Movie Mike’s Top 5 Public Domain Movie Ideas + Movie Review: Self Reliance (Hulu) + Trailer Park: IF

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's Movie Podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, and today I want to share with you my top five public domain movie ideas. If you don't know what public domain is, I'll explain it, along with some characters that have already entered the public domain and will be public domain within the next ten, fifteen, twenty years. In the movie review, what we talk about Self Reliance, which is a new comedic thriller on Hulu.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: And in the trailer.

00:00:23
Speaker 1: Park what could be one of the best live action kids movies in a long time. It's a movie called If, from director John Krasinski, starring Ryan Reynolds and Steve Carell. I have a good feeling about this one. Thank you for being subscribed, Thank you for listening every single week. Shout out to the Monday Morning movie crew. Now let's talk movies.

00:00:44
Speaker 3: In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking imt wo's glasses from the Nashville Podcast Network And this is Movie Mike's Movie Pop.

00:01:07
Speaker 1: I was inspired to do this episode after Mickey Mouse entered the public domain. What exactly does that mean? Well, in this case, Steamboat Mickey was introduced back in nineteen twenty eight, so it's now been ninety five years since the debut of Mickey Mouse. So now it has entered the public domain, meaning you can make a movie, you can make a TV show using Steamboat Mickey, and Disney cannot sue you because technically the copyright has now expired for Steamboat Mickey. So in its simplest terms, the public domain refers to the content, ideas, or creative works that are not protected by intellectual property laws like copyright or patent. So this is different from say Nike put out something ninety five years ago. You can't just start making Nike stuff, But when it comes to art, you can, whether it be movies, music, or TV ideas. After ninety five years, anybody can use them, share them, modify them freely without the need to request permission or request payment, which is probably the most important factor in all of this. And you may be thinking, well, why does law allow this? This sounds kind of like an infringement on somebody's ideas, on somebody's creativity, and I had to kind of think about that too, because if I created something that went on to build an entire media empire like Disney or even as we get into some of these other characters like Marvel and DC, I wouldn't want that taken away from me. But in the research I did on public domain, they say that this allows for the widespread availability and use of creative and intellectual works that goes to benefit the public. So essentially, something has become so popular and so great that allowing other people to interpret this art, to make their own versions, to change it a little bit, actually benefits everybody. And they also want to limit monopolies when it comes to characters. If one company just has control of an intellectual property like this, it's seen as a monopoly. And in the United States in the world, monopolies aren't great. So okay, Steamboat Mickey debuted back in nineteen twenty eight, meaning that all the way through twenty twenty three you couldn't do anything. So this would be the ninety sixth year. This is the first year that you could put out something with Steamboat Mickey, and they're already working on things. There's a trailer that dropped that is a horror movie with Mickey as the villain. But of course there are some rules that you have to follow. First of all, you have to make sure that the version you are using is the exact same version that is public domain. So you have to use the character design that is over ninety five years old Steamboat Mickey. You can't go and grab a Mickey from the sixties or eighties and say, oh, I'm good, he's totally public go it is only that version. So when we're looking at some of these works, it has to be the actual work that debuted ninety five years ago, from that creator, from that artist, from that author. It has to be that version, otherwise you will still end up getting sued. And there are some other gray areas because Disney has been fighting for the rights for Mickey Mouse to not be public domain, saying that, hey, this is a part of our entire brand, so allowing people to use him will hurt our brand because it's embedded in every single thing that we do. But still that went away and it was able to enter the public domain. And this isn't a brand new concept. It's just now that a lot more of these iconic characters that we only associate with one company like Disney. These have now been around for ninety five years.

00:04:51
Speaker 2: But there are other.

00:04:52
Speaker 1: Examples in movies and TV that have been public domain for a while. Now I'll go through some of those now. Characters like Tarzan, Homes, Alice in Wonderland, Dracula, Hercules, Robinhood, Sleeping Beauty, snow White, the Wizard of Oz, King Kong. Those are all public domain characters. So that is why you have seen different versions of these stories. And that's also why so many of these have different versions that come out every few years, because you don't have to pay for the rights to them. We often associate a character like snow White with Disney, but in the last ten to fifteen years, we have seen darker versions of snow White, We've seen spin offs of it, and it's because that character is public domain. So anybody is allowed to make a movie for profit as long as they are doing it based on that original character in that original source material. That is the key component here. The other thing we've seen is very wholesome characters enter into the public domain, and once that happens, they don't have to be wholesome anymore. There is what is being called a public domain horror universe happening right now, and Jagged Edge Productions is behind a lot of these movies coming out right now. Winni the Pooh Blood and Honey was a movie that came out that took Winnie the Pooh and made him a serial killer. It's even getting a sequel that is introducing Tigger called Blood and Honey two, which is coming out later this year. They're also working on Bambi The Reckoning, which looks like maybe it's gonna be something of Bambi finally getting her revenge. You also have Peter Pan's never Land Nightmare. All these movies are becoming a part of this public domain horror universe. Here are some other characters that people are just itching waiting for them to enter the public domain in the next ten to fifteen years.

00:06:36
Speaker 3: J R. R.

00:06:37
Speaker 1: Tolkien's The Hobbit will be public domain in twenty thirty three. In twenty thirty four, Superman will enter the public domain. Also in twenty thirty four, James Bond will enter into the public domain. This is a big one. In twenty thirty five, Batman will enter in because he first debuted in nineteen thirty nine's Detective Comics number twenty seven. Captain America will enter in twenty thirty six. Wonder Woman will enter in twenty thirty seven, who debuted in the nineteen forty one All Star Comics. You also have some more Disney characters like Pluto in twenty twenty six, Donald Duck in twenty thirty, DC Shazam in twenty thirty five, The Flash in twenty thirty six, Aquaman in twenty thirty seven, and Godzilla in twenty fifty. So it sounds like the pressure is on James Gunn to get this DC universe in order before all these characters enter the public domain. Imagine if we could get to a point where all the DC and Marvel characters are in public domain and we can finally get that Marvel versus Capcom movie I love that video game. That would be amazing. But what I want to share with you are my top five ideas for public domain movies. These are characters from my favorite movies and ideas that I would have if I had free reign to use these characters without having to pay for them. So I'll give you the character the year that this movie could potentially come out, because it'll be the first year they'll be eligible in public domain. I'll give you the title of my public domain movie and the overall synopsis of what I think this movie would be about, and I put them in order from earliest to latest. At number five, I have my favorite superhero of all time, Spider Man, who will enter in the public domain in twenty fifty three. He first debuted in a comic book back in nineteen sixty two titled Amazing Fantasy, Number fifteen. So this actually wasn't even the first ever Amazing Spider Man comic, which this was kind of a throwaway issue. Amazing Fantasy wasn't really working. They were going to cancel this comic, so stan Lee was like, all right, I've been working on this character.

00:08:37
Speaker 2: Spider Man.

00:08:37
Speaker 1: Let me just throw him in, introduce his origin story, and then we'll see what happens. This issue debuted and people loved it, and the character was so popular that he went on to get his own series, The Amazing Spider Man. So he was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve did Go, and he was an instant sensation with readers.

00:08:58
Speaker 2: So I would seek.

00:08:59
Speaker 1: My inspira from this comic, which I think the movies have really kind of not incorporated all the things that make Spider Man spider Man from the comics, which, of course, to make big movie adaptations, you got to change the character up a little bit, but going back to the source material, making him a ultra nerd again, but also reminding people of the level of strength that Spider Man has. If you read these early comics, he gets those powers from a spider, which a spider can do really amazing things and lift things compared to its body weight. So you take that and put it into a human. How strong he actually is sometimes isn't showcased as much as it should be in the movies. The other thing is his humor. Spider Man has always been a very witty character and written so well in the comics that that personality just oozes out of the character. So I think for this movie, it very much needs to be a Spider Man high school comedy. Think about a superhero movie that meets the comedy of and I would call the movie Peter Parker. We haven't really seen a movie that just focuses on the story of Peter Parker. Where in this film, I don't think you do any of the superhero stuff. I want all of this to focus on a storyline of him and high school, his best friend Harry Mary Jane, and all of the funny situations that happen with that. And I would pull a lot of the source material from that original Amazing Spider Man run. In that first issue, there is a situation he gets into where he gets paid and they make the checkout to Spider Man, and then he goes to the bank and tries to cash that check and they won't cash it for him because they're like, hey, you need some form of ID, you need a social Security number, you need a way to prove to us that you are Spider Man. And he's like, what, this suit isn't enough and they're like, no, anybody could put.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: On the suit.

00:10:49
Speaker 1: So he got paid for doing something as Spider Man and then can't catch the check. There are a lot of things in the comics that are very funny like this, and I think it would be great to show case some of these moments and not so much about all the action, the origin story, all the things that we just expect out of a Spider Man movie.

00:11:07
Speaker 2: You really take all of.

00:11:08
Speaker 1: That out and just focus on the things that would be funny of being a teenager with super capabilities and helping people, getting into relationships, hooking up with people, all the things that you do find funny in a movie like super Bad. Put him in with the character of Peter Parker, and Peter Parker is also a very clean cut, straight lace, kind of square guy who I think Toby maguire really got that across in his movies. You amplify that up even a little bit more, and you make Harry Osborne kind of a bad influence. For some reason, I just have this plotline of Harry trying to convince Peter Parker the entire time to say a curse worre Come on, man, I'm gonna get you to say the F word, and then maybe by the finally at the end of the movie he actually does. And the tone I'm thinking in my head if you remember that scene in Spider Man three where he starts to become the jerk Peter Parker. He looks so emo and he does that dance scene with this song, which at the time this scene seemed like it totally killed the vibe in this movie, like it totally messed up the tone. But looking back on Spider Man three, that is one of the biggest things that we remember. It is the funniest moment and really is the true essence of Peter Parker and how funny he actually was. So you take this same tone and you throw it into this high school comedy, and I just think that feels super fresh, super funny. And in twenty fifty eight, which who knows the superhero movies will still be a thing, it would feel a little bit nostalgic to have that two thousand comedy vibe. So at number five, I have Peter Parker, which could first come out in twenty fifty eight, at number four on my list of public domain movies. The group of characters are the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which were introduced in the first TMNT comic book back in nineteen eighty four by artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who financed this entire comic with a tax refund and a family loan and have created an entire empire of teenage mutant Ninja Hurtles from TV shows, action figures, movies and have brought it all the way back around to the comics and are putting out some really great graphic novels right now. This one will be a while, but TMNT will enter into the public domain in twenty eighty and my idea for a TMNT movie would be a sci fi action movie. Think about Blade Runner twenty forty nine meets the Batman with Robert Pattinson, and I would call the movie TMNT twenty eighty four. So if it comes out in twenty eighty, it will be set in the not so distant future, and that is what I envision, So go with me on this journey. Picture a dystopian not so distant future in New York City. It's cold, it's dark, but also an orange haze that hangs over the city, and at night we have these neon bright lights take over the scenes. And emerging from the shadows from underground beneath the sewer are the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo, Raphael Donatello and Michelangelo. And on screen they are recognizable as those beloved TMNT characters, but their personalities are so different and darker. They're still teenagers with man. They have seen some stuff because the future is not a happy place. The criminals are more hardened, sadistic. Evil Shredder is a madman taking over New York City and they must stop them. This also is going to be a very expensive movie. I'm thinking TMNT movie with a two hundred and fifty two hundred and seventy five million dollar budget. I wanted to feel epic, I wanted to feel grand. I wanted to feel unlike anything you've ever seen from a TMNT movie. No comedy, just straight brutal action. People getting decapitated by the Turtles. That is what I want to see, And sadly, I just don't think we'll ever get there in our lifetime because they are so much associated with childhood memories and they're wholesome and they teach lessons and they're colorful and bright. But the way I see the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is entirely different. Because that first movie that came out in the nineties had that tone. It didn't really feel like a kid's movie, but over time they had become more and more cartoonish. So, man, I would love for this movie to happen. Twenty eighty is the first year it could happen. My movie would be called TMNT twenty eighty four. Let's go number four. At number three, we're going over into the animated side. The movie is Toy Story, which originally came out back in nineteen ninety five. It was the first computer animated feature film released by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney. Since the movie came out in nineteen ninety five, my version could come out in twenty ninety one. Oh man, that's a long time away. But my movie would be titled Toy Story Play times over, and it is an animated horror movie. Think about it as that original movie, but in a parallel universe where Woody actually kills Buzz and Toy Story. He tries to just knock Buzz off so Andy can't find him, and instead of taking Buzz with him to go to Pizza Planet, he takes Woody with them. But in my version, Woody actually kills them, ices them, takes them out, makes them sleep with the fishes, thinks he gets away with it, but then Old Slink starts to become a little bit suspicious of Woody and he tries to crack the case, and at the same time Woody is trying to tie up Blue Sends. Other toys start getting killed because they're all good to rat on Woody. They start to question themselves. Should we get Andy involved, should we reveal to him that we actually come alive? And the entire thing ends with Woody dying by being thrown into a garbage disposal.

00:17:34
Speaker 4: Why the toys kill him after he admits the killing Buzz an animated horror movie.

00:17:49
Speaker 1: That is what I want to see. Toy story play times over come to you from Movie Mike's Productions in twenty ninety one.

00:17:55
Speaker 2: That's at number three.

00:17:56
Speaker 1: At number two. The media franchise here is Pokemon. I grew up with Pokemon. There's a game series that debuted from Nintendo in Japan back in February nineteen ninety six. The actually came out with Pokemon Green and Pokemon Red. In the US we got red and blue. Oh, I was much more of a red kid. My go to starter Pokemon was Charmander. He was the only great choice. And from the game debut the TV show which is what set this Pokemon craze on fire. It came out in nineteen ninety seven. My movie has to be based more on the TV show than the video game, because I just draw a lot more inspiration of the way that show was set up and the way I fell in love with that show. So what I want to create is an R rated crime thriller starring Pokemon. Think about The Departed meets Zodiac and I wanted the movie to be titled Palettetown, which is where Ash Ketchum is from. And in my film, Ash turns to a life of crime after he burned through all all the money he has won battling his Pokemon, winning all these championships. All that money is gone. He's got to pay the bills, so he turns to his team of Pokemon to help him rob a bank. Because if you think about it, if Pokemon actually existed in the real world, the first thing people would think of is how can I use these for crime? They are essentially weapons. They are essentially things that you could use to force people to give you money, to take over countries. They would be used for war and battle, Oh no doubt. We wouldn't be going to a Pokemon stadium to watch kids battle their Pokemon against each other. These would be on the front lines. So it's probably a good thing that Pokemon don't exist because they would be a part of our military, and that is a very dark route to go into. I wouldn't go fully that route in this movie. I would just think of the everyday person using them to their advantage to rob banks, to rob people, to take over and create their own drug lord media empires. So that is what you would experience in this movie. You see his first ever heist go down, which will go a little bit of rye. I could see Squirtle getting a bullet to the leg, something very dramatic happening as he's trying to figure out how to do crime with his Pokemon.

00:20:13
Speaker 2: But then he teams up with this evil nemesis.

00:20:16
Speaker 1: Gary and together they form a very sophisticated organized crime with Pokemon as they plan to pull off the most perfect heights. So you're throwing the Little Ocean's eleven in there, and that is what I envisioned in this movie. I can even hear the song and I would maybe think something like if Lincoln Park did the Pokemon theme song, super dramatic fits the tone of the movie, makes it a little bit more hardcore catch them. Although, now that I think about it, when I hear Lincoln Park singing the Pokemon theme song, it makes me feel a little bit more like it's two thousand and seven and we're watching a Transformers movie, and this song plays it at the very end game John, which that is another route you could go down, and I'm kind of surprised we haven't had a Pokemon movie like that. It very much feels like a big Hollywood blockbuster with very epic action that as a Pokemon fan, I think that's what I really want to see. Instead, in twenty nineteen, we got to take a Pikachu, which was cute, which was fun, but we really wanted to see Pokemon being Pokemon and battling and fighting each other the things we know from the video game and the TV show.

00:21:35
Speaker 2: We haven't really had that yet.

00:21:37
Speaker 1: So I hope in my lifetime we get something of that caliber. If not, we're gonna have to wait until twenty ninety three when Movie Mike's Movie Production comes out with Palatown, because that is what I have at number two, but at number one because the most amount of time would have to pass in order for this movie to happen. The franchise is Harry Potter, and at the earliest this one could happen is twenty ninety because the first book came out back in nineteen ninety seven, and that would be Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which is the original title. We probably know it more as The Sorcerer's Stone. But there's kind of a weird gray area when it comes to books. But I found when it comes to Harry Potter, the character is protected by copyright from creation until seventy years after JK. Rowling passes, so we don't know when that is gonna be, but whenever she passes away, it's gonna have to be seventy years until Harry Potter enters into the public domain. So I'm going back to using the first book as my source material, looking at the earliest of twenty ninety three. Since maybe there's the only gray area with Harry Potter, I'm gonna make a movie about Hermione Granger, who is the unsung hero of the Harry Potter franchise. In my opinion, Emma Watson did a fantastic job portraying the character in the movies, and it's gonna be very highly influential on my film, which is a coming of age indie film. Think of The Holdovers, which just came out last year, meets a Wes Anderson movie, and also the perks of being a Wildflower, which Emma Watson was also in and is also a big inspiration in this movie. A very aesthetically pleasing movie, very bright colors. The magic is very muted again, kind of like in My Spider Man idea, not so much of an emphasis on all the wizardry and the magic and the special effects. It is very much just a straight ahead drama and coming of age story. And I just think, if you're gonna make a new version of Harry Potter, why not focus on her mindy instead of Harry Because she is a very level headed, book smart and always logical character. So why not highlight her intellect and her cleverness and how she can use her abilities to learn and absorb information to defeat any possible threat. I think that is what makes her amazing. So in my head, I have a very indie looking trailer that has just like that film quality of it looks like it was maybe made on a really old camera. And then you have like an indie song from the two thousands playing in the background with some light hearted, maybe a little melodramatic voiceover, and I think the trailer would go a little something like this. My name is Frmonie Granger. I was just an ordinary muggle born girl with a love for books and a thirst for knowledge. Little did I know that my life was about to take a turn beyond my wildest imagination.

00:24:37
Speaker 2: You've got the Hogwarts express.

00:24:40
Speaker 1: Her looking out the window pulling up to Hogwarts, all indie movies style like that is what I have envisioned for that movie, and the earliest time that that could come out twenty ninety three. I just think that would be an interesting film to follow those early days at Hogwarts without any of the crazy magic things happening, less fantasy and just more feel good filmmaking. So those are my top five public domain movie ideas. I do have an honorable mention the Incredible Hulk, which would be public domain in twenty fifty.

00:25:12
Speaker 2: Eight, which really is that far away.

00:25:14
Speaker 1: The Incredible Hulk debuted in the comic book series of the same name back in May nineteen sixty two, created by Marvel comics by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. So I would take the source material from those original comics and make like an Oscar bait movie that's a lot of drama and a lot of romance, and just call it Bruce and I would kind of create a similar storyline like they did in Age of Ultron, which I make into some sticky waters there of taking inspiration from them, but I don't care.

00:25:44
Speaker 2: Sue me, but I always just thought that was an.

00:25:46
Speaker 1: Interesting plot point for them to work in and really try to make work, and I would focus on the idea of them actually getting away and escaping together and going into hiding. So the tone I have here is kind of like Marriage Story, which also stars Scarlett Johanson and Manchester by the Sea, a movie that's very dramatic and you're not gonna feel good by the time you finish this movie. So they run away together. They've been ten years into this relationship, but it's starting to fall apart. They have a son who is half human and half Hulk, but then they end up losing their son, so it's all the fallout and grief of that. I just think making something that's seems so fantasy like but making it feel very grounded, I just think that would be a great take on the Incredible Hulk story, which has always been a little bit emo and maybe why it hasn't so much worked out when it comes to his standalone films. So I say go full emo and make it an all out drama. So that is my list. Thank you for indulging me in these ideas. Well, come back, I'll give my review of Self Reliance. Let's get into it now, a spoiler free movie review. Talking about Self Reliance, which is on Hulu. Survive thirty days while being hunted, Win a million dollars. That is the premise of this movie. Now, that tagline is so slick and so smooth, great elevator pitch for this movie. But sometimes that worries me. When a movie has that great of a tagline where you can explain the entire thing in one sentence, I think it's gonna have a hard time delivering because it's so focused in on that premise. But in this case, this movie delivered. It is written, directed, and co produced by Jake Johnson, who you probably know best from New Girl. I never watched that show. People have recommended it to me, but it's one of those shows that I've just not went back and watch. I really know Jake Johnson more for his film roles Let's Be Cops with Damon Wayne's Junior, who was also his New Girl co star. He was great and safety not guaranteed. Also a movie called Drinking Buddies. But what I really know him for and what I would pick out while watching this movie is Peter B. Parker and into and across the Spider verse. So when I see him on screen and hear his voice, I associated with that role and some times also win an actor directs and stars in a movie. I'm also a little bit hesitant of it. So two things that I'm always worry about. This movie had a really great tagline, because I feel like that's compensating for something later down the end, and then you have somebody directing and starring in the movie. But this movie delivered, and what I really enjoyed about it is it gets right to the action. This movie is ninety minutes long and waste no time. You get just a little background on his character as far as who he is as a person. You get a glimpse into his life, and then right away this premise is thrown upon him. He meets Andy Samberg, who plays himself in this movie, takes him to a warehouse and you have these two guys who give him this shows. Hey, you want to play this game. If you survive for thirty days, you win a million dollars. There are people who will be hunting him, and the only rule is they can't kill him if he's with somebody else. You get right into him playing the game, and then all the crazy things that he has to do to try and stay alive and win the money. I also love movies that give you a question like this and make you think what you would do. And the entire time I was watching this movie, I had to go back and think, like what, I actually played the game, try and survive for thirty days and win a million dollars. When I really think about it, I think a million dollars isn't.

00:29:18
Speaker 2: Enough to do this. You can blow through a million dollars pretty quickly.

00:29:22
Speaker 1: I would need at least ten million dollars to even consider it. A million dollars you could win that on a scratch off down the street, play in the lottery for something like this where the consequences are you dying. I need more than a million dollars because I think for me, I could really play off of that loophole pretty easily. Being somebody who is married. This past week, my wife and I have been snowed in for so long. We have spent an entire week together where we really haven't been separated that much. So you throw in maybe going to the bathroom and showering together, and there you go. I could easily make it through a week. So they probably we wouldn't find married people to play this game. That'd be a little less entertaining, but I definitely think I could do that aspect of it. I would just want more money to put my life on the line. But I think that's what a great movie does. It asks a question, it starts to debate. It makes you want to share this movie with other people and think what they would do in these situations, and the movie does it so effortlessly. It is just a fun, entertaining ride from start to finish. And this is one of the only movies that I didn't have completely figured out by the time the second act started.

00:30:31
Speaker 2: Because I would consider this movie a thriller.

00:30:33
Speaker 1: It's a very light thriller, and I wouldn't call it a full on comedy. It has a lot of funny parts, The character interactions are great. The entire cast is superb in this movie. It really walks the line between both of those things, and.

00:30:45
Speaker 2: For me it worked really well.

00:30:48
Speaker 1: So for me, it was really refreshing to watch a movie that was not predictable and kept me guessing until the very end and kept me engaged and entertained through the very end.

00:30:59
Speaker 2: Also, yeah, to think about.

00:31:00
Speaker 1: It's a streaming movie, and even me, when I try to be as dildated as I can while watching a movie at home, sometimes you just get a little bit distracted. If ever there's a lull in a movie you want to look at something else, your phone is right there. You don't really have the same restrictions that you do while in a movie theater, where my attention is one hundred percent on what I'm watching. So I feel like sometimes streaming movies have to be so much better just to keep my attention and keep me fully engaged. And this movie did that, which I've found that if I had gone to see this movie in theaters, I probably would have loved it even more. And like I said, the movie has a great cast. Anna Kendrick is a supporting role in this movie, and I don't know how Anna Kendrick does it, but any role she has, she is just incredibly charming. She could play the exact same character in every single movie, every single TV show, and.

00:31:53
Speaker 2: I would love it.

00:31:54
Speaker 1: It's just something about her essence, something about the way she delivers lines, something about her interactions. It's just so grateful a movie like this. If there was one thing I wanted more out of it is for her character to have more scenes. And I still stand by this that Hulu has the best movies out of any streamer, and I'm talking about original movies. If you just go on Hulu and search through their Hulu originals, you will find something new and refreshing that's not connected to any franchise, that's not really banking on the stars in the movie. It is just great entertainment and movies that are really pushing the envelope or at least trying to bring a different perspective to a type of story. This movie did that, and a lot of the recent movies I've really enjoyed on streamers have all been from Hulu. So if I had to go to one streamer to pick original content, my go to is still Hulu. Now they specialize a lot in comedies, dark comedies, and a little bit on the horror side, but I really think they own that so well to the point that that's what I identify Hulu with of just having great original movies and if something is on there to click it and I'm gonna watch it.

00:33:01
Speaker 2: And probably enjoy it.

00:33:02
Speaker 1: Now, if I'm looking for big stars and movies that really resemble what it's like going to the theater to watch a movie that level of Hollywood film, I'm going over to Netflix. But I feel like those are fewer and far between, and sometimes they just really get behind promoting something like with Kevin Hart that's just all out terrible, and they're just banking on the fact that they have a list stars and they're saying this has been the most watched movie since since the history of the streamer.

00:33:29
Speaker 2: That means nothing to me.

00:33:31
Speaker 1: Every now and then Netflix will have a hit or like a hitten Gem in there, but I just don't really rely on them to go and watch good movies Max. I really only go to for anything that's Warner Brothers or DC. They really kind of got out of the original movie game. They did it a lot early on in the Pandemic, and then since then Ma's originals have really gone out the window. I don't really look to them to watch a whole lot of new movies. It's really just all the things that were in theaters, and then they go there eventually, and then I go over to Apple if I want to watch something really high quality, also with an A list star, but that's still a little bit kind of like the boutique streaming service. They don't have a whole lot over there, but I feel like it's more on the drama side, and they've kind of dipped their toes a little bit in action in comedy. I feel like in the next two to three years, Apple could be up there with Hulu, but right now it's like third on the list of what I go to, and then Amazon, Paramount and Peacock are all kind of grab bag, but Hulu is still my number one. In this movie just solidify that for me. I also love that for me, it really elevated Jake Johnson in my list of actors that I just enjoy anything that they are in and now want to see more of what he is going to direct, because as a leading actor, he did a really great job and I feel like he put a lot of himself into this character. This was a movie that he first pitched to Netflix back in twenty seventeen. After he wrote it. He described that early script as Jacob's Ladder meets Bottle Rocket, WHI Rocket is one of my favorite Wes Anderson movies. Definitely got some Bottle Rocket vibe and kind of that nineties independent feel to this. And the crazy thing is that this movie was shot in nineteen days, less than three weeks, and as I was saying earlier, the movie wasted no time and I was really great pacing throughout the entire film.

00:35:16
Speaker 2: Quick ninety minutes. So maybe that nineteen day filming.

00:35:18
Speaker 1: Schedule really added to that pacing of we don't have a whole lot of time. We got to go in shoot, get what we need, and then cut it up in the end, and it came out wonderfully. And finally, because going into this film, the only thing I did was watch the trailer, I really didn't know anything else about what was going to happen, and I didn't really have the highest expectations of it, and I think that is the reason I ended up enjoying it even more, because I didn't expect to feel so novel and so fresh. So for self reliance, I give it four out of five missing teeth.

00:35:53
Speaker 3: It's time to head down to movie Mics trailer Paul, where have all the good live children's movies gone.

00:36:02
Speaker 1: Seems like when I was a kid, I gotta start yelling at the clouds here. But when I was a kid, it feels like at least every couple months, at least every summer, there would be like a really cool live action kids movie to get excited about. And now there have been a lot of blackluster animation movies, maybe because a live action kids movie isn't as profitable, or now studios really just want to build franchises and you can't really do that so much with live action kids films unless they're attached to a book series. But there's a movie coming out on May seventeenth, Calls If It is from director, writer and co produced by John Krasinski. Yes, the guy from the Office, who is also known for the horror movie franchise A Quiet Place, but now he is really flexing his muscle in fantasy in the kids genre. It's about a girl who can see imaginary friends also known as ifs. Get it imaginary friends. If she must help these ifs who have been abandoned by their kids. We also have Ryan Reynolds starring in this movie, and Steve Carell voices an if named Blue, who is featured in the trailer and on the poster.

00:37:10
Speaker 2: Before I get into.

00:37:11
Speaker 1: More why I think this movie is going to be a hit, here's just a little bit of the IF trailer.

00:37:16
Speaker 2: I'm an IF get it imaginary friend. Our kids grew up, so we need new ones. You could save all of us, all of.

00:37:27
Speaker 1: Who and don't say I.

00:37:32
Speaker 2: Let him say it or I think his head may actually explode.

00:37:36
Speaker 1: Fine, thank you?

00:37:43
Speaker 2: You ready for this?

00:37:46
Speaker 1: This is one of the best live looking action kids movies I have seen in a very long time. The premise of this movie really reminds me of the plot point in Inside Out that has to do with Riley and her imaginary friend being Bong. Oh. We all remember the tragic story that is bing Bong, but I almost feel like this is a little bit of a ripoff of that. But it's okay because it's all these imaginary friends who are kind of abandoned, so it's a little bit of that. And also toy story really in the mix here, where their entire dilemma is their kids getting older and no longer playing with them, which is a toy's worst nightmare. So an imaginary friend's worst nightmare would be being abandoned by those kids who no longer believe in them. And I think this concept will hit with a lot of kids and that feeling of being lonely to the point where you need to develop an imaginary friend. It'll also sit in with adults who maybe had imaginary friends as kids, which I had an imaginary friend.

00:38:43
Speaker 2: Back in the day.

00:38:44
Speaker 1: I didn't have a whole lot of real friends growing up. It was really tough for me to talk to kids my own age. But in the trailer park I would run around with a group of kids and my best friend was named Zach, and we spent so many summers together. But eventually Zach moved, got out of the trailer park, went to oh, the coveted place of a real house with four walls and a roof, I thing every trailer park kid dreamed of achieving. But his house was in a town two towns over, so I never saw Zach again. Back in the day, when your friends would move away, it was a death sentence that you were never going to see this person again. There was no social media. I didn't have parents who would take me to visit Zach. So anybody moved out of the trailer Park, they were gone out of my life, and as a result of that, I decided to create my own friends, an imaginary friend named Gary. And the weird thing is that eventually Gary stopped being my friend too and moved away, much like Zach did. Why did I do that to myself? It was the only trajectory I knew for a friend that eventually they would all move away. So hopefully in this movie, same thing doesn't happen to traumatize kids to go and see this film, but I think we can all relate to at some point in our lives creating an imaginary friend. I loved the character design in this trailer, primarily Steve carrell character, who is this really big creature, very colorful. His name is Blue, but in the trailer, in the poster he looks like a big purple creature. And the trailer just has this big, whimsical feel to it. And I love it when movies don't downplay the emotions or also the brain power of a kid. You don't have to dumb everything down. Kids are very smart, and I think when you deliver a story and don't take away, don't water things down to talk down to them or downplay a concept, you deliver it just like you would any film. I think that has a better chance of resonating with kids because they're gonna get it, they're gonna understand it, probably a lot more than you think they will. So this is the type of movie we need to be making more to give kids an inspirational movie that they're gonna have with them for the rest of their lives. This is a movie that it came out when I was a kid, it would stick with me and end up being one of my favorite movies, and I haven't even seen the movie yet. The other thing that surprised me about this movie is sometimes a project like this comes out and it has all these A list actors attached to it, and that's really all they're banking on.

00:41:07
Speaker 3: There.

00:41:07
Speaker 1: Look, Ryan Reynolds is in this movie. Steve Carell is voicing a character. You have Bobby moynihan, Emily Blunt as a unicorn, Matt Damon as a flower, John Stewart as a robot, Sam Rockwell as s dog, Aquafina as Octocat, Vince Vaughan is in the movie.

00:41:24
Speaker 2: It doesn't really look.

00:41:25
Speaker 1: Like it has that same cheap quality of them just trying to sell all the A list stars to convince you to go watch this movie, and then really just giving a lackluster performance. And maybe it's because it's from director John Krasinski, who probably has a little bit more of a relationship with all the people in this movie, seems to have a passion for directing and wanting to create something unique. He did it so well with the Aquiet Place movies, so it's an entirely different genre. I would assume he would want to do it well to be able to make more movies that are outside of just making horror movies. And the other thing I'm loving about this movie right now is the poster. Making a great movie poster is a lost art right now. I hate the trend that is just making the character posters. I posted the character posters recently on my instant story for the Madam Web movie, and it's just Dakota Fanning and Sydney Sweeney's just faces and the name of the movie. It in no way does anything that makes me want to go see this movie. A great poster is one that evokes emotion, whether it be happy, sad, angry, upset, scared, and also some level of curiosity of what the movie is going to be about and entice you to want to go see that movie. Great image on a poster goes a long way, and that is what they did with this movie poster. It features Steve Carell's character and his large purple hand opening a window from the inside of a house with a light shining on the window with the name of the movie, and under that is the phrase a story you have to believe to see. The movie is being described as the tale of a man who can see and talk to people's imaginary friends, befriending those who have been forgotten about or discarded. However, some imaginary friends, lacking love and friendship, turn to the dark side, and it's up to Ryan Reynolds character to save the world from those that become evil. If has a runtime right now of one hour and thirty minutes and it's coming out on May seventeenth, and I don't care if I'm the only thirty two year old without kids and attendance.

00:43:22
Speaker 3: Head that once this week's edition of Movie Line tram.

00:43:26
Speaker 1: Or Bar and that is gonna do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I gotta give my listeners shout out of the week. How do you become a listener of the week and get a shout out? All you have to do is tag me on your instant story listening to a recent episode, whether it be the episode that comes out on Monday like this one, or any other previous episode that you go back in the library and check out. Because there are a lot up there. We are over two hundred episodes into this thing now, so tag me there. Comment on the clips I post every week on Reels and TikTok. This week's listener shout out to us via a Facebook comment I got last week on a clip from my Mean Girl's review, and it is Jill Aller. And Jill wrote, my thirteen year old inter friends saw it this weekend and were completely disappointed. They loved the original, they did not enjoy the musical aspect and wanted more OG characters. So I found that really interesting because I thought that the younger generation would want to see more of the new actors and the singing and all the things in that movie that were really put in to cater more to gen Z, whether it be the use of TikTok or just the dynamics in high school to make them feel more modern, So I'm quite surprised that your thirteen year old wanted to see more of the two thousand and four version and those characters coming back. It's also just interesting to see the amount of people that were surprised and didn't know that that was going to be a musical. I honestly thought the musical elements were going to be the things that really defined this movie and the things that people were loving because it made it feel different than the original movie. Was surprised of how many people just wanted a direct, normal remake. So curious to see how this will affect other films who have been turned into musicals. Will they still make musical adaptations of those or is this just telling Hollywood naw, let's.

00:45:15
Speaker 2: Just do normal remakes. But appreciate that perspective.

00:45:18
Speaker 1: Jill, thank you for listening, Thanks to the Monday Morning Movie crew, and until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.