Latest / Left of the Projector / Box Office Drop: Digger (2026) with HungryRye

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Box Office Drop: Digger (2026) with HungryRye · Left of the Projector

• 0:16
  Track 1: Hello and welcome to Left of the Projector. I'm your host, Evan,
• 0:19
  Track 1: back again with another film discussion from the left. If you'd like to support
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  Track 1: And at leftoftheprojectorpod.threadless.com, you can grab one and show everyone
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• 0:37
  Track 1: Wherever you're listening, give us a rating and subscribe so you'll be notified
• 0:40
  Track 1: of our weekly episodes that drop every Tuesday. And now on to the show.
• 0:45
  Track 1: This week on Left of the Rejector, we have a special box office drop for the
• 0:49
  Track 1: newly released Tom Cruise film Digger.
• 0:53
  Track 1: It, of course, was just released last month to some pretty low reviews.
• 0:58
  Track 1: It has been a complete box office flop from a monetary standpoint.
• 1:04
  Track 1: I think it's only at around $30 million, and its budget, including advertising,
• 1:09
  Track 1: is somewhere around $250 million. I've heard different amounts.
• 1:14
  Track 1: With me, I have a friend of the show, Hungry Rye, co-host of Literary Liberation.
• 1:19
  Track 1: For the first time in a little while, welcome back.
• 1:21
  Track 2: Yes, I'm so glad to be here. And what a fun episode because I was not even going
• 1:28
  Track 2: to see this movie originally.
• 1:30
  Track 2: And then I saw you and then my other co-host, Kristen, were talking about it.
• 1:34
  Track 2: Everyone's talking about it.
• 1:35
  Track 2: And it was so strange that all of my left-wing friends were like,
• 1:39
  Track 2: this is gas. And then everyone else on the Internet is like,
• 1:42
  Track 2: oh, it's trash. It's stupid. So I was like, it's probably good.
• 1:46
  Track 1: And the thing that I hate about movie stuff on the Internet,
• 1:51
  Track 1: maybe this is only if you're online, is that as soon as it wasn't doing well
• 1:54
  Track 1: in the box office, every article is Digger loses, you know, hundred millions of dollars.
• 2:00
  Track 1: Uh tom cruise you know i mean i'll preface this by saying tom cruise is not
• 2:04
  Track 1: a good guy he's a pretty pretty bad person in general,
• 2:09
  Track 1: but it doesn't mean that you know good art should go unseen and it also sucks
• 2:14
  Track 1: that we have to value art based on how much money it makes in the box office.
• 2:20
  Track 2: That is so interesting because I do remember when Chris and I were filming our
• 2:24
  Track 2: review of the book Verity by Colleen Hoover because it just got its movie review.
• 2:28
  Track 2: One of the things it was compared to was how like it did so it was so successful.
• 2:32
  Track 2: But then Digger absolutely bombed. And I kept seeing people there like you shouldn't
• 2:37
  Track 2: like use this as metric. And I was like, I wasn't. I was just reading off,
• 2:42
  Track 2: the title of the articles. But it is so interesting to see how,
• 2:45
  Track 2: like, the current state of cinema is performing, especially with,
• 2:50
  Track 2: like, book-to-movie adaptations flying. This is not based on anything, to my knowledge.
• 2:54
  Track 1: No, no. This is just a script. It's just purely on—yeah, and then that's the
• 2:56
  Track 1: thing, too, is people, like, they really want original content.
• 3:00
  Track 1: And then when it comes out, they're all, uh, yeah, I don't—not this—this wasn't
• 3:04
  Track 1: the original content you promised us.
• 3:06
  Track 1: But it's funny you mentioned Verity because I keep thinking—I was debating whether
• 3:09
  Track 1: I wanted to read the book and then listen to your episode. I'm like,
• 3:12
  Track 1: I don't think I really want to read the book, actually. I think I'll just listen to it.
• 3:16
  Track 2: I don't think I would ever want anyone to subject themselves to Colleen Hoover's work.
• 3:21
  Track 1: I read one book, and that was the only one. I don't even remember which one
• 3:24
  Track 1: it was. It was one of her early books, and I did not like it.
• 3:27
  Track 1: And I said, you know what? I'm good.
• 3:29
  Track 1: Is it, oh, it ends with us.
• 3:32
  Track 2: Maybe? Probably, because that was the Blake Lively movie that got made.
• 3:38
  Track 2: And there was a bunch of controversy surrounding that.
• 3:40
  Track 1: I think it was that. I don't honestly remember. I just remember just wanting
• 3:43
  Track 1: to finish the book and end it and then blow my brains out.
• 3:46
  Track 2: I don't know. She writes like romance books for like Republican white women.
• 3:49
  Track 2: Like that's kind of her whole thing.
• 3:53
  Track 1: Like I think it is interesting though that people compare it to the how much money this movie makes.
• 3:58
  Track 1: And all of the original Rotten Tomatoes reviews of like mainstream reviewers,
• 4:04
  Track 1: which I don't really go by. I don't go by what people, what newspapers say about
• 4:08
  Track 1: it. I go by what people I know and I trust.
• 4:11
  Track 1: Who like movies and like similar, they're not always going to be the exact same
• 4:15
  Track 1: movie I like, but I saw, I saw this the first week it came out and I thought, you know what?
• 4:20
  Track 1: Fuck it. And the, the theater was completely, almost completely full.
• 4:24
  Track 1: So, I mean, I live in a large city, so maybe that's part of it,
• 4:27
  Track 1: but what did you, what's your, like, do you understand why people don't like
• 4:33
  Track 1: this movie? Like, do you get it?
• 4:35
  Track 2: I feel like this kind of suffers the same kind of stigma that,
• 4:41
  Track 2: That Dungeon Crawler Carl does where like it's such,
• 4:45
  Track 2: a specific type of satire that like the people that enjoy like this dark humor-esque like,
• 4:54
  Track 2: I don't know, dystopian type of story are really going to eat it up.
• 4:57
  Track 2: And then like the people that just like don't fuck with that are like, no.
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  Track 2: That's kind of like where I've been sitting.
• 5:03
  Track 1: Yeah, that's I could see that. It's very, very.
• 5:07
  Track 1: I saw the trailer a bunch of times. I go to the movies a lot.
• 5:10
  Track 1: And so they were kept showing this trailer and other movies.
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  Track 1: And then I thought based on the trailer, it looked kind of dumb.
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  Track 1: Like I didn't understand it. And I also don't, I'm not a big trailer fan.
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  Track 1: I always feel like they ruin movies or at the other time, they just kind of
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  Track 1: don't really tell you what's going on.
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  Track 1: And I thought I'm just going to go based on what people are saying.
• 5:29
  Track 1: And for people, I didn't even mention who directed this. I'm probably going
• 5:33
  Track 1: to butcher his name. It's Alejandro in our two.
• 5:38
  Track 1: I butchered his name. But he has made some other movies that people probably know.
• 5:41
  Track 1: He made 21 Grams, Babel, which I did not like.
• 5:44
  Track 1: He made Birdman, which was great. He won an Oscar for Revenant,
• 5:48
  Track 1: as well as Leo DiCaprio won his Oscar for that.
• 5:52
  Track 1: So you can see the kind of movies he's making. This movie is,
• 5:57
  Track 1: I felt, the first 15 minutes, once I could get through the first 15 minutes
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  Track 1: of the movie, which I thought was the most bizarre, then it just went off the
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  Track 1: rails and I couldn't believe what I was watching.
• 6:06
  Track 2: Yeah, I remember. I can't remember what movie. I think maybe it was either the
• 6:11
  Track 2: Resident Evil movie or something else I had seen recently and I saw a trailer for this.
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  Track 2: And I was like, I look at my partner and we're looking at each other and we're
• 6:20
  Track 2: just like, what is this? Like, is it satire? Is it like propaganda?
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  Track 2: Like, I could not tell. And honestly, I think it was just marketed really poorly.
• 6:29
  Track 2: But I also don't know how they could have marketed it without giving away some
• 6:34
  Track 2: of the more interesting aspects of it.
• 6:36
  Track 1: Yeah, I think that's the problem. And then there was rumors it was a secret
• 6:39
  Track 1: musical I heard going around.
• 6:41
  Track 1: Like, oh, it's a musical. And then I saw in the first thing someone,
• 6:45
  Track 1: the other host of the podcast, Bill and Ward, was like, oh, is it a musical?
• 6:49
  Track 1: And I said, no. But I can't tell you what it is because it would just ruin everything.
• 6:54
  Track 1: In a minute, we can talk about the spoilers because I think it's impossible not to.
• 6:58
  Track 1: But I was the thing. I'll get to my theory about it. It's not quite till after
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  Track 1: we spoil it. But for anyone who doesn't know or hasn't seen it yet,
• 7:08
  Track 1: I would definitely suggest seeing it.
• 7:09
  Track 1: It's not going to be in theaters much longer because it's performing very, very poorly.
• 7:14
  Track 1: And so I was wrong. It's 42 million so far in the box office on a budget of 180 plus marketing.
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  Track 1: It basically is, and there are definitely clues.
• 7:24
  Track 1: I want to see it again, but they're clues as to what the, like the,
• 7:27
  Track 1: the, like the, what do you call it?
• 7:29
  Track 1: The, the, the twists in it. I feel like we're very much there.
• 7:33
  Track 1: You just didn't know them at first. Like the, one of the early scenes is he's
• 7:37
  Track 1: lying in his bed and you see a curtain like open up and there's like stuff on
• 7:40
  Track 1: a little stage. I don't know if you noticed that.
• 7:43
  Track 1: Like, oh, this is actually kind of like a foreshadowing. But the plot basically
• 7:46
  Track 1: is that Tom Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, this oil magnate who is probably supposed to be in his late 60s.
• 7:54
  Track 1: And he is sort of butting up heads with the president, who's played by
• 7:59
  Track 1: John Goodman, because one of his oil extraction wells in Alaska and in Greenland
• 8:06
  Track 1: basically explodes and a large piece of a ice shelf now is floating and heading
• 8:12
  Track 1: towards Europe, which would cause a
• 8:14
  Track 1: major catastrophic, you know.
• 8:17
  Track 1: Disaster with water and like, what's the word?
• 8:20
  Track 1: Like a tsunami? Tsunami, yeah, that's the one. So basically,
• 8:24
  Track 1: that's sort of the setup to this.
• 8:26
  Track 1: And the first, I don't know, 15 or 20 minutes are him trying to deal with his
• 8:30
  Track 1: really old and really sad cat that is really weird. It's also in the trailers.
• 8:36
  Track 1: And then from there, he just starts having insane conversations and you just...
• 8:41
  Track 1: See them as being this extremely wealthy. His house is enormous,
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  Track 1: opulent, just everything about it. And then he just, he meets his sister,
• 8:50
  Track 1: who's played by Sandra Huller, also was great in this.
• 8:53
  Track 1: And before we go into the spoiler part, I don't know what you made of that.
• 8:58
  Track 1: The first 15 minutes I felt were like a little hard to watch, really. It was weird.
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  Track 2: I was like, okay, if this is going to be the setup for the whole time,
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  Track 2: like, it's fine, it's whatever, Because it kind of gives off like a really exaggerated
• 9:12
  Track 2: version of like the newer TV shows like Yellowstone or Landman.
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  Track 1: Yeah.
• 9:16
  Track 2: That's kind of like the vibe I was getting. You're getting like insight into
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  Track 2: that. You can tell that like something's going on just based on the layout of
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  Track 2: this dude's house and how he walks into his closet.
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  Track 2: And he's got like there's mounts of deer all like on the ceiling.
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  Track 2: He's got like the shed mirror. he's got and mind you he's like walking past
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  Track 2: like his unclosed like gun,
• 9:39
  Track 2: closet yeah like there's no nothing protecting it from like anyone breaking
• 9:44
  Track 2: in and stealing it like this man he is like the embodiment of like a twisty
• 9:48
  Track 2: mustache bourgeoisie like he is that man and it's like you can
• 9:53
  Track 2: insert any kind of like evil man like doing things to the environment for tom
• 9:59
  Track 2: cruise's part which i do you think Tom Cruise,
• 10:01
  Track 2: was utterly unrecognizable in this? And mind you, I don't watch a lot of Tom,
• 10:06
  Track 2: The only Tom Cruise movie I can think off the top of my head that I've seen
• 10:10
  Track 2: of him is like Cocktail. And then is it Identity Report? Is that Minority Report?
• 10:16
  Track 2: Minority Report. I was like, those are the only two movies I can think off the
• 10:19
  Track 2: top of my head because I was not a Top Gun girl or any of like the I think he
• 10:23
  Track 2: did Mission Impossible, like 30 different movies.
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  Track 2: Not my cup of tea, but it was I was like, wow, I enjoyed this.
• 10:31
  Track 2: I enjoyed a Tom Cruise movie. And I can say that.
• 10:34
  Track 1: He is not just unrecognizable. I there's only a few Tom Cruise movies that I
• 10:40
  Track 1: would say that I really like where he's also is really good.
• 10:43
  Track 1: Eyes Wide Shut is one of my favorite movies of his.
• 10:46
  Track 1: You know, he's got like the early, you know, 80s and then early 90s rom coms,
• 10:52
  Track 1: you know, Jerry Maguire.
• 10:53
  Track 2: And like War of the Worlds, too.
• 10:54
  Track 1: War of the Worlds. Some that was a little. Yeah. But he is really very, very good in this.
• 11:00
  Track 1: And there's actually a story about how he got the role or accepted it.
• 11:04
  Track 1: So he was filming another movie it may even been mission impossible and he,
• 11:09
  Track 1: the ali alejandro ineratu ineritu,
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  Track 1: invited him to his house to say like oh i want to tell you about my film so
• 11:17
  Track 1: he apparently got on his motorcycle and drove like over in the in the middle
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  Track 1: of the night to go to his place in la or wherever it was,
• 11:25
  Track 1: he said you know he starts pitching him on the movie and tom cruise is like,
• 11:29
  Track 1: All you have to say, you had me at hello, which is like his famous line from,
• 11:34
  Track 1: the Jerry Maguire. And so it doesn't really strike me as it almost sounds like
• 11:39
  Track 1: a made up story. But apparently he said, this is what happened.
• 11:42
  Track 1: He's like, whatever you whatever movie you wanted me in, I was going to do it.
• 11:45
  Track 1: And then he got back on his motorcycle, went back to his set and filmed whatever,
• 11:50
  Track 1: Mission Impossible 60 16. He was whatever one he was on.
• 11:55
  Track 1: But he is really good. I think he deserves to be nominated for an Oscar.
• 11:58
  Track 1: I don't know if he'll win one, but he's trying to win one. You can tell he's
• 12:01
  Track 1: like, he wanted to do this movie to win an Oscar.
• 12:04
  Track 2: And it's so unfortunate, like of all of the movies, like to get popular this
• 12:08
  Track 2: year, like I do feel like this one deserves to have more love.
• 12:11
  Track 2: But I think it's going to be one of those things that in like 10 years down
• 12:13
  Track 2: the road, people are going to have like that hindsight and understand that.
• 12:18
  Track 2: So I do think that people should watch it.
• 12:20
  Track 2: And even watching it at home, I think you're going to have a good experience
• 12:23
  Track 2: with it because it's definitely not one of those movies. I think that seeing
• 12:26
  Track 2: it in the theaters is a cool experience, but you can enjoy it the same way at home, I think.
• 12:31
  Track 1: Yeah. The only reason I think it was fun to see in the theater,
• 12:36
  Track 1: there was definitely a few moments where people were sort of didn't know what was going on.
• 12:40
  Track 1: And because my theater was a little more crowded, there's sort of like little
• 12:43
  Track 1: gasps and all like, you know, like, what the fuck?
• 12:45
  Track 1: You know, kind of shit like that where they're just kind of blown away.
• 12:48
  Track 1: But yeah, I think it's not a movie you definitely have to see in the theater.
• 12:51
  Track 1: It's not like I saw it in IMAX or something. You don't need to do that.
• 12:55
  Track 1: Yeah. So we can get to the spoiler of this, which I think, well,
• 12:59
  Track 1: I guess there's two sort of major spoilers in it.
• 13:02
  Track 1: Two major spoilers that are twists in the movie.
• 13:06
  Track 1: So we learn about, I don't know, maybe a third of the way, maybe a little less
• 13:10
  Track 1: of the way through, that his entire, everything that's happening is actually happening on a stage.
• 13:18
  Track 1: He's performing in a play.
• 13:20
  Track 1: But you realize all the things you described, how he has this huge house,
• 13:25
  Track 1: deer antlers, a fireplace that's always burning somehow.
• 13:29
  Track 1: And this is like a massive stage. and you just it's almost hard to comprehend
• 13:33
  Track 1: and you definitely feel like it's a little bit in the future because at the
• 13:37
  Track 1: same time he's trying to find his daughter who had gotten on a plane and he's using,
• 13:41
  Track 1: kind of high-tech phone it's like on a mirror so like did you think it was in the future,
• 13:46
  Track 1: when you're watching it before you before the reveal.
• 13:49
  Track 2: Like it definitely like i was like either it's contemporary or a little bit
• 13:53
  Track 2: further because even like the way he's like in his house within in the play
• 13:57
  Track 2: and the way he has that like turntable globe and he can like turn it around and like move it around
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  Track 2: there's obviously like there's something going on so it's like okay this is
• 14:06
  Track 2: definitely something that could happen today uh probably is happening today
• 14:10
  Track 2: but like the way that like the politics and whatnot it seems a lot more like
• 14:14
  Track 2: contemporary of the time,
• 14:16
  Track 2: but then like when it goes to the play itself like you're kind of like left
• 14:20
  Track 2: in this limbo which i thought was kind of fun,
• 14:22
  Track 2: because you're kind of grappling with like what's going on here and it isn't
• 14:26
  Track 2: until like the end that you really know kind of what's happening.
• 14:31
  Track 1: Yeah it's it once they reveal that it's a play you then you sort of then like
• 14:38
  Track 1: okay so he's playing the role of one of these you know super wealthy capitalist,
• 14:44
  Track 1: you know environment I don't say environmentalist like someone who's just destroying
• 14:47
  Track 1: the environment through their oil company or whatever and,
• 14:51
  Track 1: You know, they also mentioned, I think they mentioned that the hurricane that
• 14:54
  Track 1: his daughter is, you know, flying through is like a category six,
• 14:57
  Track 1: which then I'm like, that's a really, that's bigger than normal.
• 15:01
  Track 1: You know, like what's going on?
• 15:03
  Track 1: And then he brings on, who's also really good in this movie,
• 15:06
  Track 1: is Riz Ahmed, who people probably know from, he was the TV show he was in.
• 15:12
  Track 1: Bait, which is really good.
• 15:14
  Track 1: I would recommend that show. I think he actually wrote it as well.
• 15:17
  Track 1: But he plays a scientist who works for him, and he,
• 15:22
  Track 1: parades him around to basically tell all of the president and the cabinet what's
• 15:29
  Track 1: happening with the world.
• 15:31
  Track 1: And he sort of lets him tell everyone that we're all fucked and that this ice
• 15:35
  Track 1: shelf is going to destroy Europe.
• 15:37
  Track 1: And basically what they end up deciding is to just let it do that.
• 15:40
  Track 1: They're not going to actually stop it from happening.
• 15:43
  Track 1: And we then sort of learn, I guess, maybe not really the second twist,
• 15:47
  Track 1: but the second big thing, which I think a lot of people are pointing to this
• 15:51
  Track 1: movie as being interesting politically,
• 15:55
  Track 1: is that he gives a really big speech in Europe to Parliament.
• 16:00
  Track 1: And he is not England. What the fuck country was it? Is it just Europe?
• 16:05
  Track 1: Does he say where? Oh, no. It just says European Parliament.
• 16:09
  Track 2: I don't remember. I thought it was just like, yeah, it definitely gave like,
• 16:13
  Track 2: I don't know, European Union type thing.
• 16:17
  Track 1: Yeah, something like that. And he gives this really grand speech,
• 16:20
  Track 1: which apparently took months to film because it's all one shot.
• 16:23
  Track 1: He's, you know, first they hate him and then they're sort of cheering him and filming him.
• 16:27
  Track 1: But basically his entire point, and this is, I think, maybe what people are
• 16:31
  Track 1: saying, like this monologue could go down as, you know, in 10 years as,
• 16:36
  Track 1: you know, a prophetic warning is.
• 16:39
  Track 1: He is destroying the environment through his oil company, but at the same time,
• 16:45
  Track 1: people want oil because, and they need oil because then they won't be able to
• 16:50
  Track 1: live their comfortable Western lives.
• 16:52
  Track 1: And I think that that's such a, it's almost crazy to me that Tom Cruise is doing
• 16:57
  Track 1: this because I don't think he believes anything he's actually saying.
• 17:01
  Track 1: I feel like he's really acting.
• 17:04
  Track 1: And it's such a powerful speech that you can't help but think,
• 17:08
  Track 1: here's where my theory comes in.
• 17:10
  Track 1: Major networks and CNN or whatever, their Washington Post,
• 17:16
  Track 1: you know, their movie critics can't like this movie because it's basically calling
• 17:20
  Track 1: them and their institutions out and their newspapers for the culpability of
• 17:25
  Track 1: what's happening in our society.
• 17:28
  Track 2: Yeah. And like, I think the way like his speech is conducted really highlights
• 17:32
  Track 2: something that I think like the Democratic Party and I'm not the midterms and
• 17:37
  Track 2: stuff are coming up. And I've been seeing a lot of people that are talking about
• 17:40
  Track 2: like, oh, don't vote for a third party.
• 17:42
  Track 2: But a lot of why like the Democratic Party keeps losing and the Republican Party
• 17:46
  Track 2: like keeps winning as there's like zero fucking charisma.
• 17:49
  Track 2: Like that's the whole thing is like with his speeches he's like i told the truth
• 17:53
  Track 2: and he let that guy tell the truth of what was happening and he's like you know
• 17:56
  Track 2: what yeah it is happening and we're gonna keep letting it happen but like
• 18:01
  Track 2: he has the charisma so they're willing to like sacrifice their own morals because
• 18:05
  Track 2: they're just like oh well he made a good point
• 18:09
  Track 2: and i think it kind of like goes to show like you know like why like donald
• 18:12
  Track 2: trump for example like keeps getting like re-elected and he's like going for
• 18:17
  Track 2: his like third term whatever the fuck ever
• 18:19
  Track 2: um but he's got like,
• 18:22
  Track 2: he's funny like the stuff that he says like he's unhinged like he says the stuff
• 18:27
  Track 2: that like that nobody wants to say out loud and i felt like tom cruise and john
• 18:32
  Track 2: goodman's characters just did such a good job of representing like,
• 18:36
  Track 2: right wing like i mean all like bourgeoisie or right wing but you know it's
• 18:40
  Track 2: just like the overarching just like right ring right wing politics because i
• 18:44
  Track 2: I think even, like, John Goodman's character could easily be, like, Joe Biden.
• 18:48
  Track 1: Yeah. And then you also have – they have this religious leader who goes with
• 18:51
  Track 1: them and has them praying.
• 18:53
  Track 1: So you also have this very – the religious right wing also influencing their
• 18:59
  Track 1: decisions. I mean, John Goodman is also incredible in this. He is just insane. I mean –,
• 19:06
  Track 1: You also learn he has cancer and he, you know, there's lots of these scenes
• 19:10
  Track 1: in his bedroom and it's just all very, I mean, once you kind of learn that it's
• 19:13
  Track 1: a play, it kind of makes a little more sense the way that it's presented to you.
• 19:17
  Track 1: But yes, I think easily could be that, you know, it's just, or another example
• 19:23
  Track 1: would be even just people like to, you know, say, oh, well, Norway and the Nordic
• 19:27
  Track 1: countries are so great because they're socialists,
• 19:30
  Track 1: but they're also using energy and benefiting from the, you know, the global South.
• 19:36
  Track 1: So they also yeah.
• 19:38
  Track 2: Yeah and like while this the play is taking place like tom cruise goes back into his little like
• 19:44
  Track 2: area i don't know what it's called i'm sorry i'm not like a theater rehearsal
• 19:47
  Track 2: room something his little yeah right and like there's different news articles
• 19:51
  Track 2: of things that are happening in the world and you can tell like things are tense like,
• 19:56
  Track 2: the articles and everything that's happening like there's a lot happening,
• 20:01
  Track 2: in his real world and then also like within the play so,
• 20:05
  Track 2: there's just there's so many different little elements that i don't know if
• 20:09
  Track 2: people like picked up on or just decided to overlook that just makes this so
• 20:12
  Track 2: good and interesting down to like the way he was dressed like he had a ring
• 20:17
  Track 2: on i don't know if you noticed it had a swastika in it i.
• 20:19
  Track 1: Didn't notice that holy shit.
• 20:21
  Track 2: Did you because i looked at the way that those stones are articulated on his
• 20:25
  Track 2: finger and i was like oh my god like that That is so interesting.
• 20:30
  Track 1: Fuck.
• 20:31
  Track 2: You got to find a picture of it because I thought I was going crazy. I was like, oh, my God.
• 20:35
  Track 1: Yeah. I mean, this is what I did. I want to see it again, but I'll probably
• 20:38
  Track 1: just wait till I can stream it.
• 20:40
  Track 2: And then like his belt buckle has like the three crosses on it.
• 20:44
  Track 2: That is like very popular and like evangelical like iconography.
• 20:48
  Track 1: Yeah.
• 20:49
  Track 2: So just like that combination. There's like a photo where it like a still like
• 20:52
  Track 2: within it where he's like he's got his hand out. He's got his big old belt buckle.
• 20:56
  Track 2: It's probably before he goes into the parliament. I was like.
• 20:58
  Track 2: Well isn't that just the way things are.
• 21:01
  Track 1: Yeah i mean i mean yeah it it's presenting what i think it's interesting is
• 21:06
  Track 1: because we see it as like maybe it's like in the future but it's presenting
• 21:10
  Track 1: it almost like this is what will happen in the future and it's no this is what's happening,
• 21:15
  Track 1: right now it's just not as bad as people
• 21:19
  Track 1: realize i mean we talk about the you know the the the
• 21:23
  Track 1: the temperature rising one degree and what that's doing you know we see
• 21:26
  Track 1: floods in every country around the world and places that don't normally have
• 21:30
  Track 1: them like las vegas strip was just flooded like that doesn't happen i mean i
• 21:35
  Track 1: yeah i mean i don't have a there's no way for me to play part of the speech
• 21:39
  Track 1: embedded into this because it's not streaming it but it's um,
• 21:43
  Track 1: when it does come out you know streaming at the very least you should watch that,
• 21:48
  Track 1: um clip and then there's something else and then so like the second big uh.
• 21:55
  Track 1: Reveal or you know in this film that you learn later is several times what he's
• 22:00
  Track 1: doing is like rehearsing jesse plemons who plays
• 22:04
  Track 1: you don't really know what he's doing he's some involvement in the play at some
• 22:08
  Track 1: point he's talking with the person who's directing the play you don't really
• 22:11
  Track 1: know what his deal is i think people had theories as they're watching it but
• 22:15
  Track 1: i had no idea just some guy who maybe he's just wealthy
• 22:18
  Track 1: he then he starts to say he's going to help tom cruise find his,
• 22:23
  Track 1: his daughter who's like missing he has resources,
• 22:27
  Track 1: and then it turns out that he is actually the grandson of the actual character,
• 22:36
  Track 1: digger rockwell and he is in now as an adult is very wealthy and he's funding this play,
• 22:43
  Track 1: which originally was like off Broadway or whatever British version of that is off West end.
• 22:50
  Track 1: Like he, they were just doing this to essentially cope with what was going on.
• 22:54
  Track 1: And it turns out that he then buys this, uh,
• 22:58
  Track 1: you know, play to then put on in this extremely high production value.
• 23:04
  Track 1: And I don't, I almost don't know what to make of this, of the play existing,
• 23:09
  Track 1: then he's buying it to own it. Like what, is it just rich people who can afford
• 23:15
  Track 1: to laugh at themselves? But not really, I don't know.
• 23:20
  Track 2: He tries to like posit it. Like he's being a good guy and he's like,
• 23:24
  Track 2: yeah, Rockwell was actually like, this is my real life. Like we have to laugh
• 23:27
  Track 2: at it. Like we need this humor.
• 23:29
  Track 2: But then when we get to the end, we actually get to see like the material reality
• 23:32
  Track 2: of what happened with Rockwell, because this is like a retelling.
• 23:35
  Track 2: It's a comedic retelling of what actually transpired like these events.
• 23:40
  Track 2: And it's like he is just as bad as Rockwell is because he's buying the rights
• 23:45
  Track 2: to this play where all of these affluent people can go because going to see plays is obviously not.
• 23:51
  Track 2: It's a luxury, especially in the time that they're living in,
• 23:54
  Track 2: especially like I can't afford to go see like plays or cabaret,
• 23:57
  Track 2: you know, like today. But he's.
• 24:01
  Track 2: Like making money where he can so he's.
• 24:03
  Track 1: Just like.
• 24:04
  Track 2: Oh the world is shit so now i'm making more money so it's like in my it feels like nefarious.
• 24:09
  Track 1: Yeah and the.
• 24:10
  Track 2: Way that he's just like oh i own this yeah it's totally fine like we can laugh
• 24:14
  Track 2: at ourselves but give your money so you can laugh and then leave and do nothing.
• 24:19
  Track 1: Yeah and the play is called fossil fools which is pretty funny and it is initially
• 24:24
  Track 1: it seemed like it was just a bunch of people putting this on as a way to just cope with,
• 24:29
  Track 1: what's going on and the thing that's even crazier is that that we learn is that,
• 24:34
  Track 1: a second ice shelf hits causing even more catastrophic damage i think in the
• 24:39
  Track 1: united states and it turns out that he is basically
• 24:43
  Track 1: banished and he lives on a offshore platform for like an oil rig that has a
• 24:50
  Track 1: bunch of staff still he still has all these cooks and cleaning and his whole
• 24:53
  Track 1: family is living there, including the kid who is played by Jesse Plemons as a child.
• 24:58
  Track 1: And then he is now 25 years old and owns it.
• 25:02
  Track 1: And the thing that we then learn as well is that this world in Europe,
• 25:07
  Track 1: wherever it's taking place, has been destroyed to a high degree where they go outside.
• 25:14
  Track 1: The sidewalk is the only safe place to walk. Did you notice they had a cyber
• 25:19
  Track 1: truck at the bottom of one of the rivers? and there's a Cybertruck.
• 25:23
  Track 2: No, that's awesome.
• 25:24
  Track 1: But basically, people have to wear masks outside because they call it like a
• 25:28
  Track 1: level four, you know, air quality or something. And so basically,
• 25:33
  Track 1: people are going inside to watch this fancy play.
• 25:37
  Track 1: While outside it's devastated and there's soldiers and robots and,
• 25:41
  Track 1: you know, drones and shit.
• 25:43
  Track 1: And it's basically the people in this play, watching this play are all wealthy,
• 25:49
  Track 1: presumably. Right. To be able to afford a play in this scenario.
• 25:52
  Track 2: Yeah. And you can see like the unhoused people don't have masks.
• 25:55
  Track 1: Yeah.
• 25:55
  Track 2: They don't have any ability. They're actually like in the rivers,
• 25:58
  Track 2: which are polluted, just trying to get around, like collect and scrap and scavenge.
• 26:04
  Track 2: And, like, towards the end credits, you're hearing, like, guns go off and how,
• 26:08
  Track 2: like, because there's just, like, it's a police state.
• 26:11
  Track 2: It's very, like, Orwellian 1984, like, surveillance state. They're trying to,
• 26:15
  Track 2: like, mitigate any sort of chaos. The graffiti on the wall I thought was really
• 26:19
  Track 2: interesting. I don't know if I took – I thought I took a picture. Is that legal?
• 26:24
  Track 1: Well, I mean, oh, was it during the credits part?
• 26:27
  Track 2: Yeah, because there was, like, something on the wall that they posted.
• 26:30
  Track 1: Yeah, this is one of the reasons why I need to watch it again,
• 26:32
  Track 1: especially at home where I can pause it. There is a bunch of stuff. There is also...
• 26:37
  Track 2: Yeah, it says Compliance is Freedom.
• 26:40
  Track 1: Oh, interesting.
• 26:41
  Track 2: It was on the wall with a power fist, which I thought was a really interesting...
• 26:45
  Track 1: Huh.
• 26:46
  Track 2: Like, all of it is just... It's so... Because, like, they all just,
• 26:49
  Track 2: like, go along with it at the end of the day. This is why revolution is necessary.
• 26:53
  Track 2: Especially... And I think with revolutionary struggle, I do often see people
• 26:58
  Track 2: kind of like overlook like the ecological aspect because I know like eco-socialism
• 27:03
  Track 2: and like eco-anarchism can kind of get like a bad rap
• 27:06
  Track 2: because it's associated with anarchists. If you are a Marxist, I totally get it.
• 27:10
  Track 2: But we really do need to prioritize like ensuring the well-being of the environment
• 27:16
  Track 2: because that is important. And I do see, I don't know, this is just like a soft critique.
• 27:22
  Track 2: Is this allowed a left-wing Marxist critique? I just don't like the rise of
• 27:28
  Track 2: these different Marxist-Leninists using AI to make their own sort of propaganda
• 27:33
  Track 2: and stuff, and it's very odd.
• 27:36
  Track 2: Because like that is really bad for the environment, especially like, I don't know.
• 27:41
  Track 2: That's just like where my brain goes to. And it's like, we really need like more nuance.
• 27:46
  Track 2: Like it's not just like black and white. Like you can incorporate other things
• 27:49
  Track 2: into your struggle for liberation. I do think ensuring that like the well-being
• 27:53
  Track 2: of our non-human like neighbors is important.
• 27:58
  Track 1: Yeah, I mean, not to say that these groups doing that are leaning towards techno-fascism
• 28:05
  Track 1: or techno-authoritarian, whatever, you know, these kinds of things.
• 28:09
  Track 1: But you're just basically doing—that's what we're in right now.
• 28:14
  Track 1: We're these AI bros taking over society, techno-fascists, you know,
• 28:19
  Track 1: Elon Musk and all of these things. And it's not—,
• 28:25
  Track 1: it's not good and i think this is a one of the most common themes that we talk
• 28:29
  Track 1: about on this podcast you probably do this too with like within books is is it reasonable for a,
• 28:36
  Track 1: a major studio in this case warner brothers to spend 200 million dollars on
• 28:42
  Track 1: a movie that's basically telling you that,
• 28:46
  Track 1: we're the environment is fucked we're all complicit and we like living our lives
• 28:51
  Track 1: we're willing to watch the world burn but that's you know in theory that's a
• 28:55
  Track 1: bad thing but warner brothers is making this movie.
• 28:57
  Track 2: It is odd because like we are like as people living in the imperial core um,
• 29:01
  Track 2: are going and watching this movie in the same way like the people are going and watching the play uh.
• 29:06
  Track 1: So we are kind of like sorry recreating that.
• 29:10
  Track 2: Sort of like dynamic and it's quite unfortunate especially when we look at like
• 29:14
  Track 2: what's happening to the global south and whatnot because of like neocolonialism and U.S.
• 29:18
  Track 2: Imperialism like this is just the material reality of the way that we live here
• 29:23
  Track 2: and I do think we can use this I am a fond
• 29:27
  Track 2: supplier I guess I'm I'm fond of and a supporter of using these because even
• 29:31
  Track 2: if that's not their intention I think this is a great vehicle for conversation to help,
• 29:37
  Track 2: raise class consciousness but unfortunately Digger's not getting the views that
• 29:42
  Track 2: it needs so like we gotta like get it into the hands I think this would be really
• 29:46
  Track 2: fun to do with like i don't know
• 29:48
  Track 2: like people in your community if you could do like a watch party and like discussion afterwards
• 29:53
  Track 2: that would be really cool because then you could like tie it in or watch it
• 29:56
  Track 2: with your like republican family member that's really into like these sort of,
• 30:01
  Track 2: like land man i don't know if you've seen land man.
• 30:04
  Track 1: I i have not but i i know i really want to see it because it has um what's his name in it uh what's the.
• 30:11
  Track 2: Main actor thornton.
• 30:12
  Track 1: Billy Bob Thorne, right?
• 30:13
  Track 2: Is that his name? Yeah.
• 30:15
  Track 1: Yeah, that's the show I'm thinking of, right? It's like a Western.
• 30:18
  Track 2: Yeah, he's like an oil tycoon.
• 30:21
  Track 1: Yeah, I haven't seen it. I've heard it's really good. Yeah, I should watch it.
• 30:25
  Track 2: It is, but there is like a whole spiel in it that was so akin to what Tom Cruise
• 30:30
  Track 2: said, where he's talking to his attorney and he's like, well,
• 30:33
  Track 2: if you want to be a commune, why don't you just go get a fucking tent and move out into the forest?
• 30:39
  Track 2: Otherwise, shut the fuck up. Because right now that truck you're driving in
• 30:42
  Track 2: uses oil and we need to go drill because they're like trying to make a case for fracking.
• 30:47
  Track 1: Yeah.
• 30:48
  Track 2: Because it's a very like pro fracking show, which fracking is also really bad
• 30:51
  Track 2: for the environment. Fun fact. Who would have thought?
• 30:54
  Track 1: If you watch this, though, with someone who was a Republican or,
• 30:57
  Track 1: you know, conservative Trump person, like what do they get from this?
• 31:02
  Track 1: How would they watch this movie?
• 31:04
  Track 1: They're just like, oh, I like this guy. He's cool.
• 31:07
  Track 1: I mean, I don't know. So it's hard to put your brain into that.
• 31:11
  Track 1: I'm just trying to think.
• 31:12
  Track 2: See, and like part of me thinks the way that this movie was marketed because
• 31:15
  Track 2: it is just depicting like these like typical like stereotypes of like the Republican
• 31:21
  Track 2: dude, like what they're striving to be.
• 31:23
  Track 2: Right. And they're like, we're going to fucking nuke this iceberg,
• 31:26
  Track 2: like trying to get them into the seats because I feel like that's who they wanted to see it.
• 31:31
  Track 2: But in the end, there's no real like...
• 31:34
  Track 2: Direction and like that can be problematic especially in an age of such high
• 31:40
  Track 2: um like illiteracy because it does extend to how you consume media it's not
• 31:45
  Track 2: just like books it's like you're overarching like,
• 31:48
  Track 2: media literacy and how you can connect it to like real world events but everyone
• 31:52
  Track 2: has been like socialized and propagandized to just slurp up this stuff it's
• 31:57
  Track 2: just a weird role though like for tom cruise because i was thinking about it too like
• 32:01
  Track 2: they like you said like they invest all this money and tom cruise is like a
• 32:04
  Track 2: huge scientologist he's a freak um,
• 32:08
  Track 2: respectfully and scientology in itself is like a giant mlm it's just really
• 32:14
  Track 2: weird it's a very odd thing he's like i just want a paycheck and you know what
• 32:19
  Track 2: he got that he has so much money.
• 32:21
  Track 1: I mean i think he did this to try and get the award to me that's the that's the thing i mean,
• 32:27
  Track 1: he can act he just doesn't usually act usually his more action
• 32:31
  Track 1: you know and the thing that some people say oh people don't want to see it because
• 32:34
  Track 1: tom cruise is a bad guy like did you guys see how much money mission impossible
• 32:38
  Track 1: movies gross they're probably all like at least 700 million dollars
• 32:42
  Track 1: you know i don't know exactly but it's not because tom cruise is in it just
• 32:46
  Track 1: a weird movie that is not you know,
• 32:49
  Track 1: it's not marketable. It's not, there's no way to tell anyone.
• 32:54
  Track 1: Cause someone asked you like, Oh, what's Digger about? I don't even know if I would know what to say.
• 32:58
  Track 2: I know. Cause I was thinking about that too. It was like, how do you describe
• 33:00
  Track 2: this movie? Cause you don't want to give too much away.
• 33:03
  Track 2: Cause like giving away like the unveiling of it being like a play and like having
• 33:07
  Track 2: like a secondary story, you can't give it away.
• 33:10
  Track 2: But I do try to like, I more so talk about like the resounding political themes
• 33:14
  Track 2: and like, it's like a dystopian movie of a near future.
• 33:19
  Track 2: Future where like big oil has like caused issues in the environment kind of
• 33:25
  Track 2: and like they're trying to fix it because i do think that's kind of,
• 33:30
  Track 2: i don't know that's enough i but also like is that interesting is that something
• 33:34
  Track 2: that people would want to see.
• 33:36
  Track 1: It doesn't it doesn't sound interesting like when you describe it that way but
• 33:39
  Track 1: when you watch it it is that's the weird thing and it's Also,
• 33:43
  Track 1: someone's review on Letterboxd, I follow, sort of described it as,
• 33:49
  Track 1: basically one man Tom Cruise's mission to try and sort of undo his,
• 33:56
  Track 1: not what he's done to the environment, but his reputation to the world.
• 34:00
  Track 1: He doesn't really care about the environment. He just cares that people,
• 34:04
  Track 1: I don't know, like him or like think he's a cool guy or whatever.
• 34:09
  Track 1: Maybe that's why Tom Cruise is playing this, because it's probably kind of like
• 34:12
  Track 1: him in real life, you know, just trying to get people to like him.
• 34:14
  Track 1: He's a, you know, movie wise, he's likable, like human wise,
• 34:19
  Track 1: you know, human piece of garbage.
• 34:21
  Track 1: So I don't know. I, yeah, it's hard to describe what to want.
• 34:24
  Track 1: I just basically said people like, you're going to like it. Just go see it.
• 34:27
  Track 1: I didn't read anything about it. Nothing.
• 34:29
  Track 2: I didn't either. I didn't either. I do prefer, though, like going into a movie
• 34:33
  Track 2: as blind as possible. Like, because I don't know what I think it probably has
• 34:37
  Track 2: to do with like the immediacy crises, the way that movie theaters are today
• 34:41
  Track 2: versus how they used to be.
• 34:42
  Track 2: I feel like they used to be a little bit more obscure, like they left a lot
• 34:46
  Track 2: more out. Whereas nowadays, I feel like when you go and see a movie that's like
• 34:49
  Track 2: a mainstream movie, you're kind of getting...
• 34:52
  Track 2: A tldr on like what's gonna happen.
• 34:55
  Track 1: A lot of the time.
• 34:56
  Track 2: And then i'm like oh well that was literally the trailer.
• 34:59
  Track 1: Yeah that's that's partly why the only time i see trailers is when i go to the
• 35:03
  Track 1: movies but then even then i'll try and just be like looking at my phone until
• 35:06
  Track 1: the movie is about to start,
• 35:08
  Track 1: because i just i don't want to i don't want to know movie especially when it's
• 35:11
  Track 1: things like this or uh you know the this uh new uh,
• 35:15
  Track 1: movie that most people have should also see i'm just gonna do a plug for, you should see the film.
• 35:21
  Track 1: You can see everything. The Nathan Fielder documentary.
• 35:25
  Track 1: You should all go see that movie. Everyone should go see that movie.
• 35:28
  Track 2: I'm going on Wednesday night. I'm at 9.35. I'm not going to get out at 1 a.m.
• 35:34
  Track 2: It's going to be a long night. I'm locking in. I have to. It's like the last
• 35:37
  Track 2: night to go see it too. So I was like, oh my God, I have to.
• 35:41
  Track 1: I can't believe how few places. All of the showings here, I live in New york
• 35:45
  Track 1: where that's you know a bigger city but 10 o'clock showings are almost completely
• 35:48
  Track 1: sold out which is crazy that's a movie that ends at you know almost two in the morning
• 35:53
  Track 1: but i don't want to like straight on that but like the point is i think these,
• 35:57
  Track 1: movies it's best almost go in just not knowing anything so i suppose if you're
• 36:02
  Track 1: listening to this podcast right now you probably already watched it you likely didn't,
• 36:06
  Track 1: want to have it spoiled for you but even if you did you should still go see it i think that it's uh,
• 36:14
  Track 1: still well worth it i don't um which i think is anything else i had it's hard to.
• 36:18
  Track 2: Like the cinematography and the score alone were like incredible like if you
• 36:23
  Track 2: just did it like visually it was great i like i have not seen a movie that just like looks so,
• 36:32
  Track 2: i don't feel like movies look so like bland nowadays but this one actually had
• 36:37
  Track 2: some visual appeal which was very like interesting for the eyes and then the
• 36:42
  Track 2: score to accompany it was just so funky and weird and it was just like,
• 36:48
  Track 2: just like the cherry on top it wasn't any sort of like mainstream music it was
• 36:52
  Track 2: all just weird like techno it was weird music i don't even know what you would call it it's not.
• 36:57
  Track 1: What you would have expected for i.
• 36:58
  Track 2: Feel like no not at all,
• 37:00
  Track 2: As soon as I heard it, I was like, this is different. Like, that alone was,
• 37:04
  Track 2: like, a ticker that, like, you knew you were in for something unique.
• 37:08
  Track 1: Yeah.
• 37:08
  Track 2: And I do feel like I've never seen anything that is even close to this.
• 37:12
  Track 2: I don't think I've read a book that was even like this.
• 37:14
  Track 1: Yeah, the color palette, the scenes, there's so many weird scenes.
• 37:20
  Track 1: Like, when he's giving the speech, the other character who I mentioned played
• 37:24
  Track 1: by Riz Ahmed is sort of in this waiting room.
• 37:28
  Track 1: He doesn't drink or eat meat, but now he's like been drinking because he just,
• 37:31
  Track 1: you know, the room is also like falling apart.
• 37:34
  Track 1: It's just everything about every single scene. It makes it more interesting
• 37:39
  Track 1: that it's a play, that each of these is a set on a stage somehow.
• 37:43
  Track 1: And even all of that is just remarkable. His house, too, they show like they
• 37:49
  Track 1: go into that room that's supposed to be like a bird. I don't know what the word for those rooms like.
• 37:55
  Track 2: It's like an aviary.
• 37:57
  Track 1: Aviary that's the word yes and it's really fucking creepy no.
• 38:01
  Track 2: It was my mama's and like they're all like taxidermied or like weird like plushy
• 38:07
  Track 2: looking birds like it was very odd.
• 38:10
  Track 1: Yeah yeah and this is one one other thing that i remember that came up that
• 38:14
  Track 1: is also there's lots of scenes with the military there's especially a scene
• 38:18
  Track 1: where they're all in a big room and they sort of like are all laughing the fact
• 38:22
  Track 1: that there's no women in the room like also
• 38:25
  Track 1: very on the nose you know commentary of
• 38:28
  Track 1: women and they're involved in these things and they also try and they're thinking
• 38:31
  Track 1: like how can we blame this on china and it's like every single aspect he's like it was.
• 38:36
  Track 2: Actually the russians.
• 38:38
  Track 1: Right they just it's like blaming everyone for everything like oh yeah we're
• 38:42
  Track 1: not gonna even tell europe about it but of course they're gonna find out and um,
• 38:48
  Track 1: yeah and i don't even think i've said it's extremely extremely funny and weird
• 38:54
  Track 1: but you like you're laughing at the weirdest things. It's just,
• 38:58
  Track 1: Yeah, it's a sight to be seen. And so it's funny you mentioned,
• 39:01
  Track 1: so the person who's a cinematographer, he did a bunch of,
• 39:06
  Track 1: Alfonso Cuaron movies, including Children of Men, which is one of my favorite
• 39:10
  Track 1: movies of all time, you know, by far.
• 39:13
  Track 1: And that movie has also cinematography like this, where you just, you don't.
• 39:17
  Track 1: Yeah. If you haven't seen that, I would highly recommend it.
• 39:19
  Track 1: It is like a bunch of one, like one take shots, wonders that are just,
• 39:24
  Track 1: um, yeah. And that's also like a dystopian film set in the future,
• 39:29
  Track 1: you know, better than this movie.
• 39:32
  Track 1: I digress.
• 39:33
  Track 2: I just like, like, the sets and, like, the way that they were,
• 39:36
  Track 2: like, conducted. Because I get it's, like, it's supposed to,
• 39:38
  Track 2: like, emulate, like, how immersive a play is supposed to feel.
• 39:43
  Track 2: But, like, even when they're, like, watching the ice shelf initially,
• 39:45
  Track 2: like, hit in Europe. And it's essentially, like, them watching, like, a snuff film.
• 39:50
  Track 1: Yeah, that was so weird.
• 39:52
  Track 2: They're all, like, sitting in a room so that they can watch it.
• 39:54
  Track 2: And I was, like, this is literally, like, what's happening, like,
• 39:57
  Track 2: around the world when they're seeing, like, the different genocides that have
• 39:59
  Track 2: taken place both historically and today.
• 40:02
  Track 2: Like you know they're just sitting around watching it they're watching what's
• 40:06
  Track 2: happening in like somalia or in the congo
• 40:09
  Track 2: or in like gaza like you know they're seeing that footage they're not stupid
• 40:15
  Track 2: yeah yeah and that's what they probably have they're doing like because there's
• 40:17
  Track 2: like a guy eating fucking popcorn i was like yeah yeah yeah that would happen.
• 40:22
  Track 1: And i love that you don't even see the tv you just see their reactions to watching
• 40:26
  Track 1: it and they're like holy shit oh.
• 40:28
  Track 2: Well They're like, run, run. Like, it's a team sport. It felt like you could
• 40:33
  Track 2: have put a football game on instead. And that's how it felt.
• 40:36
  Track 2: Like, they just view this sort of, like, violence that's happening in the world
• 40:40
  Track 2: as just, like, something that just happens.
• 40:43
  Track 1: And now they gamble on it.
• 40:43
  Track 2: Like, these are just casualties.
• 40:44
  Track 1: They go on Polymarket and bet on it.
• 40:46
  Track 2: Yeah, you can go on, like, Kalshi or whatever.
• 40:48
  Track 1: Yeah, that's a whole—that shit's fucking horrible.
• 40:52
  Track 2: I'm surprised that wasn't even part of this.
• 40:54
  Track 1: Like— Yeah, that's true. I mean, I guess maybe at this future state,
• 41:01
  Track 1: like that's like they're too rich and too high up to that's like beneath them.
• 41:05
  Track 2: Yeah. Honestly, like their biggest
• 41:06
  Track 2: thing is like, how do we turn this into a way for us to make money?
• 41:09
  Track 2: Because that ended up being like the next route, which is so true.
• 41:13
  Track 2: And I was like, this is literally like, and I'm very critical of Naomi Klein's
• 41:18
  Track 2: shock doctrine, but it does kind of embody a lot of what she says with,
• 41:21
  Track 2: like, disaster capitalism as a theory, which I think is more of,
• 41:25
  Track 2: like, a kind of contemporary version of, like,
• 41:28
  Track 2: what happened, like, imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism, like Vladimir Lenin.
• 41:32
  Track 2: Like, he walked so that she could run, you know?
• 41:37
  Track 1: Thoughts i mean i think i i wouldn't i i definitely want to see it again i feel
• 41:40
  Track 1: like you could eat like you said you could show this to,
• 41:43
  Track 1: you know uh in a group setting and then have a discussion about it there's probably
• 41:46
  Track 1: a lot more details and scenes we probably could go to but this was i guess more of a just uh,
• 41:53
  Track 1: covering it from a high level but i don't know if there's anything about it
• 41:56
  Track 1: or things that we didn't mention that um that you thought of.
• 41:59
  Track 2: And i don't think so the only other thing was like his sister which i thought
• 42:02
  Track 2: was so interesting how she has like her own like green business yeah she's like
• 42:06
  Track 2: trying to save the planet
• 42:08
  Track 2: and i was like wow this is literally just like green capitalism like yeah trying
• 42:13
  Track 2: to invent these things to solve a solution that your brother is directly contributing
• 42:17
  Track 2: to like and he funds i thought that was so,
• 42:20
  Track 2: yeah he's like oh yeah we're working in tandem together and also like i think
• 42:25
  Track 2: one of the reasons he's even has like that one i mean he had several staff on
• 42:29
  Track 2: his board before like the,
• 42:31
  Track 2: first explosion that he's like talking to he's like it's a five foot fucking
• 42:35
  Track 2: crack like this is as big as my table and the guy's trying to be like no it
• 42:39
  Track 2: actually grew and then it just like it blows up and then the guy died the guy
• 42:42
  Track 2: he was talking to die yeah,
• 42:44
  Track 2: and he's like that's unfortunate yeah it's crazy like this movie was like bat
• 42:51
  Track 2: shit bonkers bananas like the entire way through.
• 42:55
  Track 1: Like that's the trailer is really just him being a little crazy and
• 43:00
  Track 1: yelling at people and then they show his cat and then he had there's like one
• 43:04
  Track 1: scene with john goodman where they ask about how much money is going to be you
• 43:07
  Track 1: know how much money we're talking about the guy the the scientist is you know
• 43:11
  Track 1: some trillion amount of money is like oh shit we better we gotta actually do
• 43:14
  Track 1: something about this you know because it you know might uh destroy,
• 43:18
  Track 1: you know i think he's i think he's worried because it will destroy one of his
• 43:22
  Track 1: other dig sites or whatever um.
• 43:25
  Track 2: Yeah because that's all he cares about is like the tools that they're using
• 43:28
  Track 2: to like dig and that's why he's like this was my grandpappy's shovel and he
• 43:32
  Track 2: like pulls it off the fucking wall the shovel thing is all weird.
• 43:35
  Track 1: That seemed like it was going to be more part of it because it's part of the trailer but it's just,
• 43:39
  Track 1: This guy's just a lunatic.
• 43:41
  Track 2: It's just so unfortunate. It's so unfortunate that people aren't going to be
• 43:44
  Track 2: able to experience this.
• 43:47
  Track 2: But, I mean, more people are going to the movies. So, honestly,
• 43:50
  Track 2: it probably is more than if this movie came out like 10 years ago.
• 43:53
  Track 1: I wonder when it's going to be streaming because it can't be.
• 43:55
  Track 1: If you said, oh, you mentioned the other movie, you can see everything.
• 43:58
  Track 1: I wonder how much longer it's going to be. It can't be that much longer until
• 44:02
  Track 1: it's going to be streaming.
• 44:03
  Track 1: Probably a few weeks, given.
• 44:06
  Track 2: Yeah, it doesn't seem like movies stream for very long anymore.
• 44:09
  Track 1: Yeah, especially this one. You know, they've made so little on this.
• 44:12
  Track 1: I don't know. So, but yeah, I would say.
• 44:16
  Track 2: They should have come out with a popcorn bucket and then.
• 44:19
  Track 1: Yeah, what would it be? A shovel inside of a bucket of oil or like.
• 44:22
  Track 2: I want the cat.
• 44:23
  Track 1: Oh.
• 44:24
  Track 2: I want like a flocked cat popcorn bucket.
• 44:28
  Track 1: I mean, honestly, the cat I felt like was part of this.
• 44:31
  Track 1: If not just, it feels like just such a metaphor for, I don't know,
• 44:36
  Track 1: the world or what these people are trying to do.
• 44:38
  Track 1: They're just trying to keep or capitalism like they're just trying to keep it alive long enough.
• 44:44
  Track 1: And then they realize that they can't. And everyone will presumably just be
• 44:51
  Track 1: in must-work shape except for, of course, the rich.
• 44:54
  Track 2: Look at that. Who would have thought we'd extract that much out of this little
• 44:59
  Track 2: silly whatever? I don't even know what to call it.
• 45:02
  Track 1: I saw the movie. Did you see the Jacobin posted a review like trashing it?
• 45:06
  Track 1: No, I don't really. i'm not like a big jacobin fan generally i don't really
• 45:11
  Track 1: read there but their their movie column is pretty shitty in my opinion i don't
• 45:16
  Track 1: think it's very good i don't like their their columnist well they're.
• 45:19
  Track 2: Like dsa aren't they.
• 45:21
  Track 1: Probably it's probably their similar um uh level of critique i mean there was
• 45:27
  Track 1: a period when i did oh yeah so the person said the title is no digger is not
• 45:32
  Track 1: a misunderstood masterpiece,
• 45:36
  Track 1: And it says, watch Dr. Strange Love instead, which, to be fair,
• 45:39
  Track 1: is a better movie and is really good. But anyway, so.
• 45:44
  Track 2: I'm going to be a defender of this movie until I die. I feel at this point I
• 45:47
  Track 2: have to because this feels like a fight club kind of situation.
• 45:50
  Track 2: I feel like this is what it's going to be is like the dude bros will watch it.
• 45:54
  Track 2: But luckily, this is so heavy handed.
• 45:56
  Track 1: No, this won't be for the dude bros. I feel like I wonder if when it streams,
• 46:01
  Track 1: it'll get in the hands of like the Ben Shapiro types and they'll say something about it being.
• 46:07
  Track 1: I don't know. I have no idea. I feel like they just aren't even touching this movie.
• 46:11
  Track 2: It's going to be like just like the garden variety, like moderate Democrat who
• 46:16
  Track 2: like a little bit of like green reform, but like support like how Kamala Harris
• 46:20
  Track 2: is like, no, fracking is actually OK.
• 46:22
  Track 2: I think it's going to be like those people. They're like, we just need a little tweak.
• 46:25
  Track 2: We just need to change things a little bit. But we're not like that evil guy.
• 46:29
  Track 1: Oh, OK. Okay, so I can't read the whole article because it's paywalled,
• 46:32
  Track 1: but theconservativereview.com has an article saying, don't let anyone spoil Digger for you.
• 46:39
  Track 1: Tom Cruise delivers the performance of his career in a movie whose real subject
• 46:43
  Track 1: only comes into focus after it started playing with your head.
• 46:46
  Track 1: And then it says, none of us or even the most rational people is immune to the
• 46:49
  Track 1: power of emotional messaging. And it seems like it's a good review.
• 46:54
  Track 2: No, wait, what?
• 46:56
  Track 1: Wait, wait.
• 46:58
  Track 2: That's crazy. if that is the case.
• 47:00
  Track 1: Well, I want to go to the very end just to see. Digger gives Ganesh a lesson
• 47:04
  Track 1: in the basics of propaganda, and none of us, not even the most rational people,
• 47:07
  Track 1: is immune to the power of emotional messaging.
• 47:08
  Track 1: That's what Digger is about. The story of full emotion is artfully told,
• 47:12
  Track 1: and the ending will leave you elated.
• 47:14
  Track 1: But it will also give you a new sense of dread about the world outside the theater
• 47:17
  Track 1: door, and perhaps you'll begin
• 47:18
  Track 1: to pay attention to the man behind the curtains. Like, you guys are...
• 47:22
  Track 2: Oh, so they want to use that as a means of blaming the Jews.
• 47:25
  Track 2: That's what it sounds like, Or they turn into like an anti-Semitic conspiracy.
• 47:29
  Track 1: I mean, that kind of sounds like it. Like, oh, like Jewish space lasers are
• 47:33
  Track 1: causing global warming. I don't know.
• 47:34
  Track 2: No!
• 47:38
  Track 1: Damn.
• 47:39
  Track 2: I didn't ah man i didn't see that one coming.
• 47:42
  Track 1: I feel like we should have maybe.
• 47:44
  Track 2: I feel like i've been bamboozled.
• 47:47
  Track 1: Oh man i see.
• 47:47
  Track 2: This is what i get for getting my hopes up.
• 47:49
  Track 1: That is pretty funny to me though that i need to find another conservative view um,
• 47:56
  Track 1: oh the new york post calls it clueless hollywood that doesn't surprise me yeah
• 48:01
  Track 1: which is funny because tom cruise is like not a digger is tom cruise's climate
• 48:05
  Track 1: hoax the national review okay so maybe that was just an outlier at that other
• 48:09
  Track 1: one they hated this movie.
• 48:12
  Track 2: I was like oh my god we're gonna see this on like alex jones or something.
• 48:17
  Track 1: Yeah it always says they're chasing significance and tom cruise seems genuinely
• 48:21
  Track 1: ignorant of politics the vitriol the attack is not sharp balanced it's just
• 48:25
  Track 1: pile on by fickle reviewers I don't know,
• 48:31
  Track 1: fuck those idiots I don't know I mean people who people bad mouthing and and conservatives both,
• 48:39
  Track 1: just go see Dicker and what what,
• 48:44
  Track 1: I don't know this might be coming out soon do you want to tell anyone about
• 48:47
  Track 1: any well people probably know your podcast already but do you want to remind
• 48:50
  Track 1: people and if you have any books you're doing soon that people might want to
• 48:55
  Track 1: know about um if you can't if you want to say anything.
• 48:58
  Track 2: That's like like digger i we did review the whole like parable of the sower
• 49:03
  Track 2: parable of the talent series which i think is probably the closest kind of like
• 49:07
  Track 2: dystopian-esque type story that maybe you might like
• 49:11
  Track 2: but up next we're going to be
• 49:12
  Track 2: reviewing the only good indians and off the reservation by stephen graham.
• 49:17
  Track 1: Jones only good indians is so good.
• 49:20
  Track 2: I just finished that one, and now I'm working on the new one that is out,
• 49:24
  Track 2: and about 75% of the way through. So that will be coming out on Thursday.
• 49:28
  Track 2: I don't know when this is going up.
• 49:29
  Track 1: Wait, the new book, too, you're also reviewing on Thursday?
• 49:33
  Track 2: Well, yeah, because it says they're connected. They're in the same series. I didn't realize that.
• 49:38
  Track 1: I didn't actually know that. I haven't read the new one. I'm stuck on another.
• 49:41
  Track 1: Not stuck, but I'm reading it.
• 49:41
  Track 2: It just came out Tuesday of last week. Oh, shit.
• 49:44
  Track 1: Jesus. Okay. So then I feel less bad that I've missed it. But,
• 49:47
  Track 1: yeah, I didn't realize that there was, like, a universe movie, another movie, book.
• 49:53
  Track 2: See, I didn't know either, so we kind of went into it. Sometimes we like to
• 49:56
  Track 2: combine them just to, like—because you never know. Sometimes it's easier to
• 49:59
  Track 2: talk about something as, like, a series rather than just a standalone.
• 50:02
  Track 2: And I do think—I mean, we probably could have talked about them separately,
• 50:04
  Track 2: but they are kind of connected. So we'll see how Chris and I make it. Off the Reservation.
• 50:11
  Track 1: Off the Reservation. Okay, I'm going to have to read this very soon because
• 50:14
  Track 1: literally every book I've ever read of his I've loved. So I,
• 50:17
  Track 1: you know, I haven't read the whole Indian Lake Trilogy. Have you read that one?
• 50:21
  Track 2: No, this is actually like I started with the Buffalo Hunter Hunter,
• 50:24
  Track 2: which Chris and I reviewed that. Fantastic.
• 50:28
  Track 2: And then so this will be my third, technically.
• 50:31
  Track 1: Indian Lake Trilogy, it's kind of slower.
• 50:34
  Track 2: I was not I was very surprised with how much like he writes very slowly.
• 50:38
  Track 2: And we're also doing our cut of salt by Dina Helm, which is a Palestinian horror
• 50:43
  Track 2: novel, like haunted house novel.
• 50:46
  Track 2: Set in gaza i think which is really cool that's also another book that just
• 50:50
  Track 2: came out either this month or the very end of last month so we're excited we
• 50:54
  Track 2: got some two really good like bangers coming out this month so if you like that
• 50:58
  Track 2: type of fiction we try to do that.
• 51:00
  Track 1: Yeah yeah those i i want i need oh now i need i need to read the other book
• 51:03
  Track 1: because i don't want to have it spoiled,
• 51:06
  Track 1: But only because it's the two of them. The Only Good End is really good.
• 51:09
  Track 1: But yeah, I've noticed that too. His books are longer and I feel like he takes
• 51:14
  Track 1: a little while to get into.
• 51:15
  Track 1: The same with the first of that book trilogy, My Heart is a Chainsaw,
• 51:19
  Track 1: I think, is very good. And the ending is great. And then they just top it in the second one.
• 51:27
  Track 1: Anyway, but Hungry Rye from Literary Liberation, thank you for coming on to
• 51:33
  Track 1: discuss Digger. And I'm very interested to see what you think of the Nathan
• 51:37
  Track 1: Fielder documentary separately.
• 51:39
  Track 2: Yes, I'm sure I will be messaging you because I have heard nothing but good
• 51:44
  Track 2: things. And it's very long. Yeah.
• 51:46
  Track 1: People should go see things in the movies. And people should read books.
• 51:49
  Track 2: Go save cinema.
• 51:50
  Track 1: Yeah. We're single-handedly saving cinema here, folks. You're welcome.
• 51:56
  Track 1: All right. We'll catch you, everyone, next time.