Latest / Off The Shelf With Phil and Dave- A Movie Review Podcast / 2003's Elf

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2003's Elf · Off The Shelf With Phil and Dave- A Movie Review Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome once again. This is Phil speaking on behalf
• 0:04
  of Phil and Dave. Dave's here, don't have.
• 0:07
  Alarmed right now I am. We just wanted to.
• 0:09
  This is Future Phil and Future Day coming back to close the
• 0:12
  loop on the Christmas classic last week.
• 0:17
  You know, we we talked about Love Actually, but right now
• 0:20
  Dave is traveling. I am as you are listening to
• 0:24
  this I. Mean I'm in New Zealand and
• 0:25
  oddly enough people here actually just call it Zealand.
• 0:28
  It's the old Zealand. Well, to them it is, but it's
• 0:31
  new to me. But if I if I'm there long
• 0:34
  enough, I'll start calling it Zealand.
• 0:36
  OK, good to know. Yeah, obviously long enough.
• 0:38
  I think you become an honorary Hobbit.
• 0:40
  I think that's the thing in New Zealand.
• 0:42
  What I always wanted. Absolutely.
• 0:45
  So we're here to tell you that this week's episode is a re
• 0:48
  release of a Christmas classic we've established last week.
• 0:52
  Of course that this is a Christmas classic Elf.
• 0:55
  Yes, from 2. Thousand Well, I'm giving it to
• 0:58
  you. You gave it to.
• 0:59
  I'm giving it to. I felt bad so I I'm gonna give
• 1:02
  it to. You and you gave it to me and
• 1:04
  folks were giving it to you. So enjoy the listen.
• 1:06
  We'll talk to you. We'll talk to you again.
• 1:10
  Live. Recorded you.
• 1:12
  You will have a new episode next week, Yeah.
• 1:15
  It'll drop. That's what they say in the
• 1:17
  business. That's right, new episode drops
• 1:19
  next next week. Hello and welcome to Off the
• 1:24
  Shelf with Phil and Dave, the movie talk show where each week
• 1:28
  one of us takes a movie off our shelf, presents it to the other,
• 1:31
  and discusses it at length. This week we've got Coming off
• 1:42
  of My Shelf 2003's Elf, directed by Jon Favreau, written by David
• 1:47
  Berenbaum, Starring Will Ferrell, Zoe Deschanel, James
• 1:50
  Kahn, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner.
• 1:53
  Dean Bergen. Bergen Bergen or Hard G.
• 1:57
  Question for the ages, my friend.
• 1:58
  David, Welcome back. Happy holidays to you.
• 2:00
  That's Ted. Yeah, Teddy, you'll know that
• 2:03
  brings you by and how's your week and how's life and how did
• 2:09
  you like the movie I've. Seen this before?
• 2:11
  Yeah, I'm. Good.
• 2:12
  I'm gonna keep it coming. Keep and slow.
• 2:14
  Down. Calm down.
• 2:16
  I have seen the movie. I've seen a couple of times.
• 2:20
  Unlike my movies you've never seen before.
• 2:24
  I have seen all Wonderful. Yeah.
• 2:26
  Otherwise, Phillip, tis the season indeed.
• 2:29
  So you don't need to ask you why you're bringing Elf Off the
• 2:33
  Shelf 2003. It's been 21 years since Alf
• 2:37
  came out. That's that's a long time.
• 2:39
  Isn't field as long? My ex was a big fan of this
• 2:42
  movie. OK.
• 2:43
  It's one of the few DVD's she brought over when she moved in.
• 2:46
  That was the one. Still might have it actually
• 2:48
  kicking around if I looked for it actually.
• 2:51
  And everybody I talked to seems to like Alf the movie.
• 2:55
  You clearly like it. Phillip.
• 2:57
  Give me a brief history of your experience with elf.
• 3:00
  Have you met an elf? I've not met an elf, no.
• 3:03
  I saw this movie theatre 2003 living in Vancouver.
• 3:07
  Uh-huh. And loved it.
• 3:10
  Hmm's. And I was surprised by that
• 3:13
  because I don't really like Will Ferrell.
• 3:15
  You don't not like him, but he's not a go.
• 3:18
  To definitely not a go to guy in small doses.
• 3:20
  I was not a huge fan of him on SNL.
• 3:23
  You did say that that's where we do differ a little bit.
• 3:25
  Yeah, it was a good one. Outside, not my cast so.
• 3:28
  That's fine, that's fair, that's fair.
• 3:30
  As a result, I never, I mean, I liked it.
• 3:32
  I went to see it, I loved it, and I was a Favreau guy more so
• 3:36
  at that point. Swingers loved swingers.
• 3:38
  You did love swingers. I didn't mind made, which came
• 3:41
  soon thereafter. Cowboys and aliens.
• 3:42
  Loved it That was a disaster that we all should you know we
• 3:46
  lost a few years of our lives thanks to that one.
• 3:48
  But in his years since this movie, strangely I have not much
• 3:52
  cared for. I didn't ever sees a thorough.
• 3:54
  I don't like anything to do with the Star Wars world that he's
• 3:56
  involved in you. Don't.
• 3:58
  Don't like or have any interest in the mocap versions of Lion
• 4:02
  King and The Jungle Book so. Leave it alone.
• 4:06
  Just let it. Be has nothing to sort of offer
• 4:08
  me generally speaking in the years since, but this movie is a
• 4:12
  classic and I think it's interesting now, David, classic.
• 4:15
  That's the question I was about to ask you.
• 4:17
  Would you put this in the pantheon of?
• 4:19
  Christmas. You know the answer.
• 4:20
  I guess of Christmas movies. Let's hear it.
• 4:22
  Let's hash it out. I can't think of many good
• 4:24
  Christmas movies in the recent history.
• 4:28
  Now it could be a matter of I'm not exposing myself to them.
• 4:31
  Possibly You know me algorithm if it lets P Diddy comes out
• 4:34
  with a Christmas album. Maybe.
• 4:35
  Perhaps I'm getting sick and tired of the jokes around Mariah
• 4:40
  Carey and Michael Bublé. Yeah, yeah, I know.
• 4:42
  They only come out of Christmas. Then they're sure.
• 4:44
  Yeah, fine. I get high Christmas, but I
• 4:47
  don't remember disliking this movie when it came out.
• 4:49
  Yeah, like Will Ferrell is is one of my guys.
• 4:51
  I would say SNL, but having rewatched it now, I definitely
• 4:55
  wouldn't put it in the classic category.
• 4:57
  Interesting. I didn't hit that level for me.
• 4:59
  Now I don't go looking for Christmas movies, obviously, as
• 5:03
  much as you do. I bring the more conventional
• 5:06
  ones off though, like reindeer. Of course, of course.
• 5:08
  Yes, yes, that's a classic its own right.
• 5:11
  We have a little bit of history, you and I now with some
• 5:13
  Christmas movies being in our fourth season, coming near the
• 5:16
  end of our fourth season. Actually, we did.
• 5:19
  It's A wonderful life. Yeah, it was last year.
• 5:21
  That's my friend's classic is classic.
• 5:23
  And when, when Christmas time comes, people reach for
• 5:26
  Christmas vacation, Christmas story, home alone, Home Alone.
• 5:31
  Elf is in that pantheon, and Love Actually is also.
• 5:34
  That one gets thrown around a lot.
• 5:36
  That set feels like worldwide. Yeah, movie.
• 5:39
  I think I've seen parts of it. It's got Hugh Grant is.
• 5:42
  That right. Yeah.
• 5:42
  Yeah, there it is. I think it's ultimately a little
• 5:45
  overrated over time, but when I first saw it, I loved it.
• 5:47
  OK. Whether it's overrated or not, I
• 5:49
  think does fit into that pantheon of a classic Christmas
• 5:52
  movie. When you think about the ones
• 5:53
  you made, Right. You've got one from the 90s,
• 5:55
  Home Alone. Not much else, really, if I
• 5:59
  think about it. Scrooged Scrooge is 80s.
• 6:02
  Christmas Vacation is 89, I believe as well.
• 6:04
  OK. So there's a handful.
• 6:07
  Is there one with Affleck? Surviving Christmas.
• 6:10
  Yeah, Yeah. That came out 2000 and that's
• 6:12
  it. 3 actually say maybe the same years old.
• 6:14
  Strong year. Yeah.
• 6:16
  So anyway, the point is, I think this movie is great.
• 6:19
  I think that it's got a couple of flaws, things that I don't
• 6:22
  necessarily fully love. Takes a big man to admit.
• 6:24
  But I put it there. I, I personally, you know, I've
• 6:27
  got a soft spot for the off kilter ones like a Fred clause,
• 6:29
  which I think is better than most people would ever agree
• 6:32
  with. And surviving Christmas,
• 6:33
  certainly this one I would put on my own personal totem, lower
• 6:38
  maybe than even both of those. But everybody likes.
• 6:40
  But globally, yeah, everybody kind of can appreciate this.
• 6:43
  And when I watch it, I'm reminded why I will say this,
• 6:47
  please. And I will never say it again.
• 6:49
  I like surviving Christmas better than elf Oht man.
• 6:52
  There it is. Welcome aboard.
• 6:54
  Thank goodness. It was more of an insult to elf
• 6:57
  it. Doesn't matter any any any any
• 6:59
  positive praise of surviving Christmas, you know, work.
• 7:01
  The other day someone was asking, I'm looking for offbeat
• 7:04
  Christmas movies. Do you have any suggestions?
• 7:06
  Oh shit, I said absolutely. I.
• 7:08
  Did. Survive Christmas and Fred
• 7:09
  Claus, she's like, I never heard of them like exactly.
• 7:11
  Yeah, take them off the shelf. He's laps.
• 7:14
  So I'm looking forward to finding out the reviews as it
• 7:17
  were as they as they watch. But I love sort of some of the
• 7:22
  aesthetical aesthetic choices that it makes certain pieces of
• 7:25
  it not perfect by any stretch. Not a masterpiece.
• 7:28
  Then I wouldn't put in the masterpiece, Gregory, but this
• 7:30
  is this is in the global top five.
• 7:32
  Even if it's not necessarily in my personal, I can confidently
• 7:35
  say I think I'm probably in the minority.
• 7:37
  Yeah, just. But sure, in general I am
• 7:41
  redhead so and blue eyes, that's like .4% of populations, Yeah,
• 7:46
  Yeah. But I liked about .4 of this
• 7:48
  movie now just I like it more than that but.
• 7:51
  New Line Cinema. I like that love New Line.
• 7:54
  I mean the house that Freddie built.
• 7:56
  Yes, that's what I was thinking. I knew you would.
• 7:58
  I knew you were. That's that's the Freddy Krueger
• 8:00
  and Street is the reason why New Line really still even exists.
• 8:04
  Well, there you go folks. Now did it lose any zest
• 8:07
  watching it? Like when's last time you
• 8:08
  watched it until? Last year.
• 8:10
  OK, yeah, it's a movie that's on staple for you now.
• 8:13
  When was the last time you saw it?
• 8:15
  Because you don't seem to have a very high opinion of it,
• 8:17
  generally speaking, so it's probably not part of your
• 8:20
  routine. And also, maybe I should ask, is
• 8:22
  there a Christmas movie regime? Because I wonder when I look
• 8:25
  back on these last four years, you, I don't remember having a
• 8:29
  particularly strong opinion about any of the Christmas
• 8:31
  movies that we've talked about. Now that may just be you or I
• 8:34
  wonder, is there a Christmas spirit or a Christmas movie
• 8:37
  thing that was not part of your childhood or adulthood or
• 8:40
  current life, whatever? Home alone is 1 Like Home alone.
• 8:44
  That's my fondest memory of a Christmas.
• 8:46
  Makes sense. That's why I brought #2 yes, of
• 8:48
  course, I'll never live that one down.
• 8:50
  I did make a mistake, I recognize that.
• 8:53
  But when I was a kid, it was more of the like, I was really
• 8:56
  small. It was like that, the Rudolph
• 8:57
  Claymation sort of stuff, the stuff that's been like really
• 9:00
  out. There, Yeah, the Rankin Bass.
• 9:02
  Yeah, movies. Yeah, so that's really my
• 9:05
  exposure to it. Mine was more of the sound.
• 9:08
  So there were Sesame Street Christmas records, The Muppets.
• 9:13
  My my brother is a big Muppets guy.
• 9:15
  So we watched The Muppets Christmas movie.
• 9:17
  But that's really it. Other than what we've shared
• 9:20
  together, it's not really something that I go looking for.
• 9:23
  Like, I love the spirit of myself.
• 9:24
  I like the feeling of it, but I don't necessarily like it in
• 9:27
  movie form. I think it's probably because
• 9:30
  it's too trophy for me. It's too like, OK, well, I know
• 9:32
  it's going to happen, but that's obviously not rather watch a Die
• 9:36
  Hard movie breaking all the rules.
• 9:38
  Let's get into that conversation.
• 9:39
  Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Because Bruce put that to rest
• 9:42
  during his roast. And what Bruce says he goes.
• 9:44
  But was he really there in that roast?
• 9:46
  Yeah, I think he was. Oh, come on now.
• 9:49
  He was and he still is, at least in our hearts.
• 9:52
  So it's not Christmas. You're not bringing Christmas to
• 9:56
  this movie, you're relying on this movie to bring Christmas to
• 9:59
  you. Yes, in some ways doing yes, and
• 10:01
  it fails miserably. That's a relevant conversation
• 10:05
  piece because as you know, and as anyone that's listened to
• 10:08
  previous years, I'm bringing Christmas into all of these
• 10:10
  movies. You're bringing it.
• 10:11
  If that's the case, you know I'm not saying it is, but if this
• 10:14
  movie is insufficiently Christmas, I'm bringing enough
• 10:18
  in to carry the weight. Your own cheer and spirit
• 10:22
  correct that dials. Already.
• 10:23
  Exactly. So if you're coming in with a
• 10:25
  Scrooged heart or a Grinch heart, I wouldn't go that far.
• 10:29
  That has no feeling. Let me give her give gifts.
• 10:32
  Then would any movie thaw that or like, get over that hump?
• 10:36
  And if you're not bringing Christmas to the to the table,
• 10:39
  then yeah, it's no wonder that you're maybe less.
• 10:41
  Maybe just buy it in general? Bringing it, but I'm not taking
• 10:44
  it, you know, I'm trying to trying to steal.
• 10:46
  The joy from it myself, so I appreciate.
• 10:48
  That I mean, as a Jim Carrey fan, I know we talked about me
• 10:53
  being more of a let me see what he can do so I can repeat it.
• 10:56
  I, I don't think I've even seen the Grinch, but I wasn't had no
• 11:00
  desire to see it because. Because it sucks.
• 11:04
  It's a terrible movie. But did you watch The Christmas
• 11:06
  Carol, the Jim Carrey where he plays about No 14 different the
• 11:10
  Robert Zemeckis movie? No, no, like again.
• 11:12
  I see. I've seen old cartoons of
• 11:14
  Scrooge. That's where I like the the
• 11:15
  ducks. I think they did one.
• 11:17
  Yeah, sure. Scrooge Mcduck.
• 11:18
  Screw. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that.
• 11:20
  Of course. We all do love ducks.
• 11:22
  You're a Bob Newhart guy. I think I am.
• 11:25
  So talk to me a little bit about that cause he's the host, he's
• 11:28
  the narrator, he's the guy bringing you in and obviously in
• 11:30
  this case, failing to do so. So talk to me about new heart,
• 11:34
  your experiences, your relationship with him.
• 11:36
  You just recently passed away. What are your thoughts?
• 11:40
  He's been around a long time. Well, it's funny when I talk
• 11:42
  about those acclimation and those Christmas stuff that I
• 11:44
  watched. Another thing our memory is a
• 11:46
  kid is watching the Newhart Show.
• 11:47
  Yeah, he owned a hotel. The inn, Yeah.
• 11:50
  Yeah, the Inn and he did a show before he was a psychiatrist.
• 11:53
  My dad reminded me of how that ended up all being a dream.
• 11:56
  One of the best, best finales. I loved.
• 11:58
  I loved. This is Larry Darrell, my other
• 12:00
  brother Darrell. And at the time, as a kid, I'm
• 12:03
  like, OK, I guess this is fine. But it's not till later.
• 12:06
  He was at I think, for Kelsey Grammar.
• 12:08
  OK. And they were like, what's it
• 12:09
  like being the same character? And that's the joke, right?
• 12:11
  Sure. But he has a very unique style
• 12:14
  of comedy. With a stutter goes a long.
• 12:16
  Way and I notice myself. I did a home repair video.
• 12:19
  OK, I was trying to fix the toilet.
• 12:21
  Check it out on YouTube. Well, it will be up actually,
• 12:23
  and I'll share it with you. Ends up printing pretty funny.
• 12:25
  But I have that sort of stuttery sort of, I don't really know
• 12:28
  what I'm doing, but I'm just, things are coming to me and I
• 12:30
  just speak in a slower way and it's a little bit stuttery.
• 12:34
  And I think I like that and I can see why it's funny and
• 12:36
  that's probably why I do it. And that's what Bob Newhart, I
• 12:39
  think, does the. Best sure, I think it's natural,
• 12:42
  but it like it's so like it's so defines him.
• 12:44
  It's so defines him right now. So I connect to the new heart of
• 12:47
  now how it is in this movie. It's fine.
• 12:50
  I'd rather see new heart in a different element than a little
• 12:53
  elf get up. Probably Yeah, I love it.
• 12:56
  I also really get a kick out of it.
• 12:57
  I think that voice is appropriate.
• 12:59
  I think the stutter helps. His delivery is just sort of a a
• 13:02
  good narration for this movie. And I get a real big kick out of
• 13:06
  the, you know, ultimately the setting up what elf hood is, you
• 13:12
  know, talking about how there's basically three jobs.
• 13:15
  At Cobblers Baking cookies and the.
• 13:18
  The big dance, the show, right? I, I just love the confluence or
• 13:21
  amalgam of real life terminology.
• 13:24
  I love the choices to make the miniatures, taking the elf that
• 13:29
  we know and playing with it a little bit and the choices made
• 13:31
  there and then having him be our guide throughout.
• 13:34
  And also just a big kick out of working for Santa being like the
• 13:37
  big, the dance, the big show, you know, this and that.
• 13:39
  Like, that's just a funny terminology.
• 13:41
  Yeah. And it just made me smile.
• 13:44
  So, like, right away, even when I saw it 20 years ago and I was
• 13:47
  like, OK, I meant and And I liked the choices to make what
• 13:50
  is effectively a very practical movie.
• 13:52
  In 2003, maybe it was less noteworthy, but certainly in the
• 13:56
  years since, I think it's very important.
• 14:00
  I think he's so practical. I think you before you introduce
• 14:03
  this segment of our show, did you say that they failed to get
• 14:06
  me in because I don't think it does because of new heart.
• 14:09
  I am in this. OK, I want to be clear, I'm not.
• 14:12
  I'm out a little bit later. He's the .4%.
• 14:15
  Yeah, yeah, he's in there. Yeah, Point Bob and really all
• 14:20
  of the North Pole stuff at the beginning, I really have no
• 14:24
  issues. I wouldn't even say qualms with
• 14:27
  her. Wow.
• 14:28
  Like the choices. You can think all you did this,
• 14:30
  it's funny. The tree going up in flames,
• 14:32
  that's funny. But that's not the place you
• 14:33
  should be doing that. Of course that's funny.
• 14:35
  Yeah, I like it. It's taking the logical approach
• 14:38
  to an illogical thing, which is really, really.
• 14:42
  That's my alley. One of the things that I don't
• 14:47
  love, but it doesn't matter ultimately because it doesn't
• 14:49
  really Take Me Out or anything like that.
• 14:51
  But I don't love the way in which Buddy gets to the North
• 14:54
  Pole itself. Yeah, I just don't care.
• 14:56
  Like, I just don't think it's it doesn't matter.
• 14:57
  You have to have it some way. And obviously this movie is very
• 14:59
  fanciful. So in the ways that we differ
• 15:01
  about certain things, in particular these types of things
• 15:04
  where I am seemingly anyway more willing to accept the the thing
• 15:09
  rather than your persistence sort of pushing against whatever
• 15:13
  The thing is. Not always, of course, but when
• 15:15
  we differ, that seems to be a breaking point.
• 15:17
  And so something like this, it's like a little illogical and it's
• 15:21
  a little unnatural, but I don't care, right?
• 15:24
  Because it's like, it's what gets us to the story, and the
• 15:26
  story doesn't happen if this kid doesn't happen.
• 15:27
  So who? Cares my only question too is
• 15:29
  like he brings it back with toys.
• 15:31
  Like why would there be leftover toys?
• 15:33
  You're bringing them there when you bring them.
• 15:34
  Back. Theoretically, the bag should be
• 15:36
  empty. Were they naughty on the way?
• 15:38
  And God. It really screwed up this
• 15:40
  minute. Yeah, that's a good point.
• 15:42
  It up doesn't matter. But good point on the left.
• 15:45
  And that's just the hook to get us into the North Pole.
• 15:48
  OK, Buddy snuck in. Here we go.
• 15:50
  But he's got diapers on. We're celebrating the end of 1
• 15:53
  Christmas. And what better way to celebrate
• 15:55
  the end of one season than starting right away, getting set
• 15:59
  about the next? That's how I live my life.
• 16:00
  David Yeah, right. It's January 1st.
• 16:02
  That means Christmas is only 300 and whatever days away, let's
• 16:08
  do. It and Buddy does what babies do
• 16:10
  they grow. It's true, you know, Yeah.
• 16:13
  Because we know as an audience, there's not enough.
• 16:15
  That's right, we. Saw the baby.
• 16:17
  We know. We know exactly where in the
• 16:19
  loop for those who don't. Yeah, he's human.
• 16:22
  That's right. And that's interesting to know
• 16:24
  for later. Well, it certainly comes into
• 16:25
  play, yes. He's a humanoid, Ends up being a
• 16:27
  bit of a helper on the sleigh. So he has a bit of a talent.
• 16:30
  They're trying to find something, I guess, for him to
• 16:32
  do and grow up and so forth. Yeah.
• 16:34
  New heart, he talked about the the engine.
• 16:36
  It's the Kringle 3000. I mean that's just funny It's
• 16:39
  just fun little throwaway lines and his style good amalgamation
• 16:43
  of the comedy. I like to have also that the
• 16:46
  sleigh runs on Christmas spirit. Christmas spirit has been
• 16:49
  waning. That's important and the Kringle
• 16:52
  3000 makes up the gap. So we establish a couple of
• 16:56
  things that are obviously going to happen later on that are
• 16:58
  going to affect the tail and a pretty humorous way.
• 17:02
  And we learn later, OK, he's not a productive health.
• 17:05
  He's not really doing the thing. Now.
• 17:07
  I love the tactility. We've talked about it before.
• 17:10
  This could have been CGI, could have been anything but the
• 17:12
  choice to make a force perspective to utilize the
• 17:16
  camera tricks and tools. Yes, in the two room in the
• 17:18
  classroom and all the different elements of the production.
• 17:22
  I so appreciate it. And I think maybe part of why
• 17:24
  this movie continues to hold a certain affinity for me is in a
• 17:28
  way in which It's A Wonderful Life, Scrooged, Christmas Story,
• 17:31
  these movies, to a lesser extent, Fred Clause, Fred Claus
• 17:35
  uses a lot of CG to do the mapping of the faces on the
• 17:38
  elves and things like that, if you recall.
• 17:39
  But this for the most part keeps it pretty low key Exactly.
• 17:44
  Until display itself is flying. I get that.
• 17:46
  I think goes a long way to endear this movie to me anyway.
• 17:50
  And these North Pole scenes I think really deliver in
• 17:54
  particular when he's trying to use the washroom or in the
• 17:56
  classroom or in the chalet or the house when he's listening to
• 17:59
  the elves bitch about him a little bit.
• 18:01
  You. Know.
• 18:01
  I mean, they were not very pleasant as elves can be, I
• 18:05
  suppose. They got a history, but I do
• 18:07
  like that. And obviously when they're in
• 18:09
  New York, it's not necessary anymore, but I love what they do
• 18:11
  with the North Pole. I I thought it was done so well,
• 18:14
  you know, Well, how I knew just by watching it, I started to get
• 18:17
  a sore back because you can just imagine Will, who's 6 foot 3
• 18:24
  buddy living in those hunched and yeah, that's, that's going
• 18:28
  to hurt. Like he's going to have major
• 18:30
  back problems. Watching on the bed when he
• 18:32
  stretched out over his put two or three beds together to even
• 18:35
  house him. And not just this, there's a lot
• 18:37
  of things in this movie that set him up to not be healthy.
• 18:39
  Touch on it later. Sure, sure, it's coming up.
• 18:43
  Not gonna bode well though. Your Mark.
• 18:45
  Now speaking about a Christmas Story.
• 18:48
  You probably didn't recognize this because it's been awhile.
• 18:51
  Give me a chance. Dude, did you recognize Peter
• 18:55
  Billingsley? Billingsley.
• 18:56
  He plays Ralphie in A Christmas Story.
• 19:00
  He was the chief elf with the quotas and such, OK.
• 19:04
  And he's a good friend of Vince Vaughn and Where you Go and John
• 19:08
  type fast. Even a year ago, maybe two
• 19:11
  another Netflix apple something there was a a movie called A
• 19:16
  Christmas story Christmas. Hmm.
• 19:18
  Where effectively they brought back all of the cast of A
• 19:20
  Christmas story. Everyone that's living with the
• 19:23
  exception of Melinda Dillon, who sadly died soon after.
• 19:25
  It's the reunion thing. It's 40 years later, so forth.
• 19:28
  And he's looking back and he's a writer and he has this idea at
• 19:31
  the end. I'm going to write a book about
• 19:34
  the time I got a red Rider BB gun.
• 19:37
  The greatest president ever had and sort of and suppose is that
• 19:40
  at the end of this movie he is narrating in the beginning of a
• 19:44
  Christmas Story. I don't like that movie very
• 19:47
  much. I thought it was bland.
• 19:49
  That's too bad. But that little linkage has
• 19:52
  cheap as it may have been, I got into it, so I'll come clean.
• 19:56
  You like linkage. Well, you're a big sausage guy.
• 19:58
  I hate that pandering, right? We've talked about 1000 times.
• 20:02
  So 40 years later, you're just, oh, this one's for everybody.
• 20:05
  This one. I was this little it.
• 20:06
  Still needs to be good. But that's the thing, the movie
• 20:08
  itself isn't good. It's probably good because of
• 20:10
  the Christmas I bring to the movie, not because of anything
• 20:13
  the movie did for me. I would have.
• 20:14
  Hated it then yes for sure. Susan Wells, how do you feel
• 20:28
  about her? Well, she doesn't have a lot to
• 20:30
  work with in the movie. I I don't know why you would
• 20:33
  reference her specifically. She's dead at the beginning of
• 20:36
  the movie and stays dead throughout.
• 20:38
  Yeah, there's a photo though. Yes, beautiful woman, I guess is
• 20:41
  what's taking. Lovely lady, but we just get an
• 20:45
  idea of where buddy. Was right.
• 20:46
  This is mom history. Yeah, and she was hooking up
• 20:50
  with old James. Khan, JC.
• 20:52
  Not Jesus Christ, but James Kahn a very close second.
• 20:55
  Before we leave the North Pole, we have the again.
• 20:58
  Buddy, stay there but. Money is scrambling, he doesn't
• 21:02
  know what to do. He has no place in the world,
• 21:03
  doesn't work, gets demoted. They basically demote him to.
• 21:06
  Not the mailroom, but you know. Jack-in-the-box.
• 21:09
  This was one of my favorite scenes.
• 21:11
  Now this is where. The fact I like Will Ferrell's
• 21:14
  comedy as well, which makes this movie passable because I like
• 21:18
  his antics, and I think this is the first little real glimpse of
• 21:21
  it. Yeah, I love it.
• 21:23
  I'm watching him struggle and then be shocked and surprised.
• 21:25
  And when he gets angry at the last one, just, like, slams it
• 21:28
  down. I was like, this is really
• 21:30
  perfect blending of funny with the right actor and doing the
• 21:35
  right action. Hmm, this is a good
• 21:37
  crystallization of what Will Ferrell does really well.
• 21:41
  Yeah. Leon, Yes, the classic Leon,
• 21:44
  Leon you're introductions. Yeah, no relation to Susan
• 21:48
  Wells. No, but Leon knows some things.
• 21:51
  He's just a little cumulus. Nimbus Sky is great.
• 21:55
  It's not long after this buddy is going to leave, but he has a
• 21:58
  couple people he just talked to. He has Leon trying to give some
• 22:01
  tips, as it were, and then he has a scene with Santa.
• 22:05
  You know who? Also has some.
• 22:07
  Tips of his own. Yeah, very good.
• 22:09
  Hope you've kept some notes next time you're in New York. 30
• 22:13
  raised pizzas. The real 1 is on whatever.
• 22:16
  Street 81st. It was 80 W 81st St., which is
• 22:20
  funny because that's just. Well, that made me chuckle
• 22:22
  because we spent, you know, 40 years ordering from the original
• 22:26
  Joe. Yeah.
• 22:27
  And then when I was in New York, incidentally, there was another
• 22:31
  sign in Soho that. Would original Joe's Pizza and I
• 22:35
  thought, well, someone's lying. Yeah, exactly.
• 22:38
  He talked about peep shows a little bit different as a kid
• 22:41
  and, you know, people looking for and ultimately, Santa
• 22:46
  reveals his dad, who's on the naughty.
• 22:49
  List. Yep, there it is.
• 22:51
  Yeah. How do you feel about that?
• 22:52
  Do you ever think for one second your dad was on the naughty
• 22:54
  list? No.
• 22:56
  Dad's a good guy. He's a good fella.
• 22:57
  Yeah, yeah. Good.
• 22:58
  Hurt. So I thought the same thing.
• 23:00
  Yeah. I think my dad would ever be on
• 23:01
  the naughty list. No, no, really.
• 23:03
  No. OK, he's a sweet guy.
• 23:05
  He's not to me, but. To the general public.
• 23:10
  Printable, very social. Yeah, yeah.
• 23:12
  Lovely. Good, good stuff.
• 23:14
  Now you mentioned the beginning, a couple of the characters, the
• 23:18
  yeah, the claymation. That's sort of what all this is
• 23:20
  about his. Journey, tell me about how he
• 23:22
  felt about this. This is just a scene I just
• 23:23
  think is fantastic, right? This movie does this stuff,
• 23:26
  particularly in these early scenes, exceptionally well,
• 23:29
  which is recognizing the Christmas movie motif and themes
• 23:36
  that have been around for at this point, you know, 40 years.
• 23:39
  At least. In our is now 60 years, Yeah,
• 23:43
  there's something special about those early Rudolph, Frosty,
• 23:48
  even Grinch, those classic Pumpkin, the Peanuts, Christmas,
• 23:53
  Muppets, whatever. Like all of those, the Mickey,
• 23:55
  the Duck, all of those things are such a part of so many
• 24:00
  childhoods that using that as a backbone and a frame to bolster
• 24:06
  what's happening in the modern age, I think is really smart.
• 24:08
  And it shows an appreciation of what came before.
• 24:11
  And I think that goes a long way.
• 24:12
  So utilizing those tools and again, using in camera tricks
• 24:16
  and claymation and slow motion and such and such, you get the
• 24:20
  benefit of having these odd characters saying goodbye to
• 24:23
  buddy him jumping on an iceberg effectively and just floating
• 24:28
  off and and that's clearly an asset and a tank.
• 24:31
  You know, whatever else. It doesn't look real at all.
• 24:33
  But it's like you were saying earlier, it's the unruliness
• 24:36
  that almost makes it better and having his whole journey and
• 24:40
  then he's got on what started on a large.
• 24:44
  Yeah, that was. Fun and he ends up just on this
• 24:45
  little one. I was like, that's just a small
• 24:47
  detail that's clever and smart and we get Mr. Norwell, who's
• 24:50
  one of my favorite lines in the movie.
• 24:52
  Right boy buddy, hope you find your dad.
• 24:57
  It's so obnoxious, but it's really really, I love it.
• 25:00
  I it's like the thing the thing that rings in my head when I
• 25:04
  think about this movie sometimes there's those lines.
• 25:06
  That's the one I think about this movie.
• 25:08
  I think about that line. Bye, buddy.
• 25:10
  Don't know why, just I love it. You don't like it?
• 25:12
  Obviously. I think what I forget sometimes
• 25:14
  is maybe this movie wasn't made for me.
• 25:17
  It might be for kids, Right? So this is how it is up in the
• 25:20
  North Pole. Then we go to the real New York.
• 25:21
  Uh, I don't like that, but as a kid you don't care about those
• 25:25
  little things. So I think I have to remember
• 25:27
  that it's not always about me. My wife says that too.
• 25:30
  It's not always about me. This movie wants to grab a large
• 25:34
  audience. Most Christmas movies do what's
• 25:36
  good for love. Actually, it's probably more for
• 25:38
  adults. Is that safe to say?
• 25:40
  I haven't. Seen it so just a little nudity.
• 25:42
  OK, there you go. I didn't know that.
• 25:44
  Yeah, yeah. So I think that's something I
• 25:47
  sometimes forget about. I'll admit it forgot.
• 25:50
  Yeah. I think fundamentally, I think
• 25:52
  sometimes the way you watch a movie is broken.
• 25:57
  They're possibly, well, I mean, you and I are the same age,
• 26:00
  right? We are like, there's obviously
• 26:02
  not broken. Obviously it's a tease.
• 26:03
  But ultimately there is something different about what
• 26:05
  I'm bringing to the movies where we differ on these types of
• 26:09
  things. I'm wondering, right, because
• 26:12
  maybe it is that where we'll get to the bottom of it of that
• 26:14
  you're watching a movie as a 45 year old, but I'm watching a
• 26:17
  movie as a 45 year old too. So it can't exclusively be an
• 26:20
  age thing because this isn't like we're watching an early
• 26:23
  classic 1950s movie. Yeah.
• 26:26
  Where we only watched it. I saw it as a nine year old.
• 26:28
  You saw it as a 40 year old that's gonna maybe react
• 26:31
  differently. Yeah.
• 26:32
  But this movie in particular is one of our lifetime.
• 26:34
  So I'm fascinated by the fact that this movie.
• 26:37
  Yeah, more so than something like It's A Wonderful Life or.
• 26:41
  Even Oh yeah, there's a lot of things, but that's what sells
• 26:44
  tickets, Phillip, is the contrast between you and I.
• 26:47
  We definitely go in there with different.
• 26:50
  It's fascinating to me. That's not a criticism.
• 26:51
  It's what makes it these conversations so interesting to
• 26:54
  me. What I.
• 26:54
  Think we can both agree on is our fondness for James Kahn.
• 26:58
  Yeah, we love James Kahn. He's great in Thief.
• 27:01
  I think he's in Godfather. He's in The Godfather.
• 27:04
  Yeah, that's outside of that. I don't.
• 27:06
  It was in Roller Ball Buddies song.
• 27:09
  He was a guy for a while in the 70s and then.
• 27:11
  Contacted. We just watched him in contact.
• 27:13
  No, no, no. Alright, yeah, again, I haven't
• 27:16
  seen him much but he's recognizable face.
• 27:18
  Has had a yeah. He hasn't had the career that
• 27:20
  like, you know, a lot of great movies under his belt.
• 27:23
  But once you're in The Godfather, and I think he worked
• 27:26
  with Favreau and made I think before this, which is maybe one
• 27:29
  of the reasons how he got cast in this.
• 27:31
  You know, he's not doing a ton in this movie, but I think he
• 27:34
  plays the gruff, frustrated older guy as much as when he
• 27:39
  breaks that, when he cracks that shell, I think it's meaningful
• 27:42
  because both his character and his sort of persona is that of a
• 27:47
  gruff dude. Even in in the Godfather, he's a
• 27:49
  gruff guys. And that's and that's made 30
• 27:51
  years before this movie. So watching him soften a little
• 27:53
  bit throughout the movie plays to his strengths as an actor, I
• 27:56
  think. Yeah.
• 27:57
  I have issues around him generally in this.
• 27:59
  Movie. OK, alright, we'll get to it.
• 28:02
  Yeah, we'll get to it. Unless you wanna break it open.
• 28:06
  I think it's common, like later in your career.
• 28:08
  I just don't feel like he really put it all into this
• 28:10
  performance. I think you get somebody who
• 28:12
  really want to do this role, I think you would have got more
• 28:14
  out of. It OK fast.
• 28:16
  Little wasted. OK, yeah, we'll crack character
• 28:19
  right open. Crack it open.
• 28:20
  I mean, I don't think he's like an exceptional actor.
• 28:22
  I think he's really good in some of the movies that he's in, but
• 28:24
  I like him in this. I think that there's generally
• 28:26
  there's enough to hang out on serviceable.
• 28:28
  That's right now we're in New York yes.
• 28:32
  At this point, he's traveled through the gumdrop land and the
• 28:35
  candy canes and the whole thing. Yeah, which you're OK with?
• 28:39
  Doing fine doing. Fine.
• 28:41
  Walk through the Lincoln Tunnel and he ends up in New York.
• 28:45
  Yeah, this is his first connection.
• 28:49
  The raccoon. Yeah, that's pretty funny.
• 28:51
  See, you're feisty and very. Feisty.
• 28:53
  That was a good choice of animal to go with because they look
• 28:56
  cute, yes, but they are not. No, like they're cute.
• 28:59
  Sorry. Look at Kuala Bear.
• 29:00
  Yeah, like a very cute but vicious OHS.
• 29:03
  They will claw you up and eat you for.
• 29:04
  Dead. Well, there you go.
• 29:05
  Luckily, his face wasn't too. You know.
• 29:08
  Mangled. Really enjoy the New York City
• 29:11
  montage. Personally, I was a big fan of.
• 29:13
  You know I love a montage, right?
• 29:15
  History's proven. It's actually check the tape
• 29:17
  more than. Improvement.
• 29:18
  But the idea that the guys trying to flag the taxi and he
• 29:20
  just walks out. Hi, that's funny to me.
• 29:23
  The tickling and the shoeshine, I thought was.
• 29:25
  Funny, just showing his innocence is not.
• 29:27
  Walking into the world's best coffee.
• 29:29
  Congratulations, you did it. Reminded me of your Colgate.
• 29:33
  That's right. They've done it.
• 29:34
  They've done. It the maximum, the maximum
• 29:37
  amount of freshness, 1/2. I get the feeling that that a
• 29:42
  lot of that stuff was stolen, which is to say it's not set up.
• 29:46
  It's like, OK, we're gonna let Will Ferrell wander around New
• 29:48
  York, set up a few cameras and he's just gonna have fun with
• 29:50
  the stuff. Yeah, I can see that it didn't
• 29:52
  feel scripted. Maybe it is obviously, but the
• 29:54
  way that the people in those scenes react when he's taken the
• 29:58
  the leaflets or whatever else and stuff, I just felt like all
• 30:01
  of that feels like this is. What we'll do?
• 30:04
  Thing. Yeah, for a little.
• 30:05
  While I don't know how, you probably know better than I
• 30:07
  don't know how Jon Favreau grades if he gives those
• 30:10
  leniencies. Some directors are very
• 30:12
  controlling. Yeah, I'm not sure either.
• 30:14
  Yeah. Maybe in the Star Wars, Yeah.
• 30:15
  Do what? I'll see what works.
• 30:17
  It's not using the force. Don't use the force.
• 30:19
  I don't. Care.
• 30:20
  We'll see. We'll see What short?
• 30:21
  Version is nothing is working in that.
• 30:22
  Particular doesn't work. Have you ever chewed gum that
• 30:28
  you just see? OK, but not since I was a child.
• 30:31
  OK. Right.
• 30:32
  Not as an adult. So you saw.
• 30:33
  And not on a subway, obviously, but like under a desk, you know,
• 30:36
  or something? Maybe.
• 30:37
  Yeah. So you saw the appeal.
• 30:38
  I could appreciate it. Yeah.
• 30:39
  Yeah. It's just dry and there's no
• 30:41
  flavor left. Well, again, 46 year old brain
• 30:44
  thinking here. Sure, maybe I don't have that
• 30:46
  memory of that I never did as a kid.
• 30:47
  So that's what you think your mom told me.
• 30:51
  Maybe I have to ask you. Yeah, I mean, it's not something
• 30:54
  I did all the time, but it's not unheard of that someone as a kid
• 30:56
  would. And the idea is that this guy is
• 30:59
  a child. No, I get it.
• 31:00
  I get. It I don't think so.
• 31:03
  We've established that. You've chewed someone else's
• 31:05
  gum, but have you been? To the Empire State Building,
• 31:09
  yeah, a couple times. OK.
• 31:11
  I was just there in April, so. You.
• 31:14
  Were but the first time I ever went was in 1997 hmm's and I had
• 31:20
  gone with my parents and my mother not the most adventurous
• 31:26
  woman. Let's say we get in this
• 31:28
  elevator and press the button just one and it's you know go
• 31:33
  straight to the top. This elevator went so fast that
• 31:36
  my distinct memory is that we pressed the button doors closed
• 31:42
  and in a crowded elevator because we're all tours going up
• 31:44
  to see the lookout. She just clenches the side
• 31:48
  panels of the elevator stairs on the ground and clenches her
• 31:52
  teeth like Oh my God, she was like the most unhappy I'd really
• 31:57
  ever seen her at that point and scared and anxious and nervous
• 32:01
  about this elevator trip. She did not enjoy that once we
• 32:03
  got out there love online, but the elevator itself, she was
• 32:07
  like this is. She later issues.
• 32:09
  Totally, totally claustrophobic and paranoid.
• 32:11
  Anyway, not alone. So that's my memory of the
• 32:13
  Empire State Building the first time I was there.
• 32:14
  That's what happened. Now what he does with the
• 32:16
  elevator. Did you ever do this?
• 32:18
  No, I my parents would never let me know.
• 32:21
  I was very conscientious of. That Oh yeah.
• 32:24
  I'm a people pleaser. I I don't want to inconvenience
• 32:27
  anybody. Sure, that was something that we
• 32:29
  would do not necessarily when other people were in there, but
• 32:32
  to ourselves or like just as kids getting in there.
• 32:34
  We we would play with the. I think it's funny, my brother
• 32:37
  used to be really bad about. He would take me to the basement
• 32:39
  of my aunts apartment and then throw me out of the elevator
• 32:43
  immediately close the doors and go up.
• 32:45
  So I would be in a darkened laundry room basement and he
• 32:48
  would just say something scary, scary, play some music, hum some
• 32:52
  tune, something that triggered my brain and that elevators like
• 32:56
  that because that's created that would that's more than just
• 32:58
  pressing some buttons. You put some thought into that.
• 33:00
  Yeah, he really traumatizing. That was really terrible.
• 33:04
  Now he gets up to the elevator and games.
• 33:06
  Can we meet him and. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 33:08
  He's doing his thing. He just thinks, OK, let's just
• 33:10
  do this thing. It's a singing telegram.
• 33:12
  It's something. You're dressed as an elf.
• 33:13
  Do something for me. Sing.
• 33:15
  What do you think of this song? Will has always been good at
• 33:18
  sort of the singing like that, so I'm singing.
• 33:21
  Yeah, making it up as he went. So I figured he just did it a
• 33:24
  bunch of times. This will be and.
• 33:25
  Will, that's right and they throw them out.
• 33:27
  You guys are so strong. Great line.
• 33:30
  Well, he wasn't wrong and they throw him out and they say get
• 33:33
  back to Gimbals. Now.
• 33:35
  Gimbels doesn't really exist. It's Macy's.
• 33:37
  Ohi didn't know that that was a real.
• 33:38
  Thing largest department store in the yeah it's huge world or
• 33:42
  maybe it's up there now this is where Christmas really kicks it
• 33:46
  up A notch, right. We've got the decorations the
• 33:49
  mall atmosphere. I said the other week to
• 33:51
  somebody you know I love going to the mall at Christmas.
• 33:54
  I would agree and some people were like I don't want to go to
• 33:57
  the traffic is terrible. The crowds are this when crowds
• 33:59
  are terrible this and all. This on Wednesday afternoon.
• 34:01
  Fun. I love everything about it.
• 34:02
  I want it to be the busiest it could possibly be.
• 34:05
  I think it's great. But I love the Christmas music
• 34:07
  pumping in. I like everything.
• 34:08
  So watching him interact with this thing and taking the
• 34:10
  perfume into his mouth as Bianca is genius.
• 34:13
  But just that Christmas vibe. Now, you're not a Christmas guy,
• 34:17
  so it's a challenge. I don't say I'm not a Christmas.
• 34:19
  I'm not a Christmas movie guy. Sure.
• 34:21
  Was the movie able to capture the essence of Christmas at the
• 34:25
  mall? I would say yes, and I would say
• 34:28
  I'm with you. Other than my little bit of
• 34:31
  anxiety around crowds. OK, as I've gotten older, I
• 34:35
  don't love it, but if I'm gonna be in a crowd, I was like, had
• 34:39
  to. Be.
• 34:39
  Yeah. Probably at mall at Christmas
• 34:41
  would be my choice. Actually, that's a good one.
• 34:44
  Yeah, it is a good one because the spirit of it all and
• 34:46
  everybody's like, you know, yeah, I used to be one of those
• 34:48
  Christmas Eve shoppers. Oh wow.
• 34:51
  OK. Times have.
• 34:53
  Changed. He never did anything.
• 34:55
  That's right. The idea that, you know, trying
• 34:58
  to sell buddy that this is the the North Pole that he's sort of
• 35:02
  familiar with is a funny conceit.
• 35:04
  And we meet Jovi. Yes.
• 35:06
  Questionable name, too. Yeah.
• 35:07
  I don't know. Never heard of before.
• 35:09
  No, me neither. But Zoe Deschanel is delightful.
• 35:13
  We already know you like her. Beautiful woman.
• 35:16
  Her days of summer, 500 days is just delightful.
• 35:19
  But this movie, I think is where I'm like, this is peak.
• 35:22
  OK What is it? What about I just love her hair,
• 35:25
  the way the hair is got it. Her eyes, obviously.
• 35:28
  Is it the? Outfit.
• 35:29
  The outfit goes a long way. Got it.
• 35:31
  I love Christmas. Hey, yeah, yeah, those two
• 35:33
  worlds together. But I think she's great.
• 35:35
  I love her voice. I love when she's singing.
• 35:37
  Like, they're just everything about this.
• 35:38
  Her character is like right up my alley.
• 35:40
  I really dig her in this movie. I mean, 500 Days of Summer, it's
• 35:44
  a far more broad approach to love and relationships, highs
• 35:47
  and low, so on. This is a pretty one note
• 35:49
  character, which is fine because the one note is Christmas,
• 35:52
  right? Like, it's fine.
• 35:53
  She's not sassy, she's not like, yeah, she's a little bit
• 35:56
  cynical, but not too bad. She's willing to go really well.
• 35:59
  She is, if you can believe this, in an episode of Frasier.
• 36:03
  She played Ross's cousin. OK.
• 36:05
  And she's a fun character. It makes Ross feel really old
• 36:09
  because she doesn't, you know, do the things.
• 36:10
  Anyways, she's great. Yeah, she's just great.
• 36:12
  Yeah, I find her. I really liked the first couple
• 36:15
  seasons of the New Girl, like most sitcoms, just dragged on
• 36:17
  too long. It fell out, lost some steam.
• 36:19
  But I like her in that. So she's really great.
• 36:22
  And but he takes it upon himself if that's, if it's going to be
• 36:25
  the North Pole, he's going to make it the North Pole.
• 36:27
  So he stays after dark and starts putting together all of
• 36:30
  the Oh, yeah, right, all of the decorations, building it up,
• 36:34
  Lego, the light, bright light, bright, the Etch A Sketch, all
• 36:38
  of those things I thought really, really great, really
• 36:41
  great use of all the sort of tools around the mall to make it
• 36:44
  something really special. My favorite moment in the movie,
• 36:46
  really. Maybe my second favorite.
• 36:48
  OK, choose wisely. Both involve someone, but this
• 36:51
  one in particular, I think Christmas music all the time.
• 36:53
  As you know, I sing it, I hum it.
• 36:55
  It's in my head all the time. It's on my playlist, quote, UN
• 36:57
  quote. Yeah.
• 36:58
  So the fact that it cuts to her just singing Baby It's Cold
• 37:01
  Outside with a beautiful voice and he just mumbling along like
• 37:05
  you can't even contain yourself. I love the buildup of that
• 37:09
  little scene. It's got nothing to do to me
• 37:11
  with, like, shower, not shower, creepy, not creepy bathroom
• 37:13
  scene. Yeah.
• 37:14
  Just the idea that Christmas music is that powerful, just it
• 37:17
  makes me really smile. I like the drummer boy.
• 37:19
  Dumb. The dumb dumb, that one.
• 37:21
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Featured not in this.
• 37:23
  Movie. No, it's not, and that's why
• 37:24
  probably didn't like it is there's a couple Christmas songs
• 37:27
  that I like. Yeah, that didn't make.
• 37:28
  The love no love Favro, where you been?
• 37:31
  Yeah. He doesn't get it, doesn't get
• 37:33
  it. We got Santa showing up on the
• 37:35
  on the day. Is it Santa though?
• 37:37
  That's the question. You talked about this movie is
• 37:40
  made for kids. There's an argument that says
• 37:42
  the scene in which he rips the mask and the beard off of a mall
• 37:46
  Santa could traumatize some children.
• 37:48
  Absolutely expose the children. You sit on a throne of lies.
• 37:52
  You say you smell like beef and cheese.
• 37:54
  That's pretty powerful stuff. But I think it's interesting
• 37:58
  that the movie blends those two things, right?
• 38:01
  He wants to expose it, needs the joke, But then also it's playing
• 38:04
  for laughs and kids and there is a real Santa.
• 38:06
  So anyway, I thought that played really well.
• 38:08
  But more so I just love this sincerity by which Buddy attacks
• 38:11
  this Santa was like, yeah, just trying to do his job.
• 38:13
  Yeah. I'm just surprised that
• 38:15
  Christmas is hanging on for kids.
• 38:17
  You know, I don't know where we're at compared to where we
• 38:19
  were as kids. Like if the age.
• 38:21
  Of realizing Santa's not real has lowered from like 11:00 to
• 38:24
  9:00 or whatever it was 9 to 8. I kind of like to know the.
• 38:27
  Stats on that? That's interesting.
• 38:28
  That's good question. And also, did you know, and I
• 38:31
  won't spend much time on it, but did you know Christmas was
• 38:33
  basically invented by Coca-Cola? Well, the modern look of Santa
• 38:37
  Claus is invented by Coca-Cola. Christmas in general.
• 38:40
  A lot of it, though. Sure.
• 38:41
  Lot of the iconography for sure. Yeah, like the time of year.
• 38:44
  That's not coke, though. Yeah, it is.
• 38:45
  Check it out. Q4.
• 38:46
  I mean, we all know Jesus wasn't born that day.
• 38:49
  We know. They all know.
• 38:50
  We all know. Well, Robert Zemeckis didn't
• 38:52
  know, saying if you want to go back and witness the birth of
• 38:57
  Christ, he pledges December 25th, 0000.
• 39:01
  Fair, fair. That's a funny, funny thing.
• 39:04
  But anyways, I just learned about this whole history about
• 39:09
  Coca-Cola and Christmas recently.
• 39:11
  That documentary thing was quite interesting.
• 39:13
  Now, I don't know all the ins and outs of it though, but it
• 39:15
  was quite an interesting thing to hear about how Coca-Cola
• 39:17
  influenced certain things elements.
• 39:19
  Around Christmas, absolutely. I mean, the Coca-Cola
• 39:22
  commercials were always like my favorite, and I don't even like
• 39:24
  Coke now that makes. So like, yeah, there is this
• 39:26
  whole system into Santa and Coke and the imagery in the
• 39:31
  iconography of Christmas time. But I eat it all up.
• 39:34
  So even though not a Coke guy, I can really get into it.
• 39:36
  Cherry. Coke you.
• 39:37
  Know, I love Cherry Coke. Strangely, I'm a Pepsi guy, as
• 39:40
  you know, and I prefer Cherry Coke to Cherry Pepsi.
• 39:43
  But everything else Pepsi is is the way I go.
• 39:45
  There you have it, folks. Yeah, mark it down.
• 39:47
  One last question before we move away from the mall, please.
• 39:49
  We're gonna move away for a bit, I believe.
• 39:51
  Who showers in the mall? I don't know.
• 39:54
  Well, at least explain before they did explain it.
• 39:57
  I'm thinking this isn't right. Yeah.
• 39:59
  You know, it almost took me all the way out, but it brought me
• 40:02
  back in with my water is cut off.
• 40:04
  Yeah, OK, few. Yeah, thank goodness.
• 40:06
  Imagine if Bernbaum there didn't fill in that gap for you.
• 40:11
  It is funny, Will Will Sleeping in the window was funny too,
• 40:14
  because that's a nice touch. Yeah, why is anyone sleeping in
• 40:17
  the window? That's the.
• 40:18
  Question, did you have all those edges sketches like he does the
• 40:20
  Mona Lisa? Which is silly, but yes.
• 40:23
  I add an extra sketch. Absolutely dumb question of
• 40:26
  course pretty common in your mid 40s that's Canadian white guy
• 40:30
  privileged. That's of course you had an
• 40:32
  essay catch. Stupid question yeah, I loved
• 40:34
  it. It was a lot of fun.
• 40:35
  I you up on it pretty quick cause I was like, I can't get
• 40:37
  this to work as well as I would like, you know, they're like,
• 40:39
  oh, you can draw so much. It's like just a bunch of
• 40:41
  straight lines and. Now, moving away from Artie
• 40:53
  Lang, he was the Santa, if he didn't notice, from the from Mad
• 40:57
  TV, right? Yes, yes.
• 40:59
  With all this commotion at the mall, sends buddy to jail for a
• 41:03
  bit. Yeah, it's one phone call.
• 41:05
  He's gonna call. Not the Ghostbusters.
• 41:07
  No. Not this time.
• 41:08
  Be funny if James Cann was a Ghostbuster, but he definitely
• 41:11
  was not. Definitely not.
• 41:12
  That's who he does call his dad and of course he comes, bails
• 41:16
  him out and he wants to know at this point, are you my son?
• 41:22
  Yeah, how much responsibility do I have?
• 41:23
  To have here exactly. And then we have an M Night
• 41:26
  Shyamalan moment. Or Alfred Hitchcock, which is
• 41:30
  how you gonna do that too. Yeah, we're Jon Favreau shows up
• 41:33
  in his movie as the Doctor. Yes, yes, he's going to be
• 41:36
  provide an instant. Yes, yeah, you know, 2003, he
• 41:41
  and Maury Povich working side by side.
• 41:46
  I forgot you're a big fan of that show.
• 41:48
  I really get a kick out of the the little short scene with the
• 41:51
  little girl. One of the things that I love
• 41:53
  about Christmas is probably things like this scene talks
• 41:57
  about, which is the innocence of a little girl that has no
• 42:00
  questions about it. This guy is dressed as an elf in
• 42:02
  the middle of New York City. Perfectly normal.
• 42:04
  Just does not question it, has no cynicism around it.
• 42:07
  Thanks, buddy. Just kindness.
• 42:09
  What do you want for Christmas? I want this.
• 42:10
  I know Santa, OK? Just not questioning any of it.
• 42:14
  That to me is the magic Christmas in general, and it's
• 42:16
  encapsulated in this moment and why I make fun of you for some
• 42:20
  of your logic leaves. But I'm like, this kid gets it,
• 42:23
  you know, like it isn't about what's up.
• 42:24
  It's just like, sure, whatever. I like that.
• 42:26
  I'm with you. I think we need more of that
• 42:28
  magic. Yeah.
• 42:29
  More than once. A.
• 42:30
  Year it's really yeah it's it's that's the big speech and
• 42:32
  Scrooge right you can make it happen just do it just do.
• 42:36
  It from Nike. That's it.
• 42:38
  So I really like that cute little scene.
• 42:40
  Favreau's funny enough playing the you know.
• 42:42
  Sure. I mean, he's better than
• 42:43
  Seinfeld does. Eric the Clown.
• 42:46
  I think we can all. Agree.
• 42:47
  Absolutely. After he's confirmed that he's
• 42:50
  his son, he brings him home. He's like hey I mean I gotta do
• 42:53
  this now, right? You gotta nip it in the bud.
• 42:55
  Yeah. Figure it out and they're gonna
• 42:56
  have some spaghetti. And my favorite Mary Steenburgen
• 42:59
  moment in this movie is when he says, can you pass the Maple
• 43:03
  syrup, please? And she just looks around.
• 43:06
  I didn't bring any. And he goes, I have some.
• 43:08
  But the idea that she's, like, caught for a second, like, oh,
• 43:10
  sure. No, what?
• 43:11
  What? What are you asking for?
• 43:13
  I thought that was really a funny moment.
• 43:15
  And obviously we established this kid buddy here has a
• 43:18
  complete affinity for sugars. You're a calorie counter, so
• 43:22
  this is probably a nightmare for you drinking a whole bottle of
• 43:25
  Coke like that. I mean, yeah, the whole thing
• 43:27
  about his diet, yeah, that's. That's the breaking point, that.
• 43:31
  We're getting there, we're getting there.
• 43:32
  OK. Played for laughs, of course.
• 43:34
  I like funny. Sure.
• 43:36
  But I get the sense like this is been his diet.
• 43:39
  He, well, he's about 30. Sure.
• 43:40
  Here, Yeah. He would be about 80 lbs
• 43:43
  overweight and extremely diabetic.
• 43:46
  With what his diet consists of, Sure.
• 43:49
  So I don't know. It's.
• 43:51
  It's too much. OK.
• 43:53
  I don't mind them. A secret.
• 43:54
  Maple Syrup sauce. That's funny.
• 43:55
  Sure. I like that.
• 43:56
  I like syrup. I'm Canadian.
• 43:58
  My grandpa was a syrup guy. Hate syrup.
• 44:00
  Ohe. My grandpa.
• 44:01
  So you hate my grandpa? Basically, Yeah.
• 44:04
  But it's more of the the next morning with the cereal and,
• 44:07
  like, pouring it on there and just going to town.
• 44:10
  Like, I get the sense he does this all the time.
• 44:12
  And that's just, that's just too silly for me.
• 44:14
  OK. It's not like clever humor.
• 44:16
  It's easy humor. And I'm not, I'm not.
• 44:19
  I'm not about it. OK, wow, there it is.
• 44:21
  We found the first breaking point of a few of a few.
• 44:24
  Sure, this is where it starts to break.
• 44:26
  Not yet. But we're we're bending.
• 44:28
  I got you. We're bending so we end up at
• 44:32
  this point. Now then he's gotta go to work,
• 44:34
  but he's got his whole day mapped out on the extra sketch.
• 44:36
  He's got a whole plan of they're going to do all these things.
• 44:38
  And what I love is when he gets the sense that Khan is not into
• 44:42
  it. He just like quietly shakes his
• 44:44
  head, shakes the thing and puts it away.
• 44:46
  This quiet innocence of Buddy, it's perfectly matched with his
• 44:50
  performance. Ferrell could only be this.
• 44:52
  And there's these moments we talked about earlier in this one
• 44:54
  in particular where those two things are so to me connected
• 44:58
  that you're like, this is perfect casting, perfect
• 45:00
  writing, perfect performance. This is like everything you want
• 45:03
  in this scene. Part of why this movie is so a
• 45:06
  well regarded 20 years later, but also why he jumped to that
• 45:10
  movie star thing in these ways. I would argue it's what blinds
• 45:14
  people, OK to think this movie is better than it is.
• 45:18
  It's because they're eating up Will his performance and I am,
• 45:21
  I'm with it. I do.
• 45:22
  And incredibly funny, like with the sketches.
• 45:25
  That's great. And I think his performance is
• 45:27
  good. I think he is the movie and I
• 45:29
  think it relies too much on him for the movie.
• 45:32
  Interesting. Interesting.
• 45:33
  And why it's, I think, a bit of a weak movie.
• 45:37
  Is James OK, Jimmy? Yeah, I don't think I can call.
• 45:40
  Me. No, probably not.
• 45:42
  All him around the job, it's not like he's a bad guy, which he
• 45:46
  is. We have that moment earlier with
• 45:47
  the nun, You know, we're taking back the books.
• 45:49
  Yeah, that's a Scrooge moment, sure, But after that, he's just
• 45:53
  bad at his job. Like he's just lazy.
• 45:55
  He's just leaving blank pictures and doesn't care.
• 45:57
  Yeah. He doesn't seem to realize that
• 45:59
  to keep your job, you have to be somewhat good at it.
• 46:02
  And then he has a gentleman come in, which is a recognizable
• 46:05
  face. Obviously his boss sure shows
• 46:07
  him that he signed off on the blank page.
• 46:10
  James doesn't care. He's like, oh, well, whatever.
• 46:13
  Like he's not upset. And just like his character is
• 46:14
  so flat to me and bland, like, OK, well, this is a whole other
• 46:18
  element they could have tapped into to have a bigger payoff at
• 46:21
  the end, to see him sort of swing to be become a bit of a
• 46:25
  better guy. And I just think it's a bit of a
• 46:27
  missed opportunity. There's some high jinks later
• 46:29
  with a character that is fun, but here I just he's not taking
• 46:32
  it serious at all. So he's not really a jerk, he's
• 46:35
  just bad at his job. Yeah, that's an interesting
• 46:38
  point. I mean, I agree with you
• 46:39
  certainly. And there is an argument that
• 46:40
  says like nothing that happens afterwards happens if he is
• 46:44
  better at his job and he spends a lot of time working on his job
• 46:48
  at home and stuff. And but he's causing it on
• 46:50
  himself in some level. So there is a certain amount of
• 46:52
  maybe he's fed up and like miserable and just so you know
• 46:55
  broken down. But I agree it doesn't really
• 46:57
  convey in the. Movie.
• 46:57
  Yeah, if he hates his job, that's right, The misery wasn't.
• 47:00
  Yes, wasn't. It's not something like
• 47:02
  Scrooged, right? Where someone is miserable, it's
• 47:04
  life, hates his world or thinks he does or doesn't whatever, and
• 47:07
  then grows into a better person. He's not really starting out as
• 47:09
  a bad person. He's just a bad yeah worker dad.
• 47:13
  You know that character didn't have enough commitment.
• 47:15
  And Missus Danson. What?
• 47:18
  Find odd about that one cause they do have a son together.
• 47:21
  Yeah. And she tells him that you're
• 47:24
  not you're not really there for your son and no wonder he is
• 47:28
  annoyed. But she said it in a way that
• 47:30
  like it's not even her son. This is bad for your kid.
• 47:33
  Yeah. Just so you know your son is
• 47:36
  this way because of you just letting letting you know that
• 47:39
  should steam you sure you're affecting our kid that we're
• 47:42
  having together Just the family dynamic just wasn't there.
• 47:45
  But those three, it just really felt out of place that she was
• 47:48
  OK with her son having mental health issues.
• 47:50
  Sure. Later.
• 47:51
  Yeah. That's.
• 47:52
  No, it's not a big part of the. Movie.
• 47:54
  No, but I mean, it's certainly a reasonable argument.
• 47:57
  Again, I don't. I love her Back to the future.
• 47:59
  Three, I'm watching million times.
• 48:01
  Yeah, there you go. Yeah.
• 48:03
  I mean, I agree with that assessment overall of the family
• 48:06
  relationship. It's obviously not front and
• 48:07
  centre in the movie. It's obviously just, you know,
• 48:09
  it's a thing. But it's not unreasonable that
• 48:11
  you have that sort of feeling, because I agree it is not.
• 48:13
  I'm just saying I'm starting to fall off into the Clayton
• 48:15
  Ravine. No shit.
• 48:18
  There you go. 4 gal sneak that in there.
• 48:21
  There it is. Speaking of the family dynamics,
• 48:23
  that relationship with the son and and the parents is a little
• 48:27
  bit frayed and weird, but we haven't really seen Buddy and he
• 48:30
  can act right there now brothers effectively.
• 48:32
  Yeah, and he's acting like someone maybe his age too.
• 48:35
  Yeah, that's true, right. They've got so they might
• 48:37
  connect, but, you know, I think of Affleck and surviving
• 48:40
  Christmas, you know, it's your brother, but they're trying to
• 48:42
  engage, but he's not really feeling it.
• 48:44
  Yeah, I think he's weird. Yeah.
• 48:47
  So tell me more about that. Dynamic.
• 48:49
  Well, I like that. And they need something to
• 48:52
  bridge it. Galvanized together, got very
• 48:54
  good, very good. Galvanized.
• 48:56
  And they do. And they choose a snowball
• 48:58
  fight. Yeah.
• 48:59
  This is where I'm almost broken here, Phillip.
• 49:02
  If you count the number of snowballs coming at them, that's
• 49:07
  obviously beyond human. That's completely unrealistic.
• 49:10
  The number, if you count it per second how many snowballs are
• 49:13
  getting thrown at them, is completely unrealistic.
• 49:16
  They've got 40 kids out. There's like 10.
• 49:19
  Check behind the. Guy no check it.
• 49:20
  They're all coming from that direction like it's like like a
• 49:23
  tennis ball machine. Gotcha.
• 49:24
  It's just an automatic Yeah, OK. If that's not enough then we
• 49:28
  have the retaliation which is going to connect them, which is
• 49:32
  good but then we have buddies arm become superhuman.
• 49:37
  So you're you got me here in New York.
• 49:40
  He's human. We're all human and now he's
• 49:42
  doing something that's not human.
• 49:43
  Like we have this North Pole stuff all fine and Danny, that's
• 49:47
  a world built up there, but him himself has been human from
• 49:51
  second one from birth. Sure mistaken as an elf for.
• 49:54
  Sure, but not ELF like qualities.
• 49:56
  Yeah but he is human so I don't know how you can explain that
• 49:59
  rapid arm movement and he just whining them.
• 50:02
  And I think it's unnecessary because I think you can still
• 50:04
  show him throwing them quickly sure without becoming BS.
• 50:09
  Or even hard because he's got his 30 years old as opposed to.
• 50:11
  50 years exactly. That's all I'm asking.
• 50:14
  Keep it grounded because you've, you've put us in a real New York
• 50:17
  for a reason. And now you're taking me out of
• 50:19
  where the setting that you put me in.
• 50:22
  So interesting. Not a fan at this point.
• 50:24
  This is I mean the worlds are colliding.
• 50:25
  Sure. Yeah, I have that.
• 50:27
  I really like that. Yeah, that.
• 50:28
  Was kind of. You probably would, and this is.
• 50:30
  Just doesn't exactly just don't. Doesn't even register that that
• 50:33
  would be when you hear. When I hear you.
• 50:35
  Yeah, I'm like, yeah, that is unrealistic.
• 50:37
  Yeah, I don't care. No, you don't care.
• 50:38
  It means nothing to me that it is.
• 50:40
  I just. Care more than you.
• 50:41
  I guess that's just in general. Yeah, you're you're, you're
• 50:44
  feeler. Maybe when I first saw it rolled
• 50:46
  my eyes at it, but it isn't enough to like really affect the
• 50:48
  yeah, the overall quality or appreciation of the movie
• 50:51
  personally noteworthy. But they do bond as a result and
• 50:54
  we get them a really another scene.
• 50:56
  I really like another great Christmas song.
• 50:58
  That's what Christmas means to me.
• 50:59
  Stevie Wonder as they're walking through gimbals and they're
• 51:02
  bonding now and he asks Buddy you like her and tries to
• 51:07
  convince her basically to go on a date.
• 51:09
  That's a cute. Moment I think it's cute.
• 51:11
  I just would like it better if there is actually any chemistry.
• 51:13
  We're coming off of a strong. Week of chemistry, Matt Damon?
• 51:17
  Sure. Sure.
• 51:19
  Emily Blunt. Yeah.
• 51:20
  Maximizing chemistry and I just, I think it's forced, OK, like
• 51:25
  that. It just has to be there because
• 51:26
  you need that's what you do. Take the conversation we've had
• 51:29
  in like a few good men and so many about OK, well, you put the
• 51:32
  two together right? But they felt they needed to,
• 51:35
  sure. I get that and I mean I think it
• 51:37
  works personally, but it it is definitely just another trope of
• 51:40
  put these two together. But I think it works.
• 51:43
  Buddy goes to the office because Con is struggling for things to
• 51:47
  do with this guy. Yeah, I love.
• 51:49
  I love how he sells the mailroom, though.
• 51:51
  Yeah, sure. But I like even just walking in
• 51:53
  they both address the same and buddy just following him.
• 51:55
  Hello Susan, hello. Do I like that's clever to me
• 51:58
  and then yeah, sells the mailroom is if.
• 52:00
  It's a fun place to be. Greatest, greatest place.
• 52:02
  Yeah. And he makes it fun.
• 52:03
  The suck machine. Oh, yeah, That's really great.
• 52:07
  Yeah. ex-con. That's right.
• 52:09
  Work release guy. Absolutely.
• 52:11
  Little sippy poop makes me laugh.
• 52:13
  I love syrup. Yeah.
• 52:15
  You're so strong. You're my best friend.
• 52:16
  You're my best friend. That's it.
• 52:18
  That's a short moment, but it's funny.
• 52:19
  It's really good. It's really good.
• 52:21
  We get to meet your favorite sidekick.
• 52:24
  Couldn't remember. Couldn't remember his name.
• 52:26
  Andy Richter. Andy Richter and the great.
• 52:29
  Yeah. You're your best friend, Conan.
• 52:31
  Yeah, I do. Needs.
• 52:33
  From Conan, shout out to Conan. Love ya.
• 52:36
  Love you Sona Gorley. Ohe yeah.
• 52:41
  But I think it's cute when he has to drink out of the coffee
• 52:43
  and his there's at first there's coffee in his office and he's
• 52:47
  just like, wow, like that's me drinking coffee.
• 52:49
  I absolutely hate the taste. And then he gets to syrup.
• 52:52
  The idea that he gets syrup in his, in a, in a, in his coffee.
• 52:55
  Different story, different story.
• 52:57
  He's got a much different reaction down there.
• 52:59
  It's a good stuff. Yeah, I love that scene.
• 53:01
  You're so young. You're just so young.
• 53:03
  I gotta get out of the flow. Yeah.
• 53:05
  No, you gotta get in the flow. Still the way around.
• 53:07
  Anyway, just makes me chuckle. I like mailroom scenes and think
• 53:10
  about the general proxy. Absolutely.
• 53:12
  Like a Proxy is one of my favorite male room scenes.
• 53:14
  Have you seen the movie The Mailroom?
• 53:16
  No, check it out. It's really good.
• 53:18
  OK, yeah, Anyway, so I really like that.
• 53:21
  I think that that works really well.
• 53:23
  Now we've got Date Night, one of the world's worst movies, by the
• 53:26
  way. Steve Carell, bad movie.
• 53:28
  Is it you that told me that? No dinner for schmucks OK Steve
• 53:32
  Carell movie that OK will not ever ever think about again.
• 53:36
  What are thoughts on the date night though?
• 53:39
  It's sweet enough. Like taking her to the world's
• 53:41
  best cup of coffee. So callback.
• 53:43
  That is a nice callback. I didn't appreciate that she's
• 53:46
  drinking. This is shit.
• 53:47
  Yeah, this tastes like a bet. It is a bad cup of coffee.
• 53:51
  You know, it's, it's Hardy. I really enjoy it.
• 53:53
  It's the Christmas spirit, man. You're getting into like
• 53:55
  Christmas trees. He's mesmerized by one, she
• 53:58
  takes it to another, and then they end up at the Rockefeller
• 54:01
  Centre, Big tree in front of 30 Rock, where I did a tour last
• 54:04
  time I was there. Great show.
• 54:06
  Skating on the ice in front of it.
• 54:08
  These are magical Christmas, New York imagery that's as perfect
• 54:14
  as anything I could imagine. So to me, it's like these guys
• 54:16
  falling in love. That's how you do.
• 54:18
  It to me, I will. Admit or in a trunk one of the
• 54:20
  other put them in the trunk when you put an ice skating in New
• 54:22
  York. Those are two things.
• 54:24
  You do a date like that, you're going to get some points.
• 54:27
  That is a good date. Taking someone skating, You got
• 54:30
  some here in Canada. Beaver tails.
• 54:31
  I don't know if that's just a Canadian thing.
• 54:33
  They. Called elephant deers.
• 54:35
  Cinnamon. It's delicious, but if you get a
• 54:37
  really nice winter date of doing things, I think that's special.
• 54:43
  Pretty magical like that, and I enjoy it myself.
• 54:45
  There you don't have some cocoa, perhaps hot chocolate, maybe
• 54:48
  whatever you're fancy. Maybe if you don't like coffee.
• 54:50
  Sure. Mini marshmallows, yeah.
• 54:52
  But what I found a little bit more interesting than the date
• 54:54
  night, they gotta bring somebody in because we've established
• 54:57
  James sucks at his job, but now they have to get one out by Q1
• 55:02
  coming up, going to work Christmas Eve sucks.
• 55:05
  They keep talking about this guy, Miles Finch.
• 55:07
  They got him on the phone, very temperamental, very fussy.
• 55:12
  But we don't. Have 71°.
• 55:15
  But we haven't seen the character yet.
• 55:17
  And then we meet Miles Finch, played by Peter Dinklage.
• 55:22
  It's a great scene. Great.
• 55:24
  Just the innocence of buddy sure, coming in, which is
• 55:27
  completely not looking for trouble at all.
• 55:30
  And this is where I think that's really well scripted, the the
• 55:34
  insults and it just Miles Finch. It's a fun scene.
• 55:38
  Yeah, I think it's hilarious. I think that it's extra funny
• 55:41
  because the innocence of Buddy is so clear, right?
• 55:44
  Say it one more time. Call me now.
• 55:46
  OK? Yeah.
• 55:47
  You're an elf, right? There's zero guile like it is
• 55:50
  just. You're an elf, OK?
• 55:52
  And, you know, and you have a throwaway line, like maybe he's
• 55:55
  a South Pole elf. Yes.
• 55:56
  Right. Like, what does that even mean?
• 55:58
  Yeah. Like he's an asshole and they're
• 55:59
  all jerks down there. Yeah, I really get a kick out of
• 56:02
  that scene. I like how feisty the whole
• 56:04
  scene is in the end and how Buddy just so innocently, it's
• 56:07
  just like, hey, you must be an elf, right?
• 56:09
  Like there's no excuses, but it does lead to some shenanigans.
• 56:13
  Dad gets mad, Dad. Dad gets mad.
• 56:16
  Very mad. Basically throws him out and
• 56:17
  then Richter comes back and he's got the notebook, so they've got
• 56:21
  a little bit of an edge. Yeah, but but he's gone, but
• 56:23
  he's off the. Yeah, he left an Etch A Sketch.
• 56:26
  He did. Like, you know, sketch I love, I
• 56:28
  assume. Yeah, it's at that point in the
• 56:30
  movie where we have to have our sort of moment before we get
• 56:33
  back up. I did have a question around
• 56:36
  Dinklage who's very happy with his 70 inch plasma TV's plasma
• 56:41
  plasma and he's thinking, Oh yeah.
• 56:43
  I didn't write it down, but. Let me check, you know, come so
• 56:47
  far. Yeah, those days are.
• 56:49
  I never had a plasma as an LCD guy.
• 56:50
  OK, Just so you know. Yeah, I know.
• 56:52
  I I bought that plasma, but I returned it.
• 56:54
  That sounds about right. And then, yeah, between you and
• 56:56
  my wife learn many things, they ended up changing it around.
• 57:00
  So at this point now buddies off on his own but we get Mike.
• 57:06
  Mike, the other son, yeah, yeah, He comes to his dad's work.
• 57:09
  Yeah, with on his own, which I thought was a little peculiar.
• 57:11
  It's New York City. You do what you want, OK.
• 57:14
  But the idea is like, OK, buddy is gone.
• 57:16
  We need to fix this. James Conn finally breaks the
• 57:18
  spell of this thing. It's like, you know what?
• 57:20
  I'm out up yours. But the way he delivers.
• 57:23
  Don't talk to my kid like that. There's a there's a mumble.
• 57:26
  There is a bit of a lack of energy, let's say.
• 57:29
  I don't mind it so much. But every time I watch it,
• 57:32
  that's a moment you've talked before, you know, not really
• 57:34
  loving that performance. Yeah.
• 57:35
  That's the only moment in the movie where I'm just like, don't
• 57:38
  talk to my. Yeah.
• 57:39
  Feels like you're maybe a little less than engaged.
• 57:42
  He felt he phoned it in. Dude, come on.
• 57:45
  But Buddy now is on the walk, basically Central Park, Central
• 57:50
  Park. And he sees Santa Sasner, Ed
• 57:52
  Asner. Yeah, there he is.
• 57:54
  And he crashes in the middle of Central Park.
• 57:56
  Thank goodness Buddy is there. And they get a little moment of
• 57:59
  reunion. Yeah, contrivance I bullshit.
• 58:04
  Likely an engine repair off. That's right.
• 58:07
  I love it. I think this is great.
• 58:08
  I think that the idea that there's no Christmas spirit
• 58:11
  anymore frankly just makes me sad.
• 58:13
  We talked before, like when is the age?
• 58:15
  Is it lowering now that information is around?
• 58:17
  Yeah, I think there's two different things.
• 58:19
  It's believing in Santa as a kid is one thing, but the overall
• 58:21
  spirit of it is completely. Something I, I mean, I know the
• 58:24
  score with Santa. Yeah, but I love Christmas.
• 58:27
  Yeah, right. So yeah.
• 58:28
  Just there's so much, so many great things about.
• 58:30
  It Yeah, but we get a nice moment here where Buddy and
• 58:34
  Walter, my son, I love you. Like, that's a moment where,
• 58:37
  again, he may be a bad guy and he's so talented in the movie,
• 58:39
  but this is a moment he doesn't get to say it.
• 58:41
  The hug is a little awkward, but I feel some melting.
• 58:43
  I actually enjoy that moment between the two Santa crashes.
• 58:48
  We have a news person show up, and this is where the lesser of
• 58:52
  20 minutes of the movie. We're starting to wrap things
• 58:54
  up. Christmas spirit is low.
• 58:55
  OK, well, we know that Christmas movies are gonna have to end in
• 58:57
  a certain way. There's pieces that are getting
• 58:59
  put together. But Central Park Rangers is
• 59:02
  right. I do like Santa.
• 59:04
  'S delivery of that to make them sound really evil.
• 59:07
  Totally. Yeah.
• 59:08
  Even the shots and, like, the dark and like, I thought this is
• 59:10
  like, almost scary. Like, frighteningly hollow.
• 59:13
  Yeah. Like, really creepy, Yeah.
• 59:15
  Close-ups on the badges and like the masks down and like, it's
• 59:19
  pretty tense. Ed assers delivery.
• 59:20
  This is what I want. Yeah.
• 59:22
  You know, this is what we need. He doesn't phone it and he's.
• 59:24
  There, he's definitely, he's definitely there for sure,
• 59:26
  definitely there. So those are things that I
• 59:30
  really get excited about. Excited.
• 59:32
  Excited enough to make your sleigh rise?
• 59:34
  Yes, basically. It's a little creepy as all but.
• 59:39
  Absolutely, I like that Michael grabs the book and Michael with
• 59:43
  that cracks it open and and starts to rhyme off people and
• 59:46
  what they want for Christmas and like the excited part and so
• 59:48
  forth. And as he does, it resonates.
• 59:51
  OHP, that's me, that's me, that's.
• 59:52
  Of course, how convenient. You're watching TV.
• 59:55
  Those kids watching you watching TV.
• 59:57
  Kids aren't watching the news. Are so watching cartoons?
• 1:00:03
  So we've got the book Mikes out there, and he's rhyming off
• 1:00:06
  people's names to try and basically remind them that that
• 1:00:09
  Santa does exist, or convince them, as it were, without being
• 1:00:12
  too descriptive. Lucy wants this, Jim wants that,
• 1:00:14
  whatever else. And then in the sparks start to
• 1:00:16
  fly, you can see that the sleigh is getting a little bit more
• 1:00:20
  spirit. Spirit, it's getting a little
• 1:00:21
  more energy. That's how it used to run, you
• 1:00:23
  know. Didn't need the old Pringle 3000
• 1:00:25
  before. He's still working on the
• 1:00:26
  Kringle, right? Trying to make that work.
• 1:00:27
  I like that it they get off the ground immediately falls off
• 1:00:30
  like it doesn't matter. So yeah, the stakes get
• 1:00:32
  increased. Still under warranty.
• 1:00:33
  Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, we'll fix it. 50,000
• 1:00:37
  kilometers I. Think you're OK?
• 1:00:38
  Yeah, but I love it. I love it that what's happening
• 1:00:42
  is that they recognize that things are falling apart.
• 1:00:44
  They're in the middle of Central Park.
• 1:00:46
  They're scrambling with what to do.
• 1:00:48
  They've gotten a little uptick with the gift naming.
• 1:00:50
  Got to keep it up, but you got to keep it.
• 1:00:52
  Up. Keep it.
• 1:00:52
  Up. What's the best way to keep it
• 1:00:54
  up? Buddy says earlier.
• 1:00:55
  The best way to spread their Xmas cheer?
• 1:00:58
  Singing this sing loud for all to hear.
• 1:01:00
  God, Joey gets up. This is my favorite in the home.
• 1:01:04
  Of course she doesn't project. I legit I'm crying.
• 1:01:06
  Wow. Every time I watch it, really
• 1:01:08
  watching her get up and sing. Steenbergen get up and sing.
• 1:01:13
  The people in the different aspects of the of the movie.
• 1:01:16
  We've seen gimbals, the bar, all singing, con singing or at least
• 1:01:22
  pretending to sing. And then the last moment when he
• 1:01:25
  does it, it's the most heart rendering moment in the movie
• 1:01:28
  for me. It's such a galvanization and
• 1:01:30
  crystallization of the power of Christmas, the power of
• 1:01:33
  Christmas music, the power of people, the power of strangers,
• 1:01:37
  the power of forgetting about petty problems, the power of
• 1:01:40
  anti cynicism. All of those things are
• 1:01:43
  presented in this 4 minutes and it's a great song.
• 1:01:47
  In fact, I hope to hear it when I see Springsteen.
• 1:01:50
  He does a great version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
• 1:01:54
  It's just a phenomenal moment in a movie that again, is a person
• 1:01:57
  that likes it and has been in in engaged in it the whole time.
• 1:02:00
  It puts it all into a beautiful package, and even the things
• 1:02:03
  that I didn't much care for along the way.
• 1:02:04
  This movie isn't perfect by any stretch.
• 1:02:06
  This moment is something that just I love instinctively.
• 1:02:10
  It's so good to me. Hated it.
• 1:02:13
  There you go. That's funny, though, I'm I'm
• 1:02:16
  envious of that Phillip. I I truly am, because by this
• 1:02:19
  point I boy was out. I did not get any of that.
• 1:02:22
  What I did, what I wrote down is this.
• 1:02:24
  I felt the soundtrack was wasted because I did like that the
• 1:02:26
  soundtrack, not the song, but I ignore the score.
• 1:02:30
  Yes, I Oh, yeah, the score. A good movie.
• 1:02:34
  Yeah, it was good. Very.
• 1:02:36
  From minute 1, great score. I just felt like, oh, that's
• 1:02:38
  really good score, but I wish I'm not in it.
• 1:02:40
  So I'm like, it's too bad. Yeah, but I did it wasn't able
• 1:02:42
  to. I'm focusing on this silly stuff
• 1:02:44
  like that book's too small to fit all the people and the
• 1:02:48
  singing, I'm like, oh God, of course they're going to do this.
• 1:02:50
  I just thought it was cheesy and like I was too contrived for me.
• 1:02:53
  It just. If you're not in it like other
• 1:02:55
  hits or. Doesn't mean yes, yeah, yeah.
• 1:02:57
  If they're, you know, had they been in a trunk, maybe, but
• 1:03:01
  unfortunately. Jet fighter came and dropped the
• 1:03:04
  bomb on them and they ran away from the asteroid or something.
• 1:03:07
  Yeah, I might do it. I guess I'm all realistic stuff,
• 1:03:10
  like exactly, exactly. But just the way the kid shows
• 1:03:13
  up. Oh, look, the kid and then the
• 1:03:14
  mom shows up. Like, there's this big crowd.
• 1:03:16
  It's Central Park. It's Santa Claus on the news.
• 1:03:18
  You don't think you wanna get a piece of that action?
• 1:03:20
  You see how much rubber necking? Goes on.
• 1:03:22
  I get that. But how the kid and mom are just
• 1:03:24
  easily accessible, like, Oh well, that's just too easy.
• 1:03:27
  Sure, your time guys should have taken an.
• 1:03:29
  Hour and a half and Jovi just the way they just each of them
• 1:03:31
  show up without having to fight a crowd.
• 1:03:35
  This reporter. Oh, your husband, Your your
• 1:03:37
  engagements, this. She wants this.
• 1:03:40
  Yeah, she wants the engagement ring.
• 1:03:41
  And she just looks it up. Oh, there you go.
• 1:03:43
  It's in the book. That's Christmas, man.
• 1:03:45
  That's the whole thing. People live in New York alone.
• 1:03:48
  Oh my God. That book is way too small.
• 1:03:49
  Admit it, admit it. The magic Santa is doing the
• 1:03:54
  whole world. It's a magic little bug.
• 1:03:56
  It is a magic magic book anyways, but there it is.
• 1:04:00
  So they end up back in the North Pole, you know, back when you're
• 1:04:04
  comfortable. Yeah.
• 1:04:06
  Back to Bob, back to Bobby, and we get a little bit of a wrap
• 1:04:11
  up. Walter publishes a book, which I
• 1:04:13
  really love is the tall tale. Yeah, I didn't mind that.
• 1:04:16
  Like I didn't mind short story of a tale that's a funny.
• 1:04:20
  Yeah, funny story. I like that.
• 1:04:22
  Like this is I'm telling my story in a classroom.
• 1:04:24
  Yes, yes, yeah. I like that.
• 1:04:26
  There it is. Ending on a high note, folks.
• 1:04:28
  Well, not quite, but there is the point where they have a baby
• 1:04:31
  together. They don't like that, Yeah.
• 1:04:34
  Any fucking reason why? Them together again, I didn't
• 1:04:37
  buy another chemistry at all. So I'm like, that's just OK.
• 1:04:40
  Of course I was. Happy with the book ending.
• 1:04:41
  The book ending, Yeah. Reading the book, end it.
• 1:04:45
  You don't need to have a relationship or the family or
• 1:04:47
  anything. No, no, no.
• 1:04:48
  OK. Not a family man.
• 1:04:51
  Family first is what I always say.
• 1:04:54
  I mean, any of these Christmas movies we've taken off any, you
• 1:04:57
  know, in general, right? But particularly the Christmas
• 1:04:59
  movies. It's never lost.
• 1:05:00
  It's never waned. It's never ebbs and flows.
• 1:05:04
  I'm All in all the time. I think it connects to the best
• 1:05:07
  parts of me when I watch them. And that's been consistent
• 1:05:11
  around all the movies that have come off the shelf for that
• 1:05:13
  reason that we've seen. If you go back to the archives,
• 1:05:15
  they all have in these moments, as I, you know, kind of talk
• 1:05:19
  about them or think about them, emotionally powerful moments.
• 1:05:23
  Even in a movie like Fred Claus, which is a throwaway, hilarious
• 1:05:27
  I think at times, but convoluted, messy, two hours and
• 1:05:30
  something minutes. But there is always something, a
• 1:05:33
  kernel of hope, joy, excitement, magic, Christmas beauty that I
• 1:05:39
  can hold on to. And this movie had an hour or 35
• 1:05:43
  doesn't give as much back story to the families or histories of
• 1:05:46
  whatevers and whatever else. But the anti cynicism, as I was
• 1:05:50
  saying, the bugginess of it, his innocence, his kindness, his
• 1:05:53
  sweetness, and then wrapping it into a Christmas bow with people
• 1:05:57
  that care about him and and care about the season and care about
• 1:05:59
  life. Those are all things that I will
• 1:06:01
  have consistently always have a soft spot for.
• 1:06:03
  So this movie, while not in my, I mean, there's a reason why
• 1:06:06
  it's three years in and we're doing it.
• 1:06:07
  It's not my favorite most Christmas movie by any stretch,
• 1:06:10
  but I think it what it does. It delivers very well and
• 1:06:13
  continues to deliver 20 years later.
• 1:06:15
  And as I said, it was the last, I think on some level the last
• 1:06:18
  Christmas classic that people point to and go, this is a movie
• 1:06:22
  we need to watch every year. And there's something powerful
• 1:06:24
  that how about yourself? Who's a broken hearted and
• 1:06:27
  broken man? I'm just kidding.
• 1:06:29
  What are your what are your funny little thoughts on this?
• 1:06:31
  Just tough. Critic Ultimately, I think we
• 1:06:35
  definitely got different endings out of this movie.
• 1:06:38
  I think for me, because of the other characters outside of
• 1:06:40
  Will, I didn't really feel that last 10 minutes earned because I
• 1:06:44
  didn't think Conn's performance was good enough to have that
• 1:06:48
  feel good. Oh, we're all coming together,
• 1:06:50
  we're doing this song, we're doing this.
• 1:06:51
  I didn't think anyone's performance was good enough.
• 1:06:54
  OK to put. Us in that position so I wasn't
• 1:06:57
  there In Sync with the movie because overrated would be a
• 1:07:02
  term I used for the movie and my opinion I'm sure I might.
• 1:07:05
  Be in the. Minority of it, but again, I
• 1:07:08
  will not take it away from Will Ferrell's performance and Bob.
• 1:07:12
  So there are highlights within the movie.
• 1:07:14
  I just think when the world's blending, I just think it wasn't
• 1:07:17
  a good fit. For me, it's all It didn't
• 1:07:19
  capture. You didn't capture me.
• 1:07:20
  Yeah, there it is. I mean, that's ultimately what
• 1:07:22
  movies are supposed to do. And if they're doing them right,
• 1:07:24
  then they're connecting. And if they're not, then you
• 1:07:26
  know, it's on you. So no, I mean, some fail, some
• 1:07:30
  succeed. We talked about this every other
• 1:07:31
  week. So, well, we know from IMDb, no
• 1:07:34
  one's right, no one's right, No, absolutely not.
• 1:07:36
  It's all subjective. And you're in some .1 right
• 1:07:38
  here. I'll give it to you 7.1.
• 1:07:40
  So there you go. So folks, thanks so much for
• 1:07:41
  listening. We do appreciate it.
• 1:07:42
  As always, please rate the podcast 5 stars in your
• 1:07:45
  podcaster of choice. Subscribe so you never miss an
• 1:07:47
  episode. And you know the best way to
• 1:07:50
  share this podcast is to sing it loud for all to hear.
• 1:07:53
  To do that, do that please, please.
• 1:07:56
  Christmas goodnight.