Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / Jumanji (1995) - Joe Johnston | Houselights #203

Transcript

Jumanji (1995) - Joe Johnston | Houselights #203 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the ned Palty.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Hello Roadie home, and welcome two house lights House of Johnston,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: specifically Joe Johnston. And tonight is the night where we
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: roll the dice and we're talking about nineteen ninety five's Jumanji.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Not the one starring the rock but the one, the original,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: starring the one and only Robin Williams. And I am
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: your co host, Tristan Rudel, and with me as they
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: always are, his John Mills and Darren Moser.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: I am super.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Excited to talk about tonight because Johnston has been a
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: trip down memory lane for me and this it's it's
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: hard to explain, but so like these movies so far,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: you're just like, man, I just I have forgotten how
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: much I love these movies, like you genuinely forget how
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: much of a good time they are. And I know
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I'm giving myself away, but that's how I felt with Jumanji,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Like this one was something that I watched all the
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: time as a kid. I went and saw it in
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: the theater as as a kid with my family and
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: and Darren, I want to know, like, what was the
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: what was the first time you saw this? Was it
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: on VHS? Was it on TV. Did you get to
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: go to the theater? What was it?
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Oh? Yeah, ninety five, so I would have been yeah, no,
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: we probably saw this in theaters. But you know, this
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: is the kind that would be in the giant like
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: plastic clamshell case vhs and yeah, this one. What I
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: want to talk about more was showing it to my kids.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: So my kids are now old enough that I could
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: scar them with this movie, like I was. So, now
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: this movie is actually really intense. There's a lot going on.
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: But okay, okay, I want to interject. I want to
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: inject real quick. So you call this intense like you
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: scar your children, you call this intense. So Ebert said
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: that this movie shouldn't have been marketed as a family
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: friendly film because it's too scary, and Robin Williams himself
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: didn't show it to his kids because it was too scary,
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: was it? Like John Darantee, you guys think it was
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: too scary. I wouldn't say it's scary. It's not a
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: scary movie. That's why I said intense, because there are
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: parts where you know you're just like you're not you know,
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: as a kid, you're not sure if the kids are
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: gonna make it, and that can be, you know, rather intense.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: So it's an intense movie, not a bad movie, not
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: a scary movie, but it is. But I do see
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: what Ebert is saying where it it's not a take
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: you know, to quote, you know, Chronicles of Narnia. It's
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: not a tame movie.
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I don't agree with ebert stance on this one.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: God rest his soul. I think Ebert had a tendency
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: at times to overreact to things like this. It's not
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: the first time. There were a couple of different movies
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: in his career where he would talk about them and
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: he was justifiably outraged that kids would have been in
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: the theater while he was watching it. And it's like, hey, Roger,
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: think of the children. Yeah, you might be a little
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: out of touch here, Roger. You might want to just
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: call them down there a minute, because I obviously we
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: know I'm the old man in the group. I saw
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: this in the theater as well. Would I even think
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: twice about showing this to my kids.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: My kids would get.
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: Freaked out by parts of it, But the same parts
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: I'd get freaked out by because those spiders are awful.
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: They're terrible. Those things gave me nightmares. I hate spiders
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: as a rule, Like I am paralyzed afraid of spiders.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: Like it took years to get to the point where
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: I could go up to and smush a spider that
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: was smaller than my thumbnail, Like that was years of
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: psyching myself out. I see a big enough spider. Now
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: just for context. Uh, there was a time where we
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: went on a family trip and it was like, oh,
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: we're gonna go you know, hey, we could go kayaking,
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: and I used my youngest as a get out of
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: jail free cars, like, ah, she's too young because I
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: read up on the kayaking adventure and they're like, oh,
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: you're gonna go through these mangrove fields and there are
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: banana spiders. I was like, no, hard pass. Look up
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: banana spiders. Kids, They're harmless quote unquote, but no. So
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: like that's the intense part of the movie, right, Like
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't want my kid might see that and be like, oh,
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: but like the monkeys.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: Aren't turning into a monkey, Like that's kind of you.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think sands spiders. Yeah, I think sand spiders.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: This would be you could show this to any kid. Honestly,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, especially that close up shot where they
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: cut the close up with the fangs and.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and it's it's dripping. Yeah, that's that's a bit much.
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: Why they're always wet.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: It's like I feel like Ridley Scott ruined everything for
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: us with with with villains and like bad creatures because
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: of what he did with Alien where they're always wet,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: they're always dripping, they're always drooling.
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, I agree with that assessment. Actually it's the
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: Alien effect. Everything's always got to be drooling all the time.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, do spiders even salivate? Nobody knows. We'll never know.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: But one thing we do know is is that is
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: this movie has a lot of joy in it. And
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: I want to get this. I want to get I
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: want to tack this right off the bat. Robin Williams
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: is so full of joy with so many movies that
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: he does, and there was a lot of concern from
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Johnston himself about casting Robin Williams. But I think the
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: production company was like, we'll give you the money if
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: you get Robin Williams, and Johnston was like, I don't
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: know if I want what Robin Williams because he tends
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: to improvise a lot, and this is a tight script
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: like that, you know, we have a lot of motivation.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: We have like this, we got to get from point
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: A to point B to point seed point D. And
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: if you he's jumping all over the place, how are
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: we going to do that? And Robin Williams understood that, like.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: He sat down the assignment. Yeah, like he understood that.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: He's like he's like okay, like he's I'll improvise when
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: it's appropriate. And apparently most of the time his improvisational
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: scenes was with Bunnie Hunt, like when they were ripping
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: and going back and forth and everything like that. So
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: I want to know, like there was a lot of
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: people in contention or thought of I mean, like I'm
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: not even go through the list because every movie is
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: like it's like everyone in the kitchen sink this list. Yeah,
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: it's ridiculous. It's it's about Schortzenegger's on the list, and
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: I'm like, no, no, I.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Mean the guy from Kindergarten.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: Cope, that's true.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: So, Darren, what did you think of Robin Williams in
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: this role because he doesn't show up until like the
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: half an hour mark.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: What did you think about the vibe that he brought.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: No, I think, I mean, man, this you're right in
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: that hook era. It's a hair's breadth from his role
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: really as Paan like, there are is a lot of
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: similarity in you know, maybe he was stuck in Neverland
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: instead of the jungle for you know, twenty something years.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: But no, I think he you know, he pulled it
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: off in portraying a grown up kid. I mean, if
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: you think about it, it totally makes sense. It's Robin Williams
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: because you're going for a grown up kid that wasn't
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: raised by adults for the majority of his life, you know,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: and that is Alan Parrish and so and then you
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: get you know, but he's also strong enough to carry
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: the dramatic parts, to carry the character growth, you know,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: the revelation, as the as the story progresses. So I
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: it's one of those roles. I can't picture anyone else
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: doing it, anyone from the nineties or today. You know,
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, Lance, You're not going to be Alan Parrish
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: when we get to that part of the podcast.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: John so, Okay, So with Robin Williams, there's so many
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: times when people feel like they have to match his
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: energy or they have to like, you know, like rise
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: up to that or like be goofy or go crazy
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: like there's so many times you feel like uneven things
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: going up and down all over the place with a
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Robin Williams picture because people want to compete with him.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: I personally don't think this was the case. What did
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: you think of his interaction with the kids, interaction with
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Bonnie Hunt, David ellen Greer, How did you feel how
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: the cast blended together.
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: I think they blended fine. I think that you can
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: sense that Williams is much more under control quote unquote
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: in this movie. And I think that aside from it
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: being a you know, like you said, tight script and everything,
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: this is a groundbreaking scale for effects, for these types
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: of effects at the time. So Johnston would have been
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: petrified that Williams would have moved too much because we're
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: not in the Michael Bay. Things are transforming while they're
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: going seven hundred miles per hour, and things are flying
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: by and you can't even tell what's going on on
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: the screen while the camera is so cling around and
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: then you know, craning up and then zooming down into
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: the chest cavity of a giant robot or something like that.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: This is.
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: This is I have to lock the camera in position
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: and move it specifically, you know, twenty five centimeters this way,
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: so that the plate can match exactly what's being generated
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: in the computer. Because that's going to take a lot
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: of processing time. That's where we're at.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: I always think about what Bob Hoskins said, uh with
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: a behind the scenes featurette with Rod with a Roger rabbit,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: when he said he's like, He's like, listen, when I
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: grab the rabbit by the throat, if I separate my fingers,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: they have to draw his throat in between the fingers.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: But if I close my fingers, I just save them
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: ten grand Yep, you know it's it's one of those
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: things like this is one of those movies.
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and the end, Robin Williams is such a professional
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: in the industry by this point of course, he's going
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: to understand the assignment. The director is going to say, hey,
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: you know, there are these considerations, and your Juilliard student,
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: Robin Williams will say, yes, I got your boss, I
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: got you. But he does still bring a very important
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: energy to it, and I think his interaction with the
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: kids very much carries that sort of necessary energy like
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: Robin Williams's true gift on screen was the ability to
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: interact with children, never upstage them, and never let them
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: upstage him. W. C. Fields hated kids on screen. Robin
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: Williams knew how to be a kid on screen so
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: that we never felt he was overshadowing those children. I
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: think he gave. I think he gave a true and
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: this is going to sound too far over, but I
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: mean this in the best sense I can. He gave
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: a true actor's performance here because he was part of
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: a group and he was giving to the other actors
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: as much as receiving from them. And so I think
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: this is one of his An actor of Robin Williams's stature,
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: especially in family films by this point, could have been
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: very selfish with everything it's about me, and instead you
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: see an actor saying, no, it's about the movie. I
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: want the whole reduction to do well. And so I
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: think this is one of his better performances in the nineties, honestly,
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: on those merits.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he could.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: He could have pulled us alone and you know, made
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: it all about him.
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: Yes, Yeah, the cobra cut of Jumanji would have been
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: very interesting.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Now, Darren. I have an affinity for David aled Greer.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: He makes me laugh. I'm sorry he does. I don't
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: care what anybody else thinks of him or his style
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: of comedy, but I lose it every single time he
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: loses it. I want to know what you thought of
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: him in the movie, because he's kind of the fish
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: out of water scenario, like he's the one who is
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: reacting to all this craziness like you have Williams, you
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: have Hunt, you have the kids, and they're in the
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: thick of it, and David Allied Greer or DAG is
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: very much on the outside of it, along with bb Newarth.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: So with Dag freaking out, was it too much?
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: Not enough? Just right?
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: What did you think of that? Because like he definitely
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: he brings an absurdity to it, like this movie is
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: already chaotic, like this is the definition of chaos. But
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: how did you feel about Dag reacting to it?
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: No, I think he nailed it because not only is
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: he kind of playing a dual role where he's you know,
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: part of the shoemaking business. So we saw him, you know,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: in the past and the present. But yeah, in these
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: kind of movies, you need that kind of every man
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: who's reacting to what he's seeing in a realistic way
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: because they're not kind of in the plot. They're just
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: in the collateral of what's going on, and you know what,
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: his cars getting stolen or you know, pulled in by
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: the vines. He reacts like a normal person. He's like,
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: this is like supernatural, this is not normal. This doesn't happen,
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: instead of like I wonder if somebody's playing a game
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: or some you know, crazy thing that it's like no, no, no,
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Like he's reacting how we would react. And yeah, he
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: he has, like you said, a way of dialing it
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: to eleven that is so funny where he's just wigging
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: out and you're just along for the.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Ride when he's seeing the gator go by and you
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: just like see like he has calm on his face
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: as it goes in front of him, and then as
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: soon as it's off screen, he's just like, can't handle it.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: I too, have a soft spot for David Allen Greer.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: The first time I was aware of seeing him was
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: on the show in Living Color, and he was terrific.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: Then I love the fact that his real start was
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: during the Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back radio dramas
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: for National Public Radio. He is a nameless X wing
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: pilot in both of them, I think, but like, you know,
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: he just does you know, background voices and everything. And
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: I I agree he's he's got a natural screen presence
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: that's so effortless that as an audience member you give
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: him permission to go up to eleven because he's starting
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: at an eight. Like the energy he brings just coming
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: on screen. He has this and there are certain actors
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: where they have this sort of thing where it's like
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: there's just this. It's different than what Robin Williams brings.
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: Robin Williams brings sort of like a firecracker, unpredictability sort
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: of energy with him, whereas a David Allen Greer, he
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: comes on screen and you just immediately feel like a giggle.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: You're like, oh, this is gonna be silly, right. And
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: I know he's also done dramatic work and he's obviously
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: very capable of it as an actor, but when he's
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: in his comedic roles, it's it's always it's always a
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: joy I'm and I've always been happy to see him.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: I was really happy to see him in this So
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: did you guys.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Ever see the movie the two thousand movie that was
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: actually directed by Bonnie Hunt called Return to Me Storing
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: David to company the hearty right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, it
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: was starting David.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: One of my favorite movies. We watch it. I've seen
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: that movie many many times. Really good movie.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: It's a really solid movie. We should do a one
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: off house of Hunt just so we can talk about
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: that movie.
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: And David Allen Greer was on her. There was like
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: an ABC sitcom Life with Bonnie that last time.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, they must.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Have a friendship, like they must have a connection because yeah,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: like they they.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Worked on because yeah, that's why I brought it up her.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: But yeah, because it's it's quite possible that they that
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: they they came together at this time. So I do
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: want to talk about Jonathan Hyde real quick since we're
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: on the cast now, Darren, did you have any idea
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: that Jonathan Hyde played two roles in this movie?
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: You you know the answer to this as we spoke before,
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: trying to set me up. No, no, I got maybe
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: it's just such good makeup and mustaches and the hat,
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: but I did not recognize him as Van Pelt as
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: well as the father maybe also because he's like, he
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: doesn't have a lot of screen time in either role.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: He's like barely on screen. So I thought it was
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: cool that it was kind of a Peter Pan esque.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: The father is the trauma, you know, in a dual role,
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: but you choose to mock me, sir, and we'll just
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: go with that.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because I was sorry, but I was nine in
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: the theater and I was like, oh cool, they did
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: like a Peter Pan.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: I was looking at the Rhinos. Okay, I could talk
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: to you about Sneezy the Rhino if you want. I
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: know all about him.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: Now. See, this is the one thing where I'll throw it,
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: because you know, and to his credit, the actor in
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: just two years was going to appear in both Titanic
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: and Anaconda, and then later in nineteen ninety nine's delightful
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: romp The Mummy. So like, that's for me. I hear
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: his voice or I see his eyes, and I'm like,
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: I instantly know who that is sort of thing, no
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: matter how much you bury him under, right, Just like
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: when I'm watching Missus Doubtfire, if I look at Robin
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: Williams's I mean, you know, facial structure too, but like
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: you can tell, you know, in there and everything. But
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: I think that this is actually one part where I'm
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: going to sort of pseudo ding the movie a little
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: bit where it trips on itself here where they go
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: back to the factory and you find out the father
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: was so distressed about Alan's disappearance that you know, he
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: lost his fortune, went searching off, died of a broken
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: heart sort of thing. And then it goes back and
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: it's like and then he's the Hunter, and it's like
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: the resolution for the audience has already happened, and there
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: doesn't feel like there's a you know, like it just
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: it telegraphs it too early. Like once I have that scene,
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: I get what they're going for with Oh, his dad
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: is the Hunter teaching him to face his fears. That's
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: where you get your one to one. But we as
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: the audience have already resolved that about the dad. We
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: know who he was really inside, instead of having a
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: moment later, whether it's in the game or something like
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: that where he stands up to him and the Hunter's like,
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: that's all I was looking for, son, You know, like
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: a moment like that if you will, and I would,
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: Actually I don't know how you resolve that necessarily, you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: outside of like rewriting some stuff. But it's just it's
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: one of those things where it's never really particularly worked
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: well for me because that earlier scene, the audience doesn't
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: have to go through that emotional journey. We've already gotten
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: to the end of it, and then we go through
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: this chase and it's like, oh, well, I already know
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: that the dad loves him for real.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: That's interesting. I can't really argue with that. But at
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: the same time, I never really thought of it that way,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: like it never bothered me, like it didn't stick out
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: to me, because I feel like it's it's one of
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: those things where it's the journey of the protagonist that
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: the diagonist has to figure it out himself, and I
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: think that's kind of what we established because I feel like,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: you know, when your kid is gone, it's easy, I
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: should say, it's easier to say that you always love
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: them because there's no effort to it. You know, like
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: there's no work that's involved. You know, like you love
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: somebody that's not there, there's no work. It's one sided.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: But when you love somebody that's in front of you,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: it takes work. It takes effort and time and stuff
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: that he struggled with.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: So I think maybe that's why I kind of qualified it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: But again I'm not saying that that's not a flaw,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: but that's interesting that I never really thought of that before. Now, Darren,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: we have some really great female performances in this movie.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: You know, we have Patricia Clarkson in a thinkless role,
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: you know, as Carol Parrish Allan's mom. And we have
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: bb Newworth who is fantastic and every single thing she
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: does and it is a stone cold fox. And we
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: have Kirsten Dunst who is on fire in the nineties.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: Ar Trek the Next Generations. Kirsten Dunst, Yeah, that one.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: She's on fire in the nineties. She's doing everything she
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: I think gets a little sidelined in this movie, Like
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: I feel like watching this like as opposed to other
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: things that she's been in, you know, where she's a
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: big focus. She kind of plays second fiddle to her
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: brother who becomes the monkey and you know, has the
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: relationship issues with Alan and everything like that. And then
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: of course we have Bonnie Hunt. I want to know,
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: you know, with do you feel like Bonnie Hunt kind
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: of delivered next to Robin Williams because I personally feel
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: like they had a great arrested development thing going on,
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: where Williams was a kid emotionally because he was raised
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: in the jungle by himself, and then Bonnie Hunt was
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: kind of a kid because she was stunted early on
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: from having that traumatic event. How did you think about
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: the pairing, No, I think yeah, to answer kind of
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: both questions, Yeah, I think Bunny Hunt and Rob Williams
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: played off each other really well, like you had stated,
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: you know, when they the fact that he could improvise
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: a bit in those scenes, those are really kind of
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: the only scenes are that works, because otherwise they're in
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: like peril it. I think my favorite scenes are when
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: he's convincing her, like at the very beginning, not not
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: the beginning when she's young, but the beginning when he's
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: back out of the game and she he's got to
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: convince her to play. I think those are the most
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: dynamic of the scenes. Later, when she comes around, it's
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: less interesting because she doesn't need to be convinced over
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: and over to play the game. But to your other
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: point on Kristen Dun's kind of being overshadowed by you know,
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: the brother Peter. Yeah, it has kind of a Chronicles
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: of Darnia vibe of like Susan, Like Susan's always like
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: the plane one and and the adventure doesn't really happen
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: to Susan. It happens to all the other kids. And
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: they have the interaction with mister Tumnus or they you know,
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: meet Aslan or all the and so she is just
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: kind of the older sister and that's kind of the tone. Yeah,
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: I think that they give her character for for better
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: or words. I don't think it's bad because it definitely
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: feels like she and her brother are in it together.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: But yeah, she there's almost too many cooks at one
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: point of I mean, there's only four players. But what
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: do you think, John, do you think that he just
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: gave it a question?
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Wait?
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Wait, wait, John, don what do you what do you say?
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: What do you say?
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: Hello, Fry, It's a pleasure to meet you. I think
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: that I don't think Dunce gets overshadowed. I think that
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: what happens is that you have just too much going
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: on at one point nobody gets he gets in the
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: time at a certain point, like once we get into
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: the last stretch of the movie. There's just so much happening.
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: There aren't enough moments for anybody, and so I think
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: it sort of erases some of the good will you
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: build up beforehand. I think that there's just too much
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: they're trying to tie up. And does more screen time
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: get away with it? Does that solve it? Yeah, maybe
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: another couple of minutes with somebody having a you know,
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: the brothers, sister having a couple more minutes together, and
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: and those sorts of things, because I think early on
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: in the film, she and the brother are definitely co
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: stars of the storyline because they you know, she's the
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: inventive one telling lies about what happened in their lives,
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: and then you know he's the quiet boy. But then
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: he talks to her when they're alone together and everything.
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: And I think that the issue here is I think
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: it was a very fair criticism of the critics at
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: the time that I think the focus was so much
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: on making sure those effects worked because of the money
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: at stake and the groundbreaking nature of what they were doing,
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: that I think as a result, you have a director
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: too focused on the technical then on the personal, and
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: I think that's what happens to the character. I think
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: that's what happens to all of the characters by the
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: end of it, is that it resolves nicely enough. But
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: it's one of those things where you get the sense
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: of the movie. I mean I was older, keep in mind,
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: but as somebody who was older in the audience, I'd
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: never felt particularly connected to the characters. I might have
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: been wowed by the effects on screen from time to time,
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: I might have gotten swept up in different aspects of
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: it because it's up there on the big screen and
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: I'm sitting in the audience, but there was never a
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: point where I really felt like I connected with those
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: characters or I really understood what they.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Were going on.
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: They're more living set pieces moving through the CG jungle
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: of effects, as it were, including some just wonderfully, wonderfully
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: animated monkeys. Yeah, I just look perfectly photorealistic. Even back
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: in nineteen ninety five, I remember sitting there going, my gosh,
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: did they train real monkeys to do this movie?
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: We know the monkeys look bad. They didn't look that great,
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: So okay, the spiders, the picture plants, the vines, the lion, yeah,
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: which was a mix some.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a mix. Yeah, like this stampede.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: The stampede I think was the Peers results, like that
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: part all fantastic, looked completely real.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: Joey hated the stampede. He thought it looked dumb.
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: Dang it, I knew, I knew, Joey. Yeah, but like
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: I like what you said though, John about uh yeah,
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: room for character growth, because really the last moment of
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: growth was kind of when Peter realizes I shouldn't have
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: cheated and and moves past that. And then after that
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: it's literally buckling up to the end of the movie,
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: like there's no there's no pause to the die has
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: been cast and these are the characters we're going to
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: get through the rest of the film, and the Russian
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: towards the finish line. So yeah, there's or to to
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: bring it to. It's it's sequel, which I mean, isn't
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: isn't the topic. But you know Jumanji, was it Enter
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: the Jungle? Yeah, welcome to the jungle. Welcome to the jungle.
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: And in that one, because you're in the jungle and
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: it's just the four characters. I mean, yeah, there's the
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: side characters, but it's way more focused on them and
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: their peril. So you kind of there's so much going
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: on in the first Jumanji movie because it's the plot
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: of bringing the jungle into our world, which is cool.
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: It's a really cool technique. I mean, the splitting of
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: the house and and all of that is is fantastical
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: but so much fun.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: The splitting of the house specifically, that looks so cool.
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: It looked, you know, better than the monkeys. So but yeah,
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: but all that to say, yeah, I think we're all
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: kind of on the same page that that is one
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: of the weaker aspects of the movie is the largeness
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: of the cast or the scatteredness of the plot.
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: Like see, this is the sort of thing where and
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: it wasn't in vogue back then, but this is the
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: sort of thing where I think that if Jumanji, this
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: version of Jumanji were made today, they would have had,
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: you know, like the I forget their name right now,
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: the brothers who did Endgame, the Russo brothers. You'd have
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: a brother team, right or some sort of combo team
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: working on it where one person is sitting there and
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: they're like, Okay, I'm going to go work with the actors.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: You go talk to the cameraman and the DP and
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: you talk about where the camera needs to move. I'm
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: going to get the motivations out of them, and then.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: Like it does.
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: Really this really feels like a movie that would have
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: benefited from that.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Is that how they work? Is that how the Russo
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: brothers work.
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: I have no idea. I'm just presuming that they do.
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: Remember, it's a fictional future where the Russo brothers work.
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: I'm saying, I'm the Russo brothers were the only ones
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: that I could I could bring to mind of Like,
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: I think a duo would have worked better for this
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: incarnation of Jumanji because of the fact that, I mean,
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: it is easy to forget even though the monkeys look terrible,
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: exactly how hard they were pushing the envelope with this movie.
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: Like you look at this and you're like, oh, that
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: looks kind of dated. It's like you don't understand, right.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: Like ninety five folks, this.
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: Were years after Jurassic Park, and Jurassic Park had the
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: benefit of a couple of things dinosaurs and shooting in
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: the jungle and night scenes and all of this type
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: of stuff. This is broad daylight elephants walking on a
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: car and lions jumping around and giant mosquitos and stuff
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: like that. This was literally two years later saying Okay, well,
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: Jurassic Park broke that limit. We're just going to absolutely
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: trash it. Like it really is a very bold experiment.
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: My question is, like, I know, Johnston has shown me
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: as the pedigree for the technical stuff, but what really
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: makes Jurassic Park sing is Spielberg was very much in
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: his you know, he was still very much in the
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: feelings with the actors and stuff like that. So I mean,
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: maybe my whole argument about a you know, a duo
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: is shot down. You just needed a Spielberg who was you.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Know, yeah, you just need the most famous you.
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: Know, I mean, you know, I mean, somebody so accomplished
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: at it and has been doing this for so long
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: that like when he says, oh I want to do this,
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: everybody's like, oh yeah, yeah, sure, no, we know exactly
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: what you're saying. As opposed to you know, I I
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: have a feeling that Johnston might have been just i
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: mean ready for it. Yes, but there's no way this
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: isn't overwhelming, Like you you're really behind the eight ball
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: from the beginning with this movie, because it's really, really,
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: really pushing, pushing, the boundaries and.
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: If those effects don't work, like half your shots are gone,
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: like you have no story, right, you know, if if
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: the elephant doesn't come out and squash the you know,
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: if none of that comes together, you're done. It's not
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: getting released.
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: And that's why Joey didn't like the movie as those shots,
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: those shots came together.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: So I just just sentra killed joy.
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: I know, tell me about it. I've known him for
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: many years. That's that's an accurate way, and he occasionally
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: might listen to the show. So Joey, here's looking at you, babe.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: You're going to have a sound effect whenever we're disappointed
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: in Joey.
• 30:42
  Speaker 5: Oh oh, price is right, Faiale Horn, that's the way.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: So we've pointed out a few few things that work,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: a few things that don't, and obviously the monkeys, I
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: mean that's I mean, I'm probably gonna make that though
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: the artwork.
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: Of absolutely no other choice.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: The only choice of.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: This episode is the monkey. One thing that really impressed
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: me was the pacing of this film, And I would
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: love to know what you guys think about that, because
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: I really feel like.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: You know, like so many movies feel.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Like set piece to set piece to set piece, and
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: that to be fair, to be fair, that's what this
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: movie is, set piece to set piece.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: But there was the.
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: Emotional connection along the way and it just it felt
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: like in appropriate nineteen ninety five CGI fun fest that
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: moves you along. I can't think of a single thing
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: that I would cut. Maybe that's my question pacing wise, Darren,
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: is there anything that you would cut? Is there anything
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: that you would remove? Or do you think the pacing
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: is good enough?
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: I mean, the only thing I think about is because
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: it's constructed well enough that you kind of need all
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: of it, Like may there's a little you could trim
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: in the past section in the very beginning, like there's
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: a lot of time spent getting to know young Allan
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: and that is not who we end up spending the
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: majority of the movie with. So there's a little bit
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: of like you have to bow. Maybe it's a little
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: misbalanced in my mind, like maybe ten minutes less of
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: the past Young Allen to give us more present Allan
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: that we're going to actually connect with that. But I mean,
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: you're you're really just fine tuning the dials at that
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: point because you do need some you need to make
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: that connection with the plight of the character. Otherwise you
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: aren't going to care that he's been stuck in the jungle,
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: because it's literally going to be like new person, new
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: actor playing this character. Oh, I've been stuck in the jungle.
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: It's like, well, great, I don't know who you are. Like,
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: we've all seen these movies where you have two actors
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: play you know, different ages of a character. And that's
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: where I would maybe take a little bit out of
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: the front because I think they made the point very
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: quickly on how his parents are, how he's feeling, and
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: so any extra minutes there. I mean, movies one hundred
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: and four minutes long. It's not very long, but to
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: like what you said, Tristan, it doesn't feel like a
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: break neck pace. Maybe like the last bit, but that's
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: the climax of the movie. It's supposed to feel like that.
• 33:23
  Speaker 4: Would you think, John, where's the what's ending up on
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: the cutting room floor?
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: I don't know. I mean because of the fact that,
• 33:31
  Speaker 5: in all honesty, some of the stuff without the effects
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: I enjoy more than some of the stuff with the effects.
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: I like building Allen's character. I like that you see
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: a lot of what he's going through. I like that
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: you establish what it was like to be a boy
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: like him in that time period. You very much feel
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: like Johnston understands what Alan's going through in some sense,
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: even if it was in his life story. You know,
• 33:55
  Speaker 5: it's something understandable in a way. And I think that, like,
• 34:00
  Speaker 5: that's good stuff. And I don't know what I would
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: cut specifically, because for all of the spectacle that it has,
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: it's almost a blessing that it's that restrained, because when
• 34:15
  Speaker 5: the effects get a little easier to do later down
• 34:17
  Speaker 5: the road, a movie like this easily balloons because they
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: fall in love with how much they can put in
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: each shot, and they're like, oh, no, no, push it, no, no,
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: we'll ship this shot overseas. Let's insert some more elephants
• 34:28
  Speaker 5: and stuff like that. Oh they don't need that much detail.
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: Just insert some background monkeys back there, that sort of thing.
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: So I think that the benefit of it is, even
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: if you don't love Jumanji, it's over quickly enough that
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: you don't ever run the risk of hating Jumanji. If
• 34:45
  Speaker 5: this movie goes too long, there's gonna be a lot
• 34:47
  Speaker 5: of hate for this movie, as especially the younger demo
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: that it's going for. You know, you got to you know,
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: they're getting antsy at the end of one hundred and
• 34:56
  Speaker 5: four minutes. That's sort of a limit there that you
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: got to target.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: That's a really solid point.
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, oh man, that is something that I'm
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: gonna sound like an old man here, but I feel
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: like they don't make movies like this anymore, Like they
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: don't make family movies where and I feel like family
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: movie turned into kids movie. Like no, Like, I'm talking
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: about a family movie where something where the adults and
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: the kids would enjoy it together, not just something that
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: the adults can put up with for.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: An hour and a half.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: And this is that. This is in ninety five. This
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: is a family film. This is something where you know,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: parents and two point five kids can go to the
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: theater and and get the experience that they want, the
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: entertainment that they want, and they're not It's none of
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: that two and a half hour BS that's been shoved
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: down our throats for the past ten years. I don't
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: know where I'm going with this, but I just like,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: I feel like ninety God, dang it, I missed the
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: nineties where the this is the this is the This
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: is a cgi fest, it's an adventure film, it's nineteen
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: ninety five, it's short, and it's fun. You can bring
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: grandma and you can bring your five year old.
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: I think that is the largest reason why Johnston would
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: have made the most sense for a movie like this
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: is if you're trying to make a movie like this,
• 36:21
  Speaker 5: you look at Honey, I shrunk the kids, and you
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: look at the rocketeer and you go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: he he gets what we're going for here, and this
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: is very much in his in his wheelhouse in almost
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: every respect. I would just like to welcome you, Tristan
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: to the old Man Club at this point, because you
• 36:39
  Speaker 5: really do sound like a gen x er at that
• 36:41
  Speaker 5: point where it's like, don't make movie like The Stray anymore.
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: Joey hates it, but everybody else love it. So why
• 36:47
  Speaker 5: can't everybody else Rossia's movie? Why can't they make more
• 36:49
  Speaker 5: movies like Jumanji?
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: Like I'm I'm the youngest one of the group, but
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: I'm getting there. I'm starting to starting to get a
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: little rickety as I move around my shoulders and my knees.
• 37:01
  Speaker 5: There you go, there you go. You can hear the
• 37:03
  Speaker 5: pops and crackles as he moves his shoulders demonstrably. We'll
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: fix that in post though, So that's okay.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: So, Darren, I have a loose question for you. So
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: this was shot in Keene, New Hampshire, and the Paris
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Shoes sign is still on the factory building. And when
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Robin Williams was so beloved by Keen that they gave
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: him the keys to the city because he just he
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: he was Robin Williams. He entertained everybody, you know, like
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: he you know, he talked with extras, he talked with
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: people in the around the town. You know, he was
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: like an ambassador.
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: For the movie.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: And when he died, they had a makeshift memorial underneath
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: the sign for pair of shoes and they had a
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: showing of Jumanji around it. And I've already forgotten my question.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: I think my question was.
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: It's beautiful. It's just all that is beautiful.
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's yeah, I don't even question.
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: I just want to talk about that, like it's just
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: it's my heart aches every single time I watch a
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: Williams movie. No, he's a favorite son of that community.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: I can totally see that. And yeah, and especially after
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: because of his death and the tragedy of that, you can.
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's human nature to gather to touchstones like
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: that of like, oh, that's where he stood, that's where
• 38:24
  Speaker 4: he brought us laughter. And it's a place where people
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: can leave flowers and leave notes and leave probably some
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: VHS cassettes of Jumanti like and that's just human nature.
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: We love doing that when we're mourning. So that's but
• 38:39
  Speaker 4: that's a good part of the story of Jumanji because
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: it's been gosh, is it almost time for guys? It's
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: gonna be what thirty thirtieth anniversary in twenty five right there?
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my god, yep, I am going to join
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: the Old Man Group.
• 38:57
  Speaker 5: Hey, you get past it.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: Don't worry.
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: The movies I Love ourselves bringing their fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries. Okay,
• 39:02
  Speaker 5: that's fine, O, you know, no big deal. Say, I'm
• 39:06
  Speaker 5: the same age as the Godfather part too, so you know,
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: that's pretty good.
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: It's pretty good.
• 39:10
  Speaker 5: In the conversation in Texas, Chainsaw Masacer and Black Christmas,
• 39:13
  Speaker 5: I mean, come on, that's a pedigree right there.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: I have done and voyage home for me? Eh yeah?
• 39:18
  Speaker 5: No, oh well, and Transformers the movie. I mean, that's
• 39:21
  Speaker 5: please don't sleep on the true classic of that bunch,
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: thank you very much. I you know, I think that
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: I would love to go to a place like Keene,
• 39:30
  Speaker 5: New Hampshire that respects and understands like they're claim to
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: fame as it were, Like what a cool thing to be. Like, No,
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: we're going to preserve this because there are going to
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: be people that will come to our town and they
• 39:44
  Speaker 5: will be delighted to see. Oh yeah, that was from Jumanji.
• 39:47
  Speaker 5: You know, Like I like places that respect and understand
• 39:52
  Speaker 5: those important cultural touchstones that people have, you know, like
• 39:56
  Speaker 5: it it's always nice too. Like I took the boat
• 40:00
  Speaker 5: tour Chicago, and you know, of course they were very
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: sure to point out it was like, well, you know
• 40:04
  Speaker 5: and Patman, it begins right over there and in the
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: dark night right over there, and you're like, oh, hey,
• 40:10
  Speaker 5: I'm seeing a historical town. But you know Batman was
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: here too.
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: But what about Transformers Revenge of the Fallen.
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: Right, you know, I'm not going to show that as
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: much love as I showed Transformers, the movie from nineteen
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: eighty six. I was gonna say that, Jesus.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: I remember when they were filming that that was such
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: a pain in the ass.
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: Living the giant robots flying around had to be difficult.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: So many god dang helicopters, so many helicopters.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: Buzzing my apart for sound.
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: Old, hold, hold, I just want to interview this guy. Well,
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: there's fifty five helicopters in the skyline right now.
• 40:49
  Speaker 5: It sounds like Psychoon in nineteen seventy five and Michael
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: Bay was the last fitting somehow fitting.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: All right, Yeah, we haven't we haven't gone too long
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: on this, but I feel like before we wrap up,
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: we need to talk about the music. Horner Jumanji. Obviously
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: he added some flutes.
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: This was here there there were a few.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: This was pre.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Avatar drums, flutes. Yeah, Horner was your guy, Darren. What
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: do you think where does this rank on the Horner scale?
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: I was just looking up trying to think, like around
• 41:27
  Speaker 4: this era. I mean, it wasn't It's funny because I
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: know we talked about it last week with the Rocketeer,
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: but I was re listening again to the Rocketeer soundtrack,
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: and I'm like, dear God, is this wrath of Khan
• 41:42
  Speaker 4: with a fl with with a motif added to it?
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: Like it is like ninety percent Wrath of Khan and
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: like ten percent oh yeah, Rocketeer Dad. This though, was
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: better balanced. I think it was, you know, and you know,
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: there wasn't a lot of jungle noise. You know, we
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: all know those specific instruments they play when we're in
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: the jungle. It's like, no, no, we're the Jungles coming
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: to us. But yeah, it's a fantasy movie. It really is,
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: and I think he captured it really well. So, I mean,
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: you can't go wrong with Horner. It's one of the greats.
• 42:24
  Speaker 5: I think it's a mid tier Horner in all honesty,
• 42:27
  Speaker 5: because you know, yeah, I have it pulled up here
• 42:29
  Speaker 5: and I'm looking at it. But when you're talking about
• 42:31
  Speaker 5: the guy that did, you know, Feel the Dreams and
• 42:34
  Speaker 5: Brave Heart and Star Trek two and Good Lord Apocalypto
• 42:40
  Speaker 5: and even I mean the main theme on Willow and
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: like that, those are like the top tier Horner. And
• 42:45
  Speaker 5: of course you got Aliens, okay, but like you you
• 42:48
  Speaker 5: have all of that stuff. And then Jumanji is a
• 42:51
  Speaker 5: good score, but it's not a score where I hear
• 42:54
  Speaker 5: it and I'm like, oh, that's a Horner. I hear
• 42:57
  Speaker 5: it and I'm like, that's a serviceable score.
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: You know, I feel the year this came out, Apollo
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: thirteen takes the cake, that is the that is the
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: gem of nineteen. That's ninety five for Foreigner.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: And that's why Tom Hanks couldn't be Allen Parrish in
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: this movie. No joke, no joke just wouldn't have worked.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: It's good that it was Williams. To be fair to Jumanji,
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: a serviceable horner is probably freaking Beethoven to most other
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: serviceable scores.
• 43:31
  Speaker 5: Oh oh yeah, I know. I I apologize how I
• 43:33
  Speaker 5: was coming off as like dismissive. I was saying, like,
• 43:36
  Speaker 5: you know, when when when you know?
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: It was like, oh you know, is it Braveheart? Yeah?
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: Also is it one of his Oscar winners or one
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: of the one of the theme songs like Willow that
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: makes me cry when I listened to it?
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: No, was it Aliens? Now? Was it?
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: Was it the time that I bawled my eyes out
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: when he fell in love with his with his wife
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: for the first time in Braveheart?
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: Knew but you know that's Jumanji.
• 44:02
  Speaker 5: If I must make do with a score, this one
• 44:05
  Speaker 5: will be fine.
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 44:06
  Speaker 5: I wasn't meaning to come across as dismissing.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: You are right, though, like, is it Aliens is a
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: brave heart? No, but it's it's good, it's servable, it
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: gets the job done.
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: No, you're I'm ragging on you, but you're You're not wrong,
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: You're not wrong.
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: So this is the time of the podcast where we
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: talk about Lance Reddick, one of our favorite actors, and
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: it's become habit tradition, whatever you want to call it,
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: where we take Lance Reddick at any time and we
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: do blind casting and figure out where we would like
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: to put him in the movie. And this is in
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: no disrespect to anybody involved, especially the actor that we're replacing,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: but this is one of my favorite parts of the episode.
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go first, and I Am not going
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: to be racist and replace them with the only black
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: person in the movie Fair, which would be easy. But
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: I would put Lance Reddick in Jonathan Hyde's role with
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: the Dad and Van Pelt. I feel like that would
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: be an easy place for him because I feel like
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: he could very much play that elegant but distant individual
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: who's posh but stern at the same time. I think
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: that would work. John, where would you put Reddick.
• 45:19
  Speaker 5: Same place exactly. That's exactly where I saw him was.
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: I could see him playing that dual role really well
• 45:27
  Speaker 5: and accentuating the necessary parts of both of those characters.
• 45:30
  Speaker 5: So I completely agree with you as much as I
• 45:32
  Speaker 5: love Jonathan Hyde in this you know.
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah again, that's why we always have to say,
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: like Jonathan, I'd nailed it, did a fantastic job. We're
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: just trying to think where we could put Reddick, Darren,
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: what about you? Yeah, I was actually thinking the same way.
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: I was almost thinking of splitting it where Van Pelt
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: was not played by the Father, Like I don't think
• 45:51
  Speaker 4: they need to need to be the same actor, but
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: he could also do, you know, get double the screen
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: time and also play the father as well. So yeah,
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: I think we're we're three for three across the board.
• 46:03
  Speaker 4: Three for three.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: That I love it when that happens. That's so fun,
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: all right, folks. Okay, So now is the time when
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: we rank childhood nostalgia and we judge each other for
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: how much we'd love or hate this film. Darren, because
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: I'm hosting and I love to do this to you,
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: I'm making you go first, as is tradition.
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great tradition. Yeah, no, I'm I'm giving
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: this a solid four. It's a it's a fun movie.
• 46:30
  Speaker 4: It does I don't have I don't watch it as often,
• 46:33
  Speaker 4: you know, even re sharing it with my kids. It's hard.
• 46:36
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's it's not gonna top the nostalgia factor
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: that Rocketeer had, like and the joy that that brought.
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: But you know, honestly, I would probably if I had
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: to pick how to spend a Saturday night with a
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: Jumanji movie, I would probably actually go with like Welcome
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: to the Jungle, which I think is a better constructed
• 46:56
  Speaker 4: singular story. But yes, yes, I know. But as far
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: as nineties goodness, this movie takes the cake. Like it
• 47:06
  Speaker 4: for its special effects.
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: For.
• 47:10
  Speaker 4: Balancing, you know, Robin Williams in it, for continuing down,
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: you know, the Joe Johnston train. So I'm giving it.
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: Four, all right, John Beaucephalus Mills, what are you giving
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: this movie?
• 47:27
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 47:28
  Speaker 5: I didn't love it when it first came out, but
• 47:32
  Speaker 5: I still have a certain nostalgic pull for it. This
• 47:37
  Speaker 5: is It's very strange because there are some movies where
• 47:39
  Speaker 5: you're not nuts about them and you'll never watch them again,
• 47:42
  Speaker 5: And there are other movies where you're not nuts about them,
• 47:44
  Speaker 5: but there's enough about it that works. And like I
• 47:47
  Speaker 5: think you were saying this last week Tristan, where it's
• 47:49
  Speaker 5: been years since I've seen this, but I remembered every
• 47:52
  Speaker 5: single moment, and I think that is to the movie's credit.
• 47:56
  Speaker 5: I think that's to Johnston's credit, is he obviously makes
• 47:59
  Speaker 5: things that burn themselves into your brain, regardless of whether
• 48:03
  Speaker 5: you love them or not. You're you can go back
• 48:06
  Speaker 5: decades later watch a movie and you're like, I remember
• 48:08
  Speaker 5: everything that happened because of the pacing, because of the
• 48:12
  Speaker 5: shot composition, because of how it comes together, and James
• 48:15
  Speaker 5: Horner's score, And I think that I'm gonna wind up
• 48:19
  Speaker 5: with a solid three for Jumanji. Not terrific, but it's good.
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah I did he bribed you?
• 48:29
  Speaker 5: No? No, If Joey had gotten to me, this had
• 48:32
  Speaker 5: have been a one.
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah.
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: This is this is This is a movie that I
• 48:39
  Speaker 4: h I always forget how much I love this is
• 48:43
  Speaker 4: a movie that is reeks of nostalgia. And it's so
• 48:46
  Speaker 4: hard for me to be objective with this one because
• 48:49
  Speaker 4: it and man, we didn't even talk about the cinematography
• 48:52
  Speaker 4: on this one.
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: I feel like that's been a really solid progression of
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: Johnston is relying on his cinematographer to do what needs
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: to be done. And I really felt a much more
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: mature filmmaker, not just in this CGI execution, but in
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: the shot selection and how it moved across the screen
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: and how he's able to craft relationships just on the
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: shot selection, specifically between Alan and Peter, and also speaking
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: which like Peter's fourth wall break when he needed to
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: find the acts in the woodshed and he grabs the
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: action to break down to open the woodshed and then
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: looks at the camera. That could be my favorite fourth
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: wall break in cinematic history. I lost in the theater
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: as a young lad. I lost it today when I
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: watched it. So I think this is this is a
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: really the shows Johnston's growth from Rocketeer in terms of cinematography,
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: what he can get from the actors, pacing. I think
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: this is better pace than Rocketeer. But I feel like John,
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: I think you brought me down a little bit, as
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: you do lots of the times, even in even in our.
• 50:08
  Speaker 5: Day to day life. It's my superpower.
• 50:10
  Speaker 4: People don't know this, but John and I talk every day,
• 50:13
  Speaker 4: and you often bring me down to your level.
• 50:16
  Speaker 5: I make it my mission. I pop out of bed
• 50:18
  Speaker 5: and I'm like, how can I ruin Tristan's life? Don't
• 50:20
  Speaker 5: ask for this noise in your life, Darren. All I
• 50:22
  Speaker 5: will do is make you cry. Trust me, and so
• 50:26
  Speaker 5: I I you know rock Deery game.
• 50:28
  Speaker 4: You're waking up? Ding? Ding?
• 50:29
  Speaker 5: Is that my alarm?
• 50:30
  Speaker 4: No, it's John texting six.
• 50:32
  Speaker 5: Am more accurate than you realize it.
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: Before I'm awake.
• 50:43
  Speaker 5: This is what sucks about today, Tristan.
• 50:49
  Speaker 3: This is why I'm pissed off. And you should.
• 50:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah, pretty much, pretty much, pretty much. Well, listen, they
• 50:57
  Speaker 5: never should have changed the rescue McDonald's French fries. I'm
• 51:00
  Speaker 5: not gonna let go with that one.
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: You guys got a little window in my world.
• 51:08
  Speaker 4: Person Yeah, like Rocket here was five stars because it's
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: just so it can't be fun enjoyment. And even though
• 51:15
  Speaker 4: I like I loved Jumanji, I really do, there is
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: a few things I feel like we could get a
• 51:19
  Speaker 4: little bit more emotional connection with the characters. I think John,
• 51:23
  Speaker 4: you were absolutely right about that, and I didn't even
• 51:25
  Speaker 4: realize that until you know what you said, And so like,
• 51:29
  Speaker 4: I'm really only I'm not even going to bring it
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: down a full start. I'm just bringing it out a
• 51:31
  Speaker 4: house stars, So I'm giving it four and a half stars.
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: I truly love this movie. I just I was grinning
• 51:38
  Speaker 4: like an idiot the entire time I was watching it.
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: So I think this is fantastic. I think this is fun,
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: and I'm going to show this to my kift and
• 51:45
  Speaker 4: I'm going to fast forward the you know, I'm gonna
• 51:47
  Speaker 4: do the old David Riddell fast forward during the Spider part.
• 51:51
  Speaker 4: But other than that, it's gonna be solid. So Darren,
• 51:53
  Speaker 4: what are we doing next week? Well, next week we're
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: putting the special effects on the back burner as we
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: go to a more personal story. In nineteen ninety nine's
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: October Sky Here on house Lights, join
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: The Revolution, Join the nerd Party.