What Actor Had The Best Single Year Run? + Movie Review: Wicked: For Good: Trailer Park: Super Mario Galaxy

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's Movie Podcast. I am your host Movie Mike. Today, I want to break down what actor had the single best year run at the box office. In the movie review the highly anticipated sequel Wicked for Good.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: Did it live up to the hype?

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Speaker 1: And I'll compare it to my experience going to see it on Broadway for the first time this summer. And in the trailer park, I'll be breaking down Super Mario Galaxy and my list of the top five most anticipated video game adaptations.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for being here, thank you for being subscribed.

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Speaker 1: Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies from.

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Speaker 2: The Nushville Podcast Network. This is movie Mike's Movie Podcast.

00:00:40
Speaker 1: As apparently in movie history there are only two actors to have three number one movies in a year.

00:00:48
Speaker 2: That sounded crazy to me. I saw this headline everywhere.

00:00:52
Speaker 1: I saw the memes, not only on Facebook, which you always can't believe it usually lies over there, but I also saw it on TikTok, I saw it on Reddit. I saw this everywhere, and I thought that sounds like a record that could be broken. And I know that number one movies don't really have as much weight to them. Right now, there have been a few movies that have been number one this year and made less than ten million dollars, right around that eight million dollar range. So sometimes when you see movies saying we're the number one movie in the country, it is not the same that it was ten years ago. But I thought, with all these big properties happening around the same time right now, there had to have been one actor who has broken that record since nineteen ninety four, and I found a couple. I don't know why the Internet is lying to you, but let's get into it. Going back to nineteen ninety four, this is the gold standard. Jim Carrey had three number one movies in this year, which nineteen ninety four is historically one of the best movies in film of all time. With movies like The Lion King, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank, Redemption, Forrest Gump all coming out in nineteen ninety one four, it goes down in the history books as being one of the best. And Jim Carrey was responsible for three number one movies that year. The Mask, Dumb and Dummer, and Ace Spentra all came out this year, And I think, what we're gonna see as we go through all these actors, is some of the movies are gonna be a little bit debatable. In this instance, the Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and Ace Spentira, I don't think are debatable. That they are all great movies and are all classics from the nineties. If Jim Carrey was your favorite actor, I would not flinch if you told me those are your top three Jim Carrey movies. I love all three of those movies. Dumb and Dumber is my favorite comedy of all time. The Mask is so wacky and it still holds up even though it is so inherently nineties with the dance moves and Cameron Diaz, I still think that is a classic movie. And Ace Ventura. The fact that all three of these movies are still so different but all still so very Jim Carrey is amazing. So that is a really hard year to beat. So apparently nobody else was able to do this until twenty twenty five. Mason Thames, who that name might not be super familiar to you, but he had three number one movies this year, although one is debatable. There is some discrepancies in the numbers per my research, but Mason Thames start in the How to Train Your Dragon live remake, which I thought was a good movie to me, kind of kicked off the summer even though it was number one for two weeks.

00:03:31
Speaker 2: I almost feel like that movie.

00:03:33
Speaker 1: Didn't have as big of an impact on some other movies as far as seeping into pop culture because I enjoyed it. I am still a bigger fan of the animated movies, although I think with the success of the first one, if they're able to get a bit of a bigger budget on How To Train Your Dragon two, because the stories do get a little bit darker as they go into two and three, I think maybe I could enjoy that one more. But I still think the whimsical dragon fighting and writing nature lends itself more to the animated versions, especially when it comes to Toothless, who is still it's just not as cute when it's a live action and I have a big problem with live action right now. I'm not even going to talk about the Mowana teaser for the live action movie. I am so just upset about that because the original came out in twenty sixteen, and now next year in twenty twenty six we are already getting a remake to that, and I didn't mean to go on this tangent, but it's so frustrating to me, and I know that I am part of the problem because this year, Leelo It's Ditch is going to probably be in my top ten movies of the year. And that is what they did with that movie. They banked on her nostalgia. They went to something that they know is going to make money, and Mowana is the highest stream movie on Disney Plus of all time. So that is why Mowana Too ended up coming out in theaters, even though it was just to be a Disney Plus series, but they made a billion dollars off of that. Why would they not go to their number one movie when The Rock is still able to play Maui. That's another thing. They just got the Rock to play Maui. But that does not feel even like a live action movie to me, and I think that is the most frustrating part of it is when it comes to their live action remakes of snow White or The Lion King or The Jungle Book, they're not really live action because they still rely so much on animation. And that is what I felt watching that Mawana teaser. It looks exactly shot per shot like Mowana one, and it almost looks less than almost a parody of because you have actual humans instead of animated characters. But that is why I always am a bigger fan of the animation than the live action remake.

00:05:52
Speaker 2: So how to train your dragon?

00:05:53
Speaker 1: Going back to that, I didn't mean to go into this Disney tangent, but again, if you don't like something and you hate remakes and you hate Disney doing this, the way you get your message across is by not going to see those movies in theaters and not giving them your money.

00:06:07
Speaker 2: But I am guilty of it. I still do it. I did it twice this year. I would to see that Leelod Stitch movie twice in theaters. So I am also part of the problem.

00:06:17
Speaker 1: I can't support the franchises I want and it not be an indication to them that people are okay with this. But again, I'll always be a fan of the animated version. First, why don't they do it the reverse way? They come out with live action movies and then make an animated movie.

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Speaker 2: Just doesn't work that way.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, Mason Names was the lead and how to Train Your Dragon.

00:06:39
Speaker 2: He played Hiccup.

00:06:41
Speaker 1: He was also in The Black Phone two this year and Regretting You, even though there was a bit of a discrepancy with the numbers between two of those movies, because Black Phone two and Regretting You were actually in theaters at the same time, And even when I saw the reports of the week of the first week of November, everybody said that Regretting You was a number one movie, and then some people said that the Black Phone two ended up beating it out. But the numbers I looked up still say Regretting You that week made eight point one million and Black Phone two made eight million, so it's really close. But in the end, Mason Thames wins because he was in both of those movies and is quietly having one of the best years in Hollywood. So he is the one credited as being the first one to have three number one movies at the box office in one year since Jim Carrey did it. And the only discrepancy I can see sometimes with some of the ones that I found is they don't distinguish.

00:07:41
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean that they.

00:07:42
Speaker 1: Have to have a leading role in that movie, because if you look at Jim Carrey and Mason Thames. They all had leading roles in all three of those movies. And if you have a supporting role, is that still enough to earn you this same recognition? Because what I found was in twenty twenty one, Zea had three number one movies. Zendea was in Space Jam a New Legacy, and again, you don't have to like these movies for them to be number one movies, because that was pretty bad. But she was also in Dune Part one in twenty twenty one and Spider Man No Way Home. Granted that was in twenty twenty one, a post COVID year where the box office still wasn't fully open, but all three of those movies are attributed to having a number one in some capacity, at least to the standards of twenty twenty one, but I guess not enough to earner a recognition on this list. She was also in Malcolm and Marie that year on Netflix, which I believe was also a number one Netflix movie.

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Speaker 2: Not the best movie, but again, a number one is a number one.

00:08:45
Speaker 1: I think she also has a chance of achieving this next year, in twenty twenty six, she is going to be in Dune Part three, could easily be a number one. She's going to be in Spider Man Brand New Day. I would say right now that is going to be a number one. And she's also going to be in The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan, which people are already selling out showings to. That first week of movies for the Odyssey could easily be.

00:09:09
Speaker 2: A number one.

00:09:10
Speaker 1: So if she doesn't get recognized for twenty twenty one, I think twenty twenty six could also be the year for her. She's also going to be in a movie called The Drama with Robert Pattinson, which was an a twenty four romantic comedy.

00:09:22
Speaker 2: I don't think that one's screams number.

00:09:24
Speaker 1: One to me, but that could have her in the running for having one of the best years next year in twenty twenty six. Somebody else that I found Ben Stiller in two thousand and four. This is an insane year, and I do not know how he is not credited with having multiple number one movies in this year, because this one is undeniable. He had the leading role in all three of these movies that came out in two thousand and four. In their opening weekends, all went number one. Along came Polly Dodgeball, a true underdog story, and Meet the Fockers. But not only that, ben Stiller all put out in this year Starsky and Hutch, which I remember seeing that movie in theaters and seeing the duet scene for the first time. Two thousands were a great time for Ben Stiller, so was it a number one movie at the box office, but a number one movie for a lot of thirteen year olds like myself at that time. He also had a cameo in Anchorman The Legend of Ron Burgundy, the scene wherever all the news stations fight with each other. I believe he worked for the Spanish news station. So even though he wasn't a star in that movie, just the cameo, he was still a part of another number one movie. An insane year for Ben Stiller in two thousand and four, having so much success at the box office. I don't know why, how I kind of forget that Ben Steller has all of these pillars in comedy in the two thousands. Sometimes I always just think of Will Ferrell when it comes to comedic actors dominating around this time, But look at those movies that is undeniable. I do not know why he is not in this conversation, so I am here to say justice for Ben Stiller. So those were the three actors I found that had three number one movies in a year. But I also went through and found actors who I believe have at least two or more movies that are great that all came out within one year. Which of these actors do you think had the best year at the box office or on streaming? Because you get to a point where it all kind of blends together, and a number one movie is a number one movie high up on my list, if not number one on my list. Of the people we haven't talked about yet, as Scarlett Johanson. In twenty nineteen, she was in Avengers Endgame, Jojo Rabbit Marriage Story, and also had a post credit scene in Captain Marvel. With those three movies, Scarlett Johanson tops the Forbes list of the ten highest paid actors of the year, making fifty six million dollars, and that was mostly from her work just as Black Widow in the MCU. And why she ranks up so high on my list as having one of the best years for an actor is because you have a little bit of everything in those movies where you have the big cinematic superhero movies, but then you have a marriage story which is just a straight ahead drama with fantastic acting, which shows you how just two people Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver can just have these conversations and feel so powerful, and just to see two people yelling one person crying in a scene can move you emotionally with just raw acting power. And it's the same person who's also acting as a black widow. And then Jojo Rabbit, which is a satirical comedy that you go through all these stages with her character as well, which that movie is about a kid named Jojo who is a German boy and he finds out that his mom, who was a single mom, is hiding this Jewish girl in their attic and it goes from being this whimsical comedy to having some really tragic turns. And I think I also just have a great love for the year of twenty nineteen with all of the fantastic accomplishments of that year, and Scarlet Johnson to me, was one of.

00:13:04
Speaker 2: Those focal points of that year. And if it wouldn't have been.

00:13:07
Speaker 1: For twenty twenty, I kind of wonder what her trajectory would have been like with all those three great movies that she was doing right there, being on the edge of closing out her time in the MCU, with Black Widow being delayed and finally coming out.

00:13:22
Speaker 2: And I don't know.

00:13:23
Speaker 1: If she did Jurassic World this year just for the money or that was something that she truly believed in. But I can't help but wonder how it would have impacted her career if everything wouldn't have shut down in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two. Kind of feeling like a wash, But she would be in my running of actors who have had the best single year, because since then I don't think it would have been until now twenty twenty five that another actor would have a shot at this title. Pedro Pascal put out three big movies this year, Materialists, Eddington, and The Fantastic Four. All three of those movies were not Number one. Two of those movies I really enjoyed, and one of them I wish were not on this list.

00:14:04
Speaker 2: But Pedro Pascal this year.

00:14:06
Speaker 1: Has really infiltrated the minds of people, so much so that some people are sick of them. If you went to the movies this summer, and you stood outside where all the posters are. You could say, let's see the new Pedro Pascal movie, and you would not know which one you were talking about.

00:14:21
Speaker 2: Do you want to see.

00:14:21
Speaker 1: Materialists, you want to see Eddington? Do you want to see Fantastic Four? Pick your Pedro Pascal movie that you want to watch. I think he is at that level where you're gonna be a little bit sick of him.

00:14:34
Speaker 2: I don't think Eddington.

00:14:36
Speaker 1: Really set out to be a movie that was going to shatter box office records, which I think is a distinction in twenty twenty five that a lot of people are realizing that. I know the purpose of a movie is to make money, but I think sometimes it is just necessary for the art to get out there to make a statement that not every movie has to achieve financial success to be a good movie. I think we're a little bit obsessed with that. I kind of get annoyed sometimes when I see a movie like Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence's latest movie, Die My Love, which came out. I didn't entirely love it, but I thought that movie made a great statement and it was a very important movie that for some reason I cannot stop thinking about, even though I wouldn't really recommend it. But all the headlines that came out after that movie were saying that movie stars are dead because Die My Love.

00:15:30
Speaker 2: Bombs at the box office.

00:15:32
Speaker 1: I just don't think that that movie was set up to be a number one movie. I don't think that is the expectation for every single big project. And in this case, two A list actors were attached to it. They were really excited about it, they were really passionate about it. They did a lot of press for that movie. But I just don't think the subject matter was set up to lend itself to the masses. They weren't doing collabse at Popeyes like five Nights that Freddy's is doing now. I don't think it was supposed to be a movie of that caliber. I think some movies like this just can't have that same kind of success. Maybe if it came out twenty years ago or in the nineties, you might have a little bit of a different story here. But I think with our attention spans getting shorter and shorter and not wanting to branch out into watching something that might make you feel a little bit uncomfortable, or might be a little bit more of a slow burn. I don't see that movie as a failure in my eyes. I just think sometimes it's hard to see a movie with two people you really like and a concept you still not fully enjoy just kind of get ripped to shreds.

00:16:40
Speaker 2: And we only attribute financial.

00:16:42
Speaker 1: Success to good movies, which if you look back on movies that we grew up with in the nineties and two thousands, some of those movies that we all loved bombed at the box office. Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factor, the original from the seventies, bombed at the box office, but it's still considered a classic. I think it's going to be harder now for us to even have Colt classics anymore, because if a movie like Di My Love does bad at the box office, people now just see it as bad, and then when it goes onto a streaming service, you know, even if you don't remember the stories of that movie bombing at the box office, a lot of these streaming services put the rotten Tomato score, or we just look at it ourselves and think, oh, that has a bad score, that didn't do very well.

00:17:26
Speaker 2: It's not a good movie. I shouldn't give it a chance.

00:17:28
Speaker 1: That is another reason that I just don't think we could have cult classics anymore. But Pedro Pascal in twenty twenty five made an impact. Josh Brolin, also in twenty twenty five, is having an impact. He was in Weapons, which was a number one movie this year. He was in The Running Man, which man just lost out to Now You See Me, Now You Don't for being number one. I think the filmmakers behind that, Edgar Wright, probably saw that as a bit of a fail. But you can't deny the power of magic, which we didn't go see that movie. We saw both of those movies in theaters last weekend, and we'll get into that next week on our recap with the Best and Worst of November. But Josh Brolin had a pretty good shot if Running Man would have been number one, because he is also going to be in the New Knives Out movie coming out later this year, which we'll have a small opening at the box office because Netflix does that sometimes, but it is still going to be a number one Netflix movie. Since we were just talking about Jennifer Lawrence, I will include her on this list. I think she was dominant in the twenty tens. In twenty twelve, she put out The Hunger Games Silver Linings Playbook. I could honestly stop right there and say give her the award. I'm not even handing out awards in this episode. But then she was also in the House at the End of the Street, which I think just happened to come out in twenty twelve because that doesn't really match all the other movies. That feels like a movie that was maybe on the back burner and they're like, all right, she's hot right now, everybody wants to see Jennifer Lawrence in a movie.

00:18:59
Speaker 2: Let's put this out now.

00:19:00
Speaker 1: That movie did not do as well, but still with Silver Lightings Playbook and The Hunger Games both, that is a pretty hot year. And I feel like, to me, that is when I accepted Jennifer Lawrence as being the bankable A List star, because after that, in twenty thirteen, she put out The Devil, you know, Catching Fire, and American Hustle all in that same year, and then went on to have another great twenty fourteen, putting out X Men, Days of Future Past, Serena, and Mockingjay all came out that year, So collectively, that three year run is pretty impressive. If I were to put one of those years on this list, I would put twenty twelve. Speaking of the twenty tens, in twenty eleven, Ryan Gosling had a pretty good run. He put out Crazy Stupid Love, Drive, which is one of my favorite movies of all time, not just favorite Ryan Gosling movies. Depending on the day, that would make my top ten list of best movies of all time. He was also in the IDEs of March. All three of those movies have positive scores. Crazy Stupid Love has a seventy nine percent, The IDEs of March has an eighty three percent, and Drive has a ninety three percent score. This is where Ryan Gosling really started to prove himself as being somebody who could achieve a wide range of characters, from people who are really smooth talking to a character and Drive that rarely said any words, didn't even have a name. He was just a driver. And not that Ryan Gosling ever went away, but I feel like he has kind of transformed himself with movies like Barbie and The Fall Guy. I am curious to see where he goes next. He does have the Hail Mary project coming out next year. I almost feel like he just wants to do movies that are interesting to him. He doesn't seem like a guy who cares so much about box office financial success, which is important to an actor. But he's not really taking these roles that other actors of his caliber could take just to earn himself a payday. He could easily do a bunch of random action movies or more rom coms, but I see him being more deliberate with the roles he is taking now in the twenty twenties that I'm curious to see where he goes after the hil Mary project and after his Star Wars movie that is coming out in twenty twenty seven. A lot of good stuff from Ryan Gossing still coming out. If we go way back to the seventies, Jack Nicholson in nineteen seventy five had three standout movies, The Passenger, The Fortune, and one of his best movies of all time, One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, And I kind of thought there would be more actors of his caliber have runs like this throughout their career. But I think why this is so rare is because oftentimes actors just have one big movie a year. When you look at some of the big names like Leonardo DiCaprio, even Jennifer Lawrence now has really shifted to basically doing one big movie a year and maybe another small cameo or smaller part, or just a smaller budget movie that they film in a much smaller window of time. But I was so interested in finding out about actors like Robert de Niro and all these even Tom Cruise or Leonardo DiCaprio, when you go look at their filmography, a lot of times it's just one, maybe two other years for some of these bigger actors that you would be more familiar with. Nineteen eighty three, Tom Cruise had The Outsiders, risky Business and all the right moves. In twenty thirteen, Leonardo DiCaprio had The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street, two of his biggest movies came out in twenty thirteen. But for the most part, every other year, especially in the last ten years, he only does one big movie a year. Takes all of his time, it takes all of his energy. In twenty ten he did happen to put out Shutter Island and Inception, but throughout his entire career.

00:22:55
Speaker 2: Those are the years we had two.

00:22:57
Speaker 1: Multiple big hits come out in a year. Have other actors like Will Ferrell in two thousand and three, who had Old School in ELF that was really at the start of his career where whenever he got cast for ELF that was seen as a big risk. He was just the guy from SNL and just happened to blow up after that and had an amazing run in the two thousands. Orlando Bloom also in two thousand and three was in The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King and Pirates of the Caribbeing The Curse of the Black Pearl, two of the biggest franchises of the two thousands. Orlando Bloom probably could have stopped working altogether after finishing out those two franchises. Nicole Kidman in two thousand and one was in Mulan Rouge and the Others and Birthday Girl in ninety three. I was kind of surprised Tom Hanks did not have a bigger year than nineteen ninety three, where he was in Sleepless in Seattle and Philadelphia. Timothy Chalomagne in twenty seventeen, this is kind of like what I was describing earlier with Jennifer Lawrence in twenty twelve, To Me at the Shalome really registered in my head. In twenty seventeen, he was in Call Me by Your Name, Hot Summer Nights, Lady Birds, and Hostiles.

00:24:08
Speaker 2: Just with Lady Bird alone, I was.

00:24:10
Speaker 1: Like, who is this Timothy shallow May kid? And why am I so drawn to him every time he is on screen? And then Call Me by Your Name kind of changed everything I thought about him and made me look at Peaches in a much different way after that, even the Rock is pretty much just in one, maybe two big movies a year, despite him working all the time and always promoting a movie. The year where he actually had three big hits at one time in a year was twenty thirteen with Paint and Gain, which I love that movie him and Anthony Mackie, a very chaotic action movie and really ridiculous. Also Mark Wahlberg in that That is kind of one of those underrated movies of the twenty tens for me that I could just throw one and kind of watch as a comfort, just because it's so ridiculous and so dumb, but a lot of fun.

00:24:55
Speaker 2: He was also in Fast and Furious six and g.

00:24:58
Speaker 1: Joe Retali, So maybe not the most quality when it comes to the movies he put out that year, but definitely mattered in quantity in regard to the theme of this week's episode. Somebody who also does not get the credit they deserve is Samuel L.

00:25:14
Speaker 2: Jackson.

00:25:14
Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, dude has been in over one hundred and fifty one movies, and in twenty nineteen he was in Captain Marvel, he was in Spider Man Far from Home, he was in Glass, he was in Shaft, and he also had a voice over cameo in Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker. Now I think it's because in all those movies he did not have a lead role in. But Samuel L. Jackson, if he cannot get this recognition, who else has a chance? He is acting in every single movie all the time. Somebody else who I believe has a shot of having the record in twenty twenty six is Tom Holland kind of like Zendaya. He's also going to be in The Odyssey, Spider Man, Brand New Day. There is speculation he is going to be in Avengers Dooms Day.

00:26:03
Speaker 2: At the end of the year.

00:26:05
Speaker 1: Maybe Brand New Day is going to be more of a lead in into Doom's Day than we think.

00:26:12
Speaker 2: There's not a whole lot on that.

00:26:13
Speaker 1: Now. I can't really speculate too much, but the last time I was so convinced that a Spider Man was not going to be in a movie was in No Way Home and I was like, there's no way Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield are going to be in it, and then they showed up. So now I don't doubt anything, Especially with him being on the tail end of being Spider Man, I could see him being a part of it, unless they decide to end Brand New Day in a really tragic way.

00:26:39
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like.

00:26:39
Speaker 1: You gotta keep Spider Man around, especially with Robert Downey Junior now going to be Doctor Doom. Could you imagine that moment on screen of Peter Parker seeing Iron Man Tony Stark as Doctor Doom. That would be a scene for the Ages. Finally, somebody I have to recognize as I close out this episode, Old Schwarzenegger. Well, we've been talking about a lot of his movies recently because of The Running Man and because of Predator. I did not realize the run that he went on in the eighties, because I think I was just kind of past real action star Arnold Schwarzenegger growing up in the nineties. I was more aware of his Kindergarten Cop Last Action Hero jingle all the way him.

00:27:24
Speaker 2: As mister Freeze.

00:27:26
Speaker 1: That was more my Arnold Schwarzenegger that I grew up with.

00:27:29
Speaker 2: But if you go back and look.

00:27:31
Speaker 1: At his run in the eighties, he didn't have a year where you put out three number one movies in a year, but he was so consistent from about nineteen eighty two all the way, I would say to the year two thousand.

00:27:43
Speaker 2: Look at his movies.

00:27:44
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty two was his breakout with Conan the Barbarian, followed that up in nineteen eighty four with Conan the Destroyer and The Terminator. A huge nineteen eighty four for him. Next year in eighty five, he was in Red Sonja Commando than An eighty six, Raw Deal, eighty seven, Predator, and The Running Man. Had both of those in one year in eighty eight, Red Heat and Twins in ninety Total Recall and Kindergarten Cop ninety one, Terminator two, Judgment Day ninety three, Last Action Hero ninety four, True Lives in Junior, ninety six, Eraser and Jingle all the Way, ninety seven he was Mister Freeze, and Batman and Robin. In ninety nine he was an End of Days, and then in two thousand he was in the sixth Day. That is an historic run. You could argue that maybe there's a solid seven years in there, but I think, just looking at not only box office numbers but historical relevance to all of that body of work, that so many of those are standouts of both the eighties and the nineties, I kind of forget how much of a star Arnold Schwarzenegger was, and I can now see why he went on to have a run in politics, because look how famous he was. And now it makes more sense to me why he recently became a billionaire. Look at this body of works. He made millions and millions of dollars, not only from his upfront salary, but can you imagine some of the back end deals on some of these movies. So as we celebrate actors with historic runs at the box office, I wanted to include Arnold Schwarzenegger on this list. But who do you think out of all these people women talking about or maybe there's someone I missed who has had the single best one year at the box office. Let me know and I'll come back and give my spoiler free review of Wicked for Good.

00:29:34
Speaker 2: Let's get into it now.

00:29:35
Speaker 1: A spoiler free movie review of Wicked for Good one of the most anticipated movies of the year, and I will say the only reason there will be spoilers in this review, even though it's always spoiler free if you haven't seen part one. First of all, what are you doing here? And where have you been? But just going into part two, there's gonna be spoilers. Just by watching the trailer alone, it already ruined some things for you. If you haven't seen the first one, I will say, if you go into part two without seeing part one fairly recently, you will be a little bit confused. Luckily, we did watch part one maybe a month or so ago, and even that I was like, wait a minute, where exactly is that one leave off? We also Kelsey and I went to New York and saw Wicket on Broadway for the first time ever, and that was amazing. So I was going into it being pretty refreshed on everything. But even in the first ten to fifteen minutes I was still getting adjusted to remembering exactly what was going on. So if I could have been a part of those screenings where they showed you part one rolled right into part two, I would have felt fully fresh. But that would have been a long day at the movies. So where this movie starts out, you have Alphaba exile. She is now pronounced as the Wicked Witch of the West. She is living out in the forest, and then you have Glinda, who was living in a palace in Emerald City soaking up all the fame and popularity as all the people are really mad at Alphaba and want to see her taken down, and Glinda is caught between finally having all the popularity that she wants and wanting to.

00:31:08
Speaker 2: Help her friend.

00:31:09
Speaker 1: So that's really all I want to get into about the plot of this movie, because once you get into it.

00:31:15
Speaker 2: Is just pretty much spoilers galore, which I.

00:31:17
Speaker 1: Do have an issue with how this movie was set up, And before I get into what I didn't like about this movie, because I think there was a fair amount that I ended up not enjoying about it, which was probably a bit on me because I went into it with such high expectations.

00:31:32
Speaker 2: But Let's talk about the good first, because.

00:31:34
Speaker 1: I do love the energy this movie has created that was palpable in just the movie theater lobby. I can always tell how successful a movie is going to be based on how packed the parking lot is, because for the most part, we go to Regal. We have Regal Unlimited, so we can go see as many movies as we want every single month. So every week when we drive up and I see how full the parking lot is, I kind of get an indication that is my.

00:32:01
Speaker 2: Box office kind of pulse.

00:32:03
Speaker 1: Because if I drive up there and I can't find my favorite parking spot, I know that that is good for business because there are so many people here. There are tons of showings that the theater basically just has to put one on every thirty minutes starting. And that is what I felt, just by parking and then going into the lobby seeing how all out the theater went for it, just because they know that there's going to be so many people there. They had this marketplace, they had a costume contest. When you wait in line, people are dressed up. There are people there of all different walks of life. I saw moms and dads, sons and daughters, all these people that this movie brings together. There was a former bachelor Rett in the line to get snacks for this movie.

00:32:44
Speaker 2: It just brings everybody out.

00:32:45
Speaker 1: And I love that about the Wicked franchise, any franchise that can do this, because this is what the box office needs right now, and it proves to you that it's not dead. As much as people online want to say that movie theaters are going away. To create an environment like this is something I've really only seen two or three times in the last maybe three to four years. Barbie Oppenheimer Weekend that was one where you had people going dressed up in pink some people and all black going to see both of those movies in the same weekend. That is the energy I crave. We walked into a fully almost sold out showing, which is rare right now, and I think that adds a lot to the movie theater experience because for a movie like this that has a lot of big musical moments, there was clapping throughout, which made it more enjoyable to me, which reminded me more of when we saw it on Broadway. It felt a little bit as close as you can get to a live show in the movie, theater, so everything surrounding it is what I love that even if I didn't enjoy the movie as much, that definitely brings it up a level in my book. But now let's talk about what I didn't like, which I didn't want to tear down so much, because it's not that I hated the movie, it's just, if you know me from this podcast, I have a problem when one story gets split up into two movies, and I had such a high expectation that it wasn't going to be the case for this That story itself is so big that they couldn't quite possibly contain it into one film, which the first part was about two hours and forty minutes close to that, probably less with credits. This one was right around two hours and seven minutes without counting credits, so you're looking at almost five hours, less than five hours of Wicked. But by watching Wicked for Good, it didn't feel as complete to me as Wicked Part one, where this entire movie kind of felt like the falling action because if you just look at the structure of both of these movies, part.

00:34:46
Speaker 2: One has it all.

00:34:47
Speaker 1: It has the beginning, the middle, and the end does kind of end where it leaves you wanting more.

00:34:54
Speaker 2: But that is a complete movie. That is a complete story.

00:34:57
Speaker 1: You get the entire scope of Alpha character in that movie, which is what Part one was. And I guess I wasn't expecting Part two to really just be Glenda's story, which is really where her character was fleshed out.

00:35:10
Speaker 2: You had her as a.

00:35:11
Speaker 1: Kid, you had all of the struggles going on in her mind and in her relationships, and I felt that Alphaba's story was kind of on the back burner a little bit. Cynthia Arrivo's best performance was in Part one, and I don't feel like Ariana Grande stepped it up to her level in Part two to really justify this movie being split up into two. And there were a lot of things that they tried to cram in there, but I just don't think it was strong enough. All the best songs were in Part one, all the best set design also, which is what I love about this franchise is that this movie feels unlike anything that you can go see in the theater right now, because it has texture, real sets, them singing live where it seems like a lot of things you go see in theaters right now, or things you watch at home on streaming just feel so flat, like there's nothing that's going on on those sets that you could actually physically touch. And I think just that level of texture, that level of depth in all these frames John Cheo's vision of just creating a big spectacle, especially when it comes to anything regarding Wizard of Oz, which is one of the most monumental films in history. I think honoring that by putting as many real sets and real costume design that really adds to the artistry of these movies is what we need more of. We need more visionaries doing movies on this scale. So Wow, I didn't fully love Part two and felt like it was a complete story. I get why they did it because this movie shattered and crushed it at the box office, being one of the biggest movies of the year, made over two hundred and twenty eight million dollars worldwide, which is incredible. It is now the biggest Broadway adaptation since Well Part one. So I understand why they did it because I think most studios are trying to generate as much money out of their ip so it makes sense to me. And as much as I want to hate on it for creating this moment again just a year after. I understand it and if we do need to split movies like this into two to keep the theater alive and to keep these types of moments every single year. Although I do want the three hour and thirty minute version, because if you go see the Broadway production, that is about two hours and forty five minutes, you got to intermission there. I want the Avatar agreament. I want to see this movie cut down and put into an under three hour version because you can take some stuff out and really create that unified story that you get when watching the musical. And it is weird for me to say that I enjoyed the musical more than the movie. I'd never thought I would be that guy. I never thought I would go see a musical on Broadway, let alone go see the movie and then say, well, the musical was so much better. I kind of feel like how most people do when they read the book before going to watching the movie. I feel so elitist in saying that I love the Broadway production so much more. But obviously, when you were there, you see the people performing it, you realize that they are live right there and they do multiple showings a day that they're so just honed in on their craft. It is just amazing to watch, and while watching it live in person, you feel like you went to Oz.

00:38:31
Speaker 2: I don't feel like I went.

00:38:32
Speaker 1: To Oz while watching this movie, and in a film that does immerse you in the characters and immerse you in this world, I was surprised by that. I felt like all the connections it tried to make to Wizard of Oz were a little bit crammed in there where the storyline just got a little bit too convoluted with some of the songs they.

00:38:51
Speaker 2: Added in there.

00:38:52
Speaker 1: I didn't really feel the emotional impact then I did when I watched it live, although I found that stuff really fascinating. Probably my favorite part. It was kind of like seeing cameos in a Marvel movie. There were some moments that Cynthia Rivo really felt like a superhero to me. All of the flying action sequences were amazing, and the battles and the flames, all the magic and the spells. That was my favorite part of the movie. I just wish there was a little bit more of that. I wish there was a little bit more depth to her character in this version. Even though I enjoyed Ariana Grande. I just feel like she didn't have her one defying moment like Cynthia Arrivo did in Part one. There was no defying gravity moment, there was no popular moment. Even though the songs were still really good in this it just didn't have as much of an impact, but still a really great movie, one of the best of the year for wicked for good, I give it four out of five bubbles.

00:39:52
Speaker 2: It's time to head down to movie Mike Trey Lar Paul.

00:39:56
Speaker 1: So many things that I loved about The Super Mario Gala see trailer. It is coming out next year on April third. I think the thing that stands out the most is it is obvious to me that since the first one was such a big success, making one point three six billion dollars at the box office back in twenty twenty three, that they have more money to play with in this sequel, because if you look at the character design, it looks so fantastic. I love the way that Bowser looks like you could reach into the screen and pull him out and he would be this three D object that you could manipulate like a figure. Because you can see the level of detail on his skin, whereas you can see the scaliness of his dinosaur lizard skin. That is a sign of they are really pulling out all the big guns when it comes to the character design, and also the fact that the villains are getting bigger and bigger. This world is expanding. I feel like they could get to an Avengers level type of movie when it comes to the Super Mario World. Now, myself personally, who was first introduced to Super Mario in the nineties and early two thousands, I would have loved for them to have done a s NES Super Mario World movie or an N sixty four Mario movie. But I see from watching this trailer that they are catering to a much younger audience who have been continuing to play these Super Mario video games or have just been introduced in the last ten to fifteen years. That is who they are making these movies for. And I have to understand that that I'm not the key demographic they're gonna get us anyway, because they are banking on all the millennials and Gen X who grew up with these video games to just go because they want to see the things from their childhood play out so they're gonna get our money regardless, especially those who have kids, and you can go and say, oh, this is the game I played as a kid, and now you can play it too. So I do love that this franchise spans several different generations and seeing this trailer and now me accepting that I won't get that N sixty four movie or that Super Mario World movie, that this is going to open up Nintendo to be able to do a lot in this world because the first one was such a huge success in twenty twenty three. If you get another smash hit on your hands, another billion dollar movie with this one, it is going to prove to Illumination, who also makes all the Minions movies, that there is a big demand for these and they can stretch their wings out a little bit and start focusing on maybe the Luigi character, some of the other side characters, or focus more on other Nintendo properties. So I want to get into more about what is going on in this movie and with other movies that are video game adaptations that I am excited about. But again, this is coming out next year on April third. Here's just a little bit of the Super Mario Galaxy trailer.

00:42:50
Speaker 2: What do you think love the colors? It's trash a da you're look at my nice say night. I'll stop your bow.

00:43:03
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:43:04
Speaker 2: I'm sorry about that. That's the old Bowser talking. Anyway, I need my eight hours or else I really turn into a monster. I'm Bowser Junior, and I'm gonna be taking my father now.

00:43:22
Speaker 1: So Super Mario Galaxy is picking up right where the last movie left off. So not a case of you could just hop into the franchise right now and understand what is going on. You do have to go back and watch the Super Mario Brothers movie, but what is going on in this one. Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad are going out on an adventure, going into space, going across the galaxy, and they have to face off now against Bowser's son, Bowser Junior, who in this trailer you hear Bowser, but his voice is higher because he has been shrunken down. He is living in this little castle that's like a toy house, where he is now taken upon the hobby of painting. So that is what he is showing off to Luigi and Mario in that trailer. He's just focusing on still being obsessed with Princess Peach, trying to channel his anger into creating art. So there's one painting he makes that is of Mario as a skeleton, so dead Mario. But then the painting he shows him there is him all buffed up with Princess Peach because he is still obsessed with her. But now Bowser Junior his son, who is a little bit more hardcore. He is trying to free as father and.

00:44:33
Speaker 2: Get him back to his normal size.

00:44:35
Speaker 1: So you have Chris Pratt coming back as Mario, Anya Taylor Joy as Princess Peach, who I think she does a fantastic job voice acting in this movie. Charlie Day is probably the best voice actor out of anybody who you would know from It's always Sonny in Philadelphia.

00:44:51
Speaker 2: He is back as Luigi.

00:44:53
Speaker 1: Jack Black is returning as Bowser Keegan, Michael Key is Toad. Now joining the cast is Ben saff who just directed The Smashing Machine. He was also the villain and Happy Gilmore too. So he is one of those rare people who is doing acting and directing at a high level, even though to me he is primarily a director. He has done a lot of movies with his brother like Good Time Uncut Gems. I think that is really inspiring to see somebody who has had so much success creating really powerful and dynamic movies now moving into a place where he can do these big Hollywood roles like a happy Gilmore too and now a part of a major animated franchise, and not one of those people who just has a huge name that lends itself to an animated movie because that's what they do.

00:45:41
Speaker 2: Sometimes, like Chris Pratt.

00:45:43
Speaker 1: As Mario is more of a marketing thing because you still, even though it's an animated movie, you need that a list star to sell it, to go around and do press.

00:45:52
Speaker 2: That is why you get a guy like Chris Pratt.

00:45:54
Speaker 1: A lot of people were really upset whenever he was first announced as Mario after the first movie. I was okay with it because you don't want Mario to sound like the video game character for a ninety plus minute movie. I think he actually works. Is he's the best choice of all time? No, But for somebody like a Ben Saftey, he doesn't have a huge name that is gonna get people to go watch it just because Ben Saftie is voicing the character, so he is somebody that is actually bringing that level that you heard there in that trailer of somebody who was actually putting a lot of emphasis, a lot of passion behind an animated role. And that is what I love, because I think in order to really bring these characters to life, it's not just about sitting and in recording booth that anybody could do and just sitting there and recording your lines. Even Jack Black, who is a well seasoned actor, he is perfect for animation because he is so just animated himself that he puts that same amount of passion into voice acting. I think, maybe unfairly I said Charlie Day was the best voice actor in this movie. I kind of forgot how great Jack Black is as Bowser, But I do think his character is going to be not as dominant as he was in the first one, and they're going to focus more on Bowser Junior. Then you have Bree Larson coming in as Rosalina. I like Bree Larson as an actor. I think she had a pretty raw deal when it came to the Captain Marvel movie. The whole timing of that just felt a little bit off. And then what the Marvels didn't really do her any favors, but I still really enjoy her as an actor and can't wait to see how that translates into animation. The thing about these movies that I love is that it is not the male characters that are the most dominant. I think the more inspiring characters, especially to young kids, are a Princess Peach and I think in this one, you see in the trailer Rosalina who has some really cool powers, as you see Bowser Junior take on his role as the Prowler where he almost turns entirely metal and has this big machine body that she is taking on with her powers, and see seeing the female characters in these movies not need the help of Mario or Luigi, being able to stand up to threats like Bowser, I think that is really inspiring for a young generation because you do not get that a lot, especially not in live action movies where it's few and far between. Now that we get strong female leads that show kids that not all these heroes have to be men, that women do not always need to be saved. So maybe something you don't expect to find in a Super Mario movie where you think it is just an animated movie, about a video game. I think these movies are more impactful than we think. When it comes to my top five most anticipated video game movies, Super Mario Galaxy definitely makes the top five, but it is not number one. And number five I have Mortal Kombat two, which is supposed to come out next year, even though it's been delayed a little bit. I thought the first one was good, not great, but I see a lot of potential. There definitely a major upgrade from the Mortal Kombat movies back rup in the nineties.

00:49:00
Speaker 2: Even though those movies.

00:49:01
Speaker 1: Are hilariously cheesy and still entertaining because they do represent a big part of my childhood, I do like now seeing how much more hardcore these video games are, so I have that one at number five. At number four, Five Nights at Freddy's two, which is coming out next month on December fifth.

00:49:18
Speaker 2: I was a huge hater of the first.

00:49:20
Speaker 1: One, and never have I received so much negative feedback on a review. Then when I first talked about Five Nights at Freddy's, because I just did not get it, did not understand the lower of Five Nights at Freddy's. I think I went into that movie just expecting a horror movie, and I was like, this isn't scary at all, what are they doing? But now I understand it more. I understand the campingness of it, and after watching the trailer for two, I think, Okay, I can go into it with a much different state of mind and enjoy it a lot more and hopefully, maybe just a little bit, we get some more scares in there. At number three, I have Street Fighter, which is coming out next year on October sixteenth. I think I'm just really into Marvel versus Capcom right now. The video game, which was an arcade game back in the day that I used to play every time we went to CCS. There is a place here in Nashville that actually has the real arcade version of it, and I don't think we could ever get a movie adaptation of that because of all the licensing of all the characters in Marvel and Capcom. So I think just getting on the Capcom side with the Street Fighter characters, I am just itching for that. Even though back in the day when the Street Fighter movie first came out that was a pretty big fail. That is one we don't really talk about a whole lot. So hopefully they get it right with this one. It does have a lot of interesting people in the cast WWE wrestlers like Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. You also have Orville Peck in there, Jason Momoa, Eric Andre Andrew Schultz in fifty cent, just to name a few. So hopefully they're brewing up something good on the Street Fighter franchise, or it could be a straight utter disaster.

00:51:01
Speaker 2: It's gonna go either way.

00:51:02
Speaker 1: But that's why I have it at number three because I just want to see what happens. And number two is where I would put Super Mario Galaxy. I think out of all the movies on the list, it is going to be the best because the first one delivered so much. I have no reason to doubt that the second one will not be on that same.

00:51:18
Speaker 2: Caliber of movie.

00:51:19
Speaker 1: But for number one on the list, which is The Legend of Zelda, supposed to come out on May seven, twenty twenty seven, I have it there because I.

00:51:27
Speaker 2: Have no idea what to expect.

00:51:29
Speaker 1: They did post last week the first shots in our first look of the live action movie, which is just Zelda and Link sitting out in the field, doesn't really tell you a whole lot. Part of me had a little bit of worry that they give us these first looks so early on. I almost don't even want to see it until it's a full trailer. But because that is such a major franchise, and one if they get right, like I've been talking about this whole time, really opens itself up or Nintendo to make all different types of movies because the fan base is there. I mean, I think what we all would love is a Smash Brothers movie. If they could build Hump to an Avengers style movie where everybody comes together for a big fight, that would be amazing. Or just a straight ahead Mario Kart movie. I'm talking f one level of detail, make it live action while we're at it, like the SNL's get they did. That would also be a really fun time. Some other anticipated video game adaptations are Sonic The Hedgehog four, supposed to come out in twenty twenty seven, Resonant Evil, which is directed by Zach Kreiger, who did weapons really interested how they're going to reboot that franchise, especially because he is attached to that movie, and Return to Silent Hill is coming out next year on January twenty sixth. But out of all these movies, I think only one has the chance to cross that billion dollar mark. It is Super Mario Galaxy coming out on April third.

00:53:00
Speaker 2: Wid That was this week's edition of Movie by Framer.

00:53:06
Speaker 1: Bar and that is gonna do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I gotta give my listeners shout out of the week loving YouTube right now.

00:53:14
Speaker 2: Thank you everybody who has subscribed in the last week.

00:53:17
Speaker 1: So I'm going over there to find the listener shout out of the week if you want to hop on board and go watch individual movie reviews and interviews from the podcast YouTube dot com slash Mike Distro, where you can always find the links to my YouTube channel and all my socials in the episode notes of this podcast. But this week's listener shout out goes to Omega Agent sixty nine, who commented on my review of The Running Man and said Glenn Powell should be the new Captain America. He needs it now. Plus it's a good salary and Marvel is looking to recast Omega Agent sixty nine. I think a case could be made unfairly. I cannot see anybody else but Chris Evans in that role, even the Anthony Mackie is Captain America right now. When I think of like classic Captain America, I think of a more filled out Do you remember that reveal of Chris Evans going from being the scrawny guy to being the full Here's Captain America with the serum, And I just feel like Glenn Powell is built a little different. Obviously super ripped up, big arms, incredible abs. I'm getting a little bit too into the detail's ear, but I just think he has more of the build for Cyclops, because.

00:54:28
Speaker 2: Cyclops his nickname was Slim, who has a little bit more of that spelt body type. I could just see the suit working more for him.

00:54:35
Speaker 1: But again, I wouldn't be mad on either front of getting a Glenn Powell Cyclops or a Captain America. I just think he would fit in so well. So thank you Omega aged sixty nine, for watching over there and commenting on YouTube, and thank you right now wherever you are listening, and until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.