mean, I love that shot so much, but it was it was It was actually a find on the quite near like on the day, I think that we had the shot of him from behind with the behind the doors, like when he opens the door and walks out, and that was going to be our hero shot. And we were setting it and went, oh, there's a lovely there's a found that there was this lovely profile and chunking Chung like incredible cinematographer. We then went, this is a lovely angle. But we kind of wanted to get both and we were sort of trying to get it and then we were Okay, we're gonna have to stop everything and get this silhouette perfect because it could be the shots of the movie. And I do remember we filmed it and it was like we sortaly did one where he goes here we go Mama, and I was like, that's definitely how the Treasure's going to start, and then there it is.

00:09:22
Speaker 1: The thing about this movie is that it feels oddly nostalgic for me. And I was born in the nineties, so even the original came out was before my time. But there are so many different generations of Willie Wanka fan. Do you have the people who discovered it maybe in the two thousands, the people who love the original, and then it's a family movie at the same time, How do you want that line of making a movie that's appealing to kids but also appealing to the adults who are just lifelong fans.

00:09:46
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's it's funny how that it is interesting, because it's definitely I think most kind of like known characters and known through one iteration, you know, like you sort of go iron Man, say you go. Most people will have come to it through the Robert Downey Junior, I am man, you.

00:10:04
Speaker 5: Know, or you sort of gore.

00:10:05
Speaker 6: There will be some comic book fans, but you sort of go, there's one kind of hero iteration.

00:10:09
Speaker 5: Willi Wanka really.

00:10:10
Speaker 6: Isn't like that, as you say, because there's the book, which has an army of fans around the world, is one of the best selling children's book of full time. You got two absolutely beloved movies, and it's it's really tricky to kind of to to sort of walk that line. And I guess what I realized early on was you sort of have to pick your hero references. And for me, it was like the book first and foremost because that's the kind of the mothership, and I didn't want to do anything that wouldn't kind of sit comfortably with that.

00:10:38
Speaker 5: And then the g Moordel movies.

00:10:40
Speaker 6: So in my DNA, I mean, I was born in the seventies, but I really grew up with that movie as my Willy Wonka, so and there were so many iconic choices they made that I kind of wanted to honor in terms of like balancing kids and grown ups. I sort of, for me my favorite family movies and my favorite movies probably in general, movies that can can appeal to everyone.

00:11:03
Speaker 5: And I never really.

00:11:04
Speaker 6: Try and go, here's a bit for the kids, and here's a bit for the grown ups. Just try and make something that's this exciting and fun for everyone, you know, it's kind of I think my co writers Simon and I, we're trying to make each other laugh and find things that we find emotional or funny or silly or eccentric or you know, touching, and if it works, pray that there are enough people out there with our sense of humor and sentiment.

00:11:29
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's such a great job and appealing to everybody. The thing I was surprised about is a lot of people somehow did it realize they were going into a musical. Well, it's such a big part of the first one. It's such a big a part of the second one. The music is like the foundation of the movie, Like it's a musical. Were you surprised about that and people saying, ah, I had no idea as a musical.

00:11:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, I think it was. It's tricky because it's sort of.

00:11:54
Speaker 6: A lot of the promotional materials didn't really have any singing in them, or that you know, there would be a shot. But it's a and I know there's a sort of larger conversation about how musicals are sold, which is is a really tricky thing to do because.

00:12:07
Speaker 1: It's almost like a bad word to say it's a musical, like somebody's not gonna go watch it.

00:12:11
Speaker 2: That's what it feels like to me.

00:12:12
Speaker 5: I think I think that is true, and I think some some people.

00:12:15
Speaker 6: The thing is some people will immediately just go, I don't like a musical, and and that's the end of their conversation. But I always kind of go, really, when I meet somebody says they don't like musicals, and you go, you don't like singing in the rain, and they're like, the rain You what about sounding music? Well, obviously sound of music's good.

00:12:31
Speaker 5: What you don't like? You I like all of those.

00:12:36
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I think it's I think it's more that so yeah, hopefully, hopefully. And I think what's difficult with a musical with original songs like we have is that you sort of go They're hard to get into promotional materials because people don't know them, and you sort of go, it's hard to kind of so it was easier for the to lean on something like your imagination, where you go, people know that one, they know the ump lumpus tune and and and it's kind of there's a sort of recognition, but hopefully people have enjoyed the songs when they got to them eventually.

00:13:05
Speaker 1: I mean I had a song steck in my head. I was leaving the theater singing scrub scrub.

00:13:09
Speaker 5: Yeah, me too.

00:13:11
Speaker 1: So you've succeeded at telling which I loved that this was a companion piece and not a roommake, not a sequel. You've succeeded at the young Willie Wanger story. I feel like there's another story there because you really showed Wanco and he was like bright eyed and bushy tail before he had any level of cynicism which we saw in the nineteen seventy one version. You think there's a story there where he kind of starts to turn his perspective a little bit, becomes a little bit more jaded.

00:13:36
Speaker 6: Yes, I do, Yes, I think there's absolutely a story there. Think it's I think it's a real challenge with the story where you feel he becomes more cynical and jaded to sort of find an ending that is satisfactory. And I think one of the things that liberated us for this movie was to go, We're not going to try and take him all the Way to the Chocolate Factory, because he seems quite a sort of damaged soul at the beginning of the Chocolate Batu. You know, he's rittly reclusive and he's retreat it by the walls. So I think there could absolutely be other Willing Wonk stories that could work, and I would love to find one, but they're hard to find. And in a way, the closer you get to the beginning of Charlie that the harder it gets, you know, to find a.

00:14:16
Speaker 5: Movie that works as a story. But we'll certainly give it a go.

00:14:20
Speaker 2: Well, I'm in a prayer to my tickets already. I'm already in for it. If you make it gay great, Thank you, I appreciate it. Paul's great. Good to talk to you.

00:14:27
Speaker 5: It's toy to you too, Thanks so much.

00:14:30
Speaker 1: Now let's talk to Kayla Laine, who played Noodle in the movie.

00:14:33
Speaker 2: She is a young star on the rise.

00:14:35
Speaker 1: Her TV credits include Firebuds, Family Reunion, and This is Us on NBC. She was also in Ryan Murphy's Hollywood and Showtime's Kidding, starring Jim Carrey. She was only twelve years old when she filmed this movie. She's fourteen now, and to think that she was born the year I graduated high school made me feel oddly old. So I wanted to dive into the mind of a teenager who just had their breakout role and it's starting to make their name known in the world. I love her character in this movie. I also love the energy she brought in this interview. So now let's talk to Kayla Lane. How are you?

00:15:08
Speaker 2: Kayla, Hi, good, how are you?

00:15:10
Speaker 1: I'm doing great, And I just want to say I know you grew up in Fort Worth. I am from Waksahatchie, so it's just amazing to see another fellow north text and crushing it right now.

00:15:19
Speaker 4: Yep, me too. Wow, that's cool.

00:15:22
Speaker 1: So I imagine, like, what was it like the first time you saw yourself on the big screen?

00:15:28
Speaker 4: I mean, like, I can't even lie. I was like I was. I was like so nervous to see myself on screen. I mean, I've seen myself on screen, but to a movie that is this big. I was so nervous to see myself on screen. I didn't know what I looked like. I didn't know how when I first saw myself on screen, I hadn't seen the movie at all. I mean I've seen little clips and stuff, but I hadn't seen anything, so I was just like, I was like very nervous. But once I saw myself on screen and I was like wow, it was just like it took me. Like I was just literally crying. It was crazy. I loved it.

00:16:04
Speaker 2: How supportive has your mom been through all this?

00:16:06
Speaker 4: I know she's, oh, yeah, very supportive. I couldn't. I could not have done anything without my mom. I mean, like she's helped me literally do everything. I mean she helped me set up this this camera, like and she's helped me everything, and yeah, like she's yeah, she's just the best mom.

00:16:22
Speaker 2: Does she help you with your lines when you're to des trying to figure out everything?

00:16:25
Speaker 4: Definitely? I mean I sometimes I would have like coaches, but my mom was definitely my coach. She's my mamajer. She helps me with everything. She helps me with She also set up the camera, she helps with self taped, she helps me learn my scripts. I mean like she's she does everything.

00:16:40
Speaker 1: What is your process of learning your lines and how long does it take you?

00:16:44
Speaker 4: Well, I've been learning lines since I was probably like seven or eight. But it's very easy. Actually, it's very easy to me, And well, I know, I've I've done a lot of lines now, so it's kind of I mean I should be it should be easier, but like it's like super easy. All I have to do is like read a couple of times over and I what I actually do is I put it under my pillow, so I kind of like sleep on it and in the morning when I wake up, it feels like I feel like I just have it in my brain. Like that's just kind of like my technique of learning my lines.

00:17:15
Speaker 1: And how soon after filming and you're rapped with everything, do you forget everything or could you, like right now go back into a Noodle line.

00:17:21
Speaker 4: I could definitely go back into a Noodle line. Yes.

00:17:26
Speaker 1: The thing I loved about the character I think it's such a great example for young girls or just young people.

00:17:33
Speaker 2: What is your favorite aspect of Noodle that you love.

00:17:36
Speaker 4: That's a good question. I love how much she commits to things. She really she really has her dreams, and she knows what she wants, and she has everything laid out and she knows what she she plans to have in the future. But she the only thing is she doesn't she doesn't like think it's gonna happen. But she has it all there, but she's like, I don't know, I don't know, this probably isn't gonna happen, because you know, I this is happening, and this is happening. But she's very she's very timid with Willy at first because she knows that she knows that people could become like enemies at any time in her life, and so she doesn't like to become friends with a lot of people. But she knows exactly what she wants. She knows that she wants she wants to see her mom again and all those type of things. And I think that's like one thing that I really like about her.

00:18:23
Speaker 1: Is how she Yeah, I heard that Timothy shallow May has an interesting way of how he gets a new character. You're working right alongside of him, did you see how he gets into the Wonka character.

00:18:34
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, he kind of Just one thing that he does that I like about him is that he likes to walk around and set with his cane. He kind of walks around with his cane and he kind of swings it around and it kind of just gets into that like Willy Wonka mindset. I've never seen him like practice his lines or anything like that. But I have seen him like he stays in character. Definitely. He definitely stays in character all the time on set because he's always goofing around and having fun. Yeah, he's definitely, he's all the He's Willy Wonk all the time.

00:19:04
Speaker 2: So what was like the one thing you learned from watching him?

00:19:07
Speaker 4: Ooh, one thing that I learned from watching him. I definitely learned how to how to get into character because he liked to like he like to kind of step off and kind of like get into his character. I would see him sometimes standing on to the side and nobody's around him. He's just kind of getting into his character. And I really, I really do admire that about him because he just takes the time and like, Okay, you're Willi Wanka. You get into that mindset and like I I don't really do that. I I don't. I don't do that at all. So to see him like stand on the side and kind of put all that that Willy Wonka energy inside of him was really cool.

00:19:42
Speaker 1: I appreciate the time, Kayla. Great talking to you, thank you. Great talking to Paul Keane. Great talking to Kaylaleen, we'll come back and talk about Drive Away Dolls, and then in the trailer park we'll talk about what I think about the new Twister movie. Let's get into it now. Boiler Free movie review of Drive Away Dolls. This movie was the palate cleanser that I needed. And we're in a weird time for movies right now. January February, we're still in the dumb months. We're about to get into March with Dune coming out. But this is kind of the movie I needed right now. A movie I didn't really need to think a whole lot about, a movie that was under ninety it was only an hour and sixteen minutes from start to finish, at least up until the credits, and a movie I didn't have to think a whole lot about a movie that was very self aware and on the joke. So all those things combined together, and also that I didn't really know entirely what I was getting into before going in to see this, I think that led me to really enjoy this movie. I will say right at the top, this movie is not for everybody. Drive Away Dolls is a very hard arm movie. A lot of graphic scenes, obviously a lot of language and violence, but I think at the core of this movie it has a lot of heart, It has some good intention. So even myself, I don't think I was a primary demographic for this movie, and looking at the people in the theater when we went to go watch this, I just found it interesting how everybody took in this movie, which I'll get into more, but what the movie is about. You have two girls who go on a last minute trip to Tallahassee.

00:21:20
Speaker 2: Margaret Quailey plays.

00:21:21
Speaker 1: A girl named Jamie who is this really free spirit from Texas. She talks with the Southern accent, and me being from Texas, I always find it funny how somebody chooses to take on a Texas accent, because they always turn it up to attend. But I think in the case of this movie, it actually played into it really well. You also have her friend in the movie is named Marion, who is this very up type person who is trying to find somebody just to hook up with. And that is really the entire plotline of this film. It kind of has that classic dynamic of the odd couple. One being very uptight and serious, likes to read, likes to go home and go to sleep on time, and the other one being the more wild person who can just go into a bar, meet somebody and take them home. Where the action takes place is on their trip to Tallahassee. They are taking a drive away car, which is a car you take from one location to another, and although the movie never really says when it takes place, it has a feeling of like the late seventies early eighties, where something like this was a little bit more common. So they go to rent a car to drive it to Tallahassee, and at the same time, there are these criminals who have contacted the same place and said, hey, we're going to send a person to pick up a car to take it to Tallahassee because it has to be there tonight. And these criminals have placed something inside the car that they.

00:22:41
Speaker 2: Don't really say what it is, but it's.

00:22:43
Speaker 1: Very incriminating and very important that it gets to Tallahassee on time. The girls show up right after that guy gets that phone call, so he thinks, oh, this has to be the people they sent, so a classic mix up case, and the movie is very wacky like this. It kind of reminds me of the plotline in blame check wherever they're gonna send somebody to pick up the million dollar check. Preston Waters happens to go in because he was given a blank check. He decides to write it in for a million dollars. He shows up at the right time and they're like, uh, they send a kid to cash the million dollar check. They give him the money, and then the criminals shows up right after him and they're like, we just gave the money to the kid. So nothing novel here in the premise, but in the storytelling here it works because it's very animated storytelling. It kind of reminded me a little bit of Scott Pilgrim mixed with like road trip mixed with a little bit of female dumb and dumber. They kind of have that dynamic, even though neither of them are dumb. I think just the fact that it's a road trip movie, one of them is a little bit more reckless and one of them is a little bit more by The book also kind of reminded me of Jeff Daniels in Something Wild. I just love road trip movies, and this one really reminded me of a movie that probably would have come out in the late nineties and early two thousands, and this would have been a movie that would have had so much success then because it had that kind of feeling to me of this is a movie that I would have loved to have discovered when I was younger, probably like thirteen fourteen, where I probably should not have been watching R rated movies, but at that time I did.

00:24:17
Speaker 2: I think we.

00:24:17
Speaker 1: Probably all did. And this film has that feeling of if it were on a VHS tape, it would be the movie passed around among friends. It kind of has that cult classic vibe of like a Super Trooper that nobody saw it in theaters really, but everybody saw it on a VHS tape that just got passed around and passed around. Nobody ever bought a copy. But somehow we all watch these types of movies. So that makes me excited knowing that movies like this are being made, even though the financial ramifications of this movie aren't great, probably cost about twenty million dollars to make and opening weekend only made two point five million dollars. Again, it is a weird time for movies right now, not a whole lot of people motivated to get into the theaters. But I think if it came out at a different time, or even if it went straight to streaming, probably more people would have seen it. And the movie has a great director, Ethan Cohen, who he normally does movies with his brother. You're probably familiar with the Coen brothers. They've done movies like Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Burn After reading My favorite, No Country for Old Men, And this is the first movie that Ethan has done without his brother. And the movie's not the biggest departure from the types of films that they do. It still has that comedic element to it, but it's a little bit more experimental in some of the storytelling aspects. It is very cartoonish, but on purpose very campy, and I think going into it, I was expecting something a little bit different, a little bit more grounded, but the movie really doesn't take place in our reality. I don't necessarily love movies that are just fun for the sake of being fun. That is all fine if I'm watching a movie for free, but if it's a movie that I'm going to the theater to watch and pay money for, I don't really just want to watch something ridiculously fun and leave, like h that was a fun old time But in this case, the things that helped it were the fact that Margaret Quaelely was really good. Her character was very well written, and she also showed how much of a rain she has because she is an actress that I really loved and made which is much more of a dramatic role.

00:26:25
Speaker 2: She's also been in movies like.

00:26:26
Speaker 1: Poor Things, and it was cool to see her in a leading role and really show how much comedic timing she had. But this movie allowed me to see a different side of her, and I was really impressed by that her and Geraldinevissenathwin had amazing chemistry and that is really what was the driving force in this movie. You also had Beanie Feldstein who was a supporting actor in this and she played a cop and I already know her work from Book Smart in her other films how much great comedic timing she has. I won't say she stole the show from the other actors, but without her the movie would have had a little bit of a lull. But she was definitely that something extra that the movie needed to carry it along. Which is interesting because, like I said, the movie is under an hour in twenty minutes, so there's really just NonStop action, but in moments it felt like they ran out of footage because they did these little sequences in between that were almost like that seventies show transition things where they have all the characters spinning around in the little groovy kind of visual effects, and some of those went on a little bit too long. That's where they play some other actor cameos in between. It almost felt like they were trying to stretch it out a little bit, and that's what kind of made me feel like they almost didn't have enough story or maybe ran out of money to make the movie they wanted to make, which leads me to my biggest criticism with this movie. And again, I still found the movie entertaining.

00:27:50
Speaker 2: It was fun.

00:27:50
Speaker 1: I was in and out of there, so I never really had time to not enjoy the movie. As a matter of fact, at one point I had to use the pressroom and I didn't leave because I didn't want to miss anything. After all was said and done, I thought to myself, what was the purpose of this movie?

00:28:05
Speaker 2: I just needed one.

00:28:06
Speaker 1: Thing to be the takeaway from the film, whether it be just a comment on friendship, some kind of storyline that went along that made me think, oh, this is why I should tell people to go check out this movie. But the entire story was really just set up to make one joke. But the problem with that if you end up not finding that joke funny, you really will have a hard time enjoying this movie. And I can tell it was kind of going for a modern day Thelma and Louise with a heavy hand on the R rating and the raunchiness. Even though I know I'm not the key demographic for this movie, I still found myself laughing out loud at times. But there's almost a point in the movie where it makes you feel, as the viewer that the joke is on you. You decided to go see this movie, and now we're gonna shove cake in your face. But overall, for Driveaway Dolls, I give it three point five out of five road trips.

00:29:03
Speaker 2: It's time to head down to movie Mike.

00:29:06
Speaker 1: Trailer Paul, I have never been so nervous for a trailer to drop.

00:29:13
Speaker 2: Came out back during the Super Bowl.

00:29:15
Speaker 1: Twister is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I think is the movie that I've seen the most, probably over fifty times. The reason I love the first one so much is because growing up in a trailer park, my biggest fear was tornadoes. There was nowhere to go if a tornado hit our trailer park. So watching this movie was kind of like how Batman would associate himself with the thing he was scared about. Bats I thought along those same lines, if I watched a movie about tornadoes, I would become less intimidated by them. I wouldn't be scared every time we got a threat of severe weather. And it kind of helped, But what it really did was make me develop a love for disaster movies, which I feel is the genre that gets kind of ridiculed, gets overlooked a little bit, gets reduced to nothing because yes, maybe they are not the best films on paper, but there is something about a disaster film that warms my heart that It's kind of like how some people are really into true crime. They'll eat up any podcasts or any Netflix series. That is how I feel about disaster movies. It could be the worst disaster movie of all time, and there's still something that I grasp onto just because I like the formula of it. And Twister has always been the goat in my mind when it comes to these movies. I also love the enselable cast of the original movie with phillips seymore Hoffman, Helen Hunt, and Bill Paxton. And how I wish that Bill Paxton and phillips seymore Hoffman were still alive to be a part of this one. And we'll talk about how really nobody from the original one is returning to this movie.

00:30:52
Speaker 2: But this is the movie that I could quote line for a line and also one that.

00:30:57
Speaker 1: I feel still holds up given the special effects, given the technology at that time, not just that goes into the movie, but the computers they're using and everything throughout that would feel like, oh, this is completely a nineties movie. So going into a new chapter, which is what Twisters is, it's not a remake of the original. It's also not a direct sequel. They are calling it a chapter in the story. So in my mind that original one is kind of erasing my memory as I go into this one. And given the look at the first trailer, my initial reaction is.

00:31:33
Speaker 2: I love it.

00:31:35
Speaker 1: So I'll get into more specifics, but the movie is coming out this summer on July nineteenth. Before I get into that, here is just a little bit of the Twisters trailer. You thought you'd could destroyed a tornad, though you never had a chance.

00:31:50
Speaker 2: Do you want one?

00:31:58
Speaker 3: You don't face your fears?

00:32:05
Speaker 2: You're right them.

00:32:09
Speaker 6: Dance.

00:32:13
Speaker 1: So even that just little line right there, it kind of sounds like that we got Cayle's line from the original movie. But they also have twin Twisters in the original movie. But it's not just a direct ripoff line. It still feels kind of like, Okay, we're going for something different. We're gonna give nods to the original movie to remind all the fans, hey, we see you, but this is gonna be its own thing. I even see it with the truck driven by Glenn Powell's character, which is a nod to Bill Paxton's red ram truck that he had in the original movie. I was kind of hoping for the yellow truck that Helen Hunt drove, but maybe that would be a little too on the nose. But again, we're going for subtle references here that I think will be the key to making this feel like it's inside of that Twister world as to not confuse people that this is some kind of a remake or a sequel.

00:33:02
Speaker 2: So in this cast, we have Daisy.

00:33:04
Speaker 1: Edgar Jones, who I really loved and where the Crawdads Sing. She plays Kate Cooper, and I originally thought that she was going to be the daughter of Joe played by Helen Hunt in the original one. It doesn't look like they have any connection whatsoever, but still kind of going for that same type of role, having that same kind of character essence to her. We have Glenn Powell as Tyler Owens and Anthony Ramos as Hobby, So those are our three leads in this movie. So what is the story about? Centers around Kate Cooper played by Daisy Edgar Jones. She is a former stormchaser haunted by a devastating encounter with the tornado during her college years, who is now studying storm patterns.

00:33:43
Speaker 2: In New York City.

00:33:45
Speaker 1: And then she is lured back into the open planes by your friend Hobby played by Anthony Jamos, and together they are going to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. So similar vibes and storylines to the original movie where they are trying to get Dorothy in the air so they could have all these sensors go into the tornado and send them back information. Really the goal in the original movie was they were trying to make tornado alerts faster, therefore saving lives, So probably something similar here that they're going to try and do. But then their characters cross pass with Tyler Owens played by Glenn Powell, who has described as a charming and reckless social media superstar who thrives on posting his stormchasing content adventures online, so he is really in it for the danger. So it looks like Glenn Powell and Daisy Edgar Jones team up and then they go against a competing storm chaser team, much like they also did in the original movie. So a lot of parallels here, and I think the action in this trailer looks great. I really love how they are showcasing the destruction of the tornado, which looks like a lot more chaos. We see our main characters in some really dangerous looking situations throughout this trailer, and what I can't get over is how how much I think that these scenes demand the big screen. Not only the visuals, but the sound design in this trailer is fantastic. I am waiting for that feeling of sitting in the theater and hearing that rumble of all the storm sounds, the wind and the rumble of the tornado. That is what I'm looking forward to. That is what I want in a big summer blockbuster of this caliber.

00:35:23
Speaker 2: The only thing that threw me.

00:35:25
Speaker 1: Off from the trailer just a little bit, but I think it could be justified. I don't love the look inside of the truck with the GoPro camera. I think that dates it a little bit. And yes, the one thing that stands out from watching the original is seeing them on really big block computers, them not having cell phones, which I think would be a lot different to make.

00:35:45
Speaker 2: That movie now.

00:35:47
Speaker 1: And obviously they have to update some of those things a little bit by making Glenn Powell's character a social media star. I just hope that doesn't come across as being like, oh, now we're in twenty twenty four, or we have to do all these things that the young people are doing now. I get that that probably makes sense, but that is what makes the original one feel timeless to me.

00:36:08
Speaker 2: So you have all these great visuals.

00:36:10
Speaker 1: And then a kind of more low definition go pro shot that a little bit takes me out of it. But hopefully the reason they have it in there is to give it kind of a gritty feeling to make you feel like you are right there with them. Hopefully that'll come across on the big screen as well. I just don't love that shot right now. I think the thing I'm looking forward to the most is finding out how much chemistry Daisy Edgar Jones and Glenn Powell have together, which is really what made the original work so well. Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton together, that sexual tension they had, and just all of their chemistry throughout the chase scenes and the will they won't they and the comedic timing of both of them, that is what makes that movie so great, paired with a really great ensemble cast. So hopefully all of these new actors have that same kind of mesh that the original cast had, because aside from the chemistry of Bill Paxton Helen Hunt, what made it great was how much they bonded as a team and how well defined all the characters were, the funny names that all of them had, and you really got a sense of not only did they have chemistry on screen, but there were a lot of things going on behind the scenes that they all got along together. And I think when people are having fun while making a movie, it really makes the entire thing show on screen, and I want to kind of know that these actors bonded a little bit, that they really form this team, and that will make me more invested in their characters. Once this movie is all said and done, and it's really going to be the defining factor of is this going to be a movie that comes out in twenty twenty four and we forget about in a year, or is this going to be a new staple, a new real chapter in this story and solidify itself history.

00:38:00
Speaker 2: That is what I wanted to be.

00:38:01
Speaker 1: Those are the standards I have because the original one has done that. It has stood the test of time so much that thirty years later, they are making another installment because the demand is there, And I think that is the true test of is a movie worthy of that? Are we gonna care about this movie after we leave the theater or are we just getting baited into seeing Glenn Powell in a tight white T shirt and a cowboy hat. I mean, it looks great in it, but I need a little bit more than that. So again, the movie is coming out in theaters this summer. On July nineteenth. We got a new chapter and we got Cows.

00:38:36
Speaker 3: And that was this week's edition of Movie.

00:38:38
Speaker 1: Line Framer Bar and that is going to do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I gotta give my listeners shout out of the week This week, I'm going over to my Instagram dms and the listener shout out of the week is the Patty Foss who Patty sent me a question and said, as much as I'd like to listen to all the podcasts, I cannot. So my question is, is there a way to search your reviews for a certain movie. I was considering a movie today, which is rare, so I wanted to know what your thoughts were on the movie. So, Patty, thank you for that message. I think it's a question a lot of people have. I would obviously encourage you to listen to all the episodes, be subscribed, download every single episode, but if.

00:39:20
Speaker 2: You can't do that, there are a couple of ways you could do this.

00:39:23
Speaker 1: You could just google movie Mike's Movie podcasts and the movie you were looking for that should bring up that episode that I did the review on. So just look in the title movie review and the title of the movie you are looking for should be in the episode there. You don't want to do that. I do have a YouTube channel, so I have an entire library on there, probably the last year and a half to two years of just the movie reviews, so you can watch them there. So also be sure to subscribe to that channel while you were there. So thank you Patty for that question. And since we had an interview on this week's episode, I always give a secret emoji so you can get next week's listener shout out. The secret emoji this week is the chocolate bar. So comment with the chocolate bar on the video I post with director Paul King on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. I'll take one of those comments and make it next week's Listener shout out of the week. Let me know what you thought about that interview and let me know your thoughts on Wonka. And until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later