Wolf Man

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

[00:00:33] Hello, everyone, and welcome to Footcandle Films here on the MESH.TV podcast network. This is our ongoing film review and discussion, film news, film recommendations, podcast. We have been doing for a very, very long time now. And so, yes, we're very happy to be back here. We're kind of in the midst of new 2025. My name is Alan Jackson.

[00:00:57] And with me, as always, Chris Fry, both of us with the Footcandle Film Society and the annual Footcandle Film Festival. Chris, how are you today? I am doing well. And we are officially reviewing our first film of 2025. We reviewed Heretic, but technically that came last episode. That came out in December. That came out in 2024. Or November, December of 2024. But this film was just released. It is. It's our first new film of the year. Yes. And we had quite the fun experience in watching said film. We did.

[00:01:28] We did. Alan, this is unusual. Normally, we don't typically attend screenings together, but we did with this one. And it was eventful because of that, but also because… Yeah. So somebody… I don't know if they were trying to make a commentary on the film that they were watching. But somebody decided to pull the fire alarm at the theater five minutes from the ending of the film. And so we all had to evacuate the theater. And this was at about 10 o'clock in the evening last night. Right. It was already kind of getting to be later in the evening.

[00:01:58] We waited for, what, 30, 40 minutes? Yes. Before they could resume the movies after getting the A-OK from the fire department. Right. And they marched us back into the theater. And we have to sit through another 20 minutes of trailers thinking that we're going to see the last five minutes of the film that we left. And it turns out they ended up playing a different film. We were about to see Wicked again at almost 11 o'clock last night. Right. Until we realized that's what they were doing.

[00:02:24] So we had to go out and found out that there was no way for us to see it without going into another theater to see the ending, which we had to do. It was a whole… It was a mess. We eventually did see the final end of this film so we could at least give a full review of it. Right. I will be honest. My review may be slightly affected by the environment of the screening. I'm trying not to let it be, but it may be. Before we play the trailer and get into the review, I think that's something fair to… We've kind of addressed it before.

[00:02:53] But your movie-going experience, whether you watch it at home on your laptop or on your TV or watching a theater, that can really make or break a film. It sure does. And unfortunately, this happened. And it happened at the end of the film, the climax of the film. So it's tough not to let that… We're going to try not to let it affect us. But I can't help but feel like there's little tinges of the review that are going to be affected. The review we're talking about, the one of our bot screening last night, was the film Wolfman. Wolfman.

[00:03:23] This is the film we'll be reviewing today. Latest by director Lee Winnell, starring Julia Gardner and Christopher Abbott. We will be reviewing Wolfman here shortly and trying to put together the best review we can, given the situation we experienced. After we do that, I do have a couple of trailers, Chris. We need to get back into the trailer game, looking at new trailers for films coming out later this year. So I've got a couple picked out that I haven't seen.

[00:03:52] And honestly, while you and I were standing in the lobby of the theater last night, waiting for our film to resume… They were kind enough to let us back in the lobby because it wasn't freezing cold. It was cold outside. But there were at least one poster, I think, that we commented on that we did not know anything about the film. And so I'm going to help us by showing you a trailer for at least one of those films here in a little bit. And we'll comment on that. And I think, Chris, you have a recommendation. Yes.

[00:04:21] Kind of a news-related recommendation for us to share as well at the end of the episode. So that is what we've got planned. Film review, a couple of trailers, and then we're going to do our recommendation at the end. So are you ready to get started, Chris? Let's do it. All right. Here is our review of Wolfman.

[00:05:05] March 5th, 2020. We reviewed director Lee Whannell's The Invisible Man, starring Elizabeth Moss, on this show. Five years later, I mainly remember it as the last film I saw at the multiplex before things shut down due to COVID. Whannell's work is back on the big screen with Wolfman, starring Julia Garner and Christopher Abbott, in what could be another attempt to jumpstart the dark universe, a term that refers to the monsters of the Universal Studios' classic horror films.

[00:05:35] Alan, you had this on your list of anticipated movies for 2025 that we just discussed on last week's episode. What did you make of this take on the classic lycanthrothope? I think I said that correctly. Ooh. Yeah, you're pulling up the big vocabulary here on me. Yeah, I did have this as an anticipated film for a couple reasons. Sure.

[00:05:56] One, I yearn to see a world where the Universal Cinema horror icons get their fair due in the cinema. Gotcha. We're talking Dracula. We're talking Wolfman. We're talking The Mummy. We're talking Frankenstein. Okay. And I was hoping this would be a year. Creature from the Black Lagoon? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. That's actually my favorite. That I love. I really want somebody to do a really good version of that. All right. So I was excited.

[00:06:24] Oh, we're going to have not only DeToro's Frankenstein later this year, we've also got Maggie Gyllenhaal doing some sort of take on Frankenstein. I'm not quite sure the details on that, but I know it's in that universe. And we got Wolfman being directed by Lee Winnell. Lee Winnell, as you said, did The Invisible Man, which I thought – I didn't love the movie, but I liked the take on it. I liked the idea of taking The Invisible Man concept and let's apply it to a very modern sensibility kind of story. With technology being used.

[00:06:54] Yeah. Technology and the idea of the relationship and kind of using it as a power over someone. Over somebody. Which I liked where the story went. And Elizabeth Garner – or Elizabeth Moss, of course. She was great. Yeah. So I was excited. I'm like, oh, they're going to do the same kind of idea with Wolfman. It's like, let's kind of take this concept and let's maybe apply it with some interesting commentary or interesting application to today's society. Sure. Here's the thing, Chris.

[00:07:22] When you're going to make an adaptation or your own take on a story like the Wolfman story, this movie has been – this story has been told in different iterations so many times. Sure. Not even in just the pure Wolfman specific title of a film, but so many variations of this story of a man who turns into a wolf and terrorizes people. Sure.

[00:07:49] If you're going to do it, at this point in society, you've got to have something interesting, something different, something unique, something that's going to stand out about it. Okay. Okay. And that's where this film fails for me in that it didn't have any of that. Okay. Okay.

[00:08:08] If the film had really marveled in the technology of how we see the transformation and the creature design, if that had been its shining point, that could have made it stand out a little bit. Okay. This film didn't have that. Okay. If it could apply the story of the Wolfman with a more modern sensibility and somehow make some sort of commentary on a greater shade of light, that would be interesting. This film didn't do that. Okay.

[00:08:36] So I'm struggling to understand why this film exists because the action was not terribly engaging or interesting. The family drama I thought was pretty poorly done. Okay. Both from an acting standpoint and a dialogue standpoint. And at the end of the day, I'm still struggling. Like, I don't understand what the point of this movie was. Okay. So I'm down on this movie. Not a fan.

[00:09:04] It had a few moments that I thought worked okay. But otherwise, I got nothing for this. I really, I'm struggling to find anything that just really worked really well. Alan would not recommend Wolfman. No, I wouldn't. No. Okay. So not having been on my list of anticipated films, I'm going to agree with you on some points. But one major point I actually want to say, it was kind of something. Yeah.

[00:09:32] I'll get to like what I think was the, my favorite part of the film. What I thought was kind of the saving grace. Why it, something new. Okay. Actually. All right. So you got something new out of it. All right. Let me first before I, cause I want to lead on, I want to, I want to end on positive. Sure. I can end on positive too. Yeah. Okay. So first off, um, Christopher Abbott, Jennifer, or not Jennifer Garner. I do that all the time. Julia Garner. Julia Garner. Um, actress that I've both seen in other things. Uh, Julia Garner, a little bit more familiar with her, but think they're both very capable.

[00:10:01] I like, I like them both. From the very first scene with them, something wasn't right. And not in a good way. Oh no, it was, no, it was, yeah. Very lacking. I often don't comment unless I think it's, and it's usually in like a romantic comedy, something like the fall guy, the chemistry between Ryan Gosling, which I'll come back to in a second. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.

[00:10:29] I thought they had amazing chemistry, but usually that's more of like a romantic comedy type thing when you have to play certain dialogue. But, but, and so I don't normally comment on chemistry and this is a different type of film. The something wasn't believable with their marriage and granted like, you know, and it was, it was stiff and it was like, but I was like, oh, that's because their marriage is on the rocks. They have a rocky relationship. Like, no, that's been done before.

[00:10:57] So it's not like I expected them to be like very affectionate to it because I understand what they're trying to say, but it just didn't work. No, something about it didn't work. And I don't blame the actors. I think it was the dialogue or just something about it just wasn't working. And you need to get in board because they are, this family is the central family. What they go through, you have to believe how they would interact with it.

[00:11:21] I never felt that, for instance, I never really felt that Christopher Abbott's character cared. Blake is his name and Charlotte was Julia Garner's. I never really felt that Blake and Charlotte cared about one another at all. Yeah. And, or like at any point and they have a daughter, Ginger, who we'll get to in a second as well. And just, it just never really gelled.

[00:11:48] Well, and I'll tell you, I mean, not to spoil where the film goes, but I mean, you kind of need to buy that this couple has a relationship. Yeah. In order for some of the beats that the film tries to hit on the few moments that the film's trying to do something. It falls because you don't buy that relationship. I didn't buy, I, you could have told me these two characters met for the first time the day before. And I'd be like, yeah, I kind of buy that from what I'm seeing here.

[00:12:17] It just, it just never worked. And I think that carries over a little bit between Blake's relationship with the daughter, Ginger. Now that's a little bit better, maybe because the opening scene where you see him as an adult, he's dealing with his daughter and they've, he's obviously spending a day with her and taking her to different places and spoiling her. So there's a little bit back and forth there that kind of works, but ultimately it ends

[00:12:47] up feeling false. Definitely by the end of the film, there's this, there's this little thing where there's a mind reading kind of little game type thing that they have back and forth first time. Okay. Second time I'm like, all right. Then it comes a third and comes a fourth. And by the fourth time it is brutal to me, like groaningly inducing. No, I completely agree. Completely.

[00:13:12] I thought that again, that's another relationship that we're supposed to really buy into because it's supposed to hit the emotional beats that this film needs to hit later in the film. Like you said, where the relationship with Julia Gardner and Christopher Abbott, the two of them never connected on anything. I almost feel like the relationship between Blake, the Christopher Abbott character and his daughter Ginger was forced so much that it became grading by the end. So you're right. I'm with you on both of those.

[00:13:41] And again, this film, Chris, and I'm kind of keeping it on these relationships. Sure. I brought this up. Sure. There are moments where I think this film has an idea of what it's wanting to do that would make it a little different and make it stand out as an interesting film. There are some commentary hinted at having to do with, um, breaking the cycle of breaking

[00:14:06] the cycle of family actions and family personas and maybe toxic masculinity types. This whole parenting passed down. It's definitely in the first half of the film. They are spelling it out for you that this is, this is a theme we're going after. And that's why the relationship between Blake and his daughter is kind of important to kind of lay out early on. But it's also important to get the wife and the husband role because again, their relationship is impacting on the parenting side. Right.

[00:14:36] But I really think of the film in the second half forgets all that. And it's like, we don't really care about that anymore. Now this is, let's just, we're just going to make this the standard Wolfman film. And at that point I'm like, okay, so then what was the point of trying unsuccessfully should give us those relationships and build that up and build up this backstory in the first half of the film? Because ultimately it really didn't matter. And I, I, okay. So when you were saying, you know, when you were listing kind of some of your dislikes,

[00:15:05] one of which I'll push back on a little bit more, um, but the other, yeah, the, I agree. I think they were trying to do something with cycles of mistakes that families make and teach their children, unfortunately, and toxic masculinity, but it does get kind of dropped and that's unfortunate. Um, and then some kind of twists that end up being kind of predictable because of how that was handled.

[00:15:33] And I'll just leave that there because we don't want to spoil it for people who are still interested in seeing the film. Also something that I found interesting that was completely dropped after the first opening seconds of the movie. Um, I thought it was interesting in a film that's, you know, not trying to be an art film or this film started right away. No opening title, no names of actor, no, nothing. There were no titles. The only thing they had on the screen, which is something I thought was interesting was kind

[00:16:02] of a folklore about how a disease kind of in the mountains of Oregon had created what people were calling the face of the wolf. And so, you know, so kind of this kind of excuse, like, okay, here's how, here's the lore of a wolf man. Yeah, this is what we're setting up for you. Yeah. And I thought that was really, and they had like a Native American name for it. Yeah. That was cool. Translates it. So I was like, Oh, interesting. And then that's just poof, poof. It's gone. That's gone.

[00:16:30] So that was mentioned one time late in the film. Um, somebody references your, right. Yeah. But that's it. Yeah. They said, Oh, you're thinking about the face of the wolf thing. And then that was it. It was done after that. Yeah. So disappointing. Okay. So let me get to, um, what I really liked about the film. Okay. And what, for me, anytime that it happened, even though I could see some people would be like, Oh, they're just doing that again. But it was interesting. It was different.

[00:16:58] It was something I'd never really seen or seen done this way. Okay. And it was the biggest positive of the film. Like I said, I'm going to refer to it as wolf vision. Oh, okay. This was the look, this was the look of the film adopted when showing things from the werewolf's perspective. Yes. How humans looked, how they sounded. Yes. How light and color were affected. It managed to do something truly original for me that was different from any like paint by numbers film. I've really seen before.

[00:17:28] Unfortunately, a little bit of it was spoiled in the trailer for the film, because I think you see at one point the wife talking and it comes across as like Charlie Brown's teacher sounding and they kind of, and they explained that, but I, it didn't ruin it because I still enjoyed it. Like I said, I think it was my favorite part of the film specifically early on when you're kind of getting into this wolf vision idea. You hear this crazy tumbling sound, you know, like, what is this?

[00:17:57] And it ends up being wolf vision version of a spider crawling on a wall. That I thought that was amazing. That's amazing. I'm with you. That actually probably was my favorite moment of the film. Okay. Because at that moment I'm like, ooh, we're doing something different. Different. I was so scared that this was going to be a scene, this whole, where he's hearing this noise that it was just going to be some sort of like jump scare thing that was building up to, and it wasn't really, it wasn't really going to be integral to the plot.

[00:18:27] It was just trying to keep us on our edge. A very typical thing a horror film would do. Right. Because that's what I assumed it was building towards. Then it got to where you see the reveal that no, he is just hearing this incredibly scorching sound of just a spider crawling up the wall. It's a big spider. But yeah. It at least gave you an insight of, okay, so now this is what this guy's going through. If imagine if that's what's tearing his nerves up noise wise, just hearing that anything else going on, it's just got to be unbearable.

[00:18:53] So it does build to this idea of the torment he's going through, which is what the film wants you to have. Sure. Side of. I agree with you. I think the way that was handled was very interesting. Putting it us in the Wolfman's perspective was very well done. I'll give it that. You're right. So that's my shining thing. I mentioned it and then I said I'd come back to it. So I do want to come back to it. I noticed Ryan Gosling was an executive producer for this.

[00:19:20] He originally was going to do the role of Blake, of the father. Don't know that it would have worked any different. It'd be interesting to see Ryan Gosling in a horror movie. Yeah. But yeah, I just thought that was just an interesting note. I will say, I mentioned at the beginning that if you're going to do this film, you've got to have something that's going to make it stand out. And I did say the Wolf transformation didn't stand out. Now I'll say this.

[00:19:49] I kind of admired what they decided to do with it where it was a much more subtle. Right. Right. And even by the end of the film, it's still a fairly subtle transformation. But I actually felt like it was probably a little more, if you, I mean, as weird as it is to say, realistic. And that it wasn't this whole like American werewolf in London where it's just this transforming into this giant. Yeah. He is a wolf man. Right.

[00:20:14] And it is, I at least thought the transformation was notable in that it was somewhat subdued more than it could have been. They had their one obligatory outside shot where you do see him transforming more. And I thought that was kind of pointless. I actually like the idea of it just being this gradual. Every time you see him, he's just a little more down that path, but it never got to a point where it was like over the top. So that I think there was some good restraint shown there. And I thought that was actually okay.

[00:20:44] So, but it's not something that's going to make this film be memorable. I mean, nobody's going to say, oh yeah, it's great to see because this was handled really well or this aspect of the film or this element. None of them were handled well. So it's like, what do you have left to stand for with this film to make it stand out from all the other versions of the story they've tried to tell? You know, I want to address one. I said it in on a positive. I still let's, let's pretend, let's pretend. I went negative again. No, no, no, no, no.

[00:21:11] Let's pretend we already mentioned this, but I want to mention it because it's something I've seen tossed around online. I want to mention it. So Wolf Vision is my positive. I think it is interesting. Okay. But I do want to mention this negative because I've seen it reflected in other people talking about the film and you and I discussed it briefly while we were waiting to get back into the film. Because it's hard not to start drawing on the film a little bit during the 30 minute gap you have before seeing the end. Exactly. Yeah. Um, I do, especially in the opening, I like a lot of the cinematography of kind of establishing.

[00:21:40] It felt kind of very shining to me. The isolation, some of the beauty of Oregon and the trees up from above, kind of like a drone shot, I guess. But all this stuff. Great. But then as the film went on, specifically, there's some scenes in a house, in the house that his father's house that he goes back to. And then some scenes in a barn and then some night scenes later on the film when they're running around in the forest that were unnecessarily for me, dark and irritating. Hard to see. Hard to see.

[00:22:09] And that, you know, it's one thing if I'm watching at the house, I'm like, well, if I saw this on the big screen, I would know more of what was going on. Well, I saw this on the big screen. Chris, we saw it on two different screens. That's true. Keep in mind. That's true. We reviewed a couple of episodes ago.

[00:22:39] Nosferatu. Yeah, sure. You know, and the way they did that creature and like showing some parts. Effective. And yes, things were dark because Dracula comes out at night or excuse me, Nosferatu. But still. And this just, it reminded me of how I used to get frustrated with the X-Files. The grand, that's a TV budget as opposed to a film budget. But when things are happening, it's like, well, we're just going to use dark and they'll just have to hear a bunch of noises. And then like, that's just irritating to me. It was tough.

[00:23:06] There were some scenes late in this film that I honestly found myself having to lean in. Like, I'm trying to squint more at the screen. It's like, what is, I need to be able to see what's happening. Right. And it's, I get that there's a moment in a barn where you're not supposed to necessarily see. Because that's kind of the trick is that then they show from the reverse angle that we're seeing from the wolf's view. And he can see. With wolf vision. With wolf vision. But at the same time, just showing me a black screen.

[00:23:35] Or like, where I can't even barely make out anything. It doesn't, it didn't serve the story. It didn't serve its purpose at all. So it was, it was tough. It was a very tough watch at times. And it sounds like we're on the same page with that aspect. It's frustrating and it just takes you out of the film. You're just kind of like, come on. You know, just, it's irritating and frustrating. So we know it's nighttime. We don't have to douse it in black to just to show us it's nighttime. Right. There's ways to do it. They've been lighting scenes at night for decades in film.

[00:24:04] So there's a way to do it. But wolf vision was cool. No, wolf vision's fine. Like, I'm just going to go back. I thought Christopher Abbott was fine. Granted, he, you know, he really had stuff to pull in the first half of the film. After that, it's a very physical role. Sure. I thought Julie Garner was really, and I will say mostly her role, underused and poorly, poorly used when used.

[00:24:32] I know she's a, I know she's a more capable actress than what we were able to see here. And it just felt like she was given the most thankless role to play. And even the scenes where she was, did have some impact on the film. I just didn't feel like she was, she was not, she was not performing at the level I know she's capable of. And that was a shame too. I just, for about the first two thirds of the film, I'm like, is she even in this movie? Because I don't feel like there's any impact she's having whatsoever. She doesn't have a lot of dial. And when she does, it's very like.

[00:25:01] She has a little bit towards the end, but still not enough to say that there was really a good performance put in here, unfortunately. So, yeah. Yeah. I just, that's the thing about this is if I had never seen a movie about a wolfman before, this might be okay. Okay. This might be okay. If this was your first exposure to the wolfman story. But again, I'm saying you're taking a tried and true story that everybody knows or has seen some variation on.

[00:25:29] You've got to do something, something that stands out. Understood. And this movie has nothing that stands out. So that's the shame of it. So, yeah. I'm not saying it's a horrible movie. Sure. I'm saying it's just, it's a nothing movie. It is a, you, you think about the story of a wolfman and you think about what that looks like, feels like, acts like, yep. That's what this movie did almost to the most boring, simple way possible.

[00:25:59] And that's it. That is all you're getting out of this. And they could have explored some really interesting dynamics a little bit further about the idea of parenting and parenting a child in this situation. The generational thing between father and son and kind of, there's a lot more that could have been fleshed out and made more interesting. I actually had hoped. I was expecting this film to take a little bit of a different route come the end and it did not. Okay.

[00:26:28] Where I, how can I say this without tipping at the, at the ending or spoiling? Sure. I thought that there was going to be a bit of a turn on the idea of the wolfman because we're introduced to other characters that could have, or were also inflicted with the same situation. Okay. And maybe the role of this, the Christopher Abbott wolfman actually was going to have a different purpose. Okay. By the end of the film. Okay.

[00:26:59] Towards the family. Okay. And that didn't, it did at one point because there's a fight with another wolfman character and I'm like, oh yeah, that's totally where they're going with this. And then by the end of the film, like, no, they, they weren't really interested in that either. So it's just simple, similar tragic ending that we've seen many, many times in many situations and just, anyway, it's nothing. There was nothing to it. So got you. Yeah. That's the shame of it. You know what?

[00:27:27] Give me a movie that at least is trying to do something, trying to be interesting. Even if it fails miserably, I will still give it credit. This is a film that I just didn't feel like tried much at all for anything. And that's the biggest crime for it. So fair enough. Yeah. I think we're maybe a slight bit more positive on it, but still only because I think I went in with more expectations of what this film could should have been or could have been. And I was more walked away more disappointed. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, that is Wolfman.

[00:27:57] That again is a dead release this past weekend. Didn't do so hot in the box office. Again, I've been watching the box office. Not because of every screening getting interrupted by a fire alarm. No, it was not because of our one screening that fire alarm interrupted it. That caused the box office to plummet on this. Sure. Gotcha. I think there were other factors at play. Fair enough. It did not do as well. I don't think this is going to bode well for any future adaptations of other stories they

[00:28:26] want to tell in this kind of universe or wherever they're trying to do with this. It doesn't bode well. So. All right. That is Wolfman by Lee Winnell starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Gardner. We are both saying, nah, not much to it. Nothing really to see here. That's where we are. All right, Chris, let's take a very, very short break. When we come back, we will be talking through a couple of trailers that I want to share that

[00:28:54] we're going to watch together for the first time about a couple of movies that I know nothing about, but we'll see what happens. And then we'll turn it over to you and get your recommendation of a film you think we ought to check out. So stay tuned. You're listening to Foot Candle Films here on TheMesh.TV and we'll be right back. This podcast is sponsored by Jackson Creative, a custom communication agency located in downtown Hickory, North Carolina, specializing in online content creation.

[00:29:23] To learn more, visit thejacksoncreative.com. Jackson Creative, we tell your story. Hello, and welcome back to Foot Candle Films here on TheMesh.TV Podcast Network. We had our review of Wolfman in the first half of the show, but let's move on to talk about a couple of films that our trailers are out that we want to discuss for films coming out later in the year.

[00:29:47] Now, Chris, you and I had a little discussion during our fire emergency escapade last night at the movie theater. Yes. About how there's a lot of movies we're seeing movie posters for being promoted that we are not familiar with and not heard of. And we typically hear of most movies before they hit the screen. Well, and we are in that time of year, that January, February-ish time frame where a lot

[00:30:13] of studios will dump a lot of stuff that they've been holding onto for a while because there's just not, you know, it's not the biggest time for the crowds to go out to the box office. So it's like, all right, now's the time we can get these movies out in the theaters. They don't perform very well. It is what it is. We're basically waiting for April, May to come around to jumpstart us back up. Sure. One film you mentioned that you said you saw a poster for, I can't remember if it was last

[00:30:38] night or somewhere else, maybe in the theater, that piqued my interest because it does star one of our generation's greatest actors. And come to find out, I did not realize this, directed by a director that I've always been a big fan of, although I really haven't heard much from him in quite a while. Is this the De Niro? It is. Okay. Robert De Niro is in a trailer or is in a film, upcoming gangster film. Shock.

[00:31:07] Typecast, maybe. I mean. Upcoming gangster film called The Alto Knights. And it's directed by Barry Levinson. Oh. Who I really liked Barry Levinson back in the 80s, 90s. Great. I can't really tell you much he's done in the last 20 years, but that all piqued my interest. And the fact Robert De Niro is playing two characters in this movie. Oh. Okay.

[00:31:29] He's playing both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, real life kingpins of New York's Genovese crime family. Right. Yeah. Those names sound from America. They're like, it's a real story. Okay. The movie's also got Deborah Messing. It's got Catherine Narducci. Huh. Let's see. Yeah. It's set to follow the story of the Italian-American mafiosa in the mid-20th century in an attempted

[00:31:57] hit on Costello in 1957. So, all that being said, I haven't seen this trailer. Last night was the first I'd even heard about this movie, saw the poster, and now I'm reading the news article. So, what do you say we check this trailer out? Sure. And we'll see what we think about this. This, again, is Barry Levinson's The Alto Knights. Here we go. Where do I start?

[00:32:28] You're going down a very dangerous road. And we ain't been down dangerous roads before. But that's the risk you take. Me? I take that risk. Yeah, but you're not where I am. I get to charities. I pay my taxes. Let's remember something. I put you where you are today. It's because of me. Mr. Good Citizen. You want to be like them? Come on, you ain't like them. They own this country. They're bigger gangsters than we ever could be.

[00:32:57] All of a sudden, you want to be half thin, half hot, half a racketeer? You can't have it both ways. You're either in or you're out. All right. So that is the trailer for The Alto Knights. Coming out to theaters March 21st. Okay. Chris, any initial takes on this?

[00:33:21] So kind of coming off the discussion we have, Wolfman, and you were saying, why does something exist? You know, there have been this tale of monsters have been told numerous times, you know, what makes this unique? So mafia films, a lot of them out there. A lot of them out there starring Robert De Niro. Yeah. And they even say in the trailer, they mention, like, you know, makers of Irishmen and all these other films, which also stars Robert De Niro. So why this?

[00:33:49] I will say, looking at the film, I am surprised that you and I hadn't heard of it until now. It looks, I mean, it's Barry Levinson, director, a very capable fellow. It looks well made. The shot, you know, some of the cinematography shots look good. I assume De Niro does a good job acting. So, you know, the only thing that kind of gets me interested in the film, because I'm kind of burned out on mafia films in general, just because I've seen a lot of them here.

[00:34:19] But what could be unique is specifically focusing on the relationship between the two mob bosses. I think it is odd to have them both played by Robert De Niro. I think that might be a mistake, but maybe that is kind of forcing something where it's like, no, these people are very similar. What makes them, what is about it that makes them different? Or, you know, like, so having the same actor, like, okay, interesting, maybe it'll work.

[00:34:45] So that could be like a dynamic that's actually done intentionally to make you think about what is the difference and how things apparently, you know, fall apart. I think that's going to be the catch for this film is the whole, yeah, yeah, it's De Niro. Okay. You've seen De Niro play in a mobster gangster movie. How about playing two different mobster gangsters in the same movie? That's going to be the catch. Right. Whether it works or not, I don't know.

[00:35:10] Because usually, like, there's a scene they show, they focus on kind of the two gentlemen, which are both Robert De Niro, sitting down at a table and having kind of a confrontation. Usually one would be Robert De Niro, the other one would be Joe Pesci or something like that, you know. And that's kind of a Ray Liotta. That's kind of what you would expect. And so instead, both are played by De Niro. It, you know, it's just interesting enough to be like, hmm, that might work. That's kind of where I am with it.

[00:35:35] It's like, I'm interested, but I think it's all the conceit of him playing the two characters and playing against himself is going to be what makes or breaks the success of this film in my mind. Yeah. Barry Levinson, just looking back at his IMDb just to see his history. I mean, really, he hasn't had a big movie since really like, gosh, back in very early 2000. Well, even not even then. The last one he really did that was like a big movie, Sleepers, back in like 96.

[00:36:04] He's done a lot of movies since then, but none of them. He did a lot of the Men in Black films, right? No, that's a different guy. That's a different Levinson. Oh, Sonnenfeld. That's Sonnenfeld. It's Barry Sonnenfeld. Mixing up Barry Levinson. Okay. Barry Levinson, he did, yeah, he did Sleepers in 96. Before that, he had done Toys with Robin Williams. He did Bugsy. He did Avalon, which is, I love that movie. He did Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam. Tin Man, all that.

[00:36:34] But since then, he did The Natural, obviously one of my favorites. Also one of Alan's favorites. But since then, he's done Wag the Dog in 97, Sphere, that sci-fi movie. Yeah. Yeah, 98. He did a movie called Liberty Heights in 99. He did Bandits. It had Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett, I think, back in 2001. Huh. Yeah. Envy that had Ben Stiller and Jack Black in 2004. Wow.

[00:37:01] He did Man of the Year, which was another Robin Williams movie in 2006. What Just Happened with Robert De Niro in 2008. Then he did some TV stuff, TV movies, TV series. He did a movie called The Bay that I know nothing about back in 2012. Rock the Casbah in 2015. That was with Bill Murray, wasn't it? Yes. Okay. And that supposedly was bad. Right. Yeah. Since then, TV movies.

[00:37:30] He did a movie called The Survivor in 2021. I never heard of. He did the miniseries Dope Sick. That was actually really good. I have not seen it, but I've heard people say things about it. He directed a couple of episodes of that, and that was a good show. Okay. But that's been it. So he's been working constantly. Sure. Just nothing of real note. So could this be the return for Barry Levinson to kind of get a high-profile film done again? I don't know. We'll see. Okay. All right.

[00:37:59] So that is, yes, that is, what did I just say the name of this film was? Alto Nights. Alto Nights. Correct. He's actually got a few others in production right now he's working on. Yeah. So we'll see what happens with that. All right. The other trailer I wanted to bring up, Chris, and I'm looking to see where it is in my list here because I just had it a second ago. My apologies. It is a film called Queen of the Ring.

[00:38:30] Okay. I have not heard of this at all. So we have another wrestling fighting, what do you call that? The UFC fighting with Dwayne The Rock Johnson coming out later this year that one of the Safdie brothers is doing. Right. But this is one called Queen of the Ring, which is about legendary wrestler Mildred Burke. So it is from writer-director Ash Albinson, who I'm not familiar with. No.

[00:38:57] And it stars Emily Bette Rickards, which did you ever watch the Arrow TV show or Flash TV show that were on CW? Arrow, no, Flash, yes. Okay. She was primarily in the Arrow show, but she was like the girl at the computer. Okay. But she was in the Flash show quite a bit too and became a character there. Anyway. Okay. Emily Bette Rickards stars with this. The true life tale follows Burke as she defies incredible odds to become the first million-dollar

[00:39:26] female athlete and longest-reigning champion at a time when wrestling was banned across most of America. Oh. So it takes place in the 40s and 50s. Her journey is marked by personal struggles, including raising her own son on the road, tragic death of her wrestling protege in the ring, a tumultuous relationship with her manager and ex-husband, Billy Wolf, who I believe is played by Josh Lucas in the film.

[00:39:53] So, okay. Good historical sports drama. I'm all for it. About a story I'm not familiar with, this particular athlete. So let's take a look at the teaser trailer for Queen of the Ring. This film is scheduled to come out also in March of this year. Okay. So here we go. Oh, honey.

[00:40:23] I have a dream. The only dreams that we make come true are real. We're going to wish away all those bad thoughts. One, two, three. I promise you, my son. Our lives together will be special. Where's your little boy's father anyway? Mr. I ain't going to marry no circus freak. He done let me over this. Billy Wolf. I'm really curious to see what you can do with her. You barely know him. He's the only man that's ever believed in my dream.

[00:40:53] We got a job to do tonight. You're out there. You wrestle your heart out. So that is the trailer for Queen of the Ring. Chris, thoughts on what you just saw? So if this, if the gender in this was flipped and this was a male story about a male wrestler

[00:41:20] who I hadn't heard of, you know, et cetera, et cetera, probably wouldn't be that interested in it because I've seen, you know, Iron Claw just recently we had, which was good, you know, kind of a downer, obviously, because it was based on real life stuff. Um, it was a sad story, but I just wouldn't be that interested in it. But the fact that it is following a female untold story of her, it interests me. Um, and kind of, because I wasn't aware that any of that really was around.

[00:41:47] I mean, I saw the glow TV show that was talking about like, you know, that wrestling thing, but apparently, yeah, going back as far as this does to the thirties and forties. Yeah. That's, that's news to me. Well, I like, I like the time period. I like exploring that time period. I like the, the, the, yes, I like the concept and the story that's taking place in the time. So I'm, I'm curious. I'm interested in the film. Here's, here's something I withheld about the film that, uh, makes it maybe also a little interesting.

[00:42:14] So I mentioned the name of the director, uh, Alvinson. Yes. Um, so he is the son of John Alvinson. Do you know who John Alvinson is? The last name sounds familiar, but I don't know. John Alvinson, uh, directed such films you may have heard of as Rocky, the original Rocky and the original Karate Kid. Okay. Okay. So this is a guy that was a director.

[00:42:39] Now here's the thing is that, um, the son of Alvi Alvinson, as I say right, or Ali Ash Alvinson, sorry, Ash Alvinson is quoted in this variety article talking about the film saying, uh, storytelling has always been my greatest passion and queen of the ring represents a culmination of my journey, both personally and professionally. He said at the age of 34, I finally met my father, acclaimed director, John Alvinson known for iconic films such as Rocky and the Karate Kid building a beautiful bond with my father

[00:43:08] as an adult with life changing, deeply influencing my approach to storytelling and imbuing my work with a profound sense of purpose and authenticity. Growing up without a father defined me in my youth, but becoming best friends with him later in life has been transformative. Huh? So interesting. It is kind of interesting. So again, the film obviously is, you know, about a, a female wrestler at the time and fighter, but it also comments on her being a single mother and kind of raising a child. Right.

[00:43:35] He's obviously got this, the director's got this pedigree with his father making one of the, the most classic sports movies of all times. So it's, it's kind of an interesting backstory to it. That is interesting. Anyway, um, that is queen of the ring that is coming out also in March. I don't think this film will be getting, I mean, I don't, I don't think either of these two films we just talked about are going to get big releases. I mean, I think they're going to be fairly limited release wise. I would imagine Robert De Niro is not quite the big box office straw that he has been

[00:44:04] in decades past in this film. I did see Walter Goggins is in it. I know Walter Goggins is kind of a little bit of a tear right now getting, you know, in a lot of some higher profile projects, but otherwise there's not a lot of known star quantity to the film. So I wouldn't be surprised if both these films are pretty limited releases, if not even going online streaming pretty quickly. So, but here's hoping that they're both, uh, both good. Always want to see a good film. Oh, of course. Always happy to see good films.

[00:44:32] So, okay, Chris. So that's what I've got in the new section. That's all I want to talk about with upcoming films. What do you say we bring this thing home, uh, and close out the film with your recommendation? You have a recommendation of something you want to share with us as a film that you think maybe our audience might be interested in seeing. Uh, so why don't you tell us a little bit about that? What you got for us? So we've talked about influences, personal influences or favorite directors in the past.

[00:44:59] Um, I've mentioned Stanley Kubrick probably numerous times. Um, but I don't know if I've mentioned him as much as I probably should have a director who we just recently lost and passed away, David Lynch. Um, interestingly enough, although I've seen all his films, uh, his TV show Twin Peaks was how I first kind of got to know him because it was around when I was, you know, high school and I watched it and, and loved it. Um, and then I kind of went back and revisited his earlier stuff like Eraserhead.

[00:45:29] I went back and eventually saw that. Um, but, um, he's always been a very fascinating, uh, filmmaker. Someone who, he does it his own way. And a lot of his stuff is very abstract and people don't really get it or understand what it means. And he's never been one to be interested in telling people what things mean because that's just kind of like, I'm creating art. You take it from what you take from it. I'll take from it what I wanted to do when I made it. And that's my point in making it.

[00:45:59] Um, the film or the documentary that I'm going to recommend is one that I'd never caught up with. Um, and didn't really had forgotten it kind of existed, but it's called David Lynch, the art life. I was from 2016 and it's available on max and I'm recommending it just cause it was a chance for me to, although he's very, you know, he's still very guarded, but the film is basic or the documentary is nothing but him talking with images of him working in his workshop,

[00:46:25] doing painting and then, uh, footage from his childhood and photographs from his childhood. But although he doesn't say like, this is what a racer head is about, or this is what this really odd painting that I'm working on is about. He tells lots of little stories that kind of give you an insight on he's led a very interesting

[00:46:47] life and just has worked to somehow get the ideas out of his head, whether it be by painting or doing sculpture or by making films. I'm just a very fascinating person that you don't really know a lot about. And I'm not saying walking away from this documentary. I'm like, Oh, I get it. I know what all his time. But it was just kind of a chance to kind of remember somebody who was an outsider, did things his own way.

[00:47:17] But to me, it was always a fascinating. So if you want to learn a little bit of, and it's, you learn more about David Lynch as a person, not necessarily about his art. It doesn't like walk you through what they, but I think that's by design. Yeah. Um, the film is dedicated to his, at the time the film was shot in 2016, very young daughter. I'm not sure whether she was like two or three years old, but very, very young.

[00:47:42] And I think it's kind of an interesting way in thinking like, okay, this is something he's leaving behind for her. And now she's probably almost a teenager or something. I can't, you know, exactly. Well, she would be 10 years old or so, but kind of a way to leave something behind. Like this is who your father was. This is who he was. So it's just really, really fascinating. Things he says about his mom, things he says about his dad. I just, I don't know, just interesting.

[00:48:10] So, uh, and just kind of an acknowledgement of, uh, having lost David Lynch, who I think somebody, lots of people respected him. Yes. Um, but he never really was like celebrated by like the Academy Awards or anything nominated, you know, that kind of stuff. And then for him to do, I guess, I think I may have recommended this film in the past. Not sure, but it's one to check out. If all you have of David Lynch is this opinion of somebody who makes disturbing stuff, which a lot of this stuff is.

[00:48:39] Um, but the film that he actually did with Disney, the straight story, very touching. You know, it was one of Richard Farnsworth lap thing that he was able to do. Um, so just a very interesting career. Um, David Lynch has now passed away. We'd be remiss not commenting. In fact, I mean, I look, I, I, we have people in the film business that are passing away, unfortunately a lot and, you know, we were, we're sometimes remiss and not always mentioning them.

[00:49:06] But I mean, David Lynch, we have to kind of comment on cause I'll be the first to admit I am not as versed in Lynch's films as much as I should be. And I hate, I hate it being something where, you know, because of his passing, oh, now I feel like I need to go back and watch. I wish I had caught up more with them before, but, um, obviously very influential filmmaker, uh, respected by so many of his peers. And I think, uh, you know, whether you get his films or not, or you still got to admire

[00:49:36] the craft involved and just, you know, the, the, the, the guy credit his vision of what he wanted to bring to, to cinema. And he did, you know, many, many cases. So that's great. And of course, we're still enjoying some of the, you know, I, I know we've got these new versions of Dune that are out there, but I mean, Lynch's version, you know, as, as much as that, there's a lot of drama behind the production of that still has some influence on where we are today with, with Craig and that story.

[00:50:04] Of course, some of his films are some of the most iconic films that you can imagine, you know, blue velvet, eraser head, um, you know, Mulholland drive, elephant man. Yeah. So, so many great films and, uh, interesting films. Yeah. Yeah. And then of course the old twin peaks thing. So yeah, that's a good, good recommendation with that documentary. I think that's great and a good way for us to learn a little bit more. Although, like you said, it's not going to be a spell out everything that he's done and why he's done it or what his films mean. That's not the point.

[00:50:32] It's more just to get to know him a little bit more. So yeah. Okay. Great. Thanks for that recommendation. Where was it? People can find that. So they can find it on max and it's just David Lynch, the art life on max. Got it. All right. Well, that will wrap it up for today. Chris, we had our review of Wolfman. We had some trailers we discussed about upcoming films, uh, queen of the ring and the alto nights. And then you gave your recommendation of the David Lynch documentary on max that people

[00:51:02] could check out. So with that being said, Chris, how can anybody get ahold of us if they would like to engage in dialogue about anything we talked about or gifts, some of their own recommendations of things we could explore in the future. You can send an email to info at footcandle.org. We're on the various socials as footcandlefilm or footcandlefilmsociety. Uh, do us a favor. If you enjoy listening to the show, uh, write a review, share with friends or whatever service

[00:51:28] you receive your podcast, favorite podcasts on because it'll help us reach new listeners. We would appreciate it. Alan mentioned the 2025 footcandlefilm festival, which we are associated with, uh, how we'll have its edition for this year, September 19th through the 28th. So if you are going to be in Western North Carolina, we would love to have you, uh, come and check the festival out. It's going to be, we hope to be a pretty good one. Yeah, should be, should be. All right. Well, that will wrap it up for today.

[00:51:57] Thanks everybody for listening to footcandlefilms and we'll look forward to talking to everybody next time. Take care. See you in the ticket line.

[00:52:43] Special thanks to Carpal Tuller for the show theme music. For more about Carpal Tuller, visit www.carpaltuller.com. You've been listening to The Mesh, an online media network of shows and programs ranging from business to arts, sports to entertainment, music to community. All programs are available on the website as well as through iTunes and YouTube.

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