309 WHO THAT SAY CUSACK???

309 WHO THAT SAY CUSACK???
Kelly's not a fan of the video format and the gang talks John Cusack films!
Also discussed: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, I like Movies, Companion.

Transcript

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Um, a little bit lower, okay, that's good. That's perfect. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration somewhere between science and a superstition. So we have such sites to show you. Strange eons. Welcome to strange eons. Radio that is Eric over there. Hello, that is Vanessa over there. Hello. I am Kelly. You guys come to you live on a Sunday morning. Foggy Everett, sure is with an attitude for gratitude in your am. Oh Lord, we got the traffic out there. It's really bad. We had some snow over the last week. We did last week, and that was kind of crazy. And as you can see, I'm really embracing my senior citizen. I'm gonna go and try and get half price tickets at the movies. You look very cozy. Definitely ready for the early word special. Here's why. This way, I gotta say, Eric, I'm not thrilled with this old video taping thing. Yeah, no, yeah, wearing White's not a holy cow, I am a big fat boy. No, the iPhone bends the edges so you bend the edges of my gut. It does. I'm not kidding, if you're near the frame, which trade places with Vanessa there? Yeah, you'll see you're gonna look real tiny. He'll be way shorter in frame, I look very tiny on this side, he does look very short. I look like a little kid at the end of the table. You're basically eye level to us as you're sitting here. But on the video, it looks like, I know I'm like, way like, yeah, no, I never noticed because the gravity of my gut drags my eyes over to it, and I'm just like, Why did I agree to this bullshit? Well, now you look cozy. I hope that black is slimming. You know? What else is slimming would be losing some weight. Oh my gosh, for me, the handsome gentlemen, diggity. Anybody would go to prom with you, you just have to ask. I did have multiple prom dates, very different. I just know you have longer hair, lighter hair weighed about half, literally half what I weigh now. I'm getting fat because my mom says, Stop telling me that I'm a handsome boy. Are you sure you just haven't called her enough? I have watched some stuff though, you guys, oh, that's good. And today for me is going to be an animation heavy discussion. That is crazy. I watched on Disney, plus the first, I think we're up to six episodes now of friendly neighborhood Spider Man, oh shit. I forgot that was out. How is it? It's fucking adorable. Oh my god. And it's also, they're playing fast and loose with the stuff. So it's, you know, a multiverse kind of thing. And in fact, even opens up with a doctor strange appearance from a different universe where he's doing something. So Peter Parker's origin story is changed drastically. I was like, Oh, this is interesting, how they're doing this, and it's very interesting to see where they're going with some of the characters, Harry Osborn and Norman Osborn play very different against type people in this show. And I'm like, Oh, this is really, really cool. It's got really neat animation and very good voice acting and a really neat story, especially if you're a fan and familiar with Spider Man, to go, Oh, I see what they're doing here. This is similar, but different. And I gotta say, I really, really love it so, and I think it's almost over for the season already, so that's a bummer. I think there's only eight episodes, no, okay, well, I'm can't wait to check that out. Yes, fill out the time. What the hell. The other thing I thought was interesting, all the posters and everything, the design is exactly the same as it was when they first announced it. But I don't know if you remember when they first announced it. It was called Spider Man freshman year. Yes, right? And now it is friendly neighborhood Spider Man. Oh, so they, you know, go, don't get trapped next, next season. That's what I was thinking, sophomores, yeah, it's only gonna be four years of this show. I guess he goes to college. Is he in college at the like, in this or is he in high school? Feels very much high school, okay, yeah, huh, yeah. It's very confusing. I was when I was reading the comic. Um, like, there was like a prep school version at one point. And I was like, Are you in college or in high school? I don't know where you are anymore, because you're learning intense stuff, but you seem to be in high school drama. So I think the they've always pushed that he is advanced intelligence, right? So he's taking advanced courses, sure, in high school, yeah, so, yeah, yeah. Well, I went last night and checked out love hurts, which is the new key Hua Quan movie, okay, yeah, has a great looking trailer. Seems to be about a guy who escaped a life of crime and became a realtor. Seems to be, well, no, it sucks. Oh no, sucks. So bad. I was really sad about it. Yeah, no, it's, um, it's a huge mess. Like, the whole film is just a huge mess. Everything is totally, like, really whiplash between, like, way over the top, violent end points, and then, like, Haha, it's funny guys. And you're like, okay, that guy from play that conquers is here. I guess that's kind of cool, but you did rip out his teeth a second ago, so that's sweet. Yeah, that's like, where you're swinging between. And there was, like, comedy beats that were happening in the trailer that didn't make it in the film, and that's fine, but there was just a lot of like connective tissue that didn't make sense. And I think they knew it, because they put in a bunch of voiceover that feels disconnected and random, but the girl who's like the love interest in it, otherwise she would like come across so poorly. I think they had to do it, because otherwise she just, it's like, why the fuck would you like this chick? She's awful. She's absolutely awful. So I don't understand the ending of the movie at all and the maybe skip this one. This is a American production, or it's a, I believe it's an American I believe it's American production. It's actually the first director, world debut by a stunt guy, as far as director so I think he's just kind of finding his sea legs, and he has a lot of experience. He did like, fall guy. And, I mean, this guy's stunt experience is crazy. He's done like 8080, credits, like Star Wars, stuff, violent night matrix, all kinds of stuff, birds of prey, any good stunts? There's a lot of fighting. There's a ton of fighting. I would say the stunts are cool. I don't know if they're shot in the most interesting way. And you do get a little fatigued by the fighting at points, because you're like, I don't care. I'm not invested enough to, like, care about the fighting. And there's one scene where he's, like, really protective of an item, and you're like, Why do you care about this item? And then you think that maybe the item is going to be used for something. It's not. Yeah, check off. Man. What a bummer, because the trailer did look fine. I know we've all been rooting for him. Yeah, I know he does a great job, like he's doing every I think the actors are doing a great job. It's just a really messy script, a really messy film, and maybe directing could have been stronger. I don't know for sure, but, yeah, I'm glad I gave some money and, you know, viewership numbers to support him as a lead, because I think he's great, and I can't wait to see him in more stuff. But this film was, is it Marsha Lynch, yeah, the one where he's the he's trying to kill him, or something like that trailer, I don't remember. Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong film. Yeah, you're, you might be thinking the wrong film. Oh no, it does have Marshawn Lynch, yes. So he's, there's a bunch of guys who were sent to kill him, and Marshawn Lynch is one of them. There was some behind the scenes stuff that would indicate those two should get together and do like a rush hour thing. That would be pretty fun. They were holy it's having a lot of fun. Marshawn Lynch and and our lead, the lead guy, yeah, oh, okay, because he's actually one of the strongest relationships in the entire film is Marshawn Lynch, and the this white guy that he's in the car with, and they're just talking back and forth about relationship issues. And you're like, these two, I believe, Oh, good. Every other relationship in this film. Do not believe for a second these two. The Best Actor in a movie is Marshawn. That's that's not something you would expect to hear based on the few things I've seen him act in. I was like, I don't know if I'd put him in a film at all, but also was shot shocked to see drew Scott, I believe he's one of the Property Brothers from HGTV. Yeah. I was like, Who is this guy? I was like, He's not really handsome enough to be a film guy, but he looks so fucking familiar. And I was like, Oh, my God, it's a property. Brother, okay, I like that. He's, like, one of the super pretty boys of those kind of shows. But for this, was like, you're off it, yeah, totally like Hollywood. You know, can only I finally have started to. Figure out my new living environment and how and when I can watch stuff. So, yeah, finished silo. Okay, holy shit, dude. I'd forgotten. I had a weird reminder of how large this series is, where I was in bookstore the other day, and it had wool silo, and I think sand is the last one, all next to each other's like, oh yeah, those are all huge freaking books. And I thought it was great. I liked it. I mean, there's, there are moments in any this deep sci fi show where you're kind of like, okay, I'll bend with your reality a little bit. I don't remember specific. I just remember at times going, Okay, you're, you're pushing this first story. But I don't care. Let's go. But yeah, I really liked it. What did, what did you guys, spoiler alert, what did you guys think of the way it ended? I haven't seen the second season. Oh yeah. It's very different. It's really, yeah, they story wise. It's a very different kind of story. Okay, it does feel like that. Um, I really enjoyed it. I loved, like, seeing more the inner workings of what's going up with going on with the higher ups in the silo. And, like, kind of what all that I want to say, like, lore is about. And, yeah, I like the ending a lot, Silo, yeah, the history of the silo, how people are, like, trying to manage the silo, what they actually know about the silo? Like being even the top head person in the silo? I really enjoyed that. I I'm a little confused about, I'm forgetting the black actor's name, who's the sheriff, who becomes a judge? Oh, yes, I the actor, rapper, common, common, yeah, I'm very confused about what common and his wife are doing in that because I I had a hunch, and then I was wrong, and I was like, I don't know what you guys are doing in this like, like, I don't know what their motives and I don't know what their end goals are. I think part of what worked for me in exactly what you're talking about, is it felt, to me, it kind of felt like a married couple thing where they're kind of have similar things they want to go, but they're looking at it from very different angles and taking it from very different directions to achieve the same thing, yeah. And normally, I mean, it's, it comes and stuff drives me. It's like, just tell the person what's going on. But I thought that worked well in this one to where the discovery came naturally, but, yeah, I could see where that would be. It's it's weird. How did you feel about our lead, being in a different silo and being so? I knew that was coming, because that's a huge part of the story. She gets out and survives, and that all that leads to so that one, I knew there's, I've read it like, 15 years ago, 10 I don't remember much, but yeah, little things like that they got, okay, I know, like in the first season, they're gonna find the tunnels underneath, and there's gonna be the water, yeah? But the, a lot of the little intricacies, I not sure if that's how it happened in the book, but it, yeah, it feels like the he was so blanked on the guy's name who wrote it, but he was so open with the series and it was so successful that he would just let people do fan fiction about it. So there were dozens and dozens of books written, and I read a few of them, and some really good that might be the next. Sure, totally, yeah, no. I mean, there's such cool plots going on in the way that people change and shift their perspectives in this and trying to figure out, you know, the previous judge and what she was thinking, and with the head IT guy like Tim Robbins is so fucking good. So really, really good, amazing moments in this season. Yeah, no, it was. It was an incredibly strong, incredibly strong season. I'm I'm stoked for season three. I hope it happens in like a year. It'd be nice. You know how we're always talking about Apple TV is kind of underrated. I went to see one of our great listeners, band ran Oculus, and Rick was with me, and he's like, do you have apple plus? Like, yeah, man, I just got it. And I've watched this. It's so so many things out there, so good. Yes, they are, like, there's only 20 things, but they're all great. They will keep you occupied. I mean, I've watched a lot of things. I just started slow horses on there, and we'll see how that goes. But I am pretty close to up to speed on shrinking and like, I'm forgetting about foundation. I want to watch. Oh god, I keep forgetting about foundation too, and for all mankind. But, yeah, there's like, cool stuff on there. Yeah. Kelly's like, I'm bored. No, no. Back to silo. Are we with two seasons now, are we through the first book or we don't think so? Okay, yeah, I don't think so. Really. I believe, wow, yeah, I know at some point things change a lot, but that might be, I don't remember if those book two or three. So I bought, yeah, I bought the first book wool, and I was really excited. And I was like, I. Don't want to ruin the show for myself, so I didn't let myself read it. So it's just sitting there, and I'm like, do I just want to read you now, but I don't want to spoil it for myself. Oh, so frustrating. Thanks. Okay, yeah, that's silo. It is on apple plus, along with all those other great things, I haven't seen slow horses yet, but my brother was just telling me how much I would love it. So nice. Yeah, I've only, I'm only one episode deep, so contribute. Okay, the other animated thing I watched, Eric. Did you see that invincible as return? Yep. Oh my god. I was thinking I almost changed my second one to that I got a bet because, after, like, but I didn't want to surprise you, because I bet that's what he's going to talk about. Yes, I watched the first two and about 10 minutes of the third. Did the whole thing drop? Or is it just the first they're doing, like, they do, like, three episodes and then one episode till, I don't know, I think it's only eight episodes again. So, yeah, did you have you watched all of them then? Yeah, the beginning of the third episode was so cool, surprisingly touching, because those two are such minor, honestly kind of insignificant characters in the comic, but their story is neat, so to just kind of throw that story in for a 10 minute little segment and make it so cool. That was a really neat idea. Yeah, there's a scene with two villains, and it's got it scored with beautiful music, but it's silent, and they're just trying to get along in the world, you know? So they they have to do crime. Eventually they try to go straight and doesn't work out, and all this stuff. And you know, you're kind of feeling for them, yeah, at the end, it's so they do a great bit at the very beginning where they're robbing. And he looks at that, he's scared a little kid, yeah, bothers him so. And then it just, I was, I was like, I kind of got to stop watching. And then they finally set up. Okay, I'll come back watch the rest later. But, yeah, it's really good. It's really good. It's really gory. It's like, yeah, like, we just said, it's surprisingly touching. And a lot of the relationship stuff that is going on there between the mother and the son and the son and the girlfriend, I'm like, Wow, this all rings very true. Yeah, really nice writing in this. And they also, I mean, they've introduced, for me, the most annoying character in the whole show, but he's vital. It's his little brother, yeah, but, or in the whole comic, but, and it looks like they're going to nail his character again, which is great. Yes, what he should be, but, yes, yeah, it is, but he adds a new level of conflict and stuff like that. So I'm really, really impressed with this show. It's like you would expect the series to be on a 300 issue comic book. It is streamlined a lot, but they're hitting all the important beats, yeah, for sure. Yeah, really good. So, and that is on prime. It is called invincible. If you haven't watched it, watch the first two seasons and the new season, yeah, just it is the kind of thing you need to watch in order. Yeah. Well, I saw another film last week, companion. Yes, getting a lot about it. Yeah, it's getting a ton of hype right now. I loved it. I just loved it. I did too. My only complaint, and I would say, If anyone thinks they want to see this, please don't see the trailer. Yep, I've heard that several times because I was like, I you know what the movie is when you're going into it, but when it plays out, you're like, Oh, I really wish I didn't know where this was going. What a beautiful reveal. I would have probably figured it out fairly fast, because the minute you put a woman in, like, beautiful, 1960s glam, where I'm like, something's up, something's amiss. But yeah, no, I definitely avoid the trailer. Avoid the movie poster, because I'm looking at that right now and the poster totally gives it away. Gives us away. So stupid, but yeah, such a strong, fun film. I mean, yes, considering everybody in it is a horrible person. Jack Quaid continues to impress. Yeah, yeah. Just in, like, even the like, side characters, I just, they were just all really fun. It felt like they cared. And even though, like the like, repair guy who comes out at the end, yeah, I was like, Yeah, you go, you're cool too, you're you're all just cool. It just felt like such a neat version of, you know, we've seen stuff like that in sort of 1970s feminist writing like Stepford Wives and. Okay, there's, there's other things that touch upon it. And then there was recently that movie with Florence Pugh that I'm forgetting the name of, that I hated, and Chris Pine, with a similar kind of idea. Yes, it is, don't worry, darling. Oh, is that what that is about it's, no, I mean, it is and it isn't. It's a very similar situation where you feel like there's a, you know, a woman who seems to be in a relationship, where you think maybe there's something else going on, there's something awry happening with, like, the whole town has something going on with the women in it. And you're like, What is the situation? There's sort of something amok. And I just felt like it fell flat on his fucking face. I just hated, don't worry, darling. I don't think it was a very good movie at all, but I'm a huge sci fi nerd, so I was also like, cool. I thought the original Stephen wives was better than this. Like, Oh my woof. I mean, the evidence finds okay movie, but anyway, yeah, this is a companion, and Eric, you'll also love it, but it is one of those ones that would have been, you know, like Abigail, it's like, why put the Vampire Princess in the trailer and the poster? Yeah, because it's just a really nice reveal. I think between the two films I saw for Valentine's Day, I would highly recommend going to companion rather than love hers. I think it's a much better V Day film that sounds like something very different. So I was kind of in the mood of we talked before we on about seeing good, feel good, kind of films, and thought I saw one called I like movies which look to be it's a Canadian made film about a high schooler who loves movies and wants to make movies and and you look like, okay, he's kind of the the troubled kid who's gone through some shit, who you're going to see get redeemed by the end. He's such an asshole through so much of the movie, you find out there's a good reveal why he's got issues that helps. But unfortunately, after that big reveal, he doesn't get a lot better. He stays being really, really mean, like to his mom and boss and friends and all this stuff. And the the redemption is like the last five minutes, and by that time, too late, little too late, but it's a well done film. It's an, if you like, natural realism in a film. This is really good. The Acting all is all incredible. The story's interesting. I just wish the most likable character in the movie is probably the manager of the video store or his mom, not him. So that's a problem, but it's it's an incredibly well made film, but it's hard to say, go out and see it. Is this a new movie? Yeah, and it must be set in the 80s or something early, 2000s Okay, so video store, okay, yeah. But, and they even pull off, you know, you can work for our company and have a career for like, the next 40 years. But overall, I mean, it's just a really well done, simple kind of film. I just wish they'd pushed him, because when he the actor, when he becomes likable, is immediately very likable. So obviously he's pretty good actor, right? So it's like, God, just tweak him a little bit earlier. But so it's good. I just it's hard to say you have to watch this movie, unless you've got, like, you know, if you really want that blockbuster return and you really want this, it touches a lot. There's a lot of stuff shot in a video store, the nostalgia, the overpriced popcorn, the dues that are late after two days. And it's basically the, I mean, I like video stores. I miss them, but also they're there. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't a perfect time. Well, yeah, we've talked about it before. My experience working in Suncoast, reading the trade magazines about some of the shit blockbuster did, but, you know, I'll leave that aside. Some people really love it. It's called, I like movies. And what did you watch this on? It's a rental on a few different Oh, I think Apple, like Apple TV actually is where I watched it. Oh, okay, well, cool. How about we take a little break, and then when we come back, we're talking about John Cusack. You teach your children well, he thought it was a game when his parents taught him to identify the smell of natural gas and telephone the gas company for help. He know. Now that gas leaks a serious business more important, he knows what to do about the problem. If you think you have a gas leak, call your gas company. They're on duty 24 hours a day, teach children well. You now we have returned. Vanessa, this was your topic. Yeah, you chose John Cusack. Never heard of it. Yeah, I know. I knew this one would be a challenge for you guys, definitely having existed in the 80s at all, this would be really a rough boom Bucha, for some reason. I don't know why, big, long brown trench coat. Yeah, no, I chose this one because we'd just been doing, you know, popular named or, you know, just named people. And I thought I'd just kind of keep that train going a little longer there. And my sister was like, you didn't do John Cusack. And I was like, fine. I'll do John Cusack. See how you like that. Wow. Yeah, you're welcome. I don't really like him, but I'm gonna do him just to spike. Oh, wait, hold on. No, I like him very much. Or at least, I have definitely gone through periods of being a big fan of John Cusack. So yeah, and this was a great excuse to watch 2012 from 2009 but before we get into that, I would love to talk a little bit about John Cusack. He has starred in 91 productions. He's a 58 year old man, so that's a lot of films a year, I guess. Yeah, dad is a writer, actor, producer, documentary filmmaker, Richard J Dick Cusack and his sister Joan Cusack also is an actor, and she's appeared in 10 movies alongside him. He started off in the 80s in things like 16 Candles better off dead, which we've talked about on the show before, and I think we're all huge fans of Sure thing. Stand by me and say anything. Then in the 90s, he has stride with Con Air, gross point blank, The Thin Red Line Being John Malkovich, high fidelity, many others. Then it kind of got rough in the 2000s I don't know how much do we want to go into that, but he's currently starring in Utopia. If that is still going, I'm not sure if it is right. I forgot about that. Yeah, it was such a fun surprise to see him in there during the famous just a couple of fun little tidbits during the famous boombox serenade scene, and say anything, which is what everyone knows him from. He's actually playing his favorite Fishbone tape in the boombox while Peter Gabriel, song in your eyes, is played in the movie. Cusack has been nominated for several awards, including Golden Globe, for his role starring in high fidelity in 2012 he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He won the 2012 Canadian Screen Actors Award for Best Performance in an actor by an actor in his role for map to the stars, which I forgot he was in. Oh yeah, me too, but yeah, just all around interesting guy. I think there's a lot of additional drama, including, like, his very outward sayings about political things, and there's, there's a lot of other stuff with him, but follow my John Cusack, no idea. Yeah, yeah. There's certain actors when you when they're hot, heart throbs, and they're sort of on your radar, and then they disappear for a while, or if something happens, you're like, What happened to that guy? And you're like, oh, oh, okay, do not look at Hugh Grant at a certain point, what? Oh, all right, whoops. Sorry, sir. I'm gonna avoid that one. Why would you ever cheat on Liz Hurley? She's fucking hot, man, that's fine. Listen, you have steak every night. Once a while you want a hamburger the bottom of the barrel. Thomas burger, in fact, just like, why not treat yourself? You want to start talking about your good idea. I'll put five minutes on this strange eons radio, buzzer, excellent. Um, so like I said, I'm doing 2012 which came out in 2009 you I remember shenanigans theaters is written and directed by, of course, the great Roland Emmerich, also co written with Harold klosser. So it's when him and Kloster were still talking to each other, starring John Cusack, chit Well, Escha for Amanda, Pete, Oliver, Platt, Tandy Newton, Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson and many other recognizable faces. Yep, I kept watching it going, Oh, hey. Oh, you, you're in this too. Oh, my God, okay, you're here too. The plot is, of course, like with any Roland Emmerich film, there's a lot happening at the same time, but it starts off in 2009 the geologist Adrian Hensley is visiting a friend in East India who's also a geologist, and learns that the sun's solar flares are heating up the earth's core. He returns to DC to warn the government, and is directed immediately to the President. A few years later, we see in the Tibetan mountainside people are getting bussed away because in China, they're beginning an arc project, which is being called a dam project, the Ark tickets for whatever this craft may be, whether it's to the stars or to the sea, can be bought for 1 billion Euros per person. And then in 2012 struggling sci fi writer Jackson Curtis is a divorced limo driver who is trying to reconnect with his kids by taking them on a camping trip to Yellowstone. He just can't compete with his wife's new boyfriend, though, who is a fun plastic surgeon guy. While out on Yellowstone, they stumble into a large military encampment when trying to look at a lake that is seemingly dissolved. And he meets Adrian, the geologist, who is a huge fan of his book and seems to be one of maybe 20 people who actually bought it when they are released from the military and kind of like, don't come beyond the fence guys, they encounter Charlie Frost, who is a crazy radio DJ slash conspiracy theorist who warns of an end time coming now in LA there's been a series of little quakes that seem to hit a fever pitch when in the grocery store, his ex wife, Amanda Pete and her boyfriend are having a conversation, and a giant rift opens between the middle of the grocery store and creates a huge cavern splits the whole building in half. And so she calls her kids and says, Come home, please. Jackson brings them back. And when he returns to work in his limo driving ways, he goes to pick up his ride, a Russian billionaire client who apparently has bought tickets to get away from LA and is leaving. And his kids are like, Well, you shouldn't be a dick to us. You're just gonna die See you later. And he's like, whoa, wait a minute. Oh, shit, the conspiracy theorist, maybe he's right. So he rushes back to his family, just in time to save them from the entirety of La falling into the ocean. They hop a plane and another plane and another plane. Meanwhile, the tectonic plates are shifting, and Jackson must use everything at his disposal to save his family and get them safely to the ark, then find a way to enter the Ark unseen. There are many, many other characters and side plots going on in this film. So this was way better than I remember it being, oh, really, yeah. I remember watching it and being like, I feel like this isn't my favorite Roland Emmerich, but I felt that way about White House Down and now, having seen Moon fall and independence day too, these are way up there now, so pretty good, although 30 to 40 minutes too long. COVID down. A lot of Yellowstone, a lot of the arc stuff, a lot of the plane high stuff. It feels like there's just a lot of repetitive stuff and things that just keep going the disaster. So much disaster, so unrealistic, so extreme. Love it so good. President is killed by fucking aircraft carrier dude. I mean, come on, look. He's just standing on land in DC. Giant tidal wave coming towards him with the Kennedy aircraft carrier going to smash his face so good, he's like, I'm coming home dead wife. Oh, my God, but dead kids in this film make me very sad. I apparently can't do that very well in movies and. More, just a little bit of trivia. I know I'm out of time, but the script is based on the earth Crust Displacement Theory from Gran Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods Emmerich was hot shit from Independence day and day after tomorrow, and had no issues getting funding. He actually came in under budget for this film. The tagline was, we were warned create disasters of the galactic alignment in 2012 were supposed to have occurred in december 21 the day of the solstice, but the filmmakers decided that the move to move the events up a few months to mid summer, because they didn't want to have to decorate the sense sets for the winter holidays. The film was banned in North Korea because 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the first great litter leader Il Sung Kim. Several people were arrested for watching pirated copies of the film. John Cusack ad libbed the line, the guy's an actor. He's reading a script when talking about the California governor who appears to be a caricature of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the TV, the original line of the screenplay was the governor's a meathead. He could, how could he know anything you got to trust me over some politician. Come on. And he felt the line would be a bit too hard on Arnold Schwarzenegger. I was like, that's interesting. I wonder if y'all are friends, or I would say that his improvised line is a little harsher girl, I guess it's a little harsher on politicians. Yeah, I think so. Or, like, I don't know. I guess it could feel like maybe he's just saying he's not a very good politician at all, and all he is is an actor. But yeah, it's, yeah, it's hard to know. Roland Emerg said this would be his last disaster movie. He lied the character Jackson Curtis is the real name of 50 cent. Curtis Jackson backwards. Roland Emmerich is a big fan of the rapper 50 Cent, and wanted to name his lead character after him. There was a TV spin off series planned that was going to be called 2013 it ended up being canceled, but they thought they were going to pick up on the disaster related programming after lost finally finished, but decided not to do it in the end. So should have given us way less story and more of the trivia. I didn't know any of this stuff. That's kind of wild. I know there's some grace, I know, and I felt like I cut the truth. I cut the story down. So much, so much. But nonetheless, I unironically love this movie. I think it's pretty great. I saw this in the theater. Not remember the people who end up dying being the ones who ended up dying? Yeah, I was pretty surprised. I was like, what? You fucking die? Oh, shit, you die too. Whoa. Okay. Yeah, I remember liking I think this is great. It's fun, great cinema, but that's exactly what it should be. It's ridiculous. Over the top action. Just go, yep, I'd be fine with Emeric just going, Look, I know what I am, and I'm just going to remake the 70s disaster movies with bigger budgets and bigger stars. Yeah, one of the trivia pieces is that they drive the limo when they're going through LA through a falling building. That's the same building in an earthquake from the 70s. So, yeah. So it's like, he clearly just loves this stuff, yeah? Like, fucking let him do that forever. But Moon fall was obviously, I told you the last time that the most unbelievable thing is when Cusack flashes his ID and it says He's 29 years old. And I was like, come on, John, Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I do also like that. This is the second film in which John Cusack plays a limo driver. Damn your type cast to a really specific Thanks, sir, Eric. If you don't mind, I'll go next. Dive in. All right, I am talking about a film from 2012 called The Raven. Dear God, get the inspector. His crime is familiar to me. Edgar, Allan Poe, to what may I attribute the honor of your call. The night before last, a young girl and a mother were found murdered. The daughter's body was lodged in a chimney. The mother's head severed with a straight razor. You're referring to one of my stories, a work of fiction. I'm afraid I am not. Do you actually think that I've murdered these people? What cannot be disputed is your imagination is the inspiration of a horrendous crime. I love you. Edgar, be careful. I believe the killer is taunting us. I challenge a brilliant detective, mind the red girl and Paul again. Name of wits. If I will kill again and on that new corpse, I will leave clues. As unfortunate as this is, you may be uniquely qualified to cast light on our killer, the pit in the pendulum. Are there other stories in the collection specifically about murder? I'm afraid so. His killer is methodical. He wants us to know he's gonna strike again. I dare you to try to save your beloved's life. I He will keep her alive to keep you involved as part of his game. No matter how this ends, I will kill him. I'd even say this is probably the last good cue second. It is directed by James McTeague, who has 12 credits, including V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin and breaking in and written by Hannah Shakespeare, which is a hard name to live up to. Writers 11 credits, mostly TV episodes of sinner, the whole truth, the philanthropist. She created and wrote the series killer women. And it is also written by Ben Livingston with this is his only writing credit, but he has 76 acting credits, mostly in parts that have names like GM, executive number two or investment baker or auctioneer. I can see him in my mind already. Sorry. John Cusack, 91 credits, including Stand By Me broadcast news and Hot Tub Time Machine two, also starring Alice Eve, who has 53 credits The Haunting of the Queen Mary bombshell and 10 episodes of Iron Fist. And Luke Evans, who has 54 credits, including Clash of the Titans, Robin Hood, and he is the bad Shaw brother in the Fast and Furious franchise. Remember? Yeah, he's also in 18 episodes of The alienist. Have you guys seen the Raven? No, no, mother. Okay, this was one of the two that I was looking at, the one I ended up doing. And then, okay, all right, okay, the movie opens in 19th century Baltimore as the police, led by Detective fields are investigating a horrible murder scene that seems to resemble a murder in the fictional story murders in the room or written by one Edgar Allan Poe. This movie takes place near the end of Poe's life, and at this time, he is a social outcast and penniless drunkard whose stories have not been circulated for some time, and he has fallen in love with a beautiful young socialite named Emily, and they want to wed, although her father is very much against this. Detective fields recruits Poe to help him with the case. But then another murder occurs, a literary critic who was a public rival of Poe's, and the man is killed with a pendulum that slices him in half. And it now becomes apparent there is a serial killer who is killing people in the manner of deaths from Poe's horror stories. At this murder scene is left a red demon mask, an obvious clue that the next murder will occur at a ball in the manner of the mask of the Red Death. And the only ball coming up is being thrown by the father of the young woman Poe wants to marry. The police ask her father to cancel the ball, which he absolutely will not do, but he does agree to let undercover police patrol the party to make sure nothing happens. Something absolutely does happen, and Emily is kidnapped. It is revealed in the kidnappers note that he will kill Emily if Poe does not start writing columns for the newspaper that describe the brutal combination of fact and fiction of the murders, forcing Poe to write one more story, Perhaps his greatest story. So the movie then turns into the killer, staging all these murder scenes that the police always miss him at and Poe having to document the scenes with a dramatic flourish, all while trying to save Emily, who has been buried alive somewhere with a very limited amount of oxygen. This movie is a blast. Gucci really throws himself into the role, and even kind of resembles Poe enough to make it super enjoyable. Oh my gosh, yeah. Little bit of trivia. The film posits a fictional representation of the last days in the life of Edgar Allan Poe. In reality, no one actually knows how Poe spent his last days. His death being shrouded in mystery. He was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore in on october 3, 1849 wearing clothes that were not his own, and on the night before his death, he was reported to have repeatedly called out the name Reynolds. He died on October 7. 1849 as depicted in the film, all medical records, including his death certificate, have been lost. Whoa Edgar Allan Poe only made $9 for his poem The Raven. However, in 1845 $9 would be equivalent to approximately $300 today. Cool. First trailer for this movie was released on October 7, 162 years to the day after Poe's mysterious death. Wow, in the film Edgar Allan Poe has a pet raccoon named Carl. He did not actually have a pet raccoon, but there is a Japanese manga called Bungo stray dogs featuring a character named Edgar Allan Poe that had a pet raccoon named Carl. The manga series launched in 2012 the same year as the film. It is unclear if one inspired the other. Awesome. What a weird extra thing to do. That's cool. And then at one point, Sylvester Stallone had tried to set up a rival Poe biopic. He had Robert Downey Jr lined up to star in it. And yet Robert Downey goes on to be Sherlock Holmes indeed. And this is after Robert Downey Jr had his comeback, because Iron Man was 2010 so he's hot shit again. Speaking of what's just a little aside, I do want to hear whatever questions you have about this. I watched Kiss, kiss, bang, bang, for the first time. Really, the first time. What the fuck? How did I miss out on this? No, everybody's talking about Donald good. That movie was Shane Black, yeah. Really good. Anyhow, this movie really good. I can't believe you guys haven't seen this. The Raven. It is available on prime I think Max. And to be Wow, uh gosh, so did they put him in, like, po Oh, tire with the hair, the mustache, and fuck, he looks like he has done, like, some research, because there's a lot of times where he's just kind of making a face. And I'm like, That's the face that we all know Poe from. And he, his acting, is just fucking sublime in this. I saw this in the theater, and I remember liking it, watching it this time. I was like, he this should have been a big comeback for him. And I think instead, this was the last of his good films. That's too bad. Yeah. I mean, poet, like, the story of Poe is so fascinating to me because, like, that period of art in America, I mean, the streets were all like mud, and it was the small little towns where everybody knew each other, like, throw just went into some woods that were like a stone's throw outside of the main city, and he's like, I'm going off. And people are like, again, all right, dude, see you in a month. Bye. Do you need anything? Yeah. So it was that same kind of time so, and I know that I had heard that Poe might have been killed by he was in an opium den, and they used to drag people out of the opium dens to force them to vote in different ways, and that he might have been part of that. Were they Interesting? Yeah, I also had heard that he might have the same affliction I do to wine, and he might have actually been allergic to it. So when he used to do public readings, he would have a glass of wine right before just to loosen himself up, and then he would be like, staggeringly drunk on stage, which might have actually been an allergy. That's interesting. Yeah, they they tie in the mysteriousness of his death very nicely into this film, so that, you know, it is explained why he's wearing somebody else's clothes and the name he is repeating and all this. And I was like, this is really a very clever little movie that deserves a little more attention. Yeah, I think it was almost like a, do you know if it did well financially? I don't think it did well financially. Yeah? Because I feel like, remember it coming out and people being like, stupid, yeah, yeah. We went where po lived when we were there in Baltimore that one time. That's cool, yeah. How was it? Very tiny, what you call impressive, but it was cool. It made us wonder if Edgar Allan Poe landlord would just get frustrated with him some nights and be like, Fuck the police. Give me a time here. Oh, my God, no, we need to start tracking whenever you make that joke, that's at least the third time. Listen, nobody laughs at it. So I'm gonna say it and tell people laugh at it. Never got it before. Good God, Eric, would you like to save me? Yeah, sure. Five minutes, my brother, we seem to be very packed together on time when yours came out much earlier, but it was 2012 yours was 2012 No, it came out 2009 Yeah, mine was 2012 and mine was 2013 Oh, okay, so right around it, so maybe not his last good movie. Oh, okay, but I'm doing a movie from 2013 called grand piano. You. You're late, Tom, you have to skip the hotel and go straight to the auditorium. Okay, it's about time you got back on stage. I love you. Tom, you're alive. That's the great. Tom Selznick, Tom Selznick, you Rachmaninoff, if only he didn't chunk Hey. Very funny. I'm gonna scrap it London. I know it. Congratulations. The whole place is packed, ladies and gentlemen. Tom Selznick, you get back on stage now, you know the meaning of stage fright. You you to try it. For help, and I will hear it. Get a guard involved. I will know it. If you do any of these things, your wife will die, play a wrong note and you will die. I'll give you all the money I have. I want your money. I want you to play the Most flawless concert of your life, you I got your attention. Don't disappoint me. Tom, and this, I still check out the tomatoes to see if there's something interesting. And this is just like the last one I watched. The critics really liked it and the public really did. It's like 80 to 40. Oh, wow. Like, damn, but this was a movie, yeah. This is available to rent multiple places, directed by yoshina Marat, who did Garcia, the birthday fade. I don't know much movies written by uh Damien Chazelle, who has written some pretty good movies. La, La Land. Oh, Whiplash, Babylon, that's all the same. Writer, yeah, The Last Exorcism, part two. Oh, my God. Starring, yeah, starring Elijah Wood, who is definitely the person carrying this film. Yeah, might know him from back to future Part Two, the good son and flipper. He's one of the kids playing the video games. Did not know that. It's wild. John Cusack, I mentioned probably my favorite film from him was cross point blank. Yes. And Carrie Bucha, who is in Argo red state, and Madame Webb variations there. So the movie starts with a dramatic moving of a piano out of storage, and Elijah arriving in Chicago for a show that he is terrified to do he does not want to play again, because the last time he played publicly, he screwed up. They don't actually show what he did. But apparently he played very poorly and messed something up, bad enough that when he arrives at the venue, the some of the orchestras kind of ribbing him a little bit and avoiding him. Most of the people are nice, but you can tell boy whatever it was, so he hasn't played. They say he hasn't played in five years publicly, and his superstar wife has an actress, is bringing him back to perform. So he is really worried, because he's playing on his mentor's famous piano, and is afraid he's going to screw up again because his mentor composed notoriously complex pieces to play, including one which he is not supposed to play this evening. There's some weird setup moments, though, because he arrives in Chicago, gets in a limo, not John Cusack driving, gets to the venue, doesn't meet anybody, doesn't touch the piano, no rehearsal, no working with the he clearly hadn't been there before, so he didn't work with the orchestra. And that's like, this is a little strange, just as far as the. Structure of the way live music shows are put on, but it certainly moves the story at a breakneck pace, that's for sure. So he starts to play in his rehearsal, or is written in red blood or red play one note and you die. And this can be one wrong note. Yeah, play one wrong note. You die. And this continues through a couple other points, and eventually, at some point, he puts in an earpiece, and that's where we get John Cusack. He is, he's, he doesn't show up physically in this movie till, like, near the end, but he's in the whole thing, kind of a memorable sounding voice, yeah, easy to recognize, but, and he shows that he's got a high powered sniper rifle ready to take him out. He does take a shot to prove it, and then movie takes off from there. And it's kind of like, if you've ever seen phone booth, it's similar concept. One odd note in the movie, the end credits are 12 minutes long, meaning the run time of this film is about an hour and 15 minutes. Whoa. Oh, wow. So you know that's kind of nice. Elijah did learn to play the piano, sort of. He learned to mimic where fingers would go, but he actually isn't making the music. It does feature the song, 10 happy fingers, from the 5000 fingers of Dr T by Dr Seuss, who wrote the lyrics for the song, but obviously not really singing it. He only spent three weeks training to do that the but it looks great. It looks incredible. The other one, but he Yeah, so they edited, put together so we always looks like he's playing it really well. The whole idea is John is a guy who this piano has a secret, and John wants to unlock that secret, and he can only do it by playing his most complicated composition perfectly. Oh, nice it is. You know that the beginning I talked about pulled me out of the movie for a little while going, What the hell kind of weird will I perform? Performances? And there's a character that's really annoying the I don't know if it's a friend of his wife's or a sister or what the relationship is, but you know, the first half, why is this person here? And of course, they're there for a reason. But overall, it's a fun, enjoyable film. Like I said, it is lightning fast an hour and 15 minutes. And Elijah Wood is fantastic, wow. And Cusack got a great, menacing voice for this situation, which you don't normally think of, but when he's saying in the movie, you're going, Yeah, this. This works really well. This guy is, I think he will shoot his wife if he doesn't do it soon enough, or he will shoot him if he messes up. But so it's a fun film that sounds awesome. I have never heard of this movie. Yeah, it sounds like you have seen it too. Yeah, back when it came out, I remember, I don't think we saw it together or anything, but I think we were both like this, pretty good, so enjoyable. I'm glad i i picked, well, yeah, I did almost do gross point blank, because I have not watched that in a very, very long time. I don't think I've seen it since the wow, I saw theaters. I mean, I think that's the only place I saw it. Oh, that's a movie that still holds up? Yeah? Very well, no problem. Except for Mini Driver, many drivers are right. She had a weird Why are you so popular? Yeah. But she also did some good films. I know why she's popular. Her name is Minnie Driver. This is the only reason we know her name or who she is. That'll work studios named MIDI driver. No one, no one. It's true. I do want to as we dive into thanking everybody. I do want to give a thank out to Kevin. Kevin, thank you for the tune of pizzas who bought us. That was lovely. Thank you so much. And happy birthday. They went to purchasing our so we can post stuff and pay for it. So it's great, right? Well, let's thank everybody else who's helping out there, who's on the strangeeons radio talk page, like Kevin is all the time. Really appreciate that, and who's out there liking and sharing our posts, and especially if you're out there donating actual cash to the show. It does help. It doesn't cost a lot to put it on, but it does cost some. We came pretty close to covering almost the entire buzz sprout for the year last that's that's awesome. Yes, you. For Awesome. If you'd like to call and leave us a message, you can do that on the strangeeons radio. Strangeeons radio, hotline, hotline, hot talk. Strange hotline. That number is 253-237-4266, as Vanessa says, put it in your phone. Yeah, listening. You can just call us immediately and go, you fucking idiots. What were you doing with this? What do you mean? Kelly is trying to think of or, you know, you see a movie in the theater, you want to have somebody to talk to about it immediately. You don't there's no one there with you. Just give us a call. Let us know what you think of whatever's out there right now, gives your immediate one minute thought, which is ironic, because I don't do that with you guys at all, because I want to save it for the show exactly. Really annoying. It's like, Oh, I was so close to texting you guys about love hurt, and I was like, nope, nope. I'm gonna save it. Ironically, this show has pushed us further apart. We only have any kind of real discussions on Sunday mornings. Otherwise, it's all just memes. Okay, so that means it's my choice for the next one, and I had such a good time with the Raven that I was like, You know what? What other historical type films could we go for? So I want to go just historical. It can be, it doesn't have to be 1800s could be the 1980s for all I care. But something that was made in a present day but set in a past time. Awesome. So that's what we are doing next week. Anything else? Guys? Nope, okay, yeah. We will be back in seven short days. We are talking historical films, see you next Thursday, transportation and other considerations for strange eons, radio produced by Pan Am airlines. When you think of traveling, think of pan and you can't beat the experience. Guests of strange eons radio stay at econo Lodge. Everett. It's an easy stop on the road. Strangeeons radio is recorded live in front of a studio audience. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast. Sit, people, sit, yeah, you go, you're cool too. You're You're all just cool.