The Instigators

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER_01]: What You Want, When You Want It, Where You Want It, This Is The MESH

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Hello everyone and welcome to Footcandle Films here on the MESH.TV podcast network.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_02]: My name is Alan Jackson with me is Chris Fry.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_02]: We are both with the Footcandle Film Society and the annual Footcandle Film Festival coming

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_02]: up September 21st through the 29th.

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_02]: We'll talk about that a little bit later.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Did I get the dates right?

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_02]: 20th.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_02]: 20th through 20th.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Just come down in late September.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't worry about the dates.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Just come camp out in western North Carolina the whole last two weeks of September and

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_02]: you'll be fine.

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_02]: This is our podcast review show, discussion show for candle films.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_02]: We get together and we discuss and review a latest film as well as throw some movie

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_02]: news your way, talk about some upcoming productions that we're interested in, maybe listen

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_02]: to a trailer or so and kind of give us some thoughts and feedback on some new films

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_02]: that are being announced.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_02]: It sounds like we're going to have a Chris Fry recommendation at the end of this episode

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_02]: as well.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_02]: A film that he recently caught up with or saw and wants to share and let us know that

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_02]: he has given it his seal of approval that it is one that you may also want to check

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_02]: out.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_02]: I assume this is a positive recommendation.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_02]: And not a negative recommendation where you're telling us a film to stay away from.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_04]: It is true.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_04]: It is trying to stay on the positive side.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_04]: So yes, it is one that I recommend people check out instead of steer away from.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_02]: And I just jumped right into the show, Chris.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_02]: How are you doing?

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't even stop to ask what you're doing.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I am doing well.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I try to do that every every time we get in front of the microphone.

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not like we see each other and work together and run film festival

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_02]: together and all that.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_02]: But I still, you know, we get at the microphone still and stop and say,

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_02]: how are you doing?

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_02]: What's up?

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, no, doing doing well.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_04]: Had an interesting movie going experience.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_04]: We won't discuss it this show possibly in our next episode.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_04]: Saw the new Alien Romulus.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_02]: I saw that you saw that.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_02]: So it's all logged on your letterbox account.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Very anxious to ask questions, but I'm not going to because I will plan on seeing it

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_02]: hopefully sometime this weekend as well.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_04]: So maybe it will tease.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe that'll be a review for the next show.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I hope it will be.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_02]: All right.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_02]: But we have a different film we're going to be reviewing today on this show.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_02]: It is the latest Apple TV original or Apple TV plus released film

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_02]: starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_02]: It is the instigators.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_02]: So let's get right into our review of that if you are ready to go, Chris.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_04]: Let's do it.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_04]: It's your first job.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_07]: I'm going to wait for Chris to change.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_07]: Rory, do you want to fix things with your son?

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_07]: Couldn't welcome in the eye.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_07]: Mortgage back child support.

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_07]: That's on me.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_07]: Rory, are you sure you've tried everything?

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_07]: Not everything.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_07]: I got a once in a lifetime score.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_07]: You're the Marine.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, you the ex con.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, I did time, but you're going to cast this version, Sammy guy.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_07]: Go.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_07]: No alcohol detected.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_07]: Been about a week.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_07]: The mayor is going to be holding a party on election night.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_07]: And it's going to be money there like none of you bombs have a scene.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_04]: Director Doug Liman reunites with Matt Damon 22 years after the born identity for the instigators,

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_04]: a film that follows two unlikely partners who must go on the run after Heist doesn't quite

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_04]: go as planned.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Casey Affleck, who also co-wrote the film, stars as the other robber in the pair along

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_04]: with Damon.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Other notable names in the cast are Hong Chow, Michael Stilbarg, Alfred Molina,

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Ron Perlman, Ving Reims and Toby Jones.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_04]: The film is available now to stream on Apple TV Plus.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_04]: What was your experience with the instigators, Alan?

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Did you feel you were in the midst of a film that didn't quite go as planned?

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I see.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_02]: So you move into like the plot line there.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm sorry, Chris.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I was like feverishly looking over my notes, as I always do when I plan for these

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_02]: reviews.

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Did you give like a plot synopsis of the film?

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Was it kind of an idea of what the film's about?

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, yeah, two guys that get thrown in to do a robbery and things don't go well.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_04]: And then they go on the run.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_04]: So yeah, I did kind of summon.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the brief, the very briefest possible description.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_02]: So what your question was?

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_02]: What did I think the instigators?

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, and so, yeah, the setup kind of was that they are in the midst of a

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_04]: Heist that didn't go quite as planned.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_04]: Having watched the film, while watching it, did you feel you were in the

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_04]: midst of a film that didn't quite go as planned?

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_04]: So kind of paralleling your experience in a film and thinking like maybe

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_04]: things are going wrong or, you know, was did everything go off?

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_04]: Did things seem to be clicking the film worked for you?

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_04]: So kind of I see paralleling your experiences of moving over with the film,

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_04]: with their experiences robbers doing this heist.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_02]: This is a lot of setup.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm forcing you to go through just to get me to say whether I like this

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_02]: movie or not.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_04]: Oh yeah, it boils down to that.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_04]: Sure.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it was, it was fine.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_02]: All right.

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Look, here's the thing.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_02]: If it was not Doug Lyman as a director, Matt Damon as a star, Casey

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Affleck as a star of this film.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'd saw this, let's say if this was a film that was submitted

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_02]: for us for consideration or film festival and like no name actors in it,

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, but it just kind of had a, it was a fun premise.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_02]: It was a likeable movie.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I would have, I would have thought, wow, this is a really good movie

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_02]: with the talent involved.

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm less enamored with the film.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, well, it's fine, but it could have been great,

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_02]: but it was just fine.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_02]: But still fine, you know, in today's moving world fine, fine might be good enough.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_02]: I had a fine time watching this film.

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_02]: I thought that that's the criterion collection quote.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, fine time.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_04]: I had a fine time.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it was mildly entertaining again.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I know I just this is really where I am with the film.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I know there's been a lot of kind of lower scores, lower reviews

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_02]: for this film in general by a lot of people.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't think it warranted that.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_02]: I thought this was passable.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I entertaining.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I thought there was some pretty good dynamic going on with the two lead actors.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I do want to talk about Casey Affleck's character a little bit later

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_02]: because I do think your your acceptance of this film is going to depend

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_02]: on how willing you are to embrace his character because it's a lot

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_02]: and it's nonstop and it's it's a yeah, it's a lot to to absorb with this film.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_02]: I actually had more fun with the supporting actors than I did probably

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_02]: with the main premise of the film, Han Chao.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_02]: I really, really liked in this film.

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I thought her role, which I guess she's a doctor.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_02]: She you introduced to her like right after the beginning.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_02]: She's a psychiatrist.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm just going to leave it at that.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_02]: I think going into too much more kind of gets sets up too much expectations

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_02]: for the film, but I will say I think her role and her interjection

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_02]: her role interjected into the plot later in the film was fun and good

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_02]: and probably my favorite aspect of this film.

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Michael Stuhlbark getting to see him play a very care-curturish

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_02]: criminal villain.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_02]: He seemed like he was having fun with it.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I had fun watching him play the part.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, Alfa Melina is in it.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's like, yeah, there was some good supporting actors

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_02]: and some good decent performances.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_02]: And there was a fun car chase in the middle of the movie

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_02]: that I thought was actually shot pretty well, but the rest of it did come

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_02]: across as almost like more of a TV movie, kind of a real just simple

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_02]: not a lot of thought and energy put into the rest of it,

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_02]: but made for a passable entertainment for an hour and 40 minutes.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_02]: I am very, very nebulous about this film, Chris, because.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, very nebulous.

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_02]: OK, Chris, I'm not going anywhere very strong with this.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Let me turn it over to you.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_02]: What do you think of this film?

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_04]: I think, you know, my opinion is much more, I guess, lower on the scale.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_04]: I felt like

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_04]: not the actors, but I guess Casey Affleck writing it and then Doug

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_04]: Lyman directing it.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Not that he did a bad job directing.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_04]: I just felt like it was just very shaggy is a term that I could say.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_04]: And I feel like they put as much effort into maybe the writing

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_04]: and the script and the plotting of the film as they did the title.

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, the title is this is a terrible title.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_04]: It doesn't feel like much like I felt the film was.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_04]: It's like a slip shot you refer to as a TV movie, which has a lot lower budget

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_04]: normally not as many big name actors as does.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_04]: But this felt like a TV version of like an Ocean's Eleven movie or something.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_04]: Just very, you know, just slapdash.

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_04]: And with the names associated with it, I was hoping for more.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_04]: And you alluded to the fact that, you know, before you and I, we were kind

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_04]: of looking at what to watch.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_04]: We said, oh, let's watch this.

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_04]: We can watch it from the comfort of our own homes on Apple TV Plus.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_04]: And you kind of mentioned to me over the weekend, hey, you know,

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_04]: I've seen that some of the scores are lower than this.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm curious to see like what's going on.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Are there people's expectations too high?

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_04]: And they're not, you know, they're just really grinding down Doug

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Lyman or what's going on.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_04]: And I feel like for the most part, I feel like the reaction to this

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_04]: film is justified.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_04]: It's not a terrible film, but in the same vein, like I'm just like,

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_04]: really guys, this is this is the best we could do.

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, no, I definitely mean, that's the thing is if it wasn't

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_02]: for the talent attached to this, I'd be like, all right, it was

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_02]: it was it was pretty good movie when you realize the talent attached to

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_02]: it, you're just like, okay, yeah, this is no boring identity.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_02]: This is no edge of tomorrow, Doug Lyman.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_02]: This is no other films that, you know, all these people have made

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_02]: that have been really good.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_02]: This did seem like, hey, we got a little extra money leftover budget

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_02]: from another production we did.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Matt and Casey are friends.

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Casey just happened to write a movie.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Hey, we could probably shoot this in a couple of weeks and be done.

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_02]: And we get to add lib, you know, half the movie.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_02]: It seems like, you know, as we're going to like, let's just have fun with it.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's just do it.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's why it came across as if that's an okay form of entertainment

[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_02]: for you to watch for an hour and 40 minutes, you could do worse.

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_02]: But yes, it is a disappointment when you think about these people involved.

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, even the fact that it's an Apple TV plus project, I'm just like,

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_02]: okay, come on, you're not giving me a great case for Apple TV plus movies.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like you had your couple of prestige movies last year with

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon.

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_02]: And that just kind of seems like, okay, now we're just back to just throwing up

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_02]: whatever we can get our hands on to put out there.

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_02]: So that's really what this film seems like.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I had a decent time with it.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not saying I had a great time.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like a two and a half star out of five for me.

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like, you know, right split in the middle.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like, if it's on the background at some point,

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_02]: maybe I watch a little bit of it again sometime.

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Who knows?

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_02]: But I had more fun with the supporting actors and some people getting to play

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_02]: outside of their norms than I did anything else.

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, it sounds like I'm a little more positive than you,

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_02]: but I'm not like positive.

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't want to get the impression that I'm singing this film's raises

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_02]: because I'm not.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_02]: It definitely seemed like a very afterthought, low effort type of movie.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_02]: And it was underwhelming and disappointing when you think about what could have been

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_04]: to kind of lean a little bit on some positives since I've been Mr. Negative.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_04]: I will, I totally agree with you.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_04]: Hong Chao was the highlight of the film.

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, she's there at the beginning.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_04]: She comes back at the end and that just made me realize how I wish

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_04]: she would have been in all of the film instead of maybe like, you know, a third.

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_04]: I just I really liked her.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_04]: I really like her as an actress anyway.

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_04]: It's interesting because she had been with Matt Damon

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_04]: in the Alexander Payne downsizing where she played like a different role or whatever.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_04]: So they'd worked together before and maybe that helped kind of some of their back and

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_04]: forth dynamics.

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_04]: But I really liked the establishment, the relationship between Matt Damon and her.

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_04]: I thought that was good.

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_04]: And just her in general, she was really strong, kind of a highlight of the film.

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_04]: I will say too, Matt Damon, this movie which I guess he's been in other films

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_04]: that maybe weren't as good.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_04]: He's kind of painted as a schlub, kind of in downsizing the movie I just referenced.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_04]: But this film did not make him look glamorous at all.

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_04]: He looks older.

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_04]: He just looks very and he comes across as maybe not always thinking through things,

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_04]: a little fumbling.

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_04]: I really liked it.

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_04]: I thought he did a good job.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_04]: I really liked it.

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_04]: It was kind of a good ego shattering performance, not that he needed that,

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_04]: but it just, it was good to see a Hollywood movie star do those kind of performances.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_04]: You're like, that's cool.

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_04]: They're kind of letting themselves be vulnerable or whatever.

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_04]: I liked it.

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, yeah.

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, even from the offset, I think where this movie, I did not have any

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_02]: expectations for it at all.

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_02]: The first 10 minutes, five minutes, which is a scene with Matt Damon and

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Hong Chow in an office, kind of set me to be like, oh, okay.

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_02]: All right.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_02]: This is going to be straightened up.

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_02]: I see it a little bit.

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, this is, this is a little different than I was expecting or a little interesting twist.

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Now they didn't do a lot with it.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_04]: Unfortunately.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_02]: That's the whole problem is that there's a, there's a relationship you find out about between

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Rory Matt Damon and Hong Chow's character, Dr. Riviera.

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_02]: That does have some impact later in the film, but not a lot and not as much as it could

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_02]: have.

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that you could have had a much more interesting film if you'd leaned into

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_02]: this relationship and this, this situation a little bit more than what we got.

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_02]: So anyway, back to you, Chris.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Please continue.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, and unfortunately now I'm going to shift back to the.

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_02]: But we're already done with the positives.

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Unfortunately, I think so.

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, like I said, acting across the board for the most part, I liked the

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_04]: Ving Reims playing like a heavy police guy.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_04]: Actually, I liked that.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_04]: You mentioned Alfred Molina and Michael Stubbark.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Yep.

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_04]: I thought they were great too.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_04]: KCF.

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_02]: KCF.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_02]: This is going to be the litmus test, I think for people, whether they can like come

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_02]: out of this movie saying, did I like this movie or not?

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_04]: Because of his, his, his performance and I've never had, I think he is a good actor.

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_04]: I've liked him in other things he's done.

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe it's the fact that he wrote this and I guess this is his kind of

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_04]: winking love letter to Boston, which his brother Ben Affleck is also like Mr.

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_04]: Big Boston.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_04]: He did the town.

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_04]: He's done some other things that were Boston centric.

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_04]: And I get that, but it's just the story that he gave us wasn't great.

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_04]: And I think in the back of my head, I knew that he co-wrote the script.

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_04]: So while watching it, I'm just kind of like really, and I, Matt Damon has some kind of

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_04]: flat line deliveries that are comedic that worked for me.

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_04]: And I don't know that I've ever seen KC Affleck necessarily do comedy.

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_04]: And maybe that was my problem because he is kind of like, you know, he's the

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_04]: more, I guess you could say hip criminal.

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_04]: He is kind of a little bit more aware of how to do things and how to do this heist and

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_04]: something about how he would be like giving these lines, like your laugh lines back to Matt

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Damon kind of mocking certain things that were going on or and it just, it just fell flat.

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh yeah.

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_02]: And there's, and there's a lot of it.

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, if it does, if his role in his performance isn't working for you,

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_02]: sorry to say for an hour and 40 minutes, it is unrelentless.

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's relentless.

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_02]: It is constant barrage of lines and dialogue and quips and one liners and kind of responding

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_02]: back to everybody.

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, after a while, I kind of grew numb to it where I was okay with it,

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_02]: but I could see how man, it would be tough for some people because it's a lot.

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_02]: It's a lot.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_02]: He's a lot in this film.

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_04]: Just, yeah.

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_04]: And it didn't, it didn't work for me.

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_04]: And there's also kind of a Hail Mary pass relationship with him and Hong Chao's character,

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_04]: the therapist.

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_04]: And early, this dynamic that and that did not work for me at all either.

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, yeah, there's a, there's a final shot.

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_02]: The two of them, if you are thinking it's leading to a

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_02]: romantic side of things, it does not work.

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_02]: There's nothing about that.

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_02]: If you take it from almost like bookends of where we left, saw the Matt Damon Rory character

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_02]: at the beginning that I can buy a little bit more.

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_02]: That left me a little bit in a more positive light, but yeah, it was, yeah, it was kind

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_02]: of a mess there.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_04]: And something that I didn't feel like also worked, you get a little bit of Matt Damon's

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_04]: backstory and why he's doing, he's kind of a reluctant thief in this situation.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_04]: And it kind of worked okay, I guess.

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_04]: But then at the end of the film, they tried to do kind of a little bit of a heart string

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_04]: pull that associates with the backstory.

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_04]: And I just, I thought it was unearned.

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, there was nothing in the film that, there was nothing in the film that earned

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_02]: some of those final moments in the film.

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_04]: Both, both final moments for Damon's character and for Affleck's character.

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_02]: No, I agree with that.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I agree.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it was almost like, you know, they went for an hour, hour plus straight of just, okay,

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_02]: this is going to be two kind of demoted criminals or people who don't quite know what they're

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_02]: doing all the time and just trying to escape out of situations and getting themselves deeper into

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_02]: a situation that they volunteered for.

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_02]: And you've got, you know, some, some gunplay.

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_02]: You've got some car chase.

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_02]: You've got some, you know, a lot of running and ducking and moving away from things.

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_02]: And then it's like, by the end of the film is like, okay, oh yeah, that's right.

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_02]: We need to bring this home and actually have like some heart to it.

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_02]: So it was like, let's tack on some stuff in the last three minutes to try to do that.

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_02]: And it was a little, little, little wasted at that point.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_04]: So it was a hundred minute film that set, felt every bit to me way over two hours.

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_04]: It was just kind of like, okay.

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_04]: And if you're not trying to accomplish anything, just make it 85.

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, it doesn't help the film too.

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it makes its plot a lot more comp, more complicated and complex with a lot more

[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_02]: characters than it really needed to, which I think makes it feel longer and feels just more

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_02]: overbearing.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Look, I enjoyed a lot of the supporting characters, but if I really enjoyed Rob, Rob Gronkowski,

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_04]: Gronk.

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_02]: What was he is like the, he was like a campaign spokesman or something.

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_04]: So you're laughing saying you did enjoy that.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it took me a few minutes to figure out who that was.

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_04]: Because you regularly, I know who this dude is, but yeah.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_04]: I couldn't believe he was in that.

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_04]: That was just kind of.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh no, he was playing himself.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_02]: So he was playing himself in the film.

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_02]: He's listed as playing himself.

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_04]: Playing himself.

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_02]: So I guess he was there as a celebrity person for the mayor.

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_04]: To me, that just was kind of like eye rolling at that point.

[00:20:09] [SPEAKER_04]: I was like really?

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there was a little bit of an interesting idea.

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_02]: The whole plot kind of hinges around a mayorial election where the mayor that is expected to win

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_02]: doesn't and is kind of reluctant to release his, concede the election.

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_02]: And there's other reasons why he's not conceding.

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's kind of the impetus for the crime that's involved.

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Some of that started to border on interesting.

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like I wanted it to go a little more interesting with it.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Could have been.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like man, it didn't really want to do anything.

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_02]: So Ron Perlman is the mayor.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Little over caricature issue, a little unbelievable as a mayor character going through the situation.

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_02]: But I mean, again, he was having fun with it too.

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, it is what it is, Chris.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Again, if these were unknown actors that I've never seen before

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_02]: in a first time director and like, Hey, we made this movie about this heist gone wrong.

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_02]: And it's, you know, you didn't have these expectations of who these two people were.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_02]: And the writing was just tighter and a little better on it and didn't feel the need to fill

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_02]: every frame with just constant barrage of one liners and quips and jokes.

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_02]: This could have been really good.

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_02]: But you do add those things back in there.

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And you when I'm spending more time

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_02]: seeing Oh, what what other actors going to show up now and like another supporting role that

[00:21:40] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't expect. That shouldn't be where my brain is when I'm watching the movie.

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_02]: So yes, I was checked out for a good part of it because of that.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_02]: But you know, there's some level of entertainment value here just not, not a lot.

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, if there's, you know, in a movie dictionary, you give different categories,

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_04]: different niche genres. If there's like, you know, background movie,

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_04]: something to put on in the background, exactly.

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_04]: This would this would be listed as my prime example.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_04]: Because yeah, if it's in the background and you're like doing your taxes or paying bills

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_04]: and this is rambling on in the background, it's like, Oh, it's enough to look up every now and

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_02]: then it'd be like, Oh, that was interesting. But yeah, I'll, I'll say it or just there were

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_02]: two moments of the film that I can say, you know, the okay, I really, really like.

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. And what has to do with Hong Chao's character Dr. Riviera,

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_02]: and that's where they're trying to.

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_02]: So basically she is going to get pulled along on this ride.

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Yes. And she's having conversation with,

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_02]: they have to determine how they're going to do this to where she can provide medical care for

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_02]: someone who needs it while voluntarily choosing to do so in a way that's not going to get anybody

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_02]: in trouble. So it's like this whole, you know, creating a hostage situation that there was

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_02]: a dynamic scene. I thought that was really good. I'm like, Oh, I like this. This is really

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_04]: interesting. That's the thing that made me wish like, Oh man, I wish this had happened

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_02]: in the second scene of the film. Exactly. I would have made for a much better setup of an entire film.

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Second thing I mentioned, I do think there's a pretty good car chase sequence about midway

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_02]: through the film that's going through tunnels and it's like, at that point, I'm like, okay,

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_02]: this is Doug Lyman. Doug Lyman knows how to direct action. He knows how to direct these

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_02]: things. I'm like, this is great. And then it just kind of, it was done and the rest

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_02]: of the film just kind of kind of limped along. So it was a, could that have been better as a more

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_02]: of a build up to like a more of a final sequence or just have more of that through the film? I don't

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_02]: know. It needed something, but I did think there was a little bit of electricity charge

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_02]: during that metal sequence with a pretty fun car chase sequence.

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. It kind of made you remember, Oh right, Doug Lyman directed this.

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Right. Because you would not have thought about that otherwise the rest of the film.

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. The first half of the film, I really was like, man, this is,

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_02]: this is shot just like the most pedestrian, like I said, TV movie, not to denigrate TV movies,

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_02]: but you kind of take this idea of, well, we have low budget. We're just going to shoot

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_02]: the basics of what we need. We're not going to put a lot of energy and extra effort in these

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_02]: shots. And yeah, it just did come across just really, really pedestrian for so long.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Got a little spark energy with that car chase and then just kind of went back to its ways for the

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_02]: for the latter part of the film, had some good ideas, didn't explore them, didn't use them as

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_02]: much as they could have to make more interesting film. Yeah. So I guess that's where we are.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Unfortunately, yes. That is where we are. And you had the title.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Bad title. They didn't instigate anything. They themselves.

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_04]: Right. They're not the kind of a bunch of stuff that happened that they had to kind

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_02]: of roll along with. And then it's just the title itself, The Instigators.

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And can I just comment too? Have you seen the movie poster for this film?

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes. The two of them like in handcuffs and like grimacing faces on them.

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. It is like honestly, like somebody that has pulled out their iPhone like said,

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_02]: we need a photograph for the poster here. Make a make a face like you're in pain

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_02]: and you're getting arrested and boom, here we go. And it just it's really,

[00:25:18] [SPEAKER_02]: it kind of summarizes the whole movie. It's like kind of cheap feeling kind of slept together, kind of.

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Yeah. As much as much effort to the script as to the poster as to the title.

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_02]: It all kind of fits to a piece. Good point. Good point. All right. Well, that is The Instigators.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_02]: The good news in all this is that if you are an Apple TV plus subscriber, it's free.

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Right. You can click a button. You can watch it. And like I said,

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_02]: maybe there's some things in here that entertaining for some people.

[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_04]: But if it, if it's raining and it's a weekend and you want to just relax on the couch,

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_02]: might you fall asleep while you watch this? Every other streaming service has somehow had a

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_02]: DDOS attack and is no longer operating. So you're really limited to just Apple TV plus.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's the only place for entertainment. And you've watched everything else on Apple TV.

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Then this movie's on. There you go. Yeah, you go. It's free. It's good to watch.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_02]: No, actually, I think I think there's more opportunities to watch it than that. But

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_02]: you get the point. Okay. That is The Instigators on Apple TV plus Matt Damon Casey Affleck.

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Not terribly positive. Definitely not from Chris. Me very, very middling,

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_02]: middling to slight negative on that. But anyway, let's let's take a quick break when

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_02]: we come back or going to get into some movie news. I've got one project I want to talk

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_02]: about that was just announced this week that I am fascinated by. Absolutely fascinated by. I do not

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_02]: know how this is going to work, but I'm so excited to see it come together. Is this the

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Avengers Garfield crossover? Oh, yeah. That would be that would actually be pretty good too.

[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_02]: No, this is this is almost almost more unbelievable than that one. Okay, is this project. And then

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I think you have a trailer for a new Steven Soderberg project. Yes, that is we're going

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_02]: to watch as well. So stay tuned. We'll be right back with foot candle films here in just a minute.

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_00]: This podcast is sponsored by Jackson Creative, a custom communication agency located in

[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_00]: downtown Hickory, North Carolina, specializing in online content creation. To learn more,

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_00]: visit the Jackson creative.com Jackson creative. We tell your story. Welcome back to foot candle

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_02]: films. We had our review are somewhat underwhelming review of the instigators in the first half of the

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_02]: show. Now we're talking about some news of projects that are coming our way film projects either

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_02]: being announced or close to release. Chris, I am very excited to talk about this one that I wanted

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_02]: to lead us off with. Because honestly, when I read the headline, I thought it was a joke.

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to find out it's not. But you thought we had magically moved into 2025 and it was like

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_02]: April Fool's Day. Right, I thought we were like several months in advance here. Okay.

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_02]: No, it's a this is legit. And I'm I don't know how I feel about this for several reasons. So let

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_02]: me just set it all up for you. Okay. Okay. There is going to be a biopic

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_04]: about John Madden. Do you know who John Madden is? He is very important to electronic arts because

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_04]: he makes a lot of football video games. I do know who Madden football. He's a legendary

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_02]: football coach and sports commentator. And yes, very much known for kind of being the face and

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_02]: name on the series of video games, football video games passed away. Correct. Yes. Okay.

[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes. Yes. Yes. So there's going to be a biography about him, which is not itself not terribly

[00:28:58] [SPEAKER_02]: surprising. He was a he was a he was a big character. He was a very big presence.

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Had I don't know anything about his backstory. I don't really know much about him up until the

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_04]: time he was a commentator. You know, the one thing I think I do know about him now this

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_04]: will find out if this is true in the biopic. I believe he's the gentleman who very famous

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_04]: and had to go around all these like football games and be a commentator, but he would not fly on a plane.

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER_04]: He would only go on a bus. He would only travel like he refused to do air flight. So I don't know

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_04]: if that will find out if that's true in the documentary or not documentary, but the biopic.

[00:29:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's very possible. So I think there's some interesting story to tell there. So I'll

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_04]: like I'm all for that. Besides the fact that he would refuse to fly on a plane.

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think they should just make a movie about that. Just walking up to an

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER_02]: airport and then turning around. We just see that happen like dozens of times. It's like,

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_02]: nope, he's not going to do it. Okay. Okay. There were some initial talks a while back about who

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_02]: would be cast as John Madden. Two names that were bedded around that did not get the part.

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. So we know who's playing that. Yeah, we do. But the first name that came up, I thought,

[00:30:07] [SPEAKER_02]: yes, this makes sense. Will Ferrell. I could see Will Ferrell playing John Madden.

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, I was going to joke and throw out that name. No. But you're saying that was a

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_04]: seriously considered name. So I guess this would have been kind of a everything must go serious role

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_02]: as opposed to like a comedic. Yeah. Yeah, sure. But I mean, but there's some, you get,

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_02]: there's some acting involved. I mean, playing John Madden, you're going to get to play big and

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_02]: play play up and have some level of comedy, I'm sure, and humor in it. Okay. Yeah. Will Ferrell

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_02]: was actually someone who was who was interested to consider. Okay. Hugh Jackman was also seriously

[00:30:44] [SPEAKER_04]: considered for the role. Okay. Yeah, I don't. Yeah. Both of those seem odd to me. Not me. I like

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_04]: both of them, but just to be mad and seems kind of strange. So before I get to the actor that

[00:30:56] [SPEAKER_02]: they have chosen, let me tell you who the director is. Okay. The director is a Mr. David O Russell.

[00:31:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Right. See, that's where I'm going. That starts to make it a little more interesting.

[00:31:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Never. David O Russell did a biopic. Joy was technically a biopic. Right. She remember. Right.

[00:31:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Not a pretty loose biopic, but it was. It was a biopic. Jennifer Lawrence. Yeah. Jennifer

[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Lawrence film. Look, I'm not going to get into David O Russell as a person because it sounds

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_02]: like there are some issues with him and people not caring to either work with him or him having some

[00:31:40] [SPEAKER_02]: some challenges and things that he's not very well known, liked for all that aside. I'm not

[00:31:46] [SPEAKER_02]: going to get into that. And we're just going to look at it from a film director standpoint.

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Despite him as a person, I mostly like his films. Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees,

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_02]: a really big fan of shoot. I like the fighter, the one he did with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.

[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_02]: What is the one he did right before Joy? Silver Linings Playbook. Yeah. I love Silver

[00:32:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Linings Playbook. I think he had to run really good movies. Now the last film he did was

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Amsterdam, which was not good. No. We reviewed that here on the end. Very disappointing.

[00:32:23] [SPEAKER_02]: That just did not come together well. So that was his last film. This one would be the

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_02]: next, his follow up to that. So the actor that's going to be playing John Madden.

[00:32:35] [SPEAKER_04]: So I would almost think it would be better. I mean, I granted, I know, I mean, I don't know,

[00:32:39] [SPEAKER_04]: but I have heard the way Hollywood works is you get something like the John Madison

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_04]: coat. Everybody knows who he is. So you have to get a big director and you can't just get

[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_04]: a name. You have to have a big name. But for me, I feel like the film might work better

[00:32:52] [SPEAKER_04]: if it was an unknown, which the way you built it up, I'm assuming it is not an unknown. It's

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_04]: somebody I'm going to know. So yeah, I'm curious to hear the name. The name is Nicholas Cage.

[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, Nicholas Cage will be playing John Madden in a David O Russell biopic.

[00:33:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I will say that is interesting. And I could see why you reading this, you thought

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_04]: this is April 1st. Somehow I have slept and woke up and I've missed a couple of months.

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Wow. That is really, really interesting. Cage, he's never done a biopic.

[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_04]: He's done a lot of work, done a lot of films. Haven't seen all of them, but not

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_02]: yet. Yeah, I don't think he's ever actually played like a real person that I can think of at all.

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_02]: He's never played Elvis, right? I mean, he's kind of ripped on Elvis. Elvis is

[00:33:57] [SPEAKER_04]: definitely not a biopic. Yeah, right. Yeah. So to my mind, and there again,

[00:34:04] [SPEAKER_04]: we're not going to go down the David O Russell rabbit hole. But for one, I understand very

[00:34:08] [SPEAKER_04]: strong, let's say very strong personality and can be difficult working with sometimes. So Cage,

[00:34:14] [SPEAKER_04]: who I love him as an actor, but I imagine he can be kind of eccentric as well, you know, hearing

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_04]: so. So yeah, that if I was a financial backer, which I'm not of the film, I would be worried

[00:34:29] [SPEAKER_04]: because it's just like, whoa, there's a lot of, it's like a powder cake. There's a lot of

[00:34:33] [SPEAKER_02]: energy going into this film, positive or negative. Yeah. But Cage being in a biopic,

[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_04]: specifically playing someone that I don't, yeah, him being like even physically just

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_04]: nothing you have to look exactly because there's right now everything, but just

[00:34:53] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah, I'm bizarre. I bizarre. That is that's what I was going to go with this. Wow. I am

[00:35:00] [SPEAKER_02]: fascinated by the project. Yeah, it is a bizarre project. So we have a release date for this.

[00:35:08] [SPEAKER_02]: No, I do not. I think this is very early on. They just got him him cast

[00:35:14] [SPEAKER_02]: just announced this week. So yeah, there's still a good ways off from announcing a date. But

[00:35:19] [SPEAKER_04]: anything Nicholas Cage is involved with. I mean, like we reviewed long legs. He's going from

[00:35:26] [SPEAKER_04]: long legs, which I don't know what else he has coming out in between that and this mad biopic.

[00:35:31] [SPEAKER_04]: It was just like, yeah, he's still just kind of, which is what makes him so fascinating. He just

[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_04]: kind of goes and does whatever. So yeah, it'll be interesting. So I was reading up a little bit on

[00:35:42] [SPEAKER_02]: David O'Russell, just kind of curious what all he's working on right now because you know,

[00:35:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Amsterdam was a big flop. I mean, it had, you know, a lot of stars in it, pretty big budget

[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_02]: and it did nothing. And also got critically savaged. He's in addition to Madden, he's also working on

[00:36:02] [SPEAKER_02]: a Linda Ronstadt biopic that's going to be starring Selena Gomez as Linda Ronstadt,

[00:36:10] [SPEAKER_02]: which is casting wise. I totally get that. Oh yeah. I totally think the casting was great.

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_02]: But you know, he's just leaning into the biopic world right now. I don't know, but

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_02]: he's also got another film, a 1970 set drama called Super Toys that's going to feature Kiki Palmer

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_02]: and Sasha Baron Cohen. Oh, that's all it. Nothing else has been said about. Super Toys. Super Toys.

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. And it's like set in the 70s and it's a drama. I don't know what else about it.

[00:36:41] [SPEAKER_02]: But those two again, I'm casting wise. It's an interesting cast that's working with him.

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I think the Selena Gomez is Linda Ronstadt. Yeah, sounds great. I'm interested to see that.

[00:36:52] [SPEAKER_02]: And she can sing. Oh yeah. And then I think Kiki Palmer's really interesting. We haven't seen her in

[00:36:57] [SPEAKER_02]: a role since Nope. Right. And then Sasha Baron Cohen. I mean, I haven't seen him in much either.

[00:37:05] [SPEAKER_02]: So those two together could be really interesting. Anyway, curious projects again, setting the

[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_02]: David O Russell side of it to the side. It's some interesting projects and I think

[00:37:17] [SPEAKER_02]: curious to see where these go. So yeah, me too. All right. So that was my big news item. That's

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_02]: really that that's that's pretty much all I had, Chris. But I'm going to turn it over to you

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER_02]: because I think you've got a trailer to share with us that I've got queued up as well. Okay.

[00:37:32] [SPEAKER_04]: And you know, kind of teased in the opening, Stephen Soderberg, a director that I've seen

[00:37:39] [SPEAKER_04]: tons of his stuff. I like it. His last thing I was trying to we were talking before we started

[00:37:44] [SPEAKER_04]: recording Magic Mike's Last Dance, which was 2023, which he actually directed didn't catch that.

[00:37:51] [SPEAKER_04]: But you know, I did talk about the film before that, which is a much smaller scale film, Kimmy,

[00:37:56] [SPEAKER_04]: which we did. We did talk about that kind of a little bit of a thriller.

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, the director of Sex, Eliza and video tape, Aaron Brokovich, the Ocean's Eleven

[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_04]: films. So you know, the guys done a lot of films and then hadn't really heard him doing like anything

[00:38:12] [SPEAKER_04]: for a while. He did some TV, which haven't caught. But yeah, so they put out a teaser

[00:38:18] [SPEAKER_04]: for his latest film, which is the film's called Presence. And the very short little

[00:38:25] [SPEAKER_04]: byline just says showcases a suburban house inhabited by a mysterious entity.

[00:38:32] [SPEAKER_04]: That's it. That's that's all we got.

[00:38:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Going for a kind of a little bit of a horror movie, maybe we'll see.

[00:38:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Maybe which would be interesting. Oh, Traffics and other. Yeah, so the guys done a lot of films.

[00:38:42] [SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, so I don't think he's ever done specifically like a horror film.

[00:38:46] [SPEAKER_04]: So maybe that's what this is. I don't know. We'll take a look at the trailer here.

[00:38:51] [SPEAKER_02]: All right. It's a teaser. So it's really quick, but let's give it a watch.

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Okay. So that is the teesiest of teasers, other than the fact that basically, you know,

[00:39:24] [SPEAKER_04]: they just show a bunch of titles since this is an audio podcast. I would say tone of the film

[00:39:29] [SPEAKER_04]: does appear to be maybe if not horror, definitely like suspense thriller type,

[00:39:36] [SPEAKER_04]: according to the music that we just heard. And they do this listing of previous films,

[00:39:41] [SPEAKER_04]: which of course, you know, he lists all his a list and it's like presence.

[00:39:45] [SPEAKER_04]: And then they say January 2025. Releasing. So I'm excited. Interestingly enough,

[00:39:51] [SPEAKER_04]: it's also another neon film. So doing like some kind of interesting work, kind of like a 24

[00:39:58] [SPEAKER_04]: got known for neons when he released long legs. So and a recent film that you and I

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_04]: haven't reviewed, cuckoo. Now they're releasing this one. And it does seem the trailer,

[00:40:10] [SPEAKER_04]: you just have that intense music and kind of a slow panning shot, maybe like a point of view

[00:40:15] [SPEAKER_04]: of omniscient or omniscience shot of a house. And of course, it's very shadowy the interiors and stuff.

[00:40:23] [SPEAKER_04]: It's Soderbergh. I am interested in it. The doesn't even list the cast.

[00:40:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I, so the film actually premiered at Sundance.

[00:40:34] [SPEAKER_04]: Okay.

[00:40:35] [SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, I've got information on it.

[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, yeah, of course.

[00:40:39] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I don't want to spoil anything on it, but go ahead.

[00:40:42] [SPEAKER_02]: It's already screened and all that now showing in theaters and come in January.

[00:40:47] [SPEAKER_02]: It's a family of the centers on a family floor played by Lucy Liu.

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Chris Sullivan, Edie Meday and Kalina Lange.

[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not familiar with the other three Lucy Liu. We do know.

[00:41:00] [SPEAKER_04]: You do know who that is.

[00:41:01] [SPEAKER_02]: And the logline is that they move into a haunted house after a real estate

[00:41:06] [SPEAKER_02]: agent convinces them it's the perfect property.

[00:41:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Then they quickly realize there is a titular presence that may or may not be sinister.

[00:41:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Only thing I'm hearing, I mean, there were some reviews about,

[00:41:19] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not going to say anything about what people are saying about the film because

[00:41:22] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't want to set up any expectations. But it supposedly has a very immersive

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_02]: POV type of viewpoint to allow this film to get a little bit of feeling in that from

[00:41:34] [SPEAKER_02]: the trailer. So it's not a found footage movie. The camera isn't really a camera,

[00:41:39] [SPEAKER_02]: but the eyes of a presence in the home. So it's a little interesting shot.

[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_04]: Instead of being the eyes for like a paranoid activity or paranoid paranormal activity films,

[00:41:50] [SPEAKER_04]: those were like from the point of view of like, yeah, like baby cams or like security cameras.

[00:41:56] [SPEAKER_04]: So not that kind of thing, but you're putting the,

[00:42:00] [SPEAKER_04]: I guess the point of view of this presence maybe.

[00:42:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_04]: Which is what the trailer kind of gave you to that.

[00:42:07] [SPEAKER_04]: I will say too, if we're revealing a little bit more information,

[00:42:10] [SPEAKER_04]: doing a little bit of snooping online, I see that it's credit is the writing coming from David

[00:42:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Kep who wrote things like Jurassic Park, the first one, the first mission impossible.

[00:42:21] [SPEAKER_04]: So it's like, okay, this guy's got some, some writing credits. He helped write Kimmy,

[00:42:27] [SPEAKER_04]: which was another Soderbergh film. So the guy is not like it's an unknown,

[00:42:32] [SPEAKER_04]: unknown quality there or unknown quantity with David Kep doing the writing. So yeah, interesting.

[00:42:39] [SPEAKER_04]: I am curious and I could see this being maybe kind of like a Blair Witch experience where going

[00:42:46] [SPEAKER_04]: to a theater with the surround sound where you feel like you hear or all the bumps you

[00:42:51] [SPEAKER_04]: kind of feel or the jolts and stuff. It could be interesting. So maybe it'll be a, I don't know,

[00:42:58] [SPEAKER_04]: it'll be interesting and it's coming out pretty soon. So I'm glad the trailer doesn't reveal

[00:43:02] [SPEAKER_02]: the trailer.

[00:43:04] [SPEAKER_04]: Right. So it is a teaser, but like it's good for me at least that we're in August.

[00:43:08] [SPEAKER_04]: This thing comes out in January and this is all we've had. And I just heard about this film

[00:43:13] [SPEAKER_04]: last week. Like I didn't even know Soderbergh was working on it. So interesting.

[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Um, if we have just one more minute, can I throw out one more little thing just because

[00:43:23] [SPEAKER_02]: that's true. We're not limited on time. One last thing I forgot to mention that there was a project

[00:43:29] [SPEAKER_02]: that I did hear that at least got a little bit more of an announcement to it. Okay. It's still

[00:43:35] [SPEAKER_02]: a ways off from when it will be released. I think they're saying now it's going to be

[00:43:40] [SPEAKER_02]: May 2025, but they have put a date on a new film by Koganata.

[00:43:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, okay. He of after after Yang and Columbus, the two films he's done. And after Yang really

[00:43:56] [SPEAKER_02]: liked that film. And did we, did we review it? I don't think we reviewed it. I think you

[00:44:00] [SPEAKER_02]: recommended it. I think I watched it later. Really liked it. And Colin Farrell in that film.

[00:44:08] [SPEAKER_02]: So the new film by Koganata is called a big, bold, beautiful journey.

[00:44:13] [SPEAKER_02]: A big, bold, beautiful journey. Yes. Except for a May 9th, 2025 release.

[00:44:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Going to be starring Mr. Colin Farrell once again, as well as Margot Robbie. So it's going to,

[00:44:27] [SPEAKER_02]: all that says about the film is it's described as an imaginative tale of two strangers in the

[00:44:36] [SPEAKER_02]: immediate a wedding embark on a GPS driven adventure together said to incorporate time

[00:44:41] [SPEAKER_02]: travel and romance. So that is the film, a big, bold, beautiful journey. I believe it also has

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Jody Turner Smith in it, Phoebe Waller Bridge, several other names. Yes. But Margot Robbie,

[00:44:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Colin Farrell will be the leads on that. And that is coming out in May next year.

[00:45:03] [SPEAKER_02]: It's all I've got on that, but I just thought that's interesting. That sounds like an early

[00:45:07] [SPEAKER_04]: candidate for my top 10 anticipated of 2025. A film from Koganata with that cast and the

[00:45:16] [SPEAKER_04]: brief description. Yeah, I think that could warrant a place on that list. So interesting.

[00:45:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Yep. Glad you mentioned that. All right. Well, that is all we have for news.

[00:45:25] [SPEAKER_02]: So I really think the Nicholas Cage Madden thing was kind of just blowing my mind. I'm still

[00:45:30] [SPEAKER_02]: trying to process that a little bit. But yeah, so in presence looks really could be interesting.

[00:45:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Very anxious to see what that looks like come January. Chris, let's turn it over to you to

[00:45:41] [SPEAKER_02]: kind of close out the show for us. We look at you. We look to you to give us some recommendations.

[00:45:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Those of us clamoring for something to watch and some movie to get into. And we're just

[00:45:51] [SPEAKER_02]: flooded with so many, so many films. It's like we need somebody to kind of cut through all

[00:45:56] [SPEAKER_02]: the chaff and say, all right, here's one we think you ought to check out. So that's what Chris is here

[00:46:00] [SPEAKER_02]: to do. Chris, what recommendation do you have for us today? So I've actually, I've watched this movie

[00:46:07] [SPEAKER_04]: probably not quite a year ago, but almost. It came to me. It was a 2023 release. It came kind

[00:46:14] [SPEAKER_04]: of at the end of the year. We get a lot of screeners for critics films and the film The

[00:46:18] [SPEAKER_04]: Teacher's Lounge by Ilker Katak was released and we got a screener for it. I saw it.

[00:46:24] [SPEAKER_04]: I really liked it, but I couldn't find anywhere. I didn't want to recommend it on the show and say,

[00:46:29] [SPEAKER_04]: hey, good luck finding it because you know, the only way so, but it is now recently released

[00:46:34] [SPEAKER_04]: on Netflix, which has kind of a bad track record of releasing things and you can't find it. So

[00:46:41] [SPEAKER_04]: like you said, this is my, my hopes is to kind of point you and be like, Hey, here's something

[00:46:45] [SPEAKER_04]: I thought was pretty good. Let me tell you what it's about. So there is a teacher involved

[00:46:50] [SPEAKER_04]: and one of her students, she suspects a theft and she decides to get to the bottom of the matter

[00:46:56] [SPEAKER_04]: kind of taking on herself because she's pretty sure convinced that the student did it. And then caught

[00:47:00] [SPEAKER_04]: between like her ideals of right and wrong and the school system and the consequences of her

[00:47:06] [SPEAKER_04]: actions. Things just kind of get out, they get out of hand. And it just, I thought it was

[00:47:13] [SPEAKER_04]: the person who plays the teacher, Leonie Bench. I think is the way you pronounce her name. Sorry,

[00:47:19] [SPEAKER_04]: it's foreign film, it is subtitled. But she does a really good job. And I'm thinking watching the

[00:47:30] [SPEAKER_04]: film, you know, my parents were both teachers growing up and you hear about the struggles of

[00:47:34] [SPEAKER_04]: teachers. And I was just like, how much is this teacher getting paid? Because,

[00:47:38] [SPEAKER_04]: great, it's in a different country. But I was like, if it's anything like teachers here in

[00:47:41] [SPEAKER_04]: the US, like, I think she'd just be like, okay, I'm out, peace out. I'm out of this

[00:47:46] [SPEAKER_04]: because I don't want to have to deal with this. There's another film that I actually liked quite

[00:47:51] [SPEAKER_04]: a bit that makes a good pairing with this film. But I also haven't recommended it on the show

[00:47:56] [SPEAKER_04]: because I couldn't find it anywhere. This one finally got released on Netflix, Teacher's

[00:47:59] [SPEAKER_04]: Lounge. But it would make an interesting double feature with Coretta's Monster,

[00:48:03] [SPEAKER_04]: which also came out last year, because both of them center around

[00:48:08] [SPEAKER_04]: schools and things happening at schools and like bullying and all you just,

[00:48:12] [SPEAKER_04]: bunches, there's just a lot of interesting things that could happen. The only thing is

[00:48:15] [SPEAKER_04]: if you did that double feature, you'd probably need to give a trigger warning to educators

[00:48:20] [SPEAKER_04]: because I think it could be very triggering. But anyways, that's the Teacher's Lounge.

[00:48:26] [SPEAKER_04]: Came out in 2023. It is now available on Netflix. I recommend people, people check it out. It's a

[00:48:33] [SPEAKER_02]: good thought provoking film. Okay, good. That's the Teacher's Lounge recommended by Chris

[00:48:39] [SPEAKER_02]: for us to check out. Thanks for that. And with that, I think we are done for today. So we had

[00:48:46] [SPEAKER_02]: our review of the instigators. We had our discussion about John Madden being played by Nicholas Cage.

[00:48:52] [SPEAKER_02]: We had a teaser, very, very short teaser from Soderbergh about his new film, Presence.

[00:48:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And then Chris was recommendation of the Teacher's Lounge. So Chris, anybody wants to

[00:49:03] [SPEAKER_02]: get ahold of us? Talk to us, give any feedback at all. What can they do?

[00:49:08] [SPEAKER_04]: You can send an email to info at footcandle.org and tell us why Nicholas Cage was the perfect

[00:49:14] [SPEAKER_04]: casting choice and makes so much more sense than Will Ferrell, although I think they're equally

[00:49:19] [SPEAKER_04]: kind of odd choices, but whatever. You can follow us on Twitter at Foot Candle Film,

[00:49:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Facebook Foot Candle Film Society, Instagram and Threads. We're there at Foot Candle Film.

[00:49:29] [SPEAKER_04]: Alan and I are also on Letterbox where we try to track what we're seeing and leave quick takes

[00:49:33] [SPEAKER_04]: sometimes. Do us a favor. If you like the show, consider giving us a star rating, write a review,

[00:49:38] [SPEAKER_04]: share with friends or whatever service you get your podcasts on because it'll help us reach

[00:49:42] [SPEAKER_04]: new listeners. We'd appreciate it. Alan, what is happening September 20th through the 29th in

[00:49:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Hickory, North Carolina? So I think I'm planning on, I know I've got to mow the grass

[00:49:55] [SPEAKER_02]: on that Saturday. Got you. I think I'm also, I might be having dinner out somewhere. Okay. I don't

[00:50:03] [SPEAKER_02]: know. Was there something else going on? I need to be right over here. Well, if you can fit this

[00:50:07] [SPEAKER_04]: into that schedule, sounds like you may have a little bit of time. No, I got a lot going on, Chris.

[00:50:11] [SPEAKER_02]: The 2024 Foot Candle Film Festival. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'll be there.

[00:50:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Okay. Well good because I'd hate to do that all by myself. That would scare me. But it is

[00:50:21] [SPEAKER_04]: going to be a great time. We've got filmmakers that are going to attend. We'll have Q and A's

[00:50:25] [SPEAKER_04]: after the films. It is our 10th year. We think it's going to be a good one. We hope you can join us.

[00:50:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to it. FootCandleFilmFestival.com

[00:50:37] [SPEAKER_02]: is where to go to get information about the festival, see our festival films,

[00:50:40] [SPEAKER_02]: see our schedule by tickets, by passes, all that stuff. And we hope to see you in late

[00:50:46] [SPEAKER_02]: September and beautiful Western North Carolina for the festival. And with that,

[00:50:51] [SPEAKER_02]: we are going to sign off and thanks so much for listening and we'll look forward to talking

[00:50:55] [SPEAKER_02]: to you next time. See you in the ticket line.

[00:51:33] [SPEAKER_06]: Thank you.

[00:51:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Special thanks to Carpal Taller for the show theme music. For more about Carpal Taller,

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