Blank Check with Griffin & David - Tokyo Godfathers with Reece Feldman

Episode Date: May 19, 2024

They call them the Godfathers of Tokyo…and we call him the KING of TIKTOK (in an old man newscaster voice) - Reece Feldman joins us to chat about Satoshi Kon’s beautiful Christmas fable about a trio of unforgettable characters on the fringes of society. We talk about how animation is truly a medium and NOT a genre, as evidenced by this film. We talk about Ice Age (another animated movie where outsiders care for a baby). We talk about whether or not David might get roped into watching Ice Age a million times if his daughter finds out about it. And we talk about David’s pitch for a Cheaper by the Dozen spoof called “Cheaper by the Cousin”…? Follow Reece on his socials: TikTok - Instagram This episode is sponsored by: AuraFrames.com (CODE: CHECK) Burrow (Burrow.com/check) Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! 

Blackjack with Griffin and David Blackjack with Griffin and David Don't know what to say or to expect All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blackjack Being able to speak freely is the lifeblood of podcasting. Maybe I'm naive. Sounds like you're getting a Patreon. Sounds like I'm getting a Patreon. I'm starting a podcast so I can speak freely. I don't want to intimate anything, but I'm going to be speaking pretty freely on this

new podcast of mine. Should we as a marketing strategy try to frame our Patreon? Pretend that we're like saying really, really nasty stuff on our Patreon. Like, oh, we're, yeah, we're definitely pushing boundaries. Michelangelo is a party dude. Can't come at me. Cancel me if you want, but I can say it because I'm behind a paywall. I subscribe to the Patreon so I can attest to that.

We're doing Ninja Turtles on Patreon. That will be happening by the time it just comes out This is okay, so I was I'm getting a little worried about the turtles patreon by the way sameness No, just us. I think we're not maybe cowabunga built People got so mad that I rated that awful animated movie poorly on letterbox Here is my I was like you guys are 12 anymore rewatch it People got so mad that I rated that awful animated movie poorly on letterbox. And I was like, you guys aren't 12 anymore. Re-watch it. That's exactly what I'm going to say. This is also, let's make it clear, this is not where we should be.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry and we can cut it out or we can move on. One of the least essential animated films of the 2000s, TMNT, does not need to be discussed on an episode about an animated masterpiece. Well it's the next thing posting on our Patreon so at least I kind of nailed the timing there. It's relevant but I'm saying today we're talking about one of the great animated films of its decade. I mean you're right. For a man who basically made three of the best animated films of the decade.

Perfect Blue excluded simply because it was not of its decade. It was of a prior decade. Right but I'm like all three of his 2000 releases, I think have to go on to any at least top 20 list. He was a bangers only person. Here's a take I'm gonna come in with. Okay. And there isn't a direct one-to-one here.

And our guest, by the way, feel free to, I know you've already interjected. We'll introduce you in a second. I was hoping I just needed to get a single word before the introduction. Because too often I hear people waiting. Don't worry, I'll take 45 minutes needed to get a single word before the introduction, because too often I hear people waiting. Don't worry, I'll take 45 minutes until we get to the introduction. Perfect.

But is Satoshi Kon kind of like the John Cazale? Of animated films? Of filmmakers. I'm just trying to think of someone else who has such a limited body of work, that is just straight bangers, all culturally important, all have aged into becoming more important than they even were in their moment. Like, there's just no minor work in his career. We are about to cover, I would say, his most minor work, and it's still a fairly major work.

That's my favorite of his. This is my take. If this is the most minor work you have in your career, I bought the three books, which I'm going to make my way through his three books that he published. Different medium. I'll follow that as its own thing. We're doing Paranoia Agent on Patreon. But I feel like consensus is everything he ever made where he was the primary artist is good to great. This guy doesn't have anything that's like, well, that was him getting his C-Legs or that one's a minor. Right? Like if this is the worst, I'm not, I'm not gonna say worst. If this is the most minor work you have in relation. I'm currently making a top animated movies of the 2000s list just to sort of

where you would slot these in. Yes. See where I would slot these in. Your number one of the 2000s would be Ponyo. Possibly. Well, no, Spirit it Away. Oh, you're right. They're both in there. They're both in there. Okay. Yeah. But some Satoshi Kon movies would be Ponyo? Possibly, no, no, Spirited Away. Oh, you're right, they're both in there. They're both in there. But some Satoshi Kon movies would be pretty high. Tea, obviously. Have you seen that film? No.

You're younger than us. Yes. But maybe too young for that film. Well, that's the thing, because there were some movies that you guys have covered that you had Treasure Planet, and I know that you guys were a bit confounded by it. And I, like that was a movie for me that growing up was huge.

I wouldn't say I was confounded by it. I'd say it's a movie I want to unabashedly love and like a lot. You were closer in age to Emma though, who was our guest on that episode and was more planet-pilled. I love that movie. And I think you're,

you're around the same age as my sister. I'm 25 right now. Oh yes, yes. So you're around the same age as my sister. I'm 25 right now. Oh yes, yes. So you're basically the exact same age. I took her to see that and she was confounded. But it is interesting. Some of these things that were just like,

Tim and T is a movie, why are we still talking about it? That I would just feel so confident being like, no one feels strongly about that. Because even if you're a Ninja Turtles kid of that era, you would have latched onto one of the other things more than that movie yeah that was not for me yeah now would osmosis Jones make a top 25 of the 2000s animated me yes because I'm fucking sick and twisted and out of control it's just the planet could have been a treasure okay I know I this is serious. Planet is a chest. Alien 3, like a wood planet.

Yeah. That would have been, I do get that. Very good reference to my favorite version of Alien 3 that was never made. Planet is wood. And you're saying Planet is wood with sort of like gold straps around it and a lock. The blooms.

One day enough sickos will run Hollywood that someone will rise to the top of Fox and be like, can we do a wood planet movie finally? I mean, right before we started recording, you were reading the synopsis of Alien Romulus. A lot of the information had just come out. Could you imagine if they announced Alien colon wood planet?

Alien wood planet. And they were like, this one actually doesn't have any xenomorphs in it. It's just about the local economy of a wood planet. What happens when it rains? Is it porous? Yes. It's a great question. Is this an absorbent wood?

Does it, you know, has it been treated in any way? Look, we've talked about it. Have we stained it? Yes. We've already in these first couple of minutes brought back up a lot of movies from the storied history of Blank Shack with Griffin and David. But we're barely acknowledging the movie we're here to talk about today. Satoshi Kon, the filmmaker in question, on this podcast which is called Blank Check with Griffin

and David. I'm Griffin. It's a podcast about filmography. Directors who have massive success early on in their careers given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want, sometimes those checks clear, sometimes they bounce baby. Do you have Monsters Inc. over finding Nemo or not? It's a really tough, that is very much an on the day, like what side of the bed did I wake up on this morning, changes the ranking of those two. Understood. I mean I imagine you put

Incredibles and Ratatouille highest of all the pictures you imagine correct. I'd probably I think finding Nemo for Monster's Inc Today I agree with you. Yeah, that's where I had it. So but I put Wally above those two Me too. I do as well. Yeah Wally above those two me too I do as well yeah Wally is the highest non-bird non-bird Pixar to me although you know there's a Toy Story conversation to be had yeah we've had it before we'll have it again I promise you this our listeners listen this is a main series on the films of Satoshi Kone yes someone who made a bunch of crazy passion projects, and I would say all of them cleared.

Pretty much. And then he died tragically young. Sadly. Very true. It's, I just, in watching these, it's the reason I throw out this John Cazale question, because it is that thing of like, holy shit, this guy didn't miss and then he died suddenly. And it's this incredible what if, but on the other hand, you look it and you're like perfect career right not that net balance it wouldn't been better if the man has gotten to live and enjoy life and yes it is astonishing he

is it's one of those things where it's like also how how prolific he was in such a short period of time right that he's like animating and he's like in comics and he's in, you know, film and TV and whatever. Then he finally gets to make his first feature film and he makes three, he makes four feature films within seven years, eight years? It's like 10 years basically. It's 97 to like 2006. Yeah. So it's nine years, when animation often takes three years per film at minimum. And a TV show in there. Yes, and a full TV show. Like his turnaround time was kind of astonishing in a way that feels like the fucking Hamilton thing.

Like he was writing like he knew he was running out of time. That's a good line. Today we're talking about his penultimate film. Yup. Sucks. Paranoia Agent comes after this and then Paprika after that, correct? I think this was 03 because I... And then Paranoia Agent 04. And Paprika's 06. Yup.

So that's how it goes. Today we're talking about Tokyo Godfathers. A loose remake of Three Godfathers? Loose, though. Loose. I've never seen. Iose, though. Loose. I've never seen. I haven't either.

Me neither. Ben? All Three Godfathers condensed into one? I've watched all Three Godfathers playing simultaneously on three screens. The way Cople always intended. No, it's a John Ford movie starring Mr. John Wayne, who you guys might have heard of, and it has a vague sort of like, you know, it's like three cowboys and a baby.

It's three cowboys and a baby. It's got this kind of biblical like, Oh, like, it's like three wise men with Jesus, except we're a bunch of, you know, dopes and we don't know what we're doing. And, but they're cowboys and three Godfathers. And in this, they are, you know, unhoused Tokyo residents. It's very, very loose. Yes.

It's a film inspired by the notion of, our guest today is a major fan of this film. Someone we've been talking about trying to get on the podcast for a long time. It's been a back and forth conversation. We're trying to book these episodes. I go onto Letterbox, and your review of this film, let me quote it directly. Oh, jeez but I saw it and I was like well We shouldn't think this my I'm a very like I understand people love perfect blue and paprika

Yeah, but this is the one that for me. I just it's it's so perfect I think it is the sweetest film and I smile when I watch it the entire time I'm just smiling your review is animation is an art form, not a genre. I hope America eventually learns this. Oh yeah, I know that was a good one. When I was talking to my girlfriend about this movie. Yeah, humble, humble brag. Humble brag, very humble brag.

She was like surprised because she was like, wait, this is an animated film, right? Cause I was telling her the plot and I was like, yes, it's an animated film. And she's like, so what's the like, not what's the catch, but like, oh, this sounds like it could be a live action. Why would you do this in animation? Yeah, I was like, that's the beauty of it.

It's shot like it's like it's with real people and like the performances are not exaggerated, like a lot of American animation. And I, it's perfect. And this is one of those movies that makes me think about that. Even like Millennium Actress, which is more grounded, but features excerpts from genre films that are easier to depict on a scale in animation, but also plays with time and space and memory in these ways where it becomes more impressionistic

and animation's a benefit. This is a movie that's like very generally, conventionally told that takes place entirely in a pretty grounded reality. Yeah, so there are flashbacks and so on, but that's not that unusual for a movie. It's a little less of the reality being blurred. And besides the one wind lifting up Hannah at the end, everything could be shot so practically.

There would be no need for any VFX, anything like that. But that's why your review stuck out to me. This feels like the movie of Satoshi Kon trying to make that argument. Yeah. Right? It feels like sort of the great reason for this film existing is for him to just like point to it and go like, you could tell any story in animation. Let's break out of some of our ways of thinking about what this medium is. Reese Feldman is our guest today on the podcast.

Hello, welcome Reese. David was getting stressed out thinking I forgot to say it. I was never getting stressed, how dare you? I've never been stressed in my life. I have Tokyo Godfathers basically among the 10 to 15 best animated films of the 2000s. Paprika and Millennium Actress also in there. Do you have it over Tokyo Godfathers?

Do I have one of those two over? Yeah. I do. Okay. Personally. Personal, yeah, yeah. But I respect all opinions, of course. Especially the ones on our Patreon, which are a little different than normal opinion. No, I'm joking.

But you know, I have the two Brad Bird movies up there. I do have Wally up there. I have Spirited Away and Ponyo up there, and Howls would make my 15-ish. Okay, I have Coraline up there. A masterpiece. I have the two Linklater animated films up there, Waking Life and The Scanner Darkly. Those are two films I love a masterpiece. I have the two Linklater animated films up there, Winking Lights and The Scanner Darkly.

Those are two films I love a lot. I have, you know, nearer the bottom, but still these are movies I respect a lot. Emperor's New Groove, Finding Nemo, Lilo and Monsters. And then Triplets of Belleville, Chicken Run. There's a lot of good animated movies. Chicken Run sounds a little low, my friend. I've got to re-watch Chicken Run sounds a little low my friend. I've got to

re-watch Chicken Run. Yeah you do. It's been 24 years since I've seen Chicken Run. You haven't seen it since? Oh my friend. You gotta go for a run. It's really good. You gotta go for a run. Would my kid like it? Yeah I think so. Maybe I should try her on like a Wallace and Gromit. Sure. See what she thinks of that. And then maybe take her on a run. Cat Returns, like I was telling you. Have you ever seen the Cat Returns? I have not.

Bit of an unhinged movie. Like if someone made that movie and showed it to me, I would be like, how are you doing? Yeah. It's a weird thing to spin off. Because we covered Whisper of the Heart when we did our Miyazaki series. Yeah. And I was like, wait, this is the cat who returns? They spun off the cat she thinks about sometimes. Oh, that's the...

She's got a little statue and there's one dream sequence where the statue comes to life. And they made a whole movie of like, what if he came back and was just doing shit the whole time? Right, but guess what my daughter saw on the HBO carousel? Cat. Bingo. Nailed it. I want cat. And I was like, fine, let's put it on. Guess what my daughter saw on the HBO carousel. Cat. Bingo. Nailed it. I want cat.

And I was like, fine, let's put it on. And then it was like 75 minutes long and I was like, I love it. I mean, there's cats in this. There are cats in this. This movie would, she would not like. No, I don't think so. This is a firmly,

non-intentative children movie. This is a grownup movie. Without being explicit. Start with Ice Age and then go to this. I can't watch Ice Age. Oh, do you not? I mean, I can, but like, it's, the thing is like, I'd happily watch Ice Age and then go to this. I can't watch Ice Age. Oh, do you not? I mean, I can, but the thing is, I'd happily watch Ice Age.

The whole thing was showing a movie to my kid. No, it's just like, I'm gonna have to watch Ice Age 25 times, do I wanna do that? Is that a lot? Is that too much Ice Age for me? My belief is Ice Age 25 times would not be a punishment, even if it weren't a joy, the sequels would be. If she sees that there are six of them in the carousel.

Yeah, once you get to meltdown, that's... I've never melted down personally. I mean, I've melted down mentally, but not with the Ice Age boys. Reese, I'm tapping a stack of papers here on my desk and consulting my notes. Reese Feldman, they call you the king of TikTok. Is this right?

Jesus Christ. The kids are calling him the king of TikTok. What is this, Channel 5? Throwing tomatoes at me. That's what I'm doing. Are you going to ask, do you know where our children are or whatever? Like, what's going on? No, I'm like, how do I introduce you?

And then I was like running through lines in my head and I was like, there is nothing I can say that won't make me sound like a 65 year old news anchor. No, it's very odd talking about it. Is there something you're actually quoting? Back in my day, we went to the movie theaters, but these days kids are learning about movies from TikTok. They call him the king of TikTok. There's always those spell names. YouTube compilations of like news in the 80s like covering the

internet where they're like, you know, we're going to like a video game arcade and it's like this cure. Yeah. Right. You know, Oh, people now are using something called email. Like you know, like that kind of usually we set up traps to catch mice. But what if I were to tell you there's a mice you want to grab with your hand they call him the king I Just missed that type of language, but Reese Reese you are you are the you are the king of things They you are they do call they do call you the kind of me I mean is there an actual article that said or something that says that or is this fine now? I really hope it's not now. I was gonna. I'd be really I'm now wondering if I have ever actually read anyone

Call you that or I just say that's actually I might be quoting myself saying it or it's a it's a really it's a quite a title one This guy if you came up with this guy Reese Feldman. He's like the king of tick-tock I'll say the Hollywood reporter. Did you call you Hollywood's Gen Z whisper? Okay? Scary it's a little scary Hollywood's Gen Z whisperers You were a film student. I actually common misconception. Okay, no, I dropped out of college, but you won't know I graduated to They call me the liar I I have my facts wrong. Now if you want more lies, check out our Patreon.

I studied film at school. I did not go to film school. What school? I went to Tulane, New Orleans. Hell yeah. Yeah. And then you were PA-ing. Then I was, after I graduated, May 2020.

Go Green Wave. What's that? Go Green Wave. The sports team is the Green Wave. Yeah, terrible. Really bad. Yeah, graduate? Go green way. The sports team is the green wave. Yeah. Terrible. Really bad. Um, that yeah. Graduated is really horrendous.

I just like doing that. Yeah. Graduated May, 2020 and then started PA. You were on Maisel. Was that the first one? My first big one was the real housewives of New Jersey for several months. Yeah. Uh, really fun show. They're on their state flag now, right?

No front porches. Yeah Nothing are you are you ready for my the kind of thing? I usually reserved for the patreon. Yes real housewives of New Jersey Yeah, that's my favorite scripted TV show How dare you come on now? Wow, the flag of New Jersey is like a weird kind of piss yellow Okay Now, wow, the flag of New Jersey is like a weird kind of piss yellow Okay, yeah, it's a little pissy didn't start out that way This is a weird color to pick for your left at the side of the road. Yeah, you started making videos as a Not today, right right you probably signed legal documents.

Legal documents, yeah, with repercussions if I were to do that. And then you've had this insane ascension. I feel like, pretty quick. Although I know in real time you've been working towards things gradually. It's not like something was handed to you overnight. All of the stuff has been like, step by step. But you have become, I'm checking my notes here, Hollywood's Gen Z Whisperer. What do they call him though?

The King? Yeah, no, when I get on set, that's on the call sheet is Whisperer. You basically, and correct me if you feel I'm defining this wrong, but you have become this guy that now like, not just like the studios, but like a lot of our top filmmakers

are looking to as this guy has the ability to communicate to a new generation the importance of movies to try to make sure that film culture survives. That is the part of it that I really like. The non-whispering of it all. But yeah, that has been really cool. And like one thing that I was really nervous about was I was on the Reddit. I know you guys don't check the Reddit.

Oh yeah, no, I've never checked the Reddit about six times today. I was on the Reddit. This is our narrative now. We never look at it. I'm not looking. I saw a video of mine on there and I was like, oh God, like I'm gonna get torn to shreds.

Like this is, and everyone in it was like really nice being like, I'm not on TikTok, but this is actually a really cool thing. And I like to see like Christopher. Was it with no one? Yeah. And people were really kind. We're like, wow, this is actually digestible. And I get what this is supposed to be, which was a very big relief for me.

People were just rooting for that right then, too. Yes. They were like, we really need something like Oppenheimer to translate and to do well. Yes. It was such a good moment. Like, it was! I was talking about this with a friend of the show, Patrick Williams, the other night. And we were both kind of like in hushed tones leaning in. And we were like, is it crazy? I feel like really optimistic about the future of film right now.

Yeah! In every way where I was like, I feel good about it as a business, artistically, and the sort of culture around it. And I was like, this is the first time in 20 years I have not felt we are undeniably on a decline. Like circling the drain. Yeah, the younger generation is like actually like not letting studios off easy. In a good way. But also it's like engaged. Like gives a shit. Yes.

And you've, so I'm not on TikTok because I'm 87 years old. I'm a news anchor for local station. Do you lurk or do you? I lurk. Okay, okay. I'm trying to like, I don't need more things in my life. That's fair. This emoji blitz already takes up 18 hours a day.

There was a Star Wars event going on. Although you do know Draft Day is very big on TikTok. God damn it, isn't it? It is. Really? Any like movie like Draft Day is big on TikTok. Like damn it, is it? It is. Really? Any movie like Draft A is big on TikTok. Like a sort of nice, reliable movie about people talking to each other.

The Vontay Mac? They doing Vontay Mac rooms? No matter what. You were regularly posting very nice things about the show. Insane. We're like, who is this guy with eight trillion followers? They call him the king of TikTok. They call him the king of TikTok.

There was some correspondence going on. You meet up with Marie. You get coffee with Marie. You and I get coffee. You had just met Nolan. Yeah. You got Marie and I in to see Oppenheimer early, which is very helpful in terms of getting our episode done.

Yes, that was a really big win for me. Because when I heard the episode that you guys released on Oppenheimer I was like I had like a real like little nod to myself You know who was a big win for us? Yeah, there was an it was like the IMAX before like it was yes. Yeah, that was sold out for cheap Yeah, but you had just done your video with him where he was at the AMC Lincoln Square No, no, it was at the AMC Lincoln Square? No, it was at the studio city, like Universal City Walk. The guy, it was, I was there at 10 a.m. when they told me to get there.

It was very like secret. And like he just walks in, like people are just cleaning as he's walking by. And he's like, oh, hello. I'm like, Mr. Nolan. He's like, I was about to ask what he call him, Mr. Nolan, he led with Mr. Nolan. He's like, I was about to ask what he call him. Mr. Nolan. He led with mr. Nolan I lead with mr. Nolan just because of course And yeah, there's like a little piece. Oh, please call me big C. Call me C dog

So call me big C and by the way, I hear they call you the king of tick the king of tick. Yeah cock I call you the king of TikTok. Yeah. The king of TikTok. No, what did you, what did you do? I called Mr. Nolan and he is very nice. And so is Emma Thomas, who's, they're just really cool. She's the G. Yeah, she's awesome. Couple of holes.

Yeah. And yeah, just a really cool, we did it at Universal City Walk. He's very, very chill. Not at all. And like, this is what we were talking off Mike, is that yeah, he's like, I feel like he always wears suits so people view him in one way, but he's a really sweet guy that loves all movies, not just what people assume he would like. I hope I'm not betraying anything by saying this, but the way you recounted to me when

you had just done this interview with him, you had seen the movie, I had not seen the movie yet, it was right when it was about to come out. And I was like, what was that like? Because here's this guy who famously doesn't like have a smartphone, doesn't check his email, like all this shit, right? And you're like, is this going to be like, oh, you have to talk to someone for TikTok, you have to do social media videos? Like, is this going to be inscrutable to this guy?

And you said that he was like, excited. He was he was one of those like scenarios and it's like him. There was there's a few other people just for the sake of this to help. If anyone who's listening doesn't have tech talk or anything, understand. It's just like like him, Luca Guardino, James Cameron. Like there's a lot of people of like an older ilk of filmmaking who are so interested by tech talk just by the sake of it. It's like a medium and ever a communication tool.

I understand film. I don't understand this, but I am told that you do understand this and I've seen yours and I understand that you get it. So I can trust you in that sense. But also that specific video you did with him was you went to the projection booth for the IMAX screen at the City Walk Theater and he took a part,

showed you the film. It was very much about this physical medium, this machinery, and you said that he was like, it's important that I show this to your audience so that people understand why I am putting an importance on this as the form to see the movie, which obviously fucking worked. It worked.

The idea was communicated. Fucking Oppenheimer and IMAX became the hottest ticket in the world for months But it was like it was very cool to see yeah, it was it's really cool And it's he's just it's for him. It's just another useful tool to explain to people and like yes There's the irony of it being shot vertically And on like the smallest screen imaginable. But it is just a means to an end, which is for him to like get the youth to like IMAX and to like the big screen experience.

Well, now I'm wondering. Has anyone ever used a smartphone in a Nolan film? No. That's a really good question. Does Tenet have zero smartphones? That's the one that maybe would. Maybe Tenet. I don't know though. Because I feel like the Dark Knight trilogy, they're using flip phones. Yeah, there's some cell phones in it right?

Tenet, I imagine. Because there's just the scenes of him in the car calling Depeche up. Is it on a smartphone? That's the question. We don't know. And we'll never know. Those films are not viewable. No, I don't know. I'll try to clear. But this is a favorite movie of yours. Yes. We've been looking for a while for the right thing to get you on for, and when I saw that you felt

so strongly about it, and once again, not that this is a minor film, but his other three films loomed so large, this one tends to get a little forgotten. This is the one that is overlooked. Yeah. It's his most overlooked film. And we even, we talked about in the last episode,

but this insane thing where Millennium Actress came out a couple years later in the States, but Tokyo Godfathers basically came out right at the same time it came out in Japan, which meant that these two movies came out within a month of each other in the States. They were like competing with each other in a bizarre way. And they both ended up getting snubbed for the Oscar

because they had to compete against each other and the category was a little weird still at that point in time. Yeah, they had to make room for Surf's Up or what was it? No, that year it was Brother Bear. Brother Bear, that's the one. The other two are bigger movies. It was-

Nemo, Brother Bear. Oh, Nemo, that makes sense. Right. And Belleville, yes. Which was kind of like, back when they only have three. Like there would be one slot for like an art or Euro animated film. Yeah. We were talking about this last week that even did kick in a little later because the first year, oh one, they were like, well, the three nominees are

obviously going to be Shrek, Monsters Inc, the two big dogs of 2001 and Waking Life. Everyone's like they'll'll put in the already one. And then Jimmy Neutron got Waking Life's slot. Yeah, well, you know how he did that? Oh. That big old noggin. Boy, genius. I think when Spirited Away won the second year,

it was like, okay, so this isn't just gonna be an American category. Right. Belleville getting in, you know, the G-Kids ascension of, oh, here are movies you maybe haven't heard of until the nominations come out. That's much more recent. That starts, yeah.

You're right. 2008, 2009? Yeah, it's in 2007 you have Persepolis, which we mentioned on a different episode. And like 2009. How it gets in, how it doesn't. Yes. Well, the Ponyo Snub is rude, but in 2009 when they expand to five, which then they sort of basically stay at five

There's an animated movie strike when secret accounts got in that felt like big big big deal secret accounts You got your Chico and Rita Your Ernest and Celestine's your songs of the sea. Yeah your tales of kaguya One of the greats. What is your I mean mean we're talking about you being a generation or so younger than us, what is your relationship to animation growing up? For me it was very much like a lot of the, we were just talking, saying Treasure Planet. That was one of the big ones for me.

My sister who's a few years older, all the Disney princess films. So like the ones that I especially liked were Hercules. Hercules was a huge one for me. But it was mostly the American animated films. So it was very much, I was like raised with the idea that animated films are for kids and that's that. Yeah, it was pretty much only what- It's the first one you saw in a theater.

My first movie I saw in a theater? Like, sure. Any, but especially like an animated movie. Like, did you see Brother Bear in a theater? Yes. Wow. I saw Brother Bear. I definitely saw Finding Nemo. I feel like the first-

You saw Finding Nemo, that's a three. You wouldn't have seen Tracker Monsters Inc. I probably was too young at that point. Yeah, you were too young. If you're 25 now. We were dragging Romilly. Romilly was seeing like fucking movies two months after she came out. I mean you can take a baby to a theater. We did, trust me.

We're not gonna really watch. Yeah. What about Chicken Little? Chicken Little, yes. Which I rewatched a couple years ago and is near unwatchable. I was going to talk about it. It is a really... I loved that movie as a kid and it... This is the thing. We fall into this where we're like we know the opinions of people the consensus on these movies and which ones matter And then now we're becoming old fuddy-duddies who call people the king of TikTok and we throw fucking side swipes

We take strays at fucking movies like Chicken Little where we're like obviously no one gives a shit about this and then we get essays That are people saying yeah, I do find it reassuring to hear someone who saw Chicken Little at the right age agree that perhaps that movie is, dare I say it, undercooked. Yes, very much so. I loved it as a kid. That makes me bacon. Yeah, me and my friends were all like,

oh, this was so fun as a kid. And then we were about, I don't even know if it's an hour and a half. I don't even know if it hits 90 minutes. Chicken Little?, let's find out. I got sloppy ass 82 minutes with credits Yeah, that one is 81 minutes. I think I think we made it 70 minutes and turned it off. Yeah, like we didn't stay Yeah, we could not. Yeah, this that is the hook to that movie is chicken little says the sky is falling Everyone says chicken little you always lie and it turns out the reason the sky is chicken little says the sky is falling everyone says chicken little you always lie And it turns out the reason the sky is falling is because the sky is constructed of

Tiles tiles that project the image of the sky, but are actually the bottom of a spaceship yes cool But yes, that was what I grew up watching sure when did you feel like you had that realization about animation as a medium not a genre? I guess probably high school when I started watching things that were not just made in America. Sure. And then animation slowly followed suit after that. Are you an anime boy in general? I do like animation a lot. No. Anime. Oh, no. I'm sorry. That is not like you're watching tons and tons of that. No, that is one of the art forms I have yet to get into. And I've tried, like, people have told me, like,

oh, start with Death Note or Attack on Titan. And it's just not, it just has not stuck for me. It's very daunting to me, too. You know, once you get past, like, episode 580, and I'm like, I can't do that. One Piece is like the longest running show in history Mm-hmm. He seems pretty fun for you this I agree But then I'm like, where do I start and they're like look you're gonna have to like work your way through the first eight seasons

And then like nine to twenty seven are incredible. Yeah, which is why I'm it's been tough for me to find my in I still have finished this fucking Simpsons Griffin. You don't need to finish this. I have to do it. How much do you have left? Like nine years. I can I've less. I've less than I. I cannot wait to watch the Simpsons with my kid. That's something I'm really thinking about now. So a few years off and just wait until you get to season 34. It's the funniest it's ever been. Okay, Griffin, shut up for a second because I need to tell you about a special thing that only I know about. Now you know this, this episode is brought to you by Mubi, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe from iconic directors to emerging

or terraces or something you to discover on Mubi. They've got great hand selected streaming choices on movie all the time. We talk about it all the time. We love the good folks at movie, but this month on movie US, you can catch gasoline rainbow, which is the new film from the Ross brothers, Bill Ross, the fourth and Turner Ross, which is in US theaters from May 10th. And it's streaming on movie from May 31st. So these guys are the directors of Bloody Nose,

Empty Pockets was their last movie and they mostly work in documentary. This is their first fiction film, but it's got kind of a hybrid realism to it. It's about this group of teenagers, five kids in inland Oregon who are trying to drive in a van across the state to the coast, you know, in this kind of ramshackle situation, they're just having fun. And it is a very sort of experiential, cool, vibey movie about

teens, you know, partying and having one last hurrah. It's very chill. It's very fun. It's very sort of atmospheric. It was at South by Southwest. It was at Venice. It's an expansive portrait of this new generation told in their own words. New York Magazine loved it. Indowire loved it. It opens in US theaters on May 10th. It's streaming on movie from May 31st. You've also got Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, the Radu

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OK, how did you get into movies? You just always like movies. Yeah, yeah, it's not like it's not a very exciting. Yeah, I always liked movies. That was I feel like for so many. It was just always my thing. And then I just knew I wanted to work in it to some capacity. And I didn't realize until I was like in high school

That I did not just have to be a director or an actor sure there many jobs that there are many jobs Yeah, and yeah, so that was that was pretty much it Do you remember when you saw Tokyo Godfathers for the first time what's your cone story fairly recently? Okay, it was I think it was around like a of years ago when people started making like the comparisons between Paprika and Inception. They're always doing that. They love people be doing that. People. Yeah. And the same thing with like Black Swan. I was like, that one's a little more fair. Yeah. Regardless of my thoughts on that, I was just like, this is interesting just for the sake of wanting to watch. And then two years ago, it was Christmas time

and I wanted to watch some non-Christmas Christmas movies, like Christmas adjacent films. Just sorry, did you watch those two movies in response or did you just put them on your radar? Put them on my radar. And then I was like, okay, it's in my head. And then finally I was like, okay, I'm gonna get through some adjacent Christmas movies, like black Christmas do all those off the beaten path. Yes, and then

Tokyo Godfathers came up and I was like, oh, oh, it's the same guy that did this watch So this was the first one of his you saw. Yes interesting. Yeah I loved it. Yeah, maybe that's why you fell in love with this one in particular as well. It was your way in Yeah, but even watching the like Paprika Perfect Blue and then watching this again, I still, it's the one for me that I just, I just cling to. I think that's, that's good. Even it's good and smart. I embarrassingly had not seen this. This was my blind spot in his filmography.

Despite being a dumb animation nerd as David has so kindly put it in the past. Well, yeah, but you are less of a Japanese animation. I was, but you talking about describing it to your girlfriend and having her be like, wait, it's animated? I thought you were saying this is animated. I remember reading the New York Times review of this movie when it came out, like a pretentious little film dork, and going like, wait, did I misread this? This is a cartoon? Right. Nothing else they're saying sounds like it's describing a cartoon.

It kind of interested me. I remember playing at the Sunshine. I meant to go see it. I never did. And then it's just hung out there for a while. I get in a Satoshi Kon later. I love his movies. And I just never had gotten around to this one.

But this does feel like I have seen few animated movies ever like this. Okay, I agree. In terms of just being such a sort of like small, focused human story. And I think there are things even like only yesterday, you know, or like, right, like Fireflies of the Grave. Have you seen Only Yesterday? Grave of the Fireflies, my friend.

I'm sorry. Have you seen Only Yesterday? No. Check it out, my friend. It's the best, the best animated movie. Takahata film. But even those films that are more grounded and emotionally mature, you're like, they're stories with children. They're sort of like memory plays in a certain way.

They're using animation to evoke a sort of like wistful sadness, you know? For this to be a movie that's like largely about sad adults in tough circumstances in a city like yeah in relatively mundane Locations, I mean obviously there's excitement in this movie, but it's not yeah a lot of Browns and grays Yeah, and it's yeah like you know wrinkly little faces. Yeah, there's a reason for this to be an animated movie I'm not saying like we're neither of us are saying that it's weird that it is one, but you're right that usually, you know, someone would try to do something more fanciful

if they're working in that medium. It is such a good animation as a medium argument movie where it's like, why is this movie animated? Because Satoshi Kon had a sense of how he wanted to animate it. He was not doing the math of this is the kind of story you could only tell in animation, which is the kind of trap of how many people get caught thinking about animation. I'm opening the dossier. Do it. You like that? Yeah. Blow the dust off. Tokyo Godfathers. Listen, Satoshi Kami perfect. He made Millennium Actress. Perfect blue. More like perfect movie. Millennium Actress more like Millennium Masterress. Perfect Blue, more like Perfect Movie. Millennium Actress, more like Millennium Masterpiece.

What are you gonna do now, huh? You big jerk? That's what his producer said to him. He yelled at him. What's the matter with you? What are you gonna do, make another movie? I dare you. You fucking idiot. Stigosha Cone says, these are two movies,

Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, their dreams and reality are being blended, and if you make things the same way you always had, things can get redundant. So I decided to make a different kind of story. He wanted to make something simpler. He wanted to say, make something that's more character focused, more about digging into characters.

He had wanted to make Paprika earlier. It makes sense for him not to choose to go straight into Paprika now when, as you just put it, if he made that, it's it's like oh we get who this guy is. Yeah it's the fantasy reality guy right exactly so Millennium Actress obviously that's inspired by like Japanese cinema and you know the history of Japan and things like that. This film is inspired by Satoshi Kon walking around. He walks he says when I walk down the street I see homeless people and I start to wonder why they don't show up in movies. It seemed like an obvious topic.

I think I don't know much about like Japanese socioeconomic. I'm going to reveal myself as not a huge expert on like. This is you speaking personally, David Sims. Obviously I know Japan was, Japan is in the middle of like a famous recession. Sure. At this, you know, in sort of late nineties, early twos. But like, I think homelessness was becoming more prevalent at the time. Okay. After maybe like that not being a huge societal issue for a while. Like, like I think maybe there

was a film he wanted to, so his initial idea for a movie was called Tokyo Ghost. Okay. And it was going to be about interactions between a homeless person and a spirit. But then he decides to instead be inspired by Three Godfathers. The John Ford film from 1948, where three distinct homeless characters stumble upon an abandoned child. That movie, I believe, was also a remake.

The Ford one is the second version of that story. Actually, I believe so. I know it's based on a book. Yes. Yeah. Warner Archive just announced that they're finally putting the Ford movie out on Blu-ray and I believe it's like a double feature disc with another version of the same. It had been adapted. Okay. In 1919. Who? Early. As a silent film. Yeah. By this hack shithead director called John Ford.

He'd already done it once. Wow. Back then, you know, guys like that would be like, yeah, I did it as a silent picture. Now I do it as a talkie picture. And then imagine someone had said to John Ford, one day a Japanese animator will make a film inspired by this. But this is what I'm saying.

It was already a story that had been told a couple times. Yes. Now, Gunn says, obviously, I am inspired by that movie. I took the title from that film, but it's pretty loose, obviously. And I was much more moved by the increase in unhoused people in Tokyo, and I want to focus on them as the main characters.

In Three Godfathers, they're just like cowboys breathing through town, breezing, right? He's sort of riffing on the three great dramatic archetypes In Three Godfathers, they're just like cowboys breathing through town. Breezing. Right? He's sort of riffing on like the three great dramatic archetypes in this movie. The Gutenberg, the Dancin. Go on. And the Selig. There you go.

Took me a second. Is Selig kind of the alpha in Three Men and a Baby? I have seen those movies. Are you a Three Men and a Baby guy? Am I? No. I mean, I've seen it. I don't know. You like comedies from the 80s. No, it's an interesting question.

It is an interesting question. You're not a gootster, really. Gutenberg's never been for you? You don't really go for the gooder roll. No, I guess not. Because you're not even a police academy guy. Yeah. Are you not?

I like the guy who makes the sound effects. We all like him. He's, they call him the king of sound effects. We like his solo work. I watched the police academy movies. I go, what's this other nonsense going on around him? Put this guy up on stage. What's the, the Simpson slide.

Why do you think I took you to all this police academy movies? I didn't see anybody laughing. It would be on the part Yeah, I that that movie is not like one that looms large for me. I just You already mentioning how you can't wait until your daughter is old enough to watch the Simpsons I'm just imagining in a couple years you getting to like season five and then her going. What does that mean you going? 40 years Mov Police Academy. OK, here we go. It's true.

But I feel like shows have gone on for so long. I watched The Simpsons. The reference tweets are nonsense now. I watched The Simpsons at, you know, these same episodes. And I probably didn't understand half the references. Sure. Right. Like I would just it was that thing when you're a kid where you're like, well, I'll just let that one sail by,

whatever that joke was. Right. But that's also when I watched I Love Lucy, I felt that way. And I was like, well, this was made in the times of black and white. I understand. I won't understand all these things they're talking about. It's weird to consider your daughter will watch it and it will still be a present currently running show making topical references to things like that.

Don't they? I mean, isn't like Harry Shearer being wrap it up soon, don't they? I mean. Isn't like Harry Shearer being operated like, you know, like a bellows, like at this point. Yeah, Mary. They're just kind of getting, like squeezing his chest and he's like, hey, Mr. Burns, like, you know, like. Simpsons.

I like this quote from Satoshi Kapp. The important thing wasn't just to present the homeless problem in the script, but to focus on the mindset surrounding things we discard. These are people who have been discarded from society, and I wanted to examine how someone separated from mainstream society could once again rejuvenate society. And obviously one of these three characters is kinda your classic bum.

Jin is, you know. A drunk. He's a drunk, he's an older guy. He's clearly regretful over. Unshaving, grouchy, wrinkly, yeah. Some, yeah, right, and then you have the runaway girl and then you have Miyuki. A trans woman.

Yeah, it's like, Miyuki's the runaway girl. It's a Hana is the drag performer. But's a ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha of not being seen by society the way that she sees herself. Yeah, wants to be a mother. Her own identity and wants to be a mother, the thing she knows biologically she cannot have. And then a young girl who ran away from home because of a feeling of betrayal from her father. So you have these three people who all have complicated relationships with the idea of parenting and childhood.

So she kind of apparently came to New York City and was also like, there's a lot of homeless people here too. He's just, for whatever reason, this is really on his mind. Now the Christmas thing, right? In Japan, Cohn says, like, the last week of December, the beginning of January, it's a cross-culture of religions. We've got Christmas. On December 31st, Japanese people will listen

to end of the year gongs, that sort of Buddhism. January 1st is a Shinto holiday. I wanted to express the cross-religious culture in my movie and how Japanese people look at this. This is a Christmas movie. It's a very good Christmas movie. It's got all the themes of a great Christmas movie, which is like people hanging on

and like being thrown together and makeshift family and like stuff like that that I love in Christmas movies. Yes. I mean, my favorite kind of Christmas movie. Now I'll save it for the Patreon. It's an action film starring Bruce Willis. Like, I don't want to reveal anything more. That's the kind of stuff you got to pay for.

You want to hear some hard truths, Pony of $5 a month. Logan's a Western. That's a little, that's just a very quick free sample of the kind of shit we're here. Logan's a Western. Logan's a Western. Okay, so he co-wrote this screenplay with a new collaborator, Keiko Nobumoto, a drinking friend, he said. Very quick free sample of the kind of shape. You have to say it really quick. Logan's Western. Logan's Western. Okay, so he co-wrote this screenplay with a new collaborator, Keiko Nobumoto,

a drinking friend, he said, had worked on Cowboy Bebop, which is obviously a beloved series, and her character-centric perspective would be integral, he thought, for more character-focused storytelling. Then he basically was like, we're gonna design these characters first with a shape. So, Jin, the classic bum, I keep calling him a classic bum.

The drunkard. The drunkard. An alcoholic man. Is a triangle. Yes. Miyuki, the little girl, is a circle. And Hana is a square. Like, he was like, I want three different face shapes. The classic, like, silhouette sort of philosophy in animation that you want characters who are so easily defined physically that they read in silhouette from any angle as indistinguishable from each other. Or distinguishable from each other.

Apparently, at the time of the film's release, Cohn is referring to Hanna, quote, unquote, as a drag queen, not so much as a trans woman. This is a 20 year old movie. It seems like, it's interesting, because he's obviously like, I want to represent a community I don't understand very well, right? Yes.

But you know, some of these like, quotes are, A little dated. Yeah, but like not in a bad way or anything, just sort of like, we don't talk about this in the same way anymore. GKids remastered this and did a new American dub of it. With a trans actress. Yeah. Oh, really?

It is Shikina Naifak. So I was like flipping back and forth between the two when I was watching because for the Japanese dub, you have a Japanese man voicing Hana in like a deep manly register. It feels like that was sort of the notion of the time. It definitely plays a lot differently when the role is being played by a trans woman. Yeah, I listened to the dub for this exact reason. Yeah. This is a quote from Nafak. It was a fairy tale thing going from nothing to landing this role.

Freedom comes from living up to the largesse of this animated character. It's got some matartan charisma. I really got to explode behind the microphone in a way you don't get to do on camera. Miyuki, the little girl, she's a 16-year-old or whatever, right? Like, she's the runaway girl. He's saying, like, you know, she's this kind of, like, idolized character to him. Like, this fantasy of running away from home, how it would go wrong. Well, you have these three people who represent these kind of archetypes of the types of people

and these circumstances that lead to people ending up in the margins of society, right? The people, I mean, this feels like the whole movie stems out of like these people we walk past and do not really consider what their lives are, how they got here, who they are. Just their problems. Yeah, no, and I really like how the movie does a very good job of like,

even the, not even like characters, but the tiny, I guess, looks they get are when they're in the, like the convenience store and the guy's just kind of covering his nose, kind of like shuffling away where it's just... I've seen the convenience store where like the dead drunk guy is like embarrassing himself in public. He's like a mess and he's slurring his words and like tripping over himself to mock the three of them.

Yeah. Or it's like even on the subway or the Metro, wherever it is there. But like this guy's a drunk as well. The difference is that he's wearing a suit. And in theory, he has a job and a home to go back to. And he feels like that gives him the capital to be able to look down on them.

I mean, this is my dumb Griffin meta-textual take and it doesn't seem like there's anything in the dossier that supports this was a strategic thought on Satoshi Kon's part. But it does feel like this movie is him sort of trying to apply the same level of thinking to animation as an art form. Of like, here's this thing that people kind of walk past and like, file away in a very convenient place in their mind. And in the same way this movie is like stopping and making you spend time with these characters and really invest in them as people, characters who usually are like just punch lines in other films. He's like,

I'm going to like hold you and make you think about different things that animation can do and not let you file this away into just a box for like kid stuff. Tokyo Godfather is also produced by Madhouse, much like the last two movies. But here's the interesting quote from Madhouse president, Masao Maruyama. We're gonna let him keep doing what he wants.

And I think audiences will come to him. Cool. So cool. Now, is he getting a blank check? No, he's getting a fairly small budget, about three million dollars this time, a 300 million yen. But it's about double the budget he got for the last movie.

I'm sorry, Millennium Actress cost less than a million. Yes, so it's definitely them being like, we're gonna give you more room, and yes, maybe your movies are not blockbusters yet, but we think this is artistic talent. Safe bet, reliable bet. You got your thing. We're thinking long term.

Yeah, encouraging. So let's talk about Tokyo Godfathers. They call them the Godfathers of Tokyo. They're calling them gokyo Todd. We've already introduced our three characters and we meet them. Drops you right into it. They're rummaging through like the food line. Yeah, the food line.

Yes. They're looking for presents basically, right? They're kind of like rummaging through the garbage is when they find the baby. Yeah, I just love this movie doesn't really like give you traditional character setups. Like you kind of just start mid action. And you know exactly who everyone is

just from the first few lines they all have. Yeah, you're just like, you get what the types are. The movie, of course, is gonna like hold you to it and force you to dig deeper into who they are. But you get the easy kind of handles on all three of them. They find the baby within like three minutes, right? And I don't read this film as presenting it as like, well, these three are a trio

who do everything together all the time. It's this as presenting it as like, well, these three are a trio who do everything together all the time. It's this sort of notion of like, well, like at homeless centers or at soup kitchens or whatever, people like run into each other and they split up and they find each other again. You cross paths with certain people over and over again. Yeah, and like they have like associations with each other.

Like, Mayuki runs into two other people who are like, oh, you're Jin's girl. Like, we can't mess with you we're not watching them meet for the first time, but I also don't think they are functioning as like an Unconventional family unit at this point. I think this discovery brings them all together That was the almost the thing I almost did for the opening instead because we talked about how I Thought you were gonna do another of the haikus. I know, which one did, do you have one of mine

you thought I was gonna do? The snow falling one? Sure. Cause I thought like that was the most beautiful thing and you having to stick podcasts in there would be really fun. Like the most beautiful, eloquent delivery. You disrupting the stuff.

Pick the best thing and make it as bad as possible. He was critical of the millennium actress poster where he felt like it misrepresented the movie Yes, the Tokyo Godfather's poster like very straightforward. It's the three of them It's a nice beautiful character designs, but the tagline on it is meet the ultimate dysfunctional family They call them the ultimate dysfunctional Family and I'm like the font on the tagline is so small that otherwise the poster just looks classy. But it's like that's.

But the Japanese poster is very cool. I like the Japanese poster. Where the skyscrapers are all askew and they're like atop them is very interesting. That's the one I prefer. Yeah, like sort of the end credits. Yeah, the other one, the American one looks like a DVD cover. Yes. Not so much a poster. Right. But they're rummaging through the trash. The other one, the American one looks like a DVD cover. Yes. Not so much a poster.

Right. But they're rummaging through the trash, they find this baby with a note and a key. Yeah. And then you go to open credit sequence. Like that's the cold open of the movie. What are they gonna do with this baby? They now are ostensibly responsible.

I mean, they could, I suppose, just like drop the baby off, but they want to go find the parents, right? They want to find the parents, and all three of them want to make sure this baby is taken care of in the meantime. I love Hana and how she's concerned of this child's experience. Of Christmas.

Of Christmas. Yeah, that's such a nice, she won't return. Whimsical way of justifying it. And also, yeah, like, Mayuki and Jin don't want, like they want to return the baby immediately

and kind of like take a step back when she's like, they're going to ruin, like this will ruin Christmas for this child forever. And they're like, ah, fuck. She's like, she kind of has a point. She feels this almost cosmic thing of like Christmas is important. And if you have the your first bad Christmas you never recover from that even if you're too young to remember it

And the movie starts with like Christmas caroling right like the movie starts with silent night being Sun and three of them Yeah, watching in the park right the name is obviously right Yeah, I mean and the other two seem a little indifferent Hannah's like holding like her hand like she's like wrapped with attention. This means a lot to her at the same time that Jin's nodding off.

Look, this movie's brilliant. Yeah, it rules. The whole thing is you don't need to know why they all separately kind of have the emotion of like, no, we have to do right by this baby. You're going to learn

the three sort of different reasons and their back stories. You're gonna learn the three sort of different reasons and their backstories. You're gonna learn more about them, how they're all motivated to sort of do something right and like to, you know, sort of fix mistakes they felt like they've made and all that. It's a perfect setup, cause you're like, well, this is, what a funny trio

to be taking care of this baby. What an odd combination. But immediately the fact that all three of them step up and are like we got to get this done makes you like them obviously An otter combination would be like three men. Yes, and a baby I mean what you're describing right now sounds like the ultimate dysfunctional family And then of course one day there might be a little lady on their hand. Sure. Or even just a ghost hanging out behind the... Window? Curtains? Wherever it is. You know how three when a baby is... When watching it, that was the thing that surprised me most was that there hasn't

been a really shitty live action American remake. Of Choco Godbrothers? Yes. I said the same thing about Millennium Actress. Yeah. Paprika and Perfect Blue blue you understand why perhaps filmmakers took elements from them rather than remaking them these two feel like ready-made yeah for sure like honestly if someone tomorrow announced that I would kind of be like great idea pro like if a good filmmaker tomorrow

was like I'm gonna do like kind of a Tokyo Godfathers thing Chicago Godfathers right yeah and you were like Nick Nolte Laverne Cox and Jenna Ortega are set I'm gonna do like kind of a Tokyo Godfathers thing. Chicago Godfathers, right? Yeah, and you were like Nick Nolte, Laverne Cox, and Jenna Ortega are set. Fuck, wait a second. Chachin? That sounds good. Ding, ding, ding, three cherries in a row?

God, Nolte is gin, that'd be great. That's why my Tokyo Godfather, I play the horses. I got a baby dad. Great. Is he being crushed by a car? Yeah, but that he has to go on a bicycle at some point. Nick Nolte right now riding a bicycle might be the premise of a movie enough. You know, like that's all I need. If they could get Nick Nolte to ride a bicycle, it'd be more impressive as a special effect

than like Kermit riding a bicycle. Like, how do they get him to stay upright? You know, I'm at Cinema Cut. What do you have planned for the summer? And Sony's like, you know Nick Nolte? I'm like, sure, yeah. Well, he's Nick Nolte, I'm like, sure. Yeah. Well, he's going to ride a bicycle. I'm like, I don't, don't even say anything else.

I don't even want to know the title. I got little streamers coming into the handles. This is my little bicycle bell. It's fixed wheel. Ringing, ring, ring, ding, ding, ding. It's gear. Fuck. I keep the training wheels on cause I don't want to stop or over.

You know how I wouldn't have training wheels. You're not really state. You just kind of do you like leading left and right? Yeah. Ben does. Look at me. I got a little red wagon. The radio fire. I put all my stuffed animals on it. This is my pitch. Nick Nolte plays a little kid. But like from like Victorian times or is like a like a little cap with a

spinner on it. Yeah, here's my fish Sony Listen up Sony Nick Nolte is little Lord Fauntleroy It's too long since we've had little Lord Fauntleroy up on the big screen It is too long Someone hand me a lolly I wanna skip down the street with my little ringlets. Is Little Lord Fauntleroy...

The greatest character ever created? Yeah. Are we rooting for him? I know that he became the, like, people refer to like a spoiled kid. But like when you watch Little Lord Fauntleroy, are you on his side? This is why he's a journalist. Asking the hard question. Ben is pointing at David so intently. He was. Ben was like looking at me like he was about to say like, and that, and then he did. They call him the Little Lord Fauntleroy.

They call him Fiddle Lord Lontleroy. I think we love to hate him. I think that was the audience's relationship. I think Little Lord Fauntleroy was the wolf of Wall Street of his time. Oh, he looks at the cameras like, was any of this legal? Fuck no.

No. Could you imagine what fucking Adam McKay could do with Little Lord Fauntleroy? Jesus Christ. Honestly, Wikipedia paid too long. Now was I only supposed to take one lolly? Sure, but I didn't stop there. David.

Yes? Ants. Ants? Ants. Ants, ants, ants, ants. Ants, ants, ants, ants. I hate getting cornered by them. We all do.

I knew that was gonna be a relatable conversation starter Why aren't you getting married? What's going on with that promotion? Why haven't you moved out of mom and dad's basement Griffin? Oh those were directed at me. I know I feel attacked Get out of the basement Griffin Listen she just judges judges judges you're getting together with your family. You might have to be in a barrage with these kinds of questions. Stay in there and grin and bear it. I don't want you feeling that way when you talk to your doctor about like a weird rash

or that you eat pizza when too many times a week or something else. Unfortunately. We have read for filth by this head copy right now. Unfortunately, the twist to this riddle is that the doctor is my aunt. Oh no! But other people might have another one. I can't treat this patient! He's my nephew!

Yeah. Enter ZocDoc, the place where you can find and book doctors who will make you feel comfortable and actually listen to you. That's what I'm talking about. Tens of thousands of doctors, all with verified patient reviews so you can make sure the vibes are vibing before you ever meet IRL. People they think well what are the the valuable attributes in a doctor? Sure. Big brain, steady hand, sharp eye. Sure. Quietly. Eye of an eagle, hand of a hawk. It's about the ear. Yeah yeah absolutely.

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from real actual patients. Thank God, because you know, the unfortunate thing is, the receptionist, my other aunt, Sheesh. Yeah, when I go to the doctor's office, the receptionist, my other aunt. Sheesh. Yeah, when I go to the doctor's office, I get an earful. Are you calling from a basement?

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yeah or in the middle 48 hours in ulti Murphy which accidentally said as an ulti Murray twice took a gaffa so they find this kid very quickly we're into the right the who's a boss trapped under a car, right? Like that's the first thing they're dealing with right, but the trend track down. Yeah the letter Basically, they have the name of the mother they have a photo of the photo. Yeah Yes, I want a club and the name of a club. Yeah, right, right Then they run into the kooza bosses trapped under a car. Very funny. Yes

His daughter is getting married. Correct? Also named Kiyoko. Yes, that's right. Right. The names keep repeating in this. It's sort of a kind of the godfather situation in that a mobster's daughter is getting married. Yeah. And, you know, supposedly, you know.

I've heard of Tokyo godfathers, but the godfather in Tokyo? His daughter, per chance, is getting married to the son of the owner of the club. The very club that's written on the note, correct? And the man that she owes money to. Yes, exactly. Right. And basically, it's here that they find out that the baby's mother is a bar girl, Sachiko.

And, like, that's the next clue, and then a bar girl. Yes. Sachiko. Mm-hmm. And like that's the next clue. And then a bunch of shit happens. A guy shows, sorry, an assassin shows up with a gun. A Spanish assassin shows up. Yes, a Spanish assassin. Dressed as a waiter. Right.

And shoots at both the man under the car and the owner of the club. Yeah, who does he kill? So he doesn't kill anyone. The owner of the club jumps in front of the dad. The mobster. Yeah, the mobster takes the three bullets. Right. Yes. But we find out throughout the movie, like they just keep giving us updates that he's still alive. That's another running theme of the movie is people assume the worst thing has happened.

And it's like, oh, no, no, no. Run away from the problem and only find out later. If you had stayed, things resolve themselves. But there's a lot of people just running away from, I mean even like jumping ahead, but when you get to Hannah at the club and they're like, oh, it was fine. We just paid the guy off. Right. She ran away, her relationship, she loses her partner, she falls into homelessness. And they're like, why didn't you come here and tell us you had trouble? She was like, I assumed I was banned. It was like self-inflicted, like she was like, I have to step away. People just casting themselves out.

Same with the teenager, right? Yes. Like it's a misunderstanding. She did stab potentially. And Jen as well, like he thinks he killed him. Any father should be prepared to be stabbed by his daughter a little bit. It's a combination of pride and shame. Yes. Yes. That I think speaks to like, right. Yes.

A very complicated social situation of how people end up in these positions. Right. Hitman attempts to kill the Yakuza. Takes Miyuki hostage. Yes. Correct. And the baby. And the baby. Cause Mikey has the baby and brings them home to a fairly chill situation. Yeah, I would say it was really sweet Yes to his wife who is breastfeeding two babies at the same time. Yes. Yes and Miyuki's response is like wow big boobs. Uh-huh. I remember that Mm-hmm. They have they form this like interesting kind of nice emotional relationship, even though they can't speak the same language

They like they understand like English father. Yes, they get and they're showing pictures of each other. He finally opens up It's really sweet. It is but it's like it's it's a real showcase for like animation performance, which is this is a movie That's very invested in like animation acting Yeah, and Satoshi Kon was always working with a far more limited budget than a lot of his major contemporaries. And it's really interesting to see because his movies look beautiful, but you see that money deployed very strategically, where you will have like long panning shots over backgrounds where nothing is animated. Where he's just really letting you take in the graphic of this was beautifully rendered, but also I'm getting away with 10 seconds without animation. where nothing is animated. Yeah. Where he's just really letting you take in the graphic of,

this was beautifully rendered, but also, I'm getting away with 10 seconds without animation. I'm saving a little money here. Or the frame is like static. Right, the frame is static. Everyone's moving in it, but nothing else. Or like only one character is moving, or only one part of a character is moving,

so that the moments you have where characters become incredibly animated are so effective, but so often he's getting away with, I shouldn't say getting away with, but it's like very, very expressive kind of key framing of, as you said, David, like huge evocative expressions. Yeah. And he uses it so, like my favorite scene in the whole movie is when Jin finds the older man

and brings him basically to die in peace and just like how subtly it's animated and just his eyes staying open and the fans starting to turn again because he's no longer dead for six seconds. It's really funny. Yeah. I think especially in 2D animation, it is very hard to convey stillness without feeling like nothing is happening. Yeah. Because... Like a painting. Right, because then at that moment, you're looking at just a static drawing. It's the screen pause.

There is inherently no... God, why am I forgetting the term? But there's like this term in animation of basically, if you want a character standing still, you basically try to manually copy the same frame three times, because whatever microscopic differences will exist in you tracing the same image give it the slightest bit of it just gives it a little jutter. It gives it like a little pulse but but he can get away with like a character actually standing absolutely completely still and not making you worried like oh is my DVD skipping. Yes.

Right. Is something freezing. Yeah for sure. The stuff with the old man. Cracks me up. It's a very interesting, this movie has an interesting sense of humor because that's a little gallows humor.

It's playful. It's really upsetting. But it is upsetting. It's an interesting balance. I wanted to die in a huge house and drunk and he's like, I've done half of those things. And it's like, ah, geez, that's really upsetting. But then him just like, dying with a smile on his face is like, I can't help but be somewhat, I don't know. It makes me feel okay.

It has empathy for the characters. It has a lot of empathy and it's not, all these jokes are not at the expense of the characters. Like I was really excited to see. And it's like the same thing, like you guys talked about on your Big Trouble in Little China episode that like there is some apprehension rewatching being like, is this going to age terribly? Yeah. And like when with a character like Hannah, the first time I watched it, I was like, oh, shit. Like, I'm not I do not want to see this person made fun of. I mean, basically the opening joke in the movie, the first thing anyone says to her is like a joke about her genitals

Yeah, right like it starts on this note not a way where you're like, okay movie you're on probation But like I could out done the two's territory It does not it feels like a character in the movie is saying something Rather than the movie making a joke movie is pretty clear that she feels comfortable. But that's the thing, like in that moment defines it when her response is like, I know who I am. Yeah. And the characters are a little messed up, like where Jin is like not in any way a perfect person.

And when he's making these jokes, you could see when he feels bad and you could see the remorse as opposed to the movie making fun of. It's a movie about characters that most films would ignore or put at the absolute margins. And if they include them, so often the Tensee is either to set them up purely to be the butt of the joke, right? These are characters that can be comedic archetypes for easy punch lines for whoever the hero of the movie is, right?

To like score shots off of. Or they become like too saintly. Especially in a Christmas movie where it's like the magical hobo with the kind smile and the infinite depth of humanity, right? And this movie is like doing both without ever letting them get to the side of extreme in either direction. You know, like it is building humor around them and uncomfortable humor at times, but it's never making jokes at their expense. And it's also really interrogating their humanity,

but it's also not sanctifying them. They're flawed characters for sure. Like you said, they're almost frustrating in that as you learn more about their lives, you're like, well, this is fixable. Like, why didn't you do this or that?

But it's sort of like- Like, Miyuki, go home. Right. That's part of the point, right? Oftentimes, it's like- Well, get to the hospital scene, which for me is like the emotional peak of the movie. Sure, yeah.

But like, this is not, people's situations are not going to make total sense to you, right? And it's not just gonna be something of like, oh yeah, you know, they ran out of money because they did this bad thing and that's why they ended up like this. And also these, anyone who ends up

in this type of situation, it's an incredibly complicated series of events that leads them there. And I remember as like a child growing up in New York City where you see unhoused people all the time, being confused of like, well, why isn't there a family member who brings this person in? And in all those cases,

there's like a complicated backstory where it's like, well, they lost't there a family member who brings this person in? And in all those cases, there's like a complicated backstory where it's like, well, they lost their family or there was a fight or there was a fight that they perceived in their mind. You know, I mean, all these things that so often you're like, how could the chain of events get so bad that someone ends up in this situation? It's a very complicated path.

Which is good. But like, well, it's not good. It's good that it happened to them and I'm happy for them. No, it's good. But like a- well, it's not good. It's good that it happened to them and I'm happy for them. No, it's good. It's clearly not for the sake of the movie. But that's why I'd be scared about a remake or a live-action remake. Just because I feel like they would be- the characters would be too angelic, they would be too good.

And also I think they'd shy away from any of the things that push at the buttons a little much. But Nick Nolte. But Nick Nolte as Miyuki would be great. Yeah. Or as Jin or as all three. Or yeah. Oh, Eddie Murphy style. Yeah.

That could be fun. No! Yes! And the baby. Yes! This is a- David- I'm playing a trans woman. Nick!

You can't do that! I'm a little baby wah Wah, wah, wah. Bring me back to my mommy. Here's a key. You're gonna think it's one mommy, but it's the other. Gugugu. Um, okay, so, uh, we learn about Miyuki's situation

as well, right, that she stabbed her father, who is kind of a jerk. Yes. A sort of controlling figure. Stole a cat. Or didn't.'s this the cat went missing and she thinks got rid of it Yes, but she is wrong. She is and She should be punished the cat feels like perhaps an extension of a dynamic exactly That's the exact same thing where you're like, that's not the full story, right? And it's like it's fine

It can be a million versions of whatever the full, but like, yeah, you just more understand like there's a busted dynamic here and it came to a head. Yeah. Right. Hannah was a performer at this club, physically attacked an audience member who insulted her from the crowd. Yeah. As she should, but then like was basically ran off in the shame of I'm never going to

be allowed back in there. I'm, you know, charges are never gonna be allowed back in there. Charges are gonna be pressed against me, whatever. And her partner who she lived with died. That scene where she goes back to the club and says that he died and the bartender says, very quietly, AIDS. Which is a thing you don't expect to see in animated films.

No, that's true, yeah. And then she sort of just says, no, he slipped on a a bar soap in a bathtub like with this note of like it's so Ridiculous that it was something that meaningless. Mm-hmm And then there are like then say, you know, there are these weird interludes where suddenly it's like why is Jin taking Care of this old man. Yeah, who's like on the street and you're like, it doesn't matter Like this is part of the story this kind of fairy tale of Tokyo story.

Well, do you guys, this was something I was actually curious cause it's something, and I've got to break out the blank check knowledge, but like when you talked about Hotel Transylvania, I really love how you guys discussed that things are not happening by chance, that like when the guy comes to the hotel, it is because Dracula has set the town on fire. Right.

It is very causal. So I was curious to know if you guys are okay with a lot of the kind of happenings that, you know, like it's... Totally fine. Yeah. But it's good in animation. That's what I'm saying. I'm okay with it too, but I was just... Yeah.

I think because this is basically structured as like a picaresque journey, right and in a way It's like three you have an overriding task there is a goal that unifies the three of them of we have to solve where to bring the baby to and Anything else that happens at that point isn't truly by chance because they are continuing on that path. Yeah Okay, you know, it's like these are the interferences. But yes, they keep on kind of splitting up and then reconvening in different portions. And the gin thing you can view is like, what is this weird interlude that the movie is going off into?

But it's also him basically coming face to face with like a ghost of Christmas. His own future, his own potential. Right. Like, here's this guy who's like so self-castigating about like, I fucked it up. My family hates me. I can never go back, I'm a criminal. He lies about it. Yes. Which I love. That like, I forgot on the rewatch, I was like, oh wait no, isn't she alive at the end?

Yes. But yeah, he just lies for the sake of empathy. And just, it's an easier story to him. Yes. Right, like, no, this is why. Like, and that's, you know. Well, it's like, they're dead to me because I assume I'm dead to them because I brought story to him. Yes. Right. Like, no, this is why. Like, and that's, you know. Well, it's like they're dead to me because I assume I'm dead to them because I brought

shame to them. Like, he's tying himself into such knots. And here he is seeing this guy who's like, this is probably me in 10 to 15 years. And when I'm in this position, does anyone sit by my side as I'm dying? I have to do this. He would never be able to express that ever in his life, but it's clearly what is compelling him. And like some bad teens show up.

Some sneaky boys. Some SBs, that's true. And they are the lack of empathy that they're usually gonna be facing. I also wanna mention the angel that comes to save him, Cracks me up, where she's like, yeah, do you wanna come to heaven or call a hospital, call an ambulance? Andushi's like, yeah, do you want to come to heaven or call a hospital,

call an ambulance? And he's like, ambulance. He gives Jin the bag, the elderly man, before he dies. But also when the kids come and beat him up, and they take the bag, right? They beat up his corpse as well. Which is such a brutal moment, but it doesn't feel like Shocking for effect, right? I don't know. I mean, it's just like a deeply sad thing Like this man doesn't even get respect in death and even that one of them is on the phone while it's It's like a yes. Oh, we're so cleaning up missive. Yeah So the next thing is that Hana's old club, right?

Like Angel Tower. Yeah. Where, yes, the story there is that Hana had like lost it at a rude customer years ago. And that was, like you said, why she just fled. Which look, if she had existed in the time of TikTok, she would have gotten famous off of that. I mean, these days people, all they want is to own a heckler.

All we want to do is like throw a Poland spring bottle at someone's head while the camera is rolling. Would have been the queen of TikTok. Queen of TikTok, yep, we would have ruled together. They call her, what's happening next? Come on, what else is going on? Well, they find, well, while Jin is in the older man's Yeah, he gets separated from them. Tent, he sees the building and it gives him, oh, I Jin is in the older man's tent,

he sees the building and it gives him, oh, I know where her house is. Yes. Right, because he recognizes from the photo, from the background of the photo. He's like, this is where we have to go. Right, they basically all three reconvene at this point. They've all had their sort of separate, yeah.

Some flashbacks with some filling in. Taxi cab, really funny sequence. Yes. Just shouting and is in the window. Yeah, I thought that she's just basically like an Auntie Mame character. Yeah. But the house has been torn down.

And so they basically just have to figure out what happened to this person. And I guess that's when they find out that the mother of the baby, right? That the mother of the baby's husband is a gambling alcoholic. And so Jin responds to this. It's just so funny that all of the women of the town keep like one after another.

It's like nine. Keeps inviting, yeah, exactly. They're no longer even talking about them. They're just gossiping about other things. It's really fun. Yeah, I'm just trying to remember what happens before we're at the hospital like what else I'm I forgetting. Let me see. Let me scrub From there they go. They are looking in the house. They find stuff in the rubble

Yes, right, right. Yeah, but what leads them to the hospital? It's the Honda like collapses They have to go to the hospital. They go to the hospital because of her Oh, Honda collapses. And that's where Jin finds his estranged daughter. Yes, who's working as a nurse. Yeah, also named Kyoko. Yeah, and They've still got the baby but Han like flips out at this sort of Hana flips out at this like revelation that his backstory is something of a lie And and sort of says like your daughter shouldn't ever forgive you, like totally castigates him pretty rude in front of her in

what is like, I would argue the sequence of the most expressive, full fluid animation in the entire movie. Like there's there's more kind of like classical cartoon performance as she gets more and more wound up in her telling him off.

And then he sort of like runs away in self-disgust. And Mayuki has the conversation where she's like, why the fuck did you do that? Like why did... Yeah, like basically it's like, isn't that a little harsh? That was a little harsh. And she relays this story of this like legend she loved of the blue demon and the red demon, and basically that like the blue demon has to work up the ire of the red demon in order to get him to express the things he cannot. That like there is the extrovert and the introverted and sometimes in order to get the introvert to be able to actually come to terms with their own emotions you have to like punish them.

Yeah, she had to be the bad guy. Yeah, you know what I kept thinking about? I've been thinking about this a lot lately for some random reason. Catfish. Sure, the documentary. Which is now a verb, right? Because of the documentary and the series. And it's like, oh, to catfish someone is to present a fake version of yourself online and trick them into some kind of...

My name is Guy Handsome and I love you. And I live at 123 Fake Lane. Are you single, guys? You sound kind of appealing. Ben, I went and found an encouraging lead here. Handsome, 123 Lane, that's a Tony address. Oh, nice part of town. No, what about Catfish?

The reason that movie is called Catfish, spoilers for Catfish, I think that we now will know how it ends because of becoming shorthand, is the woman's father, or I'm sorry, the woman's husband, who's been creating this fake online persona that drew the filmmakers in, gives the speech about how in shipping fish,

that if cod are placed into barrels with other cod and they are inactive in a contained space while they're brought over on on a boat they die. Right. You need some catfish in there. That cod needs stimulation. So you put a catfish in there to like make them fight. Like they need the irritation and the aggression in their life. Otherwise they just like collapse. And that's basically what Hana is arguing she is, right? Like she's like everyone thinks I'm dramatic and overblown and histrionic

and what have you, but it's like, no, I'm the person who pulls emotions out of people that they cannot express themselves. I make people angry in order to get the thing out of their system. Right. Like that's, I'm, that's the whole blue demon red demon. I'm taking this burden on. Yes. Exactly. Right. Like I, I accept the way society views me, not only just because of my identity, but

also because of my behavior, but I feel like I am playing a role in the great human drama. Right. Right. If I can't perform on the stage, I can at least perform here. Yeah. And in the way that as a performer, you know, especially if you're like doing a sort of cabaret act like her, it's like you get on the stage and through song, convey the emotions that otherwise cannot be said. She's like, I have, there's a straight line for me. There's nothing difficult about me saying what I'm thinking and feeling, but maybe I have to pull that out of other people.

Let me tell you a little about the animation that's going on here. So a big influence on this movie apparently is a guy called Shinji Otsuka, a Ghibli legend who had worked a little bit on Millennium Actress but is much more present on this movie. Would key animate about a tenth of the movie. Cone is basically like the movie wouldn't work without this person participating. And his key influence was he would let characters drift off model and demote to the point of distortion. And people started copying what he was doing.

The other animators. Hospital scene's a perfect example of that. So you've got, that's what I thought of it, that you've got this straightforwardly realistic story. So it's kind of like in the character animation, there's kind of more squashing and stretching and there's more like weird, like, like you said, like sort of unreal expression in people's faces, which is cool. And apparently all the animators started getting really wacky

and expressive and surreal with that, because they, you know, the colors are muted. Like you said, Reese, like the detail is a lot less, you know, hyper around. Yeah, the setting's really realistic. Right. Like, it's never super out there. No, no, you have very realistic sort of like painted backdrops.

Yeah, even the rooms that they're in, they're so messy. Like, they have the one guy who's, I think he's a hoarder at the end, where he's just living in squalor. Here's another great quote from Satoshi Kon. Garbage is an important subject in Tokyo Godfathers. It must be depicted beautifully. It seems that beautiful garbage is a bit of a contradiction, but the garbage must make an impression. This movie has tons of garbage in it. I would say mission accomplished. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And like the whole kind of like beautiful garbage thing of like the snow falling, right? Like the setting is kind of tranquil and nice at times,

but then they're in these conditions like of squall or something. It's just interesting. That's all. OK. I agree. OK, so hospital, they kind of storm out of the hospital, right? Hana and Miyuki. Go to the bridge. Go to the bridge. Miyuki still got the baby and they find Sachiko, the supposed mother of this baby splinter,

but not really the mother, about to jump off a bridge. She says the husband got rid of the baby without telling her. Yes, exactly. So they're like, great problem solved. Here's the baby. See you later. Not before Hana slaps her. Really hard. Well, Hana's a bit of a live wire.

But this is also Hannah feeling the, her desire to be a mother is so deep that she has such an interesting combination of contempt for anyone who would be derelict in that duty and responsibility, but also this innate belief of like, if you are a parent to a child, you must feel something. There must be a thing in you that can be conjured

up to care. It's also her experience. Yes. Yeah. Because she was abandoned. She's, I think, trying to allow for this baby to have some redemption in the way that she didn't get to have. She says that she mostly grew up in the foster system. She said she didn't get to have. She says that she mostly grew up in the foster system. She said she didn't know her own mother.

Yes. Right, but she has a weird, for that being her reality, she has a belief in if you actually confront a parent to their face with the reality of their child, there's no way they could reject them. They can't run away, yeah. Yes. They find out that Sachiko is not the mother of the baby

by finding her husband. I think Jen is watching TV, sees that there's an APB out for the baby, goes to the guy's house, trips over him. Yeah. Yes. Right. Right. This is the garbage apartment. This is the garbage apartment.

Yeah. And so it has to be figured out. The baby has to be retrieved. Mm-hmm and such a coat is basically on top of the building I'm pretty stressed out at this point. I will say I don't like babies in peril anymore sure Oh, and this was also the craziest it gets this is the crazy hijacking the truck him becoming which is I really like it Just him becoming the bicycle the cyclist Which he lied about now he finally gets that which is very sweet And every scene is understand just cuz I know you only met David today for the first time

He doesn't like babies in peril now because of course he is a father of a daughter Yeah, this guy used to love babies in peril He's a favorite thing I go are you a Michael Jackson fan you go only if the tiny held the kid out the window I Don't like any of his music. That is crazy. That that happened? Yeah, it's one of the craziest things that happened.

Obviously, when it happened, people were like, this is completely crazy. It's not like people reacted that with like, oh, MJ always up to something. No, but people reacted appropriately at the time, but in retrospect, you're like, forgot about that. It's international news. Everywhere in the world world I thought that was fake as a kid I just thought there was a thing that was a scary movie scene I thought that was

like oh ha ha ha and then only later it was like oh these pictures were real real yeah real and with with the the cloth over the blanket over everything about like the baby's name blanket there's a blanket over the head, everything about, like the baby's name blanket, there's a blanket over the head, he's being held out a window. And you're right, like no one was like cool, normal. No, people were outraged. But they also were like, you won't believe what MJ's done this time. Well, there was a little bit of that to my L coverage, I suppose. People were up in arms about it, but also, like, we could have all just collectively stopped,

taken a moment, deep breath and gone, like, this is actually a big problem. That's what we should have done. We should have all done that. That's what people should do, stop and collectively take a moment. Calmer heads will prevail. I am anxious that the baby is in there.

Makes me very uncomfortable. As I am, I find it just right in anything I watch these days. I mean, Shogun, Jesus, I'm loving Shogun. Mother blankies worked on it. Obviously, Emily, I'm so excited. It's so good. But it begins with like the first episode, a really terrible thing happens to a baby. And my wife and I were kind of like, we might have to like piece out of this right away. Like it was tough stuff Yeah, it's I mean, it's not like it's done Casually, it's an instant part of the story like but it's tough. Yeah, but in this movie I kind of like I know the baby's gonna be fine because there is this kind of magical like it's Christmas

There's just things are working out. There's weird kids. It's a hair of magical realism, but you're right It's it's in an interesting way where it's mostly This woman is obviously, you know, she's miserable and depressed because she lost a baby and she kidnapped a baby in response to that. And you know, that's what's prompted all this, you know. It's the second time in 10 minutes we're watching this woman attempt suicide.

Yeah. And like, it's similar to their stories in that it's like, this tragic misunderstanding, right? Like, it's different in every other way, but like, you know, like, and, you know, you get this crazy thing where she jumps, they catch her, she drops the baby, Hana catches the baby, Hana's falling. That's another moment of very expressive animation

and a sort of complicated camera shot of her sliding down the side of the building Right and then it goes into almost like hyper kinetic Dragon Ball Z movement This wind just kind of slows them down and they're okay like it like it fish Hannah's holding on to the whatever it is banner thing and it's just kind of like It's all fine. Here's another thing. I'll say I like about this film It's all fine. Here's another thing I'll say I like about this film. This is like a real baby. Especially in the world of animation where babies do a lot of shit. They make babies just a little person. You know what I'm saying? It's pretty cute when they're little people. I'm not saying it isn't but like compared to Ice Age. Like if they have a day out. Well, don't get me started. That actually costs a lot of money into the city.

What happens in Ice Age? There is a baby obviously. It's three godfathers again. I don't even want to tell you because you'll be watching it 25 times a day now. No, that movie is three prehistoric creatures and a baby. And the three of them got a human baby. Yeah, I guess Jyn would be the wooly mammoth. Jyn is Ray Romano. Hana is Dennis. Yeah. No, she is Ray Romano. Yeah, right. Uh, Hana is Dennis Leary. Diego.

Oh, I was going to say Hana might be Sid. Hana, uh-huh. No, I think Hana's Dennis Leary because there's more of like a bitter edge. And Leguizamo is the kid. Well, Sid's the one that always wants to keep the child. That's a thing. And Sid is the one that- Sid's the most motherly.

Sid is Leguizamo? No, no. No, Sid is Leguizamo. Yes. I'm sorry. Diego is Leary. Yeah. Sid is the most motherly, like was on no no no it is like is on yes. Yes. I'm sorry Diego is leery Yeah, yeah, it is the most motherly but also the most Friend a lot Manny Manny the mammoth also said abandoned by his family. This is true for being too annoying I think that yeah, they leave him behind so I don't want to make that right and then

Manny has lost his family kind of similar to gin. Yeah. Yeah, although I mean what's in it's a look my point is Do you have one? Are you sure that boy's got a little kid supposed to be a little baby? Right, there's a little bundle kid. I remember the kids in a little bundle. That's what I'm saying The kid gets out of the bundle. He jumps around agencies Right of the bundle he jumps around agencies right right right little target on target on this is crazy this movie the baby's like in a bundle the whole time and it's like cries this is a very young baby they don't animate it doing anything

beyond the like expressiveness of a real baby you know yeah they don't put the baby into hijinks it's like the baby is like an object. You gotta feed it and you gotta change it, which they do in this movie. Yeah. Which is all you have to do with a little baby. Yeah. Which is hard to be clear, but it's, you know, that's really all they, you do. The baby's okay. Everyone's okay. They find the god, the real parents. The real parents want them to be god parents.

There's that moment where the authorities are like, but these are like, these are homeless people. And they're like, we don't care. That's fine. Another great, just little added extra thing that I really like is that people are still pissed about them being homeless. I mean, this movie doesn't try to present

easy solves for anything. Yeah. Well, there is the lottery ticket. I guess a pretty easy solve. And then Miyuki does find her dad. and easy solves for anything. Yeah. Well, there is the lottery ticket. I guess a pretty easy solve. And then Miyuki does like find her dad. He's like one of the policemen. OK, so maybe this movie actually fixes a lot of things. There is a bit of a fairy tale Christmas thing happening

at the end here. I would say it doesn't feel like everything in their lives are resolved though, simultaneously. But I guess there are some magic. But there's hope. There's hope. Right, Benny? Yeah, there's a lot of hope.

I was very moved. This feels like a quietly very Ben film. The kind of film that has got a little bit of, you know, rough and tumble. It's underdogs in the city trying to make it work. And they're dirty. And they're dirty. Yeah. Well, but I think I don't want to I don't want to boil them down to just being dirty. But you love movies about people who society doubts. Yeah.

Or ignores or disrespects. For sure. And especially when those people like, I don't know, show acts of kindness towards each other. And rise to the occasion and do these big acts of bravery. Yeah. Did you cry watching it? Yeah.

Oh, a little choked up. What scene do you cry at? When the wind. Yeah. Nice. It's majestic. And it's also, it's like a relief. Like, okay, thank God.

Cause it's stressful, that final act. For sure. At this point you're like, the best is gotta figure it out. We gotta figure this out. And the movie's dark enough that you're not entirely sure it's gonna work out. Yeah. I had the reassurance that I thought it was gonna be,

the baby was gonna be okay. But there's a sense of risk. Yeah, there's a chance that one of the three godfathers does not live. When you talk about adult animation, the reason that animation is viewed as a medium by and large, or I'm sorry, as a genre, as family film shorthand, it's because when they're, in the rare cases, especially in American animation, that there is quote unquote adult

animation, it is usually shit like Sausage Party, which is where you're like, well, the whole hook is that this is for grownups and wouldn't it be silly for a kid to watch this right? Or things are so hyper violent to see a movie like this where you're like, oh no, this is animation for grumps because it just has adult themes and adult psychology, right? A messy sort of emotional landscape. It does mean that you don't feel the obvious assurance of like, in fucking Ice Age, everyone's going to turn out OK.

Did they turn out OK? Yeah, well, they have to survive for like five more movies. What about the meltdown? Would you believe that, in fact, it is somehow... But then dinosaurs come into play at some point. Every movie they present the threat, like every Ice Age movie ends with like, I think this is the one that finally does us in and then somehow it's like rolled back in the last five minutes of the movie. Ice age there's a meltdown and they're like oh thank god we found more ice.

Yeah but they never, I don't think they ever brought back the baby. No the baby's only in the first one, there's at least a little purity of the baby. Right they resolve the baby situation at the end of ice age. I wonder if there's a way to frame this to your daughter where she only had like it just, there's one ice age movie. It's about a baby. I have total control over what it's. I mean, I say, you say that tell my friend, the arrogance, you will be hoisted by that. I don't, but like she will still point to things and I'll be like, no, not that. Like,

you know, you know those streaming apps have like parental control filters that like, don't show me anything that's rated PG-13 or above? They should also be able to just make like taste filters. Don't show me a shit that's annoying Like the problem the HBO Max filter is a little too loose That one's kind of just like yeah if it's a cartoon like that's in the kids section the Disney Plus filter You fucking wake up your daughter's watching the Brack show Shorty's watching Shorty's.

Keep referencing it. I'm going to keep referencing it. No, the Disney Plus one is like, yeah, Moana is not on the kids. One already crazy. You can show that to a kid and I'm just like, I kind of navigate out to my profile to fucking watch Moana. What is the point of this? Anything that's rated PG is not available.

It's only G. Disney animated movies are rated PG these days. Nothing is rated G anymore. No. What was the last God? God was rated G. But Paw Patrol's not Disney. No. And I am not letting you watch Paw Patrol.

There was some stat I read recently of what the last G rated movie to make $100 million was, and it was interesting, cause it's been a while. Interesting. Even the major animation studios rarely release a G movie. I do believe the Toy stories are all G. Yes. Which is crazy.

Is Toy story 3G? Yeah, like, you know, I know there's no like violence in those movies. There's an incinerator. There's an incinerator, there's emotions. I don't know, whatever, you know, I know there's no like violence in those movies. There's an incinerator! There's emotions! I don't know, whatever. All this is bullshit. Tokyo Godfathers, I'm going to tell you about the release of this film, Griffin, while you're looking up G-rated movies.

You knew what I was doing. Yes, I know what you're doing. So, his last two films, as you alluded, Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, both had long roll-outs. They would premiere at like an animated film festival. The next year they would come out in Japan. The year after that they would come out in America. That's how it worked for both of them.

Tokyo Godfathers premiered at an animation festival, Big Apple anime, in August 03, was released in Japan in December 03, and was rushed by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Sony into an awards qualifying run at the end of December in America as well. Barely after Millennium Actress. It means that it was competing against Millennium Actress

for the Oscar, neither was nominated, finding Nemo, triplets of Belleville, and they call him Brother Bear. It did outgross Millennium Actress at the American box office. 129,000 to 37,000. Oh wow. I mean, these to 37,000. Oh wow. I mean, these films were niche.

Yeah. But it got a critics pick from AO, Tony Scott himself of the New York Times, who called it a neorealist cartoon, a heartfelt urban fable about human decency among the down and out. Ebert liked it, gave it three stars. Satoshi Kone says, look, everything I've made has been significant and important to me.

I can't say which one is my favorite, but to create Paranoia Agent, which is the next thing he does, Tokyo Godfather is necessary. For Tokyo Godfather to be born, there needs to be a millennium actress. I don't take my work as separate pieces, but I value how they've evolved. However, Tokyo Godfather has achieved the highest level in terms of picture quality. And in that sense, I like it the most out of the group. He's talking just purely visually. So he agrees with you. You know, this is a translated...

Oh, sure. I don't know. But it does feel like one of those things where he's like, I like everything and I would never say which is best. But Tokyo Godfathers is the best. Interesting. I don't know. This is before Paprika. Yeah. Oh, true. Yeah.

In this interview. Because I think Paprika is. This is before Paprika. Yeah. Oh, true. Yeah. Because I think Paprika is the nicest looking. Paprika looks unbelievable. Much bigger budget, right? Yes. One hundred gazillion dollars. No, I don't know. Yeah, I think so.

Like 10 or whatever. Yeah. Yes. Toy Story 4, all four Toy stories are G. Toy Story 4 is the last G rated movie. Wow.

To make over a hundred million dollars. Forky's in it. I'm aware. Before you made her an honest woman. Yeah it was Cars 3 before that. Like all the Pixar movies post Toy Story 4 have also not been G rated. I believe. No because they tend to have whatever some slightly intense thing happened. Right they have unsavory things like puberty and jazz music. You fed that one to me on a plate.

It's very good. Thank you. Let's play the box office game. OK. January 16th, 2004. OK. Is what I have. So I'm like, I don't know why this is what the numbers is giving me,

but that's what the numbers is giving me. OK. It must have had a minuscule release before then, because it's not even on here. I'm guessing they did the sort of like unadvertised one week qualifying run. Yes, but this is a good weekend for us anyway, because I don't think we've ever done it.

Great, here's a thing I will say. At the beginning of this year, 2004, I'm a freshman in high school, and I said, you know what, I'm going to make it my job to go see every wide release film released this calendar year. And I embarked on this as a challenge to myself at the start of the year, and I think I gave up by mid February.

But it means I may have an astonishingly strong recall of the Dumpuary movies of 2004, because I think I saw most of them. Okay, well what's number one at the box office then, bitch? Chasing Liberty? No! Fuck, is it in there? It's number one at the box office then, bitch? Chasing Liberty? No! Fuck, is it in there? It's number 11.

Chasing Liberty's number 11? In its second week. Jesus Christ! Opened at number seven. So you missed Chasing Liberty in the top 10 by just a week. Okay, but I did see that in theaters. Number one, would not be My Baby's Daddy?

That's number eight, also in its second week. You are one week off. Okay, I'm close though. Number one is more of a big comedy with a big movie stars, with two big movie stars. Two big movie stars. And one of your favorite actors in a supporting role. It's got two big movie stars,

and one of my favorite actors in a supporting role. I mean, yeah. I don't want to insult the female lead. She's a movie star. She's... Well, now I'm curious who the... You know, she maybe isn't as big a movie star as everyone else, but she's big.

She's big. She's maybe not as big a movie star. She's famous for TV as well. And like she had a real movie career, but you know, maybe never quite became someone who could open a movie on her own. Huh. Oh, it's Along Came Polly.

It's Along Came Polly. I'm talking about Jennifer Aniston. Like, she is a movie star. She is. She was in movies like Along Came Polly. Yes. She was in The Breakup. But this, we have discussed this before.

It's very interesting that she was- Those movies made money. A huge star on TV. Then they tried to position her for Julia Roberts. She was one of the Friends, which is one of these TV shows. I know, I know, you know, I just found out she was in Leprechaun. That was her first film.

Yeah, she has six hundred million grocers at the domestic boss office. Griffin, what are they? I think I can do them all. I just want to say as the lead up to this, along came Pauli isn't one of them off of French. I know, but it got close. It was high 80s. Yeah ended up at 88

Yeah One of Phillips and Hoffman's best performances. He's in a movie that is Aggressively, okay. Is that the one where he's playing basketball? Yes. I love that rain man Rain dance, I should say they were like positioning her for Julia Roberts career Like picture-perfect and stuff and it didn hit. And then she very strategically was like, I will play the second lead, the love interest, to every major A-list comedy star. And she went through them all.

So if I'm trying to count the $600 million grocers. The $600 million grocers. I'm going to reverse engineer this from her leading man. Go ahead. The breakup. That's one. I'm not going to go in order here. No, that's fine. Marley and me. Marley and me, that's two. Owen Wilson. The Breakup. That's one, Vince Ma. I'm not gonna go in order here. No, that's fine.

Marley and Me. Marley and Me, that's two. Owen Wilson. Horrible Bosses, one. Horrible Bosses, one is three. That's, well, you know, everyone who's in that one. Bruce Almighty. Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey.

Her number one grossing film of all time. Right, she did four Bateman movies, I think. Did she really? Yeah, Horrible Bosses is not like a Bateman, Aniston vehicle, but I believe she did four films with him. Well, we'll get to that in a second. You have to name the other 200 mil grocers.

Okay, the other. And Reese, please weigh in. I was gonna say, one of them I definitely know. What's the one you know? I'm thinking of Just Go With It. Just Go With It. Of course. 103, it snuck over the line.

Sandler, yeah, Sandler, of course. Who she's worked with several times. Yes. They've solved a couple murders. Two, by my count. Okay, so wait. I said a couple. So Vaugh so wait a couple so Vaughn We count on Carrie Bateman stiller Wilson will stiller

Sandler Sandler the other one. He never did a feral. No, he never went to do Ryan Reynolds That's kind of like that's when the moment is changing yeah, you know It was like that generation of the sort of what they called the frat pack. They called them All the Jimmy Miller client guys, they don't seem to have ever worked together They are part of supposedly Sandra Bullock's inner circle of support according to the Daily Mail Is the six one fall into the same category? I'm thinking it's a comedy. It's a little more of an ensemble It is with another comedy category I'm thinking it's a comedy it's a little more of an ensemble it is with another comedy actor okay it's people forget that into it was a huge hit nope 93 mil oh seven short this movie made

I auditioned for this movie it made made 150 million dollars. It's more of an ensemble. And you know that I auditioned for it. I do. Let me give you a hint. The character you were going to play on the poster, an arrow points to his head saying, virgin. Weird. Doesn't sound like the kind of part I would audition for. In 2013? The movie is called We Are the Millers. We Are the Millers! Oh wow. Sudeikis.

Who never became as much of a movie star, but was following the same pattern of what she was doing. And he, you know, he made movies that made money. He was. No, he just seemingly kind of pulled himself out of the running and pivoted and went to TV. But those are her six. So, like, is she a movie star? Yes, certainly.

But in all of the movies we just listed, she is the second build person and the top person's the main draw. And her value add is like, she's really good at like the back and forth with these guys. Right. And now she's like, right. I feel like in morning show, it's like, Oh, she's actually going to carry the thing. That's why everyone's excited about the morning show. The world's most, check in my notes, your normal TV show? Everything I'm told about that movie. They're calling it.

So normal. Do you watch the morning show? I do not. Do you watch a lot of TV? I have. You're a movie guy. I'm a movie, yeah. I have now just because, like, it is annoying that things are only like eight episodes,

but it makes it a lot easier to watch. Although I do wish things went on for more than eight episodes and I did not have to wait four years. I got great news for you. There are 36 seasons of The Simpsons. Number two at the box office. We've covered it on this podcast. We've covered it on this podcast.

January, was it a proper 24 release or delayed? It's a big fish. There we go. He figured it out all by himself. I keep waiting to hear the ding and I'm realizing that's a post. That's a post. We'll be doing that later.

Okay, Big Fish is number two, which means is Return of the King number three? That's right. Okay. All I had to say was um, and you got. No, because I remember it was a squeaker. It was a photo finish between Big Fish's first wide release and Return of the Kings IV, III, V.

Sure, yeah. Well, which I believe was last week, was when Big Fish expanded. And apparently bodied Chasing Liberty and My Baby's Daddy. It did put those two movies to shame, but it's right behind, right ahead of Lord of the Rings right now. Okay.

So those are the top three. Number four is new this week. And this is a little more of a movie you dump in January. It's a little bit more, they're calling it a little bit more. It's an action film. It's an action film that is being dumped in January. Yes, werewolf. Tell me about the star of this picture.

Oh, oh, okay, I'll do my best. He's a person. Okay, that does now work a little bit. By all accounts, he exists and is real and is not some sort of AI generated nobody, which is what he seems like. That rules out some other people. I'm really sorry to this person

if he listens to our podcast, which I'm sure he doesn't so you never know He's a New Zealand actor, of course You know he oh, oh it's torque Who's the actor Martin Martin Anderson I feel like best known then for being the guy in the ring, right? Like he's he's the guy who's like, fuck this video is fucked up. I feel like the fact that I got it off of those clues is almost more mean than you providing those as being the fact that that was all you had to say.

And I went, Oh, because like, of course you say, tell me about the star of torque. I could talk to you about ice cube. Who's not the star, but he's on the post or Adam Scott or Adam Scott or Jay Hernandez. And we all remember the name torque, but most people could not tell you who played torque. Who's actually the start technically Martin Henderson is the titular role. That's back when studios truly were too afraid to have a movie, have a black person as the lead. They were like, yeah, but can't like Martin Henderson just be in it as well just in case? Like we're afraid. Ice Cube's proven movie star.

Basically 10 years of success is under his belt. It's what Paul Walker is in Fast and Furious. I know that that movie was originally going to be, you know, Timothy Olyphant and Robert Duvall or whatever that is. I live my life a quarter mile a time. Come on, I tune them out. Number five in the box office is a huge hit comedy.

A huge hit comedy. Yes. And it's also an 03 carryover. Yes. I'd imagine it's Cheaper by the Dozen. You imagine, sadly correct. You've seen Cheaper by the Dozen? I have. Too many kids! That was a movie that had a, when I was a child, we did not

have a TV in the car like the you know the rich kid cars had that TV in the back yeah we had one that we brought in and that was the the TV movie you you it was like oh no no I'm sorry it was you know those like fold-up yes okay okay portable DVD player yes exactly yeah it was that and yours mine and ours another too many kids. For a second, of course. Well, there's yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours, mine, and ours, and yours,wayne Reed receipt. A man has a wallet and inside it are photos of his family, but what if he had too many family members to fit into your classic foldout? But that one's kind of a cute poster. And then there's the other post that you're referring to where he and Bonnie Hunt are holding the door because, and I'm like, this didn't sneak up on you. It's not like when you were nine kids in,

you were like, oh shit, there's more like you kept having children Right Bonnie hunt and Steve Martin are reacting that poster It's like maybe you guys should have fucked less these kids breaking down your goddamn door I just remember that like Tom Welling is in that yeah, and you're you're just like, oh great They have so many kids that one of them is a CW. Like they've, like they're dealing with twin toddlers, but they also have one of their kids. Piper pregnant. Right. Piper Parabot is pregnant. Yes. With Ashton Kutcher's baby. No Jesus. Really? Yes. I think I believe and Duff, right? The Hillary Duffy shows three. Yeah. And then it's, I don big three are those. Exactly. The big three.

Yeah. And then it's after that it's like, I don't know, fucking kid with a clarinet. Fucking there's two sets of twins. And they drop off the kid, the first kid's storyline, the one who runs away from home. He's just barely in the second one. And he has like a mean, right? Yeah. They've, no, it's something implying that he's adopted.

He's got different hair color than the rest of them. He has red hair and he has a frog. So they're, they... They're calling him vulgar, but it's not funny. No, it's something implying that he's adopted. Oh, because he's got different hair color than the rest of them or some shit. He has red hair and he has a frog. So they're pretty mean. They feel like you're adopted. Yeah, kids are mean, especially when you have that many of them. And then there's the Eugene Levy family. Well that's the second one. Adding a lot more kids, yeah.

Right. How many do they have? 14? I think they balance them out. Lautner's one of the kids. Yes. Right? They go tit for tat. It's a movie in which they call them the Dozen.

Studio exec. Not since James Cameron went up to a whiteboard and wrote the dollar sign at the end of Aliens. Cheaper by the Dozen. Imagine going into the studio and going, I cracked it. Here's the hook for Cheaper by the Dozen 2. What if Eugene Levy and Carmen Electra had unprotected sex? The studio is just like counting the money out as you speak.

Well, I was like, what's the kid look like? Taylor Lautner. We got Sharkboy. And the dollars were more. Just to underline how much I've changed since becoming a parent when I was a teenager, I think I've mentioned this once in this podcast before. Me and my best friend, Ollie, at the time in London,

wrote a parody sequel to Cheaper the dozen called cheaper by the cousin In which Steve Martin reveals that he also has four thousand cousins And when you say wrote it did you complete a script we wrote about 20 to 30 pages of a script You know what and it is my hats off. Yeah, it's I've it somewhere. And it is revealed early on that his kids are dead, quote, by gas. We just say, of course, they've all died dead by gas. Just to show you what a callous little teenager I was, I thought I could make a joke like that. But see, I'm here like a Fox exec. By the time he gets to the word cousin, I'm throwing dollar bills.

We truly were like, cheaper by the cousin. Four thousand cousins. There's a scene where they see Martin is in charge of the Elgin marbles I'll have the famous Greek and then the cousins smash them all to pieces. It's really funny It's somewhere in there there's definitely a part where Anthony Hopkins plays the president too because we were really like Yeah where Anthony Hopkins plays the president too, because we were really like sick of him. This is a really mental idea. Yeah, we were being silly. You said we never told us this before. I think I mentioned it like a zillion years ago. I really think I would have remembered.

Fans, screenwriters. Screenwriters at us tell us, is Little Orphan LeRoy relatable or a villain, and have I mentioned this on the podcast in its nine year history before? Great, what else is in the top ten? We've also got, oh my god, a film I've been thinking about so much. I'm sorry to react like that. It's not that surprising.

Okay. Cold Mountain. Yes. Amphibian Gallows, Cold Mountain. Yes. Here's, ah, Jesus. I'm sorry for all these tangents, Reese. No, no, no. This is what I listen for. So this is really fun and like, in the events that they get cut out, I have the exclusive.

So I rewatched, as did you, Gangs of New York for Newcomers, where we're going to be on that show whenever that post, I think by now might have posted, with Lapkus and Bayer. Really fun. And for one second in Gangs of New York, you see Sacred Heart Singers. I don't know if you know what that is, but it's a form of like Irish church music that came to America, where people like sit in a circle and they like turn their voices into like instruments like a crazy, it's a crazy choir stuff.

Okay. It's so cool and it sounds like nothing else. I'll play some for you later, but it's really cool. In Gangs of New York you see for a second, but Cold Mountain has multiple sequences what they're doing, because that movie has such cool music. Have you seen Cold Mountain? Yeah, of course I have. I don't know, I can't remember. I haven't seen it since it came out, I saw it in theaters when it came out.

You know, it's got like Jack White in it, and he's playing the banjo or whatever the hell he's doing. And I'll buy no Garrett Hedlund? That's, yes, that's true. And Sting did like some weird music for it and stuff, but it's got these Sacred Hearts. They do this to keep time while they it's really cool

And it was I've been listening to a lot of sacred harp music and maybe it's got you itching to watch Harp Harp sacred harp and I Saw cold Mountain twice in theaters, which is crazy. Yeah, I think that movie is hugely underrated. I like all I like Noms I know that it did but it was. I like all his movies. I like them. It got Oscar noms, I know that. It did, but it was seen as the juggernaut and it didn't get the best picture noms. We didn't really talk about this

in the newcomers episode, but this thing of like, if a year out, people are saying this is number one, it is almost always a death sentence. And I was trying to think what that was for this year and it almost definitely was Maestro. It was Maestro. Maestro was the movie a year ago.

No, The Good Shepherd. Like there's so many movies like that where it's like you do not want to be the early girls. You're naming, these are all true. If someone in January makes the, you might say it's a little bit early, but here are my predictions. Cold Mountain was a big hit. It was?

It made a hundred million dollars. I was going to say, what do you think it's gonna be for next year because I feel like everyone's already saying Dune part 2 yeah do I want a Duma movie right now well it could also work really well and that you guess it no here's what I'll say I think Deadpool is gonna walk up onto that stage and go I bet you didn't think I hope they don't slap me I bet this is a genuine question where's John Cena's envelope? I don't need as big a one like he'll say some shit like that. What is the front runner?

Is there a Faye Dunaway read my name? Whatever is there some I don't think there's Big picture just in an episode that will be a couple months old at this point where they were sort of looking ahead to the Thing I it doesn't I think a lot of this is because of the strikes Right that production was stopped down for a while and when production started up again The priority was get those fucking blockbusters back up and running a sap That I think there's a lot less in the pipeline and I think There there hasn't been stuff that popped out of Sundance or South by Southwest Yes, that is not like yet that feel like they even have a past lives level up

So that's why maybe doom part two just because it's like people are into this movie. It's doing well But then that's not classic fucking two-tower shit. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, yeah, no, I mean the third one is undeniably happening I have to make a reality in which they don't make it's just that Denny might want to make a movie Yeah, I'd like to see it make a movie in between. I would love that. Me too. Also, I mean, you know, they need to let them age a little bit. Sure.

Because you got to get to, it doesn't matter. Doom Part II, we'll talk about it later. But it doesn't feel like an obvious cold mountain, right? There's nothing on paper where you're like, oh, these six people made a movie together based on this subject material. Invictus, I feel like, was another one of these where you were like, oh, can you believe fucking Morgan Freeman is playing? Nelson Mandela in a Clint Eastwood movie about beating racism through soccer

I mean my dad took me to the theaters to see that because I heard it was going to be the best picture Yeah, right. It was like this One of his worst movies, but there's nothing on paper that feels like it has the elements of the like the post is another one The Steve McQueen movie Blitz is the closest and that's like, Steve McQueen doesn't really make like very straight down the middle movies. For a man who has one best picture, it is wild that you are right.

Yeah, like it's like, so it's not like, and that phone's been a bit of a mystery box for a couple years now. Cold Mountain, anyway, I did, I texted a friend of mine who sings and I said like, you know, sacred, like you're, you must know what this is. And she was like, I do. And she was like, I do. And she was like, I bet you could find that

in New York really easily. And I was like, it is pretty obscure. Googled it immediately. It's like, we're the sacred harp group. We meet every Wednesday at this church in the village. And I'm like, New York has everything, man. They even got fucking Irish folk church singing. They've got it all.

David's gonna start breathing down our neck about finishing records early because he has a fucking. Go do some sacred harp. Yeah, he has a fucking- Go do some Sacred Harp. Yeah, he bought a whole book of Sacred Harp tickets. Or you're playing? I'm singing! Yeah, right, no, I bought 10, right? I bought a 10 bag. I'm sure they would just let me listen.

Anyway, you've also got Something's Gotta Give. Of course. Covered on this show before. That's handy. My Baby's Daddy, as you Cheryl is is clinging on. Yeah Calendar girls. Yeah, they call them the calendar girls Which I feel like was sort of a failed Oscar player like no, it's Trump doing the newscast These brave women

You can't do this because of woke be a calendar girl anymore. They said calendar girl boobies on the calendar. I feel like girls. It was Disney might have been Fox search. I was Disney. I think, you know, that they were like, naked English people. This thing worked with you before the Oscars were like it needs to be a little different Okay It literally just be naked English people again. Yeah, so it didn't go over and then number 10 the last samurai

Oh, yeah, Tom Cruise is the last samurai Teachers pet the movie a movie you like my favorite movies of 2004 opening at number 13 It's the completely forgotten Disney film that yes was dumped second week of January first movies of 2004? Opening at number 13, which is a bad o. Have you seen that movie, Nils? It's the completely forgotten Disney film that, yes, was dumped second week of January. First week of January? Well, it's new this week, so second or third. It opened outside of the top 10. It opened below. I'm telling you,

it's opening number 13. Oh, this is the weekend. This is it! Oh, holy shit. Yeah, no, it's depressing, but that film rules. Also opening this week is the Jafar Bahani film Crimson Gold, an incredible movie. Oh, wow. Reece, they call you the king of TikTok.

They do. They will now. They only said it 40 times. It's going to follow me for years to come. I'm sorry for cursing you. Reece. I'll never be the king now. Where is it that you whisper to Gen Z?

Where is it? No, no. Do you have anything you want to apply for? No, not really. That's my account name. It came from Man with a Movie Camera. Yes, yes. I made it not thinking I would ever...

I was not on social before it became my job. So I made it kind of like... It was a personal channel. Like an Xbox gamer tag kind of thing. Where it's like you don't think about it and now it's there Yeah for me to be yeah reside over be king of we were starting to talk about this But like this feeling of optimism about film culture Coming back and especially you as someone who's got a little bit of an ear to I think what some have said you whispered Agents, it's some would say yeah. Yes. It's so yes on

On that tick tock is where I started. Yeah. But yeah, it's all things. They just, studios will just send me to sets and directors or filmmakers or producers or even actors that I've worked with will usually just be like, hey, do you want to come here? And then after weeks of contracts and NDAs, which I only broke once. Hey. Are you allowed to say which NDA you broke or is there an NDA about, it was Maisel? Oh right, the original breaking.

Yes. Gotcha. Exactly, the original breaking. Now I do not break them. We all grow, don't we? Exactly. But of course you will be breaking all of them on our Patreon.

On our Patreon, where, yeah, I go real deep dive. For $6 a month are no NDAs. No, I was just going to say I tried to bring everything full circle, and we were talking about this a little bit in the Millennium Actress episode, but I do think it's fascinating to look at, like, David, you were making the joke about, like, Tokyo Godfather barely outgrossing Millennium Actress, but they were released by a Sony arm and a Dreamworks arm. Like, they were, you know, not getting wide releases. No, but everyone's exploring, like, how do we maybe expand? And there was always this feeling of, like, there's a real ceiling.

You know, like, Ponyo made, what was it, 15 domestic? And for so long was the highest grossing Ghibli by like a good distance. You nailed it. Hey now. Hey now. It is wild. She grossed at least three ham sandwiches in that movie as well. Especially in the last like four or five years in this moment where it felt like theatrical

exhibition was very precipitous and the theaters reopening. Japanese animation has been like one of the most reliable bets in theaters. Yeah. It is wild how many Japanese films now get released and it started as like Funmation dipping the toe and going like we're gonna, it's a new movie that we're gonna put out for only three days and then suddenly it makes 20 million dollars. I think that's still a minus one thing. But now it's like commonplace. I think it was like and I know everyone points to Parasite as the one that like, but I think younger audiences are a lot more forgiving than people think about things not being American,

about things having subtitles. This is why I'm bringing this up to you, because you got their ear, but I do feel like there's an interesting generational shift of like outside of very few exceptions, it always felt like look, 99% of Americans are just never going to get past subtitles. It's a fucking non-starter with them. And I think a couple things have happened. I do think, right, right. And then you'd have your weird aberrations like Crouching Tiger and then it was like never replicatable.

But I think you do got to give some credit to Netflix which put a lot of international shows up and people started watching them and they had the option to watch them dubbed or subbed, but people suddenly it's like oh, I I watch this at home This is a normal TV show yet money high squid game like all of those things are like genre shows. They're fun They're not artsy it makes people more open to the idea of seeing these things in theaters But I do think there's also like Gen Z grew up with Japanese animation Not being this weird kind of hidden Relegated thing to them now and some of that is like the early tale of like these movies These studios testing the water in the early 2000 things like tsunami on Cartoon Network and all this stuff

The proliferation of DVDs making these films easier to like get in circulation But you're just like I feel like anyone under the age of 25 doesn't really give a shit about subtitles. And in fact, it's like it's kind of cool to watch. They're always watching things with subtitles. I watch. I mean, yeah, it's you always have them on. I always about to say, yeah, I have them on always. That's the other part of it. I'm also not on my phone when I watch.

Sure. But it's just for me, it is just I'm not staring at them. It is just a crutch if I miss something, because I'm if I miss a lie and I have to go back and I cannot Have anything missed or I'll just rest. I swear to God. I'm not saying this is a joke This just organically happened, but I genuinely watched online the other day a local news broadcast Where they were like meet the Johnsons family of five who like TV a lot Constance family of five who like TV a lot But would you believe that they like to read the TV and it was truly like a news piece on like why are people Watching shit with subtitles on and I don't know if it's like I don't know if it's a chicken-in-the-egg thing Yeah, I'm not I'm not sure either. I'm not sure if I could even think about when it happened

But it's Americans watching English language things with closed captioning on has made them more open to watching foreign films with subtitles on because the process isn't different. I don't know. I just find it all very interesting. Yeah also the like the social aspect where it's like I grew up just like on like all the film accounts and stuff I followed and everything just posting like Studio Ghibli like yeah anything. And like in all of these anime shows where it's not like a cult niche thing anymore. They're like popular culture. They're bigger than a lot of American. And it went from being like what the fuck is Mugen Train and why is that making 20 million dollars?

So then like a couple times a year we're like well obviously number two at the box office is going to be this movie that Funmation is releasing for 10 days and it just happened. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, it is it's good They call him the king of the king of the top. We'll see him again soon on now blank. Check the king of tik-tok He'll be back. He'll be back Yeah, I hope this this this one well, we'll see if it follows and this title is gonna is either gonna be you're gonna be more famous than ever they're gonna be we you than ever. They're gonna be we your my friend You thought you were famous before?

You thought you were a king? I? Can't wait to listen. I all of this is not in it. Hope I don't hope we've not for such 20 minutes 20 minutes. Yeah, like Tokyo Godfathers. It's good I like the characters It's a movie. Like the characters. Ben's just doing ADR. I'm Griffin and I like to do.

I'm Griffin. I know the box office or some shit. Also while I'm still on mic, I wanted to I brought as like I genuinely Not to weird you guys out like have been listening for years like before I was even working in TV. When did you get into the show? I got into it, I think 2020. Cool. And so that was like about when I started working. I'm glad you didn't get into it when you were a teenager, just in the name of not making me feel like shit. He was probably basically a teenager.

No, no, no, I was 20. No, you're 20, okay, great. That's all I care about. Yeah, but no, no, so I brought stuff because I you're 20. Okay, great. That's all I care about. Yeah, but no, no. So I brought stuff because I know that you guys decorate the office. Yeah, we do. So yeah, a little bag of goodies. I don't know who wants to go first.

Griffin. Yeah, I'm the good one. So for Griffin, I know you're a toy enthusiast. Yeah, I am. So I got the thing. They call him the toy enthusiast. So it's the, what they call it. The thing.

Yeah. It is McGriddy. It's better left to his feet. Hell yeah. And then. Hell yeah. Yeah. So I figured that could what the thing yeah, then better left to his feet. Yeah, and Then hell yeah, yeah, so I think that could be added to that. Yeah, absolutely I don't know if you already have it. I figured oh, okay. This is good I don't can I be honest you can be like incredibly honest with you I have a different creating mm-hmm, and I have the dog thing. I don't have this okay good So this is this is this is good. This is This is very valid. It's the Outpost 31 version.

It is the Hellraiser box. Oh my God. Cause I, I want, I just, I know that's a really good pick for Ben. I forgot what, now Ben, don't solve that. No, no, no. I forgot what episode, whereas like if you guys came across the box, what would you do? And both of you guys said not to solve it. And Ben was like, oh, fuck yeah, I'm solving that. So I just figured having it in the office for after I leave would be fun. Lament configuration, of course, yes.

Maybe hold out for a day or two before you solve the lament. And then for David, this is for you and your daughter. So it's Nightmare Before Christmas. What? Look at that. Yeah. She's actually gonna love that.

Yeah, so I figured that would be Yeah. She's actually gonna love that. Yeah, so I figured that would be fun. Yes, that is very fun. Thank you, sir. You've not shown it to her yet, right? No, I haven't. I figured it's a little... I haven't...

I don't know what she might love it. I'll say my friend's daughter is a little older than yours. Mm-hmm. And recently just got into Nightmare and is like obsessed with Zero, which I'm predicting your daughter will be as well. This, of course, is Zero. Yes. Yes. Ghost Dog. I know, I'm predicting your daughter will be as well. This of course is Zero. Yes. Yes.

Go stuff. I know, I'm just saying for the audience. Zero, Jack Skellington. No, I think my kid would love it. I don't think they're actually gonna like it. Reese, you are too kind. You are too. That's very nice of you.

It is the least I can do. You know what I'm gonna call you? Do you know what I'm gonna call you? The king of gift giving? Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what I was gonna say. And now we get some great crinkles directly on Mike. Reese, thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thank you so much some great crinkles directly on Mike. I was gonna say.

Reece, thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Overdue. I hope I did okay. You did a great job. You were great. Do you guys listen back to the episodes or no? Sometimes, he definitely doesn't.

I used to listen every week. Pandemic kicked that out of me. Gotcha. Yeah, I'm curious if I'm gonna listen. All right, Griffin, wrap this up. Everyone follow Reece. I know we already plugged it. Yeah. Yeah.

Go with the movie cam. And if you're Gen Z, you don't need me to tell you that. But also, if you're not on TikTok, I know it is it is less scary than you might think. You know, TikTok is very easy to use. It's a little too easy. Yeah, that's the yeah. Yeah, it's very easy to use.

And also the algorithm fits to you. So if you're into movies, you'll find movie related stuff Yes, so it'll you'll quickly be able to yeah, right for me. It's mostly like, you know airplane crashes and Old video games. What is it Griffin? No, I was gonna say thank you all for listening Please remember to rate review and subscribe Thank the algorithm if it brought this show to you. Uh... That was the rhythm, yeah.

Thank you to Murray Barati who just walked into the room. You're welcome. For producing this show. Thank you to AJ McKeon, Alex Barron for our editing, JJ Burtz for our research, Joe Bowen, Pat Reynolds for our artwork, Lee Montgomery and the Great American Novel for our theme song. You can go to blankcheckpodcast.com for links to some real nerdy shit,

including blank check special features. Our Patreon where get ready. We're about to fucking take some pot shots at TMNT. Break NDAs. An important 2007 movie, but also Paranoia Agent coming up. Tune in next week for... Patricka? Unfortunately, sadly, tragically, the final film in our Satoshi Konami series. A dash of it. More than a dash. We're gonna pour it all over the sandwich. And as always.

I got my short shorts on and my high socks. My hair perfectly teased into ink, it's my hat with a ribbon on it. I'm skipping about, it's me little Lord Fauntleroy. I'm gonna reboot it with Nick Nolte. I'm gonna buy the rights to Little Lord Fauntleroy and reboot it with Nick Nolte. I'm a fancy little boy. I'm chasing a hoop with a stick.