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The Cinema Chronicles, Vol. 45: 'Street Fighter' and More! · Nashville Movie Dispatch

0:21
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another volume of the Cinema Chronicles right
0:27
Speaker 1: here on Nashville Movie Dispatch. I am your host, as always,
0:31
Speaker 1: Sir Brandon Vick, member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association
0:36
Speaker 1: and a board member of the Music City Film Critics Association.
0:41
Speaker 1: We got four. Four movies. I think, as usual, I
0:47
Speaker 1: did a pretty damn good job of finding four very
0:50
Speaker 1: different movies to to talk about uh today for you
0:56
Speaker 1: and let's um I'm only going to spend a couple
1:00
Speaker 1: minutes on this but obviously Saturday is Halloween and uh
1:06
Speaker 1: we have tried to do quite a bit of stuff
1:10
Speaker 1: to celebrate the season and we've only really had fall
1:14
Speaker 1: weather for like half of October so But we've done
1:18
Speaker 1: the pumpkin patch stuff. We actually went up to Gatlinburg
1:21
Speaker 1: and the Smoky Mountains. And we, as of this recording,
1:28
Speaker 1: haven't yet been going to Rock City because they got
1:31
Speaker 1: a full-blown Halloween thing going on up there. We even went,
1:37
Speaker 1: even though this was in September, we actually just went
1:42
Speaker 1: to see a movie in a cave. at Cherokee Cavern.
1:47
Speaker 1: So I feel like we've done good. I think we've
1:49
Speaker 1: done a lot. I've tried to watch a ton of
1:53
Speaker 1: spooky stuff. I'm in the middle of Crystal Lake, the
1:56
Speaker 1: Friday 13th Voorhees show. Still trying to watch that Josh
2:01
Speaker 1: Hartnett Netflix show called Below. But yeah, we still watched
2:08
Speaker 1: some of the Some of the greats have watched The Thing.
2:13
Speaker 1: I've watched the 2009's Friday the 13th. Of course, Paranorman,
2:17
Speaker 1: Monster House. I've kind of gone back in time. I've
2:23
Speaker 1: watched Psycho. I haven't watched that in years. And went
2:28
Speaker 1: back and watched the OG Werewolf movie. So, yeah. I
2:36
Speaker 1: think it's been a pretty successful spooky season. My son
2:41
Speaker 1: is really into Toy Story, so he has chosen to
2:45
Speaker 1: go as Buzz Lightyear this year. He told my wife
2:50
Speaker 1: that she's going to be Jesse, I'm going to be Woody,
2:53
Speaker 1: and his aunt is going to be Bullseye. But I
2:58
Speaker 1: personally thought Woody was too plain. So I've decided I'm
3:04
Speaker 1: going to go with Sid. But a 40-year-old Sid.
3:10
Speaker 1: Who has been beaten up by the world, who's a
3:14
Speaker 1: chain smoker, and has a limp. So I think it's
3:22
Speaker 1: going to be really cool when we take our pictures,
3:25
Speaker 1: and my son's going to be totally surprised, while probably
3:29
Speaker 1: my wife is going to be pissed. But, you know, listen,
3:33
Speaker 1: you've got to expand your horizons. You've got to step
3:36
Speaker 1: out of that box. It's still Toy Story. So shouldn't be,
3:41
Speaker 1: shouldn't be an issue. So we're excited. Uh, I think
3:45
Speaker 1: we've decided where we're going as far as going to,
3:49
Speaker 1: going to get them candies, but I love this. I
3:53
Speaker 1: love this season. I think I've loved it more. My
3:56
Speaker 1: wife has gotten me more into it and now being
3:58
Speaker 1: a dad, I'm, it's pretty fun. So, uh, it's going
4:03
Speaker 1: by way too fast and it's really hard to believe
4:05
Speaker 1: that there's less than a week before, uh, for Halloween
4:10
Speaker 1: and then it's the hectic holiday season. So, and speaking
4:14
Speaker 1: of a hectic holiday season, just a little programming note.
4:18
Speaker 1: Last year, I took a break, did not do a
4:22
Speaker 1: Cinema Chronicles in December. I'm going to do the same
4:26
Speaker 1: this year, but I'm also going to take next month
4:31
Speaker 1: off too. There will still be a VixFlix podcast, for
4:38
Speaker 1: November and December. This is just, just specifically the Cinema Chronicles.
4:43
Speaker 1: There will not be an episode in November or December.
4:48
Speaker 1: December will come back in January. It's just been, it's
4:54
Speaker 1: been a busy couple of months. There are a lot of,
5:00
Speaker 1: there's a lot of content out there, reviews, other podcasts
5:05
Speaker 1: as far as with the VIXX Flix, Movie View Rewind,
5:11
Speaker 1: The Drinking Whist. We just did the live drinking with
5:15
Speaker 1: last Friday at Danger Zone Video for House of Wax. So,
5:19
Speaker 1: you know, basically what I'm saying is I think I've
5:22
Speaker 1: earned it. So the Cinema Chronicles will not have an
5:28
Speaker 1: episode for the rest of this year, but we will
5:32
Speaker 1: be back in January. So just kind of keep that
5:36
Speaker 1: in mind. And I mean, I'm sure there'll be a
5:41
Speaker 1: podcast review or written review or something like that. But
5:44
Speaker 1: I just wanted to take a break for a little
5:49
Speaker 1: bit on this as a lot of time is put
5:52
Speaker 1: into it as you see the movie and then trying
5:55
Speaker 1: to gather information on top of writing my thoughts. So anyway,
6:01
Speaker 1: I don't know why I have to explain it to everyone, but...
6:04
Speaker 1: But this is it. So this is the last episode
6:06
Speaker 1: of 2026. We'll see you in 2027. But first, let's
6:11
Speaker 1: get to some movies, shall we? Coming up first is
6:16
Speaker 1: a whale. And he said, get in my belly. Next.
6:31
Speaker 1: Whale Fall. This is per Rotten Tomatoes. Following the death
6:35
Speaker 1: of his father, played by Josh Brolin, Jay Gardner, played
6:38
Speaker 1: by Austin Abrams, goes diving off the central coast of
6:42
Speaker 1: California in search of his father's remains, but is swallowed
6:45
Speaker 1: by a massive sperm whale. While trapped inside its belly
6:49
Speaker 1: with only one hour of oxygen left, Jay comes to
6:51
Speaker 1: realize that the hard-earned lessons that his father imparted may
6:55
Speaker 1: be the key to his escape. So this is adapted...
7:01
Speaker 1: From Daniel Krause's novel, co-writer, director Brian Duffield creates an
7:06
Speaker 1: incredibly immersive survival thriller slash kind of claustrophobic nightmare deep
7:12
Speaker 1: in the belly of a beast. It's quite exhilarating, excruciating,
7:16
Speaker 1: and entertaining when the movie is just about a boy
7:20
Speaker 1: and a whale. Abrams is back at it after Resident Evil,
7:26
Speaker 1: which was great for anybody that hasn't seen it. And
7:28
Speaker 1: he's fantastic here, too. He's delivering a tormented, physically committed performance.
7:34
Speaker 1: He's not really saying a whole lot after being swallowed
7:37
Speaker 1: up by a sperm whale. It's more sort of like noises.
7:45
Speaker 1: Like that. But when he does... You almost can't quite
7:50
Speaker 1: make it out because of the scuba mouthpiece that gives
7:54
Speaker 1: him oxygen to breathe. But that's where that physically dedicated
8:00
Speaker 1: part really comes in handy. Brolin, he's solid. He's bringing
8:06
Speaker 1: some emotional gravitas to a dad who's struggling to communicate
8:09
Speaker 1: with his son. Who does for a lot of the runtime... Unfortunately,
8:15
Speaker 1: kind of comes across as just kind of an asshole
8:18
Speaker 1: who cares more about the natural world than his family. Or,
8:22
Speaker 1: you know, again, so we think that's kind of what
8:23
Speaker 1: it looks like on the surface level. Jay, that's Abrams character, right?
8:30
Speaker 1: He's probably got enough trauma to fill up maybe two
8:33
Speaker 1: or three sperm wells, to be honest. But how his
8:38
Speaker 1: and his dad's relationship plays out on screen doesn't totally
8:41
Speaker 1: work by the end of Wellfall. Knowing that this is
8:45
Speaker 1: the heart of the story, and it should give it
8:48
Speaker 1: its resonance, it doesn't really move beyond the predictable beats
8:52
Speaker 1: of daddy issues that end up spawning these familiar feelings
8:57
Speaker 1: of unresolved anger, pain, guilt, and grief that, of course,
9:03
Speaker 1: ultimately leads to a sense of forgiveness. It's also more
9:08
Speaker 1: mushy than it needs to be, while also feeling a
9:12
Speaker 1: little unnecessary when the movie feels like it literally has
9:16
Speaker 1: to explain that these lessons that have been taught by
9:20
Speaker 1: Jay's dad wind up becoming the tools he needs to survive.
9:24
Speaker 1: While also wanting to, trying to dive deeper into what
9:31
Speaker 1: this entire journey is really about and kind of, you know,
9:34
Speaker 1: the whale being a metaphor. I think if Duffield had
9:38
Speaker 1: made some different choices, especially pertaining to stuff towards the end,
9:42
Speaker 1: I think the crucial connection still would have been, one,
9:45
Speaker 1: they would have been pretty obvious, but two, would have
9:47
Speaker 1: been more emotionally effective. It's the craftsmanship and sound design
9:54
Speaker 1: that truly makes Will fall. An unforgettable, breathtaking experience. With
10:00
Speaker 1: much of the film taking place inside a sperm whale's stomach,
10:04
Speaker 1: it's amazing what Duffield and his crew pull off and
10:07
Speaker 1: making it so damn cinematic. Ramsey Avery is the man
10:12
Speaker 1: behind it all, and he was the production designer on
10:14
Speaker 1: Duffield's last film. It was a 2023 sci-fi horror film
10:18
Speaker 1: called No One Will Save You. What he has created
10:21
Speaker 1: here is jaw-dropping. You're visually mesmerized with just how it
10:25
Speaker 1: looks and feels and moves. There was an Entertainment Weekly
10:29
Speaker 1: piece titled, How Did the Whale Fall Team Create That
10:32
Speaker 1: Incredible Whale's Stomach? The Production Designer Reveals All. It says,
10:37
Speaker 1: The first step was a lot of research. Nobody's really
10:41
Speaker 1: seen those things, Avery says, of the insides of a
10:43
Speaker 1: living whale. So he dove into a catechism, catechism, biology
10:49
Speaker 1: information and kicked off many early mornings with Well Falls
10:52
Speaker 1: Well expert, who often greeted him with photos of dissections.
10:56
Speaker 1: He's quite a saying, lots of good bloody stuff to
10:58
Speaker 1: start off my day. Avery oversaw the creation of digital
11:02
Speaker 1: models scaled from real well stomach measurements. Then they built
11:05
Speaker 1: a rough foam mock-up that the crew climbed into one
11:10
Speaker 1: at a time to test the scale, sight lines, and
11:14
Speaker 1: memorably the placement of the stomach chambers sphincters he says
11:21
Speaker 1: the first model was shaped like an eggplant and one
11:23
Speaker 1: of the sphincters was right behind jay's head avery recalls
11:27
Speaker 1: we were like yeah we don't really want to look
11:29
Speaker 1: at a butthole for an entire movie Next came 3D printing,
11:34
Speaker 1: more foam builds, and finally four full-scale rigs, including one
11:38
Speaker 1: on a heavy-duty motion base and one rigged to spin
11:42
Speaker 1: like a washing machine, each built to give cinematographer Aaron
11:46
Speaker 1: Morton a different way to shoot movement inside the well.
11:49
Speaker 1: Keeping that set alive during filming filled a seven-crew member
11:54
Speaker 1: station outside it, manually pushing and pulling the structure with
11:58
Speaker 1: foam paddles and custom tools while Avery called out their
12:01
Speaker 1: movements in real time. Avery says, I'm actually there talking
12:06
Speaker 1: to the manipulators. Can you move a little higher? Can
12:08
Speaker 1: you push a little harder or a little less? He
12:11
Speaker 1: says he's never had to do that before. When we
12:20
Speaker 1: talk about willful, it's not just about what you see,
12:23
Speaker 1: but it's what you hear. The sounds are phenomenal and
12:27
Speaker 1: easily enveloping, keeping us, the audience, in a constant state
12:31
Speaker 1: of anxiousness while adding so much naturalism to, I mean,
12:35
Speaker 1: let's face it, a pretty preposterous premise. What could have
12:39
Speaker 1: made well-fall great is if the same kind of energy
12:43
Speaker 1: and effort that was put into the creation of the
12:45
Speaker 1: insides of a well was put into the father-son dynamic,
12:48
Speaker 1: because that's really what the story is. Yet, it's because
12:53
Speaker 1: of all of these tremendous technical aspects that still makes
12:58
Speaker 1: well-fall worth seeing on a very big screen. VixFlix rating
13:04
Speaker 1: for Will Fall is 3 out of 5. And coming
13:08
Speaker 1: up next, Jessica Chastain is back as one creepy mama.
13:16
Speaker 2: Next.
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Speaker 1: I knew one thing that I had to have for
13:29
Speaker 1: this Cinema Chronicles episode, and that was at least one
13:34
Speaker 1: spooky movie, because after all, it is October. Unfortunately, the
13:39
Speaker 1: one I brought you is a shitty one. Let's go
13:43
Speaker 1: over what this is about, in case you don't know.
13:45
Speaker 1: An eight-year-old girl encounters, this is per Rotten Tomatoes, eight-year-old
13:48
Speaker 1: girl encounters a sinister entity that looks and sounds just
13:51
Speaker 1: like her mother. So, Jessica Chastain, I love her, I'm
13:56
Speaker 1: sure you do too. But she doesn't have the best
13:59
Speaker 1: track record when it comes to the horror genre. I'd
14:02
Speaker 1: say IT Chapter 2 is probably her best, and even
14:04
Speaker 1: that one was the weakest of the two IT movies,
14:07
Speaker 1: I think. Crimson Peak is more known for its production
14:11
Speaker 1: design and atmosphere, and not necessarily, I think, for the performances. Mama,
14:18
Speaker 1: I don't know if anybody remembers that one, but that
14:20
Speaker 1: one was quite disappointing. And now, here we are with
14:23
Speaker 1: Other Mommy, which is definitely the worst of the bunch, and...
14:27
Speaker 1: one of the worst movies of the year. So there's
14:31
Speaker 1: nothing really wrong with her performance. There seems to be
14:36
Speaker 1: somewhat of a balance between camp and just straight up
14:39
Speaker 1: horror for her. And the little girl in it plays
14:43
Speaker 1: her daughter. Her name is Arabella Olivia Clark. She's pretty
14:46
Speaker 1: good too. But it's everything else that is so uneven
14:51
Speaker 1: and poorly executed. I had a suspicious feeling that That
14:56
Speaker 1: the scariest stuff was probably in the previews. And I
15:00
Speaker 1: couldn't have been more correct. The preview really freaked people out.
15:06
Speaker 2: And....
15:07
Speaker 1: If you haven't seen it, I'd almost tell you just
15:09
Speaker 1: to watch the trailer and be... And say, okay, no need.
15:13
Speaker 1: No need to go watch an hour and 20-something minutes
15:15
Speaker 1: of that.
15:16
Speaker 2: But.
15:19
Speaker 1: It's... Jump scares galore for director Rob Savage. Rob Savage. But... What...
15:26
Speaker 1: what are what would those be called if they don't
15:29
Speaker 1: scare you because i guess that would be just annoying
15:33
Speaker 1: um they run away the family jessica chastain jay jay
15:39
Speaker 1: duplass plays the husband and of course their daughter they
15:43
Speaker 1: run away from home to get away from other mommy
15:46
Speaker 1: just to go to other places and that's then followed
15:50
Speaker 1: by the other mommy, and then make their way back
15:52
Speaker 1: home to pick from a table full of murder weapons
15:56
Speaker 1: to kill the other mommy. Oh, and the real mommy
16:01
Speaker 1: is having an affair that adds nothing to this story.
16:07
Speaker 1: The writing is atrocious and the attempted humor is awful.
16:11
Speaker 1: The demon elements, they're creepy at first, but then those
16:15
Speaker 1: get pretty laughable the more that we see it, and
16:22
Speaker 1: what the other mommy is intended to represent also goes
16:28
Speaker 1: horribly wrong. The family lie reveal that happens at the
16:34
Speaker 1: very last moment and the way that it's done is
16:39
Speaker 1: quite baffling. I'll let you go and enjoy that on
16:45
Speaker 1: your own. The emotional core of the movie, and again,
16:48
Speaker 1: I have not read the book, but I assume the book,
16:52
Speaker 1: is this isolation and loneliness of the little girl, the daughter,
16:58
Speaker 1: which is basically how this mommy demon finds her and
17:04
Speaker 1: is pretty consistent in asking to let her into her heart, which,
17:11
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess as demons do. However, This feeling
17:19
Speaker 1: that we're supposed to have with the struggles of the
17:24
Speaker 1: daughter is clearly not resonating on screen as Other Mommy
17:31
Speaker 1: does not know how to effectively depict this sort of
17:34
Speaker 1: pain that she's going through. So what Savage ends up
17:39
Speaker 1: prioritizing doesn't leave us feeling unsettled or have us straight
17:44
Speaker 1: up sitting in our seat, sweating in fear. It's an
17:48
Speaker 1: undeniable sense of just silliness and stupidity. A VixFlix rating
17:55
Speaker 1: for Other Mommy is 1.5 out of 5 stars. And
17:59
Speaker 1: coming up next... Round 1.
18:02
Speaker 2: Fight!
18:10
Speaker 1: Good news, everyone. The best Street Fighter movie ever is
18:16
Speaker 1: finally here. What's that? There's only been two other movies?
18:21
Speaker 1: That's correct. There's the, I think, probably the most famous
18:26
Speaker 1: 1994 movie with the one and only Jean-Claude Van Damme.
18:30
Speaker 1: There was also a 2009 Street Fighter Legend of Chun-Li,
18:35
Speaker 1: and I don't remember anything about that one. So I'm
18:38
Speaker 1: going to say no one saw it, no one cared.
18:42
Speaker 1: So obviously this is a very low bar. But per
18:47
Speaker 1: Rotten Tomatoes, estranged street fighters Ryu and Ken Masters get
18:52
Speaker 1: thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li recruits them
18:56
Speaker 1: for the next World Warrior Tournament. A brutal clash of fists, fate,
19:01
Speaker 1: and fury. However... Behind the Battle Royal lies a deadly
19:06
Speaker 1: conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other
19:10
Speaker 1: and the demons from their past. This is a perfect
19:15
Speaker 1: case of what you see is what you get with
19:17
Speaker 1: this Capcom video game adaptation that is directed by.
19:23
Speaker 1: Bear with me here. It is directed by Kiteo Sakurai.
19:27
Speaker 2: And....
19:34
Speaker 1: The entire cast and crew's love for this game is
19:38
Speaker 1: on full display, with references popping up everywhere. But when
19:42
Speaker 1: there's no fighting, the movie is supremely sloppy and more
19:46
Speaker 1: stupid than fun. uh street fighter opens up with this
19:51
Speaker 1: stellar anime animation and honestly that's really how the whole
19:57
Speaker 1: movie should have been because it's it's really cool but
20:01
Speaker 1: the live action stuff struggles to get from one fight
20:06
Speaker 1: to the next It doesn't take itself that seriously, but
20:11
Speaker 1: it's also incredibly incoherent with too many characters, awful dialogue,
20:18
Speaker 1: and lousy attempts to make the audience laugh. I really
20:21
Speaker 1: don't know if there's a single joke that really hits,
20:26
Speaker 1: and I feel like if it does, it might only
20:28
Speaker 1: cause a tiny chuckle, and it may have come from
20:31
Speaker 1: Cody Rhodes' guile. Maybe. I don't even want to get
20:36
Speaker 1: your hopes up on that. And the editing. The editing
20:41
Speaker 1: is terrible when it comes to actually trying to present
20:48
Speaker 1: this main plot that involves Ryu and Kim. And the
20:54
Speaker 1: Warrior Tournament itself. Half of that is skipped with lame forfeits.
21:03
Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense. The visual effects... Go from decent
21:08
Speaker 1: to iffy to just being straight-up eyesores. Jason Momoa's Blanca
21:13
Speaker 1: instantly comes to mind. I don't know what in God's
21:17
Speaker 1: name they've done, but he looks... It looks awful. Hey,
21:25
Speaker 1: here's some good stuff. I did enjoy this brotherhood that
21:30
Speaker 1: is shared by Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji. They are...
21:37
Speaker 1: Ken and Ryu respectively their friendship and bond I do
21:41
Speaker 1: think is a nice direction to take this story even
21:44
Speaker 1: if it fails to really do something with it these
21:49
Speaker 1: two guys are undoubtedly committed I think you can physically
21:54
Speaker 1: see that and all the training really pays off and
21:57
Speaker 1: I think that could be said for most of the
22:02
Speaker 1: performances when they're actually throwing fists and throwing each other
22:06
Speaker 1: around um kalina liang as chun li i thought she
22:11
Speaker 1: was pretty good but i really found andrew schultz and
22:15
Speaker 1: eric andre annoying they they don't add anything to it
22:19
Speaker 1: they're also part of the real problem of trying to
22:23
Speaker 1: force these laughs by getting these type of funny guys
22:26
Speaker 1: it does not work at all um I talked about
22:32
Speaker 1: Cody Rhodes is guile. He was pretty amusing for the
22:35
Speaker 1: most part. And Roman reigns got to be pretty evil,
22:38
Speaker 1: even though, and I'm, I'm sure maybe I'm the only one,
22:41
Speaker 1: but I don't even really remember Akuma in the games.
22:47
Speaker 1: So I don't really know when he came in. He it's,
22:51
Speaker 1: it's a, it's a, it's a very, um, prominent role.
22:55
Speaker 1: You don't really see Roman reigns, um, until the end,
23:00
Speaker 1: but it's, but, But I liked that aspect of it.
23:05
Speaker 1: I didn't mind it. The most fascinating person, I think,
23:09
Speaker 1: in this whole thing is David Dussmouchen. And I don't
23:14
Speaker 1: really mean that in the best way. I like him.
23:18
Speaker 1: I think he's a great actor. He does have this
23:24
Speaker 1: kind of creepy, mysterious presence. He's been in the Suicide
23:30
Speaker 1: Squad movie. He's been in a lot of stuff, including
23:34
Speaker 1: in Nolan's Batman movies. I think it's The Dark Knight.
23:37
Speaker 1: He's in that. But there is a movie, and actually
23:40
Speaker 1: it's perfect to watch right now, but it's called Late
23:42
Speaker 1: Night with the Devil. I highly recommend that one. He
23:46
Speaker 1: is really good. But as far as his M. Bison,
23:49
Speaker 1: his M. Bison is strange and sinister, which kind of
23:54
Speaker 1: fits with what he does. But it weirdly seems like
24:01
Speaker 1: a lot of his screen time is either spent yelling or, like,
24:06
Speaker 1: legit rolling his eyes into the back of his head
24:09
Speaker 1: as if he's orgasming in his pants. Now, I haven't
24:14
Speaker 1: played Street Fighter in a really long time, but I
24:16
Speaker 1: don't remember him doing.
24:17
Speaker 2: That in the game. And, honestly....
24:22
Speaker 1: To build on that, there's more than a few things
24:26
Speaker 1: in this street fighter that made me wonder why in
24:29
Speaker 1: the hell is this movie so horny? It's really kind
24:34
Speaker 1: of wild on some of the things that they say
24:37
Speaker 1: or do where they, I mean, they are really going
24:40
Speaker 1: out of their way to make it horny. And I
24:45
Speaker 1: don't get it. I don't really know what the, Like
24:49
Speaker 1: I get if you want to have everybody under a
24:52
Speaker 1: certain age come and you're going to have these, you know,
24:54
Speaker 1: guys without their shirts and stuff. I get it. You
24:57
Speaker 1: want eye candy and then you want some, some, you know,
25:02
Speaker 1: beating of, of faces and bloodshed. And I get it,
25:06
Speaker 1: but I really don't, I don't know. It's, it's very confusing. Uh,
25:12
Speaker 1: if there is one thing that street fighter can do it,
25:14
Speaker 1: it is fighting. Thankfully. Uh, The fighting sequences, they're vicious,
25:19
Speaker 1: they're intense, and they're energetic. They truly do pack a punch,
25:22
Speaker 1: which is what fans, I think, want really at the
25:25
Speaker 1: end of the day. It does have a lot of
25:28
Speaker 1: what we enjoyed about the game and its characters. It's
25:34
Speaker 1: 90s nostalgia with a banger soundtrack. I will say there's
25:37
Speaker 1: a lot of good songs in there that it just
25:39
Speaker 1: goes all in on the absurdity of it all. And
25:42
Speaker 1: you're either willing to go a few rounds with it
25:44
Speaker 1: or you're not. I do think you'll probably find yourself
25:49
Speaker 1: exhausted either way. Street Fighter gets a 2.5 out of
25:54
Speaker 1: 5 stars, the VixFlix rating. And coming up next, if
25:59
Speaker 1: you got wicker, the bed is a-rockin' and don't come a-knockin'.
26:03
Speaker 2: Oh, next.
26:14
Speaker 1: It's that sensation that's been sweeping the nation, steamy and sexy,
26:23
Speaker 1: with a popcorn bucket that could have men and women
26:27
Speaker 1: howling at the moon. It's Wicker. Per Rotten Tomatoes, on
26:32
Speaker 1: the outskirts of a village by the sea lives a fisherwoman,
26:36
Speaker 1: played by Olivia Colman, smelly, single, and perpetually ridiculed. One day,
26:41
Speaker 1: fed up with her stuffy, small-minded neighbors, she commissions herself
26:45
Speaker 1: a husband to be made from wicker, played by Alexander Skarsgård.
26:49
Speaker 1: In an otherwise conservative town, this unconventional romance sparks outrage, jealousy,
26:56
Speaker 1: and chaos. This is based on a short story, it's
27:05
Speaker 1: only like 14 pages, called The Wicker Husband by Ursula Willis-Jones.
27:11
Speaker 1: Wicker is a fabulous and romantic fable about sharing love
27:15
Speaker 1: and happiness with another while freeing yourself of societal pressures
27:18
Speaker 1: and conventions and how that just might make everyone around
27:23
Speaker 1: you jealous as hell. Olivia Coleman is sensational as always.
27:29
Speaker 1: She's displaying depth and anguish and joy as a very misconceived,
27:37
Speaker 1: though rebellious woman who Skarsgard will never have you looking
27:41
Speaker 1: at Wicker the same again. Not sure how you looked
27:44
Speaker 1: at it before, but just know you're going to look
27:46
Speaker 1: at it differently after this film. Even as he's hidden
27:50
Speaker 1: under all of that Wicker, his character's tenderness and tranquility
27:55
Speaker 1: shines through. I think what we know is that women
28:03
Speaker 1: want him and men want to be him. Skarsgard's total
28:09
Speaker 1: look is exceptional there's an entertainment weekly piece called how
28:13
Speaker 1: wicker special effects team turned scars guard into a sexy
28:17
Speaker 1: man basket uh this is with the there's a lead
28:21
Speaker 1: makeup effects artist named sarah uh rubino and then the
28:26
Speaker 1: prosthetic makeup designer who is john joe dunkley um Entertainment
28:32
Speaker 1: Weekly piece says they started by creating a digital scan
28:36
Speaker 1: of the actor's body and wove the costume together using
28:40
Speaker 1: computer software. We did attempt weaving various materials in our
28:44
Speaker 1: research and development process, but what we settled on was
28:47
Speaker 1: a 3D model, Dunkley reveals. We 3D printed the prosthetics
28:51
Speaker 1: themselves in a print material with the weave intact. We
28:55
Speaker 1: think it's the first time this has been done. We have,
28:58
Speaker 1: and other shops have, done 3D. I've done digital prosthetics before,
29:02
Speaker 1: but you usually do a mold. We didn't do that
29:05
Speaker 1: for this, and we think that's a first, and then
29:07
Speaker 1: it's polished and painted to look like wicker. Then, each
29:15
Speaker 1: individual strand of the costume was painted with different colors.
29:19
Speaker 1: You had to follow it through the whole pattern because
29:21
Speaker 1: that's one of the things that was intrinsic in basketry.
29:25
Speaker 1: He adds, every strand is slightly different. The final result
29:30
Speaker 1: was composed of 50 interlocking parts for the body. All
29:33
Speaker 1: the pieces were stitched onto a spandex suit so that
29:36
Speaker 1: eventually became one piece made up of many pieces. Rubino
29:41
Speaker 1: explains the face had about 13 individual pieces and that's
29:45
Speaker 1: including the wig and the eyelashes but the ears were
29:48
Speaker 1: separate the lips were separate the eye bags were separate
29:52
Speaker 1: and there was a chin piece and a lower under
29:54
Speaker 1: lip piece so it was kind of a puzzle that
29:56
Speaker 1: was pieced together The piece says the most challenging part
30:00
Speaker 1: of assembling the costume was just making sure that our
30:03
Speaker 1: weaves were all lined up. So as we were putting
30:06
Speaker 1: the lower lip on, we had to match the weave
30:09
Speaker 1: and make sure the strands were all lined up perfectly.
30:15
Speaker 1: And there is a, there was a thing that I
30:19
Speaker 1: saw that I really thought was kind of interesting. So one,
30:25
Speaker 1: it was the, they talk about the practical part. the
30:29
Speaker 1: practical effects. And it says that, uh, the directors who
30:33
Speaker 1: are Alex Houston Fisher and Eleanor Wilson, who are married,
30:37
Speaker 1: they chose practical makeup and physical effects instead of heavy, um, CGI.
30:43
Speaker 1: So that way there was actual physical interaction on set.
30:48
Speaker 1: The talk, there was talk in the entertainment piece about
30:51
Speaker 1: the prosthetic pieces. Um, that went up to like 10
30:56
Speaker 1: separate prosthetic pieces that were glued directly to Skarsgård. This
31:01
Speaker 1: was able to move with his actual facial expressions. And
31:06
Speaker 1: then I read somewhere that the restrictive suit did make
31:09
Speaker 1: it hard for Skarsgård to open his mouth to eat
31:12
Speaker 1: or drink and had to wear it up to 10
31:14
Speaker 1: hours a day that required physical endurance and skin recovery time.
31:21
Speaker 1: So pretty fascinating stuff. And it looks... It looks sensational
31:27
Speaker 1: on screen. Elizabeth Debicki is also in this. She's great.
31:31
Speaker 1: She's kind of representing most of the oppressed wives that
31:34
Speaker 1: are trapped in this patriarchy. Her and practically the entire
31:38
Speaker 1: rest of the village become more depraved the more that
31:40
Speaker 1: they see how affectionate and kind the wicker husband is
31:45
Speaker 1: to Coleman's Fisherwoman. It's clear every woman in town wants
31:50
Speaker 1: to be treated the way that she's being treated. There
31:53
Speaker 1: is a... there is a great, great scene of, it's
31:59
Speaker 1: for someone's wedding, and I think it may be the
32:03
Speaker 1: first time the town actually sees the wicker husband. I'm
32:06
Speaker 1: not sure, but everybody is kind of doing the same
32:11
Speaker 1: sort of dance that's the traditional dance, except them. The
32:16
Speaker 1: fisherwoman and the wicker husband, and just their dance and
32:21
Speaker 1: their movement kind of, makes everything else stand still because
32:27
Speaker 1: it's just something that they have not seen, certainly have
32:29
Speaker 1: not experienced. Anyway, it was a great scene. Peter Dinklage
32:33
Speaker 1: is also in this. He's the creator of this captivating
32:37
Speaker 1: wicker husband. He should be in it more, but he's
32:40
Speaker 1: wonderful with the time that we do get with him.
32:44
Speaker 1: But really, the entire cast is superb. I actually got
32:49
Speaker 1: to participate in a press conference that did have Skarsgård, Coleman,
32:54
Speaker 1: and Debicki, and I, you have to register for it,
33:02
Speaker 1: and then they kept changing the time the day of, anyway,
33:04
Speaker 1: it was going to be pushed back, then it ended
33:05
Speaker 1: up starting early, but you, there, I don't know how
33:10
Speaker 1: many people were on it, but there was this moderator,
33:14
Speaker 1: and with them, and obviously it's one where, like, you know,
33:17
Speaker 1: they do a thousands of these in the same, sitting
33:19
Speaker 1: in the same seat, So, but you could ask a question.
33:24
Speaker 1: And my question was, because there's a lot of, there's
33:28
Speaker 1: a few parts in the film that kind of talks
33:31
Speaker 1: about like, well, once the wicker husband is made, that
33:34
Speaker 1: he's pretty handy around the house. So my question was,
33:41
Speaker 1: are you, who's the handiest person that you know, like
33:46
Speaker 1: in your family or whatever, anyway, It wasn't asked, and
33:49
Speaker 1: after hearing the other questions, I think I know why,
33:52
Speaker 1: but everything dealt with the film and this and that,
33:56
Speaker 1: and I just thought, you know what, let's get to
33:59
Speaker 1: some fun questions. But anyway, they didn't. But some things
34:07
Speaker 1: that were said, that were kind of revealed in the
34:10
Speaker 1: press conference, Alexander Skarsgård talked about how it was intimidating
34:14
Speaker 1: and exciting to take on the role. He was drawn
34:17
Speaker 1: to the purity. of the Wicker Husband character. He also
34:22
Speaker 1: talked about wanting and needing kind of for the audience
34:25
Speaker 1: to connect and care about the Wicker Husband, which you
34:30
Speaker 1: definitely do. And, fun fact, Alexander kept the Wicker Nips,
34:37
Speaker 1: but he ended up gifting them to Graham Norton on
34:40
Speaker 1: Graham Norton's show. So, that was a fun little tidbit.
34:45
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Devicki, she talked about how the Wicker Husband was
34:51
Speaker 1: sort of this mirror of the Fisher woman's beauty and purpose.
34:55
Speaker 1: She doesn't really see her character, the tailor's wife, as
34:58
Speaker 1: a villain, yet more of a woman that is stuck
35:01
Speaker 1: in this specific societal system, which I think that's really
35:04
Speaker 1: the case for a lot of these women that are
35:07
Speaker 1: in the village. And she has a terrific shout of
35:10
Speaker 1: rage towards the end of the film where she's finally
35:14
Speaker 1: kind of able to release this frustration, um, that she
35:18
Speaker 1: hasn't been able to, uh, before. And then Olivia Coleman
35:24
Speaker 1: talked about how the film was about learning about love
35:28
Speaker 1: together as far as her Fisher woman character and the
35:31
Speaker 1: wicker husband. But I also, I would like to add
35:35
Speaker 1: that there's also this liberation and this kind of sexual
35:38
Speaker 1: awakening that the Fisher woman experiences. That's quite significant and remarkable. Um,
35:46
Speaker 1: But through the absurdity and the fantastical, Wicker is beautifully
35:51
Speaker 1: told and is rather raunchy, but in all of the
35:55
Speaker 1: right ways, with stellar wit. The exceptional practical effects and
36:00
Speaker 1: sound that bring the Wicker husband to life also impresses
36:05
Speaker 1: beyond belief. Wicker is getting a VixFlix rating of 3.5
36:09
Speaker 1: out of 5. It's really such an unexpected... romance film
36:18
Speaker 1: not sexy or hot even though I guess there are
36:24
Speaker 1: elements of that but it is quite romantic in its
36:31
Speaker 1: strangeness and I think that is not only exciting but
36:36
Speaker 1: it's also something quite fresh and so I enjoyed it
36:41
Speaker 1: my wife enjoyed it so that's a that's a compliment
36:45
Speaker 1: in itself And that does it for this volume of
36:48
Speaker 1: the Cinema Chronicles. Like I said, that's going to do
36:53
Speaker 1: it as far as 2026. Cinema Chronicles will be back
36:58
Speaker 1: January 2027. Until then, all of our stuff can be
37:03
Speaker 1: found on nationalmoviedispatch.substack.com. Like I said, there's the Drinking With,
37:09
Speaker 1: there's the Movie Review Rewinds that we've done, and obviously
37:14
Speaker 1: the VIXFLIX, which again, there will be VIXFLIX episode for
37:18
Speaker 1: November and December. Be sure to check those out. You
37:21
Speaker 1: can listen to all of it wherever you get your podcasts.
37:27
Speaker 1: And until next time, just go see a damn movie.