The Sheep Detectives

[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH. Footcandle Films. Film news and reviews from two guys who really like movies. This episode is brought to you by the Footcandle Film Society. For a schedule of upcoming screenings and membership information, visit the Society's website at www.footcandle.org.

[00:00:33] Hello, everyone, and welcome to Footcandle Films here on the MESH.TV podcast network. My name is Alan Jackson. With me, as always, Chris Fry. One day I'm going to surprise everybody. Be somebody else. So you're saying you're going to fire me? Somebody else. No, no, no. I'm just, you know, if you ever take a temporary leave of absence or you go on a super long vacation. When I go over to Cannes. Right. And I'm gone.

[00:00:58] You go to Cannes, which, you know, we get invited every year, but we have to slightly decline because we're busy. But if you decide to go one year, then I'll bring in somebody else and just throw everybody off kilter for like a week or two. But until that day, as always, Chris Fry across the table from me. We're both with the Footcandle Film Society. We are directors of that nonprofit organization. We are the directors of the film festival that happens every year in September of this year.

[00:01:27] We will be having our next one. More to come on that before too long. And here we are as co-host of the Footcandle Films podcast, where we talk about movies. We review films that are new in the theaters or streaming online. We also talk about some movie news. We have a few trailers to share today in this episode about some movies coming out over the next few months that we want to, we're curious about. And I think we'll end the episode, Chris, if I'm correct, with a recommendation from you as well. Yes.

[00:01:55] A film recommendation from Chris that if you're looking for something to fill up your watch queue this coming weekend or any other time, Chris will have you taken care of. But Chris, we do have a main review of a film we're going to discuss first. And that is a new film in the theaters as of this past weekend. It is the film The Sheep Detectives.

[00:02:15] That'll be the film that we'll be reviewing, starring Hugh Jackman and a slew of tons of other people voicing various forms of sheep, directed by Kyle Balda. And we will discuss that film here in just a minute, followed by trailers and recommendations. So that is the plan. Is there any pleasantries we need to get out of the way, Chris, before we get started? Or are we good to go? Yeah, I think we're good to go. We're good to jump right in. Let's do it. All right. Here's our review of The Sheep Detectives.

[00:02:45] If there's one secret to happiness in my life, it's taking care of the kindest creatures on Earth. Sheep. I want you to meet my flock. When I wake up, where I know I'm going to be. I keep them well fed, well grew. And each day I read out loud to them mysteries, whodunits. I know who the killer was. I like to pretend that they follow along, but they're only sheep.

[00:03:17] Why would he stop there? He was just about to say who the killer was. This is torture. It was the maid, right? When I wake up. Wake up. Everybody wake up. We found George on the grass. And he's not moving. What? Lily, tell us what to do. Until our shepherd was murdered. And we shall solve the crime.

[00:03:48] It was noted on your bio on the old Foot Candle Films webpage, Alan, that you were an aficionado of talking live-action animal films like Babe, Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey. With The Sheep Detectives, we have a new talking animal film from director Kyle Balda, whose previous works include the purely animated films Minions, Despicable Me 3, and Minions, The Rise of Gru.

[00:04:14] Did Balda's first entry into the live-action pasture work for you? Or based on your experience with The Sheep Detectives, do you think he'd best stick to familiar grazing territory? Very nice question. Can I add on to that question, even to make it a little bit more complex? Sure. You mentioned director Kyle Balda and his pedigree. Yes. Great. But also, let's talk about the writers of this film, which I think is fascinating. Craig Mazin is one of the writers.

[00:04:40] And if you look at his filmography that he's been involved with, he was a writer for the television miniseries Chernobyl. Ah, sounds like Family Fair. He was a writer for the television series The Last of Us. Yeah. So those are the kind of things he's been writing. So I'm like, all right, yeah, this is a really interesting project for both of these people to get into. And your question was, basically, do I like The Sheep Detectives?

[00:05:08] And I'm guessing, I didn't go look at your letterbox, but I don't know how many of the Minions or Despicable Me 3 movies- I don't think I've seen any of them. There are several movies you've seen. I don't think I've seen any. Fair enough. Well, I'll just say, I love The Sheep Detectives. But you're talking animal movies. Well, and I got to put a little caveat on it. Yep. It's talking animal movies when the mouth are moving. Okay. Okay. So you mentioned Homeward Bound. Okay. Not really a favorite of mine, because that does the whole thing where they just dub voices

[00:05:37] over an animal and just try to match it up with the animal moving around, and you don't actually- That's what the lips aren't moving. Right. When the lips are moving and I buy it, that's when I'm like, okay, I'm on board with this movie. Gotcha. The Sheep Detectives, let me just get this out of the way first. I think, before I get into the film and story and acting, the animation on these sheep, I think is really good. I honestly loved watching these creatures on screen and the personalities they were able

[00:06:06] to instill in each one. And the only time I was pulled out of the film by the animation, there are some small little sheep. I don't know what you call baby sheep. Just baby sheep? Sure. Let's go with that. Baby sheep. Baby sheep. Baby sheep. When they would do a lot of jumping around or maybe like crawling through a window and tumbling down, it's like, all right, yeah, that was pretty obvious CGI. And of course, I know all of it's CGI. Sure. But that was the only time there was like the animation kind of pulled me out.

[00:06:35] But like when we're watching the sheep just walking around talking and I'm like, I'm buying this. It's like this, I'm feeling like they got this right. Okay. I just really love this movie. It was charming. It was sweet. It was a good kind of throwback style movie that I just don't feel like we get that much anymore. It was relatively simple, even though the concept's pretty high, high concept. It's a, you know, a shepherd spends every night reading his flock of sheep.

[00:07:05] He reads murder mysteries to them. One night he dies and they believe it may be murder. So the sheep actually take it upon themselves to try to help figure out who murdered their shepherd. Right. In a high concept. But it's done just such a nice, pleasant way. And it got me towards the end. I mean, it's like, I don't know. It just worked for me. I thought this was a really nice, fun film. You mentioned Babe early in the setup. Yeah. As far as a film I like a lot.

[00:07:35] It's really like a spiritual equivalent of that film. I mean, it truly is like the same style, the same feel. I don't know. It just, it worked. So I had a really good time with it. Uh, was it the best murder mystery reveals and did all of that really work? Maybe not as much, but I didn't care by that point in the film. I was just having a good time with it.

[00:08:01] So I, I like this film quite a bit, but Chris, I've got more to say, but Chris, I want to hear your thoughts. What did you think of the sheep detectives? So we had talked about, I think the trailer maybe on the show. Um, and then again, you know, I harken back to it, but I feel like it's worth mentioning. It was one of the 10 films I was looking forward to in this year, just because it seemed like a kind of interesting concept and it was based on a novel. So I was like, okay, there's material. It's not just some idea like, okay, we know people like talking animals.

[00:08:31] Let's just make a movie. It doesn't really matter what the story is. Like, I was like, no, there's, there's something there. Oh, it's a murder mystery. Okay. Um, you know, you're getting me more and more interested. Um, so, but I do know it, it's a kid's movie. It's PG. So going in, I'm like, okay, you know, my expectations are lowered because I am an adult now. I've seen lots of movies. So like, you know, I know they're gearing this towards their audience. So will there be anything for me in this?

[00:08:59] And there was, and I actually appreciated the mystery. That's what I was really surprised is there was a much as of a mystery as there was. And they tried as much as they can, cause you don't want to scare kids or confuse them too much. They tried to make it an interesting mystery. It wasn't just like, oh yeah, I can kind of see where this is going. I kind of know who's going to know. They kept it as friendly and convoluted as they could, but kept it convoluted.

[00:09:26] Like, and like, yeah, I felt like in a way I was watching like a Knives Out mystery. Although, you know, it's very friendly, you know? But, um, and two, there, instead of, I think it would have been a path that maybe a lesser film would have taken. Hugh Jackman, The Shepherd, it's not misdirection and maybe like, oh, we think he's, no, he's dead. Yeah. Right. So that, that's kind of, it's heavy for a kid's movie.

[00:09:54] At one point I was thinking it was going to go the really kind of cop out route of, oh, he, it's just natural causes and the sheep just kind of got it all built in their heads that it was a murder. And it wasn't. Yeah. So not only, not only he died, oh, he died, but also murder. Yeah. So yeah, I think those are kind of interesting challenges for the film to take. Granted, it's rated PG, not G, but I was interested in that. And then there's another character along the way that also dies.

[00:10:22] And they, they handle it well, but I was just kind of impressed. I was kind of impressed that it was like, okay, we've now had two deaths in this film. So a little bit more, I guess, adult than I was expecting. But overall, the thing that really surprised me was how much I liked and was engaged in the mystery. Yeah. Because I didn't expect, because I knew it was more of a children's film, I didn't expect to be as engaged as I was.

[00:10:51] And I really, I really enjoyed the reveal. Okay. At the end, the way that sequence was done, because at first you're like, oh, wait, yeah, that was kind of an obvious person. And then it's like, oh, nope, that's not what he was saying at all. Like, and the, because the person who is stumbling through the reveal does not very well communicate what he's doing. And so therefore it's like, wait, what? And so that was funny. Instead of just having a typical, more like a Benoit Blanc reveal where he just states this, this, this, this, this, you go along.

[00:11:19] So it was kind of took a little bit of a, a little bit of a difference. Well, okay. Let me, let me back up. So my, my issue is not necessarily with the scene in which the reveal was made. I actually thought that was kind of charming and fun. It's more of the, and again, I can't really talk about without spoiling. It's more of the, if you really think about the person. Okay. Okay. Okay.

[00:11:41] And I'm just going to say it has to do with, I have questions about George's history based on. Yeah. Okay. Right. Some things that I think by the end of the movie, I'm just like, hmm. Oh, okay. All right. I get, I get the murder. I get the plot. I get all that. I'm like, I'm just now more curious about George as a person. Right. And that kind of tilted me off. Just a, just a hair.

[00:12:11] Yeah. I understand. And I, with there again, as we always do, we say, take a drink. We're not going to spoil anything, but yes, some of that was a little confusing. And I think in an attempt to keep things PG. Yeah. Right. They kind of, they explain it, but then they just kind of, oh yeah. And I think that's because I would imagine in the novel, it's a little bit more like, oh, I get, it's still relevatory and people still like it, but it, yeah.

[00:12:39] And so they kind of glossed over things just to kind of make it a little bit more family. That's my only quibble with the film. Right. And I was just, but I was impressed. It was as convoluted and complicated as it ended up being. I was like, oh. I mean, when you're to the point of a murder mystery, my issue had been with the first, definitely the first Knives Out movie. I didn't think it was at all possible to figure out who the murderer was. I got you. Okay. The way they told you in the story. I got you.

[00:13:06] It's like, you got fed all the information you needed when the reveal happened. It's like, oh, well, yeah, if I'd been given these clues the last two hours, I'm my ability to figure this out, but I couldn't. With this film, there were some things that if you really thought through it, you could have made some assumptions and actually kind of made some educated guesses on things as well, which I liked. I'm like, yes, they actually wrote this as a true mystery that the viewer could actually figure out. Right.

[00:13:36] You know, which is always nice. And I, you know, we won't relitigate the Knives Out series, but I like all three. I think you like the second and third installment. I like the second and third better than the first one. Yeah. And I, like, but I will say one of my biggest problems, not with the Knives Out, but with the Miss Marple mysteries that Kenneth Branagh has done, you know, the Agatha Christie things. Well, those are Hercule Poirot, not Miss Marple. Yeah, right. But Agatha Christie. Yeah, Agatha Christie.

[00:14:03] And so Agatha Christie, the big thing that I have, and he's done three, I think, and I've actually seen all three. And it's more of a fault of Agatha Christie, I guess, not with Kenneth Branagh or, you know, the fact is Hercule Poirot is opposed to Marple. But I have your argument or complaint that you have with the first Knives Out is like, yeah, there's no way I could guess any of those. Right. And the reason I like watching mysteries is because I like to, not that I expect to do it, because then what fun would it be if you guess in the first 30 minutes who it's going to be like?

[00:14:33] That's no fun. Right. At least it wouldn't be for me. So I like to think I can at least try to solve stuff. It's the idea that you could. You could. Or at least it's possible for you to do it. With Agatha Christie's stuff, those three movies, I'm like, ugh. Yeah, the stuff just comes out. At the end, I'm just eye-rolling because it's just so ridiculous. But with this, it was like, oh. And I was impressed that it was like, yeah, I agree. I think if I were to watch it a second time, I would even be more amazed at how basically

[00:15:02] they, I feel like they drop you hints that maybe they don't need to, but they're just trying to be like, okay. I'll just say the use of color, paint color. I mean, they're obviously letting you know early on in the film, hey, there's something to this. You know, this is important. Right. And it's like, I found myself the whole film like, okay, what could that mean? And I'm trying to think of scenarios. So I'm like, yes, this is what a good murder mystery should do. I should be picking up on a little clue and being like, all right, what does this mean? And can I figure this out?

[00:15:31] And when the reveal happens, you say, oh, yeah, okay. Got you. Got it. That makes sense based on everything we saw. And this film pulled that off. Yeah. I agree. What'd you think about, what'd you think about the sheep? I mean, you know, it being CGI animated characters and the voice actors doing them and all that. I mean. A lot of times when you walk into specific, speaking of, yeah, the Agatha Christie movies that Kenneth Branagh has done and the Knives Out movies, you see the casts.

[00:16:01] And a lot of times you're curious because you're like, oh, it looks like a good cast, but that can also be kind of a danger sign. You're like, oh boy, because it's like, okay, story's not going to be that great, but we're just going to give you all these stars. It'll be fun to watch them in these situations. But this is one of the examples where I feel like it's maybe not always the case. I wish it was. The live action cast was great. And I feel like the voice cast was equally as great. So like any fears that have like, oh, this is a stacked cast.

[00:16:30] And sometimes that can be a bad omen. But no, in this sense, it was really good because I just, Hugh Jackman, I think he's just the point now where he could basically do anything. And I like him. And this, not that this is a hard role for him, but he just, he's an effortless role for him. It was very easy for him to pull this off. Right. I guess, I guess I would like to see Hugh Jackman do, which I can't off the top of my head, think of one where he's been this, a bad, like villain, a really like evil bad villain.

[00:16:58] I think that was one thing interesting in the film is that early in the film, we learned the townspeople perception of him. Which is kind of. Yes. Yeah. And it does actually kind of lead to what I was saying, kind of like knowing more about his background. I would have, I would have probably enjoyed seeing someone that's a more, a more detestable person playing this role.

[00:17:25] Because I think the key is, is that he's seen as just this really mean, cranky person by the rest of the town. But the sheep love him. Right. And that's the whole thing. But here we have Hugh Jackman and we just love him, you know, all the way around. And it's like when he comes into town and people are grumbling about him, I'm like, why are you grumbling about Hugh Jackman? How can you hate him? Right.

[00:17:45] So I do feel like, I'm not saying it's a miscast, but I'm saying it would have been interesting to see a more divisive person play this role. Gotcha. But I still think it worked. I mean, it worked with him in there. He's, he's good at it. It's just, yeah, it took a little harder to swallow the idea that everybody found him detestable as an, as a person. So anyway. Sure. Yeah. But I think all the voice acting was great.

[00:18:12] Honestly, I didn't even know who most of the actors were until I saw the credits at the end. Okay. Which was kind of nice because it's like, I got lost in the voices. I didn't try to say, oh, that sounds like Patrick Stewart or whatever. It's like, I really didn't know who they were. And the only one I knew was Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Lily. Lily. I knew she, I knew she had a kind of a main voice. Gotcha. She's kind of our lead sheep, you know, in the film. But we've got Regina Hall. We've got Chris O'Dow. We've got Bryan Cranston.

[00:18:42] We've got Patrick Stewart. Bella Ramsey. All just really great. And I, I loved the sheep community that they built and the personalities with the, with the characters. It was really fun. There, you mentioned if I had, or you talked about a slight misgiving you had about the animation of like the baby sheep. Yeah. You know, sometimes I had two slight misgivings.

[00:19:06] Um, my first was not the baby sheep themselves, but specifically one that's the, uh, winter where they call winter lamb. Winter lamb. Um, within the context of the film, it just seemed a little bit like plucking at the heartstrings, maybe a little bit. And it kind of like from the moment he appears, I'm like, okay, this is, that was a tell that I felt was a little obvious and maybe a little, but you know, I'm an adult. I'm not a kid.

[00:19:33] So, you know, but it just was a little heavy, not heavy handed, but it was just a little obvious. So that was kind of like, eh. And you know, it played out kind of the way I thought things would, but it's okay. I give it a pass, but that was like a slight little misgiving. The other one I had, um, Bryan Cranston, love Bryan Cranston. He plays a Sebastian, which is a, you know, older Statesman Ram. Um, liked it, liked him in the film, but he did great.

[00:19:57] But from the moment that his character kind of took on the persona of the elder Statesman, who's kind of removed, it reminded me a lot of Bryan Cranston voicing the dog in Isle of Dogs where he played this like, so it was kind of like a familiar, like he's done voice work before and he was good in that, but it was kind of like, you know, kind of a heart from everyone else type thing. Um, but still good. So just, it reminded me of other things, but Hey, that that's fine.

[00:20:25] I just, I, I think this is incredibly charming, fun film. Um, you know, it didn't go too heavy on the laughter and silly stuff. I didn't think it was nice and tempered. The, the laughs were good. There was enough. Slightly skewing adult humor in the humor and the funny parts that made it a cross generational appeal to it. Sure.

[00:20:52] Um, again, I liked the, the characters in general, um, both the human and the sheep characters thought were really fun. Yes. It hit on the sentimentality. It, it poured it on pretty, pretty hard at the end, but I thought it was all fairly well earned. So I was, I was good with all of it. Um, yeah, I just, that was great. I mean, really, I, I, as much as I love babe, this to me is like right up there. It's like same kind of caliber, same idea.

[00:21:21] I love, uh, I love these style movies. And, um, this one, this one worked. I'll say too, um, the cast of characters where, you know, we mentioned Hugh Jackman, but some of the other real life people that aren't just voices. Um, when I really want to call out Nicholas Braun, who plays officer Tim Derry, uh, and he, people know him probably mainly from succession, uh, where he was on that show.

[00:21:47] Um, I, I liked him here, but I kind of feel like in a way he's getting typecast as like a doof, but he does it, he does it really well. He plays a doof really well. He does. And I think in a way that's also a little bit of something for adults to hang their hat on. Cause it was like, oh, you know who this guy is, you know, he's good, but here he's going to get to just be funny. You know, it's not going to be darkly funny. Like it is, you know, but so it's like, oh, okay. Um, I can get on board because of, because of him.

[00:22:15] Um, another live action person that I think is really good that, um, oh, what is her name? She's in the bear. I'm blanking on her name right now. No, she plays, um, Carmi's girlfriend in the bear. Oh yeah. Yeah. You're talking about, um, uh, Molly, Molly Gordon. Yes. Molly Gordon. Um, I thought she was good and she plays. Yeah. Some of the tightrope walking she has to do to kind of give you just enough details about her character.

[00:22:44] But I like she, she was really good. Well, and it was interesting because yeah, I, yes. When they introduced her character. Right. The first several scenes you had with her are meant intentionally to. Yeah. Make you feel. Make you have confusion about her character, which again, a lot of these characters were rolled out that way. It's like, it's left ambiguous. And I like the fact that with each of the characters, well, most of them, there are a

[00:23:13] couple that were very stereotypical. The minute you introduced to them, you know who they are. Sure. A couple that's like, they did kind of evolve through the story. Um, Hong Chao plays a, a woman who's like an innkeeper or something in town. And yeah. And when she's introduced, she's played up a certain way. But by the end of the film, you're like, oh no, there's some depth there. There's something more interesting. That character, you know, Molly Gordon's the same way. Right. Um, I think what, what was impressive is instead of just being an example of a mystery, this

[00:23:43] actually, in a way took a scream approach where there's like, Hey, well, you know how things play out. You do these three things, you reveal this, you reveal that. And like they lay out, okay, this is what's going to happen. And you see that happening in the film, but they evolve it just enough so that it keeps you engaged. So like I already said, a lot more complicated than it had to be, but it works because it is that complicated. It kept me engaged. So impressive. Agreed. Agreed.

[00:24:10] Well, it sounds like we are both pretty big fans of the sheep detectives. So I'm going to close out by asking you, Alan, the film was based on a 2005 novel, three bags full. There was a sequel to the novel in 2010 called big bad wool. Are you interested in seeing a sequel? Sure. Based. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think I'm hoping that this does well enough that they may, because this is something unlike

[00:24:38] the million minions movie of which we're getting a new one. I don't think he's directing it, but we are getting a new minions. Yeah. This is a new enough that yeah, if they can make a second one based off a book. So there's enough material to do it. Then, you know, a new mystery. Then I think it could be worthwhile. I completely agree. I'd be game for it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Awesome. I'm actually game to see this movie again, like this one. So yeah, bring it on. I love it. I think it's great. A lot of fun.

[00:25:05] And I like the fact that I can say safely to people, hey, it's great for kids. Yeah. I mean, yeah, a couple moments with the whole murder thing can be a little intense for really young kids, but they keep it just at the level where it's like, it's not going to freak anybody out, I don't think, or be too disturbing. Right. But it spans. I mean, I know in the theater this past weekend, I mean, they were all the way from people bringing little kids, families to senior citizens coming to watch it as a couple.

[00:25:34] And it's like, this is the kind of movie that can do that. And I think it's applicable to just about any kind of audience. So it's great. It's pretty good. Love it. All right. Well, that is The Sheep Detectives. We will see how long it stays in the theaters based on how it's performing. I think this one, from what I read, might have a little bit of a longer shelf life just because critics are responding good. Audiences are responding good. It's getting a lot of good buzz.

[00:25:58] And it being a multi-generational type film, those typically can stay around a little bit longer and get a little more life out of them than your big, very specific age demographic blockbuster. So yeah. All right. And just for kick, the opening title, I guess it's The MGM Lion, but having the sheep noise, I thought was just perfect. Perfect spot on. Yep. Thanks. All right.

[00:26:28] Sheep Detectives, now playing and strongly recommended by both Chris and myself. All right. Chris, let's take a quick break. We come back. We've got three trailers to watch of films coming up soon, and we got a recommendation from you of a film to check out as well. So stay tuned. You're listening to Foot Candle Films. We'll be right back. Want to discover great podcasts or maybe even start one of your own?

[00:26:53] Welcome to The Mesh, Western North Carolina's podcast network built for creators and listeners alike. From local sports and business to comedy and culture, The Mesh is home to unique voices and fresh perspectives. Do you have something you want to say? The Mesh can help you bring your podcast to life with the tools, support, and platform you need to be heard. Check us out at TheMesh.tv, where great podcasts live and new ones are born.

[00:27:23] Welcome back to Foot Candle Films here on The Mesh.tv podcast network. We had our review of The Sheep Detectives in the first half of the show. Very positive review from both of us with very few misgivings about that film. So definitely recommended to check out. Speaking of checking out, let's check out some other films coming out in the coming months that are in the form of trailers that we have available to watch now.

[00:27:49] This is our little tasting, our little sampling of the film before its release in theaters and in the coming months. And at least with one of these, I know we've talked about it in news. I think maybe not as a dedicated news item, but maybe in relation to this director's previous film and like what was going to be his follow-up. And we talked about this. Right. So let me kick it off here. Let's talk about Resident Evil.

[00:28:16] Now, just on the surface right away, you tell me Resident Evil. I'm like, not interested. Yeah. Haven't played a video game. Haven't played the games. And I know they've made a whole series of movies based on this before. And I've not seen a single one. Same. But where you get me interested, as you say, that filmmaker Zach Greger, he of Barbarian and most importantly, Weapons from last year, this is his next film.

[00:28:43] He is taking on the Resident Evil franchise and doing something with it. And it's also starring Austin Abrams, who played the strung out junkie kid in Weapons, which I thought was really good and anxious to see him as a lead in a film like this. So let's take a look at the trailer that they just released for Resident Evil. And we'll see if, you know, see if it sparks any interest at all.

[00:29:11] I mean, I've already got some interest to want to see this movie now just because of Zach Greger. But it still needs to sell me a little bit. So let's see if this trailer does that or not. So here we go. Teaser trailer for Resident Evil. Hello? I had a little bit of a problem on the road. I was wondering if I could use your phone. Hello?

[00:29:50] Yes, I'm sorry. Um, look, um, I'm really sorry that we got disconnected earlier, but, um, some things have happened.

[00:30:18] I'm in a legacy situation right now. All right. That was the teaser trailer for Resident Evil by writer director Zach Greger coming out sometime later this year. Don't know exact date here. Chris, that was your first taste of this. Yes. And any immediate takeaways for us here? Uh, so two.

[00:30:46] First is I think when we had discussed on the show, they had revealed a little bit maybe of the cast maybe. Other than the, the fellow you already mentioned. Um, and from some of the people that we had seen kind of listed as cast, we thought, oh, maybe it's going to be a slightly. We knew it was going to be a horror because of what it was based on, but it was going to kind of have like funny elements. Maybe we were guessing some levity to it. Uh, trailer looks really intense and super scary and also gory.

[00:31:14] Um, so I don't know if that's just to make a sure fans like, Hey, no, this isn't going to be like a comedy. This isn't going to be a Shaun of the Dead. No, this is, this is serious. Um, I'm still interested to see it, but I am definitely going to make sure I'm sitting at the back of the theater so people don't see me do all the jumps with all the different jump scares. Um, so I'm, I'm curious because it is not what I had originally thought, but, um, you know, it was going to be, but I'm still curious to see it.

[00:31:41] And I will say this, if he, if the film's successful, he had Barbarian, he had weapons, he follows it up with this and if it's a big film, like I think Mr. Craig can just, you know, do anything he wants after this because he also, you know, the Oscar, you know, weapons got an Oscar for Amy Madigan. It's just like, okay, you know, which this film's not obviously going after Oscars, except maybe special effects. I don't know.

[00:32:08] But like, if he is this, if this is like a blockbuster thing, then he's just going to be like unstoppable as far as like he can just tell Hollywood, this is what I want to do. Fund it. Yeah. That's true. We'll see. The cast you were alluding to, Paul Walter Hauser and Zach Cherry are both in the film. Which, you know, I assume, you know, they can do dramatic things, but yeah, I think of them as being more like levity. So. Yeah. We'll definitely see. Yeah. I, uh, it looks like Zach Craig is getting to go.

[00:32:38] I mean, his previous two films obviously had horror elements to him. Obviously they were, yeah, they were a lot more about the buildup to horror and the actual true horror scenes were a little more sparse, which I think was what worked for the film. My curiosity is, I mean, it looks like he gets to go full, like, horror, gore, everything. Like evil dead looking. Right. It's like, is that going to work? I don't know. Because that wasn't what we really saw in either of his previous two films.

[00:33:08] I mean, yeah, barbarian ends with a pretty, a creature of a sort, you know, and, and yeah, but I don't know. I think his more effective work was the stuff leading up to the reveal of these creatures and characters and the dread and the buildup to them. So is this film just going to be constant blood gore violence and scary stuff? I don't know, but we'll see how he pulls it off. If it is. Um, I'm very curious about this film.

[00:33:35] Can't say I'm excited just because the subject matter is just still not really up my alley, but I will definitely see it because of Mr. Kragger for sure. So. Gotcha. All right. Well, that's Resident Evil. All I see is a 2026 release date. I don't see an actual date in front of me. So maybe towards like Halloween or October. That'd be nice. That would be nice. I think, uh, anytime you can release a horror film in October, it's always a good thing. A scary season release. Yeah. All right. Let's take a look at our second trailer.

[00:34:06] This is a film titled The Wizard of the Kremlin. Director is Olivier Arsais. Um, and this film stars Paul Dano, Jude Law, and Alicia Vikander. Uh, in the chaos of post-Soviet Russia, rising KGB officer Vladimir Putin, played by Jude Law. Part of him. Yep. Joins forces with master manipulator Vadim Barovnov, uh, played by Paul Dano, to reshape

[00:34:33] life behind the Iron Curtain using violence and deception to change the world forever. So, in other words, a little bit of a origin story of Vladimir Putin. Mm-hmm. Um, I don't see this film causing any controversy whatsoever when it comes out. No. No. No, it'll be completely, uh, absorbed and well-regarded and people will love that they're making this movie. Now, I, look, yes, it is poking a little bit of a bear making this film.

[00:34:59] Um, I'm assuming that we're going to see a little more of a, you know, this isn't going to be a, uh, a glowing piece about Mr. Putin. This is much more of a, yes, this is how his rise to power happened. Um, so, whether this will work with audiences, I don't know. We'll have to see. Um, it was interesting timing to obviously have this movie come out. Sure. But let's take a look at the, uh, trailer for this film. The trailer for The Wizard of the Kremlin.

[00:35:28] Coming soon, I think this film's got a release date. Uh, also, I just see 2026. I don't see a natural date. Yeah, anyway. Here we go. Here's the trailer. Russia needs a new president. He's young, athletic, he's a spy. KGB. Vladimir Putin, what interests me is power. Vadim Baranov was a visionary director.

[00:35:57] He became known as the new Rasputin. I want to be part of my time, not just a witness. I cannot be subservient to anyone. Our goal is chaos. What get into people's heads? We'll build the myth that the Russians are controlling the modern world. All right.

[00:36:26] That was the trailer for The Wizard of the Kremlin. Coming out later this year. Chris, any initial takes, thoughts on this? So, I do know who Vladimir Putin is. Um, I think most of the world does know who he is. Um, other figures in Russian history, not as familiar with.

[00:36:46] Um, but the character, or not character, the person that Paul Dano is portraying seems to be an interesting corollary parallel to Steve Bannon. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, and I, so, interesting. I'll be interested to see how that plays out. Yeah.

[00:37:04] Um, I think this film, because of, like you say, it's kind of, because it's obviously being released, being made at this time, because it's trying to speak to different issues going on in the world. Um, it's really going to have probably maybe a bar to pass that other films wouldn't. Mm-hmm. Um, but it does, I mean, all the acting involved looks amazing. So, um, we'll see.

[00:37:31] And, uh, yeah, if nothing else, I feel like I will get some insight into some of the makings of Vladimir Putin, which I know who he is. But other than that, I don't know, like, how he came to be who he is now. So, um, yeah, um, we'll be, we'll be interesting. So. Yeah. So, I say, as the director, I, unfortunately, I'm, I'm not up on many of his films at all. I mean, I know he did Personal Shopper. Which I've seen.

[00:38:01] Yeah. With, uh, that was with our Kristen Stewart. Mm-hmm. Clouds of Sills Maria did before that. Um, Nonfiction, not familiar with. Irma Vep, I think he did with Alicia Vikander, I believe. I didn't see that. So, yeah, I think. That was a TV show. Clouds of Sills Maria and Personal Shopper are maybe the two things I've seen from him. Yeah. Um, so anyway, it'll be interesting to see. His last film was Suspended Time, which also not familiar with.

[00:38:29] Uh, that one starred, uh, he wrote and directed that and doesn't really have any big names to it or any stars attached. Anyway. Uh, be curious to see, this seems to be kind of a bigger budget film for him and, like, obviously a higher profile film. A bunch of Hollywood stars. I mean, we've mentioned Vikander, Jude Law, Paul Dano. Also happy to see Jeffrey Wright. Mm-hmm. Anytime Jeffrey Wright pops up, I'm like, cool. Yeah. So good. Yeah. So, that is coming soon.

[00:38:56] We will definitely be curious to see how well that is received or how that plays when it actually comes out. Um, all right. Our last film in our trailer tapas section of our show is the film Fokker and Law. Yes. Yes. This is another one of the, uh, Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Meet the Fokkers. Actually, Meet the Parents was the original. The OG film in the series. Which I have seen.

[00:39:26] Followed by Meet the Fokkers. Did not see. I did see that. And then there was Little Fokkers. Also did not see that. I did not either. So, you and I have both traipsed off the chain of this series. But here it is. I think it's almost been 16 years since the last Fokkers movie in the FCU Fokkers Cinematic Universe. Yeah. And we have Fokker and Law now.

[00:39:54] So, the catch on this, for anybody not familiar with the series, it is Ben Stiller plays, in the first one, played someone who was going to meet the parents of his, uh, fiance. Mm-hmm. And he and the father-in-law, uh, kind of have an adversarial relationship, played by Robert De Niro. That was kind of the whole crux of the film. Gotcha. Then, second one was they go to meet Ben Stiller's character's parents,

[00:40:22] who are played by Dustin Hoffman in Barbra Strazand. Uh, then the third one, I think kids are involved. I'm assuming with the title. With the title, sure. This one, uh, we have, uh, Robert De Niro again. We have Ben Stiller again. And Ariana Grande has joined the franchise. She is going to be playing, I believe, the fiance of Ben Stiller's son. Okay. That's what I believe. I've not seen the trailer, so we'll find out for sure if that's the deal.

[00:40:51] But this film is obviously leaning in hard with Grande being a part of the cast. She is even in the posters. Her name is up there right with De Niro and Stiller. Is it going to be a musical? I do not believe so. Okay. So we'll have to see how this works out. We haven't seen Ariana Grande do a film that wasn't a musical, right? I mean. I don't think so. I don't think we have. All right. Well, let's take a look and see the trailer for Fokker in Law. And, uh, see what we think here.

[00:41:22] Don't worry. I test all the potential new family members with this machine. Very much. Do you have a positive impression of Henry's family so far? Yes. Hello? Hey. The old machine. It's funny to be on the outside. Used to be in the hot seat. Would you like to ask me some questions, Greg? Okay. Uh, Olivia, do you think I hold Henry emotionally hostage? I mean, yeah. You call him wee-wee?

[00:41:52] Wee-wee? What is that, like a joke about his wee-wee? Oh. Ha ha. Nope. No jokes about Henry's little penis. I mean, not little. You probably have more up-to-date info on it. I haven't seen it for a while, so. Dad, please stop talking. All right. So, that was the trailer for Fokker in Law. Chris, initial thoughts? I mean, I will say it looks like, but there again, I'm afraid every single joke in the film has now been spoiled by that.

[00:42:22] I can't imagine that was a teaser. I think that's like, here's a full-length trailer. Ariana Grande looks like she's having fun. She looks like she's up to the challenge of being a daughter-in-law to this family. It looks like it could be fun. They have waited 16 years. I recognize the fellow that is Ben Stiller's son. Can't get up with the actor's name right off. Yes. But he was in Licorice Pizza. He's been in some other things.

[00:42:50] Like, I'm glad to see him getting to do a comedy. I think it'll be good. I just don't know if— This is Skylar G. Shisando. Yeah, there we go. And I don't know if— He was Jimmy Olsen in the 90s. Yeah, so he's been in a lot of stuff. So, you know, obviously, I don't know. You know, can a comedy be sustained if this is the fourth in the series? I will say it looks like a few too many attacking dog jokes for me. Yeah, I was a lot of dogs.

[00:43:21] Just in the— Which I know that's a thing. Yeah, but— Because Robert De Niro's character is like this grizzled person. But I don't know. It could be good. I will probably not rush out to see it. Yeah. But we'll see. And, you know, like— It does appear that Barbara Strazan and Dustin Hoffman opted out of this one. I mean, they're not in the cast list. At all. At all. Were they in the third one? They were in the third one. Okay. I just looked it up. I had to verify this.

[00:43:50] They were introduced in the second film, and then they were actually in the third film. Okay. But not in this one. They said, we're out. Well, unless they make a surprise, like, not on the cast list thing. But, yeah. Just for clarity's sake, Little Fockers, the third film, the one 16 years ago that we did not see. Correct. Directed by Paul Weitz, has a 10% Rotten Tomatoes score at the moment.

[00:44:17] So, and again, I'm not saying films should all be judged by the Rotten Tomatoes score, but 10%. I mean, come on. That's pretty bad. So, okay. So, you know, we're trying to be an optimist here. We often are. The glimmer of hope, even though I didn't see the third installment, to come back after having a film be rated 10% on Rotten Tomatoes. And it's 16 years. I'm hoping that, like, you know what?

[00:44:45] This is going to be the sequel that maybe that third one should have been. Like, it'll kind of return to glory, the FCU. Well, it's just funny to see. Yeah, right. Oh, you're saying the Meet the Parents is the MCU. So, I was saying the Fockers is FCU. Right. You said FCU. Yeah. You return the glory to the FCU. Yeah. If they can do that. Because, yeah. Well, here's what's really funny. Meet the Parents. And again, it's Rotten Tomatoes score. Sure. It's all subjective, but just we have to have some. Pure audience score.

[00:45:15] The original Meet the Parents back in 2000. So, that was 26 years ago. Wow. 85% Rotten Tomatoes score. In other words, good. People like it. That's what I would expect. Yeah, sure. Meet the Fockers, which happened several years later, 2004. Okay. So, four years later, 38%. Okay. Big drop off. Starting to see the slope. Yep. Then you get to Little Fockers, the third one, which is in 2010, which was another six years after the second one, 10%.

[00:45:45] A series low. Sure. So, where will Focker and Lull fall? Where it will fall with us and others? I don't know. We'll see. But, yeah. I didn't really find much in the trailer interesting, but we'll see what happens when the film comes out. Yeah. I'm much more trusting of Ben Stiller these days, so this is a question for me of, is this a Ben Stiller just purely a paycheck?

[00:46:10] Or, I mean, he is listed as a producer of the film, or does he have any emotional investment in wanting to make these movies good? I don't know. Right. Because I do like what he's doing in the TV space and series and other things right now. So, I think he's doing some good things there. Okay. Fair enough. I'd like to see what he's working on. Who knows? All right. Well, that will end our Trailer Tapas section. Three films we wanted to highlight in a trailer form.

[00:46:37] All three of them look to be coming out this calendar year, 2026. So, Chris, we are to the point in the show now where we're ready to hear your recommendation. A film that you'd like to recommend to us to check out if we are so inclined to add something to our ever-growing watch list. A watch list that will never, ever decrease in size, no matter how hard we try to make time to watch things on it. Please, give me something else to add to my cue, Chris.

[00:47:04] I need it to grow even longer. So, well, yeah. I don't want to let you down. Maybe you can keep this on your list until February because it could be kind of an interesting film to watch around Valentine's Day. Oh, okay. All right. I guess an anti-Valentine's Day movie, but in a way, oh no, I'll just tell you what. The film is Splitsville. It's from 2025. Kind of the byline for it is an unromantic comedy.

[00:47:35] It's streaming on Hulu. I'll give you the plot description here. After Ashley asked for a divorce, good-natured Carrie runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. He's shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage. That is until Carrie crosses the line and throws all their relationships into chaos. So, a film about two married couples that then things like devolve and get all crazy and out of control. It is a comedy.

[00:48:04] It is dark, but it is a comedy. And I really enjoyed it. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking, that looks interesting. It was from a director, Michael Angelo Covina, who I'm not familiar with. Um, and also another actor, the two lead actors in the film, Kyle Marvin. He looked a little bit more familiar, but overall not really familiar with his work. The director and star of the film, Michael Angelo Covina, had done a previous film, and Kyle Marvin was also in that film.

[00:48:34] Um, so apparently they do have kind of a good working relationship. The person that you will recognize from this film is one Dakota Johnson, who is great in the film. Um, so I just, yeah, I, I really liked the film has some twists and turns. There's some clever editing and, uh, cutting and just, yeah, it's just some clever ways. They kind of allied over time periods and stuff.

[00:49:00] Um, so if you're in for dark comedy, kind of the idea of a unromantic comedy instead of a romantic comedy, um, I recommend it. And it's also a breezy 105 minutes. So there's that. And it's streaming, streaming on Hulu. Obviously not a family film. Okay. So good, good cautionary tale. There is a, not a family film, but splitsville on Hulu. Yes. I remember when this came out last year and, uh, it looked interesting.

[00:49:28] So I was kind of wanting to watch it, but just never got around to it. Um, so I'm glad to hear your recommendation of it. And it seems to be one of those films too. Doesn't get the press, like something like the drama does, which that's like a relationship film that you could say. Yeah. It was built as a dark comedy, which, you know, we're like, yeah, it's pretty dark. Same here. Um, but I think people's reaction, it was one of those films that I feel like people either liked or really did not like at all.

[00:49:55] So, um, yeah, I'd be interested to see if you do get around to saying it out and what your thoughts on splitsville. Awesome. All right. Thank you for the recommendation. Sure. It is on the list. It's been added to the list and that's going to wrap it up for today. So we had our review of the sheep detectives. We talked about our, uh, perceptions of three trailers. Focker and law. Mm-hmm. The something of something, something wizard of the Kremlin, wizard of the Kremlin and

[00:50:25] then resident evil. Yes. I do remember that. Uh, and then Chris's recommendation of splitsville as a film to possibly check out. So, Chris, anybody that likes to talk with us about films, maybe, uh, chat online, give us some feedback. Uh, are you the one person out there that saw the sheep detectives and hated it for whatever reason? Right. Please tell us. We want to know why. And, uh, you're going to criticize the film because sheep can't actually talk. Right. Yeah. You're one of those realists where it's like, no, this is, this is an impossible.

[00:50:55] So I'm going to give the film bad marks for that. Two thumbs down. Uh, whatever it may be. If you just want to open up a dialogue, how can people do so with us, Chris? You can contact us by sending an email to info at footcandle.org or leave a voicemail at the mesh.tv website. At that website, you can also check out past footcandle film episodes, as well as other podcasts on various subjects from barbecue to comedy to mental health. We're also on Facebook at footcandle film society and other social platforms as footcandle film. Do us a favor.

[00:51:24] If you like the show, considering giving us a review on whatever platform you receive your favorite podcast on because it'll help us reach new listeners. And as Alan mentioned at the beginning of the show, one of the things we're involved with other than the film society. And obviously this podcast is the 2026 footcandle film festival that'll be running September 18th through the 27th. So you can go ahead and mark your calendars. Now we are still receiving submissions for the film festival.

[00:51:50] So if you're a filmmaker, June 1st is your deadline to submit a film, but not long after that, we'll start trying to hammer out a schedule. So just stay tuned for that. All right. Well, thanks everybody for listening and being a part of the footcandle community here. And we'll look forward to talking to you next time we sit down for a recording. Thanks everyone. See you in the ticket line. Watch me.

[00:52:52] Special thanks to Carpal Tuller for the show theme music. For more about Carpal Tuller, visit www.carpaltuller.com. you've been listening to The Mesh an online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts sports to entertainment music to community all programs are available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube

[00:53:19] check us out online at TheMesh.tv discover other network shows and give us feedback on what you just heard