Latest / Nashville Movie Dispatch / The Cinema Chronicles, Vol. 43: 'Tony' and More
Transcript
- 0:19Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, it's another volume of the Cinema Chronicles
- 0:26Speaker 1: right here on Nashville Movie Dispatch. I'm your host... the
- 0:31Speaker 1: resident film critic of the National Movie Dispatch, Brandon Vick,
- 0:36Speaker 1: member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, board member of
- 0:39Speaker 1: the Music City Film Critics Association. Here we are. Another
- 0:43Speaker 1: month has flown by. We are getting to that sweet,
- 0:47Speaker 1: sweet smell of fall and football. And I want to say,
- 0:53Speaker 1: I guess we're all, I think the world, much less
- 0:57Speaker 1: the country, is still mourning because last week was a
- 1:00Speaker 1: rough week. Peter Cullen, as you know from The Voice
- 1:05Speaker 1: of Optimus Prime, passed away. Tim Curry passed away. And,
- 1:09Speaker 1: of course, our beloved and cherished Dolly Parton passed away. So,
- 1:16Speaker 1: last week was a bit shitty. So, I'm going to
- 1:19Speaker 1: try and cheer you up by talking about Super Troopers
- 1:22Speaker 1: 3 later. So, that'll be a hoot. Also, I... I'm
- 1:29Speaker 1: not really going to talk about the weather. I just
- 1:31Speaker 1: want to say I'm excited about fall. I really can't
- 1:34Speaker 1: wait till fall. I wish fall was here now. But
- 1:38Speaker 1: I did something the other week and I kind of
- 1:40Speaker 1: felt embarrassed. But then things happen. It's just funny how
- 1:43Speaker 1: things happen in this world that we live in. I
- 1:47Speaker 1: would say about two and a half weeks ago, I
- 1:50Speaker 1: was just out of nowhere, had this song like shout, shout.
- 1:57Speaker 1: let it all out. And I was singing it all
- 2:00Speaker 1: through the house. And my wife and son are pretty, or,
- 2:03Speaker 1: you know, are pretty much used to me singing random things.
- 2:06Speaker 1: And then they asked, do you know any other words?
- 2:08Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, I don't. But, and, um, but
- 2:11Speaker 1: I was giving my wife a hard time. I'm like,
- 2:13Speaker 1: do you know who sings that? Do you know who
- 2:15Speaker 1: sings that? And she's like, what, what are you talking about?
- 2:17Speaker 1: And like, I sing it again. I'm like, do you
- 2:18Speaker 1: know who you sing that? And I swear to you all.
- 2:22Speaker 1: And I told her this, I said, oh, it's the beat.
- 2:26Speaker 1: from Doug because I swear that was a song from
- 2:31Speaker 1: Doug and I and I mean no one's there to
- 2:37Speaker 1: tell me I'm wrong so I'm so sure of myself
- 2:41Speaker 1: and thinking oh my wife what a dummy who doesn't
- 2:43Speaker 1: know that song from a from a Nickelodeon cartoon but
- 2:49Speaker 1: then I start seeing it more and I'm like wait
- 2:51Speaker 1: a minute actually, I think that might be a real
- 2:55Speaker 1: song that's been played on the radio. And, and about
- 2:59Speaker 1: a couple of days later, I tell her, I'm like, Hey,
- 3:02Speaker 1: I actually don't think it's from the beats from Doug
- 3:06Speaker 1: funny show. And, but I'm like, and, and then she
- 3:10Speaker 1: kind of gave me that look. Like I thought it
- 3:12Speaker 1: was real. And anyway, I really, really confused everyone, but
- 3:17Speaker 1: then here's the kicker. So like, like, I don't know,
- 3:22Speaker 1: like a week ago, I'm on my way home from
- 3:27Speaker 1: seeing something, and I'm listening, and anyway, I'm just kind
- 3:33Speaker 1: of skipping through channels, and I swear to you guys,
- 3:36Speaker 1: I flip to a station, and I hear shout, shout,
- 3:41Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my god, it's that song, and
- 3:44Speaker 1: I just want y'all to know, it's Tears of Fears
- 3:49Speaker 1: by tears for fears. And so, yes, it is a
- 3:54Speaker 1: real song, but I love, I could not help but
- 3:58Speaker 1: laugh when I heard it and couldn't help but laugh
- 4:00Speaker 1: because I was so sure of myself that the beat
- 4:05Speaker 1: sang that on Doug Funny's show. And I'm like, oh
- 4:10Speaker 1: my gosh, my wife is so clueless. And then the
- 4:13Speaker 1: more I thought about it, and I'm talking like hours later,
- 4:15Speaker 1: I'm like, you know what? I I think that's, I
- 4:22Speaker 1: think that's a real song. And I just, and somehow
- 4:26Speaker 1: I have credited the fictitious beat for singing it to me. So,
- 4:33Speaker 1: but what are the odds of, I mean, and I'm
- 4:35Speaker 1: telling you, I have not thought about this song in
- 4:37Speaker 1: years and years and years. And then I start seeing
- 4:40Speaker 1: it and I'm so sure of myself. And then lo
- 4:43Speaker 1: and behold, literally less than like two weeks later, That
- 4:47Speaker 1: damn song is on the radio. I'm telling you, the
- 4:52Speaker 1: good Lord was listening, and he was like, hey, hey,
- 4:56Speaker 1: you fool. Here it is. And I paid very, very,
- 5:01Speaker 1: very close attention because I'm like, if my radio says
- 5:05Speaker 1: the beat, I'm going to eat it.
- 5:08Speaker 2: I just have to chime in quickly.
- 5:09Speaker 1: Yeah, no, go ahead.
- 5:11Speaker 2: You know, Disturbed does a cover of that song, too.
- 5:14Speaker 1: Of Shout?
- 5:15Speaker 2: Yeah, you should.
- 5:15Speaker 1: I know they did the Silence song, but I've not
- 5:19Speaker 1: heard that.
- 5:20Speaker 2: You should check it out. I know how much you
- 5:21Speaker 2: love Disturbed.
- 5:22Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think a lot of people should check
- 5:24Speaker 1: out the beats and tell me, because is Banging on
- 5:27Speaker 1: a Trash Can one, or is that something that Doug
- 5:30Speaker 1: Funney did? That's a real one.
- 5:32Speaker 2: That's a real one, Banging on a Trash Can and
- 5:35Speaker 2: Killer Tofu.
- 5:36Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I started singing, too.
- 5:37Speaker 2: And I Need More Allowance.
- 5:40Speaker 1: Oh, I forgot about that one.
- 5:40Speaker 2: Those are the three beat songs that I remember.
- 5:42Speaker 1: The Killer Tofu is the one I started singing, and
- 5:44Speaker 1: I started laughing, telling my wife. I'm like, actually, I
- 5:46Speaker 1: don't think this song is, but I know this one is.
- 5:49Speaker 2: Yeah. You can find that on Spotify, too.
- 5:52Speaker 1: By the way. Doug Funnies, or The Beach?
- 5:54Speaker 2: Killer Tofu.
- 5:56Speaker 1: I also read that Hey Arnold is going to be rebooted.
- 5:59Speaker 2: Really?
- 6:00Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 6:00Speaker 3: Well, it's because it's come back up in the lexicon
- 6:04Speaker 3: of America lately, because people, have you not seen the
- 6:07Speaker 3: thing about, like, people post the pictures of his house
- 6:12Speaker 3: and his room and the city and everything. And like,
- 6:14Speaker 3: they're showing love to the artists because they're like, man,
- 6:17Speaker 3: if you just look at a frame from Hey Arnold,
- 6:19Speaker 3: it's actually pretty cool art. And then people are starting
- 6:24Speaker 3: to pull old clips where they're saying, Hey, this was
- 6:28Speaker 3: actually a really smart show that had some valuable lessons
- 6:32Speaker 3: in it. So it's kind of come back around in
- 6:34Speaker 3: the conversation on social media.
- 6:37Speaker 1: I'll watch it now.
- 6:38Speaker 2: People are like, man, we got to bring this back.
- 6:40Speaker 2: We got to cash in on this.
- 6:41Speaker 1: I was saying, finally, a reboot worth doing.
- 6:44Speaker 2: That's right.
- 6:45Speaker 1: So I was embarrassed, but also thought it was funny.
- 6:50Speaker 1: But then I was almost blown away. I almost had
- 6:52Speaker 1: to park at a gas station to listen to Shout
- 6:55Speaker 1: and be like, what are the odds? What are the odds?
- 6:59Speaker 1: So anyway, I hope that made everyone feel better after
- 7:03Speaker 1: that shitty week last week. But I've got some... I
- 7:08Speaker 1: don't want to say good movies to talk about, but,
- 7:12Speaker 1: you know, they're interesting. And let's start with the one
- 7:16Speaker 1: that is like The Purge, but it's Boinkin'. Let's start
- 7:22Speaker 1: with that one. Let's talk about that one next. One
- 7:31Speaker 1: night only is what I am referring to. So this
- 7:35Speaker 1: is per Rotten Tomatoes Academy Award nominee Monica Barbero. She
- 7:40Speaker 1: was nominated in A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan pick
- 7:43Speaker 1: with Chalamet. She's also in Top Gun Maverick. And BAFTA
- 7:47Speaker 1: nominee Callum Turner, which you may remember him from Masters
- 7:51Speaker 1: of the Air and Fantastic Beasts franchise. They star as
- 7:55Speaker 1: Allie and Owen, two love star strangers who crash into
- 7:58Speaker 1: each other in an ever so slightly fictionalized New York
- 8:01Speaker 1: City on one night of the year when single people
- 8:04Speaker 1: are allowed to have sex. Recently dumped, Owen and Hopeful
- 8:07Speaker 1: Romantic Alley might be the only two singles in the
- 8:09Speaker 1: city looking for more than just a quick encounter. They
- 8:13Speaker 1: both feel a spark when they meet, but a series
- 8:15Speaker 1: of missteps and side quests complicate their night, keeping them apart.
- 8:19Speaker 1: As they each race toward and away from each other
- 8:21Speaker 1: across the city, they just might discover that the one
- 8:24Speaker 1: thing they want most is closer than they think. So
- 8:29Speaker 1: Will Gluck... who has directed Easy A, fantastic movie with
- 8:33Speaker 1: the wonderful Emma Stone, and Anyone But You, if you
- 8:36Speaker 1: remember that, with Sidney Sweeney and, you know, that other guy.
- 8:44Speaker 1: What is his name? Glenn Powell. Yeah, Glenn Powell. Thank you.
- 8:47Speaker 1: He's also directed some other stuff that, honestly, I don't
- 8:50Speaker 1: really care about. But these two are proof, these movies,
- 8:55Speaker 1: they're proof that he can tell a smart and funny
- 8:57Speaker 1: story that has an edge with some kind of meaning.
- 9:00Speaker 1: But my question is, where the hell has he gone?
- 9:03Speaker 1: Because I think it's a fair question, considering that One
- 9:08Speaker 1: Night Only takes a pretty fun, high-concept premise and totally
- 9:13Speaker 1: trashes it. The movie just seems it's just misused and
- 9:18Speaker 1: it's misguided. Some movies, more than others, require the audience
- 9:23Speaker 1: to kind of totally suspend their disbelief and just sit
- 9:27Speaker 1: back and enjoy the ride. But when a movie like
- 9:30Speaker 1: this one, specifically a rom-com, asks for way more than
- 9:36Speaker 1: I think the audience can give, it's less entertaining and
- 9:39Speaker 1: more exasperating and exhausting. For starters, I think this needs
- 9:45Speaker 1: to be said up front. Turner and Barbaro would never
- 9:47Speaker 1: have trouble getting laid. They could go up and down
- 9:52Speaker 1: those streets pounding whatever they want. All right, so let's
- 9:56Speaker 1: get real about that. But that aside, They're on. chemistry
- 10:00Speaker 1: strangely doesn't click all the way, and it doesn't help
- 10:04Speaker 1: that they're apart for practically half the movie. Overall, Barbaro
- 10:09Speaker 1: seems to be trying a little harder than Turner. She's
- 10:11Speaker 1: playing more into the rom-com that the movie is so
- 10:14Speaker 1: desperately trying to be. I think Turner, on the other hand,
- 10:18Speaker 1: looks simultaneously uncomfortable and sort of dopey, leading to a
- 10:22Speaker 1: few unintentional laughs, which isn't quite what you want from
- 10:25Speaker 1: your leading man. And the other guys that Allie chooses
- 10:30Speaker 1: to spend her time with, there's a fraud guy, there's
- 10:35Speaker 1: a rock star guy. I just saw them as annoying,
- 10:38Speaker 1: just annoying with predictable outcomes that overstay their welcome. Owen
- 10:43Speaker 1: does get a shot with a bartender. a kind of
- 10:49Speaker 1: a thirsty bartender, and then a wealthy cougar, but surprised.
- 10:55Speaker 1: Those encounters are very similar to Allie's experiences, and all
- 10:58Speaker 1: of it's played up for laughs that miss more than
- 11:01Speaker 1: they hit. I was listening to a podcast that I
- 11:06Speaker 1: like that is hosted by Josh Horowitz called Happy, Sad, Confused,
- 11:10Speaker 1: and on that, Barbaro talks about how before she even
- 11:13Speaker 1: got the script... that Gluck had told her to watch
- 11:16Speaker 1: Uncut Gems, After Hours, and Midnight Run to give off
- 11:21Speaker 1: this hectic, chaotic energy that he was wanting to do
- 11:24Speaker 1: for this movie in, obviously, New York City. And then,
- 11:33Speaker 1: for the record, this is in no way, shape, or
- 11:38Speaker 1: form comes even remotely close to those films she watched,
- 11:42Speaker 1: and I dare say Gluck wasted her time with it. Additionally,
- 11:46Speaker 1: it feels rather obvious that the longer the movie goes,
- 11:50Speaker 1: that Gluck is focusing on the wrong stuff. From the
- 11:55Speaker 1: characters to their situations, I think what could be more
- 11:58Speaker 1: interesting is precisely what we don't get enough of. And really,
- 12:05Speaker 1: do we need Allie and Owen to run around the
- 12:08Speaker 1: Big Apple for 20 minutes to find a condom? I
- 12:12Speaker 1: don't think so. And Also, just so you know, the
- 12:16Speaker 1: trouble that they go through to try and find this,
- 12:20Speaker 1: because of how important it is, it's really funny how
- 12:23Speaker 1: the significance of having this is soon forgotten completely. However,
- 12:28Speaker 1: I would have happily watched more of Molly Ringwald, who,
- 12:33Speaker 1: you know, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, she plays
- 12:40Speaker 1: Turner's mom, and LeVar Burton reading Rainbow, her lover, I
- 12:46Speaker 1: almost would say that they deserve their own spinoff. I
- 12:49Speaker 1: want to know more. So this is, so Will Gluck
- 12:55Speaker 1: just wants to make movies about relationships, including the wild ones,
- 13:00Speaker 1: like in One Night Only. So this is a filmmaker
- 13:02Speaker 1: interview from IndieWire, I believe. It says, when the film opens,
- 13:07Speaker 1: the law around premarital sex has only been in existence
- 13:09Speaker 1: for about three years. It's still new to the characters,
- 13:12Speaker 1: and it's also timely, especially as we learn more about
- 13:16Speaker 1: the politicians who push through the law and the massive
- 13:19Speaker 1: financial windfall they're getting from it. So it says, how
- 13:22Speaker 1: did Gluck balance that with the more fizzy treats of
- 13:25Speaker 1: its rom-com heart? And he says, a lot, a lot,
- 13:29Speaker 1: a lot of thinking, a lot of collaboration, a lot
- 13:32Speaker 1: of trying to take it away from politics and making
- 13:34Speaker 1: it more social commentary instead of politics. Gluck continues and says,
- 13:38Speaker 1: there's many parts you saw in the movie where people
- 13:40Speaker 1: talk about it. Pro, anti, I don't want to disappear
- 13:44Speaker 1: from it. I want to talk about it, but I
- 13:46Speaker 1: don't want to make it the forefront of the movie.
- 13:48Speaker 1: I've gotten a lot of feedback that people are surprised
- 13:50Speaker 1: at what happens at the end of the movie, especially
- 13:52Speaker 1: for a liberal filmmaker, as he says. I tried very
- 13:56Speaker 1: hard not to make it political and then make it
- 13:59Speaker 1: more about what do humans do when they're faced with
- 14:02Speaker 1: any situation. Well, here's the thing. Gluck didn't try that
- 14:07Speaker 1: hard to not make it political. Even so, the political
- 14:11Speaker 1: undertones and social commentary... is blurted out, and then Gluck
- 14:16Speaker 1: just assumes that some graffiti on a wall or a
- 14:19Speaker 1: sign in the window will be enough to remind us
- 14:22Speaker 1: of One Night Only's relevance to, you know, the current
- 14:26Speaker 1: times we're living in. But boy, oh boy, is this
- 14:29Speaker 1: not the movie for that. It really feels vague. It's
- 14:32Speaker 1: out of place and unnecessary with things getting really awkward
- 14:36Speaker 1: towards the end. In a scene involving Turner and Maya Honk,
- 14:41Speaker 1: I'm not going to ruin it for you, but you'll
- 14:43Speaker 1: know it when you see it. It doesn't, it does
- 14:46Speaker 1: not turn out well. So this is per review on RogerEbert.com
- 14:55Speaker 1: and it got zero out of five stars. says, unfortunately,
- 15:01Speaker 1: Travis Braun's script is nothing but an edgy premise. Think
- 15:05Speaker 1: Jacques Chaffer's timer mixed with the purge that exists solely
- 15:09Speaker 1: to make milquetoast characters from one slapstick set up to another.
- 15:14Speaker 1: It makes nods to the very real horrors of today,
- 15:17Speaker 1: like tech bro-backed surveillance capitalism, rampant big pharma advertisements, and
- 15:22Speaker 1: fascist police and politicians controlling our bodies without ever taking
- 15:27Speaker 1: the time to interrogate any of the sources that have
- 15:30Speaker 1: led to our current political climate. It goes on to say,
- 15:34Speaker 1: good satire is rooted in the understanding and interrogation of
- 15:38Speaker 1: systems of the root causes of its satirical target. This
- 15:42Speaker 1: can't be achieved through quippy, outdated pop culture zingers and
- 15:45Speaker 1: a handful of references to the country's partisan political tension
- 15:49Speaker 1: and single-issue voters, all of which have the sole aim
- 15:53Speaker 1: of making you laugh, but don't bother to make you think.
- 15:56Speaker 1: Political satire cannot stand up if it doesn't have a spine. So,
- 16:02Speaker 1: one night only has enough to worry about before piling
- 16:05Speaker 1: on politics, but working with a contrived script, things go
- 16:09Speaker 1: straight to goofy instead of comedic, and there is a
- 16:11Speaker 1: big distinction between the two that also directly affect your
- 16:16Speaker 1: enjoyment of one night only. And for a movie, by
- 16:19Speaker 1: the way, that's all about sex, and I think, I'm sure,
- 16:21Speaker 1: there are a ton of articles that have come out
- 16:23Speaker 1: since then, it's scared to show any of it. All
- 16:27Speaker 1: it wants to do is just show a few bare asses.
- 16:30Speaker 1: There's a variety piece titled One Night Only. Director Will
- 16:34Speaker 1: Gluck cut out so much nudity because people dislike sex
- 16:38Speaker 1: on screen. It has him quoted saying it takes you
- 16:40Speaker 1: out of the movie. And it says recent studies have
- 16:43Speaker 1: found that Gen Z and Gen Alpha don't want to
- 16:47Speaker 1: see sex on screen. Was that a concern while making
- 16:50Speaker 1: this movie? And Gluck says the answer is 100% yes. Okay.
- 17:22Speaker 1: There's another question that's asked, and this is, how does
- 17:24Speaker 1: that change your approach as a filmmaker? And Gluck says,
- 17:27Speaker 1: once I've learned that, which was all through the editing
- 17:29Speaker 1: process for my last movie, I applied it to this movie.
- 17:32Speaker 1: But even so, I didn't apply it enough. I cut
- 17:34Speaker 1: out so much. There was so much nudity in this movie.
- 17:37Speaker 1: That we shot on the streets, I felt we needed
- 17:40Speaker 1: to show the world that way. And as we started
- 17:42Speaker 1: to show it to audiences, we felt it takes you
- 17:44Speaker 1: out of the movie. You're engaged in the characters and
- 17:46Speaker 1: what's going on, and then you pan over and there's
- 17:48Speaker 1: two naked people having sex. And you watch the audience.
- 17:53Speaker 1: It's a physical thing. They turn to who they're with,
- 17:56Speaker 1: and the benefit do not nearly outweigh the negatives of it.
- 17:58Speaker 1: So we just kept editing it out until we got
- 18:01Speaker 1: a balance, and those comments went away. I'm going to
- 18:04Speaker 1: tell you, okay, fair enough if that's what you want
- 18:06Speaker 1: to do, but that's a big mistake because this is
- 18:10Speaker 1: actually the movie's biggest issue to me. It doesn't lean
- 18:13Speaker 1: hard enough into its R rating. Be raunchier and I
- 18:17Speaker 1: bet it would be funnier. It flirts at being racy,
- 18:20Speaker 1: but it can't seal the deal playing it too safe.
- 18:23Speaker 1: I was talking to a colleague of mine in one
- 18:26Speaker 1: of our advanced screenings, Dom from Geek Vibe Nations, about this,
- 18:30Speaker 1: and I love the way he put it. He said,
- 18:31Speaker 1: one night only is about repression, yet storytelling-wise, the movie
- 18:37Speaker 1: is repressing itself. And I honestly, that's the best way
- 18:45Speaker 1: to put it. All of this adding it down to
- 18:48Speaker 1: make sure the audience tests are great is... It ruins
- 18:54Speaker 1: the movie and ruins what could have been. And honestly,
- 18:57Speaker 1: I just think it's a little bit ironic. Don't you think?
- 19:03Speaker 1: One Night Only gets a VixFlix rating of 2 out
- 19:06Speaker 1: of 5. And coming up next, Super Troopers are back
- 19:11Speaker 1: and it's time to go for a stash ride. Per
- 19:22Speaker 1: Rod and Tomatoes, everyone's favorite cops are back with a
- 19:25Speaker 1: third installment of the cult comedy classic from the Broken
- 19:28Speaker 1: Lizard crew, Super Troopers 3. When Farva's wildly over-the-top Indian
- 19:33Speaker 1: engagement to Thorny's sister spirals into chaos, the Super Troopers
- 19:37Speaker 1: must navigate Thorny's schemes to break up the relationship while
- 19:41Speaker 1: trying to crack the pernicious new drug ring, all to
- 19:45Speaker 1: save the day and maybe the wedding itself. So, broken
- 19:50Speaker 1: lizard has proved they weren't past their prime with quasi
- 19:56Speaker 1: for anybody that saw it. It was a movie they
- 19:58Speaker 1: did a few years ago that came out on Hulu. Uh, actually, uh,
- 20:02Speaker 1: Stoney and I went and interviewed two of them and, um,
- 20:09Speaker 1: It was a delightful experience, and we got to see
- 20:12Speaker 1: it at the Bell Court the night before, and it
- 20:15Speaker 1: was a pretty funny movie. It really kind of showed
- 20:18Speaker 1: how they can kind of still kind of formulate what
- 20:24Speaker 1: their comedy is and place it in these different situations,
- 20:28Speaker 1: and Quasi, I think, is a great example of that,
- 20:30Speaker 1: of it being quite successful. Also, if you want to...
- 20:35Speaker 1: on NashvilleMovieDispatch.substack.com. There is a Stoney Seas, and it's called
- 20:42Speaker 1: The Puddle Cruiser, which is their very first movie. So
- 20:47Speaker 1: check that out. So Super Troopers 3 kind of feels
- 20:54Speaker 1: like a franchise. Now, I talked about Broken Lizard. I
- 20:58Speaker 1: don't think are past their prime. However, I do think
- 21:01Speaker 1: as a franchise, Super Troopers is... There's very little here
- 21:06Speaker 1: that surprises, and it doesn't offer up too many laughs.
- 21:09Speaker 1: So much heavy-handed comedy that's centering around Indian and American
- 21:14Speaker 1: families and their cultures with the troopers' hijinks and antics
- 21:18Speaker 1: feel more lazy than outrageous. The jokes about age and
- 21:23Speaker 1: wanting to feel cool again does feel relevant since I
- 21:26Speaker 1: think most of these guys are pushing 60 now. But
- 21:32Speaker 1: it's throwaway stuff, and it's pretty much meaningless when I
- 21:36Speaker 1: don't think it needed to be. I think there was
- 21:40Speaker 1: an opportunity there to kind of dig in a little more.
- 21:42Speaker 1: I think the biggest takeaway for me is the potential
- 21:49Speaker 1: that Broken Lizard has with this and is just basically squandered.
- 21:53Speaker 1: I think there's a variety of interesting elements that this
- 21:56Speaker 1: sequel could have gone after in their own comedic style
- 21:59Speaker 1: to make this story really count. but it never happens.
- 22:03Speaker 1: I think this is just one of those cases where
- 22:06Speaker 1: you know what you're getting before you ever even buy
- 22:09Speaker 1: a ticket to Super Troopers 3, and I really kind
- 22:12Speaker 1: of consider that this is really just only for the
- 22:15Speaker 1: most devoted fans. I liked what the IndieWire review said.
- 22:24Speaker 1: It says, Comedy movies are a rarity these days, and
- 22:27Speaker 1: the mere fact that these friends... Got a chance to
- 22:30Speaker 1: make something together is probably worth something. They appear to
- 22:33Speaker 1: be having fun, and their most devoted fans probably will too.
- 22:37Speaker 1: But if you're on the fence about Super Troopers 3,
- 22:40Speaker 1: your memories of the original are almost certainly better than
- 22:45Speaker 1: what you can see at the theater. And with that,
- 22:51Speaker 1: Super Troopers 3 is getting a VixFlix rating of 2
- 22:55Speaker 1: out of 5. And coming up next... We're going to
- 22:59Speaker 1: be cooking with Tony and Antonio next. Tony is who
- 23:14Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Per IMDb, a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels
- 23:19Speaker 1: to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a
- 23:22Speaker 1: restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the
- 23:26Speaker 1: course of his life. Before I get into the film itself,
- 23:30Speaker 1: I thought it was really cool of what A24 did
- 23:34Speaker 1: to kind of hype it up. This is per The
- 23:37Speaker 1: Hollywood Reporter. A24 plans free screenings of Anthony Bourdain movie
- 23:41Speaker 1: Tony for hospitality workers. It says, ahead of the release
- 23:45Speaker 1: of the anticipated movie Tony, A24 has set a series
- 23:48Speaker 1: of free advanced screenings for hospitality and food service workers.
- 23:51Speaker 1: It says, in partnership with Open Table and Square, the
- 23:54Speaker 1: screenings are set up for servers, dishwashers, line cooks, maitre
- 23:58Speaker 1: d's and beyond dubbed industry night the advanced screenings will
- 24:02Speaker 1: take place and they took place at early august was
- 24:06Speaker 1: in 25 cities went from austin to phoenix to philly
- 24:10Speaker 1: and each screening was actually hosted by a local chef
- 24:15Speaker 1: and it says that staff from across open table squares
- 24:18Speaker 1: restaurant network as well as front and back of house
- 24:20Speaker 1: workers from other local restaurants are going to be invited
- 24:24Speaker 1: I shout this out because one of the cool things
- 24:26Speaker 1: was Nashville was a part of the 25 cities. Arnold Mint,
- 24:31Speaker 1: who is a chef and author of Family Tie, was
- 24:33Speaker 1: the one who hosted that. I just thought that was
- 24:37Speaker 1: really cool to do, but I also love that Nashville
- 24:40Speaker 1: could be a part of it. As far as Tony
- 24:42Speaker 1: the film, it opens with a quote from Kitchen Confidential,
- 24:45Speaker 1: which was Bourdain's best-selling memoir, in which the story was
- 24:50Speaker 1: taken from. It says, I was, to be frank, a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive,
- 24:57Speaker 1: and thoughtless young lout badly in need of a good
- 25:00Speaker 1: ass kicking. So right from the start, we're getting a
- 25:04Speaker 1: pretty good idea of where young Tony is in his
- 25:06Speaker 1: life at this time. And writer-director Matt Johnson, who's had
- 25:09Speaker 1: a hell of a year because he is a part
- 25:11Speaker 1: of the Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie, doesn't
- 25:14Speaker 1: go the conventional biopic route with Tony. this is also
- 25:20Speaker 1: from the Hollywood Reporter. It says, Tony was dreamed up
- 25:22Speaker 1: at Anthony Bourdain's favorite dive bar from his youth. It says,
- 25:26Speaker 1: in the 1970s, a young Anthony Bourdain found himself in
- 25:28Speaker 1: the small coastal town of Provincetown, Massachusetts. It's where he
- 25:31Speaker 1: spent four summers getting a start in the culinary world
- 25:34Speaker 1: as a dishwasher in a local restaurant and graduating to
- 25:37Speaker 1: line cook. It says, decades later, screenwriters Todd Bartels and
- 25:42Speaker 1: Lou Ho trekked to Provincetown, retracing the steps of the
- 25:45Speaker 1: young man who would become a cultural icon and host
- 25:49Speaker 1: of the celebrated shows Parts Unknown and No Reservations. The duo,
- 25:53Speaker 1: pals from boarding school and later Harvard, wanted to write
- 25:56Speaker 1: a movie about Bourdain but didn't want a cradle-to-grave story.
- 26:00Speaker 1: They had a hunch a few chapters he wrote in
- 26:02Speaker 1: his memoir, Kitchen Confidential, about his summers in Provincetown could
- 26:06Speaker 1: be the key. Says the movie started kind of coming
- 26:10Speaker 1: together in our minds, says Ho, hours spent in Bourdain's
- 26:13Speaker 1: favorite dive bar, Old Colony Tap, and other haunts. So
- 26:20Speaker 1: the fact of how this was even, you know, created
- 26:24Speaker 1: and kind of this slice of life from a young
- 26:28Speaker 1: Tony who is still trying to figure shit out. It's
- 26:32Speaker 1: a sensational thing. It's a sensational summertime slice of life
- 26:38Speaker 1: depicting on what would become a small yet defining moment
- 26:41Speaker 1: in Bourdain's life. It's not about the depression or the
- 26:45Speaker 1: tragedy that comes later. Now, I mean, listen, of course,
- 26:49Speaker 1: it's on your mind as you watch the film. I mean,
- 26:51Speaker 1: how could it not? But Tony is about finding your
- 26:54Speaker 1: passion and is a delicious, satisfying meal cooked with resonance, humor, warmth,
- 27:00Speaker 1: and heart. Dominic Sessa is phenomenal in his impeccable portrayal
- 27:04Speaker 1: of a directionless but defiant young guy searching for a
- 27:08Speaker 1: purpose while constantly lying about who he is and what
- 27:11Speaker 1: he does. a writer that hasn't written anything. Our buddy
- 27:18Speaker 1: Brett and I, we actually were talking about this as
- 27:20Speaker 1: we're talking about how kind of this role feels similar
- 27:23Speaker 1: to Seth's breakout role in The Holdovers. And I think
- 27:26Speaker 1: there's a lot of similarities there. There's the charm. There's
- 27:28Speaker 1: this rebellious attitude. There's arrogance, kind of hiding who you
- 27:31Speaker 1: really are, which does make, it makes total sense. But
- 27:36Speaker 1: I do think at the same time, it's difficult to
- 27:39Speaker 1: truly compare the two because Cessa here is playing, I mean,
- 27:43Speaker 1: first of all, he's playing a real guy, but he's
- 27:45Speaker 1: also embodying a young Bourdain and he's doing it with
- 27:49Speaker 1: this kind of tremendous confidence and charisma while also fully
- 27:54Speaker 1: expressing Bourdain's shyness and insecurity and readiness. And come to
- 27:59Speaker 1: find out, Cessa and Bourdain are pretty similar in real life.
- 28:04Speaker 1: This is per Bon Appetit. It says, Inside Tony, the messy, honest,
- 28:09Speaker 1: coming-of-age Anthony O'Bourdain biopic everyone's been talking about. And in it,
- 28:13Speaker 1: it says, In addition to their unmistakable physical resemblance to
- 28:17Speaker 1: each other, there are similarities between Bourdain's and Sess' curcutuous lives.
- 28:23Speaker 1: Bourdain stumbled out of an ill-fated college career and into
- 28:27Speaker 1: the Culinary Institute of America after that formative Provincetown summer.
- 28:32Speaker 1: Riding kitchen confidential, he expected to entertain no more than
- 28:35Speaker 1: a few dozen of his chef and cook friends, but
- 28:37Speaker 1: it positioned him to become a beloved literary and travel
- 28:41Speaker 1: television star, first on a cook's tour, then on no reservations,
- 28:45Speaker 1: and finally parts unknown. As a teen, Dominic Sessa believed
- 28:50Speaker 1: he was meant to be a hockey-playing New England boarding
- 28:52Speaker 1: school student. He earned a scholarship to the prestigious Deerfield
- 28:56Speaker 1: Academy and a place on the school's team, only to
- 28:59Speaker 1: snap his femur in a pre-season skateboarding accident. He pivoted
- 29:03Speaker 1: to the school's theater department, taking on the role of
- 29:06Speaker 1: the power mad king Crayon in a production of Antigon.
- 29:12Speaker 1: I almost didn't do it because I didn't want a
- 29:14Speaker 1: big role, Sessa says. I was so nervous. I distinctly
- 29:17Speaker 1: remember I was not the best hockey player. I was
- 29:20Speaker 1: always jealous of the kids who scored goals every game.
- 29:22Speaker 1: It makes you really fucking cool. When I did Antagon,
- 29:25Speaker 1: people came up to me after telling me I was
- 29:28Speaker 1: doing something that they wanted to do but didn't have
- 29:31Speaker 1: the courage. That was power. It changed my life. In
- 29:34Speaker 1: working with screenwriters Todd Bertels and Lou Ho to bring
- 29:37Speaker 1: the Tony story to life, director Matt Johnson, who's works
- 29:40Speaker 1: include Nirvana, The Band, The Show, The Movie, he also
- 29:43Speaker 1: directed Blackberry, capitalized on the parallels between Sessa and Bourdain's paths.
- 29:48Speaker 1: He says, Don being from New Jersey, his relationship to education,
- 29:52Speaker 1: his relationship to a kind of new film fame that
- 29:54Speaker 1: had just discovered him, it ambushed him. The persona that
- 29:57Speaker 1: I'm interested in showing is a young man trying to,
- 30:01Speaker 1: is a young man trying desperately to seem like an adult.
- 30:04Speaker 1: Dom is the reason I made the movie. So it
- 30:08Speaker 1: sounds like Sessa was the only guy for the job,
- 30:11Speaker 1: and a wonderful job he does. He's also a lucky
- 30:14Speaker 1: guy with a stellar supporting cast. Amelia Jones from Coda
- 30:18Speaker 1: is Nancy, who would actually go on to play a
- 30:20Speaker 1: huge part in Bourdain's life, becoming his wife in 1985,
- 30:23Speaker 1: and they would go later on, divorced in 2005. Her
- 30:27Speaker 1: role is quite limited in this, but it is vital
- 30:30Speaker 1: as far as Tony finding his true calling. Leo Woodall
- 30:34Speaker 1: is a lovable chaos and a bad influence on Tony
- 30:37Speaker 1: that could have led him down a totally different and
- 30:40Speaker 1: destructive path. But he's also hilarious. This is also a reminder.
- 30:47Speaker 1: You gotta check out Tuner. Leo Woodall, he is a
- 30:50Speaker 1: piano tuner. Also stars Dustin Hoffman, one of the best
- 30:53Speaker 1: films of the year. sensational sound design. It's a fantastic tuner.
- 31:01Speaker 1: You can buy it and rent it now. Antonio Banderas
- 31:06Speaker 1: gives an awards-worthy performance as the deeply humbled Portuguese chef
- 31:10Speaker 1: that gives Bourdain his first restaurant gig as a dishwasher.
- 31:13Speaker 1: He's not only a mentor to Bourdain, but someone who
- 31:17Speaker 1: has more to give on the plate than what he's
- 31:20Speaker 1: been doing for quite a long while. The inspiration they
- 31:23Speaker 1: give each other is a joy to watch, and the
- 31:25Speaker 1: dynamic between Sessa and Banderas is delightful. There's also awesome
- 31:30Speaker 1: needle drops throughout, collaborating wonderfully with the hangout vibe of
- 31:34Speaker 1: the film. Johnson does a sensational job in keeping Tony
- 31:38Speaker 1: honest and tender and engaging. This is via IndieWireReview, titled
- 31:46Speaker 1: Dominic Sessa Shines in a brainy, bittersweet coming-of-age comedy that
- 31:50Speaker 1: just happens to be about a young Anthony Bourdain. It says,
- 31:55Speaker 1: Johnson recognizes how this, at heart, is a coming-of-age story
- 31:59Speaker 1: about a rising star who's learning to be unburdened by
- 32:02Speaker 1: a future that's better than he could ever imagine. A
- 32:05Speaker 1: kid who's learning that no one can become the person
- 32:08Speaker 1: they pretend to be without being the person they actually
- 32:12Speaker 1: are along the way. Tony struggles for an ending, but
- 32:16Speaker 1: it doesn't really need one. The real fun here lies
- 32:19Speaker 1: in paving the way to parts unknown. Honestly, for me,
- 32:24Speaker 1: it was just a pleasure to see how food changed
- 32:26Speaker 1: his life before he used it to change so many others.
- 32:31Speaker 1: So we started with a Bourdain quote, so it just
- 32:34Speaker 1: feels right to kind of end this on one. I
- 32:36Speaker 1: think it really relates to Tony and resonates with us
- 32:39Speaker 1: all as we try to find our purpose. It's a
- 32:42Speaker 1: quote from Bourdain that says, it isn't always comfortable. Sometimes
- 32:46Speaker 1: it hurts. It even breaks your heart, but that's okay.
- 32:49Speaker 1: The journey changes you. It should change you. Tony is
- 32:53Speaker 1: getting a VixFlix rating of three and a half out
- 32:56Speaker 1: of five. And coming up next, Dave Franco and Ice
- 33:01Speaker 1: Cube's kid are being little turds.
- 33:05Speaker 2: Next.
- 33:17Speaker 1: The movie's called Idiots, and per IMDb, it goes something
- 33:21Speaker 1: like this. Two rock-bottom drivers transport a wealthy teen to rehab,
- 33:25Speaker 1: but their simple job spirals into a chaotic journey of drugs, danger,
- 33:29Speaker 1: and crime as their passenger derails their plans. So this
- 33:33Speaker 1: was formerly called Shitheads, which I prefer. I understand that
- 33:38Speaker 1: it might be tough to market something that has shit
- 33:40Speaker 1: in it, but I really appreciate that title. I wish
- 33:46Speaker 1: they could have stuck with it. This raunchy buddy comedy
- 33:50Speaker 1: from writer-director Macon Blair has an excellent cast that's led
- 33:54Speaker 1: by Dave Franco, O'Shea Jackson, and Mason Thames that's unpredictable
- 33:58Speaker 1: but uneven throughout. It feels like the tone can never
- 34:02Speaker 1: really find its footing as Idiots wants to be funny
- 34:05Speaker 1: and shocking as well as have something to say about
- 34:08Speaker 1: the super rich and the destruction they cause for kind
- 34:11Speaker 1: of the pure fun of it because of really any
- 34:15Speaker 1: sort of empathy being lost absolutely devoured by entitlement let's
- 34:19Speaker 1: just say the latter isn't really a top concern uh
- 34:23Speaker 1: even when it has its laughs the movie stays in
- 34:26Speaker 1: a constant battle of keeping up the momentum it's most
- 34:29Speaker 1: apparent once we get to its messy third act that
- 34:31Speaker 1: brings in peter dinklage who worked with blair on the
- 34:35Speaker 1: toxic avenger movie and nicholas braun who i gotta say
- 34:38Speaker 1: is outrageous in the very best way um IndieWire's Sundance review,
- 34:45Speaker 1: when it first premiered, touches on this very thing regarding
- 34:47Speaker 1: momentum and how the character relationships have a big effect
- 34:52Speaker 1: on that. It says, a smattering of individual moments achieve
- 34:56Speaker 1: the kind of madcap insanity that a movie like this
- 34:59Speaker 1: needs for momentum. But Idiots, back then the shitheads, is
- 35:03Speaker 1: played by stop and start plotting that does more to
- 35:05Speaker 1: stifle its energy than build to it. and its complete
- 35:08Speaker 1: disinterest in meaningfully developing the relationship between Mark and Davis,
- 35:12Speaker 1: that's Franco and Jackson, makes it hard to feel like
- 35:15Speaker 1: this road trip is going anywhere. Not that we ever
- 35:18Speaker 1: really know where it's supposed to be going in the
- 35:20Speaker 1: first place. It's a credit to Blair's script that Sheridan,
- 35:25Speaker 1: that's played by Mason Thames, doesn't seem to learn anything
- 35:28Speaker 1: from this misadventure, which would have been fatal to a
- 35:30Speaker 1: film that's only held together by its enduring fascination with
- 35:34Speaker 1: how some people choose to retain their decency and in
- 35:37Speaker 1: a world that rewards the opposite. But he never seems
- 35:40Speaker 1: to be much of a real person either, and the
- 35:41Speaker 1: shred of humanity the movie wants you to see in
- 35:44Speaker 1: him sucks the life out of things just when the
- 35:46Speaker 1: story's chaos is peaking. So yeah, I mean, while it's
- 35:51Speaker 1: pretty much true about Mark and Davis' relationship, I did
- 35:55Speaker 1: still really enjoy the chemistry between Jackson and Franco. I mean,
- 35:59Speaker 1: they play two guys who are, I mean, they're polar opposites,
- 36:02Speaker 1: yet are pretty similar when it comes to sort of
- 36:04Speaker 1: like screwing things up. So you're wanting them to get
- 36:07Speaker 1: it right this time, to figure some of their shit
- 36:10Speaker 1: out already, knowing that it's not going to be easy.
- 36:13Speaker 1: They are fun to be around on Blair's wild and
- 36:16Speaker 1: wacky ride. At the same time, Thames of Sheridan comes
- 36:21Speaker 1: off as kind of this greedy, selfish little shithead stereotype,
- 36:24Speaker 1: but not as a legitimate individual. So I understand about
- 36:27Speaker 1: where it seems like he's not really a real person either,
- 36:31Speaker 1: but Thames is fine at being basically a straight-up sociopath
- 36:36Speaker 1: who is solely there to just be the obstacle in
- 36:39Speaker 1: Mark and Davis' way, a problem child, but really that's
- 36:43Speaker 1: about it. And that shred of humanity that eventually does
- 36:47Speaker 1: come is pretty worthless. As mentioned before, there are some
- 36:52Speaker 1: good laughs in this. I will give it that. And
- 36:58Speaker 1: it's funny because... Mason Thames is in also a Green
- 37:01Speaker 1: Day movie called Nimrods. So he's literally had two movies
- 37:06Speaker 1: come out in the same month called Idiots and Nimrods.
- 37:09Speaker 1: And I will say the Nimrods is more... That's more...
- 37:16Speaker 1: That's got more idiots in it than idiots. But... But anyway,
- 37:23Speaker 1: like I said, there is some fun to be had
- 37:25Speaker 1: with this one. There are some real ass, but nothing.
- 37:28Speaker 1: And I mean... Nothing beats the explosive diarrhea scene that
- 37:34Speaker 1: is in this movie. You won't see it coming, but
- 37:38Speaker 1: it's damn hilarious. Laugh out loud stuff. It's one of,
- 37:42Speaker 1: if not the funniest scene of the year. I almost
- 37:47Speaker 1: would tell you to go see it just for that. So,
- 37:51Speaker 1: Idiots is getting a VixFlix rating of... Two and a
- 37:59Speaker 1: half out of five. And that will do it for
- 38:03Speaker 1: this month's The Cinema Chronicles on Nashville Movie Dispatch. Again,
- 38:09Speaker 1: check out all of our stuff on NashvilleMovieDispatch.substack.com. There's a
- 38:15Speaker 1: Coyote vs. Acme review that I've got up you can
- 38:18Speaker 1: check out along with a lot of different things. And also, hey,
- 38:23Speaker 1: the podcast. Listen to it. Search National Movie Dispatch. You
- 38:26Speaker 1: can get it. You can get that wherever you listen to.
- 38:31Speaker 1: We've got a end of Oak Street review out there
- 38:34Speaker 1: for the Vix Flix podcast. And we also have for
- 38:37Speaker 1: movie review, Rewind podcast, Blazing Saddles and 12 Angry Men.
- 38:43Speaker 1: So yeah, nationalmoviedispatch.substat.com. And until next month, just go see
- 38:51Speaker 1: a damn movie.