Wicked Emilia Pérez

[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH.

[00:00:10] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH.

[00:00:18] Footcandle Films. Film news and reviews from two guys who really like movies.

[00:00:25] This episode is brought to you by the Footcandle Film Society.

[00:00:29] For a schedule of upcoming screenings and membership information,

[00:00:33] visit the Society's website at www.footcandle.org.

[00:00:43] Hello everyone and welcome to Footcandle Films here on The MESH.TV Podcast Network.

[00:00:49] My name is Alan Jackson. With me is Chris Fry.

[00:00:53] We are your co-hosts for this next little bit of movie review and discussion.

[00:00:59] Chris, we're with the Footcandle Film Society and the annual Footcandle Film Festival.

[00:01:03] I have to make sure I get the obligatory number of mentions of the word Footcandle in our kickoff of the episode here, Chris.

[00:01:11] How are you doing today, man?

[00:01:12] I'm doing well.

[00:01:14] Just the holiday season that we are fast approaching and also the season of getting lots of movies that are coming out.

[00:01:21] So it's always a fun time.

[00:01:23] It is. It is my version of Christmas where it's just, you know, people are used to getting packages coming,

[00:01:30] delivered packages in the mail for your holidays.

[00:01:33] We get packages of movies and discs and all that.

[00:01:37] And it's always fun when the package arrives.

[00:01:39] You're like, oh, which studio, which film is this going to be this time?

[00:01:43] And as evident, I think you've been browsing my letterbox to reviews or at least my letterbox logging of films.

[00:01:50] Yes, it is.

[00:01:51] This past weekend was the first weekend of, OK, time to dig into some screeners.

[00:01:55] Let's jump in.

[00:01:57] And I did try to do my best to kind of make a dent in that.

[00:02:00] And we are going to talk about two films today to review.

[00:02:05] One we saw in a theater, one we saw online.

[00:02:08] But luckily, it's ones that anybody could see as well.

[00:02:11] So we're not going to jump into ones that are exclusive to the screeners yet.

[00:02:14] We're going to get into ones that are available for everybody to see.

[00:02:17] First up, we'll be talking about a little small independent film.

[00:02:21] I don't know if anybody's heard about.

[00:02:22] We haven't mentioned at all.

[00:02:24] I'm sure for like weeks now.

[00:02:27] A film called Wicked.

[00:02:28] I believe it's an adaptation of something, if I'm remembering correctly.

[00:02:32] And based off of some sort of famous story.

[00:02:34] Yeah, that's it.

[00:02:35] I think it is.

[00:02:36] Well, obviously, Wicked will be reviewing.

[00:02:38] And then we also have a review of the film Netflix.

[00:02:42] A Netflix, not an original film.

[00:02:45] A Netflix bought the film.

[00:02:46] But Netflix is now showing it as exclusive distribution.

[00:02:49] It is the film Amelia Perez.

[00:02:51] It was the darling of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

[00:02:55] Chris and I will be reviewing it to discuss whether or not that award holds up or not.

[00:03:02] As we discuss Amelia Perez.

[00:03:05] That'll be coming up later in this episode.

[00:03:08] But Chris, we do have to talk a little wicked.

[00:03:12] And just as a kind of a preview, after we get through with these two reviews, we are going

[00:03:17] to talk a little bit about the Oscars race.

[00:03:20] We started it last episode where we kind of previewed the best picture predictions that

[00:03:25] that Variety was making.

[00:03:26] We're going to dig into the actress and supporting actress categories after these two reviews.

[00:03:33] Because there's a lot of connections to those two categories with the two films that we'll

[00:03:37] be discussing.

[00:03:39] And I would like to bring up, I got a little, not a controversy, I got a soapbox to hop on

[00:03:45] during that discussion at the end.

[00:03:46] So I've just previewed a lot for our episode.

[00:03:49] We just jammed it back.

[00:03:50] We didn't even know what we were going to be doing about 20 minutes ago.

[00:03:53] We just kind of made this thing happen, Chris, as an episode.

[00:03:56] So here we go.

[00:03:57] You ready to get into our first review of Wicked?

[00:04:00] Let's do it.

[00:04:01] All right, here we go.

[00:04:03] Are people born wicked?

[00:04:08] Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?

[00:04:18] You're Greek.

[00:04:25] Welcome, you students, to Shiz University.

[00:04:29] Miss Elphaba.

[00:04:30] You can room with Miss Galinda.

[00:04:32] Popular.

[00:04:33] I know about popular.

[00:04:35] Oh, I saved you some space, by the way.

[00:04:38] Do you really think this is fair?

[00:04:39] I do not.

[00:04:40] I was promised a private suite.

[00:04:42] But thanks for asking.

[00:04:48] Musicals have been having a moment kind of as of late.

[00:04:51] We've had a Spielberg remake of West Side Story, a movie version of Dear Evan Hansen.

[00:04:56] We've had a movie to musical to movie musical version of Mean Girls and a version of In the

[00:05:03] Heights directed by one John Chu.

[00:05:06] Well, now with an 8.2 in IMDb and a 90 Rotten Tomatoes score, not to mention a pretty healthy

[00:05:13] opening weekend as part of this year's Barbenheimer pairing, which has been dubbed Glicked for the

[00:05:20] pairing of Gladiator 2 and Wicked.

[00:05:22] I thought it was kind of funny.

[00:05:24] It would seem Wicked has done well and been worth the months of hype and promotion that

[00:05:30] have been poured into it.

[00:05:31] For those that have maybe not had an internet connection for a while or not aware of this

[00:05:37] movie, this phenomenon, as I mentioned, it was originally a book.

[00:05:42] Then it was turned into a Broadway musical.

[00:05:44] And now it's come.

[00:05:45] And it's a film that's musical.

[00:05:46] And the story follows Elphaba, which I think is a crazy name.

[00:05:51] But Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin and Galinda, a popular girl,

[00:05:58] become friends at Shiz University, another kind of random name there.

[00:06:02] Shiz University in the land of Oz.

[00:06:04] After an encounter with the wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads.

[00:06:11] Alan, I mentioned previously, this was part one.

[00:06:14] The crossroads kind of happens there at the end of the film.

[00:06:18] And we won't spoil it too much for those of you who are completely unaware of the story.

[00:06:22] But Alan, how did part one work for you?

[00:06:25] And are you looking forward to a return to Oz with part two?

[00:06:29] And did anyone sing in your theater to the screen?

[00:06:32] No, nobody's.

[00:06:34] Nobody's saying.

[00:06:35] Yeah, I understand.

[00:06:36] That's kind of a thing.

[00:06:36] Did not happen in mine.

[00:06:37] I caught this as a late, late, late screening one night.

[00:06:42] So there were no young children.

[00:06:43] Not a huge crowd.

[00:06:45] No, and not a lot of children.

[00:06:46] But I do know that the Big D Theater, the big digital theater, the premier theater screen in our complex,

[00:06:55] looks to be sold out.

[00:06:56] Like just about every screening I checked on the ticket availability, just out of curiosity.

[00:07:00] Sure.

[00:07:01] It's like it's doing pretty well.

[00:07:03] As far as my thoughts on this.

[00:07:05] Chris, I told you kind of leading into this, I think over the last couple weeks.

[00:07:08] Wicked is not a movie I feel like is terribly in my wheelhouse.

[00:07:13] You do like musicals.

[00:07:15] I do.

[00:07:15] I really like musicals.

[00:07:16] And we'll be discussing two musicals today, which is going to be kind of interesting.

[00:07:20] I do like musicals.

[00:07:22] So that was the part of it that I am kind of excited about.

[00:07:24] Yeah, generally, look, I like the story of The Wizard of Oz.

[00:07:27] So anything that expands on that or kind of delves into that world, I'm okay with that too.

[00:07:34] You have not, I think we talked off here, but reveal you have not read the book and you also have not seen the Broadway musical.

[00:07:42] No.

[00:07:42] Okay.

[00:07:43] I know very, very little going in, which was good.

[00:07:45] Perfect.

[00:07:45] I went in just for a movie going experience to see this.

[00:07:51] I liked it.

[00:07:53] I mean, it is exactly what I expected.

[00:07:56] Okay.

[00:07:57] It is, I think it traipses into the epic proportions of this story and film really well.

[00:08:04] I think it's a very visually interesting film to watch.

[00:08:08] I think there are some interesting performances that I do want to talk about a little bit more into this with our two leads.

[00:08:17] And generally speaking, as a part one, and I knew it was a part one going into it.

[00:08:21] So, you know, I understood that there was going to be a point of the film where something was going to end and there was going to be some unsolved resolution in some aspects.

[00:08:30] And I understood that.

[00:08:31] So I was kind of prepared for that.

[00:08:33] As a part one, I think it was, I think it was fine.

[00:08:36] I think it was good.

[00:08:37] But I think there's some musical numbers in here that were really, really good.

[00:08:43] I thought were handled really well.

[00:08:45] And I got to look to the director, John Chu, with this as well.

[00:08:50] I can't say I've been a fan of a lot of his work.

[00:08:53] I mean, I think his work.

[00:08:55] He, okay, I take, well, let me, let me back up.

[00:08:58] His work starting with In the Heights?

[00:09:00] Well, he did In the Heights.

[00:09:01] And I did really like that film, but I didn't necessarily like it necessarily because of the direction.

[00:09:05] I liked it because I liked the performances.

[00:09:08] I liked the music.

[00:09:09] I liked the choreography.

[00:09:10] I liked everything else kind of going on in the direction.

[00:09:16] It's just his style of filmmaking is not really a great match for me.

[00:09:20] Okay.

[00:09:21] But he took a story that was obviously a well-beloved story and an interesting story.

[00:09:26] I mean, it is an interesting story to watch.

[00:09:28] He got some good performances.

[00:09:30] He's got some great music to already work with.

[00:09:32] I understood that all the music in this part one was music from the stage play.

[00:09:38] Like there's no original songs because my understanding, um, it has been a while since I've seen the musical.

[00:09:43] So I couldn't remember.

[00:09:45] That's what I read.

[00:09:45] I think there may be a couple of originals coming in part two, but I think part one was all stage songs.

[00:09:50] Gotcha.

[00:09:51] So I think, I think he took the parts that he had.

[00:09:54] He had such great foundation to already work with and he made an entertaining film out of it.

[00:10:00] And I generally liked it.

[00:10:03] Did anything blow me away?

[00:10:05] Did anything just really make me like get eagerly wanting to see part two?

[00:10:10] Not really, but I already went in with pretty much a, a low threshold of where this film needed to perform for me just based on everything kind of coming into it.

[00:10:20] And I think it met it.

[00:10:21] And I thought it was, um, I thought it, God, I hate saying that.

[00:10:25] I thought it was fine.

[00:10:26] So you think, I thought it was fine.

[00:10:28] You were a little wicked weary going in.

[00:10:31] I was.

[00:10:32] It came out.

[00:10:32] You was like, it's okay.

[00:10:33] But like it pretty much hype and everything.

[00:10:36] You're just like, I was a little wicked weary.

[00:10:37] So it had kind of an uphill battle to kind of.

[00:10:40] And I think that the same thing that happened with this film happens in a lot of these times where you do adaptations and you try to take a story that I kind of get the feeling that they padded a lot into this movie to try to make it a longer movie.

[00:10:56] I felt like there were scenes that were a little redundant.

[00:10:58] I felt like there were points where I didn't quite understand some of the characters and motivations for, for going in a certain way.

[00:11:05] I don't know if seeing it in a stage play or definitely in reading in a book.

[00:11:09] I know in a book, I will, you would have gotten a lot more flavor for what was going on.

[00:11:13] Maybe in the stage play with being a little more compressed and everything kind of there on stage, instead of feeling this need to build out this huge expansive world.

[00:11:21] Maybe the story would have flowed a little better for me than just the movie by itself.

[00:11:26] I am curious, Chris, you have seen the play.

[00:11:29] Yes.

[00:11:30] Okay.

[00:11:30] And you are familiar with the book it's based off of.

[00:11:32] So I knew, so I knew there was a book.

[00:11:36] Like I remember, cause I'm the nerd that used to go to like the mall bookstore back when there used to be bookstores in the mall.

[00:11:42] Was it a Walden books?

[00:11:43] We used to go to a mall.

[00:11:43] Did you have a Walden books?

[00:11:45] Walden books and B. Dalton's.

[00:11:46] Oh yeah, B. Dalton's.

[00:11:47] So I'll cruise both.

[00:11:48] We were fortunate to have both in the mall.

[00:11:51] So I remember seeing the cover of the book, Wicked, and being kind of curious because I was like, oh, that looks like I could tell that it was kind of like this retelling or like kind of, you know, a twist.

[00:12:03] And I was like, oh, but I was like, oh, fantasy.

[00:12:06] That's not for me.

[00:12:07] I don't do fairy tales.

[00:12:08] So I just never got into it.

[00:12:10] I am familiar, like you mentioned with the Broadway play and I liked the Broadway play, but I was very leery of this film because I knew we discussed.

[00:12:21] I knew it was going to be two parts.

[00:12:23] Yeah.

[00:12:24] And I was just kind of cranky.

[00:12:26] It's kind of like a little bit of the residual Hobbit bitterness.

[00:12:29] If you can do something in a play in like roughly three hours with an intermission or whatever, why do you need two films?

[00:12:36] I don't know how long the second one's going to be, but this one was two hour and 40 minutes.

[00:12:40] I just don't get it.

[00:12:42] And of course my knee jerk reaction is, oh, it's all about money.

[00:12:44] And I know movies are a business.

[00:12:46] It's people's livelihood.

[00:12:47] But I just thought it was needless.

[00:12:50] Now, having seen the film, having seen the film, I would say that I actually felt the time went really fast.

[00:12:59] And I, the people that I went to get, cause I went to see it with some friends.

[00:13:03] My understanding is there is stuff in the film that is not in the play.

[00:13:08] However, it is in the book.

[00:13:10] Well, that was what I was going to say is that since this is originally based on a book and a book, you could argue it does take longer to read because there is more information.

[00:13:19] Then it gets distilled down into a musical.

[00:13:21] Now, if this is a harken back to the book, then there's a lot more to chew on.

[00:13:26] So, yeah.

[00:13:26] And so one of the storylines or one of the threads that was not in the Broadway musical that was in the book.

[00:13:34] Okay.

[00:13:37] Was the line of animals and not being able to speak.

[00:13:41] That was a question I was going to ask because that seemed like something that I couldn't tell if that was added for the movie experience because it didn't seem like it would have translated in a stage play very well.

[00:13:52] And it wasn't.

[00:13:53] It made now granted the person I went, they had read the book and they hadn't seen the Broadway play, but they'd read the book.

[00:13:58] But they said, no, that was definitely in the book.

[00:13:59] I'm like, well, I don't think it.

[00:14:00] And some other people had seen the play.

[00:14:01] Like, yeah, I don't remember that either.

[00:14:02] And if there was a reference to it, it was kind of passing.

[00:14:06] Yeah.

[00:14:06] It was not.

[00:14:09] Interestingly, which gets me.

[00:14:10] I liked.

[00:14:11] I'll go ahead and say I like the film.

[00:14:13] It overcame.

[00:14:14] There were two things that this film had to do.

[00:14:17] Number one.

[00:14:18] And most importantly, it had to justify being a part one and being two hour and 40 minutes.

[00:14:23] It did.

[00:14:24] You feel like it did that.

[00:14:25] It did for me because it brought.

[00:14:26] And I did too.

[00:14:27] They were actually surprising to me because I know the play.

[00:14:30] I've seen it.

[00:14:30] But there was all this news.

[00:14:31] I was like, oh, cool.

[00:14:32] And it kept me entertained even though I knew where the story was going.

[00:14:36] And I kind of guessed what the final scene was going to be.

[00:14:39] And I was right.

[00:14:40] Because I think if you're going to divide it up, it kind of makes sense.

[00:14:44] You do an act one and act two.

[00:14:46] Right.

[00:14:46] And that's what they did.

[00:14:47] So, but so that was good for me.

[00:14:51] That made me like the film.

[00:14:52] And I'm interested to see the sequel.

[00:14:54] Hey, because I like this one.

[00:14:56] Okay.

[00:14:56] But the book is apparently much darker than the musical.

[00:15:03] Now, I'm sure they probably won't.

[00:15:05] This was rated PG.

[00:15:06] I'm sure part two won't be overly dark, but it may be more challenging than your typical

[00:15:12] PG movie.

[00:15:13] Yeah.

[00:15:13] Which I think this one kind of kind of is in some ways.

[00:15:17] I mean, I can see why it's PG because they keep it.

[00:15:20] There are no curse words.

[00:15:21] It's pretty clean.

[00:15:22] There's not a lot of violence.

[00:15:24] There's some scariness.

[00:15:25] Maybe a little, a couple of frightening moments late.

[00:15:28] Obviously, anytime you have the flying monkeys involved.

[00:15:30] I mean, there's not a lot of like, so I, but I think there's, there's issues that are

[00:15:34] kind of being presented that adults seeing the film can kind of calculate and be a little

[00:15:40] bit more serious.

[00:15:40] Anyways, so that was the first thing that it had to do was justify the runtime because

[00:15:44] it's, you know, can be broken into two pieces.

[00:15:47] Second thing it had to do, which a lot of critics before I had gotten to see the film

[00:15:52] were griping about this and rolling their eyes about this, the CGI nature of the film.

[00:15:59] Now granted, this is one of those things where we talk about expectations all the time.

[00:16:03] Um, I had my expectations, I guess, lowered because it was like, Oh, it's just going to

[00:16:08] be kind of a CGI mess.

[00:16:09] It's just, I'm not going to appreciate it, but no, I thought it was, I thought it was

[00:16:15] fine.

[00:16:15] Um, I think because I'd had it, my expectations lowered that I was going to really not like

[00:16:21] the look of the film.

[00:16:22] I mean, would it be cool if they use no CGI and somehow did all this with like practical

[00:16:27] effects?

[00:16:28] Well, yeah, the geek in me would think that was good, but the CGI ness of the film did

[00:16:34] not bother me.

[00:16:35] I'm with you on that.

[00:16:36] And I was actually one of the ones who voiced my concern about just watching a two and a

[00:16:39] half hour movie all in this giant CGI world and kind of no.

[00:16:43] And I never felt, uh, I, I think it did okay with that.

[00:16:47] It balanced.

[00:16:47] Yes.

[00:16:47] Obviously they're in a CGI world.

[00:16:50] Half the time you're seeing the film and yes, there's no way to pull off some of the shots

[00:16:54] and scenes that they do without CGI, but it never seemed, it never got overwhelming or

[00:17:00] distracting.

[00:17:01] It never, it never took me out of the film, which is, which is good.

[00:17:04] Which I can reference to kind of say how I stand on the whole, like in the Harry Potter

[00:17:10] films.

[00:17:10] Yes.

[00:17:11] Obviously there's CGI, but it never bothered me.

[00:17:13] And so that's how, for me, that's how the CGI was in this.

[00:17:16] I could tell, or at least I think there were, I've heard that there were some practical

[00:17:21] elements of the sets, but yes, they also did have green screen.

[00:17:24] They had the challenge of Cynthia or, um, yeah, Cynthia Erivo's character.

[00:17:29] She is the one who plays Elf by the witch.

[00:17:31] She has green skin.

[00:17:32] And that was an immediate challenge for them because if you use CGI and green screen,

[00:17:36] a lot of times like her skin's green.

[00:17:38] So they did have some interesting challenges on the set.

[00:17:41] I'm sure there'll be some behind the scenes thing that'll talk about that.

[00:17:44] But anyways, um, whereas for me, something that was not a good example of a CGI world,

[00:17:50] or at least kind of took me out and I was just annoyed by it was, uh, was that the multiverse

[00:17:55] of madness, Dr. Strange.

[00:17:57] And again, I understand what they're doing.

[00:17:58] They either have to use CGI, but it was just so much.

[00:18:01] And, or the quadro, uh, quantum mania, quantum man, maybe like that one just kind of annoyed

[00:18:07] me because it just seemed like it was just all a CGI fest.

[00:18:10] It just was annoying.

[00:18:12] This didn't do that.

[00:18:13] No, I think, I think there was a fairly good world building visual world, world building

[00:18:18] going on here that I, I did.

[00:18:20] I, that was what I was probably just bemoaning the most going into the film.

[00:18:24] And it ultimately, I walked away.

[00:18:26] I'm like, Oh, they did.

[00:18:27] They did pretty good balance with that.

[00:18:29] I felt like it, the movie stayed pretty grounded in that, that realm, despite the fact that you're

[00:18:35] in this fantastical world with, you know, all of those visual elements around you.

[00:18:40] So, and I think, I think too, I had revisited, um, within the past year, I revisited the original

[00:18:47] Wizard of Oz.

[00:18:48] And I remember watching that movie when it would come on once a year on TV as a kid and

[00:18:54] I liked it, but looking at it now with adult eyes, yeah, you can tell like, you know,

[00:18:58] the sets are kind of, you know, funky and they're doing the best they can with like rear projection

[00:19:02] and all this kind of stuff.

[00:19:04] But it's like, it's still, the characters are endearing and the stories there.

[00:19:08] So you just kind of, especially as a kid, you don't see the dangling wires as an adult.

[00:19:12] You do, but you forgive it.

[00:19:15] Yeah.

[00:19:15] So I think, you know, here I was so engaged with everything going on that I was like, yeah,

[00:19:19] it's CJ, but whatever.

[00:19:21] Can we talk about the two lead performance?

[00:19:23] We should.

[00:19:24] Yeah, we should.

[00:19:24] Because I think there's, there's a lot to chew on here with this.

[00:19:27] Okay.

[00:19:27] Um, I'll tell you my take on it.

[00:19:29] Okay.

[00:19:30] I thought Cynthia Ervio was fantastic.

[00:19:34] I really, really liked her performance.

[00:19:37] Okay.

[00:19:37] Um, I hear, I hear a butt coming up with Ariana.

[00:19:41] Not really, not, not, not terribly, but a little more of a caveat with, with,

[00:19:44] with a grande.

[00:19:46] Um, but I do think Cynthia Ervio, if her performance had not worked for me, uh, yeah, I'd be coming

[00:19:53] out of this film with a much, much lower opinion.

[00:19:56] But I think you have to connect with her and in her roles, Elphaba.

[00:20:02] And I, I totally did.

[00:20:03] So I, I bought it.

[00:20:05] I liked her performance.

[00:20:06] It's also the fact that she's a really great singer and she's, she's, she, she's got it

[00:20:10] down pat.

[00:20:11] So she, she was great.

[00:20:13] And I want to hear your take on both of these as well, but I'll say Ariana Grande, I think

[00:20:17] was really good, but I found myself having to kind of keep reconnecting with her, her

[00:20:24] performance.

[00:20:25] Her performance is a lot and I get it.

[00:20:28] It's, that's partly the character too.

[00:20:30] I mean, the character is meant to be someone who has a lot.

[00:20:33] I've also seen Ariana Grande on Saturday night live and I've seen her do some other

[00:20:37] things.

[00:20:38] She's a lot in general.

[00:20:40] Her performance is a very big performance.

[00:20:42] I don't know her.

[00:20:42] I mean, I know her just as a singer, but I'm not, I've never really seen her.

[00:20:46] Yeah.

[00:20:46] I've just seen her like mainly hosting the show and doing sketch comedy.

[00:20:50] Is she, she's, she's a very big performer.

[00:20:52] So it sounds like perfect casting.

[00:20:55] It was perfect casting.

[00:20:56] Okay.

[00:20:57] Uh, yeah, her performance annoyed me at times, but I also understand that that's partly the

[00:21:02] character is meant to annoy me at times.

[00:21:04] So again, I luckily Cynthia Ervio, I think they play the great balance.

[00:21:08] I think they worked as a good balancing on each other, but I do think Cynthia Ervio was

[00:21:13] really, really good.

[00:21:14] So Chris, I want to hear your talk on the two leads.

[00:21:16] No, I think they were perfectly cast, perfectly matched.

[00:21:20] And I guess I think actually, okay.

[00:21:24] I think both did a great job.

[00:21:25] If I had to, if I had to pick, if I was being forced to pick who I think did the better

[00:21:30] job, I like the character, which I think probably everybody does of alpha, but better than I

[00:21:35] like Galinda.

[00:21:36] I think you're supposed to.

[00:21:37] Yeah.

[00:21:37] Um, and I think both did a fabulous job, but I actually appreciated Ariana Grande's Galinda

[00:21:43] more.

[00:21:44] And here's why, because for me, I knew going in, yes, the character is annoying.

[00:21:50] That's the role she's supposed to play.

[00:21:51] But I felt that she did a really good job of trying to walk the line where she is annoying.

[00:21:58] She is a lot, but I felt like I could always see a little bit of, but she kind of, she,

[00:22:04] and she's self-centered or anything, but I could still see like, no, I can see the potential

[00:22:10] where there's more to you.

[00:22:12] And I think that's a, that's a harder line to walk.

[00:22:16] Um, you know, she befriends Elphaba, but then it's like kind of for self-serving means at

[00:22:20] some points, but ultimately, and you get there, I feel like you can see a kernel of she's a

[00:22:27] decent person.

[00:22:29] And I guess I'm also aware of how some things happen or I think are going to happen in the

[00:22:34] second part of the film.

[00:22:35] But I just, I was more impressed with that, I guess.

[00:22:38] Um, whereas Elphaba, even though I think the character's arc is pretty, there's nothing

[00:22:45] unusual about it, I guess for me, like, you know, it's somebody who, I mean, okay.

[00:22:49] I liked the film.

[00:22:50] I could think I can tell that I liked it more than you.

[00:22:53] Um, a little bit.

[00:22:54] I mean, I'm going to say, look, I liked it.

[00:22:55] It's just, yeah, I liked it.

[00:22:58] You definitely, you liked it more, but we both liked it.

[00:23:00] Sure.

[00:23:01] But I can say one of the things, if I'm going to nitpick, which there is something that

[00:23:05] irritated me about the film, um, because it's a trope and I, okay, maybe they did it on

[00:23:11] purpose.

[00:23:11] And if so, you did it on purpose.

[00:23:13] Congratulations.

[00:23:14] It irritated me, which maybe that was your whole point.

[00:23:18] Um, Elphaba has the stereotypical crutch of being a non-cool person by wearing glasses.

[00:23:26] And I actually really liked the glasses.

[00:23:29] The glasses were cool.

[00:23:31] They were like these circular things and they were like, kind of like a, it was like a

[00:23:33] infinity, a little bit of an infinity loop.

[00:23:36] Kind of like a whimsical take on the John Lennon glasses in a weird way.

[00:23:39] And I liked them.

[00:23:40] And then, you know, at one point I was, I didn't even notice when, but I figured out when it

[00:23:45] happened.

[00:23:45] But like by the end of the film, it's like, yeah, when did she stop wearing glasses?

[00:23:48] Guess when she stopped wearing glasses.

[00:23:50] There's a point in the film where she goes to like a ball or something.

[00:23:53] Is that after the popular song?

[00:23:55] Uh, I believe so.

[00:23:56] And she noticed, she goes to the ball and everybody noticed then through terms of events

[00:24:00] thinks that Elphaba is kind of cool.

[00:24:03] And of course, is she wearing glasses during that?

[00:24:06] No.

[00:24:06] Yeah.

[00:24:06] And so it's like the whole trope of, oh, she's ugly, but then remove her glasses.

[00:24:11] It's a little, it's a little, uh, breakfast club, alley-sheety kind of thing at the end

[00:24:14] of it.

[00:24:15] So yeah, a little bit of that.

[00:24:16] That kind of irritated me, but, um, that, you know, if that's my nitpick, I think overall,

[00:24:21] you know, the, I worked.

[00:24:23] So yeah, the only, only nitpick I've got,

[00:24:25] and I'm not even a nitpick.

[00:24:27] It actually is a criticism.

[00:24:29] It probably is not something that affected you because you knew the story going in.

[00:24:34] I didn't know the book stuff, but yeah, but you knew the general story.

[00:24:37] You knew the general flow of where things were the major beats that were going to happen.

[00:24:41] I did not.

[00:24:41] So this is John Chu had a responsibility to kind of present it to me for the first time.

[00:24:47] Right, right.

[00:24:48] The, um, the decisions made by Glenda late in the film with regards to her relationship

[00:25:00] with Elphaba.

[00:25:02] Yes.

[00:25:03] Decisions to, I'm just going to say go or not go kind of a decision.

[00:25:08] Didn't work for me in the film.

[00:25:12] I don't think they gave enough of a basis for how I'm supposed to feel Glenda's decision

[00:25:18] making processes at that point and what her values are.

[00:25:22] I, I can see that.

[00:25:23] Now, maybe the stage play handled it better.

[00:25:26] Maybe the book obviously hopefully handled it better.

[00:25:29] Or it didn't translate for me.

[00:25:31] I honestly found myself thinking like, wait, what?

[00:25:34] Why, why are you doing this?

[00:25:37] And again, because I just don't think the film gave me enough to understand why Glenda would

[00:25:42] have made the choice she made, which is a pretty critical choice, which I assume is going to

[00:25:46] set up the whole machination of the part two.

[00:25:48] Yes.

[00:25:49] So I can't really say much.

[00:25:51] But I needed to understand for this part one, why, why when given an opportunity to

[00:25:59] continue on the path we've seen her development of as a character happen, why she made the

[00:26:04] decision to not go for it as a, anyway.

[00:26:07] So keep it.

[00:26:08] Yes.

[00:26:08] And without spoiling anything, cause it's not, um, just.

[00:26:13] Do I have to have patience?

[00:26:14] My take on that is it's fear.

[00:26:18] Okay.

[00:26:19] And well, it could be, I needed to see that.

[00:26:21] Right.

[00:26:21] I needed to see that a little bit more.

[00:26:23] She is trying to change, but she can't quite.

[00:26:26] I didn't quite pick that up from her.

[00:26:27] I kind of got it as a, yes, I'm going to do this.

[00:26:30] Yeah.

[00:26:30] It sounds great.

[00:26:31] Oh yeah.

[00:26:31] Let's do this.

[00:26:32] Um, nevermind.

[00:26:33] Nope.

[00:26:34] You're good.

[00:26:34] And, and it's like, wait a minute, everything we've just built up over the last hour of

[00:26:39] this film, I feel like kind of didn't matter, but I also understand, look, it's a part two

[00:26:45] coming and there are some, um, maybe there'll be some better understandings of her decisions

[00:26:51] later on.

[00:26:52] So I understand there's a little bit of that.

[00:26:53] But I don't want to judge an entire story off of the first half when there's a whole

[00:26:57] second half to come.

[00:26:58] I get that.

[00:26:59] But, but it is a movie you released and you're not going to release a second one for another

[00:27:03] year.

[00:27:04] So you kind of got to make sure that at least the movie on its own stands for something.

[00:27:08] And I do feel like that, that, I just don't think that ending quite, quite got where it

[00:27:13] needed to go to, to have the most impact it could have had.

[00:27:17] That's for me.

[00:27:18] That's interesting.

[00:27:18] You say that.

[00:27:19] And maybe it's because I've seen the play cause I can't unsee the play, but, uh, walking

[00:27:23] out cause I saw it with three other people and, uh, walking out from the film, we were

[00:27:27] kind of discussing and I'd nobody, the other three people that I'd gone with, they were

[00:27:31] not aware that it was going to be a part one, part two, but before the movie started,

[00:27:35] I was like, Hey, you guys are aware that this three hour movie is only part one.

[00:27:38] They're like, do what?

[00:27:39] And I was like, yep, that's all I'm going to say.

[00:27:41] And so they watched me, but it was interesting because walking out the three other people

[00:27:46] all said, you know what?

[00:27:48] I would actually be fine.

[00:27:49] I, they liked it.

[00:27:50] They all liked it, but they said, you know what?

[00:27:52] If I never saw part two, I would be satisfied with this.

[00:27:56] That's a very good point.

[00:27:57] I think the reasoning is unlike with something like Dune one, then you had Dune part two with

[00:28:03] this, you know, the story.

[00:28:05] Well, everybody that went to see it with me, you know, the story of wizard of Oz.

[00:28:08] So everybody kind of knows how that transpires and everything.

[00:28:11] So you see this and you're kind of like, okay, that's cool.

[00:28:14] I got a little like a prequel, but then you can kind of guess in a sense, what's going

[00:28:19] to happen in part two.

[00:28:20] So you're like, I'm fine.

[00:28:21] If I never saw it, I'd still would think this would be, they did a good job of making

[00:28:24] a self-contained film, even though it was a part one.

[00:28:27] Does that make sense?

[00:28:28] No, no.

[00:28:28] And I completely agree.

[00:28:30] I mean, I actually think it was the right ending for this film.

[00:28:34] And yeah, I thought about the same thing as I left.

[00:28:36] It was like, yeah, you know what?

[00:28:37] If there wasn't a part two, I mean, at least this part one, you could go and then watch

[00:28:42] the wizard of Oz.

[00:28:44] And it makes sense.

[00:28:45] It does.

[00:28:46] Although the character of Elphaba, I would not understand.

[00:28:51] Okay.

[00:28:51] Because she ends on a point in this film and it's like, I can't make the mental leap

[00:28:58] of where I see her in the wizard of Oz.

[00:29:01] Right.

[00:29:01] And I understand that that's what part two is helping to understand that.

[00:29:04] Look, I've already read the Wikipedia.

[00:29:06] I know the deal with part two.

[00:29:07] I know.

[00:29:08] Oh, you ruined it for yourself.

[00:29:09] No, no, no.

[00:29:09] I needed that.

[00:29:10] I needed that actually to understand it.

[00:29:12] No, that's okay.

[00:29:13] I'm so sad.

[00:29:13] Look, I was going to find out beforehand.

[00:29:15] It was fine.

[00:29:15] I'm so sad.

[00:29:16] I couldn't help it.

[00:29:16] I'm not going to wait a year to like hear the story.

[00:29:19] I'm actually more interested in seeing the film now of part two to see how they present

[00:29:23] it in film.

[00:29:24] When you and I talked about.

[00:29:25] Oh, I know.

[00:29:26] Yeah.

[00:29:26] When you and I talked about on the way to go see Gladiator 2.

[00:29:29] Yeah.

[00:29:29] I asked you, you know, you're like, oh, let's review it.

[00:29:31] I was like, great.

[00:29:32] I was like, do you know what it's about?

[00:29:33] Oh, yeah.

[00:29:33] I was like, oh, you do.

[00:29:34] He's like, oh, yeah, no.

[00:29:35] I know the basics of it.

[00:29:36] Yeah.

[00:29:36] And you're like, and you told me like, oh, it's about how the Wicked Witch becomes

[00:29:39] like, okay.

[00:29:40] And I was like, great.

[00:29:42] And then I got so excited watching this film because the way it starts off, they kind

[00:29:45] of started off with the way the Wizard of Oz ends.

[00:29:49] And then the film is a flashback.

[00:29:51] And I'm like, this is, I like.

[00:29:52] And so seeing part one end, I was like, I can't wait to talk to Alan about it.

[00:29:58] But then also like, I can't wait till he sees part two.

[00:30:01] Because there's no way I was going to be able to not find out for the next year.

[00:30:07] It's a year, Chris.

[00:30:08] There's no way.

[00:30:09] The internet.

[00:30:10] The internet exists.

[00:30:11] There's no way I would know.

[00:30:12] But look, I'm still excited to see part two because I actually do think that sounds like

[00:30:17] the more interesting part.

[00:30:19] Okay.

[00:30:19] So I'm looking forward to it.

[00:30:20] But anyway, it still brings me back to the question of, I still feel like, yes, there's

[00:30:24] a movie could have ended and there could not be a part two.

[00:30:26] There is an ending.

[00:30:27] There would be a lot of question marks in my mind about what transpired with this, this

[00:30:32] character, Elphaba, between the two to make her the way we see on the Wizard of Oz.

[00:30:36] But it could have ended.

[00:30:39] You're right.

[00:30:40] And, but it also still just brings me back to that question of that relationship between

[00:30:45] Glenda and her at the end.

[00:30:47] I just, I needed more, I needed more emotional backing for that.

[00:30:53] And I didn't get it.

[00:30:54] And what should have been an extremely powerful ending was just a slightly powerful ending for

[00:31:01] me because of that, because I did not understand.

[00:31:04] I didn't understand the decisions being made at the end there.

[00:31:07] Well, I think, and it makes it more for me, even though this is a fantasy movie, it makes

[00:31:13] it more realistic that Glenda or Galenda or Glenda, however you wish to call her name.

[00:31:20] And there's a changing of her name in the film.

[00:31:24] But that actually is a little bit more believable that she can't quite make that leap.

[00:31:28] And it's sad and it's realistic, but it's like, I can't quite.

[00:31:32] I totally understand that.

[00:31:33] I just didn't see anything on screen leading me to believe that she was struggling with that decision.

[00:31:40] Okay.

[00:31:41] At all.

[00:31:41] Until that one like moment where she just like, no.

[00:31:44] And I'm like, well, where'd that come from?

[00:31:46] Because everything I've seen the last hour, like you're totally moving in the right direction.

[00:31:50] And then I just need a little more understanding of why the no answer.

[00:31:56] And I didn't get it.

[00:31:57] So again, I think having exposure to the other medium that this story has been told, you already

[00:32:03] have a little bit of that backing.

[00:32:05] Me as a neophyte in the wicked world, I didn't get it.

[00:32:09] So it was a little disheartening for the ending.

[00:32:13] Otherwise, I think the rest of the movie worked really worked pretty well.

[00:32:16] I'll just give a couple of call out things.

[00:32:18] I think the, I thought a lot of the musical numbers and dance numbers were really good.

[00:32:23] I'll say that my favorite was probably in the library.

[00:32:28] Interesting.

[00:32:29] Yeah.

[00:32:29] Just because I thought it was very, it was a fun, energetic performance.

[00:32:33] And then the setting in this kind of cool, circular, spinning library.

[00:32:39] It just, it was a cool spot.

[00:32:40] It was a cool spot for a performance.

[00:32:42] I liked it a lot.

[00:32:43] And let me say, okay, you mentioned you're not familiar with kind of the wicked world.

[00:32:46] This is your first exposure.

[00:32:47] Sure.

[00:32:48] So you may have been aware of this, but you're definitely aware of it now.

[00:32:51] The two key numbers that people kind of remember are popular and define gravity.

[00:32:57] Right.

[00:32:58] So those are the two.

[00:32:58] And so like me being familiar with it, the whole movie, I was like, okay, this is going

[00:33:02] to happen here.

[00:33:03] And it did.

[00:33:03] And then, you know, so those were just, I thought they were good, but they didn't really

[00:33:07] stand out.

[00:33:08] But I'm at the same place.

[00:33:11] The library number I thought was awesome.

[00:33:14] It was.

[00:33:14] It was great.

[00:33:15] To me, that's something people say.

[00:33:16] They often say, why make a movie?

[00:33:19] Just go see the play, which, you know, true.

[00:33:21] The play is awesome.

[00:33:22] Um, but because of the way they were able to do the library scene, some of that and like

[00:33:28] the closeness you get with how the, the shelves are like rotating.

[00:33:32] It's like, they're these big hamster wheel library shelves and they're twirling and people

[00:33:36] are like moving around.

[00:33:36] Now that's just something that there's no, it was like a Cirque du Soleil type thing for

[00:33:41] that musical number, which was incredible.

[00:33:44] So yeah, that, that to me is like justification for the movie, that scene.

[00:33:48] Yeah.

[00:33:48] No, you're right.

[00:33:49] And I'll also say, you mentioned the, the, the popular, uh, songs being kind of a popular

[00:33:54] favorite.

[00:33:56] Um, I think that was probably the best edited and paced production in the show, in the movie

[00:34:02] as well, where I just, I feel like there was just a lot of energy in that performance,

[00:34:05] in that performance.

[00:34:06] I think that was the best singing, acting performance of those two, the two lead characters

[00:34:13] kind of playing in that role.

[00:34:14] It was just, it was good.

[00:34:15] It was good.

[00:34:16] That to me, that song and the way it was portrayed in the film solidified this relationship for

[00:34:21] me.

[00:34:22] It made those two people work for me up to that point.

[00:34:25] I was still trying to figure them out a little bit.

[00:34:27] At that point, I'm like, I got it.

[00:34:29] Got it.

[00:34:29] Okay.

[00:34:29] I understand the nature of this relationship now.

[00:34:32] I totally get it.

[00:34:33] And that worked.

[00:34:34] So, um, yeah, just a couple of call out scenes for me.

[00:34:37] I think we're, we're really good.

[00:34:38] Um, yeah, I mean, overall, yes, I liked it.

[00:34:43] Uh, I, I, it was pretty much exactly what I expected going into it, but luckily it didn't

[00:34:50] fumble on anything.

[00:34:51] Um, looking back over John Chu's filmography.

[00:34:55] Cause I, I felt like I kind of threw him under the bus earlier and saying I didn't like

[00:34:58] his stuff, but I want to have justification for it.

[00:35:00] And I think I do.

[00:35:01] I mean, the reason I'm saying, I just, I'm not a fan of his work is his work has always

[00:35:05] been, it's a little more, uh, it's a little more trying so hard to work with the visuals

[00:35:12] and not necessarily with the story, with the story as much.

[00:35:16] I mean, for example, he did, he was a director of GI Joe retaliation, which is like, okay,

[00:35:22] that, you know, I actually thought that movie was an interesting visual movie.

[00:35:26] I kind of had a little fun watching it, but it's not a good movie.

[00:35:29] It's not, not well done.

[00:35:30] I have not seen Jim and the holograms.

[00:35:33] He directed, which I never saw.

[00:35:34] I've not seen that.

[00:35:35] Now you see me too, which I actively hated that movie.

[00:35:37] I thought that was like so lazy and it was so fixated on the visual.

[00:35:43] Let's tell a cool story.

[00:35:44] Let's just be cool instead of being good.

[00:35:46] You know, it's like, that was what I got from that.

[00:35:49] Now he did crazy, crazy rich Asians, which I apologize.

[00:35:51] I've never seen, but I understand that was good.

[00:35:53] It was good.

[00:35:54] Yeah.

[00:35:54] And then he did the, uh, in the Heights, which again, I really liked, but I liked because

[00:35:59] of all the elements outside of who directed it.

[00:36:02] I liked it for the music and the performances and the choreography and all that.

[00:36:06] The time where it got very John Chu ish, kind of like wicked.

[00:36:11] And actually there's a little similarities here.

[00:36:13] If you remember in the Heights, there is an actual performance.

[00:36:16] I'm loving the movie up to that point.

[00:36:18] And then there's a performance where they get up, two of them are dancing on the side of

[00:36:21] the building.

[00:36:22] And it's this very heavy visual spectacle utilized in CGI, just kind of this, I'm like, ah,

[00:36:29] that didn't work for me.

[00:36:30] Cause I felt like that kind of just lost.

[00:36:33] It was trying to make a cool scene out of something that didn't need it.

[00:36:38] And I kind of was worried.

[00:36:40] That's what wicked was going to just evolve into is let's just worry about making this,

[00:36:43] this big visual spectacle all around you and not where you worry about story.

[00:36:47] Luckily he countered that.

[00:36:49] Okay.

[00:36:49] I think, but it does help that you've got a really good story as a foundation to begin

[00:36:54] with.

[00:36:54] And you've got two good performances to kind of keep it going.

[00:36:57] So anyway, that's my criticism of John Chu as a director.

[00:37:00] I think it's been too much about how cool everything looks as opposed to how good it needs to be.

[00:37:07] Okay.

[00:37:07] And wicked, at least there's a bit of a balance there.

[00:37:11] And I'm, I'm, I'm better with the balance he struck in this film.

[00:37:14] So I would say, I want to give a little bit of, uh, kudos to Jeff Goldblum and Michelle.

[00:37:21] Who plays in the film.

[00:37:23] Uh, Jeff Goldblum plays the wonderful wizard of Oz and Michelle, you know, plays kind

[00:37:28] of the, she is a teacher at the universe.

[00:37:32] She is university, uh, Madame Marble.

[00:37:35] Marble.

[00:37:35] So, and I thought both of them did great.

[00:37:38] Um, I think it'll be interesting to see how Jeff Goldblum handles part two.

[00:37:42] Um, but I thought he did a really good, uh, job in part one.

[00:37:46] And then like, you just, I probably will, can't see him not as the Oz cause he's just doing,

[00:37:50] it's like, yeah, perfect.

[00:37:52] Like it was great casting Michelle.

[00:37:54] Yo, um, I was impressed.

[00:37:56] I mean, I like her anyway, but, um, I know that she is not a singer and actually when she

[00:38:01] got cast at this film, she's like, uh, I can't say like, you know, great.

[00:38:06] But by the way, I can't say like, that's okay.

[00:38:08] You know the way.

[00:38:08] And yeah, she, I thought, and it's impressive too, because you know, Michelle is an actress.

[00:38:13] She does have an accent and they were able to kind of work.

[00:38:16] And it's like, no, it worked.

[00:38:17] And she was able to do it and sing.

[00:38:18] And I thought that was really cool that they, they didn't say like,

[00:38:22] no, well, you know, you'd be good, but we can't get you because we're not sure.

[00:38:26] They wanted the performance.

[00:38:27] Yeah.

[00:38:28] Even if it meant kind of, and again, I thought the singing, when she started singing,

[00:38:31] yeah, she's good.

[00:38:33] She's good.

[00:38:34] She doesn't have to do the Ariana Grande.

[00:38:36] She can do.

[00:38:37] Yeah.

[00:38:38] And I thought it was, I thought that was actually a really cool part of the film.

[00:38:41] Yeah.

[00:38:41] Yeah.

[00:38:42] Fair warning.

[00:38:43] Don't see this movie in a movie house that has a lot of glass windows all around you because

[00:38:49] Ariana Grande's voice and the note she hits will shatter that glass at certain points in

[00:38:53] the film.

[00:38:54] Nice.

[00:38:54] There are points of the film.

[00:38:55] I'm just like, oh my gosh, that's ungodly high.

[00:38:58] So how do you do that?

[00:39:00] Which apparently is something she's known for.

[00:39:01] Yeah, she is.

[00:39:02] She can do all these octave things.

[00:39:03] So yeah.

[00:39:04] Yeah.

[00:39:05] All right.

[00:39:06] I think we have exhausted our conversation of Wicked overall positive.

[00:39:10] Chris is a little more positive, which is encouraging.

[00:39:12] You haven't actually seen the stage play and being a little more familiar with it and

[00:39:16] still coming out with a very positive opinion is good.

[00:39:18] And so they made a good adaptation of this and you're even not even, you weren't even

[00:39:22] really terribly bothered by the two hour, 40 minute runtime.

[00:39:25] You felt like it ran pretty well.

[00:39:26] Yeah.

[00:39:27] Because they were bringing more elements in instead of just like spinning their wheels.

[00:39:32] They were like, they were adding content.

[00:39:34] Now, hopefully the things they brought in will still be woven into part two.

[00:39:40] So it kind of justifies rather than just making, you know, I think it will, but we'll see.

[00:39:46] I was positive on it.

[00:39:47] Again, it's not a movie I felt like I was going to come out of loving to begin with.

[00:39:53] And, but I do admire it.

[00:39:54] I think it worked.

[00:39:56] I think it's one of the better adaptations I've seen of other media.

[00:40:00] But again, me having not seen the original medium, I kind of come in with a fresh perspective.

[00:40:04] On it.

[00:40:05] Sure.

[00:40:05] And overall, it's good.

[00:40:06] I, again, I'll tell you if it wasn't for the two leads and most specifically Cynthia

[00:40:10] Urio as Elphaba, like, yeah, the movie could have fallen apart very, very easily.

[00:40:15] But luckily you've got two good leads in there and it, it worked.

[00:40:19] So, all right.

[00:40:20] Well, that is wicked.

[00:40:21] I think it'll be in the movie theaters for a little while.

[00:40:23] So you've got some time to go catch it.

[00:40:25] Yeah.

[00:40:25] If you haven't seen it, don't worry.

[00:40:26] It'll be around, I'm sure through Christmas.

[00:40:28] So it'll be around for people to see.

[00:40:31] Yeah.

[00:40:31] Actually, I think the timing of this release was actually pretty good.

[00:40:34] Catch it and ensure that it's going to play for both holidays, Thanksgiving weekend and

[00:40:39] for Christmas.

[00:40:40] Because this is the kind of movie people want to go see during the holiday season.

[00:40:44] Well, and it's PG.

[00:40:45] So it makes it a little easier.

[00:40:46] Because there's going to be a little bit of stuff in there for adults to like maybe appreciate.

[00:40:50] But definitely stuff that it's safe enough for kids.

[00:40:52] Well, it's actually, if you think about it, it's a perfect movie.

[00:40:54] It's like, it's got the kids, you can bring the kids in as PG.

[00:40:58] It's, you know, it's visually interesting.

[00:41:01] There's a lot going on the screen.

[00:41:02] There's fun song and dance numbers.

[00:41:06] But adults that obviously grew up with the Wizard of Oz, it's like you got that callback to it.

[00:41:13] So it's like, it does kind of hit all those quadrants.

[00:41:15] So I do think this is going to, it had a really good weekend.

[00:41:18] I think it's actually going to have a long theatrical run where it's going to like play

[00:41:23] for a lot longer than most other films do and make more money over more time.

[00:41:27] So, yeah.

[00:41:28] Good.

[00:41:28] All right.

[00:41:29] Yeah.

[00:41:29] It'll be interesting to see overall how well it did.

[00:41:32] Great.

[00:41:32] It's got a great start.

[00:41:33] All right.

[00:41:33] That is Wicked in theaters now.

[00:41:36] And we're both saying, yeah, yeah, check it out.

[00:41:39] We liked it.

[00:41:40] It was good.

[00:41:41] Okay, Chris.

[00:41:42] How about let's, let's not even go to our break yet.

[00:41:46] Let's roll right into our next one.

[00:41:48] We'll do a break after this review.

[00:41:49] Okay.

[00:41:50] Is that okay with you?

[00:41:51] Sure.

[00:41:51] Are you good to keep talking?

[00:41:52] Do you need a break?

[00:41:53] Do you need to go juice up, get any more Gatorade going or any of that?

[00:41:58] Nah.

[00:41:58] I'm good.

[00:41:59] You're all good?

[00:41:59] Let's do it.

[00:42:00] Let's go right into our second review, which is the film Amelia Perez.

[00:42:07] Are you English?

[00:42:09] No.

[00:42:10] No, I'm not English.

[00:42:12] Why?

[00:42:13] No, because you, you are pretty.

[00:42:30] So, does your client have a name?

[00:42:37] He desires to remain anonymous.

[00:42:45] Amelia Perez tells the story of four remarkable women, at least according to the IMDB description,

[00:42:50] Chris.

[00:42:50] But I'm going to go and tell you, I have issues with the IMDB description of this film.

[00:42:55] Okay.

[00:42:55] Fair enough.

[00:42:56] Let me just put that out there before I go any further.

[00:42:58] Sure.

[00:42:58] Because IMDB also tags this as a comedy crime musical thriller.

[00:43:03] And I've got an issue with probably two of those.

[00:43:07] It's definitely a musical.

[00:43:08] It is a musical and there is crime.

[00:43:11] Oh yeah.

[00:43:12] And that's about it.

[00:43:13] Somebody's a drug lord.

[00:43:14] I think that's what I'll get.

[00:43:15] The comedy, I have some real questions about.

[00:43:17] Sure.

[00:43:18] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:43:18] Thriller, I guess.

[00:43:19] Nah.

[00:43:20] Yeah.

[00:43:20] Maybe at moments.

[00:43:21] But anyway, back to the description.

[00:43:23] Jamilia Perez follows four remarkable women.

[00:43:26] Again, I also have questions with that because I, yeah, there are four characters, but.

[00:43:32] I think it really, yeah.

[00:43:33] We're really spending time with two.

[00:43:36] Anyway, okay.

[00:43:37] All right.

[00:43:37] Four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness.

[00:43:41] Cartel leader, Amelia enlists Rita, who's played by Zoe Saldana.

[00:43:46] And Amelia is being played by Carla Sofia Gascon.

[00:43:50] But Rita, an unappreciated lawyer, to help fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her true self.

[00:43:58] All right.

[00:43:58] So Chris, there's a lot going on in this movie.

[00:44:01] There's a lot going on in even this description.

[00:44:03] Yeah.

[00:44:05] Right.

[00:44:05] And there's a lot going on background in this film, too.

[00:44:07] This is a film that we talked about in our news section several months ago.

[00:44:11] Played the Cannes Film Festival.

[00:44:12] Won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, I believe.

[00:44:16] Was that a Nora?

[00:44:18] Maybe it was.

[00:44:19] What prize did this one get?

[00:44:21] I think it maybe got some acting.

[00:44:23] I mean, it definitely received a lot of attention there.

[00:44:26] And maybe it did.

[00:44:27] I mean, they give out multiple awards, so maybe one was.

[00:44:30] Okay.

[00:44:31] It was a nominee.

[00:44:32] Sorry.

[00:44:32] Okay.

[00:44:32] Best Actress.

[00:44:33] It won for Best Ensemble Cast at Cannes Film Festival.

[00:44:38] It was nominated for Palm Dior.

[00:44:41] Okay.

[00:44:42] It was a nominee, but did not win.

[00:44:43] You're right.

[00:44:44] My apologies.

[00:44:44] It was a Nora that won that one.

[00:44:46] It played really well.

[00:44:47] And I think it had one of the bigger, if you, whatever matters, the biggest stand-up applause

[00:44:52] section post-film.

[00:44:54] Okay.

[00:44:54] All that to say, it was getting a lot of acclaim early in the year.

[00:44:57] It's also a film that seems like it's gotten some backlash.

[00:45:01] At least some critics are not responding to it as well.

[00:45:04] Absolutely.

[00:45:05] Anyway.

[00:45:05] So with all that being said, Chris, I'm going to turn it over to you with this film.

[00:45:10] This is a film that, I guess we can talk about the premise of the film because I think it

[00:45:15] is kind of clearly laid out in trailers and other descriptions I've read.

[00:45:21] I actually have not seen the trailer.

[00:45:22] So I don't know if the trailer kind of tells you the big.

[00:45:25] It does.

[00:45:26] It does.

[00:45:26] It does.

[00:45:27] Yeah.

[00:45:27] And I think we're okay to go with that.

[00:45:30] I think we're okay to explain that in the review.

[00:45:32] Excellent.

[00:45:33] That's okay with you.

[00:45:33] Because that will make it a lot easier.

[00:45:35] Yeah, it will.

[00:45:36] Basically, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you.

[00:45:37] The whole story is basically a Rita, who's the lawyer, she gets brought in to help this

[00:45:47] drug lord.

[00:45:48] Yeah.

[00:45:48] Very violent drug lord who has decided that he wishes to become a woman.

[00:45:54] So he's going to go through the process of transitioning to a woman and he needs her to help facilitate

[00:45:59] that.

[00:46:00] And then also how to deal with his wife, who's played by Selena Gomez, how to deal with the

[00:46:08] wife that he is leaving behind basically.

[00:46:11] And children to help work with that.

[00:46:13] And then that is the first part of the movie.

[00:46:17] And then the latter half is how these three women are still interconnected now.

[00:46:23] Right.

[00:46:23] And the dynamics of their life together.

[00:46:26] So all that being told with musical numbers and interesting choices throughout.

[00:46:31] So with that, Chris, there's a lot of setup I gave.

[00:46:35] I'm giving it all over to you now.

[00:46:37] I got to hear what you thought of this film.

[00:46:39] This film necessitates a lot of setup.

[00:46:42] Yeah.

[00:46:46] So did the film overall work for me?

[00:46:50] No.

[00:46:52] I'm glad I saw it because, you know, any film that I hear this much build up and talk about,

[00:46:58] I'm always interested in.

[00:47:00] Mm-hmm.

[00:47:00] Um, and I think some of the criticisms that I've heard that I don't feel qualified to speak

[00:47:06] on is the treatment of a trans woman.

[00:47:13] And kind of some of the, and I think some of it's not even specifically, which I couldn't

[00:47:17] catch because the subtitles are flying by too fast.

[00:47:20] Mm-hmm.

[00:47:21] But some of the language that may have been, or I guess is being perceived as denigrating

[00:47:27] to a trans woman.

[00:47:28] But there again, it was kind of flying by so fast.

[00:47:30] I couldn't really take it all in.

[00:47:32] So I was just, so I don't feel qualified to speak on how the treatment of a trans woman.

[00:47:38] I don't feel qualified.

[00:47:38] And I'll just say before you go any further, I'm exactly on the same page with you with

[00:47:41] regards to that.

[00:47:42] I don't know how this film, I don't know if it's portrayal of a transgender woman's journey

[00:47:49] at, I'm not qualified to speak on that.

[00:47:51] So if there are some ways in that this story is being marginalized or not being shown as

[00:47:58] it should be respectfully in the story, I kind of have to give, I'm going in as a film critic

[00:48:04] to say, what did I think of the film?

[00:48:05] I can't speak to the messaging is trying to convey on that.

[00:48:10] And why I say that is because for me, I think this film, I admire this film taking a big

[00:48:21] swing because I think making it and specifically for me, making this a musical was a huge swing

[00:48:29] because I don't think, I think the film probably, I don't know, because it's the film we have.

[00:48:34] If you would have not made it a musical, I think it may have worked better because the

[00:48:39] story is already kind of sprawling over and going over decades.

[00:48:44] And it's the first time something like this has been done where this kind of like, I don't

[00:48:51] know, just like somebody trying to become another life with, you know, you're using,

[00:48:56] trying to highlight a trans woman.

[00:48:58] So that was unique and trying to handle the delicate balance of telling that story,

[00:49:04] but telling it respectively.

[00:49:05] Like, and I think adding on music to that was just like, okay, now you're, you're really

[00:49:11] setting yourself up for failure.

[00:49:14] I don't think the movie was a ridiculous failure.

[00:49:19] Like, I don't think it's like a one-star movie or at least it wasn't for me, but I think it

[00:49:23] does suffer from just taking a big swing and it doesn't quite, it doesn't quite connect.

[00:49:28] But I am, I am glad I saw it.

[00:49:32] I was surprised too.

[00:49:35] I think maybe she got some notice coming out of can and I was like, really?

[00:49:39] Um, Selena Gomez, like I'm kind of surprised that she was in this film because I don't

[00:49:46] feel like she's really in it that much.

[00:49:48] And what she is, is very, her, her role to me was very kind of stereotypical in a way.

[00:49:55] She didn't have a lot of like to cling on to the Zoe Saldana doing Rita has a lot.

[00:50:01] And then Carla Sofia Gascon who does Manitas, but then becomes Amelia Perez.

[00:50:05] Because like, I thought those two, like you're saying, those are the two women that you really

[00:50:10] feel like the, I think in the, in the description when they're saying the four women, I assume

[00:50:14] they're also talking about, um, uh, yeah.

[00:50:19] If Nina, Adriana pause, pause playing that.

[00:50:22] And which again, I think you're right.

[00:50:23] But there again, but she had, I feel like she still had more to do's than late in the film.

[00:50:29] Um, yes.

[00:50:29] Um, I get, I get this is for women and yes, there are.

[00:50:34] Yes.

[00:50:34] Ultimately at the end of the day, there are four women involved in this.

[00:50:37] So yeah, I guess like, I apologize.

[00:50:39] I am DB and the more I think about it, I think you're probably right.

[00:50:41] Um, okay.

[00:50:43] Yeah.

[00:50:43] But yeah, I could see how you could also say, yeah, but it's really two women.

[00:50:47] I mean, I could say it's really two.

[00:50:49] And right.

[00:50:50] Okay.

[00:50:51] So you're, you're admiring of the swings that this film took, but you don't think it

[00:50:56] worked.

[00:50:59] If I, if I like it didn't work, it definitely didn't.

[00:51:02] And okay.

[00:51:02] And that's not to say, I didn't think some of the musical sequences were interesting.

[00:51:08] There's this one where, um, Amelia is giving a press conference and Rita is sitting out in

[00:51:16] the audience as somebody who's still kind of helping her do stuff kind of as like a PR

[00:51:19] manager for, and she is just like, you're being this two-faced, ridiculous person.

[00:51:25] And everybody in this audience is being just as self-serving and two-faced and ridiculous.

[00:51:29] It's a ferocious performance.

[00:51:31] And so she just kind of like, of course it doesn't really happen, but in her mind, she's

[00:51:35] just like reading everybody around her, the riot act.

[00:51:38] Yep.

[00:51:38] That actually worked for me.

[00:51:40] Um, and I thought that works.

[00:51:42] So some of the musical moments work, but just not coming together as a whole for the puzzle

[00:51:48] this movie was trying to be.

[00:51:49] It didn't, the pieces didn't quite fit.

[00:51:51] So, okay.

[00:51:52] So how, what were your general feelings on it?

[00:51:55] I really liked this one.

[00:51:56] Oh really?

[00:51:57] Okay.

[00:51:57] But I also understand your, your, your concerns with it.

[00:52:00] Uh, it's not perfect.

[00:52:02] And I think the biggest thing is what you were just kind of leading up to is that there's

[00:52:07] a lot going on.

[00:52:08] There's a lot thrown at the screen.

[00:52:10] There's a lot of different paths to follow and the film doesn't successfully bring it together.

[00:52:18] So I, I, I agree with that.

[00:52:20] Okay.

[00:52:20] I especially think the Zoe Saldana character, Rita, I think it lost, it lost her in the latter

[00:52:27] half of the film.

[00:52:28] I don't know where she is in this story.

[00:52:31] Much like I said about Wicked and the area grande Glenda performance.

[00:52:36] Interesting.

[00:52:36] By the end of the film, I'm like, I'm not quite sure I follow where her head is right

[00:52:39] now.

[00:52:40] She gives this amazing performance at that press conference event, which I'm like, oh wow.

[00:52:45] Okay.

[00:52:46] So the Rita character is like feeling very furious about this situation.

[00:52:50] And then that's kind of dropped.

[00:52:52] She's not furious anymore.

[00:52:53] And she's actually a completely different character after that point.

[00:52:56] I'm like, all right, I'm, I'm, I'm lost on how I'm supposed to feel about her.

[00:53:01] And I think that's the key is I really felt like the Rita character was the key and I

[00:53:05] needed, cause she was our shepherd.

[00:53:07] She was the one leading us through the story.

[00:53:08] She's the first one we see at the beginning.

[00:53:11] She gives us all the setup.

[00:53:12] She's involved in all three of these women in some way, shape or form that we meet.

[00:53:18] But yet I think the film doesn't know what to do with her in the latter third of the film.

[00:53:23] So we kind of lose that, that central connection point in my mind.

[00:53:28] But I, I like it for the reasons you were giving it props as well as that it is some big swings.

[00:53:34] This is a very interesting film.

[00:53:37] And I found myself pretty engaged the whole time.

[00:53:39] I thought, you know, look, I'm of the mindset that any, any film could honestly be a musical

[00:53:46] if it really wanted to be.

[00:53:47] Okay.

[00:53:47] It doesn't mean it would be a good one.

[00:53:49] No, no.

[00:53:49] But I mean, it doesn't mean that film is going to be a good film regardless.

[00:53:53] But I think, I think if you could convey everything in music and dance, I think, I think most films

[00:53:59] could still survive and do that.

[00:54:01] Okay.

[00:54:02] This is one that you, yeah, you asked the question, why did this have to be a musical?

[00:54:06] Yeah, you're right.

[00:54:07] It didn't have to be.

[00:54:08] Could it have worked better if it wasn't a musical?

[00:54:11] Maybe.

[00:54:11] See, I feel like undoubtedly so.

[00:54:14] And I think, okay, you mentioned that IMDB says comedy.

[00:54:19] And I think that's some of the problem is because, and actually, okay, without, without

[00:54:25] knowing and without being very familiar of the negative comments that are being lobbed

[00:54:29] against the film, there is kind of a, there is a surgery musical number.

[00:54:34] Okay.

[00:54:35] Yeah.

[00:54:35] That didn't work.

[00:54:36] And that is, I think if I'm understanding everything correctly, kind of done as kind of

[00:54:40] a comedic moment.

[00:54:41] Yeah.

[00:54:42] Because you see all these doctors whizzing around and people having types of surgery and

[00:54:46] stuff.

[00:54:47] That didn't work.

[00:54:48] And I think that the tone got a little jarring.

[00:54:51] I'll agree with you on that.

[00:54:52] I think that scene did not work.

[00:54:54] And I think that may be, if I had to kind of guess, I think that scene may be the big

[00:54:59] issue.

[00:55:00] A lot of people are taking away with it because it is turning a very, it's turning a very

[00:55:05] personal decision into more of a punchline and a comedic, comedic showpiece.

[00:55:12] And I agree that actually at that point in the film, I was kind of lost.

[00:55:16] I, the film was not connecting with me.

[00:55:20] It wasn't until after the surgery where the film to me got interesting.

[00:55:26] Sure.

[00:55:26] And I'll tell you what really got me, got me on board with this film as there is a scene

[00:55:30] where Carla Sophia Garcon or Gascon who plays many, uh, many of us.

[00:55:35] And then also eventually plays Amelia in the film where she and Rita meet for the first

[00:55:42] time with her as Amelia.

[00:55:44] Yeah.

[00:55:44] I'm like, okay.

[00:55:45] And then they break into a song.

[00:55:47] It becomes this little inner monologue kind of song where everything's happened just in

[00:55:51] a few seconds with this interaction between them.

[00:55:53] But yet you're hearing every, the whole thing like that does.

[00:55:56] Ah, okay.

[00:55:57] This is why they made it a musical because they needed scenes like this and I totally

[00:56:02] buy it.

[00:56:02] And I understanding now where the film has taken me the rest of the way and it worked.

[00:56:07] Um, Selena Gomez.

[00:56:09] Yeah.

[00:56:10] Yeah.

[00:56:10] Her role didn't have a lot, a lot going for it in the film, but I will say the two musical

[00:56:16] performances that she kind of heads up.

[00:56:18] One is a, her kind of just dealing with all this rage and, and fear, uh, her furious energy

[00:56:24] after her husband quote dies or leaves her.

[00:56:30] That was really good.

[00:56:31] And then that she has an entire sequence, which was again, another big swing to have her and

[00:56:36] Edgar Ramirez as Gustavo, her boyfriend at the time, basically perform an entire song in

[00:56:42] front of like a karaoke machine.

[00:56:43] Oh yeah.

[00:56:44] And it's like, yeah, it was a big swing.

[00:56:47] That actually didn't work for me at all.

[00:56:48] Yeah.

[00:56:49] But I thought it was, it was a big swing.

[00:56:50] I thought it was good.

[00:56:51] I liked it.

[00:56:52] And I just, yeah, again, I thought it was an interesting, interesting way to, to share

[00:56:57] where she was in her life at that point.

[00:56:59] And, um, so yeah, so I give her credit for those two performances, the musical performances.

[00:57:05] She didn't have a lot to do outside of the musical performances, unfortunately, but those

[00:57:09] two, I think stood out for me pretty well.

[00:57:11] Um, so yeah, I overall, it worked for me.

[00:57:14] Yeah.

[00:57:15] There are problems with it.

[00:57:16] There are issues.

[00:57:18] Um, I think it was trying to take on a lot and do a lot.

[00:57:22] And when you do that, not a hundred percent of it's going to be successful.

[00:57:25] And there were some big misses in the film that did not work.

[00:57:29] I think that one musical performance or a sequence, uh, about the surgery.

[00:57:34] And then I think, um, Rita's overall character development towards the end of the film.

[00:57:40] There's just some things that didn't work, but I do have to say, I was fascinated by the

[00:57:46] performance and the roles in general.

[00:57:48] Carla Sophia Gascon, uh, played as both Manitas.

[00:57:52] And then as Amelia, this is really good.

[00:57:56] She was really, really good.

[00:57:57] And I think I totally bought her character in the latter half of the film.

[00:58:02] And I love the fact that it's leading you down a path of this idea of change.

[00:58:10] And she's now transitioned more than just her body.

[00:58:14] She's transitioned as a person, but there's still something there.

[00:58:19] That's, there's still a part of her personality.

[00:58:22] She's not able to move away from.

[00:58:24] And I thought that was fascinating to watch.

[00:58:28] And that's exactly what you could say about Glenda Galenda from Wicked.

[00:58:31] Okay.

[00:58:32] Fair enough.

[00:58:32] Yep.

[00:58:33] You know, like you were saying, we were off mic before this episode started.

[00:58:37] We're talking about like, okay, what are we going to review it?

[00:58:40] And like, this is not a pairing I would have thought, but this is actually a very interesting

[00:58:44] pairing to have.

[00:58:45] I mean, they're both musicals, but then comparing, contrasting, like the stories they're trying

[00:58:49] to tell and making changes and yeah.

[00:58:53] Yeah.

[00:58:54] And being able to let go of certain things and yeah.

[00:58:57] Um, yeah.

[00:58:58] Interesting.

[00:58:58] Anyway, I, I really liked the film.

[00:59:00] I am definitely not saying it's perfect.

[00:59:02] I, there are big, big issues with it and big misses, but I just have to admire the film

[00:59:07] for taking 100 big swings and maybe only connecting on 75 of them.

[00:59:13] But those 75 it connected on, they, I, I liked and it worked for me.

[00:59:17] And if this had just been a film telling this story without the musical numbers, I think

[00:59:23] I would have liked it.

[00:59:24] I think it would have worked better, but would it have stood out as much as this, which they

[00:59:31] tried to make this music?

[00:59:32] So yeah, I, I have to appreciate the big swing nature of it.

[00:59:36] Didn't necessarily work.

[00:59:37] And look, I know there's been a lot of buzz around Carlos Sofia Gascon's performance.

[00:59:42] And we're going to talk about that here in a minute as we kind of talk about some Oscar

[00:59:45] buzz and even Selena Gomez has gotten some, some positive attributes.

[00:59:49] I got to tell you though, Zoe Saldana, I don't know what it is about this actress that just,

[00:59:54] I don't know if she's just not ever set up to get the kind of acclaim that she needs,

[00:59:58] but I think she's a really, really good actress.

[01:00:00] And I think she's really good in this movie.

[01:00:03] I mean, I, although I don't always understand her motivations, I don't always understand

[01:00:11] her state of mind at different parts of the film.

[01:00:13] I don't, it's not her performance.

[01:00:15] It's a script thing.

[01:00:15] It's a script thing.

[01:00:16] Sure.

[01:00:16] Her performance, not only the singing and dancing, which I mean, I, I didn't know how

[01:00:22] much of a talented singer dancer she was, but she's really good in this.

[01:00:25] And she had so much to have to do and carry this film.

[01:00:29] Yeah.

[01:00:30] So, um, I hope she gets a lot of acclaim.

[01:00:32] I, I, I understand it's Carla's role is one that is the showcase role that people are

[01:00:38] going to remember with this film.

[01:00:40] But Zoe Saldana, she was the glue for this film that kind of had to make it work.

[01:00:44] Unfortunately, that glue came undone for me in the latter third of the film with her

[01:00:48] role, which I think, uh, hurt it ultimately, but still her performance was great.

[01:00:53] So, yeah.

[01:00:54] Cool.

[01:00:55] Okay.

[01:00:56] I would not have predicted that you would be as a big fan of Amelia.

[01:00:59] I wouldn't have either, but, uh, you know, I watched it and I was kind of just going

[01:01:05] through my checklist of, okay, these are films I need to see that are getting some attention

[01:01:09] or buzz and I need to kind of be up on these.

[01:01:12] And this one within the first 30 minutes, I'm like, okay, all right, I'm on board.

[01:01:16] Let's, let's do this.

[01:01:16] Let's go.

[01:01:17] And it worked.

[01:01:19] So, um, yeah, I don't know if I mean, like I,

[01:01:24] I, I'm, I'm singing his praises because I think it's worth the experience to see.

[01:01:30] I'm not necessarily saying it's a great film and I'm not even saying if it's better than

[01:01:34] like wicked.

[01:01:35] Okay.

[01:01:35] You know, I think they're two very, very different films.

[01:01:37] Yeah.

[01:01:38] Totally different.

[01:01:38] This is a film you see.

[01:01:39] If you want to see people's taken some big chances and trying something unique and different.

[01:01:45] Um, that's what this film is.

[01:01:48] Wicked is obviously the much safer film.

[01:01:50] They knew what they're doing.

[01:01:51] They knew what they're going to share, but can you take a well-regarded musical and beloved

[01:01:57] theatrical experience and turn it into a film?

[01:02:00] And I think they did that successfully.

[01:02:01] So it's two different experiences.

[01:02:03] I'm not going to say whether one film is better or not than the, cause I don't think you can

[01:02:07] compare them, but I do think Amelia Perez is an interesting film to check out.

[01:02:12] So, uh, it's on, it's on Netflix.

[01:02:16] Yeah.

[01:02:16] It's on Netflix.

[01:02:17] So anybody could see it now, which is a, it was an odd film to go straight to Netflix.

[01:02:21] Agreed.

[01:02:21] You know, I got to say another big choice.

[01:02:24] I'm glad.

[01:02:24] Yeah.

[01:02:25] I'm glad Netflix did pick it up because otherwise I don't think I'd ever see it.

[01:02:28] So to get a chance to see it.

[01:02:30] Yeah.

[01:02:31] And yeah, it's the director and also he wrote it as well.

[01:02:34] Um, hang on.

[01:02:35] I'm going to butcher the name.

[01:02:37] Uh, Jack Adiard.

[01:02:39] Yeah.

[01:02:40] Adiard.

[01:02:41] He's French.

[01:02:42] Okay.

[01:02:43] I have not actually seen any of his other films.

[01:02:46] Uh, did we show a profit?

[01:02:47] We didn't show a profit.

[01:02:49] Did we?

[01:02:49] No, I've, I've seen, um, I think I've seen a profit.

[01:02:53] I know I've definitely seen the sisters brothers.

[01:02:54] And I have not seen the sisters brothers or rust and bone that he, he wrote.

[01:02:59] So, um, yeah, so I'm, I'm a little more curious to kind of check out some other things, but this does seem like at least from what I understand kind of his biggest.

[01:03:09] Using that terminology, the biggest swing he's taken in a film so far, it looks like.

[01:03:13] So, all right.

[01:03:15] And interesting too, he's French staging a film in Mexico.

[01:03:20] Right.

[01:03:21] With Spanish as a primary language.

[01:03:23] I mean, there's English spoken at times, but it's primarily Spanish.

[01:03:26] I actually, I think I was not expecting that going in.

[01:03:32] Yeah.

[01:03:32] I wasn't expecting subtitles as much, as much as there were.

[01:03:35] So I think that actually threw me for a little bit of a loop.

[01:03:37] If I'd known going in, like, no, it's basically.

[01:03:40] Yeah.

[01:03:40] A lot of it's in Spanish.

[01:03:42] So I would be like, cause you know, so he saw down, I'm like, yep, I know who she is.

[01:03:45] But, you know, saying to go, I'm like, yeah, I just stupid me assumed it would be primarily in English.

[01:03:50] And yeah, no.

[01:03:51] So that, that was a little bit of a surprise for me.

[01:03:54] Yeah.

[01:03:54] Yeah.

[01:03:54] Not bad.

[01:03:55] Just kind of, you know,

[01:03:56] but it does just kind of tap into this whole idea of how big a swing this film is.

[01:03:59] He's a French director says, nope, I'm going to make a film.

[01:04:02] It's going to be set in Mexico.

[01:04:03] It's going to be Spanish speaking for 75% of it.

[01:04:07] Oh yeah.

[01:04:07] And, uh, you know, and it's going to be on this topic and it's going to deal with this subject matter

[01:04:11] and we're going to make it a musical.

[01:04:13] It's like, okay.

[01:04:14] Okay.

[01:04:14] Go for it.

[01:04:15] How did that get greenlit?

[01:04:16] I don't know.

[01:04:17] But, uh, I, for one, I'm glad it did.

[01:04:19] Sure.

[01:04:19] Uh, I think it's a interesting film to check out.

[01:04:22] So that is Amelia Perez on Netflix.

[01:04:25] Um, yeah.

[01:04:27] So that's our two reviews, Chris.

[01:04:29] And I'll tell you what, let's see.

[01:04:31] Now let's take a quick break.

[01:04:32] Okay.

[01:04:32] We come back.

[01:04:33] We're just going to talk just a little bit about the Academy Award predictions.

[01:04:37] We've started that last week with best picture.

[01:04:40] Now we're going to talk about the acting performances on the, uh, female side, the acting, supporting

[01:04:45] actress and lead actress.

[01:04:47] So stay tuned with foot candle films.

[01:04:49] We'll be right back in just a moment.

[01:04:52] This podcast is sponsored by Jackson creative, a custom communication agency located in downtown

[01:04:58] Hickory, North Carolina, specializing in online content creation.

[01:05:02] To learn more, visit the Jackson creative.com Jackson creative.

[01:05:08] We tell your story.

[01:05:10] Welcome back to foot candle films here on the mesh dot TV podcast network.

[01:05:15] We had our reviews of wicked and Amelia Perez in the first half of the show kind of late

[01:05:22] in the show.

[01:05:22] We only just got a little bit left to do here, Chris, but I did think we want to continue

[01:05:26] our talk about Oscar predictions.

[01:05:29] I brought this up last week, variety made their 2025 Oscar predictions.

[01:05:34] And of course they keep updating it as more films are coming out and more discussions are

[01:05:39] being had, but we talked about their predictions of the 10 potential best picture nominees that

[01:05:45] variety had listed, uh, for this year.

[01:05:48] And as of right now, those 10, I'm very happy to say I've seen seven.

[01:05:53] Okay.

[01:05:53] I'm very happy with that.

[01:05:55] Uh, the three that I have not seen, uh, two of them have not come out yet.

[01:05:58] The brutalist in a complete unknown.

[01:06:02] And the one that is available now as of this past weekend is blitz, which I need to catch

[01:06:07] up on.

[01:06:07] So at that point though, that is all of the potential best picture nominees.

[01:06:12] What I thought was interesting is that you go down all of their predictions in the other

[01:06:16] categories.

[01:06:17] A lot of them all fall within those same 10 films.

[01:06:20] There's not a lot of other films in other categories getting batted around predicted.

[01:06:25] Pretty much.

[01:06:26] If you've seen those 10, you've seen almost all of the nominees for most of the major categories.

[01:06:31] Okay.

[01:06:31] So, so let's, since we talked about, not like a lot of dark horses at this point.

[01:06:36] Now that's just on the prediction side.

[01:06:37] Now, obviously when the nominations come out, it could be a completely different story, but

[01:06:41] at least on prediction side.

[01:06:42] Um, but since we reviewed two films where the actress roles were really critical, wicked,

[01:06:49] you obviously have two leads, Amelia Perez, you had up to four female leads there.

[01:06:55] Let's talk about the actress categories and what's kind of being predicted there because

[01:06:58] I actually have a little bit of a, a question slash soapbox about some things on this.

[01:07:04] I wonder who, well, I guess you're about to tell me with wicked specifically, do they

[01:07:09] give them both dual?

[01:07:11] That's the question.

[01:07:12] Yeah.

[01:07:12] And you actually have the same question with Amelia Perez.

[01:07:14] Oh, okay.

[01:07:15] Here we go.

[01:07:16] Supporting actress.

[01:07:17] This is what variety has as their predictions for the five supporting actress nominations.

[01:07:24] Okay.

[01:07:25] Okay.

[01:07:26] Monica Barbaro for a complete unknown.

[01:07:28] Again, we have not seen it yet, but she plays Joan Baez, I believe in the film.

[01:07:31] So that is a big role.

[01:07:33] Or supporting role.

[01:07:34] Supporting role.

[01:07:35] Yeah.

[01:07:35] Supporting, uh, Saoirse Ronan for blitz, which again, if you look at all the marketing for

[01:07:40] the film, you think Saoirse Ronan is the lead.

[01:07:42] That's the kid.

[01:07:43] Obviously we're getting the idea that she is the supporting role.

[01:07:45] Assuming the kid is the lead role.

[01:07:48] Don't know.

[01:07:48] Okay.

[01:07:49] Her kid.

[01:07:49] But nomination wise, Saoirse Ronan for blitz.

[01:07:52] Gotcha.

[01:07:52] Uh, Isabella Rossellini for conclave.

[01:07:55] Very small role, but she has been getting a lot of buzz for that performance on the supporting

[01:08:00] role.

[01:08:01] And I can see how that too.

[01:08:02] Yeah.

[01:08:02] I think she is good, but also kind of body of work type thing.

[01:08:05] A little bit of that possibly.

[01:08:06] Okay.

[01:08:07] And then we come to the two films we reviewed.

[01:08:08] Okay.

[01:08:09] They have listed, uh, Ariana Grande for wicked in the supporting actress category.

[01:08:17] Don't know if I buy that.

[01:08:18] Yeah.

[01:08:19] I just, yeah.

[01:08:21] I mean, I, you do meet her after you've already met Elphaba just because of the nature of

[01:08:27] how the story goes.

[01:08:29] You know, you, you kind of, well, you meet her, but then you go and you flashback and you

[01:08:32] have all this Elphaba.

[01:08:34] I just, I'm hard.

[01:08:36] I'm glad I don't have to make that decision of saying that she was supporting instead

[01:08:39] of Lee.

[01:08:39] Well, people ask a lot of times, like, why do they put somebody like Ariana Grande as

[01:08:43] supporting actress?

[01:08:44] Well, we'll explain when we get to the best actress category a little bit.

[01:08:47] A film, sometimes you kind of hedge your bets by putting two roles in two different categories

[01:08:53] instead of having two in the same category.

[01:08:55] Right.

[01:08:55] So I think there's a little bit of that going on.

[01:08:57] They kind of had to make a, you had to make a judgment call who gets actress, who gets

[01:09:01] supporting actress.

[01:09:01] And then if you put them in the same category, there's going to automatically be a loser.

[01:09:05] Yeah.

[01:09:05] Whereas if you put them in two different, that way you could get.

[01:09:07] Well, and they could cannibalize each other on the vote.

[01:09:09] So it's like, well, people are like voting for one or the other and not going to vote

[01:09:11] for both.

[01:09:11] So it's like a popularity contest.

[01:09:13] If you have them running for two different offices.

[01:09:15] There's a little bit of that.

[01:09:16] Yeah.

[01:09:16] And I guess if you had to argue that Elphaba, if you had to say who is the movie truly about,

[01:09:23] Right.

[01:09:23] It's mainly about Elphaba.

[01:09:24] It's called Wicked, so it's going to be about the witch.

[01:09:26] She gets the biggest moments in the film.

[01:09:28] She has the moments, character progression.

[01:09:30] So that's fine.

[01:09:32] But I do think Gardena Grande is, it's a stretch for supporting actress.

[01:09:37] Although Variety is predicting she will win it.

[01:09:39] Okay.

[01:09:40] That's their prediction.

[01:09:41] Who were there?

[01:09:41] The fifth one, I haven't mentioned yet, is for Amelia Perez, the film, and it's Zoe Saldana.

[01:09:48] Huh.

[01:09:49] Zoe Saldana as a supporting actress, which again, I don't get.

[01:09:53] So run down those five again real quick.

[01:09:56] Monica Barbaro, Complete Unknown.

[01:09:57] Okay.

[01:09:58] Uh, Saoirse Ronan, Blitz.

[01:10:00] Isabella Rossellini for Conclave.

[01:10:02] Oh, yeah.

[01:10:02] Ariana Grande for Wicked.

[01:10:04] That's a tight category.

[01:10:05] Zoe Saldana for Amelia Perez.

[01:10:06] That's a really tight category.

[01:10:08] The only thing that I would say, you know, here again, these are the five.

[01:10:11] Um, the only thing that I would say that would probably negate, um, Zoe Saldana is the fact

[01:10:17] that that movie has blowback.

[01:10:20] Yeah.

[01:10:20] Whereas like Wicked, you know, it's like.

[01:10:22] Wicked's a crowd pleasing big box office movie.

[01:10:25] It's going to make a ton of money.

[01:10:25] Oh, I can't, you know, Netflix was a streamer.

[01:10:28] So.

[01:10:28] I think Zoe Saldana is a real dark horse on this.

[01:10:32] I think she's right now from, I mean, I've seen three of these five performances and I'm

[01:10:38] like, I think, I think it's the best one of the three personally.

[01:10:41] I think Zoe Saldana is the best, but I do think Ariana Grande is probably a picked favorite

[01:10:47] right now.

[01:10:48] Although I've heard is about a little Rossellini getting a lot of love.

[01:10:51] And again, it may be more of a body of work thing for her, but still.

[01:10:55] No, man.

[01:10:55] Right.

[01:10:56] Now, again, we haven't seen a complete unknown.

[01:10:58] True.

[01:10:58] And we haven't seen Blitz.

[01:10:59] So there's two more we have to kind of factor in before we can make our judgment calls on this.

[01:11:04] Sure.

[01:11:04] But as we go over to the actress category, this is also, I think, a little interesting.

[01:11:11] Okay.

[01:11:12] So Mikey Madison for Enora.

[01:11:15] I think we knew that was coming.

[01:11:16] Yeah.

[01:11:17] And right now Variety has her predicted as winning.

[01:11:20] Okay.

[01:11:21] All right.

[01:11:21] We'll see.

[01:11:22] Interesting.

[01:11:23] Two other films we have not seen yet in this category.

[01:11:26] Maria, which is Angelina Jolie starring.

[01:11:30] She's being batted around as a potential nominee for best actress.

[01:11:34] Okay.

[01:11:34] Then this one came out of left field for me, Chris.

[01:11:36] I've not heard of it.

[01:11:38] And I've read up on it now.

[01:11:39] I'm trying to understand it.

[01:11:40] Okay.

[01:11:41] It's a film called Hard Truths.

[01:11:43] Is that?

[01:11:44] It's a.

[01:11:45] I don't think I am familiar with that one.

[01:11:47] And it is a Mike Lee film, I believe.

[01:11:50] Oh, okay.

[01:11:51] Let me make sure I'm clear on that.

[01:11:54] Yeah.

[01:11:54] It's a Mike Lee film.

[01:11:55] Okay.

[01:11:57] Primarily African-American cast.

[01:12:00] Okay.

[01:12:00] Okay.

[01:12:01] And there is a actress, Mariana Jean-Baptiste, who is being batted around as a potential best

[01:12:07] actress nominee for this film.

[01:12:08] So that is the one kind of out of left field.

[01:12:11] Well, that and Maria.

[01:12:12] Those two.

[01:12:13] I'm like, Maria is, I think, just going to be talked about just for Angelina Jolie's

[01:12:17] performance.

[01:12:17] It's probably not anything else.

[01:12:19] Hard Truths.

[01:12:22] Actually, Variety has got Hard Truths as another acting category, possibly, I believe, as well.

[01:12:30] So anyway, could be, that could be that film that just kind of comes out of nowhere and

[01:12:35] is surprising to everybody.

[01:12:36] So.

[01:12:36] Okay.

[01:12:37] Yeah.

[01:12:37] Anyway.

[01:12:38] And then we've got Cynthia Erivo for Wicked as lead actress.

[01:12:44] And we've got, uh, Carlos Sofia Gascon for Amelia Perez.

[01:12:50] So yeah, if I was a betting man and just simply like not.

[01:12:55] Yeah.

[01:12:56] Just, I think it's Cynthia Erivo's, it's hers to lose just because I think it's a good performance.

[01:13:02] And because of how well I assume the movie is going to do, I think it's, I think it's

[01:13:08] hard to, hard to say any of the others are going to beat her out for it.

[01:13:12] But I don't know.

[01:13:14] So right now, Chris, are you, are you telling me?

[01:13:16] I think I, I'm not saying a Nora is not a good film.

[01:13:20] I'm not saying Mikey Madison doesn't give a good lead actress performance.

[01:13:24] But based on how I feel like the Oscars roll traditionally.

[01:13:30] Yeah.

[01:13:31] And, um, I think even though everybody likes to think box office doesn't play a role, I

[01:13:36] feel like it does.

[01:13:37] And maybe that's the old school thinking and I'm going to be proven wrong.

[01:13:41] I mean, you see something like everything everywhere all at once when stuff, you're

[01:13:43] like, okay.

[01:13:44] Um, but all that being said, I would be surprised if Wicked isn't a big winner at the Academy

[01:13:52] Awards.

[01:13:52] So that's not like director or something like that.

[01:13:55] Yeah.

[01:13:55] But, but I mean, if you're thinking that it could take both of the, the lead actor, actress

[01:14:01] prefer, uh, categories for best actress and best supporting actress, are you, are you thinking

[01:14:07] there's a chance Wicked could be best picture?

[01:14:09] No.

[01:14:11] Okay.

[01:14:12] I, I don't think so.

[01:14:14] Um, because there again, the way I feel like, you know, giving it to a part one, I think

[01:14:20] those things work against it, uh, which I guess they could work against the acting as

[01:14:24] well.

[01:14:25] Um, but I, and like, you know, the importance of a film, you know, stuff like that, like

[01:14:30] haven't seen Blitz, but I would think that that would stand more of a chance of winning

[01:14:35] than Wicked.

[01:14:37] Does that make sense?

[01:14:37] Like, you know, just, but you know, who knows?

[01:14:40] But here's the deal, Chris.

[01:14:42] And this is, I think it, this is all from variety, which again, variety.com.

[01:14:45] I pitched this website because it's my favorite website for movie news and all that.

[01:14:49] And seeing as how you did better than me last year in the Oxford prediction contest that

[01:14:55] we do, I may have to, I may just copy varieties.

[01:14:58] I may have to consult variety.

[01:14:59] Variety actually has a ranking system where they rank all the films and it changes all

[01:15:03] the time based on feedback and what they're here picking up.

[01:15:06] If you recall, uh, last week when we had a show and we were talking about best picture

[01:15:11] nominees, Anora was their one to say they think that Anora would win.

[01:15:16] Okay.

[01:15:16] It's changed.

[01:15:17] Okay.

[01:15:17] It's now Wicked.

[01:15:18] Okay.

[01:15:19] Wicked is now number one.

[01:15:20] Anora is number two.

[01:15:21] They're saying Wicked.

[01:15:22] I think because the positive feedback that it did get on opening weekend.

[01:15:27] Now that it's come out.

[01:15:27] Yeah.

[01:15:28] People are seeing it.

[01:15:28] Audiences are connecting to it.

[01:15:30] And I think the fact that the two lead actress performances are, or lead in supporting are

[01:15:35] getting some more acclaim.

[01:15:37] I have a question.

[01:15:38] So since you've mentioned that, I know we were talking actresses, but I'm just curious

[01:15:42] because of how you talk about things refresh is gladiator to still up for best picture.

[01:15:47] Yes.

[01:15:48] Okay.

[01:15:48] The, the, the, the 10 best pictures are still the same.

[01:15:51] Still locked.

[01:15:51] Interesting.

[01:15:52] I would have thought maybe that would have dropped off.

[01:15:54] No, Nora blitz, the brutalist, a complete unknown conclave dune part to Amelia Perez

[01:16:01] gladiator to the room next door.

[01:16:03] Oh, wait a minute.

[01:16:06] Um, one did drop off.

[01:16:09] Okay.

[01:16:09] You're going to have to remind me which one, but that's into so many part twos.

[01:16:13] Uh, a real pain was on the list last week, but it's gone.

[01:16:18] That's a shame.

[01:16:19] Which one took its place?

[01:16:20] I don't know.

[01:16:22] I don't know.

[01:16:23] I think it might've been a complete unknown.

[01:16:25] Oh, I don't think a complete unknown was listed for best picture as of last week on

[01:16:30] the prediction model, but now more, but now it is.

[01:16:33] And there's been more reactions.

[01:16:34] So it's a real pain.

[01:16:35] So basically the way they've got them ranked, they have a scoring system and Ray wicked is

[01:16:39] number one.

[01:16:41] Nora is two.

[01:16:43] Amelia Perez is number three.

[01:16:45] Wow.

[01:16:46] Conclave is number four.

[01:16:47] And honestly, I agree with those top four.

[01:16:51] I'm like, those are the four.

[01:16:52] I think it's going to be one of those four films.

[01:16:54] Conclave will be the safe bet.

[01:16:56] We're going to go prestige film, but more of a crowd pleaser.

[01:16:59] And not a part one.

[01:17:00] Yeah.

[01:17:01] Which is, I think there could be a takeaway against wicked is it's a part one.

[01:17:04] Amelia Perez will win.

[01:17:05] If the Academy decides to go really daring and say, we want something completely, we want

[01:17:10] something topical.

[01:17:11] We want something that kind of takes big swings, whatever.

[01:17:14] They could do that.

[01:17:15] Yeah.

[01:17:15] Nora is the more indie pick.

[01:17:20] Indie powerhouse performances, both director and star wicked is the big box office.

[01:17:26] Everybody loves it.

[01:17:27] And it's got great performance.

[01:17:27] It's the Titanic pick.

[01:17:28] Yeah, it's true.

[01:17:30] Gladiator is two is number five.

[01:17:32] The brutalist is number six.

[01:17:34] Dune part two is number seven.

[01:17:36] A complete unknown is number eight.

[01:17:38] The room next door.

[01:17:40] Number nine.

[01:17:41] Alan, not a fan.

[01:17:42] Not a fan.

[01:17:43] A fan of Almodovar.

[01:17:44] I am.

[01:17:45] But not a film.

[01:17:46] I'm a fan of this film.

[01:17:47] And then Blitz is number 10.

[01:17:49] Okay.

[01:17:50] So that's, that's the ranking right now on their predicted nominees.

[01:17:53] Okay.

[01:17:55] Uh, yeah, this could be a wicked, a wicked night at the Oscars.

[01:17:59] I mean, it's possible.

[01:18:00] I think the one thing that stands against it is that it's a part one.

[01:18:04] Oh yeah.

[01:18:04] I agree.

[01:18:05] I think, I think, uh, gladiator two, I just don't think is as strong.

[01:18:10] Plus it's a sequel.

[01:18:11] Uh, Dune two came out too early in the year and it's a sequel.

[01:18:15] So both of those things I think work against it.

[01:18:17] And I think, I think these 10 films are very likely to be the nominated films.

[01:18:20] Okay.

[01:18:21] I do believe they'll probably all get nominations, but I agree with you that I think the winner

[01:18:26] to me, it's honestly, it's between wicked and Nora and conclave.

[01:18:31] Okay.

[01:18:32] To me, that's the three that stand to win.

[01:18:34] I haven't seen a complete unknown that could.

[01:18:36] Yeah.

[01:18:37] I'm just, you know, it's another biopic by, um, by the same director, James Mangold.

[01:18:43] It's like, he did walk the line, walk the line.

[01:18:46] Yeah.

[01:18:46] Did he do Ray?

[01:18:48] I don't think he did Ray, but Ray just seems so similar to walk the line.

[01:18:52] Okay.

[01:18:53] Anyway, we've seen it before.

[01:18:55] I think it's all going to get the buzz because of Chalamet's performance and that's fine,

[01:18:58] but I don't know.

[01:19:00] I don't see it being a best picture at this point.

[01:19:02] Again, I haven't seen it.

[01:19:03] Sure.

[01:19:04] It could be glorious.

[01:19:05] I don't know.

[01:19:05] So, uh, yes.

[01:19:07] Um, very interesting.

[01:19:09] Yeah.

[01:19:09] Right now, Ridley Scott is the variety favorite for director for gladiator two.

[01:19:14] Wow.

[01:19:14] I mean, if you look at it purely as a directorial thing, I could see that it's poorly.

[01:19:20] Yeah.

[01:19:20] It's not best picture, but it is directed very, very well.

[01:19:24] Um, interesting.

[01:19:26] I would have still gone with, I think I might've gone with Amelia Perez for direction personally

[01:19:30] or Sean Baker for Nora.

[01:19:33] Gotcha.

[01:19:33] Um, it's going to be interesting.

[01:19:36] It's going to be an interesting year.

[01:19:37] Yeah.

[01:19:37] Interesting year at the Academy Awards.

[01:19:39] And again, these are all predictions.

[01:19:40] Sure.

[01:19:41] They could come out with the nominations in January and it'd be 10 completely different

[01:19:44] films.

[01:19:45] Sure.

[01:19:46] We don't know, but this is where variety is going.

[01:19:48] I tend to believe that variety has got their fingers on the pulse of where things are.

[01:19:52] So I'm, I'm likely to follow their lead again, variety.com.

[01:19:57] I cannot promote their website enough.

[01:19:58] We take a lot of content from their website.

[01:20:00] So I just, I want to give full credit to them.

[01:20:03] No kickbacks yet though.

[01:20:04] Definitely encourage going to read variety if you really want to follow this stuff a little

[01:20:07] more in detail.

[01:20:08] Okay.

[01:20:09] I think we're done, Chris.

[01:20:10] Okay.

[01:20:11] I think that's it.

[01:20:11] We'll, we'll touch on some other Oscar categories in future weeks because I mean, I'd like to

[01:20:15] kind of hit each of these categories, the big ones before nominations come out in January

[01:20:20] and then we can see how close we were.

[01:20:22] That just means maybe you saved my homework of having to do a recommendation and I can just

[01:20:26] focus on watching.

[01:20:27] Look, here's the deal.

[01:20:28] We've got a lot of nominated films or films that will probably be nominated films to catch

[01:20:32] up on between now and the end of December.

[01:20:35] We got to do our critics ballot by, uh, when does that normally do sometime by the end

[01:20:39] of December?

[01:20:40] I thought so too.

[01:20:40] So we got, we got our work cut out for us.

[01:20:42] I don't need you to watch any more other films to recommend.

[01:20:46] Let's just focus on this.

[01:20:48] We recommend and we like to do films that are usually like available to stream or something.

[01:20:52] And a lot of the stuff we're getting now hasn't even come out yet.

[01:20:54] So yeah, it's kind of unfair to recommend.

[01:20:57] True.

[01:20:57] Yeah.

[01:20:58] Yeah.

[01:20:58] Uh, cause there's a couple of films I've caught up on that are not ones anybody else can catch

[01:21:03] yet.

[01:21:03] And so I don't want to give a review of them yet, but we'll have plenty to talk about

[01:21:07] later in the, in the year and going into January for sure.

[01:21:10] Um, so yeah, so don't worry about that.

[01:21:12] And plus Chris, we also started submissions for the next year film festival.

[01:21:15] So I know after you finish your Oscar viewing, your critics association viewing requirements,

[01:21:21] you're going to be moving into that.

[01:21:22] So it becomes job number one.

[01:21:24] So let's, uh, let's just chew on Oscar stuff for the next few weeks and, uh, catch up on

[01:21:29] all the films are missing.

[01:21:30] I think I will be watching blitz probably over this next week.

[01:21:34] Uh, and then hoping that we get screeners for the brutalist at some point.

[01:21:41] And, um, yeah, cause I don't think the brutalist will come to our hometown here.

[01:21:46] If you agree.

[01:21:47] So because they'd have to block off four hours for just that.

[01:21:50] I don't think they're going to do that.

[01:21:51] And the four hour film for me is a film I need to watch in my own home theater experience.

[01:21:55] And for most people, yeah, that's, that's just going to work better for that.

[01:21:58] But I guess cheers to the brutalist for not doing a part one and part two.

[01:22:01] I don't know.

[01:22:02] The brutalist part one.

[01:22:03] Yeah.

[01:22:04] That's, that's what you, you talk about a big swing.

[01:22:06] That's a big swing.

[01:22:07] Making the brutalist, but making it a part one and just banking.

[01:22:09] I mean, it was almost a biggest swing as Kevin Costner doing horizon as like a four

[01:22:13] part film series in first part bombing.

[01:22:16] So we don't know what's going to happen.

[01:22:18] So, right.

[01:22:19] Yeah.

[01:22:19] Interesting.

[01:22:20] True.

[01:22:21] Okay.

[01:22:22] We've ruminated enough.

[01:22:23] Let's wrap this up, Chris.

[01:22:24] If people have got their own feedback for us, they want to tell us about some films that

[01:22:29] they are surprised maybe are not in this prediction list for the best films of the year so far.

[01:22:35] We'd like to hear from you.

[01:22:37] And also if you just got any feedback on our reviews of Wicked or Amelia Perez, we'd love

[01:22:41] to hear from you as well.

[01:22:42] How can they, how can they join in the conversation, Chris?

[01:22:45] You can send an email to info at footcandle.org.

[01:22:48] You can also follow us on Facebook, footcandle film society, Instagram and threads.

[01:22:52] We're at footcandle film.

[01:22:53] And we're also on blue sky.

[01:22:56] Alan and I do try to leave little things on letterbox.

[01:22:59] So if you're on that website and that is letterbox without the E at the end, it's just B-O-X-D.

[01:23:05] We try to leave quick takes on there so you can check us out and follow us on there.

[01:23:09] Do us a favor.

[01:23:10] If you like the show, which we hope you do, consider giving us a star rating, write a review,

[01:23:14] share it, friends, whatever service you receive your favorite podcast on because it'll help

[01:23:18] us reach new listeners.

[01:23:19] And we'd appreciate that.

[01:23:20] All right.

[01:23:22] That'll wrap us up for today.

[01:23:23] Thanks everybody for listening and we'll look forward to talking to you next time.

[01:23:26] Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

[01:23:27] Yes.

[01:23:28] Happy Thanksgiving.

[01:23:29] See you in the ticket line.

[01:24:11] Special thanks to Carpal Tuller for the show theme music.

[01:24:14] For more about Carpal Tuller, visit www.carpaltuller.com.

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[01:24:55] You've been listening to The Mesh, an online media network of shows and programs ranging

[01:25:00] from business to arts, sports to entertainment, music to community.

[01:25:05] All programs are available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube.

[01:25:10] Check us out online at themesh.tv.

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