Pilot

You are a fool to have come alone Your recklessness will cost you careful don't underestimate her This may not be the brave intended to catch Ladies and gentlemen Kid me no hello there and welcome to pivotal I'm Mario Ponzio and I'm Andy Barry That's right, you know the pivotal film podcast is is over as it is. We're still gonna be doing pivotal film stuff I'm not sure but we wanted to and I wanted to transition into a podcast just about arts and culture and how those things Influence us and affect us in various ways It's gonna be a slightly different format that what we've had for the past eight years We're still gonna have the pivotal film awards at the end of the year I talked to Tom who is our narrow podcast and there it is He will be back for the end of your pivotal film awards He did warn us that he will not see nearly as many movies as he has in the past So hopefully we will have actually seen all the movies that Tom has seen But basically going forward to this podcast is not only just gonna be about movies It's going to be a podcast about arts and culture video games television Although I'm not really a television guy music literature and anything else that kind of like strikes us as it comes also going back to the term pivotal meaning the things that matter to us Starting in our next episode. This will be a bi weekly podcast bi monthly bi weekly every week every week every week Yeah, bi weekly podcast we are gonna be and I are gonna be doing our pivotal list again top 10 We're gonna start with our top 10 video games of all time the good games that were pivotal to us So if you were a long-term listener, you know, and you love the format of us talking about things that matter to us We're gonna be going back to that We're gonna do 10 weeks of talking about the 10 video games that kind of shaped our love of video games Or maybe even shaped some of our mindset outside of video games I have a couple games on my list that did that and then after that I believe we're gonna finally get into Andy's top 10 pivotal films a lot of pressure I haven't even started thinking about it. Well, that's why it's 10 episodes away.

It's half a year away Okay, then for there, we'll figure out what we're gonna go from there But you know, we're getting back into the pivotal aspect of things and that's why we kind of dropped the moniker the name And you've heard the in the beginning a different intro song You know, we're dropping the film part of it even though a lot is this game about film We're talking about two movies. We're gonna still always mostly focus on film You know, we're we're changing things up and kind of getting over to the arts and culture thing in general Yesterday was the Super Bowl an exciting time watching the Eagles trounce the Kansas City trumpers and You know Travis Kelsey is also there It was pretty fun. I mean the boring Super Bowl, but I want a lot of money, so An enjoyable time, but let's talk about what would be important to us some of the movie trailers that you saw there And this people anything anything stand out to you. I did watch a trailer Sorry, I was at a party so wasn't and I was kind of not paying attention Oh, all right, I will say I am getting the more I see about Thunderbolts as not a superhero guy The more excited I am for Thunderbolts.

I think that's gonna be fun I didn't see the new trailer, but I just the cast is awesome. It's gonna be a good time You have to Academy award nominees in that movie so Leading it so that's that's fine and David Arbor I guess there's probably also the third major lead We got Florence pew and Sebastian Stan here. Oh, yeah, you know, just a classic world rebirth back I don't know if you saw that trailer because it was released a week ago. I'm pretty excited for that movie I just I love that I just love dress park love fellow Janssen.

I'm in yeah, Jonathan Bailey being the co lead and her shali I'm excited for the fact of its um, Gareth Evans who yes Yeah, yeah, Gareth Evans who did a lot of great We does a ton of great work very quickly with visual effects and this movie moved surprise Like this movie got through production and post production very quickly because this guy knows what he's doing when it comes to those sort of movies Did you see the creator is I never actually saw it all the way through I saw some of it seems great It's not a great script, but it was a really well was that no movie what nominated for visual effects? I don't know. I mean it it looks so good for the budget of the song too So yeah, I'm What we did with with what we saw was done with the budget with the best Star Wars movie Yeah, that's true So, you know if he's able to do half of what he did with Rogue One I think this will probably be a movie that kind of harkens back could possibly be the second best in the frame There's no chance it'll be the best but could be the second best in the franchise Fantastic for I assume you saw that trailer that looks like a lot of fun. I don't know about that movie.

I'm still I'm very I'm a one-word. They've never made a work yet. So we'll see. Yeah, they are they are 0 and 3 for making good fantastic for movies Although I will say I like the Fox fantastic for films I might be an island undo myself when it comes to that But I enjoyed them for being has done as they were but they worked for me and you know this could work I do like that They had to throw in a little bear the bear comment there with making the sauce when we talked about throwing in the cloves of garlic Anyways, the first thing we're gonna talk about today, we'll go and order of stuff.

Oh, there's anything on television Let's always tell anything on television that you've been seeing lately. I don't know I'm not TV guys I just started the new season of squid game. So an episode in it's picking up right where I left off And I'm digging it so I'm probably gonna go watch more later But that's really all I've been watching is been football Yeah, the important part is life and are you your severance guy or don't I haven't started the new season Yeah, I finally watched the first season. It's very good.

Oh, you didn't know you didn't know you watched it cool Yeah, I enjoyed it and I've heard good things so far at the second season So I'll buy the episode later that we will talk about yeah, I'll probably I'll probably push to that one soon In terms of music the two albums I've listened to that have come out so far this year have been FK twigs use sexual That is she is she was in the crow actually she was the love interest in their crow remake She was on a relationship for a while with Maddy Healy from the 1975 so her and Taylor's good for us most of the series. She was also kind of in a contentious relationship with Shilah Oh, all right, it's it's not my music. I actually don't it got incredible reviews I think pitch for let's dial is it it's kind of It's very avant-garde. It's like electronic up pop basically.

I saw a hyper pop. It's definitely like an art pop style with a lot of electronical influences Pitchfork loved it. I think pitchfork gave it a what did they give it something insane? They gave it a 9.1 out of 10 which is one of the highest highest reviews I've seen in a long long time for pitchfork I think the production of The tracks are good.

I just it's just not for me But the album that did come out last week And we'll have a movie attached to it in May is the final album in the I don't know what the trilogy is called It's the it's a trilogy from the weekend that started with after hours and Dawn FM two albums I love it is hurry up tomorrow. It's the sixth album from the weekend. It's meant to be the culmination of his of able Always for us last name Test days character as the weekend is basically like this and the hurry up tomorrow film Which I don't know if you've seen the trailer yet for her tomorrow that play before hard eyes for you I got in right when we started The trilogy is just called trilogy. Yeah, it's not trilogy But hurry up tomorrow by trace adults is gonna be kind of the finale the death of the weekend persona So you can kind of just go by his real name.

This album is incredible. It's it's 90 almost 90 minutes long 22 tracks Some of the strats are just gateway tracks They're open hearts isn't it? I first heard Sam Sao Paulo and it was meant to be the debut single which I'm now forgetting that he took off the album I was not looking forward to this kind of felt he lost a plot But when he was in this album the entire way through is that work on Friday when the album or last Friday when the album came out I put it on I think I was kind of like go through it and skip tracks I listened to all of it all the way through and the way in which he Able to kind of blend the production of his songs and meld them together to tell like a narrative Or how a track finishes is how the next track will start is this magical? It's a fantastic album.

I Don't I'm gonna see him in the summer and I'm excited for that. I don't know if it's my favorite album of his yet I love love Don FM after hours is good after hours is like a lot of bops as it were Yeah, but I think Don FM is just an incredibly tight production. This is also another insanely tight production But I think some of the songs from this are probably any songs I've seen myself listening to more than I see myself listening to the Don FM Dr. Take me back to LA is which is a song.

He's been working He's basically had for years. I want to say like three or four years He's had this song take me back to LA. It's gone to various different variations. It is easily my favorite song of his I'm a blinding lights guy.

I love blinding lights. I love the hills. I don't know how familiar I was with the weekend stuff in general Yeah, yeah, I love lighting lights one of my favorites. Um You know like the big ones, but I Will listen to this is a long album.

It's almost it's not it's all about it Yeah, but this kind of this retro modernism he's he's able to capture, you know a lot of a lot of synth pop mixed with The modernity in terms of the lyrical value and in terms of layered production. It's just incredible I think he's an incredible artist. He's not the best actor. I mean I watched a bit of the idol so I have Very silly.

Yeah, I mean just so I have some reservations about how we're gonna tomorrow do It's got your girl in it though So not generating that's not very very and it's from it's from a director who knows what he's doing So I do wonder if you know trace ults is able to Tree Edward's fault is that's only yeah? Yeah, it's gonna be able to you know cuz the weekend's last act experience with Sam Levinson and Sam Levinson is not a good director Like I think I think he got he got controlled like he didn't know how to rain we get in so I can I could imagine Yeah, I can imagine that even though I'm not the biggest they come at night fan. I do love way I do not love and really like waves I think maybe this movie could like take Able down like a path that you know works. So I'm looking forward to it We'll talk about it when it comes out in May a big summer movie that is hurry up tomorrow the experimental arthouse film But yeah, no, it's a great album.

I cannot not see this album being in my top five at the end of the year because Don FM was in my top five so I speculate that's gonna be it and it in mayhem or the two albums I can't kind of not Meghan being Lady Gaga's new album coming up. Oh, are the two albums I cannot it's like in two weeks three weeks or so So we'll talk about that in two episodes Those are kind of two albums I can would not be shot to See in my top five I think this will definitely be my top five and the two songs I've heard off of mayhem disease and abracadabra if that continues the trend of That I think you know both of those albums will be big on my playlist for the year All right, I'll listen to those so when you have an album to let me know and I'll get to it before we yeah I did I know I know you did I was literally like I will mention stuff so you can like get familiar with it Yeah, I just get chance to I should have I should have done I should have done just put it on me Just didn't I assume you haven't been listening to any real music lately. No Sorry, so the next part we'll talk about now is video games because I think this is definitely gonna be the two interest Andy And I most share or definitely video games and film I've been playing three new games that have come out in 2025 a game I'm super looking forward to that We'll probably do a deep dive on in the next episode. It comes out Friday It does play this fire whatever no, it's about the city and RPG which is gonna be a game pass game.

So okay I'll be bad at it. It's a short. I don't know. It's a short RPG.

It's in the style of Skyrim. So you played or enjoyed So the three new games I've been playing have been Sniper of the resistance which came out middle of last month. I know if you're familiar with the sniper week games I am not is it a perfect shooter. It's a first-person shooter.

You play basically a one-man killing machine sniper In Nazi Germany going through various open world not really open world open arena levels You know taking out targets or fulfilling objectives But the main sell of the game series is the fact that you are a sniper and when you get a good kill Like you'll do a little Interior animation of the person you're shooting to show you what part of the body you've hit You know like it'll show an x-ray vision of you piercing the lung or piercing a testicle with your sniper bullet Yeah, I think given the current political climate It's it's nice to be playing the thing I didn't love about Indiana Jones and the great circles I definitely wanted to shoot Nazis and kill Nazi heavily And Indiana Jones and the great circle really doesn't give you the ability to do that it does it but it punishes you for a Rather violent approach. This one is of course just redoing It's it's it's not recreating the wheel at all you are killing Nazis. It's the six or seventh game in the series After sniper elite five it's a kind of spin off your point as a different character and you've played in the previous games I think it's I think it's fun, but I it's it's a retail game I don't think it's a cheaper game I think it's like a full-on retail sale game and in that instance like it doesn't do enough new to justify it It's a game pass game. It's a game pass game luckily So you know like has has a game pass experience It's fun and I'd recommend it for game pass people who enjoy the catharsis of shooting Nazis But has an actual stand-alone experience if this was offered a retail it would just would not it did not do enough Is there a multiplayer in this one is any yes, there is there's multiplayer and I don't know I've never really played the multiplayer The one thing I know of that a lot of people like is there's an invasion mode in this game So, you know you play as like a one-man killing machine sniper basically who's or depending on the difficulty you play it on I like to play it on a little bit easier difficulty just because I enjoy the feeling of very easily killing Nazis But there is a ability to allow invasions so a person could come in playing a Nazi sniper and try to take you out You won't know where you two are on the map clearly, you know That's basically you're hunting each other as well That's kind of been a feature in the game for a long time and I do know there's like a PvP also multiplayer I've never really dived into it.

I kind of just do the campaign as a co-op to no, I know there's a co-op I don't know that would work. Yeah, but it's fun enough next game is actually an older game But it was finally released on Xbox this past week. It's luck be a landlord. Yeah, I've been meaning to get to this game That's what we're like the lego got it.

Yeah, so it's a rogue like deck building game My favorite genre game the it's games been kind of early I've been playing this game for the better part of two years because it was released on PC in January 23 But it works is you or you have got an apartment You Your apartment has a slot machine in it and every so many rolls of the slot machine you have to pay your landlord money As you do each role and get money you're able to add a new item to your slot machine a new kind of thing that will spin As with any sort of deck building game. There's gonna be interactions. There are for example There are things like a cat is gonna be on your starting deck Well, there you think you could add like milk a cat will want to if a cat and then when it the slot rolls if a cat and the milk Are adjacent to each other the cat will drink the milk and gain more coins and your goal is just to reach growing amounts of money that the landlord is demanding of you For rent, you know, you're starting out having $25 to beat the to beat the level you're on to beat that sort of I want to say a sentient because I slay this fire. You have to get 777 coins and kind of progressing But there's all these various interactions that play a part of it.

It's it's I think it's a great game It's definitely a game that when you play it you have to realize that Balitro But local funk saw Balitro he made he improved what luck be a landlord did in every way But luck be a landlord was kind of the the progenitor the genesis of kind of like what would come after it in terms of these um gambling esque Rogue like deck building games Slayers fires definitely the the first one the major first one slaves fires also like the perfect game Well, we will talk about slay the spire when we talk about the pivotal games list No, I did not realize it was putting two consoles. I didn't know either. You should have told me I definitely would have played it I'm gonna play so when we're done here. So I'm gonna go it is that game best?

No, it's just I think you might be cheaper on steam as well. It's a bad one of steam. No, you can just download steam Apple oh No, I believe steam OS just released so I believe you can now get steam on Apple. That's exciting Yeah, that was like a couple days ago.

Yeah So now you do you will have the ability to I think I'm a little cheaper It's plays that's the thing I'll say it plays significantly better on a PC that it does on the Xbox the Xbox version does seem like an afterthought Um, but that said like because even the achievements kind of don't feel they feel like lazy achievements. Um, there has been I haven't really played in a couple years So there's ascension modes like progressively harder levels that have been added to the game And eventually there's even like a boss battle as you get higher and higher against your landlord. Oh, that's a lot of fun Um, I think from from a basis of the game build in general. It's great.

Uh, I bought this On Friday. I believe I've already put seven hours into it. Nice. So that kind of shows how much I've played it Um, I will say I do think if you're going to get this game, I would say if you like the style of game Um Get it, but I would say get it on a pc not on xbox because the interface is a little funky There's a little funky on xbox.

It's it's not super clean. It's not super intuitive. Um, but overalls are game. It's great and I Sometimes wonder if I prefer to battle.

I don't know there's something about because there's like a little bit more of a It's a little easier a little Quicker to kind of like jump into and I kind of feel as though balotro has a lot of CB paths Um That you could kind of like force yourself to get through Uh, by the time you like you get to but by the time you get to the gold stake the last stake of a deck and balotro Like definitely that's where the difficulty feels there But I feel like every previous state to that kind of feels for me as a person who loves these real deck builders feels very easy to get to there Um, something like what the landlord I'm it's not say this by I say this buyers Intensely rants up the difficulty. Love people landlord. I'm right now on like what's ascension 10 of 20 Uh, and I have felt the progressive difficulty Happening, you know, like I was kind of blasting through the early ascensions Um levels. I think they're actually called level.

They're just basically called levels and love the landlord But now I'm actually feeling that difficulty Uh, and that's something I enjoy. I feel like a balotro You kind of force your way into getting somewhere with this it does feel as though you have to react to what the game is presenting you Does that make sense? Yeah, I mean, I'm excited to play like I love balotro. So it just looks fun.

Um, and I'm excited that I can have steam now I'm downloading it right now. So I was right it is it is on us. Okay. Yeah, it's it's a world of stuff there There's there's a chest rogue like deck builder coming out that seems like this might be a problem And event of waiting scene, but now I was gonna I'm probably gonna be playing this a lot Uh, do you have any games you want to talk about about the way?

Nothing? Uh, not really. No, I mean, we've just been playing our stuff online. So yeah, we've been talking around but haven't played anything yet, but now that football season's over Um, I'm probably gonna start getting into more games.

So yeah, the last game I want to talk about is uh, it was kind of a uh, there was a xbox showcase Um, two weeks ago, or three weeks ago now at this point, uh, where they're talking about their four major games They're coming out soon, uh south of midnight being one, uh, doom the dark ages, uh, uh, clear up scura and then the surprise announcement was, um ninja gaden four and when they announced ninja gaden four, they're like also by the way, where indigueten is they announced that they were releasing immediately ninja gaden to black which was a remake of, um, the older Uh, ninja gaden game, which was released Oh for 2008, um, oh, the original one. Oh, yeah, released in 2008 on xbox 360 Uh, these are hack and slash adventure games action games, um, which i'm a big fan of that genre. Uh, I I have the thing i've been noticing is and I like the souls like level of action games to an extent I love security. I love love lyse p.

Um, when it comes to the sort of like dark souls or elder ring style of game I could play it for a bit, but then I get kind of tired of them I kind of like the the games where you kind of feel like a tank and kind of just go to town Uh, I don't know if you're too familiar with like the hack and slash style of games of I have like I got the old god of war, you know, like the dynasty warriors sort of stuff Similar to dynasty warriors or, uh, the original god of war seer the greek god of war series I didn't play those. I heard those are good. Um, but no, I'm not I'm not a huge fan of hack and slash but Well, we'll see but this is uh, this is fun. This actually has been a lot of fun.

Uh, graphically, it's it's gorgeous. Um, There's a lot of jank to it, which I kind of appreciate. Uh, they've made Basically, they they remade the game, but they decided they were not gonna remake the camera They're like ningegated to is gonna be ningegated to snails So when you're playing it, you definitely feel like you're playing a 2008 game Because there are times where you're trying to move your camp you're trying to move your camera and get stuck against a wall You are just slashing at you don't even know what you're slashing. I can't see it Um, and every, you know female character in this game has gigantic tits and gigantic tits that are on display Uh, so it's it's it's a much, you know, there's probably a man itself But it's it's it's a retro sort of throwback, uh, but i've been having a lot of fun in it with it It's an extremely gory game.

You are decapitating everybody you're cutting off arms You're cutting off legs the guy once you cut off a guy's leg he's crawling at you to kill you And then you just decapitate him, you know, you're a katana building ninja You're throwing ninja stars in the guys heads. Uh, that's that's what it is each level is about 20 to 30 minutes Um, you're running on a straight path Uh, every minute you are two minutes you are jumping into like some sort of battle arena to fight 10 guys Werewolves or dragons or whatever or ninjas or whatever it may be And then for most stages you have like an end boss fight. Um, But I I feel it's it's not it's a real fun experience. It's really janky But the jank is as part of its charm Um, it feels like a game that's firmly tongue-in-cheek just with the level of violence Like you'll enter you'll enter a room the room will look clean by the time you're done with the room There will be several legs sprawled around blood will be on every wall Um, there are mechanics that are the silliest thing ever.

Uh, there is a run across water mechanic We could just run across water if you press a lot, you know, it's meant to be like one of the bad guy Like one of the main bosses names is called god dammit. Oh, all right. You have to fight god dammit several times You find another boss on top of like not on top of act the statue of liberty, you know It's very silly very tongue-in-cheek. I'm super excited for what team ninja is going to do with instagated for uh, I believe not or owned by microsoft Um, hopefully they kind of do a modern style instagated With consideration for like how games have changed It looks like it is from from what I saw from the xbox showcase And because it's gonna be a game pass game you can guarantee I will you know be immediately downloading that one when it comes out All right, when's that come out?

instagated for it's a third third quarter quarter to 25 Sweet All right now To what our listeners are used to The movie talk where you have seen Andy and I have seen two movies from 2025 so far We're going to see pattington in per room, but I decided I'm gonna wait for patting and brood to actually come out This week I have my tickets for thursday, so we'll talk about the next episode Uh, but the first the two movies we have seen Um both both coreish movies. I really thought the first movie is gonna be more of a horror film than i'm being It's more definitely more of a thriller. Oh, it's absolutely. Yeah, absolutely a thriller.

Uh, but they're both very funny movies. Yeah that movie is the debut film of I believe the debut directorial film of red two and thread free writer drew handcock Produced by um barbarian the zak quager. It is companion my friend's don't hear you cat dies Yeah, maybe but cat hates everybody. I just don't want to screw everything up I'll be pooping up and screw everything up just relax.

Yeah, don't be all moopy and weird just remember to Remember to smile and not happy Companion is is about a weekend getaway with a group of friends iris and josh Um are going to meet Josh's friends at a lake house from the with the rich boyfriend of cat one of josh's friends Sergei played played by a distinguishable Rupert friend. I didn't realize I saw him. I was like he looks familiar And what it's like holy fuck. Yeah, it's like Yeah, why I saw the credits.

I saw Rupert friend. I was like Rupert friend Uh iris is extremely in love with josh with the movie opens with their chance meeting at a grocery store They're me cute at a grocery store. Uh, where josh played by jack quade doing its jack quade sort of things Um drops a bunch of oranges because he's so nervous Uh at some point though, sir day who's who's into some questionable dirty things Uh seems like he might be a part of the Russian mafia Um tries to have sex with iris on a beach and iris in a moment of defending herself kills sergé Right after after after she you know, he uh tries to strangle her after she defends herself He tries to strangle her so she stabs up in the neck Uh, it turns out iris is actually a companion which is a um AI developed robot android for lonely individuals Um that you know josh we find out is is as jack quade has kind of done well for himself in this sort of sub-genre is is a Loser incel who has gone iris just to be a a sex toy basically Um and now they are using iris they've they've packed iris's ai interface to Make it so she would kill sergé by increasing her aggression because sergé had a significant amount of money at this house So josh and cat had planned to murder sergé blame it on iris going haywire and Um take the money and run Mm find out sergé was not a part of the Russian mafia. He was what was he I forgot what he ends up being It was was they didn't like do like sad or something That's right.

He was actually a dirty job. It was sod because it's dirty. It's dirty work Which was actually a really funny joke. Um another couple that is there is uh Eli and Patrick Lucas Gage playing Patrick Lucas Gage having a good good good five or six months in the horror horror world Um there there are a gay couple uh and recomba find out they were not a part of this plan originally But now they're kind of in it once you know iris murder sergé and recomba find out that patrick is also companion ai robot And now they're trying to hunt down iris because they want to be to kill iris in order to Um, but their plan get into place but iris has other thoughts Uh, no this was I personally think that this was this was an incredibly solid film Um that the cast is electric.

Uh, I think making series not given a lot to do his cat But what she's given to she she does well with but the other five major characters in this are our great um Lucas Gage kind of Lucas Gage like really shocked me of this. I liked what he did Um in smile to do Yeah, but what he kind of does here reminded me so much I texted you this after I watched the movie I was like this reminds me of what a young Dan Stevens and what Dan Stevens was doing in the guest like when because They reprogram patrick to be in love with uh josh jack quite scared who's once again playing an incredible like jock jack Wade Playing an evil incel is just sprains it up as we he's so good at it I think he's such a nice guy. He can just play Yeah, an asshole so like in real Which makes me excited for novikain because novikain he's theoretically just playing the actual nice guy It's like a bad situation. I'm excited for that.

I'm not excited for that. It looks it looks dumb But it's i'll probably see it But it's got such like it's got to such like electric leads in amber mid-bunder and jack way that I think it'll work Um Yeah, he's surprised like we just gave surprise me with a range he had Uh when you know like it actually kind of like almost made it tear up when you know the josh imprints himself in that meet cute And then patrick kind of sees eli like again because you get the sense that like even though Res josh sees iris so he fatters iris is just like a sex toy Ultimately and something to use eli is actually started to fall in love with patrick and patrick even though he's he's a companion Where you find out he's figured out that he's a companion that he knows he's a robot Um, but he himself is also kind of started game that sentence to fall like they are actually like a couple that loves each other Um and actually thought he could look look as gauged a lot of incredible work kind of like caring that emotion Sophie Thatcher Just just doing some some good ass work with this inherited like this is kind of this is like the coming out party over the for horror movies For lucas gauge and uh, so be fatter so be fatter kind of so be fatter, you know when she is dispatched Oh, you know you still haven't seen her to have you I haven't know Yeah, um So be fatters not given as much to do in her to because I wish she was able to do Um, but she's great in that and she's even better here. Uh, I think it's a solid film I think it's a well-written movie but these performances in this just care make it so electric Yeah Sophie Thatcher had to do in this because she's essentially playing like three different characters And you could tell like as she gains her centience because she gets her intelligence goes up and all that like it's it's it's Really really good work her her frustration because one of the features is like you get to set the intelligence I color him or not and her frustration when she sees that her intelligence was set at 40% I love so hilarious and there has that great moment where she like kind of like thinks through all the possible because when she sets it to 100 You kind of got the expectation of like oh, she's gonna be like a super genius unstoppable monster now But she's not she's just very smart and she goes through like all the possibilities Um and sees how they won't work and that's like I liked this movie had a lot of Control Given its premise where it didn't need to have that sort of control. It was it was really tight like yeah Yeah in all the performances I mean, there's a chance this movie like beyond my looks at the end here just because I had so much fun washing it But I doubt it but yeah, it's very good movie.

I told you I think this is this would easily been a top 20 movie for me in 2024 yeah, no doubt Definitely would have been a top 10 but like this is it's a good way to start the year Uh for sure. It's a lot of fun. It's short like both of these movies the thing I appreciate about these two movies Under a hundred minutes. They're both under a hundred minutes.

They're both incredibly tight films I even think the next one we're gonna talk about probably could have used a bit more length um We'll talk about But yeah, no, this is a lot of fun. I actually a lot of people were kind of like up comparing it with barbarian just because a zak rager You know, um having such a big hand in the production of it But I think I might even prefer the superbarien I think I enjoyed the twist in barbarian when it kind of switches perspective adjusted long. Yeah, but um I think overall in terms of an overall production overall tightness of production Um, some of the the the framing techniques that are used in it, you know check ops line Line cork. Yeah, I love it cork mola corkscrew is genius.

Um, actually both these movies do really good check off moments. Um, um Yeah, I mean, I think different like because barbarians are a horror movie. This this I wouldn't consider a horror movie, but no, no, it's It's a gory. It's a gory thriller science fiction thriller comedy too.

So, um It's almost like a really good episode of black mirror too. So I really I really liked it quite a bit. Uh, yeah What I will recommend to people when it's out streaming when people watch this was what should I watch? This is definitely a movie after I got out of it.

I immediately recommended a Andrew Sandra and I have very in line film tastes. Uh, I was like, yeah, I think this is a movie you're gonna I was like do I told him this is the thing that bothered me. Um, Was the advertising for this movie? I do wish they had held back on revealing I never I didn't ever watch any trailer besides the first trailer and I know that I think the second trailer spoils even more Um, but that first trailer is very obvious that she's the robot and I think you would have could do it without it though I mean, yeah, I wish I could have seen it without no But what's nice about it?

I kind of knew the basic premise and I thought it was just gonna be like almost like a horror movie where the robot Goes goes on like a killing spree. That's not what this is at all and it's so so much more clever than that So it's it works. I'm gonna I'm looking forward to rewatching it Yeah, she only I mean she only kills three people and two of them all three of our self-defense Every person she kills us in self-defense. It's purely justified.

Yeah, I'm Patrick is the actual horror movie villain in this because yes The two people he kills. I think what they will say like there's a lot of funny moments in this I love when cat is killed where she just kind of sits down. Yeah piss off It reminds everybody of that moment you watch breaking better, right? I assume where um Mike says just shut the fuck up It reminded me of that.

Yeah, you know, she just so she just so incensed that she got stabbed. It was so funny That was a really good time. It's a solid recommend Now from a horror from a movie that seemed like a horror movie that was a thriller to a movie that was advertised as a horror movie But was ended up being a little more maybe a romantic around him. Yeah, that is Josh Rubin who Andy and I both love from his werewolves within.

Uh, I never saw his first movie Um, which he references off-handedly in in this uh, it is hard eyes Jay Jay are you okay? You ditched me. What we were a team. I was being chased by a serial killer I know I also was being chased by a serial killer.

What does that mean? Jay you're dull and ripped and perfectly capable of defending yourself. These muscles were not made for violence or for connley Okay, guys. This was not him.

We were together all night. Hard eyes was after both of us now We found a man in the park wearing this and in possession of this No, that's that's not possible. Jay didn't do this. Maybe Maybe Jay wasn't after long What what?

So hard eyes is is uh, takes place on Valentine's Day. It's the past few years There's been a serial killer that comes out just on Valentine's Day in different cities around the country in kiddos couples Yeah, it's definitely like about this is like it starts in media reds of this like killers Rampage. Yeah, like he's so the previous two years He's done Boston and Philadelphia and like now we're starting on the third year of the hard eyes killer And everyone's trying to figure out where he comes in. Um, and then they hold ends up being in Seattle where where uh, Olivia Holt That plays alley.

Um, is works as a uh, a marketing person, a dad person? I don't know. She's just an ad person for a jewelry for a diamond company. Um, she uh, makes a Uh, uh, uh, her ad campaign is about couples getting killed, which is in very poor taste.

So her boss But a great, but yeah, she's insane. Um, uh, hires a freelancer, uh, based in good and playing j simmons who's supposed to be an ad um, savant type, um, and they have they have a meet cute, um, They go out for dinner on Valentine's Day to work on their campaign. She runs a new or ex boyfriend. They kiss And hard eyes.

She gets she kisses, uh, jay Yeah, the big red boyfriend mad or jealous and then hard eyes sees it and trains his, uh, she doesn't kiss him to make him jealous She kisses jay because she wants to kiss jay. It's not until she doesn't recognize she says I'm making my boy. I did it to make my boyfriend jealous, but she that's not why she didn't realize the boyfriend was there The ex boyfriend is there until after the kiss. Yeah, okay.

I mean, it was hard to tell but either way Um, but then hard eyes that trains is a gaze on this couple that's not actually a couple and Much hilarity ensues when he can't kill these people I don't know how much I want to go into like the whole plot, but um, it's what we're gonna continue the old trend of pivotal film And just spoiler galore. It doesn't matter if people are just this podcast. They they know that's what to expect Yeah, so I I I really like this movie a lot. I thought it it was so much rom-com in here, but then the kills were really good It was very funny.

Um, I the lead like Mason Gooding work. Man that guy is fucking killing it right now. He's a goddamn charisma machine He's also unkillable in these movies. This is four slasher movies now where he's not done I mean he gets injured so he does.

He's been injured in three of the four But uh, yeah, why 2k is just kind of doing his own thing for most great, but I didn't I didn't get to that one Um But yeah, uh, I I I like the uh, the killing in the though vineyard was really funny Um, there's a lot of jump scares in this but they worked for me I really I never really noticed their red areas. Oh, like like, you know how something will pop or someone will call or something. I have it a few times, but um, and I jumped a few times, but I uh, I I I liked it Yeah, I had fun with it. I think I had fun.

I enjoyed it. I think that script needs a few more Passovers because some of the jokes are so I like there's some comedy in this that really lands because of how absurd it is some of it is so eye-rollingly stupid That frustrates me. I I like that. I mean, that's that it's a rom-com trope though And I I know but like the Hobbs and Shaw joke I think falls flat on its face.

I think it doesn't work I laugh a lot. It's trying to Well, that's what I think when this movie tries to do like it's meta commentary stuff like that It doesn't work but when it's like being a sincere slasher movie that just so happens to mostly be a rom-com But outside the pretenses of a slasher film. I think it works best. But it's your dana brooster who's in the fast and furious movie I understand that I understand that.

Come on But I don't need like that meta stuff the meta stuff to me Like if you're going to do that you kind of have to go full-run But there's other jokes that are just so absurd that I think are hilarious Uh, the Seattle PD motherfucker joke made me laugh my ass off when they're convinced they caught hard eyes and it's amazing gooding As j I think it's hilarious um or like even dumb jokes like that's a word for a five-letter word for a female dog bitch bitch Like that is good or just even the person I really loved in this movie I mean the one thing I'll say start off is is hope and gooding have insane chemistry. Yeah, I It was electric could not believe the fact that these two aren't fucking like in real life Because it's too very good looking like it just it's like one of those things where like it's just too And I'm kind of on board this train. It's crazy person train where I think nacing gooding is a better actor than his dad Might be a psychotic take consider his dad's an Oscar winner, but I think it's based on something I think yeah, it makes a good things like 27 20. I think now But he's he plays such he's always been a really good at playing such a likable guy And he's kind of like obviously hasn't been able to show a lot of range yet because this will be uh y2k And scream 5 and scream 6 he's playing variations of the same character a really good looking jock who's super nice then affable um, but he's you know fucking if you're in that lane do it because he's doing it he's nailing it completely um But the thing I was when I say something I really enjoyed about this is so like the Jordiana Bruce the character Um, you know before she's like revealed to be like the mastermind villain Um her kind of like weird It kind of it works in it works in opposite of what she's actually is but her kind of like weird thirsty character is fucking hilarious Yeah, like the joke about the puppy or like when she's like clearly wanting to fuck jake Yeah, like tearing the interrogation which ends up working out well because you kind of get like when she's revealing revealed to be like the mastermind killer Along with david um her husband as it turns out to be who literally has one scene before this and that one scene I was like that motherfuckers of killer.

Yeah, yeah I was like that guy's the killer and she's the killer because js is shaw not I was like, oh those two are the killers together. Yeah, yeah I'm going if you're going into this like hoping for a good agatha christy style who've done it slash her movie Not the movie for you because this it's so Very obvious But I will say this they do enough clues to like and and paul marks of the genre they like go like this is a killer That's not like a shock if you know They did do it. They did do a good job of reviewing that Um, but that entire entire stuff just with her just like talking like when she's interrogated again I think it's just an hilarious scene like just just so funny because like you could tell she's getting like very hot and bothered by it Yeah, and also getting pissed off the old Like that the alley character um that I was you know, I Already I forgot that alley that i livey a hole was in um was in totally killer and I liked her in totally killer playing like the bitch Mom character. Um as a younger version of the mom.

That's the only thing i've ever seen her in I think she's been like Disney stuff. Oh, okay. She's she's really solid. She's funny as hell.

Yeah, she she works really well And it's like casting is perfect in this movie. So yeah, I kind of expected Her to not work, but she does a lot of good face acting that entire sequence Where she sees the vibrator where she's okay jay with a his cut And just keeps looking over at it and just like so good or when she opens the door and sees like heartes is sitting there Just like that like there's a really it's a really smart move to have her face be like, huh? Oh fuck Yeah, it's not like an immediate like fear. It's like a what oh, yeah Like I think it's really and that's the thing i like watching this and watching rivals within Um, I saw what seems like we thought about scaring me um, which is also apparently good Uh josh Ruben's showing himself like really have a good tight control on doing a perfect blend of horror and comedy Um because this movie even though some of jokes don't land for me Um like I love mikela lockins in this but that joke that she does of I will kill you will I know maybe i'm just kidding I'm just like no this is it drags of it too long Um, I like it Not funny and then I got funny again.

Yeah, I just stayed in the not funny. Okay for me Um, but beyond that like I think it's just as I think he's had a real good dr. Gonna have a real good tight control on that humor horror spectrum Yeah, I mean if someone had to like make me say pick up my favorite genre probably a horror comedy So, uh, he does them just perfectly his cast or just perfect the world within was so good I mean, I mean I still love rom coms. So this movie just felt like made for me.

Yeah, so I want to ask you this And I mean, I like how this movie ended up I like that final scene in the church Where joriana perus during david already able to be the mastermind So there's three killers that there killers just a fan of theirs Would you have been okay? If part ice had just been that guy that he didn't know but the movie had ended in the airport with them like kissing And it being like romantic comedy end because I was fully on board with that being the ending Yeah, I I Well, I knew it wasn't just because I saw like they still have our left with this movie But um, so so I do there's another act coming but I don't know I think it would have worked either way but I Yeah, just just when she drives off with them I'm like, oh, so we're gonna meet up later and find out that she's a killer. We're gonna do this so yeah You also knew you do david was a killer too rich. Yeah, and I didn't know but I knew oh I felt like when he So this this guy's just shooting my shot.

He's just like shooting. He's an it guy at the police precinct. He has one scene Um, he's like oh shooting my shot here like you want to go out sometime And I just like the movie does a audio beat like a music beat very quietly during middle of it Where it's like clearly going like killer killer. Yeah, I mean, I kind of wish that taking that out Or I wish like there'd been something more for him to like that was just too like charismatic to just be a throwaway So that okay.

I don't know who that guy is that there's you know, but he was he's awesome yoss and an Is he bad anything? No, he wasn't fly by by dates which I never seen he was in plane that drawer butler movie Did not see that for a couple years ago. I didn't either he was in the lawn. Oh the live-action one that yeah He's a Chinese actor So he's a moral engines and then beyond that nothing nothing really of note But he's good Like that's something like when I would have been okay with it ending at the airport But I do like the fact that you get that last act because of the fact that like when they're both revealed the beat of killers Like they're very charismatic because it's this is clearly a scream inspired movie No, obviously this is takes a lot of them scream that a lot of the scream beats in and I I liked it And like when they kind of just throw away the other guy camera like guys name is The third killer who's just like a fan of theirs.

There's always just a guy who's a fan Like it's funny and all that works But I enjoy the fact that it kind of it ties itself up to but there's no sort of Like final act beat where it's just like oh this could be too It's like scream was just frame ties itself up and just ends I was expecting this movie to kind of have like that kind of singer kind of like I know she did last summer or I still don't She was over had that's not here at all There's no hard ice to coming you didn't see the big credit scene, right? Oh was there what yeah? You didn't yeah, so they did they did a bit credit scene Uh where she proposes to To j at the movie theater and then her phone rings and then the voice modulator comes on But then I just her friend well filming the picture of them fucking with them because she she hired her to film the The uh the English like webbing in the wine wine field. It was really well made so I'm sorry I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The wine field?

You don't believe it's called a vineyard? Sure. Whatever. I do like the term wine field I am tired.

You know, I thought I thought actually there was gonna be a yeah When the house lights didn't come up app and movie I thought for sure there was gonna be a mid-grid scene But I was like, yeah, I'm good. I just went over. Yeah, but what I like about is they're making fun of those movies. Yeah, yes So it was a perfectly way to head movies Yeah, because like this this the thing I appreciate and I think this is a fun time like I would say like the kills are gnarly Um that that kill on jordi rooster's character That was that was awesome.

Their head slowly falls off. It comes off. Um, this is great Um, but the wine the wine crushing kill scene that was the eyes the CGI like eyes look a little silly to me. Yeah, but it was fun It was fun Um, but the thing I like about this is I clearly wrapped up in a sense of like we're not making a hard nice too Like maybe we'll make another sort of valent like maybe we'll make another sort of um holiday Yeah, I'm loving these holiday themed songs.

Oh, sure. Thanksgiving like let's get an arbor day one coming Let's let's just do them all I'm in time to trim that tree exactly I I I was like I kind of like this is a movie I watch on mowdingsay going forward because it's out You know, that's that's an interesting question to have though Because like this year is a horror like these past two years Let's pass a year and this year coming up or horror years Which is probably a big reason tom is like i'm done with this shit Like we have the monkey coming out next week. Um, and then we have just a shit ton of horror movies We have final destination to uh bloodlines, you know, we have um, I believe thanksgiving to without this year We just have to know they're making our are you tired of horror yet? No, um, we yeah, it's weird.

I am still like fully on board the story of train Well, because we we're keeping original like this movie Even though it does a lot of scream stuff, but it's totally original in in in in funny. Yeah, like like and that's the thing I kind of appreciate the fact that like they're all For the most part like it's like horror is experiencing a huge renaissance like right now Even more so than you saw him previous like a fucking horror movie got the best picture best director best screenplay best actor Will win best actress and the Oscars, you know, like and that's like the first like pure Horror movie I would say That and get out are the first two like pure horror movies actually pure pure horror films You get, you know those sorts of nominations and those sorts of credits and I wouldn't be shocked if substance still takes director I think it's gonna be Sean Baker, but I wouldn't be shocked if uh, farge wins director Um, this is sure shit not gonna be bad pretty cordy anymore It would be smoking dead in the water. Not as dead as merely oppressed, but no I think as long as there's it's a genre that has always had um, the willingness to do Crazy shit and a lot of experimentation to just throw things at the wall And as long as that keeps happening like i'm gonna be on board Like the fact that the monkey is Ozgood Perkins making fun of Ozgood Perkins like the advertisement of the monkey and apparently the earlier views of it have all been just like It's making fun of her steech horror movies So it's osm good Perkins making fun of like himself like it's it's fun. Like it's it's it's it's it's a meta thing I really dig like that meta-ness of it.

Um, there's a lot of talk about like how there's a big cross-section between horror and wrestling fandom Because like both are willing to just do crazy shit and see what works that throw shit at the wall See what sticks, um, and I agree and I kind of i'm on board what we'll continue down this path Yeah Again, even though it's targeting great reviews. I still want to see opus because that's just another like fun Sounds like a fun premise for horror movie. So maybe the thriller I don't know But who knows? Yeah, I'm strangely not getting sick of it.

Um, they're just getting better somehow so no I don't there's a lot of them. So like the bad ones i'll skip You know, I didn't review screamboat today because I was never gonna watch screamboat I don't know what that is. It's like one of the steamboat willy Mickey Mouse terrible. Oh, yeah, well, I'm not Those are all trash.

I'm not I'm not watching anyone one of the my gut feeling is one of those is gonna end up being good They're gonna accidentally stumble apparently that Peter pan one Was mediocre one of those is gonna be good and it's gonna open up doors that read didn't even know it'd be opened I mean I wouldn't mind if one of them's good, but they're not those aren't even trying yet. Yeah, they're not trying. Yeah, we're sure Yeah, but yeah Great wait, it's not the year with movies already. I'm great.

We start the podcast. Yeah, the spinoff podcast for the jefferson's podcast right now Oh, yeah, levern and surely the better call saw the joey No, no, no, no, no, no, no, the joey lasted a season my guy. I know that was a joke Uh, but yeah, we'll be back in two weeks. We're gonna do the first episode truly of pivotal This is kind of like our little experiment episode to kind of see how this works and for me to kind of figure out the audio stuff Of recording off of zoom Next week does start the bill we're gonna talk about we're gonna talk about our number 10 Uh pivotal games.

We're also gonna have reviews for pattington in peru and the monkey as well. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, he said two weeks Oh, yeah, we'll get the monkey perfect. I don't want to do this weekly.

That's too much for me. Yeah, good I agree. Well, so every especially since like this these podcasts will start getting being long when we talk about games I think because like okay, we're probably like 30 minutes for each game. So, you know, no Well, crazy.

No one is every week people don't listen to us every week every two weeks You listen to us like you listen to like 30 minutes of us like one or 40 minutes of us one week and then like the rest of the 40 minutes The next week. Yeah, it's probably more than enough. So like the little treat we're like for the fo-gra a podcast now All right, but she shouldn't eat because that's it's horrendous. It's horrendous industry.

Don't eat the raw It's delicious. I will say to finish though going back to the super-well talk halftime show. What'd you think? Um, I thought it was good.

I loved it. Uh, I thought the, I mean the audio mixing was terrible. That was awful You could barely hear Kendrick Lamar, but I'm not a Kendrick Lamar guy. I mean general.

I don't necessarily like his voice style Don't come at me Kendrick because I can't handle the heat you would kill me. Uh, he's totally still bearing Drake. So don't worry. I got Drake's dead 66,000 people screaming a binder Means that you're dead.

Uh, no, I thought it was great. I was one of my it was probably my favorite since uh, Rihanna from three years ago two years ago Three years ago. No, I don't know We had usher last year and year before that it was the west coast rap and then I think it was Rihanna You're right. Yeah, and then it was the weekend who I also liked his weekend was good Yeah, 2020 but this was my favorite since then especially since I had like a little bit It was not only just Drake, but there's definitely like a little bit of a politics edge to it for sure.

Um, but like you brought it Serena Williams Drake when it drinks x's sissa was also sissa wanted drinks. Yeah. Yeah, it was so good. No, it was the funniest halftime show Yeah, definitely the thing I learned is I will never Ever fuck with Kendrick Lamar.

Nope If Kendrick Lamar looks at me and says like hey, I was there first and I was there first. I'd be like you're right Kendrick. I'm sorry Not because I think it could physically hurt me But that man would find that man would find ways to emotionally harm me that I didn't realize where possible Like things things I'm not self-conscious about he would find a way to like bring out the self-consciousness. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, but yeah That's that's the first episode of pivotal Until then you should drink some beers. You should listen to some music. You should read some books You should play some games. You should watch some tv and see a movie And we'll talk to you in two weeks.

Bye guys