The Dog Stars & It Ends

[SPEAKER_00]: hello and welcome to medium literate the podcast where two long time best friends try to sharpen our media literacy skills by talking about a new release in theaters every week. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Emily Fay, my co-host is Monica Scott and this week we're actually talking about two movies we're talking about it ends and the dog stars and spoilers for both pretty much from

[SPEAKER_00]: Then we also talk about TV shows quite a bit. [SPEAKER_00]: The post-apocalyptic thing gets us into paradise, so not, not like heaven, but like the show paradise. [SPEAKER_00]: This is not an angel studio's podcast, it's not. [SPEAKER_00]: You can watch on YouTube as always, you can watch the full episodes, see our faces, and

[SPEAKER_00]: outfits and our backgrounds, um, if you wish. [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, on to the show. [UNKNOWN]: Hello. [UNKNOWN]: Hi. [SPEAKER_01]: It's medium literate.

[SPEAKER_01]: we are here again yet another weekend. [SPEAKER_00]: And we're doing one of our little two movie apps where we're doing it ends and dog stars, which if you think about it are both very transportation-based films. [SPEAKER_01]: That is true, there's a vehicle central to both of them. [SPEAKER_01]: I would also say they're opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of filmmaker age. [SPEAKER_01]: So that's interesting. [SPEAKER_01]: True. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: It's very new year's baby end of year old man shaking hands.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, okay, I think we're gonna start with it ends. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, you saw this a week ago or we had a half ago? [SPEAKER_00]: I think it was like two or three weeks ago because I saw it when it was the scream unseen. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'll, I have some bad news for you. [SPEAKER_01]: It was a week and a half because I was in Vegas. [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm real in. [SPEAKER_01]: And that was not last week, but the week before. [SPEAKER_01]: Wow. [SPEAKER_00]: time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so interesting in that way. [SPEAKER_01]: I only really have that information handy in my brain because you told me you were going to go do this and it was like on a night where I had just gotten to Vegas for work and I was like, should I do have the night free? [SPEAKER_01]: I could go see it right. [SPEAKER_01]: I could go find an MC and see this right now because it was the screen unseen screen screen

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but I didn't, I didn't, I waited till this week. [SPEAKER_01]: So do you remember the various details of them? [SPEAKER_01]: I sure did. [SPEAKER_00]: And if it was a week and a half ago, no, I do. [SPEAKER_00]: I do remember the details, Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: And did you enjoy it ends? [SPEAKER_00]: I did. [SPEAKER_00]: Someone asked me how it was. [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe my words were, they were like, should I see it in theaters when it comes out? [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, yes, it's pretty cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I still have to buy that. [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's like pretty cool. [SPEAKER_01]: I do too. [SPEAKER_01]: I really enjoyed it. [SPEAKER_01]: I thought that [SPEAKER_01]: It had a really like cool, smart premise. [SPEAKER_01]: I like kind of just a fun, interesting premise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, do I personally connect with what those people in the car were like why they were in the malaise? [SPEAKER_01]: They were in? [SPEAKER_01]: No, that was not my experience of transitioning into adulthood, because I didn't go to college.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, but I do, you know, it doesn't mean that I don't connect with, you know, it's still a long journey. [SPEAKER_01]: I think even if you don't have the sort of cradling experience that college can be for people, but I just thought it was, yeah, it was really inventive. [SPEAKER_01]: and I am very fascinated by it's like story of coming out and then also just that this was like a first time filmmaker made it when he was 22 like all the backstory stuff of it which I'm happy to fill you in on if you don't know any of it is really interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just know that I

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's the moving parts of this film are very simple and it does, I thought it did a lot with it, it's, I think it's been very like [SPEAKER_00]: divisive amongst audiences like I think critics are liking it audiences are like that was boring what the hell was that um I definitely some people walked out when I was seeing it but I didn't stay I didn't find it boring at all I um yeah it doesn't it like the experience of

[SPEAKER_01]: But people's tolerance for feeling a little bored or anxious is like, at an all-time low. [SPEAKER_01]: Because I would only walk out of a movie if it was an angel studio, if I was being ambushed by angel studios. [SPEAKER_01]: Or if it was like upsetting me to a crazy degree, I think.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think I don't respect the move. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I am out. [SPEAKER_00]: I am pretty much I never respect the move of walking out during a movie and I'm also like, you know what? [SPEAKER_00]: If you walk out during a movie, you're literally not allowed to speak on that movie. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like what was the movie earlier boosters I love boosters had people like reviewing it and being like I walked out And it's like Then don't review it. [SPEAKER_01]: You're right. [SPEAKER_01]: It's like you're out.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're talking about you are not allowed to speak on a movie that you didn't see the end of and that's just I Believe that very strong Yeah, because you didn't bother to Engage with it the way it was intended. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think [SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting because I really like

[SPEAKER_01]: trying to engage with like, I mean, and that's, you know, I would say maybe Genesis of this podcast a little bit. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I like trying to figure out what I think about something and engaging with like artistic intent. [SPEAKER_01]: Even, you know, and there's a range of that, like, there are some, like, like, I don't know how much artistic intent I could

[SPEAKER_01]: Although even that has like artists working on it and they care about it. [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know, but I know that like That's not necessarily the average Cinema Goa where experience and some people are just trying to like [SPEAKER_01]: have a weird time at that the movies and then leave and never think about it again. [SPEAKER_01]: So it takes all kinds, but that's just so far from how I want to interact with a movie that I'm like, I can't even wrap my head around walking. [SPEAKER_00]: No, it's like the only thing I can, um, [SPEAKER_00]: Be like, okay, yes, I get it is like, you know, when people walked out in mass when like the screaming scene that week was like the ice cream man and they're like He like wrought this very evil and this is using like a fuck ton of generative AI [SPEAKER_01]: You know, yeah, I mean that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would equate with like a angel studios ambush. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right where I went to a mystery movie and then it was like, oh, I like don't. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't identify with this politically so I don't really want to be exactly. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's something for me. [SPEAKER_01]: My mom made us walk out of him one movie in my childhood and it was the cell by Tarsim Singh, which was like a weird Jennifer Lopez horror and she said it was like, [SPEAKER_01]: At the time, she was like, it's satanic and it's too scary and people are really like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's interesting only because Tarsim Singh is the filmmaker who made my favorite movie of all time the fall. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, ten years later. [SPEAKER_01]: And I never went back and tried to see the cell, but I do think there's like some...

[SPEAKER_01]: uh, some of the visual flare is like there that ends up in the fall, and you've already been exposed to this satanic director, so might as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: what Satan's gonna get you more? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and like, I don't think, you know, she's listening. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think she thought the director was, it just like the depiction, I don't know, I don't know, listen, I don't know, I'm not aligned with anyone who sees satanic messaging and stuff, but in terms of like, that's not, that's just simply not what's going on in stuff, ever. [SPEAKER_01]: But I understand, [SPEAKER_01]: You know, if you grew up in a different time, but anyway, the, okay, so the backstory of this movie is that he wrote and directed this movie when he was 22 years old.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right out of Florida State University, I think, or some, you know, one of the universities in Florida, this is truly.

[SPEAKER_01]: I joked that this is like a typical road trip in Florida experience in my experience, but yeah, and he just, like, he cast it off of Instagram. [SPEAKER_01]: These were like just total strangers that like, we're not, you know, they were aspiring actors but not necessarily like people who had gotten work. [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, the guy, I don't remember the character names unfortunately, I'm so sorry. [SPEAKER_01]: but the guy who plays the soldier, they were like, he's like, tiling roofs in Tallahassee right now, like, he's, and I thought he was one of the, I thought he was like a really interesting performance.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I thought everyone in it was like pretty good. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I really wish them all the success in the world. [SPEAKER_01]: But essentially, he made this movie at 22. [SPEAKER_01]: And then they reshot it like a year later, like 14-day. [SPEAKER_01]: It was a 20-day shoot, and then they did a 14-day reshoot a year later, because he was 22 and like young and like, yeah, fucked up some stuff or like, he didn't like how it looked. [SPEAKER_01]: And worked on it, worked on it, worked on it.

[SPEAKER_01]: He raised the money.

[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, he raised the first $30,000 to make the movie by being paid to make memes on Wall Street bets. [SPEAKER_01]: Wow. [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't like it. [SPEAKER_01]: The other thing, he, um, there's a, there's an article about him, where it says that one of the things he did was he would do the memes. [SPEAKER_01]: He would write ghost

[SPEAKER_01]: And he hung out in VR poker lobbies for like expensive high roller games and just talked to people because he saw those people as people with like disposable income and then if he could like hook someone and tell them about what he was working on and like get them to give him a little bit of money.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then he got a grant from like this, they had like a college friend who died in his parent. [SPEAKER_01]: That person's parents started a grant for the arts. [SPEAKER_01]: And so he got that grant to like finish the movie. [SPEAKER_01]: the movie gets into South by Southwest and gets a ton of buzz. [SPEAKER_01]: But nothing happens. [SPEAKER_01]: Like studios meet with him and they're like, yeah, it's really great. [SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to really sit, but it is really great.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and so like he keeps progressing forward. [SPEAKER_01]: He like, [SPEAKER_01]: He's starting to find his next project and he's working on other stuff, but he is getting to the point where he's going to just fucking upload the movie on YouTube, because he can't. [SPEAKER_01]: No one seems to want to release it, he can't figure it out, and then he tells this really funny story on a podcast where he's leaving a meeting at Universal for his next project. [SPEAKER_01]: And as he's leaving the meeting, they're on the universal lot, they're doing some of influencer event for the New Jurassic World movie.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he sees that influencer, screenwriter Nick that like is on, we said this was a long time ago. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: Wow. [SPEAKER_01]: He sees that guy, though, that TikTok movie influencer screenwriter Nick. [SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember the Nick's last name, but he sees him in there. [SPEAKER_01]: He calls his agent and he says, [SPEAKER_01]: If I broke into an event at Universal, is that you think that's like a lifetime ban kind of thing, or do you think like, would it be forgivable if I snuck into this event?

[SPEAKER_01]: And the manager was like, just don't fucking tell me what you're about to do. [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, okay, he goes and he like lies to the security guard or something and gets sneaks like talks his way into this event. [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, oh, I'm so-and-so influencer and I have all these followers. [SPEAKER_01]: I got an email that I was supposed to be here. [SPEAKER_01]: They let him in. [SPEAKER_01]: He goes up to that influencer screenwriter Nick and he's like, I love what you do for the industry.

[SPEAKER_01]: You like, I think it's really important. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm an independent filmmaker. [SPEAKER_01]: My name is this. [SPEAKER_01]: And Nick knew the movie and said, why can't I find your movie anywhere? [SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, great question. [SPEAKER_01]: And he like tells him why. [SPEAKER_01]: Nick ends up making a TikTok about the movie. [SPEAKER_01]: This is the most amazing horror movie this year. [SPEAKER_01]: And you can't see it. [SPEAKER_01]: And this starts the ball rolling, letter box to reach out and then it's in the initial run of the letter box video store.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then from there, Dion agrees to distribute. [SPEAKER_01]: Wow, and so it's just like he was like days away from just giving up on this movie and putting it on YouTube. [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's really, it was made ultimately with like $150,000 total. [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's really cool that we got to see it at AMC and that it like, yeah, made it. [SPEAKER_01]: And this is, you know, it's not a perfect movie, but I don't think he would say it's a perfect movie. [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's like a young filmmaker and this is his first movie doing his best.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this is exactly the kind of movie that like, I want to be able to hype up in a setting like this. [SPEAKER_00]: I, I love how much kind of every step of that story is kind of like, you know, a little bit like dirt bag Florida hustler mentality, you know, it's used for good. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, yes, totally.

[SPEAKER_00]: It really is, but it's like, she went for, yeah, it's like, thank God, thank God he had that, you know? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think it's, yeah, it's really funny that it is like, yeah, if you're not a, if you're not a NEPO baby and you don't have any

[SPEAKER_01]: way to get these meetings. [SPEAKER_01]: And even he's even in the meetings. [SPEAKER_01]: He got the meetings out of his talent and was still like, they were still like, but no thank you. [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Very good, but also no thank you for that one. [SPEAKER_01]: And I just think that's really cool. [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's like, that feels like old school indie movie stories. [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean? [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it's, you know, love, love a Hollywood story where someone is having to do like, light, light for a crime. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: That's, yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: That's classic. [SPEAKER_00]: And you just don't hear about that much anymore.

[SPEAKER_01]: totally. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I know that the movie is about sort of his struggle with like transitioning into adulthood after college. [SPEAKER_00]: Did he say like something I just kept wondering did they have like one stretch of road that they managed to get blocked off and they just kept like resetting at the beginning or like how did they do that? [SPEAKER_01]: Well, for the exterior shots, there's like, I think it was a stretch of road in a Florida state park because that's the only way you can get a stretch of road that doesn't have turns and signs and stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: But a lot of it was shot actually on Florida State University, like, their version of the volume, essentially. [SPEAKER_01]: And so they had like an alumni thing where they would let alumni use their tools, essentially, to like make a movie. [SPEAKER_01]: So like, I think a lot of that was like, yeah, reshot on there. [SPEAKER_01]: I think like, they probably had multiple versions of that car. [SPEAKER_01]: I think they had to like saw one in half to kind of get the camera in there.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's very claustrophobic to imagine the shoe process.

[SPEAKER_01]: But you know what I thought that it did that was like really special.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it doesn't solve this, but at least kind of gestures at the sort of, and I'm saying this with complete compassion for it. [SPEAKER_01]: The leg Gen Z kind of like, [SPEAKER_01]: apathetic malaise of how that entire generation has had to cope with problems and sort of the different versions of that. [SPEAKER_01]: It's very funny that I keep, listen, for the audio only, I keep accidentally doing something where my camera gets really bright for a second, and I don't know how I'm doing it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, [SPEAKER_01]: Um, I don't know if you've noticed it a few times, but I like light up my whole screen and then I guess you're haunted. [SPEAKER_01]: So there's a ghost in my camera. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, but yes, I think that like engaging with it, I don't think I've seen a movie really do that yet, fully. [SPEAKER_01]: The like engaging with sort of gen Z over-stimulated, numbed out, flattened out, malaise. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's worth exploring in movies, and I'm excited for like, new filmmakers to start to do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: As many backgrounds does it a little. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I definitely, because it is a very simple movie, which like, I like that they immediately establish like, I don't know, there's something within this that it's like, food's not an issue bathroom's not an issue, like all these things are like, non issues for whatever it is. [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, and, um, [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I wanted to because it I wanted to ask what while watching it, which maybe since you had more background years will be more The intent of the filmmaker, but like yeah, what what you thought while watching it like the allegory was

[SPEAKER_01]: To me, I mean, I, I think his intent is going to be different than my read because I'm a different age. [SPEAKER_01]: I think there's all of this. [SPEAKER_01]: And different like place in my life, but to me, it's almost like an exploration of [SPEAKER_01]: Like the journey is the destination and the people around you and the experiences you have are the destination and that that like striving for goals.

[SPEAKER_01]: The thing that comes out of that is the journey to the goal. [SPEAKER_01]: It's never the goal. [SPEAKER_01]: You don't reach self-actualization by reaching a goal. [SPEAKER_01]: You reach it by journeying to something. [SPEAKER_01]: And James feels like an obvious self-insert character a little bit. [SPEAKER_01]: that is incredibly mean and that almost like by the end of the experience, when he picks up someone, like the very last thing that happens, where he picks up someone and lifts him up and puts him in the car, that it's like,

[SPEAKER_01]: He needed to uplift and not tear down, is maybe the dumb guy who ate a bullet at like, but that is, you know, to me, that's what the allegory is. [SPEAKER_01]: That it's playing with like uplift and admire your surroundings in the journey and not don't focus on the end point because it's pointless.

[SPEAKER_01]: What about you? [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like when I think I saw it as like the road was like life and yes, there's definitely like what makes up life is the relationships in it, but then also it was like, I'm sorry, I'm going to be referring to them as the first guy, the middle two and the last guy, the first guy was like, [SPEAKER_00]: Already he started? [SPEAKER_00]: more depressed than everyone else and more jaded by life because he'd already been in the real world for like, I don't know, a year or whatever.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like he didn't have the optimism of the others. [SPEAKER_00]: He was already very beat down and hit like given up. [SPEAKER_00]: Like he was like, yeah, I'm ready to just settle down and like get a shitty job and then just like live until die. [SPEAKER_00]: Like he'd already kind of [SPEAKER_00]: given up and was depressed. [SPEAKER_00]: And was a little, yes, separated from the others in that way. [SPEAKER_01]: Because also he didn't go to college, right? [SPEAKER_01]: That's what we understood that like he was a soldier.

[SPEAKER_00]: I, I think, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Because he says I never deployed, so I think he, like, was just sort of a state side soldier. [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, he, [SPEAKER_00]: gave up way easier and quicker than the other one's did because he was already half way there and he was already disconnected from the others yeah and then the middle to I saw a sort of like the sweet spot where it's like they sort of gave up the element of control and that like they knew that they knew that they couldn't [SPEAKER_00]: fix this.

[SPEAKER_00]: They accepted that, like, this was the situation and they were trying to make the best of it. [SPEAKER_00]: Of what was given to them. [SPEAKER_00]: And then when it was time to give up because they were like, we'd rather give up than like go go insane. [SPEAKER_00]: Like you last guy. [SPEAKER_00]: And so to me, I saw them as like,

[SPEAKER_00]: Together and in meshed the whole time like they made they are the two that maintained like the human relationship Yes, and then we're like, okay, we're done and so I saw them is like, you know the Goldilocks sweet spot there baby bear and then [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, last guy, James, he was so focused on like trying to wrangle and control the situation aka life that he lost all meaning in it by disconnecting from the only other two people there were, and then still realized he couldn't control it.

[SPEAKER_00]: all this like he lost everything and still had no control over it so then I saw him picking up the guy at the end is like okay he realized that the only meaning is human connection. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I agree with everything you just said. [SPEAKER_01]: I think that that [SPEAKER_01]: What, um, what nursery rhyme is it? [SPEAKER_01]: Is it the three little bears, the three? [SPEAKER_00]: Well, there's the, there's Goldilocks on the three bears, and then there's the three little pigs with the houses.

[SPEAKER_00]: The straw house, right, the cows, I think, and the brick house. [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: just reflecting on how I really have lost touch of any of the nursery rhymes, don't have kids in my life, so that's okay. [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's okay that you're an adult who's not regularly reading nursery rhymes. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I am, but you do you, you're talking about the three little pigs really through me. [SPEAKER_00]: That's like, damn, do I not remember that one at all? [SPEAKER_00]: Put on my glasses and open my mother goose book. [SPEAKER_00]: To reach in the cats, of course.

[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, of course. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but it is, it's like playing with that stuff a little bit that there's like, [SPEAKER_01]: you can go not far enough and you can go too far and you need to find the right zone. [SPEAKER_01]: I had a live life. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: There was one shot where I was worried it was going to end and I was going to I think this would have made me like the movie a lot less. [SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was going to end on the shot where you see James seeing something.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought they were going to end and you weren't going to see what he sees. [SPEAKER_00]: And I was gonna, I thought that to you, so I was like, think God, and you know what? [SPEAKER_01]: That shows incredible maturity that it didn't end there because, you know, a 22-year-old filmmaker could have ended it there. [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_00]: And like, it's more powerful if you're imagining what he sees. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, definitely, and yeah, I like that. [SPEAKER_01]: I like your assessment of it, and I just, I'm really excited.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is his first movie, like I genuinely am excited for like, [SPEAKER_01]: following his career. [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was good. [SPEAKER_00]: It's, I think, you know, as most horror movies are, you know, every horror movie is called like, it's the horror movie of the year. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, obviously this isn't, but I think it's really good. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think it does belong in, like, AMCs and stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: and it would make a great double feature with Exit 8, the other liminal repeating road or that takes place in a subway station. [SPEAKER_01]: Should we move on to the dog stars?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, deep breaths. [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone's gonna be okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: I thought this movie was

[SPEAKER_01]: medium to fine. [SPEAKER_00]: I got it be honest, I really hate it. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I

[SPEAKER_01]: I am all in on post-apocalypse stories. [SPEAKER_01]: I love them. [SPEAKER_01]: I love them so much. [SPEAKER_01]: This did a lot of that stuff incorrectly. [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like.

[SPEAKER_01]: But here's what I'll say positive about the movie to get us to gently lead us down the path, our dark path.

[SPEAKER_01]: I thought that it looked like incredibly competently made, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Like some of their shots were like so beautiful to look at. [SPEAKER_01]: And hilarious, it was shot in Italy. [SPEAKER_01]: I was truly, I was truly like, wow, Colorado is so beautiful. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like Googling like, where's that damn in Colorado that they shot the dog stars? [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, oh, Italy. [SPEAKER_01]: It's in Italy is where it is. [SPEAKER_01]: Beautiful, Denver, Italy.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, that's just truly, so funny, but Ridley Scott is like not a filmmaker. [SPEAKER_01]: I have any baggage about positive or negative. [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's just got like a 50-50 hit rate, but he's incredibly talented at like shooting sets.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's his main thing I think, so that he was a designer, and so he knows he draws these really, really, really intricate storyboards, and then, oh, my camera got light again. [SPEAKER_01]: What's going on? [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, it's when my hands are up, I think, okay, anyway, boring for listeners, I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_01]: he has this system really narrowed down into like what he wants it to look like and he like appreciates the work of set designers and so if a space exists he shoots it really well and I felt that in the movie like there was a lot of there were a lot of like places Jacob awardee was walking into that I was like that is so cool looking yeah I mean I would I would

[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to just ask them in a church with this man. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, absolutely.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that is one thing I liked about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm struggling to think of anything else I liked about it. [SPEAKER_01]: I thought Josh Brolin was a correctly cast, but he's just doing his best trading. [SPEAKER_01]: I thought Guy Pierce gave a truly compelling performance. [SPEAKER_01]: I really, the second, he was on screen as sort of when the movie was like, really humming for me. [SPEAKER_01]: And then Jacob Ballardy, this has thrown into question. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: What I think he's good at. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this whole movie, honestly, I kept thinking about disclosure day, not because these movies are similar, but because it evoked the same bafflement in me of like an absolutely legendary director. [SPEAKER_00]: And then a movie that, like, not to be morbid, but for either of them, could very, Ridley Scott more than Steven Spielberg, because he is 88 years old. [SPEAKER_00]: That could very well be, like, last movie, you know? [SPEAKER_00]: And watching it, I'm just absolutely baffled like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what you're doing that could be your last movie. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just so confused by that choice, I guess. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just confused by the choices because this movie, to me, you mean you're watching a movie and as you're watching it, you can almost feel it evaporating in real time from the culture, you know? [SPEAKER_00]: Where it's like, this movie just doesn't need to exist. [SPEAKER_00]: No one's ever gonna rewatch this movie. [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't gonna mean anything to anyone.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a femoral, like, blows away in the wind. [SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's kind of how I felt about this movie because... Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: I just...

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, one, I thought it was really boring, but I also just, like, I didn't feel anything, I didn't care about anyone or anything in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was just really kind of like a shell of a film.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't, do you have any awareness of the, I don't really know much about the book that it's next to all. [SPEAKER_01]: No. [SPEAKER_01]: I, I, I, um, yes. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I definitely, it's funny though, because what you're saying about how it's going to evaporate into culture, I was also kind of thinking, like, yeah, this is just going to, [SPEAKER_01]: This isn't gonna stick for people, I don't think. [SPEAKER_01]: But I think there's like a different, it's funny because I'm feeling too pulls.

[SPEAKER_01]: One is just my honest reaction to the movie is like this was not good, not horrible. [SPEAKER_01]: Like I didn't feel what I felt in disclosure day which was like disappointment, right? [SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't really there with this. [SPEAKER_00]: I was just kinda like, okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Like sure some of this stuff was not the most well thought out I've ever seen and I don't know if this book is Maybe if this is the reflection of the book I've heard a lot of people who are more well versed in Ridley Scott than I am Say that he's essentially only as as good as the script he has okay and so like

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, filmin' Louise, aliens, like Blade Runner, those are sort of like, generationally special. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, script, gladiator. [SPEAKER_01]: Right. [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't like gladiator too. [SPEAKER_00]: I know people didn't, but I like. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: But like, [SPEAKER_01]: Napoleon, you know, they're like plenty of, yeah, just is like a 50-50 hit rate. [SPEAKER_01]: So like, I think it's okay for someone who shoots in the way he does, he's incredibly turn and burn.

[SPEAKER_01]: His production company is like really turns them out. [SPEAKER_01]: Also, have you seen interviews with him? [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, [SPEAKER_01]: pretty spray like I actually I don't know a barring any surprising health outcomes I do think he has another movie he's like I'm working on treasure island right now it's hosting like he's really like turning him out I think all that is really interesting and I think it's okay if some of them are just kind of like yes but I also am like feeling

[SPEAKER_01]: the rotten tomatoes crazy negative score discourse that happened around this movie because I'd like for me that whole thing has called into question like what is [SPEAKER_01]: I just can't imagine feeling that strongly about this movie. [SPEAKER_01]: I think is what it is. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, were people eager to put him in his place for some reason, or like, was something else going on? [SPEAKER_01]: I think that this movie was,

[SPEAKER_01]: Just okay. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't care about any of the characters really meaningfully at all. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's too bad, you know? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: And again, that's why I question Jacob Ballorty's ability is a little bit here because if you don't care about that character, then the movie is going to be a huge problem for you. [SPEAKER_00]: Right. [SPEAKER_00]: See, I think I actually, I did have quite a negative

[SPEAKER_00]: Interesting. [SPEAKER_00]: I really did hate it. [SPEAKER_00]: I interesting. [SPEAKER_00]: I also think I think that one of his big weaknesses is just between this and like gladiator too might be casting because I know that like Paul Maskell was a lot of people's biggest issue with gladiator too. [SPEAKER_00]: Was that he was just a total mismatch for that character and what that character needed to be. [SPEAKER_00]: And then in this, I generally like Jacobalorty, but him and Margaret Kwalee just as the central people you need to care about was an absolute no go for me, particularly her.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's that's so funny because I walked out of this movie and was like, you know, of all the things I Kwalee overly, Kwalee, um, [SPEAKER_01]: Kuali back in the safe zone. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, God. [SPEAKER_00]: With this movie. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't think she was like amazing But I was like, I liked her enough. [SPEAKER_01]: I found their chemistry plausible enough and the romance developed like slowly and sweetly in a way that I was at least kind of on board with it. [SPEAKER_00]: I I just felt like he was like, let's just cast two buzzy like thin tall Brunettes, you know [SPEAKER_00]: It's smashing barbees together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Very, very much. [SPEAKER_00]: But like, in Jacob awardee, there were some times where I was like, he's looking good in his big, carpenter jeans and crop to jackets. [SPEAKER_00]: But then every time he put on the scarf, I was like, no. [SPEAKER_01]: Everything put on the scarf is really confusing to me. [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, he's like, [SPEAKER_01]: That is like reporter in a early 2000s movie about about Afghanistan. [SPEAKER_00]: There were a bunch of close-ups of him when he was wearing the scarf and like his little bangs were down, where I was like, this is straight out of like a CW show.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, truly, like this is straight out of the 90210 reboot. [SPEAKER_00]: I just, the only part of this movie I found interesting in the slightest was the Grand Junction

[SPEAKER_01]: That part, that part that was a different movie come from the only part I liked. [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that part, that part also that wasn't in the book, really. [SPEAKER_01]: That's the part he was like, I'm not throw something else in there. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, [SPEAKER_01]: what? [SPEAKER_01]: That was the only part I was like okay now we're getting someone that part we're none of the characters we're acting like they had acted the whole rest of the movie.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it only existed there so that [SPEAKER_01]: we could show Jacob awardee's character doing something heroic and manly. [SPEAKER_01]: But it, because otherwise I'm like, why? [SPEAKER_00]: And to be clear, I didn't care about the escape part that I didn't give a shit about that. [SPEAKER_00]: I just liked seeing like this, I think I like the set design of it a lot. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: I like. [SPEAKER_00]: I like post-apocalyptic. [SPEAKER_00]: I think I like a different style of post-apocalyptic than you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I, yeah, I couldn't watch the second season of the last of us. [SPEAKER_01]: I found it so boy. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh my god. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, so much. [SPEAKER_00]: I like when post-apocalyptic. [SPEAKER_00]: I like seeing, I like when it gets a little weird. [SPEAKER_00]: Like, [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, something I mean, I get it. [SPEAKER_00]: Something I have to thinking about too Bec, I think because of the color auto thing as well, and I don't know it just [SPEAKER_00]: There were a lot of things that reminded me of my favorite show, Paradise.

[SPEAKER_01]: On who I've never said I've not watched it. [SPEAKER_01]: I know it's most apocalyptic and I've missed it entirely. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's, I love Paradise. [SPEAKER_00]: And Paradise is also set in Denver, Colorado. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think honestly, that that does

[SPEAKER_00]: This style of post-apocalypse way better than this movie did.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, I don't think, I haven't seen Paradise. [SPEAKER_01]: So I can't say this with much confidence, but I don't think they're trying to do the same thing, though, right? [SPEAKER_00]: No, I just think, I guess, that that presents a more interesting version to me of post-apocalyptic in a sort of similar ideology than [SPEAKER_00]: This one did. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: I also like, it's kind of hard to ignore. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he was, because for a lot of it, he was trying to make sort of like a post-apocalyptic western.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were some of those like hard American things that were like how There were some parts where it was like, how did this get through like this is? [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, crazy problematic in a way where it's like how how did this get How was this in the final cut? [SPEAKER_00]: How was this not re-shot to be less like insanely racist? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was really strange because so like what I like about a post apocalyptic storytelling is that it can really distill down. [SPEAKER_01]: like humanity and stories and observations about humanity in a way that is like a lot more crystal clear to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that is why I tend to like those stories set in those settings. [SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of what the last of us is. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and that has its issues also. [SPEAKER_01]: It's not like perfect. [SPEAKER_00]: But um, um, and

[SPEAKER_01]: But something the last of us does really well that this just completely drop the ball on entirely is that there is a fleshed out reason for why anybody is doing stuff so like the bad guys.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was a purpose to them, or that they have an ideology, or they have something, or they have a goal, and maybe they are rebuilding the world in a way that's different than how you are. [SPEAKER_01]: And so to have the bad guys in this movie be one roving band of tattooed people,

[SPEAKER_00]: that are like host language, it's been none of these people ever speak words. [SPEAKER_01]: It's just sort of strange for that to be the case, but they know to look for the rocket launcher in the, it's just was like so, [SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, so are these people feral or not or are they like call of duty players like it is felt like they were kind of basing that group on the on the war boys from yes fury road Mad Max yeah at least aesthetically yes yeah and then then then yes and then the other group was just straight up like [SPEAKER_00]: You know, Native Americans out of a Western movie, like just unidentified tribe, that red face change felt that whole scene felt incredibly angel studios because it was like, yeah, it was like [SPEAKER_00]: Violin, Native Americans with like, long hair, face pain, hatchets, war cries, and uh-oh, they're going after this, the good white homesteader and his beautiful white daughter.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they're beautiful little homestead. [SPEAKER_00]: It was like kind of fucking nuts. [SPEAKER_01]: And also just to have both groups, just be like violent as if it's a monster movie, you know what I mean? [SPEAKER_00]: It's like weird. [SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: And it just seems like I listen, really Scott's a British man, I believe. [SPEAKER_01]: So like, I just don't know if even he like, I don't know, an 88-year-old British guy. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how much he like cares about like the like dynamics.

[SPEAKER_01]: about it's like pretty offensive to depict, you know, what I would describe as just like old school like they're trying to make them like quote unquote savages. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, it felt very like it wasn't a take on 1950s like Western racial dynamics, it simply was 1950s, Western, like John Wayne movie

[SPEAKER_01]: That's genuinely when the movie is at its worst when it's like roving marauders for no reason.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, and I hated that stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: I liked the stuff for the men and nights, I thought that I just think the people to people stuff is always interesting in these types of stories and [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I would definitely rank the Alice and Janney Grand Junction section over the other two like scary marauders things. [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted more for this movie, and I just didn't, I felt I was entertained enough while watching it, and it was competently shot enough that I was like, this is pretty, and honestly, the first 40 minutes that are almost silent, where he's just sort of doing like a car heart coco melon thing where I'm like, I like the outdoors.

[SPEAKER_01]: He looks good in jackets.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, go fishing with a dog. [SPEAKER_00]: I also look, I love dogs so much. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a dog freak, some would say. [SPEAKER_00]: Some of my closest friends are dogs. [SPEAKER_00]: I am getting sick, I think, from this year of dogs being used just sort of like an easy emotional cheap trigger. [SPEAKER_00]: like end of a street like I just feel like it's like here's a dog don't you love this dog and so then you're gonna like really the dog's gonna inspire some sort of like feelings and you like I'm like I'm not stupid

[SPEAKER_01]: It's also like the performances were so not compelling enough for the emotion of the dog danger to be anything in this. [SPEAKER_01]: But I totally agree, it's definitely been an intense few weeks of that. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: It just feels cheap.

[SPEAKER_01]: And another thing that felt cheap and incorrect is like, when did the world end in this movie? [SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to get twenty twenty five and then they're ten years in, because they're ages don't make sense if that's the case. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Jacob Lorty is like twenty nine years old. [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like they probably was nineteen with a pregnant one. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like they probably should have cast in even if it's like five years ago. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, there's something pretty Chad about both of these people who are not even 30 yet, like being like fully married and settled by like what 24?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, and like that's kind of, you know, that's normal in a lot of places. [SPEAKER_01]: And I would say maybe in medical school, I think it's pretty free. [SPEAKER_01]: because you're just intensely only around the same people all the time, but yeah, I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: It just, it just, it just, it just didn't quite achieve anything. [SPEAKER_01]: It was trying to achieve. [SPEAKER_01]: And I also say Jacob awardee being just like perfect. [SPEAKER_01]: like so he was just the simplest mechanic on earth who was like just a perfect nice man.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would love for that character to have anything interesting about them. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think it's just like... [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, both of the characters were very uninteresting. [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, they become even less interesting when, yeah, you cast just like, these model gorgeous people. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, oh, this model gorgeous guy just happened to crash into model gorgeous girls farm. [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't know, these are two people that like, they just don't look like real people.

[SPEAKER_00]: The most I've ever liked Jacob Alordian, it was what made me be like, oh yeah, he's hot, was salt burn. [SPEAKER_00]: Where he's supposed to be playing like crazy hot and agmatic, like confident, easy, breezy, like charismatic, you know, hot rich guy. [SPEAKER_00]: and he was so good at it. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that he does play brooding very well, but this was a different, I like to him in weathering heights too. [SPEAKER_00]: I think that this was a type of brooding that like, it's too every man.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't cast him as just like normal every man.

[SPEAKER_00]: I, yeah, I also kind of feel like,

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, almost an extension from the Genzi malaise thing. [SPEAKER_01]: He has this like Genzi unknowableness where every time he's in a role like, and it works in salt in the character in salt burn, I would say it works in in Priscilla as Alphaz.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but it doesn't work in a character like this, where it's like, I think I'm supposed to know something about this guy, but he's just stoic and unknowable. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: Um, because it worked in Euphoria even, you know, yeah, yeah, because I think the thing about him too, it's like, he's very hot, but he is also like, he's very pretty. [SPEAKER_00]: Like, he doesn't go rugged in a believable way to me. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: I just thought that, but again, also, it is the faults of these characters.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every character was such a...

[SPEAKER_00]: there was so little to them. [SPEAKER_00]: They had no meat on the characters. [SPEAKER_01]: But I also think like, you'll see, Guy Pierce's character, I feel like, didn't have that much going on, but his performance had a heaviness and a gravity to it that was [SPEAKER_01]: really compelling to me to watch and like he elevated every scene he was in. [SPEAKER_01]: He's also worked with Ridley Scott before. [SPEAKER_01]: The part of me was wondering like I was watching some videos about how Ridley Scott shoots and he sets up eight cameras because I saw this video where Benedict Wong was talking about like he's like yeah nobody really shoots like this it's kind of crazy and all the camera people

[SPEAKER_01]: He sets up eight cameras, some of them are like way across the field with like a crazy lens on them and he only does like three takes. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's not a prescriptive amount, but he does very few takes. [SPEAKER_01]: And Guy Pierce was an interviews being like, yeah, you kind of never know what camera you're planning to, like, you just kind of get used to that. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's one thing for Benedict Wong and Guy Pierce guys who have done a ton of these movies.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would imagine that this is not an experienced Jacob award he has had before. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think then I don't know that he's good at this one, like this type of shooting. [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know that that's like, [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that I blame him like, and I don't know if he was not serviced by the script enough to like build out this character enough, but I think all of those component parts made for the most flat boring main character where when stuff I liked the movie enough because it was like pretty and he is pretty and it's like fun to look at, but did I feel anything when anyone was in any danger?

[SPEAKER_01]: I did not. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not even the dog really, I'm just like, no, okay, I also, I think it's, I think a funny thing about dog acting is like, you know dogs most of the time are just like

[SPEAKER_00]: you know. [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that they want their face to be doing something in the shots. [SPEAKER_00]: So the answer to that is to have the dog panting the whole time. [SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, why is this dog panting the whole time? [SPEAKER_00]: Like, why is give, give him some water and his stuff here's from the Colorado, isn't it? [SPEAKER_00]: He's panting in the plain. [SPEAKER_00]: He's panting all the way he's just always panting. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, I get that you, you kind of want him to be like

[SPEAKER_00]: It's weird, but I also, I don't know, I thought that the dialogue was so clunky and part of it that I was like, Jesus Christ, like, you know, when they first go see the men in nights and he's just like, [SPEAKER_00]: well as you know the vaccines ran out three years ago and so now measles are happening again and then at one point it's like well as we all know once the world ended roving bands of criminals started coming and ransacking people and to take stuff and killing people so we have to watch out for them

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just kind of like, my god. [SPEAKER_00]: Like it was, it just felt very clunky to me and then the grand junction thing, my favorite part, but I didn't like it. [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't think of, I didn't think it made any sense. [SPEAKER_00]: Like the part when all the people are just sort of standing pointing like they're in a trance. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, yeah, what's that with the animatronic? [SPEAKER_01]: What is that? [SPEAKER_00]: No, like that was so weird. [SPEAKER_00]: And the second they land, the guys who greet them are so like, they are the most evil looking guys.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sam Sproul, the bad guy from the last late-to-season of Fargo? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it's like, let's get the guys with like the least trustworthy faces you've ever seen, so that there's no doubt that these people are walking into an evil situation. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like every year just feels so clunky to me. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I would also, so like Alex didn't end up doing this, but he did want to come on and give Give some aviation Did he get back? [SPEAKER_00]: Did he get shy or did he just get busy?

[SPEAKER_01]: I think you forgot. [SPEAKER_01]: He wanted to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't. [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't. [SPEAKER_01]: But I will just relay some of some of the information, which is that ain't no fucking way. [SPEAKER_01]: You would have to carry the amount of fuel you need to carry is so extreme for like how much the display was flying. [SPEAKER_00]: wondering about the fuel because also I know that one of the things everyone talks about with posts a lot post a pocket lipstick stuff is that fuel expires bad so but it becomes a gel and fuel is a big part of this movie like they're just throwing it around like it's nothing like when he sets all those bodies on fire he's just like yeah [SPEAKER_00]: So, like, it's not like fuel is into big part of this movie, it's a huge part of this movie.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just know that that's one of the things people always talk about with the world ending as that fuel expires. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: And just, you know, generally, I think a lot of the aviation stuff really bothered, really bothered Alex and his community of aviation people. [SPEAKER_01]: He's probably upstairs in the house right now doing his flight simulator. [SPEAKER_00]: So we've been from our dinosaurs, our, our, our, our aviation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, um, I'm sure the aviation community has a lot to say about this movie. [SPEAKER_00]: I did not realize the, like until watching it that planes were such a, like when you first said that I was like, why is the aviation community mad? [SPEAKER_00]: And then I was like, oh, because the whole thing is about like a little bit about an aviator.

[SPEAKER_01]: and I think that's like the main thing in the book too. [SPEAKER_01]: I one of the things I know bugged Alex was like how tall Jacob award he is and how he would just simply not fit in that thing. [SPEAKER_01]: There's just no way. [SPEAKER_00]: Like his knees be up to his chin and they probably try them. [SPEAKER_00]: They were like, this looks dumb as hell.

[SPEAKER_01]: yes absolutely um yeah this was really lacking the stuff i want which is like i also like i think i fundamentally don't believe like when there is a post-apocalypse situation [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that I believe in the concept of roving bands of criminals, like I think that what I think happens and what I find interesting is different people will have different senses of how things should be run. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for survival and that that is where the conflict comes in and that's what's interesting about these stories And I think what's the least possible interesting thing is like Some people are just evil and they just Raid your fridge and scream and it's just yeah, it focused on the most boring parts of

[SPEAKER_01]: I really think that you would like paradise. [SPEAKER_01]: I do, I'm actually confident I would really like paradise. [SPEAKER_01]: I just need to remember to walk. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because the first, so the first season is all in, there's a lot of,

[SPEAKER_00]: flash. [SPEAKER_00]: It goes between before leading up to and then present. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's the first season all takes place in this giant bunker in a mountain in Colorado that like is a is a city. [SPEAKER_00]: So like the first episode, everyone knows this is just a [SPEAKER_00]: no one watched it at first because no one knew everyone it seemed like it was going to be like a political thriller about the president getting killed and then it's like a sea and then his secret service guy but then first episode end of it the twist the actual premise is they're all in this bunker in the mountain and the president of a james forest and gets killed [SPEAKER_00]: within the bunker.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then season two, you leave the bunker and see the actual outside world, which up until then everyone's been told no one survived, no one's out there. [SPEAKER_00]: But there it is. [SPEAKER_00]: And so then Sterling Cape Brown goes to try to find his wife who was away and so he couldn't get into the bunker in time when the bombs hit. [SPEAKER_00]: And so then you start seeing the outside world

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really interesting and good. [SPEAKER_00]: There's like a whole episode that's just like shaleen wood-bley is alone at a Graceland surviving. [SPEAKER_00]: It's, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I'm sold on Paradise and I will watch it. [SPEAKER_01]: I promise. [SPEAKER_00]: Is it you that made me that pointed me to the 100? [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's not. [SPEAKER_01]: I thought you pointed me to the 100. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember how I came across it and it's dumb. [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't even love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I loved it. [SPEAKER_00]: I loved it for a few seasons. [SPEAKER_00]: Then I sort of fell off. [SPEAKER_01]: It is absurd in so many ways. [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I loved it so much. [SPEAKER_01]: Did you finish it? [SPEAKER_01]: Did you finish it? [SPEAKER_01]: Did you like it? [SPEAKER_01]: I definitely watched the end, but I would always binge entire seasons. [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like now we're truly just shooting the shit. [SPEAKER_01]: Sorry to the listeners and just what we're like.

[SPEAKER_01]: I finished it, but I only ever binge. [SPEAKER_01]: So I would like remember, oh yeah, maybe another season that came out and then I just want all of it. [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm sure I did, but when you binge a show, you don't remember any of it. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's just like it's just like the other yeah, I did definitely get to the bunker point. [SPEAKER_00]: I remember the bunker Paradise is cool because the bunker is like, yeah, it's it's a whole city and They're the like genius behind it who is like kind of evil and they call her Sinatra and It's Julian Nicholson who's awesome [SPEAKER_01]: What do I know here from something?

[SPEAKER_00]: You definitely do. [SPEAKER_00]: She was in, um, did you watch, uh, Mary of East Town? [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't weirdly. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, sorry to pop quiz you. [SPEAKER_00]: Janet, plan it. [SPEAKER_00]: No. [SPEAKER_01]: Wow, have I seen anything? [SPEAKER_00]: Hacks. [SPEAKER_00]: She was in recently. [SPEAKER_01]: Listen, I'm sorry to this woman. [SPEAKER_01]: I'll Google her later. [SPEAKER_01]: I know I've seen her. [SPEAKER_00]: You'll know her. [SPEAKER_00]: But she's just really good.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she plays the...

[SPEAKER_00]: the woman who created this bunker. [SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait to write the description for this episode of our show, where we're like, we talk about the dog stars which leads to a 15-minute advocacy for paradise. [SPEAKER_00]: I really love it. [SPEAKER_00]: I also, it's, I am going to admit to you this. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, [SPEAKER_00]: a Dan Fogelman head. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: I loved this is us. [UNKNOWN]: Okay. [SPEAKER_00]: And, um, God, there was a tweet. [SPEAKER_00]: You talk for a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, but I have to find that this exact tweet. [SPEAKER_00]: Um, about this is okay. [SPEAKER_01]: I definitely will watch Paradise. [SPEAKER_01]: I think the best piece of post-apocalypse media I've ever seen is Station 11. [SPEAKER_01]: I think about it every day. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I never watched the TV show for some reason. [SPEAKER_00]: I think I didn't want to be sad in that way. [SPEAKER_00]: But I loved the book. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh my god, I think you'd really love the TV show to be honest.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's very tender and like For being post-apocalypse, it's exactly what I'm talking about, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Where I wish you if you've read the book, I think the book is actually a lot darker than the show is what I've heard.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that it the show is quite uplifting and like positive about the human spirit. [SPEAKER_00]: I [SPEAKER_00]: I was gonna say, the one time I almost, not quite, but almost felt to flicker of an emotion during the dog stars was during the very end when they were playing that Hozier song, just because I think that's a very, that song is, again, a cheap cheat code to feeling emotion. [SPEAKER_00]: And it had nothing to do with the movie. [SPEAKER_00]: It's just like if you put that over like, [SPEAKER_00]: two people who found each other like looking at the stars?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, sure. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm in danger of feeling a flicker. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, the tweet was, it was, it's this guy looking like that. [SPEAKER_00]: And it says, boyfriend with no legs discovers he's going to be a dad. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like a screenshot from TikTok. [SPEAKER_00]: And then someone said, watch if you episodes of this is us with my mom once. [SPEAKER_00]: The entire thing felt like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've never seen a single frame of this as us, but that is also my impression of my ideas. [SPEAKER_00]: I love this size. [SPEAKER_00]: This is as probably as responsible for more of my tears than anything in the past decade.

[SPEAKER_01]: that's really funny. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm being really brave by admitting that. [SPEAKER_00]: That's really brave. [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the least cool thing I've like ever said in my entire life. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you're alone. [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like I've heard this from other people in my life. [SPEAKER_00]: is like they they put some sort of mind control thing in it like there's some sort of under you know like you can't there's something in it that just something's going on there's something going on okay well I think we should wrap it up because we spent the last 15 minutes talking about TV [SPEAKER_00]: Which famously this is not what the chef is.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, but you know what? [SPEAKER_01]: It is, it's the brother of movies And someday we will do a TV episode if people are interested in that Yeah, we have much to talk about if we ever were to do like a patreon I'm sure we would talk about TV sometimes on it and stuff [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: So, if anyone wants to pay us, take your little more of this sort of, this isn't really also giddy. [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like our last 10 minutes have felt very giddy, and I think next week we'll feel very giddy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't you? [SPEAKER_00]: I do. [SPEAKER_00]: Are we going to say or is it going to be a surprise? [SPEAKER_01]: What do you want to do? [SPEAKER_00]: I think we should say it. [SPEAKER_00]: Next week we're going to be in person for the first time. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean it's going to be clear we have been in person before as people. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we're not, we're not meeting for the first time. [SPEAKER_00]: That would, that would be very, this is us. [SPEAKER_00]: Um, boyfriend with no legs, finds out he's going to be a dad.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this is going to be. [SPEAKER_01]: But we are recording in person. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we are going to be recording in person. [SPEAKER_00]: And beautiful, Minneapolis, Minnesota. [SPEAKER_01]: What? [SPEAKER_01]: Where? [SPEAKER_01]: We're home. [SPEAKER_01]: We're home. [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to the fair. [SPEAKER_00]: We are going to the state fair all the haters, so we're going to the Minnesota I feel like they don't they call it like the the great get together I think you've been watching a lot of TikTok.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna trust you. [SPEAKER_00]: You bet your ass We're getting together. [SPEAKER_00]: I've been looking up foods to try to prepare [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: We're definitely going to try the ranch, the deep fried ranch, covered in hockey dough dust. [SPEAKER_00]: You might try the humong corn dog, everyone's talking about the humong corn dog, Monica. [SPEAKER_01]: I do want to know, I will say you texted me about the humong corn dog and I immediately googled where are humong people from because I realized I have no clue so I had no starting point as to what I thought would be involved.

[SPEAKER_00]: And people are split on that. [SPEAKER_00]: I definitely am going to be getting a mango sticky rice refresher. [SPEAKER_00]: So be prepared for that. [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, we're going to the fair. [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to record in person. [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be doing acne versus coyote. [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's the other way around. [SPEAKER_01]: Koyote versus Akka. [SPEAKER_01]: Koyote versus Akka. [UNKNOWN]: Koyote versus Akka. [SPEAKER_00]: That's the one. [SPEAKER_00]: That's the one, actually.

[SPEAKER_00]: And possibly finding Emily. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: I also, I saw idiots by the way. [SPEAKER_01]: We could touch on it next time. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I'll save my, I'll reserve my feedback for then. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, but yeah, very exciting stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: We'll be in place the next week. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, thanks for listening to this episode. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, if you have any advice, or about the Minnesota state, or feedback, I think you should email us mediumliteratejmail.com because I'm an iPad baby and I don't even live in the comments anymore. [SPEAKER_01]: So, [SPEAKER_01]: So don't leave a comment. [SPEAKER_01]: I won't say it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I look at comments. [SPEAKER_00]: I look at comments. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm addicted. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not an iPad baby But yeah, tips and tricks for them in a sort of stay fair. [SPEAKER_00]: Give them to us Send them away. [SPEAKER_00]: Give them to us. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening to the most chaotic ending of an episode We've ever done goodbye. [SPEAKER_01]: Bye

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that was our conversation about it ends and the dog stars and a little bit about the show paradise and this is us so this is my third take doing this let's see if I get through it. [SPEAKER_01]: If you enjoyed the conversation, I would ask that you please copy the link and send this episode to a friend. [SPEAKER_01]: Personal recommendations are the best way that a podcast can find its audience, and so we would really appreciate your help. [SPEAKER_01]: You can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Patreon, medium-literate across all of those things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Next week, in person, we're doing coyote versus Acme, and I won't promise finding Emily, but maybe.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's it, so we'll see you next week. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you at the Minnesota State Fair.

[SPEAKER_01]: media and literature was created and produced by Monica Scott and Emily Fay. [SPEAKER_01]: Our theme music was composed by Christian Larson and technical help is from Alex Luchin. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening and we will see you at the movies.

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